Measuring Vastus Medialis Cross-Sectional Area with Panoramic Ultrasound Over Time

Panoramic ultrasound detected a statistically significant decrease in the VM CSA of participants after 70 days of bedrest without exercise.https://knowledgeconnection.mainehealth.org/lambrew-retreat-2021/1030/thumbnail.jp

Communicating about COVID-19: Strategies for promoting risk-reducing behaviors on Facebook

Introduction- Controlling the COVID-19 pandemic requires effective public health communication strategies that can promote risk-reducing behaviors despite scientific uncertainties about their effectiveness. The current project developed and tested different theory-based communication strategies for generating public interest in COVID-19 risk-reducing behaviors. • Assessed the efficacy of two novel message frames – destigmatizing and uncertainty normalizing - relative to existing strategieshttps://knowledgeconnection.mainehealth.org/lambrew-retreat-2021/1004/thumbnail.jp

Centering Community Voices in our Research

What is Community Engaged Research? Community engaged research (CER) is the process of working collaboratively with groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interests, or similar situations across the lifecycle of research.https://knowledgeconnection.mainehealth.org/lambrew-retreat-2022/1040/thumbnail.jp

Epistemic Beliefs: Relationship to Future Expectancies and Quality of Life in Cancer Patients.

CONTEXT: Expectations about the future (future expectancies) are important determinants of psychological well-being among cancer patients, but the strategies patients use to maintain positive and cope with negative expectancies are incompletely understood. OBJECTIVES: To obtain preliminary evidence on the potential role of one strategy for managing future expectancies: the adoption of epistemic beliefs in fundamental limits to medical knowledge. METHODS: A sample of 1307 primarily advanced-stage cancer patients participating in a genomic tumor testing study in community oncology practices completed measures of epistemic beliefs, positive future expectancies, and mental and physical health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Descriptive and linear regression analyses were conducted to assess the relationships between these factors and test two hypotheses: 1) epistemic beliefs affirming fundamental limits to medical knowledge ( fallibilistic epistemic beliefs ) are associated with positive future expectancies and mental HRQOL, and 2) positive future expectancies mediate this association. RESULTS: Participants reported relatively high beliefs in limits to medical knowledge (M = 2.94, s.d.=.67) and positive future expectancies (M = 3.01, s.d.=.62) (range 0-4), and relatively low mental and physical HRQOL. Consistent with hypotheses, fallibilistic epistemic beliefs were associated with positive future expectancies (b = 0.11, SE=.03, P\u3c 0.001) and greater mental HRQOL (b = 0.99, SE=.34, P = 0.004); positive expectancies also mediated the association between epistemic beliefs and mental HRQOL (Sobel Z=4.27, P\u3c0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Epistemic beliefs in limits to medical knowledge are associated with positive future expectancies and greater mental HRQOL; positive expectancies mediate the association between epistemic beliefs and HRQOL. More research is needed to confirm these relationships and elucidate their causal mechanisms

The Negative Consequences Of Positive Stereotypes: Positive Gender Stereotypes Elicit Negative Stereotype Beliefs But Not Stereotype Threat For Women In Stem.

