Leveraging the Contribution of Volunteers: The Critical Role and Economic Value of Volunteers in Older Americans Act Programs.

The United States is facing a surge in the aging population, which will increase the demand for services and supports that allow older adults to age independently. This study assessed the size and value of the volunteer labor force in two home- and community-based programs funded under the Older Americans Act (OAA). Using publicly available program data for fiscal years 2015-2019, we calculated the annual contribution of volunteers, based on the total number of volunteer hours and share of labor effort, and estimated the economic value of volunteers in these OAA programs. In fiscal year 2019, volunteers contributed a total value of $1.7 billion in the OAA Title III program and $14.0 million in the Title VII long-term care ombudsman program. These results highlight the value of volunteers in OAA programs and the need for policies to support volunteers in the aging services network.

Treating Women Who Are Pregnant and Parenting for Opioid Use Disorder and the Concurrent Care of Their Infants and Children: Literature Review to Support National Guidance.

OBJECTIVES: The prevalence of opioid use disorder (OUD) during pregnancy is increasing. Practical recommendations will help providers treat pregnant women with OUD and reduce potentially negative health consequences for mother, fetus, and child. This article summarizes the literature review conducted using the RAND/University of California, Los Angeles Appropriateness Method project completed by the US Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to obtain current evidence on treatment approaches for pregnant and parenting women with OUD and their infants and children. METHODS: Three separate search methods were employed to identify peer-reviewed journal articles providing evidence on treatment methods for women with OUD who are pregnant or parenting, and for their children. Identified articles were reviewed for inclusion per study guidelines and relevant information was abstracted and summarized. RESULTS: Of the 1697 articles identified, 75 were included in the literature review. The perinatal use of medication for addiction treatment (MAT, also known as medication-assisted treatment), either methadone or buprenorphine, within comprehensive treatment is the most accepted clinical practice, as withdrawal or detoxification risks relapse and treatment dropout. Medication increases may be needed with advancing pregnancy, and are not associated with more severe neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Switching medication prenatally is usually not recommended as it can destabilize opioid abstinence. Postnatally, breastfeeding is seen as beneficial for the infant for women who are maintained on a stable dose of opioid agonist medication. Less is known about ideal pain management and postpartum dosing regimens. NAS appears generally less severe following prenatal exposure to buprenorphine versus methadone. Frontline NAS medication treatments include protocol-driven methadone and morphine dosing in the context of nonpharmacological supports. CONCLUSIONS: Women with OUD can be treated with methadone or buprenorphine during pregnancy. NAS is an expected and manageable condition. Although research has substantially advanced, opportunities to guide future research to improve maternal and infant outcomes are provided.

Project Career: An individualized postsecondary approach to promoting independence, functioning, and employment success among students with traumatic brain injuries.

BACKGROUND: Project Career is a five-year interdisciplinary demonstration project funded by NIDILRR. It provides technology-driven supports, merging Cognitive Support Technology (CST) evidence-based practices and rehabilitation counseling, to improve postsecondary and employment outcomes for veteran and civilian undergraduate students with traumatic brain injury (TBI). GOAL: Provide a technology-driven individualized support program to improve career and employment outcomes for students with TBI. OBJECTIVES: Project staff provide assessments of students' needs relative to assistive technology, academic achievement, and career preparation; provide CST training to 150 students; match students with mentors; provide vocational case management; deliver job development and placement assistance; and maintain an electronic portal regarding accommodation and career resources. METHODS: Participating students receive cognitive support technology training, academic enrichment, and career preparatory assistance from trained professionals at three implementation sites. Staff address cognitive challenges using the 'Matching Person with Technology' assessment to accommodate CST use (iPad and selected applications (apps)). JBS International (JBS) provides the project's evaluation. RESULTS: To date, 117 students participate with 63% report improved life quality and 75% report improved academic performance. CONCLUSION: Project Career provides a national model based on best practices for enabling postsecondary students with TBI to attain academic, employment, and career goals.

Qualitative case studies of professional-level workers with traumatic brain injuries: A contextual approach to job accommodation and retention.

BACKGROUND: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a multi-systemic disability that causes a wide range of difficulties with personal and social functioning. METHODS: Four individuals with TBI participated in an evaluation of barriers to their continued employment following graduation from college. A trained interviewer completed the Work Experience Survey (WES) in teleconsultation sessions with each participant. RESULTS: Researchers applied a qualitative case study research design. Participants reported a wide range of difficulties in performing essential functions of their jobs (3 to 24) that have the potential to significantly affect their productivity. Career mastery problems reflected outcomes associated with TBI such as 'believing that others think I do a good job' and 'having the resources (e.g., knowledge, tools, supplies, and equipment) needed to do the job.' Indicative of their wish to continue their current employment, participants reported high levels of job satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: The WES is a cost-effective needs assessment tool to aid health and rehabilitation professionals in providing on-the-job supports to workers with TBI.

The use of assistive technology for cognition to support the performance of daily activities for individuals with cognitive disabilities due to traumatic brain injury: The current state of the research.

BACKGROUND: Many individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) are young and could have many years of productivity ahead of them. However, cognitive impairments may hinder individuals' ability to perform daily tasks. Assistive technology for cognition (ATC) can be effective in helping compensate for cognitive impairments. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the current state of the research on using ATCs to support daily activities for individuals with cognitive disabilities that are due to TBI. METHODS: A comprehensive systematic literature search was performed to identify peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2015. To evaluate the nature of the research, qualitative data were extracted pertaining to recruitment, participant characteristics, intervention design, type of ATCs and their functions, matching individuals with ATCs, training for using the ATC, and outcomes. RESULTS: Research examining the effectiveness of ATCs as everyday compensatory tools for cognitive impairments that are due to TBI is limited. The majority of studies were case studies or quasi-experimental studies with small sample sizes. Studies showed positive associations between use of ATCs and individuals' abilities to perform tasks regardless of age, TBI severity, and time since injury. CONCLUSIONS: Future research should assess the match between the individual and the technology, study the impact of training on using ATCs, and analyze the usability of ATCs.

Project Career: A qualitative examination of five college students with traumatic brain injuries.

BACKGROUND: Project Career is an interprofessional five-year development project designed to improve the employment success of undergraduate college and university students with traumatic brain injury (TBI). The case study information was collected and synthesized by the project's Technology and Employment Coordinators (TECs) at each of the project's three university sites. The project's evaluation is occurring independently through JBS International, Inc. OBJECTIVE: Five case studies are presented to provide an understanding of student participants' experiences within Project Career. Each case study includes background on the student, engagement with technology, vocational supports, and interactions with his/her respective TEC. METHODS: A qualitative analysis from the student's case notes is provided within each case study, along with a discussion of the overall qualitative analysis. RESULTS: Across all five students, the theme Positive Outcomes was mentioned most often in the case notes. Of all the different type of challenges, Cognitive Challenges were most often mentioned during meetings with the TECs, followed by Psychological Challenges, Physical Challenges, Other Challenges, and Academic Challenges, respectively. CONCLUSION: Project Career is providing academic enrichment and career enhancement that may substantially improve the unsatisfactory employment outcomes that presently await students with TBI following graduation.

Activities and interim outcomes of a multi-site development project to promote cognitive support technology use and employment success among postsecondary students with traumatic brain injuries.

BACKGROUND: This article describes the activities and interim outcomes of a multi-site development project called Project Career, designed to promote cognitive support technology (CST) use and employment success for college and university students with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). OBJECTIVES: To obtain early intervention results from participants in Project Career's first 18 months of operation. METHODS: Fifty-six students with TBI have participated to date across three implementation sites in Massachusetts, Ohio, and West Virginia, with 25 of these participants being military veterans. Descriptive analyses provide information regarding the participants, the barriers they face due to their TBI in obtaining a post-secondary education, and the impact services provided by Project Career have had to date in ameliorating those difficulties. Inferential statistical analyses provide preliminary results regarding program effectiveness. RESULTS: Preliminary results indicate the program is encouraging students to use CST strategies in the form of iPads and cognitive enhancement applications (also known as 'apps'). Significant results indicate participants are more positive, independent, and social; participants have a more positive attitude toward technology after six months in the program; and participants reported significantly improved experiences with technology during their first six months in the program. CONCLUSION: Participating students are actively preparing for their careers after graduation through a wide range of intensive vocational supports provided by project staff members.

A voxel-based lesion study on facial emotion recognition after penetrating brain injury.

The ability to read emotions in the face of another person is an important social skill that can be impaired in subjects with traumatic brain injury (TBI). To determine the brain regions that modulate facial emotion recognition, we conducted a whole-brain analysis using a well-validated facial emotion recognition task and voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM) in a large sample of patients with focal penetrating TBIs (pTBIs). Our results revealed that individuals with pTBI performed significantly worse than normal controls in recognizing unpleasant emotions. VLSM mapping results showed that impairment in facial emotion recognition was due to damage in a bilateral fronto-temporo-limbic network, including medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), anterior cingulate cortex, left insula and temporal areas. Beside those common areas, damage to the bilateral and anterior regions of PFC led to impairment in recognizing unpleasant emotions, whereas bilateral posterior PFC and left temporal areas led to impairment in recognizing pleasant emotions. Our findings add empirical evidence that the ability to read pleasant and unpleasant emotions in other people's faces is a complex process involving not only a common network that includes bilateral fronto-temporo-limbic lobes, but also other regions depending on emotional valence.

Damage to the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex impacts affective theory of mind.

Studies investigating theory of mind (ToM) abilities (i.e. ability to understand and predict others' mental states) have revealed that affective and cognitive functions play a significant role and that each of those functions are associated with distinct neural networks. Cognitive facets of ToM have implicated the medial prefrontal cortex, temporo-parietal junction and the anterior paracingulate cortex, whereas affective facets have implicated the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Although the vmPFC has repeatedly shown to be critical for affective functions, knowledge regarding the exact role of the left and right vmPFC in affective ToM is still obscure. Here, we compared performances of 30 patients with left, right and bilateral vmPFC lesions to two comparison groups (one without and one with brain injuries) on the Faux Pas Recognition task measuring the facets of ToM. We also investigated whether any deficits may be associated with other emotional measures, namely emotional empathy and emotional intelligence. Our results extend earlier findings by showing that the vmPFC is associated with abilities in affective ToM. More importantly, our results revealed that the left, and not the right vmPFC as indicated previously, is involved in affective ToM and that this deficit is associated with emotional intelligence.