American journal of preventive medicine
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Nearly 80 million people in the U.S. are currently infected with at least one of two strains of human papillomavirus (HPV), which is associated with 70% of cervical cancers. Greater cervical cancer mortality has been observed among women of lower SES and those living in rural, versus urban, areas. African American and Hispanic women are significantly more likely to die from cervical cancer than non-Hispanic white women. ⋯ Although awareness and knowledge of HPV is increasing, there are opportunities to target communication with populations for whom knowledge gaps currently exist, in order to promote dialogue about the vaccine among patients and their providers.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Impacting delayed pediatric influenza vaccination: a randomized controlled trial of text message reminders.
Influenza vaccination coverage is low, especially among low-income populations. Most doses are generally administered early in the influenza season, yet sustained vaccination efforts are crucial for achieving optimal coverage. The impact of text message influenza vaccination reminders was recently demonstrated in a low-income population. Little is known about their effect on children with delayed influenza vaccination or the most effective message type. ⋯ Text message reminders with embedded educational information and options for interactivity have a small positive effect on influenza vaccination of urban, low-income, minority children who remain unvaccinated by late fall.
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Despite emphasis of recent guidelines on multidisciplinary teams for collaborative weight management, little is known about non-physician health professionals' perspectives on obesity, their weight management training, and self-efficacy for obesity care. ⋯ Nursing, behavioral/mental health, exercise, and pharmacy professionals may need additional training in weight management and obesity care to effectively participate in collaborative weight management models.
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Mobile applications (apps) for physical activity are popular and hold promise for promoting behavior change and reducing non-communicable disease risk. App marketing materials describe a limited number of behavior change techniques (BCTs), but apps may include unmarketed BCTs, which are important as well. ⋯ Contemporary physical activity apps have implemented a limited number of BCTs and have favored BCTs with a modest evidence base over others with more established evidence of efficacy (e.g., social media integration for providing social support versus active self-monitoring by users). Social support is a ubiquitous feature of contemporary physical activity apps and differences between apps lie primarily in whether the limited BCTs provide education or feedback about physical activity.