Communicative Coping Behavior Checklist: Observation of Persons With Dementia in the Home Environment

Purpose of the Study: Communication contributes to increased stress, mortality, and decreased quality of life (QOL) for persons with dementia (PWD) and caregivers. PWD use communicative coping behaviors (CCBs) to manage the demands of the disease. However, most assessments neither look for nor give credit to communication behaviors. This is the first study to examine CCBs in the home environment as measured by the Communicative Coping Behavior Checklist (CCBC). Design and Methods: This cross-sectional quantitative study included 26 dementia and 18 cognitively normal control dyads. Raters observed their partners\u27 CCBs at home, over several weeks and completed the CCBC. We analyzed the endorsement rates (how often behaviors were observed by a rater) of emotion and activity-focused CCBs in dementia and control dyads. Results: The primary outcome was rate of CCB endorsement. Secondary outcomes included dementia diagnosis, cognitive status, depressive mood, life satisfaction (SWL) and QOL. Dementia dyads endorsed 11 of 23 CCBs significantly more than control dyads. Action-focused CCBs (p \u3c .001) were more frequent than emotion-focused CCBs (p = .004) in dementia dyads. Specific CCBs such as humor correlated with higher caregiver QOL (p = .019) and PWD\u27s SWL (p = .003). Another CCB, general humor, correlated with lower PWD\u27s SWL (p = .024). Implications: This was the first study to examine CCBs in the home environment comparing dementia and control dyads. Higher endorsement rates of action-focused than emotion-focused CCBs were seen in dementia dyads. We conclude that attention to CCBs during treatment and care will improve QOL and SWL of PWD and caregivers

Examining the potential public health benefit of offering STI testing to men in amateur football clubs: evidence from cross-sectional surveys

Background: In Britain, young people continue to bear the burden of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) so efforts are required, especially among men, to encourage STI testing. The SPORTSMART study trialled an intervention that sought to achieve this by offering chlamydia and gonorrhoea test-kits to men attending amateur football clubs between October and December 2012. With football the highest participation team sport among men in England, this paper examines the potential public health benefit of offering STI testing to men in this setting by assessing their sociodemographic characteristics, sexual behaviours, and healthcare behaviour and comparing them to men in the general population. Methods: Data were collected from 192 (male) members of 6 football clubs in London, United Kingdom, aged 18–44 years via a 20-item pen-and-paper self-completion questionnaire administered 2 weeks after the intervention. These were compared to data collected from 409 men of a similar age who were resident in London when interviewed during 2010–2012 for the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3), a national probability survey that used computer-assisted-personal-interviewing with computer-assisted-self-interview. Age standardisation and multivariable regression were used to account for sociodemographic differences between the surveys. Results: Relative to men in the general population, SPORTSMART men were younger (32.8 % vs. 21.7 % aged under 25 y), and more likely to report (all past year) at least 2 sexual partners (adjusted odds ratio, AOR: 3.25, 95 % CI: 2.15–4.92), concurrent partners (AOR: 2.05, 95 % CI: 1.39–3.02), and non-use of condoms (AOR: 2.17, 95 % CI: 1.39–3.41). No difference was observed in STI/HIV risk perception (AOR for reporting “not at all at risk” of STIs: 1.25, 95 % CI: 0.76–2.04; of HIV: AOR: 1.54, 95 % CI: 0.93–2.55), nor in reporting STI testing in the past year (AOR: 0.83, 95 % CI: 0.44–1.54), which was reported by only one in six men. Conclusions: Relative to young men in the general population, football club members who completed the SPORTSMART survey reported greater sexual risk behaviour but similar STI/HIV risk perception and STI testing history. Offering STI testing in amateur football clubs may therefore widen access to STI testing and health promotion messages for men at higher STI risk, which, given the minority currently testing and the popularity of football in England, should yield both individual and public health benefit

PUBLICIDADE E ENTRETENIMENTO: uma análise da presença de marcas na série Stranger Things

Este artigo analisa a presença de marcas na segunda temporada da série norte-americana Stranger Things. Foram articuladas contribuições de autores como Toffler (1980), Atem e Tavares (2014), Covaleski (2010, 2015), Perez (2016), Bezerra (2016), entre outros para discutir os desafios da publicidade no cenário contemporâneo. Foi usado o método de análise de conteúdo do tipo categorial (BARDIN, 2009) juntamente à associação de técnicas de medição quantitativas e qualitativas. A análise mostrou a presença intensa de marcas entremeadas ao entretenimento de diversas formas, proporcionando uma comunicação menos interruptiva, contextualizada, travestida de diversão, mas não destituída de função persuasiva

The SPORTSMART study: a pilot randomised controlled trial of sexually transmitted infection screening interventions targeting men in football club settings

Background: Uptake of chlamydia screening by men in England has been substantially lower than by women. Non-traditional settings such as sports clubs offer opportunities to widen access. Involving people who are not medically trained to promote screening could optimise acceptability. Methods: We developed two interventions to explore the acceptability and feasibility of urine-based sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening interventions targeting men in football clubs. We tested these interventions in a pilot cluster randomised control trial. Six clubs were randomly allocated, two to each of three trial arms: team captain-led and poster STI screening promotion; sexual health adviser-led and poster STI screening promotion; and poster-only STI screening promotion (control/comparator). Primary outcome was test uptake. Results: Across the three arms, 153 men participated in the trial and 90 accepted the offer of screening (59%, 95% CI 35% to 79%). Acceptance rates were broadly comparable across the arms: captain-led: 28/56 (50%); health professional-led: 31/46 (67%); and control: 31/51 (61%). However, rates varied appreciably by club, precluding formal comparison of arms. No infections were identified. Process evaluation confirmed that interventions were delivered in a standardised way but the control arm was unintentionally ‘enhanced’ by some team captains actively publicising screening events. Conclusions: Compared with other UK-based community screening models, uptake was high but gaining access to clubs was not always easy. Use of sexual health advisers and team captains to promote screening did not appear to confer additional benefit over a poster-promoted approach. Although the interventions show potential, the broader implications of this strategy for UK male STI screening policy require further investigation

Dubiofossils from a Mars-analogue subsurface palaeoenvironment: the limits of biogenicity criteria

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS S. M. acknowledges funding by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement 747877. MI acknowledges funding from Swedish Research Council (Contract 2017-04129) and funding from the Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland (20130185, 20141047) granted to Stefan Bengtson. DW acknowledges funding from the Australian Research Council via a Future Fellowship (FT140100321). The authors acknowledge the facilities, and the scientific and technical assistance of Microscopy Australia at the Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation & Analysis, The University of Western Australia, a facility funded by the University, State and Commonwealth Governments. The chemical garden experiments were supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1609495 to O.S. Chemical garden SEM measurements were carried out at the Condensed Matter and Materials Physics User Facility of Florida State University. We thank Dr. Eric Lochner for sharing his technical expertise. We acknowledge the Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen, Switzerland for provision of synchrotron radiation beamtime at the TOMCAT beamline X02DA of the Swiss Light Source and would like to thank Federica Marone for help at the beamline and SRXTM analyses. We thank three anonymous reviewers for their comments, which greatly improved the manuscript. Funding information Paul Scherrer Institut, Grant/Award Number: 20130185 and 20141047; Vetenskapsrådet, Grant/Award Number: 2017-04129; Australian Research Council, Grant/Award Number: FT140100321; H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Grant/Award Number: 747877; National Science Foundation, Grant/Award Number: 1609495Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A Cross-National Investigation into the Marketing Department\u27s Influence Within the Firm: Toward Initial Empirical Generalizations

This study of the influence of the marketing department (MD), as well as its relationship with firm performance, includes seven industrialized countries and aims to generalize the conceptual model presented by Verhoef and Leeflang (2009). This investigation considers the antecedents of perceived MD influence, top management respect for the MD, and MD decision influence, as well as the relationships of these three influence variables with market orientation (MO) and business performance (BP). Meta-analytic procedures reveal initial empirical generalizations: Accountability, MD innovativeness, and the customer connection capabilities of the MD relate consistently to all three studied MD influence measures. The generalization also shows that MD influence contributes to BP indirectly through its positive relationship with MO and directly through its positive direct relationship with BP

Editorial 23(2): Special issue: Teaching and learning in higher education: Western Australia\u27s TL forum

The Teaching and Learning Forum series of annual conferences has been conducted since 1992 by the five universities in Perth, Western Australia, namely Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University, The University of Notre Dame Australia, and The University of Western Australia. After 22 years of TL Forums, it is timely to present this Special issue of Issues in Educational Research, for which the broad purpose is to advance fine examples of the TL Forum\u27s activities, selected from one of its categories, namely full papers accepted via a peer review process