"Ein System der organisierten Verantwortungslosigkeit" : Prof. Ferdinand Gerlach kritisiert falsche Anreizsysteme und die Kluft zwischen ambulanter und stationärer Versorgung

Prof. Ferdinand Gerlach im Gespräch mit FF-Redakteurin Dr. Anne Hardy

Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Health and Work Performance Questionnaire in German

Background Research interest in presenteeism as a productivity loss has grown given its estimated costs for organizations. To enable researchers in German-speaking countries to compare their findings internationally, a validated German Health and Work Performance Questionnaire (HPQ) version is needed. Methods First, the HPQ was translated from English into German, culturally adapted, and tested using cognitive debriefing in interviews. Second, the structural validity of the item measuring presenteeism as productivity loss was tested. Results Overall, 14 problems with items were identified in the cognitive debriefing. Of these, 57% were comprehension problems. Two of three alternative hypotheses for discriminative validity were accepted. No discrimination was possible for individuals with or without chronic disease. Conclusions The German HPQ has satisfactory cross-cultural validity and can be used to measure overall performance, as well as presenteeism in a specified sample with health problems

Pädagogische Entwicklungsbilanzen an Studienseminaren (PEB-Sem). Auswahl und statistische Analyse der Erhebungsinstrumente

Das Skalenhandbuch stellt die Erhebungsinstrumente aus dem Evaluations- und Forschungsprojekt "Pädagogische Entwicklungsbilanzen an Studienseminaren" (PEB-Sem) dar. Es wird sichtbar, welche theoretischen Konstrukte dem Projekt zugrunde liegen, in welcher Weise die Kompetenzstandards mit den KMK-Standards zur Lehrerbildung kompatibel sind und wie diese in den bisherigen Befragungen bei mehr als 2.400 Referendar/-innen, sowie mehr als 700 Ausbilder/-innen und Mentoren/-innen erfasst wurden. Dazu werden umfangreiche Skalenanalysen durchgeführt und übersichtlich dargestellt (Hauptkomponentenanalysen und Reliabilitätsanalysen). Neben jeweils mehreren Skalen zur Organisation der Arbeit im Studienseminar, zur Beurteilung von Ausbildungstätigkeiten, zur Gestaltbarkeit der individuellen Bedingungen und zum professionellen Selbstverständnis werden 56 einzelne Kompetenzstandards zu vier zentralen Kompetenzbereichen zusammengefasst. Die Skalen sind für die drei beteiligten Personengruppen Referendar/innen, Ausbilder/innen und Mentor/innen dargestellt. (DIPF/Autor

Mental Health First Aid Training for VCU Faculty and Staff

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), an international training program, teaches participants to notice and support individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use issue and connects them to appropriate resources. While resources exist for students, this project aims to implement MHFA as a professional development opportunity for VCU faculty and staff. A successful pilot training held this summer demonstrates the need and desire for training in the VCU community. Evidence shows mental health issues lead to absenteeism, employee turnover and increased healthcare costs, costing organizations billions in recruitment that may have been avoided. Through state partnerships, trainers are available to offer this one-day program multiple times a year

Mitmachen erwünscht

Die Nutzung des Internets ist in der Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung längst kein Novum mehr. Die Anwendungen des Web 2.0 spielen bisher jedoch kaum eine Rolle, obwohl sie die Einbeziehung der Stakeholder in den Prozess der Berichterstattung unterstützen können

Routinely randomize potential sources of measurement reactivity to estimate and adjust for biases in subjective reports

With the advent of online and app-based studies, researchers in psychology are making increasing use of repeated subjective reports. The new methods open up opportunities to study behavior in the field and to map causal processes, but they also pose new challenges. Recent work has added initial elevation bias to the list of common pitfalls; here, higher negative states (i.e., thoughts and feelings) are reported on the first day of assessment than on later days. This article showcases a new approach to addressing this and other measurement reactivity biases. Specifically, we employed a planned missingness design in a daily diary study of more than 1,300 individuals who were assessed over a period of up to 70 days to estimate and adjust for measurement reactivity biases. We found that day of first item presentation, item order, and item number were associated with only negligible bias: Items were not answered differently depending on when and where they were shown. Initial elevation bias may thus be more limited than has previously been reported or it may act only at the level of the survey, not at the item level. We encourage researchers to make design choices that will allow them to routinely assess measurement reactivity biases in their studies. Specifically, we advocate the routine randomization of item display and order, as well as of the timing and frequency of measurement. Randomized planned missingness makes it possible to empirically gauge how fatigue, familiarity, and learning interact to bias responses

