On this episode, I reflect on one of the most important reads of the year for me -- Kelly McGonigal's book, The Upside of Stress. A psychologist and yoga teacher, Kelly's book is filled with compelling research about how the way we think about stress may be more harmful for our health than stress itself
This unique collection of chapters takes the reader on a tour to explore innovative preservice and inservice teacher education practices from many regions of the United States, Canada and the world. Each of the chapters offers an authentic, documentary account of successful initiatives that break the traditional mold of teacher education. Section I presents unique preservice teacher preparation programs and initiatives. These chapters offer compelling ideas to readers who seek change in the higher education model of teacher training. Section II features inservice education for both the novice and veteran teacher. The chapters included in this section of the book offer stories of innovation as professional development initiatives. Each of the programs describes the setting or context in which the innovation takes place and focuses on the role of teachers and students. Chapters in Section III highlight the benefits of collaborative teacher education practices. Through the lens of community and with the tools of cooperation and support, innovative practices are described for the improvement of student learning. Section IV offers less commonly presented diverse, global perspectives on teacher education. The sharing of ideas through global examples highlight the similarities in educational practices and common goals across the world. Section I, Preservice Teacher Education, contains: (1) Mirrors, Maps, and Torchlights: Enacting a Conceptual Framework for Teacher Education (Catherine McTamaney and Amy Palmeri); (2) "I Would Rather Feel Uncomfortable in an Education Class than at the School Where I Teach": Cultural and Political Vignettes as a Pedagogical Approach in Teacher Education (Jacqueline Darvin); (3) Building a Bridge from the Experiential to the Textual: Preparing Critical Readers for a Complex Teaching Terrain (Laura R. Kates); (4) Raising the Bar for 21st Century Teacher Preparation (Mark Warner, Cherry O. Steffen, James Cope, and Beth A. Peery); (5) Practice-Based Teaching and Community Field Experiences for Prospective Teachers (Ken Zeichner and Morva McDonald); (6) High Impact Practices and the Preparation of Educators in the New Era (Yi-Ping Huang); (7) Service-Learning as a Vehicle for Examining Assumptions about Culture and Education (Peter Smagorinsky); and (8) Modeling Assessment and the Impact on K-16 Student Learning (Sheryl L. McGlamery and Saundra L. Shillingstad). Section II, Inservice Teacher Education, contains: (9) When Mentoring is Not Enough: A Multi-Year Induction Program (Joseph Corriero and Lynn Romeo); (10) When All Really Means All: Schools of Promise, Schools of Reform, and Innovative Professional Development (George Theoharis and Julie Causton-Theoharis); (11) Technology on the Frontier of Inservice Teacher Education (Diane Lapp, Douglas Fisher, Thomas DeVere Wolsey, and Sharon Walpole); (12) Teaching Outside the Book: Inservice Teacher Education for a New World (Susan K. Parry, Valerie B. Brown-Schild, Lisa B. Hibler, Charles R. Coble, and Ruben G. Carbonell); (13) Promoting Teachers' Social and Emotional Competencies to Support Performance and Reduce Burnout (Patricia A. Jennings); and (14) From Muteness to Provocation: An Emerging Developmental Model of Teacher Leadership (Nita A. Paris, Harriet J. Bessette, Traci Redish, and Dawn Kirby). Section III, Collaborative Teacher Education Practices, contains: (15) Grow Your Own Teachers: Community-Based Change in Teacher Education (Elizabeth A. Skinner); (16) Cooking "Hickory Soup" and Other Ways to Develop Successful Interprofessional Internships for Preservice Teachers (Twyla Salm and Lace Marie Brogden); (17) Foreign Language Teacher Technology Education: Innovation Through Social Networking (Victoria Hasko and Soria E. Colomer); (18) School-Community Based Urban Teacher Education as a Voice for the Community (Jana Noel); (19) The Association of Raza Educators: Community-Based Teacher Organizing and the Development of Alternative Forms of Teacher Collaboration (Miguel Zavala); and (20) School Improvement: Collaboration for Success (Mary Ellen Freeley, Andrew Ferdinandi, and Paul Pedota). Section IV, Global Perspectives on Teacher Education, contains: (21) Preparing New Teachers for the Full Catastrophe of the 21st Century Classroom: Integrating Mindfulness Training into Initial Teacher Education (Geoffrey B. Soloway, Patricia A. Poulin, and Corey S. Mackenzie); (22) Engaging Imaginations and Emotions in Preservice Teacher Education (Anne Chodakowski and Kieran Egan); (23) Teacher Induction in Scotland: Once Little Short of Scandalous, Now World Class (Ian Matheson, Mairi McAra, and Thomas Hamilton); (24) Cooperating Across Cultures: Professional Development in a Chinese Minority Region (Tasha Bleistein and Tao Rui); (25) Breaking the Mold to Mend the Wounds: An Innovative Model of Collaborative Practice to Further Aboriginal Student Learning (Lorenzo Cherubini); and (26) Participatory Action Research for Teacher Development in Malawi (Liz Barber, Tom Smith, Alexander Erwin, Vanessa Duren-Winfield, Tenika S. Walker, Brian Mosleley, and James D. Worsley, with the following teachers from the Domasi Demonstration Primary School, Zomba, Malawi: Chifundo Ziyaya, Mirriam Sherriff, Ethel Chikapa, Beauty Kafuna, Liveness Mzanza, Ausman Ngwali, and Lucy Kapenuka). A foreword by Thomas R. Guskey and a preface by Audrey Cohan and Andrea Honigsfeld are included.
This unique collection of chapters takes the reader on a tour to explore innovative preservice and inservice teacher education practices from many regions of the United States, Canada and the world. Each of the chapters offers an authentic, documentary account of successful initiatives that break the traditional mold of teacher education. Section I presents unique preservice teacher preparation programs and initiatives. These chapters offer compelling ideas to readers who seek change in the higher education model of teacher training. Section II features inservice education for both the novice and veteran teacher. The chapters included in this section of the book offer stories of innovation as professional development initiatives. Each of the programs describes the setting or context in which the innovation takes place and focuses on the role of teachers and students. Chapters in Section III highlight the benefits of collaborative teacher education practices. Through the lens of community and with the tools of cooperation and support, innovative practices are described for the improvement of student learning. Section IV offers less commonly presented diverse, global perspectives on teacher education. The sharing of ideas through global examples highlight the similarities in educational practices and common goals across the world. Section I, Preservice Teacher Education, contains: (1) Mirrors, Maps, and Torchlights: Enacting a Conceptual Framework for Teacher Education (Catherine McTamaney and Amy Palmeri); (2) "I Would Rather Feel Uncomfortable in an Education Class than at the School Where I Teach": Cultural and Political Vignettes as a Pedagogical Approach in Teacher Education (Jacqueline Darvin); (3) Building a Bridge from the Experiential to the Textual: Preparing Critical Readers for a Complex Teaching Terrain (Laura R. Kates); (4) Raising the Bar for 21st Century Teacher Preparation (Mark Warner, Cherry O. Steffen, James Cope, and Beth A. Peery); (5) Practice-Based Teaching and Community Field Experiences for Prospective Teachers (Ken Zeichner and Morva McDonald); (6) High Impact Practices and the Preparation of Educators in the New Era (Yi-Ping Huang); (7) Service-Learning as a Vehicle for Examining Assumptions about Culture and Education (Peter Smagorinsky); and (8) Modeling Assessment and the Impact on K-16 Student Learning (Sheryl L. McGlamery and Saundra L. Shillingstad). Section II, Inservice Teacher Education, contains: (9) When Mentoring is Not Enough: A Multi-Year Induction Program (Joseph Corriero and Lynn Romeo); (10) When All Really Means All: Schools of Promise, Schools of Reform, and Innovative Professional Development (George Theoharis and Julie Causton-Theoharis); (11) Technology on the Frontier of Inservice Teacher Education (Diane Lapp, Douglas Fisher, Thomas DeVere Wolsey, and Sharon Walpole); (12) Teaching Outside the Book: Inservice Teacher Education for a New World (Susan K. Parry, Valerie B. Brown-Schild, Lisa B. Hibler, Charles R. Coble, and Ruben G. Carbonell); (13) Promoting Teachers' Social and Emotional Competencies to Support Performance and Reduce Burnout (Patricia A. Jennings); and (14) From Muteness to Provocation: An Emerging Developmental Model of Teacher Leadership (Nita A. Paris, Harriet J. Bessette, Traci Redish, and Dawn Kirby). Section III, Collaborative Teacher Education Practices, contains: (15) Grow Your Own Teachers: Community-Based Change in Teacher Education (Elizabeth A. Skinner); (16) Cooking "Hickory Soup" and Other Ways to Develop Successful Interprofessional Internships for Preservice Teachers (Twyla Salm and Lace Marie Brogden); (17) Foreign