Feeling the Squeeze: The Association between Multigeneration Caregiving and Informal Caregivers’ Health

While U.S. public policy and research has focused on the health needs of the aging population, less attention has been given to the consequences informal caregivers face caring for this generation. With the segment of the population aged 65 years or older growing rapidly, it is important to understand the factors that place informal caregivers at risk for poor health outcomes and health behaviors. Since multigeneration caregivers balance more personal, work, and caregiving demands than single-generation informal caregivers of older adults, they may be at higher risk for poor health outcomes. The aim of this study was to examine the association between multigeneration caregiving and informal caregivers’ physical and psychological health and health behaviors. This study was a retrospective, observational, pooled cross-sectional study examining the association between multigeneration caregiving and health outcomes or health behaviors of informal caregivers using secondary data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS). Study results indicated that multigeneration caregivers experience higher rates of depression and report lower incidence of attending annual check-ups with a physician compared to single generation caregivers of older adults. These findings are important for current legislation and policy aimed at improving LTSS for the rapidly growing population of older adults in the United States. Public health experts, policy makers, health services researchers, and others should use the results of this study to help narrow the focus of the examination of caregivers of older adults health and health behaviors

Teaching critical race media literacy through Black historical narratives

On the 400th anniversary of American enslavement the New York Times (NYT) 1619 project launched an interactive digital experience including a popular podcast centering the contributions and narratives of Black Americans. This study sought to understand how HBCU students responded to learning Black music history through what we term a “pop culture podcast.” This study explored the ways in which this particular podcast could support the development of Critical Race Media Literacy (CRML) based on a media discourse at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU). This study employed survey research and focus group discussions with HBCU students in two courses. The study found that by having students recognize and challenge the dominant narratives, pop culture podcasts focused on Black narratives can be utilized to help students develop Critical Race Media Literacy. While students indicated a stronger preference for learning through podcasts, there was no difference in the amount of knowledge attained through either platform (print vs podcast). Further, Finally, the authors outline key considerations for educators interested in using podcasts to teach Black history

Reducing racial and ethnic disparities in the Juenile Justice System: A blueprint for community engagement and action

Presentation made at Latinos in the Heartland (10th : 2012 : Kansas City, Mo.) and published in the annual conference proceedings.This presentation will discuss the approach we have taken as part of a statewide initiative to reduce Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) in the Missouri Juvenile Justice System. DMC looks at the experiences of minority youth compared to Caucasian youth at all stages of the Juvenile Justice System (referrals, detention, petitions, probation, transfers to adult courts, etc.). African American and Latino youth in Missouri are almost twice as likely to be referred to the juvenile office as Caucasian youth. By working intensively in three counties, we have built community teams to analyze local policies, practices, and procedures that produce these disparities. We will discuss how and why we formed local teams, the data analysis process, and lessons learned through our experiences working with these communities. Finally, we will discuss the solutions proposed by the three communities, the successes those communities have experienced, and the challenges they face in striving to reduce disparities

Reviews

The Lost Road and Other Writings. J.R.R. Tolkien. Reviewed by Taum Santoski. Seven: An Anglo-American Literary Review, Vol. 8. Beatrice Batson, David S. Robb, John Coates, Diane Edwards, Gwenyth E. Hood, George Musacchio, Brian G. Marsden, Stephen Medcalf. Reviewed by Nancy-Lou Patterson. Gesellschaft fur Literatur und Aesthetic. Gisbert Kranz. Reviewed by Christine Lowentrout. C.S. Lewis and His World. David Barratt. Reviewed by Nancy-Lou Patterson

Association between 5-Year clinical outcome in patients with nonmedically evacuated mild blast traumatic brain injury and clinical measures collected within 7 days postinjury in combat

Importance: Although previous work has examined clinical outcomes in combat-deployed veterans, questions remain regarding how symptoms evolve or resolve following mild blast traumatic brain injury (TBI) treated in theater and their association with long-term outcomes. Objective: To characterize 5-year outcome in patients with nonmedically evacuated blast concussion compared with combat-deployed controls and understand what clinical measures collected acutely in theater are associated with 5-year outcome. Design, Setting, and Participants: A prospective, longitudinal cohort study including 45 service members with mild blast TBI within 7 days of injury (mean 4 days) and 45 combat deployed nonconcussed controls was carried out. Enrollment occurred in Afghanistan at the point of injury with evaluation of 5-year outcome in the United States. The enrollment occurred from March to September 2012 with 5-year follow up completed from April 2017 to May 2018. Data analysis was completed from June to July 2018. Exposures: Concussive blast TBI. All patients were treated in theater, and none required medical evacuation. Main Outcomes and Measures: Clinical measures collected in theater included measures for concussion symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression symptoms, balance performance, combat exposure intensity, cognitive performance, and demographics. Five-year outcome evaluation included measures for global disability, neurobehavioral impairment, PTSD symptoms, depression symptoms, and 10 domains of cognitive function. Forward selection multivariate regression was used to determine predictors of 5-year outcome for global disability, neurobehavior impairment, PTSD, and cognitive function. Results: Nonmedically evacuated patients with concussive blast injury (n = 45; 44 men, mean [SD] age, 31 [5] years) fared poorly at 5-year follow-up compared with combat-deployed controls (n = 45; 35 men; mean [SD] age, 34 [7] years) on global disability, neurobehavioral impairment, and psychiatric symptoms, whereas cognitive changes were unremarkable. Acute predictors of 5-year outcome consistently identified TBI diagnosis with contribution from acute concussion and mental health symptoms and select measures of cognitive performance depending on the model for 5-year global disability (area under the curve following bootstrap validation [AUCBV] = 0.79), neurobehavioral impairment (correlation following bootstrap validation [RBV] = 0.60), PTSD severity (RBV = 0.36), or cognitive performance (RBV = 0.34). Conclusions and Relevance: Service members with concussive blast injuries fared poorly at 5-year outcome. The results support a more focused acute screening of mental health following TBI diagnosis as strong indicators of poor long-term outcome. This extends prior work examining outcome in patients with concussive blast injury to the larger nonmedically evacuated population

Design alternatives for a cooling teether for babies

Thesis (B.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1990.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 58).by Stephanie Christine Patterson.B.S