Rural adolescents with asthma are a disparate group. Self-management is essential to asthma control. We describe asthma knowledge, self-efficacy, and self-management behaviors among 198 rural adolescents with poorly controlled asthma, exploring demographic differences; we also test the application of Social Cognitive Theory to asthma…

Objective: To explore health literacy (HL) experiences, needs, and future training directions among college students enrolled in health-related degree programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants Students (n = 169) enrolled in a health-related degree program at a state university in the mid-western U.S. completed an online survey. Methods:…

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted the delivery of nutrition education through Cooperative Extension. This study aimed to identify a Cooperative Extension audience's attitudes towards virus prevention behaviors, preferred sources of information regarding COVID-19, and nutrition education preferences during the pandemic. We distributed…

Family- and neighborhood-level poverty are associated with youth violence. Economic policies may address this risk factor by reducing parental stress and increasing opportunities. The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is the largest cash transfer program in the US providing support to low-income working families. Many states have additional…

Purpose: This study is a formative evaluation of an adolescent online e-cigarette prevention program (Clearing the Vapor) giving attention to identifying higher risk adolescent populations, confirming the theory of change, and assessing short-term outcomes. Design/methodology/approach: The evaluation was conducted using online pre-test and…

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevents the immune system from fighting infections effectively. One in 48 Black women will acquire HIV throughout their life if current trends continue. Black women have the highest HIV infection rates compared to White and Hispanic women. In 2019, 55% of women with HIV in the United States were Black. There…

Background: Although receiving the HPV vaccine can help to prevent the development of cancer and HPV-related diseases, many individuals are not vaccinated in adolescence. Purpose: To examine knowledge about changes to the FDA's approval of the HPV vaccine for adults ages 26-45 years and to utilize the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) constructs…

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has quickly spread around the world, and since currently no treatments that are safe and effective for large groups of people nor a vaccine are available, the best way to prevent the illness is to avoid being exposed to the virus causing it. The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive effects of both…

Diabetes and heart disease are among the leading causes of death and disability in the United States, and these conditions are especially prevalent in the South. South Carolina's persistent racial and socioeconomic disparities in chronic disease outcomes are well-documented, yet little is known about how health care practices in medically…

Despite declines in overall cigarette smoking in the United States, menthol cigarette smoking prevalence has increased among young adults (18-25 years) and remains constant among older adults (26 years and older). Disparities in menthol cigarette use exist, with higher prevalence among younger adult smokers and among racial/ethnic minority…

The purposes of this study were to compare the use of contraception by monocultural and multicultural adolescents and identify the multidimensional factors in an ecological model. This study was cross-sectional design with a secondary data analysis using national data from the 2018 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey, including 3,031 participants (81…

Background: Many misconceptions about breast cancer exist. College students have the opportunity to perform breast cancer risk-reducing behaviors. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess breast cancer knowledge among university students and examine the influence of breast cancer knowledge on health behaviors for breast cancer prevention.…

Background: In this cross-sectional study we explored relationships between aggressive and violent behaviors and emotional self-efficacy (ESE) in a statewide sample of public high school adolescents in South Carolina (N = 3836). Methods: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Survey items on aggressive and violent…

Health education campaigns for preventing and reducing obesity often contain weight-stigmatizing visual content, which may have unintended negative health consequences. The goal of the present research was to identify non-stigmatizing visual content for health education materials that can promote exercise among people of diverse weight statuses.…

The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the ways schools and other youth-serving agencies are operating. To prevent the continued spread of the virus, many schools and agencies have moved to virtual only or hybrid virtual/in-person activities. Along with adapting many other activities, schools and agencies' approaches to bullying…