Use of Repeated Within-Subject Measures to Assess Infants' Preference for Similar Others.

Research employing single-choice paradigms in which an infant is asked to make a single choice between two puppets suggest that infants show a preference for prosocial others and those who are similar to themselves. However, the extent to which infants' preference for similar others is stable is unknown, as are other factors within the paradigm that may influence infants' choices. The purpose of this study (two experiments, N = 44 infants, aged 8-15 months) was to replicate and extend previous work by including (1) within-subject repeated measures and (2) an experimental manipulation of a plausible demand characteristic. Results for the first-choice trial indicated a majority of the infants did not choose the similar puppet. Results from the within-subject repeated trials also indicated that a majority of the infants did not choose the similar puppet but a majority did choose a puppet from the same side. The experimental manipulation of the demand characteristic showed no effect on infant puppet choices. These results suggest that a closer examination of the single-choice puppet paradigm for assessing infants' social evaluation is warranted. These findings also support recommendations made by others, including publishing null findings, standardizing data collection and reporting methods, and examining individual differences by employing within-subject designs with repeated measures.

Protecting workers in the home care industry: workers' experienced job demands, resource gaps, and benefits following a socially supportive intervention.

The Community of Practice and Safety Support (COMPASS) program is a peer-led group intervention for home care workers. In a randomized controlled trial, COMPASS significantly improved workers' professional support networks and safety and health behaviors. However, quantitative findings failed to capture workers' complex emotional, physical, and social experiences with job demands, resource limitations, and the intervention itself. Therefore, we conducted qualitative follow-up interviews with a sample of participants (n = 28) in the program. Results provided examples of unique physical and psychological demands, revealed stressful resource limitations (e.g., safety equipment access), and elucidated COMPASS's role as a valuable resource.

Pour Convergence: College Students' Definitions and Free-Poured Volumes of Standard Alcohol Servings.

We examined the correspondence between college students' ( N = 192, 71% women) definitions of free-pours and their free-poured volumes of beer, wine, and liquor. Participants' mean beer definitions and free-pours were positively correlated; participants' mean wine and liquor definitions were larger than their free-pours, which were fairly accurate. Contrary to what the aggregate mean values indicated, fewer than half of the participants accurately free-poured a standard volume of beer, wine, or liquor (37.4%, 35.1%, and 22.2%, respectively) or provided an accurate definition of beer (45.8%); similar to the aggregate data, few participants provided accurate definitions of standard serving of wine (12.2%) or liquor (12.8%) Instead, a majority of participants' definitions and free-pours were well over or under a standard serving. For all three types of alcohol, there was little correspondence between each individual participant's definitions and his or her free-poured volumes. These data suggest analyses of individual data points may provide information important for data collection, prevention, and intervention strategies.

Safety and Health Support for Home Care Workers: The COMPASS Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of the COMmunity of Practice And Safety Support (COMPASS) Total Worker Health intervention for home care workers. METHODS: We randomized 16 clusters of workers (n = 149) to intervention or usual-practice control conditions. The 12-month intervention was scripted and peer-led, and involved education on safety, health, and well-being; goal setting and self-monitoring; and structured social support. We collected measures at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months, which included workers' experienced community of practice (i.e., people engaged in a common activity who interact regularly for shared learning and improvement). Implementation occurred during 2013 and 2014 in Oregon. RESULTS: In an intent-to-treat analysis, relative to control, the intervention produced significant and sustained improvements in workers' experienced community of practice. Additional significant improvements included the use of ergonomic tools or techniques for physical work, safety communication with consumer-employers, hazard correction in homes, fruit and vegetable consumption, lost work days because of injury, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and grip strength. Consumer-employers' reports of caregiver safety behaviors also significantly improved. CONCLUSIONS: COMPASS was effective for improving home care workers' social resources and simultaneously impacted both safety and health factors.