Language Teacher Technology Education: Innovation Through Social Networking (Victoria Hasko and Soria E. Colomer); (18) School-Community Based Urban Teacher Education as a Voice for the Community (Jana Noel); (19) The Association of Raza Educators: Community-Based Teacher Organizing and the Development of Alternative Forms of Teacher Collaboration (Miguel Zavala); and (20) School Improvement: Collaboration for Success (Mary Ellen Freeley, Andrew Ferdinandi, and Paul Pedota). Section IV, Global Perspectives on Teacher Education, contains: (21) Preparing New Teachers for the Full Catastrophe of the 21st Century Classroom: Integrating Mindfulness Training into Initial Teacher Education (Geoffrey B. Soloway, Patricia A. Poulin, and Corey S. Mackenzie); (22) Engaging Imaginations and Emotions in Preservice Teacher Education (Anne Chodakowski and Kieran Egan); (23) Teacher Induction in Scotland: Once Little Short of Scandalous, Now World Class (Ian Matheson, Mairi McAra, and Thomas Hamilton); (24) Cooperating Across Cultures: Professional Development in a Chinese Minority Region (Tasha Bleistein and Tao Rui); (25) Breaking the Mold to Mend the Wounds: An Innovative Model of Collaborative Practice to Further Aboriginal Student Learning (Lorenzo Cherubini); and (26) Participatory Action Research for Teacher Development in Malawi (Liz Barber, Tom Smith, Alexander Erwin, Vanessa Duren-Winfield, Tenika S. Walker, Brian Mosleley, and James D. Worsley, with the following teachers from the Domasi Demonstration Primary School, Zomba, Malawi: Chifundo Ziyaya, Mirriam Sherriff, Ethel Chikapa, Beauty Kafuna, Liveness Mzanza, Ausman Ngwali, and Lucy Kapenuka). A foreword by Thomas R. Guskey and a preface by Audrey Cohan and Andrea Honigsfeld are included.
Given the limited success of conventional treatments for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), investigations of alternative approaches are warranted. We examined the effects of a breathing-based meditation intervention, Sudarshan Kriya yoga, on PTSD outcome variables in U.S. male veterans of the Iraq or Afghanistan war. We randomly assigned 21 veterans to an active (n = 11) or waitlist control (n = 10) group. Laboratory measures of eye-blink startle and respiration rate were obtained before and after the intervention, as were self-report symptom measures; the latter were also obtained 1 month and 1 year later. The active group showed reductions in PTSD scores, d = 1.16, 95% CI [0.20, 2.04], anxiety symptoms, and respiration rate, but the control group did not. Reductions in startle correlated with reductions in hyperarousal symptoms immediately postintervention (r = .93, p < .001) and at 1-year follow-up (r = .77, p = .025). This longitudinal intervention study suggests there may be clinical utility for Sudarshan Kriya yoga for PTSD.
Mindfulness meditation is a set of attention-based, regulatory, and self-inquiry training regimes. Although the impact of mindfulness training (MT) on self-regulation is well established, the neural mechanisms supporting such plasticity are poorly understood. MT is thought to act through interoceptive salience and attentional control mechanisms, but until now conflicting evidence from behavioral and neural measures renders difficult distinguishing their respective roles. To resolve this question we conducted a fully randomized 6 week longitudinal trial of MT, explicitly controlling for cognitive and treatment effects with an active-control group. We measured behavioral metacognition and whole-brain blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals using functional MRI during an affective Stroop task before and after intervention in healthy human subjects. Although both groups improved significantly on a response-inhibition task, only the MT group showed reduced affective Stroop conflict. Moreover, the MT group displayed greater dorsolateral prefrontal cortex responses during executive processing, consistent with increased recruitment of top-down mechanisms to resolve conflict. In contrast, we did not observe overall group-by-time interactions on negative affect-related reaction times or BOLD responses. However, only participants with the greatest amount of MT practice showed improvements in response inhibition and increased recruitment of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, and right anterior insula during negative valence processing. Our findings highlight the importance of active control in MT research, indicate unique neural mechanisms for progressive stages of mindfulness training, and suggest that optimal application of MT may differ depending on context, contrary to a one-size-fits-all approach.
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Background: Traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine uses complex treatment approaches, including manual therapies, lifestyle and nutritional advice, dietary supplements, medication, yoga, and purification techniques. Ayurvedic strategies are often used to treat osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee; however, no systematic data are available on their effectiveness in comparison with standard care. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of complex Ayurvedic treatment in comparison with conventional methods of treating OA symptoms in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Methods and design: In a prospective, multicenter, randomized controlled trial, 150 patients between 40 and 70 years, diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the knee, following American College of Rheumatology criteria and an average pain intensity of >= 40 mm on a 100 mm visual analog scale in the affected knee at baseline will be randomized into two groups. In the Ayurveda group, treatment will include tailored combinations of manual treatments, massages, dietary and lifestyle advice, consideration of selected foods, nutritional supplements, yoga posture advice, and knee massage. Patients in the conventional group will receive self-care advice, pain medication, weight-loss advice (if overweight), and physiotherapy following current international guidelines. Both groups will receive 15 treatment sessions over 12 weeks. Outcomes will be evaluated after 6 and 12 weeks and 6 and 12 months. The primary endpoint is a change in the score on the Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) after 12 weeks. Secondary outcome measurements will use WOMAC subscales, a pain disability index, a visual analog scale for pain and sleep quality, a pain experience scale, a quality-of-life index, a profile of mood states, and Likert scales for patient satisfaction, patient diaries, and safety. Using an adapted PRECIS scale, the trial was identified as lying mainly in the middle of the efficacy-effectiveness continuum. Discussion: This trial is the first to compare the effectiveness of a complex Ayurvedic intervention with a complex conventional intervention in a Western medical setting in patients with knee osteoarthritis. During the trial design, aspects of efficacy and effectiveness were discussed. The resulting design is a compromise between rigor and pragmatism.
Introduction: This paper reports the findings of a systematic review which evaluates the evidence from RCTs regarding the effectiveness of complementary and alternative medical interventions (CAM) in reducing anxiety in parents whose children suffer from malignancies. Method: CINAHL, COCHRANE, EMBASE, PUBMED, SCOPUS and PSYCINFO electronic databases were searched, based on the following search terms: parent*, child*, anxiety, complementary, psychological, cognitive, behavioral, interventions, cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, 'brain tumors'. Results: In total 9 studies met the eligibility criteria. Six RCT's were pilot studies. Five trials targeted parents of children undergoing bone marrow transplantation, two studies targeted parents of children with various cancer diagnoses and two others targeted parents of children with leukemia. A variety of stress reduction techniques were reported. Overall, 5/9 of the studies reported the use of massage therapy. In two out of the five studies which used massage therapy on children as an intervention, massage was accompanied with relaxation/imagery in the first and in the second, parents delivered acupressure to their children. Two other studies used breathing techniques/guided imagery, another one used relaxation training and the last one used inhalation aromatherapy. Conclusions: The methodological quality of reviewed RCT's studies was low and many failed to provide sufficient information in order to assess their quality on many of the methodological indicators. Although, the review did not provide strong evidence in favor of CAM interventions, the results were encouraging. The studies showed promising results and some positive trends such as the feasibility and acceptability of CAM interventions in pediatric oncology/hematology unit. (C) 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
Introduction: This paper reports the findings of a systematic review which evaluates the evidence from RCTs regarding the effectiveness of complementary and alternative medical interventions (CAM) in reducing anxiety in parents whose children suffer from malignancies. Method: CINAHL, COCHRANE, EMBASE, PUBMED, SCOPUS and PSYCINFO electronic databases were searched, based on the following search terms: parent*, child*, anxiety, complementary, psychological, cognitive, behavioral, interventions, cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, 'brain tumors'. Results: In total 9 studies met the eligibility criteria. Six RCT's were pilot studies. Five trials targeted parents of children undergoing bone marrow transplantation, two studies targeted parents of children with various cancer diagnoses and two others targeted parents of children with leukemia. A variety of stress reduction techniques were reported. Overall, 5/9 of the studies reported the use of massage therapy. In two out of the five studies which used massage therapy on children as an intervention, massage was accompanied with relaxation/imagery in the first and in the second, parents delivered acupressure to their children. Two other studies used breathing techniques/guided imagery, another one used relaxation training and the last one used inhalation aromatherapy. Conclusions: The methodological quality of reviewed RCT's studies was low and many failed to provide sufficient information in order to assess their quality on many of the methodological indicators. Although, the review did not provide strong evidence in favor of CAM interventions, the results were encouraging. The studies showed promising results and some positive trends such as the feasibility and acceptability of CAM interventions in pediatric oncology/hematology unit. (C) 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
Objective To investigate whether placebo effects can experimentally be separated into the response to three components—assessment and observation, a therapeutic ritual (placebo treatment), and a supportive patient-practitioner relationship—and then progressively combined to produce incremental clinical improvement in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. To assess the relative magnitude of these components.
Design A six week single blind three arm randomised controlled trial.
Setting Academic medical centre.
Participants 262 adults (76% women), mean (SD) age 39 (14), diagnosed by Rome II criteria for and with a score of ≥150 on the symptom severity scale.
Interventions For three weeks either waiting list (observation), placebo acupuncture alone (“limited”), or placebo acupuncture with a patient-practitioner relationship augmented by warmth, attention, and confidence (“augmented”). At three weeks, half of the patients were randomly assigned to continue in their originally assigned group for an additional three weeks.
Main outcome measures Global improvement scale (range 1-7), adequate relief of symptoms, symptom severity score, and quality of life.
Results At three weeks, scores on the global improvement scale were 3.8 (SD 1.0) v 4.3 (SD 1.4) v 5.0 (SD 1.3) for waiting list versus “limited” versus “augmented,” respectively (P<0.001 for trend). The proportion of patients reporting adequate relief showed a similar pattern: 28% on waiting list, 44% in limited group, and 62% in augmented group (P<0.001 for trend). The same trend in response existed in symptom severity score (30 (63) v 42 (67) v 82 (89), P<0.001) and quality of life (3.6 (8.1) v 4.1 (9.4) v 9.3 (14.0), P<0.001). All pairwise comparisons between augmented and limited patient-practitioner relationship were significant: global improvement scale (P<0.001), adequate relief of symptoms (P<0.001), symptom severity score (P=0.007), quality of life (P=0.01).Results were similar at six week follow-up.
Conclusion Factors contributing to the placebo effect can be progressively combined in a manner resembling a graded dose escalation of component parts. Non-specific effects can produce statistically and clinically significant outcomes and the patient-practitioner relationship is the most robust component.
Trial registration Clinical Trials NCT00065403.
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This study investigated differences in brain activation during meditation between meditators and non-meditators. Fifteen Vipassana meditators (mean practice: 7.9 years, 2 h daily) and fifteen non-meditators, matched for sex, age, education, and handedness, participated in a block-design fMRI study that included mindfulness of breathing and mental arithmetic conditions. For the meditation condition (contrasted to arithmetic), meditators showed stronger activations in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex bilaterally, compared to controls. Greater rostral anterior cingulate cortex activation in meditators may reflect stronger processing of distracting events. The increased activation in the medial prefrontal cortex may reflect that meditators are stronger engaged in emotional processing.
