Community Health Commons^™

My Journey To Develop An Innovative Approach To Unplanned Pregnancy, Gina Dillon Podolsky

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This paper is my personal journey in developing the non-profit Pennies for Pause that addresses the issue of unplanned pregnancy in the 18-29 populations through the use of incentives, social media, long-acting reversible contraception and the development of critical and creative thinking skills. The paper begins with an insight into my family, how my own thinking skills developed informally throughout my life, and how my personal experiences lead to the development of the 501 (c)(3) organization Pennies for Pause. It also provides insight into my casual observations that I used to create theories, which I then researched, S.C.A.M.P.E.R.E.D, and then …

Ngos And Government Partnership For Health Systems Strengthening: A Qualitative Study Presenting Viewpoints Of Government, Ngos And Donors In Pakistan, Iram Ejaz, Babar T. Shaikh, Narjis Rizvi

Community Health Sciences

Background: Health systems are expected to serve the population needs in an effective, efficient and equitable manner. Therefore, the importance of strengthening of public, private and community health systems has been emphasized time and again. In most of the developing countries, certain weaknesses and gaps in the government health systems have been hampering the achievement of improved health outcomes. Public sector in Pakistan has been deficient in the capacity to deliver equitable and quality health services and thus has been grossly underutilized.Methods: A qualitative study comprising in-depth interviews was conducted capturing the perceptions of the government functionaries, NGO representatives …

Reflexiones Sobre La Tristeza Y La Preocupación En Las Personas Aymara De Putre, Chile, Jordana Laks

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Background: In the past decade, the issue of cultural competance has emerged as an important strategy for improving quality of health care. In northern Chile, home of the vast majority of the country’s Aymara indigenous population, efforts to promote cultural competance have led to greater recognition of traditional medicine and cooperation between Aymara healers and Chilean care providers. Success in this area depends on a comprehensive understanding of current health beliefs and practices in the Aymara community. While the traditional Aymara medical system has been well-researched, there is a lack of understanding of how the Aymara people perceive and treat …

Intimate Partner Violence In Urban Pakistan: Prevalence, Frequency, And Risk Factors, Tazeen S. Ali, Nargis Asad, Ingrid Mogren, Gunilla Krantz

School of Nursing & Midwifery

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an important public health issue with severe adverse consequences. Population-based data on IPV from Muslim societies are scarce, and Pakistan is no exception. This study was conducted among women residing in urban Karachi, to estimate the prevalence and frequency of different forms of IPV and their associations with sociodemographic factors.
Methods: This cross-sectional community-based study was conducted using a structured questionnaire developed by the World Health Organisation for research on violence. Community midwives conducted face-to-face interviews with 759 married women aged 25-60 years.
Results: Self-reported past-year and lifetime prevalence of physical violence was 56.3 …

Substance Abuse In Georgia, The Burruss Institute Of Public Service And Research

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

In order to create a snapshot of substance use and abuse in Georgia, the Burruss Institute of Public Service and Research requested access to data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted on behalf of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a unit of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  SAMHSA would not provide access to the raw data; instead, the Institute was given a series of tables with estimates of the average annual number of users of various substances among Georgians ages 12 and older between the years 2002 and 2008. …

Final Report: The Practice And Impact Of Shared Decision-Making, Shared Decision-Making Study Group For The Dirigo Health Agency’S Maine Quality Forum

Population Health & Health Policy

Several recent developments are likely to address those factors seen as contributing to shared decision-making’s mixed results: the lack of a nationally recognized certification process; insufficient funds to adequately invest in the training and infrastructure to support shared decision-making; and adequate methods for monitoring its effectiveness.

Long-Term Effects Of Self-Control On Alcohol Use And Sexual Behavior Among Urban Minority Young Women, Kenneth W. Griffin, Lawrence M. Scheier, Bianca Acevedo, Jerry L. Grenard, Gilbert J. Botvin

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

High risk alcohol use and sexual behaviors peak in young adulthood and often occur in the same individuals. Alcohol use has been found to impair decision-making and contribute to high risk sexual activity. However, the association between alcohol use and risky sexual behavior may also reflect enduring individual differences in risk taking, sociability, self-control, and related variables. Both behaviors can serve similar functions related to recreation, interpersonal connection, and the pursuit of excitement or pleasure. The present study examined the extent to which high risk drinking and sexual behavior clustered together in a sample of urban minority young adult women, …

