Letter to the Editor
In: American journal of health promotion, Band 14, Heft 4, S. 271-271
ISSN: 2168-6602
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In: American journal of health promotion, Band 14, Heft 4, S. 271-271
ISSN: 2168-6602
In: Journal of family issues, Band 13, Heft 3, S. 351-377
ISSN: 1552-5481
Most studies that examine the effects of family structure have employed relatively crude measures, typically a snapshot of family intactness at age 14. In this article, we use data from the National Survey of Families and Households to examine (a) how one might better construct measures of family structure that reflect change during early life and (b) what analytical and empirical opportunities are available when the data provide a more complete parent history. We draw four conclusions. First, a substantial fraction of children have extremely diverse parental situations, even though the majority of children live in intact families. Snapshot measures understate greatly the dynamic complexities of a respondent's parental situation. Second, the parent histories of respondents provide a rich but complicated set of longitudinal data and the complexity of these data makes it infeasible to adopt a data-driven approach to summarize family structure over the early lives of children. It is therefore useful to adopt a more theoretical approach in identifying salient dimensions of a respondent's parent history. Third, existing theoretical perspectives conceptualize the influences of parents in markedly different ways. These contrasting views, in turn, imply quite distinct empirical measures. Finally, more informative measures of family structure may allow one to adjudicate between alternative hypotheses of family structure in ways not possible with snapshot measures.
In: Journal of empirical research on human research ethics: JERHRE ; an international journal, Band 2, Heft 4, S. 3-14
ISSN: 1556-2654
Norms of behavior in scientific research represent ideals to which most scientists subscribe. Our analysis of the extent of dissonance between these widely espoused ideals and scientists' perceptions of their own and others' behavior is based on survey responses from 3,247 mid- and early-career scientists who had research funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health. We found substantial normative dissonance, particularly between espoused ideals and respondents' perceptions of other scientists' typical behavior. Also, respondents on average saw other scientists' behavior as more counternormative than normative. Scientists' views of their fields as cooperative or competitive were associated with their normative perspectives, with competitive fields showing more counternormative behavior. The high levels of normative dissonance documented here represent a persistent source of stress in science.
In: Journal of empirical research on human research ethics: JERHRE ; an international journal, Band 1, Heft 1, S. 43-50
ISSN: 1556-2654
Those concerned with protecting the integrity of science generally focus on the serious but rare infractions of falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism (FFP). While the violations of FFP are clear threats to the quality of scientific work and public trust in science, are they the behaviors that researchers themselves find most troubling? Noticing that scientists seldom are asked to report their perceptions of the behaviors that pose problems for the enterprise of science, we conducted six focus groups with researchers from major research universities. A total of 51 scientists participated in our focus-group discussions, which lasted from 1.5 to 2 hours each. We found that while researchers were aware of the problems of FFP, in their eyes misconduct generally is associated with more mundane, everyday problems in the work environment. These more common problems fall into four categories: The meaning of data, the rules of science, life with colleagues, and the pressures of production in science. Focus on the "normal misbehaviors" that are part of the ordinary life of researchers allows us to see the way the organization of science generates both compliance and deviance from ethical norms.
In: Journal of empirical research on human research ethics: JERHRE ; an international journal, Band 5, Heft 3, S. 67-83
ISSN: 1556-2654
The professional behavior of scientists, for good or ill, is likely associated with their perceptions of whether they are treated fairly in their work environments, including their academic department and university and by relevant regulatory bodies. These relationships may also be influenced by their own personal characteristics, such as being overcommitted to their work, and by the interactions between these factors. Theory also suggests that such associations may be mediated by negative or positive affect. We examined these issues using data from a national, mail-based survey administered in 2006 and 2007 to 5,000 randomly selected faculty from biomedical and social science departments at 50 top-tier research universities in the United States. We found that perceptions of justice in one's workplace (organizational justice) are positively associated with self-report of "ideal" behaviors and negatively associated with self-report of misbehavior and misconduct. By contrast, researchers who perceive that they are being unfairly treated are less likely to report engaging in "ideal" behaviors and more likely to report misbehavior and misconduct. Overcommitment to one's work is also associated with negative affect and interacts with perceptions of unfair treatment in ways that are associated with higher self-report of misbehavior. Thus, perceptions of fair treatment in the work environment appear to play important roles in fostering—or undermining—research integrity.
