The single most commonly reported physical activity in public health surveys is walking. As evidence accumulates that walking is important for preventing weight gain and reducing the risk of diabetes, there is increased need to capture this behavior in a valid and reliable manner. Although the disadvantages of a self-report methodology are well…

Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal mortality and a major public health concern. Risk factors for preterm birth include a history of preterm birth, short cervix, infection, short interpregnancy interval, smoking, and African-American race. The use of progesterone therapy to treat mothers at risk for preterm delivery is becoming more…

Using the World Health Organization definition of health for reference and a diverse group of raters, we sought to determine the following about the 931 questions that comprise the seven English pencil-and-paper versions of U.S. GED Official Practice Tests: (a) the prevalence of health-related questions and (b) representation of the eight U.S.…

This paper examines a regional 2009 H1N1 rural response model, which utilises community partnerships with local government, county emergency management, public health, private healthcare, Medical Reserve Corps volunteers, and other organisations in rural Southeast Idaho. Unique aspects of the collaborative use of federal, state, county, and…

The purpose of this study was to stimulate action to address and identify maternal, child and community needs towards the improvement in health of pregnant women, children and communities. Four null hypotheses were generated from the research questions while multiple regression analysis was used to analyse the data. The study found that household…

Motivated by Gibbons et al.'s (Appl. Psychol. Meas. 31:4-19, "2007") full-information maximum marginal likelihood item bifactor analysis for polytomous data, and Rijmen, Vansteelandt, and De Boeck's (Psychometrika 73:167-182, "2008") work on constructing computationally efficient estimation algorithms for latent variable…

Health promotion volunteers (HPVs) working to promote community health in Japan feel both satisfaction and burden with their community engagement activities. This study examined the relationship between their satisfaction and burden toward their activities and social support. A mail-in self-check questionnaire survey was distributed to 604 HPVs in…

Objective: To investigate the knowledge and views of university students regarding obesity and weight management strategies. Design: Online questionnaire-based survey of undergraduate and postgraduate university students in a large London university with a diverse student population. Method: The survey was administered online and circulated…

Depression and anxiety constitute an enormous public health burden in Australia, and as such primary prevention is an important focus for school-based prevention efforts. The focus of the current literature review is school-based prevention programmes for depression and anxiety in Australia. Most prevention studies to date would be better…

This exploratory study examined reflective practice among a class of students studying a "communities and addictions" course as part of the undergraduate health science degree. Most reflective practice publications are focused on medical or teachers' training rather than undergraduates in general. This is surprising given that reflective…

The purpose of this study was to measure the sets of adaptive capacities for Economic Development and Social Capital in the Norris et al. (2008) community resilience model with publicly accessible population indicators. Our approach involved five steps. First, we conducted a literature review on measurements of the capacities. Second, we created…

This commentary highlights indigenous public health research from a special issue of the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction dealing with child maltreatment, mental health, substance abuse and gambling. We focus on the emerging and growing research movement in Indigenous research through three important themes: 1) worldview and…

In the healthcare arena, language policy-related research has thus far been limited to questions about "language access," i.e., whether individuals are supplied with health information in their languages, and whether interpreters for doctor-patient consultations are provided (Martinez 2008; Ngo-Metzger et al. 2003; Partida 2007; Vahabi…

School-based prevention programs can positively impact a range of social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes. Yet the current climate of accountability pressures schools to restrict activities that are not perceived as part of the core curriculum. Building on models from public health and prevention science, we describe an integrated approach to…

This report projects education requirements linked to forecasted job growth in healthcare by state and the District of Columbia from 2010 through 2020. It complements a larger national report which projects educational demand for healthcare for the same time period. The national report shows that with or without Obamacare, the United States will…