Mothers’ Preferences for Their Children’s Format for Return to School During the Coronavirus Disease-2019 Pandemic: Are There Differences Between Full-Time Employed Mothers and Mothers Who are Not Employed?

The present study assessed factors associated with maternal preferences for their children’s educational format (i.e., completely in-person, completely online/remote, or hybrid of in-person and online/remote) for return to school during the COVID-19 pandemic and whether these associations differed between full-time employed mothers and mothers who were not employed. Participants were 911 mothers of school-aged children from the United States (full-time employed, n = 650; not employed, n = 261). Recruitment took place online via social media during Summer 2020. Questionnaires on school modality preference, maternal work status, and demographic characteristics were filled out online through Qualtrics. Compared to mothers who were not employed, full-time employed mothers were more likely to endorse a preference for a hybrid in-person and online/remote educational format for their children and less likely to endorse a preference for a completely online/remote educational format for their children. The factor most strongly associated with maternal preferences for their children’s educational format for return to school in both groups of mothers was being worried about my child getting COVID-19 and their health being severely impacted (rs’s ranged from −56 to −58; p < .01). Regardless of maternal employment status, this factor continued to have the strongest association with a maternal preference for a completely online educational format in the polynomial regression analysis after controlling for relevant demographic variables (Odds Ratios ranged from 3.63 to 37.64; p < .01). These findings highlight that concerns about child health during the COVID-19 pandemic influence maternal preferences for their children’s educational format, regardless of maternal employment status.

676 Age is only a number: Treatment modality preferences in a randomized controlled trial of CBTI in older adults

Introduction Use of telemedicine platforms for conducting CBTI has the potential to reach more patients than in person treatment alone. While CBTI has been shown to be effective in older adults, questions about proficiency with technology and preference for treatment modality have not been addressed. Methods Baseline data from participants in the RCT of the Effectiveness of Stepped-Care Sleep Therapy In General Practice (RESTING) study were used. Analyses compared CBTI treatment modality preference (in person, online [video platform], no preference) across the following variables: insomnia severity (Insomnia Severity Index; ISI), depression (Geriatric Depression Scale; GDS), cognitive functioning (telephone-based cognitive screen) and internet proficiency (IP; assessing comfort with and frequency of internet use). Data collected prior to the pandemic-shut down (March 2020) were utilized for the primary analysis of treatment preference; n=71, mean age = 62.5 (SD = 8.1); 64.8% female; treatment preferences: in person (33.8%), no preference (25.4%), online (40.8%). A secondary analysis compared IP data from participants with baseline data from pre-pandemic (Nov 2019-Feb 2020, n=71), early pandemic (March-June 2020, n=28), and late pandemic (the most recent four months of enrollment, July 2020-Nov 2020, n=40) periods. Results Pre-pandemic, age was not significantly associated with treatment modality preference, nor any baseline clinical characteristics or demographic variables (p’s &gt;.01). Only ‘comfort’ and ‘comfort+frequency’ scores from the internet proficiency measure differed significantly between treatment preference groups (p’s&lt;.002). Post-hoc analyses revealed the online group had significantly higher comfort and comfort+frequency scores than the in person group (p’s&lt;. 003). Comparing data from pre-pandemic, early pandemic, and late pandemic, frequency of internet use and comfort+frequency with internet use differed across groups (p’s &lt;.004). Post-hoc comparisons revealed frequency of internet use scores were higher in the late pandemic compared to pre-pandemic (p=.003). Conclusion These findings suggest that comfort using technology, but not age or clinical characteristics, is associated with treatment modality preference for patients with insomnia who are enrolled in a technology-based clinical trial of CBTI. As proficiency in use of technology increases, for example, during and following the pandemic, one can expect that telemedicine will be an increasingly viable approach to providing CBTI among older adults. Support (if any) 1R01AG057500

First-year mortality in incident dialysis patients: results of the Peridialysis study

