Background: Interest in alternatives to hormone therapy (HT) for menopausal symptoms increased following its association with serious health risks. In terms of phytotherapeutic interventions, while traditional use supports a range of herbs for treating menopausal symptoms, evidence from rigorous scientific trials is limited, and has largely focused on the phytoestrogenic plants. Because of some safety concerns over long-term use of isoflavones, the present study focused on two non-estrogenic herbs, Hypericum perforatum and Vitex agnus-castus, also employed in this context in the Anglo-American and European traditions. Both herbs have shown effectiveness for the alleviation of symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), which is reported to be more severe during the perimenopause, and may account for many of the so-called 'menopausal symptoms' at this time. Research on menopausal vasomotor symptoms is prone to substantial placebo responses. There has been much interest in increasing our understanding of the placebo response with a view to controlling it in clinical research and harnessing it in clinical practice. Methods & Results: A double-blind, randomised controlled trial (RCT), with a 16-week treatment phase, was conducted on 100 late-perimenopause and early postmenopause women. The herbal combination (Hypericum and Vitex) was not found to be superior to placebo for any of the endpoints - daily weighted flushing scores, overall menopausal symptoms (on the Greene Climacteric Scale) and depression (on the Hamilton Depression Inventory). However, significant improvements across the treatment phase were observed in both arms for all of these outcome measures. No significant change was found for either group on the Utian quality of life scale. The effects of the herbal combination were also examined on PMS-like symptoms in the small sub-population of late-perimenopausal women, and found to be superior to placebo for total PMS-like symptoms and the sub-clusters, PMS-D (depression) and PMS-C (cravings). The active treatment group also showed significant improvements on PMS-A (anxiety) and PMS-H (hydration), although these effects were not superior to placebo. Predictors of the placebo response were investigated and found to include study-entry anxiety for the outcome measures of flushing, depression and overall menopausal symptoms, and improvement during non-treatment run-in for depression and overall symptoms. Because no difference had been found between 'active' and placebo groups in the menopause RCT, it was hypothesised that the same predictors would predict the response to the study treatment. However, low anxiety was significantly associated with improvement in this group. None of the other variables that predicted the placebo response was relevant to the study treatment response. This finding is discussed with reference to the possibility that 'drug' effects and placebo effects are not necessarily additive, and that the same magnitude of effect in both arms might not necessarily imply activity via the same pathways. Conclusions: This research contributes to the growing body of scientific knowledge about evidence-based complementary therapies that informs the community, health-care providers and regulatory authorities. The findings may facilitate identification of potential placebo responders in future research. The need for more research in the area of mechanisms of placebo versus active responses is supported.

This thesis examines the meanings of naturopathy through the experiences of twelve women with refugee backgrounds involved in naturopathic treatment at the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture (Foundation House), a refugee torture and trauma rehabilitation service in Melbourne, Australia. The findings of this research show that the naturopathic encounter provided a transformative and meaningful meeting place for healing, a place in which the women felt at ease and in place.At Foundation House naturopathy has been practised alongside counselling since 1989, two years after the organisation’s inception. The women I interviewed for this project came from diverse sociocultural backgrounds and a wide range of countries including Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Burma and Serbia.The thesis brings together two contemporary fields of practice: Western models of refugee health care and traditional medicine. It argues for the place of non-biomedical approaches in refugee health care in a Western setting. The thesis takes an interdisciplinary approach to theorise the naturopathic encounter. The distinction between holistic and reductionist perspectives on health, illness and the body is underpinned by the theoretical work of medical anthropologists Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Margaret Lock and that of medical sociologist Aaron Antonovsky. A cultural studies perspective, influenced by the work of embodiment scholar Elspeth Probyn is employed to theorise these women’s experiences of the naturopathic encounter.This qualitative study is based on in-depth interviews and draws on grounded theory as an approach to data analysis. Descriptions of respite, renewal, and healing in the naturopathic encounter are cited as the most observable themes emerging from the women’s stories. These themes represent a health-oriented, as opposed to a disease-focused, perspective. Importantly, a health-orientated approach is congruent with the core tenets of naturopathic philosophy. Listening to the body is a crucial therapeutic tool in the naturopathic encounter, where primacy is given to supporting and strengthening health-creating strategies. I argue that this orientation disrupts the existing dominant biomedical approach to refugee health care. I draw on the work of Probyn to theorise the movement from the naturopathic encounter (NE) to the naturopathic meeting place (NMP). Central to this transposition is Probyn’s articulation of the body’s awareness of being in and out of place. This awareness lends itself to an understanding of the connectedness between past and present in the bridge-making that these particular refugee women have engaged in across cultures in the NMP.The thesis addresses an important but often neglected focus in refugee research: the resilience and agency of refugees. This positive aspect of refugee recovery is revealed in the research by theorising the women’s stories through Probyn’s embodiment analysis and cognisance of the ‘everyday’ as a productive and creative process. The research interrupts the ubiquitous image of the ‘disempowered refugee victim’. It highlights the practical wisdom and agency of these particular women that is often overshadowed in the complex resettlement process. It makes a call for further health-orientated research to broaden and deepen our understanding of the refugee experience.

