Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons^™

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 …

Willow: Reaching Hiv-Positive African-American Women Through A Computer-Delivered Intervention, Charles H. Klein

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study evaluates the efficacy of Multimedia WiLLOW in enhancing HIV-protective sexual behaviors and psychosocial outcomes among HIV-positive African American women, including condom use for vaginal and anal sex, and psychosocial mediators associated with risk reduction practices. Using a community-based randomized controlled design, 168 participants completed a baseline and follow-up assessment as well as an exit satisfaction survey. Intervention participants reported significantly higher proportions of condom protected sex acts in the past 30 days (p=.002), with both HIV-negative (p=.040) and HIV-positive (p=.003) partners. They were also more likely to report 100% condom use (OR = .10; p=.030); a lower adjusted …

Addressing The Challenges Of Reporting On Childhood Asthma In A Changing Health Care System: Building Better Evidence For High Performance, Meagan Lyon, Anne Rossier Markus, Maya Tuchman Gerstein, Sara J. Rosenbaum

Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative

Childhood asthma is a serious and costly chronic disease that burdens children and families as well as the health care systems that serve them. A key element to improving asthma outcomes is access to timely and useful data that can improve the quality of care and inform programs and policies to best serve those communities most burdened by asthma. This Policy Brief examines the nation’s data collection framework for childhood asthma and considers steps that might be taken to strengthen it, including the development, collection and refinement of community-level data to inform local health care systems. Through a review of …

Health Information Technology Adoption Among Health Centers: A Digital Divide In The Making?, Adil Moiduddin, Daniel S. Gaylin

National Health Policy Forum

This background paper describes the current status of efforts to implement health information technology in community health centers. It summarizes the benefits experienced by health centers that have pioneered the use of information technology and examines the challenges that have hindered wider adoption. The paper identifies a range of policy options that have been considered to promote broader use of information technology by health centers.

Planning An Integrated Disease Surveillance And Response System: A Matrix Of Skills And Activities, Helen N. Perry, Sharon M. Mcdonnell, Wondimagegnehu Alemu, Peter Nsubuga

Dartmouth Scholarship

The threat of a global influenza pandemic and the adoption of the World Health Organization (WHO) International Health Regulations (2005) highlight the value of well-coordinated, functional disease surveillance systems. The resulting demand for timely information challenges public health leaders to design, develop and implement efficient, flexible and comprehensive systems that integrate staff, resources, and information systems to conduct infectious disease surveillance and response. To understand what resources an integrated disease surveillance and response system would require, we analyzed surveillance requirements for 19 priority infectious diseases targeted for an integrated disease surveillance and response strategy in the WHO African region.

Personal Health Records: The People's Choice?, Lisa Sprague

National Health Policy Forum

Information technology (IT), especially in the form of an electronic health record (EHR), is touted by many as a key component of meaningful improvement in health care delivery and outcomes. A personal health record (PHR) may be an element of an EHR or a stand-alone record. Proponents of PHRs see them as tools that will improve consumers’ ability to manage their care and will also enlist consumers as advocates for widespread health IT adoption. This issue brief explores what a PHR is, the extent of demand for it, issues that need to be resolved before such records can be expected …

Girls' Perception Of Physical Environmental Factors And Transportation: Reliability And Association With Physical Activity And Active Transport To School, Kelly R. Evenson, Amanda Birnbaum, Ariane L. Bedimo-Rung, James Sallis, Carolyn C. Voorhees, Kimberly Ring, John P. Elder

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Background

Preliminary evidence suggests that the physical environment and transportation are associated with youth physical activity levels. Only a few studies have examined the association of physical environmental factors on walking and bicycling to school. Therefore, the purpose of this study was (1) to examine the test-retest reliability of a survey designed for youth to assess perceptions of physical environmental factors (e.g. safety, aesthetics, facilities near the home) and transportation, and (2) to describe the associations of these perceptions with both physical activity and active transport to school.

Methods

Test and retest surveys, administered a median of 12 days later, …

The Electronic Health Record In Practice: Why, How, And What Next?, Lisa Sprague, Sally Coberly

National Health Policy Forum

This local site visit was intended to allow participants to observe the electronic health record (EHR) as used in practice by two U.S. leaders in technology and quality, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and Kaiser Permanente (KP). The VHA has employed an EHR system since 1997; KP is in the process of implementing a standard system for all clinicians nationwide. The site visit was designed to provide an opportunity for participants to explore both the expected benefits from EHR adoption and the specific lessons these two large, integrated delivery systems have learned in their transition from paper to electronic records. …

Electronic Health Records: How Close? How Far To Go?, Lisa Sprague

National Health Policy Forum

This paper looks at the central role of the electronic health record (EHR) in health information technology. It considers the extent to which EHRs are in use and initiatives designed to increase their prevalence, as well as barriers to the widespread adoption of EHRs and efforts to surmount them. Particular attention is given to such obstacles as cost, the professional culture of physicians, standardization, and legal questions.

Physician Connectivity: Electronic Prescribing, Robin J. Strongin

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief focuses on physician connectivity — the electronic linking of physicians with online resources such as clinical databases and sophisticated formulary systems. As physician connectivity increasingly allows physicians to prescribe online via a handheld computer complete with formulary information as well as patient data and drug information, this issue brief examines the issues raised by this technological advance within the broader context of online prescribing.

Population-Based Measurement Of Hospital Use In Maine Areas, 1976, David Soule

Maine Collection

Population-Based Measurement of Hospital Use in Maine Areas, 1976

Prepared by: David Soule, Data Analyst, Maine Health Data Service, Project Director - Maine Hospital Statistics Analysis Project, December, 1979.

With complementary funding from: Cooperative Health Statistics System, National Center for Health Statistics, Contract No. (HRA) 230-76-0298.

Bureau of Health Planning and Development, Maine Department of Human Services.

Maine Health Data Service. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine.

Contents; Acknowledgements / Introduction / Data Sources and Definitions / Findings / References / Appendix Tables