Leveraging dynamic norms to reduce alcohol use among college students: A proof-of-concept experimental study.

BACKGROUND: Norm-correcting interventions are an effective alcohol harm-reduction approach, but innovation is needed to increase modest effect sizes. Recent social psychology research shows that individuals may be influenced by social norms that are increasing in prevalence. Contrary to static norms that reflect the current state of normative behavior, dynamic norms reflect behavioral norms that are shifting over time. This proof-of-concept study tested the utility of dynamic norms messages within norm-correcting interventions. METHOD: Undergraduate student drinkers (N = 461; Mage  = 19.97; 64.43% female) were randomly assigned to receive (a) dynamic norms messages highlighting a steady decrease over the past six years in heavy drinking among college students; (b) static norms messaging stating only the current norms; or (c) a control condition without normative information. Proximal outcomes assessed immediately following the experimental paradigm included intentions for total weekly drinks and heavy episodic drinking. Self-reported information on alcohol use behavior was collected at 1-month follow-up. RESULTS: Following the experimental paradigm, participants in the dynamic norms condition estimated that future drinking norms would decrease, while those in the static norms and control groups estimated that future drinking norms would increase. Participants in the dynamic norms condition reported lower intentions for weekly drinks and heavy episodic drinking than those in the static norms and control conditions. No significant differences between conditions were found on alcohol use indices reported at the 1-month follow-up. However, dynamic norms messaging had a favorable indirect effect on heavy episodic drinking intentions mediated through lower perceived future drinking norms. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide proof-of-concept that dynamic norms messaging may be a prudent strategy for reducing alcohol use intentions, which can be integrated into or used alongside existing norm-correcting strategies.

Grassroots community actors leading the way in the prevention of youth violent radicalization.

Violence-free family ties, non-violent peers or attachment to society have been pointed out as protective factors against different types of extremism and violent radicalization by international literature. However, more detail needs to be provided about which specific aspects within these realms (friendship/family/community) are effective in challenging violence and how they operate in practice. Recent research conducted under the framework of the PROTON project (Horizon 2020) has analyzed the social and ethical impacts of counter-terrorism and organized crime policies in six European countries. In this article we discuss some identified common features among practices that, developed by organized actors operating at the local level (e.g.: grassroots-based associations, educational institutions, other type of organized networks for prevention, NGOs), are contributing to preventing youth violent radicalization, a phenomenon of growing concern in Europe and beyond. Standing on a solid rejection to violence, these shared features are the following: a bottom-up approach in setting allies with key stakeholders from the community or/and family members to intervene; the promotion of trustworthy and healthy friendship relationships; debunking the lure surrounding violent subjects ("false heroes") and violence in the different contexts, especially in the socioeducational one.

Humiliating Whistle-Blowers: Li Wenliang, the Response to Covid-19, and the Call for a Decent Society.

The ethical experience and lessons of China's and the world's response to COVID-19 will be debated for many years to come. But one feature of the Chinese authoritarian response that should not be overlooked is its practice of silencing and humiliating the whistle-blowers who told the truth about the epidemic. In this article, we document the humiliation of Dr Li Wenliang (1986-2020), the most prominent whistle-blower in the Chinese COVID-19 epidemic. Engaging with the thought of Israeli philosopher Avishai Margalit, who argues that humiliation constitutes an injury to a person's self-respect, we discuss his contention that a decent society is one that abolishes conditions which constitute a justification for its dependents to consider themselves humiliated. We explore the ways that institutions humiliate whistle-blowers in Western countries as well as in China.

Results from a literature review of menstruation-related restrictions in the United States and Canada.

Initiation of menstruation is often associated with secrecy and silence, leading to menstruation-related restrictions enforced by various structural and social factors. Most of the research investigating menstruation-related restrictions has been conducted in low- and middle-income countries. It is unknown 1) which populations in the United States and Canada may face menstruation-related restrictions, and 2) what type of restrictions are practiced by these populations. A literature review found 21 articles published between 2000 and 2019 covering menstruation-related social and structural restrictions in the United States and Canada. In addition to more research, we encourage clinical providers to have culturally competent conversations with patients to understand potential menstruation-related restrictions.

Colonialism, science, and health.

