Engaging Post-Secondary Students And Older Adults In An Intergenerational Digital Storytelling Course

A five day Digital Storytelling course was offered to Social Work students, integrating a three day workshop with older adult storytellers who shared storied related to the theme stories of home. A course evaluation was conducted exploring the Digital Storytelling experience and learning in an intergenerational setting. Findings from surveys distributed at the end of the course to students and storytellers revealed that students’ knowledge of and interest in Digital Storytelling and its application was enhanced. The intergenerational component was positive for students and older adults. Students identified the intergenerational component as a highlight of the course which improved their awareness of older adult issues and knowledge of working with aging populations. Older adult participants enjoyed working with the students which increased their understanding of younger generations. This innovative course enhanced students’ learning experiences, meriting consideration for the incorporation of intergenerational learning opportunities and Digital Storytelling into future social service and aging related courses to better prepare students for gerontological practice

Unraveling Ethics: Reflections from a Community-based Participatory Research Project with Youth

There is limited literature describing the ethical dilemmas that arise when conducting community-based participatory research. The following provides a case example of ethical dilemmas that developed during a multi-method community-based participatory action research project with youth in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Several ethical dilemmas emerged during the course of the study related to the community in which the research was being undertaken, the recruitment of participants, and the overall research process. As important are possible harm s that may arise when the researcher is no longer involved. These ethical dilemmas and potential solutions are discussed in relation to social work research and community-based practice to raise awareness about the essential role of community in informing ethical research practice

Enhancing Social Work Research Education Through Research Field Placements

The increase focus on the role of research in the social service sector, pressure for practitioners to engage in research and the demand for integration of research and practice challenges faculties about ways in which to engage social work students in research. This paper evaluates a research based practicum program within a social work faculty at one Canadian university aimed at meeting this need. The objectives of the practicum include providing opportunities to integrate research theory/methods with practice; develop a broad range of research knowledge and skills; reduce negative stereotypes; instill passion and excitement for research; and connect students with agencies to engage in community based research. The mixed methods evaluation of the practicum included semi-structured qualitative interviews with former and current directors (n=2); an online survey with past practicum students (n=15); and a pre- and post-test attitude/skills assessment, a self reflection journal exercise, and a focus group with students currently in practicum (n=7). Findings suggest benefits of the research practicum across stakeholders as well as several challenges and opportunities for program enhancement. Research practicum is an innovative way of engaging students in applied research which can augments research capacity, mitigate negative stereotypes about research, and better prepare future social work practitioners

When ‘Places’ Include Pets: Broadening the Scope of Relational Approaches to Promoting Aging-in-Place

Aging-in-place is a well-established concept, but discussions rarely consider that many older adults live with pets. In a ‘pet-friendly’ city, we conducted semi-structured interviews to explore perspectives of community-based social support agencies that promote aging-in-place, and those of animal welfare agencies. Applying a relational ecology theoretical framework, we found that pets may contribute to feeling socially- situated, yet may also exacerbate constraints on autonomy experienced by some older adults. Pet-related considerations at times led to discretionary acts of more-than-human solidarity, but also created paradoxical situations for service-providers, impacting their efforts to assist older adults. A shortage of pet-friendly affordable housing emerged as an overarching challenge. Coordination among social support and animal welfare agencies, alongside pet-supportive housing policies, will strengthen efforts to promote aging-in-place in ways that are equitable and inclusive

A pilot study to detect balance impairment in older adults using an instrumented one-leg stance test

The aim of this study was to investigate whether parameters from an instrumented one-leg stance on a force plate test could provide relevant information related to fall risk in older people. Twenty-five community dwelling older people and 25 young subjects performed a one-leg stance while standing on a force plate, with parameters related to transferring weight onto one leg and postural sway in singe-leg stance evaluated. Older participants were classified as being at risk of falling if their performance did not meet one of the previously-established cut-offs for the Five Times Sit-To-Stand and Timed-Up-and-Go tests. Eleven older participants were classified as having a risk of falls. The only significant difference between groups during the weight transfer phase was in the mediolateral displacement, with the fall risk group having less sway than the other groups, signifying a more precautionary approach. With respect to postural sway, both the younger subjects and the no fall risk group stabilised sufficiently to decrease their sway compared to initial values after four and six seconds, respectively. In contrast, the fall risk group was unable to stabilise during the one-leg stance, and continued to sway throughout the 10-sec recording period. These findings suggest that the normal one-leg stance test might not be suitable to detect fall risk. In contrast, an instrumented version of the test could provide valuable additional information that could identify risk of falling in older people

Equivalence, Justice, Injustice – Health and Social Care Decision Making in Relation to Prison Populations

From Frontiers via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: collection 2021, received 2021-01-05, accepted 2021-06-30, epub 2021-07-14Publication status: PublishedPrisons represent sites of singular healthcare need–characterized by high levels of distress and disorder. In many jurisdictions, practitioners are ethically charged with delivering healthcare that is “equivalent” to that available in the wider community. This claim has been much debated–yet the emergence of a global coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the arguments in a particularly stark manner. In the following conceptual analysis, we explore the emergent discourse of the coronavirus and consider its particular significance for prison healthcare decision making and the concept of equivalence. For example, both the coronavirus pandemic and practice of prison incarceration induce a sense of varied temporality: The discourse of prison is replete in this area–such as the concept of “hard time.” Alongside this, the discourse in relation to coronavirus has highlighted two competing modes of temporal understanding: The political–where the pandemic is conceptualized as has having a discrete “beginning and end”, and the scientific–where the “new normal” reflects the incorporation of the “novel” coronavirus into the wider ecology. The impact of these disparate understandings on the prison population is complex: “Locking down” prisoners–to safeguard the vulnerable against infection–is relatively simple, yet it has traumatic repercussions with respect to liberty and psychosocial health. Easing lockdown, by contrast, is a difficult endeavor and risks collision between the temporalities of prison–where “hard time” is accentuated by separation from the “real world”–the political and the scientific. Whither then the concept of equivalence in relation to a field that is definitively non-equivalent? How can practitioners and policy makers maintain a just ethical stance in relation to the allocation of resources when it comes to a politically marginalized yet manifestly vulnerable population? We argue that further debate and consideration are required in this field–and propose a framework for such discussion

