American Journal of Health Behavior 

About: American Journal of Health Behavior is an academic journal published by PNG Publications. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Population & Medicine. It has an ISSN identifier of 1087-3244. Over the lifetime, 1716 publications have been published receiving 48084 citations. The journal is also known as: Am J Health Behav.

The causal pathways linking health literacy to health outcomes.

Abstract: Objective To provide an evidence-based review of plausible causal pathways that could best explain well-established associations between limited health literacy and health outcomes. Methods Through analysis of current findings in medical and public health literature on health literacy we derived a conceptual causal model. Results Health literacy should be viewed as both a patient and a system phenomenon. Three distinct points along a continuum of health care are suggested to be influenced by health literacy: (1) access and utilization of health care, (2) patient-provider relationship, and (3) self-care. Conclusions The conceptual model organizes what has been learned to date and underscores promising areas of future inquiry and intervention.

Tailored and targeted health communication: strategies for enhancing information relevance.

Abstract: Objective To discuss tailored messages in the broader context of communication strategies designed to enhance the relevance of health information to a given audience. Methods Describe specific mechanisms through which tailored health communication can enhance message relevance and identify situations in which the use of tailoring is most appropriate. Results Overall, tailored messages appear to stimulate greater cognitive activity than do messages that are not tailored. However, non-tailored messages that happen to be a good fit for a given individual also have similar effects. Conclusion Health communication programs and materials that succeed in making information relevant to their intended audience will be more effective than those that do not. Tailoring is a proven approach to enhancing message relevance, but not the only approach to do so, and under many circumstances may not be the preferred choice.

Photovoice as community-based participatory research: a qualitative review.

Abstract: Objective To explore the use of photovoice as a research methodology to identify and explore community health and disability priorities. Methods Published studies (n = 31) that applied photovoice as a research methodology to promote and enhance individual and community change were identified and reviewed. Results Findings are explored and organized by community concerns and priorities; participant recruitment, training, and camera instruction; identification of photo assignment; photo assignment discussion; data analysis; outcomes; and evaluation of program and policy changes. Conclusions Despite the limitations of the studies and/or how they are reported, findings from this review support further application of photovoice to facilitate community change.

From research to "best practices" in other settings and populations.

Abstract: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION Faced with the demand for evidence-based practice on one side and the supplyof idiosyncratic sources of evidence onthe other, health promotion practitioners,planners, and policy makers have had toadapt the evidence to their regional, lo-cal, or organizational circumstances onthe fly. With professional judgment andcommunity input, most local programshave made good use of evidence when itseemed relevant, but more often ignoredit because it felt foreign. The foreign feelof the evidence stems from its unrepre-sentative sources, either in the artifici-ality of the circumstances of the researchor in the socioeconomic character of thesubjects or the setting. The CDC-derived“best practices” for tobacco control, forexample, came in the first edition fromthe states of California, Massachusetts,and Oregon. Other states have had diffi-culty identifying with those three states,their populations, and the circumstancesunder which they were able to mounttheir programs in tobacco control.Such misfitting of evidence and prac-tice is pervasive and probably inherent inhealth promotion. Even if the number ofsettings in which the research could bereplicated were multiplied by the numberof states, provinces, or countries in whichit might be applied, the changing politi-cal, economic, and other time-dependentcircumstances between the research andthe application in practice might makethe research suspect.These observations need not lead us toa nihilistic or postpositivist position ofdismissing all evidence that is not localand immediate. I have suggested at least6 ways to cope with these problems ofpractice adapting to evidence or adaptingevidence to practice. Each has prece-dents in practice and some lines of devel-opment in social, behavioral and healthpromotion research. These suggestionsare entirely consistent with the philoso-phies and tenets underpinning healthpromotion practice, and each warrants aresearch agenda of its own.

Change in diet, physical activity, and body weight in female college freshman.

Abstract: Objective: To examine diet, physical activity, and body-weight changes associated with relocation from home to university. Methods: Diet, fitness/physical activity, body-weight parameters and self-efficacy were assessed among 54 freshman women upon college entry and 5 months later. Results: Although caloric intake significantly decreased, a significant increase occurred in bodyweight parameters that may be attributed to significant decreases in total physical activity. Conclusions: Interventions are needed aimed at increasing physical activity; improving diet quality related to consumption of vegetables, fruits, breads and pasta, and meats; and decreasing alcohol consumption.