Work–life-imbalance during the COVID-19 pandemic: exploring social support and health outcomes in the United States

By comparing funeral practices in Bali, Japan, Russia, England, and the United States, the author shows that funeral practices are designed to provide socially sanctioned solutions to deep psychological needs at the time of bereavement. Suggested universal features of funeral practice across cultures include the provision of social support for the bereaved, religious ritual, funeral expenditure, sanitary disposal of the body, visual confrontation, and the funeral procession, which is generally conceived as a family parade.

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Should We Put a Thin Subsidy on the Policy Table in the Fight against Obesity?

Forum for Health Economics & Policy ◽

10.2202/1558-9544.1235 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Grace Lordan ◽

John Quiggin

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

The United States ◽

Soft Drinks ◽

Economic Effects ◽

Sugar Sweetened Beverages ◽

President Obama ◽

Sweetened Beverages ◽

The Relationship ◽

Artificially Sweetened Beverages

The idea of using 'fat taxes’ to curb obesity rates has been raised by many. In particular, the idea of taxing sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) has received considerable attention in the United States and has recently been discussed by President Obama. Rather less attention has been given to the alternative of 'thin subsidies’, that is, subsidies for the consumption of foods or beverages likely to be associated with reduced incidence of obesity. This commentary examines the case for a subsidy for artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs) or 'diet soft drinks’. In this commentary, we outline the evidence on the relationship between health outcomes, most notably obesity, and the consumption of SSBs and ASBs. In the light of the evidence we consider the economic effects of taxing SSBs, and the way in which those effects would be modified by the adoption of the alternative 'thin subsidy’ based on subsidising ASBs.

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Implementing a Data to Care Strategy to Improve Health Outcomes for People With HIV: A Report From the Care and Prevention in the United States Demonstration Project

Public Health Reports ◽

10.1177/0033354918805987 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 133 (2_suppl) ◽

pp. 60S-74S ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Patricia Sweeney ◽

Tamika Hoyte ◽

Mesfin S. Mulatu ◽

Jacquelyn Bickham ◽

Antoine D. Brantley ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Medical Care ◽

Treatment Adherence ◽

Viral Suppression ◽

The United States ◽

Health Departments ◽

State Health ◽

Improve Health

Objectives: The Care and Prevention in the United States Demonstration Project included implementation of a Data to Care strategy using surveillance and other data to (1) identify people with HIV infection in need of HIV medical care or other services and (2) facilitate linkages to those services to improve health outcomes. We present the experiences of 4 state health departments: Illinois, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia. Methods: The 4 state health departments used multiple databases to generate listings of people with diagnosed HIV infection (PWH) who were presumed not to be in HIV medical care or who had difficulty maintaining viral suppression from October 1, 2013, through September 29, 2016. Each health department prioritized the listings (eg, by length of time not in care, by viral load), reviewed them for accuracy, and then disseminated the listings to staff members to link PWH to HIV care and services. Results: Of 16 391 PWH presumed not to be in HIV medical care, 9852 (60.1%) were selected for follow-up; of those, 4164 (42.3%) were contacted, and of those, 1479 (35.5%) were confirmed to be not in care. Of 794 (53.7%) PWH who accepted services, 694 (87.4%) were linked to HIV medical care. The Louisiana Department of Health also identified 1559 PWH as not virally suppressed, 764 (49.0%) of whom were eligible for follow-up. Of the 764 PWH who were eligible for follow-up, 434 (56.8%) were contacted, of whom 269 (62.0%) had treatment adherence issues. Of 153 PWH who received treatment adherence services, 104 (68.0%) showed substantial improvement in viral suppression. Conclusions: The 4 health departments established procedures for using surveillance and other data to improve linkage to HIV medical care and health outcomes for PWH. To be effective, health departments had to enhance coordination among surveillance, care programs, and providers; develop mechanisms to share data; and address limitations in data systems and data quality.

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Perceived Discrimination and Health: Integrative Findings

The Oxford Handbook of Integrative Health Science ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190676384.013.32 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 442-456 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Adolfo G. Cuevas ◽

David R. Williams

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

National Health ◽

Perceived Discrimination ◽

Social Groups ◽

The United States ◽

Health Study ◽

Future Research ◽

Priority Areas

The Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study was the first national health study to include a comprehensive battery to measure both major acute and chronic experiences of discrimination. Studies using MIDUS data have made significant contributions to the growing area of research on discrimination and health. This chapter provides an overview of research on discrimination and health, giving special attention to how findings from the MIDUS study have contributed to this literature. It provides a description of the discrimination instruments in MIDUS and summarizes key MIDUS findings that have examined discrimination in relation to health outcomes. This chapter outlines priority areas for future research. With growing recognition of the need to better understand the conditions under which specific aspects of discrimination are pathogenic for particular social groups, this chapter highlights the importance of using MIDUS to reach these goals.

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A Changing Landscape of Health Opportunity in the United States: Increases in the Strength of the Association Between Childhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Adult Health Between the 1990’s and the 2010’s

10.31235/osf.io/bhuaw ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Thomas E Fuller-Rowell ◽

Olivia I. Nichols ◽

Markus Jokela ◽

Eric S. Kim ◽

Elif D. Yildirim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Parent Education ◽

Functional Limitations ◽

The United States ◽

Socioeconomic Disadvantage ◽

Occupational Prestige ◽

Adult Health ◽

Important Indicator ◽

Aggregate Index

The strength of the association between childhood socioeconomic disadvantage (SED) and adult health is an important indicator of health stratification and the degree to which health outcomes are determined early in life. However, changes in the strength of this association over historic time are largely unexamined in the United States. Utilizing data from two independent national samples of adults collected 17 years apart (1995 and 2012), the current study examined changes in the strength of the association between childhood SED and adult health. Childhood SED was scored as an aggregate index from measures of parent occupational prestige, childhood poverty exposure, and parent education. Five measures of adult health were considered: BMI, waist circumference, chronic conditions, functional limitations, and self-rated health. Results indicated that the association between childhood SED and all five health outcomes was significantly stronger in the 2012 sample than the 1995 sample, with the magnitude of the association being more than twice as large in the more recent sample for four out of five outcomes. Findings persisted after adjusting for age, sex, race, marital status, and number of children. Results suggest that the socioeconomic circumstances of childhood have become a stronger predictor of adult health in recent decades. Replication and examination of mechanisms for these effects vis-à-vis changing pathways from childhood SED to adult health through adult status attainments, work environment characteristics, or unfair treatment, is warranted.

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Negative health outcomes associated with food insecurity status in the United States of America: A systematic review of peer-reviewed studies

10.31232/osf.io/uk9xw ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Daniel Jose Arenas ◽

Sara Zhou ◽

Arthur Thomas ◽

Jici Wang ◽

Gilberto Vila Arroyo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Food Insecurity ◽

United States Of America ◽

Underserved Populations ◽

The United States ◽

Health Providers ◽

Populations At Risk ◽

Negative Health Outcomes

Introduction: Social determinants of health, such as food security, are an important target for health providers, particularly in the care of patients from underserved populations, including the uninsured and socially marginalized. Preliminary research has shown that food insecurity status (FIS) is associated with negative health outcomes.Objective: We aim to present a concise, yet comprehensive resource that lists the health outcomes associated with FIS. This guide is meant to provide innovative health providers with the tools needed to justify the importance of using FIS screening and treatment as a preventive medicine intervention.Methods: We conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed manuscripts that studied FIS in the United States of America (USA) and at least one health outcome. We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus and had multiple reviewers examine each abstract and manuscript. We only retained peer-reviewed studies that contained USA data, directly measured FIS, and directly compared FIS to a health outcome.Results: The initial search yielded 1,817 manuscripts. After screening abstracts for duplicates and inclusion criteria, a total of 117 manuscripts were retained and fully examined. Several manuscripts showed significant association between FIS and neurologic, cardiac, endocrine, and pulmonary health outcomes. Studies in the USA population show robust associations between FIS and poor mental health (including depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, impaired cognitive functioning, and epilepsy), metabolic syndrome, hyperlipidemia, greater risk for bone fracture in children, higher risk of end-stage renal disease in patients with chronic kidney disease, self-reported poor health, and higher mortality in patients with the human immunodeficiency virus. Though other literature reviews show positive associations between FIS and health outcomes such as diabetes, body mass index, and hypertension, our systematic review showed mixed results.Conclusions: FIS leaves underserved populations at risk for negative health outcomes. More research should be done to examine the effects of FIS alleviation as a preventative medicine intervention.

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