Daily Bruin – Page 38

Gardening cultivates better mental health in psychiatric setting, study finds

A UCLA study found that psychiatric patients respond positively to the therapeutic effects of gardening.

Gardening proved to have significant effects on patients undergoing treatment in a psychiatric setting at UCLA’s Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, according to a study published in fall.

Nancy Wicks, an occupational therapist at Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, said she and other therapists had wanted to try gardening with the patients for a while, but never carried out the idea until patients began to ask for more time outside in satisfaction surveys.

Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital employees then decided to allow patients in the psychiatric unit to garden empty planters.

Huibrie Pieters, associate professor at the UCLA School of Nursing, said researchers developed the idea for the study after they noticed patients reacting positively to gardening, which is unusual because researchers typically put ideas into practice after conducting research first.

Leilanie Ayala, nursing educator at Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, said most of the prior research into the therapeutic benefits of gardening was conducted outside hospitals.

“A lot of the gardening activities were done in an outpatient setting or community mental health setting,” Ayala said. “It was also done among geriatric populations, but there was no research done for inpatient adult psychiatry.”

The study ran from July 2017 to February 2018. Researchers at Resnick secured funding from the hospital to start a garden in empty planter beds. They then had 25 patients garden alongside the staff once a week. Afterward, the research team interviewed patients to analyze how the activity impacted their mental health.

The research found gardening and connecting with nature enabled patients to take their minds off medical treatment, Ayala said.

“(Patients said gardening) made them feel productive,” Ayala said. “They were able to reflect about their own lives as they were gardening.”

The favorable outcomes and clinical implications of the study have significantly built on previous knowledge on gardening therapy. The study has also received three abstracts at conferences, Pieters said.

“The data is going to be disseminated in psychiatric nursing and in occupational therapy, and to social work conferences,” Pieters said.

Ayala said UCLA Health aims to involve all units at Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital in gardening. She added the research team also hopes to spread awareness about its findings so hospitals everywhere can implement similar gardening programs.

Wicks said although the study has concluded, the original group of patients is still gardening.

“We’re trying to apply the knowledge that we got from the research to the group that we run each week so that really makes it evidence-based,” Wicks said. “That’s really the standard of care that you should be doing in any clinical intervention.”

UCLA men’s golf to welcome three successful recruits next fall

Three top-ranked recruits will join UCLA men’s golf in the fall.

Junior Golf Scoreboard’s No. 44 recruit Tony Hendricks, No. 75 recruit Mason Greene and No. 79 recruit Chaz Aurilia will join a Bruin team that did not earn a NCAA championship berth this season. However, coach Derek Freeman said he looked at more than just skills when he recruited this year’s freshman class.

“(UCLA) isn’t an easy place to be successful, but yet we expect (incoming freshmen) to give their very best,” Freeman said. “We have to try to identify that in the recruiting process – who’s going to work hard, who’s going to do the right thing, who’s going to represent the university in the best possible way.”

Hendricks and Aurilia grew up competing in Arizona and both earned All-State honors multiple times in high school.

Hendricks finished second in the 2017 Arizona State Championship and third in 2018. He was a member of the Junior America’s Cup Team twice, picked up seven wins with the Junior Golf Association of America and earned JGAA Sportsman of the Year honors in 2017.

“Both (Aurilia) and (Hendricks) have had great success as junior players in Arizona – and not only in Arizona, but on the national team as well,” said Freeman. “They’ve won golf tournaments and been successful wherever they’ve played.”

Greene won the 2017 Toyota Tour Cup and tied for first at the 2018 American Junior Golf Association’s Las Vegas Junior at Reflection Bay. The Tustin, California, native was named to the AJGA Transamerica Scholastic Honor Roll in each of the last three years.

Freeman said academics is a big part of what he looked at during the recruiting process.

“One of the toughest things we have to do is trying to evaluate who can handle the academic side of what we do, because I don’t know that there’s another sport that misses as many days as the golf team,” Freeman said.

The three new Bruins have proven themselves at the youth level with victories all over the country, but they will have to transition to both the academic and athletic aspects of UCLA.

Freeman said the recruits’ talent will transfer to the collegiate level under his coaching staff’s guidance.

“We know it’s a tough transition coming to college, but yet it’s the same game,” Freeman said. “The golf ball doesn’t know whether you’re in college or you’re in high school, so we just try to make sure that (the incoming players are) comfortable, they understand what their roles are and teach them how to practice a little bit differently.”

UCLA will lose four seniors – including Cole Madey, who earned Pac-12 honors in each of his four seasons with the Bruins. Freeman said he expects the incoming players to step up immediately to fill the holes left by the graduating seniors.

“I expect these guys to be really really sharp, and come in here and compete right off the bat,” Freeman said. “I think they’ll have great success, I think they’ll help this golf team move forward with what we’re trying to do.”

UCLA track and field enters NCAA championship with greater numbers, higher rankings

The season will culminate in one weekend for track and field athletes across the nation.

The Bruins will send 20 athletes to compete in 16 events at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Austin, Texas. The group qualified for the most events since the 2009 season – UCLA qualified for 20 events that year.

“I’m excited by the way we are trying to perform at higher levels across the board,” said director Avery Anderson. “Some of the athletes who were here on the team when I got here now exist in a situation where they have a group around them, some new athletes and coaches, who are out here trying to get them to higher levels.”

Anderson was named the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association West Region Men’s Coach of the Year earlier this week. The No. 11 ranked men’s team qualified 15 athletes in 10 events, including redshirt junior distance runner Robert Brandt in the 5-kilometer, 10k, 4×100-meter relay and the 4x400m relay. The Bruins will also send redshirt senior thrower Dotun Ogundeji in the shot put and discus and senior thrower Justin Stafford in the hammer throw.

“I’m excited for the team and how many more people we have competing this year compared to last year,” said Stafford, who was one of seven Bruins to qualify for the championship last season. “It’s been amazing to see the growth our program has experienced since last year. Coach Anderson has done a phenomenal job in building our team.”

The No. 14 ranked women’s team qualified five athletes for six events, including sophomore thrower Alyssa Wilson, who qualified for the shot put, discus and hammer. The Bruins will also send senior sprinter Meleni Rodney in the 400m dash, redshirt senior pole vaulter Elleyse Garrett in the pole vault, redshirt senior thrower Ashlie Blake in the shot put and redshirt junior heptathlete Christina Chenault in the multis. Wilson was also named the USTFCCCA West Region Women’s Field Athlete of the Year earlier this week.

“Coming into college I had to take a step back and realize that I was no longer the best in the country because I was the young freshman again,” Wilson said. “I’m finally getting more confident in my throws, my technique, and from my teammates and I’m just building on that.”

Wilson is one of four Bruins who will compete in multiple events this week. The others include redshirt senior sprinter Leon Powell in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays, Ogundeji in shot put and discus and Brandt in the 5k and 10k.

“At this point in the season, the tough work has been done in the winter and early spring,” Brandt said. “Now it’s just making sure I’m on my game at nationals and I think I’m on track to do that. I just need to make sure I’m healthy and ready to go.”

Tay’s Takedown: Greater attention should be paid to academic futures of student-athletes

“Champions made here.”

The motto of UCLA Athletics implies that student-athletes are fostered by the university to be the best embodiment of themselves on the field.

But it should mean demonstrating excellence off the field as well.

As student-athletes, being a champion means attaining, or at least striving for, high academic excellence as well as athletic achievement. Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell if the university is pushing that for all sports.

Many men’s basketball and football players don’t seem to have clear paths of study. For those who have a declared major, they are clustered around the classes with seemingly the least amount of required courses for graduation.

UCLA men’s basketball has 17 athletes on its roster, and 12 of them are listed as having undeclared majors. That isn’t to say that an undeclared major is a bad thing. Remaining undeclared allows students the freedom to explore various areas of interest and encourages interdisciplinary thought and study.

Of the four declared student-athletes, two have political science majors – a major with only 15 total required courses to graduate.

