Multiple Individual Characteristics Research Articles

Mealtime nonverbal behaviors in nursing home staff and residents with dementia: Behavioral analyses of videotaped observations

This study characterized mealtime nonverbal behaviors of nursing home staff and residents with dementia and examined the relationships between individual characteristics and nonverbal behaviors. Videotaped observations (N=110) involving 25 residents and 29 staff (42 unique staff-resident dyads) in 9 nursing homes were coded using the refined Cue Utilization and Engagement in Dementia Mealtime Video-Coding Scheme. Wilcoxon rank-sum test or Kruskal-Wallis test were used for continuous characteristics, and Fisher's exact test for categorical characteristics. Residents primarily exhibited challenging behaviors including resistive behaviors (35.7%), chewing/swallowing difficulties (33.5%), and functional impairments (9.9%), followed by positive/neutral behaviors (20.9%). Staff primarily used person-centered behavioral strategies, including modifications of: 1) resident abilities (41.9%), 2) care approaches (35.1%), and 3) dining environment (13.6%), followed by task-centered behaviors (9.3%). Residents challenging behaviors were correlated with staff person-centered behavioral strategies. Dyadic nonverbal behaviors were correlated with multiple individual characteristics. Understanding dyadic nonverbal interactions facilitates use of person-centered, multilevel, behavioral strategies to optimize mealtime outcomes.

Mealtime nonverbal communications among nursing home staff and residents with dementia: A secondary analysis of videotaped observations

AbstractBackgroundMealtime difficulties are common among nursing home (NH) residents with dementia. Quality communications between staff and residents are critical to engage residents in eating. This study characterized dyadic nonverbal communications between nursing home staff and residents and evaluated relationships of nonverbal communications with individual characteristics.MethodsThis secondary analysis of 110 videotaped mealtime observations involved 25 residents and 29 staff (42 unique dyads) in 9 NHs. Nonverbal communication behaviors were coded using the refined Cue Utilization and Engagement in Dementia mealtime video‐coding scheme. Codes for staff nonverbal behaviors include 8 negative and 26 positive behaviors (modification for resident ability n=12, care approaches n=7, and dining environment n=7). Codes for resident nonverbal behaviors include 5 positive/neutral behaviors and 22 negative behaviors (chewing/swallowing difficulties n=4, functional impairment n=6, and resistive behaviors n=12).ResultsStaff modifications for resident ability (41.9%) were more prevalent than modifications of care approaches (35.1%) and dining environment (13.6%). Staff negative behaviors (9.3%) (33.5%) were more frequent compared to functional impairment (9.9%). Residents demonstrated positive/neutral behaviors (20.9%). Resident chewing/swallowing difficulties were correlated with resident eating function (p=.002). Resident functional impairment was correlated with staff education (p=.026) and resident age (p=.013), gender (p=.013), and dementia stage (p=.003). Resistive behaviors were correlated with resident comorbidity (p=.003), dementia stage (p=.049), and eating function (p=.001). Resident positive behaviors were correlated with staff race (p=.005) and resident age (p=.002), dementia stage (p=.049), and eating function (p=.002). Modifications for resident functional/cognitive ability were correlated with resident eating function (p<.001), while modifications of care approaches were correlated with staff race (p<.001) and years in current NH (p<.001), as well as with resident gender (p=.003) and eating function (p<.049). Modifications of dining environment were correlated with staff gender (p=.017) and years in current NH (p=.046), as well as with resident dementia stage (p=.008) and eating function (p<.001). Staff negative behaviors were correlated with resident comorbidity (p=.008).ConclusionsDyadic mealtime nonverbal communications were dynamic, interactive, and complex. Multiple individual characteristics were related to dyadic nonverbal communications. Findings may inform development of individualized, person‐centered mealtime care interventions.

Assessing value beliefs among university students: Validation of the Value Beliefs Questionnaire for University Students (VBQU)

The present study with 353 students aimed to examine the validity of a questionnaire called the Value Beliefs Questionnaire for University Students (VBQU) measuring five value beliefs among university students, namely: intrinsic value, attainment value, cost, utility for daily life, and utility for career. Furthermore, this study strived to explore the situated expectancy-value theory by linking those five value beliefs to multiple individual characteristics of university students (i.e., academic self-concept, procrastination, test anxiety, academic achievement). Results of CFA provided strong support for a 5-factor structure and a hierarchical structure of four major value factors (i.e., intrinsic, attainment, cost, utility) and two utility factors. Significant intercorrelations among the five value beliefs and correlations of the five value beliefs with the other individual characteristics of university students also established validity evidence of the VBQU. In line with (S)EVT, academic self-concept and intrinsic value significantly interacted with each other in predicting academic achievement.

