Developing an air guitar group for an inpatient psychiatry unit

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 237
Author(s):  
David James Meagher ◽  
Ian Murphy ◽  
Mary Mulligan ◽  
Pollyanna Bolger ◽  
Aoife Leahy ◽  
...  

The phenomenon of air guitar has become increasingly popular in mainstream society and recognised as a potential means of enhancing one’s sense of mental well-being. It allows for engagement with music that involves physical activation and can be conducted in groups allowing for non-verbal socialisation. To date, there has been limited examination of its potential usefulness in therapeutic settings, including in mental health services. We describe the development of an air guitar group in an inpatient psychiatry service including an iterative approach to the design of sessions and the impact in terms of patient engagement and feedback. The format of the group evolved over time according to feedback from participants and staff involved in patient care on the unit. We found that the group successfully engaged patients of varying age, gender and diagnostic profiles and was perceived as a valuable addition to the inpatient therapeutic programme. Based upon our observations during this pilot study, we outline a suggested format for air guitar sessions that includes our experiences around selection of music, duration of sessions, use of props, managing the physical demands of sessions and ensuring participant safety. Future work can investigate the impact of air-guitar as a therapeutic activity in other settings (including community-based) and exploring how it can be best applied in combination with other therapeutic modalities for use in patients with differing diagnostic and demographic profiles.

2021 ◽  
pp. 004728752110545
Author(s):  
Albert N. Kimbu ◽  
Issahaku Adam ◽  
Frederick Dayour ◽  
Anna de Jong

Drawing on social and psychological well-being literature underpinned by the concept of resilience, this study examines the impact of COVID-19 induced redundancy on the socio-psychological well-being of redundant employees (laid-off or working reduced hours), and its effect on their commitment to work and support recovery in the tourism industry. Utilizing a quantitative-dominant mixed methods design, 457 questionnaires were administered, and 15 interviews conducted with redundant employees in Ghana between May and August 2020. Results from a binary logistic regression analysis of the survey data supported by qualitative interview analysis indicate that marital status, education, status of dependents, and the types of tourism businesses employed in, significantly influenced psychological well-being while marital status, age, education, and rank in the organization influenced the social well-being of respondents. Meanwhile, psychological well-being significantly influenced future work commitment in the industry. Managerial implications for supporting employee resilience, well-being, and future recovery strategies are critically examined.


Author(s):  
Anastasia Vasilievna Grishina ◽  
Abakumova Irina Vladimirovna

The core problem of the COVID-19 pandemic for psychologists is to find out how people cope with the stress of isolation and the threat of fatal disease. The scale of the pandemical impact on the psychological well-being of an individual has still no knowledge and psychological predictors which the impact depends on need to be identified. This paper presents an empirical study of informational behavior and its psychological predictors in the pandemic. The research was held online in April-May 2020. The total amount of 165 participants, aged from 18 to 66. The subjects were chosen from a randomly selected sample. The participants were asked to estimate their informational consumption in pandemic. Tolerance to ambiguity, hardiness and anxiety was studied in groups distinguished according to changes in informational consumption. The findings of this study indicate a significant correlation between informational behavior and psychological characteristics related to coping with stress. Besides the analysis proved a negative correlation between reactive and personal anxiety and tolerance to ambiguity, hardiness and its components. We have confirmed that increased informational comsumption can be considered as a coping strategy for overcoming the pandemic social isolation among respondents with low hardiness and tolerance to ambiguity. Stable and decreased informational consumption indicates that respondents with high hardiness and tolerance to ambiguity and low state and trait anxiety don’t need to consume information for coping with difficulties of pandemic self-isolation. Future work will concentrate on expanding the list of psychological predictors of informational behavior and studying the features of their interaction in different situations.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (13) ◽  
pp. 103-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie Martin-Harris ◽  
Kendrea L. (Focht) Garand ◽  
David McFarland

Swallowing impairment (dysphagia) represents the highest functional morbidity in oropharyngeal (OP) head and neck (HNC) treated either with surgical approaches followed by radiation or with more recent organ preservation protocols, including combined chemotherapy and radiation. Despite the promising overall increasing survival rates, swallowing impairments remain chronic, are often resistant to traditional swallowing therapy, and have devastating consequences on health and well-being. The respiratory-swallow cross-system approach presented here extends beyond traditional swallowing interventions that commonly targets muscles and structures alone, and is instead, directed toward the re-establishment of optimal respiratory-swallowing coordination. Results from our work investigating a respiratory-swallow treatment (RST) paradigm is presented, including results from an RST clinical trial in HNC patients, primarily with OP cancers, with chronic and with intractable dysphagia post-cancer and post-traditional swallowing treatment. Future work will investigate the impact of RST on the degree and durability of clinical outcomes, including oral intake and quality of life, while also examining the potential added benefits of a home practice program that uses a commercially available and easy to use recording and analysis hardware and software.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (13) ◽  
pp. 1-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Kinderman ◽  
Sarah Butchard ◽  
Ashley J Bruen ◽  
Abbie Wall ◽  
Nia Goulden ◽  
...  

