Bernice Raveche Garnett

The Importance of Campaign Saliency as a Predictor of Attitude and Behavior Change: A Pilot Evaluation of Social Marketing Campaign Fat Talk Free Week

Fat Talk Free Week (FTFW), a social marketing campaign designed to decrease self-disparaging talk about body and weight, has not yet been evaluated. We conducted a theory-informed pilot evaluation of FTFW with two college samples using a pre- and posttest design. Aligned with the central tenets of the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), we investigated the importance of FTFW saliency as a predictor of fat talk behavior change. Our analytic sample consisted of 118 female participants (83% of original sample). Approximately 76% of the sample was non-Hispanic White, 14% Asian, and 8% Hispanic. At baseline, more than 50% of respondents reported engaging in frequent self fat talk; at posttest, this number dropped to 34% of respondents. Multivariable regression models supported campaign saliency as the single strongest predictor of a decrease in self fat talk. Our results support the social diffusion of campaign messages among shared communities, as we found significant decreases in fat talk among campaign attenders and nonattenders. FTFW may be a promising short-term health communication campaign to reduce fat talk, as campaign messages are salient among university women and may encourage interpersonal communication.

Coping Styles of Adolescents Experiencing Multiple Forms of Discrimination and Bullying: Evidence from a Sample of Ethnically Diverse Urban Youth.

BACKGROUND We used a latent class analysis (LCA) to characterize coping styles of urban youth and examined if coping styles moderated the association between experiencing discrimination and bullying and depressive symptoms. METHODS The data come from the 2006 Boston Youth Survey, where students were asked to select 2 behaviors they do most often when they are upset, from a list of 15 options. A total of 927 (75%) students contributed to the LCA analytic sample (44% non-Hispanic Blacks, 29% Hispanics, and 58% girls). Relative and absolute fit indices determined the number of classes. An interaction term between types of discrimination and bullying experienced and coping style tested for moderation. RESULTS The LCA revealed that a 3-class solution had the best fit (Lo-Mendell-Rubin likelihood ratio test, 4-class vs 3-class, p-value .12). The largest coping style class was characterized by high endorsement of distractive coping strategies (59%), the second class was characterized by using supportive coping strategies (27%), and the third class was characterized by using avoidance coping strategies (12%). We found a significant interaction between discrimination and coping style for depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS The relationship between experiencing discrimination and depression varied based on coping style and the type of discrimination and bullying experienced.

Consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages by 2-year-olds: Findings from a population-based survey

OBJECTIVE To determine risk factors for consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) among 2-year-old children. DESIGN The analysis was performed using three linked data sets: the 2004-2005 Oregon Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring Survey (PRAMS); its longitudinal follow-up, 2006-2007 Oregon PRAMS-2; and 2004-2005 Oregon birth certificates. SETTING PRAMS is a surveillance programme supported by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and implemented by participating state health departments. Using mixed methods, PRAMS surveys women 2-6 months after a live birth. Oregon PRAMS-2 re-interviews respondents shortly after the index childs second birthday. Oregon PRAMS oversamples minority women. SUBJECTS Using monthly cohorts, we randomly selected 5851 women from the 2004-2005 birth certificates. In total 1911 women completed both PRAMS and PRAMS-2. The weighted response rate of PRAMS-2 was 43.5%. RESULTS Almost half of mothers (49.9%) reported that their child drank SSB on at least 1 d/week. Mothers whose children drank SSB at least once weekly were more likely to have low income (adjusted OR=2.83, 95% CI 2.09, 3.83) and to eat out on ≥2 d/week (OR=2.11 %, 95% CI 1.66, 2.70). Hispanic and non-Hispanic black women were most likely to report that their child drank SSB at least once weekly. CONCLUSIONS Half of mothers reported that their 2-year-old children drank SSB at least once weekly. Public health interventions and policies should address childhood SSB consumption including educating health-care providers and parents.

