Abstract
SESSION: Understanding the Challenges Regarding Health Care among Diverse Populations, Care Givers, and Health Care Professionals, Part I
Central Connecticut State University
Understanding the challenges regarding health care among diverse populations, care givers, and health care professionals. Part 1 (CONAA) What can we know about how people make sense of the health difficulties they face amid the COVID-19 pandemic and before and what can care givers, health care professionals and those dealing with health issues do? The papers in this two-part session deal with various populations that have experienced health care ordeals and geographies before or during the COVID-19 pandemic. These papers also cross national and international borders as we think about how social, cultural, economic, racial, and geographic ecologies intersect with health and health care delivery. Strategies undertaken to improve health care delivery and health outcomes are also discussed.
University of Saint Joseph
‘‘Black Women’s Voices: The experience of Severe Maternal Morbidity.’’
What is the experience of Black women who have suffered severe maternal morbidity? What are their perceptions of their interactions with healthcare providers and the care they received during childbirth? Using a qualitative methodology, based Van Manen’s interpretive phenomenology (1990), this research explores these questions in light of the continued problem of health disparities among women of color. This presentation will also highlight some important themes this study exposed and the influence of the role of health care professionals, health education, and mental health evaluation and support in reducing, and/or exacerbating women’s reproductive health experiences when facing obstetric complications.
Immaculata University
Cancer is hard enough without a pandemic: The impact of COVID-19 on the breast cancer patient’s journey
The spread of Covid-19 resulted in major disruptions to health care delivery for breast cancer patients by delaying treatments, restricting the presence of caregivers, and exacerbating disparities. Furthermore, the pandemic has severely limited access to alternative therapies, social interactions, and recreational activities for the immune compromised. Increased stress, anxiety, isolation, trauma and loneliness are among factors expressed anecdotally. Using narratives and observation, this study explores Covid-19’s impact on women diagnosed during the pandemic to provide a clearer understanding of how health professionals can better support patients when they have to walk alone, whether due to environmental or personal circumstances.
Utica College
Social, Economic, Cultural and Health Effects of Urban to Rural Migration: Outcomes of COVID 19
Urban rural migration patterns have fluctuated over the last century. In more recent years the trend had been movement out of rural, by young adults, leaving behind those aging in place. Currently, related to COVID-19, the trend has reversed, with many leaving large densely populated cities and moving to small rural communities with more space. Through interviews and observations this qualitative study will explore the perceived and actual social, economic, cultural and health effects this newest population shift is having on small rural communities in Upstate New York.
U. Concepción – Chile
COVID-19 ‘Infodemia’ and the mental health repercussions among the elderly in the Biobio region, Chile
Elder individuals as a group are one of the most vulnerable to COVID-19. The available information about the disease during this time is easily accessible, of enormous quantity, and questionable credibility, and it is rapidly disseminated through communication media, causing stress, anxiety, fear, and manifestations of depression. In Chile, there does not exist evidence that shows the reality of the mental health in the elderly regarding this issue. Therefore, this investigation seeks to analyze the relationship between COVID-19 ‘infodemia’ and its mental health repercussions among the elderly.
Department of Veterans Affairs
Linking care, Limiting caregivers: COVID-19 Impacts on Long Term Care Residents
As COVID-19 spread, mitigation efforts were employed to protect the most vulnerable members of our society. A dichotomy emerged between the explosion of Telehealth modalities and the restriction of visitation in Long Term Care (LTC) facilities, and novel disparities emerged among LTC staff and residents alike. This talk will detail the practical challenges of providing care to vulnerable populations during COVID-19 and the unintended consequences from attempts to protect LTC residents, as well as offer recommendations for overcoming barriers and adapting to the ‘new normal’ of virtual care.
