Art therapy is widely used and effective in the treatment of patients diagnosed with Personality Disorders (PDs). Current psychotherapeutic approaches may benefit from this additional therapy to improve their efficacy. But what is the patient perspective upon this therapy? This study explored perceived benefits of art therapy for patients with PDs to let the valuable perspective of patients be taken into account. Using a quantitative survey study over 3 months (N = 528), GLM repeated measures and overall hierarchical regression analyses showed that the majority of the patients reported quite a lot of benefit from art therapy (mean 3.70 on a 5-point Likert scale), primarily in emotional and social functioning. The improvements are concentrated in specific target goals of which the five highest scoring goals affected were: expression of emotions, improved (more stable/positive) self-image, making own choices/autonomy, recognition of, insight in, and changing of personal patterns of feelings, behaviors and thoughts and dealing with own limitations and/or vulnerability. Patients made it clear that they perceived these target areas as having been affected by art therapy and said so at both moments in time, with a higher score after 3 months. The extent of the perceived benefits is highly dependent for patients on factors such as a non-judgmental attitude on the part of the therapist, feeling that they are taken seriously, being given sufficient freedom of expression but at the same time being offered sufficient structure and an adequate basis. Age, gender, and diagnosis cluster did not predict the magnitude of perceived benefits. Art therapy provides equal advantages to a broad target group, and so this form of therapy can be broadly indicated. The experienced benefits and the increase over time was primarily associated with the degree to which patients perceive that they can give meaningful expression to feelings in their artwork. This provides an indication for the extent of the benefits a person can experience and can also serve as a clear guiding principle for interventions by the art therapist.
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Background: Current use of smartphone cameras by parents create opportunities for longitudinal home-video-assessments to monitor infant development. We developed and validated a home-video method for parents, enabling Pediatric Physical Therapists to assess infants’ gross motor development with the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS). The objective of the present study was to investigate the feasibility of this home-video method from the parents’ perspective. Methods: Parents of 59 typically developing infants (0–19 months) were recruited, 45 parents participated in the study. Information about dropout was collected. A sequential mixed methods design was used to examine feasibility, including questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. While the questionnaires inquired after the practical feasibility of the home-video method, the interviews also allowed parents to comment on their feelings and thoughts using the home-video method. Results: Of 45 participating parents, 34 parents returned both questionnaires and eight parents agreed to an interview. Parent reported effort by the infants was very low: the home-video method is perceived as similar to the normal routine of playing. The parental effort level was acceptable. The main constraint parents reported was time planning. Parents noted it was sometimes difficult to find the right moment to record the infant’s motor behavior, that is, when parents were both at home and their baby was in the appropriate state. Technical problems with the web portal, reported by 28% of the parents were also experienced as a constraint. Positive factors mentioned by parents were: the belief that the home videos are valuable for family use, receiving feedback from a professional, the moments of one-on-one attention and interaction with their babies. Moreover, the process of recording the home videos resulted in an increased parental awareness of, and insight into, the gross motor development of their infant. Conclusion: The AIMS home-video method is feasible for parents of typically developing children. Most constraints are of a practical nature that can be addressed in future applications. Future research is needed to show whether the home-video method is also applicable for parents with an infant at risk of motor development problems.
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OBJECTIVE: Loneliness and social isolation are pressing issues that can seriously impact the mental health and well-being of older adults. Interacting with nature can stimulate a feeling of connectedness. However, for older adults, access to nature is often troublesome because of physical limitations and mobility restrictions.METHODS: In the present mixed-method study, 37 older adults (62-99 years old) with varying care needs and mobility restrictions watched a video presenting a walkthrough of a simulated digital nature landscape.RESULTS: Quantitative results show a significant increase in social connectedness scores and enhanced peacefulness after experiencing a digital nature. Qualitative results stress the importance of variations in nature scenery and highlight the influence of contextual and person-related factors including nature experiences throughout the life span and mobility constraints that older adults may face.CONCLUSION: These findings testify to the potential of using digital nature as a complementary strategy when interactions with outdoor nature become increasingly difficult due to old age.
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How do policy analysts perceive the various roles that Models, Simulations and Games (MSG) have, or can have in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)? Fifty-five policy analysts in water management in The Netherlands and China were interviewed, following the procedure of the Q-method. Comparative analysis of the combined quantitative and qualitative data show that: (1) The debate on the role of MSG for IWRM is structured around five frames in The Netherlands and three frames in China. (2) The frames in The Netherlands and China are significantly different. (3) In China, there is a predominant frame that perceives MSG for IWRM as data driven simulation technology for rationalization of water management, which is less significant in The Netherlands. (4) The reverse is true with regard to MSG for stakeholder interaction, learning and integrated assessment, which are significant frames in The Netherlands, but not in China. The conclusion is that frame differences can easily confuse professional and academic debate about MSG for water management; within the same institutional and cultural context, but even more so in Netherlands-China co-operation projects. Frames are also relevant when designing, using or evaluating innovative methods for integrated water resources management.
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In the present study, the role of five categories of characteristics of a reciprocal peer coaching context was studied in relation to teacher learning. Both self-reports and student perceptions were used to measure teacher learning. Data were gathered on 28 secondary school teachers (14 coaching dyads). A mixed-method approach was adopted combining quantitative and qualitative data. To study the associations between five categories of characteristics of a peer coaching context (independent variable) and teacher learning (dependent variable), questionnaire results (quantitative data) and digital diaries (qualitative data) were examined. It was found that teachers learn when they are intrinsically motivated to take part in professional development programs; when they feel a certain pressure toward experimenting with new instructional methods; and when they are able to discuss their experiences within a safe, constructive, and trustworthy reciprocal peer coaching environment.
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Abstract: Self-management interventions (SMIs) may fail if they misalign with the local context. To optimize the implementation of SMIs in Chinese people with chronic lung disease (CLD), the local context was identified in Chinese primary care (PC) and secondary care (SC). A mixed-method study using semi-structured interviews and quantitative surveys was conducted on people with CLD and healthcare professionals (HCPs). The qualitative data was collected until data saturation was reached, and participants were invited to complete the survey after the interview. The qualitative data—analyzed with the framework approach—was triangulated with the quantitative data. A total of 52 participants completed the interviews, and 48 also finished the survey. Four themes were identified; (a) illness perceptions (e.g., patients had poor CLD knowledge and SM, inadequate resources lead to suboptimal disease control in PC); (b) self-management skills (e.g., most patients delayed exacerbation recognition and action, and some were admitted at the crisis point); (c) factors influencing self-management skills (e.g., (in)adequate disease knowledge and medical expenditure affordability); and (d) needs for self-management (e.g., increased disease knowledge, individualized self-management plan, eHealth, (healthcare insurance) policy support). Identified themes were dependent on each other and should be leveraged when implementing SMIs. Ultimately, such SMIs can optimize patient health outcomes.
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The ageing of people with intellectual disabilities, with associated morbidity like dementia, calls for new types of care. Person-centered methods may support care staff in providing this, an example being Dementia Care Mapping (DCM). DCM has been shown to be feasible in ID-care. We examined the experiences of ID-professionals in using DCM. We performed a mixed-methods study, using quantitative data from care staff (N = 136) and qualitative data (focus-groups, individual interviews) from care staff, group home managers and DCM-in-intellectual disabilities mappers (N = 53). ageing, dementia, Dementia Care Mapping, intellectual disability, mixed-methods, personcentred care
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Purpose Worldwide, there are 30 million people with dementia (PWD) in 2009 and 100 million in 2050, respectively.These numbers show the need for a change in care for PWD. Leisure is one of these care aspects. Leisure activities can support PWD in several ways: meeting basic needs, providing comfort and social interaction, and reducing boredom, agitation, and isolation. An exemplary activity targeted at meeting these needs is ‘De Klessebessers (KB)’ (The Chitchatters), which aims to stimulate social interaction among PWD and provide comfort with supporting technology. This is innovative since technology for PWD generally concentrates on safety and monitoring activities. The activity comprises a radio, television, telephone, and treasure box. Method This study’s focus follows from the original aim of the KB-designers; to stimulate social interaction. In a nursing home and day care centre, the KB game was played with different groups of PWD (n=21: 12 females, 9 males, mean MMSE=17, range 3-28). In the morning KB (with technology), and in the afternoon an activity called ‘Questiongame’ (without technology) were played for 45 minutes. These activities were played twice in a two-month period, and outcomes were compared in terms of impact on social interaction. Group sizes ranged from 3 to 8 PWD assisted by 1 or 2 activity therapists. Two researchers observed the players during the activity with the Oshkosh Social Behavior Coding (OSBC) scale, which encompasses both verbal and nonverbal social and nonsocial behaviour. These behaviours can have a person-initiated and otherinitiated character (quantitative study). A total of 6 activity therapists were interviewed on the KB afterwards (qualitative study). Results & Discussion The quantitative results showed significantly higher scores for KB for the total of social interaction compared to Questiongame. Most of the behaviour is other-initiated (activity therapist). PWD with a lower MMSE score showed more non-verbal behaviour. For PWD with a MMSE score below 7, there was no difference in social interaction between the two activities. According to the qualitative research, KB triggered more social interaction, since the movies and music were stimulating the players to initiate a conversation, to which other players responded. The results of this research correspond with earlier research, which concludes that leisure activities with technology can show positive results on well-being.
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The main goal of this study was to investigate if a computational analyses of text data from the National Student Survey (NSS) can add value to the existing, manual analysis. The results showed the computational analysis of the texts from the open questions of the NSS contain information which enriches the results of standard quantitative analysis of the NSS.
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Modern manufacturing has to deal with global competition, in which customers have high purchasing power. Production efficiency and rapid response to customer demand are dominant conditions for enterprises to stay successful. Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMSs) are designed to have a modular architecture in both mechanical design and control system. The architecture enables change of the machine structure quickly, by adding and removing parts of the system, and by changing the corresponding software programming. It can handle short times to market. This paper presents an ‘Index-Method’ to monitor the reconfiguration of RMS. The method is able to categorise the reconfiguration and related development in seven stages. It focusses specifically on the Independence Axiom. The main goal is to find all relevant parameters to cause interactions, and to decouple them. The solution, aiming to be scientifically vigorous and practically applicable, was applied to a true case; the development of a manufacturing system for an inkjet print head for industrial applications. The realisation of the system required the development of new process technology. The index-method may be considered successful. It has the ability to structure the configuration process of RMSs. The method harmonises well with the industry known V-model.
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