Comparing open-ended question methods to vignette methods to explore willingness to obtain pre-exposure prophylaxis access in pharmacies among black men who have sex with men

Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) are at higher risk of HIV transmission than any other group; however, their uptake of the highly effective HIV prevention medication, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), is low. In collaboration with a communitybased organization in Atlanta, Georgia, we explored ten HIV-negative BMSM's willingness to obtain PrEP in pharmacies using standard open-ended and vignette qualitative methods. Three overarching themes were identified: privacy, patient-pharmacist interactions, and HIV/STI screening. While open-ended questions allowed participants to provide broad answers on their willingness to receive prevention services at a pharmacy, the vignette drew out specific responses to facilitate in-pharmacy PrEP delivery. Using both openended questions and vignette data collection strategies, BMSM reported high willingness to screen for and uptake PrEP in pharmacies. However, the vignette method allowed for greater depth. Open-ended questions elicited responses that highlighted general barriers and facilitators of PrEP dispensing in pharmacies. However, the vignette allowed participants to customize a plan of action that would best fit their needs. Vignette methods are underutilized in HIV research and may be helpful in supplementing standard open-ended interview questions to uncovering unknown challenges about health behaviors and obtain more robust data on highly sensitive research topics in HIV research.

Gender biases in attributions of blame for workplace mistreatment: a video experiment on the effect of perpetrator and target gender

Introduction

Ambiguous psychological workplace mistreatment such as insulting or ignoring a co-worker might trigger gender bias. This study aims to examine whether female perpetrators receive more moral anger and blame from observers than men.

Methods

A sample of Austrian workforce members (n = 880, 55.00% women, 44.89% men, 0.11% diverse) responded to standardized videos showing a perpetrator's angry insult and a perpetrator's exclusion of a co-worker from lunch. In total, we edited 32 video clips with four female and four male professional actors. We manipulated the following variables: 2 perpetrator gender (male/female) * 2 target gender (male/female) * 2 types of mistreatment (insult/exclusion).

Results

As hypothesized, linear mixed-effects modeling revealed more moral anger and attributions of intent against female perpetrators than against men. Significant three-way interactions showed that female perpetrators were judged more harshly than men when the target was female and the mistreatment was exclusion. Female targets were blamed less when the perpetrator was female rather than male. Male targets did not evoke attributional biases. Observer gender had no significant interaction with perpetrator or target gender.

Discussion

Our findings suggest that gender biases in perpetrator-blaming are dependent on target gender and type of mistreatment. The stereotype of women having it out for other women or being "too sensitive" when mistreated by men requires more attention in organizational anti-bias trainings.

Quality-checking the new normal: trial modality in online jury decision-making research

Objectives

We sought to examine differences between videotaped and written trial materials on verdicts, perceptions of trial parties, quality check outcomes, perceived salience of racial issues, and emotional states in a trial involving a Black or White defendant.

Hypotheses

We predicted that verdicts and ratings of trial parties would be similar for those participants viewing a videotaped trial and those reading a written transcript. However, we suspected that emotional states might be heightened for those watching a video and that those reading transcripts would perform better on quality checks regarding trial content (but worse on those involving trial party characteristics, including defendant race).

Method

Participants (N = 139 after removing those who did not meet our threshold for data quality) recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk were randomly assigned to watch a video or read a transcript of a trial involving an alleged murder of a police officer. They completed a questionnaire probing their verdict, perceptions of trial parties, perceived salience of racial issues, and emotional state, and responded to a series of quality checks.

Results

Participants in the videotape condition performed significantly worse on quality checks than did those in the transcript condition. There were no significant differences between modalities in terms of verdict or perceived salience of racial issues. Some other differences emerged between conditions, however, with more positive perceptions of the pathologist and police officer in the transcript condition, and more negative emotion elicited by the trial involving a White defendant in the videotape condition only.

Conclusions

There were no meaningful differences between videotaped and written trial materials in terms of outcome (verdict), but the presence of some trial party rating and emotional state differences stemming from modality epitomizes the internal/ecological validity trade-off in jury research. Our quality check results indicate that written transcripts may work better for obtaining valid data online. Regardless of modality, researchers must be diligent in crafting quality checks to ensure that participants are attending to the stimulus materials, particularly as more research shifts online.

Words Like Weapons: Labeling Women As Emotional During a Disagreement Negatively Affects the Perceived Legitimacy of Their Arguments

With one in eight Americans thinking women are too emotional to be in politics (Carnevale et al., 2019), being labeled as emotional during a disagreement may activate stereotypes about a woman's irrationality and affect how legitimate people perceive her arguments to be. We experimentally tested the effects of such labels. In Study 1 ( N  =  86), participants who read a vignette where a woman (versus a man) was told to “calm down” during a disagreement, saw her argument as significantly less legitimate. Perceived emotionality mediated the relation between condition and perceived legitimacy. Study 2 replicated this finding ( N  =  126) with different vignettes where the character was explicitly labeled as “emotional.” Using video vignettes in Study 3 ( N  =  251), we failed to replicate the results observed in Studies 1 and 2. We hope practitioners use these studies to increase awareness of how stereotype-laden labels can delegitimize women's arguments, particularly when heard via writing (e.g., via email, text, or instant messaging) rather than when observed. This work may motivate observers to challenge the use of delegitimizing labels, so that women's claims can be judged based on the soundness of their arguments, rather than stereotypes about their ability to think rationally. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ's website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/03616843221123745

Methodological choices in experimental research on medical communication using vignettes: The impact of gender congruence and vignette modality

OBJECTIVE

Experimental vignette designs are used to systematically test the effects of medical communication. We tested the impact of two methodological choices -gender congruence and vignette modality- on analogue patient reported outcomes.

METHODS

In an online experiment using a vignette portraying an oncological bad news consultation, we manipulated (1) gender congruence between the analogue and the vignette patient, and (2) vignette modality, i.e., text, audio, or video. Cancer-naïve students acting as analogue patients (N = 209, 22 ± 3 years old, 75% F) were assigned one randomly-selected vignette variant and completed questionnaires. Using 3 × 2 (repeated-measures) ANOVAs, we tested main and interaction effects of gender congruence and modality on self-reported engagement, recall, trust, satisfaction and anxiety.

RESULTS

We found no main effects of gender congruence or modality on any of the outcomes, nor any interaction effects between modality and congruence.

CONCLUSION

Our results indicate that researchers may needlessly create gender-congruent vignettes at considerable cost and effort. Also, the currently assumed superiority of videos over other modalities for experimental vignette-based research may be inaccurate.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Although further testing in an offline format and among different populations is warranted, decisions regarding gender congruence and modality for future vignette-based studies should be based primarily on their specific aims.

"You Should Have Known Better": The Social Ramifications of Victimization-Focused Sexual Assault Prevention Tips

Common sexual assault prevention strategies emphasize individuals' responsibility to protect themselves from victimization. Using a feminist theoretical approach, the present study was the first to assess the unintended, negative consequences that result when taking a victimization-focused approach to sexual assault prevention. Participants (N = 321) were primarily heterosexual, Caucasian undergraduate students from a Western postsecondary institution. A between-participants experimental design was employed, whereby participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) victimization-focused prevention tips (n = 114; e.g., "Be alert and aware of your surroundings"); (b) perpetration-focused prevention tips (n = 103; e.g., "Don't slip any unwanted substances into drinks at bars or parties"); or (c) study tips for control purposes (n = 104; e.g., "Take a ten-minute break every hour"). Following prevention tip exposure, participants read a sexual assault vignette and completed measures of victim culpability and several related constructs (i.e., ambivalent sexism, belief in a just world, and rape myth acceptance). Results indicated that participants who received victimization-focused prevention tips attributed significantly more blame to the victimized woman in the vignette than participants in both the control condition and perpetration-focused condition. Based on these results, it is recommended that social institutions further evaluate the efficacy and unintended consequences of prevalent victimization-focused sexual assault prevention strategies. Specifically, institutions should consider the implications of endorsing strategies that are evidenced to enhance victim blame, thereby perpetuating rape culture. Prevention strategies that engage bystanders and seek to prevent perpetration should be considered as an alternative approach.

