A Q methodology study on divergent perspectives on CRISPR-Cas9 in the Netherlands.

BACKGROUND: CRISPR-Cas9, a technology enabling modification of the human genome, is developing rapidly. There have been calls for public debate to discuss its ethics, societal implications, and governance. So far, however, little is known about public attitudes on CRISPR-Cas9. This study contributes to a better understanding of public perspectives by exploring the various holistic perspectives Dutch citizens have on CRISPR-Cas9. METHODS: This study used Q methodology to identify different perspectives of Dutch citizens (N = 30) on the use of CRISPR-Cas9. The Q-sort method aims at segmenting audiences based on the structural characteristics of their perspectives. Participants individually ranked 32 statements about CRISPR-Cas9 and discussed their rankings in small groups. By-person factor analysis was performed using PQMethod. Participants' contributions to the discussions were used to further make sense of the audience segments identified. RESULTS: Five perspectives on CRISPR-Cas9 were identified: (1) pragmatic optimism (2) concerned scepticism; (3) normative optimism; (4) enthusiastic support; and (5) benevolent generalism. Each perspective represents a unique position motivated by different ranking rationales. Sorting rationales included improving health, preventing negative impacts on society, and fear of a slippery slope. Overall, there is broad, but not universal support for medical uses of CRISPR-Cas9. CONCLUSIONS: Research on CRISPR-Cas9 should prioritise the broadly supported applications of the technology. Research and public debates on CRISPR-Cas9, its uses, its broader implications, and the governance of CRISPR-Cas9 are recommended. A discourse that includes all perspectives can contribute to the embedding of future uses of CRISPR-Cas9 in society. This study shows that Q methodology followed by group discussions enables citizens to contribute meaningfully to discourses about research.

Coworkers' Perspectives on Mentoring Relationships.

Research into workplace mentoring is primarily focused on the experiences and perceptions of individuals involved in the relationship, while there is scarcely any research focusing on the impact of mentoring relationships on their social environment. This exploratory research aims to give insight into how coworkers' perceptions and experiences of informal mentoring relationships in their workgroup are related to their perceptions of workgroup functioning. The results of 21 semistructured interviews show that coworkers believe that mentoring relationships affect their workgroup's functioning by influencing both their workgroup's performance and climate. Coworkers applied an instrumental perspective and described how they think that mentoring relationships both improve and hinder their workgroup's performance as they influence the individual functioning of mentor and protégé, the workgroup's efficiency, and organizational outcomes. Furthermore, coworkers applied a relational perspective and described how mentoring relationships may influence their workgroup's climate in primarily negative ways as they may be perceived as a subgroup, cause feelings of distrust and envy, and are associated with power issues. The results of this study emphasize the importance of studying mentoring relationships in their broader organizational context and set the groundwork for future research on mentoring relationships in workgroups.

If You Could Read My Mind: The Role of Healthcare Providers' Empathic and Communicative Competencies in Clients' Satisfaction with Consultations.

This article investigates the relationship between healthcare providers' empathic and communicative competencies and clients' overall satisfaction with consultations. Two aspects of empathy were included: empathic attitude (sensitivity to the clients' perspective) and empathic skills (ability to estimate clients' evaluations). Communicative competencies were narrowed down to the clarity of the information provided. In the context of work disability examinations, 90 healthcare providers (44% physicians, 56% vocational experts) participated. For each provider, up to 20 dyads with clients were investigated. Within every dyad, clients rated their experiences and healthcare providers estimated clients' scores. The results show that both aspects of empathy and clarity of information significantly contribute to clients' overall satisfaction and as such confirm the importance of empathy and communication in medical consultations. Specifically, healthcare providers' empathic dispositions, in addition to their overt communicative behavior, appear to contribute to clients' overall satisfaction. Of the two aspects of empathy, only empathic attitude is significantly related to the clarity of information.

One more beer? Serving alcohol to pseudo-intoxicated guests in bars.

