As part of their 10-year $60 million Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Initiative, The California Wellness Foundation funded 18 state and local organizations to conduct policy advocacy to strengthen teen pregnancy prevention policies. This article describes how some of these grantees accomplished noteworthy goals, including the passage of the…

Numeracy--that is, how facile people are with mathematical concepts and their applications--is gaining importance in medical decision making and risk communication. This article proposes six critical functions of health numeracy. These functions are integrated into a theoretical framework on health numeracy that has implications for risk…

Objective: To investigate in-depth beliefs and experiences relating to the choice of fast and/or healthy foods from a group of young people living in Cyprus. Design: Data for the study were generated from one-to-one qualitative interviews which encouraged the participants to articulate the symbolic value of eating choices in their day-to-day…

Objective: Identifying community physical activity interventions that facilitate increases in moderate physical activity (MPA) is important in meeting targets set in government health policy. This study evaluated community interventions that aimed to increase levels of MPA. Intervention themes included exercise referral, classes and groups, peer…

Objective: To investigate New Zealand children's understandings of "health". Design: Secondary analysis of student responses to a task called "Being Healthy" in New Zealand's National Education Monitoring Project. Setting: Year 4 (8-9 year-old) and Year 8 (12-13 year-old) students who took part in New Zealand's National Education Monitoring for…

Objective: In this exploratory study, we observed the process in which children make food choices from a cognitive development perspective and the implications that these choices have on the areas of cognitive development and health and nutrition education. Design: This was a cross-sectional case study that involved an in-depth examination of the…

Objective To explore what might encourage older people to exercise at home after falls rehabilitation. Design: Qualitative research methods were used based on a grounded theory approach, to provide insights into older adults' experiences following a fall, of both rehabilitation and home exercise. Setting: Community dwellings. Method: Nine…

Objective: To identify issues and perceptions concerning physical activity in older adults. Design: Qualitative study. Setting: Perth, Western Australia. Methods: Sixteen adults aged 65 to 74 years were interviewed in their own homes using a semi-structured interview schedule. Data were analysed using a descriptive qualitative methodology.…

Objective: To examine the importance of tanning among students in relation to attitudes and knowledge regarding skin cancer prevention. Design: A cross-sectional survey. Setting: College students at a major Midwestern university. Methods: Students were recruited to complete a self-administered questionnaire that included information on…

Objective: To explore the effects of brief training in Motivational interviewing (MI) for medical students. Design: Video recordings of consultations between 113 final-year medical students and simulated patients were scored blind by two independent raters with the Motivational Interviewing Skill Code (MISC). Half of the students participated in a…

This study examines an intervention for heterosexual couples to prevent human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted infections. It also evaluates the effect of the intervention, which is based on current models of health behavior change, on intermediate outcomes (individual and relationship factors) and consistency of condom use. Eligible…

Community collaboration in research may lead to better methods, results, and dissemination of interventions. Little systematic research has examined specific factors that influence community-based organizations (CBOs) to collaborate in public health research. There is an urgent need to advance knowledge on this topic so that together, researchers…

Few studies of partnered gay men consider the social context within which sexual behaviors occur or investigate positive aspects of the social environment that may offset factors that are related to risky sexual behaviors. Fewer still include assessment of both individuals making up couples. Using an ecological framework and an actor-partner…

In response to calls to reinvent the 5 A Day fruit and vegetable campaign, this study assesses the utility of VALS[TM], a consumer-based audience segmentation tool that divides the U.S. population into groups leading similar lifestyles. The study examines whether the impact of theory of planned behavior (TPB) constructs varies across VALS groups…

The association between performance on health literacy measures and health outcomes is well established. The next step is to understand the processes through which health literacy affects health. This review introduces a framework drawing on ideas from health psychology and proposing that associations between health literacy and health outcomes…