This study is an exploration of existing informal health care beliefs and practices of blacks in Southern Appalachia and how they compare with the majority white population. How regional black folk belief systems compare to those documented in other parts of the country is also examined. Thirty-five blacks selected opportunistically were interviewed with a structural questionnaire. Topics addressed during the interviews included: illnesses from childhood, adulthood, and old age; folk illnesses; ideas on religiosity in healing and healthcare, and views on folk medicine in light of biomedicine. The collected data suggest that black folk medicine in the study region is consistent with an homogenous American folk tradition and is not itself unique. The data collected also suggest that the extraordinary aspect to the black community studied is the lack of belief in the spirit beyond God as a healing, omnipotent force. The lack of belief in spiritism is inconsistent with other studies done on black American folk belief systems and is even inconsistent with documented 'white' studies done in Southern Appalachia and the South.

Prescribed fire has increased as a forest management practice in southern Appalachia, but investigations into the effects of this silvicultural treatment on non-game wildlife inhabiting the region is limited. This study investigated the effects of prescribed fire on millipede and salamander populations. Seventeen sites within the Cherokee National Forest in east Tennessee that were treated once with prescribed fire between 1998 and 2002 were examined in the spring of 2002. Each burned plot was paired with an adjacent unburned plot. The number of individual millipedes and salamanders collected from burned plots was compared to the corresponding control plot. Millipedes declined in numbers following treatment with prescribed fire. The number of salamanders collected was insufficient to permit analyses comparing the number of salamanders found in burned and control sites. No difference between burned and control plots was detected in the species comprising the millipede communities.

In his Kirkman tetralogy, Fred Chappell refutes ill-conceived Appalachian stereotypes via his refreshingly intelligent and sophisticated cast of mountaineer players. However, Chappell’s characters do not exist without flaws. Jess Kirkman, the tetralogy’s narrator, is a particularly tortured figure. Perpetually struggling to assimilate into his native mountain culture, Jess represents the Appalachian Other, an individual who is born into Southern Highland society, but who is, ironically, treated like an outsider by his peers. Throughout Chappell’s first novel, Jess’s inability to connect with his own family members becomes evident. In books two and three, readers see that, although several of Jess’s male relatives share his assimilative struggles, the women in his family are warmly embraced members of Appalachian society. While Jess desperately attempts to win the approval of his peers in novel four, he ultimately accepts his otherness, thus embracing the permanency of his outsider status.

In the nineteenth century, the perceived ability of alienists (the early term for mental health specialists) to cure insanity eventually led to lavishly-constructed insane asylums supported by taxpayers. Simultaneously, the hope of a cure and a changing attitude toward insanity helped destigmatize mental illness and made institutionalization of the insane more acceptable. This regional study investigates insane asylums within Appalachia between 1850 and 1900. Primary sources include period articles from professional publications, census data, asylum records, period newspaper articles, and patient records. The study provides background on the medical environment of nineteenth-century Appalachia and investigates the creation and function of five Appalachian asylums. The institutions under examination appear to be as modern and enlightened as those in any other region. Contrary to most published theory, women were not committed to Appalachian asylums more often than men, nor does patient abuse appear to be prevalent.

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Excerpt: Summer gardens everywhere are kicking out crops at last. Just yesterday I pulled six cucumbers from a vine and set three more tomatoes on the kitchen windowsill. Hmmm… with balsamic and oil? Mozzarella and basil? Decisions, decisions! The Psychology Department at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is at a similar point.

Though vaccine uptake and public support have risen since the release of the first HPV vaccines, the United States has far lower initiation and completion rates for the HPV vaccine series in comparison to other vaccines indicated for youth. Disparities are even greater in the Appalachian regions. Understanding factors contributing to these discrepancies is vital to improving vaccine rates in Appalachia. A comprehensive literature search identified all articles pertaining to HPV vaccination in children and adolescents living in Appalachia. The final 15 articles were included in a systematic review of the topic.

Abstract available in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

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