SocietiesPub Date : 2024-09-17DOI: 10.3390/soc14090187
Maria Pia Ferraz
{"title":"Antimicrobial Resistance: The Impact from and on Society According to One Health Approach","authors":"Maria Pia Ferraz","doi":"10.3390/soc14090187","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14090187","url":null,"abstract":"Antibiotics are drugs that target and destroy bacteria, and they are hailed as one of the most amazing medical breakthroughs of the 20th century. They have completely changed how we treat infections and have saved countless lives. But their usefulness is not limited to just medicine; they have also been used for many years in sectors like farming to prevent infections in animals, especially in less wealthy countries. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the ability of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites to resist the effects of antimicrobial agents, like antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics, that were once effective in treating infections caused by these organisms. AMR presents an intricate challenge that endangers the health of both humans and animals, as well as the global economy, and the security of nations and the world at large. Because resistant bacteria are swiftly appearing and spreading among humans, animals, and the environment worldwide, AMR is acknowledged as a challenge within the framework of One Health. The One Health approach involves cooperation among various fields to attain the best possible health outcomes for humans, animals, and the environment. It acknowledges the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health. AMR is not merely a scientific or medical issue; it is a societal challenge that demands collective action and awareness. In the intricate tapestry of society, every thread contributes to the fabric of AMR, and every individual holds a stake in its resolution.","PeriodicalId":21795,"journal":{"name":"Societies","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142263658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
SocietiesPub Date : 2024-09-16DOI: 10.3390/soc14090186
Drona P. Rasali, Brendan M. Woodruff, Fatima A. Alzyoud, Daniel Kiel, Katharine T. Schaffzin, William D. Osei, Chandra L. Ford, Shanthi Johnson
{"title":"Cross-Disciplinary Rapid Scoping Review of Structural Racial and Caste Discrimination Associated with Population Health Disparities in the 21st Century","authors":"Drona P. Rasali, Brendan M. Woodruff, Fatima A. Alzyoud, Daniel Kiel, Katharine T. Schaffzin, William D. Osei, Chandra L. Ford, Shanthi Johnson","doi":"10.3390/soc14090186","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14090186","url":null,"abstract":"A cross-disciplinary rapid scoping review was carried out, generally following the PRISMA-SCR protocol to examine historical racial and caste-based discrimination as structural determinants of health disparities in the 21st century. We selected 48 peer-reviewed full-text articles available from the University of Memphis Libraries database search, focusing on three selected case-study countries: the United States (US), Canada, and Nepal. The authors read each article, extracted highlights, and tabulated the thematic contents on structural health disparities attributed to racism or casteism. The results link historical racism/casteism to health disparities occurring in Black and African American, Native American, and other ethnic groups in the US; in Indigenous peoples and other visible minorities in Canada; and in the Dalits of Nepal, a population racialized by caste, grounded on at least four foundational theories explaining structural determinants of health disparities. The evidence from the literature indicates that genetic variations and biological differences (e.g., disease prevalence) occur within and between races/castes for various reasons (e.g., random gene mutations, geographic isolation, and endogamy). However, historical races/castes as socio-cultural constructs have no inherently exclusive basis of biological differences. Disregarding genetic discrimination based on pseudo-scientific theories, genetic testing is a valuable scientific means to achieve the better health of the populations. Epigenetic changes (e.g., weathering—the early aging of racialized women) due to the DNA methylation of genes among racialized populations are markers of intergenerational trauma due to racial/caste discrimination. Likewise, chronic stresses resulting from intergenerational racial/caste discrimination cause an “allostatic load”, characterized by an imbalance of neuronal and hormonal dysfunction, leading to occurrences of chronic diseases (e.g., hypertension, diabetes, and mental health) at disproportionate rates among racialized populations. Major areas identified for reparative policy changes and interventions for eliminating the health impacts of racism/casteism include areas of issues on health disparity research, organizational structures, programs and processes, racial justice in population health, cultural trauma, equitable healthcare system, and genetic discrimination.","PeriodicalId":21795,"journal":{"name":"Societies","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142263660","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
SocietiesPub Date : 2024-09-16DOI: 10.3390/soc14090185
Ana M. Ning
{"title":"Syndemic Connections: Overdose Death Crisis, Gender-Based Violence and COVID-19","authors":"Ana M. Ning","doi":"10.3390/soc14090185","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14090185","url":null,"abstract":"This article will use syndemic theory to identify and analyze overlapping health and social conditions, focusing specifically on how gender-based violence is systemically interconnected with contemporary public health issues. The overdose death crisis that continues to afflict Canadian populations is not an isolated health issue. Across Canada, it is intertwined with mental health, HIV/AIDS, COVID-19 and structural violence—the chronic and systemic disadvantages affecting those living in poverty and oppressive circumstances. Opioid use is an often-avoidant coping strategy for many experiencing the effects of trauma, relentless fear, pain, ill health and social exclusion. In particular, Indigenous and non-Indigenous women’s experiences with opioid addiction are entangled with encounters with gender based-violence, poverty and chronic ailments within structurally imposed processes and stressors shaped by a history of colonialism, ruptured lifeways and Western ways of knowing and doing, leading to disproportionate harms and occurrences of illness. While biomedical models of comorbidity and mortality approach substance misuse, gender-based violence and major infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 as distinct yet compounding realities, this article argues that these conditions are synergistically interrelated via the critical/reflexive lens of syndemic frameworks. Through secondary research using academic, media and policy sources from the past decade in Canada, complemented by prior ethnographic research, the synergistic connections among opioid addiction, gender-based violence and the effects of the COVID pandemic on diverse women will be shown to be driven by socio-structural determinants of health including poverty, intergenerational trauma, the legacy of colonialism and Western optics. Together, they embody a contemporary Canadian syndemic necessitating coordinated responses.","PeriodicalId":21795,"journal":{"name":"Societies","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142263661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
SocietiesPub Date : 2024-09-16DOI: 10.3390/soc14090183
Harald A. Mieg
{"title":"Translating Values into Quality: How We Can Use Max Weber’s Ethic of Responsibility to Rethink Professional Ethics","authors":"Harald A. Mieg","doi":"10.3390/soc14090183","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14090183","url":null,"abstract":"A risk-based reinterpretation of Weber’s ethic of responsibility can resolve core problems of professional ethics (the role of values, the multilevel problem, etc.) and address current issues—such as the social responsibility of professions or the accountability of professionals. From this perspective, professions as organizations and professionals as their individual members share and distribute responsibility (and risk) in that the primary responsibility of a profession is to provide domain-specific quality standards, while that of individual professionals is to be able to justify service against those standards on a case-by-case basis. In this way, as argued in the paper, professionalism translates (sometimes conflicting) values into a case-specific quality.","PeriodicalId":21795,"journal":{"name":"Societies","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142263656","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
SocietiesPub Date : 2024-09-16DOI: 10.3390/soc14090184
Gloria Alarcón-García, Edgardo Arturo Ayala Gaytán, José Manuel Mayor Balsas, Claudia María Quintanilla Domínguez
{"title":"Everyday Life Infrastructure Impact on Subjective Well-Being in the European Union: A Gender Perspective","authors":"Gloria Alarcón-García, Edgardo Arturo Ayala Gaytán, José Manuel Mayor Balsas, Claudia María Quintanilla Domínguez","doi":"10.3390/soc14090184","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14090184","url":null,"abstract":"This paper processes the 2015 Benefits of Gender Equality through Infrastructure Provision (BGEIP) Survey, a representative survey for the EU-28, to estimating the impact of everyday life infrastructure access on subjective well-being (SWB) from a gender perspective in Europe. Our estimations prove that accessing everyday life infrastructure in Europe indeed increases SWB, but it contributes to increasing more the SWB of women than that of men. Women’s well-being is positively affected for all kinds of everyday life infrastructures, but the differences with respect to men are larger for the Nursery category for children up to 3 years and for the Centers category for people with long term disabilities. In contrast, men’s well-being is only sensitive to the Health infrastructure and to the Gym and Workout places. Clearly, targeting infrastructure investment helping women in caring children, and other dependents in the family constitute an excellent vehicle for increasing women’s SWB and reducing gender inequality in Europe.","PeriodicalId":21795,"journal":{"name":"Societies","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142263659","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Impact of a Health Promotion Program on Knowledge, Physical Health, Mental Health, and Social Health Behaviors in Individuals at Risk for Colorectal Cancer","authors":"Surachet Fakkiew, Supat Teravecharoenchai, Panit Khemtong, Wanich Suksatan","doi":"10.3390/soc14090182","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14090182","url":null,"abstract":"Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a significant public health issue, particularly in low- and middle-income countries like Thailand. While numerous studies advocate for regular screenings and health promotion programs to mitigate CRC risk, there is a notable lack of tailored health promotion models specifically designed for high-risk groups in Thailand. This research aims to develop a health promotion model to prevent CRC in high-risk groups through a quasi-experimental design. The study involved 68 Thai participants aged 40–70 years, divided equally into experimental and comparison groups. Independent-Samples t-test, Paired-Samples t-test, and one-way variance test (F-test) were employed to analyze the data. The comparison of baseline average scores for physical health, mental health, social health, and knowledge on health-promoting behaviors between the experimental and comparison groups revealed no significant differences. However, following the experiment, the average scores in physical health (t = −2.81, p = 0.01) and mental health (t = −10.30, p < 0.001) were significantly higher compared to pre-experiment levels, with the exception of social health (t = 0.07, p = 0.94). Furthermore, the average knowledge scores related to promoting physical, mental, and social health in the experimental group also showed a significant increase after the experiment (t = −4.53, p < 0.001). The findings suggest that health personnel should advocate for annual CRC screening and the implementation of health promotion programs, especially focusing on physical, mental, and social aspects for at-risk populations. This study underscores the need for long-term health promotion models to achieve continuous and sustainable health improvements in these groups.","PeriodicalId":21795,"journal":{"name":"Societies","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142214137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
SocietiesPub Date : 2024-09-11DOI: 10.3390/soc14090178
Brianna Routh, Christine McKibbin, David Wihry, Jennifer A. Crittenden, Ayomide Foluso, Jennifer Jain
{"title":"Cross-State Validation of a Tool Supporting Implementation of Rural Kinship Navigator Programs","authors":"Brianna Routh, Christine McKibbin, David Wihry, Jennifer A. Crittenden, Ayomide Foluso, Jennifer Jain","doi":"10.3390/soc14090178","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14090178","url":null,"abstract":"While kinship care is prevalent and preferred over out-of-family care, there are relatively few measurement tools validated for use with this audience. The Title IV-E Clearinghouse, used to rate Families First Prevention Services such as Kinship Navigator Programs, requires valid tools. Such families face a myriad of needs in supporting children in their care. Previous research has established the significant challenges faced by rural families. Accurate assessment of these needs, particularly for rural families, is an essential component of kinship navigation services. In this study, we examined the face validity of the Family Needs Scale for use with kinship caregivers in rural programs. Methods: The evaluation teams with each respective kinship program conducted four virtual focus groups comprising kinship caregivers (n = 18) in three rural states. Participants were recruited from outside an ongoing Kinship Navigator Program Evaluation sample but had previously received program support as kinship caregivers. All states received IRB approval from their respective universities. Verbal consent was obtained at the time of the focus group. Focus groups lasted approximately 60–90 min and participants received a gift card incentive. Data were transcribed and qualitatively coded by question set and individual questions to identify phenomenological trends. Findings: Across four focus groups, we found four themes: (1) Broad agreement regarding the face validity of most assessment items; (2) Lack of clarity and shared understanding of several terms used within the tool, (3) Responses change with Ages and Stages of kinship family, and (4) Perspective considerations varying when completing the assessment. Discussion: Findings indicate that most assessment items had strong face validity, where there are a few opportunities to clarify key concepts relevant to rural kinship families and assess additional needs to understand the situational scope of the kinship experience. Overall, the needs assessment tool appears to have validity in assessing current kinship needs and outcomes within Kinship Navigator program evaluation.","PeriodicalId":21795,"journal":{"name":"Societies","volume":"122 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142214155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
SocietiesPub Date : 2024-09-11DOI: 10.3390/soc14090179
Roberto Robutti
{"title":"Comparison of the Living Conditions of the Immigrant Population in Major European Countries","authors":"Roberto Robutti","doi":"10.3390/soc14090179","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14090179","url":null,"abstract":"Specific aspects and territorial characteristics of migration have been extensively studied, while the primary living conditions of foreigners have been less compared in-depth. Using data from the Labor Force Surveys and EU-Silc for the year 2019, relating to six key aspects of daily life, in this study, foreign-born people living in the five main European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and the European Union were compared for the frequency of costs (e.g., for welfare services) and benefits (e.g., for employment) for the host society. Subsequently, the comparison of them, made by juxtaposing natives and non-natives, allowed for a definition of the level of primary integration (distance of immigrants from natives on the same aspects). The results show that the degree of congruence between the frequency of costs and that of benefits in the immigrant population is strongly influenced by the economic situation, favorable for Germany and the United Kingdom in 2019, with a lower recurrence of hardship cases among immigrants, but high wealth did not automatically reduce their differences. Instead, a small gap between immigrants and natives may also be due to the progressive impoverishment of the latter (Italian case). Therefore, especially in periods of economic stagnation, the different impact of it and of welfare measures on the immigrant population compared to natives requires the analysis of their actual living conditions, as the traditionally used economic aggregates (especially GDP) do not reveal the disparities in the distribution of resources between the various social and ethnic groups.","PeriodicalId":21795,"journal":{"name":"Societies","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142214138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
SocietiesPub Date : 2024-09-07DOI: 10.3390/soc14090176
Gregor Wolbring, Laiba Nasir
{"title":"Intersectionality of Disabled People through a Disability Studies, Ability-Based Studies, and Intersectional Pedagogy Lens: A Survey and a Scoping Review","authors":"Gregor Wolbring, Laiba Nasir","doi":"10.3390/soc14090176","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14090176","url":null,"abstract":"Disabled people face many social problems in their lives, as outlined by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. These problems often increase when disabled people also belong to another marginalized identity. The first aim of this study was to report on the extent and what intersectionalities are mentioned in academic abstracts in conjunction with disabled people. Various intersectional concepts are used to discuss intersectionality-related issues. The second aim was to ascertain the use of intersectionality-based concepts to discuss the intersectionality of disabled people. The field of intersectional pedagogy emerged to discuss the teaching of intersectionality linked to various marginalized identities. The third aim was to ascertain the coverage of how to teach about the intersectionality of disabled people in the intersectional pedagogy-focused academic literature we covered. Ability judgments are a general cultural reality. Many ability judgment-based concepts have been developed within the disability rights movement, disability studies, and ability-based studies that could be used to discuss the impact of ability judgments on the intersectionality of disabled people and enrich the area of intersectional pedagogy. The fourth aim was to ascertain the use of ability judgment-based concepts to analyze the intersectionality of disabled people. To obtain data for the four aims, we performed a manifest coding and qualitative content analysis of abstracts obtained from SCOPUS, the 70 databases of EBSCO-HOST and Web of Science, and an online survey in which we ascertained the views of undergraduate students on social groups experiencing negative ability-based judgments. As to the 34,830 abstracts that contained the term “intersectionality”; the 259,501 abstracts that contained the phrase “intersection of”; and the 11,653 abstracts that contained the 35 intersectionality-based concepts, the numbers for these abstracts that also contained the disability terms we used for our analysis were 753, 2058, and 274 abstracts, respectively, so 2.16%, 0.79%, and 2.35%, indicating a low academic engagement with the intersectionality of disabled people. We found many different intersectionalities mentioned in conjunction with disabled people, but most were mentioned only once or twice, with the main ones mentioned being race and gender. The literature covered made little use of most of the 52 intersectionality-based concepts we looked at (35 identified before the study and 17 more identified during the analysis). The literature covered also did not link to the area of intersectional pedagogy. Of the 25 ability judgment-based concepts, only the term ableism was used. As to the surveys, most students saw many of the social groups experiencing negative ability judgments, suggesting that the ability judgment-based concepts might be a useful tool to discuss intersectional consequences of ability judgments, such as intersectional conflict. Our da","PeriodicalId":21795,"journal":{"name":"Societies","volume":"96 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142214156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
SocietiesPub Date : 2024-09-06DOI: 10.3390/soc14090173
Gretchen Cusick, Jennifer Gaul-Stout, Reiko Kakuyama-Villaber, Olivia Wilks, Yasmin Grewal-Kök, Clare Anderson
{"title":"A Systematic Review of Economic and Concrete Support to Prevent Child Maltreatment","authors":"Gretchen Cusick, Jennifer Gaul-Stout, Reiko Kakuyama-Villaber, Olivia Wilks, Yasmin Grewal-Kök, Clare Anderson","doi":"10.3390/soc14090173","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14090173","url":null,"abstract":"The association between poverty and maltreatment is well established, and numerous studies show the detrimental effects of economic and material hardship on maltreatment, child welfare involvement, and family well-being. In turn, an increasing body of literature suggests the value of programs and services that provide economic and concrete support in stabilizing and supporting families and, ultimately, reducing occurrences of maltreatment. In this article, we examine the effectiveness of economic and concrete support in reducing primary outcomes of child maltreatment and child welfare involvement and in improving secondary outcomes of child and adult well-being through a systematic review of the literature. We review studies published between 1990 and 2023 through searches of scholarly databases, child welfare websites, and evidence-based clearinghouses. We used a two-stage review process to identify a final sample of articles for data extraction. Twenty-four studies with low risk of bias were included in the synthesis. Regardless of delivery mechanism, we found consistent, favorable evidence of the impact of economic and concrete support as a prevention strategy to reduce child maltreatment and child welfare entry and to a lesser extent, improvements in child and adult well-being across these studies. Implications for policy, practice, and racial equity are discussed.","PeriodicalId":21795,"journal":{"name":"Societies","volume":"276 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142214157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}