Minority group status and healthful aging: social structure still matters.
(25/112)
During the last 4 decades, a rapid increase has occurred in the number of survey-based and epidemiological studies of the health profiles of adults in general and of the causes of disparities between majority and minority Americans in particular. According to these studies, healthful aging consists of the absence of disease, or at least of the most serious preventable diseases and their consequences, and findings consistently reveal serious African American and Hispanic disadvantages in terms of healthful aging. We (1) briefly review conceptual and operational definitions of race and Hispanic ethnicity, (2) summarize how ethnicity-based differentials in health are related to social structures, and (3) emphasize the importance of attention to the economic, political, and institutional factors that perpetuate poverty and undermine healthful aging among certain groups. (+info)
Global bioethics -- myth or reality?
(26/112)
BACKGROUND: There has been debate on whether a global or unified field of bioethics exists. If bioethics is a unified global field, or at the very least a closely shared way of thinking, then we should expect bioethicists to behave the same way in their academic activities anywhere in the world. This paper investigates whether there is a 'global bioethics' in the sense of a unified academic community. METHODS: To address this question, we study the web-linking patterns of bioethics institutions, the citation patterns of bioethics papers and the buying patterns of bioethics books. RESULTS: All three analyses indicate that there are geographical and institutional differences in the academic behavior of bioethicists and bioethics institutions. CONCLUSION: These exploratory studies support the position that there is no unified global field of bioethics. This is a problem if the only reason is parochialism. But these regional differences are probably of less concern if one notices that bioethics comes in many not always mutually understandable dialects. (+info)
Expressing freedom and taking liberties: the paradoxes of aberrant science.
(27/112)
Complete freedom does not exist, despite people's preparedness to die for it. Scientific freedom is much defended and yet much misunderstood. Scientists have limits imposed on their freedom by the disciplines and discourse communities in which they place themselves. Freedom within these socially constructed constraints needs to be distinguished from taking liberties with the rules and practices that make up these constraints, and validate the activities of special groups within society. Scientists (and the public) perceive taking liberties with science's rules and practices as aberrant science, and they often react punitively. Aberrant science can be broadly examined under four headings: wicked science, naughty science, dysfunctional science, and ideologically unacceptable science. When we examine examples of perceived aberrant science, we find that these categories of "misconduct" are connected and often confused. Scientific freedom needs to be redefined with due regard to current understandings of scientists as human beings facing powerful social pressures to deliver results of a particular kind. (+info)
Citation classics in patient safety research: an invitation to contribute to an online bibliography.
(28/112)
BACKGROUND: There has been a documented massive increase in published papers on patient safety over the past 20 years or so. AIMS: To ascertain the most influential papers over these last two decades. METHOD: We obtained citation counts on papers which seemed to have been the most important in influencing opinion and practice. Our original source of papers were based on a systematic review of patient safety literature carried out by Shojania and colleagues and supplemented by other papers that we had come across in the course of our work directing the Department of Health Patient Safety Research Programme. RESULTS: We have listed 62 papers on our full report found on our website (http://www.pcpoh.bham.ac.uk/publichealth/psrp/PS_review.htm) and present the top 10 most highly cited papers here. CONCLUSION: We are aware that the results were influenced by our subjective assessment and therefore invite readers to send us their favourite papers so we can include them in our interactive bibliography. (+info)
Scientific nursing production from the perspective of social representation. Brazil, 1975-2001.
(29/112)
This study aimed to: survey the number of nursing theses and dissertations produced between 1975 and 2001 with a social representation approach (RS); characterize the products with regard to the institution of origin, country region, study subjects and representation objects; to group in to theme categories and research lines in nursing. The data were collected from the Center of Studies and Research in Nursing at the Brazilian Nursing Association. The result evidenced 131 studies with RS support, originated in 1990, with higher production in the year 2000, mainly in the South East (83.1%). It registered 145 subjects; the most common objects are "disease", "health-disease process", "nurses' professional practice" and "care delivery". In the thematic categorization, the care area joins the greatest quantity of studies. In short, nursing has been seeking to appropriate itself of this theoretical-methodological framework as the basis and guide for part of its knowledge production. (+info)
Social representations about aids in people over 50, infected by HIV.
(30/112)
This study analyzes representations about AIDS in nine persons older than 50, infected by HIV. The analysis revealed representations: 'AIDS is a constant death threat'. These were categorized and named by means of the interviewers' statements: 'No doctor thinks, at first, that we can have aids; AIDS isn't cancer; to be old and have AIDS is to be discriminated twice. The results show the importance of integral care delivery by health services to decrease the psychosocial suffering of these people. (+info)
The increasing dominance of teams in production of knowledge.
(31/112)
We have used 19.9 million papers over 5 decades and 2.1 million patents to demonstrate that teams increasingly dominate solo authors in the production of knowledge. Research is increasingly done in teams across nearly all fields. Teams typically produce more frequently cited research than individuals do, and this advantage has been increasing over time. Teams now also produce the exceptionally high-impact research, even where that distinction was once the domain of solo authors. These results are detailed for sciences and engineering, social sciences, arts and humanities, and patents, suggesting that the process of knowledge creation has fundamentally changed. (+info)
Multimethod evaluation of information and communication technologies in health in the context of wicked problems and sociotechnical theory.
(32/112)
OBJECTIVE: Few research designs look at the deep structure of complex social systems. We report the design and implementation of a multimethod evaluation model to assess the impact of computerized order entry systems on both the technical and social systems within a health care organization. DESIGN: We designed a multimethod evaluation model informed by sociotechnical theory and an appreciation of the nature of wicked problems. We mobilized this model to assess the impact of an electronic medication management system via a three-year program of research at a major academic hospital. MEASUREMENTS: Model components include measurements relating to three dimensions of system impact: safety and quality, organizational culture, and work and communication patterns. RESULTS: Application of the evaluation model required the development and testing of purpose-built measurement tools such as software to collect multidimensional work measurement data. The model applied established research methods including medication error audits and social network analysis. Design features of these tools and techniques are described, along with the practical challenges of their implementation. The distinctiveness of doing research within a unique paradigm of complex systems, explicating the wickedness and the dimensionality of sociotechnical theory, is articulated. CONCLUSION: Designing an effective evaluation model requires a deep understanding of the nature and complexity of the problems that information technology interventions in health care are trying to address. Adopting a sociotechnical perspective for model generation improves our ability to develop evaluation models that are adaptive and sensitive to the characteristics of wicked problems and provides a strong theoretical basis from which to analyze and interpret findings. (+info)