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Editorial Are we attending to social needs or promoting social agendas?
No full textThe theme of this special issue is leadership and knowledge innovation in occupational therapy. We understand leadership beyond and away from the capitalistic values that include but are not limited to productivity, quantitative measures, managerial roles, and “value for the money” that govern most of the systems and services we work or should access in society. Aligning with Backman (2022), we agree that leadership is not about having a title, being perceived by others as an authority, possessing power and some specific features and personal attributes. Still, its focus relies on social changes and recognizing the role of teams and collectives. Therefore, having an outcome or need for action opens the doors of leadership to each of us, and citing an outcome or reason for action encourages leadership to everyone acting in their circle of influence that goes from our micro, meso and macro levels (Backman, 2022)
The complex landscape of vaccine hesitancy and hesitant adopters: Quantitative predictors and thematic insights into COVID-19 vaccine attitudes
Get PDFVaccine hesitancy is one of the top 10 threats to public health. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated vaccinations marked a watershed moment for vaccine hesitancy, with highly publicized anti-vaccine protests, and widespread misinformation and distrust of the novel vaccines. This mixed-method survey sought to provide a nuanced understanding of vaccine hesitancy and hesitant vaccine adopters in the context of the COVID-19 vaccination. N = 410 participants completed an online survey comprising a battery of psychometric measures of vaccine hesitancy, personality, conspiracy belief, and political affiliation. N = 134 participants, who identified as vaccine hesitant toward the novel vaccine, provided additional written qualitative responses detailing the reasons they were hesitant about accepting the COVID-19 vaccination. Quantitative findings point to higher hesitancy among males, those with high-school and undergraduate levels of education, mixed- and minoritized ethnic groups (Black, Asian), and those higher in Right-Wing Authoritarian and Conspiracy beliefs. Qualitative data unveiled six themes underpinning hesitancy: side-effect concerns; Covid risk perception; conspiracy and religious beliefs; psychological reactance against perceived coercion; a perceived lack of information; and distrust of Government/medical establishments. Crucially, an acknowledgment of the benefits of the vaccine, e.g. in terms of protecting others, distinguished vaccine hesitant adopters from refusers. Implications of the findings are discussed with a view to informing policy and public health campaigns targeting vaccine hesitant adopters
Feeling and Healing in Different Spaces and Phases: How Individuals Coped With the Pandemic Cognitively, Affectively, and Conatively
Get PDFThis research investigates individuals' reactions and coping strategies during a prolonged health crisis over distinct temporal phases (i.e., early and late stages of the pandemic) and geographical locations (i.e., Australia, Finland, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, and the United States). Using the infectious disease threat (IDT) appraisal model as a guide, we conducted two separate studies at different intervals to investigate the coping strategies individuals utilised in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic. Findings revealed cross‐country differences in cognitive (i.e., COVID‐19 risk perception and vaccine uncertainty), affective (i.e., hope, fear, shame, and anger), and conative (i.e., preventive behavioural intentions, vaccination intentions, and preventive behavioural engagement) outcomes, shaped by cultural and policy influences. Mediation and moderation analyses showed that the coping mechanism of cognitive appraisal indirectly influenced conative coping through affective responses, which could be contingent on pandemic fatigue. This research contributes to crisis and health communication literature by offering a more nuanced understanding of how individuals across different countries cope with and manage a long‐lasting public health crisis and provides key takeaways for advancing pandemic communication theory and practice
Acute Sarcopenia: systematic review and meta-analysis on its incidence and muscle parameter shifts during hospitalisation
Get PDFBackground: Acute sarcopenia is sarcopenia lasting less than six months, typically following acute illness or injury. It may impact patient recovery and quality of life, advancing to chronic sarcopenia. However, its development and assessment remain poorly understood, particularly during hospitalisation. This systematic review aimed to elucidate the incidence of acute sarcopenia and examine changes in muscle parameters during hospitalisation.
Methods: Eighty-eight papers were included in the narrative synthesis; 33 provided data for meta-analyses on the effects of hospitalisation on handgrip strength (HGS), rectus femoris cross-sectional area (RFCSA) and various muscle function tests. Meta-regressions were performed for length of hospital stay (LoS) and age for all meta-analyses; sex was also considered for HGS.
