Environmental Prevention: Why Do We Need It Now and How to Advance It?

Journal of Prevention -     

Alcohol Advertising: What Makes It Attractive to Youth?

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the affective responses of youth toward specific elements featured in television alcohol advertisements (i.e., people character, animal character, music, story, and humor). It also examines the associations between advertising likeability and its potential influence. Respondents were 253 children and adolescents in California (47% male; aged 10–17). Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires in group settings. Respondents were shown a stimulus tape containing television advertisements for beer and soft drinks. The tape was stopped at the end of each advertisement to allow respondents to answer questions about that advertisement before viewing the next. Perceived likeability of beer advertisements is a function of the positive affective responses evoked by the specific elements featured in the advertisements. Liking of specific elements featured in beer advertisements significantly contributed to the overall likeability of these advertisements and subsequently to advertising effectiveness indicated by purchase intent of product and brand promoted by these advertisements. Advertisements that focus primarily on product qualities or send a message of legal drinking age were rated less favorably and evoked less desire to purchase the product. Implications for countering the effects of alcohol advertising on young people are discussed.     

Community Severance and Health: What Do We Actually Know?

Community severance occurs where road traffic (speed or volume) inhibits access to goods, services, or people. Appleyard and Lintell’s seminal study of residents of three urban streets in San Francisco found an inverse relationship between traffic and social contacts. The extent of social networks predicts unhealthy behaviors, poor health, and mortality; high rather than low social integration is associated with reduced mortality, with an effect size of similar magnitude to stopping smoking. Although community severance diminishes social contacts, the implications of community severance for morbidity and mortality have not been empirically established. Based on a systematic literature search, we discuss what is actually known about community severance. There is empirical evidence that traffic speed and volume reduces physical activity, social contacts, children’s play, and access to goods and services. However, no studies have investigated mental or physical health outcomes in relation to community severance. While not designed specifically to do so, recent developments in road design may also ameliorate community severance.     

What Therapy Practices Do Providers Value in Youth Behavioral Health? A Measure Development Study

The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research - Existing measures of attitudes toward evidence-based practices (EBPs) assess attitudes toward manualized or research-based treatments....     

Vitamin D and Temporomandibular Disorders: What Do We Know So Far?

Background and aims. Vitamin D is synthesized in the skin with the aid of ultraviolet-B radiation, playing a variety of roles in the body. Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) are a group of pathological conditions involving the temporomandibular joints as well as the masticatory muscles and othersurrounding tissues. In the present narrative review, we investigated the potential role of vitamin D in the etiology of temporomandibular disorders in order todetermine whether the current knowledge supports 25-hidroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) supplementation in temporomandibular disorders associated with insufficient or deficient levels of vitamin D. Methods. A literature research was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases, and a total of 10 articles were included for analysis. Results.Among the observational studies published to date, investigating the role for vitamin D in the etiology of TMDs, six of them suggest that there is a connection between the two aspects. In this context, patients suffering from TMD, with deficient levels of vitamin D (<30 ng/mL), are most likely to benefit from supplementation, whereas individuals with vitamin D level >50ng/mL probably have little benefit from supplementation.Conclusion.Vitamin D might be a safe, simple, and potentially beneficial way to prevent TMDs or to reduce pain; however, more randomized and placebo-controlled trials are required before any firm conclusions can be drawn.