Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “SOCIAL SCIENCES”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,459 records · Page 81Linked to original sources
PubMed2003

[How human sciences can help to understand blood donation?].

In France, the necessity of managing sanitary risks associated with blood transfusion has induced a strong medicalization of blood collection. Practicing this activity of transfusion medicine confronts the professional with problems which the medical science is not sufficient to answer: curbs and motivations for donating, seasonal and geographic fluctuations in blood collection, sense of pre-donation interview, individual or collective contestings of guidelines for blood collection. From recent sociological works on donation in France, especially on blood donation, this paper suggests reporting the complexity of blood donation thought process and the necessity to refer to human and social sciences to approach it in a best way. Understanding the gift should help professionals to communicate not only on the promotion of blood donation, but also on the risk and its management.

Blood Component Removal↗
PubMed1994

Self-reported distress: analog or Ersatz depression?

Vredenburg, Flett, and Krames's (1993) conclusion that self-reported distress in college students is an appropriate analog for diagnosable depression is examined in light of a broader literature. Self-reported distress is conceptually and empirically distinct from depression and depressive symptoms. Distress has stronger correlates with common psychological and social factors. Distress in college students tends to be mild and transient, and most distressed college students are not depressed. Some other features of college life also make generalizations to clinical and community samples of adults problematic. Overall, ubiquitous misunderstandings in the literature have limited recognition of the pitfalls of studying distress as an analog for diagnosable depression. It is undesirable for reasons of science, social responsibility, and the credibility of psychological models of depression.

Depression↗
PubMed2004

The health-promoting family: a conceptual framework for future research.

There has so far only been little research attention given to how families actively engage in promoting their health in everyday life. In this paper a theoretical framework is proposed for studies of the 'health-promoting family' with particular focus on children's health and well-being. This paper sets out a conceptual model for understanding how the family can play a part in promoting both the health of children and children's capacities as health-promoting actors. It draws on contemporary social science approaches to health, the family and children, suggesting a new emphasis on the family's ecocultural pathway, family practices and the child as a health-promoting actor.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[State models (utopias) and sociology of medicine].

Social science was well developed at the end of the 18th century, but the theory or rather the methodology of sociology became a source of investigation only in the 19th century. The aspects of society were already studied in ancient times, though--since this term was not known--they thought of an omnipotent state as the only structure of human coexistence. Their judgement about the human community--what we call society today--were expressed inside the political science. In our times the investigation of sociology was primarily interested in what a real society should be, in contradiction to the philosophers of the ancient world, the Fathers of the Church in the Middle Ages and the modern natural-lawyers, who were discussing about an ideal constitutional form. They did not describe the veritable society and its occurrences, but showed a model of social conditions to their contemporaries, which had been imagined or contemplated suitable by them. Nowadays it has gradually been accepted in modern medicine that a substantial proportion in the etiology of certain diseases and the conditions of recovery have social origin. As social circumstances are natural elements of human beings, social existence impresses all functions of human body. The practical problems of prevention and therapy of diseases beside social relevances represent a special social aspect for medicine.

History, Ancient↗
PubMed1994

[The places of mind].

The Sciences of the Mind have gained specific fields in the knowledge upgrading achieved by the relevant scientists and theorists. Three are the best known types of classification, the ones with religious origins excluded: the one of the Mediterranean Ancient civilization, focused on the faculties of the soul; the naturalistic approach based on the complexity levels of the matter; and the bipolar one which separates the Social Sciences from the Natural ones. The places that Man conceives for the Psychological Sciences reflect its ideological status upon the Nature of the Mind.

Culture↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Cultural barriers to cancer screening among African American women: a critical review of the qualitative literature.

There have been numerous studies demonstrating the enormous cancer burden for African American women and the impact of structural barriers in the dissemination of cancer control interventions. Few of these studies have dealt with the influence of cultural factors in the success or failure of intervention research. The purpose of this review is to provide a critical appraisal of qualitative studies that inform on social-cultural factors in cancer screening programs for African American women, and to evaluate the extent to which general methodologic criteria have been used in these studies. The article discusses the theoretical underpinnings of social science qualitative methodologies, including ethnography, hermeneutics, ethnomethodology, and symbolic interactionism. Published qualitative studies from 1980 to 1996 on cancer screening among African American women are critically reviewed. Among the themes identified were bruises as contributory to breast cancer development; the low priority women placed on personal preventive screening behaviors in the context of other family health priorities; and the importance of female friends, relatives, and social networks in the flow of cancer information. The importance of qualitative approaches to cancer prevention and control programs and policies is threefold: (a) collection of greater depth of information, (b) identification of processes and relations among behaviors, and (c) framing of variables and hypotheses for quantitative research. Greater emphasis on methodologic rigor will be necessary, however, if qualitative studies of cancer screening are to effectively inform the development of research, programs, and policies.

