Making Disability a Part of Diversity

As part of Theme I of VCU’s Quest for Distinction, our project will help improve access to the services provided by Disability Student Services (DSS) office to students with disability. Recruitment and retention of qualified disabled students will increase. These students will achieve with higher graduation rates and contribute to a productive and skilled workforce. Improving the services provided to disabled students and better retention of these students at VCU will attract faculty members with expertise or a special interest in serving the disabled. Our project will also serve Theme I of Quest by continuing to make VCU a leader among national research universities in providing all students with quality learning/living experiences focused on inquiry, discovery and innovation in a global environment. VCU will be the central partner of a vibrant and enriched urban community. The improvement of DSS at VCU will demonstrate to the surrounding community that VCU is committed to make disability a part of diversity - (Quest, Theme IV). The development of new outreach programs and the expansion of existing programs involving the community will be critical. This partnership will develop a “bridge of excellence” between the community and the university and enrich the surrounding community and the commonwealth of Virginia

Smoking Behaviors among Adolescents in Foster Care: A Gender-Based Analysis

Background and objectives: Adolescents in foster care are at high risk for cigarette smoking. However, it is not clear how their smoking behaviors vary by gender. The present study examined lifetime and current smoking among males and females, and explored gender-specific risk factors for engagement in smoking behaviors. Method: Data from the Multi Site Evaluation of Foster Youth Programs was used to evaluate patterns of smoking among adolescents aged 12–18 years (N = 1121; 489 males, 632 females). Results: Males and females did not differ significantly in rates of lifetime and current smoking, or in the age of smoking initiation and number of cigarettes smoked on a typical day. Gender-based analyses revealed that older age and placement in group homes or residential treatment facilities were associated with heightened risk of smoking among males. In contrast, sexual minority status (i.e., nonheterosexual orientation) and increased childhood victimization were associated with heightened risk of smoking among females. A history of running away was linked to smoking in both genders. Conclusion: Gender should be considered when designing intervention programs to address cigarette smoking among foster youth, as the stressors associated with smoking may differ for males and females

A Qualitative Evaluation of Mental Health Clinic Staff Perceptions of Barriers and Facilitators to Treating Tobacco Use

Introduction: Veterans with mental health disorders smoke at high rates, but encounter low rates of tobacco treatment. We sought to understand barriers and facilitators to treating tobacco use in VA mental health clinics. Methods: This qualitative study was part of a trial evaluating a telephone care coordination program for smokers using mental health services at six VA facilities. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 staff: 12 mental health clinic staff working at the parent study\u27s intervention sites (n = 6 psychiatrists, three psychologists, two social workers, one NP), as well as one psychiatrist and one psychologist on the VA\u27s national tobacco advisory committee. Interviews were transcribed and inductively coded to identify themes. Results: Five barriers themes emerged: (1) competing priorities, (2) patient challenges/resistance, (3) complex staffing/challenging cross-discipline coordination, (4) mixed perceptions about whether tobacco is a mental health care responsibility, and (5) limited staff training/comfort in treating tobacco. Five facilitators themes emerged: (1) reminding mental health staff about tobacco, (2) staff belief in the importance of addressing tobacco, (3) designating a cessation medication prescriber, (4) linking tobacco to mental health outcomes and norms, and (5) limiting mental health staff burden. Conclusions: VA mental health staff struggle with knowing that tobacco use is important, but they face competing priorities, encounter patient resistance, are conflicted on their role in addressing tobacco, and lack tobacco training. They suggested strategies at multiple levels that would help overcome those barriers that can be used to design interventions that improve tobacco treatment delivery for mental health patients. Implications: This study builds upon the existing literature on the high rates of smoking, but low rates of treatment, in people with mental health diagnoses. This study is one of the few qualitative evaluations of mental health clinic staff perceptions of barriers and facilitators to treating tobacco. The study results provide a multi-level framework for developing strategies to improve the implementation of tobacco treatment programs in mental health clinics

Measuring Practicing Clinicians’ Information Literacy: An Exploratory Analysis in the Context of Panel Management

