Social Reinforcement Research Articles

Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and multiple intelligences theory: Curricular design in vocational formation in Spain

This study aims to design a class proposal to improve student motivation in English as a foreign language in vocational formation in Spain through computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and gamification. Our main objective is to ensure that through this project, they not only gain a series of new tools, but that they can also learn both specific contents of the target subject: English as a foreign language in vocational formation in Spain. For this last objective, the use of multiple intelligences (MIs) in teaching can serve to destigmatize atypical intelligences. Atypical intelligences are understood as profiles that have historically stood out less in classic intelligence tests, which mainly measure logical-mathematical intelligence. This is because of the strong presence of this type of test throughout the 20th century and early 21st century that culturally more value has been given to individuals who stood out in types of intelligence like those rewarded by these IQ tests. Gardner (2011) noted the problem of putting the education system and MIs on the same plane: the fact that the education system primarily rewards linguistic and logical-mathematical skills, leaving the others in the background. As far as gamification is concerned, we could say that it is apparent that teaching-learning processes benefit from elements common to games, such as rewards, incentives, and social and individual reinforcement.

Social Studies Learning Strategies in Developing Social Knowledge and Skills in Junior High Schools

The main competence of social studies learning is inseparable from the mastery of social knowledge and social skills in preparing students to become good citizens of society and the nation. This research aims to describe the strategies for developing social knowledge and social skills in social studies learning at SMPN 1 Monta. The research method used is qualitative descriptive. Data were obtained from interviews and observations at SMPN 1 Monta with both teachers and students. The data analysis involved a stepwise data verification process and used three approaches to qualitative data analysis: Data Display, Data Interpretation, and Drawing Conclusions. The results of this research show that teachers use strategies to transform social knowledge correlated with daily life content in the surrounding environment, making the material understanding directly meaningful to students. Meanwhile, to enhance students' social skills, guidance and reinforcement of local social values and national character values are conducted, enabling students to internalize these values and become moral benchmarks for behavior in the school and community where they reside.

Impact of a Serious Game (#RedPingüiNO) to Reduce Facial Self-Touches and Prevent Exposure to Pathogens Transmitted via Hands: Quasi-Experimental Intervention.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, society has become more aware of the importance of some basic hygienic habits to avoid exposure to pathogens transmitted via hands. Given that a high frequency of touching mucous membranes can lead to a high risk of infection, it is essential to establish strategies to reduce this behavior as a preventive measure against contagion. This risk can be extrapolated to a multitude of health scenarios and transmission of many infectious diseases. #RedPingüiNO was designed as an intervention to prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens through the reduction of facial self-touches by thoughtfully engaging participants in a serious game. Facial self-touches should be understood as behaviors of limited control and awareness, used to regulate situations of cognitive and emotional demands, or as part of nonverbal communication. The objective of this study was to ensure that participants become aware of and reduce these behaviors through a game of self-perception. The quasi-experimental intervention was applied to 103 healthy university students selected by convenience sampling and put into practice for 2 weeks, with 1 control group (n=24, 23.3%) and 2 experimental groups (experimental group with no additional social reinforcement interventions: n=36, 35%; experimental group with additional social reinforcement interventions: n=43, 41.7%). The objective was to improve knowledge and perception and reduce facial self-touches to prevent exposure to pathogens transmitted via hands not only in health multihazard scenarios but also in ordinary circumstances. The ad hoc instrument used to analyze the experience consisted of 43 items and was valid and reliable for the purpose of this study. The items were divided into 5 blocks extracted from the theoretical framework: sociological issues (1-5); hygiene habits (6-13); risk awareness (14-19); strategies for not touching the face (20-26); and questions after the intervention (27-42), designed as a postintervention tool assessing the game experience. Validation of the content was achieved through assessment by 12 expert referees. External validation was performed using a test-retest procedure, and reliability was verified using the Spearman correlation. The results of the ad hoc questionnaire, which were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and McNemar index to identify significant differences between test and retest for a 95% CI, showed that facial self-touches were reduced (item 20, P<.001; item 26, P=.04), and awareness of this spontaneous behavior and its triggers increased (item 15; P=.007). The results were reinforced by qualitative findings from the daily logs. The intervention exhibited a greater effect from sharing the game, with interactions between people; however, in both cases, it was helpful in reducing facial self-touches. In summary, this game is suitable for reducing facial self-touches, and owing to its free availability and design, it can be adapted to various contexts.

Diffusion in small worlds with homophily and social reinforcement: A theoretical model

We introduce homophily in a percolation model of word-of-mouth diffusion in social networks by reorganizing the nodes according to similarity in preferences for adoption of an innovation. Such preferences are described by a “minimum utility requirement” for an agent to adopt. We show that homophily removes the non-linear relation between preferences and diffusion in the standard percolation model with a high diffusion regime (“hit”) and a low diffusion regime (“flop”). Instead, in a model with perfect homophily, the final diffusion scales linearly with individual preferences: all agents who are willing to adopt, do adopt the innovation. We also investigate the combined effect of homophily and social reinforcement in diffusion. Results indicate that social reinforcement renders clustered networks more efficient in terms of diffusion size for network with strong homophily, while the opposite is true for networks without homophily. The simple structure of our model allows to disentangle the effect of social influence, homophily and the network structure on diffusion. However, the controllability of the theoretical structure comes at the expenses of the realism of the model. For this, we discuss possible extensions and empirical applications.

EXAMINING THE INFLUENCE OF INTERACTION ON STUDENT SATISFACTION VIA FLOW EXPERIENCE AMONG DISTANCE LEARNERS IN MALAYSIA

Lifelong learning has emerged as a global priority in the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015 - 2025 for addressing many challenges of sustainable development. Meanwhile, in an online setting, learners have fewer possibilities to interact with higher education institutions. There have been several studies related to interaction, flow, and student satisfaction. Nevertheless, it is relevant to western countries and traditional students. This study intended to assess how different kinds of interaction (between learners, course materials, instructors, and other learners) influenced student satisfaction among Malaysian distance learners. Moore’s Transactional Distance Theory (1989), which explains how people interact, is a key part of the research framework for this study. The current research involved 270 respondents that conform to the inclusion criteria, and SPSS was used to analyze the hypotheses. Organization and instructor may use the results in embracing a user-friendly educational experience with versatile virtual professional assistance, which is crucial for rigorous online courses. For that reason, this study will provide an overview and opportunities to communicate, cooperate, and gain input for social reinforcement.

Non-suicidal self-injury function: prevalence in adolescents with depression and its associations with non-suicidal self-injury severity, duration and suicide.

Given that adolescents with depression are at the highest risk for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), a thorough understanding of their NSSI functions, as well as associations between functions and severe behavioral consequences, is essential for risk assessment and invention development. Adolescents with depression from 16 hospitals across China, for whom data was available regarding their NSSI function, frequency, number of methods used, time characteristics, and suicide history were included. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed to determine the prevalence of NSSI functions. Regression analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between NSSI functions and behavioral characteristics of NSSI and suicide attempts. Affect regulation was the primary function of NSSI and followed by anti-dissociation in adolescents with depression. Females recognized automatic reinforcement functions more frequently than males, while males had a higher prevalence of social positive reinforcement functions. Automatic reinforce functions played the prominent role in associations between NSSI functions and all the severe behavioral consequences. Specifically, functions of anti-dissociation, affect regulation, and self-punishment were all associated with NSSI frequency, while higher levels of endorsements for anti-dissociation and self-punishment were linked to more NSSI methods, and greater level of endorsement for anti-dissociation was related to longer NSSI duration. Only the increase in endorsement of self-punishment was associated with a greater hazard of suicide attempts. The dominant functions of NSSI in adolescents with depression was automatic reinforcement, specifically affect regulation. And prevalence of NSSI function differed between males and females. Anti-dissociation and self-punishment seemed to be the most risky factors as they were linked to severe NSSI or suicide behaviors. More attention should be given to these functions in risk evaluation, and the targeted interventions should be developed accordingly in a timely manner.

Qualitative analysis of barriers to precision oncology within the VHA.

