This study analyzes the method used in the selection of six community schools to participate in a three-year exploratory program for improving health education in Texas.

The southwest and northwest regions of Cameroon have experienced high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV). Limited information is available about IPV victims' experiences with social support systems. This phenomenological study was aimed at investigating IPV victims' lived experiences with social support systems in Cameroon. Some of these systems are the judicial system, police officers, hospitals and clinics, and domestic violence agencies. The Health Belief Model (HBM) and the Transtheoretical Model of Change (TTM) were used to understand how 8 self-identified victims of IPV were able to discuss their lived experiences with social support systems. The research questions addressed women's experiences with social support systems as victims of intimate partner violence. The study also addressed participants' willingness to use social support systems again if the systems were made available to them. Data were gathered through face-to-face interviews using a purposeful-criterion sample that discussed the themes developed after the interview. The participants were selected with the help of 2 local domestic violence organizations based in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon. Study findings, which were generated via inductive analyses, indicated that victims sought the help of social support systems at least 3 times in hopes of changing their situation but were not satisfied with these systems. The study conveys social change by encouraging the need to educate social support systems in implementing and developing culturally-sensitive programs to eradicate IPV in Cameroon.

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No description available.

<p> Social workers in all care venues are increasingly responsible for clinical and case management services for people being treated with sophisticated medical interventions. Unfortunately, opportunities to aid in the promotion of quality of life (QOL), mental health, and informed consent are often not understood by social workers, other care providers, or patients. These missed opportunities may lead to attenuated effectiveness of medical interventions and negative impact on patients&rsquo; QOL. One such technological treatment is the implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), a lifesaving therapy which carries risk to patients&rsquo; QOL. Moreover, patients frequently do not accurately understand the benefits, limitations, and possible risks associated with ICD therapy. A small body of literature exists addressing experimental and demographic groups at risk of QOL decrements among the ICD patient population, including those who have been shocked more than five times, older adults, female patients, and those who have experienced a life threatening cardiac event. A much more limited body of literature addresses the quality of some forms of patient educational activities and materials. No research to date has attempted to characterize potential relationships between patient information acquisition, treatment knowledge, and QOL/mental health outcomes in this patient group. </p><p> Using a cross-sectional survey of ICD patients being treated at the University of Colorado Hospital (UCH), this dissertation project uses a social-ecological approach to describe the media through which ICD patients learn about device therapy, how well they understand their treatment, QOL and mental health outcomes, and any relationships between these constructs. The project was conducted in iterative phases, including the creation of two new measures assessing patient informational media history and ICD treatment knowledge, a pilot survey of 100 randomly selected patients to assess the quality of the new measures, and a larger survey of the remaining 655 potential ICD patient participants. </p><p> A total of 205 ICD patients responded to the survey, with a mean age of 60.7 years (sd=14.53), 34.1% of whom identified as female, 10.2% of whom are African American, and 37.5% of whom live in a household with an annual income of less than $40,000. Findings from survey responses revealed both the viability of the new informational media history and ICD treatment knowledge measures, as well as broad use of a number of specific forms of media to learn about treatment. Older adult patients illustrated significantly lower treatment knowledge and use of fewer forms of informational media than their younger counterparts. Multiple regression analyses revealed significant relationships between patient history of having been shocked, health related depression, and QOL, but failed to replicate earlier findings linking these problems to demographic indicators. Each of these findings highlight opportunities for improved social work research and practice with ICD patients, including the need for improved patient education processes for older adults with these devices, and the importance of mental health status, particularly depression, to patient QOL.</p>

