Medicine and Health Commons^™

Representation In Healthcare Matters: Perspectives On Inadequate Physician Diversity And Its Potential Impact On Minority Patients, Madison Andrews

Sociology Honors Papers

Disparities in access to healthcare among U.S. racial and ethnic groups, including access to quality services, have existed for centuries (Gibbons, 2005), leading to inequality in health outcomes as race/ethnicity intersects with gender and socioeconomic status (Wellons et al., 2009; Yan et al., 2023). Patients from minority communities face disadvantages due to the lack of diversity amongst physicians, including communication barriers, lack of trust, lesser rapport, and lower level of comfort with doctors who are non-representative of patients’ demographics (Ha & Longnecker, 2010; Lopez et al., 2023; Maldonado et al., 2014; Weech-Maldonado et al., 2003). It is important, then, to …

Health Consequences Of Racial Disparity In Access To Abortion: A Systematic Review, Lacy M. Frye, Calvin Odhiambo

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

Prior to the 2022 Dobbs decision, Black women already experienced negative maternal health outcomes at an alarmingly disparate rate in comparison to White women. Given that the Dobbs decision emboldens state power to enforce abortion restrictions or protections, there has been significant strides made in both directions. Nonetheless, within states where reproductive rights have been significantly eroded, the heightened abortion restrictions may compound the limited access that Black women previously had before Dobbs. This, in turn will exacerbate the already disparate negative maternal outcomes that Black women experience. However, research on the relationship between the lack of access to abortion …

Recovery Capital In A Justice-Involved Population: An Asset-Based Approach To Recovery And Community Reentry, Evan Joseph Batty

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

The burden of the opioid epidemic demands further efforts to facilitate recovery, particularly for disadvantaged populations and those recently released from prison. After community reentry, individuals face a period of vulnerability as they adjust to new roles and responsibilities to meet their basic needs. Prison-based substance use disorder treatment (SUD Tx) programs provide support to help prepare individuals with SUD for their release and facilitate successful recovery goals after community reentry. This dissertation has three aims: (1) further the understanding of potential barriers and facilitators of recovery after community reentry, (2) assess how prison-levels of recovery capital influence recovery outcomes …

Community Scientist Program Provides Bi-Directional Communication And Co-Learning Between Researchers And Community Members, Jessica Alvarado, Larkin L Strong, Birnur Buzcu-Guven, Leonetta B Thompson, Erica Cantu, Chelsea C Carrier, Chiamaka D Chukwu, Cassandra L Harris, Luz K Melendez, Crystal L Roberson, Angela M Ross, Sophia C Russell, Pablo Sanchez, Amirali Tahanan, Blair C Zdenek, Belinda M Reininger, Lorna H Mcneill

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Community involvement in research is key to translating science into practice, and new approaches to engaging community members in research design and implementation are needed. The Community Scientist Program, established at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston in 2018 and expanded to two other Texas institutions in 2021, provides researchers with rapid feedback from community members on study feasibility and design, cultural appropriateness, participant recruitment, and research implementation. This paper aims to describe the Community Scientist Program and assess Community Scientists' and researchers' satisfaction with the program. We present the analysis of the data collected from 116 Community Scientists …

Salvation And Sweet Rolls: An Examination Of Mormon Diet Books, Rachel Noorda

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

Religious diet books highlight the overlap between religious and diet cultures. This article examines the intersection of Mormonism, diet culture, and fatphobia through an analysis of Mormon diet books published between 1990 and 2015. The study explores how Mormon diet books leverage the Word of Wisdom (the LDS health code) to promote weight loss and reinforce religious obedience. By framing dietary compliance as a spiritual mandate, these texts link physical health and body size to moral and spiritual worthiness. This conflation of body and spirit, rooted in Mormon theology, amplifies fatphobia by promoting thinness as a sign of obedience and …

Humor Matters: An Adapted Multiple Case Study Exploring Music Therapists’ Perspectives Of Humor With Older Adults, Caleb M. Posey

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Humor is a ubiquitous human experience and a skill retained in older adulthood. It is also an integral but elusive therapeutic tool with numerous benefits and risks to well-being. Therapeutic humor – the application of humor to client well-being – is an emerging area of study. However, scant music therapy literature on humor is available. The purpose of this qualitative thesis was to explore the use and function of humor in music therapy with older adults from the perspectives of experienced music therapists. There were three research questions: (1) how do music therapists describe their use of humor with older …

Social Determinants Of Health: Evaluation Using Rates Of Vision Screening And Follow-Up Examinations, Madeline Dyer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Vision care is essential to the quality of life of young children, impacting them over the course of their lives. Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) affect the likelihood of a child having access to appropriate care specified by the Bright Futures. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of SDOH on the completion of vision screening and the rate of follow-up with an eye care provider when applicable. In addition, rates of instrument-based vision screening and recommended ophthalmology follow-up were compared with COI, a metric assessing the quality of resources available and the conditions that matter for …

What Are Munster Technological University Students’ Experiences Of Menstruation And Reusable Period Products?, Kate Dolan Crowley

Theses

This study examines the attitudes of students in Munster Technological University (MTU) towards menstruation and period products. It is estimated that in Ireland, between 53,000 and 85,000 Irish menstruators may be at risk of period poverty (Government of Ireland, 2021). There is also evidence to suggest that some students have experienced period poverty (Ministry of Education, 2023; Brinkley and Niebuhr, 2022; Munro et. al., 2021). Period poverty has an impact on the physical, mental, and social well-being of menstruators, ultimately affecting their quality of life.

A mixed-method study was undertaken, consisting of questionnaires (n=319) and one-toone semi-structured interviews (n=10) to …

A Qualitative Description Of Graduate Students’ Perceived Decline In Physical Activity From Undergraduate School, Kristin Jett, Bryce T. Daniels, Max Brigance, Jessica L. Passarelli, Erin Howie Hickey

Health, Human Performance and Recreation Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many university students, especially graduate students, are experiencing poor physical and psychological health. Thus, universities are initiating programs like Exercise is Medicine-On Campus (EIM-OC) to promote positive physical activity behavior to improve physical and mental health for primarily undergraduate university students. However, the influences on physical activity when transitioning from an undergraduate to a graduate student are unknown. To explore perceptions of if and how the physical activity levels of graduate students changed from their time as undergraduate students while considering environmental and lifestyle factors. METHODS: Using a qualitative, phenomenological research design, a convenience sample of current graduate students enrolled …

Determining The Differences Of Racial Microaggressions Faced By Multiracial Versus Monoracial Minority Patients Within Healthcare Settings, Elizabeth S. Ommi

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study examines the disadvantages that multiracial patients face when seeking healthcare in the United States in comparison to the disadvantages encountered by monoracial minority patients. Specifically, this study mainly focuses on the impacts of racial microaggressions within such medical settings. This was explored using a critical discourse analysis, analyzing discourse presented from past research published from 2014 to 2023. Discourse was collected based on its relevancy to the given topic and was analyzed to identify general disadvantages presented for each subpopulation. It was found that multiracial patients face different disadvantages when receiving medical care in comparison to monoracial minority …

Self-Perception Of Mental Health, Covid-19 And Associated Sociodemographic-Contextual Factors In Latin America, Pablo Roa, Guillermo Rosas, Gloria Isabel Niño-Cruz, Sergio Mauricio Moreno-López, Juliana Mejía-Grueso, Haney Aguirre-Loaiza, Javiera Alarcón-Aguilar, Rodrigo Reis, Adriano Akira Ferreira Hino, Fernando López, Deborah Salvo, Andrea Ramírez-Varela

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of alterations in self-perceived mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic and their associated factors in four Latin American countries. This is a cross-sectional study based on data collected from adults in 2021 through the Collaborative Response COVID-19 Survey by the MacDonnell Academy at Washington University in St. Louis (United States). The sample was composed of 8,125 individuals from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Chile. A generalized linear model for a binary outcome variable with a logistic link and fixed country effects was used. There were 2,336 (28.75%) individuals who considered having suffered alterations in …

Colonial Drivers And Cultural Protectors Of Brain Health Among Indigenous Peoples Internationally, Rita Henderson, Joyla A Furlano, Shayla Scott Claringbold, Ashley Cornect-Benoit, Anh Ly, Jennifer Walker, Lisa Zaretsky, Pamela Roach

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite relatively higher rates of dementia among Indigenous populations internationally, research into drivers of disparities in brain health and cognitive function has tended to focus on modifiable risk factors over cultural understandings and contextual determinants. By seeking to characterize social and cultural factors that shape brain health and cognition in Indigenous populations, this mini scoping review expands prevailing schools of thought to include Indigenous knowledge systems. This reveals important gaps in culturally aligned care. It also reclaims horizons for research important to Indigenous Peoples that have garnered diminished attention in biomedical approaches. Twenty-three sources were included for data extraction. This …