Social norms theory and concussion education

Secondary prevention of harm from sport-related concussion is contingent on immediate removal from play post-injury. To-date, educational efforts to reduce the prevalent risk behavior of continued play while symptomatic have been largely ineffective. Social norms theory may hold promise as a foundation for more effective concussion education aimed at increasing concussion reporting. The primary objective of this study was to assess whether perceived team concussion reporting norms would be less supportive of an individuals safe concussion symptom reporting behavior than objective team norms. Participants were 328 male and female US collegiate athletes. Written surveys were completed in person during the spring of 2014. Among both male and female athletes, team concussion reporting norms were significantly misperceived, with athletes tending to think that they themselves have safer attitudes about concussion reporting than their teammates. Perceived norms were associated with symptom reporting intention, independent of the teams objective reporting norm. A social norms approach to concussion education, in which misperceived group norms are corrected and shifted in the direction of safety, is an important avenue for program development and evaluation research aimed at the secondary prevention of harm from concussion. Implications for the design of this type of educational programming are discussed.

Engaging Teammates in the Promotion of Concussion Help Seeking

Concussion underreporting contributes to the substantial public health burden of concussions from sport. Teammates may be able to play an important role in encouraging injury identification and help seeking. This study assessed whether there was an association between beliefs about the consequences of continued play with a concussion and intentions to engage as a proactive bystander in facilitating or encouraging teammate help seeking for a possible concussion. Participants were 328 (male and female) members of 19 U.S. collegiate contact or collision sports teams. Athletes who believed that there were negative health or performance consequences of continued play with a concussion were significantly more likely than their peers to intend to encourage teammate help seeking, but not more likely to alert a coach or medical personnel. Additionally, athletes who believed that their teammates were more supportive of concussion safety were more likely to intend to engage as proactive bystanders in encouraging teammate help seeking. Exploring how to encourage bystander promotion of concussion safety is an important direction for future programming and evaluation research and may provide an opportunity to improve the effectiveness of concussion education.

A mixed-methods evaluation of the Move it Move it! before-school incentive-based physical activity programme

Objective: Less than half of young people in the USA are meeting the daily physical activity requirements of at least 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity. A mixed-methods pilot feasibility assessment of Move it Move it! was conducted in the Spring of 2014 to assess the impact of a before-school physical activity programme on student academic measures and behavioural health. Design: Move it Move it! encourages students and families to run/walk laps in the recess yard. Student miles are tracked and incentives are awarded at several benchmarks Setting: Launched in 2012, Move it Move it! is a voluntary morning running/walking programme at the Integrated Arts Academy (IAA) elementary school designed to build community, increase fitness and prepare students for learning. Methods: Self-reported surveys were administered to all consented students in grades 3–5 (N = 129). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with school personnel (N = 11). Results: Average Move it Move it! miles ran/walked were significantly positively associated with commitment to school and The New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) mathematics testing scores. Interviews with school staff/faculty further explained quantitative results including the perceived impact of the programme on academic success and school engagement and the perceived impact of the programme on student behaviour and school climate. Conclusion: Results from this pilot assessment of a community-based initiative suggested that positive academic and behavioural outcomes were associated with engagement in a before-school incentive-based physical activity programme.

Challenges of Data Dissemination Efforts Within a Community-Based Participatory Project About Persistent Racial Disparities in Excess Weight

