The aim of this study has been to investigate the effects of Green Care services for youth in vulnerable situations risking social exclusion. Green Care enterprises represent alternative arenas in which people can work with animals, agriculture and other tasks related to nature. We interviewed nine persons, aged 17–27, working in three different places, two or more times over a two-year period. We looked at essential beneficial factors in order to better understand how the “green” element could add to more traditional recovery factors. We found that the youth described core success factors corresponding to well-known recovery factors such as recognition, supportive relationships, motivation, meaning, positive coping, self-esteem, confidence and hope. The effective factors can be described as: (a) The leader’s ability to create a good group atmosphere, (b) the varied tasks which allow step-wise increases in self-efficacy, and (c) experiences with animals and in nature that provide comfort for youth who lack trust in people and need safe situations to recover a positive sense of self. We followed a process in which several persons gradually regained self-respect and the motivation for further education or a job outside the Green Care enterprise. The study illustrates that Green Care can be an important supplement in helping people back to a satisfying life and meaningful roles in society.

Background: This article explores the evidence base of efficacy and effectiveness of ‘energy healing’ for cancer patients. The term ‘energy healing’ refers to a wide variety of therapies which are based on the premise that the healer transfers energy to the patient. Among the most researched forms of energy healing are reiki, therapeutic touch and healing touch. Material and Methods: PubMed, AMED, JStor, Social Science Citation Index and PsycInfo databases were searched, and articles were rated according to the SIGN (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network) quality scale. Six quantitative and two qualitative studies on the efficacy and effectiveness of energy healing for cancer patients met the inclusion criteria. Results: None of the studies are of a size or quality that allows to draw reliable conclusions. The results of the studies are, however, interesting and should be considered when developing new studies and hypotheses on working mechanisms. Conclusion: The existing research does not allow conclusions regarding the efficacy or effectiveness of energy healing. Future studies should adhere to existing standards of research on the efficacy and effectiveness of a treatment, and given the complex character of potential outcomes, cross-disciplinary methodologies may be relevant. To extend the scope of clinical trials, psychosocial processes should be taken into account and explored, rather than dismissed as placebo.

The asset-based community development (ABCD) approach have been widely used to map local assets and to ensure participation of local communities in public health promotion strategies. Participatory practices, such as ABCD, have been applied to shift public health strategies towards addressing health inequities. In this meta-synthesis, we ask if, and how, ABCD enhance the level of participation for children, youth and schools. Three thousand eight hundred eight titles and abstracts were identified in ten databases and transferred to the online program Rayyan. Through a blinded process we excluded texts that did not meet the inclusion criteria. The twelve included texts on ABCD for children, youth and schools are of varying quality. The research on ABCD for children, youth and schools have not been cumulative. Nevertheless, the texts show that ABCD provides strategies that enhance the participation of children, youth, and schools, in health promotion projects. The projects were categorized according to Robert Hart’s classical participation ladder, and we found that the projects with the highest level of adherence to ABCD principles also had the highest level of participation. The projects with high levels of participation were supported by adult facilitators that created learning environments where children and youth developed their participatory skills.

There has been a marked increase in the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the West since the 1970s. However, biomedicine is still prevailing within public health services and health services covered by private insurance. Different therapies, conventional and CAM, represent different perceptions of the the body. Perceptions of the body are closely related to perceptions of illness, health, disease, and risk. The cultural models of the body are related to social organization and the development of technologies. In a study on spiritual healers and their clients in Norway, I found that clients adapted to a multitude of medical regimes by processes of recognition through cognitive models, learning, and socialization. I describe five models that are evident in communication between healers and clients; the model of the body as machine, plumbing system, energetic, programmable, and as wireless network. People hold diverse perceptions of health, illness, body, and risk, which influence attitudes and behavior. Changes in perceptions of body, health, and illness may be one factor enforcing that CAM is increasingly becoming a first-line intervention. Health authorities meet this challenge emphasizing the regulation of CAM to safeguard patients but could also choose to focus on what clients define as their needs. The shift in cultural understandings of the body, and how people cope with this diversity, ought to be an area for further investigation, as it may affect the choices citizens make and the legitimacy of health authorities.

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