Michael A. Perko

Dr. Mike Perko is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Public Health Education. His research focuses on athletes and their use of sport performance products and takes a health behavior and educational approach rather than clinical approach. While many researchers focus on the testing of a particular sports performance enhancer (Creatine, Ephedra, Andro), Dr. Perko insists a crucial factor is the process of decision-making towards taking these products, and the influences that help athletes make good decisions (physicians, athletic trainers) or poor decisions (Media, dietary supplement industry) towards use.

There are 42 included publications by Michael A. Perko :

TitleDateViewsBrief Description
Associations Between Academic Performance of Division I Athletes and Their Perceptions of the Effects of Anabolic Steroids. 1995 4185 Data on the relationship between academic performance (grade point average) of college athletes and their perceptions of the effects of anabolic steroids on their sport and their performance were collected from Division 1 athletes (N=1,638) re...
Challenges and Recommendations to Enforcement of Alcohol Policies on College Campuses: An Administrator’s Perspective. 2011 2336 Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine challenges and recommendations (identified by college administrators) to enforcing alcohol policies implemented at colleges in the southeastern United States. Methods: Telephone interviews were cond...
Changes in Body Size of Elite High School Football Players: 1963 - 1989. 1993 6769 An examination of the heights and weights of members of the Parade Magazine's High School All-American Football Teams from 1963-1971 indicates no significant changes in the Body Mass Index of these elite athletes whereas an increased pattern in Body ...
Determining Intention to Provide Culturally Responsive Clinical Mental Health Care to Collegiate Student-Athletes 2023 130 Mental health care providers’ cultural responsiveness related to athletics is crucial to their clinical care provision for student-athletes on college campuses. However, little research has been conducted in applying a theoretical framework to explor...
Development of a theory-based instrument regarding adolescent athletes and dietary supplements 1999 1424 Development of a Theory-based Instrument Regarding Adolescent Athletes and Dietary Supplements: Dietary supplement use is a well-documented practice among adult and adolescent athletes. Most recently the popular press was as interested in professiona...
Diffusion of medication drop-boxes in North Carolina from 2007 to 2016 2018 1082 Introduction: A permanent drug donation box (“drop-box”) is one strategy implemented in communities across the United States to reduce the availability of excess controlled medications, including prescription opioids, for diversion. The objective of ...
Does evidence support the use of performance-enhancing supplements in youth sports? A select review of literature and policy. 2010 1584 Doctors of chiropractic (DCs) see approximately 10% of the US population in a given year making them among the most visited practitioners outside of conventional medicine for general health problems and especially back and neck conditions.1,2 In ...
The Eating and Appraisal Due to Emotions and Stress (EADES) Questionnaire: Development and Validation 2007 11727 Objective To develop and validate the Eating and Appraisal Due to Emotions and Stress (EADES) Questionnaire that was created to measure how one uses food to cope with stress and emotions. Design Data were collected from a cross-sectional study using...
Effects of Missing Meals on the Dietary Adequacy of the Elderly: The 1987-1988 National Food Consumption Survey 1995 1982 This study evaluated the differences in dietary adequacy between elderly (age 65 and older) who missed meals and those who did not. Data were obtained from the National Food Consumption Survey (1987-1988). Three-day food consumption records were used...
Family Caregiver Identity: A Literature Review 2015 6717 Background: Despite the multitude of available resources, family caregivers of those with chronic disease continually underutilize support services to cope with the demands of caregiving. Several studies have linked self-identification as a caregiver...
From Ephedra to creatine: using theory to respond to dietary supplement use in young athletes 2003 3340 Sport dietary supplements have garnered national media attention in their popularity with young athletes. Research shows the vast majority of claims made for these products are unproven, and health risk increases with use. There is an increasing need...
Girls Gone Wild: Girls as the Next Target Market for Sports Dietary Supplements 2004 1862 A new twist on an old problem. Sports supplements are hard to miss right now. In fact, never has the sports world been more enmeshed in media coverage and debate. Much of the emphasis is on male athletes, as it has been for decades. Males are clearly...
Giving New Meaning to the Term "Taking One for the Team”: Influences on Use/Non-Use of Dietary Supplements Among Adolescent Athletes. 2000 791 The purpose of this article will be to discuss the results of the theory-based Survey to Predict Adolescent Athletes Dietary Supplement Use (r=.9479) to assess intentions, attitudes, and beliefs of 1737 adolescent athletes regarding dietary supplemen...
