As Much As I Can - Utilizing Immersive Theatre to Reduce HIV-Related Stigma and Discrimination Toward Black Sexual Minority Men.

BACKGROUND: Despite advances in biomedical HIV prevention modalities such as pre-exposure prophylaxis to prevent the transmission of HIV, racial/ethnic and sexual/gender minority populations are disproportionately impacted by HIV epidemic. Alarming rates of HIV have persisted among Black gay and bisexual men, particularly in Southern states. METHODS: Utilizing data from the ViiV ACCELERATE! initiative, we explored the impact of As Much As I Can, an immersive theatre production, on HIV-related stigma behaviors. A self-administered post-performance survey was conducted with a cohort (n = 322) of randomly selected audience members. RESULTS: Overall, the results showed participants had a highly favorable experience, rating the performance with a mean score of 9.77/10. Respondents indicated they intended to change behaviors to promote HIV prevention education and to reduce stigma and discrimination including: (1) Say something if I hear stigmatizing language against people living with HIV (75.4%), (2) Say something if I hear anti-gay language (69.7%) and (3) Tell others about HIV prevention options (e.g., PrEP, PEP, condoms (64.1%). The findings show there is an association between HIV-related behavior intention and linkage to HIV care. Respondents who reported they were more likely to say something about HIV stigma were almost three times (O.R. 2.77; 95% C.I. 0.98-7.8) more likely to indicate they would follow up with a healthcare professional. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that immersive theatre is an effective method for communicating HIV prevention education and reducing HIV-related structural stigma and discrimination that increases HIV vulnerability for Black sexual minority men.

Ciência da palhaçaria: estudos teóricos e práticas em saúde mental / Science of clowning: theoretical and practical studies in mental health/

O livro Ciência da Palhaçaria: estudos teóricos e práticas em saúde mental aborda no campo da saúde possibilidades de pensar cientificamente a arteterapia, principalmente da palhaçaria. O nariz vermelho do palhaço simboliza o potencial aplicado da arte na saúde mental. Deste modo, apresentamos vários trabalho sob a luz da ciência, para que mais pessoas pudessem conhecer essa experiência e receber este cuidado em saúde como fundamentação para novas práticas.

A damned soul with goiter. "The life of Christ" (c. 1480) by Giovanni Martino Spanzotti.

The church of San Bernardino in Ivrea (Piedmont) houses a cycle of frescoes of "The Life of Christ" by the Italian painter Giovanni Martino Spanzotti. In the painting, a damned soul of the Hell with a large bi-lobar goiter is represented, confirming the interest of Renaissance artists towards thyroid diseases.

La Digitalis. Una planta ligada al arte / Digitalis. A plant linked to art

Resumen La Digitalis purpúrea ha sido utilizada por sus propiedades terapéuticas desde la antigüedad hasta nuestros días. Su difundido uso, tanto como la diversidad de indicaciones que tuvo, permitió que también se conociese desde antaño los riesgos a la salud para quien recibiese una dosis excesiva. La toxicología actual conoce y maneja perfectamente la intoxicación digitálica, sin embargo, muchas historias relacionadas con su uso son poco conocidas. Se presentan algunas de estas historias, muchas de ellas relacionadas con el mundo del arte.

Abstract Digitalis purpurea has been used because of its therapeutic properties since ancient times up to our days. Its wide- spread use as well as the variety of indications that it covered allowed to know the risks for health in case of overdose. Present toxicology is aware and knows perfectly well how to treat digitalic poisoning. However, many stories about digitalis are little known. Here, we show you some of them, specially the ones related with arts.

At the origin of "Endocrinology and Art": Woman's Head (third century BCE).

In 1911, the Danish physician Hans Christian Gram (1853-1938) sustained to have found signs of hyperthyroidism in a marble head of a Roman woman that he observed in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen. It could be one of the first examples of a clinical diagnosis of an endocrine disease in an ancient statue.

Plagues and artistic votive expressions (ex voto) of popular piety.

