Incorporating Sexual Health Content into the Rehabilitation Counseling Graduate Program Curriculum: A Special Commentary

Sexual health is considered a state of physical, emotional, mental, and social well-being (World Health Organization, 2006). Persons with disabilities are likely to be presumed as sexually inactive, asexual (Rico Alonso et al., 2021; Sant Angelo, 2000), or sexually deviant (Earle, 2001), often leading to their lack of sexual education, an increased risk of sexual exploitation, unwanted pregnancy, or sexually transmitted infections (STIs; Doughty et al., 2017). This commentary addresses three priorities for rehabilitation counseling graduate program curriculum. Clinical priorities should focus on providing persons with disabilities information and education regarding sexual health and wellness. Training priorities should focus on implementation of multicultural competence to holistically support persons with disabilities and understanding their sexual identities to better facilitate successful gainful employment and independent living. Research should prioritize sexual health for persons with disabilities and the association with employment outcomes to create a more inclusive rehabilitation counseling curriculum

Are fast food restaurants an environmental risk factor for obesity?

OBJECTIVE: Eating at "fast food" restaurants has increased and is linked to obesity. This study examined whether living or working near "fast food" restaurants is associated with body weight. METHODS: A telephone survey of 1033 Minnesota residents assessed body height and weight, frequency of eating at restaurants, and work and home addresses. Proximity of home and work to restaurants was assessed by Global Index System (GIS) methodology. RESULTS: Eating at "fast food" restaurants was positively associated with having children, a high fat diet and Body Mass Index (BMI). It was negatively associated with vegetable consumption and physical activity. Proximity of "fast food" restaurants to home or work was not associated with eating at "fast food" restaurants or with BMI. Proximity of "non-fast food" restaurants was not associated with BMI, but was associated with frequency of eating at those restaurants. CONCLUSION: Failure to find relationships between proximity to "fast food" restaurants and obesity may be due to methodological weaknesses, e.g. the operational definition of "fast food" or "proximity", or homogeneity of restaurant proximity. Alternatively, the proliferation of "fast food" restaurants may not be a strong unique cause of obesity

A communal catalogue reveals Earth's multiscale microbial diversity

Our growing awareness of the microbial world's importance and diversity contrasts starkly with our limited understanding of its fundamental structure. Despite recent advances in DNA sequencing, a lack of standardized protocols and common analytical frameworks impedes comparisons among studies, hindering the development of global inferences about microbial life on Earth. Here we present a meta-analysis of microbial community samples collected by hundreds of researchers for the Earth Microbiome Project. Coordinated protocols and new analytical methods, particularly the use of exact sequences instead of clustered operational taxonomic units, enable bacterial and archaeal ribosomal RNA gene sequences to be followed across multiple studies and allow us to explore patterns of diversity at an unprecedented scale. The result is both a reference database giving global context to DNA sequence data and a framework for incorporating data from future studies, fostering increasingly complete characterization of Earth's microbial diversity.Peer reviewe

A communal catalogue reveals Earth’s multiscale microbial diversity

Our growing awareness of the microbial world’s importance and diversity contrasts starkly with our limited understanding of its fundamental structure. Despite recent advances in DNA sequencing, a lack of standardized protocols and common analytical frameworks impedes comparisons among studies, hindering the development of global inferences about microbial life on Earth. Here we present a meta-analysis of microbial community samples collected by hundreds of researchers for the Earth Microbiome Project. Coordinated protocols and new analytical methods, particularly the use of exact sequences instead of clustered operational taxonomic units, enable bacterial and archaeal ribosomal RNA gene sequences to be followed across multiple studies and allow us to explore patterns of diversity at an unprecedented scale. The result is both a reference database giving global context to DNA sequence data and a framework for incorporating data from future studies, fostering increasingly complete characterization of Earth’s microbial diversity

The compatibility of self-sacrifice and self-interest: Social and psychological supports of helping in social relationships.

The central issue addressed in this dissertation is the paradox proposed by the prevalence of helping: how can self-sacrificing behavior be maintained? The theoretical model I propose (Chapter 1) holds that early in the evolutionary history of human social life, in small group environments conducive to reciprocity, helping was compensated by inclusive fitness-enhancing benefits. Under these conditions, social and psychological processes developed that encouraged helpers to incur the cost of helping and provided immediate rewards. These processes continue to operate in the radically changed current human environment, supporting helping even among strangers. In an empirical study (Chapter 2) participants described incidents of helping actually given and received with close friends, casual acquaintances, and strangers, providing a broad range of naturally occurring helping behaviors. I sorted these incidents into 72 homogeneous categories of helping behavior and , in a second study, participants rated the 72 helping behaviors on 22 diverse characteristics. A factor analysis of the helping behaviors yielded four factors: Casual, Substantial Personal, Emotional, and Emergency helping. A study of the perceived cost to the helper and benefit to the recipient of actually experienced helping behaviors (Chapter 3) shows that the perceived benefits of behaviors exceed their costs, as required by Trivers' (1971) model of reciprocal altruism. Further analyses yield strong, interpretable effects, some predicted and some not: relationship between helper and recipient strongly affects perceived costs and benefits in the directions expected from reciprocity-based theories; sex differences in perceived costs and benefits are negligible. Surprisingly, helpers underestimate the costs and benefits of the help they provide and overestimate the costs and benefits of the help they received. This perceptual bias would be disadvantageous under Trivers' model which requires helpers to monitor others' costs and benefits, but since people need only insure that their own benefits exceed their own costs (eliminating a logical flaw in Trivers' model and simplifying cognitive dem and s on helpers), non-veridical estimations of others' costs and benefits are unimportant. Furthermore, this bias is another process which encourages helping by leaving people feeling indebted, and it counteracts the temptation towards non-reciprocation that Trivers emphasizes.Ph.D.Social psychologyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162498/1/9013971.pd

Analysis of student reflections of experiential learning in nursing health policy courses

This is a content analysis of the reflections of 187 nursing students after experiential learning opportunities in both master\u27s and doctoral level health policy courses. Results show that experiential activities in a health policy class for nursing students increased their knowledge of the legislative process and motivated them to identify newfound intent to become more involved in the political process

Retention: It’s all about respect

Retention of employees is often overlooked in developing strategies to deal with worker shortages in health care. Managers mistake requests for more money as the key indicator of job satisfaction. This article examines research conducted by three health service administration graduate students who looked at reasons staff were leaving their jobs or their occupations. Using three different research tools, the students found that job satisfaction is not all about money, or even benefits. Respect, recognition, and organizational commitment are what employees want in their jobs. The article describes the research methods used in the studies and the similarities in results. © 2003 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc