Healthcare in the U.S. faces two interpenetrating certainties. First, with over 66 racial and ethnic groupings, our "American Mosaic" of worldviews and values unavoidably generates clashes in hospitals and clinics. Second, our public increasingly mistrusts our healthcare system and delivery. One certainty fuels the other. Conflicts in the clinical encounter, particularly with patients from other cultures, often challenge dominant assumptions of morally appropriate principles and behavior. In turn, lack of understanding, misinterpretation, stereotyping, and outright discrimination result in poor health outcomes, compounding further mistrust. To address these cultural fault lines, healthcare institutions have initiated efforts to ensure "cultural competence." Yet, these efforts become institutional window-dressing without tackling deeper issues, issues having to do with attitudes, understanding, and, most importantly, ways we communicate with patients. These deeper issues reflect a fundamental, original fault line: the ever-widening gap between serving our own interests while disregarding the concerns of more vulnerable patients, those on the margins, those Others who remain disenfranchised because they are Other. This book examines this and how we must become the voice for these Others whose vulnerability and suffering are palpable. The author argues that, as a vital and necessary condition for cultural competency, we must learn to cultivate the virtue of Presence - of genuinely being there with our patients. Cultural competency is less a matter of acquiring knowledge of other cultures. Cultural competency demands as a prerequisite for all patients, not just for those who seem different, genuine embodied Presence. Genuine, interpersonal, embodied presence is especially crucial in our screen-centric and Facebook world where interaction is mediated through technologies rather than through authentic face-to-face engagement. This is sadly apparent in healthcare, where we have replaced interpersonal care with technological intervention. Indeed, we are all potential patients. When we become ill, we too will most likely assume roles of vulnerability. We too may feel as invisible as those on the margins. These are not armchair reflections. Brannigan's incisive analysis comes from his scholarship in healthcare and intercultural ethics, along with his longstanding clinical experience in numerous healthcare settings with patients, their families, and healthcare professionals.

This volume brings together a representative set of the papers given at the third annual Intercultural Horizons conference held in Siena, Italy, in October 2013. The conference attracted presenters and attendees from a variety of nations throughout five continents. The papers included in this volume are drawn from a series of conference sessions in which academicians and practitioners in the field offered theoretical analyses, case studies and other perspectives on intercultural studies, civic engagement and related topics. The volume is divided into four sections: Theoretical Considerations of Intercultural Competence and Interculturalism; Intercultural Development and Assessment: Practical Examples and Research; Civic Engagement in International and Culturally Diverse Contexts; and Intercultural Education and Training. The reader will find that most of the papers address a variety of intercultural topics beyond their specific chapter designations. In particular, the theme of second language acquisition, education and use was an overarching theme that emerged from a large number of papers and presentations, specifically with regards to the complexities now faced by intercultural educators and researchers as a result of the increasing dominance of English as a “lingua franca” both in academe and many nations.

This extraordinary compendium of religious traditions is invaluable to all healthcare providers. The user-friendly resource contains specific and detailed information on faith traditions vital for providing optimal spiritual care in a clinical setting. A series of inspirational introductory chapters promote the importance of spiritual well-being as

Japan’s March 11, 2011 triple horror of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown is its worst catastrophe since Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Recovery remains an ongoing ordeal. Japan's Responses to the March 2011 Disaster: Our Inescapable In-between uncovers the pivotal role of longstanding cultural worldviews and their impact on responses to this gut-wrenching disaster. Through unpacking the pivotal notion in Japanese ethics of aidagara, or “in-betweenness,” it offers testament to a deep-rooted sense of community. Accounts from survivors, victims’ families, key city officials, and volunteers reveal a remarkable fiber of moral grit and resilience that sustains Japan’s common struggle to rally and carve a future with promise and hope. Calamities snatch us out of the mundane and throw us into the intensity of the moment. They challenge our moral fiber. Trauma, individual and collective, is the uninvited litmus test of character, personal and social. Ultimately, whether a society rightfully recovers from disaster has to do with its degree of connectedness, the embodied physical, interpersonal, face-to-face engagement we have with each other. As these stories bring to light, along with Michael Brannigan’s extensive research, personal encounters with survivors, and experience as a volunteer in Japan’s stricken areas, our degree of connectedness determines how we in the long run weather the storm, whether the storm is natural, technological, or human. Ultimately, it illustrates that how we respond to and recover after the storm hinges upon how we are with each other before the storm.

The HIV epidemic in Bolivia has received little attention on a global scale in light of the country’s low HIV prevalence rate. However, by profiling the largest city in this land-locked Latin American country, Carina Heckert shows how global health-funded HIV care programs at times clash with local realities, which can have catastrophic effects for people living with HIV who must rely on global health resources to survive. These ethnographic insights, as a result, can be applied to AIDS programs across the globe. In Fault Lines of Care, Heckert provides a detailed examination of the effects of global health and governmental policy decisions on the everyday lives of people living with HIV in Santa Cruz. She focuses on the gendered dynamics that play a role in the development and implementation of HIV care programs and shows how decisions made from above impact what happens on the ground.

Data analysis is an important part of modern business administration, as efficient compilation of information allows managers and business leaders to make the best decisions for the financial solvency of their organizations. Understanding the use of analytics, reporting, and data mining in everyday business environments is imperative to the success of modern businesses. Applying Business Intelligence Initiatives in Healthcare and Organizational Settings incorporates emerging concepts, methods, models, and relevant applications of business intelligence systems within problem contexts of healthcare and other organizational boundaries. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as rise of embedded analytics, competitive advantage, and strategic capability, this book is ideally designed for business analysts, investors, corporate managers, and entrepreneurs seeking to advance their understanding and practice of business intelligence.

Now in a revised and expanded third edition, the aims of The Active Female are threefold: first, to increase the awareness of wellness and fitness issues for active females and their family members; second, to provide an avenue for medical practitioners, allied health professionals, health educators/providers, and certified individuals in sports medicine/athletics to gain critical, updated knowledge of a field specific to active females; and third, to introduce the concept of obesity as a growing health concern even for normal weight individuals. Part I of the book offers a foundation for understanding the interrelationships between female physiology, body image and other psychological issues, the female reproductive cycle, and the musculoskeletal anatomy and physiology of females that makes their health risks and concerns unique. In Part II, the concepts of eating disorders from a global perspective and the health disparities and inequities in women’s health are discussed in detail. Part III describes the prevention and management of common musculoskeletal injuries in active females across the lifespan, including the management of osteoporosis. Appropriate exercise and nutritional guidelines and recommendations for active females are discussed in detail in Parts IV and V. Part VI is a new addition to the book and highlights the obesity epidemic and co-morbid diseases associated with obesity even for normal weight obese individuals. Each chapter is bookended by clear learning objectives and review questions for additional pedagogical appeal. An invaluable addition to the literature, The Active Female: Health Issues throughout the Lifespan, 3e will be of great interest to all clinicians and allied health care professionals concerned with women’s health and related issues, from sports medicine and family practitioners to endocrinologists, gynecologists and orthopedic surgeons.