Exploring the Impact of Community Engaged Work Through Arts-Baws Methods with Child, Youth, and Family Studies Practicum Students, Community Partners, and Community Members with Staci B. Martin

In this episode of PDXPLORES, Staci B. Martin, Assistant Professor of Practice at the School of Social Work, outlines her CERA grant-awarded proposal, Exploring the Impact of Community Engaged Work Through Arts-Based Methods with Child, Youth, and Family Studies Practicum Students, Community Partners, and Community Members, seeking to focus on the impacts of Speaking for Ourselves Action Research methodology at practicum sites, and positioning community members as authorities of their own experiences, further developing their awareness of systemic issues and moving them to social action. Click on the Download button to access the audio transcript, or see below

Data Needs for Children with Special Needs in Refugee Populations

This article examines the challenges that affect the identification and assessment of refugee children with special needs in Turkey and provides recommendations related to data collection and assessment of these learners that is broadly relevant in refugee settings

Factor Structure of the Barriers to Physical Activity Scale for Youth with Visual Impairments

Youth with visual impairments (VI) often experience unique barriers to physical activity (PA) compared to their sighted peers (Armstrong et al., 2018). A psychometrically sound scale for assessing barriers to PA for youth with VI is needed to facilitate research. The purpose of this paper was to confirm the ability of the previously identified three-factor structure of the Physical Activity Barriers Questionnaire for youth with Visual Impairments (PABQ-VI) to produce scores considered to be valid and reliable (Armstrong et al., 2020; Armstrong et al., 2018) that perform equally well across age, VI severity, and gender. Our results supported the three-factor structure and that the PABQ-VI produces scores considered valid and reliable. Mean, variance, and correlation differences were found in personal, social, and environmental barriers for age and VI severity, but not gender. Researchers can use the PABQ-VI to test and evaluate ways to reduce barriers for this population

Associations of essential worker status, sex, lifestyle behaviors, and moods: Findings from a sample of working adults in the United States during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 profoundly impacted the world by causing disruptions in the global job markets due to business closures to support physical distancing in the earliest stages of the pandemic. To maintain basic societal function in the early stages of the pandemic, workers were classified based on the nature of their employment responsibilities as essential (i.e., continued working outside the home) and non-essential (i.e., required to work from home). Using a cross-sectional design, this study identified the lifestyle behaviors (sleep, diet, physical activity) and mood among US workers. An internet-based survey was used to collect data from US adults from April 13 to May 4, 2020. Survey questions focused on sleep, diet, physical activity, mood, grit, mental workload, and hours worked. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to describe differences in outcomes of interest across a 4-category variable combining sex and essential worker status (i.e., male essential, male non-essential, female essential, and female non-essential). The sample of 631 US adults (mean age = 35.99±12.17) was primarily female (72%), employed full-time (80.5%), and had at least a bachelor’s degree (85.8%). Statistically significant differences were observed between groups based on sleep, diet, physical activity, and mood. While sex-based differences were identified between lifestyle factors and moods, both male and female essential workers slept better, were more physically active, and reported better moods than their non-essential counterparts. Findings suggest that sex and work status may have impacted physical and mental health during the earliest stages of COVID-19. The associated long-term consequences of work responsibilities during the earliest stages of the pandemic remain unknown and require further study

Transitions in Care: Medication Reconciliation in the Community Pharmacy Setting After Discharge

Objective: To assess the feasibility of a workflow process in which pharmacists in an independent community pharmacy group conduct medication reconciliation for patients undergoing transitions in care.Methods: Three workflow changes were made to improve the medication reconciliation process in a group of three independent community pharmacies. Analysis of the process included workflow steps performed by pharmacy staff, pharmacist barriers encountered during the medication reconciliation process, number of medication discrepancies identified, and pharmacist comfort level while performing each medication reconciliation service.Key Findings: Sixty patient medication reconciliation services met the inclusion criteria for the study. Pharmacists were involved in all steps associated with the medication reconciliation workflow, and were the sole performer in four of the steps: verifying discharge medications with the pharmacy medication profile, resolving discrepancies, contacting the prescriber, and providing patient counseling. Pharmacists were least involved in entering medications into the pharmacy management system, performing that workflow step 13% of the time. The most common barriers were the absence of a discharge medication list (24%) and patient not present during consultation (11%). A total of 231 medication discrepancies were identified, with an average of 3.85 medication discrepancies per discharge. Pharmacists’ comfort level performing medication reconciliation improved through the 13 weeks of the study.Conclusions: These findings suggest that medication reconciliation for patients discharged from hospitals and long term care facilities can be successfully performed in an independent community pharmacy setting. Because many medication discrepancies were identified during this transition of care, it is highly valuable for community pharmacists to perform medication reconciliation services

Is it stress? The role of stress related systems in chronic food restriction-induced augmentation of heroin seeking in the rat

