A Call for Health Education Specialists: Addressing Racism Through an Ecological Framework.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, racism has emerged as a priority area for the public health community. Due to systemic racism, persons of color have faced decades of inequities in education, health care, employment, transportation, housing, and other realms. These inequities have resulted in numerous disparities in health status and most recently have manifested in the disproportionate number of deaths from COVID-19 and inadequate access to COVID-19 vaccines among persons of color. We highlight historical and contemporary public health implications of racism and present strategies health education specialists can employ to address racism at each level of the ecological model.

Perceived stress, energy drink consumption, and academic performance among college students.

OBJECTIVE: This study explored relationships regarding perceived stress, energy drink consumption, and academic performance among college students. PARTICIPANTS: Participants included 136 undergraduates attending a large southern plains university. METHODS: Participants completed surveys including items from the Perceived Stress Scale(1) and items to describe energy drink consumption, academic performance, and demographics. RESULTS: Positive correlations existed between participants' perceived stress and energy drink consumption. Participants' energy drink consumption and academic performance were negatively correlated. Freshmen (M = 0.330) and sophomores (M = 0.408) consumed a lower number of energy drinks yesterday than juniors (M = 1.000). Males reported higher means than females for selected energy drink consumption items. Statistically significant interactions existed between gender and year in school for selected energy drink consumption items. CONCLUSIONS: Results confirm gender differences in energy drink consumption and illuminate a need for education regarding use of energy drinks in response to perceived stress.