Does the payment of incentives create expectation effects?

Die Tendenz, Befragte für ihre Teilnahme an Umfragen zu bezahlen, lässt verschiedene nicht intendierte Folgen befürchten, so die Erwartung zukünftiger Zahlungen und die Möglichkeit einer Verschlechterung der Antwortqualität. Die Ergebnisse dieser Untersuchung sind eher beruhigend, was diese beiden Punkte angeht. Zwar stimmen Befragte, die schon einmal für ihre Teilnahme an einer Umfrage bezahlt worden sind, häufiger dem Statement "Man sollte für die Teilnahme an solchen Umfragen bezahlt werden" zu, sie beteiligen sich jedoch auch ohne weitere Zahlungen überdurchschnittlich oft an weiteren Untersuchungen. Befragte, die vor sechs Monaten eine Zahlung erhielten, verweigern die Beantwortung einer Batterie von achtzehn Fragen über diese Untersuchung nicht mit höherer Wahrscheinlichkeit als Befragte, die keine Zahlung erhielten. Darüber hinaus äußern sie häufiger positive Einstellungen zum Nutzen von "Untersuchungen wie dieser". Es ist jedoch noch zu untersuchen, in wie weit diese Ergebnisse verallgemeinerbar sind. (ICEÜbers)"Increasing use of incentive payments to survey respondents raises the threat of several unintended consequences, among them the creation of expectations for future payments and the possibility of a deterioration in the quality of response. The findings from the present study are somewhat reassuring with respect to both of these unintended outcomes. Although people who have received a monetary incentive in the past are significantly more likely to agree that 'people should be paid for doing surveys like this', they are also more likely to participate in a subsequent survey, in spite of receiving no further payments. And respondents who received an incentive six months earlier are no more likely than those who received no incentive to refuse to answer (or to answer don't know to) a series of eighteen key questions an the survey. Furthermore, they are more likely than other respondents to express favourable attitudes toward the usefulness of 'surveys like this'. The generality of these findings, however, needs much further testing." (author's abstract

The role of perceived benefits and costs in patients’ medical decisions

Background  Many decisions can be understood in terms of actors’ valuations of benefits and costs. The article investigates whether this is also true of patient medical decision making. It aims to investigate (i) the importance patients attach to various reasons for and against nine medical decisions; (ii) how well the importance attached to benefits and costs predicts action or inaction; and (iii) how such valuations are related to decision confidence. Methods  In a national random digit dial telephone survey of U.S. adults, patients rated the importance of various reasons for and against medical decisions they had made or talked to a health‐care provider about during the past 2 years. Participants were 2575 English‐speaking adults age 40 and older. Data were analysed by means of logistic regressions predicting action/inaction and linear regressions predicting confidence. Results  Aggregating individual reasons into those that may be regarded as benefits and those that may be regarded as costs, and weighting them by their importance to the patient, shows the expected relationship to action. Perceived benefits and costs are also significantly related to the confidence patients report about their decision. Conclusion  The factors patients say are important in their medical decisions reflect a subjective weighing of benefits and costs and predict action/inaction although they do not necessarily indicate that patients are well informed. The greater the difference between the importance attached to benefits and costs, the greater patients’ confidence in their decision.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102701/1/hex739.pd

Decision-making processes for breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer screening: results from the DECISIONS study

Patients should understand the risks and benefits of cancer screening in order to make informed screening decisions

Life-Course Socioeconomic Position and Obesity in African American Women: The Pitt County Study

Objectives. We studied obesity in African American women in relationship to their socioeconomic position (SEP) in childhood and adulthood. Methods. On the basis of parents’ occupation, we classified 679 women in the Pitt County (North Carolina) Study into low and high childhood SEP. Women’s education, occupation, employment status, and home ownership were used to classify them into low and high adulthood SEP. Four life-course SEP categories resulted: low childhood/low adulthood, low childhood/high adulthood, high childhood/low adulthood, and high childhood/high adulthood. Results. The odds of obesity were twice as high among women from low versus high childhood SEP backgrounds, and 25% higher among women of low versus high adulthood SEP. Compared to that in women of high SEP in both childhood and adulthood, the odds of obesity doubled for low/low SEP women, were 55% higher for low/high SEP women, and were comparable for high/low SEP women. Conclusions. Socioeconomic deprivation in childhood was a strong predictor of adulthood obesity in this community sample of African American women. Findings are consistent with both critical period and cumulative burden models of life-course socioeconomic deprivation and long-term risk for obesity in African American women

