Health Policy Commons^™

Structural Justice: A Critical Feminist Framework Exploring The Intersection Between Justice, Equity And Structural Reconciliation., Camille Burnett, Michael Swanberg, Ashley Hudson, Donna Schminkey

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Violence against women is a human rights violation (UN, 2006). It affects the health of women globally (UN, 2009) and its elimination is at the heart of many international and national goals. Intimate partner violence (IPV), one of the most common forms of gender-based violence, affects one in three women worldwide (WHO, 2013). The consequences of IPV create negative health outcomes for women that diminish their quality of life and their overall well-being. Abused women access community supports such as shelters to seek safe refuge from the abuse and restore their lives. While shelters play an extensive role in helping …

Deputizing Family: Loved Ones As A Regulatory Tool In The “Drug War” And Beyond, Matthew B. Lawrence

Faculty Articles

Many laws use family members as a regulatory tool to influence the decisions or behavior of their loved ones, i.e., they deputize family. Involuntary treatment laws for substance use disorder are a clear example; such laws empower family members to use information shared by their loved ones to petition to force their loved ones into treatment without consent. Whether such deputization is helpful or harmful for a patient’s health is a crucial and dubious question discussed in existing literature, but use of family members as a regulatory tool implicates important considerations beyond direct medical impacts that have not been as …

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is: Reforming Organized Dentistry To Address Persistent Oral Health Disparities In The U.S., Aparna Chintapalli

Pomona Senior Theses

The importance of oral health has been largely neglected from the conventional standards of healthcare in terms of public understanding & prioritization, the industrial infrastructure, and the scope of prevention & early-intervention services. Its adjunctive locus to the field of medicine has lead to the bifurcation of the oral cavity from the rest of the human body. As a result of this divide, there have been multiple factors that have allowed socially stratified oral health outcomes to manifest. This thesis examines the determinants of oral health disparities through a multidisciplinary lens (i.e. biology, public policy, infrastructure), and offers evidence of …

Campaigning On An Environmental Justice Platform: Irmalinda Osuna For Upland City Council, District 3, Jenny Bekenstein

Pitzer Senior Theses

After successfully organizing around preserving Cabrillo Park in Upland and feeling a lack of local political representation, Irmalinda Osuna ran for Upland City Council in the 2018 midterm elections. As one of the many female candidates in the 2018 elections, Irmalinda led a grassroots, community-led political campaign in which she advocated for environmental justice and the preservation of parks, a more inclusive community, increased civic participation, a more efficient use of technology in politics, and support for small businesses.

Individual Bodies, Informed Consent, And Self-Determination: A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Vaccine Refusal Movement, Gretta Richardson

Scripps Senior Theses

This project sought to explore the narratives and rhetorical themes that permeate the anti-vaccination movement. Mass media has portrayed vaccine refusal groups as stupid, as conspiracy theorists, and as radically selfish. However, the data I analyzed from vaccine refusal nonprofits and advocacy groups supports that although these themes may appear to be radical, in reality, each is congruent with already present societal frameworks, particularly neoliberal social discourse and a preoccupation with the individualistic and self-determined health care rather than utilitarian or collective action.

Demography, Risk, And Power: An Examination Of The Deceased Patient Population At The Hastings State Hospital, 1900-1978, Dawn T. Whitney

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research is to investigate the Hastings State Hospital (HSH) and its cemetery (HSHC) within a multidisciplinary framework, invoking discourse analysis, demography, and critical race theory to examine how power and risk factors impact the treatment and disposal of the body at death. It incorporates perspectives from both anthropology and sociology to interpret the data, relying heavily on the ideas of Michel Foucault. Integrating these diverse analytical tools is important to this research because social and structural forces all intersect in the creation of identity, power, and inequality.

