Journal of Biosocial Science最新文献

Fluvial flooding is a recurring event in the Aie River basin in Assam, India. On August 14, 2021, floodwater breached a large stretch of embankment in the Bongaigaon District and inundated several villages. Using a cross-sectional design to conduct household surveys in February and March 2022, the study investigates responses six to seven months following the August 2021 flood disasters. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence and risk factors of four psychological health outcomes. Being flooded is strongly and adversely associated with each of these mental health outcomes. After adjusting for the potential confounders, the strength of the relationships is reduced to four times (adjusted OR 4.62 [95% CI 2.63-8.1]; p < 0.01) for PTSD, five times (adjusted OR 5.28[95% CI 3.38-8.26]; p < 0.01) for anxiety, and three times (adjusted OR 3.45[95% CI 2.24-5.33]; p < 0.01) for depression, and 21 times for comorbid PTSD, anxiety, and depression (adjusted OR 21.68[95% CI 7.38-63.74]; p < 0.01). The robustness of flood exposure is checked in an extended model. It includes variables that indicate the severity of flooding and various secondary stressors. The present study also explores the effects of 'loss stressors' such as crop loss, workday loss, livestock loss, and damage to infrastructure. Located in a resource-constrained setting, the effects of these factors add value to the study. Longer duration of floodwater in the house premise increases the odds of developing anxiety (adjusted OR 1.69[95% CI 1.04-2.75]; p < 0.05) and depression (adjusted OR 1.9[95% CI 1.15-3.12]; p < 0.05). Similarly, deeper floodwater inside the house increases the odds of depression (adjusted OR 1.87[95% CI 1.07-3.28]; p < 0.05). Among all the 'loss' stressors, damage to houses and the cost of repairing is significantly associated with PTSD (adjusted OR 2.04[95% CI 1.09-3.82]; p < 0.05), depression (adjusted OR 2.17[95% CI 1.22-3.87]; p < 0.01) and comorbid PTSD, anxiety and depression (adjusted OR 2.16[95% CI 1.07-4.36]; p < 0.05).

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) and postpartum depression (PPD) are significant global health challenges affecting maternal and child well-being. HDP, including pre-eclampsia, gestational hypertension, and chronic hypertension, complicate up to 10% of pregnancies worldwide, with profound implications for maternal mortality, particularly in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs) like Ghana. The incidence of HDP is rising globally, contributing substantially to maternal deaths and severe perinatal outcomes such as stillbirth and low birth weight. Concurrently, perinatal mental health issues, including PPD, affect a significant proportion of women globally, with higher prevalence rates observed in LMICs. Despite the known physiological impacts of HDP, their association with maternal mental health remains underexplored, especially in LMIC contexts. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to explore the association between HDP and PPD in LMICs, focusing on available literature and studies from diverse global settings. Additionally, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with healthcare professionals in Ghana to gather insights into local perspectives and experiences regarding this association. The systematic review revealed a consistent association between HDP and increased risk of PPD across various LMIC settings. Meta-analysis findings indicated a significant pooled odds ratio, highlighting a robust statistical linkage between HDP severity and subsequent PPD risk. Qualitative data underscored healthcare professionals' observations of heightened psychological distress among women with HDP, emphasizing the complex interplay between physiological complications and maternal mental health outcomes in the Ghanaian context. The study findings underscore the critical need for integrated maternal health strategies that address both physical and psychological aspects of pregnancy complications like HDP. By elucidating these connections, the study contributes to advancing evidence-based interventions and support systems tailored to LMIC settings, aiming to mitigate adverse maternal mental health outcomes and improve overall perinatal care in Ghana and similar contexts worldwide. These insights are pivotal for informing policy decisions, guiding healthcare practices, and fostering targeted interventions that enhance maternal well-being during the vulnerable perinatal period.

