Medicine and Health Commons^™

Religion And Infant Mortality In The United States: A Community-Level Investigation Of Denominational Variations, Ginny Garcia-Alexander, John P. Bartkowski, Xiaohe Xu

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

A burgeoning body of scholarship has explored the influence of community-level religiosity (religious ecology) on various health outcomes. In this study, we enlist data from the Glenmary Census of Churches, county-level infant mortality rates from the NCHS, and select Census data to investigate the relationship between infant mortality and religion. Our study employs both aggregate analyses of major faith traditions (conservative Protestant, mainline Protestant, Catholic, and other religions) as well as decomposition analyses that subdivide conservative Protestants into four variants: fundamentalist, evangelical, Pentecostal, and other conservative Protestant. Our preliminary findings suggest that counties with a high prevalence of Catholic and …

Perceptions Of Barriers That Inhibit African American Women And Adolescent Girls From Participation In Physical Activity, Sonya Daniels Walker

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examined the barriers to leisure time physical activity for African American women and their adolescent daughters. Six mother-daughter dyads were interviewed who have access to physical activity opportunity. Three of the dyads participated in a follow-up focus group. A qualitative research design that utilized a grounded theory approach identified two themes for the women and two themes for the girls. Themes for the women include influence of culture and low physical activity IQ. Sub-themes of influence of culture are (a) hair and (b) body image. Sub-themes of low physical activity IQ are (a) mommy guilt, (b) perception of …

“Because This Is Not The End:” Motivation And Change In People Living With Hiv/Aids, Chloe I. Souza

Sociology Honors Projects

With great improvements in antiretroviral treatment, HIV/AIDS has become a condition people are living with throughout their lives. It is therefore important to understand how people mentally and emotionally cope with the onset of disease and create behavioral change to maintain health. Through interviews with residents living at a housing facility for people with HIV/AIDS, I found there are a variety of ways that individuals respond to illness. Behavioral change results from how people understand their identity in a personal and social context. People also vary in how they manage their disease, depending on the type of social support they …

Research Brief: "Caregiver Objective Burden And Assessments Of Patient-Centered, Family-Focused Care For Frail Elderly Veterans", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about quality care for elderly veterans and how mental health of the patient can impact caregiver burden. For practice and policy, healthcare providers should include family caregivers in decisions about best course of care for elderly veterans, caregivers should communicate with physicians on the things that increase caregiver burden, and veterans' health organizations should create programs for caregivers to address caregiver burden. Suggestions for future research include using data from different points in time and looking at elderly veterans' health experiences outside of the VA system.

Research Brief: Technology And Health Education: An Exploratory Study Of Older Chinese Immigrants, Jenny H. Tsai, Vicky Taylor, Shin-Ping Tu

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Technology advances, especially in the Internet, provide new tools to deliver health education to limited English proficient immigrants. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative descriptive study of older limited English proficient Chinese immigrants’ perspectives regarding computer-based health education. The sample consisted of 33 foreign-born Chinese recruited in Seattle, Washington. Data were generated through six focus groups and an 18-item demographic questionnaire. The analyses revealed that the majority was not skillful in computer use and Internet browsing, and the Internet was not a common health information source. Nevertheless, participants were supportive of having computer-based health information designed for Chinese …

Preliminary Evaluation Of The Incharge Program Among Older African Americans In Rural Alabama, Cynthia Owsley, Gerald Mcgwin Jr., June Weston, Beth T. Stalvey, Karen Searcey, Christopher A. Girkin

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Objective: Blindness rates among older African Americans are two times higher than for older whites. Our purpose was to understand attitudes about eye care and perceived barriers to care among older African Americans living in rural Alabama and to determine whether an educational program reduced perceived barriers to care. InCHARGE, an eye health education program for older African Americans, promotes eye disease prevention by conveying the personal benefits of annual dilated comprehensive eye care and by teaching strategies to minimize barriers to eye care.

