Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Sep 1995
Tobacco use: baseline results from pathways to health, a school-based project for southwestern American Indian youth.
This paper describes a school-based cancer prevention project for fifth- and seventh-grade Navajo and Pueblo Indian children living in the Southwest. Baseline data are presented from 714 students who completed questionnaires on smoking and smokeless tobacco. ⋯ There is evidence of experimentation and regular use of tobacco products by both Navajo and Pueblo boys and girls. Even more students indicate intention to use tobacco products in the future. These data confirm the need for primary prevention programs designed for this population of American Indians.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 1995
A breast and cervical cancer project in a native Hawaiian community: Wai'anae cancer research project.
This article describes a breast and cervical cancer control project in a Native Hawaiian community and presents preliminary findings from its first year. The project is community driven, with Native Hawaiian community investigators and advisors involved in all phases of the research project. Its purpose is to test the effectiveness of a culturally appropriate intervention as a means of increasing breast and cervical cancer screening practices among Native Hawaiian women. ⋯ Though a majority of the target population are following cancer screening guidelines, a significant minority are not. While the project intervention aims to change the screening behavior of women not currently getting cancer screening, it plans to do so by enlisting the women already in compliance to reach others in their social networks who are currently not getting cancer screening. The involvement of community representatives, working alongside researchers, in baseline survey planning helped assure the survey was acceptable to the participants and the community as a whole. This process is illustrative of a participatory research commitment which underlies success in the early phase of this Native Hawaiian research project.
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Preventive medicine · Jul 1995
Clinical TrialSkin cancer risk and sun protection learning by helpers of patients with nonmelanoma skin cancer.
Knowledge-based skin cancer risk and prevention educational interventions by physicians and nurses were directed to subjects who had a nonmelanoma skin cancer. These high-risk patients asked relatives or friends to assist with postoperative care rendered after surgical removal of the skin cancer. The patient's experience with the nonmelanoma skin cancer was expected to raise the awareness of the helper. The study examined whether the patient became a source of information, risk assessment, and skills training for his or her helper. ⋯ Patients transferred knowledge to their helpers. Intention to change behavior and behavioral change were strongly correlated with the individual's reported susceptibility to easy sunburning and poor tanning. Despite a lack of change in attitudes, changes in both intention to change behavior and behavior itself occurred in those who perceived themselves to be at risk. While the attitudes of participants in this study reflected popular beliefs, targeted education of high-risk adults with a nonmelanoma skin cancer caused changes in sun protection behaviors in both the patients and their helpers.
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Preventive medicine · May 1995
Multicenter StudyDietary saturated and trans fatty acids and cholesterol and 25-year mortality from coronary heart disease: the Seven Countries Study.
In the Seven Countries Study associations between intake of individual fatty acids and dietary cholesterol were studied in relation to serum cholesterol and 25-year mortality from coronary heart disease. All analyses concern only intercohort comparisons. ⋯ Interpreted in the light of experimental and clinical studies, the results of these cross-cultural analyses suggest that dietary saturated and trans fatty acids and dietary cholesterol are important determinants of differences in population rates of coronary heart disease death.
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Preventive medicine · May 1995
The seven health practices, well-being, and performance at work: evidence for the value of reaching small and underserved worksites.
Research conducted over several decades demonstrates rather convincingly that seven health practices predict future mortality rates, morbidity, and disability. The current study was designed to determine the extent to which these health practices predict more proximal wellness and illness factors. ⋯ The pattern of findings was remarkably similar to previous work demonstrating the more distal impact of the seven health practices and suggests the value of encouraging good employee health practices at small and underserved worksites.