A multidisciplinary approach on music induced-analgesia differentiated by socio-cultural background in healthy volunteers (MOSART): A cross-over randomized controlled trial protocol.

Background: Integrating music into pain treatment demonstrates significant benefits, effectively reducing subjective pain levels and perioperative opioid requirements. Currently, the relationship between the impact of specific types of music and listeners' socio-cultural background is still unclear. This is especially relevant given that sociological research indicates that these factors can have a notable influence on music preference and perception. Current evidence suggests that individuals who choose their own music may experience greater benefits. However, additional research is needed to comprehensively grasp whether the effect of (preferred) music on pain endurance remains consistent across different socio-cultural backgrounds. Methods: In this study, a collaborative effort between medical and sociological researchers aims to investigate music-induced analgesia differentiated by socio-cultural background in healthy volunteers. Participants (n = 84) will listen to self-, and researcher-chosen music and a podcast as a control condition in a cross-over study design. The primary outcome of this study is pain endurance measured by electric stimuli of increasing intensity. Detailed sociological validated questionnaires will be utilized. Considering the notable influence of educational level on music taste formation found in previous research and its crucial role as a source of socio-cultural differentiation, participants will be stratified based on their level of education. Discussion: This experimental study represents one of the first efforts to gain a socio-culturally differentiated understanding of the therapeutic potential of music. Consequently, this could pave the way to purposefully and inclusively implement personalized music in healthcare settings.

Influence of language barrier and cultural background in hepatitis B disease knowledge in a Chinese community of Spain.

Introduction: Hepatitis B infection (HBV) is prevalent in China. Due to language barriers and cultural differences, it is not always straightforward to evaluate disease knowledge in liver clinics. We aimed to assess the awareness on HBV and its mechanisms of transmission in HBV-infected Chinese patients and their household contacts. Methods: HBV-infected Chinese patients and their contacts were interviewed by a native Chinese nurse regarding their knowledge on HBV transmission mechanisms, use of preventive measures and vaccination status. Non-Chinese HBV-infected patients and their household contacts served as a control group. Results: In total 182 patients and 398 contacts participated with 85 (47%) patients and 240 (60%) contacts being from China. Language barrier was reported in 80% of Chinese patients and 44% of their contacts. Knowledge on parenteral and sexual HBV transmission was high in all patients (~90%) but Chinese were more aware of vertical transmission than controls (94% vs. 68%; p < 0.01). Regarding the use of preventive measures, Chinese patients were more forewarned in their use to avoid parenteral transmission (93% vs. 74%, p < 0.01). When assessing household contacts, Chinese used preventive measures more frequently than controls for parenteral and sexual transmission (79% vs. 65 and 81% vs. 48%, p < 0.05). Vaccination coverage was slightly lower in Chinese contacts compared to controls (78% vs. 86%, p = 0.05). Conclusion: Despite relevant language barriers, Chinese patients are well informed on the mechanisms of HBV transmission. Cultural differences may explain a higher use of preventive measures among the Chinese population. HBV vaccination of household contacts should be reinforced in both groups.

Medication administration error prevention among nurses working in intensive care units: A secondary analysis.

BACKGROUND: The intensive care unit (ICU) brings together high-risk patients and interventions in a complex environment. Based on this consideration, medication administration error is the most common type of error that occurs in ICUs. Literature confirms that human factors (lack of knowledge, poor practices and negative attitudes) of nurses are the main contributors to the occurrence of medication administration errors in ICUs. AIM: To examine and compare the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour scores on medication administration error according to nurses' sociodemographic and professional variables. STUDY DESIGN: This is a secondary analysis of data from a cross-sectional international study based on a survey. Descriptive statistics were computed for all items of the questionnaire. Non-parametric tests (Kruskal Wallis and Mann Whitney U tests) were used to carry out the comparison between groups. RESULTS: The international sample consisted of 1383 nurses in 12 different countries. Statistically significant changes were seen in knowledge, attitudes and behaviour scores among several subgroups of the international population. Eastern nurses were more likely to show adequate knowledge about medication administration error prevention than Western nurses; concurrently, Western nurses were significantly more likely to show positive attitudes than Eastern nurses. No statistically significant differences in the behaviour scale were found in this study. CONCLUSIONS: The findings show a difference between knowledge and attitudes in relation to cultural background. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Decision makers in ICUs should consider cultural background when planning and implementing prevention strategies for medication administration errors. Further research is needed to investigate the effectiveness of educational systems on the decrease of the incidence of medication administration errors in ICU.

