Spotlight
There's always something exciting going on at the Brooks Center. Here we provide you with a spotlight on an investigator, staff member or new trial.
Research Seminar Series for Speech Pathologists
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Wednesday January 20th proved to be a good night for speech pathologists in Jacksonville. Brooks Rehabilitation hosted a three hours course titled Muscle Strength Training. Clinical Implications and Utility. Dr. Christine Sapienza, Ph.D. who is a Professor and Chair at the University of Florida in the Department of Communicative Disorder was the presenter. 45 speech pathologists from Brooks and the Jacksonville community gathered to hear her speak for three hours.
Dr. Sapienza provided theoretical background and practical training regarding the use of strength training for clinical populations served by speech pathologists. The course focused on the application of respiratory muscle strength training and appropriate populations in which it can be utilized. Discussion of how increases in the strength of skeletal muscles occur fairly rapidly when exposed to strength training programs. (This is due to neural mechanisms with eventual hypertrophy of the muscle occurring as training progresses past a period of approximately four weeks).
A vast array of options available to clinicians including compensatory treatments, direct treatments and indirect treatments were covered throughout the night. The exercises which were described in this course targeted muscle force production and coordination of skeletal muscles for the functions of breathing, swallow, cough and voice. Outcomes associated with these strengthening paradigms and patient populations demonstrated as best served to date, were also presented. Dr. Sapienza kept everyone on their toes, interested and smiling throughout the evening. Group discussions took place and some clinicians were even put on the spot!
Dr. Sapienza obtained her Ph.D in 1993 at the State University of New York at Buffalo in Speech Language Pathology and joined the faculty as an assistant professor at the University of Florida after graduation. With over 100 publications in her field, Dr. Sapienza’s most recent work focuses on the use of strength training paradigms in multiple populations including Parkinson’s disease, voice disorders, spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis. She has an extensive list of national and international presentations, often an invited speaker at numerous forums and has recently presented at ASHA.
She maintains an active research laboratory with 4 current Ph.D. students. Her clinical work takes place at Shands outpatient voice clinic and the Motor Movement Disorders Clinic at the University of Florida. She joined the Malcom Randall VA in 2005 as a research health scientist at Brain Rehabilitation Research Center, Gainesville, Florida. Her current research work is funded by a VA Merit Review Award.
The next Research Seminar Series which will be held May 5th, 2010 titled START Back Screening Tool in Physical Therapy Settings and Other Applications to Evidence Based Practice, presented by Steven George, PhD, PT and Jason Beneciuk, PT. It will be held in Assembly Rooms One and Two from 3:30-5:00 pm. Sign up through Brooks University.
The Effect of Goal Management with Mild TBI Veterans
Brooks will soon become involved in a study looking at testing an innovative treatment, Goal Management Training (GMT), for executive dysfunction in veterans with mild TBI (mTBI). This study, which will begin in 2010, is a Phase I study. The pilot testing of this treatment will allow the development of standardized procedures and in turn the development of a manual of procedures that can be exported for use in a subsequent randomized clinical trial.
What is GMT?
GMT (Goal Management Training) is a 10-session (2 hours/ session) interactive Power Point module that is presented to participants in a group setting. During each session, a 5-stage strategy is taught to the participants. The strategy is then incorporated into certain tasks which are practiced in the group session as well at home. The participants discuss utilization of the strategies and help the other members in the group. Friends or family members will participate in a training session prior to beginning GMT with the subject. The family member will be called each week during the GMT and asked to report whether the subject had an easy or difficulty time completing the homework assignments each week.
The proposed study will:
1) administer the 10-sessions of GMT to individuals that have an objective executive dysfunction due to mTBI
2) use probes designed to measure the activities trained in GMT, along with a measure of generalization
3) utilize an A/B single subject design replicated across 12-subjects that will allow individual as well as an aggregate analysis of data
4) determine the number of subjects needed to demonstrate a treatment effect in a future randomized clinical trial.
This study is aiming to enroll over twenty subjects. Half of the individuals will be participate in the assessment measures and half will participate in the intervention measures.
To participate in this study you must be a veteran aged 18-55 with a mild TBI. The injury has to be at least 4 months old and you must have a family member or friend willing to provide feedback.
The Principal Investigator of this VA Career Development Funded study is J. Kay Waid-Ebbs, PhD, BCBA-D, Health Science Specialist and Co-Investigators are Nan Musson, MA, Research Speech Pathologist, Bruce Crosson, PhD, Research Career Scientist and Professor in Clinical and Health Psychology at UF, and Bill Perlstein, PhD Associate Professor in Clinical and Health Psychology at UF. For more information on this study, please contact Kay Waid-Ebbs at 352-376-1611 x5224.