In: Journal of empirical research on human research ethics: JERHRE ; an international journal, Band 1, Heft 1, S. 51-66
ISSN: 1556-2654
Policymakers concerned about maintaining the integrity of science have recently expanded their attention from a focus on misbehaving individuals to characteristics of the environments in which scientists work. Little empirical evidence exists about the role of organizational justice in promoting or hindering scientific integrity. Our findings indicate that when scientists believe they are being treated unfairly they are more likely to behave in ways that compromise the integrity of science. Perceived violations of distributive and procedural justice were positively associated with self-reports of misbehavior among scientists.
In: American journal of health promotion, Band 18, Heft 2, S. 125-132
ISSN: 2168-6602
Purpose. We hypothesize that elevated charges among former smokers reflect differential cessation of sicker individuals. We ascertained the relationship between prior health care charges and time to smoking cessation. Design. Prospective, observational study using panel survey data and administrative health plan records. Setting. A large managed care organization in Minnesota. Subjects. A stratified random sample of 8000 health plan members 40 years and older, yielding 611 current smokers at baseline. Measures. Smoking cessation measured via self-report survey. Health care charges, mortality, and disenrollment data derived from automated health plan databases. Results. Among smoking adults without chronic disease diagnoses at baseline, a first attempt at quitting smoking was positively associated with the presence of any inpatient charges (relative risk [RR], 1.9; p < .05) or any emergency department or urgent care charges (RR, 1.4; p < .10). We also observed positive associations between total charges and ambulatory charges in the top tertile (RR, 1.5 and 1.6, respectively; p < .05) with a first attempt at quitting smoking, further suggesting graded relationships. Among smoking adults with one or more of four chronic disease diagnoses at baseline, being in the top two tertiles of total charges or ambulatory care charges was predictive of a subsequent attempt at quitting smoking. Conclusions. Higher health care charges, particularly from ambulatory (primary care clinic) settings, predicted smoking cessation among both individuals with and without chronic diseases. These charges may be proxies for other factors, such as smoking-related symptoms or physician advice or messaging regarding smoking cessation.
In: American journal of health promotion, Band 13, Heft 6, S. 347-357
ISSN: 2168-6602
Objectives.Investigators planning studies employing group-randomized designs need good estimates of the extra variation introduced as a result of correlated observations within units of assignment. We report intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for a wide range of outcomes commonly employed in worksite studies and demonstrate analysis methods that can limit their deleterious impact.Methods.A sample of 11, 711 employees of 24 firms recruited from the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area completed a mailed survey in the SUCCESS study, reporting on a broad array of outcomes. Applying mixed-model regression, we provide both crude and adjusted estimates of ICCs for 27 outcomes.Results.The crude ICCs were generally small, with a mean of .0163 and values ranging from 0 to .0650. Adjustment for demographics reduced the ICCs for 25 of the 27 outcomes, and adjustment for additional individual-level covariates further reduced the ICCs for 23 of the 27 outcomes.Conclusions.Our results suggest that worksite-level ICCs for a variety of outcomes are generally small and can generally be reduced by adjustment for individual-level characteristics. Incorporating this information in planning worksite studies can improve sample size calculations to avoid underpowered studies.
