29 CFR 500.78 - Information in foreign language.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 29 Labor 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Information in foreign language. 500.78 Section 500.78... § 500.78 Information in foreign language. Each farm labor contractor, agricultural employer and... English or, as necessary and reasonable, in Spanish or another language common to migrant or seasonal...

Perceived information needs and social support of Chinese-Australian breast cancer survivors.

PubMed

Kwok, C; White, K

2014-10-01

Both informational and social support are vital components in achieving a high quality of life as a cancer survivor. The study aims to explore the perceptions of information needs and social support among Chinese-Australian breast cancer survivors and how these resources impacted their cancer experience. Three focus groups were conducted with 23 Chinese-Australian women diagnosed with breast cancer in their native language (Mandarin and Cantonese). Each interview was translated and transcribed. Content analysis was used to uncover the major themes. Themes for information needs were identified as (1) using linguistically appropriate information, (2) the need for culturally sensitive information for the management of expected side effect and promotion of recovery and (3) the need for information on signs and symptoms of recurrence. Families were described as a primary source of multifaceted social support, although it was challenging to obtain. Support groups were also an important support source, but health care professionals were not identified as a source of support. Our study has provided practical insight into the information needs and social support of Chinese women with breast cancer. These findings can be used to inform the development of linguistically and culturally tailored support and survivorship interventions for this vulnerable population.

TumorML: Concept and requirements of an in silico cancer modelling markup language.

PubMed

Johnson, David; Cooper, Jonathan; McKeever, Steve

2011-01-01

This paper describes the initial groundwork carried out as part of the European Commission funded Transatlantic Tumor Model Repositories project, to develop a new markup language for computational cancer modelling, TumorML. In this paper we describe the motivations for such a language, arguing that current state-of-the-art biomodelling languages are not suited to the cancer modelling domain. We go on to describe the work that needs to be done to develop TumorML, the conceptual design, and a description of what existing markup languages will be used to compose the language specification.

Unified Modeling Language (UML) for hospital-based cancer registration processes.

PubMed

Shiki, Naomi; Ohno, Yuko; Fujii, Ayumi; Murata, Taizo; Matsumura, Yasushi

2008-01-01

Hospital-based cancer registry involves complex processing steps that span across multiple departments. In addition, management techniques and registration procedures differ depending on each medical facility. Establishing processes for hospital-based cancer registry requires clarifying specific functions and labor needed. In recent years, the business modeling technique, in which management evaluation is done by clearly spelling out processes and functions, has been applied to business process analysis. However, there are few analytical reports describing the applications of these concepts to medical-related work. In this study, we initially sought to model hospital-based cancer registration processes using the Unified Modeling Language (UML), to clarify functions. The object of this study was the cancer registry of Osaka University Hospital. We organized the hospital-based cancer registration processes based on interview and observational surveys, and produced an As-Is model using activity, use-case, and class diagrams. After drafting every UML model, it was fed-back to practitioners to check its validity and improved. We were able to define the workflow for each department using activity diagrams. In addition, by using use-case diagrams we were able to classify each department within the hospital as a system, and thereby specify the core processes and staff that were responsible for each department. The class diagrams were effective in systematically organizing the information to be used for hospital-based cancer registries. Using UML modeling, hospital-based cancer registration processes were broadly classified into three separate processes, namely, registration tasks, quality control, and filing data. An additional 14 functions were also extracted. Many tasks take place within the hospital-based cancer registry office, but the process of providing information spans across multiple departments. Moreover, additional tasks were required in comparison to using a

Biomedical information retrieval across languages.

PubMed

Daumke, Philipp; Markü, Kornél; Poprat, Michael; Schulz, Stefan; Klar, Rüdiger

2007-06-01

This work presents a new dictionary-based approach to biomedical cross-language information retrieval (CLIR) that addresses many of the general and domain-specific challenges in current CLIR research. Our method is based on a multilingual lexicon that was generated partly manually and partly automatically, and currently covers six European languages. It contains morphologically meaningful word fragments, termed subwords. Using subwords instead of entire words significantly reduces the number of lexical entries necessary to sufficiently cover a specific language and domain. Mediation between queries and documents is based on these subwords as well as on lists of word-n-grams that are generated from large monolingual corpora and constitute possible translation units. The translations are then sent to a standard Internet search engine. This process makes our approach an effective tool for searching the biomedical content of the World Wide Web in different languages. We evaluate this approach using the OHSUMED corpus, a large medical document collection, within a cross-language retrieval setting.

Health information quality on the internet for bladder cancer and urinary diversion: a multi-lingual analysis.

PubMed

Corfield, Julia M; Abouassaly, Robert; Lawrentschuk, Nathan

2018-04-01

Bladder cancer patients undergoing radical cystectomy and urinary diversion are faced with difficult decisions regarding mode of urinary diversion. Although these patients may use the Internet as a guide to diagnosis and treatment options, online resources remain largely unregulated leading to a great variation in quality of medical information. Further variation in quality is seen between languages. Fortunately, tools such as an automated toolbar developed by the World Health Organization Health on the Net (HON) Foundation exist to assist physicians in recommending quality online health information to patients. We set out to compare and assess the quality of bladder cancer, ileal conduit and orthotopic neobladder web sites in 2016 on the basis of the HON principles for English language. The Google search engine imbedded with the HON toolbar was used to assess 1350 Web sites using the keywords "bladder cancer", "ileal conduit" and "orthotopic neobladder" in English, Italian and Spanish. The first 150 results of each search were identified and screened. A further analysis was completed comparing results between 2009 and 2016. Less than 20% of English, Italian and Spanish "bladder cancer" and urinary diversion ("ileal conduit" and "orthotopic neobladder") web sites are HON-accredited. HON-accredited web sites featured preferentially in the first 50 search results for bladder cancer (P=0.0001) and ileal conduit (P=0.03) web sites. Comparing 2016 results to 2009, percentage of HON-accreditation has not shown statistically significant change (-13%, P=0.23), while overall number of search results has increased (+44%). A lack of validation of bladder cancer sites is present, which is consistent across modes of urinary diversion (orthotopic neobladder and ileal conduit) and languages. It is important that physicians involved in the care of bladder cancer patients undergoing radical cystectomy and urinary diversion participate in the development of informative, ethical, and

Information needs of the Chinese community affected by cancer: A systematic review.

PubMed

Lim, Bee Teng; Butow, Phyllis; Mills, Jill; Miller, Annie; Goldstein, David

2017-10-01

The information needs of patients and carers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, including from the Chinese community, are not well understood, and there has been no previous synthesis of the literature. We conducted a systematic review of the information needs of the Chinese community affected by cancer. Database, reference list, and author searches were conducted to identify studies reporting information needs of the Chinese community affected by cancer. Data synthesis was undertaken to define categories of information needs. Initial searches yielded 2558 articles. Out of the 40 full-text articles reviewed, 26 met all the eligibility criteria. Cancer-specific, treatment, and prognosis information were the most frequently reported information needs across the cancer care continuum. Similarly, this information was the most commonly reported information needs across different health systems, migration statuses, and Chinese cultural values. Though less frequent, information needs related to interpersonal/social, financial/legal, and body image/sexuality were also raised. Thirteen studies quantified the prevalence of unmet needs, and the most frequently reported unmet needs were related to health system and information, followed by psychological, patient care and support, physical daily living, and sexuality needs. Language and cultural factors were identified in all studies involving Chinese migrants living in English-speaking countries. Failing to meet the information needs of the Chinese community members affected by cancer increases the risk for poor cancer outcomes. Potential interventions such as translated resources, bilingual advocates, an online information portal, and communication aids can be helpful in addressing the unmet needs for this community. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Language of Information Technology: Accessibility in the Information Society.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warmkessel, Marjorie M.

The language of information technology is discussed, with a focus on accessibility in the information society. The metaphors of information technology as an "information superhighway" or "infobahn" are analyzed; limitations of the "road system" and developments of Internet systems are considered. The concept of…

Improving the Deaf community's access to prostate and testicular cancer information: a survey study

PubMed Central

Folkins, Ann; Sadler, Georgia Robins; Ko, Celine; Branz, Patricia; Marsh, Shane; Bovee, Michael

2005-01-01

Background Members of the Deaf community face communication barriers to accessing health information. To resolve these inequalities, educational programs must be designed in the appropriate format and language to meet their needs. Methods Deaf men (102) were surveyed before, immediately following, and two months after viewing a 52-minute prostate and testicular cancer video in American Sign Language (ASL) with open text captioning and voice overlay. To provide the Deaf community with information equivalent to that available to the hearing community, the video addressed two cancer topics in depth. While the inclusion of two cancer topics lengthened the video, it was anticipated to reduce redundancy and encourage men of diverse ages to learn in a supportive, culturally aligned environment while also covering more topics within the partnership's limited budget. Survey data were analyzed to evaluate the video's impact on viewers' pre- and post-intervention understanding of prostate and testicular cancers, as well as respondents' satisfaction with the video, exposure to and use of early detection services, and sources of cancer information. Results From baseline to immediately post-intervention, participants' overall knowledge increased significantly, and this gain was maintained at the two-month follow-up. Men of diverse ages were successfully recruited, and this worked effectively as a support group. However, combining two complex cancer topics, in depth, in one video appeared to make it more difficult for participants to retain as many relevant details specific to each cancer. Participants related that there was so much information that they would need to watch the video more than once to understand each topic fully. When surveyed about their best sources of health information, participants ranked doctors first and showed a preference for active rather than passive methods of learning. Conclusion After viewing this ASL video, participants showed significant increases

Avoiding Cancer Risk Information

PubMed Central

Emanuel, Amber S.; Kiviniemi, Marc T.; Howell, Jennifer L.; Hay, Jennifer L.; Waters, Erika A.; Orom, Heather; Shepperd, James A.

2015-01-01

RATIONALE Perceived risk for health problems such as cancer is a central construct in many models of health decision making and a target for behavior change interventions. However, some portion of the population actively avoids cancer risk information. The prevalence of, explanations for, and consequences of such avoidance are not well understood. OBJECTIVE We examined the prevalence and demographic and psychosocial correlates of cancer risk information avoidance preference in a nationally representative sample. We also examined whether avoidance of cancer risk information corresponds with avoidance of cancer screening. RESULTS Based on our representative sample, 39% of the population indicated that they agreed or strongly agreed that they would “rather not know [their] chance of getting cancer.” This preference was stronger among older participants, female participants, and participants with lower levels of education. Preferring to avoid cancer risk information was stronger among participants who agreed with the beliefs that everything causes cancer, that there’s not much one can do to prevent cancer, and that there are too many recommendations to follow. Finally, the preference to avoid cancer risk information was associated with lower levels of screening for colon cancer. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that cancer risk information avoidance is a multi-determined phenomenon that is associated with demographic characteristics and psychosocial individual differences and also relates to engagement in cancer screening. PMID:26560410

Skin Cancer - Multiple Languages

MedlinePlus

... Expand Section Skin Cancer: MedlinePlus Health Topic - English Cáncer de piel: Tema de salud de MedlinePlus - español (Spanish) National Library of Medicine Skin Cancer - español (Spanish) Bilingual PDF Health Information Translations Ukrainian ( ...

Cross-language information retrieval using PARAFAC2.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bader, Brett William; Chew, Peter; Abdelali, Ahmed

A standard approach to cross-language information retrieval (CLIR) uses Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) in conjunction with a multilingual parallel aligned corpus. This approach has been shown to be successful in identifying similar documents across languages - or more precisely, retrieving the most similar document in one language to a query in another language. However, the approach has severe drawbacks when applied to a related task, that of clustering documents 'language-independently', so that documents about similar topics end up closest to one another in the semantic space regardless of their language. The problem is that documents are generally more similar tomore » other documents in the same language than they are to documents in a different language, but on the same topic. As a result, when using multilingual LSA, documents will in practice cluster by language, not by topic. We propose a novel application of PARAFAC2 (which is a variant of PARAFAC, a multi-way generalization of the singular value decomposition [SVD]) to overcome this problem. Instead of forming a single multilingual term-by-document matrix which, under LSA, is subjected to SVD, we form an irregular three-way array, each slice of which is a separate term-by-document matrix for a single language in the parallel corpus. The goal is to compute an SVD for each language such that V (the matrix of right singular vectors) is the same across all languages. Effectively, PARAFAC2 imposes the constraint, not present in standard LSA, that the 'concepts' in all documents in the parallel corpus are the same regardless of language. Intuitively, this constraint makes sense, since the whole purpose of using a parallel corpus is that exactly the same concepts are expressed in the translations. We tested this approach by comparing the performance of PARAFAC2 with standard LSA in solving a particular CLIR problem. From our results, we conclude that PARAFAC2 offers a very promising alternative to LSA not

Cross-Language Information Retrieval: An Analysis of Errors.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruiz, Miguel E.; Srinivasan, Padmini

1998-01-01

Investigates an automatic method for Cross Language Information Retrieval (CLIR) that utilizes the multilingual Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus to translate Spanish natural-language queries into English. Results indicate that for Spanish, the UMLS Metathesaurus-based CLIR method is at least equivalent to if not better than…

Informal Language Learning Setting: Technology or Social Interaction?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bahrani, Taher; Sim, Tam Shu

2012-01-01

Based on the informal language learning theory, language learning can occur outside the classroom setting unconsciously and incidentally through interaction with the native speakers or exposure to authentic language input through technology. However, an EFL context lacks the social interaction which naturally occurs in an ESL context. To explore…

PDQ® Cancer Information

Cancer.gov

An NCI database that contains the latest information about cancer treatment, screening, prevention, genetics, supportive care, and complementary and alternative medicine, plus drug information and a dictionary of cancer terms.

Making Cancer Health Text on the Internet Easier to Read for Deaf People Who Use American Sign Language.

PubMed

Kushalnagar, Poorna; Smith, Scott; Hopper, Melinda; Ryan, Claire; Rinkevich, Micah; Kushalnagar, Raja

2018-02-01

People with relatively limited English language proficiency find the Internet's cancer and health information difficult to access and understand. The presence of unfamiliar words and complex grammar make this particularly difficult for Deaf people. Unfortunately, current technology does not support low-cost, accurate translations of online materials into American Sign Language. However, current technology is relatively more advanced in allowing text simplification, while retaining content. This research team developed a two-step approach for simplifying cancer and other health text. They then tested the approach, using a crossover design with a sample of 36 deaf and 38 hearing college students. Results indicated that hearing college students did well on both the original and simplified text versions. Deaf college students' comprehension, in contrast, significantly benefitted from the simplified text. This two-step translation process offers a strategy that may improve the accessibility of Internet information for Deaf, as well as other low-literacy individuals.

An exploratory study of older adults' comprehension of printed cancer information: is readability a key factor?

PubMed

Friedman, Daniela B; Hoffman-Goetz, Laurie

2007-01-01

Printed cancer information often is written at or beyond high school reading levels, despite lower average literacy abilities of the public. The objectives of this exploratory study were twofold: (1) to evaluate older adults' comprehension of breast (BC), prostate (PC), and colorectal (CC) cancer information; and (2) to determine if comprehension of BC, PC, and CC information varies according to text readability. Comprehension of printed cancer resources was evaluated with 44 community-dwelling older adults using the Cloze procedure and recall questions. Participants' comprehension scores were compared with Simple Measure of Gobbledegook (SMOG) readability scores (cancer information as measured by Cloze (.86 +/- .01) and recall (.71 +/- .02). For CC information written at grade 13, however, a significant negative correlation between readability and Cloze comprehension was found (r(s) = -.44, SE = .17, p = .019), indicating poorer participant comprehension at higher readability levels. Comprehension of BC or PC information did not vary by readability level. Though readability plays a role in older adults' understanding of cancer information, cancer type and content are also important factors that influence comprehension. Use of plain language is recommended for CC resources.

Can we address cancer disparities in immigrants by improving cancer literacy through English as a second language instruction?

PubMed

Hughes, Donna L; Flight, Ingrid; Chapman, Janine; Wilson, Carlene

2018-03-27

In many Western countries, immigrants exhibit disparities in cancer incidence and mortality, and variable uptake of cancer prevention services. New immigrants may not be aware of cancer risks pertinent to their new country, or prevention resources. Traditional cancer prevention health messaging may not be accessible for cultural, language, or literacy reasons. New methods are needed. In North America, health message delivery via English classes for immigrants is showing potential as an efficacious and a feasible way to reach immigrants at the same time improving language skills. Interventions published to date are promising but limited in their ability to generalize or be adapted to a variety of populations and settings. This concept paper aims to synthesize previous findings and identify ways to improve and advance the translation potential of this approach. We propose that this could be achieved by (i) using a translation framework to guide intervention planning, development, implementation, and evaluation; (ii) encouraging and evaluating health message spread throughout language learners' social networks; and (iii) incorporating cultural sensitivity into the curriculum. A pilot project following these recommendations is planned for Australia and will be discussed. These recommendations could serve as a framework to fit the requirements of immigrant language programs in other countries and other health topics.

An Expressive and Efficient Language for XML Information Retrieval.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chinenyanga, Taurai Tapiwa; Kushmerick, Nicholas

2002-01-01

Discusses XML and information retrieval and describes a query language, ELIXIR (expressive and efficient language for XML information retrieval), with a textual similarity operator that can be used for similarity joins. Explains the algorithm for answering ELIXIR queries to generate intermediate relational data. (Author/LRW)

Information Retrieval and the Philosophy of Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blair, David C.

2003-01-01

Provides an overview of some of the main ideas in the philosophy of language that have relevance to the issues of information retrieval, focusing on the description of the intellectual content. Highlights include retrieval problems; recall and precision; words and meanings; context; externalism and the philosophy of language; and scaffolding and…

Developing Written Information for Cancer Survivors from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds: Lessons Learnt.

PubMed

Wiley, Georgina; Piper, Amanda; Phyllis Butow, A M; Schofield, Penny; Douglas, Fiona; Roy, Jane; Nolte, Linda; Jefford, Michael

2018-01-01

Australia is a multicultural nation with a large migrant population. Migrants with cancer report inferior quality of life and the need for more information in their own language. This paper describes lessons learnt from developing culturally appropriate written information resources with and for Arabic, Italian, and Vietnamese cancer survivors and carers. The information needs of survivors from these language groups as well as guidelines for the development of written resources for culturally diverse populations were identified through literature review. Community consultation was undertaken with focus groups. The content was developed and tested with health professionals who spoke the appropriate language and focus group participants, ensuring relevance and appropriateness. Resource design and dissemination were informed through community consultation. A number of key tasks for developing resources were identified as follows: (1) community engagement and consultation; (2) culturally sensitive data collection; (3) focus group facilitators (recruitment and training); (4) content development; (5) translation and review process; (6) design; and (7) sustainability. This project reinforced literature review findings on the importance of cultural sensitivity in the development of resources. Engaging with community groups and incorporating culturally appropriate recruitment strategies optimises recruitment to focus groups and facilitates content development. Stakeholders and lay persons from the intended ethnic-minority communities should be involved in the development and formative evaluation of resources to ensure appropriateness and relevance and in the dissemination strategy to optimize penetration. We believe the lessons we have learnt will be relevant to any group intending to develop health information for culturally and linguistic diverse groups.

Developing Written Information for Cancer Survivors from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds: Lessons Learnt

PubMed Central

Wiley, Georgina; Piper, Amanda; Phyllis Butow, AM; Schofield, Penny; Douglas, Fiona; Roy, Jane; Nolte, Linda; Jefford, Michael

2018-01-01

Australia is a multicultural nation with a large migrant population. Migrants with cancer report inferior quality of life and the need for more information in their own language. This paper describes lessons learnt from developing culturally appropriate written information resources with and for Arabic, Italian, and Vietnamese cancer survivors and carers. The information needs of survivors from these language groups as well as guidelines for the development of written resources for culturally diverse populations were identified through literature review. Community consultation was undertaken with focus groups. The content was developed and tested with health professionals who spoke the appropriate language and focus group participants, ensuring relevance and appropriateness. Resource design and dissemination were informed through community consultation. A number of key tasks for developing resources were identified as follows: (1) community engagement and consultation; (2) culturally sensitive data collection; (3) focus group facilitators (recruitment and training); (4) content development; (5) translation and review process; (6) design; and (7) sustainability. This project reinforced literature review findings on the importance of cultural sensitivity in the development of resources. Engaging with community groups and incorporating culturally appropriate recruitment strategies optimises recruitment to focus groups and facilitates content development. Stakeholders and lay persons from the intended ethnic-minority communities should be involved in the development and formative evaluation of resources to ensure appropriateness and relevance and in the dissemination strategy to optimize penetration. We believe the lessons we have learnt will be relevant to any group intending to develop health information for culturally and linguistic diverse groups. PMID:29379844

Chinese Language Teaching and Information Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho, Man-koon

2000-01-01

Provides an overview of the theoretical arguments and problems encountered in the implementation of information technology in Chinese language teaching. States there is a belief that teaching and learning can be enhanced with the introduction of information technology, explaining that it may increase students' motivation to learn. (CMK)

Efficient identification of nationally mandated reportable cancer cases using natural language processing and machine learning.

PubMed

Osborne, John D; Wyatt, Matthew; Westfall, Andrew O; Willig, James; Bethard, Steven; Gordon, Geoff

2016-11-01

To help cancer registrars efficiently and accurately identify reportable cancer cases. The Cancer Registry Control Panel (CRCP) was developed to detect mentions of reportable cancer cases using a pipeline built on the Unstructured Information Management Architecture - Asynchronous Scaleout (UIMA-AS) architecture containing the National Library of Medicine's UIMA MetaMap annotator as well as a variety of rule-based UIMA annotators that primarily act to filter out concepts referring to nonreportable cancers. CRCP inspects pathology reports nightly to identify pathology records containing relevant cancer concepts and combines this with diagnosis codes from the Clinical Electronic Data Warehouse to identify candidate cancer patients using supervised machine learning. Cancer mentions are highlighted in all candidate clinical notes and then sorted in CRCP's web interface for faster validation by cancer registrars. CRCP achieved an accuracy of 0.872 and detected reportable cancer cases with a precision of 0.843 and a recall of 0.848. CRCP increases throughput by 22.6% over a baseline (manual review) pathology report inspection system while achieving a higher precision and recall. Depending on registrar time constraints, CRCP can increase recall to 0.939 at the expense of precision by incorporating a data source information feature. CRCP demonstrates accurate results when applying natural language processing features to the problem of detecting patients with cases of reportable cancer from clinical notes. We show that implementing only a portion of cancer reporting rules in the form of regular expressions is sufficient to increase the precision, recall, and speed of the detection of reportable cancer cases when combined with off-the-shelf information extraction software and machine learning. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Minority Languages Learned Informally: The Social Construction of Language Skills through the Discourse of Ontario Employers. NALL Working Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldberg, Michelle; Corson, David

Many immigrants, refugees, and aboriginal Canadians learn their own languages in the normal, informal way. These minority languages learned informally are not valued as a skill that yields returns in the labor market in the same way the official languages or formally learned languages do. What counts as a skill in a society, in a given point in…

The impact of language barriers and immigration status on the care experience for Spanish-speaking caregivers of patients with pediatric cancer.

PubMed

Zamora, Eduardo R; Kaul, Sapna; Kirchhoff, Anne C; Gwilliam, Vannina; Jimenez, Ornella A; Morreall, Deborah K; Montenegro, Roberto E; Kinney, Anita Y; Fluchel, Mark N

2016-12-01

An increasing proportion of pediatric cancer patients in the United States are Latino and many have Spanish-speaking immigrant parents with limited English proficiency (LEP). Little is known about how language or undocumented immigration status impacts their care experience. A cross-sectional survey was administered to English (N = 310) and Spanish-speaking LEP (N = 56) caregivers of pediatric cancer patients. To assess differences in healthcare experiences between the language groups, t-tests and chi-square statistics were used. Multivariable logistic regression evaluated associations between primary language and knowledge of clinical trial status. Spanish-speaking caregivers were more likely to report higher rates of quitting or changing jobs as a direct result of their child's cancer, and their children were more likely to experience a delay in education. Although Spanish-speaking caregivers reported higher satisfaction with care, 32% reported feeling that their child would have received better care if English was their primary language. Spanish-speaking caregivers were more likely to incorrectly identify whether their child was on a clinical trial compared with English-speaking caregivers. The majority of Spanish-speaking caregivers reported at least one undocumented caregiver in the household and 11% of them avoided or delayed medical care for their child due to concerns over their undocumented immigration status. Language barriers and undocumented immigration status may negatively impact the quality of informed decision-making and the care experience for Spanish-speaking LEP caregivers of pediatric cancer patients. These families may benefit from culturally appropriate Spanish language resources to improve communication and open a dialogue regarding undocumented immigration status. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Lung Cancer Trends

MedlinePlus

... the Biggest Cancer Killer in Both Men and Women” Stay Informed Trends for Other Kinds of Cancer Breast Cervical Colorectal (Colon) Ovarian Prostate Skin Cancer Home Lung Cancer Trends Language: English Español (Spanish) Recommend ...

Patient representatives' views on patient information in clinical cancer trials.

PubMed

Dellson, Pia; Nilbert, Mef; Carlsson, Christina

2016-02-01

Patient enrolment into clinical trials is based on oral information and informed consent, which includes an information sheet and a consent certificate. The written information should be complete, but at the same time risks being so complex that it may be questioned if a fully informed consent is possible to provide. We explored patient representatives' views and perceptions on the written trial information used in clinical cancer trials. Written patient information leaflets used in four clinical trials for colorectal cancer were used for the study. The trials included phase I-III trials, randomized and non-randomized trials that evaluated chemotherapy/targeted therapy in the neoadjuvant, adjuvant and palliative settings. Data were collected through focus groups and were analysed using inductive content analysis. Two major themes emerged: emotional responses and cognitive responses. Subthemes related to the former included individual preferences and perceptions of effect, while subthemes related to the latter were comprehensibility and layout. Based on these observations the patient representatives provided suggestions for improvement, which largely included development of future simplified and more attractive informed consent forms. The emotional and cognitive responses to written patient information reported by patient representatives provides a basis for revised formats in future trials and add to the body of information that support use of plain language, structured text and illustrations to improve the informed consent process and thereby patient enrolment into clinical trials.

General Information about Cervical Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Research Cervical Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Cervical Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... is also available. Cervical Cancer During Pregnancy General Information About Cervical Cancer During Pregnancy Treatment of cervical ...

Uterine Cancer Statistics

MedlinePlus

... Doing AMIGAS Stay Informed Cancer Home Uterine Cancer Statistics Language: English (US) Español (Spanish) Recommend on Facebook ... the most commonly diagnosed gynecologic cancer. U.S. Cancer Statistics Data Visualizations Tool The Data Visualizations tool makes ...

Information Transfer Capacity of Articulators in American Sign Language.

PubMed

Malaia, Evie; Borneman, Joshua D; Wilbur, Ronnie B

2018-03-01

The ability to convey information is a fundamental property of communicative signals. For sign languages, which are overtly produced with multiple, completely visible articulators, the question arises as to how the various channels co-ordinate and interact with each other. We analyze motion capture data of American Sign Language (ASL) narratives, and show that the capacity of information throughput, mathematically defined, is highest on the dominant hand (DH). We further demonstrate that information transfer capacity is also significant for the non-dominant hand (NDH), and the head channel too, as compared to control channels (ankles). We discuss both redundancy and independence in articulator motion in sign language, and argue that the NDH and the head articulators contribute to the overall information transfer capacity, indicating that they are neither completely redundant to, nor completely independent of, the DH.

Quality of Prostate Cancer Treatment Information on Cancer Center Websites.

PubMed

Dulaney, Caleb; Barrett, Olivia Claire; Rais-Bahrami, Soroush; Wakefield, Daniel; Fiveash, John; Dobelbower, Michael

2016-04-20

Cancer center websites are trusted sources of internet information about treatment options for prostate cancer. The quality of information on these websites is unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of information on cancer center websites addressing prostate cancer treatment options, outcomes, and toxicity. We evaluated the websites of all National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers to determine if sufficient information was provided to address eleven decision-specific knowledge questions from the validated Early Prostate Cancer Treatment Decision Quality Instrument. We recorded the number of questions addressed, the number of clicks to reach the prostate cancer-specific webpage, evaluation time, and Spanish and mobile accessibility. Correlation between evaluation time and questions addressed were calculated using the Pearson coefficient. Sixty-three websites were reviewed. Eighty percent had a prostate cancer-specific webpage reached in a median of three clicks. The average evaluation time was 6.5 minutes. Information was available in Spanish on 24% of sites and 59% were mobile friendly. Websites provided sufficient information to address, on average, 19% of questions. No website addressed all questions. Evaluation time correlated with the number of questions addressed (R(2) = 0.42, p < 0.001). Cancer center websites provide insufficient information for men with localized prostate cancer due to a lack of information about and direct comparison of specific treatment outcomes and toxicities. Information is also less accessible in Spanish and on mobile devices. These data can be used to improve the quality and accessibility of prostate cancer treatment information on cancer center websites.

Qualitative and Quantitative Measures of Second Language Writing: Potential Outcomes of Informal Target Language Learning Abroad

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, N. Anthony; Solovieva, Raissa V.; Eggett, Dennis L.

2011-01-01

This research describes a method applied at a U.S. university in a third-year Russian language course designed to facilitate Advanced and Superior second language writing proficiency through the forum of argumentation and debate. Participants had extensive informal language experience living in a Russian-speaking country but comparatively little…

The Impact of Cervical Cancer Education for Deaf Women Using a Video Educational Tool Employing American Sign Language, Open Captioning, and Graphics

PubMed Central

Choe, Sun; Lim, Rod Seung-Hwan; Clark, Karen; Wang, Regina; Branz, Patricia; Sadler, Georgia Robins

2013-01-01

Background Deaf women encounter barriers to accessing cancer information. In this study, we evaluated whether deaf women's knowledge could be increased by viewing a graphically enriched, American Sign Language (ASL) cervical cancer education video. Methods A blind, randomized trial evaluated knowledge gain and retention. Deaf women (n = 130) completed questionnaires before, after, and 2 months after viewing the video. Results With only a single viewing of the in-depth video, the experimental group gained and retained significantly more cancer knowledge than the control group. Conclusions Giving deaf women access to the ASL cervical cancer education video (http://cancer.ucsd.edu/deafinfo) significantly increased their knowledge of cervical cancer. PMID:19259859

The impact of cervical cancer education for deaf women using a video educational tool employing American sign language, open captioning, and graphics.

PubMed

Choe, Sun; Lim, Rod Seung-Hwan; Clark, Karen; Wang, Regina; Branz, Patricia; Sadler, Georgia Robins

2009-01-01

Deaf women encounter barriers to accessing cancer information. In this study, we evaluated whether deaf women's knowledge could be increased by viewing a graphically enriched, American Sign Language (ASL) cervical cancer education video. A blind, randomized trial evaluated knowledge gain and retention. Deaf women (n = 130) completed questionnaires before, after, and 2 months after viewing the video. With only a single viewing of the in-depth video, the experimental group gained and retained significantly more cancer knowledge than the control group. Giving deaf women access to the ASL cervical cancer education video (http://cancer.ucsd.edu/deafinfo) significantly increased their knowledge of cervical cancer.

Plain Language to Communicate Physical Activity Information: A Website Content Analysis.

PubMed

Paige, Samantha R; Black, David R; Mattson, Marifran; Coster, Daniel C; Stellefson, Michael

2018-04-01

Plain language techniques are health literacy universal precautions intended to enhance health care system navigation and health outcomes. Physical activity (PA) is a popular topic on the Internet, yet it is unknown if information is communicated in plain language. This study examined how plain language techniques are included in PA websites, and if the use of plain language techniques varies according to search procedures (keyword, search engine) and website host source (government, commercial, educational/organizational). Three keywords ("physical activity," "fitness," and "exercise") were independently entered into three search engines (Google, Bing, and Yahoo) to locate a nonprobability sample of websites ( N = 61). Fourteen plain language techniques were coded within each website to examine content formatting, clarity and conciseness, and multimedia use. Approximately half ( M = 6.59; SD = 1.68) of the plain language techniques were included in each website. Keyword physical activity resulted in websites with fewer clear and concise plain language techniques ( p < .05), whereas fitness resulted in websites with more clear and concise techniques ( p < .01). Plain language techniques did not vary by search engine or the website host source. Accessing PA information that is easy to understand and behaviorally oriented may remain a challenge for users. Transdisciplinary collaborations are needed to optimize plain language techniques while communicating online PA information.

Using NLP to identify cancer cases in imaging reports drawn from radiology information systems.

PubMed

Patrick, Jon; Asgari, Pooyan; Li, Min; Nguyen, Dung

2013-01-01

A Natural Language processing (NLP) classifier has been developed for the Victorian and NSW Cancer Registries with the purpose of automatically identifying cancer reports from imaging services, transmitting them to the Registries and then extracting pertinent cancer information. Large scale trials conducted on over 40,000 reports show the sensitivity for identifying reportable cancer reports is above 98% with a specificity above 96%. Detection of tumour stream, report purpose, and a variety of extracted content is generally above 90% specificity. The differences between report layout and authoring strategies across imaging services appear to require different classifiers to retain this high level of accuracy. Linkage of the imaging data with existing registry records (hospital and pathology reports) to derive stage and recurrence of cancer has commenced and shown very promising results.

Representing Information in Patient Reports Using Natural Language Processing and the Extensible Markup Language

PubMed Central

Friedman, Carol; Hripcsak, George; Shagina, Lyuda; Liu, Hongfang

1999-01-01

Objective: To design a document model that provides reliable and efficient access to clinical information in patient reports for a broad range of clinical applications, and to implement an automated method using natural language processing that maps textual reports to a form consistent with the model. Methods: A document model that encodes structured clinical information in patient reports while retaining the original contents was designed using the extensible markup language (XML), and a document type definition (DTD) was created. An existing natural language processor (NLP) was modified to generate output consistent with the model. Two hundred reports were processed using the modified NLP system, and the XML output that was generated was validated using an XML validating parser. Results: The modified NLP system successfully processed all 200 reports. The output of one report was invalid, and 199 reports were valid XML forms consistent with the DTD. Conclusions: Natural language processing can be used to automatically create an enriched document that contains a structured component whose elements are linked to portions of the original textual report. This integrated document model provides a representation where documents containing specific information can be accurately and efficiently retrieved by querying the structured components. If manual review of the documents is desired, the salient information in the original reports can also be identified and highlighted. Using an XML model of tagging provides an additional benefit in that software tools that manipulate XML documents are readily available. PMID:9925230

The Quality of Patient Information Booklets for Cancer Patients-an Evaluation of Free Accessible Material in German Language.

PubMed

Keinki, Christian; Rudolph, Ivonne; Ruetters, Dana; Kuenzel, Ulrike; Lobitz, Jessica; Schaefer, Maike; Hanaya, Hani; Huebner, Jutta

2017-05-04

According to the information-seeking behaviors of patients, booklets which can be downloaded from the Internet for free are an important source of information notably for patients with cancer. This study investigated whether information booklets for patients with cancer available at German websites are in accordance with the formal and content criteria of evidence-based information. We compared and compiled both content and formal criteria by matching different national and international standards for written patient information using a merged instrument. A catalog with a total of 16 items within 4 categories (quality of the publication, quality of information, quality of information representation, and transparency) was created. Patient information booklets for the most frequent tumor types were collected from the Internet. A total of 52 different patient booklets were downloaded and assessed. Overall, no booklet fulfilled all criteria. The quality of the publications was evaluated with an average value of 1.67 while the quality of the information had a mean value of 1.45, and the quality of information presentation had a similar rating (1.39). The transparency criteria were evaluated as lowest with an average of 1.07. In summary, German booklets for cancer patients have some shortcomings concerning formal and content criteria for evidence-based patient information. The applied requirement catalog is suitable for wide use and may help in quality assurance of health information. It may be used as part of an obligatory external evaluation, which could help improving the quality of health information.

Psychosocial Determinants of Cancer-Related Information Seeking among Cancer Patients

PubMed Central

SMITH-McLALLEN, AARON; FISHBEIN, MARTIN; HORNIK, ROBERT C.

2011-01-01

This study explores the utility of using the Integrative Model of Behavioral Prediction as a framework for predicting cancer patients’ intentions to seek information about their cancer from sources other than a physician, and to examine the relation between patient’s baseline intentions to seek information and their actual seeking behavior at follow-up. Within one year of their diagnosis with colon, breast, or prostate cancer, 1641 patients responded to a mailed questionnaire assessing intentions to seek cancer-related information from a source other than their doctor, as well as their attitudes, perceived normative pressure, and perceived behavioral control with respect to this behavior. In addition, the survey assessed their cancer-related information seeking. One year later, 1049 of these patients responded to a follow-up survey assessing cancer-related information seeking during the previous year. Attitudes, perceived normative pressure, and perceived behavioral control were predictive of information seeking intentions, though attitudes emerged as the primary predictor. Intentions to seek information, perceived normative pressure regarding information seeking, baseline information seeking behavior, and being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer were predictive of actual information seeking behavior at follow-up. Practical implications are discussed. PMID:21207310

YouTube as a source of health information: Analysis of sun protection and skin cancer prevention related issues.

PubMed

Ruppert, Linda; Køster, Brian; Siegert, Anna Maria; Cop, Christian; Boyers, Lindsay; Karimkhani, Chante; Winston, Helena; Mounessa, Jessica; Dellavalle, Robert P; Reinau, Daphne; Diepgen, Thomas; Surber, Christian

2017-01-15

Although social media ubiquitously supplementstraditional information sources such as newspapers,magazines, radio, and television, investigation of onlinehealth information related to sun protection and skincancer prevention has been scarce and largely limitedto English language sources. Using the search terms"sun protection," "sunscreen," "skin cancer prevention,"tanning bed" and "vitamin D," we investigated 281YouTube videos presented in 6 languages: English,German, French, Spanish, Swedish, and Danish. Foreach video, we used a four-sectioned checklist toassess general information, popularity, expert drivenmeasures, and heuristic driven measures. Differencesbetween languages were detected: English languagevideos were most frequently viewed (median numberof views: 5488 compared to 248 -1591 in otherlanguages). Approximately 60% of videos revealednegative effects of solar ultraviolet (UV)-exposure.The majority of videos (75%) targeted adults. Videoson tanning beds and sunscreen contained false ormisleading information 40% and 20% of the time,respectively. We confirm observations made withrespect to other medical disciplines that the generalquality of YouTube contributions is often inferiorand does not deliver sustainable information. Othersources of information should be included whensearching for health information online.

NORDCAN--a Nordic tool for cancer information, planning, quality control and research.

