FitBrothers

FitBrothers

African American men experience significant health disparities across a number of preventable chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, strokes, diabetes, and cancer. Physical activity (PA) is a modifiable risk factor for these conditions. However, the limited number of clinic- or community-based PA promotion studies that have included African American men have resulted in successful short-term behavior change for PA levels. Maintenance of increased PA levels over an extended time period is needed for sustained health benefits.

A research team from Klein Buendel, the Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC), and Georgetown University are launching a new research project to address PA maintenance in African American men with technology. The project is: A Smartphone App to Increase and Maintain Physical Activity in African American Men (FitBrothers). The effort is being led by Dr. Robert Newton from PBRC and is being funded by a Fast-Track STTR grant to Klein Buendel from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (MD014947; Dr. Robert Newton, Principal Investigator).

Dr. Newton’s preliminary focus group data indicates that African American men would be receptive to maintenance strategies delivered via smartphone. For this new project, the team will develop a prototype smartphone app and conduct usability testing to determine design viability and acceptability among would-be users in Phase I. In Phase II, the team will conduct a comparative effectiveness trial to assess success of the app on the PA maintenance levels of participating African American men.

Dr. Newton is an Associate Professor of Physical Activity and Ethnic Minority Health at PBRC. His research collaborators include Dr. Derek Griffith from Georgetown University and Dr. David Buller from Klein Buendel. Dr. Griffith is the Founding Co-Director of the Racial Justice Institute, Founder and Director of the Center for Men’s Health Equity, and Professor of Health Systems Administration and Oncology at Georgetown. Dr. Buller is the Director of Research at Klein Buendel. The FitBrothers app will be engineered by Klein Buendel’s Creative Team.

Mothers and Teenage Daughters: HPV Vaccination Information via Social Media

Mothers and Teenage Daughters: HPV Vaccination Information via Social Media

Dr. David Buller, Klein Buendel’s Director of Research, and his coauthors have published results from the Health Chat Project in the online journal, Frontiers in Digital Health. Health Chat was designed as a social media intervention to reduce mothers’ permissiveness toward their teen daughters’ indoor tanning behavior. It also addressed other adolescent health topics, including human papillomavirus vaccination.

“Parents acquire information about human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines online and encounter vaccine-critical content, especially on social media, which may depress vaccine uptake,” according to the authors. To help address vaccine hesitancy and misinformation, the authors employed a Facebook-delivered adolescent health campaign targeting mothers with posts on HPV vaccination. The study examined the relationship between mothers’ comments and reactions to posts about HPV and any change in their self-reports of having their daughters vaccinated.

The online publication describes the study’s hypotheses, social media health intervention, research methods, results, communication strategies, and limitations. The behavioral research was guided by social cognitive theory, transportation theory, and diffusion of innovations theory. In summary, mothers commented both positively and negatively toward HPV vaccine-related posts. Also, vaccinations rates increased from baseline, through 12-month and 18-month follow-up assessments.

This research was funded by a grant and supplement from the National Cancer Institute (CA192652; Dr. David Buller and Dr. Sherry Pagoto, Multiple Principal Investigators). Collaborating authors include Dr. Katie Baker and Dr. Joel Hillhouse from East Tennessee State University; Dr. Kimberly Henry from Colorado State University; Jessica Bibeau from the University of Connecticut; Kelsey Arroyo from the University of Florida; and Dr. Barbara Walkosz and Julia Berteletti from Klein Buendel. 

Skin Cancer Genetic Testing Research

Skin Cancer Genetic Testing Research

Klein Buendel Director of Research, Dr. David Buller, is a co-author on two recent publications reporting the results of studies on genetic testing and treatment decision-making for melanoma patients. Both papers report finding from a study directed by Dr. Jennifer Hay from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and Dr. Marianne Berwick from the University of New Mexico.

Behavioral and Psychological Outcomes Associated with Skin Cancer Genetic Testing

The first paper has been published in the journal Cancer (Basel). The study investigated genomic testing of the common melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene for skin cancer risk in a randomized controlled trial in primary care settings in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Study participants were randomized 5:1 to a MC1R test invitation or usual care. Three-month sun protection, skin cancer screening, and skin cancer worry outcomes associated with testing, and key effect moderators (such as cancer risk perceptions, and skin cancer risk factors) were assessed.

Full research methods and results are reported in the publication and show that the primary outcomes were unchanged by the MC1R test offer, test acceptance, and level of risk feedback. Moderator analyses results are also presented in the publication. “Risk feedback did not prompt cancer worry, and average risk feedback did not erode existing sun protection,” according to the authors. More study is needed in the understanding and development of tailored strategies to address low skin cancer risk awareness and genetic testing.

This research was supported by the National Cancer Institute (CA181241; Jennifer Hay and Marianne Berwick, Multiple Principal Investigators). Collaborators include Kimberly Kaphingst from the University of Utah; David Buller from Klein Buendel; Elizabeth Schofield and Yuelin Li from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Kirsten Meyer White from the New Mexico VA Health System; Andrew Sussman, Dolores Guest, Yvonne Dailey, Erika Robers, Matthew Schwartz, and Keith Hunley from the University of New Mexico.

Effect of Superstitious Beliefs and Risk Intuitions on Genetic Test Decisions

The second paper has been published in the journal Medical Decision Making. The study investigated cognitive causation, or superstitious thinking, and negative affect in risk as predictors of MC1R (moderate v. high risk) skin cancer genetic testing and responses to the testing.

Nearly 500 participants completed baseline assessments using validated measures of cognitive causation (beliefs that thinking about cancer risk increases cancer likelihood) and negative affect in risk (negative feelings generated during risk perception) and subsequently received a test offer. Participants could access a website to learn about and request genetic testing. Those who completed genetic testing for skin cancer completed assessments of cognitive and affective reactions two weeks after testing.

Methods, assessment measures, and full results are reported in the publication. In summary, negative affect in risk did not hamper test information seeking, but did inhibit the uptake of genetic testing. Those with higher cognitive causation showed more fear regarding their test result.

This research was supported by the National Cancer Institute (CA181241; Jennifer Hay and Marianne Berwick, Multiple Principal Investigators). Collaborators include Kristen Riley from Rutgers University; Andrew Sussman, Dolores Guest, Yvonne Dailey, Matthew Schwartz, and Keith Hunley from the University of New Mexico; Elizabeth Schofield from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; David Buller from Klein Buendel; and Kimberly Kaphingst from the University of Utah.

Vacteens: A Web App to Boost HPV Vaccine Uptake

Vacteens: A Web App to Boost HPV Vaccine Uptake

Dr. W. Gill Woodall, Klein Buendel Senior Scientist, and his coauthors published the results of the Vacteens Project in the online journal, Frontiers in Digital Health.

The uptake of HPV vaccine in the United States remains lower than preferred by health authorities, particularly for young adolescents, when immunogenic response to the vaccine is strongest. Potential parental barriers to low vaccine uptake include confusion, uncertainty, and misinformation about HPV vaccine schedule, safety, and effectiveness. Dr. Woodall and his collaborators believe that parental barriers to HPV vaccination may be addressed by digital interventions, such as web apps, that are tailored to their concerns.

The Vacteens Project project tested a web app for educating parents. The study was conducted with 82 parent-adolescent (daughter) pairs recruited from in nine pediatric clinics in New Mexico. It tested whether digital information delivered to parents in a community setting may be an effective way to help reach HPV vaccine uptake goals in the United States. Diffusion of Innovations Theory principles were used to guide the development of the Vacteens/Vacunadolescente mobile app in English and Spanish.

Parents were randomized to receive either the Vacteens/VacunaAdolescente mobile web app or the usual and customary online HPV vaccination pamphlet from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Parents completed surveys at baseline and month 3, and child vaccine records were collected at month 12. Vaccine uptake results from the study found that parents who received the Vacteens/VacunaAdolescente web app were more likely to have their daughters vaccinated than parents in the control condition. Study methods, results, and limitations are detailed in the online publication.

This research was funded by a grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to the University of New Mexico (#1511-33018; Dr. W. Gill Woodall, Principal Investigator). Dr. Woodall’s collaborators include Dr. Greg Zimet from Indiana University, Dr. Alberta Kong, Dr. Lance Chilton, and Dr. Randall Starling from the University of New Mexico, and Dr. David Buller, Jeannyfer Reither, and Dr. Valerie Myers from Klein Buendel.

Workplace Sun Safety Training Goes All-Virtual

Workplace Sun Safety Training Goes All-Virtual

People who work outdoors are exposed to high levels of solar ultraviolet radiation (UV) over a lifetime that can substantially increase their risk for developing skin cancer. Workplaces can be an effective channel for UV safety policy and training for employees in order to reduce their UV over-exposure and risk for skin cancer.

