An evaluation of depression, self-efficacy, satisfaction with life and perceived access to medical care across stages of HIV infection

This survey was designed to identify the incidence and scope of depression, satisfaction with life, self-efficacy and perceived access to medical care for those who are infected with the HIV virus. It also determined whether or not factors such as sexual orientation, ethnicity and socioeconomic status are intervening variables with respect to mental health issues. Subjects were recruited through a purposive sample from South Florida. A total of 871 surveys were used in the analysis. The overall response rate was nearly 90%. The incidence of depression was found to be higher than 75% across all stages of HIV infection. Furthermore, the incidence of depression increased as HIV disease progressed. Satisfaction with life and for the most part, self efficacy were found to decrease slightly as HIV disease progressed. Significant variance in depression, life satisfaction and self efficacy were found across stages of HIV infection. No significant differences between groups that were HIV infected were found for depression, life satisfaction and self efficacy. The severity of depression was found to vary significantly with self efficacy, life satisfaction and access to medical care but not with socioeconomic status. Life satisfaction was found to vary significantly with socioeconomic status, depression and self efficacy but not with access to medical care. Self-efficacy was found to vary significantly with socioeconomic status, depression and life satisfaction but not with access to medical care. Gender and ethnicity were not found to be significant precedent variables in depression for HIV infected individuals. Sexual orientation was found to be a significant precedent variable for depression, life satisfaction and self efficacy.

The effects on students' self-efficacy beliefs regarding their comprehension of American literature when aesthetic reading and reader response strategy are implemented

High-stakes testing and accountability have infiltrated the education system in the United States; the top priority for all teachers must be student progress on standardized tests. This has resulted in the predominance of reading for test-taking, (efferent reading), in the English, language arts, and reading classrooms. Authentic uses of print activities, like aesthetic reading, that encourage students to engage individually with a text, have been pushed aside. ^ During a 3-week time period, regular level, English 3/American literature students in a Title I magnet high school, participated in this quasi-experimental study (N = 62). It measured the effects of an intervention of reading American literature texts aesthetically and writing aesthetically-evoked reader responses on students' self-efficacy beliefs regarding their comprehension of American literature. One trained teacher and the researcher participated in the study: student participants were pre- and post- tested using the Confidence in Reading American Literature Survey which examined their self-efficacy beliefs regarding their comprehension of American literature. Several statistical analyses were performed. The results of the linear regression analyses partially supported a positive relationship between aesthetically-evoked reader responses and students' self-efficacy beliefs regarding their comprehension of American literature. Additionally, the results of the 2 (sex) x 2 (treatment) ANCOVAs conducted to test group differences in self-efficacy beliefs regarding the comprehension of American literature between treatment and control groups indicated a main effect for treatment (but not sex; nor was there a significant sex x treatment interaction), suggesting the treatment was partially effective in increasing students' self-efficacy beliefs. Seven of the twelve ANCOVAs indicated a statistically significant increase in the treatment group's adjusted group mean self-efficacy belief scores as a result of being exposed to the intervention. In six of these seven analyses, increases in self-efficacy beliefs occurred in tasks that required three or more higher-order levels of thinking/learning. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical, empirical and practical significance. Future research is recommended to extend the intervention beyond the narrow confines of a Title I magnet school to settings where the intervention could be tested longitudinally, e. g., honors and gifted students, elementary and middle schools.^

Effect of Medical Advice for Diet on Diabetes Self-Management and Glycemic Control for Haitian and African Americans with Type 2 Diabetes

Adequate care of type 2 diabetes is reflected by the individual’s adherence to dietary guidance; yet, few patients are engaged in diabetes self-care at the recommended level, regardless of race/ethnicity. Few studies on the effect of dietary medical advice on diabetes self-management (DSM) and glycemic control have been conducted on Haitian and African American adults with type 2 diabetes. These relationships were assessed in total of 254 Blacks with type 2 diabetes (Haitian Americans = 129; African Americans = 125) recruited from Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, Florida by community outreach methods. Although dietary advice received was not significantly different between the two Black ethnicities, given advice “to follow a diet” as a predictor of “using food groups” was significant for Haitian Americans, but not for African Americans. Haitian Americans who were advised to follow a diet were approximately 3 times more likely to sometimes or often use food groups (or exchange lists) in planning meals. Less than optimal glycemic control (A1C > 7.2) was inversely related to DSM for African Americans; but the relationship was not significant for Haitian Americans. A one unit increase in DSM score decreased the odds ratio point estimate of having less than optimal glycemic control (A1C > 7.2%) by a factor of 0.94 in African Americans. These results suggest that medical advice for diet plans may not be communicated effectively for DSM for some races/ethnicities. Research aimed at uncovering the enablers and barriers of diet management specific to Black ethnicities with type 2 diabetes is recommended.

Diabetes Self-management Behaviors, Medical Care, Glycemic Control, and Self-rated Health in US Men by Race/Ethnicity

Men, particularly minorities, have higher rates of diabetes as compared with their counterparts. Ongoing diabetes self-management education and support by specialists are essential components to prevent the risk of complications such as kidney disease, cardiovascular diseases, and neurological impairments. Diabetes self-management behaviors, in particular, as diet and physical activity, have been associated with glycemic control in the literature. Recommended medical care for diabetes may differ by race/ethnicity. This study examined data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 2007 to 2010 for men with diabetes (N = 646) from four racial/ethnic groups: Mexican Americans, other Hispanics, non-Hispanic Blacks, and non-Hispanic Whites. Men with adequate dietary fiber intake had higher odds of glycemic control (odds ratio = 4.31, confidence interval [1.82, 10.20]), independent of race/ethnicity. There were racial/ethnic differences in reporting seeing a diabetes specialist. Non-Hispanic Blacks had the highest odds of reporting ever seeing a diabetes specialist (84.9%) followed by White non-Hispanics (74.7%), whereas Hispanics reported the lowest proportions (55.2% Mexican Americans and 62.1% other Hispanics). Men seeing a diabetes specialist had the lowest odds of glycemic control (odds ratio = 0.54, confidence interval [0.30, 0.96]). The results of this study suggest that diabetes education counseling may be selectively given to patients who are not in glycemic control. These findings indicate the need for examining referral systems and quality of diabetes care. Future studies should assess the effectiveness of patient-centered medical care provided by a diabetes specialist with consideration of sociodemographics, in particular, race/ethnicity and gender.

The Effects of Peer Teaching of Infant Massage on General Self-Efficacy and Mother Infant Attachment Among Mothers in a Residential Rehabilitation Facility for Drug Addiction and Substance Abuse

Approximately 200 million people, 5% aged 15-64 worldwide are illicit drug or substance abusers (World Drug Report, 2006). Between 2002 and 2005, an average of 8.2% of 12 year olds and older in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale metropolitan areas used illicit drugs (SAMHSA, 2007). Eight percent of pregnant women, aged 15 to 25, were more likely to have used illicit drugs during pregnancy than pregnant women aged 26 to 44. Alcohol use was 9.8% and cigarette use was 18% for pregnant women aged 15 to 44 (SAMHSA, 2005). Approximately a quarter of annual birth defects are attributed to the exposure of drugs or substance abuse in utero (General Accounting Office, 1991). Physical, psychological and emotional challenges may be present for the illicit drug/substance abuse (ID/SA) mother and infant placing them at a disadvantage early in their relationship (Shonkoff & Marshall, 1990). Mothers with low self efficacy have insecurely attached infants (Donovan, Leavitt, & Walsh, 1987). As the ID/SA mother struggles with wanting to be a good parent, education is needed to help her care for her infant. In this experimental study residential rehabilitating ID/SA mothers peer taught infant massage. Massage builds bonding/attachment between mother and infant (Reese & Storm, 2008) and peer teaching is effective because participants have faced similar challenges and speak the same language (Boud, Cohen, & Sampson 2001). Quantitative data were collected using the General Self-Efficacy and Maternal Attachment Inventory-Revised Scale before and after the 4-week intervention program. A reported result of this study was that empowering ID/SA mothers increased their self-efficacy, which in turn allowed the mothers to tackle challenges encountered and created feelings of being a fit mother to their infants. This research contributes to the existing database promoting evidence-based practice in drug rehabilitation centers. Healthcare personnel, such as nurse educators and maternal-child health practitioners, can develop programs in drug rehabilitation centers that cultivate an environment where the ID/SA rehabilitating mothers can peer teach each other, while creating a support system. Using infant massage as a therapeutic tool can develop a healthy infant and nurture a more positive relationship between mother and infant.

