Soda and Tobacco Industry Corporate Social Responsibility Campaigns: How Do They Compare?

In an article that forms part of the PLoS Medicine series on Big Food, Andrew Cheyne and colleagues compare soda companies' corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns - which are designed to bolster the image and popularity of their products and to prevent regulation - with the tobacco industry's CSR campaigning

Chilean Health Care Providers’ Perceived Comfort in Performing Oral Rapid Testing for HIV: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objectives: To understand key factors influencing Chilean health care providers’ perceived comfort performing oral rapid HIV testing. Design: One hundred and fifty health care providers completed a self-administered questionnaire that included a five-item scale measuring self-perceived comfort in conducting HIV pretest counseling, oral rapid testing, finger-prick testing, and delivering test results. Results: Most participants (60%) envisioned good overall comfort performing oral rapid HIV testing (mean score of 16.21; range 0-20), including doing at least four of the five steps. They perceived least comfort delivering HIV-positive test results during posttest counseling. HIV stigmatizing attitudes reduced self-perceived comfort. Conclusions: Providing training to counter HIV stigmatization while increasing comfort in performing oral rapid testing would help facilitate its successful implementation

Psychophysiology during exposure to trauma memories: Comparative effects of virtual reality and imaginal exposure for posttraumatic stress disorder

Background: This investigation involved an in-depth examination of psychophysiological responses during exposure to the trauma memory across 10 sessions among active duty soldiers with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treated by Prolonged Exposure (PE) or Virtual Reality Exposure (VRE). We compared psychophysiological changes, session-by-session, between VRE and traditional imaginal exposure. Methods: Heart rate (HR), galvanic skin response (GSR), and peripheral skin temperature were collected every 5 min during exposure sessions with 61 combat veterans of Iraq/Afghanistan and compared to the PTSD Checklist (PCL-C) and Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) outcomes using multilevel modeling. Results: Over the course of treatment, participants in the PE group had higher HR arousal compared to participants in the VRE group. With reference to GSR, in earlier sessions, participants demonstrated a within-session increase, whereas, in later sessions, participants showed a within-session habituation response. A significant interaction was found for GSR and treatment assignment for within-session change, within-person effect, predicting CAPS (d = 0.70) and PCL-C (d = 0.66) outcomes. Conclusion: Overall, these findings suggest that exposure to traumatic memories activates arousal across sessions, with GSR being most associated with reductions in PTSD symptoms for participants in the PE group

Predictors of readiness for oral rapid HIV testing by Chilean health care providers

This study identified the personal characteristics that affect Chilean health care providers' readiness to adopt HIV Oral Rapid Testing (ORT) in Chile as a new clinical evidence-based practice (EBP). Using a cross-sectional research design, the study sampled 150 nurses, midwives, and physicians employed at four clinics within the Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Chile Health Network in Santiago. Participants completed a self-administered survey asking about their demographic background, EBP attitudes and experience, personal beliefs related to HIV, the importance of HIV testing, and perceived self-comfort in performing a rapid HIV test. Of the participants, 90% believed that incorporating ORT would make a positive difference in their practice and said that they would be willing to adopt the technology for that reason. Nonetheless, the providers reported a mean "readiness to implement ORT" score of 15.1 out of a possible value of 20, suggesting only moderate self-perceived readiness to adopt the EBP. Education, beliefs about evidence-based practice, perceived comfort in performing ORT, and perceived importance of HIV testing explained 43.6% of the variance in readiness to adopt ORT. The findings of this first ORT pre-implementation study in Chile can help guide policy makers and HIV stakeholders to prepare for and increase primary health care providers' readiness to successfully adopt this evidence-based technology. Successful adoption of ORT could increase Chile's capacity to reach HIV-vulnerable Chileans for testing and referral to care if infected, thus helping the country to reduce further transmission of the virus and its medical complications

The assessment of cyberchondria: Instruments for assessing problematic online health-related research

© 2020 Springer-Verlag. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-020-00308-w.Purpose of review: Cyberchondria is a problematic, i.e., distressing or anxiety-increasing pattern of online health information seeking. The development of psychometrically sound instruments for the assessment of cyberchondria is imperative for better understanding of this construct. The aim of the present article is to provide a systematic literature review of cyberchondria instruments. Recent findings: Although several measures of cyberchondria have been developed, the Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS) has been used most often. The CSS is based on a solid theoretical framework, with very good to excellent reliability and validity. It has been translated into several languages. Modifications of the original version of the CSS have been introduced to refine its conceptual foundation and improve its utility by making it shorter. Summary: Further improvement of the CSS may boost the quality of cyberchondria research. There remains a need to test the theoretical underpinnings of the CSS and consider alternative models of cyberchondria.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio