In the Archives

My second collection of poetry, In the archives represents a bridge between my first collection of poems, Lit interim, and my newest, Myths and miscellany. In In the archives, the central metaphor is that of the archives: which can be a metaphor for memory, for how we store and organize knowledge, a metaphor for the place where poetry is made. In this collection, my concerns with formal characteristics of the poems is beginning to fade, though there are still remnants of such concerns, particularly in the serial poem, Tracking sites, whose location on the page is determined by the dominant preposition in the almost Steinian repetition of those words. Other themes of organization, such as inventories, variations, briefs, sites, imperatives, and versions dominate the work, as if they could perhaps offer some insight into how we think, how we create, how poesis happens; This collection takes as its backdrop the current war(s) in the Middle East, living in a Western city, strange libraries occupied by half-presences, tulip bulbs struggling from their winter stasis, and strange worlds inhabited by unnamed barbarians up to some unclear crimes against humanity. These are poems struggling to free themselves from the mechanized world, poems that wish to return to a more pastoral version of themselves. Perhaps, though, such a return is impossible

Social Comparison Theory in the Context of Chronic Illness: Predictors and Consequences of Target Selection among Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes

Individuals often compare themselves to others (i.e., social comparisons) in order to determine their status in a given domain. Social comparisons may be particularly important for patients with chronic illness; patients often experience uncertainty and anxiety about their health, which increase the likelihood and utility of social comparisons. Among patients, social comparisons can have both positive and negative health-related consequences (for affect, motivation to improve one\u27s health care behaviors, etc.), depending upon several contextual features. Various steps in the social comparison process have been proposed, but not tested directly. The present study is an examination of the social comparison process among patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) - a condition that is a growing public health concern for which psychosocial interventions can be beneficial. Patient participants used a web-mediated program to self-report individual difference characteristics prior to selecting from four comparison targets (descriptions of other patients with T2DM). Patients then rated their motivations for selection, read a description of their chosen patient, and reported on their response (e.g., current affect, motivation to improve self-care). Patients who endorsed greater symptom severity were more likely to choose sicker comparison targets, but choice was unrelated to personality characteristics. A model that incorporated several individual difference factors thought to be related to social comparison had moderate predictive value for comparison choice. The extent to which patients focused on differences and similarities between themselves and their chosen targets moderated affective and motivational response (respectively). These findings may contribute to the improvement of psychosocial interventions for patients with T2DM and other illnesses (e.g., components of cognitive intervention, educational materials that include patient testimonials, the composition of support groups)

Relations between social comparisons and physical activity among women in midlife with elevated risk for cardiovascular disease: an ecological momentary assessment study.

Women in midlife (ages 40-60) show decreases in physical activity (PA) that exacerbate risk for cardiovascular disease. Social comparisons (i.e., self-evaluations relative to others) are known to influence PA in other groups, but their association in this population is unknown. The present study used ecological momentary assessment to examine this relation among women in midlife with hypertension or another CVD risk condition (N = 75,

Forced Efforts in the Execution of Decisions of the State Administrative Court

The State Administrative Court is the executor of judicial power assigned to examine, decide and resolve State Administrative disputes. This research has two problems: forced attempts to execute the state administrative court's verdict and the obstacles in implementing these forced attempts. The research method is normative legal research called normative juridical research or doctrinal research that looks at the law's objectives, the values of justice, the validity of the rule of law, the law's concept, and legal norms. The implementation of forced efforts against The State Administrative Court decision under Article 116 paragraph (4) of Law Number 51 of 2009 can be applied in executing the State Administrative Court's decision. Institution for forced efforts consists of forced money, administrative sanctions, and announcements/publications important in the effort to force lies in State Administrative Officials' awareness to voluntarily comply with the State Administrative Court's decisions.Keywords: forced effort; execution, court decision

Innovation in Nutrition Promotion : Literature Analysis to Increase Community Awareness and Healthy Practices

