Recent Projects

An analysis of environmental risk factors for obesity (Kansas City Built Environment & Health Study - KC BEST). This study is a multi-level survey of environmental risk factors thought to contribute to obesity prevalence. In the proposed study, we collect both individual-level health data including weight and body mass index (BMI), status on other health conditions and behaviors, as well information on the density of social institutions (e.g., fast-food restaurants) and their actual locations, and the conditions of the homes, grounds, and public infrastructure within selected census block-groups and their surrounding areas (a 0.75 mile radius around the perimeter of each block-group).

Pediatric Residency Training on Tobacco.  This project is designed to test a pediatric training tobacco cessation program for children and adolescents.  Residents are trained using Web and CD/ROM technology along with live training.

A prospective evaluation of health behavior risk for injury among firefighters.  The project is a longitudinal cohort study of firefighters looking at health beliefs and behaviors and their relationship to health outcomes and fitness for duty.  In addition, the project will develop a health surveillance tool adapted for field data collection with firefighters at career and volunteer departments.

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Recent Projects

Tobacco Industry Targeting of the US  Military.  This project addresses the tobacco industry's influence on the U. S. military by: 1) Retrieving and analyzing internal tobacco industry documents in order to describe the tobacco industry's activities pertaining to the four active branches of the military (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force); 2) Examining current tobacco policies and practices in the Department of Defense (DoD) and service branches through a content analysis of policies and interviews with policy leaders; and 3) Developing a set of case studies of tobacco control policy development and implementation within the military.

Cessation Research and Training in India and Indonesia.  The project is designed to develop tobacco control capacity in both India and Indonesia.

The Cardiovascular Health of the Fire Service:  The Heart Healthy Heroes Project.  This project is formative research designed to assess the culture of the fire service as it relates to safety, health and wellness.  Data collection is taking place nationally at volunteer and career fire departments using focus groups, key informant interviews and a policy analysis.

Evaluating the impact of the community campaign targeting 18-24 year olds in the military.  The overall goal of this project is to create and distribute a package of anti-tobacco education and media materials targeting 18-24 year olds in the military with the message that smoking is incompatible with military service.

A model DoD systems approach for tobacco. The primary technical objective of this randomized community trial is to evaluate whether implementation of a specialized intervention program will result in higher smoking cessation rates among active duty personnel and TRICARE Prime beneficiaries.  The components of the specialized intervention program will be drawn from the VHA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines for tobacco interventions.  Sixteen military installations from the Air Force, Army, Marines, and Navy will be assigned to either the specialized program or a control condition.