There is one psychobiology and one mechanical engineering student on the roster, but they are not representative of the squad as a whole. Together, these students, junior guard Armani Dodson and freshman guard Russell Stong, played a total of 17 minutes last season.

Only 18 of the 103 players on UCLA football’s roster have majors listed online. For the other 83%, it’s anybody’s guess as to what exactly their path of study is.

It shouldn’t be assumed that the other 85 athletes don’t have majors or take academics seriously. Yet, with the football academic progress rate also dangerously low – finishing dead last among Pac-12 schools – the low reporting rate does not look great.

With the NCAA estimating that only 3.9% of Division I football players will turn professional, the drive for academic success needs to be more forceful than what is being portrayed.

Of the 18 players who have their major listed, eight have declared sociology – one of the least demanding majors in terms of course requirements.

Only three lower division courses are needed to begin upper-division sociology coursework, compared to the minimum 19 courses that must be taken to enter the psychobiology major.

The story is different for sports that do not generate as much revenue as football and men’s basketball.

UCLA women’s soccer has a high number of undeclared athletes, but also boasts a healthy spread of other majors, ranging from physiological science to English. There’s also an applied mathematics student and a materials engineer in the mix.

Unlike the two men’s basketball players with challenging majors, both women’s soccer senior forward Julia Hernandez – an applied mathematics student – and junior midfielder Jessie Fleming – a materials engineering student – play significant roles on their squad. The two played a combined 1,788 minutes for the Bruins in 2018.

Gymnastics also has a high number of undeclared majors. Like women’s soccer, though, the team has a relatively good spread of majors like psychology, molecular, cell, and developmental biology, and anthropology.

Major choice is not indicative of how much academic drive a student-athlete has. But what is notable is the discrepancy in major choices between men’s basketball, football and other Division I sports at UCLA.

It gives the impression that men’s basketball and football programs remain apathetic about furthering academic progress. If we are to supposedly make champions out of our Bruins, it’s time for the university and athletic department to start emphasizing the “student” part of student-athlete.

UCLA health program hosts live reading of ‘James Dean America’

This post was updated June 4 at 12:08 p.m.

James Dean might have died in 1955, but he was brought back to life this weekend.

On Saturday, the UCLA Center for Health Services and Society hosted a live table read of the screenplay “James Dean America” in collaboration with the Healing and Education through the Arts Program. Joseph Mango, the arts director and media coordinator for the HEArts Program, who wrote the script in 2012, said the table read aimed to destigmatize mental health issues by telling a story inspired by both his own personal background and the life of UCLA alumnus James Dean.

“James Dean America” follows a producer’s assistant, who, in 2003, finds an old script written by a man named Edwin. The producer’s assistant attempts to persuade him to sell the rights to the story. However, Edwin refuses, claiming that he wrote the film with his friend James Dean in mind, and he won’t allow the script to reach the big screen without the late actor involved. Dean’s character is featured in the story through constant flashbacks to Edwin’s memories of Dean and of film executive Jack Warner from 1955, the year of Dean’s death.

Nine different actors read the parts of the characters in the play, one of them being Jake Borelli, best known for his role as Dr. Levi Schmitt in “Grey’s Anatomy.” Even in his personal life, Borelli, who read for the producer’s assistant named Chris, said he is passionate about destigmatizing mental health issues.

“The first hurdle (in tackling the issue of mental health) is to get people to understand that mental health is just as important … as getting help for a physical ailment,” Borelli said.

Though Mango said he strives to include certain aspects of mental health in all his scripts, the inspiration he found from his personal background made this script even more special to him. His own life as an assistant in the 2000s film industry inspired “James Dean America,” but he did not actually write it until 2012, when he was in graduate school.

In “James Dean America,” Edwin experiences chronic depression resulting from his lackluster success in the film industry. His depression manifests itself in extreme loneliness and absence of passion as Edwin is unable to find the motivation to pursue storytelling, despite his love for it, Mango said.

Mango said he wanted to show that depression can be exceptionally lonely, which the script shows through Edwin mostly appearing in just his apartment. From there, Mango said the message began to focus on how getting help is equally as important as realistic representation of mental health. In Edwin’s case, the ability to retell stories is what gives him joy again, allowing him to find a path to better his mental health.

“It shows how the power of storytelling can provide solace for people, and an act of empathy can affect someone’s whole life,” Mango said.

Borelli was attracted to “James Dean America” because he has a passion for removing the stigmas around mental health issues. His character aids Edwin in finding his way back into storytelling, encouraging him and supporting him by listening to his life.

“Mental health is not talked about nearly enough,” Borelli said. “Any project that deals with mental health in a new and more supportive way is a project that always excites me.”

And for Dr. Kenneth Wells, the director and professor-in-residence of the UCLA Center for Health Services and Society, the connection between mental health and the arts is something he said is constantly relevant. Wells, who is a composer in addition to being a psychiatrist and health services researcher, said he discovered art is a medium through which people can find ways to connect with each other beyond what their mental situations might be.

“The arts create a safe space where people can gather, and in arts situations with stories – like plays – people can relate to people who go on the journey of the story,” he said.

UCLA architecture professor uses 3D printing in forward-thinking fashion designs

This post was updated on June 3 at 6:20 p.m.

Julia Koerner said she sees the human body as a smaller version of a building – fashion sheaths the body much like a facade covers a work of architecture.

The UCLA assistant adjunct professor of architecture said fashion provides an avenue for her to explore her research in architecture on a smaller scale. She said fashion designing provides a more immediate translation from model to output, as opposed to architecture, since it occurs on a much smaller scale.

“Whatever I experience on a smaller scale in fashion design, I look at how I can possibly translate that into a building facade,” Koerner said. “I use it almost like a scale model.”

Koerner said her design process incorporates a variety of digital technologies, including 3D printing and prototyping softwares, used to conduct research. One of her earlier pieces was exhibited in Paris, where she worked with designer Iris van Herpen to create a hard resin dress. Because the dress was like a rigid shell printed in a particular size, they had to find a model that would be able to fit the dress’ exact measurements after it was printed. Since then, Koerner has been exploring more flexible rubberlike materials in her recent work.

“You can use recycled plastics and you can use water bottle filaments to feed the 3D printers,” Koerner said. “So there comes an entirely sustainable aspect – you can melt down your old sweatshirt and 3D-print a new one from the plastic you melted.”

Koerner said 3D-printing fashion pieces is an additive manufacturing process, meaning material is only used as needed. Usually, clothes have to be split into parts before being put together with seams, which often results in wasted material, she said. With 3D printing, the clothes do not require seams and the final product comes out in one piece, so less waste is generated. 3D printing can also aid in creating sustainable fashion by creating durable and recyclable products, leading to fewer clothes being tossed, she said.

Koerner was able to incorporate her 3D-printed fashion into the costume design for the film “Black Panther,” for which she worked on Queen Ramonda’s headdress and shoulder piece. Using 3D-printing technology, Koerner said she tried to emulate the intricately woven pattern of traditional African headdresses and shoulder pieces. Ruth E. Carter, the film’s costume designer, said she gave Koerner African lace, which she scanned into a computer to create 3D models.

Carter said she saw Koerner’s work with van Herpen at a fashion show and was intrigued by the wearable art they created. Because Wakanda is depicted as a nation with advanced technology, Carter said she thought the innovative design process would work well for the film.

“In the apparel world, we work with body form. … (The headdress and shoulder piece were) creating a sculpture piece that could actually add to the structure of the body form,” Carter said.

Utilizing technological advances for design has also become a part of UCLA’s architecture program, said Greg Lynn, an architecture professor. In the program, Lynn said they focus on having students learn to communicate with machines in order to manufacture things, instead of the more traditional route of working with structural engineers to figure out which pieces are physically feasible. Using digital technology and prototyping to design buildings allows students to be able to translate their designs into building parts without an engineer, Lynn said.

While Koerner’s work in fashion is separate from her teaching in architecture, she still manages to integrate her research in both, for example, by studying materials in fashion that could potentially be used in building design.

