The acculturation effect and eyewitness memory reports among migrants

Purpose: When people migrate to new cultures, they adapt to their new culture while at the same time retaining the norms of their original culture. The phenomenon whereby migrants adapt to the cultural norms of a host culture has been referred to as acculturation. Using a mock witness paradigm, we examined the acculturation effect in the eyewitness memory reports of sub-Saharan African migrants in Western Europe. Methods: We sampled sub-Saharan African migrants in Western Europe, as well as sub-Saharan Africans living in Africa as a control group (total N = 107). The mock witnesses were shown stimuli scenes of crimes in African and Western European settings and provided free and cued recall reports about what they had seen. Results: Central details were reported more than contextual details by both groups of sub-Saharan Africans. Relative to the control group of sub-Saharan Africans living in Africa, sub-Saharan African migrants in Western Europe provided more correct central details in free recall. The longer migrants had resided in Western Europe, the less collectivistic they become. Migrants also provided more elaborate reports the longer their duration of residence in Western Europe. Conclusion: The findings of the current research suggest the new cultural environment of migrants impact their cultural norms, which may have implications for their eyewitness memory reports

Dietary self-care in type 2 diabetes and the role of negative emotions: a Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) perspective

This thesis conducted three studies to explore negative emotions associated with dietary self-care and the role of rational and irrational beliefs in people with type 2 diabetes, from the Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy perspective. The first study employed the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach to explore people's experiences of maintaining good dietary self-care and the role of negative emotions. Guilt, anger, frustration, and feeling irritated, annoyed and depressed were negative emotions resulting from poor dietary self-care and resulting in poor dietary self-care. In study two which employed quantitative methodology, beliefs related to negative emotions were used to develop and validate a diabetes-related food beliefs questionnaire. Rational and irrational food beliefs were held concurrently and associated with distress about dietary restrictions. Irrational food beliefs were also linked to people's dietary self-care activities and dietary self-efficacy. The third study used the experimental method to further test the behavioural and physiological effects of beliefs, using three categories of food pictures. Although rational beliefs were associated with positive emotions, beliefs did not affect electrocortical processing of food pictures. Guilt was associated with high calorie foods and a further distinction was made between the high calorie foods, with larger amplitudes recorded for high-fat savoury foods

Weight perceptions, weight management practices, and nutritional status of emerging adults living in the Accra Metropolis

Abstract Background Many young people have a tendency to be concerned about their physical appearance and undertake practices in order to achieve certain body ideals. There is however limited information from developing countries on the weight perceptions of emerging adults (i.e. individuals leaving the adolescence life stage and preparing to take on adulthood) and whether these opinions influence their nutritional status and weight management practices. This study sought to assess emerging adults’ nutritional status, their weight perceptions and the methods they use to manage their weight. Methods This study was cross-sectional, involving emerging adults (N = 192) recruited at shopping areas in the Accra Metropolis of Ghana. A pretested questionnaire was used to collect information on demographic characteristics, weight perceptions, and weight management strategies. Anthropometric measurements were taken using standard procedures. Descriptive analysis was performed on the demographic data, methods used to manage weight, and weight perceptions. Logistic regression was used to assess possible relationships between weight perceptions and nutritional status as well as weight perceptions and weight management practices. Results The mean age of participants was 21.8(2.2) years with 51.0% of participants being female. Majority of the participants perceived normal weight status as the ideal body for themselves and half of them thought that they were slimmer than they actually were in reality. Three major weight management strategies were identified: engaging in physical activity, dieting and making lifestyle modifications (i.e. changes in normal eating habits coupled with regular physical activity and behavioral changes). Emerging adults who had an inaccurate body image perception were less likely (OR = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.15–0.61) to have a healthy nutritional status than emerging adults who had an accurate body image perception. Conclusion Weight perception was associated with nutritional status. Discussions with nutrition professionals regarding realistic weight ideals would be beneficial for this age-group since half of the study’s participants had inaccurate perceptions about their current weight statuses even though their statuses were normal

Sources of nutrition information and level of nutrition knowledge among young adults in the Accra metropolis

Abstract Background Acquiring accurate and adequate nutrition information is important as it could inform nutritional choices positively and promote the maintenance of a healthy nutritional status. This study assessed a sample of young adults’ nutrition knowledge and identified where they gather information from to guide nutritional choices. Method This was a cross-sectional study involving young adults (N=192) between 18 to 25 years recruited at shopping areas in the Accra Metropolis of Ghana. A pretested questionnaire was used to collect information on demographic characteristics, sources of nutrition information and basic nutrition knowledge. Pearson chi-square test was used to identify possible differences between high and low scorers of the knowledge assessment in terms of their nutrition information acquisition behaviours and logistic regression was conducted to ascertain whether source of nutrition information was related to participants’ nutrition knowledge. Results Online resources were the most popular source (92.7%) used to seek information on nutrition among study participants, and healthcare professionals were perceived to be the most reliable source of nutrition information. Additionally, participants who used healthcare professionals as a source of nutrition information were 61% (95% CI: 0.15-0.99) more likely to have a high nutrition knowledge than participants who did not consult healthcare professionals for nutrition information. Conclusion Online resources serve as a very common source of nutrition information for young adults. Thus, healthcare professionals may need to adopt this as a useful channel to circulate trustworthy nutrition information to this age group

The acculturation effect and eyewitness memory reports among migrants

Purpose When people migrate to new cultures, they adapt to their new culture while at the same time retaining the norms of their original culture. The phenomenon whereby migrants adapt to the cultural norms of a host culture has been referred to asacculturation. Using a mock witness paradigm, we examined the acculturation effect in the eyewitness memory reports of sub-Saharan African migrants in Western Europe. Methods We sampled sub-Saharan African migrants in Western Europe, as well as sub-Saharan Africans living in Africa as a control group (totalN = 107). The mock witnesses were shown stimuli scenes of crimes in African and Western European settings and provided free and cued recall reports about what they had seen. Results Central details were reported more than contextual details by both groups of sub-Saharan Africans. Relative to the control group of sub-Saharan Africans living in Africa, sub-Saharan African migrants in Western Europe provided more correct central details in free recall. The longer migrants had resided in Western Europe, the less collectivistic they become. Migrants also provided more elaborate reports the longer their duration of residence in Western Europe. Conclusion The findings of the current research suggest the new cultural environment of migrants impact their cultural norms, which may have implications for their eyewitness memory reports

Cross-cultural differences in eyewitness memory reports

Increasingly, investigators conduct interviews with eyewitnesses from different cultures. The culture in which people have been socialised can impact the way they encode, remember, and report information about their experiences. We examined whether eyewitness memory reports of mock witnesses from collectivistic (sub-Saharan Africa) and individualistic (Northern Europe) cultures differed regarding quantity and quality of central and background details reported. Mock witnesses (total N = 200) from rural Ghana, urban Ghana, and the Netherlands were shown stimuli scenes of crimes in Dutch and Ghanaian settings and provided free and cued recalls. Individualistic culture mock witnesses reported the most details, irrespective of detail type. For each cultural group, mock witnesses reported more correct central details when crime was witnessed in their own native setting than a non-native setting, though for different recall domains. The findings provide insight for legal and investigative professionals as well as immigration officials eliciting memory reports in cross-cultural contexts