Preventive medicine
-
Preventive medicine · Sep 2003
Model for incorporating social context in health behavior interventions: applications for cancer prevention for working-class, multiethnic populations.
This article proposes a conceptual framework for addressing social contextual factors in cancer prevention interventions, and describes work that operationalizes this model in interventions for working class, multiethnic populations. ⋯ By illuminating the pathways by which social contextual factors influence health behaviors, it will be possible to enhance the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing social inequalities in risk behaviors.
-
Exercise counselling is not frequently conducted by family physicians in several countries. Little is known about the exercise counselling practices of family physicians in Canada. The objective of this study was to assess physician confidence, current versus desired practice, and barriers related to the counselling of exercise by family physicians in Canada. ⋯ Family physicians indicated their current level of exercise counselling is suboptimal and confidence levels in exercise counselling were not high. Future educational opportunities for physicians may assist in improving exercise counselling.
-
Preventive medicine · Aug 2003
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialPredicting long-term maintenance of physical activity in older adults.
Considerable research has established that self-efficacy is a consistent correlate of physical activity. Additional factors, such as exercise-induced affect, social support, and value judgments, have also been identified as having the potential to influence adherence to activity. This study examined the utility of such variables in predicting the long-term exercise behavior of older adults. ⋯ This prospective study provides support for the inclusion of social cognitive variables in models of exercise adherence and highlights the pivotal role of self-efficacy in long-term exercise behavior. Subsequent trials are called for to replicate and extend these findings.
-
Although active smoking acutely increases arterial stiffness, the association between arterial stiffness and chronic exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) has not been evaluated. We used baseline data from the Vitamin E Atherosclerosis Prevention Study to evaluate the association between ETS exposure and arterial stiffness among 227 healthy adult nonsmokers. ⋯ These data indicate that arterial stiffness is adversely associated with ETS in a dose-dependent manner among individuals with higher BMI and greater carotid artery IMT.
-
Unhealthy lifestyles contribute substantially to Russia's high mortality. Health control beliefs influence lifestyles to some extent in the West but this relationship is not well studied in Russia. ⋯ Health control beliefs, commoner in younger and better off Russians, were weakly related to behaviours. This has implications for designing interventions to change health behaviours in Russia.