Emotional response to healthier foods: Influence of culture and health consciousness.

Sugar, salt, and fat content in processed products are important concerns for consumers. Hence, alternative "healthy" versions of conventional foods such as chocolate, potato chips, and yogurt are offered. This work aimed to define the emotional response of consumers from different cultural backgrounds (Spain vs. Brazil) evoked by healthier versions of conventional products and the relationship between hedonic responses and health consciousness. A total of 186 Brazilian and 152 Spanish consumers participated in this online cross-cultural study. Participants answered a Health Consciousness Questionnaire and an emotional check-all-that-applies questionnaire using picture stimuli of conventional chocolate, potato chips, and yogurt and their healthier versions with less sugar, salt, and fat content, respectively. The Brazilians' emotional responses were more diverse for all stimuli compared to the Spaniards'. However, participants from both cultures rated an average of "slightly agree" on the health consciousness scale; a higher level of consumption, liking, and willingness to buy; and a higher frequency of positive emotional terms for the stimuli of conventional products compared to their healthier versions. A higher frequency of evocation of "active" is strongly associated with higher levels of health consciousness. Strategic actions by the food industry and government must consider cultural, emotional, and health-conscious factors to encourage the consumption of healthier foods. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Food manufacturers can use the information obtained from this study to create healthier versions of their products that appeal to consumers' emotional responses and health consciousness levels. The findings can assist in designing strategic actions to promote healthier food consumption by emphasizing the benefits of healthier food choices and making them more appealing to consumers. The methodology employed in this study can also be applied to further studies aimed to assess emotional responses to food stimuli across different cultures.

Cultural niche construction with application to fertility control: A model for education and social transmission of contraceptive use.

The evolution of a cultural trait may be affected by niche construction, or changes in the selective environment of that trait due to the inheritance of other cultural traits that make up a cultural background. This study investigates the evolution of a cultural trait, such as the acceptance of the idea of contraception, that is both vertically and horizontally transmitted within a homogeneous social network. Individuals may conform to the norm, and adopters of the trait have fewer progeny than others. In addition, adoption of this trait is affected by a vertically transmitted aspect of the cultural background, such as the preference for high or low levels of education. Our model shows that such cultural niche construction can facilitate the spread of traits with low Darwinian fitness while providing an environment that counteracts conformity to norms. In addition, niche construction can facilitate the 'demographic transition' by making reduced fertility socially accepted.

Critical thinking education for dental schools in Asia: Perceptions of educators.

Teaching competence in critical thinking is an important element of undergraduate dental curricula. The pedagogy for critical thinking education in Asia requires further discussion and neither the current situation nor the possible challenges are widely known from the perspectives of dental educators. Therefore, seven educators from four countries gathered online in the summer of 2021 to share the current situation and possible challenges. All the participants considered "critical thinking" was "important" (43%) or "very important" (57%), however, 86% mentioned that they faced challenges in delivering education in critical thinking. The challenges to delivering critical thinking education were insufficient time in the curriculum and lack of human resources; lack of information on appropriate teaching methods for the student population; and no established methods of assessment. How to teach and assess critical thinking therefore requires more brainstorming, and raising the awareness of educators to implement this education might be necessary.

Effects of Social Media Usage on Consumers' Purchase Intention in Social Commerce: A Cross-Cultural Empirical Analysis.