In addition to genocide, slavery, and the dispossession of indigenous people, colonialism, as a form of control, meant the suppression of traditional knowledge. The imposition of Christianity, the modern Western paradigm, and modern science that followed perpetrated this suppression. The universal role held by modern science is supported neither by epistemic nor social aspects. It is ineffective and complicit in the collapse of civilization, and it is worsened by comprehensive and unifying ideas to be reduced to an input-process of technological innovation for the benefit of social control industries such as the military, information technology, communication, or health. Furthermore, it suppresses ancestral knowledge related to health and medicine that may be beneficial and must be researched (stimulant medicines). Coupled with the health industry, it promotes the medicalization of life, spreading uncertainty, anxiety, and unease. Therefore, it is an instrument of neocolonialism that imposes its priorities, supplanting problems in subordinated countries, and extracts substantial resources, which is detrimental to social policies and programs. The biggest objection to the universality of modern science is derived from its empiricist and reductionist nature. Through the practically impossible idea of a unifying and explanatory knowledge, it impedes researchers the understanding of the complexity of the world and their historical moment and to act accordingly. It transforms great creative and liberating potential to submissiveness for the interests of capital and its representatives.

El colonialismo, como forma de dominación, significó, además de genocidio, esclavitud o despojo de pueblos originarios, la supresión de saberes tradicionales perpetrada por la imposición del cristianismo, del paradigma moderno occidental y de la ciencia moderna que le siguió. El carácter universal detentado por la ciencia moderna no se sostiene en lo epistémico ni en lo social; es inoperante con y cómplice del colapso civilizatorio; se empobrece de ideas comprensivas e integradoras para reducirse al insumo-proceso de la innovación tecnológica en provecho de las industrias del control social (militar, informática, de comunicación o de la salud); y suprime saberes ancestrales de la esfera de la salud que encierran beneficios y posibilidades que es preciso investigar (medicina estimulante). Aunada a la industria de la salud, impulsa la medicalización de la vida, preñándola de incertidumbre, angustia y desasosiego. Es instrumento del neocolonialismo al imponer sus prioridades, que suplantan las propias de los países subordinados y sustraen cuantiosos recursos en detrimento de políticas y programas sociales. La mayor objeción a la universalidad de la ciencia moderna deriva de su carácter empirista y reduccionista que, al condicionar la imposibilidad práctica de un conocimiento integrador y explicativo, aleja a los investigadores del entendimiento de la complejidad del mundo, de su momento histórico y de actuar en consecuencia, y transforma la gran potencialidad creativa y liberadora de este enorme contingente en docilidad a los designios de los intereses del capital y sus agentes.

Video calls for reducing social isolation and loneliness in older people: a rapid review.

