Global ethnotheories of climate change-related disease causation

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Description
Understanding more about the similarities and differences in cultural perceptions of climate change-related disease causation can better inform culturally specific public health measures. Using interviews conducted with 685 adults in eight diverse global locations ranging from Fiji and China to…

Understanding more about the similarities and differences in cultural perceptions of climate change-related disease causation can better inform culturally specific public health measures. Using interviews conducted with 685 adults in eight diverse global locations ranging from Fiji and China to England and Phoenix, Arizona, this study explores climate change-disease beliefs within and across diverse cultures and comparisons between cultural and scientific models. A cultural consensus analysis was employed to identify a "culturally correct" model for each study site. Next, a scientific model was generated based on current scientific consensus regarding climate change- disease connections. Using the Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP), we determined the amount of correlation shared between the scientific model and each cultural model. The analysis revealed a high level of intercorrelation between the models of English speaking, economically developed sites such as Phoenix, Arizona. Additionally, cultural models from the non-English speaking sites were highly intercorrelated with one another. Overall, the English speaking sites tended to have more complex models with a greater density of causal links. Cultural models from the English speaking sites also demonstrated high levels of correlation with the scientific model. In comparison, the cultural models from the non-English speaking sites exhibited little correlation with the scientific model. Based on these findings, we suggest that cultural beliefs related to climate change-related disease causation may be influenced by complex local factors. For example, differences in education and media influences along with localized differences in climate change impacts may, in part, contribute to divergences between the cultural models.
Date Created
2014-05
Agent

Differences in Use of Terms to Describe Obesity as Compared to Gender, Ethnicity, and Own BMI and Stigma Implications for Health

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Description
Obesity has become a major area of research in many fields due to the increasing obesity rate not only in The United States, but also around the world. Research concerning obesity stigma has both physical and mental health implications. Weight…

Obesity has become a major area of research in many fields due to the increasing obesity rate not only in The United States, but also around the world. Research concerning obesity stigma has both physical and mental health implications. Weight bias and obesity stigma represent important research areas for health professionals as they confront these issues on a daily basis in interactions with their patients. To explore how gender, ethnicity, and a person's own BMI affect the stigma of certain weight related terms, a set of 264 participant's surveys on weight related situations on the campus of Arizona State University were analyzed. Using univariate analysis to determine frequency of words deemed most or least acceptable as well as independent t-test for gender and ANOVA for ethnicity and own BMI, we found that participant's view more clinical terms such as "unhealthy BMI" and "BMI" as acceptable words for use during a physician-patient interaction. Analysis across genders revealed the highest number of differences in terms, with females generally ranking terms across the board as less acceptable then men. Differences varied little between ethnicities; however, own BMI revealed more differences between terms; underweight participants did not rank any terms as positive. We analyzed average ATOP (Attitudes Toward Obese People) scores and found that there was no significant difference in average ATOP scores between gender and a participant's own BMI, but a statistical significance did exist between ethnic categories. This study showed that the term "obese/obesity", although normally considered to be a clinical term by many was not ranked as very positive across gender, ethnicity, or own BMI. Based on these findings, new material should be created to inform physicians on how to talk about weight related problems with certain populations of patients.
Date Created
2014-12
Agent

Cross-Cultural Perceptions of Health Implications From Wastewater Reuse

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Description
The study examines cross-cultural perceptions of wastewater reuse from 282 participants from four global sites representing varied levels of socio-economic and political development from the Global North and Global South: Spain, New Zealand, Fiji, and Guatemala. The data comes from…

The study examines cross-cultural perceptions of wastewater reuse from 282 participants from four global sites representing varied levels of socio-economic and political development from the Global North and Global South: Spain, New Zealand, Fiji, and Guatemala. The data comes from the Global Ethnohydrology Survey conducted by the School of Human Evolution and Social Change during the summer of 2013. The Global Ethnohydrology Study is a transdisciplinary multi-year research initiative that examines the range of variation in local ecological knowledge of water issues, also known as "ethnohydrology." Participants were asked about their willingness, level of disgust, and concern with using treated wastewater for various daily activities. Additionally, they were asked to draw schematic representations of how wastewater should be treated to become drinkable again. Using visual content analysis, the drawings were coded for a variety of treatment levels and specific treatment processes. Conclusions about the perceived health implications from wastewater reuse that can stem from drinking treated wastewater were made. The relationship between humans and wastewater is one that has many direct social and health impacts on communities at large. In reaction to global limitations of freshwater, wastewater serves as a valuable resource to tap into. This research examines the cross-cultural public health concerns about treated wastewater in order to draw conclusions that can aid in strategic implementation of advocacy and public education about wastewater reuse.
Date Created
2015-05
Agent

