Search results

Stroke patients with low and very low functional movement are not usually considered suitable for rehabilitation. Without therapy the more-affected side will not improve and may lose any residual function. Poor movement ability reduces independence and limits the social engagement of such patients. The purpose of this paper was to investigate whether Wii-based Movement Therapy was suitable and beneficial for stroke patients with low and very low movement ability.

In total, 13 patients aged 22-77 years and three months to 21 years post-stroke completed the standardised 14-day protocol of Wii-based Movement Therapy. Therapy is a structured and targeted programme, tailored to the individual needs and deficits of each patient. Functional ability was assessed using a suite of tools. Increased use of the more-affected hand and arm in everyday life was assessed using the Quality of Movement subscale of the Motor Activity Log.

Functional movement of the more-affected hand and arm improved by 40 per cent on the Fugl-Meyer Assessment. Hand-use in everyday tasks more than doubled and improvements were also seen in lower-limb function, balance, and cardiovascular function. Qualitative improvements in psychological status were also noted.

The paper demonstrates that stroke patients with low and very low movement ability post-stroke can benefit from upper-limb rehabilitation. Wii-based Movement Therapy is a viable and effective option with high patient compliance.

The patients in this study became less disabled. Improving movement ability of stroke survivors will not only increase their independence in activities of daily living but will also reduce the burden of care on patients, their families and the community.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the oral health care experiences of people living with HIV in Kwazulu-Natal (KZN) and the Western Cape (WC) and also to identify the role of stigma and discrimination in the oral health care experiences for people living with HIV in KZN and the WC.

This study was a survey among HIV-positive people attending selected Community Health Centres and regional hospitals, HIV clinics in KZN and WC provinces in South Africa. The sample consisted of people living with HIV that were 18 years or older and who had given written, informed consent. A cross-sectional study structure has been employed using a standardized format using a semi-structured interview and an administered questionnaire to collect data. The study classified participants as living in metropolitan or non-metropolitan areas.

Apprehension of loss of confidentiality, stigma and discrimination were the barriers that deterred participants from seeking care. Respondents stated that they feared what the dentist and staff would think of them being HIV positive and feared being discriminated against by the dentist and staff. In some instances there appears to be a difference between policy and practice regarding the oral health care needs of and services rendered to people living with HIV in public health facilities as there are still patients who do not obtain care and for whom the attitudes of the health care provider constitutes the major barrier to accessing that care.

The results are specific to KZN and WC and have to be extrapolated with caution to the rest of South Africa. Additionally, this study did not have a control group of HIV-negative people which would have enabled one to determine whether certain barriers were unique to people living with HIV.

To make recommendations with respect to addressing the issue of stigma and discrimination in the oral health care experiences for people living with HIV in KZN and the WC as there is a definite need for the government to address the resource needs of rural areas and less developed areas of South Africa. Health care is a much-needed resource in these high prevalence areas and governments must ensure that all their HIV/AIDS projects and policies should have a rural component built into them.

This study emphasizes the importance of embracing people that are being discriminated and marginalized by society such as people living with HIV to ensure that they feel a franchised member of society who can take the initiative to be in control of their own health and, with the necessary aid from public resources and societal support, join forces to reduce the public health burden and its impact on the socio-economic milieu.

To the best of the author's knowledge, there is no other study that has compared differences in the use of oral health care services by people with HIV in South Africa and these results serve as an indication of some the important issues in this regard.

Recognition that not every climate adaptation policy is a good one has shifted attention to new tools and methods to measure the adequacy and effectiveness of adaptation policies. This study aims to propose and apply and applies an innovative adaptation policy assessment framework to identify the extent to which climate adaptation policies in Vietnam exhibit conditions that are likely to ensure a sufficient, credible and effective adaptation.

In total, 21 conditions, categorized under five normative principles and covering critical issue areas in adaptation domain, form the climate adaptation policy assessment framework. The principles were double-checked and tested in case studies through observations and analyses of policy documents to ensure that each condition should be distinct and not overlapping across principles. To see if the principles and attendant conditions were able to capture all relevant aspects of adaptation, the authors used structured expert judgment. In total, 39 policy documents pertaining to climate change adaptation were selected for qualitative document analysis. In-depth interviews with local officials and experts were conducted to address data gaps.

The study reveals major weaknesses constituting a reasonably worrisome picture of the adaptation policies in Vietnam since several critical conditions were underrepresented. These results shed new light on why some adaptation policies falter or are posing adverse impacts. The findings suggest that a sound policy assessment framework can provide evidence on what effective adaptation policy looks like and how it can be enabled. The framework for climate adaptation policy assessment in this study can be easily adjusted and used for different socio-environmental contexts in which new conditions for policy assessment might emerge.

