Search results for: middle-age and older adults

Authors: Birgit Reime, Sonja Gscheidle, Toni Hübener, Lara Hübener

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Suicide in individuals under 30 years is a global public health concern. The objective of this study was to identify strategies for the prevention of suicide and suicidal behavior preferred by adolescents and young adults who are vulnerable to suicidal behavior and by relevant experts. Using semi-structured interviews with n= 17 adolescents and young adults (18-25 years of age) and with n= 11 experts from relevant fields, we have applied an inductive approach and applied thematic content analysis. Six strategies for suicide prevention in young individuals were reported. These were digital solutions with appealing designs, anonymous support, trained peer support, spiritual support, improving existing structures, and raising suicide literacy. Accessibility of anonymous digital support may contribute to suicide prevention in young people.

Keywords: suicide prevention, adolescents, E-health, Germany

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Authors: Carol Cameletti

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The goal of this study was to perform a pilot survey to assess pain frequency and intensity in an elderly population and to assess treatment options for chronic pain that include complementary and alternative medicines (CAM). Ten participants were recruited from an independent and supportive living housing facility in Northern Ontario and asked to complete two questionnaires: 1) a self-assessment on pain, and 2) the use of CAM for pain. Results from our study show that 80% of the participants experienced pains other than the regular everyday pains such as minor headaches, sprains or toothaches. Although participants stated that on average the highest level of pain they experienced within the past 24 hours had a score of 6.5 (0=no pain, 10=worst pain imaginable) the level of pain they experienced moderately interfered with their daily activities. Unfortunately, participants stated that they were only able to attain minimal levels of pain relief using treatments or medications causing some of the participants to seek alternative therapies or self-help practices. The most commonly used CAMs were vitamins/minerals, herbs and supplements, and self-help practices such as meditation, prayer, visualization and relaxation techniques. Although some of the participants stated that they had received complementary treatments directly from their physician, four of the nine participants said that they had not disclosed CAM use to their physician thereby indicating a need to open the lines of communication between healthcare providers and patients with regards to CAM use. It is our hope that the data generated from this study will serve as the platform for a pain management clinic that is client-centered, consumer-driven and truly integrative and tailored in order to meet the unique needs of older adults in Great Sudbury, Ontario.

Keywords: alternative, complementary, elderly, medicine

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Authors: Samrah Saeed

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Introduction: This study considers a measure of positive body image and the associations between body appreciation, beauty ideals internalization, dietary habits, and physical activity in young adults. Positive body image is assessed by Body Appreciation Scale 2. It is used to assess a person's acceptance of the body, the degree of positivity, and respect for the body.Regular physical activity and healthy eating arebasically important for the body, and they play an important role in creating a positive image of the body. Objectives: To identify the associations between body appreciation and beauty ideals internalization. To compare body appreciation and body ideals internalization among students of different physical activity. To explore the associations between dietary habits (unhealthy, healthy), body appreciation and body ideals internalization. Research methods and organization: Study participants were young adult students, aged 18-35, both male and female.The research questionnaire consisted of four areas: body appreciation, beauty ideals internalization, dietary habits, and physical activity.The questionnaire was created in Google Forms online survey platform.The questionnaire was filled out anonymously Result and Discussion: Physical dissatisfaction, diet, eating disorders and exercise disorders are found in young adults all over the world.Thorough nutrition helps people understand who they are by reassuring them that they are okay without judging or accepting themselves. Social media can positively influence body image in many ways.A healthy body image is important because it affect self-esteem, self-acceptance, and your attitude towards food and exercise.

Keywords: pysical activity, dietary habits, body image, beauty ideals internalization, body appreciation

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Authors: Laila Seada, Nouf Al Gharbi, Shaimaa Dawa

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Although skin cancers are prevalent worldwide, it is uncommon in Ha’il region in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, mostly non-melanoma sub-type. During a 4-year period from 2014 to 2017, out of a total of 120 cases of skin lesions, 29 non-melanoma cancers were retrieved from histopathology files obtained from King Khalid Hospital. As part of the study, all cases of skin cancer diagnosed during 2014 -2017 have been revised and the clinicopathological data recorded. The results show that Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) was the most common neoplasm (36%), followed by cutaneous lymphomas (mostly mycosis fungoides 25%), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (21%) and dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) (11%). Only one case of metastatic carcinoma was recorded. BCC nodular type was the most prevalent, with a mean age 57.6 years and mean size 2.73 cm. SCC was mostly grade 2, with mean size 1.9 cm and an older mean age of 72.3 cm. Increased size of lesion positively correlated with older age (p = 0.001). Non-melanoma skin cancer in Ha’il region is not frequently encountered. BCC is the most frequent followed by cutaneous T-cell lymphomas and SCC. The findings in this study were in accordance with other parts of, but much lower than other parts of the world.

Keywords: non melanoma skin cancer, Hail Region, histopathology, BCC

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Authors: Efrat Neter, Esther Brainin, Orna Baron-Epel

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Background: Connecting end-users to newly developed ICT technologies and channeling patients to new products requires an assessment of compatibility. End user’s assessment is conveyed in the concept of eHealth literacy. The study examined the association between perceived and performed eHealth literacy (EHL) in a heterogeneous age sample in Israel. Methods: Participants included 100 Israeli adults (mean age 43,SD 13.9) who were first phone interviewed and then tested on a computer simulation of health-related Internet tasks. Performed, perceived and evaluated EHL were assessed. Levels of successful completion of tasks represented EHL performance and evaluated EHL included observed motivation, confidence, and amount of help provided. Results: The skills of accessing, understanding, appraising, applying, and generating new information had a decreasing successful completion rate with increase in complexity of the task. Generating new information, though highly correlated with all other skills, was least correlated with the other skills. Perceived and performed EHL were correlated (r=.40, P=.001), while facets of performance (i.e, digital literacy and EHL) were highly correlated (r=.89, P<.001). Participants low and high in performed EHL were significantly different: low performers were older, had attained less education, used the Internet for less time and perceived themselves as less healthy. They also encountered more difficulties, required more assistance, were less confident in their conduct and exhibited less motivation than high performers. Conclusions: The association in this age-hetrogenous ample was larger than in previous age-homogenous samples. The moderate association between perceived and performed EHL indicates that the two are associated yet distinct, the latter requiring separate assessment. Features of future rapid performed EHL tools are discussed.

Keywords: eHealth, health literacy, performance, simulation

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Authors: Hamad Alhamad

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Introduction: The number of retirees in Kuwait is rising quickly, and this is causing more people to become concerned about their well-being. Despite the fact that loneliness and quality of life are significant indices of retiree wellbeing, little research has been done on the topic among retirees in Kuwait. The aim of this study is to explore the level of loneliness and quality of life among retirees in Kuwait. Methods: This is a a cross-sectional descriptive research targeting retirees who live in Kuwait. The UCLA loneliness scale (version 3) and the 36-Item Short Form Survey (36- SF) were utilized. Data was analyzed using SPSS. The ethical approval was obtained from Kuwait University and the Ministry of Health (286). Results: Total respondents in this research were 202 (N=202). The results indicate 77.7% (N=157) experience moderate level of loneliness, 19.8% (N=40) experience high level of loneliness, and only 205% (N=5) experience low level of loneliness. The results of the SF-36 health related questionnaire, participants scores in the eight domains: Physical functioning, general health, role limitations due to physical and emotional health, energy, social functioning, pain, and emotional wellbeing , scored low means. The average of the means was calculated and was (49.8), which indicated that all participants have moderately low Quality of life. Significant relationship with p value equal to ( p= 0.004), was found between a sociodemographic characteristic and level of loneliness in which retirees who were married indicated higher levels of loneliness compared to the single, divorced, and widowed retirees. Conclusion: The study revealed retirees in Kuwait feel moderate loneliness and have a low Quality of Time. The study indicates that retirees should be more considered emotionally and improved and help explore the negative effects on their quality of time In addition to exploring the leading factors to the feeling of loneliness.

Keywords: older adults, social isolation, work, retirement

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Authors: Laura Lamas Abraira

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Large-scale Chinese immigration in Spain emerged in the 80's. Engaged in their own businesses or working for other Chinese migrants with long schedules, young couples had to choose between contracting or transnationalising the care labour as they were unable to combine productive and reproductive tasks. In most cases, they decided to transnationalize the care labour embodied on grandparents or children migratory paths. Either the grandparents go to Spain to take care of their grandchildren or the kids were left behind or sent to China after being born in Spain in order to be raised with their extended family members. Very little is known about how the people who have been raised in a transnational context relates their own experience and agency as care managers within the family care cycle. In order to fill this gap, this paper aims to inquire into these transnationally-reared Chinese young adults’ narratives about their own experience and expectations (past, present and future) by adopting care circulation and care cycle approach within life course framework. Drawing upon a qualitative study resulting from a multi-sited ethnography (Spain-China), we argue that young adults raised in transnational context build their narratives as a result of an otherness process related to their parents and an essentialization of their Chinese roots to use selectively among different contexts. In doing so, these family narratives constitute a part of their social identity that interact with other dimensions such as the ethnic one. We suggest when building their parent's otherness they also build their sameness among pairs, as members of the same club, marked by transnational care on a double time basis: the practices of their parents as wrong past, and their own as an amendable future.

Keywords: Chinese families, narratives, transnational care, young adults

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Authors: Ren Moses, Emmanuel Kidando, Eren Ozguven, Yassir Abdelrazig

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Although older drivers (defined as those of age 65 and above) are less involved with speeding, alcohol use as well as night driving, they are more vulnerable to severe crashes. The major contributing factors for severe crashes include frailty and medical complications. Several studies have evaluated the contributing factors on severity of crashes. However, few studies have established the impact of travel time reliability (TTR) on road safety. In particular, the impact of TTR on senior adults who face several challenges including hearing difficulties, decreasing of the processing skills and cognitive problems in driving is not well established. Therefore, this study focuses on determining possible impacts of TTR on the traffic safety with focus on elderly drivers. Historical travel speed data from freeway links in the study area were used to calculate travel time and the associated TTR metrics that is, planning time index, the buffer index, the standard deviation of the travel time and the probability of congestion. Four-year information on crashes occurring on these freeway links was acquired. The binary logit model estimated using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling technique was used to evaluate variables that could be influencing elderly crash severity. Preliminary results of the analysis suggest that TTR is statistically significant in affecting the severity of a crash involving an elderly driver. The result suggests that one unit increase in the probability of congestion reduces the likelihood of the elderly severe crash by nearly 22%. These findings will enhance the understanding of TTR and its impact on the elderly crash severity.

Keywords: highway safety, travel time reliability, elderly drivers, traffic modeling

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Authors: Teris Cheung, Joyce Yuen Ting Lam, Kwan Hin Fong, Calvin Pak-Wing Cheng, Julie Sittlington, Yu-Tao Xiang, Tim Man Ho Li

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Insomnia is one of the most common health problems in the general population. Insomnia can be acute, intermittent, and become chronic, often due to comorbidity with other physical and mental health conditions. Although there are conventional pharmaceutical and psychotherapeutic treatments to treat symptoms of insomnia, however; there is no robust and novel randomized controlled trial (RCT) using transdermal neurostimulation on individuals with insomnia symptoms. This gives us the impetus to execute the first nationwide RCT. Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of Electrical Vestibular Stimulation (VeNS) on individuals with insomnia in Hong Kong. Design: This study was a two-armed, double blinded, randomized, sham-controlled trial. Sampling: 60 community-dwelling adults aged 18 and 60 years with moderate insomnia symptoms or above (Insomnia Severity Index > 14) were recruited. All subjects were computerized randomized into either the active VeNS group or the sham VeNS group on a 1:1 ratio. Intervention: All participants received a home-use VeNS device and used 30-min VeNS sessions during five consecutive days across a 4-week period (total treatment hours: 10). Baseline measurements and post-VeNS evaluation of the psychological outcomes, including 1) insomnia severity, 2) sleep quality, and 3) quality of life were investigated. The short-and long-term sustainability of the VeNS intervention was assessed immediately after poststim and at a 1-month and 3-month follow-up period. Data analysis: A mixed GEE model was used to analyze the repeated measures data. Missing data were managed by multiple imputations. The level of significance was set to p < 0.05. Significance of the study: This is the first trial to examine the efficacy and safety of VeNS among adults with insomnia symptoms in Hong Kong. Findings that emerged were used to determine whether this VeNS device can be considered a self-help technological device to reduce the severity of insomnia in the community setting and to reduce the global disease burden. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT04452981.

Keywords: adults, insomnia, neuromodulation, rct, vestibular stimulation

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Authors: M. Cabral, A. Verdin, G. Garçon, A. Touré, C. Diop, M. Fall, S. Bouhsina, D. Dewaele, F.Cazier, A. Tall Dia, P. Shirali, A. Diouf

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This case-control study dealt with the health adverse effects within the population neighboring the Mbeubeuss waste dump, which is located near the district of Malika (Diamalaye II) in Dakar (Senegal). All the household and industrial waste arising from Dakar are stored in this open landfill without being covered and are therefore possible sources of Pb and Cd contaminated air emissions and lixiviates. The objective of this study is part of improving the health of the population neighboring Mbeubeuss by determining Pb and Cd concentrations both in environment and humans, and studying possible renal function alterations within the adults. Soil and air samples were collected in the control site (Darou Salam) and the waste dump neighboring site (Diamalaye II). Control and exposed adults were recruited as living in Darou Salam (n = 52) and in Diamalaye II (n = 77). Pb and Cd concentrations in soil, air and biological samples were determined. Moreover, we were interested in analyzing some impregnation (zinc protoporphyrin, d-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase) and oxidative stress biomarkers (malonedialdehyde, gluthatione status), in addition to several nephrotoxicity parameters (creatinuria, proteinuria, lactate dehydrogenase, CC16 protein, glutathione S-transferase-alpha and retinol binding protein) in blood and/or urine. The results showed the significant Pb and Cd contamination of the soil and air samples derived from the landfill, and therefore of the neighboring population of adults. This critical exposure to environmental Pb and Cd had some harmful consequences for their health, as shown by the reported oxidative stress and nephrotoxicity signs.

Keywords: Pb and Cd environmental exposure, impregnation markers, landfill, nephrotoxicity markers

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Authors: Mahnaz Khalafehnilsaz, Rozina Rahnama

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Introduction: The aging process has been linked to a wide range of non-communicable diseases that cause a loss of health-related quality of life. This process can be worsened if an active and healthy lifestyle is not followed by adults, especially in the workplace. This setting not only may create a sedentary lifestyle but will lead to obesity and overweight in the long term and create unhealthy and inactive aging. In addition, eating habits are always known to be associated with active aging. Therefore, it is very valuable to know the eating patterns of people at work in order to detect and prevent diseases in the coming years. This study aimed to design and test a model to improve eating habits among employees at an industrial complex as a practical strategy. Material and method: The present research was a mixed-method study with a subsequent exploratory design which was carried out in two phases, qualitative and quantitative, in 2018 year. In the first step, participants were selected by purposive sampling (n=34) to ensure representation of different job roles; hours worked, gender, grade, and age groups, and semi-structured interviews were used. All interviews were conducted in the workplace and were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using the Strauss and Corbin approach. The interview question was, “what were their experiences of eating at work, and how could these nutritional habits affect their health in old age.” Finally, a total of 1500 basic codes were oriented at the open coding step, and they were merged together to create the 17 classes, and six concepts and a conceptual model were designed. The second phase of the study was conducted in the form of a cross-sectional study. After verification of the research tool, the developed questionnaire was examined in a group of employees. In order to test the conceptual model of the study, a total of 500 subjects were included in psychometry. Findings: Six main concepts have been known, including 1. undesirable control of stress, 2. lack of eating knowledge, 3. effect of the social network, 4. lack of motivation for healthy habits, 5. environmental-organizational intensifier, 6. unhealthy eating behaviors. The core concept was “Motivation Loss to do preventive behavior.” The main constructs of the motivational-based model for the promotion of eating habits are “modification and promote of eating habits,” increase of knowledge and competency, convey of healthy nutrition behavior culture and effecting of behavioral model especially in older age, desirable of control stress. Conclusion: A key factor for unhealthy eating behavior at the workplace is a lack of motivation, which can be an obstacle to conduct preventive behaviors at work that can affect the healthy aging process in the long term. The motivational-based model could be considered an effective conceptual framework and instrument for designing interventions for the promotion to create healthy and active aging.

Keywords: aging, eating habits, older age, workplace

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Authors: Hong Wu, Naiji Lu, Chenguang Wang, Xinming Tu

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This article analyzes the causal effects of informal care, mental health, and physical health on falls and other accidents (e.g. traffic accidents) among elderly people. To purge potential reversal causal effects, e.g., past accidents induce more future informal care, we use two-stage least squares to identify the impacts. By using longitudinal data from a representative national China Health and retirement longitudinal study of people aged 45 and older in China, our findings indicate that informal care decreases while poor health conditions increase the occurrence of accidents. We also find heterogeneous impacts on the occurrence of accidents, varying by gender, urban status, and past accident history. Our findings suggest the following three policy implications. First, policy makers who aim to decrease accidents should take informal care to elders into account. Second, ease of birth policy and postponed retirement policy are urgent to meet the demand of informal care. Third, medical policies should attach great importance to not only physical health but also mental health of elderly parents especially for older people with accident history.

Keywords: accident, China, fall, informal care, mental health, physical health

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Authors: Nasrin Akter, Bilkis Banu, Farhana Faruque, Fatema Afrin, Sujana Haque Chowdhury, Sarder Mahmud Hossain

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Objectives: To combat the growing prevalence of hypertension in Bangladesh, it is pivotal to have an in-depth understanding of quality of life (QOL) among hypertensive people. The aim of this study was to measure QOL of hypertensive people and its determinants in a selected tertiary hospital in Dhaka city. Design & Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected 300 hypertensive patients from two cardiac departments of Square Hospitals Limited. Data were collected through the face-to-face interview method. WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was used to assess the QOL. Mean scores of quality of life were analyzed through descriptive statistics. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were applied to estimate the internal consistency, and the level of agreement among different domains of WHOQOL-BREF, respectively. Chi-square test followed by binary regression analyses were used to measure the association between QOL domains and independent variables. Results: Both overall QOL and domains had a good internal consistency, (r = 0.13–0.77, p< 0.01). The QOL among hypertensive patients was found to be poor in the psychological (71%) and social (74.7%) domains and good in the environmental (63%) and physical (65%) domains. Backward binary regressions revealed that being older (p=0.01), diabetic (p=0.02), having history of COVID-19 (p=0.01), and poor monthly income (USD ≤853.14) (p=0.01) were significantly associated with poor QOL in all domain. Moreover, older age (p=0.01) and poor lifestyle (p=0.02) were significantly associated with poor overall quality of life and poor general health perception. Conclusion: The results revealed low QOL in the psychological and social domain including significant factors associated with the poor QOL in all domains. To enhance the quality of life for hypertensive patients—especially those who are older, diabetic, have lower incomes, experienced COVID-19, and maintain poor lifestyles—effective interventions and health system strengthening are crucial.

Keywords: quality of life, hypertension, WHOQOL-BREF, analytical cross-sectional study

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Authors: Alaa A. H. Shehada, Eman Abdelnasser Abouhassanein, Reem Mohsen Ali, Joyce J. Moawad, Hiba Bawadi, Abdelhamid Kerkadi

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Background: The association between obesity and micronutrient deficiencies is well documented. Among minerals that have been widely studied: zinc, iron and magnesium. Objectives: This study aims to determine the association between obesity indices and mineral status among Qatari adults. Methods: Secondary data was obtained from Qatar Biobank. 414 healthy Qatari aged 20-50 years old were randomly selected from the database. Anthropometric measurements (WC, Weight, and height), body fat, and mineral status (Fe, Mg, Ca, K, Na) were obtained for all selected participants. Differences in anthropometric measurements and mineral status were analyzed by t-test or ANOVA. Spearman correlation coefficients were determined to assess the association between minerals and anthropometric variables. Statistical significance for the hypothesis tests was set at p <0.05. All statistical analysis was preformed using SPSS software version 23.0. Results: Iron, calcium, and sodium levels decreased with an increase in body mass index. Moreover, only iron showed a significant correlation with waist circumference, and waist to height ratio increased. Additionally, calcium, iron, magnesium, and sodium had a statistically significant negative correlation with total body fat percentage and trunk fat percentage. There were statistically significant negative correlations of anthropometrics with minerals. Conclusion: Body fat and trunk fat percentage had a significant inverse relationship with iron, calcium, sodium, and magnesium, while there was no correlation between body fat or trunk fat percentage with potassium.

