Interactive media reduce negative reactions to health messages, boost compliance
Jul 19, 2021
People often react negatively to health messages because they tend to dictate what we can and cannot do, but new research reveals that interactive media can soften negative reactions -- or reactance -- to health messages that are distributed online. In a study, Penn State and Stony Brook University…
Penn State seeks community partners for advance care planning project
Apr 13, 2021
Reducing health disparities by examining the effectiveness of tools that encourage end-of-life conversations may improve the likelihood that underserved patients receive care that is consistent with their values and beliefs. To achieve this outcome, Hospice Foundation of America (HFA) has partnered…
E-cigarettes with cigarette-like nicotine delivery reduce exposure to carcinogen
Apr 13, 2021
E-cigarettes that deliver a cigarette-like amount of nicotine are associated with reduced smoking and reduced exposure to a major cancer-causing chemical, or carcinogen, in tobacco even with concurrent smoking, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State College of Medicine and…
Podcast episode discusses research of exercise in cancer treatment
Jan 4, 2021
Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute released the latest episode of its Engage Podcast featuring Kathleen Sturgeon, Ph.D., assistant professor of public health sciences, discussing her research into the use of exercise in cancer treatment. Sturgeon is a scholar in the institute’s…
Public health preparedness master's students take on COVID-19-related projects
Sep 28, 2020
When COVID-19 gained pandemic status in the spring, students in health-related fields across the country saw topics from their courses and training become a reality. For Heather Schubert and Jennie Kriznik, recent graduates of the master of professional studies in homeland security public health…News Topics: Public Health SciencesCOVID-19
Parents and communities can help prevent teen vaping, experts say
Feb 20, 2020
As vaping becomes more prevalent in high schools and middle schools, parents and communities can take steps to help prevent teens from vaping or engaging in other risky behaviors, according to experts at Penn State. Melissa Tomascik, prevention coordinator for the PROSPER (PROmoting School-…
Personalized gene networks may enhance study of disease
Nov 11, 2019
Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine have developed a new method to model how genes interact with each other — and it may someday contribute to the development of personalized treatments for patients. According to the researchers, the new model is able to construct personalized networks…
Why Social Science? - Because It Provides Empirical Answers to Critical Public Health Questions
Oct 22, 2019
By Jeni L. Burnette, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology & Sarah L. Desmarais, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, North Carolina State University What do the opioid and obesity epidemics have in common? For starters, they are both public health crises in which the disease model is used to…
Exercise can now be prescribed like medicine for people with and beyond cancer
Oct 16, 2019
It’s well known that exercise is good for preventing and treating many forms of heart disease, but less commonly known are the benefits of physical activity for people living with and beyond cancer. A new initiative called Moving Through Cancer — led by Kathryn Schmitz, professor of public health…
Penn State team supports implementation of novel Pennsylvania Rural Health Model
Jul 2, 2019
Pennsylvania is the first state in the nation to design and implement an alternative payment model focused solely on rural hospitals, with an emphasis on both containing health care spending and transforming care to better meet community needs. A multi-disciplinary team of Penn State faculty and…
Researchers awarded for translating research into evidence-based policymaking
Jun 5, 2019
The Society for Prevention Research (SPR) recently recognized two Penn State researchers for their significant impacts in the field of prevention science, at its annual meeting in San Francisco. Max Crowley, assistant professor of human development and family studies and director of the Social…
Seven key health measures may help predict future risk of heart disease
Jun 3, 2019
Seven key measures of heart health may help predict future risk of cardiovascular disease, according to researchers. They added that improving these measures also may help decrease the risk of CVD in the future. The team of researchers, including three from Penn State, studied how seven key health…
Exercise may help teens sleep longer, more efficiently
May 22, 2019
Getting more exercise than normal — or being more sedentary than usual — for one day may be enough to affect sleep later that night, according to a new study led by Penn State. In a one-week, micro-longitudinal study, the researchers found that when teenagers got more physical activity than they…
Opioid crisis shows partnering with industry can be bad for public health
Mar 6, 2019
By Jonathan H. Marks, Director of the Bioethics Program and affiliate faculty in Law and International Affairs, Pennsylvania State University, for The Conversation “Show me the bodies!” someone demanded at the end of my lecture a few years ago. As a scholar of public health ethics, law and policy,…News Topics: OpioidsPublic Health Sciences
Chinchilli to present Oct. 9 seminar in series on fundamental research methods
Sep 28, 2018
Vernon Chinchilli will present "Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," from 4 to 5 p.m. on Oct. 9, as part of the Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design (BERD) Recent Topics in Research Methods Seminar Series. Chinchilli is distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Public…