Engagement, Predictors, and Outcomes of a Trauma Recovery Digital Mental Health Intervention: Longitudinal Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Worldwide, exposure to potentially traumatic events is extremely common and many will develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) along with other disorders. Unfortunately, considerable barriers to treatment exist. One promising approach to overcoming treatment barriers are digital mental health interventions (DMHIs). Yet, engagement with DMHIs is a concern and theoretically based research in this area is sparse and often inconclusive. OBJECTIVE The focus of this study was on the complex issue of DMHI engagement. Based on the social cognitive theoretical (SCT), the conceptualization of engagement and a theoretically based model of predictors and outcomes were investigated using a DMHI for trauma recovery. METHODS A 6-week longitudinal study with a national sample of trauma survivors was performed that measured engagement, predictors of engagement, and mediational pathways to symptom reduction while using a trauma recovery DMHI (NT1 = 915, NT2 = 350, NT3 = 168, NT4 = 101). RESULTS Confirmatory factor analysis of the engagement latent construct of duration, frequency, interest, attention, and affect produced an acceptable model fit, (χ² = 8.35, df = 2, P = .015, CFI = .973, RMSEA = .059, 90% CI = [.022, .103]. Using the latent construct, the longitudinal theoretical model demonstrated adequate model fit, CFI = .929, RMSEA = .052, 90% CI [.040, .064] and indicated that engagement self-efficacy (β = .35, P < .001) and outcome expectations (β = .37, P < .001) were significant predictors of engagement (R2 = 39%). The relationship between engagement and outcomes was mediated by both activation self-efficacy (β = .80, P < .001), and trauma coping self-efficacy (β = .40, P < .001), which predicted a reduction in PTSD symptoms (β = -.20, P = .017). CONCLUSIONS The results of this study may provide a solid foundation toward formalizing the nascent science of engagement. The engagement conceptualization consisted of general measures of attention, interest, affect, and usage that could be applied to other applications. The longitudinal research model supported two theoretically based predictors of engagement, engagement self-efficacy and outcome expectancies. Two task specific self-efficacies, activation and coping, proved to be significant mediators between engagement and symptom reduction. Taken together, this model can be applied to other DMHIs to understand engagement as well as predictors and mechanisms of action. Ultimately, this could help improve the design and development of engaging and effective trauma recovery DMHIs.

Social Commerce Marketing Activities Participation Among University Level Students in Pakistan

We live in the era of information communication society, where people are connected more than ever. Social media is becoming most trustable tool after word of mouth. The aim of this study was to examine participation of university level students in social marketing activities. The sample consisted of total 281 students, determined by circumstantial method. Questionnaire developed by the work of using the research of Korkmaz (2013), was used as data collection tools. Significant level was accepted as p<0.05 in statistical analysis. Independent t test, and structure equation modeling were used to assess the relationship among latent construct. Consequently, significant

Adapting and Testing the Self-Efficacy in Environmental Risk Reduction Instrument Among Spanish-Speaking Populations

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to adapt and test the Self-Efficacy in Environmental Risk Reduction instrument in a Spanish-speaking population.MethodsHarkness' model of cross-cultural survey design was used to adapt the instrument. We sampled 95 adult, Spanish speakers from a federally qualified health clinic. Exploratory factor analysis with maximum likelihood estimation was used to analyze the factor structure.ResultsA 1-factor model provided the best fit to the data. The latent construct of the instrument is household environmental health self-efficacy. All items loaded higher than 0.610, indicating each item explains at least 36% variance in the latent construct. Cronbach's alpha indicates the scale has high internal consistency (α = .92).ConclusionsRespondents conceptualize self-Efficacy in Environmental Risk Reduction as practical solutions to minimize household risks.

Child Development with the D-Score - Preface

The foundations of adult health and wellbeing have their origins early in life, often measured by children’s early growth and development. A valid and easily interpretable metric is needed to interpret the underlying latent construct of early childhood development that can represent change and is comparable across cultures and contexts.

Global Variation in Subjective Well-Being Predicts Seven Forms of Altruism

The geographic prevalence of various altruistic behaviors (nonreciprocal acts that improve other people’s welfare) is not uniformly distributed, but whether this reflects variation in a superordinate construct linked to national-level outcomes or cultural values is unknown. We compiled data on seven altruistic behaviors across 48 to 152 nations and found evidence that these behaviors reflect a latent construct positively associated with national-level subjective well-being (SWB) and individualist values, even when we controlled for national-level wealth, health, education, and shared cultural history. Consistent with prior work, our results showed that SWB mediated the relationship between two objective measures of well-being (wealth and health) and altruism ( n = 130). Moreover, these indirect effects increased as individualist values increased within the subset of countries ( n = 90) with available data. Together, our results indicate that altruism increases when resources and cultural values provide objective and subjective means for pursuing personally meaningful goals and that altruistic behaviors may be enhanced by societal changes that promote well-being.

