Author Archive for kristen

The Role of Medical Language in Changing Public Perceptions of Illness
Meredith E. Young1*, Geoffrey R. Norman2, Karin R. Humphreys1
1 Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 2 Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Abstract
This study was designed to investigate the impact of medical terminology on perceptions of disease. Specifically, we look at the changing public perceptions of newly medicalized disorders with accompanying newly medicalized terms (e.g. impotence has become erectile dysfunction disorder). Does using “medicalese” to label a recently medicalized disorder lead to a change in the perception of that condition? Undergraduate students (n = 52) rated either the medical or lay label for recently medicalized disorders (such as erectile dysfunction disorder vs. impotence) and established medical conditions (such as a myocardial infarction vs. heart attack) for their perceived seriousness, disease representativeness and prevalence. Students considered the medical label of the recently medicalized disease to be more serious (mean = 4.95 (SE = .27) vs. mean = 3.77 (SE = .24) on a ten point scale), more representative of a disease (mean = 2.47 (SE = .09) vs. mean = 1.83 (SE = .09) on a four point scale), and have lower prevalence (mean = 68 (SE = 12.6) vs. mean = 122 (SE = 18.1) out of 1,000) than the same disease described using common language. A similar pattern was not seen in the established medical conditions, even when controlled for severity. This study demonstrates that the use of medical language in communication can induce bias in perception; a simple switch in terminology results in a disease being perceived as more serious, more likely to be a disease, and more likely to be a rare condition. These findings regarding the conceptualization of disease have implications for many areas, including medical communication with the public, advertising, and public policy.
Published – December 2008
Complete Publication Review

IAPESGW AIMS
To bring together women of many countries working in the field of physical education and sport;

To represent and promote the interests of girls and women at all levels and in all areas of physical education and sport;

To strengthen international contacts and networks;

To afford opportunities for the discussion of mutual concerns and to share good practice;

To promote activity in such fields as the exchange of persons and ideas among member countries and research on physical education and sport for girls and women;

To cooperate with other organisations and agencies working to promote the interests of women, physical education and/or sport.

Published – November 2008
2009 IAPESGW Official Website

The vibrant city of New Delhi, home to 14 million people, will host the Commonwealth Games in 2010. This will be the first time India has hosted the Games and only the second time the event has been held in Asia (Kuala Lumpur in 1998 was the first).

Delhi is the capital city of India and is rich in culture and history. It stands on the western end of the Gangetic Plain and is bordered by the states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. There are two main districts of the city, Old Delhi the capital of Muslim India between the mid 17th and late 19th centuries with its historic sites, mosques and monuments and New Delhi, the imperial city created by the British Raj with its imposing government buildings and tree lined avenues.

Commonwealth Games Canada (CGC)
CGC Official Website

Canada’s Games

A Message from John Furlong, Chief Executive Officer Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games are Canada’s Games!

This is our time to shine, our time to show the world who we are and what we can do – from coast to coast to coast.

Beyond the showcasing of outstanding athletic and cultural performances, we believe the Games can touch the soul of our nation. The Games have the capacity to inspire people of all ages, prompt community celebration and pride, foster unity, embrace diversity and instill a genuine spirit of peace in us all. Through the Games we can become nation-builders, champions at home and at play and we can become better citizens of the world.

Although the 2010 Winter Games will be held in Vancouver, the Games belong to us all – to all Canadians and to everyone around the world who share with us the ideal of a world made better through sport and the sharing of our many different cultures.

Come and join us – as a spectator, a worker, a volunteer, a fan – and be part of an extraordinary experience. It will be the time of our lives!
Published – October 2008
2010 Official Vancouver Olympic Games Website

The purpose of the 21st WPATH/HBIGDA International Symposium is to present professionals with the latest advances in the research and treatment of transgender health. We invite all professionals, clinicians, researchers, and academics to submit relevant abstracts. There will be a variety of invited speakers, peer reviewed individual oral and panel presentations, and poster sessions.
Published – September 2008
2009 WPATH Symposium Website

From Frederik Pleitgen

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) — Heidi Krieger proved herself one of the world’s top athletes in the 1980s, winning medal after medal in the shot put for East Germany.

Andreas Krieger says his body changed soon after he began

taking what coaches said were vitamins.

Now, the former sports star looks disdainfully at the awards, dismissing them as “doping medals” and honors that turned a woman into a man.

Heidi Krieger, the 1986 European women’s shot-put champion, became Andreas Krieger after a sex-change operation in 1997. He says he had been fed so many steroids by his coaches without his knowledge that physical and emotional problems began.

The young woman’s physique changed drastically, as did her feelings. “I felt much more attracted to women and just felt like a man. But I knew I was not lesbian,” Krieger told CNN.

Her coaches said they were giving her vitamin pills, but they were actually feeding her Oral-Turinabol anabolic steroids.
Published – August 2008
CNN Sports Full Story

In the summer of 2012, the UK will come alive with the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

We’re familiar with drug testing for athletes, but officials at the Beijing Olympics will be taking things one stage further and examining competitors whose sex is in doubt. And it is far from being a new problem, as Emine Saner discovers.

For more than a year, officials in Beijing have been designing a special laboratory to determine the sex of any athletes taking part in this year’s Olympic games. “Suspected athletes will be evaluated from their external appearances by experts and undergo blood tests to examine their sex hormones, genes and chromosomes for sex determination,” says Professor Tian Qinjie. The tests will not be conducted on every female athlete, but will be required if serious doubts have been raised about an individual competitor – invariably one competing in the women’s events. “The aim is to protect fairness at the games while also protecting the rights of people with abnormal sexual development,” he says.