The Science of Water Art: Children's Perspectives on Water and the Environment in Guatemala

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Description
Children's drawings are increasingly being used to assess understanding and diagnose misconceptions about water issues and the environment. As part of Arizona State University's Global Ethnohydrology Study and Community Health and Medical Anthropology Field School, 315 pieces of artwork from…

Children's drawings are increasingly being used to assess understanding and diagnose misconceptions about water issues and the environment. As part of Arizona State University's Global Ethnohydrology Study and Community Health and Medical Anthropology Field School, 315 pieces of artwork from 158 Guatemalan schoolchildren, ages 9-10, were collected using ethnographic field methods. The children were asked to draw two pieces of art: one showing how they saw water being used in their neighborhood today and one showing how they imagined water would be used in their neighborhood 100 years from now. Using visual content analysis, the drawings were coded for the presence of vegetation, scarcity, pollution, commercial sources, existing technology, technological innovation, domestic use, and natural sources of water. The study finds that (1) students' drawings of the future contain significantly more pollution and scarcity than those in the present, and (2) both boys and girls depict existing technology significantly more often in the drawings of today than the drawings of the future. Additionally, (1) boys are significantly more likely than girls to draw more negative depictions of water (i.e., pollution and scarcity), and (2) boys are significantly more likely than girls to depict the natural world (i.e., natural sources of water). Through examining gendered perceptions and future expectations of climate change and water issues, this study explores possible areas of intervention in environmental education in a developing country.
Date Created
2015-05
Agent

Towards Water Sensitive Cities in the Colorado River Basin: A Comparative Historical Analysis to Inform Future Urban Water Sustainability Transitions

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Description

Many population centers in the American West rely on water from the Colorado River Basin, which has faced shortages in recent years that are anticipated to be exacerbated by climate change. Shortages to urban water supplies related to climate change…

Many population centers in the American West rely on water from the Colorado River Basin, which has faced shortages in recent years that are anticipated to be exacerbated by climate change. Shortages to urban water supplies related to climate change will not be limited to cities dependent on the Colorado River. Considering this, addressing sustainable water governance is timely and critical for cities, states, and regions facing supply shortages and pollution problems. Engaging in sustainability transitions of these hydro-social systems will increase the ability of such systems to meet the water needs of urban communities. In this paper, we identify historical transitions in water governance and examine their context for three sites in the Colorado River Basin (Denver, Colorado, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona) to provide insight for intentional transitions towards sustainable, or “water sensitive” cities. The comparative historical approach employed allows us to more fully understand differences in present-day water governance decisions between the sites, identify past catalysts for transitions, and recognize emerging patterns and opportunities that may impact current and future water governance in the Colorado River Basin and beyond.

Date Created
2017-05-06
Agent

Hidden death and social suffering: a critical investigation of suicide, death surveillance, and implications for addressing a complex health burden in Nepal

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Description
Suicide is one of the fastest-growing and least-understood causes of death, particularly in low and middle income countries (LMIC). In low-income settings, where the technical capacity for death surveillance is limited, suicides may constitute a significant portion of early deaths,…