Guidelines for precise lime management based on high-resolution soil pH, texture and SOM maps generated from proximal soil sensing data

Soil acidification is caused by natural paedogenetic processes and anthropogenic impacts but can be counteracted by regular lime application. Although sensors and applicators for variable-rate liming (VRL) exist, there are no established strategies for using these tools or helping to implement VRL in practice. Therefore, this study aimed to provide guidelines for site-specific liming based on proximal soil sensing. First, high-resolution soil maps of the liming-relevant indicators (pH, soil texture and soil organic matter content) were generated using on-the-go sensors. The soil acidity was predicted by two ion-selective antimony electrodes (RMSEpH: 0.37); the soil texture was predicted by a combination of apparent electrical resistivity measurements and natural soil-borne gamma emissions (RMSEclay: 0.046 kg kg−1); and the soil organic matter (SOM) status was predicted by a combination of red (660 nm) and near-infrared (NIR, 970 nm) optical reflection measurements (RMSESOM: 6.4 g kg−1). Second, to address the high within-field soil variability (pH varied by 2.9 units, clay content by 0.44 kg kg−1 and SOM by 5.5 g kg−1), a well-established empirical lime recommendation algorithm that represents the best management practices for liming in Germany was adapted, and the lime requirements (LRs) were determined. The generated workflow was applied to a 25.6 ha test field in north-eastern Germany, and the variable LR was compared to the conventional uniform LR. The comparison showed that under the uniform liming approach, 63% of the field would be over-fertilized by approximately 12 t of lime, 6% would receive approximately 6 t too little lime and 31% would still be adequately limed. © 2020, The Author(s)

Early Postnatal but Not Late Adult Neurogenesis Is Impaired in the Pitx3-Mutant Animal Model of Parkinson's Disease

The generation of new neurons in the adult dentate gyrus has functional implications for hippocampal formation. Reduced hippocampal neurogenesis has been described in various animal models of hippocampal dysfunction such as dementia and depression, which are both common non-motor-symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). As dopamine plays an important role in regulating precursor cell proliferation, the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) in PD may be related to the reduced neurogenesis observed in the neurogenic regions of the adult brain: subventricular zone (SVZ) and dentate gyrus (DG). Here we examined adult hippocampal neurogenesis in the Pitx3-mutant mouse model of PD (aphakia mice), which phenotypically shows a selective embryonic degeneration of dopamine neurons within the SN and to a smaller extent in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Proliferating cells were labeled with BrdU in aphakia mice and healthy controls from 3 to 42 weeks of age. Three weeks old mutant mice showed an 18% reduction of proliferating cells in the DG and of 26% in the SVZ. Not only proliferation but also the number of new neurons was impaired in young aphakia mice resulting in 33% less newborn cells 4 weeks after BrdU-labeling. Remarkably, however, the decline in the number of proliferating cells in the neurogenic regions vanished in older animals (8–42 weeks) indicating that aging masks the effect of dopamine depletion on adult neurogenesis. Region specific reduction in precursor cells proliferation correlated with the extent of dopaminergic degeneration in mesencephalic subregions (VTA and SN), which supports the theory of age- and region-dependent regulatory effects of dopaminergic projections. Physiological stimulation of adult neurogenesis by physical activity (wheel running) almost doubled the number of proliferating cells in the dentate gyrus of 8 weeks old aphakia mice to a number comparable to that of wild-type mice, abolishing the slight reduction of baseline neurogenesis at this age. The described age-dependent susceptibility of adult neurogenesis to PD-like dopaminergic degeneration and its responsiveness to physical activity might have implications for the understanding of the pathophysiology and treatment of non-motor symptoms in PD

Towards best practices in research Role of academic core facilities

Peer reviewe