Respiratory effects of spinal immobilization

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effect of whole-body spinal immobilization on respiration.

METHODS

This was a randomized, crossover laboratory study with 39 human volunteer subjects (20 males; 19 females) ranging in age from 7 to 85 years. Respiratory function was measured three times: at baseline (seated or lying), immobilized with a Philadelphia collar on a hard wooden backboard, and on a Scandinavian vacuum mattress with a vacuum collar. The comfort levels of each of the two methods were assessed on a forced Likert scale.

RESULTS

Both immobilization methods restricted respiration, 15% on the average. The effects were similar under the two immobilization conditions, although the FEV1 was lower on the vacuum mattress. Respiratory restriction was more pronounced at the extremes of age. The vacuum mattress was significantly more comfortable.

CONCLUSION

This study confirmed the previously reported respiratory restriction caused by spinal immobilization. Vacuum mattresses are more comfortable than wooden backboards.

Spanking by parents and subsequent antisocial behavior of children

OBJECTIVE

To deal with the causal relationship between corporal punishment and antisocial behavior (ASB) by considering the level of ASB of the child at the start of the study.

METHODS

Data from interviews with a national sample of 807 mothers of children aged 6 to 9 years in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement. Analysis of variance was used to test the hypothesis that when parents use corporal punishment to correct ASB, it increases subsequent ASB. The analysis controlled for the level of ASB at the start of the study, family socio-economic status, sex of the child, and the extent to which the home provided emotional support and cognitive stimulation.

RESULTS

Forty-four percent of the mothers reported spanking their children during the week prior to the study and they spanked them an average of 2.1 times that week. The more spanking at the start of the period, the higher the level of ASB 2 years later. The change is unlikely to be owing to the child's tendency toward ASB or to confounding with demographic characteristics or with parental deficiency in other key aspects of socialization because those variables were statistically controlled.

CONCLUSIONS

When parents use corporal punishment to reduce ASB, the long-term effect tends to be the opposite. The findings suggest that if parents replace corporal punishment by nonviolent modes of discipline, it could reduce the risk of ASB among children and reduce the level of violence in American society.

Impact of expert testimony on the believability of repressed memories

Research suggests that people question the believability of trial testimony based on an alleged victim's previously repressed memories. Participants read one of six scenarios depicting the trial of a man accused of sexually assaulting a young girl. The alleged victim either reported the assault immediately (child witness) or waited 20 years to report it (adult witness). In the adult witness condition, the woman's memory for the event had either been repressed until recently or had always been available, and expert testimony was offered on behalf of the defense, the prosecution, both, or neither. Regression analyses revealed that women perceived the accuser's testimony as more believable and the defendant's testimony as less believable than men did. Similarly, the belief in the accuser's testimony decreased and the belief in the defendant's testimony increased when the accuser was an adult in contrast to a child, and when the defense offered expert testimony in contrast to its absence. In addition, guilty verdicts were associated with higher levels of accuser believability, lower levels of defendant believability and testimony based on repressed memories in contrast to testimony based on memories that were never repressed.

Risk marker analysis of the cessation and persistence of wife assault

This study evaluated the utility of specific risk markers of wife assault in understanding the cessation and persistence of violence against women over a 3-year period. Longitudinal data were used to identify violent men who ceased the violence for 2 years and violent men who persisted in using violence. A group of nonviolent men was used for comparison. Factor analysis indicated that marital conflict, socioeconomic status (SES), and witnessing violence in the family of origin were the most powerful discriminators of these groups. Moreover, it was found that high levels of marital conflict and low SES were associated not only with the occurrence of violence but also with the continuity of wife assaults over time.

Agreement and accuracy in children's interpersonal perceptions: a social relations analysis

Agreement and accuracy in children's interpersonal perceptions during middle childhood were studied in the school environment. Sociocultural and ecological theories led to the prediction that, in middle childhood, peers' interpersonal perceptions would show high levels of agreement with those of teachers and would be accurate. A social relations analysis of data from a 3-year, cross-sequential study revealed that throughout middle childhood, peer perceptions of cognitive ability, observable behavior and characteristics, popularity, and affect correlated reliably with teacher perceptions. In addition, peer and teacher perceptions of targets' cognitive ability correlated with standardized test scores. Self-other agreement lagged behind teacher-peer agreement. The conceptual and statistical advantages of the social relations analysis of children's interpersonal perceptions were also considered.

Neonatal euthanasia: attributions of students and nurses

An attributional analysis of neonatal euthanasia was undertaken in two studies to compare the responsibility attributions of nursing and non-nursing students (Study 1) and nurses (Study 2) toward a physician for a critically ill neonate's death. In both studies, vignettes about a newborn's death differed with respect to the physician's treatment of the critically ill newborn. In the student study, the physician was attributed the least responsibility for the newborn's death when cardiopulmonary resuscitation was attempted but failed, followed by the physician's issuance of either a "Do Not Resuscitate" order or an order to turn off the infant's respirator. Greatest responsibility was attributed to the physician when he ordered the infant's nutritional and hydration support to be terminated. In addition, the student's major (nursing vs. non-nursing) and the nursing student's educational cohort impacted the level of physician responsibility attributed. In contrast, the nurses' study found that the termination of nutritional and hydrational support was viewed as different from the physician's other three actions.

Euthanasia and long-term care: values of the long-term care professional

Nursing home administrators and other long-term care professionals appear positively predisposed toward respecting the autonomy of residents in decisions involving euthanasia and assisted-suicide.