11 research outputs found
Community Support for Low-Income Elementary School Students with a Winter Gear Drive under COVID 19 Constraints
Washington County has one of Maine’s highest rates of child poverty. Winter is especially difficult with below-freezing temperatures, higher fuel costs, and many seasonal tourism-related businesses closed. Typically local schools have collections of hats and gloves that children can share. With the 2020-2021 COVID-19 restrictions, children could not reuse winter gear from a shared box and, if they did not have their own winter gear, they were unable to participate in outside activities. Additionally, because of spacing constraints, schools were using gyms for classrooms not for physical activities, which doubly disadvantaged students without winter gear. This paper describes a university student winter gear project and underscores the need for policies supporting children in poverty
The Relative Efficiency of Computer Controlled, Adaptive and Learner Centered Training on Transfer of Training in a Computer Simulation Task
There is a need for effective cost efficient training programs. Individual differences have been shown to be the most important variable in many training programs and they should be paid special attention in the design of training programs. Compared in this experiment is computer-controlled (lockstep) training, adaptive training, and learner-centered training. Learner-centered and adaptive training are geared to the individual. Instead of lockstep training, learner-centered training allows the trainee to determine the amount or sequence of training at different levels of proficiency. Adaptive training is training based on the participant\u27s performance. As the participant\u27s performance improves he or she is graduated to a harder level of the training program. In this experiment the dependent variable was the average number of crashes in the transfer trials. The ANOVA indicated there was a significant difference of type of training, F(2, 27) = 4.20, p=0.0251. Planned comparisons were performed to verify the hypotheses such that learner-centered would have the least number of crashes in transfer followed by adaptive and computer-controlled group having the most errors in transfer. As predicted the computer-controlled training group had significantly more crashes than adaptive and learner-centered in the transfer, F(1,27)=8015, p=0.0040, and F(1,27)=3.48, p=0.0348, respectively. Contrary to the hypotheses there was no significant difference between the adapted training group and the learner-centered training group, F(1,27)=0.9764, p=0.3336. As there was no significant difference between adaptive and learner-centered training groups this research suggests that as long as the trainee has some input into his or her training whether adaptively or self-paced, the learning will be superior to learning in a pre-programmed manner
Development of a menu of performance tests self-administered on a portable microcomputer
Eighteen cognitive, motor, and information processing performance subtests were screened for self-administration over 10 trials by 16 subjects. When altered presentation forms of the same test were collectively considered, the battery composition was reduced to 10 distinctly different measures. A fully automated microbased testing system was employed in presenting the battery of subtests. Successful self-administration of the battery provided for the field testing of the automated system and facilitated convenient data collection. Total test administration time was 47.2 minutes for each session. Results indicated that nine of the tests stabilized, but for a short battery of tests only five are recommended for use in repeated-measures research. The five recommended tests include: the Tapping series, Number Comparison, Short-term Memory, Grammatical Reasoning, and 4-Choice Reaction Time. These tests can be expected to reveal three factors: (1) cognition, (2) processing quickness, and (3) motor. All the tests stabilized in 24 minutes, or approximately two 12-minute sessions
Washington County Asset Map and Needs Assessment: Building a Network to Serve Youths at Risk for Serious Mental Illness
This study is the first in a series of planned investigations into pathways to care for adolescents and young adults with serious mental illness in Washington County. Resources were identified that may support a network for identifying and accessing services. Over 120 agencies were categorized into one of seven types: education, mental health, health, substance use / recovery, community / library, and law enforcement. Web-based information was collected for 85 of these agencies and representatives of 47 of these agencies were interviewed about challenges, collaborations, and ideas for solutions. We found a great deal of collaboration among agencies within different service sectors. For example, there is regular collaboration among health agencies, among educational agencies, and among agencies serving children and families. We identified networks that support the LGBTQ+ community as well as victims of domestic violence. Three agencies stood out with number and type of collaborations regarding youth and mental illness: Healthy Acadia, the Community Caring Collaborative, and the Aroostook Mental Health Center. We collated information about types of obstacles into these categories by frequency of mention: Lack of Services / Providers, Stigma / Community Culture, Transportation / Distance, Information Shortage, Cost, and Mistrust of Providers. Five areas of ideas from interviewees to address these challenges are provided. We end this report by highlighting some national, state, county, and local efforts to address these challenges as well as next steps for our research team
Washington County Asset Map and Needs Assessment : Building a Network to Serve Youths at Risk for Serious Mental Illness
This study is the first in a series of planned investigations into pathways to care for adolescents and young adults with serious mental illness in Washington County. Resources were identified that may support a network for identifying and accessing services. Over 120 agencies were categorized into one of seven types: education, mental health, health, substance use / recovery, community / library, and law enforcement. Web-based information was collected for 85 of these agencies and representatives of 47 of these agencies were interviewed about challenges, collaborations, and ideas for solutions. We found a great deal of collaboration among agencies within different service sectors. For example, there is regular collaboration among health agencies, among educational agencies, and among agencies serving children and families. We identified networks that support the LGBTQ+ community as well as victims of domestic violence. Three agencies stood out with number and type of collaborations regarding youth and mental illness: Healthy Acadia, the Community Caring Collaborative, and the Aroostook Mental Health Center. We collated information about types of obstacles into these categories by frequency of mention: Lack of Services / Providers, Stigma / Community Culture, Transportation / Distance, Information Shortage, Cost, and Mistrust of Providers. Five areas of ideas from interviewees to address these challenges are provided. We end this report by highlighting some national, state, county, and local efforts to address these challenges as well as next steps for our research team
A menu of self-administered microcomputer-based neurotoxicology tests
This study examined the feasibility of repeated self-administration of a newly developed battery of mental acuity tests. Researchers developed this battery to be used to screen the fitness for duty of persons in at-risk occupations (astronauts, race car drivers), or those who may be exposed to environmental stress, toxic agents, or disease. The menu under study contained cognitive and motor tests implemented on a portable microcomputer including: a five-test core battery, lasting six minutes, which had demonstrable reliabilities and stability from several previous repeated-measures studies, and also 13 new tests, lasting 42 minutes, which had appeared in other batteries but had not yet been evaluated for repeated-measures implementation in this medium. Sixteen subjects self-administered the battery over 10 repeated sessions. The hardware performed well throughout the study and the tests appeared to be easily self-administered. Stabilities and reliabilities of the test from the core battery were comparable to those obtained previously under more controlled experimental conditions. Analyses of metric properties of the remaining 13 tests produced eight additional tests with satisfactory properties. Although the average retest reliability was high, cross-correlations between tests were low, indicating factorial richness. The menu can be used to form batteries of flexible total testing time which are likely to tap different mental processes and functions
Microcomputer-based tests for repeated-measures: Metric properties and predictive validities
A menu of psychomotor and mental acuity tests were refined. Field applications of such a battery are, for example, a study of the effects of toxic agents or exotic environments on performance readiness, or the determination of fitness for duty. The key requirement of these tasks is that they be suitable for repeated-measures applications, and so questions of stability and reliability are a continuing, central focus of this work. After the initial (practice) session, seven replications of 14 microcomputer-based performance tests (32 measures) were completed by 37 subjects. Each test in the battery had previously been shown to stabilize in less than five 90-second administrations and to possess retest reliabilities greater than r = 0.707 for three minutes of testing. However, all the tests had never been administered together as a battery and they had never been self-administered. In order to provide predictive validity for intelligence measurement, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised and the Wonderlic Personnel Test were obtained on the same subjects
Understanding Occupational Injury and Substance Use Issues among Workers in the Shellfish and Lobster Industries
In 2022, American lobster (Homarus americanus) and softshell clam (Mya arenaria) harvests contributed $283 million to Downeast Maine’s economy, employing thousands of harvesters. Harvesting is grueling work. Pain from work-related injuries precedes most opioid deaths, and workers in fisheries are disproportionately at risk. Harvesters are typically self-employed and often uninsured or underinsured, complicating access to care. Prior studies have focused on injury risk or drug use among harvesters without revealing how injury, pain and substance use intertwine with cultural, social and regulatory factors. This study examined the socio-ecologically embedded injury/ pain/ substance use process with surveys of harvesters (n=106) and healthcare providers and advocates (n=31) followed by interviews of harvesters (n=13) and providers (n=8). We found that harvesters are extremely prone to injury from myriad causes. Shellfish harvesters were more injury-prone and socially vulnerable than lobster harvesters. Deferral of care, problems with healthcare access, age, lack of cultural competency among healthcare providers, and challenges with financial stability were linked to poor outcomes. Interviewees shared many anecdotes of addiction and overdose stemming from injury. Self-medication with substances other than opioids was also prevalent, indicating widespread pain-related challenges. Participants reported family disruption and incarceration related to substance use disorder, and common comorbidities included hepatitis-C, HIV and organ failure. Consultation with community partners yielded recommendations to support health and keep Maine\u27s fisheries afloat, including community-embedded healthcare services, fisheries policy arrangements that reduce injury risk and incentivize health, financial education for managing boom and bust cycles, and expanded insurance programs