Public Health Commons^™

Community Health News, Georgia Southern University

Community Health Department News (2011-2018)

• Georgia Southern Examines the Association between Arthritis and Depression
• Georgia Southern Assesses the Needs of Children in a Former Slave Community
• Georgia Southern Compares Providers’ Perceptions of Challenges and Facilitators to Disability Services

Community Health News, Georgia Southern University

Community Health Department News (2011-2018)

• Georgia Southern Examines the Impact of Health Behaviors

Social And Behavioral Implications Of National Collegiate Athletic Association Sickle Cell Trait Screening: The Athletes' Perspective, Raymona H. Lawrence, Alison Scott, Carlton Haywood Jr., Kayin Robinson, Mondi Mason

Community Health Faculty Publications

Background: In August 2010, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) implemented a policy mandating sickle cell trait (SCT) testing for all Division I collegiate athletes. Subsequently, all Division II-III athletes were also compelled to undergo SCT testing. This decision has met with controversy among healthcare providers, researchers, and sickle cell advocates. However, there is little information concerning the athletes’ perspective of this policy. The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a qualitative study that explored college athletes’ perceptions of sickle cell trait SCT, NCAA policies on SCT testing, and potential implications of SCT screening.

Methods: …

Health Literacy 101: Increasing Literacy Reduces Health Disparities, Nancy Patterson

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), health disparities are “preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations”. The American Medical Association (AMA) has identified literacy as the number one social determinant of an individual’s health, above education, income and race.

Learn about health literacy as a tool in the fight against health disparities from this poster as well as methods of effective health communication between health information providers and information seekers. Self-advocacy, plain language cultural competence, and the teach-back technique are …

Think Inside The Blocks: Health Literacy Outreach To Disadvantaged People In Their Own Environment, Nancy Patterson

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

This bilingual (Spanish/English) poster highlights six creative health literacy outreach projects that have proven to be successful in increasing participation in health-related events in their communities and in boosting health literacy in the process.

For example, in Georgetown, South Carolina, a beauty salon owner, concerned about her clients’ frequent frustration with trying to decipher medical information, partners with her local public library and is grant funded to provide a Wellness Workstation in her salon. Years later, her clients research health information between services using the workstation, evening health literacy classes are regularly conducted for community members and continued funding has …

Exploring Cyber Harassment Among Women Who Use Social Media, Sloane Burke Winkelman, Jody Oomen-Early, Ashley D. Walker, Lawrence Chu, Alice Yick-Flanagan

Community Health Faculty Publications

The number of Internet users around the word is at an all-time high. The majority of North Americans are internet users and over two-thirds participate in some kind of social network (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Social networks and mobile technology enable individuals to connect instantaneously or asynchronously, across geographic boundaries publicly or anonymously. Few studies exploring cyber harassment have been conducted, primarily because these technologies are relatively recent. The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine U.S. women's experiences with and attitudes toward cyber harassment by way of an anonymous electronic survey. A total of 293 adult women (mean …

Community Health News, Georgia Southern University

Community Health Department News (2011-2018)

• Georgia Southern study shows overweight and obese teens think they’re ‘just fine’

Community Health News, Georgia Southern University

Community Health Department News (2011-2018)

• Georgia Southern Examine Barriers and Facilitators to Accessing Health and Support Services

Community Health News, Georgia Southern University

Community Health Department News (2011-2018)

• Georgia Southern Researcher Examines Racial Differences in the Utilization of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Participation in Survey and Biospecimen Research

Community Health News, Georgia Southern University

Community Health Department News (2011-2018)

• Georgia Southern Researchers Use CBPR to Extend Prostate Cancer Education, Counseling and Screening to Inner-City Men
• Georgia Southern Assistant Professor Implements a Community Empowerment Center

Community Health News, Georgia Southern University

Community Health Department News (2011-2018)

• Misperception of Child’s Body Weight
• Fruit and Vegetable Consumption from the Perspective of Preschoolers

Differences In Health Literacy Knowledge And Experiences Among Senior Nursing Students, Sharon S. Williamson, Joanne Chopak-Foss

Community Health Faculty Publications

Background: Low health literacy has been identified as a significant public health problem. Also, higher expenditures due to longer hospital stays have been reported for persons with low health literacy. Nurses can assist patients with low health literacy to reduce their hospital stays and increase compliance with discharge instructions.

Methods: A quantitative, descriptive research design was employed to assess knowledge and experiences of 192 senior nursing students. These students were administered the Health Literacy Knowledge and Experiences Survey (HL-KES), a 2- part survey that included assessment of knowledge about health literacy and experience in working with populations of …

Public Health Implications Associated With The Practice Of Utilizing Tires To Singe Meat In Three Major Cities Of Ghana: A Concurrent Mixed Methods Study, Tempest D. Hill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Utilization of automobile tires to singe meat (e.g., cows) intended for human consumption presents public health risks due to hazardous chemicals released into the environment and meat. This has become a common practice in some African countries such as Ghana. The objective of this study was to investigate the awareness and perception of the residents in three major cities of Ghana (Cape Coast, Kumasi and Accra) using the Health Belief Model and Social Ecological Model. Survey participants (n=196) and focus group discussion members (n=37) completed the study. Data collected from study participants included meat consumption, awareness of the use of …