The Deaf usually do not see themselves as having a disability; however, discourses and social stereotyping continue to portray the Deaf rather negatively. These discourses may lead to misconceptions, prejudice and possibly discrimination. A study was conducted to identify the challenges members of the Deaf community experience accessing quality health care in a small Island state of Australia. Using a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with service providers and the Deaf community. Audist discourses of deafness as deficiency, disability and disease remain dominant in contemporary society and are inconsistency with the Deaf community’s own perception of their reality. Despite the dominant constructions of deafness and their affect on the Deaf’s experience of health service provision, many Deaf have developed skills, confidence and resilience to live in the hearing world. The Deaf were pushing back on discourses that construct deafness as a disempowering impairment.
Culture has a strong influence on the representations and health behaviour of individuals and groups. This is reflected in the reproductive health of the Timorese women, intervention in this field being of a priority nature in Timor-Leste in view of its high fertility and maternal mortality rates. The purpose of this ethnographic study is to analyse beliefs, representations and practices associated with pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period. It was conducted in Timor-Leste and involved the participation of health professionals, traditional midwives, women and couples, all of them selected through a snowball chain sampling procedure. Data was collected by means of exploratory semi-structured interviews and observation, and its content was duly analysed. The results show the existence of various recommendations, taboos and restrictions which aim at protecting the health of both mother and child, making use of traditional care practices which may vary among ethnolinguistic groups, communities or families.
There is a great need to carefully examine issues that may elevate one’s risk for mental illness and develop strategies to mitigate risk and cultivate resilience. African Americans, specifically African American women (AAW), are disproportionately affected by mental illness, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Higher rates of PTSD among AAW may be explained by significant rates of trauma exposure. Higher resiliency in individuals with mental illnesses is associated with better treatment response/outcomes. An examination of two (2) promising psycho-educational curricula for AAW at risk for depression and PTSD supports consideration of resilience as a protective factor among this population. Strengthening psychological resilience among diverse AAW at risk for depression and/or PTSD may serve as a protective factor for symptom severity. Multidimensional prevention and intervention strategies should incorporate culturally-centered, gender-specific, and strengths-based (resilience) models of care to help encourage mental health help-seeking and promotion of wellness for AAW.
This book traces the history of formative, enduring concepts, foundational in the development of the health disciplines. It explores existing literature, and subsequent contested applications. Feminist legacies are discussed with a clear message that early sociological and anthropological theories and debates remain valuable to scholars today. Chapters cover historical events and cultural practices from the standpoint of ‘difference’; formulate theories about the emergence of social issues and problems and discuss health and illness in light of cultural values and practices, social conditions, embodiment and emotions. This collection will be of great value to scholars of biomedicine, health and gender.
The Pandemic has a long history, but the term of “pandemic” is still not been defined by many medical texts. There have been many significant pandemics recorded in human history, and the pandemic related crises have caused enormous negative impacts on health, economies, and even national security in the world. This article will explore the literature for the concept and history of pandemics; summarises the key features of a pandemics, and discusses the negative impacts on health, economy, social and global security of pandemics and disease outbreaks.
In considering what makes New Zealand unique for medical anthropological focus, this think piece sets out four themes. These reflect New Zealand’s particular historical, political, social and cultural landscape, and reveal the relevance of local scholarship for wider global debates about health. By tracing the neoliberal reform of state healthcare, indigenous approaches to wellbeing, local cultural practices of health, and the complex ethics involved in health and illness, this paper spotlights the opportunities that New Zealand medical anthropology affords us for addressing the important health and wellbeing challenges that we face today.
Public health literature has demonstrated a negative effect of income inequality on a number of health outcomes. Researchers have attempted to explain this phenomenon, drawing on psychosocial and neo-materialist explanations. This paper argues, however, that these approaches fail to recognize the crucial role of culture, focusing specifically on the cultural value of individualism. Through a review of the literature and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice as a theoretical framework, I provide support for the proposition that an ideology based in individualism is the context within which income inequality, social fragmentation, material deprivation, and consequently poor health outcomes are produced. I further offer recommendations for continued research into the role of cultural determinants in the income inequality-health relationship.
In January 2017, New Zealand’s medicines and medical devices safety authority, Medsafe, announced in a press release that its Medicines Classification Committee (MCC) had recommended a reclassification of certain oral contraceptives in order for them to be made available over the counter in pharmacies. In A/NZ, a progressive temporal narrative has been established around contraception that begins with the heroic struggle of women at the turn of the 20th Century to get access to contraception and abortion as a way to manage their reproductive lives and progresses to the guaranteed access of contraceptives to women. My intention to interrogate the contemporary contraceptive reality is not a project to undermine the historically important moves women have made here in A/NZ; but, rather, to include new places of analysis including how indigenous communities experienced the same contraceptives moments differently under the gaze of a eugenics project.
Research on both cancer survivorship and support needs has been limited in its attention to survivors from culturally-diverse communities. This study examined the perspectives of members and leaders of ethnically-identified breast cancer support groups regarding the meanings and expectations attached to survivorship. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 38 African American and Latina survivors in Central Florida. Participant narratives invoked themes of spiritual renewal and deepening religious faith, and deemphasized individual responsibility for personal change. Participants emphasized the importance of shared cultural identity in shaping the survivor experience, and some Latina women drew parallels between survivorship and the challenges of migration to a new country. An unwavering display of optimism was held to be paramount. These themes are interpreted within the framework of the interplay between dominant societal discourses of survivorship and locally-constructed meanings. Findings underscore the importance for healthcare providers to be cognizant and respectful of diverse perspectives on illness.
Objectives: 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.
The purpose of this paper is to explore and understand how a Bosnian refugee community perceives and responds to the potential risk of a natural disaster in order to identify tailored approaches to improve risk communication. This is a qualitative study. Participants resettled in St Louis, Missouri were identified through criterion and snowball sampling. Thirty-three face-to-face interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. Data were analyzed using both content and thematic analysis. Findings indicate that due to their war experiences, cultural and religious understanding of natural disaster, and social influence on their risk interpretation, participants tended to underestimate the potential threat of natural disaster. Media was the main communication methods in times of potential natural disaster. Lack of organizational support during risk communication was a major concern. Ethnic radio stations and word of mouth were rated as the most popular communication channels for disseminating messages in preparation of a natural disaster. Using a community-based participatory approach to identify community needs and involve Bosnian community partners in risk communication planning, implementation, and evaluation, is vital for a Bosnian community.
Latinos 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.
In this paper we propose a culture-based health promotion/disease prevention intervention model. This model, which is family-based, incorporates a life course perspective, which involves the identification of individual developmental milestones, and incorporates aspects of culture that have been widely used across cultures to influence behavior and mark important developmental transitions. Central among those cultural traits is the ritual, or rite of passage, which, for millennia, has been used to teach the skills associated with developmental task mastery and move individuals, and their families, through life stages so that they reach certain developmental milestones. Family rituals, such as eating dinner together, can serve as powerful leverage points to support health behavior change, and serve as unique intervention delivery strategies that not only influence behavior, but further strengthen families.
This 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.
