Research Participants’ Preferences for Hypothetical Secondary Results from Genomic Research

Secondary or incidental results can be identified in genomic research that increasingly uses whole exome/genome sequencing. Understanding research participants’ preferences for secondary results and what influences these decisions is important for patient education, counseling, and consent, and for the development of policies regarding return of secondary results. Two hundred nineteen research participants enrolled in genomic studies were surveyed regarding hypothetical preferences for specific types of secondary results, and these preferences were correlated with demographic information and psychosocial data. The majority of research participants (73%) indicated a preference to learn about all results offered, with no clear pattern regarding which results were not desired by the remaining participants. Participants who reported greater interest in genetic privacy were less likely to indicate a preference to learn all results, as were individuals who self-identified as Jewish. Although most research participants preferred to receive all secondary results offered, a significant subset preferred to exclude some results, suggesting that an all-or-none policy would not be ideal for all participants. The correlations between preferences to receive secondary results, religious identification, and privacy concerns demonstrate the need for culturally sensitive counseling and educational materials accessible to all education levels to allow participants to make the best choices for themselves.     

Psychometric Properties of Parent–Child (0–5 years) Interaction Outcome Measures as Used in Randomized Controlled Trials of Parent Programs: A Systematic Review

This systematic review sought to identify observational measures of parent–child interactions commonly implemented in parenting program research, and to assess the level of psychometric evidence available for their use with this age group. Two separate searches of the same databases were conducted; firstly, to identify eligible instruments, and secondly to identify studies reporting on the psychometric properties of the identified measures. Five commercial platforms hosting 19 electronic databases were searched from their inception to conducted search dates. Fourteen measures were identified from Search 1; a systematic search of randomized controlled trial evaluations of parenting programs. For Search 2, inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied to 1327 retrieved papers that described the development and/or validation of the 14 measures identified in Search 1. Seventeen articles met the inclusion criteria, resulting in five observational measures for the final review. Data were extracted and synthesized using the COSMIN rating system to describe the methodological quality of each article alongside the overall quality rating of the psychometric property reported for each measure using the Terwee checklist. Measure reliability was categorized into four domains (internal consistency, test-re-test, inter-rater, and intra-rater). Measure validity was categorized into four domains (content, structural, convergent/divergent, and discriminant). Results indicated that the majority of psychometric evidence related to children aged from birth the three with internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, and structural validity the most commonly reported properties, although this evidence was often weak. The findings suggest further validation of the included measures is required to establish acceptability for the whole target age group.

     

Mediators of physical activity behavior change: a multivariate approach

OBJECTIVE: Using a multivariate extension of the Baron and Kenny (1986) mediation framework, we examined the simultaneous effect of variables hypothesized to mediate the relationship between a motivationally tailored physical activity intervention, and 6-month physical activity behavior in 239 healthy, underactive adults (M age = 47.5; 82% women). DESIGN: Participants were randomly assigned to (a) print-based feedback; (b) telephone-based feedback; or (c) contact control. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Psychosocial variables, including self-efficacy, decisional balance, and processes of change. RESULTS: All mediation criteria were satisfied for both intervention arms. A moderate indirect effect of print (0.39, 95% CI = 0.21, 0.57) was found due to increases in behavioral processes (0.54, 95% CI = 0.29, 0.80) being attenuated by decreases due to cognitive processes (-0.17, 95%CI = 0.31,-.03). A moderate indirect effect was observed for telephone (0.47, 95% CI = 0.28, 0.66), with increases due to behavioral processes (0.61, 95% CI = 0.34, 0.87) attenuated by decreases due to cognitive processes (0.15, 95% CI = -0.27, -0.02); self-efficacy and decisional balance mediational paths did not attain statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the importance of studies that deconstruct the theoretical components of interventions to determine which combination produces the greatest behavior changes at the lowest cost.     

Sex-specific clinical correlates of hoarding in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Little is known about whether the clinical correlates of hoarding behavior are different in men and women with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In the current study, we evaluated the association of hoarding with categories of obsessions and compulsions, psychiatric disorders, personality dimensions, and other clinical characteristics separately in 151 men and 358 women with OCD who were examined during the OCD Collaborative Genetics Study. We found that, among men but not women, hoarding was associated with aggressive, sexual, and religious obsessions and checking compulsions. In men, hoarding was associated with generalized anxiety disorder and tics whereas, among women, hoarding was associated with social phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, nail biting, and skin picking. In women but not men, hoarding was associated with schizotypal and dependent personality disorder dimensions, and with low conscientiousness. These findings indicate that specific clinical correlates of hoarding in OCD are different in men and women and may reflect sex-specific differences in the course, expression, and/or etiology of hoarding behavior in OCD.     

Introduction: Belief as Cultural Performance

Abstract

Although the concept of belief has become a focus of critical discussion in other disciplines, sociologists of religion have tended to assume that belief is a universal phenomenon, structured around cognitive propositions which can be made explicit in the context of research surveys and interviews The articles in this special issue of the Journal of Contemporary Religion explore belief in the lives of young people in different religious, cultural, and national contexts to suggest more complex ways in which belief might be conceptualised and researched. While the ‘authenticity’ of belief is a significant value for young people across these cases, the authors show how belief can, in different contexts, be a marker of identity, an expression of socially significant relationships or an organising centre for the lives of individuals and groups. Belief can also be understood as the performance of embodied practices shaped by one’s spatial and cultural environment. In this wider context, training young people in propositional forms of belief is shown to be a particular kind of religious project, which can be unstable and have unintended consequences.     

Varieties of Belief over Time: Reflections from a Longitudinal Study of Youth and Belief

ABSTRACT

This article reports longitudinal research involving young people in adolescence and early adulthood, focusing on questions about belief and identity. The author finds that significant varieties of belief—propositional, felt (emotional/embodied), performative—were created and sustained through social relationships. A seven-part analytical model permits holistic, organic analysis to identify the shifting and mutually interdependent dimensions of belief: content, source, practice, salience, function, time, and place. The articles forms part of a special issue of the Journal of Contemporary Religion, entitled “Belief as Cultural Performance”.