Search

Background: Norm-correcting interventions are an effective alcohol harm-reduction approach, but innovation is needed to increase modest effect sizes. Recent social psychology research shows that individuals may be influenced by social norms that are increasing in prevalence. Contrary to static norms that reflect the current state of normative behavior, dynamic norms reflect behavioral norms that are shifting over time. This proof-of-concept study tested the utility of dynamic norms messages within norm-correcting interventions., Method: Undergraduate student drinkers (N = 461; M age  = 19.97; 64.43% female) were randomly assigned to receive (a) dynamic norms messages highlighting a steady decrease over the past six years in heavy drinking among college students; (b) static norms messaging stating only the current norms; or (c) a control condition without normative information. Proximal outcomes assessed immediately following the experimental paradigm included intentions for total weekly drinks and heavy episodic drinking. Self-reported information on alcohol use behavior was collected at 1-month follow-up., Results: Following the experimental paradigm, participants in the dynamic norms condition estimated that future drinking norms would decrease, while those in the static norms and control groups estimated that future drinking norms would increase. Participants in the dynamic norms condition reported lower intentions for weekly drinks and heavy episodic drinking than those in the static norms and control conditions. No significant differences between conditions were found on alcohol use indices reported at the 1-month follow-up. However, dynamic norms messaging had a favorable indirect effect on heavy episodic drinking intentions mediated through lower perceived future drinking norms., Conclusions: These findings provide proof-of-concept that dynamic norms messaging may be a prudent strategy for reducing alcohol use intentions, which can be integrated into or used alongside existing norm-correcting strategies., (© 2021 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)

The ethical experience and lessons of China's and the world's response to COVID-19 will be debated for many years to come. But one feature of the Chinese authoritarian response that should not be overlooked is its practice of silencing and humiliating the whistle-blowers who told the truth about the epidemic. In this article, we document the humiliation of Dr Li Wenliang (1986-2020), the most prominent whistle-blower in the Chinese COVID-19 epidemic. Engaging with the thought of Israeli philosopher Avishai Margalit, who argues that humiliation constitutes an injury to a person's self-respect, we discuss his contention that a decent society is one that abolishes conditions which constitute a justification for its dependents to consider themselves humiliated. We explore the ways that institutions humiliate whistle-blowers in Western countries as well as in China.

Violence-free family ties, non-violent peers or attachment to society have been pointed out as protective factors against different types of extremism and violent radicalization by international literature. However, more detail needs to be provided about which specific aspects within these realms (friendship/family/community) are effective in challenging violence and how they operate in practice. Recent research conducted under the framework of the PROTON project (Horizon 2020) has analyzed the social and ethical impacts of counter-terrorism and organized crime policies in six European countries. In this article we discuss some identified common features among practices that, developed by organized actors operating at the local level (e.g.: grassroots-based associations, educational institutions, other type of organized networks for prevention, NGOs), are contributing to preventing youth violent radicalization, a phenomenon of growing concern in Europe and beyond. Standing on a solid rejection to violence, these shared features are the following: a bottom-up approach in setting allies with key stakeholders from the community or/and family members to intervene; the promotion of trustworthy and healthy friendship relationships; debunking the lure surrounding violent subjects ("false heroes") and violence in the different contexts, especially in the socioeducational one., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Initiation of menstruation is often associated with secrecy and silence, leading to menstruation-related restrictions enforced by various structural and social factors. Most of the research investigating menstruation-related restrictions has been conducted in low- and middle-income countries. It is unknown 1) which populations in the United States and Canada may face menstruation-related restrictions, and 2) what type of restrictions are practiced by these populations. A literature review found 21 articles published between 2000 and 2019 covering menstruation-related social and structural restrictions in the United States and Canada. In addition to more research, we encourage clinical providers to have culturally competent conversations with patients to understand potential menstruation-related restrictions., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The current COVID-19 pandemic has been identified as a possible trigger for increases in loneliness and social isolation among older people due to the restrictions on movement that many countries have put in place. Loneliness and social isolation are consistently identified as risk factors for poor mental and physical health in older people. Video calls may help older people stay connected during the current crisis by widening the participant's social circle or by increasing the frequency of contact with existing acquaintances., Objectives: The primary objective of this rapid review is to assess the effectiveness of video calls for reducing social isolation and loneliness in older adults. The review also sought to address the effectiveness of video calls on reducing symptoms of depression and improving quality of life., Search Methods: We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and CINAHL from 1 January 2004 to 7 April 2020. We also searched the references of relevant systematic reviews., Selection Criteria: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-RCTs (including cluster designs) were eligible for inclusion. We excluded all other study designs. The samples in included studies needed to have a mean age of at least 65 years. We included studies that included participants whether or not they were experiencing symptoms of loneliness or social isolation at baseline. Any intervention in which a core component involved the use of the internet to facilitate video calls or video conferencing through computers, smartphones or tablets with the intention of reducing loneliness or social isolation, or both, in older adults was eligible for inclusion. We included studies in the review if they reported self-report measures of loneliness, social isolation, symptoms of depression or quality of life.  Two review authors screened 25% of abstracts; a third review author resolved conflicts. A single review author screened the remaining abstracts. The second review author screened all excluded abstracts and we resolved conflicts by consensus or by involving a third review author. We followed the same process for full-text articles., Data Collection and Analysis: One review author extracted data, which another review author checked. The primary outcomes were loneliness and social isolation and the secondary outcomes were symptoms of depression and quality of life. One review author rated the certainty of evidence for the primary outcomes according to the GRADE approach and another review author checked the ratings. We conducted fixed-effect meta-analyses for the primary outcome, loneliness, and the secondary outcome, symptoms of depression., Main Results: We identified three cluster quasi-randomised trials, which together included 201 participants. The included studies compared video call interventions to usual care in nursing homes. None of these studies were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Each study measured loneliness using the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Total scores range from 20 (least lonely) to 80 (most lonely). The evidence was very uncertain and suggests that video calls may result in little to no difference in scores on the UCLA Loneliness Scale compared to usual care at three months (mean difference (MD) -0.44, 95% confidence interval (CI) -3.28 to 2.41; 3 studies; 201 participants), at six months (MD -0.34, 95% CI -3.41 to 2.72; 2 studies; 152 participants) and at 12 months (MD -2.40, 95% CI -7.20 to 2.40; 1 study; 90 participants). We downgraded the certainty of this evidence by three levels for study limitations, imprecision and indirectness. None of the included studies reported social isolation as an outcome. Each study measured symptoms of depression using the Geriatric Depression Scale. Total scores range from 0 (better) to 30 (worse). The evidence was very uncertain and suggests that video calls may result in little to no difference in scores on the Geriatric Depression Scale compared to usual care at three months' follow-up (MD 0.41, 95% CI -0.90 to 1.72; 3 studies; 201 participants) or six months' follow-up (MD -0.83, 95% CI -2.43 to 0.76; 2 studies, 152 participants). The evidence suggests that video calls may have a small effect on symptoms of depression at one-year follow-up, though this finding is imprecise (MD -2.04, 95% CI -3.98 to -0.10; 1 study; 90 participants). We downgraded the certainty of this evidence by three levels for study limitations, imprecision and indirectness. Only one study, with 62 participants, reported quality of life. The study measured quality of life using a Taiwanese adaptation of the Short-Form 36-question health survey (SF-36), which consists of eight subscales that measure different aspects of quality of life: physical function; physical role; emotional role; social function; pain: vitality; mental health; and physical health. Each subscale is scored from 0 (poor health) to 100 (good health). The evidence is very uncertain and suggests that there may be little to no difference between people allocated to usual care and those allocated to video calls in three-month scores in physical function (MD 2.88, 95% CI -5.01 to 10.77), physical role (MD -7.66, 95% CI -24.08 to 8.76), emotional role (MD -7.18, 95% CI -16.23 to 1.87), social function (MD 2.77, 95% CI -8.87 to 14.41), pain scores (MD -3.25, 95% CI -15.11 to 8.61), vitality scores (MD -3.60, 95% CI -9.01 to 1.81), mental health (MD 9.19, 95% CI 0.36 to 18.02) and physical health (MD 5.16, 95% CI -2.48 to 12.80). We downgraded the certainty of this evidence by three levels for study limitations, imprecision and indirectness., Authors' Conclusions: Based on this review there is currently very uncertain evidence on the effectiveness of video call interventions to reduce loneliness in older adults. The review did not include any studies that reported evidence of the effectiveness of video call interventions to address social isolation in older adults. The evidence regarding the effectiveness of video calls for outcomes of symptoms of depression was very uncertain. Future research in this area needs to use more rigorous methods and more diverse and representative participants. Specifically, future studies should target older adults, who are demonstrably lonely or socially isolated, or both, across a range of settings to determine whether video call interventions are effective in a population in which these outcomes are in need of improvement., (Copyright © 2020 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

