Why do those who request smoking treatment fail to attend the first appointment?

As part of a larger trial of pharmacological and counseling interventions for light smokers, we performed a telephone-screening interview followed by a scheduled time for an in-person eligibility appointment. Of the 407 who screened positive and expressed interest in participation, 202 failed to attend the first scheduled appointment. This article examines person, study, and study-site characteristics that differentiated those who did follow through from those who did not.

Elder abuse: disparities between older people's disclosure of abuse, evident signs of abuse, and high risk of abuse.

Objectives: To assess and compare three types of assessment tools for identifying elder abuse: direct questions to elicit disclosure of abuse if it exists, identification of evident signs of abuse, and assessment of high risk for abuse.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Rambam and Hadassah medical centers, Israel.

TV viewing habits and body mass index among South Carolina Head Start children.

The present study tested the hypothesis that TV viewing habits and overweight would be associated among 4-year-old children. A convenience sample of Head Start students was enrolled (N=148). Parents were asked to complete a questionnaire on their children's TV viewing habits for a typical weekday, and for Saturday and Sunday.

Ranking of cities according to public health criteria: pitfalls and opportunities.

Popular magazines often rank cities in terms of various aspects of quality of life. Such ranking studies can motivate people to visit or relocate to a particular city or increase the frequency with which they engage in healthy behaviors. With careful consideration of study design and data limitations, these efforts also can assist policymakers in identifying local public health issues.

Successful recruitment and retention strategies for a randomized weight management trial for people with diabetes living in rural, medically underserved counties of South Carolina: the POWER study.

We evaluated the feasibility of recruiting overweight adults with diabetes, living in rural, medically underserved communities, to a weight management intervention consisting of a 12-month clinical trial of two weight management programs and usual care. The sampling frame consisted of adults ages 45 years and older with clinically diagnosed diabetes from two community health centers. The recruitment process included medical record review, prescreening telephone call, two screening visits, and a randomization visit.

Physical activity and body mass index among US adolescents: youth risk behavior survey, 1999.

Objective: To investigate associations of underweight and overweight with physical activity among high school students in the United States.

Methods: A nationally representative sample of 15 349 US high school students participated in the 1999 Youth Risk Behavior Survey; 13 295 were included in these analyses. Five measures of physical activity were examined as dichotomous variables: (1) vigorous-intensity physical activity (>/=3 vs <3 sessions lasting at least 20 minutes each per week); (2) moderate-intensity physical activity (>/=5 vs <5 sessions lasting at least 30 minutes each per week); (3) strength training (>/=3 vs <3 sessions per week); (4) enrollment in physical education (yes or no); and (5) sports participation (yes or no).

Evaluation of a two-part survey item to assess moderate physical activity: the Cross-Cultural Activity Participation Study.

Purpose: This study evaluated a two-part survey item that assessed adherence to the national moderate physical activity (MPA) recommendation (>/=30 min/day on >/=5 days/week).

Methods: Participants were African American (n = 137), Native American (n = 129), and Caucasian (n = 50) women >/= 40 years from South Carolina and New Mexico, who were participating in a study validating physical activity surveys. The survey item was compared with data obtained from MPA recorded in PA records (min/day), Caltrac accelerometers (Muscle Dynamics, Torrance, CA) (kcal/day), and pedometers (steps/day).

Assessment of a pilot video's effect on physical activity and heart health for young children.

This article assessed the effects of a video, "Dynamotion," on children's knowledge, self-efficacy, and attitude about physical activity and heart health. A quasi-experimental design was used; 12 classrooms (grades K-2) were assigned to intervention (N = 116) or comparison (N = 92) groups. Students completed a 9-item pre- and posttest; only the intervention group was exposed to the video, during which qualitative assessments were made.