Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Services For People With Intellectual And/Or Developmental Disabilities In The U.S. Territories, John Butterworth, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

The following report represents an expansion of the data collection activities mandated by a 2012 Administration of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). Prior to 2012, the AIDD funded data projects, Access to Integrated Employment, Family and Individual Information Systems project (FISP), Residential Information Systems Project (RISP) and the State of the States in Developmental Disabilities only collected data from the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The 2012 FOA requested that three of the AIDD data projects work together to include the five U.S. Territories (American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, …

Health And Mental Health Of Older Asian Americans: A Comparative Study Of Chinese, Filipino, Asian Indian, And Other Asian/Pacific Islander Elders, Jing Tan

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

Purpose: This study examined the health and mental health status among U.S. Chinese, Filipino, Asian Indian, other Asian/Pacific Islander (API), and non-Hispanic White older adults, using nationally representative data. Method: An aggregated data file from the National Health Interview Survey from 2000 to 2009 was analyzed. The sample included 848 Chinese, 823 Filipino, 337 Asian Indian, 1,488 “other API,” and 74,042 non-Hispanic White older adults aged 65 and older. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to compare the health and mental health status among different ethnic groups of older adults and to identify related factors. Findings: The descriptive statistics reveal …

‘They Can’T Report Abuse, They Can’T Move Out. They Are At The Mercy Of These Men’: Exploring Connections Between Intimate Partner Violence, Gender And Hiv In South African Clinical Settings, Courtenay Sprague

Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance Faculty Publication Series

This qualitative study captured South African female health provider perspectives of intimate partner violence in female patients, gender norms and consequences for patients’ health. Findings indicated female patients’ health behaviours were predicated on sociocultural norms of submission to men’s authority and economic dependence on their partners. Respondents described how men’s preferences and health decision-making in clinics affected their patients’ health. Adverse gender norms and gender inequalities affected women’s opportunities to be healthy, contributing to HIV risk and undermining effective HIV management in this context. Some providers, seeking to deliver a standard of quality healthcare to their female patients, demonstrated a …

The Alzheimer’S Association Dementia Care Coordination Program: A Process Evaluation, Executive Summary, Nina Silverstein, Frank Porell, Pamela Nadash

Gerontology Institute Publications

The Massachusetts/New Hampshire (MA/NH) Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association has long sought ways to systematically increase the number of families who utilize its services and support. According to the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2015 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures, there are 142,000 individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and the Alzheimer’s Association estimates that less than 30% of those individuals and their caregivers take advantage of its programs (Alzheimer’s Association, 2015). The MA/NH Chapter recognized that one major barrier to accessing services is a model that relies on families taking the initiative to seek out assistance.

In …

Increasing Organizational Accountability And Performance: Activity Tracking For Employment Consultants, Alberto Migliore, Kelly Nye-Lengerman, Jeanine Pavlak, Steve Aalto, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Nursing Hours And Hospital And Patient Characteristics On Medicare Hospital Acquired Conditions: A National Pooled Cross-Sectional Secondary Data Model And Analysis, Terry Kahlert Eng

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Background: Previous research and quality improvement initiatives have underscored the prevalence of healthcare acquired conditions (HACs) and their associated costs in American hospitals. In response to these findings, in 2008, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services identified 10 condition categories that they would no longer pay for if acquired during hospitalization. The conditions were selected based on high cost, high volume, or both, assigned to a higher paying medical severity diagnostic related group (MS-DRG), and were deemed preventable through application of evidence-based guidelines. The Health Quality Outcomes Model and a Path Model guided the study.

Objective: To quantify the …

Puerto Rican Mother-Child Communication About Sexuality And Sexual Health: Results From An Ethnographic Community Survey In Springfield, Ma, María Idalí Torres, Phillip Granberry, Sarah Rustan

Gastón Institute Publications

This bilingual report presents data from an ethnographic survey on the experiences of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rican mothers communicating with children ages 10 to 19 regarding sexuality and sexual health. Results of this survey will be used as baseline data to evaluate a media campaign promoting Puerto Rican mother-child communication. This Spanish media campaign was implemented from March to May, 2015 using public service announcements in television, radio, and newspapers and on public transportation.

In this report, we use three main concepts with specific definitions: mother, sexuality, and sexual health protection, defined as follows. Mother is defined as the female adult …

Celiac Is A Social Disease: Family Challenges And Strategies, Gonzalo Bacigalupe, Aleksandra Plocha

Gonzalo Bacigalupe, EdD, MPH

Celiac disease is the most common autoimmune inherited disorder in the United States, affecting approximately 1% of the population. Little research exists on the impact of family processes on adherence to a gluten-free diet (GFD), the only treatment for celiac disease. The objective of this qualitative study was to examine the barriers that families with a celiac child face and the strategies they use to adhere to the recommended diet. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 families with a child between the ages of 6 and 12 diagnosed with celiac disease. Grounded theory and narrative analysis were used to analyze …

State Agency Promising Practices: New Hampshire’S Employment Data Collection - The Power To Transform Communication, Partnership, And Service Delivery, Jennifer Bose, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

In 2010, when the New Hampshire Bureau of Developmental Services (BDS) received grant funds to strengthen multisystem service delivery, its administrators partnered with area agencies; community rehabilitation providers, or CRPs (employment providers); and other stakeholders to improve and streamline the process of collecting employment data. Originally a multi-system process, BDS continued the data-collection effort when other systems withdrew. BDS’s new data-collection system allows unprecedented access to clear data displays, as well as the ability to run a variety of detailed reports to guide the statewide promotion of integrated employment.

State Agency Promising Practice: Project Gate In Alabama - Creative Sequencing Of Funding, Susanne Freeze, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

Alabama has piloted the Gaining Access to Employment project, a collaborative effort between the state’s Department of Mental Health/ Developmental Disabilities (MH/DD) and its Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR). Through this project, known as Project GATE, the two agencies work together to help local service providers use funds to support integrated employment opportunities. MH/DD and VR have a long history of partnering, including joint efforts on a supported employment workgroup, due to the strong relationships between colleagues at each department.

State Agency Promising Practice: Washington’S Investment In Robust Training And Technical Assistance, Jennifer Bose, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

In the mid-1980s, the state of Washington was awarded a five-year federal systems change grant to kick-start their supported employment efforts via the Washington State Employment Initiative. Funding from this grant was used to develop training on best practices and to generate high-quality integrated employment supports among agencies. At the end of this five-year period, with state funding and support from state leadership, the Washington State Employment Initiative re-formed as WISE, an independent training and technical assistance (TA) organization. WISE now contracts with the Washington Developmental Disabilities Administration to provide ongoing, high-quality training and TA across the state and to …