scholarly journals Our Way of Life: Importance of Indigenous Culture and Tradition to Physical Activity Practices

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keren Tang ◽  
Community Wellness Program ◽  
Cynthia G. Jardine
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Health Science ◽  
Wellness Program ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Physically Active ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Community Wellness ◽  
The University

<p>To challenge the current negative and disease-oriented view in the Western health science paradigm, researchers from the University of Alberta collaborated with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation’s Community Wellness Program in a participatory action research project that took a wellness- and strengths-based approach to explore physical activity. We worked with youth to develop participatory videos about physical activity, which sparked community conversations on health promotion, community wellness, and ways to encourage more people to engage in physical activity. Findings revealed a multifaceted meaning of physical activity, supported by the theme of cultural identity. Participants highlighted aspects of culture, tradition, participation, and the land in defining physical activity. Being active was not only about soccer and running, but also playing traditional games, checking the fishnet, scraping the hide, being out on the land, and participating in the community. In other words, to be physically active was to be culturally active and to actively contribute in the community. Ultimately, through collaboration and dialogue, we generated different meanings of physical activity grounded in wellness, and we reinforced and provided further understanding of the cultural element of this health science terminology in an Indigenous context.</p>

Association of Behavioral Phenotypes With Changes in Sleep During a Workplace Wellness Program

2021 ◽  
pp. 089011712110150
Author(s):  
Kimberly J. Waddell ◽  
Sujatha Changolkar ◽  
Gregory Szwartz ◽  
Sarah Godby ◽  
Mitesh S. Patel
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Sleep Duration ◽  
Physical Activity Intervention ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Behavioral Phenotype ◽  
Workplace Wellness ◽  
Wellness Program ◽  
Behavioral Phenotypes ◽  
Physically Active

Purpose: Examine changes in sleep duration by 3 behavioral phenotypes during a workplace wellness program with overweight and obese adults. Design: Secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial Setting: Remotely monitored intervention conducted across the United States Subjects: 553 participants with a body mass index ≥25 Intervention: Participants were randomized to 1 of 4 study arms: control, gamification with support, gamification with collaboration, and gamification with competition to increase their physical activity. All participants were issued a wrist-worn wearable device to record their daily physical activity and sleep duration. Measures: The primary outcome was change in daily sleep duration from baseline during the 24 week intervention and follow-up period by study arm within behavioral phenotype class. Analysis: Linear mixed effects regression. Results: Participants who had a phenotype of less physically active and less social at baseline, in the gamification with collaboration arm, significantly increased their sleep duration during the intervention period (30.2 minutes [95% CI 6.9, 53.5], P = 0.01), compared to the control arm. There were no changes in sleep duration among participants who were more extroverted and motivated or participants who were less motivated and at-risk. Conclusions: Changes in sleep during a physical activity intervention varied by behavioral phenotype. Behavioral phenotypes may help to precisely identify who is likely to improve sleep duration during a physical activity intervention.

At the Heart of It: Dene dzó t’áré by R. Taniton & M. Willett

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Book Series ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Bear Lake ◽  
The People ◽  
The University

Taniton, Raymond and Mindy Willett.  At the Heart of It: Dene dzó t’áré.  Markham, On:  Fifth   House, 2011.  Print. Indigenous author Raymond Taniton is a member of The Sahtugot’ine, or the “people of Great Bear Lake”.  In At the Heart of It, Taniton invites readers into his world.  We meet his family, see the Sahtu Region where he lives, meet the elders in the community, learn how to make a traditional hand drum, learn some games and read some of the stories.  The stories are particularly important. This book is the most recent in Fifth House’s “The Land is Our Story Book” series, all co-authored by writer Mindy Willett. Taniton concludes this volume by saying, “The land is our storybook. It is our school, our library, our church. It is where we learn our stories and where we discover who we are as true Dene people. The land is at the heart of it all”.  And in this book Taniton and Willett do succeed in helping us to understand “the land”. This is a picture book, an educational book and a celebration of what it means to be Satugot’ine. Tessa Macintosh’s photographs are used throughout. The top of each page has a border image of the beaded toes of twenty-one moccasins. Often a large image will form the background of a page with text and other images superimposed.  For example, for the story “The Lake is the Boss”, the background is an image which looks out through the mouth of a cave.  The story is about a giant wolf that lived in the cave. The text, along with smaller images of the island that the wolf became when he turned to stone, is superimposed on the cave photograph.  The images and text, taken together, form many lessons for young people.  The stories provide metaphorical and philosophical lessons, but the book also provides practical lessons, such as the illustrated steps to making a drum.  As a whole, the book celebrates Raymond Taniton’s family, the Sahtugot’ine people and their way of life.   Highly recommended for elementary school and public libraries. Highly Recommended:  4 out of 4 starsReviewer:  Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines.  Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

The Use of Single-subject Time-series Designs in Adapted Physical Activity

1984 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.J. Watkinson ◽  
D.L. Wasson
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Instructional Program ◽  
Single Subject ◽  
Adapted Physical Activity ◽  
Mentally Handicapped ◽  
Instructional Programs ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Reversal Design ◽  
The University

The individualized nature of instructional programs for the mentally handicapped often makes group designs inappropriate in adapted physical activity research. Single-subject time-series designs are suitable for use in investigating the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of motor skills when the research involves small numbers of subjects. These designs require the collection of data before, and during or after treatment. Three single-subject time-series designs are described and illustrated with data from studies in the PREP Play Program, an instructional program for young mentally handicapped children at the University of Alberta. The simple time-series design has severe limitations for use as a research tool, but is appropriate for use by teachers or practitioners who are monitoring previously tested treatments in physical activity programs. The repeated time-series or reversal design can be used to investigate the maintenance or generalization of effects after treatments are withdrawn. The multiplebaseline design is recommended for researchers or practitioners who wish to assess the effects of instructional programs on different subjects or different dependent variables.

Reflections on Participatory Action Research: The Case of Low-Income Women Accessing Local Physical Activity services

1997 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Frisby ◽  
Susan Crawford ◽  
Therese Dorer
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Active Involvement

In contrast to traditional approaches to research, participatory action research calls for the active involvement of the community—including both the beneficiaries and providers of sport services—in defining research problems, executing interventions, interpreting results, and designing strategies to change existing power structures. The purpose of this paper was to analyze a participatory action research project designed to increase the access of women living below the poverty line and their families to local physical activity services. A framework developed by Green et al. (1995) formed the basis of the analysis. To place the analysis in context, the historical origins and theoretical assumptions underlying participatory action research were addressed. The case of the Women's Action Project demonstrated how the process can result in a more inclusive local sport system and, at the same time, provide a rich setting for examining organizational dynamics including collaborative decision-making, community partnerships, power imbalances, resource control, resistance to change, and nonhierarchical structures.

scholarly journals Promoting collaboration between health science disciplines at the university of Alberta, Canada

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 358-363
Author(s):  
Genevieve Gray
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Health Science ◽  
Interdisciplinary Education ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
National Leader ◽  
Career Opportunities ◽  
Research And Education ◽  
The University

Interdisciplinary education, research and practice, improves health care, scholarly productivity, professionals career opportunities and patients/clients and health professionals satisfaction with care and work, respectively. However, it can engender disinterest, suspicion and antagonism if it is not adequately resources. Adequate resourcing requires both highly visible commitment from the key leaders in universities and health services and separate, realistic budgets to support initiatives. In addition, and to ensure that the specialist contribution of all health disciplines to human well-being is fostered the practice, research and education of specialist disciplines must also be adequately supported. This is what the Health Sciences Council at the University of Alberta since its inception - tried to do. That it has been successful is reflected in its recognition as national leader in interdisciplinarity in health education and research in Canada.

scholarly journals “Now, I’m Magazine Detective the Whole Time”: Listening and Responding to Young People’s Complex Experiences of Popular Physical Culture

2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 394-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eimear Enright ◽  
Mary O’Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Physical Culture ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Making Meaning ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
Methodological Tool ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
A Site

Popular physical culture serves as a site, subject and medium for young people’s learning (Sandford & Rich, 2006) and impacts their relationship with physical education, physical activity and the construction of their embodied identities. This paper addresses the potential of scrapbooking as a pedagogical and methodological tool to facilitate physical education researchers and teachers to listen to, and better understand and respond to extend students’ existing knowledge of, and critical engagement with popular physical culture. The data draws from a three year Participatory Action Research project that was undertaken in an urban, secondary school and was designed to engage 41 girls (aged 15–19) in understanding, critiquing and transforming aspects of their lives that influenced their perspectives of their bodies and their physical activity and physical education engagement. In this paper the focus is on the engagement of eleven of these girls in a five week popular physical culture unit. The students’ scrapbooks, audio-recordings of classes, a guided conversation, and field notes constitute the data sources. Findings suggest scrapbooking has the potential to allow researchers access, understand and respond to students’ perspectives on popular physical culture and their lives in a way that other methods may not. Pedagogically, scrapbooking supported students in critically appraising and making meaning of “scraps” of popular physical culture.

scholarly journals Kids in Action: the protocol of a Youth Participatory Action Research project to promote physical activity and dietary behaviour

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. e025584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manou Anselma ◽  
Teatske Altenburg ◽  
Mai Chinapaw
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Dietary Behaviour ◽  
Participatory Process ◽  
Youth Participatory Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Low Socioeconomic

