Religion in Sexual Health: A Staff Perspective

This paper reports data on the complexities of delivering religious/spiritual care in sexual health from a staff perspective. A learning needs analysis, in survey format, was conducted with the nursing staff of a leading London, sexual health clinic. Recruitment took place in May 2011 over a period of 2 weeks. The sample consisted of 25 members of staff which included service support workers and registered nurses. The 25 question survey was conducted and reviewed using Survey Monkey?. The survey was divided into three sections, being population demographics, clinical experience and understanding and education. This article will explore the second section of being clinical experience and understanding. This section used six open-ended questions to investigate participant’s experience of common clinical episodes where religion was an influential part of the patient experience and decision-making. A range of contemporary sexual health and religious issues were extrapolated from the survey findings ranging from homosexuality to termination of pregnancy. Four main areas of complexity identified from participants responses were sexual dysfunction, treatment issues, sexual health knowledge and high-risk behaviour. Findings from the study highlight the diversity of influence of religion has on the sexual health of patients.     

THE EFFECT OF THE AVAILABILITY OF A SIMILAR TOY ON COMPLIANCE WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO SURRENDER A TOY AMONG PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

We evaluated the effect of the availability of a similar toy on compliance with an instruction to surrender a toy among three preschool children. First, high‐preference and medium‐preference toys were identified for each participant. During the treatment evaluation, reversal designs were used to examine compliance with an instruction to surrender these toys when a toy similar to the target toy was added to the environment. The results indicated that, for two participants, the similar toy intervention increased compliance to moderate levels; a consequence‐based intervention was then added to the similar toy intervention and resulted in high levels of compliance. For the third participant, the similar toy intervention did not increase compliance. A separate consequence‐based intervention was necessary to increase compliance and to demonstrate experimental control. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rates of responding measured by continuous recording in applied behavioral research

There is no published source that can inform behavioral measurement research about typical response rates measured by continuous recording in applied behavior analysis. The present study was designed to determine the distribution of data on rate of responding reported across a recent 10‐volume (1998–2007) sample of research articles from the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. Rate of responding was measured for 20 553 datapoints in 360 sets of data (one participant in one graph) presented in 60 research articles. The majority of datapoints showed response rates of less than 1.0 response per minute, with 28.3% at zero. The highest rate reported was 104.5 responses per minute. The maximum response rate in datasets was more than 1.0 response per minute in 96.7% of datasets, indicating that continuous recording has been employed in research in which a relatively high rate of responding was recorded at some time during the study. The data from this report will assist researchers to determine empirically the representativeness of response rates in studies of measurement in applied behavior analysis. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Depressive symptoms during pregnancy: impact on neuroendocrine and neonatal outcomes

Objective

To explore the interplay of maternal depressive symptoms on the infant limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary axis (LHPA) and neurological development.

Design

Pregnant women were monitored for depressive symptoms using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) at 28, 32, and 37 weeks of gestation and at delivery. A mixture growth curve analysis divided the women into three risk groups: low/stable, intermediate, and high/increasing depression based on BDI scores. The infant neuroendocrine system was examined using cord blood for adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol measurements. Two-week-old infants were examined using Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS).

Results

Infants born to women of the high/increasing depression group had significant ACTH elevation at birth. On NNNS examination, these infants were more hypotonic and habituated to auditory and visual stimuli.

Conclusion

When compared to non-depressed women, maternal depressive symptoms, even in the absence of major depressive disorder, appeared to facilitate a different developmental pathway for the infant LHPA and early neurological development.     

Risk for suicidal ideation and suicide attempts associated with co-occurring depression and conduct problems in early adolescence

This study investigates the early manifestation of co-occurring depression and conduct problems as a predictor of heightened risk for later suicidal ideation and behavior in a community sample of 521 adolescents. Self-reported symptoms of depression and conduct problems were evaluated in early 6th grade. Suicidal thoughts and behaviors were tracked through multiple assessments carried out over the middle school years. Compared to adolescents with depression symptoms only, conduct problem symptoms only, or low psychopathology, those with co-occurring depression and conduct problem symptoms had the highest risk for subsequent suicidal ideation, recurrent suicidal behaviors, and suicide attempts.     

