Women's use of complementary and alternative medicine in pregnancy: Narratives of transformation

Background: Pregnancy and childbirth constitute a time of transition in women’s lives. Many women turn to complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) during pregnancy. However, little is known about women’s experiences of CAM in relation to their pregnancy and childbirth journey. Methods: a narrative study aimed to gain insight into the experiences of women who use CAM in pregnancy and to explore the contribution CAM made to their pregnancy and childbirth journey. Interviews were conducted with 14 women who had used a range of CAMs during pregnancy and birth. Data analysis focussed on the meaning and significance of CAM use in pregnancy and a number of core themes emerged.Results: This paper presents some findings from this research which reveals a narrative genre that can be defined as transformational. CAM has a positive transformational effect on women’s experience of pregnancy and childbirth. Conclusion: Women’s narratives illustrate the positive impact of CAM on the subjective experiences of pregnancy and childbirth.Key Words: complementary and alternative medicine, pregnancy, holism. narrativ

KC 4.2: “Principles Text” in Action in Outstanding and Ordinary Landscapes

In 2011, the ICOMOS-IFLA International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes (ISCCL)began a cultural project, the World Rural LandscapesInitiative, with the goal of a wide and systematic approach to cultural heritage for rural areas both outstanding and ordinary) that has not been sufficiently developed in the past. A first goal has been achieved: “Principles Concerning Rural Landscape as Heritage” was adopted as a doctrinal text by ICOMOS (Delhi 2017) and translated in English, French, Chinese, Spanish and Arabian (worldrurallandscapes.org). This Knowledge Café will focus on methods and case studies to implement the main premises and contents of the PrinciplesText through a structured conversation with attendees. What actions have been developed to preserve and enhance the rural landscape that involve farmers, citizens, and public administrations and in particular that highlight nature-culture relationship and sustainable collaboration? The Knowledge café will be organized as follows: Lionella Scazzosi will briefly introduce the topic and present the PrinciplesText. Jane Lennon will provide a framework and some examples that illustrate best practices, actions and policies to implement the Principles. Workshop contributors will then lead a structured conversation to draw out ideas and gather case studies from all of the other session attendees. The goal will be to collect as many diverse ideas from around the globe with a focus on the interrelationship of natural and cultural conservation practices in rural landscapes. The ideas for implementing the Principles will be recorded and shared as outcomes from this conference and will assist in continuing the forward momentum of the field

An Innovative Teen-Centered Antenatal Care Model Compared to Standard Antenatal Care in Jamaica

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of pregnant adolescent mothers visiting two antenatal clinics in Jamaica Findings of focus group interviews held at a standard clinic and a teen-centered clinic were compared in terms of feelings and experiences coping strategies strengths hopes and challenges faced desires and needs or future plans as well as perceptions of the community and healthcare provided The teens described feelings of disappointment sadness betrayal persecution as well as renewed maternal support strength and determination to complete school The significance of maternal support to female adolescent mental health and resilience demonstrated in this study supports previous international research A Psycho-Social Determinants of Maternal Adolescent Health Model is introduced that provided guidance for the thematic analysis of study findings Innovation in the infrastructure of the teen-centered clinic expansion of the roles and philosophy of the staff as well as a structured group prenatal care delivery model are all innovations that may support the Jamaican maternity care system in achieving the Post-2015 Universal World Health Organization Goals for healt

Evaluating adequacy: the potential of budget standards

Since Beveridge, budget standards have been neglected in British social policy research. Empirical effort has been concentrated on developing social indicator methods of investigating relative poverty. This paper explores the potential of budget standards for assessing whether the scale rates of supplementary benefit are adequate. Three applications of budget standard methodology are presented

Validation of the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale in Youth Academy Soccer Players

The Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS) is a popular measure of Athletic Identity (AI). The purpose of the present study was to investigate the factor structure (7-item single factor and 3 factor model; Social Identity, Exclusivity and Negative Affectivity) of the AIMS within youth academy soccer players. A total of 259 male youth academy soccer players aged 12-18 years completed the AIMS. A series of confirmatory factor analyses, independent cluster modelling indicated support for the 7-item single-factor (AI) and the three-factor models but not within the same analysis. The results support the use of AIMS for the measurement of AI in elite male youth soccer players. Practitioners seeking to explore AI in youth soccer populations should use the three-factor model to glean further insight from the three subscales to support the design of more specific interventions where appropriate

College Readiness in Writing as Determined through Graduates’ Qualitative Perceptions

The aim of this study was to determine why, although rigorous standards in English language arts (ELA) have been adopted in a northwestern state and were designed to build toward college readiness, high school students graduating from a college readiness curriculum are not college ready in the area of writing. The purpose of the research was to explore graduates’ perception of college readiness, how a college readiness curriculum prepared them for college writing, and ways to improve that preparation. The theory that supported this study was the concept of college readiness. The key research questions for this study addressed how graduates of a dual enrollment college readiness curriculum describe the ways it prepared them for college-level writing and how graduates of a dual enrollment college readiness curriculum describe the ways it could have better prepared them for college-level writing. A qualitative methodology was chosen, with in-depth interviews conducted to collect data. The study state’s graduating classes were purposefully sampled for both graduating from a high school in the study state as well as attending a higher education institution within the state, and 12 graduates were interviewed via Zoom. After transcripts were created, codes were generated, and themes were established, several areas of improvement for dual enrollment writing curriculum were identified, including, but not limited to, rhetoric and argumentation instruction, synthesis and analysis of research, transfer of writing skills, and the inclusion of soft skills. If the contents of this study, especially the recommendations, make it into hands of dual enrollment writing teachers, their partner institutions, and mentors, it may result in greater success for future generations of college students

The construction of a postgraduate student and supervisor support framework: Using stakeholder voices to promote effective postgraduate teaching and learning practice

This article outlines the design and development of a bespoke Research Training Support Framework, targeting the professional development needs of higher degree research (HDR) supervisors and their students, which was achieved by implementing Patton\u27s (2011; 2012) utilisation-focused evaluation methodology (UFE). The primary research question was: What are the most suitable structures, components and content of an institutional framework to support Higher Degree Research (HDR) supervisors and their students at Avondale College of Higher Education? A mixed method design was used to gather data from students, academic staff and administrative staff using questionnaires, focus groups and interviews. Analyses of these data informed the Framework’s development along with previous research and advice from an advisory panel which comprised of national and international experts. Accordingly, the Framework was constructed around three core principles that served to guide the development of the Framework’s activities, processes and resources: 1) Welcoming research community, 2) The pedagogy of supervision and 3) Research development. The current version of the Framework has been designed to support postgraduate supervisors and students through the three key stages of students\u27 most academically-focused stages of their postgraduate journeys namely; Getting started, Confirmation and Research and writing. The research-informed approach used to develop this contextually-relevant resource is particularly relevant to small higher education institutions, especially those wishing to focus on capacity development. Further research is currently being conducted to evaluate how the Framework is being used

Partially Saturated Bicyclic Heteroaromatics as an sp³-Enriched Fragment Collection.

Fragment-based lead generation has proven to be an effective means of identifying high-quality lead compounds for drug discovery programs. However, the fragment screening sets often used are principally comprised of sp²-rich aromatic compounds, which limits the structural (and hence biological) diversity of the library. Herein, we describe strategies for the synthesis of a series of partially saturated bicyclic heteroaromatic scaffolds with enhanced sp³ character. Subsequent derivatization led to a fragment collection featuring regio- and stereo-controlled introduction of substituents on the saturated ring system, often with formation of new stereocenters.EPSRC BBSRC MRC Wellcome Trust D.G.T. thanks AstraZeneca for funding. S.L.M. thanks BASF for funding.

Reducing Postoperative Opioids After Minimally Invasive Hysterectomy with Enhanced Recovery

I Introduction: We evaluated the efficacy of various strategies utilized for the control of postoperative pain after minimally invasive hysterectomy. The primary enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol of interest utilized premedication (acetaminophen, celecoxib and pregabalin), then intraoperative subcutaneous liposomal bupivacaine followed by scheduled oral acetaminophen and ibuprofen postoperatively. Patients also had tramadol and oxycodone as needed for moderate or severe breakthrough pain, respectively. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study that included all patients who underwent minimally invasive hysterectomy (total laparoscopic hysterectomy and laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy) for both benign and oncologic indications over a 2-year period. We then compared six protocols, with 3 being ERAS protocols and 3 as traditional pain control methods. The control group was comprised of the traditional pain control group without intraoperative placement of local analgesia. Patient medical records were evaluated for demographics, surgical characteristics, opioid type and dose, pain scores, length of stay and complications. Opioids were converted to oral morphine dose equivalents. Results: 954 patients were included within the 6 protocols. Median opioid usage was the lowest in the ERAS group with premedication and highest in the control group (22.5mg versus 55.0mg, p Discussion: ERAS protocol with premedication was associated with significant reductions in postoperative opioid use and median pain scores when compared to traditional methods