The Draftsman

The Draftsman is a 50 minute narrative film which explores the themes of forgiveness and commitment in relationships with those who have mental illnesses. The plot for the narrative was inspired by the dedication I have witnessed between my grandpa and grandma throughout their married life. This level of dedication began early in their relationship. My grandparents, Bill and Eleanore, had a difficult marriage. My grandmother most likely suffered from undiagnosed depression for most of her adult life. This illness probably stemmed from traumatic events in her childhood including her mother\u27s death and her father\u27s choice to abandon her, as well as her little sister, to an orphanage. The Draftsman takes place in the year 1949 and recounts a fictionalized version of the early stages of my grandparents\u27 relationship—starting with Bill Bowman\u27s decision to leave his home on a farm in Missouri in order to make money to help pay for his brother\u27s medications. His plans change however, when an injury forces him to stop in New Haven Kentucky, where he meets a beautiful but odd young waitress named Eleanore. The film strives to pay tribute to the trials they have faced together and to emphasize how marital commitment can outlast even the most trying circumstances

Understanding the Safety and Usability of Personal Vehicles for Non-Driving Individuals with Disabilities and their Families/Care Providers

The connections between shared personal vehicles of individuals with disabilities (IWDs) and their household family members play an important role in the mobility, overall health, and well-being of all involved actors, yet this topic remains mostly overlooked within publicly available research. Families that include a non-driving IWD are more likely to be low-income, and often struggle with the costs of operating a family car but, due to insufficient public transportation options, they own vehicles despite their prohibitive cost. This exploratory study utilized the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model, a framework focused on assessing the interplaying sociotechnical factors that contribute toward work-systems to gain a holistic understanding of the factors that influence household vehicles, safety, and a sense of well-being for non-driving IWDs and their household family members. A combined effort of surveys, interviews, qualitative coding, and statistical analysis (including one-way ANOVA) revealed a series of influential factors, including: (1) slow bureaucratic processes for vehicle funding; (2) error-prone modifications including lift and tie-downs; (3) miscommunications between IWDs and family members; and (4) residential area development and subsequent social support. Findings highlight the need for improved access to government funding, more reliable modification equipment, and interior vehicle designs that consider better social integration for IWDs

The experiential blink: Mapping the cost of working memory encoding onto conscious perception in the attentional blink.

The attentional blink (AB) represents a cognitive deficit in reporting the second of two targets (T2), when that second target appears 200-600 msec after the first (T1). However, it is unclear how this paradigm impacts the subjective visibility (that is, the conscious perception) of T2, and whether the temporal profile of T2 report accuracy matches the temporal profile of subjective visibility. In order to compare report accuracy and subjective visibility, we asked participants to identify T1 and T2, and to rate the subjective visibility of T2 across two experiments. Event-related potentials were also measured. The results revealed different profiles for the report of T2 versus the subjective visibility of T2, particularly when T1 and T2 appeared within 200 msec of one another. Specifically, T2 report accuracy was high but T2 visibility was low when the two targets appeared in close temporal succession, suggesting what we call the Experiential Blink is different from the classic AB. Electrophysiologically, at lag-1, the P3 component was modulated more by subjective visibility than by report accuracy. Collectively, the data indicate that the deficit in accurately reporting T2 is not the same as the deficit in subjectively experiencing T2. This suggests that traditional understandings of the AB may require adjustment and that, consistent with other findings, working memory (WM) encoding and conscious perception may not be synonymous

Exploring the Clinical Reasoning of Experienced Occupational Therapists: A Metacognitive Approach

This study explored the clinical reasoning of experienced occupational therapists’ (OTs) perceptions of how practitioners apply anatomy concepts in practice. The research question was: how do OTs apply anatomy concepts during their clinical reasoning processes in everyday practice

Consumer internet purchasing of medicines using a population sample:A mixed methodology approach

Background: Malta has an average of 3–4 private community pharmacies per locality, providing patients with easy access to medicines yet according to general statistics gathered from European organisations, Internet is used to purchase various online products with medicines being amongst them. Objectives: To identify patterns around internet purchasing of medicines among Maltese residents. Methods: The study followed a mixed methods approach, employing a cross-sectional survey followed by semi-structured interviews. A random sample of 1996 residents were selected from the Maltese electoral register to participate in a postal questionnaire designed to gather data about purchasing prescription-only-medicines (POM) as well as over-the-counter (OTC) medicines. Results were analysed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square to establish associations between responses. Five interviews investigated participants’ concerns related to sourcing of medicines. The participants were purposively chosen from the questionnaire respondents. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: The survey had a 22% response rate (N = 444) (60% female; mean age 52 years ± 17). Two (0.45%) participants reported purchasing POMs online in the past, while 4.3% (n = 19) purchased OTCs including vitamins, supplements and herbal combinations. The main reasons for OTC online purchasing were lack of local availability (n = 6; 1.4%) and lower price (n = 11; 2.5%). A total of 89% (n = 395) of respondents provided a reason for not purchasing online, with safety issues being the primary reason for 41% (n = 181) of these. Interviewees expressed disregard towards internet purchasing of medicines that was evident from the themes that emerged: definition of ‘medicines’, health autonomy and trust in self-care, relationships and trust in health professional, restrictions of medicine supply, influence of cost, need for options. Conclusions: The Maltese appear to be rather cautious and do not purchase POMs online, citing the risks that may be associated with internet purchasing. With regards to OTCs, a small percentage purchase these online and exposing them to risks associated with unauthorised sites.</p

