Income and Health Perceptions in an Economically Disadvantaged Community: A Qualitative Case Study from Central Florida.

The link between income and adverse health outcomes continues to be problematic among racially and economically segregated urban communities. Although the consequences of living in areas of concentrated disadvantage have been delineated, there is a dearth of knowledge on how citizens from such areas perceive the effects of neighborhood characteristics on their individual and community health. This qualitative study explored how minority residents ( N = 23) viewed the intersectionality of income and health within their urban neighborhoods of economic distress. Focus groups were conducted using semi-structured interviews to better understand health concerns, needs, and barriers for individuals and their community. The main finding highlighted how residents desired to be healthy, but economic barriers prevented them from maintaining a healthy lifestyle and diet. While residing in a concentrated disadvantaged community, lack of income and power contributed to stress and fear that forced residents to prioritize survival over their wellbeing. Implications for improving individual and community health include operating within a systems framework to affect collective efficacy and empowerment among residents of low-income neighborhoods.

The Politics of Health Care: Health Disparities, the Affordable Care Act, and Solutions for Success.

This article explores why racial and income health disparities continue to exist in the United States. Poverty and racism are the primary drivers of the social problem which impact social determinants of health for vulnerable populations. The theoretical frameworks of conflict theory and critical race theory contextualize the causes and provide direction for overhauling public health policy in general and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act) in particular. Although the Affordable Care Act was implemented to increase health coverage, economic and racial health inequities still exist in the United States. Policy recommendations for improving the health and welfare of low-income minorities include: 1) impacting poverty itself by desegregating urban areas of concentrated poverty, and 2) impacting racial discrimination in health care by putting the voices of African-American patients in the forefront to inform culturally relevant policy and practice.

Resilient Adult Daughters of Abused Women: Turning Pain Into Purpose.

Through the use of purposive sampling and the grounded theory method, this qualitative study delineates factors that promote adaptation and end family patterns of violence and dysfunction in the case of resilient adult daughters of abused women (N = 29). Coping processes included distancing from the family, seeking understanding and acceptance, and finding meaning and purpose. Motivating factors included learning what not to do from their families and breaking the cycle of violence and dysfunction from occurring in their adult lives. We learn how daughters of abused women may create a life informed, rather than directed, by their childhood adversity.

Exploring Protective Strategies among Rural Women in an Abusive Relationship.

The purpose of this study was to explore rural women's accounts of intimate partner violence and the strategies they used to protect themselves from such adversity. Convenience sampling included women currently in an abusive relationship (N = 22), who were receiving mental health services at a rural victim-service provider. Standardized measures indicated, on average, that study participants were symptomatic for depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), yet exhibited higher resilience than other PTSD populations. Participants used a variety of strategies to halt, escape, or resist violence in their lives. Informal and safety planning strategies were rated as most helpful, though resistance and placating strategies were most commonly used. Formal strategy use among participants was associated with higher levels of resilience and depressive symptoms; while participants' increased use of safety planning and resistance strategies were also related to greater resilience. Implications for rural victim service providers include addressing psychological distress and hardiness for women currently in an abusive relationship, while providing the necessary resources to secure their safety.

Rural women's strategic responses to intimate partner violence.

In this study we explored rural women's (N = 37) perceptions of strategy use and effectiveness in dealing with intimate partner violence (IPV). We used all six categories of the IPV Strategies Index (Goodman, Dutton, Weinfurt, & Cook, 2003 ) to assess the strategic responses used by women in the sample and the level of helpfulness associated with each strategy. The strategy category used most often was resistance, and the category deemed most helpful was safety planning. Implications include finding ways for practitioners, advocates, and researchers to support and highlight the resourcefulness of rural survivors of IPV residing in the United States.

Disability on campus: a perspective from faculty and staff.

OBJECTIVE: To identify employee perceptions regarding disability-related workplace issues in Institutions of Higher Education (IHE). PARTICIPANTS: Faculty and staff (N=1,144) at a large, Midwestern university. METHODS: A voluntary on-line survey of disability-related employment issues was developed by the university's Chancellor's Committee of Persons with Disabilities. Item responses were analyzed using descriptive and Pearson chi-square statistical methods. RESULTS: Fifteen percent of faculty and staff respondents were found to have disabilities, with 26% reporting experience of job discrimination, and 20% reporting harassment because of their disability. Results indicated significant differences on gender, employment standing (i.e., faculty or staff) and disability status (i.e., with or without a disability), in regard to perceptions of disability acceptance, campus accessibility, disability awareness, ADA policy, and knowledge of work accommodation procedures. CONCLUSIONS: Recommendations for IHEs are provided to promote a welcoming and inclusive campus that ultimately supports work success for persons with a disability.

Recovery: resilience and growth in the aftermath of domestic violence.

This mixed-methods study explored the recovery process and outcomes for 37 women formerly in an abusive intimate partner relationship. Standardized measures of current psychosocial functioning indicated participants were largely asymptomatic for posttraumatic stress disorder and had relatively strong resilience. Qualitative analysis revealed how social and spiritual support was instrumental to participants' recovery, growth, and resilience. Implications for helping professionals include gaining a more comprehensive understanding of recovery from domestic violence. This type of knowledge may contribute to interventions that build on women's strengths and resourcefulness.

Pregnancy and intimate partner violence: how do rural, low-income women cope?

We conducted 32 in-depth interviews with 20 rural, low-income, women residing in the United States who were pregnant (n = 12) or 3 months postpartum (n = 8) and had experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). Using purposive sampling and the grounded theory method, we generated a conceptual model of coping. The urge to protect the unborn baby was the primary influence for participants' decisions about separating from or permanently leaving an abusive relationship. Implications include universal screening for IPV in child-bearing women, inquiry into maternal identity development during pregnancy, and improved resource access for rural, low-income women.

Collegiate sororities and dating violence: an exploratory study of informal and formal helping strategies.

Women in collegiate sororities are more at risk for violence within the context of dating relationships than is the general population of college women. Because assaulted women are more likely to turn to their peer networks for support, this study explores the formal and informal helping strategies available to sorority members within the context of their sororities. A total of 35 women representing 17 different sororities participated in 4 focus groups. Although the central finding uncovered how violence is largely omitted from the formal agendas of sororities, community and campus-based programs addressing the issue can build on their sincere interest in helping each other.

Glutathione half-cell reduction potential: a universal stress marker and modulator of programmed cell death?

The elucidation of factors that contribute to cell viability loss is presently compromised by the lack of a universal measure that quantifies "stress." We have investigated mechanisms of viability loss in plant seeds to find a reliable marker of stress response. Oxidative damage has previously been correlated with degenerative processes and death, but how exactly this contributes to viability loss is unknown. We show in four species subjected to ageing or desiccation that seed viability decreased by 50% when the half-cell reduction potential of glutathione (E(GSSG/2GSH)), a major cellular antioxidant and redox buffer, increased to -180 to -160 mV. We then conducted a metaanalysis of data representative of 13 plant and fungal orders to show that plant stress generally becomes lethal when E(GSSG/2GSH) exceeds -160 mV. We put forward that this change in E(GSSG/2GSH) is part of the signaling cascade that initiates programmed cell death (PCD), finally causing internucleosomal DNA fragmentation in the final, or execution phase, of PCD. E(GSSG/2GSH) is therefore a universal marker of plant cell viability and allows us to predict whether a seed will live, germinate, and produce a new plant, or if it will die.