Public Health Commons^™

Community Health News, Georgia Southern University

Health Policy & Community Health: News & Publications (2011-2018)

• Georgia Southern Examines Cervical Cancer Screening Interventions

The Crisis Of Opiates In Appalachia, James B. Becker Md

Marshall Journal of Medicine

No abstract provided.

Harvesting Health: A Community-Based Participatory Evaluation Of The Veggie Rx Program, Natalie Royal, Kristin Brown, Fanny Rodriguez, Bianca Fernandez, Leticia Valle, Elizur Bello

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

No abstract provided.

Web-Based Media Literacy To Prevent Tobacco Use Among High School Students, Jane S. Phelps-Tschang, Elizabeth Miller, Kristen R. Rice, Brian A. Primack

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Facilitator-led smoking media literacy (SML) programs have improved media literacy and reduced intention to smoke. However, these programs face limitations including high costs and barriers to standardization. We examined the efficacy of a Web-based media literacy program in improving smoking media literacy skills among adolescents. Sixty-six 9th grade students participated in a Web-based SML tobacco education program based on health behavior theory. Pre- and post-test assessments demonstrated statistically significant changes in the primary outcome of total SML as well as each of the individual SML items. However, there were inconsistent changes in other theory-based outcomes including attitudes and normative beliefs.

Medicaid Financing, Sally Coberly

National Health Policy Forum

This publication provides an overview of how the Medicaid program is financed. It explains how the federal and state shares of funding are determined, briefly describes disproportionate share hospital payments and how those are affected by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, and outlines financing mechanisms states have used to maximize federal Medicaid matching funds.

Medicaid Eligibility And Benefits, Sally Coberly

National Health Policy Forum

This publication provides a brief overview of the Medicaid program. It highlights the range of eligibility and benefits requirements and options and it briefly describes the program's financing structure.

The Medicare Drug Benefit (Part D), Sally Coberly

National Health Policy Forum

The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) established a voluntary outpatient prescription drug benefit for Medicare beneficiaries that began January 1, 2006. This publication provides an overview of the drug benefit.

Medicare, Sally Coberly

National Health Policy Forum

This publication provides an overview of the Medicare program including eligibility, covered services, cost-sharing requirements, and program financing.

From 'D' To 'I': A Critique Of The Current United States Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation For Testicular Cancer Screening, Michael J. Rovito, Janna Manjelievskaia, James E. Leone, Michael J. Lutz, Ajay Nangia

Movement Arts, Health Promotion and Leisure Studies Faculty Publications

In 2004, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) gave testicular cancer (TCa) screening a ‘D’ recommendation, discouraging the use of this preventive service. The USPSTF suggested that screening, inclusive of testicular self-examination (TSE) and clinician examination, does not reduce TCa mortality rates and that the high risk of false positives could serve as a detriment to patient quality of life. Others suggests that TCa screening is ineffective at detecting early-stage cases of TCa and readily highlights a lack of empirical evidence demonstrating said efficacy. These assertions, however, stand in stark contrast to the widely held support of TCa …

Social Media In The Sexual Lives Of African American And Latino Youth: Challenges And Opportunities In The Digital Neighborhood, Robin Stevens, Jamie Dunaev, Ellen Malven, Amy Bleakley, Shawnika J. Hull

Prevention and Community Health Faculty Publications

There has been significant interest in the role of social media in the lives of adolescents, particularly as it relates to sexual risk. Researchers have focused on understanding usage behaviors, quantifying effects of social media exposure and activity, and using social media to intervene. Much of this work has focused on college students and non-minority youth. In this paper, we examine the growing body of literature around social media use among US minority youth and its intersection with sexual risk behavior. We introduce the concept of the “digital neighborhood” and examine the intersection of social media and sexual health in …

Schools Of Public Health In Low And Middle-Income Countries: An Imperative Investment For Improving The Health Of Populations?, Fauziah Rabbani, Leah Shipton, Franklin White, Iman Nuwayhid, Leslie London, Rajiv Rimal, +11 Additional Authors

Prevention and Community Health Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Public health has multicultural origins. By the close of the nineteenth century, Schools of Public Health (SPHs) began to emerge in western countries in response to major contemporary public health challenges. The Flexner Report (1910) emphasized the centrality of preventive medicine, sanitation, and public health measures in health professional education. The Alma Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care (PHC) in 1978 was a critical milestone, especially for low and middle-income countries (LMICs), conceptualizing a close working relationship between PHC and public health measures. The Commission on Social Determinants of Health (2005-2008) strengthened the case for SPHs in LMICs as …

Do Health Reforms Impact Cost Consciousness Of Health Care Professionals? Results From A Nation-Wide Survey In The Balkans, Mihajlo Jakovljevic, Mira Vukovic, Chia-Ching Chen, Tetsuji Yamada

NYMC Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Serbia, as the largest market of the Western Balkans, has entered socioeconomic transition with substantial delay compared to most of Eastern Europe. Its health system reform efforts were bold during the past 15 years, but their results were inconsistent in various areas. The two waves of global recession that hit Balkan economies ultimately reflected to the financial situation of healthcare. Serious difficulties in providing accessible medical care to the citizens became a reality. A large part of the unbearable expenses actually belongs to the overt prescription of pharmaceuticals and various laboratory and imaging diagnostic procedures requested by physicians. Therefore, …

Computerized Tailored Interventions To Enhance Prevention And Screening For Hepatitis C Virus Among People Who Inject Drugs: Protocol For A Randomized Pilot Study., Ryan P Westergaard, Shawnika J. Hull, Alana Merkow, Laura K Stephens, Karli R Hochstatter, Heidi K Olson-Streed, Lisa M Baker, Timothy M Hess

Prevention and Community Health Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a growing problem among people who inject drugs. Strategies to reduce disease transmission (eg, syringe exchange programs) and facilitate HCV screening and linkage are available but are under-utilized in many communities affected by injection drug use. Novel approaches to increasing the use of these strategies are needed.

OBJECTIVE: The goals of this project are to (1) develop and pilot test a computerized tailored intervention for increasing HCV screening and decreasing risky drug use behavior among people who inject drugs and (2) determine the feasibility of disseminating such an intervention using peer-based referrals in …

Western Kentucky University College Of Health And Human Services (Chhs) Strategic Plan 2016-2020, Wku College Of Health & Human Services

College of Health & Human Services Publications

No abstract provided.

Ua12/4 Stall Street Journal, Vol. 8, Wku Health Services

WKU Administration Documents

Broadsides developed by WKU Health Services to convey public health information in students in bathroom stalls. Incomplete run.

Association Between Social Integration And Health Among Internal Migrants In Zhongshan, China, Yanwei Lin, Qi Zhang, Wen Chen, Jingrong Shi, Siqi Han, Xiaolei Song, Yong Xu, Li Ling

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Internal migrants are the individuals who migrate between regions in one country. The number of internal migrants were estimated at 245 million in China in 2013. Results were inconsistent in the literature about the relationship between their health statuses and social integration. The main difference exists on how to measure the social integration and whether health statuses of internal migrants improve with years of residence. To complement the existing literature, this study measured social integration more comprehensively and estimated the internal migrants' health statuses with varying years of residence, and explored the associations between the migrants' social integration and health. …

Pesticide Exposure In The Caribbean: A Case From Nutmeg Processing, Muge Akpinar-Elci, My Ngoc Thuy Nguyen, Satesh Bidaisee, Omur Cinai Elci

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Many developed countries around the world have implemented regulations to phase out or greatly restrict the use of pesticides. Pesticides are still utilized with minimal restrictions, however, in fumigating agricultural commodities in developing countries such as Grenada. This special report presents the case of a nutmeg factory worker in Grenada who worked with various pesticides including methyl bromide, magnesium phosphide (magtoxin), and aluminum phosphide (phostoxin) without the proper awareness and utilization of health and safety measures. The nutmeg factory worker later developed metastatic bladder cancer, which may have been triggered by a combination of individual risk factors along with long-term …

Assessment Of Effectiveness And Scalability Of Unicef-Sponsored Projects To Prevent Violence Against Children And Women In Papua, South Sulawesi, And Central Java., Marc C. Edberg, Hina Shaikh, Leah Keller

Center for Social Well-Being and Development

No abstract provided.

