Darcell Scharff

Saint Louis University | SLU · Department of Behavioral Science & Health Education

Background: Evidence-based public health gives public health practitioners the tools they need to make choices based on the best and most current evidence. An evidence-based public health training course developed in 1997 by the Prevention Research Center in St. Louis has been taught by a transdisciplinary team multiple times with positive results...

Bridging the gap between research and practice requires more than evaluating the effectiveness of interventions in controlled studies. To bridge this gap, evidence needs to be defined in different ways, and opportunities need to be provided for practice-based evidence to be replicated and disseminated. Community-based interventions are often not co...

Community-based organizations often lack the capacity (e.g., time, staff, skills) to effectively evaluate programs, policies, and environmental changes. Providing evaluation technical assistance and training can be an effective and feasible way to build individual evaluation competency. The purpose of this article is to present a practical approach...

The federal Healthy Start program began 20 years ago, yet outcome evaluations lack sufficient rigor to draw conclusions on program impact. We evaluated the impact of the Healthy Start program on birth outcomes, prenatal care, and public services utilization. Birth record data for the St. Louis Healthy Start Program (SLHS) and non-SLHS controls (mat...

  Recent efforts to increase emergency medical services (EMS) prehospital research productivity by focusing on reducing systems-related barriers to research participation have had limited effect. The objective of this study was to explore the barriers and motivators to participating in research at the agency and provider levels and to solicit sugge...

From 1999 to 2009, the Eliminating Health Disparities Pre-doctoral Fellowship Program provided specialized education and mentoring to African American graduate students in public health. Fellows received a public health degree, coursework in understanding and eliminating health disparities, experiential learning, mentored research, and professional...

Hypertension is a growing problem in the United States, affecting every one in four Americans. However, hypertension tends to be more common and more severe in the African American population, with one in every three African Americans suffering from hypertension. Increasing awareness, treatment and control of high blood pressure can reduce the morb...

Program directors of accredited dietetics educational programs for registered dietitians were surveyed to determine the extent to which cultural competency is currently being addressed in their curricula. A total of 153 of 461 responses were collected over the 10-week survey period, yielding a 33% response rate. Responses were obtained from 20 of t...

This paper describes results of a qualitative study that explored barriers to research participation among African American adults. A purposive sampling strategy was used to identify African American adults with and without previous research experience. A total of 11 focus groups were conducted. Groups ranged in size from 4-10 participants (N=70)....

African Americans experience a greater risk of Alzheimer disease (AD), but are underrepresented in AD research. Our study examined barriers and facilitators of AD research participation among African Americans. Investigators conducted 11 focus groups with African American participants (n=70) who discussed barriers and facilitators to AD research pa...

Background: Resource inventories and needs assessments are traditional tools for aiding in community development. These approaches provide essential information necessary for designing effective community health and social programs; however, they are sometimes at odds with one another. In recent years, asset mapping has emerged as a new tool which...

Measuring the competency of the public health workforce is critical to improving the functioning of the public health system. This study investigated the construct validity and reliability of the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals, as promulgated by the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health (COL). Principal component...

There is little information about how receptive older adults are to discuss memory problems with healthcare providers. Here we test the psychosocial factors explaining older adults' intention to undergo screening for Alzheimer disease (AD). A population-based, random-digit dialing strategy surveyed 1,039 older adults. The Behavioral Model of Health...

Reducing the gap between research and practice is gaining much needed attention. Schools of public health can play a role by ensuring that students are taught the necessary knowledge and skills to translate research into practice and to effectively disseminate research and other public health information. Competency-based education is one mechanism...

The purpose of this article is to review the literature from 1980 to 2005 regarding organ donation decision making by African Americans for themselves and their loved ones and recommend improvements in subsequent studies. Using the behavioral model of health services utilization as an organizing framework, the review procedure consists of a (1) sea...

Alzheimer disease research has focused on detecting the earliest signs of cognitive decline and efforts are ongoing to develop biomarkers and cognitive measures that reliably distinguish between nondemented and demented individuals. However, little is known about factors that may directly or indirectly influence screening behavior of older communit...

A randomized field trial compared the effectiveness of three types of printed educational materials designed to increase nutrition label reading. Adult primary care patients (n=915) from four health centers in Missouri were recruited from the lobby while waiting to see a doctor. Participants completed a baseline assessment and were randomly assigne...

Health disparities are in the forefront of the public health agenda. Eliminating health disparities is one of two primary goals set for 2010. The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) has committed to working toward this effort in a variety of ways, including the development of a resolution to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health...

Printed health education materials (HEMs) are widely used to increase awareness and knowledge, change attitudes and beliefs, and help individuals adopt and maintain healthy lifestyle behaviors. While much of the contemporary research and development of persuasive communication is based on McGuire's input/output model, to date few studies have compa...

Research in health communication has shown that individually tailored health education materials are more effective than traditional or generic materials in producing changes in health-related behaviors. However, tailored materials have not been equally effective for all individuals. Because locus of control affects behavioral outcomes in other sel...

As eliminating health disparities becomes a national priority, schools of public health must respond by increasing the number of minority students who graduate with degrees in public health. Creating a more diverse workforce will have a positive impact on the disparities that currently exist. This article offers a rationale for increasing diversity...

Physical inactivity is a major public health problem. Patient education programs and materials that are customized to address the unique needs and concerns of specific patients have shown promise in changing a range of health related behavior, although findings to date for physical activity have been equivocal. In this study a randomized controlled...

This study examined the rates and factors associated with physical activity in women of various ages. Adult women (n = 653) from four community-based family medicine clinics completed a self-administered behavioral and health questionnaire while waiting to see their physician. Findings suggested variation in physical activity over the life span, wi...

National objectives and guidelines call upon physicians to help reduce the population burden of chronic diseases by advising patients to eat less fat and get more physical activity. However, studies show physicians are most likely to provide behavioral recommendations to patients who are already sick. Understanding factors that influence physicians...

Background.National objectives and guidelines call upon physicians to help reduce the population burden of chronic diseases by advising patients to eat less fat and get more physical activity. However, studies show physicians are most likely to provide behavioral recommendations to patients who are already sick. Understanding factors that influence...

Reading and understanding nutrition labels on foods may be an important precursor to dietary change. However, little is known about how nutrition labels are used by consumers and what effect reading labels has on dietary behaviors. This article identifies behavioral and health status correlates of nutrition label reading and describes patterns of l...