Standards of Care for Research with Participants Who Identify as LGBTQ+

ABSTRACT

The following standards of care have been developed to support the continued development of research with individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus individuals whose orientations differ from those who identify as heterosexual and cisgender (LGBTQ+). The guidelines presented are conceived as a working document that reflect the current state and body of knowledge that can inform and provide reference for counseling research, and can be used in the preparation and training of future researchers. The standards outlined in this document will continue to evolve as does research, LGBTQ+ communities, and the sociopolitical climate.     

Behavioural profiling of problem gamblers: a summary and review

In many countries, there is increasing interest in early intervention strategies to assist people who are experiencing gambling-related problems. Central to these discussions is whether it is possible to identify problem gambling and/or risky behaviour in situ before gamblers formally seek assistance. This paper provides a review and critique of the small amount of published literature relating specifically to behavioural indicators and their practical application. It concludes that, while there is general agreement concerning the range of indicators that could be used, the process of identification remains difficult in practice. Multiple indicators are usually required to make reliable identifications; the nature of indicators will vary depending on the mode of gambling (land-based vs online), and venue staff employees usually have insufficient opportunity to obtain enough information to make judgments. The potential value of combining behavioural information with electronically monitored gambling data is discussed as a possible future strategy for enhancing the effectiveness of identification processes.     

Mitigating the ill effects of maternal incarceration on women in prison and their children

Maternal incarceration has deleterious effects on children, families, and society, but child welfare professionals historically have paid limited attention to maternal incarceration. Two recent changes have required the reevaluation of that stance: the dramatic increase in the number of women in prison, and the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997. This article discusses the reality of maternal incarceration, analyzes one prison's attempt to provide programs to support inmate mothers and their children, and makes policy and program recommendations.     

The Relationship History Calendar: Improving the Scope and Quality of Data on Youth Sexual Behavior

Most survey data on sexual activities are obtained via face-to-face interviews, which are prone to misreporting of socially unacceptable behaviors. Demographers have developed various private response methods to minimize social desirability bias and improve the quality of reporting; however, these methods often limit the complexity of information collected. We designed a life history calendar—the Relationship History Calendar (RHC)—to increase the scope of data collected on sexual relationships and behavior while enhancing their quality. The RHC records detailed, 10-year retrospective information on sexual relationship histories. The structure and interview procedure draw on qualitative techniques, which could reduce social desirability bias. We compare the quality of data collected with the RHC with a standard face-to-face survey instrument through a field experiment conducted among 1,275 youth in Kisumu, Kenya. The results suggest that the RHC reduces social desirability bias and improves reporting on multiple measures, including higher rates of abstinence among males and multiple recent sexual partnerships among females. The RHC fosters higher levels of rapport and respondent enjoyment, which appear to be the mechanisms through which social desirability bias is minimized. The RHC is an excellent alternative to private response methods and could potentially be adapted for large-scale surveys.     

Managing chronic conditions in college: Findings from prompted health incidents diaries

Objective: This pilot study assessed an electronic health diary method designed to collect data about critical health incidents experienced by college students who have chronic health conditions. Participants: Nine university students with chronic medical conditions were recruited to complete a series of e-mail–based surveys, sent once every 3 days across the fall 2014 semester. Methods: In each survey, participants described a health-related incident that occurred within the past day and cited resources that helped or could have helped in that situation. They completed follow-up interviews and ranked the importance of cited resources. Results: The diary completion rate was 78.3% (141/180). Most frequently affected management areas were activities (61.3%), monitoring (34.9%), and problem-solving (34.3%). Resources considered helpful included situational knowledge, campus health professionals, peer support, and relaxation opportunities. Conclusions: Prompted health incidents diary method achieved a high completion rate and provided data that could be useful for college health researchers and practitioners.     

Home Environment,But Not Socioeconomic Status,is Linked to Differences in Early Phonetic Perception Ability

Infants perceptually tune to the phonemes of their native languages in the first year of life, thereby losing the ability to discriminate non‐native phonemes. Infants who perceptually tune earlier have been shown to develop stronger language skills later in childhood. We hypothesized that socioeconomic disparities, which have been associated with differences in the quality and quantity of language in the home, would contribute to individual differences in phonetic discrimination. Seventy‐five infants were assessed on measures of phonetic discrimination at 9 months, on the quality of the home environment at 15 months, and on language abilities at both ages. Phonetic discrimination did not vary according to socioeconomic status (SES), but was significantly associated with the quality of the home environment. This association persisted when controlling for 9‐month expressive language abilities, rendering it less likely that infants with better expressive language skills were simply engendering higher quality home interactions. This suggests that infants from linguistically richer home environments may be more tuned to their native language and therefore less able to discriminate non‐native contrasts at 9 months relative to infants whose home environments are less responsive. These findings indicate that home language environments may be more critical than SES in contributing to early language perception, with possible implications for language development more broadly.     

The use of a single pseudo-sample in approximate Bayesian computation

We analyze the computational efficiency of approximate Bayesian computation (ABC), which approximates a likelihood function by drawing pseudo-samples from the associated model. For the rejection sampling version of ABC, it is known that multiple pseudo-samples cannot substantially increase (and can substantially decrease) the efficiency of the algorithm as compared to employing a high-variance estimate based on a single pseudo-sample. We show that this conclusion also holds for a Markov chain Monte Carlo version of ABC, implying that it is unnecessary to tune the number of pseudo-samples used in ABC-MCMC. This conclusion is in contrast to particle MCMC methods, for which increasing the number of particles can provide large gains in computational efficiency.     

Finding the right connections: Peer support within a community‐based mental health service

Gray M., Davies K., Butcher L. Finding the right connections: Peer support within a community‐based mental health service This article reports on a qualitative study that examined the organisational enablers and barriers to implementing peer support work in an Australian, rural, community‐based mental health service. Interviews with 19 peer and non‐peer staff were conducted to identify attitudes towards peer support and whether there were organisational values, practices and strategies that might support the implementation of peer support. The findings revealed that peer support workers were valued for their ability to build trusting connections with clients and to accept client choice in a non‐judgemental way. However, peer support workers tended to ‘fill service gaps’ within intensive, administrative case‐management environments. These findings highlight the importance of an organisational‐wide approach to integrating peer support, where the responsibilities for adopting new ways of working fall to all staff, not just the peer support workers themselves. Key Practitioner Message: ? Practitioners placed high value on the peer support workers on their teams due to their unique personalised engagement with clients; ? The roles of peer support workers were poorly understood by team members; ? Organisational integration of peer support principles could improve the way all staff engage with clients to reflect a recovery orientation.     

Bayesian sequential analysis for multiple-arm clinical trials

Use of full Bayesian decision-theoretic approaches to obtain optimal stopping rules for clinical trial designs typically requires the use of Backward Induction. However, the implementation of Backward Induction, apart from simple trial designs, is generally impossible due to analytical and computational difficulties. In this paper we present a numerical approximation of Backward Induction in a multiple-arm clinical trial design comparing k experimental treatments with a standard treatment where patient response is binary. We propose a novel stopping rule, denoted by τ ^p , as an approximation of the optimal stopping rule, using the optimal stopping rule of a single-arm clinical trial obtained by Backward Induction. We then present an example of a double-arm (k=2) clinical trial where we use a simulation-based algorithm together with τ ^p to estimate the expected utility of continuing and compare our estimates with exact values obtained by an implementation of Backward Induction. For trials with more than two treatment arms, we evaluate τ ^p by studying its operating characteristics in a three-arm trial example. Results from these examples show that our approximate trial design has attractive properties and hence offers a relevant solution to the problem posed by Backward Induction.     

A comparison of carbon and nitrogen stocks among land uses/covers in coastal Florida

Coastal areas are rapidly developing due to population growth and the appeal of coastlines. In order to gain insight into how land use/cover affects carbon (C) storage in a coastal context, we examined soil and vegetation C and soil nitrogen (N) across land uses near Apalachicola, FL. Forested wetlands had the greatest soil C and N storage, while natural pine forests and pine plantations had the least. In paired plots, urban lawns had significantly greater mineral soil N content compared to urban forest remnants. Total ecosystem C (soil + vegetation) was higher in forested wetlands than all other land uses/covers combined due to the high organic content of those wetland soils. Urban forest remnants and lawns had greater total ecosystem C than natural pine forests and pine plantations, which likely reflects the differential influence of prescribed fire and less frequent anthropogenic disturbances between the rural and urban areas, respectively. Projections of land use change in Franklin County, FL combined with these data suggest that increases in C storage are possible with continued urbanization along the Gulf Coast, if forest remnants are left and lawns are incorporated in built-up areas. However, this study does not account for C emissions during land conversion, or any emissions associated with maintaining urban built-up and residential areas. A better understanding of land use/cover influences on C pools has applications for planning and development, as well as ecological and environmental protection in the region.