Suicidal Behavior and Help Seeking among Diverse College Students

Science.gov (United States)

Brownson, Chris; Becker, Martin Swanbrow; Shadick, Richard; Jaggars, Shanna S.; Nitkin-Kaner, Yael

2014-01-01

Suicidal and help-seeking behaviors of students of color remain a significant problem on college campuses. Self-reported suicidal experiences and help-seeking behavior of diverse students are examined on the basis of results from a national survey of college student mental health. The results suggest significant differences in the expression of…

A hierarchical modeling of information seeking behavior of school ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The aim of this study was to investigate the information seeking behavior of school teachers in the public primary schools of rural areas of Nigeria and to draw up a model of their information-seeking behavior. A Cross-sectional survey design research was employed to carry out the research. Findings showed that the ...

How Frequently are “Classic” Drug-Seeking Behaviors Used by Drug-Seeking Patients in the Emergency Department?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sean M. Curry

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Drug-seeking behavior (DSB in the emergency department (ED is a very commonproblem, yet there has been little quantitative study to date of such behavior.The goal of this study wasto assess the frequency with which drug seeking patients in the ED use classic drug seeking behaviorsto obtain prescription medication.Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review on patients in an ED case management programfor DSB. We reviewed all visits by patients in the program that occurred during a 1-year period, andrecorded the frequency of the following behaviors: complaining of headache, complaining of backpain, complaining of dental pain, requesting medication by name, requesting a refill of medication,reporting medications as having been lost or stolen, reporting 10/10 pain, reporting greater than 10/10pain, reporting being out of medication, and requesting medication parenterally. These behaviors werechosen because they are described as “classic” for DSB in the existing literature.Results: We studied 178 patients from the case management program, who made 2,486 visits in 1year. The frequency of each behavior was: headache 21.7%, back pain 20.8%, dental pain 1.8%,medication by name 15.2%, requesting refill 7.0%, lost or stolen medication 0.6%, pain 10/10 29.1%,pain greater than 10/10 1.8%, out of medication 9.5%, and requesting parenteral medication 4.3%.Patients averaged 1.1 behaviors per visit.Conclusion: Drug-seeking patients appear to exhibit “classically” described drug-seeking behaviorswith only low to moderate frequency. Reliance on historical features may be inadequate when trying toassess whether or not a patient is drug-seeking.

Information seeking behavior of Greek astronomers

OpenAIRE

Brindesi, Hara; Kapidakis, Sarantos

2011-01-01

This study examines three aspects of information seeking behaviour of astronomers in Greece including a) the importance they place in keeping up- to-date with current developments b) the methods they depend on for keeping up-to-date and c) the information sources they mostly use. We adopted an intradisciplinary approach in order to investigate similarities and differences in information seeking behaviour among astronomers when examining them as groups bearing different characteristics, includ...

Predictors and reasons for help-seeking behavior among women with urinary incontinence.

Science.gov (United States)

Schreiber Pedersen, Louise; Lose, Gunnar; Høybye, Mette Terp; Jürgensen, Martina; Waldmann, Annika; Rudnicki, Martin

2018-04-01

The aim of the study was to evaluate the predictors and reasons for help-seeking behavior among women with urinary incontinence (UI) in Germany and Denmark. This international postal survey was conducted in 2014. In each country, 4,000 women of at least 18 years of age were randomly selected. The questionnaires included validated items regarding help-seeking behavior and the ICIQ-UI SF. UI was defined as any involuntary loss of urine. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to assess factors predicting help-seeking behavior. Reasons for seeking or not seeking help were evaluated in terms of the severity of UI and as the most frequently reported. Of 1,063 Danish women with UI, 25.3% had consulted a physician compared with 31.4% of 786 German women with UI (p = 0.004). The severity and duration of UI, and actively seeking information regarding UI, were significant independent predictors of help-seeking behavior. Women with slight/moderate UI did not seek help because they did not consider UI as a problem, whereas of women with severe/very severe UI, German women reported that other illnesses were more important and Danish women reported that they did not have enough resources to consult a physician. Only a small proportion of women with UI had consulted a physician, and the driving forces for help-seeking behavior were severity and duration of UI and actively seeking information regarding UI. Public information campaigns might enhance consultation rates providing that passively receiving and actively seeking information have the same effects on help-seeking behavior. We show for the first time that reasons for not consulting a physician for UI vary depending on the severity of the UI.

Association of Online Health Information-Seeking Behavior and Self-Care Activities Among Type 2 Diabetic Patients in Saudi Arabia.

Science.gov (United States)

Jamal, Amr; Khan, Samina A; AlHumud, Ahmed; Al-Duhyyim, Abdulaziz; Alrashed, Mohammed; Bin Shabr, Faisal; Alteraif, Alwalid; Almuziri, Abdullah; Househ, Mowafa; Qureshi, Riaz

2015-08-12

Health information obtained from the Internet has an impact on patient health care outcomes. There is a growing concern over the quality of online health information sources used by diabetic patients because little is known about their health information-seeking behavior and the impact this behavior has on their diabetes-related self-care, in particular in the Middle East setting. The aim of this study was to determine the online health-related information-seeking behavior among adult type 2 diabetic patients in the Middle East and the impact of their online health-related information-seeking behavior on their self-care activities. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 344 patients with type 2 diabetes attending inpatient and outpatient primary health care clinics at 2 teaching hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The main outcome measures included the ability of patients to access the Internet, their ability to use the Internet to search for health-related information, and their responses to Internet searches in relation to their self-care activities. Further analysis of differences based on age, gender, sociodemographic, and diabetes-related self-care activities among online health-related information seekers and nononline health-related information seekers was conducted. Among the 344 patients, 74.1% (255/344) were male with a mean age of 53.5 (SD 13.8) years. Only 39.0% (134/344) were Internet users; 71.6% (96/134) of them used the Internet for seeking health-related information. Most participants reported that their primary source of health-related information was their physician (216/344, 62.8%) followed by television (155/344, 45.1%), family (113/344, 32.8%), newspapers (100/344, 29.1%), and the Internet (96/344, 27.9%). Primary topics participants searched for were therapeutic diet for diabetes (55/96, 57%) and symptoms of diabetes (52/96, 54%) followed by diabetes treatment (50/96, 52%). Long history of diabetes, familial history of the disease

Variety - seeking in product choice behavior : theory with applications in the food domain

OpenAIRE

Trijp, van, J.C.M.

1995-01-01

The primary objectives of the present work are (1) to review the marketing and psychological literature on variety-seeking behavior, (2) to develop a formal model for variety-seeking in product choice behavior and (3) to investigate elements of the proposed model empirically. The present approach specifically focuses on temporal variety-seeking behavior and addresses some of the key issues that have received inadequate attention in previous work on temporal variety-seeking behavior. ...

Mathematic anxiety, help seeking behavior and cooperative learning

OpenAIRE

Masoud Gholamali Lavasani; Farah Khandan

2011-01-01

Present project assess the effectiveness of cooperative learning over the mathematic anxiety and review the behavior of help seeking in first grade high school girl students. The experimental research procedure was in the form of pre-post tests after a period of 8 sessions of teaching. To measure the variables, the questionnaire of mathematic anxiety (Shokrani, 2002) and the questionnaire of help seeking technique (Ghadampour, 1998) were practiced (accepting or avoiding help seeking).To perfo...

Predictors and reasons for help-seeking behavior among women with urinary incontinence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Louise Schreiber; Lose, Gunnar; Hoybye, Mette Terp

2018-01-01

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: The aim of the study was to evaluate the predictors and reasons for help-seeking behavior among women with urinary incontinence (UI) in Germany and Denmark. METHODS: This international postal survey was conducted in 2014. In each country, 4,000 women of at least 18...... years of age were randomly selected. The questionnaires included validated items regarding help-seeking behavior and the ICIQ-UI SF. UI was defined as any involuntary loss of urine. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to assess factors predicting help-seeking behavior. Reasons for seeking...

Modeling stigma, help-seeking attitudes, and intentions to seek behavioral healthcare in a clinical military sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Wade, Nathaniel G; Vogel, David L; Armistead-Jehle, Patrick; Meit, Scott S; Heath, Patrick J; Strass, Haley A

2015-06-01

This study examined the relationship between public and self-stigma of seeking behavioral health services, and help-seeking attitudes and intent in a sample of active duty military personnel currently being assessed for traumatic brain injuries in a military health center. Although it has been suggested that many military personnel in need of care do not seek services due to concerns with stigma it is not fully clear what role different types of stigma play in the process. Using previously collected data from a clinical sample of 97 military personnel, we conducted path analyses to test the mediation effects of self-stigma on the relationship between public stigma and attitudes toward and intentions to seek behavioral health care. In contrast to a model of military stigma but in line with research with civilian samples, results from this study indicate that self-stigma fully mediates the relationship between public stigma and help-seeking attitudes and intentions. These results indicate that programming aimed at increasing mental health care use in the military might best focus on reducing self-stigma associated with seeking mental health services. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

What Matters: Quantity or Quality of Pornography Use? Psychological and Behavioral Factors of Seeking Treatment for Problematic Pornography Use.

Science.gov (United States)

Gola, Mateusz; Lewczuk, Karol; Skorko, Maciej

2016-05-01

Pornography has become popular with Internet technology. For most people, pornography use (PU) is entertainment; for some, it can result in seeking treatment for out-of-control behavior. Previous studies have suggested that PU can influence sexual behaviors, but the direct relation between frequency of PU and treatment-seeking behaviors has not been examined. To investigate whether individuals seeking treatment as a consequence of their problematic PU do so because of their quantity of pornography consumption or because of more complex psychological and behavioral factors related to PU, such as the severity of negative symptoms associated with PU and/or subjective feeling of loss of control over one's behavior. A survey study was conducted of 569 heterosexual Caucasian men 18 to 68 years old, including 132 seeking treatment for problematic PU (referred by psychotherapists after their initial visit). The main outcome measures were self-reported PU, its negative symptoms, and actual treatment-seeking behavior. We tested models explaining sources of seeking treatment for problematic PU with negative symptoms associated with PU and additional factors (eg, onset and number of years of PU, religiosity, age, dyadic sexual activity, and relationship status). Seeking treatment was significantly, yet weakly, correlated solely with the frequency of PU (r = 0.21, P pornography consumption. Thus, treatment of problematic PU should address qualitative factors, rather than merely mitigating the frequency of the behavior, because frequency of PU might not be a core issue for all patients. Future diagnostic criteria for problematic PU should consider the complexity of this issue. Copyright © 2016 International Society for Sexual Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Study of the Information Seeking Behavior of Communication Graduate Students in Their Research Processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shih-Chuan Chen

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Thesis is the research outcome that a graduate student spends most of his or her time and energies to achieve. Therefore, the research process of student’s thesis writing is an important topic to be investigated. The main purpose of this study is to explore graduate students’ information seeking behavior during the process of thesis writing. Ten graduate students in the field of communication were interviewed, and their information horizon maps as well as bibliographical references were analyzed also. Results showed that the library, as a formal channel, is the primary source for graduate students. The documents that they used most often were theses and dissertations, monographs, and journals. In addition to the formal channels, social network also played as a very important role in students’ research process. The networks even changed their information seeking behaviors in formal channels. Students reported several problems encountered in the research process, such as lacking of the background knowledge of the interdisciplinary, being unable to find out the core and relevant documents from the search results, etc. In conclusion, graduate students’ information seeking behavior changed at different stages in the research process. [Article content in Chinese

Controlling Behaviors in Middle School Youth's Dating Relationships: Reactions and Help-Seeking Behaviors

Science.gov (United States)

Elias-Lambert, Nada; Black, Beverly M.; Chigbu, Kingsley U.

2014-01-01

This exploratory study examined middle school students' (N = 380) help-seeking behaviors and other reactions to controlling behaviors in their dating relationships. Over three-fourths of the participants perpetrated and were victimized by controlling behaviors in their dating relationships. Youth used emotional/verbal and dominance/isolation forms…

The Information Seeking and Use Behaviors of Retired Investors

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connor, Lisa G.

2013-01-01

This exploratory study examines the information seeking and use behaviors of a group of US retired or near-retirement investors from everyday life information seeking and serious leisure perspectives. Although primarily qualitative, it also collects and analyzes quantitative data to describe retired investors' information preferences and use.…

Reaching rural women: breast cancer prevention information seeking behaviors and interest in Internet, cell phone, and text use.

Science.gov (United States)

Kratzke, Cynthia; Wilson, Susan; Vilchis, Hugo

2013-02-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the breast cancer prevention information seeking behaviors among rural women, the prevalence of Internet, cell, and text use, and interest to receive breast cancer prevention information cell and text messages. While growing literature for breast cancer information sources supports the use of the Internet, little is known about breast cancer prevention information seeking behaviors among rural women and mobile technology. Using a cross-sectional study design, data were collected using a survey. McGuire's Input-Ouput Model was used as the framework. Self-reported data were obtained from a convenience sample of 157 women with a mean age of 60 (SD = 12.12) at a rural New Mexico imaging center. Common interpersonal information sources were doctors, nurses, and friends and common channel information sources were television, magazines, and Internet. Overall, 87% used cell phones, 20% had an interest to receive cell phone breast cancer prevention messages, 47% used text messaging, 36% had an interest to receive text breast cancer prevention messages, and 37% had an interest to receive mammogram reminder text messages. Bivariate analysis revealed significant differences between age, income, and race/ethnicity and use of cell phones or text messaging. There were no differences between age and receiving text messages or text mammogram reminders. Assessment of health information seeking behaviors is important for community health educators to target populations for program development. Future research may identify additional socio-cultural differences.

Contraceptive‑seeking Behavior of Women Attending Antenatal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Department of Community Medicine, Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba, 1Department of Public ... cross‑sectional study of 430 antenatal women using structured self‑administered ... KEY WORDS: Antenatal, contraception, population control Nigeria ... hence, the need to study the contraceptive-seeking behavior.

Novel data sources for women's health research: mapping breast screening online information seeking through Google trends.

Science.gov (United States)

Fazeli Dehkordy, Soudabeh; Carlos, Ruth C; Hall, Kelli S; Dalton, Vanessa K

2014-09-01

Millions of people use online search engines everyday to find health-related information and voluntarily share their personal health status and behaviors in various Web sites. Thus, data from tracking of online information seeker's behavior offer potential opportunities for use in public health surveillance and research. Google Trends is a feature of Google which allows Internet users to graph the frequency of searches for a single term or phrase over time or by geographic region. We used Google Trends to describe patterns of information-seeking behavior in the subject of dense breasts and to examine their correlation with the passage or introduction of dense breast notification legislation. To capture the temporal variations of information seeking about dense breasts, the Web search query "dense breast" was entered in the Google Trends tool. We then mapped the dates of legislative actions regarding dense breasts that received widespread coverage in the lay media to information-seeking trends about dense breasts over time. Newsworthy events and legislative actions appear to correlate well with peaks in search volume of "dense breast". Geographic regions with the highest search volumes have passed, denied, or are currently considering the dense breast legislation. Our study demonstrated that any legislative action and respective news coverage correlate with increase in information seeking for "dense breast" on Google, suggesting that Google Trends has the potential to serve as a data source for policy-relevant research. Copyright © 2014 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Nurses' Information Seeking Behavior for Clinical Practice: A Case Study in a Developing Country.

Science.gov (United States)

Sarbaz, Masoumeh; Kimiafar, Khalil; Sheikhtaheri, Abbas; Taherzadeh, Zhila; Eslami, Saeid

2016-01-01

We used a valid questionnaire to survey Iranian nurses' seeking information behavior and their confidence on different information sources. The frequently used sources were Internet" and "personal experiences" (54.8% and 48.2% respectively). "English medical journals" (61.9%) and "English textbooks" (41.3%) were the least frequently used sources. Nurses felt high confidence in sources such as "International instructions/guidelines" (58.6%) and "English medical textbooks" (50.4%). The main reasons for selecting sources were easy accessibility, being up to date and reliability. Google, Pubmed and Up to Date were the most used electronic sources. In addition, there were differences in terms of using some of these resources and nurse' age and gender. In developing information sources for nurses, factors such as reliability level, availability, and updatedness of resources should be more emphasized.

Programmatic correlates of maternal healthcare seeking behaviors ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Bernt Lindtjorn

be biased due to variations in some other factors between the exposure groups that influence maternal health seeking behaviors (for example, education, access to services, urbanization, among others). Accordingly, logistics regression models were implemented afterwards to get the unbiased (adjusted) program effects.

Contraceptive‑seeking Behavior of Women Attending Antenatal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Contraceptive‑seeking Behavior of Women Attending Antenatal Care in a Developing Country: A Veritable Tool for Slowing Population Growth. ... Background: The use of modern contraceptives has been embraced by developed nations as a means of achieving controlled growth rate. Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation ...

Communication and information-seeking behavior of PhD students in physicists and astronomy

OpenAIRE

Jamali, Hamid R.

2006-01-01

As a part of a wider doctoral research, this paper deals with the communication and information-seeking behavior of research (PhD) students in physics and astronomy. Based on a qualitative case study of PhD students in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at University College London, this study seeks to derive behavioral patterns in information-seeking activities of PhD students. The study aims to investigate the intradisciplinary differences in information-seeking activities of physicist...

The influence of socio-cultural interpretations of pregnancy threats on health-seeking behavior among pregnant women in urban Accra, Ghana.

Science.gov (United States)

Dako-Gyeke, Phyllis; Aikins, Moses; Aryeetey, Richmond; McCough, Laura; Adongo, Philip Baba

2013-11-19

Although antenatal care coverage in Ghana is high, there exist gaps in the continued use of maternity care, especially utilization of skilled assistance during delivery. Many pregnant women seek care from different sources aside the formal health sector. This is due to negative perceptions resulting from poor service quality experiences in health facilities. Moreover, the socio-cultural environment plays a major role for this care-seeking behavior. This paper seeks to examine beliefs, knowledge and perceptions about pregnancy and delivery and care-seeking behavior among pregnant women in urban Accra, Ghana. A qualitative study with 6 focus group discussions and 13 in-depth interviews were conducted at Taifa-Kwabenya and Madina sub-districts, Accra. Participants included mothers who had delivered within the past 12 months, pregnant women, community members, religious and community leaders, orthodox and non-orthodox healthcare providers. Interviews and discussions were audio-taped, transcribed and coded into larger themes and categories. Evidence showed perceived threats, which are often given socio-cultural interpretations, increased women's anxieties, driving them to seek multiple sources of care. Crucially, care-seeking behavior among pregnant women indicated sequential or concurrent use of biomedical care and other forms of care including herbalists, traditional birth attendants, and spiritual care. Use of multiple sources of care in some cases disrupted continued use of skilled provider care. Furthermore, use of multiple forms of care is encouraged by a perception that facility-based care is useful only for antenatal services and emergencies. It also highlights the belief among some participants that care from multiple sources are complementary to each other. Socio-cultural interpretations of threats to pregnancy mediate pregnant women's use of available healthcare services. Efforts to encourage continued use of maternity care, especially skilled birth

Physician assessments of drug seeking behavior: A mixed methods study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael A Fischer

Full Text Available Pain complaints are common, but clinicians are increasingly concerned about overuse of opioid pain medications. This may lead patients with actual pain to be stigmatized as "drug-seeking," or attempting to obtain medications they do not require medically. We assessed whether patient requests for specific opioid pain medication would lead physicians to classify them as drug-seeking and change management decisions.Mixed-methods analysis of interviews with 192 office-based primary care physicians after viewing video vignettes depicting patients presenting with back pain. For each presentation physicians were randomly assigned to see either an active request for a specific medication or a more general request for help with pain. The main outcome was assignment by the physician of "drug-seeking" as a potential diagnosis among patients presenting with back pain. Additional outcomes included other actions the physician would take and whether the physician would prescribe the medication requested. A potential diagnosis of drug-seeking behavior was included by 21% of physicians seeing a specific request for oxycodone vs. 3% for a general request for help with back pain(p<0.001. In multivariable models an active request was most strongly associated with a physician-assigned diagnosis of drug-seeking behavior(OR 8.10; 95% CI 2.11-31.15;p = 0.002; other major patient and physician characteristics, including gender and race, did not have strong associations with drug-seeking diagnosis. Physicians described short courses of opioid medications as a strategy for managing patients with pain while avoiding opioid overuse.When patients make a specific request for opioid pain medication, physicians are far more likely to suspect that they are drug-seeking. Physician suspicion of drug-seeking behavior did not vary by patient characteristics, including gender and race. The strategies used to assess patients further varied widely. These findings indicate a need for

Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms: Prevalence, Perceptions, and Healthcare-Seeking Behavior amongst Nigerian Men

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rufus Wale Ojewola

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS and the factors influencing the healthcare-seeking behavior of men with LUTS. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed of 658 men selected using multi-staged sampling techniques. They were interviewed about LUTS and their healthcare-seeking behavior. The data were analysed using PASW Statistics ver. 18. Associations between specific factors and healthcare-seeking behavior were examined using the chi-square and Fisher exact tests. Results: The overall prevalence of LUTS was 59.1%. Storage symptoms (48.2% were more prevalent than voiding (36.8% or post-micturition (29.9% symptoms. Approximately a quarter (25.5% had a poor quality of life (QoL score. The average duration of symptoms before seeking help was 3.4 years. Almost half (46.8% of the men with LUTS had never sought help. Perceptions of LUTS as an inevitable part of ageing, subjective feelings of wellness, financial constraints, and fear of surgery were the most common reasons for not seeking help. The most common reasons for seeking help were to moderate-severe symptoms, impaired QoL, and fear of cancer. Severe LUTS, impaired QoL, and the concomitant presence of erectile dysfunction, dysuria, or haematuria were clinical factors that positively influenced healthcare-seeking behavior. Conclusions: In this population-based study, we found that the prevalence of LUTS was very high amongst adult males. However, only about half of these men sought medical attention. Their healthcare-seeking behavior was influenced by severity of symptoms, QoL scores, and socio-demographic factors such as educational status.

Breast cancer prevention information seeking behavior and interest on cell phone and text use: a cross-sectional study in Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Akhtari-Zavare, Mehrnoosh; Ghanbari-Baghestan, Abbas; Latiff, Latiffah A; Khaniki, Hadi

2015-01-01

Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second principal cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide, including Malaysia. This study focused on media choice and attempted to determine the communication channels mostly used and preferred by women in seeking information and knowledge about breast cancer. A cross sectional study was carried out to examine the breast cancer prevention information seeking behavior among 450 students at one private university in Malaysia. The mean age of respondents was 25±4.3 years. Common interpersonal information sources were doctors, friends, and nurses and common channel information sources were television, brochure, and internet. Overall, 89.9% used cell phones, 46.1% had an interest in receiving cell phone breast cancer prevention messages, 73.9% used text messaging, and 36.7% had an interest in receiving text breast cancer prevention messages. Bivariate analysis revealed significant differences among age, eduation, nationality and use of cell phones. Assessment of health information seeking behavior is important for community health educators to target populations for program development.

Sensation seeking and smoking behaviors among adolescents in the Republic of Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Heejin; Park, Sunhee

2015-06-01

This study aimed to explore the relationship between the four components of sensation seeking (i.e., disinhibition, thrill and adventure seeking, experience seeking, and boredom susceptibility) and three types of smoking behavior (i.e., non-smoking, experimental smoking, and current smoking) among high school students in the Republic of Korea. Multivariate multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed using two models. In Model 1, the four subscales of sensation seeking were used as covariates, and in Model 2, other control factors (i.e., characteristics related to demographics, individuals, family, school, and friends) were added to Model 1 in order to adjust for their effects. In Model 1, the impact of disinhibition on experimental smoking and current smoking was statistically significant. In Model 2, the influence of disinhibition on both of these smoking behaviors remained statistically significant after controlling for all the other covariates. Also, the effect of thrill and adventure seeking on experimental smoking was statistically significant. The two statistically significant subscales of sensation seeking were positively associated with the risk of smoking behaviors. According to extant literature and current research, sensation seeking, particularly disinhibition, is strongly associated with smoking among youth. Therefore, sensation seeking should be measured among adolescents to identify those who are at greater risk of smoking and to develop more effective intervention strategies in order to curb the smoking epidemic among youth. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploring College Students' Online Help-Seeking Behavior in a Flipped Classroom with a Web-Based Help-Seeking Tool

Science.gov (United States)

Er, Erkan; Kopcha, Theodore J.; Orey, Michael

2015-01-01

Today's generation often seeks help from each other in online environments; however, only a few investigated the role of Internet technologies and the nature of online help-seeking behavior in collaborative learning environments. This paper presents an educational design research project that examines college students' online help-seeking…

Impact of Information and Communication Technology on Information Seeking Behavior of Users in Astronomy and Astrophysics Centers of India: A Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Sahu, H. K.; Singh, S. N.

2010-10-01

This study is based on a survey designed to determine the Information Seeking Behavior (ISB) of Astronomy and Astrophysics users in India. The main objective of the study is to determine the sources consulted and the general pattern of the information-gathering system of users and the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on the Astronomy and Astrophysics user's Information Seeking Behavior. It examines various Information and Communication Technology-based resources and methods of access and use. A descriptive sample stratified method has been used and data was collected using a questionnaire as the main tool. The response rate was 72%. Descriptive statistics were also employed and data have been presented in tables and graphs. The study is supported by earlier studies. It shows that Astronomy and Astrophysics users have developed a unique Information Seeking Behavior to carry out their education and research. The vast majority of respondents reported that more information is available from a variety of e-resources. Consequently, they are able to devote more time to seek out relevant information in the current Information and Communication Technology scenario. The study also indicates that respondents use a variety of information resources including e-resources for teaching and research. Books and online databases such as the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) were considered more important as formal sources of information. E-mail and face-to-face communications are used extensively by users as informal sources of information. It also reveals that despite the presence of electronic sources, Astronomy and Astrophysics users are still using printed materials. This study should to help to improve various Information and Communication Technology-based services. It also suggests that GOI should adopt Information and Communication Technology-based Information Centers and Libraries services and recommends a network-based model for Astronomy and

Towards Understanding How to Assess Help-Seeking Behavior across Cultures

Science.gov (United States)

Ogan, Amy; Walker, Erin; Baker, Ryan; Rodrigo, Ma. Mercedes T.; Soriano, Jose Carlo; Castro, Maynor Jimenez

2015-01-01

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in automatically assessing help seeking, the process of referring to resources outside of oneself to accomplish a task or solve a problem. Research in the United States has shown that specific help-seeking behaviors led to better learning within intelligent tutoring systems. However, intelligent…

Health Seeking Behavior of Patients Diagnosed with Cervical ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2018-03-01

Mar 1, 2018 ... explore the care seeking behavior of women with cervical cancer. ... approach. The ... suggested that most cancer patients in sub- .... therapy is perceived to be beneficial by most of ... friend advised me initially to go to Family.

Variety - seeking in product choice behavior : theory with applications in the food domain

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Trijp, van J.C.M.

1995-01-01

The primary objectives of the present work are (1) to review the marketing and psychological literature on variety-seeking behavior, (2) to develop a formal model for variety-seeking in product choice behavior and (3) to investigate elements of the proposed model empirically. The present

Drosophila mushroom bodies integrate hunger and satiety signals to control innate food-seeking behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsao, Chang-Hui; Chen, Chien-Chun; Lin, Chen-Han; Yang, Hao-Yu; Lin, Suewei

2018-03-16

The fruit fly can evaluate its energy state and decide whether to pursue food-related cues. Here, we reveal that the mushroom body (MB) integrates hunger and satiety signals to control food-seeking behavior. We have discovered five pathways in the MB essential for hungry flies to locate and approach food. Blocking the MB-intrinsic Kenyon cells (KCs) and the MB output neurons (MBONs) in these pathways impairs food-seeking behavior. Starvation bi-directionally modulates MBON responses to a food odor, suggesting that hunger and satiety controls occur at the KC-to-MBON synapses. These controls are mediated by six types of dopaminergic neurons (DANs). By manipulating these DANs, we could inhibit food-seeking behavior in hungry flies or promote food seeking in fed flies. Finally, we show that the DANs potentially receive multiple inputs of hunger and satiety signals. This work demonstrates an information-rich central circuit in the fly brain that controls hunger-driven food-seeking behavior. © 2018, Tsao et al.

Elder Abuse and Help-Seeking Behavior in Elderly Chinese.

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Elsie

2015-09-01

Elder abuse is a prevalent phenomenon resulting in physical, emotional, and social costs to individuals, families, and society. Timely and effective intervention is crucial because victims are often involved in relationships where re-victimization is common. Most elder abuse victims, however, are reluctant to seek help from outside their families. The aim of the present study is to explore factors associated with help-seeking behaviors among mistreated elders in Hong Kong. In-depth interviews were conducted with 40 elder abuse survivors. Although almost all of the participants could provide some examples of elder abuse, most denied that their own experience was abusive. Personal and professional social networks were important determinants of help seeking. Social isolation, cultural barriers, self-blame, and lack of knowledge were major barriers to help seeking. © The Author(s) 2014.

Potential spillover educational effects of cancer-related direct-to-consumer advertising on cancer patients' increased information seeking behaviors: results from a cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Andy S L

2014-06-01

Spillover effects of exposure to direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of cancer treatments on patients' general inquiry about their treatments and managing their illness are not well understood. This study examines the effects of cancer patients' exposure to cancer-related DTCA on subsequent health information seeking behaviors from clinician and non-clinician sources (lay media and interpersonal contacts). Using a longitudinal survey design over 3 years, data was collected from cancer survivors diagnosed with colorectal, breast, or prostate cancer who were randomly sampled from the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry. Study outcome measures include patients' information engagement with their clinicians and information seeking from non-medical sources about cancer treatment and quality of life issues, measured in the second survey. The predictor variable is the frequency of exposure to cancer-related DTCA since diagnosis, measured at the round 1 survey. The analyses utilized lagged-weighted multivariate regressions and adjusted for round 1 levels of patient-clinician engagement, information seeking from nonmedical sources, and confounders. Exposure to cancer-related DTCA is associated with increased levels of subsequent patient-clinician information engagement (B = .023, 95% CI = .005-.040, p = .012), controlling for confounders. In comparison, exposure to DTCA is marginally significant in predicting health information seeking from non-clinician sources (B = .009, 95% CI = -.001-.018, p = .067). Cancer-related DTCA has potentially beneficial spillover effects on health information seeking behaviors among cancer patients. Exposure to DTCA predicts (a little) more patient engagement with their physicians.

Potential Spillover Educational Effects Of Cancer-Related Direct-To-Consumer Advertising On Cancer Patients’ Increased Information Seeking Behaviors: Results From A Cohort Study

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Tan, Andy SL

2014-01-01

Spillover effects of exposure to direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of cancer treatments on patients’ general inquiry about their treatments and managing their illness are not well understood. This study examines the effects of cancer patients’ exposure to cancer-related DTCA on subsequent health information seeking behaviors from clinician and non-clinician sources (lay media and interpersonal contacts). Using a longitudinal survey design over three years, data was collected from cancer survivors diagnosed with colorectal, breast, or prostate cancer who were randomly sampled from the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry. Study outcome measures include patients’ information engagement with their clinicians and information seeking from non-medical sources about cancer treatment and quality of life issues, measured in the second survey. The predictor variable is the frequency of exposure to cancer-related DTCA since diagnosis, measured at the round 1 survey. The analyses utilized lagged weighted multivariate regressions and adjusted for round 1 levels of patient-clinician engagement, information seeking from non-medical sources, and confounders. Exposure to cancer-related DTCA is associated with increased levels of subsequent patient-clinician information engagement (B=.023, 95%CI=.005 to .040, p=.012), controlling for confounders. In comparison, exposure to DTCA is marginally significant in predicting health information seeking from non-clinician sources (B=.009, 95%CI=−.001 to .018, p=.067). Cancer-related DTCA has potentially beneficial spillover effects on health information seeking behaviors among cancer patients. Exposure to DTCA predicts (a little) more patient engagement with their physicians. PMID:24254248

Novel Data Sources for Women’s Health Research: Mapping Breast Screening Online Information Seeking Through Google Trends

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Dehkordy, Soudabeh Fazeli; Carlos, Ruth C.; Hall, Kelli S.; Dalton, Vanessa K.

2015-01-01

Rationale and Objectives Millions of people use online search engines every day to find health-related information and voluntarily share their personal health status and behaviors in various Web sites. Thus, data from tracking of online information seeker’s behavior offer potential opportunities for use in public health surveillance and research. Google Trends is a feature of Google which allows internet users to graph the frequency of searches for a single term or phrase over time or by geographic region. We used Google Trends to describe patterns of information seeking behavior in the subject of dense breasts and to examine their correlation with the passage or introduction of dense breast notification legislation. Materials and Methods In order to capture the temporal variations of information seeking about dense breasts, the web search query “dense breast” was entered in the Google Trends tool. We then mapped the dates of legislative actions regarding dense breasts that received widespread coverage in the lay media to information seeking trends about dense breasts over time. Results Newsworthy events and legislative actions appear to correlate well with peaks in search volume of “dense breast”. Geographic regions with the highest search volumes have either passed, denied, or are currently considering the dense breast legislation. Conclusions Our study demonstrated that any legislative action and respective news coverage correlate with increase in information seeking for “dense breast” on Google, suggesting that Google Trends has the potential to serve as a data source for policy-relevant research. PMID:24998689

Mapping publication trends and identifying hot spots of research on Internet health information seeking behavior: a quantitative and co-word biclustering analysis.

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Li, Fan; Li, Min; Guan, Peng; Ma, Shuang; Cui, Lei

2015-03-25

The Internet has become an established source of health information for people seeking health information. In recent years, research on the health information seeking behavior of Internet users has become an increasingly important scholarly focus. However, there have been no long-term bibliometric studies to date on Internet health information seeking behavior. The purpose of this study was to map publication trends and explore research hot spots of Internet health information seeking behavior. A bibliometric analysis based on PubMed was conducted to investigate the publication trends of research on Internet health information seeking behavior. For the included publications, the annual publication number, the distribution of countries, authors, languages, journals, and annual distribution of highly frequent major MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms were determined. Furthermore, co-word biclustering analysis of highly frequent major MeSH terms was utilized to detect the hot spots in this field. A total of 533 publications were included. The research output was gradually increasing. There were five authors who published four or more articles individually. A total of 271 included publications (50.8%) were written by authors from the United States, and 516 of the 533 articles (96.8%) were published in English. The eight most active journals published 34.1% (182/533) of the publications on this topic. Ten research hot spots were found: (1) behavior of Internet health information seeking about HIV infection or sexually transmitted diseases, (2) Internet health information seeking behavior of students, (3) behavior of Internet health information seeking via mobile phone and its apps, (4) physicians' utilization of Internet medical resources, (5) utilization of social media by parents, (6) Internet health information seeking behavior of patients with cancer (mainly breast cancer), (7) trust in or satisfaction with Web-based health information by consumers, (8

Information Needs, Sources, and Information Seeking Behaviour of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This work which focused on the policy-makers/administrators as information users was carried out using hundred (100) questionnaire in order to ascertain the information needs, sources and information seeking behaviour of the administrators. The barrier to information flow to them was also identified. The study adopted a ...

Acupuncture suppresses reinstatement of morphine-seeking behavior induced by a complex cue in rats.

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Lee, Bong Hyo; Lim, Sung Chul; Jeon, Hyeon Jeong; Kim, Jae Su; Lee, Yun Kyu; Lee, Hyun Jong; In, Sunghyun; Kim, Hee Young; Yoon, Seong Shoon; Yang, Chae Ha

2013-08-26

Morphine causes physical and psychological dependence for individuals after repeated-use. Above all, our previous study showed that acupuncture attenuated reinstatement of morphine-seeking behavior induced by pharmacological cue. In this study, we investigated whether acupuncture could suppress the reinstatement of morphine-seeking behavior induced by the combination of environmental and pharmacological cues and the possible neuronal involvement. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to self-administer morphine (1.0 mg/kg) for 3 weeks. Following the withdrawal phase (7 days), the effects of acupuncture on reinstatement of morphine-seeking behavior were investigated. For the investigation of neuronal involvement, the GABAA receptor antagonist bicuculline and the GABAB receptor antagonist SCH 50911 were pre-treated. Morphine-seeking behavior induced by combination of re-exposure to the operant chamber and morphine injection was suppressed perfectly by acupuncture at SI5, but not at the control acupoint LI5 and this effect was blocked by pre-treatment with the GABA receptor antagonists. This study suggests that acupuncture at SI5 can be considered as a predominant therapy for the reinstatement of morphine-seeking behavior in humans. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Visual attention: Linking prefrontal sources to neuronal and behavioral correlates.

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Clark, Kelsey; Squire, Ryan Fox; Merrikhi, Yaser; Noudoost, Behrad

2015-09-01

Attention is a means of flexibly selecting and enhancing a subset of sensory input based on the current behavioral goals. Numerous signatures of attention have been identified throughout the brain, and now experimenters are seeking to determine which of these signatures are causally related to the behavioral benefits of attention, and the source of these modulations within the brain. Here, we review the neural signatures of attention throughout the brain, their theoretical benefits for visual processing, and their experimental correlations with behavioral performance. We discuss the importance of measuring cue benefits as a way to distinguish between impairments on an attention task, which may instead be visual or motor impairments, and true attentional deficits. We examine evidence for various areas proposed as sources of attentional modulation within the brain, with a focus on the prefrontal cortex. Lastly, we look at studies that aim to link sources of attention to its neuronal signatures elsewhere in the brain. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Delays and care seeking behavior among tuberculosis patients in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Delays and care seeking behavior among tuberculosis patients in Tigray of Northern Ethiopia. Mengiste M Mesfin, Tesfay W Tasew, Israel G Tareke, Yohannes T Kifle, Witten H Karen, Madeley J Richard ...

The Effect of Central Amygdala Nitric Oxide in Expression Of Drug Seeking Behaviors

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Mahnaz Rahimpour

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Previous studies shows L-arginin (nitric oxide precursor increases conditioned place preference and drug seeking behaviors whereas LG-nitro-arginine methyl ester L-NAME( as nitric oxide synthase inhibitor decreases this process. In this project, effects of intra-central amygdale bilateral injection of nitric oxide agents on drug-seeking behaviors including rearing, sniffing and compartment entrance were investigated. Method: animals were wistar male rats (200-250 g which allowed to be recovered after they’re being suffered from a surgery by strereotaxis apparatus to be cannulated in coordination of central amygdale nucleus (CeA. CPP was conducted using a five-day schedule of unbiased procedure. Findings: morphine (2.5-10 mg/kg s.c induced significant drug-seeking behaviors. Naloxone (0.1-0.4 mg/kg i.p injection pretesting (after conditioning by morphine 7.5 mg/kg decreased the expression of behaviors. When L-arginine (0.3-3 µgr/rat injected intra–CeA prior to naloxone (0.4 mg/kg, increased behaviors but L-NAME (0.3-3 µgr/rat intra–CeA injections prior to L-arginine (0.3 µgr/rat pretesting, caused significant decreasement of L-arginine response. Conclusion: NO in the CeA may play an important role in the drug seeking behaviors induced of morphine.

Glucose-responsive neurons of the paraventricular thalamus control sucrose-seeking behavior.

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Labouèbe, Gwenaël; Boutrel, Benjamin; Tarussio, David; Thorens, Bernard

2016-08-01

Feeding behavior is governed by homeostatic needs and motivational drive to obtain palatable foods. Here, we identify a population of glutamatergic neurons in the paraventricular thalamus of mice that express the glucose transporter Glut2 (encoded by Slc2a2) and project to the nucleus accumbens. These neurons are activated by hypoglycemia and, in freely moving mice, their activation by optogenetics or Slc2a2 inactivation increases motivated sucrose-seeking but not saccharin-seeking behavior. These neurons may control sugar overconsumption in obesity and diabetes.

HIV knowledge and health-seeking behavior in Zambe´ zia Province ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

To assess the level of knowledge about HIV transmission and prevention and health-seeking behavior, we interviewed 349 people in 2009 using free response and multiple choice questionnaires. Over half reported first seeking treatment at a government health clinic; however, the majority of participants had visited a ...

Insight into the Earthquake Risk Information Seeking Behavior of the Victims: Evidence from Songyuan, China

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Shasha Li

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Efficient risk communication is a vital way to reduce the vulnerability of individuals when facing emergency risks, especially regarding earthquakes. Efficient risk communication aims at improving the supply of risk information and fulfilling the need for risk information by individuals. Therefore, an investigation into individual-level information seeking behavior within earthquake risk contexts is very important for improved earthquake risk communication. However, at present there are very few studies that have explored the behavior of individuals seeking earthquake risk information. Under the guidance of the Risk Information Seeking and Processing model as well as relevant practical findings using the structural equation model, this study attempts to explore the main determinants of an individual’s earthquake risk information seeking behavior, and to validate the mediator effect of information need during the seeking process. A questionnaire-based survey of 918 valid respondents in Songyuan, China, who had been hit by a small earthquake swarm, was used to provide practical evidence for this study. Results indicated that information need played a noteworthy role in the earthquake risk information seeking process, and was detected both as an immediate predictor and as a mediator. Informational subjective norms drive the seeking behavior on earthquake risk information through both direct and indirect approaches. Perceived information gathering capacity, negative affective responses and risk perception have an indirect effect on earthquake risk information seeking behavior via information need. The implications for theory and practice regarding risk communication are discussed and concluded.

Predicting job-seeking intensity and job-seeking intention in the sample of unemployed

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Marić Zorica

2005-01-01

Full Text Available In this study Ajzen' theory (1991 of planned behavior was used to predict job - seek intention and behavior among unemployed people (N = 650. In addition to theory of planned behavior variables (job - seek attitude, subjective norm, self - efficacy and controllability of job seek process we used several other psychological (financial pressure, self - mastery, self - esteem and depression and demographic (gender, age, education, marriage and lent of unemployment variables to build a model of predictors for both criterion variables. Financial pressure, intention to seek employment, job seek - self - efficacy, job - seek controllability, marriage and job - seek attitude predicted job - seeking behavior, while attitude toward job - seeking, subjective norm, job - seek self - efficacy and financial pressure predicted job seek - intention. Results are discussed in light of theory of planned behavior, current research of job - seeking behavior and recommendations are made for practice.

Theory of Planned Behavior including self-stigma and perceived barriers explain help-seeking behavior for sexual problems in Iranian women suffering from epilepsy.

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Lin, Chung-Ying; Oveisi, Sonia; Burri, Andrea; Pakpour, Amir H

2017-03-01

To apply the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the two additional concepts self-stigma and perceived barriers to the help-seeking behavior for sexual problems in women with epilepsy. In this 18-month follow-up study, TPB elements, including attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intention along with self-stigma and perceived barriers in seeking help for sexual problems were assessed in n=818 women with epilepsy (94.0% aged ≤40years). The basic TPB model (model 1) and the TPB model additionally including self-stigma and perceived barriers (Model 2) were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Both SEM models showed satisfactory model fits. According to model, attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intention explained 63.1% of the variance in help-seeking behavior. Variance was slightly higher (64.5%) when including self-stigma and perceived barriers (model 2). In addition, the fit indices of the models were better highlighting the importance of self-stigma and perceived barriers in help-seeking behavior for sexual problems. Theory of Planned Behavior is useful in explaining help-seeking behavior for sexual problems in women with epilepsy. Self-stigma and perceived barriers are additional factors that should be considered in future interventions aiming to adopt TPB to improve help-seeking behavior for sexual problems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Designing Health Websites Based on Users’ Web-Based Information-Seeking Behaviors: A Mixed-Method Observational Study

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Pang, Patrick Cheong-Iao; Verspoor, Karin; Pearce, Jon

2016-01-01

Background Laypeople increasingly use the Internet as a source of health information, but finding and discovering the right information remains problematic. These issues are partially due to the mismatch between the design of consumer health websites and the needs of health information seekers, particularly the lack of support for “exploring” health information. Objective The aim of this research was to create a design for consumer health websites by supporting different health information–seeking behaviors. We created a website called Better Health Explorer with the new design. Through the evaluation of this new design, we derive design implications for future implementations. Methods Better Health Explorer was designed using a user-centered approach. The design was implemented and assessed through a laboratory-based observational study. Participants tried to use Better Health Explorer and another live health website. Both websites contained the same content. A mixed-method approach was adopted to analyze multiple types of data collected in the experiment, including screen recordings, activity logs, Web browsing histories, and audiotaped interviews. Results Overall, 31 participants took part in the observational study. Our new design showed a positive result for improving the experience of health information seeking, by providing a wide range of information and an engaging environment. The results showed better knowledge acquisition, a higher number of page reads, and more query reformulations in both focused and exploratory search tasks. In addition, participants spent more time to discover health information with our design in exploratory search tasks, indicating higher engagement with the website. Finally, we identify 4 design considerations for designing consumer health websites and health information–seeking apps: (1) providing a dynamic information scope; (2) supporting serendipity; (3) considering trust implications; and (4) enhancing interactivity

Designing Health Websites Based on Users' Web-Based Information-Seeking Behaviors: A Mixed-Method Observational Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Pang, Patrick Cheong-Iao; Chang, Shanton; Verspoor, Karin; Pearce, Jon

2016-06-06

Laypeople increasingly use the Internet as a source of health information, but finding and discovering the right information remains problematic. These issues are partially due to the mismatch between the design of consumer health websites and the needs of health information seekers, particularly the lack of support for "exploring" health information. The aim of this research was to create a design for consumer health websites by supporting different health information-seeking behaviors. We created a website called Better Health Explorer with the new design. Through the evaluation of this new design, we derive design implications for future implementations. Better Health Explorer was designed using a user-centered approach. The design was implemented and assessed through a laboratory-based observational study. Participants tried to use Better Health Explorer and another live health website. Both websites contained the same content. A mixed-method approach was adopted to analyze multiple types of data collected in the experiment, including screen recordings, activity logs, Web browsing histories, and audiotaped interviews. Overall, 31 participants took part in the observational study. Our new design showed a positive result for improving the experience of health information seeking, by providing a wide range of information and an engaging environment. The results showed better knowledge acquisition, a higher number of page reads, and more query reformulations in both focused and exploratory search tasks. In addition, participants spent more time to discover health information with our design in exploratory search tasks, indicating higher engagement with the website. Finally, we identify 4 design considerations for designing consumer health websites and health information-seeking apps: (1) providing a dynamic information scope; (2) supporting serendipity; (3) considering trust implications; and (4) enhancing interactivity. Better Health Explorer provides strong

Health seeking behavior for cervical cancer in Ethiopia: a qualitative study

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Birhanu Zewdie

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Although cervical cancer is a leading cause of cancer related morbidity and mortality among women in Ethiopia, there is lack of information regarding the perception of the community about the disease. Methods Focus group discussions were conducted with men, women, and community leaders in the rural settings of Jimma Zone southwest Ethiopia and in the capital city, Addis Ababa. Data were captured using voice recorders, and field notes were transcribed verbatim from the local languages into English language. Key categories and thematic frameworks were identified using the health belief model as a framework, and presented in narratives using the respondents own words as an illustration. Results Participants had very low awareness of cervical cancer. However, once the symptoms were explained, participants had a high perception of the severity of the disease. The etiology of cervical cancer was thought to be due to breaching social taboos or undertaking unacceptable behaviors. As a result, the perceived benefits of modern treatment were very low, and various barriers to seeking any type of treatment were identified, including limited awareness and access to appropriate health services. Women with cervical cancer were excluded from society and received poor emotional support. Moreover, the aforementioned factors all caused delays in seeking any health care. Traditional remedies were the most preferred treatment option for early stage of the disease. However, as most cases presented late, treatment options were ineffective, resulting in an iterative pattern of health seeking behavior and alternated between traditional remedies and modern treatment methods. Conclusion Lack of awareness and health seeking behavior for cervical cancer was common due to misconceptions about the cause of the disease. Profound social consequences and exclusion were common. Access to services for diagnosis and treatment were poor for a variety of psycho

Effects of serotonin (5-HT)1B receptor ligands on amphetamine-seeking behavior in rats.

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Miszkiel, Joanna; Przegaliński, Edmund

2013-01-01

Numerous studies have indicated that serotonin (5-HT)1B receptor ligands affect the behavioral effects of psychostimulants (cocaine, amphetamine), including the reinforcing activities of these drugs. To substantiate a role for those receptors in incentive motivation for amphetamine, we used the extinction/reinstatement model to examine the effects of the 5-HT1B receptor ligands on the reinstatement of extinguished amphetamine-seeking behavior. Rats trained to self-administer amphetamine (0.06 mg/kg/infusion) subsequently underwent the extinction procedure. These rats were then tested for the amphetamine-primed or amphetamine-associated cue-induced reinstatement of extinguished amphetamine-seeking behavior. The 5-HT1B receptor antagonist SB 216641 (5-7.5 mg/kg) attenuated the amphetamine (1.5 mg/kg)- and the amphetamine-associated cue combined with the threshold dose of amphetamine (0.5 mg/kg)-induced reinstatement of amphetamine-seeking behavior. The 5-HT1B receptor agonist CP 94253 (1.25-5 mg/kg) also inhibited the amphetamine-seeking behavior induced by amphetamine (1.5 mg/kg) but not by the cue combined with the threshold dose of amphetamine. The inhibitory effect of CP94253 on amphetamine-seeking behavior remained unaffected by the 5-HT1B receptor antagonist. Our results indicate that tonic activation of 5-HT1B receptors is involved in amphetamine- and cue-induced reinstatement of amphetamine-seeking behavior and that the inhibitory effects of 5-HT1B receptor antagonists on these phenomena are directly related to the motivational aspects of amphetamine abuse. The inhibitory effect of CP 94253 on amphetamine-seeking behavior seems to be unrelated to 5-HT1B receptor activation and may result from a general reduction of motivation.

Cocaine influences alcohol-seeking behavior and relapse drinking in alcohol-preferring (P) rats.

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Hauser, Sheketha R; Wilden, Jessica A; Deehan, Gerald A; McBride, William J; Rodd, Zachary A

2014-10-01

The results of several studies suggest that there may be common neurocircuits regulating drug-seeking behaviors. Common biological pathways regulating drug-seeking would explain the phenomenon that seeking for 1 drug can be enhanced by exposure to another drug of abuse. The objective of this study was to assess the time course effects of acute cocaine administration on ethanol (EtOH) seeking and relapse. Alcohol-preferring (P) rats were allowed to self-administer 15% EtOH and water. EtOH-seeking was assessed through the use of the Pavlovian spontaneous recovery (PSR) model, while EtOH-relapse drinking was assessed through the use of the alcohol-deprivation effect. Cocaine (0, 1, or 10 mg/kg), injected immediately, 30 minutes, or 4 hours prior to the first PSR testing session, dose-dependently increased responding on the EtOH lever compared to extinction responses and responding by saline controls. Under relapse conditions, cocaine given immediately prior to the relapse session had no effect (1 mg/kg) or reduced responding (10 mg/kg). In contrast, cocaine given 4 hours prior to the relapse session markedly enhanced EtOH responding compared to saline. The enhanced expression of EtOH-seeking and EtOH-relapse behaviors may be a result of a priming effect of cocaine on neuronal circuits mediating these behaviors. The effect of cocaine on EtOH-relapse drinking is indicative of the complex interactions that can occur between drugs of abuse; production of conflicting behaviors (immediate), and priming of relapse/seeking (4-hour delay). Copyright © 2014 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

Stoic Behavior Hypothesis in Hint Seeking and Development of Reversi Learning Environment as Work Bench for Investigation

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Miwa, Kazuhisa; Kojima, Kazuaki; Terai, Hitoshi

2014-01-01

Tutoring systems provide students with various types of on-demand and context-sensitive hints. Students are required to consciously adapt their help-seeking behavior, proactively seek help in some situations, and solve problems independently without supports in other situations. We define the latter behavior as stoic behavior in hint seeking. In…

Information Seeking Behavior and Needs of Women Parliamentarians of Pakistan: A Case Study

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Maqsood Ahmad Shaheen

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This study probes into the information needs and seeking behavior of women parliamentarians in the 12th National Assembly of Pakistan during 2002 through 2007. It attempts to answer some of the questions raised on women’s political participation in the parliament and their information habits and needs by analyzing their preferred sources used in preparing for speeches, resolutions, bills, and laws. It also measures their information and communication technology skills. The study gauges their dependence and perception about the National Assembly Library and other sources of information available and suggests possible means by which information services to parliamentarians can be further enhanced. The findings of this study may present aspects which have never before been considered by researchers in trying to meet women parliamentarians’ information needs.

What Predicts Online Health Information-Seeking Behavior Among Egyptian Adults? A Cross-Sectional Study.

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Ghweeba, Mayada; Lindenmeyer, Antje; Shishi, Sobhi; Abbas, Mostafa; Waheed, Amani; Amer, Shaymaa

2017-06-22

Over the last decade, the Internet has become an important source of health-related information for a wide range of users worldwide. Yet, little is known about the personal characteristics of Egyptian Internet users who search for online health information (OHI). The aim of the study was to identify the personal characteristics of Egyptian OHI seekers and to determine any associations between their personal characteristics and their health information-seeking behavior.  This cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted from June to October 2015. A Web-based questionnaire was sent to Egyptian users aged 18 years and older (N=1400) of a popular Arabic-language health information website. The questionnaire included (1) demographic characteristics; (2) self-reported general health status; and (3) OHI-seeking behavior that included frequency of use, different topics sought, and self-reported impact of obtained OHI on health behaviors. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. A total of 490 participants completed the electronic questionnaire with a response rate equivalent to 35.0% (490/1400). Regarding personal characteristics, 57.1% (280/490) of participants were females, 63.4% (311/490) had a university level qualification, and 37.1% (182/490) had a chronic health problem. The most commonly sought OHI by the participants was nutrition-related. Results of the multiple regression analysis showed that 31.0% of the variance in frequency of seeking OHI among Egyptian adults can be predicted by personal characteristics. Participants who sought OHI more frequently were likely to be female, of younger age, had higher education levels, and good self-reported general health. Our results provide insights into personal characteristics and OHI-seeking behaviors of Egyptian OHI users. This will contribute to better recognize their needs, highlight ways to increase the availability of appropriate OHI, and may lead to the

The role of stigma in parental help-seeking for child behavior problems.

