Building Bridges Through Understanding the Village Workshop: Transforming Nursing Students\u27 Perspectives of Indigenous People and Canadian History - Atelier « Building Bridges Through Understanding the Village » : Transformer la vision qu’ont les étudiantes en sciences infirmières des peuples autochtones et de l’histoire du Canada

A mixed methods design using a cross-sectional survey was used to describe participants’ experiences of an experiential workshop entitled Building Bridges Through Understanding the Village. The Building Bridges workshops were held at a university located in Western Canada in 2016 with 213 attendees. Informed by Indigenous epistemology, cultural safety, and Kolb’s experiential learning theory, a student-led team comprised of undergraduates, graduates, and faculty members planned, implemented, and evaluated an arts-based experiential workshop. Following acquisition of a signed informed consent, 159 participants consented to evaluate the workshop. The majority of workshop participants were undergraduate nursing students. Overall, the workshop was positively reviewed and highly rated. The overarching theme in the narrative responses about the workshop was “Words can only do so much.” This theme encapsulated three categories: 1) Imaginative empathy, 2) Made me feel made me think, and 3) Moving towards reconciliation. The results support the evidence that meaningful learning occurs through personal experience, reflection on those experiences, and integration of the new knowledge. The role-playing aspect of this workshop engaged attendees in a novel learning activity and facilitated an iterative cycle of experience (role-playing) and reflection (group discussion and narrative responses). By inviting participants to step into the lives of Indigenous peoples throughout history and feel what they might feel, deep insights were elicited at both a cognitive and emotional level. This workshop is one of many strategies to ensure that the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action are honored. Nursing educators from across Canada are encouraged to consult Elders from local Indigenous communities and implement similar experiential workshops for their students to enhance their understanding of Canada’s history and promote culturally safe nursing practice. Further research is needed to explore the impact of other educational strategies to adequately prepare nursing students for entry-level competencies. In particular, a future study is needed to explore Indigenous patients’ perspectives of their interactions with these workshop participants. Résumé Un devis mixte à partir d’un sondage transversal a été utilisé afin de décrire les expériences des participantes dans le cadre d’un atelier expérientiel nommé Building Bridges Through Understanding the Village [Construire des ponts en comprenant le village]. Ces ateliers, auxquels ont participé 213 personnes, ont eu lieu dans une université de l’ouest du Canada en 2016. Se basant sur une épistémologie autochtone, la sécurisation culturelle et la théorie de l’apprentissage expérientiel de Kolb, une équipe menée par des étudiantes et comprenant des étudiantes de premier cycle, des cycles supérieurs et des membres du corps professoral a planifié, tenu et évalué un atelier expérientiel utilisant les arts. Après une approbation éthique, 159 participantes ont signé un formulaire de consentement éclairé et accepté d’évaluer l’atelier. La majorité d’entre elles étaient des étudiantes de premier cycle en sciences infirmières. De manière générale, l’atelier a reçu une évaluation positive et des scores élevés. Le thème central tiré des réponses rédigées au sujet de l’atelier était “Words can only do so much.” [ Il y a une limite à ce que l’on peut faire avec les mots]. Ce thème englobait trois sous-thèmes : [traductions] 1) Empathie créative, 2) M’amène à ressentir, m’amène à penser et 3) Avancer vers la réconciliation. Les résultats soutiennent ceux des recherches antérieures à l’effet que des apprentissages significatifs sont réalisés grâce aux expériences personnelles, à la réflexion sur ces expériences et à l’intégration des nouvelles connaissances. L’élément jeu de rôle de l’atelier engageait les participantes dans une activité d’apprentissage innovante tout en facilitant le cycle itératif d’expérience (jeu de rôle) et de réflexion (discussions de groupe et réponses sous forme de récits). En invitant les participantes à jouer le rôle de personnes autochtones à travers l’histoire et à ressentir ce qu’elles ont sans doute ressenti, des prises de conscience profondes sur les plans cognitif et émotionnel ont été suscitées. Cet atelier est l’une des stratégies conçues pour assurer que les Appels à l’action du Rapport sur la vérité et la réconciliation soient respectés. Les professeures en sciences infirmières au Canada sont encouragées à consulter les Anciens de leurs communautés autochtones locales et à créer des ateliers expérientiels similaires pour leurs étudiantes, afin d’améliorer leur compréhension de l’histoire du Canada et de promouvoir une pratique infirmière culturellement sécuritaire. D’autres recherches s’imposent pour explorer les retombées d’autres stratégies d’apprentissage qui visent à bien préparer les étudiantes de sciences infirmières à exercer les compétences requises à l’entrée dans la pratique. Plus particulièrement, une étude explorant le point de vue des patients autochtones concernant leurs interactions avec les participantes de cet atelier serait nécessaire

