Browsing by Author "Elers P"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Barriers to adopting digital contact tracing for COVID-19: Experiences in New Zealand
    (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2024-04-01) Elers P; Emery T; Derrett S; Chambers T
    Background Digital contact tracing (DCT) was a central component of the global response to containing COVID-19. Research has raised concerns that DCT could exacerbate inequities, yet the experiences of diverse communities at greater risk from COVID-19 are typically underrepresented. Methods The present study aimed to understand the perceived barriers to the adoption of the app amongst Māori, Pasifika, and disabled people. Focus groups and interviews were undertaken with Māori, Pasifika, and disability sector stakeholders and community participants. Results Participants (n = 34) generally expressed willingness to utilise DCT and support its adoption within the communities. Simultaneously, participants revealed how the app could marginalise community members who struggled with the usability and those distrusting of the government's COVID-19 interventions. Conclusions The findings highlight how addressing communication inequality can assist in the development of contact-tracing responses that are both effective and equitable. The study provides insights about the role of information and communication technologies as health resources. Patient or Public Contribution Consulting with members of the target communities was central throughout the present study, including recommendations for potential participants, participation in interviews and sharing early findings for feedback. This study reports on focus groups and interviews with individuals from Māori and disability sectors.
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    Culturally Centering the Voices of Transgender Sex Workers in Singapore: Health, Materiality and Violence.
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2024-06-25) Dutta MJ; Mahtani R; Ho V; Sherqueshaa S; Thomas S; Jalleh-Hosey AA; Pitaloka D; Zapata D; Elers P
    The transgender sex worker experience of health in Singapore is multidimensional, working at the intersections of culture, social class, and gendered marginalization. Drawing on in-depth interviews with transgender sex workers in the context of Singapore's extreme neoliberalism and located within a larger culture-centered intervention that emerged through an academic-activist-community partnership, this study foregrounds the everyday meanings of health among transgender sex workers who are marginalized. We offer a discursive register for theorizing violence as disruption of health. Participants narrate health as the negotiation of stigmas coded into their everyday lives, the forms of material violence they experience, and the struggles with accessing secure housing. The theorizing of violence as threat to health by transgender sex workers shapes the health advocacy and health activism that takes the form of a 360 degrees campaign. This essay pushes the literature on the culture-centered approach (CCA) by centering voice as the basis for structurally transformative articulations amidst neoliberal authoritarianism.
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    Does student sampling impact our understanding of argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness?
    (Taylor and Francis Group on behalf of the American Forensic Association, 2024-08-17) Croucher SM; Kelly S; Elers P; Jackson K; Nguyen T
    Student samples are regularly used in research. While student samples are convenient and easy to access, the use of such samples has been criticized for exposing theories and research to internal validity threats, as students are not representative of the general population. Using argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness as contexts for analysis, this study explores the extent to which student and non-student samples differ in published empirical research. We found that in the case of the original verbal aggression and argumentativeness measures, sample type did not moderate the means among argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness studies. We discuss the implications of these findings in terms of student vs. non-student samples.
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    Situating Health Experiences: A Culture-Centered Interrogation
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2023-12-22) Elers P; Dutta MJ
    Culture-centered studies of health communication de-center the theorization of health as an individual behavior and reveal the structural conditions that shape inequalities in health outcomes. The present study examines the ways in which space and housing shape experiences of health in a low-income site in Auckland undergoing radical redevelopment. We draw from a culture-centered project undertaken in 2018-2021 predominantly among Māori and Pasifika peoples involving 60 initial in-depth interviews, seven focus groups, a series of filmed interviews, and 32 additional in-depth interviews conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The residents' narratives foregrounded the detrimental health impact of inadequate housing, financial constraints, transience, and displacement that severs ties to place and community. These findings reveal the relationship between housing challenges, economic marginalization, and neoliberal capitalism, highlighting the need for policy interventions to address housing as a fundamental determinant of health disparities among marginalized communities.
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    Telehealth at Home: Co-Designing a Smart Home Telehealth System
    (IOP Press BV, 2021-04-19) Hunter I; Elers P; Lockhart C; Guesgen H; Whiddett D; Singh A; Maeder AJ; Higa C; van den Berg MEL; Gough C
    Increasing life expectancy and rates of chronic conditions place increasing demands on aged care health and support services. One response preferred by older adults and seen as cost effective is aging in place, whereby older people remain in their own homes and avoid aged residential care. For this to take place, it is crucial that older people maintain effective relationships with support networks and that older adults and these networks have adequate information to support patient centred health and wellness care at home. This study explored how smart home telehealth, a form of telehealth where health care is provided at a distance using smart home digital technology (sensors), could assist older people to age in place and enhance their health and wellbeing. It was a two-phase project, preceded by a workshop with experts:1) 41 interviews with older adults and their informal support networks, seven focus groups with 44 health providers working with older adults, which informed 2) a pilot implementation of a co-designed telehealth system, addressing key barriers identified in Phase 1. The system used low cost, easily accessible, and commercially available sensors, transferring information via email and/or text messaging. It was successfully piloted with five older adults and twelve of their respective support networks for six months, who reported an increased feeling of security and improved interpersonal communication. The findings indicate that smart home telehealth could assist aging in place, and the study provides insights into successful co-design of smart home telehealth services at scale that could be implemented and deployed in contexts wider than aged care.