Caregivers' perceptions of displayed resilience among preschool aged children living in a South African children's home.

This study explored caregivers’ perceptions of displayed resilience in children living in a South African Children’s home and what they perceived the origins of this resilience to be. In South Africa, the incidence of orphaned and vulnerable children has risen substantially due to factors such as HIV/AIDS, poverty and unemployment. Previous research found that children in care centres are often at risk of developmental delays and deficits. However, in recent years, there has been a shift in focus to the protective factors associated with resilience and positive outcomes for these children. This qualitative study aimed to explore these protective factors and how they lead to the development of resilience. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory was used to explore the various structures that influence childhood development. This was then applied to the care centre environment and the development of resilience using Bernard’s theory. Semi-structured interviews with the caregivers’ with open-ended questions were used to gain the data. Thematic content analysis was then used to transcribe, examine and categorize the data. The themes that emerged during the data analysis indicated that the caregivers’ perceptions were consistent with literature on the factors needed for the development of resilience. These findings showed that both internal and external factors are needed for resilience to emerge; these were then explored in more detail. The findings suggest although children in the centre are vulnerable, there are protective factors which lead to more positive outcomes in their lives. The limitations of the study are discussed as well as suggestions for further research

Communication & Interventions for People with Alzheimer’s Dementia

A powerpoint for a presentation given at the Illinois Wesleyan University Wakeley Gallery, November 18, 2015 as part of Pursuing the Ephemeral, Painting the Enduring: Alzheimer\u27s and the Artwork of William Utermohlen, Exhibition and Scholarly Reflections.https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/utermohlen/1003/thumbnail.jp

Stereotypes and Patient-Provider Communication: Testing the Effects of Depression, Socioeconomic Status, and Race

The current project included a pilot and primary study with experimental designs to explore the impact that a patient\u27s race, mental health and socioeconomic status (SES) have on impression formation, affective reactions, and communication with patients. The medical literature shows that health disparities exist for minorities and individuals with low socioeconomic statuses (Adler & Ostrove, 1999). In addition individuals with severe mental illness receive low quality care for their physical health in comparison to those presenting only a physical illness (Lawrence & Kisely, 2010). To explore this phenomenon, pilot study participants read one of eight descriptions of a man visiting a doctor because of unexplained weight loss. The scenarios varied by race (black/white), depression diagnosis (no/yes), and SES (not low/low). Participants answered questions about their impressions of the patient, affective reactions to the patient, and basic personal demographics. I hypothesized that the scenarios describing a black man, a man with a low SES and a man with depression would elicit more stigmatizing responses than a white man, a man without a low SES and a man without depression. While no effects were found for race, results showed that a patient with low SES or depression were seen as less warm and competent than a patient with neither condition but more warm than a patient with both conditions. The findings were largely consistent with the Stereotype Content Model, which was used along with the Behavior from Intergroup Affect and Stereotypes (BIAS) Map to formulate second study hypotheses. Using secondary data, I analyzed physician communication with a patient whose presentation varied by SES and depression. A standardized patient, who followed a script very similar to the scenarios, played the patient. Measures of communication were based on the Roter Interactional Analysis System (RIAS) and coded from transcripts of surreptitiously recorded medical encounters. As predicted results showed low socioeconomic status patients experienced less positive communication. However, contrary to predictions, patients with depression received less stigmatizing and more patient-centered communication. Future work should explore the implications of differential reactions to stigmatizing characteristics in physician communication and how to translate these into impacts on patient care

Automated Ecological Assessment of Physical Activity: Advancing Direct Observation.

Technological advances provide opportunities for automating direct observations of physical activity, which allow for continuous monitoring and feedback. This pilot study evaluated the initial validity of computer vision algorithms for ecological assessment of physical activity. The sample comprised 6630 seconds per camera (three cameras in total) of video capturing up to nine participants engaged in sitting, standing, walking, and jogging in an open outdoor space while wearing accelerometers. Computer vision algorithms were developed to assess the number and proportion of people in sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous activity, and group-based metabolic equivalents of tasks (MET)-minutes. Means and standard deviations (SD) of bias/difference values, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) assessed the criterion validity compared to accelerometry separately for each camera. The number and proportion of participants sedentary and in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) had small biases (within 20% of the criterion mean) and the ICCs were excellent (0.82-0.98). Total MET-minutes were slightly underestimated by 9.3-17.1% and the ICCs were good (0.68-0.79). The standard deviations of the bias estimates were moderate-to-large relative to the means. The computer vision algorithms appeared to have acceptable sample-level validity (i.e., across a sample of time intervals) and are promising for automated ecological assessment of activity in open outdoor settings, but further development and testing is needed before such tools can be used in a diverse range of settings

Communication strategies for rare cancers : A systematic review protocol

Funding CB is a summer student being funded by the Centre for Public Health, Queen’s University Belfast. Availability of data and materials Data was obtained from peer-reviewed publications which are available in the public domain and may be subject to copyright. The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Home blood pressure monitors owned by participants in a large decentralised clinical trial in hypertension:the Treatment In Morning versus Evening (TIME) study

Various home blood pressure monitors (HBPMs) are available to the public for purchase but only some are validated against standardised protocols. This study aimed to assess whether HBPMs owned by participants taking part in a clinical trial were validated models. The TIME study is a decentralised randomised trial investigating the effect of antihypertensive medication dosing time on cardiovascular outcomes in adults with hypertension. No HBPMs were provided to participants in this trial but patients were asked to report if they already owned one. We identified the model of HBPM reported by participants, then cross-referenced this against lists of validated HBPMs produced by dabl Educational Trust and the British and Irish Hypertension Society (BIHS). Of 21,104 participants, 10,464 (49.6%) reported their model of HBPM. 7464 (71.3%) of these participants owned a monitor that could be identified from the participants’ entry. Of these, 6066 (81.3%) participants owned a monitor listed as validated by either dabl (n = 5903) or BIHS (n = 5491). Some were listed as validated by both. 1398 (18.7%) participants owned an identifiable HBPM that lacked clear evidence of validation. 6963 (93.3%) participants owned an upper arm HBPM and 501 (6.7%) owned a wrist HBPM. Validated HBPMs had a higher median online retail price of £45.00 compared to £20.00 for HBPMs lacking clear evidence of validation. A significant number of participants own HBPMs lacking evidence of validation