Public Health Commons^™

What Do Parents In Mississippi Really Think About Sex Education In School?: Results Of A State-Level Survey, Colleen Mckee, Kathleen Ragsdale, Linda H. Southward

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Purpose: Despite broad public support for comprehensive sex education, its implementation remains controversial in the United States, especially in states such as Mississippi that have been identified as politically conservative. This study examined parental opinions regarding the implementation of age-appropriate sex-related education (SRE) (i.e., abstinence-plus education) in Mississippi public schools.

Methods: Data were used from the first state-level survey of a randomized sample of parents (N = 3,600) of public school students in Mississippi. The sample was relatively equally distributed between non-Hispanic whites (52.8%) and African Americans (48.2%). Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to determine parental support for …

Sexual Dysfunction Among Latino Men And Women With Poorly Controlled Diabetes, Sonjia Kenya, Cynthia N. Lebron, Hua Li, Yisel Alonzo, Ernesto Reyes, Olveen Carrasquillo

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Latinos are the largest minority population in the United States and are diagnosed with diabetes at nearly twice the rate of non-Hispanic whites. Latinos not only suffer disproportionately from diabetes but also from diabetes related complications, including sexual dysfunction. Much of the existing literature on sexual dysfunction among Latinos with diabetes has focused on erectile dysfunction (ED). There is a dearth of information on sexual functioning among Latina women with diabetes or information on both genders in other sexual domains. Our study examined the prevalence of sexual dysfunction among a cohort of 106 poorly controlled Latino diabetics in South Florida …

Hiv And Sti Risk For Young Blacks In High Prevalence Areas: Implications For Health Equity In Communities Hosting Historically Black Colleges And Universities (Hbcus), Tanya Telfair Leblanc, Madeline Y. Sutton, Peter Thomas, Wayne A. Duffus

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Background

Every year, thousands of young, black, high school graduates who are seeking higher education, attend one of the 105 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) located primarily in the south and east. The objective of the research was to examine the geographic proximity of HBCUs to areas of high HIV and STI disease burden among college age people to assess infectivity of potential sex partners in the areas surrounding HBCUs.

Methods

We examined the 14 states reporting the greatest HIV diagnoses burden among persons age 20-24 years old and STI burden among persons age 15 to 24 years old …

To Test Or Not To Test: Barriers And Solutions To Testing African American College Students For Hiv At A Historically Black College/University, Naomi M. Hall-Byers, Jennifer Peterson, Malynnda Johnson

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Young African Americans are disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. The purpose was to identify reasons that African American college students at a historically Black college/university (HBCU) identified as barriers to HIV testing, and how these barriers can be removed. Fifty-seven heterosexual-identified undergraduate students (ages 18-25) attending an HBCU in the southeastern US participated in the study. Latent content analytic techniques were used to code the transcripts for themes and categories, and representative quotations were used in the findings. Qualitative data indicates three main themes used to avoid testing and three themes to encourage testing. Students were forthcoming …

How Will Public Health And Primary Care Come Together In Massachusetts?, Javier Crespo

Public Affairs Capstones Collection

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aims to place public health and prevention practice closer to the clinical care delivery system by mandating basic preventive services and creating a national prevention plan. The Massachusetts health care system has a number of elements that can help foster closer linking of public health practices in the primary care setting. This research set out to examine whether the current healthcare system in Massachusetts will enable public health and primary care integration as intimated upon by the Affordable Care Act. This study will assess the current connection between public health and primary care …

Public Health Services & Systems Research And The Reforming U.S. Health System, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Presentations

This session reviews progress in the field of public health services & systems research (PHSSR), with a specific focus on findings that can inform the implementation and impact of health reform strategies on the U.S. public health system.

Using Chipra Immunization Measures For Primary Care Quality Improvement: Leveraging Registry Data From The State Of Maine’S Immunization Information System To Calculate Practice-Level Quality Measures, Kyra Chamberlain

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

This report describes key challenges and successes of a federally-funded, cross-organizational effort to use registry data from the State of Maine’s Immunization Information System to calculate childhood and adolescent immunization measures in support of a nine-month, multi-practice learning collaborative which resulted in significant increases in immunization rates and adoption of recommended immunization-related office system procedures. Also highlighted are lessons learned about promoting the use of standardized immunization measures for quality improvement (QI), supporting primary care practices in using and understanding data for QI activities, and emphasizing the value of public-private collaboration in achieving shared goals.

