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Biomedical subjects

W I Ahmad

Publications and source records attributed to W I Ahmad.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Living a 'normal' life: young people coping with thalassaemia major or sickle cell disorder.

This qualitative paper explores the strategies and resources young people use to cope with sickle cell disorder or thalassaemia major, two haemoglobin disorders with serious implications for health and survival. By focusing on coping strategies, we explore how young people attempt to take control over their lives. The respondents, largely of South Asian and African Caribbean origin, aged between 10 and 19 years, valued maintaining a normal' life and struggled to achieve this normalcy. Strategies were employed to minimise difference from peers but these strategies remained vulnerable. Coping occurred in a dynamic space, involving negotiation and engagement with both personal and structural factors. Threats to normalcy did not always reside in the condition; life transitions, changes in social relationships and racist. disablist or sexist marginalisation also threatened coping strategies.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1998

Genetic screening and haemoglobinopathies: ethics, politics and practice.

The increasing availability of information on the human genetic makeup presents both individuals and society with difficult decisions. This paper explores the ethical and practical issues raised by genetic screening for sickle cell and thalassaemia major, by examining the emerging tension between allowing people to make informed choices, on the basis of genetic information, and prevention of haemoglobinopathies. Within this broad context, the paper also explores the more practical issues of providing genetic screening for haemoglobinopathies, such as the meaning of counselling and screening for the general population; the psychological and social implications for people identified as carriers; and the organisation and delivery of services. It concludes that screening is not always informed by a commitment to informed decision making.

Anemia, Sickle Cell↗
PubMed1998

Screening and counselling for sickle cell disorders and thalassaemia: the experience of parents and health professionals.

Shortfalls in haemoglobinopathy provision result in patients and their carers receiving inadequate support. This paper, by drawing on material from a project evaluating service provision to families caring for a child with a sickle cell disorder or thalassaemia, discusses screening and counselling services. It explores the perspectives of parents, front-line practitioners, managers and health commissioners. Poor quality care, inadequate information and professionals' insensitivity were salient themes in parental accounts. The parents' experience also confirms the problems faced by minority ethnic people in having their welfare needs recognised, more generally. Although our focus in on genetic conditions affecting minority communities in the UK, the issues we address are at the heart of the 'new genetics'.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Reflections on the consanguinity and birth outcome debate.

The high rate of consanguineous marriages has been implicated as an important factor in the high rates of perinatal mortality and congenital malformations among the UK Pakistani population. This paper critically considers the debate on consanguinity and birth outcome. A critical review of epidemiological literature is placed in the context of wider, but centrally important, debates on social class and ethnic categorizations, notions of culture and literature on racism. The epidemiological literature is inconsistent in its findings, and is often based on data and arguments of dubious validity. Equally, notions of social class, ethnicity and culture used in such studies lack sophistication and require reconsideration. Health policy options based on promoting cultural change in marriage patterns, conveniently but unjustifiably, shift the blame of poor birth outcome onto the Pakistani community and are doomed to failure. The consanguinity hypothesis is over-simplistic to explain the higher rates of perinatal mortality and congenital malformations among the Pakistani population. Its popularity rests less on its scientific merit and more on its convenience in shifting the blame onto supposedly deviant cultures and marriage patterns and its fit with racist ideas of alienness and deviance.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

General practitioners' perceptions of Asian and non-Asian patients.

The literature on the health of the population of Asian origin contains little on their interaction with primary care services. This paper reports results of a postal survey of GPs' attitudes towards Asian and Non-Asian patients. The response rate was 78%-141 of the 182 GPs replied. Compared with non-Asian patients, GPs held less positive attitudes towards Asian origin patients who were thought to require longer for consultations, be less compliant, and make excessive and inappropriate use of health services. These perceptions have implications for patient care and the GP workload.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Patients' choice of general practitioner: importance of patients' and doctors' sex and ethnicity.

The relative importance of sex and ethnicity in patients' choice of doctor is not known. A total of 1633 consultations at a health centre in Bradford, with a mixed ethnic list, were examined over a four week period to test the relative importance of these variables. Patients had the choice to consult any one of: a male Asian, a male white or a female white doctor. Asian patients, irrespective of sex, were significantly (P less than 0.001) more likely to consult the Asian doctor then either of the other two doctors, though a greater proportion of Asian women than men consulted the female white doctor. Although the sex of the doctor was important in patients' choice, for Asian patients the doctor's culture and language were more important.

Asia↗
PubMed1989

Cross-cultural use of socio-medical indicators with British Asians.

Socio-medical measures of health are increasingly being used as adjuncts to traditional clinical and epidemiological investigations. Such instruments can potentially make a significant contribution to research on inequalities in health between different ethnic groups and in planning health service delivery. However, care must be taken to ensure that the cross-cultural adaptation has conceptual, semantic and linguistic equivalence with the original and cultural differences in the meanings of health and illness must be closely considered. The use of some such instruments with Britain's Asian populations is reviewed and issues in adapting the Nottingham Health Profile for use with these populations, and some preliminary results are discussed.

Asia↗
PubMed1989

Health of British Asians; a research review.

About 2.5 per cent of United Kingdom residents are of Asian (or Indian subcontinent) origin though the term 'Asian' hides their internal diversities of languages, religions and national origins. The research on the health of these populations is heavily concentrated in areas of rickets and osteomalacia, tuberculosis, maternal and child health, and mental health, and is mainly dependent on analysis of routinely available morbidity and mortality data. Little has been published on the use of primary care services, racism in health service delivery, quality of care and doctor-patient communication. Also, few of the studies have attempted to interpret their findings against the disadvantaged background of Asian communities. It is implied that differences in health status are due to linguistic and cultural factors alone. The research literature on the health of Asian populations is critically reviewed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Influence of ethnicity and unemployment on the perceived health of a sample of general practice attenders.

Published research shows people of Asian origin to be less healthy than the white population. Most of the studies have not taken account of differences in employment between populations of white and Asian origin. Also, little research has been carried out on the patients' perceived health. This study, based on 215 patients from an inner-city general practice in Bradford, looks at the influence of ethnicity and unemployment on the perceived health of the sample. The Nottingham Health Profile was used as the measure of perceived health. In the study population, twice as many Asians as white people were unemployed, and significant differences in perceived health were observed between the employed and the unemployed. After controlling for employment, Asian males had significantly better perceived health than white males in the 16-34 age group. Perceived health of Asian and white females was similar on most morbidity dimensions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Patients' choice of general practitioner: influence of patients' fluency in English and the ethnicity and sex of the doctor.

Asian patients' use of general practitioner services and, in particular, their interaction with doctors is not well researched. However, difficulty in communication and in the case of women, reluctance to be examined by a male doctor has been reported. This study, based on interviews with 241 Caucasian, Pakistani and Indian patients attending a general practice in Bradford, examined the relationship between choice of general practitioner and the patient's fluency in English and the general practitioner's ethnicity and sex. Both Pakistani and Indian patients, particularly women, had poor fluency in English and the use of interpreters was confined to women (11% of Pakistani women and 4% of Indian women). The linguistic and broad cultural concordance between the patient and the general practitioner was more important in the choice of doctor than the sex of the general practitioner. It was also found that while 62% of Pakistani women objected to being examined by a male doctor, this was true for only 21% of Indian women.

Asia↗