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Research Indicating (research + indicating)
Selected AbstractsYouth retention: Factors associated with treatment drop-out from youth alcohol and other drug treatmentDRUG AND ALCOHOL REVIEW, Issue 6 2009RIA SCHRODER Abstract Introduction and Aims. This study examined factors associated with treatment drop-out among young people aged 13,19 years attending alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment. Design and Methods. Data were gathered from structured interviews (n = 79) and a clinical file search of 184 randomly selected young people who had attended youth specific AOD treatment services in Aotearoa, New Zealand during 2003 or 2004. Results. The median length of stay was 2.7 months for those attending day/residential services (n = 42) and 4.0 sessions for those attending outpatient services (n = 37) 16.7% of participants from day/residential services dropped out of treatment early (within the first month) and 32.4% of participants from outpatient treatment services dropped out of treatment early (before the third session). Fixed client characteristics, such as age, sex, ethnicity, substance use and mental health diagnoses were not found to be associated with treatment retention. Dynamic client characteristics, such as motivation to attend treatment and expectations about treatment outcomes and program characteristics, such as positive experiences with treatment staff and feeling involved in the treatment process were found to be associated with treatment retention. Discussion and Conclusions. The findings of this study support previous research indicating that fixed client characteristics are not sufficient to explain youth retention in AOD treatment. Of more use are dynamic client characteristics and program variables. These findings stress the potential for improving treatment retention by creating more youth appropriate services.[Schroder R, Sellman D, Frampton C, Deering D. Youth retention: Factors associated with treatment drop-out from youth alcohol and other drug treatment. Drug Alcohol Rev 2009] [source] Methadone doses of 100 mg or greater are more effective than lower doses at suppressing heroin self-administration in opioid-dependent volunteersADDICTION, Issue 10 2005Eric C. Donny ABSTRACT Aims Methadone maintenance has been an effective pharmacotherapy for the treatment of heroin dependence for nearly four decades. Recent clinical research suggests that methadone doses larger than those used in most clinics are more effective at suppressing illicit heroin use. This greater efficacy may result from greater cross-tolerance to the reinforcing effects of heroin. Design The purpose of this double-blind, within-subject study was to examine the relationship between methadone maintenance dose and the reinforcing effects of heroin. Setting Participants were stabilized on 50, 100 and 150 mg methadone (ascending order) during separate outpatient periods before being admitted to an inpatient research unit for testing at each maintenance dose. Participants Five opiate-dependent volunteers completed the study. Measurements During each 4-week inpatient testing period, participants sampled three doses of heroin (0, 10, or 20 mg; random order; one dose per week) and were subsequently allowed seven opportunities to choose between another injection of that week's heroin dose and varying amounts of money ($2,38). Findings The number of heroin injections chosen decreased as methadone dose was increased. Larger alternative monetary reinforcers were required to suppress heroin self-administration during maintenance on 50 compared to 100 or 150 mg methadone. Larger methadone doses also completely blocked the subjective effects of heroin and produced greater withdrawal suppression during the outpatient periods. Conclusions These results support other clinical and laboratory-based research indicating that persistent heroin use may be reduced by providing larger methadone maintenance doses that produce more effective cross-tolerance to heroin. [source] Alternatives to Mechanical Drills for the Early Stages of Language Practice in Foreign Language TextbooksFOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 3 2005Article first published online: 31 DEC 200, Janice M. Aski Abstract: There is a growing body of research indicating that mechanical drills do not facilitate the development of explicit or implicit knowledge. This study identifies the inadequate aspects of mechanical drills and offers alternative activities for the early stages of language practice, whose formats and features comply with recent research in the learning and acquisition of foreign languages. Wong and VanPatten's (2003) referential structured input activities are suggested as substitutes to practice grammatical features that contribute meaningfully to the utterance. However, for allophonic or allomorphic alternations that are governed by the phonetic, stress, or grammatical context and that do not convey meaning, a new type of activity (form-form activities) is introduced, which promotes noticing by directing learners to actively operationalize their understanding of grammatical rules. Production activities for the later stages of practice are briefly discussed, and this study concludes with advice for instructors regarding their expectations of students' performance. [source] Demographic, Environmental, Access, and Attitude Factors That Influence Walking to School by Elementary School-Aged ChildrenJOURNAL OF SCHOOL HEALTH, Issue 6 2009Ariel Rodríguez PhD ABSTRACT Background:, Walking to school has been identified as an activity that contributes to children's daily exercise requirements. The purpose of this study was to better understand factors that influence walking to school by elementary school,aged children. Methods:, A sample of 1,897 elementary school,aged children (84% response rate; 3rd-5th graders) throughout Michigan completed the Michigan Safe Routes to School Student Survey. The survey measures environmental, access, and attitudinal perceptions toward school routes and transportation methods. Results:, Using logistic regression, the results indicate that the odds of walking to school increase the older children are (odds ratio (OR) = 1.80, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.20-2.70) and if students perceive that walking to school saves time (OR = 3.32, 95% CI = 1.44-7.66) or is safe (OR = 2.60, 95% CI = 1.06-6.39). The odds of a