Using social media to disseminate injury prevention content: Is a picture worth a thousand words?

Social media (SM) offers an opportunity for injury professionals to disseminate reliable safety recommendations to parents, yet little is known about the reach and impact of SM messages on parental safety knowledge and safety behavior adoption. It is also unclear whether electronic health (eHealth) literacy level is associated with understanding of messages. Parents of children (\u3c 7 years) were recruited from a nationally representative consumer panel to complete an online survey assessing their Internet and SM usage and eHealth literacy level using the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS). Participants were shown three safety SM posts where images and text matched or did not match. A post-exposure survey captured participant understanding of SM post message. Five-hundred eighty parents completed the survey. A majority of participants were female (58.6%) with high eHealth literacy (84.5%). Compared to low eHealth literate parents, a larger proportion of high eHealth literate parents correctly identified the message in mismatched posts (safe sleep: p = .0081; poison prevention: p = .0052), while similar proportions of parents with high and low eHealth literacy correctly identified a matched post for bike safety (p = .7022). Within each eHealth literacy level, high eHealth literate parents were more often able to correctly identify SM post messaging when the photo and text matched. Parents are using SM to acquire safety, health, and parenting information; therefore, it is incumbent upon disseminators to create content with clear messages. SM posts should utilize matching text with imagery that illustrates the recommended safety behavior to facilitate parental understanding of safety recommendations, regardless of audience eHealth literacy level

"The resurrection after the old has gone and the new has come": understanding narratives of forgiveness, redemption and resurrection in Christian individuals serving time in custody for a sexual offence

Research has shown how religion is associated with numerous positive effects including enhanced mood, increased feelings of hope, increased altruistic behaviour, improved ability to cope and also reducing people’s involvement in delinquent and criminal behaviour. However, this has also been contested with some arguing that religion can have criminogenic effects. Whilst there is a growing body of research concerning the effect (criminogenic or positive) of religion on offending, there is currently a paucity of research focusing on sexual offending and religion. The aim of this study was to explore and understand the effects that religious beliefs have on individuals with sexual convictions’ sense of self, identity, their thoughts about the future and on their daily lives in prison. The results focus on a centrally important superordinate theme related to forgiveness and redemption. The analysis unpacks participants’ narratives of forgiveness and the impact such narratives have on participants. A key finding from the data in this study was that religious beliefs and being forgiven by a higher power appeared to facilitate redemptive selves and the enacting of these selves. Implications for practice and limitations are discussed

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

A randomized controlled trial to evaluate the Make Safe Happen® app—a mobile technology-based safety behavior change intervention for increasing parents’ safety knowledge and actions

Abstract Background Many unintentional injuries that occur in and around the home can be prevented through the use of safety equipment and by consistently following existing safety recommendations. Unfortunately, uptake of these safety behaviors is unacceptably low. This paper describes the design of the Make Safe Happen® smartphone application evaluation study, which aims to evaluate a mobile technology-based safety behavior change intervention on parents’ safety knowledge and actions. Methods Make Safe Happen® app evaluation study is a randomized controlled trial. Participants will be parents of children aged 0–12 years who are recruited from national consumer online survey panels. Parents will complete a pretest survey, and will be randomized to receive the Make Safe Happen® app or a non-injury-related app, and then complete a posttest follow-up survey after 1 week. Primary outcomes are: (1) safety knowledge; (2) safety behaviors; (3) safety device acquisition and use, and (4) behavioral intention to take safety actions. Results Anticipated study results are presented. Conclusions Wide-reaching interventions, to reach substantial parent and caregiver audiences, to effectively reduce childhood injuries are needed. This study will contribute to the evidence-base about how to increase safety knowledge and actions to prevent home-related injuries in children. Trial registration number NCT02751203; Pre-results

I’m a reddie and a Christian! Identity negotiations amongst first-year university students

Currently, there exists relatively scant sociological research on the identities of first-year UK university students, and specifically those holding a strong Christian identity. Employing a symbolic interactionist framework, this article explores issues of identity construction amongst a group of first-year undergraduate students based at a UK university, who self-identify as committed Christians. Based on a qualitative, exploratory study of the transition experiences of first-year students living on campus, the authors examine students' accounts of identity, transition, negotiation and confirmation. After an initial period of anxiety and uncertainty vis-à-vis establishing new identities, participants recounted themes of commitment to Christian identity, and considered that they had been accepted and integrated into the ‘jock’ campus subculture despite transgressing certain of its values and norms, primarily those ‘commanding’ heavy drinking