Medicine and Health Commons^™

The Sociophysiology Of Caring In The Doctor-Patient Relationship, Herbert M. Adler

Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Faculty Papers

The emotional investment required to construct a caring doctor-patient relationship can be justified on humane grounds. Can it also be justified as a direct physiologic intervention? Two lines of evidence point in this direction. People in an empathic relationship exhibit a correlation of indicators of autonomic activity. This occurs between speakers and responsive listeners, members of a coherent group, and bonded pairs of higher social animals. Furthermore, the experience of feeling cared about in a relationship reduces the secretion of stress hormones and shifts the neuroendocrine system toward homeostasis. Because the social engagement of emotions is simultaneously the social engagement …

Assistant Secretary For Aging To Announce Grants At Umaine On Oct. 18 [2002], Joe Carr

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Josefina G. Carbonell, assistant secretary for Aging in the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, will be at the University of Maine on Friday Oct. 18 [2002] to announce three grants to be used for the development of a National Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Action Plan. The UMaine Center on Aging, in conjunction with the Maine Center for Osteoporosis Research and Education in Bangor, will receive one of those grants.

Update - September 2002, Loma Linda University Center For Christian Bioethics

Update

In this issue:

-- Just Put Me to Sleep . . . PLEASE!: Ethical Issues in Palliative and "Terminal" Sedation
-- Terminal Sedation: A Jewish Perspective
-- Terminal Sedation: A Catholic Perspective
-- Announcing the Center for Christian Bioethics Nation Conference in 2003: "Promise and Peril of the New Genetics"
-- Center news . . .

The Link Between Smoking And Body Weight Among Adolescents, Tracey Barnett

Dissertations

Trends in smoking rates among adolescents indicate that white females generally smoke more than their adolescent counterparts, the only substance in which this occurs. Another trend in which white females far outnumber any other adolescent group is eating disorders. This study was conducted to assess the relationship between cigarette smoking and perception of weight among adolescents. A logistic regression model was constructed to test the relationship using the Adolescent Health Public Dataset. For females, there was a link between cigarette smoking and perception of overweight which was not found among the males. Similarly, white females had a significantly higher rate …

Parental Substance Use Disorder And The Risk Of Adolescent Drug Abuse: An Event History Analysis, John P. Hoffmann, Felicia G. Cerbone

Faculty Publications

A common observation in the research literature is that children of drug-dependent parents are at significantly heightened risk of adolescent drug use, abuse, and dependence. Recent research indicates that several psychological and interpersonal factors may affect the association between parents’ psychoactive substance use disorder (PSUD) and drug use risks among adolescents, yet studies have failed to examine explicitly whether these factors moderate the association between PSUD and adolescent substance abuse. This paper explores these potential relationships using longitudinal data from a study that has followed three cohorts of adolescents and their families over a 7-year period. The cohorts are defined …

Community-Acquired Pneumonia In Older Veterans: Does The Pneumonia Prognosis Index Help?, Lona Mody, Rongjun Sun, Suzanne Bradley

Sociology & Criminology Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVES: Mortality rates from pneumonia increase steadily with age. Recently, a disease severity model (the Pneumonia Prognosis Index (PPI)) has been developed to predict mortality from community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). PPI ranks severity of pneumonia from 1 to 5, with 5 being most severe. This retrospective study utilizes the PPI to address the prognosis of CAP in older adults. DESIGN: Retrospective review of medical charts. SETTING: Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

PARTICIPANTS: All adults aged 60 and older admitted to a Veterans Affairs Medical Center with CAP between January 1 and December 31, 1998.

MEASUREMENTS: PPI was calculated using subjects' …

Infertility, Sally G El Mahdy

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Parental And Peer Influences On Adolescent Drinking: The Relative Impact Of Attachment And Opportunity, Lizabeth A. Crawford, Katherine B. Novak

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The purpose of this paper was to assess the relative effects of parents and peers on adolescent alcohol use via mechanisms of attachment and opportunity. Panel data from the second and third waves of the National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS:88) were used to examine the relationship between multiple measures of peer and parent-child relations reflecting these concepts and alcohol use among high-school students. Overall, our results indicated that peers are more influential than parents in shaping adolescents’ patterns of alcohol consumption and that unstructured peer interaction is an especially powerful predictor of adolescent alcohol use and binge drinking. Our findings …

Hiv/Aids Prevention Guidance For Reproductive Health Professionals In Developing-Country Settings, Helen Epstein, Daniel Whelan, Janneke Van De Wijgert, Purnima Mane, Suman Mehta

HIV and AIDS

While the integration of information, technologies, and services to respond to HIV/AIDS may seem closely related, there are a variety of issues that continue to create obstacles to integration. Among these are the stigmatizing nature of HIV infection and AIDS and discrimination faced by those who are infected or perceived to be infected; sexual practices and identities that remain socially unacceptable; gender roles and relations that make it difficult for women and men to access information, services, and technologies on HIV prevention; reluctance to recognize the special needs of young people; and barriers to service delivery created by broader economic, …

Medicalized Childbirth In The United States: Origins, Outcomes, And Opposition, Martelia L. Henson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study focuses on childbirth in the United States as a medical event, specifically concentrating on the historical development of medicalized birth and the cultural and social ramifications of this transformation. The main objective is to apply various aspects of social movement theory and movement dynamics to the rise of obstetric medicine as it is documented in the existing body of childbirth literature, in order to achieve a greater understanding of the appropriation of American childbirth practices by the medical profession. Also included is a discussion of various birth reform movements that have attempted, and are attempting, to challenge the …

Physician-Related Determinants Of Cervical Cancer Screening Among Caribbean Women In Toronto, Ilene Hyman, Punam Mony Singh, Marta Meana, Usha George, Lilian M. Wells, Donna E. Stewart

Psychology Faculty Research

BACKGROUND: Minority women in Canada are less likely to be screened for cervical cancer than their counterparts in the general population, despite the fact that the proportion of these women who consult a general practitioner about their health each year is similar to minority women. This study examined the physician and practice characteristics associated with Pap testing and perceived barriers to Pap testing of family physicians serving the Caribbean community of Toronto.

METHODS: A mail-back questionnaire was sent to Toronto family physicians practicing in neighborhoods with a high proportion of Caribbean Canadians.

RESULTS: Although 79.7% of the 64 participating physicians …

Chaotic Patterns Of Restraining Power: The Dynamics Of Personal Decision Making In A Long-Term Care Facility, Sandra Loucks Campbell

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This is a study of personal decision-making dynamics at multiple levels in an Ontario Home for the Aged, including managers, staff leaders, direct care workers, non-direct care workers and residents. Personnel dyadic units of differential decision-making power were postulated: managers/staff leaders, staff leaders/direct care workers and direct care workers/residents. Weber's bureaucracy, other organizational power literature and chaos theory provide the theoretical frame. Staff completed a self administered questionnaire package which included variants of the Staff Involvement in Decision Making scale (Kruzich, 1989), open-ended and demographic questions. Residents were assisted in completing a similar, but shorter, questionnaire. Cognitively impaired residents' decision …

Satisfaire Aux Besoins De Santé Des Hommes Qui Ont Des Rapports Sexuels Avec D’Autres Hommes Au Sénégal, Cheikh Ibrahima Niang, Moustapha Diagne, Youssoupha Niang, Amadou Moreau, Dominique Gomis, Maye Diouf, Karim Seck, Abdoulaye Sidibe Wade, Placide Tapsoba, Christopher Castle

HIV and AIDS

A study conducted in Dakar, Senegal by researchers from the National AIDS Council, Cheikh Anta Diop University, and the Horizons program obtained information on the needs, behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes of men who have sex with men (MSM). This study offers important insights into the sexuality of MSM, their vulnerability to STI/HIV, and the role of violence and stigma in their lives. The results also highlight the lack of sexual health services and information available to cover the specific needs of MSM. The results of this study were summarized during a meeting held in April 2001 in Dakar and raised …

Meeting The Sexual Health Needs Of Men Who Have Sex With Men In Senegal, Cheikh Ibrahima Niang, Moustapha Diagne, Youssoupha Niang, Amadou Moreau, Dominique Gomis, Maye Diouf, Karim Seck, Abdoulaye Sidibe Wade, Placide Tapsoba, Christopher Castle

HIV and AIDS

A study conducted in Dakar, Senegal by researchers from the National AIDS Council, Cheikh Anta Diop University, and the Horizons program obtained information on the needs, behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes of men who have sex with men (MSM). This study offers important insights into the sexuality of MSM, their vulnerability to STI/HIV, and the role of violence and stigma in their lives. The results also highlight the lack of sexual health services and information available to cover the specific needs of MSM. The results of this study were summarized during a meeting held in April 2001 in Dakar and raised …

The Person With Alzheimer's Disease : Pathways To Understanding The Experience, Phyllis Harris

Phyllis Braudy Harris

No abstract provided.