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Biomedical subjects

L Sennott-Miller

Publications and source records attributed to L Sennott-Miller.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Implementing a 5-a-day peer health educator program for public sector labor and trades employees.

Peer education in the Arizona 5-a-Day project achieved lasting improvements in fruit and vegetable intake among multicultural employees. Measures monitored implementation of peer education from peer educators' logs, the program's reach from employee surveys, and employees' use in terms of employees' dietary change. Peer educators logged 9,182 coworker contacts. Contacts averaged 10.9 minutes, according to coworkers. Coworkers read an average of 4.7 booklets and 2.23 newsletters. Many employees talked with peer educators (59%) and read materials (54%) after the program finished. Employee reports of peer educator contact were positively associated with fruit and vegetable intake. Peereducation was implemented as intended and reached many coworkers. It continued after program completion, reached into coworkers' families, and was used by employees to improve intake. This method can be used with employees who rely on informal sources and whose work presents barriers to wellness activities.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Randomized trial testing the effect of peer education at increasing fruit and vegetable intake.

BACKGROUND: The National Cancer Institute recommends that Americans eat at least five daily servings of fruits and vegetables. National strategies to increase consumption may not reach minority and lower socioeconomic populations. In a randomized trial, peer education was tested for effectiveness at increasing fruit and vegetable intake among lower socioeconomic, multicultural labor and trades employees. METHODS: Employees (n = 2091) completed a baseline survey and received an 18-month intervention program through standard communication channels (e.g., workplace mail, cafeteria promotions, and speakers). Ninety-three social networks (cliques) of employees were identified, which were pair matched on intake. At an interim survey (during months 8 and 9), 11 cliques no longer existed and 41 matched pairs of cliques containing 905 employees remained, with one clique per pair being randomly assigned to the peer education intervention. Employees who were central in the communication flow of the peer intervention cliques served as peer educators during the last 9 months of the intervention program. Fruit and vegetable intake was measured with 24-hour intake recall and with food-frequency questions in baseline, outcome (i.e., at 18 months), and 6-month follow-up surveys. All P values are two-sided. RESULTS: By use of multiple regression, statistically significant overall effects of the peer education program were seen in the intake recall (increase of 0.77 total daily servings; P<.0001) and the food-frequency (increase of 0.46 total daily servings; P =.002) questions at the outcome survey. The effect on the total number of servings persisted at the 6-month follow-up survey when measured by the intake recall (increase of 0.41 total daily servings; P =.034) but not the food-frequency (decrease of 0.04 total daily servings; P =.743) questions. CONCLUSIONS: Peer education appears to be an effective means of achieving an increase in fruit and vegetable intake among lower socioeconomic, multicultural adult employees.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Communication strategies for dietary change in a worksite peer educator intervention.

At the heart of peer health education programs is the assumption that tapping social networks increases adoption of behavior change, yet the communication strategies used by peer educators have not been previously documented to assess the use of social networks in promotion of health messages. Our program in public worksites trained peer health educators to utilize their social networks along with individual persuasive strategies to promote the 5 a Day for Better Health message (i.e. eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables every day). Communication strategies utilized by the peer health educators were tracked via monthly focus groups over a 9 month intervention in 40 social networks of labor and trades employees. Audiotapes were transcribed and content analyzed to identify 10 communication strategies used by peer educators. Strategies were rated as enacted in an individual or a group (collective) context. Peer health educators were more likely to implement 'creating context' and 'role modeling' as group context change strategies, and 'encouragement' and 'responding to employee needs' as individual change strategies. Strategies used most frequently by males were 'mock competition', 'giving materials' and 'encouragement', while females used 'creating context' and 'keeping 5 a Day visible' most frequently. Hispanic peer health educators were more likely to use individual change strategies than their non-Hispanic counterparts. Documentation of the creative approaches utilized by lay educators among their peers can inform public health professionals on (1) how to better train outreach workers within various cultural, gender and social contexts, and (2) how to maximize social network effects.

Communication↗
PubMed1998

Demographic and health status indicators to guide health promotion for Hispanic and Anglo rural elderly.

