Indigenous Mothers' Perspective on Sexual Health in Northwest Territories, Canada: Results from the Maternal and Infant Health Project.

PURPOSE: In Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada, infection rates for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis are three to ten times higher than the national averages and have been steadily increasing. However, data are scarce on the socioeconomic, psychological, and behavioural factors associated with the proliferation of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in NWT. To this extent, this study explores Indigenous mothers' perspectives on sexual health, STI risk factors and healthcare-seeking behaviours in NWT. METHODS: Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Participants consisted of Indigenous mothers who were pregnant or had given birth within three years. RESULTS: Of the 161 participants, with a mean age of 29.61 years, 70.81% lived with a partner, and 93.17% had given birth within the previous three years. Participants felt STIs were a concern (68.32%) and felt comfortable asking a male partner for safe sexual relations (67.70%). The healthcare system was the main source of STI information for most participants (83.85%). The main STI risk factors participants mentioned were young age, unsafe sexual relations, and substance use. Participants reported embarrassment, protecting personal and familial well-being, and confidentiality as factors affecting STI healthcare-seeking behaviour. CONCLUSION: STIs result from an interaction between age, sexual behaviour, substance use, health literacy, and the historical and sociocultural contexts stigmatizing STIs and impacting women's abilities to demand safe sexual relations. Understanding these factors in a remote Indigenous context is vital to designing and implementing effective health and social interventions to reduce the prevalence of STIs in NWT.

Unique Considerations for Forensic Interviews With Adolescents: An Exploration of Expert Interviewers' Perspectives.

Although adolescents are at elevated risk of sexual victimisation, very limited research has focused on how best to interview suspected adolescent victims. The current study was conducted to lay the groundwork for the development of best-practice interviewing approaches with adolescents when sexual victimisation is suspected. Expert interviewers with experience and knowledge in interviewing suspected adolescent victims were asked about common challenges they encounter with adolescent interviewees and how they tailor their interviews for this population. The findings indicated that adolescents are often reluctant to disclose, and the strategies the interviewers use to meet the unique needs of adolescents hinge on respecting each adolescent as a relatively autonomous and independent person. Identifying which strategies expert interviewers use is a fruitful starting point for future experimental research that can test and ultimately develop evidence-based practices for this population, which is necessary to help interviewers interact with suspected adolescent victims in ways that align with their psychosocial and cognitive maturity.

Community experiences with police and implications for public health: A focus group study.

Interactions with the police can impact an individual's short and long-term physical, mental, and social wellbeing, as well as levels of violence and unrest within a community. As such, this study aimed to explore experiences with the police among individuals experiencing socioeconomic disadvantages in Edmonton, Canada. For this qualitative study, participants (n = 39) were recruited from an emergency shelter for women, a drop-in community organization supporting individuals experiencing socioeconomic disadvantages, and a centre providing settlement support for newcomers to Canada. During the recruitment process, the research information sheet, including the scope and goals of the study, was presented, and participants who had any experience with the police were recruited. Each participant joined one of seven focus groups, during which experiences with the police were discussed; data from the focus groups were analyzed utilizing thematic analysis. Factors that contributed to satisfactory experiences with the police included the police demonstrating responsiveness and compassion, as well as an individual's understanding of police work. Factors that contributed to unsatisfactory experiences included the experiences of discrimination, stigmatization, and disrespect during interactions with the police. Participants suggested that community-police relationships could be improved by police being less judgemental and suspicious in their approach, undergoing regular training in sociocultural sensitivity, and being more open in their communication and community outreach. Overall, adopting a less discriminatory and more empathetic approach within a police force is essential for creating and maintaining a positive community-police relationship. By considering the socioeconomic context of people's behaviours and actions, police can better support the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities.

Detecting orphanage trafficking and exploitation.

BACKGROUND: There is growing awareness that a proportion of children in orphanages have been recruited or transferred into the facility for a purpose of exploitation and/or profit. These children are often falsely presented as orphans to evoke sympathy and solicit funding. This process is known as orphanage trafficking. Although orphanage trafficking can be prosecuted under legal frameworks in some jurisdictions, including Cambodia, there have been limited prosecutions to date. One factor that likely contributes to a lack of prosecution is poor detection, yet the indicators of orphanage trafficking have not been considered by extant research. OBJECTIVE: The current study was conducted as a first step towards providing evidence-based indicators of orphanage trafficking. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Professionals who had identified or responded to cases of orphanage-based exploitation in Cambodia were interviewed. Participants included criminal justice professionals, investigators from civil society organisations, and child protection social workers. METHODS: Professionals' perspectives on how to identify orphanage trafficking were explored via in-depth interviews, and the data were analysed via thematic analysis. RESULTS: The analysis revealed a distinct set of indicators that may be used to detect orphanage trafficking, including the operation of an unauthorised facility, orphanage tourism and volunteering, and an overt focus on fundraising. CONCLUSION: The indicators revealed in this study point to the need for an effective and thorough monitoring system for orphanages, as well as adequate education and training of relevant personnel to aid in the detection of orphanage trafficking.

"Older, Faster, Stronger": The Multiple Benefits of Masters Sport Participation.

