The importance of how research participants think they are perceived: results from an electronic monitoring study of antiretroviral therapy in Uganda

Novel monitoring technologies in HIV research, such as electronic adherence monitors (EAMs), have changed the nature of researcher-participant interactions. Yet little is known about how EAMs and the resulting interaction between researchers and participants affect research participation and the data gathered. We interviewed participants and research assistants (RAs) in an observational cohort study involving EAMs for HIV antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Uganda. We qualitatively explored interviewees’ views about ethical issues surrounding EAMs and assessed data with conventional and directed content analysis. Participants valued their relationships with RAs and were preoccupied with RAs’ perceptions of them. Participants were pleased when the EAM revealed regular adherence, and annoyed when it revealed non-adherence that contradicted self-reported pill-taking behavior. For many, the desire to maintain a good impression incentivized adherence. But some sought to creatively conceal non-adherence, or refused to use the EAM to avoid revealing non-adherence to RAs. These findings show that participants’ perceptions of the study staff's perceptions of them affected the experience of being monitored, study participation, and ultimately the data gathered in the study. Investigators in monitoring-based research should be aware that social interactions between participants and study staff could affect both the practical and ethical conduct of that research.     

Realizing Present and Future Promise of DIY Biology and Medicine through a Trust Architecture

The speed and scale of the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the limits of current health systems and the potential promise of non-establishment research such as “DIY” research. We consider one example of how DIY research is responding to the pandemic, discuss the challenges faced by DIY research more generally, and suggest that a “trust architecture” should be developed now to contribute to successful future DIY efforts.     

“I felt like I was really talking to you!”: intimacy and trust among teen vloggers and followers in Portugal and Brazil

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes how female teen YouTubers manage intimacy and trust in the narration of their personal lives and the ways in which this is perceived by followers. The analysis of two case studies of popular teen YouTubers from Portugal and Brazil – SofiaBBeauty and Manoela Antelo, respectively – revealed that their presentation is anchored in discourses about whom they are with and where they are, what they are doing, and their personal tastes and styles. Through their comments on the videos, followers express trust connections with the vloggers, based on a sense of proximity, a desire for exclusivity in their relationship, relatability with banal aspects, and recognition as cultural intermediaries. These case studies have demonstrated strong similarities in the vloggers’ practices of constructing intimacy and consequent trust with peer audiences, bearing great resemblance with older YouTubers from central cultures. Although Sofia and Manoela put forward different class performances, the trust they inspire in their followers is a fundamental form of capital for both.     

Trust,choice and obligation: a qualitative study of enablers of colorectal cancer screening in South Australia

Colorectal cancer (CRC) has the second highest cancer prevalence and mortality rates in Australia. The Australian National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) aims to increase early detection of CRC by offering free faecal occult blood testing. The NBCSP aims to offer choice to consumers about whether or not to participate in screening. This article presents data on trust, choice and perceived obligation to participate in the NBCSP by population groups with low uptake. A qualitative study was undertaken in South Australia. We interviewed 94 people from four culturally distinct groups: Greek, Iranian, Anglo‐Australian and Indigenous peoples. This article demonstrates the complexity of factors shaping the choice, or lack thereof, to participate in the NBCSP. Informed choice is based on adequate knowledge, although this varied among our participants, highlighting the need for more health education in appropriate languages. An obligation to participate was found in the Iranian and Anglo‐Australian groups and resulted from an established personal relationship with the doctor, a sense of duty, the acknowledgement of government investment and appreciation. Overall, this article makes a link between trust, choice and obligation, adding to literature on the sociology of trust and medical screening and highlighting important issues in the need of a policy and practice to improve CRC screening rates.     

Developmental trajectories of cortical–subcortical interactions underlying the evaluation of trust in adolescence

Social decision making is guided by the ability to intuitively judge personal attributes, including analysis of facial features to infer the trustworthiness of others. Although the neural basis for trustworthiness evaluation is well characterized in adults, less is known about its development during adolescence. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine age-related changes in neural activation and functional connectivity during the evaluation of trust in faces in a sample of adolescent females. During scanning, participants viewed masked presentations of faces and rated their trustworthiness. Parametric modeling of trust ratings revealed enhanced activation in amygdala and insula to untrustworthy faces, effects which peaked during mid-adolescence. Analysis of amygdala functional connectivity demonstrated enhanced amygdala–insula coupling during the evaluation of untrustworthy faces. This boost in connectivity was attenuated during mid-adolescence, suggesting a functional transition within face-processing circuits. Together, these findings underscore adolescence as a period of reorganization in neural circuits underlying socioemotional behavior.     

US preschoolers’ trust of and learning from media characters

The current study examined the relations between children’s perceptions of character social realism, identification with characters, trust of characters as knowledgeable informants, and learning from media characters. Thirty-six 3½- to 6-year-old children watched a short clip of an animated educational television program about a preschool-aged boy who enjoys learning about science. Participants provided ratings of the character’s social realism, their identification with the character, and their trust in the character as a knowledgeable informant. Participants were asked to solve problems based on information in the video clip. Findings revealed character trust was the strongest indicator of learning from the character. Results are discussed in the context of the different factors that influence learning from curriculum-based media for young children.     

Trauma Screening Is More Common When Primary Care Patients Trust Providers

Trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder can have a considerable impact on psychiatric health, physical health, and health behaviors. This study assessed how often screening occurs among primary care patients and which patients are more likely to be screened. Primary care patients (N = 316) completed a survey with a trauma screen and measures of trust toward their providers. Trust improved the likelihood of screening in unadjusted (odds ratio, 1.06; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.12) and in adjusted models (odds ratio, 1.10; 95% confidence interval, 1.03-1.16). Screenings occurred more commonly among patients with mental health issues and who had higher trust in their provider. Implications are discussed.     

Untethered firing fields and intermittent silences: Why grid‐cell discharge is so variable

Grid cells in medial entorhinal cortex are notoriously variable in their responses, despite the striking hexagonal arrangement of their spatial firing fields. Indeed, when the animal moves through a firing field, grid cells often fire much more vigorously than predicted or do not fire at all. The source of this trial‐to‐trial variability is not completely understood. By analyzing grid‐cell spike trains from mice running in open arenas and on linear tracks, we characterize the phenomenon of “missed” firing fields using the statistical theory of zero inflation. We find that one major cause of grid‐cell variability lies in the spatial representation itself: firing fields are not as strongly anchored to spatial location as the averaged grid suggests. In addition, grid fields from different cells drift together from trial to trial, regardless of whether the environment is real or virtual, or whether the animal moves in light or darkness. Spatial realignment across trials sharpens the grid representation, yielding firing fields that are more pronounced and significantly narrower. These findings indicate that ensembles of grid cells encode relative position more reliably than absolute position.     

利用数据挖掘对某医院零加成后慢病门诊费用分析

目的： 通过分析该院药品零加成后慢病门诊费用变化，为后续医保费用管控及合理用药提供参考意见。方法： 使用数据挖掘方法，分别利用费用消耗占比、月度次均费用变化情况以及皮尔逊相关系数（Pearson Correlation Coefficient）分析各类费用变化情况及药品费用对其他费用的影响。结果： 次均总费用、次均西成药费用、次均中草药费用整体呈现下降的趋势，次均检查费用、次均检验费用、次均挂号费用、次均手术费用、次均麻醉费用、次均治疗费用呈现上升趋势。结论： 次均总费用下降主要是由于次均西成药费的下降所产生的，但是次均西成药费下降与次均麻醉费用、次均检验费用、次均检查费用上升是呈现相关性的，这也揭示了次均总费用下降速度慢于次均西成药费下降速度的原因。