Design and Participants: InCHARGE was presented in five senior centers to 111 individuals. Using a questionnaire …

Obesity Prevalence, Weight-Related Beliefs And Behaviors Among Low-Income Ethnically Diverse National Job Corps Students, Jamie S. Bodenlos, Milagros C. Rosal, Diane Blake, Celeste Lemay, Diane Elfenbein

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The obesity rates of Job Corps students, a predominantly ethnic minority and low income group of youth, are unknown. The purpose of this project was to examine obesity rates among these youth as well as their weight-related perceptions and behavior. First, medical charts (N=641) of all Job Corps students (ages 16-25) who were enrolled in the program in the past year were examined for height and weight. In the second phase of the study, 344 Job Corp students were recruited and information on weight perceptions, knowledge of obesity consequences, and weight loss behavior were examined. Almost half of the participants …

The Significance Of A K-12 Diabetes-Based Science Education Program For Tribal Populations: Evaluating Cognitive Learning, Cultural Context, And Attitudinal Components, Carolee D. Francis, Doug Coulson, Bonnie Kalberer, Lemyra Debruyn, William Freeman, Janet Belcourt

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Preventing and reducing the onset of type 2 diabetes among American Indian/Alaska Native youth requires ground-breaking strategies to affect knowledge, attitudes, and cognitive decision-making skills. In an unparalleled endeavor to address the growing epidemic of type 2 diabetes in tribal communities, a K-12 Diabetes Education in Tribal Schools (DETS) curriculum was created by eight tribal colleges and three federal agencies. This article highlights the results of the implementation phase, the final evaluation step in acquiring and measuring student knowledge and attitude gains through pre-post standardized assessment.

Health Care Disparities For Persons With Limited English Proficiency: Relationships From The 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (Meps), Diane L. Smith

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Inadequate communication between patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) and providers can be associated with lower access to health care. The purpose of this research was to determine if there is a significant difference among those persons whose primary language is English and those with LEP in ability to access care and preventative screenings and perception of interaction with their physician. Chi square analysis was performed to determine if there was a significant relationship between primary language spoken and access to health care and patient-provider interaction. Data were obtained from the 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Study. Results show that there …

Colorectal Cancer Brochure Development For African Americans, Kim L. Freeman, Lina Jandorf, Hayley Thompson, Katherine N. Duhamel

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Introduction: African Americans are more likely to die from colorectal cancer (CRC) than any other racial/ethnic group in the United States. Unfortunately, African Americans are also less likely to undergo screening for CRC than their White counterparts. Focus groups methodology was used to refine educational brochures designed to increase CRC screening among African Americans.

Methods: Two series of focus groups were completed, with a total of seven groups and 39 participants. Six different brochures (stage-matched and culturally sensitive) designed to promote CRC screening among African Americans were evaluated.

Results: All participants thought that the brochures motivated them …

Modeling Health Inequities Research In Context And The Minority Researcher’S Role, Ari Mwachofi, Ngure Wamwachofi

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Current health inequities research templates are flawed and self-defeating because they do not include historical inequalities as the central context that points to the root causes of health inequities. The context includes structural malformations which are products of the history of colonization and slavery that created racial separation and hierarchies which established Whites as the dominant group and non-Whites (minorities) as the subordinate group. Consequently it is difficult for mainstream researchers to capture the minorities’ core knowledge necessary for the creation of relevant and effective interventions for fundamental and sustainable improvement of their health. This paper proposes a health inequities …

Family Home Visitors: Increasing Minority Women’S Access To Health Services, Mechthild Meyer, Alma R. Estable, Lynne Maclean, Wendy E. Peterson

