“I don't opt out of things because I think I will get a sore knee, but I don't expose myself to stupid risks either”: patients’ experiences of a second ACL injury—an interview study

Purpose The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe women’s experiences with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) and a subsequent ACL rupture, and to identify potential facilitators and barriers for coping with rehabilitation after the second injury. Methods Eight women between 17 and 36 years (mean 26, SD 6.5) who had experienced ACLR, followed by another ACL rupture, participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results One overarching theme, “Rehabilitation after a second ACL injury—A lifelong adaptive coping process”, emerged from analyses. Undergoing a second rehabilitation is described as a process of adaptation, beginning with the first injury and still ongoing, more than 5 years later. Participants applied different coping strategies to adapt to these life-altering injuries, but the common denominator was of major life adjustments with no return to previous activity levels. Initially, after the reinjury, it was about coping with the catastrophe of the dreaded second injury. Over time, they accepted their “new” life and reset their recovery/rehabilitation goal not just as “return to sport” but rather as a “personal life goal”. Conclusion Undergoing a second ACL injury is a long process that challenges the patient’s coping skills. Given these results, rehabilitation programs need to be more person centred according to the patients-adjusted life goals. Level of evidence 3.

Power dynamics of theta oscillations during goal-directed navigation in freely moving humans: A mobile EEG-virtual reality T-maze study

Theta oscillations (4-12 Hz) are dynamically modulated by speed and direction in freely moving animals. However, due to the paucity of electrophysiological recordings of freely moving humans, this mechanism remains poorly understood. Here, we combined mobile-EEG with fully immersive virtual-reality to investigate theta dynamics in twenty-two healthy adults (aged 18-29 years old) freely navigating a T-maze to find rewards. Our results revealed three dynamic periods of theta modulation: 1) theta power increases coincided with the participants' decision-making period; 2) theta power increased for fast and leftward trials as subjects approached the goal location; and 3) feedback onset evoked two phase-locked theta bursts over the right temporal and frontal-midline channels. These results suggest that recording scalp EEG in freely moving humans navigating a simple virtual T-maze can be utilized as a powerful translational model by which to map theta dynamics during "real-life" goal-directed behavior in both health and disease.

Hope-enhancement workshops in the SWOG Cancer Research Network: Feasibility of an online intervention.

210 Background: Research shows that healthcare professionals’ personal hopefulness is associated with burnout and life satisfaction, highlighting the value of hope-enhancement interventions. Feldman and Dreher developed a single-session hope intervention, but this has been used rarely with oncology professionals, and only in in-person format (Shah, Ferguson, Corn et al.). Given SWOG Cancer Research Network’s commitment to assessing hope-enhancement approaches and the need for online interventions given COVID-19, we report a feasibility study of a virtual hope workshop in SWOG members. Methods: The workshop was a single 2-hour session delivered live via Zoom to 6-8 participants at a time. The workshop comprises 3 components: A brief lecture on hope and two exercises—a “hope mapping” exercise (aided by a smartphone app created for the workshop) and a hope visualization exercise—both designed to build hope for a life goal of each participant’s choosing. 29 SWOG members participated. A link to post-workshop measures was sent to participants, which they were given a week to complete. Measures included Thanarajasingamet al’s 5-item Was-it-Worth-it (WIWI) measure; Kirkpatrick’s 4-item Training Evaluation Model (TEM; reaction, learning, behavior, results); and an item assessing the degree to which participants believe concepts from the workshop should be integrated into SWOG studies. Results: In all, 25 participants (86%) completed measures. Participants were physicians (n = 8), nurses (n = 4), patient advocates (n = 3), research staff (n = 3), and others (n = 7); mostly female (n = 17), mostly white (n = 18), with a mean age of 55.5 (SD = 13.95). Results for the WIWI items are as follows: “Was it worthwhile to participate in the Hope Workshop?” (23 Yes, 2 No/Undecided/Missing Answer); “If you had to do over, would you participate in the Hope Workshop again?” (22 Yes, 3 No/Undecided/Missing Answer); “Would you recommend participating in the Hope Workshop to others?” (22 Yes, 3 No/Undecided/Missing Answer). Two additional items on the WIWI asked participants to rate on a 3-point scale the degree to which they believe their quality of life had increased due to the workshop (M = 2.52, SD =.51) and their overall experience in the workshop (M = 2.70, SD =.64). Ratings for Kirkpatrick’s TEM items likewise were high, ranging from 6.91 (SD = 1.31) to 7.70 (SD =.70) on an 8-point scale. Finally, participants gave a mean rating of 4.44 (SD =.59) on a 5-point scale to the item “To what degree do you believe it may be useful to integrate concepts from this workshop into SWOG trials/studies?” Conclusions: It is feasible to implement hope-enhancement workshops in an online platform that includes a smartphone app. Data obtained from two validated tools (WIWI instrument and Kirkpatrick’s TEM) attest to an array of positive outcomes. Participants also overwhelmingly advocated integrating hope concepts into SWOG’s research.

