#380
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 08:13:37 -0500
From: Debra Lafler <deblafler@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: vaccine discussion
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In response to the vaccine discussion, I would like to thank those who have
posted and responded. This is a topic that health educators, especially those
working in areas of pregnancy/child birth and infant/child health or parenting
issues, should be aware of.
I recently had my first child. I took a childbirth class outside of the
hospital, of which one of the lectures was about vaccines. It did not give a
two-sided argument. It only "taught" the soon-to-be parents about the argument
that vaccines cause deadly medical problems, like autism. They showed this
horrifying video that showed parents of infants/children saying that they had a
healthy happy baby until they got vaccines, and then the baby got "sick". They
showed children in what some would call vegetable-like states, and the parents
sitting there solemn blaming it on vaccines. Then the video had the founders of
the National Vaccine Information Center discussion the risks of vaccines, and
they run through a gamut of possible medical problems.
From my educational and professional background, I was horrified that they would
show soon-to-be parents this video without talking about it, without discussing
the medical side, without talking about actual medical research.
As you can imagine, I went immediately home and did my best research on the
topic in the medical journals. I found no scientific support for the argument at
all. I was then relieved, but also upset that this kind of propaganda is being
spread around the country, causing fear and anxiety for parents.
I did decide to vaccinate my son, however even though I knew that there was no
scientific merit to the argument, seeing the video in class haunted me.
After coming home from having my son's first shots, he cried all day and would
hardly eat. I cried. I thought I damaged him, even though I knew I did the
research. For days, I watched him in a state of fear. After the day he got the
shots, he was fine, and back to his normal self.
I am telling you all of this because I think its important for health educators
to know...and not only about the actual argument/debate out there, but about how
parents are getting the information (as in my case, through a childbirth class,
seeming to be legitimate, possibly through a video with parental testimony and
showing the child before and after shots), and how parents, having heard the
argument, or seeing the video, may be feeling (anxiety, fear, worry, etc.).
It would be ideal for health educators working with patients/clients in this
area to educate themselves on both sides of the argument, and have handouts,
articles, or resources for parents (websites, organizations, etc.) dealing with
the issues, and possibly emotional responses. Ultimately, the parents have to
make the decision whether to vaccinate their child or not, but at least they
will have the WHOLE debate, and not just one side.
[As a side note, this class that I took also showed similar horrific videos
about having ultrasounds and performing circumcision. The ultrasound video had
medical doctors claiming that ultrasounds are unsafe and cause physical damage
to the fetus. The circumcision video showed babies being circumcised without any
local numbing, screeching in pain. They went on to interview professionals
saying that circumcision is sexual mutilation and will cause long term emotional
damage, due to the trauma.]
As public health educators, I think it is important to KNOW that these debates
are out there, KNOW both sides of the argument(s), and KNOW that these issues
may affect parents-to-be intellectually and emotionally. We must have resources
for parents.
Thanks again for bringing up this issue for discussion.
Deb
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#381
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 09:19:43 -0500
From: "Mark J. Kittleson, PhD, FAAHB" <kittle@SIU.EDU>
Subject: Call for Poster Session Submissions
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All Health Educators - Especially those in the Southern District AAHPERD:
CALL FOR PAPERS - Health Education Strategies Poster Session to be held at the
SDAAHPERD Convention in VA Beach March 1 - 6 , 2006. Anyone interested in
attending the convention and presenting a health strategies poster session can
go to:
http://www.aahperd.org/districts/sda/template.cfm?template=sda-programs.html
for submission forms. Deadline is July 15, 2005.
Dr. James Robinson, III
Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Health Special Assistant to the
Dean Executive Editor, Journal of Drug Education Texas A&M U. System School of
Rural Public Health College Station, TX 77843-1266
Voice: 979-845-2387
Fax: 979-458-4264
jrobinson@srph.tamhsc.edu
http://tamushsc.tamu.edu/SRPH/
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#382
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 13:01:20 -0500
From: Debra Lafler <deblafler@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: FW: HBNS, July 2005 -- GoodBehavior: Taking On Obesity
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Healtheds.
I thought some of you might be interested in signing up for this e-newsletter
from The Center for the Advancement of Health. See below.
Take care,
Debra Lafler
_____
From: HBNS [mailto:hbns@cfah.org]
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2005 12:19 PM
Subject: HBNS, July 2005 -- GoodBehavior: Taking On Obesity
Dear HABIT subscriber,
Welcome to your first electronic edition of GoodBehavior! - the monthly
newsletter of the Center for the Advancement of Health.
Seven years ago, we developed HABIT, standing for Health and Behavior
Information Transfer, to link across research disciplines to social scientists
studying how behavior affects health, and vice versa.
Now you can read Center President Jessie Gruman's provocative monthly essays,
and GoodBehavior! recipients can keep abreast of health research and policy news
that formerly appeared in HABIT. Please, go here <http://www.cfah.org/gb/> or to
http://www.cfah.org/gb/ to subscribe or unsubscribe. Please let us know what you
think at press@cfah.org. If you know of anyone who would like to receive this
service, please forward this e-mail.
