Digital Commons Network^™

Social Capital, Health Literacy, And Access To Healthcare : A Study Among Rural And Urban Populations In Ghana, Padmore Adusei Amoah

Lingnan Theses

There is ample evidence supporting the association between social networks, and health and well-being. However, existing research and policies to address health-related inequalities in Ghana, have largely neglected this critical nexus. To address the knowledge gap, this study uses the concept of social capital (social relationships and the resources embedded in them) to investigate how and to what extent social relationships influence healthcare access and health literacy among selected rural and urban people. The study also examines how the stock of social capital, and the forms it takes, can influence implementation, and sustenance of local level pro-poor health policies. One …

Aging In Myanmar, John Knodel, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This spotlight provides an overview of thesituation of older persons in Myanmar, an under-studied country ofover-50-million population. Myanmar is of particular interest to researchersand policy makers, given its overall level of poverty and modestly rapidpopulation aging. Research on older persons, while increasing in recent years,remains sparse. Empirical evidence indicates that Myanmar older persons are inrelatively poorer health compared to those in neighboring countries. Many livein abject poverty and depend on their families for material support.Coresidence is very common and facilitates reciprocal exchanges acrossgenerations. Looking ahead, Myanmar confronts important challenges includingdemographic shifts that reduce availability of family support for older personsand …

Gene Drives, Nature, Governance: An Ethnographic Perspective, Irus Braverman

Contributions to Books

Published as chapter 3 in Gene Editing, Law, and the Environment, Irus Braverman, ed.

Synthetic gene drives raise ethical, ecological, and legal questions that are sometimes difficult to grasp. What is clear, however, is that the power to directly alter not just a singular form of life but the genetics of entire populations and species are currently both under-regulated and under-theorized. In place of state regulations, what seems to be emerging is a form of self-regulation by the gene drive scientists themselves. My chapter draws on in-depth interviews with several prominent gene drive scientists to explore their approach toward nature, …

Risk For Cardiovascular Disease In Blacks With Hiv/Aids In America: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Calvin Odhiambo, Jessica Davis, Bernard Omolo

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) related to HIV infection is becoming a major public health concern in the United Stated. Epidemiologic studies show that prolonged use of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy, HIV/AIDS itself, and a combination of traditional vascular risk factors increase the risk for CVD among people with HIV/AIDS. However, little is known about any racial disparities in the risk for CVD in the HIV/AIDS population. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of literature on HIV/AIDS and CVD (June 1, 2010-July 31, 2014) through MEDLINE to examine whether and how HIV-positive African Americans are disproportionately affected by CVD compared to …

Social Determinants Of Health Associated With Hbv Testing And Access To Care Among Foreign-Born Persons Residing In The United States: 2009 - 2012, Kevin M. Greene, Wayne A. Duffus, Jian Xing, Hope King

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Objectives: To describe how select Social Determinants of Health (SDH) are associated with the burden of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among foreign-born persons residing in the United States.

Methods: Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) 2010 Risk Factor Survey data to investigate the independent relationship between SDH and HBV testing and access to care.

Results: HBV infected persons with insurance were more likely to see a physician than those without. Respondents worried about money to pay rent or mortgage were more likely to report HBV infection than …

Constructing The 'Addict': A Discourse Analysis Of National Newspapers Concerning North America's First Supervised Injection Site, Katie Sills

Social Justice and Community Engagement

Safe injection sites provide injection drug users with a safe space to inject drugs with clean supplies under the supervision of medical professionals. This study centres on a discursive analysis of newspaper representations of Insite, North America’s first supervised injection site, located in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Insite opened in 2003 under an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and has provided benefits to its clients through a reduction in public injections, decreased spread of infectious disease, and by providing clients with referrals to other community and social services. Despite these accomplishments the Canadian …

Taiwanese Perceptions Of Refugees: Results Of An Experimental Survey, Stella Treumann

