"Catalyst" is a publication of the U.S. Department of Education's Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention. This issue contains the following articles: (1) From Competition To Collaboration College Alcohol Prevention in an Era of Competing Risks; (2) A Public Health Approach to Mental Health…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report the outcome of an education and public health collaboration investigating the impact of adapted training to enhance teachers' potential role to promote child health and wellbeing. Design/methodology/approach: The study was conducted in three phases: a survey of the health education content in…

Childhood overweight and obesity is a public health concern not just because of its growing prevalence but also for its serious and lasting health consequences. Though height and weight measures are easy to obtain and New Hampshire Head Start sites measure height and weight of their enrollees, there are numerous challenges related to accurate…

Dental caries, periodontal diseases, tooth loss and oral cancers have significant burden of disease effects, quality of life and cost implications for the Australian community. Oral health promotion is a key approach to addressing these conditions endorsed as part of the National Oral Health Plan. Understanding the evidence for effectiveness of…

The toll of HIV/AIDS and drug abuse on economically disadvantaged women of color in the United States is a public health problem of epidemic proportions. Malnutrition, believed to be pervasive in this population, exacerbates the devastating health effects of addiction and HIV. This study documented dietary deficiencies in this population and…

This manuscript describes faculty and student experiences and future activities of a multidisciplinary group of university faculty who are implementing inquiry-based learning (IBL) in their classrooms for the first time. This opportunity to implement the IBL instructional method was provided to the faculty through a grant from the university's…

Children in countries involved in violent national conflicts experience difficult and, at times, extreme events such as spending long hours in shelters, witnessing terror attacks, or having a family member absent or injured while participating in battle. This study explores the moderating effect of resilience factors, self-esteem, and…

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…

HIV/AIDS can no longer be regarded solely as a public health issue as its impact extends well into all spheres of life, sectors of society and levels of the education system. This paper argues that not only is it paramount to draw on children's understanding of the impact of AIDS on their lives, but it is equally important to draw on their…

As the current H1N1 outbreak underscores, an influenza pandemic remains a real threat to our nation. Over the past 3 years, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted a body of work, consisting of 12 reports and 4 testimonies, to help the nation better prepare for a possible pandemic. In February 2009, GAO synthesized the results of…

The document provides a transcript of a conference call moderated by Bill Modzeleski, Director of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools. The focus of the call was the recent outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and the United States. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) actions and recommendations to the education community were discussed. A comparison…

Do people realize that chemistry plays a key role in helping solve some of the most serious problems facing the world today? Chemists want to find the building blocks of the chemical universe--the molecules that form materials, living cells and whole organisms. Many chemists are medical explorers looking for new ways to maintain and improve…

The challenges facing public health today are too vast, complex, and urgent to be met by public health professionals alone. To improve the health and wellbeing of diverse communities around the globe, public health leaders are developing tools that engage communities in research and action, most particularly community-based participatory research…

At the beginning of each school year, the school-nurse coordinator for the 3,000-student Ashland, Oregon, district plans a "parent's night" around the topic of vaccinations for the safety and health of children. That is only the beginning of the school-nurse coordinator's contact with parents who are skeptical about the necessity of…

Environmental and health risks caused by chemical substances have been intensively debated in various arenas of science and policy, and in news media. The impacts of risk debates on the public have been widely studied, while less attention has been paid to expert views. We present results from a cross-national survey charting expert views on the…