Hypertension (HTN) management continues to be a concern due to challenges with behavioral risk factors. Patient education to modify unhealthy behaviors appears to be effective in managing HTN. Therefore, this meta-analysis aimed to determine whether individualized face-to-face education and counseling have a beneficial effect on systolic and…

Waterpipe tobacco smoking is a public health concern that poses many of the same health risks as cigarette smoking, especially among young adults--a subpopulation characterized by the highest prevalence of waterpipe tobacco smoking. Nevertheless, it remains understudied relative to other forms of tobacco use. We examined sociodemographic,…

The authors designed and evaluated an innovative, branded campaign called 'Adelante' to promote positive youth development (PYD) and reduce risk behaviors among Latino youth near Washington, DC. Repeated cross-sectional surveys were conducted in the intervention and a comparison community to evaluate campaign exposure and changes in PYD outcomes.…

Exposure to cigarette advertising can increase the likelihood of youth smoking initiation and may encourage people who already smoke to continue. Requiring prominent, graphic warning labels could reduce these effects. We test whether graphic versus text-only warning labels in cigarette advertisements influence cognitive and emotional factors…

Story-based learning is well recognized as an effective strategy for adult health education. However, there is a scarcity of research on story-based health education among women in South Asian diasporic communities. To address this gap, we undertook a pilot study in Toronto to explore how South Asian women respond to the use of fact-based and…

Rates of e-cigarette use are high among youth, and there is little known about the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes. Since peer influence is a powerful determinant of tobacco use, we aimed to identify message themes about e-cigarettes that youth would use to encourage or discourage peers from using e-cigarettes. We conducted 10 focus…

Smokers are exposed to advice about quitting from numerous sources. Within the 2013 ITC 4-Country Survey, 1211 Australian smokers or recent ex-smokers rated the perceived importance of eight sources of advice, categorized into evidence-based, non evidence-based, personal experience and vicarious experience (two items each), and also rated their…

Adolescent girls are at substantial risk of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. To reduce these risks, we developed Health Education And Relationship Training (HEART), a web-based intervention focused on developing sexual assertiveness skills and enhancing sexual decision-making. This study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of…

Emerging tobacco product use is increasing. We evaluated factors associated with perceived risk of and intention to use waterpipe tobacco by surveying students at a large university in the southeastern U.S. (N = 667). Proportional odds modeling assessed whether demographic characteristics and social acceptability are associated with perceived risk…

The aim of this study was to investigate factors mediating the effects of Luoghi di Prevenzione (LdP) smoking prevention intervention based on social competence and social influence approaches, and characterized by peer-led school-based interventions, out-of-school workshops, school lessons, and by enforcing the school anti-smoking policy.…

Key modifiable risk behaviors such as smoking, poor diet and physical inactivity often cluster and may have multiplicative adverse effects on health. This study investigated barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and physical activity (PA) in overweight Mexican-origin smokers to inform the adaptation of an evidence-based smoking cessation…

Individuals may be more motivated to adopt health practices if they consider the benefits of these behaviors for their close relationships. The goal of this study was to examine couple concordance with sun protection and use the interdependence and communal coping theory to evaluate the role of relationship factors in sun protection. One hundred…

Purpose: Use of electronic cigarettes ("e-cigarettes" is rapidly rising, and is especially prevalent among young adults. A better understanding of e-cigarette perceptions and motivations for use is needed to inform health communication and educational efforts. This study aims to explore these aspects of use with a focus on comparing…

Little is known about effective methods to recruit unmotivated smokers into cessation induction trials, the reasons unmotivated smokers agree to participate, and the impact of those reasons on study outcomes. A mixed-method approach was used to examine recruitment data from a randomized controlled cessation induction trial that enrolled 255 adult…

Chronic health conditions and multiple health risk factors afflict Americans and burden employers, but effective, affordable, workplace-based health promotion interventions have not been widely implemented. This is the first study to adapt the empirically validated Chronic Disease Self-Management Program for a general employee population in a…