Graphic Image and Ceramic Form

Not Include

Home Care in Maine: The Worker\u27s Experience

Sandra Butler presents findings from her study of home care aides, which was aimed at understanding the high rate worker of turnover. The study found that low wages, lack of mileage reimbursement and job benefits, and inconsis­tent and unreliable hours were key factors in workers’ decisions to leave the field

Home Care Workers in Maine: Increasingly Essential Workers Face Difficult Job Conditions

As the population in Maine ages, the need for home care workers is increasing. Turnover is high in this field and the longitudinal Home Care Retention Study (HCWRS; n = 261) reported herein examined predictors of turnover and work experiences of home care aides in Maine. Younger age, lack of health insurance and poorer mental health were among the predictors of termination for the 90 study participants who left their jobs. In telephone interviews, they spoke of low wages, inconsistent hours, unreimbursed mileage and poor communication with employers in describing why they had left their jobs. A follow-up inquiry with 31 of the HCWRS study participants who were aged 63 to 80 provides information on how the job is experienced by older workers—those most likely to stay in the field. The article concludes with current policy activity affecting home care workers in Maine

The Human Face of Housing Policy for Rural Elders in Maine

Sandra Butler reflects on the ways in which the older households she has been encountering in her recent in-depth research in Washington County match those described by Stephen Golant in his article in this issue on the needs of elderly homeowners and the solutions to those needs. Butler’s research is based on extensive interviews with volunteers and clients of the Senior Companion Program, which has as one of its primary purposes helping elders remain in their homes as long as possible. Butler notes that she was surprised to learn how many subsidized housing complexes exist in Washington County. A number of the elders interviewed live in such housing, while others remain (sometimes precariously) in their own homes. The quotations and vignettes Butler provides here give readers “the human face” of housing policy for some of Maine’s rural elders

Embodying life-long learning: Transition and capstone experiences

This paper discusses the principle of Transition as it has been conceptualised by the Curriculum Renewal in Legal Education project. The project sought to develop a principled framework for renewing the final year of tertiary legal education in Australia. Capstone experiences were chosen as the most appropriate mechanism for assisting final year students to manage the transition process. Thoughtfully designed capstones assist students to integrate and synthesize their learning over their entire degree program, facilitate closure on the undergraduate experience, and assist students to transition from student to emerging professional. We discuss the importance of addressing final year students’ transitional needs and explain how the principle facilitates this process. Although the framework has been developed specifically for legal education in Australia its approach enables transferability across disciplines and institutions. The framework addresses criticisms that universities and law schools are not meeting the needs of final year students by preparing them for the transition to graduate life in a complex and uncertain world

Short-Interval Cortical Inhibition and Intracortical Facilitation during Submaximal Voluntary Contractions Changes with Fatigue

This study determined whether short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and intracortical facilitation (ICF) change during a sustained submaximal isometric contraction. On 2 days, 12 participants (6 men, 6 women) performed brief (7-s) elbow flexor contractions before and after a 10-min fatiguing contraction; all contractions were performed at the level of integrated electromyographic activity (EMG) which produced 25 % maximal unfatigued torque. During the brief 7-s and 10-min submaximal contractions, single (test) and paired (conditioning–test) transcranial magnetic stimuli were applied over the motor cortex (5 s apart) to elicit motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) in biceps brachii. SICI and ICF were elicited on separate days, with a conditioning–test interstimulus interval of 2.5 and 15 ms, respectively. On both days, integrated EMG remained constant while torque fell during the sustained contraction by ~51.5 % from control contractions, perceived effort increased threefold, and MVC declined by 21–22 %. For SICI, the conditioned MEP during control contractions (74.1 ± 2.5 % of unconditioned MEP) increased (less inhibition) during the sustained contraction (last 2.5 min: 86.0 ± 5.1 %; P \u3c 0.05). It remained elevated in recovery contractions at 2 min (82.0 ± 3.8 %; P \u3c 0.05) and returned toward control at 7-min recovery (76.3 ± 3.2 %). ICF during control contractions (conditioned MEP 129.7 ± 4.8 % of unconditioned MEP) decreased (less facilitation) during the sustained contraction (last 2.5 min: 107.6 ± 6.8 %; P \u3c 0.05) and recovered to 122.8 ± 4.3 % during contractions after 2 min of recovery. Both intracortical inhibitory and facilitatory circuits become less excitable with fatigue when assessed during voluntary activity, but their different time courses of recovery suggest different mechanisms for the fatigue-related changes of SICI and ICF

The Parents as Scholars Program: A Maine Success Story

Federal “welfare reform” enacted in 1996 strongly discouraged states from including post-secondary education in their welfare reform programs. As Sandra Butler and Luisa Deprez discuss here, Maine persevered through its Parent as Scholars (PaS) program to make college possible for low-income parents. In this article they report on their long-term follow-up of a cohort of PaS participants, all of them women, who have benefited greatly from participation in the program. Butler and Deprez note that Maine’s PaS improves welfare recipients’ chances of moving out of poverty. The program itself remains as a model for other states