A mixed methods evaluation of televised health promotion advertisements targeted at older adults

The purpose of this research was to evaluate television advertisements targeted at 55–70-year olds that promoted physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption. Awareness of the campaign, perceived credibility of the source, intentions to visit a promoted website, and intentions to perform the healthy behaviors were evaluated using mixed methods research. Results from a population level survey (n = 1600) showed low unprompted and prompted awareness of the campaign and no differences in intentions or behaviors among those who were aware of the campaign. Unprompted recall resulted in a very wide range of responses including the citation of many commercial advertisers. Qualitative themes that emerged from the focus groups included neutral, positive, and negative comments about the advertisements, source credibility, website considerations specific to seniors, and suggestions about appropriate advertising for older adults. This research showed that the increased attention paid to the advertisements was due in a large part to negative reactions to the character used in the advertisements. Another important finding was the government was not considered to be a credible source of health information. Finally, health promoters should be cautious about websites as the primary source of information, particularly for older adults.     

Disability: A Rose by Any Other Name?“People‐First” Language in Canadian Society*

Dans cet article, nous examinons la notion d'incapacité telle qu'elle est créée et véhiculée par le langage qui privilégie la « personne avant tout » Nous nous penchons en premier lieu sur la formulation très répandue, qui consiste à désigner les personnes handicapées comme des « personnes comme les autres ». En second lieu, nous étudions l'idéolo‐gie actuelle, qui met l'accent sur le fait que les personnes handicapées sont simplement des « personnes avec des handicaps », dans l'une de ses manifestations les plus concrètes, c'est‐à‐dire un document récent du gouvernement intituléÀl'unisson: Une approche canadienne con‐cernant les personnes handicapées. En partant du concept de Dorothy Smith, selon lequel le langage constitue l'organisation sociale, nous démontrons la façon dont l'incapacité est médicalisée et individualisée dans ce document, et, par là, la manière dont l'incapacité prend la forme d'une limitation anormale et d'une insuffisance fonctionnelle que certaines personnes, quatre millions de Canadiens en l'occurrence, «éprouveraient ». Enfin, nous concluons que le langage qui privilégie la personne avant tout se comprend dans le cadre d'un processus continu où l'incapacité n'est plus perçue comme un phénomène social et, par conséquent, complexe sur le plan politique. This paper examines the representation of disability that is generated by, and supports, “people‐first language.” The paper first describes the ubiquitous formulation of disabled people as “just people.” Second, the current ideology that stresses that disabled people are simply “people with disabilities” is examined in one of its concrete manifestations: a recent government document entitled In Unison: A Canadian Approach to Disability Issues. By making use of Dorothy Smith's concept that language is social organization, the author shows how disability is organized in this document as a medicalized and individual matter and, as such, takes shape as abnormal limitation and lack of function that some people‐four million Canadians‐“just happen to have.” Finally, the paper concludes that people‐first language is best understood as part of an ongoing process that removes the possibility of understanding disability as a social, and thereby complex, political phenomenon. How we are seen determines in part how we are treated; how we treat others is based on how we see them; such seeing comes from representation — Dyer, 1993: 1     

College women's perceived risk to experience sexual victimization: a prospective analysis

This study implemented a prospective design to explore college women's perceived risk to experience sexual victimization over a 2-month interim (N = 143). Compared to women without such histories, women with a history of unwanted sexual contact via arguments/ pressure, or a history of unwanted sexual intercourse via administration of alcohol/drugs reported higher perceived risk to subsequently experience these forms of victimization. Compared to women who were not victimized, women who subsequently experienced unwanted sexual intercourse via administration of alcohol/drugs or arguments/pressure reported higher levels of risk to experience these forms of victimization. Controlling for victimization history, higher levels of risk to experience sexual intercourse over the interim via arguments predicted this form of victimization over the follow-up. Implications are discussed.     

Not lazy,not faking: teaching and learning experiences of university students with disabilities

This study explores the learning and teaching experiences of 105 disabled students mostly based in England, but with international voices. Students with disabilities are under-represented in universities and tend to have worse post-degree outcomes despite similar attainment rates to their peers. This presents a social justice issue. This article focuses on classroom experiences of these students. Using a survey with qualitative and quantitative elements, students were asked to give details about their experiences in taught settings, about their relationships with academic staff, and about their aspirations. Their responses have been analysed thematically and have been discussed in the context of the discourse around epistemic ignorance and social justice. The study finds that students may feel concerned about anonymity in disclosing disabilities and may be concerned about the way that others perceive them. The study finds that students perceive academic staff as often improperly trained for inclusive teaching.     

An age‐structured model of population dynamics with dominant ages,delayed behavior,and oscillations

An age‐structured model of population dynamics with age‐dominance is proposed and analyzed. Existence and uniqueness of solutions are established as well as the uniqueness and local asymptotic stability of steady‐states. Conditions for convergence to or oscillation about the steady‐state are specified in some cases.     

Anticipated and experienced changes in activities after husbands retire

As an element of anticipatory socialization, ability to predict future roles accurately may impact subsequent adaptation. Part of a larger study of retirement and marital quality, this longitudinal research examined husbands' and wives' (n = 61 couples) anticipations of change (more/less/same) in six individual and joint activities following husbands' retirement, and compared them with couples' reported experiences a year after husbands had retired. With the exception of household tasks, continuity in levels of activity from pre-to post-retirement was greater than couples had anticipated. Cross-classification of responses at baseline and Time 2 indicated only modest congruence between anticipated and experienced change in activities. Accuracy of anticipation was not related significantly to retirement satisfaction as hypothesized, but direction of retirement-satisfaction mean scores, especially among wives, suggest that future testing would be warranted.     

Assessing the Advantages of Bilingualism for the Children of Immigrants1

This article responds to the current academic debate on the advantages of bilingualism to the children of immigrants in the United States. The author utilizes data from the 1992–1993 and 1995–1996 Children of Immi rants Longitudinal Study to estimate the effects of bilingualism on efucational outcomes. In contrast to a recent study, the author rovides conclusive evidence that there are advantages to bilingualism beyond the functional ability to communicate with one's parents. The author also provides evidence that demonstrates that bilingualism is only advantageous in those communities with low levels of English proficiency and high levels of resources and networks.     

More than Visiting Hours: Maintaining Ties Between Incarcerated Mothers and Their Children

The majority of people in America’s prisons are the parents of minor children. Incarcerated mothers, in particular, were likely to have been a part of their children’s lives before their imprisonment, and most will soon be returning to the community and to their children. Research has shown that it is in the best interests of the mothers and the children to maintain a relationship across the prison bars. In this article, we use the example of New York State to show how institutional policies and structures can impede or encourage efforts to maintain ties between women and their children and why demonstrating support for family ties must extend well beyond having visiting hours.