Suicide is one of the fastest-growing and least-understood causes of death, particularly in low and middle income countries (LMIC). In low-income settings, where the technical capacity for death surveillance is limited, suicides may constitute a significant portion of early deaths, but disappear as they are filtered through reporting systems shaped by social, cultural, and political institutions. These deaths become unknown and unaddressed. This dissertation illuminates how suicide is perceived, contested, experienced, and interpreted in institutions ranging from the local (i.e., family, community) to the professional (i.e., medical, law enforcement) in Nepal, a country purported to have one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Drawing on a critical medical anthropology approach, I bridge public health and anthropological perspectives to better situate the problem of suicide within a greater social-political context. I argue that these complex, contestable deaths, become falsely homogenized, or lost. During 18 months of fieldwork in Nepal, qualitative, data tracing, and psychological autopsy methodologies were conducted. Findings are shared through three lenses: (1) health policy and world systems; (2) epidemiology and (3) socio-cultural. The first investigates how actors representing familial, legal, and medical institutions perceive, contest, and negotiate suicide documentation, ultimately failing to accurately capture a leading cause of death. Using epidemiologic perspectives, surveillance data from medical and legal agencies are analyzed and pragmatic approaches to better detect and prevent suicidal death in the Nepali context are recommended. The third lens provides perceived explanatory models for suicide. These narratives offer important insights into the material, social, and cultural factors that shape suicidal acts in Nepal. Findings are triangulated to inform policy, prevention, and intervention approaches to reduce suicidal behavior and improve health system capabilities to monitor violent deaths. These approaches go beyond typical psychological investigations of suicide by situating self-inflicted death within broader familial, social, and political contexts. Findings contribute to cultural anthropological theories related to suicide and knowledge production, while informing public health solutions. Looking from the margins towards centers of power, this dissertation explicates how varying institutional numbers can obfuscate and invalidate suffering experienced at local levels.
Date Created
2017
Agent

A doctor in the house: balancing work and care in the life of women doctors in Pakistan

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Description
Under-representation of women doctors in medical work force despite their overwhelming majority in medical schools is an intriguing social issue for Pakistan raising important questions related to evolving gender relations in Pakistani society. Previous research on the broader issue of…

Under-representation of women doctors in medical work force despite their overwhelming majority in medical schools is an intriguing social issue for Pakistan raising important questions related to evolving gender relations in Pakistani society. Previous research on the broader issue of under-representation of women in science has focused primarily on the structural barriers to women’s advancement. It does not account for the underlying subtle (and changing) gendered power relations that permeate everyday life and which can constrain (or enable) the choices of women. It also does not address how women are not simply constructed as subjects within intersecting power relations, but actively construct meaning in relation to them. It raises interesting questions about the cultural shaping of subjectivities, identities and agency of women within the web of power relations in a society such as Pakistan.

To analyze the underlying dynamics of this issue, this dissertation empirically examines the individual, institutional and social factors which enable or affect the career choices of Pakistani women doctors. Based on the ethnographic data obtained from in-depth, person centered, open ended interviews with sixty women doctors and their families, as well as policy makers and the stake holders in medical education and health administration in Lahore, Pakistan this dissertation seeks to address the complex issues of empowerment and agency in the context of Pakistani women, both in individual and collective sense.

Participation in medical education is ostensibly an empowering act, but dissecting the social relations in which this decision takes place reveals that becoming a doctor actually enmeshes women further in the disciplinary relations within their families and society. Similarly, the medical workplaces of Pakistan are marked by entrenched gendered hierarchies constraining women’s access to resources and their progression through medical career. Finally, the political implications of defining work in medicine, and devaluing care in capitalist economies is explored.
Date Created
2017
Agent

Cross-cultural approaches to understanding the emotional geographies of climate change

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Description
Climate change poses a threat to the emotional well-being and livelihood strategies of individuals in biophysically vulnerable communities. While the biophysical effects and possibilities of climate change are well-documented, understanding the emotional impacts on individuals in these communities is an…

Climate change poses a threat to the emotional well-being and livelihood strategies of individuals in biophysically vulnerable communities. While the biophysical effects and possibilities of climate change are well-documented, understanding the emotional impacts on individuals in these communities is an avenue of research that requires more exploration. Using an ethnographic approach, this study analyzes the emotional responses of individuals, first in three biophysically vulnerable communities in the United States, and second, in island communities. Study sites in the United States include Mobile, Alabama; Kodiak, Alaska; and Phoenix, Arizona, each of which have different vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change. Internationally, we conducted research in Viti Levu, Fiji; Nicosia, Cyprus; Wellington, New Zealand; and London, England. Using the 2014 Global Ethnohydrology Study Protocol respondents were asked about their emotional responses to the current effects of climate change, the effects of climate change on livelihoods in their area, and the effects of climate change on the younger generation. Using cross-cultural data allows for a broader understanding of emotional distress and wellbeing in response to climate change in areas with similar expected climate change outcomes, although with different levels of biophysical vulnerability, as well as understanding emotional distress and wellbeing in areas with different expected climate change outcomes, and similar levels of biophysical vulnerability. Results from this research can be used to understand possible mental health outcomes, the possibilities for political activism, and how to create mitigation strategies that resonate with local community members.
Date Created
2017
Agent

