The Role of Emotions in Fieldwork: A Self-Study of Family Research in a Corrections Setting

In this study, we document a reflexive process via bracketing techniques and the development of a conceptual map in order to better understand how emotions that arise in the field can inform research design, implementation, and results. We conducted a content analysis of field notes written by a team of researchers who administered an interview to caregivers bringing children to visit an incarcerated family member at a local jail. Our self-examination revealed themes around the team\u27s discomfort connected to the institutional jail setting and intense emotions regarding the life situations of study participants, their treatment by jail staff, and our own concerns about leaving the research setting. We offer recommendations for scholars conducting research in similar environments with vulnerable participants

Quality of Data Downloads: Bibliographic Databases Frequently Used for Systematic Reviews

Objectives: To assess the quality of data downloaded from a variety of bibliographic databases commonly searched in systematic reviews, in order to provide guidance on the order in which database records should be uploaded into a citation manager and which record should be used as the “primary record” during the duplicate removal process. Methods: We downloaded the bibliographic records of a random sampling of two hundred journal articles from the following databases: MEDLINE (via PubMed and Ovid), Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane, CINAHL (via Ebsco), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (via Ebsco), Sociological Abstracts (via Proquest), and Google Scholar. We required that each article be available in at least three databases and that each database contain at least fifty of these articles. We then assessed the completeness and correctness of the downloads using the full-text article as our gold standard. Records were scored on presence, completeness, and correctness of the following fields: title, authors, digital object identifier (DOI), volume, issue, pages, publication year, accession number, abstract, and URL. Using these data, we calculated an overall score for each database and a head-to-head score for each database combination using the article overlap for each database pair

Sources of variability in cytosolic calcium transients triggered by stimulation of homogeneous uro-epithelial cell monolayers

Epithelial tissue structure is the emergent outcome of the interactions between large numbers of individual cells. Experimental cell biology offers an important tool to unravel these complex interactions, but current methods of analysis tend to be limited to mean field approaches or representation by selected subsets of cells. This may result in bias towards cells that respond in a particular way and/or neglect local, context-specific cell responses. Here, an automated algorithm was applied to examine in detail the individual calcium transients evoked in genetically homogeneous, but asynchronous populations of cultured non-immortalized normal human urothelial cells when subjected to either the global application of an external agonist or a localized scratch wound. The recorded calcium transients were classified automatically according to a set of defined metrics and distinct sub-populations of cells that responded in qualitatively different ways were observed. The nature of this variability in the homogeneous cell population was apportioned to two sources: intrinsic variation in individual cell responses and extrinsic variability due to context-specific factors of the environment, such as spatial heterogeneity. Statistically significant variation in the features of the calcium transients evoked by scratch wounding according to proximity to the wound edge was identified. The manifestation of distinct sub-populations of cells is considered central to the coordination of population-level response resulting in wound closure

Evaluating Resources for Cancer Caregivers on Cancer Hospital Websites

Background: Over the last 20 years, cancer care has transitioned from long hospitalizations to short inpatient stays or outpatient settings. As patients and their family members increasingly turn to the Internet for health information, cancer hospitals have the opportunity to provide clear, credible information on their websites to cancer patients, families, and informal caregivers. Objective: Recommend improved web content and organization of caregiver information for patients and families at our local comprehensive cancer center. Methods: One librarian and two library science students conducted a cognitive walk-through to assess websites of two cancer hospitals in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Each evaluator independently performed seven tasks distributed among three different caregiver personas to evaluate the presence and accessibility of caregiver information on these cancer hospital websites.Results: Our findings indicate that these websites are not conducive to providing information for cancer caregiver support because of the following: key information is unavailable, navigation on the landing page is limited, broken links, ambiguous page titles, page titles that do not match the content of the page, and lack of contact information (phone number, email) for service access. Conclusion: Opportunities are available to improve cancer caregiver information on cancer hospital websites. Library professionals can help cancer hospitals improve caregiver information on their websites with recommendations for additional content and clearer organization. This is a way to build partnerships between library professionals and cancer hospitals

Tripartite symbioses regulate plant–soil feedback in alder

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank the National Trust for Scotland for access to the Crathes Estate. This work was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (ref NE/M015653/1) and a Ramon Areces Fellowship to A.A. D.J. receives partial funding from the N8 AgriFood programme. We thank Filipa Cox for a critical read of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A longitudinal test of the predictions of the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behaviour for passive and active suicidal ideation in a large community-based cohort