student walking to school decrease the farther a student lives from his or her school (OR = 0.11, 95% CI = 0.04-0.37), if his or her parents have a car (OR = 0.07, 95% CI = 0.02-0.22), and if the student has access to a school bus (OR = 0.07, 95% CI = 0.03-0.18). These factors are significant (p < .05) predictors of walking to school after controlling for other demographic, environmental, access, and attitude factors. Conclusions:, The study results support research indicating that environmental and access factors influence whether elementary school,aged children walk to school. In addition, when children perceive walking to school to be convenient (ie, saves time), their odds of walking to school increase. Future school- and community-based programs promoting walking to school should continue to focus on making walking to school not only safer, but also more convenient. [source] How does the pitch and pattern of a signal affect auditory arousal thresholds?JOURNAL OF SLEEP RESEARCH, Issue 2 2009DOROTHY BRUCK Summary How arousal thresholds vary with different sounds is a critical issue for emergency awakenings, especially as sleepers are dying in fires despite having a working smoke alarm. Previous research shows that the current high-pitched (3000+ Hz) smoke alarm signal is significantly less effective than an alternative signal, the 520 Hz square wave, in all populations tested. However, as the number of sounds tested has been small further research is needed. Here we measured auditory arousal thresholds (AATs) across signals with a range of characteristics to determine the most effective waking signal. Thirty-nine young adults participated over three nights. In Part A, nine signals were presented in stage 4 sleep with ascending decibel levels. Signals were short beeps in the low- to mid-frequency range with different spectral complexities: square waves, pure tones, whoops and white noise. Part B manipulated temporal patterns, inserting silences of 0, 10 and 21 s after each 12 s of beeps. It was found that the low-frequency (400 and 520 Hz) square waves yielded significantly lower AATs than the alternatives. A trend was found across the three temporal manipulations, with a 10 s intervening silence showing some advantage. These findings support earlier research indicating that the best sound for awakening from deep sleep is a low-frequency square wave. It is argued that the signal with the lowest response threshold when awake may be the same as the most arousing signal when asleep, especially where the sleeper processes the signal as meaningful. [source] Integrating Formal and Functional Approaches to Language Teaching in French Immersion: An Experimental StudyLANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 2001Elaine M. Day This experimental study was designed to evaluate the effect on French language proficiency of an integrated formal, analytic and functional, communicative approach (experiential) to second-language teaching in the immersion classroom. The impetus for the study arises from previous research indicating that immersion children show persistent weaknesses in their grammatical skills despite the fluent, functional proficiency they achieve in their second language. The experimental materials, which were custom-designed for our study, highlight form-function relations, promote noticing, encourage metalin-guistic awareness, and provide opportunities for language practice and thus relate to some of the theoretical issues that Rod Ellis (this volume) has indicated are important in SLA in the 90s. This classroom-based study on the conditional is one of a series of studies undertaken in Canadian French immersion to investigate the effectiveness of form-focused instruction in classrooms (see Swain, 2000). The results of our study, which was conducted in grade 7 early immersion, showed that the Experimental group performed significantly higher in writing than the Control group, in both the post- and the follow-up testing. Although this was not found for speaking, an examination of the individual class data revealed greater and more consistent growth in speaking for the Experimental than for the Control classes, suggesting that they benefited somewhat from the experi- mental treatment in this domain as well. Although Ellis (this volume) notes that research on form-focused instruc- tion in the 90s has tended to split pedagogy from theory, the immersion research in this area does not seem t o reflect this shift. In a recent article, Swain (2000) reviews the French Immersion (FI) studies and summarizes their re- sults as follows: "Overall, the set of experiments conducted in FI classes suggest that there is value in focusing on language form through the use of pre-planned curriculum materials in the context of content-based language learn- ing" (Swain, 2000, p. 205). Her reference to curriculum materials and to the specific context of content-based lan- guage learning should signal to the reader the orientation t o pedagogical considerations that characterize this research. As Ellis notes, hybrid research using both experimental and qualitative methods is becoming more common in SLA. Recently, the experimental materials in our study were implemented in a grade 8 immersion classroom, and the children's collaborative language activity was observed by a researcher working from a sociocultural theoretical per- spective (Spielman-Davidson, 2000). The uptake of our research by a researcher working in another paradigm introduces another kind of hybridity that we hope will also shed further light on questions in form-focused instruction and lead to appropriate changes in pedagogy and in the design of immersion curricula. [source] Does being an orphan decrease the nutritional status of Luo children?AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2009Amy M. Zidron The HIV/AIDS pandemic is creating a generation of orphaned children in Africa. The number of orphans will continue to increase long after the HIV/AIDS crisis has peaked; therefore, it is important to determine how best to assist these children. Current studies investigating the impact of orphanhood have conflicting results and conclusions. Several studies report that orphans are at a disadvantage and are more likely to suffer from malnutrition, whereas other studies report no difference between the nutritional status of orphans and nonorphans. Four hundred eleven Luo children (mean age 9 ± 1 years) were recruited to participate