Matching Items (10)
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Previous research has found improvements in motor and cognitive measures following Assisted Cycle Therapy (AC) in adolescence with Down syndrome (DS). Our study investigated whether we would find improvements in mental health in older adults with DS as measured from the Adapted Behavior Dementia Questionnaire (ABDQ), Physical Activity Self Efficacy

Previous research has found improvements in motor and cognitive measures following Assisted Cycle Therapy (AC) in adolescence with Down syndrome (DS). Our study investigated whether we would find improvements in mental health in older adults with DS as measured from the Adapted Behavior Dementia Questionnaire (ABDQ), Physical Activity Self Efficacy Scales (PACES), Children's Depressive inventory, which are early indicators of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in persons with Down syndrome. This study consisted of seven participants with Down syndrome between the ages of 31 and 54, inclusive, that cycled for 30 minutes 3 x/week for eight weeks either at their voluntary cycling rate (VC) or approximately 35% faster with the help of a mechanical motor (ACT). Our results were consistent with our prediction that self efficacy improved following ACT, but not VC. However, our results were not consistent with our prediction that dementia and depression were improved following ACT more than VC. These results were interpreted with respect to the effects of exercise in older adults with DS. Future research should focus on recruiting more participants, especially those with deficits in mental health.
ContributorsPandya, Sachin (Author) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Thesis director) / Coon, David (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The current literature on successful aging continues to grow, however it lacks a consistent definition of successful aging. Throughout the literature there are multiple themes and ideas that have been used to define successful aging by varying age groups. The current study took a similar approach by evaluating data gathered

The current literature on successful aging continues to grow, however it lacks a consistent definition of successful aging. Throughout the literature there are multiple themes and ideas that have been used to define successful aging by varying age groups. The current study took a similar approach by evaluating data gathered on older adults age 95 and older through a prescreen performed as part of the Longevity Study. The prescreen consisted of demographic information and self-reported contributors of successful aging. The demographic results demonstrated that the mean age was 98.4 (SD=2.40), with the majority of participants being widowed, living alone, in a single family home, and with some college or associates degree. The demographics varied between genders, with the key difference that men are more likely to be married and, therefore, live with someone. Self-reported contributors to successful aging exhibited that men and women had the same top three overall responses: positive attitude, diets, and biological; however, the rank order of these responses differed by gender. Also, the men more frequently picked marriage and spouse as key contributors, whereas females chose social engagement and support. The possible reasons for these differences may be related to the male to female ratio in the older population and males being more likely than women to date or re-marry with some family and friend support after loss of a spouse. Moreover, women regardless of marital status do not usually find their spouse as the primary support source, and males favor their spouse as their primary support source. Understanding the perspective of the oldest old may help to create better prevention and interventions techniques, alongside improved future research studies.
ContributorsRana, Harnoor (Author) / Coon, David (Thesis director) / O'Connor, Kathy (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between Assisted Cycle Therapy, leisure time activity levels, fine motor control, and grip force in older adults with Down syndrome (DS), all of which affect activities of daily living (ADL) and therefore quality of life. This is relevant because this

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between Assisted Cycle Therapy, leisure time activity levels, fine motor control, and grip force in older adults with Down syndrome (DS), all of which affect activities of daily living (ADL) and therefore quality of life. This is relevant because this particular group is at risk for developing early onset Alzheimer's disease (AD), which presents itself uniquely in this population. The parent or guardian of six participants with DS completed Godin's Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire and the participants themselves completed Purdue Pegboard and grip force assessments before and after an 8-week exercise intervention. The results were inconsistent with past research, with no change being seen in fine motor control or grip force and a decrease being seen in leisure activity. These findings are indicative of the importance of the effect of fatigue on leisure activity as well as maintaining elevated heart rate throughout exercise interventions.
ContributorsGomez, Elizabeth Danielle (Author) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Thesis director) / Coon, David (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
In the years following the HIV epidemic, much has changed in the way of public health, the social epidemic of stigma has remained. It is the assertion of the authors that stigma can be combatted through the propagation of accurate education and exposure to the lasting negative impacts of social

