Kaleidoscopic associations between life outside home and the technological environment that shape occupational injustice as revealed through cross-sectional statistical modelling

BACKGROUND: Everyday life outside home and accessing a variety of places are central to occupation. Technology is ever more taken for granted, even outside home, and for some may culminate in occupational injustice. This study aims to explore the association between everyday technologies (ET), particularly out of home, and the number of places older adults with and without dementia go to, in rural and urban environments. METHOD: The Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire, and Participation in Activities and Places Outside Home Questionnaire, were administered with 128 people in England. Six logistic regression models explored the association between ET and the number of places people went to, with other demographic factors (i.e., rurality, diagnosis, deprivation). RESULTS: The amount of out of home technologies a person perceived relevant and relative levels of neighbourhood deprivation were most persistently associated with the number of places people went to. Associations with ability to use technology, diagnosis, and education were more tentative. In no model was rurality significant. All models explained a low proportion of variance and lacked sensitivity to predict the outcome. CONCLUSION: For a minority of people, perceptions of the technological environment are associated with other personal and environmental dimensions. Viewed kaleidoscopically, these associations assemble to generate an impermanent, fragmented view of occupational injustice that may jeopardise opportunities outside home. However, there will be other influential factors not identified in this study. Greater attention to the intersections between specific environmental dimensions may deepen understanding of how modifications can be made to deliver occupational justice

Social Participation in Relation to Technology Use and Social Deprivation: A Mixed Methods Study Among Older People with and without Dementia

Social participation is a modifiable determinant for health and wellbeing among older people; however, social participation is increasingly dependent on technology use. This study investigated social participation in relation to Everyday Technology use and social deprivation of the living environment, among older people with and without dementia in the United Kingdom. Sixty-four people with dementia and sixty-four people without dementia were interviewed using standardized questionnaires: The Participation in ACTivities and Places OUTside Home Questionnaire and Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire. A mixed methods approach integrated statistical analyses and content analysis of free-text responses, through data visualizations. Small, statistically significant associations were found between social participation and Everyday Technology use outside home, for participants with dementia (Rs = 0.247; p = 0.049) and without dementia (Rs = 0.343; p = 0.006). A small, statistically significant association was identified between social participation and social deprivation in the living environment, among only participants with dementia (Rs = 0.267, p = 0.033). The content analysis and graphical joint display revealed motivators, considerations that require extra attention, and strategies for managing social participation. The results underline how Everyday Technology use can be assistive to social participation but also the need to consider social deprivation of the living environment, especially among people with dementia

Everyday technologies and public space participation among people with and without dementia

BACKGROUND: Occupational therapists support everyday technology use; however, it is necessary to consider the challenges that people with dementia encounter with everyday technologies when participating in various places within public space. PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to explore stability and change in participation in places visited within public space in relation to the relevance of everyday technologies used within public space. METHOD: People with dementia (n = 35) and people with no known cognitive impairment (n = 34) were interviewed using the Participation in Activities and Places Outside Home Questionnaire and the Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire. Data analysis used modern and classical test theory. FINDINGS: Both samples participated in places within public space; however, participation and relevance of everyday technologies were significantly lower for the dementia group. IMPLICATIONS: To enable participation, occupational therapists need to be aware of challenges that technologies and places within public space present to people with dementia.Swedish Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare (FORTE)H2020 Marie Skodowska Curie Actions-Innovative Training Networks, H2020-MSCA-ITN-2015 (676265)Accepte

Discovery of New Molecular Subtypes in Oesophageal Adenocarcinoma

A large number of patients suffering from oesophageal adenocarcinomas do not respond to conventional chemotherapy; therefore, it is necessary to identify new predictive biomarkers and patient signatures to improve patient outcomes and therapy selections. We analysed 87 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) oesophageal adenocarcinoma tissue samples with a reverse phase protein array (RPPA) to examine the expression of 17 cancer-related signalling molecules. Protein expression levels were analysed by unsupervised hierarchical clustering and correlated with clinicopathological parameters and overall patient survival. Proteomic analyses revealed a new, very promising molecular subtype of oesophageal adenocarcinoma patients characterised by low levels of the HSP27 family proteins and high expression of those of the HER family with positive lymph nodes, distant metastases and short overall survival. After confirmation in other independent studies, our results could be the foundation for the development of a Her2-targeted treatment option for this new patient subgroup of oesophageal adenocarcinoma

The contrasting role of technology as both supportive and hindering in the everyday lives of people with mild cognitive deficits: a focus group study

Background: It is well known that people with mild cognitive deficits face challenges when performing complex everyday activities, and that the use of technology has become increasingly interwoven with everyday activities. However, less is known of how technology might be involved, either as a support or hindrance, in different areas of everyday life and of the environments where challenges appear. The aim of this study was to investigate the areas of concern where persons with cognitive deficits meet challenges in everyday life, in what environments these challenges appear and how technology might be involved as part of the challenge and/or the solution to the challenge. Methods: Data were gathered through four focus group interviews with participants that live with cognitive deficits or cohabit with a person with cognitive deficits, plus health professionals and researchers in the field. Data were transcribed, coded and categorized, and finally synthesized to trace out the involvement of technology. Results: Five areas of concern in everyday life were identified as offering challenges to persons with cognitive deficits: A) Managing personal finances, B) Getting around, C) Meeting family and friends, D) Engaging with culture and media and, E) Doing everyday chores. Findings showed that the involvement of technology in everyday activities was often contrastive. It could be hindering and evoke stress, or it could bring about feelings of control; that is, being a part of the solution. The involvement of technology was especially obvious in challenges linked to Managing personal finances, which is a crucial necessity in many everyday activities. In contrast, technology was least obviously involved in the area Socializing with family and friends. Conclusions: The findings imply that technology used for orientation and managing finances, often used outside home, would benefit from being further developed in order to be more supportive; i.e. accessible and usable. To make a positive change for many people, the ideas of inclusive design fit well for this purpose and would contribute to an age-friendly society