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Cultural Landscape:: Creating a Culture of Health through Antimalaria Education and Propaganda

in Healing the Land and the Nation: Malaria and the Zionist Project in Palestine, 1920-1947

This chapter, which focuses on the creation of a culture of health in Palestine through antimalaria education and propaganda, discusses the success of Zionist antimalaria campaigns in transforming ... More

This chapter, which focuses on the creation of a culture of health in Palestine through antimalaria education and propaganda, discusses the success of Zionist antimalaria campaigns in transforming the physical topography of Palestine and describes their attempts do the same for its Jewish inhabitants and their bodies. It suggests that malaria and general hygiene education cannot be disentangled, explaining that the general issues of hygiene and health played a part in malaria prevention because other diseases could complicate a malaria attack.Less

Employers as Shapers of Health

Alonzo L. Plough

in Culture of Health in Practice: Innovations in Research, Community Engagement, and Action

This chapter assesses the role of employers as Culture of Health mediators. With their significant influence over the lives of their workforce, employers have the authority to make choices that ... More

This chapter assesses the role of employers as Culture of Health mediators. With their significant influence over the lives of their workforce, employers have the authority to make choices that either promote or inhibit a Culture of Health within their organizations. They also may play important roles in building a Culture of Health in the communities in which they are located and where their employees live. The chapter then considers the approaches taken by three types of employers—Fortune 500 companies, a large retail chain, and the military. Two studies of Fortune 500 companies examine corporate transparency in reporting health-promotion policies and efforts to create healthy work environments and strengthen communities. Another study illustrates the feasibility of stabilizing work schedules of low-wage retail workers to benefit workers as well as store sales.Less

Introduction

Alonzo L. Plough

in Culture of Health in Practice: Innovations in Research, Community Engagement, and Action

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s third annual Sharing Knowledge to Build a Culture of Health conference on the Gila River Indian Community in ... More

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s third annual Sharing Knowledge to Build a Culture of Health conference on the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. In February 2018, on lands that indigenous peoples have long held sacred, in a state with a complex cultural history and a strong sense of place, researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and advocates gathered to talk about advancing a Culture of Health. Participants brought a variety of training experiences, background knowledge, and personal experiences with them, along with the unique perspectives they had gained by working across academic, government, clinical, and community settings, in rural and urban milieus, as well as with the many and varied populations who live in the United States. This intersectionality—on display both at the Sharing Knowledge conference and in this book—underscores the importance of achieving health equity throughout the country, which is the crosscutting focus of how the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is advancing a Culture of Health. The contributors to this volume offer both data and personal insight to help one consider the structural constraints and conditions that often shape individual behavior, as well as the strategies that can lift up populations.Less

Cultural Psychology and the Globalization of Western Psychiatric Practices

Randall Horton

in Universalism without Uniformity: Explorations in Mind and Culture

This paper examines key institutional and economic forces driving the rapid extension of the use of Western models of diagnosing and treating mental illness into all corners of the developing world. ... More

This paper examines key institutional and economic forces driving the rapid extension of the use of Western models of diagnosing and treating mental illness into all corners of the developing world. It examines the ways that problems in the American psychiatric research system, notably, ethnocentric biases and untoward economic influences, appear to be mirrored in the emerging international system, and how these may undercut the promised benefits of expanded mental health care to communities across the globe. It approaches these issues by examining the changing treatment of socio-cultural issues in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [DSM] and the International Classification of Diseases [ICD]. While identifying persisting problems in the main body of the DSM-V, the paper notes the significant progress in thinking about the socio-cultural dimensions of mental health represented in the Cultural Formulation Interview included in the appendix of the work. Drawing on research from cultural and multi-cultural psychology, cultural psychiatry, and medical anthropology, the paper maps several out possible steps for establishing more responsive and well-grounded mental health practices to serve diverse communities within the United States and across the world.Less

Conclusion

Alonzo L. Plough

in Culture of Health in Practice: Innovations in Research, Community Engagement, and Action

This concluding chapter looks at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) renewed resolve to highlight connections, rather than differences, when it talks about common problems, and to take ... More

This concluding chapter looks at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) renewed resolve to highlight connections, rather than differences, when it talks about common problems, and to take evidence-based action grounded in that shared understanding. Despite an abundance of political rhetoric, this book has shown that there is ample enthusiasm for doing just that. A cross-sectional movement to address climate change is on the rise, bringing together businesses, hospitals, and activists. The opioid epidemic and its intersections with rural health and mass incarceration are gaining attention across partisan divides. Medical systems are integrating the social determinants of health into their care interventions, and novel payer initiatives are making it feasible to pilot test and evaluate innovation. Resilience also has come to the forefront as people learn more about the risks associated with childhood trauma, weather-related and human-spawned disasters, and community fragmentation, as well as the protective factors that can counter those stressors and foster personal and collective renewal. Ultimately, the pursuit of health equity remains the underpinning of everything the RWJF does. As they explore further the cultural aspect of a Culture of Health, they are bolstering their commitment to empower historically marginalized people.Less

How Media Shapes the Public Discourse and Influences Health

Alonzo L. Plough

in Culture of Health in Practice: Innovations in Research, Community Engagement, and Action

This chapter describes the multiple roles of modern media in determining not only what consumers know, but also how and what they think. The exponential growth of ideologically driven cable channels ... More

This chapter describes the multiple roles of modern media in determining not only what consumers know, but also how and what they think. The exponential growth of ideologically driven cable channels and social media, dovetailing with cutbacks in newspaper staffing and coverage, point to the many ways that the power and reach of media are shifting even as they continue to reshape American society and norms. In this environment, multiple media compete for viewers, readers, and listeners who will click on their websites, buy their products, sign their petitions, and often accept their spin, especially if it reinforces personal perspectives. Thoughtful information about complex public health issues is easily lost in that context, leading too many people to base their decision-making on incomplete, biased, and even inaccurate information. For the news media to help build a Culture of Health, people need to understand how it works, what it does, and how it can be used for widespread benefit.Less

Climate Change, Environmental Stressors, and Resilience

Alonzo L. Plough

in Culture of Health in Practice: Innovations in Research, Community Engagement, and Action

This chapter looks at the immediate effects and aftermath of disasters. Adverse environmental conditions resulting from climate change and human-made disasters are an increasingly serious health ... More

This chapter looks at the immediate effects and aftermath of disasters. Adverse environmental conditions resulting from climate change and human-made disasters are an increasingly serious health threat, especially to disenfranchised, vulnerable, and indigenous populations. The potential for community resilience is a bright spot among these challenges, especially where a commitment to social justice becomes the foundation for responding to the social and economic shocks associated with environmental catastrophes. As such, ensuring that communities are resilient enough to withstand the aftermath, consequences, and health impacts of these kinds of crises is foundational for building a Culture of Health. Experts in business, science, health, and philanthropy are now increasingly focused on strengthening a community's ability to withstand environmental events.Less

The Opioid Epidemic: Busting Myths and Sharing Solutions

Alonzo L. Plough

in Culture of Health in Practice: Innovations in Research, Community Engagement, and Action

This chapter addresses the unprecedented public health crisis of opioid addiction and deaths by overdose. The opioid epidemic demonstrates just how far many regions are from achieving a Culture of ... More

This chapter addresses the unprecedented public health crisis of opioid addiction and deaths by overdose. The opioid epidemic demonstrates just how far many regions are from achieving a Culture of Health. Advancing health equity requires addressing the multifaceted drivers of the opioid epidemic through innovative multisector programs that shift the emphasis from punishment and stigma to upstream solutions. Driven by an understanding of the unique cultural and historical contexts of their communities, front-line advocates and policymakers at all levels will need to collaborate on a package of well-coordinated strategies. The chapter then looks at states that are targeting both the supply of opioids and the demand for them with creative “whole community” approaches, shifting away from the criminal justice system, providing better access to treatment, and crafting innovative reimbursement strategies.Less

The Stories the Numbers Do Not Tell: Measuring and Monitoring Well-Being in a Culture of Health

Carol Graham

in Well-Being: Expanding the Definition of Progress: Insights From Practitioners, Researchers, and Innovators From Around the Globe

This chapter discusses the measurement of well-being in a Culture of Health. The aggregate numbers and standard measures typically used to measure progress—growth rates, unemployment figures, and ... More

This chapter discusses the measurement of well-being in a Culture of Health. The aggregate numbers and standard measures typically used to measure progress—growth rates, unemployment figures, and stock market trends—mask the underlying crisis of social ill-being. In contrast, well-being metrics uncover the stories that these numbers do not tell. As such, incorporating measures of well-being to provide a more nuanced view of how people are doing; to inform policies to address serious pockets of ill-being and to enhance aggregate societal well-being; and to create a new narrative about social progress is a proposition whose time has come. Surveys are a standard data collection mechanism for well-being data, and there is now established best practice for implementing well-being surveys. A key consensus is on the importance of measuring three distinct dimensions of well-being: hedonic, evaluative, and eudaimonic. The chapter then describes hedonic metrics, evaluative metrics, and eudaimonic metrics. Ideal measurement practice includes all three sets of measures, as they each reveal different elements of quality of life and well-being, ranging from daily moods to life course evaluations to purposefulness or lack thereof.Less

From Vital Magnetism to Vertebral Vitalism

Holly Folk

in Religion of Chiropractic: Populist Healing from the American Heartland

The third chapter presents the steps by which early chiropractic became an organized system of health care: the elaboration of chiropractic theories, the establishment of training institutes like the ... More

The third chapter presents the steps by which early chiropractic became an organized system of health care: the elaboration of chiropractic theories, the establishment of training institutes like the Palmer School of Chiropractic (P.S.C.) in Davenport, Iowa, and the making of a collective consciousness for the profession. Though their relationship was fraught with hostility, D. D. Palmer had considerable help from his son, B. J. Palmer, in developing chiropractic, which they had to distinguish from systems like osteopathy, with which it often was confused. Spinal therapeutics were a major part of 19th century health culture, but not originally central to chiropractic treatment or the First Chiropractic Theory. After the Santa Barbara Incident, the Palmers adopted the neurocentric logic of Progressive Era popular physiology, where maintaining the health of the nervous system through care of the spine was prioritized in the Second Chiropractic Theory.Less

Disrupting the Cycle of Incarceration

Alonzo L. Plough

in Culture of Health in Practice: Innovations in Research, Community Engagement, and Action

This chapter explores the root causes for the high rate of incarceration in the United States and its health-damaging consequences. Reducing incarceration levels, particularly in communities of color ... More

This chapter explores the root causes for the high rate of incarceration in the United States and its health-damaging consequences. Reducing incarceration levels, particularly in communities of color and disadvantage, is a vital building block of a Culture of Health. Addressing mass incarceration in the United States, however, requires a range of approaches and tactics that target multiple levels of the complex criminal justice system. The chapter then describes both broad-based solutions and targeted local efforts to break the cycle of incarceration at various points: before arrest, within prison walls, after release, and across generations. Changing the narrative is a feature of many efforts, as activists find new ways to talk about poverty, crime, and prison, and adults with a history of incarceration commit to renewing bonds with their children.Less