Working with older drinkers

Findings presented in this report demonstrate that older drinkers have different stressors, precipitating factors and risk factors for relapse than younger drinkers. They also face a number of unique barriers to treatment and are more likely to remain ‘hidden’ from services. Despite these challenges, age-specific practices required to meet the needs of older people and draw them into treatment are poorly understood. The purpose of this project was to develop guidelines on what strategies and treatment approaches are likely to work best with older drinkers based on synthesis of relevant literature, insight from alcohol practitioners who specialise in working with older people and the perspectives of older people receiving alcohol treatment. A set of concise guidance documents will be prepared for health and social care workers and alcohol service providers in due course

Away From Home: Youth Experiences of Institutional Placements in Foster Care

In September 2020, Think Of Us led a team of seven researchers who conducted a study to understand the perspectives, attitudes, and experiences of young people with recent histories in institutional placements, and to understand their beliefs around reforming or ending institutional placements. The goal of this report is to share the stories and insights of youth with lived experience that surfaced during the study.This study used two qualitative social research methods: interviews and cultural probes. The individual, semi-structured, in-depth interviews sought to get a full picture of young people's experiences before, during, and after institutional placements. These interviews also sought to elicit participants' perspectives on and attitudes towards institutional placements and their opinions about reform. Cultural probes are a research technique with open-ended activities given to participants to uncover the emotional and evocative thoughts young people associate with institutional placements.Responses to cultural probes include poems, photographs, and visual art. In total, the study engaged 78 different participants who were between 18 and 25 years old: 22 young people in interviews alone, 41 in cultural probes alone, and 15 in both. The team ensured a wide representation of experiences in foster care among participants, including diversity among youth's perceived experience with their institutional placements.

The Effects of Altered Auditory Feedback (AAF) on Fluency in Adults Who Stutter: A Systematic Review

Background and Objectives: Stuttering affects 70 million people worldwide, which is about 1% of the population. Altered auditory feedback (AAF) is a process by which an individual’s auditory speech signal is electronically changed to temporarily increase the fluency of a person who stutters. For the purpose of this systematic review, AAF includes delayed auditory feedback (DAF) and frequency-altered feedback (FAF). This systematic review examines fluency enhancement in adults who stutter when using AAF devices. Methods: A review of the literature was searched using PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases with key search terms related to stuttering and AAF. Inclusion criteria included: 1) adults ages ≥ 18 years old who stutter, 2) comparison of altered auditory feedback forms and/or no altered auditory feedback forms in the treatment of stuttering, 3) inclusion of DAF or FAF, 4) outcomes related to aspects of stuttering or people who stutter (e.g., fluency level, speech naturalness, speech rate), and 5) experimental research. Studies were quality assessed and rated by the authors. Results: A total of 16 articles were included in this review. Articles were of ‘moderate’ quality. Conclusions: AAF devices are generally effective in reducing stuttering frequency, with most notable fluency enhancement occurring during oral reading. The degree of fluency enhancement between individuals who stutter is variable and is influenced by factors such as stuttering severity. While research generally supports the use of AAF devices in reducing stuttering frequency, there are inconsistent findings regarding speech naturalness. AAF is likely most effective when used in conjunction with traditional speech therapy. Further research is needed to better understand the relationship between AAF and stuttering, particularly regarding unstructured speaking tasks and speech naturalness.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/csdms/1004/thumbnail.jp

Neuro-informed Music Therapy for the Treatment of Anxiety and Depression: A Literature Review

This capstone thesis project is a literature review of research specifically regarding the neuroscience and neurochemistry of music and how it can inform music therapy treatment of mental health. Mental health is a large, overarching term that includes many disorders that refer to one’s psychological and/or emotional condition(s), which further includes an individual’s social well-being. This can include, but is not limited to, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This paper will focus in on a research-based, neuro-informed music therapy treatment of anxiety and depression. The goal of this paper was to provide research toward a future method in music therapy where therapists can take a research based and neuro-informed approach to treating anxiety and depression. With the current available research, it can be suggested that a neuro-informed music therapy approach can be used to treat mood disorders, specifically anxiety and depression, however, further research will be needed to support this method

Becoming Psychotherapists: Experiences of Novice Trainees in a Beginning Graduate Class

The authors investigated the experiences related to becoming psychotherapists for 5 counseling psychology doctoral trainees in their first prepracticum course. Qualitative analyses of weekly journals indicated that trainees discussed challenges related to becoming psychotherapists (e.g., being self-critical, having troubling reactions to clients, learning to use helping skills), gains made during the semester related to becoming psychotherapists (e.g., using helping skills more effectively, becoming less self-critical, being able to connect with clients), as well as experiences in supervision and activities that helped them cope with their anxieties. Results are discussed in 5 broad areas: feelings about self in role of psychotherapist, awareness of reactions to clients, learning and using helping skills, reactions to supervision, and experiences that fostered growth. Implications for training and research are provided

Bit Error Rate Performance of a Free Space Optical Link Using Double Clad Fibers

Mobile and embedded applications are emerging in the growing field of free space optical links (FSOL). Some mobile applications for FSOL include spacecraft, aircraft, and automotive. These applications by nature require low size weight and power (SWaP) solutions. The main challenge with any FSOL system is the strict pointing requirements. Common solutions to pointing and alignment of FSOL include gimbals, fast steering mirrors, and adaptive optics. All of which provide viable solutions at the cost of increased SWaP. Previously, we presented the use of both large core fibers and double clad fibers (DCF) to interface FSOL transmit and receive optics with small form factor pluggable optical transceivers (SFP). Double clad fibers have been shown to enable a common optical path by transmitting through a single mode core and receiving through a large inner cladding. This enables a single set of symmetric transmit and receive optics, which decreases the SWaP. In addition, using DCF increases the received power stability of the link relative to a multi-mode fiber (MMF) transmitting. To determine the viability of the system, bit error rate performance needs to be investigated. The results of this paper show that at a bit rate of 10 Gbps, double clad fibers offer similar bit error rate performance to single mode fibers when transmitting and multi-mode fibers when receiving enabling a symmetric duplex FSOL reducing SWaP