Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons^™

Culture Ontogeny: Lifespan Development Of Religion And The Ethics Of Spiritual Counselling, Glen Milstein, Amy Manierre

Publications and Research

The counsellor has an ethical obligation to treat the whole person. Humans are cultural beings and the foundation of most cultures is religion. Religion and culture are received from our early relation~ ships and modified through later relationships across the lifespan. The paper introduces the term "culture ontogeny" to emphasize that this is a biological process wherein abstract ideas of culture and religion become material in the developing neurophysiology of each brain. A framework and methods are offered to examine the changing roles of religion in clients' emotional self~ structure, inclusive of those who describe themselves as spiritual, not religious. …

Formative Research And Community Resilience: A Case Of Under Addressed Youth Problem Gambling, Michea Caye

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The overarching research topic for this study is the issue of effectively engaging and informing community and government decision makers about health issues that can negatively impact a community's resilience. The question guiding this study is how can formative research engage and inform community and government decision makers about the under addressed issue of youth problem gambling (YPG) in Windham County, Vermont? The study has two aims: 1) to develop a formative research conceptual framework and evaluate its effectiveness in addressing the public health issue of youth problem gambling, and 2) to use the formative research methodology to develop a …

The Community Action Framework In Practice: An Illustration Based On The Ready By 21 Coalition Of Austin/Travis County, Raphael Travis Jr., Tamara Leech

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

The field of positive youth development has expanded focus from articulating and measuring desired manifestations of positive well-being to assembling the environmental conditions known to promote these desired outcomes. Evidence of the effectiveness of community-level efforts promoting positive youth development is still emerging, in particular theory-driven examples of community-driven youth development. This study examined the Community Action Framework, one theory-based community youth development model, through the experiences of the Ready by 21 Austin/Travis County coalition (RB21). The coalition connects youth-serving organizations and also regional coalitions, while promoting the positive development of area youth. Participant observation, interviewing, and archival strategies were …

Impact Of Stress Management On Learning In A Classroom Setting, Pankaj Mandale

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Stress is an important feature of the lives of college students and can impact negatively on learning. The effectiveness of an in-class stress management intervention for improving course content retention was tested with a cross-over design in two introductory graduate biostatistics classes. Each class met one day per week for the duration of the semester, and was taught by the same instructor, following the same syllabus. A pretest duplicating items on the midterm and final exam was administered to all students at the first class meeting. Identical midterm and final exams were administered in both classes. During the first half …

Dynamics Of Hiv Risk Behavior In Hiv-Infected Injection Drug Users

CHIP Documents

Forty-six individuals with a history of injection drug use participated in a questionnaire and an interview study assessing their HIV risk behaviors, and their HIV risk and prevention information, motivation, and behavioral skills related to injection drug use and sexual behavior. High levels of past and current risky injection drug use and sexual behavior were reported. HIV risk reduction information was generally high, and many participants reported proprevention attitudes and supportive perceived norms toward HIV risk reduction behaviors. However, many did not intend to engage in these preventive behaviors, and some reported deficits in prevention behavioral skills. Interview data revealed …

Implications Of Lifecourse Epidemiology For Research On Determinants Of Adult Disease, Sze Yan Liu, Richard N. Jones, M. Maria Glamour

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Many diseases commonly associated with aging are now thought to have social and physiologic antecedents in early life. Understanding how the timing of exposure to early life risk factors influences later-life health may illuminate mechanisms driving adult health inequalities and identify possible points for effective interventions. Recognizing chronic diseases as developing across the life course also has implications for the conduct of research on adult risk factors for disease. We review alternative conceptual models that describe how the timing of risk factor exposure relates to the development of disease. We propose some expansions of lifecourse models to improve their relevance …

Effects Of Perceived Fitness Level Of Exercise Partner On Intensity Of Exertion, Thomas G. Plante, Meghan Madden, Sonia Mann, Grace Lee

