Gear up and battle the proliferative forces of Neoplasms!

Video games are the future of patient education and therapy. Health based games and media that are built around a specific disease gives its patient population a sense of control, distraction, therapy and education about their disease. Most importantly, the games are fun! Games are interactive and offer patients a way to approach the reality of their sickness from a less threatening avenue. One example is HopeLab’s game Re-Mission 2, designed for kids battling cancer. Players are miniaturized and fight cancer on the cellular level using weapons such as chemotherapy and and immune cells all the while learning about the disease process itself and treatment. Games with a similar focus are Zombies, Run! which uses the steps in the game’s pedometer to obtain items and MiraRehab for physical therapy. The increasing use of smart phones, tablets and Bluetooth devices will allow patients to receive the educational, therapeutic and merry-making benefits of these games wherever they go.

Here’s the link to HopeLab’s official website for Re-Mission 2:
…and below you’ll find a trailer for HopeLab’s Re-Mission 2

Mayrsohn, B. (2014, August 24). Games for Health | Can online and mobile games improve patient outcomes? Retrieved October 1, 2015, from                 http://www.himss.org/ResourceLibrary/CommunityUpdate.aspx?ItemNumber=32554

Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors and Patient Education

Developing and Implementing a Local Education and Support Program for Patients with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GISTs)

This article talks about the importance of patient education among patients with gastrointestinal cancer. Education about the disease process, side effects, treatment options, etc. is vital to reducing patient anxiety and increasing their quality of life. This article further goes into the development and implementation of an educational program for those with gastrointestinal stromal tumors. This was initiated by a patient who brought up the idea with his oncologist. The program provides emotional support as well as current information to these patients who call themselves GISTERs. Patients as far as hundreds of miles away travel to attend these meetings which has purposed as a powerful psycho-educational tool among patients and caregivers (Kuhrik, 2010).

Kuhrik, M. , Kuhrik, N. , Deshields, T. , O’Neill, J. , & Zubal, B. (2010). Developing and implementing a local education and support program for patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (gists). Journal of Cancer Education, 25(4), 543-547.

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Preparing for Tomorrow’s Class

 

Hi everyone. Jill and I are currently updating the gradebook for your Week 6 blog posts, which were due on Tuesday. It’s exciting to see your progress! Tomorrow, we’ll be stressing the value of incorporating visuals (images and videos) into your posts, as well as your Google Doc.

See you tomorrow!

Michelle & Jill

Part 2

So I searched for scholarly articles on the topic of affordability of college and I found a lot of African Americans not being able to reach for higher education because its too expensive for them type articles. I understood it but I didn’t really get it. Is that only including the people that aren’t awarded financial aid and they pay out of pocket for the whole lot of it? I found it annoying I’m not going sugar coat my feelings. I thought every time I saw it get off my page aaggghhhh. It made me angry; here’s why: I understand we’re a minority, poor, not afforded the advantage of others, as well as dealt many unfortunate circumstances in life. But don’t just take the whole population and write us off. Not everyone chooses to get a higher level of education. While others do what they have to do to get there. I don’t want to rant or go on a tangent but the fact is I feel like that was a small sample of the population or something. Most African American people cant afford higher education but they have options to be able to afford college. Some people just decided not to go or didn’t really look into it and for some their life took a detour. So don’t say they aren’t going because its not affordable. But because sometimes its not an option.

Any who that’s what I found a lot of and decided to share my thoughts on it.

 

crisis refugee articles

The assignment was to use google scholar and the library database from our school. When I typed my topic Refugee Crisis on Google Scholar it gave me a lot of articles about it. It also gave me various pages from books about my topic. I chose an article where it talked about a Earthquake that happened in South Asia and how it left many deaths and many homeless after the natural disaster.  It also talked about the estimate of the damage and how the United States came upon and helped them out. Also how the damage still affected six months late because of how poor the place where it happen is it was difficult for people to find homes, food and other stuff they need.  The other article I chose from google scholar talked about some lessons from foreign refugee crisis on what to do after a natural disaster comes and hits wherever you are. Also talked about how many countries help each other after a disaster happens.  It talked about mainly on how it affected hurricane Katrina and how people deeply suffered without water, food and shelter. The other article I found was about Syrians in the U.S and how they came here because of whats going on in their countries. it talked about the camps they had and how U.S is helping them live over here.  The U.S spends a lot of money helping these refugees but its for a good cause. Many countries don’t help that much due to lack of money.

Challenge 3: Collect. Healthcare Group

Hey! For this week’s challenge we were prompted to search the internet and databases for peer-reviewed articles. Peer-reviewed articles are published works that have been critiqued and edited by experts in that field. Since these articles have gone through a vigorous publishing period they are more than likely credible. Being a psychology major I have gone through various classes teaching me the proper research methods for psychology. One of the major aspects of these courses was finding legitimate peer-reviewed sources to cite for our research. Using this previous knowledge I was able to quickly find suitable articles for my topic of Mental Healthcare.

The first search engine I used was this database called “Proquest”. I used Proquest because they have a useful filter that allows you to narrow your results to only those that have been peer-reviewed. Using this filter and narrowing my search to only articles that contain the phrase “Mental Healthcare”, I was able to reduce my results to a few articles about mental healthcare that had been peer-reviewed. The article I selected was a literature review on how mental practitioners are trained in hospitals in the U.S.

