Saturday Morning Television Advertisements Aired on English and Spanish Language Networks along the Texas-Mexico Border

Objectives: The aim of this content analysis study is to characterize the TV advertisements aired to an at-risk child population along the Texas-Mexico border. Methods: We characterized the early Saturday morning TV advertisements aired by three broadcast network categories (U.S. English language, U.S. Spanish language, and Mexican Spanish language) in Spring 2010. The number, type (food related vs. non-food related), target audience, and persuasion tactics used were recorded. Advertised foods, based on nutrition content, were categorized as meeting or not meeting current dietary guidelines. Results: Most commercials were non-food related (82.7%, 397 of 480). The majority of the prepared foods (e.g., cereals, snacks, and drinks) advertised did not meet the current U.S. Dietary Guidelines. Additionally, nutrition content information was not available for many of the foods advertised on the Mexican Spanish language broadcast network category. Conclusions: For U.S. children at risk for obesity along the Texas-Mexico border exposure to TV food advertisements may result in the continuation of sedentary behavior as well as an increased consumption of foods of poor nutritional quality. An international regulatory effort to monitor and enforce the reduction of child-oriented food advertising is needed. Editors' Note: This article was submitted in response to the first issue of the Journal of Applied Research on Children: Latino Children.

Comparing communication technology on Chinese, English, and Spanish diabetes web sites.

Technological and cultural factors influence access to health information on the web in multifarious ways. We evaluated structural differences and availability of communication services on the web in three diverse language and cultural groups: Chinese, English, and Spanish. A total of 382 web sites were analyzed: 144 were English language sites (38%), 129 were Chinese language sites (34%), and 108 were Spanish language sites (28%). We did not find technical differences in the number of outgoing links per domain or the total availability of communication services between the three groups. There were differences in the distribution of available services between Chinese and English sites. In the Chinese sites, there were more communication services between consumers and health experts. Our results suggest that the health-related web presence of these three cultural groups is technologically comparable, but reflects differences that may be attributable to cultural factors.

HPV knowledge, HPV vaccine awareness and initiation among Hispanics: The role of language, information seeking, and information scanning

Background. Among Hispanics, the HPV vaccine has the potential to eliminate disparities in cervical cancer incidence and mortality but only if optimal rates of vaccination are achieved. Media can be an important information source for increasing HPV knowledge and awareness of the vaccine. Very little is known about how media use among Hispanics affects their HPV knowledge and vaccine awareness. Even less is known about what differences exist in media use and information processing among English- and Spanish-speaking Hispanics.^ Aims. Examine the relationships between three health communication variables (media exposure, HPV-specific information scanning and seeking) and three HPV outcomes (knowledge, vaccine awareness and initiation) among English- and Spanish-speaking Hispanics.^ Methods. Cross-sectional data from a survey administered to Hispanic mothers in Dallas, Texas was used for univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Sample used for analysis included 288 mothers of females aged 8-22 recruited from clinics and community events. Dependent variables of interest were HPV knowledge, HPV vaccine awareness and initiation. Independent variables were media exposure, HPV-specific information scanning and seeking. Language was tested as an effect modifier on the relationship between health communication variables and HPV outcomes.^ Results. English-speaking mothers reported more media exposure, HPV-specific information scanning and seeking than Spanish-speakers. Scanning for HPV information was associated with more HPV knowledge (OR = 4.26, 95% CI = 2.41 - 7.51), vaccine awareness (OR = 10.01, 95% CI = 5.43 - 18.47) and vaccine initiation (OR = 2.54, 95% CI = 1.09 - 5.91). Seeking HPV-specific information was associated with more knowledge (OR = 2.27, 95% CI = 1.23 - 4.16), awareness (OR = 6.60, 95% CI = 2.74 - 15.91) and initiation (OR = 4.93, 95% CI = 2.64 - 9.20). Language moderated the effect of information scanning and seeking on vaccine awareness.^ Discussion. Differences in information scanning and seeking behaviors among Hispanic subgroups have the potential to lead to disparities in vaccine awareness.^ Conclusion. Findings from this study underscore health communication differences among Hispanics and emphasize the need to target Spanish language media as well as English language media aimed at Hispanics to improve knowledge and awareness.^

The success of worksite nutrition and physical activity interventions with environmental modifications A systematic review

Background: As obesity increases among U.S. workers, employers are implementing programs to increase physical activity and improve diets. Although programs to address individual determinants of obesity have been evaluated, less is known about the effects of workplace programs that change environmental factors, because most reviews have not isolated environmental programs; the one that did was published in 2005. ^ Objective: To update the 2005 review to determine the effectiveness of workplace environmental interventions. ^ Methods: The Medline database was searched for published English language reports (2003-2011) of randomized controlled (RCTs) or quasi-experimental trials (NRCTs) that evaluated strategies to modify physical activity opportunities or food services, targeting employees at least 18 years, not including retirees and that provided data for at least one physical activity, dietary, or health risk indicator. Three coders independently extracted study characteristics and scored the quality of study methods. Program effectiveness was determined using the 2005 review's best evidence approach. ^ Results: Seven studies represented in nine reports met eligibility criteria; three focused on diet and the remainder targeted diet and physical activity interventions. All but one study received a high quality score for internal validity. The evidence for the effectiveness of workplace environmental interventions was at best, inconclusive for diet and physical activity and limited for health risk indicators. The outcome constructs were inconsistent across the studies. ^ Conclusions: Limitations in the methods of the 2005 review made it challenging to draw conclusions about findings for this review that include: variation in outcome measures, reliance on distal measures without proximal behavior change measures, no distinction between changes at the workplace versus outside the workplace, and inappropriate analyses of cluster designs that biased findings toward statistical significance. The best evidence approach relied on vote-counting, using statistical significance alone rather than effect size and confidence intervals. Future research should address these limitations and use more rigorous methods; systematic reviews should use methods of meta-analysis to summarize study findings. These recommendations will help employers to better understand how environmental modifications in the workplace can support their efforts to combat the effects of obesity among employees.^