The University of California has teamed with Health Net, a California HMO, to offer a series of six videotapes based on the acclaimed 1991 Wellness Lecture Series. Delivered by distinguished University scientists and professors selected by a Universitywide steering committee, the lectures were presented at the six University of California health sciences campuses.

Each videotape, designed for broadcast within a one-hour slot, for presentation in educational seminars or for personal use, showcases new research and findings on current topics in health and wellness. Rich with innovative approaches and insights based on these findings, the videotapes are highly viewable and relevant to today's evolving health care field. The series is a must for health professionals, health science professors, hospital staffs dedicated to promoting continuing education, and students interested in pursuing health science careers.

The lecturers, renowned University of California scientists and leading researchers in the field of health promotion, focused on topics ranging from the specific to the general:

"Smoking Cessation: Community Intervention for Latinos" - Eliseo Pérez-Stable, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, UC San Francisco

"The Causes and Prevention of Degenerative Diseases Associated with Aging" - Bruce N. Ames, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UC Berkeley

"Injuries: Personal and Policy Options for Prevention" - Garen J. Wintemute, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Community Health, UC Davis

"A Model for Health Promotion in Ethnic Minority Families" - Kathy Sanders-Phillips, Ph.D., Assistant Professor-in-Residence, UC Los Angeles

"Achieving Wellness for all Californians: The General Health Policy Model" - Robert M. Kaplan, Ph.D., Professor of Community and Family Medicine, UC San Diego

"Creating and Maintaining Healthy Environments: Toward a Social Ecology of Health Promotion" - Daniel Stokols, Ph.D., Dean and Professor of Social Ecology, UC Irvine

Sorry, the program materials for the 1991Wellness Lecture Series are no longer available.

Brief abstracts of the six 1991 wellness lectures follow.

Smoking Cessation: Community Intervention for Latinos

Eliseo Pérez-Stable, M.D.,
  Associate Professor of Medicine, UC San Francisco

The Programa Latino Para Dejar de Fumar (PLDF) was launched as a community-wide smoking cessation intervention in the San Francisco Bay Area in November 1987. The program attempts to saturate the area's Latino community with culturally appropriate information about why and how to quit smoking.

A major component of the program is the Guía Para Dejar de Fumar, a Spanish smoking cessation self-help guide. Other components include an electronic media campaign and increased community organization.

One survey has shown that the overall age-adjusted smoking prevalence among San Francisco Latinos declined from 25.4% in 1986 to 15.0% in 1989. The community intervention will continue and expand over the next three years and will include intervention programs targeting Latino youth.

Dr. Pérez-Stable is assiciate professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at UC San Francisco. Long interested in Latino health care, in 1988 he became the first Latino to be awarded the Henry J. Kaiser Faculty Scholar Award in General Medicine.

The Causes and Prevention of Degenerative Diseases Associated with Aging

Scientists are rapidly gaining an understanding of the biochemical mechanisms of aging and its associated degenerative diseases.

The main cellular events leading to cancer appear to be mutagenesis (DNA damage) and mitogenesis (cell division). Agents that cause chronic cell division appear to be important in many of the known causes of human cancer.

We estimate that roughly three quarters of human cancers, however, are preventable through a combination of good dietary and lifestyle practices. Extensive evidence suggests that a major risk factor for heart disease and cancer is insufficient consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Understanding the effects of nutrition on chronic infections should have a large impact on devising strategies for imporving health in developing countries.

Dr. Ames, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at UC Berkeley, has been the international leader in the field of mutagenesis and genetic toxicology for more than 20 years. His work has greatly influenced the direction of basic and applied research on mutation, cancer and aging.

Injuries: Personal and Policy Options for Prevention

Increasingly, effective treatment and prevention of our major health problems depend on national health policy. This is particularly true for injuries.

Injury is one of our nation's leading health problems. Nearly 150,000 Americans die as a result of injury each year; more than two million others are hospitalized.

One third of all injury deaths in the U.S. result from intentional violence. Firearms now rank seventh among all causes of death in the U.S. The prevention of firearm injuries has become one of our most urgent public health priorities.

Studies suggest that general restrictions on access to handguns have beneficial public health effects. Ultimately, the issue of such restrictions involves a social judgment, requiring a balancing of the benefits and costs of the widespread availability of firearms. This may well become one of the major public health debates of the 1990s.

Dr. Wintemute is associate professor of community health at the UC Davis School of Medicine. His research focuses on the epidemiology and prevention of firearm injuries. He has been active in efforts to translate injury prevention research into effective public policy.

A Model for Health Promotion in Ethnic Minority Families

Poor health outcomes and significantly shorter lifespans are associated with ethnic minority status in the U.S. A study conducted in South Central Los Angeles suggests that the health behaviors of ethnic minorities are significantly influenced by social as well as economic environments.

The study was used to identify major health and social problems in the area, common health and risk behaviors, and possible avenues for intervention. Data from the study confirm that low-income, ethnic minority status is associated with feelings of alienation, hopelessness, and lack of control over one's environment and health outcome.

The study suggests that successful health interventions must address social contexts and quality of life. Programs must be developed that incorporate an understanding of and respect for the realities of life in these communities.

Dr. Sanders-Phillips is an assistant professor of pediatrics at UC Los Angeles. Her primary research interests lie in the areas of developmental and health outcomes in ethnic minority children. Her most recent research assesses developmental outcomes in infants prenatally exposed to cocaine.

Achieving Wellness for all Californians: The General Health Policy Model

Our health care system is in serious trouble.

Health care expenditures in the U.S., estimated at $700 billion during 1991, are expected to double by 1995. Increasingly, health care providers can no longer afford to offer the same level of services. Yet, 32 to 39 million Americans have no insurance or only inadequate resources to cover their medical care.

A major problem is that health care may be the only American industry that is not held accountable for what it produces. Careful reviews of a wide variety of procedures have suggested that the use of medical procedures in the U.S. is out of control.

We have developed a General Health Policy Model that addresses the problems of affordability, access, and accountability. This model is directed toward using available resources to produce the greatest benefit for the largest number of people.

Dr. Kaplan is professor and chief of health care sciences in the Department of Community and Family Medicine at UC San Diego. He is also an associate director of the UCSD Cancer Center. His research focuses on health outcome measurement and behavior interventions in chronic illness.

Creating and Maintaining Healthy Environments: Toward a Social Ecology of Health Promotion

The majority of health promotion programs implemented in corporate and community settings have been individually rather than environmentally focused. Recent research, however, suggests the potential value of environmental interventions as an adjunct to behaviorally oriented health promotion programs.

The social ecological approach to health promotion first addresses the multidimensional nature of human environments as they relate to individual and collective wellbeing. Next, it considers the interactions among several categories of environmental and personal determinants of health. Finally, it considers a wide range of community intervention and public policy strategies for promoting both individual and collective wellbeing. This unique perspective emphasizes the advantages of multilevel interventions to promote wellness.

Dr. Stokols is professor of social ecology and Dean of the School of Social Ecology at UC Irvine. His current research examines the effects of physical and social conditions within work environments on employees' health, performance, and social behavior.