Practices of disciplinary symbiosis: (Re)blending theory and method, anthropology and public health.

BACKGROUND: If you are dually trained in anthropology and public health and your goal is an academic career, in what academic unit should you make your professional home? Should you be a public health-trained academic anthropologist or an anthropologist in a public health school or program? AIMS: Associate Professor of Public Health Anne Sebert Kuhlmann and Assistant Professor of Anthropology Stephanie McClure see their dual training as essential to enacting the career goal of fostering understanding of and positively affecting health in people's everyday lives and preparing students to do the same. "We credit our dual training for our robust perspectives on the nature and causes of health and illness and our recognition that theory and methods are complementary tools in teaching and research. We also recognize that though dual training brings conceptual power and functional applicability to our work, it can also be a challenge to navigate a career path that effectively blends the two. Conventional hierarchies in academia and in public health practice can position the two disciplines for conflict rather than complementarity". MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this article, the two first review the complementarity and conflict between anthropology and public health. DISCUSSION: Next, shifting to a conversational mode, they compare their paths to dual training, their attempts and successes at bringing those blended perspectives to bear in their current positions, and their ideas about more robustly inhabiting (within themselves) and fostering (between the disciplines) public health/anthropology collaborations.

On body economics and fitting in: upward mobility and obesity stigma in Jamaica.

Introduction: Jamaican culture is considered 'fat-loving,' and thus less likely to foster obesity stigma. However, the importance of tourism to Jamaica's economy, global trends toward a thinness aesthetic and extant ethos' of both bodily self-acceptance and status-based bodily critique suggest that obesity stigma may exist in Jamaica - particularly in the context of class status aspiration.Objective: This pilot study examined the relationship between upward mobility and fat stigma in Kingston, Jamaica in two samples.Design: The first sample - nineteen college-enrolled 18-25 year olds - completed an online survey. Responses were grouped by perceived wealth status.Results: No relationship was found between wealth status and obesity stigma. There was no association between wealth group and body ideal - whether slender or curvaceous. However, responses to questions concerning the value of having an ideal body differed by wealth grouping. Those with lower perceived wealth tended to cite 'fitting in to society' as a benefit of having an ideal body. Half (5 of 10) the lower wealth group ranked having an ideal body 'very important;' one person in the higher wealth group did so. Findings from twenty ethnographic interviews conducted in Kingston's public spaces with 18-25 year olds confirmed the obesity stigma/social aspiration relationship. Having an ideal body was associated with greater economic and social opportunity and a sense of 'fitting in.'Conclusion: These findings suggest that though (1) there seems to be no singular, size-related aesthetic in Jamaica; (2) obesity stigma does exist; and (3) experience of stigma may be affected by socio-economic status and socio-economic aspiration.

Variability in Weight Concern and Physical Activity Engagement Among African American Adolescent Girls.

Lower rates of recreational physical activity (PA) among African American (AA) adolescent girls relative to other US age/race/gender groups are assumed to reflect within-race similarity in PA attitudes and practices. However, variability in PA attitudes and practices among AA adolescent girls is not well studied. To address this, a class-diverse sample of 51 AA adolescent girls' responses to survey items querying weight concern (WC) and PA was examined for sub-groupings using cluster analysis. Three clusters were identified [L/H-low WC, high PA; H/L-high WC, low PA; and L/L-low WC and PA]. Survey item response means were examined by cluster. L/L differed visibly, but not significantly, from L/H and H/L on items assessing PA engagement. The same was true for H/L with WC items. Cluster identification and trends in response differences by cluster have potential implications for targeted PA promotion efforts. Further investigation with larger, representative samples is warranted.

Perceptions of the religion-health connection among African American church members.

In this qualitative study, the authors examine perceptions of the religiosity-health connection among African American church members. They conducted 33 interviews with members of predominately African American churches. The clergy and members from each congregation completed semistructured interviews. Participants described the religiosity-health connection in their own words and talked about whether and how their religious beliefs and practices affect their health. The authors derived an open coding scheme from the data using an inductive process. Themes that emerged spontaneously and consistently included but were not limited to spiritual health, mental health's effects on physical health, importance of the church family, giving problems up to God, and the body as a temple of God. These religion-health themes might hold promise for integration into church-based health promotion interventions for this population.

Adolescent self-defined neighborhoods and activity spaces: spatial overlap and relations to physical activity and obesity.

Defining the proper geographic scale for built environment exposures continues to present challenges. In this study, size attributes and exposure calculations from two commonly used neighborhood boundaries were compared to those from neighborhoods that were self-defined by a sample of 145 urban minority adolescents living in subsidized housing estates. Associations between five built environment exposures and physical activity, overweight and obesity were also examined across the three neighborhood definitions. Limited spatial overlap was observed across the various neighborhood definitions. Further, many places where adolescents were active were not within the participants׳ neighborhoods. No statistically significant associations were found between counts of facilities and the outcomes based on exposure calculations using the self-defined boundaries; however, a few associations were evident for exposures using the 0.75mile network buffer and census tract boundaries. Future investigation of the relationship between the built environment, physical activity and obesity will require practical and theoretically-based methods for capturing salient environmental exposures.

The role of culture in health communication.

This paper examines the role of culture as a factor in enhancing the effectiveness of health communication. We describe culture and how it may be applied in audience segmentation and introduce a model of health communication planning--McGuire's communication/persuasion model--as a framework for considering the ways in which culture may influence health communication effectiveness. For three components of the model (source, message, and channel factors), the paper reviews how each affects communication and persuasion, and how each may be affected by culture. We conclude with recommendations for future research on culture and health communication.