The Maine Savvy Caregiver Project: Translating an Evidence-Based Dementia Family Caregiver Program Within the RE-AIM Framework

This article presents findings of a 3-year Savvy Caregiver Program translational study designed with the RE-AIM framework to create a statewide sustainable infrastructure and improve dementia family caregiver outcomes in one rural state. The RE-AIM dimensions—reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation and maintenance—were evaluated using mixed methods. The program reached 770 caregivers and 87.7% (n = 676) participated in the study with 60.5% (n = 409) residing in rural locations. Participants demonstrated improved confidence, fewer depressive symptoms, and better managed their situation. Trainer resources, partnerships, and adequate planning were essential for program adoption and sustainability. Implications for replication are discussed.     

Physical activity and fitness among midlife and older rural women

This study investigated physical activity and fitness of midlife and older rural women. Random-digit dialing was used to recruit 225 women (57.9 +/- 5.6 years old). Self-reported activity (moderate activity, flexibility, and strength) and fitness (body composition, flexibility, strength, and estimated VO(2max)) were assessed. The women demonstrated low daily energy expenditure (30.74 +/- 10.63 kcal x kg(-1) x day(-1)) and estimated VO(2max) (20.12 +/- 7.81 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1)), with 51.5% reporting fair or poor health. Few women reported meeting Healthy People 2010 targets for moderate activity (43.1%), flexibility (28.9%), or strength )14.2%). When classified by estimated VO(2max) into three categories, differences were observed for body-mass index, percent body fat, sit and reach, and timed chair stands, with the poorest performance by those with low cardiorespiratory fitness. Adherence to Healthy People 2010 targets for moderate activity and strengthening was associated with higher cardiorespiratory fitness. These rural women are targets for physical activity interventions because of their sedentary behaviors and low cardiorespiratory fitness.     

From bedside to bench: research agenda for frailty

The American Geriatrics Society sponsored a working conference in January 2004, funded by the National Institute on Aging, to establish the state of the art in frailty research and to set a research agenda for the future. The invited participants included senior basic biologists, epidemiologists, geneticists, and clinical investigators who study aging-related issues. This article summarizes the central theoretical observations on frailty and research needs and opportunities presented and discussed at this conference, and lays out an agenda for future research on frailty.     

Initial findings from Parent Party Patrol: an intervention to reduce adolescent substance use through reduced involvement in unchaperoned parties

This article presents preliminary evaluation findings from Parent Party Patrol (PPP). PPP is a two-hour single-session intervention that provides information to parents about ways to increase monitoring and improve communication and family guidelines regarding substance use, with the goal of reducing adolescent involvement in unsupervised activities and associated substance use. Seventy-three attendees from 15 PPP sessions completed baseline and three- to six-month follow-up information. At follow-up, participants showed significantly increased awareness of adolescent substance use and unchaperoned activities, improved communication and use of family guidelines regarding substance use, and increased monitoring of their children's activities. A significant reduction in adolescent attendance at unchaperoned parties was also reported. Replication of the study with a larger, more representative sample and controlled design is suggested. As adolescent substance use is a multidetermined problem, PPP may be best viewed as one part of a broader comprehensive substance abuse prevention program.     

Youth conferences as a context for engagement

Youth conferences can be effective means for engaging youth in the life of their schools, communities, and nation, bringing benefits not only to youth themselves but also to the community, which gains through the energy, ideas, and values that youth contribute.     

Statistical Inference for Transformation Inhomogeneous Point Processes

Abstract.  Statistical inference for exponential inhomogeneous Markov point processes by transformation is discussed. It is argued that the inhomogeneity parameter can be estimated, using a partial likelihood based on an inhomogeneous Poisson point process. The inhomogeneity parameter can thereby be estimated without taking the interaction into account, which simplifies the statistical analysis considerably. Data analysis and simulation experiments support the results.     

Ethical leadership: A review and future directions

Our literature review focuses on the emerging construct of ethical leadership and compares this construct with related concepts that share a common concern for a moral dimension of leadership (e.g., spiritual, authentic, and transformational leadership). Drawing broadly from the intersection of the ethics and leadership literatures, we offer propositions about the antecedents and outcomes of ethical leadership. We also identify issues and questions to be addressed in the future and discuss their implications for research and practice. Our review indicates that ethical leadership remains largely unexplored, offering researchers opportunities for new discoveries and leaders opportunities to improve their effectiveness.     

The Role of Assertiveness and Decision Making in Early Adolescent Substance Initiation: Mediating Processes

This study examined the mediating processes linking assertiveness and decision making to early adolescent substance initiation, along with the moderating effect of gender on those processes. Models specifying negative expectancies and refusal intentions as mediators of individual rights assertiveness and decision‐making effects on substance initiation were evaluated across 18 months on a nontreatment cohort of young adolescents participating in a prevention trial (average age 12.3 years at baseline; N=357). Results indicated that individual rights assertiveness and decision making had indirect effects on substance initiation through effects on negative outcome expectancies and refusal intentions. Gender differences were found in both the average level and the pattern of relationships among the variables. For girls, refusal intentions were negatively associated with later substance initiation. For boys, early levels of substance initiation were negatively associated with later levels of negative expectancies and refusal intentions. Implications for prevention programming are discussed.     

Authorizing processes changing team autonomy during new product development

One basic feature of recent collaborative team arrangements for organizing new product development is a high degree of autonomy for cross-functional teams. The literature, however, has not provided a very precise analysis of team autonomy in the context of new product development. The theoretical framework advanced here, based on the literature and the authors' case studies, assumes that developing a large and technologically sophisticated new product requires a hierarchy of collaborating teams. In this complex organizational context, managers do not completely predetermine any one team's autonomy. During the course of a new product development program, certain authorizing (deauthorizing) processes produce ad hoc changes in autonomy. This paper identifies specific authorizing processes and hypothesizes about variables that should affect them. The propositions also lead to some managerial implications for preserving team autonomy.