Reflexivity and humility evoke a transformable methodology in a post disaster context.

Objective: The process of reflexivity is used to critically examine the experience of conducting qualitative research with functionally diverse older adults in a post disaster context.

Methods: The design of the study began with an interpretative phenomenological framework, using in-depth interviews. Fifteen individuals with functional and access needs living in Puerto Rico were interviewed regarding their experiences after Hurricane María of 2017.

'The problem here is that they want to solve everything with pills': medication use and identity among Mainland Puerto Ricans.

Taking medications are complex symbolic acts, infused with diverse meanings regarding body and identity. This article focuses on the meanings of medications for older Puerto Ricans living on the United States mainland, a population experiencing stark health disparities. We aim to gain an understanding of the way multiple cultural and personal meanings of medications are related to and integrated in identity, and to understand how they are situated within Puerto Rican culture, history and circumstance on the US mainland.

Puerto Rican Victimization and Crime on the Mainland: The Role of Acculturation.

This study addresses criminal victimization and contact with police among older Puerto Ricans living in Northeastern United States. Framing their experiences within the context of immigration, we assess the role that acculturation and perceived stress play on Puerto Rican crime and victimization. Data from the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (BPRHS; = 1,504) were analyzed using multiple logistic regressions.

Gratitude and longing: Meanings of health in aging for Puerto Rican adults in the mainland.

Puerto Rican adults in the United States mainland live with socioeconomic and health disparities. To understand their contextual experience of aging, we interviewed participants in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study. Through a Thematic Analysis we identify themes and tensions: normalization and acceptance of aging; gratitude; the importance of aging within social networks; longing to return to Puerto Rico at older age.

Perspectives of Puerto Rican Adults about Heart Health and a Potential Community Program.

Background: Puerto Ricans are the second largest Hispanic group in the U.S. and older adults have significant health disparities.

Determinants of self-rated health and the role of acculturation: implications for health inequalities.

Objectives: Self-rated health (SRH) is an important indicator of overall health, predicting morbidity and mortality. This paper investigates what individuals incorporate into their self-assessments of health and how acculturation plays a part in this assessment. The relationship of acculturation to SRH and whether it moderates the association between indicators of health and SRH is also examined.

Organizational hierarchies in Bulgarian hospitals and perceptions of justice.

Objectives: Health care reform in Bulgaria has been ongoing for two decades. Since 1990, it has been transforming from a socialized system of medical care with free access, to one which is decentralized, includes private health care services, the general practitioner model and a National Health Insurance Fund. In this context, we are conducting an international EC Framework 7 project: 'Improving quality and safety in the hospital: The link between organizational culture, burnout, and quality of care'.

Perceived discrimination, psychological distress and health.

Racism and discrimination can have significant implications for health, through complex biopsychosocial interactions. Latino groups, and particularly Puerto Ricans, are an understudied population in the United States in terms of the prevalence of discrimination and its relevance to health. Participants in our study were 45- to 75-year-old (N = 1122) Puerto Ricans.

Providers' constructions of the role of women in cervical cancer screening in Bulgaria and Romania.

The social and institutional context of health-care reform in Eastern Europe has important implications for cervical cancer screening and prevention. The incidence and mortality from cervical cancer in Bulgaria and Romania have risen, which is in sharp contrast to the steady decline in most other countries in Europe during the last 2 decades. To analyze these dynamics we conducted a multi-component study of health systems and psychosocial aspects of cervical cancer screening in Bulgaria and Romania.