Preliminary Evidence for the Validity of the Family Caregiver Identity Scale.

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the Family Caregiver Identity Scale (FCIS), an instrument designed to measure the extent to which an individual identifies with the family caregiver role. The process of instrument development outlined in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing was combined with Dillman's four stages of pretesting. This was a multistage, iterative process, including several revisions based on feedback from experts, interviews, and pilot testing. Factor analyses were performed to test the hypothesized model of caregiver identity. A version of the FCIS consisting of 18 items was created and demonstrated initial evidence of validity. The FCIS will enable gerontological professionals to assess caregiver identity. The absence of caregiver identity is a factor in caregivers not accessing support services. This study contributes to the growing body of research connecting caregiver identity and support service utilization by caregivers.

Disposal of prescription drugs by parents of middle and high school students.

To determine how parents dispose of unused prescription medications and correlates of disposal, we recruited 3,043 parents of adolescents to complete a survey. Multivariate and multinomial logistic regression was conducted to examine correlates of disposal of prescription medication. Only 17.8% of parents in a household prescribed a controlled medication in the past year disposed of unused medications. Of those, 36.7% used organized disposal (e.g., take-back event or drop box) and 63.3% disposed of medications at home. Organized disposal was associated with awareness of disposal opportunities. Increasing awareness of organized disposal opportunities is a promising mechanism to increase their use by parents.

Diffusion of medication drop-boxes in North Carolina from 2007 to 2016.

INTRODUCTION: A permanent drug donation box ("drop-box") is one strategy implemented in communities across the United States to reduce the availability of excess controlled medications, including prescription opioids, for diversion. The objective of this study was to examine correlates of the diffusion and implementation of drop-boxes in North Carolina. METHODS: We assessed the number and location of drop-boxes implemented in North Carolina. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine covariates associated with drop-box implementation in NC counties (n = 100) between 2007 and 2016. RESULTS: There were 311 drop-boxes implemented in 91 (out of 100) counties. Most drop-boxes were in law enforcement agencies (78.8%) and a growing number were in pharmacies (14.5%). Counties with a higher percentage of whites, more educated residents, a substance abuse prevention coalition, higher rates of controlled medications dispensed and prescription opioid overdose, and that were Appalachian were more likely to be early adopters. Rural counties were less likely to have a drop-box. In the multivariate model, only higher rate of controlled medicines dispensed was significant. CONCLUSIONS: A growing number of drop-boxes are being implemented in law enforcement offices and pharmacies. Given that communities with higher rates of controlled medication dispensing likely have the highest need for disposal opportunities, it is promising that they are early adopters of drop-boxes. Future research should assess the effectiveness of drop-boxes as they become more widespread in a variety of locations.

Adult Use of Complementary and Integrative Approaches to Improve Athletic Performance.

Context • In the United States in 2007, approximately 38% of adults, or 4 in 10, used some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). An area in which little is known is the personal integration of CAM therapies by those individuals seeking to improve athletic performance. Objectives • The study intended to assess the use of integrative care by adult athletes in the United States as well as their satisfaction with it, as reported in the 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Design • A secondary analysis of the data from the Adult Alternative Health/Complementary Medicine file of the 2012 NHIS was performed. SETTING: The analysis was performed at the Research Institute of Parker University (Dallas, TX, USA). Participants • The NHIS survey was a representative sample of Americans, with more than 30 000 respondents. Outcome Measures • National population estimates were generated for all related variables. The study assessed the likelihood that a respondent who reported use of a specific complementary and integrative therapy as their first top therapeutic modality to enhance sport or athletic performance had perceived it helpful compared with those who used it for other non-sport-related reasons. Results • Complementary and integrative therapies were used by more than 14 million adults (20.5%) to improve athletic performance, with 97.6% of them perceiving therapies as helpful. The most used therapies were yoga, herbal supplements, manipulation, and massage. The median age of those reporting specific use to improve athletic performance was slightly less than 38 y, and women were almost 3 times as likely as men to report therapies as helpful. Conclusions • Complementary and integrative therapies were used for improvement of athletic performance by respondents of the 2012 NHIS, with high satisfaction among users. Future research could evaluate athletic-specific use, adverse effects, physiological mechanisms that may exist for the modalities, and ways to integrate these methods better with traditional medical care.

