Public Health Education and Promotion Commons^™

Detecting, Preventing, And Treating Sexually Transmitted Diseases Among Adolescent Arrestees: An Unmet Public Health Need, Christopher Salvatore, Steven Belenko, Richard Dembo, Matthew Rollie, Kristina Childs

Christopher Salvatore

Studies of detained and incarcerated adolescent offenders in the United States indicate that these juveniles have an elevated risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). However, many more arrestees enter the “front end” of the juvenile justice system that is detained or incarcerated, and research into the STD risk profiles and service needs of this larger group is lacking. An expansion of STD testing (including of asymptomatic youths), prevention, and treatment is needed, as is improved knowledge about gender- and race-specific services. A pilot program in Florida has shown that juvenile justice and public health systems can collaborate to implement STD …

Health Promotion Practice And The Road Ahead: Addressing Enduring Gaps And Encouraging Greater Practice-To-Research Translation, Amanda Birnbaum, Mark D. Rivera

Amanda Birnbaum

A decade ago, Lancaster and Roe described four critical gaps (i.e., communications, accessibility, credibility, and expectations) between research and practice in health education and health promotion that formed the framework for this department. Despite considerable attention and some progress, these gaps persist and are barriers to interaction and translation between health promotion and health education research and practice. Looking to the next several years as the new Associate Editors for this department, we renew the department’s commitment toward addressing these enduring gaps around which we frame new questions and invite continued dialogue.

Patient Self-Management: Tools And Barriers, Dennis J. Baumgardner

Dennis J. Baumgardner, MD

In his issue introduction, the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews comments on the theme of patient self-management of chronic diseases and the related articles published therein. Illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, epilepsy, arthritis, asthma, and obesity often require patients to administer their own medication daily or adhere to strict dietary restrictions. Progress is being made on the process of implementation and evaluation of patient self-management tools in primary care practices. Barriers to self-management tool implementations in clinics, as well as their use by individual patients, must be understood and addressed.

Organizational Culture Change In A Texas Hospital, Alberto Coustasse-Hencke M.D., M.B.A., M.P.H.

Alberto Coustasse, DrPH, MD, MBA, MPH

Coustasse-Hencke, Alberto, MD, MBA, MPH, Organizational Culture Change in a Texas Hospital. Doctor of Public Health (Health Behavior), June 2004, 329 pp., 11 tables, 8 illustrations, bibliography, 198 titles. The purpose of this research was to analyze a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) approach in a Texas hospital with a main focus in Patient Satisfaction (PS), and to measure organizational change and its impact on PS. This dissertation also applied a "Shared Vision" of the organization as the central process in bringing forth the knowledge shared by members of the community hospital who were both subjects and research participants. The development of …

Identifying Disparities In Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates In Milwaukee-Based Academic And Nonacademic Clinics, Jasmine Wiley, Jonathan J. Blaza, Will Lehmann, Deborah Simpson, Jeffrey A. Stearns, Shelby L. Pischke, Tracy L. Greiten

Will Lehmann, MD

Background: The Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Triple Aim focuses on improving the patient’s experience of care, improving population health and reducing the per capita cost of health care. Health care systems and providers continuously seek to improve quality of care through understanding what percentage of their patients are achieving quality-of-care standards for various indicators, including immunizations, tobacco cessation, asthma and cancer screening. As health care moves toward reimbursing for value-based care, deepening our understanding of patient population characteristics within each of these conditions is vital to continuous quality improvement.

Purpose: To determine if there are race/ethnicity/age/preferred language (REAL) disparities in …

Identifying Disparities In Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates In Milwaukee-Based Academic And Nonacademic Clinics, Jasmine Wiley, Jonathan J. Blaza, Will Lehmann, Deborah Simpson, Jeffrey A. Stearns, Shelby L. Pischke, Tracy L. Greiten

Aurora Family Medicine Residents

Background: The Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Triple Aim focuses on improving the patient’s experience of care, improving population health and reducing the per capita cost of health care. Health care systems and providers continuously seek to improve quality of care through understanding what percentage of their patients are achieving quality-of-care standards for various indicators, including immunizations, tobacco cessation, asthma and cancer screening. As health care moves toward reimbursing for value-based care, deepening our understanding of patient population characteristics within each of these conditions is vital to continuous quality improvement.