Klein Buendel researchers and their collaborators have been developing, evaluating, and refining comprehensive approaches to occupational sun protection for two decades. Now, the experienced research team is launching a new project funded by the National Cancer Institute to develop and evaluate a mechanism for distributing an established sun protection program virtually to diverse workplaces in the United States. The virtual environment will be comprised of a database, content management (interactive toolbox), and media platform (trackable training) to tailor the sun safety program to management’s readiness to innovate on sun safety based on Diffusion of Innovations Theory. In addition, the virtual platform will better integrate sun safety training by improving appropriateness for Hispanic and African American workers and conforming with the latest learning management systems technologies.

The Fast-Track SBIR project (CA257778) will complete a 9-month Phase I feasibility study and a 2-year Phase II effectiveness trial through employers across the country. The primary hypothesis of the study is that compared to employers in a minimal information control group, employers assigned to receive SSW Works will have employees that practice more sun protection at posttest. The research will be led by Mary Klein Buller, Principal Investigator. Co-Investigators include Dr. Barbara Walkosz, Julia Berteletti, and Dr. David Buller from Klein Buendel. The virtual platform will be engineered by Klein Buendel’s Creative Team.

The outdoor workforce in the United States is large and, in many places, at very high risk for skin cancer. Improving sun safety will help reduce health care costs and save lives. Thus, the research will have high impact and potential for commercial adoption, two objectives of SBIR projects.

Smart Choices 4 Teens

Smart Choices 4 Teens

Healthy decision-making by older adolescents and young adults can be fostered by active parental relationships and mutual engagement.

Two Klein Buendel Scientists are co-authors on a paper in the journal JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting looking at healthy decision-making. Dr. Gill Woodall and Dr. David Buller are members of a research team led by Dr. Brenda Miller from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE). The paper, whose lead author is Dr. Beth Bourdeau from the University of California, San Francisco, reports findings from a study designed to test the efficacy of the Healthy Relationships and Sexual Decision-making component of a web-based intervention for older adolescents and their parents, called Smart Choices 4 Teens.

The paper describes the details of the final segment of a randomized controlled trial conducted with 411 families with adolescents aged 16-17 years. Adolescents and parents worked through the web-based, self-paced program together. “Participation in the relationships component increased the frequency of parental sexual communication and increased the number of dating rules after accounting for other significant adolescent characteristics.” The paper reports that “Smart Choices 4 Teens demonstrated efficacy in increasing the frequency of sexual communication between parents and adolescents in the long term.”

The Smart Choices 4 Teens research was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA020977; Dr. Brenda Miller, PIRE, Principal Investigator). Other authors on this publication include Dr. Hilary Byrnes and Dr. Joel Grube from PIRE; Dr. Beth Bourdeau from the University of California San Francisco; and Dr. Gill Woodall and Dr. David Buller from Klein Buendel. Smart Choices 4 Teens was programmed by the Creative Team at Klein Buendel.

WayToServe Plus

WayToServe Plus

Among effective interventions to reduce driving while intoxicated (DWI) by alcohol, Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) training of alcohol servers has shown promise. RBS training is currently required or incentivized by 36 states and California will require it starting in 2022.

Klein Buendel and its research collaborators from the University of New Mexico and the Pacific  Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) have shown that an online RBS training, named WayToServe®, was effective in two randomized research trials. WayToServe is currently commercially available in multiple states in English and Spanish.

Now, researchers from Klein Buendel and PIRE are launching a new research project funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA029364) to develop and test an in-service professional development component for alcohol servers trained by WayToServe to enhance its effectiveness. It is intended to motivate servers to implement the RBS skills in the face of common barriers, provide support for RBS actions from a “community” of alcohol servers, and prevent natural degradation of skills over time. The in-service component – WayToServe Plus – will be delivered through the WayToServe Facebook page that currently is followed by over 20,000 alcohol servers trained by WayToServe.

The Fast-Track SBIR project will complete a 12-month Phase I feasibility study and a 2-year Phase II effectiveness trial in New Mexico and Washington State. The primary outcome will be the effect of WayToServe Plus on refusal of sales to pseudo-intoxicated patrons. The research will be led by Dr. David Buller and Dr. Gill Woodall (Multiple Principal Investigators) from Klein Buendel, and Dr. Robert Saltz from PIRE.

This research is innovative as WayToServe Plus will be the first continuous in-service professional development for RBS training and will increase the WayToServe training’s effectiveness and commercial advantage with alcohol servers and corporate clients.

