Prev Chronic Dis
-
Policy is a key aspect of school-based efforts to prevent skin cancer. We explored the extent and accuracy of knowledge among principals and teachers in California public school districts about the elements specified in their district's written sun safety policy. ⋯ Policy adoption is an important step in implementing sun safety practices in schools, but districts may need more effective means of informing school principals and teachers of sun safety policies. Implementation will lag without clear understanding of the policy's content by school personnel.
-
Raising the minimum age of legal access to tobacco products may reduce smoking initiation and save lives. In a national telephone survey (2014-2015), US adolescents aged 13 to 17 years (N = 1,125; response rate, 66%) were asked about raising the age of legal access to tobacco products and randomized to hear one of 3 ages (19, 20, or 21 y). Most adolescents, across all US regions, favored raising the minimum age of legal access to 19 (75.7%), 20 (80.6%), or 21 (76.4%). These supportive attitudes may be useful to tobacco prevention and control practitioners who seek to reduce tobacco use among adolescents.
-
Food pricing policies to promote healthy diets, such as taxes, price manipulations, and food subsidies, have been tested in different settings. However, little consensus exists about the effect of these policies on the availability of healthy and unhealthy foods, on what foods consumers buy, or on the impact of food purchases on consumer health outcomes. We conducted a systematic review of studies of the effect of food-pricing interventions on retail sales and on consumer purchasing and consumption of healthy foods and beverages. ⋯ Pricing interventions generally increased stocking, sales, purchasing, and consumption of promoted foods and beverages. Additional studies are needed to differentiate the potential impact of selected pricing strategies and policies over others.
-
The United States continues to become more racially and ethnically diverse, and racial/ethnic minority communities encounter sociocultural barriers to quality health care, including implicit racial/ethnic bias among health care providers. In response, health care organizations are developing and implementing cultural competency curricula. Using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, we developed and evaluated a cultural competency training program to improve the delivery of culturally appropriate care in Marshallese and Hispanic communities. ⋯ Initial outcomes demonstrate the value of developing and implementing cultural competency training programs using a CBPR approach. Additional research is needed to determine the effect on long-term patient outcomes.
-
Multimorbidity, the presence of 2 or more chronic conditions, frequently affects people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Many have high-cost, highly complex conditions that have a substantial impact on state Medicaid programs. We quantified the cost of Medicaid-insured patients with COPD co-diagnosed with other chronic disorders. ⋯ Comorbidities markedly increased health services use among people with COPD insured with Medicaid, although ED visits in this study were predominantly unrelated to COPD. Achieving excellence in clinical practice with optimal clinical and economic outcomes requires a whole-person approach to the patient and a multidisciplinary health care team.