Development of a tool for Individual Aquatic Risk Management among children of 6-12 years (IARM-C).

Background: When it comes to children’s competence in, on and around water, their risk management also plays an important role. For an optimal and save participation in aquatic recreation, there is a crucial need to communicate about a realistic perception of potential dangers in relation to one’s own actual and perceived aquatic skills. Goals: The aim of this study was to develop and validate a tool for Individual Aquatic Risk Management for Children (IARM-C) useful in both research and practice regarding water safety for elementary school children and their families, as offered in schools, by local communities and different (water) sport organisations. Method: The IARM-C tool was developed and validated in three subsequent phases: (1) a selection of relevant aquatic situations with possible risks for children based on the literature and discussed with experts, resulting in 10 aquatic situations that were drawn, (2) a pilot study with 22 children to test content (face) validity, and (3) a cross-sectional study with 70 children (6-12 years, 35 girls and 35 boys, 8.9 ± 2.0 years) recruited via convenience sampling in different (swimming) schools in Brussel (Belgium) to test their risk perception, assessment and decision making in these 10 situations. Results: For each of the 10 aquatic risk situations of the IARM-C, data collection was organised in a one-on-one interview in order to assist the child in completing the questionnaire. Six of the 10 pictures resulted in a correct risk perception for > 80% (range between 83-94%) of the children. For one drawn aquatic risk situation in the swimming pool context (i.e. falling on someone else), only 60% of the children gave a correct description of the situation. In the drawn open water aquatic risk situations, three pictures scored quite low (range between 49%-54%): warning flag at sea, dangerous objects and sandbank in the sea. Conclusions: The IARM-C tool, showing pictures of aquatic risk situations followed by three categories of questions (risk perception, assessment and decision making), is a useful instrument for further research and education purposes, especially for the swimming pool cases.Desarrollo de una herramienta para la Gestión individual del riesgo acuático entre los niños de 6 a 12 años (IARM-C) Resumen Antecedentes: Cuando se trata de la competencia de los niños en, sobre y alrededor del agua, su competencia de riesgo también juega un papel importante. Para una participación óptima y segura en la recreación acuática, existe una necesidad crucial de comunicar una percepción realista de los peligros potenciales en relación con las propias habilidades acuáticas reales y percibidas. Objetivos: El objetivo de este estudio fue desarrollar y validar una herramienta para la Gestión Individual de Riesgos Acuáticos para Niños (IARM-C) útil tanto en la investigación como en la práctica en relación con la seguridad en el agua para los niños de la escuela primaria y sus familias, tal y como se ofrece en las escuelas, por las comunidades locales y diferentes organizaciones deportivas (acuáticas). Método: La herramienta IARM-C se desarrolló y validó en tres fases sucesivos: (1) una selección de situaciones acuáticas relevantes con posibles riesgos para los niños, basada en la literatura y discutida con expertos, lo que dio como resultado 10 ilustraciones de situaciones acuáticos, (2) un estudio piloto con 22 niños para comprobar la validez (aparente) del contenido, y (3) un estudio transversal con 70 niños (35 niñas y 35 niños, 6-12 años, 8.9 ± 2.0 años) seleccionados mediante muestreo de conveniencia en diferentes escuelas (de natación) de Bruselas (Bélgica) para comprobar su percepción de los riesgos, su evaluación y su toma de decisiones en estas 10 situaciones. Resultados: Para cada una de las 10 situaciones de riesgo acuático del IARM-C, la recogida de datos se organizó en una entrevista individual para ayudar al niño a rellenar el cuestionario. Seis de los 10 dibujos dieron lugar a una percepción de riesgo correcta para más del 80% (rango entre 83-94%) de los niños. En una de las situaciones de riesgo acuático dibujadas en el contexto de la piscina (es decir, la caída sobre otra persona), sólo el 60% de los niños dio una descripción correcta de la situación. En las situaciones de riesgo acuático dibujadas en aguas abiertas, tres imágenes obtuvieron una puntuación bastante baja (entre el 49% y el 54%): bandera de advertencia en el mar, objetos peligrosos y banco de arena en el mar. Conclusiones: La herramienta IARM-C, que muestra imágenes de situaciones de riesgo acuático seguidas de tres categorías de preguntas (percepción del riesgo, evaluación y toma de decisiones), es un instrumento útil para seguir investigando y educando, especialmente para los casos de piscinas

The effect of consumer involvement in light lamb meat on behavior, sensory perception, and health-related concerns

