Experiences and perceived roles of occupational therapists working with children with special learning needs during transition to school: A pilot study

Occupational therapists provide support to children with special learning needs and their families during the child's transition from early childhood to mainstream school. Little has been documented regarding the role and experiences of occupational therapists working with children, families and teachers during transition in an Australian context. Six paediatric occupational therapists from one geographical area in New South Wales were interviewed and asked to relay their role and experiences when providing a service to children with special learning needs during their transition to school. Participants described their role to include: preparing the child for school; working with school personnel; and providing parental support. Although participants described both positive and negative experiences, among the negative experiences were: limited time to provide a service; recommendations to school personnel not being followed; school personnel not being supportive; feeling uncomfortable in the classroom; and limited involvement in planning. Participants described a role which is consistent with current school-based occupational therapy practice; however, in the participants' experience, there was a gap between the ideal service and what participants were able to provide. This included limited collaboration with teachers.     

The oral health and treatment needs of community‐dwelling older people in a rural town in Western Australia

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess, in a sample of older rural community‐dwelling Australians, their: oral health status, dental treatment needs, perceived barriers to access dental services and the prevalence and severity of dental anxiety. Methods: A cross‐sectional study of elderly rural Australians. Results: Eighty participants (mean age of 71.7 years) had a mean number of 0.69 (SD 1.6) decayed teeth, 15.72 (SD 13.3) missing teeth and 3.9 (SD 5.4) filled teeth. Forty‐one per cent were edentulous. Xerostomia was reported by 53% of the edentulous and 43% of the dentate. The average Corah Dental Anxiety Scale score was 8.72 (SD 3.8). Prevalence of dental anxiety was 15.6%. Two‐thirds needed dental treatment. Conclusions: Caries experience was lower than that reported in other studies. Reported barriers to use of dental services were long waiting times, lack of perceived dental need and costs.     

'Jumping through hoops': parents' experiences with seeking respite care for children with special needs

Background   Respite care may act as a means to reduce stress and fatigue in people caring for a dependent who has a disability. Despite this, a variety of barriers may exist to obtaining such services. This study explored caregivers' experiences seeking respite care for their children with special needs within a province in Canada.
Methods   Caregivers were recruited from two agencies providing respite care for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and other mental health and developmental difficulties. In total, 10 caregivers participated in in-depth individual interviews. A constructivist grounded theory approach was employed in the design and analysis of the data.
Results   Caregivers discussed their frustrations with the process of finding and obtaining respite care, a course of action described as 'jumping through hoops'. This construct was composed of subcategories emphasizing the complexity of 'navigating the system', the bidirectional process of 'meeting the requirements' and the challenges of 'getting help'.
Conclusions   The collective experiences of these caregivers point to the need for more flexibility and co-ordination of respite care services for children with special needs.     

Met and unmet nursing care needs in men with prostate cancer. An explorative study. Part II

Men with prostate cancer ( n = 11) were interviewed during an in-patient period at a urological clinic, about their experiences of met and unmet needs from health professionals. Their perception of quality of life and sense of coherence were also assessed. The findings were analysed from a phenemenological-hermeneutic perspective and interpreted within the concept of transition. It was interpreted that objective functional health needs were mostly met by health professionals and subjective existential needs were mostly not met. The analysis revealed patients as passive or active receivers of care. Passive receivers were explicitly and implicitly stating unmet needs, or explicitly stating satisfaction with nursing care at the same time as implicitly contradicting, referring to their needs as bagatelles, unimportant, whereas active receivers talked about their needs explicitly with the staff and did not state implicit unmet needs. This suggests that nurses need to be aware of and have sensitive ears to undertones in statements and actively seek for patients' needs. The most important nursing care areas seemed to be to provide solutions to physical problems together with staff support including information, and acting to increase confidence in staff and staff availability. This encourages patients, wives and families, in co-operation, towards a healthy exit of transition.     

Periodontal treatment needs in populations under 20 years of age in Espoo, Finland and Chiangmai, Thailand

The aim of this study was to assess the periodontal treatment needs at under 20 yr of age in the affluent area of Espoo, Finland, offering comprehensive public dental health care, as compared to a less advantaged area in Chiangmai, Thailand. In Espoo, 50 girls and 50 boys were examined in each age group of 7, 12 and 17 yr. In Chiangmai equal numbers of girls and boys were examined to obtain a group of 89 subjects aged 18.5 + 0.6 yr. According to the Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs (CPITN) the need of scaling increased in Espoo from 6% of the 7-yr-olds to 39% of the 17-yr-olds. Moderate pocketing (4-5 mm) occurred in one subject at age 12 and in three subjects at age 17. In Chiangmai, deep pockets (6 mm and over) were recorded for 1%, moderate pockets for a total of 44%, and dental calculus as the highest treatment need indicator in the remaining 55%, indicating a need for professional treatment in 100% of the group examined. The mean number of sextants requiring scaling was 0.6 per person at age 17 in Espoo as compared to 4.5 at 18.5 yr of age in Chiangmai. Three or more healthy sextants per subject were recorded for 47% of the 17-yr-olds in Espoo and for only 6% of the 18.5-yr-olds in Chiangmai. It was concluded that already at young age vast differences occur between periodontal treatment needs in industrialized and developing countries.     

季节因素对医疗卫生服务需求和利用的影响

本文通过对朝阳门社医连续性卫生服务调查的资料分析，探讨季节因素对医疗卫生服务供需的影响及连续性卫生服务调查方法在我国城市社医的应用。研究结果可为其他断面性卫生服务调查的数据调整提供依据。     

临床护理带教教师多层次岗前培训现状与需求分析

目的　调查临床护理带教教师多层次岗前培训的培训现状并分析其培训需求,为进一步完善临床护理带教教师岗前培训的方案设计提供参考。方法　采用横断面调查法,利用自行设计的调查问卷,于2020年4月至2020年6月对采用多层次岗前培训模式的哈尔滨市某三级综合医院的172名临床护理带教教师进行调查,分析其岗前培训的现状与教师的培训需求。通过SPSS 17.0统计软件对所有原始数据进行统计学处理。结果　172名调查对象中,138名（80.2%）教师年龄在35岁以下,133名（77.3%）教师第一学历在本科以下;89名（51.7%）教师明确医院或科室会有计划、有组织地开展岗前培训,10名（5.8%）教师表示医院或科室从未组织过培训,41名（23.8%）教师从未参加过岗前培训,80名（46.5%）教师参加岗前培训的次数为1~3次。院内培训和科内培训的前8项培训内容有5项重复,分别是科室常见病疾病知识、护理程序、沟通技能、医院规章制度、带教方法。培训需求总得分为（154.51±40.35）分,总体需求率为81.3%,处于高等水平;得分率最高的维度是法制和人文素养,得分率为83.0 %;得分率最低的维度是教学管理,得分率为74.9%。培训需求得分率最高的9个条目分别为对学生基本素质（慎独、乐学、敬业品质等）的培养（84.7%）、法律知识（84.4%）、科室常用药物配伍禁忌（84.3%）、护士礼仪（83.3%）、护理风险防范（83.1%）、对学生的教育评价方法（83.1 %）、护患沟通技巧（83.0%）、科室常用药物的用药观察要点（83.0%）、科室常用药物作用（82.9%）。序位前3的培训形式分别为网络学习84名（48.8%）、医院内部有经验的教师讲授74名（43.0%）、经验交流与分享讨论会72名（41.9%）。结论　该院临床护理带教教师队伍人才结构相对年轻,第一学历偏低,应大力加强临床护理带教教师岗前培训工作;岗前培训开展的知晓率与参与度均一般,应加强各渠道培训信息的发布,提高培训活动的知晓率,明确参与岗前培训活动的鼓励或奖励措施,提高培训活动的参与度;各层次岗前培训内容存在重复,且与临床护理带教教师的培训需求存在差距,建议各教学医院结合自身培训对象的培训需求,采用线上线下混合的培训模式,合理统筹各层次的培训内容,避免培训内容重复,避免师资浪费,并可适时组织带教教师开展经验交流分享会。     

Correlation of manual dexterity and comprehension with oral hygiene and periodontal status in mentally handicapped adults

Although there is relatively little information concerning the oral health of handicapped adults there is increasing evidence to suggest that their oral condition, particularly periodontal health, is poor. The present investigation involved assessment of 382 handicapped patients attending four different Adult Training Centres in Birmingham. The caries status, oral hygiene, and periodontal conditions were evaluated and the Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Need (CPITN) was calculated. In order to assess the manual dexterity and the comprehension of the trainees a standard test was devised. This consisted of timing each participant in carrying out simple instructions to pick up and position certain common objects. The results indicated high levels of plaque, calculus, and bleeding with a mean CPITN of 7.43. The mean time taken for the manual dexterity and comprehension test was 23.9 seconds with a range from 10 to 80 seconds, S.E.+/- 1.33. This compares with results from 34 "normal" adults of a mean time of 8.2 seconds +/- 1.8 with a range of 6 to 12 seconds. There was no significant correlation between the Manual Dexterity and Comprehension scores and the periodontal indices in the handicapped adults.     

The need-informational theory of emotions

As an evolvement of Pavlov ideas on higher nervous (psychic) activity 'the need-informational theory of emotions' was suggested by the author in 1964. According to it an emotion is a function of two major factors: (1) power and quality of actual need (or drive, or motivation) and (2) estimation of probability (possibility) of need satisfaction on the basis of phylo- and ontogenetic experience. In the process of experimental testing of 'the need-informational theory of emotions' the role of different cerebral structures (frontal neocortex, hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus) in the genesis of emotional states and in the organization of goal-directed behavior was elucidated. The experimental data showed that these 4 brain structures play the major role in estimation of signals coming from environment and in the choice of subject's reactions. The individual characteristics of the interaction between the 4 brain structures must be taken into consideration in discussing neurophysiological backgrounds of different types of the higher nervous activity (temperaments), parameters of extra-introversion and neurotism (emotionality), the formation of main types of neurosis.