How do your friends respond to intimate partner violence (IPV), and does it make a difference? This article examines the relationships between wives' IPV secrecy, Confucian sex-role norms, informal social control by friends, totalitarian style partner control by husbands, and husbands' IPV in a study of Beijing and Seoul. Hypotheses were tested using a three-stage cluster sample of 760 married/partnered women from Beijing ( n = 301) and Seoul ( n = 459). Multilevel regression models run on the combined data found that totalitarian partner control by husbands was positively associated with husband IPV severity. Friends' protective approaches to informal social control of IPV were associated with less husband IPV severity, but punitive approaches were marginally associated with more. However, the combined findings gloss over very different findings for the two cities. The authors argue that the etiology of much IPV in Beijing is better characterized by social disorganization, but the etiology of much IPV in Seoul is better characterized by totalitarian control (deviant order).

Simple instructions have been shown to robustly influence individual creativity, which is key to solve local problems. Building on social labeling theory, we examine the possibility of nudging individual's creativity using "creative" and "not creative" labels. Study 1 showed that subjects labeled as "creative" or "not creative" performed better in a creative task than unlabeled subjects and established the moderating effect of self-perceived creativity. Among subjects scoring low on self-perceived creativity, those labeled as "creative" performed better than those labeled as "not creative". Conversely, among subjects scoring high on self-perceived creativity, those labeled as "not creative" tend to perform better than those labeled as "creative". Study 2 and Study 3 further explored the psychological mechanisms at play in both cases: specifically, Study 2 showed that applying a "creative" label has the ability to increase creative self-efficacy through self-perceived creativity, whereas Study 3 demonstrated that applying a "not creative" label has the ability to increase individual creativity performance through a higher involvement in the creative task., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

In addition to genocide, slavery, and the dispossession of indigenous people, colonialism, as a form of control, meant the suppression of traditional knowledge. The imposition of Christianity, the modern Western paradigm, and modern science that followed perpetrated this suppression. The universal role held by modern science is supported neither by epistemic nor social aspects. It is ineffective and complicit in the collapse of civilization, and it is worsened by comprehensive and unifying ideas to be reduced to an input-process of technological innovation for the benefit of social control industries such as the military, information technology, communication, or health. Furthermore, it suppresses ancestral knowledge related to health and medicine that may be beneficial and must be researched (stimulant medicines). Coupled with the health industry, it promotes the medicalization of life, spreading uncertainty, anxiety, and unease. Therefore, it is an instrument of neocolonialism that imposes its priorities, supplanting problems in subordinated countries, and extracts substantial resources, which is detrimental to social policies and programs. The biggest objection to the universality of modern science is derived from its empiricist and reductionist nature. Through the practically impossible idea of a unifying and explanatory knowledge, it impedes researchers the understanding of the complexity of the world and their historical moment and to act accordingly. It transforms great creative and liberating potential to submissiveness for the interests of capital and its representatives., (Copyright: © 2020 Permanyer.)

Background: The relationship between informal leaders, i.e., highly competent individuals who have influence over peers without holding formal leadership positions, and organisational outcomes has not been adequately assessed in health care., Aims: We evaluated the relationships between informal leaders and experience, job satisfaction and patient satisfaction, among hospital nurses., Methods: Floor nurses in non-leadership positions participated in an online survey and rated colleagues' leadership behaviours. Nurses identified as informal leaders took an additional survey to determine their leadership styles via the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire TM . Six months of patient satisfaction data were linked to the nursing units., Results: A total of 3,456 (91%) nurses received peer ratings and 628 (18%) were identified as informal leaders. Informal leaders had more experience (13.2 ± 10.9 vs. 8.4 ± 9.7 years, p < 0.001) and higher job satisfaction than their counterparts (4.8 ± 1.2 vs. 4.5 ± 1.1, p = 0.007). Neither the proportion of informal leaders on a unit nor leadership style was associated with patient satisfaction (p = 0.53, 0.46, respectively)., Conclusion: While significant relationships were not detected between patient satisfaction and styles/proportion of informal leaders, we found that informal leaders had more years of experience and higher job satisfaction. More work is needed to understand the informal leaders' roles in achieving organisational outcomes., Implications for Nursing Management: Nurse informal leaders are unique resources and health care organisations should utilise them for optimal outcomes., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Despite the knowledge that children in low-income neighborhoods are particularly vulnerable to asthma, few studies of child asthma focus on variation among low-income neighborhoods. We examined the relationship between child asthma and features associated with neighborhood poverty including safety, social cohesion, informal social control, collective efficacy, and disorder, across a sample of children from low-income neighborhoods (N = 3010; 2005-2007). Results show that the relationship between asthma and poverty is accounted for by family-level characteristics, but informal social control remains significantly and positively related to asthma after accounting for family-level characteristics. We discuss the importance of neighborhood environmental features for children's asthma.

Parental overcontrol (OC), behavior that intrusively or dominantly restricts child autonomy, has been identified as a transdiagnostic risk factor for youth. However, it is as yet unknown whether the association between parental OC and child maladjustment remains even when OC is exerted infrequently or by attuned parents. Rather, the selective use of OC might steer children away from danger. Taking a developmental psychopathology approach, this study focuses on the larger parent-child relationship context, testing whether either the dose at which parents demonstrate OC or the degree to which children perceive their parents as attuned determines whether OC is risky or protective for adolescents' adjustment. Among a community sample of 114 families of children followed from the ages of 12-18, we examine whether OC, behaviorally coded from triadic mother-father-child discussions in middle childhood, is associated with later risky behavior and anxiety symptoms in adolescence. Overcontrol exerted by either mothers or fathers had a curvilinear effect on adolescent risky behaviors, and this effect was moderated by children's perceived attunement. Although OC generally was associated with increased risky behaviors, low doses of OC or OC exerted by highly attuned parents protected against engagement in risky behaviors. No main effect of OC was observed on adolescent anxiety; however, mothers' OC interacted with perceived parental attunement, such that OC exerted by less attuned parents predicted greater anxiety. Results underscore that the effect of parenting behaviors depends on the larger parent-child relationship context., (© 2017 Family Process Institute.)

This article will survey the dramatic change English football had undergone since the end of the last century. The authors will closely explore the implementation of the Taylor Report recommendations, to convince that which power and management techniques were used to decrease violence in public areas that were previously considered dangerous and crime-oriented. It will be argued that disciplinarian techniques were practiced, much like those described in Foucault's Discipline and Punish, while this very power has proven to be positive and revitalizing. It will be therefore concluded that power is at its most effective when operated via techniques of discipline and social inclusion. These arguments correspond with the positive criminology theory whose popularity within the discipline is gradually increasing.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a campus-wide social norms marketing intervention on alcohol-use perceptions, consumption, and blackouts at a large, urban, public university., Participants: 4,172 college students (1,208 freshmen, 1,159 sophomores, 953 juniors, and 852 seniors) who completed surveys in Spring 2015 for the Spit for Science Study, a longitudinal study of students' substance use and emotional health., Methods: Participants were e-mailed an online survey that queried campaign readership, perception of peer alcohol use, alcohol consumption, frequency of consumption, and frequency of blackouts. Associations between variables were evaluated using path analysis., Results: We found that campaign readership was associated with more accurate perceptions of peer alcohol use, which, in turn, was associated with self-reported lower number of drinks per sitting and experiencing fewer blackouts., Conclusions: This evaluation supports the use of social norms marketing as a population-level intervention to correct alcohol-use misperceptions and reduce blackouts.

The seminal Marshmallow Test (Mischel & Ebbesen, 1970) has reliably demonstrated that children who can delay gratification are more likely to be emotionally stable and successful later in life. However, this is not good news for those children who can't delay. Therefore, this study aimed to explore whether a metacognitive therapy technique, Attention Training (ATT: Wells, 1990) can improve young children's ability to delay gratification. One hundred children participated. Classes of 5-6 year olds were randomly allocated to either the ATT or a no-intervention condition and were tested pre and post-intervention on ability to delay gratification, verbal inhibition (executive control), and measures of mood. The ATT intervention significantly increased (2.64 times) delay of gratification compared to the no-intervention condition. After controlling for age and months in school, the ATT intervention and verbal inhibition task performance were significant independent predictors of delay of gratification. These results provide evidence that ATT can improve children's self-regulatory abilities with the implication that this might reduce psychological vulnerability later in life. The findings highlight the potential contribution that the Self-Regulatory Executive Function (S-REF) model could make to designing techniques to enhance children's self-regulatory processes., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

It has been suggested that the consumption of unhealthy Westernized diet in a context of poverty and resultant food insecurity may have contributed to South-Africa's status of the third fattest country in the World. Considering that a number of South-Africans are reported to have experienced, or are still experiencing food insecurity, procedures which have been shown to reduce the consumption of unhealthy food in higher income countries may be ineffective in South-Africa. We thus tested the robustness of the so called pre-exposure procedure in South-Africa. We also tested the moderating role of childhood poverty in the pre-exposure procedure. With the pre-exposure procedure, a respondent is exposed to a tempting unhealthy food (e.g. candy) in a context that is designed such that eating the food interferes with a task goal. The typical result is that this procedure spills over and reduces consumption of similar tempting food later on. An experimental study conducted in a South-African laboratory showed that the pre-exposure effect is robust even with a sample, where food insecurity prevails. Childhood poverty did not moderate the effect. This study proves that behavioral procedures aimed at reducing the consumption of unhealthy food would be valuable in less rich non-Western countries. Further testing of the robustness of the pre-exposure effect is however recommended in other poorer food insecure countries., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The impact of the social environment on healthy eating awareness results from complex interactions among physical, economic, cultural, interpersonal and individual characteristics. This study investigated the impact of social support and social influence on healthy eating awareness, controlling for socio-economic status, gender and age. Additionally, the mediating effect of self-regulation strategies was examined. A total of 2764 children and adolescents aged 10-17 from four European countries completed self-report measures on healthy eating awareness, social influence and the use of self-regulation strategies. Healthy eating awareness and the use of self-regulation strategies were more likely to occur among younger participants. An interaction between gender and age was related to the use of some self-regulation strategies; compared to girls, boys decreased the use of self-regulation strategies more from pre-adolescence to adolescence. Peer social influence was associated with more unhealthy eating in older participants. Results suggest a need to promote self-regulatory competences among young people in order to assist them with regulating their eating behaviours, especially in the presence of peers. Both school-based interventions and family-based interventions, focusing on self-regulation cognitions and social (peer) influence, could help children and adolescents to use self-regulatory strategies which are essential to eat healthier.

