Voices on Campus - Bob Woodward: What Journalism is About

On December 3, 2012, BSU was privileged to host and hear Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist and executive editor of the Washington Post, Bob Woodward, as part of the President’s Distinguished Speakers Series. Mr. Woodward’s path-breaking reportage about the 1972 Watergate incident uncovered criminal conspiracy at the government’s highest levels and led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. With his colleague, Carl Bernstein, Woodward set the standard for generations of investigative journalism in the U.S. and opened the eyes of Americans to the concentration of power in the presidency and its potential for corruption. In the 40 years since, Woodward has had a tremendously productive career as a journalist, editor and political pundit, one that has included the publication of 17 non-fiction books on American politics. His Bridgewater talk, excerpted below, outlined the essence of good journalism and the daunting challenge of getting the story right

In Favor of “Leader Proofing”

Although it is widely assumed that successful polities require strong leaders, something like the opposite is probably the case. A successful political system may well be one that has no need of strong leaders and may even eschew them. Strong leaders may occasionally be desirable in any polity, but those occasions are–or should be–rare. As often as not (possibly more often than not) strong leaders pose substantial risks. They are liable to do as much damage as good, possibly more. There is a lot to be said for any polity's political culture and institutions having built into them a fair amount of “leader proofing.” </jats:p

Fogler Library: William S. Cohen Lecture with Bob Woodward

Video recording of the 2007 conversation between William S. Cohen and Bob Woodward about the Watergate Investigations. The Cohen Lecture Series began in 1997 with the deposit of 1300 boxes of Cohen\u27s papers to Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections. The Cohen collection documents over 25 years of Mr. Cohen\u27s service to Maine and the United States. The Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein Watergate Papers are held at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/umaine_video/1024/thumbnail.jp

Impact of person-centred care training and person-centred activities on quality of life, agitation, and antipsychotic use in people with dementia living in nursing homes: a cluster-randomised controlled trial

Background Agitation is a common, challenging symptom affecting large numbers of people with dementia and impacting on quality of life (QoL). There is an urgent need for evidence-based, cost-effective psychosocial interventions to improve these outcomes, particularly in the absence of safe, effective pharmacological therapies. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a person-centred care and psychosocial intervention incorporating an antipsychotic review, WHELD, on QoL, agitation, and antipsychotic use in people with dementia living in nursing homes, and to determine its cost. Methods and findings This was a randomised controlled cluster trial conducted between 1 January 2013 and 30 September 2015 that compared the WHELD intervention with treatment as usual (TAU) in people with dementia living in 69 UK nursing homes, using an intention to treat analysis. All nursing homes allocated to the intervention received staff training in person-centred care and social interaction and education regarding antipsychotic medications (antipsychotic review), followed by ongoing delivery through a care staff champion model. The primary outcome measure was QoL (DEMQOL-Proxy). Secondary outcomes were agitation (Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory [CMAI]), neuropsychiatric symptoms (Neuropsychiatric Inventory–Nursing Home Version [NPI-NH]), antipsychotic use, global deterioration (Clinical Dementia Rating), mood (Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia), unmet needs (Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly), mortality, quality of interactions (Quality of Interactions Scale [QUIS]), pain (Abbey Pain Scale), and cost. Costs were calculated using cost function figures compared with usual costs. In all, 847 people were randomised to WHELD or TAU, of whom 553 completed the 9-month randomised controlled trial. The intervention conferred a statistically significant improvement in QoL (DEMQOL-Proxy Z score 2.82, p = 0.0042; mean difference 2.54, SEM 0.88; 95% CI 0.81, 4.28; Cohen’s D effect size 0.24). There were also statistically significant benefits in agitation (CMAI Z score 2.68, p = 0.0076; mean difference 4.27, SEM 1.59; 95% CI −7.39, −1.15; Cohen’s D 0.23) and overall neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPI-NH Z score 3.52, p < 0.001; mean difference 4.55, SEM 1.28; 95% CI −7.07,−2.02; Cohen’s D 0.30). Benefits were greatest in people with moderately severe dementia. There was a statistically significant benefit in positive care interactions as measured by QUIS (19.7% increase, SEM 8.94; 95% CI 2.12, 37.16, p = 0.03; Cohen’s D 0.55). There were no statistically significant differences between WHELD and TAU for the other outcomes. A sensitivity analysis using a pre-specified imputation model confirmed statistically significant benefits in DEMQOL-Proxy, CMAI, and NPI-NH outcomes with the WHELD intervention. Antipsychotic drug use was at a low stable level in both treatment groups, and the intervention did not reduce use. The WHELD intervention reduced cost compared to TAU, and the benefits achieved were therefore associated with a cost saving. The main limitation was that antipsychotic review was based on augmenting processes within care homes to trigger medical review and did not in this study involve proactive primary care education. An additional limitation was the inherent challenge of assessing QoL in this patient group. Conclusions These findings suggest that the WHELD intervention confers benefits in terms of QoL, agitation, and neuropsychiatric symptoms, albeit with relatively small effect sizes, as well as cost saving in a model that can readily be implemented in nursing homes. Future work should consider how to facilitate sustainability of the intervention in this setting

The Lantern Vol. 43, No. 1, Fall 1976

• Frustration • Think Again • My Sweet • Secret Society of One • November Ghosts • A Lonely Girl\u27s Prayer • Visions of You • The Innocence Baby • Society • Silence • Don\u27t Turn Around • Waves • Loneliness • Time Writer • Brood • It\u27s Not Funny • Four Haiku, Entwined • We\u27ll Have to Stop Meeting Like This • Castles In the Sand • The Seahttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1109/thumbnail.jp