Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Network Modeling The Impact Of Community-Based Male-Screening On The Chlamydia Trachomatis Prevalence In Women, Zhuolin Qu

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Utilization Of Dental Services Among Medicaid Enrolled Pregnant Women In Virginia, Shillpa Naavaal, Tegwyn Brickhouse, Jonathan W. Yu, Joann Wells

Philips Institute for Oral Health Research Publications

The study evaluated the impact of the Virginia Medicaid dental benefit on dental services utilization among pregnant women enrolled in Medicaid. Data from a total of 10,395 women who had at least one dental claim during the 2015-2017 period were included in the study. The number of dental visits and dental services utilized per person grew from an average of 2.2 visits and 7 services in 2015 to 3.1 visits and 10.5 services in 2017, respectively. In 2017, of all dental services used, 6% were for preventive services and 59% were for treatment services. Continued efforts and targeted interventions are …

Improving Access To Care In Virginia: Reaching Nurse Practitioner Training Capacity Through Preceptor Incentives, Debra Barksdale, Christine Kennedy, Shelly Smith

Translational Research Fellows Policy Briefs

Workforce data reinforces the notion that educating nurse practitioners in Virginia is critical in helping to improve access to care in the Commonwealth, particularly in underserved communities. Six of Virginia’s thirty-nine state funded colleges and universities offer nurse practitioner programs. All of these universities report their capacity to train nurse practitioners is not limited by qualified applicants but rather by a shortage of clinical preceptors. This paper provides a summary of public policy initiatives that support preceptors as an example for Virginia to consider.

Clinical Reconciliation Of Patient Social Context And Implementation Of Preventive Care Guidelines, April Williams

Graduate Research Posters

Background

Preventive care practice guidelines are disseminated regularly through federal and scientific groups as a way of promoting best practices and evidence-based health promotion. Yet rates of their implementation are historically low and complex, with cited barriers including limits on physicians’ time, knowledge or attitudes; and external factors related to the guideline itself, the clinical environment, or patient factors. The objective of this qualitative research is to understand how primary care clinicians and staff reconcile perceived patient-level factors and implementation of preventive care guidelines.

Methods

Key informant interviews (n=23) with 14 clinicians and 9 office managers from 14 primary care …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Caregiver Goals For Urban Children With And Without Asthma, Megan M. Carlson

Theses and Dissertations

Pediatric asthma is a major public health concern that disproportionately affects children of color and youth living in low-income, urban areas. The implications for public health, child health, and family functioning necessitates our understanding and addressing experiences by families who are facing barriers within their socio-demographic context in addition to the stressors associated with managing pediatric asthma. The current study applied qualitative methods to interviews with caregivers of children with and without asthma in an effort to more deeply connect with caregivers’ experiences and yield richer information about the intersection of identities as Black caregivers living in an urban setting …

“Is Therapy For Me?” Perceptions Of Therapy Inclusivity And Willingness To Seek Help Among Black Emerging Adults, Randl B. Dent

Theses and Dissertations

Mental health issues are prevalent among Black emerging adults; however, they tend to underutilize mental healthcare services. The goals of the current study were to examine whether: (1) perceived therapy inclusivity would predict willingness to utilize mental healthcare services and (2) the relationship between perceived therapy inclusivity and willingness would be moderated by two indices of racial identity (i.e., centrality and private regard). Results provide evidence that greater perceptions of therapy inclusivity are associated with greater willingness to seek mental health services even after controlling for factors, such as gender, self-stigma, and previous mental healthcare utilization. Additionally, there was no …

Can School Be A Source Of Trauma? Assessing Academic Traumatic Stress As A Mechanism Underlying The Health Outcomes Of Black Undergraduate Students, Ebony A. Lambert

Theses and Dissertations

Research examining Black students’ school experiences demonstrates that exposure to oppressive power dynamics in schools may lead to adverse physiological and psychological consequences. Recent conceptualizations in public discourse further posit that traumatic educational experiences, operationalized here as academic trauma or the cumulative toll of adverse and oppressive experiences in academic settings, may influence Black students’ wellbeing even after they have graduated. However, academic trauma has yet to be investigated empirically, and the health contributions of such educational harm remain unstudied. Moreover, little is known about how culturally-relevant personal characteristics (e.g., emotion regulation strategies) influence Black students’ reactivity to academic trauma. …

The Intersection Of Social Stress, Mental Well-Being, And Sexual Health Among Black Women In Emerging Adulthood, Brandi Galloway

Theses and Dissertations

With an estimated 37,000 new HIV infections each year, HIV continues to be a major public health concern. HIV affects some populations more than others. Young Black women, in particular, are disproportionately affected by HIV. While being a woman does not typically increase a person’s HIV risk, being Black and being a woman does.

