Medical Humanities Commons^™

Exploring Social Determinants Of Covid-19 Related Sickness And Suffering In The Bronx, Hamida Chumpa

Student Theses and Dissertations

Through a positivistic and phenomenological approach, the study examines social determinants of COVID-19 related sickness and suffering in the Bronx, New York City, New York, ZIP codes 10462, 10472, 10467, 10458, 10474, and 10464. I utilize a violence paradigm (structural and everyday violence) to describe the social determinants of risk and sickness-related suffering and deploy an assemblage framework to shed light on how these determinants create negative synergies that undermine wellbeing and render certain communities vulnerable to extreme suffering. The mixed methods include 64 surveys and eight interviews. Analysis methods include a descriptive analysis of survey results and a thematic …

Supply, Demand, And Quality: A Three-Pronged Approach To Blood Product Management In Developing Countries, Kyle L. Gress, Karina Charipova, Ivan Urits, Omar Viswanath, Alan D. Kaye

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

While transfusion of blood and blood products is instinctively linked to the provision of emergent care, blood and blood products are also routinely used for the treatment of subacute and chronic conditions. Despite the efforts of the World Health Organization and others, developing countries are faced with a three-part problem when it comes to access to and delivery of transfusions: insufficient supply, excessive demand, and inadequate quality of available supply. Developing countries rely heavily on replacement and remunerated donors rather than voluntary nonremunerated donors due to concerns regarding donation- and transfusion-transmitted infection as well as local and cultural beliefs. While …

Covid-19 Viral Testing Disparities In Los Angeles City, Laura Cyphers

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Hispanic and Black communities have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality (California Department of Public Health, 2020). Inequitable access to viral testing resources may have exacerbated these COVID-19-related racial and ethnic health disparities. For example, reports from the Los Angeles Department of Public Health revealed glaring viral testing disparities in April 2020 (early pandemic), with predominantly White communities in Los Angeles County receiving 65% more tests than Hispanic and Black communities. In response, California statewide testing was expanded for communities of color (Vann et al., 2020). To investigate access to viral testing in Los Angeles City, the current …

The Impact Of Socioeconomic Factors On Food Insecurity Among Syrian Refugees In Florida, Racha Sankar

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Syrian refugees settled in the United States may experience food insecurity due to different socioeconomic factors that may include nutrition knowledge, language proficiency, women’s education, and perceived stress. The structure and the type of households may also contribute to food insecurity in this population.

The objective of this study was to measure food security among Syrian refugees residing in Florida. It also aimed to determine the socioeconomic factors that may attribute to food insecurity at household level.

A comprehensive 228-item questionnaire was administered to N=80 households (n=43 in rural areas, n=37 in urban areas). Families with and without children were …

Patients Are Our Teachers, Robert E. Becker, Mary V. Seeman

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

In the patient-physician encounter, physicians hone their skills while alleviating the patient’s suffering. Both benefit. Leaning on the work of Hippocrates, Darwin, and William Osler, the authors sketch out the case for honoring patients as indispensable teachers of the art and science of medicine. They argue that this tradition of Hippocratic medicine both anticipates modern precision medicine and reawakens a focus on public health medicine, each a benefit to the patients and communities served by physicians. A community that compromises the learning relationship of physician to patient and population undermines quality of care.

The Public Health Harms Of Pornography: The Brain, Erectile Dysfunction, And Sexual Violence, John D. Foubert

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Christians’ Cut: Popular Religion And The Global Health Campaign For Medical Male Circumcision In Swaziland, Casey Golomski, Sonene Nyawo

Anthropology

Swaziland faces one of the worst HIV epidemics in the world and is a site for the current global health campaign in sub-Saharan Africa to medically circumcise the majority of the male population. Given that Swaziland is also majority Christian, how does the most popular religion influence acceptance, rejection or understandings of medical male circumcision? This article considers interpretive differences by Christians across the Kingdom’s three ecumenical organisations, showing how a diverse group people singly glossed as ‘Christian’ in most public health acceptability studies critically rejected the procedure in unity, but not uniformly. Participants saw medical male circumcision’s promotion and …

Socioeconomic Factors Associated With Cataract-Related Blindness Treatment In Women In Rural Regions Of Andhra Pradesh, Kiranpreet Kaur 4198353

Undergraduate Research Posters

Despite efforts of Vision 2020 in India, the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study (APEDS) extrapolated, in 2000, approximately 18.7 million blind people in India and also, projected an increase to 31.6 million blind people by 2020. Within the state Andhra Pradesh itself, preventable corneal blindness increased to 1.84% from 1.5% in the late 1980s.

Numerous public health studies have been conducted to outline factors that cause and preclude treatment of avoidable corneal blindness in the India. Conclusively, the escalation of corneal blindness can be largely attributed to personal, social, and economic barriers in utilizing available eye-care services. However, due to …

Reproductive Rights In Latin America: A Case Study Of Guatemala And Nicaragua, Katherine W. Bogen

Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark (SURJ)

A lack of access to contraceptives and legal abortion for women throughout the nations of Nicaragua and Guatemala creates critical health care problems. Moreover, rural and underprivileged women in Guatemala and Nicaragua are facing greater limitations to birth control access, demonstrating a classist aspect in the global struggle for female reproductive rights. Although some efforts have been made over the past half-century to initiate a dialogue on the failure of medical care in these nations to adequately address issues of maternal mortality and reproductive rights, the women's reproductive health movements of Nicaragua and Guatemala have struggled to reach an effective …

Reporting Risk, Producing Prejudice How News Reporting On Obesity Shapes Attitudes About Health Risk, Policy, And Prejudice, Abigail C. Saguy, David Frederick, Kjerstin Gruys

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

News reporting on research studies may influence attitudes about health risk, support for public health policies, or attitudes towards people labeled as unhealthy or at risk for disease. Across five experiments (N = 2123) we examined how different news framings of obesity research influence these attitudes. We exposed participants to either a control condition, a news report on a study portraying obesity as a public health crisis, a news report on a study suggesting that obesity may not be as much of a problem as previously thought, or an article discussing weight-based discrimination. Compared to controls, exposure to the public …

Cultural Factors Associated With Utilization Of Antenatal Care Services In Rural India, Anjali Om

Undergraduate Research Posters

Despite vast economic growth in developing countries in the past few years, infant mortality continues to plague underdeveloped regions, particularly rural regions of India. Many of these deaths are caused by a lack of education and motivation in regard to utilization of antenatal and neonatal care services to prevent and treat consequences of unhygienic umbilical cord care.

For years, high incidences of neonatal tetanus have plagued rural areas of India as a result of cultural practices that encourage topical applications of cow dung to cut umbilical stumps either directly or by using ghee heated with cow dung to warm umbilical …