Fuzzy-Trace Theory, Risk Communication, and Product Labeling in Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Health care professionals are a major source of risk communications, but their estimation of risks may be compromised by systematic biases. We examined fuzzy-trace theory's predictions of professionals' biases in risk estimation for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) linked to: knowledge deficits (producing underestimation of STI risk, re-infection, and gender differences), gist-based mental representation of risk categories (producing overestimation of condom effectiveness for psychologically atypical but prevalent infections), retrieval failure for risk knowledge (producing greater risk underestimation when STIs are not specified), and processing interference involving combining risk estimates (producing biases in post-test estimation of infection, regardless of knowledge). One-hundred-seventy-four subjects (experts attending a national workshop, physicians, other health care professionals, and students) estimated the risk of teenagers contracting STIs, re-infection rates for males and females, and condom effectiveness in reducing infection risk. Retrieval was manipulated by asking estimation questions in two formats, a specific format that "unpacked" the STI category (infection types) and a global format that did not provide specific cues. Requesting estimates of infection risk after relevant knowledge was directly provided, isolating processing effects, assessed processing biases. As predicted, all groups of professionals underestimated the risk of STI transmission, re-infection, and gender differences, and overestimated the effectiveness of condoms, relative to published estimates. However, when questions provided better retrieval supports (specified format), estimation bias decreased. All groups of professionals also suffered from predicted processing biases. Although knowledge deficits contribute to estimation biases, the research showed that biases are also linked to fuzzy representations, retrieval failures, and processing errors Hence, interventions that are designed to improve risk perception among professionals must incorporate more than knowledge dissemination. They should also provide support for information representation, effective retrieval, and accurate processing.     

Recreational planning: an important component of career counseling for people with disabilities

Participation in recreational activities is a critical component of the career development process, providing opportunities for individuals to explore their interests and to develop work-related skills. Recreational participation also offers a healthy outlet for dealing with job-related and other life stressors. People with disabilities are often excluded from participation in recreational activities because of a multitude of barriers. This exclusion can seriously impede the career development of these individuals. This article explores the importance of recreational planning as part of the vocational rehabilitation process. The authors define inclusive recreation and discuss the implications of recreational planning in the various phases of rehabilitation.     

Making the most of your career--and your life

Take a look at a simple way to evaluate your job. Start figuring out how to take on more tasks that you like and get rid of those you dislike.     

Taking charge of self: breast health practices of older rural women

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore breast health practices of older Vermont women residing in rural communities. Although the three components of breast health-mammography, clinical breast exam, and self-breast exam-are recommended for women 40 years and over, minimal research has empirically analyzed the breast health practices of healthy women to ascertain if, in fact, these procedures are followed, and if so, what the motivation is for doing so. Twelve women, 50-64 years, participated in face-to-face, audiotaped interviews. Data analysis, including line-by-line and constant comparative approaches, occurred concurrently with data collection. Taking Charge of Self, the generated theory, describes participants' engagement in a process of learning how to take charge of their lives. The analysis indicates that health care providers have a powerful role in the lives of women in this age group. With an increasing emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention, health care providers are positioned to cultivate and support women's development of the personal or internal motivation for health and well-being.     

Human Variability in Susceptibility to Toxic Chemicals— A Preliminary Analysis of Pharmacokinetic Data from Normal Volunteers

The tenfold "uncertainty" factor traditionally used to guard against human interindividual differences in susceptibility to toxicity is not based on human observations. To begin to build a basis for quantifying an important component of overall variability in susceptibility to toxicity, a data base has been constructed of individual measurements of key pharmacokinetic parameters for specific substances (mostly drugs) in groups of at least five healthy adults. 72 of the 101 data sets studied were positively skewed, indicating that the distributions are generally closer to expectations for log-normal distributions than for normal distributions. Measurements of interindividual variability in elimination half-lives, maximal blood concentrations, and AUC (area under the curve of blood concentration by time) have median values of log10 geometric standard deviations in the range of 0.11-0.145. For the median chemical, therefore, a tenfold difference in these pharmacokinetic parameters would correspond to 7-9 standard deviations in populations of normal healthy adults. For one relatively lipophilic chemical, however, interindividual variability in maximal blood concentration and AUC was 0.4--implying that a tenfold difference would correspond to only about 2.5 standard deviations for those parameters in the human population. The parameters studied to date are only components of overall susceptibility to toxic agents, and do not include contributions from variability in exposure- and response-determining parameters. The current study also implicitly excludes most human interindividual variability from age and illness. When these other sources of variability are included in an overall analysis of variability in susceptibility, it is likely that a tenfold difference will correspond to fewer standard deviations in the overall population, and correspondingly greater numbers of people at risk of toxicity.