Public Health Research Profile

Tracking Youth Activity and Diet

A study of 300 adolescent girls from the Minneapolis and San Diego sites of an earlier study (Trial of Activity of Adolescent Girls) that tracks their movements outside of school and home via portable GPS units and couples these data with self-reports of food purchases and consumption to identify how local environments may play a role in physical activity, diet, and body mass index.
Contact: Deborah Cohen, MD, MPH (Deborah_Cohen@rand.org)

Alcohol Policies and Risk Behaviors Among HIV-Positive Adults

A study examining the influence of local alcohol policies on the sexual risk behaviors of HIV-positive adults (including associations between unprotected sex and alcohol taxes, price, outlet density, sales policy, and penalties for alcohol-related violations).
Contact: Rebecca Collins, PhD (Rebecca_Collins@rand.org)

Allies Against Asthma

A collaborative effort to develop and evaluate an integrated, community-wide asthma control and prevention intervention in the Luis Lloréns Torres Residential Project in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Contact: Marielena Lara, MD, MPH (Marielena_Lara@rand.org)

Adolescent Responses to Antismoking Public Service Announcements

A project designed to investigate the features of antismoking public service announcements that are most effective in influencing adolescents' thinking about smoking.
Contact: William Shadel, PhD (William_Shadel@rand.org)

Project CHOICE and Teen Smoking

A follow-up to Project CHOICE (a voluntary after-school smoking prevention program for middle school students) to explore the social network processes that enable the program to affect smoking even among classmates who were nonparticipants.
Contact: Harold Green, PhD (Harold_Green@rand.org)

Suicide Prevention for Soldiers

A project to catalog and evaluate suicide prevention activities in the Department of Defense to identify programs in need of enhancement.
Contact: Rajeev Ramchand, PhD (Rajeev_Ramchand@rand.org)

Enhancing Substance Abuse Prevention

A project that is using a community-based participatory research model to assess two programs designed to prevent youth drug and alcohol abuse in five Maine communities.
Contact: Matthew Chinman, PhD (Matthew_Chinman@rand.org)

Parks and Physical Activity in Diverse Communities

A study to examine how public parks influence physical activity and whether the physical activity of communities can be enhanced by involving the public in modifying park programs and facilities.
Contact: Deborah Cohen, MD, MPH (Deborah_Cohen@rand.org)