Maternal Lifestyle and Pregnancy Complications: The Generation R Study

Adverse maternal lifestyle habits during pregnancy are important modifiable risk factors for pregnancy complications in Western countries. Most common adverse maternal lifestyle habits include smoking, alcohol consumption, and caffeine consumption. Although not directly lifestyle related, maternal age is also considered as a modifiable risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes

Coping Strategies Used by Christian Social Workers to Manage their Mental Health Amidst Covid-19

A grounded theory model of qualitative research was used in order to create a theory for the ways in which Christian social workers coped with the effects of job stress and compassion fatigue during the global Covid-19 pandemic. The participants were six female social workers from Northwest Iowa who worked in direct care with clients. From the participants’ stories emerged a fluent framework for how the social workers were coping within the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. Researchers found that the participants’ coping strategies fell within the realm of five categories: faith, physical activity, distractions, support systems, and boundaries, all of which are supported by previous literature

Domestic Violence and Sex Trafficking Among Adult and Minor Females

The organizers of this event recognized a need within their community to begin to understand that domestic violence and human trafficking are present and that they can do something to help. They began by gathering current information about what these two phenomena are, how they can be prevented, and how we can help when they return to society. The organizers then got to work by partnering with agencies in the community that specialize in working with individuals impacted by human trafficking and domestic violence and from there, prepared a community event

Acoustics and Biological Structures

Within the context of noise-induced health effects, the impact of airborne acoustical phenomena on biological tissues, particularly within the lower frequency ranges, is very poorly understood. Although the human body is a viscoelastic-composite material, it is generally modeled as Hooke elastic. This implies that acoustical coupling is considered to be nonexistent at acoustical frequencies outside of the human auditory threshold. Researching the acoustical properties of mammalian tissue raises many problems. When tissue samples are investigated as to their pure mechanical properties, stimuli are not usually in the form of airborne pressure waves. Moreover, since the response of biological tissue is dependent on frequency, amplitude, and time profile, precision laboratory equipment and relevant physiological endpoints are mandatory requirements that are oftentimes difficult to achieve. Drawing upon the viscoelastic nature of biological tissue and the tensegrity model of cellular architecture, this chapter will visit what is known to date on the biological response to a variety of different acoustic stimuli at very low frequencies

Health Sciences Librarians’ Perceptions of Interprofessional Education & Collaboration

Objective: Librarians have a unique perspective on the value of working with other health professions. We sought to learn more about health sciences librarians' experiences with interprofessional activities and to assess their perceptions of interprofessional education (IPE) using a standard measure, the Interprofessional Education Perception Scale (IEPS). Methods: We used a cross-sectional survey design to assess librarians’ perceptions toward IPE, and to gather information on librarian participation in interprofessional activities. The survey consisted of a demographics section; the IEPS, an instrument developed to assess perceived attitudes about interdisciplinary collaboration for one’s own profession; and questions about the librarian’s prior and current experiences with IPE. It was sent via email lists to the MLA Interprofessional Education Special Interest Group (IPE-SIG), and the Research Section (RS), as a comparison group. After overlap between groups was addressed, mean IEPS scores between populations were compared to explore differences in attitudes and perceptions. Other variables of interest included years of experience as a librarian, previous career as a health professional, and experience teaching or supporting interprofessional education. We also compared librarians’ IEPS scores with those of health professional students published previously. Results: Librarians’ scores on the IEPS indicated highly positive perceptions towards IPE. There were no statistically significant differences between the IPE-SIG and RS groups (p=0.59), years of experience as a librarian (p=0.82), previous career as a health professional (p=0.91), or experience supporting IPE (p=0.16). Librarians’ mean IEPS score (262.9) was slightly less than the mean score of all health profession students (265.9) from a prior study by Hawk, but this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.43). Themes identified from two open-ended questions included librarian involvement in teaching and facilitating required learning activities for health professions students, committee involvement, and non-curricular activities such as Grand Rounds and book clubs. Five respondents addressed impact of their activities. Less frequent themes included perceiving respect for librarians as part of IPE, feeling undervalued, and desiring more involvement. Conclusion: This study provides the first data for the IEPS with health sciences librarians. The health sciences librarians who participated in this research report highly positive attitudes towards IPE, in line with the majority of other health professionals studied previously. Years of experience, previous health professional careers, and experience supporting IPE as a librarian had little bearing on the responses to the survey. This suggests that health sciences librarians have positive attitudes towards IPE, regardless of whether they directly support IPE programs