PrEP Chicago: A randomized controlled peer change agent intervention to promote the adoption of pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention among young Black men who have sex with men.

PubMed

Young, Lindsay E; Schumm, Phil; Alon, Leigh; Bouris, Alida; Ferreira, Matthew; Hill, Brandon; Khanna, Aditya S; Valente, Thomas W; Schneider, John A

2018-02-01

Advances in biomedical prevention strategies such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) represent a new opportunity for reducing HIV incidence among young Black men who have sex with men, for whom the number of new HIV infections continues to rise. However, studies have documented low rates of PrEP uptake in this community. Research suggests that the peer networks of young Black men who have sex with men play important roles in their sexual health decisions. PrEP Chicago is a randomized controlled trial network intervention designed to increase PrEP uptake among young Black men who have sex with men living in Chicago. The aims of this study are twofold. Aim 1 is to estimate the effectiveness of a peer change agent intervention for (1) increasing the number of referrals made to a PrEP information line, (2) increasing the rate of PrEP adoption among non-participant peers, and (3) increasing PrEP knowledge, attitudes, and intentions among participants. Aim 2 is to determine the individual and network variables that explain peer change agent effectiveness. PrEP Chicago is a social network intervention that utilizes the influence of peer change agents to link young Black men who have sex with men in Chicago to PrEP. Young Black men who have sex with men were recruited using respondent-driven sampling. Once screened for eligibility, participants were randomly assigned to either one of two treatment sequences: (1) intervention treatment in Year 1 followed by a minimal contact attention control in Year 2 or (2) the minimal contact attention control in Year 1 followed by treatment in Year 2. The treatment consists of a PrEP/peer change agent training workshop followed by booster calls for 12 months. The attention control consists of a sex diary activity designed to help participants assess sexual risk. Psychosocial, sexual health, and network data are collected from all participants at baseline and at 12- and 24-month follow-ups. In total, 423 participants aged 18-35 have been enrolled (more than 100% target enrollment) and have completed baseline data collection. A majority of participants in both intervention and control groups reported having heard of PrEP before enrolling in the study, yet also reported having had no current or prior experience taking PrEP. Statistical analyses await completion of Year 1 of the trial in March 2018. PrEP Chicago addresses a gap in HIV prevention research and intervention design by utilizing the existing social networks among young Black men who have sex with men as mechanisms for information diffusion, behavioral influence, social support, and empowerment. Therefore, interventions that leverage peer influence processes to facilitate PrEP uptake are promising strategies to improve sexual health engagement and overcome disparities in outcomes among this at-risk population.

Video-based peer feedback through social networking for robotic surgery simulation: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Carter, Stacey C; Chiang, Alexander; Shah, Galaxy; Kwan, Lorna; Montgomery, Jeffrey S; Karam, Amer; Tarnay, Christopher; Guru, Khurshid A; Hu, Jim C

2015-05-01

To examine the feasibility and outcomes of video-based peer feedback through social networking to facilitate robotic surgical skill acquisition. The acquisition of surgical skills may be challenging for novel techniques and/or those with prolonged learning curves. Randomized controlled trial involving 41 resident physicians performing the Tubes (Da Vinci Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA) simulator exercise with versus without peer feedback of video-recorded performance through a social networking Web page. Data collected included simulator exercise score, time to completion, and comfort and satisfaction with robotic surgery simulation. There were no baseline differences between the intervention group (n = 20) and controls (n = 21). The intervention group showed improvement in mean scores from session 1 to sessions 2 and 3 (60.7 vs 75.5, P < 0.001, and 60.7 vs 80.1, P < 0.001, respectively). The intervention group scored significantly higher than controls at sessions 2 and 3 (75.5 vs 59.6, P = 0.009, and 80.1 vs 65.9, P = 0.019, respectively). The mean time (seconds) to complete the task was shorter for the intervention group than for controls during sessions 2 and 3 (217.4 vs 279.0, P = 0.004, and 201.4 vs 261.9, P = 0.006, respectively). At the study conclusion, feedback subjects were more comfortable with robotic surgery than controls (90% vs 62%, P = 0.021) and expressed greater satisfaction with the learning experience (100% vs 67%, P = 0.014). Of the intervention subjects, 85% found that peer feedback was useful and 100% found it effective. Video-based peer feedback through social networking appears to be an effective paradigm for surgical education and accelerates the robotic surgery learning curve during simulation.

Potential Benefits of Incorporating Peer-to-Peer Interactions Into Digital Interventions for Psychotic Disorders: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Biagianti, Bruno; Quraishi, Sophia H; Schlosser, Danielle A

2018-04-01

Peer-to-peer interactions and support groups mitigate experiences of social isolation and loneliness often reported by individuals with psychotic disorders. Online peer-to-peer communication can promote broader use of this form of social support. Peer-to-peer interactions occur naturally on social media platforms, but they can negatively affect mental health. Recent digital interventions for persons with psychotic disorders have harnessed the principles of social media to incorporate peer-to-peer communication. This review examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of recent digital interventions in order to identify strategies to maximize benefits of online peer-to-peer communication for persons with psychotic disorders. An electronic database search of PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Ovid MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Health Technology Assessment Database was conducted in February 2017 and yielded a total of 1,015 results. Eight publications that reported data from six independent trials and five interventions were reviewed. The technology supporting peer-to-peer communication varied greatly across studies, from online forums to embedded social networking. When peer-to-peer interactions were moderated by facilitators, retention, engagement, acceptability, and efficacy were higher than for interventions with no facilitators. Individuals with psychotic disorders were actively engaged with moderated peer-to-peer communication and showed improvements in perceived social support. Studies involving service users in intervention design showed higher rates of acceptability. Individuals with psychotic disorders value and benefit from digital interventions that include moderated peer-to-peer interactions. Incorporating peer-to-peer communication into digital interventions for this population may increase compliance with other evidence-based therapies by producing more acceptable and engaging online environments.

Examining the Efficacy of Peer Network Interventions on the Social Interactions of High School Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sreckovic, Melissa A.; Hume, Kara; Able, Harriet

2017-01-01

Developing positive peer relationships is important. Unfortunately, due to challenges in social communication and increased complexity of peer groups during adolescence, many secondary students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) engage in limited positive social interactions with peers. This study examined the effects of a peer network…

Peer network influence on intimate partner violence perpetration among urban Tanzanian men.

PubMed

Mulawa, Marta I; Kajula, Lusajo J; Maman, Suzanne

2018-04-01

Male perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) against women in Tanzania is widespread. Theory and empirical evidence suggest peer networks may play an important role in shaping IPV perpetration, although research on this topic in sub-Saharan Africa is limited. Grounded in social learning theory, social influence theory, and the theory of gender and power, the purpose of this study was to examine whether and how peer networks influence men's perpetration of IPV in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We conducted in-depth interviews (n = 40) with a sub-sample of 20 men enrolled in the control condition of an ongoing cluster-randomised controlled trial. We purposively sampled participants who previously reported perpetrating physical IPV. To analyse the data, we generated narrative summaries and conducted thematic and interpretative coding. We saw no evidence that men self-selected into peer networks with certain values or behaviours. Rather, men described several mechanisms through which their peers influenced the perpetration of IPV, including: (1) the internalisation of peer network norms, (2) pressure to conform to peer network norms and (3) the direct involvement of peers in shaping couple power dynamics. Our findings suggest that peer networks influence men's perpetration of IPV and should be targeted in future programmes and interventions.

Harnessing Online Peer Education (HOPE): integrating C-POL and social media to train peer leaders in HIV prevention.

PubMed

Jaganath, Devan; Gill, Harkiran K; Cohen, Adam Carl; Young, Sean D

2012-01-01

Novel methods, such as Internet-based interventions, are needed to combat the spread of HIV. While past initiatives have used the Internet to promote HIV prevention, the growing popularity, decreasing digital divide, and multi-functionality of social networking sites, such as Facebook, make this an ideal time to develop innovative ways to use online social networking sites to scale HIV prevention interventions among high-risk groups. The UCLA Harnessing Online Peer Education study is a longitudinal experimental study to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of using social media for peer-led HIV prevention, specifically among African American and Latino Men who have Sex with Men (MSM). No curriculum currently exists to train peer leaders in delivering culturally aware HIV prevention messages using social media. Training was created that adapted the Community Popular Opinion Leader (C-POL) model, for use on social networking sites. Peer leaders are recruited who represent the target population and have experience with both social media and community outreach. The curriculum contains the following elements: discussion and role playing exercises to integrate basic knowledge of HIV/AIDS, awareness of sociocultural HIV/AIDS issues in the age of technology, and communication methods for training peer leaders in effective, interactive social media-based HIV prevention. Ethical issues related to Facebook and health interventions are integrated throughout the sessions. Training outcomes have been developed for long-term assessment of retention and efficacy. This is the first C-POL curriculum that has been adapted for use on social networking websites. Although this curriculum has been used to target African-American and Latino MSM, it has been created to allow generalization to other high-risk groups.

Harnessing Online Peer Education (HOPE): Integrating C-POL and Social Media to Train Peer Leaders in HIV Prevention

PubMed Central

Jaganath, Devan; Gill, Harkiran K.; Cohen, Adam Carl; Young, Sean D.

2011-01-01

Novel methods, such as Internet-based interventions, are needed to combat the spread of HIV. While past initiatives have used the Internet to promote HIV prevention, the growing popularity, decreasing digital divide, and multi-functionality of social networking sites, such as Facebook, make this an ideal time to develop innovative ways to use online social networking sites to scale HIV prevention interventions among high-risk groups. The UCLA HOPE [Harnessing Online Peer Education] study is a longitudinal experimental study to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of using social media for peer-led HIV prevention, specifically among African American and Latino Men who have Sex with Men (MSM). No curriculum currently exists to train peer leaders in delivering culturally aware HIV prevention messages using social media. Training was created that adapted the Community Popular Opinion Leader (C-POL) model, for use on social networking sites. Peer leaders are recruited who represent the target population and have experience with both social media and community outreach. The curriculum contains the following elements: discussion and role playing exercises to integrate basic knowledge of HIV/AIDS, awareness of sociocultural HIV/AIDS issues in the age of technology, and communication methods for training peer leaders in effective, interactive social media-based HIV prevention. Ethical issues related to Facebook and health interventions are integrated throughout the sessions. Training outcomes have been developed for long-term assessment of retention and efficacy. This is the first C-POL curriculum that has been adapted for use on social networking websites. Although this curriculum has been used to target African American and Latino MSM, it has been created to allow generalization to other high-risk groups. PMID:22149081

Peer Interventions to Promote Health: Conceptual Considerations

PubMed Central

Simoni, Jane M.; Franks, Julie C.; Lehavot, Keren; Yard, Samantha S.

2013-01-01

Peers have intervened to promote health since ancient times, yet few attempts have been made to describe theoretically their role and their interventions. After a brief overview of the history and variety of peer-based health interventions, a 4-part definition of peer interveners is presented here with a consideration of the dimensions of their involvement in health promotion. Then, a 2-step process is proposed as a means of conceptualizing peer interventions to promote health. Step 1 involves establishing a theoretical framework for the intervention’s main focus (i.e., education, social support, social norms, self-efficacy, and patient advocacy), and Step 2 involves identifying a theory that justifies the use of peers and might explain their impact. As examples, the following might be referred to: theoretical perspectives from the mutual support group and self-help literature, social cognitive and social learning theories, the social support literature, social comparison theory, social network approaches, and empowerment models. PMID:21729015

Changing drug users' risk environments: peer health advocates as multi-level community change agents.

PubMed

Weeks, Margaret R; Convey, Mark; Dickson-Gomez, Julia; Li, Jianghong; Radda, Kim; Martinez, Maria; Robles, Eduardo

2009-06-01

Peer delivered, social oriented HIV prevention intervention designs are increasingly popular for addressing broader contexts of health risk beyond a focus on individual factors. Such interventions have the potential to affect multiple social levels of risk and change, including at the individual, network, and community levels, and reflect social ecological principles of interaction across social levels over time. The iterative and feedback dynamic generated by this multi-level effect increases the likelihood for sustained health improvement initiated by those trained to deliver the peer intervention. The Risk Avoidance Partnership (RAP), conducted with heroin and cocaine/crack users in Hartford, Connecticut, exemplified this intervention design and illustrated the multi-level effect on drug users' risk and harm reduction at the individual level, the social network level, and the larger community level. Implications of the RAP program for designing effective prevention programs and for analyzing long-term change to reduce HIV transmission among high-risk groups are discussed from this ecological and multi-level intervention perspective.

Pro-social and problematic social network influences on HIV/AIDS risk behaviours among newly homeless youth in Los Angeles.

PubMed

Rice, E; Milburn, N G; Rotheram-Borus, M J

2007-05-01

We examined the social network composition among newly homeless youth over time and assessed how pro-social and problematic peers affected sexual and drug-using HIV/AIDS risk-behaviours among 183 youth in Los Angeles County, California. The percentage of newly homeless youth who reported that 'most' or 'all' of their friends were attending school, had jobs, and got along with their families was 73%, 24%, and 50% respectively. Logistic regression models indicated that presence of these pro-social peers reduced HIV risk behaviours at two years; odds of HIV-risk were lower with a greater number of peers who attend school, have a job, or have positive family relationships or if networks change over time to include more of these peers. Presence of problematic peers increased the likelihood of HIV risk-taking; odds of HIV risk behaviours increased with a greater number of peers at baseline who steal, have overdosed, have been arrested, or are in a gang, or if networks change to include more of these peers. Interventions should target newly homeless youth in networks that contain problematic peers, but should strive to harness the naturally occurring pro-social peer influences present in these networks.

Adapting Behavioral Interventions for Social Media Delivery

PubMed Central

Waring, Molly E; May, Christine N; Ding, Eric Y; Kunz, Werner H; Hayes, Rashelle; Oleski, Jessica L

2016-01-01

Patients are increasingly using online social networks (ie, social media) to connect with other patients and health care professionals—a trend called peer-to-peer health care. Because online social networks provide a means for health care professionals to communicate with patients, and for patients to communicate with each other, an opportunity exists to use social media as a modality to deliver behavioral interventions. Social media-delivered behavioral interventions have the potential to reduce the expense of behavioral interventions by eliminating visits, as well as increase our access to patients by becoming embedded in their social media feeds. Trials of online social network-delivered behavioral interventions have shown promise, but much is unknown about intervention development and methodology. In this paper, we discuss the process by which investigators can translate behavioral interventions for social media delivery. We present a model that describes the steps and decision points in this process, including the necessary training and reporting requirements. We also discuss issues pertinent to social media-delivered interventions, including cost, scalability, and privacy. Finally, we identify areas of research that are needed to optimize this emerging behavioral intervention modality. PMID:26825969

Adapting Behavioral Interventions for Social Media Delivery.

PubMed

Pagoto, Sherry; Waring, Molly E; May, Christine N; Ding, Eric Y; Kunz, Werner H; Hayes, Rashelle; Oleski, Jessica L

2016-01-29

Patients are increasingly using online social networks (ie, social media) to connect with other patients and health care professionals--a trend called peer-to-peer health care. Because online social networks provide a means for health care professionals to communicate with patients, and for patients to communicate with each other, an opportunity exists to use social media as a modality to deliver behavioral interventions. Social media-delivered behavioral interventions have the potential to reduce the expense of behavioral interventions by eliminating visits, as well as increase our access to patients by becoming embedded in their social media feeds. Trials of online social network-delivered behavioral interventions have shown promise, but much is unknown about intervention development and methodology. In this paper, we discuss the process by which investigators can translate behavioral interventions for social media delivery. We present a model that describes the steps and decision points in this process, including the necessary training and reporting requirements. We also discuss issues pertinent to social media-delivered interventions, including cost, scalability, and privacy. Finally, we identify areas of research that are needed to optimize this emerging behavioral intervention modality.

Network stigma towards people living with HIV/AIDS and their caregivers: An egocentric network study.

PubMed

Wu, Fei; He, Xin; Guida, Jennifer; Xu, Yongfang; Liu, Hongjie

2015-10-01

HIV stigma occurs among peers in social networks. However, the features of social networks that drive HIV stigma are not well understood. The objective of this study is to investigate anticipated HIV stigma within the social networks of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) (N = 147) and the social networks of PLWHA's caregivers (N = 148). The egocentric social network data were collected in Guangxi, China. More than half of PLWHA (58%) and their caregivers (53%) anticipated HIV stigma from their network peers. Both PLWHA and their caregivers anticipated that spouses or other family members were less likely to stigmatise them, compared to friend peers or other relationships. Married network peers were believed to stigmatise caregivers more than unmarried peers. The association between frequent contacts and anticipated stigma was negative among caregivers. Being in a close relationship with PLWHA or caregivers (e.g., a spouse or other family member) was associated with less anticipated stigma. Lower network density was associated with higher anticipated stigma among PLWHA's alters, but not among caregivers' alters. Findings may shed light on innovative stigma reduction interventions at the social network level and therefore improve HIV/AIDS treatment utilisation.

Analyzing heterogeneity in the effects of physical activity in children on social network structure and peer selection dynamics

PubMed Central

Henry, Teague; Gesell, Sabina B.; Ip, Edward H.

2016-01-01

Background Social networks influence children and adolescents’ physical activity. The focus of this paper is to examine the differences in the effects of physical activity on friendship selection, with eye to the implications on physical activity interventions for young children. Network interventions to increase physical activity are warranted but have not been conducted. Prior to implementing a network intervention in the field, it is important to understand potential heterogeneities in the effects that activity level have on network structure. In this study, the associations between activity level and cross sectional network structure, and activity level and change in network structure are assessed. Methods We studied a real-world friendship network among 81 children (average age 7.96 years) who lived in low SES neighborhoods, attended public schools, and attended one of two structured aftercare programs, of which one has existed and the other was new. We used the exponential random graph model (ERGMs) and its longitudinal extension to evaluate the association between activity level and various demographic factors in having, forming, and dissolving friendship. Due to heterogeneity between the friendship networks within the aftercare programs, separate analyses were conducted for each network. Results There was heterogeneity in the effect of physical activity on both cross sectional network structure and the formation and dissolution processes, both across time and between networks. Conclusions Network analysis could be used to assess the unique structure and dynamics of a social network before an intervention is implemented, so as to optimize the effects of the network intervention for increasing childhood physical activity. Additionally, if peer selection processes are changing within a network, a static network intervention strategy for childhood physical activity could become inefficient as the network evolves. PMID:27867518

Connecting the invisible dots: reaching lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents and young adults at risk for suicide through online social networks.

PubMed

Silenzio, Vincent M B; Duberstein, Paul R; Tang, Wan; Lu, Naiji; Tu, Xin; Homan, Christopher M

2009-08-01

Young lesbian, gay, and bisexual (young LGB) individuals report higher rates of suicide ideation and attempts from their late teens through early twenties. Their high rate of Internet use suggests that online social networks offer a novel opportunity to reach them. This study explores online social networks as a venue for prevention research targeting young LGB. An automated data collection program was used to map the social connections between LGB self-identified individuals between 16 and 24 years old participating in an online social network. We then completed a descriptive analysis of the structural characteristics known to affect diffusion within such networks. Finally, we conducted Monte Carlo simulations of peer-driven diffusion of a hypothetical preventive intervention within the observed network under varying starting conditions. We mapped a network of 100,014 young LGB. The mean age was 20.4 years. The mean nodal degree was 137.5, representing an exponential degree distribution ranging from 1 through 4309. Monte Carlo simulations revealed that a peer-driven preventive intervention ultimately reached final sample sizes of up to 18,409 individuals. The network's structure is consistent with other social networks in terms of the underlying degree distribution. Such networks are typically formed dynamically through a process of preferential attachment. This implies that some individuals could be more important to target to facilitate the diffusion of interventions. However, in terms of determining the success of an intervention targeting this population, our simulation results suggest that varying the number of peers that can be recruited is more important than increasing the number of randomly-selected starting individuals. This has implications for intervention design. Given the potential to access this previously isolated population, this novel approach represents a promising new frontier in suicide prevention and other research areas.

