Disseminating research results to kids: practical tips from the Neighbourhoods for Active Kids study

ABSTRACT

Appropriately disseminating results to children are important because it respects the role they played in the research process. Clearly conveying complex messages to children, however, can be challenging and take a substantial amount of time for researchers. This paper reports on the results dissemination processes and accompanying critical reflection, that occurred during Neighbourhoods for Active Kids study – a community-based health research project with 1102 children aged 8–13 years residing in Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand. The results dissemination items included: an individual physical activity and food-purchasing behaviour summary, school physical activity and food-purchasing behaviour summary, colouring-in poster, a video, comic, results booklet, school summary report and school data. The results from critical reflection have been developed into five tips for disseminating results to children. The tips are: consult with children and incorporate their feedback throughout; allow space for change and adaptation; meet children where they are at in the digital world and in the physical world; it’s OK to ask for help; and be careful of the words you use. Findings can be used to inform results dissemination activities across a range of social science disciplines.     

Social and Health Factors Affecting Community Service Use by Vulnerable Older People

Abstract

This article reports on Outcomes for older people with complex or chronic care needs, a study undertaken by the Brotherhood of St Laurence and La Trobe University, examining older Victorians’ use of community services following Aged Care Assessment Service (ACAS) recommendations that they remain living at home. The paper reports on interviews with older people and carers undertaken at three-monthly intervals, over 12 months. This paper contributes to understanding the factors that impede or facilitate uptake of community aged care services that are critical to meeting the needs of older people and their carers. The study found that among other factors social isolation, high carer burden, and the older person reporting low mood were important barriers to service uptake. Cost, waiting lists, and service satisfaction were also identified in qualitative data as influencing factors. The study concludes there is a need for better means of identifying and supporting older people and carers at risk to improve community service uptake.     

The language of money

ABSTRACT

This article examines the relationship of personal finance in a narrative-based treatment strategy as applied to couples. It builds on behavioral economics as the undergirding of an approach to financial literacy. By matching the treatment strategy with the stages of readiness for change, couples are able to gradually adopt a financially prudent lifestyle. The authors argue that the couples’ conflicts about personal financial behaviors are a proxy of underlying problems in intimacy. The use of a narrative-based theory addresses how personal finances are used to control relationships.     

Mandalas as a visual research method for understanding primary care for depression

Depression is a complex problem, commonly but not always successfully managed in primary care. We know relatively little about the system of primary care for depression particularly at the level of organisations. In this paper, we describe the use of mandalas as a visual data collection method within an in-depth programme of participatory action research undertaken in six primary care organisations in Victoria, Australia. We draw on mandala images, selected and discussed by 49 multidisciplinary primary health care professionals and demonstrate how they can be employed as an effective graphic elicitation method. We conclude that mandalas offer an innovative approach for qualitative data collection for two reasons. First, they can engage busy research participants in a reflective space. Second, using the mandalas as an elicitation method generates meaningful data: it provides new insights, reveals unrecognised aspects of practice, generates new learning, gives physical form to tacit processes and enables complex information to become accessible; all within short timeframes.     

‘Thinking Too Much’: Tracing Local Patterns of Emotional Distress After Mass Violence in Timor-Leste

This paper discusses enduring implications of social trauma analysed at the everyday level in Timor-Leste following the 1999 political violence. Drawing from ethnographic data collected in the district of Oecussi, this paper explores linkages between disruptions of mortuary rituals related to what have been termed ‘bad’ deaths, as a result of unresolved serious crimes, and their subjective ramifications. As alliances and exchange obligations are central in Timorese social and cosmological life, blockages in these paths may create a variety of negative emotional responses that require individual and communal strategies for coping. This paper argues for anthropological scrutiny on the issue of conflict-related mental health discussions in Timor-Leste that has been predominantly derived through psychological approaches. I shall further embed local idioms for distress, such as ‘thinking too much’, in the local worlds of the social actors while emphasising their individual and communal strategies in dealing with distress.     

