Routledge international handbook of therapeutic stories and storytelling

This unique book explores stories from educational, community, social, health, therapeutic and therapy perspectives, acknowledging a range of diverse social and cultural views in which stories are used and written by esteemed storytellers, artists, therapists and academics from around the globe. Storytelling is a major activity of human communication;it is an age-old tradition, used in many ways by different societies at different moments. Storytelling and stories can be entertaining, therapeutic and educative. The book is like the old saying a 'stitch in time'-stories are a way of dealing with difficulties before they become real problems. The book perfectly fits the context of arts, arts in health and creative arts therapies in that, through the cross-section of chapters, it touches on every single function of storytelling. The book is fascinating in the way it harnesses our day-to-day realities as seen from the storytelling perspective. It is divided into five parts, each created around a particular theme, with chapters from renowned world-class scholars on aspects of stories and storytelling. The first part is dedicated to COVID-19 stories. Part II delves into stories and therapeutic texts. Part III paints a picture of how stories can be used in educational, community and social settings for general therapeutic purposes. This somehow connects with Part IV, which examines stories and therapeutic texts in a health and therapy context. The book provides a deeper understanding of the different contexts and settings in which stories are, can and should be used. Finally, it finishes with a moving story about memory loss. It is evident in this book that stories provide consolation and encouragement to continue search for answers to our human condition. The stories and therapeutic stories and ideas around them presented in this international handbook tell the underlying truth of human existence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

A Rare Adverse Effect of the COVID-19 Vaccine on Autoimmune Encephalitis.

Since countries commenced COVID-19 vaccination around the world, many vaccine-related adverse effects have been reported. Among them, short-term memory loss with autoimmune encephalitis (AE) was reported as a rare adverse effect. Since case numbers are limited, this brief report may draw the attention of the medical community to this uncommon adverse effect and serve as a reference for future vaccine improvement. However, given the high risk of adverse outcomes when infected with SARS-CoV-2 and the clearly favorable safety/tolerability profile of existing vaccines, vaccination is still recommended.

Post-COVID-19 Memory Complaints: Prevalence and Associated Factors.

INTRODUCTION: Memory complaints resulting from COVID-19 may have a significant impact on the survivors' quality of life. Unfortunately, there is insufficient information available on memory loss and its relationship to COVID-19. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to determine the prevalence of memory complaints in post-COVID-19 patients and to find potential contributing factors. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 401 individuals who had previously been diagnosed with COVID-19 at four COVID testing centers situated across Bangladesh. The MAC-Q questionnaire was used to evaluate memory. A binary logistic regression model was fit to study the variables related to memory complaints, with a p-value of <0.05 deemed statistically significant. RESULT: Memory complaints was prevalent in 19.2% of the post-COVID patients. Individual predictor analysis revealed that among the treatment modalities, steroids and antibiotics were associated with impaired memory. Multiple logistic regression showed that individuals who recovered from COVID-19 within six to twelve months were more likely to have memory deficits. Even though age, sex, oxygen demand, and hospitalization were not linked with memory complaints, rural residents exhibited more significant memory complaints than urban residents. CONCLUSION: Nearly one-fifth of the COVID-19 patients suffer from various degrees of memory complaints within one year. However, no association was found between COVID-19 severity to memory complaints.

The Immigrant Memory Collaborative: A Community-University Partnership to Assess African Immigrant Families' Experiences with Dementia.

Research suggests a disparity in the prevalence of dementia, with Black older adults having double the risk compared to their White counterparts. African immigrants are a fast-growing segment of the U.S. Black population, but the dementia care needs and resources of this population are not fully understood. In this paper, we describe the process of working collaboratively with a community partner and project advisory board to conduct a culturally informed project. Specifically, we describe the process of developing culturally informed instruments to collect data on dementia care needs and resources among African immigrants. Working together with a diverse project advisory board, a guide was developed and used to conduct community conversations about experiences with dementia/memory loss. Transcripts from six conversations with 24 total participants were transcribed and analyzed thematically by two independent coders in Nvivo. These qualitative findings were used to inform the development of a survey for quantitative data collection that is currently ongoing. Themes (e.g., cultural attitudes, challenges, and current resources) from the community conversations that informed the survey are described briefly. Despite the challenges of conducting research during a global pandemic, having trusting relationships with a partnering community organization and project advisory board facilitated the successful development of instruments to conduct preliminary dementia care research in an underserved population. We anticipate that survey results will inform interventions that increase education, outreach, and access to dementia care and caregiving resources for this population. It may serve as a model for community-university partnerships for similar public health efforts in dementia as well as other chronic disease contexts.

Dementia Caregiving During the "Stay-at-Home" Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess family caregivers' primary appraisal of stressors related to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, secondary appraisal of resources and support availability, and use of coping strategies as predictors of perceived role overload during the stay-at-home phase of the pandemic. METHOD: Telephone interviews with 53 family caregivers of persons with dementia from rural Virginia 2 weeks after enactment of the governor's stay-at-home order using structured and open-ended questions were conducted. RESULTS: Caregivers who were more concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic were at greater odds of experiencing high role overload than those who recognized positive aspects of the pandemic, as were those who received insufficient support from family and friends. DISCUSSION: Use of the transactional model of stress responses yielded important insights about families coping with dementia. Caregivers' perceptions of the pandemic's impact varied, with differential effects on their well-being.