This Senior Thesis in Environmental Analysis seeks to explore the ways in which certain food-oriented programs for incarcerated women and women on parole critically resist the Prison Industrial Complex and the Industrial Food System by securing social and ecological equity through the acquisition of food justice. It focuses on three case studies: the Crossroads’ Meatless Mondays program, Fallen Fruit from Rising Women: A Crossroads Social Enterprise, and Cultivating Dreams Prison Garden Project: An Organic Garden for Women in Prison. Each project utilizes food as a tool to build community, provide valuable skill sets of cooking and gardening, and educate women about the social, environmental and political implications of the Industrial Food System. Overall, the goal of this thesis is to prove the necessity of food justice programs in the criminal justice system in counteracting the disenfranchisement of certain populations that are continuously discriminated against in the industrialized systems of prison and food.

Musicians are a high-risk occupational group for musculoskeletal disorders. Often manifesting in muscle tension, pain and paresthesia, musculoskeletal disorders can drastically affect comfort, mentality and endurance while performing. This study sought to examine the effects of electromyography (EMG) biofeedback training in reducing musculoskeletal symptoms in music performance. The subjects were university-level violinists and cellists. Over a period of 2-4 weeks, all participants underwent EMG biofeedback training while performing their instrument using audio feedback. No significant results were found, but patterns of decreased muscle tension and increased performance comfort and endurance were observed.

The United States is ranked 27th in the world for maternal mortality, yet spends twice as much on maternity care services as countries with better maternal health indicators. Stuck in a technocratic and physician-dominated maternity care system, the U.S. depends on expensive technologies to control birth out of fear of pain and litigation, costing Americans billions of dollars and depriving women of the opportunity to have a transformative birth experience. Through an analysis of the medicalization of birth and the current biomedical model in birth, in conjunction with open-ended interviews with 5 hospital midwives and 3 homebirth midwives, the benefits and challenges of incorporating a midwifery model of care into our maternity services are explored. The midwifery model emphasizes that birth is not pathology and that psychosocial factors play a large role in birth outcomes. Basing their practice on collaboration, education, and support, midwives empower women, avoid unnecessary interventions, and offer a lower cost and higher quality care alternative. The current monopoly of women’s health services by physicians is unsustainable. Incorporating midwives into the maternity care team could provide a sustainable alternative with the caliber of maternity care services that U.S. women and families deserve.

Spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) is a therapeutic procedure employed by various healthcare practitioners for alleviating acute and chronic musculoskeletal complaints. This form of treatment is also delivered to enhance the performance and augment the rehabilitation of athletes. However, despite research findings alleging the strength-modulating effects of SMT alongside numerous professional athletes’ positive anecdotal claims concerning its results, the physiological processes to explain its effects remain largely unexplained. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to investigate the effects of SMT in a college-aged sample population with two experiments. The first study examined the effect of SMT targeting the lumbosacral region on concentric force production of the knee extensors and flexors. A randomized, controlled, single-blind crossover design was utilized with 21 subjects. Isometric and isokinetic peak torques (Nm) were recorded during maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVIC) or maximal voluntary contractions (MVC) post-treatment of either SMT or a sham manipulation. The second study incorporated the same experimental design with 20 subjects to examine the effects of SMT on central nervous system (CNS) excitability. This was accomplished by assessing postactivation potentiation (PAP), measured with the Hoffmann Reflex (H-reflex). PAP is an enhanced neuromuscular response to prior contractile activity, and the H-reflex is the electromyographic (EMG) recording of submaximal electrical stimulation of the Ia monosynaptic reflex pathway. Subsequent to SMT and/or a plantar flexion MVIC, EMG amplitudes and isometric twitch torque generation of the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles were recorded during tibial nerve stimulations. The results of the first study indicate that SMT did not produce a significant strength-modulating effect during isometric and isokinetic contractions of neither knee extension nor flexion. Similarly, the second study revealed that SMT immediately preceding the MVIC to induce PAP did not significantly increase H-reflex EMG amplitudes of either muscle or the simultaneous isometric twitch torque generation compared to the MVIC only. These data from both investigations suggest that SMT does not enhance strength or PAP. The positive anecdotal claims of athletes who utilize SMT may be due to other factors, such as the clinical efficacy of the treatment in addressing musculoskeletal injuries or a placebo effect.

Self-care can be seen as not only critical for individual professionals, but also for the growth of the helping professions and the quality of care which clients receive. The purpose of this study was to investigate use of career-sustaining behaviors and the levels of professional quality of life in music therapy professionals. This study investigated research questions regarding use of career sustaining behaviors and levels of professional quality of life, the relationship between these variables, the differences in the use of career sustaining behavior by demographics, and the use of music as a self-care strategy. An online survey was sent to all professional members of the American Music Therapy Association. A total of 403 participants were included in the study for the purposes of data analysis. Findings from the study indicate that music therapy professionals are in the average to low ranges for burnout and secondary traumatic stress. However, a portion of the sample was identified to be at risk for these factors. Differences existed in the use of career sustaining behaviors between demographic variables, indicating self-care behaviors vary among professionals. The field of music therapy should further investigate these areas to best provide opportunities for professional self-care.

This thesis examines the meanings of naturopathy through the experiences of twelve women with refugee backgrounds involved in naturopathic treatment at the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture (Foundation House), a refugee torture and trauma rehabilitation service in Melbourne, Australia. The findings of this research show that the naturopathic encounter provided a transformative and meaningful meeting place for healing, a place in which the women felt at ease and in place.At Foundation House naturopathy has been practised alongside counselling since 1989, two years after the organisation’s inception. The women I interviewed for this project came from diverse sociocultural backgrounds and a wide range of countries including Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Burma and Serbia.The thesis brings together two contemporary fields of practice: Western models of refugee health care and traditional medicine. It argues for the place of non-biomedical approaches in refugee health care in a Western setting. The thesis takes an interdisciplinary approach to theorise the naturopathic encounter. The distinction between holistic and reductionist perspectives on health, illness and the body is underpinned by the theoretical work of medical anthropologists Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Margaret Lock and that of medical sociologist Aaron Antonovsky. A cultural studies perspective, influenced by the work of embodiment scholar Elspeth Probyn is employed to theorise these women’s experiences of the naturopathic encounter.This qualitative study is based on in-depth interviews and draws on grounded theory as an approach to data analysis. Descriptions of respite, renewal, and healing in the naturopathic encounter are cited as the most observable themes emerging from the women’s stories. These themes represent a health-oriented, as opposed to a disease-focused, perspective. Importantly, a health-orientated approach is congruent with the core tenets of naturopathic philosophy. Listening to the body is a crucial therapeutic tool in the naturopathic encounter, where primacy is given to supporting and strengthening health-creating strategies. I argue that this orientation disrupts the existing dominant biomedical approach to refugee health care. I draw on the work of Probyn to theorise the movement from the naturopathic encounter (NE) to the naturopathic meeting place (NMP). Central to this transposition is Probyn’s articulation of the body’s awareness of being in and out of place. This awareness lends itself to an understanding of the connectedness between past and present in the bridge-making that these particular refugee women have engaged in across cultures in the NMP.The thesis addresses an important but often neglected focus in refugee research: the resilience and agency of refugees. This positive aspect of refugee recovery is revealed in the research by theorising the women’s stories through Probyn’s embodiment analysis and cognisance of the ‘everyday’ as a productive and creative process. The research interrupts the ubiquitous image of the ‘disempowered refugee victim’. It highlights the practical wisdom and agency of these particular women that is often overshadowed in the complex resettlement process. It makes a call for further health-orientated research to broaden and deepen our understanding of the refugee experience.