Results: Acute sarcopenia development was assessed in four studies with a pooled incidence of 18% during hospitalisation. Incidence was highest among trauma patients in intensive care (59%) while it was lower among medical and surgical patients (15-20%). Time of development ranged from 4-44 days. HGS remained stable during hospitalisation (SMD = 0.05, 95% CI = -0.18:0.28, P = 0.67) as did knee extensor strength. LoS affected HGS performance (θ = 0.04, 95% CI = 0.001:0.09, P = 0.045) but age (P = 0.903) and sex (P = 0.434) did not. RFCSA, reduced by 16.5% over 3 to 21 days (SMD = -0.67, 95% CI = -0.92:-0.43, P <0.001); LoS or time between scans did significantly predict the reduction (θ = -0.04, 95% CI = -0.077:-0.011, P = 0.012). Indices of muscle quality also reduced. Muscle function improved when assessed by the short physical performance battery (SMD = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.03:1.69, P = 0.046); there was no change in 6-minute walk (P = 0.22), timed up-and-go (P = 0.46) or gaitspeed tests (P = 0.98). The only significant predictor of timed up-and-go performance was age (θ = -0.11, 95% CI = -0.018:-0.005, P = 0.009).
Conclusions: Assessment and understanding of acute sarcopenia in clinical settings is limited. Incidence varies between clinical conditions and muscle parameters are affected differently. HGS and muscle function tests may not be sensitive enough to identify acute changes during hospitalisation. Currently, muscle health deterioration may be underdiagnosed impacting recovery, quality of life and overall health following hospitalisation. Further evaluation is necessary to determine the suitability of existing diagnostic criteria of acute sarcopenia. Muscle mass and quality indices might need to become the primary determinants for muscle health assessment in hospitalised populations
Tackle Characteristics Resulting in Potential Head Injuries in Elite Men's Rugby League: A Video Analysis Study of 746 Tackles
Get PDFObjectives
Contact with the head should be avoided during a rugby league tackle, given the inherent risks of head injuries. This study aimed to characterise a sample of tackles, retrospectively identified as resulting in a potential head injury by the Rugby Football League (RFL) match review panel.
Design
Retrospective video analysis study.
Methods
746 tackles, identified by the RFL match review panel from the men's 2018 and 2019 Super League seasons, were analysed. Video clips were coded using an adapted analysis framework, characterising tackle stage, head contact, affected player, offending player/surface, offending body part/surface and tackle sanctioning. Data were reported as frequencies and percentages.
Results
The majority of tackles resulting in a potential head injury occurred in the initial tackle contact stage (n = 590, 79.2%). The ball‐carrier was most frequently affected (n = 372, 49.9%) compared to initial tacklers (n = 213, 28.6%). The initial tackler was the most frequently impacting player (n = 268, 36.0%), with the majority of potential head injuries occurring from direct head contact by the arm (n = 230, 34.1%), shoulder (n = 170, 25.2%) and head/neck (n = 145, 21.5%) of the impacting player. Head contact was present in 90.6% (n = 675) of the tackles resulting in a potential head injury. Of the sample of tackles, 16.1% (n = 109) of direct head contact events received a sanction from on‐field match officials.
Conclusion
The initial tackle contact between the ball‐carrier and initial tackler remains the area of focus for research into potential head injuries in elite‐level men's rugby league, to improve awareness and understanding of the mechanisms of injury
Mechanisms and outcomes of a very low intensity intervention to improve parental acknowledgement and understanding of childhood overweight/obesity, embedded in the National Child Measurement Programme: A sub-study within a large cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (MapMe2)
Get PDFObjectives
Parental underdetection of child underweight and overweight/obesity may negatively affect children's longer‐term health. We examined psychological/behavioural mechanisms of a very low‐intensity intervention to improve acknowledgement and understanding of child weight after feedback from a school‐based weight monitoring programme.
Design
This sub‐study was nested within a larger 3‐arm cluster‐RCT (1:1:1; N = 57,300). Parents in all groups received written postal feedback on their child's weight classification. Intervention participants received an enhanced feedback letter with computer‐generated photorealistic images depicting children of different weight classifications, and access to a website about supporting healthy weight, once (intervention one) or twice (intervention two; repeated 6 months after first ‘dose’).
Methods
A quantitative process and outcome evaluation using baseline and 12‐month BMI z‐scores of an opt‐in sub‐sample of 502 children aged 4–5 and 10–11. Children completed dietary reports, used accelerometers (MVPA), and self‐reported self‐esteem; 10–11‐year‐olds also self‐reported quality of life and dietary restraint. Parents reported perceptions of child's weight classification, and their intentions, self‐efficacy, action planning and coping planning for child physical activity, dietary intake; parents of 4–5‐year‐olds reported their child's quality of life.
