Western Practitioners Research Articles

That’s just the way he is’: Some implications of Aboriginal mental health beliefs

Recent qualitative research conducted in metropolitan Perth and the Kimberley region of Western Australia has highlighted major gaps in service delivery to Aboriginal clientele suffering depression and suicidal ideation (Vicary, 2002). Seventy Aboriginal people were interviewed about their beliefs and attitudes towards mental health, western psychology and western practitioners, and strategies for improving mental health care delivery. The study highlights that participants consistently perceived the course and treatment of depression as following a different aetiology to that of mainstream Australia. The authors’ references to depression do not conform with Eurocentric perceptions, but rather to the Aboriginal Australians’ conceptualisation, as explained within the paper. Almost three in four respondents indicated that they believed that Aboriginal people did not perceive depression as a state that could be addressed via treatment. Instead they perceived it as a characteristic of the individual concerned stating ‘that’s just the way he is’. Subsequently they reported that individuals might not get the assistance they require in overcoming their illness.

Culture, Cultural Competency and Occupational Therapy: A Review of the Literature

Many cultural challenges and questions are raised for Western practitioners developing occupational therapy services within non-Western societies, particularly in specialties, regions or countries where occupational therapy has not previously been recognised. Setting up a new service anywhere can be a daunting task, but it is perhaps more so in the absence of precedent. In an effort to establish a sound, evidence-based approach to a new service development in mental health services in the United Arab Emirates, the literature was reviewed to identify occupational therapy research and perspectives related to culturally competent practice. Three key themes were identified and their relationship to psychosocial, and more general, occupational therapy practice is explored. Guidelines for culturally competent practice, arising from the literature, are also proposed.

International efforts spotlight traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine.

Affordable, available, and ever more popular at home and abroad, "alternative" healers are finally getting positive attention from Western practitioners. This rapprochement has enormous implications for public health worldwide.

Prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome in Hong Kong.

As part of a public education program, the Hong Kong Society of Gastrointestinal Motility studied the prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in the community, which was based on the recently published Rome II criteria. The distribution of diarrhea or constipation-predominant IBS subtypes, the prevalence of bowel symptoms and the predictors of health-care seeking were also studied. Among 1797 randomly selected respondents, 1000 successful telephone interviews (56%) were conducted from August 2000 to December 2000, using a validated questionnaire in Chinese that looked into demographic data and various bowel symptoms during the past year. The 12-month prevalence of IBS as defined by the Rome II criteria in Hong Kong was 6.6%. The female to male ratio was 1.3:1, but this ratio was the same in the control group. The distribution of IBS patients into diarrhea predominant, constipation predominant, and non-specific subtypes was 27, 17 and 56%, respectively. The predominant symptom in the IBS group was pain (54.5%), followed by urgency (15%), abdominal distension (15%) and diarrhea (11%). Forty-seven percent of IBS patients sought medical attention and only 21% of them knew that they had IBS. Moderate to severe pain severity (odds ratio 3.7, 95% CI 1.02-13) and mucus in stool (odds ratio 3.57, 95% CI 1.18-10.7) were associated with health-care seeking in univariate analysis. The prevalence of bowel symptoms such as urgency, straining, feeling of incomplete defecation, mucus in stool and abdominal distension ranged from 11 to 41%. The prevalence of IBS in Hong Kong was 6.6%, and the female to male ratio was similar to the control group. The majority was of non-specific IBS subtype. Gross underdiagnosis (21%) by Western practitioners was noted.

Alternative methods for the control of pain.