Identity Change Impacts Autobiographical Reconstruction of Identity-Relevant Events: Influences of the Self-System on Remembering

The focus on how one is behaving, feeling, and thinking, provides a powerful source of self-knowledge. How is this self-knowledge utilized in the dynamic reconstruction of autobiographical memories? How, in turn, might autobiographical memories support identity and the self-system? I address these questions through a critical review of the literature on autobiographical memory and the self-system, with a special focus on the self-concept, self-knowledge, and identity. I then outline the methods and results of a prospective longitudinal study examining the effects of an identity change on memory for events related to that identity. Participant-rated memory characteristics, computer-generated ratings of narrative content and structure, and neutral-observer ratings of coherence were examined for changes over time related to an identity-change, as well as for their ability to predict an identity-change. The conclusions from this study are threefold: (1) when the rated centrality of an event decreases, the reported instances of retrieval, as well as the phenomenology associated with retrieval and the number of words used to describe the memory, also decrease; (2) memory accuracy (here, estimating past behaviors) was not influenced by an identity change; and (3) remembering is not unidirectional – characteristics of identity-relevant memories and the life story predict and may help support persistence with an identity (here, an academic trajectory).

The Effects on Students' Self-Efficacy Beliefs Regarding Their Comprehension of American Literature When Aesthetic Reading and Reader Response Strategy are Implemented

High-stakes testing and accountability have infiltrated the education system in the United States; the top priority for all teachers must be student progress on standardized tests. This has resulted in the predominance of reading for test-taking, (efferent reading), in the English, language arts, and reading classrooms. Authentic uses of print activities, like aesthetic reading, that encourage students to engage individually with a text, have been pushed aside. During a 3-week time period, regular level, English 3/American literature students in a Title I magnet high school, participated in this quasi-experimental study (N = 62). It measured the effects of an intervention of reading American literature texts aesthetically and writing aesthetically-evoked reader responses on students’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding their comprehension of American literature. One trained teacher and the researcher participated in the study: student participants were pre- and post- tested using the Confidence in Reading American Literature Survey which examined their self-efficacy beliefs regarding their comprehension of American literature. Several statistical analyses were performed. The results of the linear regression analyses partially supported a positive relationship between aesthetically-evoked reader responses and students’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding their comprehension of American literature. Additionally, the results of the 2 (sex) x 2 (treatment) ANCOVAs conducted to test group differences in self-efficacy beliefs regarding the comprehension of American literature between treatment and control groups indicated a main effect for treatment (but not sex; nor was there a significant sex x treatment interaction), suggesting the treatment was partially effective in increasing students’ self-efficacy beliefs. Seven of the twelve ANCOVAs indicated a statistically significant increase in the treatment group’s adjusted group mean self-efficacy belief scores as a result of being exposed to the intervention. In six of these seven analyses, increases in self-efficacy beliefs occurred in tasks that required three or more higher-order levels of thinking/learning. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical, empirical and practical significance. Future research is recommended to extend the intervention beyond the narrow confines of a Title I magnet school to settings where the intervention could be tested longitudinally, e. g., honors and gifted students, elementary and middle schools.

Examination of body image among Canadian adolescents: Relations with physical activity and screen time

Background: Adolescence is a period of life associated with self-perceptions of negative body image. Physical activity levels are low and screen time levels are also high during this stage. These perceptions and behaviours are associated with poor health outcomes, making research on their determinants important. With adolescent populations, certain groups may be at higher risk of body dissatisfaction than others, and body dissatisfaction may influence individual physical activity and screen time levels. Objectives: The objectives of this thesis were to: 1) describe body image among young Canadians, examining possible health inequalities 2) estimate the strength and significance of associations between body satisfaction, physical activity and screen time, and 3) examine the potential etiological role of biological sex. Methods: Objective 1: The 2013/2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study was employed. Sex-stratified Rao-Scott chi-square analyses were conducted to examine associations between socio-demographic factors and body satisfaction. Objective 2: The 2005/2006 and 2013/2014 cross-sectional and 2006 longitudinal HBSC data sets were used. Sex-stratified modified Poisson regressions were conducted and risk estimates and associated confidence intervals obtained. Results: Objective 1: Among males, being older, of East and Southeast Asian ethnicity, and reporting low SES all were associated with body dissatisfaction. Among females, being older, of Arab and West Asian or African ethnicity, being born in Canada, and reporting low SES were all associated with being body dissatisfied. Objective 2: Cross-sectionally, males who reported ‘too fat’ body dissatisfaction were more likely to be physically inactive. Adolescents of both sexes who reported ‘too fat’ body dissatisfaction were more likely to engage in high levels of screen time. Data from the longitudinal component supported the idea that male ‘too fat’ body dissatisfaction temporally leads to physical inactivity, but showed an inverse relationship between body dissatisfaction and screen time. Conclusions: Objective 1: Future prevention efforts in Canada should target subgroups to effectively help those at greatest risk of body dissatisfaction, and ameliorate potential inequalities at the population level. Objective 2: The presence of these relationships may inform future interventions as part of a multi-factorial etiology, in order to increase physical activity and decrease screen time among youth.

Age and Life Course Location as Interpretive Resources for Decisions Regarding Disclosure of HIV to Parents and Children: Findings from the HIV and Later Life Study

Studies of disclosure among older people living with HIV (PLWH) are uninformed by critical social-gerontological approaches that can help us to appreciate how older PLWH see and treat age as relevant to disclosure of their HIV status. These approaches include an ethnomethodologically-informed social constructionism that explores how ‘the’ life course (a cultural framework depicting individuals’ movement through predictable developmental stages from birth to death) is used as an interpretive resource for determining self and others’ characteristics, capacities, and social circumstances: a process Rosenfeld and Gallagher (2002) termed ‘lifecoursing’. Applying this approach to our analysis of 74 life-history interviews and three focus groups with older (aged 50+) people living with HIV in the United Kingdom, we uncover the central role that lifecoursing plays in participants’ decision-making surrounding disclosure of their HIV to their children and/or older parents. Analysis of participants’ accounts uncovered four criteria for disclosure: the relevance of their HIV to the other, the other’s knowledge about HIV, the likelihood of the disclosure causing the other emotional distress, and the other’s ability to keep the disclosed confidential. To determine if these criteria were met in relation to specific children and/or elders, participants engaged in lifecoursing, evaluating the other’s knowledge of HIV, and capacity to appropriately manage the disclosure, by reference to their age. The use of assumptions about age and life-course location in decision-making regarding disclosure of HIV reflects a more nuanced engagement with age in the disclosure decision-making process than has been captured by previous research into HIV disclosure, including on the part of people aging with HIV.

Self-organization and social science

Abstract Complexity science and its methodological applications have increased in popularity in social science during the last two decades. One key concept within complexity science is that of self-organization. Self-organization is used to refer to the emergence of stable patterns through autonomous and self-reinforcing dynamics at the micro-level. In spite of its potential relevance for the study of social dynamics, the articulation and use of the concept of self-organization has been kept within the boundaries of complexity science and links to and from mainstream social science are scarce. These links can be difficult to establish, even for researchers working in social complexity with a background in social science, because of the theoretical and conceptual diversity and fragmentation in traditional social science. This article is meant to serve as a first step in the process of overcoming this lack of cross-fertilization between complexity and mainstream social science. A systematic review of the concept of self-organization and a critical discussion of similar notions in mainstream social science is presented, in an effort to help practitioners within subareas of complexity science to identify literature from traditional social science that could potentially inform their research.

Not Belonging to one’s Self: Affect on Facebook’s Site Governance page

This article makes a contribution to a growing number of works that discuss affect and social media. I use Freudian affect theory to analyse user posts on the public Site Governance Facebook page. Freud’s work may help us to explore the affectivity within the user narratives and I suggest that they are expressions of alienation, dispossession and powerlessness that relate to the users’ relations with Facebook as well as to their internal and wider social relations. The article thus introduces a new angle on studies of negative user experiences that draws on psychoanalysis and critical theory.

The Worsening of the employment and work conditions and its relationship to the self-perceived health in European working population. Relevance and effects of the latest socioeconomic crisis

The recent crisis of the capitalistic economic system has altered the working conditions and occupations in the European Union. The recession situation has accelerated trends and has brought transformations that have been observed before. Changes have not looked the same way in all the countries of the Union. The social occupation norms, labour relations models and the type of global welfare provision can help underline some of these inequalities. Poor working conditions can expose workers to situations of great risk. This is one of the basic assumptions of the theoretical models and analytical studies of the approach to the psychosocial work environment. Changes in working conditions of the population seems to be important to explain in the worst health states. To observe these features in the current period of economic recession it has made a comparative study of trend through the possibilities of the European Working Conditions Survey in the 2005 and 2010 editions. It has also set different multivariate logistic regression models to explore potential partnerships with the worst conditions of employment and work. It seems that the economic crisis has intensified changes in working conditions and highlighted the effects of those conditions on the poor health of the working population. This conclusion can’t be extended for all EU countries; some differences were observed in terms of global welfare models.