Published – July 2008
Guardian UK – Full Article

Calgary Hosts World Water Ski Championship Festival Aug 3-9, 2009
WRITTEN BY PAUL MELNUK CHAIRMAN

Welcome to the official website for the 2009 World Water Ski Championship Festival. This is the definitive source for information related to the competition and the Festival of entertainment that will make this an event that you will not want to miss!

We have assembled a dedicated volunteer management team who have developed and are executing a comprehensive professional business plan to deliver a most memorable Festival celebration to the largest audience for a World Championship ever. Our objective is to be profitable, to leave a substantial financial legacy and to advance the sport for years to come.

To deliver the most successful event ever, we need your help – expertise, resources and financial assistance. Please let us know if you want to join or support our winning team.

Canada is a super-power in the sport of water skiing, having won more than 50 medals in world competition, 19 of them gold. The Canadian team is led by Jaret Llewellyn from Innisfail, Alberta. He is the defending World Overall Champion and is one of the greatest skiers in the history of the sport.

Canada has hosted the World Championships on three previous occasions. All of them were unqualified successes, however this time we have something special, the best man-made water ski site on the planet within minutes of downtown Calgary.

I encourage you to come back to this site for regular updates and please be sure to join us in Calgary between August 3-9, 2009.

Paul Melnuk Chairman
Published – July 2008
Official 2009 WaterSki Championship Website

Governing Associations
International Water Ski Federation
Waterski Wakeboard Canada

Bank encourages open and positive policies for its gay, lesbian and transgendered workers

eter Taylor knew that he belonged at his old company when he came back and found the president and CEO trying to get more people to take advantage of same-sex spousal benefits.“Ed Clark had found out that a very small number of employees had taken advantage of same-sex benefits,” says Taylor, who is gay.

“He knew that we could do better than that, and it became something everyone was talking about.”

Taylor, 46, is senior manager of sales and service for TD Canada Trust.

He returned to his old employer after a two-year hiatus, and its positive environment for gay and lesbian employees was one of the main reasons.
Published – June 2008
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/437923ne

When an international court ruled Friday that a double-amputee sprinter from South Africa was eligible to compete in this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing, the stage was set for disabled athletes to meet their own trailblazer.

The watershed ruling made the runner Oscar Pistorius, the first amputee to successfully challenge the notion that his carbon-fiber prosthetics gave him an unfair advantage and assured his right to race against able-bodied athletes in the Olympics, should he qualify. Previously barred from competing in such races by track and field’s world governing body, Pistorius will continue to stoke the debate over the competitive issues created by evolving technology in sports.
Published – May 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/sports/olympics/17runner.html

Earlier this quarter Luka Carfagna and a group of friends showed up at Stagg Field for a kickoff IM men’s soccer match. But after arriving at the stadium, student IM representatives told Carfagna t…

Earlier this quarter Luka Carfagna and a group of friends showed up at Stagg Field for a kickoff IM men’s soccer match. But after arriving at the stadium, student IM representatives told Carfagna that he couldn’t participate on the all-male team because Carfagna, who identifies as transgender, looked biologically female. When Carfagna protested, two of the students referees turned around and snickered.

“They said no girls allowed. I said I identified as transgender and they just looked at me, like ‘What is that?’” Carfagna recalled.

“You have to pick a gender if you’re going to play. I wasn’t able to play. I will not be able to play under my gender of choice.”

Carfagna, a graduate student in a one-year masters program, is a female-to-male transgender student who identifies as genderqueer—a term Carfagna believes captures the transgressive and transformative nature of his sexual identity. For those like Carfagna who describe themselves as genderqueer, the term enables identities that lie within, between, and beyond the male-female gender binary. Carfagna recently began using his preferred name “Luka” and masculine pronouns among close friends, but still introduces himself as Lindsey in class and in wider social circles.
Published – June 2008
http://www.chicagomaroon.com/2008/5/13/transgender-students-navigate-campus-attitudes-and-resources

New Media Journalism, Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - Kristen Worley is attempting to earn a spot on the 2008 Canadian Olympic cycling team. Not only might she break a record, she might just break a barrier – if Worley represents Canada at the Olympic Games, she will be the first openly transgendered Olympian. Read about Worley and the discussion over the IOC’s regulations on transgendered athletes. Published – April 2008
http://wsf-staging.mediapolis.com/cgi-bin/iowa/issues/itat/news/index.html?record=1255

OTTAWA (November 14, 2007) – AthletesCAN, in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) and the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS), is heading up a Sport Canada-funded project entitled Promising Practices: Working with Transitioning/Transitioned Athletes in Sport.

Transitioning/transitioned is a term that refers to a person experiencing gender dysphoria, or the intense discomfort experienced when physical sex and gender identity are not aligned.

The goal of this project is to remove barriers that inhibit sport participation for transitioning/transitioned athletes. Sport Canada has contributed significant resources for research, education and awareness, policy development, and advocacy work in this area.

This project provides a tremendous opportunity to assess the current knowledge in the area, to explore any knowledge gaps and develop a positive framework to allow for these athletes to experience all the benefits of a values-driven sport experience.
Published – November 2007
http://www.athletescan.com/Content/News/News%20Archives/2007/071112%20Tr
ansitioning%20Project.asp