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Dempster, Robert; Wildman, Beth; Keating, Adam

2013-01-01

The present study examined the relationship between stigma and parental help-seeking after controlling for demographics, child behavior, and barriers to treatment. One hundred fifteen parents of children ages 4 to 8 years were surveyed during well-child visits in a rural pediatric primary care practice. Parental perceptions of stigma toward parents and children were both assessed. Parents believe that children are more likely to be stigmatized by the public and personally impacted by stigma. In linear regression analyses, parents rated themselves as more likely to attend parenting classes with lower levels of self-stigma and greater levels of personal impact of stigma. Stigma toward the child was not associated with help-seeking. Child behavior moderated the relationship between stigma and parental help-seeking. When referring parents to treatment, providers should address potential stigma concerns. Future research should assess both the impact of the stigma of attending treatment and the stigma of having a child with behavior problems.

Socio-Demographic Correlates of Women?s Infertility and Treatment Seeking Behavior in India

OpenAIRE

Sarkar, Sanjit; Gupta, Pallavi

2016-01-01

Background: Infertility is an emergent issue in India. Until recently, very few studies have understood the patterns and consequences of infertility in India. Family planning programs in India also viewed exclusively the patterns and determinants of overfertility rather than infertility. Furthermore, there is the lack of information about treatment seeking behavior of infertile couples. Therefore, this paper aimed to examine the extent of infertility and treatment seeking behavior among infer...

The Information-Seeking Habits of Architecture Faculty

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Campbell, Lucy

2017-01-01

This study examines results from a survey of architecture faculty across the United States investigating information-seeking behavior and perceptions of library services. Faculty were asked to rank information sources they used for research, teaching, and creativity within their discipline. Sources were ranked similarly across these activities,…

Role of the agranular insular cortex in contextual control over cocaine-seeking behavior in rats.

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Arguello, Amy A; Wang, Rong; Lyons, Carey M; Higginbotham, Jessica A; Hodges, Matthew A; Fuchs, Rita A

2017-08-01

Environmental stimulus control over drug relapse requires the retrieval of context-response-cocaine associations, maintained in long-term memory through active reconsolidation processes. Identifying the neural substrates of these phenomena is important from a drug addiction treatment perspective. The present study evaluated whether the agranular insular cortex (AI) plays a role in drug context-induced cocaine-seeking behavior and cocaine memory reconsolidation. Rats were trained to lever press for cocaine infusions in a distinctive context, followed by extinction training in a different context. Rats in experiment 1 received bilateral microinfusions of vehicle or a GABA agonist cocktail (baclofen and muscimol (BM)) into the AI or the overlying somatosensory cortex (SSJ, anatomical control region) immediately before a test of drug-seeking behavior (i.e., non-reinforced lever presses) in the previously cocaine-paired context. The effects of these manipulations on locomotor activity were also assessed in a novel context. Rats in experiment 2 received vehicle or BM into the AI after a 15-min reexposure to the cocaine-paired context, intended to reactivate context-response-cocaine memories and initiate their reconsolidation. The effects of these manipulations on drug context-induced cocaine-seeking behavior were assessed 72 h later. BM-induced pharmacological inactivation of the AI, but not the SSJ, attenuated drug context-induced reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behavior without altering locomotor activity. Conversely, AI inactivation after memory reactivation failed to impair subsequent drug-seeking behavior and thus cocaine memory reconsolidation. These findings suggest that the AI is a critical element of the neural circuitry that mediates contextual control over cocaine-seeking behavior.

Emergent Behavior of Multi-Vehicle Formations Using Extremum Seeking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brodecki, M.; Subbarao, K.; Chu, Q.P.

2013-01-01

Emergent behavior of a formation flight control system based on an advanced extremum seeking algorithm is investigated. The control system was implemented on a nonlinear high fidelity aircraft model and combined with a wake vortex model in order to accurately represent the aerodynamic coupling

Surgical Trainee Feedback-Seeking Behavior in the Context of Workplace-Based Assessment in Clinical Settings.

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Gaunt, Anne; Patel, Abhilasha; Fallis, Simon; Rusius, Victoria; Mylvaganam, Seni; Royle, T James; Almond, Max; Markham, Deborah H; Pawlikowska, Teresa R B

2017-06-01

To investigate surgical trainee feedback-seeking behaviors-directly asking for feedback (inquiry) and observing and responding to situational clues (monitoring)-in the context of workplace-based assessment (WBA). A hypothetical model of trainee feedback-seeking behavior was developed using existing literature. A questionnaire, incorporating previously validated instruments from organizational psychology, was distributed to general surgical trainees at 23 U.K. hospitals in 2012-2013. Statistical modeling techniques compared the data with 12 predetermined hypothetical relationships between feedback-seeking behaviors and predictive variables (goal orientation, supervisory style) through mediating variables (perceptions of personal benefits and costs of feedback) to develop a final model. Of 235 trainees invited, 178 (76%) responded. Trainees completed 48 WBAs/year on average, and 73% reported receiving feedback via WBA. The final model was of good fit (chi-square/degree of freedom ratio = 1.620, comparative fit index = 0.953, root mean square error of approximation = 0.059). Modeled data showed trainees who perceive personal benefits to feedback use both feedback inquiry and monitoring to engage in feedback interactions. Trainees who seek feedback engage in using WBA. Trainees' goal orientations and perceptions of trainers' supervisory styles as supportive and instrumental are associated with perceived benefits and costs to feedback. Trainees actively engage in seeking feedback and using WBA. Their perceptions of feedback benefits and costs and supervisory style play a role in their feedback-seeking behavior. Encouraging trainees to actively seek feedback by providing specific training and creating a supportive environment for feedback interactions could positively affect their ability to seek feedback.

Health-Related Information-Seeking Behaviors and Preferences Among Mexican Patients with Cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Soto-Perez-de-Celis, Enrique; Perez-Montessoro, Viridiana; Rojo-Castillo, Patricia; Chavarri-Guerra, Yanin

2018-06-01

Understanding the preferred sources of health-related information among patients with cancer is essential for designing successful cancer education and prevention strategies. However, little is known about health-related information-seeking practices among patients living in low- and middle-income countries. We studied the preferred sources of health-related information among Mexican patients with cancer and explored which factors influence these choices. The health-related information-seeking practices among patients with cancer treated at a public hospital in Mexico City were evaluated using questions from the Spanish Version of the Health Information National Trends Survey. The characteristics of patients who sought health-related information, and of those who chose the internet as their preferred source of information, were analyzed. Fisher's exact test and logistic regression were used for statistical analyses. One hundred forty-eight patients answered the survey (median age 60 years, 70% female), of which 88 (59%) had sought for health-related information. On multivariate analysis, the only characteristic associated with lower odds of seeking health-related information was increasing age (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.90-0.97). Sixty-one respondents (69%) listed the internet as their preferred source of health-related information. On multivariate analysis, only being of the female gender (OR 4.9, 95% CI 1.3-18.3) was related with higher odds of preferring other sources of information over the internet. Among Mexican patients with cancer, the Internet is the most widely used information source. Older age was the characteristic most strongly associated with not seeking health-related information, while being female was strongly associated with preferring other sources of information over the Internet.

Financial Stress, Self-Efficacy, and Financial Help-Seeking Behavior of College Students

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, HanNa; Heckman, Stuart J.; Letkiewicz, Jodi C.; Montalto, Catherine P.

2014-01-01

Financial stress and self-efficacy are examined in relationship to college students' financial help-seeking behavior utilizing Grable and Joo's (1999) framework. A cognitive approach is taken by focusing on the moderating role of financial self-efficacy on the relationship between financial stress and financial help-seeking. Data from the 2010…

Determinants of Consumer eHealth Information Seeking Behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Sandefer, Ryan H; Westra, Bonnie L; Khairat, Saif S; Pieczkiewicz, David S; Speedie, Stuart M

2015-01-01

Patients are increasingly using the Internet and other technologies to engage in their own healthcare, but little research has focused on the determinants of consumer eHealth behaviors related to Internet use. This study uses data from 115,089 respondents to four years of the National Health Interview Series to identify the associations between one consumer eHealth behavior (information seeking) and demographics, health measures, and Personal Health Information Management (PHIM) (messaging, scheduling, refills, and chat). Individuals who use PHIM are 7.5 times more likely to search the internet for health related information. Just as health has social determinants, the results of this study indicate there are potential social determinants of consumer eHealth behaviors including personal demographics, health status, and healthcare access.

Temperature-dependent changes in the host-seeking behaviors of parasitic nematodes.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Joon Ha; Dillman, Adler R; Hallem, Elissa A

2016-05-06

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) are lethal parasites of insects that are of interest as biocontrol agents for insect pests and disease vectors. Although EPNs have been successfully commercialized for pest control, their efficacy in the field is often inconsistent for reasons that remain elusive. EPN infective juveniles (IJs) actively search for hosts to infect using a diverse array of host-emitted odorants. Here we investigate whether their host-seeking behavior is subject to context-dependent modulation. We find that EPN IJs exhibit extreme plasticity of olfactory behavior as a function of cultivation temperature. Many odorants that are attractive for IJs grown at lower temperatures are repulsive for IJs grown at higher temperatures and vice versa. Temperature-induced changes in olfactory preferences occur gradually over the course of days to weeks and are reversible. Similar changes in olfactory behavior occur in some EPNs as a function of IJ age. EPNs also show temperature-dependent changes in their host-seeking strategy: IJs cultured at lower temperatures appear to more actively cruise for hosts than IJs cultured at higher temperatures. Furthermore, we find that the skin-penetrating rat parasite Strongyloides ratti also shows temperature-dependent changes in olfactory behavior, demonstrating that such changes occur in mammalian-parasitic nematodes. IJs are developmentally arrested and long-lived, often surviving in the environment through multiple seasonal temperature changes. Temperature-dependent modulation of behavior may enable IJs to optimize host seeking in response to changing environmental conditions, and may play a previously unrecognized role in shaping the interactions of both beneficial and harmful parasitic nematodes with their hosts.

Sensation Seeking or Empathy? Physically Aggressive and Non-Aggressive Antisocial Behaviors (ASBs Amongst University Students

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Saima Eman

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Previous research has linked anti-social behavior (ASB to subtypes of empathy and also to sensation seeking, but there is limited research on the relative roles of empathy subtypes and sensation seeking traits in predicting ASB subtypes. The current study therefore investigated the relationship between sensation seeking, the three subtypes of empathy (emotional reactivity, cognitive empathy and social skills and the two subtypes of ASB (physically aggressive and non-aggressive. An online survey consisting of Demographic Variables Questionnaire, Brief Sensation Seeking Scale, Empathy Quotient and the Antisocial Behavior Measure was sent to student volunteers, leading to a total of 537 respondents. Empathy alone accounted for a relatively modest proportion of the total variance in the ASBs, with emotional reactivity being the only significant predictor. Adding sensation seeking to the regression led to a marked improvement in prediction for non-aggressive ASB and a slight but significant improvement for physically aggressive ASB. Sensation seeking, emotional reactivity and social skills (but not cognitive empathy contributed unique variance for both ASB subtypes. The greatest variance for physically aggressive and non-aggressive ASB were accounted for by emotional reactivity and sensation seeking, respectively. The results indicate that both sensation seeking and sub-types of empathy are important in predicting ASBs. This has theoretical implications for different personality models and has practical implications for the development of preventive measures to avoid such behaviors.

Fecal incontinence knowledge, attitudes, and help-seeking behaviors among community-dwelling adults in Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Joh, Hee-Kyung; Seong, Moo-Kyung; Ahn, Hyun-Jun

2018-04-01

Fecal incontinence (FI) is a common debilitating disorder that tends to be underreported. Although low health literacy likely contributes to the underreporting, studies on FI knowledge among the general population remain scarce. We investigated how FI knowledge is associated with attitudes and help-seeking behaviors. We conducted a cross-sectional survey among community-dwelling adults undergoing national health screening in Korea. A structured, self-administered questionnaire was used to assess FI knowledge, attitudes, and help-seeking behaviors. Odds ratios (ORs; 95% confidence intervals, CIs) were estimated using logistic regression with adjustment for covariables. Of the 601 participants completing the survey, only 29.8% were aware of the term FI, and their knowledge levels were insufficient. As for FI-related attitudes, 24.6% considered FI to be very rare, and 22.3% considered it to be moderately or less distressing. Individuals who knew the term FI tended to consider FI more common (OR: 2.45; 95%CI: 1.49-4.02) and distressing (OR: 1.68; 95%CI: 1.07-2.63) than those without knowledge. Assuming future FI occurrence, those considering FI to be distressing were less willing to ignore or self-manage the condition (OR: 0.25; 95%CI: 0.11-0.58). Among patients with FI (n = 83), only 30.1% had sought help and 8.4% had consulted doctors. Knowing the term FI was significantly associated with overall help-seeking behavior (OR: 9.23; 95%CI: 2.09-40.77). FI knowledge levels and help-seeking rates were low among community-dwelling adults. FI knowledge was significantly associated with attitudes and help-seeking behaviors. Future public education programs are warranted to improve FI knowledge, attitudes, and help-seeking behaviors. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Health seeking behavior of patients diagnosed with cervical cancer ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Cervical cancer is increasingly recognized as one of the public health problems among women in developing countries. Most women with cervical cancer are seen in the health care system late with advanced stage of cancer. This study aims to explore the care seeking behavior of women with cervical cancer.

Assessing contributions of nucleus accumbens shell subregions to reward-seeking behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, Michael D; Hildebrand, David G C; Santangelo, Gabrielle; Moffa, Anthony; Pira, Ashley S; Rycyna, Lisa; Radic, Mia; Price, Katherine; Archbold, Jonathan; McConnell, Kristi; Girard, Lauren; Morin, Kristen; Tang, Anna; Febo, Marcelo; Stellar, James R

2015-08-01

The nucleus accumbens (NAc) plays a key role in brain reward processes including drug seeking and reinstatement. Several anatomical, behavioral, and neurochemical studies discriminate between the limbic-associated shell and the motor-associated core regions. Less studied is the fact that the shell can be further subdivided into a dorsomedial shell (NAcDMS) and an intermediate zone (NAcINT) based on differential expression of transient c-Fos and long-acting immediate-early gene ΔFosB upon cocaine sensitization. These disparate expression patterns suggest that NAc shell subregions may play distinct roles in reward-seeking behavior. In this study, we examined potential differences in the contributions of the NAcDMS and the NAcINT to reinstatement of reward-seeking behavior after extinction. Rats were trained to intravenously self-administer cocaine, extinguished, and subjected to a reinstatement test session consisting of an intracranial microinfusion of either amphetamine or vehicle targeted to the NAcDMS or the NAcINT. Small amphetamine microinfusions targeted to the NAcDMS resulted in statistically significant reinstatement of lever pressing, whereas no significant difference was observed for microinfusions targeted to the NAcINT. No significant difference was found for vehicle microinfusions in either case. These results suggest heterogeneity in the behavioral relevance of NAc shell subregions, a possibility that can be tested in specific neuronal populations in the future with recently developed techniques including optogenetics. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cross-Cultural Examination of Depression Expression and Help-Seeking Behavior: A Comparative Study of American and Korean College Students.

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Yoo, Sung-Kyung; Skovholt, Thomas M.

2001-01-01

Examines cross-cultural differences in depression expression and help-seeking behavior among college students in the United States and Korea. Results indicate that the Korean students showed more somatization tendency, negative affect, and negative help-seeking behavior. Negative help-seeking behavior of Korean students was shown to relate to…

Patterns of Antenatal Care Seeking Behavior in South East Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

on inequities on ANC seeking pattern among the pregnant women in Nigeria. Aim: The study ... behavior of women remains poor and poses one of the greatest ..... data – Or tears: An application to educational enrollments in states of. India.

Health-Seeking Behaviors of Filipino Migrants in Australia: The Influence of Persisting Acculturative Stress and Depression.

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Maneze, Della; Salamonson, Yenna; Poudel, Chandra; DiGiacomo, Michelle; Everett, Bronwyn; Davidson, Patricia M

2016-08-01

This study examined the relationships among the constructs of acculturative stress, depression, English language use, health literacy, and social support and the influence of these factors on health-seeking behaviors of Filipino Australians. Using a self-administered questionnaire, 552 respondents were recruited from November 2010 to June 2011. Structural equation modelling was used to examine relationships. A direct and negative relationship between health-seeking behaviors and depression, and an indirect relationship with acculturative stress, was observed mediated through depression. Social support had an important moderating influence on these effects. Although there was an inverse relationship between age and English language usage and depression, age was positively related to health-seeking behavior. Despite their long duration of stay, Filipino Australian migrants continue to experience acculturative stress and depression leading to lower health-seeking behaviors. This study highlights the importance of screening for acculturative stress and depression in migrants and fostering social support.

Gestational weight gain information: seeking and sources among pregnant women

OpenAIRE

Willcox, Jane C.; Campbell, Karen J.; McCarthy, Elizabeth A.; Lappas, Martha; Ball, Kylie; Crawford, David; Shub, Alexis; Wilkinson, Shelley A.

2015-01-01

Background Promoting healthy gestational weight gain (GWG) is important for preventing obstetric and perinatal morbidity, along with obesity in both mother and child. Provision of GWG guidelines by health professionals predicts women meeting GWG guidelines. Research concerning women?s GWG information sources is limited. This study assessed pregnant women?s sources of GWG information and how, where and which women seek GWG information. Methods Consecutive women (n?=?1032) received a mailed que...

Oral Cancer Awareness in Sudan: Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Treatment Seeking Behavior

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Eltayeb, Amel S; Satti, Asim; Sulieman, Ahmed M

2017-06-25

Objective: This study was aimed to assess oral cancer awareness among a selected Sudanese population and to evaluate their knowledge and treatment seeking behavior. Methods: A questionnaire- based survey was performed on the general population who attended the oral cancer awareness campaigns carried between 2015 and 2016 in different geographic areas of the Sudan. It was focusing on general awareness of oral cancer, oral cancer risk factors, oral cancer clinical signs/symptoms and treatment seeking behavior. Data were entered by Microsoft excel 2007 and analyzed by SPSS (version 20) using chi square test with P value oral cancer and the media was the common source of information (75.7%). Of all participants only 45.3% mentioned that they don’t have enough knowledge on oral cancer. Some participants believe that oral cancer is treatable (66.5%) whilst 30.4% respond by I don’t know. More than 80% of the respondents were aware that smokeless tobacco (toombak) is a risk factor for oral cancer. While 60.1% were aware of alcohol as a risk factor and 66.2% were aware of smoking as a risk factor. When qui square test was done, smokers were found to be the least to seek help in comparison to non-smokers. The same result was obtained from alcohol consumers but it was different in snuff dippers, as the latter response was similar to that of the non-snuff dippers. Conclusion: This study revealed a level of around 66.6% of oral cancer awareness in different states of Sudan. Counseling sessions should be conducted when necessary with further investigations to find out the reasons behind the continued practice of high risk habits, despite knowledge. Creative Commons Attribution License

A Procedure to Observe Context-induced Renewal of Pavlovian-conditioned Alcohol-seeking Behavior in Rats

OpenAIRE

Maddux, Jean-Marie; Lacroix, Franca; Chaudhri, Nadia

2014-01-01

Environmental contexts in which drugs of abuse are consumed can trigger craving, a subjective Pavlovian-conditioned response that can facilitate drug-seeking behavior and prompt relapse in abstinent drug users. We have developed a procedure to study the behavioral and neural processes that mediate the impact of context on alcohol-seeking behavior in rats. Following acclimation to the taste and pharmacological effects of 15% ethanol in the home cage, male Long-Evans rats receive Pavlovian disc...

Multiple blood feeding and host-seeking behavior in Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Farjana, Thahsin; Tuno, Nobuko

2013-07-01

The body size of mosquitoes can influence a number of bionomic factors, such as their blood-feeding ability, host attack rate, and fecundity. All of these traits are important determinants of their potential to transmit diseases. Among abiotic and biotic factors, high temperature and low nutrition in the developing stages of mosquitoes generally result in small adults. We studied the relationship between body size and multiple feeding in a gonotrophic cycle and some fecundity attributes by using three strains of two competent vector species, Aedes aegypti (L.) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse). We raised small and large mosquitoes under low and high food conditions in the laboratory to measure parameters of fecundity and blood-feeding behavior. Fecundity was positively correlated with body size in both species, whereas the number of bloodmeals, the frequency of host-seeking behavior, and egg retention were negatively correlated with body size in the Ae. albopictus Nagasaki strain. We found that multiple feeding and host-seeking behavior were negatively correlated with body size, i.e., small mosquitoes tended to have more contact with hosts. We found that two mechanisms that inhibit engorged mosquitoes from seeking out hosts, distension-induced and oocyte-induced inhibition, were not strong enough to limit host-seeking behavior, and multiple feeding increased fecundity. Size-dependent multiple feeding and host-seeking behavior affect contact frequency with hosts and should be considered when predicting how changes in mosquito body size affect disease transmission.

Motivation, Critical Thinking and Academic Verification of High School Students' Information-seeking Behavior

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Z Hidayat

2017-06-01

Full Text Available High school students have known as Gen Y or Z and their media using can be understand on their information-seeking behavior. This research’s purposes were: 1 to analyze the students’ motivation; 2 to analyze the critical thinking and academic verification; 3 to analyze the information-seeking behavior. This study used quantitative approach through survey among 1125 respondents in nine clusters, i.e. Central, East, North, West, and South of Jakarta, Tangerang, Bekasi, Depok, and Bogor. Schools sampling based on "the best schools rank" by the government, while respondents have taken by accidental in each school. Construct of questionnaire included measurement of motivation, critical thinking and academic verification, and the information-seeking behavior at all. The results showed that the motivations of the use of Internet were dominated by habit to interact and be entertained while on the academic needs are still relatively small but increasing significantly. Students’ self-efficacy, performance and achievement goals tend to be high motives, however the science learning value, and learning environment stimulation were average low motives. High school students indicated that they think critically about the various things that become content primarily in social media but less critical of the academic information subjects. Unfortunately, high school students did not conducted academic verification on the data and information but students tend to do plagiarism. Key words: Student motivation, critical thinking, academic verification, information-seeking behavior, digital generation.

Help-seeking behavior for erectile dysfunction: a clinic-based survey in China

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Kai Zhang

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The behavior of Chinese patients seeking help for erectile dysfunction (ED has not been described in detail. This was an observational study conducted using an outpatient clinic-based questionnaire survey of ED patients. From 2008 to 2009, physicians in 10 medical centers in China enrolled 2693 men (aged 25-70 years diagnosed with ED. The diagnosis was based on the International Index of Erectile Function 5 (IIEF-5 Questionnaire. The men completed a survey that asked questions about demographics, marital status, education level and household income as well as help-seeking behavior and awareness of medical therapy. The mean age of the 2693 men was 43.4 ± 5.3 years; 73% were <50-years-old and 49% had a high household income. The mean time between noticing ED and taking the first treatment was 4.3 ± 2.1 months. Of the 2577 respondents, physicians (54% and the internet (52% were most frequently consulted sources for information about ED. Young ED patients preferred using the internet and older patients preferred consulting with physicians. Western medicine (19% and traditional Chinese medicine (16% were most frequently used for treatment. Young ED patients preferred to first search the internet for information, whereas older patients first asked physicians for help. Side effects of treatment were the greatest concern, especially for older patients. Physicians and the internet are frequently consulted for ED information and therapy. On the basis of these survey results, we believe that physicians in China should enhance health education about ED, especially via the internet.

Fall-related Information seeking behavior of seniors on the web

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Askari, Marjan; Eslami, Saied; Medlock, Stephanie; de Rooij, Sophia E.; Abu-Hanna, Ameen

2014-01-01

Falls form a major health problem for older persons, and increasingly strain the healthcare system. The Internet is a potentially useful platform for empowering seniors. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the information-seeking behavior about falls among elderly Internet users. A

Factors associated with delayed tuberculosis test-seeking behavior in the Peruvian Amazon.

Science.gov (United States)

Ford, Carolyn M; Bayer, Angela M; Gilman, Robert H; Onifade, Dami; Acosta, Colleen; Cabrera, Lilia; Vidal, Carlos; Evans, Carlton A

2009-12-01

This study aimed to determine the psychosocial factors associated with delayed test-seeking among tuberculosis patients. The duration of symptoms before seeking medical care was assessed by interview for 108 newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis patients in the city of Iquitos in the Peruvian Amazon, which has high tuberculosis incidence. Beliefs associated with test-seeking behavior and delay was assessed in these patients. The median delay from symptom onset to seeking diagnostic testing was 61 days (inter-quartile range 30-91 days). The belief that tuberculosis is curable was associated with a 100% longer test-seeking delay; the perception that tuberculosis was common was associated with a 57% longer delay; male gender was associated with a 48% longer delay; and education less than complete secondary schooling was associated with a 44% longer delay. In conclusion, current health promotion activities that emphasize tuberculosis curability and high prevalence may paradoxically increase test-seeking delay and therefore require prospective evaluation.

Middle Childhood Support-Seeking Behavior during Stress: Links with Self-Reported Attachment and Future Depressive Symptoms

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Dujardin, Adinda; Santens, Tara; Braet, Caroline; De Raedt, Rudi; Vos, Pieter; Maes, Bea; Bosmans, Guy

2016-01-01

This study tested whether children's more anxious and avoidant attachment is linked to decreased support-seeking behavior toward their mother during stress in middle childhood, and whether children's decreased support-seeking behavior enhances the impact of experiencing life events on the increase of depressive symptoms 18 months later.…

Chronic Nicotine Exposure Initiated in Adolescence and Unpaired to Behavioral Context Fails to Enhance Sweetened Ethanol Seeking

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Aric C. Madayag

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Nicotine use in adolescence is pervasive in the United States and, according to the Gateway Hypothesis, may lead to progression towards other addictive substances. Given the prevalence of nicotine and ethanol comorbidity, it is difficult to ascertain if nicotine is a gateway drug for ethanol. Our study investigated the relationship between adolescent exposure to nicotine and whether this exposure alters subsequent alcohol seeking behavior. We hypothesized that rats exposed to nicotine beginning in adolescence would exhibit greater alcohol seeking behavior than non-exposed siblings. To test our hypothesis, beginning at P28, female rats were initially exposed to once daily nicotine (0.4 mg/kg, SC or saline for 5 days. Following these five initial injections, animals were trained to nose-poke for sucrose reinforcement (10%, w/v, gradually increasing to sweetened ethanol (10% sucrose; 10% ethanol, w/v on an FR5 reinforcement schedule. Nicotine injections were administered after the behavioral sessions to minimize acute effects of nicotine on operant self-administration. We measured the effects of nicotine exposure on the following aspects of ethanol seeking: self-administration, naltrexone (NTX-induced decreases, habit-directed behavior, motivation, extinction and reinstatement. Nicotine exposure did not alter self-administration or the effectiveness of NTX to reduce alcohol seeking. Nicotine exposure blocked habit-directed ethanol seeking. Finally, nicotine did not alter extinction learning or cue-induced reinstatement to sweetened ethanol seeking. Our findings suggest that nicotine exposure outside the behavioral context does not escalate ethanol seeking. Further, the Gateway Hypothesis likely applies to scenarios in which nicotine is either self-administered or physiologically active during the behavioral session.

Between information seeking and sharing – use of social media in a young learner context

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hyldegård, Jette Seiden

2013-01-01

-generated content: Which activities are associated with social media as information sources? What are the motivations and constraints for using social media as information sources? The presentation is based on a systematic review of a selected number of core LIS journals in addition to results from recent research......This presentation addresses information seeking behavior among young learners and ,in particular, their use of social media in an educational context. The focus is on young learners’ use of social media as information sources in the intersection between information seeking and sharing of user...... associated with social media as information sources and the implications for information literacy. Many web tutorials have been developed with the aim of guiding students’ information seeking, research and writing behavior, hence providing a platform for building information literacy (IL) knowledge...

A cross-sectional survey of parental care-seeking behavior for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Infections are a common cause of childhood morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Proper management of these conditions in appropriate health facilities provides the best opportunity for survival and reducing disability. Aims: To evaluate the care-seeking behavior by parents of under-five children ...

Stalking Victimization among College Women and Subsequent Help-Seeking Behaviors

Science.gov (United States)

Buhi, Eric R.; Clayton, Heather; Surrency, Heather Hepler

2009-01-01

Objective: The authors examined the incidence of stalking victimization and subsequent help-seeking behaviors among college women. Participants and Methods: A stratified random sample of college women (N = 391) completed an anonymous Internet-based questionnaire in spring 2006. Results: One-fifth of women reported stalking victimization while…

Chinese college freshmen’s mental health problems and their subsequent help-seeking behaviors: A cohort design (2005-2011)

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Fenge; Cao, Hongjian; Fang, Xiaoyi; Deng, Linyuan; Chen, Wenrui; Lin, Xiuyun; Liu, Lu; Zhao, Huichun

2017-01-01

Based on cohort data obtained from 13,085 college freshmen’s (2005 to 2011) SCL-90 (the Symptom Check-List-90) reports and their subsequent 4-year psychological counseling help-seeking records, this study examined the association between college students’ mental health problems and help-seeking behaviors across four college years. Female students’ mental health problems and help-seeking behaviors increased from the 2005 to the 2011 cohorts and no changes emerged for male students across cohorts. Overall, male students reported higher levels of mental health problems than did female students in the first college year, whereas female students reported more help-seeking behaviors than did male students in the following four college years. College students’ mental health problems was associated positively with help-seeking behaviors. College students were more likely to seek help from the college psychological counselling center when they experienced relatively few or quite a lot of mental health issues (i.e., an inversed U shape). Implications for future studies and practices are discussed. PMID:29040266

Examination of a perceived cost model of employees' negative feedback-seeking behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Kuo-Ming; Pan, Su-Ying; Cheng, Jen-Wei

2011-01-01

The present study extends the feedback-seeking behavior literature by investigating how supervisor-related antecedents (i.e., supervisors' expert power, reflected appraisals of supervisors, and supervisors' emotional intelligence) influence subordinates' negative feedback-seeking behavior (NFSB) through different cost/value perceptions (i.e., expectancy value, self-presentation cost, and ego cost). Using data collected from 216 supervisor-subordinate dyads from various industries in Taiwan, we employ structural equation modeling analysis to test our hypotheses. The results show that expectancy value mediates the relationship between supervisor expert power and subordinates' NFSB. Moreover, self-presentation cost mediates the relationship between reflected appraisals of supervisors' and subordinates' NFSB. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are also discussed.

Help-Seeking on Facebook Versus More Traditional Sources of Help: Cross-Sectional Survey of Military Veterans.

Science.gov (United States)

Teo, Alan R; Marsh, Heather E; Liebow, Samuel B L; Chen, Jason I; Forsberg, Christopher W; Nicolaidis, Christina; Saha, Somnath; Dobscha, Steven K

2018-02-26

The media has devoted significant attention to anecdotes of individuals who post messages on Facebook prior to suicide. However, it is unclear to what extent social media is perceived as a source of help or how it compares to other sources of potential support for mental health problems. This study aimed to evaluate the degree to which military veterans with depression use social media for help-seeking in comparison to other more traditional sources of help. Cross-sectional self-report survey of 270 adult military veterans with probable major depression. Help-seeking intentions were measured with a modified General Help-Seeking Questionnaire. Facebook users and nonusers were compared via t tests, Chi-square, and mixed effects regression models. Associations between types of help-seeking were examined using mixed effects models. The majority of participants were users of social media, primarily Facebook (n=162). Mean overall help-seeking intentions were similar between Facebook users and nonusers, even after adjustment for potential confounders. Facebook users were very unlikely to turn to Facebook as a venue for support when experiencing either emotional problems or suicidal thoughts. Compared to help-seeking intentions for Facebook, help-seeking intentions for formal (eg, psychologists), informal (eg, friends), or phone helpline sources of support were significantly higher. Results did not substantially change when examining users of other social media, women, or younger adults. In its current form, the social media platform Facebook is not seen as a venue to seek help for emotional problems or suicidality among veterans with major depression in the United States. ©Alan R Teo, Heather E Marsh, Samuel B L Liebow, Jason I Chen, Christopher W Forsberg, Christina Nicolaidis, Somnath Saha, Steven K Dobscha. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 26.02.2018.

Need for Cognition and Electronic Health Literacy and Subsequent Information Seeking Behaviors Among University Undergraduate Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca K. Britt

2013-10-01

Full Text Available eHealth literacy (eHEALS has yet to be examined with regard to need for cognition (NFC, as well as whether NFC moderates the relationship between eHealth literacy and seeking out online health information. Past research that has examined NFC as an interaction between whether interactivity on health web sites affected comprehension and attitudes, but no research to date has examined whether cognitive need interacts with eHEALS and subsequent information seeking behaviors. The present study tests eHEALS and its connection to need for cognition (NFC in the role of online health information seeking behaviors. Results showed that high eHEALS individuals were more likely to seek out online health information and were more likely to have higher NFC scores. NFC did not emerge as a moderator on the relationship between eHealth literacy and online health information seeking behaviors. Future directions are discussed, in particular, examining eHEALS as a construct of efficacy and further need to examine eHEALS with need for cognition in health communication research.

Health-seeking behavior for malaria among child and adult headed ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

These children are likely to be faced with several health problems and have to take crucial life decisions without parental/adult guidance. Objectives This study was conducted in order to understand how child-headed households, Rakai district in Uganda recognize malaria, their health-seeking behavior when malaria is ...

Information Seeking and Avoidance Behavior in School Library Distance Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Yunfei

2010-01-01

Library science students in school librarianship were surveyed to determine their information seeking and avoidance behaviors in Web-based online environments. Two coping styles were identified among students. Barriers to student online collaboration, such as individual preferences, concerns on efficiency, and lack of mutual trust, were observed.…

[Uniqueness seeking behavior as a self-verification: an alternative approach to the study of uniqueness].

Science.gov (United States)

Yamaoka, S

1995-06-01

Uniqueness theory explains that extremely high perceived similarity between self and others evokes negative emotional reactions and causes uniqueness seeking behavior. However, the theory conceptualizes similarity so ambiguously that it appears to suffer from low predictive validity. The purpose of the current article is to propose an alternative explanation of uniqueness seeking behavior. It posits that perceived uniqueness deprivation is a threat to self-concepts, and therefore causes self-verification behavior. Two levels of self verification are conceived: one based on personal categorization and the other on social categorization. The present approach regards uniqueness seeking behavior as the personal-level self verification. To test these propositions, a 2 (very high or moderate similarity information) x 2 (with or without outgroup information) x 2 (high or low need for uniqueness) between-subject factorial-design experiment was conducted with 95 university students. Results supported the self-verification approach, and were discussed in terms of effects of uniqueness deprivation, levels of self-categorization, and individual differences in need for uniqueness.

Novelty Seeking and Drug Addiction in Humans and Animals: From Behavior to Molecules.

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Wingo, Taylor; Nesil, Tanseli; Choi, Jung-Seok; Li, Ming D

2016-09-01

Global treatment of drug addiction costs society billions of dollars annually, but current psychopharmacological therapies have not been successful at desired rates. The increasing number of individuals suffering from substance abuse has turned attention to what makes some people more vulnerable to drug addiction than others. One personality trait that stands out as a contributing factor is novelty seeking. Novelty seeking, affected by both genetic and environmental factors, is defined as the tendency to desire novel stimuli and environments. It can be measured in humans through questionnaires and in rodents using behavioral tasks. On the behavioral level, both human and rodent studies demonstrate that high novelty seeking can predict the initiation of drug use and a transition to compulsive drug use and create a propensity to relapse. These predictions are valid for several drugs of abuse, such as alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, amphetamine, and opiates. On the molecular level, both novelty seeking and addiction are modulated by the central reward system in the brain. Dopamine is the primary neurotransmitter involved in the overlapping neural substrates of both parameters. In sum, the novelty-seeking trait can be valuable for predicting individual vulnerability to drug addiction and for generating successful treatment for patients with substance abuse disorders.

A model of adolescents' seeking of sexual content in their media choices.

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Bleakley, Amy; Hennessy, Michael; Fishbein, Martin

2011-07-01

This article reports on the extent to which adolescents report actively seeking sexual content in media, identifies from which media they report seeking, estimates the association between seeking sexual information and romantic and sexual behavior, and shows that active seeking of sexual content in media sources is explained by an intention to seek such content using the Integrative Model of Behavioral Prediction, a reasoned action approach. The data are a national sample of 810 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years. Results show that 50% of adolescents reported actively seeking sexual content in their media choices, which included movies, television, music, Internet pornography sites, and magazines. Males sought sex content more than females, and gender differences were greatest for seeking from Internet pornography sites, movies, and television. Path analysis demonstrate that seeking sexual content is well-predicted by intentions to seek, and intentions are primarily driven by perceived normative pressure to seek sexual content.

Care-seeking behavior of Japanese gynecological cancer survivors suffering from adverse effects

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Oshima Sumiko

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Post-treatment follow-up visits for gynecological cancer survivors should provide opportunities for management of adverse physical/psychological effects of therapy and early recurrence detection. However, the adequacy of such visits in Japan is poorly documented. We qualitatively explored care-seeking experiences of Japanese gynecological cancer survivors and deduced factors influencing care-seeking behaviors and treatment access. Methods We conducted 4 semi-structured focus groups comprising altogether 28 Japanese gynecological cancer survivors to collect a variety of participants’ post-treatment care-seeking behaviors through active interaction with participants. Factors influencing access to treatment for adverse effects were analyzed qualitatively. Results Survivors sought care through specialty clinic visits when regular post-treatment gynecological follow-ups were inadequate or when symptoms seemed to be non-treatment related. Information provided by hospital staff during initial treatment influenced patients’ understanding and response to adverse effects. Lack of knowledge and inaccurate symptom interpretation delayed help-seeking, exacerbating symptoms. Gynecologists’ attitudes during follow-ups frequently led survivors to cope with symptoms on their own. Information from mass media, Internet, and support groups helped patients understand symptoms and facilitated care seeking. Conclusions Post-treatment adverse effects are often untreated during follow-up visits. Awareness of possible post-treatment adverse effects is important for gynecological cancer survivors in order to obtain appropriate care if the need arises. Consultation during the follow-up visit is essential for continuity in care.

Information Seeking Behavior in Digital Image Collections: A Cognitive Approach

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Matusiak, Krystyna K.

2006-01-01

Presents the results of a qualitative study that focuses on search patterns of college students and community users interacting with a digital image collection. The study finds a distinct difference between the two groups of users and examines the role of mental models in information seeking behavior in digital libraries.

A spatial model of mosquito host-seeking behavior.

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Bree Cummins

Full Text Available Mosquito host-seeking behavior and heterogeneity in host distribution are important factors in predicting the transmission dynamics of mosquito-borne infections such as dengue fever, malaria, chikungunya, and West Nile virus. We develop and analyze a new mathematical model to describe the effect of spatial heterogeneity on the contact rate between mosquito vectors and hosts. The model includes odor plumes generated by spatially distributed hosts, wind velocity, and mosquito behavior based on both the prevailing wind and the odor plume. On a spatial scale of meters and a time scale of minutes, we compare the effectiveness of different plume-finding and plume-tracking strategies that mosquitoes could use to locate a host. The results show that two different models of chemotaxis are capable of producing comparable results given appropriate parameter choices and that host finding is optimized by a strategy of flying across the wind until the odor plume is intercepted. We also assess the impact of changing the level of host aggregation on mosquito host-finding success near the end of the host-seeking flight. When clusters of hosts are more tightly associated on smaller patches, the odor plume is narrower and the biting rate per host is decreased. For two host groups of unequal number but equal spatial density, the biting rate per host is lower in the group with more individuals, indicative of an attack abatement effect of host aggregation. We discuss how this approach could assist parameter choices in compartmental models that do not explicitly model the spatial arrangement of individuals and how the model could address larger spatial scales and other probability models for mosquito behavior, such as Lévy distributions.

Associations between media use and health information-seeking behavior on vaccinations in South Korea

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Jiyeon Kim

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Although vaccinations are critical for preventing emerging infectious diseases, scant research has been conducted on risk communication. With socio-economic characteristics, health behavior, and underlying diseases under control, we investigated associations between media use, health information-seeking behavior, health information type, and vaccination in the population. Methods This study relied on a national survey of Korean adults (n = 1367. Participants were adult males and females age 20 and older. Web and face-to-face surveys were conducted throughout July 2014. The main outcome was vaccination (categorized as yes or no. Independent variables were time spent on media, frequency of health information-seeking behavior, and types of health information sought. Results Controlling for co-variates, logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors that influence Korean adults being vaccinated. Results revealed that accessible information about emerging infectious diseases, listening to the radio, and reading the newspaper were associated with increased odds of being vaccinated. Active seeking health information as well as being female and of higher socio-economic status were positively correlated with Korean adults being vaccinated. Conclusion It is critical to promote health information-seeking behavior and use diverse media channels to increase acceptance and awareness of emerging infectious diseases and vaccinations. Because there are differences in vaccination awareness depending on social class, it is critical to reduce communication inequality, strengthen accessibility to vaccinations, and devise appropriate risk communication strategies that ensure Korean adults receive vaccinations.

Associations between media use and health information-seeking behavior on vaccinations in South Korea.

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Kim, Jiyeon; Jung, Minsoo

2017-09-11

Although vaccinations are critical for preventing emerging infectious diseases, scant research has been conducted on risk communication. With socio-economic characteristics, health behavior, and underlying diseases under control, we investigated associations between media use, health information-seeking behavior, health information type, and vaccination in the population. This study relied on a national survey of Korean adults (n = 1367). Participants were adult males and females age 20 and older. Web and face-to-face surveys were conducted throughout July 2014. The main outcome was vaccination (categorized as yes or no). Independent variables were time spent on media, frequency of health information-seeking behavior, and types of health information sought. Controlling for co-variates, logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors that influence Korean adults being vaccinated. Results revealed that accessible information about emerging infectious diseases, listening to the radio, and reading the newspaper were associated with increased odds of being vaccinated. Active seeking health information as well as being female and of higher socio-economic status were positively correlated with Korean adults being vaccinated. It is critical to promote health information-seeking behavior and use diverse media channels to increase acceptance and awareness of emerging infectious diseases and vaccinations. Because there are differences in vaccination awareness depending on social class, it is critical to reduce communication inequality, strengthen accessibility to vaccinations, and devise appropriate risk communication strategies that ensure Korean adults receive vaccinations.

Depleting adult dentate gyrus neurogenesis increases cocaine-seeking behavior.

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Deroche-Gamonet, Véronique; Revest, Jean-Michel; Fiancette, Jean-François; Balado, Eric; Koehl, Muriel; Grosjean, Noëlle; Abrous, Djoher Nora; Piazza, Pier-Vincenzo

2018-03-05

The hippocampus is the main locus for adult dentate gyrus (DG) neurogenesis. A number of studies have shown that aberrant DG neurogenesis correlates with many neuropsychiatric disorders, including drug addiction. Although clear causal relationships have been established between DG neurogenesis and memory dysfunction or mood-related disorders, evidence of the causal role of DG neurogenesis in drug-seeking behaviors has not been established. Here we assessed the role of new DG neurons in cocaine self-administration using an inducible transgenic approach that selectively depletes adult DG neurogenesis. Our results show that transgenic mice with decreased adult DG neurogenesis exhibit increased motivation to self-administer cocaine and a higher seeking response to cocaine-related cues. These results identify adult hippocampal neurogenesis as a key factor in vulnerability to cocaine addiction.

The Association Between Household Consumer Durable Assets and Maternal Health-Seeking Behavior in Ghana.

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Ansong, Eric

2015-01-01

This article examined the association between household consumer durable assets and maternal health-seeking behavior. Several studies have suggested a relationship between households' socioeconomic status (SES) and health outcomes. However, SES is a multidimensional concept that encompasses variables, such as wealth, education, and income. By grouping these variables together as one construct, prior studies have not provided enough insight into possible independent associations with health outcomes. This study used data from the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey of 2,065 women aged between 15 and 49 years to examine the association between household consumer durables (a component of SES) and maternal health-seeking behavior in Ghana. Results from a set of generalized linear models indicated that household consumer durable assets were positively associated with four measures of maternal health-seeking behaviors, namely, seeking prenatal care from skilled health personnel, delivery by skilled birth attendant, place of delivery, and the number of antenatal visits. Also, households with more assets whose residents lived in urban areas were more likely to use skilled health personnel before and during delivery, and at an approved health facility, compared those who lived in rural areas. Implications for health interventions and policies that focus on the most vulnerable households are discussed.

Emotionally troubled teens' help-seeking behaviors: an evaluation of surviving the Teens® suicide prevention and depression awareness program.

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Strunk, Catherine M; Sorter, Michael T; Ossege, Julianne; King, Keith A

2014-10-01

Many school-based suicide prevention programs do not show a positive impact on help-seeking behaviors among emotionally troubled teens despite their being at high risk for suicide. This study is a secondary analysis of the Surviving the Teens(®) program evaluation to determine its effect on help-seeking behaviors among troubled youth. Results showed significant increases in mean scores of the Behavioral Intent to Communicate with Important Others Regarding Emotional Health Issues subscale (p Teens program has a positive effect on help-seeking behaviors in troubled youth. © The Author(s) 2013.

nor-BNI Antagonism of Kappa Opioid Agonist-Induced Reinstatement of Ethanol-Seeking Behavior

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Erin Harshberger

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Recent work suggests that the dynorphin (DYN/kappa opioid receptor (KOR system may be a key mediator in the behavioral effects of alcohol. The objective of the present study was to examine the ability of the KOR antagonist norbinaltorphimine (nor-BNI to attenuate relapse to ethanol seeking due to priming injections of the KOR agonist U50,488 at time points consistent with KOR selectivity. Male Wistar rats were trained to self-administer a 10% ethanol solution, and then responding was extinguished. Following extinction, rats were injected with U50,488 (0.1–10 mg/kg, i.p. or saline and were tested for the reinstatement of ethanol seeking. Next, the ability of the nonselective opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone (0 or 3.0 mg/kg, s.c. and nor-BNI (0 or 20.0 mg/kg, i.p. to block U50,488-induced reinstatement was examined. Priming injections U50,488 reinstated responding on the previously ethanol-associated lever. Pretreatment with naltrexone reduced the reinstatement of ethanol-seeking behavior. nor-BNI also attenuated KOR agonist-induced reinstatement, but to a lesser extent than naltrexone, when injected 24 hours prior to injections of U50,488, a time point that is consistent with KOR selectivity. While these results suggest that activation of KORs is a key mechanism in the regulation of ethanol-seeking behavior, U50,488-induced reinstatement may not be fully selective for KORs.

The effects of N-acetylcysteine on cocaine reward and seeking behaviors in a rat model of depression.

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Frankowska, Małgorzata; Jastrzębska, Joanna; Nowak, Ewa; Białko, Magdalena; Przegaliński, Edmund; Filip, Małgorzata

2014-06-01

Depression and substance-abuse (e.g., cocaine) disorders are common concurrent diagnoses. In the present study, we combined bilateral olfactory bulbectomy (OBX) with a variety of procedures of intravenous cocaine self-administration and extinction/reinstatement in rats. We also investigated the effects of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on rewarding and seeking behaviors for cocaine in OBX rats and compared the drug's effects in sham-operated control animals (SHAM). The occurrence of depressive symptoms before introduction to cocaine self-administration enhanced subsequent cocaine-seeking behaviors but did not significantly influence cocaine's rewarding properties or extinction training. NAC (25-100mg/kg) given acutely or repeatedly did not alter the co-occurrence of cocaine reward and depression but effectively reduced the cocaine-seeking behavior observed in both phenotypes. Our results indicate that depression behavior is linked to more pronounced drug craving and a higher propensity to relapse in rats. We also show the lack of efficacy of repeated NAC treatment on SHAM or OBX animals in terms of cocaine self-administration, while the drug was an effective blocker of cocaine-seeking behavior in both studied phenotypes, with a more pronounced drug effect observed in OBX animals. The last finding demonstrates the potential clinical utility of NAC to reduce cocaine seeking enhanced by co-existing depression. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Social defeat-induced anhedonia: effects on operant sucrose-seeking behavior

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Danai eRiga

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Reduced capacity to experience pleasure, also known as anhedonia, is a key feature of the depressive state and is associated with poor disease prognosis and treatment outcome. Various behavioral readouts (e.g. reduced sucrose intake have been employed in animal models of depression as a measure of anhedonia. However, several aspects of anhedonia are poorly represented within the repertoire of current preclinical assessments. We recently adopted the social defeat-induced persistent stress (SDPS paradigm that models a maintained depressive-like state in the rat, including social withdrawal and deficits in short-term spatial memory. Here we investigated whether SDPS elicited persistent deficits in natural reward evaluation, as part of anhedonia. We examined cue-paired operant sucrose self-administration, enabling us to study acquisition, motivation, extinction and relapse to sucrose seeking following SDPS. Furthermore, we addressed whether guanfacine, an α2-adrenergic agonist that reduces stress-triggered maladaptive behavioral responses to drugs of abuse, could relief from SDPS-induced anhedonia. SDPS, consisting of 5 social defeat episodes followed by prolonged (≥8 weeks social isolation, did not affect sucrose consumption during acquisition of self-administration. However, it strongly enhanced the motivational drive to acquire a sucrose reward in progressive ratio training. Moreover, SDPS induced initial resilience to extinction and rendered animals more sensitive to cue-induced reinstatement of sucrose-seeking. Guanfacine treatment attenuated SDPS-induced motivational overdrive and limited reinstatement of sucrose seeking, normalizing behavior to control levels. Together, our data indicate that long after the termination of stress exposure, SDPS induces guanfacine-reversible deficits in evaluation of a natural reward. Importantly, the SDPS-triggered anhedonia reflects many aspects of the human phenotype, including impaired motivation and

A Study of Information-Seeking Behaviors and Processes of New Zealand Men during Periods of Life-Stress

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Wellstead, Peta

2014-01-01

New Zealand men have poor health outcomes in a range of domains compared to women. They also report barriers (both personal and structural) in their information-seeking behaviors and processes to improve health and wellbeing. This paper reports a research project in progress that is investigating the information-seeking behaviors and processes of…

Reproductive Tract Infections and Treatment Seeking Behavior among Married Adolescent Women 15-19 Years in India.

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Prusty, Ranjan Kumar; Unisa, Sayeed

2013-01-01

India is home to the highest number of adolescents in the world. Adolescents in India suffer from lack of knowledge and empowerment to make informed sexual and reproductive health decisions. This paper analyses the prevalence of reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted infections (RTI/STI) and treatment seeking behavior among married adolescent women in India aged 15-19 years. Data from the District Level Household Survey (DLHS, 2007-08) of India were used. The prevalence of RTIs symptoms and treatment seeking behavior among women by different socio-demographic characteristics was analyzed. Factor analysis was utilized to create an index using information about 11 symptoms of RTI/STI collected in the survey. Linear and binary logistic regressions were used to know the association between infections and treatment seeking behavior with socio-demographic factors. About 15 percent of adolescent women reported having any symptoms of RTI/STI. The main symptoms reported were low backache, pain in the lower abdomen, pain during intercourse and itching or irritation around the vulvar region. Factor analysis showed the concentration of diseases in three clusters - infection in around the vulva, other reproductive infection and abnormal discharge; and intercourse related problems. Major predictors of both symptoms of reproductive infections and treatment seeking behavior from multivariate analysis are age, education, wealth, region and awareness about RTI/STI. Knowledge and treatment seeking behavior is poor among adolescent women in India. There is need for programmatic and policy emphasis on increasing knowledge and awareness through family life education including in educational curriculum at school level.

E-Health Literacy and Health Information Seeking Behavior Among University Students in Bangladesh.

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Islam, Md Mohaimenul; Touray, Musa; Yang, Hsuan-Chia; Poly, Tahmina Nasrin; Nguyen, Phung-Anh; Li, Yu-Chuan Jack; Syed Abdul, Shabbir

2017-01-01

Web 2.0 has become a leading health communication platform and will continue to attract young users; therefore, the objective of this study was to understand the impact of Web 2.0 on health information seeking behavior among university students in Bangladesh. A random sample of adults (n = 199, mean 23.75 years, SD 2.87) participated in a cross-sectional, a survey that included the eHealth literacy scale (eHEALS) assessed use of Web 2.0 for health information. Collected data were analyzed using a descriptive statistical method and t-tests. Finally logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine associations between sociodemographic, social determinants, and use of Web 2.0 for seeking and sharing health information. Almost 74% of older Web 2.0 users (147/199, 73.9%) reported using popular Web 2.0 websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, to find and share health information. Current study support that current Web-based health information seeking and sharing behaviors influence health-related decision making.

Information seeking behavior

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjørland, Birger

2000-01-01

A general theory of information seeking behaviour must include an outline of an evolutionary theory of how organisms have adapted their cognitive apparatus to the demands raised in order to cope with their environments. It should describe important qualitative stages in this development and explain...

Relationships Between Future Orientation, Impulsive Sensation Seeking, and Risk Behavior Among Adjudicated Adolescents

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Robbins, Reuben N.; Bryan, Angela

2004-01-01

Because of high levels of risk behavior, adjudicated adolescents are at high risk for negative health outcomes such as nicotine and drug addiction and sexually transmitted diseases. The goal of this article is to examine relationships between future orientation and impulsive-sensation-seeking personality constructs to risk behaviors among 300…

Normal social seeking behavior, hypoactivity and reduced exploratory range in a mouse model of Angelman syndrome

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Reiter Lawrence T

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Angelman syndrome (AS is a neurogenetic disorder characterized by severe developmental delay with mental retardation, a generally happy disposition, ataxia and characteristic behaviors such as inappropriate laughter, social-seeking behavior and hyperactivity. The majority of AS cases are due to loss of the maternal copy of the UBE3A gene. Maternal Ube3a deficiency (Ube3am-/p+, as well as complete loss of Ube3a expression (Ube3am-/p-, have been reproduced in the mouse model used here. Results Here we asked if two characteristic AS phenotypes - social-seeking behavior and hyperactivity - are reproduced in the Ube3a deficient mouse model of AS. We quantified social-seeking behavior as time spent in close proximity to a stranger mouse and activity as total time spent moving during exploration, movement speed and total length of the exploratory path. Mice of all three genotypes (Ube3am+/p+, Ube3am-/p+, Ube3am-/p- were tested and found to spend the same amount of time in close proximity to the stranger, indicating that Ube3a deficiency in mice does not result in increased social seeking behavior or social dis-inhibition. Also, Ube3a deficient mice were hypoactive compared to their wild-type littermates as shown by significantly lower levels of activity, slower movement velocities, shorter exploratory paths and a reduced exploratory range. Conclusions Although hyperactivity and social-seeking behavior are characteristic phenotypes of Angelman Syndrome in humans, the Ube3a deficient mouse model does not reproduce these phenotypes in comparison to their wild-type littermates. These phenotypic differences may be explained by differences in the size of the genetic defect as ~70% of AS patients have a deletion that includes several other genes surrounding the UBE3A locus.

Involvement of the oxytocin system in the nucleus accumbens in the regulation of juvenile social novelty-seeking behavior.

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Smith, Caroline J W; Mogavero, Jazmin N; Tulimieri, Maxwell T; Veenema, Alexa H

2017-07-01

Exploration of novel environments, stimuli, and conspecifics is highly adaptive during the juvenile period, as individuals transition from immaturity to adulthood. We recently showed that juvenile rats prefer to interact with a novel individual over a familiar cage mate. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this juvenile social novelty-seeking behavior remain largely unknown. One potential candidate is the oxytocin (OXT) system, given its involvement in various motivated social behaviors. Here, we show that administration of the specific oxytocin receptor antagonist desGly-NH 2 ,d(CH 2 ) 5 -[Tyr(Me) 2 ,Thr 4 ]OVT reduces social novelty seeking-behavior in juvenile male rats when injected into the nucleus accumbens (10ng/0.5μl/side). The same drug dose was ineffective at altering social novelty-seeking behavior when administered into the lateral septum or basolateral amygdala. These results are the first to suggest the involvement of the OXT system in the nucleus accumbens in the regulation of juvenile social novelty-seeking behavior. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Is Sensation Seeking a correlate of excessive behaviors and behavioral addictions? A detailed examination of patients with Gambling Disorder and Internet Addiction.

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Müller, K W; Dreier, M; Beutel, M E; Wölfling, K

2016-08-30

Sensation Seeking has repeatedly been related to substance use. Also, its role as a correlate of Gambling Disorder has been discussed although research has led to heterogeneous results. Likewise, first studies on Internet Addiction have indicated increased Sensation Seeking, to some extent contradicting clinical impression of patients suffering from internet addiction. We assessed Sensation Seeking in a clinical sample of n=251 patients with Gambling Disorder, n=243 patients with internet addiction, n=103 clients with excessive but not addictive internet use, and n=142 healthy controls. The clinical groups were further sub-divided according to the preferred type of addictive behavior (slot-machine gambling vs. high arousal gambling activities and internet gaming disorder vs. other internet-related addictive behaviors). Decreased scores in some subscales of Sensation Seeking were found among male patients compared to healthy controls with no differences between patients with Gambling Disorder and Internet Addiction. The type of preferred gambling or online activity was not related to differences in Sensation Seeking. Previous findings indicating only small associations between Sensation Seeking and Gambling Disorder were confirmed. Regarding Internet Addiction our results contradict findings from non-clinical samples. Sensation Seeking might be relevant in initiating contact to the health care system. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Information Needs and Seeking Behavior During the H1N1 Virus Outbreak

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Majid, Shaheen

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Timely access to quality healthcare information during an outbreak plays an important role in curtailing its spread. The aim of this study was to investigate the information needs and seeking behavior of the general public in Singapore during the H1N1 pandemic. A pre-tested questionnaire was used for data collection. The convenience snowball sampling method was used and 260 working adults and tertiary-level students participated in this study. The most crucial information needs of a majority of the participants were: symptoms of H1N1, causes of the infection, preventive measures, and possible treatments. Data analysis also revealed that mass media such as television, newspapers, and radio were most frequently used for seeking the needed information. The use of human information sources was also quite high while only a small number of the respondents accessed online news and healthcare websites. About three-quarters of the participants indicated that the gathered information helped them to stay vigilant and take necessary precautionary measures. A major problem identified by the participants in using H1N1 information was the lack of understanding of certain terms used in public communications. This paper suggests certain measures for strengthening health information communication during future outbreaks.

Clinician impression versus prescription drug monitoring program criteria in the assessment of drug-seeking behavior in the emergency department.

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Weiner, Scott G; Griggs, Christopher A; Mitchell, Patricia M; Langlois, Breanne K; Friedman, Franklin D; Moore, Rebecca L; Lin, Shuo Cheng; Nelson, Kerrie P; Feldman, James A

2013-10-01

We compare emergency provider impression of drug-seeking behavior with objective criteria from a state prescription drug monitoring program, assess change in opioid pain reliever prescribing after prescription drug monitoring program review, and examine clinical factors associated with suspected drug-seeking behavior. This was a prospective observational study of emergency providers assessing a convenience sample of patients aged 18 to 64 years who presented to either of 2 academic medical centers with chief complaint of back pain, dental pain, or headache. Drug-seeking behavior was objectively defined as present when a patient had greater than or equal to 4 opioid prescriptions by greater than or equal to 4 providers in the 12 months before emergency department evaluation. Emergency providers completed data forms recording their impression of the likelihood of drug-seeking behavior, patient characteristics, and plan for prescribing pre- and post-prescription drug monitoring program review. Descriptive statistics were generated. We calculated agreement between emergency provider impression of drug-seeking behavior and prescription drug monitoring program definition, and sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value of emergency provider impression, using prescription drug monitoring program criteria as the criterion standard. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine clinical factors associated with drug-seeking behavior. Thirty-eight emergency providers with prescription drug monitoring program access participated. There were 544 patient visits entered into the study from June 2011 to January 2013. There was fair agreement between emergency provider impression of drug-seeking behavior and prescription drug monitoring program (κ=0.30). Emergency providers had sensitivity 63.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] 54.8% to 71.7%), specificity 72.7% (95% CI 68.4% to 77.0%), and positive predictive value 41.2% (95% CI 34.4% to 48

Reproductive Tract Infections and Treatment Seeking Behavior among Married Adolescent Women 15-19 Years in India

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Ranjan Kumar Prusty, MPS

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Background: India is home to the highest number of adolescents in the world. Adolescents in India suffer from lack of knowledge and empowerment to make informed sexual and reproductive health decisions. This paper analyses the prevalence of reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted infections (RTI/STI and treatment seeking behavior among married adolescent women in India aged 15-19 years. Methods: Data from the District Level Household Survey (DLHS, 2007-08 of India were used. The prevalence of RTIs symptoms and treatment seeking behavior among women by different socio-demographic characteristics was analyzed. Factor analysis was utilized to create an index using information about 11 symptoms of RTI/STI collected in the survey. Linear and binary logistic regressions were used to know the association between infections and treatment seeking behavior with socio-demographic factors. Results: About 15 percent of adolescent women reported having any symptoms of RTI/STI. The main symptoms reported were low backache, pain in the lower abdomen, pain during intercourse and itching or irritation around the vulvar region. Factor analysis showed the concentration of diseases in three clusters – infection in around the vulva, other reproductive infection and abnormal discharge; and intercourse related problems. Major predictors of both symptoms of reproductive infections and treatment seeking behavior from multivariate analysis are age, education, wealth, region and awareness about RTI/STI. Conclusion and Public Health Implications: Knowledge and treatment seeking behavior is poor among adolescent women in India. There is need for programmatic and policy emphasis on increasing knowledge and awareness through family life education including in educational curriculum at school level.

Socio-Demographic Correlates of Women's Infertility and Treatment Seeking Behavior in India.

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Sarkar, Sanjit; Gupta, Pallavi

2016-01-01

Infertility is an emergent issue in India. Until recently, very few studies have understood the patterns and consequences of infertility in India. Family planning programs in India also viewed exclusively the patterns and determinants of overfertility rather than infertility. Furthermore, there is the lack of information about treatment seeking behavior of infertile couples. Therefore, this paper aimed to examine the extent of infertility and treatment seeking behavior among infertile women in India. An attempt was also made to evaluate the effects of socio-demographic factors on treatment seeking behavior. The study used the data from the District Level Household and Facility Survey carried out in India during 2007-08. Several statistical techniques such as chi-square test, proportional hazard model and binary logistic regression model were used for the analysis. Approximately, 8% of currently married women suffered from infertility in India and most of them were secondary infertile (5.8%). Within India, women's infertility rate was the highest in west Bengal (13.9 percent) and the lowest in Meghalaya (2.5 percent). About 80% of infertile women sought treatment but a substantial proportion (33%) received non-allopathic and traditional treatment due to expensive modern treatment and lack of awareness. In the context of policy response, it can be said that there is a need to improve the existing services and quality of care for infertile women. Treatment for infertility should be integrated into the larger reproductive health packages.

Physicians' pharmacogenomics information needs and seeking behavior: a study with case vignettes.

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Heale, Bret S E; Khalifa, Aly; Stone, Bryan L; Nelson, Scott; Del Fiol, Guilherme

2017-08-01

Genetic testing, especially in pharmacogenomics, can have a major impact on patient care. However, most physicians do not feel that they have sufficient knowledge to apply pharmacogenomics to patient care. Online information resources can help address this gap. We investigated physicians' pharmacogenomics information needs and information-seeking behavior, in order to guide the design of pharmacogenomics information resources that effectively meet clinical information needs. We performed a formative, mixed-method assessment of physicians' information-seeking process in three pharmacogenomics case vignettes. Interactions of 6 physicians' with online pharmacogenomics resources were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for prominent themes. Quantitative data included information-seeking duration, page navigations, and number of searches entered. We found that participants searched an average of 8 min per case vignette, spent less than 30 s reviewing specific content, and rarely refined search terms. Participants' information needs included a need for clinically meaningful descriptions of test interpretations, a molecular basis for the clinical effect of drug variation, information on the logistics of carrying out a genetic test (including questions related to cost, availability, test turn-around time, insurance coverage, and accessibility of expert support).Also, participants sought alternative therapies that would not require genetic testing. This study of pharmacogenomics information-seeking behavior indicates that content to support their information needs is dispersed and hard to find. Our results reveal a set of themes that information resources can use to help physicians find and apply pharmacogenomics information to the care of their patients.

Inhibition of monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) enhances cue-induced reinstatement of nicotine-seeking behavior in mice.

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Trigo, Jose M; Le Foll, Bernard

2016-05-01

Tobacco smoking is still a major population health issue. The endocannabinoid system has been shown to control drug-seeking behaviors. There are two main endocannabinoids: anandamide degraded by fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) degraded by monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL). The role of MAGL has only been explored recently, and so far, no study have been performed to evaluate the effects of MAGL inhibitor on nicotine reinforcing properties and cue-induced reinstatement of nicotine seeking. Here, we investigated the effects of the MAGL inhibitor JZL184 on nicotine self-administration under fixed and progressive-ratio schedules of reinforcement and on cue-induced reinstatement of nicotine seeking in mice. We also evaluated the effects of JZL184 on food self-administration for possible non-specific effects. JZL184 (0, 8, and 16 mg/kg) did not affect food taking, nicotine taking, or motivation for nicotine. MAGL inhibition by JZL184 (16 mg/kg) increased reinstatement of previously extinguished nicotine seeking induced by presentation of nicotine-associated cues, but did not produce reinstatement on its own. This study implicates involvement of 2-AG in nicotine-seeking behaviors.

A Comparison of Treatment-Seeking Behavioral Addiction Patients with and without Parkinson’s Disease

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Sauvaget, Anne; Jiménez-Murcia, Susana; Fernández-Aranda, Fernando; Granero, Roser; Grall-Bronnec, Marie; Victorri-Vigneau, Caroline; Bulteau, Samuel; Derkinderen, Pascal; Vanelle, Jean M.; Hakansson, Anders; Mestre-Bach, Gemma; Steward, Trevor; Menchón, José M.

2017-01-01

The administration of dopaminergic medication to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is associated with addictive behaviors and impulse control disorders. Little is known, however, on how PD patients differ from other patients seeking treatments for behavioral addictions. The aim of this study was to compare the characteristics of behavioral addiction patients with and without PD. N = 2,460 treatment-seeking men diagnosed with a behavioral addiction were recruited from a university hospital. Sociodemographic, impulsivity [Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11)], and personality [Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R)] measures were taken upon admission to outpatient treatment. Patients in the PD group were older and had a higher prevalence of mood disorders than patients without PD. In terms of personality characteristics and impulsivity traits, PD patients appeared to present a more functional profile than PD-free patients with a behavioral addiction. Our results suggest that PD patients with a behavioral addiction could be more difficult to detect than their PD-free counterparts in behavioral addiction clinical setting due to their reduced levels of impulsivity and more standard personality traits. As a whole, this suggests that PD patients with a behavioral addiction may have different needs from PD-free behavioral addiction patients and that they could potentially benefit from targeted interventions. PMID:29163234

Gender influences as an impediment to knowledge sharing: when men and women fail to seek peer feedback.

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Miller, Diane L; Karakowsky, Leonard

2005-03-01

Little research has considered how work team characteristics influence feedback-seeking behavior among team members. The authors' aim in this research was to identify central sources of influence on feedback-seeking behavior in a mixed-gender context. They placed men and women in work groups of varying gender composition. The participants then participated in a gender-biased (perceived as either male-oriented or female-oriented) negotiation exercise. Findings indicated that the gender of the participant, the team's gender composition, and the gender orientation of the task influenced feedback-seeking behavior among team members.

Information needs and seeking behaviour of distance learning ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Information need is a universally widespread essential feature of production, consumption and exchange of human mental creativity across the globe. The objective of the study was to assess the information needs, seeking behavior and sources used by the Distance Leaning Students of University of Lagos. The survey ...

Sensation seeking and impulsive traits as personality endophenotypes for antisocial behavior: Evidence from two independent samples

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Mann, Frank D.; Engelhardt, Laura; Briley, Daniel A.; Grotzinger, Andrew D.; Patterson, Megan W.; Tackett, Jennifer L.; Strathan, Dixie B.; Heath, Andrew; Lynskey, Michael; Slutske, Wendy; Martin, Nicholas G.; Tucker-Drob, Elliot M.; Harden, K. Paige

2017-01-01

Sensation seeking and impulsivity are personality traits that are correlated with risk for antisocial behavior (ASB). This paper uses two independent samples of twins to (a) test the extent to which sensation seeking and impulsivity statistically mediate genetic influence on ASB, and (b) compare this to genetic influences accounted for by other personality traits. In Sample 1, delinquent behavior, as well as impulsivity, sensation seeking and Big Five personality traits, were measured in adolescent twins from the Texas Twin Project. In Sample 2, adult twins from the Australian Twin Registry responded to questionnaires that assessed individual differences in Eysenck's and Cloninger's personality dimensions, and a structured telephone interview that asked participants to retrospectively report DSM-defined symptoms of conduct disorder. Bivariate quantitative genetic models were used to identify genetic overlap between personality traits and ASB. Across both samples, novelty/sensation seeking and impulsive traits accounted for larger portions of genetic variance in ASB than other personality traits. We discuss whether sensation seeking and impulsive personality are causal endophenotypes for ASB, or merely index genetic liability for ASB. PMID:28824215

Sensation seeking and impulsive traits as personality endophenotypes for antisocial behavior: Evidence from two independent samples.

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Mann, Frank D; Engelhardt, Laura; Briley, Daniel A; Grotzinger, Andrew D; Patterson, Megan W; Tackett, Jennifer L; Strathan, Dixie B; Heath, Andrew; Lynskey, Michael; Slutske, Wendy; Martin, Nicholas G; Tucker-Drob, Elliot M; Harden, K Paige

2017-01-15

Sensation seeking and impulsivity are personality traits that are correlated with risk for antisocial behavior (ASB). This paper uses two independent samples of twins to (a) test the extent to which sensation seeking and impulsivity statistically mediate genetic influence on ASB, and (b) compare this to genetic influences accounted for by other personality traits. In Sample 1, delinquent behavior, as well as impulsivity, sensation seeking and Big Five personality traits, were measured in adolescent twins from the Texas Twin Project. In Sample 2, adult twins from the Australian Twin Registry responded to questionnaires that assessed individual differences in Eysenck's and Cloninger's personality dimensions, and a structured telephone interview that asked participants to retrospectively report DSM-defined symptoms of conduct disorder. Bivariate quantitative genetic models were used to identify genetic overlap between personality traits and ASB. Across both samples, novelty/sensation seeking and impulsive traits accounted for larger portions of genetic variance in ASB than other personality traits. We discuss whether sensation seeking and impulsive personality are causal endophenotypes for ASB, or merely index genetic liability for ASB.

Patterns of treatment seeking behavior for mental illnesses in Southwest Ethiopia: a hospital based study

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Tesfaye Markos

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Early recognition of the signs and symptoms of mental health disorders is important because early intervention is critical to restoring the mental as well as the physical and the social health of an individual. This study sought to investigate patterns of treatment seeking behavior and associated factors for mental illness. Methods A quantitative, institution-based cross sectional study was conducted among 384 psychiatric patients at Jimma University Specialized Hospital (JUSH located in Jimma, Ethiopia from March to April 2010. Data was collected using a pretested WHO encounter format by trained psychiatric nurses. Data was analyzed using SPSS V.16. Result Major depression disorder 186 (48.4%, schizophrenia 55 (14.3% and other psychotic disorders 47 (12.2% were the most common diagnoses given to the respondents. The median duration of symptoms of mental illness before contact to modern mental health service was 52.1 weeks. The main sources of information for the help sought by the patients were found to be family 126 (32.8% and other patients 75 (19.5%. Over a third of the patients 135 (35.2%, came directly to JUSH. Half of the patients sought traditional treatment from either a religious healer 116 (30.2% or an herbalist 77 (20.1% before they came to the hospital. The most common explanations given for the cause of the mental illness were spiritual possession 198 (51.6% and evil eye 61 (15.9%, whereas 73 (19.0% of the respondents said they did not know the cause of mental illnesses. Nearly all of the respondents 379 (98.7% believed that mental illness can be cured with modern treatment. Individuals who presented with abdominal pain and headache were more likely to seek care earlier. Being in the age group 31-40 years had significant statistical association with delayed treatment seeking behavior. Conclusions There is significant delay in modern psychiatric treatment seeking in the majority of the cases. Traditional healers

Motivation, Critical Thinking and Academic Verification of High School Students' Information-seeking Behavior

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Z Hidayat

2018-01-01

Full Text Available High school students have known as Gen Y or Z and their media using can be understand on their information-seeking behavior. This research’s purposes were: 1 to analyze the students’ motivation; 2 to analyze the critical thinking and academic verification; 3 to analyze the information-seeking behavior. This study used quantitative approach through survey among 1125 respondents in nine clusters, i.e. Central, East, North, West, and South of Jakarta, Tangerang, Bekasi, Depok, and Bogor. Schools sampling based on "the best schools rank" by the government, while respondents have taken by accidental in each school. Construct of questionnaire included measurement of motivation, critical thinking and academic verification, and the information-seeking behavior at all. The results showed that the motivations of the use of Internet were dominated by habit to interact and be entertained while on the academic needs are still relatively small but increasing significantly. Students’ self-efficacy, performance and achievement goals tend to be high motives, however the science learning value, and learning environment stimulation were average low motives. High school students indicated that they think critically about the various things that become content primarily in social media but less critical of the academic information subjects. Unfortunately, high school students did not conducted academic verification on the data and information but students tend to do plagiarism.

Cell phone internet access, online sexual solicitation, partner seeking, and sexual risk behavior among adolescents.

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Rice, Eric; Winetrobe, Hailey; Holloway, Ian W; Montoya, Jorge; Plant, Aaron; Kordic, Timothy

2015-04-01

Online partner seeking is associated with sexual risk behavior among young adults (specifically men who have sex with men), but this association has yet to be explored among a probability sample of adolescents. Moreover, cell phone internet access and sexual risk taking online and offline have not been explored. A probability sample (N = 1,831) of Los Angeles Unified School District high school students was collected in 2011. Logistic regression models assessed relationships between specific sexual risk behaviors (online sexual solicitation, seeking partners online, sex with internet-met partners, condom use) and frequency of internet use, internet access points, and demographics. Students with cell phone internet access were more likely to report being solicited online for sex, being sexually active, and having sex with an internet-met partner. Bisexual-identifying students reported higher rates of being approached online for sex, being sexually active, and not using condoms at last sex. Gay, lesbian, and questioning (GLQ) students were more likely to report online partner seeking and unprotected sex at last sex with an internet-met partner. Additionally, having sex with an internet-met partner was associated with being male, online sexual solicitation, and online partner seeking. Internet- and school-based sexual health programs should incorporate safety messages regarding online sexual solicitation, seeking sex partners online, and engaging in safer sex practices with all partners. Programs must target adolescents of all sexual identities, as adolescents may not yet be "out," and bisexual and GLQ adolescents are more likely to engage in risky sex behaviors.

Information seeking stopping behavior in online scenarios the impact of task, technology and individual characteristics

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Hemmer, Erik

2014-01-01

The growing amount of information provided via web-based information technologies forces the users of these technologies to stop seeking for information before having acquired all available information. This stopping decision is either made actively following clear guidelines or subconsciously based on the seeker's intuition. This book analyzes the aforementioned duality by developing and testing a multi-theoretical research model dealing with information seeking stopping behavior in online scenarios. Thus, by delivering insights into the mechanisms that influence information seeking activitie

Cabergoline decreases alcohol drinking and seeking behaviors via glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor.

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Carnicella, Sebastien; Ahmadiantehrani, Somayeh; He, Dao-Yao; Nielsen, Carsten K; Bartlett, Selena E; Janak, Patricia H; Ron, Dorit

2009-07-15

Cabergoline is an ergotamine derivative that increases the expression of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) in vitro. We recently showed that GDNF in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) reduces the motivation to consume alcohol. We therefore set out to determine whether cabergoline administration decreases alcohol-drinking and -seeking behaviors via GDNF. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA) were used to measure GDNF levels. Western blot analysis was used for phosphorylation experiments. Operant self-administration in rats and a two-bottle choice procedure in mice were used to assess alcohol-drinking behaviors. Instrumental performance tested during extinction was used to measure alcohol-seeking behavior. The [35S]GTPgammaS binding assay was used to assess the expression and function of the dopamine D2 receptor (D2R). We found that treatment of the dopaminergic-like cell line SH-SY5Y with cabergoline and systemic administration of cabergoline in rats resulted in an increase in GDNF level and in the activation of the GDNF pathway. Cabergoline treatment decreased alcohol-drinking and -seeking behaviors including relapse, and its action to reduce alcohol consumption was localized to the VTA. Finally, the increase in GDNF expression and the decrease in alcohol consumption by cabergoline were abolished in GDNF heterozygous knockout mice. Together, these findings suggest that cabergoline-mediated upregulation of the GDNF pathway attenuates alcohol-drinking behaviors and relapse. Alcohol abuse and addiction are devastating and costly problems worldwide. This study puts forward the possibility that cabergoline might be an effective treatment for these disorders.

Text Messaging for Psychiatric Outpatients: Effect on Help-Seeking and Self-Harming Behaviors.

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Kodama, Toyohiko; Syouji, Hiroko; Takaki, Sachiko; Fujimoto, Hirokazu; Ishikawa, Shinichi; Fukutake, Masaaki; Taira, Masaru; Hashimoto, Takeshi

2016-04-01

A mobile phone intervention was developed and tested with 30 psychiatric outpatients with mental illness, who had high ideation for suicide. The intervention involved promoting help-seeking behaviors by sending text messages, including information about social welfare services and reminders about medical appointments, for 6 months. After the intervention period, the number of participants who used social services significantly increased, and more than 80% of participants reported that the text messaging service was helpful and useful. Compared to baseline, participants' self-harming behaviors decreased and the attending psychiatrists rated their suicide ideation as weaker. This is the first intervention study to promote psychiatric patients' help-seeking using text messaging, and although it was not a randomized controlled trial, this intervention has practical value and may lead to the prevention of suicide. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.

A Comparison of Treatment-Seeking Behavioral Addiction Patients with and without Parkinson’s Disease

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Anne Sauvaget

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The administration of dopaminergic medication to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD is associated with addictive behaviors and impulse control disorders. Little is known, however, on how PD patients differ from other patients seeking treatments for behavioral addictions. The aim of this study was to compare the characteristics of behavioral addiction patients with and without PD. N = 2,460 treatment-seeking men diagnosed with a behavioral addiction were recruited from a university hospital. Sociodemographic, impulsivity [Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11], and personality [Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R] measures were taken upon admission to outpatient treatment. Patients in the PD group were older and had a higher prevalence of mood disorders than patients without PD. In terms of personality characteristics and impulsivity traits, PD patients appeared to present a more functional profile than PD-free patients with a behavioral addiction. Our results suggest that PD patients with a behavioral addiction could be more difficult to detect than their PD-free counterparts in behavioral addiction clinical setting due to their reduced levels of impulsivity and more standard personality traits. As a whole, this suggests that PD patients with a behavioral addiction may have different needs from PD-free behavioral addiction patients and that they could potentially benefit from targeted interventions.

Why don't men seek help? Family physicians' perspectives on help-seeking behavior in men.

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Tudiver, F; Talbot, Y

1999-01-01

Men tend to underuse primary care health services despite their susceptibility to particular types of illness. The purpose of this study was to report the family physician's perspective on why men do not access the health care system for medical problems. We used focus group interviews to identify major themes. The participants were family physicians in active practice randomly selected from a list of 500 full- and part-time teachers. Four focus groups were formed from 18 participants (12 men, 6 women), in practice an average of 17 years. Eleven of the physicians were in community practice. Three key themes were identified: (1) Support: Men appear to get most of their support for health concerns from their female partners, little from their male friends. Their pattern of seeking support tends to be indirect rather than straightforward. (2) Help Seeking: Perceived vulnerability, fear, and denial are important influences on whether men seek help. They look for help for specific problems rather than for more general health concerns. (3) Barriers: Personal barriers involved factors related to a man's traditional social role characteristics: a sense of immunity and immortality; difficulty relinquishing control; a belief that seeking help is unacceptable; and believing men are not interested in prevention. Systematic barriers had to do with time and access; having to state the reason for a visit; and the lack of a male care provider. Many of these findings are supported by psychological theories. Future research should apply these theories in more transferable populations and settings. However, an in-depth understanding of the patterns of men's use of primary care services is needed before we can determine if a regular source of primary care would have a positive impact on their health.

Development of a brief substance use sensation seeking scale: validation and prediction of injection-related behaviors.

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Werb, Dan; Richardson, Chris; Buxton, Jane; Shoveller, Jeannie; Wood, Evan; Kerr, Thomas

2015-02-01

Sensation seeking, a personality trait, has been shown to predict engagement in high-risk behaviors. However, little is known regarding the impact of sensation seeking on substance use among street youth. We therefore sought to modify a sensation seeking scale (SSS) for use among this population. Street youth from the Vancouver-based At-Risk Youth Study (n = 226) completed the modified SSS. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (EFA/CFA) were undertaken to establish the scale's dimensionality and internal validity. The association between SSS score and injection-related behaviors was tested using generalized estimating equation analysis. EFA results indicated scale unidimensionality. The comparative fit index (CFI) suggested acceptable fit (CFI = 0.914). In multivariate analysis, sensation seeking was independently associated with injection drug use, crystal methamphetamine use, polysubstance use, and binge drug use (all p < 0.05). Our findings provide preliminary support for the use of the modified SSS among street youth.

Prevention of drug priming- and cue-induced reinstatement of MDMA-seeking behaviors by the CB1 cannabinoid receptor antagonist AM251.

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Nawata, Yoko; Kitaichi, Kiyoyuki; Yamamoto, Tsuneyuki

2016-03-01

3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), a methamphetamine (METH) derivative, exhibits METH-like actions at monoamine transporters and positive reinforcing effects in rodents and primates. The purposes of the present study were to determine whether cross-reinstatement would be observed between MDMA and METH and if the cannabinoid receptor, a receptor known to play critical roles in the brain reward system, could modulate MDMA craving. Rats were trained to press a lever for intravenous MDMA (0.3mg/infusion) or METH (0.02mg/infusion) infusions under a fixed ratio 1 schedule paired with drug-associated cues (light and tone). Following drug self-administration acquisition training, rats underwent extinction training (an infusion of saline). Reinstatement tests were performed once the extinction criteria were achieved. In MDMA-trained rats, the MDMA-priming injection (3.2mg/kg, i.p.) or re-exposure to MDMA-associated cues reinstated MDMA-seeking behavior. Additionally, a priming injection of METH (1.0mg/kg, i.p.) also reinstated MDMA-seeking behavior. In contrast, none of the MDMA doses reinstated METH-seeking behavior in the METH-trained rats. The CB1 cannabinoid receptor antagonist AM251 markedly attenuated the MDMA-seeking behaviors induced by MDMA-priming injection or re-exposure to MDMA-associated cues in a dose-dependent manner. These findings show that MDMA has obvious addictive potential for reinstating drug-seeking behavior and that METH can be an effective stimulus for reinstating MDMA-seeking behaviors. Furthermore, based on the attenuating effect of AM251 in the reinstatement of MDMA-seeking behaviors, drugs that suppress CB1 receptors may be used in treatment of MDMA dependence. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Association between perceived discrimination and healthcare-seeking behavior in people with a disability.

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Moscoso-Porras, Miguel G; Alvarado, German F

2018-01-01

Experiences of discrimination lead people from vulnerable groups to avoid medical healthcare. It is yet to be known if such experiences affect people with disabilities (PWD) in the same manner. To determine the association between perceived discrimination and healthcare-seeking behavior in people with disabilities and to explore differences of this association across disability types. We performed a cross-sectional study with data from a national survey of people with disabilities. Perceived discrimination and care-seeking behavior were measured as self-reports from the survey. Dependence for daily life activities, possession of health insurance, and other disability-related variables were included and considered as confounders. We used Poisson regression models and techniques for multistage sampling in the analyses. A stratified analysis was used to explore effects of discrimination across types of disability. Most of PWD were 65 years or older (67.1%). Prevalence of healthcare seeking was 78.8% in those who perceived discrimination, and 86.1% in those who did not. After adjusting for potential confounders, the probability of not seeking care was higher in people who reported perceived discrimination (adjusted PR = 1.15; 95%CI: 1.04-1.28). In a stratified analysis, significant effects of discrimination were found in people with communication disability (adjusted PR = 1.34, 95%CI: 1.07-1.67) and with physical disability (adjusted PR = 1.17, 95%CI: 1.03-1.34). People with disabilities who perceive discrimination are less likely to seek healthcare. This association was higher for people with communication and physical disabilities. These results provide evidence to institutions who attempt to tackle discrimination. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Examining the Correlates of Online Health Information-Seeking Behavior Among Men Compared With Women.

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Nikoloudakis, Irene A; Vandelanotte, Corneel; Rebar, Amanda L; Schoeppe, Stephanie; Alley, Stephanie; Duncan, Mitch J; Short, Camille E

2016-05-18

This study aimed to identify and compare the demographic, health behavior, health status, and social media use correlates of online health-seeking behaviors among men and women. Cross-sectional self-report data were collected from 1,289 Australian adults participating in the Queensland Social Survey. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify the correlates of online health information seeking for men and women. Differences in the strength of the relation of these correlates were tested using equality of regression coefficient tests. For both genders, the two strongest correlates were social media use (men: odds ratio [OR] = 2.57, 95% confidence interval [CI: 1.78, 3.71]; women: OR = 2.93, 95% CI [1.92, 4.45]) and having a university education (men: OR = 3.63, 95% CI [2.37, 5.56]; women: OR = 2.74, 95% CI [1.66, 4.51]). Not being a smoker and being of younger age were also associated with online health information seeking for both men and women. Reporting poor health and the presence of two chronic diseases were positively associated with online health seeking for women only. Correlates of help seeking online among men and women were generally similar, with exception of health status. Results suggest that similar groups of men and women are likely to access health information online for primary prevention purposes, and additionally that women experiencing poor health are more likely to seek health information online than women who are relatively well. These findings are useful for analyzing the potential reach of online health initiatives targeting both men and women. © The Author(s) 2016.

Stress during adolescence increases novelty seeking and risk taking behavior in male and female rats

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Maria eToledo

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Adolescence is a period of major physical, hormonal and psychological change. It is also characterized by a significant increase in the incidence of psychopathologies and this increase is gender-specific. Likewise, stress during adolescence is associated with the development of psychiatric disorders later in life. Previously, using a rat model of psychogenic stress (exposure to predator odor followed by placement on an elevated platform during the pre-pubertal period (postnatal days 28-30, we reported sex-specific effects on auditory and contextual fear conditioning. Here, we study the short-term impact of psychogenic stress before and during puberty (postnatal days 28-42 on behavior (novelty seeking, risk taking, anxiety and depression and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA axis activation during late adolescence (postnatal days 45-51. Peri-pubertal stress decreased anxiety-like behavior and increased risk taking and novelty seeking behaviors during late adolescence (measured with the elevated plus maze, open field and exposure to novel object tests and intake of chocopop pellets before or immediate after stress. Finally neither depressive-like behavior (measured at the forced swim test nor HPA response to stress (blood corticosterone and glucose were affected by peri-pubertal stress. Nevertheless, when controlling for the basal anxiety of the mothers, animals exposed to peri-pubertal stress showed a significant decrease in corticosterone levels immediate after an acute stressor. The results from this study suggest that exposure to mild stressors during the peri-pubertal period induces a broad spectrum of behavioral changes in late adolescence, which may exacerbate the independence-building behaviors naturally happening during this transitional period (increase in curiosity, sensation-seeking and risk taking behaviors.

Socio-Demographic Correlates of Women’s Infertility and Treatment Seeking Behavior in India

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Sarkar, Sanjit; Gupta, Pallavi

2016-01-01

Background: Infertility is an emergent issue in India. Until recently, very few studies have understood the patterns and consequences of infertility in India. Family planning programs in India also viewed exclusively the patterns and determinants of overfertility rather than infertility. Furthermore, there is the lack of information about treatment seeking behavior of infertile couples. Therefore, this paper aimed to examine the extent of infertility and treatment seeking behavior among infertile women in India. An attempt was also made to evaluate the effects of socio-demographic factors on treatment seeking behavior. Methods: The study used the data from the District Level Household and Facility Survey carried out in India during 2007–08. Several statistical techniques such as chi-square test, proportional hazard model and binary logistic regression model were used for the analysis. Results: Approximately, 8% of currently married women suffered from infertility in India and most of them were secondary infertile (5.8%). Within India, women’s infertility rate was the highest in west Bengal (13.9 percent) and the lowest in Meghalaya (2.5 percent). About 80% of infertile women sought treatment but a substantial proportion (33%) received non-allopathic and traditional treatment due to expensive modern treatment and lack of awareness. Conclusion: In the context of policy response, it can be said that there is a need to improve the existing services and quality of care for infertile women. Treatment for infertility should be integrated into the larger reproductive health packages. PMID:27141468

Emotionally Troubled Teens' Help-Seeking Behaviors: An Evaluation of Surviving the Teens® Suicide Prevention and Depression Awareness Program

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Strunk, Catherine M.; Sorter, Michael T.; Ossege, Julianne; King, Keith A.

2014-01-01

Many school-based suicide prevention programs do not show a positive impact on help-seeking behaviors among emotionally troubled teens despite their being at high risk for suicide. This study is a secondary analysis of the Surviving the Teens® program evaluation to determine its effect on help-seeking behaviors among troubled youth. Results showed…

Contribution of a mesocorticolimbic subcircuit to drug context-induced reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behavior in rats.

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Lasseter, Heather C; Xie, Xiaohu; Arguello, Amy A; Wells, Audrey M; Hodges, Matthew A; Fuchs, Rita A

2014-02-01

Cocaine-seeking behavior triggered by drug-paired environmental context exposure is dependent on orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)-basolateral amygdala (BLA) interactions. Here, we present evidence supporting the hypothesis that dopaminergic input from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the OFC critically regulates these interactions. In experiment 1, we employed site-specific pharmacological manipulations to show that dopamine D1-like receptor stimulation in the OFC is required for drug context-induced reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behavior following extinction training in an alternate context. Intra-OFC pretreatment with the dopamine D1-like receptor antagonist, SCH23390, dose-dependently attenuated cocaine-seeking behavior in an anatomically selective manner, without altering motor performance. Furthermore, the effects of SCH23390 could be surmounted by co-administration of a sub-threshold dose of the D1-like receptor agonist, SKF81297. In experiment 2, we examined effects of D1-like receptor antagonism in the OFC on OFC-BLA interactions using a functional disconnection manipulation. Unilateral SCH23390 administration into the OFC plus GABA agonist-induced neural inactivation of the contralateral or ipsilateral BLA disrupted drug context-induced cocaine-seeking behavior relative to vehicle, while independent unilateral manipulations of these brain regions were without effect. Finally, in experiment 3, we used fluorescent retrograde tracers to demonstrate that the VTA, but not the substantia nigra, sends dense intra- and interhemispheric projections to the OFC, which in turn has reciprocal bi-hemispheric connections with the BLA. These findings support that dopaminergic input from the VTA, via dopamine D1-like receptor stimulation in the OFC, is required for OFC-BLA functional interactions. Thus, a VTA-OFC-BLA neural circuit promotes drug context-induced motivated behavior.

Overactive bladder symptom severity, bother, help-seeking behavior, and quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes: a path analysis.

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Xu, Dongjuan; Zhao, Meng; Huang, Liqun; Wang, Kefang

2018-01-02

This study aimed to investigate the relationships among overactive bladder (OAB) symptom severity, bother, help-seeking behavior, and quality of life (QOL) in patients with type 2 diabetes. A total of 127 diabetic patients, aged at least 18 years, with overactive bladder from a hospital in Shandong Province, China, were recruited for this study. Symptom severity, bother, and quality of life were assessed using the Overactive Bladder Symptom Score (OABSS), Patient Perception of Bladder Condition (PPBC), and Overactive Bladder Questionnaire Short Form (OAB-q SF), respectively. Help-seeking behavior was assessed by asking patients whether they consulted health care professionals or received treatment for their bladder problems. A two-step path analysis was performed to analyze the data. OAB symptom severity was directly associated with lower levels of QOL, and the strength of this association was no longer significant when taking bother and help-seeking behavior into account. Bother increased with OAB symptom severity, and patients with bothersome OAB tended to have lower levels of QOL. Moreover, bother increased help-seeking behavior; however, patients who sought help tended to have lower levels of QOL. Our findings highlight the role of bother and help-seeking behavior in the relationship between OAB symptom severity and QOL. To improve a patient's QOL, health care providers should focus not only on symptom bother but also on dysfunctional help-seeking patterns.

Health-seeking behavior and hospital choice in China's New Cooperative Medical System.

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Brown, Philip H; Theoharides, Caroline

2009-07-01

Since the dissolution of the Rural Cooperative Medical System at the end of the commune period, illness has emerged as a leading cause of poverty in rural China. To address the poor state of health care, the Chinese government unveiled the New Cooperative Medical System in 2002. Because local governments have been given significant control over program design, fundamental characteristics of the program vary from one county to the next. These differences may influence the decision to seek health care as well as the choice of hospital conditional on that initial decision. In this paper, we use a nested logit model to analyze household survey data from 25 counties to analyze the determinants of such health-seeking behavior. We find that age, the share of household expenditures allocated to food consumption (a measure of relative income), and the presence of other sick people in the household negatively affect the decision to seek health care while disability has a positive influence. Further, conditional on seeking treatment, the reimbursement scheme in place in each county and the average daily expenditure associated with hospitalization strongly influence hospital choice.

Perceived Stigma and Treatment-Seeking Behavior in Individuals with Substance Use Disorder in Baghdad

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Qahtan Q. Mohammed

2016-12-01

Conclusions The study concluded that perceived stigma among substance abusers has no impact upon their treatment-seeking behavior, and also, perceived stigma among substance abusers is insignificantly correlated with their socio-demographic variables.

An examination of the relationships among uncertainty, appraisal, and information-seeking behavior proposed in uncertainty management theory.

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Rains, Stephen A; Tukachinsky, Riva

2015-01-01

Uncertainty management theory (UMT; Brashers, 2001, 2007) is rooted in the assumption that, as opposed to being inherently negative, health-related uncertainty is appraised for its meaning. Appraisals influence subsequent behaviors intended to manage uncertainty, such as information seeking. This study explores the connections among uncertainty, appraisal, and information-seeking behavior proposed in UMT. A laboratory study was conducted in which participants (N = 157) were primed to feel and desire more or less uncertainty about skin cancer and were given the opportunity to search for skin cancer information using the World Wide Web. The results show that desired uncertainty level predicted appraisal intensity, and appraisal intensity predicted information-seeking depth-although the latter relationship was in the opposite direction of what was expected.

Help seeking in school by Israeli Arab minority adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems: results from the Galilee Study.

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Daeem, Raida; Mansbach-Kleinfeld, Ivonne; Farbstein, Ilana; Khamaisi, Raseem; Ifrah, Anneke; Sheikh Muhammad, Ahmad; Fennig, Sylvana; Apter, Alan

2016-01-01

showed that for high risk adolescents, only religion remained significantly associated with help-seeking in school: Muslim students were 2 times more likely to seek help than Druze students. In the low-risk group, students who do not feel comfortable at home were 3.3 times more likely to seek help than those who feel comfortable at home. The main sources of consultation for both risk groups were the school counselor and the grade teacher. A constellation of factors may be associated with help-seeking in school by minority Israeli Arab adolescents: they are students at higher risk for an emotional or behavioral disorder, they have more socio-economic hardship, they feel less comfortable at home and they are more likely to live in the larger Muslim cities. Adolescents with less family support and particularly those not classified as being at high risk, are more likely to seek help from school counselors and teachers. The school staff may need additional training to care for the mental health needs of students. There is a need to integrate the school mental health services with the other government agencies that provide services to children and adolescents.

Level of modern health care seeking behaviors among mothers having under five children in Dangila town, north West Ethiopia, 2016: a cross sectional study.

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Dagnew, Amare Belachew; Tewabe, Tilahun; Murugan, Rajalakshmi

2018-05-29

Health seeking behavior is an action taken by an individual who perceive to have a health problem. In most developing countries including Ethiopia the health of the children is strongly dependant on maternal health care behavior. Most childhood morbidities and mortalities are associated with low level of mothers health care seeking behavior. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess level of modern health care seeking behavior among mothers having under five children in Dangila town, North West Ethiopia. Community based quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted from April 15 to May 15, 2016. Systematic random sampling technique was used to select study participants. A total of273 mothers with children less than five years were included in this study. The data was collected from all five Kebeles using interviewer administered questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to present the data. Both bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with level of modern health care seeking behavior. Prevalence of modern health care seeking behavior was 82.1%. Age of mothers (AOR = 2.4(1.1, 5.3), age of the child (AOR = 6.7(2.8, 22.2), severity of illness (AOR = 5.2(1.2, 22.6) and family number (AOR = 6.4(2.1, 20.2) were predictors of modern health care seeking behavior among mothers. Majority of the mothers preferred to take their children to modern health care when they got illness. Age of children, age of mother, number of family and severity of illness were the determinant factors for modern health care seeking behavior. Therefore, health care services should be strengthened at community level through community integrated management of childhood illness, information, education communication / behavioral change communication strategies to improve mothers health care seeking behaviors.

R-Modafinil Attenuates Nicotine-Taking and Nicotine-Seeking Behavior in Alcohol-Preferring Rats

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Wang, Xiao-Fei; Bi, Guo-Hua; He, Yi; Yang, Hong-Ju; Gao, Jun-Tao; Okunola-Bakare, Oluyomi M; Slack, Rachel D; Gardner, Eliot L; Xi, Zheng-Xiong; Newman, Amy Hauck

2015-01-01

(±)-Modafinil (MOD) is used clinically for the treatment of sleep disorders and has been investigated as a potential medication for the treatment of psychostimulant addiction. However, the therapeutic efficacy of (±)-MOD for addiction is inconclusive. Herein we used animal models of self-administration and in vivo microdialysis to study the pharmacological actions of R-modafinil (R-MOD) and S-modafinil (S-MOD) on nicotine-taking and nicotine-seeking behavior, and mechanisms underlying such actions. We found that R-MOD is more potent and effective than S-MOD in attenuating nicotine self-administration in Long–Evans rats. As Long–Evans rats did not show a robust reinstatement response to nicotine, we used alcohol-preferring rats (P-rats) that display much higher reinstatement responses to nicotine than Long–Evans rats. We found that R-MOD significantly inhibited intravenous nicotine self-administration, nicotine-induced reinstatement, and nicotine-associated cue-induced drug-seeking behavior in P-rats. R-MOD alone neither sustained self-administration in P-rats previously self-administering nicotine nor reinstated extinguished nicotine-seeking behavior. The in vivo brain microdialysis assays demonstrated that R-MOD alone produced a slow-onset moderate increase in extracellular DA. Pretreatment with R-MOD dose-dependently blocked nicotine-induced dopamine (DA) release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in both naive and nicotine self-administrating rats, suggesting a DA-dependent mechanism underlying mitigation of nicotine's effects. In conclusion, the present findings support further investigation of R-MOD for treatment of nicotine dependence in humans. PMID:25613829

Psychosis and help-seeking behavior in rural KwaZulu Natal: unearthing local insights.

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Labys, Charlotte A; Susser, Ezra; Burns, Jonathan K

2016-01-01

Growing interest in strategies regarding early intervention for psychosis has led to a parallel interest in understanding help-seeking behavior, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Nevertheless, few LMIC studies have examined individuals with psychosis in non-urban, non-hospital settings. Using the perspective of formal and informal community service providers, we aimed to uncover descriptions of people with psychosis in a rural South African community and illuminate the potential complexities of their help-seeking journeys. We conducted a qualitative study of 40 key informant interviews and seven focus groups with stakeholders (traditional leaders, traditional healers, religious leaders, health care nurses, heads of non-governmental organizations, schoolteachers, community caregivers) in a rural Zulu community (Vulindlela). Thematic analysis of the data was performed using the inductive analysis approach. Interviewees discussed 32 individuals with probable psychosis in their community and provided rich descriptions of their symptoms. A complex picture of help-seeking behavior, primarily involving informal mental health service providers, emerged. Over half of the reported cases had no contact with formal health services in the course of their help-seeking journey; while more than two-thirds never attended a hospital and only 1 in 8 accessed a psychiatric hospital. Our results highlight the important role of informal care providers in LMICs as well as the need for more research on mental illness and local providers in non-hospital contexts. Community stakeholders can contribute to a fuller understanding of these issues, thereby assisting in the creation of appropriate and effective mental health interventions for rural South African communities like Vulindlela.

Gender, Sexual Health Seeking Behavior, and HIV/AIDS Among Tarok Women in North-Central Nigeria.

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Orisaremi, Titilayo Cordelia

2016-06-01

In this study, which was part of a larger project I undertook in North-central Nigeria, I explored the differences in the sexual health seeking behavior of Tarok women and men and how these differences affect the spread of HIV. With the help of three research assistants, I conducted 16 in-depth interviews and 24 focus group discussions in four Tarok communities in North-central Nigeria. I found certain negative effects of gender inequality on women's sexual health seeking behavior in particular, a situation that has adverse implications for HIV acquisition and transmission. I therefore concluded that addressing the challenges of gender inequality is imperative for a sustained fight against HIV and AIDS in Nigeria.

Effect of residence on mothers' health care seeking behavior for common childhood illness in Northwest Ethiopia: a community based comparative cross--sectional study.

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Gelaw, Yalemzewod Assefa; Biks, Gashaw Andargie; Alene, Kefyalew Addis

2014-10-08

Children are at higher risk of acquiring infections and developing severe disease. This study assessed the health care seeking behavior and associated factors of urban and rural mothers for common childhood illness in Northwest Ethiopia. A comparative community based cross-sectional study was conducted among urban and rural mothers living in the district. A multistage sampling technique was used to select the study participants. A pre-tested and structured questioner via interview was used to collect the data. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify associated factors. Odds ratio with 95% CI was computed to assess the strength of the associations. A total of 827 (274 urban and 553 rural) mothers were interviewed. Among these, 79.3% (95% CI: (76.5%, 82.06%)) of the mothers were sought health care in the district. Health care seeking behavior was higher among urban mothers (84.6%) than rural mothers (76.7%). Marital status, completion health extension package, and sex of child were significantly associated with health care seeking behavior of urban mothers. Whereas age of child, age and occupation of mothers, educational level of fathers, wealth quintile, and type of reported illness were significantly associated with rural mothers. Perceived severity of illness was significantly associated with both urban and rural mothers for health care seeking behavior. The overall health seeking behaviors of mothers for common childhood illness was high. However, urban mothers seek health care more than rural. Socio Economic position and types of reported illness has an effect for health seeking behavior of rural mothers. Whereas child sex preference and graduation status for health extension package has an effect for health care seeking behavior of urban mothers. Work on strengthen accessibility of health care services in the rural mothers and increase awareness of mothers about the disadvantage of sex preferences will improve the health care seek behavior of

Impact of culture on healthcare seeking behavior of Asian Indians.

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Gupta, Vidya Bhushan

2010-01-01

Healthcare seeking behavior is a dynamic process that evolves through the stages of self evaluation of symptoms, self treatment, seeking professional advice and acting on professional advice. (Weaver, 1970) This article explores the influence of culture at each of these stages in the context of Asian Indian culture. Although Asian-Indians constitute only 1.5% of the US population they are among the fastest growing minorities in the United States. Through the example of Asian Indian culture this article informs the clinicians that at the initial visit they should explore what the symptoms mean to the patient and what modalities including complementary and alternative (CAM) were used by the patient to address them and at subsequent visits they should explore how their advise was filtered through the prism of the patient's culture and what was adhered to and what was not. In the case of disability and death the clinicians should explore religious beliefs such as karma that help the patient in coping.

Systemic treatment with D-fenfluramine, but not sibutramine, blocks cue-induced reinstatement of food-seeking behavior in the rat.

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Pratt, Wayne E; Ford, Ryan T

2013-11-27

Individuals struggling with obesity often have difficulty maintaining dietary regimens. One source of dietary relapse is the reinstatement of previous feeding behaviors following the presentation of cues indicating the availability of palatable but highly caloric food reward. The drugs fenfluramine and sibutramine have previously been prescribed because they enhance satiety mechanisms and decrease meal size. However, it is unclear whether these anorectic agents are also effective in blocking the cue-induced reinstatement of food-seeking behaviors. In these three experiments, we compared the effects of systemic treatment of d-fenfluramine (3mg/kg; N=10) and sibutramine (3mg/kg; N=11) with that of the D1 antagonist SCH 23390 (6μg/kg; N=11) at a dose that has previously been shown to attenuate cue-induced reinstatement. d-Fenfluramine treatment blocked the cue's ability to reinstate lever pressing as compared to the saline injection day. In contrast, sibutramine had no effect on cue-induced reinstatement; all animals reinstated their lever pressing during the first reinstatement test, and this was unaffected by sibutramine treatment. SCH 23390 treatment did not significantly reduce cue-induced reinstatement in this set of experiments. The results suggest that the motivational effects of d-fenfluramine is not limited to the promotion of satiety once a meal has been initiated, and demonstrate that some anorectic treatments may inhibit the effectiveness of conditioned cues to elicit relapse of food-seeking behavior. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A cross-sectional survey of parental care-seeking behavior for febrile illness among under-five children in Nigeria

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Mohammed Baba Abdulkadir

2017-03-01

Conclusion: There is poor care-seeking for fever in under-five children by parents in Nigeria. Improved literacy, women empowerment and health education are strategies that may improve care-seeking behavior. Highlighted regional differences are additional considerations for such interventions.

School Violence, Depressive Symptoms, and Help-seeking Behavior: A Gender-stratified Analysis of Biethnic Adolescents in South Korea.

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Kim, Ji-Hwan; Kim, Ja Young; Kim, Seung-Sup

2016-01-01

In South Korea (hereafter Korea), the number of adolescent offspring of immigrants has rapidly increased since the early 1990s, mainly due to international marriage. This research sought to examine the association between the experience of school violence and mental health outcomes, and the role of help-seeking behaviors in the association, among biethnic adolescents in Korea. We analyzed cross-sectional data of 3627 biethnic adolescents in Korea from the 2012 National Survey of Multicultural Families. Based on the victim's help-seeking behavior, adolescents who experienced school violence were classified into three groups: 'seeking help' group; 'feeling nothing' group; 'not seeking help' group. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to examine the associations between the experience of school violence and depressive symptoms for males and females separately. In the gender-stratified analysis, school violence was associated with depressive symptoms in the 'not seeking help' (odds ratio [OR], 7.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.76 to 13.23) and the 'seeking help' group (OR, 2.77; 95% CI, 1.73 to 4.44) among male adolescents after adjusting for potential confounders, including the nationality of the immigrant parent and Korean language fluency. Similar associations were observed in the female groups. However, in the 'feeling nothing' group, the association was only significant for males (OR, 8.34; 95% CI, 2.82 to 24.69), but not females (OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.18 to 3.28). This study suggests that experience of school violence is associated with depressive symptoms and that the role of victims' help-seeking behaviors in the association may differ by gender among biethnic adolescents in Korea.

Prosocial Choice in Rats Depends on Food-Seeking Behavior Displayed by Recipients.

