Suchergebnisse

Using a qualitative research method, this study investigates the ways in which homophobia and heterosexism constitute barriers to treatment for lesbian and gay youth in need of addictions services. Seventeen lesbian and gay youth were interviewed regarding their experiences in addictions services. The major barriers that they report include marginalization, avoidance of gay and lesbian issues, ignoring sexual orientation as an issue, deflection and contradiction, outing, harassment, early discharge, and misinformed staff. Recommendations are made for making addictions services more appropriate and accessible for lesbian and gay youth.

Purpose. This study identifies effective components of a bicycle helmet promotion campaign, and mechanisms by which these components affect child helmet ownership. Design. A random telephone survey identified parents whose children did not own helmets prior to an educational campaign. A follow-up survey was conducted six months later. Regression analysis estimated the effects of four campaign components on child helmet ownership and tested for mediation by cognitive variables. Setting. Study participants were residents of a suburban community which undertook a citywide educational campaign to increase child helmet ownership. Subjects. Subjects were 210 parents with at least one school-aged child, none of whom owned helmets. Intervention. A multicomponent campaign was implemented by a community coalition. In addition, random subsamples of the study participants received direct mail or direct telephone communications. Results. Of the eligible respondents identified in the baseline sample, 39% completed the follow-up survey. Regression analysis showed that children whose parents received either helmet advice from a physician or direct telephone communications were 2.6 and 2.2 times more likely, respectively, to own helmets as children whose parents did not experience similar communication. Parental worry mediated the association, but parental beliefs about the effectiveness of helmets did not. Conclusions. Future helmet campaigns should use interpersonal strategies to increase parental worry about their children being involved in a bicycle accident. Generalization of these findings is limited by the high socioeconomic status of the study participants, and by the outcome measure, which is helmet ownership, not helmet use.

Purpose. To determine whether the amount of television (TV) watched by participants enrolled in a physical activity intervention mediates or moderates program effectiveness. Design. Nine-month, controlled, school-based physical activity intervention. Setting. Public high school. Participants. One hundred twenty-two sedentary adolescent females (mean + standard deviation age = 15.04 + 0.79 years). Intervention. Supervised in-class exercise, health education, and internet-based self-monitoring. Measures. Physical activity by 3-day physical activity recall; TV viewing by self-reports; cardiovascular fitness by cycle ergometer. Analysis. T-tests were conducted to examine between-group differences. Linear regression equations tested the mediating or moderating role of TV watching relative to the intervention. Results. TV viewing moderated the intervention's effect on vigorous activity; the intervention significantly predicted change in physical activity among high (β = −.45; p < .001), but not among low (p > .05), TV watchers. TV viewing did not mediate the intervention effect. Conclusions. Consistent with displacement theory, adolescents who watched more TV prior to the intervention showed postintervention increases in vigorous physical activity and concomitant decreases in TV viewing, whereas those who watched less TV showed no change in physical activity or TV viewing.

Calls for communitywide interventions to promote bicycle safety helmet usage among children abound, yet little is known about the factors that cause parents to purchase helmets and consistently insist on their usage. The health belief model proposes that cues to action are important influences on self-protective behaviors. A communitywide field study was conducted to test the effectiveness of six different kinds of cues to action. Parents of children between the ages of 5 and 18 were selected via random-digit-dialing techniques for participation in the study. The results indicated that cues to action affected perceptions of threat but were unrelated to attitudes, intentions, or behaviors. However, perceptions of threat were found to be important influences on bicycle helmet attitudes, intentions, and behaviors.

In a previous study, social hassles in the home, such as arguments and lack of privacy, were associated with greater psychological distress only in people living in crowded homes. Hassles were not related to distress in people in uncrowded homes. The current study undertakes a secondary analysis of these data to understand why household crowding potentiates the negative effects of social hassles on psychological well-being. The aim is to evaluate how two psychosocial variables—perceived control over the residential environment and social support from housemates—might explain the interactive effects of hassles and crowding on psychological distress. The results suggest that decreased perceived control among those who experience both crowding and hassles in the home explains why this subgroup has greater psychological distress. The authors argue that hassles in crowded homes lead to lower perceived control because household crowding constrains one's ability to avoid or escape from the hassles. Perceived social support from roommates does not account for the interactive effects of hassles and crowding.