T AVMA has recently issued a statement regarding the use of “Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine” (CAVM) and defines it is a “heterogeneous group of preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic philosophies and practices” that includes but is not limited to: “aromatherapy; Bach flower remedy therapy; energy therapy; low energy photon therapy; magnetic field therapy; orthomolecular therapy; veterinary acupuncture, acutherapy, and acupressure; veterinary homeopathy; veterinary manual or manipulative therapy (similar to osteopathy, chiropractic, or physical medicine and therapy); veterinary nutraceutical therapy; and veterinary phytotherapy.” The practitioners of many of these disciplines often refer to themselves as holistic practitioners because the approach to diagnosis and therapy involves a careful look at the animal’s whole mental and physical well-being. The above guidelines suggest that all practitioners of veterinary medicine should approach their patients in a holistic fashion, and this is further emphasized by the article preceding the guidelines that exhorts veterinarians to reunify the animal mind and body. Western medicine often uses a problem-oriented approach to the diagnosis of a condition and therapy of the patient, and this focuses attention on those ailments that are causing illness without necessarily paying attention to the overall well-being of the animal. This narrow focus is one of the reasons for the popularity of complementary and alternative approaches to medicine both for people and animals. Busy Western practitioners often focus quickly on a specific problem and spend little time with the client and patient. Practitioners of alternative disciplines tend to take more time with their clients and patients to understand the whole range of factors that might contribute to the current concern. This has an impact on the welfare of the patient in that the longer time spent taking the history and diagnosing the patient may lead to a greater understanding of the mind and body of that individual. This is not to say that many veterinarians using Western approaches ignore factors such as nutrition, exercise, and environment, but the economics of practice push them to short consultation times and rapid diagnoses with little time for consideration of the larger picture. Veterinary curricula have only recently begun to increase time devoted to nutrition and behavior in recognition of the major role these can play in health and disease, so many practitioners feel poorly educated in these aspects of health care. The guidelines on CAVM state that “recommendations for effective and safe care should be based on available scientific knowledge and the medical judgment of the veterinarian.” Veterinarians are looking for methods to alleviate the pain and suffering of their patients, and so the first welfare issue concerning the use of alternative techniques has to be “do they control pain?” This author has a rudimentary understanding of acupuncture and does not pretend to be an expert in any modality of alternative care, so the review that follows is by no means comprehensive. The author has tried to find scientific evidence for the efficacy of each therapeutic modality, and these are largely derived from the human literature because so little work has been published on clinical efficacy in animals.

Integrated needling protocol: combining traditional Chinese technique with tubes and needles

Chinese acupuncture needling technique is traditionally free hand. Most Western practitioners, especially after the introduction of clean needle technique, needle using tubes. This article proposes a new needling protocol that combines the best of Chinese needling technique with tubed needles, efficient use of both hands to locate and prepare points, and strictly follows clean needle technique. (c) 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.

Androgyny and Otherness: Exploring the West Through the Japanese Performative Body

The way of the Western practitioner or scholar wishing to analyze contemporary Japanese theatre in terms of gender and culture is fraught with peril. How is it possible to apply critical theory without imposing Western perceptions or using master narratives that reduce and conquer the "foreign"? This essay focuses on a recurring figure in Japanese literature and drama--a hero of ambivalent sexuality and gender who uses a cloak of invisibility to pass through boundaries--and considers its use in three contemporary Japanese theatrical productions set in a historically distant, even "mythologized," West. This mysterious, caped man/woman character, whose antecedents can be traced to Heian-period literature (794-1185), is reflected in current Japanese pop art as well as in theatre, suggesting that gender slippage (the oscillation between received ideas of male and female within an individual body) can be used as a strategy to explore issues of cultural otherness. Such a strategy reverses the process of Western colonization of the East through representation (so vividly described in Edward Said's Orientalism). But it also provides a nondoctrinaire point of entry for the Western scholar to explore issues of gender and culture in the contemporary Japanese theatrical arena. [End Page 249] The Cloak of Invisibility Partings at Dawn, an anthology of gay Japanese literature published in 1996, takes its title from the twelfth-century courtly love story Ariake no Wakare. This tale concerns Ariake, a handsome young captain of the guards, who uses a cloak of invisibility to walk through the walls of the court residences. Ariake's secretive manner and mysterious charm attract both men and women. Indeed the emperor himself takes the captain as a lover. As their affair progresses, Ariake (who is actually a woman) feigns his own death, resurfaces as a "younger sister," is established as an imperial concubine, gives birth to the emperor's son and heir, and eventually becomes empress (Kahn 1996, 21). The androgynous figure at the center of Partings at Dawn reappears with slight variations in Japanese fiction and drama of a later era. From kabuki and no to present-day animated cartoons, a phenomenon sometimes described as "veiled gender performance" (Ridgeway 1999, 1) has been featured in theatrical performance, film, television, fashion, printed media, and contemporary drama, often through a charismatic central character who crosses boundaries of gender and geography to embody a sexual or foreign other. The tradition of a performer embodying both male and female characteristics is said to derive from indigenous religious practice as well as Buddhist observance (Leupp 1995, 174). In the seventeenth century, the new theatrical form called kabuki was initiated by the priestess Okuni, who performed a mixture of Buddhist rites and erotic comedy wearing Portuguese pants and a Christian cross. When women performers were banished from this performance art, the onnagata--men who took over the female roles--won an extraordinary degree of popularity due in no small part to the slippage between their biological gender and the roles they enacted. In The Love of the Samurai: A Thousand Years of Japanese Homosexuality, Watanabe and Iwata (1989) suggest that onstage androgyny in kabuki and no was a reflection of a society where sexual preference (at least for men) was not a matter of fixed polarity. The concept of sexual desire as a continuum rather than an opposition declined with the waning of samurai tradition, the dawning of the Meiji era (1868-1912), and the importation of European theories on sex and gender. At the beginning of the twentieth century, however, a new form of androgyny was exhibited in the fashion, visual, and performance art of Japan. This is a period described by Donald Roden as a "transition from a civilization of character to a culture of personality" (1990, 54-55), a period reflecting many of the social changes of the gender-bending Weimar era in the West (p. 39). Today androgyny plays a central role in at least...

