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The purpose of this dissertation was to develop measures of narrative structure for written and video health communication messages with an eye toward developing more readily encoded and persuasive messages. Two rated measures of narrative structure, both of which are comprised of unique sub-scales, were developed for use in health communication messages across two pretests and two primary studies using experimental methodologies. One of the rated measures of narrative structure is for written text and one is for video. A series of reliability analyses were completed on these measures including exploratory factor analyses, Cronbach's alpha analyses and bootstrap analyses. Both of the primary studies used smoking cessation material and the sample was an adult population of smokers. A relatively reliable rated measure of narrative structure was developed for video and written texts. In both cases, some of the subscales of the rated measures of narrative structure are distinct from transportation, a measure of narrative engagement. Results suggest that higher levels of sequence and transportation are associated with increased encoding across media. However, sequence was little effect on persuasion outcomes and emotionality of messages has varying effects across recognition and persuasion outcomes.

"Planting Wholesome Seeds"| Organic Farming and Community Supported Agriculture at Sweetwater Organic Community Farm

Exploring Childbearing Intentions and Reproductive Behavior among Minority Adolescent and Young Adult Females with Behaviorally-Acquired HIV Infection

Socioeconomic Factors Affecting Infant Sleep-Related Deaths

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, San Francisco, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: B, page: 3402. Adviser: Mary C. White.

<p> The purpose of the study was to conduct a community risk assessment of the city of Huntington Park, California by utilizing the Communities That Care model to identify the most concerning risk factors for delinquency and school dropout. Forty-seven indicators measuring 18 risk factors were gathered from public sources. Data from Huntington Park was compared to data from Los Angeles County and California. The risk factors of main concern for the community appeared to be transition and mobility, low neighborhood attachment and community disorganization, extreme economic deprivation, family management problems, academic failure beginning in elementary school, early and persistent antisocial behavior, friends who engage in the problem behavior and early initiation of the problem behavior. Efforts to reduce involvement in delinquency and school dropout should target the community, school and peer and individual domains. Suggestions for evidence-based programs and approaches to reduce the most salient risk factors are provided.</p>

The purpose of this study was to begin to fill the void regarding nutriologic status in patients with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) and or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) receiving palliative care, and to bring the quality of palliative care to a more appropriate level as related to nutritional injury. Objectives: The objectives were: 1) to determine the prevalence of patients with a stage of nutritional injury at or above the clinical horizon; 2) to determine the response, specifically changes in biochemical parameters and physical manifestations of nutrient based lesions, after micronutrient intervention; 3) to determine if there is a relationship between micronutrient intervention and macronutrient intake; 4) to determine if there is a positive relationship between micronutrient intervention and stage of nutritional injury regardless of the percent of estimated non-protein calorie and protein needs consumed and 5) to ascertain what characteristics identify patients without resiliency / response to treatment. Design: The design was a prospective theory-based effectiveness trial exploring nutriologic status and response to micronutrient intervention utilizing a quasi-experimental design. Twenty-six Veterans with CHF / COPD admitted to the Nursing Home Care Unit for palliative care or designated as Advanced Disease were enrolled; nineteen completed the study. Subjects were recruited consecutively and comparisons were made between baseline and post-treatment values. Methods: A Minimum Data Set structured nine-step nutritional care process including evidence, diagnoses, etiologies, goals / predicted outcomes, interventions and actual outcomes was utilized. Results: All subjects presented at or above the clinical horizon of nutritional injury at baseline representing acquired nutritional loss; 84% had lesions suggestive of nutrient imbalance. Prevalence of pyridoxine, thiamin and zinc deficits were 63%, 11% and 21% respectively. Pyridoxine status following treatment improved significantly, p = .000. Fifty-three percent of subjects had improved outcomes indicating nutritional resiliency, and change within stage of injury. Factors observed in suboptimal nutritional resiliency included drug-nutrient interactions and acute infection. Conclusions: The nutritional cost from lack of responsible nutrition therapy is likely to be significant in veterans with CHF/COPD receiving palliative care. Drug-nutrient interactions and acute infections are most likely the offending factors interacting with the resiliency state.

Whereas the presence of an ashtray on every table in American restaurants was once the norm, smoking in public places has become increasingly restricted during the late twentieth century. Given the changes in numerous physical and social environments impacting on smoking messages and behaviors within the larger context of contemporary American ideologies about morality, identity, the body, and the social order, how has the relationship between smoking and identity changed? The task of this thesis is to explore this question from the perspective of 22 contemporary young adults with personal smoking histories. After reviewing social trends in cigarette consumption during the past century, I examine the present relationship between smoking and identity, including the influence of social factors, and the significance of identity to motivations and practices pertaining to self-restricted smoking and cessation. The work of constructing, reconstructing and negotiating one's moral identity through discourse and practice receives special attention.

Residents of copper mining and smelting towns may have increased risk of arsenic exposure from elevated arsenic contained in environmental media. To determine the relationship of arsenic in house dust to inorganic urinary arsenic concentrations, a door to-door survey was conducted in Hayden and Winkelman, Arizona. A total of 122 households (404 individuals) participated; eighty-five provided dust samples. Urine was collected at first morning void and analyzed for total and speciated arsenic. Speciation of arsenic was performed in samples with total arsenic above 10μg/L (N = 106). The generalized estimating equation was used to determine the relationship between urinary and house dust arsenic concentrations, allowing adjustment for the correlation of measurements obtained from the same home. Seafood consumption during the past three days and smoking contributed significantly to inorganic urinary arsenic, after adjusting for age and gender. Arsenic in house dust was not significantly associated with inorganic urinary arsenic measurements in this population.