Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Body Image, Attitudes, And Self-Efficacy As Predictors Of Past Behavior And Future Intention To Perform Breast And Skin Self-Examinations, Sari R. Chait

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Breast self-examinations (BSE) and skin self-examinations (SSE) provide people with a cost-effective and time-efficient approach to the detection of cancer. Given the utility of these self-examination behaviors, it is important to determine who is likely to perform them regularly and why. Prior research has demonstrated a relationship of attitudes and self-efficacy with performance of and intention to practice the exams. Body image, although not previously studied, can be hypothesized to influence performance of these behaviors as well. To address these issues, the current study sought to determine if there are relationships between attitudes, self-efficacy, and body image and the practice …

Empowering Senior Females By Utilizing Each Female Person's Voice To Create Desired Lifestyle Options, Icydor Aldale Mohabier

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Theses

Interviews of senior females ranging in age from 55 through 72 were conducted between September 2004 and April 2005, in order to determine what lifestyle options this group would like made available to them. The participants represented a sample of senior females who had different backgrounds, including culture, education level, and economic circumstance. Although all the participants had very different lifestyles at the time of their interviews, most were satisfied with their current lifestyles but wanted to change something about it. The research results indicate that there are three desired lifestyle options that senior females want: socializing, improving their health, …

Improving Prostate Cancer Detection In Veterans Through The Developement Of A Clinical Decision Rule For Prostate Biopsy, Owen T. Hill

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the U.S., the number of prostate biopsies increases annually. This is partly due to elevated prostate specific antigen (PSA) values identified during PC screening. This study's goal was improving prostate cancer (PC) detection through developing a clinical decision rule (CDR), based on an elevated PSA and laboratory biomarkers. This decision rule could be used after an elevated PSA, providing the patient and clinician information to consider prior to biopsy. This cross-sectional study evaluated men from the Tampa, Florida, James A. Haley (JH) VA (N=1,378), from January 1, 1998, through April 15, 2005. The study hypothesized that specific lab biomarkers …

Chronic/Life Threatening Illnesses From The Perspective Of Latino Men, Melissa Sierra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Much of the research on illness focuses on how people, particularly white men, cope with chronic/life threatening illnesses often adopting a "sick role" identity. For Latinos this type of identity transformation is complex as there is no place for dependency and passivity in traditional depictions of Latino masculinity. Latino men take pride in their manhood. As a result, they have trouble accepting their illness and the sick role. They do not tend to take their illness seriously, nor are they comfortable admitting to others the seriousness of their illness. My research focuses on how Latino men renegotiate a sense of …

Feminine Beauty And The Cancerous Beast: Appearance Management At The Cancer Hospital Salon, Andrea Wagganer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When we choose to alter or manipulate our physical appearance we also manage our presentation of self; we communicate to others about our identity. Salons are typical social spaces for women to engage in body-changing, enhancing or disguising practices and thereby manage their identity. The following ethnographic research explores the intersection of female cancer patients' who request salon services while undergoing appearance altering medical treatments and female cosmetologists who provide such services.

Over a period of 6 months, I volunteered weekly at Hannah's, a hairstyling salon located in a large cancer research and treatment hospital in southern Florida. The following …

Bloodlines, Pamela Toner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

"Bloodlines" is a collection of personal essays that focus on the process of remembering, imagining, and reflecting on the past through the lens of a perpetually shifting present. They consider situations ranging from mental and physical illnesses, from cancer to alcohol addiction, to career changes, to the often dysfunctional and displaced family ties that distance and adulthood have not severed. In "Searching," I write the narrative of the ongoing search for my birthmother, and how the search complicates the relationship with my adoptive mother, who always feared she’d lose me. Similarly, "Of Flesh and Blood" recounts and negotiates how hereditary …