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"Discover neglected wild food sourcesthat can also be used as medicine!The long-standing notion of food as medicine, medicine as food, can be traced back to Hippocrates. Eating and Healing: Traditional Food As Medicine is a global overview of wild and semi-domesticated foods and their use as medicine in traditional societies. Important cultural information, along with extensive case studies, provides a clear, authoritative look at the many neglected food sources still being used around the world today. This book bridges the scientific disciplines of medicine, food science, human ecology, and environmental sciences with their ethno-scientific counterparts of ethnobotany, ethnoecology, and ethnomedicine to provide a valuable multidisciplinary resource for education and instruction. Eating and Healing: Traditional Food As Medicine presents respected researchers in-depth case studies on foods different cultures use as medicines and as remedies for nutritional deficiencies in diet. Comparisons of living conditions in different geographic areas as well as differences in diet and medicines are thoroughly discussed and empirically evaluated to provide scientific evidence of the many uses of these traditional foods as medicine and as functional foods. The case studies focus on the uses of plants, seaweed, mushrooms, and fish within their cultural contexts while showing the dietary and medical importance of these foods. The book provides comprehensive tables, extensive references, useful photographs, and helpful illustrations to provide clear scientific support as well as opportunities for further thought and study. Eating and Healing: Traditional Food As Medicine explores the ethnobiology of: Tibetantioxidants as mediators of high-altitude nutritional physiology Northeast Thailandwild food plant gathering Southern Italythe consumption of wild plants by Albanians and Italians Northern Spainmedicinal digestive beverages United Statesmedicinal herb quality Commonwealth of Dominicahumoral medicine and food Cubapromoting health through medicinal foods Brazilmedicinal uses of specific fishes Brazilplants from the Amazon and Atlantic Forest Bolivian Andestraditional food medicines New Patagoniagathering of wild plant foods with medicinal uses Western Kenyauses of traditional herbs among the Luo people South Cameroonethnomycology in Africa Moroccofood medicine and ethnopharmacologyEating and Healing: Traditional Food As Medicine is an essential research guide and educational text about food and medicine in traditional societies for educators, students from undergraduate through graduate levels, botanists, and research specialists in nutrition and food science, anthropology, agriculture, ethnoecology, ethnobotany, and ethnobiology."--Provided by publisher.
A wry, sympathetic, bracingly honest account of living with anxiety, coupled with deep reportage on the science of anxiety disorders. --
A wry, sympathetic, bracingly honest account of living with anxiety, coupled with deep reportage on the science of anxiety disorders. --
This week, I talk to Katherine Priore Ghannam all about yoga for kids and her innovative program Headstand, which offered yoga to low-income K-12 schools around San Francisco. We cover some of the lessons Katherine learned from starting her passion project from scratch, and why it’s oh-so-beneficial to introduce yoga and mindfulness in schools. Whether you’re interested in sharing yoga with kids or just need some inspiration to keep working toward your goals, this episode is for you. We talk about: * The story of how Headstand got its start (and why she kept at it despite many of the... Continue Reading
Recently, there has been a lot of enthusiasm for mindfulness practice and its use in healthcare, businesses and schools. An increasing number of studies give us ground for cautious optimism about the potential of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) to improve people's lives across a number of dimensions. This paper identifies and addresses some of the main ethical and political questions for larger-scale MBIs. First, how far are MBIs compatible with liberal neutrality given the great diversity of lifestyles and conceptions of the good characteristic of modern societies? It will be argued that the potential benefits of contemporary secular mindfulness practice are indeed of a sufficiently primary or all-purpose nature to qualify as suitable goals of liberal public policy. Second, what challenges are brought up if mindfulness is used in contexts and applications—such as military settings—whose goals seem incompatible with the ethical and soteriological views of traditional mindfulness practice? It will be argued that, given concerns regarding liberal neutrality and reasonable disagreement about ethics, MBIs should avoid strong ethical commitments. Therefore, it should, in principle, be applicable in contexts of controversial moral value. Finally, drawing on recent discussions within the mindfulness community, it is argued that we should not overstate the case for mindfulness and not crowd out discussion of organisational and social determinants of stress, lowered well-being, and mental illness and the collective measures necessary to address them.
