Adolescents in rural areas of Southern Africa are at risk of adverse health outcomes. Misinformation viewed online exacerbates this risk, however poor internet connectivity and high data costs make existing media literacy curricula inaccessible for this population. This project seeks to create a media literacy curriculum for adolescents that requires no technology to implement.

This study sought to answer the question of the most common reason for antivaccination beliefs. This study was done at Arizona State University and consisted of a nineteen-question survey which included multiple-choice, fill in the blank, or Likert scale type questions. The survey was limited to the College of Health Solutions. There were 127 responses and the results showed that overall students were supportive of vaccines. Of the respondents who were against vaccines, most changed their opinion to against after learning about the dangers of vaccines from varying sources. Overall, the study also found that people did not feel more at risk despite believing that most of the diseases were severe.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate how incarceration impacts the health of female inmates. Healthcare professionals and employees at the Riverside Correctional Facility, a women’s prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were interviewed in order to ascertain their perspective on the health of the female inmates they serve. A total of six employees, identified as “respondents” were interviewed and, in addition to these interviews, a tour of the facility was provided. This study used a phenomenological design and the results were analyzed through grounded theory, in which responses were broken down into several codes and themes were then identified from those codes. The analysis of the interviews found that healthcare, empowerment, and drug use were the main themes identified in relation to the health impacts of incarcerated women. The healthcare provided at the facility has a significant impact on the health of the inmates, because most of the inmates struggle with some form of health issue, such as a mental illness, untreated malady, or drug dependency. Empowerment was found to be the most important factor in motivating women to obtain an education, employment skills, and employment once they reenter society. All respondents identified drug use as the most profound health issue at the facility, in addition to acting as the largest barrier for women to successfully reenter society and attain stable employment.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of a community-based rabies education program as a means to improve knowledge and awareness of rabies in rural, underprivileged areas. Using a non-randomized pre-test and post-test design (see Appendix A), community leaders and government officials within Gila County participated in a training on rabies prevention. Results were drawn through analyzing two education-based interventions held in Globe and Payson within Gila County. The descriptive statistics run within the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test indicated that Question 10 was significant because it fell out of the normal distribution category for both Globe and Payson (Tables 3 and 4). The Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test indicated that Question 9 was significant for both Globe and Payson because it was below the .05 significance level (Tables 5 and 6). Finally, the Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient also indicated that Question 9 was significant for both Globe and Payson since their values were below the .05 significance level. The repetition of Questions 9 and 10 being significant for each test represent that prominent sources of animals spreading rabies in Arizona and how different areas are affected by rabies in Arizona are areas for future studies to focus on. Given that the amount of knowledge gained was not consistent amongst participants nor groups, even when the population was targeted to be similar, it was concluded that education-based interventions are selectively effective at increasing knowledge and awareness of rabies.

The main objective of this thesis/creative project was to tackle the idea and condition of Phantom Pain Syndrome (PPS). Simply put, PPS is the feeling of pain in a limb that is no longer there due to an amputation of some sort. These phantom pains/sensations can include twisting, burning, pulling, and stabbing. This condition, while explored, seems to not have many research and therapies to holistically help the amputees effectively that may be struggling with it. Because of this lack of research and uniqueness of the condition, this thesis proposed a research assessment (a new questionnaire) with the goal to re-evaluate current PPS treatments and take deeper looks into the implications of PPS. It is the intent of this new questionnaire to spur further research on three aspects of PPS: physical, mental, and social. The main objective for the new questionnaire that this thesis proposed is to initiate a re-evaluation of current PPS treatments so that more holistic treatments and therapies can be instituted to help amputees that may be struggling with phantom pains/sensations. This re-evaluation and new treatments would ultimately help amputees with PPS regain their bearings in their life, not let the phantom pains control how they act/feel, and walk proudly again in society. This thesis and the proposed new questionnaire were donned the name Project Sahelanthropus because they both aim at helping amputees, regardless of which types of lost limbs, to stand proudly again in society (just as Sahelanthropus tchadensis is believed to be the earliest known hominid to proudly walk bi-pedal or upright compared to other hominids). This thesis is the culmination of five different works: a literature review analyzing current PPS treatments, a literature review analyzing credible questionnaires, a created informed consent form, the proposed new questionnaire, and finally the research proposal itself.