The invisible paradox of inflammatory bowel disease: An analysis of men's blogs.

Inflammatory bowel disease is associated with stigmatising symptoms. Online support platforms eschew stigma, thus may appeal more to men who avoid traditional forms of health support. Using a critical realist netnographic approach and inductive thematic analysis, this study examined six blogs written by UK-based men to explore how inflammatory bowel disease was narrated. Three subthemes and one overarching theme - The (in)visible paradox of IBD - were developed. Findings suggest private aspects of inflammatory bowel disease risk experiential erasure, whereas public aspects lack control. Blogging facilitates the regaining of control, leading to important support connections and a re-imagining of the male inflammatory bowel disease body

Social Work Practice in a Rural Western State

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Mycorrhizal Colonization of Cover Soils

Richard Prodgers will talk about the formation and function of mycorrhiza in cover soils and how it is used in restoration. By presenting his results Rich explains natural colonization of biologically inert coversoils, and how plant roots recruit the fungi and how this initiates a complicated feedback of microbial activity. He will also evaluate the commercially available inocula

Vegetation Inventory and Revegetation Monitoring

Revegetation must be self-sustaining and self-repairing. Rich Prodgers’ presentation will focus on the evaluation of revegetation success of the Upper Clark Fork River Basin Superfund Complex following mine-waste removal. He will share his experiences on the different techniques used in the area, the specific challenges they needed to face and the long-term successes they had

Soil Health - Temporal Changes in Coversoil (Clean Borrow) on the Silver Bow Creek Superfund Site

Rich Prodgers’ presentation will focus on soil health in a Superfund remediation project using coversoil following mine-waste removal. He will discuss the changes in nutrient cycling, soil microbiology, and soil structure along Silver Bow Creek in the past 16 years and whether soil health has been restored

Men’s social media stories of Crohn’s disease: A dialogical analysis of three cases

Despite distinct sex and gender differences in the presentation and manifestation of Crohn’s disease, little research to date has considered men’s particular experiences. Furthermore, whilst hegemonic masculine ideals have been reported to negatively impact men’s mental and physical health, increasingly research has emphasised that men engage in a diverse and varying range of practices, including those beneficial to health. One such practice is the posting of their illness experiences on social media. Given long-term conditions can lead to a sense of disruption, the flexibility of social media - its ability to multimodally capture fluctuating, everyday aspects of illness - makes it arguably well-suited to capturing chronic illness narratives. The interactive nature of storytelling online means that a dialogical narrative approach, based on a relational epistemology, is particularly useful. Combined with an intrinsic case study methodology, this study therefore asked, “How do men who post publicly on social media author themselves and their experiences of Crohn’s disease?” Three participants were recruited, all of whom had a diagnosis of Crohn’s and posted to both a blog and other social networking sites (SNS) about their illness. Two resided in Canada, and one in the UK. All were white, cis-gendered and in heterosexual relationships. For each participant, two years’ of multimodal social media data was downloaded. After screening, in-depth analysis was conducted using a dialogical narrative approach. Pre-interview summaries were then developed and provided to participants in both written and video format. Follow-up semi-structured interviews took place via video call and further analysis followed. The analyses are presented in six individual chapters, divided into two overarching sections. The social media analyses highlighted the participants’ preferred forms of authorship, the different genres and/or particular configurations of time and space they used, and what this meant in relation to their Crohn’s, as well as the functions of their social media use. In the interview analyses, the participants’ responses to my interpretations were analysed alongside the social media cases. The key findings emphasised the participants’ different responses to the lack of predictability caused by Crohn’s and the resultant impact of this on their lives and embodied experiences; the different ways participants used social media to gain a greater sense of control over their stories and identities, as well as a sense of community; and how the degree of participants’ emotional engagement with both their own experiences and with others on their social media provided important insights into the interaction between masculine identities and illness. Finally, the study appealed to a consideration of how such novel methods may be utilised in future research and within therapeutic contexts

Revegetation and Bird Trends, Silver Bow Creek Superfund Remediation and Restoration

Silver Bow Creek runs approximately 25 miles from Butte to Warm Springs, where it joins Warm Springs Creek to form the Clark Fork River. This historic creek was terribly contaminated with mine wastes around the turn of the 20th century, leaving many slickens that persisted into the 21st century, when it became a Superfund remediation project. More than 5.5 million cubic yards of stream-deposited mine waste have been removed and 1,650 acres revegetated. Chief contaminants are copper, zinc, and arsenic, but acidic soils are often equally or more limiting to plants. The stream was relocated, and mine wastes were replaced with biologically inert cover soil. Richard A. Prodgers is currently a plant ecologist with Bighorn Environmental Sciences in Dillon, Montana