Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Stress Spillover Of Health Symptoms From Healthy Spouses To Patient Spouses In Older Married Couples Managing Both Diabetes And Osteoarthritis, Jeremy B. Yorgason, Susanne O. Roper, Jonathan G. Sandberg, Cynthia A. Berg

Faculty Publications

Many studies examining illness within marriage have investigated how illness in one spouse influences the other spouse. In later-life marriages, where both spouses are more likely to have health challenges, there is an increased likelihood that health symptoms from both spouses affect each other. In the current study we examined how health symptoms in a “healthy” spouse may exacerbate health problems in a partner (the patient) who is managing multiple chronic illnesses. Surveys were collected across 14 days from 27 later-life couples where patients had both diabetes and osteoarthritis. Results indicated that higher healthy spouse symptoms were generally associated with …

The Long Term Effect Of Parental Involvement In A Child's Education: A Ten-Step Approach, Eraina Ross-Aseme

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Parental Involvement in a child's education is very important to the child becoming a productive citizen. Some parents find themselves getting in at the start of their child entering elementary school; parental involvement should begin before the school age years. Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of establishments such as schools, churches and businesses partnering in a child's education. The goal of this project is to empower parents to build stronger support systems with schools, neighborhoods, churches and communities. Its aim is to show parents, school systems and businesses that collaboration in the education arena can be strengthened to achieve a …

Slides: Impacts Of Energy Deficits In Cooking, Illumination, Water, Sanitation, And Motive Power, Paul S. Chinowsky

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Dr. Paul Chinowsky, Director, Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities; Professor, University of Colorado

25 slides

Rural Caregiver Network Project Final Summative Internal Evaluation Report, University Of Maine Center On Aging

Maine Center on Aging Research and Evaluation

The Rural Caregiver Network Project is an initiative to support caregivers through both formal and informal resources in order to establish support systems in rural Washington and Hancock Counties. The focus of this project was to maximize residents’ ability to access home and community-based services at a lower cost. The sources of information for this report include the following: 88 intake surveys gathered from caregivers, 69 follow-up surveys from caregivers, 84 caregiver and professional training surveys, and 26 project partner process survey responses. The project has majorly served white, female caregivers in households with an aggregate income of less than …

Public Health Information Service In The Northern Region Of Bangladesh: An Exploratory Study, A.K.M. Eamin Ali Akanda, Kazi Mostak Gausul Hoq

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Public health information service plays a crucial role in upgrading the health status of the population of any country by providing valuable information on issues like health, sanitation, nutrition and family planning.Bangladesh, with one of the highest concentrations of non government organizations in the world, has been grappling with many health related problems including weak and insufficient infrastructure, corruption, population explosion, lack of health professionals, lack of awareness, etc. Although the organizations working in the region are making considerable efforts for reaching out to the larger cross-sections of rural people, their efforts are hampered by various socio-economic problems and …

Validity Of Infact Race/Ethnicity From Birth Certificates In The Context Of U.S. Demographic Change, Lisa Reyes Mason, Yunju Nam, Youngmi Kim

Center for Social Development Research

In this study, we examined consistency of infant race/ethnicity across two data sources (N=2,63) using measures of sensitivity and positive predictive value. First we created and compared conventional measures of infant race/ethnicity from 2007 Oklahoma birth certificates and SEED for Oklahoma Kids baseline survey data, classifying infants as White, African American, American Indian, Asian, or Hispanic. Then we created and tested alternative measures with a biracial classification, based on biological parentage from birth certificates or parent report of infant biracial identity in the survey. We find that, for conventional measures, sensitivity is highest for Whites and African Americans and lowest …

The Long-Term Impact Of War On Health And Wellbeing In Northern Vietnam: Some Glimpses From A Recent Survey, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Kim Korinek

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

War is considered one of the most intransigent obstacles to development; yet, the long-run effects of war on individual health have rarely been examined in the context of developing countries. Based on unique data recently collected as a pilot follow-up to the Vietnam Longitudinal Survey, this study examines health status of northern Vietnamese war cohorts (those who entered adulthood during the Vietnam War and now represent Vietnam’s older-adult population). To ascertain whether and how war impacts old-age physical and mental health, we compare multi-dimensional measures of health among war survivors, including civilians, combatants, noncombatants, and nonveterans involved in militia activities. …

Honduras: Local, Regional And Global Partnerships To Improve Health In Olancho, Lisa Kennedy Sheldon, Hasan Bailey, Carlo Najera, Mary Roy

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Honduran Mission Team-New Hampshire (HMT-NH) in partnership with the Olancho Aid Foundation (OAF), works in the Olancho department to improve the health and education of the Honduran people. The HMT-NH 2012 Healthcare Team included UMass Boston faculty and a nursing student working with American and Honduran doctors and nurses to provide culturally-appropriate healthcare and collect data about the needs of the Honduran people in Olancho.

