In Briefs

Abstract

		Editorial
Paul E. Terry	761	Improving Your Odds of Getting Published in this JournalNow in its 36^th year of publication, The American Journal of Health Promotion (AJHP) is privileged to attract worldwide manuscript submissions from highly accomplished researchers and practitioners. Getting published in this journal has gotten quite competitive with less than 20% of submissions making it through our review process and into print. Our current impact score of 2.870 makes getting research published in AJHP well worth the effort for those with a goal of wide dissemination and frequent citations. This editorial aims to increase your chances of getting published in this journal by summarizing those issues that most often lead to a paper’s rejection, even for an otherwise well executed study. Though our submission guidelines are detailed and clear, we find contributors, particularly those with less publishing experience, often neglect fastidious adherence to our author instructions and writing standards
THE SCIENCE OF INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE WELL-BEING
		Critical Issues and Trends
Sarosh Nagar AB Candidate Tomi Ashaye	765	“A Shot of Faith — Analyzing Vaccine Hesitancy in Certain Religious Communities in the United States”The daily rate of vaccination in the United States has slowed down dramatically from its peak, largely due to initial vaccine hesitancy in the American population. One set of populations with higher-than-average rates of vaccine hesitancy are certain religious populations, namely white Evangelicals, African-American Protestants, and Hispanic Catholics. While many motives underlie this initial vaccine hesitancy among religious populations, three recent trends have had uniquely disproportionate impacts: The rapid proliferation of religious misinformation online, the rise of new conspiracy theories, and the increasing distrust of healthcare systems in minority religious populations due to instances of racism. These trends have had a disproportionate impact on religious populations, both fueling higher levels of vaccine hesitancy and rendering certain vaccine promotion strategies less effective in these communities. As a result, health experts and policymakers may need to employ alternative vaccine promotion techniques to counteract these trends and more effectively reach religious populations
		Critical Issues and Trends
David L. Katz Rachna Govani Kieran Anderson Lauren Q. Rhee Dina L. Aronson	768	The Financial Case for Food as Medicine: Introduction of a ROI CalculatorDiet quality is now established as the single leading predictor of perennial premature death in modern countries. However, practice at scale in modern medicine is driven as much by financial as clinical imperatives and yet, the ability to quantify the potential ROI of Food as medicine (FaM) interventions is limited by a lack of data. Utilizing a novel advance in dietary assessment and data from the peer reviewed literature, we constructed and tested a web-based calculator simulating the return-on-investment associated with FaM interventions
		Quantitative Research
Stacey L. Simon Meredith A. Ware Anne E. Bowen Jessica L. Chandrasekhar Joey A. Lee Lauren B. Shomaker Lauren D. Gulley Erin Heberlein Jill L. Kaar	772	Sleep Moderates Improvements in Mental Health Outcomes in Youth: Building Resilience for Healthy KidsMental health disorders in the US continue to increase in prevalence among children and adolescents despite national efforts to intervene. Research has demonstrated a bidirectional relationship between sleep and mental health in children and adolescents, with insufficient sleep negatively impacting emotional regulation the following day. Building Resilience for Healthy Kids was a single group, school-based 1:1 health coaching intervention focused on improving resiliency and mental health in 6^th grade students. (11-12 year olds). The aim of this manuscript was to examine the role of sleep among students who had insufficient sleep (<9 hours/day) compared to students with sufficient sleep. A third of participants reported time in bed <9 hours per night and these students were more likely to be classified with mild to severe depression and anxiety. The health coaching intervention was found to have a significant improvement on overall resilience and self-efficacy only among students who reported sufficient sleep, while no significant intervention effect was found for those students who reported insufficient sleep. Our findings suggest that youth with poor sleep health may not benefit from school-based resiliency interventions
		Quantitative Research
Rebecca Robbins Fanchao Yi Todd Chobotar Sarah Hawkins Denise Putt Julie Pepe Manoucher Manoucheri	781	Evaluating “The REST of Your Life,” a Workplace Health Program to Improve Employee Sleep, Health, Energy, and ProductivitySleep deprivation is a major issue among employees, with direct and significant impacts on employee health, performance, productivity, and risk of accidents and injuries. Despite its importance, while nearly 25% of worksites in the United States report a physical activity or nutrition program, fewer than 10% report a sleep enhancement or fatigue reduction program for their employees. We design a sleep-focused workplace health promotion program entitled “The REST of Your Life: End Exhaustion, Enhance Energy, Sleep Smarter!” with experts in sleep, medicine, and behavioral change. We evaluate the program using a pre/post quasi-experimental pilot study design among employees at a large teaching hospital in the Southwest United States. We demonstrate improvement in employee sleep and mental health after exposure to the program
		Quantitative Research
