Daily Life Support Research Articles

영아반교사의 전문성 증진을 위한 기록작업에 관한 연구 -일상생활을 중심으로-

This study is about ‘documentation’ for promoting professionalism of infant class teachers. This study examined professionalism of teachers connected to documentation by analyzing journals and observation log prepared by teachers that documented daily life of infants. For the foregoing research, this study collected documentation in regards to daily life of infant classes of national and public day care centers from March through December 2023. A method of qualitative research was applied and the result was categorized as record that leads to ‘observe’, record that arouses ‘concern’ and ‘introspection’ and ‘keeping documentation’ through sympathy and support. Infant class teachers solve concerns about support for daily life by y taking another look at from the infants’ point of view and forming a bond of sympathy through documentation. Experience that observes maladjustment of infants to daycare centers with sympathy and wait was indebted to documentation that leads teachers to observe and wait. Teachers who participated in the research were able to discover one’s fixed idea by looking back on the documentation and experienced emotional care that is professionalism of infant class teachers. Examining the documentation, directors acknowledged that support for daily life of infants and qualification of teachers to respect and encourage infants is related to professionalism. This study is considered significant as it proves that documentation is an important educational behavior that leads professionalism of infant class teachers.

장애인 교원의 인적지원 요구 탐색 연구

Purpose: This study aimed to explore how teachers with disabilities perceive the challenges and human support in various tasks and situations that arise in school settings, and to explore the expertise and support criteria tailored to the needs of teachers based on their disability and job responsibilities. Methods: For this purpose, the participants in the focus group interviews (FGIs) were divided into three groups, taking into consideration the disability category and severity, school curriculum, and subjects. Group 1 consisted of seven visually impaired teachers in general subjects, Group 2 consisted of four visually impaired teachers in special education, and Group 3 formed a consultative body of six teachers with physical disabilities, and FGI was conducted twice each. Results: The analysis of the collected data revealed seven main themes with twenty-four sub-themes. The seven main themes that emerged were as follows: educational expertise, administrative expertise, expertise demanded by special education teachers, expertise related to disabilities, support for daily life of teachers with disabilities, support demands related to professional development, and ethical principles and attitudes related to support. Conclusion: The findings emphasize the importance of institutional support for teachers with disabilities, tailored to their specific needs. They can serve as foundational data for exploring strategies to establish a support system that helps teachers with disabilities adapt and thrive in the teaching profession

Normality and compassionate care: experiences from advanced cancer patients in their last time at home

BackgroundMany cancer patients prefer to receive palliative treatment at home, as it allows them to be in a familiar and comfortable environment. Integrating Advance Care Planning (ACP) into routine practice in primary healthcare helps patients and their relatives prepare for end-of-life (EoL) care in accordance with patients’ preferences. This includes the option to spend their final days at home if desired. The aim of this study was to gain insights from experiences of advanced seriously ill cancer patients at home while receiving palliative treatment and being engaged in ACP within primary healthcare settings.MethodThis study employed a qualitative design, utilizing individual, semi-structured interviews that were analysed through reflexive thematic analysis, employing an abductive approach with a latent-level focus. The study included interviews with 12 participants with cancer who were receiving palliative care, had an estimated lifetime under 3 months, and had undergone an organized ACP approach in primary healthcare, documented with a palliative plan.ResultsParticipants emphasized the importance of (1) Preserving normality at home, maintaining a sense of routine, comfort, and familiarity in the face of present and future challenges. The top obstacles for success identified by participants included (1a) The challenge of deterioration and the dual aspects of (1b) The value and burden of family caregivers. Cancer treatment placed a significant demand on patients due to side effects. Family caregivers played a crucial role for participants, providing support in daily life and serving as a key factor in the overall decision to which extend they are able to involve in support and care at home in the future. (2) Compassionate health care personnel (HCP) made a difference by fostering a culture of understanding participants’ concerns, fears, and preferences, which was a key element that built and maintained trust for the participants. (3) Preparing for the future, especially EoL discussions initiated by healthcare personnel, was deemed important but, at times, uncomfortable for participants as it confronted them with reality. Guidance from ACP provided them with a sense of certainty and control.ConclusionPreserving normality at home, along with the desire to stay at home for as long as possible, is a crucial goal for advanced cancer patients. Consistent professional communication and care in primary healthcare play a key role in building and maintaining trust, as well as fostering a sense of certainty and control for the participants.

