Multi-level, place-based interventions have proven effective at promoting a range of health behaviors, including tobacco control and discouraging the uptake of tobacco products. This paper describes the implementation and impact of a 3-year, multi-level tobacco prevention and control program at a community-college minority-serving institution…

Background: A healthy preK-12th-grade school environment is critical to student well-being and success. As role models, school employees play a significant part in creating a healthy environment. Research suggests that employee wellness programs (EWPs) may help school employees adopt healthier lifestyles and, therefore, be healthier, more…

Pre-participation physical exams (PPEs) hold great potential for addressing adolescents' health-risk behaviors. School nurses may be well positioned to assist with PPEs, yet little is known about their involvement. In this mixed methods study conducted in 2015, we collected data from school nurses in Texas (surveys, n = 208; key informant…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess diabetes-related factors, such as diabetes knowledge, positive attitudes towards the prevention of diabetes and its complications, self-efficacy for diabetes, dietary intake and level of food security, and to investigate the effects of a diabetes education intervention (DEI) on diabetes-related…

Objective: To increase nutrition knowledge, fruit and vegetable preference, eating and cooking self-efficacy among 3rd- to 5th-grade students after a 6-week school-based nutrition education intervention. Design: Quasi-experimental pre-post design. Setting: Title I elementary schools, South Plains, West Texas. Method: A nutrition education…

Background: Health care professionals can have a dramatic impact by assisting patients with tobacco cessation but most have limited training. Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of a 4-hour tobacco cessation training program. Methods: A team of multidisciplinary health care professionals created a veteran-specific tailored version of the Rx for…

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to: (a) evaluate the effectiveness of a required Health-Related Fitness (HRF) course in changing dietary behaviors among community college (CC) students, and (b) explore student perceptions about the effectiveness of HRF curriculum activities in changing behaviors. Methods: Pre- and…

Background: Due to shared health behaviors and disease risk, families may be more effective targets for health promotion. This study assessed whether providing family health history (FHH)-based risk information for heart disease and diabetes affected encouragement to engage in physical activity (PA) and healthy weight (HW) maintenance and…

Objective: Due to the disproportionately high rates of obesity within the US Hispanic community, there is a critical need to address this health disparity issue. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between parents' socio-demographic characteristics and their children's food consumption. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting:…

Purpose/Objectives: The purpose of this paper is to provide baseline data and characteristics of food served and consumed prior to the recently mandated nutrition standards as authorized by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA). Methods: Over 600,000 school lunch menus with associated food production records from 61 elementary schools…

Although much is known about health-risk behaviors of adolescents, less is known about their health-promoting behaviors. The purpose of this analysis was to compare health-promoting behaviors in adolescents in Grades 9-12 by gender and ethnicity and explore how these behaviors changed over time. Data were collected from 878 rural adolescents…

The number of international students attending higher education in the United States continues to grow (McLachlan & Justice, 2009). International students face several challenges while studying in the United States, some of which are health challenges (Zysberg, 2005). The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of various…

Introduction: Group-randomized trials (GRTs) are one of the most rigorous methods for evaluating the effectiveness of group-based health risk prevention programs. Efficiently designing GRTs with a sample size that is sufficient for meeting the trial's power and precision goals while not wasting resources exceeding them requires estimates of the…

This study consists of three sub-studies. Sub-study 1 and 2 attempted to incorporate environmental variables as precursor background variables of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to predict quitting-related intentions among Texas adult smokers and university student smokers, respectively. Sub-study 1 and 2 analyzed different data sets and were…

Creating a healthier school in today's world of budget cuts and seemingly endless to-do lists is not only possible, but it is also imperative. Beyond the health implications, one of the most compelling reasons for creating healthier schools is that wellness serves as a power booster for learning. Numerous studies have documented what educators…