Nursing in long-term institutional care:An examination of the process of care

Nursing care in nursing homesIn the past decades, the amount and complexity of care in long-term institutional care for the older population have increased. At the same time, its quality is cause for concern. Shortcomings are often associated with the number and composition of nursing staff. Research into the relationship between nursing staff and quality of care primarily rely on secondary survey data that do not take into account what is being done during the process of caregiving. Since quality of care outcomes are highly affected by nursing care, the aim of this dissertation was to provide insight into what type of nursing interventions are performed and by whom. An important finding was that nursing interventions mainly concerned the physical care needs of residents. Limited time was spent on, for example, psychosocial nursing interventions. Since nursing homes’ philosophy is on person-centered care that encompasses the well-being of residents, this should be addressed. Preconditions such as sufficient time and continuing training of nursing staff, for instance, in collaboration with educational health care institutions can contribute to this. A second important finding concerned the limited role differentiation between nursing staff, such as registered nurses and nursing assistants, despite differences in educational background. If nursing staff are deployed according to their scope of practice and specific knowledge and skills, this would improve the quality of care. Furthermore, to actually be able to make statements about the relationship between nursing staff and quality of care, quality outcomes should be sensitive to nursing interventions

The role of native-language knowledge in the perception of casual speech in a second language

Casual speech processes, such as /t/-reduction, makeword recognition harder. Additionally, word recognition is also harder in a second language (L2). Combining these challenges, we investigated whether L2 learners have recourse to knowledge from their native language (L1) when dealing with casual speech processes in their L2. In three experiments, production and perception of /t/-reduction was investigated. An initial production experiment showed that /t/-reduction occurred in both languages and patterned similarly in proper nouns but differed when /t/ was a verbal inflection. Two perception experiments compared the performance of German learners of Dutch with that of native speakers for nouns and verbs. Mirroring the production patterns, German learners’ performance strongly resembled that of native Dutch listeners when the reduced /t/ was part of a word stem, but deviated where /t/ was a verbal inflection. These results suggest that a casual speech process in a second language is problematic for learners when the process is not known from the leaner’s native language, similar to what has been observed for phoneme contrasts.peer-reviewe

THE STRATEGIC UTILITY OF SOF IN GREAT POWER COMPETITION: A NATO PERSPECTIVE

NATO needs to discuss whether, why, and how Special Operations Forces (SOF) contribute to the “fight” in Great Power Competition. NATO’s security strategy traditionally relies on a deterrence posture with conventional and nuclear capabilities. The new NATO 2022 Strategic Concept validates the necessity to research the question: What is the strategic utility of SOF for NATO in Great Power Competition, and how can this strategic utility be enhanced? This study uses a qualitative methodology. At the core is a comparative analysis of two scenarios in the Black Sea and Arctic regions, both developed through a systematic process and enriched with imagination to contain useful vignettes. The analysis suggests that SOF have strategic utility, albeit in changing manifestations in different phases of the conflict continuum, in Great Power Competition. SOF expands the strategic options available to political and military leaders—expansion of choice—to anticipate and respond, especially in an early stage of a crises below the threshold of armed conflict. SOF also achieve significant results with limited forces—economy of force—when conventional formations are not available or capable. It is not about what SOF can and should do; the heart of the matter is what makes the strategic difference—expansion of choice and economy of force—that defines the future of SOF.Majoor, Royal Netherlands ArmyOberstleutnant, German ArmyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Speakers differentiate English intrusive and onset /r/, but L2 listeners do not

We investigated whether non-native listeners can exploit phonetic detail in recognizing potentially ambiguous utterances, as native listeners can [6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. Due to the phenomenon of intrusive /r/, the English phrase extra ice may sound like extra rice. A production study indicates that the intrusive /r/ can be distinguished from the onset /r/ in rice, as it is phonetically weaker. In two cross-modal identity priming studies, however, we found no conclusive evidence that Dutch learners of English are able to make use of this difference. Instead, auditory primes such as extra rice and extra ice with onset and intrusive /r/s activate both types of targets such as ice and rice. This supports the notion of spurious lexical activation in L2 perception

The efficiency of cross-dialectal word recognition

This research was supported by a Max Planck Society doctoral fellowship and a Fulbright Foundation award, both to the first author. We thank Delphine Dahan, University of Pennsylvania, for enabling the testing of the participants.Dialects of the same language can differ in the casual speech processes they allow; e.g., British English allows the insertion of [r] at word boundaries in sequences such as saw ice, while American English does not. In two speeded word recognition experiments, American listeners heard such British English sequences; in contrast to non-native listeners, they accurately perceived intended vowel-initial words even with intrusive [r]. Thus despite input mismatches, cross-dialectal word recognition benefits from the full power of native-language processing.peer-reviewe

A dyadic planning intervention to quit smoking in single-smoking couples:design of a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Tobacco use is the largest preventable cause of death. Smoking cessation interventions that use implementation intentions show promising results. Implementation intentions are if-then plans that specify a certain behaviour within a situational context. This study will examine whether involving a non-smoking partner could improve planning interventions, and whether and which partner interactions underlie this effectiveness. METHODS: This single-blind randomized controlled trial has a longitudinal design with a baseline questionnaire, end-of-day measurements for three weeks starting on the quit date, and a follow-up questionnaire after three months. PARTICIPANTS: single-smoking couples who live together and are in a relationship for more than one year. SETTING: couples are randomized to either a dyadic or individual planning condition. After the intervention the smoker attempts to quit smoking and the diary measurements start. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome variable is smoking abstinence. Secondary outcome measures are smoking behaviour and relationship satisfaction. Partner interactions are examined as a possible mediator. DISCUSSION: This RCT is the first to examine the effectiveness of dyadic planning to quit smoking in single-smoking couples. Partner interactions are thought to play an important role during the quit attempt, and therefore in the effectiveness of the intervention. This RCT will provide more insight into which daily partner interactions are beneficial for smoking abstinence and the couples' relationship satisfaction, and whether the type of intervention is related to different types or levels of partner interactions and smoking behaviour. When proven effective, this planning intervention in combination with coaching for the non-smoking partner will be a valuable and low-cost addition to existing smoking interventions. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial is retrospectively registered on 19/04/2017 on www.trialregister.nl ( TC: 6398 )