Assessing The Potential Impact Of The Affordable Care Act On Uninsured Community Health Center Patients: An Update, Peter Shin, Jessica Sharac, Sara J. Rosenbaum

Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative

No abstract provided.

Producing Population Health: Collective Action Requires Infrastructure, Incentives & Evidence, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Presentations

Population health improvement strategies are collective action problems that require targeted infrastructure, incentives, and information to succeed. Research on collective action problems and solutions in public health and other spheres of practice offer insight for the successful scale and spread of population health innovations.

The Globalization Of Maternal Healthcare In Western Africa, Maura T. Magistrali

Celebration

Maternal healthcare is one of the most important global issues in today’s world, reflected in its inclusion in the Millennium Development Goals. Globalization, through increased acceleration and movement, has improved maternal healthcare in Western Africa, as observed through the spread of Westernized medicines and treatments and improved technology in prenatal and obstetric care. Another remarkable effect of globalization is the hybridity manifested in both women’s healthcare choices and in the pluralistic training of midwives. However, the same forces of movement and exchange can also bring negative consequences, visible through health-access inequalities, brain drain, and the exploitation West African countries.

Human Disease - Unintended Globalization, Christopher J. Dellana

Celebration

Before man was exchanging goods and ideas, he was exchanging germs. As such, the spread of infectious disease constitutes the first truly global phenomenon and, therefore, marks the beginnings—primitive though they may have been—of what today we have finally termed ‘globalization.’ The global spread of disease, then, proves that globalization is not new and that its origins were the result of a different narrative than the ones we read from globalization theorists; it further demonstrates that the modern conception of the phenomenon is only now so well recognized because the accelerated and efficient processes that inform its daily activities have …

Paying For Prescribed Drugs In Medicaid: Current Policy And Upcoming Changes, Brian K. Bruen, Katherine Young

Health Policy and Management Issue Briefs

Since the early 2000s, state Medicaid programs have made concerted efforts to control the cost of prescription drug spending. One crucial aspect in doing so is using a pharmacy reimbursement methodology that best reflects actual drug costs. Currently, states set pharmacy reimbursement policy within broad federal guidelines, resulting in a complex mix of reimbursement rules. Many states use list prices to set reimbursement levels, and these list prices increasingly have been criticized as not accurately reflecting the cost of the drug. Specifically, there are concerns that some benchmarks lead to inflated reimbursement levels. As a result, the federal government has …

The Impact Of School-Connected Behavioral And Emotional Health Interventions On Student Academic Performance, Olga Acosta Price, M. Biehl, C. Solomon, M. Weir

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

This annotated bibliography provides a systematic review of current literature published between 2001 and 2013 and summarizes findings on the relationship between prevention-focused behavioral health interventions, such as social and emotional (SEL) learning programs, and their impact on academic outcomes.

Physical Activity And Nutritional Behavior Of Overweight College Students Trying To Lose Weight 2014, Santino Vallejos M.S.

Master's Theses

Although there are numerous benefits to increased physical activity and proper dietary behaviors, the decreased participation in physical activity and poor dietary behaviors has emerged as a significant problem within the college student population. The focus of this research study was to identify the relationship between physical activity and dietary behavior to weight loss behaviors within an undergraduate student sample of a small, comprehensive northeastern university. College-aged students (age range: 17 to 27 years old) completed the American College Health Association’s (ACHA) National College Health Assessment II (NCHA) during the years 2009 and 2012. According to the results, there were …

Political Determinants Of Health: Lessons For Pakistan, Rashid Jooma, Guido Sabatinelli

Section of Neurosurgery

There is much concern about the capacity of the health system of Pakistan to meet its goals and obligations. Historically, the political thrust has been absent from the health policy formulation and this is reflected in the low and stagnant public allocations to health. Successive political leaderships have averred from considering healthcare is a common good rather than a market commodity and health has not been recognized as a constitutional right. Over 120 of world's nation states have accepted health as a constitutional right but the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan does not mandate health or education as a fundamental right …

An Evaluation Of The East Indianapolis Food Desert, Angelina Qin

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The Indy East Food Desert (IEFD) appears to suffer from many common conditions noted by various scholars as food desert identifiers. Yet, its situation still remains unique. Though there is a prevalence of minority populations, low-income households, and low-education attainment levels, there are also factors of low-access, poor food options (within the limited food outlets in the neighborhoods), and poor eating habits which shape the situation of the community. In an attempt to alleviate the food desert problems, the Indy East Food Desert Coalition (IEFDC) was formed. IEFDC partnered with Butler University's Center for Urban Ecology in order to assess …

