Academic literature on the topic 'Healthy living'

Healthy living refers to involving yourself in habits that improve your general well being to maintain a functional and metabolic efficiency. Making healthy food choices, staying physically active and maintaining a healthy weight are essential for good health of all people. Community development is practices of civic activists, involved citizens and professionals to build stronger and more resilient local communities. Economic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policy makers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area. Millions of people fall ill and many die as a result of eating unsafe food.

The rise of internet connected devices has enabled the home with a vast amount of enhancements to make life more convenient. These internet connected devices can be used to form a community of devices known as the internet of things (IoT). There is great value in IoT devices to promote healthy independent living for older adults. Fall-related injuries has been one of the leading causes of death in older adults. For example, every year more than a third of people over 65 in the U.S. experience a fall, of which up to 30 percent result in moderate to severe injury. Therefore, this thesis proposes an IoT-based fall detection system for smart home environments that not only to send out alerts, but also launches interaction models, such as voice assistance and camera monitoring. Such connectivity could allow older adults to interact with the system without concern of a learning curve. The proposed IoT-based fall detection system will enable family and caregivers to be immediately notified of the event and remotely monitor the individual. Integrated within a smart home environment, the proposed IoT-based fall detection system can improve the quality of life among older adults. Along with the physical concerns of health, psychological stress is also a great concern among older adults. Stress has been linked to emotional and physical conditions such as depression, anxiety, heart attacks, stroke, etc. Increased susceptibility to stress may accelerate cognitive decline resulting in conversion of cognitively normal older adults to MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment), and MCI to dementia. Thus, if stress can be measured, there can be countermeasures put in place to reduce stress and its negative effects on the psychological and physical health of older adults. This thesis presents a framework that can be used to collect and pre-process physiological data for the purpose of validating galvanic skin response (GSR), heart rate (HR), and emotional valence (EV) measurements against the cortisol and self-reporting benchmarks for stress detection. The results of this framework can be used for feature extraction to feed into a regression model for validating each combination of physiological measurement. Also, the potential of this framework to automate stress protocols like the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) could pave the way for an IoT-based platform for automated stress detection and management.

Purpose To describe outcomes of community partnerships for promoting healthy active living among families with young children in the ReadNPlay for a Bright Future Project. Methods ReadNPlay for a Bright Future was developed through grant support from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Metlife Foundation awarded to the East Tennessee State University Department of Pediatrics and Tennessee AAP Chapter. ReadNPlay is a coordinated, multi-level, multi-component initiative promoting healthy active living among families with young children during infant-toddler health supervision visits and in childcare and other community settings. The project site is located in rural southern Appalachia, an area of the country with a high prevalence of obesity. Materials and messages developed by the project team were finalized during a community forum with stakeholders held in Northeast Tennessee in fall 2012. Four themes emerged as a focus for the initiative: Play More: Shut off the Screen, Play Together: Be Active as a Family, Fuel to Play: Eat Healthy, and Play Safely. Partnerships with the regional children's hospital, childcare providers, health department, public libraries, and farmers' markets were supported through on-going communication via email, social media, and individual meetings. Availability of two $750 pediatric resident mini-grants and structure afforded by the residency program's existing community pediatrics rotation facilitated development and implementation of community initiatives for this project. Results Project posters displayed in community settings, use of social media, and periodic community events are reinforcing efforts to promote healthy active living in the clinical setting. A new event for families with infants/toddlers was added to the children's hospital annual Kids Run, involving over 120 families during the first year. Walk N' Rollers received free Reach Out and Read books and were surprised at the sugar content of juice and other beverages displayed in sippy cups as part of a “Sugar Quiz.” Information disseminated through regional child care centers will promote participation in a summer Walk N' Roll program in addition to this annual event. At a regional childcare provider conference, ReadNPlay workshops with over 100 infant-toddler teachers and 40 families were conducted and information on Tennessee's “Gold Sneaker” designation for compliance with state nutrition and physical activity policies was shared (only 6% of local centers are designated). During summer 2013, 75 families are being provided with $10 farmers' market vouchers at their 12-15 month well child visit to encourage consumption of fruits and vegetables. 18-month statistics on social media reach, walking program participation, new Gold Sneaker designations, and farmers' market program participation will be presented. Conclusion This presentation will illustrate how pediatric residency programs and practitioners may partner with existing community organizations and initiatives to promote healthy active living in families with young children.

This work offers an interdisciplinary study of preventative health in 16th and 17th century Italy. Previous studies on the practice and prescription of early modern preventative health are few, and scholars have tended to assume that medical understanding of the body's humors remained relatively static during this period.

Purpose To describe: (1) development of ReadNPlay for a Bright Future with community stakeholders, (2) integration of a novel communicative tool, the ReadNPlay Baby Book, into infant-toddler well child visits, and (3) use of a quality improvement approach to monitor progress in promoting healthy active living in families with young children. Methods ReadNPlay for a Bright Future is funded by a grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Metlife Foundation awarded to the East Tennessee State University Department of Pediatrics and Tennessee Chapter of the AAP. The setting for this project is in rural southern Appalachia, a U.S. region with a disproportionately high prevalence of obesity. During a community forum held in Northeast Tennessee in fall 2012, community stakeholders provided feedback to help finalize project materials and messages developed by the project team around four themes: Play More: Shut off the Screen, Play Together: Be Active as a Family, Fuel to Play: Eat Healthy, and Play Safely. A behavioral health consultant (BHC) assisted with provider training in brief motivational interviewing and behavioral counseling and project implementation in the clinic. An anonymous mothers' survey was designed to identify opportunities for improving behaviors and monitor progress in promoting healthy active living during well child visits. Process measures and feedback will be obtained from provider surveys and focus groups with parents and providers. Results As of February 2013, the ReadNPlay Baby Book is being provided to families starting at the newborn visit. The book contains age-appropriate guidance and areas for parents to record their baby's growth, milestones, eating habits, favorite books, and activities between birth and 18 months. Families are receiving small incentives for bringing it to each well child visit. A companion Healthy Active Living Tips booklet encourages healthy behaviors in the whole family. Use of social media, posters, and periodic community events provide reinforcement. A total of 80 mothers with infants 9-24 months of age are completing anonymous surveys during well child visits every 4-6 months (mostly Caucasian, 70% WIC recipients). Baseline surveys with mothers of younger infants (9-12 months of age) suggest: 60% of mothers are reading or looking at books with their infants on most days of the week; 80% of infants watch at least 30 minutes of television and 48.7% drink juice on a typical day; 82% of infants were ever-breastfed; 20% of mothers had sought care for their infants due to an injury; and 13.2% of infants routinely bed-share. Over 80% of all mothers wished that they themselves could get more exercise. Conclusion ReadNPlay for a Bright Future is using novel communication tools, community partnerships, and quality improvement methodology to encourage healthy active living during infant-toddler well child visits

Motivation Today 49 million individuals in the US are affected by food insecurity (Whittle et. al., 2015). Low-income populations tend to depend solely on convenient stores for calorically-dense, nutrient poor sustenance, and suffer from health problems that drastically shorten or debilitate lives (Dhurandhar et al., 2016). In Richmond, Virginia there is a dramatic divide between wealthy and low-income communities in terms of the accessibility as well as the types and quality of foods available. Several communities in this city meet the characteristics of a food desert. Problem Grocery store chains typically avoid building in low-income communities for fear of low profits (Wright et al., 2016). The need exists for a market that sources fresh and affordable produce in an accessible location to those living in food deserts. Research has shown that in addition to product quality and price, aesthetics are a critical component of the shopping experience (Webber, Sobal & Dollahite, 2010). This store should provide an aesthetic experience that cultivates strong community by attracting users to spend time and socialize in the store. Design can have a strong positive impact on food desert communities. By designing an aesthetically pleasing, well-stocked grocery store along with community gathering and learning spaces, food shopping is elevated from a mundane task to an experience that cultivates a thriving community. Methods Research will include case studies of community gardens and farms as well as markets. Interviews with area natives that provide insight on the community needs within the food desert will be conducted. An understanding of the current food sources within the food deserts will be gathered. A literature review about how design and marketing techniques influence the shopping carts of consumers will provide value in understanding the strategies behind grocery design. Results Studies of community gardens show that autonomy over the garden keeps participants invested in their community (Hondagneu-Sotela, 2017). Preliminary observation of the community reveals the presence of several convenience stores. Store design and marketing strategy research reveal that the marketing of nutritious foods is not as ubiquitous as packaged foods (Caspi et al, 2017), but that there is promise in marketing fresh produce to children at point-of-sale kiosks (Holmes et al, 2012). Priming shoppers to make health-conscious choices also influences the shoppers’ selection in the grocery store (Papies et al, 2014). Conclusion This research will lead to the exploration of an urban community garden and grocery store that exists to bring community together as well as provide food. A café that doubles as a nutrition education space could build connections and knowledge within the community. A kitchen could house high-quality equipment used to produce food for the store as well as teach cooking classes to the community. A community garden could engage the neighborhood in the process of growing produce for the store and offer dynamic health benefits including increased physical activity, gardening skills, and strengthened community ties. By engaging with all age groups and crafting a pleasant grocery experience that makes the shopper feel valued, design could begin to address food insecurity, dependence on nutritionally inadequate convenience store food, and health problems that many urban neighborhoods face.

Background This thesis explores processes involved in stakeholders’ attempts to secure sustainability of three short-term funded community health initiatives known as healthy living centres (HLCs). The overall aim was to identify and examine development of sustainability strategies in Scottish HLC organisations. In contrast to retrospective accounts examining influences on extent of sustainability little is known about how this concept is considered by organisations approaching the end of funding. Organisational development theorising has focused on organisational change, with no attention given to sustainability processes in short-term funded organisations. Building on a concurrent longitudinal evaluation of a larger sample of HLCs, the temporal nature of this PhD study offered scope to explore development of, influences on and changes to stakeholders’ sustainability strategies over time. Methods The study used a qualitative evaluation methodology. A case study approach framed the HLCs, permitting comparison between sites. An ethnographic approach using observations and in-depth interviews was employed. Interviews were undertaken with stakeholders (comprising managers, staff, partners and board members) from each HLC. Managers were interviewed on several occasions. Latterly, interviews were undertaken with respondents holding policy, practice and funding posts. A thematic analysis, informed by grounded theory, was carried out. This used a constant comparative methodology to understand the data against the backdrop of the PhD study aims and wider literature. Findings Findings examine stakeholders’ accounts of the impact of a range of issues on HLC sustainability strategies. These are located in the context of health and community sector restructuring. Especially challenging were: efforts to secure local partners and further lottery funding; consideration of new funding criteria and models of service delivery; and limitations in demonstrating effectiveness. Addressing such challenges, managers’ strategic positioning signified attempts to influence HLCs’ fit within local health structures. Stakeholders’ accounts highlighted attempts to secure continuation of HLCs’ original identity; ensuring continued accessibility of Centres to local communities; and, seeking continuation of developmental methods of work. External respondents’ perspectives illuminated how policy-driven changes restricted system-wide attention to HLC sustainability. Latterly, Government-provided funding offered a short-term fix, enabling continuation of attempts to secure sustainability. Conclusions and implications This study offers new perspectives on the temporal exploration of sustainability of shortterm funded health initiatives. Analysis of stakeholders’ accounts over time provides insight into the effects of restructuring and ways in which system-wide flux impacted on influences known to enhance the likelihood of sustainability. Recommendations address programme design and wider responsibilities of health system actors in positioning and considering a future for such organisations after short-term funding ends.

Purpose To describe: (1) development of ReadNPlay for a Bright Future with community stakeholders, (2) integration of a novel communicative tool, the ReadNPlay Baby Book, into infant-toddler well child visits, and (3) use of a quality improvement approach to monitor progress in promoting healthy active living in families with young children. Methods ReadNPlay for a Bright Future is funded by a grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Metlife Foundation awarded to the East Tennessee State University Department of Pediatrics and Tennessee Chapter of the AAP. The setting for this project is in rural southern Appalachia, a U.S. region with a disproportionately high prevalence of obesity. During a community forum held in Northeast Tennessee in fall 2012, community stakeholders provided feedback to help finalize project materials and messages developed by the project team around four themes: Play More: Shut off the Screen, Play Together: Be Active as a Family, Fuel to Play: Eat Healthy, and Play Safely. A behavioral health consultant (BHC) assisted with provider training in brief motivational interviewing and behavioral counseling and project implementation in the clinic. An anonymous mothers’ survey was designed to identify opportunities for improving behaviors and monitor progress in promoting healthy active living during well child visits. Process measures and feedback will be obtained from provider surveys and focus groups with parents and providers. Results As of February 2013, the ReadNPlay Baby Book is being provided to families starting at the newborn visit. The book contains age-appropriate guidance and areas for parents to record their baby’s growth, milestones, eating habits, favorite books, and activities between birth and 18 months. Families are receiving small incentives for bringing it to each well child visit. A companion Healthy Active Living Tips booklet encourages healthy behaviors in the whole family. Use of social media, posters, and periodic community events provide reinforcement. A total of 80 mothers with infants 9-24 months of age are completing anonymous surveys during well child visits every 4-6 months (mostly Caucasian, 70% WIC recipients). Baseline surveys with mothers of younger infants (9-12 months of age) suggest: 60% of mothers are reading or looking at books with their infants on most days of the week; 80% of infants watch at least 30 minutes of television and 48.7% drink juice on a typical day; 82% of infants were ever-breastfed; 20% of mothers had sought care for their infants due to an injury; and 13.2% of infants routinely bed-share. Over 80% of all mothers wished that they themselves could get more exercise. Conclusion ReadNPlay for a Bright Future is using novel communication tools, community partnerships, and quality improvement methodology to encourage healthy active living during infant-toddler well child visits.