From Children to Adults: Motor Performance across the Life-Span

The life-span approach to development provides a theoretical framework to examine the general principles of life-long development. This study aims to investigate motor performance across the life span. It also aims to investigate if the correlations between motor tasks increase with aging. A cross-sectional design was used to describe the effects of aging on motor performance across age groups representing individuals from childhood to young adult to old age. Five different motor tasks were used to study changes in motor performance within 338 participants (7–79 yrs). Results showed that motor performance increases from childhood (7–9) to young adulthood (19–25) and decreases from young adulthood (19–25) to old age (66–80). These results are mirroring results from cognitive research. Correlation increased with increasing age between two fine motor tasks and two gross motor tasks. We suggest that the findings might be explained, in part, by the structural changes that have been reported to occur in the developing and aging brain and that the theory of Neural Darwinism can be used as a framework to explain why these changes occur

Ageing and driving:examining the effects of visual processing demands

Being able to respond quickly and carry out tasks concurrently are essential ingredients for safe driving. Both abilities decline with age and thus can compromise driving safety in elderly motorists. We examine this nexus by comparing the performance of a younger adult group (35-45 y) with an older one (+65 y) while completing three dual tasks in a driving simulator: one requiring a simple time reaction response with low visual complexity (Condition 1), another constituting a choice reaction task (Condition 2) and a third simple reaction time task, but with increased visual complexity (Condition 3). There was no significant difference between the two groups in Condition 1. The older group, however, was 27% slower in Condition 2, the choice reaction time task, and 46% slower in Condition 3. There were no differences in error rates for any condition. Future directions in research on ageing and driving abilities as well as the shortcomings of the study are discussed. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Mean age for the age groups and raw scores for the motor tasks.

<p>PB: Placing Bricks, BB: Building Bricks, TBT: Throwing a bean bag at a target, HTW: Heel to toe walking, W/R: Walking running in slopes.</p

Correlation between Placing Bricks and Building Bricks for the three age groups (1) 7–9 years (young group, N = 173), (2) 19–45 (middle group, N = 134), (3) 46–80 years (old group, N = 31).

<p>Correlation between Placing Bricks and Building Bricks for the three age groups (1) 7–9 years (young group, N = 173), (2) 19–45 (middle group, N = 134), (3) 46–80 years (old group, N = 31).</p

Total score for motor performances for all age-groups.

<p>Negative values indicate better performance.</p

Correlation between Heel-to toe walking and Walking/running in slopes for the three age groups (1) 7–9 years (young group, N = 173), (2) 19–45 (middle group, N = 134), (3) 46–80 years (old group, N = 31).

<p>Correlation between Heel-to toe walking and Walking/running in slopes for the three age groups (1) 7–9 years (young group, N = 173), (2) 19–45 (middle group, N = 134), (3) 46–80 years (old group, N = 31).</p

Metacognitive therapy and work-focused interventions for patients on sick leave due to anxiety and depression: study protocol for a randomised controlled wait-list trial

Background Common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety are major contributors to the global burden of disease. Affected individuals suffer reduced quality of life, impaired functioning and reduced capacity to work. Maintaining employment is an important determinant for health and wellbeing, and the economic impact of depression and anxiety is a significant societal expense. Treatments providing effective symptom reduction and helping patients return to work (RTW) would thus have substantial public health benefits. The present study will explore the effectiveness of metacognitive therapy (MCT) and work-focused interventions on reducing symptoms and increasing RTW rates for patients on sick leave due to depression and anxiety. Methods The study is a randomised controlled wait-list trial (RCT; N = 240). The intervention group will receive protocol-based MCT and work-focused interventions immediately after inclusion. The control condition is a wait-list control group. All patients will receive up to 12 weekly sessions. The study context is a Norwegian outpatient clinic part of a national programme aimed at reducing sick leave. The co-primary outcomes are change in RTW and symptoms of depression and anxiety at the end of treatment. In addition to self-report, sick leave will also be collected from national registries from 2 years prior to intervention to 4 years after intervention. Symptoms of scores will be collected by self-report at pre- and post-treatment and at 6 and 12 months follow-up after treatment. A cost-effectiveness analysis will use total cost and quality-adjusted life-years as the secondary outcomes. Discussion There is broad consensus on the importance of identifying treatment that effectively reduces depression and anxiety symptoms and aids RTW. This study is an important contribution to the field as it is the first RCT on MCT and work-focused interventions for patients on sick leave due to anxiety and depression. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03301922. Registered on October 4, 2017