Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “SOCIAL SCIENCES”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 829 records · Page 46Linked to original sources
PubMed2003

Parent-child conversations about science: the socialization of gender inequities?

This study investigated the family as a context for the gender typing of science achievement. Adolescents (N = 52) from 2 age levels (mean ages = 11 and 13 years) participated with their mothers and fathers on separate occasions; families were from predominantly middle-income European American backgrounds. Questionnaires measured the parents' and the child's attitudes. Each parent also engaged his or her child in 4 structured teaching activities (including science and nonscience tasks). There were no child gender or grade-level differences in children's science-related grades, self-efficacy, or interest. However, parents were more likely to believe that science was less interesting and more difficult for daughters than sons. In addition, parents' beliefs significantly predicted children's interest and self-efficacy in science. When parents' teaching language was examined, fathers tended to use more cognitively demanding speech with sons than with daughters during one of the science tasks.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Applying the transtheoretical model to pregnancy and STD prevention: a review of the literature.

PURPOSE: To conduct a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature on the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) and pregnancy and STD prevention. DATA SOURCES: Computer database search (Applied Social Science Index and Abstracts [ASSIA], Biological Abstracts, Criminal Justice Abstracts, CINAHL-Allied Health, Current Contents, Current Index to Journals in Education, Education Index, ERIC, Excerpta Medica, Family Index, Index Medicus, Medline, Multicultural Education Abstracts, PsychInfo, Psychological Abstracts, Research Alert, Social Science Citation Index, Social Work Abstracts, and Sociological Abstracts), and manual journal search. STUDY INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION CRITERIA: All English, peer-reviewed, original articles on the TTM as it relates to pregnancy and STD prevention published prior to December 31, 2001, were included. Editorials, commentaries, thesis/dissertations, unpublished studies, technical reports, and books were not included. DATA EXTRACTION METHODS: Articles were categorized as Intervention, Population (stage distribution), or Validation studies. Within each category, articles were subdivided into groups, summarized, and analyzed. DATA SYNTHESIS: The 32 articles reviewed included 9 intervention studies, 11 population studies, and 12 validation studies. Studies represented a variety of U.S. populations of a broad demographic range. Evidence both for and against criterion-related and construct validity of the TTM was found. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS: Age, partner type, gender, reasons for engaging in safer sex behaviors (i.e., pregnancy vs. disease prevention), self-efficacy, sexual assertiveness, and perceived advantages and disadvantages of condom use were related to stage of change. The use of the TTM to reduce risk of pregnancy and STDs is a relatively new, but important, area of research. However, because of the wide-ranging differences in methodologies and samples, no strong conclusions about its effectiveness can yet be made.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2006

Herbert Simon and the GSIA: building an interdisciplinary community.

This article explores Herbert Simon's attempts to build Carnegie Tech's Graduate School of Industrial Administration into a center for interdisciplinary social research. It shows that despite the pressures toward disciplinary specialization created by the rapid growth of the postwar social sciences, there were strong countercurrents supporting interdisciplinary work. Support for interdisciplinary work came from a network of powerful new patrons that were interested in transforming social science into behavioral science and that supported mathematical, behavioral-functional analysis whatever the topic of study. These patrons deliberately defined their goals in terms of solving problems, not building disciplines, and the networks of advisory committees they created enabled certain entrepreneurial researchers, such as Simon, to exert influence across a range of fields and institutions.

Behavioral Sciences↗
PubMed1997

On what basis hope? Modern progress and postmodern possibilities.

Modern and postmodern versions of hope as they apply to services for persons labeled as having mental retardation were examined. Proponents of modernism construct hope as relying on an ever-improving science to accurately comprehend mental retardation and other disabilities and the effectiveness of professional interventions. This myth of scientific progress is traced in various forms through American intellectual history to the development of special education as interventionist social science. Advocates of postmodernism cast doubt upon the grand narrative of modernism and critique modern social science as perpetuating stigmatized "mentally retarded" identities through the exercise of power. A rhetorical analysis of the current controversy over facilitated communication demonstrates the utilization of the language of modern science for its power effects in special education discourse.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed2001

Individual and group-based parenting programmes for improving psychosocial outcomes for teenage parents and their children.

