The Effectiveness of Music Therapy in the Pediatric Population

Music therapy (MT) is defined as, “the systematic use of music or musical elements-along with the resulting interpersonal relationship with a trained music therapist to achieve optimal health outcomes…” (The Effectiveness, 2010). Nurses are able to implement music therapy in care. Decreasing fear, anxiety, and ultimately pain will enhance the patient’s experience at the hospital and will lessen the burden of performing care on the patient, decrease stress on caregivers, and ease the provision of care on health professionals

The Impact of Mild Stroke on Participation in Physical Fitness Activities

Objective. To compare participation in moderate to high intensity physical activities in persons before and after a mild stroke. Methods. We used data from the Cognitive Rehabilitation and Research Group to examine changes in moderate to high intensity physical activity participation in persons who had a mild stroke as defined by an NIH Stroke Scale score of less than 6 (). Using the Activity Card Sort, we compared the participants' high-demand leisure activity (leisure activities that are moderate to high intensity physical activities) participation at 6-months after stroke with their prestroke level. Results. We found a significant decrease in numbers of high-demand leisure activities in all participants and in each demographic group after mild stroke. Conclusion. These results suggest that persons after mild stroke are not retaining the high-demand leisure activities they were doing prior to their stroke. Health professionals must promote participation in high-demand leisure activities in patients with mild stroke as a tool to enhance health and fitness

Increasing Nurse Awareness of a Breastfeeding and Substance Use Disorder Guideline to Improve Rates of Breast Milk and Skin to Skin Usage: A Quality Improvement Initiative​

Neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) is related to opioid exposure in utero, and cases of NOWS have been increasing. In Tennessee in 2020, 824 newborns were born with NOWS. NOWS treatment involves pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment. Breastfeeding, a nonpharmacological treatment, decreases the need and length for pharmacological treatment, the length of stay, and NOWS symptoms. Skin-to-skin may also reduce symptoms of NOWS. This quality improvement (QI) project involved implementing an Opioid Use Disorder Toolkit from the Tennessee Initiative for Perinatal Quality Care (TIPQC) and specifically educating staff nurses in a Women and Infant’s Department in a regional medical center on a substance use disorder and breastfeeding guideline. The guideline followed the American Academy of Pediatrics, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses’ recommendations that mothers stable on medication assisted treatment should be encouraged to breastfeed. Education occurred via an online educational module and display of unit flyers. A pre-and post-module survey was sent to nursing staff to assess awareness and use of the guideline. We saw an increase in awareness of the guideline from 91% to 97%. We also saw an increase in breastfeeding at discharge, a decrease in NOWS diagnosis, and a decrease in the length of pharmacologic treatment. Overall, this QI project helped increase nurses’ knowledge of breastfeeding in mothers with substance use disorders. We found a clinically significant decrease in NOWS diagnosis, a decrease in the length of treatment, and an increase in breastfeeding rates at discharge

LMDA New & Noteworthy, October 2016

Contents include: A Note from the President: Spotlight on Production Dramaturgy; Odds & Ends; Remembering Iris Turcott; Spotlight on: Academic Dramaturgy; Regional Spotlight: New York.https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdanewsletter/1011/thumbnail.jp

Messages to Motivate Human Papillomavirus Vaccination: National Studies of Parents and Physicians

Physician communication about human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is a key determinant of uptake. To support physician communication, we sought to identify messages that would motivate HPV vaccination

Announcements Versus Conversations to Improve HPV Vaccination Coverage: A Randomized Trial

Improving provider recommendations is critical to addressing low human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage. Thus, we sought to determine the effectiveness of training providers to improve their recommendations using either presumptive “announcements” or participatory “conversations.

New & Noteworthy, January 2020

Contents include: Highlights of Dramaturgy in the 2010s; Colleagues and Collaborators: The Three Musketeers An Interview with Megan Monaghan Rivas and Diane Brewer; #LMDA20 // Conference Countdown; NEA Grants; Dramaturging Your New Year: 5 Questions to Ask Before Creating New Year\u27s Resolutions (link to blog); Upcoming Regional Events.https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdanewsletter/1036/thumbnail.jp

Implementing the WHO caregivers skills training program with caregivers of autistic children via telehealth in rural communities

Background: For families with autistic children living in rural areas, limited access to services partly results from a shortage of providers and extensive travel time. Telehealth brings the possibility of implementing alternative delivery modalities of Parent Mediated Interventions (PMIs) with the potential to decrease barriers to accessing services. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of implementing the World Health Organization-Caregivers Skills Training program (WHO-CST) via an online, synchronous group format in rural Missouri. Methods: We used a mixed methods design to collect qualitative and quantitative data from caregivers and program facilitators at baseline and the end of the program, following the last home visit. Caregivers of 14 autistic children (3-7 years), residents of rural Missouri, completed nine virtual sessions and four virtual home visits. Results: Four main themes emerged from the focus groups: changes resulting from the WHO-CST, beneficial aspects of the program, advantages and disadvantages of the online format, and challenges to implementing the WHO-CST via telehealth. The most liked activity was the demonstration (36%), and the least liked was the practice with other caregivers. From baseline to week 12, communication skills improved in both frequency (p \u3c 0.05) and impact (p \u3c 0.01), while atypical behaviors decreased (p \u3c 0.01). For caregivers\u27 outcomes, only confidence in skills (p \u3c 0.05) and parental sense of competence (p \u3c 0.05) showed a positive change. Conclusion: Our results support the feasibility of implementing the WHO-CST program via telehealth in a US rural setting. Caregivers found strategies easy to follow, incorporated the program into their family routines, and valued the group meetings that allowed them to connect with other families. A PMI such as the WHO-CST, with cultural and linguistic adaptations and greater accessibility via telehealth-plays an essential role in closing the treatment gap and empowering caregivers of autistic children

Planet Hunters VII. Discovery of a New Low-Mass, Low-Density Planet (PH3 c) Orbiting Kepler-289 with Mass Measurements of Two Additional Planets (PH3 b and d)

We report the discovery of one newly confirmed planet ($P=66.06$ days, $R_{\rm{P}}=2.68\pm0.17R_\oplus$) and mass determinations of two previously validated Kepler planets, Kepler-289 b ($P=34.55$ days, $R_{\rm{P}}=2.15\pm0.10R_\oplus$) and Kepler-289-c ($P=125.85$ days, $R_{\rm{P}}=11.59\pm0.10R_\oplus$), through their transit timing variations (TTVs). We also exclude the possibility that these three planets reside in a $1:2:4$ Laplace resonance. The outer planet has very deep ($\sim1.3$), high signal-to-noise transits, which puts extremely tight constraints on its host star's stellar properties via Kepler's Third Law. The star PH3 is a young ($\sim1$ Gyr as determined by isochrones and gyrochronology), Sun-like star with $M_*=1.08\pm0.02M_\odot$, $R_*=1.00\pm0.02R_\odot$, and $T_{\rm{eff}}=5990\pm38$ K. The middle planet's large TTV amplitude ($\sim5$ hours) resulted either in non-detections or inaccurate detections in previous searches. A strong chopping signal, a shorter period sinusoid in the TTVs, allows us to break the mass-eccentricity degeneracy and uniquely determine the masses of the inner, middle, and outer planets to be $M=7.3\pm6.8M_\oplus$, $4.0\pm0.9M_\oplus$, and $M=132\pm17M_\oplus$, which we designate PH3 b, c, and d, respectively. Furthermore, the middle planet, PH3 c, has a relatively low density, $\rho=1.2\pm0.3$ g/cm$^3$ for a planet of its mass, requiring a substantial H/He atmosphere of $2.1^{+0.8}_{-0.3}$ by mass, and joins a growing population of low-mass, low-density planets.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables, accepted into Ap

Planet Hunters. V. A Confirmed Jupiter-Size Planet in the Habitable Zone and 42 Planet Candidates from the Kepler Archive Data

We report the latest Planet Hunter results, including PH2 b, a Jupiter-size (R_PL = 10.12 \pm 0.56 R_E) planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a solar-type star. PH2 b was elevated from candidate status when a series of false positive tests yielded a 99.9% confidence level that transit events detected around the star KIC 12735740 had a planetary origin. Planet Hunter volunteers have also discovered 42 new planet candidates in the Kepler public archive data, of which 33 have at least three transits recorded. Most of these transit candidates have orbital periods longer than 100 days and 20 are potentially located in the habitable zones of their host stars. Nine candidates were detected with only two transit events and the prospective periods are longer than 400 days. The photometric models suggest that these objects have radii that range between Neptune to Jupiter. These detections nearly double the number of gas giant planet candidates orbiting at habitable zone distances. We conducted spectroscopic observations for nine of the brighter targets to improve the stellar parameters and we obtained adaptive optics imaging for four of the stars to search for blended background or foreground stars that could confuse our photometric modeling. We present an iterative analysis method to derive the stellar and planet properties and uncertainties by combining the available spectroscopic parameters, stellar evolution models, and transiting light curve parameters, weighted by the measurement errors. Planet Hunters is a citizen science project that crowd-sources the assessment of NASA Kepler light curves. The discovery of these 43 planet candidates demonstrates the success of citizen scientists at identifying planet candidates, even in longer period orbits with only two or three transit events.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figures, 6 tables, accepted and published on ApJ ApJ, 776, 1