Meaning in Work: Toward a Clinical Approach to Work Dissatisfaction

This paper deals with issues relating to the meaning of work for the worker and clinical implications for the social worker intervening in the field of industrial and occupational social work. The problems of work dissatisfaction and alienation in work are analyzed. The author presents two concepts, work as play and logotherapy, as being useful in the clinical intervention in work related problems. It is concluded that the absence of work dissatisfaction need not be the goal of intervention, rather the clinical encounter can strive for meaningfulness, growth, and self-discovery

What Do the Parents Say? Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities Using Touch-Screen Mobile Devices

Abstract Purpose: This study was designed to investigate the experience of parents of children with and without developmental disabilities who use Touch-Screen Mobile Devices (TSMD) and their subjective evaluation of its impact on their children. Procedure: A survey was administered via the internet and via personal connections. Results: Statistically significant differences were found between the parents of children with a disability and those without. In general the study findings show a fairly high degree of satisfaction with the || E21 The Israeli Journal of Occupation Therapy, February 2015, 24(1) Shimshon Neikrug, Dana Roth TSMD experience among parents of children with disabilities and somewhat less satisfaction among parents of typically developing children. Reports of satisfaction among parents of children with disabilities were highly correlated with improvement in the child's positive social interaction, having clear goals for the child's use of the technology and the degree to which the parent was involved in the child's experience. Parents expressed low satisfaction with the preparation, support and instruction that they received to use the TSMD. Conclusions: TSMD technologies offer a non-stigmatizing tool that can complement existing support strategies to aid a child's with disabilities and the family to improve communication, social interaction, anxiety management, and relaxation. There is a need to develop supportive and guiding services for parents to help them develop meaningful goals and to encourage their participation in the child's experience

Clinical Holistic Medicine: Holistic Treatment of Rape and Incest Trauma

Studies indicate that at least 15% of the female population in western countries has experienced sexual abuse and severe sexual traumas. This paper explains how even serious sexual abuse and trauma can be healed when care and resources encourage the patient to return to the painful life events. When the physician cares and receives the trust of the patient, emotional holding and processing will follow quite naturally. Spontaneous regression seems to be an almost pain-free way of integrating the severe traumas from earlier experiences of rape and incest. This technique is a recommended alternative to classical timeline therapy using therapeutic commands. When traumatized patients distance themselves from their soul (feelings, sexuality, and existential depth), they often lose their energy and enjoyment of life. However, this does not mean that they are lost to life. Although it may seem paradoxical, a severe trauma may be a unique opportunity to regain enjoyment of life. The patient will often be richly rewarded for the extensive work of clearing and sorting out in order to experience a new depth in his or her existence and emotional life, with a new ability to understand life in general and other people in particular. So what may look like a tragedy can be transformed into a unique gift; if the patient gets sufficient support, there is the possibility of healing and learning. Consciousness-based medicine seems to provide severely traumatized patients with the quality of support and care needed for their soul to heal

Developmental social case work : a process model

Abstract: Social development has been adopted as South Africa’s social welfare approach and is increasingly being adopted in Africa and other parts of the developing world. The translation of developmental social welfare to social work has, however, been difficult for many social workers. A particularly challenging aspect of this translation concerns the practice of social case work within a social development approach, a topic that has received virtually no attention in the social development literature. This paper constructs a process model for a form of social case work that is informed by social development principles and priorities

Associations between self-reported sleep quality and white matter in community-dwelling older adults: A prospective cohort study.

Both sleep disturbances and decline in white matter microstructure are commonly observed in ageing populations, as well as in age-related psychiatric and neurological illnesses. A relationship between sleep and white matter microstructure may underlie such relationships, but few imaging studies have directly examined this hypothesis. In a study of 448 community-dwelling members of the Whitehall II Imaging Sub-Study aged between 60 and 82 years (90 female, mean age 69.2 ± 5.1 years), we used the magnetic resonance imaging technique diffusion tensor imaging to examine the relationship between self-reported sleep quality and white matter microstructure. Poor sleep quality at the time of the diffusion tensor imaging scan was associated with reduced global fractional anisotropy and increased global axial diffusivity and radial diffusivity values, with small effect sizes. Voxel-wise analysis showed that widespread frontal-subcortical tracts, encompassing regions previously reported as altered in insomnia, were affected. Radial diffusivity findings remained significant after additional correction for demographics, general cognition, health, and lifestyle measures. No significant differences in general cognitive function, executive function, memory, or processing speed were detected between good and poor sleep quality groups. The number of times participants reported poor sleep quality over five time-points spanning a 16-year period was not associated with white matter measures. In conclusion, these data demonstrate that current sleep quality is linked to white matter microstructure. Small effect sizes may limit the extent to which poor sleep is a promising modifiable factor that may maintain, or even improve, white matter microstructure in ageing. Hum Brain Mapp 38:5465-5473, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Beyond factor analysis: Multidimensionality and the Parkinson’s Disease Sleep Scale-Revised

