Environmental influences on small eating behavior change to promote weight loss among Black and Hispanic populations.

Small eating behavior changes are proposed as more feasible to achieve and maintain than larger changes used in traditional behavioral weight loss studies. However, it is unclear whether overweight Black and Hispanic adults in a low-income urban setting experience small changes as feasible and what might influence feasibility. Participants' experiences in a 12-week pilot weight loss intervention were explored qualitatively to determine the feasibility of making small eating behavior changes in this population.

Brand Name Statin Prescribing in a Resident Ambulatory Practice: Implications for Teaching Cost-Conscious Medicine.

Background: Several national initiatives aim to teach high-value care to residents. While there is a growing body of literature on cost impact of physicians' therapeutic decisions, few studies have assessed factors that influence residents' prescribing practices.

Objective: We studied factors associated with intensive health care utilization among internal medicine residents, using brand name statin prescribing as a proxy for higher-cost care.

Small Changes and Lasting Effects (SCALE) Trial: the formation of a weight loss behavioral intervention using EVOLVE.

Background: Obesity is a major health problem that disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic adults. This paper presents the rationale and innovative design of a small change eating and physical activity intervention (SC) combined with a positive affect and self-affirmation (PA/SA) intervention versus the SC intervention alone for weight loss.

Methods: Using a mixed methods translational model (EVOLVE), we designed and tested a SC approach intervention in overweight and/ or obese African American and Hispanic adults.

Attitudes and beliefs regarding cardiovascular risk factors among Bangladeshi immigrants in the US.

The US has increasingly growing Bangladeshi population, a South Asian sub-ethnic group with a high prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD). We conducted a qualitative study using individual in-depth interviews to explore attitudes towards and difficulties with modifying CVD related behaviors among a Bangladeshi cohort. We interviewed 55 patients before reaching data saturation.

Recruitment and retention techniques for developing faith-based research partnerships, New York city, 2009-2012.

Background: Faith-based organizations are recognized as an influential venue for behavioral health interventions. However, less is known about efficient approaches for identifying and recruiting these organizations and about the processes that enable successful partnership.

Community Context: In 2007, 66% of Latinos and 70% of blacks in New York City reported being overweight or obese.

Development of a structured year-end sign-out program in an outpatient continuity practice.

Background: In an effort to prevent medical errors, it has been recommended that all healthcare organizations implement a standardized approach to communicating patient information during transitions of care between providers. Most research on these transitions has been conducted in the inpatient setting, with relatively few studies conducted in the outpatient setting.

Objectives: To develop a structured transfer of care program in an academic outpatient continuity practice and evaluate whether this program improved patient safety as measured by the documented completion of patient care tasks at 3 months post-transition.

Barriers to lifestyle behavioral change in migrant South Asian populations.

The purpose of this literature review is to describe and assess the cultural barriers to behavior change in migrant South Asians, given the high morbidity and mortality associated with cardiovascular disease in this population. We reviewed studies that explored the relationship between South Asian culture in the Diaspora and lifestyle behaviors. Our review produced 91 studies, of which 25 discussed the relationship between various aspects of South Asians' belief system and their approach to modifying lifestyle habits.

Predictors of influenza vaccination in an urban community during a national shortage.

Little is known about the impact of vaccine shortages on vaccination rates among disadvantaged populations in the United States. We compared factors associated with influenza vaccination rates during a vaccine shortage (2004-2005) and a non-shortage (2003-2004) year among adults in predominantly minority New York City neighborhoods. Thirty-one percent of participants received influenza vaccine during the non-shortage year compared with 18% during the shortage.