Background: Controversy surrounds which factors are important for predicting early mortality after dialysis initiation (DI). We investigated associations of predialysis course and circumstances affecting planning and execution of DI with mortality following DI. Methods: Among 1580 patients participating in the Peridialysis study, a prospective study of causes and timing of DI, features of predialysis course, clinical and biochemical data at DI, incidence of unplanned suboptimal DI, contraindications to peritoneal dialysis (PD) or hemodialysis (HD), and modality preference, actual choice, and cause of modality choice were registered. Patients were followed for 12 months or until transplantation.Results: First-year mortality was 20.2%. In addition to age and comorbid factors, independent factors predicting death were: clinical contraindications to PD or HD, a rapidly falling eGFR before DI, suboptimal DI, acidosis, high C-reactive protein, signs of overhydration (pulmonary stasis) and cerebral symptoms at DI while eGFR at DI was not. Among 1061 (67.2%) patients who could select dialysis modality based on personal choice, 654 (61.6%) chose PD, 368 (34.7%) center HD and 39 (3.7%) home HD. The 12-months survival did not differ significantly between patients receiving PD and in-center HD.Conclusions: First-year mortality in incident dialysis patients was associated with high age, comorbidity, worsening of kidney failure and clinical symptoms, acidosis, inflammation, and suboptimal DI while eGFR at DI and dialysis modality did not appear as predictors. These findings support the view that choice of dialysis modality among patients who are able to make an informed decision can be based on patient preference.

The Importance of Student Services for Adult Learners

Institutions of higher education provide numerous support services to undergraduate students. However, it is debatable that those services assist the adult learner population because most services are structured to assist traditional undergraduate students. Gathering an understanding of factors such as the student's individual needs, age/experience, course modality preference, work, and familial obligations will allow higher education administrators and faculty to provide resources specific to the adult learner. The development of key student services such as tutoring, advising, career development, library services, and counseling with post-traditional adult learners in mind will contribute to the success of all students regardless of demographic and/or individual challenges or situations. This chapter explores how higher education institutions can best support academic success for adult learners in an environment typically designed for traditionally aged students.

Audio-visual integration in noise: Influence of auditory and visual stimulus degradation on eye movements and perception of the McGurk effect

Seeing a talker’s face can aid audiovisual (AV) integration when speech is presented in noise. However, few studies have simultaneously manipulated auditory and visual degradation. We aimed to establish how degrading the auditory and visual signal affected AV integration. Where people look on the face in this context is also of interest; Buchan, Paré and Munhall (Brain Research, 1242, 162–171, 2008) found fixations on the mouth increased in the presence of auditory noise whilst Wilson, Alsius, Paré and Munhall (Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 59(4), 601–615, 2016) found mouth fixations decreased with decreasing visual resolution. In Condition 1, participants listened to clear speech, and in Condition 2, participants listened to vocoded speech designed to simulate the information provided by a cochlear implant. Speech was presented in three levels of auditory noise and three levels of visual blurring. Adding noise to the auditory signal increased McGurk responses, while blurring the visual signal decreased McGurk responses. Participants fixated the mouth more on trials when the McGurk effect was perceived. Adding auditory noise led to people fixating the mouth more, while visual degradation led to people fixating the mouth less. Combined, the results suggest that modality preference and where people look during AV integration of incongruent syllables varies according to the quality of information available.

Effects of modality preference and working memory capacity on captioned videos in enhancing L2 listening outcomes

Captioned video is widely used to enhance second language (L2) learners’ exposure to oral input beyond the classroom setting, and captioning has been found to provide an instantaneous, useful visual aid for parsing and understanding L2 oral discourse. Nevertheless, a meta-analysis has shown that captioning exerts a selective effect on L2 learners with different profiles. This study investigated whether L2 learners’ modality preferences (visual vs. auditory) and working memory capacity (high vs. low) would modulate the effect of full captions on L2 listening outcome. Results from 60 participants revealed that both cognitive variables affected their L2 listening to different extents. Notably, working memory capacity modulates the impact of L2 learners’ preferred modality on their listening outcome. Modality preference did not exert any significant impact on the listening outcome of L2 learners with lower working memory capacity. For L2 learners with high working memory capacity, their modality preference played a pivotal role in modulating their listening outcome; in this case, auditory learners had the best listening performance viewing the video without captions, whereas visual learners did best when watching the captioned video. These findings speak to the need for taking individual differences into consideration when employing captioned videos.