PubMed

Engholm, Gerda; Ferlay, Jacques; Christensen, Niels; Bray, Freddie; Gjerstorff, Marianne L; Klint, Asa; Køtlum, Jóanis E; Olafsdóttir, Elínborg; Pukkala, Eero; Storm, Hans H

2010-06-01

The NORDCAN database and program ( www.ancr.nu ) include detailed information and results on cancer incidence, mortality and prevalence in each of the Nordic countries over five decades and has lately been supplemented with predictions of cancer incidence and mortality; future extensions include the incorporation of cancer survival estimates. The data originates from the national cancer registries and causes of death registries in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Faroe Islands and is regularly updated. Presently 41 cancer entities are included in the common dataset, and conversions of the original national data according to international rules ensure comparability. With 25 million inhabitants in the Nordic countries, 130 000 incident cancers are reported yearly, alongside nearly 60 000 cancer deaths, with almost a million persons living with a cancer diagnosis. This web-based application is available in English and in each of the five Nordic national languages. It includes comprehensive and easy-to-use descriptive epidemiology tools that provide tabulations and graphs, with further user-specified options available. The NORDCAN database aims to provide comparable and timely data to serve the varying needs of policy makers, cancer societies, the public, and journalists, as well as the clinical and research community.

Information status and word order in Croatian Sign Language.

PubMed

Milkovic, Marina; Bradaric-Joncic, Sandra; Wilbur, Ronnie B

2007-01-01

This paper presents the results of research on information structure and word order in narrative sentences taken from signed short stories in Croatian Sign Language (HZJ). The basic word order in HZJ is SVO. Factors that result in other word orders include: reversible arguments, verb categories, locative constructions, contrastive focus, and prior context. Word order in context depends on communication rules, based on the relationship between old (theme) and new (rheme) information, which is predicated of the theme. In accordance with Grice's Maxim of Quantity, HZJ has a tendency to omit old information, or to reduce it to pronominal status. If old information is overtly signed in non-pronominal form, it precedes the rheme. We have observed a variety of sign language mechanisms that are used to show items of reduced contextual significance: use of assigned spatial location for previously introduced referents; eyegaze to indicate spatial location of previously introduced referents; use of the non-dominant hand for backgrounded information; use of a special category of signs known as classifiers as pronominal indicators of previously introduced referents; and complex noun phrases that allow a single occurrence of a noun to simultaneously serve multiple functions. These devices permit information to be conveyed without the need for separate signs for every referent, which would create longer constructions that could be taxing to both production and perception. The results of this research are compatible with well-known word order generalizations - HZJ has its own grammar, independent of spoken language, like any other sign language.

[Information technology in learning sign language].

PubMed

Hernández, Cesar; Pulido, Jose L; Arias, Jorge E

2015-01-01

To develop a technological tool that improves the initial learning of sign language in hearing impaired children. The development of this research was conducted in three phases: the lifting of requirements, design and development of the proposed device, and validation and evaluation device. Through the use of information technology and with the advice of special education professionals, we were able to develop an electronic device that facilitates the learning of sign language in deaf children. This is formed mainly by a graphic touch screen, a voice synthesizer, and a voice recognition system. Validation was performed with the deaf children in the Filadelfia School of the city of Bogotá. A learning methodology was established that improves learning times through a small, portable, lightweight, and educational technological prototype. Tests showed the effectiveness of this prototype, achieving a 32 % reduction in the initial learning time for sign language in deaf children.

Survivorship Care Plan Information Needs: Perspectives of Safety-Net Breast Cancer Patients.

PubMed

Burke, Nancy J; Napoles, Tessa M; Banks, Priscilla J; Orenstein, Fern S; Luce, Judith A; Joseph, Galen

2016-01-01

Despite the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) 2005 recommendation, few care organizations have instituted standard survivorship care plans (SCPs). Low health literacy and low English proficiency are important factors to consider in SCP development. Our study aimed to identify information needs and survivorship care plan preferences of low literacy, multi-lingual patients to support the transition from oncology to primary care and ongoing learning in survivorship. We conducted focus groups in five languages with African American, Latina, Russian, Filipina, White, and Chinese medically underserved breast cancer patients. Topics explored included the transition to primary care, access to information, knowledge of treatment history, and perspectives on SCPs. Analysis of focus group data identified three themes: 1) the need for information and education on the transition between "active treatment" and "survivorship"; 2) information needed (and often not obtained) from providers; and 3) perspectives on SCP content and delivery. Our data point to the need to develop a process as well as written information for medically underserved breast cancer patients. An SCP document will not replace direct communication with providers about treatment, symptom management and transition, a communication that is missing in participating safety-net patients' experiences of cancer care. Women turned to peer support and community-based organizations in the absence of information from providers. "Clear and effective" communication of survivorship care for safety-net patients requires dedicated staff trained to address wide-ranging information needs and uncertainties.

The Language of Information Literacy: Do Students Understand?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaub, Gayle; Cadena, Cara; Bravender, Patricia; Kierkus, Christopher

2017-01-01

To effectively access and use the resources of the academic library and to become information-literate, students must understand the language of information literacy. This study analyzes undergraduate students' understanding of fourteen commonly used information-literacy terms. It was found that some of the terms least understood by students are…

Application of Text Information Extraction System for Real-Time Cancer Case Identification in an Integrated Healthcare Organization.

PubMed

Xie, Fagen; Lee, Janet; Munoz-Plaza, Corrine E; Hahn, Erin E; Chen, Wansu

2017-01-01

Surgical pathology reports (SPR) contain rich clinical diagnosis information. The text information extraction system (TIES) is an end-to-end application leveraging natural language processing technologies and focused on the processing of pathology and/or radiology reports. We deployed the TIES system and integrated SPRs into the TIES system on a daily basis at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. The breast cancer cases diagnosed in December 2013 from the Cancer Registry (CANREG) were used to validate the performance of the TIES system. The National Cancer Institute Metathesaurus (NCIM) concept terms and codes to describe breast cancer were identified through the Unified Medical Language System Terminology Service (UTS) application. The identified NCIM codes were used to search for the coded SPRs in the back-end datastore directly. The identified cases were then compared with the breast cancer patients pulled from CANREG. A total of 437 breast cancer concept terms and 14 combinations of "breast"and "cancer" terms were identified from the UTS application. A total of 249 breast cancer cases diagnosed in December 2013 was pulled from CANREG. Out of these 249 cases, 241 were successfully identified by the TIES system from a total of 457 reports. The TIES system also identified an additional 277 cases that were not part of the validation sample. Out of the 277 cases, 11% were determined as highly likely to be cases after manual examinations, and 86% were in CANREG but were diagnosed in months other than December of 2013. The study demonstrated that the TIES system can effectively identify potential breast cancer cases in our care setting. Identified potential cases can be easily confirmed by reviewing the corresponding annotated reports through the front-end visualization interface. The TIES system is a great tool for identifying potential various cancer cases in a timely manner and on a regular basis in support of clinical research studies.

Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Informed Cancer Home What Are the Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer? Language: English (US) Español (Spanish) Recommend on Facebook Tweet Share Compartir Be Brave (:60) Ovarian cancer may cause the following signs and symptoms— Vaginal ...

HPV-Associated Cancers Statistics

MedlinePlus

... What CDC Is Doing Related Links Stay Informed Statistics for Other Kinds of Cancer Breast Cervical Colorectal ( ... Vaginal and Vulvar Cancer Home HPV-Associated Cancer Statistics Language: English (US) Español (Spanish) Recommend on Facebook ...

Informed consent in a multicultural cancer patient population: implications for nursing practice.

PubMed

Barnes, D M; Davis, A J; Moran, T; Portillo, C J; Koenig, B A

1998-09-01

Obtaining informed consent, an ethical obligation of nurses and other health care providers, occurs routinely when patients make health care decisions. The values underlying informed consent (promotion of patients' well-being and respect for their self-determination) are embedded in the dominant American culture. Nurses who apply the USA's cultural values of informed consent when caring for patients who come from other cultures encounter some ethical dilemmas. This descriptive study, conducted with Latino, Chinese and Anglo-American cancer patients in a large, public, west-coast clinic, describes constraints on the informed consent process in a multicultural setting, including language barriers, the clinical environment, control in decision making, and conflicting desired health outcomes for health care providers and patients, and suggests some implications for nursing practice.

Language Universalization for Improved Information Management: The Necessity for Esperanto.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, R. Kent

1978-01-01

Discusses problems for information management in dealing with multilingual documentation. The planned language, Esperanto, is suggested as a universal working language because of its neutrality, rational structure, clarity, and expressive power. (Author/CWM)

Lung Cancer Rates by State

MedlinePlus

... the Biggest Cancer Killer in Both Men and Women” Stay Informed Rates by State for Other Kinds of Cancer All Cancers Combined Breast Cervical Colorectal (Colon) HPV-Associated Ovarian Prostate Skin Uterine Cancer Home Lung Cancer Rates by State Language: English (US) ...

Intentionality and Wisdom in Language, Information, and Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Lin; Ross, Haj; O'Connor, Brian; Spector, J. Michael

2015-01-01

An interdisciplinary approach from linguistics, information sciences, learning sciences, and educational technology is used to explore the concept of information. Several key issues are highlighted, including: (1) learning language through meaning or probability; (2) the situational difference between message and meaning; (3) relationship between…

Bilingual approach to online cancer genetics education for deaf American Sign Language users produces greater knowledge and confidence than English text only: A randomized study

PubMed Central

Palmer, Christina G.S.; Boudreault, Patrick; Berman, Barbara A.; Wolfson, Alicia; Duarte, Lionel; Venne, Vickie L.; Sinsheimer, Janet S.

2016-01-01

Introduction Deaf American Sign Language-users (ASL) have limited access to cancer genetics information they can readily understand, increasing risk for health disparities. We compared effectiveness of online cancer genetics information presented using a bilingual approach (ASL with English closed captioning) and a monolingual approach (English text). Hypothesis Bilingual modality would increase cancer genetics knowledge and confidence to create a family tree; education would interact with modality. Methods We used a block 2:1 randomized pre-post study design stratified on education. 150 Deaf ASL-users ≥18 years old with computer and internet access participated online; 100 (70 high, 30 low education) and 50 (35 high, 15 low education) were randomized to the bilingual and monolingual modalities. Modalities provide virtually identical content on creating a family tree, using the family tree to identify inherited cancer risk factors, understanding how cancer predisposition can be inherited, and the role of genetic counseling and testing for prevention or treatment. 25 True/False items assessed knowledge; a Likert scale item assessed confidence. Data were collected within 2 weeks before and after viewing the information. Results Significant interaction of language modality, education, and change in knowledge scores was observed (p=.01). High education group increased knowledge regardless of modality (Bilingual: p<.001; d=.56; Monolingual: p<.001; d=1.08). Low education group increased knowledge with bilingual (p<.001; d=.85), but not monolingual (p=.79; d=.08) modality. Bilingual modality yielded greater confidence creating a family tree (p=.03). Conclusions Bilingual approach provides a better opportunity for lower educated Deaf ASL-users to access cancer genetics information than a monolingual approach. PMID:27594054

Exploring the Further Integration of Machine Translation in English-Chinese Cross Language Information Access

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Dan; He, Daqing

2012-01-01

Purpose: This paper seeks to examine the further integration of machine translation technologies with cross language information access in providing web users the capabilities of accessing information beyond language barriers. Machine translation and cross language information access are related technologies, and yet they have their own unique…

On-Demand Associative Cross-Language Information Retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geraldo, André Pinto; Moreira, Viviane P.; Gonçalves, Marcos A.

This paper proposes the use of algorithms for mining association rules as an approach for Cross-Language Information Retrieval. These algorithms have been widely used to analyse market basket data. The idea is to map the problem of finding associations between sales items to the problem of finding term translations over a parallel corpus. The proposal was validated by means of experiments using queries in two distinct languages: Portuguese and Finnish to retrieve documents in English. The results show that the performance of our proposed approach is comparable to the performance of the monolingual baseline and to query translation via machine translation, even though these systems employ more complex Natural Language Processing techniques. The combination between machine translation and our approach yielded the best results, even outperforming the monolingual baseline.

New Language and Old Problems in Breast Cancer Radiotherapy.

PubMed

Chiricuţă, Ion Christian

2017-01-01

New developments in breast cancer radiotherapy make possible new standards in treatment recommandations based on international guidelines. Developments in radiotherapy irradiation techniques from 2D to 3D-Conformal RT and to IMRT (Intensity Modulated Arc Therapy) make possible to reduce the usual side effects on the organs at risk as: skin, lung, miocard, bone, esophagus and brahial plexus. Dispite of all these progresses acute and late side effects are present. Side effects are as old as the radiotherapy was used. New solutions are available now by improving irradiation techniques. New techniques as sentinel node procedure (SNP) or partial breast irradiation (PBRT) and immediate breast reconstruction with silicon implants (IBRIS) make necessary new considerations regarding the target volume delineations. A new language for definition of gross tumor volume (GTV), clinical target volume (CTV) based on the new diagnostic methods as PET/CT,nonaparticle MRI will have real impact on target delineation and irradiation techniques. "The new common language in breast cancer therapy" would be the first step to improve the endresults and finally the quality of life of the patients. Celsius.

A Systematic Review of Unmet Information and Psychosocial Support Needs of Adults Diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer.

PubMed

Hyun, Yong Gyu; Alhashemi, Ahmad; Fazelzad, Rouhi; Goldberg, Alyse S; Goldstein, David P; Sawka, Anna M

2016-09-01

Patient education and psychosocial support to patients are important elements of comprehensive cancer care, but the needs of thyroid cancer survivors are not well understood. The published English-language quantitative literature on (i) unmet medical information and (ii) psychosocial support needs of thyroid cancer survivors was systematically reviewed. A librarian information specialist searched seven electronic databases and a hand search was conducted. Two reviewers independently screened citations from the electronic search and reviewed relevant full-text papers. There was consensus between reviewers on the included papers, and duplicate independent abstraction was performed. The results were summarized descriptively. A total of 1984 unique electronic citations were screened, and 51 full-text studies were reviewed (three from the hand search). Seven cross-sectional, single-arm, survey studies were included, containing data from 6215 thyroid cancer survivor respondents. The respective study sizes ranged from 57 to 2398 subjects. All of the studies had some methodological limitations. Unmet information needs were variable relating to the disease, diagnostic tests, treatments, and co-ordination of medical care. There were relatively high unmet information needs related to aftercare (especially long-term effects of the disease or its treatment and its management) and psychosocial concerns (including practical and financial matters). Psychosocial support needs were incompletely met. Patient information on complementary and alternative medicine was very limited. In conclusion, thyroid cancer survivors perceive many unmet information needs, and these needs extend to aftercare. Psychosocial information and supportive care needs may be insufficiently met in this population. More work is needed to improve knowledge translation and psychosocial support for thyroid cancer survivors.

Measuring cancer patients' reasons for their information preference: construction of the Considerations Concerning Cancer Information (CCCI) questionnaire.

PubMed

ter Hoeven, Claartje L; Zandbelt, Linda C; Fransen, Sanne; de Haes, Hanneke; Oort, Frans; Geijsen, Debby; Koning, Caro; Smets, Ellen

2011-11-01

This paper describes the further development and psychometric properties of an instrument to measure cancer patients' reasons to want complete or limited information: the Considerations Concerning Cancer Information questionnaire (CCCI). Understanding cancer patients' reasons to want complete or limited information will provide the physician with information that enables him or her to tailor information giving. CCCI's content validity, internal structure, and convergent validity were investigated among 145 cancer patients, new to radiotherapy. Underlying reasons for information preference among cancer patients were derived from existing qualitative studies, narratives, and interviews. This resulted in the CCCI containing two parts: reasons to favor complete information disclosure and reasons to prefer only limited information about disease and treatment. The four identified dimensions to prefer information consist of: sense of control, expectations of others, anxiety, and autonomy. The four dimensions for reasons to give up on acquiring information consist of: avoidance, optimism, comprehension, and not wanting to be a burden. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the measurement model provided good fit to the data. Scales had good internal consistency, satisfactory item-total correlations corrected for overlap and satisfactory convergent validity. These findings confirm evidence of the reliability and validity of the CCCI for use in cancer care. Researchers and health-care providers can use the instrument to assess cancer patients' reasons to want complete or limited information and provide tailored care. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Interventional Cultural and Language Assistance Program: Associations between Cultural and Linguistic Factors and Satisfaction with Cancer Care

PubMed Central

Costas-Muniz, R; Amir, J; Paris, M; Spratt, D; Arevalo-Perez, J; Fareedy, S; González, CJ; Gany, F; Camacho-Rivera, M; Osborne, JR

2017-01-01

Addressing language and cultural nuance is required to improve the quality of care among all patients. The tenth version of the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care (CLAS) recommends implementing ongoing assessments to integrate specific actions into measurement and continuous quality improvement activities. To this end, we have created the Interventional Cultural and Language Assistance Program (ICLAP). As part of ICLAP, we conducted a cross-sectional needs assessment survey with 564 consecutive patients receiving outpatient Positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging at a comprehensive cancer center in the five most prevalent languages of New York City: English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Arabic. The purpose of this study is to describe the language assistance characteristics and needs of a sample of patients receiving care in the cancer center. We examined the relationship between race, ethnicity, birthplace, communication and language assistance characteristics and the satisfaction with the care received. Our results show that race and ethnicity, birthplace, cultural beliefs, language assistance, and communication characteristics were all factors associated with patients’ satisfaction with care, illustrating that there is an unmet need among cancer patients to have cultural and linguistic sensitive services. PMID:29423339

General Information about Liver (Hepatocellular) Cancer

MedlinePlus

... condition or to keep cancer from starting. General Information About Liver (Hepatocellular) Cancer Key Points Liver cancer ... PDQ Screening and Prevention Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Breast Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Research Breast Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Breast Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Pancreatic Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Research Pancreatic Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Pancreatic Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Nasopharyngeal Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Nasopharyngeal Cancer Treatment (Adult) (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Nasopharyngeal Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Parathyroid Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Treatment Parathyroid Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Parathyroid Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Laryngeal Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Laryngeal Cancer Treatment (Adult) (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Laryngeal Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Oropharyngeal Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Oropharyngeal Cancer Treatment (Adult) (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Oropharyngeal Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Gastric Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Research Gastric Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Gastric Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Rectal Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Research Rectal Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Rectal Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Thyroid Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Thyroid Cancer Treatment (Adult) (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Thyroid Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Colon Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Research Colon Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Colon Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information About Endometrial Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Research Endometrial Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Endometrial Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Penile Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Research Penile Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Penile Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Esophageal Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Research Esophageal Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Esophageal Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Vaginal Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Research Vaginal Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Vaginal Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Hypopharyngeal Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Hypopharyngeal Cancer Treatment (Adult) (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Hypopharyngeal Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Vulvar Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Research Vulvar Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Vulvar Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Prostate Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Research Prostate Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Prostate Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Urethral Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Treatment Urethral Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Urethral Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Testicular Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Screening Testicular Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Testicular Cancer Go to Health Professional Version ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

When the Test Developer Does Not Speak the Target Language: The Use of Language Informants in the Test Development Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryan, Ève; Brunfaut, Tineke

2016-01-01

It is not unusual for tests in less-commonly taught languages (LCTLs) to be developed by an experienced item writer with no proficiency in the language being tested, in collaboration with a language informant who is a speaker of the target language, but lacks language assessment expertise. How this approach to item writing works in practice, and…

Home bowel cancer tests and informed choice--is current information sufficient?

PubMed

Howard, K; Salkeld, G

2003-10-01

To evaluate the type of information that is available to purchasers of home-based bowel cancer test kits. Manufacturers, pharmacies and independent testing programs were contacted to obtain faecal occult blood test (FOBT) kits. State cancer organisations were contacted for information on bowel cancer screening. Information on bowel cancer, the FOBT kit, the testing process and potential benefits and harms of the screening process were assessed using guidelines provided by the UK General Medical Council (GMC). FOBT kits and cancer organisation information provided adequate information on the purpose of screening, the screening process itself and potential benefits, but provided no information concerning uncertainties of screening or potential harms. On the basis of both the UK GMC criteria and patient desires for information, the information available at present falls short of being considered adequate for an informed decision to purchase a home-based FOBT. We must ensure adequate and balanced information is available to redress the present information asymmetry to facilitate informed participation in a potentially valuable public health initiative.

The Reliability and Validity of Prostate Cancer Fatalism Inventory in Turkish Language.

PubMed

Aydoğdu, Nihal Gördes; Çapık, Cantürk; Ersin, Fatma; Kissal, Aygul; Bahar, Zuhal

2017-10-01

This study aimed to conduct the reliability and validity study of the Prostate Cancer Fatalism Inventory in Turkish language. The study carried out in methodological type and consisted of 171 men. The ages of the participants ranged between 40 and 82. The content validity index was determined to be 0.80, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value 0.825, Bartlett's test X 2  = 750.779 and p = 0.000. Then the principal component analysis was applied to the 15-item inventory. The inventory consisted of one dimension, and the load factors were over 0.30 for all items. The explained variance of the inventory was found 33.3 %. The Kuder-Richardson-20 coefficient was determined to be 0.849 and the item-total correlations ranged between 0.335 and 0.627. The Prostate Cancer Fatalism Inventory was a reliable and valid measurement tool in Turkish language. Integrating psychological strategies for prostate cancer screening may be required to strengthen the positive effects of nursing education.

Access to Biomedical Information: The Unified Medical Language System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Squires, Steven J.

1993-01-01

Describes the development of a Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) by the National Library of Medicine that will retrieve and integrate information from a variety of information resources. Highlights include the metathesaurus; the UMLS semantic network; semantic locality; information sources map; evaluation of the metathesaurus; future…

Adapting a Program to Inform African American and Hispanic American Women About Cancer Clinical Trials

PubMed Central

Gonzalez, Jenny; Mumman, Manpreet; Cullen, Lisa; LaHousse, Sheila F.; Malcarne, Vanessa; Conde, Viridiana; Riley, Natasha

2010-01-01

The dearth of evidence-based clinical trial education programs may contribute to the underrepresentation of African American and Hispanic American women in cancer research studies. This study used focus group-derived data from 80 women distributed among eight Spanish- and English-language focus groups. These data guided the researchers’ adaptation and refinement of the National Cancer Institute’s various clinical trials education programs into a program that was specifically focused on meeting the information needs of minority women and addressing the barriers to study participation that they perceived. A “sisterhood” theme was adopted and woven throughout the presentation. PMID:20146043

Language Preferences on Websites and in Google Searches for Human Health and Food Information

PubMed Central

Singh, Punam Mony; Wight, Carly A; Sercinoglu, Olcan; Wilson, David C; Boytsov, Artem

2007-01-01

Background While it is known that the majority of pages on the World Wide Web are in English, little is known about the preferred language of users searching for health information online. Objectives (1) To help global and domestic publishers, for example health and food agencies, to determine the need for translation of online information from English into local languages. (2) To help these agencies determine which language(s) they should select when publishing information online in target nations and for target subpopulations within nations. Methods To estimate the percentage of Web publishers that translate their health and food websites, we measured the frequency at which domain names retrieved by Google overlap for language translations of the same health-related search term. To quantify language choice of searchers from different countries, Google provided estimates of the rate at which its search engine was queried in six languages relative to English for the terms “avian flu,” “tuberculosis,” “schizophrenia,” and “maize” (corn) from January 2004 to April 2006. The estimate was based on a 20% sample of all Google queries from 227 nations. Results We estimate that 80%-90% of health- and food-related institutions do not translate their websites into multiple languages, even when the information concerns pandemic disease such as avian influenza. Although Internet users are often well-educated, there was a strong preference for searching for health and food information in the local language, rather than English. For “avian flu,” we found that only 1% of searches in non-English-speaking nations were in English, whereas for “tuberculosis” or “schizophrenia,” about 4%-40% of searches in non-English countries employed English. A subset of searches for health information presumably originating from immigrants occurred in their native tongue, not the language of the adopted country. However, Spanish-language online searches for “avian flu

Understanding Language: An Information-Processing Analysis of Speech Perception, Reading, and Psycholinguistics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massaro, Dominic W., Ed.

In an information-processing approach to language processing, language processing is viewed as a sequence of psychological stages that occur between the initial presentation of the language stimulus and the meaning in the mind of the language processor. This book defines each of the processes and structures involved, explains how each of them…

Bilingual approach to online cancer genetics education for Deaf American Sign Language users produces greater knowledge and confidence than English text only: A randomized study.

PubMed

Palmer, Christina G S; Boudreault, Patrick; Berman, Barbara A; Wolfson, Alicia; Duarte, Lionel; Venne, Vickie L; Sinsheimer, Janet S

2017-01-01

Deaf American Sign Language-users (ASL) have limited access to cancer genetics information they can readily understand, increasing risk for health disparities. We compared effectiveness of online cancer genetics information presented using a bilingual approach (ASL with English closed captioning) and a monolingual approach (English text). Bilingual modality would increase cancer genetics knowledge and confidence to create a family tree; education would interact with modality. We used a parallel 2:1 randomized pre-post study design stratified on education. 150 Deaf ASL-users ≥18 years old with computer and internet access participated online; 100 (70 high, 30 low education) and 50 (35 high, 15 low education) were randomized to the bilingual and monolingual modalities. Modalities provide virtually identical content on creating a family tree, using the family tree to identify inherited cancer risk factors, understanding how cancer predisposition can be inherited, and the role of genetic counseling and testing for prevention or treatment. 25 true/false items assessed knowledge; a Likert scale item assessed confidence. Data were collected within 2 weeks before and after viewing the information. Significant interaction of language modality, education, and change in knowledge scores was observed (p = .01). High education group increased knowledge regardless of modality (Bilingual: p < .001; d = .56; Monolingual: p < .001; d = 1.08). Low education group increased knowledge with bilingual (p < .001; d = .85), but not monolingual (p = .79; d = .08) modality. Bilingual modality yielded greater confidence creating a family tree (p = .03). Bilingual approach provides a better opportunity for lower educated Deaf ASL-users to access cancer genetics information than a monolingual approach. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Overcoming Terminology Barrier Using Web Resources for Cross-Language Medical Information Retrieval

PubMed Central

Lu, Wen-Hsiang; Lin, Ray Shih-Jui; Chan, Yi-Che; Chen, Kuan-Hsi

2006-01-01

A number of authoritative medical websites, such as PubMed and MedlinePlus, provide consumers with the most up-to-date health information. However, non-English speakers often encounter not only language barriers (from other languages to English) but also terminology barriers (from laypersons’ terms to professional medical terms) when retrieving information from these websites. Our previous work addresses language barriers by developing a multilingual medical thesaurus, Chinese-English MeSH, while this study presents an approach to overcome terminology barriers based on Web resources. Two techniques were utilized in our approach: monolingual concept mapping using approximate string matching and crosslingual concept mapping using Web resources. The evaluation shows that our approach can significantly improve the performance on MeSH concept mapping and cross-language medical information retrieval. PMID:17238395

Cancer Fatalism, Literacy, and Cancer Information Seeking in the American Public.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Lindsay C; Smith, Samuel G

2016-08-01

Information seeking is an important behavior for cancer prevention and control, but inequalities in the communication of information about the disease persist. Conceptual models have suggested that low health literacy is a barrier to information seeking, and that fatalistic beliefs about cancer may be a mediator of this relationship. Cancer fatalism can be described as deterministic thoughts about the external causes of the disease, the inability to prevent it, and the inevitability of death at diagnosis. This study aimed to examine the associations between these constructs and sociodemographic factors, and test a mediation model using the American population-representative Health Information and National Trends Survey (HINTS 4), Cycle 3 (n = 2,657). Approximately one third (34%) of the population failed to answer 2/4 health literacy items correctly (limited health literacy). Many participants agreed with the fatalistic beliefs that it seems like everything causes cancer (66%), that one cannot do much to lower his or her chances of getting cancer (29%), and that thinking about cancer makes one automatically think about death (58%). More than half of the population had "ever" sought information about cancer (53%). In analyses adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics and family cancer history, people with limited health literacy were less likely to have ever sought cancer information (odds ratio [OR] = 0.63; 0.42-0.95) and more frequently endorsed the belief that "there's not much you can do . . ." (OR = 1.61; 1.05-2.47). This fatalistic belief partially explained the relationship between health literacy and information seeking in the mediation model (14% mediation). Interventions are needed to address low health literacy and cancer fatalism to increase public interest in cancer-related information. © 2015 Society for Public Health Education.

Informed Consent in Research on Second Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Margaret; Pettitt, Nicole

2017-01-01

The practice of securing informed consent from research participants has a relatively low profile in second language (L2) acquisition research, despite its prominence in the biomedical and social sciences. This review article analyses the role that informed consent now typically plays in L2 research; discusses an example of an L2 study where…

Effect of tribal language use on colorectal cancer screening among American Indians.

PubMed

Gonzales, Angela A; Garroutte, Eva; Ton, Thanh G N; Goldberg, Jack; Buchwald, Dedra

2012-12-01

American Indians have one of the lowest colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates for any racial/ethnic group in the U.S., yet reasons for their low screening participation are poorly understood. We examine whether tribal language use is associated with knowledge and use of CRC screening in a community-based sample of American Indians. Using logistic regression to estimate the association between tribal language use and CRC test knowledge and receipt we found participants speaking primarily English were no more aware of CRC screening tests than those speaking primarily a tribal language (OR = 1.16 [0.29, 4.63]). Participants who spoke only a tribal language at home (OR = 1.09 [0.30, 4.00]) and those who spoke both a tribal language and English (OR = 1.74 [0.62, 4.88]) also showed comparable odds of receipt of CRC screening. Study findings failed to support the concept that use of a tribal language is a barrier to CRC screening among American Indians.

Meeting patients' health information needs in breast cancer center hospitals - a multilevel analysis.

PubMed

Kowalski, Christoph; Lee, Shoou-Yih D; Ansmann, Lena; Wesselmann, Simone; Pfaff, Holger

2014-11-25

Breast cancer patients are confronted with a serious diagnosis that requires them to make important decisions throughout the journey of the disease. For these decisions to be made it is critical that the patients be well informed. Previous studies have been consistent in their findings that breast cancer patients have a high need for information on a wide range of topics. This paper investigates (1) how many patients feel they have unmet information needs after initial surgery, (2) whether the proportion of patients with unmet information needs varies between hospitals where they were treated and (3) whether differences between the hospitals account for some of these variation. Data from 5,024 newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients treated in 111 breast center hospitals in Germany were analyzed and combined with data on hospital characteristics. Multilevel linear regression models were calculated taking into account hospital characteristics and adjusting for patient case mix. Younger patients, those receiving mastectomy, having statutory health insurance, not living with a partner and having a foreign native language report higher unmet information needs. The data demonstrate small between-hospital variation in unmet information needs. In hospitals that provide patient-specific information material and that offer health fairs as well as those that are non-teaching or have lower patient-volume, patients are less likely to report unmet information needs. We found differences in proportions of patients with unmet information needs between hospitals and that hospitals' structure and process-related attributes of the hospitals were associated with these differences to some extent. Hospitals may contribute to reducing the patients' information needs by means that are not necessarily resource-intensive.

The Effects of Modality, Information Type, and Language Experience on Recall by Foreign Language Learners of Spanish.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mecartty, Frances H.

2001-01-01

Investigated the effects of modality, information type, and language experience on recall by foreign language learners of Spanish. Fifty-four intermediate and advanced level university students participated in the study by reading and listening to an expository passage, and then performing a recall task. The protocols were then statistically…

POS-Tagging for informal language (study in Indonesian tweets)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suryawati, Endang; Munandar, Devi; Riswantini, Dianadewi; Fatchuttamam Abka, Achmad; Arisal, Andria

2018-03-01

This paper evaluates Part-of-Speech Tagging for the formal Indonesian language can be used for the tagging process of Indonesian tweets. In this study, we add five additional tags which reflect to social media attributes to the existing original tagset. Automatic POS tagging process is done by stratified training process with 1000, 1600, and 1800 of annotated tweets. It shows that the process can achieve up to 66.36% accuracy. The experiment with original tagset gives slightly better accuracy (67.39%) than the experiment with five additional tags, but will lose important informations which given by the five additional tagset.POS-Tagging for Informal Language (Study in Indonesian Tweets).

Foreign Language Methods and an Information Processing Model of Memory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willebrand, Julia

The major approaches to language teaching (audiolingual method, generative grammar, Community Language Learning and Silent Way) are investigated to discover whether or not they are compatible in structure with an information-processing model of memory (IPM). The model of memory used was described by Roberta Klatzky in "Human Memory:…

Combining Formal and Informal Learning: The Use of an Application to Enhance Information Gathering and Sharing Competence in a Foreign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sato, Yukiko; Rachmawan, Irene Erlyn Wina; Brückner, Stefan; Waragai, Ikumi; Kiyoki, Yasushi

2017-01-01

This study aims to enhance foreign language learners' language competence by integrating formal and informal learning environments and considers how they can improve their grammatical and lexical skills through the gathering (comprehension) and sharing (writing) of information in the foreign language. Experiments with German learners at a Japanese…

Cancer Chemotherapy - Multiple Languages

MedlinePlus

... français) Haitian Creole (Kreyol ayisyen) Hindi (हिन्दी) Japanese (日本語) Korean (한국어) Nepali (नेपाली) Polish (polski) ... हिन्दी (Hindi) Bilingual PDF Health Information Translations Japanese (日本語) Expand Section Cancer Chemotherapy - 日本語 (Japanese) Bilingual ...

Selecting the Best Mobile Information Service with Natural Language User Input

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Qiangze; Qi, Hongwei; Fukushima, Toshikazu

Information services accessed via mobile phones provide information directly relevant to subscribers’ daily lives and are an area of dynamic market growth worldwide. Although many information services are currently offered by mobile operators, many of the existing solutions require a unique gateway for each service, and it is inconvenient for users to have to remember a large number of such gateways. Furthermore, the Short Message Service (SMS) is very popular in China and Chinese users would prefer to access these services in natural language via SMS. This chapter describes a Natural Language Based Service Selection System (NL3S) for use with a large number of mobile information services. The system can accept user queries in natural language and navigate it to the required service. Since it is difficult for existing methods to achieve high accuracy and high coverage and anticipate which other services a user might want to query, the NL3S is developed based on a Multi-service Ontology (MO) and Multi-service Query Language (MQL). The MO and MQL provide semantic and linguistic knowledge, respectively, to facilitate service selection for a user query and to provide adaptive service recommendations. Experiments show that the NL3S can achieve 75-95% accuracies and 85-95% satisfactions for processing various styles of natural language queries. A trial involving navigation of 30 different mobile services shows that the NL3S can provide a viable commercial solution for mobile operators.

Cancer Patients' Informational Needs: Qualitative Content Analysis.

PubMed

Heidari, Haydeh; Mardani-Hamooleh, Marjan

2016-12-01

Understanding the informational needs of cancer patients is a requirement to plan any educative care program for them. The aim of this study was to identify Iranian cancer patients' perceptions of informational needs. The study took a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were held with 25 cancer patients in two teaching hospitals in Iran. Transcripts of the interviews underwent conventional content analysis, and categories were extracted. The results came under two main categories: disease-related informational needs and information needs related to daily life. Disease-related informational needs had two subcategories: obtaining information about the nature of disease and obtaining information about disease prognosis. Information needs related to daily life also had two subcategories: obtaining information about healthy lifestyle and obtaining information about regular activities of daily life. The findings provide deep understanding of cancer patients' informational needs in Iran.

Non-Procedural Languages for Information Resource Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bearley, William L.

The future of information resources management requires new approaches to implementing systems which will include a type of data base management that frees users to solve data processing problems logically by telling the system what they want, together with powerful non-procedural languages that will permit communication in simple, concise…

Employment implications of informal cancer caregiving.

PubMed

de Moor, Janet S; Dowling, Emily C; Ekwueme, Donatus U; Guy, Gery P; Rodriguez, Juan; Virgo, Katherine S; Han, Xuesong; Kent, Erin E; Li, Chunyu; Litzelman, Kristen; McNeel, Timothy S; Liu, Benmei; Yabroff, K Robin

2017-02-01

Previous research describing how informal cancer caregiving impacts employment has been conducted in small samples or a single disease site. This paper provides population-based estimates of the effect of informal cancer caregiving on employment and characterizes employment changes made by caregivers. The samples included cancer survivors with a friend or family caregiver, participating in either the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Experiences with Cancer Survivorship Survey (ECSS) (n = 458) or the LIVESTRONG 2012 Survey for People Affected by Cancer (SPAC) (n = 4706). Descriptive statistics characterized the sample of survivors and their caregivers' employment changes. Multivariable logistic regression identified predictors of caregivers' extended employment changes, comprising time off and changes to hours, duties, or employment status. Among survivors with an informal caregiver, 25 % from the ECSS and 29 % from the SPAC reported that their caregivers made extended employment changes. Approximately 8 % of survivors had caregivers who took time off from work lasting ≥2 months. Caregivers who made extended employment changes were more likely to care for survivors: treated with chemotherapy or transplant; closer to diagnosis or end of treatment; who experienced functional limitations; and made work changes due to cancer themselves compared to caregivers who did not make extended employment changes. Many informal cancer caregivers make employment changes to provide care during survivors' treatment and recovery. This study describes cancer caregiving in a prevalent sample of cancer survivors, thereby reflecting the experiences of individuals with many different cancer types and places in the cancer treatment trajectory.

Lung Cancer Rates by Race and Ethnicity

MedlinePlus

... the Biggest Cancer Killer in Both Men and Women” Stay Informed Rates by Race and Ethnicity for Other Kinds of Cancer All Cancers Combined Breast Cervical Colorectal (Colon) HPV-Associated Ovarian Prostate Skin Uterine Cancer Home Lung Cancer Rates by Race and Ethnicity Language: ...

Concept-based query language approach to enterprise information systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niemi, Timo; Junkkari, Marko; Järvelin, Kalervo

2014-01-01

In enterprise information systems (EISs) it is necessary to model, integrate and compute very diverse data. In advanced EISs the stored data often are based both on structured (e.g. relational) and semi-structured (e.g. XML) data models. In addition, the ad hoc information needs of end-users may require the manipulation of data-oriented (structural), behavioural and deductive aspects of data. Contemporary languages capable of treating this kind of diversity suit only persons with good programming skills. In this paper we present a concept-oriented query language approach to manipulate this diversity so that the programming skill requirements are considerably reduced. In our query language, the features which need technical knowledge are hidden in application-specific concepts and structures. Therefore, users need not be aware of the underlying technology. Application-specific concepts and structures are represented by the modelling primitives of the extended RDOOM (relational deductive object-oriented modelling) which contains primitives for all crucial real world relationships (is-a relationship, part-of relationship, association), XML documents and views. Our query language also supports intensional and extensional-intensional queries, in addition to conventional extensional queries. In its query formulation, the end-user combines available application-specific concepts and structures through shared variables.

Colorectal Cancer - Multiple Languages

MedlinePlus

... Cantonese dialect) (繁體中文) French (français) Hindi (हिन्दी) Japanese (日本語) Korean (한국어) Portuguese (português) Russian (Русский) Somali ( ... हिन्दी (Hindi) Bilingual PDF Health Information Translations Japanese (日本語) Expand Section Cancer of the Colon and ...

Content, Usability, and Utilization of Plain Language in Breast Cancer Mobile Phone Apps: A Systematic Analysis

PubMed Central

Shah, Sayyed Fawad Ali; West, Andrew J; Bentley, Joshua M; Caburnay, Charlene A; Kreuter, Matthew W; Kinney, Anita Y

2017-01-01

composite score was 3 (mean 2.60, SD 1.20) of the six recommended usability items. With eight plain language items, the median of the composite health literacy score was 5 (mean 5.06, SD 2.00). Most apps did not use easy-to-understand words (44/101, 43.6%) and few (24/101, 23.8%) defined key terms. Conclusions Current breast cancer apps provide important information about breast cancer, but the most common topic covered is breast self-examination, a non-evidence-based screening strategy. Apps that focus on evidence-based strategies on the cancer continuum are needed, with a notable pressing need for apps that would address survivorship and end of life. Finally, developers of breast cancer apps should adhere to IOM standards to meet the needs of diverse populations and reduce current disparities. PMID:28288954

Side effects of radiotherapy in breast cancer patients : The Internet as an information source.

PubMed

Janssen, S; Käsmann, L; Fahlbusch, F B; Rades, D; Vordermark, D

2018-02-01

Breast cancer is the most common cancer type among women necessitating adjuvant radiotherapy. As the Internet has become a major source of information for cancer patients, this study aimed to evaluate the quality of websites giving information on side effects of radiotherapy for breast cancer patients. A patients' search for the English terms "breast cancer - radiotherapy - side effects" and the corresponding German terms "Brustkrebs - Strahlentherapie - Nebenwirkungen" was carried out twice (5 months apart) using the search engine Google. The first 30 search results each were evaluated using the validated 16-question DISCERN Plus instrument, the Health on the Net Code of Conduct (HONcode) certification and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria. The overall quality (DISCERN score) of the retrieved websites was further compared to queries via Bing and Yahoo search engines. The DISCERN score showed a great range, with the majority of websites ranking fair to poor. Significantly superior results were found for English websites, particularly for webpages run by hospitals/universities and nongovernmental organizations (NGO), when compared to the respective German categories. In general, only a minority of websites met all JAMA benchmarks and was HONcode certified (both languages). We did not determine a relevant temporal change in website ranking among the top ten search hits, while significant variation occurred thereafter. Mean overall DISCERN score was similar between the various search engines. The Internet can give breast cancer patients seeking information on side effects of radiotherapy an overview. However, based on the currently low overall quality of websites and the lack of transparency for the average layperson, we emphasize the value of personal contact with the treating radio-oncologist in order to integrate and interpret the information found online.

Increasing Information Dissemination in Cancer Communication: Effects of Using "Palliative," "Supportive," or "Hospice" Care Terminology.

PubMed

Fishman, Jessica M; Greenberg, Patricia; Bagga, Margy Barbieri; Casarett, David; Propert, Kathleen

2018-04-20

When attempting to share information about comfort-oriented care, many use "palliative," "supportive," and "hospice" care terminology interchangeably, but we lack evidence about the effects of using these different terms. This study was designed to test whether the use of "palliative," "supportive," or "hospice" terminology can improve the dissemination of information among breast cancer patients-a large and growing oncology population. Design, Setting, and Measurement: This experimental study was conducted at a major U.S. hospital serving a diverse population. Patients visiting a cancer clinic encountered opportunities to learn more about cancer care. They were offered health materials that were described as reporting on "palliative," "supportive," or "hospice" care and the primary outcome was whether a patient decided to select or reject each. As a secondary outcome, the study measured the patient's level of interest in receiving each. Compared with alternatives, materials labeled as "supportive" care were most likely to be selected and considered valuable (p value <0.01). In this study, the terminology used had a large effect and, compared with alternatives, the information labeled as being about "supportive" care was significantly more likely to be selected. If these effects are supported by additional research, there may be low-cost, highly feasible changes in language choice that increase the dissemination of relevant health information.

General Information about Male Breast Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Male Breast Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information about Male Breast Cancer Go to Health Professional ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Salivary Gland Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Gland Cancer Treatment (Adult) (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Salivary Gland Cancer Go to Health Professional ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Small Intestine Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Small Intestine Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Small Intestine Cancer Go to Health Professional ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Renal Cell Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Renal Cell Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Renal Cell Cancer Go to Health Professional ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

Online Cancer Information Seeking: Applying and Extending the Comprehensive Model of Information Seeking.

PubMed

Van Stee, Stephanie K; Yang, Qinghua

2017-10-30

This study applied the comprehensive model of information seeking (CMIS) to online cancer information and extended the model by incorporating an exogenous variable: interest in online health information exchange with health providers. A nationally representative sample from the Health Information National Trends Survey 4 Cycle 4 was analyzed to examine the extended CMIS in predicting online cancer information seeking. Findings from a structural equation model supported most of the hypotheses derived from the CMIS, as well as the extension of the model related to interest in online health information exchange. In particular, socioeconomic status, beliefs, and interest in online health information exchange predicted utility. Utility, in turn, predicted online cancer information seeking, as did information-carrier characteristics. An unexpected but important finding from the study was the significant, direct relationship between cancer worry and online cancer information seeking. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

[Comparative evaluation of information products regarding cancer screening of German-speaking cancer organizations].

PubMed

Hofmann, Julia; Kien, Christina; Gartlehner, Gerald

2015-01-01

Evidence-based information materials about the pros and cons of cancer screening are important sources for men and women to decide for or against cancer screening. The aim of this paper was to compare recommendations from different cancer institutions in German-speaking countries (Austria, Germany, and Switzerland) regarding screening for breast, cervix, colon, and prostate cancer and to assess the quality and development process of patient information materials. Relevant information material was identified through web searches and personal contact with cancer institutions. To achieve our objective, we employed a qualitative approach. The quality of 22 patient information materials was analysed based on established guidance by Bunge et al. In addition, we conducted guided interviews about the process of developing information materials with decision-makers of cancer institutes. Overall, major discrepancies in cancer screening recommendations exist among the Austrian, German, and Swiss cancer institutes. Process evaluation revealed that crucial steps of quality assurance, such as assembling a multi-disciplinary panel, assessing conflicts of interest, or transparency regarding funding sources, have frequently not been undertaken. All information materials had substantial quality deficits in multiple areas. Three out of four institutes issued information materials that met fewer than half of the quality criteria. Most patient information materials of cancer institutes in German-speaking countries are fraught with substantial deficits and do not provide an objective source for patients to be able to make an informed decision for or against cancer screening. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Certificates in English Language Literacies (CELL). ARIS Information Sheet.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Language Australia, Melbourne (Victoria). Adult Education Resource and Information Service.

This information sheet will assist teachers and coordinators in determining the suitability of the Certificates in English Language Literacies (CELL) curriculum for use by examining the potential target group of learners. This information also provides an overview of some of CELL's organizing features and its framework. Topics covered include:…

Natural language processing and advanced information management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoard, James E.

1989-01-01

Integrating diverse information sources and application software in a principled and general manner will require a very capable advanced information management (AIM) system. In particular, such a system will need a comprehensive addressing scheme to locate the material in its docuverse. It will also need a natural language processing (NLP) system of great sophistication. It seems that the NLP system must serve three functions. First, it provides an natural language interface (NLI) for the users. Second, it serves as the core component that understands and makes use of the real-world interpretations (RWIs) contained in the docuverse. Third, it enables the reasoning specialists (RSs) to arrive at conclusions that can be transformed into procedures that will satisfy the users' requests. The best candidate for an intelligent agent that can satisfactorily make use of RSs and transform documents (TDs) appears to be an object oriented data base (OODB). OODBs have, apparently, an inherent capacity to use the large numbers of RSs and TDs that will be required by an AIM system and an inherent capacity to use them in an effective way.

Seeking Information on Behalf of Others: An Analysis of Calls to a Spanish-Language Radio Health Program.

PubMed

Ramirez, A Susana; Leyva, Bryan; Graff, Kaitlin; Nelson, David E; Huerta, Elmer

2015-07-01

Spanish-monolingual Latinos account for 13% of U.S. residents and experience multiple barriers to effective health communication. Information intermediaries/proxies mediate between the linguistically isolated and health care providers. This study characterizes the information needs of surrogate callers and their subjects to a U.S.-based Spanish-language radio health program. Content analysis of calls placed (N = 281 calls). Women made 70% of calls; 39.1% of calls were on behalf of children, 11.0% on behalf of parents/older adults, and 18.5% on behalf of spouses/siblings/contemporary adults. Most common topics were disease symptoms/conditions (19.6%), cancer (13.9%), and reproduction/sexuality (12.9%). Calls for children were more likely than those for parents/other adults to pertain to current illness symptoms or conditions; calls for parents were more likely to be about cancer/chronic conditions. Half of all calls sought clarification about a previous medical encounter. Information-seeking surrogates may represent a useful strategy for linguistic minorities to overcome structural and individual barriers to health information access. Results suggest that Latinos are willing to seek information on behalf of friends and family and highlight the need for improved, culturally and linguistically appropriate health communication sources. Leveraging Latinos' natural familial social networks/willingness to share information may improve dissemination of culturally and linguistically appropriate health information. Further implications for patient activation and doctor-patient communication are discussed. © 2015 Society for Public Health Education.

Synthesizing Information From Language Samples and Standardized Tests in School-Age Bilingual Assessment

PubMed Central

Pham, Giang

2017-01-01

Purpose Although language samples and standardized tests are regularly used in assessment, few studies provide clinical guidance on how to synthesize information from these testing tools. This study extends previous work on the relations between tests and language samples to a new population—school-age bilingual speakers with primary language impairment—and considers the clinical implications for bilingual assessment. Method Fifty-one bilingual children with primary language impairment completed narrative language samples and standardized language tests in English and Spanish. Children were separated into younger (ages 5;6 [years;months]–8;11) and older (ages 9;0–11;2) groups. Analysis included correlations with age and partial correlations between language sample measures and test scores in each language. Results Within the younger group, positive correlations with large effect sizes indicated convergence between test scores and microstructural language sample measures in both Spanish and English. There were minimal correlations in the older group for either language. Age related to English but not Spanish measures. Conclusions Tests and language samples complement each other in assessment. Wordless picture-book narratives may be more appropriate for ages 5–8 than for older children. We discuss clinical implications, including a case example of a bilingual child with primary language impairment, to illustrate how to synthesize information from these tools in assessment. PMID:28055056

PIML: the Pathogen Information Markup Language.

PubMed

He, Yongqun; Vines, Richard R; Wattam, Alice R; Abramochkin, Georgiy V; Dickerman, Allan W; Eckart, J Dana; Sobral, Bruno W S

2005-01-01

A vast amount of information about human, animal and plant pathogens has been acquired, stored and displayed in varied formats through different resources, both electronically and otherwise. However, there is no community standard format for organizing this information or agreement on machine-readable format(s) for data exchange, thereby hampering interoperation efforts across information systems harboring such infectious disease data. The Pathogen Information Markup Language (PIML) is a free, open, XML-based format for representing pathogen information. XSLT-based visual presentations of valid PIML documents were developed and can be accessed through the PathInfo website or as part of the interoperable web services federation known as ToolBus/PathPort. Currently, detailed PIML documents are available for 21 pathogens deemed of high priority with regard to public health and national biological defense. A dynamic query system allows simple queries as well as comparisons among these pathogens. Continuing efforts are being taken to include other groups' supporting PIML and to develop more PIML documents. All the PIML-related information is accessible from http://www.vbi.vt.edu/pathport/pathinfo/

The Effect of Bilingual Term List Size on Dictionary-Based Cross-Language Information Retrieval

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

The Effect of Bilingual Term List Size on Dictionary -Based Cross-Language Information Retrieval Dina Demner-Fushman Department of Computer Science... dictionary -based Cross-Language Information Retrieval (CLIR), in which the goal is to find documents written in one natural language based on queries that...in which the documents are written. In dictionary -based CLIR techniques, the princi- pal source of translation knowledge is a translation lexicon

Informal Caregiving for Cancer Patients

PubMed Central

Romito, Francesca; Goldzweig, Gil; Cormio, Claudia; Hagedoorn, Mariët; Andersen, Barbara L.

2013-01-01

According to the recent worldwide estimation by the GLOBOCAN project, in total, 12.7 million new cancer cases and 7.6 million cancer deaths occurred in 2008. The worldwide number of cancer survivors within 5 years of diagnosis has been estimated at be almost 28.8 million. Informal caregivers, such as family members and close friends, provide essential support to cancer patients. The authors of this report provide an overview of issues in the study of informal caregivers for cancer patients and long-term survivors in the United States and Europe, characterizing the caregivers commonly studied; the resources currently available to them; and their unmet needs, their psychosocial outcomes, and the psychosocial interventions tailored to their special circumstances. A broad overview of the state of research and knowledge, both in Europe and the United States, and observations on the directions for future research are provided. PMID:23695928

Breast cancer patients' information needs and information-seeking behavior in a developing country.

PubMed

Kimiafar, Khalil; Sarbaz, Masoumeh; Shahid Sales, Soudabeh; Esmaeili, Mojtaba; Javame Ghazvini, Zohre

2016-08-01

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women both around the world and in Iran. By studying the information needs of patients with breast cancer, the quality of the information provided for them can be improved. This study investigated the information needs of breast cancer patients and their information-seeking behavior. This cross-sectional study was conducted from March to June, 2015. The research population was 120 women diagnosed with breast cancer and informed about their disease who referred to oncology outpatient clinics at a specialized cancer hospital and a radiotherapy oncology center in Mashhad (the only specialized cancer centers in eastern and northeastern Iran). Average participant age was 46.2 years (SD = 9.9). Eighty-five percent of patients desired more information about their disease. Results showed that the attending physician (mean = 3.76), television health channel (mean = 3.30), and other patients (mean = 3.06) were the most popular sources of information for breast cancer patients. Patients stated their strongest reasons for using information sources as achieving a better understanding of the disease (mean = 3.59), less anxiety (mean = 3.92), and curiosity to learn more about the disease (mean = 3.66), sequentially. Results further indicated that disease management (mean = 4.18) and nutritional options during treatment (mean = 4.14) were the most often mentioned areas in which patients required information, while knowing the progress rate of their disease was the least (mean = 3.73). It seems necessary to have a good, organized plan to provide breast cancer patients with information and increase their information literacy, one of their undeniable rights. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Employment Implications of Informal Cancer Caregiving

PubMed Central

de Moor, Janet S.; Dowling, Emily C.; Ekwueme, Donatus U.; Guy, Gery P.; Rodriguez, Juan; Virgo, Katherine S.; Han, Xuesong; Kent, Erin E.; Li, Chunyu; Litzelman, Kristen; McNeel, Timothy S.; Liu, Benmei; Yabroff, K. Robin

2016-01-01

Purpose Previous research describing how informal cancer caregiving impacts employment has been conducted in small samples or a single disease site. This paper provides population-based estimates of the effect of cancer caregiving on employment and characterizes the employment changes made by caregivers. Methods The sample comprised cancer survivors with a friend or family caregiver, participating in either the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Experiences with Cancer Survivorship Survey (ECSS) (n=458) or the LIVESTRONG 2012 Survey for People Affected by Cancer (SPAC) (n=4,706). Descriptive statistics characterized the sample of survivors and their caregivers’ employment changes. Multivariable logistic regression identified predictors of caregivers’ extended employment changes, comprising time off and changes to hours, duties or employment status. Results Among survivors with an informal caregiver, 25% from the ECSS and 29% from the SPAC reported their caregivers made extended employment changes. Approximately 8% of survivors had caregivers who took time off from work lasting ≥ 2 months. Caregivers who made extended employment changes were more likely to care for survivors treated with chemotherapy or transplant; closer to diagnosis or end of treatment; who experienced functional limitations; and made work changes due to cancer themselves compared to caregivers who did not make extended employment changes. Conclusions Many informal cancer caregivers make employment changes to provide care during survivors’ treatment and recovery. Implications for cancer survivors This study describes cancer caregiving in a prevalent sample of cancer survivors, thereby reflecting the experiences of individuals with many different cancer types and places in the cancer treatment trajectory. PMID:27423439

29 CFR 37.35 - What are a recipient's responsibilities to provide services and information in languages other...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... and information in languages other than English? 37.35 Section 37.35 Labor Office of the Secretary of... Communication § 37.35 What are a recipient's responsibilities to provide services and information in languages... services or information in a language other than English in order to be effectively informed about, or able...

Content, Usability, and Utilization of Plain Language in Breast Cancer Mobile Phone Apps: A Systematic Analysis.

PubMed

Ginossar, Tamar; Shah, Sayyed Fawad Ali; West, Andrew J; Bentley, Joshua M; Caburnay, Charlene A; Kreuter, Matthew W; Kinney, Anita Y

2017-03-13

.20) of the six recommended usability items. With eight plain language items, the median of the composite health literacy score was 5 (mean 5.06, SD 2.00). Most apps did not use easy-to-understand words (44/101, 43.6%) and few (24/101, 23.8%) defined key terms. Current breast cancer apps provide important information about breast cancer, but the most common topic covered is breast self-examination, a non-evidence-based screening strategy. Apps that focus on evidence-based strategies on the cancer continuum are needed, with a notable pressing need for apps that would address survivorship and end of life. Finally, developers of breast cancer apps should adhere to IOM standards to meet the needs of diverse populations and reduce current disparities. ©Tamar Ginossar, Sayyed Fawad Ali Shah, Andrew J West, Joshua M Bentley, Charlene A Caburnay, Matthew W Kreuter, Anita Y Kinney. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 13.03.2017.

34 CFR 303.401 - Definitions of consent, native language, and personally identifiable information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 34 Education 2 2011-07-01 2010-07-01 true Definitions of consent, native language, and personally... Definitions of consent, native language, and personally identifiable information. As used in this subpart— (a... which consent is sought, in the parent's native language or other mode of communication; (2) The parent...

Information, Physics, and Cancer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adami, Chris

Many researchers have doubts that a ''theory of cancer'' can exist, given the fact that there are so many different cancer phenotypes. However, such a situation-many significantly different manifestations of an underlying law-is not at all uncommon in physics. I argue that a unified cause for all forms of cancer is possible, but that such a theory must be cast in terms of information and communication theory. I briefly revisit key concepts of that theory, then discuss possible applications to communication in game theory that could lead us to view cancer as a disease that, at its root, is a cellular failure to properly communicate.

Cancer Fatalism, Literacy, and Cancer Information Seeking in the American Public

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kobayashi, Lindsay C.; Smith, Samuel G.

2016-01-01

Information seeking is an important behavior for cancer prevention and control, but inequalities in the communication of information about the disease persist. Conceptual models have suggested that low health literacy is a barrier to information seeking, and that fatalistic beliefs about cancer may be a mediator of this relationship. Cancer…

Using plain language skills to create an educational brochure about sperm banking for adolescent and young adult males with cancer.

PubMed

Nagel, Kim; Wizowski, Lindsay; Duckworth, JoAnn; Cassano, Jane; Hahn, Shirley Ann; Neal, Michael

2008-01-01

Writing in plain language makes it easier for patients to read, understand, and make informed decisions about sperm banking. Greater attention to the issue and properly designed educational brochures for use by nurses in oncology and reproductive health is of evident importance but of unknown impact. A multidisciplinary clinical team followed an evidence-based, patient-centered approach to develop "plain language" patient education materials about sperm banking for adolescent and young adult (AYA) males with cancer. A patient education booklet was produced and implemented as part of the planned patient education for AYA male oncology patients at McMaster Children's Hospital, Hamilton Health Sciences, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The patient education booklet for use by health professionals as a teaching tool to facilitate discussion with AYA males has been produced with the hope that it will contribute to better informed decision making regarding sperm banking and increased use of this technology for fertility preservation.

Looking beyond the Internet: examining socioeconomic inequalities in cancer information seeking among cancer patients.

PubMed

Lee, Chul-Joo; Ramírez, A Susana; Lewis, Nehama; Gray, Stacy W; Hornik, Robert C

2012-01-01

The gap in cancer information seeking between high-socioeconomic-status (high-SES) cancer patients and low-SES cancer patients deserves serious attention, considering the importance of information and knowledge in cancer control. We thus explored the association of SES, as measured by education, with cancer patients' overall cancer information seeking, and with seeking from each source (i.e., the Internet, mass media, medical sources, and nonmedical interpersonal sources) and across two topic categories (i.e., treatment, quality of life). We then asked whether the effect of education on treatment information seeking is reduced among those who are particularly motivated to control treatment choices. We conducted a survey with breast, prostate, and colon cancer patients diagnosed in 2005 (n = 2,013), who were randomly drawn from the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry in the fall of 2006. We found that education was more strongly associated with Internet use than with the use of other sources regardless of topics. Also, when information was sought from mass media, education had a greater association with treatment information seeking than with quality-of-life information seeking. Preference for active participation in treatment decision making, however, did not moderate the effect of education on treatment information seeking. The implications of these findings for public health research and cancer patient education were discussed.

Mobile City and Language Guides--New Links between Formal and Informal Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bo-Kristensen, Mads; Ankerstjerne, Niels Ole; Neutzsky-Wulff, Chresteria; Schelde, Herluf

2009-01-01

One of the major challenges in second and foreign language education, is to create links between formal and informal learning environments. Mobile City and Language Guides present examples of theoretical and practical reflections on such links. This paper presents and discusses the first considerations of Mobile City and Language Guides in…

Cultural and linguistic isolation: the breast cancer experience of Chinese-Australian women - a qualitative study.

PubMed

Kwok, Cannas; White, Kathryn

2011-08-01

Although Chinese-Australian women are at higher risk of developing breast cancer after migration to Australia, information on their experience is limited. This paper explores Chinese-Australian women's perceptions of the meaning and experience of a breast cancer diagnosis, treatment and coping mechanism. Three focus groups were conducted with 23 Chinese-Australian women diagnosed with breast cancer in their native language (Cantonese or Mandarin). Following transcription and translation, interview data was analysed by content analysis. Culturally specific values, beliefs and language barriers played a significant role in shaping the women's breast cancer experiences and their response to the diagnosis. Of note these women found the experience isolating and distressing, factors that were compounded by the lack of culturally sensitive resources and information. In providing information for Chinese-Australian women with breast cancer, culture, language and migration experience need to be taken into account.

Foreign Language Teachers' Professional Development in Information Age

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Xiying; Wu, Gang

Cultivation of students' learning autonomy has raised new challenges to teachers' professional development, dynamic, continuous, lifelong full-scale development, with emphasis on the creativity and constancy of the teachers' quality development. The teachers' professional development can take the following approaches: studying theories about foreign language teaching with the aid of modern information technology; organizing online teaching research activities supported by information technology and carrying peer observation and dialogue -teaching reflection in internet environment and fostering scholarly teachers.

Is Cancer Information Exchanged on Social Media Scientifically Accurate?

PubMed

Gage-Bouchard, Elizabeth A; LaValley, Susan; Warunek, Molli; Beaupin, Lynda Kwon; Mollica, Michelle

2017-07-19

Cancer patients and their caregivers are increasingly using social media as a platform to share cancer experiences, connect with support, and exchange cancer-related information. Yet, little is known about the nature and scientific accuracy of cancer-related information exchanged on social media. We conducted a content analysis of 12 months of data from 18 publically available Facebook Pages hosted by parents of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (N = 15,852 posts) and extracted all exchanges of medically-oriented cancer information. We systematically coded for themes in the nature of cancer-related information exchanged on personal Facebook Pages and two oncology experts independently evaluated the scientific accuracy of each post. Of the 15,852 total posts, 171 posts contained medically-oriented cancer information. The most frequent type of cancer information exchanged was information related to treatment protocols and health services use (35%) followed by information related to side effects and late effects (26%), medication (16%), medical caregiving strategies (13%), alternative and complementary therapies (8%), and other (2%). Overall, 67% of all cancer information exchanged was deemed medically/scientifically accurate, 19% was not medically/scientifically accurate, and 14% described unproven treatment modalities. These findings highlight the potential utility of social media as a cancer-related resource, but also indicate that providers should focus on recommending reliable, evidence-based sources to patients and caregivers.

Integrating Programming Language and Operating System Information Security Mechanisms

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-31

suggestions for reducing the burden, to the Department of Defense, Executive Service Directorate (0704-0188). Respondents should be aware that...improve the precision of security enforcement, and to provide greater assurance of information security. This grant focuses on two key projects: language...based control of authority; and formal guarantees for the correctness of audit information. 15. SUBJECT TERMS 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17

Use of information-retrieval languages in automated retrieval of experimental data from long-term storage

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Khovanskiy, Y. D.; Kremneva, N. I.

1975-01-01

Problems and methods are discussed of automating information retrieval operations in a data bank used for long term storage and retrieval of data from scientific experiments. Existing information retrieval languages are analyzed along with those being developed. The results of studies discussing the application of the descriptive 'Kristall' language used in the 'ASIOR' automated information retrieval system are presented. The development and use of a specialized language of the classification-descriptive type, using universal decimal classification indices as the main descriptors, is described.

Natural language information retrieval in digital libraries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Strzalkowski, T.; Perez-Carballo, J.; Marinescu, M.

In this paper we report on some recent developments in joint NYU and GE natural language information retrieval system. The main characteristic of this system is the use of advanced natural language processing to enhance the effectiveness of term-based document retrieval. The system is designed around a traditional statistical backbone consisting of the indexer module, which builds inverted index files from pre-processed documents, and a retrieval engine which searches and ranks the documents in response to user queries. Natural language processing is used to (1) preprocess the documents in order to extract content-carrying terms, (2) discover inter-term dependencies and buildmore » a conceptual hierarchy specific to the database domain, and (3) process user`s natural language requests into effective search queries. This system has been used in NIST-sponsored Text Retrieval Conferences (TREC), where we worked with approximately 3.3 GBytes of text articles including material from the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press newswire, the Federal Register, Ziff Communications`s Computer Library, Department of Energy abstracts, U.S. Patents and the San Jose Mercury News, totaling more than 500 million words of English. The system have been designed to facilitate its scalability to deal with ever increasing amounts of data. In particular, a randomized index-splitting mechanism has been installed which allows the system to create a number of smaller indexes that can be independently and efficiently searched.« less

Domain-General Mechanisms for Speech Segmentation: The Role of Duration Information in Language Learning

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Speech segmentation is supported by multiple sources of information that may either inform language processing specifically, or serve learning more broadly. The Iambic/Trochaic Law (ITL), where increased duration indicates the end of a group and increased emphasis indicates the beginning of a group, has been proposed as a domain-general mechanism that also applies to language. However, language background has been suggested to modulate use of the ITL, meaning that these perceptual grouping preferences may instead be a consequence of language exposure. To distinguish between these accounts, we exposed native-English and native-Japanese listeners to sequences of speech (Experiment 1) and nonspeech stimuli (Experiment 2), and examined segmentation using a 2AFC task. Duration was manipulated over 3 conditions: sequences contained either an initial-item duration increase, or a final-item duration increase, or items of uniform duration. In Experiment 1, language background did not affect the use of duration as a cue for segmenting speech in a structured artificial language. In Experiment 2, the same results were found for grouping structured sequences of visual shapes. The results are consistent with proposals that duration information draws upon a domain-general mechanism that can apply to the special case of language acquisition. PMID:27893268

Association of eHealth literacy with cancer information seeking and prior experience with cancer screening.

PubMed

Park, Hyejin; Moon, Mikyung; Baeg, Jung Hoon

2014-09-01

Cancer is a critical disease with a high mortality rate in the US. Although useful information exists on the Internet, many people experience difficulty finding information about cancer prevention because they have limited eHealth literacy. This study aimed to identify relationships between the level of eHealth literacy and cancer information seeking experience or prior experience with cancer screening tests. A total of 108 adults participated in this study through questionnaires. Data covering demographics, eHealth literacy, cancer information seeking experience, educational needs for cancer information searching, and previous cancer screening tests were obtained. Study findings show that the level of eHealth literacy influences cancer information seeking. Individuals with low eHealth literacy are likely to be less confident about finding cancer information. In addition, people who have a low level of eHealth literacy need more education about seeking information than do those with a higher level of eHealth literacy. However, there is no significant relationship between eHealth literacy and cancer screening tests. More people today are using the Internet for access to information to maintain good health. It is therefore critical to educate those with low eHealth literacy so they can better self-manage their health.

Antecedent Characteristics of Online Cancer Information Seeking Among Rural Breast Cancer Patients: An Application of the Cognitive-Social Health Information Processing (C-SHIP) Model

PubMed Central

Shaw, Bret R.; DuBenske, Lori L.; Han, Jeong Yeob; Cofta-Woerpel, Ludmila; Bush, Nigel; Gustafson, David H.; McTavish, Fiona

2013-01-01

Little research has examined the antecedent characteristics of patients most likely to seek online cancer information. This study employs the Cognitive-Social Health Information Processing (C-SHIP) model as a framework to understand what psychosocial characteristics precede online cancer-related information seeking among rural breast cancer patients who often have fewer healthcare providers and limited local support services. Examining 144 patients who were provided free computer hardware, Internet access and training for how to use an Interactive Cancer Communication System, pre-test survey scores indicating patients’ psychosocial status were correlated with specific online cancer information seeking behaviors. Each of the factors specified by the C-SHIP model had significant relationships with online cancer information seeking behaviors with the strongest findings emerging for cancer-relevant encodings and self-construals, cancer-relevant beliefs and expectancies and cancer-relevant self-regulatory competencies and skills. Specifically, patients with more negative appraisals in these domains were more likely to seek out online cancer information. Additionally, antecedent variables associated with the C-SHIP model had more frequent relationships with experiential information as compared to didactic information. This study supports the applicability of the model to discern why people afflicted with cancer may seek online information to cope with their disease. PMID:18569368

Antecedent characteristics of online cancer information seeking among rural breast cancer patients: an application of the Cognitive-Social Health Information Processing (C-SHIP) model.

PubMed

Shaw, Bret R; Dubenske, Lori L; Han, Jeong Yeob; Cofta-Woerpel, Ludmila; Bush, Nigel; Gustafson, David H; McTavish, Fiona

2008-06-01

Little research has examined the antecedent characteristics of patients most likely to seek online cancer information. This study employs the Cognitive-Social Health Information Processing (C-SHIP) model as a framework to understand what psychosocial characteristics precede online cancer-related information seeking among rural breast cancer patients who often have fewer health care providers and limited local support services. Examining 144 patients who were provided free computer hardware, Internet access, and training for how to use an interactive cancer communication system, pretest survey scores indicating patients' psychosocial status were correlated with specific online cancer information seeking behaviors. Each of the factors specified by the C-SHIP model had significant relationships with online cancer information seeking behaviors, with the strongest findings emerging for cancer-relevant encodings and self-construals, cancer-relevant beliefs and expectancies, and cancer-relevant self-regulatory competencies and skills. Specifically, patients with more negative appraisals in these domains were more likely to seek out online cancer information. Additionally, antecedent variables associated with the C-SHIP model had more frequent relationships with experiential information as compared with to didactic information. This study supports the applicability of the model to discern why people afflicted with cancer may seek online information to cope with their disease.

Looking beyond the Internet: Examining Socioeconomic Inequalities in Cancer Information Seeking among Cancer Patients

PubMed Central

Lee, Chul-joo; Ramirez, Susana; Lewis, Nehama; Gray, Stacy W.; Hornik, Robert C.

2014-01-01

The gap in cancer information seeking between high-socioeconomic status (SES) cancer patients and low-SES cancer patients deserves serious attention considering the importance of information and knowledge in cancer control. We thus explored the association of SES, as measured by education, with cancer patients’ overall cancer information seeking, and with seeking from each source (i.e., the Internet, mass media, medical sources, and non-medical interpersonal sources) and across two topic categories (i.e., treatment, quality of life). We then asked whether the effect of education on treatment information seeking is reduced among those who are particularly motivated to control treatment choices. We conducted a survey with breast, prostate, and colon cancer patients diagnosed in 2005 (N = 2,013), who were randomly drawn from the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry in the fall of 2006. We found that education was more strongly associated with Internet use than with the use of other sources regardless of topics. Also, when information was sought from mass media, education had a greater association with treatment information seeking than with quality-of-life information seeking. Preference for active participation in treatment decision making, however, did not moderate the effect of education on treatment information seeking. The implications of these findings for public health research and cancer patient education were discussed. PMID:22356137

The information needs of adult cancer survivors across the cancer continuum: A scoping review.

PubMed

Fletcher, Chloe; Flight, Ingrid; Chapman, Janine; Fennell, Kate; Wilson, Carlene

2017-03-01

To provide an updated synthesis of the literature that investigates the self-reported information needs of people diagnosed with cancer across the cancer continuum. We conducted a scoping review of the literature published from August 2003 to June 2015 and expanded an existing typology summarizing the information needs of people diagnosed with cancer. The majority of the included studies (n=104) focused on questions relevant to the diagnosis/active treatment phase of the cancer continuum (52.9%) and thus the most frequently identified information needs related to this phase (33.4%). Information needs varied across the continuum and the results highlight the importance of recognising this fact. People diagnosed with cancer experience discrete information needs at different points from diagnosis to survival. Much of the research conducted in this area has focused on their information needs during the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and literature relating to information needs following completion of treatment is sparse. Further research is needed to discern the specific nature of the treatment concerns and identify the information needs that survivors experience during recurrence of cancer, metastasis or changes in diagnosis, and the end of life phase of the cancer continuum. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language and use of cancer screening services among border and non-border Hispanic Texas women.

PubMed

Fernández, Leticia E; Morales, Alfonso

2007-06-01

Compared to other groups, Mexican American women screen less frequently for cervical and breast cancer. The most significant barriers reported by previous researchers include not having a usual source of care, lacking health insurance and English-language difficulties. In this paper we document and examine the factors associated with disparities in cancer screening between border and non-border residents by language of interview (Spanish or English) among Texas Hispanic women. We hypothesize that, controlling for socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, border residents are more likely to utilize screening services than non-border residents because of the greater presence of bilingual services in border counties. We follow the framework of the Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations proposed by Gelberg et al. (Health Services Research, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 1273-1302, 2000). This model conceptualizes use of health care as an outcome of the interplay of predisposing, enabling and need factors and recognizes that vulnerable groups face additional barriers to health care utilization. Data come from the 2000, 2002 and 2004 Texas Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance surveys. Group differences in cancer screenings are explained largely by socioeconomic characteristics and structural barriers to access. The significance of language of interview and of border residence disappear after controlling for factors such as health insurance, income and a usual source of care. Women who selected to be interviewed in Spanish were less likely to report age-appropriate cancer examinations, health insurance and a regular health care provider than those who selected to be interviewed in English. Disparities in cancer screenings among vulnerable Hispanic populations could be reduced by promoting the establishment of a regular health care provider.

Language as Information and the World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koga, Kant

2010-01-01

Language attracts everyone on earth. That is because we have and use language. Although there are some minority languages that have limited expressions such as the lack of writing systems in "Aynu itak" and "Shona" languages, they can effectively express their emotion and thought with their languages. In addition, every human being can acquire…

General Information about Breast Cancer and Pregnancy

MedlinePlus

... Cancer Treatment During Pregnancy (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Breast Cancer Treatment During Pregnancy Go to ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Small Cell Lung Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Cell Lung Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Small Cell Lung Cancer Go to Health ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Unusual Cancers of Childhood

MedlinePlus

... Cancers of Childhood Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Unusual Cancers of Childhood Go to Health ... the PDQ Pediatric Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

Integration of language and sensor information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perlovsky, Leonid I.; Weijers, Bertus

2003-04-01

The talk describes the development of basic technologies of intelligent systems fusing data from multiple domains and leading to automated computational techniques for understanding data contents. Understanding involves inferring appropriate decisions and recommending proper actions, which in turn requires fusion of data and knowledge about objects, situations, and actions. Data might include sensory data, verbal reports, intelligence intercepts, or public records, whereas knowledge ought to encompass the whole range of objects, situations, people and their behavior, and knowledge of languages. In the past, a fundamental difficulty in combining knowledge with data was the combinatorial complexity of computations, too many combinations of data and knowledge pieces had to be evaluated. Recent progress in understanding of natural intelligent systems, including the human mind, leads to the development of neurophysiologically motivated architectures for solving these challenging problems, in particular the role of emotional neural signals in overcoming combinatorial complexity of old logic-based approaches. Whereas past approaches based on logic tended to identify logic with language and thinking, recent studies in cognitive linguistics have led to appreciation of more complicated nature of linguistic models. Little is known about the details of the brain mechanisms integrating language and thinking. Understanding and fusion of linguistic information with sensory data represent a novel challenging aspect of the development of integrated fusion systems. The presentation will describe a non-combinatorial approach to this problem and outline techniques that can be used for fusing diverse and uncertain knowledge with sensory and linguistic data.

Data-Informed Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Godwin-Jones, Robert

2017-01-01

Although data collection has been used in language learning settings for some time, it is only in recent decades that large corpora have become available, along with efficient tools for their use. Advances in natural language processing (NLP) have enabled rich tagging and annotation of corpus data, essential for their effective use in language…

77 FR 30045 - 30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: English Language Evaluation Surveys

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-21

...] 30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: English Language Evaluation Surveys ACTION: Notice... clearance will allow ECA/P/V, as part of the English Language Evaluation, to conduct surveys of participants in the ETA Program, E-Teacher Scholarship program, and the English Language Specialist Program...

76 FR 54283 - 30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collections: Language Learning Survey Questions

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-31

...: Language Learning Survey Questions ACTION: Notice of request for public comment and submission to OMB of... the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Title of Information Collection: Language Learning Programs: Pre... critical language learning instruction. Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,400 annually Estimated Number of...

Role of the Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) in the Head and Neck Cancer Team.

PubMed

Hansen, Kelly; Chenoweth, Marybeth; Thompson, Heather; Strouss, Alexandra

2018-01-01

While treatments for head and neck cancer are aimed at curing patients from disease, they can have significant short- and long-term negative impacts on speech and swallowing functions. Research demonstrates that early and frequent involvement of Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) is beneficial to these functions and overall quality of life for head and neck cancer patients. Strategies and tools to optimize communication and safe swallowing are presented in this chapter.

Do cancer-specific websites meet patient's information needs?

PubMed

Warren, Emily; Footman, Katharine; Tinelli, Michela; McKee, Martin; Knai, Cécile

2014-04-01

To evaluate commonly used cancer websites' information provision, we developed and applied an Information Comprehensiveness Tool to breast and prostate cancer websites. We first collated questions from a systematic literature review on patient information needs. We then classified the questions in terms of spectrum of care, theme, and nature of question. "Breast cancer" and "prostate cancer" were typed into Google, and websites listed on the first page of results were selected. Two researchers, blind to each others' scores, assessed the same websites using the coding system. Each question was scored on a 3-point scale as not (0%), partially (50%) and fully (100%) answered by two researchers. Average scores were calculated across all questions. Inter-rater reliability was assessed. We identified 79 general, 5 breast, and 5 prostate cancer questions. Inter-rater reliability was good, with an intraclass coefficient of 0.756 (95% CIs 0.729-0.781). 17 questions were not answered thoroughly by any website. Questions about "future planning", "monitoring", and "decision-making" were discussed least. Biomedical questions scored highest. More comprehensive information needs to be provided on breast and prostate cancer websites. This ICT can improve cancer information online and enable patients to engage more actively regarding their information needs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Complementary therapies for cancer patients: assessing information use and needs.

PubMed

Verhoef, M J; Trojan, L; Armitage, G D; Carlson, L; Hilsden, R J

2009-01-01

Many cancer patients seek complementary therapies (CTs) for cancer management; however, relatively little is known about patients' CT information seeking behaviour. Therefore, we assessed: 1) cancer patients' use of the types and sources of CT information; 2) their information preferences; and 3) their understanding of the phrase "scientific evidence or proof that a therapy works." We collected data from 404 patients attending the Tom Baker Cancer Centre (TBCC) in Calgary and 303 patients calling the Cancer Information Service (CIS) helpline. In most cases, patients wanted information on the safety of CTs, how CTs work and their potential side effects. Physicians and conventional cancer centres were the most desired sources of CT information, but relatively few patients obtained information via these sources. Although patients were aware of the meaning of scientific evidence, they often used information based on non-scientific evidence, such as patient testimonials. The creation of a supportive care environment in conventional cancer treatment centres, by providing CT information, may help address cancer patients' concerns and alleviate some of the stress that may have been caused by the cancer diagnosis.

Natural Language Query System Design for Interactive Information Storage and Retrieval Systems. M.S. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dominick, Wayne D. (Editor); Liu, I-Hsiung

1985-01-01

The currently developed multi-level language interfaces of information systems are generally designed for experienced users. These interfaces commonly ignore the nature and needs of the largest user group, i.e., casual users. This research identifies the importance of natural language query system research within information storage and retrieval system development; addresses the topics of developing such a query system; and finally, proposes a framework for the development of natural language query systems in order to facilitate the communication between casual users and information storage and retrieval systems.

Interaction Between Syntactic Structure and Information Structure in the Processing of a Head-Final Language.

PubMed

Koizumi, Masatoshi; Imamura, Satoshi

2017-02-01

The effects of syntactic and information structures on sentence processing load were investigated using two reading comprehension experiments in Japanese, a head-final SOV language. In the first experiment, we discovered the main effects of syntactic and information structures, as well as their interaction, showing that interaction of these two factors is not restricted to head-initial languages. The second experiment revealed that the interaction between syntactic structure and information structure occurs at the second NP (O of SOV and S of OSV), which, crucially, is a pre-head position, suggesting the incremental nature of the processing of both syntactic structure and information structure in head-final languages.

The relationship between information carrying words, memory and language skills in school age children with specific language impairment.

PubMed

Frizelle, Pauline; Harte, Jennifer; O'Sullivan, Kathleen; Fletcher, Paul; Gibbon, Fiona

2017-01-01

The receptive language measure information-carrying word (ICW) level, is used extensively by speech and language therapists in the UK and Ireland. Despite this it has never been validated via its relationship to any other relevant measures. This study aims to validate the ICW measure by investigating the relationship between the receptive ICW score of children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their performance on standardized memory and language assessments. Twenty-seven children with SLI, aged between 5;07 and 8;11, completed a sentence comprehension task in which the instructions gradually increased in number of ICWs. The children also completed subtests from The Working Memory Test Battery for children and The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals- 4. Results showed that there was a significant positive relationship between both language and memory measures and children's ICW score. While both receptive and expressive language were significant in their contribution to children's ICW score, the contribution of memory was solely determined by children's working memory ability. ICW score is in fact a valid measure of the language ability of children with SLI. However therapists should also be cognisant of its strong association with working memory when using this construct in assessment or intervention methods.

AANCART best practices: cancer awareness activities for Seattle's Combodian community.

PubMed

Seng, Paularita; Acorda, Elizabeth; Carey Jackson, J; Marchand, Ann; Thai, Hue; Tu, Shin-Ping; Taylor, Vicky

2005-12-15

Census data indicate that Cambodian Americans are economically disadvantaged and linguistically isolated. In addition, cancer registry data show that Southeast Asians experience several cancer-related health disparities (e.g., markedly elevated risks of cervical and liver cancer). The Seattle regional Asian American Network for Cancer, Awareness, Research, and Training (AANCART) site has implemented a community-based cancer awareness program for Cambodian immigrants in collaboration with a Cambodian community coalition. Our cancer awareness program has the following goals: to assist individuals and organizations in advocating for a healthy community, to provide information within a cultural context, and to deliver information in ways that are useful and meaningful to the community. The program was guided by a community assessment that included the use of published data as well as information from qualitative interviews, focus groups, and quantitative surveys. Examples of community awareness activities include group presentations at community-based organizations (e.g., during English as a second language classes), health fair participation (including at nontraditional venues such as a farmers' market serving Cambodians), and educational displays in neighborhood locations (e.g., at Cambodian video stores). In addition, the Seattle AANCART site has both inventoried and developed culturally appropriate Khmer language cancer education materials and disseminated materials through the ETHNO-MED website. Our approach recognizes that limited English language proficiency may preclude many Cambodians from understanding publicly disseminated information, and Cambodian immigrants are often isolated and tend to stay close to their own neighborhoods. Cancer 2005. (c) 2005 American Cancer Society.

National Cancer Information Service in Italy: an information points network as a new model for providing information for cancer patients.

PubMed

Truccolo, Ivana; Bufalino, Rosaria; Annunziata, Maria Antonietta; Caruso, Anita; Costantini, Anna; Cognetti, Gaetana; Florita, Antonio; Pero, Dina; Pugliese, Patrizia; Tancredi, Roberta; De Lorenzo, Francesco

2011-01-01

The international literature data report that good information and communication are fundamental components of a therapeutic process. They contribute to improve the patient-health care professional relationship, to facilitate doctor-patient relationships, therapeutic compliance and adherence, and to the informed consent in innovative clinical trials. We report the results of a multicentric national initiative that developed a 17-information-structure network: 16 Information Points located in the major state-funded certified cancer centers and general hospitals across Italy and a national Help-line at the nonprofit organization AIMaC (the Italian oncologic patients, families and friends association), and updated the already existing services with the aim to create the National Cancer Information Service (SION). The project is the result of a series of pilot and research projects funded by the Italian Ministry of Health. The Information Service model proposed is based on some fundamental elements: 1) human interaction with experienced operators, adequately trained in communication and information, complemented with 2) virtual interaction (Help line, Internet, blog, forum and social network); 3) informative material adequate for both scientific accuracy and communicative style; 4) adequate locations for appropriate positioning and privacy (adequate visibility); 5) appropriate advertising. First results coming from these initiatives contributed to introduce issues related to "Communication and Information to patients" as a "Public Health Instrument" to the National Cancer Plan approved by the Ministry of Health for the years 2010-2012.

The development and testing of a brief ('gist-based') supplementary colorectal cancer screening information leaflet.

PubMed

Smith, Samuel G; Wolf, Michael S; Obichere, Austin; Raine, Rosalind; Wardle, Jane; von Wagner, Christian

2013-12-01

To design and user-test a 'gist-based' colorectal cancer screening information leaflet, which promotes comprehension of the screening offer. Twenty-eight individuals approaching screening age were recruited from organisations in deprived areas of England. Using a between-subjects design, we tested iterations of a newly-designed gist-based information leaflet. Participants read the leaflet and answered 8 'true' or 'false' comprehension statements. For the leaflet to be considered fit-for-purpose, all statements had to be answered correctly by at least 80% of participants in each round. Alterations were made if this threshold was not met and additional rounds of testing were undertaken. At round 1, answers to 2/8 statements did not meet the threshold. After changes, answers in round 2 did not reach the threshold for 1/8 statements. In round 3, all answers were adequate and the leaflet was deemed fit-for-purpose. Qualitative data offered solutions such as language and layout changes which led to improved comprehension of the leaflet. User-testing substantially improved the design and subsequent comprehensibility of a theory-driven gist-based colorectal cancer screening information leaflet. This leaflet will be evaluated as part of a large national randomised controlled trial designed to reduce socioeconomic inequalities in colorectal cancer screening participation. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Cancer screening information at community health fairs: What the participants do with information they receive.

PubMed

Monrose, Erica; Ledergerber, Jessica; Acheampong, Derrick; Jandorf, Lina

2017-09-21

To assess participants' reasons for seeking cancer screening information at community health fairs and what they do with the information they receive. Mixed quantitative and qualitative approach was used. Community health fairs are organized in underserved New York City neighbourhoods. From June 14, 2016 to August 26, 2016, cancer prevention tables providing information about various cancer screenings were established at 12 local community health fairs in New York City. In-person and follow up telephone surveys assessing interest in the cancer prevention table, personal cancer screening adherence rates, information-sharing behaviours and demographic variables have been taken into account. Statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS 22.0: frequencies, descriptive, cross tabulations. All qualitative data was coded by theme so that it could be analysed through SPSS. For example, Were you interested in a specific cancer? may be coded as 2 for yes , breast cancer . One hundred and sixteen patrons participated in the initial survey. Of those, 88 (78%) agreed to give their contact information for the follow-up survey and 60 follow-up surveys were completed (68%). Of those who reported reading the material, 45% shared the information; 15% subsequently spoke to a provider about cancer screenings and 40% intended to speak to a provider. Participants disseminated information without prompting; suggesting the reach of these fairs extends beyond the people who visit our table. Future studies should look at whether patrons would share information at higher rates when they are explicitly encouraged to share the information.

ACCISS study rationale and design: activating collaborative cancer information service support for cervical cancer screening.

PubMed

Cofta-Woerpel, Ludmila; Randhawa, Veenu; McFadden, H Gene; Fought, Angela; Bullard, Emily; Spring, Bonnie

2009-12-02

High-quality cancer information resources are available but underutilized by the public. Despite greater awareness of the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service among low-income African Americans and Hispanics compared with Caucasians, actual Cancer Information Service usage is lower than expected, paralleling excess cancer-related morbidity and mortality for these subgroups. The proposed research examines how to connect the Cancer Information Service to low-income African-American and Hispanic women and their health care providers. The study will examine whether targeted physician mailing to women scheduled for colposcopy to follow up an abnormal Pap test can increase calls to the Cancer Information Service, enhance appropriate medical follow-up, and improve satisfaction with provider-patient communication. The study will be conducted in two clinics in ethnically diverse low-income communities in Chicago. During the formative phase, patients and providers will provide input regarding materials planned for use in the experimental phase of the study. The experimental phase will use a two-group prospective randomized controlled trial design. African American and Hispanic women with an abnormal Pap test will be randomized to Usual Care (routine colposcopy reminder letter) or Intervention (reminder plus provider recommendation to call the Cancer Information Service and sample questions to ask). Primary outcomes will be: 1) calls to the Cancer Information Service; 2) timely medical follow-up, operationalized by whether the patient keeps her colposcopy appointment within six months of the abnormal Pap; and 3) patient satisfaction with provider-patient communication at follow-up. The study examines the effectiveness of a feasible, sustainable, and culturally sensitive strategy to increase awareness and use of the Cancer Information Service among an underserved population. The goal of linking a public service (the Cancer Information Service) with real

Information needs of the informal carers of women treated for breast cancer.

PubMed

Beaver, Kinta; Witham, Gary

2007-02-01

Although the vital role of informal carers has been acknowledged in government policy documents in the UK, the information needs of informal carers are not well documented. There is also uncertainty about where carers get their information from and whether they are satisfied with the information they receive. This study aimed to examine the information needs and sources of information for informal carers in the acute cancer setting; the informal carers of a sample of women treated for breast cancer. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from semi-structured interviews with 50 informal carers. Measures of information needs and sources were administered in addition to an in-depth exploration of information needs. The priority information needs of carers related to cure, spread of disease and treatments, a similar profile to that found for women with breast cancer in previous work. The main source of information for carers was the person they were caring for, although written information was also valued. Health professionals need to ensure that patients are well informed so that patients can provide information for carers and also need to take advantage of any opportunities to directly assess the information needs of carers to enable them to be more effective in their caring role.

A systematic review and thematic synthesis of quality of life in the informal carers of cancer patients with cachexia.

PubMed

Wheelwright, Sally; Darlington, Anne-Sophie; Hopkinson, Jane B; Fitzsimmons, Deborah; Johnson, Colin

2016-02-01

Informal carers of cancer patients with cachexia face additional challenges to those encountered by informal carers in general because of the central role food and eating play in everyday life. Patient weight loss and anorexia, core features of cancer cachexia, are frequent causes of distress in caregivers. Identification of quality of life issues can inform the development of interventions for both caregivers and patients and facilitate communication with healthcare professionals. To identify quality of life issues that are relevant to carers of cancer patients with cachexia. A systematic review and thematic synthesis of the qualitative literature were conducted. Reporting followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES were searched for publications dated from January 1980 to February 2015 using search terms relating to cancer, cachexia, quality of life and carers. Papers written in the English language, featuring direct quotes from the carers of adult patients with any cancer diagnosis and cachexia or problems with weight loss or anorexia, were included. Five themes were extracted from the 16 identified studies. These highlighted the impact on everyday life, the attempts of some carers to take charge, the need for healthcare professional's input, conflict with the patient and negative emotions. The complexity of caring for a cancer patient with cachexia translates into a range of problems and experiences for informal carers. By addressing the impact of caring for a patient with cancer cachexia on carers, both caregiver and patient quality of life may improve. © The Author(s) 2015.

77 FR 65927 - 60-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Office of Language Services Contractor...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-31

... of Language Services Contractor Application Form ACTION: Notice of request for public comment... Collection: Office of Language Services Contractor Application Form. OMB Control Number: 1405-0191. Type of... become contractors for the U.S. Department of State, Office of Language Services, the information...

Hierarchical Decimal Classification of Information Related to Cancer Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider, John H.

The classification may be used (1) to identify cancer research efforts supported by NCI in selected areas of research (at any general or specific level desired), (2) to store information related to cancer research and retrieve this information on request, and (3) to match interests of cancer research scientists against information in published…

Availability of Pre-Admission Information to Prospective Graduate Students in Speech-Language Pathology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tekieli Koay, Mary Ellen; Lass, Norman J.; Parrill, Madaline; Naeser, Danielle; Babin, Kelly; Bayer, Olivia; Cook, Megan; Elmore, Madeline; Frye, Rachel; Kerwood, Samantha

2016-01-01

An extensive Internet search was conducted to obtain pre-admission information and acceptance statistics from 260 graduate programmes in speech-language pathology accredited by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) in the United States. ASHA is the national professional, scientific and credentialing association for members and…

Relative quality of internet-derived gastrointestinal cancer information.

PubMed

Chan, David S Y; Willicombe, Anita; Reid, Thomas D; Beaton, Ceri; Arnold, David; Ward, James; Davies, I Llion; Lewis, Wyn G

2012-12-01

Internet-derived health care information is increasingly accessed by patients, yet its quality and accuracy is variable and unregulated. The aim of this study was to assess the information available regarding common gastrointestinal cancers via three internet search engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing). The top 30 websites for each of the terms: oesophageal, gastric, pancreatic, colon and rectal cancer were evaluated (University of Michigan Consumer Health Website Checklist) and scored [-80 (poor) to 90 (excellent)]. The median score was 53 (-7 to 81) and was significantly higher for oesophageal (61) and pancreatic (65) cancer websites, compared with gastric (49), colon (48) and rectal cancer (50) (p = 0.014). Median scores related to charitable organisations were significantly better than academic, commercial, news agency, care provider, layperson and medical information websites collectively (79 vs. 42, p < 0.0001). Overall quality of internet-derived gastrointestinal cancer information remains poor and patients and clinicians should be aware.

Illustrations enhance older colorectal cancer patients' website satisfaction and recall of online cancer information.

PubMed

Bol, N; Smets, E M A; Eddes, E H; de Haes, J C J M; Loos, E F; van Weert, J C M

2015-03-01

This study aims to investigate the effects of illustrations in online cancer information on older cancer patients' website satisfaction (i.e. satisfaction with the attractiveness, comprehensibility and emotional support from the website) and recall of information. In an online experiment, 174 younger (<65 years) and older (≥65 years) colorectal cancer patients were randomly exposed to a webpage about transanal endoscopic microsurgery consisting of either text-only information, text with two cognitive illustrations or text with two affective illustrations. In general, adding cognitive illustrations compared with text-only information improved the satisfaction with the attractiveness of the website in both younger and older patients. For older patients in particular, cognitive illustrations facilitated recall of cancer information: whereas older patients recalled less information overall compared with younger patients (39% vs. 50%), no statistically significant differences in age on recall were observed when cognitive illustrations were added to text. Furthermore, older patients were more satisfied with the emotional support from the website than younger patients, especially when affective illustrations were present. Our results suggest that effective online cancer communication for ageing populations involves considering both cognitive and affective illustrations to enhance website satisfaction and recall of cancer information. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

In their own words? A terminological analysis of e-mail to a cancer information service.

PubMed Central

Smith, Catherine Arnott; Stavri, P. Zoë; Chapman, Wendy Webber

2002-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To better understand the terms used by consumers to describe their health information needs and determine if this "consumer terminology"differs from those used by health care professionals. METHODS: Features and findings identified in 139 e-mail messages to the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute's Cancer Information and Referral Service were coded and matched against the 2001 Unified Medical Language System Metathesaurus. RESULTS:504 unique terms were identified. 185 (36%) were exact matches to concepts in the 2001 UMLS Metathesaurus (MTH). 179 (35%) were partial string matches; 119 (24%) were known synonyms for MTH concepts; and 2 (<1%) were lexical variants. Only 19,or 4% of the total terms, were not found to be present in the 2001 MT1H. CONCLUSION: 96% of the clinical findings and features mentioned in e-mail by correspondents who did not self-identify as healthcare professionals were described using terms from controlled healthcare terminologies. The notion of a paradigmatic "consumer" who uses a particular vocabulary specific to her "consumer" status may be ill-founded. PMID:12463914

General Information about Lip and Oral Cavity Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Cavity Cancer Treatment (Adult) (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Lip and Oral Cavity Cancer Go to ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

General Information about Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Cell Lung Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Go to ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

Treatment decision making experiences of migrant cancer patients and their families in Australia.

PubMed

Shaw, Joanne; Zou, Xian; Butow, Phyllis

2015-06-01

To explore treatment decision-making experiences of Australian migrants with cancer from Arabic, Chinese, or Greek backgrounds and their relatives. 73 patients and 18 caregivers from cancer support groups and oncology clinics participated in either a focus group (n=14) or semi-structured interview (n=21) conducted in the participant's own language. Participant treatment decision-making preferences were discussed as part of patients' overall treatment experience and a thematic analysis conducted. Four main themes emerged from the data: (1) perceived role of the patient in decision-making; (2) access to information and the impact of language; (3) cultural influences (4) family involvement. The majority of participants experienced passive involvement during treatment consultations, but expressed a desire for greater involvement. Language rather than culture was a greater obstacle to active participation. Difficulty communicating effectively in English was the most significant barrier to participation in treatment decisions. To overcome language challenges, participants actively sought information from alternative sources. This study provides new insights into the influence of language and culture on the treatment decision-making experiences of migrants with cancer and their families within the Australian cancer care system. To reduce health disparities doctors need to address language difficulties and be aware of cultural differences. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Information Status and Word Order in Croatian Sign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milkovic, Marina; Bradaric-Joncic, Sandra; Wilbur, Ronnie B.

2007-01-01

This paper presents the results of research on information structure and word order in narrative sentences taken from signed short stories in Croatian Sign Language (HZJ). The basic word order in HZJ is SVO. Factors that result in other word orders include: reversible arguments, verb categories, locative constructions, contrastive focus, and prior…

An XML-Based Manipulation and Query Language for Rule-Based Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mansour, Essam; Höpfner, Hagen

Rules are utilized to assist in the monitoring process that is required in activities, such as disease management and customer relationship management. These rules are specified according to the application best practices. Most of research efforts emphasize on the specification and execution of these rules. Few research efforts focus on managing these rules as one object that has a management life-cycle. This paper presents our manipulation and query language that is developed to facilitate the maintenance of this object during its life-cycle and to query the information contained in this object. This language is based on an XML-based model. Furthermore, we evaluate the model and language using a prototype system applied to a clinical case study.

Synthesizing Information from Language Samples and Standardized Tests in School-Age Bilingual Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ebert, Kerry Danahy; Pham, Giang

2017-01-01

Purpose: Although language samples and standardized tests are regularly used in assessment, few studies provide clinical guidance on how to synthesize information from these testing tools. This study extends previous work on the relations between tests and language samples to a new population--school-age bilingual speakers with primary language…

Navigating the cancer information environment: The reciprocal relationship between patient-clinician information engagement and information seeking from nonmedical sources.

PubMed

Moldovan-Johnson, Mihaela; Tan, Andy S L; Hornik, Robert C

2014-01-01

Prior theory has argued and empirical studies have shown that cancer patients rely on information from their health care providers as well as lay sources to understand and make decisions about their disease. However, research on the dynamic and interdependent nature of cancer patients' engagement with different information sources is lacking. This study tested the hypotheses that patient-clinician information engagement and information seeking from nonmedical sources influence one another longitudinally among a representative cohort of 1,293 cancer survivors in Pennsylvania. The study hypotheses were supported in a series of lagged multiple regression analyses. Baseline seeking information from nonmedical sources positively predicted subsequent patient-clinician information engagement at 1-year follow-up. The reverse relationship was also statistically significant; baseline patient-clinician information engagement positively predicted information seeking from nonmedical sources at follow-up. These findings suggest that cancer survivors move between nonmedical and clinician sources in a dynamic way to learn about their disease.

Navigating the cancer information environment: The reciprocal relationship between patient-clinician information engagement and information seeking from nonmedical sources

PubMed Central

Moldovan-Johnson, Mihaela; Tan, Andy SL; Hornik, Robert C

2014-01-01

Prior theory has argued and empirical studies have shown that cancer patients rely on information from their health care providers as well as lay sources to understand and make decisions about their disease. However, research on the dynamic and interdependent nature of cancer patients’ engagement with different information sources is lacking. This study tested the hypotheses that patient-clinician information engagement and information seeking from nonmedical sources influence one another longitudinally among a representative cohort of 1,293 cancer survivors in Pennsylvania. The study hypotheses were supported in a series of lagged multiple regression analyses. Baseline seeking information from nonmedical sources positively predicted subsequent patient-clinician information engagement at one-year follow-up. The reverse relationship was also statistically significant; baseline patient-clinician information engagement positively predicted information seeking from nonmedical sources at follow-up. These findings suggest that cancer survivors move between nonmedical to clinician sources in a dynamic way to learn about their disease. PMID:24359259

Enriching Formal Language Learning with an Informal Social Component

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dettori, Giuliana; Torsani, Simone

2013-01-01

This paper describes an informal component that we added to an online formal language learning environment in order to help the learners reach relevant Internet pages they can freely use to complement their learning activity. Thanks to this facility, each lesson is enriched, at run time, with a number of links automatically retrieved from social…

Feasibility trial of a Spanish-language multimedia educational intervention.

PubMed

Wells, Kristen J; McIntyre, Jessica; Gonzalez, Luis E; Lee, Ji-Hyun; Fisher, Kate J; Jacobsen, Paul B; Meade, Cathy; Muñoz-Antonia, Teresita; Quinn, Gwendolyn P

2013-10-01

Hispanic cancer patients are underrepresented in clinical trials; research suggests lack of knowledge and language barriers contribute to low accrual. Multimedia materials offer advantages to Hispanic populations because they have high acceptability, are easy to disseminate, and can be viewed with family. Hispanic cancer patients and caregivers participated in focus groups to aid in developing a Spanish-language multimedia intervention to educate Hispanic cancer patients about clinical trials. We explored the feasibility of delivering the intervention in medical oncology clinics. A total of 35 patients were randomized to either the multimedia intervention group (n = 18) or a control group (n = 17) who were asked to read the National Cancer Institute's Spanish-language clinical trials brochure. Self-reported data on knowledge about and attitudes toward clinical trials, self-efficacy for participating in a clinical trial, intention to participate in a clinical trial if asked, and receptivity to information about a clinical trial were collected at baseline and 10 days later. Delivery of the multimedia presentation in oncology clinics was feasible. The intervention group had more knowledge about clinical trials at follow-up than the control group; scores for intention to participate in a clinical trial by participants in the intervention group increased from 3.8 to 4.0 of a possible 5, but declined in the control group from 4.5 to 4.1. No statistically significant difference was detected between groups in scores for attitudes or self-efficacy for making a decision to participate in a clinical trial. Our sample size was inadequate to identify differences between the informational methods. Although all patients were asked about their willingness to participate in a clinical trial, this decision was hypothetical. In addition, the study was conducted with a sample of Spanish-speaking Hispanic cancer patients at a comprehensive cancer center in Florida. Thus, the results

Childhood Cancer in the Classroom: Information for the School Nurse.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

VanDenburgh, Kari

2003-01-01

The school nurse is a resource and support to students, school personnel, and communities with respect to students with cancer. This article discusses: general cancer information and statistics; childhood cancer versus adult cancer; treatments for childhood cancer; and information for school nurses (e.g., central venous catheters in school,…

Communication and language challenges experienced by Chinese and South Asian immigrant parents of children with cancer in Canada: implications for health services delivery.

PubMed

Gulati, Sonia; Watt, Lisa; Shaw, Nicola; Sung, Lillian; Poureslami, Iraj M; Klaassen, Robert; Dix, David; Klassen, Anne F

2012-04-01

Language is an important aspect of health literacy and plays a vital role in families' ability to access and use health information and resources. Our study explored the role of communication and language in the healthcare experiences of immigrant parents of children with cancer living in Canada. We used a grounded theory approach. Chinese and South Asian parents of children 6 months post-diagnosis were recruited from six Canadian pediatric oncology centers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in Cantonese, Mandarin, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, or English. Questions relevant to communication included: how parents navigated the healthcare system; nature of interpreter services and translated materials; and suggestions about how to improve services. Analysis involved line-by-line, focused and theoretical coding, and constant comparison. Thirty-one (62%) parents reported no difficulty communicating with healthcare providers in English, while 13 (26%) parents struggled with English, and six (12%) parents could not communicate in English. Communication challenges influenced parents' role in caring for their child and made it difficult to learn complex medical terminology. Interpreting services were sometimes inadequate or not accessible. Parents occasionally missed out on services and resources, reported limited availability of linguistically and culturally appropriate information, and experienced a lack of social integration in the healthcare process. Language ability played an essential role in parents' healthcare experiences for pragmatic and social purposes. Language challenges can heighten systemic and socio-cultural barriers to accessing health information and resources. The provision of enhanced culturally and linguistically sensitive services may support immigrant families in their caregiving role. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Increased Risk of Rare Cancer as DES Daughters Age

MedlinePlus

... Radon What We Know What States Can Do Case Study: Reducing Radon in Illinois What Comprehensive Cancer Control ... United States. Cancer Causes and Control 2012;23(1):207–211. Stay Informed Language: English (US) Español ( ...

Lower trial participation by culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) cancer patients is largely due to language barriers.

PubMed

Smith, Allan 'Ben'; Agar, Meera; Delaney, Geoff; Descallar, Joseph; Dobell-Brown, Kelsey; Grand, Melissa; Aung, Jennifer; Patel, Pinky; Kaadan, Nasreen; Girgis, Afaf

2018-02-01

Clinical trials play a critical role in advancing cancer care, but international research shows that few cancer patients, particularly culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) patients, participate in trials. This limits generalizability of trial results and increases health disparities. This study aimed to establish rates and correlates of trial participation among CALD patients in South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD), a highly culturally diverse area. Data from all cancer patients diagnosed and/or treated in SWSLHD from January 2006 to July 2016 were analyzed retrospectively. The primary outcome was trial enrolment among patients born in non-English speaking countries (CALD) versus English speaking countries (non-CALD). Multivariable logistic regression evaluated CALD status as a predictor of trial participation. Moderators of trial participation by the different CALD groups, namely those whose preferred language was English (CALD-PLE) or was not English (CALD-PLNE), were examined by testing interactions between CALD status and other demographic and clinical variables. A total of 19 453 patients were analyzed (54.9% non-CALD, 16.5% CALD-PLE, 18.5% CALD-PLNE). Overall, 7.4% of patients were enrolled in a trial. Trial participation was significantly lower in CALD patients than non-CALD patients (5.7% vs 8.4%; odds ratio [OR] = 0.80; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.69-0.91; P = 0.001). CALD-PLNE patients were less likely to participate in trials than non-CALD (OR = 0.45; 95% CI, 0.36-0.56; P < 0.0001) and CALD-PLE patients (OR = 0.53; 95% CI, 0.67-0.41; P < 0.0001). Limited English proficiency seems particularly unfavorable to trial participation. Development and evaluation of strategies to overcome language barriers (e.g. simplified and translated multimedia participant information materials) is needed. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

29 CFR 37.35 - What are a recipient's responsibilities to provide services and information in languages other...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... and information in languages other than English? 37.35 Section 37.35 Labor Office of the Secretary of... other than English? (a) A significant number or proportion of the population eligible to be served, or... services or information in a language other than English in order to be effectively informed about, or able...

The Effect of Bilingual Term List Size on Dictionary-Based Cross-Language Information Retrieval

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-02-01

FEB 2003 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2003 to 00-00-2003 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE The Effect of Bilingual Term List Size on Dictionary ...298 (Rev. 8-98) Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18 The Effect of Bilingual Term List Size on Dictionary -Based Cross-Language Information Retrieval Dina...are extensively used as a resource for dictionary -based Cross-Language Information Retrieval (CLIR), in which the goal is to find documents written

Prostate Cancer Ambassadors: Process and Outcomes of a Prostate Cancer Informed Decision-Making Training Program.

PubMed

Vines, Anissa I; Hunter, Jaimie C; Carlisle, Veronica A; Richmond, Alan N

2016-04-19

African American men bear a higher burden of prostate cancer than Caucasian men, but knowledge about how to make an informed decision about prostate cancer screening is limited. A lay health advisor model was used to train "Prostate Cancer Ambassadors" on prostate cancer risk and symptoms, how to make an informed decision for prostate-specific antigen screening, and how to deliver the information to members of their community. Training consisted of two, 6-hour interactive sessions and was implemented in three predominantly African American communities over an 8-month period between 2013 and 2014. Following training, Ambassadors committed to contacting at least 10 people within 3 months using a toolkit composed of wallet-sized informational cards for distribution, a slide presentation, and a flip chart. Thirty-two Ambassadors were trained, with more than half being females (59%) and half reporting a family history of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer knowledge improved significantly among Ambassadors (p≤ .0001). Self-efficacy improved significantly for performing outreach tasks (p< .0001), and among women in helping a loved one with making an informed decision (p= .005). There was also an improvement in collective efficacy in team members (p= .0003). Twenty-nine of the Ambassadors fulfilled their commitment to reach at least 10 people (average number of contacts per Ambassador was 11). In total, 355 individuals were reached with the prostate cancer information. The Ambassador training program proved successful in training Ambassadors to reach communities about prostate cancer and how to make an informed decision about screening. © The Author(s) 2016.

Postmastectomy Information Needs and Information-seeking Motives for Women with Breast Cancer.

PubMed

Latifi, Masoome; Salimi, Sohrab; Barahmand, Nilofar; Fahimnia, Fateme; Allahbakhshian Farsani, Leili

2018-01-01

Health information-seeking behavior is a key concept in the empowerment of women with breast cancer after mastectomy for self-care management. Thus, a real understanding of their information needs and their information-seeking behavior may open up new opportunities for their postsurgery cares. The current research was conducted to identify the information needs and information-seeking motives of women with breast cancer after mastectomy. This is an applied qualitative research. Samples included 17 women with breast cancer after mastectomy selected from two hospitals of Shahid Mohammadi and Persian Gulf and Omid Central Chemotherapy in Bandar Abbas. Data were collected using semi-structured interview on winter 2014 and analyzed using qualitative content analysis method. Three basic contents were extracted including information needs related to mental health, physical health related to disease and personal daily activities along with their subcategories, and representing common experience and perception of mastectomized women seeking for health information. Furthermore, hope, self-esteem, return to life, and available social support resources were expressed as the main information-seeking motives. Considering research findings, mastectomized women need to receive information in wide range of health and thus pursue purposeful behavior. Hence, it is necessary that required actions and measures are taken by health-care authorities, especially institutions responsible for women health, to support and meet information needs of the patients considering their information-seeking motives.

Cervical Cancer Screening and Perceived Information Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whynes, David K.; Clarke, Katherine; Philips, Zoe; Avis, Mark

2005-01-01

Purpose: To identify women's sources of information about cervical cancer screening, information which women report receiving during Pap consultations, information they would like to receive, and the relationships between perceived information needs, personal characteristics and information sources. Design/methodology/approach: Logistic regression…

Relevant Responding in Pragmatic Language Impairment: The Role of Language Variation in the Information-Soliciting Utterance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vigil, Vannesa T.; Eyer, Julia A.; Hardee, W Paul

2005-01-01

Responding relevantly to an information-soliciting utterance (ISU) is required of a school-age child many times daily. For the child with pragmatic language difficulties, this may be especially problematic, yet clinicians have had few data to design intervention for improving these skills. This small-scale study looks at the ability of a child…

Cancer articles in weekly magazines: useful media to deliver cancer information to the public?

PubMed

Nagata, Masayoshi; Takita, Morihito; Kishi, Yukiko; Kodama, Yuko; Matsumura, Tomoko; Murashige, Naoko; Homma, Yukio; Kami, Masahiro

2013-04-01

Japanese weekly magazines, which have a circulation of over 2 700 000, play important roles in communicating with the public. They offer a wide range of information, entertainment, gossip, politics and economics, and often include articles on cancer. However, cancer articles in magazines have not been systematically analyzed. We investigated cancer-related articles and advertisements in six major Japanese weekly magazines to demonstrate trends in public interest regarding cancer. The total number of articles assessed from July 2009 to December 2010 was 36 914, of which 696 (1.9%) were cancer articles. The total number of advertisements was 21 718, of which 340 (1.6%) were related to cancer. The number of cancer articles demonstrated an upward trend during the study period. Articles focused on lung (n = 145) and urogenital cancer (n = 122). The most common content comprised therapies and diagnosis (n = 340) and case reports on individual patients (n = 160). After a famous Japanese comedian revealed his prostate cancer diagnosis, the number of articles on prostate cancer increased from 2.0 to 6.6 per month. Immunotherapy including some dubious folk therapies was the most frequently reported cancer therapy in articles and advertisements (30.4%). A small group of oncologists were repeatedly referred to in comment sources; 35.6% of comments were presented by only five doctors. Cancer articles in weekly magazines are common paper media for providing cancer information to the public. However, the information provided might place emphasis on unestablished treatments or biased opinions.

Portrayal of childhood cancer in English language magazines in North America: 1970-2001.

PubMed

Clarke, Juanne

2005-01-01

This article is a content and discourse analysis of the portrayal of childhood cancer in English language magazines in North America. In a unique specification of published research on the media portrayal of disease, magazines were divided into three market or audience groupings called (1) science, (2) news/special interest, and (3) other (women/teen/parenting/health). The predominate frames or discoursesin these three groups were compared and differences were found amongst them and discussed in the article. Considerable evidence suggests that people with cancer are stigmatized. In the analyzed media focused on children, those with cancer are highly idealized and stereotyped. On the one hand, this can be thought of as a very positive portrayal of children in this situation. Children are described as if they possess heroic and idealized character traits, appearances, social characteristics, and personalities. Possible links between this idealized, polarized, and biased portrayal of children with cancer and their documented experiences of stigma are discussed.

The Hmong Language: Sounds and Alphabets. General Information Series, No. 14. Indochinese Refugee Education Guides.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Center for Applied Linguistics, Arlington, VA.

The purpose of this guide is to provide Americans working with the Hmongs with: (1) some practical information on the Hmongs, their origins and language; (2) a detailed description of the sounds of the Hmong language; and (3) a discussion on Hmong as an unwritten language. This is the first of three guides to be published on the Hmongs, a people…

The feasibility of using natural language processing to extract clinical information from breast pathology reports.

PubMed

Buckley, Julliette M; Coopey, Suzanne B; Sharko, John; Polubriaginof, Fernanda; Drohan, Brian; Belli, Ahmet K; Kim, Elizabeth M H; Garber, Judy E; Smith, Barbara L; Gadd, Michele A; Specht, Michelle C; Roche, Constance A; Gudewicz, Thomas M; Hughes, Kevin S

2012-01-01

The opportunity to integrate clinical decision support systems into clinical practice is limited due to the lack of structured, machine readable data in the current format of the electronic health record. Natural language processing has been designed to convert free text into machine readable data. The aim of the current study was to ascertain the feasibility of using natural language processing to extract clinical information from >76,000 breast pathology reports. APPROACH AND PROCEDURE: Breast pathology reports from three institutions were analyzed using natural language processing software (Clearforest, Waltham, MA) to extract information on a variety of pathologic diagnoses of interest. Data tables were created from the extracted information according to date of surgery, side of surgery, and medical record number. The variety of ways in which each diagnosis could be represented was recorded, as a means of demonstrating the complexity of machine interpretation of free text. There was widespread variation in how pathologists reported common pathologic diagnoses. We report, for example, 124 ways of saying invasive ductal carcinoma and 95 ways of saying invasive lobular carcinoma. There were >4000 ways of saying invasive ductal carcinoma was not present. Natural language processor sensitivity and specificity were 99.1% and 96.5% when compared to expert human coders. We have demonstrated how a large body of free text medical information such as seen in breast pathology reports, can be converted to a machine readable format using natural language processing, and described the inherent complexities of the task.

Interactions between statistical and semantic information in infant language development

PubMed Central

Lany, Jill; Saffran, Jenny R.

