Winterizing Your Horse\u27s Feet

This publication gives tips and instructions on winterizing horse\u27s feet in order to keep them safe and healthy

Treatment, Services and Follow-up for Victims of Family Violence in Health Clinics in Maputo, Mozambique

Background: Family violence (FV) is a global health problem that not only impacts the victim, but the family unit, local community and society at large.Objective: To quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the treatment and follow up provided to victims of violence amongst immediate and extended family units who presented to three health centers in Mozambique for care following violence.Methods: We conducted a verbally-administered survey to self-disclosed victims of FV who presented to one of three health units, each at a different level of service, in Mozambique for treatment of their injuries. Data were entered into SPSS (SPSS, version 13.0) and analyzed for frequencies. Qualitative short answer data were transcribed during the interview, coded and analyzed prior to translation by the principal investigator.Results: One thousand two hundred and six assault victims presented for care during the eight-week study period, of which 216 disclosed the relationship of the assailant, including 92 who were victims of FV. Almost all patients (90%) waited less than one hour to be seen, with most patients (67%) waiting less than 30 minutes. Most patients did not require laboratory or radiographic diagnostics at the primary (70%) and secondary (93%) health facilities, while 44% of patients received a radiograph at the tertiary care center. Among all three hospitals, only 10% were transferred to a higher level of care, 14% were not given any form of follow up or referral information, while 13% required a specialist evaluation. No victims were referred for psychological follow-up or support. Qualitative data revealed that some patients did not disclose violence as the etiology, because they believed the physician was unable to address or treat the violence-related issues and/or had limited time to discuss.Conclusion: Healthcare services for treating the physical injuries of victims of FV were timely and rarely required advanced levels of medical care, but there were no psychological services or follow-up referrals for violence victims. The healthcare environment at all three surveyed health centers in Mozambique does not encourage disclosure or self-report of FV. Policies and strategies need to be implemented to encourage patient disclosure of FV and provide more health system-initiated victim resources. [West J Emerg Med. 2011;12(3):348-353.

'I don't think I ever had food poisoning' : A practice-based approach to understanding foodborne disease that originates in the home

© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).Food stored, prepared, cooked and eaten at home contributes to foodborne disease which, globally, presents a significant public health burden. The aim of the study reported here was to investigate, analyse and interpret domestic kitchen practices in order to provide fresh insight about how the domestic setting might influence food safety. Using current theories of practice meant the research, which drew on qualitative and ethnographic methods, could investigate people and material things in the domestic kitchen setting whilst taking account of people's actions, values, experiences and beliefs. Data from 20 UK households revealed the extent to which kitchens are used for a range of nonfood related activities and the ways that foodwork extends beyond the boundaries of the kitchen. The youngest children, the oldest adults and the family pets all had agency in the kitchen, which has implications for preventing foodborne disease. What was observed, filmed and photographed was not a single practice but a series of entangled encounters and actions embedded and repeated, often inconsistently, by the individuals involved. Households derived logics and principles about foodwork that represented rules of thumb about 'how things are done' that included using the senses and experiential knowledge when judging whether food is safe to eat. Overall, food safety was subsumed within the practice of 'being' a household and living everyday life in the kitchen. Current theories of practice are an effective way of understanding foodborne disease and offer a novel approach to exploring food safety in the home.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Towards a science and practice of resilience in the face of pain

The primary objective of this paper is to discuss how a resilience approach to (chronic) pain may advance our current understanding of (mal)adaptation to pain. Different resilience perspectives are described, and future challenges for research, prevention and treatment of (chronic) pain are discussed. Literature searches were performed in Web of Science and PubMed to identify relevant literature on risk and resilience in the context of pain. Resilience can be best defined as the ability to restore and sustain living a fulfilling life in the presence of pain. The Psychological Flexibility Model, the Broaden-and-Build Theory, and Self-Determination Theory are described as theories that may provide insight into resilience within the context of (chronic) pain. We describe how a resilience paradigm shifts the outcomes to pursue in pain research and intervention and argue the need for including positive outcomes in addition to negative outcomes. Psychological flexibility, positive affect and basic psychological needs satisfaction are described as potentially important resilience mechanisms with the potential to target both sustainability and recovery from pain. A resilience approach to chronic pain may have important implications for the prevention and treatment of chronic pain problems, as it may give specific indications on how to empower patients to continue living a fulfilling life (in the presence of pain)

Are mental toughness and mental health contradictory concepts in elite sport? A narrative review of theory and evidence

Objective: Athlete development and management encompass a complex interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors. Within elite sport, multidisciplinary sport science and medicine teams play an important role in achieving an optimal balance between preventing athlete ill-health and optimizing health and performance. The psychological aspects of athlete health and performance have gained increased attention over the past two decades, with much of this research concerned with the mental health of athletes and the concept of mental toughness. Recently, it was proposed that mental health and mental toughness are contradictory concepts in the world of elite sport. Although an interesting proposition, this claim was not substantiated. Thus, the purpose of this narrative review was to evaluate theory and evidence regarding the thesis that mental health and mental toughness are contradictory concepts in the world of elite sport, with the view to advance scholarly knowledge and inform professional practice. Design: Narrative review. Results: A critical evaluation of this literature suggests that mental toughness may represent a positive indicator of mental health, or facilitate its attainment, rather than be at odds with it. Conclusion: When implemented alongside multilayered approaches to organizational change (e.g., group structures, policies), mental toughness could be used as a 'hook' to attract athletes into settings that can open dialogue on the importance of mental health and improve knowledge of key issues (e.g., stigma, symptoms)

Drinking behaviour and alcohol-related harm amongst older adults: analysis of existing UK datasets.

Older adults experience age-related physiological changes that increase sensitivity and decrease tolerance to alcohol and there are a number of age-related harms such as falls, social isolation and elder abuse, which are compounded by alcohol misuse. Despite this unique vulnerability and the fact that the number of older adults is increasing, the literature on drinking behaviour and alcohol-related harm in older adults is sparse. This article describes a secondary analysis of UK data to address this knowledge gap

Gender differences in the impact of population-level alcohol policy interventions: evidence synthesis of systematic reviews

Background: Consistent review-level evidence supports the effectiveness of population-level alcohol policies in reducing alcohol-related harms. Such policies interact with well-established social, cultural and biological differences in how men and women perceive, relate to and use alcohol, and with wider inequalities, in ways which may give rise to gender differences in policy effectiveness.  Aims: To examine the extent to which gender-specific data and analyses were considered in, and are available from, systematic reviews of population-level alcohol policy interventions, and where possible, to conduct a narrative synthesis of relevant data.  Methods: A prior systematic ‘review of reviews’ of population level alcohol interventions 2002-2012 was updated to May 2014, all gender-relevant data extracted, and the level and quality of gender reporting assessed. A narrative synthesis of extracted findings was conducted.  Results: Sixty-three systematic reviews, covering ten policy areas, were included. Five reviews (8%) consistently provided information on baseline participation by gender for each individual study in the review and twenty-nine (46%) reported some gender-specific information on the impact of the policies under consideration. Specific findings include evidence of possible gender differences in the impact of and exposure to alcohol marketing, and a failure to consider potential unintended consequences and harm to others in most reviews.  Conclusions: Gender is poorly reported in systematic reviews of population-level interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm, hindering assessment of the intended and unintended effects of such policies on women and men

Monitoring local well-being in environmental interventions: a consideration of practical trade-offs

Within the field of environmental management and conservation, the concept of well-being is starting to gain traction in monitoring the socio-economic and cultural impact of interventions on local people. Here we consider the practical trade-offs policy makers and practitioners must navigate when utilizing the concept of well-being in environmental interventions. We first review current concepts of well-being before considering the need to balance the complexity and practical applicability of the definition used and to consider both positive and negative components of well-being. A key determinant of how well-being is operationalized is the identity of the organization wishing to monitor it. We describe the trade-offs around the external and internal validity of different approaches to measuring well-being and the relative contributions of qualitative and quantitative information to understanding well-being. We explore how these trade-offs may be decided as a result of a power struggle between stakeholders. Well-being is a complex, multi-dimensional, dynamic concept that cannot be easily defined and measured. Local perspectives are often missed during the project design process as a result of the more powerful voices of national governments and international NGOs, so for equity and local relevance it is important to ensure these perspectives are represented at a high level in project design and implementation

Positive psychology of Malaysian students: impacts of engagement, motivation, self-compassion and wellbeing on mental health

Malaysia plays a key role in education of the Asia Pacific, expanding its scholarly output rapidly. However, mental health of Malaysian students is challenging, and their help-seeking is low because of stigma. This study explored the relationships between mental health and positive psychological constructs (academic engagement, motivation, self-compassion, and wellbeing), and evaluated the relative contribution of each positive psychological construct to mental health in Malaysian students. An opportunity sample of 153 students completed the measures regarding these constructs. Correlation, regression, and mediation analyses were conducted. Engagement, amotivation, self-compassion, and wellbeing were associated with, and predicted large variance in mental health. Self-compassion was the strongest independent predictor of mental health among all the positive psychological constructs. Findings can imply the strong links between mental health and positive psychology, especially selfcompassion. Moreover, intervention studies to examine the effects of self-compassion training on mental health of Malaysian students appear to be warranted.N/