bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Health Care Delivery System: Japan
Authors: Anesaki Masahira 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
In modern Japan, before World War II, German medicine was the model; and since World War II, American medicine has been influential. The provision of medical care has been dominated by the private sector. But in the 1920s the German type of health insurance was introduced, and in 1961 a universal health insurance scheme was achieved. Private sector dominated medical care provision under the universal health insurance has been a characteristic of Japan's health care. The Japanese have achieved the highest health status with the lowest ratio of total expenditure on health care among the OECD member countries. But they are now facing the big challenges presented by the unregulated tradition of health care and the rise of health care costs under the universal health insurance scheme. The government has to start radical reforms.
African Americans, Health of
Authors: Brandon L. Jerome 
Published: February 2014

AbstractSeveral empirical challenges arise in estimating the health status of racial/ethnic populations and especially African Americans. African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of sub‐Saharan Africa. There are racial/ethnic health disparities that appear to result from genetics, environment, and access to health care and cultural preferences. African Americans have higher relative morbidity and mortality rates than other racial/ethnic groups in the United States across all health areas: chronic disease, communicable disease, injury, and child health. A further indication of health disparity is that the average life expectancy for European Americans in 2007 was 4.8 years greater than for African Americans. However, the difference was down from 5.5 years in 2000. African Americans account for a higher proportion of HIV infections at all stages of the disease from new infections to deaths. The number of new HIV/AIDS cases in African Americans is slowly decreasing. In conclusion, on a relative basis, the health of African Americans is not good, but the good news is that their health is improving.
Cosmetic Surgery
Authors: Stooksberry Jodi N. 
Published: February 2014

AbstractThe field of cosmetic surgery was established approximately 2500 years ago with its origins in India and Italy. What began as an international phenomenon became primarily associated with the United States as a result of World Wars I and II. Trench warfare during those wars caused immeasurable injuries to the facial profiles of soldiers, and cosmetic surgery became the means of combating disfiguring war wounds. This surge in application and popularity garnered esteem for cosmetic surgeons and their field. In 1921 cosmetic surgeons established the American Association of Plastic Surgeons to certify doctors and professionalize the field of cosmetic surgery.
Beauty Products and Health
Authors: Yang Jie 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
Researchers suggest that beauty and health are interrelated and that beauty products can both benefit (i.e., cosmaceuticals) and harm (i.e., toxicants) one's health. In addition to the impacts on physical health, cultural values attached to certain notions of beauty can also impact women's mental and psychological health. The study of beauty products and health focuses on gender, medicine, and their relationships to culture, class, and consumer capitalism. Such studies are often based on a binary of seeing certain products as being harmful or beneficial. Researchers have recently moved beyond this divisive approach by demonstrating the complicated history of the beauty industry and its corollary cultural, economic, and sociopolitical effects. Besides gendered exploitation (i.e., low wages) in such a doubly gendered beauty industry, scholars have examined the potential health risks of long‐term exposure to toxic beauty products faced by women who produce beauty products or offer beauty services.
Scientific Motherhood
Authors: Carter J. A. 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
Scientific motherhood refers to an ideology that places social pressure on mothers to seek out and heed scientific and medical advice regarding “proper” mothering techniques. More specifically the term has been used to describe the scientific and medical discourse on childrearing created in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This advice emphasizes the positive and/or negative qualities of schedules and routines surrounding child breastfeeding, eating, bathing, potty training, sleeping, and other mothering techniques.
Online Health Information Seeking and Gender
Authors: Seçkin Gül 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
As the technologies for health information and communication develop, the adoption of social computing technologies by health care consumers has been of growing interest. The ultimate objective for online health information seeking is to assume an active role in achieving health and wellness, and to be an informed care partner with health professionals in managing personal or loved ones’ care. The Internet has also become a resource where users not only receive information but also produce experiential knowledge and support. Exchange of experiential information in online communities of information sharing and support reconstructs lay knowledge as part of an informational self‐help from which others benefit. Narrators of illness experiences become producers of experiential and practical knowledge and give impetus to their self‐definition as consumers of health care. Hearing the perspectives of others in cyberspace provides a form of complementary health information, and helps information seekers find answers to their questions from those who understand their issues from a patient perspective. Research is needed to evaluate whether and to what extent online health information improves users’ medical outcomes.
Disability and Chronic Illness
Authors: Livneh Hanoch 
Published: February 2014