Frailty in Hemodialysis Patient

Abstract Background Frailty has been defined as a state of increased vulnerability to stressors as a consequence of degeneration in multiple systems. There remain two schools of thought with regard to frailty: one which sees frailty as a physical phenotype characterized by sarcopenia and another that views frailty as an accumulation of deficits across a variety of domains. Aim of the Work The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of frailty among dialysis population. Patients and Methods This cross section study carried out in Hemodialysis Unit of the Nasr City Health Insurance Hospital between October 2020 and July 2021. The total number of the study was 325 hemodialysis patients, 25 were excluded from the study, thus the enrolled final number became 300 hemodialysis patients on maintenance hemodialysis therapy for at least 6 months. Results The mean age of the patients was 45.57±11.79 years (range 25-65 years) 50% of them were under 45 years of age. 258 (86%) of patients were males and 42 (14%) females, with male to female ratio about 6.14:1. 37 patients (12.3%) has positive HCV, while the results also show that none of the HBV and HIV of the study group. 10 patients (3.3%) of vulnerable, 89 (29.7%) patients at mild frailty, table also clarified that, 126 (42.0%) patients at moderat4e frailty, furthermore, 75 (25%) patients at severe frailty in Edmonton frail scale. There was significant positive association between frailty and age with p-value <0.001. Males more affected by frailty than females. Conclusion The differences in the frailty prevalence among CKD patients could be caused by the different definitions of frailty that each study adopted. It is important to prevent early-onset disability in end-stage renal disease, which may be accelerated by frailty in this patient population, which includes individuals who already carry a high risk of morbidity and mortality. We adopted the Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS) based on self-report, it is very simple to administer and can be carried out by hemodialysis nursing staff after minimal training, without the need for specialist medical staff, in less than 15 min. Its association with poor short-term outcome highlights its utility in detecting frail patients, but because it is a multi-domain test, it also gives health professionals information about which areas of frailty are affected. This would allow specialists to administer specific, more complex scales to detect deficits in independence for basic and instrumental activities of daily life, cognition, emotional status, and social support. Our findings allow us to recommend the inclusion of the frailty comprehensive assessment of patients starting the dialysis program to timely identification of frailty syndrome.

Formative research to adapt a cardiac rehabilitation program to breast cancer survivors: the heart health after cancer treatment (HEART-ACT) study.

Breast cancer survivors are disproportionately at risk for cardiovascular disease; exercise-based interventions may improve cardiovascular health. The objective of this formative research is to better understand the needs of patients and barriers to participation in an adapted cardiac rehabilitation program for diverse breast cancer survivors in an urban safety net setting. We recruited 30 participants (10 English-speaking, 10 Spanish-speaking, and 10 Cantonese-speaking) who had received treatment with curative intent for breast cancer from an urban safety net hospital between November 9, 2021, to August 30, 2022. Participants completed surveys and interviews about perspectives on health behaviors and participating in an adapted cardiac rehabilitation program. Interviews were qualitatively analyzed using rapid template analysis with pre-selected constructs from the Theory of Planned Behavior, Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, and Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, as well as emergent codes. We developed a Participant User Journey for a program based on responses and conducted human-centered design sessions with 8 participants to iteratively revise the Participant User Journey. Among 30 participants, mean age was 56.7 years (standard deviation [SD] 10.2) with 100% female sex assigned at birth; 1 participant withdrew before completing study procedures. Most participants had limited health literacy (18/29, 62%). Mean body mass index was 31.4 (SD 8.3), 21/29 (72%) had blood pressure below 140/90 mmHg, and 12/29 (41%) had blood pressure below 130/80. Mean 6-minute walk distance was 384.9 meters (SD 78.3). The desired benefits of a program included healthy living and prevention of cancer recurrence. Barriers to participation included motivation, social support, transportation, and concerns about exercise safety. Participants emphasized the need for practicality, such as fitting physical activity into daily life and nutrition support, including recipes and shopping lists. Trusted experts and cultural and language concordance were viewed as important aspects of the program. Through participant interviews and human-centered design sessions, we developed the HEART-ACT program, a 12-week multi-disciplinary program addressing physical activity, nutrition, emotional well-being, cardiovascular risk, survivorship, and other components if indicated (e.g., tobacco cessation). Future research will test the effects of this program on patient-centered outcomes.

Experiences of managers and staff working in community-based mental health with people ageing with severe mental health problems.

Existing research shows that older people with severe mental health problems need different forms of support in daily life and in the community to lead an active and meaningful life. A common form of support for people with severe mental health problems in Sweden is attendance at community-based day centres (DCs). However, knowledge of staff and managers' experiences of how people ageing with severe mental health problems are supported in DCs is scarce. The aim was to explore DC staff and managers' experiences of how people ageing with severe mental health problems are supported in DCs during the retirement process. Telephone interviews were conducted with managers in 27 municipalities in southern Sweden. In addition, focus groups were held with personnel from a total of nine different DCs. The material was analysed using content analysis. The results showed that older people who receive support in community-based mental health care were viewed as a neglected group with complex needs, and the informants (managers and staff) had few policies to guide them when providing support. This made the informants desire more knowledge about best practices to support the target group. One theme emerged, Minding the gap between ideal and reality while working with a neglected group with complex needs, with three categories: Reasoning around unmet needs, Navigating in a muddled organisation, and Wishing for an enriched service. Together with previous research, the results can contribute to increase awareness about an overlooked group at risk of being neglected and the pitfalls that impact the possibility to guide this target group in their recovery journey. Further research focusing on the target group's own experience of their everyday life situations is also needed.

Adapting the Number of Questions Based on Detected Psychological Distress for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy With an Embodied Conversational Agent: Comparative Study.

The high prevalence of mental illness is a critical social problem. The limited availability of mental health services is a major factor that exacerbates this problem. One solution is to deliver cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) using an embodied conversational agent (ECA). ECAs make it possible to provide health care without location or time constraints. One of the techniques used in CBT is Socratic questioning, which guides users to correct negative thoughts. The effectiveness of this approach depends on a therapist's skill to adapt to the user's mood or distress level. However, current ECAs do not possess this skill. Therefore, it is essential to implement this adaptation ability to the ECAs. This study aims to develop and evaluate a method that automatically adapts the number of Socratic questions based on the level of detected psychological distress during a CBT session with an ECA. We hypothesize that this adaptive approach to selecting the number of questions will lower psychological distress, reduce negative emotional states, and produce more substantial cognitive changes compared with a random number of questions. In this study, which envisions health care support in daily life, we recruited participants aged from 18 to 65 years for an experiment that involved 2 different conditions: an ECA that adapts a number of questions based on psychological distress detection or an ECA that only asked a random number of questions. The participants were assigned to 1 of the 2 conditions, experienced a single CBT session with an ECA, and completed questionnaires before and after the session. The participants completed the experiment. There were slight differences in sex, age, and preexperimental psychological distress levels between the 2 conditions. The adapted number of questions condition showed significantly lower psychological distress than the random number of questions condition after the session. We also found a significant difference in the cognitive change when the number of questions was adapted based on the detected distress level, compared with when the number of questions was fewer than what was appropriate for the level of distress detected. The results show that an ECA adapting the number of Socratic questions based on detected distress levels increases the effectiveness of CBT. Participants who received an adaptive number of questions experienced greater reductions in distress than those who received a random number of questions. In addition, the participants showed a greater amount of cognitive change when the number of questions matched the detected distress level. This suggests that adapting the question quantity based on distress level detection can improve the results of CBT delivered by an ECA. These results illustrate the advantages of ECAs, paving the way for mental health care that is more tailored and effective.

“She is Like a Sister to Me”: Children’s Lived Experience With Their Dog

ABSTRACT This study aimed to explore the relationship between children and dogs through their cohabitation, highlighting the ways children experience, interpret, and give meaning to the role of the dog in their everyday lives. Thirteen children (6 females, 7 males) aged 7–12 years from Thessaloniki, Greece, who had been living with a dog for at least the past three years, participated in the study. From September 2018 to June 2019, we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with each child and also used supplementary means of data collection, such as photographs, drawings, videos, and diaries. The interviews were recorded and subsequently transcribed. Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis was applied to illustrate the participants’ reflections on their experiences of living with a dog. From the analysis, the three most common themes identified were that dogs: (a) facilitate routines and habits, (b) contribute to family dynamics, and (c) provide emotional support in daily life. The study findings give insight into dog–child relationships, as well as evidence regarding children’s lived experiences through the fundamental supportive role of the dog as a transitional object.

