Faith, sport and disengaged youth

Set against a backdrop of faith-based explorations of sport with disengaged youth, the present paper presents findings from a project which sought to re-engage young people with sport via Christian youth ministry. Locating project participants at the center of the analysis, the paper draws on empirical data from participant-observation and semi-structured interviews with six respondents to analyze the effects of sports training provision on the lives of those concerned. Although several sports ministry organizations work with both Christians and non-Christians, to date none appear to have been focused on the training of non-Christian young people to become sports leaders while at the same time exploring the Christian faith. The principal aim of the present study is to explore whether sports leadership training is a relevant and successful way of exploring a series of Christian beliefs, principles, and values. The secondary aim is to assess the impact of the sporting provision on the participants themselves. Findings suggest that all project participants reported that the Academy had a significant impact on their lives. The paper concludes that the project was successful in broadening the personal and spiritual life experiences of participants citing opportunities around inclusion, achievement, and increased self-worth as the most important outcomes

Negotiating the powers : everyday religion in Ghanaian society

Engagement with religion has recently become an important issue to development theoreticians, donors and practitioners. It is recognised that religion plays a key role in shaping moral frameworks and social identities, but little attention is paid to how this is played out in everyday life: the focus remains on ‘faith communities’ and ‘faith-based organisations’ as unified bodies. This thesis uses ethnographic methods to examine how members of two churches in rural Ghana are influenced by and engage with religion. Rather than viewing religion simply as (potentially) instrumental to development, it seeks to approach it in its own right. It challenges the rigidity of categories such as ‘physical/spiritual’ and ‘religious/non-religious’, and the notion of ‘faith communities’ as discrete, unified entities with coherent religious cosmologies. Insights from witchcraft studies and medical anthropology indicate that spiritual discourses are drawn on to negotiate hybrid and continuously changing modernities, and people tend to act pragmatically, combining and moving between discourses rather than fully espousing a particular ideology. Residents of the village studied appear to inhabit a world of different but interconnecting powers, which they are both, to some extent, subject to and able to marshal. These include God, secondary deities, juju, witchcraft, family authorities, traditional leaders, biomedicine and churches. Relationships with both spirits and humans are ambivalent and each of these powers can bring both blessings and harm. Religious experience is fluid, eclectic and pragmatic as people continually enter and exit groups and marshal different powers simultaneously to protect themselves from harm and procure blessings. Approaches by the development world seeking to engage with religion and to take seriously local people’s interests and viewpoints should thus be wary of oversimplification according to traditional Western social science categories, and be underpinned by an understanding of how religious discourses are interpreted and enacted in people’s everyday lives.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Faith, sport and disengaged youth

Set against a backdrop of faith-based explorations of sport with disengaged youth, the present paper presents findings from a project which sought to re-engage young people with sport via Christian youth ministry. Locating project participants at the center of the analysis, the paper draws on empirical data from participant-observation and semi-structured interviews with six respondents to analyze the effects of sports training provision on the lives of those concerned. Although several sports ministry organizations work with both Christians and non-Christians, to date none appear to have been focused on the training of non-Christian young people to become sports leaders while at the same time exploring the Christian faith. The principal aim of the present study is to explore whether sports leadership training is a relevant and successful way of exploring a series of Christian beliefs, principles, and values. The secondary aim is to assess the impact of the sporting provision on the participants themselves. Findings suggest that all project participants reported that the Academy had a significant impact on their lives. The paper concludes that the project was successful in broadening the personal and spiritual life experiences of participants citing opportunities around inclusion, achievement, and increased self-worth as the most important outcomes

Negotiating the powers: everyday religion in Ghanaian society

Engagement with religion has recently become an important issue to development theoreticians, donors and practitioners. It is recognised that religion plays a key role in shaping moral frameworks and social identities, but little attention is paid to how this is played out in everyday life: the focus remains on ‘faith communities’ and ‘faith-based organisations’ as unified bodies. This thesis uses ethnographic methods to examine how members of two churches in rural Ghana are influenced by and engage with religion. Rather than viewing religion simply as (potentially) instrumental to development, it seeks to approach it in its own right. It challenges the rigidity of categories such as ‘physical/spiritual’ and ‘religious/non-religious’, and the notion of ‘faith communities’ as discrete, unified entities with coherent religious cosmologies. Insights from witchcraft studies and medical anthropology indicate that spiritual discourses are drawn on to negotiate hybrid and continuously changing modernities, and people tend to act pragmatically, combining and moving between discourses rather than fully espousing a particular ideology. Residents of the village studied appear to inhabit a world of different but interconnecting powers, which they are both, to some extent, subject to and able to marshal. These include God, secondary deities, juju, witchcraft, family authorities, traditional leaders, biomedicine and churches. Relationships with both spirits and humans are ambivalent and each of these powers can bring both blessings and harm. Religious experience is fluid, eclectic and pragmatic as people continually enter and exit groups and marshal different powers simultaneously to protect themselves from harm and procure blessings. Approaches by the development world seeking to engage with religion and to take seriously local people’s interests and viewpoints should thus be wary of oversimplification according to traditional Western social science categories, and be underpinned by an understanding of how religious discourses are interpreted and enacted in people’s everyday lives.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Working Conditions in Carpet Weaving Workshops and Muscu-loskeletal Complaints among Workers in Tabriz - Iran

Background: Background: Carpet weaving operations usualy involve poor working conditions that can lead to the development of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). This study investigated MSDs among car-pet weavers in relation to working conditions from workers' view in Tabriz City, Northwest Iran.Method: This cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted in city of Tabriz, Iran. Data were col-lected using interviews and questionnaires. The study population consisted of 200 randomly selected healthy weavers from twenty five active carpet weaving workshops.Results: The results showed a high prevalence of musculoskeletal problems among the study population. The most commonly affected body areas were neck, lower back, ankles/feet, hands/wrists, upper back, shoulders and knees, respectively. More than half of the weavers were not satisfied with the thermal con-dition, noise level and cleanliness of the air in the workshops. The result indicated a significant relation-ship between upper back symptoms and daily working time and between lower back symptoms and the numbers of rows of knots woven in a day. Weavers' satisfaction with hand tools shape and thermal condi-tion of the workshops were associated with lower back symptoms, whereas satisfaction with weaving looms were associated with upper back complaints.Conclusion: The poor working condition of hand-woven carpet workshops such as environmental conditionsand work station design and tools should be the subject of ergonomics interventions

Hypoglycaemia in children and adults with type 1 diabetes: clinical implications

The proposed thesis will examine three areas of research: (1) the effects of hypoglycaemia on cognitive function in adults with and without T1DM, (2) the symptoms and awareness of hypoglycaemia in children and adolescents with T1DM and (3) hypoglycaemia and driving in people with insulin-treated diabetes: self-treatment and adherence to recommendations for avoidance. (1) Executive cognitive function governs organisation of thoughts, prioritisation of tasks, and time management. This study examined the effect of acute hypoglycaemia on executive function in adults with and without diabetes. Thirty-two adults with and without type 1 diabetes were studied. Two hyperinsulinaemic glucose clamps were performed at least 2 weeks apart in a single-blind, counterbalanced order. Executive functions were assessed with a validated test suite (Delis-Kaplan Executive Function). A general linear model (repeated-measures ANOVA) was used. Compared with euglycaemia, executive functions (with one exception) were significantly impaired during hypoglycaemia; lower test scores were recorded with more time required for completion. Large Cohen d values (>0.8) suggest that hypoglycaemia induces decrements in aspects of executive function with large effect sizes. In some tests, the performance of participants with diabetes was more impaired than those without diabetes. Executive cognitive function, which is necessary to carry out many everyday activities, is impaired during hypoglycaemia in adults with and without type 1 diabetes. (2) In children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) the prevalence of impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia (IAH) is uncertain. Questionnaires were completed by 98 children with T1DM (mean age 10.6 years) and their parent(s); hospital admission data for the previous year were collected. Awareness of hypoglycaemia was assessed using two questionnaire-based methods that have been validated in adults. For 4 weeks, participants performed routine blood glucose measurements and completed questionnaires after each episode of hypoglycaemia. The ‘Gold’ questionnaire classified a greater proportion of the participants as having IAH than the ‘Clarke’ questionnaire (68.4 vs. 22.4%). Using the ‘Clarke’ method, but not the ‘Gold’ method, children with IAH were younger and more likely to require external assistance or hospital admission. In contrast to adults, behavioural symptoms were the best predictors of awareness status. IAH affects a substantial minority of children and impending hypoglycaemia may be heralded by behavioural symptoms. The ‘Clarke’ method was more effective at identifying those at increased risk. (3) A clinical survey of an outpatient clinic population to ascertain current knowledge and practice among drivers with insulin-treated diabetes. A representative sample of 202 current drivers with insulin-treated diabetes completed a structured questionnaire. A minimum blood glucose level of 4.0 mmol/L or higher was considered necessary for driving by 74.8%, and 87.1% reported always keeping carbohydrate in their vehicle. However, 38.1% reported never carrying a glucose meter when driving, and 59.9% that they never test blood glucose before driving, or test only if symptomatic of hypoglycaemia. Most participants 89% would stop driving to treat hypoglycaemia although only 13.9% would wait longer than 30 min. Compliance with statutory requirements to inform the licensing authority and motor insurer is good

