Objectives: Although some research has focused on the food environment and food marketing, little has examined outdoor food and beverage (FB) advertising, particularly its relationship to the Hispanic composition in schools. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if the prevalence of outdoor FB advertising was greater around middle and high schools with a majority Hispanic population as compared to schools with a lower Hispanic population. Design: All FB advertisements located within a half-mile of 47 schools in Central Texas were documented. Advertisements were coded as free standing or on establishments. Advertisements were coded for theme including price (emphasizing price) and deals/value meals (promoting discounted price/meal deals). These two themes were combined to create an overall price promotion variable. In order to determine if the prevalence of FB advertising varied by the Hispanic composition of the students in the school, data from the Texas Education Agency was used to create a variable which dichotomized the schools into two groups: schools that reported ≥60% Hispanic students or “Hispanic schools” (n=21) and schools that reported <60% Hispanic students or “non-Hispanic schools” (n=26). Linear regression analyses were conducted to determine if the prevalence of outdoor FB advertising was greater around Hispanic schools as compared to non-Hispanic schools. Results: Hispanic schools had more overall outdoor FB advertisements as compared to non-Hispanic schools (p=0.02). Similarly, we found significantly more outdoor FB establishment (p=0.02) and price promotion (p=0.05) around Hispanic schools as compared to non-Hispanic schools. Differences in freestanding advertisements by school type approached significance (p=0.07) with Hispanic schools having more freestanding FB advertisements on average. Conclusion: Further research is needed that documents the content of these advertisements and determines the extent to which these advertisements affect Hispanic and other racial/ethnic minority youth’s attitudes and behaviors toward the consumption of these products.

BackgroundDue to other marketing restrictions, one venue where tobacco companies concentrate their marketing efforts to reach young adults is bars/nightclubs.ObjectiveThis study examined the relationship between exposure to tobacco marketing in bars/nightclubs and number of alternative tobacco/nicotine products used 6 months later among college students.MethodsParticipants were 1,406 students aged 18–29 years old who reported going to bars or nightclubs at least rarely (M age=21.95; 67% female; 46% non-Hispanic white). Students completed an online survey in fall 2014/spring 2015 (wave 1) and again 6 months later (wave 2). Multilevel Poisson regression models were used to assess the relationship between exposure to three types of marketing at bars/nightclubs at wave 1 (tobacco/nicotine product advertisements; free samples; industry representatives) and number of tobacco products used (range=0–5) at wave 2, controlling for school type (2 year vs 4 year), age, sex, race/ethnicity and frequency of bar visits. An interaction between the number of wave 1 products and each marketing variable was tested.ResultsGreater exposure to free samples and tobacco industry representatives at bars/nightclubs predicted a greater number of products used 6 months later, but only among wave 1 non-tobacco users and not among tobacco users. Exposure to advertisements at bars/nightclubs did not predict the number of products used 6 months later.ConclusionTobacco companies claim that marketing is targeted to those who already use the product, not to non-users. However, the current study indicates tobacco marketing in bars and nightclubs may encourage use among non-users and has no influence on current users.

Given the normative effects of advertising on perceived peer tobacco use, college tobacco initiatives should include descriptive norms education to counteract inaccurate perceptions.

Objective To develop a framework for patient‐centered research in a community health center. Study setting Primary organizational case‐study data were collected at a large Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Southern California from 2019 to 2021. Study design Thirty stakeholders, including patients, community leaders, students, medical providers, and academic partners, participated in community‐engagement capacity‐building exercises and planning. These activities were guided by Community Based Participatory Principles and were part of an initiative to address health disparities by supporting patient and community‐engaged research. Data collection The study included an iterative development process. Stakeholders participated in a total of 44 workgroup meetings and 7 full‐group quarterly convenings. The minutes of the meetings from both workgroups and quarterly convenings were used to document the evolution of the initiative. Principle findings Stakeholders concluded that health equity research needs to be part of a larger engagement ecosystem and that, in some ways, engagement on research projects may be a later‐stage form of engagement following patient/community and staff/researcher coeducation and cocapacity building efforts. Conclusions Community health center stakeholders viewed successful engagement of community members in patient‐centered health equity research as involving a web of longitudinal, evolving internal and external relationships rather than discrete, time‐limited, and single‐project‐based dyadic connections.

No abstract