digitalisering@umu.se

Såväl internationella som nationella styrdokument fastställer att unga personers hälsa bör främjas. Där benämns unga hbtq-personer som en prioriterad samhällsgrupp då hälsan hos denna minoritetsgrupp är sämre än genomsnittet, särskilt den psykiska hälsan. Risken för utanförskap är vanligare eftersom hbtq-personer är en stigmatiserad och marginaliserad samhällsgrupp med en ökad risk för diskriminering, hot, våld och kränkande behandling. Kulturen, samhällets normer och värderingar påverkar förutsättningarna för unga hbtq-personers hälsa. Därför syftet var att undersöka socialt utanförskap bland unga hbtq-personer i Västmanland samt att studera om socialt utanförskap kunde sättas i samband med psykisk ohälsa. För att genomföra detta har studien en deduktiv kvantitativ ansats där tvärsnittsdesign och sekundärdata från Liv & hälsa ung 2014 har använts. Studien konstaterar att det var vanligare bland unga hbtq-personer och personer som är osäkra på sin sexuella läggning eller könsidentitet, att leva i socialt utanförskap än bland heterosexuella, där bisexuella och osäkra var de som förekom oftare. Liknande resultat återfanns gällande den psykiska ohälsan där unga hbtq-personer och osäkra personer oftare hade psykisk ohälsa. Det fanns samband mellan att vara ung hbtq-person eller osäker och att leva i socialt utanförskap samt ha psykisk ohälsa. Samtidigt är unga hbtq-personer och osäkra personer mer drabbade av att leva med båda, där tycks också heterosexualitet vara en skyddsfaktor. Nyckelord; Hbtq, Psykisk ohälsa, Socialt utanförskap, Ungdomar, Västmanland. / Both international and national policy documents determine that young people's health should be prioritized. There, young lgbtq-people are referred to as a priority group, since the health of this minority group is worse than the average, especially their mental health. The risk of exclusion is greater because lgbtq-people are a stigmatized and marginalized group with an increased risk of discrimination, threats, violence and abusive treatment. Culture, society's norms and values affect the preconditions for young lgbtq-people achieving good health. Therefore, the purpose was to investigate social exclusion among young lgbtq-people in Västmanland, as well as studying if social exclusion could be associated with having mental health issues. To accomplish this, the study adopted a deductive quantitative approach where cross-sectional design and secondary data from Survey of Adolescent Life in Västmanland 2014 have been used. The study finds it more common for lqbtq-adolescents and people who are unsure about their sexuality or gender identity to live in social exclusion than among heterosexuals. It also showed that it is more frequently experienced by bisexuals and unsure people. Similar findings were found regarding mental health in which young lgbtq-people and people who are unsure about the sexual orientation, sexuality, gender identity or gender expression, more often had mental health issues. There was a correlation between being a young lgbtq-person or unsure and living in social exclusion and having mental health issues. Concurrantly lgbtq-adolescents and unsure had a greater risk of being affected by both of those, where heterosexuality can be seen as a protective factor. Key words; Adolescents, Lgbtq, Mental health issues, Social Exclusion, Västmanland.

<p>2017-05-31</p>

<p>2017-05-31</p>

No description available.

Tuberculosis (TB) has presented a challenge to the public health community in Thailand, especially as regards patient adherence to TB treatment. Direct observed treatment (DOT) is recommended for promoting patient adherence to TB treatment. There is good evidence that DOT can significantly increase the patient adherence to TB treatment. However, the implementation of DOT has complex relationships to socioeconomic factors and Thai context issues.  The overall aim was (1) to obtain a deeper understanding of what happens when the DOT is practised in a local Thai community, and (2) to generate knowledge for improving the implementation of DOT, and thereby improve patient adherence to TB treatment. The empirical data were collected in Trang province, in the southern region of Thailand, between 2013 and 2015. The sample of study I consisted of five District TB Coordinators and five TB clinic staff from the public health sectors in rural and urban areas. Phenomenographic analysis was used. Study II: Five focus group discussions were conducted with 25 village health volunteers and six family members; manifest and latent content analysis was used for the analysis. Study III: Twenty TB patients were interviewed, using grounded theory methodology. Study IV: A mixed-method systematic review was accessed through databases. Data from the selected studies were extracted and synthesized using thematic analysis.  The fear of stigma of TB patients was considered a significant barrier to the practice of DOT and adherence to TB treatment (studies I, II and III). Lack of TB knowledge and skills among DOT observers were revealed as barriers to the practice of DOT (studies I and II). At the same time, social facilitation and TB patients’ positive thinking and self-awareness were considered enablers of patient adherence to TB treatment (studies I and III). Another result is to provide an empowerment approach for DOT observers, who, in turn, will increase the empowerment of TB patients to achieve adherence to TB treatment  (study IV). This thesis contributes a deeper understanding of the perspective of healthcare providers, DOT observers and TB patients when DOT is practised in a local Thai community. A challenge from these results is to provide an empowerment approach towards DOT observers. The results of this thesis will be useful for policy-makers who will consider strategies for improving the implementation of DOT and enabling patient adherence to TB treatment in the Thai context.

No description available.

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"Troubling Breath," the product of fourteen months of fieldwork, examines the experience of tuberculosis sufferers in rural Rajasthan, India. In it, I engage the Indian national tuberculosis control program, local health institutions, informal biomedical providers, non-biomedical healers and sufferers to consider how global tuberculosis control initiatives interact with social life and subjectivity among the rural poor. I ask how tuberculosis affliction and healing builds and reveals the diversity and limit of relationships between state and citizen, individual and kin, body and social, global and local, and formal and informal healthcare. / Anthropology

Two billion people world-wide use kerosene-burning lamps for household lighting. These lamps produce large quantities of soot. In Chapter 2, I describe our field study examining 230 people in rural Uganda. I show that kerosene lamps are a major source of smoke exposure in the developing world, and that replacing such lamps with solar-powered lights reduces indoor soot levels 17-fold, leading to significant improvements in health within months. This finding is particularly notable because respiratory disease is the #1 cause of death in children under 5 worldwide. Because solar cells are a challenge to manufacture in the developing world, I next examined the potential of harvesting electrons from soil-based microbes as a source of clean energy. Such devices are known as microbial fuel cells (MFCs); because soil is available everywhere, MFCs can, in principle, be locally constructed all over the world. In Chapter 3, I describe our exploration of the biology of MFCs, using high-throughput DNA sequencing to demonstrate a role for genus Pseudomonas in energy production. I also examine numerous agricultural products available throughout the developing world to determine whether any could serve as a suitable ‘feed’ for MFC soil. I find that dried animal blood increases MFC energy production 10-fold. In Chapter 4, I describe our design of a modular, stackable MFC, demonstrate that it can be easily constructed in rural Africa, and use it to power lights and to charge a cell phone battery.