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This research paper deals with perceptions of refugees, with the intent to demonstrate what factors influence perceptions of refugees in general, and specifically in the context of Taiwan. The paper is divided into two larger sections. The first section functions as a literature review with the aim of providing the reader with existing background information on the topic of perceptions of refugees. The second section contains an experimental study on perceptions of refugees in Taiwan. While the effects of individual-level factors on perceptions of refugees have been examined by many studies and in different countries, their effects have never been …

Gadgets And Grieving: A Chronological Analysis On The Ways In Which Advancements In Medical Technologies Have Altered The Grieving Process, Grace Mcnair

Dialogue & Nexus

Since the 1940s, both end-of-life care and advancements in medical technologies have expanded exponentially. This article explores the advancements in medical technologies and how these have altered the way that Western society grieves death. With the capabilities to prolong life, the family, the patient, and the medical team, all grieve the end of life in different ways. This article provides a chronological analysis of palliative care, hospice care, and various medical advancements. These changes in medicine are then paralleled with alterations in the bereavement process. This article explores historical narratives of Western society’s transformation of grief through the lens of …

Immunizations And Health Disparities: Immunizations Provided Across A Diverse Population, Jeffery A. Goad, Tania Gregorian

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

"Vaccines help contain the spread of diseases and reduce morbidity and mortality. For any vaccination effort to succeed, vaccine uptake must be widespread across the entire population. However, the US population is very diverse, and there are various groups with different attitudes and beliefs regarding vaccination; this leads to disparities in vaccination rates. The Healthy People initiative, a program managed by Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the US Department of Health and Human Services HHS that aims to provide Americans with evidence-based, 10-year national objectives for improving their health defines a disparity in health care as 'a …

Contextualizing The Young Adult Female Breast Cancer Experience: Developmental, Psychosocial, And Interpersonal Influences, Cameron Froude, Sandra Rigazio-Digilio, Laura Donorfio, Keith Bellizzi

The Qualitative Report

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women (American Cancer Society [ACS], 2016b). Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) as a group have a worse prognosis when compared to older adults (e.g., Tichy, Lim, & Anders, 2013). Due to limited understanding of the biology of cancers for AYAs, inadequate representation of AYAs in clinical trials, and AYAs’ unique psychosocial healthcare needs, the prognosis for this group, as compared to older women, is comparatively poor. One step in addressing the survival gap for AYAs is to explore the developmental and psychosocial factors that shape their illness experiences. This qualitative study …

Post-9/11 Media Coverage Of Terrorism, Zachary S. Mitnik

Student Theses

Media coverage of terrorist attacks plays an important role in shaping the public understanding of terrorism. While there have been several studies analyzing coverage of terrorist incidents prior to 9/11, there has been little research examining post-9/11 coverage. This study fills this gap by examining the media’s coverage of terrorism in the United States between the dates of September 12, 2001 and December 31, 2015. The analysis is based on a list of terrorist-related incidents and New York Times articles written on each incident. This study documents the amount of coverage received by these incidents and identifies the variables influencing …

Using Network Sampling And Recruitment Data To Understand Social Structures Related To Community Health In A Population Of People Who Inject Drugs In Rural Puerto Rico, Mayra Coronado-García, Courtney R. Thrash, Melissa L. Welch-Lazoritz, G. Robin Gauthier, Juan Carlos Reyes, Bilal Khan, Kirk Dombrowski

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Objective: This research examined the social network and recruitment patterns of a sample of people who inject drugs (PWIDs) in rural Puerto Rico, in an attempt to uncover systematic clustering and between-group social boundaries that potentially influence disease spread.

Methods: Respondent driven sampling was utilized to obtain a sample of PWID in rural Puerto Rico. Through eight initial “seeds”, 317 injection drug users were recruited. Using recruitment patterns of this sample, estimates of homophily and affiliation were calculated using RDSAT.