The purpose of the present study was to assess the efficacy of a culturally adapted version of the Strong Start intervention program on the social-emotional outcomes of African American male students. Externalizing behavior problems of children, specifically African American males, are of great concern for schools. Punitive discipline polices such as expulsion and suspension have proved to be ineffective and harmful. Consequently, school-based social-emotional learning (SEL) interventions have been proposed to teach children coping skills that can help them increase positive social behaviors and emotional regulation. Sixty-one African American male students enrolled in an urban elementary school participated in this intervention. This study employed a randomized delayed treatment control design. Results indicated positive effects in the areas of self-regulation and self-competence. However the intervention did not have an impact on student's empathy, responsibility, or externalizing behavior. Implications are discussed in terms of developing culturally relevant school-based interventions for African American males.
Background: The psycho-physiological changes in brain-body interaction observed in most of meditative and relaxing practices rely on voluntary slowing down of breath frequency. However, the identification of mechanisms linking breath control to its psychophysiological effects is still under debate. This systematic review is aimed at unveiling psychophysiological mechanisms underlying slow breathing techniques (<10 breaths/minute) and their effects on healthy subjects. Methods: A systematic search of MEDLINE and SCOPUS databases, using keywords related to both breathing techniques and to their psychophysiological outcomes, focusing on cardio-respiratory and central nervous system, has been conducted. From a pool of 2,461 abstracts only 15 articles met eligibility criteria and were included in the review. The present systematic review follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Results: The main effects of slow breathing techniques cover autonomic and central nervous systems activities as well as the psychological status. Slow breathing techniques promote autonomic changes increasing Heart Rate Variability and Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia paralleled by Central Nervous System (CNS) activity modifications. EEG studies show an increase in alpha and a decrease in theta power. Anatomically, the only available fMRI study highlights increased activity in cortical (e.g., prefrontal, motor, and parietal cortices) and subcortical (e.g., pons, thalamus, sub-parabrachial nucleus, periaqueductal gray, and hypothalamus) structures. Psychological/behavioral outputs related to the abovementioned changes are increased comfort, relaxation, pleasantness, vigor and alertness, and reduced symptoms of arousal, anxiety, depression, anger, and confusion. Conclusions: Slow breathing techniques act enhancing autonomic, cerebral and psychological flexibility in a scenario of mutual interactions: we found evidence of links between parasympathetic activity (increased HRV and LF power), CNS activities (increased EEG alpha power and decreased EEG theta power) related to emotional control and psychological well-being in healthy subjects. Our hypothesis considers two different mechanisms for explaining psychophysiological changes induced by voluntary control of slow breathing: one is related to a voluntary regulation of internal bodily states (enteroception), the other is associated to the role of mechanoceptors within the nasal vault in translating slow breathing in a modulation of olfactory bulb activity, which in turn tunes the activity of the entire cortical mantle.
Background: The psycho-physiological changes in brain-body interaction observed in most of meditative and relaxing practices rely on voluntary slowing down of breath frequency. However, the identification of mechanisms linking breath control to its psychophysiological effects is still under debate. This systematic review is aimed at unveiling psychophysiological mechanisms underlying slow breathing techniques (<10 breaths/minute) and their effects on healthy subjects., Methods: A systematic search of MEDLINE and SCOPUS databases, using keywords related to both breathing techniques and to their psychophysiological outcomes, focusing on cardio-respiratory and central nervous system, has been conducted. From a pool of 2,461 abstracts only 15 articles met eligibility criteria and were included in the review. The present systematic review follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines., Results: The main effects of slow breathing techniques cover autonomic and central nervous systems activities as well as the psychological status. Slow breathing techniques promote autonomic changes increasing Heart Rate Variability and Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia paralleled by Central Nervous System (CNS) activity modifications. EEG studies show an increase in alpha and a decrease in theta power. Anatomically, the only available fMRI study highlights increased activity in cortical (e.g., prefrontal, motor, and parietal cortices) and subcortical (e.g., pons, thalamus, sub-parabrachial nucleus, periaqueductal gray, and hypothalamus) structures. Psychological/behavioral outputs related to the abovementioned changes are increased comfort, relaxation, pleasantness, vigor and alertness, and reduced symptoms of arousal, anxiety, depression, anger, and confusion., Conclusions: Slow breathing techniques act enhancing autonomic, cerebral and psychological flexibility in a scenario of mutual interactions: we found evidence of links between parasympathetic activity (increased HRV and LF power), CNS activities (increased EEG alpha power and decreased EEG theta power) related to emotional control and psychological well-being in healthy subjects. Our hypothesis considers two different mechanisms for explaining psychophysiological changes induced by voluntary control of slow breathing: one is related to a voluntary regulation of internal bodily states (enteroception), the other is associated to the role of mechanoceptors within the nasal vault in translating slow breathing in a modulation of olfactory bulb activity, which in turn tunes the activity of the entire cortical mantle.
