Needs, expectations and consequences for the child growing up in a family with a parent with mental illness

Parental mental illness is considered one of the strongest risk-factors for development of offspring psychopathology. The lack of pan-European guidelines for empowering children of parents with mental illness led to EU project CAMILLE - Empowerment of Children and Adolescents of Mentally Ill Parents through Training of Professionals working with children and adolescents. The first task in this project, was to analyse needs, expectations and consequences for children, with respect to living with a parent with mental illness. The aim this paper is to report results of these analyses. The qualitative research was conducted in England, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland and Scotland (N=96). There were 3 types of focus groups: (1) professionals (doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers), (2) adult children and partners of a person with mental illness, (3) parents who have experienced mental illness during their parenthood. Framework analysis method was used. Results of the study highlighted that the main consequences for children of parental mental illness were role reversal, emotional and behavioural problems, lack of parent’s attention and stigma. The main needs of these children were emotional support, security and multidisciplinary help. Implications for practice are: (1) professionals working with parents with mental illness should be aware of the specific consequences for the children; (2) to empower children they should focus on them, but not excluding parents from the parental roles; (3) the multi-agency collaboration is necessary; (4) schools should provide counselling and teach staff and students about mental health problems to reduce stigm

Mothers’ work–family conflict and enrichment:associations with parenting quality and couple relationship

Background Employment participation of mothers of young children has steadily increased in developed nations. Combining work and family roles can create conflicts with family life, but can also bring enrichment.Work–family conflict and enrichment experienced by mothers may also impact children’s home environments via parenting behaviour and the couple relationship, particularly in the early years of parenting when the care demands for young children is high. Methods In order to examine these associations, while adjusting for a wide range of known covariates of parenting and relationship quality, regression models using survey data from 2151 working mothers of 4- to 5-year-old children are reported. Results/Conclusion Results provided partial support for the predicted independent relationships between work–family conflict, enrichment and indicators of the quality of parenting and the couple relationship

Cooperatively Exploring Dry Edible Beans as a Value Added/Alternative Crop Dry Edible Beans

Driven by the desire and interest in finding a value-added marketable alternative crop a group of 24 producers in central Iowa recently tackled the formidable challenge of evaluating potential alternatives for their farming operations. Having witnessed other alternative crop projects come and go this group approached the process with a unique attitude of cooperation. Through a cooperative approach the risks, rewards and resources were shared for the purpose of more quickly reaching project resolution and at a scale that would reflect realistic market potential. Initial grower meetings narrowed the project down to two potential dry edible beans and established a protocol for risk management. Producers were encouraged to grow these dry edible beans with the mindset of research and experimentation. Individual growers were encouraged to utilize their existing cropping practices and commit to no more acres than they were willing to put at risk. To provide consistent evaluation data, the growers performed all production tasks and absorbed all personal production costs, however, all harvesting was done by a common machine and operator. Based on acres of production revenue from sales would be divided equally to all producers. This protocol was developed for the first year of production only and for the purpose of evaluating crop profitability as well as establishing a baseline of production practices

Symptomology, outcomes and risk factors of acute coronary syndrome presentations without cardiac chest pain : a scoping review

For patients experiencing acute coronary syndrome, early symptom recognition is paramount; this is challenging without chest pain presentation. The aims of this scoping review were to collate definitions, proportions, symptoms, risk factors and outcomes for presentations without cardiac chest pain. Full-text peer reviewed articles covering acute coronary syndrome symptoms without cardiac chest pain were included. MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus and Embase were systematically searched from 2000 to April 2023 with adult and English limiters; 41 articles were selected from 2,954. Dyspnoea was the most reported (n=39) and most prevalent symptom (11.6–72%). Neurological symptoms, fatigue/weakness, nausea/ vomiting, atypical chest pain and diaphoresis were also common. Advancing age appeared independently associated with presentations without cardiac chest pain; however, findings were mixed regarding other risk factors (sex and diabetes). Patients without cardiac chest pain had worse outcomes: increased mortality, morbidity, greater prehospital and intervention delays and suboptimal use of guideline driven care. There is a need for structured data collection, analysis and interpretation. © The Author(s) 2024

The Use of EMG as a Physical Therapy Learning Aid

The purpose of this study was to compare the muscle recruitment of an agonist and antagonist muscle during the step up physical therapy exercise with and without visual electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback. 15 healthy, college-aged subjects were recruited to participate in the study. Subjects performed the step up with and without visual feedback in two separate sessions over a four week period. Muscle activity was recorded from the Vastus Medialis (VMO) of the target leg and Medial Gastrocnemius on the contralateral leg. EMG recordings were collected using a BTS FREEEMG system and data was processed using BTS SEMGanalyzer software (BTS Bioengineering, Brooklyn, NY). Results: Average Gastrocnemius muscle activity during visual sessions was .340 mV (SD .141) and .310 mV (SD .138) during non-visual sessions. Average VMO muscle activity was .309 mV (SD .097) during visual sessions and .299 mV (SD .139) during non-visual sessions. A paired t-test was used to determine statistical significance between visual and non-visual sessions. Values were considered significant with a p\u3c.05. No significant difference was observed between visual and non-visual trials for the agonist and antagonist muscles. Two subsequent trials were conducted while visual, verbal and palpation feedback was given throughout the entirety of the exercise. The results showed greater muscle activity in the agonist muscle and less activity in the antagonist muscle when the subject received biofeedback. These findings support the conclusions of previous studies (Holermann, Taian, Vieira, Taskiran, Ekblom, One-Bin), suggesting that EMG biofeedback can be used as a tool for proper muscle recruitment during physical therapy exercises

