4 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
The goal of this study is to develop a smart phone app to administer a behavior change program that helps adults to increase daily steps by planning where, when, and with whom to walk. The investigators tested the effectiveness of the walking program app for increasing the number of daily steps among sedentary older adults. The investigators examined the effects on self-efficacy and social integration/support.
Primary Objectives: 1. To determine whether the degree of spirituality/religiosity as determined by the Duke University Religion Index and Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well Being Scale (FACIT-Sp) correlates with internal locus of control as determined by the Locus of Control Scale. 2. To determine the relationships among spiritual-well being, religiosity, hope, depression, and culture, socioeconomic status, and gender in a palliative care setting. 3. To determine if hope and depression in palliative care patients are affected by the degree of intrinsic and extrinsic spirituality/religiosity. 4. To determine if patients who believe in predestination correlate with decreased locus of control, but improved quality of life and degree of religiosity.
Transitoriness can be defined as confrontation with life's finitude. Cancer patients are perceived to experience this confrontation due to their diagnosis. It is perceived to impact cancer patients' ways of coping with the disease situation. In this study, cancer patients' levels of uncertainty, transitoriness and their perceived locus of control are assessed. It is aimed at exploring the association of uncertainty, locus of control, transitoriness and quality of life. If a stronger correlation of one or the other issue with quality of life can be discovered, it will inform the development of an adequate evidence-based nursing intervention to better support patients' coping with the disease.
The aging population is at an exceptionally high risk of debilitating falls, contributing significantly to reduced independence and quality of life. It remains extremely challenging to screen for falls risk, and programs designed to mitigate falls risk have only modestly influenced the sizeable portion of the aging population experiencing one or more falls annually. Balance control in standing and walking depends on integrating reliable sensory feedback and on planning and executing appropriate motor responses. Walking balance control is especially dynamic, requiring active and coordinated adjustments in posture (i.e., trunk stabilization) and foot placement from step to step. Accordingly, using a custom, immersive virtual environment, the investigators have shown that sensory (i.e., optical flow) perturbations, especially when applied during walking, elicit strong and persistent motor responses to preserve balance. Exciting pilot data suggest that these motor responses are remarkably more prevalent in old age, presumably governed by an increased reliance on vision for balance control. Additional pilot data suggest that prolonged exposure to these perturbations may effectively condition successful balance control strategies. Founded on these recent discoveries, and leveraging the increase reliance on vision for balance control in old age, the investigators stand at the forefront of a potentially transformative new approach for more effectively identifying and mitigating age-related falls risk. The investigator's overarching hypothesis is that optical flow perturbations, particularly when applied during walking, can effectively identify balance deficits due to aging and falls history and can subsequently condition the neuromechanics of successful balance control via training.