Formation of Intellectual Activity of Primary Schoolchildren in the Process of Learning to Play Chess

The purpose of the article is the solution of the problem of activating the intelligence of students, it seems especially relevant as an innovative technological stage that promotes young chess players to a higher level of realization of creative inclinations and abilities, intellectual potential. The following methods are used in the learning process: observation, testing, conversation, game methods, methods for solving chess problems, writing games, designing and solving original chess problems, modern information technologies, participation in competitions, including the Internet competitions, viewing and analyzing the content of chess games, participation in tournaments and competitions, P. Torrens creativity test «Finish a painting». Results. The Torrence test, conducted at the beginning and at the end of the study, determined the effectiveness of the experiment. We got a result that differs from the initial one: if the number of children with a low level was 27%, then at the final stage up to 19%, some of them moved to the middle level, some went to the group with a high level. The number of students with a high level at the beginning – 12%, at the end of the experiment – 21%. Conclusions. The intellectual activity of younger schoolchildren in the process of learning to play chess suggests that the student demonstrates the ability to break from the traditional solution and type of tasks to another type of tasks – original, non-standard, having a different proof algorithm, significantly improves the quality of training of young chess players, activates mental activity. The main thing is the active internal activity of the child himself, the realization of intellectual abilities, the development of inclinations, their transformation into intellectual abilities, unconventional, contradictory, creative thinking, the presence of a life goal to achieve chess heights, which determines his further own nature of activity.

INFLUENCE OF SENSE OF COHERENCE ON DEPRESSION AND PERCEIVED STRESS IN OLD AGE

Background:Old age is commonly viewed as a period of decreased physical activity,agitation and,increased calmness; depression or stress is not commonly acknowledged in the population. According to Erik Erikson, older adults experience Ego Integrity vs Despair, where people review their life cycle and accept it as something that had to be, resulting in wholeness or a sense of coherence. A lack of it would result in despair, where one's life is seen as being unproductive and guilt about the past, having not accomplished life goal leads to dissatisfaction and depression. Therefore,people with a poor sense of coherence could have higher levels of perceived stress and depression in them when compared to those who have a strong sense of coherence. Purpose: The study thus focuses on exploring the relationship between depression, perceived stress, and sense of coherence among the elderly population. Methods: Data was collected through the Sense of Coherence Scale,Perceived stress scale,and geriatric depression scale-15 from a sample of 40 from old age (people over 60 years). Out of which 20 were living in old age homes and 20 with their families.Statistical analyses were conducted using Pearson's Coefficient of Correlation and T-test.Results: There was a mild to moderate negative correlation between perceived stress and sense of coherence and a mild to moderate negative correlation between depression and sense of coherence. There was a significant difference in the levels of perceived stress and depression between people living in their homes and old age homes.

Stability and change in major life goals during the transition to parenthood

The transition to parenthood introduces changes in various life domains. In this paper, we examined whether and to what degree the transition to parenthood is related to changes in the importance of major life goals. To do this, we examined the rank-order stability, ipsative stability, and mean-level change in six life goal domains ( achievement, power, variation, affiliation, altruism, and intimacy) in a sample of 248 parents and 294 individuals in a romantic relationship without children across two time points. Overall, we found high rank-order (variable-oriented) and ipsative (person-oriented) stability, and little evidence for mean-level changes in the importance of life goals across the transition to parenthood. However, we found several selection effects suggesting that women without children tended to endorse agentic life goals ( variation and achievement) more than mothers did. Generally, our findings underline the overall stability of life goals and their role as guiding principles in life.