Behavior analytic based virtual reality interventions to teach adaptive and functional skills for individuals diagnosed with autism: A systematic review

Virtual reality technologies hold promise for the therapy based on the science of applied behavior analysis as they can replicate real life environments and allow the user to role-play in a simulated environments. This literature review synthesizes the research base evaluating the effects of behavior analytic interventions delivered via virtual reality (VR) technology to teach adaptive and functional skills for individuals with autism. Method: We conducted a systematic search in four databases followed by a reference search for those articles by the systematic database search. We also conducted a quality review using the Evaluative Method for Evaluating and Determining Evidence-Based Practices in Autism (Reichow, 2008). Results: We identified 24 studies with a majority of the studies (n = 18; 75%) utilizing group experimental or quasi-experiment research design, and the remaining (n = 6; 25%) utilizing single-case research design. Of those studies, ten targeted vocational related skills, seven targeted functional behaviors (e.g., problem behavior treatment, hypersensitivity, phobias), four targeted safety skills (e.g., driving, airplane travel, pedestrian safety), two studies targeted general functional skills, and one targeted exercise engagement. Of the 24 studies, 12 met the quality criteria to be classified as “strong” or “adequate” and can offer evidence on the integration of VR technology into the practice of behavior analysis for teaching adaptive or functional skills. Discussion: Taken as a whole, the three studies (Cox et al., 2017; Hu & Han, 2019; Wade et al., 2013) identified as “strong” quality studies were conducted by three different research teams, at three different locations, with 74 different participants and meet the qualifications to be considered a promising practice.

Measuring the impact of an educational intervention in rheumatoid arthritis: An open-label, randomized trial

Objectives: This study aims to determine whether patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA), either starting on or changing biological or targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), demonstrate better self-management safety skills three months after receiving a multidisciplinary educational intervention compared to patients receiving usual care. Patients and methods: Between October 2015 and October 2018 , this open-label, randomized-controlled trial included a total of 107 RA patients (27 males, 80 females; mean age: 60.2±10.4 years; range, 54 to 71 years) who were on treatment or in whom treatment was changed with a biological or targeted synthetic DMARD. The patients were randomized into two groups: Group 1 (n=57) received additional intervention with educational DVD and one teleconference session and Group 2 (n=55) received usual care and were offered the intervention at three months. All patients underwent a final visit at six months. At each visit, the patients completed the BioSecure questionnaire measuring the self-care safety skills, a behavioral intention questionnaire, and the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ). Results: No significant difference was observed in the Biosecure score at three months between the two groups (p=0.08). After pooling the first three-month data in Group 1 and the last three-month data in Group 2, the mean score of the BioSecure questionnaire increased to 7.10±0.92 in the group receiving educational intervention (p<0.0001). This increase was maintained at six months in Group 2 (p=0.88). The rate of appropriate behavioral intention increased over time (76% at baseline and 85% at six months for both groups). There was no significant change in the BMQ (p=0.44 to 0.84). Conclusion: The development of an educational DVD followed by a teleconference seem to improve self-care safety skills of the patients in practical situations.

A Phenomenological Experience of Trainer with COVID-19 Training: A Tertiary Level Institution Experience with Simulation

Background: Highly infectious diseases like COVID-19, which are rapidly disseminating and exceedingly contagious, require vital safety skills to be followed by all health professionals. These safety skills need to be taught to all individuals working in the health care sector, by qualified trainers. The present study describes the experiences of COVID-19 trainers who were involved in providing this intensive training to health workers, in a tertiary level institution. The hospital was providing services to COVID positive patients, as well as emergency and tertiary care services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the participants in the study were high risk groups who were in direct interaction with COVID positive patients.Methods: The COVID-19 training program was conducted for more than three months, with the aim of training all the health care workers at a tertiary care institute, during the Corona virus pandemic. Twenty trainers, who had completed at least 30 or more sessions of training more than 2700 health workers, were included in this study. These trainers were interviewed for an average of thirty minutes per participant and were asked 30 open ended questions each. Results: The mean age of the trainers was 28.9 years, and 75% of them were females. The interview of the COVID-19 trainers highlighted four important factors, which according to them were the pillars of this successful and effective training program. These factors included: The use of video demonstration and simulation for the training; Regular updating of the skill of the trainers in this program; Ease of communication to address the challenges faced by the trainers; and strong administrative support for the training. Conclusion: The results of this study reveal that if health workers are provided a conducive environment for training, as well as full support for updating their knowledge and skills, they can provide optimal health care services to their patients and fellow healthcare workers, even during a challenging time like the COVID-19 pandemic. The trainers in this study provided training to all the health care workers of the hospital, who were posted in COVID wards, even at a time when everyone had the fear of contracting the infection.