Parents of children with developmental delays (DD) often report significantly heightened levels of stress when compared to families of typically developing (TD) children. While elevated levels of early parenting stress are shown to negatively impact social development in TD children, this effect may be compounded for children with DD, who are already at greater risk of experiencing social difficulties. We sought to examine whether changes in child social skills occur after parent participation in mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention, and whether these changes were associated with parent–child relational factors. Parental stress was reduced through an 8-week MBSR training group. Changes in child social skills were measured using the social skills improvement system (SSIS), which was completed by 3 categories of respondents: parents participating in the study, a secondary informant, and the child’s teacher. Parent–child relational factors were measured using the parenting relationship questionnaire (PRQ). Data from 24 families of children with DD (ages 2.5–5) was examined in this study. Paired samples t-tests examining pre-post differences revealed that mothers, secondary informants, and teachers acknowledged improvements in child self-control. Mothers and teachers also reported improvements in empathy and engagement, while secondary informants and teachers reported improvements in child assertion. Teachers also reported improvements in children’s communication, responsibility, and cooperation. Variance in child self-control was significantly accounted for by changes in two parent–child relational factors: attachment and discipline practices. These results suggest that addressing parental mental health may enhance the efficacy of child-focused interventions by promoting parental consistency in discipline and perceived attachment (i.e. parent–child closeness).
Attempts to manage the outcome of pregnancy are ubiquitous among human societies. Those practices are becoming standardized as prenatal care under a biomedically trained practitioner has come to characterize the formal management of pregnancy. However, many women do not seek biomedical surveillance of their pregnancies, and, in many contexts, particularly in 'modernizing' or rural communities, prenatal care facilities are often poorly coordinated and under-utilized for a variety of reasons. This report illustrates widespread and increasing usage of biomedical services for prenatal care and birth among women in Ladakh, India, over the course of the past 20 years. This trend is at odds with that typical of other parts of South Asia, and can be attributed to the unique ecological, cultural, and historical characteristics of this region. These include the hypoxia of this high-altitude region, which poses substantial problems for successful birth outcome, along with the socio-ecology of maternal diet and work patterns that further compromise birth outcome. These risk factors exist in the context of the absence of involvement of traditional institutions such as Tibetan medicine or traditional birth attendants (TBAs) in pregnancy and birth, and government-sponsored efforts to establish institutions of modernity in Ladakh such as biomedical facilities. Hence, the penetration of biomedical services into the domain of reproductive health has been facilitated. Idiosyncratic aspects of the obstetrics practice itself, particularly the social position and personality of the obstetrician, have also played an important role in recruiting women to make use of hospital-based prenatal care and birth. However, despite broader usage of prenatal care and hospital births by Ladakhi women, there is little indication that birth outcomes have improved significantly. Reasons for this lack of measurable success are considered.
Little is known about placebo effects with scientific precision. Poor methodology has confounded our understanding of the magnitude and even the existence of the placebo effect. Investigating placebo effects presents special research challenges including: the design of appropriate controls for studying placebo effects including separating such effects from natural history and regression to the mean, the need for large sample sizes to capture expected small effects, and the need to understand such potential effects from a patient's perspective. This article summarizes the methodology of an ongoing NIH-funded randomized controlled trial aimed at investigating whether the placebo effect in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) exists and whether the magnitude of such an effect can be manipulated to vary in a manner analogous to “dose dependence.” The trial also uses an innovative combination of quantitative and qualitative methods.
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We all struggle from time to time with the question -- "Am I doing enough?" This week, Jason and I talk about this question and this fear in the yoga room. His clear message: Trust in the process of yoga. And return to the fundamentals of what we're trying to teach (and learn) in yoga: To hone attention and discipline so that we can remain steady in the face of stress.
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