Background: Despite universal environmental and policy-focused initiatives that resulted in declines in obesity among children in Cambridge, Massachusetts, disparities persist among racial/ethnic groups. In response, a community coalition formed the Healthy Eating and Living Project (HELP), to investigate and disseminate findings regarding disparities in excess weight among Cambridge Black youth (ages 6–14), with the aim of facilitating reciprocal learning and community mobilization to ultimately increase community engagement and inform prevention efforts.Objectives: This paper details the theoretical framework, methods, and results of disseminating HELP findings to various sectors of the Cambridge Black/African American (Black) community.Methods: First, using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, the HELP coalition analyzed existing data and conducted qualitative studies with Cambridge Black families to better understand the sociocultural and familial determinants of excess weight. We then developed presentation and print materials and used different dissemination approaches. We solicited feedback to inform the dissemination process and mobilization of obesity prevention efforts.Results: We disseminated information through six community groups (parents, students, pastors, men’s health group, community leaders, and a health coalition), email lists, and websites. Reciprocal learning among and between HELP and community members yielded data presentation challenges, as well as prevention effort ideas and barriers.Conclusion: Dissemination of local health data should be considered both as a strategy to increase community engagement and as an intervention to promote collective efficacy and community change. Careful attention should be dedicated to the language used when communicating racial disparities in excess weight to various community groups.

Measuring the impact of professional development for student-centred pedagogies: a mixed-methods study

Abstract Shifts towards student-centred pedagogies require high-quality professional development to support teacher learning. Although many characteristics of effective professional development have been identified, such programmes still struggle to demonstrate successful results. This mixed-methods study investigated the development of student-centred practices in middle-school teachers in the USA in response to a programme of professional development. Participants engaged in individualized programmes of professional development built around personal action research projects. Quantitative results showed a significant decline in student-centred practices, and explanatory qualitative data indicated differences in the perception of the focus of the professional development and engagement with dissemination. Mixed analyses indicated previously unobserved similarities across participants, highlighting the difficulty of measuring the impact of professional development using only quantitative or qualitative approaches. The impact of this professional development and implications for the study of similar programmes are discussed.

Exploring the Utility of Theory-Informed Methodological Approaches in Youth Harassment Research

In comparison to research on youth bullying, less research has been dedicated to youth harassment experiences in school. This study seeks to illustrate youth harassment experiences in school through three theoretically informed methodological approaches to modeling youth victimization: binary, cumulative risk, and attributional approaches. Data come from the 2015 Vermont School Climate Pilot Survey ( N = 2,589 students). Students with complete harassment information ( N = 2,481) were included. Using theoretically informed methodological approaches, regression models examined the associations between experiencing harassment (binary, attributions, and cumulative) and school connection, safety, and equity. About 16% of the sample experienced some form of harassment during the current school year (2014-2015). The most prominent attributions of harassment include weight (40%), sex (27%), and race (22%). After controlling for sociodemographics, ever experiencing harassment was associated with lower school safety, -0.73 (β), p < .001, lower connection with school, -0.52 (β), p < .001, and lower perceived equity, -0.77 (β), p < .001. Experiencing harassment is negatively related to school climate. The results from these analyses underscore the negative relationship among harassment victimization and several important indicators of school climate including student connection, perceived safety at and to/from school, and perceived equity of school. Theoretically informed methodological approaches in youth harassment research should be advanced to comprehensively assess the relationship between harassment victimization and harassment attributes on the social, academic, and behavioral development of youth.

Teaching Social Determinants of Health in an Undergraduate Elective Course on Public Health Through Peer Wellness Coaching, Documentaries, and Self-Reflection

Although there has been a surge of recommendations and best practices for developing undergraduate public health curricula, nascent research and national recommendations provide limited concrete guidance on evidence-based curricula practices to use and teach the social determinants of health framework to undergraduate students. This descriptive practice article will briefly describe the curriculum and instructional practices of a public health elective course within a U.S. university with a newly offered graduate program in public health but no formal undergraduate public health program of study and will specifically address some of the challenges and lessons learned in teaching the social determinants of health to ensure that the undergraduate student is “becoming an educated citizen.” To ensure that students are grounded, the social–ecological model is used weekly in class lectures and exercises to provide a visual framework through which the social determinants of health, starting at the individual level, can be illustrated through the various nested ecological systems of the model. Pedagogical approaches to using and addressing social determinants of health and health disparities include documentaries, peer wellness coaching, student engagement, and critical self-reflection. Student feedback and lessons learned are provided.