Public Health Commons^™

Identifying Publication Outlets In Occupational Health Psychology: An Opinion Survey, Maria Karanika-Murray, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Leigh Schmitt

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Suicide Associated With Military Service, Margo R. Genderson, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Mark S. Kaplan, Michael J. Lyons

Publications and Research

Suicide rates among soldiers and veterans of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF) have been steadily growing since 2004, with sharp increases observed more recently. Suicides in the Army are a growing concern on Capitol Hill and in the media. Last month, the Senate Armed Services Committee held hearings on the growing incidence of suicides across the armed forces (Federal city digest, 2009, March 18). The Associated Press (AP) underlined the increasing suicide rates among Army personnel (Army reports sharp rise in suicides in January, 2009, Feb. 5). According to the AP, there were 64 suicides in 2004, and …

Environmental Tobacco Smoke Avoidance Among Pregnant African-American Nonsmokers, Susan M. Blake, Kennan D. Murray, M. Nabil El-Khorazaty, Marie G. Gantz, Michele Kiely, Dana Best, Jill G. Joseph, Ayman El-Mohandes

Publications and Research

Background—Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure during pregnancy contributes to adverse infant health outcomes. Limited previous research has focused on identifying correlates of ETS avoidance. This study sought to identify proximal and more distal correlates of ETS avoidance early in pregnancy among African-American women. Methods—From a sample of low-income, black women (n=1044) recruited in six urban, prenatal care clinics (July 2001–October 2003), cotinine-confirmed nonsmokers with partners, household/ family members, or friends who smoked (n=450) were identified and divided into two groups: any past-7-day ETS exposure and cotinine-confirmed ETS avoidance. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses identified factors associated with ETS …

School-Based Screening To Identify At-Risk Students Not Already Known To School Professionals: The Columbia Suicide Screen, Michelle A. Scott, Holly C. Wilcox, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Mark Davies, Roger C. Hicks, J. Blake Turner, David Shaffer

Publications and Research

Objectives.Wesought todeterminethedegreeofoverlapbetweenstudents identified through school-based suicide screening and those thought to be at risk by school administrative and clinical professionals. Methods. Students from7 high schools in theNewYorkmetropolitan area completed the Columbia Suicide Screen; 489 of the 1729 students screened had positive results. The clinical status of 641 students (73% of those who had screened positive and 23%of thosewho had screened negative) was assessedwithmodules from the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. School professionals nominated by their principal and unaware of students’ screening and diagnostic status were asked to indicate whether they were concerned about the emotional well-being of each participating student. …

Wikipedia, Me, And Ohp, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

An Integrated Intervention In Pregnant African Americans Reduces Postpartum Risk: A Randomized Trial, Ayman El-Mohandes, Michele Kiely, Jill G. Joseph, Siva Subramanian, Allan A. Johnson, Susn M. Blake, Marie G. Gantz, M. Nabil El-Khorazaty

Publications and Research

Objective—To evaluate the efficacy of an integrated multiple risk intervention delivered mainly during pregnancy, in reducing such risks (smoking, environmental tobacco smoke exposure, depression and intimate partner violence) postpartum.

Design—Data from this randomized controlled trial were collected prenatally and on average 10 weeks postpartum in six prenatal care sites in the District of Columbia. African Americans were screened, recruited and randomly assigned to the behavioral intervention or usual care. Clinic-based, individually tailored counseling was delivered to intervention women. The outcome measures were number of reisks reported postpartum and reduction of these risks between baseline and postpartum.

Results—The …

Cities Of Consumption: The Impact Of Corporate Practices On The Health Of Urban Populations, Nicholas Freudenberg, Sandro Galea

Publications and Research

The increasing concentration of the world's population in cities and the growing accumulation of political and economic power by corporations create new threats to health and opportunities for improving global health. By considering the intersection of these two fundamental social determinants of well-being, we elucidate some of the mechanisms by which they influence the health of urban populations. After reviewing the changing historical impact of corporations on cities, we focus on the growth of consumption as a leading cause of mortality and morbidity and describe how the food, tobacco, automobile, and other industries promote unhealthy behaviors and lifestyles in urban …

Across The Pond: Ea-Ohp— Sohp Summit Meeting, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Jonathan Houdmont

Publications and Research

On March 6, 2008 at the APA/NIOSH/SOHP Conference on Work, Stress, and Health in Washington, DC, the executive committees and other involved members of the Society for Occupational Health Psychology and the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology held a summit meeting. The gathering was the latest in an ongoing series that began at the EA-OHP Dublin 2006 conference. The main discussion points and outcomes of interest to members are presented here.

The Impact Of Corporate Practices On Health: Implications For Health Policy, Nicholas Freudenberg, Sandro Galea

Publications and Research

Although corporate practices play a substantial role in shaping health and health behavior, public health researchers have rarely systematically studied these practices as a social determinant of health. We consider case studies of three products - trans fat, a food additive and a preservative; Vioxx, a pain killer; and sports utility vehicles - to illustrate the role of corporate policies and practices in the production of health and disease and the implications for health policy. In recent years, public health advocates, researchers, and lawyers have used strategies to reduce the adverse health impact of corporate practices. Systematic analysis of these …

Birth Weight, Infant Growth, And Childhood Body Mass Index: Hong Kong’S Children Of 1997 Birth Cohort, L. L. Hui, Mary Schooling, Shirley Sze Lee Leung, Kwok Hang Mak, Lai Ming Ho, Tai Hing Lam, Gabriel M. Leung

Publications and Research

Objective
To investigate the association between birth weight, infant growth rate, and childhood adiposity as a proxy for adult metabolic or cardiovascular risk in a Chinese population with a history of recent and rapid economic development.

Design
Prospective study in a population-representative birth cohort.

Setting
Hong Kong Chinese population.

Participants
Six thousand seventy-five term births (77.5% successful follow-up).

Main Exposures
Birth weight and growth rate (change in the weight z score) at ages 0 to 3 and 3 to 12 months.

Main Outcome Measure: Body mass index (BMI) (calculated as the weight in kilograms divided by the height in …

Changing Corporate Practices To Reduce Cancer Disparities, Nicholas Freudenberg, Sandro Galea, Marianne Fahs

Publications and Research

While reducing racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in cancer mortality has been identified as a national goal, current policies are unlikely to achieve it. In order to advance the development of policies for the primary prevention of cancer and cancer disparities, we propose that the practices of the tobacco, alcohol, and food industries be considered as modifiable social determinants of health. We review evidence that the practices of these industries in product design, marketing, retail distribution, and pricing contribute to cancer risk behavior, incidence, and disparities, then examine public health strategies designed to reduce health-damaging practices of these industries and encourage …

Childhood Obesity Predicts Adult Metabolic Syndrome: The Fels Longitudinal Study, Shumei S. Sun, Ruohong Liang, Terry T-K Huang, Stephen R. Daniels, Silva Arslanian, Kiang Liu, Gilman D. Grave, Roger M. Siervogel

Publications and Research

Objectives—To determine the age of significant divergence in body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference in adults with and without the metabolic syndrome, and to provide age- and sexspecific childhood values that predict adult metabolic syndrome.

Study design—Part 1 of this study is a retrospective cohort study of 92 men and 59 women (mean age, 51 years) who had metabolic syndrome and 154 randomly selected adults matched for age and sex who did not have the syndrome. Part 2 is a study of predictive accuracy in a validation sample of 743 participants.

Results—The first appearance of differences …

Does Economic Development Contribute To Sex Differences In Ischaemic Heart Disease Mortality? Hong Kong As A Natural Experiment Using A Case-Control Study, Mary Schooling, Tai Hing Lam, Sai Yin Ho, Kwok Hang Mak, Gabriel M. Leung

Publications and Research

Background
The male excess risk of premature ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality may be partially due to an unknown macro-environmental influence associated with economic development. We examined whether excess male risk of IHD mortality was higher with birth in an economically developed environment.

Methods
We used multivariable logistic regression in a population-based case-control study of all adult deaths in Hong Kong Chinese in 1998 to compare sex differences in IHD mortality (1,189 deaths in men, 1,035 deaths in women and 20,842 controls) between Hong Kong residents born in economically developed Hong Kong or in contemporaneously undeveloped Guangdong province in China. …

Public Health Campaigns To Change Industry Practices That Damage Health: An Analysis Of 12 Case Studies, Nicholas Freudenberg, Sarah Picard Bradley, Monica Serrano

Publications and Research

Industry practices such as advertising, production of unsafe products, and efforts to defeat health legislation play a major role in current patterns of U.S. ill health. Changing these practices may be a promising strategy to promote health. The authors analyze 12 campaigns designed to modify the health-related practices of U.S. corporations in the alcohol, automobile, food and beverage, firearms, pharmaceutical, and tobacco industries. The objectives are to examine the interactions between advocacy campaigns and industry opponents; explore the roles of government, researchers, and media; and identify characteristics of campaigns that are effective in changing health-damaging practices. The authors compared campaigns …

Pregnancy Intentions And Happiness Among Pregnant Black Women At High Risk For Adverse Infant Health Outcomes, Susan M. Blake, Michele Kiely, Charlotte C. Gard, Ayman El-Mohandes, M. Nabil El-Khorazaty, Nih-Dc Initiative

Publications and Research

CONTEXT:Unintended pregnancy is associated with risk behaviors and increased morbidity or mortality for mothers and infants, but a woman's feelings about pregnancy may be more predictive of risk and health outcomes than her intentions.

