Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2012
Childhood sexual abuse and risk for initiating injection drug use: a prospective cohort study.
This study examined whether childhood sexual abuse predicts initiation of injection drug use in a prospective cohort of youth. ⋯ Childhood sexual abuse places drug users at risk for initiating injection. Addiction treatment programs should incorporate services for survivors of childhood maltreatment.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2012
Overweight and reduced heart rate variability in British children: an exploratory study.
To investigate the associations between heart rate variability (HRV) and weight status in children. ⋯ This exploratory study suggests that HRV is reduced in overweight/obese children.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2012
ReviewAre cultural values and beliefs included in U.S. based HIV interventions?
To determine the extent to which current United States based human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) prevention and risk reduction interventions address and include aspects of cultural beliefs in definitions, curricula, measures and related theories that may contradict current safer sex messages. ⋯ human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) interventions need to move beyond targeting specific populations based upon race/ethnicity, gender, sexual, drug and/or risk behaviors and incorporate cultural beliefs and experiences pertinent to an individual's risk. Theory based interventions that incorporate cultural beliefs within a contextual framework are needed if prevention and risk reduction messages are to reach targeted at risk populations. Implications for the lack of uniformity of cultural definitions, measures and related theories are discussed and recommendations are made to ensure that cultural beliefs are acknowledged for their potential conflict with safer sex skills and practices.
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This paper reviews research studies evaluating the use of financial incentives to promote weight control conducted between 1972 and 2010. It provides an overview of behavioral theories pertaining to incentives and describes empirical studies evaluating specific aspects of incentives. Research on financial incentives and weight control has a history spanning more than 30 years. ⋯ Thus, many important questions about the use of incentives have not yet been clearly answered. Weight-maintenance studies using financial incentives are particularly sparse, so that their long-term efficacy and thus, value in addressing the public health problem of obesity is unclear. Major obstacles to sustained applications of incentive in weight control are funding sources and acceptance by those who might benefit.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2012
ReviewThe use of financial incentives in promoting smoking cessation.
Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States and world. Despite the availability of numerous therapies for smoking cessation, additional efficacious interventions are greatly needed. We provide a narrative review of published studies evaluating financial incentives for smoking cessation and discuss the parameters important for ensuring the efficacy of incentive interventions for smoking cessation. ⋯ Consistent with the extensive literature showing that incentives are effective in reducing illicit drug use, a large body of evidence supports their effectiveness in reducing smoking. Continued efforts are warranted to further develop and disseminate incentive-based treatments for smoking cessation across clinical settings and populations.