Using a problem detection study (PDS) to identify and compare health care provider and consumer views of antihypertensive therapy

The objectives of this study were to ascertain consumer knowledge and behaviour about hypertension and treatment and to compare these with health care providers' perceptions (of 'most' consumers). The design for the study was a problem detection study (PDS): focus groups and then survey. Focus groups and survey participants were convenience samples of consumers, doctors, nurses and pharmacists. The main outcome measures were agreement on a 5-point Likert scale with statements about consumers' knowledge and behaviour about high blood pressure and medication. The survey identified areas of consensus and disagreement between consumers and health providers. While general knowledge and concordance with antihypertensive therapy among consumers was good, consequences such as eye and kidney disease, interactions with herbal medicines, and how to deal with missing a dose were less well known. Side effects were a problem for over one-quarter of participants, and cost was a problem in continuing therapy. Half the consumers had not received sufficient written information. Providers overall disagreed that most consumers have an adequate understanding of the condition. They agreed that most consumers adhere to therapy and can manage medicines; and about their own profession's role in information provision and condition management. Consumers confirmed positive provider behaviour, suggesting opportunities for greater communication between providers about actions taken with their consumers. In conclusion, the PDS methodology was useful in identifying consumer opinions. Differences between consumer and provider responses were marked, with consumers generally rating their knowledge and behaviour above providers' ratings of 'most' consumers. There are clear gaps to be targeted to improve the outcomes of hypertension therapy.

Of snakes and flowers: Does preferential detection of pictures of fear-relevant animals in visual search reflect on fear-relevance?

Previous research in visual search indicates that animal fear-relevant deviants, snakes/spiders, are found faster among non fear-relevant backgrounds, flowers/mushrooms, than vice versa. Moreover, deviant absence was indicated faster among snakes/spiders and detection time for flower/mushroom deviants, but not for snake/spider deviants, increased in larger arrays. The current research indicates that the latter 2 results do not reflect on fear-relevance, but are found only with flower/mushroom controls. These findings may reflect on factors such as background homogeneity, deviant homogeneity, or background-deviant similarity. The current research removes contradictions between previous studies that used animal and social fear-relevant stimuli and indicates that apparent search advantages for fear-relevant deviants seem likely to reflect on delayed attentional disengagement from fear-relevance on control trials.

The temporal and spatial limits of compensation for fixational eye movements

High-fidelity eye tracking is combined with a perceptual grouping task to provide insight into the likely mechanisms underlying the compensation of retinal image motion caused by movement of the eyes. The experiments describe the covert detection of minute temporal and spatial offsets incorporated into a test stimulus. Analysis of eye motion on individual trials indicates that the temporal offset sensitivity is actually due to motion of the eye inducing artificial spatial offsets in the briefly presented stimuli. The results have strong implications for two popular models of compensation for fixational eye movements, namely efference copy and image-based models. If an efference copy model is assumed, the results place constraints on the spatial accuracy and source of compensation. If an image-based model is assumed then limitations are placed on the integration time window over which motion estimates are calculated. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.