Sensitive Research With Adolescents: Just How Upsetting Are Self-Report Surveys Anyway?

2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling ◽  
Catalina Arata ◽  
Natalie O’Brien ◽  
David Bowers ◽  
Jeffrey Klibert

Distress related to answering personal survey questions about drug use, suicidal behavior, and physical and sexual abuse were examined in multiple convenience samples of adolescents. Samples varied in consent procedures utilized (active vs. passive parental consent), data collection setting (school vs. juvenile justice), developmental level (middle school vs. high school). Participation rates differed across consent procedures (e.g., 93% with passive vs. 62% with active parental consent). Results indicated that small percentages of adolescents in every sample reported frequently feeling upset while completing the survey (range 2.5% to 7.6%). Age, race, gender, and data collection strategy did not emerge as significant predictors of feeling upset. Instead, as hypothesized, adolescents reporting a history of suicidal ideation or attempt, illicit drug use, or experiences of physical or sexual victimization endorsed more frequent feelings of upset while completing the survey than peers without these experiences. Taken together, however, these sensitive event experiences explained only 6.6% of the variance in adolescents’ upset ratings. The scientific and ethical implications of these findings are discussed with regard to adolescent participation in survey research about sensitive topics.

1997 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 398-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Brown ◽  
Janice Russell ◽  
Christopher Thornton ◽  
Stewart Dunn

Objective: To determine the reported rates of child physical and sexual abuse experienced by hospitalised eating disordered patients compared to a control group of women attending general practitioners. Method: A retrospective survey using the self-report Finkelhor Sexual Life Events Inventory and clinical reports. Results: Nearly one-half of eating disordered patients reported a history of child sexual abuse and one-quarter reported child physical abuse. These rates were significantly higher than those reported by the control group. Conclusions: Direct questioning regarding trauma histories is warranted when assessing patients with eating disorders and attention to such issues should be incorporated into the total management plan.


1997 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Hutchins

Prevention and intervention services for pregnant, drug-using women have often developed prior to gaining empirical data on the antecedents of prenatal drug use. These data are important to address some of the underlying factors of drug use during pregnancy. A review of the literature indentified at least six categories of psychosocial risk factors that have been investigated as relevant to drug use among women, including pregnant women. These factors include: (1) history of childhood sexual abuse, (2) family history of alcohol or drug problems, (3) male partner's alcohol or drug use, (4) current depression, (5) social support, and (6) homelessness or transiency. An examination of these psychosocial risk factors indicates that the existing literature on these factors in drug use is limited by a lack of methodological rigor, resulting in large variations in prevalence rates due to factors such as definition. This paper summarizes the existing literature and methodological iussues regarding the relation between psychosocial risk factors and drug use among women, including pregnant women. It also discusses some of the limitations and issues in assessing prenatal drug use with a particular focus on self-report and urine toxicologies.


2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Rosenbaum ◽  
Mandy M. Rabenhorst ◽  
Madhavi K. Reddy ◽  
Matthew T. Fleming ◽  
Nicolette L. Howells

Insufficient attention has been paid to whether disclosure rates of sensitive or stigmatizing information vary as a function of method of inquiry. Methods vary both in terms of the anonymity afforded the participant and the opportunity to make a connection with the researcher, both of which might affect participants’ willingness to disclose such information. In this investigation, 215 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to complete identical questionnaires using one of the three most common methods of data collection (in-person interview, telephone interview, and paper-and-pencil questionnaire) or an automated telephonic data collection (ATDC) system. Questions on six topic areas of increasing social sensitivity (study habits, substance use, physical and sexual aggression, victimization and perpetration) were included. The results indicated that there were no differences in disclosure rates due to methods and no method by topic interaction, but the two telephonic methods both produced significantly higher participation rates than the two other methods. The results suggest that, at least for a college student sample, an automated telephonic system produces data comparable to that of more traditional methods, while offering greater convenience, economy, and participation.


2003 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Komiti ◽  
Fiona Judd ◽  
Paul Grech ◽  
Anne Mijch ◽  
Jennifer Hoy ◽  
...  

