Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In the United States, over 30 percent of children are categorized as overweight or obese. Comorbid conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and other health complications related to obesity, are also on the rise. This public health issue is often related to disproportionate dietary intake and lack of physical activity. Efforts that promote fruits and vegetables (F/V) as preferred food choices over high fat and high sugar foods may help combat the increasing incidence of overweight and obesity. Other benefits from F/V include prebiotics or fiber that helps to create and maintain a healthy microbiota, which is now recognized as essential for long-term positive health outcomes. Many children, however, fall short in consuming the recommended daily amounts of F/V servings, and therefore, lack key nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and fiber. This study is a pilot, quasi-experimental design that provides information related to the importance of eating F/V to children, ages 11-12 years, who attend a parochial school in Indianapolis, Indiana. The data from this study describe the amounts of F/V servings in home-prepared school lunches. The primary aim of this study is to determine if eight interactive multimedia lessons and activities delivered to one group of students (intervention) and a single lesson delivered to a different group of students in the same school and grade (control), affects the amount of lunch F/V servings, student knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy/perception. This baseline data will contribute to the design and implementation of a health curriculum for middle school age students. Focus groups, adapted validated assessment tools as well as the on-site observation of F/V servings brought in lunches and consumed at lunch are compared between both groups to document any effects of the instruction. The results show that a statistically significant change in knowledge occurred within the intervention group following the implementation of this F/V education series. Favorable findings, with a positive upward trend in relative amounts of F/V, were identified and more research in this area is warranted.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Children are at increased risk for harmful lead exposure due to their behavior and the increased percentage of lead absorption. While lead levels and the possible adverse health effects vary by age and level absorbed, the medical field agrees that lead is a persistent public health issue of the first order. Importantly, Hoosier children are at an increased risk for possible negative side effects because of the small percentage of children who are being tested; despite the AAP’s recommendation. The Health Belief Model (HBM) provided a strong and appropriate framework for guiding this formative research about parents’ perceptions of blood lead testing. This study aimed to answer two research questions based on HBM concepts and utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods to help answer them. Using snowball and convenience sampling, 14 Hoosier parents were recruited to participate in this study during the spring of 2020. Parents were recruitment from four counties across the state with known high rates of lead and/or low rates of blood lead testing among babies and small children. The findings from this study yield broad suggestions for future work within the field of communication research and specific suggestions for applied communication campaign research and clinical interventions within the state of Indiana. This study suggests we still have a long way to go as a state in addressing the dangers of lead toxicity and increasing regular testing among Hoosier children.

The purpose of this study is to explore college students' breast and testicular cancer self-examination beliefs and practices using constructs of the Health Belief Model. Over a 1.6 million Americans are diagnosed each year with cancer. With that, over 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer while nearly 8,000 men will develop testicular cancer. If cancer is diagnosed and treated in the early stages, it will greatly increase the chance of survival and quality of life. One of the easiest methods to discover cancer early is to perform self-examinations. Self-examinations are safe, quick, private, and do not require a visit to the doctor. This study will explain reasons why some college students perform breast (for women) and testicular (for men) self-examinations while others choose not to perform self-examinations. A survey of 386 (202 female and 184 male) college students was conducted at a midsize university located in the Midwest. Participants were asked to complete Champion's Health Belief Model Scale. In addition, participants were asked to complete two open-ended survey questions regarding their self-examinations beliefs and behaviors. Overall, 129 (34%) participants performed self-examinations. Of those 129, females were more likely to perform self-examinations than males. In addition, females were also more likely to be taught how to perform self-examinations. Participants were more likely to perform self-examinations if felt susceptible to developing cancer and if they felt comfortable in their ability to properly perform one. Finally, participants were also more likely to perform self-examinations if they were given a cue to action (i.e. their doctor told them to or a relative had cancer). The significance of the data will help educators and health care professionals develop health programming to address the barriers that keep college students from performing self-examinations. In particular, there needs to be tailored programming for males because they are more susceptible to developing testicular cancer during their college years than any other time in their lives. Finally, a social marketing campaign could be an easy intervention to reach the masses. A Social marketing campaign would be a beneficial way to raise awareness, educate students on cancer in college, and show the simple steps in performing self-examinations.

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abstract: Depression is a serious mental health concern that has increasing prevalence rates in the United States (Mojtabai et al., 2016). Asian Americans with depression tend to experience severe and persistent symptoms, but are significantly less likely to seek treatment than other racial/ethnic groups (Alegria et al., 2008; Lee et al., 2011). The current study utilized the Health Belief Model (HBM) to examine Asian American emerging adults’ depression-specific mental health beliefs and resulting intentions to seek mental health care. Furthermore, the current study tested the traditional HBM against an Asian value-informed HBM via structural equation modeling among a sample of 385 Asian American emerging adults (Mage = 21.81, SDage = 2.88). Primary study results indicated good model fit for both the traditional and Asian-value informed HBMs. Specifically, in the Asian-value informed HBM, perceived benefits of professional mental health care mediated the association between Asian value adherence and likelihood of mental health help-seeking. Post hoc analyses provided support for the Asian value-informed HBM over the traditional HBM. These results suggest that Asian cultural values influence mental health beliefs and, in turn, the likelihood of mental health help-seeking behaviors among Asian Americans. The results of the current study have important implications for practice as well as future research in highlighting the impact of cultural variables on mental health beliefs and behaviors among Asian American emerging adults. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Counseling Psychology 2021

Bakgrund: En av de främsta anledningarna till behov av hjärtrehabilitering är hjärtinfarkt. Hjärtrehabilitering har visats vara en av de viktigaste preventiva åtgärderna för att motverka återfall i hjärt- och kärlsjukdom. Fysioterapeutens roll i centerbaserad hjärtrehabilitering är främst att instruera, övervaka, motivera och utvärdera fysisk träning. Det har visat sig viktigt att inte bara behandla utifrån det fysiska utan även psykologiska och sociala faktorer. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka patienters upplevelse av fysioterapeutledd fysisk träning under centerbaserad hjärtrehabilitering (fas 2) efter hjärtinfarkt. Metod: Studien utformades utifrån en beskrivande intervjustudie med induktiv ansats. Sex patienter intervjuades för att undersöka upplevelser av deras hjärtrehabilitering. En manifest innehållsanalys användes för att analysera insamlad data. Resultat: Sex kategorier och nio underkategorier skapades utifrån analysen. De sex kategorierna var: Mental påverkan av fysisk träning, Gruppens betydelse vid fysisk träning, Insikt och förståelse av fördelar och hinder för fysisk träning efter hjärtinfarkt, Positiva och negativa effekter av fysisk träning, Fysioterapeutens stöttande roll i träningen samt träningsuppläggets struktur. Slutsats: Resultaten visade att informanterna upplevde den fysiska förmågan som nedsatt i början av hjärtrehabiliteringen. Socialt stöd från fysioterapeuten och andra deltagare i gruppen bidrog till en ökad tilltro till att genomföra och vidmakthålla den fysiska träningen.

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