Candidate change agent identification among men at risk for HIV infection

PubMed Central

Schneider, John A.; McFadden, Rachel B.; Laumann, Edward O.; Kumar, SG Prem; Gandham, Sabitha R.; Oruganti, Ganesh

2012-01-01

Despite limited HIV prevention potency, peer-based programs have become one of the most often used HIV prevention approaches internationally. These programs demonstrate a need for greater specificity in peer change agent (PCA) recruitment and social network evaluation. In the present three-phase study based in India (2009–2010), we first explored the nature of friendship among truck-drivers, a group of men at high risk for HIV infection, in order to develop a thorough understanding of the social forces that contribute to and maintain their personal networks. This was accomplished in the first two study phases, through a combination of focus group discussions (n=5 groups), in-depth qualitative interviews (n=20), and personal network analyses (n=25) of truck-drivers to define friendship and deepen our understanding of friendship across geographic spaces. Measures collected in phases I and II included friend typologies, discussion topics, social network influences, advice-giving, and risk reduction. Outcomes were assessed through an iterative process of qualitative textual analysis and social network analysis. The networks of truck-drivers were found to comprise three typologies: close friends, parking lot friends, and other friends. From these data, we developed an algorithmic approach to the identification of a candidate PCA within a high-risk man’s personal network. In stage III we piloted field-use of this approach to identify and recruit PCAs, and further evaluated their potential for intervention through preliminary analysis of the PCA’s own personal networks. An instrument was developed to translate what social network theory and analysis has taught us about egocentric network dynamics into a real-world methodology for identifying intervention-appropriate peers within an individual’s personal network. Our approach can be tailored to the specifications of any high-risk population, and may serve to enhance current peer-based HIV interventions. PMID:22762951

Social networks and smoking: exploring the effects of peer influence and smoker popularity through simulations.

PubMed

Schaefer, David R; Adams, Jimi; Haas, Steven A

2013-10-01

Adolescent smoking and friendship networks are related in many ways that can amplify smoking prevalence. Understanding and developing interventions within such a complex system requires new analytic approaches. We draw on recent advances in dynamic network modeling to develop a technique that explores the implications of various intervention strategies targeted toward micro-level processes. Our approach begins by estimating a stochastic actor-based model using data from one school in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The model provides estimates of several factors predicting friendship ties and smoking behavior. We then use estimated model parameters to simulate the coevolution of friendship and smoking behavior under potential intervention scenarios. Namely, we manipulate the strength of peer influence on smoking and the popularity of smokers relative to nonsmokers. We measure how these manipulations affect smoking prevalence, smoking initiation, and smoking cessation. Results indicate that both peer influence and smoking-based popularity affect smoking behavior and that their joint effects are nonlinear. This study demonstrates how a simulation-based approach can be used to explore alternative scenarios that may be achievable through intervention efforts and offers new hypotheses about the association between friendship and smoking.

Intervention mapping as a guide for the development of a diabetes peer support intervention in rural Alabama.

PubMed

Cherrington, Andrea; Martin, Michelle Y; Hayes, Michaela; Halanych, Jewell H; Wright, Mary Annette; Appel, Susan J; Andreae, Susan J; Safford, Monika

2012-01-01

Peer support is a promising strategy for the reduction of diabetes-related health disparities; however, few studies describe the development of such strategies in enough detail to allow for replication. The objective of this article is to describe the development of a 1-year peer support intervention to improve diabetes self-management among African American adults with diabetes in Alabama's Black Belt. We used principles of intervention mapping, including literature review, interviews with key informants, and a discussion group with community health workers, to guide intervention development. Qualitative data were combined with behavioral constructs and principles of diabetes self-management to create a peer support intervention to be delivered by trained peer advisors. Feedback from a 1-month pilot was used to modify the training and intervention. The resulting intervention includes a 2-day training for peer advisors, who were each paired with 3 to 6 clients. A one-on-one in-person needs assessment begins an intensive intervention phase conducted via telephone for 8 to 12 weeks, followed by a maintenance phase of at least once monthly contacts for the remainder of the intervention period. A peer support network and process measures collected monthly throughout the study supplement formal data collection points at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. Intervention mapping provided a useful framework for the development of culturally relevant diabetes peer support intervention for African Americans living in Alabama's Black Belt. The process described could be implemented by others in public health to develop or adapt programs suitable for their particular community or context.

The positive role of social networks and social networking technology in the condom-using behaviors of homeless young people.

PubMed

Rice, Eric

2010-01-01

To examine the impact of condom-using peers in the social networks of homeless young people, differences in behaviors were assessed based on the social location of ties (home-based vs. street-based) and how those ties are maintained (face-to-face vs. via social networking technology). "Ego-centric" social network data were collected from 103 currently sexually active homeless young people aged 16-26 years in Los Angeles, California. Associations between condom use and the condom-using behaviors of social network influences were assessed using standard logistic regression. About 52% of respondents had a street-based peer who was a condom user. Having such a peer was associated with a 70% reduction in the odds of having unprotected sex at last intercourse. About 22% of respondents had a condom-using, home-based peer with whom they communicated only via social networking technology. Having such a peer was associated with a 90% reduction in risky sexual behavior and a 3.5 times increase in safer sex behavior. The study revealed several implications for new human immunodeficiency virus-prevention interventions that mobilize these networks and social networking technologies.

Peer Network Dynamics and the Amplification of Antisocial to Violent Behavior among Young Adolescents in Public Middle Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kornienko, Olga; Dishion, Thomas J.; Ha, Thao

2018-01-01

This study examined longitudinal changes in peer network selection and influence associated with self-reported antisocial behavior (AB) and violent behavior (VB) over the course of middle school in a sample of ethnically diverse adolescents. Youth and families were randomly assigned to a school-based intervention focused on the prevention of…

Connecting the Invisible Dots: Network-Based Methods to Reach a Hidden Population at Risk for Suicide

PubMed Central

Duberstein, Paul R; Tu, Xin; Tang, Wan; Lu, Naiji; Homan, Christopher M

2009-01-01

Young lesbian, gay, and bisexual (young LGB) individuals report higher rates of suicide ideation and attempts from their late teens through early twenties. Their high rate of Internet use suggests that online social networks offer a novel opportunity to reach them. This study explores online social networks as a venue for prevention research targeting young LGB. An automated data collection program was used to map the social connections between LGB self-identified individuals between 16 and 24 years old participating in an online social network. We then completed a descriptive analysis of the structural characteristics known to affect diffusion within such networks. Finally, we conducted Monte Carlo simulations of peer-driven diffusion of a hypothetical preventive intervention within the observed network under varying starting conditions. We mapped a network of 100,014 young LGB. The mean age was 20.4 years. The mean nodal degree was 137.5, representing an exponential degree distribution ranging from 1 through 4,309. Monte Carlo simulations revealed that a peer-driven preventive intervention ultimately reached final sample sizes of up to 18,409 individuals. The network’s structure is consistent with other social networks in terms of the underlying degree distribution. Such networks are typically formed dynamically through a process of preferential attachment. This implies that some individuals could be more important to target to facilitate the diffusion of interventions. However, in terms of determining the success of an intervention targeting this population, our simulation results suggest that varying the number of peers that can be recruited is more important than increasing the number of randomly-selected starting individuals. This has implications for intervention design. Given the potential to access this previously isolated population, this novel approach represents a promising new frontier in suicide prevention and other research areas. PMID:19540641

Structural Network Position and Performance of Health Leaders Within an HIV Prevention Trial.

PubMed

Mulawa, Marta I; Yamanis, Thespina J; Kajula, Lusajo J; Balvanz, Peter; Maman, Suzanne

2018-04-28

The effectiveness of peer leaders in promoting health may depend on the position they occupy within their social networks. Using sociocentric (whole network) and behavioral data from the intervention arm of a cluster-randomized HIV prevention trial in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, we used generalized linear models with standardized predictors to examine the association between heath leaders' baseline structural network position (i.e., in-degree and betweenness centrality) and their 12-month self-reported (1) confidence in educating network members about HIV and gender-based violence (GBV) and (2) number of past-week conversations about HIV and GBV. As in-degree centrality increased, leaders reported fewer HIV-related conversations. As betweenness centrality increased, leaders reported greater number of conversations about GBV. Network position was not significantly associated with confidence in discussing either topic. Our results suggest that peer leaders who occupy spaces between sub-groups of network members may be more effective in engaging their peers in sensitive or controversial topics like GBV than more popular peer leaders.

A mixed methods study of peer-to-peer support in a group-based lifestyle intervention for adults with serious mental illness.

PubMed

Aschbrenner, Kelly A; Naslund, John A; Bartels, Stephen J

2016-12-01

There is potential for peer support to enhance healthy lifestyle interventions targeting changes in body weight and fitness for adults with serious mental illness. The purpose of this study was to explore peer-to-peer support among individuals participating in a group lifestyle intervention that included social media to enhance in-person weight management sessions. A mixed methods study design was used to explore participants' perceptions and experiences of support from other group members during a 6-month group lifestyle intervention. Twenty-five individuals with serious mental illness reported their perceptions of the peer group environment and social support during the intervention. Seventeen of these individuals also participated in focus group interviews further exploring their experiences with group members. More than 80% of participants agreed that other group members were trustworthy and dependable, and 92% reported a high level of shared purpose and active participation in the group. Participants described how shared learning and group problem-solving activities fostered friendships and provided essential support for health behavior change. Sharing information, personal successes and challenges, and "being in the same boat" as other group members were key features of peer-to-peer support. Findings from this exploratory study suggest that participants enrolled in a group-based lifestyle intervention for people with serious mental illness experience peer-to-peer support in various ways that promote health behavior change. These findings highlight opportunities to enhance future lifestyle interventions with collaborative learning and social network technologies that foster peer support among participants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

A randomized controlled trial testing a social network intervention to promote physical activity among adolescents.

PubMed

van Woudenberg, Thabo J; Bevelander, Kirsten E; Burk, William J; Smit, Crystal R; Buijs, Laura; Buijzen, Moniek

2018-04-23

The current study examined the effectiveness of a social network intervention to promote physical activity among adolescents. Social network interventions utilize peer influence to change behavior by identifying the most influential individuals within social networks (i.e., influence agents), and training them to promote the target behavior. A total of 190 adolescents (46.32% boys; M age = 12.17, age range: 11-14 years) were randomly allocated to either the intervention or control condition. In the intervention condition, the most influential adolescents (based on peer nominations of classmates) in each classroom were trained to promote physical activity among their classmates. Participants received a research smartphone to complete questionnaires and an accelerometer to measure physical activity (steps per day) at baseline, and during the intervention one month later. A multilevel model tested the effectiveness of the intervention, controlling for clustering of data within participants and days. No intervention effect was observed, b = .04, SE = .10, p = .66. This was one of the first studies to test whether physical activity in adolescents could be promoted via influence agents, and the first social network intervention to use smartphones to do so. Important lessons and implications are discussed concerning the selection criterion of the influence agents, the use of smartphones in social network intervention, and the rigorous analyses used to control for confounding factors. Dutch Trial Registry (NTR): NTR6173 . Registered 5 October 2016 Study procedures were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Radboud University (ECSW2014-100614-222).

Social Communication Effects of Peer-Mediated Recess Intervention for Children with Autism

PubMed Central

McFadden, Brandon; Kamps, Debra; Heitzman-Powell, Linda

2015-01-01

Children with ASD face enormous challenges in the area of social functioning. Research has shown that impairments in social functioning distinguish this population from both typically developing children and children with disabilities. This study incorporated several evidence-based social skills-teaching procedures (i.e., direct instruction, priming, prompting, peer-mediation, contingent reinforcement, and token economies) directly in the recess setting to increase appropriate social behaviors for four children with ASD (ages 6–8). Elements of Peer Networks and Pivotal Response Training (two types of social skills intervention packages in the literature) were included. Results showed significant increases in social communication between focus children and their peers, as well as generalization of skills to non-intervention recesses. PMID:26312064

“Evaluation of a peer network intervention trial among young methamphetamine users in Chiang Mai, Thailand”

PubMed Central

Sutcliffe, Catherine; Srirojn, Bangorn; Latkin, Carl A; Aramratanna, Ajpinun; Sherman, Susan G

2009-01-01

Since the 1990s, there has been a proliferation of methamphetamine use in Thailand, particularly among young people. Simultaneously, risky sexual behaviors among this population have increased. This study examined the effects of a peer network intervention and a life skills intervention on methamphetamine and HIV risk behaviors among 18–25 year olds in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Between April 2005 and June 2007, we conducted a randomized behavioral trial to compare the efficacy of a peer educator, network-oriented intervention with a best practice, life-skills curriculum on methamphetamine use, sexual behaviors, and incident sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Follow-up occurred at three, six, nine, and twelve months. Both conditions consisted of seven, two hour, small group sessions. Longitudinal analyses of the three outcomes were conducted by fitting repeated measures logistic regression models using generalized estimating equations. Participants (N=983) attended a median of six sessions, with no differences between arms. At each follow-up visit, retention was greater than 85%. Participants were 75% male and were a median of 19 years old. Over time, participants in both conditions showed a significant and dramatic decline in self-reported methamphetamine use (99% at baseline versus 53% at 12-months, p<0.0001) and significant increase in consistent condom use (32% baseline versus 44% at 12 months, p<0.0001). Incident STIs were common, with no differences between arms. Chlamydia had the highest incidence rate, 9.85/100 person-years and HIV had a low incidence rate of 0.71/100 person-years. Among young Thais, we found that a peer educator, network-oriented intervention was associated with reductions in methamphetamine use, increases in condom use, and reductions in incident STIs over 12 months. We also found parallel reductions with the life skills condition. To our knowledge, this is the first such trial targeting this population. Small group interventions are an effective means of reducing methamphetamine use and sexual risk among Thai youth. PMID:18986746

Are social network correlates of heavy drinking similar among black homeless youth and white homeless youth?

PubMed

Wenzel, Suzanne L; Hsu, Hsun-Ta; Zhou, Annie; Tucker, Joan S

2012-11-01

Understanding factors associated with heavy drinking among homeless youth is important for prevention efforts. Social networks are associated with drinking among homeless youth, and studies have called for attention to racial differences in networks that may affect drinking behavior. This study investigates differences in network characteristics by the racial background of homeless youth, and associations of network characteristics with heavy drinking. (Heavy drinking was defined as having five or more drinks of alcohol in a row within a couple of hours on at least one day within the past 30 days.) A probability sample of 235 Black and White homeless youths ages 13-24 were interviewed in Los Angeles County. We used chi-square or one-way analysis of variance tests to examine network differences by race and logistic regressions to identify network correlates of heavy drinking among Black and White homeless youth. The networks of Black youth included significantly more relatives and students who attend school regularly, whereas the networks of White youth were more likely to include homeless persons, relatives who drink to intoxication, and peers who drink to intoxication. Having peers who drink heavily was significantly associated with heavy drinking only among White youth. For all homeless youth, having more students in the network who regularly attend school was associated with less risk of heavy drinking. This study is the first to our knowledge to investigate racial differences in network characteristics and associations of network characteristics with heavy drinking among homeless youth. White homeless youth may benefit from interventions that reduce their ties with peers who drink. Enhancing ties to school-involved peers may be a promising intervention focus for both Black and White homeless youth.

Are Social Network Correlates of Heavy Drinking Similar Among Black Homeless Youth and White Homeless Youth?

PubMed Central

Wenzel, Suzanne L.; Hsu, Hsun-Ta; Zhou, Annie; Tucker, Joan S.

2012-01-01

Objective: Understanding factors associated with heavy drinking among homeless youth is important for prevention efforts. Social networks are associated with drinking among homeless youth, and studies have called for attention to racial differences in networks that may affect drinking behavior. This study investigates differences in network characteristics by the racial background of homeless youth, and associations of network characteristics with heavy drinking. (Heavy drinking was defined as having five or more drinks of alcohol in a row within a couple of hours on at least one day within the past 30 days.) Method: A probability sample of 235 Black and White homeless youths ages 13–24 were interviewed in Los Angeles County. We used chi-square or one-way analysis of variance tests to examine network differences by race and logistic regressions to identify network correlates of heavy drinking among Black and White homeless youth. Results: The networks of Black youth included significantly more relatives and students who attend school regularly, whereas the networks of White youth were more likely to include homeless persons, relatives who drink to intoxication, and peers who drink to intoxication. Having peers who drink heavily was significantly associated with heavy drinking only among White youth. For all homeless youth, having more students in the network who regularly attend school was associated with less risk of heavy drinking. Conclusions: This study is the first to our knowledge to investigate racial differences in network characteristics and associations of network characteristics with heavy drinking among homeless youth. White homeless youth may benefit from interventions that reduce their ties with peers who drink. Enhancing ties to school-involved peers may be a promising intervention focus for both Black and White homeless youth. PMID:23036205

Children with autism spectrum disorder and social skills groups at school: a randomized trial comparing intervention approach and peer composition.

PubMed

Kasari, Connie; Dean, Michelle; Kretzmann, Mark; Shih, Wendy; Orlich, Felice; Whitney, Rondalyn; Landa, Rebecca; Lord, Catherine; King, Bryan

2016-02-01

Peer relationships improve for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in clinic-based social skills groups but rarely generalize to real world contexts. This study compares child outcomes of two social skills interventions conducted in schools with children in Kindergarten through fifth grade. Children with ASD were randomized to one of two interventions that varied on group composition (mixed typical and ASD vs. all ASD or social difficulties) and intervention approach (didactic SKILLS based vs. activity-based ENGAGE groups). Interventions were implemented at school for 8 weeks (16 sessions) with an 8-week follow-up. Innovative measures of peer nomination and playground peer engagement, as well as teacher reports of child behavior problems and teacher-child relationship were analyzed for 137 children with ASD across four sites. On the primary outcome of social network connections from the peer nomination measure, there was no main effect of treatment, but there were moderator effects. Children with low teacher-child closeness or high conflict improved more in their social connections if they received the SKILLS intervention, whereas children with higher teacher-child closeness improved more if they received the ENGAGE intervention. Only two secondary outcome measures yielded significant effects of treatment. Children in the SKILLS groups increased peer engagement and decreased isolation during recess. Child behavior problems and teacher-child closeness moderated peer engagement such that children with higher behavior problems and lower closeness benefitted more from SKILLS groups. These findings suggest that social skills groups conducted at school can affect both peer engagement during recess as well as peer acceptability. Child characteristics and teacher-child relationship prior to intervention yield important information on who might benefit from a specific social skills intervention. © 2015 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Changing climates of conflict: A social network experiment in 56 schools.

PubMed

Paluck, Elizabeth Levy; Shepherd, Hana; Aronow, Peter M

2016-01-19

Theories of human behavior suggest that individuals attend to the behavior of certain people in their community to understand what is socially normative and adjust their own behavior in response. An experiment tested these theories by randomizing an anticonflict intervention across 56 schools with 24,191 students. After comprehensively measuring every school's social network, randomly selected seed groups of 20-32 students from randomly selected schools were assigned to an intervention that encouraged their public stance against conflict at school. Compared with control schools, disciplinary reports of student conflict at treatment schools were reduced by 30% over 1 year. The effect was stronger when the seed group contained more "social referent" students who, as network measures reveal, attract more student attention. Network analyses of peer-to-peer influence show that social referents spread perceptions of conflict as less socially normative.

