Health Communications in Video (in Reducing STIs)

From a Posting in Youth Health 2.o “Health Communications in Video” by Kishan on July 17, 2011

The purpose of using videos in reducing the rates of STIs, for example, is to increase “knowledge and perception of STI/HIV risk, promoting positive attitudes toward condom use” and more importantly “building self-efficacy and skills to facilitate partner treatment, safer sex, and the acquisition, negotiation and use of condoms”.

Findings from the study on the effectiveness of “Safe in the City”, show that video based interventions are simple at a “relatively low cost, likely acceptability and likelihood of healthier behaviours being adopted and sustained over time” (Warner 2008)….

Click here for the entire posting

nformed-consent forms should be shortened, simplified, bioethicists say

From the Science Daily 15 July 2011 article

An in-depth review of consent forms provided to volunteers for HIV/AIDS research in the United States and abroad about study procedures, risks and benefits has found that the forms were extremely long and used wording that may have been complex enough to hinder full understanding, according to bioethicists at The Johns Hopkins University.
A systematic analysis of 124 informed-consent documents for U.S. government-sponsored, multinational HIV/AIDS research conducted in 2006 revealed that the forms spanned more than 20 pages, says the study’s lead investigator, Nancy Kass, Sc.D., deputy director for public health at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics.
“While we were familiar with many fairly long consent forms for several different types of studies,” Kass says, “we were honestly surprised to see that the median length was 22 pages, and the median length for adult forms was a full 27 pages.”
Their study, described in the August issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also found that commonly misunderstood research concepts — namely, randomization and placebos — seemed to be explained with far less attention. For instance, whereas confidentiality sections had a median length of about two pages, randomization was treated to just 53 words….

New Book By Indiana University Physicians Slays Health Myths We All Thought Were True

From an 8 July 2011 Medical News Today article

Don’t Cross Your Eyes…They’ll Get Stuck that Way!, a new book by myth-fighting Indiana University School of Medicine pediatricians Aaron Carroll, M.D., M.S., and Rachel Vreeman, M.D., M.S., debunks the pearls of medical wisdom that many people and even their physicians believe are true. Be prepared to revise your thinking; no, an apple a day won’t keep the doctor away and no, warm milk won’t help you sleep.

Dr. Carroll, associate professor of pediatrics, and Dr. Vreeman, assistant professor of pediatrics, are physicians and health services researchers on a mission to bring evidence-based medicine to the general public and slay the growing number of health myths that are so prevalent.

“You shouldn’t just accept that the toilet seat is the dirtiest place in the bathroom, or that the air on planes can make you sick, or that cell phones cause brain cancer. It’s OK to question your physician. Asking why is just as important as asking what,” said Dr. Vreeman.

Why do so many myths exist?

“People want to make sense of the world around them; if they read it in the paper or on the internet, or hear it on TV or from their mom or others in authority, they think it must be true. The difference between association and causation is being lost. Just because two things occur at nearly the same time or initially appear related, like vaccines and autism, for example, doesn’t mean that one caused the other,” said Dr. Carroll. …

..Don’t Cross Your Eyes…They’ll Get Stuck that Way! is published by St. Martin’s Press and is available online and at book stores across the country.

Related articles

• Common drugs linked to cognitive impairment and possibly to increased risk of death, study suggests (sciencedaily.com)
• Waterlogged America: Do We Drink Too Much? (abcnews.go.com)

The Existence Of ‘Trial Effect’ In HIV Clinical Trials Confirmed By New Study

From a 14 July 2011 Medical News Today article

 

A new study by investigators from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine has confirmed the existence of a “trial effect” in clinical trials for treatment ofHIV.

Trial effect is an umbrella term for the benefit experienced by study participants simply by virtue of their participating in the trial. It includes the benefit of newer and more effective treatments, the way those treatments are delivered, increased care and follow-up, and the patient’s own behavior change as a result of being under observation. …

MedTerm Search Assist – A database to share biomedical terminology and strategies for comprehensive searches

MedTerm Search Assist

By librarians for librarians — A database to share
biomedical terminology and strategies for comprehensive searches

From a Medlib-L listerv entry dated 15 July 2011

The MedTerm Search Assist http://www.hsls.pitt.edu/terms/> database was developed at the Health Sciences Library System, University of Pittsburgh, for librarians to share terminology, MEDLINE search strategies, and search tips with one another for comprehensive searches such as systematic reviews. Any librarian can add a new term into the database or suggest additions for existing records.

Before being displayed in the database, all submitted terms are reviewed for obvious errors such as misspellings, but are not reviewed for thoroughness, quality, or accuracy.

To contribute or browse the database please visit: www.hsls.pitt.edu/terms http://www.hsls.pitt.edu/terms>.

For comments or questions regarding the database please fill out the available form: http://www.hsls.pitt.edu/terms/contact
<http://www.hsls.pitt.edu/terms/contact> or e-mail the project managers  directly: Ahlam Saleh, saleha@pitt.edu or Melissa Ratajeski, mar@pitt.edu

Black men survive longer in prison than out: study

From a 14 July 2011 Health News Today item

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Black men are half as likely to die at any given time if they’re in prison than if they aren’t, suggests a new study of North Carolina inmates.

The black prisoners seemed to be especially protected against alcohol- and drug-related deaths, as well as lethal accidents and certain chronic diseases.

But that pattern didn’t hold for white men, who on the whole were slightly more likely to die in prison than outside, according to findings published in Annals of Epidemiology.

Researchers say it’s not the first time a study has found lower death rates among certain groups of inmates — particularly disadvantaged people, who might get protection against violent injuries and murder.

“Ironically, prisons are often the only provider of medical care accessible by these underserved and vulnerable Americans,” said Hung-En Sung of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

“Typically, prison-based care is more comprehensive than what inmates have received prior to their admission,” Sung, who wasn’t involved in the new study, told Reuters Health by email….