Public Health Commons^™

Action For Dental Health Initiatives, American Dental Association

Action for Dental Health

No abstract provided.

Recognition Of And Attitudes Toward, Intimate Partner Violence Among Sampled University Students, Samantha Maureen Wobschall

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research was to further explore university students' recognition of instances of intimate partner violence and their attitudes toward this issue. A total of 382 male and female university students from a mid-sized public university participated in the survey. Findings show that 97% of participants were able to accurately identify the scenario that did not depict intimate partner violence, however rates of recognition ranged from 51% to 90% for scenarios that did depict IPV. Through an independent t-test, this research found that there was a significant difference when comparing male and female students' ability to accurately recognize …

Preventing Childhood Obesity: A Mixed Methods Study Into The Perceptions Of African Americans In A Rural Community, Dayna S. Alexander

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Preventing childhood obesity is a global priority due to adverse health risks and financial burdens. With childhood obesity rates stabilizing it is difficult to determine which factors alone (i.e., genetic, environmental, behavioral, or demographic) increase susceptibility to childhood obesity. Parents influence childhood obesity risk factors through their parenting styles and behaviors. Social behavioral theories and public health evidence demonstrate including parents in childhood obesity efforts could assist in reducing childhood obesity rates. The objective of this study was to assess perceptions of childhood obesity among African Americans with children enrolled in a rural elementary school in the Deep South. The …

Measuring The Effectiveness Of The Leave No Trace Peak Program, Jennifer Miller, Eddie Hill, Amy Shellman, Ron Ramsing, Ben Lawhon

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics developed the Promoting Environmental Awareness in Kids (PEAK) program to teach children the seven Leave No Trace principles. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the PEAK program. A significant increase was found between the pre-test (M = 3.41, SD = .34) and the post-test (M = 3.61, SD = .36) with the post-test scores being significantly higher, F(1, 140) = 11.15, p<.01. No significant difference was found between the pre-test (M = 3.48, SD = .35), post-test (M = 3.63, SD = .35), and 8-month post-test (M = 3.38, SD = .41). The 8-month post-test indicated a drop in scores, though not statistically significant, below the pre-test. Results supported the PEAK program’s effectiveness, in the short-term, in teaching children the Leave No Trace principles. However, longer-term retention was not supported.

Adolescent Violence Prevention, Hatim A. Omar

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Violence in adolescence has seen an increase since the 1990s with dramatic statistics on violent death and risk behaviors. School violence has been focused upon by a huge media coverage of especially violent cases that could have had some endemic consequences worldwide. We present a case of a 14 year old white male with change in school behavior, strategies for the case investigation, its results and long term prevention. Other research has shown that preventive measures during pregnancy, infancy and childhood can prevent adolescent and adult delinquency.

Shots, Everybody? : British Anti-Smallpox Vaccination And The Development Of Multifaceted Anti-Vaccine Rhetoric On Internet Parenting Forums, Marta B. Bean

Scripps Senior Theses

Vaccination is an important public health measure that can help reduce disease at the population level. Substantial evidence exists that vaccines are safe and effective at reducing the incidence of diseases like pertussis, measles and cervical cancer. However, on Internet parenting forums, parents discuss whether or not vaccination is the right choice for their children. In this thesis, I highlight the historical context of the anti-vaccine movement in mid 19^th century to early 20^th century Victorian Britain in the era of compulsory smallpox vaccination. Vaccination in this time was a very different and more overtly dangerous process, and …

Risk Perceptions Of Cardiovascular Disease In College Students, Antonia Kolas

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

College students oftentimes underestimate their risk perception of cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study examined undergraduate students' perception of efficacy and perception of threat of cardiovascular disease. A paper survey was distributed to three undergraduate student classes (n = 127; 66.9% female; 33.1% male; 83.5% White/Caucasian; M age = 20.00). This 17-item survey assessed demographics, perception of general health, perception of efficacy of cardiovascular disease, and perception of threat of cardiovascular disease. Analyses included Cronbach's alpha, descriptive, frequencies, and independent sample t-test. College students have a higher perception of efficacy (M = 24.45 out of 30.00; SD = 4.35) and a …

Bartram Healthy Lifestyles Initiative, James Barrett, James Seternus

Bridging the Gaps Posters 2014

No abstract provided.

