Improvements in health behaviors and health status among newly insured members of an innovative health access plan.

The Healthy Howard Health Plan (HHHP) is an innovative health access plan providing healthcare and health coaching to previously uninsured adults in Howard County, Maryland. HHHP members who enrolled in HHHP between January 2009 to June 2010 are followed over time using a variety of self-reported data collection tools including a health risk assessment (HRA), the SF-12, a measure of health status, and the PAM, patient activation measure. We describe their unmet health needs, demographics, health status and behaviors at baseline and we describe changes in health-related behaviors over time.

Women's perceptions of the relationship between recent life events, transitions, and diet in midlife: findings from a focus group study.

Research indicates that history and early life events and trajectories influence women's dietary behaviors. Yet the social context in which recent life changes occur requires greater understanding, particularly regarding changes that embody the interconnectedness of women and their families, and how those changes affect women's dietary decisions and behaviors. The data presented here were the product of eight focus groups conducted in one Maryland county in the fall of 2009.

"I come from a black-eyed pea background": the incorporation of history into women's discussions of diet and health.

To promote healthy eating, it is important to understand how people conceptualize diet and factors shaping notions of particular foods and dietary patterns as healthy. We present data from eight focus groups exploring dietary issues among women aged 40-64. We analyze how women referenced their history and background in accounting for current diet.

Immunization safety in US print media, 1995-2005.

Objective: To identify and describe vaccine safety in US newspaper articles.

Methods: Articles (1147) from 44 states and Washington, DC, between January 1, 1995, and July 15, 2005, were identified by using the search terms "immunize or vaccine" and "adverse events or safety or exemption or danger or risk or damage or injury or side effect" and were coded by using a standardized data-collection instrument.

Results: The mean number of vaccine-safety articles per state was 26.

Print news coverage of cancer: what prevention messages are conveyed when screening is newsworthy?

Background: Americans are generally favorable towards cancer screening, but fatalistic about cancer prevention. News coverage shapes perceptions of cancer control in meaningful ways, but there is little consensus as to the impact of news on our understanding of and engagement in cancer screening practices. Our analysis of cancer screening-related print news coverage during a four month period in 2005 suggests that the newsworthiness of new screening technologies may undermine public confidence in currently available and effective secondary prevention programs, while promoting tests whose effectiveness is debated or not yet established.

Survivors on Cancer: the portrayal of survivors in print news.

Introduction: This study examines the types of news stories that include comments by everyday cancer survivors and the messages or information these individuals provide. Even though these non-celebrity survivors increasingly serve on the front lines of cancer prevention and advocacy efforts and often engage with media, the role they play in the media discourse on cancer has not been a focus of research.

Methods: We conducted a thematic content analysis of print news articles of non-celebrity cancer survivors in 15 leading national daily newspapers for four consecutive months starting in June 2005 to identify the issues or events that included a survivor perspective and the messages or information conveyed by the everyday survivors.

Buying and selling "loosies" in Baltimore: the informal exchange of cigarettes in the community context.

Since the release of the first Surgeon General's report, the proportion of adult smokers in the U.S. has been reduced by half (U.