Predicting bystander attitudes using rape myth acceptance and adherence to the commodity model of sex

The high rate of sexual assault on college campuses has become a growing concern among college administrators. To combat the prevalence of sexual assault, colleges and universities have begun implementing mandatory bystander intervention training programs, which teach students to look for warning signs indicative of sexual assault and intervene before an assault occurs. Previous research has indicated that an individual’s endorsement of rape myths may play a role in whether or not that individual will intervene in a situation that may lead to sexual assault; however, little research has investigated from where beliefs in rape myths might stem. Sex educators have asserted that the cultural conception of sex, best defined as a “commodity model”, introduces a narrative surrounding sex that legitimizes and normalizes rape myths. This study sought to quantify adherence to the commodity model of sex through the development of a Commodity Model of Sex Scale, and to identify whether adherence to the commodity model of sex and belief in rape myths could be used to predict participants’ attitudes towards intervening in situations that may lead to sexual assault. Results indicated a moderately strong correlation between rape myth acceptance and endorsement of the commodity model of sex, and that rape myth acceptance most strongly predicted bystander attitudes, given the predictors in the model. Implications of this finding for bystander intervention training and sex education curricula are discussed

Volunteering Among Surviving Spouses: The Impact of Volunteer Activity on the Health of the Recently Widowed

Numerous studies link volunteering to positive mental and physical health for older adults, and recent studies have suggested that volunteering may be particularly beneficial for those who are widowed. This research examines the potential of volunteering to buffer participants from stress-related health declines associated with the death of a spouse. Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this research investigates the moderating role of volunteering on the self-rated health and depressive symptoms of recently widowed older adults. Consecutive waves of the HRS are used to identify respondents who experience the death of a spouse or who remain married, and those married or widowed respondents who participate in volunteer work over a two-year period. Waves 1998 through 2004 are used to construct three observation periods: 1998-2000, 2000-2002, and 2002-2004. A series of logistic and negative binomial regression analyses are used to estimate the direct effect and interactive effect of widowed status and volunteer status on self-rated health and depressive symptoms respectively. Results indicate that while volunteering decreases the odds of being in fair or poor health and decreases the expected number of depressive symptoms for volunteers compared with nonvolunteers, volunteering does not buffer recent widows from declines in self-rated health or reduce the risk of more depressive symptoms. The results do not support the idea that volunteering serves as a source of social support for older adults when dealing with the stress of spousal loss. However, the findings do support the idea that participating in volunteering helps older adults remain socially integrated through a meaningful role in their community

DOES A PERCEIVED CONNECTION TO A NEIGHBORHOOD REDUCE LONELINESS?

This study investigated whether perceived neighborhood quality was associated with chronic loneliness for adults 60 and older in the United States. Although loneliness can be episodic and overcome, chronic loneliness has been identified as a social determinant of health. Utilizing ecological systems theory we hypothesized that higher levels of neighborhood social cohesiveness would be associated with lower odds of chronic loneliness. We postulated that the networks available to people in the proximal area where they live could provide social opportunities for reducing loneliness. This idea was consistent with prior findings indicating the salience of neighborhoods for retirees, but inconsistent with research indicating the importance of a confidant in reducing loneliness. Data from the 2008 and 2012 Health and Retirement Study Psychosocial Surveys were used (n = 3530). Loneliness was measured using the 3-item scale developed by Hughes and colleagues in 2004. Findings from unadjusted logistic regression indicated that loneliness was inversely related to neighborhood cohesion as measured by an index of the trustworthiness, friendliness and helpfulness of neighbors and cleanliness, occupancy, lack of graffiti, and sense of belonging in the area (OR = .73, p < .001). When demographic and health-related factors were entered into the model the odds of being lonely were significantly lower for those with higher ratings of social cohesion (OR = .83, p < .001). These findings were consistent with the idea that neighborhoods are an important social place for older persons and interventions at the neighborhood level may be more effective than individualized treatment plans

If someone cares about you, you are more apt to come around: improving HIV care engagement by strengthening the patient-provider relationship.

Purpose:The patient-provider relationship is a central factor that can promote or hinder long-term engagement in care among people living with chronic illnesses. In this paper, we explore characteristics of the patient-provider relationship that facilitated or hindered engagement in care among patients receiving care at HIV specialty clinics. Patients and methods:We conducted 6 focus group discussions with a total of 43 well-retained and less well-retained HIV+ patients in San Francisco, Seattle, and Birmingham, to elicit a wide range of perspectives on engagement in HIV care. Borrowing from the field of psychotherapy, we examined patient-provider relationship characteristics through the lens of the therapeutic alliance, and with regard to their therapeutic efficacy and impact on patient engagement. Results:The majority of participants emphasized how a strong patient-provider relationship defined by trust, intimacy, and collaboration promoted engagement, while a weak patient-provider relationship impeded engagement. Conclusion:We discuss practical strategies and therapeutic techniques that may be helpful to providers in building strong patient-provider relationship and contend that a strong patient-provider relationship is crucial for patients to feel cared for during clinical encounters, which can promote long-term and sustained engagement in HIV care

