Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2013
Counseling and provision of long-acting reversible contraception in the US: national survey of nurse practitioners.
Nurse practitioners (NPs) provide frontline care in women's health, including contraception, an essential preventive service. Their importance for contraceptive care will grow, with healthcare reforms focused on affordable primary care. This study assessed practice and training needs to prepare NPs to offer high-efficacy contraceptives - intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants. ⋯ Nurse practitioners have an increasingly important position in addressing high unintended pregnancy in the US, but require specific training in long-acting reversible contraceptives.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2013
ReviewSmoking cessation interventions for ethnic minority groups--a systematic review of adapted interventions.
Existing smoking cessation interventions tend to be under utilized by ethnic minority groups. We sought to identify smoking cessation interventions that have been adapted to meet the needs of African-, Chinese- and South Asian-origin populations, to increase understanding of the approaches used to promote behavior change, to assess their acceptability to the target populations, and to evaluate their effectiveness. ⋯ Given the evidence of greater acceptability of adapted interventions, it may be ethically preferable to use these. There is, however, no clear evidence of the effectiveness of adapted interventions in promoting smoking cessation in ethnic minority groups.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialSchool-based mindfulness instruction for urban male youth: a small randomized controlled trial.
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has been shown to improve mental health and reduce stress in a variety of adult populations. Here, we explore the effects of a school-based MBSR program for young urban males. ⋯ In this study, MBSR participants showed less anxiety, improved coping, and a possible attenuation of cortisol response to academic stress, when compared with HT participants. These results suggest that MBSR improves psychological functioning among urban male youth.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2013
The impact of a population-level school food and nutrition policy on dietary intake and body weights of Canadian children.
The objective of this study is to assess population-level trends in children's dietary intake and weight status before and after the implementation of a provincial school nutrition policy in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. ⋯ This population-level intervention research suggests a positive influence of school nutrition policies on diet quality, energy intake and healthy beverage consumption, and that more action beyond schools is needed to curb the increases in the prevalence of childhood obesity.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2013
Patterns and predictors of changes in active commuting over 12 months.
To assess the predictors of uptake and maintenance of walking and cycling, and of switching to the car as the usual mode of travel, for commuting. ⋯ Improving the convenience of walking, cycling and public transport and limiting the availability of workplace car parking may promote uptake and maintenance of active commuting.