Dissertation: Examining and investigating home modifications and smart home technologies to reduce fall injury among older adults.

Nearly one in six U.S. residents are over the age of 65. The proportion of older adults in the U.S. is anticipated to grow to 22.1% of the total population by 2050. The cost of treating age related conditions and injuries is expensive, government programs including Medicaid paid over $550 Billion in 2017, and makes up between 14-16% of the federal budget each year. With the high cost of treating age related conditions and injuries, and the proportion of older adults continuing to increase every year, it is imperative that researchers and government entities find and invest in preventative measures in order to reduce injury and related healthcare costs. Among the many age-related injuries older adults suffer, falls are arguably the most important to address. It is estimated that one in three older adults has a fall every year. In 2016, falls were the seventh leading cause of death among older adults. Approximately one third of all fallers require medical attention after experiencing a fall. Over 800,000 older adults are hospitalized each year due to fall related injuries. Injuries sustained as a result of a serious fall include various fractures, traumatic brain injuries, and other cuts and bruises.Home modifications, and more recently smart home technologies, can help increase the safety of older adults living in the community. With older adults wanting to “age in place”, installing these modifications and technologies before an accident happens may lower rates of injury. Today, dozens of companies sell various smart home devices for the consumer market. Bud despite the high demand for these technologies by the American consumer, the ability of these devices to keep older adults safe, and how older adults value these technologies, remains uncertain. These home technologies may be particularly beneficial to older adults living in rural areas due to the increased isolation and limited access to healthcare resources. Previous research indicates rural populations have a greater proportion of older adults compared to urban areas, yet lack the infrastructure to provide specialty care to this population. It is estimated that more than 60 million family members provide some sort of informal care to an older adult relative. Of all of these family members, nearly 40% report spending 20 or more hours a week providing this unpaid care. Previous research has failed to examine how these family members feel about home modifications and technologies for their older adult relative. Finding ways to ease the burden of caring for older family members will significantly better the situations of many family relatives.This dissertation aims to cover three areas. 1. Identify people at risk of suffering subsequent fall injuries. Find the average time between an initial fall injury and a subsequent fall injury, and find average time between an initial fall injury and death.2. Examine the preferences of older adults living in a rural area towards various smart home technologies and home modifications.3. Examine the preferences of family members of older adults regarding smart home technologies and home modifications

Exploring perspectives of people with type-1 diabetes on goalsetting strategies within self-management education and care

Background. Collaborative goal-setting strategies are widely recommended for diabetes self-management support within healthcare systems. Creating self-management plans that fit with peoples’ own goals and priorities has been linked with better diabetic control. Consequently, goal-setting has become a core component of many diabetes selfmanagement programmes such as the ‘Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating (DAFNE) programme’. Within DAFNE, people with Type-1 Diabetes (T1D) develop their own goals along with action-plans to stimulate goal-achievement. While widely implemented, limited research has explored how goal-setting strategies are experienced by people with diabetes.Therefore, this study aims to explore the perspectives of people with T1D on theimplementation and value of goal-setting strategies within DAFNE and follow-up diabetes care. Furthermore, views on barriers and facilitators to goal-attainment are explored.Methods. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 people with T1D who attended a DAFNE-programme. Following a longitudinal qualitative research design, interviews took place 1 week, and 6-8 months after completion of DAFNE. A recurrent cross-sectional approach is applied in which themes will be identified at each time-point using thematic analyses.Expected results. Preliminary identified themes surround the difference in value that participants place on goal-setting strategies, and the lack of support for goal-achievement within diabetes care.Current stage. Data collection complete; data-analysis ongoing.Discussion. Goal-setting strategies are increasingly included in guidelines for diabetes support and have become essential parts of many primary care improvement schemes. Therefore, exploring the perspectives of people with T1D on the value and implementation of goal-setting strategies is vital for their optimal application

Sensor-as-a-Service: Convergence of Sensor Analytic Point Solutions (SNAPS) and Pay-A-Penny-Per-Use (PAPPU) Paradigm as a Catalyst for Democratization of Healthcare in Underserved Communities

In this manuscript, we discuss relevant socioeconomic factors for developing and implementing sensor analytic point solutions (SNAPS) as point-of-care tools to serve impoverished communities. The distinct economic, environmental, cultural, and ethical paradigms that affect economically disadvantaged users add complexity to the process of technology development and deployment beyond the science and engineering issues. We begin by contextualizing the environmental burden of disease in select low-income regions around the world, including environmental hazards at work, home, and the broader community environment, where SNAPS may be helpful in the prevention and mitigation of human exposure to harmful biological vectors and chemical agents. We offer examples of SNAPS designed for economically disadvantaged users, specifically for supporting decision-making in cases of tuberculosis (TB) infection and mercury exposure. We follow-up by discussing the economic challenges that are involved in the phased implementation of diagnostic tools in low-income markets and describe a micropayment-based systems-as-a-service approach (pay-a-penny-per-use—PAPPU), which may be catalytic for the adoption of low-end, low-margin, low-research, and the development SNAPS. Finally, we provide some insights into the social and ethical considerations for the assimilation of SNAPS to improve health outcomes in marginalized communities

