Community Health Policy Assessment of a Rural Northeast Missouri County using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's CHANGE Tool.

Background: In order to build a framework to address policy gaps and needs, community's risk factors were identified and the extent to which current policies were in place to address the risk factors were compared.

Methods: Face-to-face interviews, using the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's CHANGE tool were conducted in a rural Northeast Missouri county possessing exceptionally high chronic disease rates to assess the factor(s) had the greatest influence on the rates in each sector of the community.

Results: The Health Care Agency sector possessed the most factors categorized as environmental and policy assets, and the Community-at-Large and Business/Worksite sectors seemed to possess the least environmental and policy factors categorized as assets.

Economic impact of a smoke-free ordinance on bars and restaurants in a small, rural, Missouri community.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the economic impact of a city-wide smoke-free ordinance in the small, relatively isolated, rural, Northeast Missouri community of Kirksville. A model similar to prior studies was applied to the taxable sales revenues of eating and drinking establishment data prior to and following enactment of a smoke-free ordinance. It was found that there was a significant positive change in eating and drinking establishment taxable sales revenues post-enactment.

Relationship of Facility Characteristics and Presence of an Ombudsman to Missouri Long-Term Care Facility State Inspection Report Results.

This study analyzes existing data describing general facility characteristics, the presence of an ombudsman in the facility, and the number of deficiencies/violations reported for long-term care facilities in the state of Missouri. The model that predicted the rate of deficiencies/violations best was one that included the following characteristics: "contained more than 50 beds" and "considered a Skilled Nursing facility." Findings suggest that the characteristics that are significantly associated with fewer deficiencies are larger size (more than 50 beds) and being classified as Skilled Nursing.

Long-term care administrators' perceptions of the ombudsman program in the state of Missouri.

The presence of a long-term care ombudsman in a long-term care or nursing facility helps prevent abusive or neglectful situations before they start. Almost all Missouri long-term care facility administrators responding to the survey reported that they were aware of the ombudsman program; however, only half currently house an ombudsman in their facility. Respondents aware of the program were significantly more likely to currently accommodate an ombudsman in their facility, and those managing larger facilities were significantly more likely to currently have an ombudsman present.

Comparison of exercise attitudes and behaviors of urban older adults with AARP's national sample results.

This study assessed perceptions about exercise among a convenience sample of low-income, urban, older adult patients at a publicly operated ambulatory primary-care clinic, and results were then compared with the findings of a national study. Although it was expected that the predominantly minority and economically disadvantaged participants in this study would trail significantly behind their White counterparts in their perceptions and behavior regarding exercise, findings demonstrated otherwise. Specifically, when physicians encourage moderate exercise, when patients believe that they can overcome barriers to exercise, and when the environment supports moderate exercise through the availability of community exercise classes, inequities in health behaviors can be reduced.