Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Health Policy & Management News, Georgia Southern University

Health Policy & Management Department News (2011-2018)

• Delivery of the 10 Essential Public Health Services

Intellectual Property And Public Health – A White Paper, Ryan G. Vacca, Jim Chen, Jay Dratler Jr., Tom Folsom, Timothy Hall, Yaniv Heled, Frank Pasquale, Elizabeth Reilly, Jeff Samuels, Kathy Strandburg, Kara Swanson, Andrew Torrance, Katharine Van Tassel

Akron Law Faculty Publications

On October 26, 2012, the University of Akron School of Law’s Center for Intellectual Property and Technology hosted its Sixth Annual IP Scholars Forum. In attendance were thirteen legal scholars with expertise and an interest in IP and public health who met to discuss problems and potential solutions at the intersection of these fields. This report summarizes this discussion by describing the problems raised, areas of agreement and disagreement between the participants, suggestions and solutions made by participants and the subsequent evaluations of these suggestions and solutions.

Led by the moderator, participants at the Forum focused generally on three broad …

Food Insecurity Among Children In Massachusetts, Stephanie Ettinger De Cuba, Deborah A. Frank, Maya Pilgrim, Maria Buitrago, Anna Voremberg, Harris Rollinger, Denise A. Hines

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article focuses on the prevalence among Massachusetts children and families of food insecurity, inadequate access to enough nutritious food for an active and healthy life. It summarizes research findings on the association of food insecurity with less optimal children’s health and development from the prenatal period through adolescence. Food insecurity also correlates with other material hardships, such as housing and energy insecurity. Data show families’ participation in public nutrition and other assistance program is associated with decreased prevalence of food insecurity and with mitigation of its impact on children’s health and well-being. The article concludes with recommendations for policy …

Physical Activity For Health And Longevity, Andre M. Müller, Selina Khoo

Andre M Müller

The aging process is commonly associated with declines in health, cognitive function and well-being. However, lifestyle factors like diet, alcohol consumption, smoking and physical activity were repeatedly highlighted as predictors of a healthy aging process. However, recent research has shown that physical activity is the strongest predictor of health in older adults. Recent studies have confirmed the strong effect of physical activity on cardiovascular, metabolic, musculoskeletal and mental health in this age group, while the World Health Organization and other bodies have published physical activity guidelines. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the positive effects of physical activity older adults around …

How To Get Rid Of Thunder Thighs, Helena E. Yang

SURGE

I appreciate the insightful and important things your muffin top has to say to me, but my thunder thighs still think they’re fat.

I’m overweight (sometimes).

On a BMI scale, I fluctuate in and out of the dreaded “overweight” category. While I acknowledge that the BMI scale has its flaws, it was designed to be a quick approximation of weight to height; it is not designed to be a scientific test. Sometimes I tell myself I am super muscular and the scale doesn’t apply to me, but it’s actually not true. [excerpt]

To Bear Witness: A Journey Of Healing And Solidarity, Updated, Revised, And Expanded Edition, Kevin M. Cahill, M.D.

International Affairs

For more than fifty years, Dr. Cahill has been helping to heal the world, as a leading specialist in tropical medicine and as a driving force in humanitarian assistance and relief efforts around the globe. In this revised and expanded edition, he chronicles extraordinary achievements of compassion and commitment. Bringing together a rich selection of writings, he crafts a fascinating memoir of a life devoted to others. The book includes front-line reports from places under siege—Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, Nicaragua, Gaza, and Ireland; there are also visionary essays from the origins of the AIDS epidemic and landmine crises, and no less …

Epidemiology News, Georgia Southern University

Epidemiology News (2012-2018)

• Health Risk Behaviors

The Case For Conscientiousness: Evidence And Implications For A Personality Trait Marker Of Health And Longevity, Tim Bogg, Brent W. Roberts

Psychology Faculty Research Publications

Purpose Recent initiatives by major funding agencies have emphasized translational and personalized approaches (e.g., genetic testing) to health research and health management. While such directives are appropriate, and will likely produce tangible health benefits, we seek to highlight a confluence of several lines of research showing relations between the personality dimension of conscientiousness and a variety of health-related outcomes.

Methods Using a modified health process model, we review the compelling evidence linking conscientiousness to health and disease processes, including longevity, diseases, morbidity-related risk factors, health-related psycho-physiological mechanisms, health-related behaviors, and social environmental factors related to health.

