Therapeutic Horticulture as a Healing Tool for Veterans

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) faces a plethora of challenges as it daily encounters and treats veterans. With a great prevalence of co-occurring diagnoses, veterans’ needs today are significant and arguably more complex than ever before (Clark, Bair, Buckenmaier, Gironda & Walker, 2007; Phillips et al., 2016). The following two papers seek to build a justification for reconsidering how post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is treated given the illness’ prevalence and the efficacy of current treatments. The first paper reviews the literature and includes: a chronology of the PTSD diagnosis; an examination of current treatments offered by the VA and consideration of their effectiveness; a discussion of current and alternative treatments offered for PTSD; and an exploration of therapeutic horticulture as a healing modality for veterans coping with PTSD. After reviewing the historical and theoretical foundation for this research, the second paper details a mixed method study designed to better understand the depth and breadth of therapeutic horticulture programs that have been operationalized at VA facilities. Using survey and interviews of VA personnel, the author elicited information about VA therapeutic horticulture programs and was able to deduce themes related to the genesis of programs, details of programs’ operationalization and facilitation, and the impact on veterans. The author concludes the study with recommendations for those VA facilities considering implementing a therapeutic horticulture program along with an appeal that the VA begins to more earnestly consider the increasing body of evidence concerning the efficacy of therapeutic horticulture

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The study of playability through the case of Slavic lore for immersion in English and Spanish editions of the game

The video games industry is, undoubtedly, one of the most profitable industries. Each year, video game companies release hundreds of different titles, participating in the race for critical acclaim and fans' recognition. Video games are subject to a complex localisation process, allowing international players to fully benefit from their entertainment value, regardless of the language they speak. Building on the concept of playability as the crucial measure of localisation quality, this thesis investigates how localisation affects playability, its key factors and their implication on playability itself. This research focuses on role-playing games (RPG) in which the narrative relies significantly on a given (authentic or fictional) (langua)culture. In this investigation, a handful of scenes from the Polish game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt were selected to compare how the Slavic elements interplay in different languages. A selection of scenes was analysed in the Polish, English, and Spanish versions. Following the Grounded Theory Method, the scenes were analysed with the application of the theory containing concepts such as othering, self othering, going native, and languaculture. The theory was then compared with the players' experience of the game, displayed on international fora such as Reddit.com or the CD PROJEKT RED forum. The results presented in this thesis show that the gamers' cultural immersion can be compared to the three steps of scientific fieldwork proposed by Malinowski and that it is achieved not only by the mentioned concepts but also by cultural connotations. Moreover, the study suggests that playability depends on gamers' participation and gamers' engagement. It also indicates that the informative and operative text types are used to create functional information; meanwhile, the expressive text category is being used to build the ambience of the game. The multidisciplinary approach and the results can be crucial in improving players' experience in localised games

The Trail, 2006-04-21

https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/thetrail_all/2888/thumbnail.jp

Academic Health Science Centers and Health Disparities: A Qualitative Review of the Intervening Role of the Electronic Health Record and Social Determinants of Health

Literature on the magnitude of negative health outcomes from health disparities is voluminous. Defined as the health effects of racism, environmental injustice, forms of discrimination, biases in science, and sociological or socioeconomic predictors across populations, health disparities are part of an ongoing and complicated national problem that health equity programs are specifically designed to address. Academic Health Science Centers (AHC) institutions are a complex and unique educational-healthcare ecosystem that often serves as a safety net for patients in vulnerable and lower-income communities. These institutions are often viewed as one of the most uniquely positioned entities in the U.S. with an abundance of resources and networks to advance health equity as a high-impact goal and strategic imperative. Relatively little progress, however, has been made to better understand the potentially transformative nature of how digital health technologies (DHT)—such as mobile health apps, electronic health record (EHR) and electronic medical record (EMR) systems, smart ‘wearable’ devices, artificial intelligence, and machine learning—may be optimized to better capture and analyze social determinants of health (SDH) data elements in order to inform strategies to address health disparities. Even less has been explored about the challenging implementation of electronic SDH screening and data capture processes within AHCs and how they are used to better inform decisions for patient and community care. This research examines how AHC institutions, as complex education-healthcare bureaucracies, have prioritized this specific challenge amongst many other competing incentives and agendas in order to ultimately develop better evidence-based strategies to advance health equity. While there are clear moral, ethical, and clinical motives for improving health outcomes for vulnerable populations, when an AHC demonstrates that electronically screening and capturing SDH can improve the ability to understand the “upstream” factors impacting their patients\u27 health outcomes, this can inform and influence policy-level choices in government legislation directed at community-level factors. A qualitative thematic analysis of interview data from AHC administrators and leadership illustrates how AHCs have mobilized their EHR as a featured component of their healthcare delivery system to address health disparities, exposing other related, multifactorial dimensions of the Institution and region. Key findings indicated that: electronic SDH screening and updating workflow processes within an AHC’s clinical enterprise is a significant venture with multiple risks and the potential of failure. Universal adoption and awareness of SDH screening is hampered by notions of hesitancy, skepticism, and doubt as to an AHC’s ability to meaningfully extract and use the data for decision-support systems. Additional investment in resources and incentive structures for capturing SDH are needed for continued monitoring of patient health inequalities and community social factors. Data from this and future replicated studies can be used to inform AHC and government decisions around health and social protection, planning, and policy

