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Biomedical subjects

L Zoref

Publications and source records attributed to L Zoref.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Effects of a multidimensional anabolic steroid prevention intervention. The Adolescents Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids (ATLAS) Program.

OBJECTIVE: To test a team-based, educational intervention designed to reduce adolescent athletes' intent to use anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS). DESIGN: Randomized prospective trial. SETTING: Thirty-one high school football teams in the Portland, Ore, area. PARTICIPANTS: Seven hundred two adolescent football players at experimental schools; 804 players at control schools. INTERVENTION: Seven weekly, 50-minute class sessions were delivered by coaches and student team leaders, addressing AAS effects, sports nutrition and strength-training alternatives to AAS use, drug refusal role play, and anti-AAS media messages. Seven weight-room sessions were taught by research staff. Parents received written information and were invited to a discussion session. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Questionnaires before and after intervention and at 9- or 12-month follow-up, assessing AAS use risk factors, knowledge and attitudes concerning AAS, sports nutrition and exercise knowledge and behaviors, and intentions to use AAS. RESULTS: Compared with controls, experimental subjects at the long-term follow-up had increased understanding of AAS effects, greater belief in personal vulnerability to the adverse consequences of AAS, improved drug refusal skills, less belief in AAS-promoting media messages, increased belief in the team as an information source, improved perception of athletic abilities and strength-training self-efficacy, improved nutrition and exercise behaviors, and reduced intentions to use AAS. Many other beneficial program effects remained significant at the long-term follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: This AAS prevention program enhanced healthy behaviors, reduced factors that encourage AAS use, and lowered intent to use AAS. These changes were sustained over the period of 1 year. Team-based interventions appear to be an effective approach to improve adolescent behaviors and reduce drug use risk factors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

The Adolescents Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids (ATLAS) prevention program. Background and results of a model intervention.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and test a school-based intervention to prevent anabolic androgenic steroid use among high-risk adolescent athletes. DESIGN: Nonrandom controlled trial. SETTING: Two urban high schools. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-six adolescent football players at the experimental school and 24 players at the control school. INTERVENTION: Eight weekly, 1-hour classroom sessions delivered by the coach and adolescent team leaders, and eight weight-room sessions delivered by research staff. The intervention addressed sports nutrition and strength training as alternatives to steroid use, drug refusal role play, and antisteroid media campaigns. OUTCOME MEASURES: A preintervention and postintervention questionnaire that assessed attitudes toward and intent to use steroids and other drugs; knowledge of drug effects; and diet, exercise, and related constructs. RESULTS: Compared with controls, experimental subjects were significantly less interested in trying steroids after the intervention, were less likely to want to use them even if their friends used them, were less likely to believe steroid use was a good idea, believed steroids were more dangerous, had better knowledge of alternatives to steroid use, had improved body image, increased their knowledge of diet supplements, and had less belief in these supplements as beneficial. CONCLUSIONS: Significant beneficial effects were found despite the sample size, suggesting that the effects of the intervention was large. This outcome trial demonstrates an effective anabolic androgenic steroid prevention program for adolescent athletes, and the potential of team-based interventions to enhance adolescents' health.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Predictors of smoking during and after pregnancy: a survey of mothers of newborns.

BACKGROUND: Cigarette smoking during pregnancy represents a significant health risk to the fetus, but most women continue to smoke during pregnancy, and most who quit relapse postpartum. This study provides an assessment of psychosocial variables on women who quit, relapsed, cut down, or did not alter their smoking during pregnancy. METHODS: Mothers of newborns in 49 pediatric practices (N = 13,495) were surveyed at the newborns' first well-care office visit to a pediatrician, and 2,901 mothers who smoked in the month prior to pregnancy were identified. Predictive information was obtained by comparing mothers who quit smoking with those who continued to smoke, mothers who stayed quit with relapsers, and mothers who reduced tobacco consumption with those who did not. RESULTS: Thirty-five percent of mothers reported quitting smoking during pregnancy, and 52% had cut down for pregnancy. Factors related to quitting smoking for pregnancy were younger age, higher level of education, lower smoking level, having a partner who did not smoke, and not consuming alcohol. Mothers who quit also reported allowing less smoking in the home. Relapse for quitters was highly correlated with partner's smoking. For women who cut down but did not quit, smoking level and age were most significant.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Pediatric office-based smoking intervention: impact on maternal smoking and relapse.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of a brief smoking intervention delivered by pediatricians in the context of usual well baby office visits on postnatal maternal smoking and relapse. SETTING: Forty-nine private pediatric practices including 128 practitioners. DESIGN: Randomization of pediatric practices into minimal and extended intervention sites with all enrolled mothers of newborns within a practice receiving the same level of intervention. INTERVENTION: Smoking mothers in minimal condition received a hospital packet containing written information about passive smoking and a letter advising them to quit. Those in extended condition received the hospital packet plus oral and written advice at usual well baby visits: 2 weeks, 2, 4, and 6 months. MEASUREMENTS: Smoking and relapse rates at 6 months postpartum, demographics associated with smoking status, attitudes, and knowledge in regard to passive smoking, and recall surveys of mothers in regard to receiving advice or written materials. RESULTS: Two-thousand nine-hundred-one mothers of newborns were enrolled in the study. Those in the extended condition had higher quit rates (5.9% vs 2.7%, P < .01) and lower relapse rates (45% vs 55%, P < .01) than those in the minimal condition. Mothers' educational status and the presence of a smoking partner in the home were the major demographic variables associated with smoking status at enrollment and at follow-up. Compared with smokers in the minimal condition, those in extended at 6 months postpartum had significantly better attitudes and knowledge regarding passive smoking and allowed less smoking in the home. Mothers attending extended practices reported much higher rates of receiving oral advice and written materials than those in the minimal condition. CONCLUSIONS: A brief program can lead to major increases in the willingness of pediatricians to deliver smoking advice. A 1- to 2-minute intervention delivered in the context of usual well baby care can have a positive impact on maternal smoking and especially upon relapse prevention. A recent smoking history should be obtained from all mothers of newborns so that interventions can be aimed at both cessation and relapse prevention.

Female↗
PubMed1990

The efficacy of social-influence prevention programs versus "standard care": are new initiatives needed?

This study evaluates the effects of a school-based smoking prevention program after 1 year, using school (22 middle/elementary schools, 15 high schools) as both the unit of randomization and the unit of analysis. The multigrade level (grades 6 through 9) intervention was designed to address comprehensively the social influence factors that encourage smoking. Teacher survey data indicated that treatment schools had a median of 10 classroom sessions devoted to tobacco/drug use education, 5 of which were the sessions designed for this evaluation, and control schools had also dedicated a median of 10 classroom sessions to tobacco/drug education. Thus, the study evaluated the incremental effects of the social influence intervention compared to "standard-care" curricula. Among those who reported smoking one or more cigarettes in the month prior to the intervention, there was a significant treatment effect on rate of smoking at one year, but no grade level, gender, or interaction effects. The 1-year covariate-adjusted smoking rate among pretest smokers in the treatment schools was 76.6 cigarettes per month, compared to 111.6 cigarettes per month in control schools, a 31.4% difference. These effects were not accounted for by differential subject attrition. The analyses for nonsmokers, however, showed no significant effects, and the program did not affect self-reported alcohol or marijuana use. Taken together with the results of other prevention studies, these results point to the need for the development and evaluation of new initiatives to prevent substance use.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Videotaped materials in a school-based smoking prevention program.

The theory used to frame school-based tobacco use prevention programs is general, and such programs are difficult to replicate. This article seeks to offer a model for prevention videotape production, which other researchers can replicate and improve, and to present an analysis of potential merits and drawbacks of such production. To accomplish these goals, this article presents a detailed description of a school-based prevention program and the videotaped materials used in its curriculum. The theoretical and empirical bases for the project are delineated, and the study design is summarized. A detailed outline of the multi-grade curriculum program is presented, including the rationale behind critical program features, a description of specific curriculum strands, and the way in which videotaped materials fit into each strand. The rationale for using videotaped materials within the theoretical framework is discussed. Each videotape is briefly described. An account of video production, a process extending over 4 years, is set forth, including the student feedback data that helped to shape the production process, formatting, script decisions, casting, location, and the actual filming procedure.

Adolescent↗