Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Mar 2003
Comparative StudyThe relationship of symptoms and psychological factors to delay in seeking medical care for breast symptoms.
The psychological processes involved in the delay between noticing breast symptoms and seeking medical care are not well understood. ⋯ The results show the importance of the type of symptom and initial emotional distress in delay and highlight the importance of widening public perceptions of breast symptoms other than breast lumps in order to reduce delay times.
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Obesity is considered a growing health threat in the United States. Although physicians have an important role in counseling their patients for obesity prevention and treatment, physicians themselves are often overweight. There are few data regarding how physician body weight might affect patient receptiveness to obesity counseling. ⋯ Patients seeking care from nonobese physicians indicated greater confidence in general health counseling and treatment of illness than patients seeing obese physicians. It is not known if this can be translated into increased success in obesity prevention and treatment.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2002
Reporting medical information: effects of press releases and newsworthiness on medical journal articles' visibility in the news media.
Characteristics defining newsworthiness of journal articles appearing in JAMA and NEJM were examined to determine if they affect visibility in the news media. It was also hypothesized that press releases affected the amount of news coverage of a journal article due to the fact that the most newsworthy journal articles are selected for press releases. ⋯ Journalists report on medical information that is topical, stratifies risk based on demographic and lifestyle variables, and has lifestyle rather than medical implications. Medical journals issue press releases for articles that possess the characteristics journalists are looking for, thereby further highlighting their importance.
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Preventive medicine · Oct 2002
Comparative StudyNaturalistic changes in the readiness to quit tobacco smoking in a German general population sample.
This study examines naturalistic changes, i.e., changes that occur without formal interventions, in the motivational readiness to quit tobacco smoking. The transtheoretical model (TTM) with the proposed five stages of change (precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance) is used as the theoretical framework. ⋯ In a German representative population of smokers, smoking behavior change toward abstinence does not occur naturally in a substantial amount over the 6-month period without intervention. Differing findings in studies for populations in the United States could be due to methodological differences or differences in tobacco-control conditions.
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Preventive medicine · Oct 2002
Comparative StudyPositive changes in sun-related behavior in Israel (1994-1998).
Current preventive measures against skin cancer focus on individual sun protection and early detection. Solar radiation in Israel is powerful, and about one-half of its population is fair skinned. We investigated whether public awareness efforts yielded changes in sun-related behaviors in Israel from 1994 to 1998. ⋯ There were positive changes in sun-related awareness and behaviors in Israel between 1994 and 1998. These findings support the conclusion that positive gains were associated with the health promotion efforts conducted by the Israel Cancer Society, Ministry of Health, and other Israeli organizations throughout these years.