SESSION: Understanding the Challenges Regarding Health Care among Diverse Populations, Care Givers, and Health Care Professionals, Part II
Central Connecticut State University
Understanding the challenges regarding health care among diverse populations, care givers, and health care professionals. Part 1 (CONAA) What can we know about how people make sense of the health difficulties they face amid the COVID-19 pandemic and before and what can care givers, health care professionals and those dealing with health issues do? The papers in this two-part session deal with various populations that have experienced health care ordeals and geographies before or during the COVID-19 pandemic. These papers also cross national and international borders as we think about how social, cultural, economic, racial, and geographic ecologies intersect with health and health care delivery. Strategies undertaken to improve health care delivery and health outcomes are also discussed.
Cappella University
Volunteer RN at Grace Village Clinic
Use of a Comprehensive Medical Management Program (MMP) to Improve Medication Adherence Among Afghan Refugee Women with Limited Health Literacy.
The Grace Village Clinic is a free healthcare clinic used by refugees from more than 50 countries who have resettled in a metropolitan area in the southeastern USA. Afghan women are among those who use the clinic. Many of the Afghan women have been prescribed medication for hypertension but their adherence to the medication regimen remains low. One reason for the low adherence is the lack of health literacy regarding hypertension and the medication. This project aims to demonstrate whether the use of a comprehensive medication management program will increase adherence to the medication and thus improve health outcomes.
Northern New Mexico College
Twice Surviving ‘The Crown’- Oñate and the Coronavirus-19: Phenomena Experienced in 2020 Amidst Rural Chicano Communities in Northern New Mexico
In a lived linking of natural balances in social, cultural, and physical realms of applied anthropology, I observed protests and the removal of a statue of Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate Salazar during the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in rural Northern N.M. This symbolic gesture birthed a decolonized moment for Chicanos, who have now endeavored to persevere through [two crowns] in their history. Using qualitative health-related action research methods, I am asking this population, within web-based community forums, what impact [these] have had on community health and quality of life in regards to behavioral and mental health disparities, identity, and well-being.
U. Concepción – Chile
Health Promotion in the Collective of Microbus Drivers in Concepción, Chile
Microbus drivers have many health problems associated with their working conditions in Chile. From this perspective, health promotion strategies in workplaces favor a quality of life and well-being in workers to the extent that it generates a positive impact and harmony in people in terms of their physical, social and work environments. This presentation will describe how quality of life in the workplace is related to objective factors such as material conditions, physical security, as well as, subjective factors, relationships with other individuals, formation of social identity, feelings of social integration and harmony with the environment.
U Concepción-Chile
Lost communication among people hospitalized with COVID-19, their family and the health care personnel. An integrative review.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus spread uncontrollably from Europe to America, provoking an unexpected pandemic and a worldwide public health problem. The Chilean patients hospitalized with COVID-19 should have taken strict isolation measures, which made communication and interpersonal relationship with their family and with the heath care team difficult. the objective of this integrative review is to identify how different regions of the world have faced the challenges of communication among hospital patients, their family and health care professionals, so as to propose strategies that facilitate communication with family and the health care team, mediated by nurses.
University of Concepción – Chile
Health literacy, self-care and glycemic control in persons with diabetes mellitus
As a result of a quantitative, transversal and descriptive approach, we conducted an investigation in the city of Concepción, Chile, whose objective was to understand health literacy and self-care of individuals with diabetes mellitus, type 2. The participants were mostly adult senior women. We observed an appropriate health literacy, but low adherence to self-care practices. It is not known which factors affect decisions to adhere to self-care on the part of individuals. This complicates nursing care and it translates into an inadequate glycemic control, with consequences for health outcomes.
SESSION: Inclusive Constructions of Culture, Identity and Disability in Scholarship and Practice, Part I
University of Regina
How does the social science literature represent the experiences and identities of diverse and vulnerable people, such as those living with acquired brain injury, immigrants facing family separation at the US-Mexico border, and Indigenous children and adults living with disabilities? How do we support the well-being of adults living with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the community? How can we measure health professional students’ competence in identifying and reducing inequities in health care access? These papers advocate for inclusive scholarly constructions of, and practices with, marginalized populations, taking into account intersubjective meanings shaped by local geographical, political, and socio-cultural contexts.
