Living with Dignity: A Pilot Study Implementing Dignity Therapy with Allogeneic Blood or Marrow Transplant Recipients

Dignity Therapy is a relatively novel therapeutic intervention designed to address psychosocial and existential distress among those facing life threatening circumstances. This narrative psychotherapy approach invites patients to reflect and speak about issues that are most important to them and hopes to elicit feelings of purposefulness and autonomy, characteristics that are typically waning when nearing end of life. Dignity Therapy consists of a ten question semi-structured interview designed to integrate themes of accomplishments and sources of pride, things that may feel unsaid, and/or particular lessons or wisdom that the patient hopes to pass on to loved ones. The interview is transcribed, edited with the patient, and provided as a typed “generativity document” to the patient. Dignity Therapy has been empirically validated to lessen symptoms of existential distress in various terminally ill populations. In this pilot study, the dignity therapy intervention was implemented with five members of a novel patient population; those who have undergone an allogeneic blood or marrow stem cell transplant following a diagnosis of blood cancer. These participants engaged in the Dignity Therapy intervention and then filled out a brief feedback questionnaire. It is our hope that this pilot study will serve as a feasibility study to identify if this intervention will be acceptable and meaningful to this novel patient population

Assessing Scotland's Progress on the Environmental Agenda

For good reasons the environment has a high political profile in Scotland. This report is concerned with three important components of the environmental agenda and the way in which they are being taken forward by the responsible authorities in Scotland. The delivery of environmental outcomes on agricultural land by means of a range of current policies, including agri-environment schemes, cross-compliance conditions on direct payments to farmers and implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive.The selection and management of a new network of Marine Protected Areas.Policy measures designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to mitigate climate change.Each of these topics is addressed individually in three separate chapters, aiming to identify some of the leading questions and the policy responses that have been adopted. The progress that is being made in meeting the objectives and aspirations set out in legislation and other key policy documents is then considered. Some of the objectives under review are determined entirely by the Government and by more local authorities in Scotland. Others arise primarily from obligations under EU legislation

Care staff intentions to support adults with an intellectual disability to engage in physical activity: An application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour

Researchers suggest that people with an intellectual disability (ID) undertake less physical activity than the general population and many rely, to some extent, on others to help them to access activities. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model was previously found to significantly predict the intention of care staff to facilitate a healthy diet in those they supported. The present study examined whether the TPB was useful in predicting the intentions of 78 Scottish care staff to support people with ID to engage in physical activity. Regression analyses indicated that perceived behavioural control was the most significant predictor of both care staff intention to facilitate physical activity and reported physical activity levels of the people they supported. Attitudes significantly predicted care staff intention to support physical activity, but this intention was not itself significantly predictive of reported activity levels. Increasing carers' sense of control over their ability to support clients' physical activity may be more effective in increasing physical activity than changing their attitudes towards promoting activit

Imaging material properties of biological samples with a Force Feedback Microscope

Mechanical properties of biological samples have been imaged with a \textit{Force Feedback Microscope}. Force, force gradient and dissipation are measured simultaneously and quantitatively, merely knowing the AFM cantilever spring constant. Our first results demonstrate that this robust method provides quantitative high resolution force measurements of the interaction The little oscillation imposed to the cantilever and the small value of its stiffness result in a vibrational energy much smaller than the thermal energy, reducing the interaction with the sample to a minimum. We show that the observed mechanical properties of the sample depend on the force applied by the tip and consequently on the sample indentation. Moreover, the frequency of the excitation imposed to the cantilever can be chosen arbitrarily, opening the way to frequency-dependent studies in biomechanics, sort of spectroscopic AFM investigations

“It’s a Lot Deeper than the Way It Looks”:An interpretative phenomenological analysis of body image for men with eating disorders

Men represent a proportion of those with eating disorders yet are neglected in the existing literature. One area with limited research is how men with eating disorders experience body image. This study investigated how men with eating disorders make sense of their experience of body image. Ten male participants with diagnosed eating disorders were recruited from four National Health Service specialist adult eating disorder services. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data analysed with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Analysis identified three themes: ‘Focus on Self’, ‘Focus on Others’ and ‘Systemic Influences and Pressures’. Findings indicated that body image was experienced intrapersonally, interpersonally, and systemically. This study adds to the limited accounts of body image among men with eating disorders. It is recommended that future research explore body image in underrepresented gender and sexuality groups and that clinicians incorporate the nuances of men’s experiences of body image into clinical assessment and treatment

Challenges Accessing Physical Activity from a Transgender Perspective: A Systematic Review

© 2023 The British Psychological Society. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.53841/bpssepr.2022.17.2.19The gender-diverse community faces numerous barriers that make physical activity difficult to access, meaning they are less physically active than their cisgender counterparts, compounding the existing health and wellbeing inequalities experienced by this group. The current study conducted a systematic review of sporadic literature relating to trans, non-binary and intersex people’s experience of physical activity with the aim of understanding how individuals negotiate and experience physical activity environments. A systematic searching of 8 databases and screening highlighted 30 academic papers for review. A narrative synthesis of the experiences of trans, non-binary and intersex individuals formed a three-layer model of influence. The first layer encapsulated the systemic and systemic influences such as transphobia and trans-moral panic. The second layer included external influences such as others’ behaviour, gendered spaces and exclusionary policies. The third layer was made up of internal influences such as internalised transphobia and gender concealment. The focus on fitting gender non-conforming individuals into a binary system through gendered spaces, pressures to switch teams and provide ‘proof’ of gender conformity set a dangerous precedent of the physical activity space as an unwelcoming and unsafe place for those who do not conform to the gender binary. If there should be a hope to address the health inequalities faced by the trans, non-binary and intersex community, the focus must move away from conformity and the debate of ‘fairness’ towards true inclusion and creating an environment where gender minorities can feel safe to engage with physical activity.Peer reviewe