Medicine and Health Commons^™

Wellness And Food Preferences Among Children Of Latino Immigrant Families In The Arcadia Community Of Spartanburg County, Sarah Grace Keaveny

Student Scholarship

The topic of this capstone is the result of my synthesis across disciplines. As a student with majors in Biology and Spanish with a concentration in Medical Humanities, I wanted to research a topic that would include my disciplines in a way that would meaningfully prepare me to leave my undergraduate years for medical school. This project seeks to generate an understanding of the culturally created eating habits and perceptions of wellness in Latino children living in the Arcadia Community, as told by their mothers. By seeking this understanding, I hope that this project may serve as a tool to …

¿Cómo Amigos Comparten La Salud? Las Redes Sociales Y Factores De Riesgo. / How Do Friends Share Health? Social Networks And Risk Factors., Joanna Emerson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Research question: How are health risk factors shared between people by means of their social networks? Objectives: The main objective of the study is to determine the correlation between a person's social network and which health risk factors are most prevalent in network members. The first specific objective is to evaluate the rates of the most common risk factors in social networks and how these disperse throughout the network. The second is to analyze whether people with similar health risk factors have similar social tendencies. The final objective is to identify the risk factors most transmittable through social networks. Background: …

Promoción De La Salud En La Ciudad De Buenos Aires: Un Estudio Sobre El Trabajo De Los Promotores De Salud Y Las Percepciones De Su Rol En La Comunidad. / Health Promotion In The City Of Buenos Aires: A Study Of The Work Of Community Health Workers And Perceptions Of Their Role In The Community, Elizabeth Sherwin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Contextual information: At the global level, inequities exist with respect to access and quality of healthcare. Primary Health Care is a strategy to respond to these inequities. It adopts an integral concept of health that includes no only illness but also the wellbeing of a person affected by many environmental factors. It is a strategy that aims to improve access to medical care and health information through health promotion and has the goal of giving the population more control over their health. Community health workers, people from the same neighborhood in which they work promoting health, are recognized on the …

Chess Improves Cancer Caregivers' Burden And Mood: Results Of An Ehealth Rct, Lori L. Dubenske, David H. Gustafson, Kang Namkoong, Robert P. Hawkins, Amy K. Atwood, Roger L. Brown, Ming-Yuan Chih, Fiona Mctavish, Cindy L. Carmack, Mary K. Buss, Ramaswamy Govindan, James F. Cleary

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE: Informal caregivers (family and friends) of people with cancer are often unprepared for their caregiving role, leading to increased burden or distress. Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS) is a Web-based lung cancer information, communication, and coaching system for caregivers. This randomized trial reports the impact on caregiver burden, disruptiveness, and mood of providing caregivers access to CHESS versus the Internet with a list of recommended lung cancer websites.

METHODS: A total of 285 informal caregivers of patients with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer were randomly assigned to a comparison group that received Internet or a treatment group that …

Physicians' Perspectives On The Current Handling Of Medical Malpractice In Jordan, Jason Yohan Hwang

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Research on medical malpractice has increased over the past few decades. However, such studies have primarily focused on malpractice in Western countries like America. In areas like the Middle East, studies on malpractice has been lacking. Thus, this study tries to fill this gap. The purpose of this study is to understand physicians’ perspectives on the current handling of medical malpractice in Jordan. To answer this research question, the study uses both surveys and interviews to focus on three main themes: one, physicians’ understanding of the term, malpractice; two, evaluation of the current malpractice system; and three, attitudes toward a …

First-Year Students' Perspectives On Reasons For And Prevention Of Their Own Alcohol Overdose, Janet Reis

University Author Recognition Bibliography: 2014

Two hundred twenty-six first-year students enrolled at a large, public Midwest university and deemed to require an emergency transport for a potential alcohol overdose completed a brief questionnaire on the student's perceptions of why the event occurred, what might have happened to prevent the overdose situation, and personal assessment of experience with alcohol. The explanations for the event revolve around personal decision making (made decision to drink too much, absence of drinking control behaviors) as opposed to peer influence. Similarly, factors selected as preventing an alcohol overdose focused on knowing one's own tolerance, plus having a buddy system to slow …

Practicing Patienthood Online: Social Media, Chronic Illness, And Lay Expertise, Collette Sosnowy

Publications and Research

The use of digital technologies and social media by people with serious illness to find, share, and create health information is much celebrated but rarely critiqued. Proponents laud “Health 2.0” as transforming health care practice and empowering patients. Critics, however, argue that a discourse of developing lay expertise online masks the disciplinary practices of the neoliberal state’s emphasis on individual responsibility. Notably, the perspectives of people who are engaging with social media related to their health and illness are under-represented in this debate. This research examines the experiences and perspectives of women who blog about their lives with Multiple Sclerosis …

Congestive Heart Failure Self-Management Among Us Veterans: The Role Of Personal And Professional Advocates, Eleni Skaperdas, Anaïs Tuepker, Christina Nicolaidis, Jessica K. Robb, Devan Kansagara, David H. Hickam

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: Understand patients’ experiences with primary care services for congestive heart failure (CHF) and explore the relationship between health services and self-management.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with thirty-nine patients with CHF receiving care at one Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VA). We analyzed data using thematic content analysis.

Results: Participants acknowledged the importance of ongoing engagement in the plan of care for CHF. They attributed success in this effort to be greatly influenced by personal advocates. The advocates included both members of the healthcare team with whom they had a continuity relationship and friends or family members who assisted on …

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 …

Citizenship Documentation Requirement For Medical Eligibility: Effects On Oregon Children, Brigit A. Hatch, Jennifer E. Devoe, Jodi A. Lapidus, Matthew J. Carlson, Bill J. Wright

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005 mandated Medicaid beneficiaries to document citizenship. Using a prospective cohort (n=104,375), we aimed to (1) determine characteristics of affected children, (2) describe effects on health insurance coverage and access to needed health care, and (3) model the causal relationship between this new policy, known determinants of health care access, and receipt of needed health care.

METHODS: We identified a stratified random sample of children shortly after the DRA was implemented and used state records and surveys to compare three groups: children denied Medicaid for inability to document citizenship, children denied …

Adolescent Perceptions Of Health Through Photovoice In Cato Manor, South Africa, Renee Lamoreau

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study will investigate how youth in Cato Manor perceive health in their community using photovoice as the primary methodology. Photovoice is a participatory action research method that gives participants the power to answer research questions through imagery. Participants take pictures in response to a question or prompt, and then describe a self-­‐selected number of pictures using the SHOWED process. This study will employ this methodology to answer the following questions: What objects, people, and events do youth associate with health? How do youth in Cato Manor define health and sickness? The following report will summarize the social and physical …

Mainecare Stage A Health Homes Year 1 Report: Implementation Findings And Baseline Analysis, Kimberley S. Fox Mpa, Carolyn E. Gray Mph, Katherine Rosingana, Deborah A. Thayer Mba

Population Health & Health Policy

In January 2013, Maine established Health Homes under federal authority pursuant to Section 2703 of the Affordable Care Act to improve care coordination for MaineCare members with chronic conditions. Stage A of the Health Homes initiative focuses on members with complex medical chronic conditions. Stage B, planned for early 2014, will focus on persons with severe and persistent mental health conditions and children with serious emotional disturbances. The Stage A demonstration builds off the State’s existing Maine multi-payer Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Pilot project and Maine’s Medicare Advanced Primary Care Practice (MAPCP) Demonstration by providing add-on payments to primary …

The Forest Has A Story: Cultural Ecosystem Services In Kona, Hawai‘I, Rachelle K. Gould, Nicole M. Ardoin, Ulalia Woodside, Terre Satterfield, Neil Hannahs, Gretchen C. Daily

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Understanding cultural dimensions of human/environment relationships is now widely seen as key to effective management, yet characterizing these dimensions remains a challenge. We report on an approach for considering the nonmaterial values associated with ecosystems, i.e., cultural ecosystem services. We applied the approach in Kona, Hawai‘i, using 30 semistructured interviews and 205 in-person surveys, striving to balance pragmatism and depth. We found spirituality, heritage, and identity-related values to be particularly salient, with expression of some of these values varying among respondents by ethnicity and duration of residence in Hawai‘i. Although people of various backgrounds reported strong spirituality and heritage-related values, …

The Dual Burden Of Malnutrition: Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, Nisha Punatar, Robert C. Morrow

GW Research Days 2014

No abstract provided.

Wonder Drugs To Hot New Diets: Knowledge Is Power! Adult Health Literacy, Adnan Ahmeduddin, Mary Grace Bowring, Kelly Davis, Indra Gomez, Sarah Halle, Courtney Middlebrook, Molly Sadowsky, Lauren Shauger, Lauren Violette

ISCOPES Posters and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Idiots Savants, Retarded Savants, Talented Aments, Mono-Savants, Autistic Savants, Just Plain Savants, People With Savant Syndrome, And Autistic People Who Are Good At Things: A View From Disability Studies, Joseph N. Straus

Publications and Research

People identified as idiot savants have long comprised an identifiable group (a high level of skill in the context of perceived mental deficiency) whose story has mostly been told by psychiatrists and psychologists within a medicalized model of disability that assumes deficiency and seeks remediation and normalization. More recently, people identified as savants have become common figures of literary and cinematic representation. Both of these narrative frames have enfreaked them as alien Others, whose gifts and disabilities place them outside the normal run of human intelligence and creativity. With a focus on music, this article tries to see through these …

Results From Ireland's 2014 Report Card On Physical Activity In Children And Youth, Deirdre M. Harrington, Sarahjane Belton, Tara Coppinger, Muireann Cullen, Alan Donnelly, Kieran Dowd, Teresa Keating, Richard Layte, Marie Murphy, Niamh Murphy, Elaine Murtagh, Catherine Woods

Publications

Background: Physical activity (PA) levels are a key performance indicator for policy documents in Ireland. The first Ireland Report Card on Physical Activity in Children and Youth aims to set a robust baseline for future surveillance of indicators related to PA in children and youth. Methods: Data collected between 2003-2010 on more than 35,000 7- to 18-year-old children and youth were used and graded using a standardized grading system for 10 indicators. Results: Grades assigned for the indicators were as follows: overall physical activity levels, D-; sedentary behavior (TV viewing), C-; organized sport participation, C-: physical education, D-; active play, …

Hiv Infrastructure Study Columbia, Sc, Susan S. Reif, Elena Wilson, Carolyn Mcallaster

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Hiv Infrastructure Study Baton Rouge, Susan S. Reif, Elena Wilson, Carolyn Mcallaster, Casteel Scherger

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Public Assistance, Drug Testing, And The Law: The Limits Of Population-Based Legal Analysis, Candice T. Player

All Faculty Scholarship

In Populations, Public Health and the Law, legal scholar Wendy Parmet urges courts to embrace population-based legal analysis, a public health inspired approach to legal reasoning. Parmet contends that population-based legal analysis offers a way to analyze legal issues—not unlike law and economics—as well as a set of values from which to critique contemporary legal discourse. Population-based analysis has been warmly embraced by the health law community as a bold new way of analyzing legal issues. Still, population-based analysis is not without its problems. At times, Parmet claims too much territory for the population perspective. Moreover, Parmet urges courts …

Making Space For Dying: Portraits Of Living With Dying, Elise Lark

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In Making Space for Dying: Portraits of Living with Dying, I describe the everyday lived experience of dying and the care culture within freestanding, community-based, end-of-life residences (CBEOLR) utilizing portraiture and arts-based research. I craft four case studies into “portraits,” based on interviews, on-site visits, up-close observation, and field notes. In the person-centered portraits, I reveal the inner landscape of two terminally ill women, with data represented in poetry. In the place-centered portraits, I “map” the social topography of two CBEOLRs to illustrate how lives and care of the dying are emplaced, from the perspectives of community leaders, …

Lifetime Racism And Blood Pressure Changes During Pregnancy: Implications For Fetal Growth, Clayton J. Hilmert, Tyan Parker Dominguez, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Sindhu K. Srinivas, Laura M. Glynn, Calvin J. Hobel, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective: Research suggests that exposure to racism partially explains why African American women are 2 to 3 times more likely to deliver low birth weight and preterm infants. However, the physiological pathways by which racism exerts these effects are unclear. This study examined how lifetime exposure to racism, in combination with maternal blood pressure changes during pregnancy, was associated with fetal growth. Methods: African American pregnant women (n = 39) reported exposure to childhood and adulthood racism in several life domains (e.g., at school, at work), which were experienced directly or indirectly, meaning vicariously experienced when someone …