Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

La Ciudad Versus El Campo: La Calidad De Vida De Los Adultos Mayores Aymara Entre Arica Y Putre, Clare Rogowski

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The elderly population in Chile is increasing rapidly. In indigenous villages in the interior of Chile, like Putre, the younger generation is leaving to pursue education and employment opportunities in cities, in this case Arica. In many cases no one stays to take care of the elders. As the elderly begin to grow older and require greater support, the younger generation seeks to move their family members to the city so that they can care for them. While this provides for greater connection to family and access to medical care for the elderly relatives, the elderly loses their connection to …

The Hapless State Of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis In India: A Comprehensive Look At Life And Medical Services For Als Patients In Rural Himachal Pradesh, Carson J. Bergström

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that leads to paralysis. The disease requires a high amount of medical intervention and interdisciplinary focus to achieve quality of life for patients. This study looks at ALS patient’s lifestyles, their access to these medical devices, Indian therapeutic approaches and policy that impacts patients in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. As caretakers have a critical part in the care for this disease, their lives were also considered in the case studies. It was found that ALS patients are not experiencing access to medical devices necessary for life because of physical …

Perceptions Of Rural Birthing Practices: A Glimpse Into Maternal And Child Health For Women In Kangra District, Himachal Pradesh, Mackenzie Burke

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Over the past two decades birthing practices within India have drastically changed. This change is most visible in the shift from homebirths to hospital births following the implementation of the National Rural Health Mission. This study aims to understand and give voice to women’s perceptions of birthing practices in the rural villages of Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh. A total of ten interviews were conducted with both mothers and healthcare practitioners in the surrounding villages of Kangra District in order to gain a thorough, qualitative understanding of birthing practices in the local communities. The healthcare practitioners’ responses were divided according …

Intersections Between Health And Disability: A Case Study At Disha Centre, Jaipur, Rajasthan, Finnian Brokaw

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study investigated intersections between health and disability by asking the question: how do community perceptions of disability at Disha: A Resource Centre for the Disabled in Jaipur, India relate to health and quality of life for a person with multiple disabilities? This study utilized a case study methodology. The researcher took qualitative interviews from six respondents in the immediate educational and familial support network of a 27-year-old man with multiple disabilities. An interview based, qualitative methodology was important for investigating the complexity of perceptions of multiple disabilities and health as intersecting identities. The responses were analyzed and reflected upon …

La Pertinencia Cultural De Los Proyectos Relacionados A La Planificación Familiar De Las Ongs En El Distrito De Acomayo, Sadie Traylor

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esta investigación identifica y analiza la pertinencia cultural de los esfuerzos de ayuda ambos de una ONG local (Kallpa) y de una ONG internacional (Plan International), examinando específicamente el proyecto de cada ONG vinculado al aumento del acceso y uso de la planificación familiar en el Distrito de Acomayo en la región de Cusco para evaluar cómo opera (o no opera) cada ONG con una pertinencia cultural. Además, esta investigación explora la forma en que las estrategias de cada ONG mantienen un enfoque intercultural, y también analiza las percepciones de los beneficiarios del proyecto como testimonios de cómo este método …

Change In Motherhood Status And Fertility Problem Identification: Implications For Changes In Life Satisfaction, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Andrea R. Burch, Michele H. Lowry, Stacy Tiemeyer, Kathleen S. Slauson-Blevins

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Objective: To determine whether the association between changes in life satisfaction and becoming a mother (or not) depends on fertility problem identification status.

Background: Evidence and symbolic interactionist theory suggest that, for women who initially perceive a fertility barrier, gaining the valued identity “mother” should be associated with increases and continuing to face a blocked goal (i.e., not becoming a mother) should be associated with decreases in life satisfaction.

