Purpose
Rural communities have limited knowledge about genetics and genomics and are also underrepresented in genomic education initiatives. The purpose of this project was to assess genomic and epigenetic knowledge and beliefs in rural West Virginia.
Sample
A total of 93 participants from three communities participated in focus groups and 68 participants completed a demographic survey. The age of the respondents ranged from 21 to 81 years. Most respondents had a household income of less than $40,000, were female and most were married, completed at least a HS/GED or some college education working either part-time or full-time.
Method
A Community Based Participatory Research process with focus groups and demographic questionnaires was used.
Findings
Most participants had a basic understanding of genetics and epigenetics, but not genomics. Participants reported not knowing much of their family history and that their elders did not discuss such information. If the conversations occurred, it was only during times of crisis or an illness event. Mental health and substance abuse are topics that are not discussed with family in this rural population.
Conclusions
Most of the efforts surrounding genetic/genomic understanding have focused on urban populations. This project is the first of its kind in West Virginia and has begun to lay the much needed infrastructure for developing educational initiatives and extending genomic research projects into our rural Appalachian communities. By empowering the public with education, regarding the influential role genetics, genomics, and epigenetics have on their health, we can begin to tackle the complex task of initiating behavior changes that will promote the health and well-being of individuals, families and communities.
Not-On-Tobacco (N-O-T) is a voluntary smoking cessation program for teens. The West Virginia Prevention Research Center (WVPRC) partnered with West Virginia University Extension Service to test a regional implementation model of N-O-T within the current 4-H infrastructure. Directed content analysis was used to allow for pre-determined themes and categories to be assessed by identifying barriers and successes at each phase of model implementation. The project effectively set a foundation of collaboration between Extension and the WVPRC, highlighted the differences between prevention theories and positive youth development ideology and showcased that Extension's efforts are more successful when county based.
Embalmed/unembalmed: Territorial aporias within the performative field of tele-presence KEYWORDS first-person quantum physical theory prosthetic compass effect performativity ABSTRACT Prevailing theories tend to fall back upon notions of a captured or transported intentionality when adjudicating on matters of agency within tele-present spaces. Even Heideggerian-inspired theories that would wish to question dualistic Cartesianism (Heim 2002) tend to judge or 'weight' an activity according to its ability to transplant a sensation of 'being-there' (Heidegger 2008 & Ladly 2007) on the part of an enacting subject. While older, so-called, 'passive' media spaces (cinema, for example) tended to disregard problems of embodiment, many emergent performative spaces (e.g. telematic or augmented reality applications) inevitably come up against issues of embodiment and the extensible transplantation of intentionality outside of originating territories. In opposition to theories that carry forward such notions of a 'transported intentionality', this article raises questions concerning what I propose to term the 'prosthetic compass effect' through carefully unteasing some of the implications of Derrida's complication of the Austinian concept of performativity. I achieve this by focusing upon a rather problematic case study. Through reflecting in some detail on a proposed application of hunting animals internationally across a tele-presencing Internet connection, this article will investigate some thorny issues of embodiment across territorial borders and the attendant undecidability of presence and undecidability of place. To answer to these difficulties I will finally propose the application of Arkady Plotnitsky's 77 Downloaded by [Northeastern University] at 18:41 03 January 2015 Tony Richards quantum-mechanically inspired apparatus of 'quantum mechanical reproduction' as a better tool for conceptualizing such 'mutable' territorial topographies.
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