in a study investigating the impact of orphanhood on nutritional status. Participants underwent an interview, anthropometric measurements, testing for anemia, a clinical history, and a physical exam. Anthropometric variables and hemoglobin level were compared across groups using a t -test. The reference population used for comparison of anthropometric variables is the 2000 CDC growth reference data. All analyses were gender specific, and the effect of length of orphanhood was also investigated. The data presented here suggest that there is no significant difference between the nutritional status of orphaned and nonorphaned Luo children. This study supports research indicating there is little, if any, difference in nutritional indicators between orphans and nonorphans. Orphans may live in households with higher socioeconomic statuses than nonorphans. Luo orphans may not be at higher risk for poor nutritional status than nonorphans; therefore, interventions targeted at this age group should include both orphaned and nonorphaned children. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] When Do Welfare Attitudes Become Racialized?AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2004The Paradoxical Effects of Education Recent research suggests that welfare attitudes may be shaped by negative perceptions of blacks, suggesting an implicit racialization of the policy. But what might inhibit the racialization of welfare? In this vein, research indicating that education facilitates tolerance suggests that negative racial perceptions and welfare attitudes may be less related among the educated. However, education may also be associated with a greater ability to connect general predispositions with specific policy attitudes. Somewhat paradoxically, this suggests that the association between racial perceptions and welfare attitudes may be stronger among the college-educated, despite their lower overall levels of racial hostility. Study 1 shows that education attenuates negative racial perceptions, while strengthening their impact on public-assistance attitudes,but only when assistance is described as "welfare." Study 2 extends and qualifies this finding, showing that education strengthens the relationship between perceptions of welfare recipients and global welfare attitudes only when recipients are black. [source] ORIGINAL RESEARCH,PAIN: Pain, Psychosocial, Sexual, and Psychophysical Characteristics of Women with Primary vs.THE JOURNAL OF SEXUAL MEDICINE, Issue 1 2009Secondary Provoked Vestibulodynia ABSTRACT Introduction., Women with provoked vestibulodynia (PVD), a common cause of dyspareunia, are typically considered a homogeneous group. However, research suggests that differences on some factors (e.g., medical history, pain characteristics, psychological functioning, treatment response) exist based upon whether the pain was present at first intercourse (primary PVD: PVD1) or developed at some later point (secondary PVD: PVD2). Aims., The purpose of this study was to examine differences in demographic variables, pain characteristics, psychosocial and psychosexual adjustment, and pain sensitivity between women with PVD1 and PVD2. Methods., Twenty-six women suffering from PVD (13 with PVD1 and 13 with PVD2) completed a screening assessment, a standardized gynecological examination, an interview, questionnaires, and a quantitative sensory testing session. Main Outcome Measures., These included pain ratings during the gynecological examination and interview, scores on measures of psychosocial/sexual functioning (e.g., Short Form-36 [SF-36] Health Survey, Female Sexual Function Index), and thresholds and pain ratings during thermal sensory testing over the dominant forearm and vulvar vestibule. Results., The women with PVD1 were more likely to be nulliparous, but they were not significantly different from the women with PVD2 on other demographic variables or in their pain ratings during the gynecological examination. The women with PVD1 reported lower levels of social and emotional functioning and heightened anxiety surrounding body exposure during sexual activity, and they also displayed lower heat pain tolerance over the forearm and lower heat detection and pain thresholds at the vulvar vestibule than the women with PVD2. Conclusions., The findings from this study support previous research indicating that women with PVD1 and PVD2 differ in a number of domains. Further research is needed to confirm and elaborate on these findings. Sutton KS, Pukall C, and Chamberlain S. Pain, psychosocial, sexual, and psychophysical characteristics of women with primary vs. secondary provoked vestibulodynia. J Sex Med 2009;6:205,214. [source] Labile Phosphorus in Soils of Forest Fallows and Primary Forest in the Bragantina Region, BrazilBIOTROPICA, Issue 1 2003Jacqueline Frizano ABSTRACT We used the Hedley sequential extraction procedure to measure nine different organic inorganic soil phosphorus fractions in forest soil of the Bragantina region of Para, Brazil. We compared the labile fractions (resin-extractable P + HCO3-extractable inorganic and organic P) in Oxisols from three secondary forests (10, 20, and 40 years old) and a primary forest. These stands were located in an area that has supported shifting agriculture for approximately a century. After agricultural use, total P and labile P in soils of young secondary forests are diminished compared to the amounts presents in the primary forest soil. Within each stand, organic carbon content was a good predictor of labile organic and inorganic P, consistent with the large body of research indicating that mineralization of organic matter is important to plant nutrition in tropical ecosystems. During the reorganization of P pools during forest development, the pool of labile organic P (HCO3-extractable) diminishes more than the other labile fractions, suggesting that it is directly or indirectly an important source of P for the regrowing forest vegetation. Across the four age classes of forest, the soil reservoir of labile P was equal to or greater than the total amount of P in the vegetation. If labile P measured by this method adequately represents P available to plants in the short term (as suggested by the current consensus), we would conclude that plant-available P is reasonable abundant, and that the effects of agriculture on available P pools are detectable but not sufficient to compromise forest regrowth in this area. [source] | ||||||||||||||||