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One response to calls for increased openness in animal research is to make protocols publicly accessible, but it is unclear what type of input the public would provide if given this opportunity. In this study we invited public responses to five different research projects, using non-technical summaries intended for lay audiences. Our aim was to assess the potential for this type of public consultation in protocol review, and a secondary aim was to better understand what types of animal research people are willing to accept and why. US participants (n = 1521) were asked (via an online survey) “Do you support the use of these (insert species) for this research”, and responded using a seven-point scale (1 = “No”, 4 = “Neutral”, and 7 = “Yes”). Participants were asked to explain the reasons for their choice; open-ended text responses were subjected to thematic analysis. Most participants (89.7%) provided clear comments, showing the potential of an online forum to elicit feedback. Four themes were prevalent in participant reasoning regarding their support for the proposed research: 1) impact on animals, 2) impact on humans, 3) scientific merit, and 4) availability of alternatives. Participant support for the proposed research varied but on average was close to neutral (mean ± SD: 4.5 ± 2.19) suggesting some ambivalence to this animal use. The protocol describing Parkinson’s research (on monkeys) was least supported (3.9 ± 2.17) and the transplant research (on pigs) was most supported (4.9 ± 2.02). These results indicate that public participants are sensitive to specifics of a protocol. We conclude that an online forum can provide meaningful public input on proposed animal research, offering research institutions the opportunity for improved transparency and the chance to reduce the risk that they engage in studies that are out of step with community values.

BackgroundAlthough abortions are a common aspect of people’s reproductive lives, the economic implications of abortion and the stigmas that surround abortion are poorly understood. This article provides an analysis of secondary data from a scoping review on the economic impact of abortion to understand the intersections between stigma and economics outcomes at the microeconomic (i.e., abortion seekers and their households), mesoeconomic (i.e., communities and health systems), and macroeconomic (i.e., societies and nation states) levels.Methods and findingsWe conducted a scoping review using the PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews. Studies reporting on qualitative and/or quantitative data from any world region were considered. For inclusion, studies must have examined one of the following microeconomic, mesoeconomic, or macroeconomic outcomes: costs, benefits, impacts, and/or value of abortion-related care or abortion policies. Our searches yielded 19,653 items, of which 365 items were included in our final inventory. As a secondary outcome, every article in the final inventory was screened for abortion-related stigma, discrimination, and exclusion. One quarter (89/365) of the included studies contained information on stigma, though only 32 studies included stigma findings directly tied to economic outcomes. Studies most frequently reported stigma’s links with costs (n = 24), followed by economic impact (n = 11) and economic benefit (n = 1). Abortion stigma can prevent women from obtaining correct information about abortion services and laws, which can lead to unnecessary increases in costs of care and sizeable delays in care. Women who are unable to confide in and rely on their social support network are less likely to have adequate financial resources to access abortion.ConclusionsAbortion stigma has a clear impact on women seeking abortion or post-abortion care at each level. Programmatic interventions and policies should consider how stigma affects delays to care, access to accurate information, and available social and financial support, all of which have economic and health implications.

Using an incentivized experiment with statistical power, this paper explores the role of stakes in charitable giving of lottery prizes, where subjects commit to donate a fraction of the prize before they learn the outcome of the lottery. We study three stake levels: 5€ (n = 177), 100€ (n = 168), and 1,000€ (n = 171). Although the donations increase in absolute terms as the stakes increase, subjects decrease the donated fraction of the pie. However, people still share roughly 20% of 1,000€, an amount as high as the average monthly salary of people at the age of our subjects. The number of people sharing 50% of the pie is remarkably stable across stakes, but donating the the whole pie–the modal behavior in charity-donation experiments–disappears with stakes. Such hyper-altruistic behavior thus seems to be an artifact of the stakes typically employed in economic and psychological experiments. Our findings point out that sharing with others is a prevalent human feature, but stakes are an important determinant of sharing. Policies promoted via prosocial frames (e.g., stressing the effects of mask-wearing or social distancing on others during the Covid-19 pandemic or environmentally-friendly behaviors on future generations) may thus be miscalibrated if they disregard the stakes at play.

