FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH BEHAVIORS IN RESPONSE TO HEALTH-RELATED MESSAGING FROM SHAWNEE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT: RESULTS OF A CASPER SURVEY

Master of Public HealthPublic Health Interdepartmental ProgramEllyn MulcahyThe effectiveness of Shawnee County Health Department’s (SCHD) “Dump Day” mosquito control campaign was evaluated using the Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) door-to-door survey method. The Dump Day campaign, which began during the summer of 2016, focused on emptying standing water on private property in effort to reduce mosquito breeding sites. CASPER is an epidemiologic technique designed to provide low cost, household based information about a community quickly and with limited resources. The primary objective of this project was to measure the effectiveness of SCHD’s Dump Day campaign by assessing associated variables; age, routes of health-messaging uptake, and mosquito prevention methods practiced by the public. In addition, CASPER was used to determine if this method is a useful tool for SCHD to evaluate other programs and campaigns. The development of this CASPER closely followed the toolkit provided by CDC. Sampling was conducting in two stages; stage one entailed randomly selecting 30 clusters within Shawnee County and stage two encompassed randomly selecting seven households within each cluster. With 30 clusters selected with a goal of seven household selected a total of 210 households were selected for interview. Of those, 117 interviews were successfully completed and 43 refusals were documented. SCHD employees and MRC volunteers achieved a 55.7% completion rate, a 73.1% cooperation rate, and a 40.6% contact rate for this CASPER. This study revealed that for those who were aware of the Dump Day campaign dumped water on personal property. Also, individuals at high risk of WNV complications and death, those 65 years of age or older, were less likely to dump water on their property, use mosquito repellent, and consider mosquito control a public health issue. Households with children residing in them were more likely to use mosquito repellent and consider mosquitoes to be a nuisance on their property

Systematic review of the epidemiology of non-collision injuries occurring to older people during use of public buses in high income countries

Each year more than 6,000 people are injured on public buses in the UK, approximately half of whom are aged 65 or over. This review synthesises the published literature on the epidemiology of non-collision injuries occurring in older people using public buses, to enable understanding of the size and nature of the problem of injuries, and to explore strategies for improving the safety of public transport for older people. We searched PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Transport International Research Documentation (TRID). Studies were included if they were cross-sectional, case-control or cohort studies. Pairs of reviewers independently screened studies for inclusion, assessed risk of bias, and extracted data. Ten studies were included in the review. Older people and women were found to be over-represented in non-collision injuries. Most injuries occurred during daytime hours and on weekdays. Injuries most commonly occurred whilst passengers were standing and either moving around the bus, boarding, or alighting, and whilst the bus was accelerating or decelerating. Bruising was the most common injury amongst emergency department attenders, although between 18% and 33% suffered more serious injuries such as fractures or dislocations. Many injuries to older public transport users are potentially preventable. Public transport needs to be safe and accessible, and to be perceived as such by older people to ensure independence in outdoor mobility

Apology and Restitution: The Psychophysiology of Forgiveness After Accountable Relational Repair Responses

Apology and restitution each represents wrongdoers’ accountable repair responses that have promoted victims’ self-reported empathy and forgiveness in crime scenario research. The current study measured emotional and stress-related dependent variables including physiological measures, to illuminate the links between predictors of forgiveness and health-relevant side effects. Specifically, we tested the independent and interactive effects of apology and restitution on forgiveness, emotion self-reports, and facial responses, as well as cardiac measures associated with stress in 32 males and 29 females. Apology and restitution each independently increased empathy, forgiveness, gratitude, and positive emotions, while reducing unforgiveness, negative emotion, and muscle activity above the brow (corrugator supercilii, CS). The presence of a thorough apology—regardless of whether restitution was present—also calmed heart rate, reduced rate pressure products indicative of cardiac stress, and decreased muscle activity under the eye (orbicularis oculi, OO). Interactions pointed to the more potent effects of restitution compared to apology for reducing unforgiveness and anger, while elevating positivity and gratitude. The findings point to distinctive impacts of apology and restitution as factors that foster forgiveness, along with emotional and embodied changes relevant to health

Cognitive and behavioral predictors of light therapy use

Objective: Although light therapy is effective in the treatment of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and other mood disorders, only 53-79% of individuals with SAD meet remission criteria after light therapy. Perhaps more importantly, only 12-41% of individuals with SAD continue to use the treatment even after a previous winter of successful treatment. Method: Participants completed surveys regarding (1) social, cognitive, and behavioral variables used to evaluate treatment adherence for other health-related issues, expectations and credibility of light therapy, (2) a depression symptoms scale, and (3) self-reported light therapy use. Results: Individuals age 18 or older responded (n = 40), all reporting having been diagnosed with a mood disorder for which light therapy is indicated. Social support and self-efficacy scores were predictive of light therapy use (p's<.05). Conclusion: The findings suggest that testing social support and self-efficacy in a diagnosed patient population may identify factors related to the decision to use light therapy. Treatments that impact social support and self-efficacy may improve treatment response to light therapy in SAD. © 2012 Roecklein et al