The Stigmatization of Concealable and Apparent Intellectual Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of stigma when responding to people with apparent, visible, intellectual disabilities as compared to individuals with concealable, invisible, intellectual disabilities. Additionally, we aimed to discover if people with higher psychological flexibility would show less bias or stigma towards individuals with unconcealable intellectual disabilities. This study presented 63 participants with four self-report surveys: the Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons survey (ATDP), the Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory (MPFI), Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MCSD), and a demographic survey. Vignettes were added to the self-report survey to give participants further exposure to individuals with disabilities. We also asked participants to complete the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), which measures the accuracy and responding time of the association between images and target words. Generally, on the IRAP participants had an easier time saying that every individual was good and a harder time saying that any individual was bad. We found statistical significance between the ATDP and the Apparent- Positive Trial Type of the IRAP; Flexibility and Inflexibility; and Trial Types 1 and 2

Beyond the Volcanoes: A Community Partnership for Health in Rural Nicaragua

Background: Health inequities related to gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geography exist in rural Nicaragua due in part to lack of access to health services. The purpose of this ongoing project is to improve health equity in rural Nicaragua through social transformation using community-based participatory action research. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of human development, school health, and primary health care theories provided the framework for this research. Methods: Community-based participatory action research involves six phases: partnership, assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination. In the implementation phase, community residents were randomly selected to participate in the cookstove intervention. Survey data were collected on demographic variables, cooking methods, layout of the homes, and health. During the evaluation phase, survey data were collected on the same parameters at follow-up. Results: Compared with the initial survey, responses from the post-survey one year after stove installation showed statistically significant differences in the improvement of health factors related to cough, shortness of breath, eye irritation, and headaches among the women who received a stove. Conclusions: The results show that installing improved cookstoves with chimneys has decreased many symptoms previously experienced by residents of homes in which cooking had been over open fires in the past

Beyond the Volcanoes: A Community Partnership for Health in Rural Nicaragua

Background: Health inequities related to gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geography exist in rural Nicaragua due in part to lack of access to health services. The purpose of this ongoing project is to improve health equity in rural Nicaragua through social transformation using community-based participatory action research. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of human development, school health, and primary health care theories provided the framework for this research. Methods: Community-based participatory action research involves six phases: partnership, assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination. In the implementation phase, community residents were randomly selected to participate in the cookstove intervention. Survey data were collected on demographic variables, cooking methods, layout of the homes, and health. During the evaluation phase, survey data were collected on the same parameters at follow-up. Results: Compared with the initial survey, responses from the post-survey one year after stove installation showed statistically significant differences in the improvement of health factors related to cough, shortness of breath, eye irritation, and headaches among the women who received a stove. Conclusions: The results show that installing improved cookstoves with chimneys has decreased many symptoms previously experienced by residents of homes in which cooking had been over open fires in the past

Beyond the Volcanoes: A Community Partnership for Health in Rural Nicaragua

Background: Health inequities related to gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geography exist in rural Nicaragua. The purpose of this ongoing project is to improve health equity in rural Nicaragua through social transformation using community-based participatory action research. Bronfenbrenner\u27s ecological model of human development, school health, and primary health care theories provided the framework for this research. Methods: Community-based participatory action research involves six phases: partnership, assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination. In the evaluation phase, the goal was to use the data obtained during the assessment, planning, and implementation phases to evaluate the cookstove intervention in its ability to reach the community\u27s health-related goals. Pre- and post-test surveys were used to assess indoor air pollution including: kitchen layout, stove type, fuel usage, and women and children\u27s health. Results: Forty-eight community members participated in the cookstove evaluation. Pre-test surveys indicated that the community members used open fire stoves in closed kitchen spaces with wood being the primary fuel source. Women reported suffering from headaches, eye irritation, and chronic coughing. One year following the implementation phase, post-test surveys indicated a sustainable, significant improvement in women\u27s health (p=.05) but no significant change in the amount of wood used for cooking. Conclusion: Results from the cookstove evaluation were used by community members to guide the re-engineering of the cookstoves\u27 firebox to decrease wood consumption and improve deforestation. Partnership in community health research provides a mechanism to engage community members in social justice through working toward a common goal – sustainable health for all

Preoperative botulinum neurotoxin A for children with bilateral cerebral palsy undergoing major hip surgery: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial.

AIM: To assess whether preoperative botulinum neurotoxin A (BoNT-A) affects pain after major hip surgery for children with bilateral cerebral palsy (CP). METHOD: This was a randomized, parallel arms, placebo-contolled trial. Children with hypertonic CP aged 2 to 15 years awaiting bony hip surgery at a tertiary hospital were randomized to receive either BoNT-A or placebo injections into the muscles of the hip on a single occasion immediately before surgery. The primary outcome was the paediatric pain profile (PPP), which was assessed at baseline and weekly for 6 weeks. Treatment allocation was by minimization. Participants, clinicians, and outcome assessors were masked to group assignment. RESULTS: Twenty-seven participants (17 males, 10 females; mean 8y 8mo [SD 3y 9mo], range 3y 4mo-15y 10mo) were allocated to BoNT-A and 27 participants (14 males, 13 females; mean 8y 11mo [SD 3y 5mo], range 4y 1mo-15y 2mo) to placebo. Mean (SD) PPP at 6 weeks for the BoNT-A group (n=24 followed up) was 10.96 (7.22) and for the placebo group (n=26) was 10.04 (8.54) (p=0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI] -4.82, 3.18). There were 16 serious adverse events in total during 6 months of follow-up (n=6 in BoNT-A group). INTERPRETATION: Use of BoNT-A immediately before bony hip surgery for reducing postoperative pain for children with CP was not supported. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: Botulinum neurotoxin A (BoNT-A) does not reduce postoperative pain following bony hip surgery. BoNT-A also does not affect postoperative quality of life