Abstract
SESSION: Community Response to Asylum-Seekers: Anthropology and Rights at the New Mexican Border (New Mexico Day Roundtable)
NMSU-Las Cruces
University of Hartford
Border communities, some of the poorest in New Mexico, saw an exponential rise in families seeking asylum, coming from Central America in the past 2 years. In a humanitarian response, these communities provided hospitality and medical care to asylum-seekers transiting through the area. What is the role of applied anthropology in the context of human rights for those caught in changing border policies? Roundtable participants are locals who live and advocate for the rights of those on both sides of the border. Engaging the public in grassroots action and promoting border community response are central to this session.
SESSION: Care and Diversity in Complex Societies, Part 1
Immaculata University
This session seeks to answer questions regarding health care delivery in diverse settings. What coping mechanisms do individuals employ in dealing with their health issues? What socio-political, historical, and economic circumstances led or contributed to the health burdens experienced by vulnerable groups? How do indigenous communities defend their interests, cultural and otherwise? This session draws on experiences of nurses and other health care professionals in providing care to various populations in our complex, globalized world. Training the next generation of health care professionals and the use of social networks among health professionals are also discussed.
University of Hartford
Healthcare in Complex Societies: A Literature Review of the U.S. Healthcare System and Its Workers
One health care challenge is to provide competent and efficient personnel to meet health care needs. Credentialing, licensing, and accreditation requirements help guide practice and assure safety parameters for health care professionals. Comparisons of health care systems and workers offer an opportunity to understand how models of care inform practice. This literature review focuses on models of care and practice for U.S. health care workers and the rules and design of organizations in which U.S. care is offered. This is part of a larger project that will compare the United States with other countries using theory from applied anthropology and the sociology of professions.
Immaculata University
Immersive Global Service Learning and the Development of Cultural Competence: Student Perceptions of a Transformative Process
The development of cultural competence in nursing students is a process that integrates transcultural principles with teaching students to engage in respectful, reciprocal, and responsive interactions. Culturally competent nurses play a critical role in reducing disparities, advocating for the vulnerable, and improving outcomes. This qualitative study examined the effect of anthropologically focused immersive service learning programs on student’s self-perceived awareness, knowledge, encounters, desire, and confidence with cross-cultural practice. Participants described the transformative nature of their experiences and the process of becoming culturally competent. Immersive programs are an effective tool for teaching respect for diversity in the classroom.
Kennesaw State University
Torrens University, Australia
Nurses’ Perceptions of Medication Errors and Error Reporting in a Culturally Diverse Nursing Setting: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
The purpose of this study was to identify nurses’ perceptions of the causes of medication errors and to identify nurses’ views regarding reporting of medication errors in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where the nursing workforce relies largely on culturally diverse expatriate nurses. Registered nurses involved in direct patient care on medical, oncology, and hematology units of a large public teaching hospital in Abu Dhabi were invited to complete a survey regarding medication errors. Knowledge gained from this study may inform decisions about medication administration and error reporting procedures, especially in culturally diverse nursing settings.
The University of Alabama
Is Hemp the New Buffalo?
In 2016, a 10-year federal injunction was lifted that had prohibited Oglala Lakota Alex White Plume from farming industrial hemp, restoring tribal sovereignty. With the injunction lifted, Alex proclaimed, “Hemp is our new buffalo.” The whole buffalo historically sustained the Lakota, and tribal use of hemp may provide similar holistic benefits. The Oglala Lakota are among the poorest populations in the United States, with the shortest life expectancy in the western hemisphere outside of Haiti. My research shows how hemp can benefit the tribe economically, socially, ecologically, and medicinally toward improved health and wellness, challenging years of oppression and social injustice.
SESSION: Care and Diversity in Complex Societies, Part 2
Kennesaw State University
This session seeks to answer questions regarding health care delivery in diverse settings. What coping mechanisms do individuals employ in dealing with their health issues? What socio-political, historical, and economic circumstances led or contributed to the health burdens experienced by vulnerable groups? How do indigenous communities defend their interests, cultural and otherwise? This session draws on experiences of nurses and other health care professionals in providing care to various populations in our complex, globalized world. Training the next generation of health care professionals and the use of social networks among health professionals are also discussed.
Kennesaw State University
Networking and Social Capital Among Health Professional in International Partnership Development
Health professionals have the opportunity to make a positive impact on the profession using their own social networks inside and outside the health professions. This presentation expands an understanding of networking and social capital for collaborative opportunities and partnerships and to encourage health professionals to realize their potential social capital. Using an exemplar case, I describe how the use of social/professional networks resulted in the development of several international partnerships that evolved over 7 years. This case draws on an applied anthropological approach to illustrate how one’s social capital can lead to positive outcomes for the healing professions.
