Family Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Risks of Financial Insecurity and Coping

During the COVID-19 pandemic, families have experienced unprecedented financial and social disruptions. We studied the impact of preexisting psychosocial factors and pandemic-related financial and social disruptions in relation to family well-being among N = 4091 adolescents and parents during early summer 2020, participating in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development^SM Study. Poorer family well-being was linked to prepandemic psychosocial and financial adversity and was associated with pandemic-related material hardship and social disruptions to routines. Parental alcohol use increased risk for worsening of family relationships, while a greater endorsement of coping strategies was mainly associated with overall better family well-being. Financial and mental health support may be critical for family well-being during and after a widespread crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.     

Back to Basics

Nonprofits are under increased accountability pressures to demonstrate their effectiveness. Output measurement (how much is produced) is disregarded as simplistic. Emphasis is made instead on measuring outcomes (changes in the lives of beneficiaries) or impacts (effects developed relative to the mission of the nonprofit, or the overall public good), and a growing portion of organizations state that they measure these effects. However, we question the assumption that outputs such as the number of beneficiaries served are being adequately measured. We first review existing research gaps on results measurement practices and discuss the main types of obstacles to the quality and utility of evaluation data. In this context, we argue for the need to reground nonprofit evaluation in the profound knowledge available about beneficiary populations. We discuss the potential and limitations of reach, a basic output indicator that is defined as the number of individuals directly affected by a nonprofit, and explore the organizational drivers of reach measurement. Evidence from 2,229 nonprofits shows they still lack adequate data on the beneficiaries they serve, face relevant conceptual and practical hurdles when trying to identify them, and are significantly influenced by organizational factors in their capacity to track them. Our research not only shows that nonprofits fail to adequately measure outputs, but also that measuring the number of beneficiaries served and how they are served is not as straightforward as outcome and impact advocates suggest. Practitioners and funders are reminded of the need to place beneficiaries at the core of their evaluation efforts.     

Unmet physical and mental healthcare needs of children with a history of familial homelessness and unstable housing

The objective of this paper is to examine whether children with a history of unstable housing, and more specifically homelessness, have unmet physical and mental healthcare needs. Further, this paper describes primary caregivers’ barriers to children’s healthcare. Data were collected from 6492 primary caregivers of children ages 0–17 years residing in five Dallas, Texas counties. Primary caregivers reported whether they previously experienced homelessness with their children, their children’s unmet mental and physical healthcare needs, and primary reasons for the unmet healthcare needs. Results suggest that children with a history of homelessness or unstable housing had increased odds of both mental and physical unmet healthcare needs. Prevention efforts should attempt to bridge resources for families who obtain housing but are still at increased risk for the long-term effects of homelessness exposure.     

Variations in horizontal and vertical individualism-collectivism in four regions of Mexico / Variaciones en el individualismo-colectivismo horizontal y vertical en cuatro regiones de México

Cultures can be analysed through cultural syndromes (shared patterns of beliefs, attitudes, norms, roles and values organized around a theme). One of these syndromes, individualism-collectivism, distinguishes collectivist cultures, which prioritize collective over individual interests, from individualist cultures, which value individual autonomy, achievement and freedom. These dimensions intersect with the horizontal-vertical syndrome, where verticality means the preference for a society organized by hierarchies, in contrast to a horizontal culture, which privileges equality. This paper explores these dimensions using a new instrument in a sample of 990 participants from four regions in Mexico. The results of exploratory and confirmatory factorial analyses show four theoretically congruent factors with adequate levels of internal consistency reaching metric equivalence criteria in three of the four samples. The scores show greater support for horizontal individualism and less support for vertical collectivism. These results are discussed within the context of a cultural shift towards individualism.     

New sign language new(S): the globalization of sign language in the smartphone era

Languages are dynamic and change over the years. Changes in sign languages have been usually initiated to accommodate the needs of the local Deaf community. With the increase in smartphone use, sign languages are influenced not only by the local Deaf community, but also by foreign Deaf people on the other side of the screen, regardless of their location. Smartphones influence the sign language itself and the Deaf community by connecting different communities of Deaf people through messages, shared information and experiences, and news delivery. The popularity of this technology among Deaf communities is a social phenomenon emerging from Deaf people themselves. Smartphones may promote the globalization of sign language, shortening distances between Deaf communities around the world.     

