 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
Research
|
Faculty and students in HPEB conduct research on a variety of
topics, with the primary foci being:
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 “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 “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.” 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
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)
Who Are the Recipients of Meals‑on‑Wheels in New York City? A Profile Based on a Representative Sample of Meals‑on‑Wheels Recipients
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Columbia, SC 29208 • 803-777-7000 • sphweb@gwm.sc.edu | © University of South Carolina Board of Trustees |