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A figurational analysis of secondary Physical Education gendered changing room procedures and practices in England
Get PDFThis article provides ethnographic insights from one state-funded secondary school in the north of England detailing gendered differences within changing room procedures and practices when changing attire for Physical Education (PE). Attained through participant observations, focus groups with pupils, and individual interviews with PE teachers, the school’s changing rooms were found to encompass multiple spaces, which served dual intended and unintended functions and social consequences. Applying concepts of figuration (Elias, 1978), [gendered] civilised bodies (Elias, 2012), habitus (Elias, 1978), and emotions (Elias, 2001) as theoretical prisms revealed how PE teacher-informed procedures and expectations were gendered. Furthermore, with age, boys’ and girls’ diverging changing room behaviours and emotional navigations became increasingly gendered. This article demonstrates how changing rooms not only serve practical functions, but also evoke social and emotional processes which impacts peer-group dynamics and pupils’ experiences of PE. Given this, participatory action research could be undertaken aimed at creating more equitable, inclusive, and effective localised changing room policies, procedures and practices. This study could also be expanded into investigating policies, practices and experiences of other similar spaces, such as toilets and swimming pools
Emotional Skills Groups: A qualitative study exploring client experiences of online emotional skills group interventions in an NHS Talking Therapies service
No full textBackground: Many people treated in Talking Therapies services have highly complex needs which are not always met by the treatment offered. Emotional skills groups based on adaptations of dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT) have been offered to meet complex needs, but little is known about clients' experiences of these. Aims: This research aimed to gain insight into clients' experiences of online emotional skills groups in NHS Talking Therapies. Methods: Twelve participants who attended online emotional skills groups were recruited from a Talking Therapies service. Semistructured interviews focused on participants' experiences were conducted and analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA). Results: The central organising concept, ‘My journey from disconnection towards connection’ splits into three main themes: (1) finding life hard; (2) maybe this group will make a difference; and (3) re‐evaluating the importance of connection. These themes are broken down into subthemes allowing for a more in‐depth analysis. Originality/Value: There is little known about clients' experiences of online emotional skills groups in adult NHS Talking Therapies services. This research demonstrates the benefit and value of these groups, something that therapists and managers should consider when it comes to improving treatment outcomes and commissioning. Conclusion: Findings suggest that online emotional skills groups benefit people who experience a high level of distress but find it difficult to engage with standard Talking Therapies treatments. There is a need for a policy change so that online emotional skills groups can be offered as a widely available treatment for complex emotional needs in primary care
Exploring value co-creation and co-destruction between consumers & generative artificial intelligence (GAI) in travel
Get PDFLeveraging Analytics to Understand Food Consumption and Waste in Achieving Personalized Nudging
Get PDFManaging food waste is pivotal in advancing sustainable consumption practices. This study investigates how various factors such as food type, consumer spending, socio-economic characteristics, and demographics correlate with food waste patterns, utilizing data analytics and statistical analysis. Drawing on studies in green information systems (IS) and digital nudging, we propose three strategic nudging designs: pre-existing nudges based on food type characteristics, configurable nudges tailored to demographic and socio-economic profiles, and dynamic nudges responsive to evolving consumer behaviors. These interventions are designed to utilize behavioral insights to promote more sustainable consumer habits and present a novel methodology for substantially reducing food waste
Teachers’, parents’ and pupils’ perceptions and described experiences of toilet provisions and practices within English schools
No full textThis article explores teachers’, parents’ and pupils’ perceptions and described experiences of school toilet policies, provisions and practices within state-funded primary (5-11 years) and secondary (11-16 years) schools in England. In doing so, this research critically examines how school-specific policies and toilet provisions influence children’s and young people’s use of toilets at school and identifies issues which pupils must navigate within this heavily tabooed space. Seeking to portray a range of perspectives, we present data generated through three mixed-method surveys completed by 96 schoolteachers, 158 parents, and 198 secondary school pupils. Adopting an overarching wide-angled lens, we combine descriptive statistics with thematic analysis to detail similarities and nuances of parents’, teachers’ pupils’ perceptions around (a) accessibility to school toilets, (b) problematic pupil behaviour, (c) provision quality. The different perspectives offered provide a wide-angled lens which allows for a wider dialogue between pupils, parents and teachers. Our key findings underscore the need for standardised, equity-focused guidelines that address both infrastructural inadequacies and behavioural dynamics
Reversing Epigenetic Dysregulation in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Mechanistic and Therapeutic Considerations