Become an American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) Board Certified Specialist in Behavioral and Cognitive Psychology

This workshop will focus on how to become a Board Certified Specialist in Behavioral and Cognitive Psychology. Certification by ABPP demonstrates psychologists have met their specialty’s standards and competencies. Board Certification is valuable for several reasons: (a) it is increasingly becoming an expectation in our profession; (b) it enhances practitioner credibility for patients; (c) it distinguishes you from other psychologists; (d) there are potential salary increases by the VA, hospitals, the military, and other health care facilities; (e) it enhances qualifications as an expert witness; (f) it facilitates inter-jurisdictional licensing and practice mobility; and (g) it streamlines the credentialing process for licensing boards, and insurance companies. The application process for regular, early entry (graduate students, interns, and residents), and senior option candidates will be reviewed

Relationship Health Across Diverse and Underserved Communities: Connecting Theory and Practice to Inform Therapeutic Processes for Couple Distress

Symposium Chairs: Judith Biesen, M.A., University of Notre Dame Binghuang A. Wang, M.S., Binghamton University, State University of New Yor

Religion/Spirituality as a Predictor of Attrition from a Culturally Informed Family Treatment for Schizophrenia that Targets Religious Coping

Symposium Title: The Integration of Religion/Spirituality into Culturally-Informed, Cognitive-Behavioral Mental Health Treatments Chair: Kayla K. Thayer, Ph.D., Nova Southeastern University Discussant: Stevan Lars Nielsen, Ph.D., Brigham Young Universit

Maintenance of Relationship Functioning For ePREP and OurRelationship for Low-income Couples

Symposium Title: Relationship Health Across Diverse and Underserved Communities: Connecting Theory and Practice to Inform Therapeutic Processes for Couple Distress Chairs: Judith Biesen, M.A., University of Notre Dame; Binghuang A. Wang, M.S., Binghamton University, State University of New York Discussant: Emily Georgia Salivar, Ph.D., Nova Southeastern Universit

Imagine Being Accused of Scientific Fraud!

Our careers have been characterized by wonderfully serendipitous opportunities; being accused of scientific fraud was not one of them. The study involved a randomized controlled trial we conducted in 1970-1971 with alcohol abusers using a low-risk drinking goal rather than an abstinence goal, and the low-risk drinking goal group had better outcomes over 3 years of follow-up. In 1982 it was alleged that we had committed scientific fraud. The attack received national and international attention, including on 60 Minutes. Fortunately, we had maintained meticulous records from the study for 12 years and were vindicated in four major investigations and a $95 million lawsuit. In retrospect, that experience had an upside. It taught us that science is a social process that can be very rough and tumble, that colleagues with integrity are invaluable, and that investigative news shows are primarily entertainment and are forgotten very quickly. Our careers also had other highlights. Our early research involved conducting experimental intoxication studies with individuals who had serious alcohol problems. We learned much from those studies, because alcohol problems are among the few disorders almost always studied in the absence of symptoms. To evaluate our first controlled trial with low-risk drinking, we developed an assessment instrument now known as the Timeline Followback for collecting retrospective reports of behaviors. Over our careers we focused on the large population of persons who have alcohol problems that are not severe, we did research on natural recovery (also referred to as self-change), and we developed and validated a treatment called Guided Self-Change (GSC) in individual and group formats. The GSC treatment has now been validated in 12 studies and 4 languages. Finally, we were involved in community dissemination of evidence-based practice, preventing alcohol-exposed pregnancies, and we developed and evaluated a computer and smartphone intervention called iSelfChange. At the end of this session, the learner will be able to: Describe the upside, downside, and aftermath of a scientific controversy that derived from research successfully challenging conventional wisdom. Describe evolution of a program of motivational behavioral-cognitive treatment research on alcohol problems to pioneer research on self-change and innovative treatments. Describe how studying persons with alcohol use disorders when they were intoxicated provided valuable insights into the nature of alcohol problems. Recommended Readings: Marlatt, G. A. (1983). The controlled-drinking controversy: A commentary. American Psychologist, 38(10), 1097-1110. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.38.10 .1097Sobell, M. B., & Sobell, L. C. (2005). Guided Self-Change treatment for substance abusers. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 19, 199-210.Sobell, L.C., Sobell, M. B., & Agrawal, S. (2009). Randomized controlled trial of a cognitive-behavioral motivational intervention in a group versus individual format for substance use disorders. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 23, 4, 672-683. doi: 10.1037/a00116636.Sobell, L. C., Sobell, M. B., Leo, G. I., Agrawal, S., Johnson-Young, L., & Cunningham, J. A. (2002). Promoting self-change with alcohol abusers: A community-level mail intervention based on natural recovery studies. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 26, 936-948