Social Science & Medicine最新文献

{"title":"How to incorporate social vulnerability into epidemic mathematical modelling: recommendations from an international Delphi","authors":"Megan Naidoo ,&nbsp;Whitney Shephard ,&nbsp;Nokuthula Mtshali ,&nbsp;Innocensia Kambewe ,&nbsp;Bernedette Muthien ,&nbsp;Nadia N. Abuelezam ,&nbsp;Miguel Ponce-de-Leon ,&nbsp;Daniel A.M. Villela ,&nbsp;Romulo Paes-Sousa ,&nbsp;Wirichada Pan-ngum ,&nbsp;David Dowdy ,&nbsp;Stephen S. Morse ,&nbsp;Daiana Pena ,&nbsp;Lorena G. Barberia ,&nbsp;Rein M.G.J. Houben ,&nbsp;Pedro Arcos González ,&nbsp;Jamela E. Robertson ,&nbsp;Rachid Muleia ,&nbsp;Olanrewaju Lawal ,&nbsp;Davide Rasella","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118352","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118352","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Epidemic mathematical modelling plays a crucial role in understanding and responding to infectious disease epidemics. However, these models often neglect social vulnerability (SV): the social, economic, political, and health system inequalities that inform disease dynamics. Despite its importance in health outcomes, SV is not routinely included in epidemic modelling. Given the critical need to include SV but limited direction, this paper aimed to develop research recommendations to incorporate SV in epidemic mathematical modelling. Using the Delphi technique, 22 interdisciplinary experts from 12 countries were surveyed to reach consensus on research recommendations. Three rounds of online surveys were completed, consisting of free-text and seven-point Likert scale questions. Descriptive statistics and inductive qualitative analyses were conducted. Consensus was reached on 27 recommendations across seven themes: collaboration, design, data selection, data sources, relationship dynamics, reporting, and calibration and sensitivity. Experts also identified 92 indicators of SV with access to sanitation (n = 14, 6.1 %), access to healthcare (n = 12, 5.3 %), and household density and composition (n = 12, 5.3 %) as the most frequently cited. Given the recent focus on the social determinants of pandemic resilience, this study provides both process and technical recommendations to incorporate SV into epidemic modelling. SV's inclusion provides a more holistic view of the real world and calls attention to communities at risk. This supports forecasting accuracy and the success of policy and programmatic interventions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"383 ","pages":"Article 118352"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144696547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The effects of engagement in arts and cultural activities on adolescent mental health: Results from a large UK panel study","authors":"Sam Hugh-Jones ,&nbsp;Luke Munford","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118343","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118343","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Adolescent mental health is in crisis in the UK and around the world, which has huge social and economic costs. Investing in prevention and early intervention is key. There has been much policy interest in ‘Creative Health’, and the role that engaging with arts and culture can have on mental health and wellbeing, including for adolescents. Existing research is positive but methodologically limited and it has often focused on short, sharp interventions for ‘at risk’ groups. This study uses a large panel dataset and longitudinal regression methods to better unpick the relationship between arts engagement and mental health in adolescents, addressing some methodological issues in existing research. Results indicate that engaging with arts and cultural activities can improve mental health in 11–15 year-olds; increasing engagement with arts and cultural activities by one standard deviation could reduce SDQ externalising symptom scores by 0.26 points (∼2.4 % of the mean). ‘Active’ engagement may be more beneficial than ‘passive’ engagement, and female adolescents may benefit more than male adolescents. These findings suggest that there is scope for policies to encourage regular active engagement with arts and cultural activities for all adolescents, as a preventative, public health approach to improving mental health and wellbeing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"382 ","pages":"Article 118343"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144614573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Large language models’ varying accuracy in recognizing risk-promoting and health-supporting sentiments in public health discourse: The cases of HPV vaccination and heated tobacco products","authors":"Soojong Kim ,&nbsp;Kwanho Kim ,&nbsp;Hye Min Kim","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118328","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118328","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Machine learning methods are increasingly applied to analyze health-related public discourse based on large-scale data, but questions remain regarding their ability to accurately detect different types of health sentiments. Especially, Large Language Models (LLMs) have gained attention as a powerful technology, yet their accuracy and feasibility in capturing different opinions and perspectives on health issues are largely unexplored. Thus, this research examines how accurate the three prominent LLMs (GPT, Gemini, and LLAMA) are in detecting risk-promoting versus health-supporting sentiments across two critical public health topics: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and heated tobacco products (HTPs). Drawing on data from Facebook and Twitter, we curated multiple sets of messages supporting or opposing recommended health behaviors, supplemented with human annotations as the gold standard for sentiment classification. The findings indicate that all three LLMs generally demonstrate substantial accuracy in classifying risk-promoting and health-supporting sentiments, although notable discrepancies emerge by platform, health issue, and model type. Specifically, models often show higher accuracy for risk-promoting sentiment on Facebook, whereas health-supporting messages on Twitter are more accurately detected. An additional analysis also shows the challenges LLMs face in reliably detecting neutral messages. These results highlight the importance of carefully selecting and validating language models for public health analyses, particularly given potential biases in training data that may lead LLMs to overestimate or underestimate the prevalence of certain perspectives.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"383 ","pages":"Article 118328"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144672341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Socioeconomic disparities in hypertension and diabetes among older adults in South Korea: a trend analysis from a national survey, 2011–2023","authors":"Bokyoung Choi ,&nbsp;Jihee Choi ,&nbsp;Jihwan Lee ,&nbsp;Eunhee Choi ,&nbsp;Soong-nang Jang","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118350","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118350","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>With global populations aging rapidly, South Korea entered a super-aged society in 2024, accompanied by an increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases among older adults. The study examined hypertension and diabetes prevalence among older adults in South Korea and analyzed health disparities by socioeconomic status.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>With global populations aging rapidly, South Korea entered a super-aged society in 2024, accompanied by an increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases among older adults. The study examined hypertension and diabetes prevalence among older adults in South Korea and analyzed health disparities by socioeconomic status</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Between 2011 and 2023, the prevalences of hypertension and diabetes increased among older adults (Hypertension 54.4% to 59.6%, Diabetes 20.3% to 27.2), accompanied by widening socioeconomic disparities. For hypertension, both SII and RII by education and income grew over time, particularly among women (education-related RII: 1.001 to 2.002; income-related RII: 1.050 to 1.447). Similar trends were observed among men. For diabetes, disparities by education worsened until 2020 and slightly declined by 2023 among women. Among men, income- and education-related inequalities reversed in direction, with RII shifting from 0.833 to 1.257 (income) and from 0.582 to 1.514 (education), indicating growing disadvantage among lower socioeconomic groups.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Hypertension and diabetes decreased among high-SES groups, while gaps widened among low-SES groups, especially older women. These findings underscore the need for equity-focused health policies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"382 ","pages":"Article 118350"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144549935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Aging bodies, future technologies: Health insurance coverage and stratified biomedicalization","authors":"Tara Gonsalves","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118348","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118348","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>How do insurers adjudicate coverage for politically controversial treatments? How do these decisions shape access to care for older women? I address these questions by studying two types of care that have seen wide variation in health insurance coverage over the past two decades: gender-affirming surgery and fertility treatments. Drawing from an analysis of archival materials and insurance coverage decisions, I theorize the temporal aspect of biomedical stratification by analyzing how insurers adjudicate coverage for transgender women seeking facial feminization surgery and non-transgender women seeking invitro fertilization (IVF) and Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) services. I argue that the delayed process through which health insurers expand coverage for politically controversial treatments stratifies access to care. Advances in technological development have enabled the expansion of both types of treatments and insurance coverage has brought treatment to a wider array of people. At the same time, because insurers take longer to greenlight politically controversial treatments, older women who may have sought and benefited from these technologies in earlier years are now deemed too old for care.