BACKGROUND: Consuming large quantities of alcohol might result in negative consequences for both individual drinkers (alcohol dependency and addiction) and society (violence, traffic crashes). In order to decrease the prevalence of alcohol abuse, many countries have adopted regulations prohibiting the catering industry to serve alcohol to intoxicated guests. This article investigated compliance with these regulations in the Netherlands. METHODS: A study was conducted in which pseudo-intoxicated actors tried to order alcoholic drinks in 58 bars. A 2 × 2 design was used, based on (i) the number of actors involved (1 vs. 2) and (ii) the level of intoxication (moderately vs. very drunk). In contrast to earlier studies, research accomplices checked afterward whether the bartenders noticed that the actors appeared intoxicated. RESULTS: In 86% of the cases, the actors were able to buy alcohol, without comments or questions. In 10%, the actors were refused entrance by a bouncer. Only in 4%, the bartender refused to serve. In 81% of the cases, the bartenders remembered the actors: In 93% of those cases, they noticed that the actor appeared intoxicated. Only the "very drunk" script involving 2 actors led to refusals. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that compliance with the regulations regarding overserving to intoxicated guests is problematic in the Netherlands. Misinterpretations of the situation could be ruled out: Most bartenders noticed that the actors appeared intoxicated but served nonetheless.

Improving shop floor compliance with age restrictions for alcohol sales: effectiveness of a feedback letter intervention.

PURPOSE: In this study, we investigated the effects and handling of an intervention to increase compliance with age limits regarding alcohol sales. The intervention tested in this field experiment was a feedback letter sent to alcohol outlets about their individual compliance results based on a mystery shopping study. METHOD: We measured compliance in 146 alcohol outlets (cafeterias, supermarkets, bars, liquor stores and youth centres) in one region in the Netherlands with 15-year-old mystery shoppers. About half (n=72) of the outlets received the intervention letter (the experimental group). After this intervention, we measured compliance again (n=138). Then we sent the same letter to the control group and interviewed all the outlets regarding their handling of the intervention (n=106). RESULTS: After the experimental group received the letter, compliance increased significantly (from 18.1% to 32.4%). In the control group, compliance did not change. Of the outlets interviewed, 81% stated that they had received the letter, and the action most commonly taken was to bring the letter to the attention of their staff. CONCLUSIONS: Positive feedback letters are more often copied and shared integrally with personnel, compared with negative letters. Compliance with respect to underage alcohol sales can be improved, although compliance levels remain low in the Netherlands.

Does Digital Nature Enhance Social Aspirations? An Experimental Study.

Loneliness and social isolation are increasingly recognized as important challenges of our times. Inspired by research hinting at beneficial effects of interacting with nature on social connectedness and opportunities provided by ambient technology to simulate nature in a rich and engaging manner, this study explored to what extent digital nature projections can stimulate social aspirations and related emotions. To this end, participants (N = 96) were asked to watch, individually or in pairs, digital nature projections consisting of animated scenes which were either dense or spacious and depicting either wild or tended nature. Subsequently, they filled out a questionnaire comprising measures for social aspirations, awe and fascination. Results show that spacious scenes elicited significantly higher social aspiration and awe scores, especially when watching alone. Design implications are discussed for making digital nature accessible for people with limited access to real nature.

Functional Complexity and Web Site Design: Evaluating the Online Presence of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Functional complexity is a widespread and underresearched phenomenon in Web sites. This article explores a specific case of functional complexity by analyzing the content of UNESCO World Heritage Web sites, which have to meet demands from both World Heritage and tourism perspectives. Based on a functional analysis, a content checklist was developed and used to evaluate a sample of 30 World Heritage Web sites. The results show that World Heritage Web sites generally fall short in all content categories. A cluster analysis reveals three types of World Heritage Web sites based on their emphasis on World Heritage content versus tourism content: (a) less well-developed Web sites (no emphasis), (b) Web sites of World Heritage Sites with touristic possibilities (emphasis on World Heritage), and (c) Web sites of touristic attractions with outstanding cultural or natural value (emphasis on tourism). In all, the findings show that functional complexity poses serious threats to the exhaustiveness of a Web site's information and that evaluation approaches based on functional analysis can be useful in detecting blindspots in the content provided.

Making Green Stuff? Effects of Corporate Greenwashing on Consumers.