BACKGROUND The Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide (IPTS) aims to elucidate the key antecedents of suicide deaths. Limited research has tested the IPTS in a community setting, and very little longitudinal research has been conducted. The current study longitudinally tested the predictions of the IPTS for suicidal ideation in a large population-based sample. METHODS The PATH through Life study assesses three age cohorts (20's, 40's, 60's) every four years. Two interpersonal factors were estimated at the third wave of assessment: thwarted belongingness (TB) and perceived burdensomeness (PB). The roles of these factors in suicide ideation (active and passive) four years later were estimated using logistic regression models (n = 4545). RESULTS A one SD increase in TB was associated with increased odds of 37% for passive ideation and 24% for active ideation. For PB, odds were increased 2.5-fold for passive ideation and 2.4-fold for active ideation. A significant negative PB × TB interaction was found for passive but not active ideation. Effects were not consistent by age group or gender. LIMITATIONS Proxy measures were used to assess the constructs. The extended timeframe and low prevalence of suicidal ideation limited power to find effects within subgroups. CONCLUSIONS Although TB and PB were individually associated with suicidal thoughts, little evidence was found for the key predictions of the IPTS longitudinally. Further investigation of the dynamic interplay between interpersonal factors over time is needed.The study was supported by National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants 973302, 179805, 350833, 157125 and Australian Research Council grant 130101705. PJB, ALC and HC are supported by NHMRC Fellowships 1083311, 1122544 and 1056964

'The difference in determinants of Chlamydia trachomatis and Mycoplasma genitalium in a sample of young Australian women.'

BACKGROUND Differences in the determinants of Chlamydia trachomatis ('chlamydia') and Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) genital infection in women are not well understood. METHODS A cohort study of 16 to 25 year old Australian women recruited from primary health care clinics, aimed to determine chlamydia and MG prevalence and incidence. Vaginal swabs collected at recruitment were used to measure chlamydia and MG prevalence, organism-load and chlamydia-serovar a cross-sectional analysis undertaken on the baseline results is presented here. RESULTS Of 1116 participants, chlamydia prevalence was 4.9% (95% CI: 2.9, 7.0) (n = 55) and MG prevalence was 2.4% (95% CI: 1.5, 3.3) (n = 27). Differences in the determinants were found - chlamydia not MG, was associated with younger age [AOR:0.9 (95% CI: 0.8, 1.0)] and recent antibiotic use [AOR:0.4 (95% CI: 0.2, 1.0)], and MG not chlamydia was associated with symptoms [AOR:2.1 (95% CI: 1.1, 4.0)]. Having two or more partners in last 12 months was more strongly associated with chlamydia [AOR:6.4 (95% CI: 3.6, 11.3)] than MG [AOR:2.2 (95% CI: 1.0, 4.6)] but unprotected sex with three or more partners was less strongly associated with chlamydia [AOR:3.1 (95%CI: 1.0, 9.5)] than MG [AOR:16.6 (95%CI: 2.0, 138.0)]. Median organism load for MG was 100 times lower (5.7 × 104/swab) than chlamydia (5.6 × 10⁶/swab) (p < 0.01) and not associated with age or symptoms for chlamydia or MG. CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrate significant chlamydia and MG prevalence in Australian women, and suggest that the differences in strengths of association between numbers of sexual partners and unprotected sex and chlamydia and MG might be due to differences in the transmission dynamics between these infections.This project was funded by the Commonwealth of Australia, as part of a National Chlamydia Pilot program that is currently running to test the effectiveness of a number of models for chlamydia testing in Australia. This project will assist in developing possible recommendations for a National Chlamydia Program. The analysis of MG was funded by the National Health and Research Council (research grant number 509144)

School Counselors and Administrators Agree: Time and Testing are Barriers

School leaders continuously state their concerns about rising mental health issues in schools. This study looks at the perceptions of the roles of school counselors as mental health professionals in schools from the perspectives of school counselors and principals. The purpose of this study is to explore how administrators and school counselors describe the role of school counselors, and the perceived barriers to school counselors spending the recommended 80 percent of their time in the delivery of services to students. This study uses deductive qualitative content analysis to review written responses from the 518 participants who identified as either a licensed or certified school counselor or a school administrator. The results show that school administrators and school counselors have very different perceptions of school counselors as mental health professionals; however, they agree that time and testing are barriers to providing direct services to students. RésuméLes dirigeants d’écoles expriment sans cesse leurs préoccupations envers l’augmentation des problèmes de santé mentale dans les écoles. Cette étude examine comment les directeurs et les conseillers en orientation perçoivent les rôles de ces derniers entant que professionnels de santé mentale dans les écoles. Le but de cette étude est d’explorer comment les administrateurs et les conseillers en orientation décrivent le rôle de ces derniers et les obstacles qui les empêcheraient de consacrer 80 pour cent de leur temps (tel que recommandé) à servir les élèves. Cette étude utilise une analyse de contenu qualitative et déductive pour examiner les réponses écrites des 518 participants qui se sont identifiés comme étant soit un conseiller en orientation certifié, soit un administrateur scolaire. Les résultats montrent que les administrateurs et les conseillers en orientation ont des perceptions très différentes de ces derniers en tant que professionnels de santé mentale; cependant, ils conviennent tous que le manque de temps et les tests posent un défi à la capacité des conseillers à servir les élèves directement. Keywords / Mots clés : school counselors, administrators, roles and responsibilities, barriers / conseillers en orientation, administrateurs, rôles et responsabilités, obstacle