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The article describes how service access barriers (language, trust) were addressed at different levels (organization, service provider, community) by involving Family Home Visitors to support Nurse Practitioners in providing pre- and postnatal services to linguis­tic minority women in Ontario. The investigators undertook a secondary analysis of 18 semi-structured interviews with health unit informants, Nurse Practitioners, program us­ers, and community leaders, including Family Home Visitors. Health units facilitated col­laboration between two programs aimed at serving mothers with young children, result­ing in both programs using Family Home Visitors. They enhanced minority women’s trust in Nurse Practitioner services by providing interpretation, outreach and …

Hiv/Sti Risk Factors Among African-American Students Attending Predominantly White Universities, Marya L. Shegog, Lisa Lindley, Melva Thompson-Robinson, David Simmons, Donna Richter

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Introduction: The majority of African American college students in the U.S. attend predominantly white institutions (PWIs). However, there is minimal research examining this population’s HIV/STI risk behaviors. The purpose of this investigation was to assess HIV/STI behavioral risk factors among African American college students (aged 18 – 24years) attending PWIs. (n = 2,568)

Methods: Backwards step-wise logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine factors associated with a positive HIV/STI diagnosis (past year) among sexually active African American college students who participated in the Spring, 2006 National College Health Assessment.

Findings: Nine factors were significantly associated with an HIV/STI diagnosis among …

Using Concepts From Freire’S Pedagogy Of The Oppressed To Promote Colorectal Cancer Screening In An Urban Minority Population, Corey H. Brouse, Charles E. Basch, Randi L. Wolf

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

This paper briefly introduces Freire’s philosophy of education, as well as examples of how this philosophy can be used in health education. Concepts from Freire’s work are highlighted along with how they are applicable to educating adults about colorectal cancer (CRC) screening, a health behavior that is less prevalent among poor and minority populations. Concepts highlighted in Freire’s writing can be directly applied to reducing disparities in health.

Prioritizing Interventions And Research To Address The Cancer Disparities Of Arizona’S American Indian Population, Norman J. Petersen, Sujata Joshi, Tim Flood, Kathryn Coe

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The aim of the Southwest American Indian Collaborative Network (SAICN) is to reduce cancer disparities by closing the gap between community needs and the promise of cancer prevention and cure through participatory education, training and research programs. In an effort to provide evidence-based recommendations and promote the use of relevant data in tribal communities, the SAICN Data and Evaluation Core developed two comparison matrices that present scientifically sound practices for use by community health decision makers in prioritizing activities likely to reduce the irrespective community’s burden of cancer. In their current configurations, Matrix A considers those cancers for which prevention …

A Communication Strategy To Address Health Inequities In Municipal Settings, Christine Unson, Ben Tyson, Angela Funaiole, Comfort Agaba

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

This study assessed knowledge of health inequities, importance and benefits/barriers of addressing inequities, and ways of communicating information about inequities among municipal officials. Five focus groups (N=47) were conducted with officials from economic development, land use and housing, public safety, education, and environment departments. Discussions were recorded, transcribed and analyzed for key themes. Findings show that participants had an uneven understanding of the symptoms and causes of health inequities and identified limitations to participating in health equity initiatives and collaborating with local health departments. Recommendations are that a communication strategy to reduce health inequities should aim to increase awareness of …

Pap Test Follow-Up Pattern Among American Indian Women In Arizona, Merrill Eisenberg, Kathryn Coe, Charlton Wilson, Kathleen Evans, Elizabeth Brewer

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Objective: To quantify the loss to follow-up rate after abnormal Pap test results at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center, an Indian Health Service regional facility, and identify barriers to follow-up from the patients’ point of view.

