Social Statistics Commons^™

Healthy Older Adults’ Motivation And Knowledge Related To Food And Meals, Kai Victor Hansen

The Qualitative Report

The population over 60 years old is growing rapidly in Norway and in many other countries, and researchers often focus on elderly people and various diseases. This article examines the healthy elderly who are active in their daily lives to understand their motivation and knowledge about food and meals. The method used was CurroCus® group interviews, or fast focus groups. Nine CurroCus® groups were conducted, lasting for 37 to 56 minutes (average = 45 minutes). Altogether, 76 persons participated, ranging in age from 60 to 87 years; participants were predominantly female (>80%). The article discusses two areas: motivation and …

Hope, Courage, And Resilience In The Lives Of Transgender Women Of Color, Nadine Ruff, Amy B. Smoyer, Jean Breny

The Qualitative Report

There is a lack of qualitative and strengths-based knowledge about the lived experience of transgender women of color in the US. To address this research gap, a Photovoice project was undertaken with five transgender women living in a small urban area. Thematic analysis of the participants’ discussion of their photographs identified three major themes: hope, courage, and resilience. Analysis suggests a framework for understanding these women’s lived experiences and the psychosocial tools that they use to negotiate their daily lives and persevere in the face of interpersonal and structural oppression.

Clinic Exploration Of Care Processes To Promote Colorectal Cancer Screening In Rural Accountable Care Organization Clinics: A Qualitative Case Study, Sarbinaz Bekmuratova, Jungyoon Kim, Hongmei Wang, Lufei Young, Daniel J. Schober, Li-Wu Chen

The Qualitative Report

It is essential to have an effective care process to promote colorectal cancer (CRC) screening particularly in rural areas. Primary care health care providers may have a significant impact on improving CRC screening rates among rural residents through systematic screening processes in their clinics. In this qualitative study, we aimed to explore the whole clinic processes of recommending and referring CRC screening in the rural accountable care organization (ACO) primary care clinics. We collected qualitative data through 21 semi-structured in-depth interviews with healthcare providers in rural primary care ACO clinics in Nebraska. We audio recorded and transcribed the interviews and …

Food Insecurity Among South Asian Immigrant Communities In The Inland Empire Of Southern California, Farhan Danish

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Background: Food insecurity amongst South Asian Americans is a major public health issue. The South Asian American (SAA) community is the third largest Asian community in the United States. Despite this fact, very few specific studies have been conducted to investigate the food needs and barriers that exist within the SAA community so as to successfully help them improve dietary habits.

Methods: This study utilized a mixed methods convergent parallel design, where both qualitative and quantitative methods were conducted and analyzed separately and compared and contrasted at the end.

Results: The results of this study demonstrate that ethnic grocery stores …

Socioeconomic Inequality In Life Expectancy In India, Miqdad Asaria, Sumit Mazumdar, Samik Chowdhury, Papiya Mazumdar, Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay, Indrani Gupta

Journal Articles

Introduction Concern for health inequalities is an important driver of health policy in India; however, much of the empirical evidence regarding health inequalities in the country is piecemeal focusing only on specific diseases or on access to particular treatments. This study estimates inequalities in health across the whole life course for the entire Indian population. These estimates are used to calculate the socioeconomic disparities in life expectancy at birth in the population. Methods Population mortality data from the Indian Sample Registration System were combined with data on mortality rates by wealth quintile from the National Family Health Survey to calculate …

A Qualitative Metasynthesis Of Published Research Exploring The Pregnancy And Resettlement Experience Among Refugee Women, Diana M. Kingsbury, Sheryl L. Chatfield

The Qualitative Report

The number of refugees and asylum seekers throughout the world continues to increase, leading to increasing challenges in meeting healthcare needs of these individuals. Women’s antenatal health is of particular concern due to their vulnerability to sexual violence and the substantial proportion of refugees consisting of women and girls of or nearing reproductive age. The purpose of this qualitative metasynthesis was to integrate and interpret findings from previously published research reports in which authors explored aspects of pregnancy among resettled refugee women. Following a systematic search process, we used Dedoose qualitative data analysis software to manage the process of extracting …

Improving Access To Clean Water In Rural Ecuador: The Connection Between Willingness To Pay And Population Health, Micalea Leaska

Capstone Collection

Climate change is affecting social and environmental determinants of health through access to safe drinking water, safely managed sanitation systems, and access to health care services and the ability for individuals to break free from unsuitable circumstances. Ecological disturbances such as those caused by climate change can cause a shift in host vectors or a change in habitat that results in a greater likelihood of the pathogen coming in contact with humans. Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services and their accessibility to populations can directly impact a community’s vulnerability to diseases and limiting factors to increase economic growth. If rural …

An Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling Bi-Factor Analytic Approach To Uncovering What Burnout, Depression, And Anxiety Scales Measure, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Jay Verkuilen, Renzo Bianchi

Publications and Research

In this study, we addressed the ongoing debate about what burnout and depression scales measure by conducting an exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) bifactor analysis. A sample of 734 U.S. teachers completed a survey that included the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D-10), the depression module of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7), and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), which contains emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and (diminished) personal accomplishment (PA) subscales. Job adversity and workplace support were additionally measured for the purpose of a nomological network analysis. EE, burnout’s core, was more highly …

Inquiry Into The Correlation Between Burnout And Depression, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Jay Verkuilen, Renzo Bianchi

Publications and Research

The extent to which burnout refers to anything other than a depressive condition remains an object of controversy among occupational health specialists. In three studies conducted in two different countries and two different languages, we investigated the discriminant validity of burnout scales by evaluating the magnitude of the correlation between (latent) burnout and (latent) depression. In Study 1 (N = 911), burnout was assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory–General Survey’s Exhaustion subscale and depression with the depression module of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ). In Study 2 (N = 1,386), the Shirom–Melamed Burnout Measure was used to assess burnout and …

“My Determination Is To Live”: Narratives Of African-American Women Who Have Lived With Hiv For 10 Or More Years, Sabrina Cherry, Kathleen Demarrais, Cheryl Keita, Marsha Davis, Joel Lee

The Qualitative Report

Exploring the experiences of African-American women who have lived with HIV for many years can inform public health practice on how to better serve high-risk populations along the care continuum. To understand the experiences of African-American women who are HIV positive, the researchers used a narrative approach to guide repeat interviews. Under a theoretical framework of Womanism, we interviewed six African-American women ages 48-66 (M=57) who have lived with HIV for 10 years or longer and conducted analyses of narrative to identify key themes. The primary themes were: recollecting early hardships, HIV infection, and diagnosis; embracing social support; surviving and …

Stereotype Threat As An Explanation For Sexual Risk Taking Behavior In Gay Men: A Multi-Study Exploration Of Mechanisms, Inna Saboshchuk

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Stereotype threat is a hindrance in performance that occurs when an individual’s awareness of negative stereotypes associated with his/her group results in inadvertent conforming to that stereotype. Stereotype threat research has been conducted on myriad group and domain identifications but gay men are strikingly absent from the stereotype threat literature. One of the most prevalent stereotypes about gay men indicates they are sexually promiscuous and that this promiscuity is linked to HIV infection. In a series of three research projects, a theoretical model proposing stereotype threat as a mechanism for sexual risk taking behavior in gay men is tested. In …

Assessing The Ordinality Of Response Bias With Item Response Models: A Case Study Using The Phq-9, Venessa N. Singhroy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Improper scale usage in psychological and clinical assessment is an important problem. If respondents do not use the scales in a consistent manner, the reliability of a composite is likely to be attenuated. This is particularly problematic when particular items are singled out for special treatment or when subscales are of interest, not just a total score. This study used both non-parametric and parametric item response theory (IRT) methods to gain further insight into the validity of the PHQ-9, a dual purpose instrument that assesses the severity of depressive symptoms using nine Likert-scale items and allows the investigator to establish …

Family Impact Seminar 2018: The Kids Are Not All Right: Policy Options To Address Youth Trauma In Massachusetts, Denise Hines, Laurie Ross Ph.D, Marianne Sarkis Ph.D

Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise

Family Impact Seminars are a series of annual seminars, briefing reports, and discussion sessions that provide up-to-date, solution-oriented research on current issues for state legislators and their aides. The seminars provide objective, nonpartisan research on current issues and do not lobby for particular policies. Seminar participants discuss policy options and identify common ground where it exists.

The Kids are NOT All Right: Policy Options to Address Youth Trauma in Massachusetts is the ninth Massachusetts Family Impact Seminar. Today’s seminar is designed to emphasize a family perspective in policymaking on issues related to early intervention in childhood trauma, sex trafficking and …

Technical Considerations In The Use Of The E-Value, Tyler J. Vanderweele, Peng Ding, Maya Mathur

Harvard University Biostatistics Working Paper Series

The E-value is defined as the minimum strength of association on the risk ratio scale that an unmeasured confounder would have to have with both the exposure and the outcome, conditional on the measured covariates, to explain away the observed exposure-outcome association. We have elsewhere proposed that the reporting of E-values for estimates and for the limit of the confidence interval closest to the null become routine whenever causal effects are of interest. A number of questions have arisen about the use of E-value including questions concerning the interpretation of the relevant confounding association parameters, the nature of the transformation …

Wdph 2017 Summer Internship Report, Lauren Meininger

Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise

In the spring of 2014, the Worcester Division of Public Health, UMass Memorial Health Care, and Clark University’s Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise joined forces to begin developing a partnership that would combine academic resources, student input, and public health needs in the City of Worcester. Founders of this program were motivated to seek and implement innovative interventions for public health issues while simultaneously inspiring a new generation of public health professionals.

Each year, the Academic Health Collaborative of Worcester (AHCW) brings in student interns to work on the pressing public health issues of the moment. Interns work alongside epidemiologists, …

Modeling Geographic Factors And Assessing Their Accuracy In Identifying Health Disparities In Fayette County, Ian Jones

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

The purpose of this capstone is to conduct a review of existing literature to determine the effects of a variety of geographic variables on health and wellness. The student will use their findings to create a visual aid to displaying these geographic factors and their distributions within Fayette County. Furthermore, the student will analyze the intersection of these variables to predict potential pockets of discrepancy within Fayette County. Based on this analysis, the student will propose possible interventions with a basis in current literature. This project will provide the student with the opportunity to conduct a study of existing literature, …

Journal Conversations: Building The Research Self-Efficacy Of An Aboriginal Early Career Academic, Michelle L. Dickson

The Qualitative Report

This paper shows how I used my research journal mainly as a reflective tool throughout the process of applying for and completing a PhD. Embarking on a PhD can be daunting for anyone and I was challenged by my lack of academic self-efficacy. In the absence of a formal academic mentor my research journal became my confidante, a tool that helped me make progress at times when barriers to research seemed insurmountable. It helped me decrease the cognitive dissonance I was experiencing about issues of subjectivity/objectivity and the positioning of my self in the research. This paper shares research journal …

A Descriptive Study Of The Elderly In California Substance Abuse Treatment Programs, David Berenschot

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

As gerontologists may know, there are a great deal of studies and a variety of academic literature on the misuse of alcohol and prescription medication amongst the elderly population. While there is a plethora of information on alcohol and prescription misuse, there is little reported data about the prevalence of other substance misuse experienced by this population. This study aims to help to fill that gap in the data by using quantitative methods to describe the scope of substance abuse of individuals 55-years or older. This study utilizes data from the Treatment Data Set Admission (TEDS-A). The TEDS-A is a …

Do Marketing Strategies Impact Condom Sales In Uganda?, Meyhar Mohammed

Master's Theses

What attracts people to buy condoms? HIV/AIDS remain one of the biggest health dangers of the world, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. A lot of efforts have been pursued in the past two decades to drastically reduce prevalence of HIV and increase awareness about preventive mechanisms. In order to prevent relapse of success achieved so far, it is important to recognize transformation of consumer behavior due to growth in social networks, education and awareness over time. There are a lot of behavioral triggers captured by social marketing interventions in the field of public health. In an attempt to investigate the role …

Knowledge And Beliefs About Cancer In African American Population, Rabindra P. Gautam Dhs, Deven Shah Phd, Eric Matthews Phd

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the United States, taking the lives of one in four Americans each year (American Cancer Society [ACS], 2015). A total of 1,658,370 new cancer cases and 589,430 deaths from cancer were projected to occur in the United States in 2015 (ACS, 2015). In 2013, approximately 176,630 new cancer cases and 64,880 deaths from cancer were projected to occur in African American communities. The majority of diagnoses were cancers of the prostate, lung, colon, rectum, breast, and colorectal region (ACS, 2013). For most cancers, African Americans have the highest death rate, …

Use Of Grounded Theory In Cardiovascular Research, Patrick J. Dunn, Vasileios Margaritis, Cheryl Anderson

The Qualitative Report

While grounded theory is often cited in the qualitative literature as the methodology, there are few good examples of publications that follow the principles of grounded theory and result in an actual theory. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the Corbin and Strauss (2015) method of grounded theory was used in a study looking at how patients with cardiovascular disease and diabetes develop health literacy skills that are used to manage their condition. The key principles of grounded theory include theoretical sampling, constant comparison, open, axial, and selective coding, the use of memoing, and theoretical saturation. Data …

Race, Age, And Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status In Low Birth Weight Disparities Among Adolescent Mothers: An Intersectional Inquiry, Sheryl L. Coley, Tracy R. Nichols

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Introduction: Few studies examined socioeconomic contributors to racial disparities in low birth weight outcomes between African-American and Caucasian adolescent mothers. This cross-sectional study examined the intersections of maternal racial status, age, and neighborhood socioeconomic status in explaining these disparities in low birth weight outcomes across a statewide sample of adolescent mothers.

