Golden, Earp write health behavior Paper of the Year

Dr. Jo Anne Earp

Shelley Golden

Shelley Golden, MPH, and Jo Anne Earp, ScD, co-wrote an article that received the Lawrence W. Green Paper of the Year Award at the 63rd annual meeting of the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE), held Oct. 25-27 in San Francisco.

Earp, professor and former chair of Gillings School of Global Public Health’s Department of Health Behavior, has been on the UNC public health faculty since 1974. Golden, who received her Master of Public Health from the School in 1999, is a lecturer in the health behavior department.

The Lawrence W. Green Paper of the Year Award is presented to authors of a paper published in the journal Health Education & Behavior that has made a significant contribution to the literature. Past honorees have advanced theoretical foundations of health behavior, utilized innovative quantitative or qualitative methodologies, or have conducted programs and evaluations that strengthen the scientific evidence base for social and behavioral change.

Golden said she thought the award will draw additional attention to the paper in a way that furthers that goal, adding that she had appreciated the opportunity to correspond with researchers and practitioners interested in using their analysis tool or pursuing similar projects.

“I also feel very honored,” Golden said, “to have the paper recognized with an award named for Larry Green, whose work I employ in my teaching, and to share the award with Jo Anne Earp, my longtime mentor.”

For more than 60 years, SOPHE has served as an independent professional association represented by a diverse membership of nearly 4,000 health education professionals and students throughout the United States and 25 international countries. The organization promotes healthy behaviors, healthy communities and healthy environments through its membership, its network of local chapters and numerous partnerships with other organizations.