Qualitative results from a phase II pilot randomised controlled trial of a lymphoma nurse-led model of survivorship care

Purpose: To explore and describe lymphoma survivors’ thoughts and perceptions of the components of a nurse led lymphoma survivorship clinic intervention. Methods: An exploratory, qualitative descriptive study using interviews from 10 participants who had transitioned post-treatment into the survivorship phase via a nurse-led lymphoma survivorship clinic intervention. Results: Thematic analysis revealed three major themes: Reassurance and individualised care; Information and support; and Empowerment. Participants described the reassurance they gained from having contact with a health professional post-treatment who individualised information and support. A survivorship care plan and treatment summary was developed for this study and was believed to be very patient-centred and helpful. This enabled participants to take back control of their health and well-being and to rebuild confidence. Conclusions: In this study, participants expressed a need for patient-centred follow-up care that addressed their concerns and supported them in the survivorship phase to get their life back on track. Nurse-led follow-up may offer a viable model of post-treatment survivorship care to lymphoma cancer survivors

Influences on Perceptions of Students with Disabilities Regarding Services and Supports Rendered at Their Collegiate Institution

Over the past several generations numerous policies and laws have been established that have allowed people with disabilities to further their education. Students with disabilities enter higher education with varied experiences, which allow for a wide array of perceptions of the services and supports provided on this level. The purpose of this dissertation was to study what these perceptions are and how these perceptions were formed; in hopes to encourage more students with disabilities to self-disclose and access beneficial services in the future. A semi-structured narrative interview was conducted with 8 students willing to self-disclose and who received services and supports at a Northeastern University. It was determined that the services provided were seen as beneficial for their academic goals. Overall students had minimal barriers in the acquisition of services. Additionally, it was determined that although stigma was experienced by all participants, emerging in a total of seven themes: (1) family (this cultural and religious beliefs within the family unit), (2) educators, (3) staff, (4) classmates, (5) coworkers, (6) the general public, and (7) perceived stereotypes. However, these instances of experiencing stigma were not a reluctance factor in seeking services and supports for 7 of 8 students. This suggests that although this Northeastern university is providing adequate service and supports, strides can be made in on the institutional level to continue exploring best practice in services. Additionally, universities need to be proactive in ensuring students know what services are available and how to get them. Lastly universities need to be leaders in the attempts to dissipate stigma

“Education will get you to the station”: MARGINALIZED STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES AND PERCEPTIONS OF MERIT IN ACCESSING UNIVERSITY

This article explores how four minority students in a university access program reconciled their presence on merit. They shared their experiences over two years through their application statements, life history interviews, weekly group sessions, and personal journal entries. Consistent with the discourse of merit, participants believed that by exercising agency and taking responsibility for their schooling, education will work to their benefit. They reconceptualized the access program as a scholarship program and affirmed pride in being university students, with a sense of obligation to their immigrant parents and a desire to give back to their communities. Key words: immigrant youth, access programs, racism, parental expectations Les auteurs analysent comment quatre étudiants faisant partie de groupes minoritaires et participant à un programme d’accès à l’université réconcilient leur présence au mérite. Ces étudiants partagent leurs expériences par divers moyens : textes rédigés lors de leurs demandes d’admission, entrevues portant sur leur histoire de vie, sessions hebdomadaires en groupe et journaux intimes. Dans le droit fil du discours sur le mérite, les participants croient que s’ils prennent leur éducation en main, elle leur sera profitable. Ils reconceptualisent le programme d’accès comme un programme de bourse; se disant fiers d’aller à l’université, ils se sentent redevables à l’égard de leurs parents immigrants et souhaitent faire profiter leurs communautés de leur acquis. Mots clés: jeunes immigrants, programmes d’accès, racisme, attentes des parents

Test-retest reliability of the short-form survivor unmet needs survey

Objective: Reliable and valid needs assessment measures are important assessment tools in cancer survivorship care. A new 30-item short-form version of the Survivor Unmet Needs Survey (SF-SUNS) was developed and validated with cancer survivors, including hematology cancer survivors; however, test-retest reliability has not been established. The objective of this study was to assess the test-retest reliability of the SF-SUNS with a cohort of lymphoma survivors (n = 40). Methods: Test-retest reliability of the SF-SUNS was conducted at two time points: baseline (time 1) and 5 days later (time 2). Test-retest data were collected from lymphoma cancer survivors (n = 40) in a large tertiary cancer center in Western Australia. Intraclass correlation analyses compared data at time 1 (baseline) and time 2 (5 days later). Cronbach\u27s alpha analyses were performed to assess the internal consistency at both time points. Results: The majority (23/30, 77%) of items achieved test-retest reliability scores 0.45-0.74 (fair to good). A high degree of overall internal consistency was demonstrated (time 1 = 0.92, time 2 = 0.95), with scores 0.65-0.94 across subscales for both time points. Conclusions: Mixed test-retest reliability of the SF-SUNS was established. Our results indicate the SF-SUNS is responsive to the changing needs of lymphoma cancer survivors. Routine use of cancer survivorship specific needs-based assessments is required in oncology care today. Nurses are well placed to administer these assessments and provide tailored information and resources. Further assessment of test-retest reliability in hematology and other cancer cohorts is warranted

HEXACO and Dark Triad predictors of psychological abuse in romantic relationships: forgiveness as a mediator