Computer-Based Training for Geriatric and End-of-Life Care in Prisons

Computer-Based Training for Geriatric and End-of-Life Care in Prisons

In a recent publication in the Journal of Correctional Health Care, authors from Penn State University, Indiana University, King’s College, and Klein Buendel share insights into the testing of a computer-based training for peer caregivers (PCs) in prisons to care for aged and dying prisoners. 

As the aged and dying incarcerated population increases, so does the demand on corrections health care. In the publication, the research team describes their process of conducting focus groups and performing usability testing with PCs and corrections staff members who ultimately helped identify the priority training topics.  

The focus groups, in consultation with an Expert Advisory Board, led to the creation of three prototype modules: Standard Precautions; Loss and Grief; and Role of the Inmate Caregiver in the Final Hours. Following the focus groups, face-to-face usability testing was conducted with PCs and staff who confirmed the contextual training relevance and feasibility of the computer-based training program. 

The team concluded that the computer-based training, Inmates Care, provides evidence to complement nurse-led training within the corrections setting with a standardized e-training package. A full description of the methods, results, discussion, strength and limitations, and conclusions can be found in the publication.  

This research was funded by a Phase I grant from the National Institute on Aging (AG057239). The project was led by Principal Investigator Dr. Susan Loeb from Penn State University and Co-Investigator Dr. Valerie Myers from Klein Buendel. Additional authors include Dr. Erin Kitt-Lewis from Penn State University, Tiffany Jerrod from Klein Buendel, Dr. Rachel Wion from Indiana University, and Dr. Julie Murphy from King’s College. 

Results of a social media campaign to prevent indoor tanning by teens

Results of a social media campaign to prevent indoor tanning by teens

Results of the Health Chat social media intervention to reduce mothers’ permissiveness toward their teen daughters’ indoor tanning (IT) behavior have been published in Preventive Medicine Reports.

During the intervention, participating mothers received an adolescent health social media campaign in Facebook private groups. Half of the mothers were in a group in which the health campaign included posts about preventing IT (intervention) and the other half, included posts on preventing prescription drug misuse (control). Health Chat was designed by the research team based on an integrated conceptual framework of social cognitive theory, transportation theory, and diffusion of innovations theory.

Given mothers’ high use of social media, the research team, led by Klein Buendel Director of Research, Dr. David Buller, and Dr. Sherry Pagoto from the University of Connecticut, evaluated a social media campaign aimed at mothers to prevent IT by their daughters in a randomized trial that tested two hypotheses:

H1: The social media campaign on IT will significantly reduce (a) mother’s permissiveness regarding their daughter’s IT, (b) their daughter’s perception of maternal permissiveness toward IT, and (c) both mother’s and daughter’s IT relative to the control condition.

H2: A statistically significantly greater number of mothers will support a ban on IT for minors in the intervention group compared to the control condition.

Study methods, data, and results are detailed in the Preventive Medicine Reports’ publication and indicate that a social media campaign may be an effective strategy for convincing mothers to withhold permission for IT from their teen daughters, in an effort to reduce risk for skin cancer.

This research was funded by a grant and supplement from the National Cancer Institute (CA192652; Dr. David Buller and Dr. Sherry Pagoto, Multiple Principal Investigators). Collaborating authors include Dr. Katie Baker and Dr. Joel Hillhouse from East Tennessee State University; Dr. Kimberly Henry from Colorado State University; Jessica Bibeau from the University of Connecticut; and Dr. Barbara Walkosz and Julia Berteletti from Klein Buendel. 

Adopting Policy to Eliminate Indoor Tanning

Adopting Policy to Eliminate Indoor Tanning

Dr. David Buller from Klein Buendel joined two other behavioral scientists to publish a Viewpoint in JAMA Dermatology in April calling on dermatologists and others to support legislative efforts and other policies in their local areas to help dramatically curtail indoor tanning in the United States. The other two authors were Dr. Carolyn Heckman from the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Dr. Jerod Stapleton from the University of Kentucky.

The Viewpoint describes policy and regulation as “among the most effective strategies for influencing health behaviors and public health.” Indoor tanning restrictions in multiple states are helping to reduce skin cancer incidence and death.  Achieving continued and additional restrictions will require concerted research, advocacy, and policy efforts to overcome remaining barriers to new laws and to close lingering gaps in existing laws.

In their editorial, the authors put out a Call to Action to dermatologists to increase their awareness of local indoor tanning laws, or lack thereof, and to educate their patients, legislators, school boards, local business groups, and others about the dangers of indoor tanning and the need for more restricted use, especially by minors.

The Viewpoint was published online in JAMA Dermatology on April 28, 2021.