The second search engine that I used was google scholar. Google scholar is a great free database to use when you are looking for scholarly journals. One negative thing about google scholar however is that sometimes you do not have access to the full article that popped up in your results. When I searched for mental healthcare in google scholar I got thousands of results but after some digging I was able to gain access to an article published about how in Europe the demand for mental healthcare surpasses the supply of mental practitioners.

Overall, when looking for my articles I find that databases that you have to use through your library or school are usually more suitable in finding legitimate sources.

Civil Rights Letter

When it comes to civil rights you would think people would want what is best for everyone. Although according to Mr. & Mrs. Del Halone from Chico California wrote a letter to congressman Johnson in August 28, 1963. Stating that they believe everyone deserves to be free yet not everyone is equal. Their letter seems contradicting because they start of by saying everyone is equal and god seems everyone the same. Then they go of explain how they African American people need to gain respect from everyone. While I was reading this I thought to myself what is it that makes non-colored people respectable as soon as they are born but does not make an African baby respectable? Mr. & Mrs. Del Halone speak of African Americans as people who have committed a crime and now has to work their way up to being respected by the public again. They also add in heir letter they do not want to be voted in the trap when the “civil rights” legislation is proposed, this clearly states they do not agree in civil rights although they say they do. To me it’s just surprising to think people were actually against in everyone being treated equal.
Mr. & Mrs. Del Halone letter on Civil Rights

Week 6 Assignments Due Today

Hi everyone. How are your peer review searches going for Challenge #3? Your blog post and Google Doc contributions are due today at 4:15. Click here to review the Week 6 assignments.

Please be sure to visit several of your peers’ blogs through the links on the Student Blogs page and leave comments for your classmates. These interactions will deepen your understanding of the knowledge collection process, as you will gain insight about what your peers are doing and learning.

In class on Thursday, you will be spending time with your group sharing and discussing your findings thus far and preparing for the Social Media Search (Component 3) of Challenge #3.

See you Thursday!
Michelle & Jill

Blog 5. Challenge #3 Collect. Refugee Crisis

Howdy y’all! Alright, so Challenge #3 collect was a pretty interesting process for me. Since I am an English major, research is secondhand nature since I have to do so many research papers. I’ve developed pretty useful skills in finding great sources for my papers. Anyways, I prefer databases like Academic Search Premier and JSTOR over Google Scholar. I feel that Google Scholar gives me too many random articles, possibly based on my filter bubbles, no matter how I change or edit my searches. Academic Search Premier and JSTOR often give me anything and everything that I need. Also sorry, for some reason it does not let me correctly paste my citations from Microsoft Word. They are definitely not in the correct format.

So I first searched Google Scholar. I found multiple different articles on refugees from Mexico and Central America, which was very interesting because I feel these nations get less publicity about their refugees even though they are closer to home. People in these nations have to endure so many trials from the drug war, which can be as dangerous as a civil war. One article from the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies titled, “The Discursive Production of a Mexican Refugee Crisis in Canadian Media and Policy,” illustrates how Canada is having troubles separating illegal immigrants from the refugees and how the media will attack both sides. This is also common in American media and policies. Some people will flee Mexico for their own safety and will come into America as illegal immigrants and will face problems similar to the stories in the article from Canada.

Gilbert, Liette. “The Discursive Production of a Mexican Refugee Crisis in Canadian Media and Policy.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 39.5 (2013): 827-43. Web.

Next I searched Academic Search Premier (EBSCO). I found a multitude of useful sources here. One of these talks directly about the economic hardships that not only the refugees face, but the countries and people who help house the refugees. Author Omar Dahi proposes that “The entry of Syrian refugees into Lebanon and Jordan has resulted in unprecedented social and economic challenges to both countries. These are felt on a day-to-day basis by all Lebanese and Jordanian citizens whether through higher rents and declining public service availability, or through health and education infrastructure that is stretched beyond its limits” (Dahi 11). There are many issues that arise when countries house refugees like problems with healthcare and public service. Another challenge is housing. Countries have to raise enough money and create infrastructure to help the refugees. It is incredibly challenging to house and help these people who are only trying to survive, but it shows how valiant and amazing countries and people are when they help.

Dahi, Omar. “The Refugee Crisis in Lebanon and Jordan: The Need for Economic Development   Spending.” Revista Migraciones Forzadas 47 (2014): 11-13. Academic Search Premier.            Web. 29 Sept. 2015.

Finally I found another useful article on EBSCO. Authors Roger Zetter and Héloïse Ruaudel explain the other economic and social hardships that countries encounter when they help the refugees. For instance, the authors talk about protecting the people. With the additions of so many people, police organizations are stretched thin. Also, multiple cultures are combing and clashing suddenly which can cause more violence. It is terrible that these events happen, but it is also natural. It is something countries have to prepare for.

Zetter, Roger, and Héloïse Ruaudel. “Development And Protection Challenges Of The Syrian      Refugee Crisis.” Revista Migraciones Forzadas 47 (2014): 6-10. Academic Search    Premier. Web. 29 Sept. 2015.

Overall, this was again a great learning experience to learn about all the trials and tribulations that people and countries face when they are only trying to help. Multiple deeds need to be avidly worked on to successfully house the refugees.

Thanks for reading.