An educational and screening program for prostate cancer designed to increase knowledge and self-efficacy in African American men was provided in African American churches in a major midwestern city. Modeling was provided by trained lay educators who were African American men previously diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer and who could serve as role models of the desired behaviors. Pretests and posttests developed for this study and provided to the participants were the Prostate Cancer Screening Knowledge Inventory and the Prostate Cancer Screening Self-Efficacy Scale. Paired t tests demonstrated that after completing the church-based intervention, participants had significantly improved knowledge and self-efficacy scores related to prostate cancer screening.

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On-site MRSA surveillance with targeted decolonization resulted in a significant decrease in clinical MRSA infection among LTCF residents.

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In this psychometric study, a scale to measure hope in chronically ill patients was developed and evaluated. Four hundred fifty participants with a variety of chronic diagnoses completed two forms of the Multidimensional Hope Scale (MHS) (state and trait) and the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS). High levels of internal consistency (alpha = .95) and test-retest reliability (r = .82, p < .001) were estimated for the state form. Good concurrent validity was also indicated with a significant negative correlation between the MHS and the BHS (r = -.45, p < .001). Factor analysis using principal axis factoring and oblimin rotation identified six factors: Resource to Others, Civic Interest, Spirituality, Health, Social Support, and Self-Actualization. The psychometric data suggest a promising tool for measuring hopefulness in physically ill individuals.