Objective: Our aim was to gain an estimate of the rate of depressive disorder in patients with HIV/AIDS attending general practice and to investigate factors associated with depression. A further objective was to determine the ability of non-mental health medical practitioners to detect depressive symptoms in their patients with HIV/AIDS. Method: Participants comprised 322 persons living with HIV/AIDS ((PLWHA); 13 females, 309 males; mean age 41.4, SD = 8.9) who were recruited from four general practice clinics specializing in HIV medicine and from an infectious diseases clinic. Medical, psychiatric and sociodemographic data were obtained. In addition, participants completed the Inventory to Diagnose Depression (IDD), a self-report measure to detect depression. Results: Twenty-two per cent of the sample met criteria for a current Major Depressive Episode (DSM-IV defined) on the IDD. Overall, there was moderate agreement between treating doctors’ diagnosis of depression and patients’ self-report of depressive symptoms. A multivariate model indicated that being in a current relationship was associated with lowered odds of depression (OR = 0.43; CI = 0.23–0.81). The factors strongly associated with increased odds of depression were a past history of illicit drug use (OR = 2.98; CI = 1.60–5.54) and a diagnosis of ‘stress’ by treating doctors (OR = 5.65; CI = 2.50–12.77). HIV-related medical variables such as immune function, use of antiretroviral medication and duration of HIV infection were not associated with depression. Conclusions: There was a high rate of self-reported depression in this group of PLWHA which was also recognized by treating clinicians. Being in a relationship appeared to afford protection against depression while having a history of illicit drug use and current ‘stress’ were highly associated with depression. Interestingly, HIV-related medical variables including laboratory markers of HIV disease, duration of illness and antiretroviral medication regimen were not related to depression.


1976 ◽  
Vol 15 (01) ◽  
pp. 21-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen A. Scudiero ◽  
Ruth L. Wong

A free text data collection system has been developed at the University of Illinois utilizing single word, syntax free dictionary lookup to process data for retrieval. The source document for the system is the Surgical Pathology Request and Report form. To date 12,653 documents have been entered into the system.The free text data was used to create an IRS (Information Retrieval System) database. A program to interrogate this database has been developed to numerically coded operative procedures. A total of 16,519 procedures records were generated. One and nine tenths percent of the procedures could not be fitted into any procedures category; 6.1% could not be specifically coded, while 92% were coded into specific categories. A system of PL/1 programs has been developed to facilitate manual editing of these records, which can be performed in a reasonable length of time (1 week). This manual check reveals that these 92% were coded with precision = 0.931 and recall = 0.924. Correction of the readily correctable errors could improve these figures to precision = 0.977 and recall = 0.987. Syntax errors were relatively unimportant in the overall coding process, but did introduce significant error in some categories, such as when right-left-bilateral distinction was attempted.The coded file that has been constructed will be used as an input file to a gynecological disease/PAP smear correlation system. The outputs of this system will include retrospective information on the natural history of selected diseases and a patient log providing information to the clinician on patient follow-up.Thus a free text data collection system can be utilized to produce numerically coded files of reasonable accuracy. Further, these files can be used as a source of useful information both for the clinician and for the medical researcher.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
Carlos Alvaréz Teijeiro

Emmanuel Lévinas, the philosopher of ethics par excellence in the twentieth century, and by own merit one of the most important ethical philosophers in the history of western philosophy, is also the philosopher of the Other. Thereby, it can be said that no thought has deepened like his in the ups and downs of the ethical relationship between subject and otherness. The general objective of this work is to expose in a simple and understandable way some ideas that tend to be quite dark in the philosophical work of the author, since his profuse religious production will not be analyzed here. It is expected to show that his ideas about the being and the Other are relevant to better understand interpersonal relationships in times of 4.0 (re)evolution. As specific objectives, this work aims to expose in chronological order the main works of the thinker, with special emphasis on his ethical implications: Of the evasion (1935), The time and the Other (1947), From the existence to the existent (1947), Totality and infinity: An essay on exteriority (1961) and, last, Otherwise than being, or beyond essence (1974). In the judgment of Lévinas, history of western philosophy starting with Greece, has shown an unusual concern for the Being, this is, it has basically been an ontology and, accordingly, it has relegated ethics to a second or third plane. On the other hand and in a clear going against the tide movement, our author supports that ethics should be considered the first philosophy and more, even previous to the proper philosophize. This novel approach implies, as it is supposed, that the essential question of the philosophy slows down its origin around the Being in order to inquire about the Other: it is a philosophy in first person. Such a radical change of perspective generates an underlying change in how we conceive interpersonal relationships, the complex framework of meanings around the relationship Me and You, which also philosopher Martin Buber had already spoken of. As Lévinas postulates that ethics is the first philosophy, this involves that the Other claims all our attention, intellectual and emotional, to the point of considering that the relationship with the Other is one of the measures of our identity. Thus, “natural” attitude –husserlian word not used by Lévinas- would be to be in permanent disposition regarding to the meeting with the Other, to be in permanent opening state to let ourselves be questioned by him. Ontology, as the author says, being worried about the Being, has been likewise concerned about the Existence, when the matter is to concern about the particular Existent that every otherness supposes for us. In conclusion it can be affirmed that levinasian ethics of the meeting with the Other, particular Face, irreducible to the assumption, can contribute with an innovative looking to (re)evolving the interpersonal relationships in a 4.0 context.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph John Pyne Simons ◽  
Ilya Farber

Not all transit users have the same preferences when making route decisions. Understanding the factors driving this heterogeneity enables better tailoring of policies, interventions, and messaging. However, existing methods for assessing these factors require extensive data collection. Here we present an alternative approach - an easily-administered single item measure of overall preference for speed versus comfort. Scores on the self-report item predict decisions in a choice task and account for a proportion of the differences in model parameters between people (n=298). This single item can easily be included on existing travel surveys, and provides an efficient method to both anticipate the choices of users and gain more general insight into their preferences.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M Olino ◽  
Daniel Klein ◽  
John Seeley

Background: Most studies examining predictors of onset of depression focus on variable centered regression methods that focus on effects of multiple predictors. In contrast, person-centered approaches develop profiles of factors and these profiles can be examined as predictors of onset. Here, we developed profiles of adolescent psychosocial and clinical functioning among adolescents without a history of major depression. Methods: Data come from a subsample of participants from the Oregon Adolescent Depression Project who completed self-report measures of functioning in adolescence and completed diagnostic and self-report measures at follow-up assessments up to approximately 15 years after baseline. Results: We identified four profiles of psychosocial and clinical functioning: Thriving; Average Functioning; Externalizing Vulnerability and Family Stress; and Internalizing Vulnerability at the baseline assessment of participants without a history of depression at the initial assessment in mid- adolescence. Classes differed in the likelihood of onset and course of depressive disorders, experience of later anxiety and substance use disorders, and psychosocial functioning in adulthood. Moreover, the predictive utility of these classes was maintained when controlling for multiple other established risk factors for depressive disorders. Conclusions: This work highlights the utility of examining multiple factors simultaneously to understand risk for depression.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Syahid ◽  
H. Husni

This study aims to analyze the character values ​​in Sirah Nabawiyah Ar-Rahiq Al-Makhtum by Syafiyyurrahman al-Mubarakfuri, so that it is revealed how the character education of the Prophet Muhammad. and analyze its relevance to current educational goals. The research method used is library research, the type of research approach is deductive and the analysis method is content analysis. Data collection techniques used were library techniques. This research succeeded in proving that prophetic values ​​based on the history of the Prophet Muhammad have a strong relevance to the concept of contemporary character education. Prophetic values ​​loaded with character education in this era, especially related to religiosity, honesty, tolerance, discipline, hard work, creative, independent, democracy, curiosity, national spirit, love of the motherland, respect for achievement, friendship, love for peace , likes to read, care about the environment, care about social, and responsibility.


Author(s):  
David James

Consolation has always played an uncomfortable part in the literary history of loss. But in recent decades its affective meanings and ethical implications have been recast by narratives that appear to foil solace altogether. Illuminating this striking archive, Discrepant Solace considers writers who engage with consolation not as an aesthetic salve but as an enduring problematic for late twentieth- and twenty-first-century fiction and memoir. Making close readings of emotion crucial to understanding literature’s work in the precarious present, David James examines writers who are rarely considered in conversation, including Sonali Deraniyagala, Colson Whitehead, Cormac McCarthy, W.G. Sebald, Doris Lessing, Joan Didion, J. M. Coetzee, Marilynne Robinson, Julian Barnes, Helen Macdonald, Ian McEwan, Colm Tóibín, Kazuo Ishiguro, Denise Riley, and David Grossman. These figures overturn critical suppositions about consolation’s kinship with ideological complaisance or dubious distraction, producing unsettling perceptions of solace that shape the formal and political contours of their writing.


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