Lack of observational evidence for quantum structure of space-time at Plank scales

It has been noted (Lieu & Hillmann, 2002) that the cumulative affect of Planck-scale phenomenology, or the structure of space-time at extremely small scales, can be lead to the loss of phase of radiation emitted at large distances from the observer. We elaborate on such an approach and demonstrate that such an effect would lead to an apparent blurring of distant point-sources. Evidence of the diffraction pattern from the HST observations of SN 1994D and the unresolved appearance of a Hubble Deep Field galaxy at z=5.34 lead us to put stringent limits on the effects of Planck-scale phenomenology.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, accepter for ApJ

Adding a context:will it influence human-robot interaction of people living with dementia?

Improving the quality of life of people with dementia in long-term care facilities is very important and can be achieved by designing engaging activities for the residents. The introduction of social robots for people with dementia has already proven its benefits, and we expected that adding contextual cues to this interaction would enhance the positive engagement of these individuals. A total of five participants took part in a comparison study in which they engaged in a free-play session with the robot PLEO and in a free-play session with the robot PLEO within a jungle-themed context. The gaze and arm/hand behaviors of the participants were measured and were used to determine the level of their engagement. Contrary to our expectations, we found a significant decrease in engagement for the sessions where the context was added to the interaction. Our explanation of this result is that the added cues increased the threshold to interact with the robot, but the elderly were still engaged as spectators

Designing robot verbal and nonverbal interactions in socially assistive domain for quality ageing in place

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020. Endowing robots with the role of social assistance in silver care could be a powerful tool to combat chronic loneliness in ageing adults. These robots can be tasked with functional and affective care to support quotidian living and grant companionship that helps lessen the burden of cognitive decline and impairment emerging from social isolation. To accomplish such imperative tasks, artificial agents must be adept at communicating naturally with the human elder. In this work, we aim to enable human–robot interaction by designing human-like verbal and nonverbal behaviours of an autonomous robot companion. We employed the robot on a trial run using customisable algorithms to address a range of needs, while thriving social and emotional attachment with the potential senior user, with the final intent being that such endeavours can help achieve quality ageing in place

Use of a Robotic Seal as a Therapeutic Tool to Improve Dementia Symptoms: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

To test the effects of individual, nonfacilitated sessions with PARO (version 9), when compared against a look-alike plush toy and usual care, on the emotional and behavioral symptoms of dementia for people living in long-term care facilities. Parallel, 3-group, cluster-randomized controlled trial conducted between June 14, 2014, and May 16, 2015. Twenty-eight long-term care facilities operated by 20 care organizations located in South-East Queensland, Australia. Four hundred fifteen participants aged ≥60 years, with a documented diagnosis of dementia. Stratified by private/not-for-profit status and randomized using a computer-generated sequence, 9 facilities were randomized to the PARO group (individual, nonfacilitated, 15-minute sessions 3 times per week for 10 weeks); 10 to plush toy (same, but given PARO with robotic features disabled); and 9 to usual care. Treatment allocation was masked to assessors. Primary outcomes were changes in levels of engagement, mood states, and agitation after a 10-week intervention, assessed by coded video observations (baseline, weeks 1, 5, 10, and 15) and Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory-Short Form (baseline, weeks 10 and 15). Analyses followed intention-to-treat, using repeated measures mixed effects models. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12614000508673). Video data showed that participants in the PARO group were more verbally [3.61, 95% confidence interval (CI): 6.40-0.81, P = .011] and visually engaged (13.06, 95% CI: 17.05-9.06, P < .0001) than participants in plush toy. Both PARO (-3.09, 95% CI: -0.45 to -5.72, P = .022) and plush toy (-3.58, 95% CI: -1.26 to -5.91, P = .002) had significantly greater reduced neutral affect compared with usual care, whilst PARO was more effective than usual care in improving pleasure (1.12, 95% CI: 1.94-0.29, P = .008). Videos showed that PARO was more effective than usual care in improving agitation (3.33, 95% CI: 5.79-0.86, P = .008). When measured using the CMAI-SF, there was no difference between groups. Although more effective than usual care in improving mood states and agitation, PARO was only more effective than a plush toy in encouraging engagement.Australian National Health and Medical Research Council [APP1065320