METHODS: A sample of 1,044 black women who were at increased risk were enrolled at prenatal care clinics in the District of Columbia in 2001-2003. Bivariate and multivariate analyses assessed associations between pregnancy intentions or level of happiness about being pregnant and multiple psychosocial and behavioral risk factors, and identified correlates of happiness to be pregnant.

RESULTS: Pregnancy intentions and happiness were strongly associated, but …

Reframing School Dropout As A Public Health Issue, Nicholas Freudenberg, Jessica Ruglis

Publications and Research

Good education predicts good health, and disparities in health and in educational achievement are closely linked. Despite these connections, public health professionals rarely make reducing the number of students who drop out of school a priority, although nearly one-third of all students in the United States and half of black, Latino, and American Indian students do not graduate from high school on time. In this article, we summarize knowledge on the health benefits of high school graduation and discuss the pathways by which graduating from high school contributes to good health. We examine strategies for reducing school dropout rates with …

Recruitment And Retention Of Low-Income Minority Women In A Behavioral Intervention To Reduce Smoking, Depression, And Intimate Partner Violence During Pregnancy, M Nabil El-Khorazaty, Allan A. Johnson, Michele Kiely, Ayman El-Mohandes, Siva Subramanian, Haziel A. Laryea, Kennan B. Murray, Jutta S. Thornberry, Jill G. Joseph

Publications and Research

Background
Researchers have frequently encountered difficulties in the recruitment and retention of minorities resulting in their under-representation in clinical trials. This report describes the successful strategies of recruitment and retention of African Americans and Latinos in a randomized clinical trial to reduce smoking, depression and intimate partner violence during pregnancy. Socio-demographic characteristics and risk profiles of retained vs. non-retained women and lost to follow-up vs. dropped-out women are presented. In addition, subgroups of pregnant women who are less (more) likely to be retained are identified.

Methods
Pregnant African American women and Latinas who were Washington, DC residents, aged 18 years …

Low-Income Minority Mothers’ Reports Of Infant Health Care Utilisation Compared With Medical Records, Kennan D. Murray, Ayman El-Mohandes, M. Nabil El-Khorazaty, Michele Kiely

Publications and Research

This study aimed to investigate mothers’ reporting of the nature, location, frequency and content of health care visits for their infants, as compared with data abstracted from the infants’ medical records. It was part of a community-based parenting intervention designed to improve preventive health care utilisation among minority mothers in Washington, DC. Mothers 18 years old with newborn infants and with poor or no prenatal care were enrolled in the study. A total of 160 mother–infant dyads completed the 12-month study. Mothers were interviewed when the infants were 4, 8 and 12 months old, and were asked to recall infant …

Overdose Prevention For Injection Drug Users: Lessons Learned From Naloxone Training And Distribution Programs In New York City, Tinka Markham Piper, Sasha Rudenstine, Sharon Stancliff, Susan Sherman, Vijay Nandi, Allan Clear, Sandro Galea

Publications and Research

Background: Fatal heroin overdose is a significant cause of mortality for injection drug users (IDUs). Many of these deaths are preventable because opiate overdoses can be quickly and safely reversed through the injection of Naloxone [brand name Narcan], a prescription drug used to revive persons who have overdosed on heroin or other opioids. Currently, in several cities in the United States, drug users are being trained in naloxone administration and given naloxone for immediate and successful reversals of opiate overdoses. There has been very little formal description of the challenges faced in the development and implementation of large-scale IDU naloxone …

Bullying, Depression, And Suicidality In Adolescents, Anat Brunstein-Klomek, Frank Marrocco, Marjorie Kleinman, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Madelyn S. Gould

Publications and Research

Objective: To assess the association between bullying behavior and depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts among adolescents. Method: A self-report survey was completed by 9th- through 12th-grade students (n = 2342) in six New York State high schools from 2002 through 2004. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between being victimized and bullying others with depression, ideation, and attempts. Results: Approximately 9% of the sample reported being victimized frequently, and 13% reported bullying others frequently. Frequent exposure to victimization or bullying others was related to high risks of depression, ideation, and suicide attempts compared with adolescents not involved …

Historical Perspective: The Historical Development Of The Society For Occupational Health Psychology, Leslie B. Hammer, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

The Society for Occupational Health Psychology (SOHP) is the first professional group of its kind in the United States. The development of the Society can be traced to the development of the field of occupational health psychology (OHP). OHP is an interdisciplinary partnership of the psychological and occupational health sciences. The goals of this partnership include the improvement of the quality of people’s working lives and the enhancement of the safety, health, and well-being of workers. To our knowledge the first time the term occupational health psychology became visible in the research literature is in 1986 in a book chapter …

Brief Note From The Editor, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Recruiting New Members, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

The Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science took place in New York City from May 25 to May 28, 2006. We attended the convention and had a number of goals that we wanted to accomplish: assume a position on the graduate student board, present at a poster session, attend various conference events, and recruit conferees for the Society for Occupational Health Psychology. It is the last goal about which we are writing. We hope that this article will help our SOHP colleagues recruit, at some future time, new members for our organization.

