Search

The UN’s Zero Tolerance Policy, which bans all relationships between UN staff and locals, portrays all relationships as exploitative, fails to account for nuances in these relationships and does not acknowledge the agency of local women or communities. This study uses community-based qualitative data from eastern DRC that shares narratives on a wide variety of consensual relationships between peacekeepers and local women. Our paper uses a data-driven approach, including a post-colonial feminist lens, and ideas of structural agency to provide an expanded definition of agency that invites readers to re-examine their views of women in conflict settings. Finally, we provide clear recommendations for the UN and other international non-governmental agencies on policies related to sexual exploitation and abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persons living with dementia continue to desire and need air travel. This study gives voice to the current lived experiences of persons with dementia and their caregiving travel companions using U.S. airports. Forty-eight persons living with dementia and 176 travel companions shared information about themselves and their airport experiences through a web-survey. Results identified common challenges and ways in which U.S. airports could be improved to better serve persons living with dementia and their travel companions. Anxiety, understanding signs and announcements, and getting lost or separated were primary travel concerns. Participants detailed themes of frustration with security and locating family restrooms or quiet spaces. Many are unaware of the services available to assist travelers. Among other recommendations, participants suggested staff training on hidden disabilities to improve air travel experiences. Results inform ongoing efforts to develop dementia-friendly airports and support continuing independence and quality of life. This study surveyed the air travel experiences of persons living with dementia and their travel companions to understand how going through the airport can be made more comfortable for them. Primary concerns voiced by the participants were anxiety and frustration at security, trouble finding their way around the airport, and not enough quiet spaces or family bathrooms. Participants shared that better staff training, hidden disability badges, and more wheelchair or electric cart services could help travelers like them and other persons living with disabilities. Airport updates that reduce noise and add more family bathrooms can make airport travel better for persons living with dementia and their travel companions. This paper shows how persons living with dementia and their travel companions' could be more comfortable in public spaces like airports if we use their experiences and opinions to make improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the health professions, altruism is a foundational value upon which professional privilege is built. This imperative towards self-sacrifice for the benefit of others is a key component of what it means to be professional. This paper explores how altruism operates as a coded mechanism of exclusion and oppression for disabled health professionals. Analysis is based on interviews with fifteen Canadian disabled healthcare professionals in medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, and social work about their experiences of inclusion and exclusion. Themes including the disproportionate sacrifice of time, resources, and income emerged, as did the need to manage political disclosure, often embodying the role of the 'super-crip' with patients/clients and colleagues so as to maintain others' faith in their professional competence and their professional privilege. Further discussion includes questions of how to 'crip' altruism as a professional value and the role of altruism as an ableist force within the health professions. Altruism, the idea of helping others even at cost to oneself, is an important value for health professionals. Disabled health professionals sacrifice more than non-disabled healthcare professionals to meet this obligation. Disabled healthcare professionals may work without accommodations, putting in extra time and effort to prove their altruism. Disabled healthcare professionals experience that disclosing disability may mean their colleagues will treat them as patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moral thinking and communication are critical competencies for confronting social dilemmas in a challenging world. We examined these moral competencies in 70 college students and graduates from Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Participants were assessed through semi-structured written interviews, Facebook group discussions, and a questionnaire. In this paper, we describe the similarities and differences across cultural groupings in (1) the social issues of greatest importance to the participants; (2) the factors influencing their approaches to thinking about social issues and communicating with others; and (3) the characteristics of their moral functioning in terms of moral awareness, moral judgment, moral discourse, and moral decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vulnerable children refer to the special group of children with deviation in the process of children's psychological development and personality formation due to growth dilemmas. This may incur a series of serious social and family problems. The vulnerable children mainly cover the children suffering from children's psychological problems, such as childhood autism, autism, social anxiety and hypersensitivity, fear, depression, and PTSD arising from other factors. At present, the research results at home and abroad mainly focus on the psychological dynamic correlation investigation and solution discussion of a certain kind of difficult factor in the children's psychological development based on statistical data by the experimental methods, such as scale and model, and there is a blind spot in the humanistic orientation theory construction of psychological treatment for vulnerable children, causing the social reflection on children's psychological predicament from the humanistic perspective cannot be performed in related researches and going against searching for universal and integral theoretical paradigm for solving related problems. Sophisticated technologies for the observations have emerged increasingly for enabling the psychological features of vulnerable children through developmental cognitive neuroscience experiments. This paper introduces humanistic art therapy theory, focuses on the construction of a theoretical paradigm, and verifies its effectiveness based on the experimental results on the psychological development of vulnerable children, with an efficient performance. This study mainly refers to children with difficulty in social inclusion and psychological development. The results showed that two kinds of art therapy can obviously improve the psychological disorders of vulnerable children. The goal was to enhance self-cognition, strengthen emotional interaction, and implement positive motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the nature of the differences in the processing of morphologically regular and irregular forms in the brain. Verbs cannot be simply divided into regular and irregular in Russian – there are many inflextional classes that differ in defaultness, type frequency, and productivity. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we chose three verb classes that allow teasing these factors apart and asked 24 subjects to select verb forms agreeing with different pronouns. We combined measures for local brain activity and generalised psychophysiological interactions. We revealed that regularity effects are primarily driven by defaultness associated with more effective and automated processing in the left-lateralised fronto-temporal combinatorial brain network rather than by productivity or type frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online activities have spiked due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including language learning activities. As the world is aging, this affects senior citizens too. Yet, few studies have been conducted studying online (language) learning in this age-group. Moreover, no concrete pointers exist on how to go about such an online language learning course. This paper examines what should be considered when designing and implementing online language learning courses for seniors. To that end we present data from 73 senior language learners from two independent language learning contexts: the Netherlands and Scotland. The data were collected between May 2020 and August 2021. Data includes spoken and written samples from lessons, focus groups, interviews and questionnaires. Given the qualitative nature of the data and the aim of identifying patterns of meaning across the respective datasets, a reflexive thematic analysis (TA) approach was adopted. We employed an inductive approach to coding, using both semantic (explicit or overt) and latent (implicit, underlying) coding frameworks, in order to inform two overarching themes: "Navigating the digital highway" and "Camera ready for new friends." We discuss these themes and their sub-themes and arrive at concrete recommendations for the third-age language learning classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent advancements in Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) technology made possible for its employment in entertainment applications, such as brain-controlled games. However, there are still many challenges to overcome in the design and development of such applications, especially when considering the interaction between multiple users. This paper presents the results of a controlled experiment aimed at comparing the performance and game experience of both competitive and collaborative matches in a multiplayer BCI game. In the experiment, sixteen subjects were divided in pairs into two groups, and each pair played a total of five competitive or collaborative matches of the attention-based game. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected to investigate key features of the subjects' interaction with both the BCI platform and the other players. It was found that there is no statistically significant difference in performance between the subjects of both groups, and between multiplayer and single player modes. Although the group playing competitively reported overall better scores for game experience, there was no statistically significant difference between groups. There were significant correlations between performance and positive aspects of game experience for both modes, and multiplayer matches were significantly shorter than single player ones, although this effect could not be attributed to the mode of interaction alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is a growing body of literature on information privacy suggesting different mechanisms of how people's privacy concerns might be impacting their attitudes and behaviour when using social media, recent questionable data use practices by social media platforms and third parties call for a renewed validation of existing information privacy models. The objective of this research is to re-examine the variables predicting why people disclose information on social media. Building on previous work, this paper puts forward a comprehensive Privacy Concerns and Social Media Use Model (PC-SMU) and evaluates it in a specific cultural and legal environment (social media users from a single county, Canada). The study delves into the privacy paradox and shows that the benefits of using social media are the main driver of self-disclosure, and that self-disclosing behaviours are nuanced by the users' information privacy protection strategies. We also find that higher levels of social media literacy, and concerns about organisational threats to a lesser extent, lead to higher levels of information privacy management, emphasizing the importance of educating users about how to use the different privacy and security features provided by social media platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present the results of a scoping review in which we examined the scientific literature (2010–2021) on faith-based organizations (FBOs) working within the field of poverty alleviation, focusing on the way studies define and use the term FBO. Fifty-two relevant studies were identified and included. Our research shows that the term FBOs is primarily used in American studies. Moreover, there is no broad consensus on the exact definition or meaning of the term nor on its scope. Because of this lack of consensus and the inherent shortcomings of the term, we suggest to replace the term FBO by the term "religion-based solidarity initiatives" (RSIs), We define RSIs as: "Initiatives that, from a religious inspiration, aim at organizing collective action for and/or providing support or services to people in vulnerable positions." These initiatives can range from small scale ad hoc initiatives till large scale formal organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substrate oxidation can be altered by both environmental temperature and exercise training. It is unclear whether environmental temperatures before and after short‐term exercise training influence substrate oxidation rates and energy expenditure (EE) during postexercise recovery. The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of hot and thermoneutral environments on substrate oxidation and EE during postexercise recovery before and after a 1‐month exercise training in obese women. Sixteen overweight or obese women underwent a 1‐month exercise training. Before and after training, each participant completed metabolic testing during postexercise recovery at either hot (31°C–32°C) or thermoneutral (22°C–23°C) environments in a randomized crossover fashion with a washout period of 2–4 days between the two tests. The substrate oxidation and EE determined by indirect calorimetry during the 60‐min postexercise recovery of the hot and thermoneutral environments were compared. Following exercise training, fat oxidation during recovery was significantly greater at thermoneutral than at hot environments (thermoneutral, 56.0 ± 24.6 mg/kg/h vs. hot, 39.7 ± 27.5 mg/kg/h; p < 0.001). Conversely, carbohydrate oxidation during the recovery was significantly greater at hot than at thermoneutral environments, and the total EE at both temperatures did not significantly differ (hot, 70.5 ± 19.6 kcal/h vs. thermoneutral, 71.3 ± 13.7 kcal/h; p = 0.846). The results were the same as those before exercise training. After an acute bout of exercise, recovery in a thermoneutral environment increases fat oxidation; however, environmental temperatures produce no effect on the total EE. The same results were obtained before and after exercise training, suggesting that energy and substrate metabolism during postexercise recovery are more influenced by the environmental temperature than exercise training. Key Points: Substrate oxidation during postexercise recovery can be influenced by environmental temperature in obese women.Recovery in the thermoneutral environment results in greater fat oxidation than in the hot environment. EE is unaffected by the recovery environment.Exercise training does not alter the temperature‐related substrate oxidation or EE during recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to its cost-efficiency, 24-hour home care is increasing and represents a cornerstone in the care of elder people in Austria. A software solution to support 24-hour caregivers in their daily routine was developed facilitating a user-centered design process. It includes electronic documentation, an e-learning platform, emergency management, and a communication tool. To evaluate the usability and acceptance of the developed software solution, a qualitative survey including focus groups (FG), a group interview (GI), and a usability walkthrough (UW) were conducted. This paper describes the findings of the qualitative survey which indicate that the e-learning platform as well as the e-documentation support 24-hour caregivers in their daily work with their clients. Participants with less technical affinity needed support to use the tool proficiently. 24-hour caregivers appreciate the fact that the solution unites all the needed information in one place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have shown that stress has contributed to employee turnover and retention problems for agencies, and at the individual level, chronic stress has been associated with coronary heart disease, anxiety, depression, and many other negative effects. In the past, the extent of stress one has felt has been measured by subjective paper-and-pencil instruments; however, recent technological advances have improved our ability to obtain accurate biofeedback assessments from wearable instruments. The Kentucky Child Welfare Workforce Wellness Initiative is the first known study to explore physiological stress in a sample (n = 32) of child welfare professionals using biometric technology (Firstbeat Bodyguard 2) and the first to report that data longitudinally over a four-month period. The study revealed that a variable associated with the strength of the Autonomic Nervous System (RMSSD) remained below the norms for a healthy population as participants experienced consistent and prolonged physiological stress. When examined relatively to the agency's lifting of COVID restrictions and returning to face-to-face service delivery, stress levels began to further rise almost to significant levels (p <.10) and the participants' ability to achieve a state of physiological relaxation significantly decreased. Future research employing biometric technology is also suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research team developed a community-based, intergenerational intervention, the Spanish-language Healthy Buddy Program to alleviate transportation barriers experienced by Latinx older adults. College students were paired with Latinx older adults and helped them identify transportation- and health-related resources in their communities. During COVID-19, the program was implemented in Hillsborough County, Florida, and Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and San Antonio, Texas. This paper reports the study process and outcomes using quantitative and qualitative data collected in Texas (n = 25). Individual interviews indicated older adult participants were receptive to the program model and appreciated the roles student buddies played to help improve their mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older carers play a vital role supporting population health and protecting health and social care systems, yet there has been little research on understanding the effect of the pandemic on this group. In this paper, we investigate caring as a factor contributing to mental and self-rated health. We investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between provision of family care and mental health and wellbeing using longitudinal data from 5,149 members of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing who responded to Wave 9 (2018/2019) and two COVID-19 sub-studies (June/July 2020; November/December 2020). We use logistic or linear regression models depending on outcome measures, controlling for pre-pandemic socioeconomic, demographic, and health-related variables. Before the pandemic, 21% of respondents cared for family or friends. Older people caring for someone inside the household mostly continued to provide care during the pandemic, with more than a quarter reporting an increase in the amount of care provided. Co-resident carers were disproportionately female, older, in the lowest wealth quintile, and more likely to report disability and chronic conditions. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses suggest that, compared to those caring for people living outside the household, co-resident carers were significantly more likely to report poorer mental health and self-rated health. The health of older carers worsened disproportionately in the first year of the pandemic, a period also characterised by disruptions to support and closure of respite services. Support for carers' mental and physical health requires greater policy attention, especially in pandemic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black/African American (AA) individuals are a group at risk for co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and alcohol use due to unique cultural and system-level barriers. Although associations between trauma exposure, PTSD symptoms, and alcohol use are well established across various populations, Black/AA individuals are underrepresented in this literature, and related findings in this population are inconclusive. Thus, the goal of this study was to examine the associations among trauma exposure, PTSD symptoms, and alcohol use in a sample of treatment-seeking, Black/AA adults. We hypothesized that trauma exposure and alcohol use would be positively associated and that this relationship would be mediated by PTSD symptoms. This study conducted secondary analysis of screening data from a PTSD and alcohol use disorder clinical trial. Participants were 96 Black/AA adults (57.3% male; 2.0% Hispanic; M age = 44.73, SD = 11.83) who were seeking treatment for alcohol use and endorsed trauma exposure. Associations between trauma exposure, PTSD symptom severity, and quantity and frequency of alcohol use were tested using bivariate correlations and linear regressions. Hypothesized indirect effects were tested using IBM SPSS Statistics Version 27 PROCESS model 4 with bootstrapping. Findings illustrated a significant positive association between trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms and between PTSD symptoms and drinks per typical drinking day. PTSD symptoms were not significantly associated with number of drinking days. Tests of indirect effects were significant for trauma exposure on drinks per typical drinking day through PTSD symptoms. Results from the test of indirect effects suggest that among Black/AA adults with heavy alcohol use and trauma exposure, trauma exposure is associated with PTSD symptoms, which in turn is associated with quantity of alcohol use. These findings are consistent with research conducted with White/mixed groups and align with tenets of the self-medication model of PTSD-AUD comorbidity. These findings support current practices that highlight the importance of screening for and addressing PTSD and alcohol use in individuals exposed to trauma. Findings from this paper provide initial data on understudied relationships in an underserved sample and several suggestions are made to generate future research and improve clinical care for Black/AA adults. Pharmacogenetic Treatment With Anti-Glutaminergic Agents for Comorbid PTSD & AUD; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02884908. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although people with a migration background (MB) have more unmet mental health needs than the general population, patients with a MB are still underrepresented in mental health care services. Provider bias towards these patients has been evidenced repeatedly but its driving factors remain elusive. We assessed the moderating effect of the individual (e.g. age and ethnicity), interpersonal (e.g. healthcare provider trust), and organisational (e.g. perceived workload) factors on general practitioners (GPs) differential decision-making regarding diagnosis, treatment, and referral for a depressed patient with or without a MB. An experimental study was carried out in which GPs were shown one of two video vignettes featuring adult male depressed patients, one with a MB and the other without. Belgian GPs (n = 797, response rate was 13%) had to decide on their diagnosis, treatment, and referral. Analysis of variance and logistic regression were used to analyse the effect of a MB, adding interaction terms for the explanatory variables. Overall, we found that there were ethnic differences in GPs' decisions regarding diagnosis and treatment recommendations. GPs perceived the symptoms of the patient with a MB as less severe (F = 7.68, p < 0.01) and demonstrated a reduced likelihood to prescribe a combination of medical and non-medical treatments (F = 11.55, p < 0.001). Those differences increased in accordance with the GP's age and perceived workload; at an interpersonal level, we found that differences increased when the GP thought the patient was exaggerating his distress. This paper showed that lower levels of trust among GPs' towards their migrant patients and high GP workloads contribute to an increased ethnic bias in medical decision-making. This may perpetuate ethnic inequalities in mental health care. Future researchers should develop an intervention to decrease the ethnic inequities in mental health care by addressing GPs' trust in their migrant and ethnic minority patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates whether people's responses to official communications about COVID-19 could be "profiled" with respect to socio-economic-demographic and behavioral characteristics. Such profiles could enhance the effectiveness of future crisis management through the use of profile-adapted communications that maximize message comprehension. A representative web panel survey (742 respondents) was conducted across Switzerland in February 2022 to assess the population's reaction to COVID-19 communications during the pandemic. Latent profile analysis was conducted to explore if distinct profiles of reactions to the communications would emerge, and how each of them relate to conspiracy mentality and SED measures. The analyses revealed three latent profiles: "Compliant supporters" (54%), "defiant deniers" (23.6%), and "anxious skeptics" (22.4%). Respondents with high conspiracy mentality were more likely to belong to "defiant deniers" or "anxious skeptics." Each profile was characterized by distinct SED and behavioral features (discussed in the paper). The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that one communication does not work for all people. Our study evidenced three different types of respondent profiles that require profile-adapted communications for more effective crisis control. Our study is the first to profile people's responses to COVID-19 communications in a systematic, person-centered way. The results can be used for more effective future crisis management that delivers to each profile's communicative needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work clients often face complex financial problems. We have developed a financial social work intervention, FinSoc, to increase financial literacy and economic self-efficacy and reduce financial anxiety among parents with financial problems in Finland. The aim of this pilot randomized controlled trial is to explore the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of the intervention. This paper, a study protocol, describes the design and implementation of the trial. Study protocols are articles detailing a priori the research plan, rationale, proposed methods and plans for how a clinical trial will be conducted. This study is a pilot randomized controlled trial with a mixed methods approach applying both quantitative measures and qualitative interviews. Participating social work clients with children are randomly assigned to either the treatment or the waiting list control group at a ratio of 1:1. The treatment group receives the intervention and the control group receives services as usual. The quantitative data from social work clients are collected at three measurement points. Qualitative interviews are conducted post-intervention with both clients receiving, and professionals implementing the intervention. The feasibility is assessed through recruitment and retention rates and the interviews with social work professionals providing the intervention. Acceptability is assessed through feedback from participants on satisfaction with the intervention and usefulness of the specific intervention components. Potential effectiveness is measured by financial literacy, economic self-efficacy and financial anxiety. The intervention is hypothesized to increase financial literacy and economic self-efficacy and reduce financial anxiety among social work clients with children. The results of this pilot study will increase the evidence base of financial social work and offer new insights for developing interventions for clients experiencing financial difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no comprehensive and up-to-date overview of audiovestibular approach to the posterior fossa tumors in the literature. This paper reviewed the literature relating to tumors at the posterior cranial fossa to find red flags alerting a posterior fossa lesion from audiovestibular perspectives. This review was developed from articles published in those journals listed on the journal citation reports. Through the PubMed database, Embase, Google Scholar, and Cochrane library, 60 articles were finally obtained based on the PRISMA guidelines for reporting reviews. The presence of one red flag indicates a positive predictive value of 33% for detecting a posterior fossa lesion. Clinical features, namely, 1) mid-frequency sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), 2) bilateral sudden SNHL, and 3) rebound nystagmus may indicate a posterior fossa lesion, representing one, two, and three red flags, respectively. Those with 1) mid-frequency sudden SNHL, 2) bilateral sudden SNHL, and 3) rebound nystagmus trigger one, two, and three red flags, respectively, alerting clinicians the possibility of a posterior fossa lesion, which warrant MR imaging to exclude life-threatening or treatable conditions. Patients with posterior fossa tumors may have potential life-threatening outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescent suicide has become an increasingly serious social problem in China. Bullying victimization was found to be an influential factor of suicidal tendency, but less attention has been paid to the internal mechanisms of the relationship. This paper examined the relationship between adolescents' bullying victimization and suicidal tendency, and the mediating effects of internalizing problems and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Generalized Structural Equation Model was employed to a sample of 3,575 Chinese secondary school students. Bullying victimization has a direct positive impact on adolescents' suicidal tendency, but also has an indirect impact on suicidal tendency through three paths: the independent mediating role of internalizing problems and NSSI, and the chain mediating role of internalizing problems and NSSI. The results suggested that students who are bullied tend to have a higher risk of suicidal tendency, and internalizing problems and NSSI are usually the prelude to suicidal behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telomeres are nucleotide repeat sequences located at the end of chromosomes that protect them from degradation and maintain chromosomal stability. Telomeres shorten with each cell division; hence telomere length is associated with aging and longevity. Numerous lifestyle factors have been identified that impact the rate of telomere shortening; high vitamin consumption has been associated with longer telomere length, whereas oxidative stress is associated with telomere shortening. In this paper, we sought to determine if a multivitamin mixture containing both vitamins and a blend of polyphenolic compounds, could reduce telomere shortening consequent to an oxidative stress (10 uM H2O2 for 8 weeks) in a primary fibroblast cell culture model. Under conditions of oxidative stress, the median and 20th percentile telomere length were significantly greater (p < 0.05), and the percentage of critically short telomeres (<3000 bp) was significantly less (p < 0.05) in cells treated with the multivitamin mixture at 4, 15 and 60 ug/ml compared to control (0 ug/ml). Median and 20th percentile telomere shortening rate was also reduced under the same conditions (p < 0.05). Taken together, these findings demonstrate that the multivitamin mixture protects against oxidative stress-mediated telomere shortening in cell culture, findings which may have implications in human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]