BACKGROUND: As healthcare moves towards technology-driven population health management, clinicians must adopt complex digital platforms to access health information and document care. OBJECTIVES: This study explored information literacy, a set of skills required to effectively navigate population health information systems, among primary care providers in one Veterans' Affairs (VA) medical center. METHODS: Information literacy was assessed during an 8-month randomized trial that tested a population health (panel) management intervention. Providers were asked about their use and comfort with two VA digital tools for panel management at baseline, 16 weeks, and post-intervention. An 8-item scale (range 0-40) was used to measure information literacy (Cronbach's α=0.84). Scores between study arms and provider types were compared using paired t-tests and ANOVAs. Associations between self-reported digital tool use and information literacy were measured via Pearson's correlations. RESULTS: Providers showed moderate levels of information literacy (M= 27.4, SD 6.5). There were no significant differences in mean information literacy between physicians (M=26.4, SD 6.7) and nurses (M=30.5, SD 5.2, p=0.57 for difference), or between intervention (M=28.4, SD 6.5) and control groups (M=25.1, SD 6.2, p=0.12 for difference). Information literacy was correlated with higher rates of self-reported information system usage (r=0.547, p=0.001). Clinicians identified data access, accuracy, and interpretability as potential information literacy barriers. CONCLUSIONS: While exploratory in nature, cautioning generalizability, the study suggests that measuring and improving clinicians' information literacy may play a significant role in the implementation and use of digital information tools, as these tools are rapidly being deployed to enhance communication among care teams, improve health care outcomes, and reduce overall costs

2024 Wheelchair Compendium of Physical Activities: An Update of Activity Codes and Energy Expenditure Values

Purpose: This paper presents an update of the 2011 Wheelchair Compendium of Physical Activities designed for wheelchair users and is referred to as the 2024 Wheelchair Compendium. The Wheelchair Compendium aims to curate existing knowledge of the energy expenditure for wheelchair physical activities (PAs). Methods: A systematic review of the published energy expenditure of PA for wheelchair users was completed between 2011 and May 2023. We added these data to the 2011 Wheelchair Compendium data that was compiled previously in a systematic review through 2011. Results: A total of 47 studies were included, and 124 different wheelchair PA reported energy expenditure values ranging from 0.8 metabolic equivalents for wheelchair users (filing papers, light effort) to 11.8 metabolic equivalents for wheelchair users (Nordic sit skiing). Conclusion: In introducing the updated 2024 Wheelchair Compendium, we hope to bridge the resource gap and challenge the prevailing narratives that inadvertently exclude wheelchair users from physical fitness and health PAs

Developing a collaborative framework for naturalistic visual search

While much research has investigated the mechanisms of visual search behaviour in laboratory-based computer tasks, there has been relatively little work on whether these results generalise to more naturalistic search tasks and thus how well existing theories explain real-world search behaviour. In addition, work relating to this question has often been carried out by researchers working in very different disciplines, including not just vision science but also fields such as consumer behaviour, sports science and medical science, making it more difficult to get an overview of the progress made and open questions remaining. We present findings from a systematic review of real-world visual search, showing that we can group the current literature into theoretical and applied approaches, and that there are certain well-studied topics (e.g., X-ray screening) but that there are relatively few links made across different search tasks and/or search contexts. We also present preliminary work detailing our development of a “naturalistic search task battery”, which aims to provide a suite of open source, reproducible and standardised real-world search tasks, thus enabling the generation of comparable data across multiple studies and aiding theory and modelling in this area

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Child Feeding Questionnaire among low-income African American families of preschool children

This study examined the factor structure for three of the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) subscales, a widely used measure of parental feeding practices, among 296 low-income parents of African American preschool children. Confirmatory factor analysis showed an overall poor fit among CFQ subscales; Restriction, Pressure to Eat, and Concern about Child Weight, (χ2, (df = 87 = 300.249, CFI = 1.00, NNFI = 1.07, RMSEA = .091). Additionally, Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients for 2 of the three subscales were below acceptable recommendations (Restriction = 0.69; Pressure to Eat = 0.58). These results suggest further psychometric clarification is needed to understand commonly reported feeding practice constructs among low-income African American mothers of preschool aged children

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Child Feeding Questionnaire among low-income African American families of preschool children

This study examined the factor structure for three of the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) subscales, a widely used measure of parental feeding practices, among 296 low-income parents of African American preschool children. Confirmatory factor analysis showed an overall poor fit among CFQ subscales; Restriction, Pressure to Eat, and Concern about Child Weight, (χ2, (df = 87 = 300.249, CFI = 1.00, NNFI = 1.07, RMSEA = .091). Additionally, Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients for 2 of the three subscales were below acceptable recommendations (Restriction = 0.69; Pressure to Eat = 0.58). These results suggest further psychometric clarification is needed to understand commonly reported feeding practice constructs among low-income African American mothers of preschool aged children