Preventive medicine
-
Preventive medicine · Nov 2014
EditorialBehavior change, health, and health disparities: an introduction.
This Special Issue of Preventive Medicine (PM) focuses on behavior change, health, and health disparities, topics of fundamental importance to improving population health in the U. S. and other industrialized countries. While the U. ⋯ S. alone and 5 million globally. So more needs to be done, especially in economically disadvantaged populations. The same certainly applies to the challenges of the obesity epidemic, which of course is a more recent problem and understandably efforts to curtail it are in earlier stages of development.
-
One of the ten great public health achievements in the 20th century was turning the tide on one of the greatest public health disasters of that century: the tobacco use and related disease epidemic. The premature death and disease caused by tobacco can be considered largely as a side-effect of tobacco use behavior and the disease of addiction. ⋯ The behavioral factors are considered vital to understand and address by United States Food and Drug Administration and Surgeon General, as well as the World Health Organization in their tobacco control efforts. This commentary discusses key behavioral factors in the rise and fall of the epidemic, as well as some of those increasingly discussed as potential contributors to the endgame.
-
Preventive medicine · Oct 2014
Environmental supports for walking/biking and traffic safety: income and ethnicity disparities.
The present study investigates the influence of income, ethnicity, and built environmental characteristics on the percentages of workers who walk/bike as well as on pedestrian/cyclist crash rates. Furthermore, income and ethnicity disparities are also explored. ⋯ Environmental designs that both encourage walking/biking trips and generate more safety threats should attract more attention from policy makers. Policies should also be more devoted to enhancing the mobility and health for areas with high poverty rates.
-
Preventive medicine · Oct 2014
Review Meta AnalysisSelf-determined motivation and physical activity in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Self-determination theory is used as a framework for examining the relation between motivation and physical activity. The purpose of this review was to systematically review studies that assessed the association between self-determined motivation and physical activity levels in children and adolescents. ⋯ Evidence provides some support for self-determination theory tenets. However, there was substantial heterogeneity in most associations and many studies had methodological shortcomings.
-
Preventive medicine · Oct 2014
ReviewThe home physical environment and its relationship with physical activity and sedentary behavior: a systematic review.
Reviews of neighborhood (macro) environment characteristics such as the presence of sidewalks and esthetics have shown significant correlations with resident physical activity (PA) and sedentary (SD) behavior. Currently, no comprehensive review has appraised and collected available evidence on the home (micro) physical environment. The purpose of this review was to examine how the home physical environment relates to adult and child PA and SD behaviors. ⋯ This was similarly found for the quantity of PA equipment which also correlated with behavior in females. Given the large market for exercise equipment, videos and exergaming, the limited work performed on its effectiveness in homes is alarming. Future research should focus on developing stronger randomized controlled trials, investigate the location of PA equipment, and examine mediators of the gender discrepancy found in contemporary studies.