Longitudinal Patterns of Sexually Transmitted Infection Risk Based on Psychological Characteristics and Sexual Behavior in Heterosexual Sexually Transmitted Infection Clinic Visitors

Sources of Funding: The Strategic Programme (SPR) of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) provided funding for this study (project number S/113004/01/IP).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Development of a framework to guide research into policies promoting physical activity and healthy diets in the European context: the system-based Policy Evaluation Network (PEN) framework

BACKGROUND: The Policy Evaluation Network (PEN) is a multidisciplinary Pan-European research consortium focussing on policies affecting dietary intake, physical activity and sedentary behaviour. At the start, the PEN consortium expressed the need for an overarching, system-based framework covering the complexities between the different domains of the policy process (design, implementation and outcomes) in order to execute all research activities in a coherent way. This article describes the PEN framework itself and its development process. METHODS: A staged approach to the development of a system-based framework was executed between February 2019 and February 2022. We started with a point-of-departure framework, made use of existing models, collected PEN outputs at different project stages (through online meetings, e-mail exchanges and workshops with PEN researchers) and drew updated versions of the framework, which resulted in the system-based PEN framework. RESULTS: The system-based PEN framework depicts the policy process as a complex system, visualizing the dynamic interrelations between and within policy domains (i.e. policy design, policy implementation and policy outcomes), the ways they interact with the context, and how to assure a focus on equity in each domain. CONCLUSIONS: The system-based PEN framework may guide researchers and professionals involved in the evaluation of health- or sustainability-related policies to consider their evaluation in a comprehensive picture, including domain interactions, contextual influences and equity considerations, as these can have important implications for the scope of their research. The stage-based process as applied for the development of the PEN framework can serve as a template for other research projects wishing to develop their own framework

Applying a systems perspective to understand the mechanisms of the European School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme

Background For the past two decades, the percentage of European children who consume fruit daily has remained at around 40%, despite numerous school-based policy efforts and interventions. This study aimed to apply a systems approach to provide an integrated perspective of the mechanisms of the European School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme (the Scheme) to understand better how to increase its long-term impact on children’s fruit and vegetable consumption. Methods We developed a causal loop diagram by synthesizing peer-reviewed articles and national government documents related to the Scheme, following the conceptualization steps of system dynamics. The initial causal loop diagrams were then validated in three stages by consulting with experts (two individuals and a group) in school-based fruit and vegetable programmes, children's fruit and vegetable consumption and the Scheme, using disconfirmatory interview guidelines. Results The findings suggest that a central self-reinforcing mechanism through which children socialize during fruit and vegetable consumption is critical in the habituation process. Additionally, the initial increase in children’s fruit and vegetable consumption following the Scheme implementation is due to growth in three self-reinforcing loops related to motivation and capability mechanisms; however, this trend gradually slows and stops due to four balancing feedback loops with alternative goals related to opportunity mechanisms that reach their limits. Conclusions The scheme's design should incorporate activities that align the objectives of the implementers and recipients of the Scheme at all levels. This alignment should provide children with ongoing opportunities to consume fruits and vegetables and strengthen the motivation and capability mechanisms.publishedVersio

A toy or a friend? Children's anthropomorphic beliefs about robots and how these relate to second-language word learning

This study investigates the degree to which children anthropomorphize a robot tutor and whether this anthropomorphism relates to their vocabulary learning in a second-language (L2) tutoring intervention. With this aim, an anthropomorphism questionnaire was administered to 5-year-old children (N = 104) twice: prior to and following a seven-session L2 vocabulary training with a humanoid robot. On average, children tended to anthropomorphize the robot prior to and after the lessons to a similar degree, but many children changed their attributed anthropomorphic features. Boys anthropomorphized the robot less after the lessons than girls. Moreover, there was a weak but significant positive correlation between anthropomorphism as measured before the lessons and scores on a word-knowledge post-test administered the day after the last lesson. There was also a weak but significant positive correlation between the change in anthropomorphism over time and scores on a word-knowledge post-test administered approximately 2 weeks after the last lesson. Our results underscore the need to manage children's expectations in robot-assisted education. Also, future research could explore adaptations to individual children's expectations in child-robot interactions

Teaching Turkish‐Dutch kindergartners Dutch vocabulary with a social robot:Does the robot's use of Turkish translations benefit children's Dutch vocabulary learning?

Providing first language (L1) translations in L2 vocabulary interventions may be beneficial for L2 vocabulary learning. However, in linguistically diverse L2 classrooms, teachers cannot provide L1 translations to all children. Social robots do offer such opportunities, as they can be programmed to speak any combination of languages. This study investigates whether providing L1 translations in a robot-assisted L2 vocabulary training facilitates children's learning. Participants were Turkish-Dutch kindergartners (n = 67) who were taught six Dutch (L2) words for which they knew the L1 (Turkish), but not the L2 Dutch form. Half of these words were taught by a Turkish-Dutch bilingual robot, alongside their Turkish translations; the other half by a monolingual Dutch robot. Children also completed Dutch and Turkish receptive vocabulary tests. Results of generalized linear regression models indicated better performance in the Dutch-only condition than in the Turkish-Dutch condition. Children with well-developed Turkish and Dutch vocabulary knowledge outperformed children with less well-developed vocabulary knowledge. The majority of children preferred working with the bilingual robot, but children's preference did not affect word learning. Thus, contrary to our prediction, we found no evidence for a facilitating effect of providing L1 translations through a robot on bilingual children's L2 word learning

Explicit Relationship Agreements and HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Use by Gay and Bisexual Men in Relationships

Relationship agreements are important for HIV prevention among gay and bisexual men (GBM) in relationships, with research earlier in the HIV epidemic often finding that agreements specified monogamy or condom use with casual partners. There is evidence that HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has shifted sexual practices among some men in relationships, such as allowing condomless sex with casual partners, but there has been little attention paid to relationship agreements among GBM who use PrEP. In this paper, we analyzed national, Australian, cross-sectional data from an online survey completed by non-HIV-positive GBM in 2021 (N = 1,185). Using logistic regression, we identified demographic characteristics, sexual practices and the types of relationship agreement that were associated with PrEP use among GBM in relationships. Using Pearson’s chi-squared tests, we explored whether PrEP users in relationships reported similar sexual practices to PrEP users not in relationships. PrEP use among GBM in relationships was independently associated with older age, identifying as gay, being in a non-monogamous relationship, having a spoken (explicit) relationship agreement, having a primary HIV-negative partner taking PrEP or a primary partner living with HIV, reporting recent condomless casual sex, reporting an STI diagnosis in the past year, and knowing at least one other PrEP user. We found that PrEP users in relationships had similar sexual practices to PrEP users not in relationships. GBM in relationships who have casual sex and who meet PrEP suitability criteria may be good candidates for PrEP. Our findings suggest that explicit relationship agreements remain important for HIV prevention, and they support PrEP use among GBM in relationships

Community, work, and family in times of COVID-19

We are living in challenging and uncertain times. At the time this article was edited, there were already more than 2.4 million confirmed cases of the corona virus (COVID-19) (World Health Organization, 2020). Nearly every country across the globe is struggling to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus and limit its health, societal, and economic consequences. The full impact on community, work, family, and its intersections is not yet clear. As the Editorial Board of Community, Work & Family, we share a deep concern for the potential impact of this global health pandemic. We similarly stand in awe to all the communities, workers, and families doing their utmost to combat it.In this article, we do not attempt to provide definitive answers or even recommendations to address the problems we are witnessing. We do, however, feel the need to raise a collective voice about the significant potential for increased inequality. COVID-19 is not a great leveler. In all likelihood, COVID-19 will exacerbate existing inequalities, both in its immediate consequences resulting from the drastic measures taken to contain its spread, as well as its potential long-term consequences. These inequalities may take many forms. We highlight a number of them here as they relate to this journal’s focus on community, work, and family

Engagement in longitudinal child-robot language learning interactions: Disentangling robot and task engagement

This study investigated a seven sessions interaction between a peer-tutor robot and Dutch preschoolers (5 years old) during which the children learned English. We examined whether children’s engagement differed when interacting with a tablet and a robot using iconic gestures, with a tablet and a robot using no iconic gestures and with only a tablet. Two engagement types were annotated (task engagement and robot engagement) using a novel coding scheme based on an existing coding scheme used in kindergartens. The findings revealed that children’s task engagement dropped over time in all three conditions, consistent with the novelty effect. However, there were no differences between the different conditions for task engagement. Interestingly, robot engagement showed a difference between conditions. Children were more robot engaged when interacting with a robot using iconic gestures than without iconic gestures. Finally, when comparing children’s word knowledge with their engagement, we found that both task engagement and robot engagement were positively correlated with children’s word retention

Designing and Evaluating Iconic Gestures for Child-Robot Second Language Learning

In this paper, we examine the process of designing robot-performed iconic hand gestures in the context of a long-Term study into second language tutoring with children of approximately 5 years old. We explore four factors that may relate to their efficacy in supporting second language tutoring: The age of participating children; differences between gestures for various semantic categories, e.g. measurement words, such as small, versus counting words, such as five; the quality (comprehensibility) of the robot's gestures; and spontaneous reenactment or imitation of the gestures. Age was found to relate to children's learning outcomes, with older children benefiting more from the robot's iconic gestures than younger children, particularly for measurement words. We found no conclusive evidence that the quality of the gestures or spontaneous reenactment of said gestures related to learning outcomes. We further propose several improvements to the process of designing and implementing a robot's iconic gesture repertoire

Human preparedness: Relational infrastructures and medical countermeasures in Sierra Leone.

This paper examines health worker experiences in two areas of post-epidemic preparedness in Sierra Leone - vaccine trials and laboratory strengthening - to reflect on the place of people in current models of epidemic response. Drawing on ethnographic research and interviews with health workers in the aftermath of Ebola, it explores the hopes and expectations that interventions foster for frontline workers in under-resourced health systems, and describes the unseen work involved in sustaining robust response infrastructures. Our analysis focuses on what it means for the people who sustain health systems in an emergency to be 'prepared' for an epidemic. Human preparedness entails more than the presence of a labour force; it involves building and maintaining 'relational infrastructures', often fragile social and moral relationships between health workers, publics, governments, and international organisations. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the value of rethinking human resources from an anthropological perspective, and investing in the safety and support of people at the forefront of response. In describing the labour, personal losses, and social risks undertaken by frontline workers for protocols and practicality to meet in an emergency context, we describe the social process of preparedness; that is, the contextual engineering and investment that make response systems work