e18760 Background: Rapidly expanding knowledge of molecular drivers of cancer helps facilitate effective, targeted cancer therapy (i.e. precision oncology), but research suggests that precision oncology is underused. We conducted a qualitative study of barriers and facilitators of precision oncology use within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Methods: We conducted a pragmatic qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews with both patients and providers at VA medical centers with low, medium, and high guideline concordant molecular testing. The interview guide was constructed by a multidisciplinary team of oncologists, qualitative health researchers and patient representatives using modified grounded theory (MGT) and the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF). Summative and directed content analyses were conducted. Codes for the directed content analysis came from the framework and others evolved iteratively. Consensus-based approaches finalized the codebook. Results: Thirty-three interviews were conducted (17 patient and 16 provider interviews). A total of 1889 unique phrases were identified and categorized into 255 meaningful statement codes. The codes were mapped to 10 TDF domains. The most frequently cited determinants, representing 59% (1110 of 1889 statements) of all coded data, included the domains environmental context and resources, knowledge, and goals. Both patients and providers shared similar goals of improved outcomes and quality of care, but systems barriers were frequently cited impediments to precision oncology use. An additional 27% of codes (510 of 1889) represented the TDF domains of emotions (predominantly patient “fear of genetics” and confidence in providers), memory/attention (task priority in clinic visits), and interpersonal skills (both patient-provider, and interdisciplinary provider-provider). Additional frequently cited determinants, each comprising 6% of coded statements, included social influences (for both providers and patients) and reinforcement (perceived consequences). Conclusions: We identified determinants of precision oncology use at the patient, provider, and system level. Attempts to improve implementation of precision oncology will need to address systems barriers to care, as well as knowledge and patient-provider interactions, but can build on a foundation of shared goals.

The Enhancing Role of Emotion Regulation in the Links between Early Positive Memories and Self-harm and Suicidal Ideation in Adolescence

Adolescence is a critical developmental period associated with an increased variety of interrelated risks and vulnerabilities. Previous studies have found associations between early memories of warmth and safeness, as well as emotion regulation, and self-harm and suicidal ideation in adolescence. Additionally, these early emotional memories have been found to be positively linked with some indicators of emotion regulation during this period. The present cross-sectional study extends prior research by exploring the moderating role of emotion regulation in the relationships between early memories of warmth and safeness, as well as each of the following risk-related outcomes in adolescence, in younger (i.e., 13–15) and older (i.e., 16–19) adolescents: suicidal ideation and self-harm and its associated functions (i.e., automatic and social reinforcement. Three self-report measures of these early emotional memories, emotion regulation, and risk-related outcomes, and a sample of 7918 Portuguese adolescents (53.3% females), with ages ranging from 13 to 19 (Mage = 15.5), were used. In both age groups, at high levels of emotion regulation, early memories of warmth and safeness had a greater (negative) effect on suicidal ideation and the automatic reinforcement function of self-harm, compared to at average and low levels of emotion regulation. These findings highlight the enhancing role of emotion regulation on the associations between early memories of warmth and safeness and some risk-related outcomes in adolescents, both younger and older, which reveals the relevance of targeting emotion regulation when preventing or tackling these outcomes, regardless of adolescents’ levels of early memories of warmth and safeness.

Social familiarity and reinforcement value: a behavioral-economic analysis of demand for social interaction with cagemate and non-cagemate female rats.

Rats were studied in social reinforcement procedures in which lever presses opened a door separating two adjacent spaces, permitting access to social interaction with a partner rat. The number of lever presses required for social interaction was systematically increased across blocks of sessions according to fixed-ratio schedules, generating demand functions at three different social reinforcement durations: 10 s, 30 s, and 60 s. The social partner rats were cagemates in one phase, and non-cagemates in a second phase. The rate at which social interactions were produced declined with the fixed-ratio price, and was well described by an exponential model that has been successfully employed with a range of social and non-social reinforcers. None of the main parameters of the model varied systematically with social interaction duration or with the social familiarity of the partner rat. On the whole, the results provide further evidence of the reinforcing value of social interaction, and its functional parallels with non-social reinforcers.

A trigger-substrate model of student engagement with learning

BACKGROUND: There is much controversy and disagreement about engagement with learning, in its definition, its causes and its effects. The recent APS book on “Technologies in Biomedical and Life Sciences Education” outlines these controversies. AIM: To develop upon previously proposed engagement models by using trigger and substrate interactions between contributory factors in order to explain how causative factors may have minimal or no effects on learning when required coincident factors are absent. METHOD: Trigger-substrate steps include a longer-lasting, undergirding substrate factor as well as a short-lived trigger factor, which together act as the cause for the outcome. RESULTS: The model that we propose has engagement, effort and use of resources resulting from the triggers of teaching and providing resources, with a substrate of internalized motivation and a sense of belonging. Continuing forward, engagement, effort and use of resources is a trigger for learning and other benefits, and these results require a substrate of strategies and preparedness in the student. Learning can lead to both positive and negative feedback effects via assessment, feedback (from instructors and the institution), and emotions, which can act via metacognition, incentives and social reinforcement, and achievement, identification (of the student with the learning and outcomes), and the educational climate. CONCLUSIONS: Trigger-substrate causality may help to clarify the inconsistencies seen in education results between traditional theories based on teaching and more recent theories that have focused on the learner. The research has been funded by Brighton and Sussex Medical School This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Globalization and Loss: Place, Displacements and Binary in Olu Obafemi’s Wheels

