Empowering social action through narratives of identity and culture.
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Concern at widening health and wealth inequities between communities accompanying processes of globalization in recent years are reflected in contemporary definitions of health promotion, premised on the stratagem of individuals and communities increasing control over factors that determine health, thereby improving their health status. Such community empowerment practice is commonly accepted within the health promotion literature as encompassing intrapersonal, interpersonal and socio-political elements. Less articulated and understood, however, are the processes whereby the identities and cultures of marginalized communities intersect with and reverberate through these levels of action. The potential of identity and culture as important individual and community resources within social action takes on further significance within global-ized contexts, which simultaneously expose marginalized communities to dominant cultural power relations while affording members new avenues for cultural expression. In this paper we highlight culture and identity as important aspects of the empowerment process, drawing on the experiences of migrant Tongan and Samoan women throughout a social action process in Aotearoa/New Zealand. In particular, narratives of identity and culture within storytelling as an empowerment practice are explicated, as is the articulation of identity and culture within more structurally orientated power relations throughout subsequent activities related to policy advocacy. (+info)
The manifold nature of interpersonal relations: the quest for a common mechanism.
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It has been proposed that the capacity to code the 'like me' analogy between self and others constitutes a basic prerequisite and a starting point for social cognition. It is by means of this self/other equivalence that meaningful social bonds can be established, that we can recognize others as similar to us, and that imitation can take place. In this article I discuss recent neurophysiological and brain imaging data on monkeys and humans, showing that the 'like me' analogy may rest upon a series of 'mirror-matching' mechanisms. A new conceptual tool able to capture the richness of the experiences we share with others is introduced: the shared manifold of intersubjectivity. I propose that all kinds of interpersonal relations (imitation, empathy and the attribution of intentions) depend, at a basic level, on the constitution of a shared manifold space. This shared space is functionally characterized by automatic, unconscious embodied simulation routines. (+info)
Reproductive health risk and protective factors among unmarried youth in Ghana.
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CONTEXT: In Ghana, as in many other Sub-Saharan African countries, the behaviors of the current cohort of adolescents will strongly influence the course of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This study sought to identify factors associated with elevated risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection among unmarried Ghanaian youth. METHODS: A nationally representative sample of 3,739 unmarried 12-24-year-olds were surveyed. Various regression techniques were used to assess the effects of individual and contextual factors on sexual behavior and condom use. RESULTS: Forty-one percent of female and 36% of male youth reported being sexually experienced. On average, sexually experienced youth had had fewer than two partners; only 4% of these females and 11% of males had had more than one sexual partner in the three months before the survey. Although Ghanaian youth are knowledgeable about condoms, only 24% of sexually experienced males and 20% of females reported consistent condom use with their current or most recent partner. A sizable number of contextual factors and attributes of youth themselves were associated with sexual behaviors, while individual characteristics were stronger predictors of condom use. CONCLUSIONS: The findings provide further justification for interventions targeting key contextual factors that influence youth behaviors in addition to providing youth with necessary communication, negotiation and other life skills. (+info)
Community belonging and health.
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OBJECTIVES: This article explores the relationship between sense of community belonging and self-perceived health. DATA SOURCE: The data are from the first half of cycle 1.1 of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), collected from September 2000 through February 2001. ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES: Descriptive information relating socio-demographic variables to sense of community belonging is presented. Multiple logistic regression is used to study the association between sense of community belonging and self-perceived health, while controlling for socio-demographic conditions and other health-related factors. MAIN RESULTS: Just over half (56%) of Canadians report a strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to their local community. Community belonging is associated with self-perceived health, even when controlling for socio-economic status, the presence of chronic disease, health behaviours, stress and other factors. (+info)
Predicting adolescent pedestrians' road-crossing intentions: an application and extension of the Theory of Planned Behaviour.
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The present paper reports an application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to the prediction of road-crossing intentions among adolescents. In addition, the sufficiency of the TPB was assessed by examining the additional predictive utility of moral norms, anticipated affect and self-identity. A sample of 1833 adolescents completed a questionnaire containing a scenario depicting a potentially hazardous road-crossing behaviour, followed by items measuring the TPB constructs, moral norms, anticipated affect and self-identity. Regression analyses revealed that the TPB was able to explain 25% of the variance in road-crossing intentions, over and above the influence of age and gender, with perceived behavioural control emerging as the strongest predictor. The additional variables were found to increase the predictive utility of the TPB. The results have a number of theoretical and practical implications. In particular, interventions should focus on perceptions of control in order to encourage safer road-crossing behaviour among adolescents. (+info)
Globalisation and mental disorders. Overview with relation to depression.
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BACKGROUND: Globalisation is the process by which traditional boundaries of cultures are changing. Industrialisation, urbanisation and influence of the media are influencing idioms of distress across cultures. AIMS: To discuss the role of globalisation, using the epidemiology, diagnosis, clinical presentation and treatment of depression across various cultures as an example. METHOD: Recent studies focusing on transcultural aspects of depression were reviewed and summarised. RESULTS: Cultural, social and religious mores account for variations in the presentation of depression across cultures. Somatic symptoms are common presenting features throughout the world and may serve as cultural idioms of distress, but psychological symptoms can usually be found when probed. Feelings of guilt and suicide rates vary across cultures and depression may be underdiagnosed. CONCLUSIONS: Training packages could enhance clinicians'cultural competency in multicultural settings. However, globalisation is likely to influence idioms of distress and pathways to care in ways that are difficult to predict. (+info)
Individual and societal influences on participation in physical activity following spinal cord injury: a qualitative study.
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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Despite evidence that physical activity, a tool of rehabilitation, affects health and improves functional ability in people following spinal cord injury (SCI), such people are often physically inactive. We used a qualitative method to explore the experiences of individuals with SCI during participation in physical activity. SUBJECTS: The participants were 8 adults (5 male, 3 female), ranging from active to inactive, who were 2 to 27 years post-rehabilitation following SCI (paraplegic). METHODS: We used semistructured ethnographic interviews to explore barriers and enablers to participation in physical activity following SCI. Emerging themes were derived from the participants' experiences. RESULTS: Two themes were identified: (1) individual influences, defined as a period of loss of "able identity" and subsequent redefinition of self in which participation in physical activity may be a vehicle or an outcome, and (2) societal influences, which included environmental and attitudinal barriers. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The participants' experiences offer insight for therapists regarding physical activity following SCI. (+info)
Encoding-specific effects of social cognition on the neural correlates of subsequent memory.
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To examine whether social cognition recruits distinct mental operations, we measured brain activity during social ("form an impression of this person") and relatively nonsocial ("remember the order in which person information is presented") orienting tasks. Extending previous research on the neural basis of social cognition, the impression formation task differentially engaged an extensive region of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (PFC). In contrast, the nonsocial sequencing task differentially engaged the superior frontal and parietal gyri, precentral gyrus, and the caudate. In addition, we compared encoding activations for subsequently remembered (i.e., hits) to subsequently forgotten (i.e., misses) items. The brain regions in which the blood oxygenation level-dependent signal distinguished subsequent hits from subsequent misses depended on which orienting task was performed at encoding: subsequent memory was correlated with encoding activity only in the medial PFC for impression formation trials but in the right hippocampus for sequencing trials. These data inform two interrelated cognitive issues. First, results underscore the neuroanatomical distinctiveness of social cognition and suggest that previous psychological theories may have neglected important functional differences in how the human brain instantiates social and nonsocial cognitive processes. Second, by demonstrating that activity in different brain regions correlates with subsequent memory as a function of the orienting task performed at encoding, these data provide evidence of the neural basis for encoding specificity, the principle that memory is critically determined by the cognitive process engaged by the initial study episode. (+info)