Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles) ISSN (Print) 0360-7283 - ISSN (Online) 1545-6854 Published by Oxford University Press[370 journals]
Authors:Fedock G; Sarantakos S. Abstract: <span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">Abstract</div>Young women ages 18 to 25 make up approximately 30 percent of women arrested in the United States. Although health disparities have been found for incarcerated adults, health concerns for this subpopulation of women have not been as closely examined. Aiming to fill this gap in the literature, this study examined national data for young women ages 18 to 25 who participated in the National Survey of Drug Use and Health. Physical and mental health concerns were compared for young women with and without arrest histories. Young women with arrest histories had significantly higher odds ratios of multiple physical health concerns and all forms of mental health concerns, including recent suicide attempts. This study indicates that history of arrest is significantly associated with health disparities for young women and thus expands and builds gender-specific knowledge for the field of criminal justice epidemiology. Given the intersecting needs of physical health, mental health, and criminal justice involvement, the fields of public health and social work may contribute to gender-responsive interventions that incorporate health promotion specifically for this population of women.</span> PubDate: 2017-03-28
Authors:Lai DL; Bai X, Guo A. Abstract: <span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">Abstract</div>Urinary and fecal incontinence affect older women's social participation and mental health. This study examined the relationship between incontinence severity and depressive symptoms, focusing on the mediating effect of social participation, based on secondary analysis of structured interview data collected in December 2010 from 467 women age 60 and over in mainland China. Incontinence was significantly and positively associated with depressive symptoms but negatively associated with social participation. Social participation was significantly and negatively associated with depressive symptoms and fully mediated the relationship between incontinence and depressive symptoms. These findings can inform mental health interventions for incontinent older women, including preventing and responding to depressive symptoms by promoting social participation.</span> PubDate: 2017-03-28
Authors:Griffin JM; Malcolm C, Wright P, et al. Abstract: <span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">Abstract</div>The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) established the national Caregiver Support Line (CSL) in February 2011. The CSL is operated by licensed master's degree social workers who provide caregivers of veterans with information about caregiver benefits and services, counseling, and referrals to a caregiver support coordinator at the nearest VA medical center. The authors compared differences in veteran health care utilization patterns in the six months before and after a caregiver call to the CSL, hypothesizing that veterans with caregivers using the CSL had improved access to health care services and improved access increased utilization of health care. A pre- and posttest design was used. CSL calls that resulted in referrals to VA health care services or to local VA caregiver support coordinators were included in the sample. Data were extracted from the CSL database and matched to veteran care utilization data using veteran medical record data. Veteran inpatient stays for general medicine, hospice, respite, and long-term care significantly increased after the CSL call, but other inpatient stays (surgery, neurology) did not. Outpatient services for home health, respite, and mental health all significantly increased. Caregivers’ use of the national CSL may help facilitate access for veterans to needed care services.</span> PubDate: 2017-03-25
Authors:MacGregor C; Heilemann MV. Abstract: <span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">Abstract</div>Veterans recently returned from Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) experience many health and mental health problems after deployment. These OEF/OIF veterans are applying and appealing for veterans’ disability compensation (VDC) at rapidly increasing rates, often for “invisible conditions” such as posttraumatic stress disorder. Little is known about how veterans experience the process of applying and receiving VDC. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with OEF/OIF veterans ages 35 and younger (<span style="font-style:italic;">N</span> = 18). This article addresses how veterans perceive themselves, and other veterans, of being deserving and undeserving of VDC. Veterans’ rationales can be categorized into four primary areas: (1) risking and suffering, (2) the cause of the condition, (3) intentions to become self-sufficient, and (4) putting VDC to “good use.”</span> PubDate: 2017-03-25
Authors:Marsiglia FF; Dustman P, Harthun M, et al. Abstract: <span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">Abstract</div>This article adds to the existing knowledge about innovative community-based approaches used to reduce and eliminate behavioral health disparities. Special attention is given to culturally appropriate interventions that increase access to care and that improve the quality of behavioral health services across different geographic regions and communities. Effectiveness trials are presented as appropriate tools to translate existing efficacious interventions into real-world settings. This article describes how to transition from efficacy to effectiveness, including factors essential to consider from the perspectives of university-based research teams and community-based organizations (CBOs). A case study illustrates how a university–CBO partnership mastered the complexities of transitioning an efficacious family intervention to a community setting while nurturing a new partnership. Included are implications of the study related to social work education and social work practice. Lessons learned about critical components of the community-based research collaboration and recommendations for future research are provided.</span> PubDate: 2017-03-14
