Publications by authors named "Laura A Dwyer"

Purpose: Receiving prognostic information is a well-documented need for cancer survivors and caregivers. However, little is known about these two groups' prognosis information-seeking outside of discussions with healthcare providers. This study examined survivors' and caregivers' prognosis-related inquiries using data from the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service (CIS).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Structural racism has been identified as a fundamental cause of health disparities. For example, racial, ethnic, and economic neighborhood segregation; concentrated poverty; community disinvestment; and sociocultural context influence obesity and cancer disparities. Effects of structural racism are also evident through neighborhood obesogenic conditions such as limited access to affordable and healthy foods and physical activity opportunities within segregated communities that contribute to obesity and obesity-related cancer disparities.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Research has established the effects of romantic relationships on individuals' morbidity and mortality. However, the interplay between relationship functioning, affective processes, and health behaviors has been relatively understudied. During the COVID-19 pandemic, relational processes may influence novel health behaviors such as social distancing and masking.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To better understand cancer clinical trials (CCT) information-seeking, a necessary precursor to patient and provider engagement with CCT.

Methods: Data from the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service (CIS) were used to examine CCT information-seeking patterns over a 5-year period. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine characteristics of CIS inquiries and their associations with having a CCT discussion.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Skin cancer incidence and prognosis vary by ethnicity and gender, and previous studies demonstrate ethnic and gender differences in sun-related cognitions and behaviors that contribute to this disease. The current study sought to inform skin cancer interventions tailored to specific demographic groups of college students. The study applied the prototype willingness model (PWM) to examine how unique combinations of ethnic and gender identities influence sun-related cognitions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. It is critical to understand the associations among multilevel determinants of cancer prevention and control behaviors. This study examined associations of neighborhood factors with perceived risk of cancer and self-efficacy for reducing cancer risk.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Patient-clinician interactions are critical to patient-centered care, including in cancer care contexts which are often defined by multiple patient-clinician interactions over an extended period. Research on these dyadic interactions has been guided by perspectives in clinical communication science, but the study of clinical communication has not been fully integrated with perspectives on interpersonal interactions from relationship science research. An overlapping concept in both fields is the concept of responsive socialsupport.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Neighborhood environment factors are relevant for dietary behaviors, but associations between home neighborhood context and disease prevention behaviors vary depending on the definition of neighborhood. The present study uses a publicly available dataset to examine whether associations between neighborhood socioeconomic status (NSES) and fruit/vegetable (FV) consumption vary when NSES is defined by different neighborhood sizes and shapes. We analyzed data from 1,736 adults with data in GeoFLASHE, a geospatial extension of the National Cancer Institute's Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating Study (FLASHE).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how emotion suppression (ES) relates to body mass index (BMI) via emotional eating (EE) and dietary choices, while considering physical activity (PA) as a potential moderating factor.
  • Findings indicated that higher ES leads to increased BMI through higher EE and lower fruit and vegetable intake, particularly in non-Hispanic White women.
  • Physical activity was found to reduce the impact of ES on both EE and dietary choices, with distinct patterns observed across different races and genders, highlighting varying coping strategies in relation to obesity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Exposure to ultraviolet rays is associated with increased risk of sunburn - a biomarker of skin cancer risk - and physical activity can increase exposure. Sun safety behaviors can mitigate the increased risk of skin cancer. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine associations between physical activity behaviors, access to neighborhood physical activity resources, and sunburn across different patterning of sun safety behaviors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To examine whether interpersonal aspects of patient-clinician interactions, such as patient-perceived medical discrimination, clinician mistrust, and treatment decision-making contribute to racial/ethnic/educational disparities in breast cancer care.