2013-01-01

Infants can use statistical regularities to form rudimentary word categories (e.g. noun, verb), and to learn the meanings common to words from those categories. Using an artificial language methodology, we probed the mechanisms by which two types of statistical cues (distributional and phonological regularities) affect word learning. Because linking distributional cues vs. phonological information to semantics make different computational demands on learners, we also tested whether their use is related to language proficiency. We found that 22-month-old infants with smaller vocabularies generalized using phonological cues; however, infants with larger vocabularies showed the opposite pattern of results, generalizing based on distributional cues. These findings suggest that both phonological and distributional cues marking word categories promote early word learning. Moreover, while correlations between these cues are important to forming word categories, we found infants’ weighting of these cues in subsequent word-learning tasks changes over the course of early language development. PMID:21884336

Sexual Health Concerns Among Cancer Survivors: Testing a Novel Information-Need Measure Among Breast and Prostate Cancer Patients.

PubMed

Crowley, Sheila A; Foley, Sallie M; Wittmann, Daniela; Jagielski, Christina H; Dunn, Rodney L; Clark, Patricia M; Griggs, Jennifer J; Peterson, Catherine; Leonard, Marcia; An, Lawrence C; Wei, John T; Montie, James E; Janz, Nancy K

2016-09-01

While it is recognized that cancer treatment can contribute to problems in sexual function, much less is currently known about the specific sexual health concerns and information needs of cancer survivors. This study tested a new instrument to measure cancer survivors' sexual health concerns and needs for sexual information after cancer treatment. The Information on Sexual Health: Your Needs after Cancer (InSYNC), developed by a multidisciplinary team of experts, is a novel 12-item questionnaire to measure sexual health concerns and information needs of cancer survivors. We tested the measure with a sample of breast and prostate cancer survivors. A convenience sample of 114 cancer survivors (58 breast, 56 prostate) was enrolled. Results of the InSYNC questionnaire showed high levels of sexual concern among cancer survivors. Areas of concern differed by cancer type. Prostate cancer survivors were most concerned about being able to satisfy their partners (57 %) while breast cancer survivors were most concerned with changes in how their bodies worked sexually (46 %). Approximately 35 % of all cancer survivors wanted more information about sexual health. Sexual health concerns and unmet information needs are common among breast and prostate cancer survivors, varying in some aspects by type of cancer. Routine screening for sexual health concerns should be included in comprehensive cancer survivorship care to appropriately address health care needs. The InSYNC questionnaire is one tool that may help clinicians identify concerns facing their patients.

Postmastectomy Information Needs and Information-seeking Motives for Women with Breast Cancer

PubMed Central

Latifi, Masoome; Salimi, Sohrab; Barahmand, Nilofar; Fahimnia, Fateme; Allahbakhshian Farsani, Leili

2018-01-01

Background: Health information-seeking behavior is a key concept in the empowerment of women with breast cancer after mastectomy for self-care management. Thus, a real understanding of their information needs and their information-seeking behavior may open up new opportunities for their postsurgery cares. The current research was conducted to identify the information needs and information-seeking motives of women with breast cancer after mastectomy. Materials and Methods: This is an applied qualitative research. Samples included 17 women with breast cancer after mastectomy selected from two hospitals of Shahid Mohammadi and Persian Gulf and Omid Central Chemotherapy in Bandar Abbas. Data were collected using semi-structured interview on winter 2014 and analyzed using qualitative content analysis method. Results: Three basic contents were extracted including information needs related to mental health, physical health related to disease and personal daily activities along with their subcategories, and representing common experience and perception of mastectomized women seeking for health information. Furthermore, hope, self-esteem, return to life, and available social support resources were expressed as the main information-seeking motives. Conclusion: Considering research findings, mastectomized women need to receive information in wide range of health and thus pursue purposeful behavior. Hence, it is necessary that required actions and measures are taken by health-care authorities, especially institutions responsible for women health, to support and meet information needs of the patients considering their information-seeking motives. PMID:29862224

General Information about Paranasal Sinus and Nasal Cavity Cancer

MedlinePlus

... Cavity Cancer Treatment (Adult) (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Paranasal Sinus and Nasal Cavity Cancer Go ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

Using a Corpus-Informed Pedagogical Intervention to Develop Language Awareness toward Appropriate Lexicogrammatical Choices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fernandez, Julieta; Yuldashev, Aziz

2015-01-01

The corpus-informed pedagogical intervention described in this article was developed for an advanced English as a Second Language (ESL) course designed for prospective International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) and implemented over the course of two class periods. Its primary goal was to offer students opportunities to gain language awareness of…

Cross-Language Differences in Informational Masking of Speech by Speech: English versus Mandarin Chinese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Xihong; Yang, Zhigang; Huang, Ying; Chen, Jing; Li, Liang; Daneman, Meredyth; Schneider, Bruce A.

2011-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine why perceived spatial separation provides a greater release from informational masking in Chinese than English when target sentences in each of the languages are masked by other talkers speaking the same language. Method: Monolingual speakers of English and Mandarin Chinese listened to…

[Establishment of a comprehensive database for laryngeal cancer related genes and the miRNAs].

PubMed

Li, Mengjiao; E, Qimin; Liu, Jialin; Huang, Tingting; Liang, Chuanyu

2015-09-01

By collecting and analyzing the laryngeal cancer related genes and the miRNAs, to build a comprehensive laryngeal cancer-related gene database, which differs from the current biological information database with complex and clumsy structure and focuses on the theme of gene and miRNA, and it could make the research and teaching more convenient and efficient. Based on the B/S architecture, using Apache as a Web server, MySQL as coding language of database design and PHP as coding language of web design, a comprehensive database for laryngeal cancer-related genes was established, providing with the gene tables, protein tables, miRNA tables and clinical information tables of the patients with laryngeal cancer. The established database containsed 207 laryngeal cancer related genes, 243 proteins, 26 miRNAs, and their particular information such as mutations, methylations, diversified expressions, and the empirical references of laryngeal cancer relevant molecules. The database could be accessed and operated via the Internet, by which browsing and retrieval of the information were performed. The database were maintained and updated regularly. The database for laryngeal cancer related genes is resource-integrated and user-friendly, providing a genetic information query tool for the study of laryngeal cancer.

Unmet needs in immigrant cancer survivors: a cross-sectional population-based study.

PubMed

Butow, P N; Bell, M L; Aldridge, L J; Sze, M; Eisenbruch, M; Jefford, M; Schofield, P; Girgis, A; King, M; Duggal, P S; McGrane, J; Goldstein, D

2013-09-01

Social suffering, language difficulties, and cultural factors may all make the cancer experience more difficult for immigrants. This study aimed to document unmet needs, and variables associated with these, in a population-based sample of first-generation immigrants and Anglo-Australians who had survived cancer. Participants were recruited via Australian cancer registries. Eligible cancer survivors had a new diagnosis 1-6 years earlier and were aged between 18 and 80 years at diagnosis. Eligible immigrant participants and parents were born in a country where Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, and other dialects), or Greek is spoken, and they spoke one of these languages. A random sample of English-speaking Anglo-Australian-born controls was recruited. Five hundred ninety-six patients (277 immigrants) were recruited to the study (response rate, 26%). Compared to Anglo-Australians, the adjusted odds ratio of Chinese immigrants for at least one unmet information/support need was 5.1 (95% CI 3.1, 8.3) and for any unmet physical need was 3.1 (95% CI 1.9, 5.1). For Greek, these were 2.0 (95% CI 1.1, 4.0) and 2.7 (95% CI 1.4, 5.2). Arabic patients had elevated, but not statistically significant, odds ratios compared to Anglo-Australians. Written information and having a specialist, support services, and other health professionals who spoke their language were in the top ten unmet needs amongst immigrants. Immigrant cancer survivors, several years after initial diagnosis, are more likely to have an unmet need for information or for help with a physical problem than Anglo-Australians. They strongly desire information and support in their own language.

Machine Translation-Supported Cross-Language Information Retrieval for a Consumer Health Resource

PubMed Central

Rosemblat, Graciela; Gemoets, Darren; Browne, Allen C.; Tse, Tony

2003-01-01

The U.S. National Institutes of Health, through its National Library of Medicine, developed ClinicalTrials.gov to provide the public with easy access to information on clinical trials on a wide range of conditions or diseases. Only English language information retrieval is currently supported. Given the growing number of Spanish speakers in the U.S. and their increasing use of the Web, we anticipate a significant increase in Spanish-speaking users. This study compares the effectiveness of two common cross-language information retrieval methods using machine translation, query translation versus document translation, using a subset of genuine user queries from ClinicalTrials.gov. Preliminary results conducted with the ClinicalTrials.gov search engine show that in our environment, query translation is statistically significantly better than document translation. We discuss possible reasons for this result and we conclude with suggestions for future work. PMID:14728236

Using stochastic language models (SLM) to map lexical, syntactic, and phonological information processing in the brain.

PubMed

Lopopolo, Alessandro; Frank, Stefan L; van den Bosch, Antal; Willems, Roel M

2017-01-01

Language comprehension involves the simultaneous processing of information at the phonological, syntactic, and lexical level. We track these three distinct streams of information in the brain by using stochastic measures derived from computational language models to detect neural correlates of phoneme, part-of-speech, and word processing in an fMRI experiment. Probabilistic language models have proven to be useful tools for studying how language is processed as a sequence of symbols unfolding in time. Conditional probabilities between sequences of words are at the basis of probabilistic measures such as surprisal and perplexity which have been successfully used as predictors of several behavioural and neural correlates of sentence processing. Here we computed perplexity from sequences of words and their parts of speech, and their phonemic transcriptions. Brain activity time-locked to each word is regressed on the three model-derived measures. We observe that the brain keeps track of the statistical structure of lexical, syntactic and phonological information in distinct areas.

Negative information seeking experiences of long-term prostate cancer survivors

PubMed Central

Bernat, Jennifer K.; Skolarus, Ted A.; Hawley, Sarah T.; Haggstrom, David A.; Darwish-Yassine, May; Wittmann, Daniela A.

2016-01-01

Purpose Many prostate cancer survivors have lasting symptoms and disease-related concerns for which they seek information. To understand survivors’ information seeking experiences, we examined the topics of their information searches, their overall perceptions of the search, and perceptions of their health information seeking self-efficacy (i.e., confidence in their ability to obtain information). We hypothesized that negative search experiences and lower health information seeking self-efficacy would be associated with certain survivor characteristics such as non-white race, low income, and less education. Methods This was a retrospective study using data from the Michigan Prostate Cancer Survivor Study (state-based survey of long-term prostate cancer survivor outcomes, N=2,499, response rate = 38%). Participants recalled their last search for information and reported the topics and overall experience. We conducted multivariable regression to examine the association between survivor characteristics and the information-seeking experience. Results Nearly a third (31.7%) of prostate cancer survivors (median age of 76 years and 9 years since diagnosis) reported having negative information seeking experiences when looking for information. However, only 13.4% reported having low health information seeking self-efficacy. Lower income and less education were both significantly associated with negative information seeking experiences. Conclusions Our findings suggest that many long-term prostate cancer survivors have negative experiences when searching for information, and lower income and less education were survivor factors related to negative information seeking experiences. Implications for cancer survivors We advocate for ongoing, information needs assessment at the point-of-care as the survivorship experience progresses to assess and potentially improve survivors’ quality of life. PMID:27229868

The M-Learning Experience of Language Learners in Informal Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sendurur, Emine; Efendioglu, Esra; Çaliskan, Neslihan Yondemir; Boldbaatar, Nomin; Kandin, Emine; Namazli, Sevinç

2017-01-01

This study is designed to understand the informal language learners' experiences of m-learning applications. The aim is two-folded: (i) to extract the reasons why m-learning applications are preferred and (ii) to explore the user experience of Duolingo m-learning application. We interviewed 18 voluntary Duolingo users. The findings suggest that…

Culturally-Relevant Online Cancer Education Modules Empower Alaska's Community Health Aides/Practitioners to Disseminate Cancer Information and Reduce Cancer Risk.

PubMed

Cueva, Katie; Revels, Laura; Cueva, Melany; Lanier, Anne P; Dignan, Mark; Viswanath, K; Fung, Teresa T; Geller, Alan C

2017-04-12

To address a desire for timely, medically accurate cancer education in rural Alaska, ten culturally relevant online learning modules were developed with, and for, Alaska's Community Health Aides/Practitioners (CHA/Ps). The project was guided by the framework of Community-Based Participatory Action Research, honored Indigenous Ways of Knowing, and was informed by Empowerment Theory. A total of 428 end-of-module evaluation surveys were completed by 89 unique Alaska CHA/Ps between January and December 2016. CHA/Ps shared that as a result of completing the modules, they were empowered to share cancer information with their patients, families, friends, and communities, as well as engage in cancer risk reduction behaviors such as eating healthier, getting cancer screenings, exercising more, and quitting tobacco. CHA/Ps also reported the modules were informative and respectful of their diverse cultures. These results from end-of-module evaluation surveys suggest that the collaboratively developed, culturally relevant, online cancer education modules have empowered CHA/Ps to reduce cancer risk and disseminate cancer information. "brought me to tears couple of times, and I think it will help in destroying the silence that surrounds cancer".

Cancer-related information seeking and scanning behavior of older Vietnamese immigrants.

PubMed

Nguyen, Giang T; Shungu, Nicholas P; Niederdeppe, Jeff; Barg, Frances K; Holmes, John H; Armstrong, Katrina; Hornik, Robert C

2010-10-01

Information seeking and scanning refers to active pursuit of information and passive exposure, respectively. Cancer is the leading cause of mortality for Asian Americans, yet little is known about their cancer information seeking/scanning behaviors (SSB). We aimed to evaluate cancer SSB among older limited English proficient (LEP) Vietnamese immigrants, compared with Whites/African Americans. One hundred four semistructured interviews about breast/prostate/colon cancer SSB (ages 50-70) were conducted in English and Vietnamese, transcribed, and coded for frequency of source use, active/passive nature, depth of recall, and relevance to decisions. Higher SSB was associated with cancer screening. In contrast to non-Vietnamese, SSB for Vietnamese was low. Median number of cancer screening sources was two (vs. eight to nine for non-Vietnamese). They also had less seeking, lower recall, and less decision-making relevance for information on colon cancer and all cancers combined. Overall, Vietnamese had lower use of electronic, print, and interpersonal sources for cancer SSB, but more research is needed to disentangle potential effects of ethnicity and education. This study brings to light striking potential differences between cancer SSB of older LEP Vietnamese compared with Whites/African Americans. Knowledge of SSB patterns among linguistically isolated communities is essential for efficient dissemination of cancer information to these at-risk communities.

Infants' Selectively Pay Attention to the Information They Receive from a Native Speaker of Their Language.

PubMed

Marno, Hanna; Guellai, Bahia; Vidal, Yamil; Franzoi, Julia; Nespor, Marina; Mehler, Jacques

2016-01-01

From the first moments of their life, infants show a preference for their native language, as well as toward speakers with whom they share the same language. This preference appears to have broad consequences in various domains later on, supporting group affiliations and collaborative actions in children. Here, we propose that infants' preference for native speakers of their language also serves a further purpose, specifically allowing them to efficiently acquire culture specific knowledge via social learning. By selectively attending to informants who are native speakers of their language and who probably also share the same cultural background with the infant, young learners can maximize the possibility to acquire cultural knowledge. To test whether infants would preferably attend the information they receive from a speaker of their native language, we familiarized 12-month-old infants with a native and a foreign speaker, and then presented them with movies where each of the speakers silently gazed toward unfamiliar objects. At test, infants' looking behavior to the two objects alone was measured. Results revealed that infants preferred to look longer at the object presented by the native speaker. Strikingly, the effect was replicated also with 5-month-old infants, indicating an early development of such preference. These findings provide evidence that young infants pay more attention to the information presented by a person with whom they share the same language. This selectivity can serve as a basis for efficient social learning by influencing how infants' allocate attention between potential sources of information in their environment.

[Quality of information in the process of informed consent for anesthesia].

PubMed

Guillén-Perales, José; Luna-Maldonado, Aurelio; Fernández-Prada, María; Guillén-Solvas, José Francisco; Bueno-Cavanillas, Aurora

2013-11-01

To assess the quality of the information that patients receive in the informed consent document signed prior to surgery. Cross-sectional study of a sample of cancer patients admitted for surgery at the University Hospital San Cecilio of Granada in 2011. After checking the inclusion criteria and obtaining their consent, demographic data were collected and procedure data, and a questionnaire «ad hoc» to assess the quality and comprehensiveness of the information provided in the informed consent. 150 patients were studied. The majority (109 over 150) said they had received sufficient information, in appropriate language, and had the opportunity to ask questions, but only 44.7% correctly answered three or more issues related to anesthesia. University education level, knowledge of the intervention, information about the anesthesia problems and appropriate language were associated. Although systematic informed consent was performed, half of the patients did not comprehend the anesthesia risks. Variables primarily related to the information received were associated with the quality of the response, but not with patient characteristics. Copyright © 2013 AEC. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

[Quality of diagnosis information given to terminal cancer patients].

PubMed

Font-Ritort, Sergi; Martos-Gutiérrez, José Antonio; Montoro-Lorite, Mercedes; Mundet-Pons, Lluís

To determine the information that terminal cancer patients have about their diagnosis, identifying key words used, and quantifying the conspiracy of silence. A cross-sectional, analytical study was conducted by reviewing the hospice support team data base which contains the medical history and a semi-structured interview with terminal cancer patients in the first visit to the hospice. Demographic and socioeconomic data was collected, as well as relevant clinical information (diagnosis, prevalent symptoms, number of symptoms, patient functionality, QoL, information given, and words used). Out of total of sample of 723 records, 77.87% (95% CI: 74.70-80.74) of the patients were properly informed about their diagnosis. The most used words were cancer in 26% of the patients, tumour in 51.59%, and for the remaining 10.65%, the word inflammation was used. Statistically significant differences of information were found between sexes, age, types of cancer, and hospital ward. Terminal cancer patients have knowledge on their diagnosis, suggesting that the conspiracy of silence is present to a lesser extent. This knowledge is transmitted using different words and with euphemisms. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the Quality of Online Information for Patients with Rare Cancers: Thyroid Cancer.

PubMed

Kuenzel, Ulrike; Monga Sindeu, Tabea; Schroth, Sarah; Huebner, Jutta; Herth, Natalie

2017-01-24

The Internet offers an easy and quick access to a vast amount of patient information. However, several studies point to the poor quality of many websites and the resulting hazards of false information. The aim of this study was to assess quality of information on thyroid cancer. A patients' search for information about thyroid cancer on German websites was simulated using the search engine Google and the patient portal "Patienten-Information.de". The websites were assessed using a standardized instrument with formal and content aspects from the German Cancer Society. Supporting the results of prior studies that analysed patient information on the Internet, the data showed that the quality of patient information on thyroid cancer is highly heterogeneous depending on the website providers. The majority of website providers are represented by media and health providers other than health insurances, practices and professionals offering patient information of relatively poor quality. Moreover, most websites offer patient information of low-quality content. Only a few trustworthy, high-quality websites exist. Especially Google, a common search engine, focuses more on the dissemination of information than on quality aspects. In order to improve the patient information from the Internet, the visibility of high-quality websites must be improved. For that, education programs to improve patients' eHealth literacy are needed. A quick and easy evaluation tool for online information suited for patients should be implemented, and patients should be taught to integrate such a tool into their research process.

An assessment of the information-seeking abilities and needs of practicing speech-language pathologists

PubMed Central

Nail-Chiwetalu, Barbara; Bernstein Ratner, Nan

2007-01-01

Objectives: This study assessed the information-seeking practices and needs of speech-language pathologists (SLPs). Improved understanding of these needs can inform librarians and educators to better prepare students in principles and methods of evidence-based practice (EBP) and, through continuing education (CE), promote the integration of EBP into clinical practice of SLPs. Methods: A 16-question survey was mailed to 1,000 certified speech-language pathologists in the United States. Results: Two hundred and eight usable surveys were returned for a response rate of 21%. For clinical questions, SLPs most often consulted with a colleague, participated in CE activities, and searched the open Internet. Few respondents relied on scholarly journal articles for assistance with clinical cases. The most prominent barriers to finding appropriate information were time and knowledge of where and how to find relevant information. Few reported having information literacy instruction by a librarian. Discussion: If EBP is to become a viable practice in clinical decision making, there appears to be a tremendous need for information literacy instruction in the university curriculum, as well as through CE activities for currently practicing SLPs. Given respondents' reported lack of time and limited access to full-text journals containing evidence relevant to clinical practice, the field of speech-language pathology will need to generate readily accessible clinical summaries of research evidence through meta-analyses, systematic reviews, and clinical practice guidelines. PMID:17443251

78 FR 13394 - 30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Office of Language Services Contractor...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-27

... of Language Services Contractor Application Form ACTION: Notice of request for public comment and...: Title of Information Collection: Office of Language Services Contractor Application Form. OMB Control... States. If candidates successfully become contractors for the U.S. Department of State, Office of...

Information in the Language Sciences: Proceedings of the Conference Held at Warrenton, Virginia, March 4-6, 1966.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freeman, Robert R., Ed.; And Others

This collection of 22 papers from the Conference on Information in the Language Sciences held in Warrenton, Va., in 1966, sponsored by the Center for Applied Linguistics, stresses three themes: general trends, information needs of the languages sciences, and system design. Discussions attempt to formulate modern rational approaches to the complex…

Research information knowledge, perceived adequacy, and understanding in cancer clinical trial participants.

PubMed

Biedrzycki, Barbara A

2011-07-01

To describe the adequacy of research information among people with cancer at the time they accept or decline participation in a cancer clinical trial. Cross-sectional, descriptive. An urban, academic, National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. 197 patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer. Mailed survey; self-reported data. Adequacy of research information (actual knowledge, perceived adequacy of information, and perceived understanding), cancer clinical trial participation, and satisfaction with the decision to participate. Most respondents (88%) perceived themselves as having adequate information to make an informed decision regarding cancer clinical trial participation. In addition, 35% demonstrated adequate knowledge of basic clinical research. Patients decide to accept or decline cancer clinical trials without having adequate knowledge. Nurses have an important role in educating patients regarding cancer clinical trials. The ideal teachable moment may not occur at the time of diagnosis; other less stressful opportunities may present when the patient is more receptive.

An Investigation into Chinese College English Teachers' Beliefs of Students' Web-Based Informal Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jiang, Jiahong

2016-01-01

With the rapid development of information and technology, language learners have more ways to acquire the target language. Recently, WILL has gained popularity, for informal web-based learning of English has been depicted as a process driven by the purpose of communication. Thus, teachers have many challenges when teaching learners who have…

Participation of Asian-American women in cancer treatment research: a pilot study.

PubMed

Nguyen, Tung T; Somkin, Carol P; Ma, Yifei; Fung, Lei-Chun; Nguyen, Thoa

2005-01-01

Few Asian-American women participate in cancer treatment trials. In a pilot study to assess barriers to participation, we mailed surveys to 132 oncologists and interviewed 19 Asian-American women with cancer from Northern California. Forty-four oncologists responded. They reported as barriers language problems, lack of culturally relevant cancer information, and complex protocols. Most stated that they informed Asian-American women about treatment trials. Only four women interviewed knew about trials. Other patient-identified barriers were fear of side effects, language problems, competing needs, and fear of experimentation. Family decision making was a barrier for both oncologists and patients. Compared to non-Asian oncologists, more Asian oncologists have referred Asian-American women to industry trials and identified barriers similar to patients' reports. Our findings indicate that Asian-American women need to be informed about cancer treatment trials, linguistic barriers should be addressed, and future research should evaluate cultural barriers such as family decision making.

Participation of Asian-American Women in Cancer Treatment Research: A Pilot Study

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Tung T.; Somkin, Carol P.; Ma, Yifei; Fung, Lei-Chun; Nguyen, Thoa

2006-01-01

Few Asian-American women participate in cancer treatment trials. In a pilot study to assess barriers to participation, we mailed surveys to 132 oncologists and interviewed 19 Asian-American women with cancer from Northern California. Forty-four oncologists responded. They reported as barriers language problems, lack of culturally relevant cancer information, and complex protocols. Most stated that they informed Asian-American women about treatment trials. Only four women interviewed knew about trials. Other patient-identified barriers were fear of side effects, language problems, competing needs, and fear of experimentation. Family decision making was a barrier for both oncologists and patients. Compared to non-Asian oncologists, more Asian oncologists have referred Asian-American women to industry trials and identified barriers similar to patients’ reports. Our findings indicate that Asian-American women need to be informed about cancer treatment trials, linguistic barriers should be addressed, and future research should evaluate cultural barriers such as family decision making. PMID:16287894

YouTube as a Source of Information on Cervical Cancer.

PubMed

Adhikari, Janak; Sharma, Priyadarshani; Arjyal, Lubina; Uprety, Dipesh

2016-04-01

Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide. Accurate information about cervical cancer to general public can lower the burden of the disease including its mortality. We aimed to look at the quality of information available in YouTube for cervical cancer. We searched YouTube (http://www.youtube.com) for videos using the keyword Cervical cancer on November 12, 2015. Videos were then analyzed for their source and content of information. We studied 172 videos using the keyword Cervical cancer on November 12, 2015. We found that there were videos describing the personal stories, risk factors, and the importance of screening. However, videos discussing all the aspects of cancers were lacking. Likewise, videos from the reputed organization were also lacking. Although there were numerous videos available in cervical cancer, videos from reputed organizations including Center for Disease Control and Prevention, American Cancer Society, and World Health Organization were lacking. We strongly believe that quality videos from such organizations via YouTube can help lower the burden of disease.

Impact of Spanish-language information sessions on Spanish-speaking patients seeking bariatric surgery.

PubMed

Martin, Allison N; Marino, Miguel; Killerby, Marie; Rosselli-Risal, Liliana; Isom, Kellene A; Robinson, Malcolm K

2017-06-01

Bariatric centers frequently provide preoperative educational programs to inform patients about the risks and benefits of weight loss surgery. However, most programs are conducted in English, which may create barriers to effective treatment and access to care for non-English speaking populations. To address this concern, we instituted a comprehensive Spanish-language education program consisting of preoperative information and group nutrition classes conducted entirely in, and supported with Spanish-language materials. The primary aim was to examine the effect of this intervention on Spanish-speaking patients' decision to undergo surgery in a pilot study. University Hospital/Community Health Center, United States. Three cohorts of patients seeking bariatric surgery between January 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012 were identified: 1) primary English speakers attending English-language programs ("English-English"); 2) primary Spanish speakers attending Spanish-language programs ("Spanish-Spanish"); and 3) primary Spanish speakers attending English-speaking programs with the assistance of a Spanish-to-English translator ("Spanish-English"). 26% of the English-English cohort ultimately underwent surgery compared with only 12% of the Spanish-Spanish cohort (P = .009). Compared with the English-English group, time to surgery was 35 days longer for the Spanish-Spanish and 185 days longer for the Spanish-English group (both P< .001). Spanish-speaking patients were less likely to undergo bariatric surgery regardless of the language in which educational sessions are provided. For those choosing surgery, providing Spanish-language sessions can shorten time to surgery. A barrier to effective obesity treatment may exist for Spanish speakers, which may be only partially overcome by providing support in Spanish. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Motivation within the Information Processing Model of Foreign Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manolopoulou-Sergi, Eleni

2004-01-01

The present article highlights the importance of the motivational construct for the foreign language learning (FLL) process. More specifically, in the present article it is argued that motivation is likely to play a significant role at all three stages of the FLL process as they are discussed within the information processing model of FLL, namely,…

E-loyalty towards a cancer information website: applying a theoretical framework.

PubMed

Crutzen, Rik; Beekers, Nienke; van Eenbergen, Mies; Becker, Monique; Jongen, Lilian; van Osch, Liesbeth

2014-06-01

To provide more insight into user perceptions related to e-loyalty towards a cancer information website. This is needed to assure adequate provision of high quality information during the full process of cancer treatment-from diagnosis to after care-and an important first step towards optimizing cancer information websites in order to promote e-loyalty. Participants were cancer patients (n = 63) and informal caregivers (n = 202) that visited a website providing regional information about cancer care for all types of cancer. Subsequently, they filled out a questionnaire assessing e-loyalty towards the website and user perceptions (efficiency, effectiveness, active trust and enjoyment) based on a theoretical framework derived from the field of e-commerce. A structural equation model was constructed to test the relationships between user perceptions and e-loyalty. Participants in general could find the information they were looking for (efficiency), thought it was relevant (effectiveness) and that they could act upon it (active trust) and thought the visit itself was pleasant (enjoyment). Effectiveness and enjoyment were both positively related with e-loyalty, but this was mediated by active trust. Efficiency was positively related with e-loyalty. The explained variance of e-loyalty was high (R(2)  = 0.70). This study demonstrates that the importance of user perceptions is not limited to fields such as e-commerce but is also present within the context of cancer information websites. The high information need among participants might explain the positive relationship between efficiency and e-loyalty. Therefore, cancer information websites need to foster easy search and access of information provided. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Language Learning Strategies and English Proficiency: Interpretations from Information-Processing Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rao, Zhenhui

2016-01-01

The research reported here investigated the relationship between students' use of language learning strategies and their English proficiency, and then interpreted the data from two models in information-processing theory. Results showed that the students' English proficiency significantly affected their use of learning strategies, with high-level…

Automated Extraction and Classification of Cancer Stage Mentions fromUnstructured Text Fields in a Central Cancer Registry

PubMed Central

AAlAbdulsalam, Abdulrahman K.; Garvin, Jennifer H.; Redd, Andrew; Carter, Marjorie E.; Sweeny, Carol; Meystre, Stephane M.

2018-01-01

Cancer stage is one of the most important prognostic parameters in most cancer subtypes. The American Joint Com-mittee on Cancer (AJCC) specifies criteria for staging each cancer type based on tumor characteristics (T), lymph node involvement (N), and tumor metastasis (M) known as TNM staging system. Information related to cancer stage is typically recorded in clinical narrative text notes and other informal means of communication in the Electronic Health Record (EHR). As a result, human chart-abstractors (known as certified tumor registrars) have to search through volu-minous amounts of text to extract accurate stage information and resolve discordance between different data sources. This study proposes novel applications of natural language processing and machine learning to automatically extract and classify TNM stage mentions from records at the Utah Cancer Registry. Our results indicate that TNM stages can be extracted and classified automatically with high accuracy (extraction sensitivity: 95.5%–98.4% and classification sensitivity: 83.5%–87%). PMID:29888032

Automated Extraction and Classification of Cancer Stage Mentions fromUnstructured Text Fields in a Central Cancer Registry.

PubMed

AAlAbdulsalam, Abdulrahman K; Garvin, Jennifer H; Redd, Andrew; Carter, Marjorie E; Sweeny, Carol; Meystre, Stephane M

2018-01-01

Cancer stage is one of the most important prognostic parameters in most cancer subtypes. The American Joint Com-mittee on Cancer (AJCC) specifies criteria for staging each cancer type based on tumor characteristics (T), lymph node involvement (N), and tumor metastasis (M) known as TNM staging system. Information related to cancer stage is typically recorded in clinical narrative text notes and other informal means of communication in the Electronic Health Record (EHR). As a result, human chart-abstractors (known as certified tumor registrars) have to search through volu-minous amounts of text to extract accurate stage information and resolve discordance between different data sources. This study proposes novel applications of natural language processing and machine learning to automatically extract and classify TNM stage mentions from records at the Utah Cancer Registry. Our results indicate that TNM stages can be extracted and classified automatically with high accuracy (extraction sensitivity: 95.5%-98.4% and classification sensitivity: 83.5%-87%).

Unmet information needs and limited health literacy in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients over the course of cancer treatment.

PubMed

Halbach, Sarah Maria; Ernstmann, Nicole; Kowalski, Christoph; Pfaff, Holger; Pförtner, Timo-Kolja; Wesselmann, Simone; Enders, Anna

2016-09-01

To investigate unmet information needs in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients over the course of cancer treatment and its association with health literacy. We present results from a prospective, multicenter cohort study (PIAT). Newly diagnosed breast cancer patients (N=1060) were surveyed directly after breast cancer surgery, 10 and 40 weeks later. Pooled linear regression modeling was employed analyzing changes in unmet information needs over time and its association with health literacy. Unmet information needs on side effects and medication and medical examination results and treatment options were high and increased during the first 10 weeks after breast cancer surgery. Considering health promotion and social issues, unmet information needs started high and decreased during post-treatment. Patients with limited health literacy had higher unmet information needs. Our results indicate a mismatch in information provision and breast cancer patients' information needs. Patients with limited health literacy may be at a distinct disadvantage in having their information needs met over the course of breast cancer treatment. Strategies are needed to reduce unmet information needs in breast cancer patients considering treatment-phase and health literacy and thereby enable them to better cope with their diseases. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spanish-Language Consumer Health Information Technology Interventions: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Chaet, Alexis V; Morshedi, Bijan; Wells, Kristen J; Barnes, Laura E

2016-01-01

Background As consumer health information technology (IT) becomes more thoroughly integrated into patient care, it is critical that these tools are appropriate for the diverse patient populations whom they are intended to serve. Cultural differences associated with ethnicity are one aspect of diversity that may play a role in user-technology interactions. Objective Our aim was to evaluate the current scope of consumer health IT interventions targeted to the US Spanish-speaking Latino population and to characterize these interventions in terms of technological attributes, health domains, cultural tailoring, and evaluation metrics. Methods A narrative synthesis was conducted of existing Spanish-language consumer health IT interventions indexed within health and computer science databases. Database searches were limited to English-language articles published between January 1990 and September 2015. Studies were included if they detailed an assessment of a patient-centered electronic technology intervention targeting health within the US Spanish-speaking Latino population. Included studies were required to have a majority Latino population sample. The following were extracted from articles: first author’s last name, publication year, population characteristics, journal domain, health domain, technology platform and functionality, available languages of intervention, US region, cultural tailoring, intervention delivery location, study design, and evaluation metrics. Results We included 42 studies in the review. Most of the studies were published between 2009 and 2015 and had a majority percentage of female study participants. The mean age of participants ranged from 15 to 68. Interventions most commonly focused on urban population centers and within the western region of the United States. Of articles specifying a technology domain, computer was found to be most common; however, a fairly even distribution across all technologies was noted. Cancer, diabetes, and child

Spanish-Language Consumer Health Information Technology Interventions: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Chaet, Alexis V; Morshedi, Bijan; Wells, Kristen J; Barnes, Laura E; Valdez, Rupa

2016-08-10

As consumer health information technology (IT) becomes more thoroughly integrated into patient care, it is critical that these tools are appropriate for the diverse patient populations whom they are intended to serve. Cultural differences associated with ethnicity are one aspect of diversity that may play a role in user-technology interactions. Our aim was to evaluate the current scope of consumer health IT interventions targeted to the US Spanish-speaking Latino population and to characterize these interventions in terms of technological attributes, health domains, cultural tailoring, and evaluation metrics. A narrative synthesis was conducted of existing Spanish-language consumer health IT interventions indexed within health and computer science databases. Database searches were limited to English-language articles published between January 1990 and September 2015. Studies were included if they detailed an assessment of a patient-centered electronic technology intervention targeting health within the US Spanish-speaking Latino population. Included studies were required to have a majority Latino population sample. The following were extracted from articles: first author's last name, publication year, population characteristics, journal domain, health domain, technology platform and functionality, available languages of intervention, US region, cultural tailoring, intervention delivery location, study design, and evaluation metrics. We included 42 studies in the review. Most of the studies were published between 2009 and 2015 and had a majority percentage of female study participants. The mean age of participants ranged from 15 to 68. Interventions most commonly focused on urban population centers and within the western region of the United States. Of articles specifying a technology domain, computer was found to be most common; however, a fairly even distribution across all technologies was noted. Cancer, diabetes, and child, infant, or maternal health were the

Cancer-related information needs and cancer's impact on control over life influence health-related quality of life among adolescents and young adults with cancer.

PubMed

DeRouen, Mindy C; Smith, Ashley Wilder; Tao, Li; Bellizzi, Keith M; Lynch, Charles F; Parsons, Helen M; Kent, Erin E; Keegan, Theresa H M

2015-09-01

Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) diagnosed with cancer between 15 and 39 years of age often report need for greater amounts of cancer-related information and perceive that cancer has had a negative impact on control over their life. We examined whether unmet information need and perceived control over life are associated with health-related quality of life (HRQOL). We examined data from 484 AYA cancer survivors recruited from population-based cancer registries in 2007-2008. Participants completed surveys a median of 11 months after diagnosis. Multivariable linear regression analyses estimated associations of unmet cancer-related information needs and impact of cancer on control over life on HRQOL (SF-12). Two-thirds of AYAs reported an intermediate or high level of unmet information need, and half (47%) reported a negative impact of cancer on control. Greater unmet information need was associated with lower overall mental and physical HRQOL and lower levels of all HRQOL subscales except vitality. A negative impact on control over life was associated with lower overall mental HRQOL as well as lower HRQOL across all subscales except general health perceptions (all p <0.05). In multivariable analyses, perceived control and unmet information need were independently associated with HRQOL (p-values for interaction >0.1). Adolescent and young adult patients with cancer have high levels of unmet cancer-related information needs and perceived negative impact of cancer on control over life; both were independently associated with lower HRQOL. Addressing unmet information needs among AYA cancer survivors and finding ways to increase their sense of control may help improve HRQOL in this understudied population. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Availability of Information About Lifestyle for Cancer Survivors in England: A Review of Statutory and Charitable Sector Organizations and Cancer Centers.

PubMed

Williams, Kate; Fisher, Abigail; Beeken, Rebecca J; Wardle, Jane

2015-03-09

Health behavior change following a cancer diagnosis has the potential to improve long-term outcomes. However, many patients do not receive professional advice about lifestyle and are therefore increasingly using the Internet to seek further information. The statutory and charitable sectors and cancer centers all play an important role in the provision of information and have been found to be favored by cancer survivors searching for information. However, to date there has been no systematic evaluation of the lifestyle information available online for cancer survivors. The purpose of this review was to identify the lifestyle information provided for cancer survivors by statutory and charitable sector organizations and cancer centers in the United Kingdom. We aimed to identify information on tobacco, physical activity, diet, weight, and alcohol designed for people who have been diagnosed with breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer. The National Health Service (NHS) website was the focus of the search for information provided by the statutory sector. Cancer centers were identified from the Organization of European Cancer Institutes and an Internet search, and charitable sector organizations were identified by searching the Charity Commission database. The three largest generic, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer charitable organizations were included. A systematic search of the organizations was conducted to identify lifestyle information for cancer survivors. Ten organizations had some lifestyle information for cancer survivors on their websites. The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Macmillan Cancer Support, and Prostate Cancer UK had the most comprehensive guides, covering physical activity, diet, weight management, smoking, and alcohol. The NHS website did not provide any information but had a link to Cancer Research UK's information about diet. Eight organizations suggested talking to a health professional before making any changes. The majority of

Cancer Information Seeking Among Adult New Zealanders: a National Cross-Sectional Study.

PubMed

Richards, Rosalina; McNoe, Bronwen; Iosua, Ella; Reeder, Anthony; Egan, Richard; Marsh, Louise; Robertson, Lindsay; Maclennan, Brett; Dawson, Anna; Quigg, Robin; Petersen, Anne-Cathrine

2018-06-01

Organisations seeking to establish themselves as leading cancer information sources for the public need to understand patterns and motivators for information seeking. This study describes cancer information seeking among New Zealanders through a national cross-sectional survey conducted in 2014/15 with a population-based sample of adults (18 years and over). Participants were asked if they had sought information about cancer during the past 12 months, the type of information they sought, what prompted them to look for information and ways of getting information they found helpful. Telephone interviews were completed by 1064 participants (588 females, 476 males, 64% response rate). Of these, 33.8% of females and 23.3% of males (total, 29.2%) had searched for information about cancer over the past year. A search was most frequently prompted by a cancer diagnosis of a family member or friend (43.3%), a desire to educate themselves (17.5%), experience of potential symptoms or a positive screening test (9.4%), family history of cancer (8.9%) or the respondent's own cancer diagnosis (7.7%). Across the cancer control spectrum, the information sought was most commonly about treatment and survival (20.2%), symptoms/early detection (17.2%) or risk factors (14.2%), although many were general or non-specific queries (50.0%). The internet was most commonly identified as a helpful source of information (71.7%), followed by health professionals (35.8%), and reading material (e.g. books, pamphlets) (14.7%).This study provides a snapshot of cancer information seeking in New Zealand, providing valuable knowledge to help shape resource delivery to better meet the diverse needs of information seekers and address potential unmet needs, where information seeking is less prevalent.

Quality of prostate cancer screening information on the websites of nationally recognized cancer centers and health organizations.

PubMed

Manole, Bogdan-Alexandru; Wakefield, Daniel V; Dove, Austin P; Dulaney, Caleb R; Marcrom, Samuel R; Schwartz, David L; Farmer, Michael R

2017-12-24

The purpose of this study was to survey the accessibility and quality of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening information from National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer center and public health organization Web sites. We surveyed the December 1, 2016, version of all 63 NCI-designated cancer center public Web sites and 5 major online clearinghouses from allied public/private organizations (cancer.gov, cancer.org, PCF.org, USPSTF.org, and CDC.gov). Web sites were analyzed according to a 50-item list of validated health care information quality measures. Web sites were graded by 2 blinded reviewers. Interrater agreement was confirmed by Cohen kappa coefficient. Ninety percent of Web sites addressed PSA screening. Cancer center sites covered 45% of topics surveyed, whereas organization Web sites addressed 70%. All organizational Web pages addressed the possibility of false-positive screening results; 41% of cancer center Web pages did not. Forty percent of cancer center Web pages also did not discuss next steps if a PSA test was positive. Only 6% of cancer center Web pages were rated by our reviewers as "superior" (eg, addressing >75% of the surveyed topics) versus 20% of organizational Web pages. Interrater agreement between our reviewers was high (kappa coefficient = 0.602). NCI-designated cancer center Web sites publish lower quality public information about PSA screening than sites run by major allied organizations. Nonetheless, information and communication deficiencies were observed across all surveyed sites. In an age of increasing patient consumerism, prospective prostate cancer patients would benefit from improved online PSA screening information from provider and advocacy organizations. Validated cancer patient Web educational standards remain an important, understudied priority. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

General Information About Ovarian, Fallopian Tube, and Primary Peritoneal Cancer

MedlinePlus

... condition or to keep cancer from starting. General Information About Ovarian, Fallopian Tube, and Primary Peritoneal Cancer ... PDQ Screening and Prevention Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

Preferences for (In)Formal Language: Correlations with Attitudes toward Linguistic Variation, Multilingualism, Tolerance of Ambiguity, and Residence Abroad

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Compernolle, Rémi A.

2017-01-01

Drawing on data collected via a web-based survey, the study investigates the relationship between preferences for (in)formal language and attitudes toward linguistic variation among a large group of monolingual and multilingual adults (n = 379). Also explored are the links between preferences for (in)formal language and several secondary…

Readability Statistics of Patient Information Leaflets in a Speech and Language Therapy Department

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pothier, Louise; Day, Rachael; Harris, Catherine; Pothier, David D.

2008-01-01

Background: Information leaflets are commonly used in Speech and Language Therapy Departments. Despite widespread use, they can be of variable quality. Aims: To revise current departmental leaflets using the National Health Service (NHS) Toolkit for Producing Patient Information and to test the effect that this has on the readability scores of the…

Natural Language Processing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chowdhury, Gobinda G.

2003-01-01

Discusses issues related to natural language processing, including theoretical developments; natural language understanding; tools and techniques; natural language text processing systems; abstracting; information extraction; information retrieval; interfaces; software; Internet, Web, and digital library applications; machine translation for…

Processing of Formational, Semantic, and Iconic Information in American Sign Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poizner, Howard; And Others

1981-01-01

Three experiments examined short-term encoding processes of deaf signers for different aspects of signs from American Sign Language. Results indicated that deaf signers code signs at one level in terms of linguistically significant formational parameters. The semantic and iconic information of signs, however, has little effect on short-term…

Enhancing Beginners' Second Language Learning through an Informal Online Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chakowa, Jessica

2018-01-01

Web 2.0 tools are used increasingly to support second language learning, but there have been limited studies involving beginner learners, multiple technologies, and informal settings. This current study addresses this gap and investigates the factors affecting students' interest in a nongraded online learning environment and what kinds of tools,…

Information model design health service childhood cancer for parents and caregivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramli, Syazwani; Muda, Zurina

2015-05-01

Most Malaysians do not realize that they are suffer from a chronic disease until the disease is confirmed to be at a critical stage. This is because lack of awareness among Malaysians about a chronic disease especially in a childhood cancer. Based on report of the National Cancer Council (MAKNA),11 million adults and children suffered with cancer and 6 million of them die in a worldwide. Lack of public exposure to this disease leads to health problems to their children. Information model design health service childhood cancer for p arents and caregivers using an android application medium can be used by a doctor to deliver an information of cancer to the parents and caregivers. The development of this information model design health service childhood cancer for parents and caregivers are using an integration of health promotion theory, spiral model and lean model to form a new model that can be used as a model design content of health service. The method using in this study are by an interview technique and questionnaires along the study was conducted. Hopefully the production of this information model design health service childhood cancer for parents and caregivers using an android apps as a medium can help parents, caregivers and public to know more about information of childhood cancer and at the same time can gain an awareness among them and this app also can be used as a medium for doctors to deliver an information to the parents and caregivers.

Changes over time in the utilization of disease-related Internet information in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients 2007 to 2013.

PubMed

Kowalski, Christoph; Kahana, Eva; Kuhr, Kathrin; Ansmann, Lena; Pfaff, Holger

2014-08-26

As the number of people with Internet access rises, so does the use of the Internet as a potentially valuable source for health information. Insight into patient use of this information and its correlates over time may reveal changes in the digital divide based on patient age and education. Existing research has focused on patient characteristics that predict Internet information use and research on treatment context is rare. This study aims to (1) present data on the proportion of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients treated in German breast centers from 2007 to 2013 who used the Internet for information on their disease, (2) look into correlations between Internet utilization and sociodemographic characteristics and if these change over time, and (3) determine if use of Internet information varies with the hospitals in which the patients were initially treated. Data about utilization of the Internet for breast cancer-specific health information was obtained in a postal survey of breast cancer patients that is conducted annually in Germany with a steady response rate of 87% of consenting patients. Data from the survey were combined with data obtained by hospital personnel (eg, cancer stage and type of surgery). Data from 27,491 patients from 7 consecutive annual surveys were analyzed for this paper using multilevel regression modeling to account for clustering of patients in specific hospitals. Breast cancer patients seeking disease-specific information on the Internet increased significantly from 26.96% (853/3164) in 2007 to 37.21% (1485/3991) in 2013. Similar patterns of demographic correlates were found for all 7 cohorts. Older patients (≥70 years) and patients with <10 years of formal education were less likely to use the Internet for information on topics related to their disease. Internet use was significantly higher among privately insured patients and patients living with a partner. Higher cancer stage and a foreign native language were associated with

Recall in older cancer patients: measuring memory for medical information.

PubMed

Jansen, Jesse; van Weert, Julia; van der Meulen, Nienke; van Dulmen, Sandra; Heeren, Thea; Bensing, Jozien

2008-04-01

Remembering medical treatment information may be particularly taxing for older cancer patients, but to our knowledge this ability has never been assessed in this specific age group only. Our purpose in this study was to investigate older cancer patients' recall of information after patient education preceding chemotherapy. We constructed a recall questionnaire consisting of multiple-choice questions, completion items, and open-ended questions related to information about treatment and recommendations on how to handle side effects. Immediately after a nursing consultation preceding chemotherapy treatment, 69 older patients (M = 71.8 years, SD = 4.1) completed the questionnaire. We checked recall against the actual communication in video recordings of the consultations. On average, 82.2 items were discussed during the consultations. The mean percentage of information recalled correctly was 23.2% for open-ended questions, 68.0% for completion items, and 80.2% for multiple-choice questions. Older cancer patients are confronted with a lot of information. Recall of information strongly depended on question format; especially active reproduction appeared to be poor. To improve treatment outcomes, it is important that cancer patients are able to actively retrieve knowledge about how to prevent and recognize adverse side effects and that this is checked by the health professional. We make suggestions on how to make information more memorable for older cancer patients.

Health-related quality of life and care satisfaction outcomes: Informing psychosocial oncology care among Latina and African-American young breast cancer survivors.

PubMed

Ashing, Kimlin Tam; George, Marshalee; Jones, Veronica

2018-04-01

When breast cancer occurs in young women, the medical, physical, psychosocial, and overall impacts can be more severe warranting targeted medical and psychosocial oncology care. Yet, despite their risk for poorer survival and survivorship outcomes, little research has focused on this group with critical gaps concerning ethnic minorities who are particularly medically vulnerable. Therefore, this preliminary study examined demographic characteristics and patient centered outcomes, ie, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), quality care satisfaction to inform targeted psychosocial oncology care among African-American and Latinas young breast cancer survivors (YBCS). A total of 116 African-American and Latina YBCS aged ≥21 to 50 years were recruited from cancer registries and community agencies. Based on prior research and the literature, Latinas were categorized into English language proficient (ELP) and Spanish language proficient (SLP) based on their choice of language to conduct the study including completion of the measures. SLP Latinas reported lower educational attainment and income (P < 0.001) and were more likely to report having a mastectomy (P < 0.01) but less likely to report breast reconstruction (P < 0.05). Satisfaction with care was correlated with patient-provider communication and overall HRQOL (P < 0.01) and physical, social/family, emotional and functional wellbeing (P < 0.01). SLP Latinas had lower emotional wellbeing than African-American YBCS (P < 0.01) and lower functional wellbeing than ELP Latina YBCS (P < 0.05). SLP Latina YBCS were less satisfied with their care compared with African-American and ELP Latina YBCS (P < 0.01). Financial toxicity seems to directly influence both access to care and quality care and survivorship outcomes. Investigating demographic characteristics and medical outcomes including HRQOL outcomes and satisfaction with care among ethnic minority YBCS is needed to advance the science as well as assist

Improving access to health information for older migrants by using grounded theory and social network analysis to understand their information behaviour and digital technology use.

PubMed

Goodall, K T; Newman, L A; Ward, P R

2014-11-01

Migrant well-being can be strongly influenced by the migration experience and subsequent degree of mainstream language acquisition. There is little research on how older Culturally And Linguistically Diverse (CALD) migrants who have 'aged in place' find health information, and the role which digital technology plays in this. Although the research for this paper was not focused on cancer, we draw out implications for providing cancer-related information to this group. We interviewed 54 participants (14 men and 40 women) aged 63-94 years, who were born in Italy or Greece, and who migrated to Australia mostly as young adults after World War II. Constructivist grounded theory and social network analysis were used for data analysis. Participants identified doctors, adult children, local television, spouse, local newspaper and radio as the most important information sources. They did not generally use computers, the Internet or mobile phones to access information. Literacy in their birth language, and the degree of proficiency in understanding and using English, influenced the range of information sources accessed and the means used. The ways in which older CALD migrants seek and access information has important implications for how professionals and policymakers deliver relevant information to them about cancer prevention, screening, support and treatment, particularly as information and resources are moved online as part of e-health. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

African Americans’ and Hispanics’ Information Needs About Cancer Care

PubMed Central

Muñoz-Antonia, Teresita; Ung, Danielle; Montiel-Ishino, F. Alejandro; Nelson, Alison; Canales, Jorge; Quinn, Gwendolyn P.

2015-01-01

Few studies have reported on African American and Hispanic (AA and H) populations’ informational needs when seeking cancer care at an institution that offers clinical trials. Moffitt Cancer Center (MCC) sought to identify and examine the decision making process, the perceptions, and the preferred channels of communication about cancer care services for AA and H communities in order to develop a list of marketing recommendations. Five focus groups (N=45) consisting of two AA and three H were conducted in four counties of the MCC catchment area in Tampa, FL. Participants were asked about their perceptions, knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about cancer care and MCC. Focus groups were audio-recorded and verbatim transcripts were analyzed using content analysis. Similarities in responses were found between AA and H participants. Participants received general health and cancer information from media sources and word of mouth and preferred to hear patient testimonials. There were concerns about costs, insurance coverage, and the actual geographic location of the cancer center. In general, H participants were not opposed to participating in cancer clinical trials/research, whereas, AA participants were more hesitant. A majority of participants highly favored an institution that offered standard care and clinical trials. AA and H participants shared similar concerns and preferences in communication channels, but each group had specific informational needs. The perceptions and preferences of AA and H must be explored in order to successfully and efficiently increase cancer clinical trial participation. PMID:25189798

African Americans' and Hispanics' information needs about cancer care.

PubMed

Muñoz-Antonia, Teresita; Ung, Danielle; Montiel-Ishino, F Alejandro; Nelson, Alison; Canales, Jorge; Quinn, Gwendolyn P

2015-06-01

Few studies have reported on African American and Hispanic (AA and H) populations' informational needs when seeking cancer care at an institution that offers clinical trials. Moffitt Cancer Center (MCC) sought to identify and examine the decision making process, the perceptions, and the preferred channels of communication about cancer care services for AA and H communities in order to develop a list of marketing recommendations. Five focus groups (N = 45) consisting of two AA and three H were conducted in four counties of the MCC catchment area in Tampa, FL. Participants were asked about their perceptions, knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about cancer care and MCC. Focus groups were audio-recorded and verbatim transcripts were analyzed using content analysis. Similarities in responses were found between AA and H participants. Participants received general health and cancer information from media sources and word of mouth and preferred to hear patient testimonials. There were concerns about costs, insurance coverage, and the actual geographic location of the cancer center. In general, H participants were not opposed to participating in cancer clinical trials/research, whereas, AA participants were more hesitant. A majority of participants highly favored an institution that offered standard care and clinical trials. AA and H participants shared similar concerns and preferences in communication channels, but each group had specific informational needs. The perceptions and preferences of AA and H must be explored in order to successfully and efficiently increase cancer clinical trial participation.

Using focus groups to develop interventions to promote colorectal cancer screening among Vietnamese Americans.

PubMed

Nguyen, Bang H; Vo, Phuong H; Doan, Hiep T; McPhee, Stephen J

2006-01-01

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in Vietnamese Americans. Their colorectal screening rates are lower than the rates of whites. Four focus groups were conducted to identify Vietnamese American sources and credibility of health information, media utilization, and intervention approaches. Vietnamese Americans trusted doctors and patient testimonials and had access to, and received most of their health information from, Vietnamese- language print and electronic media. Recommended intervention approaches include promoting doctors' recommendation of screening and using Vietnamese-language mass media, print materials, and oral presentations. Focus groups are useful in determining communication channels and intervention approaches.

Cinderella's Coach or Just Another Pumpkin? Information Communication Technologies and the Continuing Marginalisation of Languages in Australian Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norris, Lindy; Coutas, Penelope

2014-01-01

The rhetoric around global connectedness and advances in information communication technologies (ICTs) suggests that: Professional life for the marginalised and isolated language teacher should be easier; the experience of language learners in Australian schools should be more meaningful and bring them closer to the languages and communities that…

Understanding Barriers and Facilitators to Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening among Muslim Women in New York City: Perspectives from Key Informants.

PubMed

Islam, Nadia; Patel, Shilpa; Brooks-Griffin, Quanza; Kemp, Patrice; Raveis, Victoria; Riley, Lindsey; Gummi, Sindhura; Nur, Potrirankamanis Queano; Ravenell, Joseph; Cole, Helen; Kwon, Simona

2017-01-01

Muslims are one of the fastest growing religious groups in the US. However, little is known about their health disparities, and how their unique cultural, religious, and social beliefs and practices affect health behaviors and outcomes. Studies demonstrate Muslim women may have lower rates of breast and cervical cancer screening compared to the overall population. The purpose of this study was to: 1) conduct key-informant interviews with Muslim community leaders in New York City (NYC), to understand contextual factors that impact Muslim women's beliefs and practices regarding breast and cervical cancer screening; and 2) inform the development and implementation of a research study on breast and cervical cancer screening among Muslims. Twelve key-informant interviews were conducted. The sample included imams, female religious leaders, physicians, community-based organization leaders, and social service representatives. The interview guide assessed: 1) unique healthcare barriers faced by Muslim women; 2) cultural and social considerations in conducting research; 3) potential strategies for increasing screening in this population; and 4) content and venues for culturally tailored programming and messaging. Key informants noted structure and culture as barriers and religion as a facilitator to breast and cervical cancer screening. Themes regarding the development of targeted health campaigns to increase screening included the importance of educational and in-language materials and messaging, and engaging mosques and religious leaders for dissemination. Although Muslim women face a number of barriers to screening, religious beliefs and support structures can be leveraged to facilitate screening and enhance the dissemination and promotion of screening.

Understanding Barriers and Facilitators to Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening among Muslim Women in New York City: Perspectives from Key Informants

PubMed Central

Islam, Nadia; Patel, Shilpa; Brooks-Griffin, Quanza; Kemp, Patrice; Raveis, Victoria; Riley, Lindsey; Gummi, Sindhura; Nur, Potrirankamanis Queano; Ravenell, Joseph; Cole, Helen; Kwon, Simona

2017-01-01

Background Muslims are one of the fastest growing religious groups in the US. However, little is known about their health disparities, and how their unique cultural, religious, and social beliefs and practices affect health behaviors and outcomes. Studies demonstrate Muslim women may have lower rates of breast and cervical cancer screening compared to the overall population. Methods The purpose of this study was to: 1) conduct key-informant interviews with Muslim community leaders in New York City (NYC), to understand contextual factors that impact Muslim women’s beliefs and practices regarding breast and cervical cancer screening; and 2) inform the development and implementation of a research study on breast and cervical cancer screening among Muslims. Twelve key-informant interviews were conducted. The sample included imams, female religious leaders, physicians, community-based organization leaders, and social service representatives. The interview guide assessed: 1) unique healthcare barriers faced by Muslim women; 2) cultural and social considerations in conducting research; 3) potential strategies for increasing screening in this population; and 4) content and venues for culturally tailored programming and messaging. Results Key informants noted structure and culture as barriers and religion as a facilitator to breast and cervical cancer screening. Themes regarding the development of targeted health campaigns to increase screening included the importance of educational and in-language materials and messaging, and engaging mosques and religious leaders for dissemination. Conclusion Although Muslim women face a number of barriers to screening, religious beliefs and support structures can be leveraged to facilitate screening and enhance the dissemination and promotion of screening. PMID:29629435

Young women's responses to smoking and breast cancer risk information

PubMed Central

Bottorff, Joan L.; McKeown, Stephanie Barclay; Carey, Joanne; Haines, Rebecca; Okoli, Chizimuzo; Johnson, Kenneth C.; Easley, Julie; Ferrence, Roberta; Baillie, Lynne; Ptolemy, Erin

2010-01-01

Current evidence confirms that young women who smoke or who have regular long-term exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) have an increased risk of developing premenopausal breast cancer. The aim of this research was to examine the responses of young women to health information about the links between active smoking and SHS exposure and breast cancer and obtain their advice about messaging approaches. Data were collected in focus groups with 46 women, divided in three age cohorts: 15–17, 18–19 and 20–24 and organized according to smoking status (smoking, non-smoking and mixed smoking status groups). The discussion questions were preceded by information about passive and active smoking and its associated breast cancer risk. The study findings show young women's interest in this risk factor for breast cancer. Three themes were drawn from the analysis: making sense of the information on smoking and breast cancer, personal susceptibility and tobacco exposure and suggestions for increasing awareness about tobacco exposure and breast cancer. There was general consensus on framing public awareness messages about this risk factor on ‘protecting others’ from breast cancer to catch smokers’ attention, providing young women with the facts and personal stories of breast cancer to help establish a personal connection with this information and overcome desensitization related to tobacco messages, and targeting all smokers who may place young women at risk. Cautions were also raised about the potential for stigmatization. Implications for raising awareness about this modifiable risk factor for breast cancer are discussed. PMID:20080807

Patient information needs in upper gastrointestinal cancer: what patients and their families want to know.

PubMed

Otutaha, Bacil; Srinivasa, Sanket; Koea, Jonathan

2018-06-11

The treatment of upper gastrointestinal cancer (UGIC) patients is complex. Patients are often elderly, comorbid as well as nutritionally depleted and treatment involves multimodality therapy incorporating chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. The pre-treatment information requirements of UGIC patients are not clear but crucially important in ensuring they complete treatment successfully. A systematic review of the English language literature was performed to determine the specific information needs of patients with UGIC. Following abstract review and comprehensive analysis six articles were included. UGIC patients nominated information regarding post-operative recovery, quality of life, expected survival, management of post-operative symptoms and coping strategies for insurance and financial issues, relationships and family as being most important to them. Patients' families nominated information on the effects of diagnosis on patient well-being over the ensuing months and detailed information on available support services as being most important. One-on-one consultations with senior medical staff were the preferred method of information transfer followed by web-based information services. For effective treatment of UGIC patients, physicians and surgeons must address issues pertaining to quality of life, finance and relationships and may require specific training, or administrative support, in these areas. © 2018 Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Nutritional Information Provision to Cancer Patients and Their Relatives Can Promote Dietary Behavior Changes Independent of Nutritional Information Needs.

PubMed

van Veen, Merel R; Winkels, Renate M; Janssen, Silvie H M; Kampman, Ellen; Beijer, Sandra

2018-04-01

We investigated whether obtaining nutritional information influences reported changes in dietary behavior in cancer survivors and their relatives and whether nutritional information needs influence this association. We included 239 cancer survivors and their relatives, recruited from an online panel of cancer survivors and relatives. This panel completed a survey about their experiences with nutritional information provision by healthcare professionals and the media in the period after diagnosis, their information needs regarding nutrition and cancer, and whether they changed their dietary behavior since diagnosis. The survey showed that 56% of respondents obtained nutritional information, mostly during treatment. Respondents who obtained nutritional information more often reported to have altered their dietary behavior after diagnosis. This association was not altered by having information needs. The reported changes in dietary behavior were coherent with the recommendations of the World Cancer Research Fund: respondents reported to choose less products that promote weight gain, increased intake of plant foods, and decreased meat and alcohol use. Respondents who obtained nutritional information more often changed their dietary behavior, regardless whether they had nutritional information needs. This might be an indication that healthcare professionals should provide nutritional information not only to those expressing a need for nutritional information.

Health Literacy: Cancer Prevention Strategies for Early Adults.

PubMed

Simmons, Robert A; Cosgrove, Susan C; Romney, Martha C; Plumb, James D; Brawer, Rickie O; Gonzalez, Evelyn T; Fleisher, Linda G; Moore, Bradley S

2017-09-01

Health literacy, the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand health information and services needed to make health decisions, is an essential element for early adults (aged 18-44 years) to make informed decisions about cancer. Low health literacy is one of the social determinants of health associated with cancer-related disparities. Over the past several years, a nonprofit organization, a university, and a cancer center in a major urban environment have developed and implemented health literacy programs within healthcare systems and in the community. Health system personnel received extensive health literacy training to reduce medical jargon and improve their patient education using plain language easy-to-understand written materials and teach-back, and also designed plain language written materials including visuals to provide more culturally and linguistically appropriate health education and enhance web-based information. Several sustainable health system policy changes occurred over time. At the community level, organizational assessments and peer leader training on health literacy have occurred to reduce communication barriers between consumers and providers. Some of these programs have been cancer specific, including consumer education in such areas as cervical cancer, skin cancer, and breast cancer that are targeted to early adults across the cancer spectrum from prevention to treatment to survivorship. An example of consumer-driven health education that was tested for health literacy using a comic book-style photonovel on breast cancer with an intergenerational family approach for Chinese Americans is provided. Key lessons learned from the health literacy initiatives and overall conclusions of the health literacy initiatives are also summarized. Copyright © 2017 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Limits on negative information in language input.

PubMed

Morgan, J L; Travis, L L

1989-10-01

Hirsh-Pasek, Treiman & Schneiderman (1984) and Demetras, Post & Snow (1986) have recently suggested that certain types of parental repetitions and clarification questions may provide children with subtle cues to their grammatical errors. We further investigated this possibility by examining parental responses to inflectional over-regularizations and wh-question auxiliary-verb omission errors in the sets of transcripts from Adam, Eve and Sarah (Brown 1973). These errors were chosen because they are exemplars of overgeneralization, the type of mistake for which negative information is, in theory, most critically needed. Expansions and Clarification Questions occurred more often following ill-formed utterances in Adam's and Eve's input, but not in Sarah's. However, these corrective responses formed only a small proportion of all adult responses following Adam's and Eve's grammatical errors. Moreover, corrective responses appear to drop out of children's input while they continue to make overgeneralization errors. Whereas negative feedback may occasionally be available, in the light of these findings the contention that language input generally incorporates negative information appears to be unfounded.

Internet Information for Patients on Cancer Diets - an Analysis of German Websites.

PubMed

Herth, Natalie; Kuenzel, Ulrike; Liebl, Patrick; Keinki, Christian; Zell, Joerg; Huebner, Jutta

2016-01-01

In recent years, the Internet has become an important source of information for cancer patients. Various cancer diets that are publicized on the Web promise significant benefits. The aim of our study was to evaluate the quality of online patient information about cancer diets. A patient's search for 'cancer diets' on German websites was simulated using the search engine Google. The websites were evaluated utilizing a standardized instrument with formal and content aspects. An analysis of 60 websites revealed that websites from nonprofit associations as well as self-help groups offer the best content and formal ranking. Websites whose owners aim to make a profit, practices that offer cancer diet therapies, and newspapers received the poorest quality score. The majority of content provided on the Web gets published by profit-oriented content groups. The divergence between profit-driven websites offering low-quality content and the few trustworthy websites on cancer diets is enormous. The information given online about cancer diets may turn out to be a hazardous pitfall. In order to present evidence-based information about cancer diets, online information should be replenished to create a more accurate picture and give higher visibility to the right information. © 2016 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg.

Health information needs and preferences in relation to survivorship care plans of long-term cancer survivors in the American Cancer Society's Study of Cancer Survivors-I.

PubMed

Playdon, Mary; Ferrucci, Leah M; McCorkle, Ruth; Stein, Kevin D; Cannady, Rachel; Sanft, Tara; Cartmel, Brenda

2016-08-01

Survivorship care plans (SCPs) provide cancer patients and health care providers with a treatment summary and outline of recommended medical follow-up. Few studies have investigated the information needs and preferred sources among long-term cancer survivors. Cancer survivors of the ten most common cancers enrolled in the longitudinal Study of Cancer Survivors-I (SCS-I) completed a survey 9 years post-diagnosis (n = 3138); at time of diagnosis of the SCS-I cohort, SCPs were not considered usual care. We assessed participants' current desire and preferred sources for information across ten SCP items and evaluated factors associated with information need 9 years after diagnosis. The proportion of long-term cancer survivors endorsing a need for cancer and health information 9 years post-diagnosis ranged from 43 % (cancer screening) to 9 % (consequences of cancer on ability to work). Print media and personalized reading materials were the most preferred information sources. Younger age, higher education, race other than non-Hispanic white, later cancer stage, having breast cancer, having ≥2 comorbidities, and self-reporting poor health were associated with greater informational need (p < 0.05). Long-term cancer survivors continue to report health information needs for most SCP items and would prefer a print format; however, level of need differs by socio-demographic and cancer characteristics. Cancer survivors who did not previously receive a SCP may still benefit from receiving SCP content, and strategies for enabling dissemination to long-term survivors warrant further investigation.

Information and Communication Technologies in Learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL): Attitudes of EFL Learners in Vietnam

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ngo, Hong T. P.

2017-01-01

Given breakthroughs in information and communication technologies (ICTs), language learners are increasingly presented with opportunities to advance their proficiency in a target language (herein English as a foreign language or EFL). The attitudes of learners toward the use of ICTs (ICT attitudes) can be predictive of their adoption of ICTs for…

Correlates of Cancer Information Overload: Focusing on Individual Ability and Motivation.

PubMed

Chae, Jiyoung; Lee, Chul-joo; Jensen, Jakob D

2016-01-01

The present study defined cancer information overload (CIO) as an aversive disposition wherein a person is confused and overwhelmed by cancer information, which occurs when he or she fails to effectively categorize new information due to a lack of resources for effective learning. Based on the definition and informed by previous studies on information overload and the cognitive mediation model, we hypothesized that low ability and motivation to process cancer information would lead to CIO. We used education level and trait anxiety as factors related to ability. Cancer history and the use of active media channels (such as the Internet and print media) were adopted as motivational factors. Four samples (three from the United States and one from South Korea) were used to explore the relationship between ability/motivation and CIO. Among them, only Sample 4 participants answered questions about stomach cancer, and other participants were asked about cancer in general. In all four samples, trait anxiety was positively associated with CIO. Health information use from active media channels (print or the Internet) was negatively associated with CIO in three samples. The associations between family history and CIO, and between education and CIO, were found in two samples. In short, the present study demonstrated that CIO partly depends on individual ability and motivation, thereby showing that CIO is influenced by personal characteristics as well as environmental factors.

Cancer--Living with Cancer - Multiple Languages

MedlinePlus

... français) Haitian Creole (Kreyol ayisyen) Hindi (हिन्दी) Japanese (日本語) Korean (한국어) Nepali (नेपाली) Polish (polski) ... Families - हिन्दी (Hindi) PDF American Cancer Society Japanese (日本語) Expand Section Cancer Related Fatigue - 日本語 (Japanese) ...

NLPIR: A Theoretical Framework for Applying Natural Language Processing to Information Retrieval.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhou, Lina; Zhang, Dongsong

2003-01-01

Proposes a theoretical framework called NLPIR that integrates natural language processing (NLP) into information retrieval (IR) based on the assumption that there exists representation distance between queries and documents. Discusses problems in traditional keyword-based IR, including relevance, and describes some existing NLP techniques.…

Caring for caregivers and patients: Research and clinical priorities for informal cancer caregiving.

PubMed

Kent, Erin E; Rowland, Julia H; Northouse, Laurel; Litzelman, Kristin; Chou, Wen-Ying Sylvia; Shelburne, Nonniekaye; Timura, Catherine; O'Mara, Ann; Huss, Karen

2016-07-01

Informal/family caregivers are a fundamental source of care for cancer patients in the United States, yet the population of caregivers and their tasks, psychosocial needs, and health outcomes are not well understood. Changes in the nature of cancer care and its delivery, along with the growing population of survivors and their caregivers, warrant increased attention to the roles and demands of caregiving. This article reviews current evidence presented at a 2-day meeting examining the state of the science of informal cancer caregiving that was convened by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Nursing Research. The meeting sought to define who is an informal cancer caregiver, summarize the state of the science in informal cancer caregiving, and describe both the kinds of interventions developed to address caregiving challenges and the various outcomes used to evaluate their impact. This article offers recommendations for moving science forward in 4 areas: 1) improving the estimation of the prevalence and burden of informal cancer caregiving; 2) advancing the development of interventions designed to improve outcomes for cancer patients, caregivers, and patient-caregiver dyads; 3) generating and testing strategies for integrating caregivers into formal health care settings; and 4) promoting the use of technology to support informal cancer caregivers. Cancer 2016;122:1987-95. © 2016 American Cancer Society. © 2016 American Cancer Society.

Real-Time Sentence Processing in Children with Specific Language Impairment: The Contribution of Lexicosemantic, Syntactic, and World-Knowledge Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pizzioli, Fabrizio; Schelstraete, Marie-Anne

2013-01-01

The present study investigated how lexicosemantic information, syntactic information, and world knowledge are integrated in the course of oral sentence processing in children with specific language impairment (SLI) as compared to children with typical language development. A primed lexical-decision task was used where participants had to make a…

Unmet adolescent and young adult cancer survivors information and service needs: A population-based cancer registry study

PubMed Central

Keegan, Theresa H.M.; Lichtensztajn, Daphne Y.; Kato, Ikuko; Kent, Erin E.; Wu, Xiao-Cheng; West, Michelle M.; Hamilton, Ann S.; Zebrack, Brad; Bellizzi, Keith M.; Smith, Ashley W.

2012-01-01

Purpose We described unmet information and service needs of adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors (15-39 years of age) and identified sociodemographic and health-related factors associated with these unmet needs. Methods We studied 523 AYAs recruited from 7 population-based cancer registries, diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, germ cell cancer or sarcoma in 2007-08. Participants completed surveys a median of 11 months from diagnosis. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to estimate associations between unmet (information and service) needs and sociodemographic and health-related factors. Results More than half of AYAs had unmet information needs relating to their cancer returning and cancer treatments. AYAs needing services, but not receiving them, ranged from 29% for in-home nursing to 75% for a support group. The majority of AYAs who needed a pain management expert, physical/occupational therapist, mental health worker or financial advice on paying for health care did not receive services. In multivariable analyses, older participants, men, participants of non-White race/ethnicity, and participants who reported less than excellent general health, or fair/poor quality of care were more likely to report unmet information needs. Factors associated with both unmet service and information needs included physical health or emotional problems interfering with social activities or having ≥ 3 physical treatment-related symptoms. Conclusions Recently diagnosed AYA cancer survivors have substantial unmet information needs varying by demographic and health-related factors. Implications for Cancer Survivors We identified subgroups of AYA cancer survivors with high unmet needs that can be targeted for interventions and referrals. PMID:22457219

Balancing effort and information transmission during language acquisition: Evidence from word order and case marking

PubMed Central

Fedzechkina, Maryia; Newport, Elissa L.; Jaeger, T. Florian

2015-01-01

Across languages of the world, some grammatical patterns have been argued to be more common than expected by chance. These are sometimes referred to as (statistical) language universals. One such universal is the correlation between constituent order freedom and the presence of a case system in a language. Here we explore whether this correlation can be explained by a bias to balance production effort and informativity of cues to grammatical function. Two groups of learners were presented with miniature artificial languages containing optional case marking and either flexible or fixed constituent order. Learners of the flexible order language used case marking significantly more often. This result parallels the typological correlation between constituent order flexibility and the presence of case marking in a language and provides a possible explanation for the historical development of Old English to Modern English, from flexible constituent order with case marking to relatively fixed order without case marking. Additionally, learners of the flexible order language conditioned case marking on constituent order, using more case marking with the cross-linguistically less frequent order, again mirroring typological data. These results suggest that some cross-linguistic generalizations originate in functionally motivated biases operating during language learning. PMID:26901374

Early Intervention for Children with Hearing Loss: Information Parents Receive about Supporting Children's Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Decker, Kalli B.; Vallotton, Claire D.

2016-01-01

Family-centered early intervention for children with hearing loss is intended to strengthen families' interactions with their children to support children's language development, and should include providing parents with information they can use as part of their everyday routines. However, little is known about the information received by families…

The Partnership for Cancer Prevention: Addressing Access to Cervical Cancer Screening among Latinas in South Carolina

PubMed Central

Parra-Medina, Deborah; Hilfinger Messias, DeAnne K.; Fore, Elizabeth; Mayo, Rachel; Petry, Denyse; Das, Irene Prabhu

2015-01-01

Background Cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and morality among Hispanics, the fastest growing population group in South Carolina (SC). The Partnership for Cancer Prevention (PCP) was established to build partnerships and community capacity to address cervical cancer early detection and control among the growing Latina population in SC. In this paper we report on the initial PCP community-based participatory research (CBPR) project. Methods PCP members engaged in a multi-method, participatory research project to assess cervical cancer related resources and needs among Latinas and healthcare providers. To explore attitudes and behaviors related to women's health in general and more specifically, female cancer, PCP members conducted 8 focus group sessions with 38 Spanish-speaking women. To assess the availability and perceived importance of culturally and linguistically appropriate services, PCP members conducted a survey of providers (n=46) and support personnel (n=30) at 14 clinical sites that provide cancer screening services. Results Health care access issues were Latinas' main concerns. For information and assistance in accessing and navigating the health care system, they relied on informal social networks and community outreach workers. Latina participants voiced misunderstandings about cancer risk and most appeared to lack a prevention orientation. Practitioners’ concerns included the assessment and documentation of patients' language preference and ability, provision of language assistance for limited-English-proficient (LEP) patients, and bilingual staff. Conclusions Building on the findings of this participatory research initiative, PCP members identified the following action strategies to promote cervical cancer screening among Latinas in SC: culturally appropriate cervical cancer awareness messages and outreach strategies geared towards increasing participation in cervical cancer screening and follow-up; maintenance of active community

A Time Series Analysis of Cancer-Related Information Seeking: Hints From the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) 2003-2014.

PubMed

Huerta, Timothy R; Walker, Daniel M; Johnson, Tyler; Ford, Eric W

2016-09-01

Recent technological changes, such as the growth of the Internet, have made cancer information widely available. However, it remains unknown whether changes in access have resulted in concomitant changes in information seeking behavior. Previous work explored the cancer information seeking behaviors of the general population using the 2003 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). This article aims to reproduce, replicate, and extend that existing analysis using the original dataset and five additional iterations of HINTS (2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014). This approach builds on the earlier work by quantifying the magnitude of change in information seeking behaviors. Bivariate comparison of the 2003 and 2014 data revealed very similar results; however, the multivariate model including all years of data indicated differences between the original and extended models: individuals age 65 and older were no longer less likely to seek cancer information than the 18-35 reference population, and Hispanics were also no longer less likely to be cancer information seekers. The results of our analysis indicate an overall shift in cancer information seeking behaviors and also illuminate the impact of increased Internet usage over the past decade, suggesting specific demographic groups that may benefit from cancer information seeking encouragement.

