Sociology Commons^™

Impact Of The Affordable Care Act On Referral To Care For People Living With Hiv In Appalachia, Cameron A. Wade, Timothy N. Crawford, Nicole Leedy, Alice C. Thornton

Journal of Appalachian Health

Introduction: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) enacted on March 23, 2010 significantly impacted access to healthcare for people living with HIV (PLWH). Expansion of care was accomplished in three areas: eliminating exclusions for pre-existing conditions, elimination of lifetime caps on healthcare expenditures, and expansion of Medicaid eligibility.

Purpose: This study evaluated the impact of state implementation of the ACA Medicaid expansion on referral to HIV care at a Ryan White federally funded clinic in Kentucky (University of Kentucky Bluegrass Care Clinic [UK BCC]).

Methods: Retrospective chart review of all newly enrolled patients at the UK BCC between March 2010 and …

Food Insecurity Among College Students With And Without Medical Disorders At A University In Appalachia, Laura Mcarthur, Melissa D. Gutschall, Kimberly Fasczewski, Anna Jackson

Journal of Appalachian Health

Objective: This study compared severity of food insecurity, characteristics, and behaviors of college students with and without diagnosed medical disorders.

Design: Data were collected using a cross-sectional online questionnaire. Variables measured were food security status, disorders, coping strategies, and perceived barriers to food access. Descriptive and inferential statistics examined associations and compared groups. Statistical significance was p≤0.05.

Setting: Data were collected at Appalachian State University in North Carolina.

Participants: The sample was 247 food insecure students, of whom 60% were females, 50% 3rd- and 4th-year students, and 75% whites.

Results: Medical disorders were reported by 67.2% of food insecure students, …

A Nutritional And Environmental Analysis Of Local Food Pantries Accessible To College Students In Rural North Carolina, Emily E. Frymark, Jonathon Stickford, Alisha Farris

Journal of Appalachian Health

Introduction: Food insecurity is a growing concern among college students and is especially prevalent in rural areas. Food pantries often serve as a resource to food insecure individuals yet, their policies, standards, and nutritional quality vary due to the unpredictability of food donations.

Purpose: To examine the nutritional quality of food items and adherence of best practices at local food pantries accessible to college students near a university in rural Appalachia.

Methods: Three food pantries in North Carolina were selected due to their proximity to a local, rural university. Food items were analyzed for nutrient and food …

Use And Perceptions Of A Campus Food Pantry Among Food Insecure College Students: An Exploratory Study From Appalachia, Laura Mcarthur, Kimberly S. Fasczewski, Alisha Farris, Miranda R. Petrone

Journal of Appalachian Health

Introduction: Food insecurity has emerged as a public health problem among college students in Appalachia, jeopardizing their physical, mental, and emotional health and academic success. Campus food pantries have been established in this region, but no data are available concerning student use or perception of services.

Purpose: This study measured use and perceptions of a campus food pantry by students at a mid-sized university in rural North Carolina.

Methods: An online questionnaire collected behavioral and perceptual data, and follow-up interviews explored these variables. Descriptive statistics with significance at p<0.05 and thematic analytical procedures were used.

Results: Questionnaires were submitted by 896 of 6000 recruited students (14.9%), …

The Need For Evidence-Based Interventions To Reduce Food Insecurity Among College Students, Sarah Brothers, Stephanie Jilcott-Pitts Phd

Journal of Appalachian Health

Food insecurity is defined as insufficient resources to meet food needs. This is a global problem but is not confined to those countries identified as poor. One group of Americans who are particularly affected, and for whom the effects are particularly severe, is college students.

Baton Rouge Slam!: An Obituary For Summer 2016: A Critical Performance Ethnography Of Eclectic Truth Poetry Slam, Joshua Hamzehee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This critical performance ethnography presents the theory, methodology, and practice surrounding the fieldwork, scripting, and performance of Baton Rouge SLAM!: An Obituary for Summer 2016. As participant-observer, director, and co-performer, I unpack social drama, performance ethnography, and slam culture by employing a lens rooted in critical race theory. Local poets permitted me to de- and re-contextualize their interviews into ensemble scenes and theatricalize their slam poems about the recent summer’s charged events. One year later, this involved and embodied process of ethnographic bricolage became the ensemble cast performance of Baton Rouge SLAM!: An Obituary for Summer 2016. Community members and …

Impacts Of Intersectionality In The Lgbtqiap+ Community, Sydney Inger

Virginias Collegiate Honors Council Conference

Intersectionality plays an integral role in how a family or society reacts to a youth’s identification within the LGBTQIAP+ community and their chances of overcoming societal challenges that may follow. The intersections of geographic location and religion are predictive of how accepting a family is toward an LGBTIAP+ child, but this is not correlated with every case. When a family is unaccepting, youth can find themselves running away, homeless, in the foster care system, or incarcerated. Beyond continuous rejection at home and in the community, youth are left with challenges finding accepting foster families and applying for jobs and homes …

Biophilia In Everyday Life, Olivia Duke

Virginias Collegiate Honors Council Conference

Mindfulness is an important practice in daily life that many have forgotten in our fast-paced consumerist society. When we are advised to be mindful, we tend in think that we don’t have the time or money for it – but really it involves simple and inexpensive choices. I found my own inspiration through Biophilia, a movement encouraging the reintegration of nature into daily life. Simply taking a moment to be grounded in your surroundings can drastically boost your mood. Biophilia encourages healthy living of both body and mind. Taking care of ourselves as well as our natural environment is vital …

Editorial Introducing The Special Issue For Diversity In Aquatics, Angela Beale-Tawfeeq, Austin R. Anderson, Steven N. Waller

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

Introduction to Special Issue - no abstract available

The Influence Of Breast Cancer Related Lymphedema On Women’S Return-To-Work, Yuanlu (April) Sun, Cheryl Shigaki, Jane Armer

Nursing Faculty Works

Background: Lymphedema is one of the major treatment complications following breast cancer surgery and radiation. As the majority of women who develop breast cancer are at the age of employment, occupational functioning and employment are issues of concern. This study is novel in exploring the ways that lymphedema affects their work experience. Methods: A multiple-case study methodology drawn from Yin’s definition was employed. A total of 13 female survivors who developed breast cancer–related lymphedema participated by completing a survey and a 60-min semi-structured interview. Results: Four main themes emerged: (1) breast cancer–related lymphedema affects physical and emotional functioning associated with …

Evidence Around Engaging Men In Hiv Prevention And Treatment, Julie Pulerwitz, Ann Gottert, Jerry Okal, Sanyukta Mathur

HIV and AIDS

No abstract provided.

How To Help Children Develop Emotional Resilience During Coronavirus, Xiaoyan Zhang, Mary Kate Schutt

Population Health Research Brief Series

Help your child build resilience in the face of adversities with tips from experts. The great uncertainty we are facing during COVID-19 has left many of us anxious, stressed, defensive, and short-sighted. Children are more vulnerable than adults to the emotional impact of traumatic events that disrupt their normal lives.

Different Caregiver, Different Collaboration, Helle Rønn-Smidt, Janet K. Shim, Amber Fitzsimmons, Kristian Larsen, Hanne Pallesen

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

The quality of the collaboration between health professionals and caregivers is of great significance to outcome and recovery. Severe brain injuries after a stroke can leave patients unable to communicate their needs and wishes with health professionals, in which case the role of the caregiver(s) becomes even more important. This position is highly differentiated, and there are substantial variations in how caregivers participate in the collaboration. Using the Bourdieusian concept of cultural health capital, we aimed to develop a broader understanding of the role played by the patient’s caregiver and how inequality is produced in the encounter with professionals. This …

Transformative Change In Rural Ethiopia: The Impact Of Small- And Medium-Scale Irrigation, Logan Cochrane, Anne Cafer

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Rural livelihoods in Ethiopia are vulnerable due to their reliance upon variable rainfall and the lack of access to irrigation. Irrigation coverage in the country is low, as the existing systems tend to cover state-run and commercial operations. There is significant potential for irrigation to play a transformative role in rural lives and livelihoods. Much of the evidence available in Ethiopia focuses upon technical studies of irrigation systems or impacts on households after gaining access to irrigation. This article highlights the causes and pathways of change. We focus on more financially-viable and environmentally-sound small- and medium-scale systems, versus the large-scale …

Between The Waves: A Historiographical Analysis Of The Long Women’S Movement, Tiffany Clapp

2020 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity

Feminism, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. Historically, the feminist movement has been categorized by two distinct waves. The first wave began around 1890 and is stated to have ended in 1920, after women successfully obtained the right to vote with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The second wave does not occur until the 1960s and would continue into to the modern era. However, this paper is addressing how historians theorized about the “Long Feminist” movement that occurred between the two distinct …

Exploring Gendered Environments In Policing: Workplace Incivilities And Fit Perceptions In Men And Women Officers, Rachael Rief, Samantha S. Clinkinbeard

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Research indicates that women are still underrepresented in policing and that police culture is not fully accepting of its sisters in blue. As police organizations strive toward building an inclusive workforce, we must understand how women, already in the field, view their place and experiences within their jobs, organizations, and workgroups. Thus, in the current research, we use a comparative sample (n¼832) of male and female officers to examine perceptions of fit in the job, organization, and workgroup, and how these perceptions relate to reports of workplace incivilities. Findings indicate that women "fit in" with the job and the broader …

Public-School Systems Are Criminalizing Our Young People: Giving Voice To The Marganilized, Carrie Stoltzfus

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

A phenomenological qualitative study using Critical Race Theory and counter-storytelling was completed to investigate what K-12 public schools should be doing to keep young people out of the school-to-prison pipeline (STPP). This study took place in a large city in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Interviews were completed with former students of the researcher who were previously incarcerated, educational professionals, and justice system professionals. Additionally, observations of the court systems and document reviews were completed in order to triangulate findings. Themes emerged around factors that lead to incarceration and the preferred practices to support young people to avoid …

Transforming Difficulties Into Possibilities: Family Training As An Action For Educational Success In Contexts Of Poverty, Blas Segovia-Aguilar, M. Del Mar García-Cabrera, Eva F. Hinojosa-Pareja

The Qualitative Report

This research focuses on the implementation of a series of actions and training workshops with families of a school located in a socially excluded area in the city of Cordoba, Spain. The study explores how the participants perceived the experience and the educational and social benefits of this formative process. The research methodology was based on a participatory action research approach, which involved successive cycles of research and action in different phases: planning and analysis of the problem, action, observation and reflection. Five key informants, selected according to the criterion of structural heterogeneity, participated in the research. Semi-structured interviews and …

Family Matters. Or Does It? Family Involvement In American Education, Isaiah Fink Avraham Cohen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

“Family Matters. Or Does It?” uses select data and waves from the 1996-2016 Parents and Family Involvement in Education Surveys to investigate the following research questions in its efforts to probe the influence of familial involvement: (1) Does child behavior influence family involvement; (2) has the effect of family involvement on academic performance persisted over the past two decades; (3) does school selection influence family involvement; and (4) are homeschooling families monolithic in their involvement? Results indicate that behavior has unique associations with involvement, with no support being found for the reactive involvement hypothesis. Family involvement has a generally positive …

Confronting Shifting Identities: Reflections On Subjectivity In Transnational Research, Jiyoung Kang

The Qualitative Report

As researchers’ identities impact the research process, researchers need to take a reflexive stance toward their positionality in the research. The issue of positionality is especially important for research focusing on multicultural issues, which necessarily involves dynamic power relations among different racial/ethnic groups. Drawing from reflections on my research focusing on South Korean adolescents’ understandings of migrants, this paper illustrates when and how I confronted my positionality. My positionality as a racial/ethnic minority in the United States affected the process of selecting the research topic and the theoretical framework as well as analyzing interview data while my positionality as an …

Citizen Engagement In Aquatics Equity: The Case Of Winston Waterworks, Steven N. Waller Phd, James H. Bemiller Jd, Emliy J. Johnson, Chermaine D. Cole, Jason Scott Phd, Angela Wozencroft, Phd

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

Historically, swimming pools have been a source of inequity when it comes to the distribution of recreation services in the United States. Many of the problems that correlate with the inequitable allocation of recreation resources including public swimming pools began with ideas about race, geography, poor planning practices and faulty policymaking (Rothstein, 2017). Moreover, one of the primary outcomes of engaged, inclusive planning is equity in the provision of recreation programs and facilities. In this essay, we offer a summary of key legal cases that help address questions related resource allocation related to public swimming pools. Finally, we present a …

Lgbtq Training For Aquatic Employees: Impact On Attitudes And Professional Competencies, Austin R. Anderson, Eric Knee, William D. Ramos

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

This study examined the impact of a LGBTQ diversity training on the attitudes and professional competencies of aquatic employees within a campus recreational sports setting. While diversity training is often discussed as a key component of inclusive aquatic programming, little empirical research examining the outcomes associated with such trainings exists. As such, members of the research team developed, implemented, and evaluated a four-month long training program consisting of one in-person training session and monthly inclusion handouts discussing issues related to the inclusion of LGBTQ participants. A comparative quantitative research design was used to measure employee’s attitudes towards the LGBTQ population …

A Comprehensive Analysis Of Aquatic Programming At Historically Black Colleges And Universities (Hbcus), Tiffany Monique Quash, Knolan C. Rawlins, Shaun M. Anderson

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

This article provides a comprehensive examination of aquatic programming at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). HBCUs consist of public, private, 2-year, and 4-year institutions (U.S. Department of Education, 2018). Historically, HBCUs provided descendants of the enslaved access to higher education opportunities (Brown, Donahoo, & Bertrand, 2001). HBCUs now serve a more diverse community and the core focus remains on inclusion, social justice, diversity, empowerment, leadership, and cultural competence (Kennedy, 2012; Rawlins, 2018). Consequently, HBCUs may provide an ideal environment to address aquatic activity and the drowning disparity in the African American community. In the current study, researchers sent a …

Understanding The Impact Of Psychological Empowerment, Workplace Motivation, And Social Capital On The Job Performance Of Farmers In Honduras: A Mixed Methods Study, Susan Lale Karimiha

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A farmer’s job performance is critical to the production of raw materials such as food, fiber, and fuel and is therefore an important concern for individuals, businesses, and economies across the world. The literature on improving farmers’ job performance has focused more on introducing new technologies, and less on the psychosocial factors that improve job performance. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the impact of psychological empowerment, workplace motivation, and social capital on farmers’ job performance in Honduras.

A mixed methods approach was used to collect and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data. For quantitative data, a …

Society Of Behavior Medicine (Sbm) Urges Congress To Ensure Affordable Care Act Coverage Of Prostate Cancer Screening Support Services For High-Risk Men, Karriem Watson, Josef Ben Levi, Other Co-Authors

Sociology Faculty Publications

Prostate cancer (PCa) disproportionately affects African American men. Early detection reduces risk of mortality. The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued an updated recommendation statement on serum Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA)-based screening for PCa. Specifically, in 2012, the USPSTF recommended against PSA-based screening due to risk for overdiagnosis and overtreatment. However, the updated 2018 guidelines recommend consideration of screening for certain at risk men and revised the recommendation rating from “D” to “C.” This new guideline recommends providers to educate high-risk men on the benefits and harms of PSA-based PCa screening so that they can make an informed …

An Older Population Increases Estimated Covid-19 Death Rates In Rural America, Kenneth M. Johnson

Carsey Publications

In this brief, author Kenneth Johnson estimates the influence that the local age structure has on coronavirus death rates among those exposed to it in rural and urban counties in the United States. He reports that the older age structure of rural America increases its vulnerability to the coronavirus. Though rural exposure to the virus was limited early in the pandemic, it is now spreading rapidly there. Rural America’s older age structure increases expected mortality rates there, but other factors also influence its vulnerability to the virus. The fates of rural and urban America are inextricably intertwined, so responding to …

Geographic Disparities In Covid-19 Testing: An Urgent Call To Action, Shannon M. Monnat, Kent Jason G. Cheng

Population Health Research Brief Series

This research brief shows that testing rates are lower in states with the unhealthiest populations and worst health care access. Disparities in testing rates are troubling because delays in testing increase the risk of a surge in silent spread and severe COVID-19 cases in these states.

Covid-19, Wall Building, And The Effects On Migrant Protection Protocols By The Trump Administration: The Spectacle Of The Worsening Human Rights Disaster On The Mexico-U.S. Border, Terence Garrett

Political Science Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has repercussions well beyond the confines of borders. National border policies can thwart international efforts to combat the spread of infectious diseases. These problems are especially relevant for the United States with the spectacle of President Trump’s “big, beautiful border wall” used as leverage to maintain political and economic power domestically and globally while confronting the coronavirus pandemic. The focus of this paper is the implementation of Trump’s Zero Tolerance Policy, Migrant Protection Protocols, and the Asylum Cooperation Agreement, all aimed primarily at migrants and refugees from Central America to prevent entrance into the U.S. using the …

Long-Term Opiate-Induced Adaptations In Lateral Paracapsular Neurons Of The Basolateral Amygdala, Sara Jane Werner

Theses and Dissertations

Increases in basolateral amygdala (BLA) activity drive avoidance-seeking behavior that may be associated with stress induced drug seeking. Activity of BLA pyramidal neurons is regulated by local and paracapsular gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) interneurons. The lateral paracapsular interneurons (LPCs) border the external capsule, receive dense cortical/thalamic input and provide feed-forward inhibition onto BLA principle neurons. The GABAergic LPCs also express high concentrations of g-protein coupled µ-opioid receptors (MORs). Therefore, the effects of opiates on LPC activity and local GABA release were examined. Fluorescently double labeled LPCs were observed in glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) 65-mcherry/GAD67-green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic mice. Whole-cell electrophysiology …

"A State Sponsored System Of Segregation": Examining The Contemporary Impact Of Redlining, Caroline Howard

Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research and Scholarship (SOARS)

The west side of downtown Jacksonville is home to historically black neighborhoods which for over a century were economically thriving. However, if you were to visit those areas today you would be greeted by vacant lots, abandoned buildings and a large homeless population. In the 1930’s predominantly black neighborhoods of Jacksonville were marked as hazardous areas unfit for loans: a process known as redlining. The Economic Innovation Group’s Distressed Community Index will be analyzed to determine if there is a correlation between redlining and the disproportionate economic hardship of historically black areas to predominantly white areas of Jacksonville. Utilizing GIS …