The Portuguese version of the Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory-P (KIDI-P)

Several studies show that parental knowledge about child development and education is relevant to parenting actions. Considering that the lack of assessment instruments specific to this domain in Portugal is an obstacle to cross-cultural research and programme evaluation, the objective of this study was to make available a Portuguese version of the Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory-P (KIDI-P). This inventory (58 items) allows for the calculation of three summary scores (Attempted, Accuracy and Total) that reflect correctness and confidence in one's knowledge. The Portuguese version of the KIDI-P confirmed a unidimensional structure and revealed good internal consistency (α = .89). In a sample of 252 mothers and fathers, educational level showed to be related to KIDI-P scores, unlike parents’ sex and age.     

The development of parental monitoring during adolescence: A meta-analysis

Abstract

As adolescents grow up, one of the important developmental tasks is to individuate themselves and to become more autonomous from parents. This requires a realignment of the parent-adolescent communication. The current meta-analytic study aims at identifying developmental changes in parent-adolescent communication, conceptualized within the parental monitoring framework, as entailing parental solicitation, control and knowledge, and adolescent’s disclosure and secrecy. Thirty-one longitudinal studies published between 2000 and 2015 were identified and included in the current meta-analysis. Informants, age at assessment and study duration were tested as moderators. Results showed a low to medium normative decline in parental control (Cohen’s d = ?.395, 95% CI [?.541, ?.249]), knowledge (d = ?.245,95% CI [?.331, ?.160] and adolescence disclosure (d = ?.147, 95% CI [?.204, ?.090]), and an increase in adolescent’s secrecy (d = .194, CI [031, .356]). Parental solicitation decreased based on parents’ (d = ?.242, 95% CI[?.376, ?.109]) but not on adolescents’ reports (d = .038, 95% CI[?.099, .175]). Another significant moderator was the duration of the study, with studies longer than 2 years being able to detect a more pronounced change in parental control than studies lasting less than 2 years (≤2 years, d = ?.139 vs. duration > 2 years, d = ?.581). Limitations of the current knowledge and new directions of studies are discussed.     

Psychological models in predicting uptake of prenatal screening

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to determine which psychological models are most useful in predicting uptake of a prenatal screening test, maternal-serum alphafetoprotein screening for spina bifida and Down's syndrome. 1000 women eligible for the test completed standardised self-report questionnaires at two routine clinic visits to an antenatal clinic prior to the time when the test could take place. 902 underwent the screening test; 51 declined the test; and 47 did not undergo the test, giving no reason for this to staff. Knowledge of the test, the subjective expected utility attached to the test, and attitudes to doctors and medicine were all significant predictors of uptake behaviour. Results of a discriminant function analysis demonstrated distinct psychological processes underlying each of these three uptake behaviours, explaining 21% of the variance in uptake of screening. If uptake of screening is examined not as a dichotomous variable but as a group of behaviours, predictive models are identified accordingly. This would lead to rnodels of health-related behaviours as a heterogeneous rather than homogeneous phenomena, predicted and influenced by different causes.     

Knowledge of drug-related health problems among injecting drug users: Implications for the transmission of HIV infection

Abstract

In a project that investigated the HIV-related risk behaviour of injecting drug users, respondents were categorized along dimensions of expertness in HIV/AIDS knowledge and knowledge about drug-related health problems. Knowledge about drug-related health problems was found to be significantly associated with sharing. Better informed respondents were less likely to share injecting equipment and to predict they would share in future. They were more likely to adopt consistent injecting hygiene, seek information about AIDS, and perceive themselves as in control of their lives. No significant relationships were observed between sharing and HIV/AIDS knowledge. The data have relevance for AIDS educational strategies, since knowledge about AIDS and HIV transmission appears to be insufficient to induce behavioural change. Greater emphasis on the health problems that afflict most injectors may be a way of encouraging general harm minimization.     

On the Road to the Unconscious Self: Understanding when People Gain Self‐knowledge of Implicit Disgust Sensitivity from Behavioural Cues

On the basis of an integration of dual‐process models of information processing and the lens model framework of person perception, we conducted two studies to investigate whether self‐perceivers could detect their implicit disposition from video feedback of behavioural cues and whether these cues were used for explicit dispositional inferences under conditions that maximized the presumed self‐perception process. Using an approach that differed from previous research, we used the following: (i) a more detailed and stepwise self‐perception procedure; (ii) a specific explicit measure compared with a global explicit measure; and (iii) disgust sensitivity as a domain with clear, unambiguous cues and an assumed low self‐presentation bias. The results from two studies (N = 117 and N = 130) on disgust sensitivity provide the first evidence for the assumed process with regard to bodily reaction cues but not with regard to facial expression cues. These novel findings suggest that people can get to know their unconscious selves better if supporting conditions are met and the right behavioural cues are attended to. Additional boundary conditions of this self‐perception process were investigated using display rules and need for closure in Study 2. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Deliberation Versus Intuition: Decomposing the Role of Expertise in Judgment and Decision Making