Effects Of Language Differences On Healthcare Barriers Experienced By Arab Americans, Abigail Yazdiya

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study analyzes the effects of language differences on healthcare services for Arab Americans. The research specifically investigates the subpopulation of ESL (English Second Language)/bilingual Arab Americans, in order to learn about the effect of a lack of interpretation services and therefore the use of family translators on healthcare treatment. There has been a lack of research on this growing population in the United States. Language barriers can hinder the already difficult process of healthcare. These barriers, combined with other barriers, such as cultural factors, can negatively affect healthcare treatment and outcomes. This study uses surveys to reach people in …

An Organic Inquiry Into Teacher Experiences Of Self-Healing, Alison Davis

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation engages the spiritually-inspired methodology of organic inquiry to investigate how teachers practice self-healing in order to become available to students. Self-healing is a vital part of freeing up the teacher’s perceptive capacities to more deeply and fully attend to the needs of students. Self-healing work includes a variety of practices and modalities, including spiritual ones, in order to work through trauma, adversity, dis-ease, stress, and one-sidedness. Research shows that self-healing, especially in regards to mindfulness and meditation, equips teachers to confront compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, burnout, illness, and more. There is also ample evidence that training one’s attention …

The Unequal Distribution Of Social Risk For Black Men Across The Life-Span. A Novel Framework., Waleed Y. Sami

Adultspan Journal

This conceptual overview offers a comprehensive overview of systemic pathways that negatively impact the mental health of Black Men throughout their lives. Our argument highlights the importance for counselors and mental health professionals to utilize a thorough social risk assessment that considers these pathways in order to effectively address the mental health needs of Black Men while fostering positive working relationships. This overview strongly advocates for the use of context and structural determinants when evaluating mental health symptoms. Without an appropriate understanding of social risk and determinants, counselors may inadvertently perpetuate disparities by decontextualizing symptomology, and reproducing racist discourse.

Perspectives From Cystinosis: Access To Healthcare May Be A Confounding Factor For Variant Classification, Chen-Han Wilfred Wu, Alicja Tomaszewski, Louisa Stark, Fernando Scaglia, Ewa Elenberg, Fredrick R Schumaker

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Genetic variability persists across diverse populations, and it may impact the characterization of heritable diseases in different ancestral groups. Cystinosis is a metabolic disease caused by pathogenic variants in the CTNS gene causing the cellular accumulation of cystine. We attempted to assess the currently poorly characterized prevalence of cystinosis by employing a population genetics methodology. However, we encountered a significant challenge due to genetic variations across different populations, and the consideration of potential disparities in access to healthcare made our results inconclusive. Pathogenic CTNS variants were identified in a representative global population cohort using The Human Gene Mutation Database (HGMD) …

Moral Injury, Identity Dissonance, And Reintegration: A Compendium Of Reintegration And Survey Of United States Military Veterans, Thomas Hodges

Doctor of International Conflict Management Dissertations

How do military moral injuries affect reintegration? All service members leave the military eventually, but reintegration can be challenging, bringing changes in career, family life, and friendships, potentially prompting a loss of purpose, drive, and connection. Service members may also struggle with a crisis of identity upon separating from the military, feeling their military identity is incompatible with civilian life. While these difficulties are common for service members in reintegration, they may be worsened by moral injury, the adverse biological, social, psychological, and spiritual effects of experiencing an event that deeply offends a person’s sense of right and wrong. People …

The Public Performativity Of Trust, Lynette Hammond Gerido

Faculty Scholarship

Building trust between academic medical centers and certain communities they depend on in the research process is hard, particularly when those communities consist of minoritized or historically marginalized populations. Some believe that engagement activities like the creation of advisory boards, town halls, or a research workforce that looks more like community members will establish or reestablish trust between academic medical centers and racialized communities. However, without systematic approaches to dismantle racism, those well-intended actions become public performativity, and trust building will fail. In this essay, we draw upon foundational ethical principles of trust, distrust, and trust building; apply the concept …

Demographic Profile Of Accidental Drug Overdoses In 2020, Jacquelyn Reiss Phd, Amy Donley Phd, Alexandria Mcclarty Ba

Institute for Social and Behavioral Science (ISBS)

This white paper presents a demographic profile of accidental drug overdoses in Orange County, Florida for the year 2020.

