Faculty and students in HPEB conduct research on a variety of
topics, with the primary foci being:
- Health disparities and inequalities
- Community-based nutrition, diet, and obesity prevention
- Health of:
- Children, adolescents, and young adults
- Women
- Seniors
- Global health
- Cancer and HIV/AIDS prevention and control
- Health communication
- Co-creation of knowledge with people in communities
- Program creation, planning, implementation, and evaluation
- Sociopolitical processes, organizational change, and structural
interventions to promote health
This research requires not only understanding relevant health topics
(such as nutrition or cancer), but also understanding of a diversity of
behavioral and social topics including: social policy; organizational
behavior; systems and networks; socio-cultural dynamics; social movements,
community change, globalization, and migration; behavior theory and change;
and the role of stakeholder beliefs, values, and interests.
Current Grants
Research Projects
Current Grants “Psychosocial, Educational, and Behavioral Factors Related to
HPV among Adolescent Girls and Young Women.” Source: USC Office
of Research & Health Sciences. PI: Dr. Heather Brandt.
“Evaluation of After School Enrichment Programs for Middle
School Students.” Source: John S. and James L. Knight
Foundation. PI: Dr. Sara Corwin.
"Moving Beyond the 3 R's: Implications of a Broader
Conceptualization of Literacy for Prostate Cancer Prevention
among African-American Men." Source: USC Arnold School of Public
Health Seed Grant. PI: Dr. Daniela Friedman. Co-PI: Dr. Sara
Corwin.
"Get Ready, Get Set, Communicate! Implications of Public
Health Preparedness for Low Literate Populations." Source: USC
Center for Public Health Preparedness. PI: Dr. Daniela Friedman.
“Prevention Research
to Promote and Protect Brain Health: A Healthy Aging Research
Network (HAN) Special Interest Project.” Source: Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. (Year 3 PI: Dr. Daniela
Friedman; Co-Investigator: Dr. Sara Corwin)
“Mainstreaming Nutrition Initiative.” Source: World Bank. PI:
Dr. Edward Frongillo.
"Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance." Source: United
States Agency for International Development and Academy for
Educational Development. PI: Dr. Edward Frongillo
"Systematic Review of Delivery Strategies." Source: World Health
Organization. PI: Dr. Edward Frongillo
“Food Stamp Nutrition Education Demonstration Project.”
Source: South Carolina Department of Social Services. PI: Dr.
Sonya Jones.
“School Food and Finance Study.” Source: USC Arnold School of
Public Health; Center for Research in Nutrition and Health
Disparities. PI: Dr. Sonya Jones.
"Assessing Alternative Policies for Improving the School Food
Environment." Source: United States Department of Agriculture
Economic Research Service. PI: Dr. Sonya Jones
“Prevention Research Center's Healthy Aging Research Network
(HAN).” Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Co-PI: Dr. Delores Pluto (PI: Dr. Sara Wilcox, Exercise
Science).
“The Physical Activity Policy Research Network.” Source:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. PI: Dr. Delores
Pluto
“Duke Endowment Wellness Initiative.” Source: Duke Endowment.
PI: Dr. Ruth Saunders.
"Estimating the Impact of Alternative Warning Labels on
Cigarette Demand in the United States: Evidence from
Experimental Auctions." Source: Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation. Co-PI: Dr. James Thrasher
"Cigarette warning label policy and
trajectories of cognitive processing: A latent curve approach
to assessing individual variation and its behavioural impacts."
Source: Roswell Park Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center (TTURC)/National
Cancer Institute. PI:
Dr. James Thrasher
"Impact of tobacco control policy on a cohort of adult Mexican
smokers." Source: Mexican National Council on Science and Technology (CONACyT) Co-PI: Dr. James Thrasher
"A mass
media campaign to promote smoke free policy in Mexico City."
Source:
Bloomberg Global Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. PI: Dr. James Thrasher
"Material
development and capacity building for tobacco policy media
advocacy in Mexico."
Source:
Bloomberg Global Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. Co-PI: Dr.
James Thrasher
“Project iMPPACS – Multilevel HIV Prevention Strategy for
High-Risk Youth.”
Source: National Institutes of Health – National Institute of
Mental Health. PI: Dr. Robert Valois.
Research Projects
Community Interventions in Non-Medical Settings to Increase
Informed Decision Making for Prostate Cancer Screening
In partnership with the University of Texas Health Sciences
Center, formative research is being conducted to develop and
test a faith-based, community education program on informed
decision-making for prostate cancer screening among African
American men. Dr. James Hebert is the PI on this USC subcontract
funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr.
Heather Brandt is a Co-Investigator on this project.
Evaluation of After School Enrichment Programs for Middle
School Students

In November 2003, Dr. Sara Corwin received funding from the
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to evaluate the after
school enrichment programs in three Richland (Columbia SC)
School District One middle schools. The following year, Corwin
received a 3-year continuation from the Knight Foundation to
extend the project. The after school programs, also funded by
Knight, are designed to provide enrichment and arts based
activities for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in effort to enhance
learning and psycho-social outcomes. The Columbia Museum of Art,
Riverbanks Zoo, EdVenture and Trustus Theatre continue to engage
students in a variety of arts, leadership, environmental, and
educational activities. Adopting a mix-methods approach, Corwin
and the evaluation team implement several qualitative and
quantitative strategies to include: direct observation of
programmatic activities, interviews with key stakeholders,
student surveys, student focus groups, and a comparative
analysis of the program against evidenced-based best practices
in after school programming. Evaluation results from the first
three years indicate that students, their parents, school
personnel, and the community partners view the after school
programs as a success.
Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work on the Farm
The Arnold School of Public Health is working together with the
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control on
the
Get Smart on the Farm
program funded by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. This statewide collaboration involves development of
a survey instrument on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices
about antibiotics use on dairy farms, and an evaluation with
farmers about their need for a health
education campaign to encourage appropriate use of antibiotics
on South Carolina dairy farms. Interviews and focus groups with
dairy farmers are being conducted to help in the development of
plain language resources and a strategic
communication plan for culturally appropriate education for
both dairy managers and workers.
Dr. Daniela Friedman in HPEB is the
USC Investigator on this project.
Healthy Aging Research Network, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Prevention Research Centers

The
Healthy Aging Research Network (HAN), funded by the CDC, is
envisioned to assist with the development of a research and
dissemination agenda related to the public health aspects of
healthy aging. The mission of the HAN is to better understand
the determinants of healthy aging in older adult populations; to
identify interventions that promote healthy aging; and to assist
in the translation of such research into sustainable
community-based programs throughout the nation. The nine
universities participating in the HAN are a subset of the 33
Prevention Research Centers located throughout the United
States, and provide HAN with the area expertise necessary for
its success. As with all PRC research programs, there is a
strong focus on partnering with community based groups to
develop programs that improve health, with a special emphasis on
those communities and populations which bear a disproportionate
burden of illness and disease.
Dr. Delores Pluto is the Principal Investigator for the USC
HAN site.
A current HAN program is
"Active Options for Older Americans," a Web-based survey and
searchable database of community physical activity (PA) programs
for older adults, with the overall goal of improving
accessibility to high-quality, senior-friendly physical activity
programming.
Dr. Ken Watkins is a Co-Investigator with the Active Options
program.
An additional HAN research
project is “Prevention Research to Promote and Protect Brain
Health,” whose goals are to
obtain information about how culturally diverse audiences,
caregivers, and health care professionals understand and think
about aging, cognitive health, and maintaining a healthy brain;
and to explore communication methods and strategies for
promoting plain-language and culturally-appropriate cognitive
health messages.
Dr. Daniela Friedman (Year
3 Principal Investigator) and
Dr. Sara Corwin
(Co-Investigator) are involved with the Promoting Cognitive
Health research project.
Heart Health
and Ethnically Relevant (HHER) Lifestyle Program

