Correction to: The Student Resilience and Well-Being Project: Opportunities, Challenges, and Lessons Learned

Abstract The Reminiscence Functions Scale (RFS), a 43 item reliable and valid scale, measures eight specific reasons as to why individuals reminisce: (a) identity (b) death preparation; (c) problem-solving; (d) bitterness revival; (e) boredom reduction; (f) intimacy maintenance; (g) conversation; and (h) teach/Inform others. Research indicates that certain reminiscence functions have a positive impact on the mental-health and well-being of older adults. However, no known studies have been conducted in Arab countries examining the relationship between reminiscence functions and mental health outcomes due to the lack of an Arabic version of the RFS. The purpose of this study was to translate the RFS from English to Arabic (Modern Standard Arabic), back-translate from Arabic to English, and compare the two English versions for equivalence and accuracy through a multi-step translation method. A team of bilingual, bicultural, Arabic speaking experts assembled to conduct the forward, back translation and harmonization process. In the next step, professionals with expertise in linguistics communication sciences and disorders, Arabic literature, geriatric nursing, and medicine reviewed the translated documents to assess the content (relevant to the target culture) and semantic equivalencies (similarity of meaning in the target culture). Challenges that occurred during the study included finding nuanced translation equivalences for Likert scale responses, translation of idioms such as “when time is heavy on my hands”, and logistical issues such as coordinating virtual meetings for the team of experts. Lessons learned during the translation process and implications for use of the RFS-Arabic version with Jordanian older adults will be presented.

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Responding to unforeseen disasters in a large health system

American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy ◽

10.1093/ajhp/zxaa358 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ryan J Hannan ◽

Margaret K Lundholm ◽

Dennis Brierton ◽

Noelle R M Chapman

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Health System ◽

Disaster Response ◽

Well Being ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Strategic Decision ◽

Pharmacy Services ◽

Efficient System ◽

Team Members

Abstract Purpose To describe how health systems may respond to sudden changes in operations by leveraging existing resources and to share one organization’s experience responding to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Summary In a health system based in Illinois and Wisconsin, pharmacy services are provided by a single, integrated department responsible for all aspects of pharmaceutical care within the organization. Hospital, retail, ambulatory care, and population health services are all managed under one leadership team. All pertinent ancillary services are also managed within the department, including informatics, supply chain, and drug policy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the pharmacy services leadership has successfully managed volume and capacity challenges by redirecting resources to where they are needed. A disaster response framework based on Federal Emergency Management Agency guidance was put in place, and change management principles were used to rapidly operationalize change. Components of the nimble response have included quickly increasing capacity, thoughtful and timely communication to all team members, strategic decision making with available data, creating an agile pool of labor, and maintaining an efficient system supply chain. Well-being and resilience are emphasized alongside reflection on lessons learned. Some changes made in the urgent response to the pandemic are being considered for long-term implementation. Conclusion Organizations have the potential to respond to almost any situation if they are integrated and teams work together to build flexibility. The keys to success are thoughtful maximization of existing resources and strong communication.

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Development of a Positive Psychology Program (LAVENDER) for Preserving Medical Student Well-being: A Single-Arm Pilot Study

Global Advances in Health and Medicine ◽

10.1177/2164956120988481 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

pp. 216495612098848

Author(s):

Elaine O Cheung ◽

Ian Kwok ◽

Allison B Ludwig ◽

William Burton ◽

Xinzi Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Student ◽

Medical Students ◽

Positive Psychology ◽

Positive Emotion ◽

Albert Einstein College ◽

Albert Einstein ◽

Well Being ◽

Preliminary Evidence ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Psychology Program

Background Mental health tends to worsen over the course of medical school, with steep declines in well-being in students’ clerkship year (M3). Positive emotion promotes adaptive coping to stress and may help preserve medical student well-being. Objective This study describes the development of LAVENDER (Leveraging Affect and Valuing Empathy for Nurturing Doctors’ Emotional Resilience), a program aimed at increasing positive emotion to preserve well-being in medical students. Methods We conducted a single-arm pilot of LAVENDER, a positive psychology intervention developed for medical students delivered in an interactive classroom format to a cohort of 157 third-year medical students at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Our primary outcome was the acceptability of LAVENDER. We also examined preliminary efficacy using measures of emotion, stress and burnout collected at each intervention session. Results LAVENDER showed good acceptability: 76% of participants agreed that the LAVENDER skills were useful and 72% agreed that they would recommend the LAVENDER program to others. Qualitative feedback suggested that medical students enjoyed the program and found the skills to be useful for coping with stress, but also reported the following barriers to engagement: lack of time to practice the skills, resistance to the mandatory nature of the wellness sessions, and difficulty integrating the skills in daily life. We did not find support for the preliminary efficacy of LAVENDER for improving medical student well-being in students’ clerkship year. Participants showed decreases in positive emotion and increases in symptoms of burnout over the intervention period ( ps < .01). Conclusion The current paper describes the development and a single-arm pilot test of LAVENDER, a positive psychology program tailored for medical students. Although we found preliminary evidence for the acceptability of LAVENDER, we did not find support for the preliminary efficacy. Lessons learned and next steps for the program are discussed.

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Communicating With Residents About Risks Following the Fukushima Nuclear Accident

Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1177/1010539516681841 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 29 (2_suppl) ◽

pp. 74S-89S ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

Michio Murakami ◽

Akiko Sato ◽

Shiro Matsui ◽

Aya Goto ◽

Atsushi Kumagai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Risk Communication ◽

Health Management ◽

Well Being ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Nuclear Accident ◽

Fukushima Nuclear Accident ◽

Whole Body ◽

Systematic Evaluation ◽

Medical Professionals

The Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011 posed major threats to public health. In response, medical professionals have tried to communicate the risks to residents. To investigate forms of risk communication and to share lessons learned, we reviewed medical professionals’ activities in Fukushima Prefecture from the prefectural level to the individual level: public communication through Fukushima Health Management Surveys, a Yorozu (“general”) health consultation project, communications of radiological conditions and health promotion in Iitate and Kawauchi villages, dialogues based on whole-body counter, and science communications through online media. The activities generally started with radiation risks, mainly through group-based discussions, but gradually shifted to face-to-face communications to address comprehensive health risks to individuals and well-being. The activities were intended to support residents’ decisions and to promote public health in a participatory manner. This article highlights the need for a systematic evaluation of ongoing risk communication practices, and a wider application of successful approaches for Fukushima recovery and for better preparedness for future disasters.

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A Comparative Analysis of Climate-Risk and Extreme Event-Related Impacts on Well-Being and Health: Policy Implications

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph15020331 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 331 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Walter Leal Filho ◽

Abul Al-Amin ◽

Gustavo Nagy ◽

Ulisses Azeiteiro ◽

Laura Wiesböck ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Extreme Events ◽

Extreme Event ◽

Well Being ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Health Impacts ◽

Climate Risks ◽

Wide Range ◽

Mental Problems

There are various climate risks that are caused or influenced by climate change. They are known to have a wide range of physical, economic, environmental and social impacts. Apart from damages to the physical environment, many climate risks (climate variability, extreme events and climate-related hazards) are associated with a variety of impacts on human well-being, health, and life-supporting systems. These vary from boosting the proliferation of vectors of diseases (e.g., mosquitos), to mental problems triggered by damage to properties and infrastructure. There is a great variety of literature about the strong links between climate change and health, while there is relatively less literature that specifically examines the health impacts of climate risks and extreme events. This paper is an attempt to address this knowledge gap, by compiling eight examples from a set of industrialised and developing countries, where such interactions are described. The policy implications of these phenomena and the lessons learned from the examples provided are summarised. Some suggestions as to how to avert the potential and real health impacts of climate risks are made, hence assisting efforts to adapt to a problem whose impacts affect millions of people around the world. All the examples studied show some degree of vulnerability to climate risks regardless of their socioeconomic status and need to increase resilience against extreme events.

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Lessons Learned From an Early Hotspot During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The American Surgeon ◽

10.1177/0003134821994757 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 000313482199475

Author(s):

Brett M. Chapman ◽

George M. Fuhrman

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Surgical Education ◽

Clinical Care ◽

Well Being ◽

Educational Environment ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Residency Programs ◽

Surgical Residency ◽

The Impact

The Covid-19 pandemic has provided challenges for surgical residency programs demanding fluid decision making focused on providing care for our patients, maintaining an educational environment, and protecting the well-being of our residents. This brief report summarizes the impact of the impact on our residency programs clinical care and education. We have identified opportunities to improve our program using videoconferencing, managing recruitment, and maintaining a satisfactory caseload to ensure the highest possible quality of surgical education.

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Older adults’ philanthropic crafting of face masks during COVID-19

Craft Research ◽

10.1386/crre_00051_1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 223-245 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Christine Guy Schnittka

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Health Care ◽

Social Media ◽

Virtual Community ◽

Well Being ◽

Moral Values ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Front Line ◽

Social Media Platforms ◽

Front Line Workers

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, people of all ages began sewing fabric face masks. Organized through separate grassroots movements, oftentimes using social media platforms, people pooled their resources to make masks for front line workers and others in desperate need. While some people sold these face masks, many participated in philanthropic crafting, donating them to hospitals and other health care centres. Older adults were identified early on as being particularly vulnerable to the effects of the virus, and so their response to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic through crafting was salient. This study investigated the experience of philanthropic hand crafting by older adults who were living through the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty-seven older adults of age 60–87 who sewed masks for others were interviewed. A comprehensive data analysis of these interviews yielded 39 descriptive codes that were collapsed into eight themes: emotions, engagement, meaning, relationships, accomplishment, intellect, moral values and agency. One finding was that there were psychological, relational and existential benefits for the crafters. Making masks allowed participants to help other people, and it gave the participants a feeling of value, worthiness and purpose. Additionally, participants felt more in control in a chaotic world as they made masks to protect themselves, their loved ones, as well as strangers. The philanthropic crafting enhanced older adults’ well-being in many ways, and lessons learned from this study could be extended into ‘normal times’. For example, more older adults would be able to participate in craft-based philanthropy if they had access to the tools and materials. They would be more motivated if they received thank you notes and pictures of the recipients using their handmade gifts, and if they could express their creativity more. Finally, creating a physical or virtual community for older adults around craft philanthropy would help older adults feel more connected to and supported by their peers, and the community at large.

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Reflections on a Scholarly Career in Sport and Exercise Psychology: The Influence of Significant Others on the Psychosocial Well-Being of Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults

Kinesiology Review ◽

10.1123/kr.2021-0001 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Thelma S. Horn

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Research Work ◽

Well Being ◽

Significant Others ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Future Research ◽

The North ◽

Senior Scholar ◽

Sport And Exercise ◽

American Society

This paper is based on a Senior Scholar presentation delivered at the 2020 annual meeting of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity. The paper begins with a summary of the research work completed by the author and coinvestigators in regard to the influences that significant others (parents, peers, and coaches) exert on the psychosocial well-being of individuals in sport and physical activity. In each of these three areas, illustrative research studies are summarized in a predominantly chronological order with a commentary at the end of each section that identifies unanswered questions and suggests future research directions. In the second section, four particular lessons learned by the author over the course of a scholarly career are identified and explained.

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Implementing a National Approach to Research Ethics Review during a Pandemic – the Irish Experience

HRB Open Research ◽

10.12688/hrbopenres.13146.2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 63

Author(s):

Aileen Sheehy ◽

Jennifer Ralph James ◽

Mary Horgan

Keyword(s):

Research Ethics ◽

Ethics Committees ◽

Well Being ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Research Ethics Committees ◽

Ethics Review ◽

Research Ethics Review ◽

Human Participants ◽

High Standards ◽

National Approach

The surge of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) research studies involving human participants in response to the pandemic has meant that research ethics committees across the world have been challenged to adapt their processes to meet demand while retaining high standards of review. Ethics review during this pandemic remains essential to ensure the safety, dignity and well-being of research participants, however research ethics committees are now faced with new, and often complex, ethics considerations and logistical challenges. This Open Letter looks specifically at the Irish experience of establishing a national approach to research ethics review amidst a global pandemic. This represents Ireland’s first National Research Ethics Committee, which provided the research community with an expedited and ‘single national opinion’ for ethics review for COVID-related research. The insights gleaned and lessons learned from the Irish experience may inform emergency responses to future pandemics or public health emergencies.

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