Preventive medicine
-
Preventive medicine · Nov 2004
Web-based screening and brief intervention for the spectrum of alcohol problems.
Many persons who drink excessively remain unidentified and do not receive interventions. Screening and intervention using the World Wide Web could make such services more accessible and therefore more widely used. ⋯ A well-publicized, easily accessible, research-based screening and intervention Web site can attract many users, most of whom are drinking excessively, and many of whom avail themselves of referral information after receiving individualized feedback.
-
Preventive medicine · Oct 2004
Comparative StudyChanges in health-related behaviours and cardiovascular risk factors in young adults: associations with living with a partner.
To examine changes in cardiovascular risk factors and health-related behaviours in young Australian adults at a stage of transition from the family environment. ⋯ Encouragement of a healthy lifestyle, particularly physical activity, should be a priority in this age group, particularly among newly cohabiting couples and in young mothers.
-
Preventive medicine · Oct 2004
What's in store for medical students? Awareness and utilization of expert nutrition guidelines among medical school preceptors.
Instruction of physicians and other health professionals in medical nutrition sciences is among the expert recommendations to promote population health and reduce risks for cancer and other major causes of morbidity and mortality in the population. However, formal training in nutrition in United States medical schools is still lacking compared to the gains in basic and applied medical nutrition sciences. We sought to understand the awareness and current utilization of expert nutrition recommendations and practice guidelines among medical student faculty preceptors. ⋯ Our findings suggest gaps in faculty awareness and utilization of expert nutrition recommendations and practice guidelines relating to cancer and other chronic disease-risk reduction and population health promotion, underscoring the need for improvements in faculty and medical student training in basic and applied medical nutrition sciences.
-
Preventive medicine · Oct 2004
"Bulletproof skeptics in life's jungle": which self-exempting beliefs about smoking most predict lack of progression towards quitting?
To determine the prevalence, correlates, and predictive value for intention to quit of 18 commonly expressed self-exempting beliefs about smoking among smokers and recent quitters, some 20 years after intensive tobacco control commenced in Australia. ⋯ Some self-exempting beliefs seem to act as a shield for smokers, giving them false reassurance and allowing them to avoid thinking deeply about the importance of quitting. This is particularly true of "worth it" beliefs. The prevalence of such beliefs may suggest confusion about smoking being a risk rather than a probable cause of illness. Creative approaches to increasing the saliency of the costs of smoking may be fruitful.
-
Preventive medicine · Sep 2004
Review Comparative StudyTurning free speech into corporate speech: Philip Morris' efforts to influence U.S. and European journalists regarding the U.S. EPA report on secondhand smoke.
Previously secret internal tobacco company documents show that the tobacco industry launched an extensive multifaceted effort to influence the scientific debate about the harmful effects of secondhand smoke. Integral to the industry's campaign was an effort to derail the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) risk assessment on environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) by recruiting a network of journalists to generate news articles supporting the industry's position and pushing its public relations messages regarding the ETS issue. ⋯ This is the first report, from the tobacco industry's own documents, to show the extent to which the tobacco industry has gone to influence the print media on the issue of the health effects of secondhand smoke. Unfortunately, what we report here is that even journalists can fall victim to well-orchestrated and presented public relations efforts regardless of their scientific validity. It is not clear how various professional media organizations oversee the ethical conduct of their members. Certainly, on the topic of the health effects of secondhand smoke, more scrutiny is warranted from these organizations for articles written by their members lest the public be misinformed and thus ill served.