Principles in Practice: The Advocacy and Empowerment Project

Complete Digitized Text of Chapter 8 of the book Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action by Nancy M. Fitzsimons.https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/books-fitzsimons-combating-violence/1009/thumbnail.jp

Pregnancy Intendedness by Maternal Disability Status and Type in the United States

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154611/1/psrh12130.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154611/2/psrh12130_am.pd

Healthy Lifestyles for People with Disabilities

People with disabilities are more susceptible to compromised health status and preventable secondary conditions. A Healthy Lifestyles curriculum was developed as a health promotion program for people with disabilities. Using the curriculum, ten free 2½-day workshops were provided for people with various disabilities in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Workshops were conducted in collaboration with local entities such as Centers for Independent Living. The workshops took an integrated approach to health, addressing connections among physical, social, emotional, and spiritual health, and health through meaningful activities. During workshops, the participants obtained health information and experienced healthy activities such as yoga and non-impact aerobics, both tailored for people with disabilities. At the end of the workshop, each participant identified two healthy lifestyle goals to work toward. Progress and/or barriers in accomplishing those goals were shared in support groups for 6-9 months. Preliminary results indicate early and sustained improvements in health behaviors and health-related attitudes. The Healthy Lifestyles program offers a promising approach to promoting health among people with disabilities

Mental, social, and physical well-being in New Hampshire, Oregon, and Washington, 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System: implications for public health research and practice related to Healthy People 2020 foundation health measures on well-being

BACKGROUND: Well-being is now accepted as one of four cross-cutting measures in gauging progress for Healthy People 2020. This shift to population indicators of well-being redresses notions of health that have focused on absence of illness (negative health) as a primary or sufficient indicator of positive functioning. The purpose of this study was to estimate mental, social, and physical well-being in three US states using new measures piloted on the 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey System (BRFSS). Baseline estimates were provided for states overall, and within states for demographic subgroups, those with chronic health conditions or disabilities, and those with behavioral risk factors. METHODS: Ten validated questions designed to assess mental (e.g., satisfaction with life, satisfaction with life domains, happiness), physical (e.g., satisfaction with energy level), and social dimensions (e.g., frequency of social support) of well-being were selected with state input for inclusion on BRFSS. 18,622 individuals responded to the BRFSS surveys administered by New Hampshire (N = 3,139), Oregon (N = 2,289), and Washington (N = 13,194). Multivariate adjusted proportions of positive responses to well-being items were examined. RESULTS: After adjustment for confounders, about 67% of adults in these states had high levels of well-being, including >80% reporting experiencing happiness. Most adults were satisfied with their work, neighborhood, and education, but significant differences were seen in subgroups. Well-being differed by demographic characteristics such as marital status, health behaviors, chronic conditions, and disability status, with those who reported a disability and smokers consistently experiencing the worst well-being. CONCLUSIONS: Well-being is accepted as one of four cross-cutting measures in gauging progress for Healthy People 2020. Well-being differs by important sociodemographic factors and health conditions (e.g., age, employment, smoking, disability status). These findings provide baseline estimates for the three states to use in gauging improvements in well-being and can serve as a model for other state-level or national surveillance systems. These findings also assist states in identifying vulnerable subgroups who may benefit from potential interventions such as those in the National Prevention Strategy that focus on enhancing well-being where such disparities exist