Assimilation from the East and the Spectrum of Consciousness

Beginning with an eastern concept of human beings rooted in the Buddhist and Yogic traditions, this paper describes a theoretical assimilation of western models and therapies into the eastern paradigm. It traces the beginning of the east–west psychotherapy dialogue in the United States, citing early examples of Buddhist and yogic practices in the west. Ken Wilber's “spectrum of consciousness” model is presented and its unifying value for psychotherapy is explored. An integrative model of wholistic therapy, developed by a group of eastern and western practitioners, is then described. The paper concludes with an exploration of the issues and implications for psychotherapy integration raised by this model.

Towards the scientific validation of traditional medicinal plants

A large proportion of the population of developing countries usestraditional medicine alone, or in combination with Western drugs to treat awide variety of ailments. There has seldom been effective collaborationbetween the traditional and Western medical practitioners, largely due tothe perception that the use of traditional and herbal medicines has noscientific basis. With the renewed interest from Western countries in herbalremedies, and the increasingly urgent need to develop new effective drugs,traditionally used medicinal plants have recently received the attention ofthe pharmaceutical and scientific communities. This involves the isolationand identification of the secondary metabolites produced by the plants andused as the active principles in medical preparations. Research into thescientific validation of southern African medicinal plants used in thetreatment of pain and inflammation, hypertension and parasitic diseasesincluding those with anthelmintic, anti-amoebic, anti-bacterial and anti-bilharzia activity, is the current focus of studies conducted at the ResearchCentre for Plant Growth and Development.

The mediator as nonviolent advocate: Revisiting the question of mediator neutrality

AbstractThis article presents the argument that the roles of interpersonal mediator and nonviolent advocate/activist are best carried out when they are each understood as being part of a larger framework of conflict resolution that makes room for them both. It draws on the relevant literature to date that supports the thesis that the skills and energies of both nonviolent advocacy and mediation should come into play in the actual practice of either role. To this end, it challenges the notion of neutrality as a guiding concept in the practice of mediation, suggesting instead that mediators, like nonviolent advocates, should determine the degree to which they intervene or influence the content of a session by the communicative behaviors of those in conflict. Finally, a visual model for illustrating the concrete ways in which the skills, conceptual resources, and energies of nonviolent advocacy might come into play in the practice and training of mediation is presented. The implications of this article are that we, as Western practitioners of mediation, must fundamentally rethink the way we define, carry out, and teach our role by looking, at least in part, to the assumptions and practice of nonviolent advocacy/activism.

Dysplasia east and west.

Between 1996 and 1998, several small international studies were conducted in which pathologists in group settings were asked to identify various cancers from previously prepared slides. It was hoped that these sessions would lead to international consensus with regard to terminology and help to explain the previously noted differences in diagnoses reported between Western and Japanese practitioners. This article reviews the findings of the various groups and their implications for practicing gastroenterologists.

Buddhist Food Practices and Attitudes among Contemporary Western Practitioners

This paper delves into the subject of food as an emerging aspect of the Buddhism and ecology connection. Although often overshadowed by the ecological impacts of gas-guzzling automobiles and dumping of toxic waste, food is an environmental issue of primary importance. The raising of livestock, swine and poultry for food occupies over 60 percent of the land in the United States. This industry produces large quantities of runoff from fertilizers, pesticides, animal wastes and erosion which affect water quality; methane emissions and energy derived from fossil fuels contribute to air pollution and the greenhouse effect. Conventional, industrial agriculture contributes to toxic and common water pollution, uses fossil fuel and water for irrigation and depletes the natural diversity of the landscape. Plastic, glass, metal, paper and cardboard from food packaging create veritable mountains of garbage. Even the processing of food accounts for 16 percent of the greenhouse gases produced related to the cultivation, transportation and sale of food.