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Márquez, Cristina; Rennie, Scott M; Costa, Diana F; Moita, Marta A

2015-06-29

Animals often are prosocial, displaying behaviors that result in a benefit to one another [1-15] even in the absence of self-benefit [16-21] (but see [22-25]). Several factors have been proposed to modulate these behaviors, namely familiarity [6, 13, 18, 20] or display of seeking behavior [16, 21]. Rats have been recently shown to be prosocial under distress [17, 18] (but see [26-29]); however, what drives prosociality in these animals remains unclear. To address this issue, we developed a two-choice task in which prosocial behavior did not yield a benefit or a cost to the focal rat. We used a double T-maze in which only the focal rat controlled access to the food-baited arms of its own and the recipient rat's maze. In this task, the focal rat could choose between one side of the maze, which yielded food only to itself (selfish choice), and the opposite side, which yielded food to itself and the recipient rat (prosocial choice). Rats showed a high proportion of prosocial choices. By manipulating reward delivery to the recipient and its ability to display a preference for the baited arm, we found that the display of food-seeking behavior leading to reward was necessary to drive prosocial choices. In addition, we found that there was more social investigation between rats in selfish trials than in prosocial trials, which may have influenced the focals' choices. This study shows that rats provide access to food to others in the absence of added direct self-benefit, bringing new insights into the factors that drive prosociality. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Health information-seeking behavior of seniors who use the Internet: a survey.

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Medlock, Stephanie; Eslami, Saeid; Askari, Marjan; Arts, Derk L; Sent, Danielle; de Rooij, Sophia E; Abu-Hanna, Ameen

2015-01-08

The Internet is viewed as an important source for health information and a medium for patient empowerment. However, little is known about how seniors use the Internet in relation to other sources for health information. The aim was to determine which information resources seniors who use the Internet use and trust for health information, which sources are preferred, and which sources are used by seniors for different information needs. Questions from published surveys were selected based on their relevance to the study objectives. The Autonomy Preference Index was used to assess information needs and preferences for involvement in health decisions. Invitation to participate in this online survey was sent to the email list of a local senior organization (298 addresses) in the Netherlands. There were 118 respondents with a median age of 72 years (IQR 67-78 years). Health professionals, pharmacists, and the Internet were the most commonly used and trusted sources of health information. Leaflets, television, newspapers, and health magazines were also important sources. Respondents who reported higher use of the Internet also reported higher use of other sources (Pseniors who use the Internet, the Internet was a preferred source of health information. Seniors who report higher use of the Internet also report higher use of other information resources and were also the primary consumers of paper-based resources. Respondents most frequently searched for health information after an appointment rather than to prepare for an appointment. Resources used varied by health topic. Future research should seek to confirm these findings in a general elderly population, investigate how seniors seek and understand information on the Internet, and investigate how to reach seniors who prefer not to use the Internet for health information.

Health Care Seeking Behavior of Persons with Acute Chagas Disease in Rural Argentina: A Qualitative View

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Ignacio Llovet

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Chagas disease (CD is a tropical parasitic disease largely underdiagnosed and mostly asymptomatic affecting marginalized rural populations. Argentina regularly reports acute cases of CD, mostly young individuals under 14 years old. There is a void of knowledge of health care seeking behavior in subjects experiencing a CD acute condition. Early treatment of the acute case is crucial to limit subsequent development of disease. The article explores how the health outcome of persons with acute CD may be conditioned by their health care seeking behavior. The study, with a qualitative approach, was carried out in rural areas of Santiago del Estero Province, a high risk endemic region for vector transmission of CD. Narratives of 25 in-depth interviews carried out in 2005 and 2006 are analyzed identifying patterns of health care seeking behavior followed by acute cases. Through the retrospective recall of paths for diagnoses, weaknesses of disease information, knowledge at the household level, and underperformance at the provincial health care system level are detected. The misdiagnoses were a major factor in delaying a health care response. The study results expose lost opportunities for the health care system to effectively record CD acute cases.

[Men and depression: gender-related help-seeking behavior].

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Möller-Leimkühler, A M

2000-11-01

As epidemiological data concerning gender-related help-seeking behaviour indicate, consultation rate and help-seeking by men is consistently lower, especially in the case of emotional problems and depressive symptoms. There is empirical evidence that the poor treatment rate of men cannot be explained by a better health but must be attributed to a discrepancy of need and help-seeking behaviour. Social change and epidemiological trends in depression point to the male gender-role being an important factor of increasing rates among young men as well as an important determinant of help-seeking behaviour. It is argued that social norms of traditional masculinity make help-seeking more difficult because of the inhibition of expressiveness affecting symptom perception and symptomatology of depression. Besides these predisposing factors of male help-seeking other medical and social factors are mentioned producing further barriers to help-seeking. Further research is needed to investigate the question whether changing masculinity implies gender-role conflict or positive health effects.

Exploring the Role of Neuroticism and Insecure Attachment in Health Anxiety, Safety-Seeking Behavior Engagement, and Medical Services Utilization

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Fotios Anagnostopoulos

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to explore an extended interpersonal model of health anxiety, according to which health-anxious individuals are trapped in a vicious circle of health-related reassurance-seeking, alienation from others, and worry about health, while somatic absorption with body sensations, insecure attachment, neuroticism, safety-seeking behaviors, and medical services utilization were also included in the model. Data were collected from 196 Greek university students using standardized instruments. Results indicated that anxious attachment was directly related to absorption (β = .163, p < .05 and alienation (β = .204, p < .05, while avoidant attachment was directly related to absorption (β = −.344, p < .001, reassurance-seeking (β = −.130, p < .05, and alienation (β = .148, p < .05. Neuroticism was positively and significantly associated with all dimensions of health anxiety. Absorption, alienation, and anxious attachment were related to medical services utilization, which, in turn, was related to safety-seeking behaviors (β = .200, p < .01. Neuroticism and anxious attachment were also indirectly and positively associated with worry. Moreover, absorption was positively related to worry and reassurance-seeking, worry was positively related to reassurance-seeking, and alienation was positively related to worry. Study results highlight the key role that interpersonal (e.g., alienation from others and perceptual factors (e.g., the tendency to focus on bodily sensations can play in health anxiety maintenance, and the importance of anxious and avoidant attachment in safety-seeking behavior engagement. Implications of the results and suggestions for future research and practice are outlined.

Music therapy inhibits morphine-seeking behavior via GABA receptor and attenuates anxiety-like behavior induced by extinction from chronic morphine use.

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Kim, Ki Jin; Lee, Sang Nam; Lee, Bong Hyo

2018-05-01

Morphine is a representative pain killer. However, repeated use tends to induce addiction. Music therapy has been gaining interest as a useful type of therapy for neuropsychiatric diseases. The present study examined whether Korean traditional music (KT) could suppress morphine-seeking behavior and anxiety-like behavior induced by extinction from chronic morphine use and additionally investigated a possible neuronal mechanism. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to intravenously self-administer morphine hydrochloride (1.0 mg/kg) using a fixed ratio 1 schedule in daily 2 h session during 3 weeks. After training, rats who established baseline (variation less than 20% of the mean of infusion for 3 consecutive days) underwent extinction. Music was played twice a day during extinction. In the second experiment, the selective antagonists of GABA A and GABA B receptors were treated before the last playing to investigate the neuronal mechanism focusing on the GABA receptor pathway. Another experiment of elevated plus maze was performed to investigate whether music therapy has an anxiolytic effect at the extinction phase. KT but not other music (Indian road or rock music) reduced morphine-seeking behavior induced by a priming challenge with morphine. And, this effect was blocked by the GABA receptor antagonists. In addition, KT showed anxiolytic effects against withdrawal from morphine. Results of this study suggest that KT suppresses morphine-seeking behavior via GABA receptor pathway. In addition, KT showed to have anxiolytic effects, suggesting it has bi-directional effects on morphine. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Theory of Planned Behavior as it predicts potential intention to seek mental health services for depression among college students.

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Bohon, Lisa M; Cotter, Kelly A; Kravitz, Richard L; Cello, Philip C; Fernandez Y Garcia, Erik

2016-01-01

Between 9.5% and 31.3% of college students suffer from depression (American college health association national college health assessment II: reference group executive summary spring 2013. Amer. Coll. Health Assoc. 2013; Eagan K, Stolzenberg EB, Ramirez JJ, Aragon, MC, Suchard, RS, Hurtado S. The American freshman: national norms fall 2014. Higher Educ. Res. Inst.; 2015). Universities need to understand the factors that relate to care-seeking behavior. Across 3 studies, to relate attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioral control to intention to seek mental health services, and to investigate barriers to care-seeking. University college students (N = 845, 64% female, 26% male, and 10% unspecified). New measures were created in Studies 1 and 2, and were examined using structural equation modeling in Study 3. Partially consistent with the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, I, Fishbein, M. Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall; 1980), a model with an excellent fit revealed that more positive attitudes about care and higher perceived behavioral control directly predicted higher intention to seek mental health services. Educating college students about mental health disorders and treatments, enhancing knowledge about available services, and addressing limited access to long-term care might improve treatment rates for students suffering from depression.

School Violence, Depressive Symptoms, and Help-seeking Behavior: A Gender-stratified Analysis of Biethnic Adolescents in South Korea

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Ji-Hwan Kim

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Objectives: In South Korea (hereafter Korea, the number of adolescent offspring of immigrants has rapidly increased since the early 1990s, mainly due to international marriage. This research sought to examine the association between the experience of school violence and mental health outcomes, and the role of help-seeking behaviors in the association, among biethnic adolescents in Korea. Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data of 3627 biethnic adolescents in Korea from the 2012 National Survey of Multicultural Families. Based on the victim’s help-seeking behavior, adolescents who experienced school violence were classified into three groups: ‘seeking help’ group; ‘feeling nothing’ group; ‘not seeking help’ group. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to examine the associations between the experience of school violence and depressive symptoms for males and females separately. Results: In the gender-stratified analysis, school violence was associated with depressive symptoms in the ‘not seeking help’ (odds ratio [OR], 7.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.76 to 13.23 and the ‘seeking help’ group (OR, 2.77; 95% CI, 1.73 to 4.44 among male adolescents after adjusting for potential confounders, including the nationality of the immigrant parent and Korean language fluency. Similar associations were observed in the female groups. However, in the ‘feeling nothing’ group, the association was only significant for males (OR, 8.34; 95% CI, 2.82 to 24.69, but not females (OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.18 to 3.28. Conclusions: This study suggests that experience of school violence is associated with depressive symptoms and that the role of victims’ help-seeking behaviors in the association may differ by gender among biethnic adolescents in Korea.

The Health Seeking Behaviors and Perceptions of Iranian Patient with Osteoarthritis about Pain Management: A Qualitative Study.

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Zamanzadeh, Vahid; Ahmadi, Fazlollah; Foolady, Marjaneh; Behshid, Mozhgan; Irajpoor, Alireza

2017-03-01

Introduction: Pain is the main reason for patients with osteoarthritis (OA) to visit health clinics. Health seeking behaviors indicate unmet patient needs and lack of understanding of OA pain patterns. This study aimed to describe the experiences of Iranian patients with OA and explore their health seeking behaviors and perceptions on pain management related to osteoarthritis. Methods: Using a qualitative approach, data was collected by interviewing 19 patients, 2 family members, and 5 health care providers from the in-patient and out-patient clinics, and physicians' offices. Data saturation was reached after 31 in-depth and semi-structured interviews (five second interviews). Data were analyzed by qualitative content analysis, using comparison, reflection and interpretation techniques. The criteria used to enhance rigor included credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. Results: Two main categories and six subcategories emerged from data analysis. The first main category included "adapting to the reality" which had three subcategories: Facing OA pain, seeking health care, and accepting pain as a part of life. The second main category included "behavior fluctuation" with three subcategory of role conflict, responsibility for self-care and, adherence to prescribed treatment versus self-treatment. Conclusion: Care seeking behaviors for chronic pain sufferers are void of cultural, emotional, social and financial situation and patient expectations. Some misconceptions emerged about the health problem and its management, which may lead to negative attitudes toward treatment and therapists and finally lead to non-adherence to treatment. Patients need for education to enhance appropriate health care utilization.

The Health Seeking Behaviors and Perceptions of Iranian Patient with Osteoarthritis about Pain Management: A Qualitative Study

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Vahid Zamanzadeh

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Pain is the main reason for patients with osteoarthritis (OA to visit health clinics. Health seeking behaviors indicate unmet patient needs and lack of understanding of OA pain patterns. This study aimed to describe the experiences of Iranian patients with OA and explore their health seeking behaviors and perceptions on pain management related to osteoarthritis. Methods: Using a qualitative approach, data was collected by interviewing 19 patients, 2 family members, and 5 health care providers from the in-patient and out-patient clinics, and physicians’ offices. Data saturation was reached after 31 in-depth and semi-structured interviews (five second interviews. Data were analyzed by qualitative content analysis, using comparison, reflection and interpretation techniques. The criteria used to enhance rigor included credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. Results: Two main categories and six subcategories emerged from data analysis. The first main category included "adapting to the reality" which had three subcategories: Facing OA pain, seeking health care, and accepting pain as a part of life. The second main category included "behavior fluctuation" with three subcategory of role conflict, responsibility for self-care and, adherence to prescribed treatment versus self-treatment. Conclusion: Care seeking behaviors for chronic pain sufferers are void of cultural, emotional, social and financial situation and patient expectations. Some misconceptions emerged about the health problem and its management, which may lead to negative attitudes toward treatment and therapists and finally lead to non-adherence to treatment. Patients need for education to enhance appropriate health care utilization.

Surgeons in Difficulty: An Exploration of Differences in Assistance-Seeking Behaviors between Male and Female Surgeons.

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Sanfey, Hilary; Fromson, John; Mellinger, John; Rakinic, Jan; Williams, Michael; Williams, Betsy

2015-08-01

Physician burnout is associated with diminished ability to practice with requisite skill and safety. Physicians are often reluctant to seek help for an impaired colleague or for impairment that affects their own ability to practice. To better support surgeons in difficulty, we explored sex differences in assistance-seeking behaviors under stress. Surgeons in 3 national societies completed an IRB-approved anonymous multiple-choice and free-text response survey. Responses were explored with the general linear model using item-specific continuous and categorical methods. Two hundred and twelve surgeons (n = 79 [37.3%] male, n = 133 [63%] female) responded. Although men and women worked similar hours (p > 0.05), women worked more clinical (p work-life balance, as identified by aggregate variables related to emotional/decisional partnership, non-work-related chore support, and personal fulfillment (F = 15.29; df 3/16; p < 0.01), but change jobs less frequently (F = 4.23; df 1/201; p < 0.05). Males are more likely to seek help from colleagues (chi-square 107.5; p < 0.01) or friends (chi-square 123.8; p < 0.01) and women are more likely to seek support from professional counselors (chi-square 146.8; p < 0.01). Almost one-third of surgeons would ignore behaviors that adversely impact well being and could result in potential personal or patient safety. The differences between the assistance-seeking and reporting behaviors of male and female surgeons in distress could have implications for identification and treatment of this population. These findings can be used to develop educational activities to teach surgeons how to effectively handle these challenging situations. Copyright © 2015 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reward-seeking behavior and addiction: cause or cog?

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Arias-Carrión, Oscar; Salama, Mohamed

2012-09-01

Although dopaminergic system represents the cornerstone in rewarding, other neurotransmitters can modulate both the reward system and the psychomotor effects of addictive drugs. Many hypotheses have been proposed for a better understanding of the reward system and its role in drug addiction. However, after many years of investigation, no single theory can completely explain the neural basis of drug addiction. Recent reports introduce novel neurotransmitters into the game e.g. dynorphins, orexins, histamine, gheralin and galanin. The interacting functions of these neurotransmitters have shown that the reward system and its role in drug dependence, is far more complicated than was thought before. Individual variations exist regarding response to drug exposure, vulnerability for addiction and the effects of different cues on reward systems. Consequently, genetic variations of neurotransmission are thought to influence reward processing that in turn may affect distinctive social behavior and susceptibility to addiction. However, the individual variations can not be based mainly on genetics; environmental factors seem to play a role too. Here we discuss the current knowledge about the orquestic regulation of different neurotransmitters on reward-seeking behavior and their potential effect on drug addiction.

Ethanol seeking by Long Evans rats is not always a goal-directed behavior.

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Regina A Mangieri

Full Text Available Two parallel and interacting processes are said to underlie animal behavior, whereby learning and performance of a behavior is at first via conscious and deliberate (goal-directed processes, but after initial acquisition, the behavior can become automatic and stimulus-elicited (habitual. With respect to instrumental behaviors, animal learning studies suggest that the duration of training and the action-outcome contingency are two factors involved in the emergence of habitual seeking of "natural" reinforcers (e.g., sweet solutions, food or sucrose pellets. To rigorously test whether behaviors reinforced by abused substances such as ethanol, in particular, similarly become habitual was the primary aim of this study.Male Long Evans rats underwent extended or limited operant lever press training with 10% sucrose/10% ethanol (10S10E reinforcement (variable interval (VI or (VR ratio schedule of reinforcement, or with 10% sucrose (10S reinforcement (VI schedule only. Once training and pretesting were complete, the impact of outcome devaluation on operant behavior was evaluated after lithium chloride injections were paired with the reinforcer, or unpaired 24 hours later. After limited, but not extended instrumental training, lever pressing by groups trained under VR with 10S10E and under VI with 10S was sensitive to outcome devaluation. In contrast, responding by both the extended and limited training 10S10E VI groups was not sensitive to ethanol devaluation during the test for habitual behavior.Operant behavior by rats trained to self-administer an ethanol-sucrose solution showed variable sensitivity to a change in the value of ethanol, with relative insensitivity developing sooner in animals that received time-variable ethanol reinforcement during training sessions. One important implication, with respect to substance abuse in humans, is that initial learning about the relationship between instrumental actions and the opportunity to consume ethanol

Injecting Drug Users and Their Health Seeking Behavior: A Cross-Sectional Study in Dhaka, Bangladesh

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Sheikh Mohammed Shariful Islam

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction and Aim. Injecting drug users (IDUs are amongst the most vulnerable people to acquisition of HIV/AIDS. This study aims to collect information on IDUs and their health seeking behavior in Bangladesh. Design and Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 120 IDUs attending a drug rehabilitation center in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Data were collected on sociodemographics, drug use, health seeking behavior, knowledge of injecting drugs, and sexual behavior. Results. The mean ± SD and median (IQR age of the participants were 32.5±21.3 and 33 (27–38 years, respectively, with only 9.2% females. Injection buprenorphine was the drug of choice for 40% of participants, and 58% of the participants first started drug use with smoking cannabis. 73.3% of participants shared needles sometimes and 57.5% were willing to use the needle exchange programs. 60% of the participants had no knowledge about the diseases spread by injection. Condom use during the last intercourse with regular partners was 11.7% and with any partners 15.8%. Conclusion. IDUs in Bangladesh are a high-risk group for HIV/AIDS due to lack of knowledge and risky behaviors. Education and interventions specifically aimed at IDUs are needed, because traditional education may not reach IDUs or influence their behavior.

Exploring information-seeking processes by business: analyzing source and channel choices in business-to-government service interactions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van den Boer, Yvon; Pieterson, Willem Jan; van Dijk, Johannes A.G.M.; Arendsen, R.

2016-01-01

With the rise of electronic channels it has become easier for businesses to consult various types of information sources in information-seeking processes. Governments are urged to rethink their role as reliable information source and the roles of their (electronic) service channels to provide

Health Seeking Behavior and Family Planning Services Accessibility in Indonesia

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Niniek Lely Pratiwi

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Background: The MDG target to increase maternal health will be achieved when 50% of maternal deaths can be prevented through improvment the coverage of K1, K4, to make sure that midwife stay in the village improve the delivery by health workers in health facilities, increase coverage long-term contraceptive methods participant as well as family and community empowerment in health. Methods: This study is a further analysis of Riskesdas in 2010 to assess how big the accessibility of services in family planning in Indonesia. Results: Women of 3–4 children in rural greater and prevalence (27.1% compared to women who live in urban areas (25.0%. The main reason of not using contraception mostly because they want to have children 27.0% in urban, 28.2% rural whereas, the second reason is the fear of side effects 23.1% in urban, 16.5% rural. There is 10% of respondent did not use contraceptives, because they did not need it. Health seeking behavior of pregnant women with family planning work status has a significant relationship (prevalence ratio 1.073. The jobless mothers has better access to family planning services compared to working mother. Conclusions: Accessibility of family planning services is inadequate, because not all rural ‘Poskesdes’ equipped with infrastructure and family planning devices, a lack of knowledge of family planning in rural areas. Health seeking behavior of family planning services is mostly to the midwives, the scond is to community health centers and than polindes, ‘poskesdes’ as the ranks third.

The Relationship between Learning Styles and Information Seeking Behavior in Master Degree Students of Medical Sciences in Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in Yazd

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M Parsaeian

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Learning styles influence the methods and ways of obtaining information and lead to the variety of information seeking behaviors from the searchers. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between learning styles and information seeking behavior in master degree students of medical science in Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in Yazd. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional analytic study. The population of the study was 601 master degree students of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in Yazd in 2013-2015. They were all freshmen. The sample size of 234 students was determined using Cochran formula. Data were collected by two questionnaires (Kolb questionnaire and researcher-made seeking behavior questionnaire. The validity of questionnaires was confirmed by a panel of experts and their reliability was confirmed by Cronbach`s alpha. Data analysis was done by inferential statistics and statistical software SPSS (version 18. Measuring the significant relationship between learning styles and information seeking behavior was done with Pierson correlation coefficient. The significant difference between learning styles and information seeking behavior in terms of gender and faculty was examined by Fisher`s test. Results: Learning styles had effect on information seeking behavior; also correlation coefficients between the learning styles and information seeking behavior had significant difference, but there was no difference in terms of faculty. Conclution: Recognition of learning styles and including it into designing of information systems may increase system`s interactivity that it may lead to have better and faster accessibility to information resources.

Collaborative Information Seeking and Expertise Seeking: Different Discourses about Similar Issues

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hertzum, Morten

2017-01-01

Purpose – This study compares and contrasts research on collaborative information seeking (CIS) and expertise seeking (EXS) to identify focal themes, blind spots, and possibilities for cross-fertilization. Design/methodology/approach – Existing research was reviewed. The review consisted of a con......Purpose – This study compares and contrasts research on collaborative information seeking (CIS) and expertise seeking (EXS) to identify focal themes, blind spots, and possibilities for cross-fertilization. Design/methodology/approach – Existing research was reviewed. The review consisted...... the information need is held by an individual but resolved by consulting other people. While the typical scope of EXS studies is source selection, CIS studies mostly concern the consultation of the sources and the use of the obtained information. CIS and EXS studies also attend differentially to the information...... and prevent duplication of effort. Topics for future research are identified. It should be noted that the findings are limited to the 142 studies reviewed. Originality/value – By analyzing CIS in the context of EXS, and vice versa, this study provides a fresh look at the information-seeking research...

Context-driven Salt Seeking Test (Rats)

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Chang, Stephen E.; Smith, Kyle S.

2018-01-01

Changes in reward seeking behavior often occur through incremental learning based on the difference between what is expected and what actually happens. Behavioral flexibility of this sort requires experience with rewards as better or worse than expected. However, there are some instances in which behavior can change through non-incremental learning, which requires no further experience with an outcome. Such an example of non-incremental learning is the salt appetite phenomenon. In this case, animals such as rats will immediately seek out a highly-concentrated salt solution that was previously undesired when they are put in a novel state of sodium deprivation. Importantly, this adaptive salt-seeking behavior occurs despite the fact that the rats never tasted salt in the depleted state, and therefore never tasted it as a highly desirable reward. The following protocol is a method to investigate the neural circuitry mediating adaptive salt seeking using a conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure. The procedure is designed to provide an opportunity to discover possible dissociations between the neural circuitry mediating salt seeking and salt consumption to replenish the bodily deficit after sodium depletion. Additionally, this procedure is amenable to incorporating a number of neurobiological techniques for studying the brain basis of this behavior.

Acculturation and Help-Seeking Behavior in Consultation: A Sociocultural Framework for Mental Health Service

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Pham, Andy V.; Goforth, Anisa N.; Chun, Heejung; Castro-Olivo, Sara; Costa, Annela

2017-01-01

Many immigrant and ethnic minority families demonstrate reluctance to pursue or utilize mental health services in community-based and clinical settings, which often leads to poorer quality of care for children and greater likelihood of early termination. Cultural variations in help-seeking behavior and acculturation are likely to influence…

Morbidity pattern and health-seeking behavior of aged population residing in Shimla hills of north India: A cross-sectional study

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Deepak Sharma

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Population aging is a global phenomenon. In India, the size of the elderly population is growing fast. Many older adults have multiple medical conditions. Understanding elderly health problems and health-seeking behavior is prerequisite for proving comprehensive geriatric care to them. Objectives: To assess the morbidity pattern and study the health-seeking behavior of the elderly people of Shimla district in Himachal Pradesh. Materials and Methods: A total of 400 elderly people aged 60 years and above were selected from urban and rural areas of Shimla hills in North India by simple random sampling. Statistical software Epi info software version 3.2 was used for analyzing data. Descriptive statistics were used to describe sociodemographic and morbidity variables. Results: The most common morbidity identified among them were musculoskeletal problems (55.0% followed by hypertension (40.5%. Two third were seeking treatment for their health problems. Among older persons not seeking treatment for their medical condition, most considered these morbidities as an age-related phenomenon. Many perceived that the health services were too far. Conclusion: The high morbidity load among elderly in the present study stresses for efforts to provide better health care to them and thus ensure that they remain active members of our society. Residence emerged out to be most significant determinant of healthcare-seeking behavior. Policy makers must focus on rural elderly and their beliefs which prevent them from seeking healthcare.

Health care-seeking behavior among patients with chronic kidney disease: A cross-sectional study of patients presenting at a single teaching hospital in Lagos

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Babawale Taslim Bello

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Health care-seeking behavior of individuals determines how early they present for appropriate care. In patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD, late presentation to the nephrologist is associated with poor outcomes. This study aims to describe the health care-seeking behavior of patients with CKD attending the nephrology outpatient clinic of a teaching hospital located in Lagos, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey conducted on 104 consecutive adult patients with CKD, presenting for the first time at the nephrology outpatient clinic of a teaching hospital located in Lagos, South West Nigeria. Information was retrieved from the study participants using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire, entered into an Excel spreadsheet, and analyzed using Epi Info® statistical software version 7.0. Results: Overall, 74 (71.2% patients sought help, first from a trained health care provider, and their health care-seeking behavior was adjudged to be appropriate. Compared to patients with appropriate health care-seeking behavior, those with inappropriate health care-seeking behavior had a lower mean age (40.4 ± 13.7 years vs 47.3 ± 15.6 years;P = 0.03, were less likely to see their illness as a medical problem (46.7% vs 67.6%;P = 0.04, more likely to have a monthly income less than N25,000 ($150 (80.0% vs 59.5%;P = 0.04, and have received below tertiary level education (20.0% vs 48.6%; P < 0.01. They were also more likely to have consulted more than one health care provider before being referred to our clinic. The factors predicting inappropriate health care-seeking behavior were education below the tertiary level and age less than 45 years. Conclusion: Though health care-seeking behavior was appropriate in majority of our patients with CKD, there remains a need for improved public health awareness.

Assessing health consumerism on the Web: a demographic profile of information-seeking behaviors.

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Lorence, Daniel P; Park, Heeyoung; Fox, Susannah

2006-08-01

The growing diversity of the online health information community is increasingly cited as a limiting factor related to the potential of the Internet as an effective health communication channel and information resource. Public-access Internet portals and decreasing costs of personal computers have created a consensus that unequal access to information, or a "Digital Divide," presents a like problem specific to health care consumers. Access to information, however, is an essential part of the consumer-centric framework outlined in the recently proposed U.S. National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII) and Health Architecture initiatives. To date little research has been done to differentiate the types of health information sought on the Web by different subgroups, linking user characteristics and health-seeking behaviors. Data from a study of consumer Web search activity in a post-intervention era serves as a natural experiment, and can identify whether a "digitally underserved group" persists in the United States. Such an environment would serve to exclude traditionally underserved groups from the benefits of the planned national heath information infrastructure. This exploratory technology assessment study seeks to differentiate and delineate specific behaviors, or lack of desired behaviors, across targeted health care subgroups. Doing so allows the design of more effective strategies to promote the use of the Web as a health education and health promotion tool, under the envisioned shared decision-making, consumer-centric health information model.

Is Women's Empowerment Associated With Help-Seeking for Spousal Violence in India?

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Rowan, Kathleen; Mumford, Elizabeth; Clark, Cari Jo

2018-05-01

Violence against women by their husbands is a problem for women worldwide. However, the majority of women do not seek help. This article presents findings from a national survey in India on empowerment-related correlates of help-seeking behaviors for currently married women who experienced spousal violence. We examined individual-, relationship-, and state-level measures of empowerment on help-seeking from informal and formal sources. Findings indicate that help-seeking is largely not associated with typical measures of empowerment or socio-economic development, whereas state-level indicators of empowerment may influence help-seeking. Although not a target of this study, we also note that injury from violence and the severity of the violence were among the strongest factors related to seeking help. Taken together, the low prevalence of help-seeking and lack of strong individual-level correlates, apart from severe harm, suggests widespread barriers to seeking help. Interventions that affect social norms and reach women and men across social classes in society are needed in addition to any individual-level efforts to promote seeking help for spousal violence.

Factors Associated with Help Seeking Behavior of Turkish Women with Urinary Incontinence; A Single Center Cross-Sectional Study

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Seyhan Sönmez

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the patient and UI-related factors affecting help seeking behavior of Turkish women with undiagnosed urinary incontinence Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 490 female patients aged > 18 years old and were seen in general gynecology outpatients’ clinic of Denizli State Hospital. According to referral complaint and results of UDI-6 questionnaire, the participants were classified into 3 groups: Group A: Help seeker patient, Group B: Non help seeker patient and Group C: Continent patient. Results: Overall UI prevelance was 24%. Nearly two thirds ( 67% of the UI patients do not complaint about their UI symptoms unless they were asked specifically about UI. Consultation rate increased with age, duration of incontinence, menopause and the severity of UI. After logistic regression analyses, only increasing age, UDI-6 score and severity (SSS were found to be associated independently with help seeking behavior. Conclusions: This study showed that, older, more bothered and severe UI patients visit physician and seek medical help. Still nearly half of women who are suffering from clinically significant UI remain undiagnosed and untreated. Regardless the visiting reason if its asked specifically for UI symptoms by using simple questionnaires, we can reveal and diagnose this patients’ group that is suffering from UI but yet keeps it disguise . Keywords: Urinary incontinence, help seeking behavior, undiagnosed urinary incontinence

Can prospect theory explain risk-seeking behavior by terminally ill patients?

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Rasiel, Emma B; Weinfurt, Kevin P; Schulman, Kevin A

2005-01-01

Patients with life-threatening conditions sometimes appear to make risky treatment decisions as their condition declines, contradicting the risk-averse behavior predicted by expected utility theory. Prospect theory accommodates such decisions by describing how individuals evaluate outcomes relative to a reference point and how they exhibit risk-seeking behavior over losses relative to that point. The authors show that a patient's reference point for his or her health is a key factor in determining which treatment option the patient selects, and they examine under what circumstances the more risky option is selected. The authors argue that patients' reference points may take time to adjust following a change in diagnosis, with implications for predicting under what circumstances a patient may select experimental or conventional therapies or select no treatment.

The Role of Stigma in Parental Help-Seeking for Perceived Child Behavior Problems in Urban, Low-Income African American Parents.

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Dempster, Robert; Davis, Deborah Winders; Faye Jones, V; Keating, Adam; Wildman, Beth

2015-12-01

Significant numbers of children have diagnosable mental health problems, but only a small proportion of them receive appropriate services. Stigma has been associated with help-seeking for adult mental health problems and for Caucasian parents. The current study aims to understand factors, including stigma, associated with African American parents' help-seeking behavior related to perceived child behavior problems. Participants were a community sample of African American parents and/or legal guardians of children ages 3-8 years recruited from an urban primary care setting (N = 101). Variables included child behavior, stigma (self, friends/family, and public), object of stigma (parent or child), obstacles for engagement, intention to attend parenting classes, and demographics. Self-stigma was the strongest predictor of help-seeking among African American parents. The impact of self-stigma on parents' ratings of the likelihood of attending parenting classes increased when parents considered a situation in which their child's behavior was concerning to them. Findings support the need to consider parent stigma in the design of care models to ensure that children receive needed preventative and treatment services for behavioral/mental health problems in African American families.

Effects of Prior Experience on Shelter-Seeking Behavior of Juvenile American Lobsters.

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Bayer, Skylar R; Bianchi, Katherine M; Atema, Jelle; Jacobs, Molly W

2017-04-01

Shelter-seeking behaviors are vital for survival for a range of juvenile benthic organisms. These behaviors may be innate or they may be affected by prior experience. After hatching, American lobsters Homarus americanus likely first come into contact with shelter during the late postlarval (decapodid) stage, known as stage IV. After the subsequent molt to the first juvenile stage (stage V), they are entirely benthic and are thought to be highly cryptic. We hypothesized that postlarval (stage IV) experience with shelter would carry over into the first juvenile stage (stage V) and reduce the time needed for juveniles to locate and enter shelters (sheltering). We found some evidence of a carryover effect, but not the one we predicted: stage V juveniles with postlarval shelter experience took significantly longer to initiate sheltering. We also hypothesized that stage V juveniles would demonstrate learning by relocating shelters more quickly with immediate prior experience. Our findings were mixed. In a maze, juveniles with immediate prior experience were faster to regain visual contact with shelter, suggesting that they had learned the location of the shelter. In contrast, there was no significant effect of immediate prior experience on time to initiate sheltering in an open arena, or in the maze after juveniles had regained visual contact. We conclude that very young (stage V) juvenile lobsters modify their shelter-seeking behavior based on prior experiences across several timescales. Ecologically relevant variation in habitat exposure among postlarval and early juvenile lobsters may influence successful recruitment in this culturally and commercially important fishery species.

Rent Seeking: A Textbook Example

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Pecorino, Paul

2007-01-01

The author argues that the college textbook market provides a clear example of monopoly seeking as described by Tullock (1967, 1980). This behavior is also known as rent seeking. Because this market is important to students, this example of rent seeking will be of particular interest to them. (Contains 24 notes.)

A procedure to observe context-induced renewal of pavlovian-conditioned alcohol-seeking behavior in rats.

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Maddux, Jean-Marie; Lacroix, Franca; Chaudhri, Nadia

2014-09-19

Environmental contexts in which drugs of abuse are consumed can trigger craving, a subjective Pavlovian-conditioned response that can facilitate drug-seeking behavior and prompt relapse in abstinent drug users. We have developed a procedure to study the behavioral and neural processes that mediate the impact of context on alcohol-seeking behavior in rats. Following acclimation to the taste and pharmacological effects of 15% ethanol in the home cage, male Long-Evans rats receive Pavlovian discrimination training (PDT) in conditioning chambers. In each daily (Mon-Fri) PDT session, 16 trials each of two different 10 sec auditory conditioned stimuli occur. During one stimulus, the CS+, 0.2 ml of 15% ethanol is delivered into a fluid port for oral consumption. The second stimulus, the CS-, is not paired with ethanol. Across sessions, entries into the fluid port during the CS+ increase, whereas entries during the CS- stabilize at a lower level, indicating that a predictive association between the CS+ and ethanol is acquired. During PDT each chamber is equipped with a specific configuration of visual, olfactory and tactile contextual stimuli. Following PDT, extinction training is conducted in the same chamber that is now equipped with a different configuration of contextual stimuli. The CS+ and CS- are presented as before, but ethanol is withheld, which causes a gradual decline in port entries during the CS+. At test, rats are placed back into the PDT context and presented with the CS+ and CS- as before, but without ethanol. This manipulation triggers a robust and selective increase in the number of port entries made during the alcohol predictive CS+, with no change in responding during the CS-. This effect, referred to as context-induced renewal, illustrates the powerful capacity of contexts associated with alcohol consumption to stimulate alcohol-seeking behavior in response to Pavlovian alcohol cues.

Sexual Health Information Seeking Online Among Runaway and Homeless Youth.

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Barman-Adhikari, Anamika; Rice, Eric

2011-06-01

Research shows runaway and homeless youth are reluctant to seek help from traditional health providers. The Internet can be useful in engaging this population and meeting their needs for sexual health information, including information about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Using a sample of homeless youth living in Los Angeles, California in June 2009, this study assesses the frequency with which runaway and homeless youth seek sexual health information via the Internet, and assesses which youth are more likely to engage in seeking health information from online sources. Drawing from Andersen's (1968) health behavior model and Pescosolido's (1992) network episode model, we develop and refine a model for seeking online sexual health information among homeless youth. Rather than testing the predicative strength of a given model, our aim is to identify and explore conceptually driven correlates that may shed light on the characteristics associated with these help seeking behaviors among homeless youth. Analyses using multivariate logistic regression models reveal that among the sample of youth, females and gay males most frequently seek sexual health information online. We demonstrate the structure of social network ties (e.g., connection with parents) and the content of interactions (e.g., e-mail forwards of health information) across ties are critical correlates of online sexual health information seeking. Results show a continued connection with parents via the Internet is significantly associated with youth seeking HIV or STI information. Similarly for content of interactions, more youth who were sent health information online also reported seeking HIV information and HIV-testing information. We discuss implications for intervention and practice, focusing on how the Internet may be used for dissemination of sexual health information and as a resource for social workers to link transient, runaway, and homeless youth to care.

Expertise seeking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hertzum, Morten

2014-01-01

used sources. Studies repeatedly show the influence of the social network – of friendships and personal dislikes – on the expertise-seeking network of organisations. In addition, people are no less prominent than documentary sources, in work contexts as well as daily-life contexts. The relative...

Health-seeking behavior and transmission dynamics in the control of influenza infection among different age groups.

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You, Shu-Han; Chen, Szu-Chieh; Liao, Chung-Min

2018-01-01

It has been found that health-seeking behavior has a certain impact on influenza infection. However, behaviors with/without risk perception on the control of influenza transmission among age groups have not been well quantified. The purpose of this study was to assess to what extent, under scenarios of with/without control and preventive/protective behaviors, the age-specific network-driven risk perception influences influenza infection. A behavior-influenza model was used to estimate the spread rate of age-specific risk perception in response to an influenza outbreak. A network-based information model was used to assess the effect of network-driven risk perception information transmission on influenza infection. A probabilistic risk model was used to assess the infection risk effect of risk perception with a health behavior change. The age-specific overlapping percentage was estimated to be 40%-43%, 55%-60%, and 19%-35% for child, teenage and adult, and elderly age groups, respectively. Individuals perceive the preventive behavior to improve risk perception information transmission among teenage and adult and elderly age groups, but not in the child age group. The population with perceived health behaviors could not effectively decrease the percentage of infection risk in the child age group, whereas for the elderly age group, the percentage of decrease in infection risk was more significant, with a 97.5th percentile estimate of 97%. The present integrated behavior-infection model can help health authorities in communicating health messages for an intertwined belief network in which health-seeking behavior plays a key role in controlling influenza infection.

Understanding the nature of information seeking behavior in critical care: implications for the design of health information technology.

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Kannampallil, Thomas G; Franklin, Amy; Mishra, Rashmi; Almoosa, Khalid F; Cohen, Trevor; Patel, Vimla L

2013-01-01

Information in critical care environments is distributed across multiple sources, such as paper charts, electronic records, and support personnel. For decision-making tasks, physicians have to seek, gather, filter and organize information from various sources in a timely manner. The objective of this research is to characterize the nature of physicians' information seeking process, and the content and structure of clinical information retrieved during this process. Eight medical intensive care unit physicians provided a verbal think-aloud as they performed a clinical diagnosis task. Verbal descriptions of physicians' activities, sources of information they used, time spent on each information source, and interactions with other clinicians were captured for analysis. The data were analyzed using qualitative and quantitative approaches. We found that the information seeking process was exploratory and iterative and driven by the contextual organization of information. While there was no significant differences between the overall time spent paper or electronic records, there was marginally greater relative information gain (i.e., more unique information retrieved per unit time) from electronic records (t(6)=1.89, p=0.1). Additionally, information retrieved from electronic records was at a higher level (i.e., observations and findings) in the knowledge structure than paper records, reflecting differences in the nature of knowledge utilization across resources. A process of local optimization drove the information seeking process: physicians utilized information that maximized their information gain even though it required significantly more cognitive effort. Implications for the design of health information technology solutions that seamlessly integrate information seeking activities within the workflow, such as enriching the clinical information space and supporting efficient clinical reasoning and decision-making, are discussed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All

Prevalence and Health Care–Seeking Behavior for Childhood Diarrheal Disease in Bangladesh

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Abdur Razzaque Sarker MHE, MSS

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In Bangladesh, the burden of diarrheal diseases is significant among children <5 years old. The objective of this study is to capture the prevalence of and health care–seeking behavior for childhood diarrheal diseases (CDDs and to identify the factors associated with CDDs at a population level in Bangladesh. We use a logistic regression approach to model careseeking based on individual characteristics. The overall diarrhea prevalence among children <5 years old was found to be 5.71%. Some factors found to significantly influence the health care–seeking pattern were age and sex of the children, nutritional score, age and education of mothers, wealth index, and access to electronic media. The health care service could be improved through working in partnership with public facilities, private health care practitioners, and community-based organizations, so that all strata of the population get equitable access in cases of childhood diarrhoea.

Health Information-Seeking Behavior Among Hypothyroid Patients at Saveetha Medical College and Hospital

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Perumal, SS; Prasad, S; Surapaneni, KM; Joshi, A

2015-01-01

Background Hypothyroidism causes considerable morbidity. Low knowledge coupled with inadequate health literacy may lead to poor prevention and management. This study aimed to assess health information-seeking behavior and hypothyroid knowledge among South Indian hypothyroid patients. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in October 2013 in Saveetha Medical College, Chennai, India. Hundred clinically diagnosed hypothyroid patients ?18 years were interviewed in a hospital using a 57-...

Social Support, Trust in Health Information, and Health Information-Seeking Behaviors (HISBs): A Study Using the 2012 Annenberg National Health Communication Survey (ANHCS).

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Yang, Qinghua; Chen, Yixin; Wendorf Muhamad, Jessica

2017-09-01

We proposed a conceptual model to predict health information-seeking behaviors (HISBs) from three different sources (family, the Internet, doctors). To test the model, a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was conducted using data from the 2012 Annenberg National Health Communication Survey (ANHCS) (N = 3,285). Findings suggest higher social support from family predicts higher trust in health information from family members (abbreviated as trust in this article). Trust is positively related to HISBs from all three sources, with the path linking trust to HISB from family being the strongest. The effect of social support on HISB from family is partially mediated by trust, while effect of social support on HISBs from the Internet/doctors is fully mediated by trust. Implications of the study are discussed.

The effect of direct-to-consumer genetic tests on anticipated affect and health-seeking behaviors: a pilot survey.

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Bansback, Nick; Sizto, Sonia; Guh, Daphne; Anis, Aslam H

2012-10-01

Numerous websites offer direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing, yet it is unknown how individuals will react to genetic risk profiles online. The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of using a web-based survey and conjoint methods to elicit individuals' interpretations of genetic risk profiles by their anticipated worry/anxiousness and health-seeking behaviors. A web-based survey was developed using conjoint methods. Each survey presented 12 hypothetical genetic risk profiles describing genetic test results for four diseases. Test results were characterized by the type of disease (eight diseases), individual risk (five levels), and research confidence (three levels). After each profile, four questions were asked regarding anticipated worry and health-seeking behaviors. Probabilities of response outcomes based on attribute levels were estimated from logistic regression models, adjusting for covariates. Overall, 319 participants (69%) completed 3828 unique genetic risk profiles. Across all profiles, most participants anticipated making doctor's appointments (63%), lifestyle changes (57%), and accessing screening (57%); 40% anticipated feeling more worried and anxious. Higher levels of disease risk were significantly associated with affirmative responses. Conjoint methods may be used to elicit reactions to genetic information online. Preliminary results suggest that genetic information may increase worry/anxiousness and health-seeking behaviors among consumers of DTC tests. Further research is planned to determine the appropriateness of these affects and behaviors.

Host-seeking and blood-feeding behavior of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) exposed to vapors of geraniol, citral, citronellal, eugenol, or anisaldehyde.

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Hao, Huiling; Wei, Jianrong; Dai, Jianqing; Du, Jiawei

2008-05-01

The changes of the host-seeking and blood-feeding behavior of Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae) surviving in a space containing vapors of the spatial repellents geraniol, eugenol, citral, anisaldehyde, or citronellal were evaluated using an arm-in-cage test and a bioassay of bloodmeals on a shaved mouse. The mosquitoes surviving concentrations of geraniol, citral, eugenol, or anisaldehyde at 0.013, 0.025, 0.050, 0.100, and 0.250 microg/cm3 for 24 and 48 h all showed different degrees of reduction in host-seeking ability. After 48 h of exposure to 0.250 microg/cm3 geraniol, almost 100% of the mosquitoes lost their host-seeking ability. The next most potent spatial repellent, anisaldehyde, stopped host seeking by > 85.5%. Citronellal did not result in a significant reduction in the host-seeking ability at any concentration level after either 24 or 48 h of treatment. We also found that reduction of host-seeking ability recovered after various times. The longest recovery time (144 h) was observed for geraniol after 24 h at 0.250 microg/cm3. In the study, geraniol, eugenol, and citral all significantly affected the activation and orientation stages of the blood-feeding behavior. However, only anisaldehyde significantly interrupted the normal blood-feeding of mosquitoes in all stages of behavior. These initial laboratory results clearly showed that anisaldehyde and geraniol could be promising spatial repellents against Ae. albopictus that they could play a major role in new repellent technology.

Spiritual Struggle Among Patients Seeking Treatment for Chronic Headaches: Anger and Protest Behaviors Toward God.

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Exline, Julie J; Krause, Steven J; Broer, Karen A

2016-10-01

This study examined anger and protest behaviors toward God among 80 US adults seeking treatment for chronic headaches (66 women, 14 men; 71 completed treatment). Measures were administered before and after an intensive 3-week outpatient treatment program. At both times, anger and protest toward God correlated with lower pain acceptance, more emotional distress, and greater perceived disability. However, when considered simultaneously, anger predicted sustained distress, whereas protest behaviors (e.g., complaining, questioning, arguing) predicted both reduced distress and an increased sense of meaning. These findings suggest the utility of distinguishing between anger toward God and behaviors suggesting assertiveness toward God.

Characteristics and Help-Seeking Behaviors of Internet Gamblers Based on Most Problematic Mode of Gambling

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

Background Previous studies of problem Internet gamblers have failed to distinguish whether their problem gambling relates to Internet or land-based gambling modes. Therefore, characteristics and help-seeking behaviors of people whose gambling problems relate specifically to Internet gambling are unknown, but could inform the optimal alignment of treatment and support services with the needs and preferences of problem gamblers. Objective This study aimed to compare (1) characteristics of problem Internet gamblers and problem land-based gamblers and (2) uptake of different types and modes of help between problem Internet gamblers and problem land-based gamblers. Hypothesis 1 was that problem Internet gamblers are less likely to seek help. Hypothesis 2 was that problem Internet gamblers are more likely to use online modes of help. Methods A sample of 620 respondents meeting criteria for problem gambling was drawn from an online survey of 4594 Australian gamblers. Respondents were recruited through advertisements on gambling and gambling help websites, Facebook, and Google. Measures consisted of gambling participation; proportion of gambling on the Internet; most problematic mode of gambling; help seeking from 11 different sources of formal help, informal help, and self-help for gambling problems; psychological distress (Kessler 6); problem gambling severity (Problem Gambling Severity Index, PGSI); and demographics. Results Problem Internet gamblers were significantly more likely than problem land-based gamblers to be male (χ2 1=28.3, Pgambling helplines, online groups, self-exclusion from land-based venues, family or friends, and self-help strategies. Both problem Internet and problem land-based gamblers had similarly low use of online help. However, problem land-based gamblers (37.6%, 126/335) were significantly more likely to have sought land-based formal help compared to problem Internet gamblers (23.5%, 67/285; χ2 1=14.3, Pgambling help by problem Internet

Consumer Use of "Dr Google": A Survey on Health Information-Seeking Behaviors and Navigational Needs.

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Lee, Kenneth; Hoti, Kreshnik; Hughes, Jeffery David; Emmerton, Lynne M

2015-12-29

The Internet provides a platform to access health information and support self-management by consumers with chronic health conditions. Despite recognized barriers to accessing Web-based health information, there is a lack of research quantitatively exploring whether consumers report difficulty finding desired health information on the Internet and whether these consumers would like assistance (ie, navigational needs). Understanding navigational needs can provide a basis for interventions guiding consumers to quality Web-based health resources. We aimed to (1) estimate the proportion of consumers with navigational needs among seekers of Web-based health information with chronic health conditions, (2) describe Web-based health information-seeking behaviors, level of patient activation, and level of eHealth literacy among consumers with navigational needs, and (3) explore variables predicting navigational needs. A questionnaire was developed based on findings from a qualitative study on Web-based health information-seeking behaviors and navigational needs. This questionnaire also incorporated the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS; a measure of self-perceived eHealth literacy) and PAM-13 (a measure of patient activation). The target population was consumers of Web-based health information with chronic health conditions. We surveyed a sample of 400 Australian adults, with recruitment coordinated by Qualtrics. This sample size was required to estimate the proportion of consumers identified with navigational needs with a precision of 4.9% either side of the true population value, with 95% confidence. A subsample was invited to retake the survey after 2 weeks to assess the test-retest reliability of the eHEALS and PAM-13. Of 514 individuals who met our eligibility criteria, 400 (77.8%) completed the questionnaire and 43 participants completed the retest. Approximately half (51.3%; 95% CI 46.4-56.2) of the population was identified with navigational needs. Participants with

The Effects of Stigma on Determinants of Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviors Among Male College Students: An Application of the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model.

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DeBate, Rita DiGioacchino; Gatto, Amy; Rafal, Gregor

2018-05-01

Considered a public health issue, the prevalence and severity of poor mental well-being on college campuses has continued to rise. While many college campuses offer mental health counseling services, and utilization rates are increasing, their proportional usage is low especially among males, who often deal with poor mental well-being by adopting unhealthy coping strategies. The purpose of this study was to use the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model to assess the relationship between the determinants as factors that may impact help-seeking behaviors in a large sample ( n = 1,242) of male college students. Employing a cross-sectional study design, a 71-item online survey assessed information via total mental health literacy (MHL), motivation via attitudes toward mental health and subjective norms regarding mental health, and behavioral skills via intentions regarding help-seeking behaviors, and stigma. Results revealed correlations between information and motivation ( r = .363, p < .01), information and behavioral skills ( r = .166, p < .01), and motivation and behavioral skills ( r = .399, p < .01). Multiple regression was used to determine stigma is a mediator for all relationships. These findings represent an opportunity to take a public health approach to male mental health through developing multilayered interventions that address information, motivation, behavioral skills, and stigma.

Associations between sexual sensation seeking and AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors among young men who have sex with men in China.

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Gao, Mengting; Xiao, Chenchang; Cao, Yue; Yu, Bin; Li, Shiyue; Yan, Hong

2017-06-01

Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) have become high risk groups for HIV infection in China. Recent researches suggest that sexual sensation seeking is significantly associated with AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, but the relationship is not clear in the field of YMSM in China. The present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between sexual sensation seeking and AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among YMSM in China. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Wuhan, China from May to November 2013. 403 YMSM were recruited and 373 of them completed the questionnaire. Regression analyses indicated that YMSM with high sexual sensation seeking score are more likely to have low awareness of knowledge and negative attitude about condom use, as well as more risky sexual behaviors.

Screening for depression and help-seeking in postpartum women during well-baby pediatric visits: an integrated review.

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Liberto, Terri L

2012-03-01

The purposes of this integrated review are to examine the literature on screening for depression and help-seeking behaviors by postpartum women during pediatric well-baby visits; to identify gaps in the literature relating to depression and help-seeking behaviors; and to discuss implications for practice and future research. An extensive search of primary source documents was conducted in Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, MEDLINE, Mental Measurements Yearbook, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, and Women's Studies International using the key words postpartum, postpartum depression (PPD), help seeking, and pediatric setting or pediatrician. Thirty-five articles relevant to help seeking, PPD, and screening in the pediatric setting were included in this review. Research studies included both quantitative and qualitative articles. PPD affects 10% to 15% of all women after birth. Postpartum women generally do not seek help for depression. Untreated PPD has significant adverse affects on parenting, maternal bonding, and the infant's emotional and behavioral development. Interaction with the woman's obstetric provider ends shortly after the baby's birth. However, interactions with the pediatric office are initiated and continue throughout the infant's first two years of life. Early recognition of PPD and appropriate treatment are imperative for positive maternal-infant outcomes. A majority of women do not seek help for depression from any source. Because mothers have routine interactions with pediatric office staff during the first few years after giving birth, pediatric nurse practitioners and pediatricians have the perfect opportunity to screen and educate women regarding symptoms, treatment, and available resources for PPD. Copyright © 2012 National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Newcomer information seeking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Moring, Camilla Elisabeth

2017-01-01

Introduction: Research on socialization and learning processes among organizational newcomers is offering valuable insight into the role of information seeking in the workplace, and to why, and how newcomers seek information when entering a new organization. Analysis: The aim of the paper is to o...... and corporeal information sources newcomers learn about the organizational practice, and the knowledge needed in order to develop as a competent practitioner and become a full member of the organization.......Introduction: Research on socialization and learning processes among organizational newcomers is offering valuable insight into the role of information seeking in the workplace, and to why, and how newcomers seek information when entering a new organization. Analysis: The aim of the paper...... is to outline and discuss the significance of information seeking in newcomer socialization and learning, and analyse how different approaches influence our understanding of the role of information seeking in the workplace. Results: It is argued, that a development in research on newcomer information seeking...

Psychosis and help-seeking behavior in rural KwaZulu Natal: unearthing local insights

OpenAIRE

Labys, Charlotte A.; Susser, Ezra; Burns, Jonathan K.

2016-01-01

Background Growing interest in strategies regarding early intervention for psychosis has led to a parallel interest in understanding help-seeking behavior, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Nevertheless, few LMIC studies have examined individuals with psychosis in non-urban, non-hospital settings. Using the perspective of formal and informal community service providers, we aimed to uncover descriptions of people with psychosis in a rural South African community and illum...

