Impact of an Outbreak of Dengue Fever: A Case Study from Rural Puerto Rico

1997 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Torres

This study documents the impact of an outbreak of dengue fever for the people who experienced the disease in Lares, a rural municipality in Puerto Rico. Symptomatology presented by reported cases of the fever corresponds to the clinical picture of the mild form of the dengue virus. The study utilizes a combined quantitative/qualitative methodological approach. The findings indicate that social status is a significant factor in terms of who is affected by the dengue fever. The impact of the outbreak was greater for poor communities in the urban and semi-rural areas, particularly for women who described themselves as housewives and mothers, and their children. Social expectations and the family's demands for these women to fulfill the role of caretaker superseded their own sick role. In addition, they experienced the greatest loss of time as a consequence of the outbreak. The main effect of the outbreak on work activities not traditionally remunerated with money, such as housework, was the inability of adult females in the household to perform their routine activities to maintain family life. Moreover, the monetary costs of health care absorbed a significant percentage of the household weekly income. The impact on psychological well-being was related to the stress produced by the clinical, social, and economic consequences of the outbreak for women. Implications of salient results for dengue fever prevention and control, as well as for the field of applied medical anthropology are discussed.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Ana Rita Pedro ◽  
Ana Gama ◽  
Patrícia Soares ◽  
Marta Moniz ◽  
Pedro A. Laires ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges to the global community, reinforcing the role of public health in society. The main measures to combat it had (and still have) a huge impact on the daily lives of citizens. This investigation aimed to identify and monitor the population’s perceptions about how it faced this period and the impact on health, well-being, and daily life. In this study, we describe the main trends observed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of mental health status, confidence in the capacity of the health services to respond to the pandemic, and the use of health services by participants. The online survey collected responses from 171,947 individuals ≥16 years of age in Portugal, over a period of 15 weeks that started on 21 March 2020. Participants could fill the questionnaire once or weekly, which enabled us to analyse trends and variations in responses. Overall, 81% of the respondents reported having felt agitated, anxious, or sad during the COVID-19 pandemic; 19% did not experience these feelings. During the confinement period, the proportion of participants feeling agitated, anxious, or sad every day/almost every day ranged between 20 and 30%, but since the deconfinement this proportion decreased. Around 30% reported having more difficulty getting to sleep or to sleep all night; 28.4% felt more agitated; 25.5% felt sadder, discouraged, or cried more easily; and 24.7% felt unable to do everything they had to do, women more frequently than men. Overall, 65.8% of the participants reported feeling confident or very confident in the health services’ capacity to respond to the challenges associated with the pandemic, and this confidence increased over time. Concerning the people who needed a consultation, 35.6% had one in person and 20.8% had one remotely, but almost 44% did not have one due to cancellation by the service (27.2%) or their own decision not to go (16.3%). At this unusual time in which we find ourselves and based on our findings, it is essential to continue monitoring how the population is facing the different phases of the pandemic until it officially ends. Analysing the effects of the pandemic from the point of view of citizens allows for anticipating critical trends and can contribute to preventative action.


2020 ◽  
pp. 016402752096154
Author(s):  
Wen-Jui Han ◽  
Ying Li ◽  
Cliff Whetung

Using a sample of Chinese adults over the age of 50 from wave 1 of the WHO Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (n = 13,367), we investigated the relationship between living arrangements and subjective well-being (SWB) in regard to life satisfaction, happiness, and control. We also looked at the moderating role of resources, proxied by income and hukou status. Multivariate regression results indicate that living only with a spouse was significantly associated with better SWB. Multigenerational living arrangements may not always promote SWB, particularly when resources are constrained. Yet, results also underscore the importance of daughters and daughters-in-law in promoting SWB among older adults. Older adults in rural areas had better SWB, including greater life satisfaction if living with grandchildren only, compared to their urban peers living with a spouse only. Findings suggest that context matters in the association between living arrangements and older adults’ SWB.


Growth of a nation does not refer to the development of infrastructure, innovations and technology. In fact it is truly associated with the development of all citizens in terms of their standard of living. A country travels in development path if all the people are caught up in the process of growth and enjoy quality of living by accessing to basic facilities of life such as food, clothing, housing, health, clean water, education, employment and good natural and social environment. It all happens when economy is sound and have consistent growth rate. In our country the economic growth rate is directly depends on the development of rural areas as it is the backbone to the economy. Providing financial support to rural people is a Hercules task as they do not maintain any formal and necessary documents, failing which banks or any other financial institutions do not grant even a single penny. In this connection, Microfinance and Microcredit institutions helps the people in rural areas with a variety of services with minimal documentation. It includes loan, savings, credit, money transfer, insurance, pension and other financial innovations etc. In this research an attempt is made to ascertain new approaches to measure the impact of microfinance and microcredit in the development of rural areas.


Author(s):  
Dr. Ankita Saxena

Due to the current unprecedented catastrophe situation, the entire world is struggling hard not only in terms of physical health but in terms of mental wellness too. The people are surrounded by various uncertainties. The present time is giving rise to various distress like anxiety, depression, mental burnout. With the help of conceptual study, we analyzed the influence of present epidemic condition on employee psychological wellness. By drawing certain stressors like unemployment, job cuts, isolation, financial worries, zoom fatigue, panic buying, we measured the impact on mental well-being logically by critically examining the available literature. The search for articles was made in Google scholar, Web of Science scholar. Further, the study reveals that individuals are such a lot of terrified of getting COVID-19 that they are even ending up their life because of panic stigma or due to socio-economic reasons. Finally, we have proposed that how the role of HRM can be used as a way of handling such problem by introducing various organizational initiatives like building a strong emotional and psychological connect with their employees, providing word of assurance to curtail the hitches which employees are facing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 67-84
Author(s):  
Gille Lecocq

Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to identify an intelligible network of human activities that are dedicated to health tourism and sports tourism and that have been the subject of intercultural controversies generating innovations. Method. Developing an inter-disciplinary historical and mixed-method approach to a regional sustainable tourism project and describing how subjective well-being influences sport practices, body ecology and existential authenticity. Findings. A sport tourism destination allows an individual to, firstly, improve his or her state of corporeal health and, secondly, reveal a new mode of feeling that is not only about performance but also about the inner freedom and immersive vulnerability that are scarce but essential resources. Research and conclusions limitations. This case study is limited to a valley which is located on the northeast side of Mont Ventoux. Some comparisons will have to be made with other specific tourist sites that are closed to this valley. Practical implications. The authenticity of a tourist system cannot be content with artifices that are not closely shared with inhabitants. Therefore, the impact of innovations in rural areas requires taking archaeology of individual stories and collective histories into account. Stories and histories allow perceiving the outlines of sustainable tourism where growth in consumption is associated with the maintenance, protection and diversification of bio-ecosystems. Originality. Innovations which emerge in a hinterland have to be tested from the authentic perspective of people coming from elsewhere and who cross the authentic views of the people of here. Then, when a hinterland agrees to open itself to the strangeness of what is foreign to it, a fundamental process is to be encouraged: the that recognises the different forms of heritage that make up the identity of this hinterland. Type of paper. Case study.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Apostolos G. Papadopoulos ◽  
Loukia-Maria Fratsea

The paper aims to exemplify and discuss the changing conditions and challenges posed by the newly arriving populations of migrants and refugees in rural Greece, along with local people’s views on the impact of the new arrivals in their rural places. Its main objective is to understand whether migrants and refugees create threats or opportunities for the local population, and whether movers and non-movers have a shared understanding of well-being in their rural areas. The analysis unveils the connections that are emerging between migrants and refugees and the economy, society and culture in rural receiving areas. Thus, the paper aims at showing the complexity of rural migrant flows and how the interactions between migrants, refugees and locals in the light of the well-being of rural areas may inform rural development in Greece. The paper is structured into five main sections following the introduction. The first section contains a discussion of the main concepts used as building blocks for creating a theoretical framing of well-being in rural areas. The second section develops a brief discussion of international and internal migration to rural areas in Greece, as well as providing some contextual information on the impact of the economic crisis and new developments in response to the recession. The third section includes a short presentation of the methodological approach and a description of the case study area. The fourth section is dedicated to an analysis of the narratives of international migrants, refugees, internal migrants, locals and stakeholders. Finally, the concluding section critically discusses the conceptualisations of rurality and well-being between the various population groups and articulates the challenges connected to well-being and mobilities in contemporary rural Greece.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 272-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manish Gupta ◽  
Musarrat Shaheen

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of psychological capital (PsyCap) between work engagement (WE) and general well-being (GWB) as well as between WE and control at work (CAW). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 200 medical employees involved in rendering healthcare services. Structural equation modeling was done to test the hypotheses. Findings Analyses of the data revealed that PsyCap mediates fully between WE and CAW and partially between WE and GWB. Research limitations/implications The results show that PsyCap plays a positive role in transferring the impact of engagement levels to GWB and CAW. The results augment the broaden-and-build theory by explaining how positivity at the workplace can help the engaged employees improve well-being and CAW. Practical implications Hospitals in India are encouraged to recruit psychologically capable (high in PsyCap) employees. Such psychologically capable and engaged employees have greater CAW and have higher general well-being. Originality/value This study is among the few preliminary studies which have focused on the mechanism through which well-being and CAW of employees involved in healthcare services in India get affected.


Crisis ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 238-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul W. C. Wong ◽  
Wincy S. C. Chan ◽  
Philip S. L. Beh ◽  
Fiona W. S. Yau ◽  
Paul S. F. Yip ◽  
...  

Background: Ethical issues have been raised about using the psychological autopsy approach in the study of suicide. The impact on informants of control cases who participated in case-control psychological autopsy studies has not been investigated. Aims: (1) To investigate whether informants of suicide cases recruited by two approaches (coroners’ court and public mortuaries) respond differently to the initial contact by the research team. (2) To explore the reactions, reasons for participation, and comments of both the informants of suicide and control cases to psychological autopsy interviews. (3) To investigate the impact of the interviews on informants of suicide cases about a month after the interviews. Methods: A self-report questionnaire was used for the informants of both suicide and control cases. Telephone follow-up interviews were conducted with the informants of suicide cases. Results: The majority of the informants of suicide cases, regardless of the initial route of contact, as well as the control cases were positive about being approached to take part in the study. A minority of informants of suicide and control cases found the experience of talking about their family member to be more upsetting than expected. The telephone follow-up interviews showed that none of the informants of suicide cases reported being distressed by the psychological autopsy interviews. Limitations: The acceptance rate for our original psychological autopsy study was modest. Conclusions: The findings of this study are useful for future participants and researchers in measuring the potential benefits and risks of participating in similar sensitive research. Psychological autopsy interviews may be utilized as an active engagement approach to reach out to the people bereaved by suicide, especially in places where the postvention work is underdeveloped.


2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Kopasker

Existing research has consistently shown that perceptions of the potential economic consequences of Scottish independence are vital to levels of support for constitutional change. This paper attempts to investigate the mechanism by which expectations of the economic consequences of independence are formed. A hypothesised causal micro-level mechanism is tested that relates constitutional preferences to the existing skill investments of the individual. Evidence is presented that larger skill investments are associated with a greater likelihood of perceiving economic threats from independence. Additionally, greater perceived threat results in lower support for independence. The impact of uncertainty on both positive and negative economic expectations is also examined. While uncertainty has little effect on negative expectations, it significantly reduces the likelihood of those with positive expectations supporting independence. Overall, it appears that a general economy-wide threat is most significant, and it is conjectured that this stems a lack of information on macroeconomic governance credentials.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Rigoli

Research has shown that stress impacts on people’s religious beliefs. However, several aspects of this effect remain poorly understood, for example regarding the role of prior religiosity and stress-induced anxiety. This paper explores these aspects in the context of the recent coronavirus emergency. The latter has impacted dramatically on many people’s well-being; hence it can be considered a highly stressful event. Through online questionnaires administered to UK and USA citizens professing either Christian faith or no religion, this paper examines the impact of the coronavirus crisis upon common people’s religious beliefs. We found that, following the coronavirus emergency, strong believers reported higher confidence in their religious beliefs while non-believers reported increased scepticism towards religion. Moreover, for strong believers, higher anxiety elicited by the coronavirus threat was associated with increased strengthening of religious beliefs. Conversely, for non-believers, higher anxiety elicited by the coronavirus thereat was associated with increased scepticism towards religious beliefs. These observations are consistent with the notion that stress-induced anxiety enhances support for the ideology already embraced before a stressful event occurs. This study sheds light on the psychological and cultural implications of the coronavirus crisis, which represents one of the most serious health emergencies in recent times.


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