Search

This paper examines the grid of sentiment that structures medical travel to India. In contrast to studies that render emotion as ancillary, the paper argues that affect is fundamental to medical travel's ability to ease the linked somatic, emotional, financial, and political injuries of being ill 'back home'. The ethnographic approach follows the scenes of medical travel within the Indian corporate hospital room, based on observations and interviews among foreign patients, caregivers, and hospital staff in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, and Bangalore. Foreign patients conveyed diverse sentiments about their journey to India ranging from betrayal to gratitude, and their expressions of risk, healthcare costs, and cultural difference help sustain India's popularity as a medical travel destination. However, although the affective dimensions of medical travel promise a remedy for foreign patients, they also reveal the fault lines of market medicine in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose:Very little is known about how older people from black and minority ethnic (BME) groups caring for someone after a stroke access and engage with social care services. This paper explores both the experiences of carers whose relative was receiving social care services in their own home and the value of a theory of humanising care to understand and explain these experiences. Method:Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 50 carers from five different ethnic groups: Asian Indian, Asian Pakistani, Black African, Black Caribbean and White British. Data were thematically analysed within a phenomenological framework. Results:Five interacting themes emerged: communication and bureaucracy; time and timing; communication and rapport building; trust and safety; humanity and the human dimensions of care. Many of the experiences could be interpreted within a conceptual framework of humanising care underpinned by eight interacting dimensions of what it means to be treated as an individual and a human. Conclusions:Carers from BME and White British groups share many experiences of homecare although language and cultural difference may exacerbate common pressures and stresses. The framework for humanising care is a useful tool to evaluate aspects of homecare that are responsive to dignity and diversity.Implications for RehabilitationExplicitly identifying, describing and valuing the human dimensions of care may support services in responding appropriately to homecare users from black minority ethnic communities as well as those from white majority groups.Unresponsive services and poor communication may lead to loss of trust with care agencies and undermine BME carers’ sense of entitlement and competence in engaging with homecare services.Care worker continuity investing time in building relationships and care worker familiarity is important to many families who access social care services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We identify individuals who set daily intake budgets and examine if an intervention making people estimate their calorie intake up to a certain point in the day helps those setting daily budgets to regulate their calorie intake for the remainder of the day, after high prior consumption. We conducted an online experiment in five countries: Australia, China, Germany, India, and the UK (n = 3,032) using a 2 (setting calorie budget: yes vs. no, measured) x 2 (intervention: intake reminder vs. control, manipulated) between-subjects design, with the amount of prior consumption measured. Participants were contacted in the afternoon. Those in the intervention condition were asked to estimate their prior calorie intake on that day. We measured the individual characteristics of those who set daily calorie budgets and the intended calorie intake for the remainder of the day. Among people who set daily calorie budgets, the intervention reduced intended calorie intake for the remainder of the day by 176 calories if they had already consumed a high amount of calories that day. A timely intervention to estimate one's calorie intake can lower additional intended calorie intake among those who set daily calorie budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the current study was to examine the social representation (SR) of hearing aids in people with hearing loss (PHL) in India, the Republic of Korea (ROK), the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States of America (US). The study used a cross-sectional survey design. The data collected by using a free association task were analysed qualitatively (i.e. content analysis) and quantitatively (i.e. chi-square analysis, similarities analysis, prototypical analysis). 424 participants with hearing loss The most commonly reported categories across all countries were "beneficial," "cost and time," and "appearance and design." Approximately 50% of the associations reported were negative. There were variations in terms of the categories that were predominant in the SR of each country. "Others actions and attitude" category was predominantly reported by PHL in India. "Disturbance" and "dissatisfaction" of hearing aids and the "repairs and maintenance of hearing aids" categories were mainly reported from the ROK and the US, respectively. The current results highlight the main aspects that PHL report spontaneously when they think about hearing aids. The findings will help to further inform public health campaigns and will contribute to develop culturally appropriate media materials regarding hearing aids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To explore ethnic and generational differences in six physical health outcomes and whether these differences can be explained by health-related behaviors and socio-economic status. Design: Multivariate analyses using nationally representative data in 2010–2011 on self-assessed general health, activity-limiting illness, doctor-diagnosed diabetes, doctor-diagnosed high blood pressure, doctor-diagnosed asthma and body mass index from 21,651 White British, 997 Pakistanis, 695 Bangladeshis, 1,126 Indians, 573 Black Caribbeans and 873 Black Africans, adjusted for age, gender, health-related behaviors and socio-economic status. Results: While ethnicity is of great importance in patterning health differences, we find that ethnic differences in activity-limiting illness, diabetes, asthma and body mass index vary across generations. Health-related behaviors and socio-economic status are shown to partly explain ethnic and generational differences in some health outcomes. Conclusions: This study enables a better understanding of more nuanced patterns of ethnic and generational differences in health, highlighting the need to understand ethnicity as a fluid and changing characteristic, and the importance of socio-economic status and health-related behaviors in shaping ethnic differences in certain health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]