AbstractThe onset of chronic illness or disability can have a significant impact on the quality of life of the individual. Chronic illness and disability (CID) may be assessed by their type of onset, life threat implications, course, level of controllability, and degree of imposed functional limitations. Among the most frequently experienced functional limitations are those of: mobility, manipulation, sensory, communication, consciousness, fatigue, cognitive, and social. Numerous internal and external variables typically interact to influence the individual's psychosocial adaptation to CID. Most frequently researched psychosocial reactions to the onset of CID include those of: anxiety, denial, depression, anger, and acceptance.
Global Health
Authors: Janes Craig R. 
Published: February 2014

AbstractGlobal health is a field of research and practice that examines how assemblages of global processes converge on a health issue, problem, policy, or outcome within an identified social context. The goal of global health is to reduce health inequities and to contribute to the development of salutogenic social systems. This entry focuses on the five dimensions of globalization and health that form the core of social and behavioral sciences inquiry: (1) the social causes or determinants of health inequities; (2) the global circulation of science and technology and its impact on local populations and communities; (3) the development, circulation, and implementation of health policy; (4) global health governance; and (5) the effects of global environmental change on health.
Health Care Delivery System: Thailand
Authors: Hughes David , Srithamrongsawat Samrit 
Published: February 2014

AbstractThailand became a pathfinder for lower‐ and middle‐income countries when it introduced universal health care for its citizens in 2002. The country has a mixed but predominantly public system, with an extensive network of administrative offices, hospitals, and health centers at provincial and district levels. This entry describes the three public health insurance programs: the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS), the Social Security Scheme (SSS), and the Civil Servant Medical Benefit Scheme (CSMBS), and the entitlements provided for members. Special attention is given to the UCS and its strengths and weaknesses. Research evidence suggests that the UCS has had strong positive impacts on access to care, equity of access, financial risk protection, and reduction in unmet need, but has brought more limited gains in building primary care capability in rural areas and developing disease prevention and health promotion.
Gender and Life Expectancy
Authors: Emslie Carol 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
Life expectancy at birth is an estimate of the number of years that a newborn baby will live – based on current age‐specific death rates – and is used as a measure of health status. Women have a longer life expectancy at birth than men in nearly every country. This gender gap in longevity is influenced by both biological and sociocultural factors, but very little research has tried to integrate these different perspectives. The dramatic variation in gender differences in life expectancy across the world illustrates how the biological vulnerability of males interacts with the ways that men and women are treated in different societies. Social and cultural explanations for the gender gap in life expectancy draw on men's and women's social roles, health behaviors such as smoking and drinking alcohol, and traditional notions of “masculinity.” Researchers have commented on the supposed “paradox” of women living longer but having worse health than men (“women are sicker, but men die quicker”). However, this observation has been found to be simplistic; research which compares men and women in similar situations has found that gender differences in physical ill‐health are either inconsistent or relatively small.
Gendered Health Discourse
Authors: Brenton Joslyn 
Published: February 2014

AbstractGendered health discourse is an emerging concept that combines the tradition of discourse analysis with gender theory to understand how patterned ways of communicating about health contribute to the façade of “natural” and oppositional differences between men and women. Discourse is defined as a patterned system of texts, message, talk, and dialogue. Gendered health discourses are widely shared discussions or ways of talking about health, geared toward one sex or the other, that promote the idea of gender differences and support gender inequality. Gendered health discourse is conveyed primarily through media outlets, and shapes how people think about, identify, and treat health issues, as well as how men and women interpret their bodies’ meaning and worth. Analyzing gendered health discourse reveals cultural values and belief systems with regard to health and gender, as well as how gender inequality is reproduced.
eHealth
Authors: Hale Timothy M. 
Published: February 2014

AbstracteHealth is a relatively new term that refers to the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve health and health care services. eHealth is different from the field of medical informatics in that eHealth highlights the use of networked digital information and communication technologies, primarily the Internet, rather than the closed and fixed technologies used in medical informatics. Thus, eHealth encompasses a broad and rapidly growing number of applications, including dissemination of health information; patient–provider communication; participation in online support groups; creating, storing, and sharing personal health records (PHRs); electronic medical records (EMRs); decision support for clinicians and patients; and use of wearable sensors to collect data on physical functioning and health status. eHealth is widely believed to be an essential part of public and private sector efforts to improve health care and reduce costs. Given the increasing age of the US population and the fact that chronic diseases are the main cause of morbidity and premature mortality, eHealth is seen as key to fostering healthy behaviors to reduce the risk of chronic diseases and providing consumers with the health information and records they need to better manage their medical conditions if they become ill.
Gender and Self‐Salience
Authors: Gibson Philip A. 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
Self‐salience theory is a recently developed perspective on the relationship between gender and mental health. It proposes that differences between men's and women's expression of psychological distress are linked to differences in the relationship between self and other. These differences are based in the history of men's and women's participation in the public and private spheres of society. Self‐salience theory proposes that women experience more internalizing psychological distress due to the historical socialization of women toward caretaking roles which are carried out within the private sphere of society, particularly the home. Women's social expectations therefore inhibit them from prioritizing the needs of the self, resulting in internalizing expressions of distress such as depression. Men, conversely, have been socialized historically toward independence and personal achievement in the public sphere, such as the workplace. Men's social expectations therefore facilitate the external expression of distress, such as alcohol abuse. Self‐salience theory describes the mechanisms by which gendered social expectations lead to different self‐concepts, resulting in dispositions toward gendered expressions of distress.
Disease Ecology
Authors: Oppong Joseph R. , Huddleston Jody 
Published: February 2014

AbstractThe incidence, spatial distribution, and timing of disease outbreaks reflect the interactions of human populations with disease causing organisms in the environment. Disease ecology seeks to understand the interrelationship of disease, humans, and their common environment. It studies the principles that influence the spatiotemporal patterns of diseases – specifically, why the patterns of disease occur as they do.
Health Care Systems of the World, Changing
Authors: Okma Kieke G. H. 
Published: February 2014

AbstractThis entry analyzes the funding, contracting, and provision of health care as well as administration and government regulation as “core” functions of selected health care systems across the world, and assesses recent changes in those systems. Despite major differences in those core elements, the entry illustrates similarities in basic policy goals, policy challenges, and programmatic change across countries: separation of funding and contracting health care, and a general shift towards case‐based hospital payment. Another finding concerns “exit” behavior: offered a choice between public and private schemes, consumers indeed act – in particular, the young and healthy find private insurance more attractive than public schemes. Income level, (public) health spending, and health are closely associated. Nevertheless, statistical correlation does not equal causality, and some countries fared better than others in improving the health of their population. Political instability obviously undermines government capacity to safeguard access to basic health services. Fiscal stability and public trust in a well‐functioning banking and finance system, too, are essential to prevent dramatic loss of real incomes and to develop systems of collective savings for pre‐paid health insurance.
Culture‐Bound Syndrome
Authors: Griffith Laura 
Published: February 2014

AbstractCulture‐bound syndromes are disorders that are thought to occur in certain cultural contexts or among particular ethnic groups. The term “culture‐bound syndrome” originated from an attempt to recognize ways of describing maladies that fell outside the framework of contemporary biomedicine. There has been considerable debate about whether these syndromes are locally specific variants of a universal disorder (e.g., different forms of anxiety or depression) or whether they are independent entities that are best considered in terms of their local meaning within their societies of origin. These syndromes often rely on fixed psychological and cultural explanations rather than on placing the syndrome within its changing cultural, political, historical, and biological milieu.
Circumcision, Male
Authors: Morris Brian J. , Green Edward C. 
Published: February 2014

AbstractCircumcision of males is one of the world's most common and oldest surgical procedures. It is practiced by a wide diversity of cultures worldwide but is also a matter of considerable social and medical controversy. Advocates claim that it has substantial lifetime medical and health benefits, particularly in countries with high rates of HIV, where there is evidence that it may have a protective effect. Critics claim that it is an unnecessary mutilation, particularly when carried out on an infant who is unable to consent to the procedure. In their view, the risk/benefit ratio does not justify the intervention, particularly in developed countries. US doctors have traditionally been more enthusiastic advocates than their counterparts in the United Kingdom and Europe. Social scientists may be called upon to provide accurate information regarding contemporary circumcision practices. There is also a considerable research agenda on the sexual politics of circumcision and the various faith and material interests involved in the controversy over the risk/benefit balance in developed countries.
Mental Illness and Discrimination
Authors: Gong Fang , Xu Jun 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
Discrimination refers to unequal treatment of individuals and groups. It exists at different levels from interpersonal to institutional and comes in different forms from overt to covert. Mounting research has documented significant associations between various types of discrimination and poorer levels of mental health status. There are multiple pathways through which discrimination is linked to mental illness. Discrimination may impair one's physiological and psychological functioning, trigger health risk behaviors, and increase one's exposure and susceptibility to negative environmental and/or social conditions, all of which may in turn lead to mental health problems. Research on discrimination and mental illness can be further advanced by utilizing more nuanced measures of discrimination, exploring different sources of discrimination, studying perpetrators as well as victims, analyzing macrolevel data, and investigating the variations in perceptions and attributions of discrimination.
Physician–Patient Interaction and Gender Differences
Authors: MacArthur Kelly Rhea 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
Given the significance of physician–patient interactions for health and illness, it is important to determine the factors that affect the quality of communication between physicians and their patients. Gender is one of the strongest predictors of various communication patterns, with women patients and women physicians consistently reporting higher levels of communication that are thought to be desirable. But the effect of sex differences on patient satisfaction is more tenuous, perhaps due to differential expectations of female and male physicians regardless of their actual behavior. However, there is evidence that patient satisfaction increases when the doctor is a woman and, in turn, this increases the likelihood of adherence to physician recommended medical regimens. Thus, physician–patient interactions are a strong determinant of health and illness, and patients could benefit from increased training and education of physicians that focus on improving the quality of these interactions.
Inequality and Health Care
Authors: Adelson Naomi 
Published: February 2014

AbstractInequality in health care is as much about access to care as it is about the ways in which health care is embedded in larger political, economic, social, and cultural conditions and constraints. Medical anthropologists explore relations of small‐ and large‐scale power relations in the inequitable distribution of health and health care worldwide. Theoretical and methodological orientations highlight local and global inequities through questions of identity, subjectivity, biopolitics, and power. Further, in bearing witness to the day‐to‐day realities of inequities of care anthropologists are increasingly taking action to reduce these inequalities and disparities.
Social Support and Mental Health
Authors: Chernomas Wanda M. 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
A significant body of literature indicates social support is a complex multidimensional construct. Evidence is accumulating that describes the ways in which individuals help each other within the context of relationships to influence health and well‐being. As a recognized determinant of health, social relationships influence development over the lifespan. Understanding the challenges in studying social support is also reflected in this same literature, including differentiating related concepts, addressing the importance of individual perception in determining quality of support, and recognizing that strains and conflicts within relationships further complicate the provision and receipt of support. Models that include several features of social support and situate an understanding of social support within a broader sociocultural context are promising in advancing knowledge about contextual factors and how they impact social relationships and health.
Lesbian Health
Authors: Irwin Jay A. 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
The health of lesbian identified women is of growing interest in the United States. This entry defines sexual orientation, gives a brief historical overview of lesbian health research, and describes what is currently known regarding health disparities by sexual orientation. Disparities are discussed as they relate to both physical and mental health outcomes. Health outcomes with possible disparities include depression and mood/anxiety disorders, suicide, smoking, drinking, weight, cancer, and heart disease. Structural barriers, such as doctor knowledge and social stigma, are also discussed as they relate to difficulty in obtaining needed and competent care.
Medical Geography
Authors: Meade Melinda S. 
Published: February 2014

AbstractMedical geography studies public health using the concepts, theories, methodologies, and perspectives of the discipline of geography to analyze spatial patterns of disease, their relationships to the natural and social environment, and their expression in the health of people in places. Concerns include the natural and social environmental health conditions created by human agency; emergence of new diseases and their diffusion through settlement systems by population movement; processes behind epidemics of non‐communicable diseases; locational optimization of health services and accessibility; and the social construction of health and caregiving in places. Researchers analyze population dynamics; land‐use changes and vector ecology; transformational technologies of information, spatial data management, and, amidst globalizing connectivity of economics and communication, the processes, groupings, and systems of power and money that organize justice and salubrious landscape in social space. Disease ecology, spatial and locational analysis, and health geography are approaches to these studies.