BACKGROUND: Rates of births to teenage parents are high and there is also a high incidence of poor outcomes among the children of teenage parents including developmental and learning problems, and child maltreatment. Parenting programmes may have an important role to play in improving outcomes for both teenage parents and their children. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this review was to examine the effectiveness of individual and/or group based parenting programmes in improving psychosocial and developmental outcomes in teenage mothers and their children. SEARCH STRATEGY: A range of biomedical and social science databases were searched including MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsychLIT, Sociofile, Social Science Citation Index, ASSIA, the Cochrane Library including SPECTR, CENTRAL, National Research Register (NRR) and ERIC. SELECTION CRITERIA: Only randomised controlled trials were included in which participants had been randomly allocated to an experimental and a control group, the latter being a waiting-list, no-treatment or a placebo control group. Studies had to include at least one standardised instrument measuring maternal psychosocial health or infant health and development. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: The included studies were critically appraised using a number of criteria including the method of allocation concealment. The treatment effect for each outcome in each study was standardised by dividing the mean difference in post-intervention scores for the intervention and treatment group, by the pooled standard deviation, to produce an effect size. Due to the presence of significant heterogeneity it was not possible to combine the results in a meta-analysis. MAIN RESULTS: The results of the review are based on data from four studies. These showed that both individual and group-based parenting programmes produced results favouring the intervention group on a range of maternal and infant measures of outcome including mother-infant interaction, language development, parental attitudes, parental knowledge, maternal mealtime communication, maternal self-confidence and maternal identity. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: The conclusions which can be drawn from this review are limited due to the small number of included studies, and the use of a restricted number of outcomes measures. The conclusions are also limited by some of the methodological deficiencies of the included studies. Despite these problems the findings of the included studies suggest that parenting programmes may be effective in improving outcomes for both teenage mothers and their infants. There is, however, a need for further research into the effectiveness of parenting programmes for teenage parents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Individual and group-based parenting programmes for the treatment of physical child abuse and neglect.

BACKGROUND: Child physical abuse and neglect are important public health problems and recent estimates of their prevalence suggest that they are considerably more common than had hitherto been realised. Many of the risk factors for child abuse and neglect are not amenable to change in the short term. Intervening to change parenting practices may, however, be important in its treatment. Parenting programmes are focused, short-term interventions aimed at improving parenting practices in addition to other outcomes (many of which are risk factors for child abuse e.g. parental psychopathology, and parenting attitudes and practices), and may therefore be useful in the treatment of physically abusive or neglectful parents. OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy of group-based or one-to-one parenting programmes in addressing child physical abuse or neglect. SEARCH STRATEGY: A range of biomedical and social science databases were searched including MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Sociofile, Social Science Citation Index, ASSIA, the Cochrane Library, Campbell Library (including SPECTR and CENTRAL), National Research Register (NRR) and ERIC, from inception to May 2005. SELECTION CRITERIA: Only randomised controlled trials or randomised studies that compared two treatments were included. Studies had to include at least one standardised instrument measuring some aspect of abusive or neglectful parenting. In the absence of studies using objective assessments of child abuse, studies reporting proxy measures of abusive parenting were included. Only studies evaluating the effectiveness of standardised group-based or one-to-one parenting programmes aimed at the treatment of physical child abuse or neglect were included. Studies were also only eligible for inclusion if they had targeted parents of children aged 0-19 years who had been investigated for physical abuse or neglect. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: The treatment effect for each outcome in each study was standardised by dividing the mean difference in post-intervention scores for the intervention and treatment group by the pooled standard deviation, to obtain an effect size. The results for each outcome in each study have been presented, with 95% confidence intervals. It was not possible to combine any results in a meta-analysis. MAIN RESULTS: A total of seven studies of variable quality were included in this review. Only two studies assessed the effectiveness of parenting programmes on the incidence of child abuse or number of injuries. One study showed that there were no reports of abuse in the intervention group compared with one report of abuse in the control group. In the second study the small number of injuries sustained precluded the possibility of statistical analysis. Data were also extracted on over fifty outcomes that are used as proxy measures of abusive parenting. These were on the whole diverse and measured a range of aspects of parenting (e.g. parental child management, discipline practices, child abuse potential and mental health), child health (e.g. emotional and behavioural adjustment) and family functioning, thereby precluding the possibility of undertaking a meta-analysis for most outcomes for which data were extracted. While none of the programmes were effective across all of the outcomes measured, many appeared to have improved some outcomes for some of the participating parents, although many failed to achieve statistical significance. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is insufficient evidence to support the use of parenting programmes to treat physical abuse or neglect (i.e. such as the incidence of child abuse using reports of child abuse/linjuries or children on the children protection register). There is, however, limited evidence to show that some parenting programmes may be effective in improving some outcomes that are associated with physically abusive parenting. There is an urgent need for further rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of parenting programmes that are specifically designed to treat physical abuse and neglect, either independently or as part of broader packages of care. Such evaluation should include the use of objective measures of outcome such as independent assessments of parenting and the number of instances of physical abuse. In order to do this, future studies need to include long-term follow-up.

Child↗
PubMed2004

Ethical regulation and humanities research in Australia: problems and consequences.

This paper argues that recent ethics research guidelines fit poorly onto the kinds of research undertaken in the humanities, where a research conversation often forms a distinctive method of investigation that has no scientific equivalent. The NH&MRC ethics guidelines pay little attention to the issues raised in humanities and social science research. Also, ethics committees are constituted primarily to look at ethical issues that arise from medical and scientific research, causing extra problems for those in the humanities and social sciences.

Australia↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Toward an informatics research agenda: key people and organizational issues.

As we have advanced in medical informatics and created many impressive innovations, we also have learned that technologic developments are not sufficient to bring the value of computer and information technologies to health care systems. This paper proposes a model for improving how we develop and deploy information technology. The authors focus on trends in people, organizational, and social issues (POI/OSI), which are becoming more complex as both health care institutions and information technologies are changing rapidly. They outline key issues and suggest high-priority research areas. One dimension of the model concerns different organizational levels at which informatics applications are used. The other dimension draws on social science disciplines for their approaches to studying implications of POI/OSI in informatics. By drawing on a wide variety of research approaches and asking questions based in social science disciplines, the authors propose a research agenda for high-priority issues, so that the challenges they see ahead for informatics may be met better.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed2005

A critical review of the health-related quality of life of children and adolescents after liver transplantation.

We critically examined research on health-related quality of life (HRQL) in children and adolescents after liver transplantation. The specific aims were to identify research studies on HRQL after liver transplantation, to critique the methodological quality of the studies, to estimate overall HRQL after transplant, and to make recommendations for future research. Databases searched included Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and the Allied Health Literature, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Allied and Complementary Medicine, Institute for Scientific Information Web of Science, and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts. Searches also were made on related Web sites and proceedings of transplantation and associated conferences. Eligible studies involved children between birth and 18 years of age who received isolated orthotopic, auxiliary, or living related liver transplantation. HRQL was assessed through 2 or more of the domains of physical health, psychological functioning, social functioning, family functioning, or general well-being. Eligible studies were abstracted, assessed for methodological quality, and synthesized using the sign test to provide an indication of the effect of liver transplantation on each HRQL domain. The synthesis of findings suggested an improvement in HRQL in comparison with pretransplant status; there was a trend toward a worse HRQL in comparison with the healthy population and better than those with other chronic illnesses. In conclusion, liver transplantation in childhood has a negative impact on some aspects of HRQL. However, this finding is tentative because of the small number of studies and variable study quality found.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

[Use and application of psychophysical methods in nursing research].