Background: Drinking is influenced by youth perceptions of how their peers drink. These perceptions are often incorrect, overestimating peer drinking norms. If inaccurate perceptions can be corrected, young people may drink less., Objectives: To determine whether social norms interventions reduce alcohol-related negative consequences, alcohol misuse or alcohol consumption when compared with a control (ranging from assessment only/no intervention to other educational or psychosocial interventions) among university and college students., Search Methods: The following electronic databases were searched up to July 2015: the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library), MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO. The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) only to March 2008. Reference lists of included studies and review articles were manually searched. No restriction based on language or date was applied., Selection Criteria: Randomised controlled trials or cluster-randomised controlled trials that compared a social normative intervention versus no intervention, alcohol education leaflet or other 'non-normative feedback' alcohol intervention and reported on alcohol consumption or alcohol-related problems in university or college students., Data Collection and Analysis: We used standard methodological procedures as expected by Cochrane. Each outcome was analysed by mode of delivery: mailed normative feedback (MF); web/computer normative feedback (WF); individual face-to-face normative feedback (IFF); group face-to-face normative feedback (GFF); and normative marketing campaign (MC)., Main Results: A total of 70 studies (44,958 participants) were included in the review, and 63 studies (42,784 participants) in the meta-analyses. Overall, the risk of bias assessment showed that these studies provided moderate or low quality evidence.Outcomes at four or more months post-intervention were of particular interest to assess when effects were sustained beyond the immediate short term. We have reported pooled effects across delivery modes only for those analyses for which heterogeneity across delivery modes is not substantial (I(2) < 50%).Alcohol-related problems at four or more months: IFF standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.14, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.24 to -0.04 (participants = 2327; studies = 11; moderate quality evidence), equivalent to a decrease of 1.28 points in the 69-point alcohol problems scale score. No effects were found for WF or MF.Binge drinking at four or more months: results pooled across delivery modes: SMD -0.06, 95% CI -0.11 to -0.02 (participants = 11,292; studies = 16; moderate quality evidence), equivalent to 2.7% fewer binge drinkers if 30-day prevalence is 43.9%.Drinking quantity at four or more months: results pooled across delivery modes: SMD -0.08, 95% CI -0.12 to -0.04 (participants = 21,169; studies = 32; moderate quality evidence), equivalent to a reduction of 0.9 drinks consumed each week, from a baseline of 13.7 drinks per week.Drinking frequency at four or more months: WF SMD -0.11, 95% CI -0.17 to -0.04 (participants = 9929; studies = 10; moderate quality evidence), equivalent to a decrease of 0.17 drinking days/wk, from a baseline of 2.74 days/wk; IFF SMD -0.21, 95% CI -0.31 to -0.10 (participants = 1464; studies = 8; moderate quality evidence), equivalent to a decrease of 0.32 drinking days/wk, from a baseline of 2.74 days/wk. No effects were found for GFF or MC.Estimated blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at four or more months: peak BAC results pooled across delivery modes: SMD -0.08, 95% CI -0.17 to 0.00 (participants = 7198; studies = 11; low quality evidence), equivalent to a reduction in peak BAC from an average of 0.144% to 0.135%. No effects were found for typical BAC with IFF., Authors' Conclusions: The results of this review indicate that no substantive meaningful benefits are associated with social norms interventions for prevention of alcohol misuse among college/university students. Although some significant effects were found, we interpret the effect sizes as too small, given the measurement scales used in the studies included in this review, to be of relevance for policy or practice. Moreover, the significant effects are not consistent for all misuse measures, heterogeneity was a problem in some analyses and bias cannot be discounted as a potential cause of these findings.

This article traces a map of the social control of drugs through the politics of space, according to the Foucaultian concept of "heterotopia." Firstly, a brief genealogy of the use of psychotropic substances in different times and cultures is described, up to the introduction of the prohibitionist paradigm. Attention is paid to the way in which power has marked, separated and enclosed certain rituals and uses of pleasure in physical and symbolic sites. The itinerary is focused on the Spanish context to establish a dialogue between the various policies of space that have come into being and have overlapped in the construction and management of a problem which has been rendered an object to the gazes, mechanics and discourses of the medical, legal, and social fields. In this way, the intersections between the liminal spaces of drug use and the harm reduction paradigm are analyzed, including therapeutic strategies with prescribed drugs, from methadone programs to the new heroin programs.

The inclusion of the framework of human rights in maternal health is mentioned more and more frequently as a feasible proposal to improve the care that women receive in obstetric health care services. Despite the fact Mexico has a solid regulatory framework for obstetric care, mechanisms of enforceability are essential to ensure that health-related human rights are upheld. In addition to being in place, enforceability mechanisms should be effective and accessible to people, particularly in obstetric care, where repeated human rights violations occur that endanger women's health and lives. The objective of this article is to specify the regulatory, legal, and extralegal elements that need to be considered in order to include maternal health in a set of enforceable human rights.

Background: Nearly 2.4 million Beijing residents experience intimate partner violence (IPV) annually. Of these 2.4 million, over 800 000 are injured by IPV; more than 300 000 are injured badly enough to require medical attention. Informal social control exerted by neighbours in communities with high levels of family-community integration (like those made up of residents of traditional courtyard house-and-alley Beijing neighbourhoods called 'Hutongs') may protect against IPV injury compared with apartment dwellers., Methods: We tested the protective effects of informal social control and Hutong residence in a randomly selected, three-stage cluster sample of Beijing families reporting IPV. Informal social control of IPV (ISC&#95;IPV) was measured using two 7-question Likert scales developed by the first author. Interviewers were given detailed instructions on how to classify neighbourhoods as Hutong-style or not. We used a Sobel test to examine whether the Hutong effect was mediated by informal social control. The initial sample was of 506 families. Analyses were carried out on 113 families who reported any IPV in the last year., Results: Random effects regression models showed that both acts of informal social control and Hutong residence were associated with less IPV injury. However, the protective finding for Hutong residence was not explained by informal social control, collective efficacy, characteristics of the IPV or demographic characteristics of respondents and households., Conclusions: The unique protective association with Hutong residence suggests that the benefits of community life remain insufficiently theorised and understood., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.)

Resource systems with enforced rules and strong monitoring systems typically have more predictable resource abundance, which can confer economic and social benefits to local communities. Co-management regimes demonstrate better social and ecological outcomes, but require an active role by community members in management activities, such as monitoring and enforcement. Previous work has emphasized understanding what makes fishermen comply with rules. This research takes a different approach to understand what influences an individual to enforce rules, particularly sea tenure. We conducted interviews and used multiple regression and Akaike's Information Criteria model selection to evaluate the effect of social networks, food security, recent catch success, fisherman's age and personal gear investment on individual's enforcement of sea tenure. We found that fishermen's enforcement of sea tenure declined between the two time periods measured and that social networks, age, food security, and changes in gear investment explained enforcement behavior across three different communities on Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast, an area undergoing rapid globalization.

