Preliminary effects of a rural skin cancer prevention intervention for youths.

OBJECTIVES: To pilot and assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of the Rural Adult and Youth Sun (RAYS) protection program, a multilevel skin cancer preventive intervention for young children living in rural U.S. communities, delivered through community-organized team sports. METHOD: Three rural counties in Utah participated with two receiving the intervention and the third serving as a control. Youth sports leagues were recruited through recreation departments and the study took place from May through October 2021. Intervention leagues received sun protection supplies for players and coaches, educational materials for parents, and coaches were offered training on skin cancer and sun protection behaviors. RESULTS: The RAYS program is both feasible to deliver and acceptable to coaches, parents, and players. The intervention also demonstrates beneficial preliminary effects on components of observed child sun-protective behaviors, coach sun protection behaviors, knowledge of skin cancer prevention recommendations, and self-efficacy in skin cancer prevention. CONCLUSIONS: Multilevel interventions for skin cancer prevention among young children can be successfully delivered through community organizations and their settings. A priority moving forward is the identification of ways to optimize delivery of such programs to positively influence skin cancer preventive behaviors among children living in diverse rural areas. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Evaluability assessment of "growing healthy communities," a mini-grant program to improve access to healthy foods and places for physical activity.

BACKGROUND: Mini-grants have been used to stimulate multisector collaboration in support of public health initiatives by funding non-traditional partners, such as economic development organizations. Such mini-grants have the potential to increase access to healthy foods and places for physical activity through built environment change, especially in small and rural towns in the United States. Although a promising practice, few mini-grant evaluations have been done. Therefore, our purpose was to conduct an Evaluability Assessment (EA), which is a process that can help promising programs that lack evidence advance toward full-scale evaluation. Specifically, we conducted an Evaluability Assessment of a statewide mini-grant program, called "Growing Healthy Communities" (GHC), to determine if this program was ready for evaluation and identify any changes needed for future implementation and evaluation that could also inform similar programs. METHODS: Telephone interviews with directors of six past mini-grant recipient organizations were conducted to assess implementation and evaluability. The six interviews were split equally among agencies receiving funding for food-oriented projects and physical activity-oriented projects. Within- and cross-case thematic analyses of interview transcripts were conducted. RESULTS: Organizational capacity was a universal theme, reflecting other key themes (described in detail in the manuscript) that affected program implementation and evaluation, including collaboration, limited time and measurement integration. CONCLUSIONS: The EA process provided pilot data that suggest that other state, regional, and national funders should provide centralized assistance for data collection and evaluation from the outset of a mini-grant award program.

Tobacco and Other Drug Use among Foster Care Adolescents in West Virginia.

OBJECTIVES: This study presents tobacco and other drug use prevalence data from a statewide health screening program of foster care (FC) children in West Virginia, and explores associations with demographic and placement variables. METHODS: Logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index were conducted to determine if placement type and geographic region were associated with tobacco and other drug use among FC adolescents screened in 2012-2013 by the Early Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT), or HealthCheck WV. RESULTS: One-third of the 12-17 year-olds used tobacco and 24% used other drugs. Results from the logistic regression analyses showed that significant associations between tobacco and drug use and placement variables persisted after controlling for covariates. Adolescents in home placements were significantly less likely to use tobacco (AOR=0.294; 95% CI: 0.196-0.441) or drugs (AOR=0.269; 95%, CI: 0.164-0.443) than those in agency placements. Details of significant regional variations also are presented. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence of tobacco and drug use in West Virginia's FC adolescents and highlights a need for appropriate interventions for this vulnerable population.

Client Experiences With Dietary, Exercise, and Behavioral Services in a Community-Based Weight Management Program.

Compared with randomized trials, community-based interventions are delivered by a wider variety of professionals with varied training backgrounds. When evidence-based programs are scaled into larger formats and disseminated to a wider audience, little is understood about how clients experience these interventions. To understand the experience of clients after meetings with nutrition, exercise, and health behavior professionals, researchers surveyed participants after 6 months in a weight management program. A total of 958 participants were recruited in monthly cohorts beginning September 2011 to complete a program evaluation survey. Qualitative inductive analysis was completed on several open-text items querying respondents as to what they found helpful from meetings with a registered dietitian, personal trainer, and health behavior counselor. Results indicate participants benefitted from gaining knowledge, learning new behavioral skills, or from interpersonal interactions. Findings suggest that the various professional services are valued by clients and that professionals appear to stay within their scope of practice. Implications for those working in weight management are discussed.