Optimizing Swallowing & Eating for the Elderly
Congrats to O-SEE Lab member Meredith Meyer (2nd year MA student) on a very successful OSHA poster presentation. Meredith was very busy during the poster session talking all about the use of smartforks to regulate eating rate for individuals with post-stroke dysphagia.
This year looks to be another busy year for the O-SEE lab at the ASHA Convention – especially on Friday! Come hear what we have been working on:
Shune, S. & Linville, D. (Couples and Family Therapy Program, University of Oregon). Using a biopsychosocial-spiritual framework for treating families adapting to chronic conditions. ePoster, Friday, November 16, 10 AM, CC/Hall C
Shune, S. & Morano-Villhauer, A. (Mercy Hospital, Iowa City, IA). Maximizing outcomes across transitions: How can we best support patients and families. Seminar, Friday, November 16, 3:45 PM, Westin/Commonwealth C
Nagshabandi, B. & Shune, S. An ecological model of factors contributing to patient compliance in dysphagia management. Poster, Friday, November 16, 10:30 AM, CC/Hall C
Lin, T. & Shune, S. Mealtimes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease through a psychoemotional lens. Poster, Friday, November 16, 2:30 PM, CC/Hall C
Congratulations to Dr. Shune and her collaborator Ashwini Namasivayam-MacDonald (Adelphi University) for their recent publication, “The Burden of Dysphagia on Family Caregivers of the Elderly: A Systematic Review”. The O-SEE Lab has long been dedicated to exploring the more comprehensive influences of dysphagia and we are excited to be pursuing this new line of research! You can read this open-access article here: http://www.mdpi.com/2308-3417/3/2/30
We are excited to announce that Meredith Meyer, a CDS graduate student, and Anyasha Aragon, a soon-to-be CDS undergrad alumna, have been accepted to present their work at the Oregon Speech-Language & Hearing Annual Conference this October. They will be presenting of their work, “Regulating Rate of Eating in Patients with Dysphagia: The Effectiveness of Smartforks.” We hope to connect with many of your there!
The O-SEE Lab wrapped up a busy thesis season today with Tani successfully defending her MA thesis. Tani presented on “The relationship between proprioception and respiration during eating in young adults”. While we missed getting a picture of her during her defense, we luckily snapped a picture of her celebrating with Dr. Shune later in the day! A BIG congratulations to you Tani and a HUGE thank you for all your help in lab these past two years.
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!
