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Title: Integrated platform for coordination of emergency medical response system using mobile devices.
Creator: Chakrabarty, Nabarun, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: This thesis presents a framework for a platform that integrates various infrastructural services and facilities in an automated manner to improve and coordinate the processes of medical emergency response system (MERS). It aims to improve the quality of healthcare system infrastructure by improving the quality of service of MERS. Presently the processes of MERS and their coordination are semi-automated, which adds to the complication of service availability and information exchange among...
Show moreThis thesis presents a framework for a platform that integrates various infrastructural services and facilities in an automated manner to improve and coordinate the processes of medical emergency response system (MERS). It aims to improve the quality of healthcare system infrastructure by improving the quality of service of MERS. Presently the processes of MERS and their coordination are semi-automated, which adds to the complication of service availability and information exchange among participating systems, thereby affecting the MERS' quality of service adversely. An integrated platform for the coordination of MERS processes can help improve its quality of service and ensure better control of data and process flow. The improvements to the MERS service quality can significantly contribute to the improvement of the quality of healthcare infrastructure. The integrated platform framework presented here resolves the problems of data flow and process coordination to achieve the desired goal.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1927611
Subject Headings: Mobile communication systems, Radio paging, Health services accessibility
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: STRUGGLE AND ADAPTATION AMONG UNINSURED AND UNDERINSURED BANGLADESHI IMMIGRANTS IN SOUTH FLORIDA.
Creator: Rahman, Md Abdur, Harris, Michael S., Florida Atlantic University, Department of Anthropology, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Health disparities in the US Health care system are a well-known fact. I examined such disparity with an anthropological lens, focusing on how Bangladeshi uninsured and underinsured immigrants navigate the system of doctors, clinics, hospitals, and payment regimes (insurance or not). I focused on how these immigrants experience the American system, how they react to it, interpret it, understand it, and contextualize it from their particular backgrounds and expectations. This study will be a...
Show moreHealth disparities in the US Health care system are a well-known fact. I examined such disparity with an anthropological lens, focusing on how Bangladeshi uninsured and underinsured immigrants navigate the system of doctors, clinics, hospitals, and payment regimes (insurance or not). I focused on how these immigrants experience the American system, how they react to it, interpret it, understand it, and contextualize it from their particular backgrounds and expectations. This study will be a step toward closing the knowledge gap of a particular immigrant group's everyday experience of access to health care in the U.S. This research emphasizes Bangladeshi immigrants' everyday sufferings, their struggle, their anxiety, and frustration with access to U.S. health care services. Besides, this is an opportunity to discover the barriers to healthcare access for Bangladeshi uninsured and underinsured immigrant groups. This study provides as much helpful information as possible about the health-seeking practices of uninsured and underinsured Bangladeshi immigrants through ethnographic experience. This study also shows how poor or low-income people are the victims of a country's structural violence. Furthermore, low-income, uninsured, and underinsured immigrants suffer a lot due to problems in the system. And this study also focuses on holistically understanding social inequalities in healthcare services in the U.S.
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Date Issued: 2023
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014280
Subject Headings: Health services accessibility--United States, Health services accessibility--United States--Cross-cultural studies, Bangladeshi Americans
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The Effect of a Culturally Relevant Cardiovascular Health Promotion Program on Rural African Americans.
Creator: Abbott, Laurie S., Williams, Christine L., Florida Atlantic University, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing
Abstract/Description: Health disparities among rural African Americans include disproportionately higher morbidity and mortality rates associated with cardiovascular disease. Interventions designed to decrease cardiovascular risk can potentially improve health outcomes among rural, underserved communities. The purpose of this study was to test the effect of a cardiovascular health promotion intervention among rural African Americans. An experimental study randomized by church clusters was done in two rural...
Show moreHealth disparities among rural African Americans include disproportionately higher morbidity and mortality rates associated with cardiovascular disease. Interventions designed to decrease cardiovascular risk can potentially improve health outcomes among rural, underserved communities. The purpose of this study was to test the effect of a cardiovascular health promotion intervention among rural African Americans. An experimental study randomized by church clusters was done in two rural counties in northern Florida. A total of 229 participants, 114 in the intervention group and 115 in the control group, were recruited from twelve rural African American churches. The pretest-posttest design included instruments chosen to measure cardiovascular health habits and knowledge as well as changes in produce consumption, dietary fat intake, and exercise using the major components of the Integrated Model of Behavioral Prediction: intentions, norms, attitudes, and self-efficacy. Linear mixed model was the statistical test used to detect the program effects. Participants who received the intervention had significant increases in scores for the cardiovascular health habits (p < .01) and health knowledge (p < .01) variables compared with the control group. There were also significant group differences regarding intentions to increase produce consumption (p < .01) and reduce dietary fat intake (p < .01). The cardiovascular health program was associated with other statistically significant results including produce consumption attitudes (p = .01) and norms (p < .01), dietary fat attitudes (p = .04) and norms (p < .01), and exercise attitudes (p < .01). There were also significant results found for perceived behavioral control/self-efficacy regarding increasing produce consumption (p < .01), reducing dietary fat intake (p = .03), and increasing exercise (p = .01). Compared to the control group, the cardiovascular health promotion intervention was effective in fostering positive health effects for most of the variables measured. The findings supported the theoretical framework used for guiding the study, the Integrative Model of Behavioral Prediction Nurse-led health promotion interventions within church settings can be effective means for reducing overall cardiovascular risk and health disparities among rural African American populations.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004475
Subject Headings: African Americans -- Health and hygiene, African Americans -- Health services accessibility, African Americans -- Health services accessibility, Cultural awareness -- United States, Discrimination in medical care, Health status indicators -- United States
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The social construction of breast and prostate cancer policy.
Creator: Martinez, Jocilyn., College for Design and Social Inquiry, School of Public Administration
Abstract/Description: Breast and prostate cancers are the most commonly diagnosed forms of cancer in women and men in the United States. The federal government has played an active role in dedicating resources toward breast and prostate cancers since the early 1990s, when policy actors successfully lobbied Congress to adopt policies that increased awareness and spending. Using theories of social construction, I argue that the key to their success was the ability of these policy actors to socially construct the...
Show moreBreast and prostate cancers are the most commonly diagnosed forms of cancer in women and men in the United States. The federal government has played an active role in dedicating resources toward breast and prostate cancers since the early 1990s, when policy actors successfully lobbied Congress to adopt policies that increased awareness and spending. Using theories of social construction, I argue that the key to their success was the ability of these policy actors to socially construct the illnesses of breast and prostate cancers into politically attractive public issues that appealed to federal policymakers. Through the use of embedded collective case study and content analysis of newspaper coverage and congressional data, this dissertation demonstrates how the social constructions of these illnesses impacted the way that breast and prostate cancers were treated as they moved through the policy process. The way in which social construction influenced the types of policies that were adopted to deal with these illnesses is also examined. Because social construction is a multidimensional and dynamic process, several different elements of this process were examined in this dissertation: the ways that policy actors attracted attention to these illnesses, how gender influenced advocacy efforts, the symbolic aspects of these illnesses, and the way the illnesses were defined on systemic and institutional agendas. Since this dissertation examines two different policy issues, the similarities and differences in breast and prostate cancer policymaking were analyzed. I found that discussing breast and prostate cancers in relation to their social constructions provides support for the importance of symbolism and non-rational policy-making processes.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1927310
Subject Headings: Breast, Cancer, Patients, Services for, Prostate, Cancer, Patients, Services for, Health services accessibility, Government policy, Medical policy
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Predicting hospital readmissions in patients with diabetes: the importance of diabetes education and other factors.
Creator: Asper, Darwin E., College of Education, Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methodology
Abstract/Description: The objective of this study was to determine whether 11 independent variables or combinations of variables help to predict a diabetes-related hospital readmission for patients with diabetes within 60 days from discharge. The variables were categorized into four main groups: (a) patient characteristics, (b) lifestyle, (c) biomarkers, and (d) disease management aspects. A convenience sample of 389 historical medical records of patients who were admitted to a rural hospital in northeastern North...
Show moreThe objective of this study was to determine whether 11 independent variables or combinations of variables help to predict a diabetes-related hospital readmission for patients with diabetes within 60 days from discharge. The variables were categorized into four main groups: (a) patient characteristics, (b) lifestyle, (c) biomarkers, and (d) disease management aspects. A convenience sample of 389 historical medical records of patients who were admitted to a rural hospital in northeastern North Carolina with a diagnosis of, or relating to, diabetes was studied. After comparing predictive discriminant analysis (PDA) and logistic regression (LR), PDA performed better and was chosen to analyze a convenience sample of patients admitted to the hospital for a diabetes-related diagnosis from January, 2004 to December, 2006. The best overall subset accurately classified 27 cases with six predictors that included (a) systolic blood pressure, (b) smoking status, (c) blood glucose range, (d) ethnicity, (e) diabetes education, and (f) diastolic blood pressure. In an effort to simplify the prediction process, the subsets of two predictors were examined. The results of the analysis returned four subsets of 2-predictor variable combinations that correctly classified cases for readmission. Each of the four subsets has two predictors that are statistically and practically significant for predicting readmissions for a diabetes-related problem within fewer than 60 days. These combinations are the predictor subsets of (a) smoking status and being treated by a specialist or non-specialist physician, (b) a religious affiliation or a lack thereof and smoking status, (c) gender and smoking status, and (d) smoking status and ethnicity.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/221947
Subject Headings: Outcome assessment (Medical care), Methodology, Medical care, Evaluation, Health services accessibility, Management, Patient education
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Perceived discrimination of Muslims in health care in the United States.
Creator: Martin, Mary Brigid, Williams, Christine L., Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing
Abstract/Description: Discrimination is not only a human and civil rights offense, but also a detrimental influence on the health outcomes of affected populations. The Muslim population in the United States is a growing religious minority increasingly encountered by health care professionals in the clinical setting. This group has been subject to heightened discrimination since the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and often is misunderstood within the context of American society today. While research has been...
Show moreDiscrimination is not only a human and civil rights offense, but also a detrimental influence on the health outcomes of affected populations. The Muslim population in the United States is a growing religious minority increasingly encountered by health care professionals in the clinical setting. This group has been subject to heightened discrimination since the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and often is misunderstood within the context of American society today. While research has been conducted on discrimination against Muslims in the employment and educational segments of society, more studies are needed which quantify the extent and type of discrimination faced by this group in the health care setting. This inquiry focused on the crossover of anti-Muslim discrimination from society to the health care setting. A newly developed tool to measure anti-Muslim discrimination in health care and an established perceived discrimination scale were used to create the questionnaire employed in this investigation. The items of this newly created tool addressed culturally congruent care practices based on the principles of cultural safety within the nurse-patient relationship and the cultural care beliefs of the Muslim patient/family to ascertain discriminatory occurrences in the health care setting. Ray’s (2010) transcultural caring dynamics in nursing and health care model served as a framework for this quantitative, univariate, descriptive, cross-sectional design. Findings revealed that nearly one-third of Muslim subjects perceived they were discriminated against in the health care setting in the United States. Being excluded or ignored was the most frequently conveyed type of discrimination, followed by problems related to the use of Muslim clothing; offensive or insensitive verbal remarks; and problems related to Islamic holidays, prayer rituals, and physical assault, respectively. Age was positively correlated with perceived anti-Muslim discrimination in society. Education was negatively correlated with perceived discrimination in both society and the health care setting. Findings revealed that three out of five of those surveyed reported that they wear Muslim clothing; the most frequently reported of which was the hijab, the most popular Muslim garment reported to be worn. Participants who wore Muslim clothing, especially females, reported more anti-Muslim discrimination than those who did not. Scores for self-reported perceived anti-Muslim discrimination were found to be higher after the Boston Marathon bombings, April 15, 2013, an act perpetrated by Muslims, which occurred during the time of data collection. The number one Muslim care preference reported was same sex caregiver followed by respect for modesty, prayer rituals, respect for privacy, family involvement in care, and dietary concerns. Implications for practice, policy, education, political science, and recommendations for further research are discussed.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA0004036
Subject Headings: Discrimination -- United States, Discrimination in medical care, Health services accessibility, Minorities -- Health and hygiene, Muslims -- Public opinion
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Transition experiences of the chronically ill adolescent.
Creator: White, Kelly N., Keller, Kathryn B., Florida Atlantic University, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing
Abstract/Description: The continued development of the American health care system and evolving technology have led to an increased life expectancy within the general population. In fact, these advancements have also resulted in growing numbers of young people with chronic illnesses living into adulthood. Approximately one third of children ages 10-17 have a chronic disease, and the vast majority of these children will survive beyond their 20th birthday (Blum, 1995; Lotstein, McPherson, Strickland, & Newacheck,...