University of Saskatchewan
What is culture, anyway? Race, ethnicity, meaning, and (inter)subjectivity in acquired brain injury research.
As life-saving technologies advance, healthcare professionals increasingly contact persons with various damages to the brain. Though acquired brain injury (ABI) is considered to be outside of culture by objectivists, social constructionists maintain that ABI is an intersubjective, cultural phenomenon that emerges in specific local contexts. Based on a critical review of 87 papers, seven distinct approaches to the study of culture, meaning, and subjectivity in the field of ABI were identified. The benefits, challenges, and limitations of these various approaches are considered and a discussion of how an engaged cultural semiotics could advance ABI scholarship is provided.
University of Regina
University of Saskatchewan
University of Regina
Childhood Disability in Indigenous Contexts
Disability is a construct shaped by social, cultural and physical ecologies. A social model of disability dominates Western social science research and advocacy, a departure from the medical model of diagnosis and impairment. The meaning of disability among Indigenous families and communities may be better understood from a pluralistic model encompassing private experiences, social encounters, and local political and physical contexts. Indigenous ecologies and colonization also impact experiences of disability, identity and daily functioning in childhood and adulthood. We review examples from the literature on Indigenous conceptions of disability and analyze how they are informed by culture, politics and geography.
University of Saskatchewan
U of Saskatchewan
Looking Beyond the Border: A Review of Scholarly Stories about Immigrant Family Separation
Since 2018, immigrant family separations and detentions at the US-Mexico border have compelled many researchers to effect social change through their work. This socio-narratological research investigates the types of stories told about immigrant families by social science literature from 2018 to 2020. It finds four stories: Becoming Vulnerable, Overcoming Exclusion, Acquiring Illness, and Predictable Crises. The work discusses how the literature illuminates insights to the vulnerable conditions of the immigrant population while simultaneously casting shadows upon stories of existing domestic inequality, American interventionism, and resilience, as well as implications for future research.
University of Concepción, Chile
Transcultural and linguistic adaptation of a global health competency instrument
To be competent in global health implies developing the ability to recognize inequalities in access, opportunity, and health care coverage in individuals and communities and work towards reducing them. It also implies intervention with other professionals to optimize health outcomes. This study shows the process of linguistic and trans-cultural adaptation (translation, back translation, consensus among experts and pilot studies) of an instrument to recognize the extent of inter-professional competencies in global health in the curriculum of 10 health careers in a Chilean university, from the perspective of faculty and students.
SESSION: Inclusive Constructions of Culture, Identity and Disability in Scholarship and Practice, Part II
University of Regina
How does the social science literature represent the experiences and identities of diverse and vulnerable people, such as those living with acquired brain injury, immigrants facing family separation at the US-Mexico border, and Indigenous children and adults living with disabilities? How do we support the well-being of adults living with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the community? How can we measure health professional students’ competence in identifying and reducing inequities in health care access? These papers advocate for inclusive scholarly constructions of, and practices with, marginalized populations, taking into account intersubjective meanings shaped by local geographical, political, and socio-cultural contexts.
Kennesaw State University
Supporting Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in the Community
This paper details a town hall and survey results that was held to assess the needs of a community related to supports for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). A Community Advisory Board was established, and four panelists were invited to present. Panelists included a self-advocate, family member, provider, and a minister to people with disabilities. The community discussion and survey results identified several areas of need, the top three included socialization, supportive employment, and supportive affordable living. Survey results indicate an urgent need for sustainable solutions and advocacy for community integration for adults with IDD.
Florida International University
Preparing for Adulthood in a COVID World: Exploring the Challenges of the Transition Process for Adolescents in Foster Care
Transitioning out of foster care is a complex and daunting process that requires a great deal of planning. Too often foster youth lack adequate nurturing, guidance, and support. Another issue is lack of preparedness for their futures. An ethnographic approach is valuable for understanding these transition experiences. Drawing from my work with adolescents in the foster care system as they prepare to “age out,” I will discuss how these challenges are exacerbated by COVID 19 and impact these emerging adults as they are encouraged to seek independence, academic and employment opportunities.
