Applying the Transtheoretical Model to Pregnancy and STD Prevention: A Review of the Literature

2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 304-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Horowitz

Purpose. To conduct a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature on the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) and pregnancy and STD prevention. Data Sources. Computer database search (Applied Social Science Index and Abstracts [ASSIA], Biological Abstracts, Criminal Justice Abstracts, CINAHL-Allied Health, Current Contents, Current Index to Journals in Education, Education Index, ERIC, Excerpta Medica, Family Index, Index Medicus, Medline, Multicultural Education Abstracts, PsychInfo, Psychological Abstracts, Research Alert, Social Science Citation Index, Social Work Abstracts, and Sociological Abstracts), and manual journal search. Study Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria. All English, peer-reviewed, original articles on the TTM as it relates to pregnancy and STD prevention published prior to December 31, 2001, were included. Editorials, commentaries, theses/dissertations, unpublished studies, technical reports, and books were not included. Data Extraction Methods. Articles were categorized as Intervention, Population (stage distribution), or Validation studies. Within each category, articles were subdivided into groups, summarized, and analyzed. Data Synthesis. The 32 articles reviewed included 9 intervention studies, 11 population studies, and 12 validation studies. Studies represented a variety of U.S. populations of a broad demographic range. Evidence both for and against criterion-related and construct validity of the TTM was found. Major Conclusions. Age, partner type, gender, reasons for engaging in safer sex behaviors (i.e., pregnancy vs. disease prevention), self-efficacy, sexual assertiveness, and perceived advantages and disadvantages of condom use were related to stage of change. The use of the TTM to reduce risk of pregnancy and STDs is a relatively new, but important, area of research. However, because of the wide-ranging differences in methodologies and samples, no strong conclusions about its effectiveness can yet be made.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irvin Dongo ◽  
Yudith Cardinale ◽  
Ana Aguilera ◽  
Fabiola Martinez ◽  
Yuni Quintero ◽  
...  

Purpose This paper aims to perform an exhaustive revision of relevant and recent related studies, which reveals that both extraction methods are currently used to analyze credibility on Twitter. Thus, there is clear evidence of the need of having different options to extract different data for this purpose. Nevertheless, none of these studies perform a comparative evaluation of both extraction techniques. Moreover, the authors extend a previous comparison, which uses a recent developed framework that offers both alternates of data extraction and implements a previously proposed credibility model, by adding a qualitative evaluation and a Twitter-Application Programming Interface (API) performance analysis from different locations. Design/methodology/approach As one of the most popular social platforms, Twitter has been the focus of recent research aimed at analyzing the credibility of the shared information. To do so, several proposals use either Twitter API or Web scraping to extract the data to perform the analysis. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations are performed to discover the advantages and disadvantages of both extraction methods. Findings The study demonstrates the differences in terms of accuracy and efficiency of both extraction methods and gives relevance to much more problems related to this area to pursue true transparency and legitimacy of information on the Web. Originality/value Results report that some Twitter attributes cannot be retrieved by Web scraping. Both methods produce identical credibility values when a robust normalization process is applied to the text (i.e. tweet). Moreover, concerning the time performance, Web scraping is faster than Twitter API and it is more flexible in terms of obtaining data; however, Web scraping is very sensitive to website changes. Additionally, the response time of the Twitter API is proportional to the distance from the central server at San Francisco.


2021 ◽  
pp. 104973152098685
Author(s):  
Katheryn Margaret Pascoe ◽  
Bethany Waterhouse-Bradley ◽  
Tony McGinn

Context: In response to the growth of evidence-based practice in social work, systematic literature reviews offer significant value to social work but are often met with concerns of time scarcity. Purpose: Through a case study search strategy addressing the research question “What are practicing frontline social workers’ experiences of bureaucracy?,” this article seeks to promote efficiency by providing a practical guide for conducting systematic literature searches and an appraisal of database performance in qualitative social work research. Method: The total citations, unique hits, sensitivity, and precision for each database were calculated before conducting a cross-study comparison with three previously published social work systematic searches to identify emerging performance trends. Results/Conclusion: Relying on a single database is subject to bias and will not provide comprehensive or sensitive findings; however, due to consistent high performance across four systematic searches, Applied Social Science Index and Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts, and Social Science Citation Index are recommended for future literature searching in social work.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Carlson ◽  
J. Aaron Hipp ◽  
Jacqueline Kerr ◽  
Todd Horowitz ◽  
David Berrigan

BACKGROUND Image based data collection for obesity research is in its infancy. OBJECTIVE The present study aimed to document challenges to and benefits from such research by capturing examples of research involving the use of images to assess physical activity- or nutrition-related behaviors and/or environments. METHODS Researchers (i.e., key informants) using image capture in their research were identified through knowledge and networks of the authors of this paper and through literature search. Twenty-nine key informants completed a survey covering the type of research, source of images, and challenges and benefits experienced, developed specifically for this study. RESULTS Most respondents used still images in their research, with only 26.7% using video. Image sources were categorized as participant generated (N = 13; e.g., participants using smartphones for dietary assessment), researcher generated (N = 10; e.g., wearable cameras with automatic image capture), or curated from third parties (N = 7; e.g., Google Street View). Two of the major challenges that emerged included the need for automated processing of large datasets (58.8%) and participant recruitment/compliance (41.2%). Benefit-related themes included greater perspectives on obesity with increased data coverage (34.6%) and improved accuracy of behavior and environment assessment (34.6%). CONCLUSIONS Technological advances will support the increased use of images in the assessment of physical activity, nutrition behaviors, and environments. To advance this area of research, more effective collaborations are needed between health and computer scientists. In particular development of automated data extraction methods for diverse aspects of behavior, environment, and food characteristics are needed. Additionally, progress in standards for addressing ethical issues related to image capture for research purposes are critical. CLINICALTRIAL NA


Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara R. M. Brambilla ◽  
Ogochukwu Lilian Okafor-Muo ◽  
Hany Hassanin ◽  
Amr ElShaer

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a recent technology, which gives the possibility to manufacture personalised dosage forms and it has a broad range of applications. One of the most developed, it is the manufacture of oral solid dosage and the four 3DP techniques which have been more used for their manufacture are FDM, inkjet 3DP, SLA and SLS. This systematic review is carried out to statistically analyze the current 3DP techniques employed in manufacturing oral solid formulations and assess the recent trends of this new technology. The work has been organised into four steps, (1) screening of the articles, definition of the inclusion and exclusion criteria and classification of the articles in the two main groups (included/excluded); (2) quantification and characterisation of the included articles; (3) evaluation of the validity of data and data extraction process; (4) data analysis, discussion, and conclusion to define which technique offers the best properties to be applied in the manufacture of oral solid formulations. It has been observed that with SLS 3DP technique, all the characterisation tests required by the BP (drug content, drug dissolution profile, hardness, friability, disintegration time and uniformity of weight) have been performed in the majority of articles, except for the friability test. However, it is not possible to define which of the four 3DP techniques is the most suitable for the manufacture of oral solid formulations, because the selection is affected by different parameters, such as the type of formulation, the physical-mechanical properties to achieve. Moreover, each technique has its specific advantages and disadvantages, such as for FDM the biggest challenge is the degradation of the drug, due to high printing temperature process or for SLA is the toxicity of the carcinogenic risk of the photopolymerising material.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. e035269
Author(s):  
Ana Cristina De Castro ◽  
Ivan Ortega-Deballon

IntroductionNodding syndrome (NS) is an encephalopathy of unknown origin that affects children aged between 3 and 15 years old. Cases have been reported since the 1950 in Tanzania and South Sudan, the most heavily affected population is the Acholi community in Uganda. In response to the high incidence of the disease, the Ugandan Government has developed a management algorithm, but access to such measures in affected communities is limited. There is little funding for research on the disease, consequently, few studies have been conducted to date. Nevertheless, the number of scientific publications on NS has increased since 2013, reporting several aetiological hypotheses, management algorithms and cases of stigmatisation; however, none has obtained conclusive results.This document describes a protocol for a scoping review of NS to date aimed at obtaining a broad overview of the disease. The results will identify gaps in knowledge in order to better guide future research, intervention strategies, health policies in areas at risk and cooperation and development programmes.Methods and analysisTo identify the relevant data, we will conduct a literature search using the electronic databases PubMed/Medline, Embase, Social Science Citation Index Scopus, Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), Literatura Latinoamericana y del Caribe en Ciencias de la Salud (LILACS), Social Science Citation Index Expanded and The Cochrane Library. We will also include grey literature. The search strategy will be designed by a librarian.Two members of the team will work independently to identify studies for inclusion and perform data extraction. The search results will be assessed by two independent reviewers and data from the included studies will be charted and summarised in duplicate. The data will be summarised in tables and figures to present the research landscape and describe and map gaps.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval is not required. The scoping review will adhere to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews andMeta-Analyses-ScR guidelines. The results will be disseminated at scientific congresses and meetings.


2010 ◽  
Vol 35 (04) ◽  
pp. 881-917
Author(s):  
John Hagan ◽  
Richard Brooks ◽  
Todd Haugh

Internal and international conflicts can often involve a level of impunity that allows sexual violence to persist unchecked by military and political leaders. The recent reversal by an appeals panel at the International Criminal Court of a pretrial decision not to charge President al‐Bashir of Sudan with genocide in Darfur offers an important foundation for introducing new types of evidence that can increase the investigation and prosecution of sexual violence during conflicts. The reversal cited the incorrect use of the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard when the lesser standard of “reasonable grounds” applied. Social science provides methods and measures that can be uniquely used to develop reasonable grounds evidence, for example, to demonstrate the roles of physical perpetrators acting together in horizontal relationships, as well as to establish the indirect participation through vertical relationships of higher‐level defendants, in a chain of command of superior responsibility. We illustrate these points by presenting social science evidence of the responsibility of President al‐Bashir and middle‐ and lower‐level figures in genocidal violence in Darfur.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Jun Wang ◽  
Zhiyuan Mi ◽  
Jiangtao Su ◽  
Xiangyu You ◽  
...  

Although misuse and abuse of Cannabis is well known, the health benefits have been proved by various biomedical studies. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the major active substance in leaves of Cannabis, which is the common target for drug testing. In field drug testing, oral fluid (OF) has its unique advantages over other specimens such as blood, urine, and hair. Thus the study of THC in OF is gaining popularity in Cannabis research. In this review, extraction methods are introduced in three categories, which are Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE), Solid Phase Extraction (SPE), and Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE). Examples of application with each method will be covered. Advantages and disadvantages of these methods will be compared. In addition, methods in analysis following extraction will be briefly discussed.


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