American journal of preventive medicine
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Aerobic fitness (VO(2)max) is a key component of youth fitness testing. Criterion-referenced (CR) assessments are used in FITNESSGRAM(®) to assess health risk. ⋯ The Quadratic Model and Linear Model 2 provide valid estimates of VO(2)max and compare favorably to previous models. The CR validity evidence for the Quadratic Model and Linear Models developed in this study was slightly better than for the other models examined.
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This is one of six short papers that describe additional innovations to help integrate public health into medical education; these were featured in the "Patients and Populations: Public Health in Medical Education" conference. They represent relatively new endeavors or curricular components that had not been explored in prior publications. Although evaluation data are lacking, it was felt that sharing a description of a longitudinal curriculum focused on the development of basic advocacy skills through practical activities in community assessment and engagement combined with legislative advocacy at the University of New Mexico would be of value to medical educators.
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In 1999, Determinants of Community Health was introduced at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. The course spanned all 4 years of the undergraduate curriculum and focused on addressing individual patient and community needs, prevention and population health, and diverse learning contexts. ⋯ For the same amount of curricular time, an integrated spiral curriculum for teaching public health appears to be more effective than traditional approaches.
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Public health situations faced by family physicians and other primary care practitioners, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and more recently H1N1, have resulted in an increased interest to identify the public health competencies relevant to family medicine. At present there is no agreed-on set of public health competencies delineating the knowledge and skills that family physicians should possess to effectively face diverse public health challenges. ⋯ These competencies will also be used to guide the development of a family medicine-public health primer and faculty development sessions to support family medicine faculty facilitating residents to achieve these competencies. Once more fully implemented, an evaluation will be initiated to determine the degree to which these public health competencies are being achieved by family medicine graduates, especially whether they attained the knowledge, skills, and confidence necessary to effectively face diverse public health situations-from common to emergent.
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Nutrition labeling of menus has been promoted as a means for helping consumers make healthier food choices at restaurants. As part of national health reform, chain restaurants will be required to post nutrition information at point-of-purchase, but more evidence regarding the impact of these regulations, particularly in children, is needed. ⋯ A restaurant menu-labeling regulation increased parents' nutrition information awareness but did not decrease calories purchased for either children or parents.