Having the Right Tool for the Right Job: Results of an Incentive Versus Non-Incentive Weight Loss program 2000 1572 Health promotion or "Wellness" programs have been identified as a means of promoting positive behavior change in the general population, and have become an increasingly attractive value-added benefit in settings such as the worksite, medical and comm...
Health Education Advocacy for Health Initiatives: Political, Program and Practice Action 2009 2183 Health educators have much to be excited about if the debate and legislation on healthcare continues to focus on prevention. The potential of resources and jobs would be a boon for the profession not to mention further legitimacy for practitioners. W...
Health promotion advocacy: A practitioner’s role in prevention of sports injuries 2011 760 The CDC reports that over half of all sports-related injuries each year occur among youth athletes. Because these injuries can have implications on current and future health, prevention of such incidents is vital. Healthcare practitioners are in a un...
Hey Coach, Does This Stuff Work? What to Know When Discussing Dietary Supplements 2000 2377 On any given day, any number of young athletes in schools and on the playing fields are holding up advertise-ments for dietary supplements and asking, "Hey coach, does this stuff work" How physical and sports educators answer that question could mean...
Influence of Living Arrangements on Dietary Adequacy for U.S. Elderly: 1987-1988 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey 1993 1141 Research has suggested that elderly people who live with someone have better dietary adequacy, thus illustrating the important role of social interaction. This study evaluated the differences in dietary adequacy between independent and non-independen...
The Influence of Sexually Oriented Music on Minority Adolescent Sexual Initiation. 2012 5210 Answers as to whether sexually-oriented music lyrics influence adolescent sexual initiation are unclear. The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid instrument based on the Theory of Reasoned Action to enable researchers to predict ...
The Influence of Significant Others on Attitudes, Subjective Norms and Intentions regarding Dietary Supplement Use Among Adolescent Athletes 2001 3560 Dietary supplement use has increased significantly over the past decade. The use of supplements among adolescents seems to be influenced by their beliefs and attitudes. The influence of coaches, parents, and athletic trainers also may be important. T...
Influences on Alcohol Use Among NCAA Athletes: Application of the Social Ecology Model 2008 3173 The purpose of this study was to measure influences of college athlete alcohol consumption through application of the Social Ecology Model of health behaviors. A nonrandom sample (n=230) of college athletes from an NCAA institution was surveyed regar...
Integration of an 800-Number Health Information Line into a Comprehensive Health Promotion Program Driven by the Stage of Change Theory 1994 1179 The Stages of Change Theory purports that a significant percentage of the population are not contemplating a change in their health related behavior at any given point in time. One way to move people from not thinking about a behavior change to actua...
Lessons Lived: Development and Discovery in Health Education Distance Education Programs 2008 904 This article highlights three noteworthy distance education program approaches to the delivery of health education courses. Insights into The University of Alabama Masters in Health Studies, now in its second decade delivering a complete degree progr...
Managing Diabetes: Use of the Transtheoretical Model 2008 19042 Managing diabetes requires a motivated client and skilled health care provider." clients adhere to diabetes management recommendations is challenging. The transtheoretical model may be valuable in achieving success in diabetes management. Health care...
Overweight and Obesity Are Associated with Emotion- and Stress-Related Eating as Measured by the Eating and Appraisal Due to Emotions and Stress Questionnaire 2008 7696 Objective Identify if constructs from the Eating and Appraisal Due to Emotions and Stress Model, including Emotion and Stress Related Eating, Appraisal of Ability and Resources to Cope, and Appraisal of Outside Influ-ences and Stressors, were related...
Performance Against WELCOA’s Worksite Health Promotion Benchmarks Across Years Among Selected US Organizations 2018 1235 Purpose: The purpose of this study was to quantify the performance of organizations’ worksite health promotion (WHP) activities against the benchmarking criteria included in the Well Workplace Checklist (WWC). Design: The Wellness Council of America ...
Physical fitness, absenteeism and workers’ compensation in smoking and non-smoking police officers 2006 2536 Background: Employers seek to minimize business costs by creating conditions of employment. Relying on the presumably negative effects of smoking on variables such as workers’ compensation claims, absenteeism and physical fitness scores, they seek a ...