The findings show underlying weaknesses constituting a reasonably worrisome picture of the adaptation regime in Vietnam. In the absence of mechanisms and measures for accountability and transparency in policy processes, adaptation in Vietnam appears more likely to be prone to maladaptation and corruption. While solving these problems will not be easy for Vietnam, the government needs to evaluate whether the short-term gains in sustaining the existing adaptation policies really make progress and serve its long-term climate-adaptive development goals.

Although interpretations of adaptation effectiveness may be very divergent in different normative views on adaptation outcomes, the authors argue that a common, agreed-upon effectiveness can be reached if it is clearly defined and measurable in adaptation policies. Thus, the climate adaptation policy assessment framework proposed in this study is critical for policymakers, practitioners, donors and stakeholders dealing with adaptation to better understand the weaknesses in policymaking processes, pinpoint priority areas of action and timely prevent or prepare for possible adverse impacts of policies.

Throughout its history feminism has produced “grey” literature. This material has played an important part in communicating women’s knowledge(s) and instigating activism. This paper considers the development of grey literature within feminism and its value to feminism, in brief. The key focus of the paper is in the potentials of the Internet as a communication mechanism and for feminist grey literature. Consideration is given to rapidly expanding forms of feminist grey literature on the Internet, and the potentials and concerns raised by this grey medium are discussed. Despite fears raised by some writers about the dangers and difficulties of cyberspace for women, overall this paper is optimistic about the potentials for feminist grey literature. Hence, it is suggested that grey literature on the Net offers global feminist sustenance; potential empowerment; and a means to challenge social inequalities.

This research identifies cross-cultural differences between perception and behavioral intentions of Western and South Asian consumers to engage in physical activity. The theory of planned behavior is applied. It aims to provide insights to healthcare marketers and managers to address the problems of being overweight and obese in South Asia.

Path analysis was used to conduct this research. Two online questionnaires were used to collect data from South Asian and North American respondents. Cross-cultural differences were identified based on results from structural equation models.

Path analysis shows that the theory of planned behavior effectively predicted the behavioral intentions of North American and South Asian respondents. South Asians are more strongly influenced by subjective norms and perceived behavioral control in their intentions to engage in physical activity. On the other hand, North Americans are more strongly influenced by their attitudes.

A consistent campaign to increase awareness about the risks of being overweight and obese will be necessary in South Asian countries to address this problem. Healthcare marketers need to emphasize marketing messages that lead to positive attitudes toward a healthy lifestyle in society and form public opinion such that it increases the role of social norms.

The research establishes the utility of the theory of planned behavior for South Asian populations. It identifies cross-cultural differences in terms of how behavioral intentions to engage in physical activity are formed in North American and South Asian populations. The findings are relevant to healthcare service managers and marketers in South Asia.

The study is done to investigate the factors that affect the intention of higher education students towards online education. The research also focuses on the importance of students' stability and students' resilience on perceived usefulness and perceived easiness of use that frame the attitude towards the intention to use online education.

Online survey method is employed using Google form link with a sample of 686 students of higher education. Excluding the outliers (univariate and multivariate), the final sample size (N = 679) considers the empirical results of the study. Partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is applied to unearth the relationship in the proposed research model of the study.

The empirical results indicate that perceived usefulness and perceived easiness of use have a direct impact on students' intention to use online education platform. Moreover, perceived usefulness and perceived easiness of use also have a positive influence on the students' attitude, which has a strong influence on students' intention to use online mode of education system. Also, students' stability and students' resilience have mixed impact on the level of perceived usefulness and perceived easiness of use that are the most useful determinants of attitude towards the intention to use online education.

The study counts on the technology acceptance model (TAM) where constructs like behavioural controllability, past exposure and perceived accordance are not considered for measuring the intention of students in adapting to online education.

This paper employs the extended model of technology acceptance with additional determinants, namely, students' stability and students' resilience, to investigate the intention to use the online form of education as an alternative to the offline mode.

The incidence of prostate cancer is increasing from the past few decades. Various studies have tried to determine the survival of patients, but metastatic prostate cancer is still not extensively explored. The survival rate of metastatic prostate cancer is very less compared to the earlier stages. The study aims to investigate the survivability of metastatic prostate cancer based on the age group to which a patient belongs, and the difference between the significance of the attributes for different age groups.

Data of metastatic prostate cancer patients was collected from a cancer hospital in India. Two predictive models were built for the analysis-one for the complete dataset, and the other for separate age groups. Machine learning was applied to both the models and their accuracies were compared for the analysis. Also, information gain for each model has been evaluated to determine the significant predictors for each age group.

The ensemble approach gave the best results of 81.4% for the complete dataset, and thus was used for the age-specific models. The results concluded that the age-specific model had the direct average accuracy of 83.74% and weighted average accuracy of 79.9%, with the highest accuracy levels for age less than 60.

The study developed a model that predicts the survival of metastatic prostate cancer based on age. The study will be able to assist the clinicians in determining the best course of treatment for each patient based on ECOG, age and comorbidities.