Several ethical aspects in the management of Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) are still controversial, including family planning and testing for disease presence in at-risk individuals. We performed an online survey aiming to assess the opinion and current clinical practice of European pediatric and adult nephrologists, as well as geneticists. A total of 410 clinicians (53% male, mean (SD) age of 48 (10) years) responded, including 216 pediatric nephrologists, 151 adult nephrologists, and 43 clinical geneticists. While the 3 groups agreed to encourage clinical testing in asymptomatic ADPKD minors and adults, only geneticists would recommend genetic testing in asymptomatic at-risk adults (P<0.001). Statistically significant disagreement between disciplines was observed regarding the ethical justification of prenatal genetic diagnosis, termination of pregnancy and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for ADPKD. Particularly, PGD is ethically justified according to geneticists (4.48 (1.63)), whereas pediatric (3.08 (1.78); P<0.001) and adult nephrologists (3.66 (1.88); P<0.05) appeared to be less convinced. Our survey suggests that most clinicians support clinical testing of at-risk minors and adults in ADPKD families. However, there is no agreement for genetic testing in asymptomatic offspring and for family planning, including PGD. The present data highlight the need for a consensus among clinicians, to avoid that ADPKD families are being given conflicting information.
As police departments in the United States strive to improve their capacity to effectively engage individuals with mental illness (IMI), Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training has become increasingly common. Limited empirical work has studied the effectiveness of CIT, and available studies demonstrate split evidence on the effectiveness of the approach. Variation in previous findings may indicate that CIT inadequately addresses key factors that create challenges for officers when engaging IMI, such as mental illness stigma. Survey data collected from 185 officers were analyzed to assess whether mental illness stigma affects officers’ perceptions of preparedness for engaging IMI beyond CIT training itself. Findings suggest that although there are few differences in perceptions of preparedness between officers who have completed CIT training and those who have not completed CIT training, variation in levels of mental illness stigma explain differences in officers’ perceptions of preparedness to engage IMI. Policy recommendations are discussed.
Crime analysts study criminal activity and police function to improve performance. Analysts inform operations, aid resource allocation, and evaluate programs. These tasks require high levels of statistical literacy. Given that most analysts are college-educated civilians, college coursework in statistics and/or crime analysis may represent the foundational knowledgebase within the profession. However, little research has attempted to determine if coursework teaches the skills needed by analysts. Underlying this issue is a limited understanding about what technical skills crime analysts regularly use. Analyzing parallel surveys of 98 criminal justice educators and 146 crime analysts, this study compares the skills taught in undergraduate-level statistics and crime analysis courses to those used by analysts. Comparisons are made between perceptions of the value of coursework. Results indicate discrepancies between the orientation of coursework and the needs of analysts which underscore differences in the perceived relevance of statistics education. Recommendations are discussed.
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