Jamie Guillory Laurel Curry Matthew Farrelly Amy Henes Ghada Homsi McKinley Saunders Anna MacMonegle Leah Fiacco Tesfa Alexander Janine Delahanty Debra Mekos Leah Hoffman Ollie Ganz	789	Reach, Receptivity, And Beliefs Associated With the Fresh Empire Campaign to Prevent and Reduce Cigarette Use Among Youth in the United StatesLifestyle modification programs have been shown to effectively treat chronic disease. The Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP) lifestyle intervention has been delivered by both paid professional and unpaid volunteer facilitators. This study compared selected chronic disease biometric outcomes of participants in each mode in the United States. It found volunteer-delivered programs do not appear to be any less effective than programs delivered by paid professionals, which is noteworthy as volunteers may provide important social capital in the combat of chronic disease
		Quantitative Research
Ying Liu Victoria Shier Sara King Ashlesha Datar	801	Predictive Utility of Alternate Measures of Physical Activity and Diet for Overweight and Obesity in Low-Income Minority WomenThere are no single best measures of diet and physical activity that optimize both validity and cost or feasibility in population-based studies. Using data from an ongoing cohort study of low-income urban public housing residents, we compared the predictive utility of diet (single item survey question, dietary screener, and 24-hour dietary recall) and physical activity (single item questions, short recall questionnaire, and accelerometry) for overweight and obesity among low-income minority women. Our results suggest that single-item questions can provide valuable information about risk for overweight and obesity in low-income minority women when more resource-intensive assessments are infeasible
		Quantitative Research
Sohyun Park Stephen J. Onufrak Angie L. Cradock Christina Hecht Anisha Patel Jennifer R. Chevinsky Heidi M. Blanck	813	Factors Related to Water Filter Use for Drinking Tap Water at Home and Its Association With Consuming Plain Water and Sugar Sweetened Beverages Among U.S. AdultsWe examined factors associated with water filter use for drinking tap water at home and its association with consuming plain water and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) among U.S. adults (N = 4042) using 2018 SummerStyles survey data. Overall, 36% of adults reported using a filter for drinking tap water; 14% did not drink tap water at home. Hispanics had significantly higher odds of water filter use. Factors significantly associated with lower odds of water filter use were lower education and income and not married adults. Water filter use was significantly associated with higher odds of drinking >3 cups/day of tap water and lower odds of SSBs ≥1 time/day. Not drinking tap water at home was significantly associated with higher odds of drinking >3 cups/day bottled water. While reported filter use was associated with healthful beverage habits, additional considerations for water filter use may include source water quality, oral health, cost, and proper use
		Quantitative Research
Katherine E. Belon Kelsey N. Serier Hayley VanderJagt Jane Ellen Smith	823	What Is Healthy Eating? Exploring Profiles of Intuitive Eating and Nutritionally Healthy Eating in College WomenFood’s nutritional content and the feelings/behaviors associated with eating contribute to overall health, yet these constructs are rarely considered simultaneously. This study investigated eating profiles in college women that included both nutritional quality and intuitive eating (IE). IE is an eating style that prioritizes hunger/satiety cues and minimizes dieting and emotional eating. Analyses explored how patterns of nutritionally healthy eating (NHE) and IE are related to psychological outcomes. Four patterns emerged: 1) Dieting (high NHE + intermediate IE), 2) Unhealthy Eating (low NHE + low IE), 3) Intuitive Eating (moderately high NHE + high IE), and 4) Non-Dieting (low NHE + intermediate IE). These profiles significantly differed from one another, such that the Intuitive Eating and Non-Dieting profiles reported lower psychological distress, BMI, and eating disorder symptoms compared to other profiles, while the Dieting and Unhealthy Eating profiles showed the healthiest and poorest nutritional eating, respectively. Findings suggest that IE and NHE are distinct factors in conceptualizing college women’s eating patterns, and both should be considered when developing interventions
		Quantitative Research
Julia I. Caldwell Alina Palimaru Deborah A. Cohen Daniel Rizik-BaerDipa Shah-Patel Tony Kuo	834	Use of Population Health Data and Qualitative Analysis to Guide Local Planning and Implementation of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program EducationThis paper describes the process of planning and implementation of SNAP-Ed at the local level in Los Angeles County from 2016-2020. SNAP-Ed includes nutrition education, physical activity promotion, and complementary policy, systems, and environmental change interventions (PSEs). Findings from 24 semi-structured interviews with project coordinators indicate that capacity building facilitated by the county health department and community partnerships were important in successfully implementing SNAP-Ed. Findings have practical implications for local-level entities to initiate and scale large obesity and other chronic disease prevention programs
		Quantitative Research
Emily Stiehl Susan L. Bales Kristi Rahrig Jenkins Bruce W. Sherman	843	Unique Barriers to Workplace Health Promotion Programs by Wage Category: A Qualitative Assessment of Secondary DataThis paper explores potential barriers to access or use of workplace health promotion (WHP) programs by employees in different wage categories. Specifically, this qualitative study uses open-ended survey responses, from a quality improvement survey, to learn about employees’ perceptions of an existing WHP program and the factors associated with their participation. The broad themes that emerged from their responses about participation in WHP programs were time, financial incentives, commute, workload, and organizational policies/support. Although these issues were discussed by both lower- and higher-wage employees, the focus of their concerns was different. For instance, while all employees faced time constraints, higher-wage workers described trouble fitting WHP programs into the schedules they create for themselves, while lower-wage workers cited a need for supervisor support to overcome irregular work schedules and external demands as limiting their ability to access programs. The unique participation challenges experienced by employees in different wage categories provide further justification for structuring WHP programs to better accommodate the needs of all employees
		Quantitative Research
Ana Cristina Lindsay Denisse Delgado Madelyne J. Valdez Emily Restrepo Phillip Granberry	853	“Everyone in Our Community Should be Informed About the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine”: Latinx Mothers’ Suggested Strategies to Promote the Human Papillomavirus VaccineHuman papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States (US). An estimated 80 million people, about 1 in 4 adults in the US are currently infected with HPV, and nearly 14 million people become newly infected each year. Vaccination is a safe and effective way to prevent HPV infection and HPV-associated cancers, conferring protection to the most common types of HPV that can cause cervical, vulvar, vaginal, penile, anal, and oropharyngeal cancersLatinx are the largest minority population in the US and expected to represent 30% of the population by 2050. Latinx children currently account for one-fourth of children under age 18. Latinx have higher incidence and mortality of some HPV-associated cancers than non-Hispanic whites. However, despite evidence suggesting the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine as a cancer prevention strategy and evidence of increased vaccination rates among Latinx adolescents, uptake remains lower than the 80% goal set by Healthy People 2030. Therefore, identifying strategies to increase uptake, initiation and completion of the HPV vaccine is critical to eliminate HPV-associated cancers in Latinx populationsIn this qualitative research we used individual in-depth interviews to explore Latinx mothers’ suggested strategies for promoting the HPV vaccine in their communities. Mothers suggested several strategies among which notably was community-wide health communication and education campaigns targeted not only at parents of age-eligible adolescents but the entire community to increase awareness of the HPV vaccine as a cancer prevention strategy and demystify stigma associate with the vaccine conferring protection against a sexually transmitted disease. Mothers also suggested that schools play an active role in informing and educating adolescent children and parents about the HPV vaccine. Information generated by this qualitative study could aid the development and refinement of culturally sensitive strategies designed to promote the HPV vaccine tailored to meet the specific needs of Latinx populations
		Applied Research Brief
Erik A. Willis Xiuya Chang Falon Smith Emily Clarke Dianne S. Ward	864	Predictors of Non-Compliance with a National Early Care and Education-Based Obesity Prevention Initiative: Go NAPSACCThe early care and education setting has been identified as an important target for health promotion initiatives with several prominent organizations (eg, Institute of Medicine, American Academy of Pediatrics) publishing recommended standards of practice. Over the past decade interventions (eg, workshops, self-assessments, taking trainings for ECE professionals, learning collaboratives, action planning, engaging families, updating policies) to help early care and education programs meet these standards, however, to be effective, programs must first successfully complete these interventions. In this study we developed and validated a score that estimates the risk of non-compliance from a national health promotion initiative targeting early care and education. These predictors of intervention non-compliance may inform future strategies to improve early care and education-based health promotion efforts
		Applied Research Brief
Camillia K. LuiNina Mulia Yu Ye Deidre Patterson Sang Leng Trieu	869	School and Community Factors Associated With the Adoption of 100% Smoke-free Policy by California Community Colleges, 2003-2019Smoke- and tobacco-free policy (SFP) is an effective strategy that can reduce tobacco-related health disparities among young adults. Longitudinal design using administrative, survey, policy data sources and geocoded tobacco outlet and American Community Survey data. California community colleges (CC) and cities/communities where colleges are located, 2003-2019. 114 California CCs. School-level (ie, student population and demographics) and community-level data (sociodemographics, local tobacco control policy, tobacco-related norms and availability, health resources) from 2003-2019. Key outcome is the year CC adopted a 100% SFP. Bivariate and multivariate Cox survival models were used to analyze timing of SFP adoption. By 2019, 61 out of 114 (53.5%) CCs were 100% SFP. While community smoking prevalence and tobacco availability were not significant, CCs in rural areas were less likely to be smoke-free. CCs located in cities with stronger tobacco policies (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.08, P < .05), which reported higher student health fees (HR = 2.00, P < .05), and received technical assistance for SFP (HR = 4.59, P < .01) were significantly associated with having 100% SFP. Findings suggest that key community factors (strong city tobacco policies) and school and community resources (student health fees, SFP technical assistance) are associated with the presence of 100% SFP at CCs. Resources from the community or within college might support remaining CCs in becoming 100% smoke-free
		Applied Research Brief
Mayra S. Rascón Melawhy L. Garcia Selena T. Nguyen-Rodriguez Gino Galvez Alejandra Gepp Elizabeth Carrillo Rita Carreon	876	Comprando Rico y Sano: Increasing Latino Nutrition Knowledge, Healthful Diets, and Food Access Through a National Community-Based InterventionThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of “X”, a culturally relevant, community health worked-led, six-hour, community-based intervention addressing nutrition knowledge, health behaviors, and food access. Participants included 966 Latino adults receiving services at 25 partner sites across the country. Self-report surveys assessed nutrition knowledge; intention to change; and frequency of fruit, vegetable, and home-prepared meal consumption. Sites reported SNAP enrollment data. Paired-samples t-tests and repeated-measures ANOVAs assessed changes in knowledge, intentions, and behavior. Pre-to-follow-up increases in nutrition knowledge (P < .001) were observed. Intention to consume more vegetables (P = .027) and home-prepared meals (P < .001) also improved between pre and follow-up. Increases from pre-to-follow-up were observed for frequency of consuming fruits (P = .007), vegetables (P = .001), and home-prepared meals (P < .001). Across 16 months, 24 359 Latinos enrolled for SNAP. Large-scale community collaborations to deliver culturally relevant nutrition education and SNAP enrollment assistance can increase health literacy and promote healthful diets for Latinos
		Literature Review
Fatemeh Saadati Haidar Nadrian Mostafa Hosseini Golkar Mohammad-Hossein Taghdisi Neda Gilani Nafiseh Ghassab-Abdollahi Zahra Fathifar	881	Indices and Indicators Developed to Evaluate the “Strengthening Community Actions” Mechanism of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion: A Scoping ReviewThe evaluation of health promotion interventions with focus on strengthening community actions, is critical to collect evidence on program effectiveness, identify strategies to improve programs and measures, justify resource utilization, and identify unexpected outcomes. As a necessity to investigate the effectiveness of strengthening community action intervention programs, a set of indices/indicators provides the interventionists with a tool for conducting regular evaluations of the interventional efforts. According to literature review, there is a scarcity in the studies on scoping out the indices/indicators used to evaluate strengthening community action intervention programs. Therefore, in this scoping review we tried to present an overview of the indices/indicators applied in the studies on “strengthening community action”. Our aim in this review was to provide a narrative and descriptive account of existing literature in the mechanism area of “strengthening community action” for health promotion
Knowing Well, Being Well
David L. Katz	894	Where’s the Beef? At the Juncture of Flora, Fauna, and FoodIndividuals use health care differently when they have a higher vs lower out of pocket costs. It is important to understand the implications of financial requirements on health behaviors given the current prevalence of high deductible benefit designs, and how any barriers to access can be addressed. Contributors to this month’s Knowing Well Being Well explore the effectiveness as value-based insurance designs at aligning patient incentives with use of value based care, motivate the importance of equitable health benefits, and provide a physician’s perspective on patient financial requirements
Matthew R. Smith Samuel S. Myers	KWBW 895	The environmental cost of red meat: Striking the right balance between nutrition and natureRed meat consumption, especially beef, is costly for the environment, and predicted levels of meat consumption in the coming decades will likely put an unsustainable strain on global resources. Decreasing red meat consumption for most is a necessary path forward. However, many of the world’s poorest people rely on cattle for nutrition and income or would achieve significant health benefits from increased consumption of meat or dairy. A sustainable path forward requires less red meat consumption among the world’s wealthier populations and nutrient-rich diets for poorer populations that may include increased animal source foods or better access to nutrient-rich meat alternatives
Mary Murimi	KWBW 897	What is the place of beef in a healthful sustainable Homo sapiens diet?Despite the role of beef in a healthful diet, evidence indicates that excessive meat consumption may introduce some risk factors to human health. For example, high intakes of saturated fat may increase levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, which may narrow or block the heart arteries, causing cardiovascular diseases. A study conducted by Papier and colleagues found that each additional 50 g/day intake of red meat such as beef increased the risk of coronary heart disease by 9%. Given the coexistence of conflicting healthfulness and risk factors, the objective of this paper is to discuss the place of beef in a healthful sustainable H sapiens diet. This article will discuss the important nutritional values of beef meat, risk factors related to heart diseases and finally the art and science of benefitting from the nutritional values of beef meat, while eluding the risk factors through evidence-based approaches