The marketing success of green products has spawned the phenomenon of greenwashing, but studies on the effects of greenwashing on consumers are still limited. Using a 4 × 2 randomized experimental design, this study examines such effects by determining whether consumers respond differently to greenwashing, silent brown, vocal green, and silent green organizations selling hedonic products (perfume) or utilitarian products (detergent). The results show that consumers recognized the green claims in the greenwashing condition, which led to an environmental performance impression in between green and brown organizations but also to more negative judgments about the integrity of communication. Regarding purchase interest, greenwashing organizations performed similarly as silent brown organizations, with significantly lower scores than those of vocal green and silent green organizations. No significant effects of product type and no interaction effects were found. Overall, greenwashing has only limited benefits (perceived environmental performance), poses a major threat (perceived integrity), and has no true competitive advantage (purchase interest).

Determinants of safety outcomes and performance: A systematic literature review of research in four high-risk industries.

INTRODUCTION: In spite of increasing governmental and organizational efforts, organizations still struggle to improve the safety of their employees as evidenced by the yearly 2.3 million work-related deaths worldwide. Occupational safety research is scattered and inaccessible, especially for practitioners. Through systematically reviewing the safety literature, this study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of behavioral and circumstantial factors that endanger or support employee safety. METHOD: A broad search on occupational safety literature using four online bibliographical databases yielded 27.527 articles. Through a systematic reviewing process 176 online articles were identified that met the inclusion criteria (e.g., original peer-reviewed research; conducted in selected high-risk industries; published between 1980-2016). Variables and the nature of their interrelationships (i.e., positive, negative, or nonsignificant) were extracted, and then grouped and classified through a process of bottom-up coding. RESULTS: The results indicate that safety outcomes and performance prevail as dependent research areas, dependent on variables related to management & colleagues, work(place) characteristics & circumstances, employee demographics, climate & culture, and external factors. Consensus was found for five variables related to safety outcomes and seven variables related to performance, while there is debate about 31 other relationships. Last, 21 variables related to safety outcomes and performance appear understudied. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of safety research has focused on addressing negative safety outcomes and performance through variables related to others within the organization, the work(place) itself, employee demographics, and-to a lesser extent-climate & culture and external factors. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: This systematic literature review provides both scientists and safety practitioners an overview of the (under)studied behavioral and circumstantial factors related to occupational safety behavior. Scientists could use this overview to study gaps, and validate or falsify relationships. Safety practitioners could use the insights to evaluate organizational safety policies, and to further development of safety interventions.

Children's perspectives on cyberbullying: insights based on participatory research.

Cyberbullying is an emerging problem among youngsters. Although the current body of knowledge about cyberbullying is expanding rapidly, it lacks a more in-depth research approach honoring adolescents' perspectives on the problem. Moreover, very few studies have focused on cyberbullying among elementary school children. The purpose of this study therefore, was to explore children's perspectives on the problem of cyberbullying. A participatory research design was used in which 28 children (aged 11-12 from four elementary schools) actively participated for 6 weeks in weekly scheduled group sessions. In these sessions, different aspects of cyberbullying were discussed using various enabling techniques. Between sessions, the children were given preparation assignments. The research revealed several ambiguities that should be addressed in interventions against cyberbullying. First, it appears difficult for all parties involved to distinguish cyberbullying from innocent pranks. Frequency and intention are key variables, but these are ambiguous in the context of cyberbullying. Second, cyberbullies may have very different motives, not all of which have to do with their relationship with the victim. Third, the expectations children have of the way their parents or teachers will react to incidents of cyberbullying are an obstacle for seeking help. Children are particularly afraid of overreaction and the subsequent loss of their Internet privileges. These results confirm earlier insights from research on cyberbullying, and examine the ambiguities in more detail. In addition, the research demonstrates the usefulness of participatory research to investigate cyberbullying among younger children and demonstrates that the research led to mutual learning.

Why should I comply? Sellers' accounts for (non-)compliance with legal age limits for alcohol sales.

