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How Can Physical Activity Referral Rates for Breast Cancer Patients be Increased?
Get PDFExercise therapy is beneficial for cancer survivors’ biopsychosocial aspects of health (1–3); however,
the rates of exercise referrals by the oncology providers (OPs) and supporting teams remain low,
causing a paradox. We chose to address this issue in this opinion article. We discuss the possible
barriers that make the OPs unable or reluctant to refer more patients to exercise therapy sessions
and also briefly address issues of patients’ adherence. Finally, the available exercise therapy infrastructure
is discussed as an additional barrier to the therapeutic benefits of exercise. Our rationale
is based on the fact that physical activity (PA) can enable wide-reaching benefits for the recovery of
cancer patients during and after cancer treatment (4–6). Moreover, and specifically for breast cancer
survivors, the recent trials and a systematic review disproved the notion that arm exercise should
be avoided (i.e., postoperative progressive arm resistance training does not precipitate or exacerbate
lymphedema) (7–9). This further supports the beneficial effects of PA across a range of contexts.
In the UK, 1.6 million cancer survivors out of a total of 2 million do not meet the minimum
recommended PA guidelines for sustaining an independent and disability-free lifestyle (10). A
single-blinded randomized control trial has shown that cancer survivors are more likely to become
physically active if they are advised to do so by a health-care professional (11). This highlights the
impact OPs have on patients’ life and survival, especially when the treatments involve a life-changing
approach, such as increasing PA levels, commitment to exercise training, and adopting a healthier
lifestyle.
Based on our own knowledge on cancer care practices and on research experience in other patient
populations (12), we hypothesized that the main reasons behind the exercise referral paradox for
breast cancer survivors in England are (1) lack of time during a consultation to promote PA, (2)
OPs and supporting team lack of current knowledge and awareness of the benefits of PA in cancer
survivors’ biopsychosocial aspects of health, and (3) the lack of knowledge and confidence from the
patients’ side to request an exercise referral from the OPs
“You have to be mental to jump off a board any way”: Elite divers' conceptualizations and perceptions of mental health
Get PDFObjectives
Mental health research in elite sport focuses predominantly on mental illness prevalence rates and help-seeking behaviours. Diving has been identified as a sport that generates particular challenges for maintaining mental health, yet has received scant attention from researchers. Therefore, purpose this paper explores what mental health and mental health related behaviours mean for a group of young, elite athletes as conditioned by their peculiar social context as elite athletes.
Method
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with purposely sampled eight elite divers aged between 14 and 24 years with between 5 and 16 years of diving experience who have competed in international level diving competitions including Olympic, Common Wealth and World Cup competitions. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using inductive thematic analysis.
Results
Analysis identified mental health literacy, experiences of mental health, risk factors, and opportunities for support as themes. Mental health generated negative connotations for participants attributable to knowledge development occurring through personal and vicarious experience of mental illness. Limited knowledge of symptoms of mental illnesses was evident. Participants identified a range of risk-factors inherent in their sport performance and culture revealing a performative and gendered dimension to mental health.
Conclusions
Our results indicate the need to recognize the performative nature of mental health for elite divers and therefore social and cultural influences alongside biophysical. Greater efforts need to be made to help improve the overall mental health literacy of elite divers so they may be able to seek the support and treatment they need
Reaction time profiles of adults’ action prediction reveal two mindreading systems
Get PDFHuman beings are able to quickly step into others’ shoes to predict peoples’ actions. There is little consensus over how this cognitive feat might be accomplished. We tested the hypotheses that an efficient, but inflexible, mindreading system gives rise to appropriate reaction time facilitation in a standard unexpected transfer task, but not in a task involving an identity component. We created a new behavioural paradigm where adults had to quickly select whether an actor would reach, or not reach, for an object based on the actor’s false belief about the object’s location. By manipulating the type of object we compared participants’ responding behaviour when they did and did not have to take the actor’s perspective into account. While the overall accuracy reflected a high level of flexible belief reasoning across both tasks, the pattern of response times across conditions revealed a limit in the processing scope of an efficient mindreading system. Thus, we show, for the first time, that there are indeed different profiles of reaction times for object-location scenarios and for object-identity scenarios. The results elevate growing evidence that adult humans have not one, but two mindreading systems for dealing with mental states that underlie action
Qualitative Longitudinal Research in Education
Get PDFLongitudinal studies usually involve collecting statistical data over time from the same or a similar group of respondents. The ‘Class of 2010’ project is
a qualitative longitudinal research study (QLR) into the changes experienced by one school that converted to academy status in 2010 due to challenging circumstances. Under the Labour administration of 1997–2010, converting schools into academies was designed, first, to challenge the culture of underachievement in areas of high deprivation and, second, to encourage schools to play a part in local community regeneration. We were interested in the experience of the first students starting at the new academy. We were also interested in the changing aims and priorities of the academy leadership, the perceptions that teachers had of working there and the progress of the student cohort we were studying.
We started the research in the summer of 2011 when our Class of 2010 were at the end of Year 7. We visited the school at a similar time each year until 2015 to interview senior leadership, teaching staff and a sample of pupils. In this article, we consider the importance of QLR and some methodological issues for our project. This should enable you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of this research method
The importance of Aristotle’s Phronesis in Resisting Instrumentality in Youth Work in England
No full textEnergy saving on campus: a comparison of students' attitudes and reported behaviours in the UK and Portugal
Get PDFEnergy saving on campus is an increasingly important part of universities' responses to climate change, but can only be fully realised through a partnership between institutions and students. This study explores similarities and differences between students' energy-related attitudes and reported behaviours, as well as their perceptions of their institution's energy saving efforts using data from two universities in the United Kingdom (UK) and one in Portugal. The results indicate that there are differences between the students' responses at the selected universities which appear to reflect the national context and diverse institutional priorities. Key differences include the variation between students' perceptions of individual agency and their university's environmental practices (stronger in the UK) and students' sense of collective agency and trust in the government and business (stronger in Portugal). The study is the first to attempt a comparison between students from institutions in different countries in relation to energy saving. It provides a foundation to extend the comparison to other institutions and other countries, and to expand the research to encompass actual energy use, in relation to perceived energy use
Short-term reliability of inflammatory mediators and response to exercise in the heat
Get PDFProspective application of serum cytokines, lipopolysaccharide, and heat shock proteins requires reliable measurement of these biomarkers that can signify exercise-induced heat stress in hot conditions. To accomplish this, both short-term (seven day) reliability (at rest, n=12) and the acute responsiveness of each biomarker to exercise in the heat (pre and post 60 min cycling, 34.5oC and 70% RH, n=20) were evaluated. Serum was analysed for the concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL-6), heat shock protein 72 (eHSP72), immunoglobulin M (IgM) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Test-retest reliability was determined as the coefficient of variation (CV). Biomarkers with the least short-term within-subject variation were IL-6 (19%, ± 20%; CV, ± 95% confidence limits) and LPS (23%, ± 13%). Greater variability was observed for IgM, eHSP72 and CRP (CV range 28-38%). IL-6 exhibited the largest increase in response to acute exercise (95%, ± 11%, p = <0.001) and although CRP had a modest CV (12%, ± 7%) it increased substantially post-exercise (p = 0.02, ES; 0.78). In contrast, eHSP72 and LPS exhibited trivial changes post-exercise. It appears variation of common inflammatory markers after exercise in the heat is not always discernible from short-term (weekly) variation
Re-thinking case-based assessments in business management education
Get PDFDespite criticisms of the use of case studies in assessment, especially in examination settings, their use is prevalent in business management education, primarily in order to develop critical thinking skills and highlight the complex business problems faced by managers.
However, case studies readily available for business assessments typically comprise multi-national, world-leading corporations, which can result in a number of problems, not least the large volume of material available on the web about these organisations. In addition, employers feel that business courses are too focused on large corporations rather than preparing students for working in small-medium enterprises (SMEs).
This paper will present the authors approach to developing his own case studies for use in business assessments, based on local SMEs. This approach facilitates a more in-depth assessment analysis and exposes students to a broader range of business scenarios. The use of a ‘live’ case provides a closer fit to reality which in turn, enhances learning.
It is intended that the approach presented here will inform and challenge university colleagues to explore the development and use of case-based assessments, particularly how they might apply these practices to their own professional area
The End of Wisdom: The future of libraries in a digital age
No full textMuch has been written about the end of libraries and the death of the book, leading to this comprehensive compilation that assembles opinion pieces, forecasts, strategy options, and case studies from leaders around the world who, together, create a rich picture of current trends and the likely future of libraries of all types
