Integrating natural and social science perspectives on plant disease risk, management and policy formulation.

Plant diseases threaten both food security and the botanical diversity of natural ecosystems. Substantial research effort is focused on pathogen detection and control, with detailed risk management available for many plant diseases. Risk can be assessed using analytical techniques that account for disease pressure both spatially and temporally. We suggest that such technical assessments of disease risk may not provide an adequate guide to the strategies undertaken by growers and government to manage plant disease. Instead, risk-management strategies need to account more fully for intuitive and normative responses that act to balance conflicting interests between stakeholder organizations concerned with plant diseases within the managed and natural environments. Modes of effective engagement between policy makers and stakeholders are explored in the paper, together with an assessment of such engagement in two case studies of contemporary non-indigenous diseases in one food and in one non-food sector. Finally, a model is proposed for greater integration of stakeholders in policy decisions.

Play Hurt, Live Hurt: Living with and Managing Osteoarthritis from the Perspective of Ex-professional Footballers.

Personal accounts of living with osteoarthritis (OA) are rare and qualitative research has focused mainly on the experiences of women. As yet no studies have focused solely on the experience of men living with OA. The primary focus of this study was the experience of living with OA from the perspective of ex-professional footballers in the UK using semi-structured interviews with interpretative phenomenological analysis. Participants identified the cause of their OA to be associated with aspects of their playing career. Living with OA involved pain, surgery, medication and restricted mobility. Feelings of frustration were often associated with disruption to work, social and leisure activities. Participants' experiences and memories of playing professional football were important in helping them manage the threat of the disease. The findings have provided an insight into the experience of ex-professional footballers as they seek to accommodate to a life of pain, disability and functional impairment.