Method: This study used the nationally representative two-wave National Survey of Fertility Barriers to conduct a change-score analysis with chained multiple imputation. The focal dependent variable was change in life satisfaction. …

More Kindergarteners Are Exempted From Required School Vaccinations Than In The Past, Kent Jason G. Cheng

Population Health Research Brief Series

The percentage of kindergarteners being granted exemption from vaccination is growing across the U.S. as parents increasingly request exemptions for philosophical reasons. During the 2017-18 school year, 2.2% of kindergartners were exempted from vaccination. This is up from 1.6% during the 2011-12 school year.

“Oh Lord, Save Us From Such Monsters:” Maternal Impression And Monstrous Births In The Eighteenth-Century Netherlands, Sara Hollar

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This historical survey focuses on the memoirs of Catharina Schrader, a Frisian midwife in the eighteenth century, as a lens into beliefs about maternal impression and monstrous births during the early modern period. The then popular theory of maternal impression, where pregnant women could impact their gestating fetus’s appearance or characteristics through their behavior, thoughts, and feelings, was used to explain many instances of monstrous births. Monstrosity, now understood as congenital defects or disabilities, was seen as a result and marker of pregnant women’s moral failings. Using examples of monstrous births from Schrader’s memoirs, I analyze the threat of maternal …

Voices Unheard: Women And Their Children In Nepal’S Incarceration System, Aune Nuyttens, Mikayla Rose

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research project focused on women in Nepal’s incarceration system. Our goal was to hear and share their stories with the hopes of humanize and de-stigmatize perceptions of female prisoners in and outside of Nepal. A central component to these stories, as we learned, was also the story of prisoner’s children and the NGOs who provide assistance to this vulnerable group of women and their children. The researchers travelled to the east and west of Kathmandu to visit rural and urban prisons in Nepal, and visited various children homes, however the research was based out of Kathmandu, where many of …

Health On The Move: Health-Seeking Behavior Of Changpa Nomads In Ladakh, India, Maya Lubeck-Schricker

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The goal of this study is to understand the health-seeking behavior of Changpa nomads in the Changthang region of Ladakh, India including what health issues these communities face, what they do when they fall sick, any preventative health behavior they implement, as well as the health infrastructure available to them. Very little literature exists on the health seeking-behavior of people in South Asia in general, much less among nondominant lifestyles such as that of nomadic or semi-nomadic people. As such, this research hopes to move towards closing that knowledge gap by conducting and analyzing 26 in depth semi-structured interviews and …

When Crayons Meet Tibetan Living Room Walls: Early Childhood In Exile, Emma Hart

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study aims to understand early childhood caregiving among Tibetan refugees living in Nepal. Due to the brain’s enormous developmental plasticity from ages zero to three, children’s experiences during this period are extremely important to explaining their future learnings in school, interactions with people, and engagements with their surroundings. Through interviews and observations, Tibetan parents shared their conceptions of early childhood, parent-child interaction norms, dreams for their children, and how their status as refugees in Nepal affects these. Research was conducted in two Pokhara district Tibetan settlements and one settlement in Mustang. Connected by the flow of children and adults …

My Body, Their Choice: Childbearing Attitudes And Practices In Jamkhed, Maharashtra, Sienna Sewell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Understanding the beliefs and practices of women and their families during pregnancy and childbirth is fundamental to the creation of successful public health interventions that target maternal and infant mortality. This study explores the childbearing practices of women in rural Jamkhed, as well as the social and economic factors that influence family planning, reproductive health-seeking, and delivery. Interviews and quantitative surveys were conducted with women in villages that have partnered with the Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP) to examine how and why women access prenatal care during pregnancy. The influence of CRHP’s “Jamkhed Model” on healthcare access is considered in …

Gender And Power Metrics Database, Population Council

Reproductive Health

This compendium of gender- and power-related scales used in social health and behavioral science research includes unique scales, many tested in multiple settings, that come primarily from the areas of sexual and reproductive health, family planning, STIs/HIV, and intimate partner violence. The database includes multi-item scales and single-item questions that reflect gender norms, personal views or beliefs about gender roles and norms, related feelings or emotions, gender role stress, gendered-dynamics, power and control in relationships, and individual-level agency and self-efficacy, among others. The database facilitates the identification of validated scales for use in a given population or setting, fosters exchange …

