Public Health Commons^™

Clinical Utility Of Folate-Containing Oral Contraceptives., Zohra S Lassi, Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta

Woman and Child Health

Folate is a generic term for a water-soluble B-complex vitamin which plays an important role in protein synthesis and metabolism and other processes related to cell multiplication and tissue growth. Pregnant and lactating women are at increased risk of folic acid deficiency because generally their dietary folate is insufficient to meet their physiological requirements and the metabolic demands of the growing fetus. The evidence pertaining to the reduction of the risk of neural tube defects (NTDs) due to folate is so compelling that supplementation with 400 mug of folic acid to all women trying to conceive until 12 weeks of …

Global Impacts Of Media On Tobacco Use Among Adolescents: A Comparative Analysis Of The United States And China, Katherine Theresa Lesyna

Scripps Senior Theses

Tobacco use is responsible for five million deaths annually and is one of the leading causes of preventable death worldwide. Many smokers initiate smoking behavior during adolescence. Adolescent smoking rates have been on the rise and there are a variety of different factors that contribute to the initiation of smoking behavior. While the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have endorsed the claim that smoking in movies increases adolescents’ risk of initiating smoking, few studies have examined the impact of media on adolescent smoking in China following the expansion of transnational tobacco companies. The aim of …

Environmental Health News, Georgia Southern University

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: News & Publications (2011-2018)

• NOAA Research Grant

College Of Public Health News, Georgia Southern University

College of Public Health: News & Publications

• NOAA Research Grant

Faculty Requirement For A Portuguese Language Optometry Program: Experience And Challenges Of The Mozambique Eye Care Project, Diane Wallace

Conference Papers

Faculty recruitment for a Portuguese-language optometry program: experiences and challenges of The Mozambique Eye Care Project

Ms Diane Wallace BOptom, MPA

University of KawZulu Natal, South Africa

Purpose

The Mozambique Eyecare Project (MEP) is a unique institutional collaboration in a programme for the development, implementation and evaluation of a regional optometry training model for Portuguese-speaking Africa. The Project was initiated in February 2009 with the first cohort of undergraduate students beginning classes at Lúrio University in Northern Mozambique. This is the first Portuguese-language optometry program in Africa, and with no professionally qualified optometrists locally, faculty had to be recruited from …

Demographics And Survival Of Aids Cases With Cancer, Washington, Dc, 1996-2006, Heather A. Young, Eric Engels, Anne-Marie Sufian-Kargbo, Alicia Vargas, Kathleen Rogers, Tiffany West, Amanda D. Castel

Epidemiology Faculty Publications

Background

Washington, DC (DC) has one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the U.S and cancer is the second leading cause of death among DC residents. This study sought to examine the demographic characteristics and survival of persons with AIDS defining cancers (ADCs) compared to those with non-AIDS defining cancers (NADCs) between the early HAART era (1996-2001) and the late HAART era (2002-2006) in DC.

Methods

Cases reported from 1996-2006 to the DC Cancer Registry and the AIDS Surveillance Registry were linked using a probabilistic matching algorithm. Cases were included if the cancer occurred from 4 months to 60 months …

Molecular Distinctions Between Pediatric And Adult Mature B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas Identified Through Genomic Profiling, Karen Deffenbacher, Javeed Iqbal, Warren Sanger, Yulei Shen, Cynthia Lachel, Zhongfeng Liu, Yanyan Liu, Megan Lim, Sherrie Perkins, Kai Fu, Lynette Smith, James Lynch, Louis Staudt, Lisa M. Rimsza, Elaine Jaffe, Andreas Rosenwald, German Ott, Jan Delabie, Elias Campo, Randy Gascoyne, Mitchell Cairo, Dennis Weisenburger, Timothy Greiner, Thomas Gross, Wing Chan

United States Public Health Resources

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) predominates in pediatric patients, whereas diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is uncommon. In contrast to adults, BL and DLBCL are treated similarly in children and both entities have superior outcomes in children compared with adults. Gene expression profiling (GEP) and miRNA expression profiling clearly differentiated pediatric DLBCL from BL, forming distinct clusters regardless of patient age. However, pathway analysis of GEP data identified minor differences between corresponding pediatric and adult tumors. Predominance (6:1) of the germinal center B-cell subtype to activated B-cell subtype was found among pediatric DLBCL. Two cases were molecularly classified as primary mediastinal B-cell …

High And Persistent Hiv Seroincidence In Men Who Have Sex With Men Across 47 U.S. Cities, Marta-Louise Ackers, Alan E. Greenberg, Carol Y. Lin, Bradford N. Bartholow, Adrian Hirsch Goodman, Michael Longhi, Marc Gurwith

Epidemiology Faculty Publications

Objective

To provide HIV seroincidence data among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States and to identify predictive factors for seroconversion.

Methods

From 1998–2002, 4684 high-risk MSM, age 18–60 years, participated in a randomized, placebo-controlled HIV vaccine efficacy trial at 56 U.S. clinical trial sites. Demographics, behavioral data, and HIV status were assessed at baseline and 6 month intervals. Since no overall vaccine efficacy was detected, data were combined from both trial arms to calculate HIV incidence based on person-years (py) of follow-up. Predictors of seroconversion, adjusted hazards ratio (aHR), were evaluated using a Cox proportional …

Patterns Of Interaction In Public Health Research Networks: Insight From Network Analysis, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Presentations

OBJECTIVES: Studies from the past three decades have found evidence of wide variation in public health practices and policies across states and communities despite an expanding evidence base of efficacious public health strategies, suggesting gaps in implementation and translation processes. Practice-based research networks (PBRNs) are expected to accelerate research participation and translation. This study uses social network analysis methods with twelve Public Health PBRNs to study processes influencing the implementation and translation of research within diverse public health settings.

DATA and METHODS: A cross-sectional network analysis survey was validated and fielded with participants in two cohorts of public health PBRNs …

Extent And Nature Of Resource Sharing Among Local Health Departments, Joshua Vest, Gulzar H. Shah

Health Policy & Management: Faculty Presentations (2008-2022)

Objective: Collaborative arrangements between local health departments (LHDs) by which they share services, responsibilities, or staff, is a growing occurrence in the US. This phenomenon is referred to as regionalization, resource sharing, or intra-state resource sharing. Participants of this session will learn about the current state of resource sharing among LHDs in terms of the public health activities, nature of the relationships, and geography. We will also discuss which characteristics of LHDs are associated with resource-sharing.

Data Source: Data for this analysis come from the National Association of City & County Health Official's 2010 Profile of Local Health Departments. The …

The Resilient Local Health Department: Attributes Of Survival During The Economic Crisis, Paul C. Erwin, Gulzar H. Shah

Health Policy & Management: Faculty Presentations (2008-2022)

The purpose of this research is to explore the attributes of local health departments (LHDs) which have survived the recent economic crises without loss of staff. A retrospective cohort study is being conducted, using the 2005 and 2010 Profile of Local Health Departments datasets from the National Association of County and City Health Officials. LHDs which responded to both surveys and which provided data on full-time equivalents (FTEs) and expenditures are included for analysis. LHDs are categorized as resilient or non-resilient based on whether the LHD gained or did not lose FTEs between 2005 and 2010 (“resilient LHD”) vs. those …

Diffusion Of Practice-Based Research In Local Public Health: What Differentiates Adopters From Non-Adopters?, Gulzar H. Shah, Kay Lovelace, Reba Novich

Health Policy & Management: Faculty Presentations (2008-2022)

Objective: To improve session-participants’ understanding of level of local health departments’ (LHDs) involvement in various practice-based research (PBR) activities. Practice-based public health research is gaining increased recognition for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public health practice.

Data: Data are drawn from NACCHO’s 2010 National Profile of LHDs Study. Questions about LHDs’ participation in PBR were administered to a stratified random sample of 625 LHDs.

Findings: Over the 12 months prior to the study 38 percent of LHDs did not participate in any PBR activity and another five percent of respondents did not know if their health department …

Health Districts As Quality Improvement Collaboratives And Multi-Jurisdictional Entities, William C. Livingood, Nandi A. Marshall, Angela Peden, Ketty Gonzales, Gulzar H. Shah, Dayna S. Alexander, Kellie O. Penix, Russell B. Toal, Lynn D. Woodhouse

Health Policy & Management: Faculty Presentations (2008-2022)

Research Objective: The Georgia Public Health PBRN assessed the utility of the Multi-county Health District as a structured Quality Improvement Collaborative (QIC), and as multi jurisdictional entities for purposes of meeting standards for accreditation by the Public Health Accreditation Board.

Data Sets and Sources: Data were collected from online surveys followed up with phone interviews or paper surveys to maximize participation. A newly developed clinical care QIC instrument (Schouten et al, 2010) was modified to collect data with a revised focus on QICs for public health. We retained QI culture constructs in the instrument while shifting the focus …

Instructions For Authors

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice (JHDRP) is an on-line journal that explores the problems and challenges of health disparities among the diverse populations of the United States. Our mission is to publish research that will guide the development of evidence based solutions, policy, and programs in an effort to reduce and ultimately eliminate health disparities. The JHDRP welcomes submissions of original papers from researchers, public health practitioners, and students researching and working on health disparities research, practice, policy, evaluation, and/or solutions. Questions about the suitability of a topic should be directed to the editor.