Global Health And The Law, Lawrence O. Gostin, Devi Sridhar

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The last two decades have brought revolutionary changes in global health, driven by popular concern over AIDS, novel influenzas, and maternal mortality. Given the rapid globalization that is a defining feature of today’s world, the need for a robust system of global health law has never been greater. Global health law has been defined as the legal norms, processes, and institutions designed primarily to attain the highest possible standard of physical and mental health for the world’s population. Global health law is not an organized legal system, with a unified treaty monitoring body, such as the World Trade Organization. There …

Sentiments Of Community Stakeholders Living In Southern Nevada Neighborhoods, Erin Sheehy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Community stakeholders provided insight to their local neighborhoods and shared their thoughts about the potential redevelopment of their neighborhoods. This study utilized data from the Southern Nevada Strong ethnographic research project. Ethnographic research was conducted over ten weeks in Summer 2013. Neighborhood observations and interviews with community stakeholders were conducted to understand how neighborhoods are utilized, how residents feel about potential redevelopment, and what areas of the neighborhoods residents would like to see improved in the future. Photographs were also collected to further examine the characteristics, aesthetics, and spatial landscape of the neighborhoods. The purpose of this qualitative research project …

An Exploratory Study Of Generational Differences In Health Information Seeking And Smoking Behaviors In Bulgaria, Iva Stoyneva

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

Smoking is a serious global public health threat that causes more than 6 million deaths annually (WHO, 2013). Smoking is also the single, most preventable cause of death (CDC, 2014). According to a recent study, Bulgaria was ranked as one of onlyl 1 countries in the world, in which half of the adult male population smokes, as well as one of 11 countries in which more than one-quarter of the adult female population smokes. Research suggests that the most significant predictors of smoking behavior in Bulgaria were age and geographic location (Balabanova, Bobak & McKee, 1998). Contributing to these finings, …

The Impact Of Body Image On Women In Later Life: Effects On Quality Of Life And Body Perception, Rachel L. Avants

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Physical, mental, and emotional changes can occur throughout the aging process, making it important to treat different age groups as separate populations when researching body image. Yet, very few instruments have been validated for middle-aged and older adults. An online survey was used to perform a validation of the Body Image Quality of Life Inventory (BIQLI) and examine demographic relationships, with a sample of 947 women, ages 40-79, from across the United States. A principal component analysis (PCA) and convergent validity supported the use of the BIQLI for women ages 40 to 79. A one-factor model was validated for comparing …

The Effect Of School And Neighborhood Environmental Factors On Childhood Obesity, Yiwei Qian

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation consists of three chapters exploring the effect of school program and neighborhood environment on childhood obesity outcome using individual panel data set of Arkansas public schoolchildren.

The first chapter (Section 2) investigates how the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP), a program that provides funding for the distribution of free fresh fruits and vegetables to students in participating schools, affects childhood obesity. We combine matching methodology and difference-in-differences analysis to estimate the effect of the FFVP on childhood BMI outcomes. Estimates of the FFVP effect are sensitive to different matching methods. Methods that provide a good balance between …

Latinas And The Traditional Genetic Counseling Model: A Qualitative Study, Stephanie Thompson

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The traditional genetic counseling model reflects an individualized counseling session that includes the presentation of information about genes, chromosomes, personalized risk assessment, and genetic testing and screening options. Counselors are challenged to balance providing educational information with discussion of implications of this information in an allotted amount of time. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of pregnant Latinas on the benefits and limitations of the traditional prenatal genetic counseling model and to determine the specific preferences for receiving prenatal genetic counseling. Data were collected through focus groups and one-on-one, semi-structured interviews of twenty-five Spanish speaking Latinas …

Global Malnutrition: Challenges Associated With Current Intervention Strategies And Prevention Initiatives, Duncan Stiller

Senior Honors Projects

Few, if any, tribulations in the field of public health have managed to transcend the epidemiological transition from acute to chronic disease as malnutrition has. Officially, malnutrition is a category of diseases that includes micronutrient deficiency, under-nutrition (calories/protein), as well as excessive nutrition. The World Food Program estimates that 842 million people worldwide do not have access to enough food, approximately 146 million of which are children. The most serious types of hunger are known as Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM), with 20 million and 35 million respective cases each year occurring in children less than …

Knowledge, Attitude And Practices Regarding Hiv/Aids Among Adult Fishermen In Coastal Areas Of Karachi., Mubashir Zafar, Nighat Nisar, Masood Kadir, Zafar Fatmi, Zeeshan Ahmed, Kashif Shafique

Community Health Sciences

BACKGROUND:

Migrant populations are at high risk of Human Immuno Deficiency Virus infection (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Studies of HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes and practices among fishermen in developing countries have shown gaps in knowledge and fear of contagion with ambivalent attitudes towards HIV/AIDS and inconsistent universal precautions adherence. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding HIV/AIDS among adult fishermen in a coastal area of Karachi, Pakistan.

