Browsing by Author "Jay, Stephen J."

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    Effect of Personal Characteristics on Individual Support for Indoor Smoke-Free Air Laws, Indiana, 2008
    (CDC, 2012) Zollinger, Terrell W.; Saywell, Robert M., Jr.; Robinson, Joshua J.; Jay, Stephen J.; Spitznagle, Miranda H.; Family Medicine, School of Medicine
    Introduction: Policy makers should understand the attitudes and beliefs of their constituents regarding smoke-free air legislation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of selected personal characteristics on attitudes and beliefs about secondhand smoke in Indiana and on support for smoke-free air laws. Methods: Data were obtained from the 2008 Indiana Adult Tobacco Survey of 2,140 adults and included 11 sociodemographic variables. Chi-square and multiple logistic regression analyses were used to test for significant associations between sociodemographic characteristics and support for statewide or community smoke-free air legislation. Results: Most respondents (72.3%) indicated that they supported laws making work places smoke-free. After adjusting for the effects of the other variables, 3 were found to be significant predictors of support: being a never or former smoker, being female, and being aware of the health hazards of secondhand smoke. Age, race/ethnicity, income, urban or rural county of residence, employment status, and having children in the household were not significant when adjusting for the other characteristics. Conclusion: Most Indiana residents support smoke-free air legislation for workplaces. The support was constant among most groups across the state, suggesting policy makers would have the backing of their constituents to pass such legislation. The results of this study suggest that efforts to gain support for smoke-free air laws should focus on men, people unaware of the health hazards from secondhand smoke, and smokers and former smokers.
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    Perspective: Is It Time for Advocacy Training in Medical Education?
    (2012-09) Croft, Daniel; Jay, Stephen J.; Meslin, Eric M.; Gaffney, Margaret M.; Odell, Jere D.
    As the modern medical system becomes increasingly complex, a debate has arisen over the place of advocacy efforts within the medical profession. The authors argue that advocacy can help physicians fulfill their social contract. For physicians to become competent in patient-centered, clinical, administrative, or legislative advocacy, they require professional training. Many professional organizations have called for curricular reform to meet society's health needs during the past 30 years, and the inclusion of advocacy training in undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education is supported on both pragmatic and ethical grounds. Undergraduate medical education, especially, is an ideal time for this training because a standard competency can be instilled across all specialties. Although the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education includes advocacy training in curricula for residency programs, few medical schools or residency programs have advocacy electives. By understanding the challenges of the health care system and how to change it for the better, physicians can experience increased professional satisfaction and effectiveness in improving patient care, systems-based practice, and public health.
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    Saving Children From the White Plague: The Marion County Tuberculosis Association's Crusade Against Tuberculosis, 1911-1936
    (2010) Gascoine, Kelly Gayle; Schneider, William H. (William Howard), 1945-; Barrows, Robert G. (Robert Graham), 1946-; Jay, Stephen J.
    In 1910, tuberculosis ranked as the leading cause of death in Indianapolis. A year later in 1911 physicians and lay members of the Marion County public joined the burgeoning American anti-tuberculosis movement. These men and women formed a voluntary health organization to combat the disease called the Marion County Tuberculosis Association (MCTA). The MCTA ran a variety of public education campaigns to teach people of all ages about the causes of, treatments for, and proper preventive measures to take against tuberculosis. It lobbied Indianapolis and Marion County governments to open TB clinics and a county tuberculosis sanatorium so that consumptives, as tuberculosis patients were called, had access to medical care and so that the spread of the disease could be checked. The organization also cooperated with other groups to fight tuberculosis including local agencies, the Indiana Board of Health, the Indiana Tuberculosis Association (ITA), and the National Tuberculosis Association (NTA). One aspect of the MCTA’s activities came to dominate its mission and resources within a few years of its establishment, that of child health education. In this emphasis the association differed from other organizations in the anti-tuberculosis movement that recognized the need to improve child health but never designated it as the number one priority like the MCTA. This thesis will examine the first twenty-five years of the MCTA to analyze how and why the organization elevated child health and child health education to such a high priority as a means of controlling and eradicating tuberculosis in Indianapolis and Marion County.