<p> The massive migration of rural labor to urban areas in China over the past few decades has created the largest labor flow in world history. The proportion of the residential population in rural areas decreased from 80% in the late 1970s to 44% in 2016. Due to institutional and practical constraints, whole family migration is often not feasible for most migrant families. As a result, 61 million children age 0-17 are estimated to be left behind in rural communities by at least one parent seeking employment elsewhere. These numbers reflect a major change in the family and community environment in which children are cared for. Parental migration brings about changes in family structure and dynamics, entails a trade-off between economic benefits and parenting inputs, such as parental supervision and emotional support. At community-level, large-scale selective migration leads to remarkable changes in community demographic composition, shifting sociocultural norms and aspirations, influencing community institutional resources and collective social capital. </p><p> Over the past few decades, the scientific literature examining the implications of this large-scale migration and split families on the well-being of children left-behind has proliferated. However, empirical evidence on the effect of parental migration on left-behind children&rsquo;s well-being is mixed for China and other countries in the context of international migration. Few studies have attempted to reconcile the inconsistent findings by examining the moderator effect. Although the potential effects of migration on cognitive development of children in origin communities reflect both household- and community-level processes, few studies have examined how community-level migration affects child development. In addition, mostly focused on the well-being of school-aged children, very limited study has been conducted on parental migration and early childhood development in the first few years of children&rsquo;s lives, especially in the domain of cognitive and behavioral outcomes. Moreover, most researches have relied on cross-sectional data, exploring the association between a contemporaneous measure of parental migration and statically measured child outcomes at one point in time, ignoring the potential impact of the timing, transition and cumulative exposure to parental migration/absence, and may also be prone to selection bias. </p><p> To bridge the gap, the first analysis examines the conditions that may influence the effect of parental migration on child self-rated health (SRH). The results suggest a relatively weak main effect, but this is due in part to the influence of moderating factors. Children are more likely to report a good health status when the economic return of migration is substantial, if they are from impoverished communities, or when mothers remained at home to provide care while the father migrated a short distance within the same province. The second analysis focuses on examining community migration effect. Findings suggest lower cognitive achievement in communities experiencing high migration intensity. Children living in very high migration intensity areas are expected to have 3.57- and 1.54-unit lower verbal and math scores, which are equivalent to 1.67 and 0.87 years of formal education respectively. A possible explanation for this effect is the change in demographic composition brought about by the outmigration of better-educated adults. Finally, applying growth curve modeling strategy, the third analysis examines parental migration and early childhood development trajectories and states, taking into account timing, transition and cumulative exposure to parental migration. Our findings indicate that while left-behind children are comparable in the prevalence of childhood illness, positive behaviors and preschool enrollment, two-parent migration has a detrimental effect on children&rsquo;s linear growth, cognitive stimulation, and home environment. Lack of appropriate cognitive stimulation in the critical early years could have important implications for child cognitive development.</p><p>