Involvement can explain behavioral consequences, such as consumer decision-making and consumption. The first aim of this study is to identify the profiles of consumers based on their involvement in light lamb meat. The second aim is to study the influence of involvement on consumers’ attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, preferences, quality cues, and sensory perception regarding light lamb meat. Two consumer profiles are identified. The first cluster includes consumers who enjoyed eating light lamb meat, were conscious of their self-image, and perceived the consequences of poor choices; these consumers also perceived the probability of making an incorrect choice as high. The second cluster includes consumers who truly loved eating lamb meat, were also conscious of their self-image, and perceived the consequences of poor choices; however, these consumers were confident in not making incorrect choices. Although both involvement-based profiles showed high involvement in light lamb meat, it can be concluded that the second cluster had a higher involvement. In general, the involvement-based profiles did not influence health-related attitudes, preferences, or sensory perceptions of light lamb meat, while beliefs, behavior and quality cues were influenced by involvement

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 359)

This bibliography lists 164 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Jan. 1992. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance

Canine-Assisted Exposure Therapy

Fear and anxiety are natural reactions to actual threat conditions but can become “pathological” when over-generalized avoidance interferes with long-term wellbeing and valued living. Pervasive experiential avoidance hinders natural extinction processes as it reduces repeated contact with feared stimuli, a condition necessary for extinction to occur. Exposure therapy (ET) is a clinical analogue of extinction, and one of the best evidence-based treatments for fear and anxiety. However, ET’s usefulness suffers in real-world clinical conditions. The current conceptual paper proposes that ET’s limitations may be overcome through a tailored approach that integrates animal-assisted therapy (AAT), specifically the use of dogs, to incorporate the judicious use of safety conditions during ET. This paper posits that these procedural adjustments might enhance ET’s perceived acceptability by clients and therapists, offer flexibility in use for individual clinical presentations, and amplify long-term treatment gains, thereby targeting some of ET’s current limitations that keep the promise of this approach from those who may benefit from it

Effects of Fear Conditioning on Pain : Moderation by Mindfulness and the HPA-axis

