The profile of performance skills and emotional factors in the context of participation among young children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Participation is a person's involvement in daily activities in a variety of environments, roles and life situations. Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) experience difficulties in gaining academic achievements or in their engagement in activity of daily living. Motor difficulties have a negative effect on the ability to participate, as well as on various affective components. Senses of coherence, effort and hope have not yet been assessed, within the context of participation, in children with DCD. The purpose of the present study is to look into the relations between participation and senses of coherence, effort and hope among children with DCD, in comparison to typically developed children. Fifty subjects aged 5-6years participated in the study, 25 of whom are children diagnosed with DCD, the other 25 being typical children. The DCD diagnosis was established according to the DSM-IV criteria and the M-ABC test. All children completed the coherence questionnaire for children as well as the children's questionnaire on effort and hope. Parents completed the Children Participation Questionnaire (CPQ), and the Performance Skills Questionnaire (PSQ). Children with DCD had lower performance skills, lower sense of coherence, hope, and effort than their peers. They less enjoy their participation and their parents are less satisfied in comparison to control group. Significant correlations were found between sense of coherence and hope to participation. Process skills were found to be the main predictor for explaining child's participation. While treating children with DCD we have to consider also socio-psychological aspects that may be weakened.     

A short-term graphomotor program for improving writing readiness skills of first-grade students.

OBJECTIVE: Children with fine-motor problems and handwriting difficulties often are referred for occupational therapy. The objective of this study was to test the efficacy of a short-term treatment on the fine-motor and graphomotor skills of first-grade students. METHOD: We recruited 52 first-grade students who had scored below the 21st percentile on the Visual-Motor Integration test from schools in a city with a low socioeconomic, mixed (Arab and Jewish) population. The children were randomly divided into an intervention group and a control group. Before and after the intervention, we administered two tests to both groups. RESULTS: Students in the intervention group made significant gains both in the total score on the graphomotor test (Developmental Test of Visual Perception) and on the fine-motor test (Bruininks-Oseretsky Motor Development Scale). CONCLUSION: This study provided preliminary evidence of the efficacy of a short-term graphomotor intervention. The results increased the feasibility of implementing occupational therapy intervention in the Israeli school system, allowing treatment of more children using the same resources.     

Do surface DC-shifts affect epileptic hippocampal EEG activity?

Despite considerable research on EEG-feedback of slow cortical potentials (SCPs) for seizure control in epilepsy, the underlying mechanisms and the direct effects on intracerebral pathological activity within the focal area remain unclear. Intrahippocampal EEG recordings from four patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and implanted electrodes were analyzed with regard to spike activity and power in 10 frequency bands (0.5-148Hz) during SCP feedback based on surface recordings (position Cz). Trials with positive, negative and indifferent SCPs were contrasted. Three of the four patients showed changes in spike activity during SCPs, but these were inconsistent between patients, and resulted in increased and decreased activity in both positive and negative SCPs. Spectral analysis revealed that in all patients, positive surface shifts showed a bi-hemispheric higher power in the high-frequency activity above 40Hz. Two patients showed a higher power also during negative shifts, both in high-frequency activity and one in most other frequency bands. Feedback-related power effects did not differ between focal and non-focal side. The inconsistent change in spiking activity and the lack of decrease of power in pathology associated frequency bands during SCPs show that these SCPs do not decrease pathological activity within the epileptic focus. A possible relation of higher power in high-frequency activity during positive SCPs to cognitive processes, such as memory functions, is discussed.     

Unemployment risk 2 years and 4 years following gastric cancer diagnosis: a population-based study

Purpose

The needs of gastric cancer survivors have received limited attention. Returning to work after gastric cancer has not yet been described in a population-based study. We aimed to examine the unemployment risk at 2 and 4 years after gastric cancer.

Methods

The present historical prospective cohort study included baseline measurements from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics 1995 National Census, with follow-up until 2011. A group with gastric cancer and an age-, sex-, and ethnicity-matched control group were sampled from the census population. Binary logistic regression analyses were used to assess odds ratios (ORs) for the study outcomes, controlling for socioeconomic factors, and employment status at 2 years before diagnosis.

