The Contemporary Anti-Immigrant Environment and Latin American-origin Adolescents’ Perceived Futures: A Phenomenographic Content Analysis

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Increasing xenophobia may have negative impacts on how Latin American-origin adolescents in the U.S. perceive the future for themselves and their families....     

Process Evaluation of a Faith-Based Multicomponent Behavioral Intervention to Reduce Stroke Risk in Mexican Americans in a Catholic Church Setting: The SHARE (Stroke Health and Risk Education) Project

Journal of Religion and Health - Church-based stroke prevention programs for Hispanics are underutilized. The Stroke Health and Risk Education (SHARE) project, a multicomponent cluster-randomized...     

Developing cognitions about race: White 5‐ to 10‐year‐olds' perceptions of hardship and pain

White American adults assume that Blacks feel less pain than do Whites, but only if they believe that Blacks have faced greater economic hardship than Whites. The current study investigates when in development children first recognize racial group differences in economic hardship and examines whether perceptions of hardship inform children's racial bias in pain perception. Five‐ to 10‐year‐olds (N = 178) guessed which of two items (low versus high value) belonged to a Black and a White child and rated the amount of pain a Black and a White child would feel in 10 painful situations. By age 5, White American children attributed lower‐value possessions to Blacks than Whites, indicating a recognition of racial group differences in economic hardship. The results also replicated the emergence of a racial bias in pain perception between 5 and 10. However, unlike adults', children's perceptions of hardship do not account for racial bias in pain perception.     

Understanding Systems Change in Early Implementation of Housing First in Canadian Communities: An Examination of Facilitators/Barriers,Training/Technical Assistance,and Points of Leverage

We present interim findings of a cross‐site case study of an initiative to expand Housing First (HF) in Canada through training and technical assistance (TTA). HF is an evidence‐based practice designed to end chronic homelessness for consumers of mental health services. We draw upon concepts from implementation science and systems change theory to examine how early implementation occurs within a system. Case studies examining HF early implementation were conducted in six Canadian communities receiving HF TTA. The primary data are field notes gathered over 1.5 years and evaluations from site‐specific training events (k = 5, n = 302) and regional network training events (k = 4, n = 276). We report findings related to: (a) the facilitators of and barriers to early implementation, (b) the influence of TTA on early implementation, and (c) the “levers” used to facilitate broader systems change. Systems change theory enabled us to understand how various “levers” created opportunities for change within the communities, including establishing system boundaries, understanding how systems components can function as causes of or solutions to a problem, and assessing and changing systems interactions. We conclude by arguing that systems theory adds value to existing implementation science frameworks and can be helpful in future research on the implementation of evidence‐based practices such as HF which is a complex community intervention. Implications for community psychology are discussed.     

Navigating Complex Implementation Contexts: Overcoming Barriers and Achieving Outcomes in a National Initiative to Scale Out Housing First in Canada

The scaling out of Housing First (HF) programs was examined in six Canadian communities, in which a multi‐component HF training and technical assistance (TTA) was provided. Three research questions were addressed: (a) What were the outcomes of the TTA in terms of the development of new, sustained, or enhanced programs, and fidelity to the HF model? (b) How did the TTA contribute to implementation and fidelity? and (c) What contextual factors facilitated or challenged implementation and fidelity? A total of 14 new HF programs were created, and nine HF programs were sustained or enhanced. Fidelity assessments for 10 HF programs revealed an average score of 3.3/4, which compares favorably with other HF programs during early implementation. The TTA influenced fidelity by addressing misconceptions about the model, encouraging team‐based practice, and facilitating case‐based dialogue on site specific implementation challenges. The findings were discussed in terms of the importance of TTA for enhancing the capacities of the HF service delivery system—practitioners, teams, and communities—while respecting complex community contexts, including differences in policy climate across sites. Policy climate surrounding accessibility of housing subsidies, and use of Assertive Community Treatment teams (vs. Intensive Case Management) were two key implementation issues.     

Perspectives on Engagement Barriers and Alternative Delivery Formats from Non-completers of a Community-Run Parenting Program

The purpose of our study was to learn about barriers to participation faced by families who had signed up for but not completed a community-based parenting program that was not part of a research project. We also sought to gauge interest in alternative, web-based methods of delivering a parent training intervention. Semi-structured phone interviews were conducted with 27 parents who had signed up for but not completed a community-based parenting program. Results indicated that practical reasons such as scheduling were the most common barrier faced by parents. Results also suggested substantial interest in alternative web-based and hybrid models of program delivery. Hybrid models would allow participants to move between face-to-face small group classes and web-based classes; allowing for easy make-up of missed small-group sessions. Interventions designed by community organizations and researchers should consider using alternative methods, including hybrid models, of program delivery in order to reach a larger number of individuals.     

Behavioral Activation and Inhibition as Moderators of the Relationship Between Music Video-Viewing and Joyriding Attitudes

Recently, a growing number of studies have shown a relationship between exposure to risk-glorifying media and risky driving perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. The present study contributes to this line of research by examining emerging adults' behavioral approach system (BAS) and behavioral inhibition system (BIS) as moderators of the relationship between music video-viewing and joyriding attitudes. A cross-sectional survey among a sample of 539 emerging adults (ages 18–24) was conducted to examine the relationships between these constructs. Advanced moderation analyses indicated that, after controlling for sensation-seeking, physical aggression, gender, BIS, and BAS, the relationship between music video-viewing and joyriding attitudes only existed for respondents with a low BIS profile. Thus, low sensitivity to punishment functioned as a condition for the relationship between music video-viewing and joyriding attitudes. Furthermore, the results provided initial evidence for the hypothesis that the relationship between sensation-seeking and joyriding attitudes is explained by respondents' BAS scores. Accordingly, it seems advisable to include BIS and BAS in future media research. The present study also has important implications for the construction and planning of prevention campaigns, which are extensively discussed.     

Constraints on Multiple Object Tracking in Williams Syndrome: How Atypical Development Can Inform Theories of Visual Processing

The ability to track moving objects is a crucial skill for performance in everyday spatial tasks. The tracking mechanism depends on representation of moving items as coherent entities, which follow the spatiotemporal constraints of objects in the world. In the present experiment, participants tracked 1 to 4 targets in a display of 8 identical objects. Objects moved randomly and independently (moving condition), passed behind an invisible bar (occluded condition), or momentarily disappeared by shrinking (implosion condition). Scholl and Pylyshyn (1999) found that adults can track entities under the moving and occluded conditions, but not under implosion. This finding suggests that the tracking mechanism is constrained by the spatiotemporal properties of physical objects as they move in the world. In the present study, we adapt these conditions to investigate whether this constraint holds for people with severe spatial impairments associated with Williams syndrome (WS). In Experiment 1, we compare the performance of individuals with WS and typically developing (TD) adults. TD adults replicated Scholl and Pylyshyn’s findings; performance was no different between the moving and occluded conditions but was worse under implosion. People with WS had reduced tracking capacity but demonstrated the same pattern across conditions. In Experiment 2, we tested TD 4-, 5-, and 7-year-olds. People with WS performed at a level that fell between TD 4- and 5-year-olds. These results suggest that the multiple object tracking system in WS operates under the same object-based constraints that hold in typical development.