Despite the increase in the number of journals issuing data policies requiring authors to make data underlying reporting findings publicly available, authors do not always do so, and when they do, the data do not always meet standards of quality that allow others to verify or extend published results. This phenomenon suggests the need to consider the effectiveness of journal data policies to present and articulate transparency requirements, and how well they facilitate (or hinder) authors' ability to produce and provide access to data, code, and associated materials that meet quality standards for computational reproducibility. This article describes the results of a research study that examined the ability of journal-based data policies to: 1) effectively communicate transparency requirements to authors, and 2) enable authors to successfully meet policy requirements. To do this, we conducted a mixed-methods study that examined individual data policies alongside editors' and authors' interpretation of policy requirements to answer the following research questions. Survey responses from authors and editors along with results from a content analysis of data policies found discrepancies among editors' assertion of data policy requirements, authors' understanding of policy requirements, and the requirements stated in the policy language as written. We offer explanations for these discrepancies and offer recommendations for improving authors' understanding of policies and increasing the likelihood of policy compliance.

BackgroundEven as many states adopt physical activity policies to promote physical activity and prevent childhood obesity, little is known about differences in policy implementation based on school characteristics. We studied association of school characteristics and changes in physical activity opportunities at the school level during the implementation of a statewide physical activity policy in the state of Georgia.MethodsA web-based school survey was administered to elementary schools at two time points (before and during policy execution). Matched respondents (289 classroom teachers, 234 administrators) reported the frequency and duration of recess and integrated physical activity time. We used paired t-test to assess changes in physical activity opportunities and chi-square tests to assess the association of change in physical activity opportunities with school characteristics. We then constructed a multiple linear regression model following a change score method to identify school-level factors that predict the magnitude of change in physical activity opportunities.ResultsThere was an overall significant increase in total physical activity opportunities across time; however, schools with higher poverty showed a decrease in physical activity time by 5.3 minutes per day (95% CI: -9.2, -1.3). Further, the changes in physical activity time for schools in suburban Georgia were smaller (-5.7, 95% CI: -9.5, -1.9) compared to schools located in towns.ConclusionsThe change in physical activity opportunities was not the same across schools and school characteristics predicted the magnitude of change. Additional efforts at the local level might be needed for equitable policy implementation based on schools' geographical location and poverty level of the student population.

BackgroundMalnutrition is one of the main causes of death in children under 5 years of age and one of the most common factors threatening children's life and health. Nutrition policy analysis and solving existing problems in children can reduce the effects of malnutrition. This study aimed to analyze the current policies of malnutrition prevention in children under five years of age in Iran.MethodThis study was conducted in 2017 to analyze policies using the "policy triangle framework". In order to examine the policy-making process, the Kingdon's multiple streams model was used. A combination of two sampling methods, including purposeful and snowball sampling, was applied to select the interviewees. In relation to the implemented documents and policies, the country's most important policies were selected based on the suggestions of policy makers as well as searching scientific databases and electronic portals. A data collection form was used to identify the current policies and documents and a semi-structured interview guide form was used for the interviews. The framework analysis and MaxQDA software were applied to analyze the data obtained from the interviews.ResultsThe key factors affecting policies in Iran included the status of indicators as well as economic, social, structural-legal, policy and international factors. Among the most important policies and implemented programs, the following can be mentioned: growth monitoring, oral rehydration, breastfeeding, immunization, female education, family spacing, food supplementation, nutrition for children under five years of age, and control of nutritional deficiencies. Currently there is a need for a nationwide program and comprehensive document in the field of the nutrition in children under 5 years of age, which requires strengthening of the political process. Participants and stakeholders in nutrition-related policies for children under the age of five were divided into four categories of governmental, semi-governmental, non-governmental, and international organizations.ConclusionMore attention should be paid to the shortage of some micronutrients, accurate implementation of breastfeeding programs, supplementary nutrition, fortification and supplementation programs for children and mothers, utilization of the advantages of each region and its resources, and better coordination between organizations and their policies, and finally strong incentives are needed to promote macro nutritional goals for children under five years of age.

