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Proceedings of the National Academy of... Jun 2024Research has the potential to simultaneously generate new knowledge and contribute meaningful social-ecological benefits; however, research processes and outcomes can...
Research has the potential to simultaneously generate new knowledge and contribute meaningful social-ecological benefits; however, research processes and outcomes can also perpetuate extractive patterns that have manifested the climate, biodiversity, and social justice crises. One approach to enhance the societal value of research processes is to strengthen relationships with places of study and the peoples of those places. Deepening relational engagement with the social-ecological context and history of a place can lead to more accurate results and improved public trust in the scientific process and is particularly important for natural scientists who work at the interface of nature and society. We provide three actionable pathways that range from individual to systemic change to enhance place-based relationships within research systems: 1) deepen reflection and communication about relationships with places and peoples; 2) strengthen collaboration among research teams and partners; and 3) transform systems of knowledge creation to foster place-based roots. Action on any of these proposed pathways, but especially action taken across all three, can build empathy and connections to place and people, strengthening the meaningful impact of research both locally and globally.
Topics: Humans; Research; Social Justice; Communication; Cooperative Behavior
PubMed: 38830112
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2306991121 -
The Annals of Regional Science 2022This paper examines the geographic factors that are associated with the spread of COVID-19 during the first wave in Sweden. We focus particularly on the role of...
This paper examines the geographic factors that are associated with the spread of COVID-19 during the first wave in Sweden. We focus particularly on the role of place-based factors versus factors associated with the spread or diffusion of COVID-19 across places. Sweden is a useful case study to examine the interplay of these factors because it did not impose mandatory lockdowns and because there were essentially no regional differences in the pandemic policies or strategies during the first wave of COVID-19. We examine the role of place-based factors like density, age structures and different socioeconomic factors on the geographic variation of COVID-19 cases and on deaths, across both municipalities and neighborhoods. Our findings show that factors associated with diffusion matter more than place-based factors in the geographic incidence of COVID-19 in Sweden. The most significant factor of all is proximity to places with higher levels of infections. COVID-19 is also higher in places that were hit earliest in the outbreak. Of place-based factors, the geographic variation in COVID-19 is most significantly related to the presence of high-risk nursing homes, and only modestly associated with factors like density, population size, income and other socioeconomic characteristics of places.
PubMed: 34316091
DOI: 10.1007/s00168-021-01071-0 -
Advances in Life Course Research Sep 2023Migrants are faced with the task of creating a sense of home in a new context. As migrants grow older in their host countries, they are also making important decisions...
Migrants are faced with the task of creating a sense of home in a new context. As migrants grow older in their host countries, they are also making important decisions on where to live out the rest of their lives, making salient the places they attach themselves to. Place attachment, and its subcomponents of place identity and place dependence, are concepts that have been explored in the ageing and migration literature, demonstrating that positive, emotional attachments to places are positively correlated with better health outcomes. Although it has been established that individuals' attachments to places are dynamic, multidimensional and change over the life course, there is a paucity of research exploring the place attachments of migrants as they age using a life course approach. This study adopted a life course approach to investigate how the components of place attachment shifted over time for migrant people in Aotearoa New Zealand as they aged, and to better understand the mechanisms and barriers to establishing a sense of home in a foreign land. We examined the narratives of ten older migrants (65 years or older) who migrated to Aotearoa before the age of 50. Key findings illustrated that all participants had strong place identities (i.e., explicit self-identification and sense of belonging) to their countries of origin before migrating to Aotearoa, all participants developed strong place dependence (i.e., fulfilment of functional needs) to Aotearoa over their life course, but not everyone was able to develop place identity to Aotearoa. Mechanisms such as language, cultural attitudes, and values can both facilitate and prevent attachments to either home or host country. These results uncover how Aotearoa's ageing migrants negotiate their attachments to places over the life course.
Topics: Humans; Animals; Aged; Life Change Events; Transients and Migrants; Aging; Durable Medical Equipment; Emotions; Spiders
PubMed: 38054865
DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2023.100560 -
Journal of Applied Gerontology : the... Jun 2021This study developed the Place Attachment for Community-Dwelling Older Adults (PACOA) scale and evaluated its psychometric properties. The PACOA was developed through a...
