York St John University
  • York, United Kingdom
Recent publications
Movement of the body is an essential way to characterise autism, according to diagnostic criteria. However, qualifying descriptions of what autistic movements are, their functions and personal value, are missing from academic literature and clinical guidance. We systematically searched for autistic adults’ descriptions of their body and its movement within autobiographical narratives in blog data. Descriptions from 23 autistic authors formed a qualitative data set. The search strategy identified descriptions of movements and meanings without a priori definitions, such as being stereotyped or ritualistic, which were submitted to a thematic analysis. Authors described stigmatisation of some of their movements, causing censorship. However, movement provided personal benefits, including enhanced thinking and focus, routine, sensory regulation, release of energy, increased body connection and awareness, regulated emotion, and time without self-restraint. Examples included stimming or self-stimulating behaviour, dancing, and physical exercise. Movement was accompanied by qualifying descriptions of being natural and harmless. Moving freely, expressively, and sometimes repetitively, strengthened self-identity. In conclusion, body movements have both stigmatised and non-stigmatised appearances for autistic adults, but these cannot be distinguished by the function of the movement. Expressive, regulating and repetitive movements can be a well-being resource for autistic people. Implications for practice are discussed. Lay abstract What is already known? Moving the body in ‘stereotyped’, ‘repetitive’, ‘ritualised’ or ‘unusual’ ways is part of the criteria for receiving a diagnosis of autism. However, the reasons for these movements and their personal value are not well understood. Certain ways of moving have become part of a disorder, and have received negative judgements, whereas other movements have not. What this paper adds? We searched online blogs for descriptions of movement written by autistic adults, using their preferred language and definitions. The blog authors said that many types of movement attracted negative judgement, including mis-coordination shown during sports, dancing in unusual places or moving repetitively, such as when stimming. However, movement provided personal benefits, and could enhance thinking and focus, provide meaningful routine, contribute to sensory regulation, release energy, increase body awareness, emotion regulation and strengthen self-identity. Implications for practice and policy Movement could be a well-being resource, used to reduce distraction, overwhelm, confusion and distress for autistic people. This should be considered within personal coping strategies and psychological therapies. The examples provided in this study could inform autism assessments, to ensure that the meanings of movements are considered alongside the appearances of movement. Some movements such as stimming have the same functions as many other ways of moving, including dancing and exercising, which could help to reduce stigma around being autistic if reflected in policy and practice. Improving understanding is important for informing how autism is assessed, and how personal experiences of being autistic are heard.
Rationale Advanced practice physiotherapy roles (Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioners [APPs] and First Contact Physiotherapists [FCPs]) are pivotal in supporting patients to manage their musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. Having a greater understanding of how decisions are made by these practitioners will inform competency frameworks and improve the provision of patient‐centred care. Aim To evaluate the current knowledge, views and use of shared decision‐making in MSK advanced physiotherapy practice in the United Kingdom. Methods A cross‐sectional survey using an online questionnaire was used to collect demographic information, knowledge, views and self‐reported use of shared decision‐making (SDM) of APPs and FCPs who work with adults with MSK disorders in the United Kingdom. Results Responses from 49 participants (25 APPs and 24 FCPs) were included in the study. In total, 80% of participants had received SDM training and overall high levels of knowledge were shown. Only 12% of participants used a communication model to facilitate SDM. In total, 80% of participants reported making decisions together with the patient either always or most of the time. FCPs favoured a more patient‐led approach to decision‐making compared to APPs who favoured collaborative decision‐making. The most commonly reported barriers to SDM included lack of time, lack of patient education resources, lack of access to patient decision aids and treatment pathway restrictions. Conclusions The responses in this study showed that overall APPs and FCPs have good knowledge of SDM and report routine use of collaborative and patient‐led decision‐making approaches.