INTRODUCTION: The institutionalization of community mobilization is not well understood in literature. This paper aims to understand the role of the community-to-community learning strategy in the institutionalization of community mobilization among sex workers communities across eight districts of Andhra Pradesh, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data collected during baseline (March, 2010) and endline (June, 2012) under an HIV prevention project (SAKSHAM project) was used to investigate the strength (as score) of community mobilization based on two learning strategies: non-government organization (NGO)-to-community-based organization (CBO) strategy, and community-to-CBO strategy. The strength of community mobilization was assessed based on different parameters. The change in scores were computed as a percentage of the improvement to the total potential improvement from baseline to endline on specific indicators and overall. RESULTS: Most of the CBOs considered in the pre-post assessment had been registered during 2004-2008. At baseline, the community ownership and preparedness index scores for the eight CBOs under the community-to-CBO strategy ranged between 21.5 and 27.7 while the scores for the three CBOs under the NGO-to-CBO strategy ranged between 16.3 and 21.5. By endline, the strength of community mobilization among CBOs under the community-to-CBO strategy increased 18 points (equivalent to 23% potential improvement) whereas the strength of community mobilization among CBOs under the NGO-to-CBO strategy increased only 10 points (equivalent to 13% potential improvement). The average percentage difference in improvement between the strategies was 10% (p = 0.102). Further analyses indicate that a greater improvement in community-to-CBO learning strategy was noted around managerial capacities and engagement with stakeholders than other parameters. CONCLUSION: The community -to- CBO learning strategy presents promising results for HIV prevention with regard to institutionalization of community mobilization among sex workers communities. Findings support the scaling-up of community mobilization initiatives within HIV prevention interventions using well trained community members in India and elsewhere.

BackgroundStudies suggest that neighborhood ethnic diversity may be important when it comes to understanding ethnic inequalities in mental health. The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether neighborhood ethnic diversity moderated the association between the ethnic minority status and child behavioral and emotional problems.MethodsWe included 3076 preschoolers participating in the Generation R Study, a birth cohort study in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. At child age 3-years, parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/1,5-5). Individual-level data, assessed with questionnaires, was combined with neighborhood-level data. Multi-level logistic regression models predicted the Odds Ratios for the CBCL total problems score as a function of maternal ethnic background and neighborhood ethnic diversity, computed with the Racial Diversity Index and categorized into tertiles. Interaction on the additive scale was assessed using Relative Access Risk due to Interaction.ResultsBeing from an ethnic minority was associated with child behavioral and emotional problems in unadjusted (OR 2.76, 95% CI 1.88-4.04) and adjusted models (OR 2.64, 95% CI 1.79-3.92). Residing in a high diversity neighborhood was associated with child behavioral and emotional problems in unadjusted (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.13-3.64) but not in adjusted models (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.51-1.57). When stratifying by the three levels of neighborhood ethnic diversity, ethnic inequalities in behavioral and emotional problems were greatest in low diversity neighborhoods (OR 5.24, 95%CI 2.47-11.14), smaller in high diversity neighborhoods (OR 3.15, 95% CI 1.66-5.99) and smallest in medium diversity neighborhoods (OR 1.59, 95% CI 0.90-2.82). Tests for interaction (when comparing medium to low diversity neighborhoods) trended towards negative on both the additive and multiplicative scale for the maternal-report (RERI: -3.22, 95% CI -0.70-0.59; Ratio of ORs: 0.30, 95% CI 0.12-0.76).ConclusionThis study suggests that ethnic inequalities in child behavioral and emotional problems may be greatest in ethnically homogeneous neighborhoods.

