Engagement in personally meaningful activities is associated with greater well-being. However, most studies use cross-sectional or recall methods, and the researchers pre-determine which activities ...are 'meaningful.' This study examined an idiographic measure of meaningful activity participation in relation to well-being. Participants (N = 160; M age = 43.3 years; 77% female) rated the meaningfulness of 46 daily activities at baseline and reported their activities on eight random days over the next 4 weeks. Half the participants also completed measures of meaning salience and mood on the same days. All participants reported on psychological well-being at baseline and 4-week follow-up. Meaningful activity participation was positively associated with meaning salience and positive mood. Average engagement in meaningful activities over 8 days was positively associated with subjective vitality, life satisfaction, and purpose in life at follow-up. An idiographic measure of meaningful activity participation may further be understanding of the relationship between meaningful activity participation and well-being.
Abbreviations: ACT - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy; LET - Life Engagement Test; MALM - Meaningful Activity and Life Meaning; MAPA - Meaningful Activities Participation Assessment; PANAS - Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; PHQ-8 - Patient Health Questionnaire-8; SDT - Self-determination Theory; SVS - Subjective Vitality Scale; SWLS - Satisfaction with Life Scale; TOMS - Thoughts of Meaning Scale
Feeding behavior analysis provides information about the relationships between animals and pastures. Therefore, this review aims to describe some aspects of the feeding behavior profiles of both ...sheep and goats in grazing systems. The structure of the pasture is a key factor in the feeding behavior of grazing animals. The amount of feed consumed in a given period of time is affected by the number of meals, duration and velocity of swallowing, changes in grazing time, bite rate, bite weight, and quality of ingested forage. The different phenological stages of forage also influence the animals’ strategies to optimize their intake, which consequently changes their behavioral activities. Sheep and goats tend to be more selective than cattle, and young animals are more selective than older animals; this selectivity characteristic is one of the most important aspects to be observed in pasture management. According to the degree of selectivity, the animals will intake forages of higher or lower nutritive quality. In addition, the intensity and distribution of their daily activities (grazing, ruminating, and resting) are influenced by several factors, such as the availability and nutritive value of the pasture, its management, the animal activity in the group, and the predominant climatic conditions of the region.
IntroductionOur aim was to translate, adapt and validate the Myasthenia Gravis Activities of Daily Living scale into the Latvian language and to evaluate this instrument (MG-ADL-L) in terms of ...construct validity and reliability.MethodsWe enrolled patients with a confirmed MG diagnosis, who could speak Latvian fluently. We performed translation and adaptation according to the cross-cultural adaptation guidelines for self-reported measures. The patients were evaluated by a physician according to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America classification (MGFA) and using the Myasthenia Gravis Composite Score (MGCS). Patients were asked to complete the MG-ADL-L and the 15-item Myasthenia Gravis Quality of Life (MGQOL15) Internal consistency was evaluated based on Cronbach's α, reproducibility-Cohen's weighted kappa and construct validity-Spearman's correlation between the MG-ADL-L and the MGQOL15 and MGCS. We used the Kruskal-Wallis H test to compare the MG-ADL-L score distribution between the MGFA groups.Results38 enrolled patients in the study. There was an acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.76) and moderate to very good agreement between the test and retest scores (Cohen's weighted kappa = 0.54 and 0.81). The MG-ADL-L showed a moderate positive correlation with the MGQOL15 (r = 0.5, p = 0.001) and the MGCS (r = 0.62, p < 0.001). There was a significant difference in MG-ADL-L scores between the MGFA groups (p = 0.007).DiscussionThe MG-ADL-L is a valid and reliable self-reported scale to assess and evaluate symptom severity and the impact of the disease on the lives of patients with MG.
We conducted a longitudinal study involving 81 stroke patients (mean (SD) age: 54.6 (10.8) years; 58% male, mean (SD) time after stroke onset: 4.3 (2.5) weeks). Participants were assessed at baseline ...(T1), two-month later (T2), and on average of 1.5 (0.5) years after stroke (T3), with the ABILOCO-Benin questionnaire, functional ambulation classification (FAC), six-minute walking test, ACTIVLIM-Stroke questionnaire, modified Rankin Scale, and Stroke Impairment Assessment Scale. Global-, sub-group- (stable and improved based on FAC scores), and individual-based analysis of changes were performed.
Participants showed significantly larger improvement for all outcomes during the acute phase (T1-T2). Changes in the ABILOCO-Benin measures were significantly correlated with changes in other outcome measures. ABILOCO-Benin questionnaire detected a significant improvement in both the stable and improved groups at both T2 and T3 in the sub-group approach. Individual-based analysis with ABILOCO-Benin measures showed a significantly higher proportion of stable patients (
= 55) and lower proportion of improved ones (
= 23) between T2 and T3 (LR(df) = 15.52(4),
= 0.004).
ABILOCO-Benin is responsive to changes in adult stroke patients within both acute and chronic phases. Implications for rehabilitationABILOCO-Benin questionnaire is highly responsive to changes in locomotion abilities of stroke patients within both acute (<6 months) and chronic (≥6 months) phases.It can be used in clinical and research practice to track changes in stroke patients after interventions in African settings and beyond.
Zusammenfassung
Ziel
Menschen mit psychischen Vorerkrankungen scheinen nach ersten Studienergebnissen aus anderen Ländern durch den Corona-Shutdown im Frühjahr 2020 besonders psychisch belastet ...gewesen zu sein. Um für etwaige künftige Krisen angemessene Versorgungsstrukturen vorhalten zu können, wurde in dieser Studie die psychische Belastung psychisch Vorerkrankter mit der psychisch Gesunder während des Shutdowns verglichen und darüber hinaus der Zusammenhang zwischen Alltagsverhalten und psychischer Belastung untersucht.
Methodik
In einer 15-minütigen Online-Befragung wurden 44 Menschen mit stationären psychiatrischen Vorbehandlungen und 55 psychisch Gesunde hinsichtlich ihrer generellen psychischen Belastung und der Veränderungen ihres Alltagsverhaltens seit Beginn der Einschränkungen befragt.
Ergebnisse
Menschen mit psychischen Vorerkrankungen waren insgesamt signifikant stärker psychisch belastet als Gesunde (p < 0,001; d = 1,68) und berichteten auch über signifikant geringere konstruktive Anpassungen ihres Alltagsverhaltens (p = 0,012; d = −0,52) an die veränderte Lebenssituation. 20,6 % der höheren psychischen Belastung ließ sich statistisch durch die geringere Anpassung des Alltagsverhaltens erklären.
Schlussfolgerungen
Die Befunde legen nahe, dass psychisch vorerkrankte Menschen gerade in Krisenzeiten ein differenziertes sozialpsychiatrisches Angebot benötigen, welches sie im Alltag unterstützt, um notwendige Anpassungen des Alltagslebens an eine dramatisch veränderte Umgebung besser meistern zu können.
Schizophrenia is a major cause of disability worldwide. As new treatments for functioning are tested, the need grows to demonstrate real-world functioning gains. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) ...may provide a more ecologically valid measure of functioning. In this study, smartphone-based EMA was used to signal participants with schizophrenia (N = 100) and controls (N = 71) 7 times a day for 7 days to respond to brief questionnaires about social interactions and functioning behaviors. Excellent adherence was found, with both groups completing an average of 85% of surveys and only 3% of participants with schizophrenia excluded for poor adherence. Four-week test-retest reliability was high (r = .83 for total productive behaviors). Relative to controls, participants with schizophrenia reported significantly less total productive activity (d = 1.2), fewer social interactions (d = 0.3), more nonproductive behaviors (d = 1.0; watching TV, resting), and more time at home (d = 0.8). Within the schizophrenia group, participants living independently showed better functioning on EMA relative to participants in supported housing (d = 0.8) and participants engaged in vocational activities showed better functioning than individuals not engaged in vocational activities (d = 0.55). Modest correlations were found between EMA and an in-lab self-report measure of functioning activities performed in the community, but not between EMA and measures of functional capacity or potential. This study demonstrated the feasibility, sensitivity reliability, and validity of EMA methods to assess functioning in schizophrenia. EMA provides a much-needed measure of what individuals with schizophrenia are actually doing in real-world contexts. These results also suggest that there may be important disjunctions between indices of abilities and actual real-world functioning.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the leading musculoskeletal disabilities worldwide, and several interventions intend to change the gait pattern in OA patients to more healthy patterns. However, an ...accessible way to follow up the biomechanical changes in a clinical setting is still missing. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate whether we can use biomechanical data collected from a specific activity of daily living to help distinguish hip OA patients from controls and knee OA patients from controls using features that potentially could be measured in a clinical setting. To achieve this goal, we considered three different classes of statistical models with different levels of data complexity. Class 1 is kinematics based only (clinically applicable), class 2 includes joint kinetics (semi‐applicable under the condition of access to a force plate or prediction models), and class 3 uses data from advanced musculoskeletal modeling (not clinically applicable). We used a machine learning pipeline to determine which classification model was best. We found 100% classification accuracy for KneeOA‐vs‐Asymptomatic and 93.9% for HipOA‐vs‐Asymptomatic using seven features derived from the lumbar spine and hip kinematics collected during ascending stairs. These results indicate that kinematical data alone can distinguish hip or knee OA patients from asymptomatic controls. However, to enable clinical use, we need to validate if the classifier also works with sensor‐based kinematical data and whether the probabilistic outcome of the logistic regression model can be used in the follow‐up of patients with OA.
Fitriyani N, Purba LHPS. 2023. Short Communication: Daily activities of Javan langurs (Trachypithecus auratus) in Gembira Loka Zoo, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 24: 5278-5282. The Javan ...langur (Trachypithecus auratus) is one of the endemic primates of Java, Bali, and Lombok. The status of this species is vulnerable in their wild population; thus, the conservation effort is important to keep their existence. One of the conservation efforts is ex-situ conservation. Since this conservation is out of the animal's natural habitat, we must care about all aspects of animal welfare, including the physical and mental state, which can be observed from its behavior. This study aimed to analyze the daily activities of Javan langur living in an ex-situ conservation area named Gembira Loka Zoo. We observed and recorded the daily activity of seven individuals of Javan langur for about 250 hours, including holiday and non-holiday periods. This observation during holiday and non-holiday periods is intended to see whether there are differences in the behavior of Javan langur. The differences in number of visitors during the holiday period can reach thousands, whereas during the non-holiday period, there are only tens up to hundreds of loyal visitors per day. The result showed that the individuals spent most of their time on resting behavior (62.28% on holiday and 61.83% on non-holiday), followed by feeding (15.82% on holiday and 20.70% on non-holiday) and moving (12.01% on holiday and 12.64% on non-holiday). We analyzed the difference in their daily activities between holiday and non-holiday periods to observe the frequency of activity among those types of days. The Javan langurs showed a significant difference between those days only in social behavior (Mann-Whitney, p = 0.03). This study provides new behavioral data about the population of captive Javan langurs in Gembira Loka Zoo, which can be used as basic data for the conservation management of Javan langurs in captivity.
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The number of individuals with mental disorders is increasing and they are commonly found among individuals who avoid social interaction and like to live alone. Amongst such mental ...health disorders is depression which is both common and serious. The present paper introduces a method to assess the depression level of an individual using a smartphone by monitoring their daily activities. The time domain characteristics from a smartphone acceleration sensor were used alongside a vector machine algorithm to classify physical activities. Additionally, the geographical location information was clustered using a smartphone GPS sensor to simplify movement patterns. A total of 12 features were extracted from individuals’ physical activity and movement patterns and were analyzed alongside their weekly depression scores using the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire. Using a wrapper feature selection method, a subset of features was selected and applied to a linear regression model to estimate the depression score. The support vector machine algorithm was then used to classify the depression severity level among individuals (absence, moderate, severe) and had an accuracy of 87.2% in severe depression cases which outperformed other classification models including the k-nearest neighbor and artificial neural network. This method of identifying depression is a cost-effective solution for long-term use and can monitor individuals for depression without invading their personal space or creating other day-to-day disturbances.
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