Becoming/Being a Cosmetic Surgery Patient: Semantic Instability and the Intersubjective Self

Against approaches that center the subject—the cosmetic surgery patient—as the primary site of inquiry regarding the “truth” of cosmetic surgery, I argue that we must rethink the positioning of the subject in considering cosmetic surgery's meanings. Here I offer a brief discussion of various feminist theories of the cosmetic surgery patient, as well as an account of my own experience of cosmetic surgery, to explore how the cosmetic surgery patient is semantically unstable, named and identified through a variety of discourses and social relations. This semantic instability suggests a need to examine the ongoing processes by which cosmetic surgery comes to have meaning and by which the subjectivity of the cosmetic surgery patient is produced.     

Ambient air pollution and children’s cognitive outcomes

Population and Environment - Ambient air pollution remains a serious public health concern, with growing literature linking higher concentrations to adverse health effects among children....     

Extending access to contributory pensions: The case of Uruguay

Since the 1980s, many Latin American countries have tightened access to contributory pensions, with financial sustainability being a main concern. Studies suggest that a sizable share of contributors would not be able to comply with stricter access conditions, since observed contribution densities were low. While most Latin American countries lack complete work history records, the observed density of contributions offered strong evidence of short contribution histories, in particular for low‐income workers and women. In the last decade these facts drove a new wave of reforms, in the form of less demanding eligibility requirements to access pensions and the need for a gender perspective. Uruguay took part in both processes, increasing vesting period conditions in 1996, then lowering them and granting childcare credits in 2008. In this article, we analyse the effects that less strict eligibility requirements would have on pension entitlements in Uruguay, estimating complete contribution histories using administrative records. Work history records have been kept since April 1996 only, meaning there are still no complete work histories. The study finds that pension rights would increase, in particular for women. The main effect would be driven by the lower contribution requirement. In addition, childcare credits would further reduce the gender gap in terms of access to benefits. The case of Uruguay is relevant in the regional context, as most Latin American countries are ageing rapidly and can learn from the Uruguayan experience, a country with vital statistics closer to those of developed countries. Also, recent reforms in the region show shared concerns on pension rights and the gender gap.     

Post‐secondary transitions of youth emancipated from foster care

This study investigated the extent to which KnowHow2Go (KH2Go), a national college access campaign developed for first‐generation students in the USA, would resonate with youth who had aged out of foster care. Interviews were conducted with 27 youth who were enrolled in a post‐secondary programme following emancipation from foster care. We found KH2Go to have a close fit with the experiences of youth who had been in foster care. Four topics emerged as particularly important for youth in our study: money management, work, parenting and transportation. Finally, the study identified attributes these youth demonstrated that contributed to their resilience during the transition process. This study and the data presented pertain to youth living in the south‐eastern USA.     

The influence of an older sibling on preschoolers’ lie‐telling behavior

In the present study, children’s (2‐ to 5‐years old) lie‐telling was examined in relation to theory of mind (first‐order false belief understanding), executive functioning (measuring inhibitory control in conjunction with working memory), and presence of siblings in the home (no siblings vs. siblings; younger siblings vs. older siblings).  Lie‐telling was observed using a temptation resistance paradigm. Overall, of the 152 (74.9%) children who peeked at the toy, 73 (48%) lied during the temptation resistance paradigm. Children with higher scores on measures of first‐order false belief understanding, and measures that relied on inhibitory control, were more likely to lie compared to their truthful counterparts.  Additionally, children with older siblings were more likely to lie to the research assistant, and this relationship was independent of performance on cognitive tasks. Overall, results demonstrate that having an older sibling has an independent, direct effect on the development of young children’s lie‐telling abilities, irrespective of cognitive ability. These findings support the argument that lie‐telling is a behavior that is facilitated by both cognitive and social factors.