Garbage In, Garbage Out: Model Uncertainty in Wealth Simulations

From the Washington University Senior Honors Thesis Abstracts (WUSHTA), 2017. Published by the Office of Undergraduate Research. Joy Zalis Kiefer, Director of Undergraduate Research and Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences; Lindsey Paunovich, Editor; Helen Human, Programs Manager and Assistant Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences Mentor: Philip H. Dybvi

Confronting the intractable: An evaluation of the Seeds of Peace experience

This study investigated the impact of participation in the Seeds of Peace International Summer Camp program on attitudes toward perceived enemies and in-group members. Specifically, individuals’ social dominance orientation, stereotype attributions, closeness to own and out-group members, attitudes about peace, beliefs about ability to think independently and ideas about how to facilitate peace were examined. Three groups of adolescents were studied: Israeli, Palestinian and Non-Palestinian Arab campers who came from Jordan and Egypt. Two hundred and forty eight adolescents between the ages of 14 and 17 participated in Study 1, and a 62 participant sub-sample of the original group participated in the follow up study. The two studies together revealed several important findings. The results from Study 1 suggest that the experience of participating in the Seeds of Peace camp program is effective for fostering feelings of closeness to the out-group, and for evaluating the other side’s attitudes toward peacemaking more positively. Results also suggested that cognitively-oriented ratings, such as stereotypes of warmth and competence, were more resistant to change. The results of the follow up study conducted ten months after camp had ended were mixed. Generally, out-group evaluations became less positive, although there was some maintenance of effects. The present research supports previous findings that the use of coexistence programs as a means to improve intergroup relations is generally beneficial in the short term. The results also highlighted the importance of the experience of participating in the Seeds of Peace camp program to changing the beliefs held about perceived enemies. The significant contributions of the current research include underlining the importance of intergroup contact, the experience of living with perceived enemies, and becoming ready to listen to the other side, in order to change beliefs held about them

Cost of survivorship care and adherence to screening-aligning the priorities of health care systems and survivors.

Childhood cancer survivors (CCS) experience significant morbidity due to treatment- related late effects and benefit from late-effects surveillance. Adherence to screening recommendations is suboptimal. Survivorship care programs often struggle with resource limitations and may benefit from understanding institution-level financial outcomes associated with patient adherence to justify programmatic development and growth. The purpose of this study is to examine how CCS adherence to screening recommendations relates to the cost of care, insurance status, and institution-level financial outcomes. A retrospective chart review of 286 patients, followed in a structured survivorship program, assessed adherence to the Children\u27s Oncology Group follow-up guidelines by comparing recommended versus performed screening procedures for each patient. Procedure cost estimates were based on insurance status. Institutional profit margins and profit opportunity loss were calculated. Bivariate statistics tested adherent versus nonadherent subgroup differences on cost variables. A generalized linear model predicted the likelihood of adherence based on cost of recommended procedures, controlling for age, gender, race, and insurance. Adherence to recommended surveillance procedures was 50.2%. Nonadherence was associated with higher costs of recommended screening procedures compared to the adherent group estimates ($2,469.84 vs.$1,211.44). Failure to perform the recommended tests resulted in no difference in reimbursement to the health system between groups ($1,249.63 vs.$1,211.08). For the nonadherent group, this represented $1,055.13 in lost profit opportunity per visit for patients, which totaled$311,850 in lost profit opportunity due to nonadherence in this subgroup. In the final model, nonadherence was related to higher cost of recommended procedures (p \u3c .0001), older age at visit (p = .04), Black race (p = .02), and government-sponsored insurance (p = .03). Understanding institutional financial outcomes related to patient adherence may help inform survivorship care programs and resource allocation. Potential financial burden to patients associated with complex care recommendations is also warranted

Appearance-Related Factors in Relation to Body Dissatisfaction, Dieting, and Excessive Exercise: Competitiveness as a Moderator

Previous research has established relationships between appearance-related factors and disordered eating attitudes and behaviors, but it is not clear which appearance-focused individuals are most at risk for engaging in maladaptive eating-related attitudes and behaviors. Thus, this study examines competitiveness as a moderator of the relationships between appearance-related factors (i.e., thin-ideal internalization and appearance contingent self-worth) and disordered eating attitudes and behaviors (i.e., body dissatisfaction, dieting, and excessive exercise) both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. The sample consisted of 441 undergraduate women at Time 1 and a subsample of 237 undergraduate women at Time 2 approximately one year later. Survey data were analyzed with hierarchical multiple regression analyses. Results showed that thin-ideal internalization and appearance contingent self-worth both interact with competitiveness to identify concurrent levels of dieting and excessive exercise. Additionally, individuals who were high in thin-ideal internalization and high in competitiveness exhibited the most elevated levels of body dissatisfaction, dieting, and excessive exercise one year later. Lastly, after controlling for baseline levels of the dependent variables, results showed that individuals who were high in thin-ideal internalization and high in competitiveness exhibited increased levels of body dissatisfaction and excessive exercise one year later. The current study brings the field of eating disorders one step closer to identifying which individuals are most at risk for developing disordered eating attitudes and behaviors, allowing psychologists to improve prevention and intervention efforts.Bachelor of Art

Building Positive Social Networks Through Environmental Interventions in Integrated Recreation Programs

The purpose of this article is to present sociometry, circle of friends, and cooperative learning technologies that therapeutic recreation specialists can use as strategies for including persons with disabilities into integrated community recreation programs. These strategies are examples of external integrative strategies, strategies designed to affect the immediate surroundings of the targeted individual, thus preparing the environment for socialization, learning, and integration. Sociometry is presented as a strategy for restructuring groups to promote the inclusion of isolated individuals. Circle of friends techniques prepare existing groups for the introduction of new members. Cooperative learning methods are used to promote positive interactions between group members. Combined with carefully planned strategies for leisure and social skills instruction and networking with others, sociometry, circle of friends, and cooperative learning techniques can become a part of a comprehensive package to promote the successful integration of recreation programs by including the most distant members of our communities

Understanding Friendship and Recreation: A Theoretical Sampling

The integration of adults with mental retardation into community leisure services has become an accepted focus of community leisure service providers. Researchers and practitioners alike have discovered that participation in integrated recreation programs provides adults with mental retardation opportunities to acquire a variety of functional leisure and social skills. However, without specific efforts to promote friendship development, these newly acquired leisure and social skills alone may not result in social integration. Strategies for promoting friendship development through recreation participation will depend upon a greater understanding of the relationship between recreation and friendship as it is perceived by adults with mental retardation. Three theories are presented in this article that are grounded in qualitative and quantitative data. Firstly, adults with mental retardation living in community residential facilities often do not develop meaningful, reciprocated friend-ships with peers. Rather, they mistakenly perceive staff, family, and other externally motivated or obligated people to be their friends. Secondly, adults with mental retardation do not typically meet and make new friends during recreation participation. At best, they may use the recreation domain to further nurture a relationship that was established previously. Finally, friendship development between adults with mental retardation and their nondisabled peers may be inhibited by the absence of social skills necessary to participate cooperatively in recreation

A winning recipe for volunteerism

A program in North Carolina takes college students, mixes in individuals with disabilities and adds park staff support to create a winning combination

Inclusive recreation: The tipping point is within our sight

It is likely that inclusive recreation will transform from a legally-mandated service that agencies address primarily because it's the law (and politically correct), to an embraced and genuine philosophy that welcomes and accommodates people of all abilities. It is as if the philosophy and accompanying best practices supporting inclusion are in a cart approaching the top of a steep hill. Through the decades of the 1970s, '80s and '90s, recreation practitioners, advocates, family members and researchers have collaborated to pull the inclusion cart up the steep hill of recreation service delivery in an effort to reach the "land of inclusive opportunities." At times, substantial energy pushed and pulled the cart up the hill. At other times, the force of gravity took its toll and the cart rolled backwards. Nonetheless, the peak, or "tipping point," is currently in our sights. With one final pull, the cart will glide swiftly down the other side of the hill, and inclusive service delivery will proliferate and flourish within the field of recreation, facilitating stronger and healthier people and communities along its path. What is exciting about Gladwell's perspective is that his identified three change agents, the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context, can be used to deliberately move positive epidemics forward