Medicine and Health Commons^™

The Association Between Type-2 Diabetes Pathophysiology & Exercise Adherence, Sydney Raymond

Senior Honors Projects

According to the American Diabetes Association, 1 in 3 Americans will be diagnosed with diabetes. While some of these individuals will be prescribed medications as part of their treatment, most will also be advised to begin an exercise program to assist with blood glucose control. Additionally, while regular exercise is associated with lower HbA1C and decreased insulin/medication dependence, it is estimated that only about half of those diagnosed with diabetes will adhere to their exercise plans. Social, psychological, and physiological factors all play roles in affecting ones ability to adhere to an exercise regiment, and individuals with Type 2 Diabetes …

Examining The Impact Of Socioeconomic Variables On Covid-19 Death Rates At The State Level, James L. Doti

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

This study uses a step-wise regression model to identify the socioeconomic variables most significant in explaining COVID-19 death rates on a state-level basis. The regression tests cover the 1/1/2020 to 12/1/2020 period as well as the first and second halves of 2020. This study also uses the Oxford stringency index to measure more precisely the efficacy of governmental mandates at the state level. The results in this study rigorously showed that while the density variables were the most significant explanatory variables during the first half of the year, their significance fell during the second half. Use of the Oxford stringency …

Health Disparities Faced By Racial/Ethnic Groups Amid The Covid-19 Pandemic: Social Factors Contributing To The Physical Health Of Minorities, Prajita Chauhan

ENG 101 Library Research Scholarship Recipients' Papers

2021 ENG 101 Library Research Scholarship Recipient

The main purpose of this literature review is to understand the social factors that impact the physical health of racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Studies investigating the health disparities among racial and ethnic groups show that these particular minority populations are disadvantaged in other aspects of life, such as social factors, which ultimately affect their ability to access and utilize healthcare in the United States.

A Person-Centered Care Model’S Effectiveness For Older Adults With Dementia: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Karen Goeschel

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

I evaluated the effectiveness of person-centered care interventions for older adults with dementia. Quality of life and agitation levels were used as primary outcomes for the effectiveness of the intervention. Electronic databases were searched for studies which satisfied the inclusion principles and did not satisfy exclusion principles. Cluster-randomized trials and non-randomized control trials which compared person-centered care approaches to usual care were included. I performed two random-effects meta-analyses. Six studies with 1,384 patients were included. For older adults with dementia, person-centered care had no significant impact on quality-of-life improvement (SMD = -0.116, p = 0.206) or agitation reduction (SMD = …

Peer Conversation About Substance Use, Danielle M. Pillet-Shore

Communication

What happens when a friend starts talking about her own substance use and misuse? This article provides the first investigation of how substance use is spontaneously topicalized in naturally occurring conversation. It presents a detailed analysis of a rare video-recorded interaction showing American English-speaking university students talking about their own substance (mis)use in a residential setting. During this conversation, several substance (mis)use informings are disclosed about one participant, and this study elucidates what occasions each disclosure, and how participants respond to each disclosure. This research shows how participants use casual conversation to offer important substance (mis)use information to their friends …

Neighborhoods Matter; But For Whom? Heterogeneity Of Neighborhood Disadvantage On Child Obesity By Sex, Ashley W. Kranjac, Catherine Boyd, Rachel T. Kimbro, Brady S. Moffett, Keila N. Lopez

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Although evidence suggests that neighborhood context, particularly socioeconomic context, influences child obesity, little is known about how these neighborhood factors may be heterogeneous rather than monolithic. Using a novel dataset comprised of the electronic medical records for over 250,000 children aged 2–17 nested within 992 neighborhoods in the greater Houston area, we assessed whether neighborhoods influenced the obesity of children differently based on sex. Results indicated that neighborhood disadvantage, assessed using a comprehensive, multidimensional, latent profile analysis-generated measure, had a strong, positive association with the odds of obesity for both boys and girls. Interactions revealed that the relationship between disadvantage …

Examining The Causal Impact Of Prenatal Home Visiting On Birth Outcomes: A Propensity Score Analysis, Elizabeth R. Anthony, Robert L. Fischer

Faculty Scholarship

Objectives: In Ohio, African American babies die at 2.5–3 times the rate of White babies. Preterm birth and low birth weight are the leading causes of infant mortality. Home visiting is an evidence-based strategy for serving low-income pregnant women; however, there are relatively few rigorous studies examining its effect on birth outcomes. Methods: This study uses a propensity score technique to estimate the causal effect of participation in home visiting on prematurity and low birth weight among a low-income, predominantly African American sample (N = 26,814). Results: We found that participation in home visiting significantly reduced the odds of experiencing …