Background I'm Me is a creative research project co‐created between York St John University and Mind the Gap, investigating learning disabled and autistic artists’ understandings of identity, representation and voice. Methods In this paper, we use Walmsley and Johnson's criteria for inclusive research to reflect on the involvement of people with learning disabilities and autism in I'm Me . Findings Researchers need to carefully reflect on who benefits from research. Long‐term relationships allow genuine allyship and for research design to emerge in an inclusive manner. Taking the time to develop access and clear structures for decision‐making can support people with learning disabilities’ participation and control over research. Part of access is sharing our findings in accessible ways, in this case, by using plain language and artistic outputs. Conclusions Working out how people with learning disabilities and autism should be involved in research has involved establishing structures, reflecting and responding to create as much involvement and enable as much decision‐making as possible.
This paper explores the question: ‘how do teachers shape children’s connections to forest places and establish educational ways of being and knowing (an educational mode of existence) during Forest School sessions?’. A Forest School ‘movement’ has grown in popularity in Europe over the last decade, alongside a marked expansion in the field of learning outside the classroom (LOTC). Part of this movement has focused on the importance of developing children’s relationship with nature. However, little literature speaks to how child-nature relationships manifest, nor implications for educational ways of being (and knowing). This paper steps outside of popularised notions of ‘nature deficit disorder’ to reimagine Forest Schooling as intentional construction of a specific educational mode of existence, reliant upon careful evolution of children’s connections to forest places. The term ‘place’ is necessarily complicated in this paper, arguing that only through recent developments in (social) topological perspectives and theories of modes of existence can we begin to fully understand place connection. Drawing on ethnographic data, this paper argues for greater focus on intersections between materiality and meaning constructed in multidimensional time and space in establishing educational modes of existence and related place connections.
Perfectionistic self-presentation (the desire to appear perfect to others) is related to decreased body satisfaction and intrusive (e.g., addictive or problematic) social media use in young women. Instagram, a highly visual social media platform, may serve as a medium for heightened body image concerns among this population. Exploring perfectionistic self-presentation on Instagram, by examining the extent to which women promote a perfect image on Instagram (perfectionistic self-promotion) and avoid presenting an imperfect image on Instagram (non-display of imperfection and non-disclosure of imperfection), may help to further understand its role in these issues. To test this idea, we recruited two non-clinical samples of young women (Sample 1: cross-sectional, N = 392; Sample 2: two-wave longitudinal, N = 176) to examine the relationships between perfectionistic self-presentation on Instagram, Instagram intrusion and body satisfaction. Findings revealed that dimensions of perfectionistic self-presentation on Instagram were negatively associated with body satisfaction, both cross-sectionally and over time and positively associated with Instagram intrusion, cross-sectionally. Non-display of imperfection appeared to be the most important dimension. Overall, our findings offer initial support for examining perfectionistic self-presentation on Instagram, and its utility in understanding the body satisfaction of young women.
Anticipated emotions are the feelings one expects if a hypothetical future event were to occur, whereas anticipatory emotions are those one experiences right now while imagining the event. There has been little direct comparison of these two forms of future-oriented emotion, and authors have typically focused on positive emotions (e.g., pleasure). Besides, their sensitivity to depressive symptoms—which may help to explain motivational problems in depression—has only recently been investigated (e.g., Anderson et al., 2023; Gamble et al., 2021). The present study (conducted September–November 2022) used innovative picture-and-text vignettes depicting everyday positive and negative future events, to which participants rated their anticipated and anticipatory responses on separate dimensions of valence (i.e., how positive or negative) and arousal (i.e., emotional intensity). Based on prior literature, anticipatory emotions were expected to be correlated with, yet weaker than, anticipated emotions, reflecting a conceptualization of anticipatory emotions as a “foretaste” of the affective response one expects in the future. We also predicted that high depressive symptoms would coincide with diminished emotion ratings overall and specifically for anticipatory emotions (tightly coupled with event expectations; Carrera et al., 2012). Results largely supported these preregistered predictions, yet anticipatory emotions (positive and negative) were only weaker in more highly depressed participants. Depressive symptoms may therefore affect how one currently feels about future possibilities without altering one’s expectations of how such events would actually feel. Implications and future research objectives arising from this are discussed.
