Effectiveness of the Call in Beach Volleyball Attacking Play

In beach volleyball the setter has the opportunity to give her or his hitter a “call”. The call intends that the setter suggests to her or his partner where to place the attack in the opponent’s court. The effectiveness of a call is still unknown. We investigated the women’s and men’s Swiss National Beach Volleyball Championships in 2011 and analyzed 2185 attacks. We found large differences between female and male players. While men called in only 38.4% of attacks, women used calls in 85.5% of attacks. If the male players followed a given call, 63% of the attacks were successful. The success rate of attacks without any call was 55.8% and 47.6% when the call was ignored. These differences were not significant (χ2(2) = 4.55, p = 0.103). In women’s beach volleyball, the rate of successful attacks was 61.5% when a call was followed, 35% for attacks without a call, and 42.6% when a call was ignored. The differences were highly significant (χ2(2) = 23.42, p < 0.0005). Taking into account the findings of the present study, we suggested that the call was effective in women’s beach volleyball, while its effect in men’s game was unclear. Considering the quality of calls we indicate that there is a significant potential to increase the effectiveness of a call.

Consensus on the Need for a Hierarchical List of Patient-reported Pain Outcomes for Metaanalyses of Knee Osteoarthritis Trials: An OMERACT Objective.

OBJECTIVE Although protocol registration for systematic reviews is still not mandatory, reviewers should be strongly encouraged to register the protocol to identify the methodological approach, including all outcomes of interest. This will minimize the likelihood of biased decisions in reviews, such as selective outcome reporting. A group of international experts convened to address issues regarding the need to develop hierarchical lists of outcome measurement instruments for a particular outcome for metaanalyses. METHODS Multiple outcome measurement instruments exist to measure the same outcome. Metaanalysis of knee osteoarthritis (OA) trials, and the assessment of pain as an outcome, was used as an exemplar to assess how Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT), the Cochrane Collaboration, and other international initiatives might contribute in this area. The meeting began with formal presentations of background topics, empirical evidence from the literature, and a brief introduction to 2 existing hierarchical lists of pain outcome measurement instruments recommended for metaanalyses of knee OA trials. RESULTS After discussions, most participants agreed that there is a need to develop a methodology for generation of hierarchical lists of outcome measurement instruments to guide metaanalyses. Tools that could be used to steer development of such a prioritized list are the COSMIN checklist (Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement Instruments) and the OMERACT Filter 2.0. CONCLUSION We list meta-epidemiological research agenda items that address the frequency of reported outcomes in trials, as well as methodologies to assess the best measurement properties (i.e., truth, discrimination, and feasibility).

Sexuelle Belästigung am Telefon: Definition, Prävalenz, Formen und Verarbeitung

Sexuelle Belästigung am Telefon ist ein in der bisherigen sozialwissenschaftlichen Forschung vernachlässigtes Alltagsphänomen. Die vorliegende Studie zur Analyse dieses Phänomens wurde repräsentativ für Deutschland durchgeführt. In der ersten Phase der Studie wurde eine Ausgangsstich-probe von mehr als 3000 Personen mündlich mittels eines Fragebogens zu unerwünschten Ereignissen am Telefon im vorangegangenen Jahr befragt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, welche verschiedenen Formen von Belästigung in welchem Umfang vorkommen (Stöhnanrufe, sexuelle Beleidigungen etc.). Dabei wurden die Häufigkeit sowie das Ausmaß der durch die sexuelle Belästigung hervorgerufenen Belastung analysiert. In der zweiten Phase wurde den Personen, die im vorangegangenen Jahr oder jemals in ihrem Leben ein Ereignis am Telefon als sexuell belästigend erlebt hatten, ein ausführlicher Fragebogen zu der von ihnen erlebten Belästigung zur schriftlichen Beantwortung vorgegeben. Schwerpunkt war dabei die Analyse des Verarbeitungsprozesses. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, welches (verbreitete) unmittelbare emotionale und kognitive Reaktionen auf sexuelle Belästigung am Telefon sind (Angst, Ärger etc.) und welche Copingstrategien angewandt werden (Vermeidung, positive Selbstinstruktion, Informationssuche, Suche nach sozialer Unterstützung etc.). Dabei wurde untersucht, inwieweit attributions-, kontroll- und streßtheoretische Ansätze Vorhersagen für die Bewältigung dieser Erfahrung ermöglichen.