Feasibility study of social media to reduce intimate partner violence among gay men in metro atlanta, georgia.

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a major public health issue occurring in the United States and globally. While little is known in general about IPV, understanding about the prevalence of physical IPV among gay men is even more obscure. There is a clear disparity in violence research attention focused on this vulnerable segment of society. This cross-sectional survey study was conducted to examine the feasibility of enrolling 100 gay men from Atlanta into an IPV survey study. The survey was administered via Facebook. Ninety-nine usable surveys were collected. Chi-square tests reveal that minority ethnic status, illicit drug use, and non-disclosed orientation status were all significantly associated with positive IPV reports--in terms of both victimization as well as perpetration. Overall, the majority of the study sample indicated that they believe IPV is a health problem in the Atlanta gay community. These findings bear importance for the Atlanta gay community and public health professionals who must address this nearly invisible yet increasing public health issue.

A survey of georgia adult protective service staff: implications for older adult injury prevention and policy.

BACKGROUND: The aging population is a rapidly growing demographic. Isolation and limited autonomy render many of the elderly vulnerable to abuse, neglect and exploitation. As the population grows, so does the need for Adult Protective Services (APS). This study was conducted to examine current knowledge of older adult protection laws in Georgia among APS staff and to identify training opportunities to better prepare the APS workforce in case detection and intervention. METHODS: The Georgia State University Institute of Public Health faculty developed a primary survey in partnership with the Georgia Division of Aging Services' leadership to identify key training priority issues for APS caseworkers and investigators. A 47-item electronic questionnaire was delivered to all APS employees via work-issued email accounts. We conducted descriptive analyses, t-tests and chi-square analyses to determine APS employees' baseline knowledge of Georgia's elder abuse policies, laws and practices, as well as examine associations of age, ethnicity, and educational attainment with knowledge. We used a p-value of 0.05 and 95% confidence intervals to determine statistical significance of analyses performed. RESULT: Ninety-two out of 175 APS staff responded to the survey (53% response rate). The majority of respondents were Caucasian (56%) women (92%). For over half the survey items, paired sample t-tests revealed significant differences between what APS staff reported as known and what APS staff members indicated they needed to know more about in terms of elder abuse and current policies. Chi-square tests revealed that non-Caucasians significantly preferred video conferencing as a training format (44% compared to 18%), [χ(2)(1) = 7.102, p < .008], whereas Caucasians preferred asynchronous online learning formats (55% compared to 28%) [χ(2)(1) =5.951, p < .015]. CONCLUSION: Results from this study provide the Georgia Division of Aging with insight into specific policy areas that are not well understood by APS staff. Soliciting input from intended trainees allows public health educators to tailor and improve training sessions. Trainee input may result in optimization of policy implementation, which may result in greater injury prevention and protection of older adults vulnerable to abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Protecting children: a survey of caregivers' knowledge of Georgia's child restraint laws.

INTRODUCTION: The leading cause of injury and death among children in the United States is motor vehicle crashes. Even though restraint laws are in place and public awareness campaigns and educational interventions have increased, many children are still improperly restrained or not restrained at all. When correctly used, child restraints significantly reduce risk of injury or death. METHODS: The purpose of the study was to elicit caregiver baseline knowledge of car seat installation and regulation before receiving car seat education from certified technicians at Inspection Station events. Inspection Station is a program whereby staff assists parents in correctly positioning car seats in participants' vehicles. Over an 8-week period, Safe Kids Cobb County Car Seat Technicians distributed a 16-item survey, with 10 knowledge-based questions and six demographic questions to Inspection Station participants. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were conducted to assess relationships between participant age, ethnicity, and gender with overall knowledge scores. Regression analysis was run to determine the association between participant education level and total child restraint knowledge. RESULTS: One hundred sixty-nine surveys were completed. Participant knowledge of vehicular child restraint ranged from 0% to 90% on all items. Only 29.6% of caregivers understood the proper tightness of the harness system. Less than half of the caregivers (43.8%) were aware of the Georgia law requiring children aged 6 years and younger to be in some type of child restraint. Only 43.2% of caregivers surveyed knew that children need to ride in a rear-facing child restraint until 1 year of age and 20 pounds. No significant correlations between participant knowledge and age were found. Statistically significant associations were found between total knowledge scores and education level, ethnicity, and gender. DISCUSSION: The results from this study describe baseline knowledge among a sample of participants at Inspection Station activities held in Cobb County, Georgia. These results can help inform tailoring of future programming so that the impact of enhanced health education/prevention messages for intended populations can be maximized and health child injury risk related to improper restraints can be minimized.