Naturally occurring differences rather than simple breakdowns by ethnic category are being used to tailor strategies in a three year senior community health worker-delivered health promotion intervention. A survey conducted of persons 60 and over in a rural southwestern U.S. community identified New Anglos (recent settlers, n = 264), Old Anglos (long-time residents, n = 298) and Hispanics (n = 236) for a total of 798 persons. Significant demographic differences included less education, poorer health status and more chronic conditions among Hispanics. Low rates of screening were the norm but especially severe among Old Anglos. Patterned differences in health practices, as well as group variations in use of resources and sources of information, revealed New Anglos used a larger variety of services and media. Generally, adjustments being made are related to Hispanic culture, cosmopolitan orientation of the New Anglos, and long-term isolation from information and services for Old Anglos.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Using theory to plan appropriate interventions: cancer prevention for older Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women.

Research on cancer prevention among Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites (Anglos) has focused on identifying differential barriers they encounter. Although the information has been helpful in adapting traditional interventions for Hispanic clients, changes have not generally been theory-based. This research explores the applicability of value-expectancy theory, which holds that the likelihood of taking action is a function of the perceived value of the goal and the expectancy of achieving it, with 26 Anglo and 24 Hispanic women. Value was operationalized as perceived effectiveness, and expectancy as perceived difficulty of adopting 11 specific recommended behaviours. Likelihood of adopting or maintaining the behaviour in the coming year was the dependent variable. Subjects used a direct ratio scaling method, magnitude estimation, to give estimates of the variables. Substantial variation in likelihood was explained in both groups (adjusted R2 = 0.49 for Anglos and 0.53 for Hispanics), but only difficulty was significant for both Anglo and Hispanic groups. The relationship between difficulty and likelihood was curvilinear, with likelihood decreasing rapidly as difficulty increased slightly. Results suggest the theory can be used to develop interventions for both groups and that these should focus on decreasing the individual's perceived difficulty of adopting and maintaining cancer prevention activities.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Focus on psychometrics. Scaling stimuli with magnitude estimation.

Magnitude estimation has been shown to be a useful model for scaling physical and social stimuli. This scaling method holds promise for researchers who are interested in scaling the individual's perceptions of physiological states such as breathlessness as well as social phenomena such as intrusiveness or difficulty in performing a task. The purpose of this article is to provide information about magnitude estimation as a scaling method in general and about the use of magnitude estimation to scale the individual's subjective responses to stimuli.

Humans↗
PubMed1992

Healthier lifestyles: how to motivate older patients to change.

A 1- to 3-minute clear discussion by the family physician of the risks of unhealthy lifestyles has been found to be quite successful in countering patients' denial of personal risk. Studies indicate that the physician's authority lends credibility to the need to make a change and is a strong motivator. An office-based physician counseling model has proven effective in motivating older patients to adopt healthier lifestyles. The model includes four basic steps: patient assessment, discussion of risk and delivery of a message to change, a prescription for change (planning and carrying out of a behavior change strategy), and prevention of relapse through a maintenance program.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Older women in Latin America: the health and socioeconomic situation of this important subgroup.

The social and health consequences of aging, for women in Latin America, have been largely unexplored. This research reports the results of a review and secondary analysis of existing published and unpublished data. The analytical framework cross-classifies the data into three categories of age: midlife (40-59), young old (60-74), and old old (75+), and three categories of country type: highly rural, mixed, and highly urban. Findings revealed a group at severe disadvantage educationally, economically and, by virtue of their longevity, likely to end up widowed and suffering the physical effects of premature aging. Older women also bear the major burden for economic survival and emotional vitality of the family. The strategies they develop to respond to these necessities are innovative and often involve creation of new family forms based on cooperation among women. These deserve greater study as potential models for interventions to take advantage of the long-neglected ingenuity represented by this group.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Difficulty: a neglected factor in health promotion.

A series of studies of likelihood of adopting risk-reducing or weight-reduction activities revealed that the perceived difficulty of adoption was a more powerful factor in likelihood of adoption than was a perceived effectiveness of the activities. This finding is significant because most intervention programs emphasize convincing clients of the effectiveness of their methods and treat difficulty as a given or a constant. These studies showed not only that difficulty varied, but also that the relationship between likelihood of adopting an activity and the perceived effectiveness and difficulty of the activity was multiplicative and, therefore, curvilinear. At low levels of difficulty, likelihood of adoption was high, but as difficulty increased, likelihood dropped rapidly. The relationship between effectiveness and likelihood, on the other hand, showed small increases in likelihood as effectiveness increased to moderate levels, with little increase at higher levels. These relationships were more pronounced among those for whom the target risk was highly relevant. One implication for practice is that a greater payoff will be realized by reversing the conventional focus of intervention and instead helping clients reduce the difficulty of adopting necessary activities.

Adult↗