Cognitions relevant to tanning salon decision making were studied using Jaccard's Theory of Alternative Behavior. Questionnaires were administered assessing tanning salon use, attitudes toward tanning salon use, attitudes toward reasonable behavioral alternatives, and cognitive variables underlying these variables. Tanning salon use reports were very high in this sample. The results support the notion that young people make decisions regarding using tanning salons based on the behavioral alternatives available to them. Specifically, subjects with stronger preferences for using clothing to enhance appearance were less likely to use tanning salons. Furthermore, the multivariate approach used clearly delineates the specific cognitive beliefs and orientations that might be targeted to change these attitudes. The relevance of these findings to skin cancer prevention is discussed.

Research suggests that stakeholder investment is maximized when partnerships understand the assumptions held by partners of the benefits to be derived and contributions to be made to the partnership. In 2011, representatives from seven rural county high schools and five university departments participated in a planning workshop designed to identify elements of an effective community-academic partnership to address adolescent obesity disparity in Southern Appalachia. The purpose of this investigation was to examine key elements of partnership building by way of the Give-Get Grid partnership tool. Content analysis was conducted to identify emerging themes. University representatives consistently identified more proposed program contributions as well as benefits than their high school partners. University personnel responses generally pertained to their level of participation and investment in the partnership, whereas high school personnel tended to identify contributions fundamental to both partnership and program success. Additionally, content analysis uncovered programmatic facilitators and potential barriers that can be instrumental in program planning and forming program messages. Findings suggest that although partners often share common goals, perceptions of the value of investment and benefits may vary. The Give-Get Grid can be used during the program-planning phase to help identify these differences. Implications for practice are discussed.

Research suggests that stakeholder investment is maximized when partnerships understand the assumptions held by partners of the benefits to be derived and contributions to be made to the partnership. In 2011, representatives from seven rural county high schools and five university departments participated in a planning workshop designed to identify elements of an effective community-academic partnership to address adolescent obesity disparity in Southern Appalachia. The purpose of this investigation was to examine key elements of partnership building by way of the Give-Get Grid partnership tool. Content analysis was conducted to identify emerging themes. University representatives consistently identified more proposed program contributions as well as benefits than their high school partners. University personnel responses generally pertained to their level of participation and investment in the partnership, whereas high school personnel tended to identify contributions fundamental to both partnership and program success. Additionally, content analysis uncovered programmatic facilitators and potential barriers that can be instrumental in program planning and forming program messages. Findings suggest that although partners often share common goals, perceptions of the value of investment and benefits may vary. The Give-Get Grid can be used during the program-planning phase to help identify these differences. Implications for practice are discussed.

To develop a scale to assess infectious disease-specific health literacy (IDSHL) in China and test its initial psychometric properties. Methods: Item pooling, reduction and assessment of psychometric properties were conducted. The scale was divided into 2 subscales; subscale 1 assessed an individual's skills to prevent/treat infectious diseases and subscale 2 assessed cognitive ability. In 2014, 9000 people aged 15-69 years were randomly sampled from 3 provinces and asked to complete the IDSHL questionnaire. Cronbach's á was calculated to assess reliability. Exploratory factor analysis, t-test, correlations, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and logistic regression were used to examine validity. Results: Each of the 22 items in subscale 1 had a content validity index >0.8. In total, 8858 people completed the scale. The principal components factor analysis suggested a 5-factor solution. All factor loadings were >0.40 ( p<0.05). The IDSHL score was 22.07±7.91 (mean±SD; total score=38.62). Significant differences were observed across age (r=.0.276), sex (males: 21.65±8.03; females: 22.47±7.78), education (14.16±8.19 to 26.55±6.26), 2-week morbidity (present: 20.62±8.17, absent: 22.35±7.83; p<0.001) and health literacy of the highest and lowest 27% score groups (all p<0.05). The ROC curve indicated that 76.2% of respondents were adequate in IDSHL. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed 12 predictors of IDSHL adequacy (p<0.05). Among the 22 remaining items, Corrected Item-Total Correlation ranged from 0.316 to 0.504 and Cronbach's á values ranged from 0.754 to 0.810 if the items were deleted. The overall á value was 0.839 and the difficulty coefficient ranged from 1.19 to 4.08. For subscale 2, there were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of those with a correct/incorrect answer (all p<0.001). Conclusions: The newly developed 28-item scale provides an efficient, psychometrically sound and userfriendly measure of IDSHL in the Chinese population.

Health disparities between the western, central and eastern regions of rural China, and the impact of national health improvement policies and programming were assessed. A total of 400 counties were randomly sampled. ANOVA and Logistic regression modeling were employed to estimate differences in health outcomes and determinants. Significant differences were found between the western, central and eastern rural regions in community infrastructure and health outcomes. From 2000 to 2010, health indicators in rural China were improved significantly, and the infant mortality rate (IMR), maternal mortality rate (MMR) and under 5 mortality rate (U5MR) had fallen by 62.79%, 71.74% and 61.92%, respectively. Central rural China had the greatest decrease in IMR (65.05%); whereas, western rural China had the greatest reduction in MMR (72.99%) but smallest reduction in U5MR (57.36%). Despite these improvements, Logistic regression analysis showed regional differences in key health outcome indicators (odds ratios): IMR (central: 2.13; western: 5.31), U5MR (central: 2.25; western: 5.69), MMR (central: 1.94; western: 3.31), and prevalence of infectious diseases (central: 1.62; western: 3.58). The community infrastructure and health outcomes of the western and central rural regions of China have been improved markedly during the first decade of the 21st century. However, health disparities still exist across the three regions. National efforts to increase per capita income, community empowerment and mobilization, community infrastructure, capacity of rural health facilities, and health literacy would be effective policy options to attain health equity.