ObjectivesEffective communication by public health agencies during a pandemic promotes the adoption of recommended health behaviours. However, more information is not always the solution. Rather, attention must be paid to how information is communicated. Our study examines the television news, which combines video and audio content. We analyse (1) the content of television news about the H1N1 pandemic and vaccination campaign in Alberta, Canada; (2) the extent to which television news content conveyed key public health agency messages; (3) the extent of discrepancies in audio versus visual content.MethodsWe searched for "swine flu" and "H1N1" in local English news broadcasts from the CTV online video archive. We coded the audio and visual content of 47 news clips during the peak period of coverage from April to November 2009 and identified discrepancies between audio and visual content.ResultsThe dominant themes on CTV news were the vaccination rollout, vaccine shortages, long line-ups (queues) at vaccination clinics and defensive responses by public health officials. There were discrepancies in the priority groups identified by the provincial health agency (Alberta Health and Wellness) and television news coverage as well as discrepancies between audio and visual content of news clips. Public health officials were presented in official settings rather than as public health practitioners.ConclusionThe news footage did not match the main public health messages about risk levels and priority groups. Public health agencies lost control of their message as the media focused on failures in the rollout of the vaccination campaign. Spokespeople can enhance their local credibility by emphasizing their role as public health practitioners. Public health agencies need to learn from the H1N1 pandemic so that future television communications do not add to public confusion, demonstrate bureaucratic ineffectiveness and contribute to low vaccination rates.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to examine the use of prescribed psychoactive medications in a prospective cohort of children shortly after they entered foster homes; and to identify demographics, maltreatment history, psychiatric diagnoses including ADHD comorbidity, and level of aggression that contribute to prescribed use of stimulant and atypical antipsychotic medication over time. METHODS: The sample included N = 252 children (nested in 95 sibling groups) followed for three years up to 4 yearly waves. RESULTS: Nearly all (89%) met criteria for at least one of eight psychiatric diagnoses and 31% (75/252) used one or more prescribed psychoactive medications. Over half (55%) were diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); of these 38% used stimulants and 36% used atypical antipsychotics. Of the 75 medicated children, 19% received ≥3 different classes of drugs over the course of the study. Stimulants (69%) and atypical antipsychotics (65%) were the most frequently used drugs among medicated children. Adjusted odds ratios (AOR) showed that male gender (AOR = 3.2; 95% CI = 1.5-9.3), African American vs Latino ethnicity (AOR = 5.4; 95% CI = 2.1-14.2), ADHD regardless of Oppositional Defiant (ODD) or Conduct (CD) comorbidity (AOR = 6.0, 95% CI = 1.3-27.5), ODD or CD (AOR = 11.1, 95% CI = 2.1-58.6), and Separation Anxiety (AOR = 2.0, 95% CI = 1.0-4.0) psychiatric disorders were associated with the use of prescribed stimulants; while male gender (AOR = 3.8, 95% CI = 1.5-9.3), African American vs Latino (AOR = 5.1, 95% CI = 1.2-9.2) or Mixed/Other ethnicity (AOR = 3.3, 95% CI = 1.9-13.7), ADHD regardless of ODD or CD comorbidity (AOR = 5.8, 95% CI = 1.2-28.7), ODD or CD (AOR = 13.9, 95% CI = 3.3-58.5), Major Depression/Dysthymia (AOR = 2.8, 95% CI = 1.1-6.7) psychiatric disorders, and history of sexual abuse (AOR = 4.6, 95% CI = 1.3-18.4) were associated with the use of prescribed atypical antipsychotics. CONCLUSION: The aggressive use of atypical antipsychotics, which has unknown metabolic risks, suggests that the efficacy and safety of such treatment strategies for psychiatrically ill children in foster care should be monitored. Language: en

Motivated thinking leads people to perceive similarity between the self and ingroups, but under some conditions, people may recognize that personal beliefs are misaligned with the beliefs of ingroups. In two focal experiments and two replications, we find evidence that perceived belief similarity moderates ingroup favoritism. As part of a charity donation task, participants donated money to a community charity or a religious charity. Compared to non-religious people, Christians favored religious charities, but within Christians, conservative Christians favored religious charities more than liberal Christians did. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the perceived political beliefs of the charity accounted for the differences in ingroup favoritism between liberal and conservative Christians. While reporting little awareness of the influence of ideology, Christian conservatives favored religious charities because they perceived them as conservative and liberal Christians favored the community charity because they perceived it as liberal.