Suppressing research data: Methods,context, accountability,and responses

Research data can be suppressed in various ways, including organizational secrecy, defamation law and refusal to reply to queries. In a broader sense, methods of suppression include pressures not to do research in the first place and attacks on scientists who produce unwelcome data. The context of this sort of suppression includes individual self‐interest, vested interests, and paradigms. Suppressing research data can be either compatible with or contrary to accountability, depending on the constituencies involved. Ways to challenge suppression of research data include individual requests, exposés, refusal to suppress, publicity, creating new data, and social movements.     

A place to heal: a qualitative focus group study of respite care preferences among individuals experiencing homelessness*

Homeless patients have longer hospital stays than housed persons due, in part, to a lack of safe discharge locations. Respite care for homeless individuals decreases hospital length of stay and readmissions rates. This study aimed to develop client-centered recommendations for medical respite care. We conducted four focus group interviews (n?=?25 participants) between August 2010 and February 2013 of homeless adult residents in Minnesota. Four domains of respite care were identified from content analysis of interviews: physical, relational, facilitation, and amenities. Novel recommendations include (a) a facility equipped to address mental health and substance dependence needs, (b) a standardized training protocol for respite staff, (c) the creation of a patient advocate, and (d) the creation of a respite case manager to facilitate post-discharge instructions and connection to primary care and social services. These new and actionable recommendations could help inform policies and the development of future medical respite care facilities.     

Should Surgery for Hypospadias Be Performed Before An Age of Consent?

Hypospadias is a relatively common genital condition in which the urethral opening forms on the underside of the penis, as opposed to at the tip of the glans. Patients with hypospadias are typically referred for surgery during infancy or early childhood. Recent evidence, however, indicates that many individuals with hypospadias do not experience the functional or psychosocial difficulties commonly attributed to the condition, and that surgical intervention for hypospadias carries substantial risk of adverse outcomes. In this article, we review published outcomes data and conduct an in-depth analysis of the typical rationales for hypospadias surgery, taking into consideration both the potential benefits and harms of the procedure, as well as the existence of nonsurgical alternatives. We argue, first, that most childhood surgeries for hypospadias are performed for anticipated future problems concerning function and cosmesis, rather than extant physical and/or psychosocial problems that are adversely affecting the child’s well-being. Second, we contend that the surgery can be safely performed after an age of consent without increasing the absolute risk of surgical complications to an ethically meaningful degree. We conclude, therefore, that surgery for hypospadias should be performed only if requested by the affected individual, under conditions of informed consent.     

Up and Down or Down and Up? The Process of Change in Constructive Couple Behavior during Traditional and Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy

Observed positive and negative spouse behavior during sessions of Traditional (TBCT) and Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy (IBCT) were compared for couples with successful outcomes and their unsuccessful counterparts. One hundred and thirty‐four married chronically and seriously distressed couples (on average in their forties and 80% Caucasian) were randomly assigned to TBCT or IBCT. Trained observers made ratings of 1224 segments from approximately 956 sessions sampled from the course of up to 26 sessions. Multilevel modeling was used to examine change over time. TBCT treatment responders demonstrated a boost‐drop pattern, increasing in constructive behaviors early (more positive behaviors and less negative behaviors) but decreasing later. IBCT responders demonstrated an opposite, drop‐boost pattern, decreasing in constructive behaviors early and increasing later. Patterns were significant for positive behaviors (p < .05) and approached significance for negative behaviors (p = .05). In both treatments, nonresponders showed a significant pattern of decline in positive and increase in negative behaviors over time, although a trend (p = .05) indicates that TBCT nonresponders initially declined in negative behaviors. This study helps clarify the different process of change in two behavioral couple therapies, which may assist in treatment development and provide a guide for therapists in considering behavioral markers of change during treatment.     

A Cognitive‐Affective Scale for Hurricane Risk Perception

The aim of this study was to develop a reliable and valid measure of hurricane risk perception. The utility of such a measure lies in the need to understand how people make decisions when facing an evacuation order. This study included participants located within a 15‐mile buffer of the Gulf and southeast Atlantic U.S. coasts. The study was executed as a three‐wave panel with mail surveys in 2010–2012 (T₀ baseline N = 629, 56%; T₁ retention N = 427, 75%; T₂ retention N = 350, 89%). An inventory based on the psychometric model was developed to discriminate cognitive and affective perceptions of hurricane risk, and included open‐ended responses to solicit additional concepts in the T₀ survey. Analysis of the T₀ data modified the inventory and this revised item set was fielded at T₁ and then replicated at T₂. The resulting scales were assessed for validity against existing measures for perception of hurricane risk, dispositional optimism, and locus of control. A measure of evacuation expectation was also examined as a dependent variable, which was significantly predicted by the new measures. The resulting scale was found to be reliable, stable, and largely valid against the comparison measures. Despite limitations involving sample size, bias, and the strength of some reliabilities, it was concluded that the measure has potential to inform approaches to hurricane preparedness efforts and advance planning for evacuation messages, and that the measure has good promise to generalize to other contexts in natural hazards as well as other domains of risk.     

Rights and the role of family engagement in child welfare: an international treaties perspective on families' rights, parents' rights, and children's rights

According to international human rights treaties, what rights do family members, parents, and children have in family engagement in child welfare decision-making? A socio-legal analytical approach produces a typology of rights, then applies the typology to eight countries' approaches to family engagement to show that strong bundles of rights are available in some countries, but not in others. This study reveals international treaties have articulated many rights necessary to family engagement, but some rights are missing.     

A modification for use in destabilized populations of brass's technique for estimating completeness of death registration

The analysis of censuses for pre-industrial Europe has caused doubts about the supposed dominance of stem and joint family organization in earlier times. Using a hypothetical example of a nuclear family organization where extended composition is only found when widowed persons find shelter in the household of one of their children, we show that both the expected value and the variance of the estimated frequency of extended composition are high under demographic circumstances typical of pre-industrial Europe. This makes inferences about family organization based on data concerning family composition hazardous