Physical Welfare Research Articles

DEVELOPMENT OF CREATIVITY OF FUTURE SPECIALISTS AT FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSES: CONDITIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES. SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING

The article deals with the importance of development of future specialists’ creativity at foreign language classes. The concept of creativity has been disclosed; the conditions and opportunities for its development have been revealed. The problem of subjective well-being has been considered. The vision of creativity by researchers from different countries of the world has been represented: as the ability to create original and adaptive products; applicability and usefulness in resolving problems at hand; changeability over time and due to cultural and socio-economic realities; as a source of new technologies, methods and techniques of social work and productive ways of their application. Methods and techniques for development of creativity at foreign language classes have been suggested: asking open-ended or challenging questions; encouraging students to talk freely on various topics; finishing unfinished stories; creative writing in the form of self-invented stories, poems, plans, inventions; development of projects, etc. The methods and tools for improving and promoting future specialists’ creativity have been represented. The impact of creativity on subjective well-being at foreign language classes has been stated and considered. The effect of creativity on subjective well-being has been disclosed. The concept of well-being has been revealed as the state of being or doing well in life; happy, healthy, or prosperous condition; moral or physical welfare of a person or community. The connection of these aspects of well-being with the acquisition of a foreign language have been stated, which, apart from the cognitive gains, can contribute to person's social and emotional well-being.

Physical development as per results produced by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) for estimating body composition depending on sex and age of schoolchildren aged 7–16 years

The research goal was to estimate physical development of schoolchildren as per data of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) of body composition depending on their sex and age. Physical activity (PA) is an important factor in providing physical welfare of schoolchildren and this makes the present research relevant today. We examined 604 schoolchildren. At present a share of schoolchildren who have physical activity with its duration corresponding to the WHO recommendations doesn’t exceed 45%. We established an inverse correlation between a share of Skeletal muscle mass (SMM) and age. The determination coefficient which showed a variability a share of SMM and fat mass depending on a combination of PA regularity and duration didn’t exceed 0.06. It grew up to 0.19 after we assessed influence exerted by schoolchildren’s age on the absolute value of BMM share. A contribution made by age to this parameter was by 8.0 times higher among boys than among girls. We detected an age-specific decline in a probability of lower SMM share which was by up to 11.8 times lower among boys than among girls. These established sex-related differences in probable age-specific decrease in physical development make BIA a more valuable source of information for motivating schoolchildren to have more PA and improve their health.

Effects of Psychosocial Stress, Neuroticism Liability and Unhealthy Coping Strategies on the Physical and Mental Welfare of Pre-University Students in the National University of Malaysia

Stress is the body's response to changes that create taxing demands. Coping mechanism plays a significant part to overcome or reduce the stress experienced by individuals. The purpose of the study is to study the relationship between psychosocial stress, neuroticism liability and unhealthy coping strategies on the physical and mental welfare of pre-university students. One hundred and forty four pre-university students from the National University of Malaysia are included in this study. A quantitative study utilizing a cross sectional non-probability sampling research design is used to gather data. The data is collected using a questionnaire which analyzes three main aspects of this study namely, psychosocial stress, neuroticism liability and unhealthy coping mechanisms. The instruments used to measure psychosocial stress is the individual items of the University Students Stress Scale .The unhealthy coping strategies will be assessed by the Brief COPE Inventory through the ordinal data (individual survey items) obtained. However, neuroticism liability will be measured through the Eysenck Personality Inventory. The SPSS Statistics Data Editor Version 25 is used for statistical analysis. In conclusion, all three variables are correlated with each other. When a person experiences immense psychosocial stress, the person tends to inculcate more unhealthy coping strategies in daily lives and it may contribute to increasing neuroticism liability.

Exploring the Representation of History and 'Slow Violence' in "Philadelphia Fire" and "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven"

After connecting history to urban spatiality in Teju Cole's Open City, this paper develops Rob Nixon's articulation of "slow violence" to demonstrate how John Edgar Wideman and Sherman Alexie's novels depict issues of authenticity in storytelling, highlighting the limitations of representing the effects of “slow violence” on the cultural, physical, and economic welfare of marginalised communities in the aftermath of major violent events.

