Health promotion practice
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Health promotion practice · Jan 2019
Mobilizing the Next Generation of Health Advocates: Building Our Collective Capacity to Advocate for Health Education and Health Equity Through SOPHE Advocacy Summits.
In this Career Development commentary, the author highlights the benefits of attending the Society for Public Health Education Advocacy Summit in Washington, D. C. ⋯ Students and practitioners from diverse health education settings get to connect with other professionals, attend skill-building workshops, and increase their ability to influence health policy. From a career development perspective, the Summit provides opportunities to develop professional networks, gain experience and continuing education in several areas of responsibility for health education specialists, and share lessons learned with colleagues in health education and public health.
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Effective community-based actions are urgently needed to combat the ongoing epidemic of opioid overdose. Community readiness (CR) has been linked to communities' support for collective action, which in turn has been associated with the success of community-wide prevention strategies and resulting behavior change. ⋯ We found that counties' rates of CR were positively associated with their opioid-related mortality (but not morbidity) and that this relationship persisted when we controlled for health status. North Carolina counties with the highest opioid misuse problems appear to be the most prepared to respond to them.
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Health promotion practice · Mar 2018
Asthma Disparity Photovoice: The Discourses of Black Adolescent and Public Health Policymakers.
Policies in U.S. public schools that address asthma management for Black adolescents may not sufficiently transform sociocultural determinants of disparities. A critical analysis of public health policy maker and adolescent discourses on asthma management using an ecological framework could inform policy development. This study describes the discourses of asthma management disparities of school and other public health policymakers and Black adolescents with asthma during a statewide asthma planning activity. ⋯ Including Black adolescents in policymaking activities concerning asthma management disparities furthers the identification of differing and shared discourses. School policies should include multilevel strategies that address structural inequities. Photovoice presents an opportunity for including the voice of marginalized youth in policy-planning processes.
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Health promotion practice · Sep 2017
The Immunity Community: A Community Engagement Strategy for Reducing Vaccine Hesitancy.
Parental concerns about vaccine safety have grown in the United States and abroad, resulting in delayed or skipped immunizations (often called "vaccine hesitancy"). To address vaccine hesitancy in Washington State, a public-private partnership of health organizations implemented and evaluated a 3-year community intervention, called the "Immunity Community." The intervention mobilized parents who value immunization and provided them with tools to engage in positive dialogue about immunizations in their communities. The evaluation used qualitative and quantitative methods, including focus groups, interviews, and pre and post online surveys of parents, to assess perceptions about and reactions to the intervention, assess facilitators and barriers to success, and track outcomes including parental knowledge and attitudes. ⋯ Surveys of parents in the intervention communities showed statistically significant improvements in vaccine-related attitudes: The percentage concerned about other parents not vaccinating their children increased from 81.2% to 88.6%, and the percentage reporting themselves as "vaccine-hesitant" decreased from 22.6% to 14.0%. There were not statistically significant changes in parental behaviors. This study demonstrates the promise of using parent advocates as part of a community-based approach to reduce vaccine hesitancy.
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Health promotion practice · Sep 2017
Promoting HPV Vaccination Online: Message Design and Media Choice.
We investigated the effects of message framing and online media channel on young adults' perceived severity of human papillomavirus (HPV), perceived barriers and benefits of getting HPV vaccination, and behavioral intention to get vaccinated. An experiment was conducted with 142 college students. ⋯ However, this framing effect was not found when the identical message was presented on an online newspaper. People's perceptions of severity of HPV and barriers of getting HPV vaccination were also influenced, depending on which media channel the information was circulated.