Changing adolescent attitudes toward stuttering

Purpose

Live oral or recorded video presentations on stuttering were delivered to high school students in order to determine the extent to which their attitudes toward stuttering could be improved.

Methods

A classroom teacher administered the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S) to two health classes before and after an oral live presentation by a person who stutters. She also gave the POSHA-S to two other similar classes before and after a True Life^®: I Stutter video presentation. The stuttering person in the oral condition was one of three people featured in the video. Also, following the video condition, students filled out the POSHA-S a third time after a short oral presentation by the same person who stutters.

Results

Measured attitudes improved overall on the POSHA-S and on selected items.

Conclusions

High school students hold similar attitudes toward stuttering and stutterers as adults, and these attitudes can be improved, at least temporarily, by a presentation on stuttering but more via a live presentation than a professionally prepared video.Educational objectives: (1) The reader will identify different ways to improve attitudes toward stuttering in high school students. (2) The reader will list advantages and disadvantages of live oral presentations and recorded video presentations as strategies to change attitudes toward stuttering. (3) The reader will identify characteristics of a speaker that can assist in attitude changes of high school students.     

Liking and response latency in teammate identification: processing delays below conscious awareness?

Success in fast-ball sports relies on many factors which interact at both movement and cognitive levels. Players must recognize their teammates and decide whether to pass the ball to create or take advantage of scoring affordances. Previous research has shown athletes can identify teammates from brief visual displays during fast-ball sports and this is related to the amount of time individuals train together. However, it is likely other factors also affect recognition and, consequently, decision making related to ball passing. The present study extended the Teammate Identification (TM-ID) paradigm to examine magnitude of liking of one's teammates in relation to response time components of TM-ID. An increase in movement time was found for identifying a swimmer who was the observer's "least liked" teammate, which suggests that processes below conscious awareness may influence the time taken for sport actions directed toward specific teammates, such as ball passing.     

Episodic repetitive thought: dimensions, correlates, and consequences

Repetitive thought (RT) - attentive, prolonged, or frequent thought about oneself and one's world - plays an important role in many models of psychological and physical ill health (e.g., rumination and worry), as well as models of recovery and well-being (e.g., processing and reminiscing). In these models, repetitive thought is typically treated as stable or trait-like. In contrast, episodic RT reflects what people have "on their minds" at a particular point in time. In four studies, young women (N=94), college students (N=166), first-year law students (N=73), and older adults (N=174) described their episodic RT, which was then rated for qualities including valence, purpose, and theme. Episodic RT valence was associated with mood and depressive symptoms both between (Studies 1-4) and within people (Studies 3-4), and it mediated the effects of dispositional coping through emotional approach (Study 1). The effect of episodic RT valence in turn was moderated by other properties of episodic RT, including purpose, "trait" valence, and theme (Studies 1-4). The study of episodic RT complements that of trait RT and allows for observations of how RT and psychological adjustment change in concert and in context, as well as examining how the RT qualities that are not reflected in trait measures affect adjustment.     

Do the myths still exist? Revisiting people's negative beliefs about organ donation upon death

The prevalence of myths preventing people partial to donation in Australia from consenting is unknown. Respondents (N?=?468: 381 donors, 26 non-donors, 61 undecided) were surveyed about their (negative) donation beliefs. Approximately 30% of donors were neutral or supported negative beliefs about organ allocation, especially donation to undesirable organ recipients and a black market organ trade. Confusion about brain death, lack of family and religious support, and discomfort with donation were negative beliefs endorsed by some respondents irrespective of donor preference. Proportionally, donors had greater trust in hospitals/doctors than other groups. Some myths still exist but may vary with donation preference.