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Health Humanities: Social Determinants of Access to Healthcare in Migrant and Minority Populations

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Care Sciences & Services".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2022) | Viewed by 62053

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Prof. Dr. Adams Bodomo

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African Studies Department, University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 2, Court 5.1, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Interests: culture; African studies; health humanities
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) is one of the most important outlets for cutting-edge research on Public Health and the environment in which it is practiced. It has a high impact factor of 2.849 (2019) and it is highly visible as it is listed in the following key indices: Science Citation Index Expanded (Web of Science), Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science), MEDLINE (PubMed), and Scopus (Elsevier).

The world is currently experiencing a public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic which, after almost a year from its start, is still not fully understood. This emphasizes the need for a multidisciplinary approach to understanding public health problems.

This Special Issue of IJERPH focuses on health humanities, a new, emerging multidisciplinary research topic in public health. Health humanities is an interdisciplinary area of study that interrogates how the different components of the Humanities such as Linguistics, Literature, History, Philosophy, Music, Anthropology and Sociology among others contribute to a better understanding of Public Health in the area of diagnosis, treatment, and care for members of the society. The main theme of this Special Issue, titled “Health Humanities: Social Determinants of Access to Healthcare in Migrant and Minority Populations”, is access to healthcare in less privileged societies. This collection will feature papers that discuss some of the social issues that affect access to healthcare by diaspora, indigenous, and minority populations around the world, in places such as Africa, Asia, South America, and the Global South in general, but also in areas of the Global North, such as Europe and North America. Papers

will address contemporary interdisciplinary approaches to finding solutions for the management of infectious diseases that develop into epidemics, such as ebola, and pandemics, such as COVID-19.
will be expected to fit into the scope of health humanities, distinguished from medical humanities and including interdisciplinary humanities and public health disciplines.

A few of the questions that might be addressed are:

Language, communication, and public health: How are specific public health terminologies expressed in minority languages? How does one express health and well-being in these languages? How do we communicate measures to contain pandemics in minority populations?

History and public health: What lessons can we learn from a study of past pandemics?

Literature and public health: How have literary works in diaspora and minority populations represented healthcare experiences in these populations?

Anthropology, sociology, and public health: How do certain key socio-cultural beliefs affect the management of pandemics in diaspora and minority populations?

Prof. Dr. Adams Bodomo
Guest Editor

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Healthcare
Pandemics
Infectious diseases
Health humanities
Language
Linguistics
History
Literature
Anthropology
COVID-19

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 1175 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Does City Public Service Distance Increase Sense of Gain to Public Health Service? Evidence from 1394 Migrant Workers in Six Provinces

by Minghui Fu, Chuanjiang Liu, Yuting Ma and Liukun Wang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(10), 6131; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106131 - 18 May 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1546

Abstract

Increasing the well-being of migrant workers is one of the key objectives of promoting equality and safe, people-oriented, and sustainable social development, as well as inclusive globalization. With the equalization reform of the public health system and the reduction of frictions between cities, the well-being of the sense of gain to public health service (SGPHS) of migrant workers has attracted widespread attention. Based on the migrant worker thematic survey data in 2017 and the city statistical data in six destination cities, this study constructed and measured the sense of gain to public health service index and city public service distance index, and then studied the effects of city public service distance on the SGPHS of migrant workers and the heterogeneous effect. The results showed that the SGPHS of Chinese migrant workers is at a moderate level and presents spatial differences. Under the dual mechanism of preference reinforcement effect and public service discount effect, the effect of city public service distance on the SGPHS of migrant works shows an inverted U-shaped relationship, and the results of the endogeneity test by the generalized propensity score matching model are robust. The city public service distance has a significant non-linear effect on the public health service accessibility and provision for migrant workers, as well as on second-generation, low-income migrant workers, and migrant workers in central and western regions. The results provide beneficial insights for the formulation of rational public service policies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Humanities: Social Determinants of Access to Healthcare in Migrant and Minority Populations)

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12 pages, 1826 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of the Promulgation of the New Migrant’s Employment Law on Migrant Insurance Coverage in Thailand: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis, 2016–2018

by Woranan Witthayapipopsakul, Hathairat Kosiyaporn, Sonvanee Uansri and Rapeepong Suphanchaimat

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(7), 4384; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19074384 - 6 Apr 2022

Viewed by 1336

Abstract

This study explores the effect of the recently enacted Foreigners’ Working Management Emergency Decree, 2017 on migrant insurance coverage between January 2016 and December 2018. We employed an interrupted time series (ITS) model to estimate the level and trend changes of the number of migrants enrolled in Social Health Insurance (SHI) for formal workers and the Health Insurance Card Scheme (HICS) for other migrants. Before the Decree’s implementation, SHI covered roughly a third of the total migrants holding work permits, while HICS covered over half of migrants in the country. We found that the new employment law contributed to a rise in the volume of SHI members and a decline in the HICS members in the long run, which might be partly due to a switch from the HICS members in the formal sector to the SHI, as originally intended by the law. In addition to the law effect, some coincided political force from international trade partners and supranational organizations might also contribute to the progress in protecting the rights of migrant workers. The long-term monitoring of migrant insurance coverage and a mapping against the changes in migrant-related laws and contexts are recommended. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Humanities: Social Determinants of Access to Healthcare in Migrant and Minority Populations)

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12 pages, 634 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Retrospective Study of Non-Communicable Diseases amongst Blue-Collar Migrant Workers in Qatar

by Fatima Al-Hatimy, Abdulaziz Farooq, Mohamad Al Abiad, Shilpi Yerramsetti, Maryam Ali Al-Nesf, Chidambaram Manickam, Mohammed H. Al-Thani, Al-Hareth Al-Khater, Waseem Samsam, Vidya Mohamed-Ali and Mohammed Al-Maadheed

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(4), 2266; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19042266 - 17 Feb 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2373

Abstract

Background: South Asian workers have a greater predisposition to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that is exacerbated by migration and length of residence in host countries. Aims: To examine the association between length of residence in Qatar with diagnosis of NCDs in male blue-collar workers. Methods: A retrospective investigation of the electronic health records (EHRs) of 119,581 clinical visits by 58,342 patients was conducted. Data included age, nationality and confirmed ICD-10 diagnosis. Based on duration of residence, the population was divided into groups: ≤6 months, 6–12 months, 1–≤2 years, 2–≤5 years, 5–≤6 years, >6 years. It was assumed that the group that had been resident in Qatar for ≤6 months represented diseases that had been acquired in their countries of origin. Results: South Asian (90%) patients presented with NCDs at a younger (mean ± SD age of 34.8 ± 9.0 years) age. Diabetes and hypertension were higher in those who had just arrived (<6 months’ group), compared to the other durations of residence groups. Conversely, acute respiratory infections, as well as dermatitis and eczema, all increased, perhaps a consequence of shared living/working facilities. Only patients with diabetes and hypertension visited the clinic multiple times, and the cost of medication for these NCDs was affordable, relative to earnings. Discussion/Conclusions: Blue-collar workers were predominantly South Asian, from lower socioeconomic classes, with early onset chronic NCDs. Notably, residence in Qatar gave them better access to affordable, significantly subsidized healthcare, leading to effective management of these chronic conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Humanities: Social Determinants of Access to Healthcare in Migrant and Minority Populations)

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14 pages, 1384 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Forecasting the Suitability of Online Mental Health Information for Effective Self-Care Developing Machine Learning Classifiers Using Natural Language Features

by Meng Ji, Wenxiu Xie, Riliu Huang and Xiaobo Qian

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(19), 10048; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910048 - 24 Sep 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1859

Abstract

Background: Online mental health information represents important resources for people living with mental health issues. Suitability of mental health information for effective self-care remains understudied, despite the increasing needs for more actionable mental health resources, especially among young people. Objective: We aimed to develop Bayesian machine learning classifiers as data-based decision aids for the assessment of the actionability of credible mental health information for people with mental health issues and diseases. Methods: We collected and classified creditable online health information on mental health issues into generic mental health (GEN) information and patient-specific (PAS) mental health information. GEN and PAS were both patient-oriented health resources developed by health authorities of mental health and public health promotion. GENs were non-classified online health information without indication of targeted readerships; PASs were developed purposefully for specific populations (young, elderly people, pregnant women, and men) as indicated by their website labels. To ensure the generalisability of our model, we chose to develop a sparse Bayesian machine learning classifier using Relevance Vector Machine (RVM). Results: Using optimisation and normalisation techniques, we developed a best-performing classifier through joint optimisation of natural language features and min-max normalisation of feature frequencies. The AUC (0.957), sensitivity (0.900), and specificity (0.953) of the best model were statistically higher (p < 0.05) than other models using parallel optimisation of structural and semantic features with or without feature normalisation. We subsequently evaluated the diagnostic utility of our model in the clinic by comparing its positive (LR+) and negative likelihood ratios (LR−) and 95% confidence intervals (95% C.I.) as we adjusted the probability thresholds with the range of 0.1 and 0.9. We found that the best pair of LR+ (18.031, 95% C.I.: 10.992, 29.577) and LR− (0.100, 95% C.I.: 0.068, 0.148) was found when the probability threshold was set to 0.45 associated with a sensitivity of 0.905 (95%: 0.867, 0.942) and specificity of 0.950 (95% C.I.: 0.925, 0.975). These statistical properties of our model suggested its applicability in the clinic. Conclusion: Our study found that PAS had significant advantage over GEN mental health information regarding information actionability, engagement, and suitability for specific populations with distinct mental health issues. GEN is more suitable for general mental health information acquisition, whereas PAS can effectively engage patients and provide more effective and needed self-care support. The Bayesian machine learning classifier developed provided automatic tools to support decision making in the clinic to identify more actionable resources, effective to support self-care among different populations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Humanities: Social Determinants of Access to Healthcare in Migrant and Minority Populations)

