Women's participation in education and training in New Zealand: is the 'learn while you earn' option accessible to all?

Strong education and training systems are viewed as a route to increased labour market participation for groups that have traditionally been excluded from, or marginalised in, the labour market. Engagement in the labour force for such groups has both individual and societal benefits. However, while this emphasis on an increased role for the state in education and training is encouraging, commentators have questioned the ability of 'Third Way' discourse to meet the unique needs of women, given the absence of explicit feminist dialogue in wider discussions on associated policy and practice. Informed by this critique, this article aims to evaluate changes in education and training policy and practice in New Zealand since 1999, in terms of the extent to which it enhances opportunities for women's participation in education and training

Erectile dysfunction: Why is it the ignored symptom of cardiovascular disease?

This study aimed to identify the reasons why erectile dysfunction (ED) is the ignored symptom of cardiovascular disease (CVD). A qualitative, ethnographic approach is used to elicit personal experiences through semi-structured interviews of 18 nurses, identified using a nonprobability purposive sample. Three different groups of nurses were interviewed, all with current experience of cardiovascular patients. Six nurses were interviewed in each group, which were cardiology ward nurses from secondary care and practice nurses and cardiac rehabilitation nurses from primary care. Burnard’s (1991) thematic content analysis was used to reduce and categorise the data under four main headings, knowledge base, role / best person, barriers and improvements. The findings demonstrate lack of knowledge about ED, the link with CVD, causes and treatment. Only one nurse thought discussions regarding ED were not part of his role. Thoughts regarding the best person to address ED were split between medical and nursing staff, although male staff were felt to be more appropriate this was rarely possible, especially within nursing staff. Barriers to addressing ED were embarrassment, age and culture of the patient and health care professional, the relationship between the patient and the health care professional, gender of the health care professional, the environment and lack of time and knowledge. Ways to improve the assessment of ED were identified, such as the need for training and the use of literature for patients, which will hopefully improve local knowledge about ED and therefore improve patient care.Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trus

Zooming into the structure of the microbiome

This month’s Genome Watch highlights how genome sequencing can be used to understand the strain-level diversity, evolution and spatial structure of the human microbiome, and to inform therapeutic strategies

A Journey Towards a Community of Musical Practice Through Music Generation Louth's Introducing Strings Programme for Schools

Introducing Strings is a large-scale performance music education programme established by Music Generation Louth in 2012 to widen access to musical participation and learning amongst children and young people in Louth. This study provides context for and presents a critical reflection of the development of the programme. It highlights key successes of the programme over its initial nine years and identifies a number of challenges that have emerged during that period. It determines the critical success factors that enable the programme to make a deeper impact beyond its function of being an economically effective model of performance music education. The research presented herein follows the model of a work-based project and, as a researcher, I provide both an emic perspective and an applied ethnomusicology approach. Throughout the project, this research informed and influenced the planning and programming choices for the MGL Introducing Strings programme, other whole class ensemble projects across Music Generation Louth. The learning has been disseminated across the Music Generation programme nationally and will continue to do so into the future. Themes that have emerged include musical enculturation and the development of communities of musical practice, partnership, performance, pathways for progression, pedagogy to include informal music teaching and learning, musical choices and continuing professional development for musician educators. This dissertation assesses the impact of one music performance education programme and its evolution towards achieving a community of musical practice in County Louth

The Influence of Alcohol Consumption on Fighting, Shoplifting and Vandalism in Young Adults

Experimental studies support the conventional belief that people behave more aggressively whilst under the influence of alcohol. To examine how these experimental findings manifest in real life situations, this study uses a method for estimating evidence for causality with observational data—‘situational decomposition’ to examine the association between alcohol consumption and crime in young adults from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Self-report questionnaires were completed at age 24 years to assess typical alcohol consumption and frequency, participation in fighting, shoplifting and vandalism in the previous year, and whether these crimes were committed under the influence of alcohol. Situational decomposition compares the strength of two associations, (1) the total association between alcohol consumption and crime (sober or intoxicated) versus (2) the association between alcohol consumption and crime committed while sober. There was an association between typical alcohol consumption and total crime for fighting [OR (95% CI): 1.47 (1.29, 1.67)], shoplifting [OR (95% CI): 1.25 (1.12, 1.40)], and vandalism [OR (95% CI): 1.33 (1.12, 1.57)]. The associations for both fighting and shoplifting had a small causal component (with the association for sober crime slightly smaller than the association for total crime). However, the association for vandalism had a larger causal component

A qualitative exploration of the barriers to healthy physical activity and diet in young adults with intellectual disabilities transitioning to adulthood

[Abstract unavailable

Social and environmental determinants of physical activity and dietary choices in adolescents with intellectual disabilities

PURPOSE: The prevalence of obesity is higher in those with intellectual disabilities than the general population. The aim of the study was to understand the determinants of physical activity and dietary patterns in this population during their final year of school. METHODS: Participants were recruited from four additional support needs (ASN) schools in the Greater Glasgow and South Lanarkshire area of Scotland. Qualitative data were generated from 10 interviews with adolescents with mild-moderate intellectual disabilities. A phenomenological approach was utilised to explore their perceptions of factors influencing their lifestyle behaviours. Transcripts were analysed for recurrent themes relating to PA and diet using a deductive thematic analysis, employing Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a theoretical framework. Themes were identified based on the explicit meanings of the data, until the point of saturation. RESULTS: Three major themes, each with two respective sub-themes, were identified as influencing participants’ engagement with PA and dietary choices. These were: 1) situatedness (sub themes: school culture and family/home culture); 2) motivation (sub themes: self-efficacy and social connectedness); and 3) wider environmental influences (sub themes: weather and availability and price). Overall, the school and home environments were found to have the strongest influence on participants’ lifestyle behaviours, but in very distinct and often conflicting ways. School structure, high self-efficacy, and social connectedness facilitate increased physical activity and healthier diet in adolescents with intellectual disabilities, whereas home life, low self-efficacy and a lack of social connectedness can serve as a barrier to PA and a healthy diet. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents’ environment and social interactions play a pivotal role in influencing physical activity and dietary patterns. These findings suggest that influences on the young people in this population’s PA and dietary patterns are multifaceted and complex in nature

The Use of Cremation Data for Timely Mortality Surveillance During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ontario, Canada: Validation Study

Background: Early estimates of excess mortality are crucial for understanding the impact of COVID-19. However, there is a lag of several months in the reporting of vital statistics mortality data for many jurisdictions, including across Canada. In Ontario, a Canadian province, certification by a coroner is required before cremation can occur, creating real-time mortality data that encompasses the majority of deaths within the province. Objective: This study aimed to validate the use of cremation data as a timely surveillance tool for all-cause mortality during a public health emergency in a jurisdiction with delays in vital statistics data. Specifically, this study aimed to validate this surveillance tool by determining the stability, timeliness, and robustness of its real-time estimation of all-cause mortality. Methods: Cremation records from January 2020 until April 2021 were compared to the historical records from 2017 to 2019, grouped according to week, age, sex, and whether COVID-19 was the cause of death. Cremation data were compared to Ontario\u27s provisional vital statistics mortality data released by Statistics Canada. The 2020 and 2021 records were then compared to previous years (2017-2019) to determine whether there was excess mortality within various age groups and whether deaths attributed to COVID-19 accounted for the entirety of the excess mortality. Results: Between 2017 and 2019, cremations were performed for 67.4% (95% CI 67.3%-67.5%) of deaths. The proportion of cremated deaths remained stable throughout 2020, even within age and sex categories. Cremation records are 99% complete within 3 weeks of the date of death, which precedes the compilation of vital statistics data by several months. Consequently, during the first wave (from April to June 2020), cremation records detected a 16.9% increase (95% CI 14.6%-19.3%) in all-cause mortality, a finding that was confirmed several months later with cremation data. Conclusions: The percentage of Ontarians cremated and the completion of cremation data several months before vital statistics did not change meaningfully during the COVID-19 pandemic period, establishing that the pandemic did not significantly alter cremation practices. Cremation data can be used to accurately estimate all-cause mortality in near real-time, particularly when real-time mortality estimates are needed to inform policy decisions for public health measures. The accuracy of this excess mortality estimation was confirmed by comparing it with official vital statistics data. These findings demonstrate the utility of cremation data as a complementary data source for timely mortality information during public health emergencies