Social commerce has produced enormous economic benefits as well as challenges for organizations, individuals, and industries. However, social media usage does not necessarily generate users' intention to purchase on social commerce websites. How social media usage influences users' purchase intention on social commerce websites still deserves more scholarly attention and this seems particularly important when social commerce transcends borders and countries. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, the current study adopted a survey research method and identified the roles of social media usage in arousing users' purchase intention on social commerce websites in a culturally diversified environment. The data was collected from 2,058 international students coming from 135 countries and was analyzed using MPLUS based structural equation modeling. The research unveils the pathway whereby social media usage serves to generate users' purchase intention on social commerce websites. Importantly, users' cultural intelligence has been found to play a significant role mediating the effects of social media usage on users' intention. Further, cultural distance was found to attenuate the effects of social media usage on cultural intelligence. Based on the research findings, the study suggests that social commerce practitioners should be fully aware of the enabling roles of social media and cultural intelligence as well as the deterring role of cultural distance when arousing customers' purchasing intention in cross-cultural business operations. Any measures facilitated by social media usage to improve international consumers' cultural intelligence and mitigate the negative effects of cultural distance are supposed to be effective to enhance their purchasing intention. Accordingly, the study confirms the mutually melt and integrative relationships between information technology advancement and business prosperity in cross-cultural environment, which eventually contribute to sustainable development of society.

Advance care planning and the parental geographical background in pediatric palliative home care: a retrospective chart review.

The relevance to acknowledge the parental migration history in pediatric palliative care is widely recognized. However, its influence on integral parts of advance care planning (ACP) is unknown. In this non-interventional cohort study, we aimed at identifying systematic differences between pediatric palliative patients with varying parental countries of origin regarding medical orders for life-sustaining treatment and the location of patients' death. Two hundred eighty-eight pediatric cases in an ambulant pediatric palliative care setting in Germany were retrospectively analyzed using multinomial logistic regression models. Agreements on medical orders for life-sustaining treatment (MOLST) differed significantly between patients with varying parental countries of origin. Full code orders for life-sustaining treatment were made more often in Turkish families than in German families. There were no significant associations between the patients' location of death and the parental countries of origin. However, confounder-analysis revealed a strong association between the patients' underlying disease and the orders for life-sustaining treatment as well as the location of death.Conclusions: Even this study indicates that the parental geographical background as an important sociocultural aspect might have an impact on ACP decisions for children and adolescents with life-limiting conditions, other factors as the patients' underlying disease can be more crucial for decision making in pediatric palliative care. The reason for the differences found might lay in cultural preferences or barriers to appropriate care. The inclusion of sociocultural aspects in decision-making is crucial to guarantee culture-sensitive, patient-centered pediatric palliative care.

Processing of an Audiobook in the Human Brain Is Shaped by Cultural Family Background.

Perception of the same narrative can vary between individuals depending on a listener's previous experiences. We studied whether and how cultural family background may shape the processing of an audiobook in the human brain. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 48 healthy volunteers from two different cultural family backgrounds listened to an audiobook depicting the intercultural social life of young adults with the respective cultural backgrounds. Shared cultural family background increased inter-subject correlation of hemodynamic activity in the left-hemispheric Heschl's gyrus, insula, superior temporal gyrus, lingual gyrus and middle temporal gyrus, in the right-hemispheric lateral occipital and posterior cingulate cortices as well as in the bilateral middle temporal gyrus, middle occipital gyrus and precuneus. Thus, cultural family background is reflected in multiple areas of speech processing in the brain and may also modulate visual imagery. After neuroimaging, the participants listened to the narrative again and, after each passage, produced a list of words that had been on their minds when they heard the audiobook during neuroimaging. Cultural family background was reflected as semantic differences in these word lists as quantified by a word2vec-generated semantic model. Our findings may depict enhanced mutual understanding between persons who share similar cultural family backgrounds.

Does cultural background influence the dissemination and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread throughout the globe affecting countries worldwide. However, several differences have been observed in the number of daily new cases, the COVID-19 reproduction rate, and the severity of the disease in different countries. Previous studies have mostly highlighted government restriction policies to mitigate the pandemic effects as reasons for such differences. This study focuses on 101 countries and proposes that each country's cultural background is also accountable for such differences. We considered the six Hofstede's cultural dimensions (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation, and indulgence) and statistically analyzed their correlation with several COVID-19 impact metrics in comparison to several restriction policies. Our results support our claim that national culture influences both acceptance and subsequent adoption of restriction policies and the implementation by each government of those policies. We highlight that the attitudes towards and trust in political institutions, policies and governance is influenced by the cultural background, which is reflected in the pandemic numbers. As a main takeaway from this study, we conclude that data-driven models which aim at predicting the pandemic impact evolution at a global scale should also include variables that reflect the cultural background of each nation.

Emotion work and feeling rules: Coping strategies of family caregivers of people with end stage dementia in Israel-A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: End stage dementia is an inevitable phase following a prolonged deterioration. Family caregivers for people with end stage dementia who live in their home can experience an emotional burden. Emotion work and "feeling-rules" refers to socially shared norms and self-management of feelings, as well as projecting emotions appropriate for the situation, aiming at achieving a positive environment as a resource for supporting others' wellbeing. OBJECTIVES: Exploring and describing the experience of family caregivers of people with end stage dementia at home, in Israel, unpacking their emotional coping and the emotional-strategies they use, and placing family caregivers' emotion work in a cultural context. METHOD: We conducted fifty qualitative interviews using semi structured interviews analyzed through a thematic content analysis approach. FINDINGS: Four characteristics of emotion work were identified: (1) sliding between detachment and engagement, (2) separating the person from their condition (3), adoption of caregiving as a social role and a type of social reinforcement, and (4) using the caregiving role in coping with loneliness and emptiness. The emotional coping strategies are culturally contextualized, since they are influenced by the participants' cultural background. DISCUSSION: This article's focus is transparent family caregivers' emotion work, a topic which has rarely been discussed in the literature is the context of caring for a family member with dementia at home. In our study, emotion work appears as a twofold concept: the emotion work by itself contributed to the burden, since family caregivers' burden experience can evolve from the dissonance between their "true" feelings of anger and frustration and their expected "acceptable" feelings ("feeling-rules") formed by cultural norms. However, emotion work was also a major source of coping and finding strength and self-meaning. Understanding and recognizing the emotion work and the cultural and religious influence in this coping mechanism can help professionals who treat people with end stage dementia to better support family-caregivers.

Injustice Through Cultural Lens: A Pilot Qualitative Exploration of Pain-Related Injustice Appraisals Among Arab-Americans with Chronic Low Back Pain.

The current qualitative study sought to obtain an in-depth understanding of how Arab-Americans conceptualize perceived injustice concerning their chronic low back pain (CLBP) by reflecting on the Injustice Experience Questionnaire (IEQ). Twelve Arab-American adults with CLBP were recruited from a metropolitan area in Alabama using a purposive sampling technique. Participants took part in individual, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews reflecting on each statement from the IEQ. Descriptive data analysis was generated for demographic and pain variables. Directed content analysis was conducted to identify themes and sub-themes. 'Blame and unfairness' and 'severity and irreparability of loss,' the 2 established theoretical factors comprising pain-related injustice appraisal were used as predominant themes. Acceptance emerged as an inductive theme with the following sub-themes: positive appraisal and resilience, attempts to reduce pain, religious values and fate, and belief that everything happening for a reason. The influence of religion was noted across all themes. The current pilot findings suggest that Arabic culture, heavily infused with Islamic beliefs, influences how Arab-Americans conceptualize pain-related injustice appraisals. Additional exploration of the cultural appropriateness of the IEQ among individuals of Arab background is needed to further elaborate on the subject of faith and religious belief suggested by the current study. Perspective: Although the study findings largely reflected established injustice literature constructs, several emergent themes regarding pain-related injustice appraisal were influenced by the participants' culture and religious beliefs. These findings may indicate that specific psychotherapeutic approaches that have been proven effective among some groups may not function similarly in other populations.