Purpose: To determine if there are race/ethnicity/age/preferred language (REAL) disparities in …

Perceiving One's Heart Condition To Be Cured Following Hospitalization For Acute Coronary Syndromes: Implications For Patient-Provider Communication, Molly Waring, David Mcmanus, Stephenie Lemon, Joel Gore, Milena Anatchkova, Richard Mcmanus, Arlene Ash, Robert Goldberg, Catarina Kiefe, Jane Saczynski

Richard H. McManus

OBJECTIVE: We examined the proportion of patients perceiving their heart condition to be cured following hospitalization for ACS and identified characteristics associated with these perceptions.

METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study of adults hospitalized with ACS (N=396). Patient interviews during hospitalization and one week post-discharge provided demographic and psychosocial characteristics. Medical records provided clinical characteristics. At one week, patients who rated "My heart condition is cured" as "definitely true" or "mostly true" were considered to perceive their heart condition cured.

RESULTS: Participants were aged 60.7 (SD:11.0) years, 26.5% female, and 89.0% non-Hispanic white; 16.7% had unstable angina, 59.6% NSTEMI, …

Community Members’ Assessment Of The Physical Activity Environments In Their Neighborhood Parks: Utility Of The Community Stakeholder Park Audit Tool, Anna Greer, Richard Marcello, Rochelle Graveline

Anna E. Greer

Objective. This study engaged community members to describe physical activity (PA) environments in parks and to examine if the PA environment in parks was related to the economic characteristics of households near parks. Method. Twenty-four Bridgeport, adult residents examined the PA environments in 21 Bridgeport, Connecticut, parks using the Community Stakeholder Park Audit Tool (CPAT) during the summer, 2013. ESRI’s Geographical Information System was used to identify the economic characteristics (i.e., median household income, percentage of households below the poverty line; from 2010 Census data) of households within 0.5 miles of a park. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to …

Use And Nonuse Of A Rail Trail Conversion For Physical Activity: Implications For Promoting Trail Use, Anna Greer, Julian Reed

Anna E. Greer

There is limited research examining both use and nonuse of trails for physical activity. Purpose: Such research might enable health educators to better promote physical activity on trails. Methods: We used random digit dialing methods to survey 726 respondents in 2012. Results:The majority (75.1%) of respondents reported not using the trail in the previous 6 months. The odds of using the trail were greater among adults compared to older adults and those with a high school degree or college degree compared to those with less than a high school degree. Fifteen percent of trail users reported using the trail regularly …

Striving For Cultural Competence In An Hiv Program: The Transformative Impact Of A Microsystem In A Larger Health Network, Judith N Sabino, Timothy Friel, Lynn Deitrick, Debbie Salas-Lopez

Debbie Salas-Lopez MD, MPH

No abstract provided.

Dissemination And Implementation Research: Connecting Interventions To Practice, Anna G. Hoover, Angela Carman

Anna G. Hoover

This presentation describes a pilot study to evaluate the complex relationships among organizational structure and characteristics, channel selection, and changes in uptake in the implementation of an evidence-based HPV vaccine intervention in Kentucky local health departments.

Help-Negation For Suicidal Thoughts In Sub-Clinical Samples Of Young People, Coralie Joy Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

Across the popular and academic literature, it is widely recognised that young people with persistent suicidal thoughts are at high risk for suicide completion. It is also accepted that seeking and receiving appropriate help offers protection against the development of acute forms of suicidality, along with suicide completion. Yet, as promising as appropriate help-seeking appears for suicide prevention, a growing number of studies suggest that suicidal ideation itself may impede the help-seeking process. There is evidence that acutely suicidal samples will negate or avoid available help, and there are indications that the help-negation process may occur in samples before levels …

Verbal Autopsy Tool For Infant Mortality, Vijay Kumar Chattu

Vijay Kumar Chattu

Information on causes of death is extremely important for policy-making, planning, monitoring and evaluation of health programs as well as for field research, comparisons and epidemic awareness.The Millennium Development Goal for India is to reduce infant mortality rate to 35 per 1000 & under-five mortality to 45 per 1000 live births by 2015.The incorporation of Verbal Autopsy (VA) in the existing Registration Systems is necessary in order to fulfil its ultimate goal of improving the information on causes of infant deaths in areas where Civil Registration and Death Certification are weak. VA provides information for local action by health authorities …

Brief Report: Need For Autonomy And Other Perceived Barriers Relating To Adolescents’ Intentions To Seek Professional Mental Health Care., Coralie J. Wilson, Frank P. Deane

Coralie J Wilson

The current study examined the relationship between belief-based barriers to seeking professional mental health care and help-seeking intentions in a sample of 1037 adolescents. From early adolescence to adulthood, for males and females, the need for autonomy was a strong barrier to seeking professional mental health care. Help-seeking fears were weaker in the older age groups. Having lower perceived need for autonomy and believing that prior mental health care was helpful was significantly associated with higher intentions to seek future professional mental health care. Implications for prevention and overcoming barriers to seeking mental health care are suggested.