Gender disparities are significantly pronounced within fields that have been perceived as prohibitive for women, such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); for example, women make up only 29% of the entire STEM workforce (e.g., NSF, Science and Engineering Indicators, 2016). Efforts to promote inclusivity in STEM have historically focused on “debunking” negative stereotypes by highlighting socially desirable attributes of marginalized groups (i.e., positive stereotypes). Positive stereotypes are assumed to be benign because they ascribe favorable attributes to a disadvantaged group; however, research suggests that positive stereotypes can be associated with negative consequences, including feelings of depersonalization and attributions of prejudice and negative stereotyping (Siy and Cheryan, 2016). The impact of positive gender stereotypes on women in STEM has not yet been investigated; thus, the current research examined whether positive gender stereotypes would elicit negative psychological and behavioral consequences for women in STEM. Specifically, I examined whether being the target of positive gender stereotypes contributed to STEM women’s feelings of depersonalization, heightened perceptions of prejudice and negative stereotype beliefs, and a diminished anticipated sense of belonging, all of which are associated with women’s persistence in STEM. Additionally, I examined whether positive gender stereotypes would impair STEM women’s performance on a domain-relevant test (i.e., stereotype threat) as a result of these negative psychological outcomes. Female STEM majors were asked to imagine that they were applying for a competitive STEM internship program. Participants were randomly assigned to read a recruitment statement from a hypothetical program that evoked either positive gender stereotypes (positive stereotype condition), negative gender stereotypes (negative stereotype condition), or no stereotypes (control condition). Results demonstrated that positive gender stereotypes did not affect STEM women’s performance, feelings of depersonalization, or anticipated sense of belonging; however, a significant effect of stereotype condition on participants’ perceptions of prejudice was found. Importantly, participants in both the positive stereotype and negative stereotype condition also had more negative stereotype beliefs than participants in the control condition; these negative stereotype beliefs were significantly correlated with diminished anticipated sense of belonging and cognitive interference on the domain-relevant test. These findings represent an important first step to identifying the barriers that are preventing women from being recruited and retained in STEM positions

ASCO QCS 2023: Socioeconomic survival disparity reduced for patients who receive genome matched treatment

This repository contains the supplemental materials associated with the "Socioeconomic survival disparity reduced for patients who receive genome matched treatment" poster. This poster has been presented at the ASCO Quality Care Symposium on October 27th, 2023

Decisions about adopting novel COVID‐19 vaccines among White adults in a rural state, USA: A qualitative study

Abstract Purpose Many people, especially in rural areas of the United States, choose not to receive novel COVID‐19 vaccinations despite public health recommendations. Understanding how people describe decisions to get vaccinated or not may help to address hesitancy. Methods We conducted semistructured interviews with 17 rural inhabitants of Maine, a sparsely populated state in the northeastern US, about COVID‐19 vaccine decisions during the early rollout (March–May 2021). We used the framework method to compare responses, including between vaccine Adopters and Non‐adopters. Findings Adopters framed COVID‐19 as unequivocally dangerous, if not personally, then to other people. Describing their COVID concerns, Adopters emphasized disease morbidities. By contrast, Non‐adopters never mentioned morbidities, referencing instead mortality risk, which they perceived as minimal. Instead of risks associated with the disease, Non‐adopters emphasized risks associated with vaccination. Uncertainty about the vaccine development process, augmented by social media, bolstered concerns about the long‐term unknown risks of vaccines. Vaccine Adopters ultimately described trusting the process, while Non‐adopters expressed distrust. Conclusion Many respondents framed their COVID vaccination decision by comparing the risks between the disease and the vaccine. Associating morbidity risks with COVID‐19 diminishes the relevance of vaccine risks, whereas focusing on low perceived mortality risks heightens their relevance. Results could inform efforts to address COVID‐19 vaccine hesitancy in the rural US and elsewhere. Patient or Public Contribution Members of Maine rural communities were involved throughout the study. Leaders of community health groups provided feedback on the study design, were actively involved in recruitment, and reviewed findings after analysis. All data produced and used in this study were co‐constructed through the participation of community members with lived experience

Effects of pro-social and hope-promoting communication strategies on COVID-19 worry and intentions for risk-reducing behaviors and vaccination: An experimental study