Tapestry Of Hope: Inspiration & Victory In The Face Of Adversity, Anna Bossert, Amy Surti

Bridging the Gaps Posters 2014

No abstract provided.

Developing Future Leaders, Anna Leigh Jamison

Bridging the Gaps Posters 2014

No abstract provided.

Veterans Helping Veterans, Christopher Damiano, Laurel Garber

Bridging the Gaps Posters 2014

No abstract provided.

Play Is Child's Work: Play Pods Invade North Philadelphia To Put Children To Work, Amanda Mastrogiovanni, Nicole Viray

Bridging the Gaps Posters 2014

No abstract provided.

Working It Out At Haddington Townhouses, Rachael Oyewole, Aliya Shaikh

Bridging the Gaps Posters 2014

No abstract provided.

Presence Of Antibiotic Resistance Genes From Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent In Northwest Arkansas, Ryan Macleod, Mary Savin

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) among bacterial populations are causing increasing concern with medical and agricultural implications. While the effluent of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is treated with a variety of antimicrobial methods, bacteria and the genetic material that is able to pass on antibiotic resistance to environmental populations are not completely destroyed. Ampicillin (amp), tetracycline (tet), and sulfonamide (sul) antibiotics have been detected in Northwest Arkansas (NWA) streams, and IncP plasmids—which are especially notorious for containing antibiotic resistance genes and have been detected after disinfection in NWA WWTPs—are known to carry ARGs for those antibiotics. The objective of this inquiry …

Alteration Of Host Cell Ubiquitination By The Intracellular Bacterial Pathogen Coxiella Burnetii, Lindsay Pritchett, Daniel E. Voth

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

The intracellular bacterial agent of Q fever, Coxiella burnetii, replicates within a phagolysosomelike parasitophorous vacuole (PV) in human macrophages and delivers effector proteins to the host cytosol via a Dot/Icm type IV secretion system (T4SS). The T4SS effectors are critical for PV formation and prevention of host cell death that allows sufficient time for bacterial replication. Recruitment of ubiquitin-related components to the C. burnetii PV is also predicted to be involved in PV formation and bacterial replication and is likely controlled by effector proteins. In this study, we assessed the role of the Dot/Icm T4SS in regulating ubiquitination by comparing …

Sovereignty, Citizenship, And Public Health In The United States, Polly J. Price

Faculty Articles

Sovereign boundaries, state borders, and distinctions between citizens and non-citizens undermine public health in the United States in a number of ways. For historical reasons, we are prone to view immigration and public health as separate interests, but they are in fact convergent. Historically, federal authority over immigration alleviated costs otherwise borne by state and local governments. Today, however, states are primarily responsible for the prevention and control of communicable disease acquired outside U.S. borders. The federal and state governments confront a stark division of authority with respect to non-citizens: The federal government decides which non-citizens to admit into the …

Sampled University Students' Perceived Risk Of Diabetes & Self-Reported Diabetes Risk Factors, Ajibike R. Shodunke

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research was to measure university students' perceived risk of diabetes and self-reported diabetes risk factors. Informed consent forms and survey questionnaires were distributed to students in randomly sampled courses (n=357), with students aged 18 to 24. Out of the 357 surveys completed, 325 surveys were used for analysis of this study. Forty-eight percent of participants between ages 18 to 24 perceived themselves at minimal risk for developing type II diabetes. Sampled participants reported a mean of 2.25 (type II) diabetes risk factors out of 18 diabetes risk factors. Additionally, there were significant differences ( …

Dating Violence On Small Rural College Campuses: Are Administrator And Student Perceptions Similar?, Jean Allen Oldham

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

In recent years dating violence has become more and more prevalent on college campuses. Reports of the range of dating violence vary widely, with studies reporting from 20% to 85% of college women experiencing dating violence. However, almost all research has been conducted among urban and/or large colleges and universities, with virtually no attention to what is happening on small and/or rural college and university campuses.

When a possible 20% of college women have experienced dating violence on college campuses, there becomes a crucial need for administration at a college to have an accurate assessment of the college’s liability, and …

Primary And Secondary Prevention Of Hepatitis C Virus Among Rural Appalachian People Who Use Drugs, Dustin B. Stephens

Theses and Dissertations--Clinical and Translational Science

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with 3% of the global population chronically infected. Clinical impacts in the United States are projected to increase for two decades, and mortality attributed to HCV now exceeds HIV. Injection drug use (IDU) is the most common route of transmission in the developed world. Advances in treatment offer hope of mitigating HCV impacts, but substantial barriers obstruct people who inject drugs (PWID) from receiving care, particularly in medically underserved regions including Central Appalachia. This study assessed IDU paraphernalia sharing longitudinally over 24 months in a sample of …

Sex Education Background Of Students At Msu, Mankato Prior To Enrollment At The University, Natalie Mcconkey

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine what key concepts were recalled in high school sex education curricula by students at MSU. The participants in this study were MSU, students enrolled in 2013 spring semester Health and the Environment course. An electronic survey consisting of 43 questions was distributed though the survey program SurveyMonkey. The survey was sent out to 596 MSU students, and data was collected from 39 MSU, M students. Roughly, 73% of the participants reported receiving comprehensive sex education compared to 19% of participants reporting abstinence-only education in high school. The key concepts that received major …

Massachusetts Healthy Aging Data Report: Community Profiles, Elizabeth Dugan, Frank Porell, Nina Silverstein, Ruth Palombo, Stacey Mann

Gerontology Institute Publications

The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Data Report: Community Profiles was created by researchers at the Gerontology Institute of the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston and commissioned by the Tufts Health Plan Foundation.

In this report, we have created a custom profile of nearly 100 healthy aging indicators for every city and town in Massachusetts including the 16 neighborhoods of Boston (367 Community Profiles). Each Community Profile is designed to help community residents, agencies, providers, and governments understand the older adults who live in their cities and towns – their ages, …

Comparison Of Body Composition Measures In Older Adult Males, Cody Smith

Honors Projects

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure created to assess population wide staistics of obesity and stratify health risk. However, there are large differences in health risk when comparing BMI with measures of body composition. BMI is not a measure of body composition. Body composition measures are used to distinguish between fat mass, fat-free mass. This percent body fat is more significantly correlated with health risk.

This study analyzed various body composition methodologies including waist circumference at the umbilicus and at the narrowest point of the abdomen, sagittal abdominal diameter, bioelectrical impedance analysis, and air displacement plethysmography. The study’s purpose …

Birth Control: To What Extent Do Women Report Being Informed And Involved In Decisions About Pregnancy And Birth Procedures?, Rachel Thompson, Yvette D. Miller

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: Health policy, guidelines, and standards advocate giving patients comprehensive information and facilitating their involvement in health-related decision-making. Routine assessment of patient reports of these processes is needed. Our objective was to examine decision-making processes, specifically information provision and consumer involvement in decision-making, for nine pregnancy, labour, and birth procedures, as reported by maternity care consumers in Queensland, Australia.

Methods: Participants were women who had a live birth in Queensland in a specified time period and were not found to have had a baby that died since birth, who completed the extended Having a Baby in Queensland Survey, 2010 about …

The Determinants Of Physical Activity In Rural Women, Ages 20-44 Years, Dziyana Nazaruk

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Despite multiple health benefits of exercise, it is reported that only 14.7% of American women engage in the recommended amount of physical activity. Whereas the potential negative consequences of not exercising are well documented, there is a scarcity of literature that investigates the determinants of physical activity in rural women. The purpose of this concurrent transformative mixed method study was to explore the determinants of physical activity in rural women ages 20-44 years. Specific quantitative research questions addressed the relationship between the determinants of physical activity on intra- and interpersonal levels, as well as the current physical activity status of …

Role Of Nicotine Dependence On The Relationship Between Variants In The Nicotinic Receptor Genes And Risk Of Lung Adenocarcinoma, Tung-Sung Tseng, Jong Y. Park, Jovanny Zabaleta, Sarah Moody-Thomas, Melinda S. Sothern, Ted Chen, David E. Evans, Hui-Yi Lin

