a pharmacist chooses from a wall of prescription drugs

Are price disclosures in prescription drug ads useful? Maybe not.

In efforts to curb rising prescription drug prices, federal regulators have put forth proposals requiring “list prices” to be included in TV commercials for pharmaceuticals. But could price disclosure in drug ads make any difference? New research from Temple University suggests it might not.  In a newly published collaborative study by researchers at the College of Public Health and the Klein College of Media and Communication, most people watching ads with price information included didn’t notice that the price information was there. Certain factors specific to prescrip...
Health Services Administration and Policy
Research
a woman operates a cash register

Could peer support help workers stay safe from COVID?

Peer support is a health intervention through which an individual receives guidance from a person who has lived with a similar condition—someone who can share first-person understanding and strategies that a clinician often can’t. Peer support may be given in group or one-on-one settings, by people who share a wide range of health conditions, including intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). “It’s underutilized, but research has identified that when peer support is provided by individuals with IDD, it can be quite effective,...
Research
Collaborative on Community Inclusion
Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Child sitting in high chair being fed broccoli on fork by mom

Fisher leads panel issuing national recommendations for children’s healthy eating

Providing young children with repeated opportunities to try healthy foods, structured meal and snack environments, and the freedom to make their own food choices are key to helping them develop lifelong healthy eating habits, according to new national recommendations from a panel co-chaired by Jennifer Orlet Fisher of the College of Public Health, convened by Healthy Eating Research. The new recommendations for children ages 2 to 8 supplement the existing U.S. Dietary Guidelines. “The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans represent the state-of-the-art understanding of wha...
CORE
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Research
Obesity
Nutrition

Researchers partner with local church to identify community mental health needs

College of Public Health researchers will work with Bethel Presbyterian Church in North Philadelphia in a study to identify mental health needs of individuals in the community the church serves, as part of a program that connects the city’s public health institutions with community organizations that have research needs. Bethel Presbyterian Church is a Black congregation that has been a center of service to its surrounding low-income neighborhoods for more than 70 years. The church operates food and clothing distribution programs. It provides hot meals and offers senior servi...
Research
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Mental Health
Community
two women talking to each other in a medical setting

New study aims to ease genetic testing decisions by potential kidney donors

Genetic testing prior to a medical procedure can enable better-informed decisions that lead to more successful health outcomes. But consenting to a test that may reveal one’s susceptibility to future illness is itself a decision requiring careful consideration. Learning about one’s biological predispositions toward various diseases can have long-term psychological impact. Beyond concerns about physical health, there may be worries about how the genetic revelations of a test could affect one’s insurance, employment or family status. A new study led by Heather Gardiner, as...
Community
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Research
Group of friends smiling in a car

$2.5 million grant to study 'mattering' as health issue for people with disability

Bryan McCormick, professor in the Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, has been awarded a $2.5 million, five-year grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) to develop interventions that reduce social isolation and loneliness among people with serious mental illness (SMI). “The rates of loneliness among this population are remarkably high compared to other adults,” McCormick says. “Feeling of loneliness and experiencing social isolation are more than a negative emotional experience. There is evi...
Collaborative on Community Inclusion
Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Recreational Therapy
Research
psychiatrist holding a medical chart and listening to her patient

In psychiatry, adoption of ‘shared decision making’ is long overdue

Shared decision-making has a growing role in healthcare practice, particularly for chronic conditions. The concept is that treatment and medication decisions that impact a patient’s health and lifestyle can be made collaboratively between clinician and patient, rather than being a one-way doctor’s order that a patient accepts or rejects. The clinician and patient bring complementary expertise in designing treatment plans. The patient has the most detailed knowledge of their own situation, or years of lived experience, and how past interventions have helped or not. The clinic...
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Research
overhead view of north philadelphia

Tenets of trauma-informed care could improve neighborhood well-being

Jackhammers pounding at 7 a.m. Poorly lit streets at night. Deteriorating sidewalks and dangerous traffic patterns. Neighborhoods inescapably shape the health of people who live in them, and a distressing physical environment can have a magnified effect on people who have experienced trauma. The idea of applying trauma-informed thinking has begun to take hold when it comes to community policing, medical care and other interactions that people have with the infrastructure in place to serve us. How about “trauma-informed neighborhoods”? Krista Schroeder, assistant professor...
Research
Community
Nursing
Maura O'Fallon

Fellowship supports research into child behavior, early language learning

Before arriving at Temple’s College of Public Health to earn her doctoral degree, Maura O’Fallon worked as a speech-language pathologist in a school for children with behavioral issues. Now, the second-year doctoral student has received federal funding to explore connections between child behavior and language learning. O’Fallon has been awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship, or F31 grant, from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.  Designed to strengthen research skills in predocto...
Language and cognition
Communication Sciences and Disorders
Research
Students
a person's hands using a mobile app on a cell phone

Mobile health apps found to be more effective with 'supportive accountability'

High-tech tools such as mobile phone apps can help people follow through on health recommendations, offering daily reminders and gamelike progress-tracking to help their behavior stay on course between doctor visits. But it’s a mistake to believe that a totally automated solution works for everyone. A new study by Stephen Lepore, chair and professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Bradley Collins, professor of social and behavioral sciences, shows the benefit of a hybrid approach that combines a mobile health app for quitting smoking with targeted hu...
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Research
Smoking cessation

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