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"383 ","pages":"Article 118348"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144750703","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Charting a path forward toward integrating macrolevel phenomena, marginalization, and health equity principles in into dissemination and implementation science","authors":"Hannah LF. Cooper ,&nbsp;Kelli Hall ,&nbsp;Cam Escoffery ,&nbsp;Melvin “Doug” Livingston ,&nbsp;Jessica Sales ,&nbsp;Anna Mullaney ,&nbsp;Whitney Rice ,&nbsp;Umed Ibragimov ,&nbsp;Michelle Kegler ,&nbsp;Claire Sterk ,&nbsp;Chandra Ford ,&nbsp;Lisa Bowleg","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118344","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118344","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Dissemination and implementation (D&amp;I) science is ascendant within public health in the United States, but D&amp;I scientists have long voiced concern at their field's capacity to fulfill two essential and intertwined public health responsibilities: analyzing and intervening in macrosocial determinants and achieving health equity.</div><div>To help break this impasse, we explore D&amp;I's theoretical roots by critically reviewing three historical eras, eras that D&amp;I's origin story has identified as foundational to D&amp;I's development:</div><div>1890–1903: Tarde's Laws of Imitation.</div><div>1920–1960: Rural Sociology.</div><div>1960–1980: Knowledge Utilization Research.</div><div>Our racism-conscious disciplinary self-critique reveals that, as elsewhere in public health, D&amp;I became ascendant in part by developing an “epistemology of ignorance” that has acted in service to racial capitalism - that is, D&amp;I has developed a structured way of (not) knowing that systematically suppresses evidence about racial capitalism and its consequences. Each of D&amp;I's foundational eras was characterized by marked transitions in racial capitalism, in which macrosocial phenomena produced novel forms of marginalization that in turn engendered mass resistance (e.g., industrialization and imperialism; farming crises). In response, D&amp;I's forebears crafted explanatory frameworks (e.g., Diffusion of Innovation) that obscured these transformational macrosocial phenomena, reinforced the marginalizations that they produced, and diverted attention toward atomistic individual-level phenomena. These frameworks have helped foster an epistemology of ignorance within D&amp;I about macrosocial phenomena, marginalization, and health inequities that persists to this day.</div><div>We propose that D&amp;I has an opportunity to forge another era now in which it partners with critical social scientists, practitioners, activists, and people with lived experience to bring macrosocial phenomena, marginalization, and health inequities more firmly into its orbit. We close with principles to guide the development of this era that are rooted in learnings from D&amp;I's history and Public Health Critical Race Praxis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"382 ","pages":"Article 118344"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144517024","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The associations between intergenerational mobility of income and cognitive function in midlife–The Young Finns Study","authors":"Amanda Nurmi ,&nbsp;Teemu Vepsäläinen ,&nbsp;Katja Pahkala ,&nbsp;Elina Puolakka ,&nbsp;Laura Pulkki-Råback ,&nbsp;Marko Elovainio ,&nbsp;Markus Juonala ,&nbsp;Nina Hutri ,&nbsp;Mika Kähönen ,&nbsp;Terho Lehtimäki ,&nbsp;Eero Jokinen ,&nbsp;Tomi P. Laitinen ,&nbsp;Päivi Tossavainen ,&nbsp;Leena Taittonen ,&nbsp;Jorma S.A. Viikari ,&nbsp;Olli T. Raitakari ,&nbsp;Suvi P. Rovio","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118325","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118325","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Systematically high and upward mobile (lower childhood and higher adulthood) socioeconomic status (SES) has been suggested to be associated with better overall cognitive function in adulthood compared to systematically low or downward mobile (high childhood and low adulthood) SES.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Participants’ SES mobility was assessed using data on childhood family income (N = 3596, age 3–18) and own adulthood income (N = 1941, age 34–49). Adulthood learning and memory, working memory, information processing, and reaction time were measured using a computerized test. Altogether, 1804 participants had data on life-course income level and cognitive function in adulthood.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Compared to participants with stable high income, those with stable low, downward, or upward mobile income had worse memory and learning, and information processing. Participants with stable low or downward mobile income had worse working memory and reaction time. The results persisted after adjusting for age, sex, childhood/adulthood lifestyle, cardiovascular risk factors, and polygenic risk score for cognitive function.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Individuals with stable high income may have better midlife cognitive function. This finding highlights the role of life-course SES for disparities in adulthood cognitive function. Understanding the role of early-life determinants of midlife cognitive function is important, as this knowledge may be applied to the early promotion of adulthood cognitive health.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"382 ","pages":"Article 118325"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144571239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mental health problems among adolescents in foster family care: Prevalence and trends from 2004 to 2022","authors":"Hilma Forsman","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118345","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118345","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Adolescents in out-of-home care face heightened risks of mental health disorders, yet less is known about the broader range of mental health symptoms and their development over time. This study examines self-reported mental health complaints among adolescents in foster family care compared to their peers in the general population. Using repeated cross-sectional data from the Stockholm School Survey (2004–2022), which includes approximately 114,000 participants, 1 % of whom live in foster family care, the study analyzes differences in prevalence and explores temporal trends of these complaints, with a particular focus on gender differences. Multivariable regression analyses revealed significant disparities, particularly among girls, who reported higher risks across emotional, self-perception, psychosomatic, and sleep-related domains. While boys in care also exhibited increased risks, these disparities were less pronounced. General temporal trends indicated increases in complaints for both groups. Although differences in trends between groups were generally not statistically significant, some outcomes showed potential tendencies of narrowing gaps among girls in care, while trends for boys suggested widening gaps for most outcomes. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions to address persistent mental health challenges faced by this vulnerable group.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"382 ","pages":"Article 118345"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144557355","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“Don't vape, nobody uses these poisonous sticks”: A content analysis of adolescents' self-generated anti-smoking and anti-vaping messages","authors":"Sofie Vranken ,&nbsp;Femke Geusens ,&nbsp;Caroline Christiaens ,&nbsp;Kathryn Greene ,&nbsp;Kathleen Beullens","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118342","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118342","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Media literacy interventions are promising approaches to mitigate the harmful impact of media on substance use behaviors, including smoking and vaping. Some media literacy interventions adopt an interactive format, involving adolescents in the creation of counter messages that challenge pro-substance media narratives. However, research has largely focused on the impact of media literacy interventions on behaviors, leaving a critical gap in understanding the actual content of messages that adolescents produce. Consequently, this study presents a content analysis of <em>N</em> = 256 anti-smoking/vaping messages created by Belgian adolescents during the #Smokefree intervention, which aimed to discourage smoking and vaping by involving adolescents in the planning/design of their own messages. Overall, adolescents mostly focused on vapes in their messages, which reflects a societal trend whereby vaping is becoming more prevalent while smoking is decreasing among adolescents. More importantly, adolescents relied on negative outcome expectations and descriptive norms to discourage smoking/vaping, and they were able to implement basic heuristic cues necessary to enhance message appeal in their messages. These findings suggest that adolescents can apply critical media literacy skills to their own anti-smoking/anti-vaping messages. It also sheds light on which elements of the media literacy intervention resonated with youth, thereby informing the development of future health campaigns and interventions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"382 ","pages":"Article 118342"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144502558","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“Why you should (not) use semaglutide?”: A critical discourse analysis on health professionals’ videos of semaglutide for weight loss on Douyin","authors":"Xiang Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118339","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118339","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The recent approval of semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, for weight loss in China, has raised public attention. While heated discussions on semaglutide are seen in Chinese social media, limited studies have explored discourses from healthcare professionals about how they introduce the drug and recommend if individuals shall use it or not. Taking a critical discourse analysis approach, this study examines the ways in which the professionals talk about semaglutide on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. Based on 56 healthcare professionals' videos on Douyin, this study has found the professionals’ divergent views of semaglutide, which reveal three major discourses on semaglutide, i.e., semaglutide is a medical breakthrough (facilitating the use of semaglutide); semaglutide is a not a short-cut for losing weight (discouraging the use of semaglutide); and mixed perceptions of patients and doctors (ambiguities in the use of semaglutide). These discourses depict semaglutide by drawing on existing and prominent discourses surrounding obesity, including medicalization of obesity and obesity as personal responsibility. While traditional medical authority of healthcare professionals figure prominently, a neoliberal role that is self-responsibility driven on the side of individuals is called in the videos. This study therefore highlights the contextualized online health communication on semaglutide in the Chinese context. Implications of the semaglutide discourses for obesity intervention in China are discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"382 ","pages":"Article 118339"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144502557","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}