Exploring lay uncertainty about an environmental health risk

Background: Telehealth has seen widespread use since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and 82% patients required assistance in accessing their telehealth appointments. This assistance commonly comes from a family caregiver who may or may not be comfortable using the technologies associated with telehealth. The objective of our study was to analyze a demographically representative survey of U.S. family caregivers to understand the level of comfort using telehealth technologies among family caregivers. Methods: A secondary analysis of survey data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Level of caregiver comfort using computers, smartphones, and tablets was determined through three Likert-style questions. Proportional odds logistic regression was used to understand the associations between demographic variables and level of caregiver comfort using each technology, when adjusting for covariates. Results: A total of 340 caregivers were included in the analysis. Compared with non-Hispanic white caregivers, Asian caregivers had higher odds (odds ratio [OR] 3.14; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.36, 8.02; p = 0.01) of expressing comfort using computers; black caregivers (OR 0.46; 95% CI 0.21, 0.98; p = 0.04) and Hispanic caregivers (OR 0.36; 95% CI 0.17, 0.79; p = 0.01) expressed lower odds of comfort using smartphones; and Asian caregivers had higher odds (OR 4.64; 95% CI 2.05, 11.69; p = 0.001) of expressing comfort using tablets. Conclusion and Implications: There are identified disparities in the level of technological comfort using computers, smartphones, and tablets by different racial and ethnic groups. Health systems should consider early stakeholder involvement in the design of telehealth technologies, culturally responsive training materials on telehealth technology use to reduce disparities in comfort using telehealth technologies.

The use of social mobility as a variable in survey research - Any research stimulates new ideas which are not always reported in its final version. As such this final report means a reproduction of a whole lot of creativity and at the same time a serious limitation. Some important information is not presented for the scientific forum. The intention of this article, the plea of this article is a secondary analysis of survey data which were not collected for the study of mobility, nevertheless could be interpreted this way. In the questionnaire were items on the socio-professional class of the subject, his father and son. By means of the graph-theory we reduced the information, we became patterns, we tried to describe these patterns by means of a numerical value. The design was not adapted to a thorough analysis, we imagined possible alternatives for the SPC-item. Because this problem was marginal to the main design we were not able to applicate the obtained index-value.

Richard Merelman is one of the talented essayists of our discipline. His previous reflections in the areas of power, political socialization, and the politics of education have been penetrating, insightful, and even provocative. present essay falls within this fine tradition. One can applaud with enthusiasm the application of a sensitive intellect to such a cosmic problem as the teaching of democratic values in the school system. As with all good essays, however, this one raises as many, perhaps more, questions than it answers. first and fundamental question concerns the necessary assumption that American education in fact makes little or contribution to the development of democratic values amongst its charges. Merelman supports this contention primarily by citing research that shows relatively little observable impact on students from teachers, the curriculum, or the school as a whole. Especially because had a hand in some of the research efforts to which he alludes, am not going to quarrel seriously with this argument-though here than is usually the case one wants to utter the obligatory, more research is needed, we need longitudinal designs, the cumulative impact may be immense, we're looking at the wrong things, and so forth. But even granting the validity of the research, does it really provide evidence for the accusation of failure on the part of the schools? answer must be no on several counts. Simply because it is difficult to show specific effects does not necessarily mean that democratic values are not being instilled. Comparison with the studies of occupational and income achievement are instructive. Investigators are hard-pressed (as Merelman notes) to come up with substantial net effects from particular schools, educational practices, curricula, and the like. But one seriously argues that most people would be literate or capable of accomplishing an extraordinary number of things if they had formal education. evidence is overwhelming that education is a very strong predictor of occupation and income. analytic and theoretical difficulty has been trying to determine how education performs this task, especially in the seeming absence of strong school (socialization) effects. One resolution has been to look upon schooling as a certification process, with varying amounts and types of schooling entitling one to certain subsequent opportunities over a lifetime and building up a set of widely recognized role expectations (Meyer, 1977). From a socialization perspective it has also been acknowledged that schools tend to have a common, minimal floor of educational content, thus ensuring some commonalities in outcomes. Another socialization argument has been that education produces propensities and dispositions that are evoked later on. In any event, the contention is not that education, per se, has impact. Now a straightforward application of this line of reasoning to the realm of schools and the teaching of democratic values would be amiss. Nevertheless, there are some striking parallels. There is a mountain of evidence showing that in adult populations education ordinarily bears a strong relation to what theorists typically describe as democratic val. ues. After conducting a massive secondary analysis of survey data drawn from the 1949-1975 period, Herbert Hyman and Charles Wright concluded, The large, lasting, and diverse good effects on values found in this study, coupled with the very large, pervasive, and enduring effects in heightening knowledge, receptivity to knowledge, and information-seeking documented in our earlier study 11975] establish that formal education has long been an important force throughout America in molding character as well as intellect. Our findings are bound to surprise the reader who has come to accept the continuing, widespread, and severe criticisms of educational institutions. . I (1979, p. 61, emphasis added). As with occupation and income, it is not clear to what degree this is a consequence of socialization, certification, or a combination of the two. Does schooling in this country lead to exposure to and internalization of democratic values or does it help slot people into subsequent social, economic, and political roles where these values have a better chance to flourish and be, reinforced? One is a direct effect, the other indirect. Both probably operate. As in the case of occupation and

This is a report on a secondary analysis of survey data to assess relationships between commanders' priorities and the psychological readiness of their units. The data were taken from two unrelated surveys - one of U.S. Army company commanders and the other of soldiers in those officers' units. Results indicated that almost all commanders put the highest priority on development of combat skills. Soldiers in units commanded by officers who also accorded high priority to human dimensions were more confident, committed, vertically bonded, psychologically healthy; and the married soldiers were more satisfied with their military and family lives than those in units whose commanders did not put high priority on human dimensions. This study is significant not only for its findings but also because it demonstrates the feasibility of using surveys to provide empirical information about associations between leaders' values and the psychological readiness of their subordinates.

Increasing ethnic and racial diversity often fuels feelings of threat among ethnic-racial majorities (e.g., self-identified white Americans and European nationals). We contend that these threat perceptions depend on the policy context. Across four studies, we test whether more inclusive immigrant integration policies attenuate ethnic-racial majorities' threat reactions. Studies 1 to 3 (n = 469, 733, and 1745, respectively) used experimental methods with white American participants in the United States. Study 4 (n = 499,075) used secondary analysis of survey data comparing attitudes of nationals in 30 European countries and measured the impact of actual changes in diversity and policies over 10 years. Our results show that integration policies shape threat reactions even in those situations when increasing diversity could be seen as the most threatening: when narratives highlight the majority's impending minority position or when diversity suddenly increases. When policies are more inclusive toward immigrants, ethnic-racial majority participants report less threat (or no threat) in response to increasing diversity.

PurposeBecause procurement policies are one of the means of redressing discrimination and economic exclusion, the US Government has targeted 23 per cent of its annual half-trillion dollar spend to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and 5 per cent of its spend to women-owned businesses.Design/methodology/approachThe research framework is informed by two theoretical paradigms, feminist empiricism and entrepreneurial feminism, and uses a secondary analysis of survey data of active federal contractors.FindingsEmpirical findings inform the extent to which certifications are associated with bid frequency and bid success. The results indicate that none of the various certifications increase either bid frequency or bid success. The findings are consistent with entrepreneurial feminism and call for federal accountability in contracting with women-owned supplier firms.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings are consistent with entrepreneurial feminism and call for federal accountability in contracting with women-owned supplier firms.Practical implicationsRecommendations include the need to review the impact of consolidated tenders on designated (as certified) SME vendors and to train procurement personnel about the economic contributions of women-owned businesses.Originality/valueThis research studies the efficacy of various certifications, with particular reference to that of women-owned, on the frequency with which SMEs bid on, and succeed in obtaining, US federal procurement contracts.

We examined the impact of empowering work conditions on nurses' work engagement and effectiveness, and compared differences among these relationships in new graduates and experienced nurses. As many nurses near retirement, every effort is needed to retain nurses and to ensure that work environments are attractive to new nurses. Experience in the profession and generational differences may affect how important work factors interact to affect work behaviours. We conducted a secondary analysis of survey data from two studies and compared the pattern of relationships among study variables in two groups: 185 nurses 2 years post-graduation and 294 nurses with more than 2 years of experience. A multi-group SEM analysis indicated a good fit of the hypothesized model. Work engagement significantly mediated the empowerment/effectiveness relationship in both groups, although the impact of engagement on work effectiveness was significantly stronger for experienced nurses. Engagement is an important mechanism by which empowerment affects nurses feelings of effectiveness but less important to new graduates' feelings of work effectiveness than empowerment. Implications for nursing management Managers must be aware of the role of empowerment in promoting work engagement and effectiveness and differential effects on new graduates and more seasoned nurses.

Unprofessional behaviour among hospital staff is prevalent worldwide. Few studies have investigated the experiences of allied health hospital staff. The objective of our study was to examine the types and prevalence of unprofessional behaviour experienced by these staff as well as their self-reported speaking-up skills. We performed a secondary analysis of survey data from staff across seven hospitals. Approximately 92% (N=485; 95% CI, 89.6-93.9) of respondents experienced incivility or bullying at least once in the preceding 12 months, and 29.7% (N=157; 95% CI, 25.5-34.0) experienced incivility or bullying weekly to multiple times daily. Respondents who reported having speaking-up skills experienced less frequent incivility or bullying (OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.35-0.81) than those staff without these skills. Speaking-up programmes may better support staff to address unprofessional behaviour if implemented as part of hospital-wide culture change interventions involving all hospital staff.

The purpose of this study was to consider how researchers can incorporate item attributes into nonparametric person fit analysis for the purpose of providing additional insight into person fit beyond what is available using typical total-scale person fit approaches. Inspired by parametric person fit statistics that consider patterns of residuals at the total-scale, between-item-attribute, and within-item-attribute levels, we proposed simple adaptations to standard Mokken Scale Analysis (MSA) person fit analysis techniques to reflect these three levels of person fit analysis. We demonstrated the technique using a secondary analysis of survey data related to learning motivation and considered how the results may be interpreted in an affective assessment context. We used a simple exploratory simulation study to consider the techniques under a wider range of conditions. Overall, the results suggested that it is possible to incorporate item attributes into MSA person fit analysis at the total-scale, between-item-attribute, and within-item attribute levels, and that each set of analyses provides a unique perspective on person fit.

Factors Related to Benzodiazepine Use in Quebec-A Secondary Analysis of Survey Data

Social capital is upheld for its value in explaining variations in crime across place. Collective efficacy is understood to be the superlative link between less effectual components of neighbourhood social capital (such as social ties and reciprocity) and lower rates of crime. The current study examines the value of neighbourhood social capital in explaining another community attribute associated with neighbourhoods: fear of crime. We conduct a secondary analysis of survey data collected from over 2000 people clustered in 82 Statistical Local Areas in Brisbane, Australia, to examine the correlates of fear of crime. We find that when comparing elements of social capital, the agentic element of social capital – collective efficacy – has the strongest relationship to reduced fear of crime.

