13,481 research outputs found

    Balancing the urban stomach: public health, food selling and consumption in London, c. 1558-1640

    Get PDF
    Until recently, public health histories have been predominantly shaped by medical and scientific perspectives, to the neglect of their wider social, economic and political contexts. These medically-minded studies have tended to present broad, sweeping narratives of health policy's explicit successes or failures, often focusing on extraordinary periods of epidemic disease viewed from a national context. This approach is problematic, particularly in studies of public health practice prior to 1800. Before the rise of modern scientific medicine, public health policies were more often influenced by shared social, cultural, economic and religious values which favoured maintaining hierarchy, stability and concern for 'the common good'. These values have frequently been overlooked by modern researchers. This has yielded pessimistic assessments of contemporary sanitation, implying that local authorities did not care about or prioritise the health of populations. Overly medicalised perspectives have further restricted historians' investigation and use of source material, their interpretation of multifaceted and sometimes contested cultural practices such as fasting, and their examination of habitual - and not just extraordinary - health actions. These perspectives have encouraged a focus on reactive - rather than preventative - measures. This thesis contributes to a growing body of research that expands our restrictive understandings of pre-modern public health. It focuses on how public health practices were regulated, monitored and expanded in later Tudor and early Stuart London, with a particular focus on consumption and food-selling. Acknowledging the fundamental public health value of maintaining urban foodways, it investigates how contemporaries sought to manage consumption, food production waste, and vending practices in the early modern City's wards and parishes. It delineates the practical and political distinctions between food and medicine, broadly investigates the activities, reputations of and correlations between London's guild and itinerant food vendors and licensed and irregular medical practitioners, traces the directions in which different kinds of public health policy filtered up or down, and explores how policies were enacted at a national and local level. Finally, it compares and contrasts habitual and extraordinary public health regulations, with a particular focus on how perceptions of and actual food shortages, paired with the omnipresent threat of disease, impacted broader aspects of civic life

    Spattered with Words: a stylistic toolkit accounting for the 'theatricality' behind the playwright/screenwriter's use of real and improvised language in creating drama texts.

    Get PDF
    This thesis documents investigations into the success (or not) of real, spontaneous dialogue when applied to the creation of a script for dramatic performance. The accounting for such success delves into different theoretical frameworks: conversation theory, stylistics, Cognitive Poetics, narratology, and extended cognition. This is therefore an interdisciplinary perspective, with ideas emerging from the fields of psychology, philosophy, literary stylistics and linguistics; yet all applied within the context of drama and performance. As such, this thesis may be seen as a playwright's 'toolbox' where the different views, as they necessarily overlap, can be seen as elements, which, when taken together, account for (and help in) the decisions an author may make in creating a text out of improvised speech. The investigation is also a search for the notion of 'theatricality' in the context of authentic speech and uses various forms of theatrical performance as examples, ranging from amateur improvisation to TV and film productions, Commedia dell'Arte to modern, immersive theatre. Finally, application of the theoretical frameworks is made to a current theatre project, The Plant

    Relaciones intergeneracionales: beneficios, satisfacción y limitaciones derivadas de la práctica de actividades presenciales y virtuales = Intergenerational relationships: benefits, satisfaction, and limitations derived from the practice of face-to-face and virtual activities

    Get PDF
    421 p.Introducción Durante las últimas décadas, el aislamiento social y la soledad entre los adultos mayores ha conducido a un mayor interés en el estudio de las relaciones intergeneracionales. Los programas intergeneracionales constituyen una gran oportunidad para que los adultos mayores conecten con personas de otras generaciones. Numerosos estudios han descrito los efectos beneficiosos de estos programas, mejorando la salud mental y física de las personas mayores y contribuyendo a una mejor formación académica y habilidades sociales en los niños. Las tecnologías digitales se han vuelto necesarias para realizar las actividades diarias de personas de todas las edades, incluyendo cada vez más a las personas mayores. Las TICs y las herramientas virtuales pueden ofrecer una gran oportunidad para que los adultos mayores conecten con personas de otras generaciones, lo que producirá beneficios en su calidad de vida y bienestar. Preguntas de investigación ¿Las intervenciones de base empírica empleadas para la evaluación de los efectos de las interacciones intergeneracionales cumplen los indicadores IBE y en ello influye el tipo de modalidad presencial, virtual o combinada? ¿La realización de actividades intergeneracionales de tipo presencial tiene un impacto positivo, en relación a sus beneficios, satisfacción y limitaciones, en todas las personas involucradas? ¿La realización de actividades intergeneracionales mediante el uso de herramientas virtuales tiene un impacto positivo, en relación a sus beneficios, satisfacción y limitaciones, en todas las personas involucradas? Objetivos Identificar los elementos relevantes que aseguran la eficacia de las intervenciones intergeneracionales tanto presenciales como virtuales. Evaluar los beneficios, la satisfacción y las limitaciones de las interacciones intergeneracionales derivadas de la realización de actividades presenciales. Analizar los beneficios, la satisfacción y las limitaciones de las interacciones intergeneracionales derivadas del uso de herramientas virtuales. Resultados Revisión sistemática (Artículo IV): Los análisis descriptivos y multivariados realizados mostraron que los programas con mayor número de controles IBE tienen mayor eficacia, independientemente del modo de intervención empleado, y que esta eficacia también está modulada por otras variables como la discapacidad de los participantes, su nivel de alfabetización o su pertenencia a una institución. Análisis de los beneficios, la satisfacción y las limitaciones derivadas de la realización de actividades intergeneracionales presenciales (Artículo VIII): El análisis de las variables sociodemográficas reveló que personas de 40 años o más, con autonomía personal, solteras o casadas, convivientes con su pareja y/u otro familiar y no jubilados realizaban actividades presenciales con personas de otra generación con una frecuencia significativamente mayor que el resto de grupos para cada variable. La mayoría de los encuestados que participaron en actividades intergeneracionales presenciales indicaron beneficios en su salud física y mental, estado de ánimo, relaciones, autodeterminación, participación social y educación académica. La mayoría de los participantes se mostraron bastante o muy satisfechos con la persona con la que realizaban este tipo de actividades, especialmente si esta persona era un amigo o un familiar cercano. Excepto los abuelos, las personas que participaron en actividades intergeneracionales presenciales y que no tenían limitaciones o discapacidades fueron las que indicaron los participantes con mayor frecuencia. Análisis de los beneficios, la satisfacción y las limitaciones derivadas de la realización de actividades intergeneracionales virtuales (Artículo IX): El análisis de los datos sociodemográficos de los encuestados mostró asociaciones significativas entre el uso de redes sociales y todas las variables analizadas, excepto su nivel de autonomía. La mayoría de los participantes que participaron en actividades intergeneracionales virtuales refirieron beneficios en su participación social, relaciones, estado de ánimo, salud mental y educación académica. Además, la mayoría de los participantes estaban bastante o muy satisfechos con la persona con la que utilizaron las herramientas virtuales, especialmente si esta persona era un amigo, su pareja, un hermano, otro familiar o un colega. Excepto los abuelos, las personas que participaron en actividades intergeneracionales virtuales y que no tenían limitaciones o discapacidades fueron las indicadas por los participantes más frecuentemente. Conclusiones El uso de herramientas digitales ofrece una gran oportunidad para el desarrollo de programas intergeneracionales con beneficios tanto para los niños y jóvenes como para los adultos mayores. Sin embargo, se ha identificado la necesidad de incrementar el número de intervenciones de tipo virtual que puedan mejorar la eficacia de las actividades realizadas y, al mismo tiempo, asegurar que se cumplan los indicadores de base empírica. Las interacciones intergeneracionales, tanto de tipo presencial como aquellas basadas en el uso de herramientas virtuales, pueden contribuir a mejorar la salud tanto física como mental, las habilidades y las relaciones sociales de todas las personas involucradas

    School Reintegration Following Hospital Treatment for an Eating Disorder; Two Case Studies with Multiple Perspectives on the Reintegration Process

    Get PDF
    School reintegration following hospitalisation has been explored for children and young people (CYP) with medical and mental health needs. No previous research was identified that specifically focused on the experiences of CYP who have returned to school following inpatient care for an eating disorder. A multiple case study design was used to retrospectively explore the experiences of two young people who successfully reintegrated to school following hospital support for an eating disorder. The study compromised of two case studies. The research focused on exploring ‘what went well’ and ‘what could have been even better’ during the school reintegration process. Semi-structured interviews were used in two case studies of a young person who had spent time at inpatient unit for over 6 months for support with anorexia nervosa before reintegrating into sixth form. Views were gathered from four participants in each case study: the young person, their parent, the young person's previous hospital school key teacher and the home school key person (who supported with the reintegration). The interviews were carried out remotely, via Microsoft Teams, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The dataset from each case study was analysed separately using thematic analysis and an overall thematic map was presented for the findings from each case study. Three themes were identified in Case Study One: young person’s strengths, preparation for young person’s return and supportive relationships and environment. Four themes were identified in Case Study Two: young person’s internal motivators and external motivators, preparing for school return, support systems, and sense of school belonging and connectedness. Findings are discussed in relation to previous research that has explored school reintegration following hospital support for mental health difficulties more broadly and psychological theory. Strengths, limitations and implications for schools, families and educational psychologists are highlighted. Recommendations for future research are also discussed

    Visuospatial Executive Functions are Improved by Brief Brain Training in Young Rugby Players - Evidence of Far Transfer Test Effects: A Pilot Study

    Get PDF
    Brain training apps are becoming increasingly popular for at home use and as an adjunct to more traditional therapies. There is uncertainty about whether the effects of brain training transfer to real-world cognition, or performance on other cognitive assessment tests, or is specific only to the brain training app. Executive functions (EF’s) are higher-order cognitive processes important for activities of everyday living and autonomous goal-directed behaviour [1]. EF’s are associated with frontal brain networks that are susceptible to injury after head trauma and concussion so it is important to know whether these functions can be trained after a short training period (transfer effects beyond gains on app play), to general cognitive ability but findings so far have been mixed. The present study investigated efficacy of brief computerised brain training to in producing far-transfer effects to performance on standardised clinical tests of cognition in young rugby players with mixed concussion history, over a 4-week period. Athletes cognitive ability was assessed at baseline and after the training period on standardised tests to establish whether there were transfer effects. The putative relationship between concussion frequency and severity on baseline cognitive performance was also investigated. Results showed effective transfer effects from initial training to selective visuospatial executive functions. There was also a decline over the training period in non-verbal strategy initiation, although ability remained at average levels. Players showed no cognitive deficits at baseline, but correlational analyses and MR results indicated that concussion frequency, not severity, was a significant predictor of some visuospatial executive function scores at baseline. These preliminary findings hold promise for full scale studies investigating efficacy of brief brain training and association between sport-related concussion and cognition
    • …
    corecore