The Heart of Advanced Heart Failure Caregivers: Impact of Social Support on Subjective Burden

Informal caregivers often experience a perceived lack of social support, leading to a greater sense of subjective burden. Caregivers of those living with advanced heart failure are faced with many competing responsibilities throughout the course of an unpredictable illness trajectory. In comparison to caregivers of those living with illnesses such as cancer or dementia, there is little research available on the needs of advanced heart failure caregivers. This project aimed to address the social support needs of advanced heart failure caregivers to help mitigate caregiver burden and address knowledge gaps. Through community-based participatory research, a monthly topic-facilitated caregiver support group was established through the HeartBrothers Foundation. Perceived social support and social conflict outcomes were measured using the Perceived Social Support for Caregiving (PSSC) and Social Conflict (SC) scales through pre- and post-surveys conducted at the start of the intervention and at six months. The Mann-Whitney U test for unpaired samples was used to compare the pre- and post-survey results. The results of this study showed an improvement in perceived social support among participants after six months of online monthly facilitated support groups. These results provided a greater understanding of interventions that may help reduce caregiver burden by providing a means of social support. Caregiver feedback at the end of the six-month study period expressed a desire to sustain the monthly support groups

Medical Device-Related Pressure Injuries Associated With Endotracheal Tube Securement Practices: A Retrospective Study

Medical device-related pressure injuries (MDRPIs) are a significant and preventable source of patient harm, particularly in critically ill patients requiring endotracheal intubation. The method of endotracheal tube (ETT) securement may influence the development, location, and severity of these injuries. This retrospective quality improvement study examined the incidence and characteristics of MDRPIs associated with different ETT securement practices—commercial devices versus traditional ties and adhesive tapes—in adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients. The study also explored patient-related risk factors contributing to MDRPI development and clinical outcomes. Data was collected from 51 adult ICU patients with documented MDRPIs between January 2023 and June 2024 at a tertiary care hospital. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze associations between securement methods, patient characteristics, and outcomes. A significant association was found between securement methods and injury location (p = .012). Ties/tape were more often linked to ear injuries, while commercial devices were associated with lip and oral mucosa injuries. Intubation duration of seven days or more significantly increased MDRPI risk (p \u3c .001). Lower Braden scores, male gender, vasopressor use, and low albumin levels were common among affected patients. Although older patients had higher mortality, a greater proportion of MDRPI cases occurred in patients under age 65. Patients with ties/tape securement had higher in-ICU mortality, while those with commercial holders were more often transitioned to a lower-acuity level of care (p = .016). These findings highlight the importance of prevention strategies tailored to securement methods and patient risk profiles

Sepsis Alert Implementation to Improve the Door to Antibiotics Time in Adult Patients in the Emergency Setting

Sepsis is a severe condition in which the body responds improperly to an infection, requiring timely intervention. Reducing the time of antibiotic administration is crucial for improving patient outcomes. By exploring the effectiveness of the alert system and best practices in the literature, the quality improvement project plans to assess areas to expedite sepsis management and enhance patient care among adult patients in the emergency department setting. The quality improvement project will implement a sepsis alert system in the adult emergency department to reduce door-to-antibiotic times from \u3e90 minutes pre-implementation to \u3c60 minutes post-implementation. Database searches included PubMed, EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, National Library of Medicine, and McKillop Library

“Tw-ironic : The Ironic Consumption of Media Examined Through Twilight

“It’s so bad it’s good” is a phrase often uttered in order to justify watching, reading, or listening to a piece of media with a poor reputation. In the 20 years since the first novel’s debut, the Twilight saga has become renowned for its massive level of popularity and influence. However, it has also faced a great deal of backlash and criticism for a variety of reasons, which affected the nature of the fan base. Through analysis of short-form content, the ironic consumption of Twilight media is observed in contemporary times

A Blueprint for an Engaging Zoom Classroom: Shortening the Distance in Distance Learning through Media Ecology and Phenomenology

The Zoom classroom continues to be an option for many schools. In terms of bridging the fields of media ecology and phenomenology on the matter of the zoom classroom, this project is the first of its kind. While much has been said about effective teaching strategies in the Zoom classroom, a study that examines Zoom’s makeup as a distinct media environment can provide a proper anchor for the adoption of the best teaching strategies. The field of media ecology serves as the proper lens through which to examine Zoom’s makeup as a biased environment that plays upon the human sensorium in specific ways. While much of instruction on Zoom features visual stimuli of various kinds, this project contends that the auditory dimension holds the key to a more engaging classroom. The distance in distance learning is shortened in and through the human voice, especially when the human voice takes on a character of dialogue and sociality that approximates the dynamics associated with Martin Buber’s I-Thou Relationship