The University of Alabama
Hemp for Hope: Seeking a Solution to Uranium Contamination of the Cheyenne River Valley and the Potential for Improving Women’s Health Disparities Among the Oglala Lakota
On the Pine Reservation in South Dakota, one of the poorest areas of the United States, Oglala Lakota women have long suffered with health disparities greater than non-native populations. These include higher rates of cervical cancer, miscarriages, and infant mortality. Research connects poor tribal health to U.S. uranium mining near the reservation. With the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, tribal members are looking to plant hemp for overcoming poverty. My research seeks to evaluate hemp bioculturally and how it may alleviate tribal health disparities. Global case studies of hemp used as a bioremediation crop are discussed, which support this theory.
University of Texas
Understanding Diabetes Health Beliefs and Health Practices in Vietnamese Americans
Diabetes-related complications resulting in mortality and morbidity are higher among Vietnamese Americans. A medically focused ethnography was conducted to understand personal perceptions and cultural beliefs pertaining to diabetes self-management. Data were analyzed using Spradley’s four levels of ethnographic approach. Participants were found to integrate Eastern and Western belief practices into diabetes self-management. The individual’s cultural beliefs, perception of disease, health care experiences, treatment, and sources of diabetes information were found to affect disease management. This understanding will help the development of culturally appropriate interventions to reduce short-term and long-term complications of diabetes in this population.
University of Saskatchewan
University of Saskatchewan
University of Regina, Canada
University of Saskatchewan
Developing a Communicative Body: A Processual Account of Coping With Irritable Bowel Diseases
Past studies have revealed a dizzying array of coping techniques employed by persons living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Unfortunately, research has provided little insight into when and why individuals adopt or abandon particular coping techniques. Using a retrospective narrative approach, we explored how participants employed changes in their approach to coping over time. Shifts in coping strategies were associated with particular illness experiences that wrought new understandings of IBD. These changes followed a common processual form and were marked by a general movement away from techniques of purification, normalization, and banalization toward the development of a more communicative body.
UT Health Cizik School of Nursing
UT Health Cizik School of Nursing
Health Science Center at Houston, School of Biomedical Informatics
UT Health Cizik School of Nursing
MHealth Usage and Acceptance Among South Asian Adults in the US
South Asians (SAs) living in the United States have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes due to physical inactivity and unhealthy diet. A cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the usage and acceptance of mobile health (mHealth) among SAs living in the United States. The current users of mHealth perceived them to be easy to use, useful, were satisfied with them, and reported intentions to continue using them. The primary reasons for use were to monitor physical activity, nutrition, and weight management. Understanding user perceptions regarding mHealth will help in designing interventions to help improve physical activity and diet in SAs.
SESSION: Cultural Citizenship, Post-Migration, and Trauma, Part 1
University of Regina, Canada
How do refugees, immigrants, or those marginalized cope with the challenges they face in culturally foreign settings or in institutions? How can health care providers ease the suffering and trauma of refugees, immigrants, and those who are marginalized? What are the obstacles in crossing borders both literally and figuratively? How can health care professionals facilitate this transition? How do bonds form between people from different nation-states, cultures, and experiences? The papers in this session explore these questions and others involving language translation and interpretation. Furthermore, cultural citizenship and socio-political concerns are also explored and some possible solutions offered.
University of Regina, Canada
University of Jordan
University of Saskatchewan
Family, Health and Community Experiences of Syrian Women Refugees in Saskatchewan
Thousands of Syrian refugees have come to Canada, often via Jordan, with over 1,000 having arrived in Saskatchewan. Refugees face stress, family disruption, culture shock, and the suffering of war, trauma, forced displacement, and exile. We gathered 12 women’s stories of transition, adaptation, family functioning, and their perceptions of family violence after resettlement. Women described shifts in their beliefs and practices relating to their gendered role in the family and new community. The project goal is to inform local service providers to develop programs that meet the family health, mental health, and social support needs of these women and their families.
Samuel Merritt University
Healing From Trauma
The author presents a story of rebuilding and recovering from war. The story begins when four families traveled through the 4-ft high tunnel in the city of Sarajevo to escape war in 1995. At that time, they told me, “they killed my life.” Over the course of many years, they slowly rebuilt their lives. On reflection, it is what was healing over these years. Moreover, nurses are an important part of this new story. It is through telling and retelling, listening, and letting the story change that this nurse helps those who are traumatized to heal.