A Walk in the Park? Examining the Impact of App-Based Weather Warnings on Affective Reactions and the Search for Information in a Virtual City

Background: Warning apps can provide personalized public warnings, but research on their appraisal and impact on compliance is scarce. This study introduces a virtual city framework to examine affective reactions when receiving an app-based warning, and subsequent behavioral intentions. Methods: In an online experiment, 276 participants (M = 41.07, SD = 16.44, 62.0% female) were randomly allocated to one of eight groups (warning vs. no warning, thunderstorm vs. no thunderstorm, video vs. vignette). Participants were guided through a virtual city by a mock-up touristic app (t1). Then, the app issued a warning about an impending thunderstorm (t2), followed by a virtual thunderstorm (t3). The virtual city tour was presented via vignettes or videos. ANCOVAs were used to investigate trajectories of momentary anxiety, hierarchical regressions analyzed the impact of momentary anxiety on information seeking. Results: Participants who received a warning message and were confronted with a thunderstorm showed the highest increase in momentary anxiety, which predicted information seeking intentions. Conclusions: The findings underscore the importance of affective appraisal in processing warning messages. The virtual city framework is able to differentiate the impact of warning versus event in an online context, and thus promising for future warning research in virtual settings.

"Why Did She Talk to Him Again?" The Effects of the Justice Motive, Relationship Type, and Degree of Postassault Contact on Perceptions of Sexual Assault

Victim blaming attitudes are prevalent within the criminal justice system where survivor behavior before, during, and following an assault is heavily scrutinized. Although dispositional characteristics (e.g., strength of one's justice motive) and characteristics of the assault (e.g., the type of relationship between a survivor and an offender) have been found to predict the degree of victim blaming, the effects of these variables on sexual assault myth endorsement are unclear. In addition, a variable that has not been examined in past literature is the degree of contact maintained between a survivor and offender after the assault. The purpose of the current study was to examine the extent to which the justice motive (strong vs. weak), the relationship between a fictional survivor and an offender (strangers vs. intimate partners), and contact between a survivor and offender postassault (contact vs. no contact) influenced endorsement of sexual assault myths. Undergraduate students read a vignette depicting a fictional sexual assault that varied with respect to the relationship and the amount of postassault contact between the survivor and offender and completed measures of the strength of their justice motive and their endorsement of sexual assault myths. Results indicated that participants (N = 419) who held a strong justice motive showed higher endorsement of sexual assault myths. Participants were also more likely to endorse sexual assault myths when there was postoffense contact between the survivor and offender. The implications of these findings and their relevance to the criminal justice system are discussed, including the need for further research into the creation of survivor-oriented education and training capable of counteracting bias toward survivors of sexual violence and producing sustained attitudinal changes.

Who Are You to Me? Relational Distance to Victims and Perpetrators Affects Advising to Report Rape

The victim's decision to report a crime is generally dependent on the advice received from a confidant. The effects of a confidant's relationship to victims and perpetrators on the advice given to report rape were investigated. Indian participants (N = 418) read one of the seven scenarios of acquaintance rape as a confidant; the scenarios depicted different relationships between the victim and perpetrator (family vs. friend vs. stranger). Confidants closer to victims were more likely to advise reporting, whereas confidants closer to the perpetrator were less likely to advise reporting. Rape myth acceptance and victim blaming negatively predicted reporting to agencies.

