The last decade of research has suggested that family meals play an important role in promoting healthful dietary intake in youth. However, little is known about the structural characteristics and interpersonal dynamics of family meals that may help to inform why family meals are protective for youth. The current mixed methods, cross-sectional study conducted in 2010–2011 includes adolescents and parents who participated in two linked population-based studies. Participants included 40 parents (91.5% female) and adolescents (57.5% female) from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area participating in EAT 2010 and F-EAT. The structural (e.g. length of the meal, types of foods served) and interpersonal characteristics (e.g., communication, emotion/affect management) of family meals were described and associations between interpersonal dynamics at family meals and adolescent body mass index (BMI) and dietary intake were examined via direct observational methods. Families were video-recorded during two mealtimes in their homes. Results indicated that family meals were approximately 20 minutes in length, included multiple family members, were typically served family style (70%) and occurred in the kitchen 62% of the time and 38% of the time in another room (e.g., family room, office). Additionally, significant associations were found between positive interpersonal dynamics (i.e., communication, affect management, interpersonal involvement, overall family functioning) at family meals and lower adolescent BMI and higher vegetable intake. These findings add to the growing body of literature on family meals by providing a better understanding of what is happening at family meals in order to inform obesity prevention studies and recommendations for providers working with families of youth.

Background The internet has emerged as a main venue of health information delivery and health-related activities. However, few studies have examined how health literacy determines online health-related behavior. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the current level of health-related information-seeking using the internet and how health literacy, access to technology, and sociodemographic characteristics impact health-related information-seeking behavior. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study through a survey with Minnesotan adults (N=614) to examine their health literacy, access to technology, and health-related information-seeking internet use. We used multivariate regression analysis to assess the relationship between health-related information-seeking on the internet and health literacy and access to technology, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. Results Better health literacy (β=.35, SE 0.12) and greater access to technological devices (eg, mobile phone and computer or tablet PC; β=.06, SE 0.19) were both associated with more health-related information-seeking behavior on the internet after adjusting for all other sociodemographic characteristics. Possession of a graduate degree (β=.28, SE 0.07), female gender (β=.15, SE 0.05), poor health (β=.22, SE 0.06), participation in social groups (β=.13, SE 0.05), and having an annual health exam (β=.35, SE 0.12) were all associated with online health-related information-seeking. Conclusions Our findings indicate that access to online health-related information is not uniformly distributed throughout the population, which may exacerbate disparities in health and health care. Research, policy, and practice attention are needed to address the disparities in access to health information as well as to ensure the quality of the information and improve health literacy.

Background To date there has been limited success with childhood obesity prevention interventions. This may be due in part, to the challenge of reaching and engaging parents in interventions. The current study used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to engage parents in co-creating and pilot testing a childhood obesity prevention intervention. Because CBPR approaches to childhood obesity prevention are new, this study aims to detail the creation, including the formation of the Citizen Action Group (CAG), and implementation of a childhood obesity prevention intervention using CBPR methods. Methods A CBPR approach was used to recruit community members to partner with university researchers in the CAG (n=12) to create and implement the Play it Forward! childhood obesity intervention. The intervention creation and implementation took two years. During year 1 (2011–2012), the CAG carried out a community needs and resources assessment and designed a community-based and family-focused childhood obesity prevention intervention. During year 2 (2012–2013), the CAG implemented the intervention and conducted an evaluation. Families (n = 50; 25 experimental/25 control group) with children ages 6–12 years participated in Play it Forward! Results Feasibility and process evaluation data suggested that the intervention was highly feasible and participants in both the CAG and intervention were highly satisfied. Specifically, over half of the families attended 75% of the Play it Forward! events and 33% of families attended all the events. Conclusion Equal collaboration between parents and academic researchers to address childhood obesity may be a promising approach that merits further testing.

Objectives: Regular uptake of mammogra­phy screening reduces the risk of advanced stage diagnosis of breast cancer (BC). How­ever, BC screening rates remain suboptimal among Korean American (KA) women. Using the Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Healthcare Services Utilization, this study examined factors associated with mammog­raphy screening among KA women aged 50 to 80 years in the state of Georgia, USA.Methods: We used purposive sampling to recruit study participants in the Atlanta met­ropolitan area from May 2015 to February 2016. A total of 303 KA women completed a cross-sectional, self-report survey about their sociodemographics, health care access information, knowledge, self-efficacy, deci­sional balance, and mammography history.Results: Descriptive analyses confirmed low rates of mammography screening in the participants. Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that having a mammogram within the past year was associated with greater BC knowledge, higher scores of decisional balance and fewer annual health check-ups among KA women without any cancer history.Conclusions: The findings offer implica­tions for health policy aimed at increas­ing BC screening by leveraging enabling factors among medically underserved KA women at both structural and cultural levels.Ethn Dis.2019;29(Suppl 2):427-434; doi:10.18865/ed.29.S2.427

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