Prévention Du Mariage D’Enfants Dans La Région De L’Est, Burkina Faso, Gisele Kaboré, Julien Ouedraogo, Annabel Erulkar, Sara Chace Dwyer

Reproductive Health

En collaboration avec la Direction Provinciale de la Femme, de la Solidarité Nationale et de la Famille du Burkina Faso et des partenaires communautaires de la région orientale du Burkina Faso, le Projet Evidence a mis à l'échelle des approches éprouvées pour retarder le mariage des jeunes filles en sensibilisant aux effets négatifs du mariage précoce. Les approches étaient basées sur des preuves produites dans une étude menée par le Population Council de 2013 à 2016 dans la province de Léraba. Dans cette étude, le report de l'âge du mariage pour les filles de 15 à 17 ans et la …

Antihypertensive Drugs, Population Council

Reproductive Health

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a condition in pregnant women marked by an increase in blood pressure and protein in the urine after 20 weeks gestation. Eclampsia is a life-threatening condition characterized by convulsions in women with PE. PE/E and other hypertensive disorders in pregnancy increase risk of preterm births. Providing high-quality and regular antenatal care improves the prevention and early detection of PE and can prevent its progression to eclampsia. Prescribing low-dose aspirin and calcium to at-risk women can prevent PE and eclampsia. PE and eclampsia can be managed by administering antihypertensive drugs and magnesium sulphate (MgSO4). MgSO4 is the safest …

Autonomy, Intimate Partner Violence, And Maternal Health-Seeking Behavior: Findings From Mixed-Methods Analysis In Nigeria, Pooja Sripad, Charity Ndwiga, Charlotte E. Warren

Reproductive Health

Gendered norms and discriminatory practices often limit women’s decision-making power, which over time can lead to social norms that systematically subordinate women. Aspects of empowerment were explored in a global evaluation of Demographic and Health Survey data that measured how gendered social norms influenced maternal health-seeking behaviors. Analysis specifically explored associations of women’s autonomy and acceptability of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) on antenatal care use and facility delivery in 63 low- and middle-income countries. Service utilization is positively associated with increased autonomy and negatively associated with increased acceptability of IPVAW, but variability exists across countries and regions. In …

Assessing The Effect Of A Primary Health Care Intervention For Improving Pre-Eclampsia And Eclampsia Knowledge And Practice In Bangladesh, Sharif M.I. Hossain, Shongkour Roy, Kanij Sultana, Charlotte E. Warren

Reproductive Health

In resource-poor countries such as Bangladesh, proven life-saving commodities for pregnant women have not been optimally examined, such as magnesium sulphate (MgSO4) to manage severe pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, use of anti-hypertensives to manage high blood pressure during pregnancy, aspirin prophylaxis for pregnant women at high risk of PE/E, as well as task shifting to lower health-worker cadres, and community involvement. There has been no systematic review of research and programming on PE/E prevention, early detection, and treatment in Bangladesh. With support from USAID, the Ending Eclampsia project has been expanding access to proven, underutilized interventions and commodities for PE/E prevention, early detection, …

Feasibility And Acceptability Of Community Health Extension Workers To Identify And Treat Hypertension Associated With Pregnancy: Implementation Research Report, Emmanuel Nwala, Udochisom Anaba, Pooja Sripad, Salisu Mohammed Ishaku, Charlotte E. Warren

Reproductive Health

Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, experienced by 10 percent of women globally, are major contributors to maternal and newborn mortality, morbidity, and disability. Task shifting essential health services to mitigate insufficient human resources is recommended to strengthen and expand the health workforce and rapidly increase access to quality services. Nigeria’s task-shifting policy recommends that community health extension workers administer a loading dose of magnesium sulphate for severe pre-eclampsia or eclampsia prior to referral to a higher-level facility. This study tested the feasibility and acceptability of community health extension workers at primary health care facilities in Ebonyi state in detecting and managing …

