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Dr. Mamta Accapadi Vice President for Student Affairs, Rollins College Accapadi has served as the vice president for student affairs at Rollins College since 2013. Prior to this role, she [...]

Retiring from elite-level sport requires major adjustment to elite athletes 'daily lives and may be highly distressing for them. Several athlete retirement interventions have been developed worldwide to assist elite athletes with adapting positively to the retirement transition. Scant research exists on athlete retirement interventions in New Zealand. Thus, this study was conducted to explore elite New Zealand athletes 'perceptions of current athlete retirement interventions offered in New Zealand. In this qualitative exploratory study, research questions were framed around these athletes 'perceptions regarding the interventions available in their retirement transition. Semi-structured interviews gathered descriptive data from 16 former elite New Zealand athletes composed of eight males and eight females from a range of team and individual sports. Findings revealed that career/education interventions were accessible and used, due to being proactively offered by Athlete Life Advisors and Athlete Career Education advisors. Psychological/emotional interventions usage was limited or non-existent as it was suggested that less importance is placed on retirement-related psychological/emotional interventions for elite athletes in New Zealand compared to other interventions. Recommendations included psychological/emotional interventions, work placements, workshops and advice from former athletes. This research extends the literature by offering insight into the state of current athlete retirement interventions in New Zealand, offering suggestions for additional interventions in New Zealand and overseas., The retirement transition for elite athletes What happens to elite athletes when it is time to 'hang up their boots'? Are they prepared for life after elite-level competition? Approximately 5-7% [...]

Background: Overprescribing of opioids to patients following surgery is a public health concern, as unused pills may be diverted and contribute to opioid misuse and dependence. The objectives of this study were to determine current opioid-prescribing patterns for common surgical procedures, factors that affect surgeons' prescribing behaviour and their perceived ability to manage patients with opioid use disorder. Methods: Survey participants included all consultant and trainee surgeons at the University of Toronto. The survey, which was administered electronically, included 52 multiple-choice, rank-order and open-text questions eliciting information on current prescribing patterns, prescribing of adjunct pain medications, and education and other factors related to opioid prescribing. Staff surgeons were also asked about how they manage patients with a suspected opioid issue. Results: Eighty surgical trainees and 40 staff surgeons responded to the survey (response rate 32%). Five staff surgeons (12%) felt adequately educated to prescribe pain medications (including opioids) at discharge. Staff surgeons prescribed Tylenol 3 more frequently than other opioids. Twenty (51%) of 39 staff surgeons reported that they sought further help for their patients when an opioid use disorder was suspected. Conclusion: Our results support existing studies showing a large degree of variability in postoperative opioid prescribing. Institutional guidelines have been shown to be effective in curbing excessive opioid prescribing without increasing unnecessary emergency department visits for uncontrolled pain. Thus, there is an opportunity to develop institutional guidelines to educate surgical teams in the prescribing of opioids and about services available for patients with a substance use disorder. Contexte : La surprescription d'opioides aux patients apres une chirurgie represente un probleme de sante publique car il y a un risque que les comprimes inutilises soient detournes et utilises a mauvais escient, voire qu'ils causent la dependance. Cette etude avait pour objectif d'identifier les modes actuels de prescription des opioides pour les chirurgies courantes, les facteurs qui influent sur les habitudes de prescription des chirurgiens et leur capacite percue a prendre en charge les cas de mesusage des opioides. Methodes : Les participants au sondage etaient tous les chirurgiens en poste et en formation a l'Universite de Toronto. Ce sondage administre par voie electronique comprenait 52 questions (choix multiples, echelles ordinales et ouvertes) qui visaient a recueillir des renseignements sur les modes actuels de prescription, la prescription d'analgesiques d'appoint, l'enseignement au patient et autres elements relatifs a la prescription des opioides. Les chirurgiens en poste ont aussi ete interroges sur leur gestion des cas presumes de mesusage des opioides. Resultats : Quatre-vingt chirurgiens en formation et 40 chirurgiens en poste ont repondu au sondage (taux de reponse, 32 %). Cinq chirurgiens en poste (12 %) se sont estimes adequatement renseignes sur la facon de prescrire les analgesiques, (y compris les opioides) au moment du conge. Les chirurgiens en poste prescrivaient Tylenol 3 fois plus souvent que d'autres opioides. Vingt (51 %) chirurgiens en poste sur 39 ont dit consulter s'ils avaient besoin d'aide pour la prise en charge de patients soupconnes de presenter un probleme de mesusage des opioides. Conclusion : Nos resultats viennent etayer les conclusions d'etudes existantes selon lesquelles les modes de prescription des opioides en postoperatoire varient grandement. Il a ete demontre que l'adoption de lignes directrices institutionnelles permet de limiter efficacement la surprescription des opioides sans accroitre indument le nombre de consultations aux urgences pour douleur non maitrisee. Il y a donc la une possibilite d'adopter a plus grande echelle les lignes directrices institutionnelles pour sensibiliser les equipes chirurgicales a l'utilisation judicieuse des opioides et a l'existence des services a l'intention des patients qui presentent un probleme de mesusage., Recent studies have highlighted the practice of over-prescribing opioids to patients following surgery. (1-3) This topic has received much attention owing to public concern over the opioid epidemic. Overprescribing is [...]

In the late 1950s, the Israeli Foreign Ministry's Division for International Cooperation launched, an initiative to present the state of Israel as a champion of women's advancement in the developing world. One of Israel's earliest initiatives for African women was the Kenya-Israel Rural Social Workers Training School. Drawing upon archival material from Israeli aid workers and politicians, United Nations advisors, and British officials who remained in Kenya after independence, this article explores the gendered dimensions of Israel's international development program in Africa. The article brings into focus the importance of African domestic affairs for the evolution of Israeli development aid, the tensions that sometimes characterized relations between Israeli government officials and aid workers, and the discrepancy between the image of Israeli women's empowerment promoted by Israel's Foreign Ministry and the experiences oflsraeli women working in Africa as technical experts. Key words: Israel, Kenya, international development, foreign aid, gender, In the mid-1960s, a film crew was flown by the Israeli government to East Africa. Their mission was to produce a newsreel that would showcase the efforts of the thousands [...]

This issue welcomes Neal Wyatt, joining Laurie Tarulli as coeditor of the Readers' Advisory column. With her arrival we introduce an occasional series exploring genre and format. For our first [...]