The effect of question framing and response options on the relationship between racial attitudes and beliefs about genes as causes of behavior. Public Opinion Quarterly 74

Abstract Prior research suggests that the attribution of individual and group differences to genetic causes is correlated with prejudiced attitudes toward minority groups. Our study suggests that these findings may be due to the wording of the questions and to the choice of response options. Using a series of vignettes in an online survey, we find a relationship between racial attitudes and genetic attributions when respondents are asked to make causal attributions of differences between racial groups. However, when they are asked to make causal attributions for character-istics shown by individuals, no such relationship is found. The response scale used appears to make less, if any, difference in the results. These findings indicate that the way questions about genetic causation of beha

Life-Course Socioeconomic Position and Hypertension in African American Men: The Pitt County Study

Objectives. We investigated the odds of hypertension for Black men in relationship to their socioeconomic position (SEP) in both childhood and adulthood. Methods. On the basis of their parents’ occupation, we classified 379 men in the Pitt County (North Carolina) Study into low and high childhood SEP. The men’s own education, occupation, employment status, and home ownership status were used to classify them into low and high adulthood SEP. Four life-course SEP categories resulted: low childhood/low adulthood, low childhood/high adulthood, high childhood/low adulthood, and high childhood/high adulthood. Results. Low childhood SEP was associated with a 60% greater odds of hypertension, and low adulthood SEP was associated with a 2-fold greater odds of hypertension. Compared with men of high SEP in both childhood and adulthood, the odds of hypertension were 7 times greater for low/low SEP men, 4 times greater for low/high SEP men, and 6 times greater for high/low SEP men. Conclusions. Greater access to material resources in both childhood and adulthood was protective against premature hypertension in this cohort of Black men. Though some parameter estimates were imprecise, study findings are consistent with both pathway and cumulative burden models of hypertension

Molecular Mechanisms of Selenium Tolerance and Hyperaccumulation in Stanleya pinnata1[W][OA]

The molecular mechanisms responsible for selenium (Se) tolerance and hyperaccumulation were studied in the Se hyperaccumulator Stanleya pinnata (Brassicaceae) by comparing it with the related secondary Se accumulator Stanleya albescens using a combination of physiological, structural, genomic, and biochemical approaches. S. pinnata accumulated 3.6-fold more Se and was tolerant to 20 μm selenate, while S. albescens suffered reduced growth, chlorosis and necrosis, impaired photosynthesis, and high levels of reactive oxygen species. Levels of ascorbic acid, glutathione, total sulfur, and nonprotein thiols were higher in S. pinnata, suggesting that Se tolerance may in part be due to increased antioxidants and up-regulated sulfur assimilation. S. pinnata had higher selenocysteine methyltransferase protein levels and, judged from liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, mainly accumulated the free amino acid methylselenocysteine, while S. albescens accumulated mainly the free amino acid selenocystathionine. S. albescens leaf x-ray absorption near-edge structure scans mainly detected a carbon-Se-carbon compound (presumably selenocystathionine) in addition to some selenocysteine and selenate. Thus, S. albescens may accumulate more toxic forms of Se in its leaves than S. pinnata. The species also showed different leaf Se sequestration patterns: while S. albescens showed a diffuse pattern, S. pinnata sequestered Se in localized epidermal cell clusters along leaf margins and tips, concentrated inside of epidermal cells. Transcript analyses of S. pinnata showed a constitutively higher expression of genes involved in sulfur assimilation, antioxidant activities, defense, and response to (methyl)jasmonic acid, salicylic acid, or ethylene. The levels of some of these hormones were constitutively elevated in S. pinnata compared with S. albescens, and leaf Se accumulation was slightly enhanced in both species when these hormones were supplied. Thus, defense-related phytohormones may play an important signaling role in the Se hyperaccumulation of S. pinnata, perhaps by constitutively up-regulating sulfur/Se assimilation followed by methylation of selenocysteine and the targeted sequestration of methylselenocysteine

Trends in U.S. Attitudes Toward Genetic Testing, 1990–2004

This research note examines changes in beliefs and attitudes over a 14-year period, from 1990, when the revolution in genomic science was just beginning, to 2004, the most recent time point for which data are available. The analysis makes clear that there is no simple causal path from changes in technology to changes in values and beliefs, at least over the period of time during which we have been able to track this process. At the same time, claimed awareness about the new technology is slowly and gradually diffusing throughout the society