Objective: To determine whether fruit and vegetable consumption among California adults significantly increased from 1997-2007. Design: Biennial telephone surveillance surveys of California adults' dietary practices. Participants: California adults (n = 9,105 total all 6 surveys). Intervention: Surveillance data reporting. Main Outcome Measures:…

The objective is to present a comparative analysis examining the alcohol industry's and scholarly researchers' use of the concept "responsible drinking." Electronic databases associated with health, education, sociology, psychology, and medicine were the date sources. Results were limited to English, peer-reviewed articles and commentaries…

As doctors, nurses and public health professionals are promoted into management and leadership positions in resource-poor countries around the world, they are tasked with leading teams and managing drugs and financial and material resources. These responsibilities require a set of skills and knowledge different from that needed for their clinical…

This study investigated the influence of two different recruitment strategies on the reach and effect of a web-based multiple tailored smoking cessation program. From May 2009 until June 2010, Dutch adult smokers were recruited via mass media or general practices. Those who completed the baseline questionnaire were followed up during 6 weeks (two…

MyPlate, the icon and multimodal communication plan developed for the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), provides an opportunity to consider new approaches to evaluating the effectiveness of communication initiatives. A review of indicators used in assessments for previous DGA communication initiatives finds gaps in accounting for…

Many children, including those with asthma, remain exposed to secondhand smoke. This manuscript evaluates the process of implementing a secondhand smoke reduction counseling intervention using motivational interviewing (MI) for caregivers of urban children with asthma, including reach, dose delivered, dose received and fidelity. Challenges,…

Lay health advisers (LHAs) are increasingly used to deliver tobacco dependence treatment, especially with low-socioeconomic status (SES) populations. More information is needed about treatment adherence to help interpret mixed evidence of LHA intervention effectiveness. This study examined adherence to behavioral counseling and nicotine patches in…

The Nutrition and Malaria Control for Child Survival Project is a community-based growth promotion project that utilizes Community Health Workers (CHWs), referred to as Community Child Growth Promoters (CCGPs), as the principal change agents. The purpose of this study was to identify perceptions of key stakeholders about the project and the role…

Objective: With growing concerns to establish the value for returns on public health investment, there is a need to identify cost-effective physical activity interventions. This study measured change in moderate physical activity (MPA) in seven community-based intervention types, costs and cost-effectiveness of the interventions, and possible…

Background: Unintentional poisoning is an important public health issue that exacts a heavy toll on our nation's seniors. However, relatively few empirical studies have examined the efficacy of poison prevention education programs on this cohort. Purpose: This study assessed the impact of a poison education program on the knowledge, perceptions,…

Research on the efficacy of mediated suicide awareness campaigns is limited. The impacts of a state-wide media campaign on call volumes to a national hotline were analyzed to determine if the advertisements have raised awareness of the hotline. We use a quasi-experimental design to compare call volumes from ZIP codes where and when the campaign is…

Background: Community health efforts often include outreach activities designed to increase awareness and ensure uptake of services or programs. Yet, few comprehensive outreach evaluations exist, particularly those designed to improve access to and use of mental health services. Purpose: This article summarizes the use of two established…

Since 1969, the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) has improved the diets and food-related behaviors of program participants. Each year EFNEP enrolls more than half a million new program participants. In 2010, EFNEP reached 137,814 adults and 463,530 youth directly and nearly 400,000 family members indirectly. This paper…

School-based cigarette smoking prevention was initiated shortly after the first Surgeon General's Report in 1964. This article highlights a sequence of events by which school-based tobacco use prevention research developed as a science, and illustrates a pendulum effect, with confidence in tobacco use prevention increasing and decreasing at…

Sustained mass media campaigns have been recommended to stem the tobacco epidemic in the United States. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to estimate the effect of awareness of a national smoking cessation media campaign (EX[R]) on quit attempts and cessation-related cognition. Participants were 4,067 smokers and recent quitters aged 18-49…