Exercise Participation in Parkinson's Disease: A Qualitative Study

Exercise and physiotherapy improve mobility and health-related quality of life in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and exercise is now an important component of disease management. People may live with PD for many years and to maximise the benefits of exercise, individuals need to participate in exercise regularly. People with PD have a range of motor and non-motor impairments that could impact on exercise participation but there is limited evidence about the factors that influence exercise participation in this population. It is important for physiotherapists to understand these factors so that exercise programs can be developed to encourage uptake and sustain participation. A qualitative study explored the experience of 8 participants who were variously successful in a semi-supervised, 6-month falls prevention exercise program. The aim was to understand the participants’ meaning of exercise and how factors influencing exercise participation interact and impact on decisions made about whether to exercise or not. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using grounded theory methodology. It was found that, for this group, exercise participation assisted in reframing identity as individuals are faced with losses associated with ageing and PD. Three new influences on exercise participation were identified: the non-motor impairments of apathy and fatigue, a belief in a finite energy quota, and the importance of feedback. Decisions about whether to exercise were the result of a dynamic process of evaluation by the participants in which goals were crucial. A model was developed to explain the interaction of factors involved in making decisions regarding exercise participation. This thesis contains information on how individual factors interact and influence exercise participation in these individuals with PD, suggestions on how to address these in the clinical setting and offers directions for further research

An analysis of the second grade books of five basal reading series for science concepts

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Exercise Participation in Parkinson's Disease: A Qualitative Study

Exercise and physiotherapy improve mobility and health-related quality of life in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and exercise is now an important component of disease management. People may live with PD for many years and to maximise the benefits of exercise, individuals need to participate in exercise regularly. People with PD have a range of motor and non-motor impairments that could impact on exercise participation but there is limited evidence about the factors that influence exercise participation in this population. It is important for physiotherapists to understand these factors so that exercise programs can be developed to encourage uptake and sustain participation. A qualitative study explored the experience of 8 participants who were variously successful in a semi-supervised, 6-month falls prevention exercise program. The aim was to understand the participants’ meaning of exercise and how factors influencing exercise participation interact and impact on decisions made about whether to exercise or not. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using grounded theory methodology. It was found that, for this group, exercise participation assisted in reframing identity as individuals are faced with losses associated with ageing and PD. Three new influences on exercise participation were identified: the non-motor impairments of apathy and fatigue, a belief in a finite energy quota, and the importance of feedback. Decisions about whether to exercise were the result of a dynamic process of evaluation by the participants in which goals were crucial. A model was developed to explain the interaction of factors involved in making decisions regarding exercise participation. This thesis contains information on how individual factors interact and influence exercise participation in these individuals with PD, suggestions on how to address these in the clinical setting and offers directions for further research

Value for money in social welfare services?

There is an increasing focus on gaining ’value for money’ in all areas of public spending in the UK and worldwide . It is hard to conceptualise what this ’value for money’ means in relation to social welfare provision since the range of services provided through the public sector are so diverse. In relation to children’s welfare and protection, the services must cover: 1. protection from harm: physical and emotional; 2. protection from neglect; 3. prevention of harm and neglect. To evidence value for money these outcomes must be achieved

The Mental Wellbeing of Children and Parents When There are Child Protection Concerns – Can volunteers help?

In child protection work the main focus is on safeguarding the child and promoting better parenting. Focus on mental health is limited even though we know that problems with mental health (parental or child) impact on family functioning. An evaluation of an innovative scheme, ‘Volunteers in Child Protection’ that promotes volunteers to work alongside statutory child care workers in complex child protection cases measured the mental health outcomes for the family. At referral, two thirds of the families were dysfunctional, with children having emotional and behavioural disturbance and some mothers having clinical levels of depression. Repeat measures indicate improvements in children’s emotional wellbeing, family functioning and mother’s mental wellbeing during the volunteer intervention

Best and worst practice: a case study of qualitative gender balance in Irish broadcasting

This article focuses on the gender of voices chosen as sources and presenters of radio news coverage in Ireland. The study examines the best and worst case studies across public and private sector broadcasters and argues that the question of gender balance in broadcasting goes beyond the simple issue of quantitatively proportionate participation to require a more complex and qualitatively fair and balanced presentation of women within news programming. We find a very clear gender bias with male-dominated coverage in both public and private sectors but with greater stereotyping by the latter