Black or African American↗
PubMed2006

Insights into the management of emerging infections: regulating variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease transfusion risk in the UK and the US.

BACKGROUND: Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is a human prion disease caused by infection with the agent of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. After the recognition of vCJD in the UK in 1996, many nations implemented policies intended to reduce the hypothetical risk of transfusion transmission of vCJD. This was despite the fact that no cases of transfusion transmission had yet been identified. In December 2003, however, the first case of vCJD in a recipient of blood from a vCJD-infected donor was announced. The aim of this study is to ascertain and compare the factors that influenced the motivation for and the design of regulations to prevent transfusion transmission of vCJD in the UK and US prior to the recognition of this case. METHODS AND FINDINGS: A document search was conducted to identify US and UK governmental policy statements and guidance, transcripts (or minutes when transcripts were not available) of scientific advisory committee meetings, research articles, and editorials published in medical and scientific journals on the topic of vCJD and blood transfusion transmission between March 1996 and December 2003. In addition, 40 interviews were conducted with individuals familiar with the decision-making process and/or the science involved. All documents and transcripts were coded and analyzed according to the methods and principles of grounded theory. Data showed that while resulting policies were based on the available science, social and historical factors played a major role in the motivation for and the design of regulations to protect against transfusion transmission of vCJD. First, recent experience with and collective guilt resulting from the transfusion-transmitted epidemics of HIV/AIDS in both countries served as a major, historically specific impetus for such policies. This history was brought to bear both by hemophilia activists and those charged with regulating blood products in the US and UK. Second, local specificities, such as the recall of blood products for possible vCJD contamination in the UK, contributed to a greater sense of urgency and a speedier implementation of regulations in that country. Third, while the results of scientific studies played a prominent role in the construction of regulations in both nations, this role was shaped by existing social and professional networks. In the UK, early focus on a European study implicating B-lymphocytes as the carrier of prion infectivity in blood led to the introduction of a policy that requires universal leukoreduction of blood components. In the US, early focus on an American study highlighting the ability of plasma to serve as a reservoir of prion infectivity led the FDA and its advisory panel to eschew similar measures. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study yield three important theoretical insights that pertain to the global management of emerging infectious diseases. First, because the perception and management of disease may be shaped by previous experience with disease, especially catastrophic experience, there is always the possibility for over-management of some possible routes of transmission and relative neglect of others. Second, local specificities within a given nation may influence the temporality of decision making, which in turn may influence the choice of disease management policies. Third, a preference for science-based risk management among nations will not necessarily lead to homogeneous policies. This is because the exposure to and interpretation of scientific results depends on the existing social and professional networks within a given nation. Together, these theoretical insights provide a framework for analyzing and anticipating potential conflicts in the international management of emerging infectious diseases. In addition, this study illustrates the utility of qualitative methods in investigating research questions that are difficult to assess through quantitative means.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome↗
PubMed2005

Scientists in the swamp: narrowing the language-practice gap in community psychology.

As a confluence of unique values and activities, the collective practice of community psychology is difficult to characterize in a simple way. Increasingly, however, professional contexts are laden with pressure to define any practice--from library work to medical interventions--in the orderly, compact language of traditional science. This trend has historically been resisted in the field by those sensing a fundamental lack of fit between the fluid, emergent aspects of community psychological practice and the fixed, precise language of classic science. In response to this "language-practice gap," some have attempted to adapt the traditional language of science to better fit the field's practice, while others have explored alternative languages of practice seemingly more indigenous to the messy "swamp" of actual communities. While the former effort leaves some theoretical contradictions intact, the latter tends to discount scientific identity entirely. This paper proposes a potential step forward by resituating questions of disciplinary language and identity within a current philosophical discourse where the nature of social science itself remains sharply contested. This suggests shifting attention away from "should we be a science?" to "what kind of science might we be after all?"; in turn, alternative languages may be re-cast as legitimate contributors to a kind of science more authentic to human communities--even a viable "science in the swamp." One such language-philosophical hermeneutics--is presented as a particularly valuable supplement to traditional science. Illustrations highlight ways that hermeneutics may advance the formal language of the field towards a closer fit of what actually happens in practice, while preserving and even bolstering the empirical rigor and scientific identity of the field.

Community Mental Health Services↗
PubMed1997

Moderate drinking and health. Implications of recent evidence.

