A Rubric for Evaluating and Designing Survey Research in Neuropsychology

The current study presents recommended guidelines for neuropsychologists in accordance with best practices used in survey research design and data reporting. Although there have been improvements in the quality of research design and data reporting of neuropsychological surveys over time, several areas are still in need of improvement. A rubric, created from these recommended guidelines, is intended to provide neuropsychologists with an easily accessible tool to help further improve the quality of of survey research in neuropsychology

Mechanisms of Communicating Health Information Through Facebook: Implications for Consumer Health Information Technology Design

Background: Consumer health information technology (IT) solutions are designed to support patient health management and have the ability to facilitate patients\u27 health information communication with their social networks. However, there is a need for consumer health IT solutions to align with patients\u27 health management preferences for increased adoption of the technology. It may be possible to gain an understanding of patients\u27 needs for consumer health IT supporting their health information communication with social networks by explicating how they have adopted and adapted social networking sites, such as Facebook, for this purpose. Objective: Our aim was to characterize patients\u27 use of all communication mechanisms within Facebook for health information communication to provide insight into how consumer health IT solutions may be better designed to meet patients\u27 communication needs and preferences. Methods: This study analyzed data about Facebook communication mechanisms use from a larger, three-phase, sequential, mixed-methods study. We report here on the results of the study\u27s first phase: qualitative interviews (N=25). Participants were over 18, used Facebook, were residents or citizens of the United States, spoke English, and had a diagnosis consistent with type 2 diabetes. Participants were recruited through Facebook groups and pages. Participant interviews were conducted via Skype or telephone between July and September 2014. Data analysis was grounded in qualitative content analysis and the initial coding framework was informed by the findings of a previous study. Results: Participants\u27 rationales for the use or disuse of a particular Facebook mechanism to communicate health information reflected six broad themes: (1) characteristics and circumstances of the person, (2) characteristics and circumstances of the relationship, (3) structure and composition of the social network, (4) content of the information, (5) communication purpose, and (6) attributes of the technology. Conclusions: The results of this study showed that participants consider multiple factors when choosing a Facebook mechanism for health information communication. Factors included what information they intended to share, what they were trying to accomplish, attributes of technology, and attributes and communication practices of their social networks. There is a need for consumer health IT that allows for a range of choices to suit the intersectionality of participants\u27 rationales. Technology that better meets patients\u27 needs may lead to better self-management of health conditions, and therefore, improve overall health outcomes

Health Disparities Between Appalachian and Non-Appalachian Counties in Virginia USA

The examination of health disparities among people within Appalachian counties compared to people living in other counties is needed to find ways to strategically target improvements in community health in the United States of America (USA). Methods: A telephone survey of a random sample of adults living in households within communities of all counties of the state of Virginia (VA) in the USA was conducted. Findings: Health status was poorer among those in communities within Appalachian counties in VA and health insurance did not make a difference. Health perception was significantly worse in residents within communities in Appalachian counties compared to non-Appalachian community residents (30.5 vs. 17.4% rated their health status as poor/fair), and was worse even among those with no chronic diseases. Within communities in Appalachian counties, black residents report significantly better health perception than do white residents. Conclusion: Residents living in communities in Appalachian counties in VA are not receiving adequate health care, even among those with health insurance. More research with a larger ethnic minority sample is needed to investigate the racial/ethnic disparities in self-reported health and health care utilization within communities

Who needs RDD? Combining directory listings with cell phone exchanges for an alternative telephone sampling frame

Abstract The traditional Random Digit Dialing method (list-assisted RDD using a frame of landline phone numbers) is clearly under threat. The difficulty and costs of completing telephone surveys have increased due to rising rates of refusal and non-contact. The completeness of coverage of list-assisted RDD samples has diminished due to the proliferation of cell-phone only households. The ability of list-assisted RDD to capture young, mobile, unmarried, and minority households is thus diminishing as well. Increasingly, survey researchers have been adding a cell phone component to their sampling frames for telephone surveys, despite the increased costs and other issues associated with RDD calling of cell phones.Recent research by Guterbock, Oldendick, and others has explored the extent to which “electronic white pages” (EWP) samples really differ from RDD samples. Oldendick et al. and Guterbock, Diop and Holian have emphasized that minority households are seriously underrepresented in EWP samples. Nevertheless, EWP samples have distinct advantages whenever a survey is aimed at a restricted geographic area.This paper considers the feasibility of combining EWP samples with cell-phone RDD, eliminating the ordinary RDD component from the sampling frame. We analyze the components of the telephone population, showing that the proposed method would fail to cover only one segment of the telephone population: unlisted landline households that have no cell phone. We analyze data from the 2006 National Health Interview Study to estimate the size of this segment, its demographic profile, the degree to which selected demographic and health behavior characteristics are different from those in the segments that this sampling strategy would capture, and what biases are present in the various sampling frames of interest. Trend data from the NHIS are used to assess how these biases are changing. A simple cost comparison is made among the RDD, RDD+cell and EWP+cell frames. The proposed alternative “EWP+cell” sampling frame provides relatively small bias compared to RDD+cell at costs comparable to RDD-only designs. The portion of the telephone universe that is excluded in the EWP+cell design is getting smaller all the time, therefore its bias relative to the RDD+cell design is decreasing over time. Overall, the EWP+cell design seems to be a useful alternative

Social Mission Metrics: Developing a Survey to Guide Health Professions Schools.