"No To Circumcision": The Road To Effective Social Marketing Campaigns In Egypt, Salma Abou Hussein, Sarah Ghattass

Reproductive Health

To inform the design and scale up of initiatives that can drive a change in attitudes and behaviors toward FGM/C abandonment, there is a rising need to understand the perspectives of individuals who are exposed to social marketing campaigns (SMCs), which are a key intervention to promote the abandonment of the practice. This working paper presents the findings of a study that sought to understand how, where, and why SMCs for FGM/C abandonment are working, and with what impact, to inform design and scale-up of campaigns that can foster new perspectives, expectations, and behaviors.

Post-Intervention Analysis Of Pre-Eclampsia And Eclampsia In Three Nigerian States, Salisu Mohammed Ishaku, Emmanuel Nwala, Gloria Adoyi, Charles Nwigwe, Solomon Kongyamba, Udochisom Anaba, Caroline Johnson, Karen Kirk, Pooja Sripad, Charlotte E. Warren

Reproductive Health

In the last three decades, global maternal mortality has decreased by almost 45 percent, but approximately 830 women still die daily from largely preventable pregnancy complications. Since 2015, the Ending Eclampsia project, with support from USAID, has been working to expand proven, underutilized interventions and commodities for pre-eclampsia/eclampsia (PE/E) prevention, early detection, and treatment, and to strengthen global partnerships for care of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP), of which PE/E are the severest forms. A systematic review of the literature identifies a number of articles reporting PE/E burdens within set populations, common risk factors, adverse outcomes, and mortality rates, but …

Situation Analysis Of Reproductive Health Of Adolescents And Youth In Pakistan, Iram Kamran, Rehan M. Niazi, Kiren Khan, Faisal Abbas

Reproductive Health

This report presents a situation analysis of the reproductive health of adolescents and youth in Pakistan. It is intended to contribute to evidence-based policies and programs for realizing reproductive rights and choices for young people through health information and services, education programs, and strategic partnerships. The study included a literature review, secondary analysis of data from the Pakistan Demographic Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, and a qualitative study of perspectives of unmarried adolescent boys and girls (aged 15–19), including both school-going and out-of-school individuals, as well as boys and girls with disabilities, in peri-urban areas of Islamabad, Lahore, …

The Girl Roster: A Practical Tool For Strengthening Girl-Centered Programming, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This brief describes the Girl Roster^TM, a practical tool designed by the Population Council to help practitioners understand their program areas and elicit foundational information to intentionally link girls—especially highly marginalized adolescent girls—to the vital resources, facilities, and services to which they are entitled but often have limited or no access. The tool is a user-friendly, efficient, and cost-effective way to collect program-relevant information about girls in a community, using a mobile phone–based questionnaire (or, where resources do not permit, paper and pencil). The tool enables users to see a fuller view of girls’ lived realities in defined …

Collaboration With The University Of Calabar For Human Resources For Health Management Training For Bauchi And Cross River States, Ekechi Okereke, Godwin Unumeri, Ibrahim Suleiman, Aisha Jibril

Reproductive Health

A pool of knowledgeable staff is required within middle and senior management for long-term human resources for health (HRH) planning and effective management at all levels of the health system—federal, state, and local. This brief reports on the training by the Population Council, in partnership with the World Health Organization in Nigeria, of 105 key personnel on HRH planning, management, policy dialogue, advocacy, and resourcing for the HRH project “Enhancing the Ability of Frontline Health Workers to Improve Health in Nigeria.” Critical HRH-related capacities were built among key Nigerian health system personnel and managers, most significantly in the states of …

Fgm/C And Ecm: Drawing Lessons From Research, Jacinta Muteshi-Strachan

Reproductive Health

No abstract provided.