Child Obesity Moderates The Association Between Poverty And Academic Achievement, Ashley W. Kranjac, Dinko Kranjac

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Childhood overweight and obesity are major public health problems in the United States. Children who experience poverty are 1.5 times more likely to suffer with overweight and 1.6 times more likely to have obesity. The extent to which overweight or obesity exacerbates the negative influence of socioeconomic inequality on child academic outcomes has not yet been examined. We estimated the effect of poverty on math and reading achievement trajectories using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) Kindergarten class of 1998−1999 survey data and multilevel growth curve modeling techniques. Our findings indicate that the impact of obesity status is more pronounced …

Surgical Patients’ Hospital Experience Scores: Neighborhood Context Conceptual Framework, Ashley Wendell Kranjac, Dinko Kranjac, Michelle A. Fortier, Pat Patton, Brad Giafaglione, Zeev N. Kain

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective:

Through geocoding the physical residential address included in the electronic medical record to the census tract level, we present a novel model for concomitant examination of individual patient-related and residential context-related factors that are associated with patient-reported experience scores.

Summary Background Data:

When assessing patient experience in the surgical setting, researchers need to examine the potential influence of neighborhood-level characteristics on patient experience-of-care ratings.

Methods:

We geocoded the residential address included in the electronic medical record (EMR) from a tertiary care facility to the census tract level of Orange County, CA. We then linked each individual record to the …

Review Of Let Us Dream: The Path To A Better Future, Bill Droel

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Battle For The Bible, Battle For The Soul Of Humanity, Patricia M. Mische

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

The Peace Dimension Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Caesar A. Montevecchio

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

On The Outside Looking In: A Global Doula Response To Covid-19, Angela Castañeda, Julie Johnson Searcy

Sociology & Anthropology Faculty publications

From around the world, doulas report the impact of new COVID-19 restrictions on their ability to provide continuous emotional, physical, and informational support to pregnant people and their families. In a qualitative survey conducted in March and April 2020, we heard from over 500 doulas in 24 countries. Doulas practicing across the world revealed rapid changes to hospital policies. Even accounting for different public health responses across countries, the doulas in our study pointed to one common theme - their absence at births and the subsequent need to support birthing people virtually. In a follow-up survey and in interviews we …

The Psychosocial Well-Being Of Older Adults In Covid-19 And The 'New Normal', Micah Tan, Paulin T. Straughan, William Tov, Grace Cheong, Wensi Lim

ROSA Research Briefs

Early research into COVID-19 has focused predominantly on the immediate and direct physical health effects of the pandemic, as compared to the wider, indirect effects of the pandemic on general well-being brought about by the various measures put in place to contain the virus. In terms of policies, focus has also been placed largely on containment and broad based policies for the entire population. As experts increasingly recognize that the pandemic will be a protracted event (The Straits Times, 2021), however, there is a need for stakeholders to place greater emphasis on the indirect effects of COVID-19 that will likely …

Healthcare Protection Policies During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Lessons Towards The Implementation Of The New Egyptian Universal Health Insurance Law, Alaa Ghannam, Ayman Sebae

Faculty Journal Articles

On March 11th 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus a global pandemic. The spread of the virus in many countries has exceeded the capabilities of the traditional healthcare systems and has challenged government plans to contain it.

The COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Egypt at a time when the first steps in the implementation of the newly ratified law on social health insurance were taking place. Law number 2 for the year 2018 saw the first steps of its implementation in Port Said governorate. As the realisation of the law is proceeding in other governorates, the pandemic and …

After Covid-19: Mitigating Domestic Gender-Based Violence In Egypt In Times Of Emergency, Diana Magdy, Hind Ahmed Zaki

Faculty Journal Articles

In times of crises and emergencies, violence against women tends to increase. The outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in severe precautionary measures such as social isolation, physical distancing, staying at home, curfews and lockdowns, which brought “normal” life to a halt and created a temporary convergence between the public and the private. The pandemic has forced the global community to turn its gaze back to the private, and compelled them to pay attention to the old/new problem of gender-based violence, particularly, domestic violence that spiked during the pandemic. Against such a backdrop, and using a critical feminist lens that analyzes …

Executive Summary- Social Protection In Egypt: Mitigating The Socio-Economic Effects Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Vulnerable Employment, Dina Makram-Ebeid, Amr Adly, Nadine Sika, Hania M Sholkamy, Samer Atallah

