Creedmoor Psychiatric Center

Le « deuil écologique » est un phénomène émergent qui permet de rendre compte des conséquences psychosociales, identitaires et spirituelles de la destruction du vivant et des changements climatiques. Cependant, au sein des sociétés occidentales, où les violences envers les êtres non-humains sont normalisées, les deuils écologiques demeurent plus souvent invisibilisés. Pourtant, les deuils écologiques dévoilent les profonds liens d’attachement, profondément cosmosiques et écospirituels, qui peuvent se développer entre humain et nature. Comment donc honorer le vivant lorsqu’il meurt et donner un sens collectif au deuils écologiques ? Source d’une alliance entre les arts dramaturgiques et l’intervention sociale, cette recherche-création a mené à la mise en œuvre d’un déambulatoire écopoétique dans un boisé en Outaouais (Québec, Canada) où douze personnes étudiantes et citoyennes adultes ont participé à l’étude. Au travers d’une méthode créative et fondée sur les lieux, l’objectif était d’explorer comment les arts immersifs vivants permettent de ritualiser et de collectiviser ces types de deuils. Les résultats empiriques dévoilent le rôle central du corps et de la sensorialité dans les expériences d’écoémotions et de deuils écologiques, mais aussi de reliance à la nature. D’un point de vue de l’intervention collective, ils montrent aussi l’importance de focaliser à la fois sur des procédés de reconnexion au non-humain et de reconnexion à l’expérience de l’autre (humain) afin d’appuyer une mouvance collective pour faire face aux deuils écologiques et pour activer un sentiment d’espoir.

ABSTRACT Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and its various pro-drugs are GABA-B central nervous system depressants more commonly known as “G” and “liquid ecstasy” among those who consume. Due to the depressant quality of the substance and its convenience in online marketplaces, it has become a more commonly abused drug, characteristically among people involved in the “club scene” and among men who have sex with men. As the dose of GHB necessary to obtain feelings of euphoria is relatively low combined with the substance’s rapid metabolism, GHB is nearly undetectable through traditional emergency department urinary drug testing. Consequentially, although the treatment of GHB intoxication and withdrawal is mainly supportive, it is difficult for providers to determine whether GHB is the cause of a patient’s symptoms. Moreover, when GHB is combined with other substances, treatment becomes more complicated. The author presents a case of GHB intoxication and withdrawal in a patient with an extensive polysubstance use history demonstrating not only the difficulty of diagnosis but also a timeline outlining the interventions taken from arrival to discharge with a successful outcome faster than the conventional timeline of GHB withdrawal and recovery.

Sleep disturbance is a frequent and significant problem challenge for family caregivers of patients with cancer. A previously tested 6-week auricular acupressure intervention was found to reduce symptom burden in women with cancer. It is possible that such an intervention has a concomitant benefit for family caregivers. The aim of this study was to explore if the effects of an auricular acupressure intervention on major symptoms experienced by women with ovarian cancer improves the sleep quality of family caregivers. A quasi-randomized controlled trial with a repeated-measures design was used. Family caregivers (n = 68) of cancer patients were recruited and completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index on 4 occasions. Demographic information included age, sex, duration of caring role, and relationship to the patient. Family members with a longer duration of caregiving reported more sleep disturbance at baseline. As the symptom burden of treated women decreased, their family caregivers reported improved Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores at 4 weeks (time 2; Cohen d = 1.075) and 6 weeks (time 3; Cohen d = 1.022). Reducing the symptom burden of patients with cancer can improve the sleep quality of family caregivers. Auricular acupressure is a noninvasive and easy-to-apply intervention that can be applied by caregivers to assist their family member. Nursing staff can implement and test the acupressure intervention into their clinical practice and better support family-based strategies and interventions. Further studies with larger samples are needed to confirm our findings.

After witnessing a steady decline and increased variability in students' performance in Business Statistics over several years, it was clear there was need for a change in how students were engaged in the course. In this case study, we examine the use of a mix of technologies that were introduced in an attempt to improve student engagement and students' performance in terms of average course mark, grade performance, and failure rate. Learning technologies utilized over time include Facebook groups to create a learning common, live streaming tutorial over YouTube, flipping the classroom, polling software, electronic bulletin boards and interactive learning platforms such as Cengage MindTap. Our findings seem to suggest that the use of technology enhanced learning tools resulted in an improvement in mean course mark, grade performance and failure rate when compared to periods when the teaching method was purely didactic and used the traditional lecturebased methodology.