Materials and Methods: Patient records were used to identify women who had abnormal Pap tests in 2002 and to document the status of their follow-up care. Women who had no clinical record of follow-up were contacted by telephone to arrange a follow-up appointment and to request participation in a structured qualitative interview to identify barriers to follow-up at the individual, family, community, and health …

Racial Differences In The Use Of Most Commonly Performed Medical Procedures In The United States, Syed S. Haque, Mohammad A. Faysel, Hafiz M. R. Khan

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Objective: This study investigates racial disparities in the use of commonly performed medical procedures in U.S. hospitals. Methods: To examine racial disparities, we calculated age-adjusted rate of procedures used by all Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians or Pacific Islanders and Native Americans and calculated corresponding Relative Risks(RRs) of White vs. all other races based on procedure utilizations and insurance types using 20% random sample of Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) data between 2001 and2003. Results: Whites were significantly more likely to receive 3 of the study procedures than Blacks, 3 of the procedures than Hispanics, 2 of the procedures than Asians or …

Racial Disparities In Cancer Screening Among Women With Chronic Joint Pain, Edith M. Williams, Laurene Tumiel-Berhalter, Christopher Purdy, Adrianne Ransom, Judith Anderson

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Chronic pain related disorders and breast and cervical cancer are more prevalent among African-American women compared with non-Hispanic White women. However, few studies address how racial differences in the context of comorbidity may compound these disparities. This study used secondary analysis of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to assess racial differences in breast and cervical cancer screening and patient education among adult women with chronic joint pain conditions. Statistical analyses included chi-square and independent samples t-tests. African-American women compared with non-Hispanic White women were less likely to receive a pap smear or mammogram within the last two years and …

Parallel Lives: Similarities Between The Lived Experiences Of Persons With Cancer And Hiv, Danielle Boyd '12

Honor Scholar Theses

Thave chosen to focus this analysis on the shared experiences of patients with the socially stigmatized and incurable illnesses of cancer and HIV. These people cannot have their patient experience ended by a nice little pill or vaccine. They must blindly put their hopes in painful treatment regimens that can offer only management of their condition. They often undergo the tremendously helpless experience of feeling one’s body decline. As their treatment or the illness itself progresses they must enlist the help of family and friends to help them with daily tasks. Obviously the shared experiences of these two patient populations …

Fitness Tax Credits: Costs, Benefits, And Viability, Daniel M. Reach

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

As the number of overweight and obese Americans rises, it becomes increasingly clear that Americans need further incentives to stimulate lasting lifestyle changes. Tax incentives focused on exercise, which have been largely unexplored to this point, are an effective response to the growing obesity problem in the United States that would largely avoid the political opposition that tax policies focused on diet have encountered. In addition, they would also provide a more palatable solution for the taxpayer beneficiaries with a relatively low impact on government revenues. Viable tax incentives to encourage greater fitness include tax credits and sales tax breaks, …

Curative Care As The Access Point To Rural Social Transformation A Case Study Of The Comprehensive Rural Health Project, Nancy Liu

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Health inequities based on geographic differences and between rural and urban populations in modern India demonstrate the stark differences in health access and community development throughout the country. More than 70% of the Indian population lives in rural areas, and yet a greater proportion of health care spending is devoted to urban populations. In 2004-5, 29.2% of both central and state public expenditures were allocated to urban allopathic services while 11.8% went to rural allopathic services (Balarajan, Selvaraj, and Subramanian 2011, 508). There are more than twice as many government beds in urban than in rural areas and geographic distribution …

Access To Healthcare For The Poor: Will The Affordable Care Act Address Income-Related Health Disparities In The United States?, Sonya Fabricant

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Background: Low-income populations live shorter and less healthy lives in the United States due to a complexity of social, environmental and behavioral factors. These populations also face significant barriers in accessing health services. In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) passed, marking the first major reform of the American healthcare system since the 1960s. This paper evaluates its potential to address health disparities through changes to medical care delivery. Methodology: Results were compiled from government documents, reports from research institutes, journal articles, and an expert interview. A section-analysis was also performed, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of …