Conclusion We argue the …

Childhood Obesity And Overweight: Causes And Implications In Preschool Children, Melissa L. Sittner

Kinesiology and Public Health

The root causes of childhood obesity and overweight are currently hot topics of research. While many causes have been discovered, researchers are still weighing them against one another while taking the lifestyles of at-risk populations into account. Some of these causes include lack of physical activity, increase in screen time, and the implications of health disparities borne of a child’s socioeconomic status. These causes and more are reviewed further and applied to the population of interest: preschool aged children in the United States, and more specifically preschool aged children of San Luis Obispo County in California. The need for multi-level …

The Role Of Relative Bmi Across Racial And Ethnic Groups: Impacts On Happiness Within The United States, Colin Knox

Honors Theses

Over the last generation, rising Body Mass Index (BMI) among Americans has had significant health and psychological impacts. My thesis uses data from over 1 million surveys from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to examine the role of BMI in determining individual happiness. I specifically consider whether being surrounded by others who are overweight reduces the psychological cost of being overweight. Controlling for demographic factors, I create reference groups based on an individual’s state, sex, race and age. My thesis intends to show that individuals with a BMI higher than their reference group will be less happy.

Examining Universal Primary Healthcare Through Community-Based Initiatives, Donald E. Warden

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper examines enacting community-based primary healthcare programs and initiatives. It looks at the weaknesses of past attempts, the successes of current attempts, and gives insight into ways everyday citizens can change the way the world does healthcare. There are social, economic, and political barriers as to why these programs are not enacted. Since 1978, Member states of the United Nations strive towards healthcare for all. The original 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata sets the bar at achieving this goal by the year 2000. Now in the 21^st century, the world still battles inadequate healthcare. Nations continue to strive towards …

Understanding The Motivational Factors For College Students To Remain Non-Smokers, Chanler Hilley

Honors Theses

Cigarette smoking has long been recognized as a negative health behavior. Numerous studies have linked cigarette smoking to cancer, heart and circulatory problems, lung disease, and an array of other health issues, leading to lower quality of life and premature death. There is a wealth of knowledge relating to the negative outcomes of smoking behavior (USDHHS, 2010) and the factors leading to smoking behavior among adolescents (USDHHS, 2012). However, researchers have studied factors leading to nonsmoking behavior much less. The present study uses the Theory of Planned Behavior to understand the motivational factors that lead to a student's nonsmoking behavior, …

Factors Contributing To Poor Physical Health In Incarcerated Women, Holly M. Harner Phd, Mph, Whcnp- Bc, Suzanne Riley Ba

Public Health and Nutrition Faculty work

Prisons have become the primary health care provider for some of the poorest and sickest women in the United States. By virtue of both biological sex and gender, incarcerated women have health needs different from those of their male counterparts. The purpose of this qualitative investigation was to understand better women’s perceptions of how prison has affected their physical health. We conducted this investigation in a maximum- security women’s prison in the United States using focus group methodology (12 focus groups, made up of 65 women). Women described several specific prison- based factors that affected their physical health: limited and …

Reductions In Cardiovascular, Cerebrovascular, And Respiratory Mortality Following The National Irish Smoking Ban: Interruped Time-Series Analysis, Sericea Stallings-Smith, Ariana Zeka, Patrick J. Goodman, Zubair Kabir, Luke Clancy

Articles

Background:

Previous studies have shown decreases in cardiovascular mortality following the implementation of comprehensive smoking bans. It is not known whether cerebrovascular or respiratory mortality decreases post-ban. On March 29, 2004, the Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to implement a national workplace smoking ban. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of this policy on all-cause and cause-specific, non-trauma mortality.

Methods:

A time-series epidemiologic assessment was conducted, utilizing Poisson regression to examine weekly age and gender-standardized rates for 215,878 non-trauma deaths in the Irish population, ages $35 years. The study period was …

Advancing Occupational Therapy In Workplace Health And Wellbeing: A Scoping Review, Lynn Shaw Dr., Amanda Kollee, Helen Ren, Kayla Lofgren, Savannah Saarloos, Kirsten Slaven, Ann Bossers

Lynn Shaw

Advancing Occupational Therapy in Workplace Health and Well-being: A Scoping Review Amanda Kollee, Helen Ren, Kayla Lofgren, Savannah Saarloos, Kirsten Slaven, Ann Bossers & Lynn Shaw Background: Workplace health continues to be a goal that workers and employers desire. For instance, organizations want to adapt and find ways to accommodate the changing needs of workers as they grow older and develop chronic health conditions. Preventative strategies are required to maintain health and limit the burden on both organizations and individual workers. Occupational therapists can support workplaces to foster the personal health and well-being of workers and to develop workplace environments …

Understanding First Nations Young Adults' Health Literacy, Ebony Rempel

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Relative to non-First Nations, Inuit, and Metis (FNIM) Canadians, FNIM people have poorer health status. A qualitative investigation of the health literacy skill and the health information (HI) needs of young FNIM adults was conducted. Eight single mothers living on-reserve were interviewed. Data analysis generated four main themes along with the subthemes of: (1) Traditional Health (TH), (i) TH Culture Excised, and (ii) Wanting to Know More about TH; (2) HI Needs of First Nations young Mothers; (3) Access to HI, (i) Asking the Doctor / Telehealth (ii) other Female Family and Friends; (4) Online Accessibility, (i) HI Online, (ii) …

The Impact Of Volunteering On Seniors’ Health And Quality Of Life: An Assessment Of The Retired And Senior Volunteer Program, Theodore W. Mcdonald, Erica L. Chown, Jordan E. Tabb, Amy K. Schaeffer, Elsa K. M. Howard

Public Health and Population Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Past research suggests that senior citizens often face challenges related to deteriorating physical and men- tal health, and the quality of their lives may suffer as a result. Past research also suggests that volunteering can improve the health and quality of life for seniors. In the present study, 451 volunteers enrolled in the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) completed surveys including questions regarding their volunteer experiences and how these experiences have affected their health and quality of life. The results suggest that volunteering through RSVP is associated with improvements in health and quality of life across a variety of …

Area Specific Self-Esteem, Values, And Adolescent Sexual Behavior, Michael Young, Joseph Donnelly, George Denny

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This study examined area-specific self-esteem scores by sexual behavior relative to adolescents' values concerning participation in sexual intercourse as an unmarried teenager. The sample consisted of 332 students in grades 7–12 from a Southern rural school district. Students were asked if they had ever had sexual intercourse (yes/no) and if they had participated in sexual intercourse in the last month (yes/no). Respondents also indicated on a 4-point scale their response to the statement “It is against my values to have sex as an unmarried teenager.” Data were analyzed using a 2 × 4 (behavior x values) analysis of variance for …

Impact Of Tobacco-Related Health Warning Labels Across Socioeconomic, Race And Ethnic Groups: Results From A Randomized Web-Based Experiment, Jennifer Cantrell, Donna M. Vallone, Jim Thrasher, Reebekah H. Nagler, Shari P. Feirman, Larry R. Muenz, David Y. He, Kasisomayajula Viswanath

Faculty Publications

Background: The U.S. Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 requires updating of the existing textonly health warning labels on tobacco packaging with nine new warning statements accompanied by pictorial images. Survey and experimental research in the U.S. and other countries supports the effectiveness of pictorial health warning labels compared with text-only warnings for informing smokers about the risks of smoking and encouraging cessation. Yet very little research has examined differences in reactions to warning labels by race/ethnicity, education or income despite evidence that population subgroups may differ in their ability to process health information. The purpose of …

Impact Of Tobacco-Related Health Warning Labels Across Socioeconomic, Race And Ethnic Groups: Results From A Randomized Web-Based Experiment, Jennifer Cantrell, Donna M. Vallone, Jim Thrasher, Rebekah H. Nagler, Shari P. Feirman, Larry R. Muenz, David Y. He, Kasisomayajula Viswanath

Faculty Publications

Background: The U.S. Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 requires updating of the existing textonly health warning labels on tobacco packaging with nine new warning statements accompanied by pictorial images. Survey and experimental research in the U.S. and other countries supports the effectiveness of pictorial health warning labels compared with text-only warnings for informing smokers about the risks of smoking and encouraging cessation. Yet very little research has examined differences in reactions to warning labels by race/ethnicity, education or income despite evidence that population subgroups may differ in their ability to process health information. The purpose of …

A Healthier Bottom Line: Distilling Best Practices In Corporate Wellness, Mark Auriemma, Cfa, Angela Cassidy, Kelly Dougherty, Despina Garalis, Pharmd, Rph, Judith Pelletier, Jennifer Springer

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

The Massachusetts Business Roundtable (MBR) collaborated with a team from the Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) from the University of Massachusetts Boston to explore ways to control health care costs. One strategy being implemented by employers to control health care costs is through “wellness programs,” employer-sponsored efforts to improve the health of employees. Members of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable (MBR) and other large employers have had success in reducing their health care costs through the implementation of corporate wellness initiatives. The purpose of this paper is to define what is working in private sector wellness programs to determine whether there is …

Decline In Health For Older Adults: Five-Year Change In 13 Key Measures Of Standardized Health, Paula Diehr

Paula Diehr

Background. The health of older adults declines over time, but there are many ways of measuring health. It is unclear whether all health measures decline at the same rate or whether some aspects of health are less sensitive to aging than others. Methods. We compared the decline in 13 measures of physical, mental, and functional health from the Cardiovascular Health Study: hospitalization, bed days, cognition, extremity strength, feelings about life as a whole, satisfaction with the purpose of life, self-rated health, depression, digit symbol substitution test, grip strength, activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, and gait speed. …

Intellectual Property And Public Health – A White Paper, Ryan G. Vacca, James Ming Chen, Jay Dratler Jr., Thomas Folsom, Timothy S. Hall, Yaniv Heled, Frank A. Pasquale, Elizabeth A. Reilly, Jeffery Samuels, Katherine J. Strandburg, Kara W. Swanson, Andrew W. Torrance, Katharine A. Van Tassel

Faculty Scholarship

On October 26, 2012, the University of Akron School of Law’s Center for Intellectual Property and Technology hosted its Sixth Annual IP Scholars Forum. In attendance were thirteen legal scholars with expertise and an interest in IP and public health who met to discuss problems and potential solutions at the intersection of these fields. This report summarizes this discussion by describing the problems raised, areas of agreement and disagreement between the participants, suggestions and solutions made by participants and the subsequent evaluations of these suggestions and solutions. Led by the moderator, participants at the Forum focused generally on three broad …

Life And Health Outside Prison, Tiffany Amorette Young

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative study explores the subjective understandings of formerly incarcerated individuals' experiences of health and healthcare prior to, during, and post release. The study incorporates in depth ethnographic interviews, participant observation, and life charting to formulate a holistic understanding of how incarceration has impacted the health and lives of the participants recruited for this study. All participants were incarcerated for a minimum of one year in the U.S. prison system. This interdisciplinary study contributes to the fields of sociology, criminology, and public health, and builds on the literature of race, health, and corrections in the United States.

Intellectual Property And Public Health – A White Paper, Ryan G. Vacca, Jim Chen, Jay Dratler Jr., Tom Folsom, Timothy Hall, Yaniv Heled, Frank Pasquale, Elizabeth Reilly, Jeff Samuels, Kathy Strandburg, Kara Swanson, Andrew Torrance, Katharine Van Tassel

Ryan G. Vacca

On October 26, 2012, the University of Akron School of Law’s Center for Intellectual Property and Technology hosted its Sixth Annual IP Scholars Forum. In attendance were thirteen legal scholars with expertise and an interest in IP and public health who met to discuss problems and potential solutions at the intersection of these fields. This report summarizes this discussion by describing the problems raised, areas of agreement and disagreement between the participants, suggestions and solutions made by participants and the subsequent evaluations of these suggestions and solutions.

Led by the moderator, participants at the Forum focused generally on three broad …

Enhancing Communication Between Scientists, Government Officials, And The Lay Public: Advancing Science And Protecting The Public's Welfare Through Better Multi-Stakeholder Interfacing, Clark J. Lee, Patrick P. Rose, Earl Stoddard Iii

Homeland Security Publications

No abstract provided.

Arab Muslim Immigrant Women's Experiences Of Living In The United States: A Qualitative Descriptive Study, Maissa Khatib

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: Over three million Arab Muslims live in the United States, and more than half are women (Nasser-McMillan, 2003). Little is known about these women in the growing and diverse Arab American Muslim population, and there is limited information available regarding their experiences of living in the U.S. Their experiences influence multiple aspects of their lives, including functioning in mainstream culture, use of resources or agencies, and the decisions they make that shape their acculturation outcome.

Purpose: To describe the experiences of Arab Muslim immigrant women living in the U.S.

Methods: This qualitative study examined the shared experiences of immigrant …

The Dynamics Of Alcohol Consumption In The Russian Federation: Implications Of Using Price Related Policies To Control Alcohol Use, Arseniy Pavlovich Yashkin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation models the dynamics of alcohol use in the Russian Federation with an emphasis on identifying policy implications most likely to be effective at controlling alcohol use. Utilizing data from The Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, models of alcohol consumption are estimated using both myopic and rational specifications via ordinary least squares, fixed effects two stage least squares and, the focus of this study, two-step system generalized method of moments. Alcohol consumption is studied both as a composite good and as a distinct beverage category (wine, beer, and hard liquor). Furthermore, equations stratified by gender and rural status are included …

Searching For Health Information On The Internet : The Experiences Of Western Australian Adolescents, Lee-Anne Martins

Theses : Honours

Adolescents readily engage in online entertainment pursuits, however, it is their online social activities and health information searches that encourage psychosocial development and influence identity formation and autonomy. Considerable research has been completed on various aspects of adolescents’ encounters with online health information (for example, see Percheski & Hargittai, 2011), yet minimal research has been conducted using Australian adolescents. This study extends existing research utilising Western Australian adolescents who have used the Internet to obtain health information. The areas explored include how Western Australian adolescents search for online health information, by means of which devices, and their experiences of using …

The State Of Health And Safety Program Management As It Pertains To Osha In The Funeral Industry: A Formative Analysis, Brad William Kuchnicki

Online Theses and Dissertations

From a law perspective, contingency refers to possible events that may or may not happen, by which, when happening, some particular title may be affected. In the funeral industry, OSHA regulations govern a vast array of procedures directly related to day-to-day operations. If at any time one of these controls have or have not been implemented, enforced or altered, the organization could be influenced. This thesis will analyze the state of health and safety program management as it pertains to OSHA in the funeral industry.