In the years following the HIV epidemic, much has changed in the way of public health, the social epidemic of stigma has remained. It is the assertion of the authors that stigma can be combatted through the propagation of accurate education and exposure to the lasting negative impacts of social stigma on persons living with HIV in the United States at present. Although individuals who are not apart of this community cannot truly understand the impacts of HIV-related stigma on those directly impacted by it, a sense of understanding and compassion may be elicited through the breakdown of social stigma into comprehensible components and the provision of stigma-inspired artwork. In addition to providing a background on the scientific basis of Human immunodeficiency virus and its spread, the authors have elected to utilize public engagement by means of an anonymous survey as well as personal interactions with HIV advocates to synthesize paintings. Responses were collected from approximately 300 survey participants via social media with no demographic information collected. It was the hope of the authors that the lack of identifying questions may prompt participants to answer freely and honestly to improve overall understanding of social perceptions of HIV and its related stigma. These paintings and resources deemed appropriate based on the results of the aforementioned survey are to be displayed on a webpage for easier access and engagement with a broader audience.Moreover, this webpage is intended to be maintained and utilized beyond the timeframe of this Undergraduate Honors Thesis for the intended purpose of promoting stigma-free HIV advocacy and education.
ContributorsRidgley, Nathan Laurence (Co-author) / Luigs, Stephanie (Co-author) / Jacobs, Bertram (Thesis director) / Salamone, Damien (Committee member) / Spencer, Glen (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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As people age, the desire to grow old independently and in place becomes larger and takes greater importance in their lives. Successful aging involves the physical, mental and social well-being of an individual. To enable successful aging of older adults, it is necessary for them to perform both activities of

As people age, the desire to grow old independently and in place becomes larger and takes greater importance in their lives. Successful aging involves the physical, mental and social well-being of an individual. To enable successful aging of older adults, it is necessary for them to perform both activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). Embedded assessment has made it possible to assess an individual's functional ability in-place, however the success of any technology depends largely on the user than the technology itself. Previous researches in in-situ functional assessment systems have heavily focused on the technology rather than on the user. This dissertation takes a user-centric approach to this problem by trying to identify the design and technical challenges of deploying and using a functional assessment system in the real world.

To investigate this line of research, a case study was conducted with 4 older adults in their homes, interviews were conducted with 8 caregivers and a controlled lab experiment was conducted with 8 young healthy adults at ASU, to test the sensors. This methodology provides a significant opportunity to advance the scientific field by expanding the present focus on IADL task performance to an integrated assessment of ADL and IADL task performance. Doing so would not only be more effective in identifying functional decline but could also provide a more comprehensive assessment of individuals' functional abilities with independence and also providing the caregivers with much needed respite.

The controlled lab study tested the sensors embedded into daily objects and found them to be reliable, and efficient. Short term exploratory case studies with healthy older adults revealed the challenges associated with design and technical aspects of the current system, while inductive analysis performed on interviews with caregivers helped to generate central themes on which future functional assessment systems need to be designed and built. The key central themes were a) focus on design / user experience, b) consider user's characteristics, personality, behavior and functional ability, c) provide support for independence, and d) adapt to individual user's needs.
ContributorsRavishankar, Vijay Kumar (Author) / Burleson, Winslow (Thesis advisor) / Coon, David (Committee member) / Mahoney, Diane (Committee member) / Walker, Erin (Committee member) / Li, Baoxin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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Personal hygiene, as well as many other daily living tasks, is not often regarded as a stressful or traumatic event. Giving a bath or shower to a person with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias (ADRD) is typically an ongoing struggle for caregivers around the world. Generally, taking a bath or

Personal hygiene, as well as many other daily living tasks, is not often regarded as a stressful or traumatic event. Giving a bath or shower to a person with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias (ADRD) is typically an ongoing struggle for caregivers around the world. Generally, taking a bath or shower results in hostility, arguing, combativeness, screaming and even crying. This study explores claims that live music decreases levels of stress during bathing for people with ADRD. To test this, qualitative data has been collected based on the observations of professional caregivers, and quantitative data has been collected based on the levels of cortisol, a human stress hormone, taken before and after bath times on music and non-music days. These preliminary results suggest that live music-based interventions may lessen the trauma experienced by the residents during bath times. Therefore, this study opens the door for more consistent use of music by nurses, nursing aids, and other caregivers to perform better care for people with memory-loss complications.
ContributorsMorici, Olivia Grace (Author) / Coon, David (Thesis director) / McCarthy, Marianne (Committee member) / Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
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Brought on by extended survival due to Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy and increased incidence among older adults, the demographic profile of the HIV epidemic has begun to shift towards the aging population. As people living with HIV (PLWH) begin to age and develop multiple comorbidities, their needs are no longer

Brought on by extended survival due to Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy and increased incidence among older adults, the demographic profile of the HIV epidemic has begun to shift towards the aging population. As people living with HIV (PLWH) begin to age and develop multiple comorbidities, their needs are no longer limited to HIV treatment and disease management; they may require aging services similar to those with a negative HIV status. Increased attention has been placed on HIV and aging to assess the unique needs of older PLWH, however, limited research exists on the preparedness of aging services to provide adequate care to this population. This study aims to assess HIV and aging within Maricopa County, where individuals aged 50 years and older account for nearly half the reported HIV/AIDS cases in the county, and 30% of cases in Arizona. Two focus groups – one with older PLWH and another with aging service professionals – were conducted to gather information about existing aging services and the perspectives of older PLWH regarding their growing needs. Older PLWH were found to experience challenges similar to those that have been well-documented in previous studies: most notably, PTSD and other mental health conditions; fear of the future and isolation; HIV status disclosure and stigma; and economics and financial security. An anonymous survey was developed in conjunction with Aunt Rita’s Foundation to evaluate Maricopa County aging services; it was discovered that providers lack experience with HIV and admit deficiencies in their preparation to address the age-related concerns of older PLWH. The results show that the majority of providers were supportive of offering care to older PLWH and expressed interest in improving their preparedness. Future research is necessary to obtain perspectives from additional aging services in Maricopa County and word towards the development of an aging services directory to connect older PLWH to care.
ContributorsLayon, Sarah (Author) / Jacobs, Bertram (Thesis director) / Coon, David (Committee member) / Spencer, Glen (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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This paper will provide a review of the difficulties associated with caregiving for a family member with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) and the intervention strategies used to improve psychosocial wellbeing of the caregiver. A review of various empirical studies compares different intervention strategies and their accessibility and effect

This paper will provide a review of the difficulties associated with caregiving for a family member with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) and the intervention strategies used to improve psychosocial wellbeing of the caregiver. A review of various empirical studies compares different intervention strategies and their accessibility and effect on caregiver mental health. The literature suggests that the most effective treatments are those that are based in cognitive behavioral techniques , teaching caregivers how to recognize and regulate negative emotions that arise and to develop coping strategies for stressful situations involving their loved one with ADRD (Cheng et al., 2018). However, there is currently only a limited amount of research done on the topic of pain recognition and management by caregivers for those with ADRD; future research on this topic is needed to help to develop programs to teach caregivers strategies to help them recognize changes associated with pain in their loved one’s health and wellbeing (Kankkunen & Valimaki, 2014). Future research regarding caregivers for those with ADRD will continue to improve the development of family based support programs based in education for recognition of pain symptoms in patients and cognitive behavioral principles to improve caregiver and patient quality of life (Gitlin et al., 2015).

ContributorsKinnier, Amber (Author) / Coon, David (Thesis director) / Hanish, Laura (Committee member) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
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“Putting the ‘Home’ in Nursing Home” is a creative project that explores the idea that connecting nursing home residents with their family members via face-to-face virtual communication platforms will increase their happiness. While happiness is a highly discussed topic in our society, it is largely ignored when it comes to

“Putting the ‘Home’ in Nursing Home” is a creative project that explores the idea that connecting nursing home residents with their family members via face-to-face virtual communication platforms will increase their happiness. While happiness is a highly discussed topic in our society, it is largely ignored when it comes to the older adult populations confined in nursing homes. Our society invests so much money keeping this group alive with little attention given to their happiness. This project has become more relevant during the current COVID-19 pandemic. While the original plan was to perform an in-person FaceTime demonstration with nursing home residents in Phoenix, Arizona during March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic created a significant alteration in the project plans. Since nursing home facilities restricted all visitors, the foundation of this thesis/creative project became grounded in the literature review. The topics of happiness, loneliness, social isolation, and gerontechnology will be explored in depth as well as connecting their significance to the COVID-19 pandemic.
ContributorsPompan, Alyssa (Author) / Coon, David (Thesis director) / Murphy, Ana (Committee member) / Arizona State University. College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
As the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, Parkinson’s affects around 1 million people in the United States, and 10 million worldwide (Parkinson’s Foundation). Thus there are 10 million people who are suffering from a disorder with no cure. Because of this, treatment of Parkinson’s disease and management of symptoms is

As the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, Parkinson’s affects around 1 million people in the United States, and 10 million worldwide (Parkinson’s Foundation). Thus there are 10 million people who are suffering from a disorder with no cure. Because of this, treatment of Parkinson’s disease and management of symptoms is crucial as the disease advances. Some non-physical symptoms include anxiety, sleep troubles, fatigue, and loss of smell, while some physical symptoms include a resting tremor, bradykinesia, dyskinesia, instability, and rigidity (Parkinson’s Foundation, 2023). These symptoms lead to gait instability, gait freezing, higher fall risks, an overall lack of flexibility, and a struggle with dual-task performance (Johannson et al., 2023). The goal of this thesis project is to create a game design document and potential study outline of a Virtual Reality (VR) game that targets upper body bradykinesia and allows Parkinson’s patients to improve their arm mobility and decrease rigidity and reaction time. This game, REACH, is designed to be used in conjunction with weekly physical therapy, and progress within the game should be monitored by the therapist. Because it is important for rehabilitation to be individualized for each patient, in this game, the patient’s physical therapist will select a “level”, which corresponds to the patient’s range of motion (ROM) and reaction time. However, the exercise game will keep track of performance and log the degrees of motion, corresponding reaction time, and time on task. This performance profile will allow the therapist to monitor the patient's progress and make well-informed decisions about the patient’s progress and goals.
ContributorsHurley, Lauren (Author) / Johnson, Mina (Thesis director) / Parsons, Thomas (Committee member) / Coon, David (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor)
Created2023-12