Motivational Educational Entertainment Productions (United States)

Abstract While traditional settings such as physician offices and community health agencies have had measurable success in delivering behavioral health interventions, they are less successful in recruiting underserved African American participants. Inner-city African American women, faced with multiple risk factors contributing to persistent health disparities, require a source of reliable health information in a setting that is easily accessible and credible to them. Salon-based health education programs are becoming increasingly popular for reaching African American females because they engage trusted members of the community (salon owners and hair stylists) in a location that represents care and reflects the tradition of sharing information through oral communication. We partnered with neighborhood hair salons to promote messages about persistent cervical cancer disparities and low rates of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in the African American community. Study goals were to: (1) recruit eight beauty salons in low-income Philadelphia neighborhoods to serve as health education sites; (2) train hair stylist to be able to discuss cervical cancer disparities and HPV infection with their customers, and (3) increase knowledge and awareness about HPV, as well as intentions to vaccinate, among customers at each salon. Study inclusion criteria for customers consisted of being a young woman ages 18 to 26 or the caregiver of a young female ages 9 to 17. Stylists were trained by members of the research team to be able to briefly discuss cervical cancer and HPV with their customers during regular salon hours. Additionally, professional health educators were trained more substantially on the health topics and were placed in the salons to supplement the work of the stylists and provide a more in-depth educational experience for the customers. Survey data related to knowledge and attitudes about HPV and HPV vaccination were collected from customers immediately before and after the health education, and approximately one month later. Salon stylists and owners were interviewed post-intervention to assess their experiences with participating in the intervention. Two hundred and forty women from 10 salons were enrolled in the study. Roughly 60% of participants were caregivers while 40% were young women. Knowledge about cervical cancer and HPV infection increased significantly in both groups from baseline to endpoint and remained high at the one-month follow-up assessment. At follow-up, 68% of participants said that they had had a discussion with a friend or family member about what they learned, and 57% planned to talk to their doctor or their daughter's doctor about HPV vaccination. Sixty-two percent of caregivers reported that it was important that their daughter be vaccinated against HPV in the future. There were no significant differences between the caregivers and the young women on outcome measures of knowledge, attitudes, or intentions to vaccinate. During the post-intervention interviews with the stylists, many indicated that they enjoyed having discussions about health in the salon and that salons should continue to serve as venues of education for women in the African American community. The majority of stylists indicated that neither they, nor their customers, were aware of the magnitude of cervical cancer disparities among African American women nor the availability of the HPV vaccine as a method of protection for young women. Results of the study indicate that such community-based interventions are both feasible and effective in reaching populations not traditionally included in health education interventions. Citation Format: Amy Leader, Pamela Weddington, Ralph DiClemente, Gina Wingood, Alicia Jackson, Ivan Juzang. Tackling cervical cancer disparities through African American beauty salons: A community-based health education intervention. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Sixth AACR Conference: The Science of Cancer Health Disparities; Dec 6–9, 2013; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2014;23(11 Suppl):Abstract nr A26. doi:10.1158/1538-7755.DISP13-A26

Modernization and reconstruction projects of overhead lines, ranging between 110 kV and 400 kV, are related to intensive expansion of infrastructure in our country in recent years. It applies in particular to construction of roads, railroads, sports and cultural facilities, including highways, sports stadiums, which leads to installation of cables on various lengths of sections, which frequently enter dense built-up areas of urban agglomerations. Expanded infrastructure, formal-legal regulations cause difficulties to acquire land for overhead lines. Therefore, despite higher costs, projects involve installation of 110kV-400kV cable lines more often than in the past. The most frequent projects involve construction of 110kV cable lines, which cost is nearly twice as high as overhead lines. Installation of cable lines requires high quality installation works, including heads on line poles and support structures of stations. In order to avoid inconvenient outages, electrical companies conduct concept works in order to install heads on live lines. These works are described in this paper. It discusses the principles of occupational safety and the risk involved in this type of works.

The need for formative research in designing mass media health-education messages is widely accepted; however, distinct methodologies for developing such messages are less well documented. This article describes a culture-centered approach for developing messages to promote sexual risk reduction in urban African American adolescents. The method uses qualitative formative research to identify “competing narratives” that support healthy behavior despite the dominance of messages that favor risk-taking behavior. The method is illustrated using qualitative analysis of semistructured interviews with 124 adolescents. Analysis focuses on two barriers to sexual risk reduction: (a) social pressure for early initiation of sexual intercourse and (b) perceptions that condoms reduce sexual pleasure. We demonstrate how competing narratives identified in the analysis can be featured in radio and television messages advocating healthy behavior by modeling risk-reducing negotiation skills.

Summary Because of its ability to prolong well life, its relatively low expense, and the relative ease with which it is installed, coiled tubing has become a preferred remedial method of tubular completion for gas wells. Of course, the difficulty in procuring wireline-test data is a drawback to verifying the accuracy of the assumptions and predictions used for coiled-tubing selection. This increases the importance of the prediction-making process, and, as a result, places great emphasis on the modeling methods that are used. This paper focuses on the processes and methods for achieving sound multiphase-flow predictions by looking at the steps necessary to arrive at coiled-tubing selection. Furthermore, this paper examines the variables that serve as indicators of the viability of each tubing size, especially liquid holdup. This means that in addition to methodology, emphasis is placed on the use of a good wellbore model. The computer model discussed is in use industry wide.

A strength and flexibility training program was designed to determine the feasibility of conducting such a program with elderly nursing home residents with dementia. Training sessions included a warm-up and cool-down to improve flexibility, and a variety of strength exercises using Therabands to improve strength. Ten subjects met three times per week for 20 minutes each session. Throughout the program, the number of repetitions and the resistance of the Therabands was increased. At the end of the 11-week training program, improvements occurred in strength and flexibility. We conclude that this strength training program is feasible to conduct for elderly persons with dementia.