Publications by authors named "Linda B Piacentine"

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) encompasses various symptoms, including fatigue, pain, spasticity, motor dysfunction, postural instability, sexual and bladder dysfunction, and cognitive impairment. Despite the documented benefits of exercise for alleviating MS symptoms, adherence to physical activity guidelines often is low, resulting in sedentary lifestyles among people with MS. This qualitative study explores the experiences of individuals with MS who participated in a ballroom dance intervention.

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Sports participation confers many health benefits yet greatly increases injury risk. Long-term health outcomes in former athletes and transition to life after competitive sports are understudied. Ending a sport may pose physical and psychosocial challenges.

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Article Synopsis
  • Reduced heart rate variability (HRV) and increased fatigue were observed in COVID-19 survivors compared to matched controls, with significant differences in several HRV metrics indicating impaired autonomic function.
  • Moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and daily step count were significantly associated with HRV improvements in these survivors, suggesting that higher activity levels may benefit heart health post-infection.
  • Fatigue in COVID-19 survivors correlated with lower levels of MVPA and fewer steps, indicating a complex relationship where physical activity could mediate the effects of HRV on fatigue levels.
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Introduction: The cumulative number of COVID-19 cases has surpassed 579 million globally. Symptoms during and after COVID-19 infection vary from mild cold symptoms to severe multisystem illness. Given the wide range of symptom presentations and complications post-COVID-19, the purpose of this study was to describe the lived experience of American adults surviving COVID-19.

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Unlabelled: Physical function declines with aging due to physical and biological changes. The biological process of aging has been associated with increases in systemic inflammation and a greater risk for chronic conditions. In older adults, physical activity aids in maintenance of function.

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Aims: To develop an innovative community-academic partnership to advance, test and promote intimate partner violence screening and referral protocols by comparing the effect of integrating intimate partner violence advocates versus enhancing medical training in medical clinic settings serving women from vulnerable populations. Detecting intimate partner violence in healthcare settings allows for survivors to connect to safety and referral resources prior to violence escalating. Screening for intimate partner violence and connecting patients to referral resources requires creating a safe and trusting relationship between healthcare providers and patients.

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Background: Despite evidence of the impact of discharge teaching on patient outcomes, nursing students are poorly prepared in the pedagogical skills necessary for their role as patient and family educators in clinical practice. This study evaluated the effectiveness of simulation combined with online learning to improve nursing students' discharge teaching skills.

Methods: The module included simulations before and after an online module on patient/family teaching for hospital discharge.

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Purpose: Exercise after breast cancer diagnosis and treatment improves cancer-related outcomes, although the mechanisms involved are not clear. This study evaluated the impact of exercise on body composition, strength, endurance, quality of life (QOL), fatigue, and endocrine and inflammatory biomarkers in breast cancer survivors participating in a highly monitored, clinically supervised, moderate-intensity exercise program. The association of hormonal and inflammatory biomarkers with the observed physiological changes was assessed.

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Physical activity benefits the health and well-being of breast cancer survivors (BCS). Yet, many African American survivors do not routinely exercise and have increased risk of poor outcomes. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to identify motivational factors compelling African American BCS to participate in a 14-week team walking program and to intend to continue exercise after the intervention concluded.

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine perceived cognitive functioning, fatigue, depression and general well-being among women before and after the initiation of chemotherapy for breast cancer compared to a sample of healthy women.

Method: This descriptive, repeated measures study compared women receiving chemotherapy and healthy women. Women completed measures of quality of life, fatigue, cognitive changes and depression.

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Aims And Objectives: To examine motivational factors influencing breast cancer survivors to participate in triathlon training, complete a triathlon and maintain an exercise thereafter.

Background: Routine exercise has been shown to improve quality of life and reduce recurrence for breast cancer survivors. Yet physical and psychological factors present barriers for initiating and maintaining an exercise routine.

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Substance addiction is damaging to the health of persons, families, and society. Often the person with addiction has decreased spirituality and religiosity and suffers from anxiety, depression, or both, increasing the risk for continued substance use and its concomitant negative consequences. The study purpose was to describe spirituality and religiosity, among persons enrolled in methadone maintenance therapy and to examine associations between spirituality, religiosity, anxiety, depression, and drug-use consequences.

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Addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder hypothesized to be produced by drug-induced plasticity that renders individuals vulnerable to craving-inducing stimuli such as re-exposure to the drug of abuse. Drug-induced plasticity that may result in the addiction phenotype includes increased excitatory signaling within corticostriatal pathways that correlates with craving in humans and is necessary for reinstatement in rodents. Reduced cystine-glutamate exchange by system x(c)- appears to contribute to heightened excitatory signaling within the striatum, thereby posing this as a novel target in the treatment of addiction.

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Coping difficulties of 113 adults 3 weeks after hospital discharge were identified using the Post-Discharge Coping Difficulty Scale and a brief focused telephone interview (11-item guide). Overall, low difficulty scores were reported (M = 23.9, SD = 18.

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The purpose of the study was to assess the psychometrics properties of the Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale (RHDS), a 23-item instrument that measures patients' perception of readiness for discharge. Data were obtained from 356 respondents from two urban tertiary medical centers (adult and children's) in the midwestern United States who were participants in a larger study of predictors and outcomes of readiness for hospital discharge. Confirmatory factor analysis, contrasted group comparisons, and predictive validity testing supported the 4-factor structure and construct validity of the instrument.

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Purpose: The purpose of the study was to identify predictors and outcomes of adult medical-surgical patients' perceptions of their readiness for hospital discharge.

Design: A correlational, prospective, longitudinal design with path analyses was used to explore relationships among transition theory-related variables.

Setting: Midwestern tertiary medical center.

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