Physiological Sensations of Initial Smoking in the Development Of Regular Smoking Behavior 1995 2982 This study examined the relationships between adolescents' physiological sensations of smoking during initiation and early experience. For a national sample of a birth cohort of 2,043 adolescents, ages 15 to 22 years at the follow-up, variables of in...
Predictors of Dietary Supplement Use Among Adolescent Athletes 2004 2938 This study sought to predict the use of dietary supplements marketed to enhance athletic performance among 1,737 adolescent athletes. An anonymous, paper-and-pencil, self-report survey was administered to the participants. Grade level, participati...
Proprioceptive Responses under Rising and Falling BAC's: A Test of the Mallanby Effect. 1993 2719 This study examined proprioceptive responses under equivalent rising and falling blood alcohol concentrations (BAC), using a repeated-measures design. Seven volunteer subjects, 21 to 35 years of age, participated in the study. After alcohol consumpti...
Public health advocacy and chiropractic: a guide to helping your community reach its health objectives 2008 2415 Objective: Doctors of chiropractic (DCs) provide health educational and promotion efforts in the communities they serve by counseling patients at the individual level. This article outlines a method and model in which DCs can effectively serve as pub...
Results of the Master Certified Health Education Specialist Experience Documentation Opportunity Feedback Survey 2012 2662 The National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. (NCHEC) implemented an advanced-level credential to designate the Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES). The initial certification phase was a six-month Experience Docume...
A Retrospective Study of Secondary School HIV/AIDS Education by North Carolina College Students 1997 1220 In spite of an intense world wide effort on finding a vaccine for HIV infection, as of this writing HIV/AIDS continues to advance as a leading cause of death. Education remains the most important preventative measure today, as it was at the beginning...
A Review of Sexual Content in Black-Themed Television Programming 2007 1657 African Americans watch more television than any other race, with African American teens watching 7 hours and 55 minutes per day compared to 6 hours and 33 minutes viewed by total U.S. teens. It is hypothesized that exposure to television content may...
Self-reported alcohol use and sexual behaviors of adolescents. 2003 3655 Summary: Research has demonstrated a relation between alcohol use and engaging in high-risk sexual behaviors. Alcohol use, especially binge drinking, has been linked to a host of problems including high-risk sexual behavior, date rape, and academic p...
Sowing the Seeds: Results of Giving Local Health Educators Ownership in Planning a University Health Education Degree Program 2003 1683 The University of North Carolina at Wilmington, in their efforts to develop a health education degree program, invited local health educators to a university-funded advisory forum. The goal was to provide local practitioners ownership in the developm...
A Survey of Alabama chiropractors regarding health promotion, primary prevention, and primary care. 2011 1139 Doctors of Chiropractic (DCs) perform health promotion as part of routine practice. In addition, the regulating body for chiropractic educational institutions has a standard in place on the teaching of this subject matter in all accredited colleges. ...
Taking One for the Team - Coaches, Athletes, and Dietary Supplements 2002 2326 With an increased emphasis on nutrition as a factor in disease prevention and health promotion, dietary supplement use among the United States population is growing (ADA, 1994, 1998.) Medical evidence suggests only certain subgroups of people need di...
Tobacco use and other predictors of successful length of stay in a faith-based substance abuse recovery center: Results of an initial assessment at one facility. 2010 850 There has been debate as to whether smoking should be allowed in addiction treatment centers as part of recovery programming. A prior study at one facility assessed health promotion needs and found 80% of inpatients were smokers or tobacco users. Thi...
Use of Social Ecology Model to Address Alcohol Use Among College Athletes 2006 17669 Compared to non-athletes, college athletes consume more alcohol and report higher rates of alcohol-related consequences such as DUI, unsafe sexual practices, and criminal behavior. This poses major problems for the integrity of college athletics, ath...
The Use of Sports Enhancing Supplements by Adolescents in the United States: Analysis of the National Health Interview Survey-2007-Child Alternative Medicine Core Sample 2012 2986 Dietary supplements may improve sport performance in adults. However, this has not been established in children. The aim of this study was to assess self-reported or parental-reported dietary supplement use to enhance sports performance among the chi...
Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Predict Gambling Behaviors 2010 4865 Gambling is an important public health concern. To better understand gambling behavior, we conducted a classroom-based survey that assessed the role of the theory of planned behavior (TPB; i.e., intentions, subjective norms, perceived behavioral cont...