American Journal of Health Promotion

Virtually nothing is known about the potential effects of tobacco advertising on tobacco use among youth experiencing homelessness, a vulnerable population with high tobacco use rates. This study examines associations between the appeal of advertising for 5 classes of tobacco product (electronic cigarettes, hookah, cigars, cigarillos, and smokeless tobacco) and future intentions to use those products again among homeless youth who had indicated any level of lifetime use.

A cross-sectional design was used.

Settings were 25 service and street sites in Los Angeles County.

A probability sample of 469 young tobacco users experiencing homelessness (mean age = 22; 71% male; 29% non-Hispanic White) was recruited.

Assessments included product-specific tobacco advertising appeal and future intentions to use the product again, as well as a range of covariate controls (eg, demographics, homelessness severity, current tobacco use, general advertising exposure).

Linear regression tested for associations between the appeal of advertising for a specific tobacco product and intentions to use that product again in the future, controlling for myriad covariates.

Advertising appeal was positively associated with future intentions to use again for electronic cigarettes (P = .006) and hookah (P = .001), but not cigars (P = .486), cigarillos (P = .126), or smokeless tobacco (P = .109).

Results suggest that advertising appeal may increase use of certain tobacco products among youth experiencing homelessness. However, differences in themes emphasized by advertising for specific tobacco products could differentially influence use in this population.

To examine changes in organizations’ workplace health promotion (WHP) initiatives over time associated with repeated self-assessment using the Well Workplace Checklist (WWC).

Well Workplace Checklist data include a convenience sample of US organizations that selected to assess their performance against quality WHP benchmarks.

Workplaces.

In total, 577 US organizations completed the WWC in 2 or more years from 2008 to 2015.

The WWC is a 100-item organizational assessment that measures performance against the original set of quality benchmarks that were established by the Wellness Council of America (WELCOA).

This study examined changes in overall WWC scores as well as 7 separate benchmark scores. Multilevel modeling was used to examine changes in scores associated with repeated assessments, controlling for the year of assessment and organizational characteristics.

There were significant increases in overall WWC scores (β = 2.93, P < .001) associated with the repeated WWC assessments, after controlling for organizational characteristics. All 7 benchmark scores had significant increases associated with reassessment. Compared to other benchmarks, operating plan (β = 6.18, P < .001) and evaluation (β = 4.91, P < .001) scores increased more with each reassessment.

Continued reassessment may represent more commitment to and investment in WHP initiatives which could lead to improved quality. Other factors that may positively influence changes in performance against benchmarks include company size, access to outside resources for WHP, and a history with implementing WHP.

To examine associations between socioeconomic status and two forms of social capital, namely, neighborhood and network measures, and how these distinct forms of capital are associated with body mass index (BMI) among Black residents of low-income communities.

Respondent-driven sampling was used to engage residents in a household survey to collect data on the respondents’ personal network, perceptions about their neighborhood environment, and health.

Eight special emphasis neighborhoods in Greenville, South Carolina.

N = 337 black/African American older adults, nearly half of whom have a household income of less than $15 000 and a high school education, were included.

Neighborhood capital was assessed via three scales on social cohesion, collective efficacy, and social support from neighbors. Network capital was calculated via a position generator, common in egocentric network surveys. Body mass index was calculated with self-reported height and weight.

Multilevel linear regression models were used to examine the association between neighborhood and network capital and obesity among respondents within sampling chains.

Higher household income was associated with greater neighborhood capital, whereas higher educational attainment was associated with greater network capital. Social cohesion was negatively associated with BMI (b = −1.25, 95% confidence interval [CI]: −2.39 to −0.11); network diversity was positively associated with BMI (b = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.55).

The findings shed light on how social capital may be patterned by socioeconomic status and, further, how distinct forms of capital may be differentially associated with health among black Americans.

To describe the implementation of Make Your Move Experience (MYME) between 2015 and 2017.

Cross-sectional.

Make Your Move Experience is a culturally sensitive worksite wellness program in South Texas designed to encourage sedentary workers to engage in physical activity.

In total, 681 individuals from 19 different organizations.

UTHealth School of Public Health in Brownsville staff recruited individuals within local organizations to join MYME. At the end of the 3 months, organizations in which employees met MYME goals earned an incentive—bike rack or hydration station—selected to be permanent features of the local environment and facilitate physical activity.

Participant self-reported gender, physical activity level prior to joining MYME (beginner or experienced), and weekly miles of biking, walking, or running completed.

Mean number of miles biked, walked, and ran each month were compared between (1) beginners and experienced, (2) men and women, and (3) in fall 2016 and spring 2017 using t tests.

Beginners initiated physical activity by walking. Men biked more miles than women did (P < .05 all 3 years). Bike riders cycled fewer miles (20.2 miles vs 44.9 miles; P = .03) and walkers covered fewer miles (195.4 miles vs 266.7 miles; P = .04) in fall 2016 compared to spring 2017.

Participation in MYME, a culturally appropriate intervention delivered at the worksite, facilitated an increase in physical activity levels among sedentary individuals.