Towson University
Athletic Apparel for Women with Religious-Based Modesty Preferences
Numerous women around the world have religious based modesty preferences or modesty requirements regarding clothing and apparel. Women from Orthodox Jewish, Muslim, LDS/Mormon, Evangelical Protestant Christian backgrounds, among others observe these apparel requirements, which comprise all aspects of public life, including engaging in exercise, physical activity and participation in sports. This study seeks to explore the relationship between modest athletic apparel and health-seeking behavior among women from religious backgrounds requiring modesty. More specifically, this study documents the role of social media platforms, such as weblogs, or ‘blogs’ in establishing the appropriateness of athletic/exercise apparel for women with religious-based modesty preferences.
SESSION: Healthcare Professionals’ Education: Navigating Amid Uncertainties and Change
Georgia Department of Public Health
Education for healthcare professionals is demanding for both faculty and students. Even small changes can increase stress and anxiety. What happens when major unexpected changes occur? How do faculty help students bridge the gap between theory and practice? What occurs when a pandemic strikes? How can education be improved to address workplace diversity? Changes are unsettling but necessary. Healthcare education must adapt to prepare students for real life as professionals. This session brings together several experiences in which faculty and students had to navigate through uncharted territory to ensure quality education, meet learning outcomes, and effect changes for improvement.
University of Hartford
Bridging the Gap: Using Guided Reflection to Connect Service-Learning Experience with Theory
The theory-practice gap, a key issue in nursing education, was evident in the RN-BSN program at a New England university, as students reported difficulty making connections between a service learning course in the setting of vulnerable communities and the related didactic course. To address this, the next cohort of RN-BSN students completed a guided reflection following their weekly service -earning experience with prompts to link the experience to class content. A comparison of two cohorts of students, one pre-intervention and one post-intervention, showed substantial reduction of the theory-practice gap.
University of South Florida
Responding to uncertain and unstable circumstances: Meeting the needs of dietetic students amid a pandemic.
Mid-March 2020 much of the United States came to a screeching halt so that healthcare and public health systems could prepare for the impact of COVID-19. Most healthcare workers never stopped yet students training alongside were sent home. Educators were challenged with recreating meaningful, authentic experiences promoting competency attainment and continuation of professional development remotely. Challenges faced and lessons learned in the face of chaos and uncertainty in local and global spheres where learning occurs will be explored. Implications for the next generation of healthcare practitioners entering the field during an ongoing pandemic will be considered.
Kennesaw State University
Impact of the emergency transition to remote teaching and learning on instructors and students
The aim of this study was to explore the impact of the emergency transition to remote teaching and learning on instructors and students. The sudden conversion of all course content to exclusively online delivery systems was expected to be challenging. However, the result of the emergency transition experience combined with mandated campus expulsion due to the Georgia shelter-in-place ordinance resulted in trauma and a state of crisis for most participants. Thematic analysis of free-text survey responses identified seven themes: loss/grief, helplessness, I had no choice, role conflict, who can I blame, trauma, and lack of resources.
University of Hartford
UFSC- Florianópolis
Caught off guard by COVID-19: How history can inform best practice for nurse educators.
The COVID-19 pandemic spread globally with some countries containing the virus better than others. The USA and Brazil stood out as industrialized nations that failed to implement a comprehensive, evidence-based public health plan. Health care providers and first responders suffered high incidences of infection and deaths. This qualitative research project looks specifically at the perspectives of nurse educators regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, including the politicization of public health policy. Specific attention is given to historical precedent and how using historical examples from nursing and medicine can help us better understand and prepare for the next pandemic.
