HUMAN SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY AND THE ROLE OF UNIVERSITY–COMMUNITY COLLABORATION: PERCEPTIONS OF HUMAN SERVICE AGENCY WORKERS

According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, in 1998 the 65-74 years age group (18.4 million) was eight times larger than in 1900, the 75-84 years age group (12 million) was 16 times larger, and the 85 and older years age group (4 million) was 33 times larger. It is anticipated that if this trend continues, by 2030, there will be about 70 million older American persons, more than twice their number in 1998. To meet the needs of the older population, governments, foundations, nonprofit organizations, and other groups will have to continue to work on how to increase availability, accessibility, and adequacy of community-based services. One approach will be to encourage community collaboration and partnerships. Funding agencies have encouraged university-community collaboration in recent years. However, none of the studies reviewed for this paper addressed the need for the type of university-community collaboration that our study deals with (i.e., university-community agency collaboration). In particular, our study investigates human service agency workers' perceptions of the availability, accessibility, and adequacy of services to the elderly in Northwest Ohio, and how collaboration with a university can improve service delivery to consumers. The findings of the study provide a general indication of trends, experiences, and problems common to these agencies. The findings also suggest that agency workers do not necessarily have a negative perception of university-community agency collaboration, rather many do not understand how such collaborations will improve services to consumers. Recommendations regarding how to enhance university-community collaborations are made.     

Kinematics of cycling in relation to anterior knee pain and patellar tendinitis

The coronal and sagittal plane leg movements of 24 experienced male cyclists were assessed using video analysis while cycling on a Kingcycle windload simulator. The cyclists were grouped into those with a history of injury and an asymptomatic group on the basis of self-reported injury status. The ages, cycling experience, competition distances and competition speeds of the two groups were compared using Student's t-test. No significant differences (P < 0.05) were found for any of these variables. The maximum and minimum shank adduction, shank adduction velocities, knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion values were also compared using Student's t-test. Significant differences were found at the point of maximum adduction (1.9 degrees; P = 0.019) and minimum dorsiflexion (4.9 degrees; P = 0.014). These differences indicated more dorsiflexion and greater abduction on the part of the symptomatic cyclists, supporting previous research that found that cyclists with a history of injury differ from those without a history of injury in the coronal plane leg movement patterns they adopt. Also, the most extreme medial position of the knee relative to the ankle occurred during knee extension. This supports the potential injury mechanism proposed by Francis (1986), which had previously only been examined using coronal plane kinematics.     

Physical activity,physiological, and psychomotor performance: a study of variously active older adult men

This research examined varying levels of physical activity and psychomotor and physiological function in variously active older men. Very active moderately active, and low active participants were tested on simple (SRT) and choice reaction time (CRT), coincidence-anticipation timing (CAT), and VO2max. No significant differences for age or height were found, although percentage of fat, and weight were statistically different. Active groups were leaner and lighter. VO2max was significantly different between groups, as physically active groups yielded geater values. SRT and CAT also yielded significantly different results with more active participants showing better performance. No between-groups significant differences resulted for CRT. Generally, increased levels of physical activity were related to superior physiological outcomes and improved psychomotor peformance.