"Without Compassion We Don't Have a Social Work Field": A Thematic Analysis Exploring Social Workers' Experiences with Compassion.

Purpose: Evidence establishing the importance of compassion in the context of social work practice is emerging. Compassion, stemming from the Latin words and , means to suffer with. Given the proximity social workers have to vast experiences of suffering, compassion may play a central role in providing meaningful care to individuals, communities, and systems.

Characteristics of Employees of Small Manufacturing Businesses by Occupation: Informing Evidence-Based Intervention Planning.

Objectives: We examined characteristics of employees in six occupational categories in small manufacturing businesses (20-150 employees).

Methods: We analyzed survey data from 47 businesses (n = 2577 employees; 86% response rate) and examined relationships between job type and sociodemographic, health, and organizational support characteristics. Analyses were adjusted for age and sex, and company as a random effect.

Influencing Taft-Hartley Funds to provide tobacco cessation benefits.

Background: Taft-Hartley Health and Welfare Funds ("funds") administer health insurance plans that cover approximately nine million U.S. adults.

Elements of external validity of tools for health: an intervention for construction laborers.

Purpose: To examine the external validity of an efficacious tailored smoking cessation and nutrition improvement telephone intervention.

Design: Comparison of characteristics of participants and nonparticipants (representativeness); examination of the extent of intervention implementation.

Setting: Cancer center collaboration with a labor union.

Multiple health behavior changes in a cancer prevention intervention for construction workers, 2001-2003.

Introduction: Few multiple behavior change interventions have addressed tobacco use in conjunction with fruit and vegetable consumption, particularly among high-risk blue-collar workers. Tools for Health, a cancer prevention intervention for construction laborers, was effective in achieving behavior change for smoking cessation and fruit and vegetable consumption separately. This study examines whether addressing smoking and fruit and vegetable consumption was successful in achieving positive change for both behaviors.

Characteristics of participants in a cancer prevention intervention designed for multiethnic workers in small manufacturing worksites.

Purpose: To examine worker characteristics explicated in our social-contextual intervention model that might be associated with participation in a cancer prevention intervention. These characteristics included sociodemographic variables, mediating mechanisms, and modifying conditions.

Methods: Randomized, controlled study in 24 small multiethnic manufacturing worksites.

Impact of intervention dose on cancer-related health behaviors among working-class, multiethnic, community health center patients.

Purpose: To examine the relationship between intervention dose and health behavior change in Healthy Directions-Health Centers, an intervention designed to reduce cancer risk factors. DESIGN. Analysis of intervention condition participant data from a randomized controlled trial.

Tools for health: the efficacy of a tailored intervention targeted for construction laborers.

Objectives: Novel approaches to worksite health promotion are needed for high-risk workers who change job sites frequently, and thus may have limited access to worksite health promotion efforts. The objective of this study was to test a behavioral intervention among construction laborers.

Methods: Using a randomized-controlled design, we tested the efficacy of a tailored telephone-delivered and mailed intervention to promote smoking cessation and increased fruit and vegetable consumption (n = 582).

Perceptions of health promotion and cancer prevention among adults in working-class occupations and neighborhoods.

A social-contextual approach to cancer prevention among participants associated with the working class may result in behavior-change messages that are more relevant to them and contribute to a reduction in health disparities among classes. This article reports findings from a qualitative study of adults in working-class occupations and/or living in predominantly working-class neighborhoods that was designed to explore the circumstances influencing perceptions of health promotion, disease prevention, and cancer-risk reduction. Participants made only a weak connection between cancer prevention and general health-promotion behaviors.

Process evaluation results from the Healthy Directions-Small Business study.

The Healthy Directions-Small Business randomized, controlled study aimed to reduce cancer risk among multiethnic workers in small manufacturing businesses by increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity, and daily multivitamin in take and decreasing consumption of red meat. The intervention incorporated participatory strategies and was built on a social-contextual framework that addressed people with varying cultural backgrounds and literacy levels. In addition, the intervention aimed to reduce worker exposure to occupational hazards.

Reducing cigarette smoking among working adolescents: results from the SMART study.

Objective: The SMART Teens Against the Risks of Tobacco Study was designed to test the feasibility and efficacy of tobacco control intervention methods for employed teens.

Methods: A randomized controlled pilot study tested the efficacy of a behavioral intervention delivered between September, 1999, and August, 2000. Baseline and final survey data were collected on 560 teens in four intervention and five control stores.

Promoting behavior change among working-class, multiethnic workers: results of the healthy directions--small business study.

Objectives: We examined the efficacy of a cancer prevention intervention designed to improve health behaviors among working-class, multiethnic populations employed in small manufacturing businesses.

Methods: Worksites were randomly assigned to an intervention or minimal-intervention control condition. The intervention targeted fruit and vegetable consumption, red meat consumption, multivitamin use, and physical activity.

