Promoting Health Literacy in Pregnant Women using a Lifestyle Intervention

Pregnancy is a unique time during which a woman is responsible for both her own health and that of her unborn child. Lifestyle choices during pregnancy such as physical activity, diet, alcohol consumption and smoking affect a woman's health, which in turn affects the health and development of the child. It is thus crucial for pregnant women to develop and maintain healthy behaviors that promote good health. One approach that can help is improving health literacy. Increased health literacy has a positive impact on understanding and applying health information and thus can improve health behaviors. However, current research is lacking in terms of investigations into health literacy in pregnant women. This dissertation fills this gap using four dissertation projects (DPs). A lifestyle intervention was developed to promote health literacy in pregnant women as part of prenatal care. The results of the DPs offer discussion approaches for integrating health literacy-sensitive counseling into prenatal care. DP 1 presents the current state of research on health literacy in pregnancy using a systematic review. Here, the level of health literacy and interventions to improve it in pregnant women are presented. DP 2 describes the development of a lifestyle intervention (GeMuKi) and how health literacy is addressed within this intervention. DP 3 addresses the development and evaluation of a knowledge-based questionnaire to assess pregnant women's knowledge on lifestyle topics. This forms part of the objective health literacy assessment in the lifestyle intervention. DP 4 evaluates the effectiveness of the lifestyle intervention (measured both objectively and subjectively) on improving pregnant women's health literacy. The results of DP 1 suggest that research in health literacy among pregnant women is scarce and requires more attention. There is a lack of studies that measure health literacy and efforts to improve it through interventions. The intervention developed in DP 2 includes a comprehensive lifestyle counseling and is integrated into the regular antenatal appointments. As part of the intervention, pregnant women are actively involved in the lifestyle counseling to positively influence health literacy. In DP 3, the developed questionnaire with a total of eight items is used to assess pregnant women's knowledge on lifestyle topics. The results show gaps on certain lifestyle topics. This concerns topics such as breastfeeding and recommended weight gain during pregnancy, which need special attention in counseling. In DP 4, the evaluation of the lifestyle intervention regarding health literacy shows that approximately 66% of the study participants had adequate health literacy. The intervention was not able to improve subjectively measured health literacy, while a significant, positive effect was achieved in improving objectively measured health literacy

Examining humor as a rheotrical tool: A case study on The Read

As race relations reach their worst state since the early 1990s, the Black American community has resorted to new and savvy rhetorical moves to communicate their point of view. This thesis takes on the podcast, The Read, in order to examine how humor is used as a rhetorical tool within the Black American community. Using a case study method, this research takes on a close examination of the five most popular episodes of The Read that aired between August 2015 and December 2015. The three philosophical theories of humor, superiority, relief, and incongruity, are coded within eleven controversial topics in order to examine how often those theories are used. While the relief theory of humor wasn’t used as often as the other two theories, the way the relief theory was used point to interesting moves by the hosts of The Read. 1) The relief theory allowed for the hosts of the podcast to use the tagline “Comedy”, even though they discuss difficult issues concerning race. 2) The relief theory of humor is almost never used on its own, almost always overlapping with the incongruity theory of humor and/or the superiority theory of humor. Although the focus of this thesis was on race, the other two theories of humor yielded interesting results. 3) The superiority theory was used the most in the five episodes of the podcast, and was used most often when discussing popular culture and celebrity gossip. 4) Although the incongruity theory of humor wasn’t used as often as the superiority theory, it proved to be the most versatile theory of humor. Future studies involving humor, especially studies involving race and humor, can find valuable information in this piece regarding how humor is used; however, future studies should consider larger sample sizes, conducting interviews to understand the effect of each humor, and non-Western humor formulations in their study

Nonparametric Test of Fit

Most statistical methods require assumptions about the populations from which samples are taken. Usually these methods measure the parameters, such as variance, standard deviations, means, etc., of the respective populations. One example is the assumption that a given population can be approximated closely with a normal curve. Since these assumptions are not always valid, statisticians have developed several alternate techniques known as nonparametric tests. The models of such tests do not specify conditions about population parameters. Certain assumptions, such as (1) observations are independent and (2) the variable being studied has underlying continuity, are associated with most nonparametric tests. However, these assumptions are weaker and less in number than those commonly associated with parametric tests

The Effect of ECB’s Corporate Sector Purchase Programme on CDS Premia - An Empirical Analysis

In response to the intensification of economic crises in the euro area, the European Central Bank (ECB), along with other central banks, has conducted both conventional and unconventional monetary policy. The most recent unconventional measure has been outright asset purchases under the corporate sector purchase programme (CSPP) targeting euro-denominated investment-grade bonds issued by non-financial corporations in the euro area. Using a Difference-in-Differences (DID) approach on a sample of euro-zone data I find that the CSPP initiative has consistently contained credit risk. In contrast, spillover effects to firms not subject to the CSPP policy are limited. Keywords: quantitative easing; unconventional monetary policy; asset purchase program; credit default swaps; corporatesector purchase program&nbsp

