Colin L. Talley

Social distance and stigma toward individuals with schizophrenia: findings in an urban, African-American community sample.

Abstract Because schizophrenia is arguably among the most stigmatized health conditions, research assessing correlates of stigma is essential. This study examined factors associated with stigma in predominantly Protestant, low-income, urban African Americans in the Southeastern United States. A survey was distributed to 282 patrons of an inner-city food court/farmers’ market. Associations were assessed between two measures of stigma—an adapted version of the Social Distance Scale (SDS) and a Semantic Differential Measure (SDM) of attributes such as dangerousness, dirtiness, and worthlessness—and several key variables addressing sociodemographic characteristics and exposure to/familiarity with mental illnesses. Independent predictors of scores on the two measures were identified using linear regression modeling. Higher stigma (as measured by the SDM) was predicted by a family history of psychiatric treatment, whereas lower stigma (as indicated by the SDS) was predicted by personal psychiatric treatment history and higher annual income. The results suggest special considerations when working with disenfranchised populations, especially family members of individuals with mental illnesses, in treatment settings.

Prevalence of Substance Use and Intimate Partner Violence in a Sample of A/PI MSM

This study evaluates the prevalence of three forms of intimate partner violence (IPV) (i.e., experience of physical, psychological/symbolic, and sexual battering) among a national sample of Asian/Pacific Islander (A/PI) men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States and identifies their characteristics. The study also reports the differences of substance use behavior between MSM with and without a previous history of IPV. Our sample was recruited through venue-based sampling from seven metropolitan cities as part of the national Men of Asia Testing for HIV (MATH) study. Among 412 MSM, 29.1% experienced IPV perpetrated from a boyfriend or same-gender partner in the past 5 years. Within the previous 5 years, 62.5%, 78.3%, and 40.8% of participants experienced physical, psychological/symbolic, and sexual battering, respectively. Collectively, 35.8% of participants reported that they have experienced at least one type of victimization and 64.2% have experienced multiple victimizations (two or three types of battering victimization). Overall, 21.2% of our sample reported any substance use within the past 12 months. The present findings suggest that individuals with a history of IPV in the past 5 years were more likely to report substance use (33.6%) compared to those without a history of IPV experience (16.1%).

Beliefs About Causes of Schizophrenia Among Urban African American Community Members

The public’s causal attributions of schizophrenia have far-reaching effects on the community and affected individuals. This study investigated causal beliefs within a community of predominantly Protestant, low-income, urban, African Americans in the southeastern United States. Two hundred eighty-two patrons of an inner-city food court/farmers’ market participated in a self-administered survey assessing causal beliefs through a 30-item survey and self-reported causal opinions. Associations were assessed between causal attributions of schizophrenia and sociodemographic characteristics and exposure/familiarity variables. Certain sociodemographic variables, as well as key exposure/familiarity variables, predicted the nature of one’s causal beliefs. The most common causal opinions reported included substance abuse, negative life events, and “mental illness.” Findings from a subsample administered an exploratory multiple-choice question investigating understanding of causation revealed that the public may not fully understand the nature of causation. Although this study suggests potential determinants of causal beliefs held by community members, further research examining the public’s conception of causation would enhance interpretation of studies on such beliefs.

The Emergence of Multiple Sclerosis as a Nosological Category in France, 1838–1868

Neurologists have retold a story about the discovery of multiple sclerosis (MS) in essentially the same form from the 1870s to the present. Upon close analysis this narrative was found to be problematic. Once the nosological category of MS came into existence in 1868, physicians reread the scientific past through this new category and created a linear story. Following generations received this story uncritically, rereading the past through the conceptual lens of their own times. Writers selected the earlier cases, illustrations, and medical writings in the literature for inclusion in the discovery narrative and did not analyze them in their original historical contexts. The author offers an alternative account of the discovery of MS. The creation of the disease category of MS by Charcot in France was the result of several converging factors including a new histopathological technology, a unique relationship between patient and physicians in the clinic, a unique relationship between the clinic and the autopsy room, and a neurological culture emphasizing disease specificity.

Community-Engaged Learning in Public Health: An Evaluation of Utilization and Value of Student Projects for Community Partners

Schools and programs of public health must equip public health professionals to conduct community health assessments that can be subsequently used by community partners to inform programs, policies, and interventions. Measuring health outcomes, identifying behavioral risk and protective factors, and mapping community assets for social and behavioral science interventions is a key competency for departments of social and behavioral sciences. Community-engaged learning is one approach to build student competency while developing mutually beneficial relationships between academic settings and community organizations. This mixed-methods evaluation explores the value of community-engaged learning to community partners who collaborate with courses on community assessment in public health. Data were collected through interviews with community partners and a quantitative survey. Data analysis involved thematic analysis and descriptive statistics. Results suggest that community partners value community-engaged learning in several ways: (a) students provided quality data and reports that informed program development and revision, (b) students offered increased human capacity and the skills needed to conduct community assessments, and (c) organizations benefitted from the prestige of sustained relationships with an academic partner. Challenges of community-engaged learning included difficult timelines and demands from students based on the semester schedule. Organizations recommended additional interaction with faculty members to clarify project goals and student responsibilities. Lessons from the evaluation are beneficial to other colleges and universities and community organizations invested in successful and valuable academic–community relationships.

The History of the (Re)naming of Multiple Sclerosis

It took eighty or more years for Anglophone neurologists to settle on the term ‘‘multiple sclerosis.’’ In 1868 Jean-Martin Charcot first described the disease as la sclérose en plaques or la sclérose en plaques disseminées. He sometimes referred to the disease as la sclérose multiloculaire or la sclérose généralisée. Julius Althaus attempted to name the disease eponymously after Charcot in 1877. Nevertheless, the French eventually settled on the term la sclérose en plaques. German neurologists translated the name as multiple Sklerose, multiple inselförmige Sklerose, multiple Hirnsklerose, and multiple Sklerose des Nervensystems. Multiple Sklerose became standard in German. The Italians used the term sclerosi in plache. EarlyAnglophonetranslationsincludeddisseminated sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, multilocular sclerosis, cerebro-spinal sclerosis, and insular sclerosis. Americans sometimes used multiple cerebral sclerosis, while Britons occasionally referred to lobular sclerosis. In the early twentieth century the field narrowed to disseminated sclerosis and multiple sclerosis. In 1922 the American organization the Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Diseases published the proceedings of their conference of the previous year. The title, Multiple Sclerosis [Disseminated Sclerosis], incorporated both terms. In the 1930s Americans increasingly adopted multiple sclerosis rather than disseminated sclerosis. In 1950, the same organization published the proceedings of their December 1948 conference on MS as Multiple Sclerosis and the Demyelinating Diseases. In contrast, it seems that the use of disseminated sclerosis remained more common in the United Kingdom. It was not until the 1950s that ‘‘multiple sclerosis’’ became the standard term in English. John Kurtzke and Alastair Compston attribute this to the influence of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the International Federal of Multiple Sclerosis Societies. Sylvia Lawry organized MS patients and their partisans in 1946 to found the institutional forerunner to the NMSS. She was also instrumental in the foundation of the IFMSS. By creating the institutional force of these organizations, one might say that patients and lay people had a hand in finally making the term ‘‘multiple sclerosis’’ the standard term in scientific nomenclature in English.