BackgroundAlthough it is widely recognised that adopting a person-centred approach is beneficial in the care of people living with dementia, a gap remains between the rhetoric and the reality of quality care. Some widely adopted care practices can result in the personhood of this group being threatened and their human rights being undermined.ObjectivesTo evaluate the impact of applying a human rights based approach in dementia inpatient wards and care homes on the quality of care delivered and the well-being of the person living with dementia.DesignA cluster randomised design was employed to compare the impact of implementing a human rights based approach intervention (i.e. training, applying the ‘Getting It Right’ assessment tool and receiving booster sessions) at 10 intervention sites with 10 control sites.SettingEight NHS dementia inpatient wards and 12 care homes in the north-west of England.ParticipantsPeople living with dementia who were residing on dementia inpatient wards or in care homes, and staff working at these sites. The aim was to recruit 280 people living with dementia.InterventionsA sample of staff (an average of 8.9 per site) at each of the sites was trained in a human rights based approach to care, including the application of the ‘Getting It Right’ assessment tool. The tool was then introduced at the site and monthly booster sessions were delivered.Main outcome measuresThe primary outcome measure used in the research was the Quality of Life in Alzheimer’s Disease scale to assess the subjective well-being of the person with dementia. Secondary outcome measures included measures of the quality of care provided (dementia care mapping) and direct measures of the effectiveness of the training in increasing knowledge of and attitudes towards human rights. The study also included an economic evaluation utilising the EuroQol-5 Dimensions, three-level version, and the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit measure.ResultsThe study recruited 439 people living with dementia: 213 to the intervention arm and 226 to the control arm. Primary outcome data were analysed using a linear mixed model. There were no significant differences found in the reported quality of life of residents between the control and intervention groups after the intervention [F(1,16.51) = 3.63;p = 0.074]. The mean difference between the groups was 1.48 (95% confidence interval –7.86 to 10.82).ConclusionsDespite the fact that the training increased staff knowledge of and positive attitudes towards human rights, and although there were some changes in staff decision-making strategies in clinical situations, there was no change in the quality of care provided or in the reported well-being of people living with dementia in these settings. This led to questions about the efficacy of training in bringing about cultural change and improving care practices.LimitationsThere was limited uptake of the training and booster sessions that were integral to the intervention.Future workFuture work could usefully focus on understanding the difficulty in translating change in attitude and knowledge into behaviour.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN94553028.FundingThis project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme and will be published in full inHealth Services and Delivery Research; Vol. 6, No. 13. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manish Kumar Dwivedi

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of Yoga Nidra in mitigating stress. This study has also investigated the impact of demographic profiles such as age, marital status and gender on stress. Design/methodology/approach The sample selected for this study consists of 200 respondents. The two groups were divided into the study: control and experimental groups. The data has been collected from the respondents pre and post-test administration of Yoga Nidra intervention within an interval of one month. The subjects have been instructed to practice Yoga Nidra. There is one follow-up at an interval of one month to assess the level of stress. Findings It has been observed that the stress level of participants reduced after administrating the intervention of Yoga Nidra. The findings suggested that Yoga Nidra is an effective mechanism in mitigating stress. Research limitations/implications The limitation of this study is that it might be possible that the respondents would have also practiced any other yogic techniques. Therefore, it is difficult to examine the impact of one yogic technique independently on stress. Practical implications The implication of this study exists in promoting the health of the people by improving the well-being at a minimal cost. It also results in saving the medical expenditure of the people. Social implications The practice of Yoga Nidra helps to improve the well-being of people. Ultimately, it has an impact on boosting the economy of the nation as a whole by reducing the medical expenses incurred in treating people suffered from various diseases. Originality/value This study is novel, which helps to make the society free from distress. It provides an effective stress management mechanism that provides relaxation at physical, mental and emotional levels. It ultimately results in saving medical expenditure and cost incurred in the treatment of various kinds of diseases.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Cittadini

This article presents a critical discourse analysis of the European Union’s documents released between 2008 and 2016 on the Right to Housing and on the inclusion of the Romani minority. The objective is to analyze the definition of adequate housing and its impact on the representation of the Roma and on the consequent housing strategies. The article highlights how a restrictive interpretation of the term “adequate housing”, understood exclusively as a series of physical parameters, associates the Roma with “inadequate” and “substandard” accommodation. This interpretation supports the persistent representation of the Roma as a vulnerable homogeneous group, “Other” from “mainstream society”, informing paternalistic policies that prevent the meaningful participation of Romani individuals in decisionmaking. Furthermore, it fails to acknowledge the immaterial factors affecting the subjective understanding of the house and its relation with the identity of the individual, hindering the empowering potential of home-making practices. Following this analysis, the article claims the necessity of recognizing the impact of affective and immaterial factors such as the creation of a socially supportive environment and the possibility of personalizing the domestic space, in the development of housing policies aimed at supporting the identity and well-being of the individual.


