Virtual product placement as a new approach to measure effectiveness of placements

Product placement is a fast growing multi-billion dollar industry yet measures of its effectiveness, which influence the critical area of pricing, have been problematic. Past attempts to measure the effect of a placement, and therefore provide a basis for pricing of placements, have been confounded by the effect on consumers of multiple prior exposures of a brand name in all marketing communications. Virtual product placement offers certain advantages: as a tool to measure the effectiveness of product placements; assistance with the problem of lack of audience selectivity in traditional product placement; testing different audiences for brands and addressing a gap in the existing academic literature by focusing on the impact of product placement on recall and recognition of new brands.

Twelve-month effectiveness of a parent-led, family-focused weight-management program for prepubertal children : a randomized, controlled trial

BACKGROUND Parenting-skills training may be an effective age-appropriate child behavior-modification strategy to assist parents in addressing childhood overweight. OBJECTIVE Our goal was to evaluate the relative effectiveness of parenting-skills training as a key strategy for the treatment of overweight children. DESIGN The design consisted of an assessor-blinded, randomized, controlled trial involving 111 (64% female) overweight, prepubertal children 6 to 9 years of age randomly assigned to parenting-skills training plus intensive lifestyle education, parenting-skills training alone, or a 12-month wait-listed control. Height, BMI, and waist-circumference z score and metabolic profile were assessed at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months (intention to treat). RESULTS After 12 months, the BMI z score was reduced by ∼10% with parenting-skills training plus intensive lifestyle education versus ∼5% with parenting-skills training alone or wait-listing for intervention. Waist-circumference z score fell over 12 months in both intervention groups but not in the control group. There was a significant gender effect, with greater reduction in BMI and waist-circumference z scores in boys compared with girls. CONCLUSION Parenting-skills training combined with promoting a healthy family lifestyle may be an effective approach to weight management in prepubertal children, particularly boys. Future studies should be powered to allow gender subanalysis.

Initial psychometric evaluation of the Wayfinding Effectiveness Scale

This study evaluates three versions of the Wayfinding Effectiveness Scale (WES), developed to differentiate problems of wayfinding and wandering behavior of community-residing elders with dementia (EWD), in 266 dyads (EWD and caregiver) recruited from Alzheimer's Association chapters. Factor analyses yield a five-factor solution (explained variance = 62.6%): complex wayfinding goals, analytic strategies, global strategies, simple wayfinding goals, and being stimulus bound. Overall, internal consistencies are high: WES (.94-.95), and subscales are stable across all versions. Testretest reliability is acceptable for the overall WES and two subscales (complex and simple wayfinding goals) for the care recipient current behavior version. Construct validity is supported by the pattern of correlations among subscales and analyses of variance (ANOVAs) showing significant differences among the care recipient (current vs. prior behavior) and caregiver versions overall and for all subscales. Results support the WES as a valid and reliable measure of wayfinding effectiveness in persons with dementia.