Health Policy Commons^™

Teletherapy Use In Children’S Advocacy Centers: An Effective Solution Amidst The Covid-19 Pandemic, Camille T. Traczek

Student Publications

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected people’s lives in unprecedented ways. Concerns about social distancing have resulted in the cancellation of therapy and doctor’s appointments, leaving those with serious mental health issues without treatment. The need for social distancing amidst the pandemic has particularly affected children seeking treatment from Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs), many of whom have witnessed or experienced abuse. In order to treat children who cannot physically go to a center, many CACs have begun using teletherapy, which is the use of interactive, synchronous technology to provide counseling services. The Adams County Children’s Advocacy Center in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania has …

Planned Policy Action, Nicole T. Cesanek

Student Publications

Gettysburg College was built on the foundation of “doing great work,” not just for the betterment of ourselves and our education but also for others in the college and surrounding community. This project seeks to do precisely this, encourage everyone, including students, tourists, and community members, to do great work in benefiting others around them. It primarily consists of a comprehensive summary of the plans and actions required to create a community-wide tab collection bin to benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). The project seeks to achieve two main goals: encourage people to collect and donate their aluminum can …

Analyzing The Response To Covid-19 In Pennsylvania State Correctional Institutions, Elizabeth A. Rousseau

Student Publications

To evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on the Pennsylvania prison system, I collected data from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and the Marshall Project. I supplemented the data with opinion pieces and journal articles discussing the specific issues that this pandemic imposes upon prisons in the United States. In sum, population data collected from the Department of Corrections showed that only a few State Correctional Institutions saw a steady decrease in population over the 25 day study period from from June 18th through July 13th (Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, 2020). Combining testing data …

Pro-Life And Pro-Choice: What Shapes The Debate Over Abortion In America?, Kevin S. Ganjon

Student Publications

The topic of abortion in the United States of America is one that is surrounded by immense political controversy, particularly surrounding the legality of the practice. While some individuals believe in varying levels of freedom of choice, many others believe that the overall practice is unjust and wrong in most, or all circumstances. What are some of the underlying factors that may shape an individual’s stance on abortion? This research paper examines various significant factors such as religiosity, level of education, and age with regards to their potential correlation with an individual’s stance on abortion. By examining this data, this …

Mis-Nourished Nation: Analysis Of The Impact Of Snap Benefits On Food Deserts In The U.S., Audrey E. Maynard

Student Publications

Researchers from a range of fields have been concerned with learning about and addressing food security and access issues, but have done less to tackle the specific issue of food deserts. Rooted in a historical analysis of diet and health, I examine how trends in agricultural subsidies and other structural factors contribute to a cycle of health issues, poverty and “mis-nourishment”. Further, I review and evaluate existing interventions. Then, with the use of grounded theory, I conduct a systematic review of sources within the EBSCO Host database concerning both “food access, insecurity and deserts” and “SNAP Benefits” to determine the …

Why Prison Dental Care Matters: Legal, Policy, And Practical Concerns, Anne S. Douds, Eilenn M. Ahlin, Nicholas S. Fiore, Nicholas J. Barrish

Public Policy Faculty Publications

Even when controlling for demographic characteristics, prisoners are far more likely than people in the general population to suffer from periodontal disease, to have unresolved oral health issues, to have decayed teeth, and/or to be missing teeth. Correlates of poor oral health, such as poor nutrition and smoking, are more prevalent among people of lower socioeconomic status, and this same population is at a higher risk than others for offending and incarceration. For some, prison is the only time in their adult lives when they will have seen a dentist. There are few free dental clinics in communities, regardless of …

African American Disparities In Healthcare, Emma E. Bedell

Student Publications

African Americans constantly experience disparities in health care due to various factors. They typically face differences in insurance coverage, quality of care, geographic variation, and stereotyping by providers. These social inequalities are ultimately inevitable, however; changes need to be made to better the care that Black patients receive. The differences Black men and women receive in healthcare can put their life in danger or even give them unnecessary medical treatment. There is no simple solution to fix this problem, but action needs to be taken immediately.

