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Introducing the Social Robot MARIO to People Living with Dementia in Long Term Residential Care: Reflections
No full textMARIO is a social robot developed with and for people living with dementia (PLWD) to promote social connectivity and reduce loneliness and isolation by providing access to a number of applications that PLWD can access, via speech and/or touchscreen commands. These applications include My Calendar, which reminds the PLWD about daily schedules and appointments; My Music which provides access to the PLWD’s personalised music and My Memories which gives the PLWD the opportunity to reminiscence by showing them photographs of family, friends and/or significant life events. MARIO was developed, tested and evaluated with PLWD in a long stay residential setting over a 13-month period from September 2016 to October 2017. During the first 5 months of MARIO’s introduction to PLWD, researchers maintained a reflective practice diary. The aims of the study were twofold: (1) To capture the experiences of researchers of being involved in this process and (2) To help identify strategies to enhance PLWD’s engagement with the robot. These reflections were analysed in NVIVO 11.4 using thematic analysis guided by a qualitative descriptive methodology. The following themes emerged from the research: (1) Level of interest in having MARIO present in long-term residential care (LTC), (2) MARIO’s appearance and functionalities, (3) Engaging with MARIO, (4) Researchers’ Recommendations for Introducing Robots in Dementia Care and (5) Impact on researchers. From the researcher’s recommendations for introducing robots in dementia care, a number of key strategies were identified which may facilitate the engagement of PLWD with social robots. These include the use of verbal and/or physical prompting by the robot, lack of distraction, and actively engaging staff members or family members when introducing the robot to PLWD. This work highlights the important contribution of reflective practice to the introduction and development of social robots in dementia care
Effects of Cervico-Mandibular Manual Therapy in Patients with Temporomandibular Pain Disorders and Associated Somatic Tinnitus: A Randomized Clinical Trial
No full textObjective: This randomized clinical trial investigated the effects of adding cervico-mandibular manual therapies into an exercise and educational program on clinical outcomes in individuals with tinnitus associated with temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). Methods: Sixty-one patients with tinnitus attributed to TMD were randomized into the physiotherapy and manual therapy group or physiotherapy alone group. All patients received six sessions of physiotherapy treatment including cranio-cervical and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) exercises, self-massage, and patient education for a period of one month. Patients allocated to the manual therapy group also received cervico-mandibular manual therapies targeting the TMJ and cervical and masticatory muscles. Primary outcomes included TMD pain intensity and tinnitus severity. Secondary outcomes included tinnitus-related handicap (Tinnitus Handicap Inventory [THI]), TMD-related disability (Craniofacial Pain and Disability Inventory [CF-PDI]), self-rated quality of life (12-item Short Form Health Survey [SF-12]), depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory [BDI-II]), pressure pain thresholds (PPTs), and mandibular range of motion. Patients were assessed at baseline, one week, three months, and six months after intervention by a blinded assessor. Results: The adjusted analyses showed better outcomes (all, P \u3c 0.001) in the exercise/education plus manual therapy group (large effect sizes) for TMD pain (η 2 P = 0.153), tinnitus severity (η 2 P = 0.233), THI (η 2 P = 0.501), CF-PDI (η 2 P = 0.395), BDI-II (η 2 P = 0.194), PPTs (0.363 \u3c η 2 P \u3c 0.415), and range of motion (η 2 P = 0.350), but similar changes for the SF-12 (P = 0.622, η 2 P = 0.01) as the exercise/education alone group. Conclusions: This clinical trial found that application of cervico-mandibular manual therapies in combination with exercise and education resulted in better outcomes than application of exercise/education alone in individuals with tinnitus attributed to TMD
Effects of a methamphetamine vaccine, IXT-v100, on methamphetamine-related behaviors
No full textRationale:: Vaccines have been developed as a potential treatment for methamphetamine (meth) use disorder (MUD). Immunization with the meth vaccine IXT-v100 has previously been shown to elicit antibodies with high affinity for meth and thus may be an effective treatment for MUD. Objectives:: These studies were designed to determine the efficacy of IXT-v100 on meth-taking and meth-seeking behaviors in rats. Methods:: In the acquisition and maintenance study, male and female rats were trained to self-administer meth (0.06 mg/kg/infusion) over an 8-week period following vaccination. In the last 4 weeks, the dose of meth was increased or decreased each week. To assess meth-seeking behavior, the meth-primed reactivity model was used. Rats were trained to self-administer meth for 5 weeks, followed by a 5-week or 11-week forced abstinence period during which the animals were vaccinated. Rats were then placed back into the self-administration chamber immediately after being injected with meth (1 mg/kg, i.p.) but did not receive meth during the session. Responses were recorded and used as a measure of meth seeking. Results:: Results from the acquisition and maintenance study in Wistar rats show that vaccination with IXT-v100 adjuvanted with glucopyranosyl lipid A stable emulsion decreases the percentage of animals that will self-administer a moderate level of meth. In the meth-primed reactivity studies, results from males showed that vaccination significantly attenuates meth-seeking behavior. Conclusion:: Together, these results suggest vaccination with IXT-v100 may be effective at decreasing meth-taking and meth-seeking behaviors in humans suffering with MUD
A hands-on tutorial on how to incorporate computing for social good in the introductory course sequence
No full textThere are many excellent reasons for incorporating social good activities throughout our CS curricula. Possibly the most important are the large number of pressing local/global issues facing society (e.g. climate change and related issues)[7] which deserve the attention of the computing community, and in turn, demand the attention of computing educators. In addition, research suggests focusing on how computing can affect the social good can help broaden participation in computing[9, 10]. The problem is many CS educators both don\u27t know where to start or how to create programming assignments around socially relevant themes, and believe that such activities can only be undertaken by advanced students in upper division courses, e.g. software engineering and capstone courses. The purpose of this special session is to equip participants with the easy to learn skills so they can begin incorporating socially relevant assignments/projects throughout the introductory computing sequence
Fostering inclusive knowledge democracies: layering identities and situating practices of novice teacher researchers
No full textTeacher action research is an important element for democratizing educational research, yet teachers often view it as unmanageable atop their other priorities. Grounded in sociocultural theories of identity and situated practice, this paper employs qualitative methods to explore how 16 novice teacher-researchers navigated their distinct identities as experienced teacher and novice teacher-researcher and improvised situated practices to generate empirical knowledge around teaching and learning in their specific contexts. Findings from this study reinforce the primacy of the teacher role and identity emanating from a student-first mindset. This mindset mediated the situated teacher-researcher practices and perspectives as the teachers struggled to maintain their professional identity and adopt the new role and identity of teacher-researcher. We argue that teacher-researchers need opportunities to study the work and experiences of others like themselves who are navigating identities, improvising practices, and making meaning out of data drawn from their own context. These findings are rooted in the realities of teachers’ day-to-day work and offer teacher educators and professional developers some direction for partnering with novice teacher-researchers
Design and meaning of the genuine progress indicator: A statistical analysis of the U.S. fifty-state model
No full textThe Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) was designed to reveal the trade-offs between costs and benefits of economic growth. Although originally estimated and contrasted with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at national scales, an interest in a state-level adoption has developed in the United States to inform and guide policy. As GPI scholarship and a community of practice has developed, questions have arisen about the quality and legitimacy of the GPI. To investigate, we apply a composite indicator analysis developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to fifty US state GPI estimates using a consistent method. We focus on a multi-variate analysis of the structure of the composite, sensitivity to weighting and aggregation assumptions, and the statistical relationship with other well-being indicators. Results are heavily influenced by a small number of components, point to a number of unintended policy outcomes, and have mixed relationships with allied indicators. The study suggests steps towards shared GPI governance among practitioners and researchers, consideration of data parsimony and potential double-counting, and data selection criteria to help fill gaps, prioritize needs, and better articulate the purpose and meaning of GPI
Daily Nurse-Instituted-Care-Interventions (NICI) Impact on Care Transitions Scores
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Daily Nurse-Instituted-Care-Interventions (NICI) Impact on Care Transitions Scores
Problem: The principal investigator’s organization consistently worked to improve multiple Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores without success. The question for the project was, “Will adult patients receiving Nurse-Instituted-Care-Interventions (NICI) for transition to discharge needs, when compared to the previous three-month baseline, lead to increased HCAHPS Care Transition scores in the Telemetry Unit.?”
Purpose: Improve HCAHPS Care Transition scores on the adult telemetry unit.
Goal (s): Increase in the (HCAHPS) Care Transition’s scores from below the 15th percentile, to the 50th percentile, increase quality and safety of patient care, and improve the patients’ perception of their care from suboptimal to that of quality.
Objectives: To communicate the project’s mission and vision to nursing staff and provide an understanding of expectations and proposed outcomes. Define program expectations for staff to validate that adult patients receiving (NICI) for transition to discharge needs are prepared to leave the hospital and manage their self-care needs in their previous environment.
Plan: To validate the organizational need for the Nurse-Instituted-Care-Intervention (NICI), developed program interventions, educated telemetry staff on research-based processes, moved evidence-based practice to the bedside, collected data, and completed process evaluation.
Outcomes and Results: Statistical analysis supported that the project intervention aimed at improvement of Care Transition scores was successful. The Paired Samples Statistics pre mean of 2.21 compared to post intervention mean of 3.47 supports a positive change in the mean score of 57%. The Paired Samples Test Sig. (2-tailed) or p=.000 validated that the change in mean was not due to random errors and that it is statistically significant
Cura Personalis in Literacy Education
No full textStrategic literacy instruction should accompany attention to individual needs in order to make the greatest impact. This care for the whole person or cura personalis, as it is known in Ignatian education, helps literacy educators to more effectively address variances in student learning. To encourage cura personalis, Master of Education in Reading students at Regis University are encouraged to apply evidence-based literacy strategies while caring for individual socio-emotional needs in order to make a more lasting, positive impact. This is primarily achieved through three important and somewhat unique aspects of the program: clinical reports, service learning projects, and teacher mentorship. In this manuscript, the author describes how these reflective and service-based program requirements help literacy educators to view instruction through the lens of the whole person