Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Social Engagement And Health: A Structural Equation Modelling Analysis Of Downstream Links To Health Outcomes Among White-Collar Professionals, Ahmad Iqmer Nashriq Bin Mohd Nazan

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT AND HEALTH: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELLING ANALYSIS OF DOWNSTREAM LINKS TO HEALTH OUTCOMES AMONG WHITE-COLLAR PROFESSIONALS

by

Ahmad Iqmer Nashriq bin Mohd Nazan

The University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, 2017

Under the Supervision of Associate Professor Amy E. Harley

High level of social engagement has been associated with improved health outcomes. Its capacity to influence one’s health has led to the conception of Berkman’s social relationship model which hypothesizes that health is impacted by social relationship through a series of causal processes that begin at the macro-social level (upstream factors) to micro-psychobiological processes (downstream factors). Social engagement …

The Impact Of Economic Recession On The Health Of Adult Nevadans, Ariana Goertz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Recessions are generally considered to cause negative consequences, but recent studies have provided evidence that some health outcomes improve as the economy deteriorates. The relationship between economic downfalls and health is not straightforward; it is important to look at how health has been impacted in one of the areas hit hardest by the recession. Las Vegas, Nevada was previously considered recession-proof, seemingly unaffected by previous economic downturns exhibited by the rest of the country. However, during the Great Recession of 2007-2009, Las Vegas led the country in highest rates of unemployment and foreclosures. This was quite a collapse for a …

Contributors To Wisconsin’S Persistent Black-White Gap In Life Expectancy, Max T. Roberts

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

For decades, blacks have faced shorter life expectancy than their white counterparts. This persistent disparity has led to a gap in life expectancy between the two groups. Nationally, this gap has decreased over the last 40 years. However, this is not the case at the state-level as some states have experienced little or no improvement in the life expectancy gap. Such is the case in Wisconsin, where the life expectancy gap is the largest in the nation for males, and the gap actually has grown for females over the last two decades. This study seeks to examine this persistent gap …

A Survey Of A Rural Southwest Arkansas Baptist Church On Attitudes Toward Nutrition And Physical Activity In The Church, Elizabeth Fast

Honors Theses

Background: The Christian Protestant church is known for its dedication to the spiritual well-being of its members. It is also known for its outreach and charity efforts in the community. A large need in the community is health behavior interventions, but more research is needed to assess the appropriateness and the receptiveness of the church to promoting health interventions.

Objective: The purpose of this research was done to evaluate current research regarding health behaviors in the church and contribute to the existing data by conducting a survey of a Baptist church in Southwest Arkansas.

Methods: The study was …

Evaluating Work Place Wellness In Greater Louisville's Technology Organizations : A Case Study., Andrew L. Mccart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Employers in the Southern Indiana and Greater Louisville region are looking for strategies to help them become a healthier workplace. Many employers see the expense of paying for an unhealthy workforce and they are looking to limit these expenses. The purpose of the study is to determine the state of workplace wellness activities in organizations in Southern Indiana and Greater Louisville. Due to the poor health statuses of Indiana and Kentucky, 39th and 45th, respectively, this study is significant for a number of stakeholders in our area. The purpose of this case study was to understand the state of health …

The Healthcare Beliefs And Trust In Healthcare Providers Of Rural Kenyans, Charles E. Earles, Debora Baldwin

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Healthy Teeth: Building Dental Health Awareness Among Head Start Parents, Marisol Cruz

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

In the U.S and state of California, tooth decay is the most common chronic disease and concerning health issue among children. The Head Start program in Monterey County serves about 1, 245 children annually from birth to five years of age. One requirement is that children obtain dental health checkups every six months, and receive dental treatment, if needed, as part of adhering to California's dental periodicity schedule. Over the past years, an increase of failed dental health assessments was observed among many children enrolled in the program. Obtaining and following through with treatment was an obstacle. The purpose of …

Community-Based Asthma Intervention Programs And Their Impact On Childhood Health Outcomes And Burdens On The Healthcare System, Danika Ng

Master's Projects and Capstones

Since 1997, asthma prevalence rates have increased by 3% annually, leading to a current rate of 18.4 million adults and 6.2 million children with asthma, high hospitalization and emergency department visit rates, and an overall healthcare spending of 50 billion dollars. However, this increase in prevalence is disproportionately impacting children. Asthma is the third leading cause for hospitalization in children, have higher proportions of children being hospitalized with asthma symptoms, and have higher rates of asthma attacks. Recent literature shows that perceived lack of adequate education in areas such as medication adherence, medical device usage, asthma trigger avoidance, lack of …

