Psychophysical conditions and hormonal secretion in nurses on a rapidly rotating shift schedule and exposed to bright light during night work

The psychophysical conditions of 15 young female nurses, working in a rapidly-rotating shift system (2-2-2-2), modified according to some psychophysiological criteria, and exposed to short period (4 × 20 min) of bright light (2350 Lux) during their night duty, were studied in order to evaluate their adaptation to night work and to test a possible positive effect on it of bright light. Subjective evaluations of work load and psychophysical conditions, performance measures, hormonal excretion (cortisol, 6-sulphatoxymelatonin and catecholamines), oral temperature and activity-sleep logs were taken during the shiftwork cycle, comprising one morning, one afternoon and two consecutive nights under normal and bright light. The results showed that this rapidly-rotating shift system had little effect upon the normal circadian rhythms of the body. Moreover, the lengthening of the night shift to 10 h can be considered to be acceptable, provided that work load is reduced and there are sufficient rest pauses available. On the other hand, the reduction to 7 h of the length of the day shifts and delayed start of the morning shift to 07:00 h appeared to be convenient both in relation to the work load and sleep duration. Some positive effects of bright light upon psychophysical conditions and performance efficiency were noted, while hormonal excretion and body temperature did not show any effect of bright light; in particular, melatonin excretion was not suppressed appreciably by the bright light used.     

Care and protection in Scottish child welfare: evidence of double jeopardy?

Since the inception of the Scottish children's hearings system, an increasing concentration of child care and protection referrals has emerged. Data on 225 children referred on care and protection grounds are examined. Children faced a double jeopardy of personal adversity against a background of social and economic disadvantage. A smaller group of children were also victims of an offence by an adult. A significant proportion of children had multiple referrals suggesting a recycling of some children. Social adversity in the backgrounds of children has been found in other child welfare studies. The significance accorded to this by social work agencies and the links between neglect and poverty may be overlooked. The importance of policy that provides comprehensive public assistance and services, as found in other European countries, is an inescapable conclusion.     

Provision of hepatitis C education in a nationwide sample of drug treatment programs

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has reached epidemic proportions among drug users, and drug programs are in a unique position to provide each of their patients with HCV education. Using a nationwide sample (N = 434) of drug treatment programs, we report the results of a logistic regression analysis that differentiates programs providing HCV education to all of their patients versus programs that do not. Fifty-four percent of the programs provide HCV education to all of their patients. Programs are about four and a half times as likely to provide HCV education to all patients if they dispense methadone; almost four times as likely to provide this service if they educate most of their staff about HCV; twice as likely if they are residential; and almost twice as likely if they conduct HIV testing on-site. Our findings indicate that there is a need to increase HCV educational services in drug treatment programs.     

Design selection criteria for discrimination/estimation for nested models and a binomial response

The aim of an experiment is often to enable discrimination between competing forms for a response model. We investigate the selection of a continuous design for a non-sequential strategy when there are two competing generalized linear models for a binomial response, with a common link function and the linear predictor of one model nested within that of the other. A new criterion, _TE$T_E$-optimality, is defined, based on the difference in the deviances from the two models, and comparisons are made with T$T$-, _Ds$D_s$- and D$D$-optimality. Issues are raised through the study of two examples in which designs are assessed using simulation studies of the power to reject the null hypothesis of the smaller model being correct, when the data are generated from the larger model. Parameter estimation for discrimination designs is also discussed and a simple method is investigated of combining designs to form a hybrid design in order to achieve both model discrimination and estimation. This method has a computational advantage over the use of a compound criterion and the similar performance of the designs obtained from the two approaches is illustrated in an example.     

Hepatitis C knowledge among staff in U.S. drug treatment programs

Staff in drug treatment programs are in an optimal position to support the hepatitis C related needs of their patients. To do so effectively, however, staff need to have accurate information about the hepatitis C virus (HCV). This article examines the HCV knowledge of staff (N= 104) in two drug-free and two methadone maintenance treatment programs (MMTPs) in the New York metropolitan area. Five of 20 items on an HCV Knowledge Assessment were not answered correctly by the majority of the participating staff, and total scores on the Assessment averaged 70%, 71%, and 45% among the medically credentialed staff, non-medically credentialed staff in the MMTPs, and non-medically credentialed staff in the drug-free programs, respectively. The majority of those in the latter group had never participated in a training specifically devoted to HCV. Results suggest the need for effective HCV-related training for all staff in drug treatment programs.     

Serials Spoken Here - Reports of Conferences,Institutes, and Seminars

Abstract

This column includes reports on sessions from the American Library Association Midwinter Conference 2019, with a report on how libraries can be part of a shared community with developers and users through the use of future of libraries, is open (FOLIO) library services platform and a report reflecting on future technological developments. Additionally, conference reports from the 14th Annual Electronic Resources & Libraries Conference, which includes reports on implementing troubleshooting training programs for public services staff and using budget cuts as an opportunity to generate goodwill. The remaining reports are from American Library Association Annual Conference 2019, which includes a report about the parallels between managing campaigns and managing an integrated library system (ILS) migration, how to improve a collection development plan with resources about Cheyenne and Arapaho people, and an exploration of the challenges of hosting student and faculty journals.     

Anxiety and child protection – implications for practitioner–parent relations

Social work practitioners face powerful existential threats in child protection. Core aspects of anxiety and their significance for practitioner–parent relations are identified. Social and psychoanalytic theories are utilized to suggest that the production of anxiety in child protection stems from multiple sources and that insufficient attention has been paid to the social context of poverty and disadvantage. Menzies' core analytic categories of primary and secondary anxiety are applied and extended to take account of specific dimensions of the social and organizational context of child protection practice for social work. Processing the anxiety is central to practitioner–parent relations that lie at the heart of the protection of children.