The promotion of menstrual health and hygiene globally, especially in lower-middle-income countries (LMICs), is a major public health imperative. The primary study objective was to ascertain the change in the patterns of menstrual hygiene practices and their sociodemographic determinants amongst adolescent girls and young women in India. The present study analyses data from the Indian National Family and Health Survey (NFHS), round 4 (2015-2016) and round 5 (2019-21). Women in the age group 15-24 years (n = 241,180) were interviewed regarding their menstrual hygiene practices. The proportion of women using sanitary napkins as absorbent during menstruation increased from 41.8% (NFHS-4) to 64.1% (NFHS-5), with more than six in ten adolescent girls and young women in India using sanitary pads during menses, although the socioeconomically vulnerable more likely to lack access. The higher age group (20-24 years), rural residence, lower wealth quintile, absence of schooling, absence of flush toilets, and lack of exposure to media were factors that were independently associated with the use of cloth as menstrual absorbent. Vaginal discharge was reportedly higher among women using unhygienic products, however, on adjusted analyses, no statistically significant association was observed with the type of absorbent used. The transition from cloth to sanitary pads has nearly doubled on average in the states implementing free and subsidised government pad distribution schemes during the same period.

Infant mortality, a reflection of socioeconomic and health conditions of a population, is shaped by diverse factors. This study delves into a pre-industrial population, scrutinizing neonatal and post-neonatal deaths separately. Family factors such as mortality crises, religion, and legitimacy are also explored. Data of 9,086 people obtained through multigenerational information from ecclesiastic records from 1603 to 1908 were analysed by means of a joinpoint regression analysis. Death risk was assessed with univariate and multivariate Cox Proportional Hazard models. Early neonatal mortality was 5.6% of births and showed a gradual and steady increase from 1630 to 1908, with no substantial improvement over the three centuries analysed. Late neonatal (4.3% of births) and post-neonatal mortality (18.7% of births) shared a different pattern, showing a decline between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries, and an increase by the 20th century that could be caused by socioeconomic factors and the impact of several epidemics. In the historical population of Hallstatt, infant survival was influenced by the sex of the newborn, the death of the mother and the precedent sibling, and by the birth interval. Environmental and cultural factors, such as mortality crises and religion, influenced late neonatal and post-neonatal mortality, but not early neonatal mortality. The results highlight the need to independently assess early neonatal mortality in studies of infant mortality in historical populations, and to use as complete time periods as possible to capture differences in mortality patterns.

This ethnographic study, conducted as part of the Pandemic Preparedness Project, explores the pandemic preparedness of communities in NG and its satellite settlements within Kailahun District, Eastern Province, Sierra Leone. The research site was particularly significant due to its history as one of the hardest-hit areas during the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak. NG is served by a Peripheral Health Unit (PHU) that provides health services to seven villages, as well as one distant village far from its designated facility. The study employed long-term observational research methods, where the researcher lived within the community, becoming an integrated observer familiar with local customs and daily life. This ethnographic approach aimed to understand the health-seeking behaviors of residents following the Ebola crisis. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic during the study period shifted the focus to examine how the community understood and responded to a new pandemic threat. Additionally, the study reflects on the challenges faced by female social scientists in Sierra Leone, where few are trained in ethnographic methods. This article offers insights into the process of conducting ethnographic research in a challenging context, providing valuable guidance for other female researchers seeking to engage in similar bio-social studies.

Longitudinal birth cohort research provides a glimpse into the biological and social trajectories of a cohort of people, which helps us to better understand how to improve health and social outcomes. While qualitative longitudinal, ethnographic, and other qualitative research methods are increasingly used to capture complex data in trials and cohort research, they are relatively less common, and they vary greatly within and across cohorts and national contexts. The aim of this scoping review is to provide an overview of the use of qualitative and innovative methods in longitudinal preconception and birth cohort studies. Innovative methods, defined by Mannell and Davis (2019), go beyond standard surveys, interviews, and focus groups. The review summarises the literature of the integration of qualitative methods into birth cohort methodologies. Five databases were searched systematically, using MeSH and free text terms, for articles published in English before October 2022. Two-thirds of titles, abstracts, and full-text papers were screened by independent reviewers. Data extraction followed the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination guidelines and was based on features of qualitative methods from the COREQ checklist. 43 papers were included from the 13909 papers identified from the database search. The majority of the birth cohort studies used 'traditional qualitative methods' such as focus groups and one-to-one interviews. The studies that used 'innovative qualitative methods' included participatory interviews with photovoice, photographs, and using scenario and story cards, and while not a steadfast requirement of innovation, often included coproduction between the researchers and the participants. Although the literature reports challenges in conducting innovative methods within birth studies such as time and power imbalances between researcher and participant, these methods can help us better understand how to improve social and health outcomes.