Objectively-Measured Physical Activity And C-Reactive Protein: Nhanes 2003–2004, Paul D. Loprinzi, Bradley J. Cardinal, Carlos J. Crespo, Gary R. Brodowicz, Ross Andersen, Edward J. Sullivan, Ellen Smit

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

The association between physical activity (PA) and C-reactive protein (CRP) is inconsistent, with nearly all studies using self-report measures of PA. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between objectively-measured PA and CRP in U.S. adults and children. Adults (N=2912) and children (N=1643) with valid accelerometer data and CRP data were included in the analyses. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the odds of meeting physical activity guidelines across CRP quartiles for children and among adults with low, average, and high CRP levels. For adults, after adjustments for age, gender, race, body mass index, smoking, diabetes, …

Approximating Confidence Intervals About Discrete Time Survival/Cumulative Incidence Estimates Using The Delta Method, Alexis Dinno, Jong-Sung Kim

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Poster focuses on answering the questions whether and when and event will happen in a population at risk.

Ethical Issues In Global Health Education, David Barnard, T. Thuy Bui, Jack Chase, Evaleen Jones, Scott Loeliger, Anvar Velji, Mary T. White

Population and Public Health Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Breast Cancer Medications And Vision: Effects Of Treatments For Early-Stage Disease, Alvin Eisner, Shiuh-Wen Luoh

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

This review concerns the effects on vision and the eye of medications prescribed at three phases of treatment for women with early-stage breast cancer (BC): (1) adjuvant cytotoxic chemotherapy, (2) adjuvant endocrine therapy, and (3) symptomatic relief. The most common side effects of cytotoxic chemotherapy are epiphora and ocular surface irritation, which can be caused by any of several different regimens. Most notably, the taxane docetaxel can lead to epiphora by inducing canalicular stenosis. The selective-estrogen-receptor-modulator (SERM) tamoxifen, long the gold-standard adjuvant-endocrine-therapy for women with hormone-receptor-positive BC, increases the risk of posterior subcapsular cataract. Tamoxifen also affects the optic nerve …

Using Evidence To Improve Primary Health Care In Thai Nguyen Province, Population Council

Reproductive Health

In partnership with a number of local stakeholders, the Population Council Viet Nam is working to improve the evidence base available to health authorities and to use that evidence to improve health in Thai Nguyen Province. Building on cooperation between the Population Council and the Thai Nguyen Health Department, the project detailed in this report has three main elements: 1) developing a computerized information system to generate regular reports; 2) supporting research in the province to better understand health problems, health-seeking behavior, and health services; and 3) increasing the capability of managers and providers to better use the evidence generated. …

Increasing Cervical Cancer Screening In A Hispanic Migrant Farmworker Community Through Faith-Based Clinical Outreach, John S. Luque, Dinorah Martinez-Tyson, Talar Markossian, Ji-Hyun Lee, Rachel Turner, Sara Proctor, Janelle Menard, Cathy D. Meade

Community Health: Faculty Publications

Objective: Partnerships between academic medical centers and faith-based community organizations have been associated with increased screening rates in low-income minority women. We describe clinical outcomes of an outreach partnership between a cancer center and a faith-based outreach clinic offering gynecologic screening services in central Florida to increase cervical cancer screening adherence in a priority population of primarily Hispanic farmworker women.

Methods: Data sources included a retrospective chart review. This descriptive study examined patterns of cervical cancer screening behavior among the patient population of the faith-based outreach clinic.

Results: Findings suggest that among this group of patients, the demographic factors that …

Salud Es Vida: Development Of A Cervical Cancer Education Curriculum For Promotora Outreach With Latina Farmworkers In Rural Southern Georgia, Kristen J. Wells, John S. Luque, Branko Miladinovic, Natalia Vargas, Yasmin Asvat, Richard G. Roetzheim, Ambuj Kumar

Community Health: Faculty Publications

Methods: A systematic review was conducted to synthesize evidence from all prospective controlled studies on effectiveness of CHW programs in improving screening mammography rates. Studies reported in English and conducted in the United States were included if they: (i) evaluated a CHW intervention designed to increase screening mammography rates in women 40 years of age or older without a history of breast cancer; (ii) were a randomized controlled trial (RCT), case-controlled study, or quasi-experimental study; and (iii) evaluated a CHW intervention outside of a hospital setting.