Concepts and subjective phenomena such as social attitudes, opinions, and judgment processes have always been difficult to measure accurately. Many concepts or variables in nursing are of a subjective nature. As with the social sciences, the nursing profession has faced many problems in attempting to obtain precise measurements of such variables. The psychophysical methodology, specially the magnitude estimation and cross-modality matching procedures, developed in sensory psychophysics and currently being used in the social sciences, shows promise for providing nursing with an instrument of precisely scaling subjective phenomena. The purpose of this paper is to describe these measurement techniques, the theoretical paradigm on which it is based, and several social, clinical and nursing studies that have utilized these sensitive measurement strategies.

Humans↗
PubMed1987

A research programme in lifestyle and health: methodological and theoretical considerations.

Traditionally, research in health behaviour has been dominated by research ideologies and methods which developed in the health sciences and the social sciences. To a great extent these subjects have followed "classical" research designs propounded by the natural sciences. The result has been a marked dependency on survey research, quasi-experimental designs, case-control studies and other "static" designs. This research has been characterised by brief periods of intensive "data-collection", followed by long periods of analysis and report writing. These research endeavours often constitute an extensive, elaborate, and usually accurate picture of health attitudes, opinions and behaviours at the point of data collection. But they are simply "snapshots" of a group, culture, nation, etc. at one moment in time. This research is not "dynamic" and it is not surprising that despite the considerable amount of health behaviour research which exists, we still know relatively little about the process and dynamics of health behaviour change. Fortunately there is increasing concern, both theoretical and methodological, with the problem of behavioural change over time. On balance, the theoretical arguments are not well developed, however the methodological techniques for exploring continuous data are becoming available. This paper presents one model for an emerging research programme in lifestyle and health which attempts to address some of the theoretical and methodological issues discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Crisis intervention for people with severe mental illnesses.

BACKGROUND: A particularly difficult challenge for treatment of people with serious mental illnesses in the community is the delivery of an acceptable level of care during the acute phases of severe mental illness. Crisis intervention models of care were developed as a possible solution to this problem. OBJECTIVES: To review the effects of a crisis intervention model for anyone with serious mental illness experiencing an acute episode, compared to 'standard care'. SEARCH STRATEGY: Relevant randomised trials were identified by searching Biological Abstracts (1985-1998), CINAHL (1982-1998), The Cochrane Library, the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's Register of trials, EMBASE (1980-1998), MEDLINE (1966-1998), PsycLIT (1974-1998), sociofile (1974-1998) and the ISI database (Science Citations and Social Science Citations). Further references were sought from published trials and their authors. SELECTION CRITERIA: All randomised controlled trials of crisis intervention models (however defined) versus standard care for people with severe mental illnesses (however diagnosed). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Reviewers evaluated data independently and analysed on an intention-to-treat basis. Reviewers assumed that people who left the study early or were lost to follow-up had no improvement. Where possible and appropriate odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. The number needed to treat (NNT) was estimated. For continuous data Weighted Mean Differences (WMD) were calculated. Data were inspected for heterogeneity. MAIN RESULTS: None of the five included studies investigated 'crisis intervention' in a pure form. They all used a form of home care for acutely ill people, which included elements of crisis intervention. Despite its ethos, 45% of the home care group were unable to avoid hospital admission during their treatment period. Home care, however, was slightly superior in avoiding repeat admissions (OR 0.63 CI 0.42 - 0. 94), although this result is not robust due to significant heterogeneity. Other results suggest home care reduces loss to follow-up at six and 12 months (OR 0.62, CI 0.42-0.91, NNT 12, CI 6-53; OR 0.65, CI 0.44-0.96, NNT 13, CI 7-130 respectively), reduces family burden (OR 0.20, CI 0.10-0.42, NNT 3, CI 1-5), and is a more satisfactory form of care for both patients and families. No differences in loss, death or mental state were found suggesting home care is as effective as hospital care for these outcomes. All studies found home care to be more cost effective than hospital care but all data were either skewed or unusable. No data on staff satisfaction, carer input, compliance with medication and number of relapses were available. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: It is difficult to draw any robust conclusions from the data presented in this review. It is also difficult to comment on the effectiveness of crisis intervention in its pure form (i.e. specific results for the acute phase of mental illness only). Overall the review suggests that home care crisis treatment, coupled with an ongoing home care package, is a viable and acceptable way of treating people with serious mental illnesses. Other reviews of more clinically effective home care packages have had similar but more robust results and this review can give tentative support to their findings ( approximately approximately Marshall 1999 approximately approximately ). However, if a pure form of crisis intervention policy is to be specifically practised or implemented it would be hard to justify this outside of a simple well-designed trial. The reviewers also suggest that issues such as staff satisfaction and burnout would be important outcomes to consider in future research.

Crisis Intervention↗
PubMed2003

Interventions for treating obesity in children.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing in child populations throughout the world. Obesity in children has significant short and long term health consequences. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of a range of lifestyle interventions designed to treat obesity in childhood. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched CCTR, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsychLIT, Science Citation Index, Social Science Citation Index. Each database was searched from 1985 to July 2001. We also contacted experts in child obesity treatment. SELECTION CRITERIA: We selected randomised controlled trials of lifestyle interventions for treating obesity in children with a minimum of six months duration. Examples of lifestyle interventions include dietary, physical activity and/or behavioural therapy interventions, with or without the support of associated family members. Interventions from any setting and delivered by any professional were considered. However, interventions that specifically dealt with the treatment of eating disorders were excluded. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two of our research team independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. Authors of the included studies were contacted for additional information where this was appropriate. MAIN RESULTS: We included 18 randomised controlled trials with 975 participants. Many studies were run from a specialist obesity clinic within a hospital setting. Five studies (n=245 participants) investigated changes in physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Two studies (n=107 participants) compared problem-solving with usual care or behavioural therapy. Nine studies (n=399 participants) compared behavioural therapy at varying degrees of family involvement with no treatment or usual care or mastery criteria and contingent reinforcement. Two studies (n=224 participants) compared cognitive behavioural therapy with relaxation.Most of the studies included in this review were too small to have the power to detect the effects of the treatment. We did not conduct a meta-analysis since so few of the trials included the same comparisons and outcomes. Therefore, we synthesised the results in a narrative format. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: Although 18 research studies were found, most of these were very small studies drawn from homogenous, motivated groups in hospital settings and so generalisable evidence from them is limited. In conclusion, there is a limited amount of quality data on the components of programs to treat childhood obesity that favour one program over another. Further research that considers psychosocial determinants for behaviour change, strategies to improve clinician-family interaction, and cost-effective programs for primary and community care is required. We conclude that no direct conclusions can be drawn from this review with confidence.

Child↗
PubMed2004

Unity within psychology, and unity between science and practice.

The unity of psychology as a science is to be found in its definition as the science of mental life, and its explanation of individual behavior in terms of mental states. This disciplinary focus will help negotiate psychology's relations with other disciplines, such as neuroscience and cognitive science. The unity within psychology between science and practice is to be found in a focus on scientific evidence as the source of the status, autonomy, and privileges of professional practitioners. Psychology should avoid the temptations of reductionism, and assert (and enjoy) its twin status as both a biological science and a social science.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Curriculum Development in Environmental Science: A Case Study on Paradigm and Institutions.

/ The case of "Environment and Development" at Leiden University, the Netherlands, offers an example of developing a new environmental science curriculum in a conservative, disciplines-oriented university context. The core of this history is the long-term struggle of environmental science to evolve from the level of doing applied interdisciplinary studies and establish itself as a distinct body of knowledge with its own theory level, i.e., a discipline of its own. The struggle itself as well as its final outcome, a "bidisciplinary" curriculum in which both environmental science and one social science are expressed as disciplines (hence not environmental science as a mere "field of application") may be of value in other "classical" universities, too. KEY WORDS: Environmental science; Curriculum; Interdisciplinarity; Universities

Journal Article↗