Authors:Powers C; Comfort M, Lopez AM, et al. Abstract: <span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle"></div>People who are “triply diagnosed” with HIV, mental health issues, and substance-related disorders face tremendous barriers connecting to and remaining in HIV care. Authors of this article implemented Project Bridge Oakland (PBO), an intervention based on harm reduction and trauma-informed care, to help maintain continuity of care for triply diagnosed adults through cycles of criminal justice involvement. From August 2011 to December 2014, a clinical social worker and an HIV physician provided intensive case management for 19 clients living in Oakland, California. By working with clients across a multitude of community, clinic, and correctional spaces while maintaining a low threshold for services, the social worker was able to engage a severely marginalized population in HIV care. This article details the PBO strategies for assisting with a wide range of services needed for community stabilization, navigating criminal justice involvement, and establishing a therapeutic relationship through mundane practices such as eating and waiting for appointments. This article illustrates how programs aimed at stabilizing triply diagnosed clients in the community and connecting them to HIV care require coordination among providers, outreach to engage clients, ample time to work with them, and flexibility to account for the complexities of their day-to-day lives and experiences.</span> PubDate: 2017-03-14
Authors:Jungari S; Chauhan B. Abstract: <span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">Abstract</div>Premature menopause refers to the occurrence of menopause in women less than 40 years of age. This heterogeneous disorder affects 1 percent and 0.1 percent of women less than 40 and 30 years of age, respectively. The study reported in this article attempts to understand the prevalence and determinants of premature menopause among Indian women by studying the effects of various socioeconomic indicators, such as age, education, wealth index, rural–urban settlement, work status, religion, and caste, on women. The study analyzed the National Family Health Survey-3, which is equivalent to the Demographic Health Survey in India. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were performed to tease out the determinants of premature menopause. Results indicate that the percentage of premature menopause is very high (5.5 percent) among Indian women. Among Indian states, Andhra Pradesh women have the highest percentage of premature menopause (14.6 percent). Smoking and the nutritional status of women are strongly associated with early menopause. Furthermore, women living in rural areas and using tobacco are at a greater risk of premature menopause.</span> PubDate: 2017-03-09
Authors:Fraga S; Ramos E, Barros H. Abstract: <span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">Abstract</div>In this article, authors present findings on the relationship between depressive symptoms and involvement in physical fighting in late adolescence. Participants were 1,380 Portuguese adolescents initially recruited in 2003 to the EPITeen cohort. Depressive symptoms were assessed at 13 and 17 years of age using Beck Depressive Inventory II (BDI). Physical fighting was recorded at the age of 17. For girls, there was a significant association between depressive symptoms and physical fighting for those who scored BDI >13 at 17 years old and remained statistically significant after adjustment. For boys, those who scored >13 in both study waves presented higher crude odds to engage in fights that were attenuated after adjusting for grade retention. Depressive symptoms were significantly related to physical fighting involvement during adolescence, for both genders. However, whereas for female adolescents the association was significant when relevant symptoms and fighting occurred in the same period, for male adolescents such symptoms must have persisted from 13 to 17 years of age.</span> PubDate: 2017-03-09
Authors:Hebenstreit H. Abstract: <span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">Abstract</div>This article discusses limitations in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) <span style="font-style:italic;">Code of Ethics</span> conceptualization of “cultural competence.” It uses the case example presented in Anne Fadiman's classic (2012) work, <span style="font-style:italic;">The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures</span>, to explore the conventional markers of cultural competence, as taught in contemporary graduate-level social work education curricula, and their implications for socially just practice. Furthermore, it proposes that an expanded commitment to antiracist practice is necessary to deliver care and craft policies that, in the spirit of the NASW <span style="font-style:italic;">Code of Ethics</span>, truly respect the “dignity and worth” of the individual.</span> PubDate: 2017-03-04
