Exercise and Language Performance in Healthy Aging, Stroke and Neurodegenerative Conditions: a Scoping Review.

Background: While the benefits of exercise on cognitive functions have already been reviewed, little is known about the impact of exercise on language performance. This scoping review was conducted to identify existing evidence on exercise-induced changes in language performance in healthy aging individuals and adults with stroke or neurodegenerative conditions.

Methods & Results: Using the Arksey and O'Malley framework, 29 studies were included.

Creating synergies among education/research, practice, and policy environments to build capacity for the scholar role in occupational therapy and physiotherapy in the Canadian context.

Scholarly practice (SP) is considered a key competency of occupational therapy and physiotherapy. To date, the three sectors-education/research, practice, and policy/regulation-that support SP have been working relatively independently. The goals of this project were to (a) understand how representatives of the three sectors conceptualize SP; (b) define each sector's individual and collective roles in supporting SP; (c) identify factors influencing the enactment of SP and the specific needs of how best to support SP; and (d) co-develop goals and strategies to support SP across all sectors.

Visual and cognitive functioning among older adults with low vision before vision rehabilitation: A pilot study.

Introduction: The occurrence of age-related vision changes is inevitable. However, some of these changes can become pathological. Research indicates that vision and hearing loss is correlated with age-related cognitive decline, and with a higher risk of developing dementia due to Alzheimer's disease.

Biomedical Research and Informatics Living Laboratory for Innovative Advances of New Technologies in Community Mobility Rehabilitation: Protocol for Evaluation and Rehabilitation of Mobility Across Continuums of Care.

Background: Rapid advances in technologies over the past 10 years have enabled large-scale biomedical and psychosocial rehabilitation research to improve the function and social integration of persons with physical impairments across the lifespan. The Biomedical Research and Informatics Living Laboratory for Innovative Advances of New Technologies (BRILLIANT) in community mobility rehabilitation aims to generate evidence-based research to improve rehabilitation for individuals with acquired brain injury (ABI).

Objective: This study aims to (1) identify the factors limiting or enhancing mobility in real-world community environments (public spaces, including the mall, home, and outdoors) and understand their complex interplay in individuals of all ages with ABI and (2) customize community environment mobility training by identifying, on a continuous basis, the specific rehabilitation strategies and interventions that patient subgroups benefit from most.

Rehabilitation Supported by Technology: Protocol for an International Cocreation and User Experience Study.

Background: Living labs in the health and well-being domain have become increasingly common over the past decade but vary in available infrastructure, implemented study designs, and outcome measures. The Horizon 2020 Project Virtual Health and Wellbeing Living Lab Infrastructure aims to harmonize living lab procedures and open living lab infrastructures to facilitate and promote research activities in the health and well-being domain in Europe and beyond. This protocol will describe the design of a joint research activity, focusing on the use of innovative technology for both rehabilitation interventions and data collection in a rehabilitation context.

Digital Biomarkers for Supporting Transitional Care Decisions: Protocol for a Transnational Feasibility Study.

Background: Virtual Health and Wellbeing Living Lab Infrastructure is a Horizon 2020 project that aims to harmonize Living Lab procedures and facilitate access to European health and well-being research infrastructures. In this context, this study presents a joint research activity that will be conducted within Virtual Health and Wellbeing Living Lab Infrastructure in the transitional care domain to test and validate the harmonized Living Lab procedures and infrastructures. The collection of data from various sources (information and communications technology and clinical and patient-reported outcome measures) demonstrated the capacity to assess risk and support decisions during care transitions, but there is no harmonized way of combining this information.

Cocreating a Harmonized Living Lab for Big Data-Driven Hybrid Persona Development: Protocol for Cocreating, Testing, and Seeking Consensus.

Background: Living Labs are user-centered, open innovation ecosystems based on a systematic user cocreation approach, which integrates research and innovation processes in real-life communities and settings. The Horizon 2020 Project VITALISE (Virtual Health and Wellbeing Living Lab Infrastructure) unites 19 partners across 11 countries. The project aims to harmonize Living Lab procedures and enable effective and convenient transnational and virtual access to key European health and well-being research infrastructures, which are governed by Living Labs.

COVID-19 lockdowns' effects on the quality of life, perceived health and well-being of healthy elderly individuals: A longitudinal comparison of pre-lockdown and lockdown states of well-being.

Purpose: . The concept of lockdown in relation to COVID-19 is thought to have an indirect impact on the quality of life and well-being of the elderly due to its consequences on the physical, psychological, and cognitive health of individuals. However, previous published studies on this subject are limited in terms of methodological approach used, including the absence of pre-confinement status and the type of experimental design, which is often cross-sectional.

Gaze behavior during pedestrian interactions in a community environment: a real-world perspective.

Locomotor adaptations, as required for community walking, rely heavily on the sense of vision. Little is known, however, about gaze behavior during pedestrian interactions while ambulating in the community. Our objective was to characterize gaze behavior while walking in a community environment and interacting with pedestrians of different locations and directions.

Advancing social inclusion of people with disabilities through awareness and training activities: A collaborative process between community partners and researchers.

Objective: The main objectives were to 1) search and map current disability awareness and training activities in Quebec, Canada, 2) collectively reflect on these practices, and 3) develop a five-year strategic plan.

Methods: We used an integrated knowledge translation approach whereby researchers and community partners were involved in all stages. This project consisted of two sequential phases: 1) an environmental scan (web review and interview) of current practices, and 2) a reflection process with an external expert-facilitator in social transformation.

Effect of Reading Rehabilitation for Age-Related Macular Degeneration on Cognitive Functioning: Protocol for a Nonrandomized Pre-Post Intervention Study.

Background: Age-related vision impairments and dementia both become more prevalent with increasing age. Research into the mechanisms of these conditions has proposed that some of their causes (eg, macular degeneration/glaucoma and Alzheimer's disease) could be symptoms of an underlying common cause. Research into sensory-cognitive aging has provided data that sensory decline may be linked to the progression of dementia through reduced sensory stimulation.

Category-specific verb-semantic deficits in Alzheimer's disease: Evidence from static and dynamic action naming.

We investigated the representation and breakdown of verb knowledge employing different syntactic and semantic classes of verbs in a group of individuals with probable Alzheimer's Disease (pAD). In an action naming task with coloured photographs (Fiez & Tranel, 1997. Standardized stimuli and procedures for investigating the retrieval of lexical and conceptual knowledge for action.

The role of clothing on participation of persons with a physical disability: A scoping review.

Determining ways to facilitate participation of persons with a physical disability is crucial and clothing may play a central role. This review aims to synthesize and examine the role of clothing on participation of persons with a physical disability. Six research databases and grey literature were searched following Arksey & O'Malley's six steps, including multiple expert consultations.

Phone messages affect the detection of approaching pedestrians in healthy young and older adults immersed in a virtual community environment.

Background: Mobile phones are increasingly associated with accidents while walking. Little is known, however, about the impact of phone messaging on the actual perception of other pedestrians. This study aimed to investigate the extent to which the detection of approaching pedestrians is affected by the sensory modality (text or audio) of phone messages in young vs.

The role of clothing in participation of persons with a physical disability: a scoping review protocol.

Introduction: Clothing is an important aspect of nearly all human societies from performing social and cultural functions to indicating social status, a form of protection and a way for self-expression. It can help or hinder the ability to fulfil everyday activities and social roles and with the rising industry of wearable technologies, smart textiles are adding health-monitoring functions to clothing. The influence that clothing can have on the life of someone with a physical disability is significant, and further research is needed to understand it better.

Rehabilitation in the real-life environment of a shopping mall.

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore how shopping malls could be used during rehabilitation and to identify the facilitators and barriers to their use.

Method: Two focus groups, conducted with 15 rehabilitation professionals from various disciplines and working with people with disabilities of all ages were structured around two topics: (i) The usage of malls for rehabilitation and (ii) Factors that facilitate or limit rehabilitation professionals' use of the mall as an environment for clinical assessment and/or intervention.

Results: The thematic analysis revealed that shopping malls were used to achieve several rehabilitation goals targeting physical and cognitive skills, psychological health and socialization.

Creating an inclusive mall environment with the PRECEDE-PROCEED model: a living lab case study.

Purpose: Although public environments provide opportunities for participation and social inclusion, they are not always inclusive spaces and may not accommodate the wide diversity of people. The Rehabilitation Living Lab in the Mall is a unique, interdisciplinary, and multi-sectoral research project with an aim to transform a shopping complex in Montreal, Canada, into an inclusive environment optimizing the participation and social inclusion of all people.

Methods: The PRECEDE-PROCEDE Model (PPM), a community-oriented and participatory planning model, was applied as a framework.

Rehabilitation living lab in the mall community of practice: learning together to improve rehabilitation, participation and social inclusion for people living with disabilities.

Communities of practice (CoP) can facilitate collaboration between people who share a common interest, but do not usually work together. A CoP was initiated and developed including stakeholders from clinical, research, community and governmental backgrounds involved in a large multidisciplinary and multi-sectorial project: the Rehabilitation Living Lab in a Mall (RehabMaLL). This study aimed to evaluate the structure, process and outcomes of this CoP.

Cognitive reserve in a cross-cultural population: the case of Italian emigrants in Montreal.

Background: Cognitive reserve could be defined as the accumulation of experiences, abilities, knowledge and changes that occur throughout the lifespan. One of the most difficult changes in life is the experience of emigrating to a foreign country.

Aims: The present investigation aimed to compare the cognitive reserve of two paired groups of elderly: Italians living in Italy and Italians who in adult age (around 20 years) emigrated to Montreal.

Does occupational therapy play a role for communication in children with autism spectrum disorders?

This study investigates occupational therapy for early communication in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The research explored the role of occupational therapists in supporting children with ASD to become better communicators by considering their inter-professional collaboration with speech-language pathologists. Convenience samples of 21 clinical occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists were recruited to participate in semi-structured audio-recorded focus groups, using a qualitative design.

Health-related quality of life in children with high-functioning autism.

The health-related quality of life of school-aged children with high-functioning autism is poorly understood. The objectives of this study were to compare the health-related quality of life of children with high-functioning autism to that of typically developing peers and to compare child-self and parent-proxy reports of health-related quality of life of children. A cross-sectional study of children with high-functioning autism (n = 30) and peers (n = 31) was conducted using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.

Children's assessment of participation and enjoyment/preference for activities of children: psychometric properties in a population with high-functioning autism.

The psychometric properties of assessments must be established for specific populations. The psychometric properties of the Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment/Preference for Activities of Children have been studied only in a sample of children with physical disability. We conducted a study to determine the appropriateness of drawing inferences from this assessment for children with high-functioning autism (HFA).

Recreational participation of children with High Functioning Autism.

The recreation of children with High Functioning Autism (HFA) is not well understood. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to compare the recreational engagement of children with HFA and their typically developing peers. Children with HFA (n = 30) and peers (n = 31) were similar on key characteristics that may impact recreation except those related to the HFA attributes.

The bank of standardized stimuli (BOSS): comparison between French and English norms.

Throughout the last decades, numerous picture data sets have been developed, such as the Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) set, and have been normalized for variables such as name and familiarity; however, due to cultural and linguistic differences, norms can vary from one country to another. The effect due specifically to culture has already been demonstrated by comparing samples from different countries where the same language is spoken. On the other hand, it is still not clear how differences between languages may affect norms.

Sensitivity and specificity of French language and processing measures for the identification of primary language impairment at age 5.

Purpose: Research on the diagnostic accuracy of different language measures has focused primarily on English. This study examined the sensitivity and specificity of a range of measures of language knowledge and language processing for the identification of primary language impairment (PLI) in French-speaking children. Because of the lack of well-documented language measures in French, it is difficult to accurately identify affected children, and thus research in this area is impeded.