Demographics and care-seeking behaviors of sexual violence survivors in South Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Bartels, Susan A; Scott, Jennifer A; Leaning, Jennifer; Kelly, Jocelyn T; Joyce, Nina R; Mukwege, Denis; Vanrooyen, Michael J

2012-12-01

One of the most striking features of the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the use of sexual violence. In spite of the brutality of these crimes, the experiences of women affected by sexual violence in Eastern DRC remain poorly characterized. This analysis aimed to (1) provide detailed demographics of sexual violence survivors presenting to Panzi Hospital; (2) examine how demographic factors might impact patterns of sexual violence; and (3) describe care-seeking behavior among sexual violence survivors. The demographics and care-seeking behavior of sexual violence survivors in South Kivu Province were described from a retrospective registry-based study of sexual violence survivors presenting to Panzi Hospital (2004-2008). A total of 4311 records were reviewed. The mean age of survivors was 35 years. Most women (53%) were married, self-identified with the Bashi tribe (65%), and reported agriculture as their livelihood (74%). The mean time delay between sexual assault and seeking care was 10.4 months. Five reasons were identified to help explain the lengthy delays to seeking care: waiting for physical symptoms to develop or worsen before seeking medical attention, lack of means to access medical care, concerns that family would find out about the sexual assault, stigma surrounding sexual violence, and being abducted into sexual slavery for prolonged periods of time. Many sexual assault survivors have very delayed presentations to medical attention. Promoting timely access of medical care may best be facilitated by reducing stigma and by educating women about the benefits of early medical care, even in the absence of injuries or symptoms.

The Impact of Stigma and Personal Experiences on the Help-Seeking Behaviors of Medical Students With Burnout.

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Dyrbye, Liselotte N; Eacker, Anne; Durning, Steven J; Brazeau, Chantal; Moutier, Christine; Massie, F Stanford; Satele, Daniel; Sloan, Jeff A; Shanafelt, Tait D

2015-07-01

Because of the high prevalence of burnout among medical students and its association with professional and personal consequences, the authors evaluated the help-seeking behaviors of medical students with burnout and compared their stigma perceptions with those of the general U.S. population and age-matched individuals. The authors surveyed students at six medical schools in 2012. They measured burnout, symptoms of depression, and quality of life using validated instruments and explored help-seeking behaviors, perceived stigma, personal experiences, and attitudes toward seeking mental health treatment. Of 2,449 invited students, 873 (35.6%) responded. A third of respondents with burnout (154/454; 33.9%) sought help for an emotional/mental health problem in the last 12 months. Respondents with burnout were more likely than those without burnout to agree or strongly agree with 8 of 10 perceived stigma items. Respondents with burnout who sought help in the last 12 months were twice as likely to report having observed supervisors negatively judge students who sought care (odds ratio [OR] 2.06 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-3.39], P student's emotional/mental health problem to others (OR 1.63 [95% CI 1.08-2.47], P = .02). A smaller percentage of respondents would definitely seek professional help for a serious emotional problem (235/872; 26.9%) than of the general population (44.3%) and age-matched individuals (38.8%). Only a third of medical students with burnout seek help. Perceived stigma, negative personal experiences, and the hidden curriculum may contribute.

Sexual Dysfunction and Help Seeking Behaviors in Newly Married Men in Sari City: a Descriptive

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Sakineh Mohammad-Alizadeh Charandabi

2015-06-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Introduction: Sexual dysfunction is a major concern for people's general health. The aim of this study was to determine the status of sexual function and help-seeking behaviors in newly married men. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on 363 newly married men. Simple random sampling was used according to premarital counseling offices in the health center of Sari city. Data collection instruments included personal and social characteristics, Arizona Sexual Experience Scale (ASEX, and help-seeking behaviors questionnaires. In order to determine the relationship between characteristics and sexual function, general linear model and also between socio-demographic characteristics and receiving or lack of receiving help, multivariate logistic regression test were used. Results: The mean of sexual function score was 21.3 (2.7 out of possible 5-30, and 26% of men suffered sexual dysfunction. The highest prevalence (27.2% of dysfunction was in the dimension of sexual stimulation, and the lowest (15.7% in maintaining erection. For the treatment of sexual dysfunction, only 32% men had sought help, and 40% of them had visited specialists. The most frequent reasons for not seeking help were feeling uncomfortable with doctor, and their belief that doctor is not able to do much. 65% of men desired to be treated. Conclusion: The results demonstrated relatively high prevalence of sexual dysfunction among men, and unfortunately, most of them did not seek help for their sexual problem. Since Sexual dysfunction can leave damaging effects on the quality of life and marital relationship, interventions to deal with these challenges and screening to identify such problems appear necessary.

The impact of mass media health communication on health decision-making and medical advice-seeking behavior of u.s. Hispanic population.

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De Jesus, Maria

2013-01-01

Mass media health communication has enormous potential to drastically alter how health-related information is disseminated and obtained by different populations. However, there is little evidence regarding the influence of media channels on health decision-making and medical advice-seeking behaviors among the Hispanic population. The Pew 2007 Hispanic Healthcare Survey was used to test the hypothesis that the amount of mass media health communication (i.e., quantity of media-based health information received) is more likely to influence Hispanic adults' health decision-making and medical advice-seeking behavior compared to health literacy and language proficiency variables. Results indicated that quantity of media-based health information is positively associated with health decision-making and medical advice-seeking behavior above and beyond the influence of health literacy and English and Spanish language proficiency. In a context where physician-patient dynamics are increasingly shifting from a passive patient role model to a more active patient role model, media-based health information can serve as an influential cue to action, prompting Hispanic individuals to make certain health-related decisions and to seek more health advice and information from a health provider. Study implications are discussed.

Sexual sensation seeking, co-occurring sex and alcohol use, and sexual risk behavior among adolescents in treatment for substance use problems.

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Oshri, Assaf; Tubman, Jonathan G; Morgan-Lopez, Antonio A; Saavedra, Lissette M; Csizmadia, Annamaria

2013-01-01

This study evaluated relations between sexual sensation seeking, co-occurring sex and alcohol use, and sexual risk behaviors (eg, unprotected intercourse and multiple sex partners) among adolescents receiving treatment for substance abuse problems. The ethnically diverse sample included 394 adolescents recruited from outpatient treatment (280 males; Mage  = 16.33 years, SDage  = 1.15). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test direct and indirect paths between sexual sensation seeking and sexual risk behaviors via the frequency of co-occurring sex and alcohol use. Conditional indirect effects by gender were also tested. Analyses identified significant effects of sexual sensation seeking on co-occurring sex and alcohol use and sexual risk behaviors. The path from co-occurring sex and alcohol use to unprotected intercourse was significantly stronger among adolescent girls, suggesting a mediation effect moderated by gender. No gender difference was found for the indirect path from sexual sensation seeking and number of past year sexual partners via co-occurring sex and alcohol use. Selected prevention efforts are needed to promote HIV risk reduction among adolescents in substance abuse treatment. The documented conditional indirect effect for unprotected intercourse suggests that HIV prevention programs should pay special attention to gender-specific patterns of alcohol use and sexual risk behavior when tailoring program content. (Am J Addict 2013; 22:197-205). Copyright © American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.

Weight-based stigmatization, psychological distress, & binge eating behavior among obese treatment-seeking adults.

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Ashmore, Jamile A; Friedman, Kelli E; Reichmann, Simona K; Musante, Gerard J

2008-04-01

To evaluate the associations between weight-based stigmatization, psychological distress, and binge eating behavior in a treatment-seeking obese sample. Ninety-three obese adults completed three questionnaires: 1) Stigmatizing Situations Inventory, 2) Brief Symptoms Inventory, and 3) Binge Eating Questionnaire. Correlational analyses were used to evaluate the association between stigmatizing experiences, psychological distress and binge eating behavior. Stigmatizing experiences predicted both binge eating behavior (R(2)=.20, p<.001) and overall psychological distress (R(2)=.18, p<.001). A substantial amount of the variance in binge eating predicted by weight-based stigmatization was due to the effect of psychological distress. Specifically, of the 20% of the variance in binge eating accounted for by stigmatizing experiences, between 7% and 34% (p<.01) was due to the effects of various indicators of psychological distress. These data suggest that weight-based stigmatization predicts binge eating behavior and that psychological distress associated with stigmatizing experiences may be an important mediating factor.

Intimate partner violence and the relation between help-seeking behavior and the severity and frequency of physical violence among women in Turkey.

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Ergöçmen, Banu Akadli; Yüksel-Kaptanoğlu, İlknur; Jansen, Henrica A F M Henriette

2013-09-01

This study explores the severity and frequency of physical violence from an intimate partner experienced by 15- to 59-year-old women and their help-seeking behavior by using data from the "National Research on Domestic Violence Against Women in Turkey." Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were conducted to compare the relationship between severity and frequency of violence and women's characteristics. Of all ever-partnered women, 36% have been exposed to partner violence; almost half of these experienced severe types of violence. Women used informal strategies to manage the violence instead of seeking help from formal institutions. Help-seeking behavior increases with increased severity and frequency of violence.

Prevalenceinstigating factors and help seeking behavior of physical domestic violence among married women of HyderabadSindh

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Bibi, Seema; Ashfaq, Sanober; Shaikh, Farhana; Qureshi, Pir Mohammad Ali

2014-01-01

Background and Objectives : Domestic violence against women is highly prevalent but under reported issue having social, legal, health and economic implications. It needs to be identified and addressed in order to decrease the sufferings of women. Our objective was to find out prevalence, instigating factors and help seeking behavior of physical domestic violence against married women. Methods: A total of 378 married women who were attending Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Liaquat University Hospital from January 1, 2013 to March 31, 2013 for different obstetrical & gynaecological problems were randomly selected and interviewed. After informed consent, required information was collected on predesigned performa including demographic details, prevalence, instigating factors, help seeking behavior for physical domestic violence. Results: About 31% (120) of women reported lifetime physical domestic violence. Husbands and in-laws were perpetrators in 70% (84) and 30% (36) cases respectively. Wives being disobedient and making arguments were the most common instigating factors for violence followed by husband’s drug addiction, extra marital relationship and infertility. It was severe enough to require medical care in 24% (29) cases. Only 2% (2) women sought social and legal aid. Conclusion: Domestic violence was quite common among married women, however help seeking was minimal. There is need to identify and address this menace effectively. PMID:24639844

Compensatory help-seeking in young and older adults: does seeking help, help?

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Alea, Nicole; Cunningham, Walter R

2003-01-01

Asking other people for help is a compensatory behavior that may be useful across the life span to enhance functioning. Seventy-two older and younger men and women were either allowed to ask for help or were not allowed to ask for help while solving reasoning problems. Although the older adults answered fewer problems correctly, they did not seek additional help to compensate for their lower levels of performance. Younger adults sought more help. There were no age differences, however, in the types of help sought: indirect help (e.g., hints) was sought more often than direct help (e.g., asking for the answer). Exploratory analyses revealed that one's ability level was a better indicator than age of the utility of help-seeking. Findings are interpreted in the context of social and task-related influences on the use of help-seeking as a compensatory behavior across the life span.

Reconnect on Facebook: The Role of Information Seeking Behavior and Individual- and Relationship-Level Factors.

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Ramirez, Artemio; Sumner, Erin M; Hayes, Jameson

2016-08-01

Social network sites (SNSs) such as Facebook function as both venues for reconnecting with associates from a user's past and sources of social information about them. Yet, little is known about what factors influence the initial decision to reconnect with a past associate. This oversight is significant given that SNSs and other platforms provide an abundance of social information that may be utilized for reaching such decisions. The present study investigated the links among relational reconnection, information seeking (IS) behavior, and individual- and relationship-level factors in user decisions to reconnect on Facebook. A national survey of 244 Facebook users reported on their most recent experience of receiving a friend request from someone with whom they had been out of contact for an extended period. Results indicated that uncertainty about the potential reconnection partner and forecast about the reconnection's potential reward level significantly predicted IS behavior (passive on both target and mutual friends' SNS pages as well as active). However, the emergence of their two-way interaction revealed that the forecasts moderated the IS-uncertainty link on three of the strategies (extractive, both passive approaches). Moreover, social anxiety, sociability, uncertainty about the partner, the forecast about the reconnection's reward level, and extractive and passive (target SNS pages) strategies significantly predicted user decisions to reconnect. Future directions for research on relational reconnection on SNSs are offered.

Dr Google and the consumer: a qualitative study exploring the navigational needs and online health information-seeking behaviors of consumers with chronic health conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kenneth; Hoti, Kreshnik; Hughes, Jeffery David; Emmerton, Lynne

2014-12-02

The abundance of health information available online provides consumers with greater access to information pertinent to the management of health conditions. This is particularly important given an increasing drive for consumer-focused health care models globally, especially in the management of chronic health conditions, and in recognition of challenges faced by lay consumers with finding, understanding, and acting on health information sourced online. There is a paucity of literature exploring the navigational needs of consumers with regards to accessing online health information. Further, existing interventions appear to be didactic in nature, and it is unclear whether such interventions appeal to consumers' needs. Our goal was to explore the navigational needs of consumers with chronic health conditions in finding online health information within the broader context of consumers' online health information-seeking behaviors. Potential barriers to online navigation were also identified. Semistructured interviews were conducted with adult consumers who reported using the Internet for health information and had at least one chronic health condition. Participants were recruited from nine metropolitan community pharmacies within Western Australia, as well as through various media channels. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and then imported into QSR NVivo 10. Two established approaches to thematic analysis were adopted. First, a data-driven approach was used to minimize potential bias in analysis and improve construct and criterion validity. A theory-driven approach was subsequently used to confirm themes identified by the former approach and to ensure identified themes were relevant to the objectives. Two levels of analysis were conducted for both data-driven and theory-driven approaches: manifest-level analysis, whereby face-value themes were identified, and latent-level analysis, whereby underlying concepts were identified. We conducted 17

Help-seeking behavior among women currently leaking urine in Nigeria: is it any different from the rest of the world?

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Ojengbede OA

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Babatunde O Adedokun,1 Imran O Morhason-Bello,2 Oladosu A Ojengbede,2 Ngozi S Okonkwo,1 Charles Kolade21Department of Epidemiology, Medical Statistics, and Environmental Health, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria; 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine/University College Hospital, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo state, NigeriaObjective: We examined help-seeking behaviors and factors influencing their choice of hospital care in women currently leaking urine.Materials and methods: This study was part of a multistage community survey conducted among 5001 women in Nigeria who participated in the Ibadan Urinary Incontinence Household Survey. Help-seeking behavior was analyzed among 139 respondents currently leaking urine within the population surveyed.Results: The mean age of those currently leaking urine was 35.7 years (standard deviation = 15.8. Only 18 (12.9% had ever sought help, of which 15 had received hospital care. Logistic regression analysis showed that the odds of seeking hospital care was higher among less educated women (odds ratio [OR] = 4.05, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.17–13.89 and among those with severe incontinence (OR = 4.20, 95% CI: 1.24–14.29. Reasons mentioned for not seeking hospital care include a belief that the condition is not life-threatening (51.2%, do not believe there is treatment (18.2%, lack of funds (1.7%, too shy to disclose (2.5%, afraid of complications (1.7%, other (2.5%, and no reason (22.3%.Conclusion: This study shows that very few women, currently experiencing urinary incontinence have sought medical care (approximately 1 in 10; and that the barriers identified are similar to those identified in previous studies, except that these women lack the necessary funds to seek care.Keywords: urinary incontinence, help (health-seeking behavior, women, Nigeria

Factors affecting eye care-seeking behavior of parents for their children.

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Balasubramaniam, Sudharsanam M; Kumar, Divya Senthil; Kumaran, Sheela Evangeline; Ramani, Krishna Kumar

2013-10-01

Most of the causes of childhood blindness are either treatable or preventable. Eye care-seeking behavior (ESB) of parents for their children plays a pivotal role in reducing this problem. This study was done because there was a sparsity of literature in this context and with a view to help eye care professionals plan better programs and to identify factors facilitating and/or hindering ESB of parents for their school-going children in an urban area. This study adopted a qualitative snapshot narrative study design. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted in areas of Chennai with parents and eye care professionals selected through stratified purposive sampling. Parents were based on those who sought care and did not seek care after a school eye screening program and on their socioeconomic status. Data were transcribed to English, familiarized, and inductive coded, and themes were formed. Redundancy was considered as end point of data collection. Two focus group discussions and 11 in-depth interviews were conducted. Squint, redness or watering of eyes, eye irritation, headache, family history of ocular diseases, severity, and repetitiveness of symptoms facilitate parents seeking eye care for their wards/children. Economic status was an important barrier reported to affect the ESB. Logistic factors like taking appointment with doctor, taking leave from work, transport, and traveling distance were noted. This study shows the facilitating factors and barriers for ESB of the Chennai urban parents for their wards. The results suggest that efforts needed to be put to overcome the barriers through planned awareness programs.

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Tobacco Information Seeking and Information Sources: Findings From the 2015 Health Information National Trends Survey.

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Nguyen, Anh B; Robinson, Joelle; O'Brien, Erin Keely; Zhao, Xiaoquan

2017-09-01

This article describes sources of health information, types of tobacco information sought, and trust in sources of tobacco information among U.S. racial/ethnic groups (Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asian and Pacific Islanders, and Other). Cross-sectional data (N = 3,788) from a nationally representative survey, HINTS-FDA 2015, were analyzed to examine unadjusted and adjusted associations between race/ethnicity and (a) first source of health information, (b) tobacco information seeking, and (c) trust in sources of tobacco information. Adjusted associations controlled for current tobacco product use and sociodemographic variables. Findings indicated that the Internet was the most common first source of health information while health care providers were the second most common source for all racial/ethnic groups. Tobacco-related health information seeking was more prevalent than other tobacco product information seeking. Unadjusted analyses indicated that a higher proportion of Whites sought other tobacco product information compared to Asians and Pacific Islanders. Trust was rated highest for doctors while trust for health organizations was rated second highest. Asians and Pacific Islanders had higher trust in the government compared to all other groups. Blacks had higher trust in religious organizations compared to all other groups besides Hispanics. Blacks had higher trust for tobacco companies compared to Whites and Other. Many of these differences were attenuated in adjusted analyses. This research has implications for tobacco control practice and policymaking by identifying potential dissemination strategies.

Healthcare-seeking behavior of patients with epileptic seizure disorders attending a tertiary care hospital, Kolkata

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Abhik Sinha

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction : Neurological diseases are very important causes of prolonged morbidity and disability, leading to profound financial loss. Epilepsy is one of the most important neurological disorders Healthcare seeking by epilepsy patients is quite diverse and unique. Aims and Objectives: The study was conducted among the epilepsy patients, to assess their healthcare-seeking behavior and its determinants. Materials and Methods: Three hundred and fifteen epilepsy patients, selected by systematic random sampling, in the neuromedicine outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital were interviewed with a predesigned, pretested, semi-structured proforma. Results and Conclusion: More than 90% sought healthcare just after the onset of a seizure. The majority opted for allopathic medicine and the causes for not seeking initial care from allopaths were ignorance, faith in another system, constraint of money, and so on. A significant association existed between rural residence and low social status of the patients with initial care seeking from someone other than allopaths. No association was found among sex, type of seizure, educational status of the patients, and care seeking. The mean treatment gap was 2.98 ± 10.49 months and the chief motivators were mostly the family members. Patients for anti epileptic drugs preferred neurologists in urban areas and general practitioners in rural areas. District care model of epilepsy was proposed in the recommendation.

The Effects of Excitatory and Inhibitory Social Cues on Cocaine-Seeking Behavior

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Mark Andrew Smith

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Social partners influence the likelihood of using drugs, developing a substance use disorder, and relapse to drug use after a period of abstinence. Preclinical studies report that social cues influence the acquisition of cocaine use, the escalation of cocaine use over time, and the compulsive patterns of cocaine use that emerge during an extended binge. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of social cues on the reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behavior after a period of abstinence. Male rats were obtained at weaning, assigned to triads (3 rats/cage, reared to adulthood, and implanted with intravenous catheters. Rats from each triad were then assigned to one of three conditions: (1 test rats were trained to self-administer cocaine and were tested for reinstatement, (2 cocaine partners were trained to self-administer cocaine and were predictive of response-contingent cocaine delivery, and (3 abstinent partners were not given access to cocaine and were predictive of extinction. Test rats alternated social partners every 5 days for 20 days such that responding was reinforced with cocaine in the presence of the cocaine partner (S+ for 10 days and not reinforced with cocaine in the presence of the abstinent partner (S- for 10 days. Responding of the test rats was then extinguished over 7 days under isolated conditions. Tests of reinstatement were then conducted in the presence of the cocaine partner and abstinent partner under extinction conditions. Neither social partner reinstated responding relative to that observed on the final day of extinction; however, responding was greater in the presence of the cocaine partner (S+ than the abstinent partner (S- during the reinstatement test. These data fail to demonstrate that a social partner reinstates cocaine-seeking behavior after a period of abstinence, but they do indicate that social partners can serve as either excitatory or inhibitory discriminative stimuli to influence drug-seeking

Source of Sex Information and Condom Use Intention among Latino Adolescents

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Eversole, Jillian S.; Berglas, Nancy F.; Deardorff, Julianna; Constantine, Norman A.

2017-01-01

Adolescence is a common time for sexual initiation and information seeking about sexual health, yet little is known about how adolescents' sources of information about sex influence their sexual beliefs and behaviors. This is particularly true for Latino adolescents, whose sources of sex information and sexual behaviors are vastly understudied. A…

Help-seeking preferences in the area of mild cognitive impairment: comparing family physicians and the lay public.

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Werner, Perla; Heinik, Jeremia; Giveon, Shmuel; Segel-Karpas, Dikla; Kitai, Eliezer

2014-01-01

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild neurocognitive disorder is a well-established clinical entity included in current diagnostic guidelines for Alzheimer's disease and in major psychiatric classifications. In all, a loosely defined concern obtained from conceptually different sources (the individual, a knowledgeable informant, or a clinician) regarding a decline in cognition and change in functioning constitutes a sine qua non for initiating diagnostics and providing therapy and support. This concern in practice may translate into complex proactive help-seeking behavior. A better understanding of help-seeking preferences is required in order to promote early detection and management. To compare help-seeking preferences of family physicians and the lay public in the area of MCI. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 197 family physicians (self-administered) and 517 persons aged 45 and over from the lay public (face to face). Information regarding familiarity with MCI and help-seeking preferences was assessed. The vast majority in both samples reported that family physician, spouse, and children are the most highly recommended sources of help-seeking. In regard to professional sources of help-seeking, a higher percentage of the physicians than the lay public sample consistently recommended seeking help from nurses and social workers and psychiatrists, but a higher percentage of the lay public recommended turning to a neurologist for help. There were both similarities and differences between family physicians and the lay public in their preferences regarding help-seeking for a person with MCI. Most prominent is the physicians' greater tendency to recommend professional sources of help-seeking. Understanding of help-seeking preferences of both physicians and lay persons might help overcome barriers for establishing diagnosis, receiving care, and improving communication between doctors and patients.

The Effect of Normative and Behavioral Persuasion on Help Seeking in Thai and American College Students

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Christopher, Michael S.; Skillman, Gemma D.; Kirkhart, Matthew W.; D'Souza, June B.

2006-01-01

On the basis of previous research on self-construals, the theory of reasoned action, and persuasive communication, the authors hypothesized that individual, behavioral-focused information would be more effective in increasing help-seeking intention among college students in the United States, whereas relational, normative-focused information would…

A study of Female Sex worker’s sub-network on STI treatment seeking behavior in Chennai City: A Social Network Approach

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Kabilan Annadurai

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Background: Female Sex workers (FSW are having high-risk sexual behavior with multiple partners and the periodical sexually transmitted infection screening is determined by various factors. Aims & Objectives: To explore the presence of sub-networks of FSWs and to identify the trends in information flow on Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI treatment seeking behavior by using social network analysis (SNA. Material & Methods: This was a community-based cross-sectional study and exponential snowball sampling method is used to identify 420 FSWs. Structured questionnaire was used to measure information flow and sub-network characteristics of social relationship, Information & Treatment seeking for STI and Sexual practice. Results: Study has listed 94 sub-networks. Here, Sexual practice (Sub-group 28 has highest number of subnetworks compared to other three subnetworks of Social Relationship (Sub-group 25, information on STI (Sub-group 23 and Treatment seeking for STI (Sub-group18. Similarly, other Centrality measures like Triad and Dyad are higher (Each 4 sub-group in sexual practice domain and this is absent in rest of the three domains. Further, treatment seeking for STI has low Clique (Sub-group 17 compared to other domains. This shows high information flow is present in Sexual Practice compare to treatment seeking for STI (CC-0.986, P-0.000. Among the sub typology home based and street based FSWs are well connected, well informed and most influential than other sub-typology. Conclusion: SNA reaches more number of HRGs with less resource. Therefore, SNA could be cost effective to mapping the sub-network and visualize the information path for STI treatment seeking behavior

Help-Seeking Behavior for Children with Acute Respiratory Infection in Ethiopia: Results from 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey.

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Astale, Tigist; Chenault, Michelene

2015-01-01

Acute respiratory infection is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality among children under five years of age in Ethiopia. While facilities have been implemented to address this problem they are underused due to a lack in help-seeking behavior. This study investigates factors related to the help-seeking behavior of mothers for children with acute respiratory infection using data from the 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey. Data on 11,030 children aged 0-59 months obtained through interviewing women aged 15-49 years throughout Ethiopia was available. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were performed to determine which factors are related to help-seeking behavior for acute respiratory infection. In the two weeks prior to the survey, 773(7%) of the children were reported to have symptoms of acute respiratory infection while treatment was sought for only 209 (27.2%). The odds ratio for acute respiratory infection was 1.6 (95% CI: 1.2-2.0) for rural residence with only 25.2% of these mothers seeking help compared to 46.4% for mothers with an urban residence. Smaller family size, younger mothers' age and having had prenatal care had a statistically significant odds ratio greater than 1 for both urban and rural residences. Highest wealth index had a statistically significant odds ratio greater than 1 for rural residence only, whereas primary education or higher had a statistically significant odds ratio greater than 1 for urban residence. Children from rural areas are more at risk for acute respiratory infection while their mothers are less likely to seek help. Nevertheless, there is also underuse of available services in urban areas. Interventions should target mothers with less education and wealth and older mothers. Expanding prenatal care among these groups would encourage a better use of available facilities and subsequently better care for their children.

Care seeking for orofacial pain

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Rollman, A.; Visscher, C.M.; Gorter, R.C.; Naeije, M.

2012-01-01

AIMS: To determine the contribution of a wide range of factors to care-seeking behavior in orofacial pain patients, expressed as (A) decision to seek care and (B) number of health care practitioners visited. METHODS: Subjects with orofacial pain complaints were recruited in seven TMD clinics and

Sensation Seeking in Street Violence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Heinskou, Marie Bruvik; Liebst, Lasse Suonperä

Sensation seeking leads to violence—runs an influential hypothesis in the social scientific study of violent behavior. Although studies confirm that violence is sometimes structured by sensation-seeking motives, the literature seldom comments on the limits to this explanation of violence....... The present study examines the scale of violence motivated by sensation seeking and the degree to which there are several distinct forms of sensation seeking motives operative in violence, rather than a sensation-seeking motive in the singular. The study draws on a sample of situations from Copenhagen...... involving street violence, which are coded quantitatively and qualitatively. Our analysis shows that sensation seeking only seldom seems to play a role in the structuring of street violence. Moreover, the data indicate that sensation seeking finds expression in street violence situations in two different...

Mechanisms of host seeking by parasitic nematodes.

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Gang, Spencer S; Hallem, Elissa A

2016-07-01

The phylum Nematoda comprises a diverse group of roundworms that includes parasites of vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants. Human-parasitic nematodes infect more than one billion people worldwide and cause some of the most common neglected tropical diseases, particularly in low-resource countries [1]. Parasitic nematodes of livestock and crops result in billions of dollars in losses each year [1]. Many nematode infections are treatable with low-cost anthelmintic drugs, but repeated infections are common in endemic areas and drug resistance is a growing concern with increasing therapeutic and agricultural administration [1]. Many parasitic nematodes have an environmental infective larval stage that engages in host seeking, a process whereby the infective larvae use sensory cues to search for hosts. Host seeking is a complex behavior that involves multiple sensory modalities, including olfaction, gustation, thermosensation, and humidity sensation. As the initial step of the parasite-host interaction, host seeking could be a powerful target for preventative intervention. However, host-seeking behavior remains poorly understood. Here we review what is currently known about the host-seeking behaviors of different parasitic nematodes, including insect-parasitic nematodes, mammalian-parasitic nematodes, and plant-parasitic nematodes. We also discuss the neural bases of these behaviors. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Vaginal discharge: perceptions and health seeking behavior among Nepalese women.

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Rizvi, Narjis; Luby, Stephen

2004-12-01

To understand women's perceptions and health seeking behavior and the association between vaginal discharge, clinical signs and laboratory findings as a presentation of sexually transmitted diseases (STD). We conducted five focus group discussions with women attending the outpatient department in a large public hospital in Katmandu, Nepal, during May-June 1997. We also interviewed seventy women presenting with vaginal discharge to the same hospital, through structured questionnaire. Women presenting with discharge were also examined and investigated for six common sexually transmitted diseases and reproductive tract infections. In the focus groups vaginal discharge was identified as a common disease distinct from STDs, for which women can seek treatment. STDs were considered as social diseases transmitted to women through multiple sexual partners and not from husband. Patients with vaginal discharge preferred traditional healers and pharmacist. Clinical signs were inconclusive for type of infection. Simple laboratory tests identified etiologic agent in 64 (91%) patients and the three commonest infections were Moniliasis (78%), Bacterial Vaginosis (25%) and Trichomoniasis (17%). Vaginal discharge may be used as a risk marker for identification of STDs by Primary Health Workers. Low cost investigations should be made available at the secondary care level for identification of most common Reproductive Tract Infections. Communication campaigns should target the misconceptions that exist in the communities local context related to the prevention, treatment and control of vaginal discharge and STDs.

Help-Seeking Behaviors for Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration by Men Receiving Substance Use Treatment: A Mixed-Methods Secondary Analysis.

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Hashimoto, Nozomu; Radcliffe, Polly; Gilchrist, Gail

2018-05-01

Despite the high prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration by men receiving substance use treatment, little is known about their help-seeking behaviors for IPV. A secondary analysis of a mixed-methods study of men receiving substance use treatment who perpetrated IPV examined the prevalence, characteristics, and barriers associated with IPV perpetration disclosure and help-seeking. In total, 170 men were interviewed using a structured questionnaire, and a subsample of 20 were interviewed in-depth about their experiences. Logistic regression determined variables associated with disclosure and help-seeking. Thematic analysis of the in-depth interviews explored barriers to disclosure and help-seeking. Only half the participants had told anyone about their IPV perpetration and about one quarter reported having sought any sort of support. Whereas participants were more likely to disclose their IPV perpetration to informal resources (such as friends or family), they tended to seek help from formal resources (such as health professionals or the police). A greater proportion of physical IPV perpetrators, who had disclosed, had been arrested or had police involvement for IPV, suggesting that their disclosure may not have been voluntary. The following themes emerged from the qualitative data about the barriers to disclosure and help-seeking for IPV perpetration: fear that their children would be taken into care by social services, shame and embarrassment, and a minimization or normalization of their behavior. In addition, many participants highlighted that they had never been previously asked about IPV during treatment for substance use and stressed the need for greater expertise in or knowledge of this topic from specialist services. Substance use treatment services should enquire about men's relationships and IPV perpetration to facilitate disclosure and provide support. Further research is necessary to determine the context of disclosure and help-seeking

Perceptions of mental health and their influence on help-seeking behavior in an urban community in Vietnam

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van der Ham, A.J.; Wright, P.; Van, T.V.; Doan, V.; Broerse, J.E.W.

2011-01-01

This explorative study assesses perceptions of mental health and help-seeking behavior among adults in Vietnam. Methods included questionnaires (200) and focus group discussions (eight). Respondents were often unable to name specific mental illnesses. Frequently mentioned symptoms of mental illness

Orexin-A/Hypocretin-1 Mediates Cocaine-Seeking Behavior in the Posterior Paraventricular Nucleus of the Thalamus via Orexin/Hypocretin Receptor-2.

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Matzeu, Alessandra; Kerr, Tony M; Weiss, Friedbert; Martin-Fardon, Rémi

2016-11-01

Orexin/hypocretin (Orx/Hcrt) projections from the lateral hypothalamus to the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) are implicated in drug addiction. Specifically, the posterior section of the PVT (pPVT) innervates brain structures that modulate motivated behavior. This study investigated the role of pPVT-Orx/Hcrt transmission in cocaine-seeking behavior. Because the effects of Orx/Hcrt are mediated by two Orx/Hcrt receptors (Hcrt-r1 and Hcrt-r2), we examined the extent to which Hcrt-r1 and Hcrt-r2 are involved in Orx/Hcrt-induced cocaine seeking. Male Wistar rats were made cocaine dependent by self-administering cocaine 6 hours/day (long access) for 21 days. After self-administration training, the rats underwent daily extinction training, during which cocaine was withheld. After extinction, the rats were injected into the pPVT with Orx-A/Hcrt-1 (0-2 µg) alone or, using a single dose of 0.5 µg, in combination with an Hcrt-r1 antagonist (SB334867; 0-15 µg) or an Hcrt-r2 antagonist (TCSOX229; 0-15 µg). Orx-A/Hcrt-1 alone reinstated (primed) cocaine seeking. Unexpectedly, coadministration of Orx-A/Hcrt-1 with SB334867 did not have any effects on Orx-A/Hcrt-1-induced reinstatement, whereas when coadministered with Orx-A/Hcrt-1, TCSOX229 prevented cocaine-seeking behavior. These results indicate that Hcrt-r2 in the pPVT mediates the reinstating effect of Orx-A/Hcrt-1 in animals with a history of cocaine dependence and further identify Hcrt-r2 as a possible molecular target that can guide future therapeutic approaches for the prevention of drug-seeking behavior. Copyright © 2016 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

Sexual information seeking on web search engines.

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Spink, Amanda; Koricich, Andrew; Jansen, B J; Cole, Charles

2004-02-01

Sexual information seeking is an important element within human information behavior. Seeking sexually related information on the Internet takes many forms and channels, including chat rooms discussions, accessing Websites or searching Web search engines for sexual materials. The study of sexual Web queries provides insight into sexually-related information-seeking behavior, of value to Web users and providers alike. We qualitatively analyzed queries from logs of 1,025,910 Alta Vista and AlltheWeb.com Web user queries from 2001. We compared the differences in sexually-related Web searching between Alta Vista and AlltheWeb.com users. Differences were found in session duration, query outcomes, and search term choices. Implications of the findings for sexual information seeking are discussed.

The Behavior of Information Seeking and Utilizing on Livelihood among Rural Poor People

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Pawit Muhammad Yusup

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This study aims to specifically assess the behavior of the rural poor people in seeking and utilizing information about livelihoods. This study focuses on the aspects of: the type of information sought and used by the rural poor people; and the way they seek and use information about livelihood for their survivability. The method used is Schutz’s qualitative tradition of phenomenology. Data collection used techniques of in-depth interviews and participatory observation of 22 rural poor people. The research location is in southern rural part of West Java. The research result shows that, the type of livelihood information sought and used by the rural poor people, referred to the kinds of unstable jobs with the limited scope of resources and channel/media. Their way to find and use livelihood information has active and passive pattern, but still refer to the resources of unstable jobs, limited scope of the search, pattern of interpersonal relationships, and informal.

Information literacy during entry to practice: information-seeking behaviors in student nurses and recent nurse graduates.

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Wahoush, Olive; Banfield, Laura

2014-02-01

The ability to locate information pertinent to guide clinical practice is important for quality nursing care and patient safety. To date, little is known about the transfer of information literacy skills as student nurses transition to clinical practice as new graduates. This study begins to address this gap from the perspective of student nurses, recent nurse graduates (RNs), nurse leaders and library staff. To describe the information-seeking behaviors of student nurses and RNs within their clinical settings. This is a descriptive study that included both cross-sectional surveys and key informant interviews. Participants were senior-level undergraduate students and recently graduated RNs (graduated since 2008), and nurse leaders and library staff employed in one of the clinical sites accepting undergraduate students from the McMaster Mohawk and Conestoga BScN program. The study was completed in two large hospital corporations in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Student nurses and RNs were invited to complete online surveys to assess their access to and use of information sources and resources within clinical practice. Students completed a survey comprised of five open-ended questions, while RNs completed a survey comprised of 13 fixed choice and open-ended questions. Nurse leaders and library staff participated in qualitative interviews to verify the extent and availability of information resources. Eighteen RNs and 62 students completed their respective surveys. Three categories of information sources and resources were identified: electronic, print and interpersonal. Electronic sources of information were the most used resource by both students and RNs. More RNs reported using interpersonal sources, while students reported using more print sources of information. Recent RN graduates meet the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing performance indicators related to information access for the entry to practice Nursing Informatics competencies. Crown Copyright �

Help seeking behavior and onset-to-alarm time in patients with acute stroke: sub-study of the preventive antibiotics in stroke study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zock, E.; Kerkhoff, H.; Kleyweg, R. P.; van Bavel-Ta, T. B. V.; Scott, S.; Kruyt, N. D.; Nederkoorn, P. J.; van de Beek, D.

2016-01-01

Patients with acute stroke often do not seek immediate medical help, which is assumed to be driven by lack of knowledge of stroke symptoms. We explored the process of help seeking behavior in patients with acute stroke, evaluating knowledge about stroke symptoms, socio-demographic and clinical

Psychological Help-Seeking Attitudes and Barriers to Help-Seeking in Young People in Turkey

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Koydemir, Selda; Erel, Ozge; Yumurtaci, Duygu; Sahin, Gozde Nur

2010-01-01

This qualitative research sought to understand the needs of Turkish university students related to adjustment to university, the sources they seek help from, their attitudes about and barriers to psychological help-seeking. Data analysis of interview transcriptions from 15 undergraduates identified several themes. Interpersonal problems,…

Thailand's universal coverage scheme and its impact on health-seeking behavior.

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Paek, Seung Chun; Meemon, Natthani; Wan, Thomas T H

2016-01-01

Thailand's Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) has improved healthcare access and utilization since its initial introduction in 2002. However, a substantial proportion of beneficiaries has utilized care outside the UCS boundaries. Because low utilization may be an indication of a policy gap between people's health needs and the services available to them, we investigated the patterns of health-seeking behavior and their social/contextual determinants among UCS beneficiaries in the year 2013. The study findings from the outpatient analysis showed that the use of designated facilities for care was significantly higher in low-income, unemployed, and chronic status groups. The findings from the inpatient analysis showed that the use of designated facilities for care was significantly higher in the low-income, older, and female groups. Particularly, for the low-income group, we found that they (1) had greater health care needs, (2) received a larger number of services from designated facilities, and (3) paid the least for both inpatient and outpatient services. This pro-poor impact indicated that the UCS could adequately respond to beneficiaries' needs in terms of vertical equity. However, we also found that a considerable proportion of beneficiaries utilized out-of-network services, which implied a lack of universal access to policy services from a horizontal equity point of view. Thus, the policy should continue expanding and diversifying its service benefits to strengthen horizontal equity. Particularly, private sector involvement for those who are employed as well as the increased unmet health needs of those in rural areas may be important policy priorities for that. Lastly, methodological issues such as severity adjustment and a detailed categorization of health-seeking behaviors need to be further considered for a better understanding of the policy impact.

Spatial factors as contextual qualifiers of information seeking

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R. Savolainen

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. This paper investigates the ways in which spatial factors have been approached in information seeking studies. The main attention was focused on studies discussing information seeking on the level of source selection and use. Method. Conceptual analysis of about 100 articles and books thematizing spatial issues of information seeking. Due to research economy, the main attention was paid to studies on everyday life information seeking. Results. Three major viewpoints were identified with regard to the degree of objectivity of spatial factors. The objectifying approach conceives of spatial factors as external and entity-like qualifiers that primarly constrain information seeking. The realistic-pragmatic approach emphasizes the ways in which the availabilty of information sources in different places such as daily work environments orient information seeking. The perspectivist approach focuses on how people subjectively assess the significance of various sources by means of spatial constructs such as information horizons. Conclusion. Spatial factors are centrally important contextual qualifiers of information seeking. There is a need to further explore the potential of the above viewpoints by relating the spatial and temporal factors of information seeking.

Gender differences in health care-seeking behavior for sexually transmitted diseases: a population-based study in Nairobi, Kenya.

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Voeten, Hélène A C M; O'hara, Hilda B; Kusimba, Judith; Otido, Julius M; Ndinya-Achola, Jeckoniah O; Bwayo, Job J; Varkevisser, Corlien M; Habbema, J Dik F

2004-05-01

Health care-seeking behavior for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is important in STD/HIV control. The goal of this study was to describe the proportion seeking care, patient delay, and choice of provider among men and women with STD-related complaints in Nairobi, Kenya. A population-based questionnaire was administered in 7 randomly selected clusters (small geographic areas covering approximately 150 households each). Of the 291 respondents reporting complaints, 20% of men versus 35% of women did not seek care, mainly because symptoms were not considered severe, symptoms had disappeared, or as a result of lack of money. Of those who sought care, women waited longer than men (41 vs. 16 days). Most men and women went to the private sector (72% and 57%, respectively), whereas the informal sector was rarely visited (13% and 16%, respectively). Relatively more women visited the government sector (28% vs. 15%). Because women were mostly monogamous, they did not relate their complaints to sexual intercourse, which hampered prompt care-seeking. Women should be convinced to seek care promptly, eg, through health education in communities.

Association of Socio-demographic Characteristics with Pattern of Health Seeking Behavior among Hepatitis C Patients in Pakistan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pirani, S.; Ali, T.S.; Allana, S.; Ismail, F.W.

2017-01-01

Objectives: To identify association between socio-demographic characteristics and pattern of health seeking behavior among hepatitis C patients in Karachi, Pakistan. Study design, settings and duration: A descriptive, cross-sectional study done at Aga Khan University Hospital and the Civil Hospital Karachi between March and May 2013. Patients and Methods: Hepatitis C patients who were coming for treatment at the above 2 sites underwent a filling of questionnaire by the researcher. The questionnaire collected basic demographic information and their health seeking behavior i.e. visit to traditional healer or spiritual healer or medical doctor. Sample size of 250 patients was calculated. Analysis was done by using Chi square test and Fisher's exact test. p-value of 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: A total of 250 hepatitis patients were interviewed. The study showed that patient's occupation and educational level had significant association with their first visit either to a spiritual healer or traditional healer. More educated group consulted the medical doctor while those with none or low education initially went to see spiritual healers (p < 0.008) and second visit was made to traditional healers (p < 0.002). Patients with larger number of children went less often to visit a medical doctor on their second visit (p = 0.007), and family members belonging to the medical field were more likely to make their first visit to doctors (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Socio-demographic characteristics greatly influence the pattern of health seeking behavior among hepatitis C patients. (author)

Time, Cost, Information Seeking Skills and Format of Resources Present Barriers to Information Seeking by Primary Care Practitioners in a Research Environment. A review of: Andrews James E., Kevin A. Pearce, Carol Ireson, and Margaret M. Love. “Information‐Seeking Behaviors of Practitioners in a Primary Care Practice‐Based Research Network (PBRN.” Journal of the Medical Library Association 93.2 (Apr. 2005: 206‐12.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martha Ingrid Preddie

2007-09-01

Full Text Available Objective – To determine the information seeking behaviors of primary care practitioners in order to inform future efforts towards the design of information services that would support quality inprimary care.Design – A cross‐sectional survey.Setting – A primary care practice based research network (PBRN of caregivers who serve a broad population while simultaneously studying and disseminating innovations aimed at improvements in quality, efficiency and/or safety of primaryhealth care in the United States.Subjects – All primary care practitioners in the PBRN including family practitioners, general practitioners, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.Methods – A questionnaire comprising twenty‐six questions was distributed to 116 practitioners. Practitioners attached to academic centres (who were also members of the PBRN were excluded in order “to achieve a sample of practices more representative of the primary care practising population” (208. Descriptive data were collected and analyzed. SPSS v11.5 was used for statistical analyses.Main results – There was a response rate of 51% (59 of 116. Fifty‐eight percent of the respondents stated that they sought information (excluding drug dosing or drug interactions information to support patient care several times a week. Sixty‐eight per cent sought this information while the patient waited. Almost half of therespondents had access to a small medical library (48% or a hospital library (46%, while 21% used a university medical library.Approximately 14% had no immediate access to a medical library. Almost 60% of practitioners stated that they had an e‐mail account. Thirty‐four percent agreed that the use of e‐mail to communicate with patients enhanced medical practice, while 24% disagreed. There was frequent prescribing of Internet‐based consumer health information to patients by only 16% of the practitioners, while Internet support groups were frequently recommended

Health information seeking and the World Wide Web: an uncertainty management perspective.

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Rains, Stephen A

2014-01-01

Uncertainty management theory was applied in the present study to offer one theoretical explanation for how individuals use the World Wide Web to acquire health information and to help better understand the implications of the Web for information seeking. The diversity of information sources available on the Web and potential to exert some control over the depth and breadth of one's information-acquisition effort is argued to facilitate uncertainty management. A total of 538 respondents completed a questionnaire about their uncertainty related to cancer prevention and information-seeking behavior. Consistent with study predictions, use of the Web for information seeking interacted with respondents' desired level of uncertainty to predict their actual level of uncertainty about cancer prevention. The results offer evidence that respondents who used the Web to search for cancer information were better able than were respondents who did not seek information to achieve a level of uncertainty commensurate with the level of uncertainty they desired.

Mental Health Help-Seeking Intentions among International and African American College Students: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior

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Mesidor, Jean Kesnold; Sly, Kaye F.

2014-01-01

This study examined the relationship between social-cognitive factors (e.g., attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control), psychological distress, and help-seeking intentions for a sample of 111 international and African American college students. The results of this study showed that the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)…

Perceptions of mental health and help-seeking behavior in an urban community in Vietnam: an explorative study.

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van der Ham, Lia; Wright, Pamela; Van, Thang Vo; Doan, Vuong D K; Broerse, Jacqueline E W

2011-10-01

This explorative study assesses perceptions of mental health and help-seeking behavior among adults in Vietnam. Methods included questionnaires (200) and focus group discussions (eight). Respondents were often unable to name specific mental illnesses. Frequently mentioned symptoms of mental illness were talking nonsense, talking/laughing alone and wandering. Pressure/stress and studying/thinking too much were often identified causes. Most respondents showed a preference for medical treatment options, often in combination with family care. The results show that perceptions of mental health and help-seeking behaviour are influenced by a lack of knowledge and a mix of traditional and modern views.

Information Seeking When Problem Solving: Perspectives of Public Health Professionals.

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Newman, Kristine; Dobbins, Maureen; Yost, Jennifer; Ciliska, Donna

2017-04-01

Given the many different types of professionals working in public health and their diverse roles, it is likely that their information needs, information-seeking behaviors, and problem-solving abilities differ. Although public health professionals often work in interdisciplinary teams, few studies have explored their information needs and behaviors within the context of teamwork. This study explored the relationship between Canadian public health professionals' perceptions of their problem-solving abilities and their information-seeking behaviors with a specific focus on the use of evidence in practice settings. It also explored their perceptions of collaborative information seeking and the work contexts in which they sought information. Key Canadian contacts at public health organizations helped recruit study participants through their list-servs. An electronic survey was used to gather data about (a) individual information-seeking behaviors, (b) collaborative information-seeking behaviors, (c) use of evidence in practice environments, (d) perceived problem-solving abilities, and (e) demographic characteristics. Fifty-eight public health professionals were recruited, with different roles and representing most Canadian provinces and one territory. A significant relationship was found between perceived problem-solving abilities and collaborative information-seeking behavior (r = -.44, p public health professionals take a shared, active approach to problem solving, maintain personal control, and have confidence, they are more likely collaborate with others in seeking information to complete a work task. Administrators of public health organizations should promote collaboration by implementing effective communication and information-seeking strategies, and by providing information resources and retrieval tools. Public health professionals' perceived problem-solving abilities can influence how they collaborate in seeking information. Educators in public health

Understanding consumer health information-seeking behavior from the perspective of the risk perception attitude framework and social support in mobile social media websites.

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Deng, Zhaohua; Liu, Shan

2017-09-01

This study integrates the risk perception attitude framework and social support to examine factors influencing consumers' intentions to seek health information in mobile social media websites. We develop a research model consisting of four social support dimensions, perceived health risk, health self-efficacy, and health information-seeking intention. A survey is conducted among patients with non-serious conditions. A two-step approach of structural equation modeling is used to test the research model. Among the four dimensions of social support, tangible support and appraisal support significantly influence perceived risk, whereas emotional support and esteem support significantly influence health self-efficacy. Perceived health risk and health self-efficacy significantly influence the health information-seeking behavior intention of consumers. Specifically, health self-efficacy significantly moderates the relationship between perceived risk and behavior intention. This study highlights the integrated effects of social capital and risk perception attitude framework on health information-seeking intention. It examines relationships among perceived health risk, health self-efficacy, and behavior intention in the mobile social media context. The findings help understand effects of social capital factors on perceived health risk and health self-efficacy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pregnancy-related health information-seeking behaviors among rural pregnant women in India: validating the Wilson model in the Indian context.

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Das, Ashavaree; Sarkar, Madhurima

2014-09-01

Understanding health information-seeking behaviors and barriers to care and access among pregnant women can potentially moderate the consistent negative associations between poverty, low levels of literacy, and negative maternal and child health outcomes in India. Our seminal study explores health information needs, health information-seeking behaviors, and perceived information support of low-income pregnant women in rural India. Using the Wilson Model of health information-seeking framework, we designed a culturally tailored guided interview to assess information-seeking behaviors and barriers to information seeking among pregnant women. We used a local informant and health care worker to recruit 14 expectant women for two focus group interviews lasting 45 minutes to an hour each. Thirteen other related individuals including husbands, mothers, mothers-in-law, and health care providers were also recruited by hospital counselors for in-depth interviews regarding their pregnant wives/daughters and daughters-in-law. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed by coding the data into thematic categories. The data were coded manually and emerging themes included pregnancy-related knowledge and misconceptions and personal, societal, and structural barriers, as well as risk perceptions and self-efficacy. Lack of access to health care and pregnancy-related health information led participants to rely heavily on information and misconceptions about pregnancy gleaned from elder women, friends, and mothers-in-law and husbands. Doctors and para-medical staff were only consulted during complications. All women faced personal, societal, and structural level barriers, including feelings of shame and embarrassment, fear of repercussion for discussing their pregnancies with their doctors, and inadequate time with their doctors. Lack of access and adequate health care information were of primary concern to pregnant women and their families. Our study can help inform policies and multi

Diarrheal Illness and Healthcare Seeking Behavior among a Population at High Risk for Diarrhea in Dhaka, Bangladesh

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Chowdhury, Fahima; Khan, Iqbal Ansary; Patel, Sweta; Siddiq, Ashraf Uddin; Saha, Nirod Chandra; Khan, Ashraful I.; Saha, Amit; Cravioto, Alejandro; Clemens, John; Qadri, Firdausi; Ali, Mohammad

2015-01-01

Diarrhea remains one of the major causes of death in Bangladesh. We studied diarrheal disease risk and healthcare seeking behavior among populations at high risk for diarrhea in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional survey conducted during April and September 2010. The prevalence of diarrhea was calculated by age-group and sex. A generalized estimating equation with logit link function was used to predict diarrheal disease risk and seeking care from a professional healthcare provider. Of 316,766 individuals, 10% were young children (Bangladesh. Dissemination of information on health education, increasing the supply of skilled healthcare providers, and low-cost and quality healthcare services may encourage more people to seek care from professional healthcare providers, thus may help reduce child mortality in the country. Further studies are warranted to validate the results. PMID:26121650

An Investigation into Information Needs and Information Seeking Behavior of Elementary and Middle School Teachers Teaching Indigenous Courses

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Shan-Ju L. Chang

2006-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to systematically study the information need, seeking, and use behavior of middle school teachers of Taiwan historical resources, and to explore the implications of the findings for digital library system design. This research employs multiple methods, first by qualitative approach followed by quantitative approach. The study investigated elementary and high school teachers, and compared the findingswith those of the scholar user group, using literature analysis, deep interview, and questionnaire survey as the methods for data collection, and content analysis, case study, and statistic analysis for data analysis. The results lead to (1 a better understanding of information seeking and use behavior of primary and middle school teachers of Taiwan historical archives; (2 deeper knowledge and empirical data for developing theory on human information behavior of Taiwan local people; (3 identification of important teaching and learning resources on Taiwan and the salient characteristics of those resources; (4 development of information organization guideline for localized digital library and museum systems. [Article content in Chinese

Sensation seeking and error processing.

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Zheng, Ya; Sheng, Wenbin; Xu, Jing; Zhang, Yuanyuan

2014-09-01

Sensation seeking is defined by a strong need for varied, novel, complex, and intense stimulation, and a willingness to take risks for such experience. Several theories propose that the insensitivity to negative consequences incurred by risks is one of the hallmarks of sensation-seeking behaviors. In this study, we investigated the time course of error processing in sensation seeking by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) while high and low sensation seekers performed an Eriksen flanker task. Whereas there were no group differences in ERPs to correct trials, sensation seeking was associated with a blunted error-related negativity (ERN), which was female-specific. Further, different subdimensions of sensation seeking were related to ERN amplitude differently. These findings indicate that the relationship between sensation seeking and error processing is sex-specific. Copyright © 2014 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Health literacy and health seeking behavior among older men in a middle-income nation

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Paul A Bourne

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Paul A Bourne1, Chloe Morris1, Christopher AD Charles2, Denise Eldemire-Shearer1, Maureen D Kerr-Campbell3, Tazhmoye V Crawford41Department of Community Health and Psychiatry, 4Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica; 2Systems Development Unit, Main Library, Faculty of Humanities and Education, The University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica; 3King Graduate School, Monroe College, 2375 Jerome Avenue, Bronx, New York 10468 and Center for Victim Support, Harlem Hospital Center, New York, USAAbstract: Health literacy is a measure of the patient’s ability to read, comprehend and act on medical instructions. This research article examines health literacy and health-seeking behaviors among elderly men in Jamaica, in order to inform health policy. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. A 133-item questionnaire was administered to a random sample of 2,000 men, 55 years and older, in St Catherine, Jamaica. In this study, 56.9% of urban and 44.5% of rural residents were health literate. Only 34.0% of participants purchased medications prescribed by the medical doctor and 19.8% were currently smoking. Despite the reported good self-related health status (74.4% and high cognitive functionality (94.1% of the older men, only 7.9% sought medical care outside of experiencing illnesses. Thirty-seven percent of rural participants sought medical care when they were ill compared with 31.9% of their urban counterparts. Thirty-four percent of the participants took the medication as prescribed by the medical doctor; 43% self-reported being diagnosed with cancers such as prostate and colorectal in the last 6 months, 9.6% with hypertension, 5.3% with heart disease, 5.3% with benign prostatic hyperplasia, 5.3% with diabetes mellitus, and 3.8% with kidney/bladder problems. Approximately 14% and 24% of the participants indicated that they were unaware of the signs and symptoms of hypertension

Pavlovian-conditioned alcohol-seeking behavior in rats is invigorated by the interaction between discrete and contextual alcohol cues: implications for relapse

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Remedios, Jessica; Woods, Catherine; Tardif, Catherine; Janak, Patricia H; Chaudhri, Nadia

2014-01-01

Introduction Drug craving can be independently stimulated by cues that are directly associated with drug intake (discrete drug cues), as well as by environmental contexts in which drug use occurs (contextual drug cues). We tested the hypothesis that the context in which a discrete alcohol-predictive cue is experienced can influence how robustly that cue stimulates alcohol-seeking behavior. Methods Male, Long-Evans rats received Pavlovian discrimination training (PDT) sessions in which one conditioned stimulus (CS+; 16 trials/session) was paired with ethanol (0.2 mL/CS+) and a second stimulus (CS−; 16 trials/session) was not. PDT occurred in a specific context, and entries into a fluid port where ethanol was delivered were measured during each CS. Next, rats were acclimated to an alternate (nonalcohol) context where cues and ethanol were withheld. Responses to the nonextinguished CS+ and CS− were then tested without ethanol in the alcohol-associated PDT context, the nonalcohol context or a third, novel context. Results Across PDT the CS+ elicited more port entries than the CS−, indicative of Pavlovian discrimination learning. At test, the CS+ elicited more port entries than the CS− in all three contexts: however, alcohol seeking driven by the CS+ was more robust in the alcohol-associated context. In a separate experiment, extinguishing the context-alcohol association did not influence subsequent CS+ responding but reduced alcohol seeking during non-CS+ intervals during a spontaneous recovery test. Conclusion These results indicate that alcohol-seeking behavior driven by a discrete Pavlovian alcohol cue is strongly invigorated by an alcohol context, and suggest that contexts may function as excitatory Pavlovian conditioned stimuli that directly trigger alcohol-seeking behavior. PMID:24683519

D1 receptors in the nucleus accumbens-shell, but not the core, are involved in mediating ethanol-seeking behavior of alcohol-preferring (P) rats.

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Hauser, S R; Deehan, G A; Dhaher, R; Knight, C P; Wilden, J A; McBride, W J; Rodd, Z A

2015-06-04

Clinical and preclinical research suggest that activation of the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system is involved in mediating the rewarding actions of drugs of abuse, as well as promoting drug-seeking behavior. Inhibition of DA D1 receptors in the nucleus accumbens (Acb) can reduce ethanol (EtOH)-seeking behavior of non-selective rats triggered by environmental context. However, to date, there has been no research on the effects of D1 receptor agents on EtOH- seeking behavior of high alcohol-preferring (P) rats following prolonged abstinence. The objective of the present study was to examine the effects of microinjecting the D1 antagonist SCH 23390 or the D1 agonist A-77636 into the Acb shell or Acb core on spontaneous recovery of EtOH-seeking behavior. After 10 weeks of concurrent access to EtOH and water, P rats underwent seven extinction sessions (EtOH and water withheld), followed by 2 weeks in their home cages without access to EtOH or operant sessions. In the 2nd week of the home cage phase, rats were bilaterally implanted with guide cannula aimed at the Acb shell or Acb core; rats were allowed 7d ays to recover before EtOH-seeking was assessed by the Pavlovian Spontaneous Recovery (PSR) model. Administration of SCH23390 (1μg/side) into the Acb shell inhibited responding on the EtOH lever, whereas administration of A-77636 (0.125μg/side) increased responding on the EtOH lever. Microinfusion of D1 receptor agents into the Acb core did not alter responding on the EtOH lever. Responses on the water lever were not altered by any of the treatments. The results suggest that activation of D1 receptors within the Acb shell, but not Acb core, are involved in mediating PSR of EtOH-seeking behavior of P rats. Copyright © 2015 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sensation seeking as risk factor for suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in adolescence.

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Ortin, Ana; Lake, Alison M; Kleinman, Marjorie; Gould, Madelyn S

2012-12-20

High sensation seeking in adolescence is associated with engagement in risk-taking behaviors, especially substance use. Although depressed adolescents are prone to increased risk-taking, and suicidal behavior can be considered within the spectrum of risk-taking behaviors, the relationships between sensation seeking, depression, and suicidal behavior have not been explored. A self-report questionnaire assessing sensation seeking, depression, substance use problems, and suicidal ideation and suicide attempts was completed by 9th- through 12th-grade students (n=2189) in six New York State high-schools from 2002 through 2004. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine main and interaction effects between sensation seeking and the four clinical variables. High sensation seeking was positively associated with depressive symptoms and substance use problems. The main effects of sensation seeking on suicidal ideation and suicide attempts remained significant after controlling for depression and substance use. The association between sensation seeking and suicide attempts was moderated by substance use problems. The schools were suburban and predominantly white, limiting the generalizability of the results. Other mental disorders with potential implications for sensation seeking and for suicidal behavior, such as bipolar disorders, were not assessed. The finding that sensation seeking makes an independent contribution to the risk of suicidal ideation and attempts is consistent with findings in literature on novelty seeking and impulsivity. The associations between sensation seeking, depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior may be compatible with the presence of an underlying temperamental dysregulation. Screening for sensation seeking may contribute to the reduction of adolescent suicide risk. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Lack of increased immediate early gene expression in rats reinstating cocaine-seeking behavior to discrete sensory cues.

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Matthew D Riedy

Full Text Available Drug-seeking behavior elicited by drug-associated cues contributes to relapse in addiction; however, whether relapse elicited by drug-associated conditioned reinforcers (CR versus discriminative stimuli (DS involves distinct or overlapping neuronal populations is unknown. To address this question, we developed a novel cocaine self-administration and cue-induced reinstatement paradigm that exposed the same rats to distinct cocaine-associated CR and DS. Rats were trained to self-administer cocaine in separate sessions. In one, a DS signaled cocaine availability; in the other, cocaine delivery was paired with a different CR. After extinction training and reinstatement testing, where both cues were presented in separate sessions, rats were sacrificed and processed for cellular analysis of temporal activity by fluorescent in situ hybridization (CatFISH for activity regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (Arc mRNA and for radioactive in situ hybridization for Arc and zif268 mRNAs. CatFISH did not reveal significant changes in Arc mRNA expression. Similar results were obtained with radioactive in situ hybridization. We have shown that while rats reinstate drug seeking in response to temporally discrete presentations of distinct drug-associated cues, such reinstatement is not associated with increased transcriptional activation of Arc or zif268 mRNAs, suggesting that expression of these genes may not be necessary for cue-induced reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior.

Effects of achievement goals on challenge seeking and feedback processing: behavioral and FMRI evidence.

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Woogul Lee

Full Text Available We conducted behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI research to investigate the effects of two types of achievement goals--mastery goals and performance-approach goals--on challenge seeking and feedback processing. The results of the behavioral experiment indicated that mastery goals were associated with a tendency to seek challenge, both before and after experiencing difficulty during task performance, whereas performance-approach goals were related to a tendency to avoid challenge after encountering difficulty during task performance. The fMRI experiment uncovered a significant decrease in ventral striatal activity when participants received negative feedback for any task type and both forms of achievement goals. During the processing of negative feedback for the rule-finding task, performance-approach-oriented participants showed a substantial reduction in activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC and the frontopolar cortex, whereas mastery-oriented participants showed little change. These results suggest that performance-approach-oriented participants are less likely to either recruit control processes in response to negative feedback or focus on task-relevant information provided alongside the negative feedback. In contrast, mastery-oriented participants are more likely to modulate aversive valuations to negative feedback and focus on the constructive elements of feedback in order to attain their task goals. We conclude that performance-approach goals lead to a reluctant stance towards difficulty, while mastery goals encourage a proactive stance.

Increases in Doublecortin Immunoreactivity in the Dentate Gyrus following Extinction of Heroin-Seeking Behavior

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Megan P. Hicks

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Adult-generated neurons in the dentate gyrus (DG of the hippocampus play a role in various forms of learning and memory. However, adult born neurons in the DG, while still at an immature stage, exhibit unique electrophysiological properties and are also functionally implicated in learning and memory processes. We investigated the effects of extinction of drug-seeking behavior on the formation of immature neurons in the DG as assessed by quantification of doublecortin (DCX immunoreactivity. Rats were allowed to self-administer heroin (0.03 mg/kg/infusion for 12 days and then subjected either to 10 days of extinction training or forced abstinence. We also examined extinction responding patterns following heroin self-administration in glial fibrillary acidic protein thymidine kinase (GFAP-tk transgenic mice, which have been previously demonstrated to show reduced formation of immature and mature neurons in the DG following treatment with ganciclovir (GCV. We found that extinction training increased DCX immunoreactivity in the dorsal DG as compared with animals undergoing forced abstinence, and that GCV-treated GFAP-tk mice displayed impaired extinction learning as compared to saline-treated mice. Our results suggest that extinction of drug-seeking behavior increases the formation of immature neurons in the DG and that these neurons may play a functional role in extinction learning.

The Cross-cultural Generalizability of the Theory of Planned Behavior: a study on job seeking in The Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

E.A.J. van Hooft (Edwin); M.Ph. Born (Marise); T.W. Taris (Toon); H. van der Flier (Henk)

2005-01-01

textabstractThis study examined the cross-cultural generalizability of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as applied to job seeking, by comparing samples of native-Dutch and Turkish individuals in The Netherlands. Results supported the equivalence of the measures used. Moreover, the TPB

Patterns of Information Seeking Behaviour of Law Students in Digital Environment: A Study

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Das, Rajesh Kumar

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Nowadays the enormous growth of modern information communication technologies and its massive use have influenced information users all over the world. Such a digital environment has drastically changed the information seeking patterns of information users of every community. These also tend law students to use various legal information sources and services in digital environments while seeking information. But there have been few empirical user studies on the aspect of digital information seeking behaviours of law students in either law or library and information science literatures. This paper aims to draw out patterns of information seeking behavior of students of law in digital environments at the University of Dhaka. A stratified random sample survey was conducted for this study. The results show that students prefer the electronic format of information rather than printed format. Major e-resources used by them and the influential factors of use were also identified in this study. This study also identified some crucial problems for seeking information and provides suggestions for the development of electronic legal information systems.

Gender differences in care-seeking behavior and healthcare consumption immediately after whiplash trauma.

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Artur Tenenbaum

Full Text Available The aim was to study gender differences in care-seeking behavior and treatment provided immediately after whiplash trauma.Participants were residents from a defined geographical area, Skaraborg County in the southwestern part of Sweden. A cohort of 3,368 persons exposed to whiplash trauma and attending a healthcare facility immediately after the trauma between 1999 and 2008 were identified in a database. Information about gender, age, time elapsed prior to seeking care, type of healthcare contact, initial treatment provided and eventual hospitalization time was retrieved.Women sought care later than men (p = 0.00074. Women consulted primary healthcare first more often than men, who more often first sought hospital care (p = 0.0060. There were no gender differences regarding the type of treatment after trauma. Women had longer hospital admission than men (p = 0.022, indicating their injuries were at least similar to or worse than men's.Women sought healthcare later than men after whiplash trauma. Although not directly investigated in this study, it raises the question if this may reduce their probability of getting financial compensation compared to men.

Sources of information about mental health and links to help seeking: findings from the 2007 Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing.

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Reavley, Nicola J; Cvetkovski, Stefan; Jorm, Anthony F

2011-12-01

The aim of this paper is to provide an analysis of data from the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing (NSMHWB) on the factors associated with the use of sources of information on mental health. A further aim is to examine the associations between the use of information sources and professional help-seeking. Data from the 2007 NSMHWB were used. The survey sample comprised 8,841 residents of private dwellings across Australia aged 16-85 years. Television was the most common source of information about mental health issues in the previous 12 months (accessed by 20.5% of respondents) followed by pamphlets and brochures (accessed by 15.6% of respondents). Having an anxiety or affective disorder, female gender, higher levels of education and having a family member with a mental health problem was associated with the seeking of information on mental health issues from the internet, non-fiction books and brochures/pamphlets. Accessing information on the internet was associated with increased use of any mental health services, GPs and mental health professionals (MHPs). The results suggest that promotion of internet resources may offer the opportunity to increase help seeking for mental health problems and may offer the opportunity to engage those least likely to seek professional help, notably young males.

Predictors of Help-Seeking Intentions in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom Veterans and Service Members.

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Porcari, Carole; Koch, Ellen I; Rauch, Sheila A M; Hoodin, Flora; Ellison, Grant; McSweeney, Lauren

2017-05-01

Despite significant numbers of Afghanistan and Iraqi veterans and service members who report symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and substance abuse, the majority do not seek help for these problems. A better understanding of the help-seeking process might aid providers and administrators in outreach and provision of services for those who need them. Past research has shown several variables that influence an individual's help-seeking behavior: demographic variables, the nature and severity of a mental health problem, and psychological variables. The three goals of the study were to determine which variables predicted help-seeking intentions from various sources for a psychological problem, identify barriers to help seeking, and identify sources of help sought in the past year. All Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans and service members registered with a Midwestern VA Healthcare System between 2001 and 2007 received a letter requesting participation in an Internet-based survey. Participants completed nine questionnaires regarding their current physical and psychological health, social support, self-efficacy, public and self-stigma, and barriers to seeking help for a psychological problem. In addition, patterns of help seeking from informal (i.e., partner/spouse, family, friends) and formal (i.e., physician, psychiatrist, or psychologist, either from Veterans Affairs [VA] or the private sector) sources of help were examined. Results from the linear regression model including all formal and informal sources of help indicated a significant model fit with attitudes toward psychotherapy, social support, and current mental health status as significant coefficients. Of note, attitudes toward psychotherapy were a significant coefficient in all help-seeking models; stigma was a significant coefficient with formal and VA sources, and social support was found to be a significant predictor with informal sources

Rat ultrasonic vocalizations demonstrate that the motivation to contextually reinstate cocaine-seeking behavior does not necessarily involve a hedonic response.

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Barker, David J; Bercovicz, Danielle; Servilio, Lisa C; Simmons, Steven J; Ma, Sisi; Root, David H; Pawlak, Anthony P; West, Mark O

2014-09-01

Human self-reports often indicate that changes in mood are a major contributor to drug relapse. Still, arguments have been made that instances of drug-seeking following abstinence in animal models (i.e. relapse/reinstatement) may be outside of hedonic control. Therefore, the present study utilized ultrasonic vocalizations in the rat in order to evaluate affect during cocaine self-administration and contextual reinstatement of cocaine-seeking in a pre-clinical model of drug relapse (abstinence-reinstatement model). Results show that while subjects effectively reinstated drug-seeking (lever pressing) following 30 days of abstinence, and spontaneously recovered/reinstated drug-seeking following 60 days of abstinence, ultrasonic vocalizations did not increase over baseline levels during either reinstatement session. These results are consistent with previous results from our laboratory and current theories of addiction suggesting that cues that are weakly associated with drug consumption can motivate drug-seeking behavior that is outside of hedonic processing. © 2013 The Authors, Addiction Biology © 2013 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Information Needs and Information Seeking Behavior of Foreign Students in University of Delhi: A Survey

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K P Singh

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to investigate the information needs and information seeking behavior of foreign students. A survey method was used for the undertaken study. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire, self-administered to 120 foreign students (60 males & 60 females with 88 (47 males & 41 females returns. The research is limited to post-graduate, M.Phil. and Ph.D. foreign students in University of Delhi. It was found that post-graduate students need information regarding their program of study while research scholars need information for writing research articles and for doing their research work. Most of them seek information through the internet. Research scholars used electronic resources such as databases, e-journals and e-theses and dissertations. 88.6% of the respondents also use books for seeking information. Their use of the library is limited with complaints about library staff and too few computer terminals. The present study will be helpful in designing new systems and services for the foreign students so that their information needs can be fulfilled easily. Further, findings of the study indicate that how the library professionals should assist foreign students to accomplish their information needs.

Who wants feedback? An investigation of the variables influencing residents' feedback-seeking behavior in relation to night shifts.

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Teunissen, Pim W; Stapel, Diederik A; van der Vleuten, Cees; Scherpbier, Albert; Boor, Klarke; Scheele, Fedde

2009-07-01

The literature on feedback in clinical medical education has predominantly treated trainees as passive recipients. Past research has focused on how clinical supervisors can use feedback to improve a trainee's performance. On the basis of research in social and organizational psychology, the authors reconceptualized residents as active seekers of feedback. They investigated what individual and situational variables influence residents' feedback-seeking behavior on night shifts. Early in 2008, the authors sent obstetrics-gynecology residents in the Netherlands--both those in their first two years of graduate training and those gaining experience between undergraduate and graduate training--a questionnaire that assessed four predictor variables (learning and performance goal orientation, and instrumental and supportive leadership), two mediator variables (perceived feedback benefits and costs), and two outcome variables (frequency of feedback inquiry and monitoring). They used structural equation modeling software to test a hypothesized model of relationships between variables. The response rate was 76.5%. Results showed that residents who perceive more feedback benefits report a higher frequency of feedback inquiry and monitoring. More perceived feedback costs result mainly in more feedback monitoring. Residents with a higher learning goal orientation perceive more feedback benefits and fewer costs. Residents with a higher performance goal orientation perceive more feedback costs. Supportive physicians lead residents to perceive more feedback benefits and fewer costs. This study showed that some residents actively seek feedback. Residents' feedback-seeking behavior partially depends on attending physicians' supervisory style. Residents' goal orientations influence their perceptions of the benefits and costs of feedback-seeking.

The Prevalence of Internet and Social Media Based Medication Information Seeking Behavior in Saudi Arabia.

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Bahkali, Salwa; Alfurih, Suha; Aldremly, Maha; Alzayyat, Ma'an; Alsurimi, Khaled; Househ, Mowafa

2016-01-01

The internet has become an important resource to help people search for online medication information. This study aims to report the prevalence and profile of Saudi online medication seeking behavior. Conducted via a web-based survey with Twitter participants between January-February, 2015, the primary outcome measures were the self-reported rates of using the internet to search for medication related information. A valid sample of 4847 participants was collected over the period of the study. Out of the total participants, 68.3% (n=3311) were found to seek online medication related information frequently. Most of the social media users were female 83.5% (n=2766). The majority of respondents 63.6% (n= 3081) used Google, followed by Twitter 28.7% (n= 1392), Snapchat 21%, (n=1019), WhatsApp 13.8% (n= 670), Instagram 11.4%, (n= 553), and Facebook 5.5 % (n= 267), with few searching YouTube 1.3% (n=65) to access online medication information. Findings indicate that the Saudi population actively uses the internet and social media to obtain medication information. Further studies are needed to explore the influence of the internet and social media on user perception, attitude, and behavior with the use of online medication information.

Breakdowns in collaborative information seeking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hertzum, Morten

2010-01-01

Collaborative information seeking is integral to many professional activities. In hospital work, the medication process encompasses continual seeking for information and collaborative grounding of information. This study investigates breakdowns in collaborative information seeking through analyses...... of the use of the electronic medication record adopted in a Danish healthcare region and of the reports of five years of medication incidents at Danish hospitals. The results show that breakdowns in collaborative information seeking is a major source of medication incidents, that most of these breakdowns...... are breakdowns in collaborative grounding rather than information seeking, that the medication incidents mainly concern breakdowns in the use of records as opposed to oral communication, that the breakdowns span multiple degrees of separation between clinicians, and that the electronic medication record has...

Teaching information seeking

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Louise Limberg

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. The article argues for a closer association between information seeking research and the practices of teaching information seeking. Findings are presented from a research project on information seeking, didactics and learning (IDOL investigating librarians' and teachers' experiences of teaching information seeking. Method. Thirteen teachers and five librarians, teaching 12-19 year-old students in three schools, participated. Forty-five interviews were conducted over a period of three years. Analysis. The IDOL project adopted a phenomenographic approach with the purpose of describing patterns of variation in experiences. The findings were also analysed by way of relating them to four competing approaches to the mediation of information literacy. Results. A gap was identified between experiences of teaching content that focused on sources and order, and experiences of assessment criteria applied to students' work that focused on the importance of correct facts and the analysis of information. These findings indicate a highly restricted range of teaching contents when compared with the four theoretical approaches to the mediation of information literacy. Conclusion. Teaching information seeking might be enhanced by a wider repertoire of contents reflecting more varied theoretical understanding developed in information seeking research, particularly as regards the importance of content and context related to user perspectives.

Cold-Induced Thermogenesis and Inflammation-Associated Cold-Seeking Behavior Are Represented by Different Dorsomedial Hypothalamic Sites: A Three-Dimensional Functional Topography Study in Conscious Rats.

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Wanner, Samuel P; Almeida, M Camila; Shimansky, Yury P; Oliveira, Daniela L; Eales, Justin R; Coimbra, Cândido C; Romanovsky, Andrej A

2017-07-19

In the past, we showed that large electrolytic lesions of the dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) promoted hypothermia in cold-exposed restrained rats, but attenuated hypothermia in rats challenged with a high dose of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in a thermogradient apparatus. The goal of this study was to identify the thermoeffector mechanisms and DMH representation of the two phenomena and thus to understand how the same lesion could produce two opposite effects on body temperature. We found that the permissive effect of large electrolytic DMH lesions on cold-induced hypothermia was due to suppressed thermogenesis. DMH-lesioned rats also could not develop fever autonomically: they did not increase thermogenesis in response to a low, pyrogenic dose of LPS (10 μg/kg, i.v.). In contrast, changes in thermogenesis were uninvolved in the attenuation of the hypothermic response to a high, shock-inducing dose of LPS (5000 μg/kg, i.v.); this attenuation was due to a blockade of cold-seeking behavior. To compile DMH maps for the autonomic cold defense and for the cold-seeking response to LPS, we studied rats with small thermal lesions in different parts of the DMH. Cold thermogenesis had the highest representation in the dorsal hypothalamic area. Cold seeking was represented by a site at the ventral border of the dorsomedial nucleus. Because LPS causes both fever and hypothermia, we originally thought that the DMH contained a single thermoregulatory site that worked as a fever-hypothermia switch. Instead, we have found two separate sites: one that drives thermogenesis and the other, previously unknown, that drives inflammation-associated cold seeking. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Cold-seeking behavior is a life-saving response that occurs in severe systemic inflammation. We studied this behavior in rats with lesions in the dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) challenged with a shock-inducing dose of bacterial endotoxin. We built functional maps of the DMH and found the strongest

Health seeking behavior of the mothers for the special care new-born unit discharged children: A comparative study

OpenAIRE

Gursimer Jeet; Atul Sharma; Tulika Goswami Mohanta; Ajay Trakroo

2013-01-01

Establishment of special care new-born units (SCNU) in hospitals not only serves to provide the intensive care to sick neonates, but presents with opportunities to enhance knowledge and modify attitude and practices of their parents through behavior change communication (BCC). A cross-sectional study was conducted in Dibrugarh District, Assam from January to June, 2011 to assess differences in health-care seeking behavior of these mothers from mothers of newborns who were born at home and mot...

Predicting Help-Seeking Attitudes Toward Mental Health Services Among American Indian Older Adults: Is Andersen's Behavioral Model a Good Fit?

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Roh, Soonhee; Burnette, Catherine E; Lee, Kyoung Hag; Lee, Yeon-Shim; Martin, James I; Lawler, Michael J

2017-01-01

American Indian (AI) older adults are vulnerable to mental health disparities, yet very little is known about the factors associated with help-seeking for mental health services among them. The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of Andersen's Behavioral Model in explaining AI older adults' help-seeking attitudes toward professional mental health services. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine predisposing, enabling, and need variables as predictors of help-seeking attitudes toward mental health services in a sample of 233 AI older adults from the Midwest. The model was found to have limited utility in the context of older AI help-seeking attitudes, as the proportion of explained variance was low. Gender, perceived stigma, social support, and physical health were significant predictors, whereas age, perceived mental health, and health insurance were not. © The Author(s) 2014.

Information Seeking by Geoscientists: An Update on Bichteler and Ward (1989)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alstad, Knut; Hertzum, Morten

2018-01-01

, and the library database). Bibliographic databases were used infrequently and perceived as yielding poorer quality results than consulting a colleague. The likelihood of using web search and colleagues to find information about a new topic was determined by the ease of using these sources. In contrast......Purpose – This study investigates how often geoscientists use different information sources and how this pattern of source use balances their perceptions of the quality and ease of use of the information sources. Design/methodology/approach – The geoscientists at the Geological Survey of Norway...... were surveyed about their information-seeking behavior. The response rate was 70%. Findings – The geoscientists primarily relied on web search and colleagues for information. These two information sources were perceived as easy to use, more so than bibliographic databases (GeoRef, Web of Science...

Habitual alcohol seeking: modeling the transition from casual drinking to addiction

Science.gov (United States)

Barker, Jacqueline M; Taylor, Jane R

2014-01-01

The transition from goal-directed actions to habitual ethanol seeking models the development of addictive behavior that characterizes alcohol use disorders. The progression to habitual ethanol-seeking behavior occurs more rapidly than for natural rewards, suggesting that ethanol may act on habit circuit to drive the loss of behavioral flexibility. This review will highlight recent research that has focused on the formation and expression of habitual ethanol seeking, and the commonalities and distinctions between ethanol and natural reward-seeking habits, with the goal of highlighting important, understudied research areas that we believe will lead toward the development of novel treatment and prevention strategies for uncontrolled drinking. PMID:25193245

Effects of written information material on help-seeking behavior in patients with erectile dysfunction: a longitudinal study.

Science.gov (United States)

Berner, Michael M; Leiber, Christian; Kriston, Levente; Stodden, Vera; Günzler, Cindy

2008-02-01

Neither men with erectile dysfunction (ED) nor their physicians are willing to discuss sexual problem sufficiently. Written information material could facilitate a dialogue and encourage men to seek treatment. The central task of this article was to determine the effectiveness and acceptance of patient information material for sexual dysfunction. Through an information campaign, men received informational material. Eight thousand men also received a first survey, which asked about the intention to seek treatment and to discuss the sexual problem with a physician or partner. A second follow-up questionnaire, 3-6 months after the first one, asked for the implementation of these intentions. Descriptive and regression-based analyses were applied. Help-seeking behavior, subjective assessment of change in disease severity and partnership quality, satisfaction. Four hundred forty-three men participated in both surveys. Nearly 90% of them became active after reading the information material. More than half talked with their partner (57.8%) and a physician (65%), and one-third sought treatment (31.8%). Especially discussing the problem with the partner and receiving treatment improved erectile functioning and led to an increase in the quality of partnership (P seeking behavior. It was perceived both to improve the sexual problem as well as to increase the quality of partnership. Providing such material in the medical practice may be an appropriate way to overcome inhibitions and to initiate dialogue with affected men. However, the results must be interpreted with caution because of possible motivationally driven self

A framework for improving early detection of breast cancer in sub-Saharan Africa: A qualitative study of help-seeking behaviors among Malawian women.

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Racquel E; Gopal, Satish; Miller, Anna R; Lee, Clara N; Reeve, Bryce B; Weiner, Bryan J; Wheeler, Stephanie B

2017-01-01

Many women in Africa are diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. We explored Malawian breast cancer patients' perspectives about their diagnosis and ability to access care to identify help-seeking behaviors and to describe factors influencing delay. We purposively sampled 20 Malawian breast cancer patients to conduct in-depth interviews. Transcripts were double coded to identify major themes of breast cancer help-seeking behaviors and what delayed or facilitated access to care. We outlined a breast cancer help-seeking pathway describing decisions, behaviors, and interactions from symptom presentation to receipt of cancer care. Patients were largely unaware of breast cancer and did not immediately notice or interpret symptoms. As symptoms progressed, women inferred illness and sought help from social networks, traditional remedies, and medical care. Economic hardship, distance to the facility, provider knowledge, health system factors, and social norms often delayed reaching the facility, referrals, diagnosis, and receipt of care. Social-contextual factors at the individual, interpersonal, health system, and societal levels delay decisions, behaviors, and access to breast cancer detection and appropriate care. A comprehensive approach to improving breast cancer early detection must address public awareness and misconceptions, provider knowledge and communication, and cancer care delivery. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Qualitative Exploration of the Help-Seeking Behaviors of Students Who Experience Psychological Distress Around Assessment at Medical School.

Science.gov (United States)

Winter, Rachel I; Patel, Rakesh; Norman, Robert I

2017-08-01

Medical students are at high risk of experiencing psychological distress at medical school and developing mental ill-health during professional practice. Despite efforts by faculty to raise awareness about this risk, many students choose to suffer in silence in the face of psychological distress. The aim of this study was to explore drivers that prompted help-seeking behavior and barriers that prevented individuals prioritizing their well-being around the time of high-stakes assessment at medical school. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifty-seven students who failed high-stakes assessment at two UK medical schools, exploring their experience of academic difficulty and perceptions about causes. A thematic analysis of twenty transcripts that met inclusion criteria was completed to identify key factors that influenced participants' decisions around seeking help for their psychological distress, and in some cases, mental health problems. Twenty participants who specifically described a deterioration in their mental health around the time of assessment were included in this study. Barriers to seeking help in these instances included: normalization of symptoms or situation; failure to recognize a problem existed; fear of stigmatisation; overt symptoms of mental distress; and misconceptions about the true nature of the medical school, for example beliefs about a punitive response from the school if they failed. Drivers for seeking help appropriately included: building trust with someone in order to confide in them later on, and self-awareness about the need to maintain good mental health. There are various drivers and barriers for students' help seeking behaviors when experiencing psychological distress around the time of assessment, particularly self-awareness about the problem and prioritisation of well-being. Students who fail to recognize their own deteriorating mental health are at risk of academic failure and medical schools need to develop

Suicidal thoughts during early adolescence: prevalence, associated troubles and help-seeking behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Choquet, M; Menke, H

1990-02-01

A total of 1600 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 16 living in a county bordering on Paris were interviewed concerning their health, their use of drugs, both legal and illegal, their behavior, and their seeking of health care. Fourteen percent of the boys and 23% of the girls had already thought about suicide and 5% and 10% (respectively) proclaimed having thought about it frequently. Young adolescents who thought about suicide, the girls as well as the boys, had more health problems (fatigue, nightmares, insomnia), used more drugs (including tobacco, alcohol, illegal drugs, psychotropic medicine) and had more delinquent behavior (robbery, running away from home, racketeering). Furthermore, the girls had problems in school (absenteeism and being left back). In general, youngsters with suicidal thoughts resorted to violence in a variety of ways. Although these youngsters spoke less readily about their personal problems, they more frequently sought physical health care (doctors, nurses, social workers). This discrepancy between their difficulty in communication and their readiness to ask for physical care is a clear indication of their need to be helped.

Biodemographic And Health Seeking Behavior Factors Influencing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study findings show primarily - amongst the biodemographic and health seeking services factors, delivery-related maternal health complicacies, blindness, higher order births, twin births, lower household size and interaction effect of higher order live births and male child are significantly correlated with higher neonatal ...

The Influence of Unemployment and Divorce Rate on Child Help-Seeking Behavior about Violence, Relationships, and Other Issues

Science.gov (United States)

van Dolen, Willemijn M.; Weinberg, Charles B.; Ma, Leiming

2013-01-01

Objective: This study examined the influence of community unemployment and divorce rate on child help-seeking behavior about violence and relationships via a telephone and Internet helpline. Methods: Time series analysis was conducted on monthly call volumes to a child helpline ("De Kindertelefoon") in the Netherlands from 2003 to 2008…

Gender differences in care-seeking behavior and healthcare consumption immediately after whiplash trauma

Science.gov (United States)

Tenenbaum, Artur; Nordeman, Lena; Sunnerhagen, Katharina S.; Gunnarsson, Ronny

2017-01-01

Objective The aim was to study gender differences in care-seeking behavior and treatment provided immediately after whiplash trauma. Methods Participants were residents from a defined geographical area, Skaraborg County in the southwestern part of Sweden. A cohort of 3,368 persons exposed to whiplash trauma and attending a healthcare facility immediately after the trauma between 1999 and 2008 were identified in a database. Information about gender, age, time elapsed prior to seeking care, type of healthcare contact, initial treatment provided and eventual hospitalization time was retrieved. Results Women sought care later than men (p = 0.00074). Women consulted primary healthcare first more often than men, who more often first sought hospital care (p = 0.0060). There were no gender differences regarding the type of treatment after trauma. Women had longer hospital admission than men (p = 0.022), indicating their injuries were at least similar to or worse than men’s. Conclusion Women sought healthcare later than men after whiplash trauma. Although not directly investigated in this study, it raises the question if this may reduce their probability of getting financial compensation compared to men. PMID:28441465

Pica and rumination behavior among individuals seeking treatment for eating disorders or obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Delaney, Charlotte B; Eddy, Kamryn T; Hartmann, Andrea S; Becker, Anne E; Murray, Helen B; Thomas, Jennifer J

2015-03-01

Pica and rumination disorder (RD)-formerly classified within DSM-IV Feeding and Eating Disorders of Infancy or Early Childhood-are now classified within DSM-5 Feeding and Eating Disorders. Though pica and RD have been studied in select populations (e.g., pregnant women, intellectually disabled persons), their typical features and overall prevalence remain unknown. This study examined the clinical characteristics and frequency of DSM-5 pica and RD among individuals seeking treatment for eating disorders and obesity. We conducted structured interviews with adolescent and young adult females from a residential eating disorder center (N = 149), and adult males and females with overweight or obesity from an outpatient weight-loss clinic (N = 100). Several participants reported ingesting non-nutritive substances (e.g., ice) for weight-control purposes. However, only 1.3% (n = 2; 95% CI: .06% to 5.1%) at the residential eating disorder center and 0% at the weight-loss clinic met DSM-5 criteria for pica, consuming gum and plastic. Although no eating disorder participants were eligible for an RD diagnosis due to DSM-5 trumping rules, 7.4% (n = 11; 95% CI: 4.0% to 12.9%) endorsed rumination behavior under varying degrees of volitional control. At the weight-loss clinic, 2.0% (n = 2; 95% CI: 0.1% to 7.4%) had RD. DSM-5 pica and RD were rare in our sample of individuals seeking treatment for eating disorders and obesity, but related behaviors were more common. The wide range of pica and rumination presentations highlights the challenges of differential diagnosis with other forms of disordered eating. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Looking for information a survey of research on information seeking, needs, and behavior

CERN Document Server

Case, Donald O

2016-01-01

The 4th edition of this popular and well-cited text is now co-authored, and includes significant changes from earlier texts. Presenting a comprehensive review of over a century of research on information behavior (IB), this book is intended for students in information studies and disciplines interested in research on information activities. The initial two chapters introduce IB as a multi-disciplinary topic, the 3rd provides a brief history of research on information seeking. Chapter four discusses what is meant by the terms 'information' and 'knowledge.' Chapter five discusses 'information needs,' and how they are addressed. The 6th chapter identifies many related concepts. Twelve models of information behavior (expanded from earlier editions) are illustrated in chapter seven. Chapter eight reviews various paradigms and theories informing IB research. Chapter nine examines research methods invoked in IB studies and a discussion of qualitative and mixed approaches. The 10th chapter gives examples of IB studie...

Autonomous visual exploration creates developmental change in familiarity and novelty seeking behaviors

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Sammy ePerone

2013-09-01

Full Text Available What motivates children to radically transform themselves during early development? We addressed this question in the domain of infant visual exploration. Over the first year, infants’ exploration shifts from familiarity to novelty seeking. This shift is delayed in preterm relative to term infants and is stable within individuals over the course of the first year. Laboratory tasks have shed light on the nature of this familiarity-to-novelty shift, but it is not clear what motivates the infant to change her exploratory style. We probed this by letting a Dynamic Neural Field (DNF model of visual exploration develop itself via accumulating experience in a virtual world. We then situated it in a canonical laboratory task. Much like infants, the model exhibited a familiarity-to-novelty shift. When we manipulated the initial conditions of the model, the model’s performance was developmentally delayed much like preterm infants. This delay was overcome by enhancing the model’s experience during development. We also found that the model’s performance was stable at the level of the individual. Our simulations indicate that novelty seeking emerges with no explicit motivational source via the accumulation of visual experience within a complex, dynamical exploratory system.

Insomnia patients' help-seeking experiences.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheung, Janet M Y; Bartlett, Delwyn J; Armour, Carol L; Glozier, Nicholas; Saini, Bandana

2014-03-04

Timely access to appropriate treatment is important for optimizing insomnia management. To date, little is known about insomnia patients' treatment experiences or how they access and engage with the available health care resources. This study sought to capture the help-seeking experiences and behavioral patterns of patients with insomnia who are seeking or receiving specialist care. A purposive sample of 26 insomnia patients from specialist sleep and mental health clinics located in metropolitan New South Wales, Australia was recruited. Participants completed a brief questionnaire, followed by an in-depth, semi-structured interview. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using framework analysis. Three key themes emerged from the data: patients' sleep beliefs, treatment beliefs, and accessing specialized care. The findings show that daytime symptoms arising from insomnia serve as important illness cues for patients to seek medical help. In addition, participants' treatment pathways highlight factors that prevent the widespread use of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), including limited awareness about CBT-I, tentative referral mechanisms, limited service providers, and the high cost of CBT-I.

Coping with a New Health Culture: Acculturation and Online Health Information Seeking Among Chinese Immigrants in the United States.

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Wang, Weirui; Yu, Nan

2015-10-01

As a culturally diverse country, the U.S. hosts over 39 million immigrants who may experience various cultural and linguistic obstacles to receiving quality health care. Considering online sources an important alternative for immigrants to access health information, this study investigates how Chinese immigrants in the U.S. seek health information online. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among Chinese immigrants who currently live in the U.S. to understand how acculturation strategies they use to adapt to the host society influence their Internet-based health information seeking behaviors. Our findings revealed that the language and web sources immigrants choose to use can be predicted by the acculturation strategies they utilize to cope with the new culture. This study serves as a timely and imperative call for further consideration of the role that acculturation plays in determining how immigrants seek health information and utilize the healthcare services of their host society.

Social Influences of Help-Seeking Behaviour Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Low, Lee Lan; Tong, Seng Fah; Low, Wah Yun

2016-01-01

This qualitative study aimed to explore the influence of social networks such as family members, friends, peers, and health care providers toward the help-seeking behaviour (HSB) of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in the public and private primary care settings. In-depth interviews of 12 patients, 9 family members, and 5 health care providers, as well as 3 focus groups among 13 health care providers were conducted. All interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim for qualitative analysis. Social influences play a significant role in the help-seeking process; once diagnosed, patients source information from people around them to make decisions. This significant influence depends on the relationship between patients and social networks or the level of trust, support, and comforting feeling. Thus, the impacts on patients' help-seeking behavior are varied. However, the help-seeking process is not solely an individual's concern but a dynamic process interacting with the social networks within the health care system. © 2015 APJPH.

Aerosol behavior and light water reactor source terms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abbey, F.; Schikarski, W.O.

1988-01-01

The major developments in nuclear aerosol modeling following the accident to pressurized water reactor Unit 2 at Three Mile Island are briefly reviewed and the state of the art summarized. The importance and implications of these developments for severe accident source terms for light water reactors are then discussed in general terms. The treatment is not aimed at identifying specific source term values but is intended rather to illustrate trends, to assess the adequacy of the understanding of major aspects of aerosol behavior for source term prediction, and demonstrate in qualitative terms the effect of various aspects of reactor design. Areas where improved understanding of aerosol behavior might lead to further reductions in current source terms predictions are also considered

Sex differences in treatment-seeking behavior by education and marital status before and after admission to hospital. A register-based cohort study of the Danish population aged 50+

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Höhn, Andreas; Lindahl-Jacobsen, Rune; Rau, Roland

to hospital between 1999 and 2008. For this population, we identified all contacts with GPs between 1996 and 2011 to quantify the sex differences in treatment-seeking behavior within the 3-year periods before and after hospitalization, and to estimate the impact of the civil and educational status on the sex...... differentials in treatment-seeking. We found women having consistently more GP contacts across all ages, but a narrowing of the treatment-seeking behavior shortly before and after admission to hospital. We moreover found a gradient of the educational and the marital status, suggesting that groups with higher...

Mirtazapine attenuates cocaine seeking in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Barbosa-Méndez, Susana; Leff, Phillipe; Arías-Caballero, Adriana; Hernández-Miramontes, Ricardo; Heinze, Gerardo; Salazar-Juárez, Alberto

2017-09-01

Relapse to cocaine use is a major problem in the clinical treatment of cocaine addiction. Antidepressants have been studied for their therapeutic potential to treat cocaine use disorder. Research has suggested that antidepressants attenuate both drug craving and the re-acquisition of drug-seeking and drug-taking behaviors. This study examined the efficacy of mirtazapine, an antidepressant/anxiolytic, in decreasing cocaine seeking in rats. We used the cocaine self-administration paradigm to assess the effects of mirtazapine on rats trained to self-administer cocaine or food under a fixed-ratio schedule. Mirtazapine (30 mg/kg, i.p.) was administered during extinction. Mirtazapine significantly attenuated non-reinforced lever-press responses during extinction. Moreover, the mirtazapine dosed for 30 days during extinction produced sustained attenuation of lever-press responses during re-acquisition of cocaine self-administration, without changing food-seeking behavior. Our results showed that mirtazapine attenuated the re-acquisition of cocaine-seeking responses. Our study pointed to the efficacy of mirtazapine in reducing the risk of drug relapse during abstinence, suggesting for its potential use as a novel pharmacological agent to treat drug abuse. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reproductive Tract Infections and Treatment Seeking Behavior among Married Adolescent Women 15-19 Years in India

OpenAIRE

Prusty, Ranjan Kumar; Unisa, Sayeed

2013-01-01

Background: India is home to the highest number of adolescents in the world. Adolescents in India suffer from lack of knowledge and empowerment to make informed sexual and reproductive health decisions. This paper analyses the prevalence of reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted infections (RTI/STI) and treatment seeking behavior among married adolescent women in India aged 15-19 years. Methods: Data from the District Level Household Survey (DLHS, 2007-08) of India were us...

Is Sensation Seeking a Stable Trait or Does It Change over Time?

Science.gov (United States)

Lynne-Landsman, Sarah D.; Graber, Julia A.; Nichols, Tracy R.; Botvin, Gilbert J.

2011-01-01

The theory of sensation seeking has conceptualized this construct as a stable personality trait associated with a variety of problem behaviors. Reckless behavior theory posits that increases in reckless behavior during adolescence can be attributed, in part, to increases in sensation seeking. This study evaluated patterns of stability and change…

[Medical Service Information Seeking Behaviors in Rural and Urban Patients in Sichuan Province].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Wen-Jie; Xue, Li; Chen, Rao; Duan, Zhan-Qi; Liu, Dan-Ping

2018-03-01

To understand how rural and urban patients seek medical service information in Sichuan province. A self-designed questionnaire was distributed randomly to patients who visited primary,secondary and tertiary health facilities in Chengdu,Yibin and Suining,collecting data in relation to their sources of medical service information,as well as the contents and credibility of the information. The major sources of medical service information came from friends,past experiences and television programs,which were consistent with the most desirable access channels. The urban patients were more likely to trust (5.3%) and use (10.6%) the Internet to obtain medical service information compared with their rural counterparts (3.4% and 5.5%,respectively, P marketing strategies for urban and rural patients should be developed to channel patients to appropriate health facilities. Copyright© by Editorial Board of Journal of Sichuan University (Medical Science Edition).

Health-Seeking Behavior and Barriers to Care in Patients With Rectal Bleeding in Nigeria

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Olusegun I. Alatise

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Colorectal cancer (CRC incidence rates are steadily increasing in Nigeria. Organized screening is still largely unused because of financial and logistical barriers; most CRCs are detected by symptoms. One symptom of CRC is rectal bleeding. This study sought to determine health-seeking behavior and barriers to care in patients with rectal bleeding in Nigeria. This study also surveyed physicians to determine major breakdowns in access to care. Methods: The recruitment process for this study involved patients referred for colonoscopy because of rectal bleeding as well as response to a media advertisement for a free colonoscopy. Physicians were recruited at the African Research Group for Oncology meeting. Patient responses were scored on the basis of knowledge of rectal bleeding. The physician questionnaire was supporting information and mainly descriptive in nature. Results: A total of 82 patients and 45 physicians participated in this study. Less than 40% of patients knew that rectal bleeding could be caused by cancer. Major barriers to care were resolution of the symptom (42%, no consideration of the bleeding as problematic (40%, and financial constraint (22%. Education was strongly correlated with knowledge of rectal bleeding and health-seeking behavior. Although physicians regularly saw patients with rectal bleeding, most of them provided a differential diagnosis of hemorrhoids and few referred patients for colonoscopy. Conclusion: General awareness about the signs of colorectal cancer is lacking. This demonstrates the strong need for patient education programs about this issue. Physicians should also receive additional training on differentiation of a potential cancer diagnosis from something more benign, such as hemorrhoids.

Health-Seeking Behavior and Barriers to Care in Patients With Rectal Bleeding in Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Alatise, Olusegun I; Fischer, Sara E; Ayandipo, Omobolaji O; Omisore, Akinlolu G; Olatoke, Samuel A; Kingham, T Peter

2017-12-01

Purpose Colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence rates are steadily increasing in Nigeria. Organized screening is still largely unused because of financial and logistical barriers; most CRCs are detected by symptoms. One symptom of CRC is rectal bleeding. This study sought to determine health-seeking behavior and barriers to care in patients with rectal bleeding in Nigeria. This study also surveyed physicians to determine major breakdowns in access to care. Methods The recruitment process for this study involved patients referred for colonoscopy because of rectal bleeding as well as response to a media advertisement for a free colonoscopy. Physicians were recruited at the African Research Group for Oncology meeting. Patient responses were scored on the basis of knowledge of rectal bleeding. The physician questionnaire was supporting information and mainly descriptive in nature. Results A total of 82 patients and 45 physicians participated in this study. Less than 40% of patients knew that rectal bleeding could be caused by cancer. Major barriers to care were resolution of the symptom (42%), no consideration of the bleeding as problematic (40%), and financial constraint (22%). Education was strongly correlated with knowledge of rectal bleeding and health-seeking behavior. Although physicians regularly saw patients with rectal bleeding, most of them provided a differential diagnosis of hemorrhoids and few referred patients for colonoscopy. Conclusion General awareness about the signs of colorectal cancer is lacking. This demonstrates the strong need for patient education programs about this issue. Physicians should also receive additional training on differentiation of a potential cancer diagnosis from something more benign, such as hemorrhoids.

Behavioral ecology of Heteragrion consors Hagen (Odonata, Megapodagrionidae: a shade-seek Atlantic forest damselfly

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Geovanni Ribeiro Loiola

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Behavioral ecology of Heteragrion consors Hagen (Odonata: Megapodagrionidae: a shade-seek Atlantic forest damselfly. The intensity of the inter and intra-sexual selection can affect male behavioral traits as territorial fidelity and aggressiveness allowing the existence of different strategies. However, its differential success could be affected by environmental - as the diel variation in temperature - and physiological constrains - as the variation in thermoregulatory abilities. In this context, we present a behavioral analysis of Heteragrion consors (Zygoptera, Megapodagrionidae trying to characterize its mating system, diel activity pattern, temporal budget, territoriality and reproductive biology. These data were obtained based on field observations using the focal individual method and mark-recapture techniques in 120 m of a shaded Atlantic Forest stream in Brazil. The males of this species were territorial, varying in its local fidelity, while the females appear sporadically. Males were perched in the majority of the time, but were also observed in cleaning movements, longitudinal abdominal flexion, wing flexion and sperm transfer during perch. The males presented a perched thermoregulatory behavior related to an exothermic regulation. Foraging and agonistic interactions were rare, but dominate the other behavioral activities. Abdominal movements associated to long lasting copula pointed to the existence of sperm competition in this species. Males performed contact post-copulatory guarding of the females. These observations pointed to a non-resource mating system for this species.

Variation in general practitioners' information-seeking behaviour

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Videbæk Le, Jette; Pedersen, Line Bjørnskov; Riisgaard, Helle

2016-01-01

characteristics. Further insights could provide opportunities for targeting information dissemination strategies. Single-handed GPs seek information from colleagues less frequently than GPs in partnerships and do not use other sources more frequently. GPs aged above 44 years do not seek information as frequently...

Helping Peers Seek Professional Treatment for Depression among Young South Koreans: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sun Hae; Choi, Jung Ah; Park, Ji Hye

2015-01-01

This study examined the applicability of the theory of planned behavior to understand factors that influence whether young South Koreans help peers with depression to seek professional counseling services. The structural equation modeling on the survey data collected from 191 South Korean students suggests that subjective norms and behavioral…

Food seeking in spite of harmful consequences is under prefrontal cortical noradrenergic control

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Patrono Enrico

2010-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Eating disorders are multifactorial psychiatric disorders. Chronic stressful experiences and caloric restriction are the most powerful triggers of eating disorders in human and animals. Although compulsive behavior is considered to characterize pathological excessive food intake, to our knowledge, no evidence has been reported of continued food seeking/intake despite its possible harmful consequences, an index of compulsive behavior. Brain monoamine transmission is considered to have a key role in vulnerability to eating disorders, and norepinephrine in medial prefrontal cortex has been shown to be critical for food-related motivated behavior. Here, using a new paradigm of conditioned suppression, we investigated whether the ability of a foot-shock-paired conditioned stimulus to suppress chocolate-seeking behavior was reversed by previous exposure to a food restriction experience, thus modeling food seeking in spite of harmful consequences in mice. Moreover, we assessed the effects of selective norepinephrine inactivation in medial prefrontal cortex on conditioned suppression test in stressed and caloric restricted mice. Results While Control (non food deprived animals showed a profound conditioned suppression of chocolate seeking during presentation of conditioned stimulus, previously food restricted animals showed food seeking/intake despite its possible harmful consequences. Moreover, food seeking in spite of harmful consequences was prevented by selective norepinephrine inactivation, thus showing that prefrontal cortical norepinephrine is critical also for maladaptive food-related behavior. Conclusions These findings indicate that adaptive food seeking/intake can be transformed into maladaptive behaviors and point to "top-down" influence on eating disturbances and to new targets for therapy of aberrant eating behaviors.

Health seeking behavior in karnataka: does micro-health insurance matter?

Science.gov (United States)

Savitha, S; Kiran, Kb

2013-10-01

Health seeking behaviour in the event of illness is influenced by the availability of good health care facilities and health care financing mechanisms. Micro health insurance not only promotes formal health care utilization at private providers but also reduces the cost of care by providing the insurance coverage. This paper explores the impact of Sampoorna Suraksha Programme, a micro health insurance scheme on the health seeking behaviour of households during illness in Karnataka, India. The study was conducted in three randomly selected districts in Karnataka, India in the first half of the year 2011. The hypothesis was tested using binary logistic regression analysis on the data collected from randomly selected 1146 households consisting of 4961 individuals. Insured individuals were seeking care at private hospitals than public hospitals due to the reduction in financial barrier. Moreover, equity in health seeking behaviour among insured individuals was observed. Our finding does represent a desirable result for health policy makers and micro finance institutions to advocate for the inclusion of health insurance in their portfolio, at least from the HSB perspective.

Effects of L-cysteine on reinstatement of ethanol-seeking behavior and on reinstatement-elicited extracellular signal-regulated kinase phosphorylation in the rat nucleus accumbens shell.

Science.gov (United States)

Peana, Alessandra T; Giugliano, Valentina; Rosas, Michela; Sabariego, Marta; Acquas, Elio

2013-01-01

Alcoholism is a neuroadaptive disorder, and the understanding of the mechanisms of the high rates of relapse, which characterize it, represents one of the most demanding challenges in alcoholism and addiction research. The extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) is an intracellular kinase, critical for neuroplasticity in the adult brain that is suggested to play a fundamental role in the molecular mechanisms underlying drug addiction and relapse. We previously observed that a nonessential amino acid, L-cysteine, significantly decreases oral ethanol (EtOH) self-administration, reinstatement of EtOH-drinking behavior, and EtOH self-administration break point. Here, we tested whether L-cysteine can affect the ability of EtOH priming to induce reinstatement of EtOH-seeking behavior. In addition, we determined the ability of EtOH priming to induce ERK phosphorylation as well as the ability of L-cysteine to affect reinstatement-elicited ERK activation. To these purposes, Wistar rats were trained to nose-poke for a 10% v/v EtOH solution. After stable drug-taking behavior was obtained, nose-poking for EtOH was extinguished, and reinstatement of drug seeking, as well as reinstatement-elicited pERK, was determined after an oral, noncontingent, priming of EtOH (0.08 g/kg). Rats were pretreated with either saline or L-cysteine (80 to 120 mg/kg) 30 minutes before testing for reinstatement. The findings of this study confirm that the noncontingent delivery of a nonpharmacologically active dose of EtOH to rats, whose previous self-administration behavior had been extinguished, results in significant reinstatement into EtOH-seeking behavior. In addition, the results indicate that reinstatement selectively activates ERK phosphorylation in the shell of the nucleus accumbens (Acb) and that pretreatment with L-cysteine reduces either reinstatement of EtOH seeking and reinstatement-elicited pERK in the AcbSh. Altogether, these results indicate that L-cysteine could be an effective

Conceptual measurement framework for help-seeking for mental health problems

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Rickwood D

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Debra Rickwood, Kerry ThomasFaculty of Health, University of Canberra, ACT, AustraliaBackground: Despite a high level of research, policy, and practice interest in help-seeking for mental health problems and mental disorders, there is currently no agreed and commonly used definition or conceptual measurement framework for help-seeking.Methods: A systematic review of research activity in the field was undertaken to investigate how help-seeking has been conceptualized and measured. Common elements were used to develop a proposed conceptual measurement framework.Results: The database search revealed a very high level of research activity and confirmed that there is no commonly applied definition of help-seeking and no psychometrically sound measures that are routinely used. The most common element in the help-seeking research was a focus on formal help-seeking sources, rather than informal sources, although studies did not assess a consistent set of professional sources; rather, each study addressed an idiosyncratic range of sources of professional health and community care. Similarly, the studies considered help-seeking for a range of mental health problems and no consistent terminology was applied. The most common mental health problem investigated was depression, followed by use of generic terms, such as mental health problem, psychological distress, or emotional problem. Major gaps in the consistent measurement of help-seeking were identified.Conclusion: It is evident that an agreed definition that supports the comparable measurement of help-seeking is lacking. Therefore, a conceptual measurement framework is proposed to fill this gap. The framework maintains that the essential elements for measurement are: the part of the help-seeking process to be investigated and respective time frame, the source and type of assistance, and the type of mental health concern. It is argued that adopting this framework will facilitate progress in the field by

Alcohol-seeking and relapse: A focus on incentive salience and contextual conditioning.

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Valyear, Milan D; Villaruel, Franz R; Chaudhri, Nadia

2017-08-01

Environmental stimuli that reliably accompany alcohol intake can become associated with the pharmacological effects of alcohol through classical (Pavlovian) conditioning. Of growing interest to addiction researchers is whether or not this process results in the attribution of incentive salience to alcohol-predictive cues, which could motivate alcohol-seeking behavior and relapse. To evaluate this question, we present a review of rodent behavioral studies that examined the capacity of alcohol-predictive cues to (i) support sign-tracking behavior, (ii) serve as conditioned reinforcers, and (iii) produce Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer. A second, emerging area of research is focused on delineating the role of context in alcohol-seeking behavior and relapse. Here, we review studies showing that alcohol-associated contexts (i) support conditioned place preference, (ii) renew extinguished alcohol-seeking behavior, and (iii) modulate alcohol-seeking responses elicited by discrete alcohol-predictive cues. These behavioral effects may be mediated by unique psychological processes, and have important implications for cue-reactivity studies and neurobiological research. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sensation Seeking and Risk-Taking Propensity as Mediators in the Relationship between Childhood Abuse and HIV-Related Risk Behavior

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Bornovalova, Marina A.; Gwadz, Marya A.; Kahler, Christopher; Aklin, W. M.; Lejuez, C. W.

2008-01-01

Objectives: Although a wealth of literature suggests that childhood physical, emotional, and sexual abuse are related to later-life HIV-related risk behaviors, few studies have explored disinhibition (e.g., impulsivity, risk-taking propensity, and sensation-seeking) as a risk factor in this relationship. Method: This cross-sectional study examined…

Health Information Seeking Among Rural African Americans, Caucasians, and Hispanics: It Is Built, Did They Come?

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Powe, Barbara D

2015-09-01

This cross-sectional study examines health information-seeking behaviors and access to and use of technology among rural African Americans, Caucasians, and Hispanics. There was a low level of health information seeking across the sample. Few used smartphones or tablets and did not endorse receiving health information from their health care provider by e-mail. Printed materials remained a source of health information as did friends and family. Information should be shared using multiple platforms including more passive methods such as television and radio. More research is needed to ensure the health literacy, numeracy, and ability to navigate the online environment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Health seeking behavior in Karnataka: Does micro-health insurance matter?

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S Savitha

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Health seeking behaviour in the event of illness is influenced by the availability of good health care facilities and health care financing mechanisms. Micro health insurance not only promotes formal health care utilization at private providers but also reduces the cost of care by providing the insurance coverage. Objectives: This paper explores the impact of Sampoorna Suraksha Programme, a micro health insurance scheme on the health seeking behaviour of households during illness in Karnataka, India. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in three randomly selected districts in Karnataka, India in the first half of the year 2011. The hypothesis was tested using binary logistic regression analysis on the data collected from randomly selected 1146 households consisting of 4961 individuals. Results: Insured individuals were seeking care at private hospitals than public hospitals due to the reduction in financial barrier. Moreover, equity in health seeking behaviour among insured individuals was observed. Conclusion : Our finding does represent a desirable result for health policy makers and micro finance institutions to advocate for the inclusion of health insurance in their portfolio, at least from the HSB perspective.

Maternal health-care seeking behavior in North India

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Anjali Jain

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Pregnancy and labour, if not kept under constant vigil, can end in serious complications or even death at any moment. The aim of the study was done to know the practices of community regarding maternity care during pregnancy, delivery and postnatal period. Methods: A cross-sectional, community based study was conducted on 120 rural, 120 urban elite and 120 urban slum areas mothers, who delivered within last three months. Results: One-fourth mothers in rural area faced one or the other problem during antenatal period while in urban slum and urban elite only 15% and 9.2% mothers had some problems, this percentage being 19.4 at district level. 14.5% respondents faced some kind of complication during delivery and more problems were faced by rural (17.5% while least common by urban elite (7.5% but the area wise difference was not significant. The most common source of treatment was ANM/ LHV/ Nurse (47.1% in rural, 40% in urban elite and 60% in urban slum. 12.8%, mothers took treatment from doctor (Government- 7.2%; Private- 5.6%. More than 10% did not take any treatment (11.8% in rural, 20% in urban elite. Conclusion: Still the large numbers of mothers are not seeking care of their ailments, during prenatal, natal or postnatal especially rural mothers

Attachment, Social Value Orientation, Sensation Seeking, and Bullying in Early Adolescence

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Innamorati, Marco; Parolin, Laura; Tagini, Angela; Santona, Alessandra; Bosco, Andrea; De Carli, Pietro; Palmisano, Giovanni L.; Pergola, Filippo; Sarracino, Diego

2018-01-01

In this study, bullying is examined in light of the “prosocial security hypothesis”— i.e., the hypothesis that insecure attachment, with temperamental dispositions such as sensation seeking, may foster individualistic, competitive value orientations and problem behaviors. A group of 375 Italian students (53% female; Mean age = 12.58, SD = 1.08) completed anonymous questionnaires regarding attachment security, social values, sensation seeking, and bullying behaviors. Path analysis showed that attachment to mother was negatively associated with bullying of others, both directly and through the mediating role of conservative socially oriented values, while attachment to father was directly associated with victimization. Sensation seeking predicted bullying of others and victimization both directly and through the mediating role of conservative socially oriented values. Adolescents’ gender affected how attachment moderated the relationship between sensation seeking and problem behavior. PMID:29535668

Electrical stimulation of the lateral habenula produces enduring inhibitory effect on cocaine seeking behavior.

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Friedman, Alexander; Lax, Elad; Dikshtein, Yahav; Abraham, Lital; Flaumenhaft, Yakov; Sudai, Einav; Ben-Tzion, Moshe; Ami-Ad, Lavi; Yaka, Rami; Yadid, Gal

2010-11-01

The lateral habenula (LHb) is critical for modulation of negative reinforcement, punishment and aversive responses. In light of the success of deep-brain-stimulation (DBS) in the treatment of neurological disorders, we explored the use of LHb DBS as a method of intervention in cocaine self-administration, extinction, and reinstatement in rats. An electrode was implanted into the LHb and rats were trained to self-administer cocaine (21 days; 0.25-1 mg/kg) until they achieved at least three days of stable performance (as measured by daily recordings of active lever presses in self-administration cages). Thereafter, rats received DBS in the presence or absence of cocaine. DBS reduced cocaine seeking behavior during both self-administration and extinction training. DBS also attenuated the rats' lever presses following cocaine reinstatement (5-20 mg/kg) in comparison to sham-operated rats. These results were also controlled by the assessment of physical performance as measured by water self-administration and an open field test, and by evaluation of depressive-like manifestations as measured by the swim and two-bottles-choice tests. In contrast, LHb lesioned rats demonstrated increased cocaine seeking behavior as demonstrated by a delayed extinction response. In the ventral tegmental area, cocaine self-administration elevated glutamatergic receptor subunits NR1 and GluR1 and scaffolding protein PSD95, but not GABA(A)β, protein levels. Following DBS treatment, levels of these subunits returned to control values. We postulate that the effect of both LHb modulation and LHb DBS on cocaine reinforcement may be via attenuation of the cocaine-induced increase in glutaminergic input to the VTA. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hypersexual Disorder According to the Hypersexual Disorder Screening Inventory in Help-Seeking Swedish Men and Women With Self-Identified Hypersexual Behavior

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Katarina Görts Öberg, PhD

2017-12-01

Öberg KG, Hallberg J, Kaldo V, et al. Hypersexual Disorder According to the Hypersexual Disorder Screening Inventory in Help-Seeking Swedish Men and Women With Self-Identified Hypersexual Behavior. Sex Med 2017;5:e229–e236.

Community Health Seeking Behavior for Suspected Human and Animal Rabies Cases, Gomma District, Southwest Ethiopia.

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Tsegaye Tewelde G/hiwot

Full Text Available Timely presentation to appropriate health service provider of sick animals/humans from zoonotic diseases like rabies is important for early case/outbreak detection and management. However, data on community's health seeking practice for rabies in Ethiopia is limited. Therefore the objective of this study was to determine community's health seeking behavior on rabies, Southwest Ethiopia.A cross-sectional survey was conducted from January 16-February 14, 2015 to collect data from 808 respondents where the respondents were selected using multistage sampling technique. Data were collected using interviewer administered structured questionnaire by trained epidemiology graduate level students. Data were entered to Epidata version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 20 for windows.Eight hundred three (99.4% respondents participated in the study. Out of 28 respondents who reported their family members' exposure to rabies, 8 of them replied that the exposed family members sought treatment from traditional healers. More than nine in ten respondents perceived that humans and domestic animals with rabies exposure should seek help of which 85% of them suggested modern health care facilities as the preferred management option for the sick humans and domestic animals. However, among those who reported sick domestic animals, near to 72% of them had either slaughtered for human consumption, sold immediately, visited traditional healer, given home care or did nothing for the sick domestic animals.Majority of the respondents had favorable perception of seeking treatment from modern health care facilities for rabies. However, significant number of them had managed inappropriately for the sick domestic animals from rabies. Hence, raising awareness of the community about management of sick domestic animals from rabies and the need for reporting to both human and animal health service providers is needed.

Social Media Use and Sexual Risk Reduction Behavior Among Minority Youth: Seeking Safe Sex Information.

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Stevens, Robin; Gilliard-Matthews, Stacia; Dunaev, Jamie; Todhunter-Reid, Abigail; Brawner, Bridgette; Stewart, Jennifer

Sexual health is an important area of study-particularly for minority youth and youth living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The purpose of the research was to examine the sources of sexual health information associated with youth adopting sexual risk reduction behaviors. Data collection took place in a small city in the Northeastern United States using cross-sectional behavioral surveys and modified venue-based sampling. Participants included 249 African American and Latino youth aged 13-24. Participants reported their sources of information about contraception and human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted disease, such as TV/movies, parents, social media; their intentions to have sex; and condom and contraception use during their last sexual activity. Social media use, past pregnancy experience, past sexual history, age, and gender were also measured. Standard tests of bivariate association (chi-square and F tests) were used to examine initial associations between sexual risk reduction behavior and exposure to sexual risk reduction information on social media. Logistic regression models were used to test multivariate relationships between information sources and sexual risk reduction behavior. Youth who were exposed to sexual health messages on social media were 2.69 times (p < .05) and 2.49 times (p < .08) more likely to have used contraception or a condom at last intercourse, respectively. Parents, schools, or traditional media as information sources were not significantly associated with contractive use or condom use at last intercourse. Youth sexual behavior is increasingly informed by social media messages. Health practitioners should utilize social media as an important health promotion tool.

Factors related to cancer information scanning and seeking behavior among high school students in Korea.

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Kye, Su Yeon; Yun, E Hwa; Park, Keeho

2012-01-01

This paper aimed to determine the relationship between cancer information scanning and seeking experience of adolescents and cancer preventive behavior, perceived cancer risk, and levels of cancer- related knowledge. The study sample comprised 1,000 second-year students from 6 high schools: the general and vocational school systems were each represented by 1 boys', 1 girls', and 1 coeducational high school. In July 2011, trained researchers visited each classroom, explained the purpose of the study, distributed questionnaires to the students who agreed to participate, instructed them to complete the survey by self-reporting, and collected the completed questionnaires. The students who attended general high schools (as compared with vocational high schools), earned higher grades, consumed more vegetables, had a higher perceived cancer risk, and answered the cancer-related questions more correctly and had more cancer information scanning and seeking experience. These results reinforce the importance of cancer prevention health education. Furthermore, the results may help in preparing a strategy that enables people to acquire accurate cancer-related information easily and quickly.

Perceived morbidity, healthcare-seeking behavior and their determinants in a poor-resource setting: observation from India.

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Suman Kanungo

Full Text Available To control the double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCDs, in the developing world, understanding the patterns of morbidity and healthcare-seeking is critical. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine the distribution, predictors and inter-relationship of perceived morbidity and related healthcare-seeking behavior in a poor-resource setting.Between October 2013 and July 2014, 43999 consenting subjects were recruited from 10107 households in Malda district of West Bengal state in India, through multistage random sampling, using probability proportional-to-size. Information on socio-demographics, behaviors, recent ailments, perceived severity and healthcare-seeking were analyzed in SAS-9.3.2.Recent illnesses were reported by 55.91% (n=24,600 participants. Among diagnosed ailments (n=23,626, 50.92% (n=12,031 were NCDs. Respiratory (17.28%, n=7605, gastrointestinal (13.48%, n=5929 and musculoskeletal (6.25%, n=2749 problems were predominant. Non-qualified practitioners treated 53.16% (n=13,074 episodes. Older children/adolescents [adjusted odds ratio for private healthcare providers (AORPri=0.76, 95% confidence interval=0.71-0.83 and for Govt. healthcare provider (AORGovt=0.80(0.68-0.95], females [AORGovt=0.80(0.73-0.88], Muslims [AORPri=0.85(0.69-0.76 and AORGovt=0.92(0.87-0.96], backward castes [AORGovt=0.93(0.91-0.96] and rural residents [AORPri=0.82(0.75-0.89 and AORGovt=0.72(0.64-0.81] had lower odds of visiting qualified practitioners. Apparently less severe NCDs [acid-peptic disorders: AORPri=0.41(0.37-0.46 & AORGovt=0.41(0.37-0.46, osteoarthritis: AORPri=0.72(0.59-0.68 & AORGovt=0.58(0.43-0.78], gastrointestinal [AORPri=0.28(0.24-0.33 & AORGovt=0.69(0.58-0.81], respiratory [AORPri=0.35(0.32-0.39 & AORGovt=0.46(0.41-0.52] and skin infections [AORPri=0.65(0.55-0.77] were also less often treated by qualified practitioners. Better education [AORPri=1.91(1.65-2.22 for ≥graduation], sanitation [AORPri=1

Celebrity disclosures and information seeking: the case of Angelina Jolie.

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Juthe, Robin H; Zaharchuk, Amber; Wang, Catharine

2015-07-01

On 14 May 2013, actress Angelina Jolie disclosed that she had a BRCA1 mutation and underwent a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy. This study documents the impact of her disclosure on information-seeking behavior, specifically that regarding online genetics and risk reduction resources available from the National Cancer Institute. Using Adobe Analytics, daily page views for 11 resources were tracked from 23 April 2013 through 25 June 2013. Usage data were also obtained for four resources over a 2-year period (2012-2013). Source of referral that viewers used to locate a specific resource was also examined. There was a dramatic and immediate increase in traffic to the National Cancer Institute's online resources. The Preventive Mastectomy fact sheet received 69,225 page views on May 14, representing a 795-fold increase as compared with the previous Tuesday. A fivefold increase in page views was observed for the PDQ Genetics of Breast and Ovarian Cancer summary in the same time frame. A substantial increase, from 0 to 49%, was seen in referrals from news outlets to four resources from 7 May to 14 May. Celebrity disclosures can dramatically influence online information-seeking behaviors. Efforts to capitalize on these disclosures to ensure easy access to accurate information are warranted.

Smart Tools for Academic Information Seeking

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Eeva Koponen

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Systematic information seeking is an essential part of academic work. Research and information seeking go hand in hand, and both need planning. In the academic world you can hardly avoid the research plan, but you probably won’t hear that much about the information seeking plan. The information seeking plan guides you through the research process from the first sparks of an idea to the last dot in the bibliography from the point of view of the often invisible process of systematic information seeking. Systematic Information Seeking Framework designed in the Jyväskylä University Library has its roots in Carol Kuhlthau's Guided Inquiry Design Process. Our model, designed for more contextual adjustability, is presented in our Library Tutorial (https://koppa.jyu.fi/avoimet/kirjasto/en/library-tutorial, an open self-study material. The process starts with “Defining the topic and finding search terms”. This stage requires extensive reading about the subject matter, understanding the basic differences between everyday knowledge and scientific knowledge and distinguishing information resources for different kinds of needs. Analysis of concepts and understanding of their contextuality are at the core of scientific knowledge. With the information seeking plan and a mind map one can work on the search terms, discover connections and construct search statements for different resources and the search strategies they require. The second section is about “Finding sources”, which students often understand as the starting point for systematic information seeking. Knowledge of the publication cultures in different disciplines guide the information seeker to the different types of sources needed. Finally, “Citing and managing references”. One of the most essential skills in all academic work is the appropriate use of scientific sources, citing and managing references correctly. As academic dishonesty hurts the whole community, academic fraud, e

The role of the dorsal raphé nucleus in reward-seeking behavior

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Kae eNakamura

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Pharmacological experiments have shown that the modulation of brain serotonin levels has a strong impact on value-based decision making. Anatomical and physiological evidence also revealed that the dorsal raphé nucleus (DRN, a major source of serotonin, and the dopamine system receive common inputs from brain regions associated with appetitive and aversive information processing. The serotonin and dopamine systems also have reciprocal functional influences on each other. However, the specific mechanism by which serotonin affects value-based decision making is not clear.To understand the information carried by the DRN for reward-seeking behavior, we measured single neuron activity in the primate DRN during the performance of saccade tasks to obtain different amounts of a reward. We found that DRN neuronal activity was characterized by tonic modulation that was altered by the expected and received reward value. Consistent reward-dependent modulation across different task periods suggested that DRN activity kept track of the reward value throughout a trial. The DRN was also characterized by modulation of its activity in the opposite direction by different neuronal subgroups, one firing strongly for the prediction and receipt of large rewards, with the other firing strongly for small rewards. Conversely, putative dopamine neurons showed positive phasic responses to reward-indicating cues and the receipt of an unexpected reward amount, which supports the reward prediction error signal hypothesis of dopamine.I suggest that the tonic reward monitoring signal of the DRN, possibly together with its interaction with the dopamine system, reports a continuous level of motivation throughout the performance of a task. Such a signal may provide reward context information to the targets of DRN projections, where it may be integrated further with incoming motivationally salient information.

Animal health care seeking behavior of pets or livestock owners and knowledge and awareness on zoonoses in a university community.

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Awosanya, Emmanuel J; Akande, H O

2015-07-01

We investigated the attitude of pets or livestock owning households in a university community to animal health care services and assessed the knowledge and awareness level of the residents on zoonoses. Structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on demography, pet or livestock ownership, animal health care seeking behavior, awareness and knowledge of zoonoses from 246 households. We did descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis to determine the level of association in discrete variables between owners and non-owners of pets or livestock at a significant level of panimal health care seeking behavior of the 80 pets or livestock owners in terms of treatment and vaccination was 70%. Of the 56 (70%) who provided health care services for their animals, about 48 (85.7%) engaged the services of a veterinarian. Dog owning households (42) had the highest frequency of treating their pets against endoparasites (97.6%); ectoparasites (81%) and vaccination against diseases (73.8%). Of the 246 respondents, only 47 (19.1%) have heard of the term zoonoses. Of the considered zoonoses; their awareness of rabies (79.3%) was the highest, followed by Lassa fever (66.3%), the least was pasteurellosis with 18.7%. Having pets or livestock was significantly associated (p=0.04) with rabies awareness. However, there is no significant difference in the level of awareness of zoonoses; knowledge of zoonoses, knowledge of prevention of zoonoses and knowledge of risk of zoonoses between owners and non-owners of pets or livestock. The animal health care seeking behavior of households with pets or livestock is good and should be encouraged. Public education should be created for other zoonoses aside from rabies, Lassa fever, and avian influenza.

Health Information-Seeking Patterns of the General Public and Indications for Disease Surveillance: Register-Based Study Using Lyme Disease.

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Pesälä, Samuli; Virtanen, Mikko J; Sane, Jussi; Mustonen, Pekka; Kaila, Minna; Helve, Otto

2017-11-06

People using the Internet to find information on health issues, such as specific diseases, usually start their search from a general search engine, for example, Google. Internet searches such as these may yield results and data of questionable quality and reliability. Health Library is a free-of-charge medical portal on the Internet providing medical information for the general public. Physician's Databases, an Internet evidence-based medicine source, provides medical information for health care professionals (HCPs) to support their clinical practice. Both databases are available throughout Finland, but the latter is used only by health professionals and pharmacies. Little is known about how the general public seeks medical information from medical sources on the Internet, how this behavior differs from HCPs' queries, and what causes possible differences in behavior. The aim of our study was to evaluate how the general public's and HCPs' information-seeking trends from Internet medical databases differ seasonally and temporally. In addition, we aimed to evaluate whether the general public's information-seeking trends could be utilized for disease surveillance and whether media coverage could affect these seeking trends. Lyme disease, serving as a well-defined disease model with distinct seasonal variation, was chosen as a case study. Two Internet medical databases, Health Library and Physician's Databases, were used. We compared the general public's article openings on Lyme disease from Health Library to HCPs' article openings on Lyme disease from Physician's Databases seasonally across Finland from 2011 to 2015. Additionally, media publications related to Lyme disease were searched from the largest and most popular media websites in Finland. Both databases, Health Library and Physician's Databases, show visually similar patterns in temporal variations of article openings on Lyme disease in Finland from 2011 to 2015. However, Health Library openings show not only

Help seeking behavior of women with self-discovered breast cancer symptoms: a meta-ethnographic synthesis of patient delay.

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Zohreh Khakbazan

Full Text Available BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Patient delay makes a critical contribution to late diagnosis and poor survival in cases of breast cancer. Identifying the factors that influence patient delay could provide information for adopting strategies that shorten this delay. The aim of this meta-ethnography was to synthesize existing qualitative evidence in order to gain a new understanding of help seeking behavior in women with self-discovered breast cancer symptoms and to determine the factors that influence patient delay. METHODS: The design was a meta-ethnography approach. A systematic search of the articles was performed in different databases including Elsevier, PubMed, ProQuest and SCOPUS. Qualitative studies with a focus on help seeking behaviors in women with self-discovered breast cancer symptoms and patient delay, published in the English language between 1990 and 2013 were included. The quality appraisal of the articles was carried out using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme qualitative research checklist and 13 articles met the inclusion criteria. The synthesis was conducted according to Noblit and Hare's meta-ethnographic approach (1988, through reciprocal translational analysis and lines-of-argument. FINDINGS: The synthesis led to identification of eight repeated key concepts including: symptom detection, initial symptom interpretation, symptom monitoring, social interaction, emotional reaction, priority of medical help, appraisal of health services and personal-environmental factors. Symptom interpretation is identified as the important step of the help seeking process and which changed across the process through active monitoring of their symptoms, social interactions and emotional reactions. The perceived seriousness of the situation, priority to receive medical attention, perceived inaccessibility and unacceptability of the health care system influenced women's decision-making about utilizing health services. CONCLUSION: Help seeking

Shared Neural Mechanisms for the Evaluation of Intense Sensory Stimulation and Economic Reward, Dependent on Stimulation-Seeking Behavior.

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Norbury, Agnes; Valton, Vincent; Rees, Geraint; Roiser, Jonathan P; Husain, Masud

2016-09-28

Why are some people strongly motivated by intense sensory experiences? Here we investigated how people encode the value of an intense sensory experience compared with economic reward, and how this varies according to stimulation-seeking preference. Specifically, we used a novel behavioral task in combination with computational modeling to derive the value individuals assigned to the opportunity to experience an intense tactile stimulus (mild electric shock). We then examined functional imaging data recorded during task performance to see how the opportunity to experience the sensory stimulus was encoded in stimulation-seekers versus stimulation-avoiders. We found that for individuals who positively sought out this kind of sensory stimulation, there was common encoding of anticipated economic and sensory rewards in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Conversely, there was robust encoding of the modeled probability of receiving such stimulation in the insula only in stimulation-avoidant individuals. Finally, we found preliminary evidence that sensory prediction error signals may be positively signed for stimulation-seekers, but negatively signed for stimulation-avoiders, in the posterior cingulate cortex. These findings may help explain why high intensity sensory experiences are appetitive for some individuals, but not for others, and may have relevance for the increased vulnerability for some psychopathologies, but perhaps increased resilience for others, in high sensation-seeking individuals. People vary in their preference for intense sensory experiences. Here, we investigated how different individuals evaluate the prospect of an unusual sensory experience (electric shock), compared with the opportunity to gain a more traditional reward (money). We found that in a subset of individuals who sought out such unusual sensory stimulation, anticipation of the sensory outcome was encoded in the same way as that of monetary gain, in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex

Openness of Economy, Foreign Investment Inflows and the Phenomenon of Rent Seeking Corruption

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Syed Toqueer Akhter

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Rent seeking behavior has been amongst noticeable obstacles in path of economic growth and development for developing communities. Due to this the study aims at testing the hypothesis that the Rent seeking behavior among bureaucracy is being influenced by the openness of economy as well as inflows of foreign investment significantly. Model estimations imply that reforms may have an insignificant impact upon impact upon curtailing the rent seeking behavior among bureaucracy in a time series setting therefore this research will use two statistical econometric models to show the effect of corruption on the foreign direct inflow received in Pakistan. In order to pretest the impact of all the mentioned variables on rent seeking behavior generalized least square was used because its results were unbiased, consistent and the problem of Serial correlation was solved by using it. In order to quantify rent seeking behavior among bureaucracy different aspects of misuse of public offices appearing in form of petty and grand corruption were used using the variables informal sector, tax evasion, judicial outlay, G.D.P and F.D.I as percentage of G.D.P. All of the variables had proper signs aligned with the theory and all of the variables appeared to be significant except judicial outlay proving that the judiciary has been incompetent and ineffective. The robust regression showed all the same signs except in it every variable was appearing to be significant. Rent seeking corruption has been highly affecting Pakistan in adverse ways and this paper will show how many factors like judiciary is not playing effective role in limiting corruption and also how the economy is being affected by rent seeking behavior.

Postpartum Health Information Seeking Using Mobile Phones: Experiences of Low-Income Mothers.

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Guerra-Reyes, Lucia; Christie, Vanessa M; Prabhakar, Annu; Harris, Asia L; Siek, Katie A

2016-11-01

Objectives To assess low-income mothers' perceptions of their postpartum information needs; describe their information seeking behavior; explore their use of mobile technology to address those needs; and to contribute to the sparse literature on postpartum health and wellness. Methods Exploratory community-based qualitative approach. Interviewees were recruited among clients of community partners and had children aged 48 months and under. A survey assessing demographics was used to identify low-income mothers. 10 low-income mothers were recruited from survey participants to complete in-depth interviews regarding postpartum information needs, information seeking, and technology use. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded by three researchers independently. Narratives were analyzed along predetermined (etic) and emergent (emic) categories. Results Establishing breastfeeding and solving breastfeeding problems were central postpartum concerns leading to information seeking. Interviewees reported almost exclusive use of mobile phones to access the Internet. Mobile applications were widely used during pregnancy, but were not valuable postpartum. Face-to-face information from medical professionals was found to be repetitive. Online information seeking was mediated by default mobile phone search engines, and occurred over short, fragmented time periods. College graduates reported searching for authoritative knowledge sources; non-graduates preferred forums. Conclusions for Practice Low-income postpartum women rely on their smartphones to find online infant care and self-care health information. Websites replace pregnancy-related mobile applications and complement face-to-face information. Changes in searching behavior and multitasking mean information must be easily accessible and readily understood. Knowledge of page-rank systems and use of current and emergent social media will allow health-related organizations to better engage with low-income mothers online and

Utilization of health facilities and predictors of health-seeking behavior for under-five children with acute diarrhea in slums of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional study

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Adane, Metadel; Mengistie, Bezatu; Mulat, Worku; Kloos, Helmut; Medhin, Girmay

2017-01-01

Background Information on health-seeking behavior and utilization of health facilities in slums of Addis Ababa is scarce, impeding the implementation of effective interventions. The purpose of this study is to assess the status of health facilities utilization and predictors for health-seeking behavior of mothers/caregivers of under-five children with acute diarrhea in slums of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study design was employed in five rounds of surveys...

Aggressive behavior: an alternative model of resting heart rate and sensation seeking.

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Wilson, Laura C; Scarpa, Angela

2014-01-01

Low resting heart rate is a well-replicated biological correlate of aggression, and sensation seeking is frequently cited as the underlying causal explanation. However, little empirical evidence supports this mediating relationship. Furthermore, the biosocial model of violence and social push theory suggest sensation seeking may moderate the relationship between heart rate and aggression. In a sample of 128 college students (82.0% White; 73.4% female), the current study tested a moderation model as an alternative relationship between resting heart rate and sensation seeking in regard to aggression. Overall, the findings partially supported an interaction effect, whereby the relationship between heart rate and aggression was moderated by sensation seeking. Specifically, the oft-noted relationship between low resting heart rate and increased aggression was found, but only for individuals with low levels of sensation seeking. If replication supports this finding, the results may better inform prevention and intervention work. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Managers' Feedback Seeking Propensities on their Intra- Personal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Based on the idea that feedback seeking enhances job performance, the study was aimed at investigating managers' feedback seeking tendencies on their intra personal, interpersonal and leadership skills, and their preferred feedback sources: subordinates, peers and superiors. Using cross-sectional survey design, 156 ...

Do online mental health services improve help-seeking for young people? A systematic review.

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Kauer, Sylvia Deidre; Mangan, Cheryl; Sanci, Lena

2014-03-04

Young people regularly use online services to seek help and look for information about mental health problems. Yet little is known about the effects that online services have on mental health and whether these services facilitate help-seeking in young people. This systematic review investigates the effectiveness of online services in facilitating mental health help-seeking in young people. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, literature searches were conducted in PubMed, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane library. Out of 608 publications identified, 18 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria of investigating online mental health services and help-seeking in young people aged 14-25 years. Two qualitative, 12 cross-sectional, one quasi-experimental, and three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were reviewed. There was no change in help-seeking behavior found in the RCTs, while the quasi-experimental study found a slight but significant increase in help-seeking. The cross-sectional studies reported that online services facilitated seeking help from a professional source for an average of 35% of users. The majority of the studies included small sample sizes and a high proportion of young women. Help-seeking was often a secondary outcome, with only 22% (4/18) of studies using adequate measures of help-seeking. The majority of studies identified in this review were of low quality and likely to be biased. Across all studies, young people regularly used and were generally satisfied with online mental health resources. Facilitators and barriers to help-seeking were also identified. Few studies examine the effects of online services on mental health help-seeking. Further research is needed to determine whether online mental health services effectively facilitate help-seeking for young people.

Nucleus accumbens inflammation mediates anxiodepressive behavior and compulsive sucrose seeking elicited by saturated dietary fat

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Léa Décarie-Spain

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Objective: The incidence of depression is significantly compounded by obesity. Obesity arising from excessive intake of high-fat food provokes anxiodepressive behavior and elicits molecular adaptations in the nucleus accumbens (NAc, a region well-implicated in the hedonic deficits associated with depression and in the control of food-motivated behavior. To determine the etiology of diet-induced depression, we studied the impact of different dietary lipids on anxiodepressive behavior and metabolic and immune outcomes and the contribution of NAc immune activity. Methods: Adult C57Bl/6 mice were subjected to isocaloric high-fat/high-sucrose diets (HFD, enriched in either saturated or monounsaturated fat, or a control low-fat diet (LFD. Metabolic responses, anxiodepressive behavior, and plasma and NAc inflammatory markers were assessed after 12 weeks. In separate experiments, an adenoviral construct inhibiting IKKβ, an upstream component of the nuclear factor kappa-b (NFkB pathway, was a priori injected into the NAc. Results: Both HFDs resulted in obesity and hyperleptinemia; however, the saturated HFD uniquely triggered anxiety-like behavior, behavioral despair, hyperinsulinemia, glucose intolerance, peripheral inflammation, and multiple pro-inflammatory signs in the NAc, including reactive gliosis, increased expression of cytokines, antigen-presenting markers and NFкB transcriptional activity. Selective NAc IKKβ inhibition reversed the upregulated expression of inflammatory markers, prevented anxiodepressive behavior and blunted compulsive sucrose-seeking in mice fed the saturated HFD. Conclusions: Metabolic inflammation and NFкB-mediated neuroinflammatory responses in the NAc contribute to the expression of anxiodepressive behavior and heightened food cravings caused by a diet high in saturated fat and sugar. Keywords: Diet-induced obesity, Dietary fatty acids, Nuclear factor kappa-b, Neuroinflammation, Depression, Anxiety, Food reward

The Heterogeneity of Children of Alcoholics: Emotional Needs and Help-Seeking Propensity.

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Hinson, Renee C.; And Others

1993-01-01

Examined parental alcoholism and help-seeking behavior in college students classified as children of alcoholics (COAs, n=83), Help-seeking COAs (n=51), Controls (n=86), and Help-seeking Controls (n=90). Findings revealed that help-seeking appeared to be the more significant variable for discriminating differences in emotional needs of college…

Person × Environment Interactions on Adolescent Delinquency: Sensation Seeking, Peer Deviance and Parental Monitoring.

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Mann, Frank D; Kretsch, Natalie; Tackett, Jennifer L; Harden, K Paige; Tucker-Drob, Elliot M

2015-04-01

Sensation seeking is a personality trait that is robustly correlated with delinquent behavior in adolescence. The current study tested specific contextual factors hypothesized to facilitate, exacerbate or attenuate this risk factor for adolescent delinquency. Individual differences in sensation seeking, peer deviance, parental monitoring and self-reported delinquent behavior were assessed in a sample of 470 adolescents. Peer deviance partially mediated the effects of sensation seeking and parental monitoring on adolescent delinquency. We also found evidence for a three-way interaction between sensation seeking, peer deviance and parental monitoring, such that the highest rates of delinquency occurred from the concurrence of high sensation seeking, high peer deviance, and low levels of parental monitoring. Results highlight the importance of considering peer- and family-level processes when evaluating personality risk and problematic adolescent behavior.

Understanding cancer survivors' information needs and information-seeking behaviors for complementary and alternative medicine from short- to long-term survival: a mixed-methods study.

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Scarton, Lou Ann; Del Fiol, Guilherme; Oakley-Girvan, Ingrid; Gibson, Bryan; Logan, Robert; Workman, T Elizabeth

2018-01-01

The research examined complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) information-seeking behaviors and preferences from short- to long-term cancer survival, including goals, motivations, and information sources. A mixed-methods approach was used with cancer survivors from the "Assessment of Patients' Experience with Cancer Care" 2004 cohort. Data collection included a mail survey and phone interviews using the critical incident technique (CIT). Seventy survivors from the 2004 study responded to the survey, and eight participated in the CIT interviews. Quantitative results showed that CAM usage did not change significantly between 2004 and 2015. The following themes emerged from the CIT: families' and friends' provision of the initial introduction to a CAM, use of CAM to manage the emotional and psychological impact of cancer, utilization of trained CAM practitioners, and online resources as a prominent source for CAM information. The majority of participants expressed an interest in an online information-sharing portal for CAM. Patients continue to use CAM well into long-term cancer survivorship. Finding trustworthy sources for information on CAM presents many challenges such as reliability of source, conflicting information on efficacy, and unknown interactions with conventional medications. Study participants expressed interest in an online portal to meet these needs through patient testimonials and linkage of claims to the scientific literature. Such a portal could also aid medical librarians and clinicians in locating and evaluating CAM information on behalf of patients.

Healthcare-seeking behaviors for acute respiratory illness in two communities of Java, Indonesia: a cross-sectional survey.

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Praptiningsih, Catharina Y; Lafond, Kathryn E; Wahyuningrum, Yunita; Storms, Aaron D; Mangiri, Amalya; Iuliano, Angela D; Samaan, Gina; Titaley, Christiana R; Yelda, Fitra; Kreslake, Jennifer; Storey, Douglas; Uyeki, Timothy M

2016-06-01

Understanding healthcare-seeking patterns for respiratory illness can help improve estimations of disease burden and inform public health interventions to control acute respiratory disease in Indonesia. The objectives of this study were to describe healthcare-seeking behaviors for respiratory illnesses in one rural and one urban community in Western Java, and to explore the factors that affect care seeking. From February 8, 2012 to March 1, 2012, a survey was conducted in 2520 households in the East Jakarta and Bogor districts to identify reported recent respiratory illnesses, as well as all hospitalizations from the previous 12-month period. We found that 4% (10% of those less than 5years) of people had respiratory disease resulting in a visit to a healthcare provider in the past 2weeks; these episodes were most commonly treated at government (33%) or private (44%) clinics. Forty-five people (0.4% of those surveyed) had respiratory hospitalizations in the past year, and just over half of these (24/45, 53%) occurred at a public hospital. Public health programs targeting respiratory disease in this region should account for care at private hospitals and clinics, as well as illnesses that are treated at home, in order to capture the true burden of illness in these communities. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Predicting Cancer Information Seeking Behaviors of Smokers, Former Smokers and Nonsmokers Using the 2012 Health Information National Trends Survey

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Lee, Suekyung

2013-01-01

Cancer can be one of the most serious diseases that can result in a costly reduction in the quality of life. Among a number of cancer risk factors, tobacco use has been identified as the leading preventable cause of deaths. Prior research has suggested that cancer information seeking may be a pre-step to adopt health protective behaviors that can…

Does respondent driven sampling alter the social network composition and health-seeking behaviors of illicit drug users followed prospectively?

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Abby E Rudolph

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Respondent driven sampling (RDS was originally developed to sample and provide peer education to injection drug users at risk for HIV. Based on the premise that drug users' social networks were maintained through sharing rituals, this peer-driven approach to disseminate educational information and reduce risk behaviors capitalizes and expands upon the norms that sustain these relationships. Compared with traditional outreach interventions, peer-driven interventions produce greater reductions in HIV risk behaviors and adoption of safer behaviors over time, however, control and intervention groups are not similarly recruited. As peer-recruitment may alter risk networks and individual risk behaviors over time, such comparison studies are unable to isolate the effect of a peer-delivered intervention. This analysis examines whether RDS recruitment (without an intervention is associated with changes in health-seeking behaviors and network composition over 6 months. New York City drug users (N = 618 were recruited using targeted street outreach (TSO and RDS (2006-2009. 329 non-injectors (RDS = 237; TSO = 92 completed baseline and 6-month surveys ascertaining demographic, drug use, and network characteristics. Chi-square and t-tests compared RDS- and TSO-recruited participants on changes in HIV testing and drug treatment utilization and in the proportion of drug using, sex, incarcerated and social support networks over the follow-up period. The sample was 66% male, 24% Hispanic, 69% black, 62% homeless, and the median age was 35. At baseline, the median network size was 3, 86% used crack, 70% used cocaine, 40% used heroin, and in the past 6 months 72% were tested for HIV and 46% were enrolled in drug treatment. There were no significant differences by recruitment strategy with respect to changes in health-seeking behaviors or network composition over 6 months. These findings suggest no association between RDS recruitment and changes in

Internet information-seeking in mental health: population survey.

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Powell, John; Clarke, Aileen

2006-09-01

A major use of the of the internet is for health information-seeking. There has been little research into its use in relation to mental health. To investigate the prevalence of internet use for mental health information-seeking and its relative importance as a mental health information source. General population survey. Questions covered internet use, past psychiatric history and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. Eighteen per cent of all internet users had used the internet for information related to mental health. The prevalence was higher among those with a past history of mental health problems and those with current psychological distress. Only 12% of respondents selected the internet as one of the three most accurate sources of information, compared with 24% who responded that it was one of the three sources they would use. The internet has a significant role in mental health information-seeking. The internet is used more than it is trusted.

Toward a deeper understanding of the willingness to seek help: the case of teleworkers.

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Golden, Timothy D; Schoenleber, Alisa H W

2014-01-01

Employees frequently do not engage in help-seeking due to the associated social costs. Despite the importance of help-seeking, little research has been done to explore factors affecting whether individuals will or will not engage in help-seeking at work, and existing research has thus far not addressed help seeking in the telework context. This paper expands the current literature on help-seeking by exploring this behavior in the context of teleworkers and develops propositions regarding how aspects of virtual work environments will help determine teleworkers' willingness to engage in help-seeking behavior. This article presents a review with critical analysis and integration of selected telework and help-seeking literatures. Grounded in the literature on inequity/indebtedness and the literature on threats to self-esteem, theoretically-derived research propositions are developed that help shed insights into help seeking behaviors in the telework context. These research propositions encompass media presence and the teleworker's perceived opportunity for reciprocation, and their associated impacts on the perceived cost of seeking help. The proposed research propositions provide practitioners and researchers a means to be better able to assess telework applications and prevent unintended effects. Through such systematic understanding of how telework alters the perceived cost of seeking help and the teleworker's willingness to seek help, telework may be further improved to contribute to more effective and productive individuals and organizations.

Understanding help-seeking amongst university students: the role of group identity, stigma, and exposure to suicide and help-seeking

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Kearns, Michelle; Muldoon, Orla T.; Msetfi, Rachel M.; Surgenor, Paul W. G.

2015-01-01

Background: Despite a high prevalence of suicide ideation and mental health issues amongst university students, the stigma of help-seeking remains a barrier to those who are in real need of professional support. Social identity theory states that help received from an ingroup source is more welcome and less threatening to one's identity than that from a source perceived as outgroup. Therefore, we hypothesized that students' stigma toward seeking help from their university mental health service would differ based on the strength of their identification with the university. Method: An online survey including measures of stigma of suicide, group identification, experience with help-seeking and exposure to suicide was administered to Irish university students (N = 493). Results: Group identification was a significant predictor of help-seeking attitudes after controlling for already known predictors. Contrary to our expectations, those who identified more strongly with their university demonstrated a higher stigma of seeking help from their university mental health service. Conclusions: Results are discussed in relation to self-categorization theory and the concept of normative fit. Practical implications for mental health service provision in universities are also addressed, specifically the need for a range of different mental health services both on and off-campus. PMID:26483722

Understanding help-seeking amongst university students: The role of group identity, stigma and exposure to suicide and help-seeking

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Michelle eKearns

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Background: Despite a high prevalence of suicide ideation and mental health issues amongst university students, the stigma of help-seeking remains a barrier to those who are in real need of professional support. Social identity theory states that help received from an ingroup source is more welcome and less threatening to one’s identity than that from a source perceived as outgroup. Therefore, we hypothesized that students' stigma towards seeking help from their university mental health service would differ based on the strength of their identification with the university.Method: An online survey including measures of stigma of suicide, group identification, experience with help-seeking and exposure to suicide was administered to Irish university students (N = 493.Results: Group identification was a significant predictor of help-seeking attitudes after controlling for already known predictors. Contrary to our expectations, those who identified more strongly with their university demonstrated a higher stigma of seeking help from their university mental health service.Conclusions: Results are discussed in relation to self-categorization theory and the concept of normative fit. Practical implications for mental health service provision in universities are also addressed, specifically the need for a range of different mental health services both on and off-campus.

How, When and Why People Seek Health Information Online: Qualitative Study in Hong Kong.

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Chu, Joanna Tw; Wang, Man Ping; Shen, Chen; Viswanath, Kasisomayajula; Lam, Tai Hing; Chan, Sophia Siu Chee

2017-12-12

The Internet has become an established source for health information. The number of individuals using the Internet to search for health information, ranging from healthy lifestyle advice to treatment and diseases, continues to grow. Scholars have emphasized the need to give greater voice and influence to health consumers. Hong Kong, being one of the most technologically advanced and connected cities in the world, has one of the highest Internet penetration rates in the world. Given the dearth of research in an Asian context, Hong Kong is an excellent platform to study individuals' perceptions (eg, benefits and limitations on seeking health information online and how the information is used) on health information seeking. The aim of this paper was to study individuals' perceptions on health information seeking and to document their Internet information-seeking behaviors. Five focus groups (n=49) were conducted from November 2015 to January 2016 with individuals across different age groups (18 years or above). Focus group contents were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis techniques. Older (55+ years) and less educated respondents were less likely to use the Internet to search for health information. Among individuals who obtained health information via the Internet, regardless of the severity of the health issue, the Internet was always the first source for information. Limited doctor consultation time and barriers to accessing professional health services were the main reasons for using the Internet. Convenience and coverage were regarded as the main advantages, whereas credibility and trustworthiness of health information were noted as limitations. The use of Web-based health information varied among individuals; hence, the implications on the doctor-patient relationship were mixed. The prevalent and increasing use of the Internet for health information seeking suggests the need for health care professionals to understand how it can be

Digital Natives Versus Digital Immigrants: Influence of Online Health Information Seeking on the Doctor-Patient Relationship.

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Haluza, Daniela; Naszay, Marlene; Stockinger, Andreas; Jungwirth, David

2017-11-01

Ubiquitous Internet access currently revolutionizes the way people acquire information by creating a complex, worldwide information network. The impact of Internet use on the doctor-patient relationship is a moving target that varies across sociodemographic strata and nations. To increase scientific knowledge on the patient-Web-physician triangle in Austria, this study reports findings regarding prevailing online health information-seeking behavior and the respective impact on doctor-patient interactions among a nonprobability convenience sample of Internet users. To investigate digital age group-specific influences, we analyzed whether digital natives and digital immigrants differed in their perspectives. The questionnaire-based online survey collected sociodemographic data and online health information-seeking behavior from a sample of 562 respondents (59% females, mean age 37 ± 15 years, 54% digital natives). Most respondents (79%) referred to the Internet to seek health information, making it the most commonly used source for health information, even more prevalent then the doctor. We found similar predictors for using the Internet as a source for health-related information across digital age groups. Thus, the overall generational gap seems to be small among regular Internet users in Austria. However, study participants expressed a rather skeptical attitude toward electronic exchange of health data between health care professionals and patients, as well as toward reliability of online health information. To improve adoption of electronic doctor-patient communication and patient empowerment, public education and awareness programs are required to promote consumer-centered health care provision and patient empowerment.

A review of literature on delays in seeking care for tuberculosis in different Indian states

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Janmejaya Samal

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The passive case-finding approach of Revised National Tuberculosis (TB Control Programme in India strongly affects the health-seeking behavior of TB patients, the timing of help seeking as well as the subsequent delays associated with the same. Studies carried out in different parts of India reveal a host of several factors for delay in seeking help and the reasons for not seeking help at all. Important reasons for delayed health-seeking behavior include financial constraint, symptoms are not severe (as perceived by the patients, work pressure, lack of awareness, first consulted nonpublic sector, inaccessibility to health facility, home remedy, social stigma, self-medication, transport problem, and dissatisfaction with health facility. Similarly, the median patient delay ranged from 7 to 56 days as reported by various studies. Health-seeking behavior and related delays are of utmost importance in TB care from two important perspectives; first, TB requires timely treatment, and second, it requires protracted treatment. Required level of knowledge and a positive health behavior helps the patients in taking timely help from an appropriate health facility. Moreover, timely help-seeking prevents further spread of the disease and helps in establishing a TB-free society.

Behavioral consequences of conflict-oriented health news coverage: the 2009 mammography guideline controversy and online information seeking.

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Weeks, Brian E; Friedenberg, Laura M; Southwell, Brian G; Slater, Jonathan S

2012-01-01

Building on channel complementarity theory and media-system dependency theory, this study explores the impact of conflict-oriented news coverage of health issues on information seeking online. Using Google search data as a measure of behavior, we demonstrate that controversial news coverage of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's November 2009 recommendations for changes in breast cancer screening guidelines strongly predicted the volume of same-day online searches for information about mammograms. We also found that this relationship did not exist 1 year prior to the coverage, during which mammography news coverage did not focus on the guideline controversy, suggesting that the controversy frame may have driven search behavior. We discuss the implications of these results for health communication scholars and practitioners.

Different Types of Sensation Seeking: A Person-Oriented Approach in Sensation-Seeking Research

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Suranyi, Zsuzsanna; Hitchcock, David B.; Hittner, James B.; Vargha, Andras; Urban, Robert

2013-01-01

Previous research on sensation seeking (SS) was dominated by a variable-oriented approach indicating that SS level has a linear relation with a host of problem behaviors. Our aim was to provide a person-oriented methodology--a probabilistic clustering--that enables examination of both inter- and intra-individual differences in not only the level,…

Gender-specific differences in depression and anxiety symptoms and help-seeking behavior among gastroenterology patients in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Alosaimi, Fahad D; Al-Sultan, Omar A; Alghamdi, Qusay A; Almohaimeed, Ibrahim K; Alqannas, Sulaiman I

2014-07-01

To evaluate the gender-specific difference in the prevalence of depression and anxiety and the help-seeking behavior among gastroenterology outpatients. A cross-sectional study was carried out in gastroenterology clinics in 4 hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between February and September 2013. A self-administrated questionnaire was developed and administered to patients. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) questionnaires were used to identify depression and anxiety. A total of 438 patients completed the study questionnaire; 135 (31%) females, and 303 (69%) males. Compared with males, females had more depression symptoms (44% versus 32%, p=0.012), anxiety symptoms (34% versus 24%, p=0.036), anxiety-associated difficulty (65% versus 52%, p=0.012), but similar suicidal thoughts (14% versus 11%, p=0.347). Females had similar gastrointestinal complaints but longer duration of symptoms. In both females and males, the most common first interventions were using medications (63% versus 69%), and undergoing endoscopy (19% versus 15%), while very few patients initially used herbs or Islamic incantation `Roquia` (7% versus 8%). Compared with males, females were more likely to subsequently seek help at private clinics (23% versus 14%, p=0.014), or with a Quran therapist (11% versus 5%, p=0.012). There are clear gender-specific differences in depression and anxiety symptoms and associated perceived difficulty, but modest differences in help-seeking behavior. Female patients at the gastroenterology clinic may deserve more psychological attention to diagnose depression and anxiety and to alleviate their impact.

Self-Presentation, Desired Partner Characteristics, and Sexual Behavior Preferences in Online Personal Advertisements of Men Seeking Non-Gay-Identified Men

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Schrimshaw, Eric W.

2015-01-01

Despite attention to the sexual behaviors of non-gay-identified (NGI) men who have same-sex encounters, virtually no research has focused on issues of partner desirability and selection. Limited evidence suggests that a subgroup of men who have sex with men (MSM) advertise online for sexual encounters with NGI men. Exchange theory provided a framework to investigate this seeking of NGI men, based on the content of Internet personal advertisements for same-sex encounters. Researchers analyzed 282 ads posted to an online bulletin board. Ads by men who explicitly desired encounters with NGI men were compared with those by men who did not indicate this preference in potential partners. Multivariate analyses revealed that NGI-seeking men had significantly increased odds of identifying as discreet (Adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.82), seeking a discreet encounter (AOR = 4.68), seeking a masculine partner (AOR = 2.18), being willing to host (AOR = 2.77), as well as seeking oral-receptive sex (AOR = 2.69), unprotected oral sex (AOR = 6.76), and anal-receptive sex (AOR = 2.18). Further, NGI-seeking ads were more likely to not mention condom use or safer sex practices (AOR = 4.13) and were less likely to indicate a desire for oral-insertive sex (AOR = 0.34) and rimming (AOR = 0.21). Findings suggest that some men may deliberately present themselves in ways that they perceive as being attractive to NGI men, and have research implications for NGI MSM, their partners, and the risk outcomes of these online ads. PMID:25750927

Self-Presentation, Desired Partner Characteristics, and Sexual Behavior Preferences in Online Personal Advertisements of Men Seeking Non-Gay-Identified Men.

Science.gov (United States)

Downing, Martin J; Schrimshaw, Eric W

2014-03-14

Despite attention to the sexual behaviors of non-gay-identified (NGI) men who have same-sex encounters, virtually no research has focused on issues of partner desirability and selection. Limited evidence suggests that a subgroup of men who have sex with men (MSM) advertise online for sexual encounters with NGI men. Exchange theory provided a framework to investigate this seeking of NGI men, based on the content of Internet personal advertisements for same-sex encounters. Researchers analyzed 282 ads posted to an online bulletin board. Ads by men who explicitly desired encounters with NGI men were compared with those by men who did not indicate this preference in potential partners. Multivariate analyses revealed that NGI-seeking men had significantly increased odds of identifying as discreet (Adjusted odds ratio [ AOR ] = 2.82), seeking a discreet encounter ( AOR = 4.68), seeking a masculine partner ( AOR = 2.18), being willing to host ( AOR = 2.77), as well as seeking oral-receptive sex ( AOR = 2.69), unprotected oral sex ( AOR = 6.76), and anal-receptive sex ( AOR = 2.18). Further, NGI-seeking ads were more likely to not mention condom use or safer sex practices ( AOR = 4.13) and were less likely to indicate a desire for oral-insertive sex ( AOR = 0.34) and rimming ( AOR = 0.21). Findings suggest that some men may deliberately present themselves in ways that they perceive as being attractive to NGI men, and have research implications for NGI MSM, their partners, and the risk outcomes of these online ads.