Methods: Using data from the North Carolina State Center of Health Statistics for 2010-2011, birth cases for 16,472 adolescents were geocoded by street address and linked to census-tract information from the 2010 United States Census. Multilevel models with interaction terms were used to identify significant associations between maternal racial …

Qualitative Health Research Involving Indigenous Peoples: Culturally Appropriate Data Collection Methods, Amy L. Wright, Olive Wahoush, Marilyn Ballantyne, Chelsea Gabel, Susan M. Jack

The Qualitative Report

Historically, health research involving Indigenous peoples has been fraught with problems, including researchers not addressing Indigenous research priorities and then subsequently often failing to utilize culturally appropriate methods. Given this historical precedence, some Indigenous populations may be reluctant to participate in research projects. In response to these concerns, the Government of Canada has developed the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS2): Research Involving the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples of Canada, which stipulates the requirements for research collaborations with Indigenous communities. Utilizing this policy as an ethical standard for research practices, this paper describes, critiques and synthesizes the literature on culturally …

Flavored Electronic Cigarette Use And Smoking Among Youth., Hongying Dai, Jianqiang Hao

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Flavored electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are not prohibited in the United States, and e-cigarette flavors proliferate on the market. This study sought to examine flavored e-cigarette use and its association with smoking among youth.

METHODS: Estimates of flavored e-cigarette use from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey were investigated. A logistic regression model was used to assess whether flavored e-cigarette use was associated with (1) intention to initiate cigarette use among never-smoking youth (n = 16 471), (2) intention to quit tobacco use among current-smoking youth (n = 1338), and (3) perception of tobacco's danger among all respondents …

Chemical Reactions: Marijuana, Opioids, And Our Families, Denise A. Hines Ph.D, Staci Gruber Ph.D, John F. Kelly Ph.D, Kathleen M. Palm Reed, Hilary Smith Connery M.D., Ph.D.

Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise

Chemical Reactions: Marijuana, Opioids, and Our Families is the seventh Massachusetts Family Impact Seminar. This seminar was designed to emphasize a family perspective in policymaking on issues related to the legalization of marijuana and managing the opioid abuse crisis in the Commonwealth. In general, Family Impact Seminars analyze the consequences an issue, policy, or program may have for families.

Self-Care And Mobility Disability At Mid-Life In Lucky Few, Early-, And Late-Baby Boom Birth-Cohorts, Carlos Siordia

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Disability is related in definite ways with makers of social stratum, as it can be influenced by and has the potential to contribute to the production and reproduction of social stratification. Intersectional markers of social stratification processes are ignored determinants of health. The Class, Race, Sex (CRS) hypothesis presented here argues that a low-education, racial-minority, and female disadvantage will compound to affect the prevalence and risks of disability. The evidence presented validates the CRS hypothesis by showing that disability prevalence and risk clusters first by class, race, and then sex. The cross-sectional study of community-dwelling adults in the Unites States, …

Sociodemographic And Geospatial Correlates Of Stillbirths And Neonatal Mortality In Indonesia (1993–2007), Alka Dev

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Little research has focused on the determinants of stillbirth and neonatal mortality in Indonesia despite the fact that the country has one of the highest rates of stillbirths in the world and one of the highest rates of neonatal mortality in Asia. Several areas have not been explored due to data limitations, such as shared risk factors and measurement challenges, which can inform health policy and interventions and guide future research. This dissertation addresses this gap by comparing measurement challenges for stillbirth and neonatal mortality and identifying risk factors for both using Indonesian reproductive health survey data. Differences in estimates …

Demographic Profile, Geographic Distribution, Disability Prevalence, And Likelihood Of Being In-Poverty Amongst Grandparents Responsible For Grandchildren, Carlos Siordia, Mary E. Rauktis

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Evidence-based research on Grandparents Responsible for Grandchildren (GRfG) continues to grow in recent decades. This brief report expands global knowledge on custodial grandparents by making use of a large data resource in the United States (US). The specific aim was to delineate the demographic profile, geographic distribution, and prevalence of specific-disabilities for the GRFG population in the US mainland. We also explore how demographic factors are associated with likelihood of being in-poverty. The analysis used data from the 2009-2013 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) file. The ACS is a nationally representative, yearly, statistical survey administered …

Know Your Status: Alleviating Stigma From The Hiv Positive Community Of San Luis Obispo California, Mario Alberto Viveros Espinoza

Ethnic Studies

The purpose of this project is to alleviate stigma from the HIV community in San Luis Obispo, CA by creating an outreach program, “Know Your Status,” that raises awareness of HIV education and prevention. Research on HIV stigma and on ideologies for program development and implementation shows that HIV positive individuals face both internalized and externalized stigma. Program development and implementation can be effective by assessing and addressing the specific needs of those living within the community. This project includes the data needed for program development and implementation, collected through anonymous surveys from HIV positive community members, interviews with professionals …

Is Administrative Discharge An Archaic Or Synchronic Program Practice? The Empirical Side Of The Debate, Izaak Williams

Journal of Health Ethics

No abstract provided.