Cultural competence in healthcare professionals, specialised in diabetes, working in primary healthcare-A descriptive study.

Self-care is the most important cornerstone of diabetes treatment. As self-care is affected by cultural beliefs, it is important for healthcare professionals to be able to adapt their educational approach and to be culturally competent. The aim of this study was to describe the cultural competence in Swedish healthcare professionals, specialised in diabetes care and to examine related factors for cultural competence. The healthcare professionals' perceived level of cultural competence was measured across three domains-Openness and awareness, Workplace support and Interaction skills-in 279 Swedish healthcare professionals from all 21 regions of Sweden, using the Cultural Competence Assessment Instrument (Swedish version-CCAI-S). Descriptive statistics were used to describe cultural competence in healthcare professionals, and linear regression was conducted to examine factors related to cultural competence. Of the healthcare professionals studied, 58% perceived that they had a high level of Openness and awareness, 35% perceived that they had a high level of Interaction skills and 6% perceived that they had a high level of Workplace support. Two factors were found to be related to cultural competence, namely, high percentage of migrant clients at the healthcare clinic and whether the healthcare professionals previously had developed cultural competence through practical experience, education and/or by themselves. In conclusion, most healthcare professionals perceived that they had cultural openness and awareness but need more support from their workplace to improve their interaction skills. Cultural competence-related education could support the healthcare professionals to develop interaction skills.

Creencias y prácticas maternas sobre la alimentación de hijos que asisten a jardines infantiles públicos, Santiago de Chile / Maternal beliefs and practices about feeding children attending public kindergartens, Santiago de Chile

Fundamentos: La familia es el primer lugar donde se modelan las prácticas de alimentación, pues allí, los niños son socializados en gustos, prácticas y clasificaciones considerados relevantes. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar las creencias y prácticas de madres sobre la alimentación de sus hijos de 2 y 3 años, en niños que asisten a jardines infantiles públicos en contextos interculturales de Santiago de Chile. Métodos: Investigación cualitativa basada en entrevistas semiestructuradas a madres de niños de jardines infantiles públicos en Santiago de Chile. Resultados: Las entrevistas muestran tres elementos claves sobre la alimentación de las madres a sus hijos: creencias y prácticas sobre la alimentación correcta; prácticas de control de alimentación y agencia del infante; y socialización. Estos elementos se encuentran bajo el influjo de los contextos sociales, culturales y económicos de las familias. Conclusiones: Las creencias de las madres sobre la nutrición correcta influyen en las prácticas de alimentación durante los primeros años de vida. Las madres buscan controlarla alimentación de los hijos para lograr una alimentación saludable, pero se negocia con los gustos, preferencias y necesidades manifiestas de los niños. Estas prácticas deben ser entendidas en su contexto. (AU)

Background: Family is the first place to shape feeding practices, because there, children are socialized in tastes, practices, and food classifications. This study aims toanalyze mothers' beliefs and practices about feeding theirchildren of 2 and 3 years old attending public kindergartens in intercultural contexts of Santiago de Chile. Methods: Qualitative research using in-depth interviews with mothers of children attending public kindergartens in Santiago de Chile. Results: The interviews show three key elements about maternal feeding of their children: beliefs and practicas concerning a proper feed control practices and child's agency. These elements are influenced by the social, cultural, and economic contexts of families. Conclusions: Mothers' beliefs about a proper eat inginfluence feeding practices during the first years of life. Mothers seek to control their children's feeding to achieve a healthy diet, but they negotiate with children's tastes, preferences, and manifest needs. These practices must be understood in their context. (AU)

A correlational study of socioeconomic factors and the prevalence of hikikomori in Japan from 2010 to 2019.

