Research on the Translation and Implementation of Stepping On in Three Wisconsin Communities.

Objective: Falls are a leading cause of injury death. is a fall prevention program developed in Australia and shown to reduce falls by up to 31%. The original program was implemented in a community setting, by an occupational therapist, and included a home visit.

Are rural places less safe for motorists? Definitions of urban and rural to understand road safety disparities.

The objectives of the study are to understand road safety within the context of regional development processes and to assess how urban-rural categories represent differences in motor vehicle occupant fatality risk. We analysed 2015 motor vehicle occupant deaths in Wisconsin from 2010 to 2014, using three definitions of urban-rural continua and negative binomial regression to adjust for population density, travel exposure and the proportion of teen residents. Rural-Urban Commuting Area codes, Beale codes and the Census definition of urban and rural places do not explain differences in urban and rural transportation fatality rates when controlling for population density.

How do the definitions of urban and rural matter for transportation safety? Re-interpreting transportation fatalities as an outcome of regional development processes.

Urban and rural places are integrated through economic ties and population flows. Despite their integration, most studies of road safety dichotomize urban and rural places, and studies have consistently demonstrated that rural places are more dangerous for motorists than urban places. Our study investigates whether these findings are sensitive to the definition of urban and rural.

Three-Year Experience of an Academic Medical Center Ombuds Office.

An ombuds is an individual who informally helps people or groups (visitors) resolve disputes and/or interpersonal conflicts as an alternative to formal dispute resolution mechanisms within an organization. Ombuds are nearly ubiquitous in many governmental, business, and educational settings but only recently have gained visibility at medical schools. Medical schools in the United States are increasingly establishing ombuds offices as part of comprehensive conflict management systems to address concerns of faculty, staff, students, and others.

Translating a Fall Prevention Intervention Into Practice: A Randomized Community Trial.

Objectives: We examined whether community translation of an effective evidence-based fall prevention program via standard monetary support can produce a community-wide reduction in fall injuries in older adults and evaluated whether an enhanced version with added technical support and capacity building amplified the fall reduction effect.

Methods: We completed a randomized controlled community trial among adults aged 65 and older in (1) 10 control communities receiving no special resources or guidance on fall prevention, (2) 5 standard support communities receiving modest funding to implement Stepping On, and (3) 5 enhanced support communities receiving funding and technical support. The primary outcome was hospital inpatient and emergency department discharges for falls, examined with Poisson regression.

Quality of life, shoulder range of motion, and spinal accessory nerve status in 5-year survivors of head and neck cancer.

Objective: To determine the association of neck dissection and radiation treatment for head and neck cancer (HNC) with subsequent shoulder range of motion (ROM) and quality of life (QOL) in 5-year survivors.

Design: A cross-sectional convenience sample.

Setting: Otolaryngology clinics at tertiary care hospital and Veterans Affairs medical center.

Revisiting exposure: fatal and non-fatal traffic injury risk across different populations of travelers in Wisconsin, 2001-2009.

Comparing the injury risk of different travel modes requires using a travel-based measure of exposure. In this study we quantify injury risk by travel mode, age, race/ethnicity, sex, and injury severity using three different travel-based exposure measures (person-trips, person-minutes of travel, and person-miles of travel) to learn how these metrics affect the characterization of risk across populations. We used a linked database of hospital and police records to identify non-fatal injuries (2001-2009), the Fatality Analysis Reporting System for fatalities (2001-2009), and the 2001 Wisconsin Add-On to the National Household Travel Survey for exposure measures.

Renewable energy and occupational health and safety research directions: a white paper from the Energy Summit, Denver Colorado, April 11-13, 2011.

Renewable energy production may offer advantages to human health by way of less pollution and fewer climate-change associated ill-health effects. Limited data suggests that renewable energy will also offer benefits to workers in the form of reduced occupational injury, illness and deaths. However, studies of worker safety and health in the industry are limited.

Characteristics of the residential neighborhood environment differentiate intimate partner femicide in urban versus rural settings.

Purpose: A growing body of work examines the association between neighborhood environment and intimate partner violence (IPV). As in the larger literature examining the influence of place context on health, rural settings are understudied and urban and rural residential environments are rarely compared. In addition, despite increased attention to the linkages between neighborhood environment and IPV, few studies have examined the influence of neighborhood context on intimate partner femicide (IPF).

Association between child restraint systems use and injury in motor vehicle crashes.

Objectives: The objective was to estimate the fatal and nonfatal injury risk associated with inappropriate or no use of child restraint systems (CRS) for children younger than 13 years of age involved in motor vehicle crashes (MVC) in the United States.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of children aged 0 to 12 years involved in MVCs based on a nationally representative probability sample from 1996 to 2005 in the United States. A total of 7,633 children were included in the analysis, weighted to represent 3,798,830 children.

A model to translate evidence-based interventions into community practice.

There is a tension between 2 alternative approaches to implementing community-based interventions. The evidence-based public health movement emphasizes the scientific basis of prevention by disseminating rigorously evaluated interventions from academic and governmental agencies to local communities. Models used by local health departments to incorporate community input into their planning, such as the community health improvement process (CHIP), emphasize community leadership in identifying health problems and developing and implementing health improvement strategies.

National trends and coding patterns in fall-related mortality among the elderly in the United States.

Because good information on deaths caused by a fall would be important for prevention policies, we analyzed the influence of coding differences on variability in state-level fall death rates in the elderly. We examined state differences in the number of cause of death codes on death certificates, death certifiers, completeness of E-coding, and indicators of specificity of coding. We found that state-specific fall mortality rates ranged from 13.

Health-related quality of life in pediatric minor injury: reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory in the emergency department.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility, reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core Scales (PedsQL) in the first 2 weeks after pediatric emergency department care of minor injury.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Linearity and nonlinearity in HIV/STI transmission: implications for the evaluation of sexual risk reduction interventions.

A mathematical model of HIV/sexually transmitted infections (STI) transmission was used to examine how linearity or nonlinearity in the relationship between the number of unprotected sex acts (or the number of sex partners) and the risk of acquiring HIV or a highly infectious STI (such as gonorrhea or chlamydia) affects the utility of sexual behavior change measures as indicators of the effectiveness of HIV/STI risk-reduction interventions. Findings indicate that the risk of acquiring HIV through vaginal intercourse is essentially a linear function of the number of unprotected sex acts and is nearly independent of the number of sex partners. Consequently, the number of unprotected sex acts is an excellent marker for the risk of acquiring HIV through vaginal intercourse, whereas the number of sex partners is largely uninformative.

Risk factors for falls and fall-related injuries in adults 85 years of age and older.

Falls are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in older adults. No previous studies on risk factors for falls have focused on adults 85 years and older, the most rapidly growing segment of adults. We examined demographic, health, and behavioral risk factors for falls and fall-related injuries in adults 65 years and older, with a particular focus on adults 85 years and older.

Evaluating community-based public health leadership training.

Context: Addressing the nation's increasingly complex public health challenges will require more effective multisector collaboration and stronger public health leadership. In 2005, the Healthy Wisconsin Leadership Institute launched an annual, year-long intensive "community teams" program. The goal of this program is to develop collaborative leadership and public health skills among Wisconsin-based multisectoral teams mobilizing their communities to improve public health.

Motor vehicle crashes associated with alcohol: child passenger injury and restraint use.

Background: The role of alcohol in fatal motor vehicle crashes involving children has been well established. However, the nonfatal injury burden of alcohol on child passengers has not been comprehensively assessed.

Purpose: This study sought to determine injury burden and restraint use in child passengers aged 1-15 years in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes.

Booster seat legislation: does it work for all children?

Objective: To assess the impact of a booster seat law in Wisconsin on booster seat use in relation to race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status.

Methods: A longitudinal study in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, involving repeated direct observational assessments of booster seat use rates by child passengers aged 4-7 years over five time periods, before and after legislation mandating booster seat use.

Results: Overall, booster seat use increased from 24% to 43%, whereas proper restraint use increased pre to post-legislation from 21% to 28%.

Patient risk factors for medical injury: a case-control study.

Objective: To determine risk factors of medical injury, defined as untoward injury from diagnostic or therapeutic healthcare interventions. Identifying risk factors for medical injuries could inform the development of preventive interventions.

Methods: A hospital-based case-control study.

Health effects of an efficient vented stove in the highlands of Guatemala.

In Guatemala, as in many places throughout the world, millions of indigenous people cook over non-ventilated indoor open fires. Indoor air pollution and accidental burns are well-known problems attributed to such fires. Efforts have been made to improve health outcomes by placing more efficient vented stoves in homes to decrease such exposure.

The association of driver age with traffic injury severity in Wisconsin.

Objectives: To quantify the association of driver's age with the risk of being injured, dying, and experiencing injuries of different severity when involved in a motor vehicle crash.

Methods: Data from the Wisconsin Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES) from 2002 to 2004 were used to study 602,964 drivers of a car or truck who were involved in a motor vehicle crash. Odds ratios (OR) or relative risk ratios (RRR) and their 95 percent confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for age groups, in relation to the outcomes of injury, fatality, and injury severity using logistic regression models, which controlled for sex, alcohol use, urban/rural location, seat belt use, ejection, airbag deployment, vehicle type, and highway class.