Computer use in primary care practices in Canada.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the use of computers in primary care practices. DESIGN: The international Quality and Cost of Primary Care study was conducted in Canada in 2013 and 2014 using a descriptive cross-sectional survey method to collect data from practices across Canada. Participating practices filled out several surveys, one of them being the Family Physician Survey, from which this study collected its data. SETTING: All 10 Canadian provinces. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 788 family physicians. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A computer use scale measured the extent to which family physicians integrated computers into their practices, with higher scores indicating a greater integration of computer use in practice. Analyses included t tests and 2 tests comparing new and traditional models of primary care on measures of computer use and electronic health record (EHR) use, as well as descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Nearly all (97.5%) physicians reported using a computer in their practices, with moderately high computer use scale scores (mean [SD] score of 5.97 [2.96] out of 9), and many (65.7%) reported using EHRs. Physicians with practices operating under new models of primary care reported incorporating computers into their practices to a greater extent (mean [SD] score of 6.55 [2.64]) than physicians operating under traditional models did (mean [SD] score of 5.33 [3.15]; t726.60 = 5.84; P < .001; Cohen d = 0.42, 95% CI 0.808 to 1.627) and were more likely to report using EHRs (73.8% vs 56.7%; [Formula: see text]; P < .001; odds ratio = 2.15). Overall, there was a statistically significant variability in computer use across provinces. CONCLUSION: Most family physicians in Canada have incorporated computers into their practices for administrative and scholarly activities; however, EHRs have not been adopted consistently across the country. Physicians with practices operating under the new, more collaborative models of primary care use computers more comprehensively and are more likely to use EHRs than those in practices operating under traditional models of primary care.

Assessing the Efficacy of a Group Mediated Nutritional Knowledge Intervention for Individuals with Obesity.

PURPOSE: This study reports on the effect of a group-based nutrition and physical activity intervention program on nutrition knowledge and eating habits in a cohort of people with obesity. METHODS: A quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-test measures. The intervention consisted of physical activity led by certified exercise physiologists and a nutritional education component led by registered dietitians over a 6-month period followed by 6 months of self-management. Participants' nutrition knowledge and eating habits were assessed using the modified Nutrition Assessment, the Nutrition Knowledge Survey, and the Food Choice Questionnaires at baseline, after the 6-month intervention, and after 6 months of self-management. RESULTS: Complete data were available for 59 (40%) of participants after 12 months because of attrition. Nutritional knowledge and behaviours improved. Participants reported increasing their consumption of healthy foods during the active intervention and maintained these changes through the self-management phase. Knowledge of healthy foods was improved and a greater likelihood of choosing food for weight control and health properties was reported. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge and reported consumption of healthier nutrition improved during the active intervention and was maintained during the self-management period for individuals who completed the program. Registered dietitians can play an important role in managing patients with obesity in group settings.

Metaphor creates intimacy and temporarily enhances theory of mind.

In 3 experiments we show that, relative to reading literal sentences, reading metaphor enhances performance on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), an instrument meant to measure first-order theory of mind. In each experiment participants read metaphorical or literal sentences in different contexts and afterwards completed an ostensibly unrelated task, the RMET. In Experiment 1, participants were presented metaphorical or literal sentences in short discourse contexts and were asked questions about the characters in the stories. We found that when one of the characters used metaphor, they were rated as having a closer relationship. A novel finding is that the degree to which the characters are perceived as being more intimate in the metaphor condition, the higher their scores on the RMET. In Experiment 2, participants created fictive contexts to prompting literal or metaphorical sentences. This writing task was followed by the RMET. Participants who created contexts for the metaphors scored significantly higher on the RMET. In Experiment 3, participants read metaphors or literal counterparts without any discourse contexts. Once again, participants scored higher on the RMET after reading metaphorical as opposed to literal sentences. Additional analyses across the 3 experiments revealed that metaphors but not literal counterparts were associated with fictive contexts that contained reference to mental states and idioms with emotional content (Experiment 2), were associated with a sense of intimacy between interlocutors (Experiment 1), the presence of affective words in the created context (Experiment 2), and association with a human agent when context was not presented (Experiment 3).

Response procedure and laterality effects in emotion recognition: implications for models of dichotic listening.

The present study manipulated response procedure in a dichotic emotion recognition task as a means to investigate models of dichotic listening. Sixty-seven right-handed students were presented with dichotic pairs of the words bower, dower, power, and tower pronounced in a tone of sadness, anger, happiness, or neutrality. They were asked to identify the two emotional tones presented in each pair and completed the task twice, in two sessions separated by the administration of a handedness questionnaire. Participants completed the task under one of two response procedures. Thirty-four participants responded by crossing out face drawings corresponding to the emotions they perceived among four alternatives on a response sheet, whereas another group of 33 participants circled the corresponding words among four alternatives. Results revealed the expected left ear advantage (LEA) for emotion perception regardless of response procedure. However, the reliability of the LEA was greater with drawings than with words, whereas the magnitude of the LEA was substantially reduced in the second testing session for words when compared to drawings. These findings support a model of memory where the encoding and retrieval of nonverbal auditory material likely take place in the right cerebral hemisphere. Implications of these results for the representation of emotions in memory and models of dichotic listening are discussed.

On the perception of sarcasm in dichotic listening.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the processing of sincere and sarcastic statements by the cerebral hemispheres. Forty right-handed students were asked to localize sincere and sarcastic statements presented dichotically. Participants either indicated the ear that perceived the sarcastic statement or the ear that perceived the sincere statement in counterbalanced blocks of trials. As expected, results revealed a left ear advantage for sarcastic statements and a right ear advantage for sincere statements. In addition, participants showed faster response time when localizing targets (both sarcastic and sincere) to the left ear compared to the right. Finally, a significant negative correlation between laterality effects in the two tasks provided support for causal hemispheric complementarity. Results are discussed with reference to the contribution of the right and left hemispheres to language processing. Their implications for models of sarcasm perception are also discussed.