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Several variations in the nicotinic receptor genes have been identified to be associated with both lung cancer risk and smoking in the genome-wide association (GWA) studies. However, the relationships among these three factors (genetic variants, nicotine dependence, and lung cancer) remain unclear. In an attempt to elucidate these relationships, we applied mediation analysis to quantify the impact of nicotine dependence on the association between the nicotinic receptor genetic variants and lung adenocarcinoma risk. We evaluated 23 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the five nicotinic receptor related genes (CHRNB3, CHRNA6, and CHRNA5/A3/B4) previously reported to be associated with lung cancer risk …

Taking Physical Activity To The Streets: The Popularity Of Ciclovia And Open Streets Initiatives In The Us, J. Aaron Hipp

Brown School Faculty Publications

As a way to reduce chronic diseases associated with increasingly sedentary lifestyles, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advocates community-wide initiatives promoting physical activity. One such initiative gaining popularity in the US is the Ciclovía, or Open Streets initiative, where city streets are opened to residents for physical activity and closed to motorized traffic.1 Open Streets gained international prominence in Bogota, Colombia, and are viewed by policy makers and health and community advocates as being beneficial to social, environmental, and community health.2 The interest in initiatives is demonstrated by the increase in the number of events within and across …

The Impact Of Implementing A Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Education Package In Jordan, Shereen Hamadneh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a problem worldwide. In North Jordan, SIDS rate was high as 1.32 per 1,000 live births and contributed 6% to the infant mortality rate (Bataineh, Shawagfeh, & Twalbeh, 2008). However, SIDS risk factors are preventable and can be reduced by improving knowledge and changing relevant behaviours of parents and healthcare providers (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2013; American SIDS Institute, 2011; Bataineh, Hussein Shawagfeh, & Twalbeh, 2008; Bredemeyer, 2004; Grazel, Phalen, & Polomano, 2010b; Moon, Oden, & Grady, 2004; NICHD, 2010). Still educating Jordanians about SIDS has not been a national health policy priority. …

The Associations Between Homa-Ir And Muscular Strengthening Activity In Euglycemic U.S. Adults, William Robert Boyer Ii

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Muscular strengthening activity (MSA) has been shown to be inversely associated with insulin resistance (IR). The associations between quartiles of the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and self-reported MSA in a nationally representative sample of euglycemic U.S. adults were examined.

Methods: Sample included adult participants (≥20 years of age [n=2,543]) from the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). HOMA-IR was categorized into quartiles based on every 25^th percentile. No MSA was the dependent variable.

Results: Following adjustment for covariates, those with HOMA-IR values in third (p

Conclusions: Having a higher HOMA-IR value is associated …

Impaired Fasting Glucose Level And Diabetes In Kaoma And Kasama Rural Districts Of Zambia: Prevalence And Correlates In 2008-2009 Population Based Surveys, Olesegun A. Babaniyi, Peter Songolo, Emmanuel Rudatsikira, Adamson S. Muula, David Mulenga, Mazyanga L. Mazaba-Liwewe, Idah Ndumba, Freddie Masaninga, Seter Siziya

Faculty Publications

Background: Impaired fasting glucose level has been associated with increased incidence of Type 2 Diabetes mellitus, and diabetes is becoming a major public health problem in developing countries. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence and correlates for impaired fasting glucose level/diabetes in Kaoma and Kasama rural districts of Zambia. Methods and Findings: A cross sectional study using modified World Health Organization (WHO) global non communicable diseases (NCD) surveillance initiative NCD STEPwise approach was used in the study. Proportions were compared using the Yates’ corrected Chi-square test, and a result yielding a p value of less than …

Three Dimensional Nutrition: Exploring Nourishment Of Spirit, Mind, And Body During A 28-Day Daniel Fast At Southern Adventist University, Caitlin S. Hobbs

Capstone Research Projects

A person who is living well can be said to be “making lifestyle choices with God’s help to support optimum physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and experiencing His gift of abundant life” (Tryon, 2009). All of these “dimensions” of health are interrelated, and in order for a person to truly flourish, each area must be nourished. Dietary choices can have an especially interesting impact on these dimensions. Eating healthfully is not always viewed as a joyous endeavor, but when viewed from a multi-dimensional perspective, it can become a more rewarding and intriguing pursuit.

One way to promote a nutritional …