Insights From Obstetric Providers And Emergency Medical Technicians On Determinants Of Maternal Morbidity And Mortality Among Underserved, Rural Patients In The United States, Anna Hansen, Nancy Schoenberg, Carrie B. Oser

UK CARES Faculty Publications

Over the past two decades, individuals in the United States (US) have faced a steadily increasing risk of experiencing severe morbidities attributable to pregnancy and dying from pregnancy-related causes. The prevalence of severe maternal morbidity (SMM), defined as the occurrence of end-organ damage in the mother encompassing unexpected outcomes of labor and delivery, has nearly tripled since the turn of the 21st century (Creanga et al., 2014; Neggers, 2016). The prevalence of pregnancy related mortality (PRM), defined as the death of a woman during or within one year of pregnancy due to pregnancy-related complications or aggravated preexisting conditions, has nearly …

From Vapor To Vice: Unraveling The Links Between Vaping And Traditional Substance Abuse Among Youth, Ayana Powell

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

ABSTRACT:

Objective: To evaluate whether vaping or using e-cigarettes is associated with the use of traditional substances, such as cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana.

Methods: Using data from the Monitoring the Future surveys, a multivariable logistic regression model was performed, and prevalent odds ratio were calculated to evaluate the association between vaping and traditional substances.

Results: Vaping use among U.S. adolescents and teenagers was found to be an associated with use of traditional substances (cigarette use [OR]= 6.36 [CI]= 4.84, 8.38; alcohol use [OR]=5.80 [CI]= 5.28, 6.38; and marijuana use [OR]= 7.77 [CI]= 6.95, 8.70).

Conclusion: This study will assist …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On The Well-Being Of People Incarcerated In United States Prisons, Kimberly Rivera

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the population as a whole. However, the incarcerated population (which also experiences a variety of health disparities) has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Due to overcrowding, poor ventilation, and lack of resources, the incarcerated population already is at a heightened risk for negative health outcomes, made worse by the recent pandemic. To adapt to the rapidly changing conditions during the pandemic in 2020 and into 2022, new safety measures were implemented, but the unintended consequences associated with the implementation of these procedures have yet to be examined empirically. I conducted a qualitative content …

High School Flash Sexual Health Education Curriculum: Lgbtq Inclusivity Strategies Reduce Homophobia And Transphobia, Kari Kesler, Andrea Gerber, B A Laris, Pamela Anderson, Elizabeth Baumler, Karin Coyle

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Homophobic and transphobic beliefs that lead to bias-based harassment remain a critical concern for young people in the USA. The aim of the present study was to examine the impact of an inclusive comprehensive sex education program (High School FLASH) on homophobic and transphobic beliefs. Data from this study come from a randomized controlled trial that evaluated the impact of High School FLASH on students' sexual behaviors and related outcomes with 20 schools in two U.S. regions (Midwest and South). Following the baseline survey, the 20 schools were randomly assigned to receive FLASH or a comparison curriculum. Ninth and 10th …

How Does Parents’ Social Support Impact Children’S Health Practice? Examining A Mediating Role Of Health Knowledge, Paulin Tay Straughan, Chengwei Xu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Background: Family environmental factors play a vital role in shaping children’s health practices (e.g., obesity prevention). It is still unclear how parents’ social support affects children’s obesity-related health practices. The present study argues that whether parents’ social support positively associates with children’s obesity-related health practice depends on if it could promote parents’ obesity-related health knowledge. Thus, we hypothesize that health knowledge mediates the relationship between parents’ social support and children’s health practice regarding weight management. Methods: To test the hypothesis, we conducted a questionnaire survey and collected a nationally representative sample of 1488 household responses in Singapore. The survey included …

An Exploration Into Health Equity Discourse In Mississippi: Organizational Commitments And Practitioner Perspectives, Thuy-Vy Lillian Pham

Honors Theses

This thesis takes a sociological approach to examine healthcare workers' beliefs and medical organizations’ solidarity statements related to diversity and equity and how these discourses aligned and/or diverged. Through interviews with healthcare providers in Mississippi and content analysis of solidarity statements, the study finds that discussions on health disparities more frequently addressed socioeconomic inequality rather than systemic racism, diverging from organizational statements. This emphasis may partly stem from the demographics of the study participants, who were predominantly White—which also reflected the staff where they worked. Additionally, while healthcare workers recognized structural issues related to health disparities, they often showed hesitancy …

The Associations Of Parental Smoking, Quitting And Habitus With Teenager E-Cigarette, Smoking, Alcohol And Other Drug Use In Gui Cohort ’98, Salome Sunday, Luke Clancy, Joan Hanafin

Articles

We analyse parental smoking and cessation (quitting) associations with teenager e-cigarette, alcohol, tobacco smoking and other drug use, and explore parental smoking as a mechanism for social reproduction. We use data from Waves 1–3 of Growing Up in Ireland (Cohort ’98). Our analytic sample consisted of n = 6,039 participants reporting in all 3 Waves. Data were collected in Waves 1 and 2 when the children were 9 and 13 years old and in Wave 3 at age 17/18 years. Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) models were used to analyse teenage substance use at Wave 3. Parental smoking was associated with …

Social Determinants Of Health And Lung Cancer Surgery: A Qualitative Study, Dede K. Teteh, Betty Ferrell, Oluwatimilehin Okunowo, Aidea Downie, Loretta Erhunmwunsee, Susanne B. Montgomery, Dan J. Raz, Rick Kittles, Jae Y. Kim, Virginia Sun

Health Sciences and Kinesiology Faculty Articles

Introduction: Social determinants of health (SDOH) are non-clinical factors that may affect the outcomes of cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to describe the influence of SDOH factors on quality of life (QOL)-related outcomes for lung cancer surgery patients.

Methods: Thirteen patients enrolled in a randomized trial of a dyadic self-management intervention were invited and agreed to participate in semi-structured key informant interviews at study completion (3 months post-discharge). A conventional content analysis approach was used to identify codes and themes that were derived from the interviews. Independent investigators coded the qualitative data, which were subsequently …

Association Of Social Vulnerability And Covid-19 Mortality Rates In Texas Between 15 March 2020, And 21 July 2022: An Ecological Analysis, Dennis Ogeto Nyachoti, Nalini Ranjit, Ryan Ramphul, Leah D Whigham, Andrew E Springer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Despite the key role of social vulnerability such as economic disadvantage in health outcomes, research is limited on the impact of social vulnerabilities on COVID-19-related deaths, especially at the state and county level in the USA.

METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional ecologic analysis of COVID-19 mortality by the county-level Minority Health Social Vulnerability Index (MH SVI) and each of its components in Texas. Negative binomial regression (NBR) analyses were used to estimate the association between the composite MH SVI (and its components) and COVID-19 mortality.

RESULTS: A 0.1-unit increase in the overall MH SVI (IRR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.04-1.55; …

The Puerto Rico Children Vulnerability Index, 2021, Jennifer Hinojosa, Laura Colon-Melendez, Jorge Soldevilla-Irizarry, Damayra I. Figueroa-Lazu

CUNY Centro, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies

Recent natural hazards and resulting disasters in Puerto Rico have drawn attention to the social vulnerability of children in the archipelago. We created the Child Vulnerability Index (CVI) to identify the scale and patterns of child vulnerability in the archipelago, and provide insights to mitigate the effects that hazardous events may cause. The index was created using 2017-2021 American Community Survey (ACS) data pertaining to three broad themes: Personal characteristics of children, Characteristics of households with children, and Overall household characteristics for all Municipios, Barrios, and Census Tracts in Puerto Rico. The CVI is a two-pronged tool consisting of an …

Mothers Get Really Exhausted!” The Lived Experience Of Pregnancy In Extreme Heat: Qualitative Findings From Kilifi, Kenya, Fiona Scorgie, Adelaide Lusambili, S. Luchters, Peter. Khaemba, Veronique Filippi, B. Nakstad, Jeremy Hess, Cathryn Birch, S. Kovats, M.F. Chersich

Institute for Human Development, East Africa

Background: Palliative care (PC) can reduce symptom distress and improve quality of life for patients and their families experiencing life-threatening illness. While the need for PC in Kenya is high, PC service delivery and research is limited. Qualitative research is needed to explore potential areas for PC research and support needed to enable that research. This insight is critical for informing a national PC research agenda and mobilizing limited resources for conducting rigorous PC research in Kenya.

Objectives: To explore perceptions of priority areas for PC research and support needed to facilitate rigorous research from the perspective of Kenyan PC …