Leveraging strong social ties among young men in Dar es Salaam: A pilot intervention of microfinance and peer leadership for HIV and gender-based violence prevention.

PubMed

Maman, Suzanne; Kajula, Lusajo; Balvanz, Peter; Kilonzo, Mrema; Mulawa, Marta; Yamanis, Thespina

2016-12-01

Gender inequality is at the core of the HIV patterns that are evident in sub-Saharan Africa. Gender-based violence (GBV) and lack of economic opportunity are important structural determinants of HIV risk. We piloted a microfinance and health promotion intervention among social networks of primarily young men in Dar es Salaam. Twenty-two individuals participated in the microfinance component and 30 peer leaders were recruited and trained in the peer health leadership component. We collected and analysed observational data from trainings, monitoring data on loan repayment, and reports of peer conversations to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. Eighteen of the loan recipients (82%) paid back their loans, and of these 15 (83%) received a second, larger loan. Among the loan defaulters, one died, one had chronic health problems, and two disappeared, one of whom was imprisoned for theft. The majority of conversations reported by peer health leaders focused on condoms, sexual partner selection, and HIV testing. Few peer leaders reported conversations about GBV. We demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of this innovative HIV and GBV prevention intervention. The lessons learned from this pilot have informed the implementation of a cluster-randomised trial of the microfinance and peer health leadership intervention.

Vijana Vijiweni II: a cluster-randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy of a microfinance and peer health leadership intervention for HIV and intimate partner violence prevention among social networks of young men in Dar es Salaam.

PubMed

Kajula, Lusajo; Balvanz, Peter; Kilonzo, Mrema Noel; Mwikoko, Gema; Yamanis, Thespina; Mulawa, Marta; Kajuna, Deus; Hill, Lauren; Conserve, Donaldson; Reyes, Heathe Luz McNaughton; Leatherman, Sheila; Singh, Basant; Maman, Suzanne

2016-02-03

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, remain important public health problems with devastating health effects for men and women in sub-Saharan Africa. There have been calls to engage men in prevention efforts, however, we lack effective approaches to reach and engage them. Social network approaches have demonstrated effective and sustained outcomes on changing risk behaviors in the U.S. Our team has identified and engaged naturally occurring social networks comprised mostly of young men in Dar es Salaam in an intervention designed to jointly reduce STI incidence and the perpetration of IPV. These stable networks are locally referred to as "camps." In a pilot study we demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of a combined microfinance and peer health leadership intervention within these camp-based peer networks. We are implementing a cluster-randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy of an intervention combining microfinance with health leadership training in 60 camps in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Half of the camps have been randomized to the intervention arm, and half to a control arm. The camps in the intervention arm will receive a combined microfinance and health leadership intervention for a period of two years. The camps in the control arm will receive a delayed intervention. We have enrolled 1,258 men across the 60 study camps. Behavioral surveys will be conducted at baseline, 12-months post intervention launch and 30-month post intervention launch and biological samples will be drawn to test for Neisseria gonorrhea (NG), Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), and Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) at baseline and 30-months. The primary endpoints for assessing intervention impact are IPV perpetration and STI incidence. This is the first cluster-randomized trial targeting social networks of men in sub-Saharan Africa that jointly addresses HIV and IPV perpetration and has both biological and behavioral endpoints. Effective approaches to engage men in HIV and IPV prevention are needed in low resource, high prevalence settings like Tanzania. If we determine that this approach is effective, we will examine how to adapt and scale up this approach to other urban, sub-Saharan African settings. Clinical Trials.gov: NCT01865383 . Registration date: May 24, 2013.

Peer influence processes for youth delinquency and depression.

PubMed

Reynolds, Andrew D; Crea, Thomas M

2015-08-01

This study explores the multiple factors that account for peer influence processes of adolescent delinquency and depression using data from Waves I and II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). Random-effects longitudinal negative binomial models were used to predict depression and delinquency, controlling for social connection variables to account for selection bias. Findings suggest peer depression and delinquency are both predictive of youth delinquency, while peer influences of depression are much more modest. Youth who are more connected to parents and communities and who are more popular within their networks are more susceptible to peer influence, while self-regulating youth are less susceptible. We find support for theories of popularity-socialization as well as weak-ties in explaining social network factors that amplify or constrain peer influence. We argue that practitioners working with youth should consider network-informed interventions to improve program efficacy and avoid iatrogenic effects. Copyright © 2015 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Teens Engaged in Collaborative Health: The Feasibility and Acceptability of an Online Skill-Building Intervention for Adolescents at Risk for Depression.

PubMed

Lattie, Emily G; Ho, Joyce; Sargent, Elizabeth; Tomasino, Kathryn N; Smith, J D; Brown, C Hendricks; Mohr, David C

2017-06-01

There is an ongoing need for effective and accessible preventive interventions for adolescent depression and substance abuse. This paper reports on a field trial of an online indicated preventive intervention, ProjectTECH, which is based on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques. The study aims to gather information about the feasibility and acceptability of this program. Secondary aims of this study were to examine the impact of the program on depression symptoms, perceived stress, positive affect, and substance use and to compare differences between groups that were led by a peer versus those that were led by a licensed clinician. High school students (n = 39) were recruited primarily through social media advertisements, and assigned to four groups of 8-12 individuals to collaboratively participate in an 8 week peer network-based online preventive intervention which were led by a trained peer guide or a licensed clinician. Participants were provided with didactic lessons, CBT-based mood management tools, and peer networking features, and completed quantitative and qualitative feedback at baseline, midpoint, end of intervention, and 1 month follow up. The program attracted and retained users primarily from social media and was used frequently by many of the participants (system login M = 25.62, SD = 16.58). Participants rated the program as usable, and offered several suggestions for improving the program, including allowing for further personalization by the individual user, and including more prompts to engage with the social network. From baseline to end of intervention, significant decreases were observed in depressive symptoms and perceived stress ( p 's < .05). Significant increases in positive affect were observed from baseline to midpoint ( p < .05) and no changes were observed in substance use, although the rate of substance use was low in this sample. While this study had low power to detect group differences, no consistent differences were observed between participants in a peer-led group and those in a clinician-led group. Results of this study indicates that ProjectTECH, an indicated preventive intervention for high school-aged adolescents, demonstrates both feasibility, acceptability, and short-term, longitudinal psychological benefits for participants. Future iterations of the program may benefit from close attention to user interface design and the continued use of trained peer support guides.

Predictors of Condom Use among Peer Social Networks of Men Who Have Sex with Men in Ghana, West Africa

PubMed Central

Nelson, LaRon E.; Wilton, Leo; Agyarko-Poku, Thomas; Zhang, Nanhua; Zou, Yuanshu; Aluoch, Marilyn; Apea, Vanessa; Hanson, Samuel Owiredu; Adu-Sarkodie, Yaw

2015-01-01

Ghanaian men who have sex with men (MSM) have high rates of HIV infection. A first step in designing culturally relevant prevention interventions for MSM in Ghana is to understand the influence that peer social networks have on their attitudes and behaviors. We aimed to examine whether, in a sample of Ghanaian MSM, mean scores on psychosocial variables theorized to influence HIV/STI risk differed between peer social networks and to examine whether these variables were associated with condom use. We conducted a formative, cross-sectional survey with 22 peer social networks of MSM (n = 137) in Ghana. We assessed basic psychological-needs satisfaction, HIV/STI knowledge, sense of community, HIV and gender non-conformity stigmas, gender equitable norms, sexual behavior and condom use. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance, generalized estimating equations, and Wilcoxon two sample tests. All models were adjusted for age and income, ethnicity, education, housing and community of residence. Mean scores for all psychosocial variables differed significantly by social network. Men who reported experiencing more autonomy support by their healthcare providers had higher odds of condom use for anal (AOR = 3.29, p<0.01), oral (AOR = 5.06, p<0.01) and vaginal (AOR = 1.8, p<0.05) sex. Those with a stronger sense of community also had higher odds of condom use for anal sex (AOR = 1.26, p<0.001). Compared to networks with low prevalence of consistent condom users, networks with higher prevalence of consistent condom users had higher STD and HIV knowledge, had norms that were more supportive of gender equity, and experienced more autonomy support in their healthcare encounters. Healthcare providers and peer social networks can have an important influence on safer-sex behaviors in Ghanaian MSM. More research with Ghanaian MSM is needed that considers knowledge, attitudes, and norms of their social networks in the development and implementation of culturally relevant HIV/STI prevention intervention strategies. PMID:25635774

Simulating drinking in social networks to inform alcohol prevention and treatment efforts.

PubMed

Hallgren, Kevin A; McCrady, Barbara S; Caudell, Thomas P; Witkiewitz, Katie; Tonigan, J Scott

2017-11-01

Adolescent drinking influences, and is influenced by, peer alcohol use. Several efficacious adolescent alcohol interventions include elements aimed at reducing susceptibility to peer influence. Modeling these interventions within dynamically changing social networks may improve our understanding of how such interventions work and for whom they work best. We used stochastic actor-based models to simulate longitudinal drinking and friendship formation within social networks using parameters obtained from a meta-analysis of real-world 10th grade adolescent social networks. Levels of social influence (i.e., friends affecting changes in one's drinking) and social selection (i.e., drinking affecting changes in one's friendships) were manipulated at several levels, which directly impacted the degree of clustering in friendships based on similarity in drinking behavior. Midway through each simulation, one randomly selected heavy-drinking actor from each network received an "intervention" that either (a) reduced their susceptibility to social influence, (b) reduced their susceptibility to social selection, (c) eliminated a friendship with a heavy drinker, or (d) initiated a friendship with a nondrinker. Only the intervention that eliminated targeted actors' susceptibility to social influence consistently reduced that actor's drinking. Moreover, this was only effective in networks with social influence and social selection that were at higher levels than what was found in the real-world reference study. Social influence and social selection are dynamic processes that can lead to complex systems that may moderate the effectiveness of network-based interventions. Interventions that reduce susceptibility to social influence may be most effective among adolescents with high susceptibility to social influence and heavier-drinking friends. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Changing climates of conflict: A social network experiment in 56 schools

PubMed Central

Paluck, Elizabeth Levy; Shepherd, Hana; Aronow, Peter M.

2016-01-01

Theories of human behavior suggest that individuals attend to the behavior of certain people in their community to understand what is socially normative and adjust their own behavior in response. An experiment tested these theories by randomizing an anticonflict intervention across 56 schools with 24,191 students. After comprehensively measuring every school’s social network, randomly selected seed groups of 20–32 students from randomly selected schools were assigned to an intervention that encouraged their public stance against conflict at school. Compared with control schools, disciplinary reports of student conflict at treatment schools were reduced by 30% over 1 year. The effect was stronger when the seed group contained more “social referent” students who, as network measures reveal, attract more student attention. Network analyses of peer-to-peer influence show that social referents spread perceptions of conflict as less socially normative. PMID:26729884

Peer Contexts in Schools: Avenues Toward Behavioral Health in Early Adolescence.

PubMed

Cappella, Elise; Hwang, Sophia H J

2015-01-01

Peer contexts play an important role in the behavioral health of early adolescents in schools. Behavioral health involves the observable academic and social behaviors that relate to and influence youths' subsequent health and development. Setting-level research on peer networks and social norms indicates these aspects of peer contexts vary by peer group, classroom, and school and dynamically relate to individual students' academic and social behaviors. Yet, although peer contexts are both influential and potentially malleable, little research examines the effects of school and classroom interventions on the development and maintenance of positive and productive peer contexts in schools. The current article identifies school structures and classroom processes theorized to directly or indirectly shift peer networks and social norms-and thereby increase the behavioral health of early adolescents in schools. We discuss the need for more rigorous and relevant research to better understand the role of schools and classrooms in strengthening these peer contexts and promoting behavioral health in early adolescence.

A New HIV Prevention Network Approach: Sociometric Peer Change Agent Selection

PubMed Central

Schneider, John A.; Zhou, A. Ning; Laumann, Edward O.

2014-01-01

Internationally, the Peer Change Agent (PCA) model is the most frequently used conceptual framework for HIV prevention. Change agents themselves can be more important than the messages they convey. PCA selection is operationalized via heterogeneous methods based upon individual-level attributes. A sociometric position selection strategy, however, could increase peer influence potency and halt transmission at key network locations. In this study, we selected candidate PCAs based upon relative sociometric bridging and centrality scores and assessed their attributes in comparison to one another and to existing peer educators. We focused upon an emerging HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men in Southern India in 2011. PCAs selected based on their bridging score were more likely to be innovators when compared to other centrally-located PCAs, to PCAs located on the periphery, and to existing peer educators. We also found that sociodemographic attributes and risk behaviors were similar across all candidate PCAs, but risk behaviors of existing peer educators differed. Existing peer educators were more likely to engage in higher risk behavior such as receiving money for sex when compared to sociometrically selected peer changes agents. These existing peer educators were also more likely to exhibit leadership qualities within the overall network; they were, however, just as likely as other non-trained candidate peer change agents to report important HIV intravention behavior (encouraging condoms within their network). The importance of identifying bridges who may be able to diffuse innovation more effectively within high risk HIV networks is especially critical given recent efficacy data from novel HIV prevention interventions such as pre-exposure prophylaxis. Moreover, while existing peer educators were more likely to be leaders in our analysis, using peer educators with high risk behavior may have limited utility in enacting behavior change among sex worker peers or male clients in the network. PMID:24518188

A social network-based intervention stimulating peer influence on children's self-reported water consumption: A randomized control trial.

PubMed

Smit, Crystal R; de Leeuw, Rebecca N H; Bevelander, Kirsten E; Burk, William J; Buijzen, Moniek

2016-08-01

The current pilot study examined the effectiveness of a social network-based intervention using peer influence on self-reported water consumption. A total of 210 children (52% girls; M age = 10.75 ± SD = 0.80) were randomly assigned to either the intervention (n = 106; 52% girls) or control condition (n = 104; 52% girls). In the intervention condition, the most influential children in each classroom were trained to promote water consumption among their peers for eight weeks. The schools in the control condition did not receive any intervention. Water consumption, sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption, and intentions to drink more water in the near future were assessed by self-report measures before and immediately after the intervention. A repeated measure MANCOVA showed a significant multivariate interaction effect between condition and time (V = 0.07, F(3, 204) = 5.18, p = 0.002, pη(2) = 0.07) on the dependent variables. Further examination revealed significant univariate interaction effects between condition and time on water (p = 0.021) and SSB consumption (p = 0.015) as well as water drinking intentions (p = 0.049). Posthoc analyses showed that children in the intervention condition reported a significant increase in their water consumption (p = 0.018) and a decrease in their SSB consumption (p < 0.001) over time, compared to the control condition (p-values > 0.05). The children who were exposed to the intervention did not report a change in their water drinking intentions over time (p = 0.576) whereas the nonexposed children decreased their intentions (p = 0.026). These findings show promise for a social network-based intervention using peer influence to positively alter consumption behaviors. This RCT was registered in the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12614001179628). Study procedures were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Radboud University (ECSW2014-1003-203). Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Peer-Educator Network HIV Prevention Intervention Among Injection Drug Users: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial in St. Petersburg, Russia

PubMed Central

Latkin, Carl A.; Kukhareva, Polina V.; Malov, Sergey V.; Batluk, Julia V.; Shaboltas, Alla V.; Skochilov, Roman V.; Sokolov, Nicolay V.; Verevochkin, Sergei V.; Hudgens, Michael G.; Kozlov, Andrei P.

2014-01-01

We evaluated the efficacy of a peer-educator network intervention as a strategy to reduce HIV acquisition among injection drug users (IDUs) and their drug and/or sexual networks. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in St. Petersburg, Russia among IDU index participants and their risk network participants. Network units were randomized to the control or experimental intervention. Only the experimental index participants received training sessions to communicate risk reduction techniques to their network members. Analysis includes 76 index and 84 network participants who were HIV uninfected. The main outcome measure was HIV sero-conversion. The incidence rates in the control and experimental groups were 19.57 (95 % CI 10.74–35.65) and 7.76 (95 % CI 3.51–17.19) cases per 100 p/y, respectively. The IRR was 0.41 (95 % CI 0.15–1.08) without a statistically significant difference between the two groups (log rank test statistic X2 = 2.73, permutation p value = 0.16). Retention rate was 67 % with a third of the loss due to incarceration or death. The results show a promising trend that this strategy would be successful in reducing the acquisition of HIV among IDUs. PMID:23881187

Leveraging strong social ties among young men in Dar es Salaam: A pilot intervention of microfinance and peer leadership for HIV and gender-based violence prevention

PubMed Central

Maman, Suzanne; Kajula, Lusajo; Balvanz, Peter; Kilonzo, Mrema Noel; Mulawa, Marta; Yamanis, Thespina

2015-01-01

Gender inequality is at the core of the HIV patterns that are evident in sub-Saharan Africa. Gender-based violence (GBV) and lack of economic opportunity are important structural determinants of HIV risk. We piloted a microfinance and health promotion intervention among social networks of primarily young men in Dar es Salaam. Twenty-two individuals participated in the microfinance component and 30 peer leaders were recruited and trained in the peer health leadership component. We collected and analyzed observational data from trainings, monitoring data on loan repayment, and reports of peer conversations to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. Eighteen of the loan recipients (82%) paid back their loans, and of these 15 (83%) received a second, larger loan. Among the loan defaulters, one died, one had chronic health problems, and two disappeared, one of whom was imprisoned for theft. The majority of conversations reported by peer health leaders focused on condoms, sexual partner selection and HIV testing. Few peer leaders reported conversations about GBV. We demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of this innovative HIV and GBV prevention intervention. The lessons learned from this pilot have informed the implementation of a cluster-randomized trial of the microfinance and peer health leadership intervention. PMID:26588115

Effects of an HIV peer prevention intervention on sexual and injecting risk behaviors among injecting drug users and their risk partners in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam: A randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

Go, Vivian F.; Frangakis, Constantine; Le Minh, Nguyen; Latkin, Carl A.; Ha, Tran Viet; Mo, Tran Thi; Sripaipan, Teerada; Davis, Wendy; Zelaya, Carla; Vu, Pham The; Chen, Yong; Celentano, David D.; Quan, Vu Minh

2014-01-01

Globally, 30% of new HIV infections outside sub-Saharan Africa involve injecting drug users (IDU) and in many countries, including Vietnam, HIV epidemics are concentrated among IDU. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam, to evaluate whether a peer oriented behavioral intervention could reduce injecting and sexual HIV risk behaviors among IDU and their network members. 419 HIV-negative index IDU aged 18 years or older and 516 injecting and sexual network members were enrolled. Each index participant was randomly assigned to receive a series of six small group peer educator-training sessions and three booster sessions in addition to HIV testing and counseling (HTC) (intervention; n = 210) or HTC only (control; n = 209). Follow-up, including HTC, was conducted at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months post-intervention. The proportion of unprotected sex dropped significantly from 49% to 27% (SE (difference) = 3%, p < 0.01) between baseline and the 3-month visit among all index-network member pairs. However, at 12 months, post-intervention, intervention participants had a 14% greater decline in unprotected sex relative to control participants (Wald test = 10.8, df = 4, p = 0.03). This intervention effect is explained by trial participants assigned to the control arm who missed at least one standardized HTC session during follow-up and subsequently reported increased unprotected sex. The proportion of observed needle/syringe sharing dropped significantly between baseline and the 3-month visit (14% vs. 3%, SE (difference) = 2%, p < 0.01) and persisted until 12 months, but there was no difference across trial arms (Wald test = 3.74, df = 3, p = 0.44). PMID:24034963

Can mental health interventions change social networks? A systematic review.

PubMed

Anderson, Kimberley; Laxhman, Neelam; Priebe, Stefan

2015-11-21

Social networks of patients with psychosis can provide social support, and improve health and social outcomes, including quality of life. However, patients with psychosis often live rather isolated with very limited social networks. Evidence for interventions targeting symptoms or social skills, are largely unsuccessful at improving social networks indirectly. As an alternative, interventions may directly focus on expanding networks. In this systematic review, we assessed what interventions have previously been tested for this and to what extent they have been effective. A systematic review was conducted of randomised controlled trials, testing psychosocial interventions designed to directly increase the social networks of patients with psychosis. Searches of five online databases (PsycINFO, CINAHL, Cochrane Database, MEDLINE, Embase), hand searching of grey literature, and both forward and backward snowballing of key papers were conducted and completed on 12 December 2014. Trial reports were included if they were written in English, the social network size was the primary outcome, participants were ≥ 18 years old and diagnosed with a psychotic disorder. Five studies (n = 631 patients) met the complete inclusion criteria. Studies were from different countries and published since 2008. Four trials had significant positive results, i.e. an observable increase in patients' social network size at the end of the intervention. The interventions included: guided peer support, a volunteer partner scheme, supported engagement in social activity, dog-assisted integrative psychological therapy and psychosocial skills training. Other important elements featured were the presence of a professional, and a focus on friendships and peers outside of services and the immediate family. Despite the small number and heterogeneity of included studies, the results suggest that interventions directly targeting social isolation can be effective and achieve a meaningful increase in patients' networks. Thus, although limited, the existing evidence is encouraging, and the range of interventions used in the reported trials leave various options for future research and further improvements. Future research is needed to test the findings in different settings, identify which components are particularly effective, and determine to what extent the increased networks, over time, impact on patients' symptoms and quality of life.

Implementation of the Enhanced Moderated Online Social Therapy (MOST+) Model Within a National Youth E-Mental Health Service (eheadspace): Protocol for a Single Group Pilot Study for Help-Seeking Young People

PubMed Central

Gleeson, John; Leicester, Steven; Bendall, Sarah; D'Alfonso, Simon; Gilbertson, Tamsyn; Killackey, Eoin; Parker, Alexandra; Lederman, Reeva; Wadley, Greg; Santesteban-Echarri, Olga; Pryor, Ingrid; Mawren, Daveena; Ratheesh, Aswin; Alvarez-Jimenez, Mario

2018-01-01

Background There is a substantial need for youth electronic mental health (e-mental health) services. In addressing this need, our team has developed a novel moderated online social therapy intervention called enhanced moderated online social therapy (MOST+). MOST+ integrates real-time, clinician-delivered Web chat counseling, interactive user-directed online therapy, expert and peer moderation, and private and secure peer-to-peer social networking. MOST+ has been designed to give young people immediate, 24-hour access to anonymous, evidence-based, and short-term mental health care. Objective The primary aims of this pilot study were to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and safety of the intervention. Secondary aims were to assess prepost changes in key psychosocial outcomes and collect qualitative data for future intervention refinement. Methods MOST+ will be embedded within eheadspace, an Australian youth e-mental health service, and will be evaluated via an uncontrolled single-group study. Approximately 250 help-seeking young people (16-25 years) will be progressively recruited to the intervention from the eheadspace home page over the first 4 weeks of an 8-week intervention period. All participants will have access to evidence-based therapeutic content and integrated Web chat counseling. Additional access to moderated peer-to-peer social networking will be granted to individuals for whom it is deemed safe and appropriate, through a three-tiered screening process. Participants will be enrolled in the MOST+ intervention for 1 week, with the option to renew their enrollment across the duration of the pilot. Participants will complete a survey at enrollment to assess psychological well-being and other mental health outcomes. Additional assessment will occur following account deactivation (ie, after participant has opted not to renew their enrollment, or at trial conclusion) and will include an online survey and telephone interview assessing psychological well-being and experience of using MOST+. Results Recruitment for the study commenced in October 2017. We expect to have initial results in March 2018, with more detailed qualitative and quantitative analyses to follow. Conclusions This is the first Australia-wide research trial to pilot an online social media platform merging real-time clinical support, expert and peer moderation, interactive online therapy, and peer-to-peer social networking. The importance of the project stems from the need to develop innovative new models for the efficient delivery of responsive evidence-based online support to help-seeking young people. If successful, this research stands to complement and enhance e-mental health services in Australia. PMID:29472177

Organizational culture change in U.S. hospitals: a mixed methods longitudinal intervention study.

PubMed

Curry, Leslie A; Linnander, Erika L; Brewster, Amanda L; Ting, Henry; Krumholz, Harlan M; Bradley, Elizabeth H

2015-03-07

Improving outcomes for patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a priority for hospital leadership, clinicians, and policymakers. Evidence suggests links between hospital organizational culture and hospital performance; however, few studies have attempted to shift organizational culture in order to improve performance, fewer have focused on patient outcomes, and none have addressed mortality for patients with AMI. We sought to address this gap through a novel longitudinal intervention study, Leadership Saves Lives (LSL). This manuscript describes the methodology of LSL, a 2-year intervention study using a concurrent mixed methods design, guided by open systems theory and the Assess, Innovate, Develop, Engage, Devolve (AIDED) model of diffusion, implemented in 10 U.S. hospitals and their peer hospital networks. The intervention has three primary components: 1) annual convenings of the ten intervention hospitals; 2) semiannual workshops with guiding coalitions at each hospital; and 3) continuous remote support across all intervention hospitals through a web-based platform. Primary outcomes include 1) shifts in key dimensions of hospital organizational culture associated with lower mortality rates for patients with AMI; 2) use of targeted evidence-based practices associated with lower mortality rates for patients with AMI; and 3) in-hospital AMI mortality. Quantitative data include annual surveys of guiding coalition members in the intervention hospitals and peer network hospitals. Qualitative data include in-person, in-depth interviews with all guiding coalition members and selective observations of key interactions in care for patients with AMI, collected at three time points. Data integration will identify patterns and major themes in change processes across all intervention hospitals over time. LSL is novel in its use of a longitudinal mixed methods approach in a diverse sample of hospitals, its focus on objective outcome measures of mortality, and its examination of changes not only in the intervention hospitals but also in their peer hospital networks over time. This paper adds to the methodological literature for the study of complex interventions to promote hospital organizational culture change.

Social Networks and Smoking: Exploring the Effects of Peer Influence and Smoker Popularity through Simulations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaefer, David R.; adams, jimi; Haas, Steven A.

2013-01-01

Adolescent smoking and friendship networks are related in many ways that can amplify smoking prevalence. Understanding and developing interventions within such a complex system requires new analytic approaches. We draw on recent advances in dynamic network modeling to develop a technique that explores the implications of various intervention…

Social networks, substance use, and mental health in college students.

PubMed

Mason, Michael J; Zaharakis, Nikola; Benotsch, Eric G

2014-01-01

The relationship between social network risk (alcohol-using close friends), perceived peer closeness, substance use, and psychiatric symptoms was examined to identify risk and protective features of college students' social context. Six hundred and seventy undergraduate students enrolled in a large southeastern university. An online survey was administered to consenting students. Students with risky networks were at a 10-fold increase of hazardous drinking, 6-fold increase for weekly marijuana use, and 3-fold increase for weekly tobacco use. College students' who feel very close to their peers were protected against psychiatric symptoms yet were at increased risk for marijuana use. Perceived closeness of peers was highly protective against psychiatric symptoms, adding a natural preventive effect for a population at great risk for mental illness. RESULTS support targeting college students through network-oriented preventive interventions to address substance use as well as mental health.

A social network approach to the interplay between adolescents' bullying and likeability over time.

PubMed

Sentse, Miranda; Kiuru, Noona; Veenstra, René; Salmivalli, Christina

2014-09-01

Our knowledge on adolescents' bullying behavior has rapidly increased over the past decade and it is widely recognized that bullying is a group process and, consequently, context-dependent. Only since recently, though, researchers have had access to statistical programs to study these group processes appropriately. The current 1-year longitudinal study examined the interplay between adolescents' bullying and likeability from a social network perspective. Data came from the evaluation of the Finnish KiVa antibullying program, consisting of students in grades 7-9 (N = 9,183, M age at wave 1 = 13.96 years; 49.2% boys; M classroom size = 19.47) from 37 intervention and 30 control schools. Perceived popularity, gender, and structural network effects were additionally controlled. Longitudinal social network analysis with SIENA revealed that, overall, the higher the students' level of bullying, the less they were liked by their peers. Second, students liked peers with similar levels of bullying and this selection-similarity effect was stronger at low levels of bullying. This selection effect held after controlling for selection-similarity in perceived popularity and gender. Third, students were likely to increase in bullying when they liked peers high on bullying and to decrease in bullying when they liked peers low on bullying. Again, this influence effect held after controlling for the effects of perceived popularity and gender on changes in bullying behavior. No significant differences between control and intervention schools appeared in the effects. The results are discussed in light of their theoretical and methodological implications.

Share2Quit: Online Social Network Peer Marketing of Tobacco Cessation Systems

PubMed Central

Cutrona, Sarah L.; Luger, Tana M.; Volz, Erik; Kinney, Rebecca; Rao, Sowmya R.; Allison, Jeroan J.; Houston, Thomas K.

2017-01-01

Abstract Introduction: Although technology-assisted tobacco interventions (TATIs) are effective, they are underused due to recruitment challenges. We tested whether we could successfully recruit smokers to a TATI using peer marketing through a social network (Facebook). Methods: We recruited smokers on Facebook using online advertisements. These recruited smokers (seeds) and subsequent waves of smokers (peer recruits) were provided the Share2Quit peer recruitment Facebook app and other tools. Smokers were incentivized for up to seven successful peer recruitments and had 30 days to recruit from date of registration. Successful peer recruitment was defined as a peer recruited smoker completing the registration on the TATI following a referral. Our primary questions were (1) whether smokers would recruit other smokers and (2) whether peer recruitment would extend the reach of the intervention to harder-to-reach groups, including those not ready to quit and minority smokers. Results: Overall, 759 smokers were recruited (seeds: 190; peer recruits: 569). Fifteen percent (n = 117) of smokers successfully recruited their peers (seeds: 24.7%; peer recruits: 7.7%) leading to four recruitment waves. Compared to seeds, peer recruits were less likely to be ready to quit (peer recruits 74.2% vs. seeds 95.1%), more likely to be male (67.1% vs. 32.9%), and more likely to be African American (23.8% vs. 10.8%) (p < .01 for all comparisons). Conclusions: Peer marketing quadrupled our engaged smokers and enriched the sample with not-ready-to-quit and African American smokers. Peer recruitment is promising, and our study uncovered several important challenges for future research. Implications: This study demonstrates the successful recruitment of smokers to a TATI using a Facebook-based peer marketing strategy. Smokers on Facebook were willing and able to recruit other smokers to a TATI, yielding a large and diverse population of smokers. PMID:27613918

Share2Quit: Online Social Network Peer Marketing of Tobacco Cessation Systems.

PubMed

Sadasivam, Rajani S; Cutrona, Sarah L; Luger, Tana M; Volz, Erik; Kinney, Rebecca; Rao, Sowmya R; Allison, Jeroan J; Houston, Thomas K

2017-03-01

Although technology-assisted tobacco interventions (TATIs) are effective, they are underused due to recruitment challenges. We tested whether we could successfully recruit smokers to a TATI using peer marketing through a social network (Facebook). We recruited smokers on Facebook using online advertisements. These recruited smokers (seeds) and subsequent waves of smokers (peer recruits) were provided the Share2Quit peer recruitment Facebook app and other tools. Smokers were incentivized for up to seven successful peer recruitments and had 30 days to recruit from date of registration. Successful peer recruitment was defined as a peer recruited smoker completing the registration on the TATI following a referral. Our primary questions were (1) whether smokers would recruit other smokers and (2) whether peer recruitment would extend the reach of the intervention to harder-to-reach groups, including those not ready to quit and minority smokers. Overall, 759 smokers were recruited (seeds: 190; peer recruits: 569). Fifteen percent (n = 117) of smokers successfully recruited their peers (seeds: 24.7%; peer recruits: 7.7%) leading to four recruitment waves. Compared to seeds, peer recruits were less likely to be ready to quit (peer recruits 74.2% vs. seeds 95.1%), more likely to be male (67.1% vs. 32.9%), and more likely to be African American (23.8% vs. 10.8%) (p < .01 for all comparisons). Peer marketing quadrupled our engaged smokers and enriched the sample with not-ready-to-quit and African American smokers. Peer recruitment is promising, and our study uncovered several important challenges for future research. This study demonstrates the successful recruitment of smokers to a TATI using a Facebook-based peer marketing strategy. Smokers on Facebook were willing and able to recruit other smokers to a TATI, yielding a large and diverse population of smokers. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Social Networks and Smoking: Exploring the Effects of Influence and Smoker Popularity through Simulations

PubMed Central

Schaefer, David R.; adams, jimi; Haas, Steven A.

2015-01-01

Adolescent smoking and friendship networks are related in many ways that can amplify smoking prevalence. Understanding and developing interventions within such a complex system requires new analytic approaches. We draw upon recent advances in dynamic network modeling to develop a technique that explores the implications of various intervention strategies targeted toward micro-level processes. Our approach begins by estimating a stochastic actor-based model using data from one school in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The model provides estimates of several factors predicting friendship ties and smoking behavior. We then use estimated model parameters to simulate the co-evolution of friendship and smoking behavior under potential intervention scenarios. Namely, we manipulate the strength of peer influence on smoking and the popularity of smokers relative to nonsmokers. We measure how these manipulations affect smoking prevalence, smoking initiation, and smoking cessation. Results indicate that both peer influence and smoking-based popularity affect smoking behavior, and that their joint effects are nonlinear. This study demonstrates how a simulation-based approach can be used to explore alternative scenarios that may be achievable through intervention efforts and offers new hypotheses about the association between friendship and smoking. PMID:24084397

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL DYNAMICS OF ENHANCED HIV RISK REDUCTION AMONG PEER INTERVENTIONISTS

PubMed Central

Dickson-Gomez, Julia; Weeks, Margaret R.; Convey, Mark; Li, Jianghong

2014-01-01

The authors present a model of interactive social psychological and relational feedback processes leading to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk reduction behavior change among active drug users trained as Peer Health Advocates (PHAs). The model is supported by data from qualitative interviews with PHAs and members of their drug-using networks in the Risk Avoidance Partnership (RAP) project. Results suggest three mutually reinforcing social psychological processes that motivate PHAs to provide HIV prevention intervention to their peers and to reduce their own risk behaviors: development of a prosocial identity, positive social reinforcement from drug users and community members, and cognitive dissonance associated with continued risk behavior while engaging in health advocacy. These processes directly influence peer interventionists’ motivation and efficacy to continue giving intervention to their peers, and to reduce their HIV risk behaviors. The authors discuss implications of the model for continued research on effective HIV prevention in high-risk groups. PMID:25414528

Implementation of the Enhanced Moderated Online Social Therapy (MOST+) Model Within a National Youth E-Mental Health Service (eheadspace): Protocol for a Single Group Pilot Study for Help-Seeking Young People.

PubMed

Rice, Simon; Gleeson, John; Leicester, Steven; Bendall, Sarah; D'Alfonso, Simon; Gilbertson, Tamsyn; Killackey, Eoin; Parker, Alexandra; Lederman, Reeva; Wadley, Greg; Santesteban-Echarri, Olga; Pryor, Ingrid; Mawren, Daveena; Ratheesh, Aswin; Alvarez-Jimenez, Mario

2018-02-22

There is a substantial need for youth electronic mental health (e-mental health) services. In addressing this need, our team has developed a novel moderated online social therapy intervention called enhanced moderated online social therapy (MOST+). MOST+ integrates real-time, clinician-delivered Web chat counseling, interactive user-directed online therapy, expert and peer moderation, and private and secure peer-to-peer social networking. MOST+ has been designed to give young people immediate, 24-hour access to anonymous, evidence-based, and short-term mental health care. The primary aims of this pilot study were to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and safety of the intervention. Secondary aims were to assess prepost changes in key psychosocial outcomes and collect qualitative data for future intervention refinement. MOST+ will be embedded within eheadspace, an Australian youth e-mental health service, and will be evaluated via an uncontrolled single-group study. Approximately 250 help-seeking young people (16-25 years) will be progressively recruited to the intervention from the eheadspace home page over the first 4 weeks of an 8-week intervention period. All participants will have access to evidence-based therapeutic content and integrated Web chat counseling. Additional access to moderated peer-to-peer social networking will be granted to individuals for whom it is deemed safe and appropriate, through a three-tiered screening process. Participants will be enrolled in the MOST+ intervention for 1 week, with the option to renew their enrollment across the duration of the pilot. Participants will complete a survey at enrollment to assess psychological well-being and other mental health outcomes. Additional assessment will occur following account deactivation (ie, after participant has opted not to renew their enrollment, or at trial conclusion) and will include an online survey and telephone interview assessing psychological well-being and experience of using MOST+. Recruitment for the study commenced in October 2017. We expect to have initial results in March 2018, with more detailed qualitative and quantitative analyses to follow. This is the first Australia-wide research trial to pilot an online social media platform merging real-time clinical support, expert and peer moderation, interactive online therapy, and peer-to-peer social networking. The importance of the project stems from the need to develop innovative new models for the efficient delivery of responsive evidence-based online support to help-seeking young people. If successful, this research stands to complement and enhance e-mental health services in Australia. ©Simon Rice, John Gleeson, Steven Leicester, Sarah Bendall, Simon D'Alfonso, Tamsyn Gilbertson, Eoin Killackey, Alexandra Parker, Reeva Lederman, Greg Wadley, Olga Santesteban-Echarri, Ingrid Pryor, Daveena Mawren, Aswin Ratheesh, Mario Alvarez-Jimenez. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 22.02.2018.

Effects of an HIV peer prevention intervention on sexual and injecting risk behaviors among injecting drug users and their risk partners in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Go, Vivian F; Frangakis, Constantine; Le Minh, Nguyen; Latkin, Carl A; Ha, Tran Viet; Mo, Tran Thi; Sripaipan, Teerada; Davis, Wendy; Zelaya, Carla; Vu, Pham The; Chen, Yong; Celentano, David D; Quan, Vu Minh

2013-11-01

Globally, 30% of new HIV infections outside sub-Saharan Africa involve injecting drug users (IDU) and in many countries, including Vietnam, HIV epidemics are concentrated among IDU. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam, to evaluate whether a peer oriented behavioral intervention could reduce injecting and sexual HIV risk behaviors among IDU and their network members. 419 HIV-negative index IDU aged 18 years or older and 516 injecting and sexual network members were enrolled. Each index participant was randomly assigned to receive a series of six small group peer educator-training sessions and three booster sessions in addition to HIV testing and counseling (HTC) (intervention; n = 210) or HTC only (control; n = 209). Follow-up, including HTC, was conducted at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months post-intervention. The proportion of unprotected sex dropped significantly from 49% to 27% (SE (difference) = 3%, p < 0.01) between baseline and the 3-month visit among all index-network member pairs. However, at 12 months, post-intervention, intervention participants had a 14% greater decline in unprotected sex relative to control participants (Wald test = 10.8, df = 4, p = 0.03). This intervention effect is explained by trial participants assigned to the control arm who missed at least one standardized HTC session during follow-up and subsequently reported increased unprotected sex. The proportion of observed needle/syringe sharing dropped significantly between baseline and the 3-month visit (14% vs. 3%, SE (difference) = 2%, p < 0.01) and persisted until 12 months, but there was no difference across trial arms (Wald test = 3.74, df = 3, p = 0.44). Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

HIV incidence among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Ukraine: results from a clustered randomized trial

PubMed Central

Davis, Jonathan M.; Dvoryak, Sergey; Brewster, John T.; Lisovska, Oksana; Strathdee, Steffanie A.; Latkin, Carl A.

