Papers by Elaine Belansky
In the face of discrimination and oppression, women have utilized self-protective strategies to m... more In the face of discrimination and oppression, women have utilized self-protective strategies to maintain a positive sense of self. These strategies include attributing negative feedback, when possible, to discrimination rather than to the self. The present study expands understanding of the relationship between stigma and cognitive processes by focusing on reconstructive memory. Female undergraduate students (N=34) completed the Women and Stigma Scale. One week later, subjects read and recalled a story about a female job candidate which included some positive and negative comments about her academic credentials. Regression analyses indicated that as expected, the more stigmatized a woman is, the more negative versus positive reconstructive errors she makes when recalling a story about a job applicant. This study has serious implications for how stigmatization can negatively affect a woman's way of viewing the world. Highly stigmatized women tend to reconstruct more negative pieces of information about a female job applicant than those women who are destigmatized. Future research will explore how this phenomenon might extend to information processing about the self. (ABL)
The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association, Jan 15, 2016
In order for communities to make health-related, data-driven decisions concerning resource alloca... more In order for communities to make health-related, data-driven decisions concerning resource allocation, needed services, and intervention priorities, they need an accurate picture of the health status of residents. While state and national health surveillance systems exist to help local communities make data-driven health decisions, rural communities face unique challenges including: (1) limited county-level data; (2) underrepresented segments of the population; and (3) a lack of survey items to address local health concerns. The purpose of this study was to take a community-engaged approach to collecting population-based health status data in a rural area in an effort to address some of these unique challenges. Using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, over 1,500 residents from 6 rural and frontier counties were randomly selected with a stratified, multistage cluster study design. Surveys were primarily completed over the phone. Response rates by county ranged ...
Journal of Physical Activity & Health, 2016
To address childhood obesity, strategies are needed to maximize physical activity during the scho... more To address childhood obesity, strategies are needed to maximize physical activity during the school day. The San Luis Valley Physical Education Academy was a public health intervention designed to increase the quality of physical education and quantity of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during physical education class. Elementary school physical education teachers from 17 schools participated in the intervention. They received SPARK curriculum and equipment, workshops, and site coordinator support for two years. A pre/post/post within physical education teacher design was used to measure intervention effectiveness. System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time (SOFIT) and a physical education teacher survey were collected three times. MVPA increased from 51.1% to 67.3% over the two-year intervention resulting in approximately 14.6 additional hours of physical activity over a school year and 4,662 kcal or 1.33 lbs. of weight gain prevention. More time was spent on skill drills and less time on classroom management and free play. The San Luis Valley Physical Education Academy succeeded in increasing rural, low-income students' physical activity. The multi-component intervention contributed to the program's success. However, cost-effective approaches are needed to disseminate and implement evidence-based practices aimed at increasing students' physical activity during the school day.
Preventing Chronic Disease, 2006
Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action, 2015
The National Institutes of Health's Clinical and Translational Sc... more The National Institutes of Health's Clinical and Translational Sciences Award program emphasizes the need to speed up the process of putting evidence-based practices into place. One strategy they promote is community engagement; however, few studies describe a process for meaningfully engaging communities in the translation process. This article describes steps taken by a university- community partnership to create a plan for implementing evidence-based physical education (PE) practices in rural schools. This partnership's efforts resulted in the acquisition of a $1.86 million grant to implement the plan. Qualitative data collected during the planning process were analyzed using content analysis. Key steps included undertaking a baseline assessment of community needs, reviewing and selecting evidence-based practices, developing a multilevel, community-driven action plan and establishing its feasibility with community stakeholders. These steps could be applied to other health topics across a variety of settings. Several strategies that made the process successful are described. Recommendations are made for expanding the roles of Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs) and local health foundations in supporting community-engaged translational research. University-community partnerships have the potential to create plans and obtain large-scale funding for translating evidence-based research into practice.
Group 1: Using a case based on a CBPR partnership in a low-income, biethnic, rural community in s... more Group 1: Using a case based on a CBPR partnership in a low-income, biethnic, rural community in southern Colorado, participants will learn about common issues faced in beginning-stage/emerging CBPR partnerships, and how to address these issues using a mix of strategies and approaches. Both didactic and participatory teaching methods will be used. Group 2: Using a case based on a community-higher education partnership in an Urban Research Center based in Detroit, MI, as well as the work done at CBPR training institutes coordinated by Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, participants will learn about common issues faced in intermediate-stage CBPR partnerships, and how to address these issues using a mix of strategies and approaches. Both didactic and participatory teaching methods will be used.
Background: Federal regulations required schools to adopt a district-wide wellness policy by 2006... more Background: Federal regulations required schools to adopt a district-wide wellness policy by 2006. Few research studies have examined the quality or enforcement of these policies within schools. An evaluation of local wellness policies and their practices at the building level is necessary to understand the impact of this mandate on promoting the health of children. Purpose: We assessed wellness policies and their enforcement in a sample of low-income Michigan school districts. Significance: This study is among the first to compare quality of wellness policies with school practices. Methodology: Wellness policies from 47 low-income school districts participating in the School Nutrition Advances Kids research project were qualitatively coded using the School Wellness Policy Evaluation Tool. This tool contains 96 items in seven categories (nutrition education, school meal standards, competitive food standards, physical education, physical activity, communication and promotion, and eva...
