Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Rural Older Adults And Functional Health Literacy:Testing Self-Efficacy, Knowledge And Skills Resulting From Hands-On Health Promotion, Michele L. Dugan-Day, Susan C. Dollar, Wafaa A. Kaf

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Functional Health Literacy (FHL) involves the knowledge, skills and belief in self-efficacy to use health care information in self-care. FHL is critical for rural older adults since they are at risk of poor health care outcomes. As part of the Senior Health University project, we measured the FHL of rural older adults before and after educational sessions that included hands-on skill building. Ninety-eight participants aged 60 and older were recruited from five rural congregate meal sites over two years. Survey methods allowed for paired sample t-tests of FHL variables. Findings included significant post-training increases in FHL, suggesting the potential benefit …

Health Coaching For Chronic Disease Management: A Program Evaluation Conducted At Denver Health Managed Care, Adam Altschuh

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

The purpose of this study is to evaluate health coaching at Denver Health Managed Care Center. We evaluated patients with diabetes and obesity who received a telephonic, motivational-interviewing intervention. Our hypothesis was that patients who received health coaching would have improved health outcomes compared to patients who received standard medical care alone. This research benefits this specific program in clarifying effectiveness (i.e. improvement in health and efficiency, indicated by length of treatment). Health coaching is a growing area of study. This research also adds to a broader conversation about what professionals best serve in the role of health coaches, what …

Making The Blue Zones: Neoliberalism And Nudges In Public Health Promotion, Eric Carter

Eric D. Carter

This paper evaluates the ideological and political origins of a place-based and commercial health promotion effort, the Blue Zones Project (BZP), launched in Iowa in 2011. Through critical discourse analysis, I argue that the BZP does reflect a neoliberalization of public health, but as an "actually existing neoliberalism" it emerges from a specific policy context, including dramatic health sector policy changes due to the national Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare; a media discourse of health crisis for an aging Midwestern population; and an effort to refashion Iowa cities as sites of healthy and active living, to retain and …

Facebook For Health Promotion: Female College Students’ Perspectives On Sharing Hpv Vaccine Information Through Facebook, Ni Zhang, Joann Tsark, Shelly Campo, Michelle Teti

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Facebook, a social network site, has been widely used among young adults. However, its potential to be used as a health promotion medium has not been fully examined. This study explored Facebook's potential for sharing human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine information among female college students in Hawai‘i. Culturally tailored flyers and handouts were developed and distributed at one large university in Hawai‘i to recruit female college students between the age of 18 and 26 having an active Facebook account. Three focus group meetings were conducted to gather student perspectives about how information about HPV vaccine may be best shared via Facebook. …

The Effects Of Environmental Prompts On Stair Usage, Lori Andersen, Tim Bungum, Sheniz Moonie Phd

Nevada Journal of Public Health

Experts have advocated exercise with little success, and have turned to encouraging physical activity by incorporating it into daily activities such as taking the stairs over elevators. Much literature exists suggesting that environmental prompts can encourage the use of stairs and literature has established that some messages may be more effective than others. This study aimed to assess the effects of selected signage prompts on stair usage. Methods: Stair and elevator use were monitored in three, two-story buildings. One building served as a control, while a fitness message was placed in another building, and the final building received a weight …

Designing For Dissemination: Lessons In Message Design From "1-2-3 Pap", Elisia L. Cohen, Katharine J. Head, Margaret J. Mcgladrey, Anna G. Hoover, Robin C. Vanderpool, Colleen Bridger, Angela Carman, Richard A. Crosby, Elaine Darling, Mary Tucker-Mclaughlin, Nancy Winterbauer

Communication Faculty Publications

Despite a large number of evidence-based health communication interventions tested in private, public, and community health settings, there is a dearth of research on successful secondary dissemination of these interventions to other audiences. This article presents the case study of "1-2-3 Pap," a health communication intervention to improve human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination uptake and Pap testing outcomes in Eastern Kentucky, and explores strategies used to disseminate this intervention to other populations in Kentucky, North Carolina, and West Virginia. Through this dissemination project, we identified several health communication intervention design considerations that facilitated our successful dissemination to these other audiences; these …

Nourish-C: Implementing A Family Based Weight Loss Intervention In A Church Community, Jacqueline Woods

Theses and Dissertations

Increasing rates of obesity across all race, ethnic, gender, and age groups over the past thirty years have generated significant public health concern. Black children face disproportionately higher risk for overweight and obesity compared with their White peers. Substantial evidence suggests that parent involvement improves pediatric obesity treatment outcomes. Moreover, churches are feasible and culturally congruent places to host health promotion interventions within the Black community. The current study examined the feasibility of disseminating an existing pediatric obesity intervention, NOURISH, in Black church communities. Twenty-five families participated in baseline assessment of the NOURISH-C. Five churches hosted the intervention and eight …

Healthy Outside-Healthy Inside: The Human Health & Well-Being Benefits Of Alberta's Protected Areas - Towards A Benefits-Based Management Agenda, Christopher J. Lemieux, Sean T. Doherty, Paul F.J. Eagles, Joyce Gould, Glen T. Hvenegaard, Elizabeth (Lisa) Nisbet, Mark W. Groulx

Geography and Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

This report details the results of an empirical study that examined perceived health and well-being motives and benefits among visitors to a sample of Alberta’s parks and protected areas. The study revealed several major findings with important policy and management implications. First, the human health and well-being benefits that the visitors expected to receive from visits were perceived to be a major personal motivation in the choice to visit Alberta protected areas. The most important motivation factors identified by respondents were psychological and emotional well-being (89.1% of visitors ranked this important), social well-being (88.3%), physical well-being (80.3%), and environmental well-being …

Life Balance – A Mindfulness-Based Mental Health Promotion Program: Conceptualization, Implementation, Compliance And User Satisfaction In A Field Setting, Lisa Lyssenko, Gerhard Müller, Nikolaus Kleindienst, Christian Schmal, Mathias Berger, Georg Eifert, Alexander Kölle, Siegmar Nesch, Jutta Ommer-Hohl, Michael Wenner, Martin Bohus

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Mental health disorders account for a large percentage of the total burden of illness and constitute a major economic challenge in industrialized countries. Several prevention programs targeted at high-risk or sub-clinical populations have been shown to decrease risk, to increase quality of life, and to be cost-efficient. However, there is a paucity of primary preventive programs aimed at the general adult population. “Life Balance” is a program that employs strategies borrowed from well-established psychotherapeutic approaches, and has been made available to the public in one federal German state by a large health care insurance company. The data presented here …