Digital Commons Network^™

Factors Influencing Youth Self-Perceptions Of Overweight And Obesity, Caitlin Helen Sommers

Dissertations and Theses

This study sought to examine whether participation in physical activity affects the ability to correctly classify body size, based on body mass index classifications. Secondarily, this study determined whether adolescents who incorrectly classified their body size overestimated or underestimated their size. Self-report data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were analyzed. Logistic regression was performed to examine relationships between self-perception of body size and physical activity, television viewing time, computer/video game use, physical education class time, and extracurricular sports activities. Significance was set to p<0.05. Physical activity was the only statistically significant independent variable (p=0.058, OR = 1.060). Although physical activity was shown to be statistically significant, it did not appear to meaningfully increase the ability of youth to correctly classify body size. Secondary analysis showed that adolescents who incorrectly classified their body size were more likely to underestimate their body size. Females more frequently underestimated their body size (females=673; males=384).

Three Dimensional Nutrition: Exploring Nourishment Of Spirit, Mind, And Body During A 28-Day Daniel Fast At Southern Adventist University, Caitlin S. Hobbs

Capstone Research Projects

A person who is living well can be said to be “making lifestyle choices with God’s help to support optimum physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and experiencing His gift of abundant life” (Tryon, 2009). All of these “dimensions” of health are interrelated, and in order for a person to truly flourish, each area must be nourished. Dietary choices can have an especially interesting impact on these dimensions. Eating healthfully is not always viewed as a joyous endeavor, but when viewed from a multi-dimensional perspective, it can become a more rewarding and intriguing pursuit.

One way to promote a nutritional …

Chhs December 2013 E-Newsletter, Dr. John Bonaguro, Dean, Vashon S. Wells, Editor, Wku College Of Health & Human Services

College of Health & Human Services Publications

No abstract provided.

Structure Matters: Examining Illness Behavior Using Parsons's Sick Role, Angela D. Byrd

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Although Talcott Parsons’s sick role theory, as described in 1951 in The Social System, has been severely criticized for its inapplicability to chronic illnesses, a portion of the theory is still a relevant and necessary factor in terms of understanding and treating chronic illness today. Using data from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey, this study looks at the individual effects of sex, age, race, cohabitation, education and region of residence on the likelihood of chronically ill patients considering themselves limited in their amount or kind of work as an indicator of sick role adaptation. Results show statistically significant relationships …

Action For Dental Health Statement From The Ada, American Dental Association

Action for Dental Health

No abstract provided.

Factors Influencing The Decision And Ability To Seek Health Services Among Hiv/Aids Patients In Tanzania, Savitri Grover

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Understanding the barriers to treatment for individuals with HIV/AIDS in developing countries could have a major impact on their ability to seek healthcare services. The purpose of this study is to quantitatively analyze the effect of daily activities and structural factors, which act as barriers to seeking health services for individuals living with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania.

The study is based on the hypothesis that (1) Individuals living with HIV/AIDS who face both personal and structural barriers have poor health compared to those not facing the barriers. (2) Individuals living with HIV/AIDS demonstrate different decisions and abilities to seek health services …

2013 Survey Of Children Served By Mainecare, Jean A. Talbot Phd, Deborah Thayer Mba, Zachariah T. Croll Mph, Kimberley Fox Mpa

Medicaid

These survey results help identify areas for improvement for future initiatives both for the MaineCare program and for providers serving this population. Key Findings: MaineCare higher than the national average on most patient experience measures. Significant improvements in MaineCare provider/family communication and care coordination. MaineCare lower than national average on customer service, availability of treatment choices, and care coordination among providers. Patient experience generally similar for Medicaid and CHIP enrollees. Many MaineCare children have special health care needs. 35% of children enrolled in MaineCare have special health care needs, according to the 2013 survey. Experience of children with special health …

The Long-Term Effects Of Childhood Malnutrition On Cognitive Development: The Case Of Famine In Ghana, Ampaabeng K. Samuel, Chih Ming Tan

Economics & Finance Faculty Publications

We examine the role of early childhood health in human capital accumulation. Using a unique data set from Ghana with comprehensive information on individual, family, community, school quality characteristics and a direct measure of intelligence together with test scores, we examine the long-term cognitive effects of the 1983 famine on survivors. We show that differences in intelligence test scores can be robustly explained by the differential impact of the famine in different parts of the country and the impacts are most severe for children under two years of age during the famine. We also account for model uncertainty by using …

Closing The Rural Mortality Gap? An Examination Of 10-Year Cardiovascular Mortality Trends In Washington And Aroostook Counties, Maine, Christy Daggett

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

This study examines a significant reduction in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality1 in two rural, white, low-income counties in Maine over 1999-2009: Washington County and Aroostook County. Two similar counties with similarly high rates of CVD mortality– Penobscot and Piscataquis - were selected as comparators. The study considers different factors known to correlate with CVD mortality, including behavioral risk factors, co-morbid conditions, insurance coverage, and social determinants of health.

Active Transportation In Dayton, Ohio: A Case Study, Danielle P. Tong

Master of Public Health Program Student Publications

Introduction: The purpose of this case study was to describe Dayton, Ohio’s process for implementing an active transportation initiative and suggests ways in which it might be improved. Methods: This paper compares the strategies used in Dayton, Ohio to the 5Ps of the Active Living by Design’s Community Action Model, and compares them with the strategies of three communities described in the literature. Results: The City of Dayton fully initiated two of the 5Ps but neglected the other Ps. Some interview respondents attribute this to a lack of staffing within the City of Dayton. Dayton’s leadership for active transport comes …

Introduction: A Global Approach To Reproductive Justice—Psychosocial And Legal Aspects And Implications, Joan C. Chrisler

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Factors Associated With Parental Decision Making And Childhood Vaccination, Zuwen Qiu-Shultz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In order to better understand factors affecting immunization status, logistic regression was used to assess the association of various socio-demographic factors and whether parents would have their child immunized if not a state mandate. Factors included in the study were race, household income, number of children in the household, number of adults in the household, if the child had a primary provider, if the child had a health check-up in the last twelve months, and medical insurance status of the child. The combined Nevada Kindergarten Health Survey Result of 2009-2010 (Year Two) and 2010-2011 (Year Three) conducted by the Nevada …

Quantifying Value In Public Health: Using Economic Methods To Analyze System Change, Theresa M. Green

Dissertations

In this time of economic downturn, it is becoming increasingly important for organizations, including those in public health, to “prove their worth,” to show the value in improvement strategies. Health agencies have learned to discuss impact in terms of health outcome and mortality/morbidity measures. However, it is critical that these impacts are also expressed in a way that shows cost-efficiency and economic benefit especially for promising, evidence-based public health interventions. Although several methods of economic evaluation including cost-effective analysis, cost-utility analysis, or cost-benefit analysis and return on investment (ROI) have been used in social sciences and health research, fewer examples …

The Effect Of Marriage On Stage At Diagnosis And Survival In Women With Cervical Cancer, Sanae El Ibrahimi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Marriage is associated with improved health outcomes for many conditions. Married persons enjoy financial stability, social and emotional support, and tend to have better control of health risk behaviors compared to the unmarried. The marriage scene is changing continuously. Americans are marrying less or delaying the engagement to an older age. They are divorcing more, they choose cohabitation as an alternative to marriage, or engage in premarital relationships. As a consequence, barely half of Americans were married in 2011 compared to close to three quarters of Americans were married in the sixties. With the increase of the unmarried population - …

The Relationship Between Health Literacy And Health Outcomes: A Mixed-Methods Study Of African-American Adult Patients With Asthma, Courtnee Erin Melton

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Introduction: Asthma affects 24.6 million people in the United States, and AfricanAmericans share a disproportionate burden of the disease. African-Americans have a higher prevalence of asthma, worse asthma control, higher hospitalization rates, and higher asthma mortality rates African-Americans are also more likely to have low health literacy. Low health literacy has been linked to increased use of emergency care, increased hospitalization, decreased use of preventive services, poorer medication adherence, poorer interpretation of prescription labels, nutrition labels, and health messages, and poorer health outcomes. Consequently, health literacy is one of the modifiable individual factors that contributes to asthma disparities among African-Americans. …

The Influence Of Family Dynamics On Contraceptive Use In Madagascar And The Ensuing Impact On Family Well-Being, Joel Zafitandra Hajason, Kayla Piña, Joel L. Raveloharimisy

Faculty Publications

While studies have shown a relationship between family dynamics and contraceptive use and between contraceptive use and family well-being, no empirical study has been conducted to test whether a relationship exists between family influence on contraceptive use and family wellbeing. The objective of this study is to explore whether there is such a relationship between family influence on contraceptive use and family well-being.