While masters sport aligns with the holistic concept of active aging, related research has focused predominantly on the physical domain, and less is known about the psychological, cognitive, and social benefits of older adults' participation. This study examined, in combination, the perceived psychological, social, cognitive, and physical benefits of training and competing as a masters athlete, while considering age and gender differences. Forty masters athletes residing in Canada were interviewed (21 men and 19 women; 15 who were 50-64 years and 25 who were 65-79 years), representing 15 different sports. Interviews were coded both deductively and inductively, revealing several subthemes of benefits for the broader perceived psychological, social, cognitive, and physical benefits, with few but notable differences between women and men, and those younger than 65 years and those 65+ years. Our findings provide new insights into the positive experiences of active aging associated with high levels of physical activity among older adults, such as greater self-confidence, especially for women, comradery, and feeling mentally sharper, especially for the older age group.

Exercise Identity and Its Relation to Self-Presentation Concerns in Males and Females.

Purpose: It has been determined that exercise identity is a key component of the self-concept and is a strong determinant of exercise behaviors. The purpose of the present study was to examine exercise identity's relationship with three key self-presentational variables: self-presentational efficacy, social physique anxiety, and impression motivation. Methods: We looked at how exercise identity contributed uniquely to predicting exercise behavior over and above these self-presentational concerns for both males 10 (n = 140) and females (n = 234) recruited from two university communities. Participant's age ranged from 18-68 years, the majority identified as students, and as Caucasian. Results: The analyses demonstrated that exercise identity was positively correlated with self-presentational efficacy and unrelated to social physique anxiety in both genders. Further analyses revealed that exercise identity contributes a significant amount of variance toward exercise behavior over and above what is accounted for by self-presentational efficacy, social physique anxiety, and impression motivation. Lastly, exercise identity did not moderate the social physique anxiety-exercise relationship in either gender. Conclusion: These findings advance our knowledge of exercise identity and its relationship with various important constructs has been determined that exercise identity is a key component of the self-concept and is a strong determinant of exercise behaviors.

Tobacco use among varsity athletes - why do they do it and how do we make it stop: a brief report.

The current study explores the motivations underlying tobacco use among varsity athletes. A cross-sectional exploratory mixed method approach was used. Both tobacco users (TU) and non-tobacco users (NTU) completed an online survey of closed and open-ended questions. These questions focused on tobacco use, motivations for tobacco use, teammate and coaches' perceptions of athlete tobacco use, and self-perceived effects of tobacco use on health and athletic performance. Thirty-eight completed surveys were included of which 12 were TU and 26 were NTU. The majority of TU indicated that they used products during the off-season. Motivations for using tobacco products included social influences, stress-relief, and increasing energy. TU mostly indicated that there are negative effects on their health but not on their athletic performance, whereas NTU reported potential detrimental effects on their teammate's performance. Overall, varsity athletes who use tobacco products are aware of the health effects and negative opinions of their teammates.

The perceived credibility of repeated-event witnesses depends upon their veracity.

For repeated crimes like domestic violence and workplace bullying, the primary evidence is often the alleged victim's testimony. Consequently, the perceived credibility of repeated event speakers can be pivotal to legal proceedings. In order to investigate perceptions of truthful and deceptive repeated-event speakers, undergraduate students observed interviews of speakers describing a single occurrence of an event that was either experienced or fabricated either once or multiple times. Some participants additionally read an expert statement on repeated-event memory. The effect of repetition on perceived credibility depended on the speaker's veracity, enhancing the credibility of fabricators but diminishing the credibility of truth-tellers. The expert testimony was found to raise the perceived honesty and cognitive competence of the repeated-event speakers and thus could be a promising mechanism for enhancing perceived credibility in legal proceedings.

Perceived Time, Frequency, and Intensity of Engagement and Older Masters Athletes' Subjective Experiences.

Masters athletes are a unique group of older adults whose experiences may provide valuable insights into the role of sport for successful aging. The purpose of this study was to explore whether masters athletes' social and psychological experiences vary with their time, frequency, and perceived exertion in training and competition. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 men and women older masters athletes, aged 50-79 years (M = 66), who were active at the competitive level across a variety of sports (e.g., volleyball, curling, rowing, dragon boating, running, swimming, and basketball) at the time of the study. Results indicate that all participants experienced social and psychological benefits from engaging in masters sport. Only the high-frequency engagement subgroup (participating five to seven times per week in training and/or competition) reported social downsides, in terms of missing time with family and friends outside of masters sport. However, some participants described the positive family support (e.g., spouse who endorses sport participation) that overrides some of the social costs. These findings have implications for realizing positive experiences with minimal engagement in masters sport, yet an apparent threshold of participation beyond which negative social consequences may be experienced. This is an important consideration for the design and promotion of sport for older adults.

The Impact of Partner Performance on Emotions in Doubles Racquet Sports.

Purpose: Different athletes may experience different emotions, based on one's appraisal of the situation or environment. To date, this line of research has received limited research attention in sport dyads. The purpose of this study was to understand the role of a partner's play on the different types of emotion of athletes, as well as perceived impact on overall emotions, performance, and motivation in doubles racquet sports (i.e., tennis, badminton, and squash). Method: Using a post-test only, randomized experimental design, participants read one of three possible written vignettes that depicted different scenarios of their partner's play (i.e., poor, good, or usual performance). Participants (N = 103) were then asked to fill out a questionnaire packet based on the scenario read. Results: A Multivariate Analysis of Variance, as well as follow-up Analyses of Variance revealed significant differences between groups in subjective emotions based on whether their partner was playing poorly, their partner having a good performance or whether their partner was perceived as playing their usual game (control group).  The results showed that athletes scored higher in anger and anxiety when their partner is playing poorly, and when their partner is having a good performance, athletes had higher scores in happiness and excitement. Conclusion: Overall, these findings imply that athletes' emotions may change based on how their partner is playing and provide a foundation to look at emotional reactions (action tendencies) and coping in sport teams.