All data in this study represent patients that have …

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 …

Health Financing And Family Planning In The Context Of Universal Health Care: Connecting The Discourse, Gabrielle Appleford, Saumya Ramarao

Reproductive Health

Financing is a major challenge and concern for the future of family planning (FP) programs. As countries commit to increasing access to and quality of FP services and to universal health care (UHC), it is crucial that UHC schemes include FP and other reproductive health services. While the importance of financing is recognized in relation to quality, the “how” of financing FP within the context of UHC is not well understood. This brief targets the “bridge” constituency that is coalescing between the health financing and FP communities of practice around a shared interest in making access to health services universal. …

Health Financing And Family Planning In The Context Of Universal Health Care: Connecting The Discourse In Kenya, Gabrielle Appleford, Saumya Ramarao

Reproductive Health

Financing is a major challenge and concern for the future of family planning (FP) programs. As countries commit to increasing access to and quality of FP services and to universal health care (UHC), it is crucial that UHC schemes include FP and other reproductive health services. This brief aims to: 1) document trends in UHC and health financing, drawing out implications for policymakers and programmers; and 2) identify opportunities for the FP community of practice to advocate for the inclusion of quality FP services within UHC and health financing discussions. With this brief, we aim to highlight experiences in Kenya, …

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 …

Prevention Of Violence Against Children: A Systems Readiness Assessment In Côte D’Ivoire, Marie-Kaye Soletchi Seya-Sery

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Violence against children (VAC) is a global problem with significant consequences. Recognizing the need to better understand the problem of VAC in Côte d’Ivoire (CI), the government of CI recently completed a survey on violence against children. The recent data will support an evidence-based national action plan for the prevention of VAC. Research shows that initiatives tackling specific problems will only be as successful as the community’s readiness to take action. This study applied the community readiness model to assess the readiness of the multisectoral task force (MSTF) to implement the national action plan in CI. Eight MSTF participants’ interview …

Rethinking Consumer Protection: Escaping Death By Regulation, Thomas L. Tacker

Publications

This book is designed to appeal to anyone who is at all interested in topics related to making life better and safer—for all us consumers. Our current approach to consumer protection is extremely flawed; sometimes costing lives rather than saving them. There are better ways to protect ourselves and the people we love.

Sexual Behaviours Of Adolescents In Creek Town, Cross River State, Nigeria, Kabiru K. Salami, Rowland E. Edet

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Risky sexual behaviors of adolescents in Creek Town have not been fully profiled. This study investigated the sexual behaviors of adolescents and their various dimensions in Creek Town, in Cross River State, Nigeria. This cross-sectional survey design adopted multi-stage sampling procedure to administer a 112-items questionnaire to 422 adolescents, to elicit information on their sexual behaviors and practices. Four focus group discussion sessions were also conducted with in-school and out-of-school adolescents. The mean age of adolescents was 17 years. Majority (65.4%) of the adolescents were sexually active. The mean age at sexual debut was 15 years for both male and …

Beneficial Mourning By Inmates Who Have Lost A Significant Person, James Bradley Shoemaker

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Incarceration is already replete with loss before someone of significance to an inmate dies. The prison environment challenges every aspect of grieving, and failing to effectively mourn pathologizes grief, reduces quality of living, and results in behaviours that cause recidivism. It is a poignant interaction between this researcher in his role as a chaplain and a particular inmate that provides the impetus for this study. This study begins with a qualitative meta-synthesis that examined 10 qualitative articles and dissertations published over the last 30 years to explore how some inmates manage to effectively grieve the loss of a significant person. …

Dios, Drogas, Dinero: ¿QuiéN Gana Con El Traslado De Adictos De Puerto Rico A Ee.Uu.?, Claudia E. Irizarry Aponte, Eliana Y. Perez

Capstones

For the last 25 years, evangelical leaders have been shipping off opioid addicts in Puerto Rico to cities in the mainland US, mainly New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia--under the promise they’ll receive state-of-the-art rehabilitation treatment, only to end up in unregulated transitional homes and flophouses where they don’t receive proper medical care or psychotherapy. In turn, many of these unregulated transitional homes, also run by evangelical leaders, may charge Medicaid kickbacks from their “patients.”

While this so-called “air bridge” from Puerto Rico to the U.S. goes back decades, it gained momentum from 2005 to 2014, when evangelical leaders joined …

Gettysburg Social Sciences Review Fall 2018

Gettysburg Social Sciences Review

No abstract provided.

Officer Use Of Force: A Multicase Study Of Institutional Betrayal, Margarita Mcauliffe

Theses & Dissertations

Law enforcement officers in the United States are authorized to utilize force (Alpert & MacDonald, 2001); however, the use of force can cause physical and emotional trauma to the person against whom it is used, and to the person’s loved ones (WHO, 2002; Bloom, 2012; APA, 2013). The needs and rights of traumatized individuals must be addressed for healing to occur (U.S. DOJ, 2013). It was not known if the needs and rights of the survivors of officer use of force were being met. Filling a gap in the literature, this exploratory multicase study investigated 5 use-of-force incidents with demographically …

Wellness And Prevention Program Sustainability Design For Clark University Athletics Department, Emily Corbett

Sustainability and Social Justice

The purpose of this work is to design a wellness based prevention program that is tailored to fit the campus community within Clark University, Worcester, MA, called the Peer Athletes Advocating for Wellness (PAAW) initiative. This paper first presents the current research on wellness related issues within a college campus, specifically surrounding sexual violence. It then outlines the current sexual violence prevention programming that takes place yearly for incoming first year students at Clark University, as well as a one-time initiative during which student athletes participated in the sexual violence prevention programming. There is a review of the current most …

Project Renew Worcester, Danni Yue, Amy Zhang, Jing Han, Omid Ashrafi, Yiming Xu

School of Professional Studies

n The client for this capstone project is RENEW Worcester which is a fledgling solar power project whose main goals are to bring renewable energy in the form of solar power into local, primarily low-income communities and are committed to the mission of making the transition off of fossil fuels to clean, renewable power. Based in Worcester, Massachusetts, they are a local chapter of Co-op Power which is a consumer-owned sustainable energy cooperative (co-op) made up of numerous different local chapters all over the New England area as well as the state of New York. The problem that we will …

The Social Value Of Seiu Women, Alex Rothfelder

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper analyzes women in health care unions by specifically examining the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) as a case study. Moreover, this paper asks: what motivates these health care workers; is it primarily patient care, or are there other significant issues? How do workers think about their product of care, and how does this affect unionism? And how is gender connected to these issues? After interviewing six health care workers in SEIU, this paper found that the motivation of health care workers is partially motivated by patient issues, but that this occurs in a negative sense. Union organizational limitations …

Maternal Immune Activation (Mia) In Mice: A Study To Phenotype Asd-Related Communication Behaviors And Analyze Maternal Health Outcomes In The Us, Komalpreet Gulati

Honors Scholar Theses

Core symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) include deficits in social/communicative behaviors, and repetitive/stereotyped behaviors. Mouse models are a highly established paradigm used to study the phenotypic deficits that result from various inducible genotypic or environmental risk factors for ASD. Previous studies have demonstrated a link between maternal immune activation (MIA) and ASD-like behaviors in mouse models. In this model, the maternal immune system is activated during pregnancy by injecting the viral mimic poly(I:C). The resulting offspring are phenotyped and analyzed with regards to their communicative behaviors.

Previous studies have demonstrated that male pups born to dams with immune activation …

The Critical Need For Mental Health Education To Be Mandated In New Mexico's Public Schools, Bonnie L. Murphy

Shared Knowledge Conference

Based on a review of research and best practices in mental health awareness and skills, this inquiry project argues for state legislative policies that would require mental health awareness and skills in the K-12 curriculum. Mental health affects individual accomplishments in every stage of people’s lives beginning in early childhood and throughout the life cycle. Prevention and treatment of mental illness plays a key role in the ability of an individual to cope with loss and develop resiliency and perseverance in challenging times and to make better decisions that improve the individual’s life and the lives of those around them. …

Adults Using Long Term Services And Supports: Population And Service Use Trends In Maine, Sfy 2016, Kimberly I. Snow Mhsa, Ba, Frances Jimenez Ba, Tina Gressani, Louise Olsen

Disability & Aging

All of us have likely either used, will use, or know someone who uses long term services and support (LTSS). They enable us to live with dignity and as much independence as possible and offer us the opportunity to remain involved and productive in our communities. The need for LTSS can arise suddenly after injury or illness or a life-long condition. But how ever the need arises, the impact is the same—services such as personal care, work support, home health care, and residential care provide not just for individual health and comfort, but also for interaction, inclusion, and engagement with …

The Core Relation Between Hospitality (Philoxenia), Dignity And Vulnerability In Orthodox Christian Bioethics: A Contribution To Global Bioethics, Rabee Toumi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In a pluralistic world, reaching consensus in matters of bioethics has proved to be difficult, especially with the political polarization that nurtures inimical differences. This dissertation argues that a middle ground can be identified between the plurality of value systems in contemporary bioethics based on an anthropological approach. This middle ground that reflects commonalities of the human condition can be explored in relation to the foundational principles of Orthodox Christian anthropology. To identify this middle ground the analysis discusses the core relation between hospitality, dignity, and vulnerability as a contribution to global bioethics.

In general, based on Orthodox Christian theology …

Epoca House: The Implementation Strategy, Courtney Thomas, Yaffa Fain, Shuxiao Teng, Mingjun Xie

School of Professional Studies

This capstone report provides a written strategic implementation plan for EPOCA House. EPOCA, Ex-Prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement, is a non-profit dedicated to creating better resources and opportunities for prisoners and ex-prisoners in Worcester. The organization’s most recent initiative, EPOCA House, is a transitional facility that will provide reentry services and temporary housing to ex-offenders in and around the Worcester area. Recently, Massachusetts passed a comprehensive criminal justice reform bill that will dramatically reduce the number of people being incarcerated; however, little attention is focused on what will happen to individuals after they leave prison. At the same …

A Guide For Hiring Mature Employees At Ascentria, Binghe Change, Calleigh Leach, Elsie Lu, Hongquiang You, Mengge Wang, Nina Mariotti

School of Professional Studies

This paper will explore existing literature on aspects of an intergenerational workplace in a nonprofit organization and provide recommendations for recruiting and retaining older employees for a human service organization, Ascentria Care Alliance, in Worcester, MA. The paper will review research on trends in the nonprofit industry, a comprehensive breakdown of generational workplace values, reasons people are returning to work and effective marketing strategies that appeal to older generations. Marketing strategies specifically will explore best practices for website design, social media usage, and job descriptions. Additionally, this paper will research case studies of nonprofits with successful intergenerational workforce initiatives, as …

Clear The Air: Moving Towards A More Supportive, Welcoming, Tobacco-Free Clark University, Edward Aroko, Simon Elliot, Jackson Espe, Donovan Smith, Michael Spanos

School of Professional Studies

The deleterious health effects of the consumption of tobacco products, especially for youth, have been documented thoroughly and are nearly universally recognized. Numerous federal, state, and local regulations, coupled with health education and tobacco cessation initiatives have been launched to address these effects. Although these pushes have done much to reduce the rates of preventable health conditions and death due to the usage of tobacco, there remains much work to be done at the local level to discourage and disrupt patterns of substance use and abuse. The mission of Clark Clear the Air is to propose various and creative ways …

Inbound Marketing, Hasini Assiriyage, Isabelle Zoeckler, Emmanuel Aghado, Kefu Bu, Xiouyu Jiang, Rajesh Kamble, Yan Wang

School of Professional Studies

This study looks into inbound marketing practice through the process of secondary research. This insight on best practices and market examples have been employed in order to identify the benefits of Inbound Marketing for the School of Professional Studies at Clark University. Through the research, this team has consolidated a number of recommendations for the SPS marketing strategies moving forward. A focus has been placed on identifying solutions, which were effective and financially feasible. The primary solutions are internally sourced; with a future long term recommendation of seeking advice from a third party firm to automate the process.

Adult Learners: A Targeted Marketing Approach, Sarah Baldelli, Camilo Botero, Camille Ferreol, Caleb Horton, Xinyue Ma, Stefan Sprinkmoller

School of Professional Studies

The development of the Adult Learner Capstone Project started with a focus and need to learn more about affinity groups in the Worcester area in order to reach the potential adult learner demographic. Although some partnerships already existed, the Director of Marketing and Communications for Graduate Admissions, Tara Probeck, yearned to explore the potential partnerships and alternative uses of professional organizations to market to the current working professionals. From this idea, our capstone project was introduced in hopes of establishing a comprehensive and exhaustive list of potential organizational partnerships, specific for the School of Professional Studies.

My Choice Greens, Alina Zulfikarova, Amelia Mohr, Hesi Zhang, Ruiqi Huang, Sean Tatar, Yuhao Zhou, Zijun Zhou

School of Professional Studies

My Choice Programs for Independent Living is a nonprofit in Worcester, Massachusetts that helps individuals with special needs. In 2016, My Choice Programs added a branch to their organization called My Choice Greens. My Choice Greens is committed to growing fresh produce in their hydroponic farm. The profit generated from selling their vegetables is put back into direct programming for My Choice Programs. My Choice Greens is the first hydroponic farm in Worcester, but unfortunately not many people are aware of their program. Also, since they are a small nonprofit, they do not have sufficient funding or resources to market …