What produces better judgments: deliberating or relying on intuition? Past research is inconclusive. We focus on the role of expertise to increase understanding of the effects of judgment mode. We propose a framework in which expertise depends on a person's experience with and knowledge about a domain. Individuals who are relatively experienced but have modest knowledge about the subject matter (“intermediates”) are expected to suffer from deliberation and to benefit from a more intuitive approach, because they lack the formal knowledge to understand the reasons underlying their preferences. Individuals who are high (“experts”) or low (“novices”) on both experience and knowledge are expected to do well or poorly, respectively, regardless of decision mode. We tested these predictions in the domain of art. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that intermediates performed better when relying on intuition than after deliberation. Judgments of experts and novices were unaffected. In line with previous research relating processing style to judgment mode, Experiment 3 showed that the effect of processing style (global versus local) on judgment quality is similarly moderated by expertise. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An evaluation of the UK government health education campaign on AIDS

In the absence of an effective treatment for HI V the only means of containing its spread is through changes in behaviour. Health education is a key route for achieving this. To be effective, a health education campaign must result in behaviour change. The United Kingdom Department of Health and Social Security has attempted to address these needs in a recent health education campaign, which took the form of whole page newspaper advertisements in the national press. Groups of higher and lower risk subjects were questioned before and after the campaign. The desire for information was high and the vast majority of respondents named the medical profession as the desired source to turn to. 31.1% of the lower risk group and 50% of the higher risk group noticed and read the campaign. Information scores were slightly increased but the campaign had no effect on adjusting misconceptions and anxiety was not lowered. Attitudes and behaviour were unaltered. These results are discussed in the light of a content analysis of the campaign.     

Psychological and social characteristics of attenders for breast screening

Abstract

Demographic characteristics, health behaviour and knowledge of breast cancer were assessed in 183 women from a regional breast screening unit and compared with those of 182 women from a breast clinic and 41 control subjects. A questionnaire yielded information on (i) demographic characteristics and cancer-related behaviours including breast self-examination (BSE), use of screening and promptness of presentation of breast symptoms in the clinic group, (ii) the extent and effects of knowledge about breast cancer and (iii) the role of Health Belief Model dimensions. Results showed the screening unit attenders to be significantly older and to be significantly more likely to be from higher social classes. Differences between the groups in health beliefs and knowledge did not remain once the effects of age and social class were partialled out. While attitudes towards BSE and its practice related to health beliefs. only a minority of the women indicated that they practised BSE with any regularity. The results suggest that screening is failing to attract a truly representative sample of the community and raise the possibility that this failure is a consequence of sociological as much as psychological factors.     

The utility of socio-demographics,knowledge and health belief model variables in predicting reattendance for mammography screening: A brief report

Abstract

The aims of the present study were to investigate socio-demographic and knowledge variables as predictors of re attendance for mammography screening and to examine the utility of the Health Belief Model (HBM) in predicting reattendance for mammography screening above and beyond socio-demographic and knowledge variables. A total of 88 reattenders and 44 non-reattenders of an Australian breast screening service completed a questionnaire assessing socio-demographics (age, marital status, education, physician recommendation and family history), knowledge and HBM variables. Results showed that reattenders were more likely to be older, married and report physician involvement than non-reattenders. Family history and knowledge did not significantly predict reattendance. Of the HBM variables, perceived benefits was related to reattendance above and beyond socio-demographics. Results support the utility of the HBM as a focus for improving regular attendance for breast screening. It is concluded that non-reattenders should be investigated as a seperate group to women who have never attended for mammography screening.     

How Do We Acquire Moral Knowledge? Is Knowing Our Duty Ever Passive? – Two Questions for Martin Sticker

Martin Sticker's discussion of the common moral agent contains much that I find insightful, true and significant. As a response to his paper, I focus on two important issues that nevertheless separate us: (1) Sticker claims that knowing our duty can be mere passive awareness and that it indeed is passive as awareness of the special status of humanity. I deny that knowing our duty is ever passive. (2) He further claims that the common universalization test is the paradigmatic way active agents acquire moral knowledge. I argue that Sticker appears to construe universalization as a formal test that presupposes no moral knowledge and that so construed the test cannot serve for acquiring moral knowledge.