Community,Family, and Race/Ethnic Differences in Health Status in Rural Areas1

Abstract Many race-specific differences in health outcomes that have been observed in previous research have been attributed to class and racebased group differences which either facilitate or constrain health opportunities and behaviors. These include such variables as different rates of poverty, health insurance coverage, and access to medical care. However, these relationships have been inadequately examined in rural communities where minority status may be even more detrimental to health than in urban areas, due to various constraints on access to health care. We present an analysis that assesses the effects of community, family structure, sociodemographic, and medical care variables on self-reported health status among Hispanics, Mrican Americans, and non-Hispanic whites in six rural communities in Florida. Community structural characteristics had a significant effect on self-reported health, as did some of the measures of how respondents “experience” community. These relationships held even when other sets of variables were added to the models. Family/household characteristics and sociodemographic and medical care variables were less important in explaining self-reported health status. These findings suggest that community continues to be important in explaining differences in health status in rural areas.     

An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Disasters and Stress: The Promise of an Ecological Framework

This integrative literature review examines the sources of the persistent debate over the influence of disasters on individual mental health that characterizes the disaster research literature. Using an interdisciplinary approach, this paper highlights how the connections between individuals and the systems in which they are embedded influence people's varied responses to disaster. Consistent with the emerging emphasis in the social sciences on contextualizing individual behavior, this paper examines how family, community, social structural, cultural, and environmental factors affect the development of stress in disaster populations. It concludes with recommendations for policy, practice, and research related to disaster recovery.     

The development of social pedagogy in Spain: The tension between social needs,political response and academic interests

The Spanish Civil War (1936—1939) interrupted the evolution and development of social pedagogy, which in Spain had reached similar levels as in other European countries. This was followed by a period when Spain was isolated from developments in social welfare and the changes that go along with the economic and social transformations of cities and give rise to community action, self-help and popular education programmes. The reinstatement of democracy and of new City Councils that are genuinely devoted to solve the problems of the population are the starting point for new social services, that is for social work and social pedagogy. Initially it was practical work that gave an answer to emerging demand, followed by theoretical analysis and efforts of conceptualisation. The professionals and later the universities lead the debate on methodology. The interest and involvement of the universities increased as the Diploma in Social Education was introduced as a new university degree.     

Institutional Ethnography and Experience as Data

Experience, as concept, is contested among feminists as to its epistemological status, thus its usefulness in knowledge claims. Institutional ethnography (Smith 1987) is a feminist methodology that nonetheless relies fundamentally on people's experience. Not as Truth, nor the object of inquiry, but as thepoint d'appui for sociological inquiry. This article offers a demonstration of institutional enthnography using observational and interview data that show experience as methodologically central to a trustworthy analysis. A moment in the work lives of nursing assistants in a long-term care setting is captured by a participant observer. The analysis produces two lines of argument. One is methodological; it is argued that nursing assistants' experiences are an entry into the social relations of the setting that, when mapped and disclosed, make those experiences understandable in terms of the ruling arrangements permeating both the organization and their own experiences. The other argument is substantive; the inquiry uncovers how a quality improvement' strategy in a long term care hospital in Canada is reorganizing caregivers' values and practices toward a market orientation in which care appears to be compromised. Use of experience as data in this approach holds the analysis accountable to everyday/everynight actualities in a lived world.     

A tobacco and alcohol use profile of San Francisco's Chinese community

Relatively little is known about Asian American tobacco and alcohol use patterns. This is particularly true of Chinese living in the United States--either U.S.-born or non-U.S.-born Chinese. This article presents data from a research project studying tobacco and alcohol use patterns in San Francisco's Chinese community. Data were secured both from focus groups and a self-report telephone survey of a random sample of 1,808 Chinese residents in San Francisco. This results indicate that the prevalence of both tobacco and alcohol use is lower for San Francisco's Chinese population than for the general population. Moreover, those persons who report smoking tend to be different from those who report consuming alcohol. The study concludes that specific, culturally relevant tobacco and alcohol prevention programs should be designed to better reach this target population.