American journal of preventive medicine
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Only large increases in adult cessation will rapidly reduce population smoking prevalence. Evidence-based smoking-cessation treatments and treatment policies exist but are underutilized. More needs to be done to coordinate the widespread, efficient dissemination and implementation of effective treatments and policies. ⋯ Public Health Service 2008 clinical practice guideline and other sources regarding the impact of five cessation treatment policies on quit attempts, use of evidence-based treatment, and quit rates. Cessation treatment policies would: (1) expand cessation treatment coverage and provider reimbursement; (2) mandate adequate funding for the use and promotion of evidence-based state-sponsored telephone quitlines; (3) support healthcare systems changes to prompt, guide, and incentivize tobacco treatment; (4) support and promote evidence-based treatment via the Internet; and (5) improve individually tailored, stepped-care approaches and the long-term effectiveness of evidence-based treatments. This series of papers provides an analytic framework to inform heuristic simulation models in order to take a new look at ways to markedly increase population smoking cessation by implementing a defined set of treatments and treatment-related policies with the potential to improve motivation to quit, evidence-based treatment use, and long-term effectiveness.
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Tobacco-cessation product packaging and instruction materials may not be appropriate for some smokers and may contribute to the underuse and misuse of evidence-based treatments. The dual goals of this project are to analyze literacy levels of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved and non-approved tobacco-cessation product packaging, directions, and claims, and to identify and categorize claims found on product packaging. The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK) maintains the Quitting and Reducing Tobacco Use Inventory of Products (QuiTIP) database, which catalogs products marketed and sold to consumers to reduce or quit use of tobacco products. ⋯ This paper assesses the reading levels required to understand product packaging, labeling, and instructions using the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) and identifies claims on the product package labels using standard qualitative methods. Key findings show that the average reading levels needed to understand instructions for both FDA-approved and non-approved cessation products are above the reading levels recommended to ensure maximum comprehension. Improving the packaging and directions of evidence-based tobacco-cessation products so that they are preferably at or below a fifth-grade reading level, along with using consumer-based design principles to develop packaging, may help smokers take advantage of and correctly use products that will greatly increase their chances of successful quitting.
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Better understanding the possible effects of vaccinating employees is important and can help policymakers and businesses plan vaccine distribution and administration logistics, especially with the current H1N1 influenza vaccine in short supply. ⋯ Timely vaccination of at least 20% of the large-company workforce can play an important role in epidemic mitigation.
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Data suggest that the prevalence of sun-protection behaviors is low (44%) among African Americans; the samples in such studies, however, tended to be small or nonrepresentative. ⋯ Tailored interventions to increase sun-protection behaviors among African Americans (men in particular) are needed.
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The prevalence and severity of obesity have increased among children and adolescents. Although the medical and psychosocial consequences of youth obesity have been well documented, comparatively less information exists on the association of overweight/obesity with health-risk behaviors, which are considered to be a primary threat to adolescent health. ⋯ Overweight and obese young people are at risk of developing health-compromising behaviors that may compound medical and social problems associated with excess weight.