Publications
Here are some of the academic articles published as part of the Research Network for Health and Society.
1. Aging and thriving with HIV: a photovoice project with long-term HIV survivors in Miami, Florida Summary: The findings of this article suggest that Miami (and areas with a large HIV-positive population) may benefit from community and policy solutions that take a successful aging approach and build upon the resiliency of this population. +Full paper
2. Miami in Transformation during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Participatory Visual Culture Analysis Summary: Drawing on the concepts of visual culture analysis and disaster literature, this article analyses how the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the everyday lives of people living in this subtropical American city. Specifically, this study draws on data collected from a digital participatory photography project implemented in July 2020, as the novel coronavirus began to rapidly spread.
3. Trans women in tourism: Motivations, constraints and experiences Summary: This study sought to explore trans women's tourism motivations and experiences in a Mexican context. The research was grounded in social stigma theory and recently developed transgender travel and tourism theory.
4. From Necropraxis to Necroresistance: Transgender Experiences in Latin America Summary: Latin America is one of the deadliest regions for trans communities. Scientific research generated in the region has reported that trans people live through a complicated panorama shaped by multiple forms of oppression, extreme violence, and micro-aggressions. The main objective of this article is to put forth definitions for these two concepts and identify how they apply in the context of trans communities in three countries of the region: Guatemala, Argentina, and Chile.
5. Tourism constraints on transgender individuals in Mexico Summary: This research sought to critically explore the constraints that prevent trans people from engaging in tourism in Mexico. We conducted in-depth interviews with 15 trans participants. Experiences related to intrapersonal, interpersonal and structural constraints on tourism were explored during interviews.
6. Embodiment, Gender Transitioning, and Necropolitics among Transwomen in Puerto Rico Summary: In this article we present ethnographic research on Puerto Rican transwomen, focusing on how their gender trajectories are marked with various forms of routinized, systemic violence as well as resilient responses. Adapting Achille Mbembe’s notion of necropolitics to consider the ways that the transgender body is systematically excluded and “designed to die,” the authors aim to critically engage the embodied experience of transwomen and the mechanisms of exclusion that too frequently hasten them toward death, either through interpersonal forms of transphobic violence or, more often, the accumulation of everyday forms of abandonment and neglect.
7. Stigmatizing Experiences of Trans Men in Puerto Rico: Implications for Health Summary: The past decade has seen an increase in efforts aimed at understanding the health needs of the transgender population. In the context of Puerto Rico (PR), those efforts have primarily focused on trans women due to their high human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) incidence. The objective of this study was to document the stigmatization experiences faced by trans men in PR and its impact on their overall health.
8. “Just Like Any Other Patient”: Transgender Stigma among Physicians in Puerto Rico Summary: Transgender women (TW) in Puerto Rico (PR) face social stigmatization. Physicians’ transgender stigma can have detrimental consequences for TW’s health. Purpose. The objective of this study was to document physicians’ knowledge, competencies, and attitudes towards TW in PR and study their associations with stigma towards TW.
9. Transhealth Information Project: A Peer-Led HIV Prevention Intervention to Promote HIV Protection for Individuals of Transgender Experience Summary: Individuals of transgender experience (ITE) in the United States face an elevated risk of HIV infection. In response to these needs, the Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative and Prevention Point Philadelphia, two local community-based organizations in Philadelphia, developed the Transhealth Information Project (TIP).
10. Policing life and death: Race, violence and resistance in Puerto Rico Summary: This book, by Puerto Rican author Marisol Lebrón, encompasses a detailed analysis of the various public and social policies that have been enacted in Puerto Rico to control how life and death are manifested in that context.
11. Las dificultades de sentir: el rol de las emociones en la estigmatización del VIH/SIDA Summary: El Virus de Inmunodeficiencia Humana (VIH) y el Síndrome de Inmunodeficiencia Adquirida (SIDA) han sido motivo de estigmatización para las personas que viven con ellos. Llevamos a cabo este estudio con el propósito de identificar el rol de las emociones en el proceso de estigmatización de las personas que viven con el virus (PVVS) por parte de profesionales de la salud. +Full paper
12. Experiencias y proceso de duelo entre profesionales de enfermeria oncologica pedriatrica: experiences and grieving process among pediatric cancer nurses Summary: Explore how nursing professionals handle the death of a pediatric patient with cancer under their care and identify needs that they face in the workplace. An exploratory qualitative design was used, under the phenomenological framework and the Model of Information, Motivation and Behavioral Skills (IMHB). +Full paper
13. Introduction to the special issue: Applying a Caribbean perspective to an analysis of HIV/AIDS Summary: The articles in this issue offer multi-level interventions into HIV/AIDS in the region, from the varied social circumstances that shape heightened risk factors to patient adherence programmes, with emphases on structural, social, and policy-level approaches. +Full paper
14. HIV and Depression: Examining Medical Students Clinical Skills Summary: This study's aim was to describe medical students' clinical skills for dealing with major depression symptomatology and suicidal ideation among PWH in Puerto Rico. Two key findings stem from these results only 10% of the participants referred the patient to psychological/psychiatric treatment, and only 32% inquired about suicidal ideation. +Full paper
15. Testing the Efficacy of a Web-Based Parent-Adolescent Sexual Communication Intervention Among Puerto Ricans Summary: This randomized controlled trial tested the efficacy of a Web-based intervention to increase sexual communication between parents and adolescents. +Full paper
16. HIV/AIDS stigma manifestations during clinical interactions with MSM in Puerto Rico Summary: HIV/AIDS stigma can have detrimental effects on physician/patient interactions when manifested by health professionals. Our study aimed to examine the behavioral manifestations of HIV/AIDS stigma among physicians in training during simulated clinical interactions with MSM, and explore the interrelation between HIV/AIDS stigma attitudes and behaviors. +Full paper
17. An ethnographic study of 'touristic escapism' and health vulnerability among Dominican male tourism workers Summary: In this article, we draw upon tourism theory and ethnographic research with male tourism workers employed in two popular tourist areas of the Dominican Republic to explore whether touristic escapism offers insights in understanding health vulnerabilities within tourism spaces. +Full paper
18. An institutional ethnography of prevention and treatment services for substance use disorders in the Dominican Republic Summary: The Dominican Republic is thought to have significant epidemics of illicit drug use but lacks surveillance and formal analyses of the policy context of drug prevention and treatment services. We conducted an institutional ethnography of 15 drug service organisations in Santo Domingo and Boca Chica, Dominican Republic, to explore barriers and resources for drug abuse prevention and treatment. +Full paper
19. Teaching diversity in public participation through participatory research: A case study of the PhotoVoice methodology Summary: This case study focuses on an undergraduate and graduate class designed to support the implementation of a PhotoVoice project with long-term HIV survivors in Miami, FL. It outlines how the method can be adopted within the classroom to not only teach critical competencies but also to support diversity within the public participation process.+Full paper
20. Coping with stress and anxiety: an ethnographic comparison of labor and health vulnerabilities among Dominican deportees in two transnational industries Summary: This study explores how the labor practices and experiences post-deportation contribute or exacerbate health vulnerabilities for deported Dominican male. Using an ethnographic approach we seek to describe and compare the labor and health vulnerabilities for Dominican deportees in the two Dominican industries where they are most likely to work. +Full paper
21. Tourism Labor, Embodied Suffering, and the Deportation Regime in the Dominican Republic Summary: In this article, we use syndemic theory to examine socio-structural factors that result in heightened vulnerability to HIV infection and drug addiction among Dominican deportees who survive post-deportation through informal tourism labor. +Full paper
22. Adaptation of PhotoVoice methodology to promote policy dialog among street-based drug users in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Summary: In this article, we connect a community-based participatory research methodology – “PhotoVoice” – with the theoretical orientation of critical medical anthropology to identify local interpretations of complex social and structural factors that are most salient to the well-being of local Dominican populations affected by drug addiction. +Full paper
23. Religion and HIV-Related Stigma among Nurses Who Work with People Living with HIV/AIDS in Puerto Rico Summary: HIV-related stigma among nurses can impact health care services for people with HIV/AIDS (PWHA). health care professionals’ religious views can potentially foster stigmatizing attitudes. This study aimed to explore the role of religion in the stigmatization of PWHA by nurses in Puerto Rico. +Full paper
24. Exploring the feasibility and acceptability of biomarker collection for HIV infection and chronic stress among transwomen in Puerto Rico Summary: In this paper, we present data from a study implemented in Puerto Rico that aimed to: document the feasibility/acceptability of collecting biomarkers for chronic stress and HIV among transwomen; qualitatively document the factors related to the collection of biomarkers in this population; and explore the feasibility of collecting other types of biological specimens from transwomen in future studies. +Full paper
25. The social context of hormone and silicone injection among Puerto Rican transwomen Summary: This paper draws on ethnographic, qualitative and survey data with transwomen in Puerto Rico to examine the social and political-economic context of lay injection with hormone and silicone – common practices within this community. +Full paper
26. Experiences of Violence Among Transgender Women in Puerto Rico: An Underestimated Problem Summary: Violence is a public health concern faced on a daily basis by transgender women. Literature has documented how it adversely affects quality of life and health and in some instances leads to homicide. Considering the lack of research documenting the experiences of violence among transgender women, the objective of this article was to explore manifestations of violence among this population in Puerto Rico. +Full paper
27. Methods of mapping ethnographic data on migration, tourism labor, and health risk in the Dominican Republic Summary: This paper focuses on a mixed-method approach to quantifying qualitative data from the results of an ongoing NIDA-funded ethnographic study entitled “Migration, Tourism, and the HIV/Drug-Use Syndemic in the Dominican Republic”. This project represents the first large-scale mixed method study to identify social, structural, environmental, and demographic factors that may contribute to ecologies of health vulnerability within the Caribbean tourism zones. +Full paper
28. Trans-Migrations: Border-Crossing and the Politics of Body Modification Among Puerto Rican Transgender Women Summary: This research describes the context and health consequences of migration/mobility that accompany the search for gender transitioning procedures among Puerto Rican transgender/transsexual women.+Full paper