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Biomedical subjects

T J Coates

Publications and source records attributed to T J Coates.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Feasibility and effectiveness of school-based relaxation in lowering blood pressure.

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) is a broadly useful anxiety reduction technique that has been found to lower blood pressure (BP) in essential hypertension. The present investigation is the first to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of wide-scale PMR instruction as a public health promotion strategy aimed at adolescents. Students (N = 1,400) in Grades 9 and 10 at two large Baltimore City public high schools underwent BP screening; those with BP persistently above the 85th percentile were randomly assigned to (a) 12 weeks daily PMR instruction provided in class for academic credit or (b) a control condition. The latter students had their BP measured at the same frequency as the PMR students and completed the PMR course during the following year. Approximately two thirds of eligible students entered and completed the study. Results demonstrated that treatment students (n = 51) enjoyed daily PMR, mastered the technique, and achieved reduced systolic BP at posttest relative to the untrained controls (n = 59). At follow-up 4 months later, group BP differences were not significant. Implications for use of PMR to promote cardiovascular health are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Relationship between mood and blood pressure in the natural environment: an adolescent population.

We examined the relation between psychological variables and blood pressure (BP) as 28 adolescents engaged in their customary activities over a 24-hr period in their natural environment. Each subject had previously participated in a laboratory study of cardiovascular reactivity. During the ambulatory monitoring period, subjects monitored mood state, perceptions of the environment, and ambulatory BP at 30-min intervals. Mood ratings and BP were averaged across the waking hours. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity to laboratory stressors was significantly correlated with average SBP in the home environment. Ambulatory SBP was positively associated with worried, hostile, depressed, and tense mood ratings as well as perceptions of the environment as hostile, demanding, and noisy. Ambulatory diastolic blood pressure was correlated with hostile, depressed, and upset mood ratings as well as with hostile and demanding perceptions of the environment. In general, average ambulatory BP appeared to be associated with negative emotions and perceptions of the environment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Alcohol and drug use during sexual activity and compliance with safe sex guidelines for AIDS: the AIDS Behavioral Research Project.

This article describes the association between drug and alcohol use during sexual activity and high-risk sex for AIDS. Data to test this association are drawn from a prospective study of the behavioral changes made by gay men in San Francisco in response to the AIDS epidemic. Findings drawn from the May, 1984 and May 1985 waves of data collection are described. The cross-sectional analysis showed that use of particular drugs during sex, the number of drugs used during such activity, and the frequency of combining drugs and sex are all positively associated with risky sexual activity for AIDS. The retrospective data showed that men who currently abstained from combining drug use with sexual activity were likely to have been at no risk for AIDS over two measurement points during the previous year. The men who currently combined drug use with sex were most likely to have a history of high-risk sexual activity over the previous year. These findings show a strong relationship between drug and alcohol use during sex and non-compliance with safe sex techniques to prevent the spread of AIDS. Implications of this relationship for AIDS health education efforts are discussed.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1985

Modifying the snack food consumption patterns of inner city high school students: the Great Sensations Study.

The Great Sensations Program is a nutrition-education project developed for high school students. It was designed to (a) decrease students' consumption of salty snacks and (b) increase students' consumption of fresh fruit snacks. The overall programs were designed following principles of social learning: informative instruction, participatory classroom activities, personal goal setting, feedback, and reinforcement. The program was delivered in six lessons during regular health-education classes. A parental involvement program consisted of mailers and telephone calls to parents to teach them to encourage changes in student snacking habits. A schoolwide program was designed to provide out-of-class peer support for student modifications in salty snack foods. The program was evaluated in one high school using a 2 X 2 design. A second high school served as a no-treatment control. Program assessments were made at both schools before and after the classes, at the end of the school year, and the following fall the next school year following summer vacation. The schoolwide media program was effective in decreasing consumption of salty snack foods and in increasing consumption of target snack foods. However, only those students receiving classroom instruction maintained those changes until the end of the school year. No changes were maintained across summer vacation. These outcomes suggest that school programs developed using principles of social learning may be effective in facilitating important behavior changes at home and at school.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

AIDS and sexual behavior reported by gay men in San Francisco.

In November 1983, we surveyed 655 gay men in San Francisco regarding their sexual practices during the previous month and the same month one year ago. The sample was selected to include men in situations that would lead to high risk of sexual activities related to AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) transmission (i.e., men frequenting bathhouses and gay bars) as well as men in low-risk situations (those going to neither place and men in primary relationships). The Bath group showed little change in frequency of bathhouse use and in number of sexual partners from that location. The other groups showed substantial reductions in frequency of sexual contacts from bars, baths, T-rooms, or parks. Men in monogamous relationships showed little change in sexual behavior within their relationship. Men in non-monogamous relationships and men not in relationships reported substantial reductions in high-risk sexual activity, but not a corresponding increase in low-risk sexual behavior. Knowledge of health guidelines was quite high, but this knowledge had no relation to sexual behavior. Using sex to release tension, use of sex to express gay identity, and knowledge of persons with AIDS in the advanced stages of disease were related to frequency and type of sexual behavior.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1984

Reducing distress in pediatric cardiac catheterization.