The translation of media technology skills to community mobilization in youth programs

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-88).Media is an important part of the political process, and alternative media is especially valuable for community organizing. Youth media programs can play a great role in the development of media technology as a community-building tool. This study proposes that a key way to bring youth into community mobilization efforts is through their interest in media and their deftness in learning how to use media tools. The combination of youth and media is powerful for communities and warrants discussion and development. This study begins the discussion first with an examination of media forms as a tool for grassroots movements. The potential of digital media is particularly emphasized. Secondly, a survey of youth media programs in the United States identifies ways that youth are already being served and provides the background for understanding how youth media programs equip young social activists in their local communities. Finally, case studies of two youth media programs investigate how, or if, the development of technical and creative skills around media translates to social and political mobilization, especially among youth. The use of media to bring youth into community mobilizing and to strengthen their efforts is promoted. The role of youth media programs in making this possible is put forth. This discussion of translating media technology skills to community action is significant, as it points to new directions in community organizing. As technology becomes more advanced and accessible to communities, digital media tools are increasingly significant in society and for groups who want to change society. The future of community development is closely connected to media and computer technology.by Linda A. Kim.M.C.P

American Square Dance Vol. 50, No. 10 (Oct. 1995)

Monthly square dance magazine that began publication in 1945

The Yup'ik relationships of qiluliuryaraq (processing intestine)

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2020This project explores multiple Native cultural contexts that intersect in the use and understanding of intestine. Gut (tissues of internal organs including stomach, intestine, bladder and esophagus) as a raw material was historically used by many circumpolar cultures to make items like drums, raincoats, hats, windows, sails, containers, and hunting floats. These items are abundant in museum collections, but rarely seen today in cultural practice or the art market. Intestine is a natural material that was replaced by synthetic materials, but its dual physical properties of protection and permeability are the only features replicated by plastics. Examination of intestine as an obsolete material reveals both changes and resilience in different kinds of relationships. Emphasizing the meaning and materiality of gut over analysis of artifacts made from it emphasizes interactions among human, animal, and spiritual beings over formalistic approaches privileging object interpretations. Preferential investigation of a raw material over finished artifacts focuses the study on actions and values in Native places. Fieldwork components for this study include documentation of indigenous gut processing, sewing and repair workshops in museum contexts, processing fresh intestine in the Yup'ik village of Scammon Bay, and discussion of gut with Yup'ik cultural experts. The theoretical approach uses Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as a foundation, animated with practice theory and relational ontology. Since ANT creates space for human, animal, and object agency, reciprocal relationships among these actors will be explored through frameworks of materiality, object biography, gender studies, animal personhood, and the gift. This endeavor may promote a new model for the use of material culture to illuminate Native values. In the case of intestine, its decline in use connects to changes in technology and spirituality while resilience and revitalization of gut technology promotes identity and demonstrates traditional values.Chapter 1: Introduction -- 1.1. Background -- 1.2. Gut as an Alaska Native traditional technology -- 1.3. Gut as an obsolete material -- 1.4. Gaps in gut knowledge -- 1.5. The research question. Chapter 2: Literature review -- 2.1. Overview of anthropological scholarship on Yup'ik culture -- 2.2. Indigenous accounts -- 2.3. Ceremonial accounts and spiritual concerns -- 2.3.1. Nakaciuryaraq: Bladder Festival -- 2.3.2. Elriq (The Feast for the Dead) -- 2.3.3. Kevgiq (The Messenger Feast) -- 2.3.4. First catch and Uqiquq (The Seal Party) -- 2.3.5. Imarnin (the gut raincoat) -- 2.4. Suppression of ceremonies -- 2.5. Curation and meaning -- 2.6. Accounts of processing -- 2.7. Scammon Bay. Chapter 3: Theoretical orientation and methodology -- 3.1. The network: all the agents -- 3.2. Human agents theorized through practice and gender -- 3.2.1. Pierre Bourdieu -- 3.2.2. Gender -- 3.3. Animal agents theorized through personhood and the gift -- 3.3.1. Marcel Mauss -- 3.4. Object agents theorized through materiality and biography -- 3.4.1. Alfred Gell -- 3.5. Agents in the network and relational ontology -- 3.6. Methodology to investigate networks and agents -- 3.7. Object agents: raincoat, gut-making, foods -- 3.7.1. The Imarnin as an object of shared interest -- 3.7.2. Intestine processing and the merits of "making it" -- 3.7.3. Yup'ik foods -- 3.8. Animal agents -- 3.9. Human agents in various fields of practice -- 3.9.1. Agents in institutions -- 3.9.2. Agents at Native events -- 3.9.3. Key agent: my collaborator -- 3.10. Conduct during participant-observation of village networks -- 3.11. Documentation of a village network. Chapter 4: Findings about networks and agents -- 4.1. The museum network -- 4.1.1. The Burke Museum in Seattle -- 4.1.2. The Cordova Museum -- 4.1.3. The Yupiit Piciryarait Museum in Bethel -- 4.2.1. Animal agents: where, when, and which? -- 4.2.3. Object agents: what do people bring hunting? -- 4.2.4. Human agents: who goes hunting? How are animals caught and shared? -- 4.3. The subsistence processing network -- 4.3.1. Uquq (seal oil) -- 4.3.2. Cooking and cuisine -- 4.4. Food networks -- 4.4.1. Pukuk (to pick all the meat from the bones) -- 4.5. The family network -- 4.5.1. Maqiyaraq (the way of steambathing) -- 4.6. The messenger feast network -- 4.7. The spiritual network -- 4.7.1. The women's meeting -- 4.7.2. Chuna McIntyre -- 4.8. The learning network -- 4.8.1. The Ulak household -- 4.8.2. The classroom -- 4.8.3. The shop -- 4.8.4. Learning in non-verbal ways. Chapter 5: Findings about intestine -- 5.1. Procuring the intestine -- 5.2. Removing the outer layer (Muscularis externa) -- 5.3. Removing the inner layer (muscosa) -- 5.4. Soaking -- 5.5. Drying -- 5.6. Cutting. Chapter 6: Analysis of agents in the network -- 6.1. Weather as an agent -- 6.2. Spirits as agents -- 6.3. Gendered agents -- 6.4. Gut is not an agent? -- 6.5. Failure of the Imarnin as a methodological tool. Chapter 7: Conclusions -- 7.1. Obsolescence and structuralist transformations -- 7.2. Obsolescence and spirituality -- 7.3. Revitalization and continuation: "What kind of person are you?" -- 7.3.1. Of givers and takers -- 7.6. Future directions -- 7.7. Broader impacts -- References

Wild Country Hall: Children’s learning at a residential outdoor education centre.

This thesis is about learning at a residential outdoor education centre [pseudonym:- Wild County Hall]. It poses and answers three questions: • How useful might discursive positioning be as a perspective on learning? • What are the discourses at Wild Country Hall and how are they different to schooling discourses? • How might neo-Liberal discursive practices, including performativity and current schooling orthodoxies have affected the pedagogic practices at this centre? The review of literature provides an overview of the key literature on outdoor, adventure and experiential learning, considering these through the lenses of learning as acquisition, participation and transformation, before discussing the literature on the discursive positioning of identity. Literature on the discursive practices of outdoor centres is then considered in relation to literature on neo-Liberalism and performativity in schools. The methodology is ethnographic. Participant observations were conducted over a period of five years whilst children were participating in both the organised adventure activities and the residential life of the centre. Searches of the centre’s documentary archives, and follow up interviews with 22 children (aged eight to 11) and three adults were used to add richness to the observational data, and especially to better understand reported participant gains. Analysis was undertaken by coding themes in the data using QSR NVivo N6. The findings suggest that acquisitional and participatory perspectives on learning are not totally adequate for explaining the reported changes in outlook and behaviour of the children who took part in the research. These benefits may be more usefully conceptualised as discursively re-positioned identity. It is suggested that the perspective on learning as discursive positioning may be usefully employed by those studying residential outdoor education in the future. The findings show a number of over-arching discourses that dominate the life of Wild Country Hall. These include place - including the appreciation, care of and respect for nature, the sense of awe and wonder, understanding and protecting the environment – risk, challenge and adventure; and consequent confidence and resilience building by children through facing and over-coming their fears. Whilst some of these fears are linked to the adventure activities of the centre (such as fears of heights, water), other fears are associated with the residential nature of the centre; encountering and coping with homesickness, living with new people, encountering strange customs and unfamiliar social practices. So important were these unfamiliar discourses to the participating children that they may be looked upon as ‘rites of passage’. The findings suggest that encountering unfamiliar discourses may explain the efficacy of learning at Wild Country Hall. Some of the pedagogic practices at Wild Country Hall were found to valorise what may be described as ‘classroom discourses’, and these have tended to formalise learning at the centre. It is suggested, therefore, that this outdoor centre has been influenced by performativity and classroom orthodoxy, themselves shaped by neo-Liberal agenda. These influences may be narrowing the range of discourses available and limiting the centre’s continuing ability to provide unfamiliar discourses, possibly to the detriment of children’s learning. The conclusion makes a number of recommendations for policy practice and research. Recommendations for policy and practice focus on the narrowing tendencies observed at this centre, suggesting shifts in policy to retain the distinctiveness of outdoor education centres. Recommendations for research suggest that follow-up studies would be useful to test the findings in other outdoor centres and other areas of learning, whilst more methodological work could be done on memory and data research sites where contemporaneous notation and digital recording may be difficult or impossible