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Parchman Farm Penitentiary Exists As Modern Day Slavery, Savannah Plaisted
Parchman Farm Penitentiary Exists As Modern Day Slavery, Savannah Plaisted
Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society
This research explores the connections between convict leasing in the state of Mississippi and the current state of prison labor at Parchman Farm Penitentiary (Mississippi State Penitentiary). The use of unpaid labor, the grossly disproportionate representation of Black men, the inhumane and grotesque conditions of the prison, the abnormally high death rate, and the continued execution of a disproportionate number of Black men of today’s Parchman Farm and the version of the prison at its initial founding in 1901 will be analyzed. All of these factors combined provide the foundation for the argument that slavery never ended in the state …
“Can You Hear Me Now?”: Insurance Coverage For Hearing Benefits In The United States, Reegan Whipple
“Can You Hear Me Now?”: Insurance Coverage For Hearing Benefits In The United States, Reegan Whipple
Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society
Public and private insurance coverage for hearing benefits underscores the gaps in coverage for treating hearing loss in the U.S. The commodification of the hearing benefits sector of healthcare in this country has detrimental consequences for personal health. Using three personal anecdotes to frame the issue, my paper explores the complex worlds of both public and private insurance as well as the implications of each type of insurance for both adults and children. Current regulations and laws for hearing benefits leave many people to suffer financially, physically, and emotionally. After reviewing the current regulations I propose changes to rectify some …
Domestic Violence In The Spotlight: From The Private Sphere To Popular Culture, Taylor Rinefierd
Domestic Violence In The Spotlight: From The Private Sphere To Popular Culture, Taylor Rinefierd
Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society
No abstract provided.
The Notebook: An Accidental Alzheimer's Awareness Campaign, Danielle Waldron
The Notebook: An Accidental Alzheimer's Awareness Campaign, Danielle Waldron
Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society
My paper examines and critiques the portrayal of Alzheimer¹s disease in the popular film, The Notebook. Based off of a Nicholas Sparks novel, The Notebook uses Alzheimer¹s disease as a vehicle to relay a love story, but in doing so, presents a distorted picture of Alzheimer¹s disease to its audience. My paper compares the responsibilities of family caregivers of Alzheimer¹s patients in today¹s world with the unrealistic family caregiver, Noah, depicted on screen. My paper also explores and exposes inconsistencies between the attractive nursing home experience presented on screen and the less than ideal treatment patients experience in long term …
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, …
The Pregnancy Project: Impact Of Ultrasound Use During Pregnancy Care, Paige Ricci
The Pregnancy Project: Impact Of Ultrasound Use During Pregnancy Care, Paige Ricci
Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society
Use of ultrasounds during pregnancy continues to increase and there is much debate as to what the best practice is regarding their use, for what types of patients, at what volume level. Current evidence suggests, the extended routine use of ultrasound technology should be for all women that present complications to screen for structural anomalies during pregnancy. However, others have suggested that excessive ultrasound use may be both unnecessary, costly and potentially harmful. Evidence further suggests that mothers find the use of technology to be security enhancing during pregnancy and through the process of care, and that ultrasound use is …
Sick With Fear: Popular Challenges To Scientific Authority In The Vaccine Controversies Of The 21st Century, Ellen Watkins
Sick With Fear: Popular Challenges To Scientific Authority In The Vaccine Controversies Of The 21st Century, Ellen Watkins
Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society
In the 20th century, vaccines were heralded as one of the greatest medical inventions in history. In the late 1990’s, however, the myth of vaccine-caused autism caught fire. Despite mountains of evidence disproving the link, panicking Americans eschewed vaccines and turned against their physicians. Why did Americans turn their backs on doctors, scientists, and the health industry? This paper follows the vaccine controversy of the last thirty years, looking in particular at the relationship between science and the media. This paper analyzes the contrast between discussion of the hypothesized link in scientific circles and in popular news sources, seeking to …
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 …