Reproductive health education (RHE) programmes in schools are a well-recognised means of helping young people make informed decisions relating to their sexual health and well-being. Very little research however has investigated attitudes towards such programmes among students in the Arab world. A national HIV education curriculum was developed in…

Objective: To investigate sexual orientation differences in college men's motivations for HIV testing. Participants: 665 male college students in the Southeastern United States from 2006 to 2014. Methods: Students completed a survey on HIV risk factors and testing motivations. Logistic regressions were conducted to determine the differences…

Objective: Health literacy is a determinant of health, but disparities in health literacy persist. This study examined the influence of ecological factors on college students' health literacy. Participants: During January 2016 a nonrandom sample of black undergraduate students (n = 298) aged 18-24 were recruited from enrollment lists at two urban…

African American communities have experienced negative effects from a history of medical abuse, lack of proper research procedures, and misinterpretations of study findings because of racism. These past injustices have led to a mistrust of research and researchers. This paper focuses on how some methodological challenges, in a study funded by a…

Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) are preventable conditions for which treatment failure (specifically in gonorrhea) is becoming problematic. U.S. young adults (20-29 years) have high rates of STD incidence and prevention of these diseases, but reaching them to provide primary prevention educations is challenging due to low perceived…

The articles appearing in this special section discuss the role that conscientiousness may play in healthy aging. Growing evidence suggests that conscientious individuals live longer and healthier lives. However, the question remains whether this personality trait can be leveraged to improve long-term health outcomes. We argue that even though it…

Health education and behavior researchers and practitioners often develop, adapt, or adopt surveys/scales to quantify and measure cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and psychosocial characteristics. To ensure the integrity of data collected from these scales, it is vital that psychometric properties (i.e., validity and reliability) be assessed. The…

Doug Kirby transformed the field of sex education by conducting rigorous research that led to new, critical insights about ways to strengthen programmes, evaluation and policies related to sexual health throughout the world. Throughout his career, Kirby was meticulous in compiling evidence and translating findings into actionable recommendations…

This chapter illustrates the role of the Black church in promoting health awareness and healthy behaviors, and in fighting health disparities.

Objective: Animal studies have shown that when nicotine is administered in the presence of other animals (as compared with alone), it is more rewarding. As a human analogue to these studies, rewards associated with designated smoking areas on university campuses were examined, since these areas promote using nicotine in the presence of others.…

Public health practice involving adolescents is largely focused on preventing or delaying the initiation of risk behavior. However, given the experimental and exploratory nature of this developmental period, this is often impractical. This article focuses on behavioral transitions and the ways in which youth involved in risk behaviors shift to…

Purpose/Objectives: The number of Farm to School (FTS) programs is increasing across the United States. These programs employ a variety of school-based initiatives including, but not limited to, local procurement for the school nutrition program, nutrition education in the classroom, hands-on and garden-based learning, and community partnerships…

Using 2-year panel data, this study examined (1) whether experiencing financial hardship associated with out-of-pocket medical expenditures affected delaying/missing necessary health care in the following year; (2) whether such financial hardship mediated the effects of predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics on timely health care access…

This narrative review of the research literature presents a summary about the key issues facing people with intellectual disability (ID) who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex or questioning (LGBTIQ). The aim of this review was to consolidate research of the topic; to identify whether any pilot studies reporting…

Purpose: Food education in secondary schools can provide adolescents with essential food knowledge and skills required for healthy, independent living. The purpose of this paper is to identify food-related knowledge and skills that Australian consumers believe are required for all consumers, and to identify their demographic and psychographic…