Psychosocial barriers to self -care among Hispanic women with type 2 diabetes mellitus

This cross-sectional survey-designed study investigated the presence and influence of psychosocial barriers to diabetes self-management practices among Hispanic women with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Women (n = 128) who were diagnosed and being treated for type 2 diabetes were recruited from the Miami-Dade area in South Florida. A Beck Depression Inventory-II, Diabetes Care Profile, Diabetes Knowledge Test, Diabetes Empowerment, Multidimensional Health Locus of Control, and Perceived Stress Scales were administered, along with assessment of diet through a 24-hour recall and anthropometric evaluation by body composition analysis and body mass index computation. ^ Mean (± SD) age for subjects was 50.15 ± 15.93 and age at diagnosis was 42.46 ± 14.69. Mean glycosylated hemoglobin (A 1C) was 8.55 ± 1.39. Diabetes education had not been received by 46.9% of subjects. Psychosocial status had previously been evaluated in only 4 participants. Forty percent of participants were assessed as depressed and 17% moderately to severely so. Depression correlated significantly (p < 0.01) with A1C (r = 0.242), perceived stress (r = 0.566), and self-rated health (r = −0.523). Perceived stress correlated significantly (p < 0.01) with A1C (r = 0.388), understanding of diabetes (r = 0.282), self-rated health (r = −0.372) and diabetes empowerment (r = −0.366). For Cuban women, perceived stress (β = 0.418, p = 0.033) was the only significant predictor of A1C, while among non-Cuban Hispanic women, self-reported health (β = −0.418, p = 0.003) and empowerment (β = 0.432, p = 0.004) were better predictors. The most desirable DM status among the women surveyed (high diet adherence, low exercise barriers, and A1C ≤ 7) was associated with superior self-rated health, more support from family and friends, and greater empowerment. ^ This study revealed the error in considering Hispanics a homogenous entity in treating disease, as their cultural backgrounds and concentration in a community can greatly influence management of a chronic disease like diabetes. The strong correlations found between diabetes-related health indicators and psychosocial factors such as depression and perceived stress suggest that psychosocial assessment of patients must be more strongly advocated in diabetes care. Psychosocial assessment of ethnically diverse diabetic populations is especially vital if greater knowledge is to be gained about their barriers to self-care so that diabetes treatment and thus outcomes are enhanced. ^

The relationship of immigrant status to perceptions of reading and reading literacy among young Black students: A test of the Cultural -Ecological Theory of School Performance

This study tests Ogbu and Simons' Cultural-Ecological Theory of School Performance using data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study of 2001 (PIRLS), a large-scale international survey and reading assessment involving fourth grade students from 35 countries, including the United States. This theory argues that Black immigrant students outperform their non-immigrant counterparts, academically, and that achievement differences are attributed to stronger educational commitment in Black immigrant families. Four hypotheses are formulated to test this theory: Black immigrant students have (a) more receptive attitudes toward reading; (b) a more positive reading self-concept; and (c) a higher level of reading literacy. Furthermore, (d) the relationship of immigrant status to reading perceptions and literacy persists after including selected predictors. These hypotheses are tested separately for girls and boys, while also examining immigrant students' generational status (i.e., foreign-born or second-generation). ^ PIRLS data from a subset of Black students (N=525) in the larger U.S. sample of 3,763 are analyzed to test the hypotheses, using analysis of variance, correlation and multiple regression techniques. Findings reveal that hypotheses a and b are not confirmed (contradicting the Cultural-Ecological Theory) and c and d are partially supported (lending partial support to the theory). Specifically, immigrant and non-immigrant students did not differ in attitudes toward reading or reading self-concept; second-generation immigrant boys outperformed both non-immigrant and foreign-born immigrant boys in reading literacy, but no differences were found among girls; and, while being second-generation immigrant had a relatively stronger relationship to reading literacy for boys, among girls, selected socio-cultural predictors, number of books in the home and length of U.S. residence, had relatively stronger relationship to reading self-concept than did immigrant status. This study, therefore, indicates that future research employing the Cultural-Ecological Theory should: (a) take gender and generational status into account (b) identify additional socio-cultural predictors of Black children's academic perceptions and performance; and (c) continue to build on this body of evidence-based knowledge to better inform educational policy and school personnel in addressing needs of all children. ^

An investigation of the relationship between maltreatment and alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems in African -American and Hispanic adolescent girls

Maltreatment experienced in childhood or adolescence is a known risk factor for later problem alcohol and/or other drug (AOD) use (Bailey & McCloskey, 2005; Shin, Edwards, Heeren, 2009). A growing body of empirical work has found significant associations between adolescent girls’ AOD use and maltreatment experiences. However, questions remain as to how this relation unfolds with African-American and Hispanic adolescent girls. Guided by four relational models that have been proposed in the literature, this study examined the links between maltreatment, trauma symptoms, and alcohol and/or other drug (AOD) problems in a sample of 170 African-American and Hispanic adolescent girls who were participants in a school-based AOD use intervention. Results of this study revealed that maltreatment experiences (physical and emotional abuse) were positively related to trauma symptoms, which were positively related to AOD problem severity, alcohol abuse, alcohol dependency, drug abuse, and drug dependency. Perceived discrimination moderated this relation between sexual abuse and trauma symptoms, such that more perceived discrimination resulted in a stronger effect of sexual abuse on trauma symptoms. Ethnic identity moderated the relation between sexual abuse and AOD problem severity, such that ethnic identity demonstrated protective properties in the relation between sexual abuse and AOD problem severity. My research adds to extant knowledge on the relation between maltreatment and AOD use in adolescent girls and suggests the importance of developing interventions targeting maltreatment and AOD use concurrently.

Validation study of the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey at a Hispanic-serving institution

The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) has been widely acknowledged as a useful measure of student cognitive attitudes about science and learning. The initial University of Colorado validation study included only 20% non-Caucasian student populations. In this Brief Report we extend their validation to include a predominately under-represented minority population. We validated the CLASS instrument at Florida International University, a Hispanic-serving institution, by interviewing students in introductory physics classes using a semistructured protocol, examining students’ responses on the CLASS item statements, and comparing them to the items’ intended meaning. We find that in our predominately Hispanic population, 94% of the students’ interview responses indicate that the students interpret the CLASS items correctly, and thus the CLASS is a valid instrument. We also identify one potentially problematic item in the instrument which one third of the students interviewed consistently misinterpreted.

On and Off the Stage at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances of Collective Black Middle-Class Identities and the Politics of Belonging

This dissertation presents a thick ethnography that engages in the micro-analysis of the situationality of black middle-class collective identification processes through an examination of performances by members of the nine historically black sororities and fraternities at Atlanta Greek Picnic, an annual festival that occurs at the beginning of June in Atlanta, Georgia. It mainly attracts undergraduate and graduate members of these university-based organizations, as they exist all over the United States. This exploration of black Greek-letter organization (BGLO) performances uncovers processes through which young black middle-class individuals attempt to combine two universes that are at first glance in complete opposition to each other: the domain of the traditional black middle-class values with representations and fashions stemming from black popular culture. These constructions also attempt to incorporate—in a contradiction of sorts— black popular cultural elements in the objective to deconstruct the social conservatism that characterizes middle-class values, particularly in relation to sexuality and its representation in social behaviors and performances. This negotiation between prescribed v middle-class values of respectability and black popular culture provides a space wherein black individuals challenge and/or perpetuate those dominant tropes through identity performances that feed into the formation of black sexual politics, which I examine through a variety of BGLO staged and non-staged performances.

Hispanic orientalism: The literary development of a cultural paradigm, from medieval Spain to modern Latin America

This dissertation offers a novel approach to Hispanic Orientalism, developing a dynamic paradigm from its origins in medieval and Renaissance Iberia during the process of the Christian Reconquest, to its transatlantic migration and establishment in the early years of the Colony, from where it changed in late colonial and post-Independence Latin America, and onto modernity. ^ The study argues that Hispanic Orientalism does not necessarily imply a negative depiction of the Other, a quality associated with the traditional critique of Saidian Orientalism. Neither, does it entirely comply with the positivist approach suggested in the theoretical research of Said’s opponents, like Julia Kushigian. This dissertation also argues that sociopolitical changes and the shift in the discourse of powers, from imperial to non-imperial, had a significant impact of the development of Hispanic Orientalism, shaping the relationship with the Other. The methodology involves close reading of representative texts depicting the interactions of the dominant and dominated societies from each of the four historic periods that coincided with significant sociopolitical transformations in Hispanic society. Through an intercultural approach to literary studies, social history, and religious studies, this project develops an original paradigm of Hispanic Orientalism, derived from the image of the reinvented Semitic Other portrayed in the literary works depicting the relationship between the hegemonic and the subaltern cultures during the Reconquest period in Spain. Then, it traces the turn of the original paradigm towards reinterpretation during its transatlantic migration to Latin America through the analysis of the chronicles and travelogs of the first colonizers and explorers. During the transitional late colonial and early Independence periods Latin America sees a significant change in the discourse of powers, and Hispanic Orientalism reflects this oscillation between the past and the present therough the works of the Latin American authors from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Finally, once the non-imperial discourse of power established itself in the former Colony, a new modern stage in the development of Hispanic Orientalist paradigm takes place. It is marked by the desire to differentiate itself from the O(o)thers, as manifested in the works of the representatives of Modernism and the Boom.^

Acculturation and Hispanic identity/ethnicity as a predictor of change on the brief situational confidence questionnaire

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether level of acculturation among Hispanic adolescent males (n = 174) influenced treatment outcome in a substance abuse program, specifically on the Brief Situational Confidence Questionnaire (BSCQ) which measures relapse confidence. It was hypothesized that lower levels of acculturation were likely to be predictive of positive change, whereas higher levels of acculturation were likely to be predictive of no change or negative change. It was found that adolescents changed over time in BSCQ scores regardless of which acculturation variable was measured. Contrary to expectations, for those adolescents placed in family treatment, place of birth was not significantly associated with treatment response. However, both, U.S. and non-U.S. born adolescents demonstrated a change over time when receiving family treatment, suggesting that the family substance abuse treatment utilized in this intervention effected change over time.

Black Femininity through the White Speculum: The Implications of Medicosocialism and the Disproportionate Regulation of Black Women’s Reproductive Autonomy

At the crux of health disparities for women of color lies a history of maltreatment based on racial difference from their white counterparts. It is their non-whiteness that limits their access to the ideologies of “woman” and “femininity” within dominant culture. As the result of this difference, the impact of the birth control movement varied among women based on race. This project explores how the ideology attributed to the black female body limited black women’s access to “womanhood” within dominant culture, and analyzes the manners in which their reproductive autonomy was compromised as the result of changes to that ideology through time. This project operates under the hypothesis that black women’s access to certain aspects of femininity such as domesticity and motherhood reflected their roles in slave society, that black women’s reproductive value was based on the value of black children within slave culture, and that both of these factors dictated the manner in which their reproductive autonomy was managed by health professionals. Black people’s worth as a free labor force within dominant culture diminished when the Reconstruction Amendments were added to the constitution and slavery was deemed unconstitutional—resulting in the paradigmatic shift from the promotion of black fertility to its recession. America’s transition to the medicosocial regulation of black fertility through Eugenics, the role of the black elite in the movement, and the negative impact of this agenda on the reproductive autonomy of black women from low socioeconomic backgrounds are enlisted as support. The paper goes on to draw connections between post-slavery ideology of black femininity and modern-day medicosocial occurrences within clinical settings in order to advocate for increased bias training for medical professionals as a means of combating current health disparities. It concludes with the possibility that this improvement in medical training could persuade people of color to seek out medical intervention at earlier stages of illness and obtain regular check-ups by actively countering physicians’ past transgressions against them.

Safety and efficacy of ledipasvir-sofosbuvir in black patients with hepatitis C virus infection: A retrospective analysis of phase 3 data.

UNLABELLED: Black patients chronically infected with genotype 1 hepatitis C virus (HCV) have historically had lower rates of response to interferon-based treatment than patients of other races. In the phase 3 ION program, the single-tablet regimen of the NS5A inhibitor ledipasvir and NS5B nucleotide polymerase inhibitor sofosbuvir was shown to be safe and highly effective in the general population. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ledipasvir/sofosbuvir in black patients using data from the three open-label ION clinical trials, which evaluated the safety and efficacy of 8, 12, and 24 weeks of ledipasvir/sofosbuvir with or without ribavirin for the treatment of treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced patients with genotype 1 HCV, including those with compensated cirrhosis. The primary endpoint was sustained virologic response at 12 weeks after the end of therapy (SVR12). For our analysis, rates of SVR12, treatment-emergent adverse events, and graded laboratory abnormalities were analyzed in black versus non-black patients. Of the 1949 patients evaluated, 308 (16%) were black. On average, black patients were older, had higher body mass index, were more likely to be IL28B non-CC, and had a lower serum alanine aminotransferase at baseline than non-black patients. Overall, 95% of black and 97% of non-black patients achieved SVR12. The rate of relapse was 3% in black patients as compared with 2% in non-black patients. The most common adverse events included fatigue, headache, nausea, and insomnia. The majority of adverse events occurred more frequently in the ribavirin-containing arms of the studies. No differences were observed in overall safety by race. CONCLUSION: A once-daily dosage of ledipasvir/sofosbuvir was similarly effective in black and non-black patients with genotype 1 HCV infection. The addition of ribavirin did not appear to increase SVR12 but was associated with higher rates of adverse events.

The Effect of Authentic Literacy Experiences as Book Buddies with Hispanic Fourth Graders on Preservice Teachers’ Literacy Content Knowledge and Reading Maturity

From a sociocultural perspective, individuals learn best from contextualized experiences. In preservice teacher education, contextualized experiences include authentic literacy experiences, which include a real reader and writer and replicate real life communication. To be prepared to teach well, preservice teachers need to gain literacy content knowledge and possess reading maturity. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of authentic literacy experiences as Book Buddies with Hispanic fourth graders on preservice teachers’ literacy content knowledge and reading maturity. The study was a pretest/posttest design conducted over 12 weeks. Preservice teacher participants, the focus of the study, were elementary education majors taking the third of four required reading courses in non-probabilistic convenience groups, 43 (n = 33 experimental, n = 10 comparison) Elementary Education majors. The Survey of Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge of Teaching and Technology (SPTKTT), specifically designed for preservice teachers majoring in elementary or early childhood education and the Reading Maturity Survey (RMS) were used in this study. Preservice teachers chose either the experimental or comparison group based on the opportunity to earn extra credit points (experimental = 30 points, comparison = 15). After exchanging introductory letters preservice teachers and Hispanic fourth graders each read four books. After reading each book preservice teachers wrote letters to their student asking higher order thinking questions. Preservice teachers received scanned copies of their student’s unedited letters via email which enabled them to see their student’s authentic answers and writing levels. A series of analyses of covariance were used to determine whether there were significant differences in the dependent variables between the experimental and comparison groups. This quasi-experimental study tested two hypotheses. Using the appropriate pretest scores as covariates for adjusting the posttest means of the subcategory Literacy Content Knowledge (LCK), of the SPTKTT and the RMS, the mean adjusted posttest scores from the experimental group and comparison group were compared. No significant differences were found on the LCK dependent variable using the .05 level of significance, which may be due to Type II error caused by the small sample size. Significant differences were found on RMS using the .05 level of significance.

Hispanic Orientalism: The Literary Development of a Cultural Paradigm, from Medieval Spain to Modern Latin America

This dissertation offers a novel approach to Hispanic Orientalism, developing a dynamic paradigm from its origins in medieval and Renaissance Iberia during the process of the Christian Reconquest, to its transatlantic migration and establishment in the early years of the Colony, from where it changed in late colonial and post-Independence Latin America, and onto modernity. The study argues that Hispanic Orientalism does not necessarily imply a negative depiction of the Other, a quality associated with the traditional critique of Saidian Orientalism. Neither, does it entirely comply with the positivist approach suggested in the theoretical research of Said’s opponents, like Julia Kushigian. This dissertation also argues that sociopolitical changes and the shift in the discourse of powers, from imperial to non-imperial, had a significant impact of the development of Hispanic Orientalism, shaping the relationship with the Other. The methodology involves close reading of representative texts depicting the interactions of the dominant and dominated societies from each of the four historic periods that coincided with significant sociopolitical transformations in Hispanic society. Through an intercultural approach to literary studies, social history, and religious studies, this project develops an original paradigm of Hispanic Orientalism, derived from the image of the reinvented Semitic Other portrayed in the literary works depicting the relationship between the hegemonic and the subaltern cultures during the Reconquest period in Spain. Then, it traces the turn of the original paradigm towards reinterpretation during its transatlantic migration to Latin America through the analysis of the chronicles and travelogs of the first colonizers and explorers. During the transitional late colonial and early Independence periods Latin America sees a significant change in the discourse of powers, and Hispanic Orientalism reflects this oscillation between the past and the present therough the works of the Latin American authors from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Finally, once the non-imperial discourse of power established itself in the former Colony, a new modern stage in the development of Hispanic Orientalist paradigm takes place. It is marked by the desire to differentiate itself from the O(o)thers, as manifested in the works of the representatives of Modernism and the Boom.

14C specific radiocarbon ages and bulk ages accompanied by geochemical proxys from surface sediment samples in the Black Sea

Transfer of organic carbon (OC) from the terrestrial to the oceanic carbon pool is largely driven by riverine and aeolian transport. Before transport, however, terrigenous organic matter can be retained in intermediate terrestrial reservoirs such as soils. Using compound-specific radiocarbon analysis of terrigenous biomarkers their average terrestrial residence time can be evaluated. Here we show compound-specific radiocarbon (14C) ages of terrigenous biomarkers and bulk 14C ages accompanied by geochemical proxy data from core top samples collected along transects in front of several river mouths in the Black Sea. 14C ages of long chain n-alkanes, long chain n-fatty acids and total organic carbon (TOC) are highest in front of the river mouths, correlating well with BIT (branched and isoprenoid tetraether) indices, which indicates contribution of pre-aged, soil-derived terrigenous organic matter. The radiocarbon ages decrease further offshore towards locations where organic matter is dominated by marine production and aeolian input potentially contributes terrigenous organic matter. Average terrestrial residence times of vascular plant biomarkers deduced from n-C29+31 alkanes and n-C28+30 fatty acids ages from stations directly in front of the river mouths range from 900 ± 70 years to 4400 ± 170 years. These average residence times correlate with size and topography in climatically similar catchments, whereas the climatic regime appears to control continental carbon turnover times in morphologically similar drainage areas of the Black Sea catchment. Along-transect data imply petrogenic contribution of n-C29+31 alkanes and input via different terrigenous biomarker transport modes, i.e., riverine and aeolian, resulting in aged biomarkers at offshore core locations. Because n-C29+31 alkanes show contributions from petrogenic sources, n-C28+30 fatty acids likely provide better estimates of average terrestrial residence times of vascular plant biomarkers. Moreover, sedimentary n-C28 and n-C30 fatty acids appear clearly much less influenced by autochthonous sources than n-C24 and n-C26 fatty acids as indicated by increasing radiocarbon ages with increasing chain-length and are, thus, more representative as vascular plant biomarkers.

Paleoecology, Diagenesis and Biological Affinity of Tetradiids in the Upper Ordovician (Sandbian) Black River Group of the Kingston Area, Ontario, Canada

Tetradiids are a group of colonial, tubular fossils that occur globally in Middle to Upper Ordovician strata. Tetradiids were first described as a type of tabulate coral; however, based on their four-fold symmetry, division, and presence of a central-sparry canal, they were recently reinterpreted as a florideophyte rhodophyte algae, a reinterpretation that is tested in this thesis. This study focused on understanding the affinity and taphonomy of this order of fossil. Research was conducted by stratigraphic and petrographic analyses of the Black River Group in the Kingston, Ontario region. Tetradiid occurrences were divided into fragment or colonial, with three morphologies of tetradiids described (Tetradium, Phytopsis and Paratetradium). Morphology is specific to depositional environment, with compact Tetradium consistently within ooid grainstones and open branching Phytopsis and chained Paratetradium consistently within mudstones. Two types of patch reefs were recognized: a Paratetradium bioherm, and a Paratetradium, Phytopsis, stromatolite bioherm. The presence of bioherms implies that tetradiids were capable of hypercalcifying. Preservation styles of tetradiids were investigated, and were compared to brachiopods, echinoderms, mollusks, and ooids. Tetradiids were preferentially preserved as molds and demonstrated complete dissolution of skeletal material. Rare specimens, however, demonstrated preserved horizontal partitions, central plates, and a double wall. Skeletal molds were filled with either calcite spar, mud or encrusted by a cryptomicrobial colony. Both calcitic and aragonitic ooids were discovered. The co-occurrence of aragonitic ooids, aragonitic crytodontids, and the evolution of aragonitic, hypercalcifying tetradiids is interpreted as representing the geochemical favoring of aragonite and HMC in a time of global calcite seas. The geochemical favoring of aragonite is interpreted to be independent to global Mg: Ca ratios, but was the result of increased saturation levels and temperature driven by high atmospheric pCO2. Based on the presence of epitheca, tabulae, septa, and the commonality of growth forms, tetradiids are interpreted as an order of Cnidaria. The evolution of an aragonitic skeleton in tetradiids is interpreted to be the result of de novo acquisition of a skeleton from an unmineralized clade.

'A Kind of Logic, A Kind of Dominant Logic': Navigating Colonialism, Honoring Black Mobility, and Thinking on Moving Through

My thesis thinks through the ways Newtonian logics require linear mobility in order to produce narratives of progress. I argue that this linear mobility, and the resulting logics, potentially erases the chaotic and non-linear motions that are required to navigate a colonial landscape. I suggest that these non-linear movements produce important critiques of the seeming stasis of colonial constructs and highlight the ways these logics must appear neutral and scientific in an attempt to conceal the constant and complex adjustments these frameworks require. In order to make room for these complex motions, I develop a quantum intervention. Specifically, I use quantum physics as a metaphor to think through the significance of black life, the double-consciousness ofland, and the intricate motions of sound. In order to put forth this intervention, I look at news coverage of Hurricane Katrina, Du Bois’s characterization of land in Souls of Black Folks, and the aural mobilities of blackness articulated in an academic discussion and interview about post- humanism.

Beyond Black and White: The grisaille exterior of the Netherlandish triptych

This thesis is a study of fifteenth- to mid sixteenth-century Netherlandish triptych exteriors, focusing on the so-called ‘grisaille’ technique. During this period, altarpieces produced in the Low Countries were typically constructed in a tripartite format with folding wings. This arrangement created the opportunity for pictorial representations on both sides of the hinged panels. Painters emphasized the distinction between the triptych’s two faces by executing the exteriors in a strikingly more subdued palette than the interiors. Particular iconographic subject matter was favoured for grisailles, which often depict the Annunciation or saints that reflect the triptych’s patronage or intended location. Jan van Eyck was notable for his emphasis on imitating stone statuary and created three important grisailles, one of which would influence triptych exteriors for years to come. Hieronymus Bosch, an artist working at the turn of the sixteenth century, also brought innovation to his grisailles, further expanding the potential of these reduced-palette paintings. This thesis examines the creative process involved in the production of grisailles and compares the underdrawings of triptych exteriors to those of the corresponding polychromatic interiors. In this study, grisailles are situated in their context as part of multifaceted artworks as well as within the broader church environment. New infrared reflectograms were generated using Queen’s OSIRIS infrared camera to document works in Belgium and the Netherlands. While some aspects of underdrawings could indicate that the figure was meant to imitate statuary, this distinction was not directly linked to triptych exteriors and was related instead to efforts at a trompe-l’oeil effect. Such attempts at mimicry can also be found on triptych interiors. Through a close examination of the underdrawing stage of these paintings it appears that this part of the creative process was not distinguished in any significant way from the underdrawings of triptych interiors.