Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Examining The Influence Of Economic And Political Factors Upon Access To Improved Water And Sanitation In Select African Nations, 2005-2008, Dlorah C. Jenkins

Public Health Theses

Background:Today, 884 million people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water, and 2.6 billion are without access to improved sanitation facilities, with the majority of this burden falling upon citizens of the developing world. The purpose of this study was to determine what influence political and economic factors have upon the availability of improved water and sanitation services in developing nations, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods:Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys of 11 sub-Saharan African nations conducted from 2005-2008 were analyzed using SPSS 18.0. Five WASH-related dependent variables were examined: access to an improved water source, travel …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Attitudes Towards People Living With Hiv/Aids Between Haiti And The Dominican Republic, Georges Perrin

Public Health Theses

BACKGROUND: HIV-related stigmatizing attitudes are persistent concerns in developing countries and have been shown to fuel the spread of the epidemics. The purpose of this study is to provide a comparative analysis between Haiti and the Dominican Republic in regards to the population’s attitude towards People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).

METHODS: Cross-sectional data from the Demographic Health Surveys involving 15,715 Haitians and 55,170 Dominicans from 2005 to 2007 were used. A score of attitudes was established from six items such as the willingness to care for infected relatives, the willingness to buy vegetables from an HIV infected vendor, the perception …

Outcomes Of The Implementation Of The Mental Health Recovery Measure In The Dekalb Community Service Board Population, Sharon H. Davis

Public Health Theses

The relationship between mental health and public health has been debated for decades. But when services are delivered through publically funded mental health clinics, it clearly becomes a public health endeavor. One of the latest trends in mental health service delivery is the recovery concept. Developed in the 1990’s, the recovery concept represents a paradigm shift where successful treatment is defined by self-awareness, self-care, and self-fulfillment. Furthermore, patients are encouraged to assess their own progress in the recovery process. There are currently nine unique assessment tools to measure recovery progress, including the Mental Health Recovery Measure (MHRM), which was used …

Assessment Of Existing Mercury Fact Sheets For Development Of A Revised Mercury Fact Sheet, Subash C. Patel

Public Health Theses

Introduction:

A mercury fact sheet that contains essential information and can be clearly understood by majority of adults is needed. In Fiscal Year 2009, EPA responded to more releases related to mercury than any other release. Since 2003, EPA has responded to more than 200 mercury releases. The American Association of Poison Control Centers estimate more than 50,000 people have been exposed to mercury vapors from 2003 to 2008, and 19,000 mercury cleanups have occurred from 2006 to 2008.

Purpose:

To determine what information needs to be included in a mercury fact sheet and how it should be created to …

Alcohol Misuse And Depressive Symptomology Among Males With A History Of Service In The U.S. Armed Forces, Ashley Davis

Public Health Theses

BACKGROUND: Soldiers face extraordinary circumstances while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Soldiers are required at times to live away from family and friends for extended periods of time and work in hazardous environments. Once soldiers become veterans, the experiences of military life may continue to affect them long after their duties have been carried out. These conditions put them at greater risk for alcohol misuse and depression. The purpose of this is to determine whether there is an association between alcohol misuse and depression symptomology among males who have a history of service in the U.S. Armed Forces. METHODS: …

Health Care Disparities And Chronic Disease Burden: Policy Implications For Ngos, Stella S. Obot

Public Health Theses

The purpose of this capstone is to develop a program to address health literacy among African American adults. The social cognitive theory and the health belief model was used to create a model of an age appropriate, culturally sensitive program with a pre and post test to improve the health literacy in this population. The Community Health Literacy Improvement Program (CHIP) is a pilot program that will consist of a four week didactic intervention focused on combating prose, document, and quantitative health illiteracy. This program will be implemented through a community based nonprofit organization. Participants who complete the CHIP program …

Colleges Connect To Collect: The Atlanta Collegiate Food Drive (Capstone), Jessica L. Ekhomu

Public Health Theses

Hunger and food insecurity exist across millions of households in the US, and in even greater numbers in the state of Georgia. In fact, Georgia ranks fourth among the ten states with the highest food insecurity. Hunger and food insecurity have negative implications for the health and well being of children and adults. Such outcomes include fatigue, headaches, and frequent colds among children, and worsening chronic and acute diseases among adults. A non-governmental approach to addressing hunger and food insecurity includes food-banking. The Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB) collects, warehouses, and distributes 2 million pounds of food and other donated …

The Association Between Female Genital Mutilation (Fgm) And The Risk Of Hiv/Aids In Kenyan Girls And Women (15-49 Years), Rosemary G. Kinuthia

Public Health Theses

INTRODUCTION: Kenya like the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be plagued with high rates of AIDS/HIV. Research has shown that cultural practices have serious implications for the spread of HIV/AIDS, as well as other communicable diseases. One of the practices that have been speculated to have an impact on AIDS/HIV is female genital mutilation (FGM). Despite efforts to eradicate the practice, prevalence of FGM in Kenya remains relatively high. Researchers have postulated that various forms of FGM may be associated with the spread of HIV/AIDS.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between FGM and …

Examination Of The Association Between Patient Empowerment And Diabetes Management Among An Urban African American Population By Gender, Age, Socioeconomic Status And Education Level, Nyo Yamonn

Public Health Theses

Diabetes mellitus is a significant problem in the United States with the burden being greater in the African American population. Because diabetes is complex and costly, the importance of self-care management changes the disease management paradigm from “provider-centered” to patient-centered”. Empowerment is a possible solution for barriers to better diabetes management. Patient empowerment is helping patients discover and develop the inherent capacity to be responsible for their own life. Although patient empowerment is a valuable philosophy, there are gaps between the philosophy and actual practice. There are limited studies addressing the effectiveness of patient empowerment at improving diabetes management. Therefore, …

An Examination Of The Socio-Demographic Characteristics And Perceptions Of Cycling Among Students At Georgia State University, Nancy B. Pope

Public Health Theses

ABSTRACT An Examination of Socio-demographic Characteristics and Perceptions of Cycling among Students at Georgia State University (Under the direction of Christine Stauber, Faculty Member) Background: Bicycling as a form of transportation is important to public health and the improvement of the environment by way of sustainable transportation. Active transportation is inversely related to all-cause mortality, obesity, and levels of ozone and greenhouse gases. University communities have been shown to bicycle more than big cities. However, downtown setting of the Georgia State University (GSU) campus poses unique barriers to bicycling. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in fall, 2009 at GSU. …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Levels Of Drinking Water Quality And The Occurrence Of Self-Reported Diarrheal Disease: A Prospective Cohort Study In The Dominican Republic, 2005-2006., Shannon M. Kraft

Public Health Theses

Background: 884 million people do not have access to clean water, which is a potential contributor to diarrhea (JMP, 2010). The purpose of this study was to examine the potential associations between the occurrence of diarrhea and the levels of turbidity, total coliforms, and Escherichia coli (E. coli), in 185 households in Bonao, Dominican Republic in 2005-2006.

Methods: A biweekly water quality dataset and a weekly diarrhea occurrence dataset were merged using three different methods. T-tests and odds ratios were calculated for all three different datasets. Multivariate logistic regression was also conducted.