Patient safety and staff competence in managing challenging behavior based on feedback from former psychiatric patients

PURPOSE

This study aimed to describe the perceptions and lived experiences of former psychiatric patients of their own and/or co-patients' behavior that nursing staff has regarded as challenging and that has resulted in behavior management.

DESIGN AND METHODS

An explorative-descriptive qualitative design with video vignettes, semistructured interviews, and abductive content analysis.

FINDINGS

Many reasons for different kinds of patient behavior that were considered challenging by staff were identified. Delivering care based on patients' needs was identified as core staff competence.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Findings can be utilized when pursuing restraint reduction in psychiatric care by enhancing staff competence.

Making Judgments: How Blame Mediates the Influence of Rape Myth Acceptance in Police Response to Sexual Assault

As research continues to describe negative experiences and high case attrition within sexual assault cases reported to the police, it is important to better understand the role of first-responding police officers. This study surveyed a sample of sworn police officers ( N = 174) from one department in a midsized city in the Great Lakes region to examine the effect of individual police officer characteristics, rape myth acceptance (RMA), attributions of blame, and case characteristics from a hypothetical vignette, on officer perceptions of a "good" case and behavioral intentions. Results found that although RMA predicts both perceptions of the case and behavioral intentions to respond in ways indicative of perceived seriousness, RMA is mediated by attributions of suspect blame. Victim alcohol use was found to decrease an officer's likelihood of responding more vigorously, showing less likelihood of calling a detective or arresting the suspect, if identified. Future research should begin to connect not only case characteristics but also individual police officer characteristics, attitudes, and attributions of blame, with real case outcomes, in addition to hypothetical scenarios.

Using Video Stimuli to Examine Judgments of Nonoffending and Offending Pedophiles: A Brief Communication

In this experimental study, 89 participants were allocated to an offending pedophile, nonoffending pedophile, or control video condition. They then watched two short help-seeking video clips of an older male and a younger male (counterbalanced). Judgments about each male were assessed, as were general attitudes toward pedophiles and sexual offenders. Offending pedophiles were judged as more deserving of punishment than the nonoffending pedophiles and controls. Age of the male was found to have an effect on judgments of dangerousness. Existing attitudes toward pedophiles and sexual offenders did not statistically differ. Limitations and future research ideas are discussed.

Rape Myth Consistency and Gender Differences in Perceiving Rape Victims: A Meta-Analysis

An overview discusses feminist analyses of oppression, attitudes toward rape victims, and previously studied predictors of individuals' attitudes toward rape victims. To better understand such attitudes, this meta-analysis examines the moderating influences of various rape victim, perpetrator, and crime characteristics' rape myth consistency on gender differences in individuals' perceptions of rape victims (i.e., victim responsibility and blame attributions and rape minimizing attitudes). Consistent with feminist theoretical predictions, results indicated that, overall, men perceived rape victims more negatively than women did. However, this sex difference was moderated by the rape myth consistency within the rape vignettes. Implications for research are discussed.

Rape Crimes Reviewed: The Role of Observer Variables in Female Victim Blaming

This article presents an overview of empirical research on the role of observer variables in rape victim blaming (female attacked by a male perpetrator). The focus is on literature from the last 15 years. The variables observer gender, ambivalent sexism, rape myth acceptance, and rape empathy are discussed in relation to victim blaming. Most research on rape is conducted using diverse methods and approaches that result in a great disparity regarding the role of these variables in predicting blame assignments. Despite the inconsistencies, most studies show that men hold the victim more responsible for her own victimization than women. Findings further indicate that higher scores on sexist ideologies and rape myth acceptance predict higher victim blame, and that higher rape empathy scores predict lower victim blame. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Is It Dating Violence or Just "Drunken Behavior"? Judgments of Intimate Partner Violence When the Perpetrator Is Under the Influence of Alcohol

BACKGROUND

Previous research has shown a strong bias for laypersons to believe alcohol use and aggression to go hand-in-hand (see Quigley & Leonard, 2006 ). Furthermore, research has shown that alcohol use can be seen as a mitigating circumstance for aggression, resulting in a reduction of blame and accountability (Bullock, 2002 ; Katz & Arias, 2001 ; Tryggvesson, 2004 ).

OBJECTIVES

The present study investigated observers' judgments of intimate partner violence (IPV) when the perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol. We hypothesized that participants would view violent behavior as more common and less abusive if they thought the perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol.

METHODS

College students (n = 79) viewed a video depicting an increasingly abusive interaction between college-age dating partners (see Witte & Kendra, 2010 ) and half of the participants were lead to believe that the perpetrator was drinking alcohol prior to the interaction. Participants rated the videotaped vignette at four timepoints to assess the degree to which they believed the interaction was normal/common and abusive.

RESULTS

Observers judged the abusive behavior as more common and less abusive when alcohol was involved, but only for psychologically abusive behaviors and moderately severe physically abusive behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS/IMPORTANCE

The results of this study provide support for the notion that direct observers of IPV judge moderately abusive behavior as more common and less abusive when alcohol is involved. With this, theories concerning alcohol expectancies and interpretations of interpersonal violence can be more readily applied to real-life scenarios, such as in the validity of eye-witness testimony.

Metacognitive aspects of rape myths: subjective strength of rape myth acceptance moderates its effects on information processing and behavioral intentions

The authors present a metacognitive approach to influences of rape myth acceptance (RMA) on the processing of rape-related information and rape proclivity. In Study 1, participants (N = 264) completed an RMA scale and subsequently reported the subjective strength (e.g., importance, certainty) of their RMA. Then they read about a rape case, viewed a photograph of the alleged crime scene, and rated the defendant's guilt on several items. Depending on condition, the photograph contained either RMA-applicable stimuli (e.g., alcoholic beverages) or neutral stimuli. Higher RMA predicted lower ratings of defendant guilt especially when applicable stimuli were present and RMA was strong. Study 2 (N = 85) showed that RMA-related attitude strength also moderated the effect of RMA on self-reported rape proclivity. Results of both studies indicate that the subjective strength of rape-related beliefs may be reliably assessed and serves as an important moderator of effects of RMA. The implications of these findings for prevention programs as well as future directions for research are discussed.

'Healthy' individuals' perceptions of type 1 and type 2 diabetes cause and management: a 'think-aloud', mixed-methods study using video-based vignettes

This study investigated 'healthy' participants' perceptions of types 1 and 2 diabetes using mixed methods. A total of 38 participants were asked about their perceptions of both types of diabetes using video-based vignettes of four cases. Participants answered standardised questionnaires while thinking aloud and could expand during semi-structured interview sections. Four themes were identified: knowledge of diabetes, power to influence diabetes, limitations of responsibility or blame for diabetes and feelings about individuals with diabetes. Perceived controllability of causes and perceptions of illness management informs understanding of stigma and risk and emphasises the importance of comparing perceptions of both types of diabetes.

Examining the roles of victim-perpetrator relationship and emotional closeness in judgments toward a depicted child sexual abuse case

The current study investigated the impact that respondent gender, victim-perpetrator relationship, and the level of emotional closeness had on attributions in a hypothetical child sexual abuse case. A total of 160 university students read a hypothetical scenario depicting a female child sexually abused by an adult male. The perpetrator was either the victim's biological father or her stepfather, with this relationship described as being either emotionally close or emotionally distant. Respondents read one of four (2 victim-perpetrator relationship × 2 emotional closeness) scenarios before completing 26 attribution items pertaining to credibility, blame, and severity. Principle components analysis yielded five factors, namely victim credibility, mother culpability, perpetrator culpability, assault severity, and victim culpability. Multivariate analysis of covariance--controlling for respondent (Caucasian vs. non-Caucasian) ethnicity--revealed, as predicted, significant main effects for respondent gender, victim-perpetrator relationship, and emotional closeness. In general, females assigned more provictim/ antiperpetrator/antimother attributions than males. Results were also suggested that both victim-perpetrator relationship and emotional closeness influence attributions made toward the victim, perpetrator, and nonoffending mother. Methodological issues and suggestions for future work are also discussed.