Healthcare: A Universal Human Right Or White Privilege?, Nicole E. Heller

Student Publications

It is an undeniable fact that racism has been present in the United States since the beginning of the European colonization of the nation. Structural racism and implicit biases are the modern reality of the African American experience, reflecting years of direct racial targeting, mistreatment and discrimination. Today, there are many examples of deeply rooted racial discrepancies, de facto segregation, and modern acts of colonization. Perhaps one of the most troubling disparities present between African Americans and white Americans is the alarming difference in their experiences with healthcare. After a long history of medical torture, mistreatment, and a denial of …

Confronting Wartime Sexual Violence: Public Support For Survivors In Bosnia, Douglas D. Page, Samuel Whitt

Political Science Faculty Publications

Existing research on conflict-related sexual violence focuses on the motivations of perpetrators and effects on survivors. What remains less clear is how postconflict societies respond to the hardships survivors face. In survey experiments in Bosnia, we examine public support for financial aid, legal aid, and public recognition for survivors. First, we find a persistent ethnocentric view of sexual violence, where respondents are less supportive when the perpetrator is identified as co-ethnic and survivors are perceived as out-groups. Second, respondents are less supportive of male survivors than female survivors, which we attribute to social stigmas surrounding same-gender sexual activity. Consistent with …

Healthcare: What Comes Next?, William H. Lane

English Faculty Publications

Where do we go from here on healthcare?

America has been talking about fixing its fragmented and overly expensive healthcare system for quite a while now. At times, it seems as though we simply keep having the same conversation (or argument, if you prefer) over and over again without making much progress in ensuring access to affordable care to all Americans. In fact, however, some significant gains have been made. Twenty million left without insurance (our situation now) has got to be better than forty million left without (our situation a decade ago).

Fruit And Vegetable Bucks: Adams County Grocery Store Snap Incentive Program, Meredith A. Cox, Amy B. Dailey, Kim Davidson, Kathy Gaskin, Etta Saltos, Audrey Hess, Megan Shreve, Cherry Arvin, Elizabeth Weller

Student Publications

Veggie Bucks provides a 50% discount on all fresh fruits and vegetables sold through Kennie’s Market produce department at the point of sale for the 5 highest cost items. The incentive period ran January - April, 2017. Intended outcomes include an increase in the number of fresh fruits and vegetables purchased by SNAP recipients at Kennie’s Market locations in Biglerville and Gettysburg by 10% in January-April 2017 compared to baseline figures obtained in 2016, and to familiarize SNAP recipients with fresh fruits and vegetables and to provide information about the ACFMA markets’ Double Dollars program. SNAP recipients were invited to …

How Will We Heal?, William H. Lane

English Faculty Publications

How will we ever heal from our recent election? Isn't that what many Americans are asking at this point in time? Deadlines being what they have to be in order to keep a lively small town paper on track. I pose these questions while writing on Halloween Eve--appropriately enough given the current state of our politics--without knowing the results of the election. I don't know who won what exactly, but I do know our country lost, having been seriously damaged over the last year and a half by a presidential campaign without precedent in American history, and I do know …

Contraception, Abortion And Assisted Fertility Among Muslim Women A Look At Islamic Culture And Policy In Iran And Afghanistan, Hayley Jacobsen

What All Americans Should Know About Women in the Muslim World

Discourse on women's reproductive rights through the lens of Muslim culture. The use of contraception, assisted fertility and abortion, are analyzed in Iran and Afghanistan. The culture surrounding family planning is detailed through a woman’s community, family, religion and the laws that govern the society they live in, which all influence her decision making in these matters. This piece stands as a cultural analysis of women's agency specifically in Middle Eastern Muslim culture, as it stands as a part of a global women's rights movement.