Community-based organizations (CBOs) are uniquely placed to address health disparities. Yet, in o... more Community-based organizations (CBOs) are uniquely placed to address health disparities. Yet, in order to fund their programs, CBOs have been increasingly required to demonstrate skills in areas for which they have not received training, including: 1)finding/interpreting local health statistics, 2)evidence-based interventions, 3)program evaluation, and 4)community engagement. We developed a collaborative training program, Project TEACH, in which academic faculty provide targeted training and technical assistance to CBOs to increase their capacity to write proposals to obtain funding and effectively conduct programs to reduce health disparities. Since July 2008, faculty at the University of Colorado Denver have trained 35 CBOs across the state of Colorado. Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) located throughout Colorado serve as the local liaisons. Cohorts of approximately ten CBOs at a time participate in each 3-month training. An initial assessment determines the skills and needs o...
The Colorado Clinical and Translational Science Institute, in partnership with the Rocky Mountain... more The Colorado Clinical and Translational Science Institute, in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Prevention Research Center, is working with the Denver faith-based African American community to conduct a health survey using a community-based participatory research approach. The goal is to achieve a more accurate picture of the health status of residents and produce comprehensive and accurate community health profile data that can be used for setting research and intervention priorities. Community and university partners met over a three month period to jointly decide on research methods, data collection approaches, strategies for reaching residents who typically do not participate in land line surveys such as the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), and dissemination activities. After considering the various priorities and needs of both the community and university partners, the following plan was formulated: random selection of Black churches stratified by church si...
Preventing chronic disease, 2006
The Prevention Research Centers Healthy Aging Research Network (PRC-HAN), funded by the Centers f... more The Prevention Research Centers Healthy Aging Research Network (PRC-HAN), funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Healthy Aging program, was created in 2001 to help develop partnerships and create a research agenda that promotes healthy aging. The nine universities that participate in the network use their expertise in aging research to collaborate with their communities and other partners to develop and implement health promotion interventions for older adults at the individual, organizational, environmental, and policy levels. The population of older adults in the United States is growing rapidly; approximately 20% of Americans will be aged 65 years or older by 2030. The health and economic impact of an aging society compel the CDC and the public health community to place increased emphasis on preventing unnecessary disease, disability, and injury among older Americans. The PRC-HAN has a broad research agenda that addresses health-promoting skill...
The Journal of family practice, 1998
Childhood immunization rates are suboptimal, especially in high-risk populations. Rural residents... more Childhood immunization rates are suboptimal, especially in high-risk populations. Rural residents could constitute a population at high risk for childhood underimmunization; little is known about demographic factors associated with childhood underimmunization. This study compared the immunization rates of urban and rural 2-year-olds and examined the association between demographic factors and underimmunization for rural 2-year-olds. We analyzed two nationally representative surveys: the 1991 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey (NMIHS) and the 1993 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The study population consisted of children in non-metropolitan statistical areas who were 24 to 36 months of age in the NMIHS and 19 months to 5 years of age in the NHIS. The NMIHS sample contained 4425 children (966 in rural areas) and the NHIS sample contained 2505 children (566 in rural areas). There were no significant differences in immunization rates between rural and urban children. In...
The Impact of Mothers and Peers on Adolescents' Gender Role Traditionaliiy and Plans for the... more The Impact of Mothers and Peers on Adolescents' Gender Role Traditionaliiy and Plans for the Future Elaine S. Belansky, Diane M. Early and Jacquelynne ... more likely than boys to plan to take time off from work to have children and to change their work schedule once becoming ...
... BLACK FAMILIES by KIM LASHAWN RICH RICE Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Th... more ... BLACK FAMILIES by KIM LASHAWN RICH RICE Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements ... August 2008 Page 2. Copyright © by Kim Lashawn Rich Rice 2008 All Rights Reserved Page 3. ...
Journal of Adolescent Research, 1997
Health Promotion Practice, 2014
Background. The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 mandated written school welln... more Background. The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 mandated written school wellness policies. Little evidence exists to evaluate the impact of such policies. This study assessed the quality (comprehensiveness of topics addressed and strength of wording) of wellness policies and the agreement between written district-level policies and school-reported nutrition policies and practices in 48 low-income Michigan school districts participating in the School Nutrition Advances Kids study. Method. Written wellness policy quality was assessed using the School Wellness Policy Evaluation Tool. School nutrition policies and practices were assessed using the School Environment and Policy Survey. Analysis of variance determined differences in policy quality, and Fisher's exact test examined agreement between written policies and school-reported practices. Results. Written wellness policies contained ambiguous language and addressed few practices, indicating low comprehensiveness and strength. Most districts adopted model wellness policy templates without modification, and the template used was the primary determinant of policy quality. Written wellness policies often did not reflect school-reported nutrition policies and practices. Conclusions. School health advocates should avoid assumptions that written wellness policies accurately reflect school practices. Encouraging policy template customization and stronger, more specific language may enhance wellness policy quality, ensure consistency between policy and practice, and enhance implementation of school nutrition initiatives.
Health Education & Behavior, 2007
The purpose of this article is to report the process outcomes of a coaching methodology used in a... more The purpose of this article is to report the process outcomes of a coaching methodology used in a study designed to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity in families. Eighty-eight families with second graders were recruited from a rural, biethnic community in Colorado and randomized to intervention and delayed intervention conditions. This article reports on the 27 families in the delayed intervention group. Families received up to 10 home visits over 10 months from a family advisor and completed activities to improve their dietary and physical activity behaviors. Coaching conversations took place during each home visit. Coaching process outcomes were evaluated by analysis of visit documentation, participant survey, and qualitative interviews. Results indicated that coaching, in conjunction with family activities, engaged families in the process of change and facilitated movement toward the achievement of their weekly nutrition or physical activity goals. Coaching methodology may be particularly useful for participatory research.
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Papers by Elaine Belansky