Performance Against WELCOA's Worksite Health Promotion Benchmarks Across Years Among Selected US Organizations.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to quantify the performance of organizations' worksite health promotion (WHP) activities against the benchmarking criteria included in the Well Workplace Checklist (WWC). DESIGN: The Wellness Council of America (WELCOA) developed a tool to assess WHP with its 100-item WWC, which represents WELCOA's 7 performance benchmarks. SETTING: Workplaces. PARTICIPANTS: This study includes a convenience sample of organizations who completed the checklist from 2008 to 2015. The sample size was 4643 entries from US organizations. MEASURES: The WWC includes demographic questions, general questions about WHP programs, and scales to measure the performance against the WELCOA 7 benchmarks. ANALYSIS: Descriptive analyses of WWC items were completed separately for each year of the study period. RESULTS: The majority of the organizations represented each year were multisite, multishift, medium- to large-sized companies mostly in the services industry. Despite yearly changes in participating organizations, results across the WELCOA 7 benchmark scores were consistent year to year. Across all years, benchmarks that organizations performed the lowest were senior-level support, data collection, and programming; wellness teams and supportive environments were the highest scoring benchmarks. CONCLUSION: In an era marked with economic swings and health-care reform, it appears that organizations are staying consistent in their performance across these benchmarks. The WWC could be useful for organizations, practitioners, and researchers in assessing the quality of WHP programs.

Surveying the Impact of Work Hours and Schedules on Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Sleep.

BACKGROUND: Given the long hours on the road involving multiple and interacting work stressors (i.e., delivery pressures, irregular shifts, ergonomic hazards), commercial drivers face a plethora of health and safety risks. Researchers goal was to determine whether and to what extent long-haul trucker work schedules influence sleep duration and quality. METHODS: Survey and biometric data collected from male long-haul truck drivers at a major truckstop in central North Carolina over a six month period. RESULTS: Daily hours worked (mean = 11 hours, 55 minutes) and frequency of working over government-mandated daily HOS regulations (23.8% "frequently or always") were statistically significant predictors of sleep duration. Miles driven per week (mean = 2,812.61), irregular daily hours worked (63.8%), and frequency of working over the daily hour limit (23.8% "frequently or always") were statistically significant predictors of sleep quality. CONCLUSION: Implications of findings suggest a comprehensive review of the regulations and operational conditions for commercial motor vehicle drivers be undertaken.

Dietary supplement use by children and adolescents in the United States to enhance sport performance: results of the National Health Interview Survey.

Dietary supplements may improve sport performance in adults. However, this has not been established in children. The aim of this study was to assess self-reported or parental-reported dietary supplement use to enhance sports performance among the child subset of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) dataset and determine national population estimates for that use. NHIS 2007 Child Alternative Medicine files containing records for children aged\18 years were used. Typical demographic variables were utilized as well as parental presence; parental education level; use of any herb, vitamin, and/or mineral use for sports performance by children; and age. Most (94.5%) who reported using supplements used multivitamin and/or mineral combinations followed by fish oil/omega-3 s, creatine, and fiber. Males were more likely users (OR = 2.1; 95% CI [1.3, 3.3]), and Whites reported greater usage. Mean user age was 10.8 (SD = 0.2) with 57.7%[10 years, indicating some increase in use with higher age categories (p\.001). Most were US born and reported living with both parents. Parents and children report child use of a wide variety of herbal and vitamin/mineral supplements to improve sports performance. Usage could be predicted by age, gender, and level of education but less likely by parent-based demographics.

Consumption of sport-related dietary supplements among NCAA Division 1 female student athletes.

OBJECTIVES: To determine factors that influence sport-related dietary supplement consumption among NCAA Division 1 female student athletes and to estimate the plausibility of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) for predicting the use of sport-related dietary supplements among NCAA Division 1 female student athletes. METHOD: Self-report data were collected by questionnaire from 207 NCAA Division 1 female student athletes. Parameter estimates of 3 TPB-based models were calculated using Mplus software. RESULTS: The TPB-based models explained 64-66% and 18% of variance in behavioral intention and behavior, respectively, with subjective norm being the strongest predictor of dietary supplement consumption intention. CONCLUSIONS: Results support plausibility for the TPB to predict sport-related dietary supplement consumption among NCAA Division 1 female student athletes.

Public health advocacy and chiropractic: a guide to helping your community reach its health objectives.

OBJECTIVE: Doctors of chiropractic (DCs) provide health educational and promotion efforts in the communities they serve by counseling patients at the individual level. This article outlines a method and model in which DCs can effectively serve as public health advocates within their community. DISCUSSION: The social ecological model of health education and health promotion serves as an excellent template for taking into account every antecedent to disease within a community and how to prevent it through health promotion. A step-by-step guide to getting the DC involved in the community can be centered on this model, with the DC serving as a health advocate for his or her community. Resources are provided to assist in this process. CONCLUSION: The DC can and should engage his or her community in areas that are conducive to health through involvement and advocacy roles where these are suitable. A community's health can be enhanced with greater health care provider involvement, and DCs need to consider themselves a part of this process.

Physical fitness, absenteeism and workers' compensation in smoking and non-smoking police officers.

BACKGROUND: Employers seek to minimize business costs by creating conditions of employment. Relying on the presumably negative effects of smoking on variables such as workers' compensation claims, absenteeism and physical fitness scores, they seek a rational basis for requirements that employees refrain from smoking. No research has been found on police officer smoking rates relating to physical fitness, and the resulting economic variables of workers' compensation claims and absenteeism rates. AIMS: To compare police officer non-smoker and smoker physical fitness, absenteeism rates and workers' compensation claims. METHODS: The sample included 514 officers of a metropolitan police department. A physical fitness test was administered. Smoking status, yearly absenteeism rates and workers' compensation claims were collected. RESULTS: Male smokers were significantly older than non-smokers. An analysis of covariance controlling for sex and age indicated that smokers had significantly (P < or = 0.05) lower fitness scores in sit and reach flexibility, sit-ups endurance, bench press strength and bicycle ergometer cardiovascular endurance. When neither age nor sex was controlled in males, a similar trend continued. However, in females only the sit and reach and sit-up tests demonstrated statistically significant differences. Fat percentage, step-test scores, absenteeism rates and workers' compensation claims were not statistically different. CONCLUSION: These data do not provide a rational basis for the requirement that officers refrain from smoking when considering body fat and the economic savings of lower absenteeism rates and workers' compensation. To some extent, smoking policies can be justified by officers' physical fitness but there are age, gender and test protocol considerations.

Self-reported alcohol use and sexual behaviors of adolescents.

Research has demonstrated a relation between alcohol use and engaging in high-risk sexual behaviors. Alcohol use, especially binge drinking, has been linked to a host of problems including high-risk sexual behavior, date rape, and academic problems. As such, the purpose of this study was to provide a descriptive profile of alcohol consumption among adolescents and to examine the relations of alcohol use (lifetime, current, binge) with sexual activity variables (sexual initiation, multiple sex partners, condom use, and pregnancy) among adolescents completing the 1993-1999 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Analysis showed alcohol use was associated with high-risk sexual activity. Binge drinking had stronger relations with sexual activity variables than lifetime use and current use of alcohol. This result is of particular concern, in that binge drinking has been implicated in many problem behaviors. As such, it is of great importance to intervene in the high-risk practices of adolescents before problems occur.