Two steps forward, one step back? A commentary on the disease-specific core sets of the international classification of functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is advocated as a biopsychosocial framework and classification and has been received favourably by occupational therapists, disability rights organisations and proponents of the social model of disability. The success of the ICF largely depends on its uptake in practice and it is considered unwieldy in its full format. Therefore, to make the ICF user friendly, the World Health Organisation (WHO) have condensed the original format and developed core sets, some of which are disease specific. The authors use the ICF Core Set for stroke as an example to debate if by reverting to classification according to disease, the ICF is at risk of taking two steps forward, one step back in its holistic portrayal of health

Using the ICF to clarify team roles and demonstrate clinical reasoning in stroke rehabilitation

Purpose: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is advocated as a tool to structure rehabilitation and a universal language to aid communication, within the multi-disciplinary team (MDT). The ICF may also facilitate clarification of team roles and clinical reasoning for intervention. This article aims to explore both factors in stroke rehabilitation. Method: Following a review of the literature, a summary was presented and discussed with clinicians working within stroke rehabilitation, to gather expert opinions. The discussions were informal, being part of service development and on-going education. The clinicians summarised key themes for the potential use of the ICF within clinical practice. Results: Two key themes emerged from the literature and expert opinion for the potential use of the ICF in stroke rehabilitation: i) to aid communication and structure service provision ii) to clarify team roles and aid clinical reasoning. Expert opinion was that clarification of team roles needs to occur at a local level due to the skill mix, particular interests, setting and staffing levels within individual teams. The ICF has the potential to demonstrate/ facilitate clinical reasoning, especially when different MDT members are working on the same intervention. Conclusion: There is potential for the ICF to be used to clarify team roles and demonstrate clinical reasoning within stroke rehabilitation. Further experiential research is required to substantiate this vie

Giving in to Group Pressure: The Impact of Socialization and Risk on Perceived Outcomes

The current study applies the perspective of decision theory to understanding how choices are made in an in-group setting involving social pressure and risk. Two hundred sixty-one undergraduate students provided assessments of consequences associated with illegally consuming alcohol in different environments with differing degrees of risk. In addition, size of the social group was varied as three, four, or nine. In order to determine the moderating effects, if any, of susceptibility to social influence, a measure of socialization was included. Results provide strong support for socialization as an explanation for how individuals interpret risk-related social situations

Accreditation of practice educators: An expectation too far ?

The successful completion of practice placements is essential to the education of occupational therapists; however, ensuring quality placements is challenging for occupational therapy educators. In 2000, Brunel University introduced a revised system of accreditation of practice educators which involved attendance at a course, the supervision of a student and the submission of an essay to be assessed. An audit revealed that a total of 314 therapists attended 15 courses between 2000 and 2003; of these, 243 (77%) subsequently supervised students and 32 (10%) became accredited. The requirement to accredit practice educators, which is a commendable attempt to ensure quality, may paradoxically have been detrimental in achieving quality. The College of Occupational Therapists’ apparent change of emphasis on this topic is welcome

Occupational therapists' perceptions of predischarge home assessments with older adults in acute care

Predischarge occupational therapy home assessments are routinely performed with older adults in Europe, Australia and North America. Their primary aim is to facilitate a timely and safe discharge from hospital. However, there is a lack of published research on this topic, especially studies exploring occupational therapists' perceptions of home assessments. The paper aims to redress this by describing occupational therapists' perceptions of predischarge occupational therapy home assessments with older adults in acute care. All occupational therapists who undertook home assessments in an acute care hospital with older adults during the duration of the study period were invited to complete a reflective diary. In total, 15 reflective diaries were completed by six therapists. The data were analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings suggest that home assessments were carried out because of mobility or environmental concerns. Satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the outcome of the home assessment were related to the incidents that occurred during the assessment. Some of the occupational therapists' anxieties were related to the older adults' level of functioning or ill health, and the older adults' own concerns did have an impact upon the therapists' expectations of the home assessment process

Awareness, requirements and barriers to use of Assistive Technology designed to enable independence of people suffering from Dementia (ATD)

This article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ 2012 IOS PressThis study investigated the awareness and use of assistive technology for people with dementia. The aim of the study was to explore barriers to the uptake of, and the unmet needs for, assistive technology for dementia (ATD) The work was carried out with family carers of people with dementia because carers are often the purchasers, end users and main beneficiaries of this type of technology. Focus groups were used to explore carers’ views on ATD use, and the problems that might be addressed by ATD, in order to develop a questionnaire for dementia carers. The questionnaire was administered at Alzheimer’s Society carer support groups in South Bucks and in Hillingdon Borough (UK). None of the 16 focus group participants or the 42 respondents to the questionnaire had any personal experience of ATD. The dementia carers reported a number of concerns, problems and unmet needs that could be addressed by existing, commercially available ATD products. Some needs for new technology development were identified in the study, but the lack of awareness of ATD appears to be the most important barrier to technology adoption

Restoration of eucalypt grassy woodland: effects of experimental interventions on ground-layer vegetation

We report on the effects of broad-scale restoration treatments on the ground layer of eucalypt grassy woodland in south-eastern Australia. The experiment was conducted in two conservation reserves from which livestock grazing had previously been removed. Changes in biomass, species diversity, ground-cover attributes and life-form were analysed over a 4-year period in relation to the following experimental interventions: (1) reduced kangaroo density, (2) addition of coarse woody debris and (3) fire (a single burn). Reducing kangaroo density doubled total biomass in one reserve, but no effects on exotic biomass, species counts or ground cover attributes were observed. Coarse woody debris also promoted biomass, particularly exotic annual forbs, as well as plant diversity in one of the reserves. The single burn reduced biomass, but changed little else. Overall, we found the main driver of change to be the favourable growth seasons that had followed a period of drought. This resulted in biomass increasing by 67%, (mostly owing to the growth of perennial native grasses), whereas overall native species counts increased by 18%, and exotic species declined by 20% over the 4-year observation period. Strategic management of grazing pressure, use of fire where biomass has accumulated and placement of coarse woody debris in areas of persistent erosion will contribute to improvements in soil and vegetation condition, and gains in biodiversity, in the future.Funding and in-kind logistic support for this project was provided by the ACT Government as part of an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP0561817; LP110100126). Drafts of the manuscript were read by Saul Cunningham and Ben Macdonald

Alien Registration- Mcintyre, Joseph A. (Lincolnville, Waldo County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/5178/thumbnail.jp

Applying psychology to forensic facial identification: perception and identification of facial composite images and facial image comparison

Eyewitness recognition is acknowledged to be prone to error but there is less understanding of difficulty in discriminating unfamiliar faces. This thesis examined the effects of face perception on identification of facial composites, and on unfamiliar face image comparison. Facial composites depict face memories by reconstructing features and configurations to form a likeness. They are generally reconstructed from an unfamiliar face memory, and will be unavoidably flawed. Identification will require perception of any accurate features, by someone who is familiar with the suspect and performance is typically poor. In typical face perception, face images are processed efficiently as complete units of information. Chapter 2 explored the possibility that holistic processing of inaccurate composite configurations will impair identification of individual features. Composites were split below the eyes and misaligned to impair holistic analysis (cf. Young, Hellawell, & Jay, 1987); identification was significantly enhanced, indicating that perceptual expertise with inaccurate configurations exerts powerful effects that can be reduced by enabling featural analysis. Facial composite recognition is difficult, which means that perception and judgement will be influence by an affective recognition bias: smiles enhance perceived familiarity, while negative expressions produce the opposite effect. In applied use, facial composites are generally produced from unpleasant memories and will convey negative expression; affective bias will, therefore, be important for facial composite recognition. Chapter 3 explored the effect of positive expression on composite identification: composite expressions were enhanced, and positive affect significantly increased identification. Affective quality rather than expression strength mediated the effect, with subtle manipulations being very effective. Facial image comparison (FIC) involves discrimination of two or more face images. Accuracy in unfamiliar face matching is typically in the region of 70%, and as discrimination is difficult, may be influenced by affective bias. Chapter 4 explored the smiling face effect in unfamiliar face matching. When multiple items were compared, positive affect did not enhance performance and false positive identification increased. With a delayed matching procedure, identification was not enhanced but in contrast to face recognition and simultaneous matching, positive affect improved rejection of foil images. Distinctive faces are easier to discriminate. Chapter 5 evaluated a systematic caricature transformation as a means to increase distinctiveness and enhance discrimination of unfamiliar faces. Identification of matching face images did not improve, but successful rejection of non-matching items was significantly enhanced. Chapter 6 used face matching to explore the basis of own race bias in face perception. Other race faces were manipulated to show own race facial variation, and own race faces to show African American facial variation. When multiple face images were matched simultaneously, the transformation impaired performance for all of the images; but when images were individually matched, the transformation improved perception of other race faces and discrimination of own race faces declined. Transformation of Japanese faces to show own race dimensions produced the same pattern of effects but failed to reach significance. The results provide support for both perceptual expertise and featural processing theories of own race bias. Results are interpreted with reference to face perception theories; implications for application and future study are discussed