Older Adults’ Psychosocial Responses to a Fear of Falling: A Scoping Review to Inform Occupational Therapy Practice

Abstract

Falls in older adults are a major health concern, yet the “fear of falling”, a common psychosocial response that can occur post-fall, has seldom been investigated. A scoping review was conducted to identify and map interventions that occupational therapists can use to manage the fear of falling psychosocial response (FoFPR) among older adults. Thirteen electronic databases were searched and 22 studies were retrieved. Cognitive behavioral therapy, guided imagery, and Tai Chi were interventions found to help older adults deal with their FoFPRs. Occupational therapists assisting older adults in this area can play a significant role.     

Providing more or less detailed information in job advertisements—Does it matter?

Job advertising is a common and useful recruitment marketing method that is available to a wide range of candidates and offers a practical way to widen the applicant pool. Frequently, retail advertisements only briefly introduce job requirements, but others provide more detailed information. Existing message studies, however, are inconclusive about the effectiveness of message specificity. A scenario‐based experiment that included 164 participants revealed that the type of decision maker (maximizer or satisficer) moderates the specificity effects in recruitment messages. After receiving a detailed job message, more satisficers stop their search process, but only maximizers perceive the company as more attractive and increase intentions toward the advertised job. A follow‐up qualitative study involving 30 participants provided further insights.     

Facilitating Adolescent Well‐Being: A Review of the Challenges and Opportunities and the Beneficial Roles of Parents,Schools, Neighborhoods,and Policymakers

Adolescents face exceptional challenges and opportunities that may have a lifelong impact on their consumption and personal and societal well‐being. Parents, community members (schools and neighborhoods), and policymakers play major roles in shaping adolescents and influencing their engagement in consumption behaviors that are either developmentally problematic (e.g., drug use and unhealthy eating) or developmentally constructive (e.g., academic pursuits and extracurricular activities). In this article, we discuss two main topics: (a) the challenges and opportunities that characterize adolescence, based primarily on research in epidemiology and neuroscience, and (b) the ways that parents, community members, and policymakers can facilitate positive adolescent development, based on research from many disciplines including marketing, psychology, sociology, communications, public health, and education. Our goal is to summarize the latest scientific findings that can be used by various stakeholders to help adolescents navigate this turbulent period and become well‐adjusted, thriving adults.     

The role of epistemic and social characteristics in children’s selective trust: Three meta‐analyses

Over the last 15 years, researchers have been increasingly interested in understanding the nature and development of children’s selective trust. Three meta‐analyses were conducted on a total of 51 unique studies (88 experiments) to provide a quantitative overview of 3‐ to 6‐year‐old children’s selective trust in an informant based on the informant’s epistemic or social characteristics, and to examine the relation between age and children’s selective trust decisions. The first and second meta‐analyses found that children displayed medium‐to‐large pooled effects in favor of trusting the informant who was knowledgeable or the informant with positive social characteristics. Moderator analyses revealed that 4‐year‐olds were more likely to endorse knowledgeable informants than 3‐year‐olds. The third meta‐analysis examined cases where two informants simultaneously differed in their epistemic and social characteristics. The results revealed that 3‐year‐old children did not selectively endorse informants who were more knowledgeable but had negative social characteristics over informants who were less knowledgeable but had positive social characteristics. However, 4‐ to 6‐year‐olds consistently prioritized epistemic cues over social characteristics when deciding who to trust. Together, these meta‐analyses suggest that epistemic and social characteristics are both valuable to children when they evaluate the reliability of informants. Moreover, with age, children place greater value on epistemic characteristics when deciding whether to endorse an informant’s testimony. Implications for the development of epistemic trust and the design of studies of children’s selective trust are discussed.     

视觉空间工作记忆组间差异的神经机制

为考察视觉空间工作记忆（working memory, WM）维持和操作的组间差异及其神经机制,本研究记录了高、低WM组完成延迟再认（维持）任务和心理旋转（操作）任务时的行为和事件相关电位数据。结果发现,在操作任务中,高WM组比低WM组的反应时显著更短;高WM组的中前额叶慢波显著更正、双侧后顶区慢波显著更负,并且两者的波幅显著负相关。在维持任务中,两组被试的反应时无显著差异;高WM组的中前额叶慢波显著更正。结果表明,高WM组的执行注意能力可能更强,能通过有效调节和分配加工资源来表征视觉信息。     

Evaluation and classification of types of Chinese handwriting deficits in elementary schoolchildren

The handwriting problems of elementary schoolchildren were investigated in this study. A questionnaire for evaluation of Chinese handwriting was developed and then administered to 165 children with handwriting deficits. Factor analysis indicated that the questionnaire has six major dimensions, including construction of characters, accuracy, developmental delay, pencil grip, gross movement, and emotional reaction. These six dimensions were utilized to search for subtypes of handwriting deficits. By further sampling, another 209 children were administered the handwriting evaluation questionnaire to classify their handwriting deficits. According to the severity of deficits on different dimensions of the questionnaire, K-means clustering was utilized to classify the children into four subtypes of mild, severe, motor-originated, and academic learning dysfunction subtypes. The classification by subtype might be helpful in planning interventions for children with handwriting deficits.     

A simple method to dissociate sensory-attentional and motor-intentional biases in unilateral visual neglect

A variant of a line bisection test was devised. Patients with unilateral visual neglect and control subjects were asked to perform the test, which consisted of two subtasks: a verbal and a manual task. The verbal task was newly designed and did not require manual responses from the subjects. The manual task was similar to conventional line bisection tasks. This paper reports and discusses the results obtained from each task and their correlations. This technique is compatible with bedside examinations, does not require a complex apparatus, and provides useful data for the assessment of unilateral visual neglect.     

Personality, psychopathology, and demographic correlates of medical vs behavioral reasons for referral in alcoholic men

The personality, psychopathological, and demographic differences between 330 alcoholic men referred for behavioral problems and 104 alcoholic men referred for medical problems were examined. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 indicated that those referred for behavioral problems showed more antisocial characteristics, while those referred for medical reasons had more subjective distress, were more highly introverted, and showed greater somatic preoccupation. Hispanic alcoholic men had a significantly higher proportion of medical referrals than Caucasian and African-American alcoholic men.     

Task-effector asymmetries in a rhythmic continuation task

Variability in rhythmic movements has been interpreted as a signature of internal or peripheral noise processes. Grounded in an oscillator interpretation, this study hypothesized that period variability and drift arises from the asymmetry between target period and the limb's intrinsic dynamics. Participants synchronized to 7 target periods, swinging 1 of 3 pendulums in a continuation paradigm; 3 periods were longer, 3 shorter, and 1 identical to the preferred period. Results supported 5 predictions: Drift toward the preferred period was observed that scaled with the asymmetry. Variability was lowest for symmetry conditions and increased with the asymmetry. Variability decreased concomitant with the approach toward the preferred period. Periods exponentially approached the preferred period with positive autocorrelations up to 10 cycles.