Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Breast Cancer And Environment Peer Education Tool Kit -- Community Action Panel, Susan C. Schwartz

Susan C. Schwartz

The Breast Cancer and Environment Peer Education Tool Kit culminates three years of dedicated effort by the Zero Breast Cancer leadership and staff, community partners and advisors, and peer education specialists in the San Francisco Bay Area. The teen breast cancer risk awareness curriculum tools that Zero Breast Cancer is making available to the broader community evolved from a formative community assessment to address the need for ageappropriate teen breast cancer outreach education in a community known for high breast cancer incidence.

The impetus to develop this program has been threefold: 1) to disseminate knowledge back to the community that …

Psychosocial Functioning Problems Over Time Among High Risk Youths: A Latent Class Transition Analysis, Richard Dembo, Jennifer Wareham, Norman Poythress, Kathleen Meyers

Norman Poythress

The authors report the results of latent class analyses and latent class transition analyses of antisocial behavior risk factors among 137 youths participating in a juvenile diversion program. The study examined the youths’ latent classifications using baseline and 1-year follow-up measures of family, peer, education, and mental health risk factors. Latent class transition analyses were conducted to determine the stability and change of latent class membership across two time points. For both baseline and follow-up measures, latent class analyses suggested that two latent classes were most appropriate for characterizing the youths using the four domains of risk factors. One class …

A Biopsychosocial Examination Of Atod Use Among Middle And High School Students, Russell Warne

Russell T Warne

Can Hopelessness And Adolescents' Beliefs And Attitudes About Seeking Help Account For Help Negation?, Coralie Wilson, Joseph Ciarrochi, Frank Deane

joseph Ciarrochi

This article reports the first time the help-negation relationship for suicidal thoughts (i.e., the inverse relationship between help-seeking intentions for suicidal thinking and levels of suicidal ideation) has been specifically examined, and established, in a non-clinical adolescent sample. The study raises major implications for national and international suicide prevention policy development, clinical practice and strategies for ongoing prevention and early intervention

The Effect Of Perceived And Structural Neighborhood Conditions On Adolescents' Physical Activity And Sedentary Behaviors, Jinseok Kim, Jihong Liu, Natalie Colabianchi, Russell Pate

Jihong Liu

No abstract provided.

Environmental Influences On Physical Activity Levels In Youth, Patricia Tucker, Jennifer Irwin, Jason Gilliland, Meizi He, Kristian Larsen, Paul Hess

Trish Tucker

This study assessed the amount of physical activity engaged in by youth aged 11–13, in relation to: (1) the presence of neighborhood recreational opportunities, objectively measured within a geographic information system; and (2) parents’ perceptions of recreation opportunities in their neighborhoods. Students in grade 7 and 8 (n=811) in 21 elementary schools throughout London, Ontario completed the adapted Previous Day Physical Activity Recall and a questionnaire assessing environmental influences in the home and school neighborhoods. Parents/guardians of participants also completed a questionnaire eliciting demographic information and perceptions of the neighborhood environment. On average, students engaged in 159.9 min/day of physical …

Clinical Guidance On The Use Of Antidepressant Medications In Children And Adolescents, Bill Lyndon, Leanne Rowe, Allen Fraser, Daryl Efron, Garry Walter, Ian Wilson, Louise Newman, Natalie Silove

Ian G Wilson

This statement is addressed to prescribers, especially general practitioners, and is intended to provide clinical guidance on the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) when treating children and adolescents. While treatment of psychiatric and developmental disorders in children may include multiple modalities of therapy, this statement is focussed on medication.

Preventing Hiv Infection Among Adolescents: Evaluation Of A School-Based Education Program, D Main, Donald Iverson, J Mcgloin, S Banspach, J Collins, D Rugg, Lloyd Kolbe

Don C. Iverson

Background. This article reports the results of the impact of aschool-based HIV prevention intervention on students′ knowledge, attitudes, and behavior related to HIV infection. Methods. Seventeen schools within six Colorado school districts were assigned to either intervention or comparison conditions. Students in 10 schools received a 15-session, skills-based HIV prevention curriculum implemented by trained teachers. A total of 2,844 students completed at least one survey during the study period; surveys were matched using demographic questions, yielding a cohort of 979 students who had baseline and 6-month follow-up data. Results. Intervention students exhibited greater knowledge about HIV and greater intent to …

Comparison Of Hiv-Risk Behaviors And Demographics Of Adolescents Tested Or Not Tested For Hiv Infection, D Main, Donald Iverson, J Mcgloin

Don C. Iverson

In a survey of 2,548 adolescents, 11.5 percent reported ever having had the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody test. Those who had been tested were significantly more likely to be male, black, and to reside in metropolitan areas than those who had not been tested. Tested adolescents were more than three times as likely to report having injected drugs and were more than twice as likely to have had sexual intercourse, had sexual intercourse at earlier ages, and with multiple partners. More than half of adolescents who had been HIV-tested had no reported risks for HIV infection. More than one-quarter …

Sun Protecting And Sun Exposing Behaviors: Testing Their Relationship Simultaneously With Indicators Of Ultraviolet Exposure Among Adolescents, Melinda Williams, Peter Caputi, Sandra Jones, Don Iverson

Don C. Iverson

The aim of this study was to build on existing understanding of adolescent sun-related behavior by combining sun protecting and sun exposing behaviors and testing their relationship simultaneously with indicators of ultraviolet (UV) exposure. Data were collected for 692 adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years. General linear modeling was undertaken to test the relationship of sun-related behaviors with indicators of UV exposure. Overall, the combined sun protection and sun exposing behaviors accounted for 13.8% of the variance in the number of sunburns, 28.1% of the variance in current tan and 57.5% of the variance in desired tan, respectively. Results …

Nonreciprocal And Reciprocal Dating Violence And Injury Occurrence Among Urban Youth, Monica Swahn, Meltem Alemdar, Daniel Whitaker

Monica H. Swahn

Objective: Dating violence is a significant health problem among youth that leads to adverse health outcomes, including injuries. Reciprocal violence (perpetrated by both partners) is associated with increased injury in adults, but very little is known about the prevalence and context for reciprocal violence, as well as injury rates, among youth. We sought to determine the prevalence and scope of reciprocal dating violence and injury occurrence among urban youth in a high-risk community.

Methods: Analyses were based on data from the Youth Violence Survey, conducted in 2004, and administered to over 80% of public school students in grades 7, 9, …

An Evaluation Of College And Low Income Youth Writing Together: Self Discovery And Cultural Connection, Genevieve Chandler

Genevieve E. Chandler

Although the health and healing effects of writing have been documented in the literature, most of the studies have focused primarily on individuals writing alone. This formative evaluation is a component of an intervention reported elsewhere. The evaluation describes the experience of low-income youth and college students ( n = 7) writing in a group during a 10-week workshop. The results revealed the development of protective processes of self-esteem, self-efficacy, coping strategies, social support, and cultural connections. In the weekly 2-hr writing sessions, using the Amherst Writers and Artists method, participants were encouraged to write their stories in their own …