Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Risk Perception In Cardiovascular Disease, Michelle Ellen Block

Dissertations

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains among the leading causes of death in the United States despite widespread knowledge about risk factors as well as effective primary prevention strategies. Risk perception is a complex phenomenon that plays an important role in how persons view disease and ultimately how they make health behavior choices. This study is supported by the knowledge that few studies have examined how persons perceive cardiovascular risk or the variables thought to contribute to the formation of risk perception.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine how accurately persons perceive personal risk for cardiovascular disease and identify …

In Search Of Resilience And Positive Health Outcomes In Low-Income Adolescents With Asthma, Darla Kim Dewolff

Dissertations

Asthma is a chronic lung disease of epidemic proportions affecting 24.6 million Americans, including 7.0 million children. In particular, 22% of high school students indicated a doctor or a nurse had told them that they had asthma, with 10.8% with current asthma. The disease disproportionately afflicts minority children from low-income areas. Adolescents with asthma, who live in such areas, are at particular risk for increased morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which the phenomenon of resilience, observed in other physical health and psycho-social contexts, may be found in adolescents with asthma exposed …