Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

David J Pittenger

Publications and source records attributed to David J Pittenger.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

A protocol for assessment of risk in wheelchair driving within a healthcare facility.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to describe how a skilled nursing facility with significant wheelchair traffic developed a protocol for the multidisciplinary assessment and intervention management of patients whose wheelchair use represents a risk to self and others. This article describes the procedure and two case studies illustrating the utility of the protocol. METHOD: Staff of the facility developed a protocol for responding to sentinel events related to patients hurting themselves and others while using a wheelchair or observed using the wheelchair in an unsafe manner. The goal of the protocol is to determine the cause of the event, identify the necessary multidisciplinary interventions, and the evaluation of the effectiveness of the interventions. RESULTS: Case study analysis of the interventions indicated that a multidisciplinary evaluation and treatment plan leads to treatment interventions that suit the patient's medical condition while affording the patient the greatest amount of independence. CONCLUSION: Many patients who live in a long-term skilled nursing facility must use either a manual or a power wheelchair for mobility. For these patients, the wheelchair may represent one of the last forms of independence they enjoy. The implementation of the protocol helped staff respond to important changes to the patient's condition and prepare a coordinated intervention. The patients found the protocol to be a helpful component of their treatment.

Accidents↗
PubMed2003

Internet research: an opportunity to revisit classic ethical problems in behavioral research.

The Internet offers many new opportunities for behavioral researchers to conduct quantitative and qualitative research. Although the ethical guidelines of the American Psychological Association generalize, in part, to research conducted through the Internet, several matters related to Internet research require further analysis. This article reviews several fundamental ethical issues related to Internet research, namely the preservation of privacy, the issuance of informed consent, the use of deception and false feedback, and research methods. In essence, the Internet offers unique challenges to behavioral researchers. Among these are the need to better define the distinction between private and public behavior performed through the Internet, ensure mechanisms for obtaining valid informed consent from participants and performing debriefing exercises, and verify the validity of data collected through the Internet.

Behavioral Research↗
PubMed2003

Intellectual freedom and editorial responsibilities within the context of controversial research.

The primary purpose of this article is to explore the limits that an agent, such as the government or the American Psychological Association, may place on one's right to pursue a program of research or to share the findings of a research project. The primary argument that evolves here is that researchers' rights to pursue an interesting hypothesis, and their freedom of expression, are conditional. The author examines the potential pragmatic and epistemological barriers to a program of research and the responsibilities that researchers bear to address epistemological and nonepistemological matters while reviewing the implications of their work.

Behavioral Research↗
PubMed2002

Preserving the ethical propriety of statistical devices.

C. D. Herrera (1996) introduced an innovative argument against the use of deception in psychological research. In essence, Herrera contended that because of the presumed problems with null hypothesis statistical testing, researchers could not justify their continued use of deception in research. Although this is an interesting argument, there are several alternative perspectives that must be considered. In examining these alternatives, the author concluded that psychologists may continue to use deception under certain circumstances outlined in the American Psychological Association's ethical code of conduct.

Deception↗
PubMed2002

Deception in research: distinctions and solutions from the perspective of utilitarianism.

The use of deception in psychological research continues to be a controversial topic. Using Rawls's explication of utilitarianism, I attempt to demonstrate how professional organizations, such as the American Psychological Association, can provide more specific standards that determine the permissibility of deception in research. Specifically, I argue that researchers should examine the costs and benefits of creating and applying specific rules governing deception. To that end, I offer 3 recommendations. First, that researchers who use deception provide detailed accounts of the procedures they used to minimize the harm created by deception in their research reports. Second, that the American Psychological Association offer a definition of deception that describes techniques commonly used in research. Finally, I recommend that the informed consent procedure be revised to indicate that the researcher may use deception as part of the study.

Behavioral Research↗
PubMed2002

The two paradigms of persistence.

Persistence refers to the extent to which an individual pursues reinforcement that is no longer available. The most common generalization regarding persistence is the partial reinforcement extinction effect, which states that partial, rather than continuous, reinforcement creates the greatest level of persistence. Although the partial reinforcement effect is the most common effect in humans, exceptions exist, namely the generalized and the reversed partial reinforcement effect. Since the 1930s, psychologists have used 2 general paradigms for studying persistence in humans: the experimental paradigm and the cognitive/individual differences paradigm. For the experimental paradigm, the primary independent variable is the schedule of reinforcement used to establish the behavior prior to the removal of reinforcement. Explanations of persistence from the experimental perspective depend on associative principles derived from various theories of learning. By contrast, the cognitive/individual differences paradigm treats persistence as a function of trait variables, including locus of control and self-esteem, or general cognitive processes, such as cognitive dissonance or social cognition. In this article, the author reviews the status of the current literature on persistence and recommends directions for future research.

Cognition↗