Keywords: Qatar biobank, body fat distribution, mineral status, Qatari adults

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Authors: Taner Ersoz, Filiz Ersoz

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This study was designed enable application of multivariate technique in the interpretation of categorical data for measuring health care services satisfaction in Turkey. The data was collected from a total of 17726 respondents. The establishment of the sample group and collection of the data were carried out by a joint team from The Ministry of Health and Turkish Statistical Institute (Turk Stat) of Turkey. The multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was used on the data of 2882 respondents who answered the questionnaire in full. The multiple correspondence analysis indicated that, in the evaluation of health services females, public employees, younger and more highly educated individuals were more concerned and complainant than males, private sector employees, older and less educated individuals. Overall 53 % of the respondents were pleased with the improvements in health care services in the past three years. This study demonstrates the public consciousness in health services and health care satisfaction in Turkey. It was found that most the respondents were pleased with the improvements in health care services over the past three years. Awareness of health service quality increases with education levels. Older individuals and males would appear to have lower expectancies in health services.

Keywords: multiple correspondence analysis, multivariate categorical data, health care services, health satisfaction survey

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Authors: Demiraw Bikila, Tadesse Lejisa, Yosef Tolcha, Chala Bashea, Mehari Meles Tigist Getahun Genet Ashebir, Wossene Habtu, Feyissa Challa, Ousman Mohammed, Melkitu Kassaw, Adisu Kebede, Letebrhan G. Egzeabher, Endalkachew Befekadu, Mistire Wolde, Aster Tsegaye

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Background: Even though several factors affect reference intervals (RIs), the company-derived values are currently in use in many laboratories worldwide. However, little or no data is available regarding serum protein RIs, mainly in resource-limited setting countries like Ethiopia. Objective: To establish a reference interval for serum protein electrophoresis of apparently healthy adults in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a total of 297 apparently healthy adults from April-October 2019 in four selected sub-cities (Akaki, Kirkos, Arada, Yeka) of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Laboratory analysis of collected samples was performed using Capillarys 2 Flex Piercing analyzer, while statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 23 and med-cal software. Mann-Whitney test was used to check Partitions. Non-parametric method of reference range establishment was performed as per CLSI guideline EP28A3C. Result: The established RIs were: Albumin 53.83-64.59%, 52.24-63.55%; Alpha-1 globulin 3.04-5.40%, 3.44-5.60%; Alpha-2 globulin 8.0-12.67%, 8.44-12.87%; and Beta-1 globulin 5.01-7.38%, 5.14-7.86%. Moreover, Albumin to globulin ratio was 1.16-1.8, 1.09-1.74 for males and females, respectively. The combined RIs for Beta-2 globulin and Gamma globulin were 2.54-4.90% and 12.40-21.66%, respectively. Conclusion: The established reference interval for serum protein fractions revealed gender-specific differences except for Beta-2 globulin and Gamma globulin.

Keywords: serum protein electrophoresis, reference interval, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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Authors: Christine Maleesha Withanachchi, Eithne Heffernan, Derek Hoare

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Background: Social isolation (SI} is a major consequence of hearing loss (HL}. Isolation can lead to serious health problems (e.g., dementia and depression). Hearing Aids (HA) is the primary intervention for HL. However, these are less effective in social situations. Interventions are needed for SI in adults with hearing loss (AHL). Objectives: Investigated the relationship between HL and SI. Explored the views of AHL and hearing healthcare professionals (HHP) towards interventions for isolation. Methods: Individual and group semi-structured interviews were conducted. Interviews were conducted at the Nottingham Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). Six AHL and seven HHP were recruited via maximum variation sampling. The interview transcripts were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Results: Social impacts of HL: Most participants described that HL hurt them. This was in the form of social withdrawal, strain on relationships, and identity loss. Downstream effects of HL: Most audiologists acknowledged that isolation from HL could lead to depression. HL can also lead to exhaustion and unemployment. Impact of stigma: There are negative connotations around HL and HA (e.g. old age) and there is difficulty talking about isolation. The complexity of SI: There can be difficulty separating SI due to HL from SI due to other contributing factors (e.g. comorbidities). Potential intervention for isolation: Participants were unfamiliar with interventions for isolation and few, if any, were targeted for AHL specifically. Most participants thought an intervention should be patient-centered and run by an AHL in the community. Opinions differed regarding whether it should hear specific or generic. Implementation of intervention: Challenges to the implementation of an intervention for SI exist due to the sensitivity of the subject. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that SI is a major consequence of HL and uncovered novel findings related to its interventions. Uptake of interventions offered to AHL to reduce loneliness and social isolation is expected to be better if led by AHL in the community as opposed to HHP led interventions in the hospital or clinic settings.

Keywords: adults with hearing loss, hearing aids, interventions, social isolation

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Authors: Biswajit Seal, Dushyant Kumar, Shambhu Nath, A. B. Raju

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Extension of blast furnace campaign life is highly desired for blast furnace operators mainly because of reduction of operating cost and to avoid capital expenditure cost. Tata Steel Ltd, Jamshedpur plant operates seven blast furnaces with combination of old and new technologies. The focus of Tata Steel Ltd is to push for increasing productivity with good quality product and increasing campaign life. This has been challenging for older furnaces because older furnaces are generally equipped with less automation, old design and old equipment. Good operational practices, appropriate remedial measures, and regular planned maintenance helps to achieve long campaign life of old furnaces. Good operating practices like stable and consistent productivity, control of burden distribution, remedial measures like stack gunning and shotcreting for protection of stack wall, enhanced cooling system, and intermediate stack repair helps to achieve long campaign life of old blast furnaces. This paper describes experiences with the current old equipment and design of Tata Steel’s D Blast Furnace for campaign life extension.