Profile Centric Community Awareness and Engagement for Adolescent Girls : An Empirical Study on Early Marriage in India

Early marriage is a pernicious practice traditionally observed even today in several countries, with a fifth of the global female population getting married by 18 years of age. The custom has far-reaching adverse effects on the girls’ physical, mental, and socioeconomic welfare and their future progeny. Therefore, it is critical to disseminate the right messages to the communities of girl children to deter them from letting their daughters marry early. A study was carried out in 2019 that involved the design, execution, and evaluation of a volunteer-driven technology-enabled communication intervention to emphasize the importance of education in securing a girl’s future and to discourage girl child marriage. Seven hundred and eight-six residents of the sub-district of Todaraisingh in Tonk, Rajasthan, participated in the study. A strong positive cognizance of the personalized communication was empirically confirmed. Furthermore, a high influence of cognitive response and sympathy towards the communication was found on the evaluative judgment of the participants that strongly influenced the intention to spread positive word of mouth and behavioral intention.

Emotion Recognition in Horses with Convolutional Neural Networks

Creating intelligent systems capable of recognizing emotions is a difficult task, especially when looking at emotions in animals. This paper describes the process of designing a “proof of concept” system to recognize emotions in horses. This system is formed by two elements, a detector and a model. The detector is a fast region-based convolutional neural network that detects horses in an image. The model is a convolutional neural network that predicts the emotions of those horses. These two elements were trained with multiple images of horses until they achieved high accuracy in their tasks. In total, 400 images of horses were collected and labeled to train both the detector and the model while 40 were used to test the system. Once the two components were validated, they were combined into a testable system that would detect equine emotions based on established behavioral ethograms indicating emotional affect through the head, neck, ear, muzzle, and eye position. The system showed an accuracy of 80% on the validation set and 65% on the test set, demonstrating that it is possible to predict emotions in animals using autonomous intelligent systems. Such a system has multiple applications including further studies in the growing field of animal emotions as well as in the veterinary field to determine the physical welfare of horses or other livestock.

The Mission to Develop Godly Individuals: An Islamic Perspective

The main purpose for the establishment of Islamic educational institutions is to offer a God (Allah)-centered curriculum with the mission to develop godly (virtuous, honest, compassionate and responsible) students who will be able to contribute significantly to moral, spiritual and physical welfare of humanity in general, and bring back the past glory and fame of the ummah (Muslim community) in particular. The aim of this paper is to describe godliness from the view point of the Qur’an and the Hadith or Sunnah (Prophetic traditions or the narrations of sayings, doings or silent approvals of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him – PBUH). This paper is divided into three sub-topics, namely meaning and significance of godliness, characteristics of a godly person, and the means to attain godliness. Godliness or devotion (submission and obedience) to Allah is the sole reason for the creation of mankind and Jinns, “I have only created Jinns and men, that they may serve Me – liya‘budun;” (Qur’an, 51:56) but also everything else (the entire universe). Also it is because of godliness that the Prophets (peace be upon them) were sent to mankind, “Not an apostle did We send before thee without this inspiration sent by Us to him: that there is no god but I; therefore, worship and serve Me – fa‘budun.” (Qur’an, 21:25). Here it is clear that there is a higher purpose to the creation of mankind and the Jinns, namely ‘ibadatu’llah, devotion to Allah. It means recognition of Allah and subsequent submission or humility and obedience to Him.

Lying posture does not accurately indicate sleep stage in dairy cows

Quality sleep is important for physical health and welfare in animals. However, we know little about dairy cow sleep, and how much they need. Practical techniques are needed to monitor sleep in cows to determine how different management practices affect their sleep and their welfare. It is impractical to use ‘gold standard’ electrophysiological - polysomnography (PSG) to identify sleep in cows. Previous work suggests lying postures are useful to identify sleep stages in calves, but the reliability of lying behaviour to identify these sleep stages in adult cows is uncertain. We compared the lying postures of adult dairy cows (deep bedded on straw or in a pasture) with PSG, to determine if lying postures could be used to accurately identify rapid eye movement (REM) and the different stages of non-REM (NREM) sleep. Lying in the typical “sleep” posture with the head turned and resting on the flank identified approximately 70 % of REM sleep in outdoor managed cows but was less accurate in indoor housed cows that showed REM sleep in numerous postures. Lying with the head still and low did not identify stages of NREM sleep in either group. Using the tucked ‘sleep posture’ to estimate total sleep would be an over estimation of REM sleep, but also an underestimation of total sleep as this posture would omit most NREM sleep. Lying postures are not useful indicators of sleep stages in dairy cows and additional research is required to identify efficacious alternative techniques.

