107 research outputs found
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A Couple’s Marital Disharmony and its Psychological Effects on their Children during the HIV Disclosure Process in Kenya
Full text linkLimited published data exists on how HIV-positive parents perform disclosure to all their children. A couple’s HIV disclosure experience to all their children is presented. They participated in a larger study conducted to understand the lived experiences of HIV-positive parents and their children during the disclosure process. Each underwent individualized in-depth semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed and transferred into NVivo 8 for analysis using the Van Kaam method. Three themes emerged including HIV testing, full disclosure delivery accompanied by marital disharmony, and post-disclosure psychological effects on the family. Marital disharmony and non-involvement of the father caused the mother to fully disclose their illnesses to their four oldest children. All children were affected by disclosure, one had a delayed emotional outburst, and another was still angry and withdrawn years later. HIV-positive parents with poor relationships within the families need intense counseling and support pre, during, and post-disclosure to improve outcomes.
Health, Ageing Migrants and Care Strategies
Full text linkThis article is the result of a study that seeks to understand the relationship between socio-economic conditions, health and active ageing. We identified the activities related to active ageing in relation to health, the strategies used in active ageing and their determinants. We chose a qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews and data processing that consisted of thematic content analysis in interviews. We carried out this analysis in two socio-economic groups of elderly Cape Verdean men and women in both groups making up a total of 22 cases. The socio-economic group interferes directly in the affairs of active ageing rather than health issues. In the higher socio-economic group, status determines active ageing rather than health issues. It is evident that in the group with lower socio-economic conditions, the latter act in parallel with health conditions and both determine activities developed by older people
Serving the Needs of the Latina Community for Health Information
Full text linkLatinos remain the largest US population with limited health literacy (Andrulis D.P. & Brach, 2007). Concerned with how local media can meet the information needs of underserved audiences, we interviewed Latinas who were pregnant or mothers of young children living in a Spanish speaking community, and surveyed 33 local health professionals. Findings are that Latina women’s most common source of health information was family and friends. They said they tune to Spanish television and radio programs, but gave low grades to news media for health information. Medical professionals agreed that Latinas generally get their health information through friends and family, and rated the media poorly in terms of serving Latinas’ needs. Since the data indicate that the local news media are not serving Latinas’ health information needs as much as they could, we offer recommendations to potentially exploit new technological affordances and suggest expansion of conventional definitions of health literacy
They [do more than] Interrupt Us from Sadness: Exploring the impact of participatory music making on social determinants of health and wellbeing for refugees in Australia
Full text linkThis paper reports on the outcomes of an exploratory narrative study on the impact of participatory music making on social determinants of health (SDOH) and wellbeing for refugees in Brisbane, Australia. A key component of this exploratory research was to map health and wellbeing outcomes of music participation using an existing SDOH framework developed by researchers in the field of health promotion (Schulz & Northridge, 2004). This paper maps reported health and wellbeing outcomes for five refugee and asylum seeker members of a participatory Brisbane-based music initiative, the Scattered People, along an SDOH continuum ranging from individual level through to macro level fundamental determinants of health.While most themes emerging from this study corresponded to distinct categories in the Schulz and Northridge SDOH framework, three key aspects, which were critical to the achievement of wellbeing for participants, did not fit any of the pre-defined categories. These were: cultural expression, music making, and consolidation of personal and social identity. The importance of those themes to participants suggests that music and wellbeing studies involving culturally diverse groups and from a SDOH perspective may need to consider broader, more relevant concepts. The paper provides recommendations for future interdisciplinary research in this field.
The Influence of Neighborhood Poverty on Blood Glucose Levels: Findings from the Community Initiative to Eliminate Stroke (CITIES) program
Full text linkObjectives: To examine the relationship between both individual and neighborhood level characteristics and non-fasting blood glucose levels.Study design: This study used a cross sectional design using data from the Community Initiative to Eliminate Stroke Program in NC (2004-2008). A total of 12,809 adults nested within 550 census block groups from two adjacent urban counties were included in the analysis.Methods: Participants completed a cardiovascular risk factor assessment with self-reported demographics, stroke-risk behaviors, and biometric measurements. Neighborhood level characteristics were based upon census data. Three multilevel models were constructed for data analysis.Results: Mean blood glucose level of this sample population was 103.61mg/dL. The unconditional model 1 suggested a variation in mean blood glucose levels among the neighborhoods (τ00 = 13.39; P < .001). Both models 2 and 3 suggested that the neighborhood composite deprivation index had a significant prediction on each neighborhood’s mean blood glucose level (¡01= .69; P < 0.001,¡01= .36; P = .004). Model 3 also suggested that across all the neighborhoods, on average, after controlling for individual level risk factors, deprivation remained a significant predictor of blood glucose levels.Conclusions: The findings provide evidence that neighborhood disadvantage is a significant predictor of neighborhood and individual level blood glucose levels. One approach to diabetes prevention could be for policymakers to address the problems associated with environmental determinants of health
Health Care for Modern Families: Practical suggestions concerning care for families of gay men and lesbians
Full text linkThis article offers a first person perspective concerning how health care providers can better recognize modern families and improve health care for them, especially families founded by gay men and lesbians in U.S. culture. It interweaves information concerning the historical, legal, and economic situation impinging on gay men and lesbians while offering personal stories in dealing with health care professionals. The article references germane scholarly literature for further reading throughout
From Powerlessness to Control: Psychosis, Spirit Possession and Recovery in the Western Desert of Egypt
Full text linkThis article explores an aspect of the cultural modulation of recovery in psychosis. It begins with the idea that recovery hinges on the ability of subjects to relate to their distressing experiences in ways that expand rather than diminish agency. Based on fieldwork in the Dakhla oasis of Egypt and subsequent analysis, it is argued that interpretations of psychosis as spirit possession offer a broader range of intentionality than biomedical interpretations and therefore broader possibilities of relating to psychotic states. Modes of relating to spirits may take active or passive forms, the former consistent with the recovery goal of symptom control. Factors constitutive of the active, agency-expanding mode of relating include: the nature of spirits; the values and beliefs of the subject; the broader cultural/religious discourses which may make it either more or less likely for the subject to achieve the desired state of control over symptoms
State vs. Culture or State ‘and’ Culture vs. the Individual Body: A review analysis
Full text linkThis paper reflects on the dichotomy of state and culture through ‘certain groups of people’, impacting their behaviour and wants towards their own health. Analysis commences with a brief commentary on pre-independence India, whereby the rhetoric of nationalism was imprinted on individual bodies through the call for maintaining the health of a nation. This argument is then extended to include the present day-scenario of the state, whereby, the state sees itself as something beyond the individual; where it is the hub of ‘know-how’ of maintaining its population, yet at the same time distant from it. Second section presents the control of culture through community on the bodies of individual members (women). The two arguments are based on the review of an in-depth study by Jeffery and Jeffery (2010) in a village in Uttar Pradesh on the perceptions of the village population on national health policies. The article is concluded, with the necessity to understand and discover discourses of not state vs. culture (or community), but also of state and culture vs. agency vis-à-vis health and health care provisions.
Qualitative Examination of African American Women\u27s Perspectives about Depression
Full text linkGaining greater understanding about the various psychosocial, socio-cultural, and environmental factors that may influence experiences of depression among African American women (AAW) helps elucidate how this mental illness impacts the lives of this population. Sixty-three adult AAW comprised the study’s convenience sample. Specifically, focus group cohorts inclusive of women from an academic institution, a primary healthcare clinic, and an urban community setting were conducted. Results indicated six (6) dominant common themes as issues that may increase risk for depression among diverse AAW. Similarities and differences about perspectives that contributed to depression were delineated among the three cohorts of AAW. These results are important for mental/behavioral health researchers, practitioners, and public health professionals that are engaged in the design and implementation of culturally centered and gender-specific prevention and intervention strategies targeted to AAW at risk for depression.