Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Improving Health Literacy In Underserved Youth, Paul Lee, Stephanie Parks, Sydney Wiredu, Dhaval Shah, Archana Salek

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Health literacy is an individual’s capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions. There are disparities in health literacy across age, gender, ethnicity, location and socioeconomic status. Children aged 12-17 are an important target group regarding health literacy research because of the fundamental cognitive, physical and emotional development processes occurring that affect health related skills and behaviors.

The objectives of this project were to:

• Identify the disparities of health literacy in varying demographics with regards to age, gender, location and socioeconomic areas
• Determine barriers affecting health literacy comprehension and knowledge in the target …

Examining The Relationship Between Adolescent Obesity Rates And School Health Programs In Grades 9-12 In The United States, Joseph Melillo, Alison Mancuso

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

- In the United States, it was found that the prevalence of obese adolescents ages 12-19 was 21.2%.1

- According to a study by Ward et. al published in the New England Journal of Health (NEJH), the researchers estimated 88.2% of obese 19-year-olds would still be obese by the age of 35.2

- The purpose of this study was to evaluate school provided health programs and their impact on BMI values of students within these schools.

- This study aimed to compare health outcomes between different schools across the United States and identify aspects of school programming that can be …