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Health Education Research - current issue

Balancing rigor against the inherent limitations of investigating hard-to-reach populations
Crosby, R. A., Salazar, L. F., DiClemente, R. J., Lang, D. L. Maintaining rigor in research is critical; however, this need must be balanced by the necessity of conducting studies in populations where inherent barriers exist relative to key issues such as recruitment, attrition, sampling, sample size, assessment techniques, psychometric rigor, the identification of mediators and moderators and the practical relevance of the research question itself. Ultimately, the value of a study in health promotion should be judged on the practicality of the research question within the context of the target population. Striking the perfect balance between rigor and practicality to the field is a question that health promotion researchers and professionals need to determine through ongoing dialogue and debate.
Participation rates and representativeness of African Americans recruited to a health promotion program
Halbert, C. H., Kumanyika, S., Bowman, M., Bellamy, S. L., Briggs, V., Brown, S., Bryant, B., Delmoor, E., Johnson, J. C., Purnell, J., Rogers, R., Weathers, B. When using community-based participatory methods to develop health promotion programs for specific communities, it is important to determine if participation differs based on sociodemographics and the extent to which program participants are demographically representative of the target community, especially when non-random recruitment methods are used. We evaluated rates of participating in a health promotion program among African American residents in an urban community and determined if program participants were representative of community residents in terms of sociodemographic factors. While participation in the program was modest, participation did not differ based on psychological factors or body mass index. However, individuals who were unemployed were significantly more likely to participate in the program compared with those who were employed. Our sample included a greater proportion of individuals who only had a high school education compared with community residents but was similar to community residents in terms of gender, marital status and employment.
Interviewer effects in public health surveys
Davis, R. E., Couper, M. P., Janz, N. K., Caldwell, C. H., Resnicow, K. Interviewer effects can have a substantial impact on survey data and may be particularly operant in public health surveys, where respondents are likely to be queried about racial attitudes, sensitive behaviors and other topics prone to socially desirable responding. This paper defines interviewer effects, argues for the importance of measuring and controlling for interviewer effects in health surveys, provides advice about how to interpret research on interviewer effects and summarizes research to date on race, ethnicity and gender effects. Interviewer effects appear to be most likely to occur when survey items query attitudes about sociodemographic characteristics or respondents’ engagement in sensitive behaviors such as substance use. However, there is surprisingly little evidence to indicate whether sociodemographic interviewer–respondent matching improves survey response rates or data validity, and the use of a matched design introduces possible measurement bias across studies. Additional research is needed to elucidate many issues, including the influence of interviewers’ sociodemographic characteristics on health-related topics, the role of within-group interviewer variability on survey data and the simultaneous impact of multiple interviewer characteristics. The findings of such research would provide much-needed guidance to public health professionals on whether or not to match interviewers and respondents on key sociodemographic characteristics.

Public Health News From Medical News Today

Health Committee Report On Social Care - UNISON Response, UK
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:00:00 -0800
UNISON, the UK's largest public sector trade union, today warned that measures to reform social care will be undermined by widespread cuts taking place at councils across the country. The union is calling for investment in the social care workforce, including better pay and conditions, to improve recruitment and retention in the sector...
NHS Confederation Responds To Panorama Programme
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:00:00 -0800
NHS Confederation chair Bryan Stoten responds to yesterday's Panorama programme 'Trust Us, We're an NHS Hospital'. Bryan Stoten, Chair of the NHS Confederation, stated: "On its own, self assessment is an incomplete measure of hospital performance...
Omni Bio Pharmaceutical, Inc. Hosts Panel On Alpha-1-Antitrypsin ("AAT") At 8th World Congress On Trauma, Shock, Inflammation And Sepsis
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:00:00 -0800
Omni Bio Pharmaceutical, Inc. ("Omni Bio") (OTCBB: OMBP) announced that its acting Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Charles A. Dinarello, will moderate a panel at the 8th World Congress on Trauma, Shock, Inflammation and Sepsis ("TSIS") (http://www.tsis2010.org) in Munich, Germany on Friday, March 12, 2010...

Public Health News Headlines from Johns Hopkins

Researchers Develop New Methods for Imputing Data for Geographic Analysis
paffairs@jhsph.edu (Office of Communications) Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -0500
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have developed new methods for analyzing health data geographically. Typically, data are plotted spatially through a process known as geocoding in which mailing address information is translated into map coordinates. However, not all addresses can be converted successfully (nongeocodable). Rural postal routes, post office boxes, and addresses with errors or missing information cannot be mapped using geocoding. Health records linked with these type addresses have traditionally been discarded from analysis leading to concerns of bias and underreporting. In a study published February 10 in the journal PLoS ONE, the researchers develop and evaluate strategies for including nongeocoded data in spatial analysis.
Hemoglobin A1c Outperforms Fasting Glucose for Risk Prediction
paffairs@jhsph.edu (Office of Communications) Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:45:00 -0500
Measurements of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) more accurately identify persons at risk for clinical outcomes than the commonly used measurement of fasting glucose, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. HbA1c levels accurately predict future diabetes, and they better predict stroke, heart disease and all-cause mortality as well. The study appeared in the March 4, 2010, issue of New England Journal of Medicine.
Tobacco Control Training Course Now Available in all 6 U.N. Languages
paffairs@jhsph.edu (Office of Communications) Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -0500
The Institute for Global Tobacco Control (IGTC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health now offers training in all six official United Nations languages. The translated learning course, Global Tobacco Control: Learning from the Experts is available in Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic and Chinese, as well as English. The content is available free of charge at GlobalTobaccoControl.org, a site funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

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