OBJECTIVE: To address three questions (Is moderate drinking good for health? Should people drink to prevent heart disease? What is moderate drinking?) and to examine and compare two recent Canadian guidelines on low-risk drinking in the context of counseling patients. DATA SOURCES: English-language data sources were searched, particularly peer-reviewed health and social science literature and recent expert reports. STUDY SELECTION: Studies and reports were selected for their scientific merit and direct relevance to the three questions addressed and to the formulation of guidelines on low-risk drinking. SYNTHESIS: While moderate drinking might protect some older people against coronary heart disease, it is associated with increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke, certain cancers, accidents and injuries, and a range of social problems. For most health outcomes, risk increases as consumption of alcohol increases. CONCLUSIONS: While the data have limitations, they provide a basis for formulating guidelines on low-risk drinking. The two Canadian guidelines, one developed from the perspective of health recovery, the other from the perspective of health promotion, complement each other in the context of counseling patients.

Accidents↗
PubMed1993

The autonomous self.

Although the nature of the self has become a central issue in psychoanalysis, a comprehensive theory of its origin and development is needed. In an effort to elaborate one such theory, the author first reviews the history of psychoanalytic conceptualizations of the self. He then examines extra-clinical evidence from literature, philosophy, and the social sciences to gain additional insight into the persistent features of the self. Finally, he outlines some unique characteristics of the human self in light of new insights from modern evolutionary biology.

Biological Evolution↗
PubMed1995

Review of the organized support network for infertility patients in licensed units in the UK.

In acknowledging that 'counselling is generally recognized as beneficial', the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) Code of Practice requires that all infertility units provide counselling facilities to be available for patients. In this study, we intended to evaluate the support and counselling services made available by the licensed units in the UK. A questionnaire consisting of 30 questions was designed and sent to every licensed treatment unit in the UK. The data were coded on a nominal scale and, using a data entry program, loaded onto a computer. Using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences program, a non-parametric frequency analysis was performed. Associations were examined with cross-tabulations and chi 2 analysis. A total of 62 units (61.4%) responded to the questionnaire, from both the private and National Health Service sectors. Of these, 95% have their own counsellor, most of whom (84%) practised on the premises. One-third of these counsellors had a dual role, mainly as nurses, social workers or in administration; 98.6% were trained in counselling, with only 28% having either the Certificate or Diploma in Counselling. One-third (32.2%) of centres charged for counselling, with only 13 units indicating their charges. The majority of centres (78.8%) do not actively follow-up patients after counselling and one-quarter (25.5%) did not have a specific counselling room. Over two-thirds (68.4%) of centres described their support network as adequate. The results of this survey suggest that, although the requirements of the HFEA Code of Practice are being adhered to reasonably well, overall patient uptake of counselling is low.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

England↗
PubMed1996

Connecting Bowen theory with its human origins.

Murray Bowen recognized the importance of grounding clinical practice within a clearly articulated theoretical framework, which could claim its place within the general scientific tradition. Bowen theory has established itself as a significant contribution to the field of family therapy. However, in its insistence on excluding, in the interests of rigorous inquiry, all contributions except those from a natural science perspective, Bowen theory has neglected the very elements that are the identifying characteristics of Homo sapiens. As well as recognizing the common systemic characteristics of all life forms, a theory of the family and family therapy that does justice to the human condition will also need to attend to the ways in which human systems are distinct from those of other life forms. In this enterprise, the social sciences will be as important as the natural sciences.

Family Therapy↗
PubMed1991

Morality and pretextuality, psychiatry and law: of "ordinary common sense," heuristic reasoning, and cognitive dissonance.

The thesis of this paper is that we will not make significant progress in understanding the tensions between the legal and mental health systems until we look carefully at a series of dissonances that affect both systems. We must consider the way that the law frequently condones pretextuality as a way of dealing with troubling or cognitively dissonant information, and the way that mental health professionals encourage a self-referential concept of morality as a way of subverting legal doctrines with which they disagree. These dissonances must be considered contextually in connection with the ways that courts generally read social science data and the ways that jurors and legislators employ such cognitive devices as "ordinary common sense" and heuristic reasoning in their judgments of cases involving mental disability questions. To ameliorate the current dilemma, we must redefine institutional and professional roles, reconsider the way we privilege expertise, recalibrate our allocation of "moral jurisdiction" over these matters, and consciously confront the way our simplifying thinking mechanisms distort the underlying social and political issues.

Forensic Psychiatry↗
PubMed1995

The similarity and frequency of proposals to reform US medical education. Constant concerns.