This study developed the Place Attachment for Community-Dwelling Older Adults (PACOA) scale and evaluated its psychometric properties. The PACOA was developed through a qualitative study and expert panels. A pilot study confirmed the 19-item PACOA which included five factors (meaning of life, dependency, feeling "in place," continuity, and social inclusion) were extracted. This model explained 60.803% of the variance. Cronbach's α of the PACOA and its subscales were .853 and .670 to .863, respectively, whereas the correlations between the PACOA and its subscales were .580 to .725 ( < .01). The criterion validity and test-retest reliability were .678 ( < .01) and = .654 ( < .01). Our findings suggest that the PACOA is an indicator of the emotional connection between older adults and their places of residence. Future studies should address the older adult-place fit, the future connection characteristics, and the influence of place attachment on older adults' healthy lifestyle behaviors.
Topics: Aged; Humans; Independent Living; Pilot Projects; Psychometrics; Qualitative Research; Reproducibility of Results; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 32111131
DOI: 10.1177/0733464820907781 -
Cognitive Processing Sep 2021Study of the neural code for space in rodents has many insights to offer for how mammals, including humans, construct a mental representation of space. This code is... (Review)
Review
Study of the neural code for space in rodents has many insights to offer for how mammals, including humans, construct a mental representation of space. This code is centered on the hippocampal place cells, which are active in particular places in the environment. Place cells are informed by numerous other spatial cell types including grid cells, which provide a signal for distance and direction and are thought to help anchor the place cell signal. These neurons combine self-motion and environmental information to create and update their map-like representation. Study of their activity patterns in complex environments of varying structure has revealed that this "cognitive map" of space is not a fixed and rigid entity that permeates space, but rather is variably affected by the movement constraints of the environment. These findings are pointing toward a more flexible spatial code in which the map is adapted to the movement possibilities of the space. An as-yet-unanswered question is whether these different forms of representation have functional consequences, as suggested by an enactivist view of spatial cognition.
Topics: Animals; Cognition; Hippocampus; Humans; Motion; Neurons; Space Perception
PubMed: 34351539
DOI: 10.1007/s10339-021-01045-2 -
Palliative & Supportive Care Oct 2023Palliative care necessitates questions about the preferred place for delivering care and location of death. Place is integral to palliative care, as it can impact... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Palliative care necessitates questions about the preferred place for delivering care and location of death. Place is integral to palliative care, as it can impact proximity to family, available resources/support, and patient comfort. Despite the importance of place, there is remarkably little literature exploring its role in pediatric palliative care (PPC).
OBJECTIVES
To understand the importance and meaning of place in PPC.
METHODS
We conducted a scoping review to understand the importance of place in PPC. Five databases were searched using keywords related to "pediatric," "palliative," and "place." Two reviewers screened results, extracted data, and analyzed emergent themes pertaining to place.
RESULTS
From 3076 search results, we identified and reviewed 25 articles. The literature highlights hospital, home, and hospice as 3 distinct PPC places. Children and their families have place preferences for PPC and place of death, and a growing number prefer death to occur at home. Results also indicate numerous factors influence place preferences (e.g., comfort, grief, cultural/spiritual practices, and socioeconomic status).
SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS
Place influences families' PPC decisions and experiences and thus warrants further study. Greater understanding of the importance and roles of place in PPC could enhance PPC policy and practice, as well as PPC environments.
Topics: Child; Humans; Palliative Care; Hospices; Hospice Care; Hospice and Palliative Care Nursing
PubMed: 37357946
DOI: 10.1017/S1478951523000664 -
Sociology of Health & Illness Feb 2020Simulations are increasingly integral to scientific and social knowledge making. While a number of social scientists study simulation, extant literature is yet to fully...
Simulations are increasingly integral to scientific and social knowledge making. While a number of social scientists study simulation, extant literature is yet to fully investigate how simulated settings are different from and similar to other scientific places. I draw on scholarship on the importance of place within knowledge making in order to study two medical simulation labs and ask what role place plays in these simulated settings. I show that effective pedagogical simulations ironically depend upon departures from 'real' places of medical and scientific knowledge production. I highlight the importance of divergences in the sequence of events and scripts, in the behaviour of the manikins and actors, and in the materiality and arrangement of the settings. For medical and nursing students, it is the very disjunctures between the simulated environment and the hospital environment - the infidelity of place - that allows learning to happen. Overall, this article offers an exploratory investigation into the mechanisms at work in pedagogical places of medical simulation and qualifies understandings of the relationship between place and knowledge production.
