Implementation of an End-to-End Standards-based Patient Monitoring Solution

A proof-of-concept design of a patient monitoring solution for intensive care unit environments has been presented. It is end-to-end standard-based, using ISO/IEEE 11073 (X73) in the bedside environment and EN13606 to communicate the information to an electronic healthcare record (EHR) server. At the bedside end, the system is a plug-and-play sensor network communicating with a gateway that collects medical information and sends the data to a monitoring server. The monitoring server transforms this information into an EN13606 extract to be stored on the EHR server. The system has been implemented to comply with the last X73 and EN13606 available versions and tested in a laboratory environment to demonstrate the feasibility of an end-to-end standard-based solution

A psychoanalytic and qualitative research on immigrants' “left-behind” children: “I understand why they left, but why did they leave?”

Background and Purpose: The psychoanalytic literature on migration has extensively explored the psychic impact of the migration process on the people who migrate, whereas the predicament of the immigrants' children that were left behind in the country of origin has been largely overlooked. This paper has a twofold aim. Firstly, it sets out to explore the experience of being left behind as a child by parents who emigrated to another country for economic reasons, and secondly, it aspires to present a valid combination of psychoanalytic thinking and qualitative design. Methods: Fourteen adult men and women who as children were left behind in Greece when their parents emigrated were interviewed about their current perspectives on their childhood experiences. Their narratives were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, a qualitative research method that can offer material suitable for psychodynamic understanding. Results: The analysis of the interviews yielded the overarching theme “Trauma” and four superordinate themes, “Intense emotions,” “Effects on parent–child relationship,” “Defenses,” and “Psychopathology.” The discussion of the results focuses on the psychoanalytic exploration of the trauma induced by the early and prolonged parent–child separation and its psychic sequelae. Conclusion: Being left in the country of origin by parents who emigrated to another country for economic reasons was a traumatic experience for the “left-behind” children. The complexities of this situation may be depicted through the combination of qualitative research methods and psychoanalytic understanding. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Modifications of the therapeutic setting during the Covid-19 pandemic: thoughts based on the Greek experience with latency children and adolescents

The paper reflects on the authors’ observations regarding the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic within the context of child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapy in Greece. The specific conditions in Greece during the first general lockdown are described, and the necessary modifications to the therapeutic framework with latency children and adolescents are discussed. During the lockdown, the authors continued to meet with their patients online, a framework that had both advantages and limitations. The authors share their thoughts about the ways they tried to keep the connection with their patients alive, in the face of the first wave of the coronavirus crisis. © 2021 Association of Child Psychotherapists

“A Sacred Sacrifice?” Exploring Children’s Meaning-Making of Separation From Their Parents Due to Political Reasons

The present study explored the experiences of the (now adult) offspring of former political prisoners who at a young age were forced to be separated from their parents due to political reasons. During the Greek Civil War and its aftermath, thousands of people were detained in prisons or were sent to concentration camps on remote islands and were thus separated from their families and young children. This particular form of parent–child separation, laden with political and ideological tension, has rarely been studied before from the viewpoint of the children. In the present research, 10 adult men and women who as children were separated from both their parents due to political reasons were interviewed about their current perspectives on their childhood experiences. Their narratives were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), a qualitative research method that can offer material suitable for psychodynamic understanding. The analysis of the interviews yielded the overarching theme “sacred sacrifice” and seven subordinate themes, “parental idealization,” “following parental footsteps,” “justification of separation,” “emotional effects of separation,” “political relationship with parents,” “sense of belonging,” and gender differences between “mothers and fathers.” The themes demonstrated that ideology as the perceived etiology of separation defined at large the participants’ understanding and meaning-making of their experiences. The participants’ defensive maneuvers and self-reflective functioning are also discussed. © 2022 American Psychological Associatio

Finding meaning, making links, creating space: an early intervention with children on the autistic spectrum and their families

A novel psychoanalytic intervention with young children on the autistic spectrum is presented, addressing the family as a whole and focusing on the relationships between the family members. The intervention is based on the philosophy of the Tavistock Clinic’s ‘Under Fives Counselling Service’, taking into account the principles of psychoanalytic observation as introduced by Esther Bick, and the tenets which Didier Houzel put forward regarding the work with parents of autistic children. In the paper, the therapeutic journey of young Jason and his family is depicted. The therapists’ primary objective was to establish a cohesive narrative of the story of the family as a whole, and of each member separately. This effort implied, first of all, that their story would become an object of thought. Based on the clinical material presented, it is argued that this type of psychoanalytic intervention offered the family the necessary psychic space to process their fragmented story, to contain life-threatening anxieties and to gradually change their way of functioning and relating to one another. © 2020, © 2020 Association of Child Psychotherapists

Work discussion groups in Greek nurseries: the experience of facilitators and participants

The paper presents qualitative research on the experience of facilitators and participants in work discussion groups in Greek nurseries. Work discussion groups offer a powerful mode of learning and development, not only in psychoanalytic oriented training but in educational settings in general, as they focus on the understanding of the emotional processes that underlie teaching and learning. Although there is evidence that provision of work discussion groups to teaching staff can have a far-reaching impact (i.e., they can help teachers manage the challenges of their work, reduce work-related stress, and promote the development of reflective practice), research on work discussion groups in early education settings is scarce. The present research aspires to contribute to this topic. Five facilitators and six nursery teachers who had participated for at least one year in work discussion groups run in Greek nurseries were interviewed on their experience. Their accounts were analysed using thematic analysis. The themes extracted from their accounts are compared and contrasted. The results demonstrate the generally positive experience from the work discussion groups in Greek nurseries, as reported by facilitators and teachers. The experience of being in a discussion group had an important impact on most nursery teachers, both on a professional and personal level. Suggestions for improvement of the experience, including the clear definition and safeguarding of the work discussion group’s setting, are discussed. © 2021 Association of Child Psychotherapists

Secrets and disclosures: How young children handle secrets

The authors examined the influence of content and verbal cues on young children's understanding of secret information and of its disclosure. Participants were 209 5-and 6-year-old children in an experiment where a puppet, named Zinc, was the protagonist. Children were asked to whom Zinc would disclose a list of pieces of information, some of which are considered secrets. Children could choose between Zinc's friend, a nonfriend, both friend and nonfriend, or nobody. Participants were divided in 2 experiment groups: In the first group a prior verbal cue was given to the participants that some information might be secret, whereas in the second group no prior cue was presented. Results showed that young children, similar to older individuals, differentiated between secrets and nonsecrets partly on the basis of content, and chose to withhold secrets more than nonsecrets or to share secrets more with friends than with nonfriends, following the restrictive self-disclosure pattern. In contrast, young children did not withhold nonsecret information, but they shared it with friends and nonfriends. However, when given verbal cues regarding potential secrecy of the information, young children chose more restrictive disclosure patterns for all types of content. © 2013 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC