Showing papers in "Social Science & Medicine in 2009"

TL;DR: A model describing the health assessment process is proposed to show how self-rated health can reflect the states of the human body and mind and the focus is on the social and biological pathways that mediate information from the human organism to individual consciousness.

TL;DR: It is suggested that, while the current strategy in TB control is effective in curing patients and saving lives, the epidemiological impact has so far been less than predicted and additional interventions to reduce peoples' vulnerability for TB may therefore be required.

TL;DR: It was concluded that living in walkable neighborhoods was associated with more physical activity and lower overweight/obesity but not with other benefits, and lower- and higher-income groups benefited similarly from living in high-walkability neighborhoods.

TL;DR: It is concluded that depression and/or anxiety in labor migrants and refugees require separate consideration, and that better economic conditions in the host country reflected by a higher GNP appear to be related to better mental health in labor migrant but not in refugees.

TL;DR: Semi-parametric group-based modeling yielded the strongest evidence for resistance, resilience, recovery, relapsing/remitting, delayed dysfunction, and chronic dysfunction trajectories in the aftermath of major disasters.

TL;DR: It is suggested future research should refine existing tools, determine their validity and usefulness across ethnic and subethnic groups, and identify which aspects of acculturation these scales and indices reliably measure.

TL;DR: An association of the Asian economic crisis with a sharp increase in suicide mortality in some, but not all, East/Southeast Asian countries is suggested, and that these increases were most closely associated with rises in unemployment.

TL;DR: It is shown that persistent perceived job insecurity is a significant and substantively important predictor of poorer self-rated health in the American's Changing Lives and Midlife in the United States samples, and of depressive symptoms among ACL respondents.

TL;DR: It is found that physical activity declines were strongly associated with greater availability of higher educational institutions, housing infrastructure, sanitation improvements and the economic wellbeing of the community in which people function.

TL;DR: It is found that patients' experience of antidepressants is characterised by the decision-making process and the meaning- making process, conceptualised here as the 'medication career' and 'moral career'.

TL;DR: It is found that subpopulations generally considered vulnerable to obesity are more likely to live in walkable neighborhoods and have better walking access to neighborhood parks than other groups in Phoenix, and the results suggest that benefits of built environments may be offset by social characteristics.

TL;DR: Modifiable correlates of HPV vaccine initiation among adolescent girls in high risk communities and whether correlates varied by race and urban/rural status are identified.

TL;DR: It is found that participants with different education conceptualised their involvement in decision making in diverse ways, and the important role of the patient-practitioner relationship in the process of decision making is highlighted.

TL;DR: Analysis of data from the Multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis in four US cities shows that living in an immigrant enclave is not monolithically beneficial and may have different associations with different health behaviors.

TL;DR: Programs that promote widespread HIV testing and discussion of HIV/AIDS, as well as education regarding and universal access to ARVs, may reduce HIV/ AIDS-related stigma and discrimination.

TL;DR: Overall, as compared to native women, immigrant women showed a clear disadvantage for all the outcomes considered, and the risks were clearly and significantly reduced in countries with a strong integration policy.

TL;DR: Although all patient characteristics had some statistically significant influence on patient satisfaction, age, health status and education appeared to be the most important determinants of patient satisfaction and could be considered for case mix correction.

TL;DR: Meta-analyses found that Asian, North African and sub-Saharan African migrants were at greater risk of feto-infant mortality than 'majority' receiving populations, and Asian and sub-$50% of all studies found that migrants' results for preterm birth, low birthweight and health-promoting behaviour were as good or better as those for receiving-country women in >or=50%of all studies.

TL;DR: This investigation successfully demonstrated that both secular change and birth cohort membership have independently contributed to elevated odds of obesity among recent generations of Americans, suggesting that cohort-specific strategies may be needed to combat disconcertingly high rates of obesity in the U.S.

TL;DR: With some exceptions, better overallQoL was reported for light intensity exercise undertaken in group settings, with greater improvement in physical QoL following moderate intensity exercise, and physical and psychological QOL domains improved significantly relative to controls in well participants.

TL;DR: Since disadvantaged socio-economic characteristics are strongly associated with sleep problems, it is concluded that disrupted sleep may be a mechanism through which low SES is linked to poor health.

TL;DR: Qualitative data from multiple conversational interviews held over the period of a year are interpreted to explore how older people relate to their social and physical environments, with a specific focus on attachment to place and the meaning of home.

TL;DR: The empirical evidence that trust in physicians is associated with both self-rated health and therapeutic response is provided, however, a more longitudinal study design is necessary to precisely determine both the strength and causality of these relationships.

TL;DR: Analysis of two waves of data from a large community survey conducted in the city of Canberra and the surrounding region in south-east Australia showed that current financial hardship was strongly and independently associated with depression, above the effects of other measures of socio-economic position and demographic characteristics.

TL;DR: Depression and hopelessness were found to be mutually reinforcing, but distinct constructs that independently predicted the desire for hastened death, and mediated the effects of psychosocial and disease-related variables on this outcome.

TL;DR: It is found that job loss significantly increases the risk of hospitalization due to alcohol-related conditions, among both men and women, and due to traffic accidents and self-harm, among men only.

TL;DR: Evidence is provided for the notion that Latinos in the USA, specifically foreign-born Mexicans, may rely on family ties for support more than do non-Latino whites and for the higher familial social support found among Latino immigrants, due to retention of culture.

TL;DR: An essential task in any study that examines the contextual determinants of health behaviors and outcomes is to identify the appropriate geographic area to be used as the basis for deriving exposure measures.

TL;DR: The effects of MSA/Catastrophic is compared to Rural Mutual Health Care (RMHC), an experimental model that provides first dollar coverage for primary care, hospital services and drugs with a similar premium but a lower ceiling, and shows that RMHC is more effective at reducing medical impoverishment than NCMS.

TL;DR: The findings indicate women's autonomy was associated with greater use of pregnancy care services, particularly prenatal and postnatal care, and public investment in rural economic development, primary health care access, social cohesion and basic infrastructure such as electrification and paved roads were associated with pregnancy care use.