Current Health Issues of Performing Artists: Implications for Health Promotion

Author(s):  
Brandi S. Niemeier ◽  
Dawn Larsen
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-145
Author(s):  
Sheena Chhabra ◽  
Apurva Bakshi ◽  
Ravineet Kaur

Nutraceuticals have been around for quite some time. As the nomenclature suggests, they are placed somewhere between food (nutra-) and medicine (-ceuticals) in terms of their impact on human health. Researches have focused on the impact of various types of nutraceuticals on health, their efficacy in health promotion and disease prevention, and often on suitable uses of certain categories of nutraceuticals for specific health issues. However, we are still far from utilizing the immense potential of nutraceuticals for benefiting human health in a substantial manner. We review the available scholarly literature regarding the role of nutraceuticals in health promotion, their efficacy in disease prevention and the perception of nutraceuticals' health benefits by consumers. Thereafter we analyze the need for regulation of nutraceuticals and various provisions regarding the same.


2017 ◽  
Vol 117 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Pickett ◽  
Willeke Rietdijk ◽  
Jenny Byrne ◽  
Jonathan Shepherd ◽  
Paul Roderick ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand early career teachers’ perceptions of the impact of a pre-service health education programme on their health promotion practice in schools and the contextual factors that influence this. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 primary and secondary trainee and qualified teachers who had trained at a university in England. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings The teachers found the training to be a useful introduction, particularly when it was relevant to their practice. They valued gaining practical skills at university, on placement and in school once qualified. They reported that witnessing pupils’ lives in school had increased their awareness that health education is important. Their personal qualities, life experience, the school’s ethos and competing pressures influenced their practice. Teachers considered that building relationships with colleagues, pupils and parents facilitated health promotion, and that health education needs to be relevant to pupils. Some teachers expressed that teaching about health could be a “minefield”. They also discussed whether schools or parents are responsible for educating pupils about health issues and the place of health promotion within education’s wider purpose. Originality/value Few studies have followed-up trainee teachers once they are in teaching posts to explore the longer-term perceived impact of pre-service health education training. The findings suggest that teachers’ development takes place via an interaction between training and practice, suggesting that training could particularly aim to provide teachers with a contextualised understanding of health issues and practical experience.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devan Richard Tchir ◽  
Michael Lorne Szafron

BACKGROUND Office workers face workplace-related health issues, including stress and back pain, resulting in considerable cost to businesses and health care systems. Workplace health promotion attempts to prevent these health issues, and the internet can be used to deliver workplace health promotion interventions to office workers. Data were provided by Fitbase GmbH, a German company, which specializes in workplace health promotion via the internet (Web-based health). The Web-based health intervention allowed workers to focus on different health categories by using information modules (reading health information) and/or completing practical exercises (guided, interactive health tutorials). OBJECTIVE This study aimed to identify the extent to which office workers have workplace-related health issues, assess whether office workers who differ in their health focus also differ in their improved well-being, and assess whether completing practical exercises is associated with improved well-being compared with reading information modules. METHODS Fitbase GmbH collected data for the period of February 2016 to May 2017 from health insurance employees undergoing Web-based health training in Hamburg, Germany. The data consisted of a needs assessment examining health issues faced by office workers, a wellness questionnaire regarding one’s perception of the Web-based health intervention, and activity logs of information modules and practical exercises completed. Through logistic regression, we determined associations between improved well-being from Web-based health training and differences in a worker’s health focus and a worker’s preferred intervention method. RESULTS Nearly half of the office workers had chronic back pain (1532/3354) and felt tense or irritated (1680/3348). Over four-fifth (645/766) of the office workers indicated that the Web-based health training improved their well-being (<i>P</i>&lt;.001). Office workers who preferred practical exercises compared with information modules had 2.22 times greater odds of reporting improved well-being from the Web-based health intervention (<i>P</i>=.01; 95% CI 1.20-4.11). Office workers with a focus on practical exercises for back health had higher odds of improved well-being compared with other health foci. Office workers focused on practical exercises for back pain had at least two times the odds of having their well-being improved from the Web-based health intervention compared with those focused on stress management (<i>P</i>&lt;.001), mindfulness (<i>P</i>=.02), stress management/mindfulness (<i>P</i>=.005), and eye health (<i>P</i>=.003). No particular health focus was associated with improved well-being for the information modules. CONCLUSIONS Office workers frequently report having back pain and stress. A focus on Web-based health training via practical exercises and practical exercises for back health predict an improvement in office workers’ reported well-being. CLINICALTRIAL


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Laurent ◽  
C Ferron ◽  
P Berry ◽  
B Soudier ◽  
B Georgelin ◽  
...  