BACKGROUND: Availability is an important predictor of early and excessive alcohol consumption by adolescents. Many countries have implemented age limits to prevent underage purchases of alcohol. However, shop-floor compliance with these age limits appears to be problematic. This study addresses the issue of non-compliance with age limits. Which measures do vendors take to avoid underage alcohol sales, and what do they report as important reasons to comply or not with age limits for alcohol sales? METHODS: Open-ended telephone interviews were conducted with store managers selling alcohol (N = 106). Prior to the interviews, all outlets were visited by an underage mystery shopper in order to measure compliance with the legal age limits on alcohol sales. The interview results are compared against actual compliance rates. RESULTS: Several measures have been taken to prevent underage sales, but the compliance level is low. Furthermore, open coding resulted in 19 themes, representing both valid and invalid arguments, that vendors mentioned as relevant to their decisions of whether to comply with the law. Compliance with age limits is dependent on the knowledge of the rules and the ability and motivation to follow the rules. The ability aspect in particular seems to be problematic, but in many cases, the motivation to actively comply with the age limits is lacking. CONCLUSIONS: To enhance compliance, it is important to raise the awareness of the importance of age limits and to connect possible violations of the regulations to negative consequences.

Effects of a national information campaign on compliance with age restrictions for alcohol sales.

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of a national information campaign, introduced by the Dutch Food Retail Organization, named "Under 20? Show Your ID!," on compliance with age restrictions on alcohol sales. The compliance level after the campaign was compared with a baseline compliance, that we calculated based on 458 preintervention compliance measurements. METHODS: Data were collected using the method of mystery shopping. Three teams, each consisting of two 15-year-old mystery shoppers, conducted 105 alcohol purchase attempts in supermarkets in three regions in the Netherlands. RESULTS: A compliance rate of 24.8% was found, which is a significant improvement compared with Dutch basement compliance rate from the past (14.9%), but is nominally still very low. CONCLUSIONS: This mass media intervention campaign failed to increase compliance to an acceptable level. Also the specific goal of the campaign (ask everybody under <20 years old for identification [ID]) failed because fewer than half of the 15-year-old mystery shoppers in the study were asked to show their ID when purchasing alcoholic beverages.

Making sense of alcohol experiences: young adolescents' accounts of alcohol-related critical incidents.

OBJECTIVE: This study explores how alcohol use is incorporated in the lives of young adolescents in the Netherlands. To this end, critical incidents involving alcohol use situations are analyzed. Special attention is paid to the consequences associated with alcohol use, the role of the parents, and the way adolescents evaluate incidents and link them to behavioral intentions. METHOD: Data were collected in 45 interviews using the critical incident technique. Participants were asked to mention salient alcohol-related incidents, which they had either experienced or observed. The participants were 45 adolescents, aged 15 and 16, who were recruited at high schools. RESULTS: A total of 145 incidents were described. Many different, mostly adverse, consequences were associated with the incidents. Parents only played a minor role: they were not always aware of incidents, and if they were, they often did not take them seriously. Two tendencies were found in adolescents' sense making of incidents: the tendency to link adverse consequences to positive overall experiences, and the tendency to not translate negative overall experiences into lower drinking intentions. CONCLUSION: The study shows that alcohol is already deeply rooted in the lives of adolescents. The role of parents appears to be problematic. Furthermore, the study underlines the complexity of the problem of adolescent alcohol use. If their own negative experiences and first-hand observations do not substantially lead to lower drinking intentions, it does not seem plausible that alcohol information and education materials focusing on consequences will.

Determinants of parental support for governmental alcohol control policies.

AIM: To explore determinants that predict parental support for governmental alcohol control policies in the Netherlands. METHOD: A questionnaire was administered among 1550 parents, containing six possible predictors to explain support for alcohol control policies. RESULTS: Parental support can be explained by five partly normative predictors (R(2)=.503). Parents with lower drinking frequencies are stricter and more supportive than parents who consume more alcohol. Higher-educated parents are stricter than lower-educated parents. CONCLUSION: In general, parents do support governmental alcohol control policies. Communication of the fact that youth alcohol consumption is problematic tends to increase parental support. Also, if policy makers are able to influence parents' opinions on the consequences of alcohol consumption, as well as the norm of not consuming alcohol before 16 years of age, then parental support increases. Parents' experiences with drunken youths also explain support. Factual knowledge does not influence support, so information campaigns alone do not increase parental support.

Shop floor compliance with age restrictions for tobacco sales: remote versus in-store age verification.

To compare traditional in-store age verification with a newly developed remote age verification system, 100 cigarette purchase attempts were made by 15-year-old "mystery shoppers." The remote system led to a strong increase in compliance (96% vs. 12%), reflecting more identification requests and more sale refusals when adolescents showed their identification cards.

There's alcohol in my soap: portrayal and effects of alcohol use in a popular television series.

Two studies are reported addressing the media influences on adolescents' alcohol-related attitudes and behaviours. A content analysis was conducted to investigate the prevalence of alcohol portrayal in a Dutch soap series. The coding scheme covered the alcohol consumption per soap character, drinking situations and drinking times. Inter-coder reliability was satisfactory. The results showed that alcohol portrayal was prominent and that many instances of alcohol use reflected undesirable behaviours. To assess the influence of such alcohol cues on adolescents, a 2x2 experiment was conducted focusing on the separate and combined effects of alcohol portrayal in the soap series and surrounding alcohol commercials. Whereas the alcohol commercials had the expected effects on adolescents' attitudes, the alcohol-related soap content only appeared to have unexpected effects. Adolescents who were exposed to the alcohol portrayal in the soap series had a less positive attitude towards alcohol and lower drinking intentions. Implications of these findings for health policy and future research are discussed.

Determinants of the use of a diabetes risk-screening test.

A study was designed to investigate why people do or do not make use of a diabetes risk test developed to facilitate the timely diagnosis of diabetes. Data were collected using a web-based questionnaire, which was based on the Health Belief Model, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and the Threatening Medical Situations Inventory. People who had and had not used the risk test were recruited to complete the survey. The sample consisted of 205 respondents: 44% who had used the test and 56% who had not. The hypothesized relationships between the dependent variable (diabetes risk test use) and the determinants used in this study were tested using logistic regression analysis. Only two significant predictors of diabetes risk test use were found: gender and barriers. More women than men use the test. Furthermore, people who experience more barriers will be less inclined to use the test. The contribution of diabetes screening tests fully depends on people's willingness to use them. To optimize the usage of such test, it is especially important to address the barriers as perceived by the public. Two types of barriers must be addressed: practical barriers (time to take the test, fear of complexity of the test), and consequential barriers (fear of the disease and treatment, uncertainties about where to go in the case of an increased risk of diabetes).

Mystery shopping and alcohol sales: do supermarkets and liquor stores sell alcohol to underage customers?

PURPOSE: The Dutch national policy regarding alcohol and youth relies on retailers' willingness to refuse to sell alcohol to underage customers. This study examined unobtrusively whether supermarkets and liquor stores do indeed comply with the legal age restrictions for alcohol sales. METHODS: A research protocol was developed based on the methodology of mystery shopping. Using the protocol, 150 supermarkets and 75 liquor stores were visited by 15-year-old adolescents who tried to buy soft alcoholic beverages (legal age, 16 years), and 75 liquor stores were visited by 17-year-old adolescents who tried to buy strong alcoholic beverages (legal age, 18). RESULTS: Of all 300 buying attempts, 86% were successful. In supermarkets, 88% of all attempts succeeded. In liquor stores, a difference was found between the purchase of strong alcohol by 17-year-olds (89%) and the purchase of soft alcoholic beverages by 15-year-olds (77%). In only 71 of all visits, mystery shoppers were asked for an ID. In 39% of these cases, they were still able to buy alcohol. Female adolescents were more successful in buying alcohol than male adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that supermarkets and liquor stores generally fail to see the need for extra care when young customers try to buy alcohol. Legal age restrictions without enforcement and facilitation clearly do not suffice to protect adolescents from early exposure to alcohol.

Sexuality and people with intellectual disabilities: assessment of knowledge, attitudes, experiences, and needs.

The topic of sexuality and romantic relationships of people with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities was examined. We developed a questionnaire to investigate the 76 respondents' sexual knowledge, attitudes, experience, and needs. During the interviews, observational data were gathered to check the validity of the instrument. Results show that sexuality and romantic relationships are important aspects in the lives of many persons with intellectual disabilities. Male respondents generally reported more sexual needs than did females. Correlations were found between sexual knowledge and attitudes and between attitudes and experience or needs, suggesting that general behavioral models may be fruitfully used to further explore the topic of sexuality among people with intellectual disabilities.