A realist process evaluation of Enhanced Triple P for Baby and Mellow Bumps, within a Trial of Healthy Relationship Initiatives for the Very Early years (THRIVE): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: THRIVE is a three-arm randomised controlled trial (RCT) that aims to evaluate whether antenatal and early postnatal interventions, Enhanced Triple B for Baby (ETPB) plus care as usual (CAU) or Mellow Bumps (MB) plus CAU (versus CAU alone), can: 1) improve the mental health and well-being of pregnant women with complex health and social care needs; 2) improve mother-infant bonding and interaction; 3) reduce child maltreatment; and 4) improve child language acquisition. This paper focuses on THRIVE’s realist process evaluation, which is carefully monitoring what is happening in the RCT. Methods: Realistic evaluation provides the theoretical rationale for the process evaluation. We question: 1) how faithfully are MB and ETPB implemented? 2) What are the mechanisms by which they work, if they do, and who do they work for and how? 3) What contextual factors are necessary for the programmes to function, or might prevent them functioning? The mixed-methods design includes quantitative measures, which are pre- and post-training/intervention questionnaires for facilitators and mothers-to-be, and post-session evaluation forms. Qualitative data collection methods include participant observation of facilitator training and the delivery of a series of antenatal sessions in selected intervention groups (n = 3 for ETPB and n = 3 for MB), semi-structured interviews with facilitators, pregnant women, partners, and referring facilitators, and telephone interviews examining the content of the postnatal components of ETPB and MB. Discussion: The findings of this process evaluation will help researchers and decision makers interpret the outcomes of THRIVE. It will provide a greater understanding of: how the interventions work (if they do); the extent and quality of their implementation; contextual factors facilitating and constraining intervention functioning; variations in response within and between subgroups of vulnerable parents; and benefits or unintended consequences of either intervention. Few studies to date have published detailed research protocols illustrating how realist process evaluation is designed and conducted as an integral part of a randomised controlled trial

CSV Volunteers in Child Protection (ViCP): An assessment of impact and effectiveness

This study measured parent and child mental well-being and family functioning during the ViCP intervention to explore whether the intervention leads to improvement in mental health indicators with consequent increased mental capital. Mental capital encompasses a person’s cognitive and emotional resources and influences both the contribution that they are able to make to society and their experience of wellbeing. The study also looks at whether the level of concern about the safety of the children has decreased through the involvement of ViCP. In some cases, we found that ViCP identified unmet need

Outdoor Workers and Sun Protection: Knowledge and Behaviour

Outdoor workers are at high risk of developing skin cancer. Primary prevention can potentiallyreduce the incidence of skin cancer in this group. This study aimed to determine theknowledge and sun protective behaviour of outdoor workers towards skin cancer. A shortquestionnaire was used to collect data from workers on construction sites during workinghours. Despite workers having knowledge of the risks of skin cancer their use of sun protectionwas less than satisfactory, particularly considering their cumulative exposure.Workplace health education programs for outdoor workers addressing sun protection areindicated, as is further research to increase understanding of issues workers have withsun protection in the workplace

Bleeding Disorders in Adolescents with Heavy Menstrual Bleeding: The Queensland Statewide Paediatric and Adolescent Gynaecology Service

Study Objective: Heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) is a common gynecological complaint among young women with up to 40% having experienced HMB. Bleeding disorders are increasingly being recognized in adolescents and young adults with HMB. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of bleeding disorders in adolescents with HMB, among patients who presented to the Queensland Statewide Paediatric and Adolescent Gynaecology Service between July 2007 and July 2017. Design, Setting, Participants, Interventions, and Main Outcome Measures: The study was a retrospective review of 124 female adolescents aged 8 to 18 years with HMB who presented to the Queensland Paediatric and Adolescent Gynaecology Service, Brisbane, Australia. The primary outcome measure was diagnosis of a bleeding disorder, with secondary outcomes including iron deficiency and/or anemia and treatment modalities. Results: Screening for bleeding disorders was performed in 77/124 (62.1%) of patients with HMB. Twenty-seven adolescents were diagnosed with a bleeding disorder, giving a prevalence of 27/124 (21.7%) in those with HMB, and 27/77 (35%) with HMB who were screened. Of these 35%, von Willebrand disease was the most common bleeding disorder, found in 14/27 (51.6%), followed by inherited platelet function disorders diagnosed in 9/27 (33.3%), thrombocytopenia (inherited or acquired) in 3/27 (11.1%), and Factor IX deficiency in 1/27 (3.7%). Iron deficiency and/or anemia was diagnosed in 53/107 (49.5%) of patients with HMB who were screened for this, and 19/27 (70.3%) of those diagnosed with a bleeding disorder. Conclusion: Adolescents with HMB who present to a tertiary pediatric and adolescent gynecology service should be screened for bleeding disorders, because of the considerably high prevalence in this at-risk population