IntroductionIn this study, researchers collaborate with children from a low socioeconomic neighbourhood in Amsterdam in developing, implementing and evaluating interventions targeting their health behaviours. This Youth Participatory Action Research project focuses on the promotion of physical activity and healthy dietary behaviour.Methods and analysisThis study is a controlled trial using participatory methods to develop interventions together with children aged 9–12 years. At four primary schools in a low socioeconomic neighbourhood in Amsterdam, an ‘Action Team’ is installed: a group of six to eight children who actively participate as co-researchers in developing, implementing and evaluating interventions. An academic researcher facilitates the participatory process. Four control schools, also located in low socioeconomic areas in and around Amsterdam, continue with their regular curriculum and do not participate in the participatory process. For the effect evaluation, physical activity and sedentary behaviour are assessed using accelerometers and self-reporting; dietary behaviour using self-reporting and motor fitness (strength, flexibility, coordination, speed and endurance) using the motor performance fitness test. Effectiveness of the interventions is evaluated by multilevel regression analysis. The process of co-creating interventions and the implemented interventions is continually evaluated during meetings of the Action Teams and with children participating in the interventions. Empowerment of children is evaluated during focus groups. Summaries and transcripts of meetings are coded and analysed to enrich children’s findings.Ethics and disseminationThe Medical Ethics Committee of the VU Medical Center approved the study protocol (2016.366).Trial registration numberTC=6604.

Physical activity, body composition and general health status of physically active students of the University of the Third Age (U3A)

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 66-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Izabela Zając-Gawlak ◽  
Dariusz Pośpiech ◽  
Aleksandra Kroemeke ◽  
Małgorzata Mossakowska ◽  
Aleš Gába ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Body Composition ◽  
Health Status ◽  
General Health ◽  
General Health Status ◽  
Physically Active ◽  
Third Age ◽  
The Third ◽  
The University

scholarly journals There is an alternative: A report on an action research project to develop a framework for co-operative higher education

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Neary ◽  
Joss Winn
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Dual Roles ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Science Centre ◽  
The University

This report provides an interim account of a participatory action research project undertaken during 2015–16. The research brought together scholars, students and expert members of the co-operative movement to design a theoretically informed and practically grounded framework for co-operative higher education that activists, educators and the co-operative movement could take forward into implementation. Our dual roles in the research were as founding members of the Social Science Centre, Lincoln, an autonomous co-operative for higher education constituted in 2011 (Social Science Centre 2013), and as professional researchers working at the University of Lincoln. The immediate context for the research was, and remains, the ‘assault’ on universities in the U.K. (Bailey and Freedman 2011), the ‘gamble’ being taken with the future of higher education (McGettigan 2013), and the ‘pedagogy of debt’ (Williams 2006) that has been imposed through the removal of public funding of teaching and the concurrent tripling of tuition fees (Sutton Trust 2016).

Three by the Sea by M. Grey

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Debbie Feisst
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Young Adult Fiction ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Trading Company ◽  
Children's Picture Books ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
Car Park ◽  
The University ◽  
The Stranger

Grey, Mini. Three by the Sea. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print. Mini Grey (yes, that’s her real name; she was born in a Mini in a Wales car park) is an award-winning author of children’s picture books including Egg Drop and Traction Man is Here! In Three by the Sea, a black cat, a white dog, and a gray mouse share a hut on a pebbly beach.  They lived together happily on the seemingly otherwise-uninhabited island.  The dog did the gardening, which amounted to burying and digging up bones; the cat did the housework by simply throwing garbage out the window; and the mouse did the cooking – a cheese fondue.  Every day. However, one stormy night, everything changes for the three unlikely roommates, as a traveling salesman blows to shore on an inflatable raft and finds his way to the trio’s beach hut.  This Stranger, a fox in a double-breasted striped suit, announces that they are the lucky winners of a free visit from the Winds of Change Trading Company and proceeds to bestow gifts upon them.  For Mouse, cookbooks and herb seed packets; for Dog, a shiny new collar; and for Cat, some tins of sardines.  The gifts, however, are not truly free, as the Stranger also pointed out the inadequacies and faults of the friends’ personalities and behaviour. At dinner—a cheese fondue—the fighting begins, and insults are hurled.  After deciding to pack up and go where his culinary talents would be appreciated, Mouse finds himself in a spot of trouble as he attempts to leave the island. Of course, in the end, friendship reigns, and all three agree it is time for the Stranger to go; however, the short visit has everlasting effects on their relationship and way of life. This is a lovely story that will provoke discussion about the fox’s motivations, though children younger than 5 years may find the concept a challenge.  The illustrations are charming and are vintage and modern at the same time. Recommended: 3 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Debbie FeisstDebbie is a Public Services Librarian at the H.T. Coutts Education Library at the University of Alberta.  When not renovating, she enjoys travel, fitness and young adult fiction.

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