<p> The number of Americans reporting extreme stress has increased over the past six years. Prolonged exposure to stress has the potential of producing severe damage to the health of individuals. Pennebaker and Graybeal (2001) stated, &ldquo;When people write about their deepest thoughts and feelings about an emotionally significant event, there are numerous benefits in many domains (e.g., health, achievement, and well-being) result&rdquo; (p. 1). Writing about extremely stressful situations has health and wellness benefits. In this study autoethnography and externalization were combined as a method to examine how feasible it might be for persons to employ the combined methods to process stressful life events. The externalization involved creating a persona (White &amp; Epston, 1990). The personas represented the lived experiences of work and family. In addition, the externalization application was the backdrop for the theoretical concepts of hardiness, thriving, resilience, and posttraumatic growth. The feasibility of this method was explored through an analysis of the autoethnographer&rsquo;s lived experiences of the externalization, where the researcher was also the autoethnographer-externalizer. As a result of the externalization, relevant themes emerged in the areas of Memory of Work and Family Events, Challenge Indicators, Management Indicators, Activity Persistence Indicators, Growth Indicators, and Positive Change Indicators. The researcher&rsquo;s experience, and the themes that emerged from the data, provided evidence that applying the externalization to the autoethnographic process was feasible and suggests a methodological combination that might help others, including leaders, cope with the stress associated with traumatic events.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to develop a grant proposal seeking funds for the implementation of a youth-led nutrition and education program utilizing the development and maintenance of a community garden. The participants will be youth from low income and minority backgrounds in San Diego, California. The service partners of San Diego Youth Services TAY Academy will have the opportunity to participate in this community garden program to learn about healthy eating habits, the risks of obesity, and food desert communities. </p><p> Through a review of the literature on obesity, food deserts, and community gardens the writer proposed and designed a youth-led community garden program. The writer explored potential public and private funding sources, which yielded the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as a potential funding source. </p><p> The actual submission and/or funding of this grant proposal were not a requirement for the successful completion of this project.</p>

<p> Despite an initiative to provide preconception care (PCC) and reproductive life planning (RLP) for all women of childbearing age, many women, especially those with low incomes, are not receiving it. As a result, there continues to be a high rate of infant morbidity and mortality in this population. Furthermore, low income adolescent females have not been adequately studied regarding this phenomenon. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore low income adolescent females&rsquo; knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about PCC and RLP in order to serve them more effectively. Five low income adolescent females, aged 18 to 21, were recruited through criterion sampling and they each engaged in 2 individual in-depth interviews. The health belief model, social cognitive theory, and adolescent affective and cognitive theory were the conceptual frameworks used to develop the interview guide, conduct the interviews, analyze the data, and formulate the recommendations for future studies. Moustakas&rsquo;s phenomenological interview process was used as a guiding framework to prepare and conduct the interviews. Qualitative data were analyzed using Moustakas&rsquo;s modified version of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method of analysis. Findings were that participants (a) had no experiences with PCC or RLP, (b) lacked knowledge about preparing for pregnancy, (c) had negative interactions with medical personnel, and (d) wanted more information about PCC and RLP. Further research is recommended to examine current PCC/RLP practices, conduct additional PCC studies of adolescents, and develop culturally- and age-appropriate PCC programs. Findings from these studies could improve both the lives of the adolescents and the health of their offspring. </p>

<p>With childhood obesity rates soaring in the United States, the state of Georgia implemented the SHAPE Law (Georgia General Assembly [GGA], 2010). Using FITNESSGRAM? as a means to track student fitness measures and raise parental awareness, this study examined parental understanding of, and response to the fourth- and fifth-grade FITNESSGRAM? Parent Report. A cross-sectional survey of fourth- and fifth-grade parents in a large Georgia suburban school district was conducted to capture parental reactions. Part I included questions about the FITNESSGRAM? Parent Report and Part II, the Modified BASS, included questions about parental barriers to physical activity support. Parent responses came primarily from higher socioeconomic clusters; therefore, few respondents reported any difficulty reading or understanding the FITNESSGRAM? Parent Report. Parent/child conversations were reported by two-thirds of the respondents with most discussing FITNESSGRAM?, the importance of fitness, lifestyle changes, or praise. Agreement with the findings of the FITNESSGRAM? Report was high within this fourth- and fifth-grade parent sample. Parental barriers to physical activity support were relatively low based on a Modified BASS score. However, a principal component analysis provided evidence related to the validity of the interpretations that can be drawn from responses to the barrier questions used in this study from the original BASS Scale. The FITNESSGRAM? Report provides parents with important health-related information about their child?s fitness abilities. The FITNESSGRAM? Report can be a useful tool to start health-related conversations between parents and their children.

<p> The purpose of this directed project is to develop a user-friendly information booklet for patients in the first year post Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB). The goal of the booklet is to improve the quality of life of patients post-surgery by providing the progression of an eating pattern in the first year post-op and tips for achieving healthy weight loss. An expert review evaluation was conducted. Four experts in nutrition and/or bariatrics completed the evaluation. Opinion scores were determined using a 5-point Likert scale. Overall, the expert committee tended to agree with the evaluation items and offered suggestions for improvement to indicate the information booklet content as appropriate and the layout conducive to the target audience. In the future, to further evaluate the efficacy of the information booklet, a qualitative evaluation may be conducted on post RYGB patients using the information booklet to determine its ease of use and effect on dietary changes.</p>