Purpose – Near-field tsunamis provide short warning periods of equal to 30 minutes, which can complicate at-risk individuals’ protective action decisions. In the face of a tsunami, people may turn to individuals such as friends, family, neighbors, or organizations such as the media to obtain warning information to help facilitate evacuation and/or to seek protection from the hazard. To characterize norms for protection action behavior during a near-field tsunami, the purpose of this paper is to explore American Samoan residents’ perceptions of four social stakeholder groups on three characteristics – tsunami knowledge, trustworthiness, and protection responsibility – regarding the September 29, 2009, Mw 8.1 earthquake and tsunami in American Samoa. Design/methodology/approach – The social stakeholder groups were the respondents themselves, their peers, officials, and media. Mean ratings revealed that respondents rated themselves highest for tsunami knowledge and protection against the tsunami but rated peers highest for trustworthiness. In addition, officials had the lowest mean rankings for all three stakeholder characteristics. MANOVA analyses found that there was a statistically significant overall effect for occupation status on respondents’ perceptions of the four stakeholder groups and characteristics. Findings – Employed respondents generally reported higher mean ratings for all stakeholder groups across the three characteristics than those that reported not having an occupation. Given the complexity of evacuation behavior, at-risk individuals may seek the assistance of other community members to support their protective action decisions. Originality/value – The information gathered from this study provides local emergency managers with useful data that could support future disaster resilience efforts for tsunamis.

The West Virginia Prescription Drug Abuse Quitline (WVPDAQ) is a resource that offers education and support to individuals and families affected by prescription drug abuse. The WVPDAQ began functioning September 11, 2008, through the use of mobile phone and laptop technology. Although some helplines and quitlines use some aspects of remote technology, most function through traditional call center and landline technology, making the WVPDAQ unique. This article describes the process evaluation of the WVPDAQ and outlines both the positive findings and challenges faced by the WVPDAQ. Lessons learned and future recommendations for remote quitline endeavors are also presented. It is hoped that the experiences and information regarding the WVPDAQ presented can provide best-practice insight for public health practitioners and evaluation personnel who are considering using alternative technologies to deliver quitline services.

Twin and family studies have shown that genetic factors play a role in the development of conduct disorder (CD). The purpose of this study was to identify genetic variants associated with CD using a family-based association study. We used 4,720 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from the Illumina Panel and 11,120 SNPs from the Affymetrix 10K GeneChips genotyped in 155 Caucasian nuclear families from Genetic Analysis Workshop (GAW) 14, a subset from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). 20 SNPs had suggestive associations with CD (p∈<∈10-3), nine of which were located in known genes, including ADAM10 (rs383902, p=0.00036) and CAMK2A (rs2053053, p=0.00098). Our results were verified using the International Multi-Center ADHD Genetics Project (IMAGE) dataset. In conclusion, we identified several loci associated with CD. Especially, the two genes (ADAM10 and CAMK2A) have been reported to be associated with Alzheimer's disease, bipolar disorder and depression. These findings may serve as a resource for replication in other populations.

The reduction of intentional exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation is an important area of skin cancer prevention. Hillhouse et al. (Cancer 113:3257-3266, 2008) have developed an appearance-focused intervention with evidence of efficacy in lowering indoor tanning UV exposure in young women. In the current study, a subgroup approach was used to determine moderators of intervention efficacy. Undergraduate females in two regions of the United States (n = 362) were randomized into an intervention or control condition. Latent profile analysis was used to identify subgroups of indoor tanners based on patterns of indoor tanning motives. Intervention efficacy was examined within each subgroup. We found evidence for 4 subgroups of tanners: knowledgeable-appearance tanners, low-knowledge tanners, low-knowledge, relaxation tanners, and knowledgeable, low-appearance and lowrelaxation tanners. The intervention significantly reduced indoor tanning for the low-knowledge subgroup (34% of the sample). The utility of the subgroup approach in developing targeted behavioral skin cancer interventions is discussed.

Objectives: To evaluate the effects of an appearance-focused intervention to reduce the risk of skin cancer by decreasing indoor tanning, examine potential heterogeneity in tanning across this time, and correlate the subtypes with predictors collected at baseline. Design: Randomized controlled trial with 379 female college students measured at 6 monthly time points. Main Outcome Measure: Self-reported indoor tanning frequency. Results: The intervention was effective at decreasing tanning over the period between the fall and spring. Longitudinal latent class analysis found 3 patterns of tann1ers among the treatment individuals: abstainers, moderate tanners, and heavy tanners. These classes appeared in both the treatment and control conditions, and the intervention had a harm reduction effect by reducing levels of exposure within the moderate and heavy tanner classes. Participant age and self-reported tanning patterns were found to be predictive of class membership. Conclusions: This research suggests that brief intervention approaches can be effective at reducing risk for skin cancer and illustrates several ways in which these protective effects can be enhanced.