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The Effectiveness of Biomusic as a Communication Tool for Individuals with Communication Barriers
Full text linkBackground: Many family members and care providers are unable to communicate with their loved ones and may feel distanced from them due to severe disabilities or injuries that create a communication barrier. Current methods of communication are either obscure and subjective interpretations of body gestures, or technologies that require a certain level of cognition, bodily movement, and functionality to operate. Biomusic is a novel technology that could allow for communication as well as identification of certain emotional states for those that have communication barriers.
Methods: An exhaustive literature search was conducted using MEDLINE-Ovid, Evidence-Based Medicine Multifile, Proquest, MEDLINE-PubMed, NCBI, Google Scholar, Health and Wellness Resource Center, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Cochrane using the following search terms: biomusic, children, anxiety, autism, communication disorders, communication barriers, developmental disorders, disabled persons, personhood, affective technology design, NOT music therapy. GRADE criteria were then employed to analyze the quality of the studies.
Results: There were 195 articles that were found. Only 2 studies met the eligibility criteria. The first study reviewed was a pilot study that functioned as proof of concept for biomusic and revealed potential for biomusic to create meaningful communication and re-establish personhood. The second study demonstrated that biomusic could be used to determine anxious or relaxed states in typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorder quickly (within 11.3 seconds), and with high accuracy.
Conclusion: The field of biomusic is still in its infancy and more research needs to be performed to determine the abilities and limits of biomusic. The abilities of biomusic to determine emotional states is promising and the studies showed that it can be used reliably. Furthermore, biomusic can be used to re-establish more meaningful interactions between individuals with communication barriers and their care providers
From Doing Well to Being Well: Embedding Mindfulness Practices in Education
Full text linkThe myriad of benefits from the ancient practices of mindfulness have received growing recognition in the West over the last 20 years. Research in the areas of neuroscience, psychology, healthcare and education have all found positive results after training in mindfulness techniques. The first stage of this research will compare teachers self-reported levels of mindfulness to self-reported levels of well-being. The second stage of this research will be a case study exploring teachers’ perceptions of mindfulness practices in the classroom. The final stage of this research will explore the potential benefit of including content on mindfulness in teacher preparation programs, as a method of incorporating such practices in schools
Physician Burnout: Identifying Triggers and Potential Interventions for Critical Care Physicians
Full text linkPhysicians can experience burnout at any stage of their careers, from medical school through the years leading up to retirement. With a little self-awareness, physicians may be able to identify the emotional, physical, and behavioral signs of burnout and seek assistance. Some of the most common symptoms of physician burnout are loss of motivation, feeling helpless, and detachment. Other symptoms are negative outlook, decreased satisfaction, feeling tired, and not responding to rest, headaches, changes in appetite, notable withdrawal from responsibilities, procrastination, and arriving late to work.
This study will survey critical care physicians, medical residents, and administrators to determine what they identify as triggers related to physician burnout. A mindfulness exercise will be trialed to identify its potential effectiveness in reducing physician burnout
Recruitment and Retention Through the Lens of Faculty and Staff of Color at Community Colleges in the Pacific Northwest
Full text linkThis work begins by examining the evolution of increased racial diversity in our student populations in comparison to the disproportionate rate of racial diversity of faculty and staff across institutions of higher education within the United States. This specific research focuses on recruitment and retention through identifying key issues and concerns from faculty and staff of color and their experiences working within community colleges in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon & Washington). The research questions, “How does administrative leadership at community colleges within the Pacific Northwest recruit and retain faculty and staff of color?” and “What factors contribute to increased recruitment and retention as well as the loss of faculty and staff of color?” are addressed through three interconnected studies: (1) a phenomenological qualitative study based on interview data; (2) a combined descriptive and correlative quantitative study examining archival data from climate surveys and institutional effectiveness data; and (3) a Participatory Narrative Inquiry (PNI) into 1-2 participants’ personal stories. The results will likely show themes and patterns of faculty and staff of color’s experiences that negatively impact recruitment and retention. Leadership within higher education will benefit from this research to improve racial diversity within their institutions, which in return benefits the success of students of color (Letcher, 2013; Levin, Haberler, & Jackson-Boothby, 2014; Nixon, 2009)
Design Thinking in Inter-professional Contexts
No full textDesign Thinking (DT) is a method for the practical, creative resolution of problems and the creation of solutions, with the intent of an improved future result. It is a human-centred approach that focuses on users and their needs, encourages brainstorming and prototyping, and supports out-of-the-box thinking that takes wild ideas and transforms them into real-world solutions.
In this interactive session, participants will work collaboratively to identify and apply the phases 1-3 of the design thinking process to a problem of practice
A Qualitative Study of Maternal Depression in the Latina Community: Contributors and Barriers to Identification and Treatment
No full textDepression significantly and negatively impacts individuals, families, and communities. Yet, how it impacts individuals and communities varies across gender and culture. Latinas, one of the fastest growing populations in the US, experience higher rates of depression, but they are not adequately treated. Given the high birth rates among Latinas, along with the adverse developmental outcomes experienced by children with a depressed mother, understanding the higher rates of maternal depression and identifying barriers to treatment are imperative to improving care for Latinas. Two factors that may contribute to Latinas’ experience of depression are acculturation and mental health stigma. Specifically, these factors may keep Latinas from identifying “Western” or criteria specific symptoms or believing it is acceptable to acknowledge depression. Additionally, mental health stigma often leads to avoidance of treatment seeking due to associated ideals (e.g. medication as addictive, thinking one is “loca”) and fear of others finding out. While studies have looked at maternal depression among Latinas on a larger scale, few have examined maternal depression and barriers to treatment from a community perspective geared toward service providers who may be able to speak to the contextual factors not captured in large scale quantitative studies. Given the current social and political climate – including changing immigration policies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, hateful rhetoric, and increased racial tensions - it is imperative to understand the experience of maternal depression and related barriers to identification and treatment among Latina mothers. This study uniquely uses a qualitative design including interviews with key stakeholders in the community to capture perspectives on rates of depression, the role of acculturation status, and influential aspects of mental health stigma on the experience of maternal depression among Latinas in western Oregon
The Impact of Vascular Burden on Neuropsychological and Instrumental Daily Functioning in Parkinson’s Disease
No full textObjective: The goal of this research was to determine the influence of vascular burden on both neurocognitive and instrumental functioning in individuals with Parkinson’s disease.
Methods: Archival data for 418 participants from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set were used. Controlling for demographic and disease associated variables, a series of hierarchical multiple regressions was run using neuropsychological tests scores and a measure of instrumental daily functioning as outcome (dependent) variables. An index of vascular burden was the predictor (independent) variable.
Results: Participants’ mean age and education were 69.72 (SD = 8.55) and 15.74 (SD = 3.7) years, respectively. 73.7% of the sample was male and 93.8% was White. While an index of vascular burden had statistically significant associations with a measure of functional activities and a test of word retrieval, it accounted for less than 2% of the variance in each. Regression analyses were not statistically significant for the remaining 8 neuropsychological measures.
Conclusion: No clinically significant association between vascular burden and either neuropsychological test performance or instrumental functioning was found