Essentials of Health, Culture, and Diversity: Understanding People, Reducing Disparities

With diversity, including cultural diversity, increasingly become the norm, it has become even more essential for students and those planning to work in public health to have more than a cursory understanding of the important cultural dimension of the human societies and groups with whom they'll be partners. Essentials of Health, Culture, and Diversity: Understanding People, Reducing Disparities examines what is meant by culture and the ways which culture intersects with health issues, and explores how public health efforts can benefit by understanding and working with cultural processes. Using a range of conceptual tools and research methods, this text provides an overview of specific domains where culture and health intersect, including: varying definitions of health/well-being; understandings of health risk; illness causation and treatment theories (ethnomedical systems); healing/curing traditions; the relationship between health risk (vulnerability) and socio-cultural structures; gender and health; and the meaning of 'cultural competency.' The Second Edition provides: - A brief review of a range of cases and examples that span several health issues where health problems, as well as health interventions, were impacted by cultural factors. - An overview of research methods that focus on obtaining "cultural data." - A focus on four current public health issues where culture and health intersect: HIV/AIDS, obesity, youth violence, and the COVID-19 epidemic. - An exploration of the ways in which an awareness of the culture-health relationship can inform public health work, both domestic and international. - Real-life examples and profiles as well as suggested exercises and activities help readers in understanding concepts and their application - Two in-depth case studies on autism spectrum disorder and indigenous historical trauma illustrate the broad scope interactions between culture and health. - Navigate eBook Access (included with the printed text) for convenient online or offline access to the digital text from your computer, tablet, or mobile device.

Author: Mark Edberg
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Publishers
Published: 04/07/2022
Pages: 250
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.11lbs
Size: 10.90h x 8.61w x 0.46d
ISBN: 9781284226256

About the Author
Edberg, Mark: - "MARK EDBERG, PhD, MA, is Associate Professor in the Department of Prevention and Community Health in the School of Public Health and Health Services at George Washington University, with secondary appointments in the Department of Anthropology and Elliott School of International Affairs. Dr. Edberg is an applied and academic anthropologist with 20 years' experience in social research, primarily in public health, that has included basic behavioral research, interventions and intervention research, program evaluation, community health promotion, strategic planning and policy development, communications development, and capacity building - both domestic and international. Key areas of focus have been: high risk and marginalized populations, social determinants of health, health disparities, minority health, at-risk youth, prevention of HIV/AIDS and STIs, youth violence, substance abuse, general issues of poverty and health, and theory development. He has been Principal Investigator, Co-Principal Investigator or Project Director on intervention and research efforts funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH), U.S. Office of Minority Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and other agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services, and has been working with UNICEF in the Latin America-Caribbean region as well as at UNICEF headquarters. He has also provided consulting and support for the Organization of American States, USAID, Urban Institute, and local governments. Dr. Edberg teaches graduate courses in social/behavioral theory and qualitative research, and undergraduate courses in culture and health and social/behavioral theory for health promotion, as well as previous courses for the Department of Anthropology. Dr. Edberg has published numerous articles in journals such as the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, the Journal of Youth Studies, Health Promotion Practice, Journal of Primary Prevention, the International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Anthropological Quarterly, and others. Dr. Edberg's recent books include Essentials of Health Behavior and Essential Readings in Health Behavior, and a book documenting his U.S.-Mexico border research (University of Texas Press). He is also a recipient of a Fulbright Senior Specialist award and a Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology."