Book Review: Aging in the Law: An Interdisciplinary Reader

This book provides a comprehensive foundation of the underlying social, economic, political, and legal aspects of some of the issues facing senior citizens. Articles and essays touch on the areas of healthcare, mental capacity, pensions, Social Security reform, elder abuse, long-term care, and legal representation

Exploring Scale and Boundaries in Food System Assessments

The local food movement in the U.S. has permeated popular culture and academia; it has even infiltrated non-profit work, urban and regional planning, and government entities. By its very name, the local food movement binds food activity to a scale – the local – that is nebulous and context dependent. Scale is a crucial part of the discourse and implementation of both local food movement efforts and food studies research – scale is used to conceptualize local food system (LFS) efforts as well as implement them. This thesis explores how scale is operationalized in LFS activities through food system assessments (FSAs), a first step many practitioners take in food system planning efforts. It examines how FSAs employ, construct, and complicate scale in LFS activity and discourse. Through an analysis of eight FSA case studies, including interviews with FSA contributors, three themes emerge: (1) FSAs are a collaborative process that are context dependent and can lead to material and scalar dependent consequences, (2) by using a food system perspective, FSA contributors complicate and call out arbitrary political boundaries and normative definitions of ‘local’ and ‘regional’ that are commonly used to define a food system, and (3) FSA practitioners employ a binary mode of thinking in which the local and global scale are perceived as separate, unrelated entities, and practitioners thus exclude large-scale food system perspectives from their FSAs. This thesis argues for a more nuanced and critical approach to scale in food studies research and food systems practice

Book Review: Nursing Home Litigation: Investigation and Case Preparation

This book presents an introduction to nursing home litigation, which results when the nursing home regulatory system fails. The book contains essays authored by physicians and clinicians, which provide the reader with inside information about nursing home liability. The book also includes information about case preparation and the importance of using a legal nurse consultant

Exploring the construct validity of the Patient Perception Measure-Osteopathy (PPM-O) using classical test theory and Rasch analysis

Evaluation of patients’ experience of their osteopathic treatment has recently been investigated leading to the development of the Patient Perception Measure – Osteopathy (PPM-O). The aim of the study was to investigate the construct validity of the PPM-O. Patients presenting to osteopathy student-led teaching clinics at two Australian universities were asked to complete two questionnaires after their treatment: a demographic questionnaire and the PPM-O. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Rasch analysis were used to investigate the construct validity of the PPM-O. Data from the present study did not fit the a-priori 6-domain structure in the CFA. Modifications to the 6-domain model were then made based on the CFA results, and this analysis identified two factors: 1) Education & Information (9 items); and 2) Cognition & Fatigue (6 items). These two factors were Rasch analysed individually. Two items were removed from the Cognition & Fatigue factor during the analysis. The two factors independently were unidimensional. The study produced a 2-factor, 13-item questionnaire that assesses the patients’ perception of their osteopathic treatment using the items from a previous questionnaire. The results of the current study provide evidence for the construct validity of the PPM-O and the small number of items makes it feasible to implement into both clinical and research settings. Further research is now required to establish the measures’ validity in a variety of patient populations

Sensations Experienced and Patients’ Perceptions of Osteopathy in the Cranial Field Treatment

Osteopathy in the cranial field is an approach used by manual and physical therapists. However, there is minimal information in the literature about patient experiences of this treatment. The present study was undertaken to explore patients’ experiences of osteopathy in the cranial field. Patients completed the Patient Perception Measure–Osteopathy in the Cranial Field and identified sensations they experienced during treatment. Additional measures of anxiety, depression, Satisfaction With Life, and Meaningfulness of Daily Activity were completed. The Patient Perception Measure–Osteopathy in the Cranial Field was internally consistent (Cronbach’s α = .85). The most frequently experienced sensations of osteopathy in the cranial field patients were “relaxed,” “releasing,” and “unwinding.” Satisfaction With Life and Meaningfulness of Daily Activity were positively associated with Patient Perception Measure–Osteopathy in the Cranial Field scores. Negative associations were observed between the Patient Perception Measure–Osteopathy in the Cranial Field and depression. Psychometric properties of the Patient Perception Measure–Osteopathy in the Cranial Field require further testing. The observed associations of Satisfaction With Life and depression with patients’ perceptions of osteopathy in the cranial field treatment needs to be tested in larger clinical manual therapy cohorts. </jats:p

The DREEM, part 2: psychometric properties in an osteopathic student population

Background The Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM) is widely used to assess the educational environment in health professional education programs. A number of authors have identified issues with the psychometric properties of the DREEM. Part 1 of this series of papers presented the quantitative data obtained from the DREEM in the context of an Australian osteopathy program. The present study used both classical test theory and item response theory to investigate the DREEM psychometric properties in an osteopathy student population. Methods Students in the osteopathy program at Victoria University (Melbourne, Australia) were invited to complete the DREEM and a demographic questionnaire at the end of the 2013 teaching year (October 2013). Data were analysed using both classical test theory (confirmatory factor analysis) and item response theory (Rasch analysis). Results Confirmatory factor analysis did not demonstrate model fit for the original 5-factor DREEM subscale structure. Rasch analysis failed to identify a unidimensional model fit for the 50-item scale, however model fit was achieved for each of the 5 subscales independently. A 12-item version of the DREEM was developed that demonstrated good fit to the Rasch model, however, there may be an issue with the targeting of this scale given the mean item-person location being greater than 1. Conclusions Given that the full 50-item scale is not unidimensional; those using the DREEM should avoid calculating a total score for the scale. The 12-item ‘short-form’ of the DREEM warrants further investigation as does the subscale structure. To confirm the reliability of the DREEM, as a measure to evaluate the appropriateness of the educational environment of health professionals, further work is required to establish the psychometric properties of the DREEM, with a range of student populations

From the Guest Editors: Nursing Home Litigation: An Overview

This article provides an overview of the most common fact patterns involved in the litigation of neglect or abuse of the elderly. The common fact patterns include: choking and feeding tube, wandering, falls and related injuries, physical and chemical restraints, scalding, burns, malnutrition and dehydration, pressure sores, medication errors, and sexual abuse