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21 pages, 1824 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of COVID-19 Name Varieties in Chinese Mass and Social Media

by Hongjie Dong, Minli Zhou, Dewei Che, Huiying Zhang and Adams Bodomo

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(18), 9850; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189850 - 18 Sep 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2639

Abstract

The sudden appearance of a new epidemic disease in China created the need for names identifying that disease. Between December 2019 and January 2020, a variety of severe pneumonia-related disease names suddenly appeared, and more name varieties kept coming up afterwards. To better understand the introduction and spread of these names, 16 different COVID-19-related name varieties were selected covering the period from the end of December 2019, when the epidemic started, to mid-March 2020, a moment at which the term competition had stabilized. By way of big data analysis, the initiation and distribution of the 16 names across the media landscape was traced with regard to the impact of different media platforms, while the distribution frequency of each of the selected terms was mapped, resulting in a distinction of three groups of disease names, each with a different media and time profile. The results were discussed based on the hypotheses of disease confusion by name variety and management failures in absence of clear language governance at the national and global levels. The analysis of the data led to a refutation of both hypotheses. Based on this discussion, the study offers empirically based suggestions for the WHO in their naming practices and further research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Humanities: Social Determinants of Access to Healthcare in Migrant and Minority Populations)

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12 pages, 939 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Noncommunicable Disease Service Utilization among Expatriate Patients in Thailand: An Analysis of Hospital Service Data, 2014–2018

by Anon Khunakorncharatphong, Nareerut Pudpong, Rapeepong Suphanchaimat, Sataporn Julchoo, Mathudara Phaiyarom and Pigunkaew Sinam

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(18), 9721; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189721 - 15 Sep 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2649

Abstract

Global morbidity associated with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) has increased over the years. In Thailand, NCDs are among the most prevalent of all health problems, and affect both Thai citizens and non-Thai residents, such as expatriates. Key barriers to NCD health service utilization among expatriates include cultural and language differences. This study aimed to describe the situation and factors associated with NCD service utilizations among expatriate patients in Thailand. We employed a cross-sectional study design and used the service records of public hospitals from the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) during the fiscal years 2014–2018. The focus of this study was on expatriates or those who had stayed in Thailand for at least three months. The results showed that, after 2014, there was an increasing trend in NCD service utilizations among expatriate patients for both outpatient (OP) and inpatient (IP) care. For OP care, Cambodia, Laos PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam (CLMV) expatriates had fewer odds of NCD service utilization, relative to non-CLMV expatriates (p-value < 0.001). For IP care, males tended to have greater odds of NCD service utilization compared with females (AdjOR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.05–1.74, p-value = 0.019). Increasing age showed a significant association with NCD service utilization. In addition, there was a growing trend of the NCD prevalence amongst expatriate patients. This issue points to a need for prompt public health actions if Thailand aims to have all people on its soil protected with universal health coverage for their well-being, as stipulated in the Sustainable Development Goals. Future studies that aim to collect primary evidence of expatriates at the household level should be conducted. Additional research on other societal factors that may help provide a better insight into access to healthcare for NCDs, such as socioeconomic status, beliefs, and attitudes, should be conducted. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Humanities: Social Determinants of Access to Healthcare in Migrant and Minority Populations)

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19 pages, 1586 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Predicting Risks of Machine Translations of Public Health Resources by Developing Interpretable Machine Learning Classifiers

by Wenxiu Xie, Meng Ji, Riliu Huang, Tianyong Hao and Chi-Yin Chow

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(16), 8789; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168789 - 20 Aug 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2542

Abstract

We aimed to develop machine learning classifiers as a risk-prevention mechanism to help medical professionals with little or no knowledge of the patient’s languages in order to predict the likelihood of clinically significant mistakes or incomprehensible MT outputs based on the features of English source information as input to the MT systems. A MNB classifier was developed to provide intuitive probabilistic predictions of erroneous health translation outputs based on the computational modelling of a small number of optimised features of the original English source texts. The best performing multinominal Naïve Bayes classifier (MNB) using a small number of optimised features (8) achieved statistically higher AUC (M = 0.760, SD = 0.03) than the classifier using high-dimension natural features (135) (M = 0.631, SD = 0.006, p < 0.0001, SE = 0.004) and the automatically optimised classifier (22) (M = 0.7231, SD = 0.0084, p < 0.0001, SE = 0.004). Furthermore, MNB (8) had statistically higher sensitivity (M = 0.885, SD = 0.100) compared with the full-feature classifier (135) (M = 0.577, SD = 0.155, p < 0.0001, SE = 0.005) and the automatically optimised classifier (22) (M = 0.731, SD = 0.139, p < 0.0001, SE = 0.0023). Finally, MNB (8) reached statistically higher specificity (M = 0.667, SD = 0.138) compared to the full-feature classifier (135) (M = 0.567, SD = 0.139, p = 0.0002, SE = 0.026) and the automatically optimised classifier (22) (M = 0.633, SD = 0.141, p = 0.0133, SE = 0.026). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Humanities: Social Determinants of Access to Healthcare in Migrant and Minority Populations)

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13 pages, 303 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Deontological or Utilitarian? An Eternal Ethical Dilemma in Outbreak

by Po-En Tseng and Ya-Huei Wang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(16), 8565; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168565 - 13 Aug 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 38638

Abstract

Both deontological ethics and utilitarian ethics are important theories that affect decision making in medical and health care. However, it has been challenging to reach a balance between these two ethical theories. When there is a conflict between these two ethical principles in the medical context, the conflict must be addressed in order to reach an appropriate solution for patients and others involved. To demonstrate decisions made in terms of deontological ethics and utilitarian ethics, the study will use the film Outbreak as example to further understand these two ethics in relation to epidemiology and public health. The paper will also analyze film scenarios to examine how deontological ethics and utilitarian ethics are involved and strike a balance with different pearspectives to reach an appropriate public health solution. To reach more just solutions, it is essential to determine how to make wise decisions by balancing deontological ethics and utilitarian ethics. However, the decision-making process is complicated because any solution must consider not only medical ethics but also political, environmental, and military issues. In order to reach an appropriate public health decision, those involved should be inclined toward empathy and contemplate things from different ethical perspectives to deal with ethical/moral dilemmas and create greater beneficence and justice for patients and humanity at large. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Humanities: Social Determinants of Access to Healthcare in Migrant and Minority Populations)

14 pages, 957 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Basic Public Health Service Utilization by Internal Older Adult Migrants in China

by Dan Tang and Jiwen Wang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(1), 270; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010270 - 1 Jan 2021

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3171

Abstract

Since 2009, the Chinese government has launched a basic public health services (BPHS) equalization program to provide the same BPHS to all the citizens. However, utilization of BPHS among older migrants is still low. The purpose of this paper was to explore the determinant individual and contextual factors of older migrants’ utilization of BPHS, and to provide suggestion for the government to improve BPHS utilization. Based on Andersen’s model of health services use, data from the China’s Regional Economic Statistics Yearbook 2014 and National Health and Family Planning Dynamic Monitoring Survey on Migrant Population 2015 were analyzed using a hierarchical random intercept model for binary outcomes. Results showed that the percentage of migrant older adults receiving free physical examinations, which is an important item of BPHS, was 36.2%. Predisposing (education, hukou, living duration in the host city, and scope of migration), enabling (health insurance and social networks), and need (self-rated health and chronic conditions) factors of individuals’ characteristics had significant impact on the use of BPHS. The proportions of both migrant children enrolled in public schools and people with established health records had a positive impact on an individual’s chance of receiving free physical examinations. These findings suggest that economic development and improvement at the level of the city’s health resources cannot effectively improve access to BPHS by older adult migrants. Instead, the driving force appears to be supportive policies for the migrant population. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Humanities: Social Determinants of Access to Healthcare in Migrant and Minority Populations)

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19 pages, 1199 KiB

Open AccessArticle

If the Coronavirus Doesn’t Scare You, the Banners Will—A Case Study of Early COVID-19 Banners

by Hongjie Dong, Minli Zhou, Dewei Che and Adams Bodomo

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(24), 9595; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249595 - 21 Dec 2020

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3440

Abstract

As a crucial element of China’s political and cultural life, “banners”, or biāoyǔ, have been around for decades, in support of national-level policies such as family planning and the governing mottos of Presidents. The banners that have emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic which was also the subject of a national-level driven policy, have been involved in a nation-wide public debate over the language styles of banners used to urge people to stay indoors. Based on the analysis of the early COVID-19 banners and the related online comments, this article analyzes the language style patterns of the banners and the mode of banner circulation. The study found that the manner in which the banners are circulated goes beyond a unidirectional path of on-site instant communication. This process is facilitated by social networks and mass media, which, during circulation, twice created a banner upgrade. The upgrades created decontextualization and function extension of the banners, whereas audience feedback triggered an adaptive adjustment of the language style of the banners. This article suggests that the study of the use and spread of banners, especially the early COVID-19 banners, sheds light on the study of mass communication and discourse style, and also how measures to contain pandemics such as COVID-19 can be communicated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Humanities: Social Determinants of Access to Healthcare in Migrant and Minority Populations)

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