"It's been a helluva year": the experience of vestibular disorders on the significant other's quality of life

A dissertation on a study presented to the Discipline of Speech Pathology and Audiology , School of Human and Community Development , Faculty of Humanities , University of the Witwatersrand , In fulfilment of the requirements for the degree M.A. Audiology , March 2017In health care, there appears to be greater consideration for the biopsychosocial model of disability and viewing disability in terms of functional health. Recently, the effect of impairment on the significant other’s (SO’s) quality of life (QOL) has been explored. In audiology, there appear to be very few published studies in this area, particularly related to vestibular disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of vestibular disorders on the SO’s QOL. A qualitative research design was employed, including 11 interviews and two focus groups. Participants were SO’s of individuals with chronic vestibular disorders, and were recruited from a private audiology practice in Gauteng through purposive sampling strategies. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Eight primary themes emerged in the data analysis: social implications, financial implications, searching for a diagnosis, emotional effects, changes in family dynamics, support systems, comparison-oriented coping mechanisms, and referrals for psychological services. Findings suggested that SO’s experienced third-party vestibular disability; however, having the appropriate support systems, including family and friends, was pertinent. It was also indicated that the relationship with the audiologist was essential in providing better understanding of the condition and prognosis thereof, resulting in less frustration and improved adaptation to the reported changes. A key finding was the lack of referral for psychological or counselling services. These findings suggest the need to account for third-party vestibular disability in clinical, theoretical, and academic settings, and they call for the inclusion of third-party disability in policy-making.MT 201

Negative prompts aimed at maintaining eating independence in nursing home residents: purposes and implications -A critical analysis

Background:Psychological abuse of older people is difficult to recognise; specifically, nursing home residents have been documented to be at higher risk of psychological abuse during daily care, such as during feeding. Healthcare professionals adopt positive and negative verbal prompts to maintain residents’ eating independence; however, negative prompts’ purposes and implications have never been discussed to date.Research aims:To critically analyse negative verbal prompts given during mealtimes as forms of abuse of older individuals and violation of ethical principles.Research design:This is a secondary analysis of three cases of negative prompts that emerged in a large descriptive study based upon focus group methodology and involving 13 nursing homes and 54 healthcare professionals.Participants and research context:This study included 3 out of 13 nursing homes caring for residents with moderate/severe functional dependence in self-feeding mainly due to dementia; in these nursing homes, we conducted three focus groups and 13 healthcare professionals participated.Ethical considerations:This study was conducted in accordance with the Human Subject Research Ethics Committee guidelines after being approved by the Review Board of the Trust.Findings:With the intent of maintaining self-feeding independence, negative verbal prompts have been reported as being used by nursing home teams. By critically analysing these negative prompts, it turned out they could trigger intimidation, depression and anxiety and thus could be considered as forms of abuse; moreover, negative prompts can threaten the ethical principles of (1) autonomy using a paternalist approach, (2) beneficence and non-maleficence as with the intent to act in the best interests of residents (to maintain self-feeding independence) they are harmed in their dignity and (3) justice, given that residents who received negative prompts are treated differently from those who received positive prompts.Discussion:Eating should be a pleasant experience with a positive impact on physiological, psychological and social well-being. However, negative prompting can lead to abuse and violation of basic ethical principles, destroying the healthcare professional resident and relative relationships strongly dependent on trust.Conclusion:Negative verbal prompting must be avoided

Virtual Reality Technology and Speech Analysis for People Who Stutter

Virtual reality (VR) technology provides an interactive computer-generated experience that artificially simulates real-life situations by creating a virtual environment that looks real and stimulates the user’s feelings. During the past few years, the use of VR technology in clinical interventions for assessment, rehabilitation and treatment have received increased attention. Accordingly, many clinical studies and applications have been proposed in the field of mental health, including anxiety disorders. Stuttering is a speech disorder in which affected individuals have a problem with the flow of speech. This can manifest in the repetition and prolongation of words or phrases, as well as in involuntary silent pauses or blocks during which the individual is unable to produce sounds. Stuttering is often accompanied by a social anxiety disorder as a secondary symptom, which requires separate treatment. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of using a VR environment as a medium for presenting speech training tasks. In addition, we evaluated the accuracy of a speech analyzer module in detecting stuttering events

The Experiences of Women Who Live with an Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (lCD)

The implantable cardioverter defibrillator (lCD) is the most effective treatment available for terminating potentially life-threatening ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. The lCD detects and attempts to correct these arrhythmias by pacing, cardioversion, and defibrillation thereby providing lifesaving therapy to patients at risk for sudden cardiac death. Currently, 150,000 Americans receive ICDs each year. Although most lCD recipients are men, more women are now qualifying for insertion (Stutts, Cross, Conti, & Sears, 2007). Despite its established health benefits, lCD implantation is accompanied by psychological factors which merit research attention. This study investigated the experiences of women who live an lCD. The homogenous, purposeful sample consisted of 15 women who had an lCD that was implanted within the last three years and were receiving follow-up treatment at the same north Florida clinic. Data collection was accomplished through a semi-structured interview specific to the areas of pre-implantation, immediate post-implantation, and discharge home. Results were transcribed verbatim and then analyzed. Five core themes emerged from the transcripts along with multiple subcategories. The main themes included: Psychological Reactions, Physical Comfort, Procedural Issues, Body Image, and Feelings Regarding a Shock. Information obtained from this research is beneficial to nurses providing care to women with ICDs and to primary care advanced nurse practitioners in order to improve the overall health outcome and ongoing care of these women

