This past week, Sarah and I have started to find existing research related to intersections between health/wellness and class as well as issues of wellness on college campuses. We plan to use this existing research to supplement our interview findings. Though we will continue to search for this topic and related ones, we may also need to use general research focusing on isolated topics of health and wellness with class or health and wellness on college campuses.
Additionally, we will continue looking for more specific literature focusing on nutrition on college campuses, specifically ones that present large class disparities, like those belonging to the ivory tower. A lot of the articles and discussion I have been finding regarding health and college campuses seem to focus on mental health specifically and do not differentiate between low-income and first generation students, but I know and have seen so many students similar to me post about their experiences with this topic on social media the past five years or so, so I am not assuming it is not prevalent, but instead, just not popularly formally written about. I would like to maybe start by reaching out to some of these students outside of Bowdoin to sort of set the foundation and framework for the project by at least introducing the phenomenon and then focusing on how it related to the specific Bowdoin experience.
So far, we have found 5 relevant articles.
- “‘Having come to university my care was very much in my hands’: exploration of university students’ perceptions of health care needs and services using the common-sense model of self-regulation” Rayna Rogowsky et al.
- “Contribution of food prices and diet cost to socioeconomic disparities in diet quality and health: a systematic review and analysis” Nicole Darmon and Adam Drewnowski
- “Understanding Socioeconomic Status and Adolescent Behavioral health—Time to Move Beyond Simplistic Measures and Cross-Sectional Data” Laura J. Chavez, Ph.D., M.P.H.
- “Beyond Health Care—Socioeconomic Status and Health” Lisa Berkman, Ph.D., and Arnold M. Epstein, M.D.
- “Be True to Our Schools—Models of Care in College Mental Health” Nancy Downs et al.
After reviewing this literature, we will need to assess whether any additional information/research is necessary and what that information may be. While exploring research, we will begin to formulate our interview questions and plan an interview agenda/outline.
Dani,
You and Sarah have selected a great topic, and the questions you raise here about the questions on health and its relationship with socioeconomic status seem relevant and pertinent. Something for you and Dani to think about as well is the motivation behind “health” choices. Do people pursue healthy options (e.g., going to the gym) as a byproduct of doing sports (which in certain communities seems a source of getting out of poverty?). To what extent are healthy lifestyles a leisure activity for the wealthy (e.g., the pressure to stay fit as an indicator of one’s access to diverse activities like mountain climbing, white water rafting, etc.). Understanding how people might construct their sense of health can reveal quite a bit about class location and class perspective.
What have you done this week? I want to remind you that each of you need to complete these weekly assignments to ensure that I get a strong sense of the division of labor in this project.
I look forward to learning more about this exciting project.