2016-01-01

Summary Background In this study, we sought to assess whether a social network intervention was superior to HIV testing and counseling in impacting HIV incidence among PWID. Although this was not a primary study aim, it is associated with reducing drug and sex risk behaviors, which were primary aims. Methods PWID were recruited from street settings in Odessa, Donetsk, and Nikolayev, Ukraine for a clustered randomized clinical trial (RCT). “Index” or peer leaders, along with two of their network members, were randomly assigned to testing and counseling block (N=589) or testing and counseling plus a social network intervention block (N=611). Participants in the network intervention received 5-sessions to train their network members in risk reduction. Those assigned testing and counseling received no further intervention following counseling. Employing an intent to treat analyses, the primary outcome was HIV sero-conversion using Cox regression and incorporating a gamma frailty term to account for clustering. No stratification or minimization was utilized. The trail was registered with ClinicalTrial.gov, NCT01159704. Findings Between July 12, 2010 and November 23, 2012, 2,304 PWID were recruited, 1,200 of whom were HIV negative and included in the present study. At baseline, there were no significant differences between groups. Of the 1,200 HIV negative participants, 1,085 (90.4%) were retained at 12 months. Incidence density revealed 18.45 (95% CI 14.87 – 22.03, 102 events in 553.0 py) per 100 person years (py) for those in the intervention group and 31.78 (95% CI 26.83–36.74, 158 events in 497.1 py) per 100 py among control arm participants. This corresponded to a reduced hazard in the intervention group, HR= 0.53 (95% CI 0.38, 0.76, p =0.0003). There were no study-related adverse events. Interpretation These data provide strong support for integrating peer education into comprehensive HIV prevention programs for PWID and suggest the value in developing and testing peer-led interventions for improving access and adherence to PrEP and ART. Funding This study was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (RO1 DA026739). PMID:27658879

The future of mental health care: peer-to-peer support and social media.

PubMed

Naslund, J A; Aschbrenner, K A; Marsch, L A; Bartels, S J

2016-04-01

People with serious mental illness are increasingly turning to popular social media, including Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, to share their illness experiences or seek advice from others with similar health conditions. This emerging form of unsolicited communication among self-forming online communities of patients and individuals with diverse health concerns is referred to as peer-to-peer support. We offer a perspective on how online peer-to-peer connections among people with serious mental illness could advance efforts to promote mental and physical wellbeing in this group. In this commentary, we take the perspective that when an individual with serious mental illness decides to connect with similar others online it represents a critical point in their illness experience. We propose a conceptual model to illustrate how online peer-to-peer connections may afford opportunities for individuals with serious mental illness to challenge stigma, increase consumer activation and access online interventions for mental and physical wellbeing. People with serious mental illness report benefits from interacting with peers online from greater social connectedness, feelings of group belonging and by sharing personal stories and strategies for coping with day-to-day challenges of living with a mental illness. Within online communities, individuals with serious mental illness could challenge stigma through personal empowerment and providing hope. By learning from peers online, these individuals may gain insight about important health care decisions, which could promote mental health care seeking behaviours. These individuals could also access interventions for mental and physical wellbeing delivered through social media that could incorporate mutual support between peers, help promote treatment engagement and reach a wider demographic. Unforeseen risks may include exposure to misleading information, facing hostile or derogatory comments from others, or feeling more uncertain about one's health condition. However, given the evidence to date, the benefits of online peer-to-peer support appear to outweigh the potential risks. Future research must explore these opportunities to support and empower people with serious mental illness through online peer networks while carefully considering potential risks that may arise from online peer-to-peer interactions. Efforts will also need to address methodological challenges in the form of evaluating interventions delivered through social media and collecting objective mental and physical health outcome measures online. A key challenge will be to determine whether skills learned from peers in online networks translate into tangible and meaningful improvements in recovery, employment, or mental and physical wellbeing in the offline world.

The future of mental health care: peer-to-peer support and social media

PubMed Central

Naslund, J. A.; Aschbrenner, K. A.; Marsch, L. A.; Bartels, S. J.

2016-01-01

Aims People with serious mental illness are increasingly turning to popular social media, including Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, to share their illness experiences or seek advice from others with similar health conditions. This emerging form of unsolicited communication among self-forming online communities of patients and individuals with diverse health concerns is referred to as peer-to-peer support. We offer a perspective on how online peer-to-peer connections among people with serious mental illness could advance efforts to promote mental and physical wellbeing in this group. Methods In this commentary, we take the perspective that when an individual with serious mental illness decides to connect with similar others online it represents a critical point in their illness experience. We propose a conceptual model to illustrate how online peer-to-peer connections may afford opportunities for individuals with serious mental illness to challenge stigma, increase consumer activation and access online interventions for mental and physical well-being. Results People with serious mental illness report benefits from interacting with peers online from greater social connectedness, feelings of group belonging and by sharing personal stories and strategies for coping with day-to-day challenges of living with a mental illness. Within online communities, individuals with serious mental illness could challenge stigma through personal empowerment and providing hope. By learning from peers online, these individuals may gain insight about important health care decisions, which could promote mental health care seeking behaviours. These individuals could also access interventions for mental and physical wellbeing delivered through social media that could incorporate mutual support between peers, help promote treatment engagement and reach a wider demographic. Unforeseen risks may include exposure to misleading information, facing hostile or derogatory comments from others, or feeling more uncertain about one’s health condition. However, given the evidence to date, the benefits of online peer-to-peer support appear to outweigh the potential risks. Conclusion Future research must explore these opportunities to support and empower people with serious mental illness through online peer networks while carefully considering potential risks that may arise from online peer-to-peer interactions. Efforts will also need to address methodological challenges in the form of evaluating interventions delivered through social media and collecting objective mental and physical health outcome measures online. A key challenge will be to determine whether skills learned from peers in online networks translate into tangible and meaningful improvements in recovery, employment, or mental and physical wellbeing in the offline world. PMID:26744309

["I am nuts, but networking": the qualification process for peer support work with mental health users in the psychosocial care network of Rio de Janeiro].

PubMed

Magalhães Dahl, Catarina; de Araújo Carvalho, Maria C; Moscoso Teixeira de Mendonça, Joana; Mitkiewicz de Souza, Flávia; Wainstok Estivil Bustos, Mayra; Fernandes de Cintra Santos, Jacqueline; Marcos Lovisi, Giovani; Tavares Cavalcanti, Maria

2013-01-01

Peer support work has been increasingly incorporated by community services network in the context of mental health care paradigm shift; however, it is a relatively new device in Latin America. In this article, we will describe the qualification process of peer support workers for implementing a psychosocial intervention in the city of Rio de Janeiro. We use the following methodological strategies based on a narrative, participative and dialogical perspective: focus groups, knowledge transmission through a short course; visits to mental health services and field reports. We used a narrative analysis, building the following thematic categories: experience of the recovery process; what helps and what hinders in the recovery process; the role of the family; the role of community mental health services; prejudice among society and family members; the role of peer support work; challenges. From the users' perspective, recovery is tied to ups and downs and family can either help or disturb this process. Prejudice constitutes the main barrier for recovery. To have a social role and participating in training activities facilitate recovery. Users pointed out that it is necessary to have professional support for peer support work.

Influences of peers, teachers, and climate on students' willingness to intervene when witnessing anti-transgender harassment.

PubMed

Wernick, Laura J; Kulick, Alex; Inglehart, M H

2014-08-01

Transgender young people are at increased risk for bullying, harassment, and negative mental health and academic outcomes compared to the general population as well as compared to other members of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and similarly identified (LGBTQQ) communities. To inform interventions to support transgender students, the present study investigates students' willingness to intervene when witnessing anti-transgender harassment, using data collected from a participatory action research project investigating school climate. Multi-step linear regression was used to test the impacts of hearing transphobic language and witnessing teachers and others students intervene, while controlling for demographics and school. Hostile climate negatively predicted intervention intentions while witnessing peer intervention positively predicted likelihood to intervene. Witnessing teacher intervention did not significantly predict the outcome. These findings suggest that youth-led interventions in peer networks might be effective in diminishing transphobic bullying and supporting the healthy development of transgender young people. Copyright © 2014 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

"He Told Me to Check My Health": A Qualitative Exploration of Social Network Influence on Men's HIV Testing Behavior and HIV Self-Testing Willingness in Tanzania.

PubMed

Conserve, Donaldson F; Alemu, Dawit; Yamanis, Thespina; Maman, Suzanne; Kajula, Lusajo

2018-05-01

Men continue to test for HIV at a low rate in sub-Saharan Africa. Recent quantitative evidence from sub-Saharan Africa indicates that encouragement to test for HIV from men's network members is associated with higher previous HIV testing and HIV self-testing (HIVST) willingness. Leveraging this positive network influence to promote HIVST among men is a promising strategy that could increase HIV testing. This study investigated the reasons and strategies men used to encourage their peers to test for HIV and the outcomes in order to inform the development of a social network-based HIVST intervention for men called STEP (Self-Testing Education and Promotion). Twenty-three men from networks locally referred to as "camps" were interviewed to explore reasons for encouraging HIV testing, strategies to encourage HIV testing, and outcomes of HIV testing encouragement. Reasons men reported for encouraging their peers to test for HIV included awareness of their peers' risky sexual behavior, knowing an HIV-positive peer, and having HIV testing experience. Strategies for encouraging testing included engaging in formal and informal conversations and accompanying friends to the clinic. Encouragement outcomes included HIV testing for some men while others remained untested due to lack of privacy in the clinic and fear of HIV stigma. Willingness to self-test for HIV and an interest to educate peers about HIVST were other outcomes of HIV testing encouragement. These findings underscore the potential of leveraging men's existing HIV testing encouragement strategies to promote HIVST among their peers.

Channels of Change: Contrasting Network Mechanisms in the Use of Interventions

PubMed Central

Neal, Zachary P.; Atkins, Marc S.; Henry, David B.; Frazier, Stacy L.

2011-01-01

This study informs community science, and seeks to narrow the research-to-practice gap, by examining how the interpersonal networks within a setting influence individuals’ use of interventions. More specifically, it explores the role of two network mechanisms—cohesion and structural similarity—in urban elementary school teachers’ use of interventions designed to improve academic and behavioral outcomes for students. Lagged regression models examine how position in advice giving networks influenced weekly use of the daily report card and peer assisted learning by kindergarten through fourth grade teachers in three schools. Results indicate that intervention use spreads among teachers with similar patterns of advice-giving relationships (i.e., via structural similarity), rather than from teachers who are sources of advice (i.e., via cohesion). These results are consistent with findings in other settings, and suggest that researchers wishing to increase the use of an intervention should select change agents based on their patterns of their relationships, rather than on their direct connections. PMID:21181552

Mobilizing Homeless Youth for HIV Prevention: A Social Network Analysis of the Acceptability of a Face-to-Face and Online Social Networking Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rice, Eric; Tulbert, Eve; Cederbaum, Julie; Adhikari, Anamika Barman; Milburn, Norweeta G.

2012-01-01

The objective of the study is to use social network analysis to examine the acceptability of a youth-led, hybrid face-to-face and online social networking HIV prevention program for homeless youth. Seven peer leaders (PLs) engaged face-to-face homeless youth (F2F) in the creation of digital media projects (e.g. You Tube videos). PL and F2F…

Initial Clinician Reports of the Bottom-Up Dissemination of an Evidence-Based Intervention for Early Childhood Trauma

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

David, Paula; Schiff, Miriam

2018-01-01

Background: Bottom-up dissemination (BUD) of evidence based treatments (EBT), entailing the spread of an intervention through a peer network in a decentralized manner, is an under-reported phenomenon in the professional literature. Objective: This paper presents findings from a study researching the feasibility of BUD of an evidence-based…

An Evaluation of the Peer Helper Component of "Go!": A Multimessage, Multi-"Step" Obesity Prevention Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Souza, Rebecca; Dauner, Kim Nichols; Goei, Ryan; LaCaille, Lara; Kotowski, Michael R.; Schultz, Jennifer Feenstra; LaCaille, Rick; Versnik Nowak, Amy L.

2014-01-01

Background: Obesity prevention efforts typically involve changing eating and exercise behaviors as well as the physical and social environment in which those behaviors occur. Due to existing social networks, worksites are a logical choice for implementing such interventions. Purpose: This article describes the development and implementation of a…

Social influence and bullying behavior: intervention-based network dynamics of the fairplayer.manual bullying prevention program.

PubMed

Wölfer, Ralf; Scheithauer, Herbert

2014-01-01

Bullying is a social phenomenon and although preventive interventions consequently address social mechanisms, evaluations hardly consider the complexity of peer processes. Therefore, the present study analyzes the efficacy of the fairplayer.manual bullying prevention program from a social network perspective. Within a pretest-posttest control group design, longitudinal data were available from 328 middle-school students (MAge  = 13.7 years; 51% girls), who provided information on bullying behavior and interaction patterns. The revealed network parameters were utilized to examine the network change (MANCOVA) and the network dynamics (SIENA). Across both forms of analyses, findings revealed the hypothesized intervention-based decrease of bullies' social influence. Hence the present bullying prevention program, as one example of programs that successfully addresses both individual skills and social mechanisms, demonstrates the desired effect of reducing contextual opportunities for the exhibition of bullying behavior. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A brief anti-stigma intervention for Chinese immigrant caregivers of individuals with psychosis: adaptation and initial findings.

PubMed

Yang, Lawrence H; Lai, Grace Y; Tu, Ming; Luo, Maggie; Wonpat-Borja, Ahtoy; Jackson, Valerie W; Lewis-Fernández, Roberto; Dixon, Lisa

2014-04-01

Mental illness stigma has adverse effects on both the caregivers' psychological well-being and the effectiveness of care that consumers receive. While anti-stigma interventions for family caregivers from Western settings have recently shown efficacy, these interventions may not be equally applicable across culturally diverse groups. Specifically, Chinese immigrant caregivers experience heightened internalized stigma, which predisposes the adoption of harmful coping strategies and reduced quality of social networks. We present an anti-stigma intervention based on a peer-family group format, co-led by a clinician and a trained family caregiver, to counter stigma among Chinese immigrants. Data are presented from a brief intervention administered to a pilot sample of 11 Chinese immigrant caregivers that provides: psychoeducation, strategies to counter experienced discrimination, and techniques to resist internalized stigma. Case vignettes illustrate implementation of this intervention, and how the peer-family format via interactive contact counteracts internalized stereotypes, encourages adaptive coping strategies, and reinvigorates social networks. Quantitative results further suggest preliminary efficacy in reducing internalized stigma for caregivers who evidenced at least some prior internalized stigma. This study constitutes an initial but important step towards reducing mental illness stigma among Asian Americans, for whom stigma has played a powerful role in the delay and underuse of treatment.

The complex interplay of social networks, geography and HIV risk among Malaysian Drug Injectors: Results from respondent-driven sampling.

PubMed

Zelenev, Alexei; Long, Elisa; Bazazi, Alexander R; Kamarulzaman, Adeeba; Altice, Frederick L

2016-11-01

HIV is primarily concentrated among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Malaysia, where currently HIV prevention and treatment coverage is inadequate. To improve the targeting of interventions, we examined HIV clustering and the role that social networks and geographical distance play in influencing HIV transmission among PWID. Data were derived from a respondent-driven survey sample (RDS) collected during 2010 of 460 PWID in greater Kuala Lumpur. Analysis focused on socio-demographic, clinical, behavioural, and network information. Spatial probit models were developed based on a distinction between the influence of peers (individuals nominated through a recruitment network) and neighbours (residing a close distance to the individual). The models were expanded to account for the potential influence of the network formation. Recruitment patterns of HIV-infected PWID clustered both spatially and across the recruitment networks. In addition, HIV-infected PWID were more likely to have peers and neighbours who inject with clean needles were HIV-infected and lived nearby (<5km), more likely to have been previously incarcerated, less likely to use clean needles (26.8% vs 53.0% of the reported injections, p<0.01), and have fewer recent injection partners (2.4 vs 5.4, p<0.01). The association between the HIV status of peers and neighbours remained significantly correlated even after controlling for unobserved variation related to network formation and sero-sorting. The relationship between HIV status across networks and space in Kuala Lumpur underscores the importance of these factors for surveillance and prevention strategies, and this needs to be more closely integrated. RDS can be applied to identify injection network structures, and this provides an important mechanism for improving public health surveillance, accessing high-risk populations, and implementing risk-reduction interventions to slow HIV transmission. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Child maltreatment, attention networks, and potential precursors to borderline personality disorder

PubMed Central

ROGOSCH, FRED A.; CICCHETTI, DANTE

2006-01-01

Potential precursors to borderline personality disorder (BPD) were investigated in a sample of 185 maltreated and 175 nonmaltreated school-aged children attending a summer camp research program. Self-report, peer-report, and counselor-report measures were utilized to assess developmental constructs conceptualized to constitute vulnerability for later emerging BPD. These areas, including personality features, representational models of self, parent, and peers, interpersonal relationship difficulties with peers and adults, and suicidal/self-harm behavior, were used to develop a BPD precursors composite. Additionally, the efficiency of three attention networks was assessed with a computerized task. Maltreated children had higher mean scores on the BPD precursors composite, and children classified as having high levels of these precursors were more prevalent in the maltreatment group. No maltreatment group differences were found for the efficiency of the three attention networks; however, children with high levels of BPD precursors evinced less efficient processing of the conflict attention network, comparable to findings observed among adult patients with BPD. Child maltreatment and efficiency of the conflict attention network independently predicted scores on the BPD precursors composite. Experiential and biological contributions to risk for BPD and recommendations for prevention and intervention are discussed. PMID:16613431

Poor mental health, peer drinking norms, and alcohol risk in a social network of first-year college students.

PubMed

Kenney, Shannon R; DiGuiseppi, Graham T; Meisel, Matthew K; Balestrieri, Sara G; Barnett, Nancy P

2018-09-01

College students with anxiety and depressive symptomatology face escalated risk for alcohol-related negative consequences. While it is well-established that normative perceptions of proximal peers' drinking behaviors influence students' own drinking behaviors, it is not clear how mental health status impacts this association. In the current study, we examined cross-sectional relationships between anxiety and depressed mood, perceived drinking behaviors and attitudes of important peers, and past month alcohol consumption and related problems in a first-semester college student social network. Participants (N = 1254, 55% female, 47% non-Hispanic White) were first-year students residing on campus at a single university who completed a web-based survey assessing alcohol use, mental health, and social connections among first-year student peers. Network autocorrelation models were used to examine the independent and interactive associations between mental health and perceptions of close peers' drinking on drinking outcomes, controlling for important variables. Mental health interacted with perceptions to predict past-month drinking outcomes, such that higher anxiety and higher perceptions that peers drink heavily was associated with more drinks consumed and consequences, and higher depression and perceptions was associated with more drinks consumed, heavy drinking frequency, and consequences. Attitudes that peers approve of heavy drinking were associated with more drinks consumed and heavy drinking frequency among students with lower (vs. higher) depressed mood. This study provides strong evidence that perceiving that close peers drink heavily is particularly risk-enhancing for anxious and depressed college students, and offers implications about alcohol intervention targeted at these subgroups. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Social media interventions to prevent HIV: A review of interventions and methodological considerations.