Perceived Efficiency Outcomes, Sources and Awareness of Online Health Information among the Elderly during COVID-19

The Internet and social media are crucial platforms for health information. Factors such as the efficiency of online health information, the outcomes of seeking online health information and the awareness of reliable sources have become increasingly important for the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to examine differences between elderly individuals’ income above and below the average monthly wage in relation to their online health information efficiency and the outcomes of seeking online health information; to evaluate types of online information sources with online health information efficiency and the outcomes of seeking online health information; and to explore online health information efficiency as a mediator between health status and awareness of online sources. A cross-sectional study design was conducted with 336 elderly participants age 65 or older. The participants volunteered to complete a questionnaire. No differences were found between the two groups regarding efficiency in retrieving health information from official online health sites and Google. Perceived efficiency mediated health status and awareness of online sources. In these challenging times, it is important to provide a tailor-made education strategy plan for reliable sources of online health information for the elderly, in order to enhance their technology safety skills. It is also important to explore other mediating variables between health status and awareness of online sources.

Supporting the development of sexuality in early childhood: The rationales and barriers to sexuality education in early learning settings

Learning about sexuality is an important part of development in early childhood but is not formally considered in early learning settings. This makes sexuality education for young children both rare and inconsistent across early learning settings. The purpose of this paper is to provide a unique contribution and inform the state of sexuality education in early learning settings in Canada, which is currently an understudied area. We describe the Canadian context of sexuality education in early learning settings and examine its presence in provincial and territorial early learning frameworks. We advocate for the inclusion of sexuality education in early learning settings because it can support children’s development and construction of sexuality, is a critical factor in providing children with personal safety skills and a part of child sexual abuse prevention work, and also sets the foundation for equity and social justice in teaching children about diversity as a norm. We discuss the barriers which act to exclude sexuality education in early learning settings including a lack of curriculum and policy to guide early learning professionals in addressing and supporting this domain, fear of parent reactions, and theoretical constructions of childhood innocence. We conclude with practice and policy recommendations to move the field forward.

The space, the process and alternatives of education for human security

In the current reality of threats, the issue of education for security requires changes both in space and in the processes in which people participate. Recently, an increasing determination of man in the search for security can be observed. Almost every threat has secondary effects that are as dangerous as primary and can be a trigger for further unexpected events. Hence, there are many doubts and questions regarding the quality of education for human safety, skills in effective counteracting threats, etc. The aim of the article is to draw attention to the spaces, processes and alternative educational opportunities that can be better used in the environment of human residence.

PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ CONCEPTIONS AND COMPETENCES ON DIGITAL LITERACY IN AN EFL ACADEMIC WRITING SETTING

This case study seeks to examine pre-service teachers’ digital literacy conceptions in an EFL academic writing context. Despite the recent growth of research regarding general conceptions of digital literacy, little attention has been given to its conception focusing on EFL digital writing environment. To bridge the gap, this research offers a new perspective of the conception of digital literacy from the perspective of pre-service teachers in their academic writing setting. Also, the study aims to identify pre-service teachers’ competences concerning the predominant dimensions of digital literacy encompassing critical thinking, online safety skills, digital culture, collaboration and creativity, finding information, communication, and functional skills. This case study involved both quantitative and qualitative data taken from 107 pre-service teachers’ online questionnaires and one 5-member focus group discussion delivered to pre-service teachers taking Academic Writing subjects in English Language Education Department in an urban university in Indonesia. While thematic analysis was involved for qualitative data, the quantitative ones were analyzed using descriptive analyses. Emergent themes related to the conception of digital literacy in academic writing context included basic conception of digital literacy, competences related to digital literacy, awarness of the importance of digital literacy, and challenges of digital literacy. In general, the result of the study revealed that the pre-service teachers’ conceptions of digital literacy were principally associated with the narrow proficiency of utilizing online tools and technological devices and set aside a critical mindset. Further, in spite of the fact that most participating students were found to have lack of understanding of critical thinking and digital culture towards digital literacy, they appeared to possess the competencies of finding information, communication, and functional skills. Additionally, quantitative result of the pre-service teachers’ competences demonstrated that communication dimension was the highest of all with the mean value of 3.95, followed by online safety skills (3.87), finding information (3.79), critical thinking (3.77), functional skills (3.75), as well as collaboration and creativity (3.43). The lowest mean (3.40) belonged to digital culture dimension. The findings have important implications for developing digital literacy framework in an EFL academic writing.