Inequalities in work-related fatal injuries

Work-related fatal injuries are predominantly a problem among males. The group most affected is those aged 55 years and over. In some European countries the mortality rate from work injuries has decreased for both sexes, but the greater reduction among female workers maintains the trends, since 2011, of predominance of fatal injuries among males

Creating a SNOMED CT reference set for common endocrine disorders based on routine clinic correspondence

We are grateful to the staff and patients of the endocrine clinic at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) for the survey responses and provision of data used in this study. We are also thankful to Dr Charlotte Lee and Dr Wendy Yap for their help with data analysis. No external funding was sought or obtained for this study.Peer reviewe

Acute hypoglycemia impairs executive cognitive function in adults with and without type 1 diabetes

OBJECTIVE: Acute hypoglycemia impairs cognitive function in several domains. Executive cognitive function governs organization of thoughts, prioritization of tasks, and time management. This study examined the effect of acute hypoglycemia on executive function in adults with and without diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Thirty-two adults with and without type 1 diabetes with no vascular complications or impaired awareness of hypoglycemia were studied. Two hyperinsulinemic glucose clamps were performed at least 2 weeks apart in a single-blind, counterbalanced order, maintaining blood glucose at 4.5 mmol/L (euglycemia) or 2.5 mmol/L (hypoglycemia). Executive functions were assessed with a validated test suite (Delis-Kaplan Executive Function). A general linear model (repeated-measures ANOVA) was used. Glycemic condition (euglycemia or hypoglycemia) was the within-participant factor. Between-participant factors were order of session (euglycemia-hypoglycemia or hypoglycemia-euglycemia), test battery used, and diabetes status (with or without diabetes). RESULTS: Compared with euglycemia, executive functions (with one exception) were significantly impaired during hypoglycemia; lower test scores were recorded with more time required for completion. Large Cohen d values (>0.8) suggest that hypoglycemia induces decrements in aspects of executive function with large effect sizes. In some tests, the performance of participants with diabetes was more impaired than those without diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: Executive cognitive function, which is necessary to carry out many everyday activities, is impaired during hypoglycemia in adults with and without type 1 diabetes. This important aspect of cognition has not received previous systematic study with respect to hypoglycemia. The effect size is large in terms of both accuracy and speed

Synthesizing diverse evidence: the use of primary qualitative data analysis methods and logic models in public health reviews

Objectives: The nature of public health evidence presents challenges for conventional systematic review processes, with increasing recognition of the need to include a broader range of work including observational studies and qualitative research, yet with methods to combine diverse sources remaining underdeveloped. The objective of this paper is to report the application of a new approach for review of evidence in the public health sphere. The method enables a diverse range of evidence types to be synthesized in order to examine potential relationships between a public health environment and outcomes. Study design: The study drew on previous work by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence on conceptual frameworks. It applied and further extended this work to the synthesis of evidence relating to one particular public health area: the enhancement of employee mental well-being in the workplace. Methods: The approach utilized thematic analysis techniques from primary research, together with conceptual modelling, to explore potential relationships between factors and outcomes. Results: The method enabled a logic framework to be built from a diverse document set that illustrates how elements and associations between elements may impact on the well-being of employees. Conclusions: Whilst recognizing potential criticisms of the approach, it is suggested that logic models can be a useful way of examining the complexity of relationships between factors and outcomes in public health, and of highlighting potential areas for interventions and further research. The use of techniques from primary qualitative research may also be helpful in synthesizing diverse document types. (C) 2010 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved