Parent compliance to treatment for pediatric cancer: Development and validation of two measurement strategies.

Investigations of treatment compliance among pediatric cancer patients have indicated that noncompliance to treatment is a significant problem in this population. Some researchers have suggested that compliance to treatment may be significantly influenced by the complexity of the treatment regimen. The purpose of this investigation was to: (a) develop and assess the efficacy of a prospective parent self-monitoring measure to assess compliance to the entire treatment regimen, (b) develop two physician-completed measures to assess the complexity of childhood cancer treatment regimens, and (c) investigate the relationship between current and overall medical regimen complexity and compliance to treatment among a sample of pediatric oncology patients. Parents of children currently under going treatment for cancer self-monitored treatment delivery during one randomly assigned week each month for four months. The accuracy of parent-recording was assessed by comparing self-monitoring reports with two measures of medication administration and clinic records of attendance at scheduled outpatient clinic appointments and hospital admissions. Measures of treatment complexity were developed to assess the complexity of treatment administered during the investigation interval (the CTCQ) and to assess overall treatment complexity (the OTCQ) by interviewing pediatric oncologists and pediatric oncology nurse specialists about factors that influence the complexity of treatment. Parent compliance with the self-monitoring task was excellent (97%), and mean reported compliance with all areas of treatment was high. Agreement between parent-report of treatment administration and accuracy measures of adherence was moderate to high. The highest agreement was found between parent report and patient records of outpatient clinic attendance, while the lowest agreement was found between parent report of hospital admissions and medical chart review. The convergent validity of the CTCQ and OTCQ was investigated by correlating physician global ratings of current and overall treatment complexity with total current and overall treatment complexity scores. Correlations between physician ratings and total CTCQ and total OTCQ scores were moderately high. No significant relationships emerged between overall and current treatment complexity and compliance to treatment

Building Strong Congregations: Attracting, Serving, and Developing Your Membership

You probably have a fairly good idea of what it took to construct the building in which your congregation meets. First, there was a recognized need for a building, followed by a budget, blueprints, fund-raising, construction workers, and building materials, and voila! The structure proudly stands as a monument to the effective implementation of a well-thought-out plan. The process of building a strong congregation is basically the same. And you\u27ve got to start with a plan. Building Strong Congregations contains the tools you need to make your congregation\u27s ministry more effective. Worksheets after each chapter walk you through a step-by-step application of the material covered and help you put together a plan of action. You\u27ll also learn how to find answers unique to your organization for such questions as: What is your congregation\u27s mission? Whom should your congregation try to reach, and how? What does your congregation have to offer? Why should people choose to associate with your congregation and not the one down the street? How would their needs be met? How do you ensure that they will want to remain participants in the life and ministry of your congregation? (publisher website)https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/books/1016/thumbnail.jp

A Survey of Caffeine Use and Associated Side Effects in a College Population

While caffeine ingestion is commonplace, there is a relative lack of research on normative standards of caffeine consumption. The present investigation surveyed two hundred and seventy students at a midwestern state university concerning their consumption of various caffeine products. The results of the investigation suggest that there is an identifiable group of individuals who use excessive amounts of caffeine. The survey has also identified several deleterious effects that may be related to caffeine use. The most important finding of the study was that roughly 75 percent of the individuals who use caffeinated products rarely sought information concerning the caffeine content of the products they were using nor did they attempt to avoid substances containing caffeine. Suggestions for education and prevention are offered

Religious marketing: reflections from the other side of politics

The idea that politics and religion occupy adjoining berths in the broadened marketing camp is critically examined. Following a brief review of contemporary religious marketing, a comparison is undertaken of religion and politics to determine whether they conform to a common marketing framework for non-business environments. The idea that marketing in faith environments is validated by the 'religious economy' theory is critically examined, significant objections to the adoption of marketing principles and methods by the religious community are explored, and some limitations of the exchange concept in a faith context are identified. Some implications are considered for both political and mainstream marketing, in terms of recent attempts to broaden the scope of marketing