Un cercle vicieux par lequel la peur et la douleur se maintiennent explique le développement et maintient de troubles impliquant le conditionnement à la peur. Bien que les processus comportementaux et circuits neurobiologiques du conditionnement à la peur aient été étudiés extensivement, les effets de cet apprentissage sur la douleur sont peu connus. L’objectif de cette thèse était d’étudier les effets du conditionnement à la peur sur la neuro-psychophysiologie de la douleur chez des sujets sains, ainsi que les facteurs modérant ces effets. Les effets de l’apprentissage de la peur sur la douleur ont été examinés dans l’Étude 1 (N=47) lors d’une tâche de conditionnement classique Pavlovien. Les stimuli conditionnés étaient des images abstraites appariées à une stimulation électrique douloureuse lors de 50% des essais. Les rapports de douleur et réflexes nociceptif de flexion ont été acquis à chaque stimulation, et les réponses électrodermales ont été mesurées à chaque présentation d’image. Nous avons estimé deux paramètres régissant les réponses anticipatoires (électrodermales) de peur pour chaque essai au moyen d’une approche de modélisation computationnelle: les attentes face à l’occurrence d’une stimulation, et l’associabilité des images à la stimulation. Les résultats ont démontré que chacun des paramètres liés à la peur prédisait positivement la douleur ainsi que les réponses nociceptive spinales. Ces effets opéraient en partie directement sur les réponses supraspinales à la douleur, et en partie indirectement par une facilitation de l’influx nociceptif au niveau spinal. Les résultats ont également démontré que la médiation des effets de la peur sur la douleur par l’input nociceptif spinal était plus forte chez les individus rapportant davantage de ‘vigilance au danger’, et plus faibles chez ceux rapportant plus de détachement émotionnel. Dans l’Étude 2, nous avons examiné le rôle de l’expérience à long terme en méditation pleine conscience sur les effets de l’apprentissage de la peur sur la douleur. Onze méditants expérimentés ont été testés en utilisant le même protocole expérimental que celui de l’Étude 1. Comparés aux sujets contrôles de l’Étude 1 n’ayant pas d’expérience en méditation, le groupe de méditants a montré une réduction de la douleur rapportée en moyenne lors de la tâche de conditionnement, ainsi qu’une diminution des effets de la peur sur la douleur. Les méditants n’ont pas montré de modulation des processus de bas niveau défensifs ou des mécanismes d’apprentissage à la peur. Finalement, l’Étude 3 a examiné le rôle des différences inter-individuelles en réactivité de l’axe HPA, opérationnalisé par le niveau de cortisol sécrété pendant la tâche, sur les effets de la peur sur la douleur (N=23). Le protocole expérimental et d’analyses était similaire à celui des Études 1-2 avec l’inclusion d’un SC+ apparié à 100% avec le SI. Les individus ayant une plus grande réponse de cortisol pendant le conditionnement rapportaient en moyenne moins de douleur lors de la tâche, et présentaient une facilitation des réponses défensives spinales par le biais du conditionnement à la peur. Les résultats de cette thèse appuient le concept d’un cycle vicieux peur/douleur par des données neuropsychophysiologiques, et montrent que celui-ci est modéré par certains traits de personnalité, l’expérience à long-terme en méditation pleine conscience, et les différences individuelles en réactivité de l’axe HPA. Nos résultats appuient également le rôle bénéfique des techniques fondées sur l’acceptation et la pleine conscience pour briser le cycle peur-douleur et prévenir/traiter les manifestations pathologiques de l’exposition répétée à des évènements menaçants (ex: anxiété, douleur chronique).A vicious cycle through which fear and pain maintain each other explains the development and maintenance of disorders involving fear conditioning. While the behavioral processes and neurobiological circuits of fear conditioning have been extensively studied, the effects of fear learning on pain remain poorly understood. The objectives of this thesis were to examine the effects of fear conditioning on the neuropsychophysiology of pain, and the factors that could moderate these effects. The effects of fear learning on pain were examined in Study 1 in 47 human participants during a delay Pavlovian classical fear conditioning task. Conditioned stimuli were abstract visual cues that co-terminated with a painful electric shock on 50% of trials. Pain ratings and the spinal nociceptive flexion reflex were recorded in response to each US, and anticipatory skin conductance responses were recorded to each CS. A computational model of reinforcement learning was fitted to anticipatory SCRs and used to estimate fear learning parameters of expected shock probabilities and associability (uncertainty) to each CS+ paired. Both fear learning parameters positively predicted pain responses. These effects operated in part directly on pain ratings, and in part indirectly by facilitating ascending spinal nociceptive activity. The results also showed that the mediation of the effects of fear learning on pain by spinal nociception was enhanced for individuals reporting more trait harm vigilance, and decreased for individuals reporting more emotional detachment. In Study 2, we investigated the role of long term mindfulness meditation experience on the effects of fear learning on pain. Eleven experienced meditators (>1000 hours of experience) were tested using the same experimental and analysis protocol as in Study1, and were compared with the meditation-naïve participants from Study1. Compared to controls, experienced meditators showed an overall reduction in pain ratings during fear learning, as well as reduced effects of learning parameters on pain. No effects of fear learning on lower-level spinal or anticipatory learning responses were observed. Finally, Study 3 examined how individual differences in HPA axis reactivity, operationalized by the level of cortisol secreted during the task, affected pain modulation induced by fear-learning (N=23). A similar experimental and analysis protocol as in Studies 1-2 was used with an additional visual CS paired with the US on 100% of trials. Individuals with greater cortisol output during fear conditioning reported a global decrease in pain during the task, and showed a facilitation of defensive spinal responses via fear learning mechanisms. The results of this thesis support the notion of a vicious fear-pain cycle with neuropsychophysiological evidence, and show that this cycle is moderated by certain personality traits, meditation experience, and individual differences in HPA reactivity. Our results also highlight the role of techniques based on acceptation and mindfulness meditation to break the fear-pain cycle and prevent/treat pathological manifestations of repeated threat exposure (eg. anxiety, chronic pain)

CUE RECOGNITION DEVELOPMENT AMONG UNDERGRADUATE NURSING STUDENTS

Clinical judgment among nurses is imperative to assure quality, safe healthcare to all. The licensure exam for registered nurses has been criticized for not adequately measuring the clinical judgment needed by entry-level nurses. The National Board of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) responded to this criticism by developing a new Clinical Judgment Measurement Model (CJMM) with measurable cognitive processes, including cue recognition, to be used as a framework for item development on the new licensure exam. Nursing programs must evaluate current teaching and evaluation modalities for alignment with the new CJMM measurable cognitive processes to prepare entry-level nurses for successful completion of the licensure exam and practice. A concept analysis of cue recognition determined the defining attributes, antecedents, and consequences most commonly depicted medical, nursing, occupational therapy, and physical therapy literature. Cue recognition was more clearly defined resulting in an operational definition of cue recognition. The operational definition of cue recognition informs nurse educator of specific measurable criteria to include on student evaluations in areas such as clinical and simulation. In addition, question items on exams can be created on cue recognition using cue recognition defining attributes, antecedents, and consequences. The second paper investigated the effect of using classroom quizzing on the short and long-term cue recognition retrieval of previously learned client cues. Classroom quizzing, a retrieval-based learning strategy, was given to baccalaureate nursing students prior to watching a simulated patient scenario. The posttest scores of the group receiving the classroom quizzing scored lower than the group whom did not receive the classroom quizzing. There was no significant difference in long-term cue recognition ability as measure by retention questions one week after the intervention. The final study examined nurse educators’ knowledge of cue recognition and factors that affect the knowledge of cue recognition. The results revealed a knowledge deficit among nurse educators. Factors that affected the cue recognition knowledge level included years in the educator role, age, and confidence in using cue recognition as a teaching strategy