Social Work Should Be More Proactive in Addressing the Need to Plan for End of Life

Few people engage in planning for life’s end and the prevalence of preparedness is particularly low in ethnic communities. As a profession, social work is well equipped to help increase planning for life’s end and the care people wish to receive. However, the profession cannot simply defer to those in hospice and palliative care settings to address this issue. There is a need for earlier and equitable access to death preparation, and social workers can be instrumental in helping to insure equal opportunities for proactive planning for death. The ways social work may become more proactive in assisting individuals and families to prepare for the end-of-life are discussed

Drawbacks and benefits associated with inter-organizational collaboration along the discovery-development-delivery continuum: a cancer research network case study

BACKGROUND: The scientific process around cancer research begins with scientific discovery, followed by development of interventions, and finally delivery of needed interventions to people with cancer. Numerous studies have identified substantial gaps between discovery and delivery in health research. Team science has been identified as a possible solution for closing the discovery to delivery gap; however, little is known about effective ways of collaborating within teams and across organizations. The purpose of this study was to determine benefits and drawbacks associated with organizational collaboration across the discovery-development-delivery research continuum. METHODS: Representatives of organizations working on cancer research across a state answered a survey about how they collaborated with other cancer research organizations in the state and what benefits and drawbacks they experienced while collaborating. We used exponential random graph modeling to determine the association between these benefits and drawbacks and the presence of a collaboration tie between any two network members. RESULTS: Different drawbacks and benefits were associated with discovery, development, and delivery collaborations. The only consistent association across all three was with the drawback of difficulty due to geographic differences, which was negatively associated with collaboration, indicating that those organizations that had collaborated were less likely to perceive a barrier related to geography. The benefit, enhanced access to other knowledge, was positive and significant in the development and delivery networks, indicating that collaborating organizations viewed improved knowledge exchange as a benefit of collaboration. ‘Acquisition of additional funding or other resources’ and ‘development of new tools and methods’ were negatively significantly related to collaboration in these networks. So, although improved knowledge access was an outcome of collaboration, more tangible outcomes were not being realized. In the development network, those who collaborated were less likely to see ‘enhanced influence on treatment and policy’ and ‘greater quality or frequency of publications’ as benefits of collaboration. CONCLUSION: With the exception of the positive association between knowledge transfer and collaboration and the negative association between geography and collaboration, the significant relationships identified in this study all reflected challenges associated with inter-organizational collaboration. Understanding network structures and the perceived drawbacks and benefits associated with collaboration will allow researchers to build and funders to support successful collaborative teams and perhaps aid in closing the discovery to delivery gap

Melanoma in individuals with neurofibromatosis type 1: A retrospective study

Background: Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a cancer syndrome associated with many different cancer types. There are limited studies examining melanoma risk in this population. Objective: To identify melanoma cases in NF1 patients and compare melanoma incidence rates relative to a general population sample. Methods: A retrospective single institution case review of 857 NF1 patients (seen from 7/1997 to 7/2017) was conducted. We calculated age- and calendar period-adjusted standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) for white patients &gt;20 years old overall (N=282) and for females (N=156) at their last visit date. We obtained general population melanoma reference rates from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 9 database. Results: Among 857 patients, 52.2% were female, 54% were &lt;20 (mean±sd=10.9±4.6) years old, and 46% were &gt;20 (40.4±14.9) years old at their last visit date. One white female patient had a malignant melanoma diagnosed at 47 years old. The adjusted SIR was 0.97 (95% CI 0.05-4.78) overall (N=282) and 1.62 (95% CI 0.08-7.98) for females (N=156). Conclusions: We did not find statistical evidence for an increased melanoma risk in adults with NF1. However, additional large studies are warranted to clarify whether melanoma risk is increased in NF1 patients

Effects of regional differences and demography in modelling foot-and-mouth disease in cattle at the national scale

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a fast-spreading viral infection that can produce large and costly outbreaks in livestock populations. Transmission occurs at multiple spatial scales, as can the actions used to control outbreaks. The US cattle industry is spatially expansive, with heterogeneous distributions of animals and infrastructure. We have developed a model that incorporates the effects of scale for both disease transmission and control actions, applied here in simulating FMD outbreaks in US cattle. We simulated infection initiating in each of the 3049 counties in the contiguous US, 100 times per county. When initial infection was located in specific regions, large outbreaks were more likely to occur, driven by infrastructure and other demographic attributes such as premises clustering and number of cattle on premises. Sensitivity analyses suggest these attributes had more impact on outbreak metrics than the ranges of estimated disease parameter values. Additionally, although shipping accounted for a small percentage of overall transmission, areas receiving the most animal shipments tended to have other attributes that increase the probability of large outbreaks. The importance of including spatial and demographic heterogeneity in modelling outbreak trajectories and control actions is illustrated by specific regions consistently producing larger outbreaks than others

The Healthy Flea Market

Learn how rural students in Kentucky shared their classroom knowledge by presenting on health topics and new technologies at flea markets, swap meets, and specialty events such as car shows