This co-authored paper is a reflection on our collective and individual experiences creating and performing in dist[Sense], a virtual performance experience for one audience-participant and one performer-participant to be present together in a single Zoom box. dist[Sense] was created as a reaction to global stay-at-home orders and a widely shared sense of isolation and need for human connection during the summer of 2020. Using Zoom Telematics, dist[Sense] created a shared virtual space in which the performer-participant and audience-participant could be co-present. Through writing this performance reflection, we (the creative team) have wrestled with our own definitions of presence. What does it mean to be both materially alone and virtually together? Can we really achieve shared meaning with another? Or is the experience of mutual understanding a projection of our thoughts and desires? Although these questions exist in Face-to-Face interactions, the virtual shared space of dist[Sense] brought their urgency to the forefront. In dist[Sense], the medium became the message: the medium of Zoom became the meaning we learned about-how to connect in virtual space. Through the creation and performance of dist[Sense], we each found our own way to be present and find connection in a time of mass isolation.
In 2008, New Zealand took the lead globally in offering a working holiday scheme to Chinese youth following the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries. This scheme allows Chinese participants to live, work, and/or travel for 12 months in New Zealand, which attracted huge attention and sparked enormous interest among young Chinese. Against this backdrop, the primary focus of this case study is to examine the transnational experiences of Chinese working holiday makers (WHMs) in New Zealand through a cultural lens, highlighting the distinctive characteristics of this cohort. In particular, this case study explores the factors that motivated young Chinese to become WHMs in New Zealand. Moreover, this case sheds light on their dual-layered working experience; namely how they adapted to the positive working dynamics in New Zealand compared to the working experience back in China while still navigating through perceived precarious situations. This case further discusses how Chinese individuals have transformed their understanding of sociocultural norms and parental expectations through working holidays. Furthermore, the case study examines the broader economic impact of this growing cohort on New Zealand, providing insights into the implications of the working holiday scheme. Information © The Author 2024
Background Inequalities in modern contraceptive use among women in low-income countries remain a major public health challenge. Eliminating or reducing the inequalities in modern contraceptive use among women could accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, Targets 3.7 & 5.6. Thus, this study examined the inequality gaps in modern contraceptive use and associated factors among women of reproductive age in Nigeria between 2003 and 2018. Methods This study employed the World Health Organisation’s Health Equity Assessment Toolkit to analyse the 2003 and 2018 Nigeria Demographic Health Surveys. Modern contraceptive use was aggregated using five equity stratifiers: age, economic status, educational level, place, and region of residence among women of reproductive aged 15 to 49, with a sample size of 5,336 and 29,090 for 2003 and 2018, respectively. Inequality was measured in this study using difference (D), ratio (R), population-attributable risk (PAR), and a population-attributable fraction (PAF). Results The study shows an increase in modern contraceptive use among women of reproductive age in Nigeria from 8.25% in 2003 to 12.01% in 2018, with the use being more prominent among women of reproductive age 20–49 and those in the richest economic quintile. In both surveys, women with primary education showed the most upward increase in modern contraceptive use. Women residing in the urban areas also show an upward use of modern contraceptives use. The study further highlights inequality gaps, with age being a substantial factor, while economic status and sub-national regions showed mild to marginal inequality gaps. Finally, the educational level of women of reproductive age in Nigeria significantly shows inequality in modern contraceptive use, with a PAF of 129.11 in 2003 and 65.39 in 2018. Conclusion The inequality gap in modern contraceptive use among women of reproductive age in Nigeria between 2003 and 2018 reported in this study includes age, education, wealth quintile, residence, and region-related inequalities. The study highlights the need for policies and programmes that target the groups with low use of modern contraceptives to promote equity in family planning services.