Pashtuns: Madrassa’s Cannon Fodders

After its partition from India in 1947, Pakistan’s geopolitical interests and deep cross-border ties defined its relations with Afghanistan. At the same time, Afghanistan’s relations with Pakistan have been defined by territorial sovereignty claims and support for Pashtun and Baloch nationalist separatism. Regional and international proxy wars and outside interferences further-heightened these contentious issues. This article shows that the role madrassas played in South Asian politics helped transform them into political organisations rather than purely religious institutions. The Taliban as a movement is commonly termed as an indigenous rural insurgency that emerged in response to the Afghan Civil War and political crisis. However, this article argues that their emergence and return to power is part of the same continuum of madrassa-led policy to instigate political violence against the Afghan state. Deobandi and other radical madrassas have played a historic role in producing the religious narratives to recruit Pashtuns by glorifying and romanticising their ‘pureness’, ‘simplicity’, and ‘faith’ as a Muslim’s primary political motivation. Therefore, Pashtuns from the NWFP, including FATTA and the broader region, became this strategy’s cannon fodder. The framework in this article presents a historical timeline documenting madrassas’ role in promoting jihad as a tool for glorifying political violence, first driven by the Indian Muslim Movements and later by the Pakistani state

A descriptive study of the grapes of Afghanistan

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Roadmap Guided Direct Percutaneous Vertebral Artery Puncture for Mechanical Thrombectomy of Acute Basilar Artery Occlusion: A Technical Case Report and Review of the Literature

Access techniques for mechanical thrombectomy normally include percutaneous puncture of the common femoral or, more recently, the radial artery. Although target vessel catheterization may frequently not be devoid of difficulties via both routes, the vast majority of mechanical thrombectomy (MT) cases can be successfully managed. However, in a significant minority of cases, a stable target vessel access cannot be reached resulting in futile recanalization procedures and detrimental outcomes for the patients. As such, in analogy to direct carotid puncture for anterior circulation MT, direct vertebral artery (VA) puncture (DVP) is a direct cervical approach, which can constitute the only feasible access to the posterior circulation in highly selected cases. So far, due to the rarity of DVP, only anecdotal evidence from isolated case reports is available and this approach raises concerns with regard to safety issues, feasibility, and technical realization. We present a case in which bail-out access to the posterior circulation was successfully obtained through a roadmap-guided lateral direct puncture of the V2 segment of the cervical VA and give an overview of technical nuances of published DVP approaches for posterior circulation MT

Transformasjonsledelse i offentlig sektor

Tema for masteroppgaven handler om transformasjonsledelse i offentlig sektor. Oppgaven ønsker å undersøke ledelsespraksisen til offentlige ledere og undersøke om det kan la seg forstå i bakgrunn av transformasjonsledelse. Problemstillingen for oppgaven er følgende: Hvordan blir ledelse praktisert av kommunale ledere og kan deres beskrivelser la seg forstå i bakgrunn av transformasjonsledelse Oppgaven har en kvalitativ fremgangsmåte. Det er gjort totalt åtte intervjuer med ledere innenfor offentlig sektor der det er prøv å hente ut beskrivelser og erfaringer relatert deres utøvelse av ledelse. Intervjuet er strukturert med formål å inkludere komponentene idealisert innflytelse, inspirerende motivasjon, intellektuell stimulering og individuell støtte. Disse komponentene utgjør som viktige premisser for utøvelsen av transformasjonsledelse. Funnene i undersøkelsen viser at ledelsespraksisen til lederne i offentlig sektor kan forstås i bakgrunn av transformasjonsledelse og at det har betydning for utøvelse av ledelse. Funnene fra studien indikerer på at lederne vektlegger visjonsarbeid, relasjoner, og opptre som rollemodell. Lederne i studien vektlegger det å være transparent og synlig i arbeidet som en viktig strategi i å skape inkrementelle endringsprosesser over tid og utøve ledelse på en effektiv måte. Andre funn i studien indikerer på at transformasjonsledelse har relevans for offentlige ledere sin ledelsespraksis. Dette indikeres gjennom ledernes systematiske arbeid innenfor de ulike komponentene. Ulike faktorer gjør at arbeidet med denne type ledelse kan bli problematisk grunnet antall medarbeidere og mellomledere, forskjellige avdelinger og tidskrevende arbeidsoppgaver. Offentlig sektor sitter med rammer og reguleringer for hvordan arbeidet skal gjøres, og oftest er det politikere på toppen som setter disse rammene. Funn fra studien tilsier imidlertid at lederne ikke opplever at de begrenset til en betydelig grad og at de opplever stor frihet og handlingsrom i utøvelse av transformasjonsledelse

Comparison of two stabilizingsystems of steel structure including the effect of earthquake design

Master's thesis in Civil and structural engineering (BYG508