Effects Of Symptom Presentation Order On Perceived Disease Risk, Virginia S. Y. Kwan, Sean P. Wojcik, Talya Miron-Shatz, Ashley M. Votruba, Christopher Y. Olivola

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

People are quick to perceive meaningful patterns in the co-occurrence of events. We report two studies exploring the effects of streaks in symptom checklists on perceived personal disease risk. In the context of these studies, a streak is a sequence of consecutive items on a list that share the characteristic of being either general or specific. We identify a psychological mechanism underlying the effect of streaks in a list of symptoms and show that the effect of streaks on perceived risk varies with the length of the symptom list. Our findings reveal a tendency to infer meaning from streaks in …

Ethnic And Immigration Status Differences On Child Indicators Of Health For European Americans And Latinos, Christina Granillo, David V. Chavez, Donna M. Garcia, Kelly Campbell

Psychology Faculty Publications

This study examined the effects of ethnicity and immigration status on subjective and objective health (Body Mass Index; BMI) for Latino and European American children. Social identity and comparison theories were used to frame the investigation. Southern California parents were randomly selected to complete a telephone interview about their children’s health yielding a sample of 165 European American and 152 Latino participants. Compared to European Americans, Latinos evidenced poorer subjective and objective health. Latino children who had a caregiver who was a citizen had better subjective health than Latino children whose caregiver was not a citizen. BMI was correlated with …

Exploring The Latino Paradox: How Economic And Citizenship Status Impact Health, Kelly Campbell, Donna M. Garcia, Christina V. Granillo, David V. Chavez

Psychology Faculty Publications

We examined the contributions of economic status (ES) and citizenship status to health differences between European Americans, Latino Americans, and non-citizen Latinos. The investigation was framed using social identity and comparison theories. Southern California residents (N = 2164) were randomly selected to complete a telephone interview. Increases in ES predicted health improvements for European Americans across ES levels. For Latino citizens and non-citizens, ES improvements had no effect on objective health. For subjective health, the Latino paradox existed at the lowest ES level for Latino Americans, and did not exist for non-citizens. For objective health, the paradox existed in both …

Health Status Effects On Human Female Mate Preferences And Sociosexuality, Tiffany Alexandra Alvarez

McNair Poster Presentations

Much literature suggests that the sociosexual strategies of females are highly sensitive and consequently responsive to change and its parameters. Through the investigation of an unexplored contextual variant—health status—this study aimed to broaden the understanding of the facultative nature of human female sociosexuality and mate preferences paradigms. We recruited normally cycling women between the ages of 18 and 30 when they were sick (A) had them complete a questionnaire designed to obtain, among other things, measures of their symptom severity and sociosexuality (B) had them evaluate the appeal of two computer manipulated markers of sexual dimorphism (those present in the …

Health Effects Associated With Foreclosure: A Secondary Analysis Of Hospital Discharge Data, Nancy N. Menzel, Sheniz Moonie, Melva Thompson-Robinson

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the health effects of high home foreclosure rates in an area of the United States of America and the utility of hospital discharge data for this purpose.

Methods: We analyzed hospital discharge data from three postal zip codes using the principal diagnosis for 25 Diagnostic Related Groups associated with stress. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize hospital discharge rates for each condition by year and zip code. To test for differences across time, the Cochran-Armitage trend test was performed.

Results: Most conditions did not demonstrate a statistical change between 2005 and …

The Association Between Job Demands/Control And Health In Employed Parents: The Mediating Role Of Work-To-Family Interference And Enhancement, Christopher A. Magee, Natalie Stefanic, Peter Caputi, Donald C. Iverson

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

"This paper examined whether work-to-family interference (WFI) and work-to-family enhancement (WFE) mediated the association between job demands/control and self-reported mental and physical health. Data were from the Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia survey and included 1,404 Australian adults aged 18-64 years at baseline; 820 participants provided data at three time points (baseline, 12-month follow-up, and 24-month follow-up). Self-report questionnaires assessed mental and physical health, WFI and WFE, and job demands/control. Mediation analyzes performed on the longitudinal data indicated that WFI mediated the relationships between job demands/control and self-reported mental and physical health. The findings have implications for improving …

Barriers And Enablers To Implementation Of A New Zealand-Wide Guideline For Assessment And Management Of Cardiovascular Risk In Primary Health Care: A Template Analysis, Ann Mckillop, Jackie Crisp, Kenneth Walsh

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Aim: The aim of this study was to identify the enablers and barriers to guideline implementation in a primary healthcare setting by employing the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS) framework as a template for data analysis and interpretation. Background: The use of clinical practice guidelines is pivotal to improving health outcomes. However, the implementation of guidelines into practice is complex, unpredictable, and, in spite of much investigation, remains resistant to explanation of what works and why. Optimising the enablers and minimising the barriers to implementation of a guideline for reducing cardiovascular disease risk has the potential …

The Impact Of Husband’S Job Loss On Partners’ Mental Health, Silvia Mendolia

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of job loss on family mental well-being. The negative income shock can affect the mental health status of the individual who directly experiences such displacement, as well as the psychological well-being of his partner; also, job loss may have a significantly detrimental effect on life satisfaction, self-esteem and on the individual’s perceived role in society. This analysis is based on a sample of married and cohabitating couples from the first 14 waves of the British Household Panel Survey. In order to correct for the possible endogeneity of job loss, data …

Public Health Ethics: Informing Better Public Health Practice, Stacy M. Carter, Ian Kerridge, Peter Sainsbury, Julie K. Letts

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Public health ethics has emerged and grown as an independent discipline over the last decade. It involves using ethical theory and empirical analyses to determine and justify the right thing to do in public health. In this paper, we distinguish public health ethics from clinical ethics, research ethics, public health law and politics. We then discuss issues in public health ethics including: how to weigh up the benefits, harms and costs of intervening; how to ensure that public health interventions produce fair outcomes; the potential for public health to undermine or promote the rights of citizens; and the significance of …

The Ethical Commitments Of Health Promotion Practitioners: An Empirical Study From New South Wales, Australia, Stacy M. Carter, Christiane Klinner, Ian Kerridge, Lucie Rychetnik, Vincy Li, Denise Fry

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In this article, we provide a description of the good in health promotion based on an empirical study of health promotion practices in New South Wales, the most populous state in Australia. We found that practitioners were unified by a vision of the good in health promotion that had substantive and procedural dimensions. Substantively, the good in health promotion was teleological: it inhered in meliorism, an intention to promote health, which was understood holistically and situated in places and environments, a commitment to primary rather than secondary prevention and engagement with communities more than individuals. Procedurally, the good in health …

Editorial - What Is Health Promotion Ethics?, Stacy M. Carter

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

What does it mean to think about the ethics of health promotion? When most of us think 'ethics' we think of the Human Research Ethics Committee applications required for research projects. But I'm thinking of something quite different here: the ethics of health promotion practice. Health promotion ethics is an attempt to answer questions such as: Can we provide a moral justification for what we are doing in health promotion? or What is the right thing to do in health promotion, and how can we tell? As other authors have argued, sometimes these questions are ignored in health promotion in …

Routine Outcome Monitoring And Feedback On Physical Or Mental Health Status: Evidence And Theory, Ingrid V. Carlier, Denise Meuldijk, Irene M. Van Vliet, Esther M. Van Fenema, Nic J. Van Der Wee, Frans G. Zitman

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objectives: Routine Outcome Monitoring (ROM) is an important quality tool for measuring outcome of treatment in health care. The objective of this article is to summarize the evidence base that supports the provision of feedback on ROM results to (mental) health care professionals and patients. Also, some relevant theoretical aspects are considered. Methods: Literature study (Pubmed, Medline, PsychINFO, Embase Psychiatry, 1975-2009) concerning randomized controlled trials (RTC's) of ROM and feedback on physical or mental health status of patients of all ages. Main search terms were routine outcome monitoring/measurement, feedback, health status measurement, patient reported outcome measures. Results: Included were 52 …

Prevalence Of Smoking And Other Health Risk Factors In People Attending Residential Substance Abuse Treatment, Peter J. Kelly, Amanda L. Baker, Frank P. Deane, Frances Kay-Lambkin, Billie Bonevski, Jenna Tregarthen

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Introduction and Aims. People attending substance abuse treatment have an elevated risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer. Consequently, there have been increasing calls for substance abuse treatment services to address smoking.The current study examined smoking behaviours of people attending residential substance abuse treatment. Additionally, the study examined rates of other potentially modifiable health risk factors for the development of CVD and cancer. Design and Methods. A cross-sectional survey was completed by participants attending Australian Salvation Army residential substance abuse treatment services (n = 228). Rates of smoking, exercise, dietary fat intake, body mass index and depression were identified …

Recovery And Mental Health Care: Views Of Ed Nurses, Donna Marynowski-Traczyk, Lorna Moxham, Marc Broadbent

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The demand for acute and emergency mental health care exceeds current supply of available services and it is well documented that registered nurses are increasingly caring for consumers with a mental illness as part of their daily work.