Practice-Based Learning: Observations On One-Stop Centers In Refugee Settings, Chi-Chi Undie, Josephine Ngebeh, Jane Harriet Namwebya, Joanina Karugaba

Reproductive Health

One-Stop Centers’ (OSCs) have grown in popularity for responding to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the East, Horn, and Great Lakes regions of Africa. OSCs attempt to provide an integrated, multisectoral response to SGBV survivors’ needs in one location. In resource-constrained settings, the most common services offered at OSCs include health care, psycho-social support, police and judicial services, as well as social support. Studies demonstrate that health-facility-based OSCs that are owned and run by health-facility staff are more effective than NGO-run OSCs in achieving the broadest range of desired health and legal outcomes for SGBV survivors. In collaboration with …

Hypertensive Disorders In Pregnancy: Assessing Postnatal Quality Of Care And Outcomes For Women And Their Infants In Bangladesh, Sharif M.I. Hossain, Kanij Sultana, Salma Rouf, Rabeya Akter, Shongkour Roy, Sumaiya Anwar, Karen Kirk, Charlotte E. Warren

Reproductive Health

Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDPs) are the second leading cause of maternal mortality in Bangladesh, responsible for 24 percent of maternal deaths. Various factors, such as lack of health-care provider capacities for detecting, preventing, and managing pre-eclampsia and eclampsia (PE/E), late referrals, late (or lack of) antenatal care (ANC), and poor awareness of PE/E, are factors in most of these deaths. While some information was available on the prenatal and postnatal periods, an evidence gap existed in information after delivery through the first year postnatal, and beyond. In this prospective cohort study, the Ending Eclampsia project recruited married women ages …

Enhancing Customer Satisfaction For Health Services, Deepa Rajamani, Saumya Ramarao

Reproductive Health

The Family Planning (FP) 2020 global partnership has achieved significant gains since its inception, and while it strives to accelerate uptake of voluntary FP services, women in developing countries continue to face an unmet need for modern contraceptive services. Critical opportunities for action exist in the area of understanding the effects of quality of family planning services and continued contraceptive use. Measuring and tracking the quality of FP services is an important aspect of improving service delivery, and client feedback also offers critical insight into the design of demand generation and uptake strategies for a contraceptive. In this report, we …

Positioning Family Planning Quality Within Health Financing For Uhc: Connecting The Discourse, Gabrielle Appleford, Saumya Ramarao, Benjamin Bellows, Leah Jarvis

Reproductive Health

Financing is a major challenge and concern for the future of the delivery of voluntary family planning (FP) services to clients, particularly in low- and middle-income countries with high unmet need and limited method choice. As countries commit to universal health coverage (UHC), it is crucial that UHC schemes include FP and other reproductive health (RH) services. Strategic purchasing of quality FP services from public and private—including for profit and not-for-profit—health-care providers could accelerate progress toward UHC. It is increasingly recognized that the FP2020 goals will not be met without adequate attention to quality, and that a sustained focus on …

Culture And The Development Of Traditional Medicine In Africa, Rowland Edet, Oyedolapo Isaac Bello, Julianah Babajide

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Traditional medicine has been the dominant healthcare system in Africa before westernization, civilization and colonialism. For people living in the rural areas, traditional medicine is easily available, accessible and affordable. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the cultural way of the life of Africans has contributed to the emergence and development of traditional therapeutic systems in the continent. By explaining the way Africans perceive illness and disease, this paper argues that various forms of healing were predicated on the sociocultural environment of the people. The paper therefore opts for concerted efforts in the development of traditional medicine …

The Global Compact On Refugees: How The Sauti/Voice Project Fits, Josephine Ngebeh, Chi-Chi Undie, Joanina Karugaba

Reproductive Health

How can stakeholders support refugees in the present-day unprecedented global refugee crisis? At least one way is by entering into a clearly defined compact to do so. Developed in 2018, the Global Compact on Refugees is a nonbinding agreement among United Nations Member States and other relevant stakeholders, including international organizations. A symbol of political will, the Compact demonstrates the commitment of the international community to enhanced cooperation and solidarity with both refugees and their host communities. The Global Compact on Refugees provides the international community with guidance for supporting present-day refugee communities, characterized by large populations and protracted refugee …