Hard Paths, Soft Paths, or No Paths? Cross-Cultural Perceptions of Water Solutions

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Description

In this study, we examine how development status and water scarcity shape people's perceptions of "hard path" and "soft path" water solutions. Based on ethnographic research conducted in four semi-rural/peri-urban sites (in Bolivia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the US), we…

In this study, we examine how development status and water scarcity shape people's perceptions of "hard path" and "soft path" water solutions. Based on ethnographic research conducted in four semi-rural/peri-urban sites (in Bolivia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the US), we use content analysis to conduct statistical and thematic comparisons of interview data. Our results indicate clear differences associated with development status and, to a lesser extent, water scarcity. People in the two less developed sites were more likely to suggest hard path solutions, less likely to suggest soft path solutions, and more likely to see no path to solutions than people in the more developed sites. Thematically, people in the two less developed sites envisioned solutions that involve small-scale water infrastructure and decentralized, community-based solutions, while people in the more developed sites envisioned solutions that involve large-scale infrastructure and centralized, regulatory water solutions. People in the two water-scarce sites were less likely to suggest soft path solutions and more likely to see no path to solutions (but no more likely to suggest hard path solutions) than people in the water-rich sites. Thematically, people in the two water-rich sites seemed to perceive a wider array of unrealized potential soft path solutions than those in the water-scarce sites. On balance, our findings are encouraging in that they indicate that people are receptive to soft path solutions in a range of sites, even those with limited financial or water resources. Our research points to the need for more studies that investigate the social feasibility of soft path water solutions, particularly in sites with significant financial and natural resource constraints.

Date Created
2014-01-13
Agent

Bariatric Surgery Patients' Perceptions of Weight-Related Stigma in Healthcare Settings Impair Post-Surgery Dietary Adherence

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Description

Background: Weight-related stigma is reported frequently by higher body-weight patients in healthcare settings. Bariatric surgery triggers profound weight loss. This weight loss may therefore alleviate patients' experiences of weight-related stigma within healthcare settings. In non-clinical settings, weight-related stigma is associated…

Background: Weight-related stigma is reported frequently by higher body-weight patients in healthcare settings. Bariatric surgery triggers profound weight loss. This weight loss may therefore alleviate patients' experiences of weight-related stigma within healthcare settings. In non-clinical settings, weight-related stigma is associated with weight-inducing eating patterns. Dietary adherence is a major challenge after bariatric surgery.

Objectives: (1) Evaluate the relationship between weight-related stigma and post-surgical dietary adherence; (2) understand if weight loss reduces weight-related stigma, thereby improving post-surgical dietary adherence; and (3) explore provider and patient perspectives on adherence and stigma in healthcare settings.

Design: This mixed methods study contrasts survey responses from 300 postoperative bariatric patients with ethnographic data based on interviews with 35 patients and extensive multi-year participant-observation within a clinic setting. The survey measured experiences of weight-related stigma, including from healthcare professionals, on the Interpersonal Sources of Weight Stigma scale and internalized stigma based on the Weight Bias Internalization Scale. Dietary adherence measures included patient self-reports, non-disordered eating patterns reported on the Disordered Eating after Bariatric Surgery scale, and food frequencies. Regression was used to assess the relationships among post-surgical stigma, dietary adherence, and weight loss. Qualitative analyses consisted of thematic analysis.

Results: The quantitative data show that internalized stigma and general experiences of weight-related stigma predict worse dietary adherence, even after weight is lost. The qualitative data show patients did not generally recognize this connection, and health professionals explained it as poor patient compliance.
Conclusion: Reducing perceptions of weight-related stigma in healthcare settings and weight bias internalization could enhance dietary adherence, regardless of time since patient's weight-loss surgery.

Date Created
2016-10-10
Agent
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