POS1450 PATIENTS’ SAFETY SKILLS ASSESSMENT WITH BIOLOGICS AND JAK INHIBITORS: UPDATE OF THE BIOSECURE QUESTIONNAIRE

Background:Biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (bDMARDs) and JAK inhibitors (JAKi) may lead to an increased risk of infections, which could be prevented by enhancing patients’ safety skills (ref). We developed a self-administered questionnaire (BioSecure1, ref) in 2013 to assess the patients’ safety skills (Table 1). Following the appearance of new bDMARDs and JAKi and new information on safety, this questionnaire needed updating.Table 1.Nine domains of core safety skills and number of corresponding questions in BioSecure questionnaires.Domain of competenceBioSecure1BioSecure2General knowledge42Dealing with infectious symptoms and fever1011Dealing with other infectious symptoms44Dealing with injuries, preventing infectious complications, vaccinations88Dental hygiene, preventing infectious complications, information to share with the dentist22Planning surgery, information to share with the surgeon/anesthesiologist77Planning child conception21Communication: who to contact?22Subcutaneous treatments: cold chain/cold storage, subcutaneous injection techniques30Objectives:To update the BioSecure questionnaire assessing patients’ safety skillsMethods:Four steps by a 10 participants multidisciplinary steering committee. Step1: critical analysis of content and formulations of BioSecure1 on the basis of i) the participants’ own experience of the questionnaire use in current practice (5/10 participants) or research (6/10 participants) ii) assessment of BioSecure1 consistency with current guidelines for management of targeted drugs. Step2: development of a first updated version by a core group of 10 persons. Step3: comments by an extended panel of rheumatology teams interested in therapeutic patient education (TPE). Step4: testing of the final version (Biosecure2) by ten patients through cognitive debriefing.Results:In total, 10 rheumatologists, 6 rheumatology nurses, 1 pharmacist and 1 patient from a patient association participated. Inadequate formulations were reported regarding some situations for which recommendations had the most shifted since Biosecure1 development such as planning pregnancy, remission management and prevention measures before surgery. Features of some infectious conditions were clarified; barriers measures against infection and complications such as sigmoiditis and Herpes Zoster infection were added. BioSecure2 continues to assess the 9 domains of core safety skills (Table 1). The questionnaire was shortened to 50 items (mean filling in time is 10 minutes) with a good understanding and scoring was simplified (mean scoring time 3.5 minutes).Conclusion:BioSecure2 represents an updated outcome measure to evaluate the patient’s skills to prevent adverse events with targeted therapies. This questionnaire can be useful in the context of patient-health professional communication, and as a tool to measure TPE on safety issues.References:[1]Gossec et al, Joint Bone Spine. 2013;80:471–476Disclosure of Interests:None declared

What Messages Are Communicated to Children in Maltreatment Prevention Programs? Conclusions of a Scoping Review

There is a worldwide consensus that the prevention of child maltreatment (CM) is critical in promoting children’s safety. Furthermore, a significant part of the prevention efforts targets the children themselves. This scoping review aimed to map the characteristics of CM prevention programs that targeted children by examining studies that described the relevant implemented programs, published in peer-reviewed journals over the last decade. Thirty-one relevant manuscripts were identified from the online databases. The analysis, guided by scoping review guidelines, examined these programs in terms of content, context of delivery, and practitioners involved. A thematic analysis identified the key messages conveyed to the children. The findings showed that the vast majority of programs are school-based and focused on preventing child sexual abuse (CSA) with considerably less attention given to other forms of maltreatment. In addition, most programs did not promote active parental participation. The content descriptions of the CSA prevention programs revealed several common key messages that focused on children’s individual safety skills, specifically recognition, refusal strategies, and disclosure. The discussion addresses the concepts of blame and guilt as crucial to rethinking the CM prevention messages conveyed to children. Key conclusions that were drawn from the current scoping review highlight the need to better align prevention efforts and recent CM research. Additionally, ceiling effects in several studies indicated that children’s participation, as information sources and partners in program development, should be promoted, so that prevention efforts will meet their needs within their various relevant life contexts.