Age at disability onset and self-reported health status

Background: The critical importance of improving the well-being of people with disabilities is highlighted in many national health plans. Self-reported health status is reduced both with age and among people with disabilities. Because both factors are related to health status and the influence of the age at disability onset on health status is unclear, we examined the relationship between disability onset and health status. Methods: The U.S. 1998–2000 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance system (BRFSS) provided data on 11,905 adults with disability. Bivariate logistic regression analysis modeled the relationship between age at disability onset (based on self-report of duration of disability) and fair/poor self-perceived health status, adjusting for confounding variables. Results: Key variables included demographics and other measures related to disability and general health status. Disability onset after 21 years of age showed significant association with greater prevalence of fair/poor health compared to early disability onset, even adjusting for current age and other demographic covariates. Compared with younger onset, the adjusted odds ratios (OR) were ages 22–44: OR 1.52, ages 45–64: OR 1.67, and age ≥65: OR 1.53. Conclusion: This cross-sectional study provides population-level, generalizable evidence of increased fair or poor health in people with later onset disability compared to those with disability onset prior to the age of 21 years. This finding suggests that examining the general health of people with and those without disabilities might mask differences associated with onset, potentially relating to differences in experience and self-perception. Future research relating to global health status and disability should consider incorporating age at disability onset. In addition, research should examine possible differences in the relationship between age at onset and self-reported health within specific impairment groups.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by BioMed Central Ltd. and can be found at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpublichealth

A randomized trial of a health promotion intervention for adults with disabilities

BACKGROUND: People with disabilities face a range of health disparities, including increased risk for preventable health problems. Thus, health promotion efforts addressing the reduction of risk factors are especially important for this population. OBJECTIVE: This study examined changes in health behaviors among adults with disabilities following participation in the Healthy Lifestyles for People with Disabilities health promotion program. It was hypothesized that intervention participants would demonstrate significant increases in healthy behaviors in areas such as health responsibility, physical activity, nutrition, stress management, interpersonal relationships, and spiritual growth while controls would not show significant change. METHODS: Participants (n = 95) were randomly assigned to the intervention or to a wait-list. After initially serving as controls, wait-list members later received the intervention as well. A measure of health behaviors was completed at baseline, 4 months, 7 months, and 10 months. RESULTS: Health behavior scores of immediate intervention participants increased significantly (p \u3c.001) while the scores of wait-list members showed no significant change. After subsequently attending a Healthy Lifestyles workshop, scores of wait-list participants also increased significantly (p = .001). CONCLUSIONS: The Healthy Lifestyles intervention appears to be successful in helping adults with disabilities increase healthy behaviors

Healthy and Respectful Relationship Education: Differences by Disability Status and Associations with Sexual Abuse.

Education about healthy and respectful relationships (HRR) is a key component of comprehensive sexual health curricula and is supposed to be universally provided in Oregon. This study: (1) assesses the extent to which high school students with disabilities received HRR education, and (2) examines associations between HRR education and experiences of sexual abuse

Differential Association of Gender with Suicide Risk among Sexual Minority and Disabled Youth

Background: Prior studies suggest that female youth are at increased risk of suicide compared to males. However, research suggests that homosexual/bisexual males have increased odds of suicide attempts compared to homosexual/bisexual women. Little is known about gender differences in suicide risk among teenagers with intersectional identities. The objective of this study was to examine gender differences in suicide risk among lesbian/gay/bisexual youth with disabilities. Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data from 2015-2017 Oregon Healthy Teens Survey. A total of 25,476 11th graders participated in the survey. We used Poisson regression analysis with robust variance to estimate Prevalence Ratios of suicide attempts. We derived three measures of interaction in the additive scale to estimate the risk of suicide among intersectional teens (disabled and sexual minority), stratified by gender: 1) the excess risk due to interaction (RERI); 2) the proportion attributable to interaction (AP); and 3) the synergy index (SI). Results: Interaction effects were not significant for female teens: RERI= 0.62 (95% CI:-1.34 – 2.57); AP=0.08 (95% CI: -0.17 – 0.33); SI=1.10 (95% CI: 0.81 – 1.51). Conversely, all three estimations of interaction were significant for male teens: RERI= 9.96 (95% CI: 3.92 – 15.99); AP=0.51 (95% CI: 0.31 – 0.72); SI=2.19 (95% CI: 1.36 – 3.52). Conclusion: These findings provide strong evidence that the risk of suicide among male gay/bisexual teens who also have disabilities is multiplicative, whereas the combination of disability and identifying as lesbian or bisexual appears to have less than an additive effect on suicide risk among female teens