Mealtime verbal interactions among nursing home staff and residents with dementia: A secondary behavioural analysis of videotaped observations.

To characterize dyadic mealtime verbal interactions and examine the associations with staff and resident characteristics. A secondary analysis of 110 videotaped mealtime observations collected from a dementia communication trial during 2011-2014. Videos involved 25 residents with dementia and 29 staff in nine nursing homes. Verbal behaviours (utterances) were coded during 2018-2019 using the Cue Utilization and Engagement in Dementia mealtime video-coding scheme, addressing eight positive behaviours and four negative behaviours. Bivariate analyses and multivariate regression models were used. Staff spoke three times more frequently (76.5%) than residents (23.5%). Nearly all staff utterances were positive (99.2%); 85.1% of residents' utterances were positive and 14.9% negative. Staff positive utterances were correlated with their negative utterances and resident positive and negative utterances. Staff negative utterances were correlated with resident negative utterances. Resident positive and negative utterances were correlated. Resident positive utterances were significantly associated with staff care-giving length in the current nursing home (OR=1.430, 95% CI=1.008, 2.027). Resident negative utterances were significantly associated with resident gender (female versus male, OR=11.892, 95% CI=1.237, 114.289) and staff years worked as a caregiver (OR=0.838, 95% CI=0.710, 0.989). Staff positive and negative utterances were not associated significantly with any participant characteristics. Staff engage residents using primarily positive verbal strategies. Staff-resident mealtime verbal interactions were dynamic, interactive, and complex and related to multiple individual characteristics. Positive dyadic mealtime interactions are critical to engage residents in eating. Little work has characterized dyadic mealtime interactions, limiting the development of effective interventions. Findings showed staff-resident mealtime verbal interactions were primarily positive, inter-related, and associated with multiple individual characteristics. Findings inform directions to improve mealtime care practice and develop person-centred mealtime interventions targeting modifiable factors, including staff care-giving experiences.

How to reduce diagnostic error: ‘neutral zone’ approach

Many diagnostic tests report only positive or negative diagnoses, as if these results were definitive. Should more tests allow a ‘neutral zone’, corresponding to an uncertain diagnosis? Diagnostic tests often...

Empirically Examining the Individual-Level Determinants of Job Searching Outcomes: a Non-linear Analysis under the Case of Chile

This paper empirically examines the determinants that can help job searchers successfully find jobs. We acquire individual-level data from the 2009 National Employment Survey of Chile and use an innovative non-linear estimation which examines the influences of two individual-level factors: job searchers’ searching efforts and their previous work experience. It is found that whether one searcher is actively searching and whether the searcher has been employed before both significantly affect the job searching outcomes. To be specific, actively searching for jobs with resumes and social networks as well as public assistance provides more opportunities to successfully find a job. Similar consequences may occur for someone without previous work experience. Furthermore, the disparities in the job searching results are also affected by multiple individual characteristics, such as age, gender, and education level. For example, active searching only significantly helps men but not women and those people with average instead of higher education backgrounds find jobs, while previous work experience can help women or those who receive higher education find jobs more easily. Relevant policy implications are also discussed.

Empirically Examining the Individual-Level Determinants of Job-Searching Outcomes: A Nonlinear Analysis Under the Case of Chile

This paper empirically examines the determinants that can help job searchers successfully find jobs. We acquire individual-level data from the 2009 National Employment Survey of Chile, and use an innovative non-linear estimation which examines the influences of two individual-level factors: job searchers’ searching efforts and their previous work experience. It is found that whether one searcher is actively searching and whether the searcher has been employed before both significantly affect the job searching outcomes. To be specific, actively searching for jobs with resumes, social networks, as well as public assistance, provides more opportunities to successfully find a job. Similar consequences may occur for someone without previous work experience. Furthermore, the disparities in the job searching results are also affected by multiple individual characteristics, such as age, gender, and education level. For example, active searching only significantly helps men but not women, and those people with average instead of higher education backgrounds find jobs, while previous work experience can help women or those who receive higher education find jobs more easily. Relevant policy implications are also discussed.

Allostatic load and biological anthropology.