Fabric Cooling By Water Evaporation, Uwe Reischl, Ravindra S. Goonetilleke

Public and Population Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Clothing can provide safety and comfort for persons exposed to both cold and hot thermal environments. To assess the potential impact of clothing moisture and wetness on fabric cooling, a series of wind-tunnel tests was conducted to quantify the evaporative cooling capacity of selected fabric samples. Single-layer cotton, polyester, nylon and silk were evaluated. The results showed that onset and magnitude of evaporative cooling was determined by the amount of water contained in a fabric sample. The results also showed that an exposed "skin" exhibited more cooling when covered with a fabric than when it was not. The information obtained …

The Secret Ingredient For Improving Infant/Child Mental Health: Teaching Parents To Play, Geraldine Healy Marini

Occupational Therapy Doctorate Capstone Projects

Disorders in mental health are the highest of all disorders and results in the most common form of disability. Since 2011, mental health disorders have increased at alarming rates. It is estimated that 9.5 to 14.2% of children between the ages of 0 to 5 years have and emotional or behavioral problem. The mental health of parents or caregivers can affect and impact the development of young children (Nelson & Mann, 2011, Zero to Three, 2004).

The over arching goal of this research is to explore issues of mental health within parent-child interactions. Coaching parents during the co-occupation of play …

The State Of Children's Health: 2016 Community Health Needs Assessment For The Kansas City Region, Margo Quiriconi

Community Benefits

The State of Children’s Health: 2016 Community Health Needs Assessment for the Kansas City Region (2016 CHNA) is the second assessment since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) required hospitals to conduct a triennial community health needs assessments. In addition to fulfilling the ACA requirements and subsequent IRS Section H/Form 990 mandate, the 2016 CHNA process is undertaken:
• to examine the current health status of children and identify unmet health needs in the Children’s Mercy leading service area
• to identify the current health priorities—as well as new and emerging health concerns—among children and families …

Legal Space For Syringe Exchange Programs In Hot Spots Of Injection Drug Use-Related Crime., Sean T. Allen, Monica Ruiz, Monique Turner, Jeff Jones

Prevention and Community Health Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Copious evidence indicates that syringe exchange programs (SEPs) are effective structural interventions for HIV prevention among persons who inject drugs (PWID). The efficacy of SEPs in supporting the public health needs of PWID populations is partially dependent on their accessibility and consistent utilization among injectors. Research has shown that SEP access is an important predictor of PWID retention at SEPs, yet policies exist that may limit the geographic areas where SEP operations may legally occur. Since 2000 in the District of Columbia (DC), SEP operations have been subject to the 1000 Foot Rule (§48-1121), a policy that prohibits the …

Redrawing The Us Obesity Landscape: Bias-Corrected Estimates Of State-Specific Adult Obesity Prevalence., Zachary J Ward, Michael W. Long, Stephen C Resch, Steven L Gortmaker, Angie L Cradock, Catherine Giles, Amber Hsiao, Y Claire Wang

Prevention and Community Health Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: State-level estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) underestimate the obesity epidemic because they use self-reported height and weight. We describe a novel bias-correction method and produce corrected state-level estimates of obesity and severe obesity.

METHODS: Using non-parametric statistical matching, we adjusted self-reported data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2013 (n = 386,795) using measured data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (n = 16,924). We validated our national estimates against NHANES and estimated bias-corrected state-specific prevalence of obesity (BMI≥30) and severe obesity (BMI≥35). We compared these results with previous …

Legal Space For Syringe Exchange Programs In Hot Spots Of Injection Drug Use-Related Crime., Sean T Allen, Monica S. Ruiz, Jeff Jones, Monique M Turner

Prevention and Community Health Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Copious evidence indicates that syringe exchange programs (SEPs) are effective structural interventions for HIV prevention among persons who inject drugs (PWID). The efficacy of SEPs in supporting the public health needs of PWID populations is partially dependent on their accessibility and consistent utilization among injectors. Research has shown that SEP access is an important predictor of PWID retention at SEPs, yet policies exist that may limit the geographic areas where SEP operations may legally occur. Since 2000 in the District of Columbia (DC), SEP operations have been subject to the 1000 Foot Rule (§48-1121), a policy that prohibits the …

