Testing for qualitative interaction of multiple sources of informative dropout in longitudinal data

Longitudinal studies suffer from patient dropout. The dropout process may be informative if there exists an association between dropout patterns and the rate of change in the response over time. Multiple patterns are plausible in that different causes of dropout might contribute to different patterns. These multiple patterns can be dichotomized into two groups: quantitative and qualitative interaction. Quantitative interaction indicates that each of the multiple sources is biasing the estimate of the rate of change in the same direction, although with differing magnitudes. Alternatively, qualitative interaction results in the multiple sources biasing the estimate of the rate of change in opposing directions. Qualitative interaction is of special concern, since it is less likely to be detected by conventional methods and can lead to highly misleading slope estimates. We explore a test for qualitative interaction based on simultaneous confidence intervals. The test accommodates the realistic situation where reasons for dropout are not fully understood, or even entirely unknown. It allows for an additional level of clustering among participating subjects. We apply these methods to a study exploring tumor growth rates in mice as well as a longitudinal study exploring rates of change in cognitive functioning for Alzheimer's patients.     

Managers' attitudes about firm responsibilities

A mail survey was conducted in order to investigate whether the importance a manager attaches to corporate ethical and legal responsibilities varies according to personality characteristics, demographic variables, or the perceived moral climates in the manager's firm. Respondents were middle- and lower-level managers in 112 for-profit businesses located throughout the United States. As expected, attitudes about corporate ethical responsibility were significantly related to (1) the individual's capacity for empathy and (2) a perceived caring climate in the firm; attitudes about corporate legal responsibility were significantly related to (1) the individual's hierarchical position and (2) an organizational climate perceived to be supportive of law.Data collection for this research was subsidized by the Old Dominion University Research Foundation and the ODU College of Business and Public Administration Bureau of Research.     

PREDICT-1 (CNA106030): the first powered, prospective trial of pharmacogenetic screening to reduce drug adverse events

Pharmacogenetics (PGx) – the study of DNA variation in the human genome and the way this impacts the efficacy and safety of medicines – is becoming an increasingly important research tool as physicians, patients, regulatory authorities and payers look for innovative ways to improve the risk:benefit ratio of medicines. While scientific knowledge about PGx is rapidly increasing, implementation of PGx findings to patient care has yet to be fully achieved. One area where significant progress has been made is in the identification of PGx markers associated with variable response to antiretroviral medicines. For example, the major histocompatibility complex HLA‐B*5701 allele has been associated with hypersensitivity to abacavir (ABC) by several independent researchers. While PGx associations have been identified largely through retrospective examination, the clinical utility of these PGx markers in patient care has not been prospectively determined in a randomized study. This paper outlines the design of a study to evaluate the utility of prospective screening for HLA‐B*5701 to reduce the incidence of ABC hypersensitivity in an ABC‐naïve population of HIV‐infected subjects. This represents the first fully powered, randomized, blinded, prospective study to determine the clinical utility of PGx screening to reduce drug‐associated adverse events in any patient population. This type of trial design may have utility for other important medicines which have treatment‐limiting side effects. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stakeholder perceptions of contextual factors related to PBIS implementation in high need schools

Positive behavior intervention and supports (PBIS) is a thoroughly researched three-tiered framework for preventing and treating challenging behavior in schools. While more than 20 years of research contribute to the literature base, less is known about PBIS implementation in high-needs school settings, particularly those that serve students predominantly from low-income families and majority minority student populations across urban and rural districts. This study investigated the critical contextual factors of PBIS implementation from the stakeholder perspective. Specifically, we surveyed 161 participants including teachers, school staff members, and administrators who were PBIS team members and had received technical assistance in PBIS implementation. The completed surveys were analyzed with participants and their schools coded for district type, Title I funding, and position in order to determine how the perceptions of issues such as buy-in, administrator support, PBIS in secondary school settings, and poverty affect PBIS implementation and team needs. The factor analysis and resulting structure along with statistically significant results for each factor are presented along with implications.     

Recent Social Work Practitioners’ Understanding and Use of Evidence-Based Practice and Empirically Supported Treatments

The aim of this study was to evaluate how CSWE’s 2008 shift placing more emphasis on research have affected newly trained social workers’ use of evidence-based practice (EBP). This qualitative study examined the educational and practice experiences of newly trained social workers and how those experiences influence the use of EBP and empirically supported interventions/treatments in the field. Thirteen newly graduated social workers were interviewed using a semi-structured interview. Twenty-three codes emerged from the interviews, with the most prominent theme being a sense of overall confusion about EBP. Other themes included lack of educational preparation, lack of agency resources, and prohibitive agency culture. Implications for social work education and practice are discussed.