<p> My dissertation examines the depression prevalence, symptom patterns and dimension, and mental health service use among Chinese Americans. The purpose of this research is to, 1) provide epidemiological data on the prevalence of depression among Chinese Americans, 2) examine sociocultural impacts on the prevalence and specific symptoms patterns of depression, and 3) generate implications for more culturally-sensitive approaches in psychiatric diagnosis and treatment. I use secondary data from the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Studies (CPES). The CPES consists of three nationally representative surveys conducted between 2001 and 2003. Each of three substantive chapters attempts to a set of issues, and together they contribute to the literature on generational differences in mental health status and help-seeking behaviors among Chinese Americans. </p><p> The first substantive chapter examines depression prevalence and correlates among different generations of Chinese Americans, using non-Hispanic whites as a comparison group, using weighted multinomial logistic regression. Results of the study indicate that Chinese Americans in general have a lower risk of depression than do non-Hispanic whites. Moreover, the prevalence and correlates of depression do not show a linear trend of difference from first to second to third-or-higher generation Chinese Americans, and then to non-Hispanic whites; rather, the risk of depression and its associated with social relational factors present distinct patterns for first and second generation Chinese Americans, compared to third-or-higher generation Chinese Americans and non-Hispanic whites. Specifically, friend network and extended family network play different roles in their influence on depression risk for different generations of Chinese Americans. </p><p> In Chapter Four, I conduct exploratory factor analysis to examine two subgroups of Chinese Americans, the foreign-born and the US-born, and compare them to the non-Hispanic whites. I also conduct weighted binary logistic regression to examine the patterns of depressive symptoms for Chinese Americans (separate by nativity status) and compare the two groups to non-Hispanic whites. I also examine how demographic characteristics and social factors are related to different dimensions of depressive symptoms for each group. I also find very similar factors structures of DSM-IV depressive symptoms among foreign-born Chinese Americans, US-born Chinese Americans, and non-Hispanic whites. For all three groups, suicidal ideation or attempt is a construct that is distinct from the rest of the symptoms items. The three groups have different social correlates, yet there are only minor differences in the social correlates for each one of the four depression dimensions within each group. Chronic physical condition is the most consistently significant predictor, for the negative affect, somatic symptoms, and cognitive symptoms among the two Chinese groups, and for all four dimensions of depression among non-Hispanic whites. </p><p> Finally, in Chapter Five, I find significant heterogeneity of exclusive complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use by race/ethnicity and generational status, as well as English proficiency, gender, age, marital status, education, employment status, having insurance, and having any probably psychiatric disorder. Specifically, first generation Chinese immigrants lag behind second, third-or-higher generation Chinese Americans, and non-Hispanic whites in the likelihood of using exclusive CAM services, as well as any services in general. In addition, this chapter finds that exclusive CAM service use was more popular than the use of only conventional Western medicine or a combination of both, among all Chinese Americans except for the second generations. The findings provide a more nuanced understanding of the pattern of mental health service use among Chinese Americans.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Sociology, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Feb 4, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-04, Section: A, page: 1433. Adviser: Jane D. McLeod.

<p> A Specialized or Super Intensive-1 (SI-1) supervision level refers to a contact requirement imposed on special needs offenders (SNOs) under Texas parole supervision. SI-1 supervision requires greater contact with parole officers and treatment providers than supervision levels used on regular offenders (ROs), yet little is known about whether SI-1 supervision offenders violate terms of their parole or commit new crimes at a different rate compared to the regular offender population in the State of Texas. Reconstruction theory and the social construction of reality were used as theoretical underpinnings of this study, which examined whether differences in offenders' supervision levels created statistically significant differences in technical or new law violations in Texas parole hearings. A random sample of 200 SNOs and ROs data were analyzed using a 2-way ANOVA. Results indicated a positive and statistically significant difference between level of supervision and technical violations, with SI-1 offenders committing a greater number of violations of non-criminal terms of parole, but with SI-1 offenders being less likely than the regular offender population to commit new crimes. These findings challenge the social construction that SI-1 offenders introduce a higher element of risk to the community regarding new criminal activity. The positive social change implications of the study include policy recommendations to the Texas legislature and Texas Department of Criminal Justice to refocus resources on improving outcomes related to technical parole violations, including a reduction in SNOs' contact standards, which in turn, promote fiscal responsibility and improvements in public safety for the people of the state of Texas.</p>

<p> This dissertation examines whether spatial measures of health determinants and health outcomes are being used appropriately and effectively to improve the health of marginalized populations in the United States. I concentrate on three spatial measures that have received significant policy and regulatory attention in California and nationally: access to healthful foods, climate change, and housing quality. I find that measures of these health determinants have both significant limitations and unrealized potential for addressing health disparities and promoting health equity. </p><p> I define spatial triage as a process of using spatial data to screen or select place-based communities for targeted investments, policy action, and/or regulatory attention. Chapter 1 describes the historical context of spatial triage and how it relates to ongoing health equity research and policy. In Chapter 2, I evaluate spatial measures of community nutrition environments by comparing data from in-person store surveys against data from a commercial database. I find that stores in neighborhoods with higher population density or higher percentage of people of color have lower availability of healthful foods and that inaccuracies in commercial databases may produce biased measures of healthful food availability. </p><p> Chapter 3 focuses on spatial measures of climate change vulnerability. I find that currently used spatial measures of "disadvantaged communities" ignore many important factors, such as community assets, region-specific risks, and occupation-based hazards that contribute to place-based vulnerability. I draw from examples of successful actions by community-based environmental justice organizations and reframe "disadvantaged" communities as sites of solutions where innovative programs are being used to simultaneously address climate mitigation, adaptation, and equity goals. </p><p> In Chapter 4, I combine electronic health records, public housing locations, and census data to evaluate patterns of healthcare utilization and health outcomes for low-income children in San Francisco. I find that children who live in redeveloped public housing are less likely to have more than one acute care hospital visit within a year than children who live in older, traditional public housing. These results demonstrate how integrating patient-level data across hospitals and with data from other sectors can identify new types of place-based health disparities. Chapter 5 details recommendations for analytic, participatory, and cross-sector approaches to guide the development and implementation of more effective health equity research and policy.</p>

<p> Users play a key role in many training strategies, yet some organizations often fail to understand the users&rsquo; perception after a simulation training implementation, their attitude about acceptance or rejection of and integration of emerging simulation technology in medical training (Gaba, 2007, and Topol, 2012). Several factors are considered to contribute to the acceptance level of simulation training by the users, including cost, the existing training and certification policies, technical issue, realism of training, values of it, concerns about it, and its effect on the patients outcome, and medical errors (Clever, 2011and Dawson, 2006).An often overlooked factor in the success of a simulation training merger is the impact on the users and medical profession (Dickemen, 2007). This qualitative phenomenological research study explored the lived experiences of a purposeful sampling of medicals simulation training users in the decision and none decision making roles, who had been involved in simulation training at least for one year. The study obtained their perceptions, their lived experiences, feelings associated with the experience, and interactions. And then how those feelings, perception, opinions, attitudes, and interactions evolved. Data suggested that the presence of feelings attached to experience, preconceived views, existing training policies, affect the level of effectiveness, users&rsquo; view of its outlook, impact on the decisions, and the medical profession. In addition the users&rsquo; perception, beliefs, and feelings all affect the interpersonal dynamics, interactions, communications, of simulation training users during adoption of simulation technology and its implementation. Understanding the medical simulation training phenomena through the understanding of users&rsquo; perspective can redefine how they communicate, interact, share, learn in simulated environment , and from one another that help with the subsequent additions and modifications to the existing simulation training strategies. </p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, San Francisco, 2005. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-12, Section: A, page: 4537. Adviser: Charlene Harrington.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, San Francisco, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 71-02, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Adele E. Clarke.

<p> The popularity of the concept of patient-career rose at the same time as more people were using chiropractic care in the United States. Yet, patient-career has yet to be applied in a sociological manner to those who seek out chiropractic care. Semi-structured in-depth interviews with 19 patients of chiropractic care reveal that pain, to the point of interference with daily-life, is what drove them to seek out help outside traditional medicine. This research investigates how holding preconceived notions of chiropractic care (positive or negative), the influence of social networks, and beliefs surrounding health and pain influence the direction of the individual careers in chiropractic care. Several key findings emerged throughout the interview process such as understanding the impact of pain on daily-life, the validation of this pain from a caregiver, the importance of connections and shared understandings in healthcare, and the paradox of a chiropractic adjustment as a blend of science, religion, and magic.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to fund a mobile wellness program for the homeless in Los Angeles County, California. This program will collaborate with service providers in the selected planning areas to promote and support the services of the program to the homeless. The host agency of this proposed project is the John Wesley Community Health Institute, located in Los Angeles County, California. </p><p> After conducting a review of the literature, the grant writer designed a program to provide primary care, behavioral health, and case management services to the homeless population. Specifically, this project will fund a mobile health clinic to offer services to four Service Planning Areas (SPAs) in Los Angeles County. The Annenberg Foundation was determined to be the most appropriate match for funding of the project. </p><p> The actual submission or funding of this grant was not required for the successful completion of the project.</p><p>