Autism spectrum disorder is the most common neurodevelopmental disability in the United States, with approximately one-third of children affected severely. Severe autism (autism level three) results in significant challenges in the home, school, and community. The problem addressed is that families with a child with severe autism are often pushed…

Esports teams (competitive video gaming organizations) are proliferating at colleges and universities throughout the United States as colleges seek to attract and retain students with diverse sets of interests. While these teams bolster college recruitment efforts, additional research is needed to explore several potential links between the…

Research shows that in a traditional college setting, resident assistants (RA) have access to and influence over students in several different ways. RAs are often utilized as academic and campus resources, counselors, problem solvers, and more. RAs have a unique access to students that no other administrator, faculty, or staff member does. Most…

Little music therapy research has been published on therapeutic presence (TP). This study explored the inclusion of TP in music therapy education. Participants were eight credentialed music therapists who identified as music therapy educators and/or clinical supervisors. They attended one of two focus groups and were asked to submit a 1-minute…

Research teams must collaborate with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to identify effective and inclusive responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health emergencies. Collaborating remotely requires telecommunication and other technologies. We designed and evaluated a digital "Toolkit for Remote Inclusive…

The aim of this project was to better understand nurse navigators work with children and families who are living with severe autism spectrum disorder to achieve improved health and wellbeing outcomes. Nurse navigators were introduced into the public health sector in Queensland in 2016, with 400 navigators currently working across 16 health…

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the First Special Issue of our Double Special Edition on LGBTQIA+ Topics in Health, Wellbeing and Education. This special issue focuses on LGBTQIA+ Topics in Physical Education. We introduce the Special Issue by describing the sociopolitical backdrop around the world more broadly and specifically in…

Health-care professionals (HCPs) are key trusted figures in addressing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) challenges. They are thought to influence others' health decisions by personal example. However, during the COVID-19 crisis, some HCPs hesitated to be vaccinated. We examined factors contributing to that decision. We performed 12…

In which domains and for which language types does language legislation occur and how easy is it to identify it? The United Kingdom (UK) affords a good test bed to answer these questions since it is often considered to be lacking in strong public language policy due to, amongst other things, a lack of a coherent language policy across the UK and…

Background: Health sciences education prepares students for social- and healthcare by developing evidence-based nursing, leadership and working life skills, including collaboration. Due to the changes caused by the global pandemic, health sciences education has shifted more to online and hybrid contexts, which can challenge students' competence…

Background: Non-standardized assessment tools are preferred when assessing communication of individuals with developmental disabilities. Currently, there are limited tools available for assessing this population. Informant report tools such as the Pragmatics Profile (PP) of Everyday Communication Skills are beneficial in gathering a representative…

Introduction: The assessment of well-being is crucial for measuring the effects of psychosocial interventions in people with intellectual disabilities. The aim of this study was to adapt and validate a measure of integrative well-being, the Pemberton Happiness Index (PHI) to use it specifically for this population. Methods: The Pemberton Happiness…

Paper Laboratory Notebooks (PLNs) have been used for centuries to document and archive the thoughts and work of inventors, scientists, students, and engineers. PLNs are the first formal means of scientific communication we teach our students and, in turn, a student's first training on cultivating and expressing scientific thinking. In the science…

School counselors play a crucial role in U.S. education. In recent years, their student caseloads have increased as more students are diagnosed with a mental health disorder. With additional stressors from providing social/emotional counseling, school counselors are vulnerable to secondary traumatic stress, vicarious trauma, and compassion…

Introduction: Technology is embedded in many aspects of healthcare. This is especially true in nursing, where technology is used daily in charting, medication administration, clinical decision-making, healthcare team communication, and information resource utilization. In nursing programs, students are exposed to healthcare technologies and…