Browsing by Author "Boyer, Stacy Bingham"

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    Cumberland Plateau Health District 2009-2010 Flu Season Vaccine Study: Final Report
    Marmagas, Susan West; Dannenberg, Clare; Hausman, Bernice L.; Anthony, Elizabeth; Boyer, Stacy Bingham; Fortenberry, Lauren; Lawrence, Heidi (Virginia Tech, 2011-08-31)
    The Cumberland Plateau Health District of the Virginia Department of Health commissioned a team of faculty at Virginia Tech in 2011 to conduct a small pilot study of seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccination practices in Far Southwest Virginia. The study was conducted between February and July 2011. The purpose of the study was two-fold: Understand the reasons why two specific populations (parents of elementary school-aged children and 18-25 year olds) chose to vaccinate or not vaccinate for H1N1 and seasonal flu in 2009-10, and Identify the contributing factors (e.g. logistical barriers, intentional reasons, or parental disengagement) that led to a decision to either vaccinate or not vaccinate. The study was conducted in a small rural county with a significant portion of the population living below the poverty line. The area ranks low in Virginia for health outcomes with more than one quarter of residents reporting to be in poor or fair health in nationally tracked county health statistics. The study had three components: a survey of 86 family units in two elementary schools, indepth in-person follow-up interviews with nine families, and a survey of 158 18-25 year-olds in two educational institutions in the region.
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    Discerning Neighborhood Characteristics as Contributing Factors to Infant Mortality in Rural Northern Plains Communities
    Masilela, Ayanda Martha (Virginia Tech, 2014-09-11)
    American Indians are distinct in their current geographic isolation and history of exclusionary policies enacted against them. Citizenship and territorial policies from the 1700s through the early 1900s have manifested in the distinctive status of many American Indian communities as sovereign nations, a classification that no other ethnic group in the United States can claim. However, as a result of political and geographic isolation, disparities in heath and economic development have been an ongoing problem within these communities. Among the most distinctive health disparities are in infant mortality and obesity-related complications. This project will focus on South Dakota, a state that was late in its application of assimilationist policies, yet today is home to some of the least healthy reservation communities in the United States. An investigation into the making of reservation healthcare delivery systems and patterns of prenatal care utilization will hopefully reveal patterns of health and economic characteristics that predispose infant mortality.
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    The Implementation of Refugee Health Policies and Services in Virginia's Local Health Districts
    Boyer, Stacy Bingham (Virginia Tech, 2002-12-18)
    In 1997, the Virginia Refugee Health Program coordinated a protocol and reimbursement structure to encourage health departments to perform initial health screenings on refugees settling in the Commonwealth by establishing four recommended levels of assessment. This thesis is concerned with these initial health-related services provided to refugees by Virginia's health departments, the quality of these services, and how they vary from one district to another. For this study, I interviewed health department staff representing 13 of Virginia's 19 districts that rendered health screenings in 2000. Information such as the level of assessment provided, and the types of procedures and services offered were the main foci of the interviews. I found that of the 13 districts, three (the cities of Alexandria and Virginia Beach, and Prince William County) offer only the required minimum to refugees. The variations I discovered in the services that health districts provide suggest, conceptually, the workings of both "structure" and "agency." Each health department is formally and informally structured in terms of staffing, services, and resources in accordance with its individual needs and initiatives. The structure of current funding at both the state and local level acts to inhibit some health districts from providing all four levels of assessment. In addition, human agency in the form of personal interest in meeting refugee's health needs as well as district collaboration with local resettlement agencies, also plays an important role in the extent of refugee services rendered.