When considering householder responses to flood risk, researchers and policy makers have perhaps focused too much on the influence of risk perceptions and concerns about material costs and benefits. Using secondary analysis of survey data from UK households who had experienced flooding or who were at risk of flooding, this paper presents evidence to suggest that protective behaviour may be influenced less by material and financial considerations than by concerns about feelings of anxiety and insecurity. It also looks at the role of beliefs about protection and flooding in mediating the impacts of flood experience and suggests that experience reduces confidence in the ameliorative capacity of insurance and promotes the belief that protective measures increase anxiety about flooding. The paper concludes that more research should be carried out on the role of anticipated emotions in risk response and that policy makers and the designers of protection products should pay more attention to the emotional barriers and incentives to adaptation.

The article discusses new approaches to the study of civilizational identities in western social science and their use in the field of Russian studies. There was a rise in interest towards civilizational problematics in international relations in the 2010s which was accompanied by rejection of such approaches as the “clash of civilizations” thesis. In opposition to Huntington’s theory new research programs have been formed which focus on “plural and pluralist civilizations” and “civilizational politics”. One of the sources of these new perspectives can be found in the theoretical models of contemporary historical sociology. However, there was a predominance of the constructivist approach to the analysis of civilizational identities which does not fully appreciate the influence of historical legacies on such identities. Western research on Russian civilizational identity also often draws on the constructivist approach and focuses on ideological discourses. In their studies of Russian “civilizationism” western researchers discussed discourses of the political elite and their influence on a broader population. Such studies were based on secondary analysis of survey data as well as on the use of qualitative methods. Theoretical and methodological approaches of western scholars who analyzed Russian civilizational identity deserve careful consideration. Nevertheless, some of the conclusions of such studies need to be complemented or corrected due to their rather limited empirical base.

Little is known about the Latino symptom experience and how symptoms influence participation in usual activities and satisfaction with participation in social roles. Secondary analysis of survey data collected in community and clinic settings was conducted. Data were collected using Health-Related Quality of Life 30-day items and Patient Reported Outcome Measurement System symptom status scales. Descriptive statistics and univariate linear and multiple linear regression models were computed. Participants ( N = 2,974) were primarily female and Dominican. Most surveys were completed in Spanish and in the community setting; and the clinic sample had more symptoms. In the multiple linear regression for participation in usual activities, as the number of days with symptoms increased, the number of days that poor physical or mental health influenced participation in usual activities increased. In addition, for satisfaction with participation in social roles, as the number of days with pain and levels of depression and anxiety increased, the levels of satisfaction decreased. Spanish survey administration was associated with decreased levels of satisfaction; and recruitment setting was not a significant predictor. The study addressed multiple knowledge gaps about the Latino symptom experience.

BackgroundThis cross-sectional study estimated prevalence and health-related burden of possible refractory or unexplained chronic cough (RCC).MethodsThis secondary analysis of survey data from France, Germany, Italy and Spain included respondents who self-reported current chronic cough (CC; cough ≥8 weeks) and no smoking/vaping, lung cancer history, interstitial lung disease or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/oral steroid use. Respondents who scored ≥4 (of 10) on a cough severity visual analogue scale and did not report “a great deal” of relief from ≥1 category of eligible medications for CC-associated conditions were included in the possible RCC group; of these, respondents who received ≥2 or 3 categories of eligible medications were also included in possible RCC subgroups 1 and 2, respectively. Remaining respondents were included in the non-RCC group. Demographics/clinical characteristics and cough/health-related burden were assessed.ResultsOf 591 respondents with CC, 165 (27.9%) were included in the possible RCC group; 56 (9.5%) and 11 (1.9%) also met criteria for possible RCC subgroups 1 and 2, respectively. The possible RCC group versus non-RCC group had a higher proportion of females (66.7% versus 57.3%; p=0.037), lower mean EuroQoL five-dimension, five-level health questionnaire index (0.72 versus 0.80; p<0.001), lower mean Leicester Cough Questionnaire score (13.49 versus 15.95; p<0.001) and more mean healthcare visits within the past 6 months (9.87 versus 6.26; p<0.001).ConclusionUp to 27.9% of this European population with CC may have RCC and experience increased health-related burden relative to non-RCC.