“(3D printing has) a lot of implications for the future,” Koerner said. “You can design objects and garments which have an aesthetic which cannot be produced with any other method.”

Students should be more involved in progress of reports they file to EDI office

When students report discrimination, the last thing they need is to anxiously wait for a response from the office meant to handle it.

That seems to be the norm at UCLA, though.

A guest lecturer from San Fransisco State University gave a guest lecture on Islamophobia and expressed her anti-Zionist views in an anthropology course last month. A student in the class found the professor’s views to be anti-Semitic and another said it was verging on hate speech.

Students and faculty are able to file reports with the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for incidents like these that involve discrimination or harassment on the basis of identity aspects such as culture, race or gender. The office investigates these matters to reach a resolution between both parties or pursue legal action. Both the Discrimination Prevention Office and the Title IX Office are under its purview.

Yet, the EDI office hasn’t addressed the students’ individual needs in the wake of the controversy, as students’ filed complaints about the guest lecture have gone unaddressed.

This makes the path to resolution even more difficult. The lack of communication from the office leaves students confused about the progress and result of their incident reports, ultimately leaving them skeptical if they will receive a response or resolution.

The reports regarding the anthropology guest lecture are only a few in a list of instances in which the office has left students in the dark about the progress of their complaints. And yet it’s an important part of the EDI office’s responsibility to guide students through any incidents of discrimination or harassment they may face.

Although well equipped to receive complaints, the office is lacking a way to interact effectively with students.

Randi Kusumi, executive assistant to Vice Chancellor Jerry Kang, said the EDI office runs full, impartial investigations in order to find a mutual resolution. It also holds informal meetings with Kang to attempt an alternate path to resolution.

Despite this two-track system, the office’s approach to helping students through the resolution process is missing an important part: keeping students in the know about the progress of their cases.

Viktorya Saroyan, a third-year sociology student, was in the anthropology class during the controversial guest lecture. She said she filed an EDI report because she found the speech verging on discriminatory.

Regardless of the veracity of the claims against the guest lecturer, the fact that Saroyan barely heard back from the EDI office is concerning. What’s more, she wasn’t even the victim of the alleged hate speech – she filed a report because she thought the lecturer’s disposition during the presentation was harmful.

“They got back to me quickly when I first sent my email. But after the second one, they responded saying, ‘We heard you have been the victim of racial discrimination, please fill out this form,'” Saroyan said. “I wasn’t even a victim, though. I’m still wondering if I somehow sent it to the wrong place. They still haven’t responded since.”

This kind of situation is unbecoming of an office meant to promote equity, diversity and inclusivity. No matter what position the office takes, students should be able to expect they will be kept in the loop after requesting university involvement.

But the EDI office’s lack of transparency isn’t a new phenomenon.

Sexual harassment cases have also featured minimal communication from the university. Kristen Glasgow, a UCLA graduate student who was sexually harassed by former history professor Gabriel Piterberg, had to file her Title IX claim twice until the university finally responded. Piterberg lost his employment nearly a decade after she was initially harassed.

And even after the numerous reforms made after Kang was appointed in 2015, students still see the EDI office as unable to to address their incidents in a wider sense. Two years ago, students found ambiguous office hours, online Q&As and blogs as a lacking effort to address their problems – and they still do today.

The office’s relationship with complainants clearly misses the mark. The resolution system is fundamentally internal, resulting in incident reports being handled in an unclear fashion. Glasgow was left in the dark about whether UCLA would respond to her claim and Saroyan’s claim was even misidentified. These failings indicate that the people seeking resolutions are not considered an important part of the process. Extended periods without communication alienate and ignore the individual at the center.

While it’s true the EDI office can’t communicate every detail of a full investigation, that shouldn’t be an excuse to keep students completely in the dark. After all, people file incident reports to the university because they want things to be done in response – not to just hope that things will be.

The office plays an undeniably important role on campus. As the administrative apparatus to deal with serious conflicts, it has a strong responsibility to ensure students and faculty aren’t forgotten.

Bruins shouldn’t have to treat discrimination and harassment as if they were cold-calling professors for research opportunities; they deserve a response the first time.