Engaging Undergraduates in Science Research: Not Just About Faculty Willingness.

Despite the many benefits of involving undergraduates in research and the growing number of undergraduate research programs, few scholars have investigated the factors that affect faculty members' decisions to involve undergraduates in their research projects. We investigated the individual factors and institutional contexts that predict faculty members' likelihood of engaging undergraduates in their research project(s). Using data from the Higher Education Research Institute's 2007-2008 Faculty Survey, we employ hierarchical generalized linear modeling to analyze data from 4,832 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty across 194 institutions to examine how organizational citizenship behavior theory and social exchange theory relate to mentoring students in research. Key findings show that faculty who work in the life sciences and those who receive government funding for their research are more likely to involve undergraduates in their research project(s). In addition, faculty at liberal arts or historically Black colleges are significantly more likely to involve undergraduate students in research. Implications for advancing undergraduate research opportunities are discussed

Noncompliance with Antihypertensive Medications: The Impact of Depressive Symptoms and Psychosocial Factors

OBJECTIVE: Addressing the epidemic of poor compliance with antihypertensive medications will require identifying factors associated with poor adherence, including modifiable psychosocial and behavioral characteristics of patients. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study, comparing measured utilization of antihypertensive prescriptions with patients' responses to a structured interview. STUDY POPULATION: Four hundred ninety-six treated hypertensive patients drawn from a large HMO and a VA medical center. DATA COLLECTION: We developed a survey instrument to assess patients' psychosocial and behavioral characteristics, including health beliefs, knowledge, and social support regarding blood pressure medications, , satisfaction with health care, depression symptom severity, alcohol consumption, tobacco use, and internal versus external locus of control. Other information collected included demographic and clinical characteristics and features of antihypertensive medication regimens. All prescriptions filled for antihypertensive medications were used to calculate actual adherence to prescribed regimens in a 365-day study period. MAIN OUTCOME OF INTEREST: Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of antihypertensive compliance, based on ordinal logistic regression models. RESULTS: After adjusting for the potential confounding effects of demographic, clinical, and other psychosocial variables, we found that depression was significantly associated with noncompliance (adjusted OR per each point increase on a 14-point scale, 0.93; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.87 to 0.99); in unadjusted analyses, the relationship did not reach statistical significance. There was also a trend toward improved compliance for patients perceiving that their health is controlled by external factors (adjusted OR per point increase, 1.14; 95% CI, 0.99 to 1.33). There was no association between compliance and knowledge of hypertension, health beliefs and behaviors, social supports, or satisfaction with care. CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptoms may be an underrecognized but modifiable risk factor for poor compliance with antihypertensive medications. Surprisingly, patient knowledge of hypertension, health beliefs, satisfaction with care, and other psychosocial variables did not appear to consistently affect adherence to prescribed regimens

The Effect of Patient Race and Blood Pressure Control on Patient-Physician Communication

Racial disparities in hypertension control contribute to higher rates of cardiovascular mortality among blacks. Patient-physician communication quality is associated with better health outcomes, including blood pressure (BP) control. Both race/ethnicity and BP control may adversely affect communication