Maximal intermittent handgrip strategy: design and evaluation of an exercise protocol and a grip tool.

Handgrip (HG) exercise has been prescribed as a lifestyle intervention to successfully reduce resting blood pressure (BP) among heterogeneous groups of participants. Current HG protocols have limited accessibility due to complicated exercise prescriptions and sophisticated required equipment. Therefore, this research describes the design and evaluation of the maximal intermittent (MINT) HG exercise strategy, consisting of both a novel exercise protocol (32×5 seconds maximal grip squeezes separated by 5 seconds of rest between sets) and an original grip tool. This research was a multistep progressive design that included 51 postmenopausal women as participants in three separate research studies. Part 1 of this research focuses on the MINT exercise protocol. A literature-informed rationale for the design of the protocol is described. This includes exercise intensity, work-to-rest ratio, and total exercise duration with reference to the unique physiology (mechanoreflex and metaboreflex) of postmenopausal women. Subsequent experimental analyses of acute responses to the MINT protocol revealed that women produced 50% of their maximum grip force with moderate cardiovascular responses (increases of systolic BP: 41.6 mmHg, diastolic BP: 20.1 mmHg, heart rate: 35.1 bpm) that remained far below the thresholds of concern identified by the American College of Sports Medicine. Part 2 of this research describes the creation of a novel grip tool, beginning with a mixed-methods assessment of participant opinions regarding two distinct in-laboratory grip tools, leading to the creation of four prototype MINT tools. Structured focus groups revealed a strong preference for MINT prototype 1 for all tool design features, including color, shape, size, and foam grip. Collectively, the result of this multistep research is a novel HG exercise strategy with enhanced accessibility by being easy to understand and simple to execute. The long-term training effectiveness of MINT as an exercise intervention for the reduction of resting BP has yet to be determined.

Using guided inquiry and the information search process to develop research confidence among first year anatomy students.

With the growing volume of obtainable medical information and scientific literature, it is crucial that students in the field of allied health professions develop and refine the research skill set necessary to effectively find, retrieve, analyze, and use this information. This skill set can be effectively developed using student inquiry; an active learning process where students answer questions using research and data analysis. Therefore, with the pedagogical goal of developing information literacy among a cohort of allied health professional trainees, first year students studying human anatomy completed inquiry-based projects that were structured within the framework of the Information Search Process. This article thoroughly describes the conceptualization, creation, improvement, implementation, and assessment of the projects beginning with version one, the Student Inquiry Projects. Following a pilot of the Student Inquiry Projects various evidence-based improvements resulted in the final project version called the Inquiry Guided Learning Projects (IGLPs). A full assessment of the IGLPs revealed that students' self-perceived confidence improved for all tested research skills including: research question development, research question selection, exploration of peer-review literature, acquisition of resources, effective communication of results, and literature citation (all P < 0.05). Furthermore, six months following project completion students retained improved confidence in research question development and effective communication of results, with 90% of students indicating the IGLPs were directly responsible for these improvements. By guiding students through the Information Search Process, the IGLPs successfully developed research confidence among allied health trainees.