OBJECTIVES: To identify the values and agendas underlying reports advocating the reform of medical education and to account for their similarity and repeated promulgation. DATA SOURCES: Major reports regarding undergraduate medical education reform published between 1910 and 1993 were identified through a manual bibliographic search. STUDY SELECTION: Nineteen of a total of 24 reports met the two inclusion criteria: they directly addressed undergraduate medical education and contained a coherent body of recommendations. DATA EXTRACTION: Content analysis of 19 reports. DATA SYNTHESIS: All the reports articulate a specifically social vision of the medical profession, in which medical schools are seen as serving society. The reports are remarkably consistent regarding the objectives of reform and the specific reforms proposed. Core objectives of reform include the following: (1) to better serve the public interest, (2) to address physician workforce needs, (3) to cope with burgeoning medical knowledge, and (4) to increase the emphasis on generalism. Proposed reforms have tended to suggest changes in manner of teaching, content of teaching, faculty development, and organizational factors. Reforms such as increasing generalist training, increasing ambulatory care exposure, providing social science courses, teaching lifelong and self-learning skills, rewarding teaching, clarifying the school mission, and centralizing curriculum control have appeared almost continuously since 1910. CONCLUSION: The similarity of the reports' objectives and reforms results not only from a similar body of problems, but also from the reaffirmation of similar values. The reports have two implicit agendas that transcend the reform of medical education: the affirmation of the social nature of the medical profession and self-regulation of the profession. These agendas help account for the reports' similarity and their repeated promulgation.

Education, Medical↗
PubMed2001

Systemic hypotension and the development of acute sensorineural hearing loss in young healthy subjects.

BACKGROUND: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) is an acute disorder whose origin is often unclear. A vascular disorder may be a causative factor. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether hypotension influences the genesis of SSHL in healthy subjects. DESIGN: To investigate the role of a 24-hour blood pressure (BP) profile in a population of young subjects with SSHL from January 1, 1996, to December 31, 1999, by a nonrandomized controlled trial. SETTING: The Ear, Nose and Throat Section of the Department of Surgical and Anaesthesiological Sciences and the Department of Internal Medicine, S. Orsola Hospital, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. PATIENTS: The study population consisted of 23 untreated healthy patients diagnosed as having SSHL compared with 20 age- and sex-matched normotensive control subjects. Both groups underwent 24-hour BP monitoring, and their BP profiles were analyzed and compared with routine BP values. The data were analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 7.1, and the results are expressed as mean +/- SD. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The mean BP values were expected to be lower in the study population. RESULTS: The average clinic and ambulatory BP values were significantly lower in patients with SSHL, for systolic (clinic, P =.004; ambulatory BP, P =.02) and diastolic (clinic, P =.03; ambulatory BP, P =.03) values. The occurrence of persistent hypotension (the presence of >2 consecutive recordings of systolic BP of < or =105 mm Hg and/or diastolic BP of < or =60 mm Hg) was increased in the population with SSHL. CONCLUSION: Systemic hypotension must be considered as the possible cause responsible for the development of SSHL in young healthy subjects.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1990

Some statistical methods for combining experimental results.

Advances in science and technology are generally the product of multiple investigations. This article discusses statistical methods for combining empirical results from a series of different experiments or clinical investigations. We delineate the steps an assessor might take in combining data from different studies and provide references for topics not discussed in detail. The article reviews some of the most commonly used statistical techniques for combining results in the medical and social sciences.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1993

Volatile substance misuse in children and youth: a consideration of theories.

A paucity of research exists in the social sciences regarding the theories explaining volatile substance misuse behavior in children and adolescent. Volatile substances include solvents and inhalants such as modeling glue, aerosol sprays, and gasoline. The explanations found in the literature neither sufficiently nor adequately explain possible motivation and causation. Cultural ideas about life and alcohol, as perceived by adult community members, are significant contributing and motivating variables in children's choices to misuse volatile substances. The social forces within cultural frameworks must be acknowledged to better understand youthful choices to misuse substances.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Rehabilitation of partial laryngectomy patients.

Rehabilitation and function following three anatomically discrete forms of partial laryngectomy (hemilaryngectomy, subtotal supraglottic laryngectomy, and partial laryngopharyngectomy) were studied in 68 patients. Study parameters included posttreatment respiration, deglutition, taste, smell, and hearing function; articulation and voice analysis; and social, communicative, and vocational adjustment. The major portion of the study involved specific testing of posttreatment voice quality and articulation. Recorded word lists and sentences were evaluated by independent observers regarding breathiness, hoarseness, harshness, pitch, loudness, and intelligibility. These data were analyzed employing a Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) through the Washington University computer facilities.

Carcinoma, Squamous Cell↗