Psychology

Problem statement: Social comparison theory was used to examine if exercising with a research confederate posing as either high fit or low fit would increase the exertion in exercising. Approach: 91 college students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: Biking alone, biking with a high fit confederate, or biking with a low fit confederate. All participants were instructed to complete 20 min of exercise at 60-70% of their maximum target heart rate. Results: Results indicated that participants in the high fit condition exercised harder than those in the low fit condition. However, no mood differences emerged between conditions. …

Tontines For The Invincibles: Enticing Low Risks Into The Health-Insurance Pool With An Idea From Insurance History And Behavioral Economics, Tom Baker, Peter Siegelman

All Faculty Scholarship

Over one third of the uninsured adults in the U.S. below retirement age are between 19 and 29 years old. Young adults, especially men, often go without insurance, even when buying it is mandatory and sometimes even when it is a low cost employment benefit. This paper proposes a new form of health insurance targeted at this group—the “Young Invincibles”—those who (wrongly) believe that they don’t need health insurance because they won’t get sick. Our proposal offers a cash bonus to those who turn out to be right in their belief that they did not really need health insurance. The …

Developing A School Functioning Index For Middle Schools, Amanda Birnbaum, Leslie A. Lytle, Cheryl L. Perry, David Murray, Mary Story

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Despite widespread recognition of schools' role in the healthy development of youth, surprisingly little research has examined the relationships between schools' overall functioning and the health‐related behavior of students. School functioning could become an important predictor of students' health‐related behavior and may be amenable to intervention. This paper describes the development and testing of the School Functioning Index (SFI) as a first step in investigating this question. The index was developed for use with middle schools and conceived as a predictor of students' violent behavior, with the potential for extending research applications to additional health and social behaviors. Using social …

School-Based Screening To Identify At-Risk Students Not Already Known To School Professionals: The Columbia Suicide Screen, Michelle A. Scott, Holly C. Wilcox, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Mark Davies, Roger C. Hicks, J. Blake Turner, David Shaffer

Publications and Research

Objectives.Wesought todeterminethedegreeofoverlapbetweenstudents identified through school-based suicide screening and those thought to be at risk by school administrative and clinical professionals. Methods. Students from7 high schools in theNewYorkmetropolitan area completed the Columbia Suicide Screen; 489 of the 1729 students screened had positive results. The clinical status of 641 students (73% of those who had screened positive and 23%of thosewho had screened negative) was assessedwithmodules from the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. School professionals nominated by their principal and unaware of students’ screening and diagnostic status were asked to indicate whether they were concerned about the emotional well-being of each participating student. …

Affective Decision-Making Predictive Of Chinese Adolescent Drinking Behaviors, Lin Xiao, Antoine Bechara, Jerry L. Grenard, Alan W. Stacy, Paula Palmer, Yonglan Wei, Yong Jia, Xiaolu Fu, C. Anderson Johnson

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

The goal of the current investigation was to address whether affective decision making would serve as a unique neuropsychological marker to predict drinking behaviors among adolescents. We conducted a longitudinal study of 181 Chinese adolescents in Chengdu city, China. In their 10th grade (ages 15–16), these adolescents were tested for their affective decision-making ability using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and working memory capacity using the Self-Ordered Pointing Test. Self-report questionnaires were used to assess academic performance and drinking behaviors. At 1-year follow-up, questionnaires were completed to assess drinking behaviors, and the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale was used to examine …

A Lesson On Homophobia And Teasing, Eva S. Goldfarb

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Homophobia and gay-related teasing are already present among young children. This lesson introduces the term “prejudice” and places the concept of homophobia within the context of bullying and teasing with which 8–11 year olds are already familiar. The lesson builds empathy as children think about and discuss how they have felt when they have been teased or called a name and how they think people in gay or lesbian families would feel. The lesson celebrates the lives of gay and lesbian people as it celebrates diversity among all people and families. Children are encouraged to think about the diversity within …

Girls' Perception Of Physical Environmental Factors And Transportation: Reliability And Association With Physical Activity And Active Transport To School, Kelly R. Evenson, Amanda Birnbaum, Ariane L. Bedimo-Rung, James Sallis, Carolyn C. Voorhees, Kimberly Ring, John P. Elder

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Background

Preliminary evidence suggests that the physical environment and transportation are associated with youth physical activity levels. Only a few studies have examined the association of physical environmental factors on walking and bicycling to school. Therefore, the purpose of this study was (1) to examine the test-retest reliability of a survey designed for youth to assess perceptions of physical environmental factors (e.g. safety, aesthetics, facilities near the home) and transportation, and (2) to describe the associations of these perceptions with both physical activity and active transport to school.

Methods

Test and retest surveys, administered a median of 12 days later, …

Perceived Smoking Environment And Smoking Initiation Among Multi-Ethnic Urban Girls, Tracy R. Nichols, Amanda Birnbaum, Sara Birnel, Gilbert J. Botvin

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose

To examine associations between the perceived smoking environment and smoking initiation among urban multi-ethnic adolescent girls in New York City.

Methods

Self-report surveys completed in grades 7, 8, and 9 assessed girls’ (n = 858) smoking initiation, and perceived smoking environment (family smoking, friends’ smoking, smoking norms, and cigarette availability). Carbon monoxide breath samples were collected from girls using a variation of the bogus pipeline procedure.

Results

Differences were found in smoking prevalence with white girls reporting the highest prevalence of smoking at baseline and the greatest increase in smoking prevalence from seventh to eighth grade. Black girls reported …

Commentary: Community Partnered Research: Driving Sensemaking, Managing Knowledge, And Moving Mental Health Care To New Heights, Junius J. Gonzales, Carmen Moten

Publications from Provost Junius J. Gonzales

No abstract provided.

Predictors Of Violent Behavior In An Early Adolescent Cohort: Similarities And Differences Across Genders, Jonathan L. Blitstein, David M. Murray, Leslie A. Lytle, Amanda Birnbaum, Cheryl L. Perry

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

The authors assessed a cohort of 2,335 students from the Minneapolis, Minnesota, area to identify predictors of violent behavior and to determine whether the predictors varied by gender. The sample was 76% White; boys and girls were equally represented. The majority lived with two parents. A measure of violent behavior collected at the end of the eighth-grade year (2000) was entered into Poisson regression against baseline data collected at the beginning of the seventh-grade year (1998). Predictors of violent behavior influencing both boys and girls included depressive symptoms, perceived invulnerability to negative future events, paternal nonauthoritative behavior, and drinking alcohol. …

The Role Of Peer Social Network Factors And Physical Activity In Adolescent Girls, Carolyn C. Voorhees, David Murray, Greg Welk, Amanda Birnbaum, Kurt M. Ribisi, Carolyn C. Johnson, Karin Allor Pfeiffer, Brit Saksvig, Jared B. Jobe

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Objective: To study the relationship between peer-related physical activity (PA) social networks and the PA of adolescent girls.

Methods: Cross-sectional, convenience sample of adolescent girls. Mixed-model linear regression analyses to identify significant correlates of self-reported PA while accounting for correlation of girls in the same school.

Results: Younger girls were more active than older girls. Most activity-related peer social network items were related to PA levels. More PA with friends was significantly related to self-reported PA in multivariate analyses.

Conclusions: Frequency of PA with friends was an important correlate of PA among the peer network variables …

Longitudinal Invariance Of The Center For Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale Among Girls And Boys In Middle School, Robert W. Motl, Rod K. Dishman, Amanda Birnbaum, Leslie A. Lytle

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This study tested the longitudinal factorial invariance of a theoretically consistent, higher-order model for Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scores among adolescent girls and boys in middle school. Data were collected from 2,416 adolescents who completed a survey containing the CES-D in the fall of 1998, spring of 1999, and spring of 2000. The invariance analyses were conducted using LISREL 8.50 with maximum likelihood estimation and the Satorra-Bentler scaled chi-square statistic and standard errors. The higher-order model demonstrated longitudinal, as well as gender, invariance of the overall factor structure and first- and second-order structure coefficients, first-order factor variances, second-order factor …

A Theater-Based Approach To Primary Prevention Of Sexual Behavior For Early Adolescents, Jessica B. Janega, David M. Murray, Sherri P. Varnell, Jonathan L. Blitstein, Amanda Birnbaum, Leslie A. Lytle

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This article compares four mixed-model analyses valid for group-randomized trials (GRTs) involving a nested cohort design with a single pretest and posttest. This study makes estimates of intraclass correlations (ICCs) available to investigators planning GRTs addressing dietary outcomes. It also provides formulae demonstrating the potential benefits to the standard error of the intervention effect (σΔ) from adjustments for both fixed and time-varying covariates and correlations over time. These estimates will allow other researchers using these variables to plan their studies by estimating a priori detectable differences and sample size requirements for any of the four analytic options. These methods are …

A Schematic For Focusing On Youth In Investigations Of Community Design And Physical Activity, Kevin J. Krizek, Amanda Birnbaum, David M. Levinson

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper provides a first step in addressing special considerations for youth in a relatively new area of physical activity research. After reviewing the urgent need for novel approaches to increasing physical activity, the growing interest in the effects of community design are discussed. Although most discussion on this topic has focused on adults, there are important differences between youth and adults that warrant a special focus on youth and need to be accounted for. This article presents a schematic that accounts for how and where youth spend their time, decomposing the day into time spent in travel and time …

School-Based Approaches To Affect Adolescents’ Diets: Results From The Teens Study, Leslie A. Lytle, David M. Murray, Cheryl L. Perry, Mary Story, Amanda Birnbaum, Martha Y. Kubik, Sherri Varnell

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This article reports on the outcomes of the Teens Eating for Energy and Nutrition at School (TEENS) study, a 2-year intervention study conducted in 16 middle schools with a goal of increasing students’ intakes of fruits, vegetables, and lower-fat foods. Despite positive interim results for students randomized to intervention schools, the positive effects of the intervention were not seen for the primary outcomes at the end of the 2nd year. Positive effects were seen only for a food choice score (suggesting that the students usually choose lower versus higher fat foods) and not for measures of food intake. Future studies …

Assessing The Most Powerful Analysis Method For School-Based Intervention Studies, Jessica B. Janega, David M. Murray, Sherri P. Varnell, Jonathan L. Blitstein, Amanda Birnbaum, Leslie A. Lytle

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This article compares four mixed-model analyses valid for group-randomized trials (GRTs) involving a nested cohort design with a single pretest and a single posttest, the most common design used in GRTs. This study makes estimates of intraclass correlations (ICCs) available to investigators planning GRTs with alcohol, tobacco, and other drug measures as the outcomes of interest. It also provides formulae demonstrating the potential benefits to the standard error of the intervention effect of both adjustments for fixed and time-varying covariates, as well as correlations over time. These estimates will allow other researchers using these variables to plan their studies by …

Condom Availability In New York City Public High Schools: Relationships To Condom Use And Sexual Behavior., Sally Guttmacher, Lisa D. Lieberman, David Ward, Nick Freudenberg, Alice Radosh, Don Des Jarlais

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

OBJECTIVES: This study examines the impact of the condom availability program in New York City public high schools by comparing rates of sexual activity and condom use for New York students and similar students in Chicago.

METHODS: A total of 7119 students from 12 randomly selected New York schools and 5738 students from 10 Chicago schools participated in a cross-sectional survey.

RESULTS: New York students, compared with Chicago students, reported equal rates of sexual activity but higher rates of condom use at last intercourse (odds ratio [OR] = 1.36). For higher-risk students (those with three or more sexual partners in …

Functioning And Well-Being Of Patients In A Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Clinic, Steven A. Epstein, Junius Gonzales, Patricia Stockton, David M. Goldstein, Bonnie L. Green

Publications from Provost Junius J. Gonzales

Outpatient consultation-liaison (C-L) psychiatry clinics are valuable settings for research and teaching endeavors. However, little is known about psychiatric symptoms and health status of persons treated in such settings. In this study, 80 persons seen in an outpatient C-L psychiatry clinic were compared with 100 persons seen in a mood disorder clinic on a variety of self-report instruments. Outpatient C-L clinic patients were found to have significantly poorer health status than mood clinic patients on the following domains as measured by the RAND instrument: general health perception, pain, physical functioning, and role functioning due to physical problems. Both groups had …