The Matthew effect in talent management strategy: reducing exhaustion, increasing satisfaction, and inspiring commission among boundary spanning employees

Purpose In an ongoing War for Talent, what are the intangible and tangible return on investments (ROIs) for boundary-spanning employees? This study aims to develop a formative structural equation model (SEM) of the Matthew effect in talent. management. Design/methodology/approach This study develops a formative SEM theoretical model. Training and development (T&D) are the two antecedents of the latent construct – talent management strategy (TMS). This study frames the latent construct (TMS) in the proximal context of reducing burnout (cynicism and inefficacy), the distal context of subjective and intangible outcomes (job and life satisfaction) and the omnibus context of objective, tangible and financial rewards (the sales commission). The study collected data from multiple sources – objective sales commission from personnel records and subjective survey data from 512 sales employees. Findings The empirical discoveries support the theory. Both T&D contribute significantly to the TMS, which reduces burnout in the immediate context. TMS enhances job satisfaction more than life satisfaction in the distal context. TMS significantly and indirectly improves boundary spanners’ sales commission in the omnibus context via life satisfaction, but not job satisfaction. The model prevails for the whole sample, men, but not women. Practical implications Our discoveries offer practical implications for the Matthew effect in talent management: policymakers must cultivate T&D, develop TMS, facilitate the spillover effect from job satisfaction to life satisfaction, concentrate on the meaning in their lives and take their mind off money. TMS ultimately helps ignite these boundary spanners’ sales commission and their organization’s bottom line and financial health. The rich get richer. Originality/value It is life satisfaction (not job satisfaction) that excites boundary-spanning employees’ high level of sales commission. Our model prevails for the whole sample and men, but not for women. Job satisfaction spills over to life satisfaction for the entire sample, for men, but not for women. The results reveal gender differences.

Global Patterns of Digital Repression

This chapter presents quantitative data to explain the main arguments of the book. Specifically, it provides pooled, cross-national, time-series data to describe global patterns of digital repression, and it uses that data to develop and validate two composite indexes: a latent construct of digital repression and a latent construct of digital repression capacity. It discusses overall findings from the digital repression index—the relationship between regime type and digital repression, highest- and lowest-performing countries, as well as outliers. It also compares digital repression enactment to capacity, and investigates differences between autocracies and democracies. Finally, it analyzes individual components of digital repression—social media surveillance, online censorship, social manipulation and disinformation, Internet shutdowns, and arrests of online users for political content—and provide explanations for authoritarian and democratic use.

Global variation in subjective well-being predicts seven forms of altruism

The geographic prevalence of various altruistic behaviors (non-reciprocal acts that improve others' welfare) is non-uniformly distributed. But whether this reflects variation in a superordinate construct linked to national-level outcomes or cultural values is unknown. We compiled data on seven altruistic behaviors across 48-152 nations, and found evidence that these behaviors reflect a latent construct positively associated with national-level subjective well-being (SWB) and individualist values, even controlling for national-level wealth, health, education, and shared cultural history. Consistent with prior work, we found that SWB mediates the relationship between two objective measures of well-being (wealth and health) and altruism (N=130). Moreover, these indirect effects increase as individualist values increase within the subset of countries (N=90) with available data. Together, results indicate that altruism increases when resources and cultural values provide objective and subjective means for pursuing personally meaningful goals, and that altruistic behaviors may be enhanced by societal changes that promote well-being.

The Structure of Relationships between the Human Exposome and Cardiometabolic Health: The Million Veteran Program

The exposome represents the array of dietary, lifestyle, and demographic factors to which an individual is exposed. Individual components of the exposome, or groups of components, are recognized as influencing many aspects of human physiology, including cardiometabolic health. However, the influence of the whole exposome on health outcomes is poorly understood and may differ substantially from the sum of its individual components. As such, studies of the complete exposome are more biologically representative than fragmented models based on subsets of factors. This study aimed to model the system of relationships underlying the way in which the diet, lifestyle, and demographic components of the overall exposome shapes the cardiometabolic risk profile. The current study included 36,496 US Veterans enrolled in the VA Million Veteran Program (MVP) who had complete assessments of their diet, lifestyle, demography, and markers of cardiometabolic health, including serum lipids, blood pressure, and glycemic control. The cohort was randomly divided into training and validation datasets. In the training dataset, we conducted two separate exploratory factor analyses (EFA) to identify common factors among exposures (diet, demographics, and physical activity) and laboratory measures (lipids, blood pressure, and glycemic control), respectively. In the validation dataset, we used multiple normal regression to examine the combined effects of exposure factors on the clinical factors representing cardiometabolic health. The mean ± SD age of participants was 62.4 ± 13.4 years for both the training and validation datasets. The EFA revealed 19 Exposure Common Factors and 5 Physiology Common Factors that explained the observed (measured) data. Multivariate regression in the validation dataset revealed the structure of associations between the Exposure Common Factors and the Physiology Common Factors. For example, we found that the factor for fruit consumption was inversely associated with the factor summarizing total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC, p = 0.008), and the latent construct describing light levels of physical activity was inversely associated with the blood pressure latent construct (p < 0.0001). We also found that a factor summarizing that participants who frequently consume whole milk are less likely to frequently consume skim milk, was positively associated with the latent constructs representing total cholesterol and LDLC as well as systolic and diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.0006 and < 0.0001, respectively). Multiple multivariable-adjusted regression analyses of exposome factors allowed us to model the influence of the exposome as a whole. In this metadata-rich, prospective cohort of US Veterans, there was evidence of structural relationships between diet, lifestyle, and demographic exposures and subsequent markers of cardiometabolic health. This methodology could be applied to answer a variety of research questions about human health exposures that utilize electronic health record data and can accommodate continuous, ordinal, and binary data derived from questionnaires. Further work to explore the potential utility of including genetic risk scores and time-varying covariates is warranted.

Universal time preference

Time preferences are central to human decision making; therefore, a thorough understanding of their international differences is highly relevant. Previous measurements, however, vary widely in their methodology, from questions answered on the Likert scale to lottery-type questions. We show that these different measurements correlate to a large degree and that they have a common factor that can predict a broad spectrum of variables: the countries’ credit ratings, gasoline prices (as a proxy for environmental protection), equity risk premiums, and average years of school attendance. The resulting data on this time preference factor for N = 117 countries and regions will be highly useful for further research. Our aggregation method is applicable to merge cross-cultural studies that measure the same latent construct with different methodologies.