Results: There were 430 cases …

Governance And Hiv Prevalence In African Countries, Lod C. Hambanou

Public Health Theses

Previous studies based on data from the World Bank have shown a negative association between governance and HIV prevalence. Using the Index of African Governance, this study investigates the correlation between governance and HIV prevalence in all African countries (N = 53) in order to determine which dimension of governance is more predictive of this relationship. No statistically significant association was found between governance and HIV prevalence across the whole spectrum of countries. In the multivariate analysis, the most predictive dimension of governance, “Rule of Law, Transparency and Corruption” was found to be positively associated with HIV prevalence across all …

Effects Of Heat And Moisture Exchangers Designed To Allow Aerosol Delivery On Airflow Resistance And Aerosol Deposition, William Sonny Bowers Ii

Respiratory Therapy Theses

Introduction: Several problems arise when HMEs are used while giving aerosolized medication including increased airway resistance (Raw) or the need to open the ventilator circuit. Recently, heat and moisture exchangers designed to allow aerosol delivery (HME-AD) have been developed to solve this problem, but no tests have been performed to confirm their effectiveness. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of HME-ADs on aerosol deposition and Raw.

Methods: An in-vitro lung model consisting of an 8.0 mm ID endotracheal tube (ETT) connected to a standard ventilator circuit and ventilator was connected to a rubber test lung via …

Risk Factors For Childhood Immunization Incompletion In Ethiopia, Sharmily G. Roy

Public Health Theses

BACKGROUND: The under-5 mortality rate in Ethiopia is 118/1000. A child in Ethiopia is 30 times more likely to die before age 5 than a child in Western Europe. Children are the most vulnerable segment of the population, but many of the ailments that cause death in this population can be avoided by completion of routine childhood vaccination.

METHODS: Data regarding child health from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), a periodic cross-sectional survey administered at the household level was utilized in this study. Data from 8,905 mothers of living children between 0-5 years of age was included in the …

Examination Of The Mental Health And Family Dynamics In Caribbean Immigrants Using The National Survey Of American Life, Brian D. Carter

Public Health Theses

Previous studies have documented an association between mental illness rates and US-nativity, younger age at immigration, and recent immigration status among Caribbean immigrants to the US. This analysis examines these associations with the addition of important demographic controls and two indices of family support and conflict in Caribbean immigrants represented in the National Survey of American Life (n = 1623). The results indicate that previous correlates disappear when the index of family conflict is taken into account. Future efforts should focus on culturally appropriate identification and treatment methods addressing family dynamics in Caribbean immigrants. INDEX WORDS: immigrant mental health, family …

Associations Of Race, Age, And Socioeconomic Status Among Women With Prediabetes: An Examination Of Nhanes Data 2005-2006 Regarding Prediabetes Risk, Rose T. Kattakayam

Public Health Theses

Background: Prediabetes (PD) defined as having glucose values above normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes, is known to be a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and associated complications. Early prevention efforts can reverse the condition or delay the development of type 2 diabetes. This study examines the sociodemographic risk factors for PD in women. Methods: Using secondary data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey NHANES 2005-2006, chi-square analysis was done to find the prevalence of the disease among different categories of women with respect to age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Univariate and multivariate analyses …

Safe Routes To School: Launching The Program At Oak Grove Elementary School, Susan Henderson

Public Health Theses

Safe Routes to School is a national program funded by the Department of Transportation. The goal of the program is to increase children’s active transport to and from school, primarily by walking, in response to the epidemic of childhood obesity. Implementation at the state and local level has had varying success. In my capstone presentation, I discuss the creation, implementation, and ongoing success of the program at Oak Grove Elementary, a local public school in Georgia. The program is comprised of the 5 Es: Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, Engineering, and Evaluation. Each of these five components will be focused on, as …

Maternal Autonomy As A Protective Factor In Child Nutritional Outcome In Tanzania, Hannah Murphy Ross-Suits

Public Health Theses

Child malnutrition is a problem in all countries and centers in poorer communities. Biological and socioeconomic factors alike contribute to malnutrition with recent studies focusing on aspects of maternal autonomy as an influencing factor. In this study, maternal autonomy is defined as the independence in her actions and control over resources a mother has within her household and is made up of several factors, including decision-making power, opinion of domestic abuse, and financial independence. Child nutritional outcomes were operationalized using the anthropometric measures height-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-height (WHZ), and weight-for-age (WAZ). For this study, the 2004-2005 Tanzanian Demographic and Health Survey …