Decisions to Seek Healthcare Based on Family Health History Among Urban Appalachian Women

Family health history (FHH) is a valuable health promotion tool that can be used to assess disease risk and make lifestyle and screening recommendations. However, few FHH resources exist for medically underserved populations such as the urban Appalachian community in Cincinnati Ohio. Women of Appalachian heritage with less than a college education who did and did not participate in a prior FHH education session were interviewed by phone in a semi-structured format. Interviewees were asked to discuss their understanding of FHH and the role FHH played in seeking (or not seeking) medical care. Analysis of their discussion identified four overarching themes as well as a model identifying conditions that facilitated or impeded the choice to seek medical care based on FHH. Findings from this study may be used to develop targeted FHH educational interventions in the urban Appalachian and other communities.     

华人人际关系的概念化——针对中国香港大学生的实证研究

以杨中芳所构建的华人人际关系概念化理论模型为蓝本,并用以往的实证研究方法为基础,揭示了当代华人对人际关系如何进行概念化及其潜在的认知维度。杨氏模型认为华人人际关系主要由既定成分、情感成分和工具成分组成。该研究以中国香港大学生为被试进行调查,首先采用访谈的形式,分家族、学校及日常生活情境建立人际关系清单。然后采用多维量法（Multi-dimensional scaling）处理被试对关系进行分类的数据。结果发现,在不同的生活情境中,被试均依据情感程度对关系进行分类。在等级差异明显的家族和学校情境中,被试依据辈份和等级差异的突显性进行区分;而在等级差异小的生活情境中,则采用功利程度为标准。本文对被试在不同情境中所采用的不同维度进行了讨论,并提出华人人际关系的义务具有工具性质的实证结果     

Overhearing a language during childhood

Despite its significance for understanding of language acquisition, the role of childhood language experience has been examined only in linguistic deprivation studies focusing on what cannot be learned readily beyond childhood. This study focused instead on long-term effects of what can be learned best during childhood. Our findings revealed that adults learning a language speak with a more nativelike accent if they overheard the language regularly during childhood than if they did not. These findings have important implications for understanding of language-learning mechanisms and heritage-language acquisition.     

Folkbiology meets microbiology: a study of conceptual and behavioral change

Health education can offer a valuable window onto conceptual and behavioral change. In Study 1, we mapped out 3rd-grade Chinese children’s beliefs about causes of colds and flu and ways they can be prevented. We also explored older adults’ beliefs as a possible source of the children’s ideas. In Study 2, we gave 3rd- and 4th-grade Chinese children either a conventional cold/flu education program or an experimental “Think Biology” program that focused on a biological causal mechanism for cold/flu transmission. The “Think Biology” program led children to reason about cold/flu causation and prevention more scientifically than the conventional program, and their reasoning abilities dovetailed with their mastery of the causal mechanism. Study 3, a modified replication of Study 2, found useful behavioral change as well as conceptual change among children who received the “Think Biology” program and documented coherence among knowledge enrichment, conceptual change, and behavioral change.     

The Efficacy of a Group Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) for Chinese Parents with a Child Diagnosed with ADHD in Hong Kong: A Pilot Randomised Controlled Study

The present pilot study evaluated the efficacy of the Level 4 Group Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) with Hong Kong Chinese parents who had a child with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), using a randomised controlled trial design. It was a mixed research method involving quantitative measurement and semi‐structured focus group. Participants were randomly assigned to Triple P (n = 8) or control group (n = 9) and completed measures on child disruptive behaviours, sense of parenting efficacy and satisfaction, family stress and service needs. Outcomes were assessed at pre‐, post‐, and 3‐month follow‐up. A focus group was also conducted with the participants in the intervention group upon the programme completion. Compared with the control group, the intervention group reported a significant reduction in intensity of child behaviour problems and a significant increase in parenting efficacy at post‐intervention. The gain in reducing intensity of child disruptive behaviours maintained to 3 months after the completion of programme. Qualitative data suggested the three key elements to help both parents and children get positive changes: understanding and empathy, emotional control, and persistence in applying positive parenting strategies. The results partially provided preliminary evidence supporting the efficacy of Triple P in reducing child behaviour problems for ADHD in Chinese society.     

Treatment Fidelity of a Randomized Controlled Trial for Suicidal Risk

Treatment fidelity is a crucial consideration within randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The present study relies on data from a feasibility RCT conducted with 62 treatment-seeking suicidal college students. Issues of experimental fidelity were germane in this investigation because the same clinicians provided both the experimental (the Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality—CAMS) and the control (treatment as usual—TAU) care. The first aim of the current study was to determine adherence to the CAMS model within the experimental (CAMS) and control (TAU) treatment conditions. A second exploratory aim was included to examine how treatment fidelity impacted treatment outcomes (i.e., depression, suicidal ideation, hopelessness, and potential treatment moderators). The CAMS Rating Scale (CRS.3-R) was used to determine treatment adherence to the CAMS model and to ensure between-group fidelity within the trial. The CRS.3-R was completed throughout the course of care based on reviews of a selected number of video recordings of both CAMS and TAU sessions to measure treatment fidelity. Mean CRS.3-R scores revealed differences across treatment conditions such that clinicians were successfully able to provide each treatment separately without contamination. Further, higher CRS.3-R scores in CAMS sessions resulted in decreased hopelessness over the treatment period. Higher CRS.3-R scores in TAU sessions resulted in an increased likelihood of suicidal ideation and less reduction in hopelessness over the treatment period. Overall, clinicians can serve as their own controls in a RCT and levels of adherence to the CAMS model have different effects on suicidal ideation and hopelessness.