1,720,968 research outputs found
Virtual Reality-Based Psychoeducation for Dementia Caregivers: The Link between Caregivers’ Characteristics and Their Sense of Presence
Get PDFIn neuropsychology and clinical psychology, the efficacy of virtual reality (VR) experiences for knowledge acquisition and the potential for modifying conduct are well documented. Consequently, the scope of VR experiences for educational purposes has expanded in the health field in recent years. In this study, we sought to assess the effectiveness of ViveDe in a psychoeducational caregiver program. ViveDe is a VR application that presents users with possible daily life situations from the perspective of individuals with dementia. These situations can be experienced in immersive mode through 360° video. This research aimed to ascertain the associations between the sense of presence that can be achieved in VR and some users’ psychological characteristics, such as distress and empathetic disposition. The study involved 36 informal caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. These participants were assessed using scales of anxiety and depression, perceived stress, empathy, and emotional regulation. They were asked to participate in a six-session psychoeducation program conducted online on dementia topics, in addition to experiencing the ViveDe application. The immersive VR sessions enabled the caregivers to directly experience the symptoms of dementia (e.g., spatial disorientation, agnosia, difficulty in problem-solving, and anomia) in everyday and social settings. The results indicated that although the experience in ViveDe (evaluated using the XRPS scale and five questions about emotional attunement) showed efficacy in producing a sense of first-person participation in the symptoms of dementia, further research is needed to confirm this. The structural equation model provided evidence that the characteristics of individuals who enjoy the VR experience play a determining role in the perceived sense of presence, which in turn affects the efficacy of the VR experience as a psychoeducational tool. Further research will be conducted to ascertain the potential role of these elements in conveying change in the caregivers of people with dementia. This will help us study the long-term effectiveness of a large-scale psychoeducation program in VR
Aging And Urbanization: Investigating Different “Aging In Place”. Models In The City As An Opportunity To Empower Individuals’ Healthy Longevity
No full textWhile elderly population in the 21 century is increasing, to sustain the wave of urbanization the city’s planning and urban policies are changing. It is necessary think future scenarios according to the empowerment trend of the aging, who are moving from an ageist stereotypical view (Butler, 1975), and to innovative inclusive urban contexts that move far from an idea of elderly as a ‘problem’ or ‘economic burden’ for the society (Phillipson, 2013).
According to this vision Aging in Place (AIP) models were recently introduced to sustain urban age friendly policies (Vasunilashorn, et al., 2012). AIP, in fact, considers neighbourhoods and communities as crucial determinants of healthy longevity (Oswald et al., 2010) and intend to rethink and re-designing urban spaces around aged individual’s needs. This innovation is congruent with the psychological research on aging considered in a lifespan perspective (Morganti, 2022) and with the idea of considering the aging period in a sort of “New map of life” (longevity.stanford.edu) that requires new projects for longevity.
The research main objective is to understand how different possibilities of AIP can determine healthy longevity. Over 80 years groups of individuals living in two different neighbourhoods of Bergamo city are analysed as case study. Taking in mind two main focuses - individuals and places - quantitative and qualitative measurements are introduced. Adopting a bio-psycho-social and ecological model of lifespan development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), the individual focus assesses the healthy status (quantitative) and the motivation to empower in aging (qualitative). At the same time, adopting a multidimensional and multi-level lens, the place focus requires a spatial urbanistic analysis (e.g. functional and morphological setting; presence of physical barriers or limitations) combined with an ethnographic participant observation (qualitative). This multiple approach is necessary for give importance not only to the individuals AIP choices and to the creation of her/his proximal relationships, but also to the role of the entire system that surround the individual able to determine it. Through the introduction of this research model, we would like to understand the aging individuals life history, the motivation of a living choice inside the city, and perceived satisfaction in the interaction with the urban environment she/he decide to live within. By analysing how some different AIP solutions influences their everyday living condition within the city of Bergamo we’ll be able to determine different grades of healthy longevity, and we‘ll contribute to provide a fundamental perspective shift in the studies of aging and urbanization.
A possible implication of this study could be the involving of policymakers, urban planner and architects, to propose new empowerment possibilities of urban spaces (in particular public or collective spaces) and contribute to introduce cities innovation that can turn aging into affordable places for new AIP models, according to the World Health Organization proposal (WHO, 2017) and the NexGeneration EU (next-generation-eu.europa.eu)
Quantitative Evaluation of Physiotherapists' Perceptions on Cognitive and Mental Health in Rehabilitation: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Northern Italy
No full textPurpose: To explore Italian physiotherapists' perceptions about their roles in managing cognitive and mental conditions in rehabilitation.