Get PDFEpigenetic dysregulation has emerged as an important player in the pathobiology of neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases. Aberrant DNA methylation, histone modifications, and dysregulated non-coding RNAs have been shown to contribute to neuronal dysfunction and degeneration. These alterations are often exacerbated by environmental toxins, which induce oxidative stress, inflammation, and genomic instability. Reversing epigenetic aberrations may offer an avenue for restoring brain mechanisms and mitigating neurodegeneration. Herein, we revisit the evidence suggesting the ameliorative effects of epigenetic modulators in toxin-induced models of NDDs. The restoration of normal gene expressions, the improvement of neuronal function, and the reduction in pathological markers by histone deacetylase (HDAC) and DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitors have been demonstrated in preclinical models of NDDs. Encouragingly, in clinical trials of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), HDAC inhibitors have caused improvements in cognition and memory. Combining these beneficial effects of epigenetic modulators with neuroprotective agents and the clearance of misfolded amyloid proteins may offer synergistic benefits. Reinforced by the emerging methods for more effective and brain-specific delivery, reversibility, and safety considerations, epigenetic modulators are anticipated to minimize systemic toxicity and yield more favorable outcomes in NDDs. In summary, although still in their infancy, epigenetic modulators offer an integrated strategy to address the multifactorial nature of NDDs, altering their therapeutic landscape
Exploring classed patterns in the design and delivery of PE in a white, working-class school – A figurational approach
No full textSpatial Optimism in Individuals' Future Thinking about the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textSpatial optimism is the tendency to underestimate the severity of environmental threats in local relative to global contexts. We investigated whether spatial optimism was evident in people's beliefs about the estimated duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the initial peak of the pandemic, participants from 15 countries provided estimates of (i) when the pandemic would be brought under control and (ii) infection rates for their country and globally. Overall, individuals estimated that the pandemic would end sooner and with a lower infection rate in their own country relative to the rest of the world. This spatial optimism bias was moderated by the severity of COVID-19 at the country level, such that the bias was greatest in countries with lower levels of pandemic severity. Findings parallel those observed for environmental threats and provide evidence for a spatial optimism bias in a distinct domain of collective thought. Implications for public-health messaging are discussed
Implementation of Annual Health Assessments for Adults With Intellectual Disabilities: An Integrative Review
Get PDFPeople with intellectual disabilities (ID) face health inequalities, often arising from undiagnosed health conditions. An annual health assessment (or health check) administered by a primary care provider can be a systematic method of identifying these health conditions and initiating treatment and management, leading to better health outcomes. While these health checks are recommended in many countries, including the United Kingdom (UK), they have not been administered to all adults with ID. In light of this, the barriers and facilitators to systematic implementation have not been systematically studied. The aim of this Integrative review was to identify the barriers and facilitators to the systematic implementation of health checks, using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). This model has been used in implementation research and is useful in determining the levels of healthcare interaction that are involved in the delivery of this intervention. We identified 35 peer‐reviewed primary research articles that met inclusion criteria. The barriers and facilitators to health check implementation were extracted and coded according to the individual involved, whether it was a barrier or facilitator, and the domains and constructs of the CFIR model. We concluded that most factors related to the physician's role, as well as many factors related to the intervention itself. Some of these facilitators included the perceived efficacy of the health check intervention and the belief that it provides more comprehensive care. Some of the barriers include additional time that is necessary to implement the intervention and a lack of resources. Future interventions could train physicians and target some structural health system barriers to implementing health checks, and further research with physicians, patients, and carers is needed. This research may confirm the barriers and facilitators to health check implementation and explore methods to promote health checks
Spatial modelling of the shared impact of sexual health knowledge and modern contraceptive use among women with disabilities in Africa
Get PDFBackground
Women with disabilities remain highly vulnerable to sexual and reproductive health problems, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where their sexual and reproductive rights, such as access to sexual health information and contraception, are often neglected. This study investigated the spatial patterns of the shared impact of sexual health knowledge and modern contraceptive use among women with disabilities in Africa.
Methods
We used the most recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data involving 16,157 women with disabilities from ten African countries for this study. The data were analysed using both spatial and Bayesian inference to account for the shared component model patterns between sexual health knowledge and modern contraceptive use among women with disabilities while accounting for factors unique to each outcome. Bayesian inference via the Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation (INLA) was used for implementation. Priors for shared effects were set as log-normal distributions, while Gaussian priors were assigned to fixed effects. Intrinsic Conditional Autoregressive (ICAR) priors modelled spatial dependencies between districts, introducing spatial autocorrelation based on shared boundaries. Penalised Complexity (PC) priors controlled precision parameters to balance model complexity.
