Building capacity in neurodevelopment assessment of children in sub-Saharan Africa: A quality assurance model to implement standardized neurodevelopment testing

Compromised neurodevelopment (ND) among infants and children is prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa. Standardized testing of ND is frequently prohibitive in these contexts, as tests require skilled staff for their application. In this paper, we present a quality assurance (QA) model (QualiND) for standardized ND testing, discussing findings and implications from our experience applying the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children second edition (KABC-II). The QualiND model was implemented within IMPAACT P1104s study, a multisite, prospective study including 615 children affected by HIV. From 2014 to 2016, the QualiND managed 18 testers across 6 sites located in 4 African countries applying the KABC-II in 9 local languages. The QualiND is a multilevel, video-assisted iterative model incorporating remote evaluation, feedback, and supervision roles. Using an ad hoc rubric, videos of test application were evaluated by experienced staff in a centralized QA center. At each study site, testers and supervisors reviewed feedback from videos received via email from the QA center and devised an action plan to address testing errors and deficiencies. There were few instances of invalid tests and few barriers to test completion. Over 97% of KABC-II tests across sites were considered to be valid by the QA center. Overall, the QualiND model was a useful platform for remote supervision to nonspecialist and minimally trained research staff. The QualiND model may be useful to researchers and organizations involved in measuring early child development using standardized tests in low and middle-income countries.     

Salience of physical appearance characteristics among young women in Thailand

Our aim in the present study was to identify key components of physical appearance among young Thai women. Free listings, focus groups and pile sorting were used. One-hundred twenty young women generated 78 unique physical appearance characteristics. Ninety-four nursing students validated these characteristics in focus groups and then sorted them into piles that reflected separate domains of physical appearance and labeled them. Salience analysis revealed that facial appearance (e.g., bright facial skin, high nose bridge, big eyes) was the most important domain, followed by body weight and shape, skin color and texture, hair (color, texture, length), and ‘other’ physical appearance (e.g., slender neck, slim fingers). This is the first study to identify aspects of physical appearance that are most salient to young Thai women and that may differ from women in other cultural contexts. These findings could be used to develop culturally grounded measures of physical appearance in Thai women.     

THE INFLUENCE OF SEX OF SUBJECT AND PHOTO IN THE HEMISPHERIC SPECIALIZATION OF FACIAL RECOGNITION

This study was conducted to assess the effects of sex of subject, sex of photo, and hemispheric specialization on the ability of male (n = 21) and female (n = 21) subjects to recognize previously seen black and white male and female faces. Results indicated better performance with female faces and a significant interaction for sex of photo and laterality. Overall performance was best for female photos and worst for male photos in the LVF. A greater number of false alarms occurred in the LVF with male photos. The differential processing of distinctive cues of male and female faces by the LVF and RVF was discussed.     

No-go trials can modulate switch cost by interfering with effects of task preparation

It has recently been shown that the cost associated with switching tasks is eliminated following ‘no-go’ trials, in which response selection is not completed, suggesting that the switch cost depends on response selection. However, no-go trials may also affect switch costs by interfering with the effects of task preparation that precede response selection. To test this hypothesis we evaluated switch costs following standard go trials with those following two types of non-response trials: no-go trials, for which a stimulus is presented that indicates no response should be made (Experiment 1); and cue-only trials in which no stimulus is presented following the task cue (Experiment 2). We hypothesized that eliminating no-go stimuli would reveal effects of task preparation on the switch cost in cue-only trials. We found no switch cost following no-go trials (Experiment 1), but a reliable switch cost in cue-only trials (i.e., when no-go stimuli were removed; Experiment 2). We conclude that no-go trials can modulate the switch cost, independent of their effect on response selection, by interfering with task preparation, and that the effects of task preparation on switch cost are more directly assessed by cue-only trials.     

Intolerance of Uncertainty and Health-Related Anxiety in Youth amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Understanding and Weathering the Continuing Storm

The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health crisis that continues to impact individuals worldwide. While children may be less susceptible to severe medical complications, they are nonetheless vulnerable to stress and anxiety associated with the pandemic. However, current understanding of psychological functioning and potential strategies to mitigate distress amid a pandemic is naturally limited. Consequently, this article is an attempt to fill that gap. Existing literature on pandemics, health-related anxieties, intolerance of uncertainty, and psychopathological sequelae is summarized within the context of the COVID-19 outbreak. Conclusions from the empirical data and emerging theoretical models are reviewed and synthesized. Finally, several potentially engaging and effective examples of developmentally appropriate interventions targeting intolerance of uncertainty and health-related anxieties in pediatric patients during the peri- and post-pandemic periods are described.

     

Updating of context in working memory: An event-related potential study

Flexible control of behavior depends on the representation, maintenance, and updating of context information in working memory, which is thought to rely on the prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, in contrast to maintenance, the dynamics of context activation and updating have not been well studied. To identify neural signals associated with context updating, we compared event-related potentials associated with cues that did or did not provide task-relevant context information. The earliest effect of context was detected 200 msec following cue onset and had a scalp topography consistent with a generator in the PFC. Subsequent effects of context were detected at 400-700 msec following cue onset (P3b), with a broad scalp distribution spanning posterior areas, and during the final 300 msec preceding the target, with a probable generator in the medial frontal cortex. We propose that the effect of context on P2 is consistent with the onset of context updating in the PFC. Subsequent components may be indicative of activation of task-relevant posterior regions and context maintenance.     

Health Care Professionals’ Views of Sharing Information with Families Who Have a Child with a Genetic Condition

The purpose of this study was to examine health care professionals’ views and strategies for individualizing information sharing in families who have a child with a genetic condition. The sample consisted of 37 health professionals from three clinical sites in the greater metropolitan area of a large Midwestern city. Qualitative content thematic analysis was used to analyze data from the health professionals’ semi-structured interviews. Four themes captured how health care professionals work with families around information management: Sharing Information with Parents, Taking into Account Parental Preferences, Understanding of the Condition, and Helping Parents Inform Others. These findings contribute to understanding the processes that health professionals use in sharing information with parents who have children with a genetic condition, and they provide guidance for clinical practice, professional training, and future research.     

Parents’ Perceptions of Functioning in Families Having a Child with a Genetic Condition

In a study of families having a child with a genetic condition, patterns of family functioning were identified through cluster analysis of families with two spouses. Patterns were based on both parents’ assessments of family satisfaction and hardiness, as measured respectively by the Family APGAR and Family Hardiness Index. The validity and clinical significance of the clusters were supported by demonstrating that cluster membership distinguished between parental reports of their own quality of life and their child’s functional status, as measured by the Quality of Life Index and the Functional Status II, respectively. The clusters were non-categorical in the sense that they did not depend on the type of genetic condition. These findings point to the importance of addressing family functioning as part of genetic counseling.     

Attentional disregulation: a benefit for implicit memory

The authors investigated the effect of age and time of testing on the ability to control attention and addressed the possibility that older adults' susceptibility to distraction may sometimes facilitate performance on a later cognitive task. Using a modification of a G. Rees, C. Russell, C. D. Frith, and J. Driver (1999) procedure, the authors asked the participants to make same or different judgments on line drawings superimposed with task-irrelevant letter strings. Memory for the distractors was subsequently tested with an implicit memory task. Both older and young adults demonstrated greater memory for distractors at nonoptimal times of day than at optimal times of day; however, older adults showed considerably better memory for the distractors than did young adults.