Air pollution exposure and its health effects are a central concern of environmental epigenetic research with birth cohorts. This article explores why researchers have turned to the placenta as a research object to study the dynamic interactions between in utero exposure to air pollution and future child health. Drawing on Science and Technology Studies, particularly the bio-object concept, this article analyses the transformation of the placenta into a technologically manipulated postgenomic bio-object through scientific discourse and practice. Building on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at an institute of epidemiology and public health in Spain, we analyse how researchers deal with the tension between the placenta's promises for epigenetic research and the practical research realities in postgenomic sciences. First, researchers discursively call upon the placenta as a suitable research object that embodies air pollution exposure and becomes entangled with and responds to this exposure via epigenetic changes. Studying the placenta promises to elucidate the temporally dynamic and environmentally embedded process of disease development as one of postgenomics' core epistemic concerns. Second, in practice, however, accessing and preparing the postpartum placenta for epigenetic analysis defies its promise as a postgenomic bio-object. The constraints of research with birth cohorts, such as only having access to the postpartum placenta at birth, limit what researchers can know about the dynamic process of disease development. Third, we show how researchers deal with these limitations by assembling additional data in and around this organ to recontextualise the epigenetic analysis performed in the postpartum placenta and revive its postgenomic character. We conclude by discussing how ethnographies of epistemic practices provide entry points to collaboratively reflect upon the theoretical and methodological opportunities and challenges in birth cohort research to study biosocial dynamics. We suggest avenues for using qualitative social science perspectives for future biosocial research and collaboration between the social and life sciences.

Birth cohort studies provide invaluable data on topics across the lifecourse, including health, education, socioeconomic conditions, and well-being. As a result, they are an important resource for biosocial researchers to answer numerous complex research questions. However, despite being positioned as representative of their national or regional context, cohort studies often fail to capture the experience of marginalised groups.One such group is sexual and gender minority (or LGBTQ+) people who, until very recently, have been largely invisible in birth cohorts. This is despite huge social and attitudinal changes in the last fifty years and clear evidence of the social, political, economic, and health and well-being disparities experienced compared to heterosexual cisgender people. However, due to small numbers, opportunities for quantitative analysis are limited and result in the neglect of LGBTQ+ data even when it is captured.This article presents a brief overview of how queer lives have (and have not) been captured by standard data collection and analysis techniques in the British birth cohort studies. Then, using a cohort born in 1970, the authors explore the possibilities of person-centred mixed-method pen portraits to improve understanding of this group's life trajectories.

A minority of ultra-Orthodox (Charedi) Jews choose not to be vaccinated, and their refusal has assumed significant importance from a variety of perspectives. Clinicians often encounter patients whose beliefs are different from their own. Vaccine hesitancy within the US Charedi Jewish community is a factor contributing to outbreaks of disease, reflecting a growing mistrust between communities and arms of the State played out on the terrain of bodies and societies. Clinicians need to be aware of and understand this broader context as a foundation of empathetic listening and epistemic humility that might lead to improved health for the Charedi community based on reinforced trust.

Quality of care during childbirth is crucial to maternal health outcomes. Studies from India that report on women's experiences of disrespect and abuse by healthcare providers during facility-based childbirth are limited to high-fertility states and predominantly focus on public hospitals. However, the quality of maternal care in states with low fertility rates like West Bengal needs further examination. This study aimed to understand women's experiences of disrespect and abuse and their perceptions of facility-based childbirth. The study focused on public, private, and charitable hospitals in Kolkata district of West Bengal that presents a higher institutional birth rate than the national average. The findings derive from a qualitative study using in-depth interviews with 17 postpartum women who had facility-based births within one year before data collection in May 2019. Grounded theory approach was used to iteratively code the interview transcripts, identify reappearing categories, and generate themes through abstraction. The participants' narratives revealed experiences of verbal abuse, neglect and abandonment, poor rapport between providers and women, improper conduct of procedures, health facility conditions and constraints, and instances of overlapping forms of disrespect and abuse. The findings demonstrate the nature of disrespect and abuse across different hospital types in a major metropolis of India. Normalisation of poor-quality care manifested in women's lack of expectations of patient education and attention from providers. Health system conditions and constraints can impact the quality of care that problematise the push for institutional deliveries as a panacea for poor maternal health outcomes. The findings add to long-standing calls for improving maternal experiences of birth with an emphasis on promoting autonomy. National and state guidelines related to maternal health need to be aligned with accepted standards of care. West Bengal must establish ways to assess the implementation of such guidelines on the ground.