METHODS:

Community based cross sectional study was conducted among fishermen in coastal area of Karachi from June to September 2012. A total of 297 adult …

Power To The People? An Evaluation Of State-Level Environmental Justice Policies, Angela Michelle Hines

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Communities of color in America lacking economical, educational, and political power have been largely invisible in the process of making major policy decisions. This is lack of access to decision-making venues has been viewed by many as the reason behind marginalized populations bearing the brunt of many societal burdens. The Environmental Justice Movement legitimized the claims of inadequate access to the decision-making process concerning environmental conditions in which African-Americans lived and worked. Through the use of disruptive actions reminiscent of those used throughout the Civil Rights Movement, the plight of communities plagued by the daily presence of hazardous waste gained …

Caregiving And The Experience Of Health And Illness In Children Living With Hiv/Aids In Gulu District Northern Uganda: An Ethnographic Research Narrative, Constantine S.L. Loum Phd

Patient Experience Journal

In this paper we discuss the experience of caregiving for children living with HIV in a resource poor environment in Gulu municipality in northern Uganda; the main research questions of the study were: what are the perceptions of caregivers on the care of children with HIV, and what barriers and enablers exist that undermine or promote better care for children respectively? The experience of caregivers and their perceptions on managing HIV in children is believed to shape the health seeking behaviour towards treatment and efforts to cope with its negative impact on the body. Women and children are the greatest …

The Role Of Governing Boards In Improving Patient Experience: Attitudes And Activities Of Health Service Boards In Victoria, Australia, Marie Bismark, Susan Biggar, Catherine Crock, Jennifer M. Morris, David M. Studdert

Patient Experience Journal

The authors sought to determine the attitudes of public health service board members and senior executives toward patient experience and to describe the governance activities of the boards in this area. The study was based on an online survey of 322 board members from 85 public health services and semi-structured interviews with 35 board members and senior executives from 13 public health services in Victoria, Australia. The results showed that while some health service boards had high aspirations and clear plans for improving patient experience, others remained sluggish or even cynically resistant to changing their existing models of care. Interviewees …

Patients’ Experiences In The Uk: Future Strategic Directions, Sophie Staniszewska, Neil Churchill

Patient Experience Journal

Over the last decade policy has emphasised the importance of a good patient experience as a cornerstone of high quality health and social care in the UK, with many initiatives attempting to develop patient-centred practice. More recently, the Francis Inquiry has addressed the significant failings in care identified at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust in England and has been pivotal in raising the importance of patient experience.¹ The Francis report made 290 recommendations, with many emphasizing the importance of patient experience through their focus on specific ways in which the quality of experiences can be enhanced, for example, by …

What Matters Most To Patients? Participative Provider Care And Staff Courtesy, Andrew H. Van De Ven

Patient Experience Journal

Although there is growing recognition of the importance of having satisfied patients, we know little about what aspects of care matter most to patients. The sources of patient satisfaction and how care delivery can influence them need more empirical study. The objective of this study was to identify which aspects of a patient’s experience of care are most important to patient satisfaction, and how dimensions of care relate to clinic size, economic performance, and employee job satisfaction. To explore our question, longitudinal survey data were obtained on patients and employees over two years (1996 and 1997). Relationships between patient satisfaction …

Psychometric Properties Of The New Patients’ Expectations Questionnaire, Ann Bowling Bsc, Msc, Phd, Gene Rowe Phd

Patient Experience Journal

The authors explore the development of the Patients’ Expectations Questionnaire (PEQ) and examination of psychometric characteristics it encompasses by reviewing surveys of primary care and hospital outpatients before and after their clinic visit. Three scales were developed for Pre-visit Ideal and Realistic expectations, and Post-visit Experiences (met expectations), based on literature review, semi-structured interviews, and subsequently piloted and refined. Patients completed the questionnaire about their ideal and realistic expectations before they saw the doctor, and were asked if their expectations had been met afterwards. The results show the scales met acceptability criteria for reliability (Cronbach’s alphas exceeded α 0.70), administration …