The Effectiveness of Occupation-based Virtual Reality Intervention on Upper Extremity Functional Improvement in Post-stroke Individuals: A Systematic Review

Purpose: Virtual reality (VR)-based therapy is an emerging practice in the clinical setting and still requires research documenting its efficacy. This review analyzed the effectiveness of VR-based therapy on upper extremity (UE) motor recovery in individuals with chronic stroke by analyzing multiple randomized controlled trials. Methods: Search limits for this review consisted of articles published between January 2010 and January 2020 and available in English. Search keywords were based on language in individual databases (e.g. stroke or cerebrovascular accident, upper extremity, occupational therapy). Articles were limited to include only randomized control trials consisting of adult patients (18+) with UE impairment due to chronic stroke (onset at least 3 months prior) and occupation-based virtual reality intervention. Results: 242 articles were screened; eight met the inclusion criteria. Forms of VR within the reviewed articles included traditional gaming systems, mobile-based game devices, and VR combined with real instrument training. These studies showed improved outcomes following VR training such as improvement of UE function, activity participation, and health-related quality of life. Conclusion: The results of this review suggest that VR-based therapy has efficacy equal to or greater than conventional therapy for improving function in the upper extremity of adult patients with chronic stroke. As supported by research, practitioners may incorporate virtual reality-based therapy into conventional clinical sessions to assist in improving UE function and interactions within different environments and to help enhance overall participation in daily tasks and occupational performance in their clients

Assessing the Intention, Attitudes, and Social Influences on COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors Among Non-rural Black and Rural Appalachian White Populations: A Faith-Based Community Study

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has had detrimental impacts in non-rural Black and rural Appalachian populations. Yet despite the pandemic’s magnitude, there is a scarcity of research exploring potential influences of attitudes and social influences within these populations on their adherence to COVID-19 public health preventive behaviors. Purpose: This study examines the intention, attitudes, and social influences to adhere to COVID-19 preventive behaviors among non-rural Black and rural Appalachian congregants in Kentucky by integrating the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Methods: Secondary analysis of cross-sectional data was used to assess the association between the TPB constructs and four key public health behaviors: obeying a stay-at-home order, social distancing, good hygiene practices, and wearing a mask in public. Generalized estimating equation-type logistic regression models were fit for all binary outcomes. Results: A total of 942 respondents completed the survey. Eighty-nine per cent were older than 36 years, and 73% were female. Of the respondents who were White, 97.7% lived in rural Appalachia Kentucky, and of those who were Black, 93.5% lived in non-rural Kentucky. Attitude towards the behavior was negatively associated with the stay-at-home order (p=0.003). Both attitude toward the behavior (p\u3c0.001) and the subjective norm (p=0.025) were negatively associated with mask wearing. Perceived behavioral control was positively associated with mask wearing (p=0.023) with non-rural respondents more likely to wear a mask than rural ones (p\u3c0.001). None of the TPB constructs showed significant association with hygiene practices or with social distancing. Implications: This study provides further insight into the cultural and societal influences that intersect during a global pandemic. The intention to comply with public health recommendations may vary at favorable and unfavorable levels. The results lend support to the importance of designing effective, culturally tailored communication for future public health preparedness

Upset and Unfocused: ADHD symptoms and cognitive abilities as moderators for working memory performance under varying levels of emotional load

Background: ADHD symptoms are prevalent among college students and frequently cause executive function (EF) impairments. While EF impairments are well studied in this population, the interaction between emotional arousal/mood, working memory (WM), ADHD symptoms and cognitive abilities (CA) still remains unclear. Methods: 50 undergraduate participants’ ADHD symptoms and EF were assessed through cognitive assessments and behavioral questionnaires before they completed WM tasks under varying levels of laboratory-induced emotional load. Results: Participants with high ADHD symptoms and/or low CA struggled with the experimental WM task. Under emotional load, those with hyperactive-impulsive ADHD symptoms struggled with self-regulatory aspects of EF: producing more intrusions and recognition errors. The CA groups’ deficits were tied closer to recall ability – with and without added load. Conclusion: These findings further support that there are many reasons for WM challenges and that there is no single assessment that can identify the underlying cause of these struggles.Individual Studies Program, University of Marylan