Efficacy of Electromyography and the Dead Bug Exercise

The Dead Bug exercise is performed in physical therapy clinics to restore lumbar spine stability and core strength in patients with lower back pain (LBP). The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of using electromyography (EMG) feedback to enhance proper mechanics during the Dead Bug exercise. Sixteen healthy, college age students volunteered as subjects for the study. Subjects performed the Dead Bug (Fig. 1a.) with and without visual EMG cues and were given instructions on how to execute the exercise. Data was recorded using a BTS FREEEMG Analyzer and signal processed and data analyzed using the BTS SEMGanalyzer software (BTS Bioengineering, Brooklyn, NY). Electrodes were placed on the right rectus abdominis (RA) and right rectus femoris (RF) of each subject of the agonist and antagonist muscle of the movement, respectively. Subjects performed two trials of the exercise on two test days with two weeks in between testing. EMG data were normalized using subjects’ maximum voluntary contraction. Students’ paired t-tests were used for statistical analysis with a p \u3c 0.05 used for significance. The averages of the normalized EMG data (ND) between both visual trials for RA and RF, mean + standard deviation, were 0.302 ± 0.158 and 0.118 ± 0.094, respectively. The averages of the normalized EMG data between both nonvisual trials for RA and RF were 0.284 ± 0.146 and 0.084 ± 0.049, respectively. No significant differences were found for visual and nonvisual trials for agonist and antagonist muscles (Table 2). After evaluation of the study, the study protocol was determined to not be identical to a typical physical therapy setting which utilizes continuous feedback to the patient. Therefore, pilot testing of two subjects was performed on the Dying Bug exercise (Fig. 1b&c.) with continuous visual, biomechanical, palpation, and verbal feedback. As anticipated, a positive trend was shown in mean visual values relative to nonvisual values for the targeted muscles (Table 1)

Maternal work-family conflict and psychological distress: reciprocal relationships over 8 years

The relationships between employed mothers' work-family conflict and psychological distress are unlikely to be static or one way. Using longitudinal data, the authors investigated reciprocal effects between work-family conflict and psychological distress across 8 years of the family life cycle. They modeled cross-lagged structural equations over 5 biennial waves of data, in 4 overlapping samples of Australian mothers reentering work between child ages 0-1 to 8-9 (N range: 1,027-2,449). The findings revealed that work-family conflict and psychological distress are distinctive aspects of mothers' well-being that influence each other over time. Reciprocal influences were not confined to one period of parenting but continued as children grew older. Associations persisted after controlling for a range of work and family characteristics, and there was no evidence of mediation by family socioeconomic status, maternal age, or job quality. The findings suggest that employed mothers may benefit from policies and workplace practices that both promote maternal well-being and reduce conflicts between employment and raising children

Partnering with the Nevada Physical Therapy Association to Improve PT/PTA Engagement

Background: The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) is the professional organization that represents Physical Therapy and exists to promote the needs of society by advocating access and availability of all Physical Therapy services. The Nevada Physical Therapy Association (NVPTA) is a chapter of the APTA that represents the Physical Therapy profession in Nevada. In 2017, only 38.9% of licensed Physical Therapists (PTs) and 7.9% of licensed Physical Therapy Assistants (PTAs) practicing in Nevada were members of the NVPTA. Objective: The purpose of this service-learning project was to explore membership trends in the NVPTA, explore why membership amongst PTAs is low, identify factors influencing NVPTA membership, and collaborate with the NVPTA Board to improve membership. The final objective of this project was to reflect upon experiential education through service learning. Methods: To address aim one, membership data was retrieved from the NVPTA Membership Chair and was examined to explore trends amongst different populations of therapists. In order to examine PTA membership, a focus group was conducted at each of the three PTA schools located in Nevada consisting of pre-planned questions to determine PTA students’ opinions of the NVPTA. A survey was developed that included two subsets of questions based on membership status within the NVPTA and was sent out to practicing clinicians in Nevada in order to identify factors influencing NVPTA membership choices. Collaboration with the Board of the NVPTA to improve membership included assisting with the development of the Early Professional Student Interest Group (EPSIG) and organizing a social media campaign during National Physical Therapy month in October 2018. Lastly, written reflections on experiential learning were completed by each of the students involved in this service-learning project. Results: After examining membership data, it was found that membership of Physical Therapists in the NVPTA substantially exceeds membership of PTAs. Membership of Physical Therapists improved from 38.9% to 39.9% from 2017 to 2018, while membership of PTAs in the NVPTA remained at 7.9% without change. Qualitative data collected during PTA student focus groups revealed that students reported three common themes for non-membership including lack of time, cost, and a general lack of focus from the NVPTA on PTAs and PTA students. The membership survey revealed the main reason for non-membership was APTA national dues being too high while the main reason for active membership was having pride in the profession. In regards to the first EPSIG meeting, it was found that there was limited interest in this group as shown by lack of turn out. Discussion: Based on membership data from 2017 and 2018, it can be inferred that membership levels will continue to show no meaningful change if there are not strategies being implemented for improvement. The results from the PTA focus groups showed that PTA students may find increased value in membership with implementation of monthly student workshops, student centered monthly meetings, and current student members sharing their own personal value in membership. Based on the findings of the survey, it is concluded that improving awareness of benefits of membership may influence non-members to reconsider becoming a member. Following the first EPSIG meeting, it was concluded that the EPSIG should partner with the Student Special Interest Group in order to encourage membership in the transition post-graduation. Lastly, all three students demonstrated a common theme in their overall personal reflections of this service-learning project, which was an improved understanding and appreciation of the value their membership in an organization larger than themselves was