Topics: Clinical Competence; Education, Nursing; Female; Humans; Learning; Male; Manikins; Patient Simulation; Students, Nursing
PubMed: 31657035
DOI: 10.1111/1467-9566.13002 -
Annals of Family Medicine 2022When I was a new social worker, a series of events changed my clinical practice. I believed academic pursuits and scholarly work were the key components to cultivating...
When I was a new social worker, a series of events changed my clinical practice. I believed academic pursuits and scholarly work were the key components to cultivating my clinical skills. My education had elucidated the importance of taking the time to listen to the patient's narrative to optimize their care. I recognized the value of listening and yet I was mystified and frustrated by my lack of success at building rapport with patients. I began my quest to find a mentor and discovered him in a most surprising place. I learned the best strategies to help people were not always found in books or taught in school. Some of the greatest gifts come from unexpected places.
Topics: Gift Giving; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Schools
PubMed: 35606128
DOI: 10.1370/afm.2793 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2022The interrelated concepts of place attachment and place meaning are antecedents to pro-environmental behavior and essential for supporting decisions that foster...
The interrelated concepts of place attachment and place meaning are antecedents to pro-environmental behavior and essential for supporting decisions that foster relationships between people and places. Previous research has argued that affect is instrumental in conceptualizing place-related phenomena but has not yet been considered in terms of discrete emotions. We disentangled the empirical relationships between concepts of place and the emotions of pride and guilt to understand how they collectively contributed to individuals' decisions about environmental sustainability. Specifically, we conducted an online survey of residents living in the Midwestern US and asked questions about their attachments to places and their place-related behavior. We then tested a latent variable path model with first- and second-order factors that shaped the behavioral intentions of survey respondents, as well as evaluated the psychometric properties of a place meaning scale, to uncover the range of reasons why human-nature relationships were formed. Our findings show that multiple place meanings predicted place attachment, which in turn predicted the discrete emotions of pride and guilt. Place attachment, pride, and guilt positively correlated with pro-environmental behavior. We also observed that the relationships between multi-dimensional conceptualizations of place attachment and behavioral intentions were partially mediated by pride but not guilt, as hypothesized in response to the broaden and build theory of positive emotions. This study develops theoretical insights to clarify how cognitive-emotional bonding can lead people to behave in more environmentally friendly ways.
PubMed: 36743649
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1084741 -
Seizure Dec 2020There is a harmful myth that persists in modern culture that one should place objects into a seizing person's mouth to prevent "swallowing the tongue." Despite expert... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
There is a harmful myth that persists in modern culture that one should place objects into a seizing person's mouth to prevent "swallowing the tongue." Despite expert guidelines against this, the idea remains alive in popular media and public belief. We aimed to investigate the myth's origins and discredit it.
METHODS
A medical and popular literature review was conducted for the allusions to "swallowing one's tongue" and practice recommendations for and against placing objects into a seizing person's mouth. Current prevalence of these beliefs and relevant anatomy and physiology were summarised.
RESULTS
The first English language allusions to placing objects in a patient's mouth occurred in the mid-19th century, and the first allusions to swallowing one's tongue during a seizure occurred in the late 19th century. By the mid-20th century, it was clear that some were recommending against the practice of placing objects in a patient's mouth to prevent harm. Relatively recent popular literature and film continue to portray incorrect seizure first aid through at least 2013. There is ample modern literature confirming the anatomical impossibility of swallowing one's tongue and confirming the potential harm of putting objects in a patient's mouth.
CONCLUSION
One cannot swallow their tongue during a seizure. Foreign objects should not be placed into a seizing person's mouth. We must continue to disseminate these ideas to our patients and colleagues. As neurologists, we have an obligation to champion safe practices for our patients, especially when popular media and culture continue to propagate dangerous ones.
Topics: Deglutition; First Aid; Humans; Mouth; Public Health; Seizures; Tongue
PubMed: 33080482
DOI: 10.1016/j.seizure.2020.09.023