Results
Neither intervention differentially improved parental acknowledgement or understanding of weight classification at follow‐up, although parents in all groups reported better acknowledgement after receiving feedback. The interventions did not affect behavioural/psychological determinants, weight outcomes, children's self‐esteem, dietary restraint or quality of life.
Conclusions
The interventions neither improved parental acknowledgement of child weight, child BMI z‐scores and their psychological/behavioural determinants, nor worsened psycho‐social sequelae
Slowly learned but not forgotten: New learning in a case of childhood-acquired amnesia.
Get PDFThis case report presents new semantic learning and long-term retention data collected over a 5-year period from an amnesic adolescent boy, CJ. Compared to his younger sister, a novel abbreviation-learning task captured CJ's slower semantic acquisition across three weekly training sessions. By contrast, his rate of forgetting between sessions was comparable to that of the control's and was slower over long delays of up to 5 years but recalled information without any reliable report of the original learning context
Developing and implementing whole systems approaches to reduce inequalities in childhood obesity: A mixed methods study in Dundee, Scotland
Get PDFBackground: UK local authorities are developing and implementing Whole Systems Approaches to childhood obesity to tackle persistent and complex health inequalities. However, there is a lack of research on the practical application of these approaches. This paper reports on findings of a study into the initial implementation of this approach in Dundee, Scotland. Study design/methods: We applied a mixed methods research design: 1) semi-structured interviews (n = 9) with partnership members; 2) training members as peer researchers to interview their wider networks; n = 17); 3) an online survey among wider stakeholders (n = 27); and 4) two action learning sets with decision makers. Interview data was analysed using thematic framework analysis and survey data was analysed using descriptive statistics. Results: Dundee stakeholders stated that they had good knowledge of childhood obesity prevention efforts, but their engagement with working groups around identified priority themes was still limited, due to a lack of awareness about existing structures and knowledge about sustainable, impactful strategies, which were not always well-aligned between key organisations. Conclusions: Our findings extend current literature on facilitators for Whole Systems Approaches in public health by highlighting that understanding of strategies and wider structures are crucial to build capacity and maintain engagement to address inequalities. We identified an ongoing need for targeted communication and diverse involvement opportunities for different stakeholder groups
The Conflict of the Faculties, Again
Get PDFScenes of the history of conflict within the university, and also the university’s conflictual history and present, shape this chapter. Short textual essays are combined with original composite images made by combining artists’ representations of the university with conflict photography taken by members of the University and College Union, the main trade union of British university workers, during recent demonstrations. The essays touch on critical university studies from Kant to Derrida to Readings, via discussions of university protests such as the Harvard Butter Rebellion, May ‘68 in Paris and Rhodes Must Fall
Combining evidence and practice to optimise neck training aimed at reducing head acceleration events in sport: a systematic review and Delphi-consensus study
Get PDFHead acceleration events (HAEs) can potentially have adverse consequences for athlete brain health. In sports, in which head injuries have the highest incidence, identifying strategies to reduce HAE frequency and magnitude is a priority. Neck training is a potential strategy to mitigate against the magnitude of HAEs. This two-part study aimed to (1) systematically review the literature of neck training interventions in sport and (2) undertake an expert Delphi consensus on the best practices for neck training implementation to reduce HAEs in sport. Part I: a systematic search of four databases was undertaken from the earliest records to September 2024. The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis) guidelines were followed, and a quality assessment was completed using a modified Downs and Black assessment tool and the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation). Papers were eligible if they both (1) implemented a reproducible exercise intervention targeting the neck within collision, combat or motor sport, and (2) assessed outcomes relating to either: the physical profile of the neck; head/neck injury incidence; and/or HAEs. Part II: 18 international experts, with experience in research and/or applied practice of neck exercise training, concussion and/or HAEs, reviewed the part I findings before completing a three-round Delphi consensus process. Part I included 21 papers, highlighting the heterogeneity of existing interventions. Part II resulted in 57 statements coded into five categories: contextual factors (n=17), neck training periodisation (n=12), training adaptations (n=10), neck training content (n=15) and athlete adherence (n=3). This study presents recommendations for neck exercise training aiming to reduce HAEs in sport, supporting both practice and future research
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