Patriarchal values : girls are more apt to change

Patriarchal values: girls are more apt to change How has the family value system changed between generations, especially when taking into account the gender dimension? This article presents some results from a study carried outin 2007 in one village of the Gourani tribe where the people are followers of Ahle Hagh in Islamabad Gharb (west of Iran). The differences between generations (those born and raised before and after the Islamic Revolution) in patriarchal values in the family are statistically significant. The older generation opts for the man of the family to make most of the decisions; on children’s education, marriage, naming, the families expenditure, the place for residence, the social network of the family and even the number of children. The younger generation has a different value system and it has moved towards a more egalitarian type of family. With the gender variable included in the findings we see that although the values of the younger male population have evolved toward a less patriarchal decision making structure inthe family, the degree of changes among the young women is much higher. Looking into the preferences for male sex for the first child as well as a larger number of boys in the family, the difference between generations is significant. However data on the differences analyzed with the gender variable proves that the changes concerning the equality of sexes are mainly due to drastic changes in the young women’s value system. That is, the male population, young or old, still prefer to have a boy as their first born and to have more sons in the family. But the young female generation in the rural area sees less difference in having boys or girls in the family. It is concluded that reforms in the old value system is an evolving process of everyday life and that the girls are the main social force for change.

Spiral drawing during self-rated dyskinesia is more impaired than during self-rated off

Background: A mobile device test battery, consisting of a patient diary collection section with disease-related questions and a fine motor test section (including spiral drawing tasks), was used by 65 patients with advanced Parkinson's disease (PD)(treated with intraduodenal levodopa/carbidopa gel infusion, Duodopa®, or candidates for this treatment) on 10439 test occasions in their home environments. On each occasion, patients traced three pre-drawn Archimedes spirals using an ergonomic stylus and self-assessed their motor function on a global Treatment Response Scale (TRS) ranging from -3 = very 'off' to 0 = 'on' to +3 = very dyskinetic. The spirals were processed by a computer-based method that generates a "spiral score" representing the PD-related drawing impairment. The scale for the score was based on a modified Bain & Findley rating scale in the range from 0 = no impairment to 5 = moderate impairment to 10 = extremely severe impairment. Objective: To analyze the test battery data for the purpose to find differences in spiral drawing performance of PD patients in relation to their self-assessments of motor function. Methods: Three motor states were used in the analysis; OFF state (including moderate and very 'off'), ON state ('on') and a dyskinetic (DYS) state (moderate and very dyskinetic). In order to avoid the problem of multiple test occasions per patient, 200 random samples of single test occasions per patient were drawn. One-way analysis of variance, ANOVA, test followed by Tukey multiple comparisons test was used to test if mean values of spiral test parameters, i.e. the spiral score and drawing completion times (in seconds), were different among the three motor states. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. To investigate changes in the spiral score over the time-of-day test sessions for the three motor states, plots of statistical summaries were inspected. Results: The mean spiral score differed significantly across the three self-assessed motor states (p<0.001, ANOVA test). Tukey post-hoc comparisons indicate that the mean spiral score (mean ± SD; [95% CI for mean]) in DYS state (5.2 ± 1.8; [5.12, 5.28]) was higher than the mean spiral score in OFF (4.3 ± 1.7; [4.22, 4.37]) and ON (4.2 ± 1.7; [4.17, 4.29]) states. The mean spiral score was also significantly different among individual TRS values of slightly 'off' (4.02 ± 1.63), 'on' (4.07 ± 1.65) and slightly dyskinetic (4.6 ± 1.71), (p<0.001). There were no differences in drawing completion times among the three motor states (p=0.509). In the OFF and ON states, patients drew slightly more impaired spirals in the afternoon whereas in the DYS state the spiral drawing performance was more impaired in the morning. Conclusion: It was found that when patients considered themselves as being dyskinetic spiral drawing was more impaired (nearly one unit change in a 0-10 scale) compared to when they considered themselves as being 'off' and 'on'. The spiral drawing at patients that self-assessed their motor state as dyskinetic was slightly more impaired in the morning hours, between 8 and 12 o'clock, a situation possibly caused by the morning dose effect.

Materialising bodies : there is nothing more material than a socially constructed body.

Over the last one of two decades, researchers within the physical education (PE) and sport pedagogy research frequently use the concept ‘the material body’. An initial purpose of this article is to explore what a concept of a ‘material body’ might mean. What other bodies are there? Who would dispute the materiality of bodies? I suggest that the use of a concept as ‘the material body’ suggests a hesitation before the radicalism of the linguistic turn in the sense that the concept ‘discourse’ does not include a material dimension. In this way ‘the material body’ relates to an interpretation of ‘the socially (or discursively) constructed body’ as void of matter. A further purpose with the article is to re-inscribe matter in the concept of ‘discourse’. This is done by way of discussing what theorists like Michel Foucault and, in particular, Judith Butler, has to say about the materiality of the body. In their writings, discourse should not be limited to spoken and/or written language. Rather, discourse is understood in terms of actions and events that create meanings—that matters. One conclusion of the article is that it is important to problematise the mundane view of discourse as ‘verbal interchange’ because it reinforces the promise of an objective knowledge that will eventually shed light on the ‘real’ body and the mysteries of sexual difference, what its origins are, what causes it. Another conclusion is that the PE and sport pedagogy research should pay less attention to the body as an object (what it ‘is’), and pay more attention to how the body matters, and e.g. how movements make bodies matter.

Upplevelser av bemötande i vården hos patienter med fibromyalgi- en litteraturöversikt

Bakgrund: Fibromyalgi är ett långvarigt kroniskt smärttillstånd som grundar sig på individens subjektiva smärtupplevelse. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva hur patienter med fibromyalgi upplevt bemötande i vården. Metod: Denna litteraturöversikt baseras på tretton vetenskapliga artiklar. Resultat: Resultatet resulterade i två huvudkategorier "Patienters upplevelser av bemötande" och "Kunskap och stöd från vårdpersonalen". Patienterna med fibromyalgi upplever dåligt bemötande och att vårdpersonal saknar kunskap om både diagnos och behandling av fibromyalgi. I vården upplever dessa patienter misstro och att de blir dåligt bemötta när de söker för sina smärtsymtom. Patienter med fibromyalgidiagnos önskar ett personcentrerat bemötande och mer tid av sina läkare. Slutsatser: Litteraturöversikten visar att patienter med fibromyalgi i stor utsträckning uppger att de upplever dåligt bemötande, okunskap och brist på engagemang i vården. Framtida forskningen bör fokusera på hur vården kan arbeta mer personcentrerat i denna patientgrupp till exempel genom interventionsstudier.

Making Energy Interventions more Effective : Situation, Interaction, and Precondition

A main purpose of this paper is to propose to policy makers, building professionals, and other non-social scientists a way to make energy interventions more culturally informed and, thereby, more effective. The case study on house purchasers gives an ample illustration of the richer results that can be achieved by paying attention to three aspects of energy efficiency initiatives: the contexts and situations of choice in each particular case, the interaction among relevant social actors, and the culture-specific preconditions for choice. Research on how purchasers of new pre-fabricated houses in Sweden choose their heating system show how such decisions tend to fall between two stools. Furthermore, the organizational structure of housing companies frames house purchasers' decision making. An important result is that energy saving or conversion measures must be promoted at an early stage amongst those who plan and construct buildings (rather than later amongst dwellers and energy end users).

More than a reader and less than a critic: literary authority and women`s book-discussion groups

The phenomenon of women reading books collaboratively is largely invisible, and certainly under-researched. This study, based on extensive circulation figures and on a small sample of members of four Council of Adult Education reading groups in metropolitan Melbourne, argues that such groups have a reading repertoire which is seriously middlebrow, far removed from the “wish-fulfillment” or “lazy reader” stereotypes purveyed by some who would scorn such groups. The study finds that such groups are sensitively served by the institution which hosts them. While such groups do not question the aesthetic assumptions that underlie their practice, they are combative with some manifestations of the literary establishment. Their powerful preferences for contemporary Australian women's fiction and their participation in global debates via identity politics suggests they warrant closer examination, both within Australian culture, and to find out if such groups have counterparts in other cultures.

An `upside-down` view of rural health care

Access to high quality health care services plays an important part in the health of rural communities and individuals. This fact is reflected in efforts by governments to improve the quality of such services through better targeting of funds and more efficient management of services. In Australia, the difficulties experienced by rural communities in attracting and retaining doctors has long been recognized as a contributing factor to the relatively higher levels of morbidity and mortality in rural areas. However, this paper, based on a study of two small rural communities in Australia, suggests that resolving the health problems of rural communities will require more than simply increasing the quality and accessibility of health services. Health and well-being in such communities relates as much to the sense of community cohesion as it does to the direct provision of medical services. Over recent years, that cohesion has diminished, undermined in part by government policies that have fuelled an exodus from small rural communities to urban areas. Until governments begin to take an 'upside-down' perspective, focusing on building healthy communities rather than simply on building hospitals to make communities healthy, the disadvantages faced by rural people will continue to be exacerbated.

Why primary health care offers a more comprehensive approach to tackling health inequities than primary care.

As governments attempt to focus more intently on how to deal with alarming measures of health disadvantage and inequities, a reformist gaze seems to have settled on the primary care sector. Simultaneously, in literature about this area, whether intended or not, primary health care and primary care are terms that are increasingly interchanged. This article argues that the slippage in language is counter-productive, first because it disguises the transformative potential of strategies and approaches that can make the fundamental changes necessary to improve health status, and second because the structures and practices of the primary care sector are not necessarily compatible with notions of comprehensive primary health care. There is much to be lost if primary health care and health promotion are disguised as primary care, and not understood for their capacity to make a difference to health inequities although of course in some circumstances, comprehensive primary health care is interdependent with services provided by primary care. In this article, characteristics of primary care and primary health care are juxtaposed to show that if the strengths and limitations of each model are understood, they can be mobilised in collaborative partnerships to deal more effectively with health inequities, than our system has so far been able to do.

Population based intervention to change back pain beliefs and disability : three part evaluation

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a population based, state-wide public health intervention designed to alter beliefs about back pain, influence medical management, and reduce disability and costs of compensation. Design Quasi-experimental, non-randomised, non-equivalent, before and after telephone surveys of the general population and postal surveys of general practitioners with an adjacent state as control group and descriptive analysis of claims database. Setting Two states in Australia Participants 4730 members of general population before and two and two and a half years after campaign started, in a ratio of2:1:1; 2556 general practitioners before and two years after campaign onset. Main outcome measures Back beliefs questionnaire, knowledge and attitude statements about back pain, incidence of workers' financial compensation claims for back problems, rate of days compensated, and medical payments for claims related to back pain and other claims. Results In the intervention state beliefs about back pain became more positive between successive surveys (mean improvement in questionnaire score 1.9 (95% confidence interval 1.3 to 2.5), P<0.001 and 3.2 (2.6 to 3.9), P < 0.001, between baseline and the second and third survey, respectively). Beliefs about back pain also improved among doctors. There was a clear decline in number of claims for back pain, rates of days compensated, and medical payments for claims for back pain over the duration of the campaign. Conclusions A population based strategy of provision of positive messages about back pain improves population and general practitioner beliefs about back pain and seems to influence medical management and reduce disability and workers' compensation costs related to back pain.

Leadership for socially just schooling: more substance and less style in high-risk, low-trust times?

This article argues that radical shifts in school governance arising from wider social, political, and economic relations toward what are described as high-risk and low-trust societies challenge past notions of leadership. I explore the tensions between the pluralism of postmodernist thinking and modernist notions of social justice that produce "predicaments" for school leaders through a series of paradoxes of educational management around centralized decentralization, markets and management, new educational professionalism, parental choice and community participation, and between the substance and style of leadership. The values underpinning the corporatization of public and private life most evident in education do not provide a satisfactory grounding for effective school leadership.

Euthanasia: why it doesn`t matter (much) what the doctor thinks and why there is no suggestion that doctors should have a duty to kill

A major reason that The Netherlands has taken a different approach to the rest of the world on such a fundamental moral issue is that the courts and legislature in that country have accorded the interests of doctors a cardinal role in the euthanasia debate. This article argues that the interests of doctors are of only incidental and peripheral relevance in relation to the moral status of euthanasia. The moral status of euthanasia has little to do with the
preparedness ofdoctors to administer the lethal injection or their general attitude towards the practice. Euthanasia is principally about the interests of the patient and the impact that the practice may have on the community in general, not preserving the conscience or improving the working life ofdoctors.