Central Connecticut State University
Marginality, Trauma and Belonging?
What is the impact of marginalization and trauma on one’s sense of belonging? What does citizenship mean in this context? This presentation is an exploratory foray into how marginalization and trauma are intertwined and complicate one’s place in the world. This paper comprises a review of the literature regarding psychological and physical trauma among marginalized groups in complex societies, particularly in the United States. My aim, once I have secured Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, is to then conduct research using a life history methodology to illuminate how people “fit-in” in a society which often dismisses their existence, rendering them invisible.
SESSION ABSTRACT: Cultural Citizenship, Post-Migration, and Trauma, Part 2
How do refugees, immigrants, or those marginalized cope with the challenges they face in culturally foreign settings or in institutions? How can health care providers ease the suffering and trauma of refugees, immigrants, and those who are marginalized? What are the obstacles in crossing borders both literally and figuratively? How can health care professionals facilitate this transition? How do bonds form between people from different nation-states, cultures, and experiences? The papers in this session explore these questions and others involving language translation and interpretation. Furthermore, cultural citizenship and socio-political concerns are also explored and some possible solutions offered.
Department of Veterans Affairs
Navigating the VA While Living With HIV
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the only national health system model in the United States and provides the largest volume of care to people living with HIV in the United States. Veterans who access care in the unique culture of this complex system often negotiate multiple identities related to their veteran status, HIV status, sexual orientation, geographic location, and mobility. This paper will explore cultural citizenship and health care navigation by describing the use of Telehealth for the provision of longitudinal HIV care, particularly to rural Veterans, and explore care coordination models for veterans who move between VA facilities.
University of Jordan
University of Regina, Canada
University of Saskatchewan
Language, Translation and Representation: Critical Interpretation of Arabic Speaking Refugee Women’s Experiences Presented in English
Qualitative inquiry faces challenges to rigor when data are collected in one language, Arabic, and presented in another, English. Issues of representation, interpretation, and meaning are introduced when experience is expressed through speech, transcribed into text, and translated. Further distance inheres in the cultural differences between academic women researchers (one bilingual, one unilingual) and Syrian refugee women participants. The implications of translation at different phases of the analytical process are discussed, with a critical reflection on recommended procedures from the literature on cross-language research. Principles of transparency, visibility of the translator interpreter role, and efficiency are core to our decision-making.
Immaculata University
Immigrant Women’s Experiences of Childbirth in Their Receiving Country: An Integrative Literature Review
Immigrant women who give birth in their new country of residence often encounter challenges to receiving culturally congruent maternity health care. Stressors of loneliness, lack of support, and misunderstanding of health information are barriers to obtaining adequate maternity care that may result in increased risks of maternal and newborn complications. An integrative review of the literature pertaining to immigrant women’s childbirth experiences was conducted. Sixteen empirical studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. Immigrant women were more likely to report less satisfaction with their childbirth health care experiences and faced more obstacles to receiving maternity health care compared with nonimmigrant women.
Northern New Mexico College
University of New Mexico
Rio Arriba County ReRoute/Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion and Recovery Corps Program
Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion in a Complex Society: ReRouting Lives in Rio Arriba County, NM
The intention of Rio Arriba County, NM, is to break cycles of drug use, crime, and incarceration by promoting healing through engagement with law enforcement diversion, renamed “ReRoute.” We’re evaluating this using mixed methodologies, drawn from collecting surveys and interviews, assessing the nature of relationship/respect/provider dynamics. Scientific information is generated from partnering with clients, communities, and stakeholders, to uncover social, cultural, economic, and political disparities. Engagement in dynamics to strengthen community partners’ capacities helps all to reach understandings of health impacts; client engagement in managing their own health is a worthy social justice objective within this complex, diverse society.
University of Saskatchewan
Stories of Separation: A Socio-Narratological Literature Review of Immigrant Family Separation
In April 2018, President Trump’s Zero-Tolerance immigration policy sparked the separation of immigrant families at the U.S. border. There is a long history of immigrant families being separated by the U.S. government and a short history of social scientists studying the phenomenon. This paper reviews the literature on immigrant family separation using a socio-narratology approach. It asks how research meaningfully constructs different stories about immigrant families, in what contexts they occur, and how characters are portrayed. The paper concludes with dialogical interpretive possibilities to better represent participants’ experiences of forced family separation in the face of renewed systemic government oppression.