Persistence of ethnic dress traditions in contemporary society: an interpretive study of Germany's Black Forest Trachten

2014 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.The ethnic dress of Germany's Black Forest, called Tracht, dates back to the 16th century and has historically been worn by rural inhabitants for social and religious occasions. Although most people living within the Black Forest do not presently wear Trachten (plural for Tracht), some persistence in this tradition exists. Thus, the purpose of this interpretive inquiry was to explore the factors that have supported the persistence of Trachten tradition, specifically related to the wearing and crafting of Trachten by women, in a contemporary society. The work was informed by theory proposing that ethnic dress is not static, but rather, changes across space and time in ways that enable its persistence. A qualitative, ethnographic approach was adopted. During her immersion in the field, the researcher conducted extensive observations to "develop an insider's view" (Genzuk, 2003, p. 2) of the Trachten tradition. Formal interviews were conducted with 10 individuals: eight adult female Trachten wearers, six of whom also were Trachten handcrafters, and two local Trachten experts. Numerous informal interviews with Trachten wearers and experts rounded out the data set. Data were analyzed using constant comparison processes. Analyses revealed that the maintenance of the Trachten tradition was linked to varied factors that revolved around the overarching themes of both persistence and change for wearers and handcrafters. More specifically, findings revealed that the persistence of the Trachten tradition could be linked to three factors: (a) formalized practice, (b) meaningful identities, and (c) desires to preserve and promote local culture. Additionally, the persistence of the Trachten tradition was further supported by change in the tradition, which was characterized by two factors: (a) Trachten as a "lived practice" and (b) the negotiation of Trachten authenticity. Thus, although, in some ways, Tracthen wearing and crafting were bound by traditions of the past, they also constituted a lived practice that reflected the incorporation of changes related to technological, social, and cultural patterns of contemporary life. Moreover, participants located relevant meanings (e.g., cultural identity, heritage, Heimat, authenticity) in their Trachten and related practices, thereby illuminating the role of such meanings in promoting the persistence of cultural traditions within a context of change. It is through these incorporations of the contemporary with the traditional that Trachten have remained relevant. As such, findings provided support for the proposition that ethnic dress may change in ways that actually enable its persistence

Commissioning home care for older people: scoping the evidence

Context: Many people over the age of 65 receive support from home care providers to enable them to continue to live at home. In the UK, local authorities (England, Wales and Scotland) and Health and Social Care Trusts (Northern Ireland) commission these support services. However, little is known about these arrangements. Objectives: To address this knowledge gap through identifying the lessons from research for commissioners of home care for older people. Method: A scoping review was undertaken to extrapolate the lessons from research for future practice. Searches were conducted in 2016/17 and the analysis was completed 2017/18. Electronic and manual searches of UK literature were undertaken using distinct terms to investigate the people, organisations and processes intrinsic to commissioning home care for older people. Findings: From a total of 1,819 papers and government reports, 22 met the inclusion criteria, indicative of a limited body of knowledge. A variety of research methods and designs were included with mixed methods most frequently used. Four lessons were identified relating to: the marketisation of home care; the future of care at home; promoting integration with local partners in commissioning home care; and areas for future research. Limitations: The focus on research evidence may have meant that potentially interesting insights to inform future commissioning strategies from conceptual articles were omitted from the review. Implications: Understanding the complexities of market management in commissioning home care for older people is still at an early stage of development. This review provides evidence to inform its future development of value to policy makers and practitioners

Mastering the Hard Stuff: The History of College Concrete-Canoe Races and the Growth of Engineering Competition Culture

This article details the history of college engineering competitions, originating with student concrete-canoe racing in the 1970s, through today’s multi-million-dollar international multiplicity of challenges. Despite initial differences between engineering educators and industry supporters over the ultimate purpose of undergraduate competitions, these events thrived because they evolved to suit many needs of students, professors, schools, corporations, professional associations, and the engineering profession itself. The twenty-first-century proliferation of university-level competitions in turn encouraged a trickling-down of technical contests to elementary-age children and high schools, fostering the institutionalization of what might be called a competition culture in engineering

Improving Chronic Pain Management Processes in Primary Care Using Practice Facilitation and Quality Improvement: The Central Appalachia Inter-Professional Pain Education Collaborative

Purpose: With the increasing burden of chronic pain and opioid use, provider shortages in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia have experienced many challenges related to chronic pain management. This study tested a practice facilitator model in both academic and community clinics that selected and implemented best practice processes to better assist patients with chronic pain and increase the use of interdisciplinary health care services. Methods: Using a quasi-experimental design, a practice facilitator was assigned to each state’s clinics and trained clinic teams in quality improvement methods to implement chronic pain tool(s) and workflow processes. Charts for 695 patients with chronic pain using opioids, from 8 randomly selected clinics in eastern Appalachia, were reviewed to assess for changes in clinic processes. Results: Statistically significant improvements were found in 10 out of 16 chronic pain best practice process measures. These included improved workflow implementation (P < 0.001), increased urine drug screen test orders (P = 0.001) and increased utilization of controlled medication agreements (P = 0.004). In total, 7 of 8 clinics significantly improved in at least one, if not all, selected and implemented process measures. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that practice facilitation, standardization of workflows and formation of structured clinical teams can improve processes of care in chronic pain management and facilitate the use of interdisciplinary services. Future studies are needed to assess long-term patient-centered outcomes that may result from improved processes of chronic pain care

Spatial patterns and environmental constraints on ecosystem services at a catchment scale

Improved understanding and prediction of the fundamental environmental controls on ecosystem service supply across the landscape will help to inform decisions made by policy makers and land-water managers. To evaluate this issue for a local catchment case study, we explored metrics and spatial patterns of service supply for water quality regulation, agriculture production, carbon storage, and biodiversity for the Macronutrient Conwy catchment. Methods included using ecosystem models such as LUCI and JULES, integration of national scale field survey datasets, earth observation products and plant trait databases, to produce finely resolved maps of species richness and primary production. Analyses were done with both 1x1 km gridded and subcatchment data. A common single gradient characterised catchment scale ecosystem services supply with agricultural production and carbon storage at opposing ends of the gradient as reported for a national-scale assessment. Species diversity was positively related to production due to the below national average productivity levels in the Conwy combined with the unimodal relationship between biodiversity and productivity at the national scale. In contrast to the national scale assessment, a strong reduction in water quality as production increased was observed in these low productive systems. Various soil variables were tested for their predictive power of ecosystem service supply. Soil carbon, nitrogen, their ratio and soil pH all had double the power of rainfall and altitude, each explaining around 45% of variation but soil pH is proposed as a potential metric for ecosystem service supply potential as it is a simple and practical metric which can be carried out in the field with crowd-sourcing technologies now available. The study emphasises the importance of considering multiple ecosystem services together due to the complexity of covariation at local and national scales, and the benefits of exploiting a wide range of metrics for each service to enhance data robustness

Integrating qualitative research within a clinical trials unit: developing strategies and understanding their implementation in contexts

Background/aims: The value of using qualitative methods within clinical trials is widely recognised. How qualitative research is integrated within trials units to achieve this is less clear. This paper describes the process through which qualitative research has been integrated within Cardiff University’s Centre for Trials Research (CTR) in Wales, UK. We highlight facilitators of, and challenges to, integration. Methods: We held group discussions on the work of the Qualitative Research Group (QRG) within CTR. The content of these discussions, materials for a presentation in CTR, and documents relating to the development of the QRG were interpreted at a workshop attended by group members. Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) was used to structure analysis. A writing group prepared a document for input from members of CTR, forming the basis of this paper. Results: Actions to integrate qualitative research comprised: its inclusion in Centre strategies; formation of a QRG with dedicated funding/roles; embedding of qualitative research within operating systems; capacity building/training; monitoring opportunities to include qualitative methods in studies; maximising the quality of qualitative research and developing methodological innovation. Facilitators of these actions included: the influence of the broader methodological landscape within trial/study design and its promotion of the value of qualitative research; and close physical proximity of CTR qualitative staff/students allowing sharing of methodological approaches. Introduction of innovative qualitative methods generated interest among other staff groups. Challenges included: pressure to under-resource qualitative components of research, preference for a statistical stance historically in some research areas and funding structures, and difficulties faced by qualitative researchers carving out individual academic profiles when working across trials/studies. Conclusions: Given that CTUs are pivotal to the design and conduct of RCTs and related study types across multiple disciplines, integrating qualitative research into trials units is crucial if its contribution is to be fully realised. We have made explicit one trials unit’s experience of embedding qualitative research and present this to open dialogue on ways to operationalise and optimise qualitative research in trials. NPT provides a valuable framework with which to theorise these processes, including the importance of sense-making and legitimisation when introducing new practices within organisations

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Abstracts from the NIHR INVOLVE Conference 2017

n/