Midwifery care: reflections of midwifery clients

The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experience of midwifery clients throughout the life span. A qualitative study using a phenomenological approach was employed. In-depth interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 12 midwifery clients. The research question was: What has been your experience with midwifery care? Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data saturation was achieved and analysis procedures from Colaizzi were used. Five themes emerged from the data: 1) decision to seek midwifery care; 2) working together in a therapeutic alliance; 3) formulating a birth plan; 4) childbirth education; and 5) nurse-midwives as primary health-care providers throughout the life span. There is much to learn from listening to the voices of midwifery clients.     

Bioinformatics and the Undergraduate Curriculum Essay

Recent advances involving high-throughput techniques for data generation and analysis have made familiarity with basic bioinformatics concepts and programs a necessity in the biological sciences. Undergraduate students increasingly need training in methods related to finding and retrieving information stored in vast databases. The rapid rise of bioinformatics as a new discipline has challenged many colleges and universities to keep current with their curricula, often in the face of static or dwindling resources. On the plus side, many bioinformatics modules and related databases and software programs are free and accessible online, and interdisciplinary partnerships between existing faculty members and their support staff have proved advantageous in such efforts. We present examples of strategies and methods that have been successfully used to incorporate bioinformatics content into undergraduate curricula.     

Socialization of coping with community violence: influences of caregiver coaching, modeling, and family context

A socialization model of coping with community violence was tested in 101 African American adolescents (55% male, ages 9-13) and their maternal caregivers living in high-violence areas of a mid-sized, southeastern city. Participants completed interviews assessing caregiver coping, family context, and child adjustment. Caregiver-child dyads also discussed a film clip depicting community violence. Parental coaching (caregivers' strategies suggesting how to cope) and child-reported coping were coded from the discussion. Coaching, modeling (caregivers' own coping), and family context each contributed to children's coping with violence. Children's problem-focused coping in response to violence had the strongest associations with changes in their adjustment 6 months later. Implications for interventions with youth and families are discussed.     

Librarians collaborating with nurses

Nurses have the potential to be one of the largest groups of users a medical library can serve. In recognition of this fact, librarians at St. John's Health System embarked on a journey to collaborate with nurses and increase this group's use of the medical library. In 2004, a nursing outreach plan was developed by librarians, with input from non-physician health care employees. The nursing outreach plan will be reviewed along with the barriers and successes encountered during implementation of the plan. Innovative strategies for reaching nursing personnel were accomplished by partnering with nurses to reach nurses.     

Characteristics of personal health records: findings of the Medical Library Association/National Library of Medicine Joint Electronic Personal Health Record Task Force

Objectives:

The Medical Library Association (MLA)/National Library of Medicine (NLM) Joint Electronic Personal Health Record Task Force examined the current state of personal health records (PHRs).

Methods:

A working definition of PHRs was formulated, and a database was built with fields for specified PHR characteristics. PHRs were identified and listed. Each task force member was assigned a portion of the list for data gathering. Findings were recorded in the database.

Results:

Of the 117 PHRs identified, 91 were viable. Almost half were standalone products. A number used national standards for nomenclature and/or record structure. Less than half were mobile device enabled. Some were publicly available, and others were offered only to enrollees of particular health plans or employees at particular institutions. A few were targeted to special health conditions.

Conclusions:

The PHR field is very dynamic. While most PHR products have some common elements, their features can vary. PHRs can link their users with librarians and information resources. MLA and NLM have taken an active role in making this connection and in encouraging librarians to assume this assistance role with PHRs.

Highlights

• A variety of personal health records (PHRs) exist with some tied to medical health records and others offered as standalone products.
• Librarians can be connected to PHR users through inclusion of an assistance statement in PHRs.
• PHRs offer librarians another means of providing consumers with quality health information.

Implications

• PHR user support is a new role for medical librarians.
• Medical librarians need to be proactive in their communities to educate consumers about PHRs.
• Given the dynamic nature of this market, medical librarians should make a concerted effort to stay abreast of trends in this area.

     

Humanities and social science journals: a pilot study of eight US associations

The paper summarizes the findings of a pilot study for the National Humanities Alliance, including the methodology, research tools, analysis, and initial conclusions about the publishing business of eight association published humanities and social sciences journals in the context of a move to an open access (author/producer pays) publishing model. The eight disciplines represented by these journals are modern languages, history, religion, economics, sociology, anthropology, politics and statistics. Specific tools were developed for the study to enable like‐for‐like comparison of the journals. Detailed information on current trends in revenue, costs, and surplus is included. Significant differences between HSS and STM journals are reviewed. Open access to research articles on publication as the ‘gold’ author/producer‐pays approach would not be sustainable for this sample of HSS journals for reasons articulated in the report. Further studies using the tools and methodology developed are required to broaden and confirm these results.     

Admiration for virtue: Neuroscientific perspectives on a motivating emotion

Social emotions like admiration for another person’s virtue are often associated with a desire to be virtuous one’s self, and to engage in meaningful and socially relevant activities against any odds (Haidt & Seder, 2007). These emotions can profoundly inspire us, sometimes motivating our most significant life-course decisions. Yet despite the cognitive maturity and complexity of knowledge required to induce an emotion like admiration for virtue, our recent study of the brain and psychophysiological correlates of experiencing this emotion revealed significant involvement of low-level brain systems responsible for the feeling of the gut and the maintenance of basic life regulation (Immordino-Yang, McColl, Damasio, & Damasio, 2009). These findings contribute an interesting jumping-off point for reexamining the educational study of motivation states because they suggest that, contrary to current conceptions in educational research, nonconscious, low-level physiological processes related to survival and bodily sensation may be critical contributors to intrinsic motivation.