Adapting General Practice Training To Meet The Evolving Health Care Needs Of Our Communities, Andrew Bonney, Simon Morgan, Parker Magin

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Abstract of workshop held at General Practice Education and Training Convention 2013, 11-12 September 2013, Perth.

Consensus On The Future Core Functions And Competency Requirements Of Public Health Nutritionists, Roger Hughes, Andrea Begley, Heather Yeatman

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Competency standards provide the architecture for workforce development and serve to inform workforce preparation, continuing professional development and quality assurance via registration and credentialing systems. Developing consensus on competency requirements for the developing global public health nutrition workforce is therefore an important strategic initiative. This study aimed to assess the level of consensus amongst an international panel of public health nutrition leaders regarding the essential competencies required for effective public health nutrition practice.

Curriculum Renewal For Public Health Nutrition - A National Case Study, Australia, Heather Yeatman, Andrea Begley, Roger Hughes, Lisa Schubert, Lauren Williamns, Claire Palermo

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Effective workforce preparation and continuing professional development in public health nutrition are essential to address the immense challenges facing nutrition in the world today. A national Curriculum Renewal in Public Health Nutrition project in Australia (2011/12) built on previous international work on PHN competencies and facilitated scholarly dialogue on innovative teaching and learning and curriculum mapping strategies.

Fostering Teamwork For Health Care Professionals In The Online Learning Environment, Joanne T. Joyce-Mccoach

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The inclusion of group assignments as part of teaching and learning in the education of health professionals is an expectation of registration bodies and health care stakeholders. Effective teamwork skills are seen as essential for productive working relationships in multidisciplinary teams and contributing to better health outcomes for staff and health care consumers. The translation of traditional approaches to teaching health care professionals to the online learning environment requires course coordinators to re-examine the relevance, design and assessment of group work. This presentation showcases the development of online group assessments that applies these education principles to the development of an …

Understanding And Benchmarking Health Service Achievement Of Policy Goals For Chronic Disease, Erica Bell, Bastian Seidel

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Background Key challenges in benchmarking health service achievement of policy goals in areas such as chronic disease are: 1) developing indicators and understanding how policy goals might work as indicators of service performance; 2) developing methods for economically collecting and reporting stakeholder perceptions; 3) combining and sharing data about the performance of organizations; 4) interpreting outcome measures; 5) obtaining actionable benchmarking information. This study aimed to explore how a new Boolean-based small-N method from the social sciences—Qualitative Comparative Analysis or QCA—could contribute to meeting these internationally shared challenges. Methods A ‘multi-value QCA’ (MVQCA) analysis was conducted of data from 24 …

The Evidence-Policy Divide: A 'Critical Computational Linguistics' Approach To The Language Of 18 Health Agency Ceos From 9 Countries, Erica Bell, Bastian M. Seidel

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Background There is an emerging body of literature suggesting that the evidence-practice divide in health policy is complex and multi-factorial but less is known about the processes by which health policy-makers use evidence and their views about the specific features of useful evidence. This study aimed to contribute to understandings of how the most influential health policy-makers view useful evidence, in ways that help explore and question how the evidence-policy divide is understood and what research might be supported to help overcome this divide. Methods A purposeful sample of 18 national and state health agency CEOs from 9 countries was …

Stimulating An Interest In Mental Health Nursing, Lorna Moxham, Renee Brighton, Terry Froggatt, Susan Liersch, Patrea Andersen

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

A team of researchers at the University of Wollongong are currently examining the experiences of Bachelor of Nursing (BN) students as they engage in a stimulating learning experience in mental health.

Recovery In Mental Health: A Movement Towards Well-Being And Meaning In Contrast To An Avoidance Of Symptoms, Samantha Clarke, Lindsay G. Oades, Trevor Patrick Crowe

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective: This paper examines the types of goals being set by individuals in the context of Australian mental health services and whether goal type differs across the stages of recovery. Methods: Goal records of 144 individuals accessing services were reviewed to examine goal content, ratio of approach and avoidance oriented goals and changes across stages of psychological recovery. Results: Individuals further along in their recovery set significantly more approach goals and types of goals set appeared to reflect broader life roles. Conclusions and Implications for Practice: Setting approach goals and goals that reflect broader life roles tends to support the …