Background: Arthritis affects 53 million U.S. adults, more than two-thirds of whom are younger than age 65. Approximately 1/3 of working-age (18-64 years) U.S adults with arthritis report arthritis-attributable work limitation. Objectives: First, to take a population-based perspective to evaluate the association of arthritis with employment participation among U.S. adults. Next, to examine whether this association differs by sex, age, or other characteristics. Finally, to investigate effects of the Great Recession (December 2007 to June 2009) on employment and to determine if arthritis status moderated its effects. Methods: All three studies were conducted using the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The third study also used longitudinal data from the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS) linked to NHIS. Results: These manuscripts are under peer-review for publication; limited results are presented: Study 1- Employment participation was always statistically significantly and substantially lower (e.g., >10 percentage points) among adults with arthritis compared with those without arthritis. Study 2- Overall, 20.1 million adults (10.4% [95% CI=10.1-10.8] of the working-age population) reported work disability. Study 3- During the period of the Great Recession, people with arthritis stopped work at higher rates and started work at lower rates than those without arthritis, suggesting at least some differential effect among those with arthritis. Conclusion: This work contributes new knowledge by establishing long-term patterns and benchmark information for employment participation, work disability, transitions, and macro economic effects among adults with and without arthritis in the U.S. A population-based, non-condition-specific approach of this type has not been previously reported.

A social ecological framework is used in this study to identify health behaviours that have the potential to affect physical activity levels in Interlake youth. Data from two cycles of the Youth Health Survey (YHS) were used to identify which demographic, individual, social and environmental factors were associated with physical activity levels of youth. Boys were found to have higher rates of physical activity than girls. As students got older their physical activity rates declined. Sex, active transportation to school, screen time, healthy eating, self perception of body image, feelings of hopelessness and feeling close to people at school were significantly associated with physcial activity levels. Important differences have been identified between the individual, social and environmental factors that can potentially affect physical activity levels of youth based on the data produced by the Interlake YHS. Individual factors have the strongest association with physical activity levels, followed by environmental factors.

This is an integrative literature review of the utilisation of reflexology as complementary and alternative treatment modality in adults with chronic disease. Anecdotal evidence has claimed potential health benefits of reflexology for patients with various chronic diseases. In this study, selected databases that were accessible were searched using keywords such as reflexology therapy, zone therapy and combinations thereof. Databases such as SA Nexus, SAePublications, ProQuest, Web of Knowledge, EBSCOhost Platform, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library and Google Advanced Scholar were searched for primary studies and reviews of primary studies from 2000 until the end of 2008 (N = 1171). Primary experimental and non-experimental studies in any language with an abstract in English were identified. Only studies that complied with the inclusion criteria were reviewed and appraised (n = 35) for study quality with appropriate tools from the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) and the American Dietetic Association's (ADA) Evidence analysis manual. Evidence extraction, analysis and synthesis were done to review available evidence by means of the evidence class rating and evidence grading of strength prescribed in the ADA's manual. Study findings represent a statistical significant reduction in the frequency of seizures of patients with intractable epilepsy, an improvement of sensory and urinary symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis and a clinical significant reduction of pain and anxiety in patients with cancer and fibromyalgia syndrome to increase overall well-being and quality of life. No statistical significant evidence was reported on benefits of reflexology for irritable bowel syndrome, menopausal symptoms, chronic low back pain and asthma. Thus there appears to be fair evidence of the effectiveness of reflexology, in addition clinical evidence supports the utilisation of reflexology to promote well-being and quality of life in adults with chronic disease. / Thesis (M.Cur.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010

Self-rated health (SRH) is a commonly used measure in surveys. The associations of SRH in Canadian First Nations populations have not previously been fully studied. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were conducted to determine how participants rated their health and what factors associated with SRH in a Manitoba First Nation. Respondents rated their health substantially worse than the general Canadian population. Men rated their health worse than women, and older adults rated their health worse than younger adults. In multivariate analyses, sex, hypertension, arthritis, the metabolic syndrome, number of chronic conditions, vision and mobility difficulties, perceived stress, perceived control over health and life, and community conditions were independently associated with SRH. These results suggest that asymptomatic conditions may be incorporated into the SRH of community members and suggest a complex interaction of health-related factors, stressors, and psychosocial factors that contribute to community members’ SRH.

This is an integrative literature review of the utilisation of reflexology as complementary and alternative treatment modality in adults with chronic disease. Anecdotal evidence has claimed potential health benefits of reflexology for patients with various chronic diseases. In this study, selected databases that were accessible were searched using keywords such as reflexology therapy, zone therapy and combinations thereof. Databases such as SA Nexus, SAePublications, ProQuest, Web of Knowledge, EBSCOhost Platform, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library and Google Advanced Scholar were searched for primary studies and reviews of primary studies from 2000 until the end of 2008 (N = 1171). Primary experimental and non-experimental studies in any language with an abstract in English were identified. Only studies that complied with the inclusion criteria were reviewed and appraised (n = 35) for study quality with appropriate tools from the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) and the American Dietetic Association's (ADA) Evidence analysis manual. Evidence extraction, analysis and synthesis were done to review available evidence by means of the evidence class rating and evidence grading of strength prescribed in the ADA's manual. Study findings represent a statistical significant reduction in the frequency of seizures of patients with intractable epilepsy, an improvement of sensory and urinary symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis and a clinical significant reduction of pain and anxiety in patients with cancer and fibromyalgia syndrome to increase overall well-being and quality of life. No statistical significant evidence was reported on benefits of reflexology for irritable bowel syndrome, menopausal symptoms, chronic low back pain and asthma. Thus there appears to be fair evidence of the effectiveness of reflexology, in addition clinical evidence supports the utilisation of reflexology to promote well-being and quality of life in adults with chronic disease. / Thesis (M.Cur.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010

Background: Arthritis affects 53 million U.S. adults, more than two-thirds of whom are younger than age 65. Approximately 1/3 of working-age (18-64 years) U.S adults with arthritis report arthritis-attributable work limitation. Objectives: First, to take a population-based perspective to evaluate the association of arthritis with employment participation among U.S. adults. Next, to examine whether this association differs by sex, age, or other characteristics. Finally, to investigate effects of the Great Recession (December 2007 to June 2009) on employment and to determine if arthritis status moderated its effects. Methods: All three studies were conducted using the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The third study also used longitudinal data from the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS) linked to NHIS. Results: These manuscripts are under peer-review for publication; limited results are presented: Study 1- Employment participation was always statistically significantly and substantially lower (e.g., >10 percentage points) among adults with arthritis compared with those without arthritis. Study 2- Overall, 20.1 million adults (10.4% [95% CI=10.1-10.8] of the working-age population) reported work disability. Study 3- During the period of the Great Recession, people with arthritis stopped work at higher rates and started work at lower rates than those without arthritis, suggesting at least some differential effect among those with arthritis. Conclusion: This work contributes new knowledge by establishing long-term patterns and benchmark information for employment participation, work disability, transitions, and macro economic effects among adults with and without arthritis in the U.S. A population-based, non-condition-specific approach of this type has not been previously reported.

Smoking, alcohol consumption, diet and exercise are sources of risk for many chronic diseases and the need to change unhealthy behaviours is now a key aspect of health promotion policies. Interventions to change adult behaviours have been unsuccessful despite, or perhaps because of, rather dramatic secular changes. Health behaviour is usually understood in terms of three different motivating forces for action, which can be categorised as individual utility, social structure and agency (i.e. engagement in a specific social and temporal context). The first two of these have been relatively well studied. The role of individual utility has been explored using a variety of expectancy-value models that relate individual psychological attributes (attitudes, beliefs and suchlike) to health behaviour. The role of social structure has been explored by studying how behaviour varies with economic circumstances (such as income or tenure) and social relationships (such as family and neighbourhood). Less well studied has been the role of agency. This thesis develops Giddens's concept of self-identity and Simmel's ideas on fashion, to provide an operationalisation of agency. The concept of image is used to link the individual's presentation of self and the appearance of an activity, in terms of underlying attributes such as conformity, gender-identity, sociability and asceticism. Considerations of image provide a potential explanation as to why some people might be more attracted to one activity than another. The concept of status seeking is used to explore why some people are motivated to follow new trends more quickly than others. This operationalisation of the role of agency in health behaviour is tested by exploring the relationship between all these potential motivating forces (individual utility, social structure and agency) and the initiation of and change in 4 specific health behaviours (smoking, drinking, diet and exercise), using data from the 1946 national birth cohort. The 1946 cohort provides a unique opportunity to explore these relationships because it provides the historical specificity necessary to delineate the changing public image of these health behaviours. It covers a period (1946-1989) during which advice about and the public image of the 4 health behaviours changed considerably, and it has data on the cohort's health habits and self images. Results indicate that people's views of themselves in relation to public images do indeed relate to these 4 health behaviours along with the other motivating forces. Understanding how all these motivating forces operate offers the possibility of predicting future behaviour and designing strategies to promote healthy choices.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 1999. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 54 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-54).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 225-235).

Thesis (M.S.)--East Carolina University, 2009. / Presented to the faculty the Department of Occupational Therapy. Advisor: Anne Dickerson. Assessing the Risk of IADL Tasks from the Perspective of Medically-at-risk Older Adults and their Caregivers. Includes bibliographical references.