No

Yes

No / To develop a culturally sensitive occupation-based health promotion intervention for older Hispanic adults who live alone. Methods: We used a mixed method design for the content validation of the intervention and the Ecological Validity Model (EVM) to culturally center the intervention. In the quantitative phase, aging experts as well as community members from two activity centers for the elderly in Puerto Rico completed a content validity ratio exercise. In the qualitative phase, we conducted three focus groups with these participants. Data analysis included content validity ratio and a directed content analysis. Results: This resulted in a working version of the intervention protocol addressing the eight dimensions of the EVM. Conclusions: The EVM can be used to culturally center preventive interventions to other ethnic minority groups to augment the external validity and cultural competence of interventions. Future research must test the feasibility of this new intervention. / This publication was supported by National Institute of Health (NIH), National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), Clinical Research Education and Career Development (CRECD) [R25RR017589] in collaboration with Puerto Rico Clinical and Translational Research Consortium (PRCTRC) [8U54 MD 007587-03] and the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) [8U54RR026139-01A1]. The second author was supported by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) (1K02DA035122-01A1). Its content is solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH, NIMHD, or NCRR.

Yes / This systematic review identifies and reports the extent and nature of evidence to support the use of Dementia Care Mapping as an intervention in care settings. The review was limited to studies that used Dementia Care Mapping as an intervention and included outcomes involving either care workers and/or people living with dementia. Searches were conducted in PubMed, Web of Knowledge, CINAHL, PsychINFO, EBSCO and Scopus and manually from identified articles reference lists. Studies published up to January 2017 were included. Initial screening of identified papers was based on s read by one author; full-text papers were further evaluated by a second author. The quality of the identified papers was assessed independently by two authors using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. A narrative synthesis of quantitative findings was conducted. We identified 6 papers fulfilling predefined criteria. Studies consist of recent, large scale, good quality trials that had some positive impacts upon care workers’ stress and burnout and benefit people with dementia in terms of agitated behaviours, neuropsychiatric symptoms, falls and quality of life. Available research provides preliminary evidence that Dementia Care Mapping may benefit care workers and people living with dementia in care settings. Future research should build on the successful studies to date and use other outcomes to better understand the benefits of this intervention.

No / Big Lottery Fund (as part of the A Better Start programme), National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care Yorkshire and Humber

Ecological interventions hold promise for meeting the needs of post-disaster communities, yet little systematic quantitative evidence is available about such programs. This study evaluated the short-term outcomes of participants in the Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) program, a novel and exemplar ecological intervention for helpers working in post-disaster settings. It is a one week training and support program for helpers working in disaster-affected communities. Changes in the psychological distress of 42 STAR participants, across four STAR sessions, were assessed and identified as primary outcome variables. Knowledge, attitude, and intended practice changes were also assessed, along with perceived support, using a pre (T1)/post (T2) design. These indicators were then tested as possible predictors of participants' changes in distress. An integrity check was conducted on a sample of the seminar modules to assess fidelity to the program manual. Qualitative data were also gathered from follow up visits conducted with two participants. These data were used to help interpret quantitative findings, as well as to plan for future studies of how STAR effects might extend out from helpers into their home communities. Results showed that participants exhibited significant changes in knowledge, attitudes, and intended practices from the beginning of the seminar to the end. Results also showed significant decreases in psychological distress over the STAR week. Regression analyses showed that changes in knowledge, attitudes, and practice, as well as perceived social support during the seminar, explained significant amounts of variance in self reported trauma symptoms at T2. Variance in T2 burnout and compassion fatigue explained by these predictors was notable but not statistically significant due to lack of power. Results suggest that STAR can change knowledge and attitudes of helpers from disaster communities and that participants in this program experience decreases in distress during their stay. The lack of a valid comparison group makes causal interpretations of these findings premature. Findings also suggest that changes in distress are not caused by, or even significantly related to, learning that takes place during the STAR week. The mechanism for distress reduction during the STAR week is an unresolved question. Other significant unresolved questions remain regarding the STAR intervention and ways the present findings can be generalized to ecological interventions more broadly. For example, while the current study suggests important changes occur in helpers during the STAR week, it is of central importance to explore how these changes translate into the disaster-affected home communities. Discussion also focuses on the difficulties involved in conducting systematic research with organizations and helpers whose primary goals are practical or clinical, not scientific. Despite the questions that remain, taken together, results point to the promise of STAR to address the mental health needs of helpers and perhaps eventually disaster communities. / Ph. D.

Adolescent oncology pati ents face a unique set of obstacles in coping with the diagnosis and treatment related issues of cancer. Due to their developmental stages and tasks treatment and care must be tailored to their unique needs. Many interventions have been developed and studied in an effort to promote coping strategies in this special population. This integrated literature review examines evidence regarding nonpharmacologic interventions for coping published between 1999 and 2009. Symptom and stress management, patient education, and procedure management interventions were examined. Although no single intervention was shown to completely assuage distress, most interventions had a favorable impact.

Overweight and obesity in Mexican children substantiates the need to identify effective strategies and policies to address this problem. Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica (INSP) designed and implemented a randomized control trial (RCT) to assess an ecologically-based intervention program to modify the school environment to promote healthy lifestyle behaviours in children. The objectives of this thesis are to describe the design and impact of this RCT, to examine the program content through an ecological approach, and to examine policy activities that have been informed by the RCT findings. Four manuscripts address these objectives. Manuscript one is Promoting a Healthful Diet and Physical Activity in the Mexican School System for the Prevention of Obesity in Children: Rationale, Design and Methods. It describes the rationale, design, and methods of the two-year INSP-Secretaria de Educacion Publica (Secretary of Public Education, SEP) RCT. Manuscript two is Impact of a School-based Intervention Program on Obesity Risk Factors in Mexican Children. It reports on the environmental impact of the INSP-SEP intervention by comparing 16 intervention schools with 11 non-intervention schools. Results showed increased availability and food intake of healthy foods with a concomitant decrease in unhealthy food availability in intervention schools/children. Manuscript three is An Ecological and Theoretical Deconstruction of a School-based Obesity Prevention Program in Mexico. It reports on an assessment of the integration of ecological principles and theoretical constructs in the school-based behavioural change/obesity prevention intervention carried out by the INSP-SEP. Results showed that 32 intervention strategies were implemented in the school setting to engage target-groups; the most used SCT construct was Reciprocal Determinism. Manuscript four is titled Quality and Implementation of the Nutrition and Physical Activity School Policy Guidelines in Mexico City. It assesses the quality and implementation conditions of a policy and reports on the implementation and the uptake of the national school policy to prevent obesity in Mexico city through a policy analysis, WHO School Policy Framework (SPF) and indicators informed by the national policy. Findings showed that not all of the 10 implementation pre-conditions were met; School Guidelines mostly complied with SPF but were not fully implemented within our sample. / Thesis (Ph.D, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-30 17:05:33.787

Les études académiques récentes sur l'influence de l'opinion publique sur les interventions militaires dans les démocraties occidentales concluent pour la plupart que l’opposition du public n’a pas empêché le président de faire usage de la force. Ces études se concentrent souvent sur le choix d'intervenir dans un conflit donné et omettent d'analyser les ajustements apportés à l'intervention elle-même du fait de l'opinion publique. Cette étude tente au contraire de montrer qu'on ne peut comprendre l’influence de l'opinion publique si l'on se limite à la décision d'intervenir et n’étudie pas les décisions connexes liées à la conduite et à la réussite d'une intervention: le choix des moyens humains et financiers, les objectifs, la stratégie de communication. La littérature scientifique actuelle omet également de dévoiler la manière dont l'exécutif tente de gérer la contrainte de l'opinion publique et comprendre ainsi quelle est sa véritable marge de manœuvre vis-à-vis de celle-ci. En effet, l’opinion publique et la présidence s’influencent mutuellement : le président est souvent contraint de trouver un compromis entre les objectifs politiques et militaires désirés et ce que le public est prêt à accepter. En incluant l'impact de l'opinion publique sur la mise en œuvre des opérations militaires, cette recherche conclut que le public américain a eu une influence majeure sur le degré d'engagement, les objectifs et la durée des interventions militaires de l'après Guerre froide. Notre étude s’appuie principalement sur des entretiens avec des responsables politiques impliqués dans le processus décisionnel ayant conduit à l’usage de la force après la Guerre froide. Ce processus décisionnel sera analysé à travers cinq études de cas. / Recent qualitative studies of the relationship between public opinion and U.S. foreign policy put decisions into the following two categories: the President tends to lead or to follow public opinion; public opinion influences decision-making, constrains the decision, or has no impact. These studies typically research the initial decision to intervene, but fail to examine the subsequent decisions to sustain and win a war: financial and human means, conduct, objectives, duration, and communication. I argue that these elements of a winning strategy are impacted by concerns with public support at home. The impact of public opinion on the decision whether to use force is better understood when analyzing the compromise between the perception of anticipated public opinion and the necessities of a military campaign. Public opinion impacts the strategy, the timing, and length of an intervention, and inversely, those elements impact the anticipated public opinion and ultimately the decision to use force or choose a different course of action. The president can expect to influence public opinion and raise the acceptability of an intervention through various means. As a consequence, there is a back-and-forth process between anticipated public support for a given intervention and the consideration of the use of force. Contrary to the current literature, which tends to conclude that the president enjoys a substantial margin for maneuver, an analysis of post Cold War cases of interventions, limited interventions, and military escalations shows that anticipated public opinion limited the president's margin for maneuver and influenced not only the decision to intervene but also the military strategy and in the end, the result of the intervention. These findings contradict the realist paradigm for which only the structure of the international system matters and domestic politics are irrelevant in the study of international relations.

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is an accepted way of promoting an individual’s resilience, which is the ability to overcome challenging life circumstances to lead a fulfilling life. SEL is traditionally taught in schools as a universal, classroom-wide intervention. However, there is currently a gap in using SEL curricula as secondary, Tier II interventions. Strong Start, a SEL program, was evaluated as a Tier II intervention with 35 2nd grade students using a randomized-control trial design. Data were collected from students on their content knowledge of social-emotional constructs as well as from teachers on ratings of student problem behaviors and prosocial behaviors. Findings suggest improvements in student knowledge, teacher ratings of problem behaviors, and teacher ratings of prosocial behaviors for all students over time, with no significant group by time interaction. Limitations and future directions are discussed.