Where do US mothers go on the internet to get information?

Parents are increasingly looking to the internet for information, help and advice. Juyoung Jang, Jodi Dworkin and Heather Hessel explore the varying online spaces mothers, in particular, visit, and how they can be effectively supported in their parenting roles. Juyoung is a Visiting Scholar in the Chao Center for Asian Studies at Rice University, where she was a postdoctoral fellow, Jodi is an Associate Professor and Extension Specialist in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota, and Heather is a doctoral student in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota

MTurk 101: An Introduction to Amazon Mechanical Turk for Extension Professionals

Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is an online marketplace for labor recruitment that has become a popular platform for data collection. In particular, MTurk can be a valuable tool for Extension professionals. As an example, MTurk workers can provide feedback, write reviews, or give input on a website design. In this article we discuss the many uses of MTurk for Extension professionals and provide best practices for its use

An immune dysfunction score for stratification of patients with acute infection based on whole-blood gene expression

Dysregulated host responses to infection can lead to organ dysfunction and sepsis, causing millions of global deaths each year. To alleviate this burden, improved prognostication and biomarkers of response are urgently needed. We investigated the use of whole-blood transcriptomics for stratification of patients with severe infection by integrating data from 3149 samples from patients with sepsis due to community-acquired pneumonia or fecal peritonitis admitted to intensive care and healthy individuals into a gene expression reference map. We used this map to derive a quantitative sepsis response signature (SRSq) score reflective of immune dysfunction and predictive of clinical outcomes, which can be estimated using a 7- or 12-gene signature. Last, we built a machine learning framework, SepstratifieR, to deploy SRSq in adult and pediatric bacterial and viral sepsis, H1N1 influenza, and COVID-19, demonstrating clinically relevant stratification across diseases and revealing some of the physiological alterations linking immune dysregulation to mortality. Our method enables early identification of individuals with dysfunctional immune profiles, bringing us closer to precision medicine in infection.peer-reviewe

Mapping The Family Network Of Emerging Adults: Closeness With Extended Family And The Role Of Communication Technology

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. May 2018. Major: Family Social Science. Advisor: Jodi Dworkin. 1 computer file (PDF); ix, 113 pages.Emerging adulthood is a unique life stage that has changed dramatically, in part due to the widespread adoption of communication technology. Despite studies showing that emerging adults are communicating with extended family using technology, research on connections with extended family is lacking. To address this gap, two studies explore emerging adults’ connectedness with extended family using intergenerational solidarity theory as the primary theoretical framework. In Study 1, a sample of emerging adults (18 – 29 years; n = 766) identified up to 12 family members (M = 7.98; SD = 3.85) who played a role in their life over the past year, categorizing them as “immediate” or “extended” family; the most frequent roles were cousin (17.3%), parent (17.1%), aunt/uncle (16.6%), and sibling (16.2%). A latent class analysis using the subsample of participants (n = 532) with at least one extended family member revealed four groups based on eight indicators of connectedness with extended family: 1) Highly connected (18%), 2) Close; technologically connected (17%), 3) Distant; technologically connected (36%), and 4) Distant (28%). Regression analyses and equality of means tests were conducted in Study 2 to explore predictor and outcome variables for class membership. Results showed differences by gender and college status. Participants in the “Close; technologically connected” class reported lower emotional, psychological, and social well-being than the “Distant” or “Distant; technologically connected” classes. Participants in the “Highly connected” class reported lower social well-being than the “Distant; technologically connected” class and lower psychological and social well-being than the “Distant” class. Findings support the idea that extended family members influence the lives of emerging adults and that technology is an important means of connecting. The typology that emerged from the latent class analysis supports the idea that both the opportunity to interact and the interactions themselves are different for in-person exchanges and online contact. In contrast with less frequent in-person interactions, nearly three-quarters of emerging adults reported frequent contact with extended family using technology, regardless of feelings of closeness or similarity with those relatives. Results support a view of family relationships that proposes value in varying levels of closeness and that lacking closeness with extended family may not be inappropriate during this life stage

Resource Discovery: Comparative Results on Two Catalog Interfaces

Like many libraries, the University of Minnesota Libraries-Twin Cities now offers a next-generation catalog alongside a traditional online public access catalog (OPAC). One year after the launch of its new platform as the default catalog, usage data for the OPAC remained relatively high, and anecdotal comments raised questions. In response, the Libraries conducted surveys that covered topics such as perceptions of success, known-item searching, preferred search environments, and desirable resource types. Results show distinct differences in the behavior of faculty, graduate student, and undergraduate survey respondents, and between library staff and non-library staff respondents. Both quantitative and qualitative data inform the analysis and conclusions

WHEN THE TEACHER BECOMES THE STUDENT: YOUTH IMPACT ON PARENT TECHNOLOGY USE

We are only beginning to understand the ways in which young people are introducing technologies into the family system and the ways that is impacting family relationships. What seems clear is that the face-to-face relationship does not translate directly to the online context, and online communication is not completely replacing in-person family relationships. Despite the lack of existing research, it is reasonable to expect that family relationships impact how youth and parents use online media. Building on socialization theory, in the current study we considered the ways in which youth technology use impacts parent technology use in parent-child dyads from India and the U.S. (98 dyads; youth: 37% female; mean age=17.3; parents: 54.6% female; mean age=41.5). When considering frequency of six types of technology use in a series of linear regression analyses: 1) general use to look for information, news, and use online tools, 2) audio or video calls, 3) texting, instant messaging, discussion boards, or email, 4) sending or receiving audio or video, and photos, 5) create or maintain blogs, microblogs, or websites, and 6) social networking sites, child technology use accounted for 8.4% to 27.0% of the variance in parent use. Despite the small sample size, it is clear that child technology use is strongly associated with parent use, even when considering diverse ways of using technology. Future research should use longitudinal data to explore how children impact parents’ technology use over time – how that influence changes with age, sociohistorical time and place, and life transitions

College students, texting, and family: “The only way we can goof off and be [family]… because we don’t see each other often.”

Faculty advisor: Dr. Jodi Dworki

A children’s asthma education program: Roaring Adventures of Puff (RAP), improves quality of life

BACKGROUND: It is postulated that children with asthma who receive an interactive, comprehensive education program would improve their quality of life, asthma management and asthma control compared with children receiving usual care