Kennesaw State University
Virtual exchange as a means to facilitate intercultural exchange of ideas
What strategies are being employed to help healthcare students understand the circumstances of others, particularly during this time of social isolation due to COVID-19? Classroom virtual exchange activities have been found to facilitate excellent opportunities for students to examine different cultural and national experiences. Virtual exchange activities establish a creative learning environment where students from diverse cultures can learn from one another. This paper will describe a project in which students in a Public Health class in Australia and a Global Health Policy class in the southern US engaged in discussion boards about topics related to both courses.
SESSION: Thinking with and from Nurses and Nursing: Issues for Applied Anthropologists and Health Professionals, Part I
UFL
While care is an important component of nursing, focusing on care can blind us to other generative aspects of nursing and nurses’ own needs. Nurses are innovators and creators; labor organizers and antiracist advocates; scholars and leaders. On the frontlines of pandemics, and in ordinary times, nurses risk their safety and jobs, acting as whistle-blowers, advocates, and the last line of comfort for many patients. Reflecting on anthropology’s involvement with nursing, this session invites us to think with and from nurses to move beyond an ethic and analytic of care to build on more complicated engagements with this dynamic field.
University of Florida
Ingenuity in the Face of Neglect: Nurses in rural Tanzania
While nurses have comparatively low levels of access to formal power within health system hierarchies in Tanzania, they are the system’s most integral actors. Using ethnographic data from fieldwork at a regional referral hospital in Tanzania from February 2014 through May 2015, I show how nurses enacted informal power systems to improve their personal and professional lives. Despite little recognition from superiors and long-delayed promotions, nurses demonstrated ingenuity in everyday work tasks, as well as in meeting personal goals for their families. I argue that rewarding and more fully harnessing this ingenuity could improve healthcare generally in low resource settings.
University of Florida
In search of respectful maternity care: thinking with and from nurses in rural Tanzania
Within global calls for respectful maternity care nurses have been often overlooked. Using data from ethnographic fieldwork in rural Tanzania, I show how nurses—their diverse knowledges, experiences, and desires— are an essential resource for better understanding what counts as ‘good,’ quality care for pregnant women and mothers, when, why and to whom. Addressing these questions by thinking with and from nurses allows us to see how the structural vulnerabilities of nurses are inextricably linked to perceptions of care. To achieve respectful maternity care, we must also work to create greater respect for nurses and the essential services they provide.
University of Connecticut
Using Meta-Synthesis to explore the experience of the professional nurse during the COVID-19 Pandemic
As the largest single component of the healthcare workforce, professional nurses have been on the frontlines of patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe. A literature view focusing on the experience of the nurse during this pandemic revealed qualitative studies from China, Spain, Turkey, Iran, Brazil and the United States. With the availability of this qualitative data, a meta-synthesis was conducted to allow an interpretive analysis of this central narrative. Given the vital impact of nurses’ experiences on healthcare, this meta-synthesis can offer new insights and knowledge to health social scientists and healthcare professionals worldwide.
University of Connecticut
One Rural Hospital’s “Obstetrical Diversion”: Nurses Reveal Impact of COVID-19 Policies on Vulnerable Latina Mothers
During the COVID-19 pandemic, national health officials recommended suspension of elective surgeries. Hospitals that complied hemorrhaged revenue. Subsequent financial-saving measures increased risks for personnel and patients. Based on interviews, this study examines vulnerability of Latino families and maternity nurses due to a community hospital’s ‘obstetrical diversion’ policy, in which laboring mothers are transported to other institutions for birth. This example of stratified reproduction is part of a shortage of maternity care services in rural America. Evidence supports literature on how advocacy in anthropology uncovers structures of inequality (Low & Merry 2010) and how anthropology contributes to health policy (Campbell 2010).
Hospital Guillermo Grant Benavente, Chile
U de Concepción, Chile
Experiences of childhood cancer among pediatric oncology nurses: Discourse and Image.
Caring for cancer patients influences nurses’ mental health. Effects of this experience on care of pediatric patients is still lacking. A phenomenological investigation was conducted to explore nurses’ experiences in caring for children with cancer. In depth interviews and photovoice were conducted with five pediatric oncology nurses, from which emerged the theme of “transitioning from being a nurse to becoming a pediatric oncology nurse”. Development of profound feelings pushes their professional limits, exposing them to suffering through illness and mourning in front of death, giving new meaning to their lives. They acknowledge they provide special care: Conscious caring with feeling.
SESSION: Thinking with and from Nurses and Nursing: Issues for Applied Anthropologists and Health Professionals, Part II
UFL
While care is an important component of nursing, focusing on care can blind us to other generative aspects of nursing and nurses’ own needs. Nurses are innovators and creators; labor organizers and antiracist advocates; scholars and leaders. On the frontlines of pandemics, and in ordinary times, nurses risk their safety and jobs, acting as whistle-blowers, advocates, and the last line of comfort for many patients. Reflecting on anthropology’s involvement with nursing, this session invites us to think with and from nurses to move beyond an ethic and analytic of care to build on more complicated engagements with this dynamic field.
Monmouth University
Nursing the Pandemic
During 2020 when the COVID-19 crisis blanketed the planet, nurses and other frontline healthcare workers became praised as heroes and even martyrs. Prior to 2020, nursing stereotypes ranged from angels to battleaxes. I ask, how has a global pandemic changed the way nurses are perceived and perceive themselves? In this paper, I use an ethnographic approach to studying media posts about and from nurses to examine the professional identity of nurses through the lens of a global pandemic. How are nurses rejecting, accepting and/or employing this new trope of “hero?” How does “hero” map onto nurses’ identities as professionals?
Central Connecticut State University
University of Saint Joseph
Nursing the Challenges of Racism: An Autoethnography
How do nurses of color overcome challenges they face in education and beyond? What strategies do they employ? Based on authors’ experiences, this paper uses autoethnography, intersected with an investigation of the literature regarding racism in nursing. A project created by Dr. Canty that brought together nurses of all ethnic backgrounds to hear the voices of nurses of color regarding experiences in workplaces and academia will also be discussed. This presentation illuminates the issues that have plagued nurses of color in the past and in this current moment, given the high mortality and morbidity among people of color, including COVID-19.
University of Hartford
UERJ Rio de Janiero
UERJ Rio de Janiero
UECE Ceará
How to stay safe: Informal social networks and nursing practice during COVID-19 in Brazil
Brazil is a country of contrasts in culture, economy, and social norms. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as the context to interpret some of these differences allows us to better understand how inequities in material and cultural resources can affect outcomes for health care providers, especially nurses. This paper reports on a qualitative study of professional and technical nurses in the areas of Rio de Janeiro and Ceará, Brazil. Attention is given to how material and human resources were allocated and how nurses used informal social networks to ensure safe practice and survival during the pandemic.
Samuel Merritt University
Re-Engineering Higher Education: Fostering a Healthy Work Environment for Nurses from Diverse Backgrounds.
Academic institutions face ongoing challenges in recruiting and retaining faculty and academic leadership of color. It is important to consider ways we can create a socially and culturally friendly setting. Many academics of color often report feeling the pains of micro and macroaggressions. While also experiencing invisibility on campuses across the nation.The purpose of this ethnographic participatory action research narrative, is to use shared stories to delineate both harmful and helpful work experiences. Snowball recruitment will be used until saturation of data. The goal being to influence academic social reform, at a pivotal time in higher education.
Georgia Department of Public Health
The Anthropology of Leadership: Guiding a Public Health District in the Southeastern USA Through a Pandemic.
Leadership styles vary from person to person and setting to setting. Does the style of leadership matter in a specific healthcare setting? Is one style better than another for dealing with a pandemic? Would simulation have prepared staff to deal with the pandemic more efficiently? The I am a public health nurse in a rural health department, part of a 13-county district. With the COVID 19 pandemic in mind, I explored the leadership of the health department and the district seeking to understand its anthropological foundations. Findings and answers to these questions will be discussed.