Research Methods in Health Promotion

Richard A. Crosby is an associate professor in the Department of Health Behavior in the College of Public Health at the University of Kentucky. Crosby received his B.A. degree (1981) in school health education from the University of Kentucky and his M.A. degree (1984) in health education from Central Michigan University. His Ph.D. degree (1998) is in health behavior and is from Indiana University.
Crosby was formerly an assistant professor at the Rollins School of Public Health, and previous to that appointment he was a Fellow of the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine. He currently teaches graduate courses in public health and research methods. Crosby’s research interests include development and application of behavioral theory to health promotion, particularly in adolescent and young adult populations. He is primarily involved in health promotion practice and research that contributes to reducing the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases, especially infection with the human immunodeficiency virus. Also affiliated with the Rural Center for AIDS and STD Prevention, Crosby has published numerous journal articles that report empirical findings relevant to the sexual risk behaviors of adolescents and adults.

Ralph J. DiClemente is Charles Howard Candler Professor of Public Health and associate director, Emory Center for AIDS Research. He holds concurrent appointments as professor in the School of Medicine, the Department of Pediatrics, in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Epidemiology, and Immunology; the Department of Medicine, in the Division of Infectious Diseases; and the Department of Psychiatry. He was recently chair, the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University. DiClemente was trained as a health psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco, where he received his Ph.D. degree (1984) after completing an S.M. degree (1978) in behavioral sciences at the Harvard School of Public Health and his B.A. degree (1973) at the City University of New York.
DiClemente’s research interests include developing decision-making models of adolescents’ risk and protective behaviors. He has a particular interest in the development and evaluation of theory-driven HIV/STD-prevention programs for adolescents and young adult women. He has published numerous books and journal articles in the fields of adolescent health and HIV/STD prevention. He currently teaches a course on adolescent health and serves on numerous editorial boards and national prevention organizations.

Laura F. Salazar is currently an assistant research professor in behavioral sciences and health education at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. Salazar completed her B.S. degree (1982) in business management from the State University of New York at Buffalo. After a brief career in business, and raising a family, she pursued an M.A. degree (1996) and a Ph.D. degree (2001) in community psychology at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Salazar’s research interests focus on examining the societal, community, and institutional influences of certain health risk behaviors, such as sexual risk behavior and violence against women. She also holds a keen interest in examining the intersection of these two health risks and how they should be addressed simultaneously through the development of innovative programs. She currently teaches graduate courses in theory and applied research methods. She has published many scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals related to these health issues, and is also the author of numerous book chapters.