Spotlight on Research at COPH – Preventive health behaviors, such as physical activity and healthful eating, are brief events that accumulate throughout the day.  Previous research and health professional practice have typically viewed sustained health behavior as an individual’s decision made frequently and habitually over time.  Strategies to promote healthy behavior have focused on developing knowledge and skills within individuals.  But, evidence has emerged that individual choices are made in relation to the characteristics of places and people that they interact with on a daily… Continue Reading

Spotlight on Research at COPH – Medical care expenditures are highly concentrated in the U.S. with 5% of the population responsible for nearly half of all health care expenses. Patients with high medical utilization often have frequent emergency department visits. There is an increasing interest in studying the characteristics and underlying needs of the frequent users of emergency department (ED) to help understand the causes of poor health and high utilization.  Research shows that these patients may have complex health-harming needs that cannot be addressed… Continue Reading