An Herbal Formula for Treating Intractable Epilepsy: A Review of the Literature

Alternative and Complementary TherapiesVol. 6, No. 4 ArticlesAn Herbal Formula for Treating Intractable Epilepsy: A Review of the LiteratureEric Yarnell and Kathy AbascalEric YarnellSearch for more papers by this author and Kathy AbascalSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:5 Jul 2004https://doi.org/10.1089/10762800050115167AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited byHerbal Medicines for Seizures Claire Zimmerman and Eric Yarnell10 December 2018 | Alternative and Complementary Therapies, Vol. 24, No. 6The importance of botanical treatments in traditional societies and challenges in developing countriesEpilepsy & Behavior, Vol. 52Chinese Herbal Formulas Every Western Practitioner Should Know—Part 1 Eric Yarnell and Kathy Abascal12 August 2013 | Alternative and Complementary Therapies, Vol. 19, No. 4Herbal Medicine for Viral Hepatitis Eric Yarnell and Kathy Abascal18 June 2010 | Alternative and Complementary Therapies, Vol. 16, No. 3Nondrug Adjuncts for Seizure Control: Holistic Support for Patients with Epilepsy Sala Horowitz5 July 2004 | Alternative and Complementary Therapies, Vol. 8, No. 2Overview of Drug–Herb Interactions Eric Yarnell and Kathy Abascal5 July 2004 | Alternative and Complementary Therapies, Vol. 8, No. 2 Volume 6Issue 4Aug 2000 To cite this article:Eric Yarnell and Kathy Abascal.An Herbal Formula for Treating Intractable Epilepsy: A Review of the Literature.Alternative and Complementary Therapies.Aug 2000.203-206.http://doi.org/10.1089/10762800050115167Published in Volume: 6 Issue 4: July 5, 2004PDF download

A Framework for Nonviolence and Peacebuilding in Islam

Today, there is little debate that a paradigm shift is occurring in the field of international conflict resolution; where experts laud the effectiveness of peaceful means ending disputes compared with the use of force or violence. This paradigm shift is reflected in the increasing number of peacebuilding academic and applied programs in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, South and East Asia, and the Middle East, including conflict resolution workshops, projects for building civil societies, and nonviolent resistance mobilization. In peacebuilding contexts, scholars and practitioners are seeking to integrate authentic, indigenous and local cultural methods of conflict analysis and intervention, which are replacing the generic conflict resolution applications developed by western practitioners in United States and Europe.

Traditional Chinese Medicine in Orthopaedic Nursing

Increasing popularity of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) by the American public warrants an examination of its role in all of nursing. Many people seeking alternative treatments do so out of frustration with the inability of Western medicine to help with chronic illnesses. Thus, Western practitioners need a basic understanding of these alternative modalities to help their clients make informed choices about their health care. This article describes the underlying theory of TCM, assessments, diagnostics, and treatments found in TCM, as well as uses of TCM in orthopaedic nursing. Also included are research considerations as well as precautions in the use of TCM.

Issues in human resource management in central Europe

Provides a number of basic indicators in support of the assertion that, while the general‐management literature on post‐command developments in central and eastern Europe is well established, the corresponding literature in HRM/HRD is probably less well advanced. Highlights the issues identified by each of the contributors, two organising themes being involved. The first asserts the value of mutual knowledge transfer, through which the western academic and practitioner might benefit as much as his/her central European counterpart; the second considers the extent to which personnel managers can make a strategic, as distinct from administrative‐operational, contribution to the organisation in the post‐command economy.

The treatment of head injury during the Renaissance.

During the Renaissance, a new spirit of rational inquiry, combined with renewed understanding of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, encouraged many new developments in medicine and surgery. Traditional teachings, often...

