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Cervical cancer is the second most common female tumor worldwide, and its incidence is disproportionately high (>80%) in the developing world. In the United States, in which Papanicolaou (Pap) tests have reduced the annual incidence to approximately 11,000 cervical cancers, >60% of cases are reported to occur in medically underserved populations as part of a complex of diseases linked to poverty, race/ethnicity, and/or health disparities. Because carcinogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) infections cause virtually all cervical cancer, 2 new approaches for cervical cancer prevention have emerged: 1) HPV vaccination to prevent infections in younger women (aged 18 years) and 2) carcinogenic HPV detection in older women (aged 30 years). Together, HPV vaccination and testing, if used in an age-appropriate manner, have the potential to transform cervical cancer prevention, particularly among underserved populations. Nevertheless, significant barriers of access, acceptability, and adoption to any cervical cancer prevention strategy remain. Without understanding and addressing these obstacles, these promising new tools for cervical cancer prevention may be futile. In the current study, the delivery of cervical cancer prevention strategies to these US populations that experience a high cervical cancer burden (African-American women in South Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi; Haitian immigrant women in Miami; Hispanic women in the US-Mexico Border; Sioux/Native American women in the Northern Plains; white women in the Appalachia; and Vietnamese-American women in Pennsylvania and New Jersey) is reviewed. The goal was to inform future research and outreach efforts to reduce the burden of cervical cancer in underserved populations.

Nearly one in five community-dwelling elderly persons used psychotropic medications, primarily antidepressants followed by antianxiety agents. Enabling and need factors were consistently associated with psychotropic classes examined, whereas most predisposing factors varied with the type of psychotropic drug class.

BackgroundBoth men and women are vulnerable to weight gain during the college years, and this phenomenon is linked to an increased risk of several chronic diseases and mortality. Technology represents an attractive medium for the delivery of weight control interventions focused on college students, given its reach and appeal among this population. However, few technology-mediated weight gain prevention interventions have been evaluated for college students.ObjectiveThis study examined a new technology-based, social media-facilitated weight gain prevention intervention for college students.MethodsUndergraduates (n =58) in two sections of a public university course were allocated to either a behavioral weight gain prevention intervention (Healthy Weight, HW; N=29) or a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination awareness intervention (control; N=29). All students were enrolled, regardless of initial body weight or expressed interest in weight management. The interventions delivered 8 lessons via electronic newsletters and Facebook postings over 9 weeks, which were designed to foster social support and introduce relevant educational content. The HW intervention targeted behavioral strategies to prevent weight gain and provided participants with a Wi-Fi-enabled scale and an electronic physical activity tracker to facilitate weight regulation. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was conducted to examine within- and between-group differences in measures of self-reported weight control practices and objectively measured weight. Use of each intervention medium and device was objectively tracked, and intervention satisfaction measures were obtained.ResultsStudents remained weight stable (HW: −0.48+1.9 kg; control: −0.45+1.4 kg), with no significant difference between groups over 9 weeks (P =.94). However, HW students reported a significantly greater increase in the number of appropriate weight control strategies than did controls (2.1+4.5 vs −1.1+3.4, respectively; P =.003) and there was no increase in inappropriate weight control behaviors (P =.11). More than 90% of students in the HW arm opened the electronic newsletters each week, and the average number of Facebook interactions (comments and likes) per student each week was 3.3+1.4. Each self-monitoring device was initialized by 90% of HW students. On average, they used their physical activity tracker for 23.7+15.2 days and their Wi-Fi scale for 14.1+13.1 days over the 9 weeks. HW students rated the intervention favorably.ConclusionsThe short-term effect of this technology-based weight gain prevention intervention for college students is promising and merits evaluation over a longer duration to determine whether engagement and behavioral improvements positively affect weight outcomes and can be maintained.