Keywords: blast furnace, burden distribution, campaign life, productivity

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Authors: Gabriela R. Silveira, Claudia S. Rocha, Lais S. Vitti, Jeane L. Borges, Helen B. Durgante

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Emerging adulthood occurs after adolescence in a period that maybe be marked by experimentation, identity reconfigurations, labor life demands, and insertion in the work environment, which tends to generate stress and emotional instability. Health promotion programs for the development of strengths and virtues, based on Positive Psychology, for emerging adults are sparse in Brazil. The aim of this study was to evaluate the preliminary effects of an online multi-component Positive Psychology program for the health promotion of emerging adults based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Positive Psychology. The program included six online (synchronous) weekly group sessions of approximately two hours each and homework (asynchronous) activities. The themes worked were Values and self-care/Prudence, Optimism, Empathy, Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Meaning of life and work. This study presents data from a longitudinal, pre-experimental design with pre (T1) and post-test (T2) evaluation in the intervention group. 47 individuals aged between 19-30 years old participated, mean age of 24.53 years (SD=3.13), 37 females (78.7%). 42 (89.4%) self-defined as heterosexual, four (8.5%) as homosexual, and one (2.5%) as bisexual. 33 (70.2%) had incomplete higher education, four (8.5%) completed higher education, and seven (14.9%) had a graduate level of education. 27 participants worked (57.4%), out of which 25 were health workers (53.2%). 14 (29.8%) were caregivers, 27 (57.4%) had a spiritual belief, 36 (76.6%) had access to leisure, and 38 (80.9%) had perceived social support. The instruments used were a sociodemographic questionnaire, the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale, and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. The program was advertised on social networks and interested participants filled out the Consent Form and the evaluation protocol at T1 and T2 via Google Docs form. The main research was approved (CEP n.1,899,368; 4,143,219; CAAE: 61997516.5.0000.5334) and complied with sanitary and Ethics criteria in research with human beings. Wilcoxon statistics revealed significant improvements in indicators of perceived stress between T1 (X=22.21, SD=6.79) and T2 (X=15.10, SD=5.82); (Z=-4.353; p=0.001) as well as depression and anxiety symptoms (T1:X=26.72, SD=8.84; T2: X=19.23, SD=4.68); (Z=-3.945, p=0.001) of the emerging adults after their participation in the programme. The programme has an innovative character not only for presenting an online Positive Psychology approach but also for being based on an intervention developed, evaluated, and manualized in Brazil. By focusing on emerging adults, this study contributes to advancing research on a relatively new field in developmental studies. As a limitation, this is a pre-experimental and pilot study, requiring an increase in sample size for greater statistical robustness, also qualitative data analysis is crucial for methodological complementarity. The importance of investing efforts to accompany this age group and provide advances in longitudinal research in the area of health promotion and disease prevention is highlighted.

Keywords: emerging adults, disease prevention, health promotion, online program

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Authors: Henok Biruk Alemayehu, Kalkidan Berhane Tsegaye, Fozia Seid Ali, Nebiyat Feleke Adimassu, Getasew Alemu Mersha

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Background: Strabismus is a visual disorder where the eyes are misaligned and point in different directions. Untreated strabismus can lead to amblyopia, loss of binocular vision, and social stigma due to its appearance. Since it is assumed that knowledge is pertinent for early screening and prevention of strabismus, the main objective of this study was to assess knowledge and attitudes toward strabismus in Woreta town, Northwest Ethiopia. Providing data in this area is important for planning health policies. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was done in Woreta town from April–May 2020. The sample size was determined using a single population proportion formula by taking a 50% proportion of good knowledge, 95% confidence level, 5% margin of errors, and 10% non- response rate. Accordingly, the final computed sample size was 424. All four kebeles were included in the study. There were 42,595 people in total, with 39,684 adults and 9229 house holds. A sample fraction ’’k’’ was obtained by dividing the number of the household by the calculated sample size of 424. Systematic random sampling with proportional allocation was used to select the participating households with a sampling fraction (K) of 21 i.e. each household was approached in every 21 households included in the study. One individual was selected ran- domly from each household with more than one adult, using the lottery method to obtain a final sample size. The data was collected through a face-to-face interview with a pretested and semi-structured questionnaire which was translated from English to Amharic and back to English to maintain its consistency. Data were entered using epi-data version 3.1, then processed and analyzed via SPSS version- 20. Descriptive and analytical statistics were employed to summarize the data. A p-value of less than 0.05 was used to declare statistical significance. Result: A total of 401 individuals aged over 18 years participated, with a response rate of 94.5%. Of those who responded, 56.6% were males. Of all the participants, 36.9% were illiterate. The proportion of people with poor knowledge of strabismus was 45.1%. It was shown that 53.9% of the respondents had a favorable attitude. Older age, higher educational level, having a history of eye examination, and a having a family history of strabismus were significantly associated with good knowledge of strabismus. A higher educational level, older age, and hearing about strabismus were significantly associated with a favorable attitude toward strabismus. Conclusion and recommendation: The proportion of good knowledge and favorable attitude towards strabismus were lower than previously reported in Gondar City, Northwest Ethiopia. There is a need to provide health education and promotion campaigns on strabismus to the community: what strabismus is, its’ possible treatments and the need to bring children to the eye care center for early diagnosis and treatment. it advocate for prospective research endeavors to employ qualitative study design.Additionally, it suggest the exploration of studies that investigate causal-effect relationship.

Keywords: strabismus, knowledge, attitude, Woreta

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Authors: Lilla Szabó Hangya, Szilvia Jambori

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The comfort zone is less studied area in the field of psychology. One of the most important definitions is that comfort zone is a psychological state in which things feel familiar to a person with low level of anxiety and stress. But the validity of comfort zone does not confirm till now. The aim of our pilot research is to test which psychological factors could determine how young adults behave during their decision process to stay in one’s comfort zone or to leave it. Every person has a number of comfort zones, so we are not able to measure it directly, only those personality traits which predict if someone leaves his comfort zone easier or harder. In our study at first we wanted to clarify the meaning of comfort zone. 110 young adults (male: 37, female: 73; ages from 18 to 70, average age: 26,6) took part in the study. Beside their demographic datas we asked them what does the comfort zone mean for them. The results showed that the meaning of the comfort zone can be grouped in five dimensions: comfort (49,6 %), leaving it-change (8,1%), ambivalent feelings (10,6%), related to other people (10,6%), pursuit of self-realization (16,8%). Our results demonstrated age related characteristics. For young people at the age of 19 the comfort zone is related to other people, because during adolescents peer relationships become more important. Subjects at the age 20-30 answered that the comfort zone means comfort and stability for them. Their life becomes stable for a while, they are studying or working. But at the age of 25, when they finish university, most of them answered comfort zone means a changing process for them. On the other hand for subjects at the age of 27 the means of the comfort zone is pursuit of self-realization. After that period at the age of 31 when they have families and stable job the stability will also dominant. We saw that the comfort zone has much more meaning besides a pleasant psychological trait. Further we would like to determine which psychological factors relate to comfort zone, and what kind of personality traits could predict leaving or staying in one’s comfort zone. We want to observe the relationship between comfort zone and subjective well-being, life satisfaction self-efficacy or self-esteem.

Keywords: comfort zone, development, personality trait, young adults

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Authors: Chris Neale, Jenny Roe, Peter Aspinall, Sara Tilley, Steve Cinderby, Panos Mavros, Richard Coyne, Neil Thin, Catharine Ward Thompson

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This research directly assesses older people’s neural activation in response to walking through a changing urban environment, as measured by electroencephalography (EEG). As the global urban population is predicted to grow, there is a need to understand the role that the urban environment may play on the health of its older inhabitants. There is a large body of evidence suggesting green space has a beneficial restorative effect, but this effect remains largely understudied in both older people and by using a neuroimaging assessment. For this study, participants aged 65 years and over were required to walk between a busy urban built environment and a green urban environment, in a counterbalanced design, wearing an Emotiv EEG headset to record real-time neural responses to place. Here we report on the outputs for these responses derived from both the proprietary Affectiv Suite software, which creates emotional parameters with a real time value assigned to them, as well as the raw EEG output focusing on alpha and beta changes, associated with changes in relaxation and attention respectively. Each walk lasted around fifteen minutes and was undertaken at the natural walking pace of the participant. The two walking environments were compared using a form of high dimensional correlated component regression (CCR) on difference data between the urban busy and urban green spaces. For the Emotiv parameters, results showed that levels of ‘engagement’ increased in the urban green space (with a subsequent decrease in the urban busy built space) whereas levels of ‘excitement’ increased in the urban busy environment (with a subsequent decrease in the urban green space). In the raw data, low beta (13 – 19 Hz) increased in the urban busy space with a subsequent decrease shown in the green space, similar to the pattern shown with the ‘excitement’ result. Alpha activity (9 – 13 Hz) shows a correlation with low beta, but not with dependent change in the regression model. This suggests that alpha is acting as a suppressor variable. These results suggest that there are neural signatures associated with the experience of urban spaces which may reflect the age of the cohort or the spatiality of the settings themselves. These are shown both in the outputs of the proprietary software as well as the raw EEG output. Built busy urban spaces appear to induce neural activity associated with vigilance and low level stress, while this effect is ameliorated in the urban green space, potentially suggesting a beneficial effect on attentional capacity in urban green space in this participant group. The interaction between low beta and alpha requires further investigation, in particular the role of alpha in this relationship.

Keywords: ageing, EEG, green space, urban space

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Authors: Jitka Rychtarikova

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Regional differences in mortality in the Czech Republic (CR) may be moderate from a broader European perspective, but important discrepancies in life expectancy can be found between smaller territorial units. In this study territorial units are based on Administrative Districts of Municipalities with Extended Powers (MEP). This definition came into force January 1, 2003. There are 205 units and the city of Prague. MEP represents the smallest unit for which mortality patterns based on life tables can be investigated and the Czech Statistical Office has been calculating such life tables (every five-years) since 2004. MEP life tables from 2009-2013 for males and females allowed the investigation of three main life cycles with the use of temporary life expectancies between the exact ages of 0 and 35; 35 and 65; and the life expectancy at exact age 65. The results showed regional survival inequalities primarily in adult and older ages. Consequently, only mortality indicators for adult and elderly population were related to census 2011 unlinked data for the same age groups. The most relevant socio-economic factors taken from the census are: having a partner, educational level and unemployment rate. The unemployment rate was measured for adults aged 35-64 completed years. Exploratory spatial data analysis methods were used to detect regional patterns in spatially contiguous units of MEP. The presence of spatial non-stationarity (spatial autocorrelation) of mortality levels for male and female adults (35-64), and elderly males and females (65+) was tested using global Moran’s I. Spatial autocorrelation of mortality patterns was mapped using local Moran’s I with the intention to depict clusters of low or high mortality and spatial outliers for two age groups (35-64 and 65+). The highest Moran’s I was observed for male temporary life expectancy between exact ages 35 and 65 (0.52) and the lowest was among women with life expectancy of 65 (0.26). Generally, men showed stronger spatial autocorrelation compared to women. The relationship between mortality indicators such as life expectancies and socio-economic factors like the percentage of males/females having a partner; percentage of males/females with at least higher secondary education; and percentage of unemployed males/females from economically active population aged 35-64 years, was evaluated using multiple regression (OLS). The results were then compared to outputs from geographically weighted regression (GWR). In the Czech Republic, there are two broader territories North-West Bohemia (NWB) and North Moravia (NM), in which excess mortality is well established. Results of the t-test of spatial regression showed that for males aged 30-64 the association between mortality and unemployment (when adjusted for education and partnership) was stronger in NM compared to NWB, while educational level impacted the length of survival more in NWB. Geographic variation and relationships in mortality of the CR MEP will also be tested using the spatial Durbin approach. The calculations were conducted by means of ArcGIS 10.6 and SAS 9.4.

Keywords: Czech Republic, mortality, municipality, socio-economic factors, spatial analysis

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Authors: Giovana Longo-Silva, Risia Cristina Egito de Menezes, Renan Serenini, Márcia de Oliveira Lima, Júlia Souza de Melo, Larissa de Lima Soares

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Introduction: Sleep duration and quality have been increasingly recognized as important factors affecting overall health and well-being, including their potential impact on body weight and composition. Previous research has shown inconsistent results regarding the association between sleep patterns and body mass index (BMI), particularly among diverse populations such as Brazilian adults. Understanding these relationships is crucial for developing targeted interventions to address obesity and related health issues. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association between sleep duration, insomnia, and BMI among Brazilian adults using data from a large national survey focused on chronic nutrition and sleep habits. Materials and Methods: The study included 2050 participants from a population-based virtual survey. BMI was calculated using self-reported weight and height measurements. Participants also reported usual bedtime and wake time on weekdays and weekends and whether they experienced symptoms of insomnia. The average sleep duration across the entire week was calculated as follows: [(5×sleep duration on weekdays) + (2×sleep duration on weekends)]/7. Linear regression analyses were conducted to assess the association between sleep duration, insomnia, and BMI, adjusting for potential confounding factors, including age, sex, marital status, physical exercise duration, and diet quality. Results: After adjusting for confounding variables, the study found that BMI decreased by 0.19 kg/m² for each additional hour of sleep duration (95% CI = -0.37, -0.02; P = 0.03). Conversely, individuals with insomnia had a higher BMI, with an increase of 0.75 kg/m² (95% CI = 0.28, 1.22; P = 0.002) compared to those without insomnia. Conclusions: The findings suggest a significant association between sleep duration, insomnia, and BMI among Brazilian adults. Longer sleep duration was associated with lower BMI, while insomnia was associated with higher BMI. These results underscore the importance of considering sleep patterns in strategies aimed at preventing and managing obesity in this population. Further research is needed to explore the underlying mechanisms and potential interventions targeting sleep-related factors to promote healthier body weight outcomes.

