Health promotion practice
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Health promotion practice · May 2013
Evaluating the effectiveness of a lay health promoter-led, community-based participatory pesticide safety intervention with farmworker families.
Pesticide safety training is mandated for migrant and seasonal farmworkers. However, none is required for family members, who implement home sanitation to protect against pesticide exposure and need to control pests in substandard housing. Controlled studies have demonstrated the efficacy of pesticide education programs for farmworker families, but no carefully evaluated demonstration projects have shown effectiveness in public health settings. ⋯ Lay health promoters with limited training and supervision can have significant impacts on families' knowledge and practices. They represent a workforce increasingly recognized as a force for reducing health disparities by providing culturally appropriate health education and other services. This study adds to the literature by demonstrating their effectiveness in a public health setting with rigorous evaluation.
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Health promotion practice · Mar 2013
Evaluation of field triage decision scheme educational resources: audience research with emergency medical service personnel.
In an effort to encourage appropriate field triage procedures, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the American College of Surgeons-Committee on Trauma, convened the National Expert Panel on Field Triage to update the Field Triage Decision Scheme: The National Trauma Triage Protocol (Decision Scheme). In support of the Decision Scheme, CDC developed educational resources for emergency medical service (EMS) professionals, one of CDC's first efforts to develop and broadly disseminate educational information for the EMS community. CDC wanted to systematically collect information from the EMS community on what worked and what did not with respect to these educational materials and which materials were of most use. ⋯ Findings indicate that a segment of the Decision Scheme's intended audience is using the materials and learning from them, and they have had a positive influence on their triage practices. However, many of the individuals who participated in this research are not using the Decision Scheme and indicated that the materials have not affected their triage practices. Findings presented in this article can be used to inform development and distribution of additional Decision Scheme educational resources to ensure they reach a greater proportion of EMS professionals and to inform other education and dissemination efforts with the EMS community.
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Health promotion practice · Nov 2012
Teaching safety at a summer camp: evaluation of a water safety curriculum in an urban community setting.
The purpose of this project was to evaluate a water safety curriculum in a low-income, minority-focused, urban youth summer camp. The curriculum is available to Safe Kids Coalitions across the country; however, it has not previously been evaluated. ⋯ The study demonstrates that children possessed more knowledge of water safety after receiving this curriculum. This knowledge increase was maintained through the 3-week retention exam. Further evaluation of the curriculum's content and its impact on water safety beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors are needed, as well as evaluation of additional settings, risk areas, and the role of parental involvement.
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Health promotion practice · Nov 2012
Rural print media portrayal of secondhand smoke and smoke-free policy.
The purpose of this article is to describe how the print media portrays secondhand smoke and smoke-free policy in rural communities. Baseline print media clips from an ongoing 5-year study of smoke-free policy development in 40 rural communities were analyzed. The authors hypothesized that community population size would be positively associated with media favorability toward smoke-free policy. ⋯ There was a positive correlation between population size and percentage of articles favorable toward smoke-free policy. The authors did not find a correlation between adult smoking or tobacco produced and media favorability toward smoke-free policy, but we did find a positive relationship between tobacco produced and percentage of pro-tobacco articles and a negative relationship between adult smoking prevalence and percentage of articles about health/comfort. Implications for targeting pro-health media in rural communities as well as policy-based initiatives for tobacco control are discussed.
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Health promotion practice · May 2012
LetterIs health promotion the starting point of primary cardiovascular care in low- and middle-income countries like Nepal?
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are on the rise in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) but have not received adequate priority. With a lack of concrete policy and programs, the present emphasis of CVD management in most LMICs is on curative aspects. Nepal is a prototype in this trend as it is treatment centric, particularly in urban areas. A major drawback of cure-centrism is that it requires both larger funds and more skilled manpower--both of which are limited in Nepal and other LMICs. ⋯ Health promotion is practiced in Nepal in connection with many health care programs and could be used to include CVD preventive strategies. The authors believe this to be a first step to increase health literacy toward CVD in the general population which may help bridge limited funds and manpower that the current curative-centric CVD strategy requires. Thus, health promotion strategies should be a tempting option for many LMICs and deserve further explorative attention.