Background: Decisions related to the development and implementation of public health programmes or policies can benefit from more effective use of the best available knowledge. However, decision makers do not always feel sufficiently equipped or may lack the capacity to use evidence. This can lead them to overlook or set aside research results…

Recent health care reform provides many new opportunities to expand mental health and behavioral support to students in schools and school-community partnerships. Through newly available funding sources, as well as expanded legislative initiatives, school psychologists can advocate for and become leaders in delivering universal programming, tiered…

Motor vehicle safety and tobacco control are among the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As the number of miles traveled in the United States multiplied 10 times from the 1920s to the 1990s, the annual motor vehicle crash death rate per vehicle mile traveled…

This paper reviews recent literature on health issues for adults with developmental disabilities, reflecting on how it informs service provision, future research, and social and health policy. Results suggest future research should focus on interactions among biology, pathology, and behavioral and environmental determinants. More use of…

Examines the application of public health science to the counseling profession. Specifically, reviews the public-health practices of prevention and epidemiology for their applicability to the field of counseling. Provides evidence of the counseling professions' involvement in the prevention research field through an examination of recent major…

This booklet is part of the National Institute of Mental Health's efforts to educate the public and health care professionals about panic disorder. Discussed here are the causes, definition, and symptoms of the disorder. Panic attacks, which can seriously interfere with a person's life, may strike more than three million U.S. citizens at some time…

Diets high in fat and calories and low in calcium, may not only be putting African-American children at risk for obesity, but can make them prone to a common bone disease associated with adults at mid-life. If children and adolescents don't receive adequate amounts of calcium when their bones are still forming, the chances of them getting…

This bulletin is intended to raise awareness of the magnitude and gravity of adolescent maltreatment and to provide information on public health program and policy interventions. A review of adolescent victimization, with a focus on vulnerable youth, provides background for the development of public health measures to promote prevention and ensure…

The Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) and Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) are both highly effective and empirically validated psychosocial approaches to the treatment of addictions whose unique designs may help achieve certain public health objectives. Literature will be reviewed to examine the potential impact of CRA and…

This article summarizes the final report of a work group on physical fitness and exercise, which identified national trends in these areas for the 1980 report "Promoting Health/Preventing Disease: Objectives for the Nation," published by the Department of Health and Human Services. (JN)

A literature review describes evaluation activities in mental health services in financial, programmatic/clinical, and new constituency areas. Expanding reimbursement for alternative mental health services is offered as a way of developing a formal structure to ensure better utilization of evaluation results. (SLD)

For more than 35 years, research has increasingly linked our nation's diet to heart disease and cancer--the nation's top two killer diseases. Yet there is no well-organized, vigorous effort to improve American eating habits. A National Nutrition Coalition should be established to educate the public. (BJV)

The responsibility for community health should be shared and coordinated among schools, parents, and health agencies. Children's knowledge and skills should be developed so that they too can promote personal good health. Issues and strategies are discussed. (BJV)

This study assessed internships associated with health education professional programs in the U.S. This study updates findings from an earlier survey published in 1990. Using the 2003 "AJHE" directory of institutions, 255 health education professional preparation programs were identified. Two hundred and eleven institutions had a health…

Issues in the development of community health education programs for rural areas include: (1) knowledge of disease processes; (2) health care intervention; (3) systems intervention; (4) ethics for change; and (5) program implementation. (JN)