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Articles 1 - 7 of 7
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Human Papillomavirus: How Social Ideologies Influence Medical Policy And Care, Fadi Hachem
Human Papillomavirus: How Social Ideologies Influence Medical Policy And Care, Fadi Hachem
Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the ways in which new advances in the production of a vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) have been received by both the general public and the medical community. Despite its high prevalence in the general population, as a sexually transmitted infection, there is a great deal of shame and stigma associated with contracting the virus (Waller, et. al. 2007). HPV is a disease of disparities in that ethnic and sexual minorities are disproportionately affected. Since the HPV vaccine is most effective at both a younger age, and before the first sexual experience, …
Medicines That Kill, Lina Ahmed Abushouk
Medicines That Kill, Lina Ahmed Abushouk
Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society
The prevalence of counterfeit drugs on the African continent has been increasing at an alarming rate. “Medicines that Kill” is a research paper that attempts to analyze the factors that make African countries particularly susceptible to this global threat. Nigeria, a country that has had some of the highest rates of counterfeit drugs in the world, is the main case study for this paper. Its efforts to combat the issue are compared and contrasted with those of Tanzania and Kenya in an attempt to understand what aspects of the issue are unique to Africa and the methods that have been …
To Live Means To Suffer: Exploring The Identity Of Chronic Pain Conditions, Gabriela Harris
To Live Means To Suffer: Exploring The Identity Of Chronic Pain Conditions, Gabriela Harris
Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society
This paper examines the necessary identity reconstruction for chronic pain patients through the use of illness narratives. The biographical interruption of a chronic illness, partnered with the patients’ inability to discuss embodiment and pain wholly (because language failures to capture the essence of pain and suffering) creates a devastating chasm between the world of the healthy and the world of the sick. Psychosomatic pain, and illnesses without diagnosis, are all the more divisive conditions, because these factors rob the patient further, disallowing them from constructing even an illness identity. Utilizing published patient interviews, sociological and anthropological texts, as well as …
The Influence Of Neighborhood Characteristics On The Existence Of Asthma In Children, Elizabeth Adejuyigbe
The Influence Of Neighborhood Characteristics On The Existence Of Asthma In Children, Elizabeth Adejuyigbe
Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society
Asthma is one of the leading chronic diseases in children 17 years of age and under with nine million American children suffering from it. Previous studies to understand causal factors of disease including asthma tend to focus on the individual and sociocultural characteristics but there is little to no research using neighborhood characteristics, a factor that does influence health. Research shows that other community‐level environmental factors like collective efficacy, community structural factors, and neighborhood safety can affect a persons’ psychosocial well-being, and in turn increase morbidity. For this reason, researchers suggest that the need to understand asthma and its associated …
Hiv/Aids: Ayurvedic Medicine's Impact On India's Social Stigma, Shawn Francis
Hiv/Aids: Ayurvedic Medicine's Impact On India's Social Stigma, Shawn Francis
Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society
Ayurvedic medicine is an ancient form of treatment that has existed in India through scriptures and generations for thousands of years. It is practiced by “indigenous medical practitioners” or natural medical practitioners that assume the role of healers and use various forms of herbal remedies to treat individuals that have a form of illness. (Kakar DN. 1983) According to the C.D.L. College of Ayurveda, Ayurvedic medicine focuses on viewing the individual holistically through the body, mind, food, and environment to produce a medicinal recipe to meet the needs of the individual. In addition, the college has also mentioned that they …
The Drawn-Out Battle Against Stigma: Mental Health In Modern American Comics And Graphic Novels, Swee Khee Brenda Seah
The Drawn-Out Battle Against Stigma: Mental Health In Modern American Comics And Graphic Novels, Swee Khee Brenda Seah
Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society
The discussion of mental health issues in the media significantly shapes public perceptions, most notably in negative portrayals that contribute to the stereotyping of mental health patients. Perhaps surprisingly, comics and graphic novels are forms of media that have potential to mitigate such stigma, despite earlier criticism of mental health stereotypes propagated in some comics. This is reflected in a recent trend of comics treating mental health issues in more sympathetic ways. This paper discusses three American comics from the last decade, examining depictions of post-traumatic stress disorder in Garry Trudeau's comic strip, Doonesbury, around 2005-2006, schizophrenia in Nate …
Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who's The Thinnest Of Them All?, Ann Marie O'Brien
Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who's The Thinnest Of Them All?, Ann Marie O'Brien
Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society
Societal standards of feminine beauty are presented in all forms of popular culture, thus bombarding women with images that portray what our society considers to be the “ideal body type.” These images, as seen on the cover of magazines, in popular films and in all forms of web and print advertising, are consistently depicted and easily described with one word: skinny. The regular use of unnatural, unhealthy and unrealistic models sends the implicit message that in order for a woman to be beautiful, she must attain this ultra-thin physique. Such adulation of these images encourages women to sacrifice their health …