Neighborhood social disorder as a determinant of drug injection behaviors: a structural equation modeling approach.

Neighborhood environments are increasingly recognized as a contextual determinant of health, behaviors, and disease; however, the pathways through which neighborhood characteristics impact health behaviors are poorly understood. This article examines pathways to elucidate how neighborhood social disorder may lead to HIV transmission. Data are from a baseline survey of 701 injection drug users from the Self-Help in Eliminating Lethal Diseases Study, an HIV prevention intervention in Baltimore. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the pathways among social disorder, psychological distress, and drug injection behaviors. The relationship between disorder and injection behaviors in the models tested suggests that psychological distress is higher in more socially disordered neighborhoods, that distress leads to greater injection frequency and equipment sharing, and that injection frequency predicts equipment sharing.     

A Multi-Method,Multi-Informant Test of Maternal Emotion Socialization in Relation to Adolescent Fears of Social Evaluation

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Fears of negative and positive social evaluation are considered potential transdiagnostic mechanisms underpinning multiple internalizing disorders...     

Inadequate Response to Therapy as a Predictor of Suicide

The role of response to cognitive therapy as a predictor of suicide was investigated by comparing 17 outpatients with mood disorders who committed suicide with 17 matched patients who did not commit suicide. The suiciders attended significantly fewer sessions of cognitive therapy and dropped out of therapy more frequently: 88% of the suiciders, compared to 53% of the controls, were rated by their therapists as requiring more treatment at termination. They also had higher levels of hopelessness at the termination of therapy. The results suggest that premature termination of therapy and inadequate response to treatment have unfavorable prognostic significance for eventual suicide.     

A Cross-Cultural Study of the Work/Nonwork Interface among Israeli Nurses

Cette recherche analyse les effets différentiels des exigences du travail et du hors‐travail et de la gestion des rôles sur le conflit travail/hors‐travail, le projet de démission, la démission et l’absentéisme dans trois groupes ethniques. Des questionnaires ont été proposés à des infirmières juives (N= 102), musulmanes (N= 88) et chrétiennes (N= 50) dans trois hôpitaux israéliens. Des renseignements objectifs sur l’absentéisme et le turnover ont été obtenus auprès de l’administration de ces hôpitaux. Certaines liaisons parmi les variables de travail et de hors‐travail différaient selon le groupe ethnique. Par exemple, l’emploi à plein temps influençait le conflit travail/hors‐travail seulement chez les Juives et le contrôle hiérarchique avaient des effets opposés dans deux groupes. Davantage d’enfants entrainait plus de projets de démission chez les Arabes et moins chez les Juives. Plus de prise en charge personnelle provoquait moins de démissions réelles pour les Arabes et plus pour les Juives. Pour ce qui est du taux d’absentéisme, le contrôle hiérarchique et les pressions émanant du travail avaient des effets favorables chez les Arabes et des effects inverses mais plus faibles chez les Juives; le résultat est le méme en ce qui concerne le soutien organisationnel. Ces observations doivent rendre prudents les spécialistes des sciences‐humaines quand il s’agit d’extrapoler à d’autres situations culturelles les relations travail/hors‐travail découvertes dans une société. This study examined the differential effects of both work and nonwork demands and inter‐role management on work/nonwork conflict, turnover intention, turnover, and absenteeism across three ethnic groups. Data from Jewish (N= 102), Muslim (N= 88), and Christian (N= 50) female nurses at three Israeli hospitals were collected by survey questionnaires. Objective data on absenteeism and turnover were collected from the hospitals’ records. Several relationships among the work and nonwork variables differed across the ethnic groups. For example, full‐time employment had an effect on work/nonwork conflict only for Jews and supervision had opposite effects across the two groups. More children meant more intention of turnover among Arabs and less among Jews. More personal coping meant lower actual turnover for Arabs and higher turnover for Jews. In the case of absence frequency, supervision and job tension had favorable effects for Arabs and smaller, adverse effects for Jews. Organisational support had a favorable effect for Arabs and a smaller, adverse effect for Jews. The findings serve to caution social scientists about generalising work and nonwork relationships identified in one society to other cultural settings.     

Feasibility of a Web‐based Gatekeeper Training: Implications for Suicide Prevention

Web‐based training programs have advantages such as increased scheduling flexibility and decreased training costs. Yet the feasibility of applying them to injury prevention programs such as suicide prevention gatekeeper training has not been empirically verified. Two studies were conducted to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of a web‐based version of the Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) gatekeeper training program. Results of Study 1 revealed that participants in a web‐based training demonstrated significant gains in knowledge of suicide prevention, self‐efficacy for suicide prevention, and behavioral intentions to engage in suicide prevention, as compared to those in a control group. Results of Study 2 further showed that the web‐based training may be as effective as the face‐to‐face QPR training across pre‐ (T1) and post training (T2); however, knowledge, self‐efficacy, and behavioral intentions in both groups generally declined from T2 to 6‐months after the training. Overall, these results provide initial evidence to support the feasibility of adopting web‐based media to deliver gatekeeper training. Moreover, the present findings suggest the need to understand how to maintain gatekeepers’ knowledge, confidence, motivation, and skills after training.