BACKGROUND: The current COVID-19 pandemic has been identified as a possible trigger for increases in loneliness and social isolation among older people due to the restrictions on movement that many countries have put in place. Loneliness and social isolation are consistently identified as risk factors for poor mental and physical health in older people. Video calls may help older people stay connected during the current crisis by widening the participant's social circle or by increasing the frequency of contact with existing acquaintances. OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of this rapid review is to assess the effectiveness of video calls for reducing social isolation and loneliness in older adults. The review also sought to address the effectiveness of video calls on reducing symptoms of depression and improving quality of life. SEARCH METHODS: We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and CINAHL from 1 January 2004 to 7 April 2020. We also searched the references of relevant systematic reviews. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-RCTs (including cluster designs) were eligible for inclusion. We excluded all other study designs. The samples in included studies needed to have a mean age of at least 65 years. We included studies that included participants whether or not they were experiencing symptoms of loneliness or social isolation at baseline. Any intervention in which a core component involved the use of the internet to facilitate video calls or video conferencing through computers, smartphones or tablets with the intention of reducing loneliness or social isolation, or both, in older adults was eligible for inclusion. We included studies in the review if they reported self-report measures of loneliness, social isolation, symptoms of depression or quality of life.  Two review authors screened 25% of abstracts; a third review author resolved conflicts. A single review author screened the remaining abstracts. The second review author screened all excluded abstracts and we resolved conflicts by consensus or by involving a third review author. We followed the same process for full-text articles. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: One review author extracted data, which another review author checked. The primary outcomes were loneliness and social isolation and the secondary outcomes were symptoms of depression and quality of life. One review author rated the certainty of evidence for the primary outcomes according to the GRADE approach and another review author checked the ratings. We conducted fixed-effect meta-analyses for the primary outcome, loneliness, and the secondary outcome, symptoms of depression. MAIN RESULTS: We identified three cluster quasi-randomised trials, which together included 201 participants. The included studies compared video call interventions to usual care in nursing homes. None of these studies were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Each study measured loneliness using the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Total scores range from 20 (least lonely) to 80 (most lonely). The evidence was very uncertain and suggests that video calls may result in little to no difference in scores on the UCLA Loneliness Scale compared to usual care at three months (mean difference (MD) -0.44, 95% confidence interval (CI) -3.28 to 2.41; 3 studies; 201 participants), at six months (MD -0.34, 95% CI -3.41 to 2.72; 2 studies; 152 participants) and at 12 months (MD -2.40, 95% CI -7.20 to 2.40; 1 study; 90 participants). We downgraded the certainty of this evidence by three levels for study limitations, imprecision and indirectness. None of the included studies reported social isolation as an outcome. Each study measured symptoms of depression using the Geriatric Depression Scale. Total scores range from 0 (better) to 30 (worse). The evidence was very uncertain and suggests that video calls may result in little to no difference in scores on the Geriatric Depression Scale compared to usual care at three months' follow-up (MD 0.41, 95% CI -0.90 to 1.72; 3 studies; 201 participants) or six months' follow-up (MD -0.83, 95% CI -2.43 to 0.76; 2 studies, 152 participants). The evidence suggests that video calls may have a small effect on symptoms of depression at one-year follow-up, though this finding is imprecise (MD -2.04, 95% CI -3.98 to -0.10; 1 study; 90 participants). We downgraded the certainty of this evidence by three levels for study limitations, imprecision and indirectness. Only one study, with 62 participants, reported quality of life. The study measured quality of life using a Taiwanese adaptation of the Short-Form 36-question health survey (SF-36), which consists of eight subscales that measure different aspects of quality of life: physical function; physical role; emotional role; social function; pain: vitality; mental health; and physical health. Each subscale is scored from 0 (poor health) to 100 (good health). The evidence is very uncertain and suggests that there may be little to no difference between people allocated to usual care and those allocated to video calls in three-month scores in physical function (MD 2.88, 95% CI -5.01 to 10.77), physical role (MD -7.66, 95% CI -24.08 to 8.76), emotional role (MD -7.18, 95% CI -16.23 to 1.87), social function (MD 2.77, 95% CI -8.87 to 14.41), pain scores (MD -3.25, 95% CI -15.11 to 8.61), vitality scores (MD -3.60, 95% CI -9.01 to 1.81), mental health (MD 9.19, 95% CI 0.36 to 18.02) and physical health (MD 5.16, 95% CI -2.48 to 12.80). We downgraded the certainty of this evidence by three levels for study limitations, imprecision and indirectness. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Based on this review there is currently very uncertain evidence on the effectiveness of video call interventions to reduce loneliness in older adults. The review did not include any studies that reported evidence of the effectiveness of video call interventions to address social isolation in older adults. The evidence regarding the effectiveness of video calls for outcomes of symptoms of depression was very uncertain. Future research in this area needs to use more rigorous methods and more diverse and representative participants. Specifically, future studies should target older adults, who are demonstrably lonely or socially isolated, or both, across a range of settings to determine whether video call interventions are effective in a population in which these outcomes are in need of improvement.

Nudging individuals' creativity using social labeling.

Simple instructions have been shown to robustly influence individual creativity, which is key to solve local problems. Building on social labeling theory, we examine the possibility of nudging individual's creativity using "creative" and "not creative" labels. Study 1 showed that subjects labeled as "creative" or "not creative" performed better in a creative task than unlabeled subjects and established the moderating effect of self-perceived creativity. Among subjects scoring low on self-perceived creativity, those labeled as "creative" performed better than those labeled as "not creative". Conversely, among subjects scoring high on self-perceived creativity, those labeled as "not creative" tend to perform better than those labeled as "creative". Study 2 and Study 3 further explored the psychological mechanisms at play in both cases: specifically, Study 2 showed that applying a "creative" label has the ability to increase creative self-efficacy through self-perceived creativity, whereas Study 3 demonstrated that applying a "not creative" label has the ability to increase individual creativity performance through a higher involvement in the creative task.

Vida comunitaria para todas: salud mental, participación y autonomía. Informe SESPAS 2020 / Community life for all: mental health, participation and autonomy. SESPAS Report 2020

El objetivo de este artículo es realizar una reflexión crítica sobre la participación de las personas con un diagnóstico de trastorno mental en la comunidad desde una perspectiva de derechos y de construcción comunitaria de espacios colectivos. En la primera parte se realiza una revisión sobre conceptos básicos como salud mental comunitaria y el significado de participación, entendida como un fin y no como un medio. Se plantea la necesidad de aumentar la participación en espacios comunitarios más allá del circuito clásico de atención a la salud mental, procesos que implican crear y compartir conocimiento de manera colectiva, horizontal y consensuada entre todas las personas implicadas, en especial las propias personas diagnosticadas. En la segunda parte se presenta, como ejemplo, el grupo de mujeres de Radio Nikosia, narrado en primera persona por las propias participantes. Los aspectos destacados del grupo son su horizontalidad, flexibilidad y autoorganización en un espacio fuera del sistema sanitario donde es posible expresarse sin miedo a ser juzgadas. En este grupo se generan procesos de confianza, reconocimiento, alegría, apoyo social y salud. El grupo se reúne quincenalmente y reflexiona sobre diferentes temas escogidos. También se plantean acciones políticas por los propios derechos de las mujeres, como la participación en medios de comunicación, convocatorias feministas, formaciones y charlas. Se ejemplifica que otras formas de hacer salud mental comunitaria son posibles. Los retos son visibilizarlas, sistematizarlas y poder valorar el impacto que tienen en la salud de las personas y la comunidad

The objective of this article is to critically reflect on the participation in community of people with a diagnosis of mental disorder from a human rights and community health perspective. Firstly, we review basic concepts such as community mental health and the meaning of participation, which is understood as an end and not as a mean. It is important to increase the participation of people with a diagnosis in community spaces beyond the classic circuit of mental health care. This implies to create and share knowledge in a collective, horizontal and consensual way among all the people involved, especially the diagnosed people themselves. Secondly, the experience of the group of women of Radio Nikosia is narrated in first person by the participants themselves. The main highlights of the group are its horizontality, flexibility, and that is a self-organized space outside the health system where it is possible to express oneself without fear of being judged. Processes of trust, recognition, joy, social support and health are generated. Members of the group meet fortnightly and discuss on different topics chosen by them, and take part in political actions for women's own rights such as participation in the media, in feminist calls, in training and talks. We exemplify that other ways of doing community mental health are possible. The challenges are to make them visible, to systemize them and to be able to assess the impact they have on the health not only of the participants, but also the community

A Tale of Two Confucian Capitals: The Role of Friends and Secrecy in Beijing and Seoul.

How do your friends respond to intimate partner violence (IPV), and does it make a difference? This article examines the relationships between wives' IPV secrecy, Confucian sex-role norms, informal social control by friends, totalitarian style partner control by husbands, and husbands' IPV in a study of Beijing and Seoul. Hypotheses were tested using a three-stage cluster sample of 760 married/partnered women from Beijing (n = 301) and Seoul (n = 459). Multilevel regression models run on the combined data found that totalitarian partner control by husbands was positively associated with husband IPV severity. Friends' protective approaches to informal social control of IPV were associated with less husband IPV severity, but punitive approaches were marginally associated with more. However, the combined findings gloss over very different findings for the two cities. The authors argue that the etiology of much IPV in Beijing is better characterized by social disorganization, but the etiology of much IPV in Seoul is better characterized by totalitarian control (deviant order).

The impact of informal leader nurses on patient satisfaction.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between informal leaders, i.e., highly competent individuals who have influence over peers without holding formal leadership positions, and organisational outcomes has not been adequately assessed in health care. AIMS: We evaluated the relationships between informal leaders and experience, job satisfaction and patient satisfaction, among hospital nurses. METHODS: Floor nurses in non-leadership positions participated in an online survey and rated colleagues' leadership behaviours. Nurses identified as informal leaders took an additional survey to determine their leadership styles via the Multifactor Leadership QuestionnaireTM . Six months of patient satisfaction data were linked to the nursing units. RESULTS: A total of 3,456 (91%) nurses received peer ratings and 628 (18%) were identified as informal leaders. Informal leaders had more experience (13.2 ± 10.9 vs. 8.4 ± 9.7 years, p < 0.001) and higher job satisfaction than their counterparts (4.8 ± 1.2 vs. 4.5 ± 1.1, p = 0.007). Neither the proportion of informal leaders on a unit nor leadership style was associated with patient satisfaction (p = 0.53, 0.46, respectively). CONCLUSION: While significant relationships were not detected between patient satisfaction and styles/proportion of informal leaders, we found that informal leaders had more years of experience and higher job satisfaction. More work is needed to understand the informal leaders' roles in achieving organisational outcomes. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Nurse informal leaders are unique resources and health care organisations should utilise them for optimal outcomes.

Neighborhood Social and Environmental Factors and Asthma Among Children Living in Low-Income Neighborhoods: The Importance of Informal Social Control.