Background: Drinking is influenced by youth (mis)perceptions of how their peers drink. If misperceptions can be corrected, young people may drink less., Objectives: To determine whether social norms interventions reduce alcohol-related negative consequences, alcohol misuse or alcohol consumption when compared with a control (ranging from assessment only/no intervention to other educational or psychosocial interventions) among university and college students., Search Methods: The following electronic databases were searched up to May 2014: the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) (only to March 2008). Reference lists of included studies and review articles were manually searched., Selection Criteria: Randomised controlled trials or cluster-randomised controlled trials that compared a social normative intervention versus no intervention, alcohol education leaflet or other 'non-normative feedback' alcohol intervention and reported on alcohol consumption or alcohol-related problems in university or college students., Data Collection and Analysis: We used standard methodological procedures as expected by The Cochrane Collaboration. Each outcome was analysed by mode of delivery: mailed normative feedback (MF); Web/computer normative feedback (WF); individual face-to-face normative feedback (IFF); group face-to-face normative feedback (GFF); and normative marketing campaign (MC)., Main Results: A total of 66 studies (43,125 participants) were included in the review, and 59 studies (40,951 participants) in the meta-analyses. Outcomes at 4+ months post intervention were of particular interest to assess when effects were sustained beyond the immediate short term. We have reported pooled effects across delivery modes only for those analyses for which heterogeneity across delivery modes is not substantial (I(2) < 50%). Alcohol-related problems at 4+ months: IFF standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.16, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.31 to -0.01 (participants = 1065; studies = 7; moderate quality of evidence), equivalent to a decrease of 1.5 points in the 69-point alcohol problems scale score. No effects were found for WF or MF. Binge drinking at 4+ months: results pooled across delivery modes: SMD -0.06, 95% CI -0.11 to -0.02 (participants = 11,292; studies = 16; moderate quality of evidence), equivalent to 2.7% fewer binge drinkers if 30-day prevalence is 43.9%. Drinking quantity at 4+ months: results pooled across delivery modes: SMD -0.08, 95% CI -0.12 to -0.05 (participants = 20,696; studies = 33; moderate quality of evidence), equivalent to a reduction of 0.9 drinks consumed each week, from a baseline of 13.7 drinks per week. Drinking frequency at 4+ months: WF SMD -0.12, 95% CI -0.18 to -0.05 (participants = 9456; studies = 9; moderate quality of evidence), equivalent to a decrease of 0.19 drinking days/wk, from a baseline of 2.74 days/wk; IFF SMD -0.21, 95% CI -0.31 to -0.10 (participants = 1464; studies = 8; moderate quality of evidence), equivalent to a decrease of 0.32 drinking days/wk, from a baseline of 2.74 days/wk. No effects were found for GFF or MC. Estimated blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at 4+ months: peak BAC results pooled across delivery modes: SMD -0.08, 95% CI -0.17 to 0.00 (participants = 7198; studies = 13; low quality of evidence), equivalent to a reduction in peak PAC from an average of 0.144% to 0.135%. No effects were found for typical BAC with IFF., Authors' Conclusions: The results of this review indicate that no substantive meaningful benefits are associated with social norms interventions for prevention of alcohol misuse among college/university students. Although some significant effects were found, we interpret the effect sizes as too small, given the measurement scales used in the studies included in this review, to be of relevance for policy or practice. Moreover, the statistically significant effects are not consistent for all misuse measures, heterogeneity was a problem in some analyses and bias cannot be discounted as a potential cause of these findings.

Objective: Implementation intentions (if-then plans) are helpful to health behaviour change. As these plans specify only one goal-directed behaviour for one specific situation, however, their effectiveness may be limited when a planned behaviour is impossible to execute in situ. The present research examines whether and how planning more than one goal-directed response for the same situation ('making a Plan B') affects successful self-regulation of eating behaviour., Design and Main Outcome Measures: In Study 1, participants formulated either one or two plans, after which a lexical decision task was administered to assess association strength between the if-part and the then-part(s). In Study 2, the effect of making one, two or no plan(s) was assessed on actual eating behaviour, after which a Stroop task measured cognitive load as an additional explanatory mechanism., Results: Study 1 revealed that making a Plan B disrupts the creation of strong if-then associations during plan formation. Study 2 showed that making a Plan B yields increased unhealthy food intake compared to making one or no plan, and induces greater cognitive load during plan enactment., Conclusion: Making a Plan B interferes with essential cognitive processes during different stages of planning, leading to an increased likelihood of self-regulatory failure.

A more negative implicit evaluation of unhealthy food stimuli and a more positive implicit evaluation of a weight-management goal have been shown to predict lower consumption of unhealthy food. However, the associations between these evaluations, temptation to indulge and consumption of unhealthy food remain unclear. The current study investigated whether temptation would mediate the relationship between implicit food and goal evaluations and consumption (resembling an antecedent-focused route to self-control of eating), or whether those evaluations would moderate the relationship between temptation and consumption (resembling a response-focused route). A sample of 156 women (17-25 years), who tried to manage their weight through healthy eating, completed two implicit association tasks assessing implicit food and goal evaluations, respectively. Intake of four energy-dense snack foods was measured in a task disguised as a taste test, and participants reported the strength of experienced temptation to indulge in the snacks offered. Negative implicit food evaluation was associated with lower snack intake, and temptation mediated this relationship. Implicit goal evaluation was unrelated to both temptation strength and snack consumption. The findings contribute to an understanding of how negative implicit unhealthy food evaluation relates to lower consumption, namely through the mediation of temptation to indulge in those foods.

As part of a research study undertaken in the period 2003-2011 to understand situations of homicidal violence based in perceptions regarding the act of violence and the surrounding context, we reflect on the meaning of "invisible bourdaries" in the neighborhoods of Medellin (Colombia). Using a qualitative approach that combines documentary sources and interviews, the experiences of 8 participants are analyzed. In the primary results we can see how control over neighborhoods is exercised by different actors through bourdaries not visible to ordinary people. Nevertheless, around these lines people are recruited and controlled and strategies to illegally generate economic resources and to regulate the cultural and social activities of inhabitants are consolidated, thus affecting the social dynamics and imaginary of the neighborhood. In this way, the territories, friendships, and affects of young victims – who are not linked to illegal groups and/or do not have "information" – and of defenseless older adults are controlled.

Madhupur National Park is renowned for severe resource ownership conflicts between ethnic communities and government authorities in Bangladesh. In this study, we applied the Institutional Analysis and Development framework to identify: (i) past and present informal institutional structures within the ethnic Garo community for land resource management; (ii) the origin of the land ownership dispute; (iii) interaction mechanisms between formal and informal institutions; and (iv) change in land management authority and informal governance structures. We identify that the informal institutions of the traditional community have undergone radical change due to government interventions with implications for the regulation of land use, informal institutional functions, and joint-decision-making. Importantly, the government's persistent denial of the role of existing informal institutions is widening the gap between government and community actors, and driving land ownership conflicts in a cyclic way with associated natural resource degradation.

TEAMS INSPECTING children's services should include at least two parents and a pharmacist to ask specific questions about children's medicines management, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has conceded for its future inspections.

Background: Parents' perceived informal social control, defined as the informal ways residents intervene to create a safe and orderly neighbourhood environment, may influence young children's physical activity (PA) in the neighbourhood. This study aimed to develop and test the reliability of a scale of PA-related informal social control relevant to Chinese parents/caregivers of pre-schoolers (children aged 3 to 5 years) living in Hong Kong., Methods: Nominal Group Technique (NGT), a structured, multi-step brainstorming technique, was conducted with two groups of caregivers (mainly parents; n = 11) of Hong Kong pre-schoolers in June 2011. Items collected in the NGT sessions and those generated by a panel of experts were used to compile a list of items (n = 22) for a preliminary version of a questionnaire of informal social control. The newly-developed scale was tested with 20 Chinese-speaking parents/caregivers using cognitive interviews (August 2011). The modified scale, including all 22 original items of which a few were slightly reworded, was subsequently administered on two occasions, a week apart, to 61 Chinese parents/caregivers of Hong Kong pre-schoolers in early 2012. The test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the items and scale were examined using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), paired t-tests, relative percentages of shifts in responses to items, and Cronbach's α coefficient., Results: Thirteen items generated by parents/caregivers and nine items generated by the panel of experts (total 22 items) were included in a first working version of the scale and classified into three subscales: "Personal involvement and general informal supervision", "Civic engagement for the creation of a better neighbourhood environment" and "Educating and assisting neighbourhood children". Twenty out of 22 items showed moderate to excellent test-test reliability (ICC range: 0.40-0.81). All three subscales of informal social control showed acceptable levels of internal consistency (Cronbach's α >0.70)., Conclusions: A reliable scale examining PA-related informal social control relevant to Chinese parents/caregivers of pre-schoolers living in Hong Kong was developed. Further studies should examine the factorial validity of the scale, its associations with Chinese children's PA and its appropriateness for other populations of parents of young children.

Complex relationships exist between eating behaviour and personal and environmental factors. Rural and urban geographic contexts seem to play a role in eating behaviour, and therefore deserve a deeper study. A healthy eating behaviour and the conditions that promote it are a major issue in the promotion of adolescent health. The study aims to investigate the associations between the area of residence (urban vs. rural), self-regulation strategies (TESQ-E) and eating behaviours among children and adolescents. A total of 11,820 adolescents (50.6% girls) participated in the study, with a mean age of 13.30 years (SD= 2.13). Nine countries (The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Poland, Portugal, Denmark, Romania, Germany, Finland and Belgium) completed a questionnaire in the school context, asking about the use of self-regulation strategies, eating behaviour awareness/care and sociodemographic questions such as age, gender and residential area. Both areas of residence (urban vs. rural) are associated with eating awareness/care in Romania and Portugal, controlling for age, gender and self-regulation strategies. In some European countries at least, and most probably around the world, health promotion should focus on an ecological approach that includes the understanding of the effect of both environmental factors and personal skills on eating behaviour/awareness., (© 2014 International Union of Psychological Science.)

Objective: Emotional snacking contributes to weight gain after smoking cessation. Exercise acutely reduces cravings for cigarettes and snack food. This study examined if different exercise intensities acutely reduces snack and cigarette cravings and attentional bias (AB) to video clips of snacks and cigarettes among abstinent smokers., Methods: Abstinent smokers (and snackers; N = 23) randomly did 15 mins of moderate and vigorous cycling and a passive control in a cross-over design. Visual initial AB (IAB) and maintained AB (MAB) were assessed pre- and after treatment while watching paired snacking/neutral or smoking/neutral video clips. Desire to snack and smoke were assessed throughout., Results: ANOVAs revealed significant condition × time interactions for initial and maintained AB for smoking [IAB: F(1.58, 34.75) = 3.58, MAB: F(2, 44) = 4.52, p < .05] and snacking [IAB: F(2, 44) = 8.13, MAB: F(2, 44) = 5.08, p < .01]. IAB for both smoking and snacking were lower after moderate and vigorous exercise than the control. MAB was lower only after vigorous exercise. Fully repeated ANOVAs revealed a condition × time interaction for desire to smoke, F(3.31, 72.75) = 12.62, and snack F(4.34, 95.52) = 9.51, p < .001. Cravings were lower after moderate and vigorous exercise, compared with control., Conclusions: Exercise acutely reduces both AB and cravings for cigarettes and snacks and may help self-regulation of smoking and snacking. Vigorous exercise was only more advantageous for reducing MAB.

This study of female former and current smokers assessed the associations between voluntary smoking bans at home and in the car and smoking cessation, obesity, and self-control. Data from self-reported female smokers (N = 194) who were in a community-based random cohort at four points in time, from 1983 to 2009, were analyzed. These female participants (M age = 63.7 yr.) were given self-administered questionnaires. Analyses showed that complete smoking bans at home and in the car were positively associated with a greater likelihood of smoking cessation. Complete smoking bans at home and in the car were positively associated with greater self-control. Public health policies should focus on the positive health effects of smoking bans on smoking cessation and greater self-control.

