An intergenerational study of perceptions of changes in active free play among families from rural areas of Western Canada

Background: Children's engagement in active free play has declined across recent generations. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of intergenerational changes in active free play among families from rural areas. We addressed two research questions: (1) How has active free play changed across three generations? (2) What suggestions do participants have for reviving active free play? Methods: Data were collected via 49 individual interviews with members of 16 families (15 grandparents, 16 parents, and 18 children) residing in rural areas/small towns in the Province of Alberta (Canada). Interview recordings were transcribed verbatim and subjected to thematic analysis guided by an ecological framework of active free play. Results: Factors that depicted the changing nature of active free play were coded in the themes of less imagination/more technology, safety concerns, surveillance, other children to play with, purposeful physical activity, play spaces/organized activities, and the good parenting ideal. Suggestions for reviving active free play were coded in the themes of enhance facilities to keep kids entertained, provide more opportunities for supervised play, create more community events, and decrease use of technology. Conclusions: These results reinforce the need to consider multiple levels of social ecology in the study of active free play, and highlight the importance of community-based initiatives to revive active free play in ways that are consistent with contemporary notions of good parentin

Person attuned musical interactions (PAMI) in dementia care. Complex intervention research for constructing a training manual

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest Author contribution statement HR contributed to conception and design of the study together with OM, JA and JK, and all contributed to selected subprojects. HR wrote the manuscript draft and all authors contributed to manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version. Abstract Word count: 249 Introduction: Music is of vital importance for cognition, human care, and the formation of social communities throughout life. Dementia is a neurocognitive disorder that affects cognitive domains, and in late-stage dementia care is needed in all aspects of daily living. Within nursing home contexts, carers play a significant role for the caring culture but often lack professional training of verbal and nonverbal communication skills and management strategies. Thus, there is a need for training carers to respond to the multidimensional needs of persons with dementia. Music therapists use musical interactions but are not trained to train carers. Therefore, our aim was to explore person attuned musical interactions (PAMI), and further to develop and evaluate a training manual to be used by music therapists when supporting and training carers in nonverbal communication with persons with late-stage dementia in nursing home contexts. Method: The research group carried out several subprojects, going through four phases of complex intervention research, continuously considering core elements related to person-centred dementia care and learning objectives. Results: The result was a training manual for qualified music therapists to use when teaching and collaborating with carers about how to implement PAMI in dementia care. The manual included comprehensive resources, a clear structure for training, defined learning objectives, and integration of theory. Discussion: With increased knowledge about caring values and nonverbal communication, nursing home cultures may develop carer competencies and provide professional attuned care for persons with dementia. Further piloting and testing to examine the general effect is needed

Sound sight:seeing with ultrasound

Recent advances in medical imaging, information and communication technology promise to support medical visual practice as well as everyday healthcare experience. However, this potential is not easy to realize. A better understanding of existing practices can inform socio-technical innovation. We draw on ethnographic observations and our involvement in the design of `palpable computing' to examine the use of ultrasound imaging technologies in consultations with pregnant women with a view to ideas and implications for socio-technical innovation

Genetic risk scores for major psychiatric disorders and the risk of postpartum psychiatric disorders

Postpartum psychiatric disorders are heritable, but how genetic liability varies by other significant risk factors is unknown. We aimed to (1) estimate associations of genetic risk scores (GRS) for major depression (MD), bipolar disorder (BD), and schizophrenia (SCZ) with postpartum psychiatric disorders, (2) examine differences by prior psychiatric history, and (3) compare genetic and familial risk of postpartum psychiatric disorders. We conducted a nested case-control study based on Danish population-based registers of all women in the iPSYCH2012 cohort who had given birth before December 31, 2015 (n = 8850). Cases were women with a diagnosed psychiatric disorder or a filled psychotropic prescription within one year after delivery (n = 5829 cases, 3021 controls). Association analyses were conducted between GRS calculated from Psychiatric Genomics Consortium discovery meta-analyses for MD, BD, and SCZ and case-control status of a postpartum psychiatric disorder. Parental psychiatric history was associated with postpartum psychiatric disorders among women with previous psychiatric history (OR, 1.14; 95% CI 1.02-1.28) but not without psychiatric history (OR, 1.08; 95% CI: 0.81-1.43). GRS for MD was associated with an increased risk of postpartum psychiatric disorders in both women with (OR, 1.44; 95% CI: 1.19-1.74) and without (OR, 1.88; 95% CI: 1.26-2.81) personal psychiatric history. SCZ GRS was only minimally associated with postpartum disorders and BD GRS was not. Results suggest GRS of lifetime psychiatric illness can be applied to the postpartum period, which may provide clues about distinct environmental or genetic elements of postpartum psychiatric disorders and ultimately help identify vulnerable groups