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Purpose: To examine behavioral patterns and sociodemographic predictors of diet, inactivity, and tobacco use among a diverse sample of residents from low-income housing developments., Design: In this cross-sectional survey study, households and residents were randomly selected using multistage cluster sampling. Setting . The study was conducted in 20 low-income housing developments in the Boston, Massachusetts, metropolitan area., Subjects: Subjects were 828 residents who completed the survey (response rate = 49.3%). Forty-one percent of participants were Hispanic and 38% were non-Hispanic Black. Measures . Outcomes measured were diet, inactivity, and tobacco use. Predictors measured were age, race/ethnicity, gender, education, country in which the subject was born, language spoken, and financial hardship. Analysis . Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the association of three health behaviors with sociodemographic factors., Results: Age, gender, language spoken, and financial hardship showed significant relationships with all three behaviors. For example, those who reported less financial hardship (odds ratio [OR] = 1.75) were more likely to eat healthier. Residents who spoke no English, or at least one language in addition to English, were significantly more likely to report healthier eating (OR = 2.78 and 3.30, respectively) than those who spoke English only. Men were significantly more likely to report less healthy eating (OR = 0.65) than were women. Similar trends emerged for inactivity and tobacco use., Conclusion: Effective health promotion interventions in low-income housing developments that leverage protective factors while addressing risk factors have the potential to reduce income-related health disparities in these concentrated resource-deprived neighborhoods.

Purpose: To examine the external validity of an efficacious tailored smoking cessation and nutrition improvement telephone intervention., Design: Comparison of characteristics of participants and nonparticipants (representativeness); examination of the extent of intervention implementation., Setting: Cancer center collaboration with a labor union., Subjects: Unionized construction laborers., Intervention: Tailored feedback report, telephone counseling, and supplementary educational materials focused on smoking cessation and improved nutrition., Measures: Background survey identifying socio-demographic and behavioral characteristics; process evaluation data; and final efficacy survey to determine participant satisfaction., Analysis: Cross-classification and the chi(2) test of homogeneity were used with categorically measured variables comparing participants and nonparticipants. We compared the means in the two groups for continuously scaled measures using the Student t-test and investigated the multivariable association of the characteristics of participation with a multiple logistic regression. For process data we present frequencies, percentages, and means., Results: Characteristics associated with participation included self-efficacy to change fruit and vegetable consumption (p = .0009) and self-identification with union's problems (p = 0.05). Eighty-six percent of non-smokers and 61% of smokers completed between 1 and 4 counseling sessions. Over one-half of non-smokers (61%) and smokers (53%) completed 4 or more calls and more smokers (34%) than non-smokers (11%) completed the 5+ sessions., Conclusions: These results provide a snapshot of characteristics of construction laborers to whom this intervention can be generalized and indicators of feasibility necessary for translating research into practice.