Why Mobility Justice Means Prioritising Accessible Walking Environments

Promotion of active travel is a fixture in transport policy and planning. Yet, this paper argues, walking and the availability of comprehensive and accessible pedestrian environments have an importance for mobility justice and sustainability which is not currently recognised. The paper investigates how and why walking provision matters for justice, and explores what this means for decision-making affecting mobility systems and the built environment. It begins with an argument that a coherent conception of mobility justice would be simultaneously concerned with environmental and social implications of transport since both affect people’s physical lives, welfare and flourishing. That requirement frames the types of mobility systems which could be compatible with justice, and points to a need for prioritisation of active travel far beyond current policy and practice. Specifically, the need for environmental sustainability coupled with social inclusion creates a case for systematically prioritising provision for walking over other mobility. This means the removal of all forms of barriers to walking so that no one is excluded by severance, impassable surfaces or lack of safety.

Addressing the welfare needs of farmed lumpfish: Knowledge gaps, challenges and solutions

AbstractLumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus L.) are increasingly being used as cleaner fish to control parasitic sea lice, one of the most important threats to salmon farming. However, lumpfish cannot survive feeding solely on sea lice, and their mortality in salmon net‐pens can be high, which has welfare, ethical and economic implications. The industry is under increasing pressure to improve the welfare of lumpfish, but little guidance exists on how this can be achieved. We undertook a knowledge gap and prioritisation exercise using a Delphi approach with participants from the fish farming sector, animal welfare, academia and regulators to assess consensus on the main challenges and potential solutions for improving lumpfish welfare. Consensus among participants on the utility of 5 behavioural and 12 physical welfare indicators was high (87–89%), reliable (Cronbach's alpha = 0.79, 95CI = 0.69–0.92) and independent of participant background. Participants highlighted fin erosion and body damage as the most useful and practical operational welfare indicators, and blood parameters and behavioural indicators as the least practical. Species profiling revealed profound differences between Atlantic salmon and lumpfish in relation to behaviour, habitat preferences, nutritional needs and response to stress, suggesting that applying a common set of welfare standards to both species cohabiting in salmon net‐pens may not work well for lumpfish. Our study offers 16 practical solutions for improving the welfare of lumpfish and illustrates the merits of the Delphi approach for achieving consensus among stakeholders on welfare needs, targeting research where is most needed and generating workable solutions.

Reproductive Ethics and Family

Reproductive Ethics and Family

Understanding factors associated with barefoot social workers' decision making in assessing and reporting child physical abuse in China

BackgroundMandatory reporting is new in China, and barefoot social workers are responsible for detecting and reporting child maltreatment. ObjectiveGuided by the decision-making ecology, this study examined factors associated with barefoot social workers' decision making in assessing and reporting child physical abuse in China. Participants and settingsCross-sectional data were collected from barefoot social workers (N = 1489) in a metropolitan city in Southern China. MethodsDescriptive, bivariate, and binary logistic regression analyses were conducted. Dependent variables were barefoot social workers' assessments of and intention to report child physical abuse in two cases. ResultsFor a less severe physical abuse case, case severity (OR = 2.78, p < .001), receiving a social worker license (OR = 1.64, p = .03), and having a reporting history (OR = 23.55, p = .03) were associated with higher odds of assessments, whereas being younger (OR = 0.97, p = .04) was associated with lower odds. For a more severe physical abuse case, case severity (OR = 3.64, p < .001) and child welfare training (OR = 2.27, p = .03) were associated with higher odds of assessments. Across two cases, case severity (Case 1: OR = 1.44, p < .001; Case 2: OR = 1.34, p < .001), assessment of whether it is abuse (Case 1: OR = 11.48, p < .001; Case 2: OR = 15.98, p < .001), impacts of reporting on the family (Case 1: OR = 1.21, p < .001; Case 2: OR = 1.25, p < .001), and perceived behavior control (Case 1: OR = 1.06, p = .01; Case 2: OR = 1.10, p = .01) were associated with higher odds of reporting. Impacts of reporting on the child (OR = 1.27, p < .001) were associated with higher odds of reporting the less severe case. Attitudes regarding punishment of offenders or victims of child abuse (OR = 1.09, p = .01) and subjective norms of reporting (OR = 1.09, p = .01) were associated with higher odds of reporting the more severe case. ConclusionsThis study identified factors associated with barefoot social workers' decision making in assessing and reporting child physical abuse in China. Results of this study indicate the importance of providing training to barefoot social workers on recognizing, detecting, and reporting child physical abuse. It is also important to encourage them to receive continued social work training and obtain a social work license, which may increase their confidence in decision making. Furthermore, increasing the effectiveness of mandatory reporting is needed.

Spatial Environment of Home, Stress Management, and Welfare of Family Living in Two-Level Marginal Regions

This study aims to analyze the home environment, stress management, and families' welfare in marginal areas. The study design was cross-sectional, and samples were selected by random cluster sampling, as many as 126 families consisting of 63 families from the very dense region (VDR&gt; 200 people per Ha) and 63 families from a rather dense region (RDR, 121-160 people per Ha) in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia. The data were collected by interview using a questionnaire in March and April 2014 and analyzed using descriptive and comparison tests. The analysis showed that families in RDR had a lower density but had a higher crowd level than in VDR, so that families in RDR had to try harder to get non-physical privacy. RDR families had a higher source of stress, thus encouraging them to did more coping strategies. The analysis showed that families in RDR had higher objective well-being but lowered subjective welfare than families in VDR. Families in RDR had higher physical welfare and lowered social and psychological welfare than families in VDR. The research findings had implications for the importance of strengthening the family environment and developing research methodologies in the field of family ecology.

The Use of Substances at an Early Age: A Qualitative Study among Young Men Living with Substance Use Disorders in Punjab, India

Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) among young people are a major health problem. The magnitude of the problem is increasing in India, especially in Punjab, where the menace of SUDs is debilitating the physical and mental welfare of young people.

Basic Needs in Horses?-A Literature Review.

Simple SummaryAll animals have requirements that are essential for their welfare, and when these basic needs are not met, the animal suffers. In horses, it is claimed that these needs include social contact, social companionship, free movement and access to roughage in the form of grass, hay and/or straw. To validate this claim, this review examines 38 studies that reported on horses’ responses when one or more of these factors are restricted. We categorised the type of responses investigated: (a) Stress (e.g., increased stress hormones), (b) Active (e.g., increased aggression), (c) Passive (e.g., depressive-like behaviour) and (d) Abnormal Behaviour (e.g., stereotypies), and analysed the frequencies with which the investigated responses were shown. Overall, the studies reported that horses did react to restrictions in the described basic needs, especially to combinations of restricted social contact, free movement and access to roughage. The observation of passive responses and the development of abnormal behaviour provided compelling evidence that horses were suffering under these restrictions, and existing abnormal behaviours indicated that they had suffered at some time in the past. We conclude that the literature supports the claim that social contact, free movement and access to roughage are basic needs in horses and need to be taken into consideration to ensure their mental and physical welfare in management and training.Every animal species has particular environmental requirements that are essential for its welfare, and when these so-called “basic needs” are not fulfilled, the animals suffer. The basic needs of horses have been claimed to be social contact, social companionship, free movement and access to roughage. To assess whether horses suffer when one or more of the four proposed basic needs are restricted, we examined several studies (n = 38) that reported behavioural and physiological reactions to these restrictions. We assigned the studies according to the four types of responses investigated: (a) Stress, (b) Active, (c) Passive, and (d) Abnormal Behaviour. Furthermore, the number of studies indicating that horses reacted to the restrictions were compared with the number of studies reporting no reaction. The limited number of studies available on single management restrictions did not allow conclusions to be drawn on the effect of each restriction separately, especially in the case of social companionship. However, when combinations of social contact, free movement and access to roughage were restricted, many of the horses had developed responses consistent with suffering. Passive Responses, indicating acute suffering, and Abnormal Behaviour, indicating suffering currently or at some time in the past, were especially clearly demonstrated. This provides further evidence of the usefulness of assessing behavioural parameters in combination with physiological measurements when evaluating horse welfare. This meta-analysis of the literature confirms that it is justified to claim that social contact, free movement and access to roughage are basic needs in horses.

Nuya kankantawa (we are feeling healthy): Understandings of health and wellbeing among Shawi of the Peruvian Amazon

Promoting and supporting Indigenous health includes ensuring health services reflect local concepts of health. There is, therefore, a need to better understand context-specific Indigenous understandings of health in order to design culturally appropriate health services. To this end, this study characterized two Shawi communities' understandings of what it means to be healthy. Using a community-based participatory research approach, 40 semi-structured interviews and a series of informal interviews were conducted and analysed thematically, using a constant comparative method. The Shawi definition of health extended beyond individual physical welfare and focused on emotional, collective, and environmental wellbeing. The primary factors underlying Shawi perceptions of health and wellbeing included providing for the family, ensuring the welfare of others, maintaining positive social relationships, preserving traditional values and practices, and living harmoniously with the natural environment. Conversely, Shawi classified illnesses according to their cause or treatment. These included illnesses caused by sorcery, those caused by spirits of the forest, and ‘new diseases,’ that first appeared in the communities when they were contacted by the Western civilization, for which no traditional remedies existed. Consequently, according to Shawi, sociocultural, environmental, and climatic changes are posing imminent health threats. This study highlights the differences between biomedical and Indigenous Shawi health understandings, and therefore emphasizes the importance of acknowledging and embracing Shawi culture and beliefs within the formal healthcare system.