Covering women's greatest health fear: breast cancer information in consumer magazines.

PubMed

Walsh-Childers, Kim; Edwards, Heather; Grobmyer, Stephen

2011-04-01

Women identify consumer magazines as a key source of information on many health topics, including breast cancer, which continues to rank as women's greatest personal health fear. This study examined the comprehensiveness and accuracy of breast cancer information provided in 555 articles published in 17 consumer magazines from 2002 through 2007. Accuracy of information was determined for 33 key breast cancer facts identified by an expert panel as important information for women to know. The results show that only 7 of 33 key facts were mentioned in at least 5% of the articles. These facts all dealt with breast cancer risk factors, screening, and detection; none of the key facts related to treatment or outcomes appeared in at least 5% of the articles. Other topics (not key facts) mentioned centered around controllable risk factors, support for breast cancer patients, and chemotherapy treatment. The majority of mentions of key facts were coded as fully accurate, although as much as 44% of mentions of some topics (the link between hormone replacement therapy and breast cancer) were coded as inaccurate or only partially accurate. The magazines were most likely to emphasize family history of breast cancer or genetic characteristics as risk factors for breast cancers; family history was twice as likely to be discussed as increasing age, which is in fact the most important risk factor for breast cancer other than being female. Magazine coverage may contribute to women's inaccurate perceptions of their breast cancer risk.

A Study of the Programming Languages Used in Information Systems and in Computer Science Curricula

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russell, Jack; Russell, Barbara; Pollacia, Lissa F.; Tastle, William J.

2010-01-01

This paper researches the computer languages taught in the first, second and third programming courses in Computer Information Systems (CIS), Management Information Systems (MIS or IS) curricula as well as in Computer Science (CS) and Information Technology (IT) curricula. Instructors teaching the first course in programming within a four year…

Cancer Information Seeking and Scanning: Sources and Patterns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barnes, Laura L. B.; Khojasteh, Jam J.; Wheeler, Denna

2017-01-01

Objective: This study aimed to identify predominant search patterns in a recent search for health information and a potential search for strongly needed cancer information, to identify the commonly scanned sources of information that may represent stable elements of the information fields characteristic of these patterns, and to evaluate whether…

Palliative care content on cancer center websites.

PubMed

Vater, Laura B; Rebesco, Gina; Schenker, Yael; Torke, Alexia M; Gramelspacher, Gregory

2018-03-01

Professional guidelines recommend that palliative care begin early in advanced cancer management, yet integration of palliative and cancer care remains suboptimal. Cancer centers may miss opportunities to provide palliative care information online. In this study, we described the palliative care content on cancer center websites. We conducted a systematic content analysis of 62 National Cancer Institute- (NCI) designated cancer center websites. We assessed the content of center homepages and analyzed search results using the terms palliative care, supportive care, and hospice. For palliative and supportive care webpages, we assessed services offered and language used to describe care. Two researchers analyzed all websites using a standardized coding manual. Kappa values ranged from 0.78 to 1. NCI-designated cancer center homepages presented information about cancer-directed therapy (61%) more frequently than palliative care (5%). Ten percent of cancer centers had no webpage with palliative care information for patients. Among centers with information for patients, the majority (96%) defined palliative or supportive care, but 30% did not discuss delivery of palliative care alongside curative treatment, and 14% did not mention provision of care early in the disease process. Cancer center homepages rarely mention palliative care services. While the majority of centers have webpages with palliative care content, they sometimes omit information about early use of care. Improving accessibility of palliative care information and increasing emphasis on early provision of services may improve integration of palliative and cancer care.

Unmet adolescent and young adult cancer survivors information and service needs: a population-based cancer registry study.

PubMed

Keegan, Theresa H M; Lichtensztajn, Daphne Y; Kato, Ikuko; Kent, Erin E; Wu, Xiao-Cheng; West, Michelle M; Hamilton, Ann S; Zebrack, Brad; Bellizzi, Keith M; Smith, Ashley W

2012-09-01

We described unmet information and service needs of adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors (15-39 years of age) and identified sociodemographic and health-related factors associated with these unmet needs. We studied 523 AYAs recruited from seven population-based cancer registries, diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, germ cell cancer, or sarcoma in 2007-2008. Participants completed surveys a median of 11 months from diagnosis. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to estimate associations between unmet (information and service) needs and sociodemographic and health-related factors. More than half of AYAs had unmet information needs relating to their cancer returning and cancer treatments. AYAs needing services, but not receiving them, ranged from 29 % for in-home nursing to 75 % for a support group. The majority of AYAs who needed a pain management expert, physical/occupational therapist, mental health worker, or financial advice on paying for health care did not receive services. In multivariable analyses, older participants, men, participants of non-white race/ethnicity, and participants who reported less than excellent general health or fair/poor quality of care were more likely to report unmet information needs. Factors associated with both unmet service and information needs included physical health or emotional problems interfering with social activities or having ≥3 physical treatment-related symptoms. Recently diagnosed AYA cancer survivors have substantial unmet information needs varying by demographic and health-related factors. We identified subgroups of AYA cancer survivors with high unmet needs that can be targeted for interventions and referrals.

Information Object Definition–based Unified Modeling Language Representation of DICOM Structured Reporting

PubMed Central

Tirado-Ramos, Alfredo; Hu, Jingkun; Lee, K.P.

2002-01-01

Supplement 23 to DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications for Medicine), Structured Reporting, is a specification that supports a semantically rich representation of image and waveform content, enabling experts to share image and related patient information. DICOM SR supports the representation of textual and coded data linked to images and waveforms. Nevertheless, the medical information technology community needs models that work as bridges between the DICOM relational model and open object-oriented technologies. The authors assert that representations of the DICOM Structured Reporting standard, using object-oriented modeling languages such as the Unified Modeling Language, can provide a high-level reference view of the semantically rich framework of DICOM and its complex structures. They have produced an object-oriented model to represent the DICOM SR standard and have derived XML-exchangeable representations of this model using World Wide Web Consortium specifications. They expect the model to benefit developers and system architects who are interested in developing applications that are compliant with the DICOM SR specification. PMID:11751804

Nutrition and physical activity during and after cancer treatment: an American Cancer Society guide for informed choices.

PubMed

Brown, Jean K; Byers, Tim; Doyle, Colleen; Coumeya, Kerry S; Demark-Wahnefried, Wendy; Kushi, Lawrence H; McTieman, Anne; Rock, Cheryl L; Aziz, Noreen; Bloch, Abby S; Eldridge, Barbara; Hamilton, Kathryn; Katzin, Carolyn; Koonce, Amy; Main, Julie; Mobley, Connie; Morra, Marion E; Pierce, Margaret S; Sawyer, Kimberly Andrews

2003-01-01

Cancer survivors are often highly motivated to seek information about food choices, physical activity, dietary supplement use, and complementary nutritional therapies to improve their treatment outcomes, quality of life, and survival. To address these concerns, the American Cancer Society (ACS) convened a group of experts in nutrition, physical activity, and cancer to evaluate the scientific evidence and best clinical practices related to optimal nutrition and physical activity after the diagnosis of cancer. This report summarizes their findings and is intended to present health care providers with the best possible information on which to help cancer survivors and their families make informed choices related to nutrition and physical activity. The report discusses nutrition and physical activity issues during the phases of cancer treatment and recovery, living after recovery from treatment, and living with advanced cancer; selected nutritional and physical activity issues such as body weight, food choices, and complementary and alternative nutritional options; and selected issues related to breast, colorectal, lung, prostate, head and neck, and upper gastrointestinal cancers. In addition, handouts containing commonly asked questions and answers and a resource list are provided for survivors and families. Tables that grade the scientific evidence for benefit versus harm related to nutrition and physical activity for breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers are also included for this growing body of knowledge to provide guidance for informed decision making and to identify areas for future research.

Personal stories within virtual environments: embodiments of a model for cancer patient information software.

PubMed

Greene, D D; Heeter, C

1998-01-01

Two new cancer patient information CD-ROMs extend the personal stories within virtual environments model of cancer patient information developed for Breast Cancer Lighthouse. Cancer Pain Retreat and Cancer Prevention Park: Games for Life are intended to inform and inspire users in an emotionally calming and intimately informative manner. The software offers users an experience--of visiting a virtual place and meeting and talking with patients and health care professionals.

Ecological View of the Learner-Context Interface for Online Language Learning: A Phenomenological Case Study of Informal Learners of Macedonian

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Belamaric Wilsey, Biljana

2013-01-01

Studies of informal language learning and self-instruction with online materials have recently come into prominence. However, those studies are predominantly focused on more commonly taught languages and there is a gap in the literature on less commonly taught languages (LCTL), precisely the languages that are often studied outside of formal…

Changes Over Time in the Utilization of Disease-Related Internet Information in Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer Patients 2007 to 2013

PubMed Central

Kahana, Eva; Kuhr, Kathrin; Ansmann, Lena; Pfaff, Holger

2014-01-01

foreign native language were associated with decreased use in the overall model. Type of surgery was not found to be associated with Internet use in the multivariable models. Intraclass correlation coefficients were small (0.00-0.03) suggesting only a small contribution of the hospital to the patients’ decision to use Internet information. There was no clear indication of a decreased digital divide based on age and education. Conclusions Use of the Internet for health information is on the rise among breast cancer patients. The strong age- and education-related differences raise the question of how relevant information can be adequately provided to all patients, especially to those with limited education, older age, and living without a partner. PMID:25158744

How Language Is Embodied in Bilinguals and Children with Specific Language Impairment

PubMed Central

Adams, Ashley M.

2016-01-01

This manuscript explores the role of embodied views of language comprehension and production in bilingualism and specific language impairment. Reconceptualizing popular models of bilingual language processing, the embodied theory is first extended to this area. Issues such as semantic grounding in a second language and potential differences between early and late acquisition of a second language are discussed. Predictions are made about how this theory informs novel ways of thinking about teaching a second language. Secondly, the comorbidity of speech, language, and motor impairments and how embodiment theory informs the discussion of the etiology of these impairments is examined. A hypothesis is presented suggesting that what is often referred to as specific language impairment may not be so specific due to widespread subclinical motor deficits in this population. Predictions are made about how weaknesses and instabilities in speech motor control, even at a subclinical level, may disrupt the neural network that connects acoustic input, articulatory motor plans, and semantics. Finally, I make predictions about how this information informs clinical practice for professionals such as speech language pathologists and occupational and physical therapists. These new hypotheses are placed within the larger framework of the body of work pertaining to semantic grounding, action-based language acquisition, and action-perception links that underlie language learning and conceptual grounding. PMID:27582716

Family information needs at childhood cancer treatment completion.

PubMed

Wakefield, Claire E; Butow, Phyllis; Fleming, Catharine A K; Daniel, Gunar; Cohn, Richard J

2012-04-01

Despite the recognized importance of information provision across the cancer trajectory, little research has investigated family information needs recently after childhood cancer. This mixed-methods, multiperspective, study explored the information needs of families of childhood cancer survivors in the first year post-treatment. In total, 112 semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 19 survivors (mean age 16.2 years, off treatment for ≤36 months), 44 mothers, 34 fathers, and 15 siblings. Interviews were analyzed inductively, line-by-line, using the framework of Miles and Huberman. Emergent themes were cross-tabulated by sample characteristics using QSR NVivo8. Participant views were mixed regarding the need for a "finishing treatment review" with their oncologist (the primary information source for most families); however, many mothers (29/44) and fathers (17/34) and most siblings (14/15) reported receiving insufficient information post-treatment. Information regarding fertility and how to prepare for likely post-treatment challenges were the most cited unmet needs. Online support was ranked highest by survivors (mean score: 7/2/10) and siblings (7.4/10), whilst parents preferred an information booklet (often due to concerns about accessing accurate and relevant information from the Internet). While many participants reported feelings of isolation/loneliness, many were reluctant to attend face-to-face support groups/seminars. Family members of survivors may experience the most acute unmet needs for information about fertility and in preparation for post-treatment challenges. However, provision of the correct amount of information at the right time for each family member during a highly stressful period remains clinically challenging. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Profile of e-patients: analysis of their cancer information-seeking from a national survey.

PubMed

Kim, Kyunghye; Kwon, Nahyun

2010-10-01

Researchers have yet to fully understand how competent e-patients are in selecting and using health information sources, or, more importantly, who e-patients are. This study attempted to uncover how cancer e-patients differ from other cancer information seekers in terms of their sociodemographic background, social networks, information competence, and selection of cancer information sources. We analyzed data from the National Cancer Institute's 2005 Health Information National Trends Survey, and a series of chi-square tests showed that factors that distinguished cancer e-patients from other cancer information seekers were age, gender, education, employment status, health insurance, and membership in online support groups. They were not different in the other factors measured by the survey. Our logistic regression analysis revealed that the e-patients were older and talked about their health issues with friends or family more frequently compared with online health information seekers without cancer. While preferring information from their doctors over the Internet, e-patients used the Internet as their primary source. In contrast to previous literature, we found little evidence that e-patients were savvy health information consumers who could make informed decisions on their own health. The findings of this study addressed a need for a better design and delivery of health information literacy programs for cancer e-patients.

Satisfying the needs of Japanese cancer patients: a comparative study of detailed and standard informed consent documents.

PubMed

Sato, Keiko; Watanabe, Toru; Katsumata, Noriyuki; Sato, Tosiya; Ohashi, Yasuo

2014-02-01

Simplified informed consent forms have been successful in improving patient satisfaction and decreasing patient anxiety. However, unsolved problems remain about whether these documents improve comprehension and satisfaction of patients with standard literacy skills. s To investigate whether a detailed consent form explaining the key elements of informed consent, in comparison to a standard consent form, would increase the comprehension and satisfaction of adult cancer patients. Patients who were eligible for the National Surgical Adjuvant Study of Breast Cancer (protocol 01(N-SAS/BC-01)) were randomly selected to receive one of the following four versions: detailed document with graphics, detailed document without graphics, standard document with graphics, and standard document without graphics. The forms were written in plain language from the patients' point of view. A total of 85 patients were administered questionnaires via interview to assess levels of comprehension, satisfaction, and anxiety. Patients demonstrated a strong understanding of information regarding treatment and research. Patient comprehension did not differ significantly between the detailed document arms and the standard document arms. Patient satisfaction level increased according to the amount of information presented in the consent form; most patients preferred the detailed document with graphics. Anxiety and accrual rates in the parent study were not affected by informed consent procedures. Findings were limited to adults who had standard literacy skills and may not be generalizable to a population with lower literacy. Informed consent can be a significant experience for a population with standard literacy skills, as long as the document is easily comprehensible. Such information should be provided in a format that corresponds with patient needs, education levels, and preferences.

Cancer-related internet information communication between oncologists and patients with breast cancer: a qualitative study

PubMed Central

Shen, Megan Johnson; Dyson, Robert C.; D’Agostino, Thomas A.; Ostroff, Jamie S.; Dickler, Maura N.; Heerdt, Alexandra S.; Bylund, Carma L.

2015-01-01

Objective Many patients with cancer search out information about their cancer on the internet, thus affecting their relationship with their oncologists. An in-depth analysis of patient–physician communication about information obtained from the internet is currently lacking. Methods We audio-recorded visits of patients with breast cancer and their oncologists where internet information was expected to be discussed. Inductive thematic text analysis was used to identify qualitative themes from these conversations. Results Twenty-one patients self-reported discussing cancer-related internet information (CRII) with their oncologists; 16 audio recordings contained detectable discussions of CRII and were analyzed. Results indicated that oncologists and patients initiated CRII discussions implicitly and explicitly. Oncologists responded positively to patient-initiated CRII discussions by (1) acknowledging their limited expertise/knowledge, (2) encouraging/approving using the internet as an information resource, (3) providing information/guidance on the proper use of internet searches, (4) discussing the pros and cons of relevant treatment options, or (5) giving information. Finally, patients reacted to the CRII discussions by (1) indicating that they only used reputable sources/websites, (2) asking for further explanation of information, (3) expressing continued concern, or (4) asking for the oncologist’s opinion or recommendation. Conclusions These results indicate that the majority of patients introduce internet information implicitly, in order to guard against any threat to their self-esteem. Physicians, in turn, seem to respond in a supportive fashion to reduce any threat experienced. Future interventions may consider providing prescription-based guidance on how to navigate the internet as a health information resource and to encourage patients to bring these topics up with their oncologist. PMID:25631285

Cancer-related internet information communication between oncologists and patients with breast cancer: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Shen, Megan Johnson; Dyson, Robert C; D'Agostino, Thomas A; Ostroff, Jamie S; Dickler, Maura N; Heerdt, Alexandra S; Bylund, Carma L

2015-11-01

Many patients with cancer search out information about their cancer on the internet, thus affecting their relationship with their oncologists. An in-depth analysis of patient-physician communication about information obtained from the internet is currently lacking. We audio-recorded visits of patients with breast cancer and their oncologists where internet information was expected to be discussed. Inductive thematic text analysis was used to identify qualitative themes from these conversations. Twenty-one patients self-reported discussing cancer-related internet information (CRII) with their oncologists; 16 audio recordings contained detectable discussions of CRII and were analyzed. Results indicated that oncologists and patients initiated CRII discussions implicitly and explicitly. Oncologists responded positively to patient-initiated CRII discussions by (1) acknowledging their limited expertise/knowledge, (2) encouraging/approving using the internet as an information resource, (3) providing information/guidance on the proper use of internet searches, (4) discussing the pros and cons of relevant treatment options, or (5) giving information. Finally, patients reacted to the CRII discussions by (1) indicating that they only used reputable sources/websites, (2) asking for further explanation of information, (3) expressing continued concern, or (4) asking for the oncologist's opinion or recommendation. These results indicate that the majority of patients introduce internet information implicitly, in order to guard against any threat to their self-esteem. Physicians, in turn, seem to respond in a supportive fashion to reduce any threat experienced. Future interventions may consider providing prescription-based guidance on how to navigate the internet as a health information resource and to encourage patients to bring these topics up with their oncologist. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Pancreatic Cancer, A Mis-interpreter of the Epigenetic Language.

PubMed

Iguchi, Eriko; Safgren, Stephanie L; Marks, David L; Olson, Rachel L; Fernandez-Zapico, Martin E

2016-12-01

Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer mortality in the U.S. with close to 40,000 deaths per year. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) represents approximately 90 percent of all pancreatic cancer cases and is the most lethal form of the disease. Current therapies for PDAC are ineffective and most patients cannot be treated by surgical resection. Most research efforts have primarily focused on how genetic alterations cause, alter progression, contribute to diagnosis, and influence PDAC management. Over the past two decades, a model has been advanced of PDAC initiation and progression as a multi-step process driven by the acquisition of mutations leading to loss of tumor suppressors and activation of oncogenes. The recognition of the essential roles of these genetic alterations in the development of PDAC has revolutionized our knowledge of this disease. However, none of these findings have turned into effective treatment for this dismal malignancy. In recent years, studies in the areas of chromatin modifications, and non-coding RNAs have uncovered mechanisms for regulating gene expression which occur independently of genetic alterations. Chromatin-based mechanisms are interwoven with microRNA-driven regulation of protein translation to create an integrated epigenetic language, which is grossly dysregulated in PDAC. Thus in PDAC, key tumor suppressors that are well established to play a role in PDAC may be repressed, and oncogenes can be upregulated secondary to epigenetic alterations. Unlike mutations, epigenetic changes are potentially reversible. Given this feature of epigenetic mechanisms, it is conceivable that targeting epigenetic-based events promoting and maintaining PDAC could serve as foundation for the development of new therapeutic and diagnostic approaches for this disease.

Caring for Caregivers and Patients: Research and Clinical Priorities for Informal Cancer Caregiving

PubMed Central

Kent, Erin E.; Rowland, Julia H.; Northouse, Laurel; Litzelman, Kristin; Chou, Wen-Ying Sylvia; Shelburne, Nonniekaye; Timura, Catherine; O’Mara, Ann; Huss, Karen

2017-01-01

Informal/family caregivers are a fundamental source of care for cancer patients in the United States, yet the population of caregivers, their tasks, psychosocial needs and health outcomes are not well understood. Changes in the nature of cancer care and its delivery, along with the growing population of survivors and by consequence, their caregivers, warrant increased attention to the roles and demands of caregiving. This paper reviews current evidence presented in a two-day meeting to examine the state of the science of informal cancer caregiving convened by the National Cancer Institute and National Institute for Nursing Research. The meeting sought to define who is an informal cancer caregiver, summarize the state of the science in informal cancer caregiving, and describe both the kinds of interventions developed to address caregiving challenges and the various outcomes used to evaluate their impact. This paper offers recommendations for moving science forward in four areas: (1) improve estimation of the prevalence and burden of informal cancer caregiving; (2) advance development of interventions designed to improve outcomes in cancer patients, caregivers, and patient-caregiver dyads; (3) generate and test strategies to integrate caregivers into formal healthcare settings; and (4) promote use of technology to support informal cancer caregivers. PMID:26991807

Language Maintenance in a Multilingual Family: Informal Heritage Language Lessons in Parent-Child Interactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kheirkhah, Mina; Cekaite, Asta

2015-01-01

The present study explores language socialization patterns in a Persian-Kurdish family in Sweden and examines how "one-parent, one-language" family language policies are instantiated and negotiated in parent-child interactions. The data consist of video-recordings and ethnographic observations of family interactions, as well as…

Recall in Older Cancer Patients: Measuring Memory for Medical Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jansen, Jesse; van Weert, Julia; van der Meulen, Nienke; van Dulmen, Sandra; Heeren, Thea; Bensing, Jozien

2008-01-01

Purpose: Remembering medical treatment information may be particularly taxing for older cancer patients, but to our knowledge this ability has never been assessed in this specific age group only. Our purpose in this study was to investigate older cancer patients' recall of information after patient education preceding chemotherapy. Design and…

Understandability of Patient Information Booklets for Patients with Cancer.

PubMed

Keinki, Christian; Zowalla, Richard; Wiesner, Martin; Koester, Marie Jolin; Huebner, Jutta

2018-06-01

The improvement of health literacy in general and the information of individual patient is a major concern of the German national cancer plan and similar initiatives in other western countries. The aim of our study was to assess the readability and understandability of information booklets for cancer patients available at German Web sites. A support vector machine (SVM) was used to discriminate between laymen- and expert-centric patient information booklets about nine most common tumor types. All booklets had to be available for free at the Internet. A total of 52 different patient booklets were downloaded and assessed. Overall, the assessment of all booklets showed that an understandability level L of 4.6 and therefore increased medical background knowledge is required to understand a random text selected from the sample. The assessed information booklets on cancer show very limited suitability for laymen. We were able to demonstrate that a medical background is necessary to understand the examined booklets. The current study highlights the need to create information material adjusted to the needs of laymen. Assessing understandability before publication, especially for laymen with low health literacy, could ensure the suitability and thus quality of the information material.

Factors affecting satisfaction with cancer information provided through the social networking services of the National Cancer Information Center in Korea.

PubMed

Kye, Su Yeon; Lee, Min Hee; Yoo, Jisu; Oh, Kyung Hee; Jun, Jae Kwan

2017-01-01

This study aimed to identify the characteristics of social networking service (SNS) users and to assess the relationship of those factors to user satisfaction with the SNSs of the National Cancer Information Center (NCIC) in South Korea. A Web-based survey was completed by 1,670 users of the NCIC SNSs, who provided data on the sources they consulted for information about cancer, determinants of SNS use, sources of NCIC SNS awareness, the time of day they used the SNS, and their satisfaction level. Facebook users mainly became aware of the NCIC SNSs through an acquaintance's recommendation, while Twitter was accessed through other SNSs or blogs. Users in their 30s were less satisfied with the NCIC SNSs than those in their teens and 20s. Browsing for cancer-related information on the Internet, prioritizing information quality, and engaging in active use were related to a high level of satisfaction with the NCIC SNSs. Individuals who were exposed to the NCIC SNSs through other SNSs or printed materials were less satisfied with their experience of the NCIC SNSs than those who received a recommendation from an acquaintance. These findings may act as a catalyst to guide public health agencies to enhance their use of SNSs.

Factors affecting satisfaction with cancer information provided through the social networking services of the National Cancer Information Center in Korea

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to identify the characteristics of social networking service (SNS) users and to assess the relationship of those factors to user satisfaction with the SNSs of the National Cancer Information Center (NCIC) in South Korea. METHODS A Web-based survey was completed by 1,670 users of the NCIC SNSs, who provided data on the sources they consulted for information about cancer, determinants of SNS use, sources of NCIC SNS awareness, the time of day they used the SNS, and their satisfaction level. RESULTS Facebook users mainly became aware of the NCIC SNSs through an acquaintance’s recommendation, while Twitter was accessed through other SNSs or blogs. Users in their 30s were less satisfied with the NCIC SNSs than those in their teens and 20s. Browsing for cancer-related information on the Internet, prioritizing information quality, and engaging in active use were related to a high level of satisfaction with the NCIC SNSs. Individuals who were exposed to the NCIC SNSs through other SNSs or printed materials were less satisfied with their experience of the NCIC SNSs than those who received a recommendation from an acquaintance. CONCLUSIONS These findings may act as a catalyst to guide public health agencies to enhance their use of SNSs. PMID:29228522

Balancing Effort and Information Transmission During Language Acquisition: Evidence From Word Order and Case Marking.

PubMed

Fedzechkina, Maryia; Newport, Elissa L; Jaeger, T Florian

2017-03-01

Across languages of the world, some grammatical patterns have been argued to be more common than expected by chance. These are sometimes referred to as (statistical) language universals. One such universal is the correlation between constituent order freedom and the presence of a case system in a language. Here, we explore whether this correlation can be explained by a bias to balance production effort and informativity of cues to grammatical function. Two groups of learners were presented with miniature artificial languages containing optional case marking and either flexible or fixed constituent order. Learners of the flexible order language used case marking significantly more often. This result parallels the typological correlation between constituent order flexibility and the presence of case marking in a language and provides a possible explanation for the historical development of Old English to Modern English, from flexible constituent order with case marking to relatively fixed order without case marking. In addition, learners of the flexible order language conditioned case marking on constituent order, using more case marking with the cross-linguistically less frequent order, again mirroring typological data. These results suggest that some cross-linguistic generalizations originate in functionally motivated biases operating during language learning. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Do videos improve website satisfaction and recall of online cancer-related information in older lung cancer patients?

PubMed

Bol, Nadine; Smets, Ellen M A; Rutgers, M Mattijs; Burgers, Jacobus A; de Haes, Hanneke C J M; Loos, Eugène F; van Weert, Julia C M

2013-09-01

This study investigated the effects of personalized audiovisual information in addition to text on website satisfaction and recall of cancer-related online information in older lung cancer patients. An experiment using a 3 (condition: text only vs. text with nonpersonalized video vs. text with personalized video) by 2 (age patient: younger [<65 yrs] vs. older [≥65 yrs]) between-subjects factorial design was conducted. Patients were randomly assigned to one of the three information conditions stratified by age group. Patients were more satisfied with the comprehensibility, attractiveness, and the emotional support from the website when information was presented as text with personalized video compared to text only. Text with personalized video also outperformed text with nonpersonalized video regarding emotional support from the website. Furthermore, text with video improved patients' recall of cancer-related information as compared to text only. Older patients recalled less information correctly than younger patients, except when we controlled for Internet use. Text with personalized audiovisual information can enhance website satisfaction and information recall. Internet use plays an important role in explaining recall of information. The results of this study can be used to develop effective health communication materials for cancer patients. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Estimating the cost of informal caregiving for elderly patients with cancer.

PubMed

Hayman, J A; Langa, K M; Kabeto, M U; Katz, S J; DeMonner, S M; Chernew, M E; Slavin, M B; Fendrick, A M

2001-07-01

As the United States population ages, the increasing prevalence of cancer is likely to result in higher direct medical and nonmedical costs. Although estimates of the associated direct medical costs exist, very little information is available regarding the prevalence, time, and cost associated with informal caregiving for elderly cancer patients. To estimate these costs, we used data from the first wave (1993) of the Asset and Health Dynamics (AHEAD) Study, a nationally representative longitudinal survey of people aged 70 or older. Using a multivariable, two-part regression model to control for differences in health and functional status, social support, and sociodemographics, we estimated the probability of receiving informal care, the average weekly number of caregiving hours, and the average annual caregiving cost per case (assuming an average hourly wage of $8.17) for subjects who reported no history of cancer (NC), having a diagnosis of cancer but not receiving treatment for their cancer in the last year (CNT), and having a diagnosis of cancer and receiving treatment in the last year (CT). Of the 7,443 subjects surveyed, 6,422 (86%) reported NC, 718 (10%) reported CNT, and 303 (4%) reported CT. Whereas the adjusted probability of informal caregiving for those respondents reporting NC and CNT was 26%, it was 34% for those reporting CT (P <.05). Those subjects reporting CT received an average of 10.0 hours of informal caregiving per week, as compared with 6.9 and 6.8 hours for those who reported NC and CNT, respectively (P <.05). Accordingly, cancer treatment was associated with an incremental increase of 3.1 hours per week, which translates into an additional average yearly cost of $1,200 per patient and just over $1 billion nationally. Informal caregiving costs are substantial and should be considered when estimating the cost of cancer treatment in the elderly.

The role of risk, efficacy, and anxiety in smokers' cancer information seeking.

PubMed

Zhao, Xiaoquan; Cai, Xiaomei

2009-04-01

Using the risk perception attitude (RPA) framework and the 2005 Health Information National Trends Survey data, this research investigated the role of perceived personal risk, perceived comparative risk, response efficacy, communication efficacy, and anxiety in smokers' active cancer information seeking. The RPA predictions on the interactions between perceived personal risk and the two efficacy measures were not supported. Perceived personal risk and response efficacy were associated with cancer information seeking both directly and through the mediation of anxiety. Optimistic comparative risk perceptions were associated with less anxiety and were found to moderate the relationship between perceived personal risk and cancer information seeking. Surprisingly, communication efficacy emerged as a negative predictor of cancer information seeking. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Healthy Eating for Life English as a second language curriculum: primary outcomes from a nutrition education intervention targeting cancer risk reduction.

PubMed

Duncan, Lindsay R; Martinez, Josefa L; Rivers, Susan E; Latimer, Amy E; Bertoli, Michelle C; Domingo, Samantha; Salovey, Peter

2013-07-01

We conducted a pre-post feasibility trial of Healthy Eating for Life, a theory-based, multimedia English as a second language curriculum that integrates content about healthy nutrition into an English language learning program to decrease cancer health disparities. Teachers in 20 English as a second language classrooms delivered Healthy Eating for Life to 286 adult English as a second language students over one semester. Postintervention data are available for 227 students. The results indicated that Healthy Eating for Life is effective for increasing fruit and vegetable intake as well as knowledge, action planning, and coping planning related to healthy eating. Participants also achieved higher reading scores compared to the state average.

The Effect of Cancer Information Seeking on Perceptions of Cancer Risks, Fatalism, and Worry among a U.S. National Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amuta, Ann Oyare; Chen, Xuewei; Mkuu, Rahma

2017-01-01

Background: Information seeking is crucial in the health behavior context. Cancer information seeking may play a key role in individuals' perceptions and subsequent health behaviors. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of cancer information seeking on perceptions of cancer worry, fatalism and risk. Methods: Data from…

The Multiple Role of Oral Language Assessment: Language Status, Research, and Curriculum Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matluck, Joseph H.

An oral language assessment test not only can determine the relative proficiency of a child in one or more languages and his or her language preference, but also can provide diagnostic information as to the child's strengths and weaknesses in each language. This information can serve as a guide to curriculum development and to prescriptive…

Beliefs about causes of colon cancer by English-as-a-Second-Language Chinese immigrant women to Canada.

PubMed

McWhirter, Jennifer Elizabeth; Todd, Laura E; Hoffman-Goetz, Laurie

2011-12-01

Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for Canadians. Immigrants underutilize screening and may be at greater risk of late stage diagnosis and death from the disease. This mixed-methods study investigated the self-reported causes of colon cancer by 66 English-as-a-Second-Language Chinese immigrant women to Canada after reading a fact sheet which listed two causes of colon cancer (polyps and cause unknown) and six ways to help prevent colon cancer (lifestyle, diet, weight, smoking, alcohol, and screening). Women correctly named or described both causes (6.1%) or one cause (22.7%), could not name or describe either cause (19.7%), or named or described causes not included on the fact sheet (54.5%). The most common causes reported by participants were "risk factors": diet (53.0%), family history (28.8%), and lifestyle (22.7%). Women confused cause with risk factor and infrequently mentioned screening. Possible reasons for their reported beliefs are discussed.

Using Natural Language Processing to Improve Efficiency of Manual Chart Abstraction in Research: The Case of Breast Cancer Recurrence

PubMed Central

Carrell, David S.; Halgrim, Scott; Tran, Diem-Thy; Buist, Diana S. M.; Chubak, Jessica; Chapman, Wendy W.; Savova, Guergana

2014-01-01

The increasing availability of electronic health records (EHRs) creates opportunities for automated extraction of information from clinical text. We hypothesized that natural language processing (NLP) could substantially reduce the burden of manual abstraction in studies examining outcomes, like cancer recurrence, that are documented in unstructured clinical text, such as progress notes, radiology reports, and pathology reports. We developed an NLP-based system using open-source software to process electronic clinical notes from 1995 to 2012 for women with early-stage incident breast cancers to identify whether and when recurrences were diagnosed. We developed and evaluated the system using clinical notes from 1,472 patients receiving EHR-documented care in an integrated health care system in the Pacific Northwest. A separate study provided the patient-level reference standard for recurrence status and date. The NLP-based system correctly identified 92% of recurrences and estimated diagnosis dates within 30 days for 88% of these. Specificity was 96%. The NLP-based system overlooked 5 of 65 recurrences, 4 because electronic documents were unavailable. The NLP-based system identified 5 other recurrences incorrectly classified as nonrecurrent in the reference standard. If used in similar cohorts, NLP could reduce by 90% the number of EHR charts abstracted to identify confirmed breast cancer recurrence cases at a rate comparable to traditional abstraction. PMID:24488511

NCI's Physician Data Query (PDQ®) cancer information summaries: history, editorial processes, influence, and reach.

PubMed

Manrow, Richard E; Beckwith, Margaret; Johnson, Lenora E

2014-03-01

In the National Cancer Act of 1971, the Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) was given a mandate to "Collect, analyze, and disseminate all data useful in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer, including the establishment of an International Cancer Research Data Bank (ICRDB) to collect, catalog, store, and disseminate insofar as feasible the results of cancer research undertaken in any country for the use of any person involved in cancer research in any country" (National Cancer Act of 1971, S 1828, 92nd Congress, 1st Sess (1971)). In subsequent legislation, the audience for NCI's information dissemination activities was expanded to include physicians and other healthcare professionals, patients and their families, and the general public, in addition to cancer researchers. The Institute's response to these legislative requirements was to create what is now known as the Physician Data Query (PDQ®) cancer information database. From its beginnings in 1977 as a database of NCI-sponsored cancer clinical trials, PDQ has grown to include extensive information about cancer treatment, screening, prevention, supportive and palliative care, genetics, drugs, and more. Herein, we describe the history, editorial processes, influence, and global reach of one component of the PDQ database, namely its evidence-based cancer information summaries for health professionals. These summaries are widely recognized as important cancer information and education resources, and they further serve as foundational documents for the development of other cancer information products by NCI and other organizations.

Potential curability and perception of received information in esophageal cancer patients.

PubMed

Pinto, Eleonora; Cavallin, Francesco; Saadeh, Luca Maria; Bellissimo, Maria Cristina; Alfieri, Rita; Mantoan, Silvia; Cagol, Matteo; Castoro, Carlo; Scarpa, Marco

2018-06-01

This study aimed to evaluate patients' perceived receipt of information according to the possibility of cure in esophageal cancer. One hundred and twelve consecutive patients presenting at the multidisciplinary visit at the Veneto Institute of Oncology for esophageal cancer between 2014 and 2016 were included in the study. The Italian version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) quality of life questionnaires C30 (core questionnaire), OG25 (esophago-gastric cancer module), and INFO25 (information module) were used. Candidates for palliative treatment were less informed about the disease (adjusted mean difference - 11.5, 95% CI - 23.0 to - 0.02) and less satisfied with information provided (adjusted mean difference - 18.3, 95% CI - 31.9 to - 4.7) than candidates for curative treatment. In addition, candidates for palliative treatment wanted to receive more information than candidates for curative treatment (adjusted mean difference 26.1, 95% CI 0.5 to 51.6). Better quality of life was associated with satisfaction of received information (β = 0.77, p < 0.0001) and of receiving information about things that the patient can do to help himself (β = 0.26, p = 0.04). More anxiety was associated to receiving more information about disease (β = 0.46, p = 0.02) but less information about things that the patient can do to help himself (β = - 0.38, p = 0.02). Candidates for palliative treatment were less satisfied with information about the disease and wanted to receive more information. Additionally, some aspects of quality of life were found to be associated with perceived receipt of information. Appropriate training in communication of prognostic information may improve clinical management of incurable cancer patients.

The field representation language.

PubMed

Tsafnat, Guy

2008-02-01

The complexity of quantitative biomedical models, and the rate at which they are published, is increasing to a point where managing the information has become all but impossible without automation. International efforts are underway to standardise representation languages for a number of mathematical entities that represent a wide variety of physiological systems. This paper presents the Field Representation Language (FRL), a portable representation of values that change over space and/or time. FRL is an extensible mark-up language (XML) derivative with support for large numeric data sets in Hierarchical Data Format version 5 (HDF5). Components of FRL can be reused through unified resource identifiers (URI) that point to external resources such as custom basis functions, boundary geometries and numerical data. To demonstrate the use of FRL as an interchange we present three models that study hyperthermia cancer treatment: a fractal model of liver tumour microvasculature; a probabilistic model simulating the deposition of magnetic microspheres throughout it; and a finite element model of hyperthermic treatment. The microsphere distribution field was used to compute the heat generation rate field around the tumour. We used FRL to convey results from the microsphere simulation to the treatment model. FRL facilitated the conversion of the coordinate systems and approximated the integral over regions of the microsphere deposition field.

"When information is not enough": A model for understanding BRCA-positive previvors' information needs regarding hereditary breast and ovarian cancer risk.

PubMed

Dean, Marleah; Scherr, Courtney L; Clements, Meredith; Koruo, Rachel; Martinez, Jennifer; Ross, Amy

2017-09-01

To investigate BRCA-positive, unaffected patients' - referred to as previvors - information needs after testing positive for a deleterious BRCA genetic mutation. 25 qualitative interviews were conducted with previvors. Data were analyzed using the constant comparison method of grounded theory. Analysis revealed a theoretical model of previvors' information needs related to the stage of their health journey. Specifically, a four-stage model was developed based on the data: (1) pre-testing information needs, (2) post-testing information needs, (3) pre-management information needs, and (4) post-management information needs. Two recurring dimensions of desired knowledge also emerged within the stages-personal/social knowledge and medical knowledge. While previvors may be genetically predisposed to develop cancer, they have not been diagnosed with cancer, and therefore have different information needs than cancer patients and cancer survivors. This model can serve as a framework for assisting healthcare providers in meeting the specific information needs of cancer previvors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Colon cancer information as a source of exercise motivation for relatives of patients with colon cancer.

PubMed

McGowan, Erin L; Prapavessis, Harry

2010-12-01

Using a Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) framework, this study examined whether factual colon cancer information is a meaningful source of exercise motivation for relatives of patients with colon cancer. One hundred sixty-six inactive relatives were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions: PMT group (intervention); and non-PMT group (attention control). At baseline (T1) participants completed demographic information, a questionnaire designed to assess their beliefs toward exercise and colon cancer as well as their exercise intentions. At T2 (one week following T1) participants watched one of two DVD videos that were created for the study. The intervention DVD contained exercise and colon cancer information that was yoked within the four major components of PMT: perceived vulnerability (PV); perceived severity (PS); response efficacy (RE); and self-efficacy (SE), while the attention control DVD contained general diet and cancer information. Immediately following watching the DVD, participants completed the same measures as in T1. Participants assigned to the PMT intervention group showed significant improvement in PV, RE, SE and exercise intentions, whereas participants assigned to the attention control group showed significant improvement only in RE. RE, SE, and PS made significant and unique contributions to prediction of exercise intention. Overall, the results of the present study demonstrate that a single exposure media intervention grounded in a PMT framework can change individuals' exercise and colon cancer beliefs, as well as change their exercise intentions. Implications of these findings and direction for future research are discussed.

CANCER IN OTHER WORDS? THE ROLE OF METAPHOR IN EMOTION DISCLOSURE IN CANCER PATIENTS.

PubMed

Lanceley, Anne; Clark, Jill Macleod

2013-05-01

Despite evidence that nurses may play a crucial part in the wellbeing and recovery of cancer patients by facilitating their expression of feelings, research is lacking into the emotional content of nurse-patient talk and patients' use of language in emotion disclosure. In this study, 23 participating nurses in a variety of cancer care settings were asked to tape-record their conversations with patients during daily care. A data set of 60 nurse-patient conversations was collected. Individual expression of emotion by patients was identified through interpretive literary analysis within a framework of psychodynamic theory. Overall the picture of emotion disclosure was intense. In particular, patients' use of metaphor and figurative language to express their distress was powerful and pervasive. Participating nurses demonstrated responsive skills but their responses to figurative expression were often problematic. The study provides evidence of unconscious processes in nurses' work and advocates career-long psychoanalytically informed supervision for nurses to better support them in challenging dialogue with cancer patients. Research is needed to evaluate the impact of supervision on communications with cancer patients to ensure patients have access to appropriate emotional supportive and care.

CANCER IN OTHER WORDS? THE ROLE OF METAPHOR IN EMOTION DISCLOSURE IN CANCER PATIENTS

PubMed Central

Lanceley, Anne; Clark, Jill Macleod

2013-01-01

Despite evidence that nurses may play a crucial part in the wellbeing and recovery of cancer patients by facilitating their expression of feelings, research is lacking into the emotional content of nurse–patient talk and patients' use of language in emotion disclosure. In this study, 23 participating nurses in a variety of cancer care settings were asked to tape-record their conversations with patients during daily care. A data set of 60 nurse–patient conversations was collected. Individual expression of emotion by patients was identified through interpretive literary analysis within a framework of psychodynamic theory. Overall the picture of emotion disclosure was intense. In particular, patients' use of metaphor and figurative language to express their distress was powerful and pervasive. Participating nurses demonstrated responsive skills but their responses to figurative expression were often problematic. The study provides evidence of unconscious processes in nurses' work and advocates career-long psychoanalytically informed supervision for nurses to better support them in challenging dialogue with cancer patients. Research is needed to evaluate the impact of supervision on communications with cancer patients to ensure patients have access to appropriate emotional supportive and care. PMID:24748706

The Relationship between Specific Language Variables and Mental Ability in the Treatment of Verbal Information by Adults.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hampson, Eric

A study investigated the functional relationship that exists when mental ability and language competence are separately and simultaneously measured with regard to their influence on the effective treatment of verbal information. Data were gathered from 100 men and women, aged 20-60, who were tested for language competence, reading comprehension,…

Making it work: informal caregiving, cancer, and employment.

PubMed

Swanberg, Jennifer E

2006-01-01

Studies of informal caregivers for people with cancer have primarily focused on the family, or personal factors that contribute to, or mediate the stress associated with providing care to a loved one. However, the majority of research models have failed to consider the role that workplace factors may play in caregivers' work-family conflict, and stress. This qualitative study identifies the workplace factors that inhibit or facilitate the ability of informal caregivers of cancer patients to provide care to a loved one and to determine the aspects of caregiving that hinder caregivers' ability to meet work responsibilities. Implications for further research are discussed.

Multi-agent systems: effective approach for cancer care information management.

PubMed

Mohammadzadeh, Niloofar; Safdari, Reza; Rahimi, Azin

2013-01-01

Physicians, in order to study the causes of cancer, detect cancer earlier, prevent or determine the effectiveness of treatment, and specify the reasons for the treatment ineffectiveness, need to access accurate, comprehensive, and timely cancer data. The cancer care environment has become more complex because of the need for coordination and communication among health care professionals with different skills in a variety of roles and the existence of large amounts of data with various formats. The goals of health care systems in such a complex environment are correct health data management, providing appropriate information needs of users to enhance the integrity and quality of health care, timely access to accurate information and reducing medical errors. These roles in new systems with use of agents efficiently perform well. Because of the potential capability of agent systems to solve complex and dynamic health problems, health care system, in order to gain full advantage of E- health, steps must be taken to make use of this technology. Multi-agent systems have effective roles in health service quality improvement especially in telemedicine, emergency situations and management of chronic diseases such as cancer. In the design and implementation of agent based systems, planning items such as information confidentiality and privacy, architecture, communication standards, ethical and legal aspects, identification opportunities and barriers should be considered. It should be noted that usage of agent systems only with a technical view is associated with many problems such as lack of user acceptance. The aim of this commentary is to survey applications, opportunities and barriers of this new artificial intelligence tool for cancer care information as an approach to improve cancer care management.

Cancer Risk-Promoting Information: The Communication Environment of Young Adults.

PubMed

McCloud, Rachel F; Kohler, Racquel E; Viswanath, K

2017-09-01

Young adulthood represents a time of myriad transitions, which leave young adults (YAs) more susceptible to the influences of cancer risk-promoting information. The tobacco, alcohol, indoor tanning, and food and beverage industries engage in aggressive marketing strategies through both traditional and social media to target this age group to consume their products, which have known links to cancer. Despite this barrage of messaging, detailed data are lacking on the communication behaviors of subgroups of this diverse age group, particularly those from low SES. This paper explores the available data on media usage among YAs and describes the cancer risk-promoting information environment, with a focus on communication inequalities and their implications for cancer research and control. Nationally representative data on media consumption patterns indicate that the majority of YAs access a diverse range of traditional and social media platforms, but these data do not fully describe differences at the intersection of age and important factors such as SES, gender, race/ethnicity, or urban/rural residence. Meanwhile, risk-promoting information is heavily marketed to YAs across media, with an increasing focus on using social media sites to normalize products and evade marketing restrictions. Gaps in the available data on YAs' media consumption behaviors, coupled with aggressive risk-promoting marketing strategies toward YAs, may impede cancer control efforts. Relationships between exposure to various cancer risk-promoting information, concurrent risk behaviors, SES disparities, and communication inequalities should be investigated to develop innovative and effective control programs and policies to promote cancer control in this important group. Copyright © 2017 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Patterns of Internet-based health information seeking in adult survivors of childhood cancer.

PubMed

Claridy, Mechelle D; Hudson, Melissa M; Caplan, Lee; Mitby, Pauline A; Leisenring, Wendy; Smith, Selina A; Robison, Leslie L; Mertens, Ann C

2018-05-01

To assess where, when, and why survivors of childhood cancer seek health information. Data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS) cohort (n = 1386) and Health Information National Trends Survey (n = 2385) were analyzed to determine the health information seeking strategies of childhood cancer survivors. Descriptive frequencies, χ 2 analyses, t-tests, and multivariable logistic regression models were used. To seek health-related information for themselves, 54% (n = 742) of the childhood survivors reported using the Internet in the past 12 months, compared to 45% of the general population (adjusted OR: 2.76; 95% CI: 2.40-3.19). Childhood cancer survivors who used the Internet for health information were more likely to be female, between the ages of 18-34, have received some college education or be a college graduate, and report being in poor health. Although survivors were less likely than the general population to trust health information from the Internet (P < 0.01), they indicated that they would like a secure website that uses information from their medical records to provide individualized health-related information. The use of the Internet to access health information among the childhood cancer survivors was over 50%. Information on late effects was a high priority for most survivors, as was their interest in websites related to late effects and a website on patient information tailored to personal situations. Identification of factors associated with searching the Internet for cancer information may provide direction for development of effective cancer communication interventions for this at-risk population. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Doctor-Patient Relationship and Information-Seeking Behavior: Four Orientations to Cancer Communication.

PubMed

Adamson, Matthew; Choi, Kelsey; Notaro, Stephen; Cotoc, Crina

2018-04-01

In cancer communication, patients and physicians often understand a patient's experience and situation differently. This can negatively impact health outcomes and the physician-patient relationship. To explore how cancer patients' interpretations of the physician's role as information giver affect the communication relationship with the physician and their information-seeking behavior regarding different aspects of their cancer care. Participants completed a semistructured qualitative interview addressing their treatment experience and communication with their physician. Interviews were coded and analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Ten patients with cancer treated at a regional cancer center in central Illinois participated in the study. Cancer stages I to IV and 4 cancer types were represented. Participants' orientations to the relationship with their physician (and their information-seeking behavior) were classified into 4 general categories: (1) "questioners" have a general mistrust toward their physicians and the information doctors are giving; (2) "the undecided" focuses on physician "fit," often requiring time to step away in order to make decisions and process information; (3) "cross-checkers" are concerned with content of their treatment protocol, often double-checking the treatment plan; and (4) "the experience-oriented" feel a gap between their experience and their physician's experience (and perspective), often seeking information from other survivors. All categories described a perceived lack of adequate exchange of information and the need to seek information outside of the physician-patient relationship to compensate. Participants exhibited different information-seeking behaviors based on how they interpreted the role of their physician as information giver. This affected what kind of information they sought and how they understood the information received, which in turn affected understanding of their broader experience and care.

Using the Internet for information about breast cancer: a questionnaire-based study.

PubMed

Littlechild, Sophie Anna; Barr, Lester

2013-09-01

To identify the proportion of breast cancer patients that used the Internet for breast cancer information; to classify patterns of use based on patient demographics; and to evaluate whether using the Internet for this purpose was beneficial or problematic. Also to recognize whether a specific demographic group was more likely to experience problems when using the Internet for breast cancer information. A 10-item questionnaire was given to patients who attended the breast unit at the University Hospital of South Manchester between May and June 2011 following breast cancer treatment within the last 5 years. 200 questionnaires were completed. 50.5% of patients had used the Internet for breast cancer information, with younger (p<0.001) patients with a higher household income (p<0.001) being most likely to do so. The majority (73%) found it beneficial; however 31% had experienced problems. Ethnicity affected the likelihood of experiencing problems with white patients encountering fewer problems (25%) than non-white patients (64%) (p=0.008). A significant proportion of breast cancer patients will encounter difficulties when using the Internet for breast cancer information, particularly those from ethnic minorities. Health professionals need to include a discussion about Internet use in consultations with breast cancer patients. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Exploratory Study on the Information Needs of Prostate Cancer Patients and Their Partners

PubMed Central

Kassianos, Angelos P.; Raats, Monique M.; Gage, Heather

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is to explore the information needs of men with prostate cancer and their partners retrospectively at various points in the treatment process. An online questionnaire was used to collect information from men with prostate cancer and their partners about information needs, and when these developed. Readers of a Prostate Care Cookbook and members of a Prostate Cancer Charity were invited to participate: 73 men with prostate cancer and 25 partners completed the questionnaire. Responses showed that participants develop their information needs close to diagnosis. Less educated men with prostate cancer and partners developed their needs closer to the time after diagnosis than those with higher education. Partners develop an interest on information related to treatment and interaction earlier than patients. Patients prioritised treatment and disease-specific information. Patients and partners differ in how their information needs develop. Medical information is prioritized by patients as opposed to practical information by partners. Health care provision can be tailored to meet the different needs of prostate cancer patients and their partners at different times in the treatment process. PMID:27403460

The quality and readability of colorectal cancer information on the internet.

PubMed

Grewal, P; Alagaratnam, S

2013-01-01

Patients can rapidly access the internet and more young people are using their mobile to access health-related information. The aim of this study is to assess the readability and quality of colorectal disease websites for colorectal cancer. We searched the Google, Yahoo and Bing for colorectal cancer. Readability was assessed using Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES), Flesch-Kincaid Grade (FKG) and Gunning Fog Index (GFI). The LIDA tool and DISCERN instrument were used to measure the design and content of health information on the Internet. A sub-group analysis was performed on websites certified by HONcode and Information Standard against non-certified websites. The mean FRES were 56.3, mean FKG of 6.9, mean GFI of 9.5, equivalent to TIME magazine. The mean LIDA Tool overall score was 85.6% and mean DISCERN instrument was 52.2 (95% CI 45-59.4). This study shows that colorectal cancer websites were readable but potentially unreliable. Government certified sites were superior to non-certified sites. Improvements are required to provide patients with reliable information to make informed decisions on medical treatments. We propose that national cancer services develop reliable and easily readable information regarding the diagnosis and investigation of colorectal cancer. The site should provide adequate information regarding the treatment options and importantly how each treatment option would affect the patient's quality of life. Clinicians can then provide these websites to the patients before and after their consultations to allow the patient to be fully informed. Copyright © 2013 Surgical Associates Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prevention and Early Detection of Occupational Cancers - a View of Information Technology Solutions.

PubMed

Davoodi, Somayeh; Safdari, Reza; Ghazisaeidi, Marjan; Mohammadzadeh, Zeinab; Azadmanjir, Zahra

2015-01-01

Thousands of people die each year from cancer due to occupational causes. To reduce cancer in workers, preventive strategies should be used in the high-risk workplace. The effective prevention of occupational cancer requires knowledge of carcinogen agents. Like other areas of healthcare industry, occupational health has been affected by information technology solutions to improve prevention, early detection, treatment and finally the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the healthcare system. Information technology solutions are thus an important issue in the healthcare field. Information about occupational cancer in information systems is important for policy makers, managers, physicians, patients and researchers; because examples that include high quality data about occupational cancer patients and occupational cancer causes are able to determine the worker groups which require special attention. As a result exposed workers who are vulnerable can undergo screening and be considered for preventive interventions.

Comparison of Online Dementia Information in Chinese and in English Languages

PubMed Central

Tsiang, John T

2017-01-01

Introduction There is a deficit of avenues for obtaining dementia information in the Asian American community. This study aims to compare the content and quality differences between websites providing information on dementia as found by a Google search conducted both in simplified Chinese characters and in English. Methods A Google search was performed for the phrase “dementia” in simplified Chinese characters and in English. The resultant websites were categorized by whether they were commercial in nature, the type of website, and whether the website provided an explanation of dementia signs and symptoms. The quality of the websites was assessed via readability and the Health on the Net Code of Conduct (HONcode). Chi-squared analyses were performed to establish differences between the English and simplified Chinese results. Results The simplified Chinese search websites were more likely to be commercial (p=0.045) and were more likely to not meet HONcode standards (p=0.008). No statistical significance was observed between the types of websites (p=0.127), the prevalence of signs and symptom explanations (p=0.073), and the readability of the website (p=0.151). Conclusion The quality of websites obtained from the simplified Chinese character Google search was lower than those obtained from searches using the English language. Given the limited sources of language and culturally appropriate information on dementia, improvement of Internet resources may help to improve health outcomes of dementia patients in the Asian American population. PMID:29308336

Interaction between Syntactic Structure and Information Structure in the Processing of a Head-Final Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koizumi, Masatoshi; Imamura, Satoshi

2017-01-01

The effects of syntactic and information structures on sentence processing load were investigated using two reading comprehension experiments in Japanese, a head-final SOV language. In the first experiment, we discovered the main effects of syntactic and information structures, as well as their interaction, showing that interaction of these two…

Barriers beyond words: cancer, culture, and translation in a community of Russian speakers.

PubMed

Dohan, Daniel; Levintova, Marya

2007-11-01

Language and culture relate in complex ways. Addressing this complexity in the context of language translation is a challenge when caring for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP). To examine processes of care related to language, culture and translation in an LEP population is the objective of this study. We used community based participatory research to examine the experiences of Russian-speaking cancer patients in San Francisco, California. A Russian Cancer Information Taskforce (RCIT), including community-based organizations, local government, and clinics, participated in all phases of the study. A purposeful sample of 74 individuals were the participants of the study. The RCIT shaped research themes and facilitated access to participants. Methods were focus groups, individual interviews, and participant observation. RCIT reviewed data and provided guidance in interpreting results. Four themes emerged. (1) Local Russian-language resources were seen as inadequate and relatively unavailable compared to other non-English languages; (2) a taboo about the word "cancer" led to language "games" surrounding disclosure; (3) this taboo, and other dynamics of care, reflected expectations that Russian speakers derived from experiences in their countries of origin; (4) using interpreters as cultural brokers or establishing support groups for Russian speakers could help address barriers. The language barriers experienced by this LEP population reflect cultural and linguistic issues. Providers should consider partnering with trained interpreters to address the intertwining of language and culture.

Subcategory learning in normal and language learning-disabled adults: how much information do they need?

PubMed

Richardson, Jessica; Harris, Laurel; Plante, Elena; Gerken, Louann

2006-12-01

The purpose of this experiment was to determine if nonreferential morphophonological information was sufficient to facilitate the learning of gender subcategories (i.e., masculine vs. feminine) in individuals with normal language (NL) and those with a history of language-based learning disabilities (HLD). Thirty-two adults listened for 18 min to a familiarization set of Russian words that included either 1 (single-marked) or 2 (double-marked) morphophonological markers indicating gender. Participants were then tested on their knowledge of both trained and untrained members of each gender subcategory. Testing indicated that morphophonological information is sufficient for lexical subcategory learning in both NL and HLD groups, although the HLD group had lower overall accuracy. The HLD group benefited from double-marking relative to single-marking for subcategory learning. The results demonstrated that learning through implicit mechanisms occurred after a relatively brief exposure to the language stimuli. In addition, the weaker overall learning by the HLD group was facilitated when multiple cues to linguistic subcategory were available in the input group members received.

(Parenting Curriculum for Language Minority Parents. Lao Language.)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holt, Grace D.

This guide for minority language parents whose primary language is Lao presents parenting information to supplement a course in English as a Second Language. It focuses on topics parents must deal with in meeting the needs of their children. Vocabulary and practice drills are presented for activities in the following areas: (1) education and…

Health-Related Information-Seeking Behaviors and Preferences Among Mexican Patients with Cancer.

PubMed

Soto-Perez-de-Celis, Enrique; Perez-Montessoro, Viridiana; Rojo-Castillo, Patricia; Chavarri-Guerra, Yanin

2018-06-01

Understanding the preferred sources of health-related information among patients with cancer is essential for designing successful cancer education and prevention strategies. However, little is known about health-related information-seeking practices among patients living in low- and middle-income countries. We studied the preferred sources of health-related information among Mexican patients with cancer and explored which factors influence these choices. The health-related information-seeking practices among patients with cancer treated at a public hospital in Mexico City were evaluated using questions from the Spanish Version of the Health Information National Trends Survey. The characteristics of patients who sought health-related information, and of those who chose the internet as their preferred source of information, were analyzed. Fisher's exact test and logistic regression were used for statistical analyses. One hundred forty-eight patients answered the survey (median age 60 years, 70% female), of which 88 (59%) had sought for health-related information. On multivariate analysis, the only characteristic associated with lower odds of seeking health-related information was increasing age (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.90-0.97). Sixty-one respondents (69%) listed the internet as their preferred source of health-related information. On multivariate analysis, only being of the female gender (OR 4.9, 95% CI 1.3-18.3) was related with higher odds of preferring other sources of information over the internet. Among Mexican patients with cancer, the Internet is the most widely used information source. Older age was the characteristic most strongly associated with not seeking health-related information, while being female was strongly associated with preferring other sources of information over the Internet.

Natural language processing systems for capturing and standardizing unstructured clinical information: A systematic review.

PubMed

Kreimeyer, Kory; Foster, Matthew; Pandey, Abhishek; Arya, Nina; Halford, Gwendolyn; Jones, Sandra F; Forshee, Richard; Walderhaug, Mark; Botsis, Taxiarchis

2017-09-01

We followed a systematic approach based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses to identify existing clinical natural language processing (NLP) systems that generate structured information from unstructured free text. Seven literature databases were searched with a query combining the concepts of natural language processing and structured data capture. Two reviewers screened all records for relevance during two screening phases, and information about clinical NLP systems was collected from the final set of papers. A total of 7149 records (after removing duplicates) were retrieved and screened, and 86 were determined to fit the review criteria. These papers contained information about 71 different clinical NLP systems, which were then analyzed. The NLP systems address a wide variety of important clinical and research tasks. Certain tasks are well addressed by the existing systems, while others remain as open challenges that only a small number of systems attempt, such as extraction of temporal information or normalization of concepts to standard terminologies. This review has identified many NLP systems capable of processing clinical free text and generating structured output, and the information collected and evaluated here will be important for prioritizing development of new approaches for clinical NLP. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Language translation, doman specific languages and ANTLR

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Craymer, Loring; Parr, Terence

2002-01-01

We will discuss the features of ANTLR that make it an attractive tool for rapid developement of domain specific language translators and present some practical examples of its use: extraction of information from the Cassini Command Language specification, the processing of structured binary data, and IVL--an English-like language for generating VRML scene graph, which is used in configuring the jGuru.com server.

From the Mouths of Canadian University Students: Web-Based Information-Seeking Activities for Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peters, Martine; Weinberg, Alysse; Sarma, Nandini; Frankoff, Mary

2011-01-01

This article presents student perceptions about different types of web-based activities used to seek information for French language learning. Group interviews were conducted with 71 students in five Canadian universities to elicit data on their use of the Internet for information-seeking activities. These students use the Web for three main…

Information-seeking experiences and decision-making roles of Japanese women with breast cancer.

PubMed

Nakashima, Mitsuyo; Kuroki, Syoji; Shinkoda, Harumi; Suetsugu, Yoshiko; Shimada, Kazuo; Kaku, Tsunehisa

2012-06-01

To investigate the information-seeking experiences and decision-making roles of Japanese women with breast cancer, to examine the relationship between information-seeking experiences and decision-making roles, and to explore the factors that influenced taking a more active role than the preferred role during the treatment decision-making process. In a cross-sectional study, women with breast cancer were retrospectively administered the Control Preferences Scale and the Information-Seeking Experience Scale. The Chi-Square test was used to compare differences among individual variables in decision-making roles and information-seeking experiences. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the factors that influenced taking a more active role than the preferred role. One hundred and four patients with breast cancer participated in the investigation. Eighty-five patients (78%) perceived themselves as having knowledge of breast cancer and most patients (92%) sought information on breast cancer. The preferred roles in decision-making that they reported having before treatment were 18% active, 69% collaborative and 13% passive. The actual roles they perceived having experienced were 27% active, 43% collaborative and 30% passive. Although there was concordance of preferred and actual role for only 59% of the women, most patients reported that they were satisfied with their decision-making. Many women with breast cancer reported negative experiences with information seeking, including wanting more information (49%), expending a lot of effort to obtain the information needed (53%), not having enough time to obtain needed information (55%), frustration during the search for information (44%), concerns about the quality of the information (45%) and difficulty understanding the information received (49%). This study revealed that having a more active actual role than the initial preferred role was associated with emotional expression to the physician, having undergone

Quality and readability of English-language internet information for aphasia.

PubMed

Azios, Jamie H; Bellon-Harn, Monica; Dockens, Ashley L; Manchaiah, Vinaya

2017-08-14

Little is known about the quality and readability of treatment information in specific neurogenic disorders, such as aphasia. The purpose of this study was to assess quality and readability of English-language Internet information available for aphasia treatment. Forty-three aphasia treatment websites were aggregated using five different country-specific search engines. Websites were then analysed using quality and readability assessments. Statistical calculations were employed to examine website ratings, differences between website origin and quality and readability scores, and correlations between readability instruments. Websites exhibited low quality with few websites obtaining Health On the Net (HON) certification or clear, thorough information as measured by the DISCERN. Regardless of website origin, readability scores were also poor. Approximate educational levels required to comprehend information on aphasia treatment websites ranged from 13 to 16 years of education. Significant differences were found between website origin and readability measures with higher levels of education required to understand information on websites of non-profit organisations. Current aphasia treatment websites were found to exhibit low levels of quality and readability, creating potential accessibility problems for people with aphasia and significant others. Websites including treatment information for aphasia must be improved in order to increase greater information accessibility.

Deconstructing Cancer Patient Information Seeking in a Consumer Health Library Toward Developing a Virtual Information Consult for Cancer Patients and Their Caregivers: A Qualitative, Instrumental Case Study.

PubMed

Papadakos, Janet; Trang, Aileen; Cyr, Alaina B; Abdelmutti, Nazek; Giuliani, Meredith E; Snow, Michelle; McCurdie, Tara; Pulandiran, Menaka; Urowitz, Sara; Wiljer, David

2017-05-24

Cancer patients and their caregivers want information about their disease and are interested in finding health information online. Despite the abundance of cancer information online, it is often fragmented, its quality is highly variable, and it can be difficult to navigate without expert-level knowledge of the cancer system. The Patient & Family Library at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre offers a broad collection of high-quality cancer health information and staff are available to help patrons refine their questions and explore information needs that they may not have considered. The purpose of this research study was to deconstruct patrons' information-seeking behaviors in the library to assess the feasibility of replicating the services provided in the library through a Web app, extending the service beyond the walls of the cancer centre. The specific aims of this research were to understand (1) how patrons approach information seeking in the library (interface design), (2) how patrons communicate their informational needs (information categorization and metadata requirements), and (3) what resources are provided to address the patrons' information needs (collection development). We employed a qualitative, instrumental case study to deconstruct patrons' health information-seeking behavior. The study population included patients, the librarian, and library volunteers. Ethnographic observation was conducted at the library over 3 days and key informant interviews with library staff were conducted to address the first aim. A closed card-sorting activity was conducted to address the second aim and the library shift logs and Search Request Forms (SRFs) were reviewed to address the third aim. A total of 55 interactions were recorded during the ethnographic observation and nine semistructured interviews were conducted during the key informant interviews. Seven library patron personas were identified: (1) Newbie, (2) Seasoned, (3) Direct, (4) Window Shopper, (5

Quon 3D language for quantum information

PubMed Central

Liu, Zhengwei; Wozniakowski, Alex; Jaffe, Arthur M.

2017-01-01

We present a 3D topological picture-language for quantum information. Our approach combines charged excitations carried by strings, with topological properties that arise from embedding the strings in the interior of a 3D manifold with boundary. A quon is a composite that acts as a particle. Specifically, a quon is a hemisphere containing a neutral pair of open strings with opposite charge. We interpret multiquons and their transformations in a natural way. We obtain a type of relation, a string–genus “joint relation,” involving both a string and the 3D manifold. We use the joint relation to obtain a topological interpretation of the C∗-Hopf algebra relations, which are widely used in tensor networks. We obtain a 3D representation of the controlled NOT (CNOT) gate that is considerably simpler than earlier work, and a 3D topological protocol for teleportation. PMID:28167790

Core information set for oesophageal cancer surgery.

PubMed

Blazeby, J M; Macefield, R; Blencowe, N S; Jacobs, M; McNair, A G K; Sprangers, M; Brookes, S T

2015-07-01

Surgeons provide patients with information before surgery, although standards of information are lacking and practice varies. The development and use of a 'core information set' as baseline information before surgery may improve understanding. A core set is a minimum set of information to use in all consultations before a specific procedure. This study developed a core information set for oesophageal cancer surgery. Information was identified from the literature, observations of clinical consultations and patient interviews. This was integrated to create a questionnaire survey. Stakeholders (patients and professionals) were surveyed twice to assess views on importance of information from 'not essential' to 'absolutely essential' using Delphi methods. Items not meeting predefined criteria were discarded after each survey and the final retained items were voted on, in separate patient and professional stakeholder meetings, to agree the core set. Some 67 information items were identified initially from multiple sources. Survey response rates were 76·5 per cent (185 of 242) and 54·8 per cent (126 of 230) for patients and professionals respectively (first round), and over 83 per cent in both groups thereafter. Health professionals rated short-term clinical outcomes most highly (technical complications), whereas patients prioritized information related to long-term benefits. The consensus meetings agreed the final set, which consisted of: in-hospital milestones to recovery, rates of open-and-close surgery, in-hospital mortality, major complications (reoperation), milestones in recovery after discharge, longer-term eating and drinking and overall quality of life, and chances of survival. This study has established a core information set for surgery for oesophageal cancer. © 2015 BJS Society Ltd Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

29 CFR 500.78 - Information in foreign language.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... English or, as necessary and reasonable, in Spanish or another language common to migrant or seasonal... available in English, Spanish, Haitian-Creole and other languages, as necessary, which may be used in...

Internet Access and Online Cancer Information Seeking Among Latino Immigrants From Safety Net Clinics

PubMed Central

SELSKY, CLAIRE; LUTA, GEORGE; NOONE, ANNE-MICHELLE; HUERTA, ELMER E.; MANDELBLATT, JEANNE S.

2013-01-01

Internet use is widespread, but little is known about Internet use for cancer information among Latinos, especially those who rely on safety net clinics. The authors investigated access to and intended use of the Internet for cancer information among low income, immigrant Latinos predominately from Central and South America. A cross-sectional study of 1,273 Latinos 21 years and older attending safety net clinics or health fairs was conducted from June 2007 to November 2008. The authors used logistic regression models to evaluate associations of age, acculturation, psychosocial factors and other covariates with Internet access and intended use of the Internet for cancer information among those with access. Of the sample, 44% reported Internet access. Higher information self-efficacy and greater trust in the Internet were independently associated with Internet access (p= .05 and p < .001, respectively). Among those with access, 53.8% reported they intended to seek cancer help online if they needed information. Those with younger age and higher acculturation, education and self-efficacy had higher odds of intended Internet use for cancer information, considering covariates. In addition, those with high (vs. low) perceived risk of cancer (OR = 1.76; 95% CI [1.14, 2.73]; p = .01) and higher levels of trust in online health information (OR = 1.47 per one-point increase; 95% [CI 1.19, 1.82]; p = .0004) were more likely to intend to seek cancer information online. These findings that Internet access is fairly high in the immigrant Latino population and that the Internet is a trusted source of cancer information suggest that the Internet may be a channel for cancer control interventions. PMID:23066874

[A quantitative analysis of information-seeking behaviors regarding medical institutions with Spanish language support among South American Spanish-speaking migrants in Aichi Prefecture, Japan].

PubMed

Takaku, Michiko; Ichikawa, Seiichi; Kaneko, Noriyo

2015-01-01

This study aimed to explore the factors associated with information-seeking behaviors regarding medical institutions with Spanish language support among South American Spanish-speaking migrants living in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The survey targeted South American Spanish-speaking migrants aged 18 years and older currently residing in Aichi Prefecture who had lived in Japan for at least three months and who had previously seen a doctor in Japan. The questionnaire was written in Spanish and the survey was conducted from April to July, 2010. Wilson's information behavior model was used to study information-seeking behavior regarding medical institutions with Spanish language support among 245 respondents who completed the questionnaires (response rate: 58.9%). Experience seeking medical institutions with Spanish language support in the Tokai area was set as the dependent variable and a chi-square test was conducted to examine relationships with language support needs, recognition of and access to medical institutions with Spanish language support, living situation in Japan, and Japanese language skills. Among the 245 respondents, 106 were male (43.3%) and 139 were female (56.7%). The average age was 39.6±11.2 years old and 84.5% were Peruvian. The average length of residency in Japan was 11.0±5.7 years, and 34.3% of respondents had lived in Aichi for 5-9 years. A total of 165 respondents (67.3%) had searched for medical institutions with Spanish language support, while 80 (32.7%) had not. Information-seeking behavior regarding medical institutions with Spanish language support was associated with having previously experienced a need for Spanish language support when seeing doctors in Japan, finding and attending medical institutions with Spanish language support in the Tokai area, length of residency in Japan, Japanese language skills, and the language used in daily life. Experience in requiring Spanish support when sick or injured in Japan motivated respondents to

Using Information and Communication Technologies to Motivate Young Learners to Practice English as a Foreign Language in Cyprus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diakou, Maria

2015-01-01

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are continuously evolving and when integrated appropriately these can facilitate foreign language learning classes. Connecting the curriculum to real world tasks in this way prepares "learners for the challenge of coping with the language they hear and read in the real world outside the…

Readability of Spanish language online information for the initial treatment of burns.

PubMed

Votta, Kaitlyn; Metivier, Meghan; Romo, Stephanie; Garrigan, Hannah; Drexler, Alana; Nodoushani, Ariana; Sheridan, Robert

2018-06-01

This study's aim is to identify the most popular online resources for burn treatment information available in the Spanish language, and to evaluate the readability of this information. The phrase "tratamiento de quemaduras" (burn treatment) was entered into search engines Google and Bing on 9/15/2014 and 9/13/2017. The top 12 Spanish web results on each site were identified and analyzed using Readability Studio Professional Edition v2012.1. The software generated a "mean grade reading level" for each article, or the grade of students that could be expected to understand the article's language. 21 distinct articles were identified at T1 and 17 at T2, with seven overlapping between T1 and T2. The average grade reading level of all the websites ranged from 7.8 to 13.8 at T1 (approximately 8th grade to sophomore year of college) and 7.8 to 12.2 at T2. No websites were within 1 standard deviation of the American Medical Association recommended 6th grade reading level. With readability showing little improvement during the past three years, providers should be aware of the complexity of online literature, and the potential complications this presents to patients. Additionally, burn centers should prioritize generating more accessible information for the Spanish speaking public. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

Conflicting Language Ideologies and Contradictory Language Practices in Singaporean Multilingual Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curdt-Christiansen, Xiao Lan

2016-01-01

Informed by family language policy (FLP) as the theoretical framework, I illustrate in this paper how language ideologies can be incongruous and language policies can be conflicting through three multilingual families in Singapore representing three major ethnic groups--Chinese, Malay and Indian. By studying their family language audits, observing…

Health information sources for different types of information used by Chinese patients with cancer and their family caregivers.

PubMed

Xie, Bo; Su, Zhaohui; Liu, Yihao; Wang, Mo; Zhang, Ming

2017-08-01

Little is known about the information sources of Chinese patients with cancer and their family caregivers, yet this knowledge is critical for providing patient-centred care. To assess and compare the information sources used by Chinese patients with cancer and their family caregivers. The validated Health Information Wants Questionnaire (HIWQ) was translated and administered in March 2014. The oncology department of a general hospital in south-west China. A convenience sample of 198 individuals, including 79 patients with cancer (mean age=55.24, SD=13.80) and 119 family caregivers (mean age=46.83, SD=14.61). Ratings on the HIWQ items assessing information sources for different types of information. The interaction between information source and group was significant (F 3,576 =6.32, P<.01). Caregivers obtained more information than patients from the Internet. Caregivers and patients did not differ in the amount of information they obtained from doctors/nurses, interpersonal contacts or mass media. The interaction between information type and information source was significant (F 18,3456 =6.38, P<.01). Participants obtained more information of all types from doctors/nurses than from the other three sources and obtained more information from interpersonal contacts than from mass media or the Internet. The information sources of Chinese patients with cancer and their family caregivers were similar, with an important difference that caregivers obtained more online information than patients. These findings have important implications for patient care and education in China where the family typically plays a major role in the care and decision making. © 2016 The Authors. Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Extracting important information from Chinese Operation Notes with natural language processing methods.

PubMed

Wang, Hui; Zhang, Weide; Zeng, Qiang; Li, Zuofeng; Feng, Kaiyan; Liu, Lei

2014-04-01

Extracting information from unstructured clinical narratives is valuable for many clinical applications. Although natural Language Processing (NLP) methods have been profoundly studied in electronic medical records (EMR), few studies have explored NLP in extracting information from Chinese clinical narratives. In this study, we report the development and evaluation of extracting tumor-related information from operation notes of hepatic carcinomas which were written in Chinese. Using 86 operation notes manually annotated by physicians as the training set, we explored both rule-based and supervised machine-learning approaches. Evaluating on unseen 29 operation notes, our best approach yielded 69.6% in precision, 58.3% in recall and 63.5% F-score. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Abortion, breast cancer, and informed consent.

PubMed

Kindley, J

2000-01-01

The purpose of this article is to show that the current level of scientific evidence linking induced abortion with increased breast cancer risk is sufficient to support an ethical and legal duty to disclose fully the risk to women who are considering induced abortion. The article examines the relationship between this evidence and the elements of a medical malpractice claim alleging failure to obtain informed consent. The first part focuses on the elements of informed consent, which require the plaintiff to establish that the physician had a duty to disclose information, which he failed to disclose, that this failure to disclose was a legal cause of the plaintiff's decision to undergo the procedure, and the procedure was a legal cause of the plaintiff's injury. The second part compares two prevalent standards for determining which risks a physician has a duty to disclose. Part three reviews the scientific evidence of the abortion/breast cancer (ABC) link and explains why it survives both the Frye and the Daubert tests for admissibility of expert testimony. The fourth part assesses the materiality of the risk posed by the ABC link. Parts five and six discuss evidentiary issues and the possibility of punitive damage awards.