The Importance of Intact Senses in Mating and Social Assessments Made by Deaf Individuals

Social perception is a multimodal process involving vision and audition as central input sources for human social cognitive processes. However, it remains unclear how profoundly deaf people assess others in the context of mating and social interaction. The current study explored the relative importance of different sensory modalities (vision, smell, and touch) in assessments of opposite- and same-sex strangers. We focused on potential sensory compensation processes in mate selection (i.e., increased importance of the intact senses in forming impressions of an opposite-sex stranger as a potential partner). A total of 74 deaf individuals and 100 normally hearing controls were included in the study sample. We found diminished importance of vision and smell in deaf participants compared with controls for opposite- and same-sex strangers, and increased importance of touch for the assessment of same-sex strangers. The results suggested that deaf people rely less on visual and olfactory cues in mating and social assessments, highlighting a possible role of sign language in shaping interpersonal tactile experience in non-romantic relationships.

Theory-based digital intervention to promote weight loss and weight loss maintenance (Choosing Health): protocol for a randomised controlled trial

INTRODUCTION

Digital behavioural weight loss interventions have the potential to improve public health; however, these interventions are often not adequately tailored to the needs of the participants. This is the protocol for a trial that aims to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the Choosing Health programme as a means to promote weight loss and weight loss maintenance among overweight/obese adults.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

The proposed study is a two-group randomised controlled trial with a nested interrupted time series (ITS) within-person design. Participants (n=285) will be randomly assigned to either the Choosing Health digital intervention or a control group. For intervention participants, ecological momentary assessment will be used to identify behavioural determinants for each individual in order to tailor evidence-based behaviour change techniques and intervention content.Control group participants will receive non-tailored weight loss advice via e-book and generic emails. The primary outcome is the mean difference in weight loss between groups at 6 months controlled for baseline. Secondary outcomes include blood pressure and percentage of body fat; self-reported measures of physical activity, sitting time, quality of life, cost and theory-derived correlates of weight loss. Secondary outcomes will be measured at baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months. The primary outcome for ITS will be daily weight loss plan adherence. Data will be analysed using regression and time series analyses.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethics approval was granted by Faculty of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Wroclaw, Poland, approval number 03/P/12/2019. The project results will be disseminated through structured strategy implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.

TRIAL REGISTRATION DETAILS

This trial was registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov; registration number NCT04291482.