Purpose: To explore the goal-related strategies employed by people following lower limb amputation using a framework based on the dual-process model of adaptive self-regulation., Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 individuals with a lower limb amputation., Results: Theoretical thematic analysis identified four broad assimilative/goal pursuit strategies; internal resource use, planning, technology use and help use. The most common strategies were maintaining a specific leisure activity (n=20), seeking instrumental help (n=15) and determination (n=15). Three broad categories of accommodative/goal adjustment strategies were also identified; interpersonal accommodation, managing limitations and meaning-making. The most common were accepting limitations (n=18), emotional support from friends and family (n=17) and adjusting goals to constraints (n=16). There was also evidence of strategies that combined the use of accommodative and assimilative strategies, and the use of avoidant strategies., Conclusions: The findings point towards key assimilative/goal pursuit and accommodative/goal adjustment strategies that may be adaptive following lower limb amputation. The study highlights the potential usefulness of the dual-process model in understanding how individuals adapt to functional disability, while bringing to light issues warranting further explication within this framework. Implications for Rehabilitation People adopt specific adaptive goal pursuit and goal adjustment strategies in response to goal disruptions following limb loss. Being aware of the processes involved in regulating goals in response to challenges is useful for understanding adjustment to limb loss. Greater understanding of adaptive and maladaptive goal strategies may help the rehabilitation team to foster positive outcomes in people with lower limb amputation.

The dual-effects model of social control not only assumes that social control leads to better health practices but also arouses psychological distress. However, findings are inconsistent. The present study advances the current literature by examining social control from a dyadic perspective in the context of smoking. In addition, the study examines whether control, continuous smoking abstinence, and affect are differentially related for men and women. Before and three weeks after a self-set quit attempt, we examined 106 smokers (77 men, mean age: 40.67, average number of cigarettes smoked per day: 16.59 [SD=8.52, range=1-40] at baseline and 5.27 [SD=6.97, range=0-40] at follow-up) and their nonsmoking heterosexual partners, assessing received and provided control, continuous abstinence, and affect. With regard to smoker's affective reactions, partner's provided control was related to an increase in positive and to a decrease in negative affect, but only for female smokers. Moreover, the greater the discrepancy between smoker received and partner's provided control was the more positive affect increased and the more negative affect decreased, but again only for female smokers. These findings demonstrate that female smokers' well-being was raised over time if they were not aware of the control attempts of their nonsmoking partners, indicating positive effects of invisible social control. This study's results emphasize the importance of applying a dyadic perspective and taking gender differences in the dual-effects model of social control into account.

A common form of social regulation of an individual's health behavior is social control. The contextual model of social control assumes that higher relationship quality goes along with more beneficial effects of social control on health behavior. This study examined potential differential moderating effects of different dimensions of relationship quality on the associations between positive and negative social control and smoking behavior and hiding smoking. The sample consisted of 144 smokers (n = 72 women; mean age = 31.78, SD = 10.04) with a nonsmoking partner. Positive and negative social control, dimensions of relationship quality consensus, cohesion and satisfaction, numbers of cigarettes smoked (NCS), hiding smoking (HS), and control variables were assessed at baseline. Four weeks later NCS and HS were assessed again. Only for smokers with high consensus, but not cohesion and satisfaction, a negative association between positive control and NCS emerged. Moreover, smokers with high consensus tended to report more HS when being positively and negatively socially controlled. This also emerged for cohesion and positive control. Satisfaction with the relationship did not display any interaction effects. This study's results emphasize the importance of differentiating not only between positive and negative social control but also between different dimensions of relationship quality in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics in romantic dyads with regard to social regulation of behavioral change.

Obesity-related behaviors, such as intake of snacks and sweetened beverages (SSB), are assumed to result from the interplay between environmental factors and adolescents' ability to self-regulate their eating behaviors. The empirical evidence supporting this assumption is missing. This study investigated the relationships between perceptions of at-home and out-of-home food environment (including SSB accessibility, parental, and peers' social pressure to reduce intake of SSB), nutrition self-regulatory strategies (controlling temptations and suppression), and SSB intake. In particular, we hypothesized that these associations would differ across the stages of preadolescence, early and mid-adolescence. Self-reported data were collected from 2,764 adolescents (10-17 years old; 49 % girls) from 24 schools in the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. Path analysis indicated that direct associations between peers' social influence and SSB intake increased with age. Direct negative associations between at-home and out-of-home accessibility and SSB intake as well as direct positive associations between parental pressure and intake become significantly weaker with age. Accessibility was related negatively to self-regulation, whereas higher social pressure was associated with higher self-regulation. The effects of the environmental factors were mediated by self-regulation. Quantitative and qualitative differences in self-regulation were observed across the stages of adolescence. The associations between the use of self-regulatory strategies and lower SSB intake become significantly stronger with age. In preadolescence, SSB intake was regulated by means of strategies that aimed at direct actions toward tempting food. In contrast, early and mid-adolescents controlled their SSB intake by means of a combination of self-regulatory strategies focusing on direct actions toward tempting food and strategies focusing on changing the psychological meaning of tempting food.

Purpose: Easy access to unhealthy foods is believed to contribute to the current overweight epidemic. It remains unclear, however, how access to unhealthy foods is related to self-regulation of food intake. This study tests the hypothesis that using self-regulation strategies buffers the negative influences of easy access to unhealthy foods., Methods: Cross-sectional survey data from 2764 adolescents aged 10-17 years from four European countries (The Netherlands, UK, Poland and Portugal) about use of self-regulation strategies, access to unhealthy foods and intake of unhealthy foods (sweet and salty snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages) were used., Results: Both access to unhealthy foods and use of self-regulation strategies were independently, but in opposing directions, related to intake of unhealthy foods. Easy access to unhealthy food products was associated with higher consumption, but this effect could be attenuated by use of self-regulation strategies to facilitate healthy eating even when the food environment tempts one to do otherwise., Conclusions: Health promotion policy and programs should not only address the food environment but could also teach young people better strategies to deal with it.

I present the findings from a study that explored the experiences and decision making of street-involved women navigating the health care system. Data were drawn from a larger qualitative study situated in a western Canadian inner-city neighborhood that examined the health-management strategies of street-involved women with a history of crack cocaine use. Data were collected over a 17-month period and included ethnographic methods of participant observation, group interviews (n = 57), and in-depth interviews (n = 10). Inductive thematic analysis derived two major themes: power and punishment, and organization and delivery of care. The themes illustrate how women's experiences and decision making were located within a nexus of power relations that operated across women's shared social location as downtown eastsiders. Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to supporting women's efforts and improving health outcomes.

Aim: The goal of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate an academic integrity (AI) intervention in an online RN to BSN nursing program., Background: Academic integrity is an issue in academia, with problems in this area increased by the proliferation of online and alternative learning environments., Method: Students newly admitted to a RN to BSN nursing program were randomly assigned to a control group (n = 169), which received the usual honor code exposure, or a treatment group (n = 177), which received a faculty-designed intervention. At the completion of the semester students were asked to complete an academic integrity survey tool., Results: Overall self-reported cheating was very low in both groups. Students in the treatment group reported higher levels of faculty and student support for AI policies and perceived these policies to be more effective (p < .05)., Conclusions: While more research is needed in the area of AI, especially in post-licensure nursing students, faculty-initiated discussions appear to foster a culture of AI.

Purpose: This systematic review examined the relationship between self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) and glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. The Common Sense Model of Self-Regulation (CSM) served as a theoretical framework for examining how, when (mediators), and for whom (moderators) SMBG improved glycemic control., Data Sources: Five databases were searched: Medline, PsychInfo, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature., Study Selection: Included studies had cross-sectional, longitudinal, or randomized controlled trial designs; were published between 2007 and 2011; and included patients with type 2 diabetes at least some of whom were not taking insulin; 1318 studies were screened, 119 were reviewed in detail, and 26 were included., Data Extraction: Data were collected on the relationship between SMBG and glycemic control, study design, mediators, moderators, participant characteristics, the CSM, and limitations., Data Synthesis: Twenty-six studies met criteria for inclusion: 11 cross-sectional, 4 longitudinal, and 11 randomized controlled trials. The results of the cross-sectional studies were inconclusive. Results from the longitudinal studies and randomized control trials suggested that SMBG may improve glycemic control. The few studies investigating mediators or moderators reported mixed results. Few studies effectively measured the CSM., Conclusion: Data suggested that SMBG may help improve glycemic control. Future trials must be designed to test hypotheses and improve our understanding of when, how, and for whom SMBG can enhance glycemic control. Rigorously controlled repetitions of current 2-arm trials will yield little new knowledge of theoretical or practical value.

For obese children behavioral treatment results in only small changes in relative weight and frequent relapse. The current study investigated the effects of an Executive Functioning (EF) training with game-elements on weight loss maintenance in obese children, over and above the care as usual in an inpatient treatment program. Forty-four children (aged 8-14 years) who were in the final months of a 10-months inpatient treatment program in a medical paediatric centre were randomized to either the 6 week EF-training condition or to a care as usual only control group. The EF-training consisted of a 25-session training of inhibition and working memory. Treatment outcomes were child performances on cognitive tasks of inhibition and working memory and childcare worker ratings on EF-symptoms as well as weight loss maintenance after leaving the clinic. Children in the EF-training condition showed significantly more improvement than the children in the care as usual only group on the working memory task as well as on the childcare worker reports of working memory and meta-cognition. They were also more capable to maintain their weight loss until 8 weeks post-training. This study shows promising evidence for the efficacy of an EF-training as weight stabilization intervention in obese children., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To evaluate a self-regulation intervention for asthma for older adults., Design: A blinded randomized controlled trial., Setting: Single-center tertiary care academic center., Participants: Seventy older adults aged 65 and older with persistent asthma randomized to an intervention or control group., Intervention: Participants participate in a six-session program conducted over the telephone and in group sessions. Participants selected an asthma-specific goal, identified problems, and addressed potential barriers., Measurements: Outcomes were assessed at 1, 6, and 12 months and included the mini-Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (mAQLQ), Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ), healthcare utilization, exhaled nitric oxide (FENO), and percentage of predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1%)., Results: The mAQLQ score was significantly higher in the intervention group at 1, 6, and 12 months, even after controlling for confounding factors. The between-group difference decreased over time, although at 12 months, it remained greater than 0.5 points. The ACQ was better in the intervention group than in the control group at 1, 6, and 12 months. At 12 months, those in the intervention group were 4.2 times as likely as those in the control group to have an ACQ score in the controlled range. Healthcare utilization was lower in the intervention group, although no difference was observed in FENO or predicted FEV1%., Conclusion: A self-regulation intervention can improve asthma control, quality of life, and healthcare utilization in older adults., (© 2013, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2013, The American Geriatrics Society.)

Nurse-to-nurse, or horizontal, hostility creates a multitude of problems. There are a number of specific and direct problems, including impact on the culture of nursing, stress, healthcare economics, and patient outcomes, that are illustrated in the literature. Horizontal hostility is a pervasive and destructive force that must be addressed in every venue in which nursing is involved. This study discusses the problem of horizontal hostility and the impact it has on nursing and healthcare. Nursing theory is applied to practice and provides concepts and frameworks that are utilized to underscore the critical nature of the problem and provide a map for solutions.

Resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and shyness were examined as predictors of effortful control (EC) in a sample of 101 preschool-age children. Resting RSA was calculated from respiration and heart rate data collected during a neutral film; shyness was measured using parents', preschool teachers', and classroom observers' reports; and EC was measured using four laboratory tasks in addition to questionnaire measures. Principal components analysis was used to create composite measures of EC and shyness. The relation between RSA and EC was moderated by shyness, such that RSA was positively related to EC only for children high in shyness. This interaction suggests that emotional reactivity affects the degree to which RSA can be considered a correlate of EC. This study also draws attention to the need to consider the measurement context when assessing resting psychophysiology measures; shy individuals may not exhibit true baseline RSA responding in an unfamiliar laboratory setting., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The purpose was to examine whether a 1-h intervention would help increase fruit consumption in motivated individuals and to study the role of self-regulatory mechanisms in the behaviour change process, with a particular focus on dietary planning and action control., Methods: A randomised controlled trial compared a 1-h online intervention with controls in 791 participants. Dependent variables were fruit intake, planning to consume and dietary action control., Results: Experimental condition by time interactions documented superior treatment effects for the self-regulation group, although all participants benefited from the study. To identify the contribution of the intervention ingredients, multiple mediation analyses were conducted that yielded mediator effects for dietary action control and planning., Conclusions: A very brief self-regulatory nutrition intervention was superior to a control condition. Dietary planning and action control seem to play a major role in the mechanisms that facilitate fruit intake.

Perception depends on the interplay of ongoing spontaneous activity and stimulus-evoked activity in sensory cortices. This raises the possibility that training ongoing spontaneous activity alone might be sufficient for enhancing perceptual sensitivity. To test this, we trained human participants to control ongoing spontaneous activity in circumscribed regions of retinotopic visual cortex using real-time functional MRI-based neurofeedback. After training, we tested participants using a new and previously untrained visual detection task that was presented at the visual field location corresponding to the trained region of visual cortex. Perceptual sensitivity was significantly enhanced only when participants who had previously learned control over ongoing activity were now exercising control and only for that region of visual cortex. Our new approach allows us to non-invasively and non-pharmacologically manipulate regionally specific brain activity and thus provide "brain training" to deliver particular perceptual enhancements.