Identifying Nodes Of Transmission In Disease Diffusion Through Social Media, David Sebastian Lamb

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The spread of infectious diseases can be described in terms of three interrelated components: interaction, movement, and scale. Transmission between individuals requires some form of interaction, which is dependent on the pathogen, to occur. Diseases spread through the movement of their hosts; they spread across many spatial scales from local neighborhoods to countries, or temporal scales from days to years, or periodic intervals. Prior research into the spread of disease have examined diffusion processes retrospectively at regional or country levels, or developed differential equation or simulation models of the dynamics of disease transmission. While some of the more recent models …

A Pilot Study Examining The Role Of Treatment Type And Gender In Cortisol Functioning, Stephanie Young Davis

Theses and Dissertations

This pilot study examined the effectiveness of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) compared to Treatment As Usual (TAU) in improving cortisol functioning among distressed couples. It also investigated the role of gender in cortisol functioning. Measures for cortisol were collected at five time points, both at pre- and posttreatment. Data were collected from a total of 60 couples, 20 of which received EFT and 40 of which received TAU. Overall, results from a two-way analysis of variance suggest that there are no significant differences between men or women, nor among couples in EFT and TAU, in posttreatment cortisol functioning. Directions …

The Supervision Of School Nurses In New Jersey: Parallel Needs, Actions, And Impacts On Student Care, Lee-Ann Halbert

Theses and Dissertations

New Jersey Certified School Nurses (NJ-CSNs) practice in an environment of parallel needs and actions where the primary goal is the education of the students in the building, yet the health and safety of each student are paramount. The research presented here evaluates how the supervision provided to the NJ-CSNs affects their clinical practice and other areas of decision-making in the school setting. This mixed methods research study of 557 NJ-CSNs reveals that school nurses who are supervised by an educator whose background includes being a registered nurse are better able to provide the optimal support for the nurses, and …

Deconstructing Rape Culture Through An Exploration Of Consent, Desire, And Pleasure, Yael Rosenstock

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Desire and pleasure based education combats the notion of passive consent by prioritizing positive experiences for all members involved in sexual activities. A focus on desire requires that we learn and listen to our partner’s needs and respect their boundaries. It questions a patriarchal script of sex in which male pleasure, specifically when penetrating a partner, is the critical part of the sexual act. Sex motivated by mutual desire and pleasure forces us to step back and learn, not just about our partners but ourselves, so that we may communicate our wants and needs effectively.

To understand how to navigate …

The Role Of Socioeconomic Context In The Association Between Educational Attainment And Morbidity And Mortality, Jennifer Brite

Dissertations and Theses

Although the association between educational attainment and health is one of the most studied in the social science, little is known about the role of social and economic context. Fundamental Cause Theory suggests that the education-health gradient will be weakest in contexts where the better educated are unable to leverage their resources to achieve better health. This dissertation tests several different factors that may moderate the association between educational attainment and morbidity and mortality: 1. Demographic characteristics, including race, immigration status, and gender, 2. Status consistency (defined as education equivalent to that required for current occupation), 3. Unemployment rates at …

The Impact Of Housing Insecurity On Community Health Outcomes: Exploring Collective Community Solutions And Housing Models In The Western Addition, Jacqueline V. Brown, Jacqueline Victoria Brown

Master's Projects and Capstones

In a city where housing is scarce and prices continue to rise, the lower income residents of the Western Addition are in panic. Historically, the Western Addition/Fillmore is ground zero for Urban Renewal. This community is still bouncing back from the negative effects of the out migration of Black residents, Japanese internment, and rapid gentrification. For twenty years, this part of the city was known as Harlem of the West due to its world-renowned Jazz and Blues composers, and is informally known as “Tha ‘Mo”. San Francisco has set the tone nationally for public, mixed income, and private housing that …

Studies On Health, Place, And Education, Kelly Mcclelland Harris

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Good health is positively associated with education outcomes, and likewise higher education-related achievement is positively associated with good health. Similarly, social disadvantage follows a cyclical pattern. It is cumulative; both accruing over the life course and across generations. Moreover, this relationship disproportionately impacts our most vulnerable populations, including both minorities and children living in or near poverty. For example, since the 1990s asthma, the most common chronic illness among youth, has seen the greatest increases in urban environments, and among racial and ethnic minorities in or near poverty. Still, consideration of the interdependence between health, place, and education remains underdeveloped …

Improving Health Outcomes And Lifestyle Choices In An Underserved Community Through The Implementation Of A Wellness Program, Ekaterini Boutos

Seton Hall University DNP Final Projects

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to implement a wellness program with the purpose of bridging the gap in lifestyle and disease knowledge in a socioeconomically vulnerable mentally ill population. The participants were members of an adult day mental health facility which aided the local underserved population. The wellness program emphasized improving knowledge of chronic health conditions, healthy lifestyle habits and the practice of mindfulness meditation.

