Progress and opportunities in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender health communications

This article describes elements of effective health communication and highlights strategies that may best be adopted or adapted in relation to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations. Studies have documented the utility of multidimensional approaches to health communication from the macro level of interventions targeting entire populations to the micro level of communication between health care provider and consumer. Although evidence of health disparities in LGBT communities underscores the importance of population-specific interventions, health promotion campaigns rarely target these populations and health communication activities seldom account for the diversity of LGBT communities. Advances in health communication suggest promising direction for LGBT-specific risk prevention and health promotion strategies on community, group, and provider/consumer levels. Opportunities for future health communication efforts include involving LGBT communities in the development of appropriate health communication campaigns and materials, enhancing media literacy among LGBT individuals, supporting LGBT-focused research and evaluation of health communication activities, and ensuring that health care providers possess the knowledge, skills, and competency to communicate effectively with LGBT consumers

Patterns of offending behaviour: a sequence analysis approach

Objectives: The main aim of this paper is to understand the pattern of actions involved in offending behaviours, in general. A particular case will be provided: A sequence analysis to describe the timeline of events between individuals deciding to consume alcohol, and then drive a vehicle. Design: The study used a sequence analysis design, in which a series of actions related to drinking alcohol and driving were presented and individuals’ patterns of behaviours investigated. Method: The method involves taking a series of recorded interviews into driving whilst under the influence of alcohol. The current sample of interviews (N=60) were transcribed and analysed until a mutually exclusive and exhaustive list of behaviours was agreed upon. Frequently occurring behaviours were then analyse for significant transitions. Results: Results showed clear patterns of actions in individuals’ choices to consume alcohol and drive a vehicle. A lag one sequential analysis approach was used (i.e., a-b, b-c, c-d). This analysis involves transitions between only the one preceding behaviour (antecedent), to give a chain of events. Transition maps showing the sequence of events were developed to clearly show the patterns of behaviours that lead to driving under the influence of alcohol. Conclusions: The present research highlights the sequences of actions and choices leading up to driving under the influence. The method has implications, which will be discussed, for policy and policing, as well as other related driving offences (i.e., drugs etc.). Limitations related to analysis are discussed and guidance provided. Relation to other areas of Forensic Psychology (i.e., rape cases, violence) will also be outlined

Time-resolved investigation of magnetization dynamics of arrays of non-ellipsoidal nanomagnets with a non-uniform ground state

We have performed time-resolved scanning Kerr microscopy (TRSKM) measurements upon arrays of square ferromagnetic nano-elements of different size and for a range of bias fields. The experimental results were compared to micromagnetic simulations of model arrays in order to understand the non-uniform precessional dynamics within the elements. In the experimental spectra two branches of excited modes were observed to co-exist above a particular bias field. Below the so-called crossover field, the higher frequency branch was observed to vanish. Micromagnetic simulations and Fourier imaging revealed that modes from the higher frequency branch had large amplitude at the center of the element where the effective field was parallel to the bias field and the static magnetization. Modes from the lower frequency branch had large amplitude near the edges of the element perpendicular to the bias field. The simulations revealed significant canting of the static magnetization and the effective field away from the direction of the bias field in the edge regions. For the smallest element sizes and/or at low bias field values the effective field was found to become anti-parallel to the static magnetization. The simulations revealed that the majority of the modes were de-localized with finite amplitude throughout the element, while the spatial character of a mode was found to be correlated with the spatial variation of the total effective field and the static magnetization state. The simulations also revealed that the frequencies of the edge modes are strongly affected by the spatial distribution of the static magnetization state both within an element and within its nearest neighbors

Excitation and Imaging of Precessional Modes in Soft-Magnetic Squares

Copyright © 2008 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.We investigated the high-frequency modes of 40 mum wide, 160 nm thick Fe 70Co8B12Si10 squares using time-resolved scanning Kerr microscopy. Two modes were identified using pulsed field excitation while the spatial character of the out-of-plane and in-plane magnetization component was investigated using harmonic field excitation. The field dependence of the two modes has been fitted using the Damon-Eshbach model

A Sequence Analysis of Nonverbal Behaviour and Deception

The ability to correctly interpret nonverbal communication (NVC) is an important ability in everyday interactions, which may use NVC techniques to identify the concealment of information. In the present study, a novel approach was used to understand NVC. Behavior sequence analysis identified specific sequences of behaviors that indicate psychological distress caused by deception. The study involved the analysis of 55 videos of real criminals and high-power individuals that were filmed fabricating statements, which were later exposed as being untruthful at the time of being filmed. In addition, 53 clips of criminals making truthful statements were also analysed as a contrast group. Results indicated clear differences between honest and deceptive responses, such as furrowing of eyebrows in the deceptive sequences occurring more often than honest statements. In addition, sequences of behaviors were shown in the present data set, which could indicate a new method for analysing NVC and detecting psychological distress caused by deception. The possible implications and applications for police and forensic investigation are also outlined

The effect of men's body attitudes and motivation for gym attendance

The current study integrates men's body attitudes with implicitly and explicitly measured motivation to investigate the role of these factors in predicting gym attendance. Male participants (N = 99) who regularly attended a gym were recruited to participate in an online questionnaire. Participants completed implicit and explicit measures of motivation, explicitly-measured men's body attitudes, and reported the average number of gym visits per week. Attitudes related to body fat and explicitly-measured autonomous motivation significantly predicted typical gym attendance. Implicitly-measured motivation significantly and negatively predicted gym attendance. Results indicate some support for a dual-systems account of gym attendance. Men's body attitudes and autonomous motivation influences gym attendance; however, implicitly-measured motivation showed antagonistic effects. While individuals may explicitly state their autonomous motivation for gym attendance, attendance may be influenced at the explicit level. Health and fitness professionals may improve gym attendance by focusing on people's reasons for attending a gym, facilitating autonomous motivation in clients, and minimising the influence of controlled reasons for exercise

Effects of pretesting implicit self-determined motivation on behavioural engagement: evidence for the mere measurement effect at the implicit level

Research into individuals' intended behavior and performance has traditionally adopted explicitly measured, self-report constructs, and outcomes. More recently, research has shown that completing explicit self-report measures of constructs may effect subsequent behavior, termed the "mere measurement" effect. The aim of the present experiment was to investigate whether implicit measures of motivation showed a similar mere measurement effect on subsequent behavior. It may be the case that measuring the implicit systems affects subsequent implicit interventions (e.g., priming), observable on subsequent behavior. Priming manipulations were also given to participants in order to investigate the interaction between measurement and priming of motivation. Initially, a 2 [implicit association test (IAT: present vs. absent) ×2 (Prime: autonomous vs. absent) and a 2 (IAT: present vs. absent) × 2 (Prime: controlled vs. absent)] between participants designs were conducted, these were them combined into a 2 (IAT: present vs. absent) ×3 (Prime: autonomous vs. controlled vs. absent) between participants design, with attempts at a novel task taken as the outcome measure. Implicit measure completion significantly decreased behavioral engagement. Priming autonomous motivation significantly facilitated, and controlled motivation significantly inhibited performance. Finally, there was a significant implicit measurement × priming interaction, such that priming autonomous motivation only improved performance in the absence of the implicit measure. Overall, this research provides an insight into the effects of implicit measurement and priming of motivation and the combined effect of completing both tasks on behavior