This thesis examines the meanings of naturopathy through the experiences of twelve women with refugee backgrounds involved in naturopathic treatment at the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture (Foundation House), a refugee torture and trauma rehabilitation service in Melbourne, Australia. The findings of this research show that the naturopathic encounter provided a transformative and meaningful meeting place for healing, a place in which the women felt at ease and in place.At Foundation House naturopathy has been practised alongside counselling since 1989, two years after the organisation’s inception. The women I interviewed for this project came from diverse sociocultural backgrounds and a wide range of countries including Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Burma and Serbia.The thesis brings together two contemporary fields of practice: Western models of refugee health care and traditional medicine. It argues for the place of non-biomedical approaches in refugee health care in a Western setting. The thesis takes an interdisciplinary approach to theorise the naturopathic encounter. The distinction between holistic and reductionist perspectives on health, illness and the body is underpinned by the theoretical work of medical anthropologists Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Margaret Lock and that of medical sociologist Aaron Antonovsky. A cultural studies perspective, influenced by the work of embodiment scholar Elspeth Probyn is employed to theorise these women’s experiences of the naturopathic encounter.This qualitative study is based on in-depth interviews and draws on grounded theory as an approach to data analysis. Descriptions of respite, renewal, and healing in the naturopathic encounter are cited as the most observable themes emerging from the women’s stories. These themes represent a health-oriented, as opposed to a disease-focused, perspective. Importantly, a health-orientated approach is congruent with the core tenets of naturopathic philosophy. Listening to the body is a crucial therapeutic tool in the naturopathic encounter, where primacy is given to supporting and strengthening health-creating strategies. I argue that this orientation disrupts the existing dominant biomedical approach to refugee health care. I draw on the work of Probyn to theorise the movement from the naturopathic encounter (NE) to the naturopathic meeting place (NMP). Central to this transposition is Probyn’s articulation of the body’s awareness of being in and out of place. This awareness lends itself to an understanding of the connectedness between past and present in the bridge-making that these particular refugee women have engaged in across cultures in the NMP.The thesis addresses an important but often neglected focus in refugee research: the resilience and agency of refugees. This positive aspect of refugee recovery is revealed in the research by theorising the women’s stories through Probyn’s embodiment analysis and cognisance of the ‘everyday’ as a productive and creative process. The research interrupts the ubiquitous image of the ‘disempowered refugee victim’. It highlights the practical wisdom and agency of these particular women that is often overshadowed in the complex resettlement process. It makes a call for further health-orientated research to broaden and deepen our understanding of the refugee experience.

This project presents dance as treatment for Orthorexia Nervosa, an eating disorder defined as an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating. Eating disorders disconnect body, mind, and spirit of an individual, and dance therapeutically connects these aspects. The specific effects of orthorexia on the body, mind, and spirit are analyzed; supported by evidence from research sources such as literature of books and scholarly journals, videos, an interview with board-certified dance/movement therapist Rachel Gonick-Mefferd, and a series of interviews with Dr. Thomas Doyle, in which he supplied a case study exemplifying dance as treatment for orthorexia. Conclusively, eating disorders and specifically orthorexia affect one’s entire being — physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual health — and interfere with one’s entire life and daily functioning. Dance, as a holistic therapeutic approach, is effective in addressing and remedying every single one of these elements, healing one’s whole self. Therefore, it is suggested that dance may be an effective treatment for orthorexia.