A systematic review on the physical, mental, and occupational effects of exercise on pregnant women.

Complications in pregnancy have been proven to be less frequent with exercise. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology suggests pregnant women should exercise an average of 20 to 30 min a day; however, only 13% of pregnant women exercise throughout their pregnancy. This amount could be improved if women are aware that exercise: 1. Can help avoid pregnancy complications or death and 2. Comes in various forms with different health outcomes associated with it. For this reason, this systematic literature review was conducted to review different types of exercise for pregnant women. Peer-reviewed articles were selected to discuss the benefits of the most researched exercises for pregnant women, which included yoga, resistance training, aquatic exercises, dance, and aerobic exercise such as running, walking, and cycling. Data from the review revealed that different types of exercises led to various benefits at different stages of pregnancy. Aquatic activities and yoga helped pregnant women toward the end of their pregnancies, whereas resistance training, dance, and aerobic exercises provided the most benefits during the first trimester. Other studies found that any form of exercise for 30 min a day or every other day for 60 min provided extensive beneficial results. Ultimately, this information could be used to create individualized exercise plans for pregnant women to adhere to throughout their pregnancy.

A qualitative study understanding immigrant Latinas, violence, and available mental health care.

Women from Latin American countries experience high levels of psychological and physical abuse and violence. Immigrant Latina women are often subjected to a patriarchal system in both family and government, which has resulted in a variety of complex and far-reaching outcomes. This qualitative study sought to understand the experiences of immigrant Latina women who were exposed to violence, as well as their access to mental health care. This study used 20 interviews with immigrant Latina women from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico who had accessed mental health services in California. The primary themes that emerged from analysis of the data included motivating factors for seeking services (e.g., motherhood, community, hope, and mental health needs), barriers to accessing services (e.g., fatalism, marianismo, stigma, finances, language barriers, threats, abuse, and systemic insensitivity), and treatment and solutions (e.g., empathy, advocacy, and community approaches). These results appeared to be indicative of the importance of addressing sociopolitical, historical, and cultural trauma as an imperative component of effective treatment. In this context, the authors explore liberation psychology, a concept and approach that promotes social justice values and emphasizes the empowerment of immigrant Latina women in clinical practice. It is recommended that the historical sociocultural abuse of immigrant Latina women be thoughtfully considered and discussed in the therapeutic process to create lasting psychological change. Future research, policy efforts, and program development, including psychotherapeutic treatment modalities, should focus specifically on marginalized groups facing barriers to mental health care in order to increase access and effectiveness of treatment.

A systematic review on informal waste picking: Occupational hazards and health outcomes.

Informal waste picking is a common way for people to earn an income, especially in low-income countries; unfortunately, there are various occupational hazards and health outcomes associated with waste picking. This study focused on comprehensively identifying and exploring occupational hazards and health outcomes associated with informal waste picking. A systematic review of available relevant and peer-reviewed literature was completed to exhaustively analyze the full scope of these hazards and outcomes associated with informal waste picking; 58 papers were included. The results from this study provided insight and information related to the most common occupational hazards and negative health outcomes associated with informal waste pickers outlined in available literature. The most common reported occupational hazards were physical (77.6%), social (70.7%), biological (65.5%), chemical and safety (53.4%), ergonomic (34.5%) and mechanic (25.9%). Health outcomes appeared to include epidermal (50.0%), communicable disease (46.6%), musculoskeletal (44.8%), respiratory disease (41.4%), non-communicable diseases (39.7%), physiological (34.5%), gastrointestinal (31.0%) and waterborne diseases (17.2%). Physical hazards were often associated with slips, trips, and falls, which makes sense because of the unstable environment where waste pickers work. Health outcomes related to these hazards included bruises, cuts, and lacerations. This information also aligns with health outcomes, as epidermal outcomes were most reported in waste pickers (50.0% of data). It is clear that moving forward, additional research related to these occupational hazards and health outcomes associated with informal waste picking is needed to help create change in this affected population, as well as finding effective solutions to mitigate these hazards and outcomes. These hazards can be mitigated by simple, common control measures, like providing safety equipment, reducing hazards from the outside environment (e.g., less time in sun, breaks, etc.), and placing barriers between waste pickers and the hazards (e.g., covered stations, flat ground, etc.) or more complex engineering, administrative or work controls. Because of the breadth of health problems faced by workers, more research is needed to correctly assess health outcomes (e.g. use of health practitioners) in waste pickers across time to ensure accurate data and a focused answer to the far-reaching problem.