Spatial variation in spring arrival patterns of Afro‐Palaearctic bird migration across Europe

Aim: Geographical patterns of migrant species arrival have been little studied, despite their relevance to global change responses. Here, we quantify continent-wide inter-specific variation in spatio-temporal patterns of spring arrival of 30 common migrant bird species and relate these to species characteristics and environmental conditions.Location: EuropeTime period: 2010-2019Major taxa studied: Birds, 30 speciesMethods: Using citizen science data from EuroBirdPortal, we modelled arrival phenology for 30 Afro-Palearctic migrant species across Europe to extract start and duration of species arrival at a 400 km square resolution. We related inter and intra-specific variation in arrival and duration to species characteristics and temperature at the start of the growing season (green-up) .Results: Spatial variation in start of arrival times indicates it took on average 1.6 days for the leading migratory front to move northwards by 100 km (range: 0.6—2.5 days). There was a major gradient in arrival phenology, from species which arrived earlier, least synchronously, in colder temperatures and progressed slowly northwards to species which arrived later, most synchronously and in warmer temperatures, and advanced quickly through Europe. The slow progress of early arrivers suggests that temperature limits their northward advance; this group included Aerial Insectivores and species wintering north of the Sahel. For the late arrivers, which included species wintering further south, seasonal resource availability in Africa may delay their arrival into Europe.Main conclusions: We found support for the green-wave hypothesis applying widely to migratory landbirds. Species arrival phenologies are linked to ecological differences between taxa, such as diet, and wintering location. Understanding these differences informs predictions of species’ sensitivity to global change. Publishing these arrival phenologies will facilitate further research and have additional conservation benefits such as informing designation of hunting seasons. Our methods are applicable to any taxa with repeated occurrence data across large scales. Key words: phenology, European-African migrants, bird migration, spring arrival, spatial variation, intraspecific and interspecific variation, EuroBirdPortal, citizen scientists, complete lists and casual record

Measuring Coverage in MNCH:A Validation Study Linking Population Survey Derived Coverage to Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Care Records in Rural China

Accurate data on coverage of key maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) interventions are crucial for monitoring progress toward the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5. Coverage estimates are primarily obtained from routine population surveys through self-reporting, the validity of which is not well understood. We aimed to examine the validity of the coverage of selected MNCH interventions in Gongcheng County, China.We conducted a validation study by comparing women's self-reported coverage of MNCH interventions relating to antenatal and postnatal care, mode of delivery, and child vaccinations in a community survey with their paper- and electronic-based health care records, treating the health care records as the reference standard. Of 936 women recruited, 914 (97.6%) completed the survey. Results show that self-reported coverage of these interventions had moderate to high sensitivity (0.57 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.50-0.63] to 0.99 [95% CI: 0.98-1.00]) and low to high specificity (0 to 0.83 [95% CI: 0.80-0.86]). Despite varying overall validity, with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) ranging between 0.49 [95% CI: 0.39-0.57] and 0.90 [95% CI: 0.88-0.92], bias in the coverage estimates at the population level was small to moderate, with the test to actual positive (TAP) ratio ranging between 0.8 and 1.5 for 24 of the 28 indicators examined. Our ability to accurately estimate validity was affected by several caveats associated with the reference standard. Caution should be exercised when generalizing the results to other settings.The overall validity of self-reported coverage was moderate across selected MNCH indicators. However, at the population level, self-reported coverage appears to have small to moderate degree of bias. Accuracy of the coverage was particularly high for indicators with high recorded coverage or low recorded coverage but high specificity. The study provides insights into the accuracy of self-reports based on a population survey in low- and middle-income countries. Similar studies applying an improved reference standard are warranted in the future

Co-ordinated Role of TLR3, RIG-I and MDA5 in the Innate Response to Rhinovirus in Bronchial Epithelium

The relative roles of the endosomal TLR3/7/8 versus the intracellular RNA helicases RIG-I and MDA5 in viral infection is much debated. We investigated the roles of each pattern recognition receptor in rhinovirus infection using primary bronchial epithelial cells. TLR3 was constitutively expressed; however, RIG-I and MDA5 were inducible by 8–12 h following rhinovirus infection. Bronchial epithelial tissue from normal volunteers challenged with rhinovirus in vivo exhibited low levels of RIG-I and MDA5 that were increased at day 4 post infection. Inhibition of TLR3, RIG-I and MDA5 by siRNA reduced innate cytokine mRNA, and increased rhinovirus replication. Inhibition of TLR3 and TRIF using siRNA reduced rhinovirus induced RNA helicases. Furthermore, IFNAR1 deficient mice exhibited RIG-I and MDA5 induction early during RV1B infection in an interferon independent manner. Hence anti-viral defense within bronchial epithelium requires co-ordinated recognition of rhinovirus infection, initially via TLR3/TRIF and later via inducible RNA helicases