Significance: The significance of this project is the advancement of health status via health education from a wellness perspective. Vulnerable populations who are at higher risk of chronic physical and mental illness can …

Crossing The Bridge: A Descriptive Pilot Study Of Sensory Tricks And Related Variables To Musician’S Dystonia Onset, Jamie Agee

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Silencing music across the globe, musician’s dystonia, a neurological condition with an unknown etiological basis, has played an integral role in terminating professional musician’s careers. While limited research has been conducted into internal/external factors which may potentially influence musician’s focal dystonia onset, this pilot study sought to identify specific instrumentalists’ behaviors and traits which may exhibit a potential relationship with disease onset and, consequently, the ability to utilize sensory tricks. This specifically included examination of practice approach, auditory/kinesthetic feedback, years played, personality, and approach to practice among the musicians being studied. To assess these characteristics within the dystonic musician population …

Not So Affordable Healthcare, Ashlee Charles

Honors College Theses

Rising healthcare cost in the United States has created a need to understand how a lack of healthcare coverage is decreasing women’s quality of life and leading to negative health outcomes. Though the goal of the 2010 Affordable Care Act is to give more Americans access to affordable health insurance and to reduce the growth in health care spending, it still remains unaffordable for many Americans. The purpose of this study was to identify what ecological factors impede and/or promote the quality of life for medically uninsured women. Through a focus group, participants shared information on how living without health …

The Chronic Disease Prevention Program, Ashley Northcutt

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

(Not) Everything Is Good And Easy: Language-Related Healthcare Experiences Of Two Groups Of Low-Income Latina Mothers, Aria Anna Walsh-Felz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This cross-sectional, comparative, qualitative study explored language-related issues experienced by low-income Spanish-speaking mothers navigating pediatric care for their children in Hillsborough County, Florida. Hospitals, pediatric clinics, specialists, and dental care have differing degrees of linguistic accessibility and accommodations for limited English proficient families. Two groups of mothers were interviewed: bilingual (n=9) and Spanish-speaking limited-English proficient (SSLEP) mothers (n=21). These groups perceived the effect of language on navigating pediatric healthcare differently, creating tension in perceptions and experience between them. Such tensions included SSLEP mothers expressing satisfaction with pediatric care simultaneously with shortcomings in communication. SSLEP mothers said that everything was easy, …

Hemp: A Composition Review Plus, Agustin Gonzalo Miguel Garcia

Food Science and Nutrition

Hemp has been utilized by many societies around the world yet is currently absent in U.S. food production. The paper described and assessed various sources to aggregate hemp seed composition data and to decipher hemp seed consumption effect on health. There are copious components in hemp seeds that are discussed; some beneficial to human health as well as some anti-nutritional components that interfere. Numerous articles were analyzed and aspects of each were compiled to provide a source to assess the effectiveness of hemp seed as a nutritious source. Many components found in hemp seeds are found to be beneficial to …

Toward A Discourse Community For Telemedicine: A Domain Analytic View Of Published Scholarship, Louiza Patsis

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

In the past 20 years, the use of telemedicine has increased, with telemedicine programs increasingly being conducted through the Internet and ISDN technologies. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the discourse community of telemedicine. This study examined the published literature on telemedicine as it pertains to quality of care, defined as correct diagnosis and treatment (Bynum and Irwin 2011). Content analysis and bibliometrics were conducted on the scholarly discourse, and the most prominent authors and journals were documented to paint and depict the epistemological map of the discourse community of telemedicine. A taxonomy based on grounded research of …

How The Illness Experience Predicts Key Psychosocial Outcomes In Veterans With Brain Injury, Carmen M. Tyler

