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Climate change, an urgent public health problem, will increase the morbidity and mortality of older adults. The 2020 report of The Lancet Countdown highlighted that older adults are susceptible to the effects of extreme weather events, including heatwaves. Through the lens of the socio-ecological model, we identified influences on persons at risk for heat-related illnesses. We applied the Heat-related Intolerance Screening Tool (HIST) to a case that demonstrates the impact of physical, social, environmental, and societal factors on older people. The hypothetical case provides a context for ambulatory care nurses to explore innovative ways to screen for heat intolerance to mitigate the risk of heat-related illnesses, such as heat stroke. Our innovation supports the broad utility of the simple HIST by ambulatory care nurses to identify and prevent heat-related illnesses, thereby reducing emergency room visits and hospital admissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging adults experience a disproportionate number of health-related problems. We applied a technological capital framework to assess how participation in web-delivered interventions is influenced by resources, perceived support, technology skills, and an overall environment conducive to making a change. Specifically, we conducted an in-depth examination of the uses and attitudes regarding online health information technologies among 41 middle-aged and older adults ('digital immigrants'). Situated in a six-year community ethnography, this qualitative study identifies potential barriers confronting middle-aged and older adults' engagement with online interventions and extends existing work on the four factors comprising technological capital (awareness, knowledge, access, and technological capacity). We found six major themes related to ICT use: literacy, comfort, adoption willingness, infrastructure, information security, and support availability. We provide evidence-based recommendations for overcoming barriers, and recommendations for assessing and teaching information technology skills across the lifespan without being ageist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health communication faculty face increasing expectations regarding their academic productivity, including the expectation to seek and secure external funding. Doctoral training in health communication that does not fully prepare students for the challenges of securing external funding is doing them a disservice that will make them less competitive for academic positions and less likely to succeed in the academic positions they assume. The purpose of this study is to share the evaluation of a program, the Health Communication Scholars Program (HCSP), designed to train future health communication researchers in the pursuit of external funding. The HCSP includes a grant-writing workshop, requires interdisciplinary graduate student teams to submit applications, and awards funding to top proposals. HCSP participants responding to an evaluation survey (N = 25) had overwhelmingly positive experiences; respondents felt the program provided great value, improved their writing skills, gave them skills to pursue funding in the future, and helped them secure tenure-track faculty positions. The results of this formal evaluation suggest the HCSP is an experience that builds crucial skills and prepares graduate students for the demands they will face as faculty. It is a relatively low-cost, replicable model that merits consideration and adoption at other institutions that hope to provide professional development for doctoral students interested in health communication. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study focuses on the processes that link differences in family structures to children's outcomes. There is ample documentation that children who grow up in nontraditional family structures achieve lower levels of education. Studies to date, however, suggest that the extent of the deficit varies, with the greatest differences in the U.S. and the least in Sweden. Most of the research on variation in men's parenting has focused on their relationships with their biological children, either coresident or non-coresident. Further, most of the research on outcomes of male parenting has focused on relating measures of father-child relationship quality to children's psychological well-being. The study examines a different dimension of the father-child relationship as a potential link in the process relating family structure to child outcomes: the qualities men prefer in children. There is evidence that parental values for independence or conformity also affect children's educational attainment, with greater attainment for children whose parents reinforce independence than for those whose parents value conformity. The analysis of the link between the qualities men prefer in children and their different paternal roles uses data from two nationally representative surveys, one for the U.S. and one for Sweden. The data for the U.S. are drawn from the 1987/88 National Survey of Families and Households.

Household fatherhood (living with a partner and her children) is increasingly common, which also increases the types of family situations men can choose. This paper examines factors distinguishing men's partnership and parental statuses in the United States and Sweden. These countries differ in state support to families. Unlike the United States, in Sweden the presence of a man in a relationship with a woman with children has little effect on receipt of alternative forms of income support and health insurance, lowering the cost of men's membership in families. We examine how resources (earned income and education) affect men's family relationships in these two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines electronic mail communication between student physicians and schoolchildren, in the context of a school-based tobacco prevention program, as a way to teach communication skills and model physician patient interactions. Percent of communication that addressed health effects of tobacco; Percent who lectured on social influences of tobacco use.

Provides information on an eight-session group for Jewish families of separation and divorce in the U.S. that facilitates the transitioning process by enabling more effective communication. Goals of the group; Ways of joining the group; Details on the structure of the group.

Provides information on the HealthComm Key, a Web-based research-to-practice synthesis and dissemination tool designed and developed by Center for Public Health Communication at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in the U.S. Reason for developing the site; Challenges related to effectively translating published health communication research to professional practice; Process of redesigning and implementing HealthComm Key; Details of article identification and content development.

The article presents research which dealt with the impact of rap music on the health of African American female adolescents. Rap music videos are a media genre that is attracting considerable attention. Level of exposure to rap music videos, the predictor variable was determined by asking adolescents to estimate the number of hours they viewed rap music videos during an average day. Covariates examined included age, employment status, involvement in extracurricular activities, participation in religious events, family composition, and group assignment to either the HIV intervention or the comparison health situation.