Planet of the AAVs: The Spinal Cord Injury Episode.

The spinal cord injury (SCI) is a medical and life-disrupting condition with devastating consequences for the physical, social, and professional welfare of patients, and there is no adequate treatment for it. At the same time, gene therapy has been studied as a promising approach for the treatment of neurological and neurodegenerative disorders by delivering remedial genes to the central nervous system (CNS), of which the spinal cord is a part. For gene therapy, multiple vectors have been introduced, including integrating lentiviral vectors and non-integrating adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors. AAV vectors are a promising system for transgene delivery into the CNS due to their safety profile as well as long-term gene expression. Gene therapy mediated by AAV vectors shows potential for treating SCI by delivering certain genetic information to specific cell types. This review has focused on a potential treatment of SCI by gene therapy using AAV vectors.

Models of care in forensic psychiatry

SUMMARYForensic psychiatry services have grown and become more complex in structures, processes and pathways. Legacy customs, practices and changing policy are now organised into formal models of care. These are written accounts of how a health service is delivered, outlining best practice and services for patients progressing through the stages of their condition and the care and treatment available. This article explores the four key elements of a model of care: goals; pathways and processes; treatment programmes; and systematic evaluation. It describes the most common model of care in forensic services, which builds on structures of stratified therapeutic security. It also considers variations on this basic or standard model matched to needs arising from the complex interrelationship with other parts of the mental health service for the population served and with criminal justice, primary care and physical health, housing and welfare agencies.

Death and Mourning Process in Frontline Health Care Professionals and Their Families During COVID-19.

The COVID-19 epidemic has mushroomed globally, disrupting the existence of millions. Under this current pandemic situation, the frontline health care professionals are looped in the clutch of the virus and are relatively more exposed to the patients infected with the disease. In this precarious situation, the frontline health care professionals have contributed their best to provide utmost care to the patients infected with the ailment. The direct involvement of these professionals, however, has taken a toll on their physical health as well as on their mental well-being. Several studies conducted recently have reported that frontline health care workers engaged in direct diagnosis, treatment, and care of patients with COVID-19 are associated with a higher risk of symptoms of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues. Lack of personal protection equipment, unreasonable amounts of work, improper medicines, fear of contracting the disease, and lack of skilled training have interposed the frontline health care workers with unimaginable stress. Due to the widespread outbreak, the death count of the frontline health care professionals has also surged. However, studies exploring the physical and mental welfare of the frontline health care professionals and their families are very few and far behind. To address this aperture, the present paper attempts to highlight the psychological and physical impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the frontline health care professions and to understand the impact of the death of these frontline health care professionals on the psychological well-being, mourning process, and complicated grief among the family members of healthcare professionals. The paper also presents some recommendations for providing psychological support to healthcare professionals and their bereaved families.

Psychosocial rehabilitation experiences of women victims of armed conflict in Montes de Mar\xeda, Colombia

BackgroundAfter 9 years of the ground-breaking social policy Law 1448 of 2011 -Victims Law- and its extension until 2030, the Colombian State and other stakeholders have made several efforts towards granting the right of integral reparation for more than 9 million victims that are recognized in the Colombian transitional context. Psychosocial rehabilitation is a Victims Law’s reparation measure whose objective is to re-establish the psychosocial, physical and mental health welfare in the individual, familiar and community levels. This study aims to understand the experiences of psychosocial rehabilitation of women victims of armed conflict in Montes de Maria and the underlying social intervention paradigms that guide the Law’s implementation.MethodsBased on a qualitative design with a phenomenological approach, narrative tools and thematic network analysis permitted to give voice to the women participants. Individual narrative interviews were conducted with 12 women victims and a focus group with eight of them was used as a triangulation strategy.ResultsAlthough the Victims Law is oriented by a sociopolitical intervention paradigm, the stories of the women’s victims of Montes de María mainly evidenced non-sociopolitical interventions with humanitarian assistance towards revictimization and State abandonment. As a coping mechanism towards the State negligence encountered, women strive to overcome psychosocial trauma by developing agency and community resources for the resignification of the traumatic experiences and peacebuilding.ConclusionsFor the Victims Law to achieve its integrality aim, the psychosocial approach should be implemented through all its measures but remains absent in Montes de Maria. The diversity of victim’s individual and collective initiatives that were found, can contribute towards transformative and participatory psychosocial intervention with community’s resources. Women victims can perform as advisors and collaborators in the implementation of individual and collective reparation, which remains as an opportunity for psychosocial rehabilitation and peacebuilding. Further monitoring and evaluation of the law with a territorial and differential perspective is required to respond to the victim’s needs.