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has engendered widespread fear and skepticism about recommended risk-reducing behaviors including vaccination. Health agencies are faced with the need to communicate to the public in ways that both provide reassurance and promote risk-reducing behaviors. Communication strategies that promote pro-social values and hope are being widely employed, however, the existing research on the persuasiveness of these strategies has offered mixed evidence. There is also very little research examining the comparative effectiveness of pro-social and hope-promoting strategies. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the comparative effectiveness of pro-social and hope-promoting messages in reassuring the public and motivating COVID-19 risk-reducing behaviors. METHODS: An online factorial experiment was conducted in which a diverse sample of the US public was randomized to read messages which adapted existing COVID-19 information from a public website produced by a state government public health department to include alternative framing language: pro-social (PS), hope-promoting (HP), or no additional framing (Control). Participants then completed surveys measuring COVID-19 worry and intentions for COVID-19 risk-reducing behaviors and vaccination. RESULTS: COVID-19 worry was unexpectedly higher in the HP than in the Control and PS conditions. Intentions for COVID-19 risk-reducing behaviors did not differ between groups; however, intentions for COVID-19 vaccination were higher in the HP than in the Control condition, and this effect was mediated by COVID-19 worry. CONCLUSIONS: It appears that hope-promoting communication strategies may be more effective than Pro-social strategies in motivating risk-reducing behaviors, in some contexts, but with the paradoxical cost of promoting worry

Urban-Rural and Socioeconomic Differences in Patient Knowledge and Perceptions of Genomic Tumor Testing

PURPOSE: Social determinants of health, such as rurality, income, and education, may widen health disparities by driving variation in patients\u27 knowledge and perceptions of medical interventions. This effect may be greatest for medical technologies that are hard to understand and less accessible. This study explored whether knowledge and perceptions (expectations and attitudes) of patients with cancer toward large-panel genomic tumor testing (GTT), an emerging cancer technology, vary by patient rurality independent of other socioeconomic characteristics (education and income). METHODS: Patients with cancer enrolled in a large precision oncology initiative completed surveys measuring rurality, sociodemographic characteristics, and knowledge and perceptions of GTT. We used multivariable linear models to examine differences in GTT knowledge, expectations, and attitudes by patient rurality, education, and income level. Models controlled for age, sex and clinical cancer stage and type. RESULTS: Rural patients had significantly lower knowledge of GTT than urban patients using bivariate models ( = .025). However, this association disappeared when adjusting for education and income level: patients with lower educational attainment and lower income had lower knowledge and higher expectations ( .002), whereas patients with higher income had more positive attitudes ( = .005). Urban patients had higher expectations of GTT compared with patients living in large rural areas ( = .011). Rurality was not associated with attitudes. CONCLUSION: Patients\u27 education and income level are associated with knowledge, expectations, and attitudes toward GTT, whereas rurality is associated with patient expectations. These findings suggest that efforts to promote adoption of GTT should focus on improving knowledge and awareness among individuals with low education and income. These differences may lead to downstream disparities in GTT utilization, which should be explored in future research

Urban-Rural and Socioeconomic Differences in Patient Knowledge and Perceptions of Genomic Tumor Testing.

PURPOSE Social determinants of health, such as rurality, income, and education, may widen health disparities by driving variation in patients’ knowledge and perceptions of medical interventions. This effect may be greatest for medical technologies that are hard to understand and less accessible. This study explored whether knowledge and perceptions (expectations and attitudes) of patients with cancer toward large-panel genomic tumor testing (GTT), an emerging cancer technology, vary by patient rurality independent of other socioeconomic charac- teristics (education and income). METHODS Patients with cancer enrolled in a large precision oncology initiative completed surveys measuring rurality, sociodemographic characteristics, and knowledge and perceptions of GTT. We used multivariable linear models to examine differences in GTT knowledge, expectations, and attitudes by patient rurality, education, and income level. Models controlled for age, sex and clinical cancer stage and type. RESULTS Rural patients had significantly lower knowledge of GTT than urban patients using bivariate models (P = .025). However, this association disappeared when adjusting for education and income level: patients with lower educational attainment and lower income had lower knowledge and higher expectations (P ≤ .002), whereas patients with higher income had more positive attitudes (P = .005). Urban patients had higher ex- pectations of GTT compared with patients living in large rural areas (P = .011). Rurality was not associated with attitudes. CONCLUSION Patients’ education and income level are associated with knowledge, expectations, and attitudes toward GTT, whereas rurality is associated with patient expectations. These findings suggest that efforts to promote adoption of GTT should focus on improving knowledge and awareness among individuals with low education and income. These differences may lead to downstream disparities in GTT utilization, which should be explored in future research