Despite the knowledge that children in low-income neighborhoods are particularly vulnerable to asthma, few studies of child asthma focus on variation among low-income neighborhoods. We examined the relationship between child asthma and features associated with neighborhood poverty including safety, social cohesion, informal social control, collective efficacy, and disorder, across a sample of children from low-income neighborhoods (N = 3010; 2005-2007). Results show that the relationship between asthma and poverty is accounted for by family-level characteristics, but informal social control remains significantly and positively related to asthma after accounting for family-level characteristics. We discuss the importance of neighborhood environmental features for children's asthma.

Parent-Child Attunement Moderates the Prospective Link between Parental Overcontrol and Adolescent Adjustment.

Parental overcontrol (OC), behavior that intrusively or dominantly restricts child autonomy, has been identified as a transdiagnostic risk factor for youth. However, it is as yet unknown whether the association between parental OC and child maladjustment remains even when OC is exerted infrequently or by attuned parents. Rather, the selective use of OC might steer children away from danger. Taking a developmental psychopathology approach, this study focuses on the larger parent-child relationship context, testing whether either the dose at which parents demonstrate OC or the degree to which children perceive their parents as attuned determines whether OC is risky or protective for adolescents' adjustment. Among a community sample of 114 families of children followed from the ages of 12-18, we examine whether OC, behaviorally coded from triadic mother-father-child discussions in middle childhood, is associated with later risky behavior and anxiety symptoms in adolescence. Overcontrol exerted by either mothers or fathers had a curvilinear effect on adolescent risky behaviors, and this effect was moderated by children's perceived attunement. Although OC generally was associated with increased risky behaviors, low doses of OC or OC exerted by highly attuned parents protected against engagement in risky behaviors. No main effect of OC was observed on adolescent anxiety; however, mothers' OC interacted with perceived parental attunement, such that OC exerted by less attuned parents predicted greater anxiety. Results underscore that the effect of parenting behaviors depends on the larger parent-child relationship context.

How Can Governmental Positive Power Decrease Violence in Crime-Oriented Arenas? The Case of English Football.

This article will survey the dramatic change English football had undergone since the end of the last century. The authors will closely explore the implementation of the Taylor Report recommendations, to convince that which power and management techniques were used to decrease violence in public areas that were previously considered dangerous and crime-oriented. It will be argued that disciplinarian techniques were practiced, much like those described in Foucault's Discipline and Punish, while this very power has proven to be positive and revitalizing. It will be therefore concluded that power is at its most effective when operated via techniques of discipline and social inclusion. These arguments correspond with the positive criminology theory whose popularity within the discipline is gradually increasing.

Evaluating the effect of a campus-wide social norms marketing intervention on alcohol-use perceptions, consumption, and blackouts.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of a campus-wide social norms marketing intervention on alcohol-use perceptions, consumption, and blackouts at a large, urban, public university. PARTICIPANTS: 4,172 college students (1,208 freshmen, 1,159 sophomores, 953 juniors, and 852 seniors) who completed surveys in Spring 2015 for the Spit for Science Study, a longitudinal study of students' substance use and emotional health. METHODS: Participants were e-mailed an online survey that queried campaign readership, perception of peer alcohol use, alcohol consumption, frequency of consumption, and frequency of blackouts. Associations between variables were evaluated using path analysis. RESULTS: We found that campaign readership was associated with more accurate perceptions of peer alcohol use, which, in turn, was associated with self-reported lower number of drinks per sitting and experiencing fewer blackouts. CONCLUSIONS: This evaluation supports the use of social norms marketing as a population-level intervention to correct alcohol-use misperceptions and reduce blackouts.

El empoderamiento en el ámbito de la gerontología clínica y social / Empowerment in a social and clinical gerontology context

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Social support influences on eating awareness in children and adolescents: the mediating effect of self-regulatory strategies.

The impact of the social environment on healthy eating awareness results from complex interactions among physical, economic, cultural, interpersonal and individual characteristics. This study investigated the impact of social support and social influence on healthy eating awareness, controlling for socio-economic status, gender and age. Additionally, the mediating effect of self-regulation strategies was examined. A total of 2764 children and adolescents aged 10-17 from four European countries completed self-report measures on healthy eating awareness, social influence and the use of self-regulation strategies. Healthy eating awareness and the use of self-regulation strategies were more likely to occur among younger participants. An interaction between gender and age was related to the use of some self-regulation strategies; compared to girls, boys decreased the use of self-regulation strategies more from pre-adolescence to adolescence. Peer social influence was associated with more unhealthy eating in older participants. Results suggest a need to promote self-regulatory competences among young people in order to assist them with regulating their eating behaviours, especially in the presence of peers. Both school-based interventions and family-based interventions, focusing on self-regulation cognitions and social (peer) influence, could help children and adolescents to use self-regulatory strategies which are essential to eat healthier.