Rising concerns over fatness in the United States have initiated a rise in research attending to the reproduction of fatness inequality. Prior work has documented that fat workers are evaluated less favorably and endure more weight-based discrimination than their thinner peers. Additionally, overweight and obese workers tend to have lower earnings than their thinner counterparts, and these penalties are especially harsh for women. However, less is known about the role of age in the relationship between fatness and earnings for women and men. We also know little about the processes through which fatness produces lower earnings. This mixed-methods project lends new insight into both of these issues. Using a sample of workers aged 25 to 72 drawn from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (1995-1996 and 2004-2006), I examine gender and age variation in the relationship between fatness and earnings. Multiple regression analyses reveal that obese individuals have lower earnings than their normal weight counterparts, overweight women have lower earnings than overweight men, and earnings penalties begin to accumulate at older ages among women. Measures of self-reported labor market discrimination and unfavorable workplace relations are unable to account for these penalties, suggesting that reduced earnings may be the result of subtler interactions in the workplace. I also analyze data drawn from twenty in-depth interviews with women with fatness-related labor market experience. These women describe interactions that point to the devaluation of fatness in the labor market, including extensive discussions about diet and being approached by coworkers and bosses about their size. They also describe strategies used to compensate for their fatness that may contribute to the reproduction of fatness inequality. The findings from this project reveal that fatness, gender, and age affect personal earnings with these systems of inequality interrelated. They also illustrate how women's fatness inequality may be maintained through interpersonal interactions in the workplace. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2013. / July 12, 2013. / Age, Intersectionality, Obesity, Work / Includes bibliographical references. / Anne E. Barrett, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jack Fiorito, University Representative; Irene Padavic, Committee Member; John Reynolds, Committee Member.

This study evaluates the impact of women's decision making power and attitudes about themselves in Egypt on three dimensions of child health: stunting, wasting and underweight. This study seeks to understand how women's perceived decision making power and self-perception affect child health, net of household socio-economic characteristics. These measures of child health are utilized because they describe the long and short term consequences on the health of Egyptian children. An analysis of stunting, wasting and underweight is important as it excludes children that have already succumbed to infant and child mortality that will not make up Egypt's future population and subsequent economic and political landscape. Analyses of the children's recode of the 2008 Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey reveal that while accounting for little of the variation in child health, dimensions of women's power are statistically significant predictors of child health, independent of measures of socioeconomic status. Logistic regression is used to understand how the effect of mother's perceived decision making power and attitudes affect child stunting, wasting and underweight in Egypt and how that effect changes when accounting for measures of socio-economic status and other controls. Children are less likely to be stunted, wasted or underweight when their mothers have more power and access to resources. These findings suggest that women's decision making power is important in its own right as a proximate determinant of child health, net of its traditional role as part of a measurement of socioeconomic status. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2014. / March 24, 2014. / Attitudes About Self, Child Health, Decision Making, Egypt, Stunting, Women'S Power / Includes bibliographical references. / Isaac W. Eberstein, Professor Directing Dissertation; Rebecca Miles, University Representative; Elwood Carlson, Committee Member; Kathryn Tillman, Committee Member.

This research contributes to medical sociology, neighborhood research, and life course studies by synthesizing relevant concepts from each field in order to offer a more complete understanding of how and why place impacts health. This achieved through the use of a life course framework that examines the influence of neighborhoods on self-rated health and allostatic load from adolescence through the transition into adulthood using a longitudinal, nationally representative data set that includes detailed information on early life health, as well as detailed data regarding adult health and well-being. Specifically, this dissertation contributes to the aforementioned by examining the following questions: 1) What are the effects of neighborhood structural characteristics on two measures of physical health at three different time points and 2) What mediating mechanisms account for their effects? The findings of this research further bolster existing evidence regarding the importance of the neighborhood environment for physical health. However, the results also extend the existing knowledge base in important ways. This work demonstrates that neighborhood structural characteristics, measured as disadvantage, affluence, and immigrant concentration, influence both subjective and objective measures of physical health at multiple points throughout the life course. Health outcomes such as allostatic load, self-rated health, and mean health are sensitive to compositional structural attributes of the community environment, but there are differences in which aspects of place matter most, the timing of the neighborhood effects, as well as differences in the way that traditional identified mediating mechanisms operate. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2014. / March 31, 2014. / Allostatic load, Health, Life Course, Neighborhoods, Self-rated health / Includes bibliographical references. / Jill Quadagno, Professor Directing Dissertation; Rebecca Miles, University Representative; Karin Brewster, Committee Member; Kathryn Harker Tillman, Committee Member.

Federally Qualified Community Health Centers - aka FQHCs, Community Health Centers (CHCs), Neighborhood Health Centers, or simply Health Centers - are public and private non-profit healthcare organizations funded under Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act, directed by a consumer board of directors, and complying with Federal requirements to serve medically underserved populations. In 2017 FQHCs saw more than 27 million individual patients in the United States, of whom approximately two million were seen by health centers in New York State (Bureau of Primary Health Care 2017). Despite these staggering figures, relatively little academic work has investigated how these health centers operate at an administrative and bureaucratic level. To study the bureaucratic practice of FQHCs, this research utilizes an ethnographic approach, conducted over a period of three-plus years at a FQHC in New York State (pseudonymously called Care Center). It incorporates structured interviews, informal interviews, the collection of fieldnotes, and participant observation, as well as qualitative data analysis. Collectively this research approach produces a complex portrait of how bureaucratic activity at the specific FQHC field site was organized, conducted, and structured within the context of substantial growth in the FQHC program. The setting of the study offers a unique opportunity to explore the implications of this bureaucratic activity on FQHCs and, by extension, other safety-net healthcare institutions in the United States. This research also delivers a substantial historical account of the emergence of the FQHC program in order to connect that account to the broader arc of healthcare history in the United States during the 20th and 21st centuries. This connection demonstrates the linkages between specific aspects of FQHC bureaucratic practice and larger trends in health care more generally. The emphasis on “need” as a discursive object that is frequently referenced and utilized as an organizing mechanism by FQHC bureaucracy allows us to better understand and problematize the use of need as a criterion for organizational growth.

