The preventive services use self-efficacy (PRESS) scale in older women: development and psychometric properties

Background\ud Preventive services offered to older Americans are currently under-utilized despite considerable evidence regarding their health and economic benefits. Individuals with low self-efficacy in accessing these services need to be identified and provided self-efficacy enhancing interventions. Scales measuring self-efficacy in the management of chronic diseases exist, but do not cover the broad spectrum of preventive services and behaviors that can improve the health of older adults, particularly older women who are vulnerable to poorer health and lesser utilization of preventive services. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of a new preventive services use self-efficacy scale, by measuring its internal consistency reliability, assessing internal construct validity by exploring factor structure, and examining differences in self-efficacy scores according to participant characteristics.\ud \ud Methods\ud The Preventive Services Use Self-Efficacy (PRESS) Scale was developed by an expert panel at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Aging and Population Health - Prevention Research Center. It was administered to 242 women participating in an ongoing trial and the data were analyzed to assess its psychometric properties. An exploratory factor analysis with a principal axis factoring approach and orthogonal varimax rotation was used to explore the underlying structure of the items in the scale. The internal consistency of the subscales was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient.\ud \ud Results\ud The exploratory factor analysis defined five self-efficacy factors (self-efficacy for exercise, communication with physicians, self-management of chronic disease, obtaining screening tests, and getting vaccinations regularly) formed by 16 items from the scale. The internal consistency of the subscales ranged from .81 to .94. Participants who accessed a preventive service had higher self-efficacy scores in the corresponding sub-scale than those who did not.\ud \ud Conclusions\ud The 16-item PRESS scale demonstrates preliminary validity and reliability in measuring self-efficacy in the use of preventive services among older women. It can potentially be used to evaluate the impact of interventions designed to improve self-efficacy in the use of preventive services in community-dwelling older women

Characterization of Vernal Pools Across National Parks in the Great Lakes Region

Vernal pools are small, ephemeral wetlands that become inundated each spring and provide many ecosystem services, including providing critical habitat to amphibians and invertebrates as their temporary nature keeps them free of fish. We collected data on vernal pool characteristics throughout five Great Lakes National Parks: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Isle Royale National Park, and Voyagers National Parks. Our goals were to characterize and assess how vernal pools vary within and across the five national parks, and determine which characteristics are most correlated with the presence of vernal pool indicator species. We sampled 139 pools during spring of 2021 and 2022 where we collected data on pool characteristics related to hydrology, soils, vegetation, geomorphology, and indicator species. We found that vernal pool substrate and forest type does vary between the different parks. Many vernal pool qualities are driven by the type of substrate they occur on and overstory canopy species and amount of tree cover. We also created a classification system that most highly correlated to indicator species presence and can be used in remote sensing products, resulting in a three-class system based on overstory species composition: Deciduous, Coniferous, and Open. Indicator species were more likely to occur in pools with either a deciduous or open canopy than pools with a coniferous canopy. This information can be used to inform land managers within the Great Lakes of vernal pool characteristics they can expect, and which pools are hotspots for indicator species

Table_1_Assessing the broadscale effects of wildfire under extreme drought conditions to boreal peatlands.xlsx

Climate warming and changing fire regimes in the North American boreal zone have the capacity to alter the hydrology and ecology of the landscape with long term consequences to peatland ecosystems and their traditional role as carbon sinks. It is important to understand how peatlands are affected by wildfire in relation to both extent of burn and severity of burn to the organic soil (peat) layers where most of the C is stored. Peatlands cover more than 75% of the landscape in the southern Northwest Territories, Canada where extreme drought led to widespread wildfires in 2014–2015. To assess the wildfire effects across a 14.6 million ha study area including 136 wildfire events, we used an integration of field data collection, land cover mapping of peatland and upland ecotypes, Landsat-8-based mapping of burn severity to the soil organic layers, and MODIS-hotspot mapping of fire progression for season of burning. The intersection of these geospatial products allows for a broadscale assessment of wildfire effects across gradients of ecotype, ecoregions, seasons, and year of burn. Using a series of chi-squared goodness of fit tests, we found that peatlands are more susceptible to wildfire on the Taiga shield where they are smaller and hydrologically isolated by the rocky landscape. There burning affected proportionally larger peat areas with an evenness of burn severity to the organic soil layers which may lead to less spatial diversity in post-fire recovery, making the landscape less resilient to future fire. The most resilient peatlands are expected to be hydrologically well-connected to both ground water systems and larger peatland complexes such as those on the Taiga plains which exhibited large unburned and singed patches across the landscape, and greater variability in burn severity across seasons and ecotypes. Understanding the tipping point of drought conditions at which the landscape becomes connected, and peatlands are susceptible to wildfire with deeper burning of the organic soil layers is important for understanding the potential future effects of climate change and projected increases in wildfire on peatlands. This is critical for C accounting and climate mitigation strategies.</p

Mobility and Vitality Lifestyle Program (MOVE UP): A Community Health Worker Intervention for Older Adults With Obesity to Improve Weight, Health, and Physical Function

Background and Objectives: Obesity rates in adults ≥65 years have increased more than other age groups in the last decade, elevating risk for chronic disease and poor physical function, particularly in underserved racial and ethnic minorities. Effective, sustainable lifestyle interventions are needed to help community-based older adults prevent or delay mobility disability. Design, baseline recruitment, and implementation features of the Mobility and Vitality Lifestyle Program (MOVE UP) study are reported. Research Design and Methods: MOVE UP aimed to recruit 26 intervention sites in underserved areas around Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and train a similar number of community health workers to deliver a manualized intervention to groups of approximately 12 participants in each location. We adapted a 13-month healthy aging/weight management intervention aligned with several evidence-based lifestyle modification programs. A nonrandomized, pre–post design was used to measure intervention impact on physical function performance, the primary study endpoint. Secondary outcomes included weight, self-reported physical activity and dietary changes, exercise self-efficacy, health status, health-related quality of life, and accelerometry in a subsample. Results: Of 58 community-based organizations approached, nearly half engaged with MOVE UP. Facilities included neighborhood community centers (25%), YMCAs (25%), senior service centers (20%), libraries (18%), senior living residences (6%), and churches (6%). Of 24 site-based cohorts with baseline data completed through November 2017, 21 community health workers were recruited and trained to implement the standardized intervention, and 287 participants were enrolled (mean age 68 years, 89% female, 33% African American, other, or more than one race). Discussion and Implications: The MOVE UP translational recruitment, training, and intervention approach is feasible and could be generalizable to diverse aging individuals with obesity and a variety of baseline medical conditions. Additional data regarding strategies for program sustainability considering program cost, organizational capacity, and other adaptations will inform public health dissemination efforts

Training Together Part Two: An Exploration of the Evaluation of a Shared Learning Programme on Dual Diagnosis for Specialist Drugs Workers and Approved Social Workers (ASWs)

This paper describes a formative approach to evaluating a shared learning training course for ASWs and drugs workers on dual diagnosis. It uses a four-stage approach to evaluation in an attempt to explore issues relating to curriculum content, training methods and design, learners' satisfaction with the training and outcomes in respect of practice. It also draws upon a recent review of interprofessional education undertaken by the British Education Research Association (BERA) to explore to what extent interactive methods of learning are employed through the training delivery as a means of fostering improved interprofessional collaboration that can be transferred from the training environment to professional practice. The paper concludes that although limited in its generalisability and the extent to which changes in practice can be attributed to the training, the training providers have learned some useful lessons about how to maximise the value of a shared learning approach in promoting collaborative working between ASWs and drugs workers