Month: July 2024

Abstract

This is an account of a reading project that began in February 2020. Australia was burning, a pandemic was simmering, the two of us were early in our PhD journeys at the Melbourne Law School. Already, we felt exhausted by critical theory which seemed to amplify the affects we felt all too intensely. Our reading project began as an attempt to find and inhabit texts that might move beyond critique, that might allow us to find wonder and vitality in legal theory. Taking up the literary critic Rita Felski’s invitation to craft a post-critical reading practice, our reading list evolved iteratively to encompass themes and concerns that we identified as possibly correlating with said practice. It evolved too, in conversation with Melbourne, as the city journeyed through different stages of the pandemic. Constantly changing restrictions changed the ways in which we met and conversed, influencing in turn the texts we chose to read and the manner in which we read them.

In this account, we pay attention to the time and place of our encounters with these interlocutors, and to the feelings these encounters generated. As such, this article takes the form of a series of (revised) diary entries: first written in 2020, then revisited in the corresponding months of 2021. What we hope emerges from these entries is a sense of how these theoretical texts train us to live in a world undergoing a compounding series of crises – and, perhaps, to imagine that world otherwise. In a more jurisprudential register, we hope that our experiment will identify the methods these texts might give us for (re-)engaging with law in a spirit of wonder and vitality.

Abstract

The two broad aims of this study were to (a) investigate how the three traits of the triarchic model—boldness, meanness, and disinhibition—relate to compliance with public health measures, as well as to internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, during a public health crisis, and (b) test for associations between psychopathology and compliance with public health measures. Participants were 947 Brazilian adult females aged 18–75 years who completed measures of the triarchic traits, internalizing and externalizing symptoms/problems, and a COVID-19 behaviors and beliefs questionnaire. Multiple regression and path analyses showed meanness to be the only triarchic trait significantly predictive of compliance with public health measures, in a negative direction, when controlling for the other traits. Results also demonstrated that compliance with public health measures was associated with levels of distress (negatively), obsessions/fear (positively), and positive mood (negatively). Overall, the results demonstrate the contributions of the triarchic traits to understanding complex phenomena, highlighting meanness as the most essential triarchic trait predictor of adherence to public health measures among females.

Abstract

Introduction

Addressing persistent racial inequities in preterm birth requires innovative health care approaches. The Los Angeles County Maternity Assessment and Management Access Service Synergy Neighborhood program (MAMA’s) is a perinatal medical home program designed to alleviate the impacts of chronic stress by addressing social determinants of health. It reduced odds of preterm birth rates in Black participants, yet it is unclear which program components most contributed to this reduction. This study seeks to understand the experiences of staff and clients within the MAMA’s program to identify what factors decrease stress, how the program addresses racism and the challenges and opportunities of optimizing health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

21 staff and 34 clients completed semi-structured interviews from November 2020–December 2021. Separate interview guides for staff and clients explored experiences within the program, experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how racism affects clients. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. Analysis used a phenomenologic framework. Coding was performed using grounded theory to identify themes.

Results

Analysis revealed six key themes: Stressors clients face, barriers for undocumented, Latina, and Spanish-speaking clients, exceptional care, emotional support, naming and responding to racism and discrimination, and impacts of COVID-19 pandemic.

Discussion

Staff and clients work together to address social needs in order to address chronic stress and racism in their lives, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interviews revealed relationship building is a cornerstone of the program’s success and plays a significant role in alleviating chronic stress in this population.

Abstract

Objective

 The purpose of this study is to understand experiences of respectful maternity care (RMC) from the perspective of birthing people in the United States from 2013 to 2018.

Methods

 We conducted an online cross-sectional survey of United States birthing people ages 18–50 in April 2018 using SurveyMonkey Audience. Quantitative survey data consisted of demographics and responses to RMC indicators. Qualitative data consisted of comments from individuals regarding their birth experiences.

Results

 1036 birthing people participated in the survey. Most births (95%) occurred in hospitals. 16.3% of Black or African American participants reported discrimination compared to 5.5% of participants who did not identify as Black or African American (p < 0.001). Participants who speak a language other than English were also more likely to report discrimination. 19.5% of all respondents felt neglected during their birth experience. Most prevalent experiences of disrespect and mistreatment were related to neglect (most commonly in postpartum phase of care), poor interpersonal communication, lack of respect for patient wishes, negative experience with breastfeeding services, peripartum complications, and discrimination.

Conclusion for Practice

Birthing people in the United States experience many forms of mistreatment, particularly those who identify as Black or African American or speak a language other than English. Patients described experiencing neglect most commonly after birth—an opportunity to improve the provision of RMC postpartum. Strategies to improve quality of maternal health care in the United States should include the provision of RMC as part of a larger effort to reduce inequities in maternal health experiences and outcomes.

Abstract

Exceptional resistance to dehydration allows species of bdelloid rotifers to tolerate desiccation stress in unpredictable habitats. The roles of exogenous and endogenous factors in resistance to short-term dehydration were investigated in Rotaria rotatoria to better understand this capacity among bdelloid rotifers. As the dehydration period was increased and the relative humidity (RH) was reduced, the proportion of rotifers active after the dehydration period decreased. The RH and dehydration period substantially influenced the recovery rate of R. rotatoria under rehydration for 1 h but had less effect under 12-h or 24-h rehydration treatment. The recovery rate was lower in rotifers subjected to a long dehydration period and short rehydration time, but improved by shortening the dehydration period and extending the rehydration treatment. Strain ZJ27 showed higher survivability than strain HX8, appropriate to their habitat near the sea in a region where drought and tropical rainstorms are frequent. Accordingly, species or strains originating from different climate regions and habitats will have experienced different frequencies of desiccation over their adaptive evolutionary history, resulting in varying levels of resistance among species. In addition, RH is shown to be a key factor in resistance to desiccation.