Public Administration in a Global Context: Bridging the Gaps of Theory and Practice between Western and Non-Western Nations

Public bureaucracies operate increasingly in a global environment that requires greater communication and cooperation among nations. This globalization of public administration has highlighted the parochial nature of much of the literature, which was written to apply to one nation or to a small group of similar countries. When literature that was designed for the West or for Europe is applied to non-Western nations, it rarely fits well, exaggerating the tension between theory and practice. At the same time that globalization underscores the poor fit between theory and practice, global pressures provide an opportunity to conduct comparative research that is meaningful and useful for managers in all nations regardless of economic, political, and social considerations. Such work can help bridge the gap between Western and non-Western perspectives. This article provides a framework that will facilitate such research. The article first identifies the gaps as problems for public administration theory and practice using supporting literature from both Asian and Western theorists and practitioners. It then explores a sample of the literature that describes broader concepts of the modern global environment as well as the theoretical importance of organizational environments for bureaucracies. Subsequent sections concentrate on solutions--the development of a theoretical perspective that incorporates specific global pressures, and the statement of hypotheses that explore the impact of these pressures on the structure and activity of public organizations. Finally, the article discusses the implications of the framework for future research and practice. The Dual Gap Disenchantment and even amazement over the parochial nature of American public administration is well expressed in the public administration literature. American public administration is not considered to be either informed by international theoretical perspectives or very adaptable to other national contexts. For example, Hood (1989, 348) writes: Today (Americans perhaps excepted), public administration scholars live in what is much more of a `global village' conceptually, in that it would be hard to write an acceptable research degree thesis in the subject today which did not draw on an international literature for its conceptual framework. It is hard to see this trend going into reverse. Another example of the ethnocentric and even greater Eurocentric nature of public administration is given in Table 1. A survey of five journals in the field of public administration was conducted to determine the prominence of comparative and Asian themes. The three categories identified for each year studied were (1) number of articles on comparative public administration theory, (2) number of articles on Asian national study, and (3) the number of articles on comparative public administration that incorporate Asia as either a case study or the focus of the analysis.(1) Results indicate only five articles on comparative public administration and 46 articles in which Asian nations were subjects of description (40 of those were in the International Journal of Public Administration and the Asian Journal of Public Administration) across all three years. Only one article sought to build theory through comparison of Asian and non-Asian nations. Table 1 Numbers of Articles on Comparative, Asia, and Comparative with an Asian Country in Analysis in Five Public Administration Journals 1995 CPA Asia CPA & Asia Administration and Society 0 0 0 Public Administration Review 0 4 0 Journal of Public Admin. Research & Theory 0 0 0 Asian Journal of Public Administration 2 7 1 International Journal of Public Administration 0(*) 1(*) 0(*) 1994 CPA Asia CPA & Asia Administration and Society 1 0 0 Public Administration Review 0 0 0 Journal of Public Admin. …

Chinese Midlife Women??s Perceptions and Attitudes About Menopause

The purpose of this research was to discover and describe the meaning of and attitudes toward menopause in midlife Chinese women in Taiwan. How these women learned about menopause was also explored. Questionnaires were distributed to a convenience sample of 208 Chinese women aged 35 to 55 living in Taiwan; 168 responded. Qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. Percentage and chi-square were used to examine the quantitative data. The findings revealed that 154 (91.7%) women perceived menopause as a natural phenomenon. No statistically significant differences in attitude toward menopause were found between women grouped by different menopausal levels, by use or not use of hormones, or by religious preference. Some women described menopause as, "no longer young, getting old." Others described menopause as, "wisdom and maturation," "a symbol of achievement," and "a time to start enjoying life." Sixty-eight (40.5%) of the sample indicated they obtained menopausal information from friends and printed materials such as books, newspapers, and magazines. Study findings indicate that Chinese women in Taiwan perceive menopause in a positive and holistic way. Culturally sensitized Western practitioners can utilize this study's findings to more appropriately individualize care for Chinese midlife women.

Increasing the Validity of Post Command Economy Research and Application

The demise of communism in the post command economies (PCEs) has created considerable interest from both academics and practitioners. As a result, a myriad of Western marketing academics and practitioners have been exploring the region. Despite the abundance of literature on cross-cultural research and practice, many PCE researchers have failed to consider fundamental issues related to cross-cultural/cross-national research design. This paper highlights a number of problems researchers face when investigating PCE regional phenomena. In particular, the authors discuss the issue of commonality and demonstrate how the use of multivariate analyses can be effectively used to: (1) identify more homogenous groupings of PCEs; and, (2) validate marketing constructs developed outside the PCEs. Though based on analyses of the interdependence of political and economic variables, the authors identify sub-groupings of countries that largely reflect traditional geo-cultural groupings: the Baltics, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia and Peripheral, and Ccntral Asia. The authors also discuss traditional cross-cultural research approaches and demonstrate how the operationalisation of appropriate approaches can improve the application of regional marketing stratey and validity of PCE findings.