Obesity, Physical Activity, And Mortality In A Prospective Chinese Elderly Cohort, Mary Schooling, Tai Hing Lam, Zhi Bin Li, Sai Yin Ho, Wai Man Chan, Kin Sang Ho, May Ked Tham, Benjamin J. Cowling, Gabriel M. Leung

Publications and Research

Background
In older people, it is unclear whether obesity relates to mortality, which calls into question its etiologic role in disease and its public health relevance. This apparent lack of relationship in older people could be an artifactual result of their diverse health states.

Methods
We used Cox regression analysis to determine whether the effect of body mass index (BMI) (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) or physical activity on mortality varied with health status in a prospective cohort study of Chinese people 65 years or older enrolled from 1998 to 2000 at …

School Violence, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

The purpose of this chapter is threefold. First, the chapter summarizes what is known about the prevalence of violence and weapons in U.S. schools. Second, the chapter examines theories that bear on school violence and the empirical evidence linked to those theories. Third, the chapter looks at attempts to prevent school violence and, consequently, the suffering school violence causes.

Constructing Whiteness In Health Disparities Research, Jessie Daniels, Amy J. Schulz

Publications and Research

There is a long tradition within the United States of constructing whiteness (the racial subject) against racialized others (the racial object) and in the process displacing the focus of critical analysis. Here we turn our lens to the often invisible--or at least underinterrogated--concept of whiteness within the context of the literature on racial disparities in health. Specifically, we examine how whiteness is constructed in the active literature documenting and interpreting racial disparities in health and the implications of these constructions for efforts to eradicate inequalities in health. We draw on the concepts of racial formation and "racial projects" that emphasize …

Community Reactions To Campaigns Addressing Crystal Methamphetamine Use Among Gay And Bisexual Men In New York City, Jose Nanín, Jeffrey T. Parsons, David S. Bimbi, Christian Grov, Justin T. Brown

Publications and Research

Crystal methamphetamine (aka “crystal meth”) use with high-risk sex has become an emerging health problem for gay and bisexual men in New York City since the late 1990s. Public health campaigns were eventually developed to encourage gay and bisexual men to avoid or reconsider using crystal meth. Reactions to three campaigns were measured with a cross-sectional survey administered in 2004. Among an ethnically-diverse sample of 971 gay and bisexual men, 61.8% reported seeing the campaigns. Those who reported ever using crystal meth, recent use, and recent use with sex were significantly more likely to have seen the campaigns. In …

Public Health Advocacy To Change Corporate Practices: Implications For Health Education Practice And Research, Nicholas Freudenberg

Publications and Research

Corporate practices, such as advertising, public relations, lobbying, litigation, and sponsoring scientific research, have a significant impact on the health of the people in the United States. Recently, health professionals and advocates have created a new scope of practice that aims to modify corporate practices that harm health. This article describes how corporate policies influence health and reviews recent health campaigns aimed at changing corporate behavior in six industries selected for their central role in the U.S. economy and their influence on major causes of mortality and morbidity. These are the alcohol, automobile, food, gun, pharmaceutical, and tobacco industries. The …

Health Education’S New Frontier In Addressing Corporate Influences On Health: An Interview With Nicholas Freudenberg, Nicholas Freudenberg, Ellen Jones, Lori Dorfman

Publications and Research

Nick Freudenberg is Distinguished Professor of Public Health at Hunter College, City University of New York. For the past 25 years, he has worked with community organizations to develop, implement, and evaluate community interventions to improve the well-being of low-income urban communities. He has also worked for many years in the New York City jail, running programs to improve the transition from jail to the community, and advocating for policy changes related to jail conditions and postrelease drug treatment, health care, and housing. More recently, he has turned his attention to the role of corporate policies and practices on the …

Single-Payer National Health Insurance: Physicians' Views, Danny Mccormick, David U. Himmelstein, Stephanie Woolhandler, David H. Bor

Publications and Research

Background
Forty-one million Americans have no health insurance and, despite the growth of managed care, medical costs are again increasing rapidly. One proposed solution is a single-payer health care financing system with universal coverage. Yet, physicians' views of such a system have not been well studied.

Methods
We surveyed a random sample of physicians (from the American Medical Association Masterfile) in Massachusetts, regarding their views on a single-payer health care financing system and other financing and physician work-life issues that such a system might affect.

Results
Of 1787 physicians, 904 (50.6%) responded to our survey. When asked which structure would …