Health: The Basics [Paperback]

Rebecca Donatellehas served as a faculty member in the Department of Public Health, College of Health and Human Sciences, at Oregon State University for the last two decades. In that role, she has chaired the department and been program coordinator for the Health Promotion and Health Behavior Program (bachelor’s degree, master of public health, and PhD degree programs), as well as served on over 50 national, state, regional, and university committees focused on improving student academic success and improving the public’s health. Most importantly to her, she has also taught and mentored thousands of undergraduate and graduate students.

Dr. Donatelle has a PhD in community health/health promotion and health education, with specializations in health behaviors, aging, and chronic disease prevention, from the University of Oregon; a master of science degree in health education from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse; and a bachelor of science degree from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, with majors in health/physical education and English. In recent years, Donatelle has received several professional awards for leadership, teaching, and service within the university and for her work on developing nationally ranked undergraduate and graduate programs in the health promotion/health behavior areas.

Her primary research and scholarship areas have focused on finding scientifically appropriate means of motivating behavior change among resistant populations. Specifically, her work uses incentives, social and community supports, and risk communication strategies in motivating diverse populations to change their risk behaviors. She has worked with pregnant women who smoke in an effort to motivate them to quit smoking, obese women of all ages who are at risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes, prediabetic wolĂ2