No abstract

Although much evidence suggests that gender stereotyping becomes less flexible during adolescence, results of the present study indicate that gender stereotypes may actually become more flexible at some point during certain adolescent school transitions. The authors measured the flexibility of gender stereotypes in adolescents in Grades 4 through 11, using a combined cross-sectional and longitudinal design. Results indicated that flexibility increased for stereotypes concerning the psychological attributes of men and women after the transition into junior high school, regardless of whether this transition occurred during the 7th or 8th grade. Over the remaining years of junior high and high school, stereotype flexibility decreased. These results help resolve previous inconsistencies found in the literature by suggesting when and why changes in gender stereotype flexibility versus rigidity occur during adolescence.

BackgroundPhosphate binders (PBs) account for about one half of the daily pill burden for US hemodialysis (HD) patients, which may reduce adherence. Adherence can be estimated by the medication possession ratio (MPR), which is defined as the proportion of time a patient had sufficient medication to have taken it as prescribed. Gaps of time between prescription fills lower the patient's MPR. We assessed the association of PB pill burden and adherence (MPR) with phosphorus goal attainment.MethodsUsing pharmacy management program data, HD patients on PB monotherapy were tracked from first PB fill during 1 January 2007–30 June 2011 for 1 year, or until PB change or censoring. Data were assessed with generalized linear models.ResultsWe analyzed 8616 patients. Higher pill burden was associated with lower adherence. Lower adherence tended to be associated with higher mean phosphorus levels and lower percentage of patients with serum phosphorus ≤5.5 mg/dL (P < 0.001). The association between adherence and these clinical outcomes was most pronounced in the lowest and highest pill burden strata (<3, >3–6, >12–15, >15).ConclusionsAdherence, as measured by the MPR, was negatively related to higher pill burden and phosphorus levels and positively related to patients in the phosphorus target range. Within pill burden strata, phosphorus increased and patients in the target range generally decreased with decreasing adherence, suggesting that patients prescribed fewer PB pills are less likely to have treatment gaps, and may be more likely to achieve phosphorus targets.

This cross-sectional study examined perceptions of spousal negative behaviors in 219 cancer patients. A mediational model was proposed to explain why a spouse might respond negatively to an ill partner because of greater restriction on activities as functional impairment increases. A moderating effect of the spouse's marital satisfaction assessed 3 months before other study measures was also proposed. Results provided support for the proposed model. The relationship between increasing patient functional impairment and spousal negative behaviors was medicated by greater restriction in spouse activities, as well as spousal negative mood. A marginally significant moderating effect for marital satisfaction was found. Although these results must be replicated with a prospective study, the findings begin to shed light on why spouses might respond in negative ways to an ill partner.

Purpose Drivers of excess controlled substance disposal behaviors are not well understood. A survey of patients who had received opioid-based medications was conducted to inform the design of future innovative drug take-back programs. Methods This was a cross-sectional survey study conducted in 152 participants who received treatment with an opioid within the previous 2 years and had possession of unused medication following either switching to a different opioid or discontinuation of pain. Results Approximately one-third of patients had disposed of their unused opioid medication. Education about the importance of and appropriate methods for drug disposal was associated with a significantly increased likelihood of patients disposing of unused medication, and it was observed that patients prescribed an immediate-release/short-acting opioid were twice as likely to keep their medication compared to those prescribed an extended-release/long-acting opioid. The most commonly reported methods for disposal were via drug return kiosks and flushing the medication down the toilet. Some of the most impactful drivers of unused opioid disposal were routine practice of disposing of all unused drugs and instruction from a health care provider, and the most common driver of keeping unused medication was the desire to have it on-hand should there be a need to treat pain in the future. Over 80 % of patients indicated that they would be more likely to use a drug take-back service if they were offered compensation or if the kiosk was in a location that they visited frequently, and approximately half of the patients indicated that they would be willing to request an initial partial fill of an opioid prescription to reduce the volume of unused medication. Conclusion There is a clear need to increase patient awareness about the importance and methods of proper medication disposal, and a great opportunity for health care providers to increase patient education efforts. These study findings also highlight key areas for improvement in drug take-back programs that may promote and incentivize more patients to utilize the services.