Anthropology Department
Associate Professor
Office: 209 Waldo Hall
Phone: 541/737-3859
Email: http://oregonstate.edu/tools/mailform?to=skhanna@oregonstate.edu

• Teaching
• Research
• Selected Publications

Teaching

I teach large introductory and specialized undergraduate/graduate courses and graduate seminars in physical and cultural anthropology. In addition to teaching physical anthropology courses in the major areas of human evolution and variation, I teach introductory undergraduate cultural anthropology courses and my specialty baccalaureate core course entitled Cultures in Conflict and Peoples and Cultures of South Asia. At the graduate level, I teach courses in the areas of theory in applied anthropology, human population and adaptation, and international health. I mentor both undergraduate and graduate students in terms of their coursework, learning, and overall professional development at OSU.

Having undergone intensive training in classroom teaching at Syracuse University, which has one of the best Teaching Assistant (TA) Programs in the country, I incorporate multidisciplinary perspectives, qualitative and quantitative data collection, analysis, and interpretation techniques, promoting and employing a "numbers and narrative" approach. I encourage my students to identify "real life" issues and their linkages to academic training. I pay special attention to course organization, effective communication, and work toward preparing my students for a world in which the problems are complex and the solutions are shades of gray.

Research

My academic training, research experience, and interests in biological anthropology, human genetics, cultural anthropology, and women.s studies establish my theoretical and empirical foundations in applied anthropology. I am actively involved in research and intervention efforts aimed at reducing gender and ethnic disparities in health through improvements in access to and utilization of health services. My past and current research studies focus on the complex interrelations of biology, culture, gender, and health in South Asia and among ethnic minorities in the US. I use diverse yet complementary field techniques such as ethnographic research and qualitative methods, microdemographic survey, and nutritional anthropometry in my research studies.

In recent years, my research in India has addressed perhaps one of the most contentious and sensitive transnational issues, namely, the availability and use of the new reproductive technology. I have completed numerous field-based research projects and have published several peer-reviewed articles on the use of ultrasonography and amniocentesis for the purpose of prenatal sex determination and practices of sex selection in urbanizing north India.

My training and research in the subtle aspects of health discrimination, particularly of girls in India, has made me conscious of comparable discrimination in health care for minority populations more generally. The scope of my research in the US includes maternal/child health and minority health issues in Oregon. Since 1998, I have conducted three ethnographic studies, using both qualitative and quantitative research methods, in Oregon. In 1998, I concluded a client-specific evaluation of the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program in Benton County. In 1999, I completed an ethnographic study aimed at understanding the barriers to accessing "atypical" antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs among non-Medicaid patients in three Oregon Counties. In 2001, I conducted a focus group study concerning knowledge, opinions, and expectations for health care insurance among low-income individuals, small employers, and health care providers in Oregon. The study provides baseline information for proposing a universal health insurance coverage initiative for all Oregonians. Please visit http://www.ohppr.state.or.us/ for more information on this and related research studies.

Selected Publications

Articles

• Health Literacy in Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD): Phase I

This ongoing study investigates the level of health literacy in new ESRD patients participating in PreRenal Education Program (PrEP) training at the Samaritan Dialysis Services center. The specific aims of the study are to:

1. assess the level of health literacy in PrEP participants by using S-TOFHLA (Short version of the Test of Functional Literacy in Adults);

2. collect relevant demographic and socio-economic data on patients participating in PrEP; and

3. collect and analyze patient feedback on the relevance of PrEP curriculum educating the patient about ESRD management and treatment.

The long-term goal of the study (Phase II) is to test different versions of PrEP curriculum and education materials for their effectiveness in improving the knowledge and health status of ESRD patients. Based on the results of Phase I investigation, we plan to submit application for additional funds to measure the effectiveness of appropriately worded information at the correct reading level on the concrete changes in treatment and/or disease progression in dialysis patients.

Future Research Projects

• Cultural Competency for Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs) National Institutes of Health (under preparation; expected submission date November 2006)

The purpose of the study is to assess whether cultural competency training measurably improves patient-provider communication and reduces health disparities. The study answers the following specific questions:

1. Does cultural competency training of Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs) result in improved knowledge, attitudes, and skills relating to the care of patients from diverse backgrounds?
2. Does cultural competency training of CNMs result in improved pre and perinatal health outcomes among mothers and children under their care?
3. Does cultural competency training of CNMs result in reduced perceptions of discrimination among their patients?
4. The study will use data from three sources - self-reported changes in knowledge, attitudes, and skills among CNMs as assessed through a tested and validated post-then-pre outcomes survey; pre and perinatal health outcomes of CNMs' patients; and experiences and opinions of CNMs' patients as assessed by exit interviews.

• Son Preference and New Reproductive Technologies in Urban India: Cross-Cultural Comparison

This ethnographic study examines the use of New Reproductive Technologies (NRTs) in two middle-income but culturally distinct regional groups in India, one North Indian and the other South Indian. The two groups are considered in the literature to be two extremes in the socio-cultural spectrum underlying son preference, but have never been explicitly contrasted on the basis of ethnographic data. The study will answer the following

research question from a cross-cultural comparative perspective -- How urban experience, exposure to and acceptance of state-sponsored family planning policies, and increased availability of NRTs and abortion services cause convergence of previously distinct kinship regimes and family organization in two socio-economically similar but culturally distinct communities, leading to a similarity in preference for male children, and means taken to realize their preference?

Professional/Community Affiliations

• Co-Editor, Ecology of Food and Nutrition

  

• Member, American Anthropological Association (AAA)
• Fellow, Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA)
• Member, Society for Medical Anthropology (SMA)
• Member, American Public Health Association (APHA)
• Benton Health Center, Federally Qualified Health Center, Corvallis, Oregon (Board Member)
• Virtual Community Moderator, Consortium of Practicing and Applied Anthropology Programs (COPAA)
• Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC), Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services (Expert Grant Reviewer)
• Institutional Review Board (IRB), The Corvallis Clinic, Corvallis, Oregon (Chair)