Can norm theory explain the effects of victim age and level of physical maturity on perceptions of child sexual abuse?

The present study examines the effects of victim age, victim physical maturity, and respondent gender on attributions toward victims, perpetrator, and the nonoffending members of the victim's family in a hypothetical child sexual abuse (CSA) case. Participants read a brief CSA vignette in which the male perpetrator (a school caretaker) sexually abuses a student in the school changing rooms. The victim was depicted as either a 12- or 15-year-old girl who, in terms of physical maturity, was either pre- or postpubescent. Separate 2 × 2 × 2 ANOVAs were performed on the dependent variables. Results conformed broadly to the study's predictions with younger victims being viewed more negatively than older victims and the victim's physical appearance being viewed as more encouraging of CSA for the younger than for the older girl. Female participants were more likely to endorse the belief that the younger victim should have fought back and that the prepubescent 15-year-old victim should have fought back more than her postpubescent counterpart. While attributions toward the perpetrator and victim's family did not differ across conditions for women, men tended to blame the perpetrator more when victims were younger and the family more when victims were less physically mature. Findings are discussed in relation to norm theory principles, just world theory, and the defensive attribution hypothesis.

Vignette methodology and culture-relevance: lessons learned through a project on successful aging with Iranian immigrants to Sweden

It is a well-known fact that cultural values play an important role in the construction of aging and old-age related understandings. This is why ethnogerontologists have tried to expand the gerontological imagination by arguing that research needs to become more culturally-relevant. Tapping into the values that people uphold and the understandings of aging that are shaped by them is a challenging endeavor. This is especially the case if one does not share the cultural background of the people whose values one is studying. The same holds true when one wants to shed light on understandings that mainstream social gerontology regards as deviations from the norm. It is after all relatively easy to "impose the Western template" under such circumstances. Vignette methodology has been found to be particularly useful when studying value-laden understandings. This is why it is an appropriate method to consider when designing research that aims to avoid the imposition of the Western template. This article focuses on the pros and cons of this methodology while discussing some of the lessons learned from a project that explored how the construct of successful aging is understood by a group of Iranian immigrants to Sweden. It will be argued that vignettes are particularly useful when trying to shed culturally-relevant light on aging and old age-related understandings.

The Roles of Independent Self-Construal and Concerns for Face on Advising Rape Victims to Report to Police in Japanese and U.S. College Students

This study investigated differences in Japanese and U.S. college students' tendencies to advise a rape victim—whom they would consider to be their own sister—to seek help from police. It was found that U.S. participants tended to advise the victim to report the rape to the police more often than did Japanese participants. This difference was mediated by independent self-construal and moderated by concern for the victim's face. This study replicated, in a cross-cultural setting, others' findings that participants were less likely to advise victims to report a rape when the victim and offender were acquainted.

Differences between Japanese and American college students in giving advice about help seeking to rape victims

In this study, the author investigated differences in Japanese and American college students' tendencies to advise a hypothetical rape victim (their sister) to seek help from police, family members, or mental health professionals. Japanese students tended to encourage the victim to seek help from her family members, whereas American students tended to encourage her to seek help from police and mental health counselors. Cross-cultural discrepancies were marked by the following factors: (a) feelings of shame moderated advice to seek help from police; (b) minimization of rape mediated the likelihood to advise the involvement of police and mental health counselors; (c) attitudes toward mental health counselors mediated advice to seek help from them; and (d) the type of rape (stranger vs. date rape) moderated advice to report the crime to police.