Effective Outreach: Tools Of The Trade For Heading Back-To-School, Florida Covering Kids & Families

Florida Covering Kids & Families

Effective marketing and education through outreach strategies are critical to guarantee uninsured but eligible children enroll and retain coverage in Children’s Health Insurance Programs, such as Florida KidCare. The implementation of effective outreach can eliminate enrollment barriers. The authors cite that the tools for innovative practices for effective outreach strategies include: personal contact and involvement with an outreach coalition.

Community-Based Coalitions: Influencing Policy & Practice, Florida Covering Kids & Families

Florida Covering Kids & Families

Simple approaches to outreach can increase enrollment in CHIP. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2010) found community-based coalitions can be simple yet effective methods to communicate needed policy and practice changes to those “charged with implementing insurance coverage”. Community-based coalitions are able to bring to light enrollment and retention barriers increasing the awareness of stakeholders and hopefully, help to create effective solutions.

The Role Of Problem Orientation Cognitive Distortions In Depression And Anxiety Intervention For Young Adults., Coralie Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

Interventions that aim to improve social problem-solving skills can significantly reduce the severity of anxiety and depression symptoms in young people. Anxious and depressed individuals often have a negative orientation to problem solution which acts as a barrier to implementing problem-solving skills. Research with older adults suggests that symptoms impair problem-solving abilities through cognitive processes associated with the development of anxiety and depression. In this study we extend previous investigations by assessing the extent to which specific cognitive distortions and symptoms of anxiety and depression are associated with negative problem orientation in a sample of 285 young adults aged 18 …

Rural Adolescents’ Help Seeking Intentions For Emotional Problems: The Influence Of Perceived Benefits And Stoicism., Coralie Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

This paper is the second from a larger multi-cite study developed and led by the third author which explores factors that influence adolescents' help-seeking intentions. Specifically, this paper investigates the extent to which perceived benefits of help seeking, stoicism, gender and symptoms of psychological distress are associated with intentions to seek professional help for emotional problems. A cross sectional self-report questionnaire was administered to adolescents recruited from seven high schools in rural towns in the Riverina region of New South Wales. A total of 778 adolescents were recruited. The sample included 373 male and 404 female participants between 13 and …

Predicting Adolescents’ Future Intentions To Seek Help For Mental Health Problems., Coralie J. Wilson

Frank Deane

This study examined whether high school students’ current symptoms of general psychological distress, self-rated social problem-solving skills, and recent help-seeking experiences predict their future intentions to seek help for a mental health problem. At Time 1, 98 high school students, aged 12-17 years, completed the study self-report survey that included measures of psychological distress, social problem-solving skill, and recent help-seeking behaviour. At Time 2, three weeks later, the same students completed measures of help-seeking intentions. Students with more severe levels of distress symptoms at Time 1 had lower intentions to seek help for a mental health problem at Time 2. …

Factors Related To Poor Practice Of Pap Smear Screening Among Secondary School Teachers In Malaysia, Tin Tin Su

Tin Tin Su

Introduction: The Pap smear test has been regarded as a promising cervical screening tool since 1940s. Yet its importance has been overlooked by beneficiaries in Malaysia. This underlines the need to identify the prevalence of Pap smear practice and influencing factors towards the practice among educated working women. Methods: A survey was conducted with 403 female teachers from 40 public secondary schools in Malaysia selected by cluster random sampling. Data were collected from January to March 2010 using a self-administered questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify the factors related to the Pap smear practice. Results: The rate for …

Predicting Adolescents’ Future Intentions To Seek Help For Mental Health Problems., Coralie J. Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

This study examined whether high school students’ current symptoms of general psychological distress, self-rated social problem-solving skills, and recent help-seeking experiences predict their future intentions to seek help for a mental health problem. At Time 1, 98 high school students, aged 12-17 years, completed the study self-report survey that included measures of psychological distress, social problem-solving skill, and recent help-seeking behaviour. At Time 2, three weeks later, the same students completed measures of help-seeking intentions. Students with more severe levels of distress symptoms at Time 1 had lower intentions to seek help for a mental health problem at Time 2. …

Early Access And Help Seeking: Practice Implications And New Initiatives., Coralie J. Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

Seeking appropriate help for early signs and symptoms of psychological distress can reduce the long-term impact of many mental disorders. This article describes practice implications and new initiatives for promoting early access and help-seeking among young people. Relevant help-seeking research is reviewed, and prominent help-seeking barriers are discussed. Prominent barriers for young people include: incomplete mental health and emotional literacy, beliefs about having little need for help versus having a need for autonomy, and the process of help-negation for different symptoms of psychological distress. To improve early access to appropriate help and mental health services, barriers that can be reduced, …

Rural Adolescents’ Help Seeking Intentions For Emotional Problems: The Influence Of Perceived Benefits And Stoicism., Coralie J. Wilson

Frank Deane

This paper is the second from a larger multi-cite study developed and led by the third author which explores factors that influence adolescents' help-seeking intentions. Specifically, this paper investigates the extent to which perceived benefits of help seeking, stoicism, gender and symptoms of psychological distress are associated with intentions to seek professional help for emotional problems. A cross sectional self-report questionnaire was administered to adolescents recruited from seven high schools in rural towns in the Riverina region of New South Wales. A total of 778 adolescents were recruited. The sample included 373 male and 404 female participants between 13 and …

The Effects Of Need For Autonomy And Preference For Seeking Help From Informal Sources On Emerging Adults’ Intentions To Access Mental Health Services For Common Mental Disorders And Suicidal Thoughts., Coralie J. Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

Emerging or early adulthood is the life stage spanning 18-25 years of age. In Australia, anxiety and affective disorders (often classified as ‘common mental disorders’) are prevalent in this age group and suicide is also a concern. Professional mental health care can reduce the long-term impact of these mental health problems and protect against the development of severe forms of these disorders. However, up to three-quarters of young people with mental health needs do not seek professional help for their condition. This study aimed to examine the extent to which belief in the need for autonomy and intentions to seek …

Connecting Kids To Coverage, Florida Covering Kids & Families

Florida Covering Kids & Families

This issue provides examples of application assistance strategies that can be used to enroll the uninsured in health coverage programs.

School-Based Outreach: A Way In, Florida Covering Kids & Families

Florida Covering Kids & Families

According to the Urban Institute, 3.4 million U.S. children aged 6-18 are eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) but are uninsured. These school-aged children make up about 68% of the total eligible but uninsured population. Child and family advocates have long considered schools to be valuable partners for Florida KidCare outreach.

Survivors On The Edge: The Lived Experience Of Professional Musicians With Playing-Related Injuries, Christine A. Guptill

Christine A Guptill

The purpose of this study was to understand the lived-experience of professional instrumental musicians who have experienced playing-related injuries. This study used a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology developed to examine this lived-experience. In-depth interviews were conducted with ten professional musicians. This was followed by a focus group where preliminary findings were presented to participants and their feedback was sought. Other sources of lived-experience included participant-observation by the researcher, who is a musician and has experienced injuries; and biographic and artistic representations of musical performance and its loss, including literature, films and television. The findings were summarized in a visual representation unique …

General Psychological Distress Symptoms And Help-Seeking Intentions In Young Australians, Coralie Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

Epidemiological studies suggest that young people might have a tendency to avoid help when they experience symptoms of psychological distress. There is growing evidence that many young people prefer no help from anyone for their mental health problems. The current study examined the association between symptoms of general psychological distress and intentions to seek help from friends, family and professional mental health sources in a sample of 109 trade (TAFE) students from regional and rural Australia. Participants were 67% male and aged from 15-25 years. Higher levels of general psychological distress symptoms were associated with stronger intentions to not seek …

Adolescents' Suicidal Thinking And Reluctance To Consult General Medical Practitioners, Coralie Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

Appropriate help-seeking is widely recognized as a protective factor, and vital for early treatment and prevention of mental health problems during adolescence. General medical practitioners (GPs), that is, family doctors, provide a vital role in the identification of adolescents with mental health problems and the provision of treatment as well as access to other specialists in mental health care services. The current study is part of a larger multi-cite study developed and led by the first author. It examines the association between suicidal ideation and intentions to seek help from a GP for suicidal thoughts, emotional problems and physical health …

Enhancement Of The Cervical Cancer Screening Program In Malaysia: A Qualitative Study, Tin Tin Su

Tin Tin Su

Introduction: Cervical cancer has long been known as a preventable disease. Yet it still is a prime women's health issue globally. In Malaysia, the current cervical cancer screening program, introduced in the 1960s, has been found to be unsuccessful in terms of Pap smear coverage. The aim of this study is to determine providers perceptives on the program and the feasibility of practicing an organized cervical screening program in Malaysia. Methods: 11 key informant interviews were conducted with policy makers and health care providers from the Ministry of Health in Malaysia from October 2009 to May 2010. Interviewees' perceptions were …