Data indicate that individual-level factors do not fully address the differences in HIV and STIs between Black emerging adult women and their White counterparts. Thus, it is critical to better understand contextual factors such as social stress and mental-wellbeing which might better account for these disparities. …

Differential Identification Of Hyperacusis And Misophonia: Implications Of Discrete Decreased Sound Tolerance (Dst) Condition Subtypes, Rachel E. Wallace

Theses and Dissertations

Hyperacusis and misophonia are two conditions of decreased sound tolerance (DST) studied in the psychological literature due to their association with psychological symptoms and mechanisms. DSTs are differentiated from normal sound sensitivity due to the reported impairment and distress individuals experience. Researchers suggest that DSTs are differentiated by types of sounds and emotional reactions elicited, such that hyperacusis is a fear and pain response to ordinary environmental sounds perceived as uncomfortably loud, and misophonia is an anger and disgust response to human-made sounds, but these distinctions, and associated characteristics, have not been empirically demonstrated. Undergraduate students (N = 1572) …

Transcriptomic Profiling Of Postmortem Prefrontal Cortex And Nucleus Accumbens From Chronic Alcohol Abusers., Eric S. Vornholt

Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a debilitating psychiatric illness that develops from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. While it is well documented that AUD is heritable, the shift from recreational alcohol use to abuse/dependence is poorly understood. In this dissertation, using postmortem brain tissue from individuals with alcohol dependence (AD), we profiled the genome-wide expression of circular RNA (circRNA), microRNA (miRNA), and messenger RNA (mRNA) to better understand the impact of gene expression on the development of AUD. To achieve this, we performed two independent studies that explore transcriptome differences between AD cases and controls. The first of …

Relationship Of Demographic Characteristics Of Occupational And Physical Therapists Towards Their Knowledge And Attitude On Person-Centered Care In Skilled Nursing Facilities, Sadashiv R. Aggarwal

Theses and Dissertations

The study aimed to assess the relationship of specific demographic characteristics of occupational (OTs) and physical therapists (PTs) with their knowledge and attitudes towards principles of Person-Centered Care (PCC) in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). The study further examined if knowledge and/or attitudinal differences exist between OTs and PTs towards PCC. The proposed descriptive study used the Person-Centered Care theory, which is a holistic (bio-psychosocial-spiritual) health care delivery approach. PCC delivers services that are respectful and individualized, allowing negotiation of care, and offering choice through a therapeutic relationship where persons receiving care are empowered to be involved in health decisions at …

The Clinical Inquiry Process Diagram, Roy E. Brown

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

This diagram outlines the nursing inquiry process to help answer questions that arise in the clinical setting. The diagram further helps a nurse understand how to distinguish whether a situation calls for evidence-based practice, performance improvement, or research. It also guides a nurse through clarifying the initial question, gathering the evidence, and through each step in the subsequent process.

An updated version (Version 4) of this diagram is now available at https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/libraries_pubs/78/

This is an update of the VCU Health Nursing Inquiry Process Diagram (version 2) that was created in 2018. This is the third version of the diagram and …

The Correlation Between Maternal Postpartum Depression And Child Psychopathology, T'Keyah I. Vaughan

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Postpartum depression (PPD) is a phenomenon that affects nearly 10-15% of pregnancies in the US. It is characterized by depressed mood or anhedonia and lasting for more than 2 weeks. PPD changes how moms interact with family members and child-rearing behavior. Depression is a phenomenon that is also known to affect the psychopathology of children. However, the specifics of how postpartum depression impacts children remains controversial. Many studies do not control for major depressive disorder which makes it difficult to disentangle the impact depression has within the first year of life. Furthermore, other PPD risk factors may be confounding …

Swipe Right For Condoms And Testing: Differences In High-Risk Sexual Behavior And Sexual Health Beliefs Among Dating App Users Compared To Non-App Users, Shelby A. Smout

Theses and Dissertations

Millions of Americans are currently using smartphone dating applications (apps) to socialize and meet with others. In some cases, app-based conversations lead to sexual interactions. Previous research examining the relationship between the use of dating apps and sexual behaviors has found that individuals who use dating apps and meet with partners from the app are more likely to engage in high-risk sexual behaviors such as having multiple partners and inconsistent condom use. Individuals between the ages of 18 and 24 are the group most likely to be using dating apps compared to other age groups and are a high-risk group …

Associations Between Stress, Racial Discrimination, And Cytokine Levels In Black Americans, Takia Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Inflammation is a common pathophysiological pathway for a number of chronic diseases and is influenced by exposure to stress. Although there are racial disparities in health outcomes, relatively little is known about factors that may influence the inflammatory response in Black American individuals. This study examined whether racial discrimination and other forms of stress are associated with the balance of pro- and anti- inflammatory cytokines in Black American adults. Data from 22 participants were drawn from a larger study of Black American children (ages 5-12) and their primary caregivers drawn from low income neighborhoods in Richmond, Virginia. Caregivers reported demographics, …