Results: Analyses showed clustering within the social network of PWID in rural Puerto Rico. In particular, females showed a very …

Scoping Review Of Indicators And Methods Of Measurement Used To Evaluate The Impact Of Dog Population Management Interventions, Elly Hiby, Kate Nattras Atema, Rebecca Brimley, Alexandra Hammond-Seaman, Mark Jones, Andrew Rowan, Emelie Fogelberg, Mark Kennedy, Deepashree Balaram, Louis Nel, Sarah Cleaveland, Katie Hampson, Sunny Townsend, Tiziana Lembo, Nicola Rooney, Helen Rebecca Whay, Joy Pritchard, Jane Murray, Lisa Van Dijk, Natalie Waran, Heather Bacon, Darryn Knobel, Lou Tasker, Chris Baker, Lex Hiby

Management and Control of Companion Animal Populations Collection

Background: Dogs are ubiquitous in human society and attempts to manage their populations are common to most countries. Managing dog populations is achieved through a range of interventions to suit the dog population dynamics and dog ownership characteristics of the location, with a number of potential impacts or goals in mind. Impact assessment provides the opportunity for interventions to identify areas of inefficiencies for improvement and build evidence of positive change.

Methods: This scoping review collates 26 studies that have assessed the impacts of dog population management interventions.

Results: It reports the use of 29 indicators of change under 8 …

Molecular Analysis Of Β-Lactamase Genes In Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria, Neisha Medina Candelaria

Honors Projects

The wide overuse of antibiotics in both the medicine as well as agricultural has lead to a problem with antibiotic resistance. This present research experiment aims to identify various environmental bacterial samples to find antibiotic resistant strains. By looking at these strains we are then able to develop a system to monitor how antibiotic resistance spreads and develops over time. We can then compare different bacteria species to identify any similarities and the prevalence of the resistant strains.

A Retro Development In Education: Evaluating The Feasibility Of Integrating Place-Based Education Into Mississippi Curriculum Standards, Colby K. Mcclain

Honors Theses

This thesis evaluates the feasibility of integrating place-based environmental education activities from Think Green, Take Action: Books and Activities for Kids into the Mississippi Department of Education’s (MDE) Frameworks for Science and Social Studies for K-5. As children develop and experience the world, their ability to understand and interpret the surrounding environments expand; however, Mississippi schools are not focused on experiential environmental education, even though experiencing and understanding the surrounding environment is vital in fostering eagerness to learn. Due to a growing disconnect between humans and the natural world, this thesis examined 37 place- and environment-based activities for children, sixteen …

Functional Limitation And Depressive Symptomatology: Considering Perceived Stigma And Discrimination Within A Stress And Coping Framework, Robyn Lewis Brown

Sociology Faculty Publications

This study examines whether perceived stigma and discrimination moderate the associations between functional limitation, psychosocial coping resources, and depressive symptoms among people with physical disabilities. Using two waves of data from a large community study including a representative sample of persons with physical disabilities (N = 417), an SEM-based moderated mediation analysis was performed. Mediation tests demonstrate that mastery significantly mediates the association between functional limitation and depressive symptoms over the study period. Moderated mediation tests reveal that the linkage between functional limitation and mastery varies as a function of perceived stigma and experiences of major discrimination and day-to-day discrimination, …

The Role Of Social Location In Coping With Caregiving, Jacqueline Ragin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A salient concern stemming from population aging is the expected rise in demand for informal family caregivers for diseases impacting the elderly, including dementia (MMMI 2010; NIA and WHO 2011). Studies of caregiver well-being often problematize the sociodemographic caregivers (e.g. gender, marital status) while caregiver intervention studies typically focus on the program itself (Gallagher-Thompson et al., 2008; Rabinowitz et al., 2006; Shulz et al., 2003). In this dissertation I unite these two bodies of caregiver research and examine how the sociodemographic characteristics of participants in a caregiver intervention program relate to the program’s effectiveness. I use secondary data from the …