Drug addiction is a chronic disease characterized by recurring episodes of abstinence and relapse. The precise mechanisms underlying this pattern are yet to be elucidated, but stress is thought to be a major factor in relapse. Recently, we reported that rats under withdrawal and exposed to a mild chronic stressor, prolonged food restriction, show increased heroin seeking compared to sated controls. Previous studies demonstrated a critical role for corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and corticosterone, hormones involved in the stress response, in acute food deprivation-induced reinstatement of extinguished drug seeking. However, the role of CRF and corticosterone in chronic food restriction-induced augmentation of drug seeking remains unknown. Here, male Long-Evans rats were trained to self-administer heroin for 10 days in operant conditioning chambers. Rats were then removed from the training chambers, and subjected to 14 days of unrestricted (sated rats) or a mildly restricted (FDR rats) access to food, which maintained their body weight (BW) at 90% of their baseline weight. On day 14, different groups of rats were administered a selective CRF1 receptor antagonist (R121919; 0.0, 20.0 mg/kg; s.c.), a non-selective CRF receptor antagonist (α-helical CRF; 0.0, 10.0, 25.0 μg/rat; i.c.v.) or a glucocorticoid receptor antagonist (RU486; 0.0, 30.0 mg/kg; i.p.), and underwent a 1 h drug seeking test under extinction conditions. An additional group of rats was tested following adrenalectomy. All FDR rats showed a statistically significant increase in heroin seeking compared to the sated rats. No statistically significant effects for treatment with α-helical CRF, R121919, RU486 or adrenalectomy were observed. These findings suggest that stress may not be a critical factor in the augmentation of heroin seeking in food-restricted rats

Transitions in Care: Medication Reconciliation in the Community Pharmacy Setting After Discharge

Objective: To assess the feasibility of a workflow process in which pharmacists in an independent community pharmacy group conduct medication reconciliation for patients undergoing transitions in care. Methods: Three workflow changes were made to improve the medication reconciliation process in a group of three independent community pharmacies. Analysis of the process included workflow steps performed by pharmacy staff, pharmacist barriers encountered during the medication reconciliation process, number of medication discrepancies identified, and pharmacist comfort level while performing each medication reconciliation service. Key Findings: Sixty patient medication reconciliation services met the inclusion criteria for the study. Pharmacists were involved in all steps associated with the medication reconciliation workflow, and were the sole performer in four of the steps: verifying discharge medications with the pharmacy medication profile, resolving discrepancies, contacting the prescriber, and providing patient counseling. Pharmacists were least involved in entering medications into the pharmacy management system, performing that workflow step 13% of the time. The most common barriers were the absence of a discharge medication list (24%) and patient notpresent during consultation (11%). A total of 231 medication discrepancies were identified, with an average of 3.85 medication discrepancies per discharge. Pharmacists' comfort level performing medication reconciliation improved through the 13 weeks of the study. Conclusions: These findings suggest that medication reconciliation for patients discharged from hospitals and long term care facilities can be successfully performed in an independent community pharmacy setting. Because many medication discrepancies were identified during this transition of care, it is highly valuable for community pharmacists to perform medication reconciliation services.   Type: Original Researc

Transitions in Care: Medication Reconciliation in the Community Pharmacy Setting After Discharge

Objective: To assess the feasibility of a workflow process in which pharmacists in an independent community pharmacy group conduct medication reconciliation for patients undergoing transitions in care. Methods: Three workflow changes were made to improve the medication reconciliation process in a group of three independent community pharmacies. Analysis of the process included workflow steps performed by pharmacy staff, pharmacist barriers encountered during the medication reconciliation process, number of medication discrepancies identified, and pharmacist comfort level while performing each medication reconciliation service. Key Findings: Sixty patient medication reconciliation services met the inclusion criteria for the study. Pharmacists were involved in all steps associated with the medication reconciliation workflow, and were the sole performer in four of the steps: verifying discharge medications with the pharmacy medication profile, resolving discrepancies, contacting the prescriber, and providing patient counseling. Pharmacists were least involved in entering medications into the pharmacy management system, performing that workflow step 13% of the time. The most common barriers were the absence of a discharge medication list (24%) and patient notpresent during consultation (11%). A total of 231 medication discrepancies were identified, with an average of 3.85 medication discrepancies per discharge. Pharmacists' comfort level performing medication reconciliation improved through the 13 weeks of the study. Conclusions: These findings suggest that medication reconciliation for patients discharged from hospitals and long term care facilities can be successfully performed in an independent community pharmacy setting. Because many medication discrepancies were identified during this transition of care, it is highly valuable for community pharmacists to perform medication reconciliation services.   Type: Original Researc

On the Relationship Between the Optical Emission-Line and X-ray Luminosities in Seyfert 1 Galaxies

We have explored the relationship between the [O III] $\lambda$5007 and the 2--10 keV luminosities for a sample of Broad- and Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxies (BLSy1 and NLSy1, respectively). We find that both types of Seyferts span the same range in luminosity and possess similar [O III]/X-ray ratios. The NLSy1s are more luminous than BLSy1s, when normalized to their central black hole masses, which is attributed to higher mass accretion rates. However, we find no evidence for elevated [O III]/X-ray ratios in NLSy1s, which would have been expected if they had excess EUV continuum emission compared to BLSy1s. Also, other studies suggest that the gas in narrow-line regions (NLR) of NLSy1s and NLSy1s span a similar range in ionization, contrary to what is expected if those of the former are exposed to a stronger flux of EUV radiation. The simplest interpretation is that, like BLSy1s, a large EUV bump is not present in NLSy1s. However, we show that the [OIII]/X-ray ratio can be lowered as a result of absorption of the ionizing continuum by gas close to the central source, although there is no evidence that intrinsic line-of-sight absorption is more common among NLSy1s, as would be expected if there were a larger amount of circumnuclear gas. Other possible explanations include: 1) anisotropic emission of the ionizing radiation, 2) higher gas densities in the NLR of NLSy1s, resulting in lower average ionization, or 3) the presence of strong winds in the the nuclei of NLSy1s which may drive off much of the gas in the narrow-line region, resulting in lower cover fraction and weaker [O III] emission.Comment: 18 pages, including 3 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa