The Family Talk Intervention in Pediatric Oncology: Potential Effects Reported by Parents.

BACKGROUND: Childhood cancer impacts the family system and has psychosocial consequences for all family members. For the parents, the ill child, and the siblings to be able to adjust to this challenging situation, the whole family needs access to psychosocial support. However, only a few such family interventions in pediatric oncology have been evaluated. The aim of this study was to explore the potential effects of a family-centered intervention, the Family Talk Intervention (FTI), in pediatric oncology from the parents' perspectives. METHODS: A concurrent mixed methods design was used for this study. Data were derived from a pilot study of 26 families recruited from one pediatric oncology center in Sweden. This study focused on questionnaire and interview data from 52 parents. RESULTS: After participation in FTI, the parents felt more satisfied with the conversations within the family about the illness. FTI also contributed to strengthened family togetherness, including more open communication and improved family relations, as described by the parents. Parents further expressed that they felt more empowered in their parenting role following FTI. CONCLUSIONS: The findings regarding FTI's ability to improve family communication and family relations, thus strengthening family togetherness in families with childhood cancer, are promising. This provides motivation for a large-scale study of FTIs in pediatric oncology.

Neuroimaging Techniques as Descriptive and Diagnostic Tools for Infants at Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has traditionally been evaluated and diagnosed via behavioral assessments. However, increasing research suggests that neuroimaging as early as infancy can reliably identify structural and functional differences between autistic and non-autistic brains. The current review provides a systematic overview of imaging approaches used to identify differences between infants at familial risk and without risk and predictive biomarkers. Two primary themes emerged after reviewing the literature: (1) neuroimaging methods can be used to describe structural and functional differences between infants at risk and infants not at risk for ASD (descriptive), and (2) neuroimaging approaches can be used to predict ASD diagnosis among high-risk infants and developmental outcomes beyond infancy (predicting later diagnosis). Combined, the articles highlighted that several neuroimaging studies have identified a variety of neuroanatomical and neurological differences between infants at high and low risk for ASD, and among those who later receive an ASD diagnosis. Incorporating neuroimaging into ASD evaluations alongside traditional behavioral assessments can provide individuals with earlier diagnosis and earlier access to supportive resources.

Motor Skill, Motor Planning, and Motor Performance in Adults with Severe Mental Illnesses and Obesity.

Motor functioning in persons with serious mental illness (SMI) is not well studied. We assessed motor functioning in people with SMI (n = 15) vs. adults with obesity (n = 15) and healthy controls (n = 15). Motor skills were assessed using balance and coordination tests. Motor planning and performance were assessed in Obstacle and Metronome Walking Tasks. The SMI group scored lower on balance and coordination tests (all ps < 0.001), and took longer steps when approaching obstacles (all ps < 0.001), but had unimpaired motor performance on the Metronome Walking Task. In obesity, excess body mass impairs motor skills, which adversely impacts motor performance. In persons with SMI, motor performance was unimpaired, with cognitive and neuroanatomical abnormalities likely underlying balance, coordination, and motor skill challenges.

Pivoting in Context: Using the Forging Alliances in Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Research Model to Collaborate During COVID-19.

ABSTRACT: With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have been faced with challenges in maintaining interdisciplinary research collaborations. The purpose of this article is to apply and expand a previously introduced model to sustaining new interdisciplinary research collaborations: Forging Alliances in Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Research (FAIRR). FAIRR is a logic model that can be used as a guide to create interdisciplinary rehabilitation research teams. In this article, the authors propose expanding FAIRR by including strategies for sustaining interdisciplinary rehabilitation research collaborations: modifying inputs (resources needed to assemble a team and to conduct research activities), shifting activities (steps taken to move the interdisciplinary collaboration forward), and examining what impacts the fit between inputs and activities. Two examples are used to highlight the application of the FAIRR model to interdisciplinary collaborations during COVID-19.

The Role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Older Adults' Decision-Making Related to Health, and Health and Social Care Services in Daily Life-A Scoping Review.

Information and communication technology (ICT) can potentially support older adults in making decisions and increase their involvement in decision-making processes. Although the range of technical products has expanded in various areas of society, knowledge is lacking on the influence that ICT has on older adults' decision-making in everyday situations. Based on the literature, we aimed to provide an overview of the role of ICT in home-dwelling older adults' decision-making in relation to health, and health and social care services. A scoping review of articles published between 2010 and 2020 was undertaken by searching five electronic databases. Finally, 12 articles using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method designs were included. The articles were published in journals representing biology and medicine, nursing, informatics, and computer science. A majority of the articles were published in the last five years, and most articles came from European countries. The results are presented in three categories: (i) form and function of ICT for decision-making, (ii) perceived value and effect of ICT for decision-making, and (iii) factors influencing ICT use for decision-making. According to our findings, ICT for decision-making in relation to health, and health and social care services was more implicitly described than explicitly described, and we conclude that more research on this topic is needed. Future research should engage older adults and health professionals in developing technology based on their needs. Further, factors that influence older adults' use of ICT should be evaluated to ensure that it is successfully integrated into their daily lives.

Motor Performance, Mental Workload and Self-Efficacy Dynamics during Learning of Reaching Movements throughout Multiple Practice Sessions.

The human capability to learn new motor skills depends on the efficient engagement of cognitive-motor resources, as reflected by mental workload, and psychological mechanisms (e.g., self-efficacy). While numerous investigations have examined the relationship between motor behavior and mental workload or self-efficacy in a performance context, a fairly limited effort focused on the combined examination of these notions during learning. Thus, this study aimed to examine their concomitant dynamics during the learning of a novel reaching skill practiced throughout multiple sessions. Individuals had to learn to control a virtual robotic arm via a human-machine interface by using limited head motion throughout eight practice sessions while motor performance, mental workload, and self-efficacy were assessed. The results revealed that as individuals learned to control the robotic arm, performance improved at the fastest rate, followed by a more gradual reduction of mental workload and finally an increase in self-efficacy. These results suggest that once the performance improved, less cognitive-motor resources were recruited, leading to an attenuated mental workload. Considering that attention is a primary cognitive resource driving mental workload, it is suggested that during early learning, attentional resources are primarily allocated to address task demands and not enough are available to assess self-efficacy. However, as the performance becomes more automatic, a lower level of mental workload is attained driven by decreased recruitment of attentional resources. These available resources allow for a reliable assessment of self-efficacy resulting in a subsequent observable change. These results are also discussed in terms of the application to the training and design of assistive technologies.