Optimizing Swallowing & Eating for the Elderly
A big congratulations to Anyasha Aragon for successfully defending her undergraduate honors thesis today. In case you missed her presentation on “Regulating rate of eating in patients with dysphagia: The effectiveness of smartforks,” you have another opportunity to hear her present at the Undergraduate Research Symposium (5/17 at 10 AM) where she was selected to give an oral presentation. Way to go, Anyasha!
Congratulations to O-SEE Lab doctoral student Ting-fen Lin for being the recipient of this year’s Bullock Fund. Ting-fen will be using this grant for her project entitled, “Mealtimes in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease via a Psychoemotional Lens”. We look forward to hearing more about the results of this work!
We have a new publication in press in Rehabilitation Nursing Journal: “An altered eating experience: Attitudes toward feeding assistance among younger and older adults” by Dr. Shune. We look forward to sharing this new work with all of you!
The O-SEE Lab was busy at this year’s ASHA Convention in Los Angeles. Recent grad Susie Nam presented the results of her MA thesis in a poster entitled, “Using the social aspects of mealtime to manage malnutrition and dehydration.” New doctoral student Bedoor Nagshabandi presented two(!) posters on practice patterns in Saudi Arabia: “Exploring neurologists & neurosurgeons knowledge about the speech pathologists’ scope of practice” and “Investigating the factors affecting referral rate to speech pathologists from neurologists & neurosurgeons.” Dr. Shune presented talks on malnutrition/dysphagia in the elderly and becoming a clinician-leader.
We were glad to be able to share our work with so many of you. We are already looking forward to next year!
As speech-language pathologists we often work with older adults with dysphagia. Did you know that patients with dysphagia are at higher risk for developing malnutrition? Did you know that older adults are also at higher risk for developing malnutrition?
Malnutrition is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. This includes: decreased function and quality of life, increased frequency and length of hospital stay, greater likelihood of hospital readmission, more health-care associated infections, worse health outcomes, higher rates of depression, and higher healthcare costs.
We MUST pay attention to nutritional requirements and the prevention of malnutrition when treating dysphagia in older adults. SLPs play an important role in the interdisciplinary management of nutrition, hydration, and safe eating/swallowing!
Dr. Shune has received a 2017 Advancing Academic-Research Career (AARC) Award. As part of this award, she will receive mentorship from Dr. Deanna Linville (Couples & Family Therapy, University of Oregon; bio) and Dr. Rik Lemoncello (Communication Sciences and Disorders, Pacific University; bio) to advance her research and teaching methods. Be sure to stay tuned!
National Dysphagia Awareness Month provides an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of feeding and swallowing disorders that can impact infants, children, adults, and families. This year there are many easy (and free) ways you can get involved:
These are just a few of the new things happening this month. Of course, there are other way to advocate all year long! If you are looking for more ideas, feel free to contact Dr. Shune.
A BIG congratulations to Susie Nam on successfully defending her master’s thesis today. Her thesis was titled, “The effects of behavioral mimicry on drinking behaviors in older adult populations.” She was one of the first ever CDS students to design, implement, write, and defend a thesis in our program – we applaud your drive to participate in active, engaged research. Way to go, Susie!
Dr. Shune was awarded the Excellence in Teaching – Early Career Award from the UO College of Education this evening. What a great honor to be recognized by both colleagues and students for making such an influential contribution to student education.
Congratulations to Tani Doherty (grad student) and Anyasha Aragon-Herbert (undergrad student) on being recognized for their outstanding academics and involvement. Tani and Anyasha have both received UO General Fund Scholarships for next year. Tani has also received scholarships from the UO College of Education and from the Sertoma organization.