• Home
  • Internal
• About Us
  • Overview
  • History & Background
  • Executive Committee
• People
  • Research Affiliates
  • Support Staff
  • Fellows & Post Docs
  • Alpha Directories
• Research
  • Overview
  •   Demographic Methods
  •   Family Demography
  •   Population Health
  •   Migrants & Minorities
  •   Population Environment
  • Current Research Projects
  • Current Publications
  • Funding
  • Areas of Expertise
  • Working Papers Archive
• Services
  • Overview
  •   Administration
  •   Biodemography
  •   Computing
  •   Information
  •   Statistics
  •       GIS
• Training
  • Overview
  • CSDE Fellows Program
  • Workshops
  • Courses
• Announcements
  • Employment Opps
  • Funding Opps
  • Training Opps
  • Conferences
  • Calls for Papers
  • Workshops
  • Seminar Series
  • eNews Archive
  • Spotlight Archive
  • Special Notice Archive
• Links
  • UW Centers & Programs
  • Population Centers
  • PAA
  • APC
  • NICHD
  • PRB
  • WA Population Stats
• Contact Us
  • Contact Info
  • Locations
  • Driving Directions
  • Map
  • Become an Affiliate
  • Reserve a Room
  • Reserve Equipment
  • Mailing Lists

Spotlight

Kathy O’Connor Awarded 2009-10 CSDE Seed Grant

CSDE’s small grants program has awarded a seed grant to affiliate Kathy O’Connor. "Health Initiatives for Men," her project, will examine incentives and barriers that influence men’s health behaviors.

Proposal Abstract:
Human males have higher mortality than females at all ages of the lifespan. This gender disparity likely has both behavioral and biological causes, but is surprisingly understudied and remains unexplained. Behavioral studies indicate that males underutilize health care and engage in high risk behaviors. Biological studies suggest that hormonal and immunological function compromise or enhance male health depending on social context. This pilot project uses a mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) interdisciplinary (biopsychosocial) and community based (with Premera/BlueCross [PBC] of Seattle) approach to examine incentives and barriers influencing men’s health behaviors. A conceptual model based on the theory of reasoned action is used to explore pathways by which hormonal and immunological markers, family structure, social networks, job characteristics, self efficacy, and economic circumstances influence health related beliefs, intentions, behavior and health status. The goal of the pilot is to test the approach in a sample of 130 male PBC employees in preparation for an NIH application for a large comparative study of men’s health.