N//A

N/

Impact of Prison Status on HIV-Related Risk Behaviors

Baseline data were collected to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions on completion of the hepatitis A and B vaccine series among 664 sheltered and street-based homeless adults who were: (a) homeless; (b) recently (<1 year) discharged from prison; (c) discharged 1 year or more; and (d) never incarcerated. Group differences at baseline were assessed for socio–demographic characteristics, drug and alcohol use, sexual activity, mental health and public assistance. More than one-third of homeless persons (38%) reported prison time and 16% of the sample had been recently discharged from prison. Almost half of persons who were discharged from prison at least 1 year ago reported daily use of drugs and alcohol over the past 6 months compared to about 1 in 5 among those who were recently released from prison. As risk for HCV and HIV co-infection continues among homeless ex-offenders, HIV/HCV prevention efforts are needed for this population

Working from the inside out: Implications of breast cancer activism for biomedical policies and practices

Much has been written about women with breast cancer: about women's lifestyles and reproductive strategies as possible risk factors for the disease, factors which impede or facilitate women's participation in mammography screening, ways to involve women in treatment decision-making, and women's ability to cope with breast cancer diagnoses. Seldom do these accounts examine breast cancer from the perspective of women with the disease. This essay presents material from an ethnographic study in the United States to explore the ways that women have come forward as informed consumers and activists working to make biomedical practices more responsive to the needs of women with breast cancer. Insofar as breast cancer activists reflect the concerns of a predominantly white, middle class constituency, however, additional questions are raised concerning their constructions of breast cancer and the problematics of treatment.breast cancer activism treatment policy research

A Toast to Dwight Billings: Of Spoonbread and Bourbon

Political Economy in Practice: Career Contributions of Dwight Billings to Appalachian Studies Dwight Billings has contributed to shaping the conversation in Appalachian studies over the past forty years through his academic focus on political economy and his commitment to equity in who’s at the table in that conversation. The presenters will discuss his career contributions as scholar, teacher and mentor, social justice activist, and colleague

Internal Colony--Are You Sure? Defining, Theorizing, Organizing Appalachia

Despite its critics, the internal colony framework has shown remarkable resilience over the years. Successive generations of activists and scholars have targeted “outside interests” as the chief culprits in regional impoverishment, exploitation, and stereotyping. The concentration of land, for example, in the hands of those who reside outside the region seems by definition to represent a form of dispossession that must account for the poverty of many who live here. But is the fact that owners (of land, capital, major media outlets, etc.) are typically not from Appalachia the decisive factor that explains regional degradation? As the need for major economic transitions within Appalachia, perhaps especially the coalfields, becomes more widely accepted, questions about how to define and theorize the past in order to overcome its legacies and organize towards brighter futures become more urgent. Does “internal colony” adequately clarify the context and aims of our struggle? Is ridding the region of outsider ownership and control our central organizing goal? If not, what is? This roundtable explores such questions in the hope of contributing to insights about Appalachia’s past as well as its future