Results
The study revealed low sexual health knowledge (ranging from 3% in Nigeria to 27% in Uganda) and modern contraceptive use (ranging from 1% in DR Congo and Chad to 27% in Uganda) among women with disabilities across the countries surveyed. The spatial patterns showed diverse intra-country and inter-country disparities of sexual health knowledge and modern contraceptive use among the women, with lower shared impact observed in Mauritania, Nigeria, Uganda, Chad, and DR Congo relative to Kenya, Malawi, Mali, South Africa, and Rwanda. Factors that influence sexual health knowledge and modern contraceptive use among women with disabilities include education, marital status, place of residence, community literacy level, community socio-economic status, and age.
Conclusions and recommendations
Sexual health knowledge and modern contraceptive use among women with disabilities in Africa remain low, albeit with varied intra-country and inter-country spatial disparities. Therefore, spatial areas with low sexual health knowledge and modern contraceptive use should be given more attention when implementing measures to promote the use of modern contraceptives among women with disabilities. Promoting sexual health knowledge and modern contraceptive use among women with disabilities in Africa could significantly contribute towards the realisation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal agenda of “leaving no one behind”.
Background
Globally, women with disabilities are highly exposed to sexual and reproductive health problems due to systemic barriers and discrimination with respect to their sexual and reproductive rights [1, 2]. Despite the various legal frameworks, protocols, and agreements at national and international levels, women with disabilities continue to experience various forms of sexual and reproductive health violations, including forced sterilisations, forced abortions, lack of access to contraceptive choices, forced marriages, limited access to sexual health information, sexual violence, and sexual abuse [1, 3, 4].
These issues contribute to the increased risk of sexual and reproductive health problems among women with disabilities. For instance, lack of access to modern contraceptive choices and limited sexual health information has been associated with an increased risk of unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, among women with disabilities [5,6,7]. Yet, there is a lack of attention to the sexual and reproductive health problems of women with disabilities, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), although women with disabilities have the same sexual and reproductive health needs as those without disabilities [8].
Sexual health knowledge is important in equipping individuals with the right information, skills, and attitudes to make informed sexual and reproductive decisions and protect their health [9]. Most women with disabilities lack knowledge of sexuality and sexual health, which often limits their capacity to make informed sexual and reproductive health decisions [5, 10]. Lack of access to both formal and informal education on sexuality and sexual health [11] and limited availability of sexual and reproductive health information in disability-appropriate formats such as brailles, audios, and sign interpreters [1] often contribute to poor sexual health knowledge among women with disabilities. Other factors include hesitancy to approach carers on sexual health matters due to societal prejudice and lack of trained or experienced care providers [3, 12]. Meanwhile, limited sexual education and information predispose many women with disabilities to risky sexual behaviours, including having multiple sexual partners and lack of modern contraceptive use [5, 13], thereby increasing their risk of sexual and reproductive health problems.
Despite the importance of contraception in reducing unintended pregnancies, maternal morbidity and mortality, and preventing STIs, including HIV [14], women with disabilities face significant barriers to accessing modern contraceptives, especially in SSA [15, 16]. Access to modern contraceptives among women with disabilities is often limited by a lack of knowledge and education on contraception, poor socio-economic status, lack of disability-friendly healthcare facilities and policies, societal stigma, and discriminatory practices of some healthcare providers [15, 17]. Besides, evidence suggests that women with disabilities have a higher burden of sexual and reproductive health problems due to the lower prevalence of contraceptive use and higher unmet need for modern contraceptives in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), especially in SSA [18, 19].
The intersection of sexual health knowledge and modern contraceptive use remains an important research area in sexual and reproductive health [20]. Previous studies have shown that good sexual health knowledge increases the use of modern contraceptives due to an improved understanding of the available methods of contraception and how to access them [21, 22]. However, the intersection of sexual health knowledge and modern contraceptive use remains less investigated among women with disabilities in SSA, although they experience greater barriers in accessing sexual health education and information as well as modern contraceptives [15, 18, 23].
Besides, factors such as geographic location play a significant role in access to sexual health information and modern contraceptive use [24, 25]. For instance, previous studies revealed that rural-urban residency could influence sexual health knowledge and contraceptive use of women with disabilities [10, 26]. Nonetheless, the shared impact of spatial patterns of sexual health knowledge and modern contraceptive use among women with disabilities in Africa remain less known. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the spatial patterns of the shared impact of sexual health knowledge and modern contraceptive use among women with disabilities in SSA in order to highlight the geographic areas with increased vulnerability of women with disabilities to sexual and reproductive health problems, at the same time, utilising spatial pattern modelling will inform targeted interventions, that could improve healthcare accessibility, and promotes disability-inclusive policies