Methods: A quantitative study, in the form of an online cross-sectional survey. A standardized questionnaire was developed together with the Bergamo physiotherapy association and a team of psychologists and piloted with 10 physiotherapists. The questionnaire was structured in four sections with 21 items: 1) informed consent, 2) demographic information, 3) cognitive, and 4) mental health. Participants were physiotherapists who were members of the Italian National Physiotherapy Association (FNOFI). The link to the online survey was emailed through regional physiotherapy associations and social media. The frequencies and percentages of the responses were calculated. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the University of Bergamo, and consent was obtained from the participants prior to the conduct of the survey.
Results: Two hundred and forty-seven physiotherapists responded to the survey, with 242 providing written consent to participate. Participants had 17±10 years of professional experience, and the preferred sources of information were courses (80%), practical experience (76%), and guidelines (45%). Regarding the cognitive section, although 95% declared that motor rehabilitation has cognitive effects, only 50% affirmed that they have the knowledge to handle these patients, and 41% of primary doctors recommend considering it as part of the treatment. With regard to the mental health section, only 22% of physiotherapists declared that they had been informed about the role of physiotherapy in mental health during their formative education, and 25% affirmed that they have the knowledge to handle these patients. Lastly, 84% of participants had never received a patient referred solely for a psychological condition.
Conclusion(s): Based on these results, it is possible to observe that Italian physiotherapists reproduce the trend of limited ability to deal with this population, even though it is recommended in Italy’s guidelines
Implications: In order to improve physiotherapy services and reduce burden on this population, it is important to understand the perceptions of physiotherapists, as well as those of healthcare professionals responsible for referring these patients. Raising awareness and providing targeted training to physiotherapists, besides encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration, are crucial steps
Fifteen Weeks of Light-Intensity, Community-Based Group Exercise Improves Executive Function, Upper-Limb Strength, and Endurance in Older Adults: A Pre–Post Study
Get PDFAlthough the benefits of physical activity for older adults are well established, the prevalence of insufficient physical activity remains the highest among individuals over 60. This quasi-experimental study was intended to analyze the physical and psychological effects of older adults’ participation for 15 weeks in a light-intensity, group-based, multicomponent program designed to be long-term, inclusive, and low-cost. A total of 143 community-dwelling older adults were included in the final analysis. On average, participants attended 76.5% of the sessions (SD = 15.8%), and the median time of previous participation in the program was 15 (IQR: 4–37) months. Significant improvements were observed in executive functioning and selected physical outcomes with lower baseline performance; furthermore, overall well-being was maintained. This program promotes prevention by maintaining or enhancing physical and psychological health, in addition to addressing barriers to long-term participation in community-based physical exercise, especially for those with poorer health status
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Cross-cultural evaluation of learning and memory using a consonant-vowel-consonant trigram list
Get PDFObjective: Word list-learning tasks are commonly used to evaluate auditory-verbal learning and memory. However, different frequencies of word usage, subtle meaning nuances, unique word phonology, and different preexisting associations among words make translation across languages difficult. We administered lists of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) nonword trigrams to independent American and Italian young adult samples. We evaluated whether an auditory list-learning task using CVC nonword trigrams instead of words could be applied cross-culturally to evaluate similar learning and associative memory processes. Participants and methods: Seventy-five native English-speaking (USA) and 104 native Italian-speaking (Italy) university students were administered 15-item lists of CVC trigrams using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test paradigm with five study-test trials, an interference trial, and short- and long-term delayed recall. Bayesian t tests and mixed-design ANOVAs contrasted the primary learning indexes across the two samples and biological sex. Results: Performance was comparable between nationalities on all primary memory indices except the interference trial (List B), where the Italian group recalled approximately one item more than the American sample. For both nationalities, recall increased across the five learning trials and declined significantly on the postinterference trial, demonstrating susceptibility to retroactive interference. No effects of sex, age, vocabulary, or depressive symptoms were observed. Conclusions: Using lists of unfamiliar nonword CVC trigrams, Italian and American younger adults showed a similar performance pattern across immediate and delayed recall trials. Whereas word list-learning performance is typically affected by cultural, demographic, mood, and cognitive factors, this trigram list-learning task does not show such effects, demonstrating its utility for cross-cultural memory assessment
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