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Drama is for life! Recreational drama activities for the elderly in the UK
Get PDFApplied Theatre is an inclusive term used to host a variety of powerful, community-based participatory processes and educational practices. Historically, Applied Theatre practices include Theatre-in-Education (TiE), Theatre-in-Health Education (THE), Theatre for Development (TfD), prison theatre, community theatre, theatre for conflict resolution/reconciliation, reminiscence theatre with elderly people, theatre in museums, galleries and heritage centres, theatre at historic sites, and more recently, theatre in hospitals. In this paper we are positioning the application of recreational dramatic activities with older adults (55+) under Applied Theatre and we are exploring the benefits they offer to the participants. We are concerned that their health and wellbeing in western societies is not prioritized and it is clear that loneliness in particular is a current and ongoing issue. We will present research results from a drama dissertation study that took place in a community hall in the South East England where drama is placed at the core of their practice with old populations. Data was collected by a mixed method (semi-structured interviews and semi-immersive observations) and was critically discussed amongst the authors to conclude that attending recreational drama classes brings a certain degree of happiness, social belonging and improvement of interaction with others to old people’s lives
‘Trapped in the Labyrinth’ – exploring mental illness through devised theatrical performance
Get PDFMental health difficulties remain a major source of burden and distress for individuals, families, health and social care providers with stigma a key target for educational campaigns attempting to improve care pathways and access to support. Stigma is a multifaceted concept having a range of drivers including shame and is thought to act as a barrier to successful help seeking and engagement with support services. The current paper explores some of the salient themes that emerged from a British university drama project on the impact of symptoms and behaviours associated with a severe mental health condition on a young couple's relationship and reflects on the opportunities for connection with an audience provided by the medium and experience. It is suggested that enabling the impact of mental ill health to be explored in a protected environment such as theatre can allow for reflection and empathy to develop, with potential for positive impact on awareness understanding and stigma. Elements of the drama setting and narrative are explored, and analogies are made with the emerging literature on post-traumatic growth
A field-based cycling test to assess predictors of endurance performance and establishing training zones
Get PDFThis study evaluates the relationship between a field-based 8-min time trial (8MTT) and physiological endurance variables assessed with an incremental laboratory test. Secondly, lactate thresholds assessed in the laboratory were compared to estimated functional threshold power (FTP) from the 8MTT. Nineteen well-trained road cyclists (aged 22 +/- 2 yr, height 185.9 +/- 4.5 cm, weight 72.8 +/- 4.6 kg, VO2max 64 +/- 4 ml[middle dot]min-1[middle dot]kg-1) participated. Linear regression revealed that mean 8MTT power output (PO) was strongly to very strongly related to PO at 4 mmol[BULLET OPERATOR]L-1, PO at initial rise of 1.00 mmol[BULLET OPERATOR]L-1, PO at Dmax and modified (mDmax) (r = 0.61 - 0.82). Mean 8MTT PO was largely to very largely different compared to PO at fixed blood lactate concentration (FBLC) of 2 mmol[middle dot]L-1 (ES = 3.20) and 4 mmol[middle dot]L-1 (ES = 1.90), PO at initial rise 1.00 mmol[BULLET OPERATOR]L-1 (ES = 2.33), PO at Dmax (ES = 3.47) and mDmax (ES = 1.79) but only trivially different from maximal power output (Wmax) (ES = 0.09). The 8MTT based estimated FTP was moderate to very largely different compared to PO at initial rise of 1 mmol[BULLET OPERATOR]L-1 (ES = 1.37), PO at Dmax (ES = 2.42), PO at mDmax (ES = 0.77) and PO at 4 mmol[BULLET OPERATOR]L-1(ES = 0.83). Therefore, even though the 8MTT can be valuable as a performance test in cycling shown through its relationships with predictors of endurance performance, coaches should be cautious when using FTP and PO at laboratory-based thresholds interchangeably to inform training prescription