Authors:Marshall GL, Thorpe RJ, Jr; Szanton SL. Abstract: <span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">Abstract</div>This article examines the association between material hardships and self-rated mental health (SRMH) among older black Americans and determines whether the effect varies by race and ethnicity. Using data from the National Survey of American Life, multiple logistic regression models were specified on a sample of older white Americans (<span style="font-style:italic;">n</span> = 289), African Americans (<span style="font-style:italic;">n</span> = 1,135), and black Caribbean Americans (<span style="font-style:italic;">n</span> = 377). Material hardship was measured as an index of seven items that occurred within the past year. Material hardship (odds ratio = 0.48; 95 percent confidence interval = 0.29–0.79) was associated with SRMH for both groups. None of the interactions were significant. The study concludes that material hardship may contribute to poorer SRMH among older African Americans and black Caribbean Americans. Future studies should examine these associations by using longitudinal designs, which may be better designed to confirm these results.</span> PubDate: 2017-03-04
Authors:Ramseyer Winter V; O'Neill EA, Omary A. Abstract: <span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">Abstract</div>Body image, a multidimensional construct, affects women in myriad ways. Existing scholarship has established a relationship between body image and negative mental and sexual health outcomes and suggests that it may also be related to physical health outcomes. The purpose of the study reported in this article was to explore relationships between body appreciation, a multidimensional measure of body image, and self-perceived physical health among a sample of emerging adult women (<span style="font-style:italic;">N</span> = 399). In this sample, body appreciation was positively and significantly related to self-perceived physical health. This study contributes to a growing body of literature on the consequences of body image among women and can be used to inform interventions aimed at improving the well-being of women.</span> PubDate: 2017-03-04
Authors:Son E; Parish SL, Igdalsky L. Abstract: <span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">Abstract</div>There is a dearth of information on the quality of health care for Asian American children and particularly Asian children with special health care needs (CSHCN). The goal of this article was to determine whether there were disparities in quality of health care for Asian CSHCN, whose experiences have not been studied. Data were derived from the 2009–2010 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (<span style="font-style:italic;">n</span>s = 355 non-Hispanic Asian children and 4,343 non-Hispanic white CSHCN). Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between racial identity (that is, non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic Asian) and quality of health care. Racial disparities in quality of health care were substantial between Asian and white CSHCN in 2009–2010. Asian parents were significantly less likely than white parents to report that their health care provider provided the specific information they needed, helped them feel like a partner in their child's care, and was sensitive to the family's values and customs. The development and testing of specific, targeted policy and practice interventions to reduce disparities in health care quality for these children are urgently needed.</span> PubDate: 2017-03-02
Authors:Akobirshoev I; Bowser D, Parish SL, et al. Abstract: <span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle"></div>Although the United States has made great strides in ensuring near universal health care access for children, the health insurance coverage gap between children and their parents remains high. This study analyzed aggregated data from the 2006–2013 National Health Interview Survey to investigate the direct relationships between parental uninsurance and children's health outcomes. Authors explored how parental health mediates the relationship between parents’ health and children's health outcomes. Results suggest that insured children of uninsured parents have worse health status and are at higher risk of asthma, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, developmental delays, learning disabilities, and mental disabilities compared with insured children of insured parents. Parental health mediated this relationship. These findings illuminate the pathway between parental uninsurance and child health outcomes and suggest that policies that provide health insurance coverage to both children and their parents may improve both parental health and children's health outcomes. This study fills an important gap in the literature related to how parental uninsurance affects children's health outcomes mediated by the impact of uninsurance on parental health.</span> PubDate: 2017-03-02
Authors:Hall J. Abstract: <span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">Abstract</div>This article examines how skin color stratification, termed “colorism,” affects the psychological well-being of African American women. Previous research has shown that the experience of colorism is pervasive within the black community and that black women have been culturally or personally affected by intraracial discrimination. This article describes a qualitative study that used focus groups to investigate the experiences of black women that were categorized according to their self-ascribed skin tone group. The findings indicated that women of different hues have distinctive experiences based on their skin tone, and that these experiences influence how they felt about themselves and interact with others. The article concludes with a discussion of practice, research, and policy implications.</span> PubDate: 2017-02-27
Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)
[370 journals]
