Medicine and Health Commons^™

Idiots Savants, Retarded Savants, Talented Aments, Mono-Savants, Autistic Savants, Just Plain Savants, People With Savant Syndrome, And Autistic People Who Are Good At Things: A View From Disability Studies, Joseph N. Straus

Publications and Research

People identified as idiot savants have long comprised an identifiable group (a high level of skill in the context of perceived mental deficiency) whose story has mostly been told by psychiatrists and psychologists within a medicalized model of disability that assumes deficiency and seeks remediation and normalization. More recently, people identified as savants have become common figures of literary and cinematic representation. Both of these narrative frames have enfreaked them as alien Others, whose gifts and disabilities place them outside the normal run of human intelligence and creativity. With a focus on music, this article tries to see through these …

Behavioral And Mental Health In Nevada, David Caloiaro, Luana Ritch

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Until recently, the Nevada Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services (MHDS) was the public provider of mental health, substance abuse and developmental services. On July 1, 2013, the delivery of the mental health, substance abuse and developmental services in Nevada was restructured on several levels. With this reorganization, Developmental Services for persons with intellectual disabilities was transitioned into the Aging and Disability Services Division (ADSD), while mental health and substance abuse services were integrated to become Behavioral Health. Behavioral Health was then merged with the public health from the State Health Division to form the new Division of Public …

Nebraska Risk And Protective Factor Student Survey Results For 2014. Profile Report: State Of Nebraska, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Student Health and Risk Prevention Surveillance System (SHARP)

This report summarizes the findings from the 2014 Nebraska Risk and Protective Factor Student Survey (NRPFSS). The 2014 survey represents the sixth implementation of the NRPFSS and the third implementation of the survey under the Nebraska Student Health and Risk Prevention (SHARP) Surveillance System.

The NRPFSS targets Nebraska students in grades 8, 10, and 12 with a goal of providing schools and communities with local-level data. As a result, the NRPFSS is implemented as a census survey, meaning that every public and non-public school with an eligible grade can choose to participate. Therefore data presented in this report are not …

Life In Hampton Roads Survey Press Release #3: Declining Health And Diminishing Education, Social Science Research Center, Old Dominion University

Life in Hampton Roads Survey Report

This report examines regional and sub-regional measures of health and education perceptions from the 2014 Life In Hampton Roads survey (LIHR 2014) conducted by the Old Dominion University Social Science Research Center.

No Taste For Health: How Tastes Are Being Manipulated To Favour Foods That Are Not Conducive To Health And Wellbeing, Lelia R. Green

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background : “The sense of taste,” write Nelson and colleagues in a 2002 issue of Nature, “provides animals with valuable information about the nature and quality of food. Mammals can recognize and respond to a diverse repertoire of chemical entities, including sugars, salts, acids and a wide range of toxic substances” (199). The authors go on to argue that several amino acids—the building blocks of proteins—taste delicious to humans and that “having a taste pathway dedicated to their detection probably had significant evolutionary implications”. They imply, but do not specify, that the evolutionary implications are positive. This may be the …

Health Inequality, Sarah A. Burgard, Molly M. King

Sociology

There are many reasons why poverty matters, but it is especially troubling that it affects such fundamental outcomes as health and access to health care. If poverty did not bring about all manner of health risks, we would likely be somewhat less troubled by it. But of course poverty and other forms of social and economic disadvantage do often translate into deficits in health and health care. The purpose of this brief is to examine long-term trends in American health and to lay out the current state of evidence on the extent to which health and health care are unequally …

Hiv Infrastructure Study Baton Rouge, Susan S. Reif, Elena Wilson, Carolyn Mcallaster, Casteel Scherger

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Assessing Transgender Attitudes Toward Health Care: Can These Attitudes Help Predict Health Outcomes?, Sara M. Shane

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Research has identified the fact that race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, education level, geographic location, help seeking behaviors, and experiences of discrimination are associated with health outcomes. In addition, attitudes towards providers can also help determine health outcomes. The transgender community experiences barriers to health care services and therefore their overall health is affected. There is not a sufficient amount of literature that assesses, using standardized measure, the attitudes of the transgender community and their health. The present study will assess the attitudes of the transgender community toward health care (mental and medical health) and, using standardized measures, …

Public Assistance, Drug Testing, And The Law: The Limits Of Population-Based Legal Analysis, Candice T. Player

All Faculty Scholarship

In Populations, Public Health and the Law, legal scholar Wendy Parmet urges courts to embrace population-based legal analysis, a public health inspired approach to legal reasoning. Parmet contends that population-based legal analysis offers a way to analyze legal issues—not unlike law and economics—as well as a set of values from which to critique contemporary legal discourse. Population-based analysis has been warmly embraced by the health law community as a bold new way of analyzing legal issues. Still, population-based analysis is not without its problems. At times, Parmet claims too much territory for the population perspective. Moreover, Parmet urges courts …

Shots, Everybody? : British Anti-Smallpox Vaccination And The Development Of Multifaceted Anti-Vaccine Rhetoric On Internet Parenting Forums, Marta B. Bean

Scripps Senior Theses

Vaccination is an important public health measure that can help reduce disease at the population level. Substantial evidence exists that vaccines are safe and effective at reducing the incidence of diseases like pertussis, measles and cervical cancer. However, on Internet parenting forums, parents discuss whether or not vaccination is the right choice for their children. In this thesis, I highlight the historical context of the anti-vaccine movement in mid 19^th century to early 20^th century Victorian Britain in the era of compulsory smallpox vaccination. Vaccination in this time was a very different and more overtly dangerous process, and …

Normalizing Abnormality: An Exploration Of Social Forces Driving Gendered Disparity In Rates Of Anxiety Disorder Diagnoses, Sara Tebeau

Senior Independent Study Theses

According to recent statistics provided by the National Institute of Mental Health (2013), American women are twice as likely as men to face diagnosis with an anxiety disorder. While there are existing bodies of sociological and feminist work theorizing both the social construction of mental illness categories and the historical pathologization of women, there is no contemporary dialogue centered on gendered disparity in anxiety diagnosis rates. In this paper, I contribute to ongoing discussion of neoliberal influence on the gendering of mental illness through an exploration of the forces contributing to disparity in rates of diagnosis with anxiety disorders. In …

Rural Latino Adolescent Health: Preliminary Examination Of Health Risks And Cultural Correlates, Timothy D. Nelson, Katherine M. Kidwell, Brian E. Armenta, Lisa J. Crockett, Gustavo Carlo, Les B. Whitbeck

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Latino adolescents living in rural settings may be at increased risk of health problems; however, data describing the health status of this population are limited. This study examined 60 rural Latino adolescents and found high rates of health risk, including at-risk/clinical results for hemoglobin A1C (23.3%), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (55%), systolic blood pressure (21.7%), and overweight/obesity (55%). Time in sedentary behaviors was high and physical activity was limited. Adolescent language use was associated with health risk status, with greater use of English associated with lower risk. Health psychologists could promote improved health by providing health behavior interventions to this underserved …

Results From Ireland's 2014 Report Card On Physical Activity In Children And Youth, Deirdre M. Harrington, Sarahjane Belton, Tara Coppinger, Muireann Cullen, Alan Donnelly, Kieran Dowd, Teresa Keating, Richard Layte, Marie Murphy, Niamh Murphy, Elaine Murtagh, Catherine Woods

Publications

Background: Physical activity (PA) levels are a key performance indicator for policy documents in Ireland. The first Ireland Report Card on Physical Activity in Children and Youth aims to set a robust baseline for future surveillance of indicators related to PA in children and youth. Methods: Data collected between 2003-2010 on more than 35,000 7- to 18-year-old children and youth were used and graded using a standardized grading system for 10 indicators. Results: Grades assigned for the indicators were as follows: overall physical activity levels, D-; sedentary behavior (TV viewing), C-; organized sport participation, C-: physical education, D-; active play, …

Lifetime Racism And Blood Pressure Changes During Pregnancy: Implications For Fetal Growth, Clayton J. Hilmert, Tyan Parker Dominguez, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Sindhu K. Srinivas, Laura M. Glynn, Calvin J. Hobel, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective: Research suggests that exposure to racism partially explains why African American women are 2 to 3 times more likely to deliver low birth weight and preterm infants. However, the physiological pathways by which racism exerts these effects are unclear. This study examined how lifetime exposure to racism, in combination with maternal blood pressure changes during pregnancy, was associated with fetal growth. Methods: African American pregnant women (n = 39) reported exposure to childhood and adulthood racism in several life domains (e.g., at school, at work), which were experienced directly or indirectly, meaning vicariously experienced when someone …

Helping The Community From The Bottom Up: Distributing Diapers To The Williamsburg Community, Constance A. Hull, Caroline Kelsey

VA Engage Journal

There is a great need for a sustainable supply of clean diapers for low-income residents of Williamsburg since this region is without a diaper bank. Being unable to afford diapers can have a myriad of negative consequences from being unable to send children to child care to increased health risks involved in leaving a baby in a soiled diaper. Our model of a diaper bank differs from most because we mail diapers directly to families, eliminating transportation needs. We hope to partner with community agencies and The College of William & Mary to expand our services and create a more …

Social Networks, Drug Use, And Drug Abuse Help-Seeking: A Test Of The Network Episode Model Among African American Women, Erin L. Pullen

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

Untreated substance use disorders are a major public health concern that has costly consequences at both the societal and individual level. Identifying the characteristics and resources of those who seek help for substance abuse problems in order to inform more effective intervention and treatment techniques is therefore an important research objective. Using the Network Episode Model (NEM) as a theoretical framework, this dissertation examines both substance abuse help-seeking (i.e. inpatient/outpatient treatment and 12-Step meeting attendance) and patterns of drug use over time among low-income African American women, with a special focus on the role of the social network system in …

Hiv Infrastructure Study Columbia, Sc, Susan S. Reif, Elena Wilson, Carolyn Mcallaster

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Hcv Among Male Injection Drug Users And Their Female Partners In Almaty, Kazakhstan: Implications For Hcv Treatment And Prevention, Nabila El-Bassel, Louisa Gilbert, Chris Beyrer, Assel Terlikbayeva, Elwin Wu, Xin Ma, Mingway Chang, Stacey Shaw, Baurzhan Zhussupov, Tim Hunt, Sholpan Primbetova, Yelena Rozental

Faculty Publications

HCV infection is a serious concern among people who inject drugs. Despite imposing a major disease burden in countries with high rates of injection drug use such as Kazakhstan, other Central Asian and East Asian countries, Eastern Europe, and Russia, HCV remains an understudied issue. This study includes 728 individuals (364 couples) from Almaty, Kazakhstan, where at least one member of the dyad reported recent injection drug use. Participants were recruited to participate in a couple-based HIV prevention study. We examine the prevalence of HCV and co-infections between HCV and HIV, correlates of HCV, and the association between HCV prevalence …

Making Space For Dying: Portraits Of Living With Dying, Elise Lark

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

In Making Space for Dying: Portraits of Living with Dying, I describe the everyday lived experience of dying and the care culture within freestanding, community-based, end-of-life residences (CBEOLR) utilizing portraiture and arts-based research. I craft four case studies into “portraits,” based on interviews, on-site visits, up-close observation, and field notes. In the person-centered portraits, I reveal the inner landscape of two terminally ill women, with data represented in poetry. In the place-centered portraits, I “map” the social topography of two CBEOLRs to illustrate how lives and care of the dying are emplaced, from the perspectives of community leaders, …

Fundamental Resource Dis/Advantages, Youth Health And Adult Educational Outcomes, Cheryl Elman, Linda Wray, Juan Xi

Cheryl Elman

Recent studies find lasting effects of poor youth health on educational attainment but use young samples and narrow life course windows of observation to explore outcomes. We apply a life course framework to three sets of Health and Retirement Study birth cohorts to examine early health status effects on education and skills attainment measured late in life. The older cohorts that we study were the earliest recipients of U.S. policies promoting continuing education through the GI Bill, community college expansions and new credentials such as the GED. We examine a wide range of outcomes but focus on GEDs, postsecondary school …