Soins plus ­ mise en place d'une intervention à trois volets visant à accroître la visibilité et la disponibilité du pharmacien dans un hôpital pédiatrique : une étude randomisée contrôlée.

BACKGROUND: The pharmacist's role within the multidisciplinary team is often poorly understood. Various interventions can be put into place to promote the role of the pharmacist in the hospital setting with families, patients, and other health care professionals. Few studies have described the feasibility and assessed the impact of such interventions, particularly in pediatrics. OBJECTIVES: To describe the implementation of a 3-part intervention aimed at increasing the visibility of pharmacists and their role on the treatment team, with the goal of optimizing the pharmaceutical care of hospitalized patients in the general pediatric units of CHU Sainte-Justine, in Montréal, Quebec, and to compare the perceptions and satisfaction of patients' parents and of health care professionals with exposure to either usual pharmaceutical care or to pharmaceutical care incorporating the intervention. METHODS: This single-blind, randomized, controlled experimental study involved patients admitted to general pediatric units between March 5 and August 8, 2019. In addition to usual care, the intervention included delivery of an information brochure about pharmaceutical services and care, access to a telephone line (which allowed families and patients to contact a pharmacy resident during their stay in hospital and up to 1 month after discharge), and completion of a standardized discharge form by the pharmacist responsible for the patient. The participants and health professionals concerned were surveyed to determine their perceptions and level of satisfaction. RESULTS: A total of 641 participants were included in the study, 321 in the intervention group and 320 in the control group. The brochure was given to all parents in the intervention group. Twelve phone calls were made through the dedicated telephone line. The standardized discharge form was completed for 46.7% (150/321) of the participants in the intervention group. Most of the parents and patients who responded to the survey, in either group (81.2%, 298/367), reported satisfaction with the pharmaceutical services and care received. Of participants in the intervention group, 83.9% were satisfied with the pharmaceutical care and services received, compared with 78.5% of those in the control group (p = 0.18). In addition, 60.3% (111/184) of participants in the intervention group said that the information about medications that was provided during the hospital stay gave them new knowledge, compared with 48.1% (87/181) of those in the control group (p = 0.019). The results of the survey showed that care providers were in agreement with the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The 3 components of the intervention were implemented in the pediatric units over a period of 5 months. The intervention was perceived as positive by the parents and care providers concerned, and the respondents were mostly satisfied with the services and pharmaceutical care offered.

Cyber dating violence: Prevalence and correlates among high school students from small urban areas in Quebec.

BACKGROUND: Adolescents in a dating relationship can interact anytime using information and communication technologies. Yet, despite associated potential benefits, this availability of means to reach out to their partner may also exacerbate possible conflictual exchanges, including dating violence through technology. This study aimed to document the prevalence of cyber dating violence (CDV) victimization and perpetration among teenagers. It also explored self-esteem and psychological distress in participants having been perpetrators, victims, or perpetrator-victims, compared with those not having experienced CDV. METHODS: The sample comprised 190 teenagers from a small urban area who completed the K10 psychological distress scale, the Self-Description Questionnaire, which measures self-esteem, and the Cyber Dating Abuse Questionnaire, which measures the prevalence of CDV victimization and perpetration. RESULTS: Our results suggest no gender difference in the prevalence of CDV victimization (35.8%), perpetration (33.0%), or the high co-occurrence rate of victimization and perpetration (27.2%) in the last 12 months. When age and gender were controlled for, cyber dating violence was found to be associated with low self-esteem and psychological distress in teenagers. Cyberperpetration was also associated with higher self-esteem. LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional design precludes any conclusion about the sequencing of the variables. Reliance on a convenience sample also represents a limitation of the study. CONCLUSIONS: CDV is associated with low self-esteem and psychological distress in teenagers. Dating violence prevention programs should include issues related to CDV, considering its high prevalence, conceptual proximity to psychological violence, and relationship with psychological distress and low self esteem.

The influence of birth order on birth weight: does the sex of preceding siblings matter?

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the well-established relationship between parity and birth weight is affected by the sex composition of siblings, especially for male newborns. Subjects were 856 male and 862 female newborns who weighed at least 2500 g at birth, who were born after 37 completed weeks of gestation, who obtained an Apgar score of 7 or higher, who had the same biological parents as all other children in the sibship, and who lived in the same household. Information on birth weight was collected from hospital records. Results showed that male newborns with older brothers weighed less than male newborns with older sisters. In contrast, the weight of female newborns with older brothers did not differ from the weight of female newborns with older sisters. One explanation of these results is that maternal immunoreactivity to some male-specific feature of the fetus affects prenatal development and consequently reduces birth weight in males. The relation between older brothers and birth weight may have theoretical significance for behavioural variables.

Birth order, birth interval, and deviant sexual preferences among sex offenders.

We investigated whether birth order and birth interval are associated with phallometric responding among 168 sex offenders. Based on the immunoreactivity hypothesis, we predicted that a larger number of older brothers and a shorter birth interval between the offenders and their next older brothers would be associated with more deviant responding. Results showed that a larger number of older brothers (but not older sisters, younger brothers, or younger sisters) was associated with more deviant responding on the Most Deviant Index, a general measure of sexual deviance. A larger number of older brothers was associated with arousal to nonsexual violence against women and children, but contrary to expectation, the same association was also found for the number of younger brothers. A short birth interval with the next older brother was associated with greater relative arousal to nonsexual violence, but the correlation with the Most Deviant Index did not reach statistical significance. Overall, results were consistent with the main predictions, but the effects of birth order and birth interval were mostly restricted to arousal to nonsexual violence. Birth order and birth interval were not associated with pedophilic interests or gender preferences.