This
community-based research study is designed to advance our understanding of
how to effectively promote CVD risk reduction in health care settings among
financially disadvantaged African American women ages 35 years and older.
Dr. Deborah Parra-Medina and
Dr. Sara Wilcox are Co-Principal Investigators and
conduct the research in collaboration with two community health centers in
Columbia and Orangeburg Counties, South Carolina.
Moving
Beyond the 3 Rs: Implications of a Broader Conceptualization of
Literacy
This study,
funded by an Arnold School of Public Health seed grant, is
examining older African-American men’s literacy skills and
information needs about cancer prevention. More specifically,
this formative research will explore functional health literacy
skills of older African-American men, cancer prevention
information and resource needs of African-American men in an
effort to improve their interactive and critical health literacy
skills, and the value of an expansive framework of health
literacy for use with underserved minority populations with
limited literacy skills. Preliminary data on the utility of this
framework will guide the development, implementation, and
evaluation of a culturally sensitive education program to
increase health literacy skills of African-American men and
mobilize them to make informed decisions about their health. Dr.
Daniela Friedman (PI) and Dr. Sara Corwin (Co-PI) are the
investigators on this project.
Physical Activity Policy Research Network
The
Physical Activity Policy Research Network (PAPRN) was
established to foster understanding of the effectiveness of
policies related to increasing physical activity in communities.
As a member center, the USC PRC collaborates with the CDC, PAPRN
coordinating center, and other PAPRN network centers (i.e., the
PAPRN network) to advance a physical activity policy research
agenda. The mission of the PAPRN is to conduct transdisciplinary
policy research by identifying physical activity policies and
their determinants, describing the process of implementing
policies and determining the outcomes of physical activity
policies. Dr. Delores Pluto is the Principal Investigator on
this project. Visit http://www.slu.edu/colleges/sph/slusph/centers/prc/paprn.htm
to learn more about the PAPRN.
Prevention Research Center
The University of South Carolina Prevention Research Center (PRC)
is committed to research that benefits public health and to
translating research into practice. The PRC receives core
funding in 5-year cycles from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. For the current funding cycle (2004-2009) the
PRC has established a research agenda to achieve its vision of
Physically Active People in Active Community Environments. This
agenda consists of four goals: 1) to understand how individual,
interpersonal, organizational, environmental, and policy factors
relate to physical activity (PA) within community settings; 2)
to evaluate the influences of changes in community environmental
features and policies on PA behaviors; 3) to promote PA across
the lifespan; and 4) to affect social, environmental, and
political influences on reducing racial and ethnic disparities
in PA. Dr. Delores Pluto is a Co-Investigator on the PRC.
Project iMPPACS – HIV Prevention for High Risk Youth

This five-year multi-site project funded by NIH-NIMH provides
a unique test of a multilevel HIV/STD prevention strategy for
high-risk youth. A total of 1600 African American adolescents,
ages 14-17, will be recruited through CBOs in 4 cities, two in
the Northeast (Providence, RI and Syracuse, NY) and two in the
Southeast (Columbia, SC and Macon, GA). Following baseline
assessment, all adolescents will be randomly assigned to receive
either the Focus on Youth HIV-Prevention Intervention or a
General Health Promotion control intervention. Subsequently,
adolescents will be followed longitudinally and complete STD and
behavioral assessments at 3-, 6-, 12- and 18-months follow-up.
The second level of intervention involves tailored HIV/STD
prevention messages through local mass media (TV & radio). One
city in each regional city-pair will be randomly assigned to
receive the HIV prevention media campaign while the other city
will serve as a control city. The media program will deliver
HIV-prevention messages that are culturally sensitive for
African American youth and age-appropriate; these programs will
promote both abstinence and risk reduction practices. This
design will enable a test of the joint and separate effects of
the two interventions over an 18-month follow-up for the youth
participating in the small-group interventions. In addition, the
media campaign is predicted to independently enhance
adolescents’ adoption of HIV-preventive attitudes, beliefs and
behaviors on a community-wide basis compared to youth in the
non-media control cities. Causal modeling methodology will be
employed to assess the effects of the two levels of intervention
and to identify the role of supportive messages received through
the media and from peers that are predicted to maintain safer
sexual behavior as adolescents mature. Colleagues from Brown,
Penn, Syracuse and Emory Universities are collaborating on this
research project. Dr. Robert Valois is the Principal
Investigator for the USC-Columbia, SC site.
Promotion of Physical Activity in High School Girls
The goals of this study
(funded by NIH-NHLBI) were to determine the effects of a school-based
intervention on physical activity, to identify predictors of physical
activity in 12th grade girls, and to study the relationship
between physical activity and environmental factors using GIS methods. This
study was a follow up to a previous intervention trial with 24 schools (12
intervention, 12 control) to examine the effects of a comprehensive
intervention in physical education, health education, health services, staff
wellness, family and community involvement, and the school environment on
physical activity in high school girls.
Dr. Ruth Saunders is a member of the
intervention team and responsible for
design and implementation of the health education component of the
original intervention and for design and implementation of process
evaluation on the original and follow up study.
Psychosocial, Educational, and Behavioral Factors Related to
HPV among Adolescent Girls and Young Women
The goal of this study is to explore psychosocial, educational,
and behavioral factors related to HPV and cervical dysplasia
among adolescent girls and young women to inform development of
future HPV educational interventions to decrease potentially
negative psychosocial and behavioral responses while increasing
knowledge and understanding.
Dr. Heather Brandt is the Principal
Investigator on this research funded by the USC Office of
Research and Health Sciences.
South Carolina Cancer Disparities Community Network

The
South Carolina Cancer Disparities Community Network (SCCDCN) is one of 25
Community Network Programs funded by the Center to Reduce Cancer Health
Disparities of the National Cancer Institute. The goals of the SCCDCN are
(1) to develop and increase capacity to support community-based,
participatory education, research and training to reduce cancer disparities
in South Carolina; (2) to implement community-based, participatory research,
education, and training programs in order to reduce cancer disparities; and
(3) to institutionalize, expand, and disseminate activities that reduce
cancer disparities. Dr. Heather Brandt
at USC is a Co-Investigator and Research Coordinator on the project.
South Carolina Partnership for Cancer Prevention

Funded
through Redes en Accion, a NCI Community Networks Program (CNP), the broad
goal of this pilot project is to foster individual and organizational
empowerment among the emerging Hispanic community in South Carolina in
relation to cancer prevention and health promotion through the development
of the South Carolina Partnership for Cancer Prevention. This project uses
community-based participatory research to build partnerships and develop
community capacity to address cancer health disparities among Hispanics in
South Carolina. Dr. Deborah
Parra-Medina is the PI on this project.
Trial of Activity for
Adolescent Girls (TAAG)
 Funded
by the National Institutes of Health-National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute, the purpose of the
Trail of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAGG) project was to examine the effects of a
comprehensive, school-based and community-linked intervention on physical
activity in middle school girls. It is part of a multi-center (6 U.S. sites)
investigation. Dr. Ruth Saunders is the Chair of the USC Intervention Team
and member of the TAAG Formative Assessment and Process Evaluation
Committee.
Who Are the Recipients of
Meals‑on‑Wheels in New York City? A Profile Based on a Representative
Sample of Meals‑on‑Wheels Recipients

Every
day in New York City, many thousands of meals are distributed to older
people who are homebound and deemed to have difficulty with meal
preparation. In addition to ensuring that such elders receive at least one
nutritious meal each weekday and have meals for the weekend, home‑delivered
meals is seen as a program which helps reduce social isolation through daily
contact with the meal provider (i.e., driver). Case management agencies
certify eligibility for participation and offer back‑up services as needed.
The daily home‑delivered meals are funded by the Older Americans Act through
sub‑contracts from local Areas on Aging offices to community groups,
primarily senior centers. Weekend meals and holiday meals are funded in New
York City by Citymeals‑on‑Wheels, a non‑profit organization receiving, in
the main, contributions from private citizens in the community. Although
home‑delivered meals has been in operation for about 25 years, there is
little information regarding the nature of the participants, their degree of
isolation, how they prepare and utilize the meals received, and their views
about the value of the program to them. To learn more about the program,
its participants, and their preparation, utilization and satisfaction with
the delivered meals, Dr. Edward Frongillo, Citymeals‑on‑Wheels, and the
Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging
jointly undertook this study. We hope that the findings
will answer many questions about the recipients, and their
social and nutritional needs, and will also provide findings
that will be useful in future planning for the program regarding
client satisfaction and the extent to which the program realizes
its stated goals.
|