Preventive medicine
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Exercise counselling is not frequently conducted by family physicians in several countries. Little is known about the exercise counselling practices of family physicians in Canada. The objective of this study was to assess physician confidence, current versus desired practice, and barriers related to the counselling of exercise by family physicians in Canada. ⋯ Family physicians indicated their current level of exercise counselling is suboptimal and confidence levels in exercise counselling were not high. Future educational opportunities for physicians may assist in improving exercise counselling.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2003
The problem is getting us to stop. What teens say about smoking cessation.
Low participation and high dropout in many teen cessation programs may be due to lack of fit between teens' needs and the way programs are delivered. Qualitative studies, designed to identify and understand preferences of intervention participants and barriers to participation, offer opportunities to customize programs and improve their reach and effectiveness. ⋯ Teen smokers can supply valuable information to improve youth cessation programs to fit teen lifestyles, respect the challenges teens face, and acknowledge their choice in making the decision to quit.
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Unhealthy lifestyles contribute substantially to Russia's high mortality. Health control beliefs influence lifestyles to some extent in the West but this relationship is not well studied in Russia. ⋯ Health control beliefs, commoner in younger and better off Russians, were weakly related to behaviours. This has implications for designing interventions to change health behaviours in Russia.
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2003
Realizing the promise of breast cancer screening: clinical follow-up after abnormal screening among Black women.
Delayed or incomplete follow-up after abnormal screening results may compromise the effectiveness of breast cancer screening programs, particularly in medically underserved and minority populations. This study examined the role of socioeconomic status, breast cancer risk factors, health care system barriers, and patient cognitive-attitudinal factors in the timing of diagnostic resolution after abnormal breast cancer screening exams among Black women receiving breast cancer screening at three New York city clinics. ⋯ Interventions that address a woman's prior experience with abnormal findings and improve patient/provider communication may improve timely and appropriate follow-up.
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2003
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialPredicting long-term maintenance of physical activity in older adults.
Considerable research has established that self-efficacy is a consistent correlate of physical activity. Additional factors, such as exercise-induced affect, social support, and value judgments, have also been identified as having the potential to influence adherence to activity. This study examined the utility of such variables in predicting the long-term exercise behavior of older adults. ⋯ This prospective study provides support for the inclusion of social cognitive variables in models of exercise adherence and highlights the pivotal role of self-efficacy in long-term exercise behavior. Subsequent trials are called for to replicate and extend these findings.