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Browsing by Author "Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health"
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Item Acceptability and Feasibility of a Meaning-Based Intervention for Patients With Advanced Cancer and Their Spouses A Pilot Study(Sage, 2016) Wagner, Christina D.; Johns, Shelley; Brown, Linda F.; Hanna, Nasser; Bigatti, Silvia M.; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public HealthBackground: Constructing meaning in cancer leads to improved psychosocial outcomes for patients and survivors. Aim: We tested the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a meaning-based intervention for couples. Design: The single-arm pilot study tested a 4-session, tailored, activities-based couple’s intervention. Setting/Participants: Twelve adults with incurable cancer and their partners participated either in a university office or at the couple’s home. Results: The study showed good feasibility. One of the two patients depressed at baseline was no longer depressed at postintervention. Patients’ threat appraisals decreased and transcendence increased. In partners, depression, anxiety, and challenge appraisal decreased; threat and secondary appraisals and peace with illness increased. Conclusions: Our findings suggest feasibility and efficacy, and further research and continued evaluation of this intervention are warranted.Item Ancestor Worship and the Longevity of Chinese Civilization(Brill, 2016) Coe, Kathryn; Begley, Ryan O.; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public HealthAlthough an impressive body of literature is devoted to the practice of venerating ancestors in China and other places, there is little agreement on what ancestor worship is, where it is practiced, and whether it is an ancient and persistent trait. Ancestor worship, we argue, is an ancient trait that has persisted in China, as in other parts of the world, since prehistoric times. We also discuss its universal aspects, including those associated with teaching it and with encouraging its persistence across generations. We end by discussing the function of ancestor worship in China. Has it been an impediment to progress, as Christian missionaries and communists insisted, or, as Ping-Ti Ho claimed, has it promoted the “longevity of Chinese civilization”? We argue that both claims may be correct, depending on the definition of progress and the characteristics associated with China’s two forms of ancestor worship.Item Association between concussion and mental health in former collegiate athletes(Springer, 2014-12) Kerr, Zachary Y.; Evenson, Kelly R.; Rosamond, Wayne D.; Mihalik, Jason P.; Guskiewicz, Kevin M.; Marshall, Stephen W.; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public HealthBACKGROUND: The existing research on the association between concussion and mental health outcomes is largely limited to former professional athletes. This cross-sectional study estimated the association between recurrent concussion and depression, impulsivity, and aggression in former collegiate athletes. METHODS: Former collegiate athletes who played between 1987-2012 at a Division I university completed an online questionnaire. The main exposure, total number of self-recalled concussions (sport-related and non-sport-related), were categorized as: zero (referent), one, two, or three or more concussions. The main outcomes were the depression module of The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Short Form of the Barratt Impulsiveness scale (BIS15); and the 12-item Short Form of the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ-SF). Depression was categorized into a binomial severity classification that differentiated between no or mild depression (PHQ-9 scores <10) and moderate to severe depression (PHQ-9 scores ≥10). Impulsivity and aggression were kept as continuous outcomes. Binomial regression estimated adjusted prevalence ratios (PR). Linear regression estimated adjusted mean differences (MD). RESULTS: Of the 797 respondents with complete data (21.9% completion rate), 38.8% reported at least one concussion. Controlling for alcohol dependence and family history of depression, the prevalence of moderate to severe depression among former collegiate athletes reporting three or more concussions in total was 2.4 times that of those reporting zero concussions [95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.0, 5.7]. Controlling for alcohol dependence, family history of anxiety, relationship status, obtaining a post-graduate degree, and playing primary college sport professionally, former collegiate athletes reporting two or more concussions in total had higher mean scores for impulsivity, compared to those reporting no concussions (2 concussions MD = 2.7; 95% CI: 1.2, 4.1; 3+ concussions MD = 1.9; 95% CI: 0.6, 3.2). Controlling for alcohol dependence, sex, and relationship status, former collegiate athletes reporting three or more concussions in total had a higher mean score for aggression, compared to those reporting no concussions (MD = 3.0; 95% CI: 1.4, 4.7). CONCLUSIONS: Our study found an association between former concussion and greater risk of severe depression and higher levels of impulsivity and aggression among former collegiate athletes. Additional prospective studies better addressing causality and ascertaining valid lifetime concussion histories and medical histories are needed.Item Can Science lead us to a Definition of Art?(Firenze University Press, 2013) Coe, Kathryn; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public HealthFor approximately two thousand years, human thinkers have been attempting to define a behaviour, referred to as art, that humans have been practicing for tens of thousands of years. Defining this term has proved to be so difficult that Munro (1949: 5) to claim that the arts “are too intangible and changing to be defined or classified.” In this paper a 12-property cluster theory proposed by Denis Dutton is critically evaluated not in light of how well it fits with current thinking in aesthetics, but in light of its scientific strength and its usefulness for examining art across cultures.Item Methods and Descriptive Epidemiology of Services Provided by Athletic Trainers in High Schools: The National Athletic Treatment, Injury and Outcomes Network Study(National Athletic Trainers' Association, 2015-12) Kerr, Zachary Y.; Dompier, Thomas P.; Dalton, Sara L.; Miller, Sayers John; Hayden, Ross; Marshall, Stephen W.; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public HealthCONTEXT: Research is limited on the extent and nature of the care provided by athletic trainers (ATs) to student-athletes in the high school setting. OBJECTIVE: To describe the methods of the National Athletic Treatment, Injury and Outcomes Network (NATION) project and provide the descriptive epidemiology of AT services for injury care in 27 high school sports. DESIGN: Descriptive epidemiology study. SETTING: Athletic training room (ATR) visits and AT services data collected in 147 high schools from 26 states. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: High school student-athletes participating in 13 boys' sports and 14 girls' sports during the 2011-2012 through 2013-2014 academic years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The number of ATR visits and individual AT services, as well as the mean number of ATR visits (per injury) and AT services (per injury and ATR visit) were calculated by sport and for time-loss (TL) and non-time-loss (NTL) injuries. RESULTS: Over the 3-year period, 210 773 ATR visits and 557 381 AT services were reported for 50 604 injuries. Most ATR visits (70%) were for NTL injuries. Common AT services were therapeutic activities or exercise (45.4%), modalities (18.6%), and AT evaluation and reevaluation (15.9%), with an average of 4.17 ± 6.52 ATR visits and 11.01 ± 22.86 AT services per injury. Compared with NTL injuries, patients with TL injuries accrued more ATR visits (7.76 versus 3.47; P < .001) and AT services (18.60 versus 9.56; P < .001) per injury. An average of 2.24 ± 1.33 AT services were reported per ATR visit. Compared with TL injuries, NTL injuries had a larger average number of AT services per ATR visit (2.28 versus 2.05; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the broad spectrum of care provided by ATs to high school student-athletes and demonstrate that patients with NTL injuries require substantial amounts of AT services.Item Reconceptualizing the Human Social Niche: How It Came to Exist and How It Is Changing(The University of Chicago Press, 2016-04-04) Palmer, Craig T.; Coe, Kathryn; Steadman, Lyle B.; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public HealthIn this paper we present a reconceptualization of the social dimension of the human niche and the evolutionary process that brought it into existence. We agree with many other evolutionary approaches that a key aspect of the human niche is a social environment consisting primarily of cooperating and altruistic individuals, not a Hobbesian social environment of “war of all against all.” However, in contrast to the conception of this social environment as consisting of individuals who, in Boyd and Richerson’s words, “cooperate with large groups of unrelated individuals,” we propose that it is more accurately described as consisting of cooperating individuals who currently are often nonkin but who, until relatively recently in human existence, were primarily, and in many cases almost exclusively, kin. In contrast to the conception of this social environment coming into existence by way of a process of selection within and between groups, we propose that it is the result of selection operating on traditions originated by ancestors and transmitted to their descendants. We use our fieldwork in three areas of the world (New Guinea, Ecuador, and Canada) to illustrate this process and how current social environments can be roughly placed on a continuum from traditional to nontraditional.Item The Role of Online Social Support in Supporting and Educating Parents of Young Children With Special Health Care Needs in the United States: A Scoping Review(JMIR Publications, 2016) DeHoff, Beth A.; Staten, Lisa K.; Rodgers, Rylin Christine; Denne, Scott C.; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public HealthBackground: When parents of young children with special health care needs (CSHCN) receive their child’s diagnosis, they encounter information they may not understand, emotions they may not know how to cope with, and questions about their child’s immediate and long-term future that frequently lack answers. The challenge of health care providers is how to prepare parents for caring for their CSHCN, for coping with any resulting challenges, and for accessing the systems and services that can assist them. Objective: The purpose of this work was to review evidence of the information and support needs of parents of young CSHCN and to determine whether online social support can serve as an avenue for learning and empowerment for these parents. Methods: A scoping review identified the challenges, coping mechanisms, and support needs among parents of CSHCN, and the reach and effectiveness of digital technologies with these families and health care providers. We also conducted interviews with professionals serving parents of CSHCN. Results: The literature review and interviews suggested that parents best learn the information they need, and cope with the emotional challenges of raising a CSHCN, with support from other parents of CSHCN, and that young parents in recent years have most often been finding this parent-to-parent support through digital media, particularly social media, consistent with the theory of online social support. Evidence also shows that social media, particularly Facebook, is used by nearly all women aged 18-29 years across racial and socioeconomic lines in the United States. Conclusions: Parents of young CSHCN experience significant stress but gain understanding, receive support, and develop the ability to care for and be advocates for their child through parent-to-parent emotional and informational social support. Online social support is most effective with young adults of childbearing age, with social media and apps being the most useful within the theoretical framework of social support. This opens new opportunities to effectively educate and support parents of young CSHCN. Providers seeking to inform, educate, and support families of CSHCN should develop strategies to help parents find and use social support through digital resources to facilitate their emotional adjustment and practical abilities to care for and access services for their child. [J Med Internet Res 2016;18(12):e333]Item Totemism and Long-Term Evolutionary Success(APA, 2015-11) Palmer, Craig T.; Begley, Ryan O.; Coe, Kathryn; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public HealthThis paper proposes that the clan Totemism existing in many traditional cultures, and described as religious by many ethnographers, provides evidence about the early evolutionary function of religion in the sense that it provides evidence of the effects of religion that caused it to become widespread in our species. However, this paper also proposes that evolutionary explanations of Totemism have failed to fully appreciate the reason clan Totemism acts as a kind of window into the past. This is the fact that the behaviors constituting clan Totemism could not have taken their form when first studied by anthropologists if they had not been copied from ancestors to descendants for many generations. This new multigenerational approach to clan Totemism combines 4 points about Totemism that have been recognized by others, but whose implications have not heretofore been fully comprehended.Item Using Rituals for Intervention Refinement(2016) Keller, C.; Coe, Kathryn; Shaibi, G.; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public HealthIn this paper we propose a culture-based health promotion/disease prevention intervention model. This model, which is family-based, incorporates a life course perspective, which involves the identification of individual developmental milestones, and incorporates aspects of culture that have been widely used across cultures to influence behavior and mark important developmental transitions. Central among those cultural traits is the ritual, or rite of passage, which, for millennia, has been used to teach the skills associated with developmental task mastery and move individuals, and their families, through life stages so that they reach certain developmental milestones. Family rituals, such as eating dinner together, can serve as powerful leverage points to support health behavior change, and serve as unique intervention delivery strategies that not only influence behavior, but further strengthen families.