Risks, Protections, And Weight Status Among Springdale High School Students, Leanna Christine Gavin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the role of sociodemographic characteristics and various Social factors in determining BMI among adolescent high school students. In a sample of 1,493 students at a public high school in Springdale, Arkansas, disparities in body mass index across race/ethnicity, gender, and Social class were assessed. This project also examined risk and protective factors in the individual, peer, and family domains as they contributed to weight status outcomes and disparities. Using a quantitative approach, BMI outcomes were examined in a four-step multiple regression model, considering both main effects and interactions of race/ethnicity, class, and gender, as well as risk …

Psychosocial Challenges Facing Women Living With Hiv During The Perinatal Period In Rural Uganda, Scholastic Ashaba, Angela Kaida, Jessica N. Coleman, Bridget F. Burns, Emma Dunkley, Kasey O'Neil, Jasmine Kastner, Naomi Sanyu, Cecilia Akatukwasa, David R. Bangsberg, Lynn T. Matthews, Christina Psaros

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

The complexities of navigating pregnancy while living with HIV predispose women to additional stress. Finding ways to minimize psychosocial challenges during the perinatal period may maximize the well-being of mothers living with HIV and their children. The goal of this study was to explore psychosocial challenges experienced by women living with HIV (WLWH) during pregnancy and the postpartum.

We conducted individual in-depth interviews with 20 WLWH recruited from an HIV treatment cohort study in Mbarara, Uganda as part of a larger study exploring perinatal depression. We conducted content analyses to identify themes related to challenges of WLWH during pregnancy and …

Demographic Transition And The Dynamics Of Measles In Six Provinces In China: A Modeling Study, Sheng Li, Chao Ma, Lixin Hao, Qiru Su, Zhijie An, Fubao Ma, Shuyun Xie, Aiqiang Xu, Yangyang Zhang, Zhengrong Ding, Hui Li, Lisa Cairns, Huaqing Wang, Huiming Luo, Ning Wang, Li Li, Matthew J. Ferrari

Publications and Research

Background Industrialization and demographic transition generate nonstationary dynamics in human populations that can affect the transmission and persistence of infectious diseases. Decades of increasing vaccination and development have led to dramatic declines in the global burden of measles, but the virus remains persistent in much of the world. Here we show that a combination of demographic transition, as a result of declining birth rates, and reduced measles prevalence, due to improved vaccination, has shifted the age distribution of susceptibility to measles throughout China.

Methods and findings We fit a novel time-varying catalytic model to three decades of age-specific measles case …

Access To Information And Services Regarding Maternal Health And Healthcare Within Tribal Communities Around Udaipur, Rajasthan, Arista Jhanjee

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The following study seeks to investigate access to antenatal and delivery-related services and information among women residing in rural, tribal communities around Udaipur, Rajasthan, and to analyze determinants that affect such access. More specifically, it seeks to evaluate one determinant in particular: that of association with and use of the services provided by the nonprofit organization Seva Mandir, which works with rural communities throughout southern Rajasthan in order to facilitate the improvement of health and development activities and outcomes. Methods used for the collection of the data upon which the study draws were qualitative: interviews were conducted with 27 women …

Solid Waste Management In The Developing World: The Role Of Local Government In Kisumu, Kenya, Rachel Schlueter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As the world becomes more urbanized, more waste is being produced. According to United Nations projections in 2014, 66% of the world’s population will be living in cities by 2050 with the majority of growth occurring in African cities. Managing urban waste in lower-middle income countries, such as Kenya, poses a particular challenge as income levels rise, municipal capacities are stretched, and foreign loans complicate accountability. This project sought to assess the practical role of local government when managing solid waste in the context of long-term development strategies. The objectives of this study are to first establish the current role …

Locked Up Then Locked Out: Reentry Programming And Women’S Post-Carceral Success, Mary Reising 17

Honor Scholar Theses

Women represent one of the fastest growing populations in the American criminal justice system today, with rates of female incarceration increasing 700% from 1980 to 2014. In a criminal justice system built by and for men, however, women’s narratives often go unheard and their needs unmet, especially in the tenuous period post-incarceration. This paper focuses on women’s experiences of reentry, the period in which women are transitioning back to their communities after incarceration. Specifically, this paper will assess whether current reentry programming is equipped to adequately attend to and advocate for women’s post-carceral needs. I situate women’s needs upon reentry …

How About "Service Learning And Community Health: The Lessons I Learned", Carla Teixeira

The International Undergraduate Journal For Service-Learning, Leadership, and Social Change

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Marital Expectations In African Immigrant And United States-Born Married Couples, Evadne Ngazimbi, Andrew P. Daire, Ryan G. Carlson, Matthew D. Munyon

The Qualitative Report

The current phenomenological qualitative study aimed to understand marital expectations in married African immigrants and United States-born (U.S.-born) married couples. Eighty-five African-born immigrant and U.S.-born couples from a predominately Seventh-day Adventist sample residing in the U.S. completed the Marital Expectations Questionnaire (MEQ). We analyzed data collected in response to the first question. Data analysis revealed 12 codes associated with four themes related to marital expectations: (a) Care and Support; (b) Love and affection (c) Commitment and (d) Shared Values. We present implications for marital relationships and future research.

Grandparenting In Selected West African Countries: Implications For Health And Hygiene Behaviours In The Household, Joshua Oyeniyi Aransiola Dr, Akanni Ibukun Akinyemi Dr, Ambrose Akinlo Dr, Funmi Togonu-Bickesteeth Prof.

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

This is a descriptive study of the health and hygiene behaviors of grandparents who are the primary caregivers of their grandchildren in four West African countries, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. The article utilizes data from each country’s most recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). The study identified 20,841 households where grandparents were primary caregivers. As expected, most of these households are in Nigeria given their population exceeds the collective population of the other three West African countries. However, the number of grandfamilies in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia is still worrisome for their population size. In each country, …

No. 07: Household Food Security And Access To Medical Care In Maputo, Mozambique, Cameron Mccordic

Hungry Cities Partnership

The relationship between household access to medical care and food security is a potentially circuitous and challenging relationship to model. This discussion paper uses multiple modelling techniques to determine the quality of the relationships between these variables using household survey data collected by the Hungry Cities Partnership in 2014 in Maputo, Mozambique. The results of the investigation are framed according to the Sustainable Livelihood Framework and indicate a predictive relationship between household food security status and consistent household medical care access among the sampled households. The results also identify potential conditional independence in the relationship between other demographic variables and …

Frustrations, Fights, And Friendships: The Physical, Emotional, And Behavioural Effects Of High-Density Crowding On Mumbai’S Suburban Rail Passengers, Lily Hirsch, Kirrilly Thompson, Danielle Every

The Qualitative Report

Crammed together in tight folds of humanity, the suburban rail passengers of Mumbai, India, experience the most densely crowded trains in the world (Basu & Hunt, 2012). Whilst the immediate physical descriptors of crowdedness in Mumbai are well understood (Hirsch, 2016), there is little knowledge of the effect this has on the multitude of passengers. This is an important omission, as the effects of crowding on passengers impact their attitudes, travel behavior, and travel decisions. This paper therefore seeks to discern the physical, emotional, and behavioural effects of rail passenger crowding in Mumbai, India. To achieve this, a qualitative methodology, …

Social Determinants Of Conspiratorial Ideation, Joseph Digrazia

Dartmouth Scholarship

Scholars have recently become increasingly interested in understanding the prevalence and persistence of conspiratorial beliefs among the public as recent research has shown such beliefs to be both widespread and to have deleterious effects on the political process. This article seeks to develop a sociological understanding of the structural conditions that are associated with conspiratorial belief. Using aggregate Google search data to measure public interest in two popular political conspiracy theories, the findings indicate that social conditions associated with threat and insecurity, including unemployment, changes in partisan control of government, and demographic changes, are associated with increased conspiratorial ideation.

Understanding The Influence Of Stigma And Discrimination For The Functional Limitation Severity - Psychological Distress Relationship: A Stress And Coping Perspective, Robyn Lewis Brown

Sociology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.