To examine the efficacy of rehearsal in reducing distress in 3- to 6-year-old children undergoing diagnostic cardiac catheterization, 40 children were assigned randomly to the rehearsal preparation procedure or to usual preparation. The rehearsal program involved the use of behavioral rehearsal in the catheterization laboratory, manuals to explain the procedure to the parents, and coloring books to provide parents and children with a vicarious experience of catheterization. Rehearsed patients cried, yelled for mother, complained of pain less, and showed lower rates of motor activity than did control patients. Rehearsed patients also showed less overt regressive, aggressive, and anxiety behaviors at home following the catheterization than did controls. Parents in the rehearsed group showed less anxiety following the catheterization, and negative reactions in children correlated significantly with parental anxiety. Participants' reactions were uniformly more positive in the rehearsed than in the control patients.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1984

Smoking cessation with young women in public family planning clinics: the impact of physician messages and waiting room media.

This study evaluated the impact of a media program and a physician-delivered message in encouraging smoking cessation among young black women in public family planning clinics. Incorporated into the clinic visit, the 3- to 5-min physician message was intended to elicit a commitment from participants to take steps toward quitting, namely, to think about quitting, set a target date, enlist the help of family and friends, throw away matches and cigarettes, and to then quit "cold turkey." The media program consisted of specially designed posters in waiting rooms showing models of people in the process of quitting and a continuously run movie dealing with women and smoking. A total of 1,179 female smokers were recruited into the study when they came to three separate clinics in Baltimore, Maryland, to receive gynecological examinations and/or contraceptive services. Four separate interventions were tested: (I) a baseline questionnaire about smoking habits and related information; (II) baseline questionnaire plus media program; (III) baseline questionnaire plus physician message; and (IV) baseline questionnaire plus media program plus physician message. Conditions I and II were administered in Clinic A on alternating weeks, Condition III was administered in Clinic B, and Condition IV was administered in Clinic C. Follow-up was conducted at 3 and 12 months. Follow-up rates were 88.1% at 3 months, 79.9% at 12 months, and 84.1% for both 3 and 12 months. Among women receiving the physician message (Conditions III and IV), 9.9% reported not smoking at 12 months; the lowest selfreported cessation rate was 3.1% in Condition I. When verified through analyzing cotinine in saliva, quit rates were 0.09% in Condition I, 2.4% in Condition II, 3.7% in Condition III, and 2.1% in Condition IV. The fact that participants receiving the physician message quit smoking at a significantly greater rate than those who did not indicates the need for further study of the impact of physician-delivered smoking cessation messages and ways to increase their effectiveness.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Great Sensations: a program to encourage heart healthy snacking by high school students.

The Great Sensations program consisted of three interrelated educational strategies--classroom instruction, parent outreach, and media campaign. These strategies were designed to teach inner-city high school students about salt and high blood pressure, and to encourage them to eat more low-salt snacks and fewer high-salt snacks. Eight classes at the experimental school were randomly assigned to class instruction or parent outreach in a factoral design. All students in the experimental school were exposed to the media campaign. Students at a nearby high school served as the comparison group. All but a few of the 490 students at the two schools were black. Students who received the classroom instruction reported lower Salty Snack selection and higher Target Snack selection at posttest and eight-week follow-up. Students receiving media only reported lower Salty Snack selection at posttest but this condition returned to baseline by eight weeks. The control group reported little change in snack selection at posttest and eight weeks. After six months, program effects were no longer evident for either experimental group.

Diet, Sodium-Restricted↗
PubMed1983

What do insomniacs do, think, and feel during the day? A preliminary study.

Ten sleep-maintenance insomniacs and 11 good sleepers were issued electronic pagers. They activated their devices during their waking hours and completed the Marchini Monitoring Inventory (MMI) when paged at random intervals throughout the day. The insomniacs spent significantly more time shopping, watching television, and relaxing, whereas good sleepers spent significantly more time talking to people, working, and studying. Good sleepers thought more about their day's routine, everyday problems, work, and their interpersonal relationships with family members; insomniacs thought more about their immediate physical environment and numerous forms of passive relaxation. Good sleepers appeared busier, more active, and more involved in their work and with other people. Insomniacs seemed more preoccupied with self. Insomniacs might benefit from treatment strategies that entail increased activity and involvement with other persons and external events.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1983

Increasing physicians' antismoking influence by applying an inexpensive feedback technique.

Continuing medical education that ignores motivational and environmental determinants of continued skill use will have little impact. Physicians who were trained to give antismoking advice to patients did so effectively soon after training, but their performance deteriorated during the next nine months. A subsequent study showed that antismoking effectiveness is maintained for extended periods if advice-giving rates are monitored monthly and physicians receive immediate corrective feedback whenever their performance declines.

Education, Medical, Continuing↗