Maternal knowledge and care.seeking behaviors for newborn ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Delay in the presentation of infants with jaundice at the hospital is a reason for the persistence of the severe forms of jaundice. Objective: The aim was to determine the influence of maternal knowledge on newborn jaundice on their care-seeking practices. Methods: In a cross-sectional survey, mothers whose ...

Premeditation moderates the relation between sensation seeking and risky substance use among young adults.

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McCabe, Connor J; Louie, Kristine A; King, Kevin M

2015-09-01

Young adulthood is a peak period for externalizing behaviors such as substance abuse and antisocial conduct. Evidence from developmental neuroscience suggests that externalizing conduct within this time period may be associated with a "developmental asymmetry" characterized by an early peak in sensation seeking combined with a relatively immature impulse control system. Trait measures of impulsivity-sensation seeking and premeditation-are psychological manifestations of these respective systems, and multiple prior studies suggest that high sensation seeking and low premeditation independently confer risk for distinct forms of externalizing behaviors. The goal of the present study was to test this developmental asymmetry hypothesis, examining whether trait premeditation moderates the effect of sensation seeking on substance use and problems, aggression, and rule-breaking behavior. Using a cross-sectional sample of college-enrolled adults (n = 491), we applied zero-inflated modeling strategies to examine the likelihood and level of risky externalizing behaviors. Results indicated that lower premeditation enhanced the effect of higher sensation seeking on higher levels of positive and negative alcohol consequences, more frequent drug use, and more problematic drug use, but was unrelated to individual differences in antisocial behaviors. Our findings indicate that the developmental asymmetry between sensation seeking and a lack of premeditation is a risk factor for individual differences in problematic substance use among young adults, and may be less applicable for antisocial behaviors among high functioning individuals. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Behavior of Layers under Different Light Sources

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BO Tavares

2015-12-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Light is an important factor in the management of laying poultry. The ideal lamp spectrum that provides the best welfare conditions still needs to be determined. Wavelength and light intensity influence poultry behavior and their welfare. This study evaluated the influence of four lamps types with different light spectra on the behavior of seventy 52-week laying hens. Incandescent, fluorescent, and sodium and mercury vapor lamps were set in a different poultry house each and supplied similar light intensities. Layer behavior was video-recorded three times weekly using video cameras installed on the ceiling. The effects of different wavelengths emitted by the light sources on layer behavior were evaluated by the Kruskal-Wallis median test. Results indicated that incandescent and sodium vapor lamps increased the occurrence of nesting, and of active behaviors, such as floor-scratching and pecking.

College Students’ Information Needs and Information Seeking Behaviors regarding Personal Information

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Yu-Wen Liu

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This study analyzed college students’ reactions toward the issues of personal information. Students’ needs and seeking behaviors for personal information were assessed. Relevant literature was reviewed for framing the research questions and designing the questionnaire items for survey. Survey subjects were students from an university at northern Taiwan. A set of questionnaire items were used to collect research data. Statistical analysis from 252 valid data reveals some items were highly rated: Students reflected highly for their need of knowledge under the security threat of personal information (M = 4.29. They reacted strongly on acquiring knowledge and resources through the Internet (M = 4.24. They preferred the use of resources clear and easy to be understood (M = 4.04. However, most students had low level faith toward either government or non-governmental organizations in securing their personal information (M < 3.0 for most items. More effort among education and government should be emphasized in the future to improve personal use and reduce uncertainty in the use of personal information.

Sigma-1 Receptor Mediates Acquisition of Alcohol Drinking and Seeking behavior in Alcohol-Preferring Rats

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Blasio, Angelo; Valenza, Marta; Iyer, Malliga R.; Rice, Kenner C.; Steardo, Luca; Hayashi, T.; Cottone, Pietro; Sabino, Valentina

2015-01-01

Sigma-1 receptor (Sig-1R) has been proposed as a novel therapeutic target for drug and alcohol addiction. We have shown previously that Sig-1R agonists facilitate the reinforcing effects of ethanol and induce binge-like drinking, while Sig-1R antagonists block excessive drinking in both genetic and environmental models of alcoholism, without affecting intake in outbred non-dependent rats. Even though significant progress has been made in understanding the function of Sig-1Rs in alcohol reinforcement, its role in the early and late stage of alcohol addiction remains unclear. Administration of the selective Sig-1R antagonist BD-1063 dramatically reduced the acquisition of alcohol drinking behavior as well as the preference for alcohol in genetically selected TSRI Sardinian alcohol preferring (Scr:sP) rats; the treatment had no effect on total fluid intake, food intake or body weight gain, proving selectivity of action. Furthermore, BD-1063 dose-dependently decreased alcohol-seeking behavior in rats trained under a second-order schedule of reinforcement, in which responding is maintained by contingent presentation of a conditioned reinforcer. Finally, an innate elevation in Sig-1R protein levels was found in the nucleus accumbens of alcohol-preferring Scr:sP rats, compared to outbred Wistar rats, alteration which was normalized by chronic, voluntary alcohol drinking. Taken together these findings demonstrate that Sig-1R blockade reduces the propensity to both acquire alcohol drinking and to seek alcohol, and point to the nucleus accumbens as a potential key region for the effects observed. Our data suggest that Sig-1R antagonists may have therapeutic potential in multiple stages of alcohol addiction. PMID:25848705

What Factors Affect Health Seeking Behavior?

African Journals Online (AJOL)

reducing cost, disability and death from diseases. (2). However, good health ... The Health Belief Model where the concept is the 'perceived susceptibility', which refers ... behavioral intentions and actions (6). ... integrated behavioral model.

Power System Oscillatory Behaviors: Sources, Characteristics, & Analyses

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Follum, James D. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Tuffner, Francis K. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Dosiek, Luke A. [Union College, Schenectady, NY (United States); Pierre, John W. [Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States)

2017-05-17

This document is intended to provide a broad overview of the sources, characteristics, and analyses of natural and forced oscillatory behaviors in power systems. These aspects are necessarily linked. Oscillations appear in measurements with distinguishing characteristics derived from the oscillation’s source. These characteristics determine which analysis methods can be appropriately applied, and the results from these analyses can only be interpreted correctly with an understanding of the oscillation’s origin. To describe oscillations both at their source within a physical power system and within measurements, a perspective from the boundary between power system and signal processing theory has been adopted.

Maternal complications and women's behavior in seeking care from skilled providers in North Gondar, Ethiopia.

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Abebaw Gebeyehu Worku

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Maternal complications are morbidities suffered during pregnancy through the postpartum period of 42 days. In Ethiopia, little is known about women's experience of complications and their care-seeking behavior. This study attempted to assess experiences related to obstetric complication and seeking assistance from a skilled provider among women who gave birth in the last 12 months preceding the study. METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional survey of women who gave birth within one year preceding the study regardless of their delivery place. The study was carried out in six selected districts in North Gondar Zone, Amhara Region. Data was collected house-to-house in 12 selected clusters (kebeles using a pretested Amharic questionnaire. During the survey, 1,668 women were interviewed. Data entry was done using Epi Info version 3.5.3 and was exported to SPSS for analysis. Logistic regression was applied to control confounders. RESULTS: Out of the total sample, 476 women (28.5%, 95% CI: 26.4%, 30.7% reported some kind of complication. The most common complications reported were; excessive bleeding and prolonged labor that occurred mostly at the time of delivery and postpartum period. Out of the total women who faced complications, 248 (52.1%, 95% CI: 47.6%, 56.6% sought assistance from a skilled provider. Inability to judge the severity of morbidities, distance/transport problems, lack of money/cost considerations and use of traditional options at home were the major reasons for not seeking care from skilled providers. Belonging to a wealthier quintile, getting antenatal care from a skilled provider and agreement of a woman in planning for possible complications were significantly associated with seeking assistance from a skilled provider. CONCLUSION: Nearly half of the women who faced complications did not use skilled providers at the time of obstetric complications. Cognitive, geographic, economic and cultural barriers were involved

Factors associated with mobile health information seeking among Singaporean women.

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Chang, Leanne; Chiuan Yen, Ching; Xue, Lishan; Choo Tai, Bee; Chuan Chan, Hock; Been-Lirn Duh, Henry; Choolani, Mahesh

2017-01-01

This study examined effects of age and social psychological factors on women's willingness to be mobile health information seekers. A national survey of 1,878 Singaporean women was conducted to obtain information on women's mobile phone usage, experiences of health information seeking, and appraisals of using mobile phones to seek health information. Results showed that young, middle-aged, and older women exhibited distinct mobile phone usage behaviors, health information-seeking patterns, and assessments of mobile health information seeking. Factors that accounted for their mobile information-seeking intention also varied. Data reported in this study provide insights into mobile health interventions in the future.

The Role of Personality in Musicians' Information Seeking for Creativity

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Kostagiolas, Petros; Lavranos, Charilaos; Martzoukou, Konstantina; Papadatos, Joseph

2017-01-01

Introduction: This paper explores the relationship between musicians' information seeking behaviour and their personality traits within the context of musical creativity. Although previous research has addressed different socio-technological and behavioral aspects of music information seeking, the role of personality characteristics around…

Prefrontal neurons encode context-based response execution and inhibition in reward seeking and extinction

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Moorman, David E.; Aston-Jones, Gary

2015-01-01

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) guides execution and inhibition of behavior based on contextual demands. In rodents, the dorsal/prelimbic (PL) medial PFC (mPFC) is frequently considered essential for execution of goal-directed behavior (“go”) whereas ventral/infralimbic (IL) mPFC is thought to control behavioral suppression (“stop”). This dichotomy is commonly seen for fear-related behaviors, and for some behaviors related to cocaine seeking. Overall, however, data for reward-directed behaviors are ambiguous, and few recordings of PL/IL activity have been performed to demonstrate single-neuron correlates. We recorded neuronal activity in PL and IL during discriminative stimulus driven sucrose seeking followed by multiple days of extinction of the reward-predicting stimulus. Contrary to a generalized PL-go/IL-stop hypothesis, we found cue-evoked activity in PL and IL during reward seeking and extinction. Upon analyzing this activity based on resultant behavior (lever press or withhold), we found that neurons in both areas encoded contextually appropriate behavioral initiation (during reward seeking) and withholding (during extinction), where context was dictated by response–outcome contingencies. Our results demonstrate that PL and IL signal contextual information for regulation of behavior, irrespective of whether that involves initiation or suppression of behavioral responses, rather than topographically encoding go vs. stop behaviors. The use of context to optimize behavior likely plays an important role in maximizing utility-promoting exertion of activity when behaviors are rewarded and conservation of energy when not. PMID:26170333

Self-optimizing control of air-source heat pump with multivariable extremum seeking

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Dong, Liujia; Li, Yaoyu; Mu, Baojie; Xiao, Yan

2015-01-01

The air-source heat pump (ASHP) is widely adopted for cooling and heating of residential and commercial buildings. The performance of ASHP can be controlled by several operating variables, such as compressor capacity, condenser fan speed, evaporator fan speed and suction superheat. In practice, the system characteristics can be varied significantly by the variations in ambient condition, operation setpoint, internal thermal load and equipment degradation, which makes it difficult to obtain accurate plant models. As consequence, the model based control strategies for ASHP could limit the achievable energy efficiency. Model-free self-optimizing control strategies are thus more preferable. In this study, a multi-input extremum seeking control (ESC) scheme is proposed for both heating and cooling operation of ASHP. The zone temperature is assumed to be regulated by the compressor capacity, while the expansion valve opening is used to regulate the suction superheat at the given setpoint. The total power consumption of the compressor, the condenser fan and the evaporator fan is measured as input to the ESC, while the ESC controls the evaporator fan speed, the condenser fan speed and the suction superheat setpoint. The proposed scheme is evaluated with a Modelica based dynamic simulation model of ASHP under both cooling and heating modes of operation. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme to achieve the maximum achievable efficiency in a nearly model-free manner. - Highlights: • Multi-input ESC. • Air-source heat pump. • Cooling and heating. • Modelica based model

The Influence of Achievement Goals on Online Help Seeking of Computer Science Students

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Hao, Qiang; Barnes, Brad; Wright, Ewan; Branch, Robert Maribe

2017-01-01

This study investigated the online help-seeking behaviors of computer science students with a focus on the effect of achievement goals. The online help-seeking behaviors investigated were online searching, asking teachers online for help, and asking peers or unknown people online for help. One hundred and sixty-five students studying computer…

Circadian typology and sensation seeking in adolescents.

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Muro, Anna; Gomà-i-Freixanet, Montserrat; Adan, Ana

2012-12-01

The relationship of circadian typology with personality has been largely studied in adults, but there are few studies exploring such relationship in adolescents. Adolescence has been associated with a greater tendency to eveningness preference, sleeping problems, poorer academic achievement, earlier substance use, or risky behaviors, and it is suggested that this association might be mediated by personality factors. Given the relevance of identifying the behavioral outcomes of young evening types to detect and prevent health problems, the present study aimed to explore, for the first time, the relationship between sensation seeking and circadian typology in an adolescent sample of 688 students (51.45% boys) from 12 to 16 yrs old. They answered the Spanish versions of the Morningness-Eveningness Scale for Children (MESC) and the Junior Sensation Seeking Scale (J-SSS), which includes four subscales measuring Thrill and Adventure Seeking, Experience Seeking, Disinhibition, and Boredom Susceptibility. Analyses showed that boys obtained significantly higher scores than girls on J-SSS total score and all subscales except Boredom Susceptibility, whereas evening-type adolescents of both sexes scored significantly higher than neither types and than morning types on J-SSS total score. These results indicate that evening-type adolescents show a greater desire for varied, new, complex, and intense sensations, and they are ready for experiencing more risks than morning types. The implications of this study suggest the need of being aware of individual differences in the SS trait in evening-type adolescents, as well as taking into account the wide variety of behaviors associated with it, either prosocial or antisocial, to design better preventive health and academic programs.

Cortical GluN2B deletion attenuates punished suppression of food reward-seeking.

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Radke, Anna K; Nakazawa, Kazu; Holmes, Andrew

2015-10-01

Compulsive behavior, which is a hallmark of psychiatric disorders such as addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder, engages corticostriatal circuits. Previous studies indicate a role for corticostriatal N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) in mediating compulsive-like responding for drugs of abuse, but the specific receptor subunits controlling reward-seeking in the face of punishment remain unclear. The current study assessed the involvement of corticostriatal GluN2B-containing NMDARs in measures of persistent and punished food reward-seeking. Mice with genetic deletion of GluN2B in one of three distinct neuronal populations, cortical principal neurons, forebrain interneurons, or striatal medium spiny neurons, were tested for (1) sustained food reward-seeking when reward was absent, (2) reward-seeking under a progressive ratio schedule of reinforcement, and (3) persistent reward-seeking after a footshock punishment. Mutant mice with genetic deletion of GluN2B in cortical principal neurons demonstrated attenuated suppression of reward-seeking during punishment. These mice performed normally on other behavioral measures, including an assay for pain sensitivity. Mutants with interneuronal or striatal GluN2B deletions were normal on all behavioral assays. Current findings offer novel evidence that loss of GluN2B-containing NMDARs expressed on principal neurons in the cortex results in reduced punished food reward-seeking. These data support the involvement of GluN2B subunit in cortical circuits regulating cognitive flexibility in a variety of settings, with implications for understanding the basis of inflexible behavior in neuropsychiatric disorders including obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) and addictions.

Help and Care Seeking for Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Youth in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

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Newton-Levinson, Anna; Leichliter, Jami S; Chandra-Mouli, Venkatraman

2017-06-01

The ability to seek help or medical care for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is vital for sexually active youth; yet, their needs are often unmet. We conducted a qualitative systematic review of studies to assess youth and provider views about the behaviors of young people in help seeking and care seeking for STI services in low- and middle-income countries. We searched peer-reviewed literature for studies published between 2001 and 2014 with a study population of youth (age, 10-24 years) and/or health service providers. Eighteen studies were identified for inclusion from 18 countries. Thematic analyses identified key themes across the studies. The majority of studies included discussion of youth not seeking treatment, resorting to self-treatment, or waiting to access care, suggesting that many youth still do not seek timely care for STIs. Youth desired more information on sexual health and cited barriers related to fear or taboos in obtaining help or information, especially from providers or parents. Many did not recognize symptoms or waited until symptoms worsened. However, many youth were able to identify a number of sources for STI related care including public and private clinics, pharmacies, alternative healers, and nongovernmental organizations. Youth's help seeking and care seeking preferences were frequently influenced by desires for confidentiality, friendliness, and cost. Youth in low- and middle-income countries experience significant barriers in help seeking for STIs and often do not seek or postpone medical care. Improving uptake may require efforts to address clinic systems, provider attitudes, confidentiality, and cultural norms related to youth sexuality.

Validation of the Chinese-language brief sensation seeking scale: implications for risky riding behaviors of parental motorcyclists and their child passengers.

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Fan, Hsiu-Ping; Lin, Mau-Roung; Bai, Chyi-Huey; Huang, Ping-Wen; Chiang, Yung-Hsiao; Chiu, Wen-Ta

2014-12-01

Motorcycles are the leading cause of road traffic deaths in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia, where Mandarin Chinese is the most commonly used language. Sensation seeking (SS) is reported to correlate with many risky motor vehicle behaviors, and therefore a culture-adapted Chinese instrument is needed to assess this personality trait in Chinese-speaking motorcycling populations. The standard front and blinded-backward process was carried out to formulate the Chinese-language Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (C-BSSS). 193 parental motorcyclists who rode with their young children were interviewed concerning their SS levels, demographics, riding behaviors, and the driving/riding experiences. A random sample of 30 subjects was re-interviewed 1-2 weeks later to examine the test-retest reliability. Psychometric analyses revealed satisfactory item characteristics, internal consistency, intraobserver reliability, and interobserver reliability. Additionally, parental motorcyclists who had the following characteristics were more likely to be the high sensation seekers (SSers), including male, younger age, presenting risky motor vehicle behaviors of themselves (e.g., higher riding speeds, operating after drinking, using a mobile phone while operating, and receiving a traffic ticket), and carrying child passengers who demonstrated dangerous motorcycling behaviors (e.g., a younger age, non-helmeted, and overloaded). We conclude that the C-BSSS is a useful and reliable measure of SS for ethnic Chinese populations. This instrument may be helpful to develop the future prevention strategy of motorcycle injuries in Chinese parental motorcyclists and their young child passengers. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Asking for Help: A Relational Perspective on Help Seeking in the Workplace

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van der Rijt, Janine; Van den Bossche, Piet; van de Wiel, Margje W. J.; De Maeyer, Sven; Gijselaers, Wim H.; Segers, Mien S. R.

2013-01-01

In the context of the complexity of today's organizations, help seeking behavior is considered as an important step to problem solving and learning in organizations. Yet, help seeking has received less attention in organizational literature. To increase the potential impact of help seeking on learning, it is essential to understand which…

Dopamine modulates risk-taking as a function of baseline sensation-seeking trait.

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Norbury, Agnes; Manohar, Sanjay; Rogers, Robert D; Husain, Masud

2013-08-07

Trait sensation-seeking, defined as a need for varied, complex, and intense sensations, represents a relatively underexplored hedonic drive in human behavioral neuroscience research. It is related to increased risk for a range of behaviors including substance use, gambling, and risky sexual practice. Individual differences in self-reported sensation-seeking have been linked to brain dopamine function, particularly at D2-like receptors, but so far no causal evidence exists for a role of dopamine in sensation-seeking behavior in humans. Here, we investigated the effects of the selective D2/D3 agonist cabergoline on performance of a probabilistic risky choice task in healthy humans using a sensitive within-subject, placebo-controlled design. Cabergoline significantly influenced the way participants combined different explicit signals regarding probability and loss when choosing between response options associated with uncertain outcomes. Importantly, these effects were strongly dependent on baseline sensation-seeking score. Overall, cabergoline increased sensitivity of choice to information about probability of winning; while decreasing discrimination according to magnitude of potential losses associated with different options. The largest effects of the drug were observed in participants with lower sensation-seeking scores. These findings provide evidence that risk-taking behavior in humans can be directly manipulated by a dopaminergic drug, but that the effectiveness of such a manipulation depends on baseline differences in sensation-seeking trait. This emphasizes the importance of considering individual differences when investigating manipulation of risky decision-making, and may have relevance for the development of pharmacotherapies for disorders involving excessive risk-taking in humans, such as pathological gambling.

Optogenetic Inhibition of Ventral Pallidum Neurons Impairs Context-Driven Salt Seeking.

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Chang, Stephen E; Smedley, Elizabeth B; Stansfield, Katherine J; Stott, Jeffrey J; Smith, Kyle S

2017-06-07

Salt appetite, in which animals can immediately seek out salt when under a novel state of sodium deprivation, is a classic example of how homeostatic systems interface with learned associations to produce an on-the-fly updating of motivated behavior. Neural activity in the ventral pallidum (VP) has been shown to encode changes in the value of salt under such conditions, both the value of salt itself (Tindell et al., 2006) and the motivational value of its predictive cues (Tindell et al., 2009; Robinson and Berridge, 2013). However, it is not known whether the VP is necessary for salt appetite in terms of seeking out salt or consuming salt following sodium depletion. Here, we used a conditioned place-preference procedure to investigate the effects of optogenetically inhibiting the VP on context-driven salt seeking and the consumption of salt following deprivation. Male rats learned to associate one context with sucrose and another context with less-desirable salt. Following sodium depletion, and in the absence of either sucrose or salt, we found that inhibiting the VP selectively reduced the elevation in time spent in the salt-paired context. VP inhibition had minimal effects on the consumption of salt once it was made available. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence that the VP or any brain region is necessary for the ability to use contextual cues to guide salt seeking. These results highlight a dissociation between deficit-driven reward seeking and reward consumption to replenish those deficits, with the former process being particularly sensitive to on-line VP activity. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Salt appetite, in which rats will immediately seek out a once-undesirable concentrated salt solution after being depleted of bodily sodium despite never having tasted salt as a positive reward, is a phenomenon showing how animals can update their motivational goals without any new learning or conditioning. This salt-seeking behavior is also observed when the animal

Dopamine Regulates Approach-Avoidance in Human Sensation-Seeking.

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Norbury, Agnes; Kurth-Nelson, Zeb; Winston, Joel S; Roiser, Jonathan P; Husain, Masud

2015-04-09

Sensation-seeking is a trait that constitutes an important vulnerability factor for a variety of psychopathologies with high social cost. However, little is understood either about the mechanisms underlying motivation for intense sensory experiences or their neuropharmacological modulation in humans. Here, we first evaluate a novel paradigm to investigate sensation-seeking in humans. This test probes the extent to which participants choose either to avoid or self-administer an intense tactile stimulus (mild electric stimulation) orthogonal to performance on a simple economic decision-making task. Next we investigate in a different set of participants whether this behavior is sensitive to manipulation of dopamine D2 receptors using a within-subjects, placebo-controlled, double-blind design. In both samples, individuals with higher self-reported sensation-seeking chose a greater proportion of mild electric stimulation-associated stimuli, even when this involved sacrifice of monetary gain. Computational modelling analysis determined that people who assigned an additional positive economic value to mild electric stimulation-associated stimuli exhibited speeding of responses when choosing these stimuli. In contrast, those who assigned a negative value exhibited slowed responses. These findings are consistent with involvement of low-level, approach-avoidance processes. Furthermore, the D2 antagonist haloperidol selectively decreased the additional economic value assigned to mild electric stimulation-associated stimuli in individuals who showed approach reactions to these stimuli under normal conditions (behavioral high-sensation seekers). These findings provide the first direct evidence of sensation-seeking behavior being driven by an approach-avoidance-like mechanism, modulated by dopamine, in humans. They provide a framework for investigation of psychopathologies for which extreme sensation-seeking constitutes a vulnerability factor. © The Author 2015. Published by

Factors affecting patients' online health information-seeking behaviours: The role of the Patient Health Engagement (PHE) Model.

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Graffigna, Guendalina; Barello, Serena; Bonanomi, Andrea; Riva, Giuseppe

2017-10-01

To identify the variables affecting patients' online health information-seeking behaviours by examining the relationships between patient participation in their healthcare and online health information-seeking behaviours. A cross-sectional survey of Italian chronic patients (N=352) was conducted on patient's online health information-seeking behaviours and patient participation-related variables. Structural equation modeling analysis was conducted to test the hypothesis. This study showed how the healthcare professionals' ability to support chronic patients' autonomy affect patients' participation in their healthcare and patient's online health information-seeking behaviours. However, results do not confirm that the frequency of patients' online health-information seeking behavior has an impact on their adherence to medical prescriptions. Assuming a psychosocial perspective, we have discussed how patients' engagement - conceived as the level of their emotional elaboration of the health condition - affects the patients' ability to search for and manage online health information. To improve the effectiveness of patients' online health information-seeking behaviours and to enhance the effectiveness of technological interventions in this field, healthcare providers should target assessing and improving patient engagement and patient empowerment in their healthcare. It is important that health professionals acknowledge patients' online health information-seeking behaviours that they discuss the information offered by patients and guide them to reliable and accurate web sources. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Seeking health care through international medical tourism.

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Eissler, Lee Ann; Casken, John

2013-06-01

The purpose of this study was the exploration of international travel experiences for the purpose of medical or dental care from the perspective of patients from Alaska and to develop insight and understanding of the essence of the phenomenon of medical tourism. The study is conceptually oriented within a model of health-seeking behavior. Using a qualitative design, 15 Alaska medical tourists were individually interviewed. The data were analyzed using a hermeneutic process of inquiry to uncover the meaning of the experience. Six themes reflecting the experiences of Alaska medical tourists emerged: "my motivation," "I did the research," "the medical care I need," "follow-up care," "the advice I give," and "in the future." Subthemes further categorized data for increased understanding of the phenomenon. The thematic analysis provides insight into the experience and reflects a modern approach to health-seeking behavior through international medical tourism. The results of this study provide increased understanding of the experience of obtaining health care internationally from the patient perspective. Improved understanding of medical tourism provides additional information about a contemporary approach to health-seeking behavior. Results of this study will aid nursing professionals in counseling regarding medical tourism options and providing follow-up health care after medical tourism. Nurses will be able to actively participate in global health policy discussions regarding medical tourism trends. © 2013 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Sensation-seeking and impulsivity as predictors of reactive and proactive aggression

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María Del Carmen Pérez Fuentes

2016-09-01

Full Text Available In adolescence, such matters as substance use and impulsiveness may give rise to problematic behavior repertoires. This study was therefore done to analyze the predictive value of sensation-seeking and impulsiveness dimensions related to the functions of aggression (reactive/proactive and types of expression (physical/relational. A total of 822 high school students in Almeria (Spain aged 13 to 18, were administered the Sensation-Seeking Scale, the State Impulsiveness Scale and Peer Conflict Scale. The results show the existence of a positive correlation of the majority of factors analyzed, both in impulsiveness and sensation-seeking, with respect to the different types of aggression. Furthermore, aggressive behavior is explained by the combination of a sensation-seeking factor (Disinhibition and two impulsiveness factors (Gratification and Automatism. This study shows the need to analyze aggression as a multidimensional construct.

A cross-sectional study of pre-travel health-seeking practices among travelers departing Sydney and Bangkok airports

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Heywood Anita E; Watkins Rochelle E; Iamsirithaworn Sopon; Nilvarangkul Kessarawan; MacIntyre C

2012-01-01

Abstract Background Pre-travel health assessments aim to promote risk reduction through preventive measures and safe behavior, including ensuring travelers are up-to-date with their immunizations. However, studies assessing pre-travel health-seeking practices from a variety of medical and non-medical sources and vaccine uptake prior to travel to both developing and developed countries within the Asia-Pacific region are scarce. Methods Cross-sectional surveys were conducted between July and De...

Promoting Oral Health Using Social Media Platforms: Seeking Arabic Online Oral Health Related Information (OHRI).

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Almaiman, Sarah; Bahkali, Salwa; Alabdulatif, Norah; Bahkaly, Ahlam; Al-Surimi, Khaled; Househ, Mowafa

2016-01-01

Access to oral health care services around the world is limited by a lack of universal coverage. The internet and social media can be an important source for patients to access supplementary oral health related information (OHRI). Online OHRI presents an opportunity to enhance dental public health education about innumerable oral health issues and promote dental self-care. The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence of social media users among the Saudi population and identify the preferred social media platform for seeking Arabic OHRI and its impact on seekers' knowledge, attitude, and behavior. A total of 2652 Twitter followers were surveyed, using a web-based self-administered questionnaire to collect data on demographic characteristics and online OHRI seeking behavior More than two thirds, 67.7% (n= 1796), of the participants reported they were seeking Arabic online OHRI, while 41.1% of the participants reported they had no preference for using a specific social media platform. These results emphasize the need and importance of supporting the content of social media with trusted and high quality online OHRI resources to promote a high level of public awareness about oral health and dental health services. Further studies in this regard are highly recommended on a larger scale of nationalities to explore the role of social media platform preference in promoting health promotion and dental public health awareness.

A cross-sectional study of pre-travel health-seeking practices among travelers departing Sydney and Bangkok airports.

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Heywood, Anita E; Watkins, Rochelle E; Iamsirithaworn, Sopon; Nilvarangkul, Kessarawan; MacIntyre, C Raina

2012-05-02

Pre-travel health assessments aim to promote risk reduction through preventive measures and safe behavior, including ensuring travelers are up-to-date with their immunizations. However, studies assessing pre-travel health-seeking practices from a variety of medical and non-medical sources and vaccine uptake prior to travel to both developing and developed countries within the Asia-Pacific region are scarce. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted between July and December 2007 to assess pre-travel health seeking practices, including advice from health professionals, health information from other sources and vaccine uptake, in a sample of travelers departing Sydney and Bangkok airports. A two-stage cluster sampling technique was used to ensure representativeness of travelers and travel destinations. Pre-travel health seeking practices were assessed using a self-administered questionnaire distributed at the check-in queues of departing flights. Logistic regression models were used to identify significant factors associated with seeking pre-travel health advice from a health professional, reported separately for Australian residents, residents of other Western countries and residents of countries in Asia. A total of 843 surveys were included in the final sample (Sydney 729, response rate 56%; Bangkok 114, response rate 60%). Overall, pre-travel health information from any source was sought by 415 (49%) respondents with 298 (35%) seeking pre-travel advice from a health professional, the majority through general practice. Receipt of a pre-travel vaccine was reported by 100 (12%) respondents. Significant factors associated with seeking pre-travel health advice from a health professional differed by region of residence. Asian travelers were less likely to report seeking pre-travel health advice and uptake of pre-travel vaccines than Australian or other Western travelers. Migrant Australians were less likely to report seeking pre-travel health advice than Australian

A cross-sectional study of pre-travel health-seeking practices among travelers departing Sydney and Bangkok airports

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background Pre-travel health assessments aim to promote risk reduction through preventive measures and safe behavior, including ensuring travelers are up-to-date with their immunizations. However, studies assessing pre-travel health-seeking practices from a variety of medical and non-medical sources and vaccine uptake prior to travel to both developing and developed countries within the Asia-Pacific region are scarce. Methods Cross-sectional surveys were conducted between July and December 2007 to assess pre-travel health seeking practices, including advice from health professionals, health information from other sources and vaccine uptake, in a sample of travelers departing Sydney and Bangkok airports. A two-stage cluster sampling technique was used to ensure representativeness of travelers and travel destinations. Pre-travel health seeking practices were assessed using a self-administered questionnaire distributed at the check-in queues of departing flights. Logistic regression models were used to identify significant factors associated with seeking pre-travel health advice from a health professional, reported separately for Australian residents, residents of other Western countries and residents of countries in Asia. Results A total of 843 surveys were included in the final sample (Sydney 729, response rate 56%; Bangkok 114, response rate 60%). Overall, pre-travel health information from any source was sought by 415 (49%) respondents with 298 (35%) seeking pre-travel advice from a health professional, the majority through general practice. Receipt of a pre-travel vaccine was reported by 100 (12%) respondents. Significant factors associated with seeking pre-travel health advice from a health professional differed by region of residence. Asian travelers were less likely to report seeking pre-travel health advice and uptake of pre-travel vaccines than Australian or other Western travelers. Migrant Australians were less likely to report seeking pre-travel health

Effects of Health Literacy and Social Capital on Health Information Behavior.

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Kim, Yong-Chan; Lim, Ji Young; Park, Keeho

2015-01-01

This study aimed to examine whether social capital (bonding and bridging social capital) attenuate the effect of low functional health literacy on health information resources, efficacy, and behaviors. In-person interviews were conducted with 1,000 residents in Seoul, Korea, in 2011. The authors found that respondents' functional health literacy had positive effects on the scope of health information sources and health information self-efficacy but not health information-seeking intention. Respondents' social capital had positive effects on the scope of health information sources, health information efficacy, and health information-seeking intention. The authors found (a) a significant moderation effect of bridging social capital on the relation between health literacy and health information self-efficacy and (b) a moderation effect of bonding social capital on the relation between health literacy and health information-seeking intention.

The Information Seeking Behavior of Digital Native and Digital Immigrant Students of Bogor Agricultural University

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Janti Gristinawati Sujana

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Technological expansion and the changing way individuals gain access to information has deeply impacted the structure of libraries – physically as well as conceptually. A new generation of digital services platforms for libraries is emerging, designed to provide a more comprehensive  approach  to  the  management  and  access  to  all  formats  of  library  materials. Despite the modernization of libraries and their adaption to the digital age, the library still hold a critical role within community to serve its users, continuing to be beacons of information sharing, learning, and entertainment even amidst tight fiscal times.  As one of the leading university in Indonesia, Bogor Agricultural University Library must find solutions to new challenges, overhaul many of their entrenched business processes, and foster systems that engage students.  This study examined the information seeking behavior of the digital native and digital immigrant students of Bogor Agricultural University, in order to remind the library that there are some changes happened in its users and to recommend the new services should be taken by the library. The similarities and differences in seeking information of those two group students were discussed.

Factors Influencing Professional Help-Seeking for Suicidality.

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Han, Jin; Batterham, Philip J; Calear, Alison L; Randall, Rebecca

2018-05-01

Evidence suggests that the majority of people with suicidality do not seek help. Little systematic evaluation of factors influencing professional help-seeking has been done. To systematically evaluate the factors that influence professional help-seeking for suicidality. Published quantitative and qualitative studies in Medline and PsycInfo databases were reviewed following PRISMA. In all, 55 relevant studies were identified. Of these, 15 studies examined professional help-seeking intentions for perceived suicidal ideation, among people with or without suicidality; 21 studies examined professional help-seeking behavior among people with suicidality; and 19 studies examined suicidal decedents' health services use. Several potential important barriers were identified including high self-reliance, lack of perceived need for treatment, and stigmatizing attitudes toward suicide, toward mental health issues, and toward seeking professional treatment. The presence of suicidality and mental health issues was found to generally decrease help-seeking intentions for perceived suicidal ideation while facilitating actual service use. Social support and informal support from family and friends also played an important role in professional help-seeking. Although the majority of the included studies were of sound quality, some of the factors identified in the review were assessed in relatively few studies, and most of the included studies were conducted in industrialized countries. Further quantitative and qualitative studies examining the potential important factors in broader community samples, especially in developing countries, are needed.

Gendered Manifestations of Depression and Help Seeking Among Men.

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Call, Jarrod B; Shafer, Kevin

2018-01-01

Men who do not seek help for mental health problems may experience unnecessary suffering which ultimately affects the well-being of themselves and others. Gendered manifestations of depressive symptoms may play an important role in why some men do not seek help for mental health issues. Using data from 2,382 male respondents in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, the authors examined the relationship that both traditional and male-typical symptoms of depression had on the help-seeking behaviors of men. Traditional symptoms increased the odds of seeking help for depression for all men. Male-typical symptoms, however, did not increase the odds of seeking help for depression or another mental health concern. Both traditional and male-typical symptoms increased the odds of initially seeking help from a medical provider, and men with male-typical symptoms had an overall higher likelihood of seeking help from a medical provider. Consequently, it is important that medical professionals assess for depression even when it is not a presenting concern.

Predicting help-seeking behavior: The impact of knowing someone close who has sought help.

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Disabato, David J; Short, Jerome L; Lameira, Diane M; Bagley, Karen D; Wong, Stephanie J

2018-02-15

This study sought to replicate and extend research on social facilitators of college student's help seeking for psychological problems. We collected data on 420 ethnically diverse college students at a large public university (September 2008-May 2010). Students completed a cross-sectional online survey. We found that students who were aware of close others' (eg, family, friends) help seeking were two times more likely to have sought formal (eg, psychologist) and informal (eg, clergy) help themselves. Tests of moderation revealed the incremental effect (ie, controlling for help-seeking attitudes, internalizing symptoms, cultural demographics) of close others' formal help seeking was strong and significant for men (R 2 = 0.112), while it was negligible and nonsignificant for women (R 2 = .002). We discuss the importance for students-particularly men-to learn about close others' help seeking for facilitating their own help seeking during times of distress.

In Situ Measurement of Seeking Speed and Seeking Induced Head-Disk Interface Instability in Hard Disk Drives

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Yu Wang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigated the instability of head-disk interface caused by the voice coil motor (VCM end crashing the crash stop during the seeking of magnetic head. To make the whole process of that clear, an in situ measurement method based on maximum likelihood estimation and extended Kalman filter for seeking speed at component level was developed first and was then calibrated by a high speed camera. Given a crash between VCM end and crash stop that may be a consequence of the continuous increasing seeking speed, the seeking speed was carefully controlled by using our developed method to find a critical value that may induce vigorous head-disk interface instability. Acoustic emission sensor and laser Doppler vibrometer were used to capture the transient dynamic behaviors of magnetic head when the crash is happening. Damage analysis and mode identification were carried out to reveal the relationship between the damage patterns on disk surface and head dynamics. The results of this study are helpful to optimize the track seeking profile during the HDD operation, as well as the design of components such as head and head arm.

Goal-seeking neural net for recall and recognition

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Omidvar, Omid M.

1990-07-01

Neural networks have been used to mimic cognitive processes which take place in animal brains. The learning capability inherent in neural networks makes them suitable candidates for adaptive tasks such as recall and recognition. The synaptic reinforcements create a proper condition for adaptation, which results in memorization, formation of perception, and higher order information processing activities. In this research a model of a goal seeking neural network is studied and the operation of the network with regard to recall and recognition is analyzed. In these analyses recall is defined as retrieval of stored information where little or no matching is involved. On the other hand recognition is recall with matching; therefore it involves memorizing a piece of information with complete presentation. This research takes the generalized view of reinforcement in which all the signals are potential reinforcers. The neuronal response is considered to be the source of the reinforcement. This local approach to adaptation leads to the goal seeking nature of the neurons as network components. In the proposed model all the synaptic strengths are reinforced in parallel while the reinforcement among the layers is done in a distributed fashion and pipeline mode from the last layer inward. A model of complex neuron with varying threshold is developed to account for inhibitory and excitatory behavior of real neuron. A goal seeking model of a neural network is presented. This network is utilized to perform recall and recognition tasks. The performance of the model with regard to the assigned tasks is presented.

Sociocultural determinants of the help-seeking behavior of patients with mental illness.

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Lin, K M; Inui, T S; Kleinman, A M; Womack, W M

1982-02-01

This descriptive study employed semistructured interviewing and questionnaire administration to delineate the sociocultural determinants of the help-seeking process in 48 psychiatric patients. The help-seeking process is considered in two stages. The first stage starts from the recognition of initial symptoms and ends in the first contact with a mental health professional. The second stage is defined as that time between the first contact and actual participation in a planned treatment program. In both stages, patients typically go through phases of lay consultation, nonpsychiatric professional consultation, and referral. The multiple steps which are usually involved in help seeking often result in significant delay of both mental health contact and treatment. The help-seeking process was found to correlate strongly with ethnicity. Both Asians and Blacks showed more extended family involvement, and the involvement of key family members tended to be persistent and intensive in Asians. Ethnicity was also associated with the length of delay, with Asians showing the longest delay and Caucasians the least. These ethnic differences were also reflected in help-seeking pathway assignment using Lin's criteria. Although modernity and parochialism, as measured by the level of modernization and the cohesiveness of the social network system of the subjects, were also found to be correlated with delay, they appeared to exert an influence independent from that of ethnicity.

Impulsivity, Sensation Seeking, and Risk-Taking Behaviors among HIV-Positive and HIV-Negative Heroin Dependent Persons

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Koosha Paydary

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Objective. The aim of this study was to compare impulsivity and risky decision making among HIV-positive and negative heroin dependent persons. Methods. We compared different dimensions of impulsivity and risky decision making in two groups of 60 HIV-positive and 60 HIV-negative male heroin dependent persons. Each group was comprised of equal numbers of current (treatment seeker and former (abstinent heroin addicts. Data collection tools included Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART, Iowa Gambling Task (IGT, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS, and Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS. Results. In SSS, comprised of four subscales including thrill and adventure seeking (TAS, experience seeking (ES, disinhibition (DIS, and boredom susceptibility (BS, there was a borderline difference in DIS (P=0.08 as HIV-positive group scored higher than HIV-negative group. Also, ES and total score were significantly higher among HIV-positive patients. In BART, HIV-positive subjects scored higher in risk taking than HIV-negative subjects as reflected in higher Average Number of puffs in Successful Balloons (ANSB. In BIS, HIV-positive group scored significantly higher in cognitive impulsivity (CI (P=0.03 and nonplanning impulsivity (NPI (P=0.05 in comparison to HIV-negative group. Also, current heroin addicts scored significantly higher in NPI compared to former addict HIV-negative participants (P=0.015. IGT did not show any significant difference between groups. Conclusion. Higher levels of impulsivity and risk taking behaviors among HIV-positive heroin addicts will increase serious concerns regarding HIV transmission from this group to other opiate dependents and healthy people.

Impulsivity, Sensation Seeking, and Risk-Taking Behaviors among HIV-Positive and HIV-Negative Heroin Dependent Persons

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Paydary, Koosha; Mahin Torabi, Somayeh; SeyedAlinaghi, SeyedAhmad; Noori, Mehri; Noroozi, Alireza; Ameri, Sara; Ekhtiari, Hamed

2016-01-01

Objective. The aim of this study was to compare impulsivity and risky decision making among HIV-positive and negative heroin dependent persons. Methods. We compared different dimensions of impulsivity and risky decision making in two groups of 60 HIV-positive and 60 HIV-negative male heroin dependent persons. Each group was comprised of equal numbers of current (treatment seeker) and former (abstinent) heroin addicts. Data collection tools included Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS), and Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS). Results. In SSS, comprised of four subscales including thrill and adventure seeking (TAS), experience seeking (ES), disinhibition (DIS), and boredom susceptibility (BS), there was a borderline difference in DIS (P = 0.08) as HIV-positive group scored higher than HIV-negative group. Also, ES and total score were significantly higher among HIV-positive patients. In BART, HIV-positive subjects scored higher in risk taking than HIV-negative subjects as reflected in higher Average Number of puffs in Successful Balloons (ANSB). In BIS, HIV-positive group scored significantly higher in cognitive impulsivity (CI) (P = 0.03) and nonplanning impulsivity (NPI) (P = 0.05) in comparison to HIV-negative group. Also, current heroin addicts scored significantly higher in NPI compared to former addict HIV-negative participants (P = 0.015). IGT did not show any significant difference between groups. Conclusion. Higher levels of impulsivity and risk taking behaviors among HIV-positive heroin addicts will increase serious concerns regarding HIV transmission from this group to other opiate dependents and healthy people. PMID:27051528

The Daily Image Information Needs and Seeking Behavior of Chinese Undergraduate Students

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Huang, Kun; Kelly, Diane

2013-01-01

A survey was conducted at Beijing Normal University to explore subjects' motives for image seeking; the image types they need; how and where they seek images; and the difficulties they encounter. The survey also explored subjects' attitudes toward current image services and their perceptions of how university libraries might provide assistance.…

Information-seeking behavior of basic science researchers: implications for library services.

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Haines, Laura L; Light, Jeanene; O'Malley, Donna; Delwiche, Frances A

2010-01-01

This study examined the information-seeking behaviors of basic science researchers to inform the development of customized library services. A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews was conducted on a sample of basic science researchers employed at a university medical school. The basic science researchers used a variety of information resources ranging from popular Internet search engines to highly technical databases. They generally relied on basic keyword searching, using the simplest interface of a database or search engine. They were highly collegial, interacting primarily with coworkers in their laboratories and colleagues employed at other institutions. They made little use of traditional library services and instead performed many traditional library functions internally. Although the basic science researchers expressed a positive attitude toward the library, they did not view its resources or services as integral to their work. To maximize their use by researchers, library resources must be accessible via departmental websites. Use of library services may be increased by cultivating relationships with key departmental administrative personnel. Despite their self-sufficiency, subjects expressed a desire for centralized information about ongoing research on campus and shared resources, suggesting a role for the library in creating and managing an institutional repository.

The influence of weather on health-related help-seeking behavior of senior citizens in Hong Kong

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Wong, Ho Ting; Chiu, Marcus Yu Lung; Wu, Cynthia Sau Ting; Lee, Tsz Cheung

2015-03-01

It is believed that extreme hot and cold weather has a negative impact on general health conditions. Much research focuses on mortality, but there is relatively little community health research. This study is aimed at identifying high-risk groups who are sensitive to extreme weather conditions, in particular, very hot and cold days, through an analysis of the health-related help-seeking patterns of over 60,000 Personal Emergency Link (PE-link) users in Hong Kong relative to weather conditions. In the study, 1,659,716 PE-link calls to the help center were analyzed. Results showed that females, older elderly, people who did not live alone, non-subsidized (relatively high-income) users, and those without medical histories of heart disease, hypertension, stroke, and diabetes were more sensitive to extreme weather condition. The results suggest that using official government weather forecast reports to predict health-related help-seeking behavior is feasible. An evidence-based strategic plan could be formulated by using a method similar to that used in this study to identify high-risk groups. Preventive measures could be established for protecting the target groups when extreme weather conditions are forecasted.

Genetically Influenced Change in Sensation Seeking Drives the Rise of Delinquent Behavior during Adolescence

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Harden, K. Paige; Quinn, Patrick D.; Tucker-Drob, Elliot M.

2012-01-01

Sensation seeking is associated with an increased propensity for delinquency, and emerging research on personality change suggests that mean levels of sensation seeking increase substantially from childhood to adolescence. The current study tested whether individual differences in the rate of change of sensation seeking predicted within-person…

The relationships between sensation seeking and a spectrum of e-cigarette use behaviors: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses specific to Texas adolescents.

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Case, Kathleen R; Harrell, Melissa B; Pérez, Adriana; Loukas, Alexandra; Wilkinson, Anna V; Springer, Andrew E; Creamer, MeLisa R; Perry, Cheryl L

2017-10-01

Sensation seeking is strongly associated with cigarette use in adolescents. However, few studies have investigated its relationship with adolescent e-cigarette use. This study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between sensation seeking and a variety of e-cigarette use behaviors among Texas adolescents. This study utilized two waves of data collected 6months apart through the Texas Adolescent Tobacco and Marketing Surveillance System (TATAMS) in 2014-2015 (n=2,488/N=461,069). TATAMS employs a complex probability-sampling design and is representative of students in 6th, 8th and 10th grades from five counties surrounding the four largest cities in Texas (Houston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, San Antonio, Austin). Weighted multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between sensation seeking and susceptibility to e-cigarette use, ever e-cigarette use, and current (past 30day) e-cigarette use. In the cross-sectional analyses, higher mean sensation seeking scores were associated with higher odds of both susceptibility to e-cigarette use and ever e-cigarette use (AOR=1.25, 95% CI=1.07, 1.47; AOR=1.24, 95% CI=1.08, 1.43, respectively). For the longitudinal analyses, only the association between higher mean sensation seeking scores and transition to ever e-cigarette use remained statistically significant (AOR=1.45, 95% CI=1.01, 2.08). There were no significant associations between sensation seeking and current e-cigarette use in either the cross-sectional or longitudinal analyses. Higher sensation seeking scores were consistently and significantly related to experimentation with e-cigarette use among Texas adolescents. Future interventions (e.g., communication campaigns) should target high sensation seeking adolescents to reduce initiation of e-cigarette use among this population. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Extrinsic and Intrinsic Help-Seeking Motivation in the Assessment of Cognitive Decline.

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Haussmann, Robert; Mayer-Pelinski, René; Borchardt, Maike; Beier, Fabrice; Helling, Franziska; Buthut, Maria; Meissner, Gisa; Lange, Jan; Zweiniger, Anne; Donix, Markus

2018-06-01

Diagnostic assessments for dementia include the evaluation of subjective memory impairment, dementia worries, or depressive symptoms. Data on the predictive value of these factors remain unclear, and varying help-seeking behavior may contribute to this finding. We investigate whether differentiating help-seeking motivation from other psychological factors associated with cognitive impairment would enhance the prediction of diagnostic outcomes in a memory clinic. We obtained information on help-seeking motivation from 171 patients who underwent routine diagnostic assessments. Utilizing a discriminant correspondence analysis, our results indicate that extrinsic motivation increases the likelihood of receiving a dementia diagnosis, whereas depression or the duration of deficits carries discriminatory information to further guide the differentiation of prodromal dementia. Recognizing motivational aspects of help-seeking behavior can complement the clinical evaluation of cognitive performance.

The Association Between Internet Use and Ambulatory Care-Seeking Behaviors in Taiwan: A Cross-Sectional Study.

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Hsieh, Ronan Wenhan; Chen, Likwang; Chen, Tsung-Fu; Liang, Jyh-Chong; Lin, Tzu-Bin; Chen, Yen-Yuan; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2016-12-07

Compared with the traditional ways of gaining health-related information from newspapers, magazines, radio, and television, the Internet is inexpensive, accessible, and conveys diverse opinions. Several studies on how increasing Internet use affected outpatient clinic visits were inconclusive. The objective of this study was to examine the role of Internet use on ambulatory care-seeking behaviors as indicated by the number of outpatient clinic visits after adjusting for confounding variables. We conducted this study using a sample randomly selected from the general population in Taiwan. To handle the missing data, we built a multivariate logistic regression model for propensity score matching using age and sex as the independent variables. The questionnaires with no missing data were then included in a multivariate linear regression model for examining the association between Internet use and outpatient clinic visits. We included a sample of 293 participants who answered the questionnaire with no missing data in the multivariate linear regression model. We found that Internet use was significantly associated with more outpatient clinic visits (P=.04). The participants with chronic diseases tended to make more outpatient clinic visits (PInternet may be associated with patients' increasing need for interpreting and discussing the information with health care professionals, thus resulting in an increasing number of outpatient clinic visits. In addition, the media literacy of Web-based health-related information seekers may also affect their ambulatory care-seeking behaviors, such as outpatient clinic visits. ©Ronan Wenhan Hsieh, Likwang Chen, Tsung-Fu Chen, Jyh-Chong Liang, Tzu-Bin Lin, Yen-Yuan Chen, Chin-Chung Tsai. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 07.12.2016.

Corruption and firm behavior

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Sandra Sequeira; Simeon Djankov

2013-01-01

This paper investigates how corruption affects firrm behavior. Firms can engage in two types of corruption when seeking a public service: cost-reducing "collusive" corruption and cost increasing "coercive" corruption. Using an original and unusually rich dataset on bribe payments at ports matched to firrm-level data, we observe how firms respond to each type of corruption by adjusting their shipping and sourcing strategies. "Collusive" corruption is associated with higher usage of the corrupt...

Depression, Sensation Seeking, and Maternal Smoking as Predictors of Adolescent Cigarette Smoking

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Judy van de Venne

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to examine maternal and adolescent depression, maternal and teen sensation seeking, and maternal smoking, and their associations with adolescent smoking. Data were collected from a sample of 47 male and 66 female adolescents (ages 11—18 years and their mothers from three different health clinics. The findings indicated that maternal sensation seeking was linked indirectly with adolescent smoking through teen sensation seeking, both of which were significantly associated with teen smoking (β = 0.29, p < 0.001 and β = 0.32, p < 0.001, respectively. Teen depression was associated positively with teen smoking (β = 0.24, p < 0.01 when controlling for sensation seeking behaviors. Maternal smoking was also directly linked to adolescent smoking (β = 0.20, p < 0.05. These findings underscore a potentially important role of sensation seeking in the origins of adolescent smoking, and clarify pathways of influence with regard to maternal attitudes and behaviors in subsequent teenage nicotine use.

Oxytocin Acts in Nucleus Accumbens to Attenuate Methamphetamine Seeking and Demand.

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Cox, Brittney M; Bentzley, Brandon S; Regen-Tuero, Helaina; See, Ronald E; Reichel, Carmela M; Aston-Jones, Gary

2017-06-01

Evidence indicates that oxytocin, an endogenous peptide well known for its role in social behaviors, childbirth, and lactation, is a promising addiction pharmacotherapy. We employed a within-session behavioral-economic (BE) procedure in rats to examine oxytocin as a pharmacotherapy for methamphetamine (meth) addiction. The BE paradigm was modeled after BE procedures used to assess motivation for drugs in humans with addiction. The same BE variables assessed across species have been shown to predict later relapse behavior. Thus, the translational potential of preclinical BE studies is particularly strong. We tested the effects of systemic and microinfused oxytocin on demand for self-administered intravenous meth and reinstatement of extinguished meth seeking in male and female rats using a BE paradigm. Correlations between meth demand and meth seeking were assessed. Female rats showed greater demand (i.e., motivation) for meth compared with male rats. In both male and female rats, meth demand predicted reinstatement of meth seeking, and systemic oxytocin decreased demand for meth and attenuated reinstatement to meth seeking. Oxytocin was most effective at decreasing meth demand and seeking in rats with the strongest motivation for drug. Finally, these effects of systemic oxytocin were mediated by actions in the nucleus accumbens. Oxytocin decreases meth demand and seeking in both sexes, and these effects depend on oxytocin signaling in the nucleus accumbens. Overall, these data indicate that development of oxytocin-based therapies may be a promising treatment approach for meth addiction in humans. Copyright © 2017 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.