PubMed

Tso, Lai Sze; Tang, Weiming; Li, Haochu; Yan, H Yanna; Tucker, Joseph D

2016-06-01

Persistent new HIV infections and risky behaviors underscore the need for enhanced HIV prevention. Social media interventions may promote safe sexual behaviors, increase HIV testing uptake, and promote safe injection behaviors. This review discusses how social media interventions tap into the wisdom of crowds through crowdsourcing, build peer-mentored communities, and deliver interventions through social networks. Social media HIV prevention interventions are constrained by ethical issues, low social media usage among some key populations, and implementation issues. Comprehensive measurement of social media interventions to prevent HIV is necessary, but requires further development of metrics.

Social media interventions to prevent HIV: A review of interventions and methodological considerations

PubMed Central

Tso, Lai Sze; Tang, Weiming; Li, Haochu; Yan, H. Yanna; Tucker, Joseph D.

2015-01-01

Persistent new HIV infections and risky behaviors underscore the need for enhanced HIV prevention. Social media interventions may promote safe sexual behaviors, increase HIV testing uptake, and promote safe injection behaviors. This review discusses how social media interventions tap into the wisdom of crowds through crowdsourcing, build peer-mentored communities, and deliver interventions through social networks. Social media HIV prevention interventions are constrained by ethical issues, low social media usage among some key populations, and implementation issues. Comprehensive measurement of social media interventions to prevent HIV is necessary, but requires further development of metrics. PMID:26516632

Changing friend selection in middle school: A social network analysis of a randomized intervention study designed to prevent adolescent problem behavior

PubMed Central

DeLay, Dawn; Ha, Thao; Van Ryzin, Mark; Winter, Charlotte; Dishion, Thomas J.

2015-01-01

Adolescent friendships that promote problem behavior are often chosen in middle school. The current study examines the unintended impact of a randomized school based intervention on the selection of friends in middle school, as well as on observations of deviant talk with friends five years later. Participants included 998 middle school students (526 boys and 472 girls) recruited at the onset of middle school (age 11-12 years) from three public middle schools participating in the Family Check-up model intervention. The current study focuses only on the effects of the SHAPe curriculum—one level of the Family Check-up model—on friendship choices. Participants nominated friends and completed measures of deviant peer affiliation. Approximately half of the sample (n=500) was randomly assigned to the intervention and the other half (n=498) comprised the control group within each school. The results indicate that the SHAPe curriculum affected friend selection within School 1, but not within Schools 2 or 3. The effects of friend selection in School 1 translated into reductions in observed deviancy training five years later (age 16-17 years). By coupling longitudinal social network analysis with a randomized intervention study the current findings provide initial evidence that a randomized public middle school intervention can disrupt the formation of deviant peer groups and diminish levels of adolescent deviance five years later. PMID:26377235

Social Networks and Risk for Depressive Symptoms in a National Sample of Sexual Minority Youth

PubMed Central

Hatzenbuehler, Mark L.; McLaughlin, Katie A.; Xuan, Ziming

2012-01-01

The aim of the study was to examine the social networks of sexual minority youths and to determine the associations between social networks and depressive symptoms. Data were obtained from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a nationally representative cohort study of American adolescents (N=14,212). Wave 1 (1994–1995) collected extensive information about the social networks of participants through peer nomination inventories, as well as measures of sexual minority status and depressive symptoms. Using social network data, we examined three characteristics of adolescents’ social relationships: (1) social isolation; (2) degree of connectedness; and (3) social status. Sexual minority youths, particularly females, were more isolated, less connected, and had lower social status in peer networks than opposite-sex attracted youths. Among sexual minority male (but not female) youths, greater isolation as well as lower connectedness and status within a network were associated with greater depressive symptoms. Moreover, greater isolation in social networks partially explained the association between sexual minority status and depressive symptoms among males. Finally, a significant 3-way interaction indicated that the association between social isolation and depression was stronger for sexual minority male youths than non-minority youths and sexual minority females. These results suggest that the social networks in which sexual minority male youths are embedded may confer risk for depressive symptoms, underscoring the importance of considering peer networks in both research and interventions targeting sexual minority male adolescents. PMID:22771037

Social networks and risk for depressive symptoms in a national sample of sexual minority youth.

PubMed

Hatzenbuehler, Mark L; McLaughlin, Katie A; Xuan, Ziming

2012-10-01

The aim of the study was to examine the social networks of sexual minority youths and to determine the associations between social networks and depressive symptoms. Data were obtained from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a nationally representative cohort study of American adolescents (N = 14,212). Wave 1 (1994-1995) collected extensive information about the social networks of participants through peer nomination inventories, as well as measures of sexual minority status and depressive symptoms. Using social network data, we examined three characteristics of adolescents' social relationships: (1) social isolation; (2) degree of connectedness; and (3) social status. Sexual minority youths, particularly females, were more isolated, less connected, and had lower social status in peer networks than opposite-sex attracted youths. Among sexual minority male (but not female) youths, greater isolation as well as lower connectedness and status within a network were associated with greater depressive symptoms. Moreover, greater isolation in social networks partially explained the association between sexual minority status and depressive symptoms among males. Finally, a significant 3-way interaction indicated that the association between social isolation and depression was stronger for sexual minority male youths than non-minority youths and sexual minority females. These results suggest that the social networks in which sexual minority male youths are embedded may confer risk for depressive symptoms, underscoring the importance of considering peer networks in both research and interventions targeting sexual minority male adolescents. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Relationship of Social Network to Protective Factors in Suicide and Alcohol Use Disorder Intervention for Rural Yup’ik Alaska Native Youth

PubMed Central

Philip, Jacques; Ford, Tara; Henry, David; Rasmus, Stacy; Allen, James

2015-01-01

Suicide and alcohol use disorders are significant Alaska Native health disparities, yet there is limited understanding of protection and no studies of social network factors in protection in this or other populations. The Qungasvik intervention enhances protective factors from suicide and alcohol use disorders through activities grounded in Yup’ik cultural practices and values. Identification of social network factors associated with protection within the cultural context of these tight, close knit, and high density rural Yup’ik Alaska Native communities in southwest Alaska can help identify effective prevention strategies for suicide and alcohol use disorder risk. Using data from ego-centered social network and protective factors from suicide and alcohol use disorders surveys with 50 Yup’ik adolescents, we provide descriptive data on structural and network composition variables, identify key network variables that explain major proportions of the variance in a four principal component structure of these network variables, and demonstrate the utility of these key network variables as predictors of family and community protective factors from suicide and alcohol use disorder risk. Connections to adults and connections to elders, but not peer connections, emerged as predictors of family and community level protection, suggesting these network factors as important intervention targets for intervention. PMID:27110094

Peer Mediation to Increase Communication and Interaction at Recess for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

PubMed Central

Mason, Rose; Kamps, Debra; Turcotte, Amy; Cox, Suzanne; Feldmiller, Sarah; Miller, Todd

2015-01-01

Recess plays an integral role in the social and emotional development of children given the time provided to engage in interactions with others and practice important social skills. Students with ASD, however, typically fail to achieve even minimal benefit from recess due to social and communication impairments as well as a tendency to withdraw. Implementation of evidence-based interventions such as peer-mediated social skills groups, are necessary to ensure recess is an advantageous learning environment for students with ASD. A multiple-baseline design across participants was used to determine if a functional relationship exists between a social skills instructional program combined with peer networks with school staff as implementers and increases in level of communicative acts for participants with ASD at recess. Results indicate all participants demonstrated an immediate increase in the number of communicative acts with the introduction of the intervention. Implications for practice are discussed. PMID:26180543

Using a Social Network Strategy to Distribute HIV Self-Test Kits to African American and Latino MSM.

PubMed

Lightfoot, Marguerita A; Campbell, Chadwick K; Moss, Nicholas; Treves-Kagan, Sarah; Agnew, Emily; Kang Dufour, Mi-Suk; Scott, Hyman; Sa'id, Aria M; Lippman, Sheri A

2018-05-04

Men who have sex with men (MSM) continue to be disproportionately impacted globally by the HIV epidemic. Studies suggest that HIV Self-testing (HIVST) is highly acceptable among MSM. Social network strategies to increase testing are effective in reaching MSM, particularly MSM of color, who may not otherwise test. We tested a social-network based strategy to distribute HIVST kits to African American and Latino MSM. This study was conducted in Alameda County, California a large, urban/suburban county with an HIV epidemic mirroring the national HIV epidemic. From January 2016 to March 2017, 30 AAMSM, LMSM, and Transgender women were trained as peer recruiters and asked to distribute five self-test kits to MSM social network members and support those who test positive in linking to care. Testers completed an online survey following their test. We compared peer-distributed HIVST testing outcomes to outcomes from Alameda County's targeted, community-based HIV testing programs using chi-squared tests. Peers distributed HIVST to 143 social and sexual network members, of whom 110 completed the online survey. Compared to MSM who utilized the County's sponsored testing programs, individuals reached through the peer-based self-testing strategy were significantly more likely to have never tested for HIV (3.51% vs. 0.41%, p<0.01) and to report a positive test result (6.14% vs 1.49%, p<0.01). Findings suggest that a network-based strategy for self-test distribution is a promising intervention to increase testing uptake and reduce undiagnosed infections among African American and Latino MSM.

Parental influence on substance use in adolescent social networks.

PubMed

Shakya, Holly B; Christakis, Nicholas A; Fowler, James H

2012-12-01

To evaluate the relationship between the parenting style of an adolescent's peers' parents and an adolescent's substance use. Longitudinal survey. Adolescents across the United States were interviewed at school and at home. Nationally representative sample of adolescents in the United States. Authoritative vs neglectful parenting style of adolescent's parents and adolescent's friends' parents and adolescent substance use. Adolescent alcohol abuse, smoking, marijuana use, and binge drinking. If an adolescent had a friend whose mother was authoritative, that adolescent was 40% (95% CI, 12%-58%) less likely to drink to the point of drunkenness, 38% (95% CI, 5%-59%) less likely to binge drink, 39% (95% CI, 12%-58%) less likely to smoke cigarettes, and 43% (95% CI, 1%-67%) less likely to use marijuana than an adolescent whose friend's mother was neglectful, controlling for the parenting style of the adolescent's own mother, school-level fixed effects, and demographics. These results were only partially mediated by peer substance use. Social network influences may extend beyond the homogeneous dimensions of own peer or own parent to include extradyadic influences of the wider network. The value of parenting interventions should be reassessed to take into account these spillover effects in the greater network.

Alcohol Use and Popularity: Social Payoffs from Conforming to Peers' Behavior.

PubMed

Balsa, Ana I; Homer, Jenny F; French, Michael T; Norton, Edward C

2011-09-01

Although many economic analyses of adolescents have examined the costs of risky behaviors, few have investigated the gains that young people derive from such actions, particularly in terms of social payoffs for complying with peer behavior. This paper studies the relationship between adolescents' use of alcohol (relative to that of their peers) and popularity at school. We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a rich and nationally-representative survey with detailed information on social networks. Our findings suggest that adolescents are socially rewarded for conforming to their peers' alcohol use and penalized (to a lesser degree) for increasing their consumption above that of their peers. Male adolescents are rewarded for keeping up with their peers' drinking and for getting drunk. Female adolescents are rewarded for drinking per se, but not necessarily for keeping up with their peers. The results offer new information on peer influence and have implications for substance abuse interventions at school and in the community.

Alcohol Use and Popularity: Social Payoffs from Conforming to Peers' Behavior

PubMed Central

Balsa, Ana I.; Homer, Jenny F.; French, Michael T.; Norton, Edward C.

2010-01-01

Although many economic analyses of adolescents have examined the costs of risky behaviors, few have investigated the gains that young people derive from such actions, particularly in terms of social payoffs for complying with peer behavior. This paper studies the relationship between adolescents' use of alcohol (relative to that of their peers) and popularity at school. We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a rich and nationally-representative survey with detailed information on social networks. Our findings suggest that adolescents are socially rewarded for conforming to their peers' alcohol use and penalized (to a lesser degree) for increasing their consumption above that of their peers. Male adolescents are rewarded for keeping up with their peers' drinking and for getting drunk. Female adolescents are rewarded for drinking per se, but not necessarily for keeping up with their peers. The results offer new information on peer influence and have implications for substance abuse interventions at school and in the community. PMID:21860582

A community support program for children with autism and their typically developing siblings: Initial investigation.

PubMed

Kryzak, Lauren A; Cengher, Mirela; Feeley, Kathleen M; Fienup, Daniel M; Jones, Emily A

2015-06-01

Siblings are a critical part of lifelong support for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). But siblings face their own social-emotional adjustment needs. These needs may be addressed through programs that include support groups specifically for the siblings. This study examined the effects of a community program on typical siblings' depression, anxiety, ASD knowledge, and peer network as well as reciprocal interactions between the typical sibling and sibling with ASD. The program provided a sibling support group, a skills intervention for children with ASD, and an inclusive recreation time. Siblings reported significant decreases in depression and physiological anxiety and improvements in their peer network. Autism knowledge increased but only approached significance. Direct observations revealed improvement in reciprocal interactions by most children that did not reach statistical significance. Parents, typical siblings, and interventionists indicated positive reactions to the program and its goals and outcomes. Findings are discussed in terms of the need to continue to explore interventions for siblings of children with ASD. © The Author(s) 2014.

Population-based initiatives in college mental health: students helping students to overcome obstacles.

PubMed

Kirsch, Daniel J; Pinder-Amaker, Stephanie L; Morse, Charles; Ellison, Marsha L; Doerfler, Leonard A; Riba, Michelle B

2014-12-01

College students' need for mental health care has increased dramatically, leaving campus counseling and mental health centers struggling to meet the demand. This has led to the investigation and development of extra-center, population-based interventions. Student-to-student support programs are but one example. Students themselves are a plentiful, often-untapped resource that extends the reach of mental health services on campus. Student-to-student programs capitalize on students' natural inclination to assist their peers. A brief review of the prevalence and effects of mental disorders in the college population is provided, followed by a broad overview of the range of peer-to-peer programs that can be available on college campuses. Two innovative programs are highlighted: (1) a hospital- and community-based program, the College Mental Health Program (CMHP) at McLean Hospital, and 2) the Student Support Network (SSN) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The subsequent section reviews the literature on peer-to-peer programs for students with serious and persistent mental illness for which there is a small but generally positive body of research. This lack of an empirical basis in college mental health leads the authors to argue for development of broad practice-research networks.

Multiplex congruity: friendship networks and perceived popularity as correlates of adolescent alcohol use.

PubMed

Fujimoto, Kayo; Valente, Thomas W

2015-01-01

Adolescents interact with their peers in multiple social settings and form various types of peer relationships that affect drinking behavior. Friendship and popularity perceptions constitute critical relationships during adolescence. These two relations are commonly measured by asking students to name their friends, and this network is used to construct drinking exposure and peer status variables. This study takes a multiplex network approach by examining the congruity between friendships and popularity as correlates of adolescent drinking. Using data on friendship and popularity nominations among high school adolescents in Los Angeles, California (N = 1707; five schools), we examined the associations between an adolescent's drinking and drinking by (a) their friends only; (b) multiplexed friendships, friends also perceived as popular; and (c) congruent, multiplexed-friends, close friends perceived as popular. Logistic regression results indicated that friend-only drinking, but not multiplexed-friend drinking, was significantly associated with self-drinking (AOR = 3.51, p < 0.05). However, congruent, multiplexed-friend drinking also was associated with self-drinking (AOR = 3.10, p < 0.05). This study provides insight into how adolescent health behavior is predicated on the multiplexed nature of peer relationships. The results have implications for the design of health promotion interventions for adolescent drinking. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Multiplex congruity: Friendship networks and perceived popularity as correlates of adolescent alcohol use

PubMed Central

Fujimoto, Kayo; Valente, Thomas W.

2014-01-01

Adolescents interact with their peers in multiple social settings and form various types of peer relationships that affect drinking behavior. Friendship and popularity perceptions constitute critical relationships during adolescence. These two relations are commonly measured by asking students to name their friends, and this network is used to construct drinking exposure and peer status variables. This study takes a multiplex network approach by examining the congruity between friendships and popularity as correlates of adolescent drinking. Using data on friendship and popularity nominations among high school adolescents in Los Angeles, California (N = 1707; five schools), we examined the associations between an adolescent's drinking and drinking by (a) their friends only; (b) multiplexed friendships, friends also perceived as popular; and (c) congruent, multiplexed-friends, close friends perceived as popular. Logistic regression results indicated that friend-only drinking, but not multiplexed-friend drinking, was significantly associated with self-drinking (AOR = 3.51, p < 0.05). However, congruent, multiplexed-friend drinking also was associated with self-drinking (AOR = 3.10, p < 0.05). This study provides insight into how adolescent health behavior is predicated on the multiplexed nature of peer relationships. The results have implications for the design of health promotion interventions for adolescent drinking. PMID:24913275

Risk Factors for Substance Misuse and Adolescents’ Symptoms of Depression

PubMed Central

Siennick, Sonja E.; Widdowson, Alex O.; Woessner, Mathew K.; Feinberg, Mark E.; Spoth, Richard L.

2016-01-01

Purpose Depressive symptoms during adolescence are positively associated with peer-related beliefs, perceptions, and experiences that are known risk factors for substance misuse. These same risk factors are targeted by many universal substance misuse prevention programs. This study examined whether a multicomponent universal substance misuse intervention for middle schoolers reduced the associations between depressive symptoms, these risk factors, and substance misuse. Methods The study used data from a place-randomized trial of the PROSPER (PROmoting School-Community-University Partnerships to Enhance Resilience) model for delivery of evidence-based substance misuse programs for middle schoolers. Three-level within-person regression models were applied to four waves of survey and social network data from 636 adolescents followed from 6th through 9th grades. Results When adolescents in control school districts had more symptoms of depression, they believed more strongly that substance use had social benefits, perceived higher levels of substance misuse among their peers and friends, and had more friends who misused substances, although they were not more likely to use substances themselves. Many of the positive associations of depressive symptoms with peer-related risk factors were significantly weaker or not present among adolescents in intervention school districts. Conclusions The PROSPER interventions reduced the positive associations of adolescent symptoms of depression with peer-related risk factors for substance misuse. PMID:27751712

Cell phone use among homeless youth: potential for new health interventions and research.

PubMed

Rice, Eric; Lee, Alex; Taitt, Sean

2011-12-01

Cell phone use has become nearly ubiquitous among adolescents in the United States. Despite the potential for cell phones to facilitate intervention, research, and care for homeless youth, no data exists to date on cell phone use among this population. In 2009, a survey of cell phone use was conducted among a non-probability sample of 169 homeless youth in Los Angeles, CA. Levels of ownership and use, instrumental uses (connecting to case workers, employers) and patterns of connecting to various network types were assessed (family, home-based peers, street-based peers). Differences in socio-demographic characteristics and cell phone ownership were assessed via t test and chi-square statistics. Sixty-two percent of homeless youth own a cell phone; 40% have a working phone. Seventeen percent used their phone to call a case manager, 36% to call either a potential or current employer. Fifty-one percent of youth connected with home-based peers on the phone and 41% connected to parents. Cell phones present new opportunities for intervention research, connecting homeless youth to family and home-based peers who can be sources of social support in times of need. Moreover, cell phones provide researchers and providers with new avenues to maintain connections with these highly transient youth.

Changing Friend Selection in Middle School: A Social Network Analysis of a Randomized Intervention Study Designed to Prevent Adolescent Problem Behavior.

PubMed

DeLay, Dawn; Ha, Thao; Van Ryzin, Mark; Winter, Charlotte; Dishion, Thomas J

2016-04-01

Adolescent friendships that promote problem behavior are often chosen in middle school. The current study examines the unintended impact of a randomized school-based intervention on the selection of friends in middle school, as well as on observations of deviant talk with friends 5 years later. Participants included 998 middle school students (526 boys and 472 girls) recruited at the onset of middle school (age 11-12 years) from three public middle schools participating in the Family Check-up model intervention. The current study focuses only on the effects of the SHAPe curriculum-one level of the Family Check-up model-on friendship choices. Participants nominated friends and completed measures of deviant peer affiliation. Approximately half of the sample (n = 500) was randomly assigned to the intervention, and the other half (n = 498) comprised the control group within each school. The results indicate that the SHAPe curriculum affected friend selection within school 1 but not within schools 2 or 3. The effects of friend selection in school 1 translated into reductions in observed deviancy training 5 years later (age 16-17 years). By coupling longitudinal social network analysis with a randomized intervention study, the current findings provide initial evidence that a randomized public middle school intervention can disrupt the formation of deviant peer groups and diminish levels of adolescent deviance 5 years later.

Alcohol Use among Adolescent Youth: The Role of Friendship Networks and Family Factors in Multiple School Studies

PubMed Central

Wang, Cheng; Hipp, John R.; Butts, Carter T.; Jose, Rupa; Lakon, Cynthia M.

2015-01-01

To explore the co-evolution of friendship tie choice and alcohol use behavior among 1,284 adolescents from 12 small schools and 976 adolescents from one big school sampled in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (AddHealth), we apply a Stochastic Actor-Based (SAB) approach implemented in the R-based Simulation Investigation for Empirical Network Analysis (RSiena) package. Our results indicate the salience of both peer selection and peer influence effects for friendship tie choice and adolescent drinking behavior. Concurrently, the main effect models indicate that parental monitoring and the parental home drinking environment affected adolescent alcohol use in the small school sample, and that parental home drinking environment affected adolescent drinking in the large school sample. In the small school sample, we detect an interaction between the parental home drinking environment and choosing friends that drink as they multiplicatively affect friendship tie choice. Our findings suggest that future research should investigate the synergistic effects of both peer and parental influences for adolescent friendship tie choices and drinking behavior. And given the tendency of adolescents to form ties with their friends' friends, and the evidence of local hierarchy in these networks, popular youth who do not drink may be uniquely positioned and uniquely salient as the highest rank of the hierarchy to cause anti-drinking peer influences to diffuse down the social hierarchy to less popular youth. As such, future interventions should harness prosocial peer influences simultaneously with strategies to increase parental support and monitoring among parents to promote affiliation with prosocial peers. PMID:25756364

Evaluating the Impact of a Multicomponent Intervention Model on Teachers' Awareness of Social Networks at the Beginning of Middle School in Rural Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farmer, Thomas W.; Hall, Cristin M.; Petrin, Robert; Hamm, Jill V.; Dadisman, Kimberly

2010-01-01

A randomized control trial was conducted to evaluate the impact of the Rural Early Adolescent Learning Program (Project REAL) on teachers' awareness of peer groups at the beginning of the 1st year of middle school. Two schools were randomly assigned to the intervention condition and 2 to the control condition. Thirty-nine teachers and 466 students…

Condomless Sex Among Homeless Youth: The Role of Multidimensional Social Norms and Gender.

PubMed

Barman-Adhikari, Anamika; Hsu, Hsun-Ta; Begun, Stephanie; Portillo, Andrea Perez; Rice, Eric

2017-03-01

Most studies of condomless sex among homeless youth have focused on peer norms, while excluding other potentially pertinent influences. This study explored how different types of relationships contributed to norms about condomless sex and whether such norms were associated with engagement in condomless sex among homeless youth. Additionally, because recent work has noted gender differences in social networks of male and female homeless youth, gender differences in social network norms of condomless sex were also assessed. Egocentric network data were collected from homeless youth accessing services at two drop-in centers in Los Angeles, CA (N = 976). Multivariate analyses (non-stratified and stratified by gender) assessed associations between descriptive, injunctive, and communicative norms and participants' engagement in condomless sex. Multivariate analyses indicated that perception of peer condom use and communication with sexual partners were significantly associated with not engaging in condomless sex. These relationships, however, varied by gender. Implications for interventions are discussed.

Early childhood behavioral inhibition, adult psychopathology and the buffering effects of adolescent social networks: a twenty-year prospective study.

PubMed

Frenkel, Tahl I; Fox, Nathan A; Pine, Daniel S; Walker, Olga L; Degnan, Kathryn A; Chronis-Tuscano, Andrea

2015-10-01

We examined whether the temperament of behavioral inhibition is a significant marker for psychopathology in early adulthood and whether such risk is buffered by peer social networks. Participants (N = 165) were from a prospective study spanning the first two decades of life. Temperament was characterized during infancy and early childhood. Extent of involvement in peer social networks was measured during adolescence, and psychopathology was assessed in early adulthood. Latent Class Analyses generated comprehensive variables at each of three study time-points. Regressions assessed (a) the direct effect of early behavioral inhibition on adult psychopathology (b) the moderating effect of adolescent involvement in social peer networks on the link between temperamental risk and adult psychopathology. Stable behavioral inhibition in early childhood was negatively associated with adult mental health (R(2 ) = .07, p = .005, β = -.26), specifically increasing risk for adult anxiety disorders (R(2) = .04, p = .037, β = .19). These temperament-pathology relations were significantly moderated by adolescent peer group social involvement and network size (Total R(2) = .13, p = .027, β = -.22). Temperament predicted heightened risk for adult anxiety when adolescent social involvement was low (p = .002, β = .43), but not when adolescent social involvement was high. Stable behavioral inhibition throughout early childhood is a risk factor for adult anxiety disorders and interacts with adolescent social involvement to moderate risk. This is the first study to demonstrate the critical role of adolescent involvement in socially active networks in moderating long-lasting temperamental risk over the course of two decades, thus informing prevention/intervention approaches. © 2015 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Development of the Social Network-Based Intervention “Powerful Together with Diabetes” Using Intervention Mapping

PubMed Central

Vissenberg, Charlotte; Nierkens, Vera; Uitewaal, Paul J. M.; Middelkoop, Barend J. C.; Nijpels, Giel; Stronks, Karien

2017-01-01

This article describes the development of the social network-based intervention Powerful Together with Diabetes which aims to improve diabetes self-management (DSM) among patients with type 2 diabetes living in socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods by stimulating social support for DSM and diminishing social influences hindering DSM (e.g., peer pressure and social norms). The intervention was specifically developed for patients with Dutch, Turkish, Moroccan, and Surinamese backgrounds. The intervention was developed according to Intervention Mapping. This article describes the first four steps of Intervention Mapping: (1) the needs assessment; (2) development of performance and change objectives; (3) selection of theory-based methods and strategies; and (4) the translation of these into an organized program. These four steps resulted in Powerful Together with Diabetes, a 10-month group-based intervention consisting of 24 meetings, 6 meetings for significant others, and 2 meetings for participants and their spouses. The IM method resulted in a tailored approach with a specific focus on the social networks of its participants. This article concludes that the IM method helped our planning team to tailor the intervention to the needs of our target population and facilitated our evaluation design. However, in hindsight, the intervention could have been improved by investing more in participatory planning and community involvement. PMID:29326916

Development of the Social Network-Based Intervention "Powerful Together with Diabetes" Using Intervention Mapping.

PubMed

Vissenberg, Charlotte; Nierkens, Vera; Uitewaal, Paul J M; Middelkoop, Barend J C; Nijpels, Giel; Stronks, Karien

2017-01-01

This article describes the development of the social network-based intervention Powerful Together with Diabetes which aims to improve diabetes self-management (DSM) among patients with type 2 diabetes living in socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods by stimulating social support for DSM and diminishing social influences hindering DSM (e.g., peer pressure and social norms). The intervention was specifically developed for patients with Dutch, Turkish, Moroccan, and Surinamese backgrounds. The intervention was developed according to Intervention Mapping. This article describes the first four steps of Intervention Mapping: (1) the needs assessment; (2) development of performance and change objectives; (3) selection of theory-based methods and strategies; and (4) the translation of these into an organized program. These four steps resulted in Powerful Together with Diabetes , a 10-month group-based intervention consisting of 24 meetings, 6 meetings for significant others, and 2 meetings for participants and their spouses. The IM method resulted in a tailored approach with a specific focus on the social networks of its participants. This article concludes that the IM method helped our planning team to tailor the intervention to the needs of our target population and facilitated our evaluation design. However, in hindsight, the intervention could have been improved by investing more in participatory planning and community involvement.

Social networks of men who have sex with men and their implications for HIV/STI interventions: results from a cross-sectional study using respondent-driven sampling in a large and a small city in Tanzania.

PubMed

Ross, Michael W; Larsson, Markus; Jacobson, Jerry; Nyoni, Joyce; Agardh, Anette

2016-11-18

Men who have sex with men (MSM) in sub-Saharan Africa remain hidden and hard to reach for involvement in HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) services. The aim of the current study was to describe MSM social networks in a large and a small Tanzanian city in order to explore their utility for peer-based healthcare interventions. Data were collected through respondent-driven sampling (RDS) in Dar es Salaam (n=197) and in Tanga (n=99) in 2012 and 2013, using 5 and 4 seeds, respectively. All results were adjusted for RDS sampling design. Mean personal network size based on the number of MSM who were reported by the participants, as known to them was 12.0±15.5 in Dar es Salaam and 7.6±8.1 in Tanga. Mean actual RDS network size was 39.4±31.4 in Dar es Salaam and 25.3±9.7 in Tanga. A majority (97%) reported that the person from whom they received the recruitment coupon was a sexual partner, close friend or acquaintance. Homophile in recruitment patterns (selective affiliation) was present for age, gay openness, and HIV status in Dar es Salaam, and for sexual identification in Tanga. The personal network sizes and existence of contacts between recruiter and referral indicate that it is possible to use peer-driven interventions to reach MSM for HIV/STI interventions in larger and smaller sub-Saharan African cities. The study was reviewed and approved by the University of Texas Health Science Center's Institutional Review Board (HSC-SPH-10-0033) and the Tanzanian National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR/HQ/R.8a/Vol. IX/1088). Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Intimate-Partner and Client-Initiated Violence among Female Street-Based Sex Workers in China: Does a Support Network Help?

PubMed

Hail-Jares, Katie; Chang, Ruth C F; Choi, Sugy; Zheng, Huang; He, Na; Huang, Z Jennifer

2015-01-01

Globally, female street-based sex workers are vulnerable to gender-based violence. Previous research has shown having a peer social network can reduce sex workers' risks of victimization. However, mechanisms of how social network impacts violence among female street-based sex workers are still far from clear. Our study was based on data abstracted from a paper-and-pencil survey administered among 218 female street-based sex workers in Shanghai, China. We focused on self-reported client-initiated violence and intimate-partner violence in emotional, physical, and sexual forms. Social networks were characterized by the size and sources of financial and psychosocial support (e.g. family, friends, and peers). Multi-variable logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (AOR) of each type of violence exposure by social network structure after the adjustment of age, education, and years in Shanghai. The street-based female sex workers in our study were primarily rural-to-urban migrants (95.7%) with an average age of 41 years old. 24.3% and 62.8% of the sex workers reported intimate-partner violence and client-initiated violence respectively. Lack of financial support, as defined by having only one individual or none in her peer support system to help financially, was significantly associated with self-reported intimate-partner violence (AOR: 2.5; 95% CI: 1.1-5.9). Respondents who reported client-initiated violence, by contrast, were more likely to report lacked psychosocial support from family (AOR: 2.2, 95% CI: 1.0-4.6) and peers (AOR: 5.1, 95% CI: 2.2-11). This study is one of the first to systematically analyze the associations between social network and gender-based violence among street-based female sex worker. We reported a high prevalence of both types of gender-based violence and their complex associations with family, friends, and peer support network. Policies with goals to reduce violence against women may apply these findings to leverage social network in the interventions against gender-based violence.

Intimate-Partner and Client-Initiated Violence among Female Street-Based Sex Workers in China: Does a Support Network Help?

PubMed Central

Hail-Jares, Katie; Chang, Ruth C. F.; Choi, Sugy; Zheng, Huang; He, Na; Huang, Z. Jennifer

2015-01-01

Background Globally, female street-based sex workers are vulnerable to gender-based violence. Previous research has shown having a peer social network can reduce sex workers’ risks of victimization. However, mechanisms of how social network impacts violence among female street-based sex workers are still far from clear. Methods Our study was based on data abstracted from a paper-and-pencil survey administered among 218 female street-based sex workers in Shanghai, China. We focused on self-reported client-initiated violence and intimate-partner violence in emotional, physical, and sexual forms. Social networks were characterized by the size and sources of financial and psychosocial support (e.g. family, friends, and peers). Multi-variable logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (AOR) of each type of violence exposure by social network structure after the adjustment of age, education, and years in Shanghai. Results The street-based female sex workers in our study were primarily rural-to-urban migrants (95.7%) with an average age of 41 years old. 24.3% and 62.8% of the sex workers reported intimate-partner violence and client-initiated violence respectively. Lack of financial support, as defined by having only one individual or none in her peer support system to help financially, was significantly associated with self-reported intimate-partner violence (AOR: 2.5; 95% CI: 1.1–5.9). Respondents who reported client-initiated violence, by contrast, were more likely to report lacked psychosocial support from family (AOR: 2.2, 95% CI: 1.0–4.6) and peers (AOR: 5.1, 95% CI: 2.2–11). Conclusion This study is one of the first to systematically analyze the associations between social network and gender-based violence among street-based female sex worker. We reported a high prevalence of both types of gender-based violence and their complex associations with family, friends, and peer support network. Policies with goals to reduce violence against women may apply these findings to leverage social network in the interventions against gender-based violence. PMID:26413776

Lessons from a peer-led obesity prevention programme in English schools.

PubMed

Bell, Sarah L; Audrey, Suzanne; Cooper, Ashley R; Noble, Sian; Campbell, Rona

2017-04-01

Obesity in young people is a major public health concern. Energy balance, the interrelationship between diet and physical activity, is known to be a key determinant. Evidence supports the development of school-based approaches to obesity prevention. ASSIST (A Stop Smoking in Schools Trial) is an effective school-based, peer-led smoking prevention programme for 12-13-year-old students, based on diffusion of innovations theory. The AHEAD (Activity and Healthy Eating in ADolescence) study tested the feasibility of adapting ASSIST to an obesity prevention intervention. The AHEAD intervention was tested and refined during a pilot study in one school, followed by an exploratory trial in six schools. Quantitative (self-report behavioural questionnaires and evaluation forms) and qualitative (structured observations, focus groups and interviews) research methods were used to examine the implementation and acceptability of the intervention. The potential effectiveness of the intervention in increasing healthy eating was measured using self-report behavioural questionnaires. Activity monitors (accelerometers) were used to measure physical activity. Results show it was feasible to implement the AHEAD intervention, which was well received. However, implementation was resource and labour intensive and relatively expensive. Furthermore, there was no evidence of promise that the intervention would increase physical activity or healthy eating in adolescents. Although diet and physical activity are both relevant for obesity prevention, the focus on two behaviours appeared too complex for informal diffusion through peer networks. This identifies a tension, particularly for adolescent peer-led health promotion, between the desire not to isolate or oversimplify health behaviours and the need to present clear, succinct health promotion messages. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press.

Influence of Peers and Friends on Children’s and Adolescents’ Eating and Activity Behaviors

PubMed Central

Salvy, Sarah-Jeanne; de la Haye, Kayla; Bowker, Julie C.; Hermans, Roel C.J.

2012-01-01

Obesity during childhood and adolescence is a growing problem in the United States, Canada, and around the world that leads to significant physical, psychological, and social consequences. Peer experiences have been theoretically and empirically related to the “Big Two” contributors to the obesity epidemic, unhealthy eating and physical inactivity [1]. In this article, we synthesize the empirical literature on the influence of peers and friends on youth’s eating and physical activity. Limitations and issues in the theoretical and empirical literatures are also discussed, along with future research directions. In conclusion, we argue that the involvement of children’s and adolescents’ peer networks in prevention and intervention efforts may be critical for promoting and maintaining positive behavioral health trajectories. However, further theoretical and empirical work is needed to better understand the specific mechanisms underlying the effects of peers on youth’s eating and physical activity. PMID:22480733

Peer Contagion in Child and Adolescent Social and Emotional Development

PubMed Central

Dishion, Thomas J.; Tipsord, Jessica M.

2012-01-01

In this article, we examine the construct of peer contagion in childhood and adolescence and review studies of child and adolescent development that have identified peer contagion influences. Evidence suggests that children's interactions with peers are tied to increases in aggression in early and middle childhood and amplification of problem behaviors such as drug use, delinquency, and violence in early to late adolescence. Deviancy training is one mechanism that accounts for peer contagion effects on problem behaviors from age 5 through adolescence. In addition, we discuss peer contagion relevant to depression in adolescence, and corumination as an interactive process that may account for these effects. Social network analyses suggest that peer contagion underlies the influence of friendship on obesity, unhealthy body images, and expectations. Literature is reviewed that suggests how peer contagion effects can undermine the goals of public education from elementary school through college and impair the goals of juvenile corrections systems. In particular, programs that “select” adolescents at risk for aggregated preventive interventions are particularly vulnerable to peer contagion effects. It appears that a history of peer rejection is a vulnerability factor for influence by peers, and adult monitoring, supervision, positive parenting, structure, and self-regulation serve as protective factors. PMID:19575606

Classroom Peer Relationships and Behavioral Engagement in Elementary School: The Role of Social Network Equity

PubMed Central

Cappella, Elise; Kim, Ha Yeon; Neal, Jennifer W.; Jackson, Daisy R.

2014-01-01

Applying social capital and systems theories of social processes, we examine the role of the classroom peer context in the behavioral engagement of low-income students (N = 80) in urban elementary school classrooms (N = 22). Systematic child observations were conducted to assess behavioral engagement among second to fifth graders in the fall and spring of the same school year. Classroom observations, teacher and child questionnaires, and social network data were collected in the fall. Confirming prior research, results from multilevel models indicate that students with more behavioral difficulties or less academic motivation in the fall were less behaviorally engaged in the spring. Extending prior research, classrooms with more equitably distributed and interconnected social ties—social network equity—had more behaviorally engaged students in the spring, especially in classrooms with higher levels of observed organization (i.e., effective management of behavior, time, and attention). Moreover, social network equity attenuated the negative relation between student behavioral difficulties and behavioral engagement, suggesting that students with behavioral difficulties were less disengaged in classrooms with more equitably distributed and interconnected social ties. Findings illuminate the need to consider classroom peer contexts in future research and intervention focused on the behavioral engagement of students in urban elementary schools. PMID:24081319

An event- and network-level analysis of college students' maximum drinking day.

PubMed

Meisel, Matthew K; DiBello, Angelo M; Balestrieri, Sara G; Ott, Miles Q; DiGuiseppi, Graham T; Clark, Melissa A; Barnett, Nancy P

2018-04-01

Heavy episodic drinking is common among college students and remains a serious public health issue. Previous event-level research among college students has examined behaviors and individual-level characteristics that drive consumption and related consequences but often ignores the social network of people with whom these heavy drinking episodes occur. The main aim of the current study was to investigate the network of social connections between drinkers on their heaviest drinking occasions. Sociocentric network methods were used to collect information from individuals in the first-year class (N=1342) at one university. Past-month drinkers (N=972) reported on the characteristics of their heaviest drinking occasion in the past month and indicated who else among their network connections was present during this occasion. Average max drinking day indegree, or the total number of times a participant was nominated as being present on another students' heaviest drinking occasion, was 2.50 (SD=2.05). Network autocorrelation models indicated that max drinking day indegree (e.g., popularity on heaviest drinking occassions) and peers' number of drinks on their own maximum drinking occasions were significantly associated with participant maximum number of drinks, after controlling for demographic variables, pregaming, and global network indegree (e.g., popularity in the entire first-year class). Being present at other peers' heaviest drinking occasions is associated with greater drinking quantities on one's own heaviest drinking occasion. These findings suggest the potential for interventions that target peer influences within close social networks of drinkers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Peers and Obesity during Childhood and Adolescence: A Review of the Empirical Research on Peers, Eating, and Physical Activity

PubMed Central

Salvy, Sarah-Jeanne; Bowker, Julie C.

