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Community and Behavioral Health - Colorado School of Public Health

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Sheana Bull, PhD, MPH

Professor and Chair

Summary of Teaching and Research Interests:

In the past decade Dr. Bull has focused on the development and testing of behavioral interventions for health promotion using technology. She is involved in HIV prevention projects utilizing mobile phones and text messaging, social networking sites and the Internet. She is also involved with prevention of chronic illness and promotion of self management behaviors such as nutrition and physical activity using computer kiosks with Denver area Latinos.

Dr. Bull is currently developing a master’s level course in Public Health on methods for technology-based health promotion.

Research Interests:

HIV Prevention for Adolescents, Gay Men and Men who have Sex with Men

Technology-based Health Promotion: Using the Internet, Mobile Phones and Social Networking Sites to Promote Health

Prevention of Chronic Illnesses

Promotion of Self Management Behaviors such as Nutrition and Physical Activity Using Computer Kiosks with Denver Area Latinos

Current Research Projects:

"The 411 for Safe Text" (10/07 - 06/09, Principal Investigator): The specific aims of this study are to (a) craft prototypes, based on prior research, for culturally appropriate, theoretically framed HIV prevention messages that can be delivered using cell-phone technology; (b) conduct focus groups with Black urban young men in Philadelphia, PA, using an iterative process to garner feedback and reactions to these initial prototypes; (c) utilize existing and newly gathered focus group data to refine the prototypes and to design generic health messages (for controls) and theoretically framed HIV prevention text messages, streaming video and short quizzes that will be delivered via cell phones (for intervention participants); (d) pilot test the acceptability and feasibility of cell-phone based interventions with 60 Black urban young men ages 16-20; and (e) pilot test the efficacy of the cell-phone based HIV prevention intervention in increasing abstinence, delays in initiation of sexual activity or increases in the use of condoms.

"Just/Us My Space 2.0" (10/07 - 06/11, Principal Investigator): The specific aims of this project are to (a) Conduct focus groups online at MySpace to inform the development of culturally relevant and appropriate social networking pages to promote dialogue about HIV Prevention among youth; (b) Use data from the focus groups to develop My_SexEtc._Space, a site that will be incorporated into the largest social networking site online, MySpace.

" An Internet Risk Reduction Program for Ugandan Youth (05/07 - 04/10, Co-Investigator): The specific aims of this study are (1) to demonstrate the feasibility of Internet-based interventions in Uganda, focusing especially on the recruitment, enrollment, and retention rates of study participants and (2) To design and test a 6-week, Internet-based HIV prevention program for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 years attending day schools in Mbarara