LA MUJER SE VA PA’BAJO: WOMEN’S HEALTH AT THE INTERSECTIONS OF NATIONALITY, CLASS, AND GENDER

This research utilizes an intersectionality framework to examine the complexity of social location and its effects on women\u27s health. By examining connections among the state, processes of globalization, and the production of health inequalities for poor women in a rural community in southern Veracruz, Mexico, the research highlights the nexus of nationality, class, and gender. Four interconnected contexts are explored: (1) women\u27s increasing paid and unpaid labor in the context of a poverty of resources brought on by sustained economic crisis; (2) the maintenance of reproductive labor as the responsibility of women; (3) the development of migrant illegality and its consequences for the well being of women who are consistently anxious about the lives of their migrant family members and the stability of remittances that sustain the household, and (4) the increasing neoliberalization of public health care that includes the heightened surveillance of women\u27s hygienic activities and chronic underfunding of public health resources. Using an ethnographic methodology including interviews, case studies, and participant observation, the research explores the daily lives of wives and mothers of transnational migrants as well as those women who, although they do not have migrant family members, live within the context of transnationalism because it pervades the community. In addition, all women in the research confront the inadequacy of public health services because most never have the resources to utilize private health services. The research makes three important contributions to medical anthropology and the social sciences. First, it contributes to ongoing debates concerning the potential uses of the intersectionality framework in anthropology and related social sciences. Second, it contributes to border studies by elaborating an example of productive ways that the border can be theoretically extended to include examinations of the lives of migrant family members living far from the border. Third, it critically examines a public health insurance program that has the potential to fulfill Mexico\u27s constitutional right to health care for all citizens and to be a model for global health care policy. By doing so, it provides a basis for future study and development of progressive health care policy in Mexico and beyond

Re-imagining family group conferencing ‘outcomes’

Family Group Conferencing (FGC) is a family led decision-making approach where practical plans are made by the family to keep children safe and improve their quality of life. FGC has attracted worldwide interest from policymakers, researchers and practitioners for its potential to: involve families in the decision-making process in child and families social work; keeping children safe within a culture of co-operation between the state and families. There is significant empirical research about the impact of the FGC process on families, and its immediate outcomes but less is known about outcomes in the longer-term. This thesis reports on the findings of a retrospective qualitative study, which sought to understand the contribution FGC makes to longer-term outcomes for looked after children at risk of being accommodated, and their families. Eleven FGC examples were studied across five local government areas in Scotland. Each example includes the perspective of different stakeholders in the process including: looked after children, their parents and extended family (n=32), and professionals (n=28) involved with them. Criteria for case selection included: the child and family had originally been referred to FGC service because the family social worker considered the child was at risk of being accommodated; the stages of FGC had been achieved and a family meeting had taken place at least one year prior to the data being collected; the age of the child who was the focus of the meeting was over eight years old wherever possible; and the core family members were prepared to be involved in the study. Individual, joint or group interviews were conducted to provide multidimensional perspectives of the FGC phenomena. FGC service documents (n=94) were also analysed, providing data of social activity that occurred prior to the study. This study challenges current outcome focused paradigms, arguing for a more complex and nuanced understanding of outcomes in child welfare, where the child and family, alongside professionals, are valued in the identification and measurement of outcomes. Evidence from this study highlights the need to accept two sets of outcomes when considering FGC contribution: personal and professional. The identification of outcomes in this manner supports three interconnected issues argued throughout the thesis in relation to contribution. Firstly, process matters to the service user and his/her experience of the service and opinion of outcomes. Secondly, what professionals do and how they do it is important to the outcomes of families requiring support - relationships and practice are therefore central concerns in understanding how and why families achieve (or not) longer-term outcomes. Finally, who defines outcomes and to what purpose is significant when conceptualising outcomes. The study draws on empowerment, recognition and partnership theories to better understand FGCs contribution to longer–term outcomes for children and families. The study found the FGC process contributed towards building service users’ capacities to reflect on their own and acknowledge others’ experiences and situations. Feelings of increased confidence, self-respect and self-esteem, derived from the FGC process, contributed towards improved social relations and a sense of control over their own lives. This increased capacity can support family members to manage future crises and conflict if they arise. FGC offers professional and service users an opportunity to reframe unhelpful attitudes towards each other. In the longer term this can contribute towards families reduced need for social work services and/or improved working relationships between social work and families. This study has significance for all professionals working with looked after children and their families; contributes to the theoretical knowledge applied in social work practice; and is applicable when considering the implementation and impact of child welfare policy in Scotland and internationally

From Structural Inequalities to Speaking Out: Youth Participatory Action Research in College Access Collaborations