This chapter surveys descriptions of the satirist from across the eighteenth century, arguing that attention to the character of the satirist reveals that during this period satire was not only performative but preoccupied with questions of performance. In order to understand the various elements of eighteenth-century satiric performance, the chapter demonstrates the applicability of three contemporary models of subjectivity: mask, persona, and character. Though discrete, the different layers of satiric performance were not consistently aligned and often instead playfully rejected internal coherence. Readers were compelled to negotiate layers of mask and character which were purposefully mismatched to produce deliberate, revealing, and entertaining dissonances. The chapter then considers in detail two anonymous attempts to prescribe how the ideal satirist should behave, The Satirists: A Satire (1739) and The Satirist: A Poem (1771), arguing that stricter clarification on what was considered permissible satirical behaviour only created additional means by which satirists could frustrate and subvert readers’ expectations to further satirical effect. Ultimately, this chapter suggests that satirical utterances printed throughout the eighteenth century necessarily and intrinsically demanded readers to engage with and navigate complex and slippery questions of character.
Aim To describe and interpret the sexual health experiences of men with IBD. Design Interpretive qualitative study. Methods In‐depth, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 22 men with a diagnosis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Interviews were digitally audio‐recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using constant comparative, thematic analysis. Results Three themes were identified from interview data: (1) the disease shapes intimate connections, (2) the disease thwarts sexual experiences and (3) the disease disrupts male gender norms. Men reported that active disease lowered libido and could change pre‐, inter‐ and post‐coital sexual practices. All participants noted that health professionals did not initiate the discussion of sexual health and well‐being needs in the outpatient hospital setting. Men who engaged in receptive anal sex reported a lack of disease‐specific guidance and understanding from professionals. Conclusion Inflammatory bowel disease can negatively impact the sexual well‐being, gender identity and activities of men. Further research is required to identify the care preferences of men with IBD and clarify the barriers and facilitators to sexual health assessment so that nurses may better support the health needs of this population. Implications for the Profession and Patient Care This study highlights the need for sexual health and well‐being support that is specific to disease and gender in IBD. There is a paucity of information and guidance for men with peri‐anal disease and proctitis who engage in receptive anal sex, which requires urgent attention. Reporting Method Reporting follows the COREQ checklist. Patient or Public Contribution A patient and public involvement group informed the development of the study design. The group reviewed public facing documents and interview guides. One member of the group provided comments on the identified themes.
This study introduces an ensemble-based Deep Neural Network (DNN) model for detecting defects on steel surfaces. The method suggested in this study classifies steel surface conditions into six possible fault categories, namely, crazing, inclusion, rolled in, pitted surface, scratches, and patches. The images undergo preprocessing and extraction of features in spatial and frequency domains using image segmentation techniques such as grey level difference method (GLDM), fast Fourier Transform (FFT), grey level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), texture analysis and discrete wavelet transform (DWT). The ensembling of image features into a fused feature pool is carried out after the preprocessing of input images that are provided as input to a light-weight neural network model for training and testing. The performance of the model is comprehensively evaluated via an ablation study both before and after ensembling. In addition, the model capability is effectively analyzed using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve, confusion matrix from which classification accuracy of the model could be obtained and other parameters including precision and f1-score. It was observed that the proposed deep learning network presents phenomenally high accuracy of 99.72% for detection and classification of steel surface faults. This result was found to be superior when compared with the performance of the same neural network over each feature type individually. This study also compares the classification results of the model built based on the ensembled feature set with the results of various other classification approaches available in literature. The ensemble-based model could potentially be integrated into existing inspection systems for real-time, efficient and robust condition monitoring of steel surfaces.
Organizations today seek to improve and adapt their business processes because of an increasingly competitive economy. The use and application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for business process improvement and management is often discussed and put in place, regardless of its potentially negative impact if AI is implemented in the wrong way, especially around the processing and storing of personal data. We discuss the use of AI for the management and improvement of business processes, especially in the financial domain, and how to ensure responsible AI use in enterprises for this aim. We propose an information system design for responsible and trustworthy business processes, and we envision that businesses will need strong and well-defined control points in their information systems for managing processes and creating associated audits to enforce their principles. We define questions and challenges that companies will need to reflect upon and follow to achieve an application of responsible AI in an enterprise context. We also outline considerations for AI and data protection regulation for companies, while also considering the technical challenges that would need to be solved.
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Gang Pan
  • School of Humanities
Owen Kavanagh
  • School of Sciece Technology & Health
Stephen Gibson
  • Faculty of Health & Life Sciences
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