Ira Allen
Vice President, Public Affairs
Center for the Advancement of Health
<http://www.cfah.org/images/GB_Mast.gif>
<http://www.cfah.org/images/dmb_i.gif>
CENTER FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF HEALTH
JULY 2005
Suzy Spotless Takes on Obesity
A B O U T_U S
The Center for the Advancement of Health translates to the public the latest
research on prevention, chronic disease management and health care, with an
emphasis on how social, behavioral and economic factors affect illness and
well-being. The Center is an independent nonprofit corporation that receives
core funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and The
Annenberg Foundation.
D I S C O N N E C T
Even though high cholesterol and high blood pressure are well known to the
public as risks for heart disease, getting people to take their medicine remains
a barrier to better health. In a recent study in the Archives of Internal
Medicine, researchers found that six months after they were given pills for
cholesterol and blood pressure, one only in three out more than 8,400 patients
surveyed were still taking them six months later. One reason?
The patients were taking too many other drugs. (Arch Intern Med. 2005;
165:1147-1152.)
T O P_M E D I A_H I T S
A Health Behavior News Service story from the American Journal of Preventive
Medicine about the frequency of sexual <http://www.hbns.org/news/sexabuse05-19-05.cfm>
abuse of boys and its long-term effects was used by ABC News.com, the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, the Washington Times, Science Daily and dr.koop.com among
other media.
Last month, when Washington was chattering about the identity of "Deep Throat,"
four of the nation's top health officials addressed a gathering of scientists
convened to solve the problem of what our children are stuffing down their own
throats - French fries, doughnuts and sodas.
<http://www.cfah.org/images/jessie_goodbehavior.jpg>
Jessie Gruman
President and Executive Director
Center for the
Advancement of Health
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt announced a new national
education program called "We Can! - Ways to Enhance Children's Activity &
Nutrition," while NIH Director Dr. Elias Zerhouni announced that $440 million
will be spent this year on researching how to wean kids from junk food and get
them exercising. The National Institute on Environmental Health Sciences along
with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will support additional
research on how the "built environment" can be altered to promote physical
fitness.
These efforts by the federal government are more than commendable; they are
necessary at a time when kids gets one-third of their calories from snack foods,
only one-third of schools offer physical education and 9 million American
children are overweight.
But these efforts are not enough. This campaign against obesity and in favor of
fitness reminds me of the 1960s anti-pollution campaign starring Suzy Spotless,
nagging her father, and all of America, to stop being litterbugs.
As if tossing your chewing gum wrapper on the highway was going to do anything
about industrial smokestacks raining down acid on our neighborhoods, our rivers
from catching fire or bulldozers stripping mountaintops for coal.
Suzy Spotless is back again, this time with a medical degree and a government
title, shaking her pretty finger at us to eat more fruits and vegetables and
reminding us that the obesity epidemic is our fault.
Secretary Leavitt tells us, "The president has always been a strong advocate and
example of being fit." As the kids might say, "Whatever."
What is this government really doing, beyond talking, about saving pounds,
saving dollars and saving lives lost to poor physical fitness?
America's genetic profile did not change in 40 years to suddenly make us become
a nation of fatties. Even the government's top doctors agree that obesity is due
entirely to the environment and culture we live in - mass marketing of fast
food; limited access by the poor to nutritious food; and the zoning of parks,
walkways and stores out of our neighborhoods.
Health in general and fitness specifically are aspects of life we can, in fact,
control individually. But the environmental barriers to achieving health and
fitness are largely the result of economic policies and regulations made or
unmade by government. We didn't get into this food fix all by ourselves, and we
aren't going to slim down all by ourselves, either.
It will take a combination of personal responsibility and at least a little
legislative leverage.
It seems to me if you can ban evolution from the classroom, you certainly can
ban Coca-Cola, too.
<http://www.cfah.org/images/dmb_i.gif>
New Look!
With this issue, GoodBehavior! is adopting a slightly new format - by adopting
the e-mail-only newsletter called HABIT. Those who got HABIT will now receive
this GoodBehavior! by e-mail. It will also be available on the www.cfah.org Web
site, where HABIT career and conference listings will remain. We hope this
merger of the two newsletters will strengthen the links among professors,
providers and policymakers and lead to more and better translation of research
into policy and practice.
Translation was the focus of a recent report by the President's Cancer Panel
http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/ADVISORY/pcp/pcp04-05rpt/ReportTrans.pdf.
Although cancer research is heavily biomedical in nature, the strong
articulation of a mandate for collaborative research and early public
dissemination of results will help biobehavioral research as well. Among its
recommendations are increased funding for translation-oriented research; new
strategies to increase the adoption rate of new cancer interventions; increased
training of translation researchers; and better public understanding of cancer
research.