Sharing feelings online: Studying emotional well-being via automated text analysis of Facebook posts

Digital traces of activity on social network sites represent a vast source of ecological data with potential connections with individual behavioral and psychological characteristics. The present study investigates the relationship between user-generated textual content shared on Facebook and emotional well-being. Self-report measures of depression, anxiety and stress were collected from 201 adult Facebook users from North Italy. Emotion-related textual indicators, including emoticon use, were extracted form users’ Facebook posts via automated text analysis. Correlation analyses revealed that individuals with higher levels of depression, anxiety expressed negative emotions on Facebook more frequently. In addition, use of emoticons expressing positive emotions correlated negatively with stress level. When comparing age groups, younger users reported higher frequency of both emotion-related words and emoticon use in their posts. Also, the relationship between online emotional expression and self-report emotional well-being was generally stronger in the younger group. Overall, findings support the feasibility and validity of studying individual emotional well-being by means of examination of Facebook profiles. Implications for online screening purposes and future research directions are discussed

Qualitative Study of Psychosocial Needs for Individuals with Lung Cancer

Lung cancer affects many people in the United States, accounting for 14.5% of cancer cases in 2010. Additionally, it is responsible for more cancer-related deaths than any other cancer type. Those living with lung cancer also experience a higher prevalence of psychological distress and mood problems relative to most other cancer types. Despite the high physical and mental health burden borne by those living with lung cancer, psychosocial research on lung cancer generally lags far behind comparable studies in other cancer populations. Evidence from the few interventions developed specifically for lung cancer patients demonstrate an underutilization of those services, which is inferred from generally low response rates from eligible participants. Although a low participation rate may demonstrate the need to investigate the barriers of participating in interventions, little research on that topic is currently available. Also, it is not clear what factors predict refusal to participate in psychosocial interventions for the lung cancer population, despite the available data on demographic and medical differences between eligible those who did and those who did not participate. Overall, there is limited evidence available for preferred interventions, for favored methods of receiving interventions (e.g., Internet, face-to-face, telephone), and for perceived barriers to access and maintain engagement in available psychosocial interventions for lung cancer patients. A qualitative study that utilizes a grounded theory approach to the analysis of interview data from lung cancer patients can address the current gap in understanding of lung cancer patients\u27 perspective on three specific areas: 1) the most important psychosocial needs to address and what factors contribute to higher importance, 2) interest in different psychosocial services and what factors contribute to low and high interest, and 3) what factors serve as barriers to engage in psychosocial interventions. Elucidating these three areas will increase researchers\u27 understanding of lung cancer patients\u27 perspectives via the development of a grounded theory, which investigators can utilize to better address the psychosocial and quality of life needs of this cancer population

Correlates and Predictors of Emotion Language and Well-Being in Stressful and Traumatic Contexts.

In three studies, I examined associations between emotional expression (through language) and well-being as people reflected on stressful and life-changing situations. Previous research suggests that emotional expression is only helpful for some people, and the primary goal of the current research was to contribute to literature that examines when and under what circumstances expression of emotion is related to positive outcomes for individuals. The Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count Program (LIWC; Pennebaker, Booth, Boyd, & Francis, 2015) was used in each study to text analyze participants’ narratives about experiences of childhood sexual abuse (Study 1), bereavement (Study 2), and the transition to parenthood (Study 3). I focused on the two broad LIWC word categories associated with emotionality: positive emotion (e.g., happy, laugh) and negative emotion (e.g., sad, angry). Study 1 examined associations between indicators of mental health and positive and negative emotion words in the trauma narratives of 55 survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Participants who used more positive and negative emotion language had better psychological outcomes, especially when the abuse was more severe. Study 2 investigated expressions of positive emotion words in discussions between 39 parentally bereaved children and their surviving caregivers. Children’s use of positive emotion words in the discussion were unrelated to their own psychological outcomes; however, children were less likely to experience symptoms of anxiety, avoidant coping, and depression when their caregivers used more positive emotion words, especially after more time had passed since parental loss. Study 3 tested dyadic and longitudinal associations between emotional expression and psychological and relational well-being in a sample of 29 expectant couples across the transition to parenthood. Changes (increases) in emotional expression over time were more consistently associated with husbands’ and wives’ postpartum outcomes compared with average levels of emotional expression. Results from Study 3 also demonstrated that emotional expression and health are tied in meaningful ways between romantic partners. Overall, results from the current research point to individual and contextual factors that moderate the association between emotional expression and well-being. These findings have implications for tailored interventions that promote optimal outcomes when people discuss and reflect on emotional content.PhDPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/133286/1/bwardeck_1.pd