Results: Participation in a CHW intervention was associated with a statistically significant …

Barbershop Communications On Prostate Cancer Screening Using Barber Health Advisers, John S. Luque, Brian M. Rivers, Clement K. Gwede, Maisha Kambon, B. Lee Green, Cathy D. Meade

Community Health: Faculty Publications

Objective: The authors report the outcomes of a community-based, barber health adviser pilot intervention that aims to develop customized educational materials to promote knowledge and awareness of prostate cancer (CaP) and informed decision making about prostate cancer screening (PCS) among a predominantly African American clientele.

Method: First, the authors implemented a series of learner verification processes with barbershop clients (n=15) to adapt existing CaP health promotion materials. Following intervention implementation in the barbershop, they conducted structured surveys with barbershop clients (n=40) to evaluate the intervention. Results: Findings from the posttest showed both a significant increase in barbershop clients' …

The Ingredients Of Change: A Political Ecology Approach To Diabetes In The Somali Community Of Minnesota, Mina Tehrani

Geography Capstone Projects

In the early 1990’s, due to political circumstances at home, Somali immigrants and refugees began arriving in the state of Minnesota in large numbers. Over the past two decades, Somali immigrants have come to comprise one of the most populous ethnic groups in the Twin Cities, and are the largest Somali population in the world outside of Eastern Africa. Although quantitative data is unavailable, qualitative evidence and testimonies of healthcare professionals support the conclusion that Somali immigrants in Minnesota suffer from higher rates of diabetes than non-immigrant groups and than they likely did before migration. Why might this be the …

A Maximum Pseudo-Likelihood Approach For Estimating Species Trees Under The Coalescent Model, Liang Liu, Lili Yu, Scott V. Edwards

Biostatistics: Faculty Publications

Background

Several phylogenetic approaches have been developed to estimate species trees from collections of gene trees. However, maximum likelihood approaches for estimating species trees under the coalescent model are limited. Although the likelihood of a species tree under the multispecies coalescent model has already been derived by Rannala and Yang, it can be shown that the maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) of the species tree (topology, branch lengths, and population sizes) from gene trees under this formula does not exist. In this paper, we develop a pseudo-likelihood function of the species tree to obtain maximum pseudo-likelihood estimates (MPE) of species trees, …

La Correlación Entre El Autoestima Y La Intención De Cambiar En Seis Ámbitos De La Vida De Un Fumador Adolescente., Aaron Picus

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Background: According to a study in 2008 by the National Agency for the Control of Narcotics, 26.1% of Chilean adolescents between the ages of 12-18 had used tobacco at least once during the month of the study and 13% used tobacco daily. Even though smoking has negative health effects, many adolescents in Chile still smoke. Since the 1970s, low self-esteem has been proposed as a risk factor for the development of poor health behaviors. Recent investigations have shown that, when measured in the social, school, family, self-body image, sports and physical activity, and global realms of the life of an …

Las Percepciones De La Salud Mental Y Su Evolución, Rebecca Gourevitch

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Background: Previous literature has identified a strong stigma against mental health patients in many parts of Latin America, which can serve as a deterrent to seeking help for mental health (Acuña 2005; López 2008; Vicente 2007). The resulting lack of attention to one’s mental health can not only exacerbate mental illnesses but also impede proper attention to one’s physical health (Prince 2007). Therefore, combating this stigma is an important step to improving the health of a population. Some of the most effective strategies for combating the stigma are education, social interaction, and integrating mental health services into primary care (López …

Pengaruh Pertumbuhan Industri Kecil Terhadap Keberlanjutan Pembangunan Kota Depok, Sofyan Cholid

Jurnal Ilmu Kesejahteraan Sosial

Population growth along with standard of living and economic activity have affected the quality of the environment, such as quantity and quality of vehicles and Industries operating in the region. The imbalance between these three components, or emphasis on only one objective/component only resulted in failure in achieving sustainability in development. Considering the problems and constraints faced, as described in the previous section, this research examined the degree of sustainable development, and what will happen to Depok City in the future refers to existing pattern of development. This study used Sugeno-type Fuzzy Inference System with constant membership functions of the …