Variation in use of antipsychotic medications in nursing homes in the United States: A systematic review.

Background: The use of antipsychotic medications (APMs) in nursing home residents in the U.S. is an increasingly prominent issue and has been associated with increased risk of hospitalization, cardiovascular events, hip fractures, and mortality, among other adverse health events.

A Comparison of Methods for Capturing Patient Preferences for Delivery of Mental Health Services to Low-Income Hispanics Engaged in Primary Care.

Background: Consideration of patient preferences regarding delivery of mental health services within primary care may greatly improve access and quality of care for the many who could benefit from those services.

Objectives: This project evaluated the feasibility and usefulness of adding a consumer-products design method to qualitative methods implemented within a community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework.

Research Design: Discrete-choice conjoint experiment (DCE) added to systematic focus group data collection and analysis.

The Impact of Integrating Community Advocacy Into Community Health Worker Roles on Health-Focused Organizations and Community Health Workers in Southern Arizona.

Organizational environments may encourage community health workers (CHWs) to engage community members in improving their communities. We conducted open-ended interviews and focus groups to explore how participation in the Acción intervention, which trained CHWs in community advocacy, affected organizational capacity to support their CHWs. Supervisors described improved organizational recognition and trust of CHWs.

Predictors and a framework for fostering community advocacy as a community health worker core function to eliminate health disparities.

Objectives: Using a mixed-method, participatory research approach, we investigated factors related to community health worker (CHW) community advocacy that affect social determinants of health.

Methods: We used cross-sectional survey data for 371 CHWs to assess demographics, training, work environment, and leadership qualities on civic, political, and organizational advocacy. We present advocacy stories to further articulate CHW activities.

Recruiting a diverse group of middle school girls into the trial of activity for adolescent girls.

Background: School-based study recruitment efforts are both time consuming and challenging. This paper highlights the recruitment strategies employed by the national, multisite Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG), a study designed to measure the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce the decline of physical activity levels among middle school-aged girls. TAAG provided a unique opportunity to recruit large cohorts of randomly sampled girls within 36 diverse middle schools across the United States.

Depressive symptoms and physical activity in adolescent girls.

Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between depressive symptoms and physical activity in a geographically and ethnically diverse sample of sixth-grade adolescent girls.

Methods: The Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG) baseline measurement included a random sample (N = 1721) of sixth-grade girls in 36 schools at six field sites. Measurements were accelerometry and the 3-d Physical Activity Recall (3DPAR) for physical activity, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (CES-D) for depressive symptoms.

From research to practice: challenges to implementing national diabetes guidelines with five community health centers on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Background: Given the dramatic increase in type 2 diabetes in the United States, the development of effective strategies to prevent and control this potentially devastating illness is more important than ever. In the Southwest, diabetes is a far too common and rapidly growing problem among Mexican Americans living near the U.S.