The social mission, which is focused on advancing social justice and health equity, has gained recognition as an important aspect of health professions education. However, there is currently no established method to measure a school\u27s commitment to these activities. In this Perspective, the authors describe the development of a new tool to measure the social mission at dental, medical, and nursing schools across the United States, and they reflect on the implications of using this tool to deepen discussions around the social mission and strengthen progress toward health equity.From 2016 to 2019, the authors created and field tested the online social mission metrics survey for health professions schools to identify their level of engagement in social mission activities, track that level over time, and compare their progress with that of other schools. The survey measures a school\u27s social mission values, programs, and activities across 6 domains and 18 activity areas. The authors also developed a scoring system based on stakeholder priorities, which they used to provide customized, confidential feedback to the schools that participated in the field tests.Going forward, the authors recommend that schools complete the survey every 3 to 5 years to track their social mission over time, and they plan to expand the survey process to additional dental, medical, and nursing schools as well as to schools in other health professions. The social mission metrics survey is meant to be a useful tool for improving the level and quality of social mission engagement at health professions schools, with the goal of improving the awareness, skills, and commitment of health professionals to health equity

Analysis of Social Mission Commitment at Dental, Medical, and Nursing Schools in the US.

Importance: The COVID-19 pandemic and calls for racial justice have highlighted the need for schools to promote social mission. Measuring social mission engagement and performance in health professions education may encourage institutional efforts to advance health equity and social justice commitments. Objective: To describe the current state of social mission commitment within dental, medical, and nursing schools in the US and to examine how social mission performance compares across school types. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional survey study invited all US dental and medical schools and a subset of baccalaureate- and master\u27s degree-conferring nursing schools to participate in a self-assessment to measure their school\u27s social mission commitment from January 29 through October 9, 2019. The survey measured 79 indicators (with indicators defined as responses to specific scored questions that indicated the state or level of social mission commitment) across 18 areas in 6 domains of school functioning (educational program, community engagement, governance, diversity and inclusion, institutional culture and climate, and research) that have potential to enhance social mission engagement and performance. Individual health professions schools were the unit of analysis, and 689 dental, medical, and nursing schools were invited to participate. School deans and program directors were the primary target respondents because of their broad insight into their school\u27s programs and policies and their ability to request data from various internal sources. Demographic information from respondents was not collected because multiple respondents from an institution could complete different sections of the survey. Main Outcomes and Measures: Survey responses were analyzed to create indicator scores, standardized area scores, and an overall social mission score for each school. Using descriptive analyses, frequency and contingency tables of specific indicators within each area were created, and schools were compared based on ownership status (private or public), Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education research classification group (doctoral university with very high research activity [R1], doctoral university with high [R2] or moderate [R3] research activity, baccalaureate or master\u27s nursing college or university, or special focus institution), and discipline group (dental school, medical school granting doctor of osteopathic medicine [DO] degrees, medical school granting doctor of medicine [MD] degrees, nursing school granting baccalaureate-level degrees, or nursing school granting master\u27s-level degrees). Results: Among 689 invited schools, 242 schools (35.1%) completed the self-assessment survey. Of those, 133 (55.0%) were nursing schools, 83 (34.3%) were medical schools, and 26 (10.7%) were dental schools. Response rates ranged from 133 of 420 invited nursing schools (31.7%) to 83 of 203 invited medical schools (40.9%). Most schools included social determinants of health in their curriculum in either required courses (233 of 242 schools [96.3%]) or elective courses (4 of 242 schools [1.7%]), but only 116 of 235 schools (49.4%) integrated social determinants of health across all years of study. Most schools also included health disparities in either their required courses (232 of 242 [95.9%]) or elective courses (6 of 242 [2.5%]); however, only 118 of 235 schools (50.2%) integrated health disparities across all years of study. In several areas of social mission, public schools performed better than private schools (eg, curriculum: mean [SE] standardized area score, 0.13 [0.07] points vs -0.14 [0.09] points, respectively), and R1 doctoral universities and special focus institutions performed better than R2 and R3 doctoral universities and baccalaureate and master\u27s nursing colleges and universities (eg, extracurricular activities: mean [SE] standardized area score, 0.25 [0.09] points for R1 doctoral universities and 0.20 [0.12] points for special focus institutions vs -0.05 [0.12] points for R2 and R3 doctoral universities and - 0.30 [0.12] points for baccalaureate and master\u27s nursing colleges and universities. Different areas of strength emerged for dental, medical, and nursing schools. For example, in the curriculum area, MD-granting medical schools had a mean (SE) standardized area score of 0.38 (0.08) points, which was significantly higher than the standardized area scores of dental schools (mean [SE], -0.21 [0.14] points), DO-granting medical schools (mean [SE], -0.22 [0.13] points), graduate nursing schools (mean [SE], -0.21 [0.19] points), and undergraduate nursing schools (mean [SE], -0.05 [0.10] points). Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, there was widespread interest from health professions educational leaders in understanding and enhancing social mission commitment. Future work may focus on identifying and promoting best practices using the framework described, providing schools with continued opportunities for self-assessment, and further validating the self-assessment survey