One of the central mantras of globalization, from the purview of the West and other self-acclaimed first world countries, is the need to take progressive and innovative ideas and thoughts to third and fourth world countries for all-round economic, political, social, and intellectual development and reinforcement. This very idea of globalization, by contrast, engenders displacements of identity and place and this has formed the core of critical reflection in postcolonial ecocriticism; that is, the idea of achieving a global community, from a western ideological construct, implicitly accounts for the depletion of the natural environment. Therefore, globalization becomes double critique since it both accounts for progress (for first world countries) and backwardness (for third world countries, fourth world countries and the nonhuman world). In the light of several arguments against and for globalization, this paper examines Olu Obafemi’s Wheels in relation to the self/other dichotomy. From the analysis of the selected text, it is discovered that the objectification of the third and fourth world countries and the nonhuman world in the process of globalization is the quest by Western forces to maintain the status quo of the hegemonic tendency inherent in the binary oppositions between the first world countries and the third and fourth world countries. While arguments in post-colonial studies investigate and distort the violent hierarchical oppositions of the self/other, this paper concludes that upturning the binary demonstrates that identity is forged within the context of difference – a free play of language between the two forces of signification and this suggests that the presence of one implicates the absence of the other and vice versa. Therefore, globalization, while being ambivalent, can shed its negative linings within the irresolvable and undecidable play of difference between the first world countries and the third and fourth world countries.

Developmental Changes in Habenular and Striatal Social Reinforcement Responsivity Across Adolescence Linked With Substance Use

BackgroundHabenula (HB) function is implicated in substance use disorders and is involved in inhibiting dopamine release in the ventral striatum (VS). While blunted VS reward responsivity is implicated in risk for later substance use, links between HB reinforcement processing and progression of use have not, to our knowledge, been examined among adolescents. In the present study, we longitudinally assessed HB and VS responsivity to social rewards and punishments across adolescence and examined associations with substance use. MethodsWithin a longitudinal design, 170 adolescents (53.5% female) completed 1 to 3 functional magnetic resonance imaging scans across 6th to 9th grade and reported yearly substance use across 6th to 11th grade. We examined VS and HB responsivity to social reinforcement during a social incentive delay task in which adolescents received social rewards (smiling faces) and punishments (scowling faces). ResultsWe observed increased VS responsivity to social rewards (vs. reward omissions) and increased VS, but decreased HB, responsivity to social punishment avoidance versus receipt. However, contrary to hypotheses, the HB displayed increased responsivity to social rewards (vs. reward omissions). Further, adolescents reporting regular substance use displayed longitudinally declining HB responsivity to social rewards (vs. reward omissions), whereas adolescents reporting no substance use displayed longitudinally increasing HB responsivity. In contrast, whereas VS responsivity to punishment avoidance versus receipt increased longitudinally among regular substance users, it stayed relatively stable among nonusers. ConclusionsThese results suggest that differential HB and VS social reinforcement processing trajectories across adolescence are associated with substance use.

Simplicially driven simple contagion

Single contagion processes are known to display a continuous transition from an epidemic-free phase at low contagion rates to the epidemic state for rates above a critical threshold. This transition can become discontinuous when two simple contagion processes are coupled in a bi-directional symmetric way. However, in many cases, the coupling is not symmetric and the processes can be of a different nature. For example, risky social behaviors -- such as not wearing masks or engaging in large gatherings -- can affect the spread of a disease, and their adoption dynamics via social reinforcement mechanisms are better described by complex contagion models, rather than by the simple contagion paradigm, which is more appropriate for disease spreading phenomena. Motivated by this example, we consider a simplicial contagion (describing the adoption of a behavior) that uni-directionally drives a simple contagion (describing a disease propagation). We show that, above a critical driving strength, such driven simple contagion can exhibit both discontinuous transitions and bi-stability, which are instead absent in standard simple contagions. We provide a mean-field analytical description of the phase diagram of the system, and complement the results with Markov-chain simulations. Our results provide a novel route for a simple contagion process to display the phenomenology of a higher-order contagion, through a driving mechanism that may be hidden or unobservable in many practical instances.

