To help prevent
morbidity and mortality in all populations, with special
emphasis on high risk groups, especially low income and
ethnic/racial minorities
To
study individual and population behavior that prevents or
contributes to the cause of disease and injury (with a focus
on the etiology of health behavior)
To
conduct non-intervention and clinical trials to determine
the factors most responsible for lifestyle practices related
to morbidity and mortality
To
establish a network and collaboration among basic, clinical,
behavioral, epidemiological, and community researchers; and
to integrate basic science through community investigations
with community services for control of disease
To
obtain input from key community-based organizations to
insure the most responsive science from basic science
through community studies and to insure the translation of
science to community services
To
recruit community-based organizations to insure
participation of low-income and minority samples in basic,
clinical and community studies and facilitate development of
effective heatlh services with behavioral components for
underserved high-risk populations
To
establish ongoing dialog with community-based,
government-based organizations and investigators from which
improved environmental health policies, for the control of
asthma, TB, and other diseases, can be effected
The Center for
Behavioral Epidemiology and Community Health is an
interdisciplinary extra-murally funded research association,
affiliated with the Graduate School of Public Health,
College of Health and Human Services, San Diego State
University. Dr. Melbourne F. Hovell serves as Executive
Director, and Dr. Donald Slymen (SDSU faculty), serves
Co-Director. Associate Investigators from other departments
from SDSU and from UCSD, as well as medical and public
health institutions collaborate on funded and unfunded
investigations.
The
Center makes possible a broad net of professionals who can
turn to one another for incidental as well as contracted
assistance in the design and conduct of studies. The
defining characteristic of the Center is a focus on the
etiology of health behavior. Both non-intervention and
clinical trials are conducted to determine the factors most
responsible for lifestyle practices related to morbidity and
mortality.
Because the Center
focuses on health related behavior--either protective
practices or risk practices--it has been concerned with a
wide range of public health and medical concerns. These have
included the following:
- tobacco prevention in
youth
- environmental tobacco
exposure reduction in children
- STDs, AIDS and
pregnancy prevention in adolescents
- STDs and AIDS
prevention in women and divorced adults
- nutrition (diet
practices) and physical activity promotion in youth and
adults
- compliance with
medical regimens
- violence and anger
prevention
- injury control
- enhancing clinician's
use of preventive medicine services
- health
services
- health policy
These
studies have been conducted with well and ill populations,
including:
- children with cystic
fibrosis, asthma, arthritis, diabetes, cardiovascular
disease, STDs, breast cancer, acute illnesses/injury
requiring intensive care hospitalization,
hepatitis
The
Center does not limit research to specific disease or
anatomical systems (e.g. diseases of the blood), but
emphasizes individual and
population behavior that prevents or contributes to the
cause of disease and injury.
Though the Center is
concerned with preventing morbidity and mortality in all
populations, emphasis is placed on high risk groups:
- low income
- women
- children
- ethnic/racial
minorities