Modeling wind energy flux by a Birnbaum–Saunders distribution with an unknown shift parameter

In this paper, we discuss a Birnbaum–Saunders distribution with an unknown shift parameter and apply it to wind energy modeling. We describe structural aspects of this distribution including properties, moments, mode and hazard and shape analyses. We also discuss estimation, goodness of fit and diagnostic methods for this distribution. A computational implementation in R language of the obtained results is provided. Finally, we apply such results to two unpublished real wind speed data from Chile, which allows us to show the characteristics of this statistical distribution and to model wind energy flux.     

Context‐Specific,Scenario‐Based Risk Scales

Reacting to an emergency requires quick decisions under stressful and dynamic conditions. To react effectively, responders need to know the right actions to take given the risks posed by the emergency. While existing research on risk scales focuses primarily on decision making in static environments with known risks, these scales may be inappropriate for conditions where the decision maker's time and mental resources are limited and may be infeasible if the actual risk probabilities are unknown. In this article, we propose a method to develop context‐specific, scenario‐based risk scales designed for emergency response training. Emergency scenarios are used as scale points, reducing our dependence on known probabilities; these are drawn from the targeted emergency context, reducing the mental resources required to interpret the scale. The scale is developed by asking trainers/trainees to rank order a range of risk scenarios and then aggregating these orderings using a Kemeny ranking. We propose measures to assess this aggregated scale's internal consistency, reliability, and validity, and we discuss how to use the scale effectively. We demonstrate our process by developing a risk scale for subsurface coal mine emergencies and test the reliability of the scale by repeating the process, with some methodological variations, several months later.     

Analysis of the workload of bank tellers of a Brazilian public institution

During the last decades there have been many changes in the banking sector organization. It has been also observed the mutual growing of musculoskeletal and mental disorders. This study investigated the workload of bank tellers at a Brazilian public institution. It was performed the Ergonomic Work Analysis (EWA). Three employees participated in this study. During the analysis process, three research instruments were applied: Inventory of Work and Risk of Illness, Yoshitake Fatigue Questionnaire and Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, beyond the realization of footage recordings and the self-confrontation. The results indicated the existence of an excess of workload on the evaluated workstations, mainly in relation to mental order constraints, that overlaps the physical aspects. Thereby it was found that the employees tend to adopt strategies trying to reduce the impacts of the excess of workload, in order to regulate it.     

Musculoskeletal disorders and psychosocial risk factors among workers of the aircraft maintenance industry

During the recent decades Brazil has experienced an exponential growth in the aviation sector resulting in an increasing workforce. The aircraft maintenance industry stands out, where the workers have to handle different kind of objects. The aim of this study was to evaluate psychosocial indicators as well as musculoskeletal symptoms and disorders among aircraft maintenance workers. One hundred and one employees were evaluated (32.69 ± 8.25 yr, 79.8 ± 13.4 kg, and 1.75 ± 0.07 m). Musculoskeletal symptoms and disorders were assessed through the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) and a standardized physical examination. The Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) were applied to evaluate psychosocial indicators. Results of the NMQ indicate the lower back as the most affected body region. On the other hand, the physical examination has shown clinical diagnosis of shoulder disorders. Neck, upper back and ankle/foot were also reported as painful sites. Most of workers have active work-demand profile and high work engagement levels. We suggest that musculoskeletal symptoms may be related to high biomechanical demand of the tasks performed by workers, what must be further investigated.     

Multimodal urgency coding: auditory, visual, and tactile parameters and their impact on perceived urgency

Through a series of investigations involving different levels of contextual fidelity we developed scales of perceived urgency for several dimensions of the auditory, visual, and tactile modalities. Psychophysical ratings of perceived urgency, annoyance, and acceptability as well as behavioral responses to signals in each modality were obtained and analyzed using Steven's Power Law to allow comparison across modalities. Obtained results and their implications for use as in-vehicle alerts and warnings are discussed.