The Militarization of Space: The Cold War and the Space Race

The weaponization of space during the Cold War would have posed a significant threat to global security if left unchecked. The Cold War showcased the ideological rivalry between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and their development of a nuclear arsenal. Space was an unexplored domain that actors thought could be weaponized and even become a strategic advantage if a war between these superpowers broke out. The decision to not militarize space, not place orbital weapons in space, and not utilize weapons of mass destruction came from a standoff in which both parties could not move forward with their plans without risking their nation\u27s security or provoking a global nuclear catastrophe. Both actors individually agreed to prevent militarization, yet conflict and competition required a decree to ultimately stop weaponization. The United States and Soviet Union\u27s development of space-based military systems during the Cold War created a need for strategies and policies to regulate outer space that would help ensure global and space security

Anti-feminism as a Forecasting Barometer for Political Radicalization: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Right-wing and nationalist movements in disparate parts of the world have gathered significant strength in recent years. This dissertation investigates how anti-feminism and misogyny operate as sociocultural enablers of radicalization in Bosnia and Herzegovina, shaping both individual pathways to extremism and broader ideological movements. Situated at a critical juncture between European and Middle Eastern cultural influences, Bosnia and Herzegovina has long been a crossroads of cultures. Notably, Western Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Islam and, to a lesser extent, Judaism, all of which have established deep and historic cultural traditions. Each has also contributed significantly to the country’s entrenched patriarchal norms. The post-World War II establishment of what would become the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia attempted to enforce a break with these traditional, patriarchal gender roles with a series of highly progressive constitutions enshrining gender equality. This period of communist governance reflected economic growth and increased participation by women in the labor force while simultaneously suppressing religious practices. During the Yugoslav period, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s society began to reflect this attempt to reconfigure gender dynamics and gender roles. However, the collapse and disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the subsequent 1992-1995 Bosnian War reversed many advances women made during the Yugoslav era as women faced not only a reversion to increased religiosity but also found themselves trapped between increasingly significant radical ethno-nationalist ideologies. This dissertation investigates how Islamist and far-right ethno-nationalist groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina deploy anti-feminist rhetoric to justify political and social control. While both ideologies claim to protect traditional family structures, they do so in ways that reinforce male dominance and suppress gender equality. This study situates these narratives within Bosnia and Herzegovina’s post-war sociopolitical landscape, drawing on expert interviews and existing literature to analyze the implications of gender-based radicalization. This research explores the link between anti-feminist discourse and radicalization intrinsic in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s thoroughly polarized society using a range of qualitative methodologies to include a series of expert interviews

Recollections of Gerry Willis \u2786

Gerry Willis, class of 1986, shares his experience at Salve Regina University. He initially arrived as a transfer student from Rhode Island College but soon grew to call Salve his home. Willis’ history with Salve spans from his time as a student, to being an active member of athletics, to coming back after graduation as a faculty member. He discusses his experiences as a member of one of Salve’s first co-educational classes, and how that affected the education and social scene on campus. In the mid-1980s, Willis became a weightlifting champion, earning national titles and several gold medals. He was inducted into the Salve Regina Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002 for his efforts. Willis returned to the university as a professor and eventually became the Associate Dean of Students, where he got to grow as an administrator and a mentor for students. He discusses several campus events he was an integral part of during his time here, and he emphasizes the importance of Salve’s community spirit and the relationships he continues to forge

Meet Mr. Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson, in leaving his position as a minister, created a uniquely American world view centered on a cosmic psyche incarnating itself as the world of nature. He thus created Transcendentalism, America\u27s first great philosophy

Suffering and Solace: Photography and Trauma in a Changing Nation

Death, grief, and mourning changed more rapidly and radically in America between the Civil War and Vietnam than ever before. America itself changed drastically over this period, becoming a diverse, urban, industrial society. Urbanization took the disposal of the dead out of the hands of community women, and the mass deaths of the Civil War aided the growth of the professional death care industry. Different ethnic groups and faiths brought new traditions to mourning. Urbanism and westward expansion changed the structure of family networks, while science changed the way remains were handled, leading to shifts in ritual. The advent of hospitals, modern medicine, and embalming facilitated a removal of death from the home, family, and community and transformed it into an exclusive and pseudoscientific business, denaturalizing death and grief both. However, the technological advancements in process photography both facilitated and recorded these changes. Images of battlefields strewn with bloated corpses and those of domestic lynching shocked a culture that believed in \u27good death,\u27 but only temporarily. Postmortem photography meant that the dead could be kept as both memento and memento mori, as would casket images somewhat later. Then they too lost impact and importance. With each subsequent generation, death would be further removed from life, grief and mourning would be denormalized, excised from American life, practices and images fading away