In past centuries, epidemics, the scourge of humankind, caused pain, anger, uncertainty of the future, social as well as economic disorder and a significant impact on their victims, involving also their spiritual sphere. The latter effect led to undoubted effects on participation in the religious and social life of communities. The custom of preparing artistic votive expressions has been lost in the mists of time and evidence of ex voto gifts, offered by believers to pagan gods, has been found in prehistoric archaeological sites. Furthermore, several finds from the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds may be observed in our museums. These remains are generally ceramic and metal artifacts, reproducing limbs and other body parts which had been healed. These elements, according to the belief of those making the offerings, had benefited from the miraculous intervention of a thaumaturgical deity. With the advent of Christianity, some pre-existing religious practices were endorsed by the new religion. Believers continued to demonstrate their gratitude in different ways either to miracle-working saints or to the Virgin Mary, because they thought that, thanks to an act of faith, their own health or that of a family member would benefit from the direct intervention of the divine entities to whom they had prayed. In the Ancient Greek world, it was believed that the god Asclepius could directly influence human events, as testified by the popularity of shrines and temples to the god, especially at Epidaurus. In the Christian world as well, particular places have been detected, often solitary and secluded in the countryside or in the mountains, where, according to tradition, direct contact was established between the faithful and Saints or the Virgin Mary Herself. Manifestations occurred by means of miracles and apparitions, thereby creating a direct link between the supernatural world and believers. Religious communities, in these extraordinary places, responded to the call through the building of shrines and promotion of the cult. Over time, the faithful reached these places of mystery, performing pilgrimages with the aim of strengthening their religious faith, but also with the purpose of seeking intercession and grace. In this case, the request for clemency assumed spiritual characteristics and also became a profession of faith. Accordingly, the shrines in the Christian world are places where supernatural events may occur. In these environments the believer resorted to faith, when medicine showed its limits in a tangible way. For the above reasons, while epidemics were occurring, the requests for clemency were numerous and such petitions were both individual and collective. In particular, by means of votive offerings (ex voto) the believers, both individually and collectively, gave the evidence of the received grace to the thaumaturgical Saint. Through the votive act, a perpetual link between the believer and the Saints or Holy Virgin was forged and a strong request for communion was transmitted. The aim of the present study is to describe the role played by votive tablets (ex voto) in the last 500-600 years, as visible evidence of human suffering. From this perspective, these votive expressions may assume the role of markers because, in accordance with the expressions of popular faith, they allow us to follow the most important outbreaks that have caused distress to Christian communities.

Comparative Studies of Two Major Sets of Tibetan Medical Paintings: A Historical Perspective.

Tibetan medicine, one of the time-honored medical systems in the world, has increasingly been receiving attention the world over. Tibetan medical paintings (TMP, tib. Sman thang) has become one of the focal points in the studies of this medical system. To date, there are many atlases and publications on TMP, which are principally based on the two major sets of TMP series existing today in the world, the Lhasa set and the Buryat set. It has been found that the Buryat set is based on the Lhasa set, which was brought in late 19th to the first half of the 20th century from Tibet to Buryatia, Russia. A careful investigation on the basic structure of the two sets reveals that there are many differences between the two sets of paintings, including the total number of the paintings involved, of which some are missing in one set, the details of the captions of some of the paintings, the existence of the 80th painting and its supervisor, and the overall order of the entire set, etc. The details of the differences are elaborated and discussed, and the prospective of developing the research to arrive at a standard and perfect TMP set in the future is also analyzed and anticipated.

"Something Wasn't Clean": Black Midwifery, Birth, and Postwar Medical Education in All My Babies.

Set in rural Georgia, the 1953 health film All My Babies: A Midwife's Own Story was a government-sponsored project intended as a training tool for midwives. The film was unique to feature a black midwife and a live birth at a time when southern health officials blamed midwives for the region's infant mortality rates. Produced by the young filmmaker George Stoney, All My Babies was praised for its educational value and, as this article demonstrates, was a popular feature in postwar medical education. Yet as it drew acclaim, the film also sparked debates within and beyond medical settings concerning its portrayal of midwifery, birth, and health care for African Americans. In tracing the controversies over the film's messages and representations, this article argues that All My Babies exemplified the power and limits of health films to address the complexities of race and health during an era of Jim Crow segregation.

Chris Cornell, the Black Hole Sun, and the Seasonality of Suicide.

PURPOSE: Seattle-inspired rock and roll superstar Chris Cornell died by suicide in May 2017. In the northern hemisphere, May represents the peak of the widely replicated but still unexplained seasonal spring rhythm in suicide. Years earlier, Cornell had suffered openly from recurrent bouts of severe depression, and his early musical lyrics do indeed suggest an enduring sensitivity to the vicissitudes of depressed and suicidal states. Cornell's most famous song, Black Hole Sun, suggests a mixed mood state, the incidence of which also peaks in the spring. The present work explores Cornell's May suicide from a chronobiologic perspective. METHODS: Review of Cornell's lyrics and literature on suicide. RESULTS: Cornell's lyrics contain clear indicators of mixed depressive and seasonal imagery, highlighting 3 fundamental axioms of suicidology: (1) the yearly suicide rhythm peaks in May in the northern hemisphere, (2) mixed depressive states are particularly lethal, and (3) the suicide risk increases dramatically when recovering from depression and mood turns mixed. CONCLUSIONS: Cornell, in his life and music, left us with a novel and important hypothesis about the spring seasonality of suicide, namely, that the yearly suicide risk becomes maximal when winter turns to spring and there emerges a deadly mixed mood state under a May photoperiod, i.e., the suicide risk is maximal when a Black Hole Sun occurs in May. It is hoped that Cornell's legacy and sensitive hypothesis inspire research into the etiology and treatment of the spring seasonality of suicide risk and mixed mood states. LIMITATIONS: The Cornell hypothesis was formulated based in part on several speculative inferences regarding the course of his functioning just prior to his suicide.

What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review

Over the past two decades, there has been a major increase in research into the effects of the arts on health and well-being, alongside developments in practice and policy activities in different countries across the WHO European Region and further afield. This report synthesizes the global evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being, with a specific focus on the WHO European Region. Results from over 3000 studies identified a major role for the arts in the prevention of ill health, promotion of health, and management and treatment of illness across the lifespan. The reviewed evidence included study designs such as uncontrolled pilot studies, case studies, small-scale cross-sectional surveys, nationally representative longitudinal cohort studies, community-wide ethnographies and randomized controlled trials from diverse disciplines. The beneficial impact of the arts could be furthered through acknowledging and acting on the growing evidence base; promoting arts engagement at the individual, local and national levels; and supporting cross-sectoral collaboration.

Intersectoral action: the arts, health and well-being: sector brief on arts

The Health 2020 policy framework has been adopted by all Member States of the WHO European Region to address Europe’s great social and health challenges, calling upon the health sector to reach out to and work with all the various sectors and parties in the continuing work of improving people’s health and well-being. A recently published WHO Health Evidence Network synthesis report (The role of the arts in improving health and well-being in the WHO European Region) demonstrates how arts interventions can help improve health and well-being, contribute to the prevention of a variety of mental and physical illnesses and support in the treat mentor management of a range of acute and chronic conditions arising across the life-course. As such, arts interventions are often low-risk, highly cost effective, integrated and holistic treatment options for complex health challenges to which there are no current solutions.

A arte de pintar o ventre materno: história oral de enfermeiras e obstetrizes / El arte de pintar el vientre materno: la historia oral de las enfermeras y parteras / The art of maternal womb painting: oral history of nurses and midwives

Resumo Objetivou-se, neste estudo, descrever quando, como e por que a enfermeira e a obstetriz aplicam a pintura no ventre de gestantes. Tratou-se de uma pesquisa exploratória, de abordagem qualitativa, na qual foi adotado o método da história oral temática. Participaram sete profissionais de saúde que aplicam a pintura no ventre e atendem gestantes no Brasil. A coleta ocorreu por meio de entrevistas, realizadas entre os meses de janeiro e maio de 2016. Os dados foram analisados com base na análise temática de conteúdo, de Laurence Bardin. A partir dos discursos, elaborou-se uma árvore histórica da pintura no ventre e emergiram três categorias que elucidam quando, como e por que a enfermeira e a obstetriz aplicam esta arte. Conclui-se que a pintura no ventre tem sido adotada no cuidado pré-natal e dentro da maternidade como estratégia de educação em saúde e na promoção do bem-estar materno e familiar.