2019 ◽  
Vol 197 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-24
Author(s):  
Rhys Jones

Recent contributions in Geography and beyond have examined historical and more contemporary efforts to govern the future. Work in this area has highlighted some important conceptual considerations by drawing attention to the way in which states, regions and other organisations view the future as an object of governance for a variety of reasons: as something that constitutes a threat that needs to be managed; as something that can be predicted, thus leading to an improvement in governance; as something that allows a more hopeful and just society, economy and environment to be expressed (and achieved). In this paper, I use this context as a way of making an argument for the need to: 1) consider more explicitly the many geographies associated with governing the future; and 2) explore how these geographies might impact on the definition and promotion of spatial justice. I illustrate these arguments through an empirical discussion of the development and implementation of Wales’ Well-being of Future Generations Act, an Act that seeks to create a better and more just Wales by the year 2050. I conclude by exhorting geographers to take the lead in exploring the impact that geographical themes might have on states’ and regions’ attempts to achieve spatial justice in the present and the future.


GeroPsych ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 171-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence M. Solberg ◽  
Lauren B. Solberg ◽  
Emily N. Peterson

Stress in caregivers may affect the healthcare recipients receive. We examined the impact of stress experienced by 45 adult caregivers of their elderly demented parents. The participants completed a 32-item questionnaire about the impact of experienced stress. The questionnaire also asked about interventions that might help to reduce the impact of stress. After exploratory factor analysis, we reduced the 32-item questionnaire to 13 items. Results indicated that caregivers experienced stress, anxiety, and sadness. Also, emotional, but not financial or professional, well-being was significantly impacted. There was no significant difference between the impact of caregiver stress on members from the sandwich generation and those from the nonsandwich generation. Meeting with a social worker for resource availability was identified most frequently as a potentially helpful intervention for coping with the impact of stress.


Crisis ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 78-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Reisch ◽  
Petra Schlatter ◽  
Wolfgang Tschacher

This study assesses the efficacy of the treatment approach implemented in the Bern Crisis Intervention Program, where particular emphasis is placed on the remediation of suicide ideation and suicidal behavior, and depression, fear, and phobia are generally considered to be contributing factors. Four questionnaires addressing psychopathology, emotional well-being, social anxiety, and personality were administered prior to and after the treatment of 51 patients over a period of 2 to 3 weeks. The reduction of symptoms contributing to suicidal ideation and behavior was interpreted as indirect evidence of an antisuicidal effect of the program. Significant improvements were found in the psychopathology ratings, with depression and anxiety showing the largest reductions. The impact on personality and social phobia, however, was only moderate, and on average patients still exhibited symptoms after attending the program. This residual symptomatology points to the necessity of introducing a two-step therapy approach of intensive intervention targeted at the precipitating causes of the crisis, augmented by long-term therapy to treat underlying problems.


Crisis ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friedrich Martin Wurst ◽  
Isabella Kunz ◽  
Gregory Skipper ◽  
Manfred Wolfersdorf ◽  
Karl H. Beine ◽  
...  

Background: A substantial proportion of therapists experience the loss of a patient to suicide at some point during their professional life. Aims: To assess (1) the impact of a patient’s suicide on therapists distress and well-being over time, (2) which factors contribute to the reaction, and (3) which subgroup might need special interventions in the aftermath of suicide. Methods: A 63-item questionnaire was sent to all 185 Psychiatric Clinics at General Hospitals in Germany. The emotional reaction of therapists to patient’s suicide was measured immediately, after 2 weeks, and after 6 months. Results: Three out of ten therapists suffer from severe distress after a patients’ suicide. The item “overall distress” immediately after the suicide predicts emotional reactions and changes in behavior. The emotional responses immediately after the suicide explained 43.5% of the variance of total distress in a regression analysis. Limitations: The retrospective nature of the study is its primary limitation. Conclusions: Our data suggest that identifying the severely distressed subgroup could be done using a visual analog scale for overall distress. As a consequence, more specific and intensified help could be provided to these professionals.


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