The University of California and The California Wellness Foundation announce the six new award lectures in the acclaimed Wellness Lecture Series.
Delivered by distinguished University faculty selected by a Universitywide Steering Committee, the lectures are presented each fall at several UC campuses. The new Wellness Lectures are available in book form and on tape.
The ongoing collaboration between The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF) and the University of California challenges UC faculty to develop research-based strategies and public policies to bring health promotion perspectives into the mainstream of healthcare delivery.
The TCWF grant spotlights faculty research in health promotion, with emphasis on five key areas: violence prevention, population health improvement, work and health, teenage pregnancy prevention, and community health enhancement.
This year's lectures showcase new research and findings on the following health policy and wellness topics:
"The Psychology of Harm Reduction: Comparing Alternative Strategies for Modifying High-Risk Behaviors" - Robert J. MacCoun, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley
"Community Food Security: A Basic Strategy for Community Health" - Robert Gottlieb, Adjunct Professor, Department of Urban Planning, UC Los Angeles
"Pregnancy Prevention Opportunities Focusing on Younger Sisters of Childbearing Teens" - Patricia L. East, Ph.D., Associate Research Scientist, Department of Pediatrics, UC San Diego
"California Smokers' Helpline: An Accessible Service for a Diverse Population" - Shu-Hong Zhu, Ph.D., Assistant Adjunct Professor, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, UC San Diego
"Knowledge Among Dental Professionals of Child Abuse and Neglect: Recognition and Prevention" - Francisco J. Ramos-Gomez, DDS, MSc, MPH, Assistant Professor, School of Dentistry, UC San Francisco
"Crime, Shame, and Community: Mediation Against Violence" - Thomas J. Scheff, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology, UC Santa Barbara
Each lecture will be videotaped and available for purchase in VHS format. Highly viewable and relevant to today's evolving health care field, the videotapes are designed for broadcast within a one-hour time slot. They are also ideally suited for presentation in educational seminars or for personal use in video or audio formats.
Rich with innovative approaches and insights based on current research, the Wellness Lecture Series is a must for health professionals, health sciences professors, policymakers, hospital staffs dedicated to promoting continuing education, and students interested in careers in the health sciences.
The six papers from which the lectures are drawn will be compiled in a softcover book, available free of charge. This Wellness Lecture Series Book, annotated with graphs, charts, and bibliographies, complements the audio/video presentations or stands alone as an important reference.
Individuals may order materials concerning the 1996 Wellness Lectures. To order, or to receive detailed information on broadcast rights and fees, complete and return the order form.
Robert J. MacCoun, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public
Policy, UC Berkeley
American drug policy focuses on "prevalence reduction," which aims to reduce or eliminate psychoactive drug use. A movement called "harm reduction" emerged during the 1980s as a strategy for dealing with harms unmitigated by traditional approaches. Harm reduction focuses on minimizing the adverse consequences of drug use through interventions such as needle exchange, "safe use" education, and the use of treatment as an alternative to incarceration.
The debate over harm reduction parallels other controversial U.S. policy discussions. Dr. MacCoun presents conditions for successfully implementing harm reduction policies without undermining prevalence reduction efforts. He also examines the psychological bases of attitudes toward harm reduction, suggesting conditions under which the strategy might secure broader public support.
Dr. MacCoun is associate professor of public policy at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Public Policy. A behavioral scientist, he has published extensively on drug-related topics, including drug dealing and drug legislation.
Robert Gottlieb
Adjunct Professor, Department of Urban Planning,
UC Los Angeles
The concept of community food security casts new light on anti-hunger and community health issues. Food security evaluates community resources for providing individuals with nutritious, culturally acceptable food from non-emergency sources. Thus, food security takes into account nutritional needs, income, food prices, access, cultural values, and other community-influenced considerations.
A community food security approach extends beyond basic questions of personal resources to examine the food system itself, including issues of equity and sustainability.
Several new programs featuring a community-centered, food-systems approach have emerged recently in California and throughout the nation. Mr. Gottlieb evaluates and elaborates on these pilot projects and policy approaches. He presents case studies that include a grower-to-consumer market program, strategies for securing greater access to healthy foods, and a two-year campaign to establish a Community Food Security Act, recently signed into law by President Clinton.
Mr. Gottlieb is the author of several books on environmental and resource planning. He serves on the Community Food Security Coalition Steering Committee and is director of UCLA's Pollution Prevention Education and Research Center.
Patricia L. East, Ph.D.
Associate Research Scientist, Department of Pediatrics,
UC San Diego
Compared with girls of the same race and socioeconomic status, younger sisters of adolescent mothers are two to six times more likely to become teenage mothers themselves.
Recent research suggests that two factors contribute to this problem: (1) early adolescent younger sisters of childbearing teens engage in many high-risk behaviors predictive of teen pregnancy, and (2) such younger sisters are profoundly affected by their sisters' childbearing.
Dr. East discusses these findings and identifies three strategies for addressing the issue. First, provide disincentives to early childbearing (such as job opportunities). Second, develop programs that include positive role models. Third, target prevention programs toward the entire family.
This "younger sister" approach to breaking the cycle of teen pregnancy offers tremendous potential for reducing adolescent pregnancy.
Dr. East is associate research scientist in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at the UCSD School of Medicine. Her research has focused extensively on adolescent childbearing and its effects on the adolescent's family of origin.
Shu-Hong Zhu, Ph.D.
Assistant Adjunct Professor, Department of Family
and Preventive Medicine, UC San Diego
Smoking is the most important preventable cause of disease. It is also one of the most difficult addictive behaviors to change. Many smokers need help to quit, but for various reasons few of them use the available programs.
The California Smokers' Helpline was developed to increase the accessibility of smoking cessation assistance. Callers are offered a range of free services, including individual telephone counseling. This statewide program has so far provided help to more than 40,000 smokers, 34% of whom are of ethnic minority backgrounds underrepresented in traditional programs. The telephone counseling has been shown to double the success rate of people who are trying to quit.
The Helpline also addresses the issue of cost-effectiveness by having one site of operations that offers services in multiple languages to the entire state of California. As such, it has served as a model for other statewide helplines.
Dr. Zhu is assistant adjunct professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the UCSD School of Medicine. His research has focused on smoking cessation and intervention methods.
Francisco J. Ramos-Gomez, DDS, MSc, MPH
Assistant Professor, School of Dentistry, UC San
Francisco
Child abuse has become one of the nation's most significant yet least recognized health crises. The incidence and severity of child abuse are at 40-year highs, with an estimated three million cases annually in the U.S.
Given that more than half of all child abuse incidents involve head, neck, or mouth injuries, one would expect dental practitioners to be major reporters of suspected child abuse and neglect. Instead, less than one percent of such cases are reported by dental practitioners in the U.S.
To plan an effective education program on this matter for dental professionals, a survey assessing current knowledge and practices was sent to California dental professionals. Only 16% of respondents claimed to have seen or suspected child abuse or neglect in the preceding five years; 79% did not know that failure to report suspected child abuse or neglect can be a misdemeanor in California. Most notably, 67% said they had never received instruction in diagnosing and reporting suspected child abuse or neglect.
Dr. Ramos-Gomez is assistant professor of pediatric dentistry at the UC San Francisco Department of Growth and Development. He also serves as director of pediatric dental services, Family Dental Center at San Francisco General Hospital.
Thomas J. Scheff, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology, UC
Santa Barbara
In recent years a worldwide mediation movement known as alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has been growing. Most recently, a new form of ADR applicable to victim-offender mediation (VOM), called "community conferencing," has emerged as a significant method of decreasing crime.
Community conferences bring together victim and offender. Both parties describe the crime's impact on them. The parties then work out a mutually agreeable settlement involving material as well as "symbolic" reparation. Symbolic reparation integrates the social rituals of respect, courtesy, apology, and forgiveness. The process provides a first step toward reintegration of the offender into society.
Community conferencing offers an important tool for controlling crime after the fact, but it does not directly address crime prevention. Dr. Scheff proposes introducing mediation courses at all levels of schools as a direct approach to preventing crimes before they happen.
Dr. Scheff is professor emeritus of sociology and anthropology at UC Santa Barbara. He also serves as president of the Pacific Sociological Association. He has published extensively on the subjects of violence and the role of emotion in crime.
