Enhancing organizational health literacy in a rural Missouri clinic: a qualitative case study.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a collaborative effort between a health care organization and academic institution to strengthen organizational health literacy.

Design/methodology/approach: The intervention took place at a rural, federally qualified health clinic in Missouri between May 2009 and April 2011. Qualitative interviews of key informants were conducted before (=35) and after (=23) the intervention to examine program implementation and success in effecting organizational change.

Comparing State Legislative Aides' Perspectives on Tobacco Policymaking in States With Strong and Weak Policies: A Qualitative Study.

Purpose: The study compared perceptions of state legislative aides about tobacco policymaking in states with strong and weak tobacco control policies.

Approach: Qualitative in-depth interviews carried out in 2009.

Setting: The US states were ranked on a combination of tobacco prevention funding, taxes, and presence of smoke-free policies.

Advancing organizational health literacy in health care organizations serving high-needs populations: a case study.

Health care organizations, well positioned to address health literacy, are beginning to shift their systems and policies to support health literacy efforts. Organizations can identify barriers, emphasize and leverage their strengths, and initiate activities that promote health literacy-related practices. The current project employed an open-ended approach to conduct a needs assessment of rural federally qualified health center clinics.

Young adults' perceptions about established and emerging tobacco products: results from eight focus groups.

Introduction: In order to sustain their market, tobacco producers target young adults through novel product design and marketing strategies. Public health professionals need to understand young adults' risks perceptions about and use of new tobacco products to best inform tobacco control interventions.

Methods: In 2009, researchers conducted 8 focus groups with 67 young adults stratified by self-reported tobacco use and nonuse, residence in rural and urban areas, and living in a state with or without a statewide smoking restriction policy.

Addressing the challenge of informed decision making in prostate cancer community outreach to African American men.

African American men are disproportionately affected by prostate cancer. This project adopted a community-based participatory approach to design and pilot test an educational outreach strategy that promotes informed decision making about screening among African American men in community settings in St. Louis, Missouri.