Research Brief: Technology And Health Education: An Exploratory Study Of Older Chinese Immigrants, Jenny H. Tsai, Vicky Taylor, Shin-Ping Tu

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Technology advances, especially in the Internet, provide new tools to deliver health education to limited English proficient immigrants. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative descriptive study of older limited English proficient Chinese immigrants’ perspectives regarding computer-based health education. The sample consisted of 33 foreign-born Chinese recruited in Seattle, Washington. Data were generated through six focus groups and an 18-item demographic questionnaire. The analyses revealed that the majority was not skillful in computer use and Internet browsing, and the Internet was not a common health information source. Nevertheless, participants were supportive of having computer-based health information designed for Chinese …

Preliminary Evaluation Of The Incharge Program Among Older African Americans In Rural Alabama, Cynthia Owsley, Gerald Mcgwin Jr., June Weston, Beth T. Stalvey, Karen Searcey, Christopher A. Girkin

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Objective: Blindness rates among older African Americans are two times higher than for older whites. Our purpose was to understand attitudes about eye care and perceived barriers to care among older African Americans living in rural Alabama and to determine whether an educational program reduced perceived barriers to care. InCHARGE, an eye health education program for older African Americans, promotes eye disease prevention by conveying the personal benefits of annual dilated comprehensive eye care and by teaching strategies to minimize barriers to eye care.

Design and Participants: InCHARGE was presented in five senior centers to 111 individuals. Using a questionnaire …

Obesity Prevalence, Weight-Related Beliefs And Behaviors Among Low-Income Ethnically Diverse National Job Corps Students, Jamie S. Bodenlos, Milagros C. Rosal, Diane Blake, Celeste Lemay, Diane Elfenbein

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The obesity rates of Job Corps students, a predominantly ethnic minority and low income group of youth, are unknown. The purpose of this project was to examine obesity rates among these youth as well as their weight-related perceptions and behavior. First, medical charts (N=641) of all Job Corps students (ages 16-25) who were enrolled in the program in the past year were examined for height and weight. In the second phase of the study, 344 Job Corp students were recruited and information on weight perceptions, knowledge of obesity consequences, and weight loss behavior were examined. Almost half of the participants …

The Significance Of A K-12 Diabetes-Based Science Education Program For Tribal Populations: Evaluating Cognitive Learning, Cultural Context, And Attitudinal Components, Carolee D. Francis, Doug Coulson, Bonnie Kalberer, Lemyra Debruyn, William Freeman, Janet Belcourt

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Preventing and reducing the onset of type 2 diabetes among American Indian/Alaska Native youth requires ground-breaking strategies to affect knowledge, attitudes, and cognitive decision-making skills. In an unparalleled endeavor to address the growing epidemic of type 2 diabetes in tribal communities, a K-12 Diabetes Education in Tribal Schools (DETS) curriculum was created by eight tribal colleges and three federal agencies. This article highlights the results of the implementation phase, the final evaluation step in acquiring and measuring student knowledge and attitude gains through pre-post standardized assessment.

Barriers, Control And Identity In Health Information Seeking Among African American Women, Jennifer R. Warren, Lynette Kvasny, Michael L. Hecht, Diana Burgess, Jasjit S. Ahluwalia, Kolawole S. Okuyemi

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Qualitative research methods were used to examine the role of racial, cultural, and socio-economic group (i.e., communal) identities on perceptions of barriers and control related to traditional and internet resources for seeking health information. Eighteen lower income, African American women participated in training workshops on using the internet for health, followed by two focus groups. Transcripts were analyzed using standardized coding methods. Results demonstrated that participants perceived the internet as a tool for seeking health information, which they believed would empower them within formal healthcare settings. Participants invoked racial, cultural, and socio-economic identities when discussing barriers to seeking health information …

Health Care Disparities For Persons With Limited English Proficiency: Relationships From The 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (Meps), Diane L. Smith

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Inadequate communication between patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) and providers can be associated with lower access to health care. The purpose of this research was to determine if there is a significant difference among those persons whose primary language is English and those with LEP in ability to access care and preventative screenings and perception of interaction with their physician. Chi square analysis was performed to determine if there was a significant relationship between primary language spoken and access to health care and patient-provider interaction. Data were obtained from the 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Study. Results show that there …

Colorectal Cancer Brochure Development For African Americans, Kim L. Freeman, Lina Jandorf, Hayley Thompson, Katherine N. Duhamel

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Introduction: African Americans are more likely to die from colorectal cancer (CRC) than any other racial/ethnic group in the United States. Unfortunately, African Americans are also less likely to undergo screening for CRC than their White counterparts. Focus groups methodology was used to refine educational brochures designed to increase CRC screening among African Americans.

Methods: Two series of focus groups were completed, with a total of seven groups and 39 participants. Six different brochures (stage-matched and culturally sensitive) designed to promote CRC screening among African Americans were evaluated.

Results: All participants thought that the brochures motivated them …

Modeling Health Inequities Research In Context And The Minority Researcher’S Role, Ari Mwachofi, Ngure Wamwachofi

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Current health inequities research templates are flawed and self-defeating because they do not include historical inequalities as the central context that points to the root causes of health inequities. The context includes structural malformations which are products of the history of colonization and slavery that created racial separation and hierarchies which established Whites as the dominant group and non-Whites (minorities) as the subordinate group. Consequently it is difficult for mainstream researchers to capture the minorities’ core knowledge necessary for the creation of relevant and effective interventions for fundamental and sustainable improvement of their health. This paper proposes a health inequities …

Family Home Visitors: Increasing Minority Women’S Access To Health Services, Mechthild Meyer, Alma R. Estable, Lynne Maclean, Wendy E. Peterson

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The article describes how service access barriers (language, trust) were addressed at different levels (organization, service provider, community) by involving Family Home Visitors to support Nurse Practitioners in providing pre- and postnatal services to linguis­tic minority women in Ontario. The investigators undertook a secondary analysis of 18 semi-structured interviews with health unit informants, Nurse Practitioners, program us­ers, and community leaders, including Family Home Visitors. Health units facilitated col­laboration between two programs aimed at serving mothers with young children, result­ing in both programs using Family Home Visitors. They enhanced minority women’s trust in Nurse Practitioner services by providing interpretation, outreach and …

Editorial Comment: Patterns Of Interaction Among Local Public Health Officials And The Adoption Of Recommended Practices, Glen P. Mays

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

No abstract provided.

Patterns Of Interaction Among Local Public Health Officials And The Adoption Of Recommended Practices, Jacqueline A. Merrill, Kathleen M. Carley, Mark G. Orr, Christie Y. Jeon, Jonathon Storrick

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

The network that local health officials use to communicate about professional issues contains two groups of LHDs that are influential for either their ability to spread information or to innovate. Both groups are more likely to conduct community health assessments and develop health improvement plans. Since these activities are fundamental aspects of accreditation and health reform, the findings may present an early indication that these initiatives are having an effect on the public health system.

Editorial Comment: Public Health Governance And Population Health Outcomes, F. Douglas Scutchfield, Elizabeth Harper

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

No abstract provided.

Public Health Governance And Population Health Outcomes, Scott P. Hays, Janine Toth, Matthew J. Poes, Peter F. Mulhall, David M. Remmert, Thomas W. O'Rourke

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Research reviews have identified a gap in understanding the diversity of health department governance structures and in understanding how the variations in governing relates to health outcomes. This report details the categorization of local public health governance and reveals that certain governance types may be better suited to achieve better population health outcomes. State systems achieve the poorest health outcomes, but the best health outcomes are achieved when the political branches have a key role in local public health governance. Public health systems should consider greater local control and involvement in governance; but local governance should include the political branches …

Editorial Comment: Local Health Department Provision Of Wic Services Relative To Local Need – Examining 3 States And 5 Years, Paul C. Erwin

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

No abstract provided.

Local Health Department Provision Of Wic Services Relative To Local “Need”— Examining 3 States And 5 Years, Betty Bekemeier, Matthew Bryan, Matthew D. Dunbar, Chris Fowler

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Great variation exists in the nature of LHD service delivery and it varies, in part, relative to jurisdiction population size. Larger LHD jurisdictions may achieve an economy of scale in WIC service delivery that is not matched in smaller areas. Overall, we found that WIC service provision appears relatively consistent across study states and in the presence of increasing need, with greater responsiveness to need in urban areas. As demand for some preventive services increases LHDs in rural areas may need greater support than LHDs in large jurisdictions for meeting local demand. Unlike WIC, LHD-provided services that have less consistently …

Accelerating The Production And Application Of Evidence For Public Health System Improvement: The Search For New Frontiers, Glen P. Mays, Paul Halverson, William Riley, Peggy Honoré, F. Douglas Scutchfield

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

The new journal Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research provides a platform for rapidly and widely communicating emerging findings and lessons learned from studies of public health services and delivery systems.