Poverty in the United States

This important text explores the deep relationships between poverty, health/mental health conditions, and widespread social problems as they affect the lives of low-income women. A robust source of both empirical findings and first-person descriptions by poor women of their living conditions, it exposes cyclical patterns of structural and environmental stressors contributing to impaired physical and mental health. Psychological conditions (notably depression and PTSD), substance use and abuse, domestic and gun-related violence, relationship instability, and hunger in low-income communities, especially among women of color, are discussed in detail. In terms of solutions, the book’s contributors identify areas for major policy reform and make potent recommendations for community outreach, wide-scale intervention, and sustained advocacy.Among the topics covered:• The intersection of women’s health and poverty.• Poverty, personal experiences of violence, and mental health.• The role of social support for women living in poverty.• The logic of exchange sex among women living in poverty.• Physical safety and neighborhood issues.• Exploring the complex intersections between housing environments and health behaviors among women living in poverty.A stark reminder that health should be considered a basic human right, Poverty in the United States: Women's Voices is a necessary reference for research professionals particularly interested in women’s studies, HIV/AIDS prevention, poverty, and social policy. 

Ann O’Leary is a psychologist living in Atlanta, Georgia.  She served as a Senior Behavioral Scientist in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for 16 years.  Her training included a summa cum laude undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania; a Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University, supported by a National Science Foundation fellowship; and one year of postdoctoral training in Health Psychology at the University of California at San Francisco.  She served on the faculty of the Psychology Department at Rutgers University from 1986 to 1999.   She has conducted research on HIV prevention for the past 26 years, and has also published many articles on other aspects of Health Psychology.  Dr. O’Leary has published more than 165 scientific articles and chapters, and has edited or co-edited five books, Women at Risk: Issues in the Prevention of AIDS; Women and AIDS: Coping and Care; Beyond Condoms: Alternative Approaches to HIV Prevention; From Child Sexual Abuse to Adult Sexual Risk: Trauma, Revictimization and Intervention; and African Americans and AIDS:  Understanding and Addressing the Epidemic.   She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and won the inaugural “Distinguished Leader” award from the APA’s Committee on Psychology and AIDS.  She serves on the editorial boards of several scientific journals, and is a frequent consultant to NIH and other scientific organizations. Paula Frew, PhD, MA, MPH, is currently Assistant Professor of Medicine within the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine and she holds a secondary appointment at the same rank within the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education at the Emory Rollins School of Public Health. She currently serves as the Director of Health Communication and Applied Community Research at The Hope Clinic of the Emory Vaccine Research Center, Emory University School of Medicine. She is an active investigator with a focus on issues pertaining to women and minorities and HIV prevention.