Thesis (MSD)--Boston University, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, 2008 (Dept. of Health Policy and Health Services Research). / Includes bibliography: leaves 44-48. / 0bjective: The objective of this study is to detemine if there are differences by race or ethnicity in dental care provided at community health center clinics resulting in oral health disparities. This study also provides detailed information about the types of dental procedures received by patients at community health center clinics. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study design, consisting of a convenience sample of patients seen and care provided by senior dental students during their ten-week externship at twenty one Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine affiliated community health center clinics. The data collected was analyzed SAS version 9.1. Frequencies for categorical variables, means for continuous variable, bivariate analyses and generalized models of logistic regression analysis were performed with the main dependent variable of interest being patient’s race/ethnicity. Results: The total sample was 62,112 observations, of which 56% were females. Regression analysis found that Blacks were 1.23 times and Asians and others were 1.09 times more likely to get diagnostic procedures than Whites. Hispanics were just as likely to receive diagnostic procedures as Whites. Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and others were more likely to get preventive procedures when compared to Whites (p[less than or equal to]0.0001 ). Blacks were less likely to get restorative procedures than Whites (p[less than or equal to]0.0001) whereas Hispanics were as likely to get restorative procedures as Whites. Further generalized logistic regression models to predict specific procedures were performed which indicates that Blacks were 1.99 times, Hispanics were 1.72 times, Asians and others were 1.21 times more likely to get amalgam restorations compared to composite restorations than Whites. However, Blacks were as likely to get root canal therapy compared to extractions as Whites whereas Hispanics were 27% and Asians and others were 37% more likely to get root canal therapy versus extractions than Whites (p[less than or equal to]0.0001). Blacks were 0.55 times, Asians and others were 0.37 times less likely to receive fixed partial dentures compared to removable partial dentures than Whites (p[less than or equal to]0.0001) whereas Hispanics were just as likely to receive fixed Partial dentures as Whites. Conclusion: Disparities were seen in the receipt of dental services provided such as diagnostic, preventive, and restorative procedures based on race at community health center clinics. This surprising finding related to community health center clinics indicate the need for future research focused on reasons for these disparities as community health center clinics are primary care providers for underserved populations.

Thesis (M. A. (Communication Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / Globally, over the years, health promotion organisations have developed communication campaigns geared towards addressing most major public health issues with the intention of preventing risky sexual behaviour. Teenage pregnancy is a major health, social, systemic and economic challenge, not only for the basic education sector but also, crucially for national development in general. The use of modern contraceptives, specifically implant contraceptives, has the potential to alleviate unintended teenage pregnancies. Modern contraceptives such as implant contraceptives have proven to be highly effective from 24 hours after insertion up to three years. Theoretically, the Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behaviour have been applied to guide the study. A quantitative, descriptive survey was used in this study, with data collected using questionnaires. Purposive sampling of six secondary schools under the Mankweng Circuit in the Limpopo province where 306 participants were randomly selected was employed. Data were analysed using the SPSS version 26. The study revealed that that 34% of the participants were willing to use the implant contraceptive method based on the benefits found to be associated with the method. However, 66% were not willing to use the method regardless of the benefits found in using the implant contraceptives. In addition, it was found that only 3.9% of the participants were using implant contraceptives as a tool to prevent unintended pregnancies. This study makes a contribution to existing literature on implant contraceptives uptake among young women in South Africa. It would be informative to organisations and the National Department of Health who propose the use of implant contraceptives to stem increasing teenage pregnancies.

There is emerging evidence that addressing health-related social needs through enhanced clinical-community linkages can improve health outcomes and reduce costs. Unmet health-related social needs, such as food insecurity, inadequate or unstable housing, and lack of access to transportation may increase the risk of developing chronic conditions, reduce an individual's ability to manage these conditions, increase health care costs, and lead to avoidable health care utilization. In response, work on social needs is happening across large health systems in the United States, but the pace of progress is slow and accountability is diffuse. The goal of this applied research project is to examine Kaiser Permanente Northwest's patient navigator program as a case study for how health systems can transform into organizations that bridge clinical, social and behavioral health and redefine what it means to be a prevention-oriented delivery system. Kaiser Permanente Northwest (KPNW) provides high quality, patient-centered care to over 550,000 medical members and 240,000 dental members in Oregon and Southwest Washington. In conjunction with the Care Management Institute, KPNW created a patient navigator administered, social needs screening tool called "Your Current Life Situation" (YCLS). This thesis focuses on the data collected from this screening tool with an emphasis on operations management, workflows, and the technical tools that have been supported to do this work. The analysis also uses semi-structured qualitative interviews from patient navigators, physicians, social workers, community organizations and members to better understand the experience of social needs screening in clinical practice and its impact on members and community partners as they receive referrals for services outside the health care delivery system. Through using anthropological theory and methods, I seek to help health systems think and act differently by elevating the voice and experience of the community and translating vulnerable populations' needs into a language that can be integrated into multiple systems of care.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.