Keywords: sleep, obesity, chronobiology, nutrition

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Authors: Renate Verkaik, Mieke Rijken, Hennie Boeije

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Elderly who are living alone and who are having one or more impairments are vulnerable for a loss of wellbeing and institutionalization. Physical exercise and social activities together with peers have the potential to make them more resilient. The Dutch program ‘More Resilience, Longer at Home’ initiated by FNO funded 126 local projects to stimulate vulnerable older citizens to participate in exercise and social activities, and as such to improve wellbeing and independent living. The program evaluation addressed the following questions: (1) what are the effects of the program on older (65+) participants exercise behavior, social activities and what is the relationship with wellbeing?, (2) which factors contribute to successful implementation of the projects and their outcomes? A mixed method approach was used. Effects on participants were assessed with a short survey, containing questions on exercise, social engagement, daily functioning, loneliness and life satisfaction. Results of the participants were compared with those of a reference group from the Dutch national population. Perceived influencing factors were investigated with a questionnaire for project leaders. This questionnaire was based on site visits and interviews with project leaders, volunteers and participating elderly. Preliminary results show that social engagement of the participating elderly rises significantly (p ≤ .05) as do their exercise levels and daily functioning. They experience less social loneliness, but not less emotional loneliness. Additionally, there is a positive association between daily functioning and life satisfaction and between exercise and life satisfaction. Perceived influencing factors that contribute to successful implementation of the projects can be categorized in 4 types: (1) characteristics of the activities; (2) profiles of the involved staff (professionals and volunteers), (3) characteristics of the organization, (4) the social political environment. Conclusions are that local projects have been successful in stimulating older citizens to participate in exercise and social activities. Multiple factors need to be addressed to ensure sustainability and scaling-up of the good practices.

Keywords: elderly living alone in the community, exercise and social activities, resilience, quality of life

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Authors: Franciska Weise, Ralph Bruder

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Due to the demographic change in Germany along with the declining birth rate and the increasing age of population, the share of older people in society is rising. This development is also reflected in the work force of German companies. Therefore companies should focus on improving ergonomics, especially in the area of age-related work design. Literature shows that studies on age-related work design have been carried out in the past, some of whose results have been put into practice. However, there is still a need for further research. One of the most important methods for taking into account the needs of an aging population is job rotation. This method aims at preventing or reducing health risks and inappropriate physical strain. It is conceived as a systematic change of workplaces within a group. Existing literature does not cover any methods for the investigation of the attitudes of employees towards job rotation. However, in order to evaluate job rotation, it is essential to have knowledge of the views of people towards rotation. In addition to an investigation of attitudes, the design of rotation plays a crucial role. The sequence of activities and the rotation frequency influence the worker and as well the work result. The evaluation of preliminary talks on the shop floor showed that team speakers and foremen share a common understanding of job rotation. In practice, different varieties of job rotation exist. One important aspect is the frequency of rotation. It is possible to rotate never, more than one time or even during every break, or more often than every break. It depends on the opportunity or possibility to rotate whenever workers want to rotate. From the preliminary talks some challenges can be derived. For example a rotation in the whole team is not possible, if a team member requires to be trained for a new task. In order to be able to determine the relation of the design and the attitude towards job rotation, a questionnaire is carried out in the vehicle manufacturing. The questionnaire will be employed to determine the different varieties of job rotation that exist in production, as well as the attitudes of workers towards those different frequencies of job rotation. In addition, younger and older employees will be compared with regard to their rotation frequency and their attitudes towards rotation. There are three kinds of age groups. Three questions are under examination. The first question is whether older employees rotate less frequently than younger employees. Also it is investigated to know whether the frequency of job rotation and the attitude towards the frequency of job rotation are interconnected. Moreover, the attitudes of the different age groups towards the frequency of rotation will be examined. Up to now 144 employees, all working in production, took part in the survey. 36.8 % were younger than thirty, 37.5 % were between thirty und forty-four and 25.7 % were above forty-five years old. The data shows no difference between the three age groups in relation to the frequency of job rotation (N=139, median=4, Chi²=.859, df=2, p=.651). Most employees rotate between six and seven workplaces per day. In addition there is a statistically significant correlation between the frequency of job rotation and the attitude towards the frequency (Spearman-Rho: 2-sided=.008, correlation coefficient=.223). Less than four workplaces per day are not enough for the employees. The third question, which differences can be found between older and younger people who rotate in a different way and with different attitudes towards job rotation, cannot be possible answered. Till now the data shows that younger people would like to rotate very often. Regarding to older people no correlation can be found with acceptable significance. The results of the survey will be used to improve the current practice of job rotation. In addition, the discussions during the survey are expected to help sensitize the employees with respect to rotation issues, and to contribute to optimizing rotation by means of qualification and an improved design of job rotation. Together with the employees and the results of the survey there must be found standards which show how to rotate in an ergonomic way while consider the attitude towards job rotation.

Keywords: job rotation, age-related work design, questionnaire, automotive industry

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Authors: Shah Abid

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Leishmaniasis is a collection of zoonotic infections that affect the viscera, skin, and mucous membrane and are spread by several species of female sandflies in the subfamily phlebotominae. The study's goal was to assess the prevalence of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in District Kurram using descriptive and cross-sectional methods. From December 2022 to May 2023, the study was carried out at Tehsil Head Quarter (THQ) Hospital, Sadda, District Kurram in the Dermatology Department. The disease was identified using a laboratory method based on clinical manifestations of leishmaniasis. A clean slide's surface was applied to the scraped-off portion of the lesions and rubbed over the blood to make a smear on the slide. The slides were methanol-fixed, stained with traditional Giemsa, and meticulously examined at high magnification to search for LD bodies. The necessary information, such as residence area, lesion kind and location, age, sex, and the total number of lesions, was meticulously acquired. During the time of the investigation, 393 instances of cutaneous leishmaniasis were observed. 1 year to 70 years old was the age range (mean age: 35.45). The age group that was most severely impacted, 16 years and older, had 23 (11.67%) children with this condition. Male to female ratio was 9.7:10. Most of the cases (n=52, 26.29%), were reported in the month of May. Majority of the patients 102 (51.77%) had lesion on face. 42 (16.73) patients had multiple lesions on their body. Face was the most common site followed by lower limbs 93 (37.05). Weekly intralesional injections of sodium stibogluconate (glucantime) were administered to all patients. Without any noticeable adverse effects, all patients had positive responses to the treatment. The condition affects adults more commonly than children, according to analysis of the combined results, and it is more common in women than in men.

