scholarly journals The Wheel of Change Moves On: Assessing the Severity of Stalking Behavior

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110152
Author(s):  
Ewa B. Stefanska ◽  
Nicholas Longpré ◽  
Rekayla S. Harriman

Stalking is a significant social issue. The inconsistency as to what defines stalking has resulted in the creation of different methods to measure the crime. However, there has been minimal work done that assesses the severity of individual stalking behaviors. The aim of the present study was to assess the level of stalking behavior in terms of severity within a randomly selected sample of 924 cases from the database of the National Stalking Helpline. Item response theory analyses were used to assist in developing a scale that displays the ranking order of each stalking behavior. These analyses were also used to examine whether the stalking behavioral items created a single continuum of severity of stalking. Results indicated that 16 stalking behavioral items of the 28 items present in the National Stalking Helpline, best represented the severity of stalking. Unwanted communication behaviors such as text messages and phone calls were located at the lower end of the severity scale, whereas criminal damage and death threats were mapped on the higher end of the continuum. The findings also revealed that the 16 items categorized under 6 factors. The findings of the present study provide many implications for stalking agency professionals and criminal justice responses.

2021 ◽  
pp. 001857872199980
Author(s):  
Christopher Giuliano ◽  
Bradley St. Pierre ◽  
Jamie George

Objective: To compare video to pharmacist education for patients taking sacubitril/valsartan. Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial comparing video to pharmacist education with a second randomized intervention of education delivered through text or phone call at 14 days. The primary outcome compared the change in short term knowledge between groups and the secondary outcome was long term knowledge at 1 month. Results: Forty-three patients were included. Scores improved significantly ( P < .05) in the pharmacist group from 54.1% to 85.9% and from 64.3% to 86.1% in the video education group, although there was no difference between groups (31.8% vs 22.9%, P = .13). At 30 days, scores were significantly higher than baseline (difference 16.5%, P < .05) although did decrease from the posttest (difference 7.4%, P < .05). There was no difference at 30 days between those that received text messages versus phone calls (−10% vs −5.5%, respectively; P = .36). Conclusion: We saw improvements in both short term and long term knowledge for patients receiving education through pharmacist or video education. Neither approach was more effective than the other. Clinicians can use either approach based on patient preference.


Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1233
Author(s):  
Ernest Osei ◽  
Kwasi Agyei ◽  
Boikhutso Tlou ◽  
Tivani P. Mashamba-Thompson

Mobile health (mHealth) technologies have been identified as promising strategies for improving access to healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. However, the extent of availability and use of mHealth among healthcare professionals in Ghana is not known. The study’s main objective was to examine the availability and use of mHealth for disease diagnosis and treatment support by healthcare professionals in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 285 healthcare professionals across 100 primary healthcare clinics in the Ashanti Region with an adopted survey tool. We obtained data on the participants’ background, available health infrastructure, healthcare workforce competency, ownership of a mobile wireless device, usefulness of mHealth, ease of use of mHealth, user satisfaction, and behavioural intention to use mHealth. Descriptive statistics were conducted to characterise healthcare professionals’ demographics and clinical features. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to explore the influence of the demographic factors on the availability and use of mHealth for disease diagnosis and treatment support. STATA version 15 was used to complete all the statistical analyses. Out of the 285 healthcare professionals, 64.91% indicated that mHealth is available to them, while 35.08% have no access to mHealth. Of the 185 healthcare professionals who have access to mHealth, 98.4% are currently using mHealth to support healthcare delivery. Logistic regression model analysis significantly (p < 0.05) identified that factors such as the availability of mobile wireless devices, phone calls, text messages, and mobile apps are associated with HIV, TB, medication adherence, clinic appointments, and others. There is a significant association between the availability of mobile wireless devices, text messages, phone calls, mobile apps, and their use for disease diagnosis and treatment compliance from the chi-square test analysis. The findings demonstrate a low level of mHealth use for disease diagnosis and treatment support by healthcare professionals at rural clinics. We encourage policymakers to promote the implementation of mHealth in rural clinics.


2021 ◽  
Vol Publish Ahead of Print ◽  
Author(s):  
Rogério Cortecioni Lance ◽  
Antônio Pazin-Filho ◽  
Fábio Fernandes Neves
Keyword(s):  

1979 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Hajji ◽  
T. A. Wilson ◽  
S. J. Lai-Fook

The continuum solution for the deformation of an elastic half space covered by a membrane is used to interpret measurements of the indentation of lung lobes under a column of fluid. The shear modulus mu of the underlying parenchyma is found to be approximately 0.7 times transpulmonary pressure, independent of species size. The tension in the pleural membrane T increases rapidly with increasing membrane area. For dog lungs, the value of T is 10(3) to 10(4) dyn/cm. For the larger species tested, pigs and horses, T is larger. The continuum solution shows that a concentrated force applied to the pleural surface is distributed over a distance T/mu as it is transmitted across the pleural membrane. The membrane is important in determining the displacement produced by forces that act within a region that is small compared to this distance, approximately 2 cm for dog lungs. By comparing the tension-area curve of the pleural membrane with the pressure-volume curve of the lobe, it is found that the pleural membrane contributes about 20% of the work done by the lung during deflation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e24103-e24103
Author(s):  
Rahul Banerjee ◽  
Chiung-Yu Huang ◽  
Lisa Dunn ◽  
Jennifer Knoche ◽  
Kelly Jean Brassil ◽  
...  

e24103 Background: Patients with multiple myeloma (MM) experience acute quality of life (QOL) exacerbations following autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) that can lead to long-term complications. Life coaching can improve QOL in a structured & personalized manner. We investigated the feasibility of a digital life coaching (DLC) platform, where coaching is accomplished through phone calls and text messages, for patients with MM during ASCT. Methods: Our pilot study (clinicaltrials.gov ID: NCT04432818) enrolled adult patients with MM, English proficiency, and cellphone ownership (smartphone not required). The 16-week DLC program, beginning at Day -5 before ASCT, included unlimited digital access to a certified life coach to help with identifying and accomplishing wellness-related goals. Our primary outcome was ongoing DLC engagement (≥ 1 bidirectional conversation every 4 weeks). Secondary outcomes were ePRO assessments of QOL (PROMIS Global Health), insomnia (PROMIS Sleep Disturbances), and distress (NCCN DT). Electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) assessments were delivered via automated REDCap emails every 1-2 weeks. Results: Of 18 screened patients, 15 (83%) enrolled in our study; 2 patients dropped out before initiating DLC (including 1 who was unable to connect with her coach between Day -5 and 0). Of 13 remaining patients, median age was 65 (range 50-81) and 23% had an ECOG performance status of 1 (remainder 0). DLC conversations occurred a mean of every 7.6 days (range 3-28) overall and every 6.5 days (range 2.8-14) during the initial 28-day period including high-dose melphalan and hospitalization. 80% of patients maintained ≥ 1 conversation every 4 weeks. Selected ePRO results (mean ± standard error) are shown in the table. Conclusions: Certain MM patients are able to engage digitally with a life coach and complete email-based ePRO assessments during and after ASCT. Limitations of our study include selection bias and the Day -5 start date, which may be too late logistically and symptom-wise (given our ePRO findings suggestive of peak distress pre-ASCT). DLC may play an innovative and scalable role given the emphasis on remotely delivered care during the COVID-19 pandemic. A Phase II randomized study of DLC versus usual care is under way (clinicaltrials.gov ID: NCT04589286). Clinical trial information: NCT04432818. [Table: see text]


2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (9) ◽  
pp. 1894-1904 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua T Fuller ◽  
Tabina K Choudhury ◽  
Deborah A Lowe ◽  
Steve Balsis ◽  

AbstractObjectivesNeuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) are common among individuals with dementia of the Alzheimer’s type (DAT). We sought to characterize which NPS more purely relate to cognitive dysfunction in DAT, relative to other NPS.MethodDemographic, neurocognitive, neuroimaging, and NPS data were mined from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database (n = 906). Using factor analysis, we analyzed the degree to which individual NPS were associated with DAT-associated cognitive dysfunction. We also employed item response theory to graphically depict the ability of individual NPS to index DAT-associated cognitive dysfunction across a continuum ranging from cognitively normal to mild DAT.ResultsPsychotic symptoms (hallucinations and delusions) were more strongly related to the continuum of DAT-associated cognitive dysfunction than other NPS, with the strength of the relationship peaking at high levels of disease severity. Psychotic symptoms also negatively correlated with brain volume and did not relate to the presence of vision problems. Aberrant motor behavior and apathy had relatively smaller associations with DAT-associated cognitive dysfunction, while other NPS showed minimal associations.DiscussionPsychotic symptoms most strongly indexed DAT-associated cognitive dysfunction, whereas other NPS, such as depression and anxiety, were not as precisely related to the DAT-associated cognitive dysfunction.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S174-S174
Author(s):  
Xin Yao Lin ◽  
Margie E Lachman

Abstract Social relationships are beneficial for psychological wellbeing, but they are also associated with interpersonal stress. With the growing usage of multiple forms of electronic communications (EC) including phone calls, text messages, video chat, and internet among adults of all ages, it was of interest to explore the relationship between social network size (SNS), in-person communication (PC), and EC, and whether the relationship between SNS and frequency of communication is associated with interpersonal stress. A daily diary study was conducted over seven days for 142 participants ages 22 to 94. SNS was assessed with the social convoy model. Frequency of PC and EC, along with interpersonal stress, were assessed daily. As expected, multiple regression analysis results showed that older adults had smaller SNS and less frequent technology communication (text messages, video chat, internet) compared to younger adults. With regard to effects on interpersonal stress, there were no main effects for frequency of PC, EC, or SNS. However, the frequency of EC moderated the relationship between SNS and interpersonal stress, controlling for amount of PC. Among those with a smaller SNS, having more frequent EC was associated with less interpersonal stress compared to those with less frequent EC. For those with a larger SNS, having more frequent EC was associated with more interpersonal stress compared to those with less EC, but PC was not related to interpersonal stress. The discussion will consider implications of the findings for developing interventions to minimize stress from interpersonal communications, especially those that involve EC.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Rodríguez

Levin and Rappaport (1995) have proposed a binary classification for change of state verbs that revolves around the locus of cause for these changes: whether the cause is internal or external to the entity undergoing change. They claim this distinction is crosslinguistically viable and explains the syntactic behavior of these predicates. Based on work done by Smith (1970) and Wright (2001), this paper argues for an extension of Levin and Rappaport’s binary classification. Instead, I propose a continuum resulting from the analysis of corpora in English and Spanish for verbs that would enter the binary categories advanced by Levin and Rappaport. One of the problematic pairs of verbs for their classification when applied to Spanish, florecer ‘to bloom’ and marchitar(se) ‘to wilt’ is analyzed in detail. The continuum proposed here extends Levin and Rappaport’s categories and takes into account the locus of control of the change and whether external factors may be necessary conditions for the change to occur. In particular, this new focus can account for the presence or absence of the clitic se with some of the predicates in Spanish.


Neurology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 93 (14 Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. S33.3-S34
Author(s):  
Zachary Bevilacqua ◽  
Mary Kerby ◽  
David Fletcher ◽  
Zhongxue Chen ◽  
Becca Merritt ◽  
...  

ObjectiveInvestigate the potential factors influencing resolution of chief concussion symptoms in a longitudinal design. Second, assess subjects’ perception of their concussion recovery and what types of activities and accommodations appeared beneficial.BackgroundAthletes re-entering the academic setting after a concussion is commonly referred as return-to-learn (RTL), which has appeared secondary to the abundantly researched return-to-play protocols implemented ubiquitously. Importantly, every concussed collegiate, adolescent, and pediatric athlete is first and foremost a student-athlete, with “student” holding the emphasis. To date, very few studies have examined the RTL aspect of concussion recovery, and the effects premature classroom attendance may cause.Design/MethodsNine concussed, college aged (18-26 years), full-time students were monitored longitudinally throughout their recovery from diagnosis to full symptom-free academic participation. Symptom severity for five prevalent symptoms were recorded 4 times per day, along with a daily phone call to report participant’s diet, duration of screen-time usage and music listened to, physical activity participation, and types of classes attended.ResultsResponse rates to text messages and phone calls yielded a mean 92% and 93% respectively across the nine subjects. Additionally, five variables were significantly associated with symptom resolution (music, sleep, physical activity, water, and time) (p = 0.0004 to p = 0.036). Lastly, subjects reported math and computer-oriented courses as the most difficult (33% and 44% respectively). Additional time on assignments/exams and reducing screen brightness were the most beneficial accommodations (66% and 56% respectively).ConclusionsOur findings introduce a novel and robust approach to monitoring concussed students throughout their recovery. Furthermore, this methodology is the first to produce holistic evidence-based results concerning re-integrating students to the classroom. Lastly, it appears that dietary and social behaviors can indeed influence symptom resolution.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Pisano ◽  
Marco Pironti ◽  
Alison Rieple

AbstractSocioeconomic trends (such as makers, crowdsourcing, sharing economy, gamification) as well as technological trends (such as cloud computing, 3D printing technology, application, big data, TV on demand and the Internet of things) are changing the scenario and creating new opportunities, new businesses and, as a result, new players. The high level of uncertainty caused by the fast speed of innovation technology along with an enormous amount of information difficult to analyse and exploit are characterizing the current framework. On the other hand, businesses such as Netflix – with its 44,000 users and a long tail business model – show a new service based on TV on demand where innovation starts from the convergence between two different industries (TV and the Internet) and spreads on the need of new users. Quirky, with its innovative open business model, is manufacturing new products designed and developed by the community and finally produced with the use of 3D printing technology. While Google in a multi-sided model are giving their new glasses to different developers who build their own application on them, Kickstarter finds its business funders in the crowd, and pays them back with its future products, according to what the organization needs. Another element that adds complexity to the previous framework is the new customer. He or she is showing a social attitude in favour of transparency, openness, collaboration, and sharing. Every second more than 600 tweets are posted on Twitter and around 700 status updates are posted on Facebook. At the same time, people are receiving text messages, e-mails and skype or phone calls and simultaneously consuming TV, radio and print media. In this scenario characterized by trends where employees, funders, customers and partners do not play a stable role but work together with a sort of “platform organization” to create a product or service completely customized for different market niches, how can an organization set up an innovative business model in a defined trend? Is it possible to identify a sort of framework, able to inspire new business models, with an examination of trends? In this article we will use a mix of different approaches to inspire new business model.


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