Comparing Family Health Before and After a Family-Focused Nutrition Program during the Pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic affected child health behaviors, leading to worse physical health. Given the importance of good family health in improved child health outcomes, this secondary cohort analysis tested the hypothesis that family health would improve from baseline to 12-week follow-up after participation in a novel family nutrition program. METHODS: Diverse parent-child dyads participated in a home-based virtual Teaching Kitchen Outreach (vTKO) program (11 weekly healthy, low-cost recipes, cooking videos, and associated groceries delivered). The primary outcome was the Family Healthy Lifestyle Subscale (FHLS). Secondary outcomes were parent and child nutrition, and food insecurity. Statistical testing and modeling were used to evaluate pre-post outcomes. RESULTS: Of 123 enrolled dyads, 114 (93%) had sufficient data for analysis. Participants were 11% Hispanic, 54% Black, and 28% White; 31% completed high school or less; and 30% indicated food insecurity. Cohort mean pre-post FHLS scores significantly increased (25.5 vs. 27.3; p < 0.001). There were significant improvements in parent nutrition (p < 0.001) and child nutrition (p = 0.02 to < 0.001), but not in food security. After adjusting for baseline covariates, tobit regression found statistically significant pre-post FHLS differences (2.3; 95% CI=[1.4, 3.3]; p < 0.001). DISCUSSION: Participants in the novel home-based vTKO program reported improved family health over 12 weeks.

The Objective Structured Teaching Encounter (OSTE) in health professions education: A systematic review.

PURPOSE: New emphasis on the assessment of health professions educators' teaching competence has led to greater use of the Objective Structured Teaching Encounter (OSTE). The purpose of this study is to review and further describe the current uses and learning outcomes of the OSTE in health professions education. MATERIALS AND METHODS: PubMed, MEDLINE, and CINAHL (March 2010 to February 2022) were searched for English-language studies describing the use of an OSTE for any educational purpose within health professions education. RESULTS: Of the 29 articles that met inclusion criteria, over half of the studies (17 of 29, 58.6%) were published during or after 2017. Seven studies described OSTE use outside of the traditional medical education context. These new contexts included basic sciences, dental, pharmacy, and Health Professions Education program graduates. Eleven articles described novel OSTE content, which included leadership skills, emotional intelligence, medical ethics, inter-professional conduct, and a procedural OSTE. There is increasing evidence supporting the use of OSTEs for the assessment of clinical educators' teaching skills. CONCLUSIONS: The OSTE is a valuable tool for the improvement and assessment of teaching within a variety of health professions education contexts. Further study is required to determine the impact of OSTEs on teaching behaviors in real-life contexts.

When two vowels go walking: An ERP study of the vowel team rule.

In an event-related potential (ERP) study of the vowel team rule in American English ("when two vowels go walking, the first does the talking"), we used a visual lexical decision task to determine whether words that do (e.g., braid) and do not (e.g., cloud) follow the rule elicit different processing, and to determine if this extends to nonwords (e.g., braip, cloup). In 32 young adults, N1 amplitude distinguished between rule-following and rule-breaking items: N1 amplitude was more negative to rule-breaking words and nonwords. In contrast, there were no significant effects of vowel team rule adherence on N400 amplitude. Behaviorally, participants responded more quickly and accurately to rule-following words, a pattern not observed for nonwords. These findings demonstrate that adherence to the vowel team rule can be indexed by both neural and behavioral measures in fluently reading young adults.

The utility of self-perceived health ratings in screening volunteers for mental health research.

We report on the utility of online self-perceived medical and mental health ratings (SPH) when screening healthy volunteers for mental health research. These one-item ratings were correlated with eligibility decisions and longer clinical surveys. We found correlations between SPH ratings and blinded clinician ratings of volunteer medical and mental health after an in-person evaluation, although additional analysis revealed poor reliability between clinician and volunteer ratings. SPH ratings are a useful addition to screening methods for research studies.

Utilization of the DSM-5 Self-Rated Level 1 Cross-Cutting Symptom Measure-Adult to Screen Healthy Volunteers for Research Studies.

The DSM-5 Level 1 Cross-Cutting Symptom Measure-Adult (DSM XC) was developed by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) as a transdiagnostic measure of current mental health symptomatology. This paper describes utilization of the DSM XC to screen volunteers for participation in mental health research studies as healthy controls. Research volunteers completed an online, modified version of the DSM XC, which along with other clinical information, was used to determine eligibility for participation as a healthy control. The sensitivity and specificity of screening positive on the DSM XC for this eligibility decision were calculated. Of 506 volunteers who completed the screening process, 159 (31%) were ineligible due to mental health reasons. The DSM XC sensitivity in predicting this determination was 64.2% [95% CI: 56.5 - 71.3] and its specificity was 83.9% [95% CI: 79.7 - 87.5]. When DSM XC responses were combined with information about current psychotropic medication use, an important determinant of study eligibility, the sensitivity improved to 81.8% [95% CI: 75.3 - 87.2). These findings provide preliminary support for the use of the DSM XC as an initial screening tool for mental health studies that enroll healthy research volunteers, particularly when supplemented by additional clinical history such as psychotropic medication use.

"Will You Remember Me?": Talking with Adolescents About Death and Dying.

This article describes the preparation, rationale, and benefits of talking with adolescents who have life-threatening or life-limiting illness about advance care planning (ACP) and end-of-life concerns in a developmentally sensitive manner. The first step is to ensure that a health care provider is ready to work with adolescents in ACP discussions by taking a self-inventory, learning communication skills, and understanding individual barriers. The authors then outline how to assess patient and family readiness, including developmental, cultural, personal, and psychosocial considerations. Evidence-based techniques for respectfully and productively engaging adolescents in ACP conversations are discussed.