Moving from ethnography to epidemiology: Lessons learned in Appalachia Export

@article{citeulike:4493736, abstract = {<i>Background</i>: Anthropologists are beginning to translate insights from ethnography into tools for population studies that assess the role of culture in human behavior, biology, and health. <i>Aim</i>: We describe several lessons learned in the creation and administration of an ethnographically-based instrument to assess the life course perspectives of Appalachian youth, the Life Trajectory Interview for Youth (LTI-Y). Then, we explore the utility of the LTI-Y in predicting depressive symptoms, controlling for prior depressive symptoms and severe negative life events throughout the life course. <i>Subjects and methods</i>: In a sample of 319 youths (190 White, 129 Cherokee), we tested the association between depressive symptoms and two domains of the LTI-Y – life course barriers and milestones. Longitudinal data on prior depressive symptoms and negative life events were included in the model. <i>Results</i>: The ethnographically-based scales of life course barriers and milestones were associated with unique variance in depressive symptoms, together accounting for 11\% of the variance in this outcome. <i>Conclusion</i>: When creating ethnographically-based instruments, it is important to strike a balance between detailed, participant-driven procedures and the analytic needs of hypothesis testing. Ethnographically-based instruments have utility for predicting health outcomes in longitudinal studies.}, author = {Brown, Ryan A. and Kuzara, Jennifer and Copeland, William E. and Costello, Jane E. and Angold, Adrian and Worthman, Carol M.}, citeulike-article-id = {4493736}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03014460902832942}, doi = {10.1080/03014460902832942}, journal = {Annals of Human Biology}, keywords = {culture, epidemiology, ethnography, methods, population-health, scale-development}, number = {3}, pages = {248--260}, posted-at = {2009-05-08 14:39:31}, priority = {3}, publisher = {Informa Healthcare}, title = {Moving from ethnography to epidemiology: Lessons learned in Appalachia}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03014460902832942}, volume = {36}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:4493736 L3 - citeulike-article-id:4493736 N2 - <i>Background</i>: Anthropologists are beginning to translate insights from ethnography into tools for population studies that assess the role of culture in human behavior, biology, and health. <i>Aim</i>: We describe several lessons learned in the creation and administration of an ethnographically-based instrument to assess the life course perspectives of Appalachian youth, the Life Trajectory Interview for Youth (LTI-Y). Then, we explore the utility of the LTI-Y in predicting depressive symptoms, controlling for prior depressive symptoms and severe negative life events throughout the life course. <i>Subjects and methods</i>: In a sample of 319 youths (190 White, 129 Cherokee), we tested the association between depressive symptoms and two domains of the LTI-Y – life course barriers and milestones. Longitudinal data on prior depressive symptoms and negative life events were included in the model. <i>Results</i>: The ethnographically-based scales of life course barriers and milestones were associated with unique variance in depressive symptoms, together accounting for 11% of the variance in this outcome. <i>Conclusion</i>: When creating ethnographically-based instruments, it is important to strike a balance between detailed, participant-driven procedures and the analytic needs of hypothesis testing. Ethnographically-based instruments have utility for predicting health outcomes in longitudinal studies. IS - 3 JF - Annals of Human Biology EP - 260 TI - Moving from ethnography to epidemiology: Lessons learned in Appalachia PB - Informa Healthcare VL - 36 SP - 248 KW - culture KW - epidemiology KW - ethnography KW - methods KW - population-health KW - scale-development AU - Brown, Ryan AU - Kuzara, Jennifer AU - Copeland, William AU - Costello, Jane AU - Angold, Adrian AU - Worthman, Carol PY - 2009/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03014460902832942 ER -