The acceptance and support of breastfeeding in public venues can influence breastfeeding practices and, ultimately, the health of the population.
The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether posters targeted at the general public could improve acceptability of breastfeeding in public places.
A convenience sample of 255 participants was surveyed at shopping centers in 2 rural communities of Newfoundland and Labrador. Experimentally, questions were posed to 117 participants pre- and post-exposure to 2 specific posters designed to promote public acceptance of breastfeeding in public.
Initially, we surveyed that only 51.9% of participants indicated that they were comfortable with a woman breastfeeding anywhere in public. However, context played a role, whereby a doctor's office (84.5%) or park (81.4%) were the most acceptable public places for breastfeeding, but least acceptable was a business office environment (66.7%). Of participants, 35.4% indicated previously viewing specific posters. We used a visual analog scale to test poster viewing on the acceptability of public breastfeeding in the context of a doctor's office and a restaurant. Results of pre- versus post-viewing of the promotional posters indicated significant improvements in both scenarios: in a doctor's office (P = .035) and in a restaurant (P = .021).
Nearly 50% of the surveyed population indicated discomfort with a mother breastfeeding in public. Both cross-sectional and interventional evidence showed that posters significantly improved the reported level of comfort toward seeing breastfeeding in public.
There are at least two different criteria for assessing pedophilia in men: absolute ascertainment (their sexual interest in children is intense) and relative ascertainment (their sexual interest in children is greater than their interest in adults). The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edition (DSM-III) used relative ascertainment in its diagnostic criteria for pedophilia; this was abandoned and replaced by absolute ascertainment in the DSM-III-R and all subsequent editions. The present study was conducted to demonstrate the continuing need for relative ascertainment, particularly in the laboratory assessment of pedophilia. A total of 402 heterosexual men were selected from a database of patients referred to a specialty clinic. These had undergone phallometric testing, a psychophysiological procedure in which their penile blood volume was monitored while they were presented with a standardized set of laboratory stimuli depicting male and female children, pubescents, and adults.The 130 men selected for the Teleiophilic Profile group responded substantially to prepubescent girls but even more to adult women; the 272 men selected for the Pedophilic Profile group responded weakly to prepubescent girls but even less to adult women. In terms of absolute magnitude, every patient in the Pedophilic Profile group had a lesser penile response to prepubescent girls than every patient in the Teleiophilic Profile group. Nevertheless, the Pedophilic Profile group had a significantly greater number of known sexual offenses against prepubescent girls, indicating that they contained a higher proportion of true pedophiles. These results dramatically demonstrate the utility-or perhaps necessity-of relative ascertainment in the laboratory assessment of erotic age-preference.
To investigate the reception and the readers' reactions to a booklet about sex, which is mailed annually to all 16-year old Finnish adolescents.
Eight hundred youngsters were randomly selected to the study. A questionnaire was sent to them six weeks after the mailing of the booklet, The Sextiin. After three rounds, a response rate of 65% (N = 521) was achieved.
The booklet reached 97% of the respondents, of whom 72% read all of it. The respondents' attitudes towards and reactions to the Sextiin were mainly positive. They reacted least positively to the articles on homosexuality and masturbation. Twelve percent of the respondents indicated that they opened the condom package that was attached to the Sextiin.
The study shows that the campaign reached its target group well. As the adolescents' reactions to the Sextiin proved to be mainly positive, a claim for further use of the mass media for educational purposes is justified.
A needs assessment revealed that a majority of home care workers feel the need for more education on Alzheimer's disease if they are taking care of such individuals. One program in Canada addressed this hole in the home care basket with a seven-module training course, which prepares its workers for the difficult task of caring for persons with AD when no one else is there.
Although the health risks from smokeless tobacco (ST) are lower than cigarettes, it remains unclear how smokers might use ST products, including as a substitute, a cessation aid, or concurrently with cigarette use, if at all. Additionally, there is little evidence examining the impact of health warning labels (HWL) on ST use and perceptions.
The current study investigated perceptions of ST products with and without HWL and a relative health risk (RHR) message. The study consisted of a full-factorial "between-subjects" experiment in which 3 HWL and a RHR message were systematically varied. Canadian smokers aged 18-30 years (N = 611) completed an online survey where they viewed four brands of ST packages altered according to the experimental conditions.
Approximately half of the smokers indicated that they were willing to try ST as a substitute and to help quit smoking. More than one quarter (28%) of smokers were unaware that using ST is less harmful than smoking. Pictorial HWL increased false beliefs about the RHR of ST and decreased smokers' willingness to try ST, whereas text warnings did not. Adding a RHR message communicating the lower risk of ST compared with cigarettes increased willingness to try ST when added to text HWL but decreased willingness to try ST even further when added to pictorial HWL.
The findings indicate relatively high levels of appeal for ST among young adult Canadian cigarette smokers. Pictorial HWL reduced the appeal of ST products and increased perceived risks, including the false belief that ST is equally harmful as cigarettes. Further research could consider evaluating designs of HWL on ST products that better balance absolute and RHR.
This article discusses the benefits and limitations of applied suicide intervention skills training (ASIST), a two-day intensive, interactive and practice-dominated workshop designed to help caregivers recognise and estimate risk and learn how to intervene in case of immediate risk of suicide. It could appropriately be compared to training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The workshop sensitises participants to attitudes and presents a model for suicide intervention; it is flexible and employs learning aids and audiovisual material in order to encourage a high level of involvement. A growing body of evidence from assessments suggests that the workshop enhances caregivers' sense of readiness for suicide intervention and their actual level of skills for that role. ASIST is a standardized learning experience that uses an effective implementation strategy through which local professionals are trained as instructors. It was developed by LivingWorks Education in Canada in the 1980s. In Norway, Vivat, a training programme originating in the National Suicide Prevention Plan, is in charge of implementation of the workshop and training of instructors.
To achieve greater motivation for behavioural changes; educating, motivating and supporting the patient's ability to change lifestyle factors related to the caries disease are important tasks in the prevention of the disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a visual aid (Visual Caries Dialogue, VCD) in combination with a comprehensive open discussion has a beneficial effect on approximal caries development among a population of young adolescents.
The study subjects were randomized to either an intervention group (n = 118), where VCD was conducted, or a control group (n = 112) receiving traditional oral healthcare information, at the annual dental health examination. The number of caries lesions reaching through the entire enamel (D2) and dentin caries reaching through the enamel into the dentin (D3) were recorded from bitewing radiographs each year, from 2001-2004. Differences between the study groups regarding at least two new approximal surfaces with caries (D2-D3) were tested using logistic regression.
The caries increment was lower in the intervention group compared to the control group. During the 3-year follow-up, 18 (15.3%) patients in the intervention group and 40 (35.7%) patients in the control group demonstrated a DS-approximal increment of at least two surfaces with a risk ratio of 2.34 (95% CI = 1.43-3.83).
Visual Caries Dialogue in combination with a comprehensive open discussion reduced approximal caries increment among young individuals. The method provides an innovative simple and low-cost way of delivering information to patients and guides busy dental healthcare personnel in the approach.
Efforts to provide audiologic services to the Inuit population of the Baffin Zone have frequently resulted in unexpected problems and frustrations. Often these are the product of two very different cultures coming together. This paper reviews the author's personal experiences in this regard with special reference to hearing aid attitudes, noise exposure, and the making of instructional audio-visual materials. A brief description of a recently revised hearing conservation program at Frobisher Bay is provided.
Notes
From: Fortuine, Robert et al. 1993. The Health of the Inuit of North America: A Bibliography from the Earliest Times through 1990. University of Alaska Anchorage. Citation number 2424.