Many studies have sought to describe the relationship between sleep disturbance and cognition in Parkinson’s disease (PD). The Parkinson’s Disease Sleep Scale (PDSS) and its variants (the Parkinson’s disease Sleep Scale-Revised; PDSS-R, and the Parkinson’s Disease Sleep Scale-2; PDSS-2) quantify a range of symptoms impacting sleep in only 15 items. However, data from these scales may be problematic as included items have considerable conceptual breadth, and there may be overlap in the constructs assessed. Multidimensional measurement models, accounting for the tendency for items to measure multiple constructs, may be useful more accurately to model variance than traditional confirmatory factor analysis. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that a multidimensional model (a bifactor model) is more appropriate than traditional factor analysis for data generated by these types of scales, using data collected using the PDSS-R as an exemplar. 166 participants diagnosed with idiopathic PD participated in this study. Using PDSS-R data, we compared three models: a unidimensional model; a 3-factor model consisting of sub-factors measuring insomnia, motor symptoms and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) symptoms; and, a confirmatory bifactor model with both a general factor and the same three sub-factors. Only the confirmatory bifactor model achieved satisfactory model fit, suggesting that PDSS-R data are multidimensional. There were differential associations between factor scores and patient characteristics, suggesting that some PDSS-R items, but not others, are influenced by mood and personality in addition to sleep symptoms. Multidimensional measurement models may also be a helpful tool in the PDSS and the PDSS-2 scales and may improve the sensitivity of these instruments

Aging bodies and desistance from crime: Insights from the life stories of offenders.

© 2015 Elsevier Inc. The processes involved in the transition from crime to desistance, in relation to how those involved in criminal activity give meaning to their experiences of aging over time, has received little empirical scrutiny in the criminological literature. In this article, we unpack and flesh out the multiple meanings of age by drawing on a life story study of desistance from crime. Our analysis foregrounds the following key themes and the interactive parts they play in the process of desistence: general perceptions of aging (critical ages and the ambiguity of age); the significance of the aging body (crime as a young person's game, tiredness, and slowing down); age and risk assessment; and feelings of missing out and lost time with age. We conclude by suggesting that researchers into the phenomenon of desistance with an interest in maturation theory might benefit from integrating work undertaken in the sociology of embodiment and critical gerontology. A brief example of how this integration might operate is provided

Apathy in rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder is common and under-recognised

Background Apathy is an important neuropsychiatric feature of Parkinson’s disease (PD), which often emerges before the onset of motor symptoms. Patients with rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) have a high probability of developing Parkinson’s disease in future. Neuropsychiatric problems are common in RBD, but apathy has not previously been detailed in this key prodromal population. Methods 88 patients with polysomnographically proven RBD, 65 patients with PD and 33 controls were assessed for apathy using the Lille Apathy Rating Scale (LARS). Cognition and depression were also quantified. The sensitivity of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale screening questions for apathy and depression was calculated. Results 46% of Patients with RBD were apathetic, compared with 31% of Parkinson’s patients in our sample. Most RBD patients with depression were apathetic but more than half of apathetic patients were not depressed. The sensitivity of the single UPDRS screening question was only 33% for mild apathy and 50% for severe apathy. Conclusions Apathy is common in RBD and is underestimated by a single self-report question. Recognition of apathy as a distinct neuropsychiatric feature in RBD could aid targeted treatment interventions and might contribute to understanding of prodromal Parkinson’s disease.</p

Envisioning Bodies And Architectures Of Care: Reflections On Competition Designs For Older People

Architects shape future dwellings and built environments in ways that are critical for aging bodies. This article explores how assumptions about aging bodies are made manifest in architectural plans and designs. By analyzing entries for an international student competition Caring for Older People (2009), we illustrate the ways in which aged bodies were conceived by future architectural professionals. Through analyzing the architectural plans, we can discern the students’ expectations and assumptions about aging bodies and embodiment through their use of and reference to spaces, places and things. We analyse the visual and discursive strategies by which aged bodies were represented variously as frail, dependent, healthy, technologically engaged and socially situated in domestic and community settings, and also how architects inscribed ideas about care and embodiment into their proposals. Through our analysis of these data we also attend to the non-representational ways in which design and spatiality may be crucial to the fabrication of embodied practices, atmospheres and affects. We end by reflecting on how configurations and ideologies of care can be reproduced through architectural spaces, and conclude that a dialogue between architecture and sociology has the potential to transform concepts of aging, embodiment and care