Association Between In Utero Arsenic Exposure, Placental Gene Expression, And Infant Birth Weight: A Us Birth Cohort Study, Dennis Liang Fei, Devin C. Koestler, Zhigang Li, Camilla Giambelli, Avencia Sanchez-Mejias, Julie Gosse, Carmen J. Marsit, Margaret R. Karagas, David J. Robbins

Dartmouth Scholarship

Epidemiologic studies and animal models suggest that in utero arsenic exposure affects fetal health, with a negative association between maternal arsenic ingestion and infant birth weight often observed. However, the molecular mechanisms for this association remain elusive. In the present study, we aimed to increase our understanding of the impact of low-dose arsenic exposure on fetal health by identifying possible arsenic-associated fetal tissue biomarkers in a cohort of pregnant women exposed to arsenic at low levels.

Methods: Arsenic concentrations were determined from the urine samples of a cohort of 133 pregnant women from New Hampshire. Placental tissue samples collected from …

Epidemiology News, Georgia Southern University

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: News & Publications (2011-2018)

• Social Contacts and Depression

How Medicaid Expansions And Future Community Health Center Funding Will Shape Capacity To Meet The Nation's Primary Care Needs, Leighton C. Ku, Julia Zur, Emily Jones, Peter Shin, Sara J. Rosenbaum

Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative

A new report by Drs. L. Ku, J. Zur, E. Jones, P. Shin and S. Rosenbaum examines the impact of federal and state policy decisions on community health centers and their ability to continue providing primary care to the nation's poorest residents. The report estimates that under a worst-case scenario the nation's health centers would be forced to contract, leaving an estimated 1 million low-income people without access to health care services by 2020.

Diet And Toenail Arsenic Concentrations In A New Hampshire Population With Arsenic-Containing Water, Kathryn L. Cottingham, Roxanne Karimi, Joann F. Gruber, M Scot Zens, Vicki Sayarath, Carol L. Folt, Tracy Punshon, J. Steven Morris, Margaret R. Karagas

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: Limited data exist on the contribution of dietary sources of arsenic to an individual's total exposure, particularly in populations with exposure via drinking water. Here, the association between diet and toenail arsenic concentrations (a long-term biomarker of exposure) was evaluated for individuals with measured household tap water arsenic. Foods known to be high in arsenic, including rice and seafood, were of particular interest.

Methods: Associations between toenail arsenic and consumption of 120 individual diet items were quantified using general linear models that also accounted for household tap water arsenic and potentially confounding factors (e.g., age, caloric intake, sex, smoking) …

Chronic Malnutrition In Guatemala, Nicholas Bishop, Susan Mcilvaine

CwiC-PH

Poster includes:

• What is chronic malnutrition and what causes it?
• Why address malnutrition?
• Addressing the problem

New Health Delivery Networks: Merging Public Health And Health Care Systems, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Presentations

Incomplete coordination between medical care and public health delivery systems can result in significant missed opportunities for improving population health and constraining overall resource use. This lecture uses insight from the field of public health services and systems research (PHSSR) to examine: (1) why medical care and public health systems often fail to connect; (2) what are the potential health and economic consequences of these failures; and (3) what are the opportunities for connecting medical care and public health delivery to improve population health.

Household Wealth And Neurocognitive Development Disparities Among School-Aged Children In Nepal., Shivani A Patel, Laura E Murray-Kolb, Steven C Leclerq, Subarna K Khatry, James M. Tielsch, Joanne Katz, Parul Christian

Global Health Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Wealth disparities in child developmental outcomes are well documented in developed countries. We sought to (1) describe the extent of wealth-based neurocognitive development disparities and (2) examine potential mediating factors of disparities among a population-based cohort of children in rural Nepal.

METHODS: We investigated household wealth-based differences in intellectual, executive and motor function of n = 1692 children aged between 7 and 9 years in Nepal. Using linear mixed models, wealth-based differences were estimated before and after controlling for child and household demographic characteristics. We further examined wealth-based differences adjusted for three sets of mediators: child nutritional status, home …

Health Promotions 2.0: The Future Of Wellness Programs In America, Rajiv Kumar

Center for Policy Research

In no small part because of technology, the way we live and work is being transformed. I believe that those of us who are interested in health policy can play an important role in guiding that transformation. I submit to you that unhealthy living is a social issue; that conditions such as obesity and diabetes are social diseases and that their prevalence is a social problem. If we have a social problem, then we need a social solution. I believe part of that solution can be found in the worksite health promotion and wellness programs that have taken root across …

Health Policy & Management News, Georgia Southern University

Health Policy & Community Health: News & Publications (2011-2018)

• Georgia Southern Examines Abdominal Adiposity and Caregiver Recall

Epidemiology News, Georgia Southern University

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: News & Publications (2011-2018)

• Georgia Southern Examines Abdominal Adiposity and Caregiver Recall

Validation Of Verbal Autopsy Tool For Ascertaining The Causes Of Stillbirth, Sidrah Nausheen, Sajid B. Soofi, Kamran Sadiq, Atif Habib, Ali Turab, Zamir Suhag, Zaid Bhatti, Imran Ahmed, Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, Zahid Memon, Rajiv Bahl, M. Imran Khan, Shireen Bhutta

Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Objective: To assess performance of the WHO revised verbal autopsy tool for ascertaining the causes of still birth in comparison with reference standard cause of death ascertained by standardized clinical and supportive data.
Methods: All stillbirths at a tertiary hospital in Karachi, Pakistan were prospectively recruited into study from August 2006- February 2008. The reference standard cause of death was established by two senior obstetricians within 48 hours using the ICD coding system. Verbal autopsy interviews using modified WHO tool were conducted by trained health workers within 2- 6 weeks of still birth and the cause of death …

Development Of A Quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire For Use Among Rural South Africans In Kwazulu Natal, T. Sheehy, F. Kolahdooz, T. L. Mtshali, Tashmin Khamis, S. Sharma

Faculty of Health Sciences, East Africa

Background: South Africa is experiencing a dietary and lifestyle transition as well as increased rates of noncommunicable chronic diseases. Limited information is available on the diets of rural populations. The present study aimed to characterise the diets of men and women from rural KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and develop a quantitative food-frequency questionnaire (QFFQ) specific for this population.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out by collecting single 24-h dietary recalls from 81 adults and developing a QFFQ in Empangeni, KZN, South Africa.

Results: The diet of this population was limited in variety, high in plant-based foods (especially cereals and beans), and …

The Perception Of Maternal Anemia And The Effect Of Nutritional Education: A Qualitative Analysis Among Village Mothers In Rural Kumaon, Uk, Kelsey Bash

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Malnutrition is often associated with starving children in developing countries. However, while calorie and protein deficiencies—macronutrient deficiencies—are a cause for concern, micronutrient deficiencies can be equally detrimental and are even more pervasive. The most prevalent micronutrient deficiency is anemia, and the story of anemia in India is particularly grim. India has the largest number of anemic people in the world and severe anemia is the cause of death for an average of 22,000 Indians each year (The Micronutrient Initiative 2006). Anemia rates are exacerbated for women and even more so for pregnant women. According to the most recent National Family …

A Silent Killer Of India’S Women: Investigating The Barriers To Adequate Tuberculosis Treatment And Diagnosis For Women In Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Evonne Mcarthur

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Nearly 20 years ago, the World Health Organization declared tuberculosis as a global public health emergency, yet today TB still remains a major global health challenge. It is estimated that during 2012 8.6 million were infected with TB and 1.3 million died from the disease (WHO, 2013). Globally, more than one third of the population is infected with TB and, after HIV/AIDS, TB is the greatest killer world-wide due to a single infectious agent. 95 percent of the global TB burden lies within low and middle-income countries and among the 22 countries determined to be high epidemiological burden countries, India …