Process evaluation of an integrated health promotion/occupational health model in WellWorks-2.

Disparities in chronic disease risk by occupation call for new approaches to health promotion. Well Works-2 was a randomized, controlled study comparing the effectiveness of a health promotion/occupational health program (HP/OHS) with a standard intervention (HP). Interventions in both studies were based on the same theoretical foundations.

Worksite-based research and initiatives to increase fruit and vegetable consumption.

Background: Worksite initiatives to promote increased consumption of fruits and vegetables include a wide range of programs. Some initiatives focus on the physical and informational environments, with the dual aim of increasing the availability of healthful food options and providing education and support through point-of-choice labeling and signage.

Methods: Authors reviewed recent literature on comprehensive worksite health promotion programs that have addressed some type of environmental/organizational intervention to increase fruit/vegetable consumption.

Implementation of a cancer prevention program for working class, multiethnic populations.

Background: This paper describes the implementation of the Healthy Directions-Health Centers intervention and examines the characteristics of participants associated with completion of intervention activities. Healthy Directions-Health Centers was designed to address social contextual factors relevant to cancer prevention interventions for working class, multi-ethnic populations.

Methods: Ten community health centers were paired and randomly assigned to intervention or control.

Changing channels for tobacco control with youth: developing an intervention for working teens.

Worksites represent an untapped resource for reaching teens with tobacco control messages, given that 80% of teens have held at least one job by the time they graduate from high school. This paper presents formative research findings from a methods development study aimed at designing and testing a tobacco control intervention targeting working teens. Formative research included qualitative methods as well as quantitative data from a cross-sectional survey of teens employed in 10 participating grocery stores.

Reducing social disparities in tobacco use: a social-contextual model for reducing tobacco use among blue-collar workers.

In the United States in 1997, the smoking prevalence among blue-collar workers was nearly double that among white-collar workers, underscoring the need for new approaches to reduce social disparities in tobacco use. These inequalities reflect larger structural forces that shape the social context of workers' lives. Drawing from a range of social and behavioral theories and lessons from social epidemiology, we articulate a social-contextual model for understanding ways in which socioeconomic position, particularly occupation, influences smoking patterns.

Cancer prevention for working class, multiethnic populations through small businesses: the healthy directions study.

Objective: We report demographic and social contextual characteristics of multiethnic, blue-collar workers from the baseline survey of a study conducted in 24 small businesses. We discuss ways in which we incorporated these characteristics into the design of the intervention.

Methods: We used a randomized controled design, with 12 small businesses assigned to a social contextual intervention and 12 to a minimum intervention control condition.

The life history interview method: applications to intervention development.

There is an urgent need to develop and test health promotion strategies that both address health disparities and elucidate the full impact of social, cultural, economic, institutional, and political elements on people's lives. Qualitative research methods, such as life history interviewing, are well suited to exploring these factors. Qualitative methods are also helpful for preparing field staff to implement a social contextual approach to health promotion.

Model for incorporating social context in health behavior interventions: applications for cancer prevention for working-class, multiethnic populations.

Background: This article proposes a conceptual framework for addressing social contextual factors in cancer prevention interventions, and describes work that operationalizes this model in interventions for working class, multiethnic populations.

Methods: The Harvard Cancer Prevention Program Project Includes Three Studies: (1) an intervention study in 25 small businesses; (2) an intervention study in 10 health centers; and (3) a computer simulation modeling project that translates risk factor modifications into gains in life expectancy and number of cancers averted. The conceptual framework guiding this work articulates pathways by which social context may influence health behaviors, and is used to frame the interventions and guide evaluation design.

A comprehensive worksite cancer prevention intervention: behavior change results from a randomized controlled trial (United States).

Objective: Workplace cancer prevention initiatives have been least successful with blue-collar workers. This study assesses whether an intervention integrating health promotion with occupational health and safety results in significant and meaningful increases in smoking cessation and consumption of fruits and vegetables, compared to a standard health promotion intervention, for workers overall and for blue-collar workers in particular.

Methods: A randomized controlled design was used, with 15 manufacturing worksites assigned to a health promotion (HP) or a health promotion plus occupational health and safety intervention (HP/OHS), and compared from baseline (1997) to final (1999).

A comprehensive worksite cancer prevention intervention: behavior change results from a randomized controlled trial (United States).

Objective: Workplace cancer prevention initiatives have been least successful with blue-collar workers. This study assess whether an intervention integrating health promotion with occupational health and safety results in significant and meaningful increases in smoking cessation and consumption of fruits and vegetables, compared to a standard health promotion intervention, for workers overall and for blue-collar workers in particular.

Methods: A randomized controlled design was used, with 15 manufacturing worksites assigned to a health promotion (HP) or a health promotion plus occupational health and safety intervention (HP/OHS), and compared from baseline (1997) to final (1999).