Faculty Journal Articles

This is the executive summary of an interdisciplinary project between the fields of development economics, political economy, labor sociology, development anthropology and public health. It reviews the social protection available to vulnerable employees and their households in Egypt and suggests ways to adapt them in light of the COVID 19 pandemic. The research focuses on four areas a) employment security b) social assistance c) health insurance d) gendered mitigations. The project will map the impact of the crisis on vulnerable employees and their households and propose policy interventions to alleviate the socio-economic effects of the pandemic through the publication of …

Sars-Cov-2 And The (Dark) Future Of Society: A Machiavellian Approach To The End Of Body Sovereignty And The Beginning Of Bio-Feudalism, Andrea Molle

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

As much as the event following 9/11 triggered massive changes in our understanding of privacy rights and increased our level of acceptance of government infringement on individuals’ freedom, the pandemic of the SARS-COV-2 is threatening to change our understanding of societal hierarchy and democratic process. In this essay, we imagine a society where two classes, defined by their susceptibility to infection, emerge, and a neo-feudal system is established. We suggest that it is possible to evaluate how likely a dystopian outcome is by using Machiavelli’s understanding of the impact of the Plague on medieval Florence. We also recommend following his …

Global Cultural Shifts Induced By Covid-19, Wenshan Jia

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

"While COVID-19 has reportedly been bringing about numerous changes in geopolitics, economy, health, and security around the world, little has been written about changes in cultural practices it has been bringing about. I hereby unravel such emerging changes in the hope that readers could adapt to such changes."

An Evaluation Of A Maternal Health And Extreme Heat Exposure Training, Adelle Dora Monteblanco, Jennifer K. Vanos, Sarah Leroy, Patricia M. Juarez, Gregg M. Garfin

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Growing empirical evidence documents the potential risk of extreme heat exposure to pregnant individuals. These risks include adverse birth outcomes, such as preterm birth and low birth weight. Climate change will exacerbate extreme heat exposures to a large portion of the global population, and pregnant individuals need to understand the risks and protective measures needed. Maternal health workers are a key mechanism for conveying this information to pregnant individuals. The authors assess a training of maternal health workers in El Paso, Texas, through two research instruments. First, eight maternal health workers completed an educational workshop and consented to participation; pre- …

Healthcare Of Indigenous Amazonian Peoples In Response To Covid-19: Marginality, Discrimination And Revaluation Of Ancestral Knowledge In Ucayali, Peru, Doreen Montag, Marco Barboza, Lizardo Cauper, Ivan Brehaut, Isaac Alva, Aoife Bennett, José Sanchez-Choy, Juan Pablo Sarmiento Barletti, Pilar Valenzuela, José Manuyama, Italo García Murayari, Miguel Guimaraes Vásquez, Celso Aguirre Panduro, Angela Giattino, Edwin Julio Palomino Cadenas, Rodrigo Lazo, Carlos A. Delgado, Alfonso Nino, Elaine C. Flores, Maria Amalia Pesantes, Juan Pablo Murillo, Luisa Elvira Belaunde, Sergio Recuenco, Robert Chuquimbalqui, Carol Zavaleta-Cortijo

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Articles and Research

"Systematic and persistent discrimination against Indigenous Peoples translates into differential health outcomes when analysed through ethnicity and/or mother tongue.1 In Peru, morbidity and mortality rates among Indigenous Peoples for COVID-19 appear to confirm this.2 The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the historical structural violence against Indigenous Peoples that currently takes a disproportionate toll in the Peruvian Amazon. This equally applies to Indigenous Andean Peoples and Afro Peruvians. Indigenous Peoples in voluntary isolation and those in initial contact are at highest health risk in this pandemic as they have no previous immunity against common infectious diseases, and lack access to public healthcare …

Correlates Of Depression Among Black Girls Exposed To Violence, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

Depression rates for youth remanded to juvenile detention is double that of the general population and Black girls are especially vulnerable. A dearth of literature analyzes the factors that are correlated with depression among system-involved Black girls, ages 12–17 years old. We utilized personal agency to examine the relationship between risk factors (i.e., abuse history, and fear of condom negotiation) and protective factors (i.e., condom self-efficacy, and perceived social support) that might correlate with depression among Black girls exposed to violence. Findings indicate that fear of condom negotiation, abuse history and low condom self-efficacy are correlated with depressive symptomology while …

The Social Determinants Of Diabetes And Coronary Heart Disease In South Asian American Immigrants, Mishal Ayaz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An astounding 20% of South Asian Americans have diabetes (Matthews and Zachariah 2008). Conventional risk factors for coronary heart disease includes: age older than 65, sedentary lifestyle, cigarette smoking, hypertension, elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL), cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes, all factors beyond health care (italicized for emphasis) (Mathews and Zachariah 2008). But conventional risk factors alone are not sufficient to predict the alarmingly high rates of coronary heart disease (“CHD”) for South Asian Americans. In fact, the only conventional risk factor more prevalent in this community than others is diabetes. So, the question remains, what factors are contributing to the …

Nebraska Risk And Protective Factor Student Survey Results For 2021. Profile Report: State Of Nebraska, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Student Health and Risk Prevention Surveillance System (SHARP)

No abstract provided.

Impact Of 9/11-Induced Adverse Experiences On The Mental Health Of Latino Americans And The Role Of Religious Service Attendance, Soyoung Kwon, Yongsok Kim, Jiyoung Moon Dr.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Much research has documented the mental health consequences of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; however, little is known about how the 9/11 attacks affect the mental health of Latino Americans. This study uses a nationally representative sample of Latino Americans (N = 2,346) from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS) to examine the relationships between 9/11-induced negative life experiences and mental disorders. The former includes losing a job, reducing family income, feeling less safe and secure, discrimination, loss of optimism, and inability to cope with things. For the latter, mental disorders may exhibit as psychological distress, …

Survey Deficiencies As Quality Indicators In Oregon Assisted Living Communities, Ozcan Tunalilar, Sunny C. Lin, Paula C. Carder

Institute on Aging Publications

Background and Objectives License inspection data have commonly been used as a quality measure for nursing homes but has not yet been used to assess the quality of assisted living/residential care (AL/RC) communities. Drawing on resource dependency theory, we test the hypothesis that structural and environmental characteristics influence AL/RC quality as measured by deficiency citations (“deficiencies”) issued during license inspections.

Research Design and Methods Using data from 526 licensed AL/RC communities in Oregon that received a license inspection visit between 2008 and 2016, we examined the prevalence of deficiencies by type and year. We estimated regression models to identify structural …

Efficacy As Safety: Dominant Cultural Assumptions And The Assessment Of Contraceptive Risk, Andrea Bertotti, Emily S. Mann, Skye A. Miner

Sociology & Criminology Faculty Research

To reduce rates of unintended pregnancy, medical and public health associations endorse a contraceptive counseling model that ranks birth control methods by failure rate. This tiered model outlines all forms of birth control but recommends long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) to eliminate user error and increase continuation. Our critical discourse analysis of gynecology textbooks and medical recommendations examines how gendered and neoliberal ideas influence risk assessments underlying the tiered contraceptive counseling model. Specifically, we explore how embodied, lifestyle, and medical risks are constructed to prioritize contraceptive failure over adverse side effects and reproductive autonomy. We find that the tiered model's focus …

Neither “Post-War” Nor Post-Pregnancy Paranoia: How America’S War On Drugs Continues To Perpetuate Disparate Incarceration Outcomes For Pregnant, Substance-Involved Offenders, Becca S. Zimmerman

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the unique interactions between pregnancy, substance involvement, and race as they relate to the War on Drugs and the hyper-incarceration of women. Using ordinary least square regression analyses and data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates, I examine if (and how) pregnancy status, drug use, race, and their interactions influence two length of incarceration outcomes: sentence length and amount of time spent in jail between arrest and imprisonment. The results collectively indicate that pregnancy decreases length of incarceration outcomes for those offenders who are not substance-involved but not evenhandedly -- benefitting white …

Does Medical Racism Influence Medical Mistrust In The Black Community?, Danielle Forrest

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Mistrust in the medical field can be generated through experiences of racism and discrimination during interactions with members of the medical community. Black and African American individuals find themselves facing increased rates of morbidity including heart disease, and diabetes, and increased rates of mortality as compared to White individuals yet are treated less frequently and to a lesser extent. This thesis examines the mistrust black people have towards the medical field, as well as differences within the black community in terms of experiences with medical racism. In order to collect this information, I created a survey that enquires about race …

The Ideology Of Baby-Mama Phenomenon: Assessing Knowledge And Perceptions Among Young People From Educational Institutions, Opeyemi S. Adeojo, Daniel Egerson, Gabriel Mewiya, Rowland Edet

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This study investigated the knowledge and perception of the ideology of baby-mama concept among the youths. Particularly, this paper assessed the knowledge of the concept of baby mama among youths and also their opinion on the acceptability of this style of family structure. The study employed a qualitative approach through an in-depth interview research method. Forty respondents between the ages of 16 and 40 years were selected across three educational institutions in Oyo state, south-west Nigeria. The participants of the study voluntarily agreed to participate in the research and everything said during the course of the interview was transcribed and …