236 research outputs found

    Evaluating a Domestic Violence Task Force: Methods to Strengthen a Community Collaboration

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    A domestic violence collaborative was surveyed to evaluate and make recommendations for strengthening membership, structure, and cohesiveness. The article presents the evaluation methods, key findings, recommendations, and the outcome of their implementation. Areas identified for improvement include: membership diversification, membership-driven agenda, improved sub-committees, and increased community involvement through outreach. A revised meeting format, agenda setting strategy, sub-committee parameters, and the addition of quarterly meetings were recommended and implemented. This model received positive feedback as a method to strengthen collaboratives. The case study demonstrates how evaluation research can be linked to practice to make real improvements to a community collaborative

    Increasing Self-Regulatory Energy Using an Internet-Based Training Application Delivered by Smartphone Technology

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    Self-control resources can be defined in terms of “energy.” Repeated attempts to override desires and impulses can result in a state of reduced self-control energy termed “ego depletion” leading to a reduced capacity to regulate future self-control behaviors effectively. Regular practice or “training” on self-control tasks may improve an individual's capacity to overcome ego depletion effectively. The current research tested the effectiveness of training using a novel Internet-based smartphone application to improve self-control and reduce ego depletion. In two experiments, participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental group, which received a daily program of self-control training using a modified Stroop-task Internet-based application delivered via smartphone to participants over a 4-week period, or a no-training control group. Participants assigned to the experimental group performed significantly better on post-training laboratory self-control tasks relative to participants in the control group. Findings support the hypothesized training effect on self-control and highlight the effectiveness of a novel Internet-based application delivered by smartphone as a practical means to administer and monitor a self-control training program. The smartphone training application has considerable advantages over other means to train self-control adopted in previous studies in that it has increased ecological validity and enables effective monitoring of compliance with the training program

    The omnivorous Tyrolean Iceman: colon contents (meat, cereals, pollen, moss and whipworm) and stable isotope analyses

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    The contents of the colon of the Tyrolean Iceman who lived Ga. 5300 years ago include muscle fibres, cereal remains, a diversity of pollen, and most notably that of the hop hornbeam (Ostrya carpinifolia) retaining cellular contents, as well as a moss leaf (Neckera complanata) and eggs of the parasitic whipworm (Trichuris trichiura). Based almost solely on stable isotope analyses and ignoring the work on the colon contents, two recently published papers on the Iceman's diet draw ill- founded conclusions about vegetarianism and even veganism. Neither the pollen nor the moss is likely to have been deliberately consumed as food by the Iceman. All the available evidence concerning the Iceman's broad-based diet is reviewed and the significance of the colon contents for matters other than assessment of food intake is outlined

    “F*ck it! Let’s get to drinking – poison our livers!”: a thematic analysis of alcohol content in contemporary YouTube music videos

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    Purpose: To describe the portrayal of alcohol content in popular YouTube music videos. Methods: We used inductive thematic analysis to explore the lyrics and visual imagery in 49 UK Top 40 songs and music videos previously found to contain alcohol content, and watched by many British adolescents aged between 11-18 years, and to examine if branded content contravened alcohol industry advertising codes of practice. Results: The analysis generated three themes. First, alcohol content was associated with sexualised imagery or lyrics and the objectification of women. Second, alcohol was associated with image, lifestyle and sociability. Finally, some videos showed alcohol overtly encouraging excessive drinking and drunkenness, including those containing branding, with no negative consequences to the drinker. Conclusion: Our results suggest that YouTube music videos promote positive associations with alcohol use. Further, several alcohol companies adopt marketing strategies in the video medium that are entirely inconsistent with their own or others agreed advertising codes of practice. We conclude that, as a harm reduction measure, policies should change to prevent adolescent exposure to the positive promotion of alcohol and alcohol branding in music videos

    Evaluation of a nudge intervention providing simple feedback to clinicians of the consequence of radiation exposure on demand for computed tomography: a controlled study

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    Computerised tomography (CT) is readily available in developed countries. As one of the side-effects includes an increased risk of cancer, interventions that may encourage more judicious use of CT scans are important. Behavioural economics theory includes the use of nudges that aim to help more informed decisions to be made, although these have been rarely used in hospitals to date. We aimed to evaluate the impact of a simple educational message appended to the CT scan report on subsequent numbers of CT scans completed using a controlled interrupted time series design based in two teaching hospitals in X. The intervention was the addition of a non-directional educational message on the risk of ionising radiation to all CT scan reports. There was a statistically significant reduction in the number of CT scans requested in the intervention hospital compared to the control hospital (-4.6%, 95% confidence intervals -7.4 to -1.7, p = 0.002) in the 12 months after the intervention was implemented. We conclude that a simple, non-directional nudge intervention has the capacity to modify clinician use of CT scans. This approach is cheap, and has potential in helping support doctors make informed decisions

    Color afterimages in autistic adults

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    It has been suggested that attenuated adaptation to visual stimuli in autism is the result of atypical perceptual priors (e.g., Pellicano and Burr in Trends Cogn Sci 16(10):504–510, 2012. doi:10.​1016/​j.​tics.​2012.​08.​009). This study investigated adaptation to color in autistic adults, measuring both strength of afterimage and the influence of top-down knowledge. We found no difference in color afterimage strength between autistic and typical adults. Effects of top-down knowledge on afterimage intensity shown by Lupyan (Acta Psychol 161:117–130, 2015. doi:10.​1016/​j.​actpsy.​2015.​08.​006) were not replicated for either group. This study finds intact color adaptation in autistic adults. This is in contrast to findings of attenuated adaptation to faces and numerosity in autistic children. Future research should investigate the possibility of developmental differences in adaptation and further examine top-down effects on adaptation
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