Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Going Beyond The Science: Fostering Community Within Health Behavior Interventions For Lasting Change, Katie M. Heinrich

Health Behavior Research

This commentary discusses the author’s views and experience regarding the importance of fostering community for effective and sustainable health behavior change.

Insure Me Cancer Free: An Intervention Utilizing A Dynamic Communication Model, Kimberly Kelly, Brandon Dolly, Stephenie Kennedy, Elvonna Atkins, Michelle Coon, Kemi King, Yves Mbous, Shelly Rouse

Health Behavior Research

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a pilot insurance company-based intervention guided by a Dynamic Communication Model to increase breast and colorectal cancer screening in Appalachian WV, a medically-underserved population with low screening rates. Our team and key informants developed letters and a website to promote cancer screening, and these were mailed to patients needing screening (breast: n = 232; colorectal: n = 324). After 6 months, a sample of women (n = 22) and men (n = 27) continuing to need screening received telephonic case management counseling. Screening rates were assessed at …

Evaluating The Effects Of The Teen Outreach Program On Positive Youth Development Constructs, Rita Debate, Helen Mahony, Ellen Daley, Wei Wang, Stephanie Marhefka, Sarah B. Maness, Markku Malmi, Robert Ziemba, Charlotte Noble, Eric R. Walsh-Buhi

Health Behavior Research

Introduction: The Teen Outreach Program (TOP) is a positive youth development (PYD) program that seeks to reduce the risk of adolescent pregnancy, school dropout, and course failure. As TOP has not been evaluated for its impact on PYD constructs, our purpose was to assess this potential.

Methods: A pair-matched, cluster randomized controlled trial to evaluate TOP among youth in 26 high schools was conducted in 2013-2014. Youth (N=3740) were surveyed at baseline and immediately following program completion. A linear mixed effects model compared scores of the Lerner’s Five Cs measure of PYD between treatment and control youth and by race/ethnicity …