Optimising Text Messaging To Improve Adherence To Web-Based Smoking Cessation Treatment: A Randomised Control Trial Protocol, Amanda L. Graham, Megan A. Jacobs, Amy M. Cohn, Sarah Cha, Lorien C. Abroms, George D. Papandonatos, Robyn Whittaker

Prevention and Community Health Faculty Publications

Introduction Millions of smokers use the Internet for smoking cessation assistance each year; however, most smokers engage minimally with even the best designed websites. The ubiquity of mobile devices and their effectiveness in promoting adherence in other areas of health behaviour change make them a promising tool to address adherence in Internet smoking cessation interventions. Text messaging is used by most adults, and messages can proactively encourage use of a web-based intervention. Text messaging can also be integrated with an Internet intervention to facilitate the use of core Internet intervention components.

Methods and analysis We identified four aspects of a …

Smoking Cessation Support For Pregnant Women: Role Of Mobile Technology., Christina L Heminger, Jennifer M. Schindler-Ruwisch, Lorien C. Abroms

Prevention and Community Health Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Smoking during pregnancy has deleterious health effects for the fetus and mother. Given the high risks associated with smoking in pregnancy, smoking cessation programs that are designed specifically for pregnant smokers are needed. This paper summarizes the current landscape of mHealth cessation programs aimed at pregnant smokers and where available reviews evidence to support their use.

METHODS: A search strategy was conducted in June-August 2015 to identify mHealth programs with at least one component or activity that was explicitly directed at smoking cessation assistance for pregnant women. The search for text messaging programs and applications included keyword searches within …

Knowledge, Confidence, Intention, And Motivation: Hegemonic Masculinity's Influence Upon Nutritional Habits Of Males, Sara Chizmar

Honors Undergraduate Theses

With the increasing incidence of chronic diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and cardiovascular disease and the growing obesity epidemic, the need to increase nutritional literacy amongst the general public is paramount. Men tend to lack a strong base of nutritional knowledge. Masculinity is one of the factors preventing many men from making good nutritional choices.

The aim of this study was to investigate hegemonic masculinity in relation to current level of nutritional knowledge as well as perceptions and attitudes regarding dietary behaviors and intention to eat a healthy diet among a sample of males. A convenience sample of …

Container Culture: An Educational Program To Reduce The Overuse, Ashleigh R. Toy

Occupational Therapy Doctorate Capstone Projects

The increased pace of society, improved safety, mobility and the need for parent efficiency have created a vast market of infant products to meet these demands: car seats that clip in and out of everything from the car to the grocery cart, jumpers, walkers, exersaucers, swings, bouncers and bumbos. These infant equipment products are helpful and can be beneficial if used effectively, however, the problem synthesized from the literature and clinical observation is that these containers designed to support safety and mobility are being overused causing a decrease in tummy time and human interaction which is leading to delays in …

The National Exercise Referral Framework, Catherine B. Woods, Noel Mccaffrey, Brona Furlong, Lorraine Fitzsimons D'Arcy, Maire Murphy, Michael Harrison, Liam Glynn, John O'Riordan, Biddy O'Neill, Sinead Jennings, Caroline Peppard

Reports

A 2013 Review of the HSE funded GP Exercise Referral Programme (GPERP) highlighted the need for a new National Exercise Referral Framework (NERF). The evidence suggests that exercise referral is an effective targeted health intervention for specific patients and with the increasing prevalence of chronic disease it is imperative that we examine, design and progress the implementation of scalable, sustainable evidence-based, interventions, integrated across the health system to improve the health and wellbeing of the population. The development of this proposed National Exercise Referral Framework, commissioned by Health Promotion and Improvement, was led by DCU involving a multi-disciplinary Working Group …

Impact Of Dementia Behavioral Crises Events On First Responder And Family Systems In Idaho: An Exploratory Study, Trina Stolp, Mary Brown, Sarah Toevs, Mike Berlin

Public and Population Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Enhancing quality of life for people with dementia is identified in Healthy People 2020 as a public health priority. In Idaho, the proportion of individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) is projected to increase by 81 % - 127 % between 2000 and 2025. Policies designed to address needs of this population must be based on an understanding of system wide impacts of disease. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the impact of behavioral crises related to dementia on first responders. For the purpose of this study, “first responders” were defined as individuals employed …