Socioeconomic Differences In Antenatal Care Between The United States And Scandinavia, Joshua B. Kiehl

Student Publications

Despite their analogous status as economically developed nations, the United States and Scandinavian countries have marked differences in their healthcare systems. In particular both areas discernibly differ in the antenatal treatment provided for expecting women and their babies. Sweden and Denmark’s healthcare systems are universal, run primarily on taxpayer dollars, and provide equal antenatal care regardless of socioeconomic status. The United States’ healthcare system is run on a combination of private and government run insurance, in which socioeconomic status often determines insurance coverage. This variability in insurance coverage often results in differing levels of antenatal care. An overarching question remains …

Goddesses Versus Gynecologists: An Analysis Of The History Of Women’S Healthcare, Marion A. Mckenzie

Student Publications

Starting from the downfall of Goddess cultures in Europe, women's health care has been negatively impacted for generations. The rise of the white, male Indo-European "dominator model" along with the witch craze, caused the end of widespread wise women traditions and pharmacopeia methods. After women's traditional voice was silenced, medical colleges were established to pronounce new, "professional" knowledge. Only those who attended these universities were allowed to legally practice medicine; however, during this time, medical research and treatments for women primarily included mutilation and painful, nonsensical regimens. The horrifying state of women's healthcare has since improved, but was originally a …

Medicare At Fifty Needs To Grow, William H. Lane

English Faculty Publications

In America everybody has a healthcare story. A bill impossible to read, an inscrutable "additional" charge, trouble getting insurance, trouble keeping it, a friend or family member who's fallen between the coverage "cracks." [excerpt]

Rush To Judgment: The Sti-Treatment Trials And Hiv In Sub-Saharan Africa, Eileen Stillwaggon, Larry Sawers

Economics Faculty Publications

Introduction: The extraordinarily high incidence of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa led to the search for cofactor infections that could explain the high rates of transmission in the region. Genital inflammation and lesions caused by sexually transmitted infections (STIs) were a probable mechanism, and numerous observational studies indicated several STI cofactors. Nine out of the ten randomized controlled trials (RCTs), however, failed to demonstrate that treating STIs could lower HIV incidence. We evaluate all 10 trials to determine if their design permits the conclusion, widely believed, that STI treatment is ineffective in reducing HIV incidence.

Discussion: Examination of the …

The Cost Of Affordable Food, Candice L. Cobuzzi

SURGE

When someone puts a piece of food in front of me, I don’t just see a piece of food.

Instead, I see an innocent cow being cornered by a forklift and slaughtered, its limp, moist tissue hung on a long conveyer belt with hundreds of others.

I see hundreds of chemically-injected chickens packed into a dark barn with no hope of seeing sunlight in their lifetime.

I see immigrants pulled from their houses like criminals, taken away from the lives they’ve spent years building for themselves and their families, working for the same food company that courted them into the …

Concurrent Sexual Partnerships Do Not Explain The Hiv Epidemics In Africa: A Systematic Review Of The Evidence, Larry Sawers, Eileen Stillwaggon

Economics Faculty Publications

The notion that concurrent sexual partnerships are especially common in sub-Saharan Africa and explain the region’s high HIV prevalence is accepted by many as conventional wisdom. In this paper, we evaluate the quantitative and qualitative evidence offered by the principal proponents of the concurrency hypothesis and analyze the mathematical model they use to establish the plausibility of the hypothesis.

We find that research seeking to establish a statistical correlation between concurrency and HIV prevalence either finds no correlation or has important limitations. Furthermore, in order to simulate rapid spread of HIV, mathematical models require unrealistic assumptions about frequency of sexual …

Complexity, Cofactors, And The Failure Of Aids Policy In Africa, Eileen Stillwaggon

Economics Faculty Publications

Global AIDS policy still treats HIV as an exceptional case, abstracting from the context in which infection occurs. Policy is based on a simplistic theory of HIV causation, and evaluated using outdated tools of health economics. Recent calls for a health systems strategy – preventing and treating HIV within a programme of comprehensive health care – have not yet influenced the silo approach of AIDS policy.

Evidence continues to accumulate, showing that multiple factors, such as malnutrition, malaria and helminthes, increase the risk of sexual and vertical transmission of HIV. Moreover, complementary interventions that reduce viral load, improve immune response, …