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Relationships of Secondary Traumatic Stress and Self-efficacy Among Obstetric Nurses Caring for Patients and Families with Perinatal Loss
Get PDFBackground
The labor and delivery unit is a place where new life begins, and families are made. Perinatal loss is a traumatic event for families and those that provide care to expectant families. In providing care to patients and families experiencing perinatal loss, nurses are at risk for secondary traumatic stress, which could be harmful to their physical and emotional state leading to compassion fatigue and burnout. Perinatal loss represents a stressful and emotionally demanding event for healthcare professionals, as they must deal with the additional burden of managing their own emotions while caring for the patients. Self-efficacy is a factor that can help to ease secondary traumatic symptoms. Limited research has been done to explore relationships on secondary traumatic stress, the ability to cope and quality of life of obstetric nurses caring for patients, and families experiencing perinatal loss.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS), Secondary Trauma Self-Efficacy (STSE), and Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) of obstetric nurses in caring for patients and families with perinatal loss. This study also describes what nurses state help them cope and feel supported when caring for patients experiencing perinatal loss. The relationship between obstetric nurses’ descriptive characteristics, secondary traumatic stress, self-efficacy and quality of life were explored to correlate any definitive characteristic to decreasing secondary traumatic stress symptoms, increased secondary trauma self-efficacy, decreasing compassion fatigue and increasing compassion satisfaction.
Methods
This study employed a quantitative descriptive correlational design with an additional qualitative component. The Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS), Secondary Trauma SelfEfficacy Scale (STSE), Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) were used to measure secondary traumatic stress, the ability to cope, compassion satisfaction, and burnout among obstetric nurses caring for patients and families experiencing perinatal loss. Inferential statistics were used to show relationships between obstetric nurses’ demographic characteristics, secondary traumatic stress, secondary trauma self-efficacy and professional quality of life. Concurrent qualitative and quantitative data collection were conducted by incorporating three open-ended questions at the end of the three instrument scales. The qualitative data were analyzed to explore the content and identify what in the participants words provided information to support and expand the quantitative findings.
Results
Study participants included a national sample of registered nurses who identified as obstetric nurses with experience in caring for patients and families who have had a perinatal loss. There were 1178 participants in this study of which more than half responded to each openended question. The results for this population of obstetric nurses in this study demonstrated positive findings such as higher percentages having less STS (on either the STSS or ProQOL STS), less Burnout, higher ability to cope and higher Compassion Satisfaction when exploring relationships with some demographic variables of age, having taken a perinatal bereavement course, being a parent, religious or spiritual beliefs, and the ability to share work related perinatal loss experiences. A negative correlation was shown between the ability to cope and secondary traumatic stress (r=-.484, n=1104, p
Summary and Recommendations
Through this research, identification of what affects nurses’ ability to cope with perinatal loss as well as what supports are impactful can inform policy and practice recommendations to best support care practices for obstetric nurses. Implications for nursing practice include supporting protocols, formal perinatal bereavement programs, certification in an obstetric specialty, religious or spiritual coping mechanisms, creating safe areas for debriefing and mentoring newer obstetric nurses caring for patients and families experiencing a perinatal loss. Further research is recommended to assist in policy development or changes to provide operational support for obstetric nurses. Further investigation on debriefs and other interventions need to be developed to help obstetric nurses deal with the effects of secondary traumatic stress during perinatal loss to further support what helps nurses cope during these events
The Connections in Relationships Among Autistic and Neurotypical Adolescents Participating in a Virtual, Inclusive, Performative Music Therapy Group
Get PDFThis study examined the connections in relationships among autistic and neurotypical adolescents in a virtual, inclusive, performative music therapy group. The researcher utilized a one-group pretest-posttest design. There is a lack of research involving inclusive music therapy groups with adolescents. As such, this research was needed in order to provide opportunities for adolescents to connect in an inclusive music therapy group, aligning with the neurodiversity movement in uplifting autistic voices rather than focusing on improving perceived deficits of autism. Four participants engaged in four inclusive, performative music therapy sessions through active music-making and sharing music preferences. They each completed a pretest and posttest to measure if there were any changes in their connections with each other utilizing the Index of Peer Relations (IPR, Hudson et al., 1990, 1993), a self-reported measure, and a researchercreated measure to collect data. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, paired-sample t tests, and thematic analysis. Results indicated a slight increase in connectedness with the whole group, and with three of the four participants, though the differences were not significant. Other individual and group results varied in the direction of change and amount. Results revealed that all participants felt more connected in some areas and that that there were changes in how connected they felt and the depth of their connections. An inclusive, performative music therapy group has the potential to create connections among adolescents and providing more opportunities for inclusive experiences may help to further the field of music therapy in a neurodiversity-affirming and strengths-based direction
‘Let Them Be Who They Are’: Discovering Special Education Teachers’ Perceptions of Oppressive Normativity and Their Practice of Celebrating Neurodiversity
Get PDFAutistic students are faced with ableism and oppressive practices daily in their school environments. Special educators can mitigate this problem by celebrating the neurodiversity of the students in their classroom. Utilizing a critical disability theory lens, I conducted an instrumental case study through observations and interviews with six special education teachers at a special education school. The research objective was to understand how special education teachers approach oppressive normativity in their classroom and adapt their practice for neurodiverse learners. The findings revealed that special education teachers who work strictly with neurodiverse learners do not perceive oppressive normativity in their classroom because the acceptance of neurodiversity is the standard. The findings showed that special education teachers celebrated neurodiversity and approached oppressive normativity by using sensory techniques, social support, student differentiation, and choices for learning. Yet, there is also evidence of oppressive normativity through the use of planned ignoring, prompting, and deficit-based teacher language. The findings of this study can lead to further development of the special education practice, which I call neurodiverse communication empowerment, by highlighting student voice and strengths, understanding oppressive normativity, and developing strong teacher-student relationships with autistic students. This study adds to the scholarly research in the field of autism education and critical disability theory by considering the perceptions of special education teachers on neurodiversity. The findings have implications for increasing training in developmental, relationship-based, strength-based, and passion-based pedagogy; receiving feedback from neurodiverse learners; and providing mainstream and inclusion teachers with opportunities to observe in strictly neurodiverse classrooms to better their practice.
Keywords: neurodiversity, autism, special educatio
Leveraging Local Knowledge to Envision Educational Policy and Management Outside the Plunder of Neoliberal Technorationality [Editorial]
Get PDFUsing the supply chain bottleneck of the post-covid19 pandemic as a lens, editors of this special issue demonstrate problematic aspects of neoliberal technorationality when applied to educational policy and management. They offer humanism as a counterweight to the problematics of neoliberalism in education and illustrate how local knowledge in spaces of learning are always present, provide visions of different futures and offer potential for transformation outside seemingly totalizing neoliberal discourses
An effective model for the iris regional characteristics andclassification using deep learning alex network
Get PDFIris biometrics is one of the fastest-growing technologies, and it has received a lot ofattention from the community. Iris-biometric-based human recognition does not requirecontact with the human body. Iris is a combination of crypts, wolflin nodules, concen-trated furrows, and pigment spots. The existing methods feed the eye image into deeplearning network which result in improper iris features and certainly reduce the accuracy.This research study proposes a model to feed preprocessed accurate iris boundary intoAlexnet deep learning neural network-based system for classification. The pupil centre andboundary are initially recorded and identified from the given eye images. The iris boundaryand the centre are then compared for the identification using the reference pupil cen-tre and boundary. The iris portion, exclusive feature of the pupil area is segmented usingthe parameters of multiple left-right point (MLRP) algorithms. The Alexnet deep learningmultilayer networks 23, 24, and 25 are replaced according to the segmented iris classes. Theremaining Alexnet layers are trained using the square gradient decay factor (GDF) in accor-dance with the iris features. The trained Alexnet iris is validated using suitable classes. Theproposed system classifies the iris with an accuracy of 99.1%. The sensitivity, specificity,and F1-score of the proposed system are 99.68%, 98.36%, and 0.995. The experimentalresults show that the proposed model has advantages over current mode
A Phenomenological Investigation of Academic Momism: Perceptions of Female College Faculty’s Role Expectations in High-Stakes STEM Courses
Get PDFThis qualitative phenomenological study looked at how female faculty in higher education who teach high-stakes courses may experience a role of academic momism (AM) and how they negotiate their roles and responses within a patriarchal system. Gender bias and prescriptive stereotyping of women as communal may lead female STEM instructors to be perceived more as “academic mothers” (Bernard, 1964) rather than respected academicians. Within higher education institutions, students often perceive their female professors as more concerned about their emotional well-being, nurturing, service oriented, and less academic when compared to male faculty members. The demanding nature of high-stakes courses in STEM-oriented programs within higher education can increase student demands. This has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The culminations of these oppressive factors may play a role in female STEM faculty’s career path, thus affecting their presence in academia. Interviews were conducted with 15 female participants teaching at community, state, and private colleges in Northeast metropolitan and suburban areas. Themes included systemic stereotyping, teacher-student interactions, and instructor self-actualization. A notable finding included the lack of sisterhood between female faculty members within the same department and with those who hold a higher position. This study adds important findings of female STEM faculty experiences of student–teacher relationships, gender bias, role expectations, the changes brought about due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and more specifically, their experiences of AM
The Non-verbal Expressions and Experiences of an Autistic Adolescent in Improvisational, Relationship-based Music Therapy
Get PDFThis study examined the non-verbal expression and experience of an autistic adolescent with language delay in improvisational, relationship-based music therapy. The purpose of the study was to gain a fuller understanding of the adolescent’s experience in music therapy and to discover the roles of music therapy in the larger context of the adolescent’s life. The adolescent’s mother and a professional from his treatment team at his school were each invited to participate in an individual interview consisting of review of a music therapy session video and semi-structured discussion. Thematic analysis of the transcribed interviews yielded themes related to the following: a) the adolescent’s individual differences in sensory processing and its impact on his experience; b) the adolescent’s emotional engagement during the session, undergoing a spectrum of emotions with the therapist; and c) the adolescent’s intrinsic interest in musical and relational engagement. Music therapy appeared to offer an opportunity for the adolescent to cope with difficult feelings and experiences, as well as a space for him to “just be” without external expectations. When taking the broader context of his life into consideration, through music therapy the adolescent appeared to develop a strong therapeutic relationship characterized by expressions of emotional intimacy, to develop his own voice, and to gain an outlet to emotionally connect with his inner life and cope with varied emotions
Lung_PAYNet: a pyramidal attention based deep learning network for lung nodule segmentation
Get PDFAccurate and reliable lung nodule segmentation in computed tomography (CT) images is required for early diagnosis of lung cancer. Some of the difficulties in detecting lung nodules include the various types and shapes of lung nodules, lung nodules near other lung structures, and similar visual aspects. This study proposes a new model named Lung_PAYNet, a pyramidal attention-based architecture, for improved lung nodule segmentation in low-dose CT images. In this architecture, the encoder and decoder are designed using an inverted residual block and swish activation function. It also employs a feature pyramid attention network between the encoder and decoder to extract exact dense features for pixel classification. The proposed architecture was compared to the existing UNet architecture, and the proposed methodology yielded significant results. The proposed model was comprehensively trained and validated using the LIDC-IDRI dataset available in the public domain. The experimental results revealed that the Lung_PAYNet delivered remarkable segmentation with a Dice similarity coefficient of 95.7%, mIOU of 91.75%, sensitivity of 92.57%, and precision of 96.75%
Privacy Preserving Attribute-Focused Anonymization Scheme for Healthcare Data Publishing
Get PDFAdvancements in Industry 4.0 brought tremendous improvements in the healthcare sector, such as better quality of treatment, enhanced communication, remote monitoring, and reduced cost. Sharing healthcare data with healthcare providers is crucial for harnessing the benefits of such improvements. In general, healthcare data holds sensitive information about individuals. Hence, sharing such data is challenging because of various security and privacy issues. According to privacy regulations and ethical requirements, it is essential to preserve the privacy of patients before sharing data for medical research. State-of-the-art literature on privacy preserving studies either uses cryptographic approaches to protect the privacy or uses anonymizing techniques regardless of the type of attributes, this results in poor protection and data utility. In this paper, we propose an attribute-focused privacy preserving data publishing scheme. The proposed scheme is two-fold, comprising a fixed-interval approach to protect numerical attributes and an improved l -diverse slicing approach to protect the categorical and sensitive attributes. In the fixed-interval approach, the original values of the healthcare data are replaced with an equivalent computed value. The improved l -diverse slicing approach partitions the data both horizontally and vertically to avoid privacy leaks. Extensive experiments with real-world datasets are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme. The classification models built on anonymized dataset yields approximately 13% better accuracy than benchmarked algorithms. Experimental analyses show that the average information loss which is measured by normalized certainty penalty (NCP) is reduced by 12% compared to similar approaches. The attribute focused scheme not only provides data utility but also prevents the data from membership disclosures, attribute disclosures, and identity disclosures
Toward a Transdisciplinary Model of Social Justice in Academic Librarianship: Promoting Critical Awareness within Advocates and Privileged Allies
Get PDFAcademic libraries are largely comprised of White, middle-aged females, and as part of the overall diversity crisis within higher education, grapple with issues of racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, and ableism. This mixed-methods study uses an original theoretical framework of critical transcendence, based on the philosophies of Carl Jung and Paulo Freire, to examine what triggers and/or preconditions lead some academic librarians to reflect upon and interrogate their worldview to become actively engaged as advocates and social justice allies (SJAs). An online survey was conducted that obtained data from a sample of 113 academic librarians regarding their interest and commitment toward advocating for social justice and found a significant positive correlation between social justice interest and social justice commitment. Qualitative and mixed analysis included a thematic review of several open-ended questions (OeQs) as well as interviews with six academic librarians who self-identified as SJAs in the quantitative phase. Collective themes emerging from the narratives indicated librarians believed it was a culmination of environment, education, and experience that led them to become SJAs. Strategies they found most impactful were directly engaging with marginalized and underrepresented groups, creating external pathways to success for students and staff, and forming alliances with like-minded allies. When applicable, narrative results were dovetailed with the OeQs to gain a holistic understanding of why academic librarians choose to advocate for social justice. Thus, by examining multiple aspects of the phenomenon, my work provides greater insight as to the motivational factors for social justice advocates and allies within academic libraries and beyond