Results

Data for 152 gastric cancer cases and 464 matched controls were analyzed. Those who died during the study period were excluded. Two years after diagnosis, 53.3 % of gastric cancer survivors and 43.8 % of controls were unemployed (p = 0.04); 4 years after diagnosis, 53.9 % of survivors, and 47.2 % of controls were unemployed (p = 0.15). In the adjusted models, gastric cancer was only associated with unemployment 2 years after diagnosis (OR = 1.47, 95 % confidence interval [CI] = 1.02–2.12). This association weakened and lost significance 4 years after diagnosis (OR = 1.42, 95 % CI = 0.89–2.28). Gastric cancer was not associated with decreased income at 2 (OR = 1.48, 95 % CI = 0.91–1.48) or 4 years (OR = 1.65, 95 % CI = 0.99–2.74) after diagnosis.

Conclusions

Gastric cancer survivorship was associated with unemployment 2 years after diagnosis. Longer-term survivors may have the prospect of returning to work.

Implications for cancer survivors

For patients with cancer, returning to work may be an indicator for returning to a normal lifestyle after serious illness. This study highlights the need for early social support in gastric cancer survivors to promote faster recovery.

     

Motor skills,cognition, and work performance of people with severe mental illness

Purpose: Employment offers many benefits to people with mental illness, yet their employment rate is much lower than that of the general population. We investigated the effect of work-related motor skills, neurocognition, and job attitudes on the work performance of people with mental illness, comparing those working in sheltered workshops, with controls working in similar jobs.

Methods: Twenty-nine adults with severe mental illness and 27 controls matched by gender and age were enrolled into the study using convenience sampling. They were assessed for gross and fine motor hand functioning, job attitudes, work performance, and cognition.

Results: People with mental illness scored lower on work performance, cognitive functioning, and hand dexterity while sitting and working with tools. They were assigned lower job loads than were controls, and perceived the physical environment at work as more constraining than did controls. Assembling motor skills significantly explained the work performance of people with mental illness.

Conclusions: The results expand our understanding of the complexities involved in the employment of people with severe mental illness, and point to new paths for improving vocational outcomes of people with severe mental illness, taking into account their motor skills and job attitudes.

• Implications for rehabilitation

• Therapists should be aware that employed people with severe mental illness may have various unmet needs, affecting their work performance and experience of stress.

• This study results demonstrate importance of motor skills and perception of the work environment for the promotion of vocational outcomes among individuals with severe mental illness.

• Employment of people with severe mental illness should be viewed from holistic perspective as with general population, rather than focused on traditionally illness-related factors.

     

Injury inequalities: morbidity and mortality of 0-17 year olds in Israel

BACKGROUND: To determine whether there are inequalities in the incidence of fatal and non-fatal unintentional injuries among Jewish and Arab children in Israel. METHODS: A nationwide random sample of injured children aged 0-17 attending emergency rooms (ER) during one year was selected (n = 11 058). The number of cases was weighted to 365 days and rates and odds ratios (OR) were calculated. Logistic regression was performed to study the OR of hospitalization in the total population and among Jews and Arabs controlling for independent variables. RESULTS: The incidence of ER admissions among the Jews was 752.6/10 000 (95% CI: 738.1-767.1), 1.5 times higher than among the Arabs (492.8/10 000, 95% CI: 472.8-512.8). However, the rate of hospitalization was 1.1 times higher among Arabs than among Jews and the mortality rate was 3.2 times higher among Arabs than among Jews. CONCLUSIONS: The differences in injury rates for fatal and non-fatal injuries may be due to differences in the severity of injuries or in the use of services by the two populations. A study is underway to elucidate this point.     

Psychological adjustment and levels of self esteem in children with visual-motor integration difficulties influences the results of a randomized intervention trial

This study evaluates how much the effects of intervention programs are influenced by pre-existing psychological adjustment and self-esteem levels in kindergarten and first grade children with poor visual-motor integration skills, from low socioeconomic backgrounds. One hundred and sixteen mainstream kindergarten and first-grade children, from low socioeconomic backgrounds, scoring below the 25th percentile on a measure of visual-motor integration (VMI) were recruited and randomly divided into two parallel intervention groups. One intervention group received directive visual-motor intervention (DVMI), while the second intervention group received a non-directive supportive intervention (NDSI). Tests were administered to evaluate visual-motor integration skills outcome. Children with higher baseline measures of psychological adjustment and self-esteem responded better in NDSI while children with lower baseline performance on psychological adjustment and self-esteem responded better in DVMI. This study suggests that children from low socioeconomic backgrounds with low VMI performance scores will benefit more from intervention programs if clinicians choose the type of intervention according to baseline psychological adjustment and self-esteem measures.