Show moreThe continued development of the American health care system and evolving technology have led to an increased life expectancy within the general population. In fact, these advancements have also resulted in growing numbers of young people with chronic illnesses living into adulthood. Approximately one third of children ages 10-17 have a chronic disease, and the vast majority of these children will survive beyond their 20th birthday (Blum, 1995; Lotstein, McPherson, Strickland, & Newacheck, 2005; White, 2002). The main objective of this study was to explore the healthcare transition (HCT) practices of health care providers and the HCT experiences of chronically ill young adults living with sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis, and/or diabetes. Meleis, Sawyer, Im, Hifinger Messias, & Schumacher’s (2000) theory on transition and Boykin and Schoenhofer’s (2001) theory of Nursing as Caring provided the theoretical lenses throughwhich study findings were viewed. This was a descriptive exploratory mixed methods design that consisted of survey data and used conventional content analysis to analyze the qualitative data. The quantitative portion of this study incorporated a 41-question survey that was completed by 33 health care providers working with chronically ill young adults in the southeast Florida region. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight young adults (18-24 years of age) living with a sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis, and/or diabetes. Five themes emerged from an analysis of the data describing the healthcare transition (HCT) experience: Transition Confusion, Familial Reliance, Lost in Transition, Fiscal Stressors, and Transition Uneasiness. The findings of this study demonstrate that there are, at minimum, three general parts of the HCT process that remain deficient: educational preparation, consistent communication between all parties involved in the HCT process, and guidance for the independent negotiation of the present healthcare system. Recommendations for healthcare providers that work with chronically ill young adults include establishing a HCT framework that incorporates consistent communication among team members and patients/families, individualized educational formats, and guidance for navigational skills to negotiate the healthcare system.
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Date Issued: 2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004234, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004234
Subject Headings: Children with disabilities -- Care, Chronic diseases in children -- Psychological aspects, Chronically ill children -- Services for, Health services accessibility, Nursing -- Philosophy, Nursing models
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A philosophical analysis of America's transformation to universal health care: implications for responsibility and justice.
Creator: Mantoni, Jennifer Lynn., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Philosophy
Abstract/Description: Human beings have two apparently conflicting fundamental rights. On the one hand, individuals have a right to health care as the United Nations declared in 1948. On the other hand, individuals have a right to liberty; that is, the freedom to make one's own health related choices, even poor ones. One goal of this essay is to show how to reconcile these two apparently conflicting core American values. This reconciliation is important, because a universal health care system that is fair and just...
Show moreHuman beings have two apparently conflicting fundamental rights. On the one hand, individuals have a right to health care as the United Nations declared in 1948. On the other hand, individuals have a right to liberty; that is, the freedom to make one's own health related choices, even poor ones. One goal of this essay is to show how to reconcile these two apparently conflicting core American values. This reconciliation is important, because a universal health care system that is fair and just must account for individual rights in tandem with attempts to address matters of social justice. In order for this reconciliation to occur, matters of individual responsibility, social responsibility, and social justice must be central to health care reform.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3171680
Subject Headings: Health care reform, Health services accessibility, Insurance, Health, Government policy, Political science, Philosophy, Health care rationing, Moral and ethical aspects, Social justice, Responsibility
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Sources of infant care informational social support for mothers of infants in the Appalachian region.
Creator: Wright, Mary Ellen, Liehr, Patricia, Florida Atlantic University, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this study was to describe the sources of infant care informational support systems that mothers residing in the Western North Carolina Appalachian region use and prefer in the postpartum period. In addition, the study explored the associations of the sources for informational social support on infant care with personal factors (age, socioeconomic status, parity, race, ethnicity, residence, marital status, education, access to Internet, access to cellular phone, prior...
Show moreThe purpose of this study was to describe the sources of infant care informational support systems that mothers residing in the Western North Carolina Appalachian region use and prefer in the postpartum period. In addition, the study explored the associations of the sources for informational social support on infant care with personal factors (age, socioeconomic status, parity, race, ethnicity, residence, marital status, education, access to Internet, access to cellular phone, prior attendance in childbirth classes, and other adult infant care assistance in the home) of the mothers.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004422
Subject Headings: Appalachian Region, Southern--Social life and customs, Maternal health services--Appalachian Region, Southern, Health services accessibility--Appalachian Region, Southern, Social networks--Appalachian Region, Southern, Infants--Health and hygiene--Appalachian Region, Southern, Communication in medicine, Appalachians (People)--North Carolina--Social life and customs
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Suffering in the midst of technology: the lived experience of an abnormal prenatal ultrasound.
Creator: Gottlieb, Jeanne C., Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand the essence of the lived experience of women after having an abnormal prenatal ultrasound. One hundred years ago, health disciplines had limited therapies for prenatal and neonatal disorders. During this period, the eugenics movement influenced leaders to involuntarily sterilize individuals who were sought to be "unfit" to prevent disorders in offspring. ... One of these contemporary reproductive genetic technologies is...
Show moreThe purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand the essence of the lived experience of women after having an abnormal prenatal ultrasound. One hundred years ago, health disciplines had limited therapies for prenatal and neonatal disorders. During this period, the eugenics movement influenced leaders to involuntarily sterilize individuals who were sought to be "unfit" to prevent disorders in offspring. ... One of these contemporary reproductive genetic technologies is the use of ultrasound and serum bio-medical markers for detection of congenital, chromosome, and genetic disorders. When ultrasounds reveal abnormal findings, the perceived perfect pregnancy vanishes and gives way to feelings of shock, disbelief, fear, guilt, loss, and threats to self and their unborn baby. Twelve women who had an abnormal ultrasound were interviewed within the context of their cultural values and beliefs. The method of van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenology illuminated the meaning for these women in their life worlds. ... They endured this experience through their own coping mechanisms, but often felt uncertainty and emotional turmoil until the birth. The women also sought comfort through their cultural values, beliefs, and traditions. In coping with the risks found on this abnormal ultrasound, women often selected silence or blocking perceived threats. With these coping methods, they were alone in their suffering. ... Health providers, in not recognizing these women's misunderstandings and emotional fears, abandoned them in their psychosocial and cultural needs. The significance reveals that nurses and health providers need to infuse human caring ways of being, knowing, and doing within advanced technological environments.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3362381
Subject Headings: Medical genetics, Medical care, Decision-making, Health services accessibility, Abortion, Moral and ethical aspects, Pregnancy, Complications, Diagnostic ultrasonic imaging, Communication in medicine, Genetic counseling, Genetic disorders, Nursing, Standards
Format: Document (PDF)

Health services accessibility (7)	+ -
Communication in medicine (2)	+ -
Discrimination in medical care (2)	+ -
Government policy (2)	+ -
Medical care (2)	+ -

Moral and ethical aspects (2)	+ -
Abortion (1)	+ -
African Americans -- Health and hygiene (1)	+ -
African Americans -- Health services accessibility (1)	+ -
Appalachian Region, Southern--Social life and customs (1)	+ -
Appalachians (People)--North Carolina--Social life and customs (1)	+ -
Bangladeshi Americans (1)	+ -
Breast (1)	+ -
Cancer (1)	+ -
Children with disabilities -- Care (1)	+ -
Chronic diseases in children -- Psychological aspects (1)	+ -
Chronically ill children -- Services for (1)	+ -
Complications (1)	+ -
Cultural awareness -- United States (1)	+ -
Decision-making (1)	+ -
Diagnostic ultrasonic imaging (1)	+ -
Discrimination -- United States (1)	+ -
Evaluation (1)	+ -
Genetic counseling (1)	+ -
Genetic disorders (1)	+ -
Health care rationing (1)	+ -
Health care reform (1)	+ -
Health services accessibility--Appalachian Region, Southern (1)	+ -
Health services accessibility--United States (1)	+ -
Health services accessibility--United States--Cross-cultural studies (1)	+ -

Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing (5)	+ -
Florida Atlantic University (4)	+ -
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters (2)	+ -
Williams, Christine L. (2)	+ -
Abbott, Laurie S. (1)	+ -

Asper, Darwin E. (1)	+ -
Chakrabarty, Nabarun (1)	+ -
College for Design and Social Inquiry (1)	+ -
College of Education (1)	+ -
College of Engineering and Computer Science (1)	+ -
Department of Anthropology (1)	+ -
Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (1)	+ -
Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methodology (1)	+ -
Department of Philosophy (1)	+ -
Gottlieb, Jeanne C. (1)	+ -
Harris, Michael S. (1)	+ -
Keller, Kathryn B. (1)	+ -
Liehr, Patricia (1)	+ -
Mantoni, Jennifer Lynn. (1)	+ -
Martin, Mary Brigid (1)	+ -
Martinez, Jocilyn. (1)	+ -
Rahman, Md Abdur (1)	+ -
School of Public Administration (1)	+ -
White, Kelly N. (1)	+ -
Wright, Mary Ellen (1)	+ -

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