Initial assessment of the efficacy of food recovery policies in US States for increasing food donations and reducing waste.

In this paper, we examine the primary impact of two categories of food recovery policies on food donation and the secondary impact on food safety, food waste, and food insecurity in U.S. states. As one method of food recovery, food donation can reduce food waste while mitigating food insecurity, and it can be promoted in U.S. states through strong liability protection policies that provide legal protection to food donors and through tax incentivization policies that financially reward food donors via deductions and/or credits. To provide an initial evaluation of the effects of these policies, we coded each state's food recovery policies in 2012 and 2018 and compared strong policies versus weak policies. Using data from multiple sources, we found that states with stronger liability protection policies had more food donations, and states that provide tax incentivization had more food waste. Although our analyses were correlational, rather than causal, and were reliant upon limited data, our results demonstrate that the current food recovery policy landscape in U.S. states does relate to important food waste outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for crafting more effective policies that encourage food recovery.

Task-related and task-unrelated thoughts in runners and equestrians: Measurement issues in evaluations of thought content.

Much of the thought content and mind-wandering literature examines self-reported thought content's relationship with performance criteria in limited ways. Furthermore, retrospective reports about thought content may be influenced by the quality of one's performance. We explored these method issues in a cross-sectional study of individuals competing in a trail race and an equestrian event. Our results demonstrated that self-reports of thought content differed based on the performance context: whereas runners' task-related and task-unrelated thoughts were negatively correlated, equestrians' thought content showed no relationship. Moreover, equestrians in general reported fewer task-related and task-unrelated thoughts than runners. Finally, objective performance predicted task-unrelated thought (but not task-related thought) among runners, and an exploratory mediation test suggested the effect was partially mediated by performance awareness. We discuss the applied implications of this research for human performance practitioners.

Influence of Simulation-based Training on Reflective Practice.

BACKGROUND: Simulation-based training (SBT) is often evaluated based on the transfer of specific knowledge and skills. In contrast, the degree to which reflective practice is inculcated by SBT is rarely considered. Because reflection is a pillar of adult learning theories, we sought to examine the degree to which participation in SBT was associated with increased reflective practice. METHOD: Eighty one healthcare professionals completed a survey which included the number of SBTs they participated in during the past two years, content- and administrative-related features of those SBTs, and a key aspect of reflective practice (i.e., self-appraisal). RESULTS: The number of SBTs healthcare professionals participated in during the past two years was positively associated with reflective self-appraisal. This relationship was not moderated by the inclusion of reflection components in SBTs nor by the voluntary/mandatory nature of participation in SBTs. Furthermore, the facilitator was ranked as the most important feature of the overall learning experience in SBTs. Also, no significant differences were found between the number of technical skills-based and non-technical skills-based SBTs. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate the importance (of evaluating) SBTs for facilitating reflective learning mindsets that healthcare practitioners can apply beyond the specific skills trained by SBTs.