Overcoming distance in virtual teams : effects of communication media, experience, and time pressure on distributed teamwork

Een virtueel team is een team waarvan de leden elkaar niet of zelden in levenden lijve ontmoeten, bijvoorbeeld omdat de teamleden verschillende werktijden hebben of op verschillende vestigingen van een organisatie werken. Anders dan reguliere teams zijn virtuele teams in grote mate afhankelijk van informatie- en communicatietechnologie. Een voorbeeld van een virtueel team is een ontwerpteam dat binnen een multinationaal bedrijf een nieuwe productlijn ontwikkelt vanaf verschillende locaties door gebruik te maken van e-mail en videovergaderingen. Een belangrijke bijdrage van het huidige onderzoek is dat het laat zien dat de beperkingen van gedistribueerd samenwerken die de wijdverbreide toepassing van virtuele teams hinderen, zijn te overkomen. Door een combinatie van relevante groupware en ervaring met samenwerken op afstand, kunnen virtuele teams werk produceren dat qua kwaliteit en hoeveelheid vergelijkbaar is met het werk van face-to-face teams. Het lijkt er dan ook op dat virtuele teams geen modeverschijnsel zijn. Virtuele teams zijn de toekomst

National guidelines for smoking cessation in primary care: a literature review and evidence analysis

National guidelines for smoking cessation in primary care can be effective in improving clinical practice. This study assessed which parties are involved in the development of such guidelines worldwide, which national guidelines address primary care, what recommendations are made for primary care settings, and how these recommendations correlate with each other and with current evidence. We identified national guidelines using an online resource. Only the most recent version of a guideline was included. If an English version was not available, we requested a translation or summary of the recommendations from the authors. Two researchers independently extracted data on funding sources, development methodologies, involved parties, and recommendations made within the guidelines. These recommendations were categorised using the pile-sort method. Each recommendation was cross-checked with the latest evidence and was awarded an evidence-rating. We identified 43 guidelines from 39 countries and after exclusion, we analysed 26 guidelines (22 targeting general population, 4 targeted subpopulations). Twelve categories of recommendations for primary care were identified. There was almost universal agreement regarding the need to identify smokers, advice them to quit and offer behavioural and pharmacological quit smoking support. Discrepancies were greatest for specific recommendations regarding behavioural and pharmacological support, which are likely to be due to different interpretations of evidence and/or differences in contextual health environments. Based on these findings, we developed a universal checklist of guideline recommendations as a practice tool for primary care professionals and future guideline developers

Tracking vocabulary and reading growth in children from lower and higher socioeconomic backgrounds during the transition from primary to secondary education

We examined the relation between socioeconomic status (SES), vocabulary, and reading in middle childhood, during the transition from primary (elementary) to secondary (high) school. Children (N = 279, 163 girls) completed assessments of everyday and curriculum‐related vocabulary, (non)word reading, and reading comprehension at five timepoints from age 10 to 13. Piecewise linear mixed‐effects models showed significant growth in everyday vocabulary and word reading between every time point. Curriculum vocabulary and reading comprehension showed significant growth during the school year, but not during the summer holidays. There were significant effects of SES on all measures except word reading; yet, SES differences did not widen over time. Our findings motivate targeted reading and vocabulary support for secondary school students from lower SES backgrounds

From Bibliophile to Sesquipedalian: Modeling the Role of Reading Experience in Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension

Purpose We investigated the roles of leisure reading and word reading ability in vocabulary and reading comprehension development in 598 adolescents at ages 10, 11, and 12 (285 girls, 313 boys). Method Structural equation modeling was used to test whether word reading was associated with vocabulary and reading comprehension: a) directly; b) indirectly via leisure reading; or c) both. Results We found both direct and indirect effects of word reading on vocabulary: word reading ability directly predicted outcomes, and also predicted the amount of leisure reading, which in turn predicted vocabulary. For reading comprehension we observed direct but not indirect effects of word reading. As expected, vocabulary and reading comprehension outcomes were strongly correlated. Conclusion Our findings demonstrate the direct effect of word reading ability in predicting vocabulary and reading comprehension, and reveal a crucial mediating role of leisure reading in the development of vocabulary

Design and implementation of a twin-family database for behavior genetics and genomics studies.

In this article we describe the design and implementation of a database for extended twin families. The database does not focus on probands or on index twins, as this approach becomes problematic when larger multigenerational families are included, when more than one set of multiples is present within a family, or when families turn out to be part of a larger pedigree. Instead, we present an alternative approach that uses a highly flexible notion of persons and relations. The relations among the subjects in the database have a one-to-many structure, are user-definable and extendible and support arbitrarily complicated pedigrees. Some additional characteristics of the database are highlighted, such as the storage of historical data, predefined expressions for advanced queries, output facilities for individuals and relations among individuals and an easy-to-use multi-step wizard for contacting participants. This solution presents a flexible approach to accommodate pedigrees of arbitrary size, multiple biological and nonbiological relationships among participants and dynamic changes in these relations that occur over time, which can be implemented for any type of multigenerational family study

Reading fiction and reading minds in early adolescence: A longitudinal study

Reading fiction is argued to have benefits for our understanding of others' thoughts, feelings and desires, referred to as 'theory of mind'(ToM). We aimed to test this assumption by examining whether children's reading experience is longitudinally associated with later ToM. We examined reading experience and ToM in 236 children between the ages of 11-13 years. Participants were asked to report on their time spent reading both fiction and non-fiction at ages 11 and 13, ToM was measured at age 13. Verbal ability, reading comprehension, and reading motivation were included as control variables in all analyses. Results showed that children's self-reported fiction, but not their non-fiction reading was associated with ToM. Further, the association was concurrent but not longitudinal: fiction reading and ToM at age 13 were associated but fiction reading at age 11 did not predict ToM at age 13. Our findings motivate further research on what types of reading materials might be beneficial, and the level of exposure to fiction that is needed for measurable benefits for later ToM

SERIES:eHealth in primary care. Part 2: Exploring the ethical implications of its application in primary care practice

Background: eHealth promises to increase self-management and personalised medicine and improve cost-effectiveness in primary care. Paired with these promises are ethical implications, as eHealth will affect patients' and primary care professionals' (PCPs) experiences, values, norms, and relationships.Objectives: We argue what ethical implications related to the impact of eHealth on four vital aspects of primary care could (and should) be anticipated.Discussion: (1) EHealth influences dealing with predictive and diagnostic uncertainty. Machine-learning based clinical decision support systems offer (seemingly) objective, quantified, and personalised outcomes. However, they also introduce new loci of uncertainty and subjectivity. The decision-making process becomes opaque, and algorithms can be invalid, biased, or even discriminatory. This has implications for professional responsibilities and judgments, justice, autonomy, and trust. (2) EHealth affects the roles and responsibilities of patients because it can stimulate self-management and autonomy. However, autonomy can also be compromised, e.g. in cases of persuasive technologies and eHealth can increase existing health disparities. (3) The delegation of tasks to a network of technologies and stakeholders requires attention for responsibility gaps and new responsibilities. (4) The triangulate relationship: patient-eHealth-PCP requires a reconsideration of the role of human interaction and 'humanness' in primary care as well as of shaping Shared Decision Making.Conclusion: Our analysis is an essential first step towards setting up a dedicated ethics research agenda that should be examined in parallel to the development and implementation of eHealth. The ultimate goal is to inspire the development of practice-specific ethical recommendations

Group Care in the first 1000 days: implementation and process evaluation of contextually adapted antenatal and postnatal group care targeting diverse vulnerable populations in high-, middle- and low-resource settings

Background: Group care (GC) improves the quality of maternity care, stimulates women’s participation in their own care and facilitates growth of women’s social support networks. There is an urgent need to identify and disseminate the best mechanisms for implementing GC in ways that are feasible, context appropriate and sustainable. This protocol presents the aims and methods of an innovative implementation research project entitled Group Care in the first 1000 days (GC_1000), which addresses this need. Aims: The aim of GC_1000 is to co-create and disseminate evidence-based implementation strategies and tools to support successful implementation and scale-up of GC in health systems throughout the world, with particular attention to the needs of ‘vulnerable’ populations. Methods: By working through five inter-related work packages, each with specific tasks, objectives and deliverables, the global research team will systematically examine and document the implementation and scale-up processes of antenatal and postnatal GC in seven different countries. The GC_1000 project is grounded theoretically in the consolidated framework for implementation research (CFIR), while the process evaluation is guided by ‘Realistic Evaluation’ principles. Data are gathered across all research phases and analysis at each stage is synthesized to develop Context-Intervention-Mechanism-Outcome configurations. Discussion: GC_1000 will generate evidence-based knowledge about the integration of complex interventions into diverse health care systems. The 4-year project also will pave the way for sustained implementation of GC, significantly benefitting populations with adverse pregnancy and birthing experiences as well as poor outcomes