The HEXACO model of personality has seldom been used when researching intimate partner violence (IPV). We investigated whether HEXACO and Dark Triad (DT) traits predicted perpetration and victimisation of psychological IPV, and the reciprocity of the relationship between perpetration and victimisation. We also sought to determine whether forgiveness mediated the relationship between personality and perpetration/victimisation. Individuals aged 18-61 (n = 340) completed four questionnaires. Factor analysis revealed that Conscientiousness and Openness to experience did not load onto any factors, so were subsequently excluded from analysis. Bootstrapped multiple hierarchical regressions found that low Agreeableness and low eXtraversion predicted perpetration, but HEXACO traits failed to predict victimisation. DT traits did not predict victimisation or perpetration. The relationship between victimisation and perpetration was highly reciprocal as both variables strongly predicted the other. Resentment-avoidance was shown to partially mediate the relationship between significant predictors and psychological IPV. This research shows a cyclical relationship of psychological abuse, perpetuated by personality factors and the reciprocal relationship between perpetration and victimisation. It also suggests impulsive rather than instrumental aggression in the current cohort. Limitations and practical implications are discussed

The responses of young domestic horses (Equus caballus) to human-given cues

It has been suggested that the process of domestication, at least in some species, has led to an innate predisposition to be skilled at reading human communicative and attentional cues. Adult domestic horses (Equus caballus) are highly sensitive to subtle bodily cues when determining if a person is attending to them but they are less adept at using human communicative cues in object choice tasks. Here we provide the first study into the ontogeny of such skills in order to gain insights into the mechanisms underlying these abilities. Compared with adult horses, youngsters under the age of three could use body orientation but not more subtle cues such as head movement and open/closed eyes to correctly choose an attentive person to approach for food. Across two object choice experiments, the performance of young horses was comparable to that of adult horses – subjects were able to correctly choose a rewarded bucket using marker placement, pointing and touching cues but could not use body orientation, gaze, elbow pointing or tapping cues. Taken together these results do not support the theory that horses possess an innate predisposition to be particularly skilled at using human cues. Horses’ ability to determine whether humans are attending to them using subtle body cues appears to require significant experience to fully develop and their perhaps less remarkable use of limited cues in object choice tasks, although present at a much earlier age, is likely to reflect a more general learning ability related to stimulus enhancement rather than a specific ‘human-reading’ skill

A systematic review of digital interventions for improving the diet and physical activity behaviors of adolescents

Many adolescents have poor diet and physical activity behaviors, which can lead to the development of noncommunicable diseases in later life. Digital platforms offer inexpensive means of delivering health interventions, but little is known about their effectiveness. This systematic review was conducted to synthesize evidence on the effectiveness of digital interventions to improve diet quality and increase physical activity in adolescents, to effective intervention components and to assess the cost-effectiveness of these interventions. Following a systematic search, abstracts were assessed against inclusion criteria, and data extraction and quality assessment were performed for included studies. Data were analyzed to identify key features that are associated with significant improvement in behavior. A total of 27 studies met inclusion criteria. Most (n = 15) were Web site interventions. Other delivery methods were text messages, games, multicomponent interventions, emails, and social media. Significant behavior change was often seen when interventions included education, goal setting, self-monitoring, and parental involvement. None of the publications reported cost-effectiveness. Due to heterogeneity of studies, meta-analysis was not feasible.It is possible to effect significant health behavior change in adolescents through digital interventions that incorporate education, goal setting, self-monitoring, and parental involvement. Most of the evidence relates to Web sites and further research into alternate media is needed, and longer term outcomes should be evaluated. There is a paucity of data on the cost-effectiveness of digital health interventions, and future trials should report these data

Care After Lymphoma (CALy) trial: A phase II pilot pragmatic randomised controlled trial of a nurse-led model of survivorship care

Purpose: Post-treatment follow-up for lymphoma potentially fails to address the supportive care needs of survivors. A nurse-led lymphoma survivorship model of care was developed and tested in a phase II pilot pragmatic randomised controlled trial (RCT). The intervention comprised three face-to-face appointments, delivery of tailored resources and an individualised survivorship care plan and treatment summary (SCPTS), shared with the general practitioner (GP). Method: Three months’ post-treatment completion, eligible lymphoma patients were randomised 1:1 to usual care (control) or usual care plus intervention. Survivorship unmet needs (Short-Form Survivor Unmet Needs Survey), distress (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21), adjustment to cancer (Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer scale) and self-empowerment (Patient Empowerment Scale) were assessed at baseline, three and six months. Univariate and multivariate analyses examined changes within and between groups at the three time points. A GP evaluation survey sought information on the perceived utility of the SCPTS. Results: Statistical significance was set at 0.05 (2-tailed). Although not statistically significant, by study completion, intervention participants (n = 30), reported less unmet needs (M = 21.41 vs M = 25.72, p = .506), less distress ((M = 13.03 vs M = 15.14, p = .558) and an increase in empowerment (M = 50.21 vs M = 47.21, p = .056) compared with control participants (n = 30). The SCPTS was rated good to very good by a majority of GPs (n = 13, 81%). Conclusions: The nurse-led lymphoma survivorship model of care may be a helpful intervention for lymphoma patients who had completed treatment. Survivors require individualised and tailored support and resources. A tailored SCPTS may promote survivor self-management and increase GP engagement

LIGHTING THE PATH to Remove Systemic Barriers in Higher Education and Award Earned Postsecondary Credentials Through IHEPs Degrees When Due Initiative

Higher education is the surest pathway to a better living and a better life. Yet, the goal of a valuable college credential goes unrealized for too many students, especially students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. Today, more than 36 million Americans have some college credit, but no awarded degree and, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the studies of even more students, deepening inequities that already are pervasive.Lighting the Path shares key findings from Degrees When Due, a nationwide completion initiative to reengage students and build institutional capacity. The report sets forth key findings on barriers to reenrollment, persistence, and completion; outlines strategies to best support returning students; and offers recommendations for policymakers at every level--institutional, state, and federal--to promote equitable degree completion