Levels of Confidence In Schmieding Center In-Home Caregiving Training

Abstract The Schmieding Center for Senior Health and Education offers a unique approach and program designed to teach their students how to care for an older adult in the home. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the in-home assistant course on the participant’s confidence levels. It was hypothesized that the confidence levels of the students that enrolled in the in-home assistant training course would increase with the completion of the 40-hour course and that demographic factors such as gender, age, and economic background would impact the levels of confidence. This study was conducted by the use of pre-course and post-course surveys that were completed by the participants enrolled in the course. The pre- and post-surveys consisted of 10 identical questions having the options of “excellent, very good, good, fair, and poor” as responses. A total of 17 students participated in the study. The surveys were conducted in the months of March and April 2016. The responses were inputted on a scale of 1 to 5 in order to quantitatively measure differences. Repeated measures ANOVA determined any differences between pre- and post- surveys with a statistical significance set at .05. Out of the 10 questions, eight were found to be statistically significant. It was determined that the confidence levels of the participants enrolled in the IHA course did increase with the completion of the course, which corresponded with the hypothesis. Due to the small sample size, gender, age, and income were found to have no effect on confidence levels. The results of this study can aid both the instructors and the administrators at the Schmieding Center to understand the importance of confidence throughout the courses in order to educate and produce better in-home caregivers. Keywords: Schmieding Center, caregivers, levels of confidence, and in-home assistant, and all related derivatives

An Inflammation-Centric View of Neurological Disease: Beyond the Neuron

Inflammation is a complex biological response fundamental to how the body deals with injury and infection to eliminate the initial cause of cell injury and effect repair. Unlike a normally beneficial acute inflammatory response, chronic inflammation can lead to tissue damage and ultimately its destruction, and often results from an inappropriate immune response. Inflammation in the nervous system ("neuroinflammation"), especially when prolonged, can be particularly injurious. While inflammation per se may not cause disease, it contributes importantly to disease pathogenesis across both the peripheral (neuropathic pain, fibromyalgia) and central [e.g., Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron disease, ischemia and traumatic brain injury, depression, and autism spectrum disorder] nervous systems. The existence of extensive lines of communication between the nervous system and immune system represents a fundamental principle underlying neuroinflammation. Immune cell-derived inflammatory molecules are critical for regulation of host responses to inflammation. Although these mediators can originate from various non-neuronal cells, important sources in the above neuropathologies appear to be microglia and mast cells, together with astrocytes and possibly also oligodendrocytes. Understanding neuroinflammation also requires an appreciation that non-neuronal cell-cell interactions, between both glia and mast cells and glia themselves, are an integral part of the inflammation process. Within this context the mast cell occupies a key niche in orchestrating the inflammatory process, from initiation to prolongation. This review will describe the current state of knowledge concerning the biology of neuroinflammation, emphasizing mast cell-glia and glia-glia interactions, then conclude with a consideration of how a cell's endogenousmechanisms might be leveraged to provide a therapeutic strategy to target neuroinflammation

Curs 0 d'informàtica a la ESO

La idea neix d'una necessitat del centre del practicum d'uniformitzar els coneixements bàsics d’informàtica que l’alumnat ha de tenir per seguir profitosament l'ESO (i encara més dins de l’àmbit de l’Educat 1x1). Considerada la situació territorial del centre, on hi ha un moviment constant de l'alumnat, sovint el professorat es troba en la incertesa de saber els coneixements reals de l'alumnat en el camp de les TIC, eina base per l'escola moderna. Per això el centre ha pensat crear un “Curs 0“ destinat en primer lloc a primer d’ESO, però accessible a tots els nivells per tal que el curs es transformi en una eina de repàs i una ocasió per posar-se al dia amb les TIC. Amb l’ajuda de la plataforma Moodle, el Curs 0, a més del valor didàctic, vol ser un projecte obert, una ajuda en la tasca quotidiana del centre (d’això la transversalitat) a tots els nivells i àmbits, i una referència fins i tot pel professorat. Tanmateix es proposa el curs com una eina interessant per a les aules d’acollida, on es podrà treballar amb imatges, vídeo i sons, del Curs 0. En previsió d’això el projecte es basarà en explicacions i pràctiques breus, senzilles i molt visuals on, per quant possible sigui "el fer" l'eina principal de l'aprenentatge. Donat que es considera el Curs 0 com un projecte obert, es pot considerar en constant evolució i adaptat a les exigències del centre a mesura que vagin sortint. Els arguments per tant s’han de determinar constantment, però seran qüestions elementals i concretes, explicades amb metodologies adaptades a tots els nivells. El material podrà ser original (realitzat amb programari de codi obert o lliure) o aprofitat de l'existent a la xarxa (amb els deguts permisos o llicències). L'interès del treball resideix en resoldre una necessitat especifica del centre i en posar les bases d’un projecte obert que pot arribar a ser un referent en l'activitat quotidiana del centre en l'interès de tota la comunitat escolar