“Esto es lo que me gusta y lo que voy a estudiar”: Un estudio cualitativo sobre la toma de decisiones académicas en bachillerato

Durante la educación secundaria los estudiantes comienzan a explorar las ocupaciones y expectativas profesionales, forman sus creencias de autoeficacia y consolidan sus intereses académicos. En este contexto, el artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación realizada en el Principado de Asturias para conocer las percepciones y opiniones que tienen los estudiantes de bachillerato y sus progenitores sobre las elecciones académicas realizadas en la educación secundaria, haciendo especial hincapié en los factores contextuales que pueden ayudar u obstaculizar el desarrollo de la carrera. Se ha usado una metodología cualitativa fundamentada en el uso de la técnica del grupo de discusión. Se han organizado cinco grupos de discusión con estudiantes y dos grupos con progenitores. El total de personas que participó en las entrevistas focales fue de 51 estudiantes y de 14 padres/madres. Los resultados obtenidos nos permiten concluir que el bachillerato sigue siendo considerado la puerta de acceso a la universidad y no a la formación profesional de grado superior. También se concluye que los estudiantes fundamentan sus decisiones académicas sobre la base de la preferencia y gusto personal por determinada opciones y esta razón prevalece sobre otras como las salidas profesionales o el rendimiento académico previo. Respecto a la influencia de distintos agentes sociales en el proceso de decisión académica, los resultados son concluyentes al afirmar que el principal apoyo de los estudiantes son sus progenitores, por encima del que perciben encontrar de docentes y grupo de iguales. El artículo finaliza con algunas sugerencias para mejorar la práctica de la orientación educativa en las instituciones de educación secundaria.

Education and self-regulation of learning for gifted pupils: Systemic design and development.

Gifted pupils differ from their age-mates with respect to development potential, actual competencies, self-regulatory capabilities, and learning styles in one or more domains of competence. The question is how to design and develop education that fits and further supports such characteristics and competencies of gifted pupils. Analysis of various types of educational interventions for gifted pupils reflects positive cognitive or intellectual effects and differentiated social comparison or group-related effects on these pupils. Systemic preventive combination of such interventions could make these more effective and sustainable. The systemic design is characterised by three conditional dimensions: differentiation of learning materials and procedures, integration by and use of ICT support, and strategies to improve development and learning. The relationships to diagnostic, instructional, managerial, and systemic learning aspects are expressed in guidelines to develop or transform education. The guidelines imply the facilitation of learning arrangements that provide flexible self-regulation for gifted pupils. A three-year pilot in Dutch nursery and primary school is conducted to develop and implement the design in collaboration with teachers. The results constitute prototypes of structured competence domains and supportive software. These support the screening of entry characteristics of all four-year old pupils and assignment of adequate play and learning processes and activities throughout the school career. Gifted and other pupils are supported to work at their actual achievement or competency levels since their start in nursery school, in self-regulated learning arrangements either in or out of class. Each pupil can choose other pupils to collaborate with in small groups, at self-chosen tasks or activities, while being coached by the teacher. Formative evaluation of the school development process shows that the systemic prevention guidelines seem to improve learning and social progress of gifted pupils, including their self-regulation. Further development and implementation steps are discussed.

Control over the Self-Assembly Modes of PtII Complexes by Alkyl Chain Variation: From Slipped to Parallel π-Stacks

We report the self-assembly of a new family of hydrophobic,bis(pyridyl) PtII complexes featuring an extendedoligophenyleneethynylene-derived π-surface appended withsix long (dodecyloxy (2)) or short (methoxy (3)) side groups.Complex 2, containing dodecyloxy chains, forms fibrous assemblies with a slipped arrangement of the monomer units (dPt···Pt… =14 Å) in both nonpolar solvents and the solid state.Dispersion-corrected PM6 calculations suggest that this organizationis driven by cooperative π–π, C-H···Cl and π–Pt interactions, which is supported by EXAFS and 2D NMR spectroscopic analysis. In contrast, nearly parallel π-stacks (dPt···Pt… = 4.4 Å) stabilized by multiple π–π and C-H···Cl contact sare obtained in the crystalline state for 3 lacking longside chains, as shown by X-ray analysis and PM6 calculations.Our results reveal not only the key role of alkyl chain lengthin controlling self-assembly modes but also show the relevanceof Pt-bound chlorine ligands as new supramolecular synthons.