One of the major federal food assistance programs, the Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), serves approximately 1.5 million low-income pregnant women per year; however, limited information is available on their dietary habits. This is critical because low-income women are at higher risk of gaining excess weight during pregnancy. Thus, the study objectives were to (1) determine the overall diet quality of WIC pregnant women and (2) examine diet quality and eating behaviors by race/ethnicity and other sociodemographics.

This was a cross-sectional study.

One of the 3 WIC offices in a north-central county in North Carolina, USA.

Pregnant women (n = 198) in the second trimester.

Interviews included sociodemographics, food security, diet, and eating behaviors. Diet quality was assessed by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) 2010 scores.

Descriptives, bivariate analysis, and multivariate analysis.

Average participant age was 26 years, and the mean HEI-2010 score was 56 of maximum score of 100. Specifically, African American women consumed significantly lower servings of whole grains (β = −1.71; 95% CI: −3.10 to −0.32; P < .05) and dairy (β = −1.42; 95% CI: −2.51 to −0.33; P < .05) compared with non-Hispanic white women. Hispanic women scored higher in daily intake of fruits (β = 0.98; 95% CI: 0.17-1.79; P < .05) and for consuming empty calories in moderation (β = 1.57; 95% CI: 0.06-3.09; P < .05). Frequency of intake of fast foods/outside meals was higher among African American women (57%, P = .025).

Efforts are warranted to promote optimal nutrition among WIC pregnant women. Specifically, African American women are highly vulnerable to poor dietary habits during pregnancy. Further investigation of barriers/facilitators for healthy eating is necessary to address nutrition disparities among WIC pregnant women.

Programs designed to sustainably improve employee well-being are urgently needed but insufficiently researched. This study evaluates the long-term effectiveness of a commercial well-being intervention in a worksite setting.

A pre/postintervention repeated analysis with follow-up at 6, 12, and 18 months.

Office-based worksites (for-profit, nonprofit, and mixed work-type; n = 8).

One hundred sixty-three employees with a mean age of 47 (11) years (57% female).

A 2.5-day group-based behavioral program emphasizing vitality and purpose in life (PiL).

Rand Medical Outcomes Survey (MOS) 36-Item Short Form (SF-36) with a focus on vitality (primary outcome), Ryff PiL Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Profile of Mood States, Rand MOS Sleep Scale, physical activity, body weight, blood pressure, and blood measures for glucose and lipids at baseline, 6, 12, and 18 months.

General linear models with repeated measures for mean values at baseline and follow-up.

At 18-month follow-up, sustained improvements were observed for vitality, general health, and mental health domains of SF-36 and PiL (P < .001 for all measures). Sleep, mood, vigor, physical activity, and blood pressure were also improved at 18 months (P < .05 for all measures).

An intensive 2.5-day intervention showed sustained improvement in employee quality of life, PiL, and other measures of well-being over 18 months.

As adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) become increasingly recognized as a root cause of unhealthy behaviors, researchers, practitioners, and legislators seek to understand policy strategies to prevent and mitigate its effects. Given the high prevalence of ACEs, policies that address ACEs can meaningfully prevent disease in adulthood and improve population health. We sought to understand barriers and opportunities for policies to prevent and mitigate ACEs by exploring state legislator perspectives.

Twenty-four current state legislators in South Carolina.

In 2018, we conducted semistructured interviews with 24 state legislators. Participants were recruited using maximum variation sampling. The researchers individually analyzed each interview transcript using focused coding qualitative techniques. A high inter-rater agreement was demonstrated (κ = .76 to .87), and discrepancies were resolved through discussion.

The data collection and analysis were guided by Multiple Streams Theory, which identifies 3 key components (attention to the problem, decisions about policy options, and the impact of political landscape) that can lead windows of opportunity for passing policies.

Legislators identified several factors that can influence the passage of legislation on ACEs: awareness of ACEs; gaps in understanding about what can be done about ACEs; the use of data and stories that contextualize the problem of ACEs; capitalizing on the bipartisanship of children’s issues; and linking to current ACEs-related issues on the policy agenda, such as school safety and violence prevention and the opioid epidemic.

Public health researchers and practitioners should focus on the factors identified to advocate for policies that prevent ACEs and/or address their health consequences.

The Cooperative Extension System (Extension) has implemented concerted efforts toward health promotion in communities across the nation by acting as an intermediary between communities and universities. Little is known about how these intermediaries communicate and learn about existing evidence-based programming. This study serves to explore this gap by learning about information sources and channels used within Extension.

Sequential explanatory mixed methods approach.

National Cooperative Extension System.

Extension community-based health educators.

A nationally distributed survey with follow-up semistructured interviews. Survey results were analyzed using a Kruskal-Wallis 1-way analysis of variance test paired with Bonferroni post hoc. Transcripts were analyzed by conventional content analysis.

One hundred twenty-one Extension educators from 33 states responded to the survey, and 18 of 20 invited participants completed the interviews. Educators’ information seeking existed in 2 forms: (1) information sources for learning about programming and (2) channels by which this information is communicated. Extension educators reported contacting health specialists and other educators. Extension educators also reported using technological means of communication such as e-mail and Internet to reach information sources such as peers, specialists, academic journals, and so on.

Extension state specialists were preferred as primary sources for intervention information, and technology was acknowledged as an easy contact channel. This study identifies county-based health educators’ information structures and justifies the need for future research on the role of specialists in communication efforts for educators.