Multiple stressors affect developing and adult organisms, thereby partly structuring their phenotypes. Determining how stressors influence health, well-being, and longevity in human and nonhuman primate populations are major foci within biological anthropology. Although much effort has been devoted to examining responses to multiple environmental and sociocultural stressors, no holistic metric to measure stress-related physiological dysfunction has been widely applied within biological anthropology. Researchers from disciplines outside anthropology are using allostatic load indices (ALIs) to estimate such dysregulation and examine life-long outcomes of stressor exposures, including morbidity and mortality. Following allostasis theory, allostatic load represents accumulated physiological and somatic damage secondary to stressors and senescent processes experienced over the lifespan. ALIs estimate this wear-and-tear using a composite of biomarkers representing neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune systems. Across samples, ALIs are associated significantly with multiple individual characteristics (e.g., age, sex, education, DNA variation) of interest within biological anthropology. They also predict future outcomes, including aspects of life history variation (e.g., survival, lifespan), mental and physical health, morbidity and mortality, and likely health disparities between groups, by stressor exposures, ethnicity, occupations, and degree of departure from local indigenous life ways and integration into external and commodified ones. ALIs also may be applied to similar stress-related research areas among nonhuman primates. Given the reports from multiple research endeavors, here we propose ALIs may be useful for assessing stressors, stress responses, and stress-related dysfunction, current and long-term cognitive function, health and well-being, and risk of early mortality across many research programs within biological anthropology.

Behavioral Profiles of Anxious Solitary Children: Predicting Peer Relations Trajectories from Third Through Fifth Grades

Consistent with a holistic perspective emphasizing the integration of multiple individual characteristics within child systems, it was hypothesized that subgroups of anxious solitary (AS) children differentiated by agreeable, normal, attention-seeking, and externalizing behaviors would demonstrate enduring heterogeneity in peer relations over the last three years of elementary school, a period of relative ecological stability. Subgroup analyses were conducted with 661 children (mean age in third grade = 8.66 years, 51.6% female) who participated in peer sociometrics in the fall and spring of the third through fifth grades. Recess observations were conducted for a subset of these children ( n = 227) once in the third and fourth grades and twice in fifth grade. About half of children retained the same subgroup classification from third through fourth and fifth grades--a significant pattern of stability. Results revealed some normative patterns of change (particularly for recess observations) and group-specific patterns of change in peer relations over time. However, the overarching pattern was stability and the preservation of initial between-group differences in peer relations over time. Taken together, results revealed that Agreeable AS children demonstrated significantly superior relational adaptation relative to other AS children, whereas Normative, Attention-seeking, and Externalizing AS children demonstrated successively worse relational adversity. Attention-seeking AS children engaged in particularly high rates of solitary directed behavior and were most ignored by peers. Both Attention-seeking AS and Externalizing AS children were most often victimized by peers.

Fear of crime and the police

Using lifestyle exposure theory as a guide, this study examines the complex relationship between fear of crime and select lifestyle and individual-level constructs. Participants included undergraduate students at two state-funded universities located in Pennsylvania. Student fear of crime at both universities was examined to ascertain what factors influence this emotion-laden phenomenon. Results revealed support for several key fear of crime correlates. Notably, a significant relationship emerged between police visibility and fear of crime in the estimated partial and full models. Results also indicated that student lifestyle choices can impact fear of crime; this relationship can vary across samples, as evidenced in this study. It was also found that multiple individual characteristics, namely gender, race and living arrangement, were positively related to student fear of crime. A discussion and implications are offered to conclude.

Behavioral profiles of anxious solitary children and heterogeneity in peer relations.

Consistent with a holistic perspective emphasizing the integration of multiple individual characteristics within child systems, it was hypothesized that subgroups of anxious solitary (AS) children characterized by agreeableness, behavioral normality, attention-seeking-immaturity, and externalizing behaviors would demonstrate heterogeneity in peer relations and dyadic friendships. Sociometrics were collected for 688 3rd-grade children (mean age = 8.66 years, 51.5% female), and recess observations were obtained for a subset of 163 children. Results revealed that agreeable AS children demonstrated significantly superior relational adaptation relative to other AS children, whereas normative, attention-seeking-immature, and externalizing AS children demonstrated increasing relational adversity. Attention-seeking-immature AS children engaged in particularly high rates of directed solitary behavior and were most ignored by peers. Externalizing AS children were most often victimized by peers. Subgroup differences in sociometric peer adversity were qualified by sex.