Purpose-To describe the attitudes and preferences of ethnically diverse new mothers on weight and exercise of women like them.Study Design and Methods-Exploratory, qualitative study. Forty-nine ethnically diverse women were interviewed during the first year following childbirth regarding beliefs about weight, choices of exercise, walking for exercise, perceived benefits, barriers, and facilitators of exercise. Content analysis techniques were used to analyze the data.Results-Weight was a significant concern for women, although the importance varied by race. New mothers reported that they would like to weigh less, and they endorsed walking for exercise. Common barriers to exercise were children and time constraints; health problems were also seen as a barrier to walking as a form of exercise. Scheduling the walk, and having a walking partner were factors which women said would facilitate walking for physical activity during the first year post childbirth.Clinical Implications-Since new mothers perceive walking a good form of exercise, nurses can use this information to help them plan a daily walking schedule to aid in weight loss and control postpartum. Nurses should also encourage new mothers to look for a walking partner, especially another new mother or a friend, to help them continue their physical activity during the first year after childbirth.

Introduction-This study tested the addition of a cognitive-behavioral skill-building component called Positive Adolescent Life Skills (PALS) training to an existing intervention for urban adolescents to enhance resiliency. In previous pilot work with the existing intervention, called "Teen Club," it was found that participants in group meetings and intensive case management reported an enhanced ability to connect with positive resources.

Community-engaged research with deaf populations identifies strengths and priorities, providing essential information otherwise missing from existing public health surveillance, and forming a foundation for collaborative dissemination to facilitate broader inclusion of deaf communities.

BackgroundMundoComm is a current NIH-funded project for sustainable public health capacity building in community engagement and technological advances aimed at improving maternal health issues. Two to four teams are selected annually, each consisting of three healthcare professionals and one technical person from specific low and middle income countries (LMICs) including Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, and other LMICs. MundoComm is a course with three parts: in-person workshops, online modules, and mentored community engagement development. Two annual 1-week on-site “short courses” convened in Costa Rica are supplemented with six monthly online training modules using the Moodle® online platform for e-learning, and mentored project development. The year-long course comprises over 20 topics divided into the six modules - each module further segmented into 4 week-long assignments, with readings and assigned tasks covering different aspects of community-engaged interventions. The content is peer reviewed by experts in the respective fields from University of Rochester, UCIMED in Costa Rica, and faculty from Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic who maintain regular contact with the trainees to mentor learning and project progress. The purpose of this paper is to report the first year results of the MundoComm project.MethodsBoth quantitative and qualitative feedback (using online data capturing forms) assess baseline and post-training knowledge and skills in public health project strategies.ResultsThe course currently has one team each in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras for a total of 12 trainees. The course and modules include best practices in information and communication technologies (ICTs), ethical reviews, community engagement, evidence-based community interventions, and e-Health strategies. To maximize successful and culturally appropriate training approaches, the multi-media didactic presentations, flexible distance learning strategies, and the use of tablets for offline data collection are offered to trainees, and then feedback from trainees and other lessons learned aid in the refinement of subsequent curricular improvements.ConclusionsThrough remark and discussion, the authors report on 1) the feasibility of using a globally networked learning environment (GNLE) plus workshop approach to public health capacity training and 2) the capacity of LMIC teams to complete the MundoComm trainings and produce ICT-based interventions to address a maternal health issue in their respective regions.