In recent years, participatory action research projects aimed at addressing local social issues have gained interest in academic settings. These projects can contribute to university-community partnerships, but communication about such projects remains somewhat limited. This article contributes to these developing discussions by describing how a youth participatory action research project (YPAR) supported an ongoing university-community partnership between South University, a mid-sized private liberal arts school, and the local public school community. This educational partnership led to the Anchor Academy, a college access and success program for high school youth with limited financial resources and little or no family history of college. In 2010-2011, Anchor initiated a YPAR project to study the challenges limited-income, first-generation, and minority students faced on their path to college. This article describes how the project deepened university-community relationships, shaped broader awareness and local programming, and inspired a ripple effect of new partnerships that help to sustain the work of supporting marginalized students in their journeys toward college futures. It addresses the struggles faced by the project as well as the positive outcomes, ultimately arguing for the potential for critical, participatory research methodologies to serve as a particularly meaningful platform for collaboration between universities and their communities

Social learning in nest-building birds : a role for familiarity

© 2016 The Author(s).It is becoming apparent that birds learn from their own experiences of nest building. What is not clear is whether birds can learn from watching conspecifics build. As social learning allows an animal to gain information without engaging in costly trial-and-error learning, first-time builders should exploit the successful habits of experienced builders. We presented first-time nest-building male zebra finches with either a familiar or an unfamiliar conspecific male building with material of a colour the observer did not like. When given the opportunity to build, males that had watched a familiar male build switched their material preference to that used by the familiar male. Males that observed unfamiliar birds did not. Thus, first-time nest builders use social information and copy the nest material choices when demonstrators are familiar but not when they are strangers. The relationships between individuals therefore influences how nest-building expertise is socially transmitted in zebra finches.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Social learning in nest-building birds : a role for familiarity

© 2016 The Author(s).It is becoming apparent that birds learn from their own experiences of nest building. What is not clear is whether birds can learn from watching conspecifics build. As social learning allows an animal to gain information without engaging in costly trial-and-error learning, first-time builders should exploit the successful habits of experienced builders. We presented first-time nest-building male zebra finches with either a familiar or an unfamiliar conspecific male building with material of a colour the observer did not like. When given the opportunity to build, males that had watched a familiar male build switched their material preference to that used by the familiar male. Males that observed unfamiliar birds did not. Thus, first-time nest builders use social information and copy the nest material choices when demonstrators are familiar but not when they are strangers. The relationships between individuals therefore influences how nest-building expertise is socially transmitted in zebra finches.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Tracking Transmission of Apicomplexan Symbionts in Diverse Caribbean Corals

Symbionts in each generation are transmitted to new host individuals either vertically (parent to offspring), horizontally (from exogenous sources), or a combination of both. Scleractinian corals make an excellent study system for understanding patterns of symbiont transmission since they harbor diverse symbionts and possess distinct reproductive modes of either internal brooding or external broadcast spawning that generally correlate with vertical or horizontal transmission, respectively. Here, we focused on the under-recognized, but apparently widespread, coral-associated apicomplexans (Protista: Alveolata) to determine if symbiont transmission depends on host reproductive mode. Specifically, a PCR-based assay was utilized towards identifying whether planula larvae and reproductive adults from brooding and broadcast spawning scleractinian coral species in Florida and Belize harbored apicomplexan DNA. Nearly all (85.5%; n = 85/89) examined planulae of five brooding species (Porites astreoides, Agaricia tenuifolia, Agaricia agaricites, Favia fragum, Mycetophyllia ferox) and adults of P. astreoides were positive for apicomplexan DNA. In contrast, no (n = 0/10) apicomplexan DNA was detected from planulae of four broadcast spawning species (Acropora cervicornis, Acropora palmata, Pseudodiploria strigosa, and Orbicella faveolata) and rarely in gametes (8.9%; n = 5/56) of these species sampled from the same geographical range as the brooding species. In contrast, tissue samples from nearly all (92.0%; n = 81/88) adults of the broadcast spawning species A. cervicornis, A. palmata and O. faveolata harbored apicomplexan DNA, including colonies whose gametes and planulae tested negative for these symbionts. Taken together, these data suggest apicomplexans are transmitted vertically in these brooding scleractinian coral species while the broadcast spawning scleractinian species examined here acquire these symbionts horizontally. Notably, these transmission patterns are consistent with those of other scleractinian coral symbionts. While this study furthers knowledge regarding these symbionts, numerous questions remain to be addressed, particularly in regard to the specific interaction(s) between these apicomplexans and their hosts

Initial evidence review - Strategies for encouraging psychological and emotional resilience in response to loneliness 2019

It is now widely accepted that loneliness is influenced by a combination of psychological factors, including attitudes to participating in social interactions and mental health problems, as well as environmental factors such as living far from family and friends and life events and transitions such as bereavement and moving away from home. Despite increased recognition of the importance of individual-level processes and meanings that influence the experience of loneliness, there is a gap in our knowledge of how best to address the psychological factors that contribute to chronic loneliness. In this report, we aim to synthesise information from a range of sources in order to identify the psychological pathways to loneliness and relevant psychological barriers to accessing strategies which target social isolation. The report highlights promising interventions that have potential to target the psychological aspects of loneliness. It makes a series of recommendations to improve understanding and delivery of effective psychological interventions to address loneliness and how the interaction between such strategies and community-based interventions. We conducted an extensive scoping review of the academic literature, including online database searches and broader searches reviewing conference abstracts and reports from the Third Sector. We obtained expert opinions by speaking to relevant stakeholders including people with lived experiences of loneliness, charitable organisations working with people who are experiencing chronic loneliness, and those involved in developing and evaluating interventions to tackle loneliness. Much of the work focused on older adults but we also looked at interventions delivered across the age range. We report the findings from this work, including an overview of the wide range of psychological factors which might explain why some people who are chronically lonely struggle to engage with community strategies and other sources of support that are available. These factors include having mental health problems, personality characteristics and having unhelpful beliefs and behaviours related to social interactions. We recommend that interventions that target either the psychological or social aspects of loneliness should not be provided in isolation, and that multi-modal interventions are likely to be most successful. Further research evidence is needed to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of delivering psychological interventions in conjunction with community-based strategies. Social prescribing is a potential opportunity for the successful delivery of psycho-social interventions. For example, integration of psychological and community-based support could be promoted by including directories of psychological support in guides to community based resources, and by connecting social prescribing link workers with their local improving access to psychological therapies services. The social psychological approaches such as the Groups 4 Health model (Haslam et al., 2019; Haslam, Cruwys, Haslam, Dingle & Chang, 2016) show promise and potentially could bridge psychological and social understandings of loneliness. There is preliminary research evidence that interventions that address the psychological factors involved in loneliness can be successful, and there are various approaches to addressing these factors across the UK, although many initiatives have not yet been fully evaluated. The strongest research evidence was found for cognitive behavioural interventions, and there are some promising developments, including digital initiatives which are designed to change individuals’ thoughts and feelings about loneliness, that are worthy of further evaluation. We would also recommend that acceptance and commitment therapy is formally evaluated as an intervention for loneliness. We noted that the research base in this area is still underdeveloped and more work is needed to demonstrate which interventions are most accessible to people who are chronically lonely and can feasibly be delivered within NHS and community settings. Research into the potential adverse effects of psychological interventions, individual differences in responsiveness and the longer term impact on loneliness is also needed. It is likely that including measures of loneliness in evaluations of interventions for social anxiety and grief and in routine work with older adults in improving access to psychological therapies services would yield data that will contribute to the growing evidence base in this area. We hope that bringing together the research evidence and expert opinion in this report will increase awareness of the wide range of psychological factors implicated in loneliness and lead to further provision of psychological interventions for loneliness, in combination with community based support for social isolation

An online survey of personal mosquito-repellent strategies

Background Mosquito repellents can be an effective method for personal protection against mosquito bites that are a nuisance and carry the risk of transmission of mosquito-borne pathogens like plasmodia, dengue virus, chikungunya virus, and Zika virus. A multitude of commercially available products are currently on the market, some of them highly effective while others have low or no efficacy. Many home remedies of unknown efficacy are also widely used. Methods We conducted a survey study to determine what kind of mosquito repellents and other mosquito control strategies people use. Our online survey was focused on unconventional methods and was answered by 5,209 participants. Results The majority of participants resided in the United States, were female (67%), had higher education (81% had a university degree), and were 18 to 37 years old (50%). The most commonly used repellent was DEET spray (48%), followed closely by citronella candles (43%) and ‘natural’ repellent sprays (36%). We collected a plethora of home remedies and other strategies people use that warrant further research into their effectiveness. Discussion Our study lays the foundation for future research in alternative, unconventional methods to repel mosquitoes that may be culturally acceptable and accessible for people

Challenges and opportunities in rapid disaster research: lessons from the field in New Mexico and Vanuatu

Rapid research is essential to assess impacts in communities affected by disasters, particularly those communities made “hard-to-reach” due to their active marginalization across history and in contemporary practices. In this article, we describe two rapid research projects developed to assess needs for and experiences of communities hard-hit by disasters. The first is a project on the COVID-19 pandemic in southern New Mexico (USA) that was developed to provide information to local agencies that are deploying programs to rebuild and revitalize marginalized communities. The second is a project on population displacement due to a volcanic eruption in Vanuatu, a lower-middle income country in the South Pacific, with mental and physical health outcomes data shared with the Vanuatu Ministry of Health. We describe the similar and unique challenges that arose doing rapid research in these two different contexts, the potential broader impacts of the research, and a synthesis of lessons learned. We discuss the challenges of rapidly changing rules and regulations, lack of baseline data, lack of survey instruments validated for specific populations and in local languages, limited availability of community partners, finding funding for rapid deployment of projects, rapidly training and working with research assistants, health and safety concerns of researchers and participants, and communicating with local and international partners. We also specifically discuss how we addressed our own personal challenges while also conducting time-intensive rapid research. In both studies, researchers shared results with governmental and non-governmental partners who may use the data to inform the design of their own relief programs. While different in context, type of disaster, and research strategy, our discussion of these projects provides insights into common lessons learned for working with communities at elevated risk for the worst outcomes during disasters, such as the need for flexibility, compromise, and good working relationships with community partners