ETD Archive

The object of this thesis was to examine the illness experience of veterans who have suffered either a stroke or traumatic brain injury. Predictors of key psychosocial outcomes were identified by looking at the illness experience through the veterans’ perspective via self-report measures. Results confirmed relationships between the stressors role captivity, low self-esteem, decreased socialization, and dyad relationship strain and the outcome of depression and between the stressors physical strain and emotional strain and the outcome social/recreational participation for this population. More importantly, role captivity, social/recreational strain, and self-esteem uniquely predicted depression, and both physical and emotional strain uniquely predicted …

The Adequacy And Perceived Impact Of Nigeria's Health Policy, Kennedy Magoma Ongwae

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

From 2004 to 2015, the health sector in Nigeria was substantially underfunded despite the existence of a federal health policy committing 15% of the national budget to health care financing. The purpose of this narrative and phenomenological study was to explore the nature and significance of economic claims made in this policy. The central research question examined the extent to which these economic claims were perceived to be realistic, attainable, and successful in meeting their intended policy objectives and impact. The study's conceptual framework combined Kingdon's ambiguity and multiple streams theory, Roe's narrative policy analysis, and Skocpol's policy feedback theory. …

Mandated Continuing Education And The Competency Of Illinois Physical Therapists, Denise Lynn Hunter Ethington

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Continuing education (CE) mandate laws are passed by states because it is in the public interest. The intent behind the passage of Illinois's CE law for physical therapists is to protect public health and safety through ensuring the competency of providers. However, studies into the impact of mandated CE on competency have been mixed. The problem addressed by this study was whether Illinois's CE law was effective in improving the competency of physical therapists and its impact on patient care. The purpose of this study was to understand what role mandated CE played in developing the competency of physical therapists …

Walking In Beauty: Responsive And Responsible Health And Healing Among Virginia American Indian People, Amy J. Prorock-Ernest

Theses and Dissertations

Little is systematically known about the collective health and well-being of Virginia American Indian people. This study sought to explore the meaning of health and healing among Virginia American Indian people in the context of a reservation-based, non-federally funded health clinic. Using an emergent approach to qualitative research grounded in a constructivist inquiry paradigm and guided by Indigenous research principles, a total of 24 in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 American Indian service-users of the Clinic. Through an inductive thematic analysis of participant stories, a framework for understanding responsive and responsible health and healing was derived. The framework includes …

An Ecojustice Analysis Of Nursing Education, Kristi Jo Wilson

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The concept health is constructed within socioeconomic, political, cultural, and ecological contexts that affect how personnel in the medical and nursing fields practice. The idea of health and its associated practices in Western countries has arisen from modernist discourses such as mechanism and rationalism, which further support a capitalist economic system that stresses efficiency, specialization, and volume for profit. In Western industrial cultures in particular, health is primarily driven by consumerism and market forces and is generally defined within two categories: wellness and illness.

To explore this concept further, I interviewed seven nurse scholars who see health in a different …

Dancing Through Life: Dance As Physical Therapy To Prevent Falls, Salon Gegel

Honors Projects

The basis of this project was to create a series of dance-based exercise activities to be used as part of an exercise class for elderly people who are classified as fall risks. The idea was to approach exercise through a medium that was convenient and versatile for the class leader, while being comfortable and fun for participants. The activities were developed and presented over the course of the six-week P.L.A.C.E. Program, held at the Montessori School of Bowling Green. Participants met four times to take part in a guided exercise class, and enjoy other activities. At these sessions, participants were …

Perceptions Of Women Receiving Services From Domestic Violence Advocacy And Counseling Programs, Lisa Yvette Proby

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine domestic violence victims' perceptions of advocacy and counseling programs that provide women with safe refuge, prevention education, mental health treatment, and other services. Many women in the United States are victims of intimate partner violence. Review of existing literature found that little is known about the extent to which the needs of these victims are met from available advocacy and counseling services. The health belief model was used to theorize victims' perceptions of services and risk factors for re-abuse. A phenomenological design was used to answer research questions, and in-depth …

Health Literacy Of Nursing Students And Their Awareness Of Patient Literacy Needs, Jennifer Potter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research has suggested that providers of health services must be aware of health literacy tools as elements of communication with patients. Poor health literacy is an epidemic that affects quality of care. The purpose of this study was to examine the functional health literacy of associate-degree nursing (ADN) students and their awareness of patients' health literacy needs. This correlational study was designed to examine the relationship between the functional health literacy of ADN students and their awareness of their patients' health literacy needs using the asset model and the health literate care model. A convenience sample of 131 ADN students …