UCSF School of Medicine - Anthropology, History and Social Medicine

Recent publications

Nguyen T.T., McPhee S. J., Gildengorin G., Nguyen T., Wong C., Lai K. Q., Lam H., Mock J., Luong T-N, Bui-Tong N., Ha-Iaconis T., (2006) Papanicolaou Testing Among Vietnamese Americans: Results of a Multifaceted Intervention, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 31(1) 1-9.

Ward K. D., Eissenberg T., Rastam S., Asfar T., Mzayek F., Fouad M.F., Hammal F., Mock J., Maziak W., (2006) The Tobacco Epidemic in Syria, Tobacco Control 15 (Suppl 1): i24-i29.

McPhee S.J, Nguyen T.T., Mock J., Nguyen T., Lam H. (2005) Highlights/Best Practices of San Francisco's Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research, and Training (AANCART). CANCER, 104(12 Suppl):2920-5.

Maziak W., Ward K. D., Mzayek F., Rastam S., Bachir M. E., Fouad M. F., Hammal F., Asfar T., Mock J., Nuwayhid I., Frumkin H., Grimsley F., Chibli M. (2005) Mapping the Health and Environmental Situation in Informal Zones in Aleppo, Syria: Report from the Aleppo Household Survey. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 78: 547-558.

Wannasuntad, S., May, S., Mock, J., (2004) The Absence of Cancer Prevention for the Thai Population in the U.S., Asian American and Pacific Islander Journal of Health, 10(2): 108-13.

Nichter M., Quintero, G., Nichter, M., Mock, J., Shakib, S., (2004) Qualitative Research: Contributions to the Study of Drug Use, Drug Abuse, and Drug Use(r)-Related Interventions, Substance Use and Misuse 39(10-12): 1907-69.

McPhee S.J., Nguyen T., Euler G.L., Mock J., Wong C., Lam T., Nguyen W., Nguyen S., Ha M.Q.H., Do S.T., Buu C. (2003) Successful Promotion of Hepatitis B Vaccinations Among Vietnamese-American Children Ages 3 to 18: Results of a Controlled Trial. Pediatrics, Pediatrics, 111(6 Pt 1):1278-288.

Zhou F., Euler G.L., McPhee S.J., Nguyen T., Lam T., Wong C., Mock J. (2003) Economic Analysis of Promotion of Hepatitis B Vaccinations Among Vietnamese American Children in Houston and Dallas. Pediatrics, Pediatrics, 111(6 Pt 1):1289-296.

Maziak W., Asfar T., Mock J. (2003) Why Most Women in Syria Do Not Smoke. (2003) Public Health Reports, 117:237-241.

Unger J. B., Cruz T., Shakib S., Mock J., Shields A., Baezconde-Garbanati L., Palmer P., Cruz J., Edsall E. W., Gritz E. R., Glynn T., Johnson C. A., (2003) Exploring the Cultural Context of Tobacco Use: A Transdisciplinary Framework, Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 5:(S1):101-17.

Mock, J., Jarvis, L., Jahari A., Husaini M., Pollitt, E. (2000) Community-Level Determinants of Child Growth in 24 Indonesian Villages, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 54 (SUPP2):S28-S42.

Dr. Mock's program of research focuses on improving human health and well-being by ending poverty, racism and sexism. Dr. Mock is committed to working with community members to change conditions within communities and systems that impact health, and to preserve or change culture where appropriate. In the field of global health, Dr. Mock has a long-standing interest in studying the impact of modernization on well-being, and studied the cultural context of tobacco use. Through this work, he has been developing theories and methods to create the new field of Buddhist anthropology.

Regarding research methodology, for the past 10 years Dr. Mock have been developing assessment and evaluation tools to use in community-based participatory research for health promotion and chronic disease prevention. He is cross-trained in quantitative survey methods and qualitative observational and interviewing methods. Dr. Mock has developed a methodology called the Insight Group Interview for conducting group interviews that he has used in Thailand, Japan, Laos and Cambodia. This method has proved to be more culturally appropriate than standard focus group interviews.

Dr. Mock has been the lead researcher on several studies looking at community-level influences on health. He led a study on the effects of community-level conditions on the nutritional status of children in 24 Indonesian communities. He has conducted extensive research on wellness and sociocultural conditions that influence tobacco use in Thailand. He was the Evaluation Research Director for a cervical cancer prevention program for Vietnamese Americans funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the REACH 2010 Initiative. He was also the Research Director of the San Francisco Asian American Network on Cancer Awareness, Research and Training funded by the National Cancer Institute and trained 14 predoctoral interns in health social science methods. He has been the evaluation researcher for a Hepatitis B immunization program focused on Vietnamese in the U.S., and on a tobacco media campaign focused on the same population. He has also evaluated the impacts of health education programs on tobacco use in schools.

Dr. Mock had conducted intensive social science training courses for community activists and health professionals in Thailand, Japan, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Eastern Mediterranean. He assisted in the development of the Toolkit for Health Workforce Development for the World Health Organization. He is also the organizer and lead trainer of the Blue Thumb Health Social Science Short Course. This intensive 4-week full-time course at UCSF has trained over 30 health professionals, mainly from Thailand sponsored by the Thai Ministry of Health, in the application of social science methods for assessing community health. Dr. Mock has also offered abbreviate versions of the course focusing on community assessment for the Osaka Prefectural Health Department, and on evaluation for the Ministry of Health in Cambodia under sponsorship from the Asian Health Institute, a Japanese donor agency.

Twelve years ago, Dr. Mock began studying the impact of community-level conditions on child nutrition and growth. A new area of interest is studying how individual communities and the wider sociocultural context shape families' philosophies about selecting prenatal and obstetric providers (i.e., midwife, nurse practitioner, physician), location of birth (i.e., home, hospital, birth center), elective Caesarian, breastfeeding, postnatal care, maternal and child nutrition, and daycare. Dr. Mock is interested in understanding the dynamics between parents in making these decisions, especially looking at men's roles.

ONGOING RESEARCH AND TRAINING
2005-present DEVELOPING A HANDBOOK FOR ASSESSING COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION WITH-AND-FOR REACH 2010 GRANTEES
A core principle of the CDC's Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH 2010) program is to challenge 41 grantees throughout the country to address health disparities at their roots. Research on health disparities has shown that non-White ethnic populations in the U.S. suffer disproportionate burdens of chronic diseases and deficits in basic disease prevention because of racism, sexism and biases against the poor. REACH 2010 has encouraged grantees to develop community-academic partnerships and use community-based participatory research to address health disparities in specific populations that have historically been underserved. REACH has sought to test a theory that local community-based projects can produce improvements in preventive health measures (e.g. cancer screening or immunization) by transforming conditions in communities to produce a supportive context for protective behaviors. Dr. Mock's forthcoming Handbook for Assessing Social Change in Health and companion workbook presents an integrated set of tools that grantees can use to assess community- and systems-level transformations and change among change agents through a process of self-study.

2002-present DIVERSE RACIAL ETHNIC GROUPS AND NATIONS (DREGAN)
This participatory research and action project seeks to reduce tobacco use in the Minnesota's communities of color. This study is building an understanding the cultural context of tobacco use, drawing on qualitative and quantitative research methods. The project currently works with Hmong, Vietnamese, Laotian, Khmer, Latino, African-American and Native American communities in Minnesota. The study has used anthropological methods to interview community opinion makers and change agents about cultural patterns of tobacco use, effects of acculturation, ideas about addiction, experiences and beliefs about quitting, and suggestions for community activities to prevent and reduce tobacco use.

1996-present THAI COMMUNITY WELLNESS STUDY
This study is designed to help prevent diseases by explaining what causes Thais to develop habits that influence their health. Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist society that, like many rapidly modernizing societies, now faces an increasing burden of "habit-borne" diseases such as heart disease, cancer, accidents, diabetes and depression. Modernization and sophisticated marketing strategies have dramatically altered Thai cultural patterns, values, and habits. This study showed that working-class Thais find themselves living life out of balance. Such a life has given rise to poor health habits and the modern plagues of stress and anxiety. The findings suggest that Thais would benefit from health promotion that shows how to live a balanced life in the modern era. Health promotion messages that reinforce core Buddhist values may help Thais formulate a clearer understanding of ways to live a truly healthy life.

View Dr. Mock's full CV