Abstract Issue Effectiveness analyses of health promotion (HP) interventions (HPI) abound nowadays in France, but few research details how HPI work, nor explains how practitioners can translate conclusive evidence from the literature into action. Furthermore, large amounts of experiential knowledge remain untapped and undervalued. To close these gaps, a national multidisciplinary committee, comprising public officials, academics and practitioners, has worked since 2016 at designing a new method to build up knowledge in HP. CEKHP The method aims at Capitalizing, collecting and circulating Experiential Knowledge in HP (CEKHP). Committee members first investigated methods used in other countries to synthesize and share practical evidence, then drafted and experimented CEKHP in 11 different settings to test its relevance and applicability. Results Key components of CEKHP are: 1/CEKHP consists in in-depth semi-structured interviews and offers a guideline template adjustable for various contexts and multiple public health issues (behaviors, environments, etc.); 2/a trained outsider, mastering 7 core competencies, must conduct CEKHP; 3/CEKHP includes a framework for reporting key mechanisms that influence HPI outcomes. Detailed mechanisms include: context, partnerships, key steps, barriers and levers, ethics, theoretical foundations (intervention models, evidence-based literature, etc.), transferability. A guidebook and a toolkit are published in 2020. CEKHP successfully disseminates within the French HP community. It is currently used as the main data collection tool in a research project investigating health promoting sports clubs (PROCeSS) and in a practice-focused project documenting tobacco prevention (DCAP). Lessons Practitioners benefit from access to knowledge on how HPI work. CEKHP offers new tools to value and disseminate experiential knowledge. Given that policymakers increasingly prioritize funding in France on documented HPI, providing such tools and training is crucial. Key messages CEKHP offers a new method in the French context that has proven fruitful in various settings, for various public health issues, and can be useful to practitioners and researchers alike. Building up experiential knowledge with and for practitioners can be effective at both documenting practices and helping them gain new skills and better understanding of their interventions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 624-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise Fry

Abstract The language used in health promotion warrants attention as it shapes how health promotion is understood, constraining or opening up possibilities for action. The 2016 Shanghai Declaration and the 1986 Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion call for comprehensive approaches which include policy and environmental changes. Yet many health promotion programmes in Australia continue to focus on informational and/or behavioural strategies, and there is a contemporary tendency for such programmes to be described as ‘sending messages’. This paper uses frame analysis to discuss the role of language, and specifically language that frames health promotion as sending messages, in contributing to and reinforcing the predominance of informational and/or behavioural strategies. It argues such ‘message’ language helps to set a pattern in which informational and/or behavioural strategies are assumed to be the primary goal and extent of health promotion; rather than one component of a comprehensive, multi-strategic approach. It discusses how frames can be ‘taken for granted’ and ways in which such frames can be challenged and broadened. It argues that the message frame and associated behavioural framings set narrow boundaries for health promotion, contributing to the continuation of health inequities. These frames can also displace the language of the Ottawa Charter, which has capacity to reframe health issues socio-ecologically and include collective strategies. The paper concludes that a first step (of the many needed) towards applying the Charter’s approach and multi-level, multi-strategic framework is to use the innovative vocabulary it offers. The words matter.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-184
Author(s):  
Bronwen J Ackermann

In modern medicine, approaches to healthcare no longer only encompass injury management, but increasingly focus on understanding the performance demands and health risk exposures faced by performing artists. Quantitative and qualitative scientific and health analyses by performing artists, clinicians, educators, and researchers are increasingly helping us to develop effective, targeted, and relevant health promotion and performance optimisation strategies worldwide. While such research increasingly identifies improved methods of preventing and managing potential psychological, audiological, or physical challenges faced by performing artists, we still need to work hard to address very important barriers to implementing appropriate health approaches. One of the challenges to better health management in performing arts populations relates to stigmatization.


2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catrin Smith

Food assumes enormous importance in prison: for many prisoners it conditions their life in custody and, in many respects, is symbolic of the prison experience. This article explores the complex relationship between gender, food and imprisonment through an analysis of data obtained from in-depth interviews and group discussions conducted in three women's prisons in England. The findings indicate that, in prison, where control is taken away as the prisoner and her body become the objects of external forces, food is experienced not only as part of the disciplinary machinery, but also as a powerful source of pleasure, resistance and rebellion. The implications of such findings for health promotion in the prison context are discussed. Here, the pleasures and consolations of food may well constitute a redefinition of what it is to be healthy in this context, one that challenges the dominant meaning constructed in current health promotional discourse.


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 907-914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Pedersen ◽  
Suzanne (Christopher) Held ◽  
Blakely Brown

Foundations and government agencies have historically played a critical role in supporting community-based health promotion programs. Increased access to health promotion funding may help address significant health issues existing within American Indian (AI) communities, such as childhood obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Understanding the capacity of AI communities to successfully apply for and receive funding may serve to increase resources for health promotion efforts within AI communities in Montana. This exploratory qualitative study completed 17 semistructured interviews across three AI reservations in the state of Montana. Dimensions of community capacity within the context of the funding application process and partnership with funding agencies were identified, including resources, leadership, community need, networks, and relationship with the funding agency. Dimensions of AI community capacity were then used to suggest capacity-building strategies for improved partnership between AI communities in Montana and the funding agencies.


2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Meredith Swaby ◽  
Amanda Biesot

ISIS Primary Care provides health and welfare services to the municipalities of Brimbank, Hobsons Bay and Wyndham. An organisational commitment was made to establish an integrated approach to health promotion that would result in best practice health promotion within the community and in partnership with other agencies. To achieve this it was necessary to develop internal organisational skills and processes as well as formalise the relationships with agencies within the catchment. A "framework for best practice health promotion" was developed with a number of interrelated components occurring concurrently at several levels within the organisation and externally. This encompasses a structural framework with a Health Promotion Reference Group of key intersectoral stakeholders, as well as six Health Promotion Working Groups across the organisation each focussing on identified health issues. The strategic framework is a procedural document outlining processes for planning, implementation and evaluation of health promotion at an organisational level. The supporting framework includes detailed program planning and evaluation guidelines and workforce development. The implementation of this framework has resulted in a coordinated and sustainable approach to health promotion across the catchment with opportunities for successful partnerships, capacity building, resource sharing and increased program reach in meeting the perceived needs of the community.


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