Developing a Personalized Integrative Obesity-Coaching Program: A Systems Health Perspective

Current obesity management strategies are failing to achieve sustainable and favorable long-term results. We propose a more personalized, dynamic, and systemic perspective on the interactions of key determinants and coaching advice on obesity. The aim of this study was to use a systems view on overweight, complexity science, and a transdisciplinary process to develop a five-year personalized integrative obesity-coaching and research program. Managers, medical specialists, clinical psychologists, dieticians, physical- and psychomotor therapists, and lifestyle coaches aligned their perspectives and objectives with experts in systems thinking and systems biology. A systems health model of obesity was used to identify the causal relations of variables with the most influence on obesity. The model helped to align and design a personalized integrative obesity-coaching program and to identify the key variables to monitor the progress and to adjust the personalized program, depending on the goals and needs of the participant. It was decided to use subtyping of participants by a systems biologist, based on traditional Chinese medicine symptoms, as a novel method to personalize the intervention. The collaborative transdisciplinary approach based upon a systems view on obesity was successful in developing a personalized and adaptive five-year obesity-coaching and research program.

Social determinants of health that permeate the mental suffering of children on the french-brazilian border

ABSTRACT Objectives: to understand the determinants involved in the mental suffering of schoolchildren on the French-Brazilian border. Methods: a qualitative study was conducted with children from 6 to 12 years of age from four State schools in the municipality of Oiapoque, located on the French-Brazilian border. The data were obtained through interviews, analyzed by the IRAMUTEQ software, and interpreted in the light of the Dahlgren and Whitehead’s social determinants of health model. Results: data indicate that the mental suffering experienced by children, especially characterized by anxious symptoms, such as concern of becoming fat and worries, were permeated by social situations that children went through daily, such as family abandonment, domestic violence, and bullying. Final Considerations: social determinants can be predictors of mental suffering in children, especially in environments of extreme vulnerability, such as the border, in a context of financial difficulties, domestic violence, and absence of parenting.

The Sense of Coherence: The Concept and Its Relationship to Health

In this chapter, the theoretical framework of the salutogenic model of health is described, with special focus on the key concepts and reflection on the ontological and epistemological background of the health model, which so far is little explored and described. Essential in the salutogenic model of health is the understanding of health as a process in a continuum, the health ease/dis-ease continuum. This is described and explained in the chapter. Some evidence of the relationship between sense of coherence (SOC) and health is presented.

Key Concepts in the Salutogenic Model of Health

Part II starts with a description of the theoretical framework of the salutogenic model of health, with special focus on the key concepts and reflection on the ontological and epistemological background of the health model, which so far is little explored and described (Chap. 10.1007/978-3-030-79515-3_9). In Chap. 10.1007/978-3-030-79515-3_10, the focus is on how the sense of coherence (SOC) influences stressor appraisal, positively as well as negatively. In Chap. 10.1007/978-3-030-79515-3_11, measurement issues are addressed concerning Aaron Antonovsky’s original SOC questionnaires of 29 items and of 13 items, as well as several modified translations applicable at the individual, the family, the organization, and the community levels. Chapter 10.1007/978-3-030-79515-3_12 presents and discusses theoretical considerations and empirical findings regarding the concepts: generalized resistance resources (GRRs) and generalized resistance deficits (GRDs). Part II closes with a discussion of the conceptual and concrete differences between generalized and specific resistance resources in the salutogenic model of health (Chap. 10.1007/978-3-030-79515-3_13).

Sexual health assessment as part of a whole health model to care: Improving communication and technological barriers

Sexual health is the state of well-being regarding one’s sexuality, not just the absence of disease or dysfunction. Sexual health is highly valued by most people and associated with overall health. Assessment of sexual health, including sexual orientation and gender identity, should be integrated into the whole health approach to care. Addressing sexual health will enhance preventive care, promote healthy sexual functioning, and optimize overall health and well-being.Unfortunately, sexual health is not routinely assessed in clinical practice. One of the primary barriers is a gap in communication between patients and providers. Providers cite beliefs that patients will bring up sexual concerns themselves, or that patients might be offended by discussing sexual health. By contrast, patients often report an expectation that providers will bring up sexual health, and be comfortable with sexual health discussions in the clinic setting.Within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the lack of a sexual health template within the electronic health record (EHR) adds an additional technological barrier. The VHA’s transition toward whole health and updates to its EHR will provide unique opportunities to integrate sexual health assessment into routine care. We highlight future system modifications to address this within the VHA.Given the multifaceted barriers to sexual health assessment, it will be vital for healthcare systems integrating a whole health approach to develop both practical and educational interventions to address the communication gap. VHA’s expertise in developing and implementing EHR-based quality improvements and health education interventions may help inform interventions beyond VHA.

Technical-Vocational Students’ Emotional Functioning within the Bidimensional Mental Health Model

There has been an increasing interest in understanding emotionality within the bidimensional mental health model (BMHM). Considered as a comprehensive framework, BMHM underscores psychological well-being and distress as related but distinct constructs contributing to an individual's overall emotionality. Following its global empirical appeal, this study was an attempt to apply the BMHM to examine the emotional functioning of 213 adolescents from a technical-vocational institution in the Philippines. Employing a cross-sectional research design, data were collected through multiple self-report measures and subsequently analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Salient findings indicated that the majority of the participants were assessed with a healthy emotionality, while a small but comparable proportion reported unhealthy, diminished, and mixed emotionality. Variations in emotional functioning by gender and educational levels were significant. Additionally, participants’ quality of life and academic functioning were influenced by their emotional functioning. Implications for addressing the emotional needs of students and future research were discussed.

Beyond Hegemony: An Anthropological Approach to the Study of the covid-19 Pandemic

Starting from a Gramscian perspective, this article offers anthropological understandings of time in the experience of pandemics in Italy. The Gramscian suggestion is to go beyond hegemony in order to study the bodily life of powers. The author explores the anthropological sense of pandemics, also touching on philosophical approaches among contemporary studies. Following this, some questions about Italy are raised. What was the Italian experience of quarantine? Is it true that there was a ‘failure’ of the health model, above all in the northern regions, which had been praised as a pioneering model of public–private sector collaboration? Is it true to read the covid-19 pandemic as evidence of ‘victory’ for Italy’s central regions, such as the model of Umbria, with its centres of anthropological resistance? The instruments for answering these questions can be found in the critical anthropology of public health as outlined in the article.