Rationale Argument Mapping Software

This software review focuses on using Rationale Argument Mapping Software to teach critical thinking skills in social work. Overall, the program is a great tool for helping students to think critically and precisely about their arguments.     

Sexual Activity and Weekly Contraceptive Discontinuation and Selection Among Young Adult Women in Michigan

Understanding young women’s contraceptive and pregnancy prevention behaviors is important for helping women and their partners control if and when they have children. Prior research on associations between patterns of sexual activity and contraceptive behaviors is limited. We assessed the influence of recent sexual activity on discontinuation and selection of specific contraceptive methods. We used weekly data from the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) study, a longitudinal 2.5-year population-based project that sampled woman ages 18 and 19 (N = 1,003) in one Michigan county. We estimated logistic and multinomial regression models that accounted for clustering of weekly observations within partnerships and women. Weekly discontinuation of longer-acting methods declined with increasing sexual activity in the past month, as did discontinuation of shorter-acting hormonal methods. Sexual activity was associated with decreased selection of condoms relative to other methods. Future research into life events that lead to changes in the frequency of sexual activity may provide insight into times when women are at risk of contraceptive discontinuation. These findings underscore the importance of anticipatory guidance in contraceptive counseling so that when women change their contraceptive behavior they are equipped in advance with resources to make safe transitions between methods.     

‘The Older I Get,the Colder I Get’—Older People’s Perspectives on Coping in Cold Homes

Abstract

An average of 26,560 UK excess winter deaths occur in people 65+ years old each winter, of which 30% are attributed to cold homes. Cold homes are known to exacerbate health problems prevalent in the 65+ demographic. Through conducting interviews in homes occupied by 65+-year-olds known to be achieving less than the World Health Organization (WHO) minimum recommended temperature (18ºC), this article highlights their struggles in maintaining health and managing their homes, with instances of extreme and potentially dangerous methods to achieve thermal comfort identified. Fairer energy provision, better targeted financial aid, and improved support networks are necessary to alleviate current problems.     

Motivational Interviewing Intervention With College Student Tobacco Users: Providers' Beliefs and Behaviors

Abstract

Objective: This study assessed college student health providers' use of Motivational Interviewing (MI) with tobacco users, as well as their beliefs about the use of brief interventions to help college student tobacco users quit. MI is recommended by the United States Public Health Service to increase tobacco users' willingness to quit. Participants: Participants included 83 clinicians from health clinics at 7 different universities in North Carolina. Methods: Paper-and-pencil baseline survey from a cluster randomized trial of college student health clinicians. Results: Twenty-two percent of respondents reported always or usually using MI during the past month for tobacco-using patients not ready to make a quit attempt. Student health providers also reported information with regards to their beliefs about tobacco cessation treatment, barriers to intervening with patients, and confidence in motivating students to consider quitting. Conclusions: Results highlight the need to encourage clinicians' use of motivationally focused interventions with student tobacco users.

Motivational Interviewing Intervention With College Student Tobacco Users: Providers' Beliefs and Behaviors

All authors

Robert S. McNamara PhD, Eunyoung Y. Song PhD, Beth A. Reboussin PhD, John Spangler MD, Jessica R. Pockey MPH, Caroline Kimes BS, Kristie L. Foley PhD & Erin L. Sutfin PhD

https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2014.1003376

Published online:

11 May 2015

TABLE 1. Providers' Beliefs About Patient Tobacco Intervention and Cessation (N = 83)

CSVDisplay Table

     

Relationships between use of dietary supplements,caffeine and sensation seeking among college students

Abstract

Objective: Caffeine and dietary supplement (DS) use by college students is not well-documented. Given reported associations between energy drink consumption and sensation seeking, we used the Sensation Seeking Scale Form V (SSS-V) to assess relationships between sensation-seeking, caffeine, and DS use. Participants: Data from 1,248 college students from five US institutions were collected from 2009 to 2011. Methods: Linear regression was used to examine relationships between scores on the SSS-V and caffeine and DS use, demographic, and lifestyle characteristics. Results: Male sex, nonHispanic race-ethnicity, higher family income, tobacco use, consuming caffeinated beverages, more than 400?mg caffeine per day, and energy drinks with alcohol at least 50% of the time, were significantly associated with higher total SSS-V scores (P?<?0.001). Those using protein DSs had higher total, disinhibition, and boredom susceptibility SSS-V scores (Ps?<?0.001). Conclusions: Results demonstrate a positive correlation between sensation-seeking attitudes and habitual caffeine, energy drink, and DS consumption.     

Understanding localism

These two special issues of Policy Studies investigate various aspects of localism and draw insights from a broad range of different academic disciplines; which illustrates how ubiquitous the issue has become, both in the academy and in political discourse, particularly in the UK and increasingly in Australia. In this introduction, we begin by outlining three different types of localism – managerial, representative and community – which have underpinned both debates in the area and policy developments, before outlining our definition of the term. Subsequently, we introduce the theoretical and empirical contributions that this issue makes to understanding localism in Westminster-style democracies.     

Refugees and asylum seekers living in the Australian community: the importance of work rights and employment support

While Australian legislation allows for the mandatory detention of asylum seekers arriving without a valid visa, in recent years the Australian Government has released thousands from immigration detention prior to their protection claims being finalised. This article outlines the results of interviews with eleven men who had been released into such community‐based arrangements after long periods of immigration detention. The major challenge for most of the men who had been granted the right to work upon their release was securing employment, while being denied the right to work was the major challenge for those released without this right. This article explores the social and personal benefits that employment can offer asylum seekers and refugees and the implications it has for integration into their host country.     

Still connecting the dots: An investigation into infants' attentional bias to threat using an eye-tracking task

An attentional bias toward threat has been theorized to be a normative aspect of infants' threat and safety learning, and an indicator of risk for internalizing psychopathology in older populations. To date, only four studies have examined this bias using the dot-probe task in infancy and the findings are mixed. We extended the literature by examining patterns of attention to threat in a culturally and linguistically diverse sample of infants aged 5–11 months old (N = 151) using all measures previously employed in the infant dot-probe literature. Given that an attentional bias toward threat is associated with higher risk of developing anxiety disorders later in life, we also examined how negative affect—an early correlate of later anxiety disorders—is related to attentional bias toward threat in infancy. This study was the first to use a consistent measure of negative affect across the whole sample. An eye-tracking dot-probe task was used to examine attentional bias toward threat (i.e., angry faces) relative to positive (i.e., happy faces) stimuli. Results showed that an attention bias to threat was not characteristic of infants at this age, and negative affect did not moderate the putative relationship between attention and emotional faces (angry, happy). These findings therefore suggest that attention biases to socio-emotional threat may not have emerged by 11 months old.