Two alternative models of health behaviour and recovery from activity limitations due to acute injury: A prospective study

Cognitions influence recovery from activity limitations. In this study we aimed to independently test, compare and combine the common sense self-regulation model (CS-SRM) and social cognitive theory (SCT) in predicting recovery from activity limitations due to acute injury. Measures were gathered at two time points 5–6 weeks apart. The sample consisted of 146 university students (Mean age: 21.86, SD: 4.83, 62% female) with a heterogeneous range of injuries that limited their participation in physical activity. The dependent variable was recovery from activity limitations (Physical Functioning?–?Short Form-36). The predictor variables were measured using the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire and SCT items designed according to theoretical recommendations. Time-line (TL) and self-efficacy (SE) were significant predictors of recovery in a multivariate analysis, controlling for reported pain at Time 1. A combined model including the best predictors from both models, TL (β = ?0.25, p < 0.05, R ² change = 0.17, p < 0.01) and SE (β =0.31, p < 0.05, R ² change = 0.05, p < 0.05), accounted for a significant amount of the variance in recovery from activity limitations. A combination of key variables from both models may be particularly useful for understanding the cognitive factors that influence recovery from activity limitations.     

Grafting Orchids and Ugly: Theatre, Disability and Arts-Based Health Research

Theatre-based health policy research is an emerging field, and this article investigates the work of one of its leaders. In 2005, prominent medical geneticist and playwright Jeff Nisker and his collaborators produced Orchids, his play concerning pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, to research theatre as a tool for engaging citizens in health policy development. Juxtaposing Orchids with a concurrent disability theatre production in Vancouver entitled Ugly, I argue that disability theatre suggests important means for building inclusiveness in this kind of research and complicates Nisker’s own call for international guidelines to delimit how journalists, playwrights, filmmakers, physicians and other media authors share genetics-based narratives in public.     

Ockham and Buridan on the Ampliation of Modal Propositions

This paper explores a currently unnoticed argument used by John Buridan to defend his analysis of modal propositions and to reject the analysis of modal propositions of necessity put forward by William of Ockham. First, I explore this argument and, by considering possible responses of Ockham to Buridan, show some of the ways in which Ockham seems to be keeping closer to Aristotle's remarks about modal propositions in Prior Analytics, 18.     

Stuart’s tau measure of effect size for ordinal variables: Some methodological considerations

The reporting of measures of effect size has become increasingly important in psychology. A Monte Carlo resampling permutation procedure is introduced to find near-optimum maximum values for Stuart’s τ _c measure for two-way ordinal contingency tables, also termed Kendall’s τ _c since Kendall introduced τ _a and τ _b . Comparisons between resampling and exact procedures demonstrate the accuracy and utility of resampling measures of effect size for two-way ordinal contingency tables. The resampling procedure is shown to be more precise than the traditional method of standardizing τ _c .     

Positive Illusions of Social Competence in Girls with and Without ADHD

We compared social self-competence ratings in 9–12 year old girls with (n = 42) versus without (n = 40) ADHD, relative to ratings of the girls’ social competence made by mothers, teachers, and blind raters during a social laboratory task. Relative to scores from mothers, teachers, and the lab-task, girls with ADHD over-estimated their competence significantly more than control girls. Over-estimates were greater for girls with ADHD who also had heightened oppositional-defiant symptoms, or lower depressive symptoms. Over-estimates were positively related to a socially desirable reporting bias for girls with ADHD, but not for control girls, suggesting that girls with ADHD attempt to present themselves in an unduly positive, self-protective light. For girls with ADHD, over-estimates also were positively related to maladjustment and negatively related to adjustment. However, for girls without ADHD, over-estimates were positively related to adjustment. Overall, over-estimates of competence function differently in girls with and without ADHD.     

Sex differences in children's group embedded figures test performance

Despite the fact that sex differences in field dependence/independence have been a fairly constant feature in studies employing adults, doubt surrounds the status of similar sex differences in childhood. Several attempts have been made to explain these findings, the most popular being that group Embedded Figures Tests do not tap sex differences. A simpler explanation is that large enough Ns have not been employed in past research to allow the small sex difference present in childhood to emerge as a statistically significant phenomenon. This explanation is supported by the results of the present study which employed 1200 children and was able to demonstrate a significant sex difference at both 8 and 11 yr using the Children's Group Embedded Figures Test.