The important role of health promotion in improving community welfare has encouraged effective innovation to increase nutritional awareness and healthy lifestyle practices. This research explores recent innovations in health promotion strategies, particularly in nutrition and health, to increase awareness and encourage positive behavioral change. Through comprehensive literature analysis, this research identifies and evaluates approaches such as technology interventions, community-based initiatives, and other new strategies. The results show that innovations such as nutrition promotion media (pop-up books, PGS cards, leaflets, nutrition puzzles, and educational videos) as well as active community participation (FGD and lunch menu practices) and empowering health workers and teachers, have succeeded in increasing knowledge. , attitudes and nutritional behavior of the community. Case studies and successful programs show real improvements in community nutrition practices. However, challenges such as limited sample size, short intervention duration, and methodological obstacles need to be overcome. Based on these findings, further research is recommended focusing on: (1) longitudinal research with larger sample sizes to understand long-term impacts; (2) exploration of contextual factors that influence program effectiveness; (3) evaluate the effectiveness of innovation for vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities or people with low education; (4) evaluation of community empowerment strategies and their impact on local health policies; and (5) exploration of cross-sectoral collaboration for holistic and sustainable nutrition promotion programs. These findings provide valuable insights for practitioners, researchers, and policymakers, and serve as a comprehensive resource for designing programs that increase nutrition awareness and encourage healthy practices in communities

A multi-study approach to refining ecological momentary assessment measures for use among midlife women with elevated risk for cardiovascular disease.

Background: Ample evidence indicates that everyday perceptions of the social environment can affect health behaviors; these include social comparisons (i.e., self-evaluations compared to others) and positive versus negative social interactions. However, relations between social perceptions and healthy behaviors have received little attention among specific medical populations for whom an improved understanding of behavioral determinants could inform updates to tailored interventions. Research methods that capture and differentiate between stable, person-level differences and dynamic, within-person variability in these relations would be particularly useful, both for identifying their nature in daily life and informing improvements to tailored interventions. Methods: We conducted a series of three formative research studies to adapt and test the measures and instructions for an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol with midlife women who had elevated risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD; e.g., current diagnosis of hypertension, type 2 diabetes). Study 1 involved a pilot test of initial EMA items, sent to participants\u27 smartphones 5 times per day for 7 days (N=13; M Results: Item performance in Study 3, including the frequencies of reporting social comparisons and interactions, was compared to that in Study 1 using multilevel modeling; these tests showed meaningful improvement in reporting patterns between Studies 1 and 3 (e.g., changes of d=0.33-0.75 where appropriate). Conclusions: Together, findings from this series of studies demonstrate the utility of a multi-study approach to refining EMA methods for use with midlife women who have elevated CVD risk, which may generalize to other populations of interest

Social Comparison Features in Physical Activity Promotion Apps: Scoping Meta-Review.

BACKGROUND: Smartphone apps promoting physical activity (PA) are abundant, but few produce substantial and sustained behavior change. Although many PA apps purport to induce users to compare themselves with others (by invoking social comparison processes), improvements in PA and other health behaviors are inconsistent. Existing literature suggests that social comparison may motivate PA for some people under some circumstances. However, 2 aspects of work that apply social comparison theory to PA apps remain unclear: (1) how comparison processes have been operationalized or harnessed in existing PA apps and (2) whether incorporating sources of variability in response to comparison have been used to tailor comparison features of apps, which could improve their effectiveness for promoting PA. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this meta-review was to summarize existing systematic, quantitative, and narrative reviews of behavior change techniques in PA apps, with an emphasis on social comparison features, to examine how social comparison is operationalized and implemented. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, and PsycINFO for reviews of PA smartphone apps. Of the 3743 initial articles returned, 26 reviews met the inclusion criteria. Two independent raters extracted the data from these reviews, including the definition of social comparison used to categorize app features, the percentage of apps categorized as inducing comparison, specific features intended to induce comparison, and any mention of tailoring comparison features. For reference, these data were also extracted for related processes (such as behavioral modeling, norm referencing, and social networking). RESULTS: Of the included review articles, 31% (8/26) categorized app features as prompting social comparison. The majority of these employed Abraham and Michie\u27s earliest definition of comparison, which differs from versions in later iterations of the same taxonomy. Very few reviews specified what dimension users were expected to compare (eg, steps, physical fitness) or which features of the apps were used to induce comparison (eg, leaderboards, message boards). No review referenced tailoring of comparison features. In contrast, 54% (14/26) reviews categorized features for prompting behavioral modeling and 31% (8/26) referenced tailoring app features for users\u27 personal goals or preferences. CONCLUSIONS: The heterogeneity across reviews of PA apps and the absence of relevant information (eg, about dimensions or features relevant for comparison) create confusion about how to best harness social comparison to increase PA and its effectiveness in future research. No evidence was found that important findings from the broader social comparison literature (eg, that people have differing preferences for and responses to social comparison information) have been incorporated in the design of existing PA apps. Greater integration of the mobile health (mHealth) and social comparison literatures may improve the effectiveness of PA apps, thereby increasing the public health impact of these mHealth tools. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-https://osf.io/nh4td/

Preferences for Support Resources Among Loved Ones of Adults Prescribed Opioid Medications

The opioid epidemic continues to be a leading cause of overdose and related deaths in America. While most interventions are focused on the individuals with opioid and substance use disorder (OUD/SUD); the impact caregivers and family can have on the treatment of patients with OUD is non-existent. The purpose of this study is to collect pilot data on peers, friends, and family members of patients with SUD/OUD to understand the barriers in psychosocial support and maintaining treatment retention; barriers to accessing medication assisted therapy (MAT) and naloxone; and caregiver fatigue and barriers for caregivers. The collected data will be used to develop a digital health intervention (DHI) in the form of a mobile application/web page. To develop the survey, a review of the current literature on PubMed relating to OUD/SUD and stigma, caregiver fatigue, efficacy of DHIs, readiness to change, and promoting naloxone use was conducted. The results of the review support the fact that caregivers of patients with OUD/SUD experience fatigue and often do not have accurate knowledge of how to help patients. Furthermore, DHIs were found to improve access to treatment and reduce stigma and associated barriers. The next step of the study will be to recruit caregivers, peers, and family members of individuals with OUD to conduct surveys and development of the DHI

Selection of and Response to Physical Activity--Based Social Comparisons in a Digital Environment: Series of Daily Assessment Studies

BACKGROUND: Innovative approaches are needed to understand barriers to and facilitators of physical activity among insufficiently active adults. Although social comparison processes (ie, self-evaluations relative to others) are often used to motivate physical activity in digital environments, user preferences and responses to comparison information are poorly understood. OBJECTIVE: We used an iterative approach to better understand users\u27 selection of comparison targets, how they interacted with their selected targets, and how they responded to these targets. METHODS: Across 3 studies, different samples of insufficiently active college students used the Fitbit system (Fitbit LLC) to track their steps per day as well as a separate, adaptive web platform each day for 7 to 9 days (N=112). The adaptive platform was designed with different layouts for each study; each allowed participants to select their preferred comparison target from various sets of options, view the desired amount of information about their selected target, and rate their physical activity motivation before and after viewing information about their selected target. Targets were presented as achieving physical activity at various levels below and above their own, which were accessed via the Fitbit system each day. We examined the types of comparison target selections, time spent viewing and number of elements viewed for each type of target, and day-level associations between comparison selections and physical activity outcomes (motivation and behavior). RESULTS: Study 1 (n=5) demonstrated that the new web platform could be used as intended and that participants\u27 interactions with the platform (ie, the type of target selected, the time spent viewing the selected target\u27s profile, and the number of profile elements viewed) varied across the days. Studies 2 (n=53) and 3 (n=54) replicated these findings; in both studies, age was positively associated with time spent viewing the selected target\u27s profile and the number of profile elements viewed. Across all studies, upward targets (who had more steps per day than the participant) were selected more often than downward targets (who had fewer steps per day than the participant), although only a subset of either type of target selection was associated with benefits for physical activity motivation or behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Capturing physical activity-based social comparison preferences is feasible in an adaptive digital environment, and day-to-day differences in preferences for social comparison targets are associated with day-to-day changes in physical activity motivation and behavior. Findings show that participants only sometimes focus on the comparison opportunities that support their physical activity motivation or behavior, which helps explain previous, equivocal findings regarding the benefits of physical activity-based comparisons. Additional investigation of day-level determinants of comparison selections and responses is needed to fully understand how best to harness comparison processes in digital tools to promote physical activity

The history and future of digital health in the field of behavioral medicine.

Since its earliest days, the field of behavioral medicine has leveraged technology to increase the reach and effectiveness of its interventions. Here, we highlight key areas of opportunity and recommend next steps to further advance intervention development, evaluation, and commercialization with a focus on three technologies: mobile applications (apps), social media, and wearable devices. Ultimately, we argue that future of digital health behavioral science research lies in finding ways to advance more robust academic-industry partnerships. These include academics consciously working towards preparing and training the work force of the twenty first century for digital health, actively working towards advancing methods that can balance the needs for efficiency in industry with the desire for rigor and reproducibility in academia, and the need to advance common practices and procedures that support more ethical practices for promoting healthy behavior