Examining social reinforcement learning in social anxiety

Background and objectivesReinforcement learning biases have been empirically linked to anhedonia in depression and theoretically linked to social anhedonia in social anxiety disorder, but little work has directly assessed how socially anxious individuals learn from social reward and punishment. MethodsN = 157 individuals high and low in social anxiety symptoms completed a social probabilistic selection task that involved selecting between pairs of neutral faces with varying probabilities of changing to a happy or angry face. Computational modeling was performed to estimate learning rates. Accuracy in choosing the more rewarding face was also analyzed. ResultsNo significant group differences were found for learning rates. Contrary to hypotheses, participants high in social anxiety showed impaired punishment learning accuracy; they were more accurate at choosing the most rewarding face than they were at avoiding the most punishing face, and their punishment learning accuracy was lower than that of participants low in social anxiety. Secondary analyses found that high (vs. low) social anxiety participants were less accurate at selecting the more rewarding face on more (vs. less) punishing face pairs. LimitationsStimuli were static, White, facial images, which lack important social cues (e.g., movement, sound) and diversity, and participants were largely non-Hispanic, White undergraduates, whose social reinforcement learning may differ from individuals at different developmental stages and those holding more marginalized identities. ConclusionsSocially anxious individuals may be less accurate at learning to avoid social punishment, which may maintain negative beliefs through an interpersonal stress generation process.

Breast Cancer: How Hippotherapy Bridges the Gap between Healing and Recovery-A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.

Breast cancer is the most diagnosed women's cancer, and has a high survival rate. Despite great progress in detection and treatment, life reconstruction requires comprehensive cross-sectoral approaches between different disciplines and deeper consideration of the patient's challenges. Hippotherapy is an emerging specialized rehabilitation approach, performed by accredited health professionals and equine specialists, on specially trained horses via their movement, activating major paths for physical, mental, psychic and social reinforcement, and is synergistic to rehabilitative and supportive care. We conducted a randomized open, prospective, two-armed, controlled trial on the effectiveness of hippotherapy versus conventional supportive care on adult women with a diagnosis of breast cancer, after the period of primary treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy). The 6-month program included, in the treated group, an initial 1-week daily hippotherapy session, followed by three short 2-day sessions with an interval of 2 months between each, where the patients received conventional supportive care. The control group received 6 months of conventional supportive care. The primary end point was quality of life. Cognitive performances, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and body image were the secondary end points. Measurements were done through self-reported questionnaires. We observed statistical differences in the evolution of the measured parameters over time between the two groups. The hippotherapy group showed a much faster, favorable and continuous improvement until the end of the program for each function assessed. The most striking improvements were observed in global quality of life, and fatigue, while breast cancer-specific quality of life, cognitive performance, anxiety and depression and body image showed a less marked but still statistically significant difference at the final post-treatment evaluation. We demonstrate the therapeutic relevance of hippotherapy, a one-health approach, as a key initial stage after cancer diagnosis and treatment to foster recovery. Furthermore, hippotherapy has a strong impact on cancer treatments' efficiency and reconstruction of patient's life and ecosystem. This work reveals a layer of complexity that needs to be broadly considered. ClincalTrials.gov NCT04350398 accessed on 1 January 2022. Registered 17 April 2020, retrospectively registered; French Clinical Trials in Cancer Register RECF3818. Registered 18 March 2019, retrospectively registered.

Exploring the Social Reinforcing Value of Brushing in Equine-Assisted Services: A Comparative Study with Food Reinforcement

Abstract Brushing is one of the most common human-horse interactions in Equine-Assisted Services (EAS). Previous research has shown both positive and negative effects of brushing on horses’ behavior and physiological states. One of the primary reasons horses are included in services such as mental and behavioral healthcare is to provide human clients with positive relational experiences; however, more empirical research is needed to determine if horses also receive socially derived benefits from their interactions with human clients. Therefore, we set out to determine whether brushing can function as a social reinforcer for horses utilized in EAS in comparison to food reinforcement. Six EAS horses from a university-based Premier Accredited Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship, International center in the Southwestern Region of the United States participated in a single-subject reversal ABCABC design experiment, in which stimuli (A: Brushing, B: Food, and C: Control [Extinction]) were provided contingent on an arbitrary behavior (nose touch to the experimenter’s closed fist). All horses exhibited maximal or near-maximal responding in the food condition, but low responding in the brushing and control conditions. Data indicated that brushing was not an effective reinforcer for horses compared to food, and this could suggest brushing is a low-value reinforcer. Alternatively, it is possible to access to food at relatively short intervals in time during the experiment may have impacted the reinforcing value of brushing. Human-animal interaction proponents are increasingly calling attention to the need to ensure that equine-inclusive healthcare services address horse welfare, including the promotion of positive welfare experiences. Results from this study support the need for more research on identifying optimal interactions that can promote mutual benefits to both humans and horses participating in EAS.

