The leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States is tobacco product use. The 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey, which was completed in 2022, showed that the e-cigarette epidemic among youth continues to remain a public health threat. The survey revealed that over 2.5 million middle and high school students…

In a British Overseas territory, a smoking cessation program was implemented in 2014 and had not been evaluated since inception. The problem that was addressed in this study was that despite the implementation of the "I Can Quit" program, it was unknown which curriculum and instructional strategy interventions participants thought were…

Vaping is a serious concern in public health. Nurses are well-positioned to play a role in providing counseling and health promotion related to vaping if they have adequate knowledge and skills to do so. However, both a knowledge and curriculum gap have been identified in nursing education related to vaping and how to counsel patients about vaping…

As school safety continues to be a growing issue in public schools, this study takes an exploratory approach to examine the impact vaping is having on public schools in Arkansas. Student vaping is rapidly becoming a common issue in schools. This study examined the response to vaping from administrators in Arkansas. The study surveyed 82 Arkansas…

The purpose of this non-experimental quantitative correlational study was to investigate the relationship between academic achievement and health in a national sample of college students using quantitative data analysis. Specifically, the researcher analyzed the relationship between three health-promoting behaviors (physical activity, strength…

This study explored the relationship between adolescent risk behavior and flow, a state of optimal experience characterized by a spontaneous and fluid, yet deeply focused state of awareness (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996). The purpose of the study was to better understand adolescent risk taking, as well as how it may interact with experiences of flow.…

Engaging in maladaptive health behaviors such as excessive alcohol intake and sexual risk taking behavior and avoiding adaptive health behaviors such as a healthy diet and exercise contribute to the development of a number of chronic illnesses. Rumination, thinking about things negatively over and over again, is a common cognitive process among…

Food insecurity among college student is an issue that has received increased attention recently. The risk factors for food insecurity among college students include: age, race/ethnicity, living arrangement, work for pay, having children, financial independence and lack of food resource management skills. Food insecurity in college students is…

Cancer can be one of the most serious diseases that can result in a costly reduction in the quality of life. Among a number of cancer risk factors, tobacco use has been identified as the leading preventable cause of deaths. Prior research has suggested that cancer information seeking may be a pre-step to adopt health protective behaviors that can…

This study consists of three sub-studies. Sub-study 1 and 2 attempted to incorporate environmental variables as precursor background variables of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to predict quitting-related intentions among Texas adult smokers and university student smokers, respectively. Sub-study 1 and 2 analyzed different data sets and were…

Smoking is an increasing problem among college-age individuals. Despite having the desire to quit smoking, many students are unable to achieve this goal. One factor that contributes to difficulties in the self-control of smoking is the effect of temptation contexts on the valuation of goals related to smoking cessation. Contextual cues may…

Participation in high-risk behaviors, such as substance use or dangerous driving practices, is widely reported by young adults and college students. Psychosocial theories explain participation in high-risk behaviors by the effects of risk perception on the outcome of behavior. Physiological researchers assert that biological factors (such as the…

The purpose of this research project was to understand, explore and describe the digital divide and the relationship between technology utilization and health outcomes. Diabetes and diabetic eye disease was used as the real-life context for understanding change and exploring the digital divide. As an investigational framework, a telemedicine…

This study examines motivations to quit smoking within the theoretical context of self-theories (Dweck, 2000). It investigates whether self-theories play a significant predictive role in motivating adults to quit smoking. A convenience sample of 197 adult current smokers and ex-smokers in northeast Ohio completed on line or paper versions of the…