Keywords: District Kurram, cutaneous leishmaniasis, zoonosis, glucantime

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Authors: Geovana Soncin, Larissa Berti

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Some aspects of prosody acquisition remain still unclear, especially regarding atypical speech development processes. This work deals with prosody acquisition and its implications for clinical purposes. Therefore, we analyze speech samples produced by adult speakers, children in typical language development, and children with phonological disorders. Phonological disorder comprises deviating manifestations characterized by inconsistencies in the phonological representation of a linguistic system under acquisition. The clinical assessment is performed mostly based on contrasts whose manifestations occur in the segmental level of a phonological system. Prosodic organization of spoken utterances is not included in the standard assessment. However, assuming that prosody is part of the phonological system, it was hypothesized that children with Phonological Disorders could present inconsistencies that also occur at a prosodic level. Based on this hypothesis, the paper aims to analyze contrastive focus marking in the speech of children with Phonological Disorders in comparison with the speech of children under Typical Language Development and adults. The participants of all groups were native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese. The investigation was designed in such a way as to identify differences and similarities among the groups that could be interpreted as clues of normal or deviant processes of prosody acquisition. Contrastive focus in Brazilian Portuguese is marked by increasing duration, f0, and intensity on the focused element as well as by a particular type of pitch accent (L*+H). Thirty-nine subjects participated, thirteen from each group. Acoustic analysis was performed, considering duration, intensity, and intonation as parameters. Children with PD were recruited in sessions from a service provided by Speech-Language Pathology Therapy; children in TD, paired in age and sex with the first group, were recruited in a regular school; and 20-24 years old adults were recruited from a University class. In a game prepared to elicit focused sentences, all of them produced the sentence “Girls love red dress,” marking focus on different syntactic positions: subject, verb, and object. Results showed that adults, children in typical language development, and children with Phonological Disorders marked contrastive focus differently: typical children used all parameters like adults do; however, in comparison with them, they exaggerated duration and, in the opposite direction, they did not increase f0 in a sufficient magnitude as adults; children with Phonological Disorder presented inconsistencies in duration, not increasing it in some syntactic positions, and also in intonation, not producing the representative pitch accent of contrastive focus. The results suggest prosody is also affected by phonological disorder and give clues of developmental processes of prosody acquisition.

Keywords: Brazilian Portuguese, contrastive focus, phonological disorder, prosody acquisition

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Authors: Elena E. Lyakso, Olga V. Frolova, Yuri N. Matveev, Aleksey S. Grigorev, Alexander S. Nikolaev, Viktor A. Gorodnyi

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The study of the children’s emotional sphere depending on age and psychoneurological state is of great importance for the design of educational programs for children and their social adaptation. Atypical development may be accompanied by violations or specificities of the emotional sphere. To study characteristics of the emotional state reflection in the voice and speech features of children, the perceptual study with the participation of adults and the automatic recognition of speech were conducted. Speech of children with typical development (TD), with Down syndrome (DS), and with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) aged 6-12 years was recorded. To obtain emotional speech in children, model situations were created, including a dialogue between the child and the experimenter containing questions that can cause various emotional states in the child and playing with a standard set of toys. The questions and toys were selected, taking into account the child’s age, developmental characteristics, and speech skills. For the perceptual experiment by adults, test sequences containing speech material of 30 children: TD, DS, and ASD were created. The listeners were 100 adults (age 19.3 ± 2.3 years). The listeners were tasked with determining the children’s emotional state as “comfort – neutral – discomfort” while listening to the test material. Spectrographic analysis of speech signals was conducted. For automatic recognition of the emotional state, 6594 speech files containing speech material of children were prepared. Automatic recognition of three states, “comfort – neutral – discomfort,” was performed using automatically extracted from the set of acoustic features - the Geneva Minimalistic Acoustic Parameter Set (GeMAPS) and the extended Geneva Minimalistic Acoustic Parameter Set (eGeMAPS). The results showed that the emotional state is worse determined by the speech of TD children (comfort – 58% of correct answers, discomfort – 56%). Listeners better recognized discomfort in children with ASD and DS (78% of answers) than comfort (70% and 67%, respectively, for children with DS and ASD). The neutral state is better recognized by the speech of children with ASD (67%) than by the speech of children with DS (52%) and TD children (54%). According to the automatic recognition data using the acoustic feature set GeMAPSv01b, the accuracy of automatic recognition of emotional states for children with ASD is 0.687; children with DS – 0.725; TD children – 0.641. When using the acoustic feature set eGeMAPSv01b, the accuracy of automatic recognition of emotional states for children with ASD is 0.671; children with DS – 0.717; TD children – 0.631. The use of different models showed similar results, with better recognition of emotional states by the speech of children with DS than by the speech of children with ASD. The state of comfort is automatically determined better by the speech of TD children (precision – 0.546) and children with ASD (0.523), discomfort – children with DS (0.504). The data on the specificities of recognition by adults of the children’s emotional state by their speech may be used in recruitment for working with children with atypical development. Automatic recognition data can be used to create alternative communication systems and automatic human-computer interfaces for social-emotional learning. Acknowledgment: This work was financially supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project 18-18-00063).

Keywords: autism spectrum disorders, automatic recognition of speech, child’s emotional speech, Down syndrome, perceptual experiment

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Authors: Leah Samples

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Barriers to participation persist for people with disabilities despite a long history of legislation designed to support equal opportunity for people with disabilities. Historically, the focus has been solely placed on structural barriers, but newer research highlights the importance of looking at social and informational barriers to participation. Collectively, these barriers prevent people with disabilities from fully engaging in community life and consequently from achieving full citizenship. Disability is crucial to understanding the meaning of citizenship. Drawing upon the influences of feminist, critical race and human rights theorists, citizenship can be defined as a set of rights and responsibilities that an individual has because they are a part of a community. However, when those rights are taken away or denied one’s citizenship is in question. Employing this definition of citizenship allows one to examine how barriers to citizenship present themselves in societies that are built on an ideal of a non-disabled person. To understand at a deeper level how this notion of citizenship manifests itself, this study seeks to unearth commonly experienced barriers to participation in the lives of visually-impaired adults in everyday environments. The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore commonly-experienced barriers to participation in the lives of visually impaired adults in leisure settings (e.g. restaurants, stores, etc.). Thirty adults with visual impairments participated in semi-structured interviews, as well as participant observations. The results suggest that barriers to participation are still pervasive in everyday environments and subsequently have an adverse effect on participation and belonging for people with visual impairments. This study highlights the importance of exploring and acknowledging the daily tensions that persons with disabilities face in their communities. A full exploration of these tensions is necessary in order to develop solutions and tools to create more just communities for everyone.

Keywords: barriers, citizenship, belonging, everyday environments

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