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About
TobWell
The Tobacco Control and Wellness
Research Working Group (TobWell) is an initiative designed to facilitate
collaborative research among faculty
members and graduate students at Indiana University. The initiative is
based in the Department of Applied Health Science, School of Health,
Physical Education and Recreation at Indiana University - Bloomington.
The TobWell was organized to bring together graduate students who are
interested in conducting research in the areas of
alcohol/tobacco
use, obesity, health promotion and communication, and other areas of
wellness, and encourage them to design and conduct high quality research
under the direction of a faculty member. TobWell provides its members,
through seminars, workshops, and one-on-one research guidance, with
opportunities not only to enhance knowledge on content area but also to develop practical research skills including
measurement and evaluation expertise, multivariate statistical
knowledge, effective use of statistical package programs, and
understanding of various research designs employed in applied health
sciences. In addition, a group of senior advisors, all internationally
known leaders in public health or school health, provide invaluable
guidance to its research efforts.
Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of premature death in
the United States. It is responsible for the death of more than 400,000
Americans, accounting for 1 in every 5 deaths, and about 5 million
deaths worldwide each year. If current smoking patterns continue,
according to World Health Organization, half the people that smoke today
- that is about 650 million people worldwide - will eventually be killed
by tobacco. Cigarette smoking is an important cause of death from heart
disease, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as well as
lung cancer. Also, evidence of detrimental health effects of exposure to
secondhand smoke is increasing. More rigorous and innovative research in
the area of tobacco prevention, cessation, and control must be
conducted.
The
majority of health problems are caused or exacerbated by unhealthy
lifestyles and risky behaviors and the vast majority of them are
multi-faceted in terms of both determinants and structural dimensions.
This implies that public health researchers should strive to understand
interrelationships among multiple risk factors with a holistic
framework. TobWell is committed to research activities to better
understand, prevent and control lifestyle disorders and risky behavior.
In doing so, TobWell values (1) an ecological approach where connections
between people and their environments are examined systematically and
multilevel factors are hierarchically accounted for; (2) reducing health
disparities by placing more emphasis on understudied, underserved, and
socioeconomically disadvantaged population groups; (3) innovative
rethinking, restructuring, and reinvigorating existing paradigms and
programs; (4) cultural competency where context is considered in
interpretations and applications of research findings yet the value of
parsimonious interpretation is not overlooked; (5) theory- and/or
evidence-based interventions; and (6) diligent attention to minimize
measurement errors and sampling errors.
For more information about TobWell, its activities, members, and
products, explore this website or contact us.
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