Effects of Sensory Cues on Product Acceptability and Consumer Perceptions, Emotions, and Behavior

Visual and cognitive cues can affect overall liking (OL) and consumer perceptions, emotions, and behavior. The first study explored the effect of product color difference on the liking, perception, and purchase intent (PI) of cheese-flavored-tortilla chips (CFTC) formulations (A and B) on serving plates (plastic, foam, and paper). Color differences between formulations influenced crunchiness and saltiness liking and perception, which together with overall flavor liking and formulation, mainly determined CFTC OL. Although having similar fracturability (N) and sodium content, formulation A had higher crunchiness and saltiness likings. PI was influenced by crunchiness, saltiness, and OF liking with 37, 49, and 60% increases in PI odds per liking-unit increase, respectively. Plate effect on product liking was minimal. The brighter and less-yellow color of CFTC possibly influenced crunchiness and saltiness liking, which significantly contributed to OL and PI. Sustainable and nutritious edible insects are unfamiliar to Westerners and often associated with negative sentiments. The second and third studies evaluated the effects of disclosing edible-cricket protein (ECP) presence and benefits on chocolate brownies (CB) expected and actual sensory acceptability, consumption intent (CI), PI, sentiments, and variables importance for PI prediction. ECP added to chocolate brownies [0% ECP=CBWO (without) vs 6% ECP=CBW (with) w/w], and disclosed information [no ECP added=(-) vs ECP with benefits=(+), ECP- and ECP+, respectively] yielded CB treatments (CBWO-, CBWO+, CBW-, and CBWO+). Subjects (N=112 female and N=98 male) rated expected and actual likings, selected emotions before- and after-tasting, and determined CI and PI after tasting. Likings were analyzed with mixed-effects ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey’s HSD test. Emotions were evaluated with Cochran’s-Q test and correspondence analysis. Emotions driving/inhibiting mean overall liking (OL) were assessed with penalty-lift analyses using two-sample T-tests. A random forest algorithm predicted PI and estimated variables\u27 importance. Female’s and male’s expected OL were higher for CBWO- than for CBWO+. Females’ actual OL was higher for CBWO than for CBW regardless of the disclosed information but males’ actual OL was identical across treatments. Females exhibited negative-liking disconfirmation for CBW-. In both tasting conditions, the disclosed information affected treatments’ emotional profiles more than formulation. After-tasting “happy” and “satisfied” were critical PI predictors

Forming Impressions on Computer-Mediated Healthcare Peer-Support Systems for Informal Caregivers

The rapid evolution of Information technology (IT) has seen its adoption during many aspects of our lives, including healthcare. Healthcare IT provides the public with access to governmental records, electronic health records, healthcare websites, internet-based medical consultation, and more recently, online peer-support portals. These peer-support portals, which are directed not only towards patients but also caregivers, have been found to be a source of informational and emotional support. In addition, for caregivers who cannot leave their loved ones to access in-person support groups, these online support portals are an important substitute. In these online peer-support portals, informal caregivers interact with one another, providing emotional and personal support, leading to a sense of camaraderie and thereby a social relationship. The contributions on these portals are voluntary, with some members contributing more often than others. The first study in this dissertation focuses on understanding the patterns of interaction between these top contributors, referred to here as peer patrons, and other informal caregivers in terms of the information they provide, and the unique characteristics of the top contributors based on these interactions. Several unique interaction patterns related to peer patrons were found along with information about how peer patrons contribute towards the coping mechanism of informal caregivers. Interface design implications based on these outcomes were discussed. With informal caregivers exchanging not only information and emotional content on online peer-support portals but also forming social relations, it is important to understand how these users form impressions of others based on the information they access. The possible consequences of following healthcare and medical advice posted on these portals further emphasize the need to understand how users form impressions of one another on these portals. The second study in this dissertation focuses on impression formation using profiles based on those of the peer patrons who were the focus of the previous study. This exploratory study brought to light the prominence of the comment content and the profile picture in forming impressions on these portals, thereby supporting literature regarding context effects on impression formation. The final chapter is an intervention-based study investigating factors leading to positive impression formation on online healthcare peer-support portals. It supported the findings from the previous study regarding the importance of comment and profile picture and suggested the use of other peer ratings to solidify impressions formed using the former two cues. Additionally, the contribution of this dissertation to the literature and the improvement of online healthcare peer-support portals is discussed