Regular physical activity (PA) improves mental health and reduces the risk of a number of adverse health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease mortality, hypertension, colon cancer, and diabetes mellitus. Many studies with different strategies have been conducted to increase the level of PA for people of all ages. One of many strategies…

Sustaining effective school-based prevention programs is critical to improving youth and population-based health. This article reports on results from the Aban Aya Sustainability Project, an effort to sustain a school-based prevention program that was tested via a randomized trial and targeted violence, drug use, and risky sex-related behaviors…

Finding ways to improve nutritional and physical activity components with today's adolescents is a significant problem. The obesity epidemic is over 10 years old and little research has been done on successful interventions that motivate today's students using the latest technology. A total of 140 middle school students and four physical…

Objective: Application of the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) evaluation and development and validation of an evaluation tool used to measure TTM constructs is described. Methods: Surveys were collected from parents of children receiving food at Summer Food Service Program sites prior…

Objective: To evaluate a health improvement initiative aimed at enhancing the health of men in deprived areas. Design: A healthy lifestyle programme was undertaken with men to increase their health knowledge, and encourage behaviour modification and access to health improvement services. A peer mentoring programme was implemented and a training…

Objective: Examine the impact of providing yogurt to women enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Design: Randomized, controlled intervention trial. Setting: Two California WIC local agency sites. Participants: 511 pregnant, breast-feeding, or postpartum women. Intervention: Substitution of…

A study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the Handwashing University on teaching youth the benefits of proper handwashing. The Handwashing University is an interactive display with several successive stations through which participants move to learn necessary skills for proper handwashing. Upon completion of the Handwashing University,…

Using prospect theory and the extended parallel process model, this study examined the effect of gain/loss message framing on perceptions of severity, susceptibility, response efficacy, and self efficacy (derived from the extended parallel process model), as well as perception of message effectiveness and behavioral intention in a community based…

Purpose: This study investigated the effectiveness of interventions to improve medication adherence (MA) in older adults. Design and Methods: Meta-analysis was used to synthesize results of 33 published and unpublished randomized controlled trials. Random-effects models were used to estimate overall mean effect sizes (ESs) for MA, knowledge,…

Objective: To examine the impact of fresh fruit availability at worksites on the fruit and vegetable consumption and related psychosocial determinants of low-wage employees. Design: A prospective, randomized block experimental design. Setting: Seven apparel manufacturing and 2 food processing worksites. Participants: A convenience sample of 391…

Sexuality education programs have been prevalent in U.S. public schools for decades (Cornblatt, 2009). Although strong public support exists for school-based sexuality education (e.g., Albert, 2007; Dailard, 2001), there is a great divide among parents, policy makers, and the public at large regarding how to prevent sexual activity (and its…

Since 1997 the federal government has invested more than $1.5 billion dollars in abstinence-only programs--proven ineffective programs which censor or exclude important information that could help young people protect their health. In fact, until recently, programs which met a strict abstinence-only definition were the only type of sex education…

We investigated the effects of regular exercise on the plasma lipid levels that contribute to coronary heart disease (CHD), of 20 sedentary men who participated in an exercise program over 20 consecutive years. The men, whose initial ages ranged from 30-51 years, participated in the University of Nevada-based exercise program for an average of 45…

To date, few Internet-delivered smoking cessation interventions have been tested. This study tested the efficacy, understandability, credibility and personal relevance of an e-mail-delivered computer-tailored smoking cessation intervention. It included tailored action plan feedback, as recent studies have demonstrated the importance of planning in…

Theater has been used as an educational tool since the Great Depression era, and it is currently considered an effective tool for health promotion and reducing risk-taking behaviors among youth. Theater projects are well suited for communicating prevention messages to youth audiences because they can depict real-life settings and characters who…