Bidirectional Associations Between Loneliness, Emotional Support, and Sleep in Daily Life.

Evidence suggests a link between positive social relationship perceptions and improved sleep (e.g., quality, efficiency) across the life span. Less work has probed the directionality of these relationships. Here, we report findings from the first study to examine bidirectional between- and within-person associations between loneliness and emotional support with daily life measures of sleep. Participants were 389 healthy adults aged 40 to 64 years (61% female) who completed hourly surveys assessing loneliness and perceptions of emotional support over the course of 4 days. Measures of actigraphy-assessed sleep and nightly sleep quality were also assessed for 7 to 10 days. Individuals with lower average daily loneliness showed higher sleep quality and efficiency than individuals with higher loneliness (r = -0.19, p < .001; r = -0.14, p = .008, respectively), and greater average emotional support was likewise linked with better sleep quality (r = 0.18, p < .001). Controlling for neuroticism attenuated the effects of average loneliness on sleep. Within-person analyses showed unexpected bidirectional effects. Specifically, days in which people felt relatively lonelier were followed by nights with greater sleep efficiency (γ = 1.08, p = .015), and nights when people reported relatively poorer sleep quality were followed by days with greater emotional support (γ = -0.04, p = .013). These unexpected findings are probed in exploratory analyses. Individuals with higher loneliness and lower emotional support report poorer sleep quality and efficiency, on average. Day-to-day fluctuations in perceptions of social relationships may affect the following night's sleep, and vice versa.

P370 Quality of life in inflammatory bowel diseases – is the flare all that matters?

Abstract Background Burden in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) is high and affects both physical and psychological status. Short inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire (SIBDQ) is a self-administered health-related quality of life questionnaire that evaluates social, bowel, emotional and systemic dimension. Our aim is to evaluate the impact of IBD status on patients’ daily life. Methods We analysed 82 patients diagnosed with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis or that were admitted between March 2021 and April 2022 in Fundeni Clinical Institute, Bucharest. SIBDQ consists of ten questions, with score ranging from 10 (poor) to 70 (optimal). Patients completed SIBDQ and we assessed disease status and determined biological and clinical markers. Results 51% of patients were diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. 79% were in clinical remission. The mean age was 39.53±12.9 years old and 52.4% were men. Mean illness duration was 8.03±7.18 years. Mean SIBDQ score was 50.25±14.51, with significantly higher scores in the remission subgroup (55.26±10.30 vs. 31.11±12.24, p&amp;lt;0.001) and it correlated with faecal calprotectin level (ρ=-0,502) and C-reactive protein level (ρ=- 0,531), without regard to disease type or sex. There were no correlations between SIBDQ score and Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis phenotype, duration since diagnosis, presence of extraintestinal manifestations or history of abdominal surgery related to IBD. Conclusion Patients with IBD flares have low quality of life and SIBDQ scores correlate with markers of disease severity, comparable to previously-published literature. Patients in clinical remission presented with higher SIBDQ scores, independently of IBD phenotype or previous surgery. Acute flares of IBD have a major impact on daily life, additional psychological and social support is needed in order to improve management.

An exploration into the occupational identity of women following breast cancer and treatment: A qualitative study

Introduction: The number of women surviving after breast cancer is increasing, along with the length of time they are living with the after-effects of treatment. Although the treatment’s effects are known to impact occupational participation, little is known about how breast cancer could affect occupational identity. This study aims to illuminate the lived experience of women long-term after breast cancer treatment through an occupational perspective in order to explore how they perceive their occupational identity. Methods: A qualitative study with semi-structured interviews was conducted with six women, who had all received a diagnosis of breast cancer and treatment for longer than a year. Reflexive Thematic Analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings: Three intertwined themes describe the participants’ experience. (1) ‘Disruptions in daily life and Environmental support’, (2) ‘Be able to do’ and identity, and (3) ‘Doing what matters and is possible’. Findings revealed that the occupational identities of the participants were maintained. Cancer treatment effects appear to impact occupational competence that corresponded to participants’ occupational identities, suggesting difficulties in the order of occupational adaptation. Conclusion: Our findings contribute to understanding the challenges to occupational participation related to the occupational identity of women following breast cancer and treatment.

Helping behaviours of community members towards older adults and the related factors: a cross-sectional study.

Community members can play important roles in helping older adults in their community. This study aimed to clarify the actual situation of community members' helping behaviours towards older adults and examine the related factors. This cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey system with a sample of 1000 community members in the Tokyo metropolitan area selected using quota sampling. Participants were asked about their experiences with helping an older adult, involvement with older adults with dementia, knowledge of dementia and care resources in the community, and perceptions regarding the community. Content analysis was used to classify participants' freely answered responses about helping behaviours, with logistic regression analysis subsequently used to examine the related factors. Community members provided older adults with various types of spontaneous help, including help with walking (20.0%), accident care (16.8%), giving directions to a destination (11.6%), accompanying them to a destination (12.9%), and support in daily life (10.4%). In the multinominal logistic regression analysis, advanced helping behaviours were associated with having a family member with dementia, experiences involving people living with dementia, knowledge of dementia and community support centres, and a stronger sense of community integration (P < 0.05). The reasons for not being able to help included being physically unable to (42.5%), not feeling responsible (19.3%), not knowing how to help (17.4%), and hesitating to help (14.4%). The results suggest that providing learning opportunities for community members could further promote their helping behaviours for older adults. These could include interacting with older adults, especially those living with dementia; promoting a sense of community integration; or receiving training in helping actions. Such efforts could support the development of an effective community-based care system for older adults.

Network analysis of the relationship between social support and quality of life in patients with epilepsy

BackgroundIdentifying important types of social support for patients with epilepsy is valuable to construct an effective system for support in daily life. However, previous studies have been inconsistent in identifying the most important types of social support for better quality of life (QOL) due to the high correlations between the social support factors. The present study employed network visualization analysis to identify the relationships between QOL and types of social support. MethodsTwo hundred and eighty-three patients with epilepsy (age range: 18 to 75 years) completed questionnaires of the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOS-SSS) and the Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory-31-Problems in the epilepsy monitoring unit at Tohoku University. The MOS-SSS was established to measure the four types of social support including emotional/informational support, tangible support, affectionate support, and positive social interaction. Our network visualization analysis represented the entire structure of the interrelationships between the four functions of social support and QOL. In addition, the relative importance of each function of social support were estimated by the centrality indices using three commonly used centrality indices: strength, betweenness, and closeness. ResultsThe visualized network showed that positive social interaction and emotional/informational support were directly associated with QOL, whereas tangible support and affectionate support were not. Positive social interaction had the highest value for all three centrality indices and affectionate support had the second highest. Therefore, positive social interaction had the strongest connection to the other functions of support. DiscussionOur network analysis and centrality indices findings showed that positive social interaction is the most important within the network of four types of social support and QOL. The emotional informational function is also important for directly improving QOL but is less related to the other functions. The affectionate function might be an indicator of whether a patient has a foundational relationship that leads to other functions of support. ConclusionThese results showed the importance of increasing positive social interaction in the social environment of patients with epilepsy. Therefore, practitioners need to encourage patients with epilepsy to increase their positive social interactions such as doing something enjoyable with others or someone to associate for relaxation to ensure high QOL. Connections outside the epilepsy support are important, such as having fun regardless of epilepsy, rather than only providing emotional or tangible support for epilepsy.

Long-Term Maternal Mental Health after Spontaneous Preterm Birth.

The aim of this study is to investigate whether a history of spontaneous preterm birth (SPTB) is associated with maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms, or psychosocial distress in the fifth decade of life. This is a secondary analysis of the PreCaris-study, a prospective observational study in which we included 350 women with a history of SPTB between 220/7 and 366/7 weeks of gestation and compared them to 115 women who had a term birth. Primary outcomes were the Depression and Anxiety scores measured using the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale and Psychosocial distress assessed with the Distress Thermometer for Parents. Secondary outcomes were self-reported impact of the birth in daily life and psychosocial support after delivery. After a median of 13 years after delivery, no significant differences were found in primary outcomes. Significantly more women with a history of SPTB reported that the birth still had impact in daily life; adjusted odds ratio: 2.46 (95% confidence interval: 1.35-4.48). A total of 57 (16.3%) women after SPTB reported to have needed professional psychosocial support after delivery but did not receive it. These women more often had a high Anxiety score (p = 0.030), psychosocial distress (p = 0.001), and influence of birth in daily life (p = 0.000). There are no long-term effects on depressive and anxiety symptoms and psychosocial distress in women who experienced SPTB compared with women who had a full-term pregnancy. A significant part of the women who delivered preterm needed psychosocial support but did not receive it and were at higher risk of anxiety, psychosocial distress, and impact in daily life. We therefore recommend offering all women after SPTB psychosocial support after delivery. · No long-term effects on depressive and anxiety symptoms and psychosocial distress after SPTB.. · A total of 16.3% of the cases needed professional psychosocial support after delivery but did not receive it.. · This subgroup was at higher risk of anxiety symptoms, psychosocial distress, and impact on daily life..

RECAPACITA PROJECT: Impact of the New York Convention on capacity modification judgments in persons with severe mental disorders: A comparative study using mixed methodology.

In 2013, Spain aligned its capacity modification processes (CM) legislation with the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, specifically for individuals with severe mental disorders (SMD). The reforms replaced incapacity verdicts with support provision and introduced the term "CM". However, the social impact of these changes remains uncertain. The RECAPACITA project was initiated to generate knowledge on SMD and CM, and this study aims to investigate modifications in CM sentences and associated terminology. Using a qualitative-quantitative methodology, content analysis was conducted on 56 sentences from individuals with SMD. Terminology analysis utilized 19 sentences to achieve information saturation. A comparison was made between sentences prior to 2013 and those spanning 2014 to 2023, analyzing the data through ANOVA and Bonferroni tests (significance level: 0.05). The analysis revealed that psychiatric illness, its evolution, lack of self-governance, and economic management were frequently mentioned aspects in the sentences. However, no significant correlations were found. Qualitatively, mentions of self-governance were more prevalent in sentences before 2013. Conversely, after 2013, there was an increased focus on substances use, lack of insight and medical adherence, and the need for support in daily life. The term "incapable person" appeared in 100% of the sentences, indicating no differences in terminology. The study suggests that current CM sentences provide increasingly individualized information, addressing the specific support needs of individuals. To enhance future legal proceedings, incorporating neuroscience in studying SMD individuals and reconsidering terminology based on Convention guidelines is recommended.

Older adults’ motivations in game based systems: Heuristic definition and its connection with fun

Efforts are currently being made to generate wellbeing in the elderly population in order to achieve a good quality of life through the improvement of health, social interaction and psychological health. This is achieved, in addition to other options, through the application of game-based systems, presenting positive results that have been evidenced in several studies. These types of approaches are not only applied for entertainment and leisure, but also for learning and generating positive feelings, as a means of escape from loneliness, isolation, health improvement and support in daily life. Although these experiences are gradually being applied to the older adult population, they have usually been oriented to a young population with different characteristics, needs and motivations, where technological mastery is taken for granted. This makes an older adult feel limited when initially interacting with this type of experiences, which prevents them from fully using and enjoying these technological solutions. In this article, different motivational aspects that encourage older adults to use game-based systems (for learning, fun, health, etc.) were identified and characterized in order to increase the use of this type of technologies, and to improve the design and evaluation of these experiences to obtain greater enjoyment from the end users. These aspects were represented by a motivational model and then established as a set of heuristics. These heuristics were evaluated by means of an expert judgment focused on the design of game experiences, obtaining positive results for the use of these elements as guides in the design and construction of Game-Based Systems oriented to older adults. This set of heuristics and their application were published in the PL/PX web platform for detailed explanation, access and use by the academic community.

Recurrent Network Solutions for Human Posture Recognition Based on Kinect Skeletal Data.

Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) systems are designed to provide unobtrusive and user-friendly support in daily life and can be used for monitoring frail people based on various types of sensors, including wearables and cameras. Although cameras can be perceived as intrusive in terms of privacy, low-cost RGB-D devices (i.e., Kinect V2) that extract skeletal data can partially overcome these limits. In addition, deep learning-based algorithms, such as Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), can be trained on skeletal tracking data to automatically identify different human postures in the AAL domain. In this study, we investigate the performance of two RNN models (2BLSTM and 3BGRU) in identifying daily living postures and potentially dangerous situations in a home monitoring system, based on 3D skeletal data acquired with Kinect V2. We tested the RNN models with two different feature sets: one consisting of eight human-crafted kinematic features selected by a genetic algorithm, and another consisting of 52 ego-centric 3D coordinates of each considered skeleton joint, plus the subject's distance from the Kinect V2. To improve the generalization ability of the 3BGRU model, we also applied a data augmentation method to balance the training dataset. With this last solution we reached an accuracy of 88%, the best we achieved so far.

Pelatihan Dasar Manajemen Bantuan Hidup Dasar (BHD) Karang Taruna Dusun Sribit Dan Sekarsuli, Kapanewon Berbah, Sleman, Yogyakarta

Basic Life Support (BHD) is very important since it teaches how to provide basic daily life support techniques that are commonly encountered. This community service program intends to provide education as well as training to youth organizations and health cadres of the village who partners with the Community Service Institute of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, namely hamlets of Sribit and Sekarsuli, Berbah, Sleman. The model of the BHD training program was a combination of mini-lecture and practice. Technically, BHD materials were taught by the health professionals to participants 8 times in 1 month. Determination the effectiveness of the program, pretest and posttest were conducted before and after the training. The statistical analysis test results for the total value of the pretest and posttest found that there was an increase in the total of respondents (n=23) who had a good average level of knowledge, from 0 (0%) to 14 (60.8%). The average value of the test also increased, i.e. before the program was 46.13 then became 80.43, with a p value of 0.001 using the Wilcoxon test. This indicated that there is a difference in the respondents’ knowledge before and after conducting basic BHD training. The implication of this program was that the combination of mini lectures and practice could be utilized as an effective approach in providing education and training on BHD for lay people.

Self‐determination and quality of life of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities: Past, present, and future of close research paths

AbstractIn recent decades, research in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities has targeted self‐determination and quality of life constructs. Quality of life has been extensively studied within various theoretical frameworks. It has been used to guide the provision of appropriate support in daily life. In addition, a vast body of scientific literature has focused on the theoretical and practical underpinnings of self‐determination as a construct in itself. To understand how self‐determination is an essential supporting concept in the quality of life paradigm, this brief report unravels the complementary but unique role that each construct (quality of life and self‐determination) embodies. Furthermore, we discuss the role of self‐determination in the scientific literature and in the quality of life of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, reflecting on how both lines of research can converge and be aligned from a common approach. The aim is to drive attention to areas of future research development that strengthen understanding of quality of life and the self‐determination construct.

Support in Daily Living for Young Adults with Neurodevelopmental Conditions in Sweden: A Qualitative Description of Current Practice.

In Sweden, people living independently and requiring daily living support can access 'housing support', a form of practical, educational, and social support provided by the municipalities. About two-thirds of those receiving this support have neurodevelopmental conditions, primarily autism or ADHD. Many are young adults in the process of adapting to new roles and expectations in different life domains, including education, work, and accommodation. This study aimed to provide a qualitative description of support workers' views on current practice in housing support for young adults (aged 18 to 29) with neurodevelopmental conditions. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 34 housing support workers across 19 Swedish regions. An inductive qualitative content analysis approach was used. The interviews depicted a complex service, subject to organizational aspects (roles, responsibilities, availability, and allocation), the joint effort of key players (young adults, relatives, and support workers), and practical aspects of service provision (finding common ground for the work, and delivery of support). Some elements of the service were poorly designed for the target group. The support workers expressed a need for more knowledge about neurodevelopmental conditions, but also described new insights related to remote delivery of support. The results raise important questions about how housing support should be organized and delivered to strike the right balance between support and autonomy, meet specific needs, and ensure equal services across municipalities. Future research should adopt multiple perspectives and approaches, to help translate best practice and available evidence into a flexible and sustainable service.