TennCare
...ormation of my subjects shrouded. Included with this, there will be a Form A along with an implied consent form to show that I will keep all of my subject’s identities concealed. Sampling I am conducting surveys as my form of research. I will be using the snowball sampling technique so I will be able to achieve precise social statistics on the population of people who have experienced any factors of my dependent variable. This snowball method will be used on the people I survey who have been dropped from TennCare. The initial sampling, of my snowball sampling will be followed by a selection of each of my dependent variables of each selected sample. Procedure Because I am conducting a nonprobability sampling method in which my samples will be selected in some way not suggested by probability theory, I have found a contact that deals with many people on and off the TennCare program. I will make initial contact with this person, and ask their permission to survey the individuals this person knows, which have been impacted by TennCare. I will explain to this person that I am trying to find out if any individuals are diabetic and have experienced more stress, depression, or have a lower self-esteem about themselves after being expelled from TennCare. I will also include with my explanation for my research an implied consent form and my code of ethics. If this person grants me permission to distribute my survey, I will arrange a time in which to do so. After the surveys have been completed I will give this individual my contact information in case anyone who has voluntarily participated in my research desires to see my finished product of research. Appendix A: Survey Questions 1. Gender:_________ 2. Race:__________ 3. Religion:__________ 4. Age:__________ 5. Education:_________ 6. Were you recently expelled from TennCare? Explain. 7. Are you a type 1 or type 2 diabetic? Explain. 8. If yes how long have you been a diabetic? 9. How did your expulsion from TennCare affect you? Explain. 10. Are you experiencing greater stress after being expelled? Explain. 11. Are you experiencing any kind of depression after being expelled? Explain. 12. Was your self-esteem impacted after being expelled? Explain. 13. Describe how your expulsion from TennCare affects your daily life and activities. 14. Has being expelled from TennCare impacted your health in any way? Explain. 15. Do you have access to any form of health care after being expelled from TennCare? Explain. 16. Do you believe you will have future implications from your expulsion from TennCare? Explain. Appendix B: Implied Consent Statement I am an undergraduate student at Tennessee Technological University. I am conducting research in the form of surveys using the cluster sample to show that diabetics who were dropped from TennCare will experience an immense deal more stress, depression, and even have a lower self-esteem about themselves. I am conducting this research as a part of a Sociology course 3900, Introduction to Sociological Research. You may choose to stop participating in my research at any time for any reason. As I stated earlier confidentiality of research subjects, is understandably a vital part of conducting any type of research, and I will keep any identifying information of you concealed. If you have any questions or you would like a copy of my finished product, I encourage you to contact me at ajlausten21@tntech.edu. Thank you for your help and your voluntary participation with my research. Results In my research, I found my results to be very informative, and actually quite surprising. Out of the eleven participants, who voluntarily completed my survey, nine of these participants or 82% had greater stress, depression, and a lower self-esteem about themselves, after being dropped from TennCare. Eight out of the eleven participants or 73% had their daily life and activities affected from being dropped from TennCare. Six out the eleven participants or 55% believed that their health was impacted even though they had access to some form of health care after being dropped from TennCare. Five out of the eleven participants or 46% believed that they would have future implications from being dropped form TennCare. Seven of my participants are males and the other four participants are female. I did find that all four of my female participants had greater stress, depression, and a lower self-esteem about them selves. These four females also believed that their daily life and activities were impacted after being dropped from TennCare. The four females also believed that their health was impacted and they would have future implications after being dropped from the system. I found some interesting statistics when I talked to my participants about their religion. I found that all eleven of my subjects were Christian and that three of these people or 27% thought that God or their higher power would help them through this problem of not being able to receive their medications. After pondering the responses by these three individuals I realized that I am in the heart of the Bible belt and many other people would have had this same response. Discussion By doing qualitative research in the form of surveys, personal interviews, telephone interviews, and surveys via email, most of my participants gave me very descriptive answers to my open ended questions. The following pages consist of summaries of all my participants’ surveys. I will also write some of my participants’ stories in which they told me. Because I was doing the snowball sampling method I was very grateful for several of my participants helping me to find other individuals who were also dropped from TennCare. My first subject was a 29-year-old Caucasian female who graduated from high school and whose religious affiliation is Presbyterian. She was dropped from TennCare in the middle of last August. She has a four year old son who is a type I diabetic and requires insulin injections. Because of her sons young age she is required to give him his insulin injections and also to test and monitor his blood sugar levels. However she was dropped from TennCare but her son was not. She found out that her son was a diabetic when he got extremely sick when he was two years old. When she took him to the hospital she found out that both her life and her sons’ life would be changed forever. She told me that being a single mother caring for her type I diabetic son was very difficult, since she had very little money for clothing, food, and rent as it was. Now that she was dropped from TennCare she also had to worry about her self and the medications she was not receiving any more. She did not divulge what her medical condition was or what medications she was on, but she did tell me that she turned to her church and to God for help. When I asked her if she was experiencing more stress, depression, and lower self-esteem she responded by telling me that she did not expect her church to help her forever. She went on to tell me that she worried about herself and her son constantly. She stated, “I realized that I wasn’t doing a good job providing for my son. I need to find a better job with insurance so I can better take care of myself and my son.” She also said that she was very worried something might happen to her and she would not be able to take proper care of her son. Her health was also impacted from the stress of being dropped from TennCare. She said she was not eating properly and she was constantly worried. As of right now she does not have any form of insurance, but she says she is working on finding a better job. Her main concern with future implications from being dropped from TennCare, are that she might get very sick or hurt and not be able to afford the medical bills. Her final statement to me was “please tell anyone you can that many of us greatly need to be put back on TennCare.” My second subject was a 52-year-old male Caucasian who graduated from high school and whose religious affiliation is Roman Catholic. He was dropped from TennCare at the end of late July in 2005. He is a type II diabetic who was diagnosed as being a diabetic about three years ago. He informed me that he checked his blood sugar four or five times a day and that he watched his diet and exercised regularly. He receives a government disability check as his sole income, and he said he did not know how he would afford his medications after being dropped from TennCare. When I asked him if he had greater stress and depression after being dropped he told me that initially he did but after two appeals he was accepted onto Medicare. He also stated “my self-esteem isn’t too high- after all, I’m on disability. Being expelled from TennCare was just another set back. When I asked him if he believed his expulsion had affected his daily life and activities or impacted his health in any form, he responded by telling me that except for increased worry and a bit of panic nothing really changed because he got accepted for Medicare. He also said that now that he is on Medicare he didn’t believe he would have future implications from TennCare. My third subject is a 26-year-old white male who is a senior at Austin Peay State University and whose religious affiliation is Methodist. He was cut fro TennCare on August 1, 2005. He is a type I diabetic who is insulin dependent and takes Novolog injections before each meal and a Lantus injection before bed. He was diagnosed as a type I diabetic when he was fourteen. He lost a great deal of weight and one afternoon while playing in a soccer game, he passed out cold. He explained to me that he is too old to be under his parent’s insurance coverage and he can’t get coverage from his job because he only works part time. He then went on to tell me that his medications were extremely expensive so he turned to his parents for help. His parents helped him by placing him on another type of insurance plan called COBRA. His stress levels rose from the uncertainty of he would survive no longer being able to afford his Medications. This created an immense deal more anxiety for him. The depression that he was faced with was, having to turn to his parents at age 26 for help. The same he said applied for his self-esteem issues. Every day he is reminded that he has to rely on his parents for help until he graduates and gets a decent job with health insurance. Being covered by his parent’s insurance plan and hopefully graduating soon with a good job he doesn’t expect any future implications from his expulsion from TennCare. My fourth subject was a 36-year-old white female who graduated from a Junior college and her religious affiliation is Protestant. She was expelled off of TennCare and is very upset about it because she has two part time jobs and cannot acquire insurance by only working part time. She went on to tell me that she is not a diabetic but she has had and is having many problems with her life and now that she is unable to receive her Prozac she expects things to worsen. When I asked her about greater stress, depression, and lower self-esteem she said that after being kicked off she was not completely right in the head and she is very unhappy. She went on to tell me that she didn’t understand why she was being treated like this and she had to be extremely careful not to get sick or hurt for fear of not being able to pay the medical bills. Like my first participant she doesn’t eat or sleep very well after being expelled, and she believes this will continue until she is accepted back on TennCare or she finds health insurance from somewhere else. My fifth subject is a 20-year-old Caucasian female who attends TTU and is not a part of any religious affiliation, but she is a Christian. She was dropped from TennCare in August 2005. Her expulsion affected her because she is on high blood pressure medication and after being expelled she cannot afford them. Her stress levels increased because she is now trying to work more while still being a full time student to try and afford her medications. She told me she is depressed because she is now constantly trying to work to earn money with no end in sight. Her daily life and activities have been affected because now all she does is work and go to school, so she will hopefully not have future implications after she graduates from college. My sixth subject is an 18-year-old white male who graduated from high school and is a Christian but is not part of any affiliation. This young man was expelled from TennCare on July 15, 2005. His expulsion from TennCare affected him because he can now no longer afford his medications for his epilepsy. This young man is one of the two subjects in which were not affected by being kicked off the system. He told me that he is looking for an alternate insurance plan and he is much more careful in his daily activities. I believe this individual felt very strange giving someone he did not know a whole lot of information about himself. My seventh participant was a 31-year-old male Caucasian who graduated from high school and his religious affiliation is Methodist. He was dropped from TennCare in the middle of August 2005. He told me that he appealed his expulsion twice and also applied for Medicare. He also said that his expulsion affected him because he was on medications for manic depression caused by a massive car accident he was in. He is also on many different types of pain medications also caused from the car accident. He went straight into why he was depressed and also stressed about being dropped from TennCare. He told me that after the car accident he had to give up his job as a construction man and he took a job working as a telemarketer. The telemarketing job was one of the only jobs he could find that kept him off his feet and out of pain. He said that the job he has now is one of the worst he has ever had because he knows how annoyed people become when they are bother at home. He is still able to pay for his medications at the moment because he has a little money saved up. He is also glad that his ninety days at his new job is almost up and he will receive minimum health insurance soon. His health has not been impacted because of his savings and still being able to acquire his medications. When I asked him about future implications from being dropped he let out a huge sigh and explained to me how much he hated his job now and how unsure he was about staying at his job. He then told me he would stay until he could find another job with health insurance to help him pay for his medications till he was 100% healthy. The eighth subject I surveyed was a 44-year-old white male who graduated from an auto mechanic trade school and his religious affiliation is Catholic. He was dropped from the TennCare system in the beginning of August 2005. His expulsion affected him because he owns his own auto repair shop and he is constantly getting hurt on the job. He has been to the hospital five times in the last three years ...