Disparities in health outcomes based on race and class is another area familiar
to health and behavior researchers and only now gaining some traction with the
public. The Center's Barbara Krimgold was an advisor to two organizations that
will release a new report identifying the cultural gaps health care and
community-oriented solutions. The report, "Closing the
Gap: Solutions to Race-Based Health Disparities" will be available July 19 from
www.nwfco.org.
Biomedical research on gender differences is not getting enough support from the
National Institutes of Health, reports the Society for Women's Health Research.
"We looked at NIH research grants awarded between 2000 and 2003 and found that,
across all institutes, an average of just 3 percent of grants focused on sex
differences," said Sherry Marts, Ph.D., the Society's vice president for
scientific affairs and an author of the report. "Given the growing body of body
of literature on sex differences, external reports about NIH practices, and the
NIH's internal efforts to promote this research, we had hoped to see higher and
increasing levels of funding for this important area of research." The report is
available at http://womenshealthresearch.org/press/CRISPreport.pdf.
A supplement to the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research highlights systems
change research for tobacco dependence treatment. The supplement includes
articles on patient satisfaction with tobacco intervention by healthcare
providers, strategies to link pharmacotherapy with telephone counseling in a
managed care organization, improving the delivery of evidence-based treatment in
federally qualified health centers, dentists' knowledge, attitudes and behaviors
toward tobacco use intervention, and others. The supplement is available online
at www.rwjf.org and www.ntrjournal.org.
-PDF VERSION- <http://www.cfah.org/pdfs/GBJULY05.pdf>
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#383
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 15:26:18 -0400
From: Nancy Eichner <neichner@GWU.EDU>
Subject: CHHCS Grant Alerts -- June 30, 2005
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CHHCS Grant Alerts -- June 30, 2005
The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools -- Emergency Response and Crisis
Management Grant Program (for Local Educational Agencies):
The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools announces the availability of fund for
its Emergency Response and Crisis Management Program which supports efforts to
improve and strengthen school emergency response and crisis management plans.
http://www.healthinschools.org/grants/ops356.asp
The Moran Family Foundation -- Opportunity in Northern Virginia and the District
of Columbia:
The Moran Family Foundation supports innovative interventions that promote
healthy mental, physical and emotional development of at-risk children and
at-risk families in Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia.
http://www.healthinschools.org/grants/ops357.asp
Toyota Family Literacy Program Grants Expansion -- Opportunity for Schools:
The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) announces that the Toyota Family
Literacy Program will expand its program to areas that have experienced
substantial growth in Hispanic and other immigrant populations.
NCFL will apply its expertise in designing programs that connect families,
schools, and communities to expand family literacy services in Hispanic/Latino
communities.
http://www.healthinschools.org/grants/ops358.asp
Nancy Eichner
Senior Program Manager
The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools
Phone: (202) 466-3396
Fax: (202) 466-3467
Email: neichner@gwu.edu
www.healthinschools.org
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#384
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 13:17:14 -0700
From: Mark Fulop <markfulop@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Deadly Immunity
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> June 25, 2005 New York Times
> On Autism's Cause, It's Parents vs. Research By GARDINER HARRIS
Dana,
The problem is in the FRAME. Consider this article you posted which makes it
black and white. SCIENCE vs
the stupid public. Choose your side. But if the
issue is so black and white, why did Bill Frist quietly slipped a rider known as
the "Eli Lilly Protection Act" into a homeland security bill?
Remember science is messy and is rarely as black and white as the New York Times
makes it. Just ask the tobacco industry.
m
Mark Fulop, MA, MPH
PO Box 13094
Portland, OR 97213
503-282-1271
____________________________________________________
Yahoo! Sports
Rekindle the Rivalries. Sign up for Fantasy Football http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com
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#385
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 19:50:54 -0500
From: "teufel@siu.edu" <teufel@SIU.EDU>
Subject: Re: vaccine discussion
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Part of the struggle of science is objectivity. Displaying information visually
using salient and horrible images conveys a message in a more simplistic but
more powerful way than the bland odds ratios of science. Tapping into human
tendencies and cognitive heuristics is an important part of message marketing.
Psychology has also shown that characteristics of messages drive the perceived
truthfulness of the statement regardless of the objective truth of the
statement.
Sometimes vaccines are portrayed as good (e.g., the rush for more flu vaccines)
and other times vaccines are portrayed as terrible (e.g., causing autism). These
types of mixed messages are very confusing, especially considering the low
levels of scientific and health literacy in the United States. In addition, many
people receive their health information through media channels that are
competing with one another for profits not scientific clarity. Given the
implicit biases of the media and lack of health literacy in the United States,
positioning large scale messages of scientific objectivity is very difficult.
People are more capable of remembering and making meaning of a documentary of
one child's story, which may or may not be scientifically credible, then
scientific discussions of randomized trials and statistical error.
James
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