Methods: A telephone interview was administered to 542 Asian/Pacific Islander (API), Black, Hispanic, and White women identified through the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry, ages 20 and older diagnosed with a first primary invasive breast cancer. Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated from logistic regression models that assessed associations between race/ethnicity/education, medical discrimination, clinician mistrust, and treatment decision-making with concordance to breast cancer treatment guidelines (guideline-concordant treatment) and perceived quality of care (pQoC).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Schools are an important context to promote adolescent physical activity (PA). However, following ecologic frameworks, little is known about the influence of multiple school contextual levels - environment and policy - on adolescent PA. This study aimed to examine associations of school neighborhood environment factors and state laws with PA, and the moderating effects of school neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) on these associations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Family-based physical activity interventions have the potential to reduce obesity, but more information is needed regarding physical activity in the family context. This study used an actor-partner interdependence model to estimate the dyadic association between perceived weight status and barriers to physical activity in dyads of adults and their adolescent children. It was hypothesized that greater perceived weight would be associated with greater barriers perceived by both one's self and one's partner.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: The present study aimed to examine the correlates of fruit and vegetable intake (FVI) separately among parents and their adolescents.

Design: Cross-sectional surveys.

Setting: Online survey.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Understanding the association between smoking-related health beliefs and smoking cessation in the context of lung screening is important for effective cessation treatment. The purpose of the current study is to explore how current smokers' self-reported smoking-related health cognitions (e.g.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Neighborhood and psychosocial variables are related to physical activity (PA), yet interactions between these factors in predicting PA are infrequently studied.

Methods: This analysis examines the independent associations and interactions between self-reported neighborhood and psychosocial variables in relation to moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) among adults from a US panel sample.

Results: In adjusted models, neighborhood social capital was positively associated with meeting MVPA guidelines.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

While the general efficacy of skin cancer interventions have been reviewed, employing the cancer control continuum would be useful to identify research gaps at specific cancer control points. We characterized the intervention evidence base for specific behavioral targets (e.g.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The National Cancer Institute's Skin Cancer Intervention across the Cancer Control Continuum model was developed to summarize research and identify gaps concerning skin cancer interventions. We conducted a mapping review to characterize whether behavioral interventions addressing skin cancer prevention and control from 2000 to 2015 included (1) technology, (2) environmental manipulations (policy and/or built environment), and (3) a theoretical basis. We included 86 studies with a randomized controlled or quasi-experimental design that targeted behavioral intervention in skin cancer for children and/or adults; seven of these were dissemination or implementation studies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Overexposure to the sun is associated with an increased risk of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer, but indications of improvements in sun protection behavior are poor. Attempts to identify emerging themes in skin cancer control have largely been driven by groups of experts from a single field. In December 2016, 19 experts from various disciplines convened for Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Skin Cancer, a 2-day meeting hosted by the National Academy of Sciences.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Autonomous motivation (motivation to engage in a behavior because of personal choice, interest, or value) is often associated with health behaviors. The present study contributes to research on motivation and eating behaviors by examining (1) how autonomous motivation is correlated within parent-adolescent dyads and (2) whether parent- and adolescent-reported autonomous motivation predicts the parent-adolescent correlation in fruit and vegetable (FV) intake frequency.

Methods: Data were drawn from the Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating (FLASHE) Study, a cross-sectional U.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • In 2014, the National Cancer Institute launched the FLASHE study to explore the factors influencing cancer-preventive behaviors related to diet and physical activity among parent-adolescent dyads.
  • The study used web-based surveys and accelerometers, recruiting participants through a consumer opinion panel, and achieved a response rate of 29.4% with 1,479 dyads completing all procedures.
  • Despite challenges in diversity and the enrollment process, FLASHE successfully enrolled a significant number of participants, indicating effective methods for future research on similar topics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The National Cancer Institute developed the Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating (FLASHE) Study to examine multiple cancer preventive behaviors within parent-adolescent dyads. The purpose of creating FLASHE was to enable the examination of physical activity, diet, and other cancer preventive behaviors and potential correlates among parent-adolescent dyads. FLASHE surveys were developed from a process involving literature reviews, scientific input from experts in the field, cognitive testing, and usability testing.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF