Are researchers bound by child abuse reporting laws?

OBJECTIVE: To discuss issues concerning mandatory reporting of child abuse in research settings. METHOD: An overview of existing Federal and State statutes regarding mandatory reporting of child abuse is presented. A critical review of the literature addresses the following issues: (1) whether researchers have a moral duty to place the health and safety of children above concerns about confidentiality and the benefits of obtaining new knowledge; (2) whether the Certificate of Confidentiality preempts reporting requirements; (3) whether researchers who are not health professionals (such as child developmentalists, psychobiologists, neuroscientists) should be required to report; and (4) whether researchers should be required to expand their protocols to include more in-depth investigation of potential abuse. RESULTS: Existing child abuse reporting laws do not specifically designate researchers as among the category of individuals mandated to report suspected child abuse. Currently, Human Subject Protection Committees and Federal funding agencies are tending to interpret reporting laws as applying to researchers, including requiring that research subjects are informed of this responsibility in consenting procedures. It is unclear whether the Certificate of Confidentiality preempts child abuse reporting laws. CONCLUSION: The authors recommend that legislatures specifically designate researchers as mandated reporters to ensure more uniform reporting practices in research settings. For both investigators and Human Subject Protection Committees, inclusion of researchers among the categories of those mandated to report would also help address issues of immunity from civil and criminal liability for "good faith" reports that turn out to be false and injurious.     

Aerobic exercise and type a behaviour

The Type A behaviour pattern is a well‐documented, if controversial, risk factor for coronary heart disease. Surprisingly, relatively little work has been reported on ways of modifying this behaviour pattern. Aerobic exercise, with its demonstrated benefits for both cardiovascular reactivity and psychological ‘well‐being’, is a promising treatment. The literature is reviewed and recommendations are made for practical applications and future research.     

Comments: Rebuttal to above Comments on “Visual Movements of Batters”

Abstract

The research was undertaken to determine if an increase in the duration of a sustained voluntary isometric contraction is more closely related to changes in cardiovascular endurance or changes in strength. Subjects (N = 24) were tested before and after a training program to determine their endurance (oxygen consumption) and strength. The training program consisted of one daily sustained voluntary isometric contraction of the left forearm flexors at a prescribed percentage of the subject's maximum isometric strength. When the mean duration of contractions for each group showed a significant increase, training ceased.

The groups which trained with contractions of 50, 75, and 100 percent of a maximum voluntary contraction showed significant increases in strength, but not in endurance. The group which trained with a 25 percent contraction increased significantly in endurance, but not in strength. The increased duration of contractions at percentages greater than or equal to 50 percent of a maximum voluntary contraction appeared to be due to increased strength. Hence, measuring cardiovascular endurance by the duration of a sustained voluntary isometric contraction at percentages greater than 25 percent seems unjustified.     

The vicissitudes of autonomy in early adolescence

A sample of 865 10-16-year-olds from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds completed a questionnaire battery concerning 3 aspects of autonomy: emotional autonomy in relationship with parents, resistance to peer pressure, and the subjective sense of self-reliance. The observed patterns of relations among the measures cast doubt on the notion that autonomy is a unidimensional trait manifested similarly across a variety of situations. For most boys and girls, the transition from childhood into adolescence is marked more by a trading of dependency on parents for dependency on peers, rather than straightforward and unidimensional growth in autonomy. Moreover, contrary to long-standing notions about the greater salience of autonomy to adolescent males than to females, girls score higher than boys on all 3 measures of autonomy at all age levels.     

Sliding under the desk

Sometimes the awkward, human moments of teaching are the most memorable.Lila Steinberg is a teacher retired from the New York City Public Schools.     

Decisions Hispanic families make after the identification of deafness

This study examines the decision-making process for Hispanic families living in the United States who have a child with a hearing loss. Twenty-nine families in four geographical areas shared their experiences in searching for appropriate interventions and making choices regarding communication and education. We explored the impact of language, culture, minority status, and access to information and services on the decision-making process. The results indicate that the deliberations of Hispanic parents are often complicated by language and cultural barriers and by limited access to information, resources, and a full range of options. The communication method chosen tended to be the one recommended by professionals, usually a combination of spoken English and sign language. Parents frequently expressed the hope that their child would learn Spanish as well. These subjects displayed a higher degree of assertiveness in obtaining services for their children than other studies have suggested.     

An Investigation of Title Ambiguity in the Health Sciences Literature

This research investigates what most catalogers already know—titles alone do not identify works sufficiently. Repetitive titles like “Annual Report” are just the tip of the iceberg. To explore the extent of ambiguity occurring in large sets of health science bibliographic data, the entire National Library of Medicine and Lane Medical Library catalogs and a sample from the PubMed database were analyzed. After measuring the uniqueness of titles, results were recalculated to determine the effect of appending date and/or edition. This initial evidence supports further exploration of whether such structured titles might serve as singular bibliographic identities.