Primary Prevention and Motivational Interviewing: Patterns in Athletic Training

Background: The BOC practice analysis defines the first domain as Risk Reduction, Wellness and Health Literacy including, “Promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors with effective education and communication.” There is limited evidence on primary prevention measures athletic trainers (ATs) use to address health-related behaviors. Motivational interviewing is an evidence-based patient-centered style of communication used to help patients modify detrimental health behaviors to improve health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore knowledge and practice patterns of primary prevention and motivational interviewing in athletic training. Methods: We used a cross-sectional, web-based survey (Qualtrics, Provo, UT). The survey contained demographic questions, a primary prevention practice patterns questionnaire, a motivational interviewing perception and practice patterns questionnaire, and the Motivational Interviewing Knowledge and Attitudes Test (MIKAT). The demographic questions, primary prevention questions, and motivational interviewing questions underwent a CVI process using five expert reviewers (CVI 0.95). The survey was distributed to 3,250 athletic trainers through the NATA Research Survey Service, where 146 individuals accessed the survey (4.5%), and social media, with 18 participants completing the survey via that route. A total of 51 participants (women=25, men=24, no response=2; age = 36±11years, years of experience = 13±11 years [range = 0-35 years]) completed the survey and were included in the final analysis. Inferential and descriptive statistics were used to analyze demographic variables, practice patterns- and education-related items. Results: Most participants used at least one primary prevention strategy (n=41, 80.4%). The most used primary prevention strategies were nutritional education (n=41, 80.4%), exercise prevention (n=41, 80.4%), and substance abuse education (n=15, 29.4%) (Table 3). Approximately half of respondents (n=27, 52.9%) received formal education/training on primary prevention strategies. Most (n=33, 64.7%) reported doing so on an individual level, while others (n=10, 19.6%) reported using it on the population/community level. Motivational interviewing was largely (n=43, 84.3%) not used as a primary prevention strategy. Conclusion: Generally, primary prevention strategies were used on an individual level, with most not using them to address health-related behaviors. To best promote healthy lifestyle behaviors, athletic trainers may need to increase the diversity of primary prevention strategies utilized, including the use of motivational interviewing techniques

Gender Microaggression and Macroaggression Experiences of Women Athletic Trainers

Purpose: Although gender disparities and workplace vitality for women has been studied in athletic training, gender discrimination has not been widely studied. The purpose of this study was to describe gender-based aggressions experienced by women athletic trainers (ATs) within their educational and workplace environments. Methods: We used a cross-sectional design, and the web-based survey was comprised of demographic questions, the Schedule of Sexism Events (SSE), and questions on incident reporting. The SSE asks participant to rank items on a Likert Scale (1 = the event never happened to 6 = the event happens almost all the time). Items within the SSE are contextualized to either events in the past year or events in their entire life. The survey was distributed to 5,667 women ATs through the National Athletic Training Association (NATA). Five hundred thirty-nine (539) participants accessed the survey (9.5%). Four hundred seventy-eight (478) participants (age=34.2±8.6y [range=23–66y], experience=11.0±8.2y [range=0-40y]) completed the entire instrument (88.6%). We used descriptive statistics to analyze demographic variables, gender-based education- and work- related items of the SSE and incident reporting. Results: When asked about unfair treatment while interacting with teachers, professors, or engaging in academics in their lifetime, 89% (n=425) of participants indicated they had experienced unfair treatment. Comparatively, 53% (n=252) of participants experienced unfair treatment from teachers, or professors, or while engaging in academics in the last year. When asked about unfair treatment by an employer, boss, or supervisor, 88% (n=421) of participants experienced unfair treatment in their lifetime, where 55% (n=267) have experienced unfair treatment in the past year. Ninety percent (90%, n=430) indicated they experienced unfair treatment by co-workers, fellow students, or colleagues, in their lifetime compared to 61% (n=292) in the past year. When asked if they had experienced gender-based macroaggressions and microaggressions in the workplace, 41% (n=198) experienced both types of aggressions; 5% (n=22) experienced macroaggressions and 29% (n=137) experienced microaggressions. Only 25% (n=119) of participants have reported aggressions in the workplace. Conclusion: Women ATs experience gender-based aggressions in the workplace but they do not typically report these aggressions. All ATs have the responsibility to work towards an inclusive, equitable, and welcoming workplace that directly addresses aggressions

Impact and Experiences Relative to Critical Incidents and Critical Incident Stress Management

Purpose: Typically, athletic trainers (ATs) have relied on external support networks to debrief after a critical incident (CI). ATs report focusing on improving work-related processes after a CI rather than their emotional response to the CI. The purpose of this study was to identify both the short-term emotional impacts of CIs and what coping strategies ATs use to address their emotional response to CIs. Methods: We used a cross-sectional, web-based survey, distributed to a random sample of NATA members to explore the perceived effects of CIs on ATs. Participants (n=73, 36±11y) were primarily women (n=53, 72.6%), working in the college/university practice setting (n = 40, 54.8%), with 7±3y of experience. All participants experienced a CI within the previous 12 months. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics for demographic variables and multi-analyst inductive coding for the open-ended items amongst a 4-person team. We used a modified consensual qualitative research (CQR) process to review and analyze the open-ended questions and identify domains and core ideas. Trustworthiness was established with multi-analyst triangulation and auditing. Results: Participants most commonly reported feelings of thinking too much (71%, n=52), anxiety (63%, n=46), sadness (60%, n=44), fatigue (53%, n=39), and sleep disturbance (49%, n=36) resulting from CIs. Common coping strategies used were exercise (63%, n=46), humor (44%, n=32), interacting with pets (41%, n=30), expressing oneself through crying (40%, n=29), and peer support (34%, n=25). Sixty-two participants (86%) responded to open-ended questions related to the outcomes of CIs. Four domains were identified from the open-ended responses. Those domains included 1) dissociation, 2) deteriorated emotional state, 3) disruption of daily activities, and 4) improved event or post-event processes. Conclusion: Various strategies are used by ATs to cope with CIs; however, the only ways in which ATs expressed that coping helped was with care delivery, not the emotional impact of the CI. The lack of responses relative to coping strategies that improve quality of life is potentially alarming. To build resilience and persistence, organizations should consider requiring support beyond process improvement that addresses the emotional impact of CIs

Privacy, Anonymity, and Big Data in the Social Sciences

Quality social science research and the privacy of human subjects require trust

Orthogonal-view Microscope for the Biomechanics Investigations of Aquatic Organisms

Microscopes are essential for biomechanics and hydrodynamical investigation of small aquatic organisms. We report a DIY microscope (GLUBscope) that enables the visualization of organisms from two orthogonal imaging planes (top and side views). Compared to conventional imaging systems, this approach provides a comprehensive visualization strategy of organisms, which could have complex shapes and morphologies. The microscope was constructed by combining custom 3D-printed parts and off-the-shelf components. The system is designed for modularity and reconfigurability. Open-source design files and build instructions are provided in this report. Additionally, proof of use experiments, particularly with Hydra and other organisms that combine the GLUBscope with an analysis pipeline, were demonstrated. Beyond the applications demonstrated, the system can be used or modified for various imaging applications

Gallavotti-Cohen theorem, Chaotic Hypothesis and the zero-noise limit

The Fluctuation Relation for a stationary state, kept at constant energy by a deterministic thermostat - the Gallavotti-Cohen Theorem -- relies on the ergodic properties of the system considered. We show that when perturbed by an energy-conserving random noise, the relation follows trivially for any system at finite noise amplitude. The time needed to achieve stationarity may stay finite as the noise tends to zero, or it may diverge. In the former case the Gallavotti-Cohen result is recovered, while in the latter case, the crossover time may be computed from the action of `instanton' orbits that bridge attractors and repellors. We suggest that the `Chaotic Hypothesis' of Gallavotti can thus be reformulated as a matter of stochastic stability of the measure in trajectory space. In this form this hypothesis may be directly tested

Frozen Disorder in a Driven System

We investigate the effects of quenched disorder on the universal properties of a randomly driven Ising lattice gas. The Hamiltonian fixed point of the pure system becomes unstable in the presence of a quenched local bias, giving rise to a new fixed point which controls a novel universality class. We determine the associated scaling forms of correlation and response functions, quoting critical exponents to two-loop order in an expansion around the upper critical dimension d$_c=5$.Comment: 5 pages RevTex. Uses multicol.sty. Accepted for publication in PR

SOFIA/FORCAST and Spitzer/IRAC Imaging of the Ultra Compact H II Region W3(OH) and Associated Protostars in W3

We present infrared observations of the ultra-compact H II region W3(OH) made by the FORCAST instrument aboard SOFIA and by Spitzer/IRAC. We contribute new wavelength data to the spectral energy distribution, which constrains the optical depth, grain size distribution, and temperature gradient of the dusty shell surrounding the H II region. We model the dust component as a spherical shell containing an inner cavity with radius ~ 600 AU, irradiated by a central star of type O9 and temperature ~ 31,000 K. The total luminosity of this system is 71,000 L_solar. An observed excess of 2.2 - 4.5 microns emission in the SED can be explained by our viewing a cavity opening or clumpiness in the shell structure whereby radiation from the warm interior of the shell can escape. We claim to detect the nearby water maser source W3 (H2O) at 31.4 and 37.1 microns using beam deconvolution of the FORCAST images. We constrain the flux densities of this object at 19.7 - 37.1 microns. Additionally, we present in situ observations of four young stellar and protostellar objects in the SOFIA field, presumably associated with the W3 molecular cloud. Results from the model SED fitting tool of Robitaille et al. (2006, 2007} suggest that two objects (2MASS J02270352+6152357 and 2MASS J02270824+6152281) are intermediate-luminosity (~ 236 - 432 L_solar) protostars; one object (2MASS J02270887+6152344) is either a high-mass protostar with luminosity 3000 L_solar or a less massive young star with a substantial circumstellar disk but depleted envelope; and one object (2MASS J02270743+6152281) is an intermediate-luminosity (~ 768 L_solar) protostar nearing the end of its envelope accretion phase or a young star surrounded by a circumstellar disk with no appreciable circumstellar envelope.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, accepted by Ap