BACKGROUND: Although several surveys have suggested that socioeconomic factors function as background variables for the incidence of hikikomori (prolonged social withdrawal), no research has directly examined whether socioeconomic indicators increase the incidence of hikikomori. This study aimed to examine the relationship between socioeconomic factors and the incidence of hikikomori using data from eight cross-sectional studies conducted by our group between 2010 and 2019. METHODS: We used socio-economic data from national surveys and collected the demographic data of members of a multi-branch Japanese association for family members of hikikomori patients for the period of 2010-2019. RESULTS: The results of the partial correlation analysis showed that the incidence probability of hikikomori increased in tandem with unemployment rates and household income. Further, the associations were positively strong in the 2010-2015 research period; however, they were absent, weak, or medium in the 2016-2019 research period. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that socioeconomic factors relate to the increase in hikikomori, and that these factors should be considered when identifying the individual or cultural factors that cause hikikomori.

Cross-cultural emotional response to food stimuli: Influence of consumption context.

Emotional responses elicited by certain types of food can be influenced by past experiences, frequency of consumption, culture, and other personal preferences. The present research aimed i) to investigate the impact of culture (Brazilian and Spaniard) on consumers' emotional responses and acceptability of different food stimuli, and ii) to explore the influence of evoked contexts. Brazilian (n = 437) and Spanish (n = 397) participants were exposed to three visual food stimuli (image of chocolate, potato chips, and yogurt) in an online survey and reported their emotional responses. Sociodemographic data, liking, and frequency of consumption were also collected. The evoked context in our study were designed and proposed, for each product and culture, based on four dimensions (consumption time, location, social setting, and hungry state). The evoked emotional lexicon was different for each food stimulus and was clearly influenced by the cultural factor. However, there are more similarities between cultures when evaluating the same product category. The evoked contexts were appropriated and influenced the citing frequency of some emotion terms, including positive ones. The most cited emotion terms tended to positively impact product liking ratings, acting as drivers of liking. Consumption level was positively related to liking regardless of cultural interactions for both chocolate and potato chips stimuli. In conclusion, the cultural background demonstrated to be an important impact factor to be considered for understanding the effects of product, consumption occasions, and degree of liking, on emotional responses to foods. These findings offer new possibilities to be explored in marketing messages for interventions or stimuli that guide food choices.

Working towards inclusive and equitable trauma treatment guidelines: a child-centered reflection.

Clinical practice guidelines, such as those focusing on traumatic stress treatment, can play an important role in promoting inclusion and equity. Based on a review of 14 international trauma treatment guidance documents that explicitly mentioned children, we reflect on two areas in which these guidelines can become more inclusive and equitable; a) representation of children's cultural background and b) children's opportunity to have their voice heard. While a few guidelines mentioned that treatment should be tailored to children's cultural needs, there was little guidance on how this could be done. Moreover, there still appears to be a strong white Western lens across all stages of producing and evaluating the international evidence base. The available documentation also suggested that no young people under the age of 18 had been consulted in the guideline development processes. To contribute to inclusion and equity, we suggest five elements for future national guideline development endeavours. Promoting research and guideline development with, by, and for currently under-represented communities should be a high priority for our field. Our national, regional and global professional associations are in an excellent position to (continue to) stimulate conversation and action in this domain.

Las guías de práctica clínica, como las que se centran en el tratamiento del estrés traumático, pueden desempeñar un papel importante en la promoción de la inclusión y la equidad. Basados en una revisión de 14 documentos internacionales de orientación sobre el tratamiento del trauma que mencionaban explícitamente a los niños, reflexionamos sobre dos áreas en las que estas guías pueden ser más inclusivas y equitativas; a) representación de los antecedentes culturales de los niños y b) oportunidad de los niños para que se escuche su voz. Si bien en algunas pautas se mencionó que el tratamiento debería adaptarse a las necesidades culturales de los niños, hubo poca orientación sobre cómo hacerlo. Más aún, todavía parece haber una fuerte perspectiva occidental blanca en todas las etapas de producción y evaluación de la base de evidencia internacional. Las directrices disponibles también sugirieron que no se había consultado a ningún joven menor de 18 años en sus procesos de elaboración. Para contribuir a la inclusión y la equidad, sugerimos cinco elementos para futuros esfuerzos de desarrollo de directrices nacionales. Promover la investigación y el desarrollo de directrices con, por y para las comunidades actualmente subrepresentadas debe ser una alta prioridad para nuestro campo. Nuestras asociaciones profesionales nacionales, regionales y mundiales se encuentran en una excelente posición para (continuar) estimulando la conversación y la acción en este ámbito.

Determinants of Bone Mineral Screening Behavior among Three Ethno-Cultural Groups of Women in Israel.

Bone mineral density (BMD) screening is one of the main means to detect and treat osteoporosis. Yet, the manner in which ethno-cultural background is associated with BMD health cognitions and screening behavior remains limited. Several ethno-cultural groups (n = 100 in each group)-Israeli-born Jews, Israeli-born Bedouin-Muslims, and Jewish immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU), mean age 70 (SD = 7.1)-participated in face-to-face interviews in a cross-sectional survey, using valid and reliable questionnaires on BMD screening behavior, knowledge about osteoporosis, and theory of planned behavior (TPB) components. FSU immigrants reported the lowest BMD screening behavior. The multivariate analysis showed that higher knowledge level, positive attitudes, supportive subjective norms, and greater intentions increase the probability of BMD screening behavior. The TPB attitude component had a more pronounced effect on the probability of undergoing BMD screening among Israeli-born Bedouin-Muslims compared to Israeli-born Jews. Our findings contribute to the TPB by deepening our understanding of the associations between TPB components and BMD screening behaviors, from an ethno-cultural perspective. To assure sufficient BMD screening behavior among all ethno-cultural groups, intervention programs-suited to address the unique characteristics of each ethno-cultural group-are required.

Self-Persuasion Increases Healthy Eating Intention Depending on Cultural Background.

Unhealthy eating behavior has become a global health risk and thus needs to be influenced. Previous research has found that self-persuasion is more effective than direct persuasion in changing attitudes and behavioral intentions, but the influence of the cultural backgrounds of those being persuaded remains unclear. We conducted two studies to investigate the effectiveness of self-persuasion and direct persuasion techniques in promoting healthy eating intention among different ethnicities in the Netherlands. Native Dutch, Moroccan-Dutch, and Turkish-Dutch participated both online and offline. Participants saw a poster with either a self-persuasion message ("Why would you choose healthier food?") or a direct persuasion message ("Choose healthier food!"), and were then asked to report their intention to eat healthily in the upcoming month. Significant cultural differences were found between native Dutch and Moroccan-Dutch in Study 1, and between the native Dutch and Turkish-Dutch who participated offline in Study 2. Accordingly, cultural background was found to moderate the relationship between persuasion and healthy eating intention among these groups. These results provided preliminary evidence for the moderation effect of persuasion on healthy eating intention: Self-persuasion appears to be more effective for people with an individualistic background, and direct persuasion appears to be more effective for people with a collectivistic background.

Exploring ethno-cultural variations in how older Canadians define healthy aging: The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA).

An understanding of how older adults conceptualize healthy aging is important for the development of policies, programs, and services designed to promote health; this understanding must reflect the ethno-cultural diversity of the population. This pilot study aimed to examine Canadians' definitions of healthy aging and ethno-cultural variations in these definitions. The baseline data for a sub-sample (n = 535) of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) Tracking Cohort (n = 21,241) were examined. Narrative responses to an open-ended question on healthy aging were analyzed using a previously developed coding system. The most common themes for all the ethno-cultural groups were "lifestyle", "physical activity", and "attitude"; other themes varied by ethno-cultural background. These findings demonstrate that older Canadians from various ethno-cultural backgrounds define healthy aging differently. These variations must be taken into consideration for developing culturally sensitive programs to promote healthy aging among all Canadians. Theorizing on healthy (or 'successful') aging must envision it as a subjective and multidimensional concept.