Medicines That Kill, Lina Ahmed Abushouk

Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society

The prevalence of counterfeit drugs on the African continent has been increasing at an alarming rate. “Medicines that Kill” is a research paper that attempts to analyze the factors that make African countries particularly susceptible to this global threat. Nigeria, a country that has had some of the highest rates of counterfeit drugs in the world, is the main case study for this paper. Its efforts to combat the issue are compared and contrasted with those of Tanzania and Kenya in an attempt to understand what aspects of the issue are unique to Africa and the methods that have been …

Human Papillomavirus: How Social Ideologies Influence Medical Policy And Care, Fadi Hachem

Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the ways in which new advances in the production of a vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) have been received by both the general public and the medical community. Despite its high prevalence in the general population, as a sexually transmitted infection, there is a great deal of shame and stigma associated with contracting the virus (Waller, et. al. 2007). HPV is a disease of disparities in that ethnic and sexual minorities are disproportionately affected. Since the HPV vaccine is most effective at both a younger age, and before the first sexual experience, …

The Influence Of Neighborhood Characteristics On The Existence Of Asthma In Children, Elizabeth Adejuyigbe

Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society

Asthma is one of the leading chronic diseases in children 17 years of age and under with nine million American children suffering from it. Previous studies to understand causal factors of disease including asthma tend to focus on the individual and sociocultural characteristics but there is little to no research using neighborhood characteristics, a factor that does influence health. Research shows that other community‐level environmental factors like collective efficacy, community structural factors, and neighborhood safety can affect a persons’ psychosocial well-being, and in turn increase morbidity. For this reason, researchers suggest that the need to understand asthma and its associated …

To Live Means To Suffer: Exploring The Identity Of Chronic Pain Conditions, Gabriela Harris

Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society

This paper examines the necessary identity reconstruction for chronic pain patients through the use of illness narratives. The biographical interruption of a chronic illness, partnered with the patients’ inability to discuss embodiment and pain wholly (because language failures to capture the essence of pain and suffering) creates a devastating chasm between the world of the healthy and the world of the sick. Psychosomatic pain, and illnesses without diagnosis, are all the more divisive conditions, because these factors rob the patient further, disallowing them from constructing even an illness identity. Utilizing published patient interviews, sociological and anthropological texts, as well as …

Hiv/Aids: Ayurvedic Medicine's Impact On India's Social Stigma, Shawn Francis

Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society

Ayurvedic medicine is an ancient form of treatment that has existed in India through scriptures and generations for thousands of years. It is practiced by “indigenous medical practitioners” or natural medical practitioners that assume the role of healers and use various forms of herbal remedies to treat individuals that have a form of illness. (Kakar DN. 1983) According to the C.D.L. College of Ayurveda, Ayurvedic medicine focuses on viewing the individual holistically through the body, mind, food, and environment to produce a medicinal recipe to meet the needs of the individual. In addition, the college has also mentioned that they …

The Drawn-Out Battle Against Stigma: Mental Health In Modern American Comics And Graphic Novels, Swee Khee Brenda Seah

Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society

The discussion of mental health issues in the media significantly shapes public perceptions, most notably in negative portrayals that contribute to the stereotyping of mental health patients. Perhaps surprisingly, comics and graphic novels are forms of media that have potential to mitigate such stigma, despite earlier criticism of mental health stereotypes propagated in some comics. This is reflected in a recent trend of comics treating mental health issues in more sympathetic ways. This paper discusses three American comics from the last decade, examining depictions of post-traumatic stress disorder in Garry Trudeau's comic strip, Doonesbury, around 2005-2006, schizophrenia in Nate …

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who's The Thinnest Of Them All?, Ann Marie O'Brien

Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society

Societal standards of feminine beauty are presented in all forms of popular culture, thus bombarding women with images that portray what our society considers to be the “ideal body type.” These images, as seen on the cover of magazines, in popular films and in all forms of web and print advertising, are consistently depicted and easily described with one word: skinny. The regular use of unnatural, unhealthy and unrealistic models sends the implicit message that in order for a woman to be beautiful, she must attain this ultra-thin physique. Such adulation of these images encourages women to sacrifice their health …