Social science & medicine
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Social science & medicine · Mar 2012
A 'beautiful death': mortality, death, and holidays in a Mexican municipality.
Several studies have reported increased mortality during holidays. Using a cultural epidemiological, sequential mixed-methods approach, this study explored holiday-related trends using mortality data from Yautepec (Morelos, Mexico) collected between 1986 and 2008 (N=5027 deaths). This analysis found that mortality increased on Christmas Day and All Saints' Day. ⋯ Quantitative and qualitative results provided information about the important effects of holidays, culture, and religious belief on mortality patterns within a Mexican context, and contributed to a better understanding of the relationships among mortality, the nature of death, and holidays. Our results suggest that, in the studied region, death can be interpreted as a "beautiful process". More research is needed to explore this process in other similar contexts and to address topics related to the care and attention given the dying person and the expectation of a good death.
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Social science & medicine · Mar 2012
Undocumented immigrants and their use of medical services in Orange County, California.
Does an undocumented immigration status predict the use of medical services? To explore this question, this paper examines medical care utilization of undocumented Latino immigrants compared to Latino legal immigrants and citizens, and non-Latino whites in Orange County, California. Data were collected through a random sample telephone survey of 805 Latinos and 396 non-Hispanic whites between January 4 and January 30, 2006. ⋯ Predictors of use of medical services are found to include undocumented immigration status, medical insurance, education, and gender. Undocumented Latinos were found to use medical services less than legal immigrants and citizens, and to rely more on clinic-based care when they do seek medical services.
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Social science & medicine · Mar 2012
Retracted PublicationDeservingness to state health services for South-South migrants: a preliminary study of Costa Rican providers' views.
Health services for undocumented migrants highlight the complex politics of the "right to health". South-South migrants, an emerging focus of migration scholarship, compose an estimated 40 percent of the world's 200 million international migrants. In Costa Rica, internationally renowned for its public health achievements, undocumented Nicaraguan migrants number between 8 and 16 percent of the population. ⋯ Overall their views on the deservingness of health services for undocumented migrants reflected a utilitarian approach. Specifically, their talk reflected: (1) the limits to state responsibility for ensuring the health of individuals not pertaining to the nation; and (2) a concern for the threats posed to the health of Costa Rican nationals. Costa Rican providers' perceptions on health services for migrants offer partial insight for the development of future migrant health policies in receiving countries of the global economic South.