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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Healthcare Access In Rural Communities In India, Jacob Player Sep 2019

Healthcare Access In Rural Communities In India, Jacob Player

Ballard Brief

Rural communities in India face a severe shortage of access to healthcare services. There is little public spending on healthcare, and what money the government does spend is largely distributed to urban settings rather than rural ones. Additionally, the private healthcare industry primarily serves urban settings. While there is a significant healthcare personnel shortage throughout India, it is particularly problematic in rural areas. Because of this issue, those in rural areas seeking healthcare services must often travel distances of up to 100 km to access them. Healthcare providers that are serving rural communities are often local and have little to …


Homelessness In The United States, Cassie Hall Sep 2019

Homelessness In The United States, Cassie Hall

Ballard Brief

Homelessness is an issue for individuals all across the country who lack stable housing and the finances for other necessities like water. food and safety. Homelessness occurs for several reasons. including poverty, mental illness. and substance abuse. Many negative outcomes have been reported as a result of homelessness. including negative impacts on physical health, worsening of mental illness. worsening of substance abuse. and negative outcomes for children and youth. Several practices have been implemented to avoid such outcomes including emergency shelters. food kitchens. transitional housing, and Housing First approaches. Practices in Housing First have the greatest impact to report.


Girls' Access To Education In Ghana, Harper Forsgren, Asia Haslam, Shelby Hunt, Nathan Heim, Andrew Wirkus Sep 2019

Girls' Access To Education In Ghana, Harper Forsgren, Asia Haslam, Shelby Hunt, Nathan Heim, Andrew Wirkus

Ballard Brief

Lack of access to education negatively impacts a person's development in a number of ways and leads to fewer opportunities and increased risks for the individual. Females are disproportionately affected by the lack of gender equality in Ghana's educational system. This inequality comes as a result of practices such as child marriage, child labor, inadequate training of teachers. the inability to accommodate for girls' menstruation cycles at school, and hidden costs of sending children to school. All of these factors are confounded by social norms that tend to see female education as less valuable and thus more disposable than male …


Usage Of Electronic Cigarettes Among Youth In The United States, Cade Hyde Sep 2019

Usage Of Electronic Cigarettes Among Youth In The United States, Cade Hyde

Ballard Brief

Electronic cigarette usage among youth in the United States has been rising at an increasingly large rate in recent years. Usage rates of electronic cigarettes (hereafter referred to as e-cigarettes) doubled among high school students in a 4 year span from 2013 to 2017. The year following, the percentage of high school students using e-cigarettes doubled again: in 2018, 20.8% of high school students reported using e-cigarettes. as compared to 11.7% in 2017. As reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), currently 1 in 5 high school students consistently use e-cigarettes. making them the most-used type of …


Deforestation In The Amazon Rainforest, Brandon Wegrowski Sep 2019

Deforestation In The Amazon Rainforest, Brandon Wegrowski

Ballard Brief

Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest represents a critical issue in our modern world, as it is the root cause of many other problems that affect the entire planet. The Amazon's deforestation is particularly relevant because it has been a chronic issue that has plagued the region for decades. Some of the key contributing factors include cattle ranching, infrastructure development such as roads, the building of many large dams, and small-scale subsistence farming. Consequences of deforestation in the Amazon include a significant loss of species and their habitats, a disturbance of indigenous peoples and their health, an increase in CO2 emissions, …


Substance Abuse Among College Students In The United States, Sam Lofgran Sep 2019

Substance Abuse Among College Students In The United States, Sam Lofgran

Ballard Brief

College students are one of the largest groups of substance abusers in the United States. Many turn to substances to deal with mental illness and academic stress, particularly using study drugs to help with their academics. Students are exposed to drugs because of party culture and Greek life, where substance abuse is much more common. Substance abuse impacts many of these students' education, leading them to get lower grades and struggle academically. It also results in more emergency room visits due to substance abuse and addictions. Long-term drug abuse often leads to long-term health problems as well. Universities and outside …


Troubles In Northern Ireland, Harper Forsgren May 2019

Troubles In Northern Ireland, Harper Forsgren

Ballard Brief

The Troubles in Northern Ireland were a 30-year dispute steeped in both religious conflict between the Catholics and the Protestants and geopolitical conflict between the British and the Irish. These tensions. which date back hundreds of years. came to a head in Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1998 when the opposing sides of the conflict used guerilla warfare tactics to inflict damage on rival paramilitary organizations and civilians alike. Though the Troubles officially ended in 1998. the repercussions of the turmoil are still seen today through persisting segregation, continued paramilitary aggression, mental health struggles. and political turmoil throughout the country. …


Living Conditions In U.S. Immigration Detention Centers, Brianne Hansen May 2019

Living Conditions In U.S. Immigration Detention Centers, Brianne Hansen

Ballard Brief

Immigrant detention centers are used to hold potential immigration law violators while their case is being processed. but within these facilities many individuals experience poor living conditions. These conditions range from inadequate health care to abuse. This treatment can lead to poor physical and mental health outcomes for detainees as well as negative social and economic effects for their families. Public perspective, legislation. and economic incentives all encourage this poor treatment. while detention policies enable them. Nonprofits work to solve this issue through visitation programs. political advocacy. and community-based alternatives to detention. The Federal Government has addressed this issue most …


Menstrual Hygiene Management Among Adolescent Girls In Kenya, Kelsey Sampson May 2019

Menstrual Hygiene Management Among Adolescent Girls In Kenya, Kelsey Sampson

Ballard Brief

Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is the processes and resources surrounding menstruation. including the knowledge, products. and social norms associated with it. For many adolescent girls in Kenya, MHM is a serious and impactful issue. Although there are likely more causal factors, research suggests that some of the largest causes of this problem are poverty, the culture surrounding menstruation. inadequate sexual health education, and poor sanitation infrastructure. These barriers to adequate menstrual hygiene management create adverse consequences for the Kenyan girls, including infections. poor mental well-being, increased sexual activity, decreased education attainment, and gender inequality. Although changing the status quo of …


Mental Illness Among Adolescent Refugees In The United States, Kate Lloyd Jan 2019

Mental Illness Among Adolescent Refugees In The United States, Kate Lloyd

Ballard Brief

As the worldwide refugee population has steadily increased over the past decade, mental health concerns among refugees have become more prevalent. In the United States. adolescent refugees face higher rates of mental illness in comparison to non-refugee adolescents. Mental health concerns stem from traumatic experiences, challenges with acculturation, discrimination from peers, separation from parents, and cultural perceptions of mental illness in their country of origin. As a result of these experiences. adolescent refugees are at a higher risk of mental illnesses such as PTSD, depression. and anxiety, creating barriers to their ability to smoothly transition into the United States. In …


Mass Incarceration In The United States, Alex Resney Jan 2019

Mass Incarceration In The United States, Alex Resney

Ballard Brief

In both per capita and absolute terms, the United States criminal justice system is the largest in the world, housing almost 2.3 million people. Some of the challenges facing this system are policies regarding drug offenses that date back to the war on Drugs, a lack of rehabilitation of convicts, and the ·tough on crime· narrative that dominates American media. This mass incarceration impacts society at all levels, from the community to the individual. It places an economic burden on the American public, affects the health and wellbeing of the families of incarcerated individuals, leaves those in the criminal justice …