A Project to Set up a Day Care Center with Rehabilitation Services for the Betterment of Health of Senior Citizen

Aloneness, carelessness and less reputation, sickness due to aged and in contradiction of lack of treatment are the most of the treacherous conditions which elderly are facing. Under the areas of the physical environment, the program, personnel, and inter-staff interactions, the development of a Day Care Center for senior citizens. The Center's mission is to offer seniors more thorough and efficient services. The program's social reinforcement, physical care, and mental components are focused on helping patients learn new skills and rediscover old ones so they may deal successfully with the challenges of aging and retirement. The day care center for the Senior citizens (elderly) can effectively cope with the continuous aging of the population, which is an important supporting form of community care service system. This project aims to Established a day care center for senior citizen for the betterment of their physical, social and mental health therefore, improve their quality of life with the help of qualified health professionals, quality infrastructure and active participation of service user.

Formation of zoning plans with chaos theory approach: example of Elazığ City master plan at 1/5000 scale

Zoning plans refer to the whole of the vital areas that can meet people’s all kinds of housing needs. Zoning plans are gradually created in different ways, from upper to lower scales. As one of the lower scale plans, the master zoning plans are a piece of land whose borders are determined for the relevant region by the ministry in Türkiye. These plans are made on a city basis as an administrative border. It gains significance in the approximate determination of parameters such as density, precedent, or height in the formation of zoning islands such as residential, commercial, and social reinforcements, and the people who will live on the piece of land related to the plan. This significance is associated with the chaos theory and the correlation of each zoning parameter that seems to be irregular with each other, and planning is made on a 30-40 year basis. Chaos theory is the calculation of planning the abstract event on the land with a deterministic approach for a long time in a way that will respond to all kinds of needs. Zoning plans should respond to the highest need in terms of construction and design. This production, it should be designed like an artistic structure. For this reason, all parameters that seem chaotic should be made with the best possibilities in mind, like a jigsaw puzzle. In our study, the plan parameters of the city of Elazığ, which is one of the 81 administrative cities in Turkey, were examined with a chaotic approach to the master zoning plan in the determination of the border, which was before the implementation zoning plan from the 1980s to 2016.

Status Quo and Advanced Progress in Oral Health Care and Treatment of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Literatiure Review.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has become one of the fastest growing diseases in the world, causing a great burden to ASD children's families and society. Children with ASD face more disadvantages relating to their oral health than those without ASD. There is a positive correlation between prevalence of caries lesions and severity of ASD. Poorer oral hygiene, higher detection rates of dental calculus and far more frequent cases of gingivitis occur in children with ASD. Traumatic injuries and various types of malocclusions are more frequent in children with ASD. Poorer oral health care and treatment status are caused by multiple adverse factors. Ways of promoting effective oral health care and treatment include pretreatment counselling; improvement of the individualised treatment environment; routine behaviour guidance techniques (BGTs) including tell-show-do, distraction, role model presentation, voice control, visual education and social stories, encouragement and reinforcement; targeted BGTs including visual education, behaviour modelling, applied behaviour analysis (ABA) and systematic desensitisation; passive BGTs including protective restraint, pharmaceutically administrated sedation and general anaesthesia; oral health education for guardians; and interdisciplinary collaboration and professional dental care/treatment. Dentists, families with children with ASD and schools should cooperate to improve family-centred oral health care and treatment for ASD children not only in China, but also the whole world.

Tracing the Innovation – Decision Process for Adopting Microchip Implants: Reflections and Experiences of Estonian Employees

Relying on the diffusion of innovations theory by Everett Rogers (1962 [2003]), the current paper traces the five steps of the innovation-decision process for adopting microchip implants in a workplace. Semi-structured individual interviews with microchipped employees (n=14) from six different organisations in Estonia were carried out to explore their opinions and experiences with adopting the use of microchip implants in their workplaces. Our analysis indicates that social reinforcement from their colleagues played an important role in the formation of the attitudes and beliefs of our interviewees about microchip implants. In fact, a strong element of homophily existed within the social system both on the organisational and interpersonal levels. Our findings suggest that the employees who decided to get microchip implants were considered to be more loyal and dedicated, as well as more in sync with the overall goals and values of the organisation; the employees who rejected the innovation were viewed as less motivated and not as invested in their organisations. All our interviewees stressed that they were voluntary adopters of the innovation and wholeheartedly believed in the value of trade-offs between convenience and privacy.