Resumen El objetivo de este estudio fue describir cuándo, cómo y por qué la enfermera y la partera aplican la pintura en el vientre de mujeres embarazadas. Se trata de un estudio exploratorio cualitativo, donde se adoptó la metodología de la historia oral temática. Participaron siete profesionales de salud, los cuales aplican la pintura en vientre y atienden a mujeres embarazadas en Brasil. La recolección de datos ocurrió a través de entrevistas, realizadas entre Enero y Mayo de 2016. Los datos fueron analizados de conformidad con el análisis temático de contenido, de Laurence Bardin. A partir de los informes, ha sido elaborado un árbol histórico de la pintura en el vientre, junto a eso emergieron tres categorías las cuales aclaran cuándo, cómo y por qué la enfermera y partera aplican este arte. Se concluye que la pintura en el vientre ha sido adoptada en la atención prenatal y también dentro de la maternidad como estrategia de educación en salud, además de promover el bienestar materno y familiar.

Abstract The present study aimed to describe when, how and why the nurse and the midwife apply the painting on pregnant wombs. It was an exploratory research, qualitative approach, in which thematic oral history was adopted as method. Seven health professionals, who apply painting on the womb and attend pregnant women in Brazil, took part of it. The data provided through interviews conducted between January and May 2016. Data were examined based on the thematic analysis of content, of Laurence Bardin. From the interviews, historical tree of womb painting has been drawn up and three categories emerged, which clarify when, how and why the nurse and the midwife apply this art. The womb painting has been adopted in the prenatal care and in the maternity as a strategy for health education and the promotion of maternal and family well-being.

Emotional expressions manifested by pregnant women in the experience of the art of maternal womb painting.

The aim of the researchers was to identify the emotional expressions manifested by pregnant women during the experience of the Art of Maternal Womb Painting. It was an exploratory research developed in Brazil between October 2015 and January 2016. which collected data before and after, and utilized a qualitative approach. The data were collected from interview, intervention, filming, photography and field diary on 10 pregnant women. The analysis involved coding of facial expressions by Facial Action Coding System. The measurement of the facial behavior allowed the identification of the six universal emotions, their characteristics and the order of appearance with relation to background of each pregnant woman.

Images as catalysts for meaning-making in medical pain encounters: a multidisciplinary analysis.

The challenge for those treating or witnessing pain is to find a way of crossing the chasm of meaning between them and the person living with pain. This paper proposes that images can strengthen agency in the person with pain, particularly but not only in the clinical setting, and can create a shared space within which to negotiate meaning. It draws on multidisciplinary analyses of unique material resulting from two fine art/medical collaborations in London, UK, in which the invisible experience of pain was made visible in the form of co-created photographic images, which were then made available to other patients as a resource to use in specialist consultations. In parallel with the pain encounters it describes, the paper weaves together the insights of specialists from a range of disciplines whose methodologies and priorities sometimes conflict and sometimes intersect to make sense of each other's findings. A short section of video footage where images were used in a pain consultation is examined in fine detail from the perspective of each discipline. The analysis shows how the images function as 'transactional objects' and how their use coincides with an increase in the amount of talk and emotional disclosure on the part of the patient and greater non-verbal affiliative behaviour on the part of the doctor. These findings are interpreted from the different disciplinary perspectives, to build a complex picture of the multifaceted, contradictory and paradoxical nature of pain experience, the drive to communicate it and the potential role of visual images in clinical settings.

The Impact of Creative Arts in Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia Public Health Education.

Previous research involving dramatic performances about Alzheimer's disease and dementia perception have targeted health care workers or caretakers. We examined the influence of a theater performance on the emotional affect of a general audience to determine the utility of this type of theater in large-scale public health education efforts. Our study included 147 participants that attended a self-revelatory theater performance based on the social/relationship experiences of those with dementia and those who care for them. This type of theater engages the audience and actors in a dual transformative process, supporting the emotional growth of all involved. Participants completed pre- and post-performance questionnaires regarding their beliefs and feelings surrounding the topic of dementia and the importance of the Arts for educating on issues surrounding dementia care. We tested for change in emotional affect pre- and post-performance using sensitivity and center of gravity statistical analyses. We found a significant change in emotional affect from an initial strong negative affect to slightly more positive/relaxed view after viewing the performance. Findings support self-revelatory theater as a resource to destigmatize preconceived notions of dementia. Large-scale community health education efforts could benefit from using this style of theater to elicit a change in audience perception of disease realities.