Social science & medicine
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Social science & medicine · May 1998
Canadian naturopathic practitioners: holistic and scientific world views.
This paper describes naturopathic practitioners with two different world views--holistic and scientific, and explores the relationship of practitioners' socialization experiences and practice patterns with these two world views. Data were gathered by a variety of methods including: (1) a 14-page questionnaire mailed to all 296 naturopathic practitioners licensed in Canada; (2) a participant observation study at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM); and (3) open-ended interviews with 16 students attending CCNM and 41 naturopathic practitioners which were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Individuals with both holistic and scientific world views entered naturopathic training and none of the practitioners who were interviewed reported a change in world view while at naturopathic college. ⋯ Practitioners with scientific world views reported choosing treatments based on the available "scientific evidence", while practitioners with holistic world views included a careful exploration of the patient's spirituality and their own intuition in their treatment decisions. In addition, practitioners with holistic world views reported significantly longer patient visits than practitioners with scientific world views. The data presented here suggest that one's world view influences one's perceptions of socialization experiences and social situations, and modulates the effects of both on practice patterns.
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Social science & medicine · May 1998
Firearm suicides and homicides in the United States: regional variations and patterns of gun ownership.
Among industrialized countries, the United States has the highest rates of firearm suicide and homicide, as well as the highest rate of gun ownership. The present study compares the differential impact of gun availability on firearm suicides and homicides in the U. S. ⋯ The results show that gun ownership has a stronger impact on firearm suicides than homicides. These findings held up after stratifying by gender and race. The study suggests that reducing the aggregate level of gun availability may decrease the risk of firearm-related deaths.
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Social science & medicine · Apr 1998
Psychological distress and well-being among traumatized Palestinian women during the intifada.
Little is known about the ways in which Palestinian women who were subjected to political violence during the intifada coped with stress. This study investigated the extent to which differences in the presence of trauma, political and normative stressors, family resources, family coping, and family hardiness could account for variation in women psychological distress and well-being. Results indicated that normative stressors were more predictive of psychological distress and well-being than was the presence of trauma or political stressors. ⋯ While the social-psychological resources of women were found to be negatively related to psychological distress and well-being, the sociodemographic resources had different patterns of relations. Also, family hardiness was evidenced to have an influence on perceived psychological distress among traumatized and non-traumatized women, whereas effective coping and supportive resources may directly affect functioning among traumatized women only. The clinical and policy implications of these conclusions were discussed.
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Social science & medicine · Apr 1998
Which terminally ill cancer patients receive hospice in-patient care?
The objective of this study was to investigate which terminally ill cancer patients receive in-patient care in hospices and other specialist palliative care in-patient units. An interview survey was made of family or others who knew about the last year of life of a random sample of people who died in 1990. Twenty district health authorities from a range of inner city, outer urban and rural settings took part. ⋯ It was found that symptom severity, age, dependency level and site of cancer played a role in determining hospice admission but have limited predictive value. Admission seems to be governed more by chance than by need. Further research is needed to identify which patients benefit most from in-patient care in hospices and other specialist palliative care units as the present arrangements appear to be both inequitable and insupportable.
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Social science & medicine · Apr 1998
The demand for prehospital emergency services in an aging society.
This research examines the implications of an aging society on the demand for prehospital emergency medical services (EMS). Using a large comprehensive set of population-based EMS utilization data (N = 73874) and population data from the 1990 Census for the City of Dallas, Texas, rates of utilization for eight age groups were computed for total EMS incidents, incidents requiring transport services, and a sub-category of transport services for individuals requiring services for life-threatening conditions. ⋯ A broad categorization of all EMS incidents by reason for requiring services indicates that the observed age-associated increase in utilization is due primarily to medical conditions rather than incidents arising from trauma. Finally, gender and racial/ethnic differences in utilization are briefly considered.