In: Research integrity and peer review, Band 4, Heft 1
ISSN: 2058-8615
In: Research integrity and peer review, Band 1, Heft 1
ISSN: 2058-8615
In: Journal of empirical research on human research ethics: JERHRE ; an international journal, Band 9, Heft 5, S. 72-88
ISSN: 1556-2654
The Survey of Organizational Research Climate (SOuRCe) is a new instrument that assesses dimensions of research integrity climate, including ethical leadership, socialization and communication processes, and policies, procedures, structures, and processes to address risks to research integrity. We present a descriptive analysis to characterize differences on the SOuRCe scales across departments, fields of study, and status categories (faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate students) for 11,455 respondents from three research-intensive universities. Among the seven SOuRCe scales, variance explained by status and fields of study ranged from 7.6% (Advisor–Advisee Relations) to 16.2% (Integrity Norms). Department accounted for greater than 50% of the variance explained for each of the SOuRCe scales, ranging from 52.6% (Regulatory Quality) to 80.3% (Integrity Inhibitors). It is feasible to implement this instrument in large university settings across a broad range of fields, department types, and individual roles within academic units. Published baseline results provide initial data for institutions using the SOuRCe who wish to compare their own research integrity climates.
BACKGROUND: Long-term opioid therapy for chronic pain arose amid limited availability and awareness of other pain therapies. Though many complementary and integrative health (CIH) and nondrug therapies are effective for chronic pain, little is known about CIH/nondrug therapy use patterns among people prescribed opioid analgesics. OBJECTIVES: To estimate patterns and predictors of self-reported CIH/nondrug therapy use for chronic pain within a representative national sample of U.S military veterans prescribed long-term opioids for chronic pain. RESEARCH DESIGN: National two-stage stratified random sample survey combined with electronic medical record data. Data were analyzed using logistic regressions and latent class analysis. SUBJECTS: U.S. military veterans in Veterans Affairs (VA) primary care who received >=6 months of opioid analgesics. MEASURES: Self-reported use of each of ten CIH/nondrug therapies to treat or cope with chronic pain in the past year: meditation/mindfulness, relaxation, psychotherapy, yoga, t'ai chi, aerobic exercise, stretching/strengthening, acupuncture, chiropractic, massage; Brief Pain Inventory-Interference (BPI-I) scale as a measure of pain-related function. RESULTS: 8,891(65%) of 13,660 invitees completed the questionnaire. 80% of veterans reported past-year use of at least one non-drug therapy for pain. Younger age and female sex were associated with use of most non-drug therapies. Higher pain interference was associated with lower use of exercise/movement therapies. Nondrug therapy use patterns reflected functional categories (psychological/behavioral, exercise/movement, manual). CONCLUSION: Use of CIH/nondrug therapies for pain was common among patients receiving long-term opioids. Future analyses will examine non-drug therapy use in relation to pain and quality of life outcomes over time.
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BACKGROUND: Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is committed to providing high-quality care and addressing health disparities for vulnerable Veterans. To meet these goals, VA policymakers need guidance on how to address social determinants in operations planning and day-to-day clinical care for Veterans. METHOD: MEDLINE (OVID), CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Sociological Abstracts were searched from inception to January 2017. Additional articles were suggested by peer reviewers and/or found through search of work associated with US and VA cohorts. Eligible articles compared Veterans vs non-Veterans, and/or Veterans engaged with those not engaged in VA healthcare. Our evidence maps summarized study characteristics, social determinant(s) addressed, and whether health behaviors, health services utilization, and/or health outcomes were examined. Qualitative syntheses and quality assessment were performed for articles on rurality, trauma exposure, and sexual orientation. RESULTS: We screened 7242 citations and found 131 eligible articles—99 compared Veterans vs non-Veterans, and 40 included engaged vs non-engaged Veterans. Most articles were cross-sectional and addressed socioeconomic factors (e.g., education and income). Fewer articles addressed rurality (N = 20), trauma exposure (N = 17), or sexual orientation (N = 2); none examined gender identity. We found no differences in rural residence between Veterans and non-Veterans, nor between engaged and non-engaged Veterans (moderate strength evidence). There was insufficient evidence for role of rurality in health behaviors, health services utilization, or health outcomes. Trauma exposures, including from events preceding military service, were more prevalent for Veterans vs non-Veterans and for engaged vs non-engaged Veterans (low-strength evidence); exposures were associated with smoking (low-strength evidence). DISCUSSION: Little published literature exists on some emerging social determinants. We found no differences in rural residence between our groups of interest, but ...
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In: Research integrity and peer review, Band 1, Heft S1
ISSN: 2058-8615