Cultural competent care is the ability to deliver effective medical care to people from different cultures. The lack of methodological rigor and paucity of psychometric properties information of the instruments limits the generalizability of cultural competency educational interventions. We examined cultural attitudes of first year medical…

Changes in social cognitions targeted within a group-based mentoring program for adolescent girls were examined as predictors of changes in physical activity (PA) and dietary behavior (in two separate models) over the course of the 7-week program. Data were collected from 310 participants who participated in the program. Multilevel path models…

Background: The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the effects of the LiveWell@School Food Initiative (LW@SFI), a Colorado-based childhood obesity prevention program that partners with school districts to enable them to serve more scratch cooked foods through culinary training, action planning, and equipment grants. Methods: This evaluation…

The misuse of prescription stimulants (MPS), risky drinking, and drunkorexia are current public health concerns. The present study assessed the prevalence of MPS and drunkorexia using an online survey. Specifically, we examined alcohol consumption, the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index, Compensatory Eating and Behaviors in Response to Alcohol…

Today, more than half of the world population is under the age of 25 years and one in four is under age 18. The urgency of expanding access to Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) notably for children and young people in Africa and Asia is greater than ever before. However, many challenges to the implementation and delivery of CSE in resource…

Background: The ability of homeless youth to accumulate resources through their personal relationships with others (i.e. social capital) is often associated with improved outcomes across multiple domains. Despite growing evidence documenting the heterogeneity of homeless youths' relationships, many youth still experience adversities or lack access…

Background: Socioeconomic status (SES) impacts health outcomes. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), like many school-based data sources, lacks individual-level poverty information. We propose using school-level percentages of student eligibility for free/reduced-price meals (%FRPM) as a proxy for individual-level poverty. Methods: Using the New…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on the use of the Delphi method to gain expert feedback on the identification of behaviour change techniques (BCTs) and development of a novel intervention to reduce adolescent alcohol misuse, based on the Prototype Willingness Model (PWM) of health risk behaviour. Design/methodology/approach: Four…

This qualitative study explored overweight and obese college students' experiences of obesity. Overweight and obese university students (BMI 25 or higher) from a southwestern regional university in the United States were recruited for in-depth qualitative interviews. Interviews were conducted face-to-face in a private room during the academic year…

This qualitative study explored how college freshmen perceive the need for balance in their lifestyles and how they attempted to change their lifestyles to improve their lifestyle balance. Participants consisted of 23 college freshmen enrolled in a college wellness course. Students' written narratives from a course assignment describing their…

The process of conducting peer interviews has not been widely reported on as a participatory method. Youth gardens are known to support individual and community health and well-being. Producing for the Future utilized the principles of community-based participatory research within a gardening and microenterprise program for low-income youth. In…

Healthy diet and physical activity (PA) prevent and reduce chronic disease. Social cognitive theory delineates multiple attitudes and barriers that influence these behaviors. Understanding covariation in these attitudes and barriers is complex. We examined whether individuals could be grouped into a small number of categories that are easier to…

Purpose: Adolescent females continue to face health consequences associated with risky sexual behaviors such as unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a gender-specific intervention targeted to early adolescent females. Method: This study used an intent to treat…

Black students are much more likely to be disciplined using out-of-school suspensions (OSS) compared with White students. One often-cited hypothesis, though relatively untested, is the role of misconduct and students attitudes that support deviant behavior. The differential involvement hypothesis suggests that disproportionate sanctioning may…

Monitoring the Future (MTF) is a long-term study of American adolescents, college students, and adult high school graduates through age 60. The study is supported under a series of investigator-initiated, competing research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and has been conducted annually by the University of Michigan's Institute…