2015-01-01

Obesity during childhood and adolescence is a growing problem in the United States, Canada, and around the world that leads to significant physical, psychological, and social impairment. In recent years, empirical research on factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of obesity has begun to consider peer experiences, such as peer rejection, peer victimization, and friendship. Peer experiences have been theoretically and empirically related to the “Big Two” contributors to the obesity epidemic, eating and physical activity, but there has not been a comprehensive review of the extant empirical literature. In this article, we review and synthesize the emerging theoretical and empirical literatures on peer experiences in relation to: (a) eating (food consumption and food selection); and (b) physical activity, during childhood and adolescence. A number of limitations and issues in the theoretical and empirical literatures are also discussed, along with future research directions. In conclusion, we argue that the involvement of children and adolescents’ peer networks in prevention and intervention efforts may be critical for promoting and maintaining positive behavioral health trajectories. PMID:28090396

Let's talk about sex work in humanitarian settings: piloting a rights-based approach to working with refugee women selling sex in Kampala.

PubMed

Rosenberg, Jennifer S; Bakomeza, Denis

2017-11-01

Although it is well known that refugees engage in sex work as a form of livelihood, stigma and silence around this issue persist within humanitarian circles. As a result, these refugees' sexual and reproductive health and rights, and related vulnerabilities, remain overlooked. Their protection and health needs, which are significant, often go unmet at the field level. In 2016, the Women's Refugee Commission and Reproductive Health Uganda partnered to pilot a peer-education intervention tailored to meet the needs of refugee women engaged in sex work in Kampala. Findings from the pilot project suggest the feasibility of adapting existing rights-based and evidence-informed interventions with sex workers to humanitarian contexts. Findings further demonstrate how taking a community empowerment approach can facilitate these refugees' access to a range of critical information, services and support options - from information on how to use contraceptives, to referrals for friendly HIV testing and treatment, to peer counselling and protective peer networks.

Information seeking for making evidence-informed decisions: a social network analysis on the staff of a public health department in Canada.

PubMed

Yousefi-Nooraie, Reza; Dobbins, Maureen; Brouwers, Melissa; Wakefield, Patricia

2012-05-16

Social network analysis is an approach to study the interactions and exchange of resources among people. It can help understanding the underlying structural and behavioral complexities that influence the process of capacity building towards evidence-informed decision making. A social network analysis was conducted to understand if and how the staff of a public health department in Ontario turn to peers to get help incorporating research evidence into practice. The staff were invited to respond to an online questionnaire inquiring about information seeking behavior, identification of colleague expertise, and friendship status. Three networks were developed based on the 170 participants. Overall shape, key indices, the most central people and brokers, and their characteristics were identified. The network analysis showed a low density and localized information-seeking network. Inter-personal connections were mainly clustered by organizational divisions; and people tended to limit information-seeking connections to a handful of peers in their division. However, recognition of expertise and friendship networks showed more cross-divisional connections. Members of the office of the Medical Officer of Health were located at the heart of the department, bridging across divisions. A small group of professional consultants and middle managers were the most-central staff in the network, also connecting their divisions to the center of the information-seeking network. In each division, there were some locally central staff, mainly practitioners, who connected their neighboring peers; but they were not necessarily connected to other experts or managers. The methods of social network analysis were useful in providing a systems approach to understand how knowledge might flow in an organization. The findings of this study can be used to identify early adopters of knowledge translation interventions, forming Communities of Practice, and potential internal knowledge brokers.

Social Involvement of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Elementary School Classrooms

PubMed Central

Rotheram-Fuller, Erin; Kasari, Connie; Chamberlain, Brandt; Locke, Jill

2010-01-01

Background Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are increasingly included in general education classrooms in an effort to improve their social involvement. Methods Seventy-nine children with ASD and 79 randomly-selected, gender-matched peers (88.6% male) in 75 early (K-1), middle (2nd–3rd), and late (4th–5th) elementary classrooms across 30 schools completed social network surveys examining each child’s reciprocal friendships, peer rejection, acceptance, and social involvement. Results Across grade levels, peers less frequently reciprocated friendships with children with ASD than students in the matched sample. While children with ASD were not more likely to be rejected by peers, they were less accepted and had fewer reciprocal friendships than matched peers at each grade level. Although 48.1% of children with ASD were involved in the social networks of their classrooms, children with ASD were more likely to be isolated or peripheral to social relationships within the classroom across all grade levels, and this difference is even more dramatic in later elementary grades. Conclusions In inclusive classrooms, children with ASD are only involved in peers’ social relationships about half of the time, and appear to be even less connected with increasing grade level. Promoting children with ASD’s skills in popular activities to share with peers in early childhood may be a key preventive intervention to protect social relationships in late elementary school grades. PMID:20673234

A Social Network Family-Focused Intervention to Promote Smoking Cessation in Chinese and Vietnamese American Male Smokers: A Feasibility Study

PubMed Central

Burke, Nancy J.; Gildengorin, Ginny; Wong, Ching; Le, Khanh; Nguyen, Anthony; Chan, Joanne L.; Sun, Angela; McPhee, Stephen J.; Nguyen, Tung T.

2015-01-01

Introduction: Smoking prevalence is high among limited English-proficient Chinese and Vietnamese American men, who are frequently unmotivated to quit and who underutilize smoking cessation resources. This study applied lay health worker outreach to leverage peer and family networks to promote smoking cessation among these men. Methods: We integrated qualitative formative research findings and Social Network Theory to develop a social-network family-focused intervention. In a pilot single-group trial, 15 lay health workers recruited 96 dyads (N = 192, 75% Vietnamese) of Chinese or Vietnamese male daily smokers and their family members and delivered the intervention consisting of two small group education sessions and two individual telephone calls over 2 months. Results: At baseline, 42% of smokers were at precontemplation. At 3 months following the initiation of the intervention, 7-day and 30-day point prevalence smoking abstinence rates as reported by smokers and independently corroborated by family members were 30% and 24%, respectively. Utilization of smoking cessation resources (medication, quitline, physician’s advice) increased from 2% to 60% (P < .001). Findings showed high acceptability of the intervention as it facilitated learning about tobacco-related health risks and cessation resources, and communications between smokers and their families. Conclusions: This novel social network family-focused intervention to promote smoking cessation among Chinese and Vietnamese smokers appears to be acceptable, feasible, and potentially efficacious. Findings warrant evaluation of long-term efficacy of the intervention in a larger scale randomized controlled trial. PMID:26180229

The risk and protective functions of perceived family and peer microsystems among urban adolescents in poverty.

PubMed

Seidman, E; Chesir-Teran, D; Friedman, J L; Yoshikawa, H; Allen, L; Roberts, A; Aber, J L

1999-04-01

Utilized a pattern-based approach to discover the different constellations of perceived social transactions separately for family and peer systems and explored the risk and protective functions of these microsystem profiles for both depression and antisocial behavior among a sample of ethnically and racially diverse urban adolescents living in poverty. Measures of perceived social support, involvement and hassles with family and peers, as well as perceived social acceptance and peers' values were entered into two sets of iterative cluster analyses to identify distinct profiles of family and peer transactions. From each of the perceived family and peer transactional analyses, six replicated profiles emerged. Several of the profiles were consistent with expectations from prior literature such as Enmeshing families and Rejecting peer networks, while others were novel and intriguing such as Entangling peers. Family profiles were consistent in their risk and protective associations for both depression and antisocial behavior, while the peer profiles varied in their effects for each developmental outcome. For example, the Rejecting peer profile placed adolescents at increased risk for depression but protected them from antisocial behavior. Implications for future research and preventive intervention are discussed.

Everybody else is: Networks, power laws and peer contagion in the aggressive recess behavior of elementary school boys.

PubMed

Warren, Keith; Craciun, Gheorghe; Anderson-Butcher, Dawn

2005-04-01

This paper develops a simple random network model of peer contagion in aggressive behavior among inner-city elementary school boys during recess periods. The model predicts a distribution of aggressive behaviors per recess period with a power law tail beginning at two aggressive behaviors and having a slope of approximately -1.5. Comparison of these values with values derived from observations of aggressive behaviors during recess at an inner-city elementary school provides empirical support for the model. These results suggest that fluctuations in aggressive behaviors during recess arise from the interactions between students, rather than from variations in the behavior of individual students. The results therefore support those interventions that aim to change the pattern of interaction between students.

Social involvement of children with autism spectrum disorders in elementary school classrooms.

PubMed

Rotheram-Fuller, Erin; Kasari, Connie; Chamberlain, Brandt; Locke, Jill

2010-11-01

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are increasingly included in general education classrooms in an effort to improve their social involvement. Seventy-nine children with ASD and 79 randomly selected, gender-matched peers (88.6% male) in 75 early (K-1), middle (2nd-3rd), and late (4th-5th) elementary classrooms across 30 schools completed social network surveys examining each child's reciprocal friendships, peer rejection, acceptance, and social involvement. Across grade levels, peers less frequently reciprocated friendships with children with ASD than students in the matched sample. While children with ASD were not more likely to be rejected by peers, they were less accepted and had fewer reciprocal friendships than matched peers at each grade level. Although 48.1% of children with ASD were involved in the social networks of their classrooms, children with ASD were more likely to be isolated or peripheral to social relationships within the classroom across all grade levels, and this difference is even more dramatic in later elementary grades. In inclusive classrooms, children with ASD are only involved in peers' social relationships about half of the time, and appear to be even less connected with increasing grade level. Promoting children with ASD's skills in popular activities to share with peers in early childhood may be a key preventive intervention to protect social relationships in late elementary school grades. © 2010 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry © 2010 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Faculty Peer Networks: Role and Relevance in Advancing Agency and Gender Equity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Meara, KerryAnn; Stromquist, Nelly P.

2015-01-01

Organisational efforts to alter gender asymmetries are relatively rare, yet they are taking place in a number of universities. In the USA, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, ADVANCE programmes implement a number of interventions to improve the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women faculty. This study focused on one common…

Adolescent Health in Hawai'i: The Adolescent Health Network's Teen Health Advisor Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawaii State Dept. of Health, Honolulu. Maternal and Child Health Branch.

This publication reports on a survey to develop a profile of adolescent health in Hawaii in order to develop effective prevention and intervention strategies. The survey covered: general health status; family, peer, and school problems; depression and suicide; use of licit and illicit substances; sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases; and…

Risk Factors for Substance Misuse and Adolescents' Symptoms of Depression.

PubMed

Siennick, Sonja E; Widdowson, Alex O; Woessner, Mathew K; Feinberg, Mark E; Spoth, Richard L

2017-01-01

Depressive symptoms during adolescence are positively associated with peer-related beliefs, perceptions, and experiences that are known risk factors for substance misuse. These same risk factors are targeted by many universal substance misuse prevention programs. This study examined whether a multicomponent universal substance misuse intervention for middle schoolers reduced the associations between depressive symptoms, these risk factors, and substance misuse. The study used data from a place-randomized trial of the Promoting School-Community-University Partnerships to Enhance Resilience model for delivery of evidence-based substance misuse programs for middle schoolers. Three-level within-person regression models were applied to four waves of survey, and social network data from 636 adolescents followed from sixth through ninth grades. When adolescents in control school districts had more symptoms of depression, they believed more strongly that substance use had social benefits, perceived higher levels of substance misuse among their peers and friends, and had more friends who misused substances, although they were not more likely to use substances themselves. Many of the positive associations of depressive symptoms with peer-related risk factors were significantly weaker or not present among adolescents in intervention school districts. The Promoting School-Community-University Partnerships to Enhance Resilience interventions reduced the positive associations of adolescent symptoms of depression with peer-related risk factors for substance misuse. Copyright © 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Exploiting social influence to magnify population-level behaviour change in maternal and child health: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of network targeting algorithms in rural Honduras

PubMed Central

Shakya, Holly B; Stafford, Derek; Hughes, D Alex; Keegan, Thomas; Negron, Rennie; Broome, Jai; McKnight, Mark; Nicoll, Liza; Nelson, Jennifer; Iriarte, Emma; Ordonez, Maria; Airoldi, Edo; Fowler, James H; Christakis, Nicholas A

2017-01-01

Introduction Despite global progress on many measures of child health, rates of neonatal mortality remain high in the developing world. Evidence suggests that substantial improvements can be achieved with simple, low-cost interventions within family and community settings, particularly those designed to change knowledge and behaviour at the community level. Using social network analysis to identify structurally influential community members and then targeting them for intervention shows promise for the implementation of sustainable community-wide behaviour change. Methods and analysis We will use a detailed understanding of social network structure and function to identify novel ways of targeting influential individuals to foster cascades of behavioural change at a population level. Our work will involve experimental and observational analyses. We will map face-to-face social networks of 30 000 people in 176 villages in Western Honduras, and then conduct a randomised controlled trial of a friendship-based network-targeting algorithm with a set of well-established care interventions. We will also test whether the proportion of the population targeted affects the degree to which the intervention spreads throughout the network. We will test scalable methods of network targeting that would not, in the future, require the actual mapping of social networks but would still offer the prospect of rapidly identifying influential targets for public health interventions. Ethics and dissemination The Yale IRB and the Honduran Ministry of Health approved all data collection procedures (Protocol number 1506016012) and all participants will provide informed consent before enrolment. We will publish our findings in peer-reviewed journals as well as engage non-governmental organisations and other actors through venues for exchanging practical methods for behavioural health interventions, such as global health conferences. We will also develop a ‘toolkit’ for practitioners to use in network-based intervention efforts, including public release of our network mapping software. Trial registration number NCT02694679; Pre-results. PMID:28289044

Family Network, Workplace Network, and Their Influence on Condom Use: A Qualitative Study Among Older Female Sex Workers in China

PubMed Central

Hao, Chun; Guida, Jennifer; Morisky, Donald E.; Liu, Hongjie

2014-01-01

The objective of this study was to qualitatively explore the components of social networks and their influence on condom use among older female sex workers (FSWs) aged 35 years and older in China. In-depth interviews with 63 older FSWs and 6 focus groups interviews with pimps and owners of roadside salons and hotels were conducted in three Chinese cities. The mean age of participants was 42.6 years old (SD = 6.9 years) and the mean age of starting sex work was 38.6 years old (SD = 6.6 years). Two types of networks that influenced condom use were identified: family networks (relationship with children and husbands) and workplace networks (relationship with peers, clients, pimps and owners). Relationships between older FSWs and their children negatively influenced condom use. Low levels of network support and norms regarding condom use were observed in the relationship between older FSWs and their clients, whereas positive social support and norms were prevalent among older FSWs who had frequent contact with peers. Norms for condom use existed among pimps and owners, but were counterbalanced by monetary gains. Future HIV interventions for older FSWs should take the different features of social network components into consideration. PMID:25411685

Family Network, Workplace Network, and Their Influence on Condom Use: A Qualitative Study Among Older Female Sex Workers in China.

PubMed

Hao, Chun; Guida, Jennifer; Morisky, Donald E; Liu, Hongjie

2015-01-01

The objective of this study was to qualitatively explore the components of social networks and their influence on condom use among female sex workers (FSWs) aged 35 years and older in China. In-depth interviews with 63 older FSWs and 6 focus group interviews with pimps and owners of roadside salons and hotels were conducted in 3 Chinese cities. The mean age of participants was 42.6 years old (SD = 6.9 years) and the mean age of starting sex work was 38.6 years old (SD = 6.6 years). Two types of networks that influenced condom use were identified: family networks (relationship with children and husbands) and workplace networks (relationship with peers, clients, pimps, and owners). Relationships between older FSWs and their children negatively influenced condom use. Low levels of network support and norms regarding condom use were observed in the relationship between older FSWs and their clients, whereas positive social support and norms were prevalent among older FSWs who had frequent contact with peers. Norms for condom use existed among pimps and owners but were counterbalanced by monetary gains. Future human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) interventions for older FSWs should take the different features of social network components into consideration.

Cooperative Resource Pricing in Service Overlay Networks for Mobile Agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakano, Tadashi; Okaie, Yutaka

The success of peer-to-peer overlay networks depends on cooperation among participating peers. In this paper, we investigate the degree of cooperation among individual peers required to induce globally favorable properties in an overlay network. Specifically, we consider a resource pricing problem in a market-oriented overlay network where participating peers sell own resources (e.g., CPU cycles) to earn energy which represents some money or rewards in the network. In the resource pricing model presented in this paper, each peer sets the price for own resource based on the degree of cooperation; non-cooperative peers attempt to maximize their own energy gains, while cooperative peers maximize the sum of own and neighbors' energy gains. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate that the network topology is an important factor influencing the minimum degree of cooperation required to increase the network-wide global energy gain.

Picture Me Smokefree: a qualitative study using social media and digital photography to engage young adults in tobacco reduction and cessation.

PubMed

Haines-Saah, Rebecca J; Kelly, Mary T; Oliffe, John L; Bottorff, Joan L

2015-01-26

Young adults have high rates of tobacco use compared to other subpopulations, yet there are relatively few tobacco interventions specifically targeted to this group. Picture Me Smokefree is an online tobacco reduction and cessation intervention for young adults that uses digital photography and social networking. The main goal of the project was to determine the feasibility of engaging young adults in participating in user-driven, online forums intended to provide peer support and motivate critical reflection about tobacco use and cessation among this high-use, hard-to-reach population. A related aim was to explore the influence of gender-related factors on participation, in order to determine the need for online interventions to be tailored to the specific gender preferences reflecting young men and women's participation styles. A total of 60 young adults ages 19-24 years who self-identified as current cigarette smokers or who had quit within the last year were recruited from across British Columbia, Canada, and participated in an online photo group on Facebook over a period of 12 consecutive weeks. A variety of data collection methods were used including tracking online activity, a brief online follow-up survey, and qualitative interviews with study participants. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics on recruitment, retention, and participation and qualitative (eg, narrative analysis, synthesis of feedback) feedback about participant engagement. Findings from this study suggest good potential for Facebook as an accessible, low-cost platform for engaging young adults to reflect on the reasons for their tobacco use, the benefits of quitting or reducing, and the best strategies for tobacco reduction. Young adults' frequent use of mobile phones and other mobile devices to access social networking permitted ease of access and facilitated real-time peer-to-peer support across a diverse group of participants. However, our experience of conducting the study suggests that working with young tobacco users can be accompanied by considerable recruitment, participation, and retention challenges. Our findings also pointed to differences in how young women and men engaged the photo-group intervention that should be considered, bearing in mind that in follow-up interviews participants indicated their preference for a mixed gender and "gender neutral" group format. Tobacco interventions for youth and young adults should be embedded within the existing social networking platforms they access most frequently, rather than designing a stand-alone online prevention or intervention resource. This subpopulation would likely benefit from tobacco reduction interventions that are gender-sensitive rather than gender-specific.

Picture Me Smokefree: A Qualitative Study Using Social Media and Digital Photography to Engage Young Adults in Tobacco Reduction and Cessation

PubMed Central

Kelly, Mary T; Oliffe, John L; Bottorff, Joan L

2015-01-01

Background Young adults have high rates of tobacco use compared to other subpopulations, yet there are relatively few tobacco interventions specifically targeted to this group. Picture Me Smokefree is an online tobacco reduction and cessation intervention for young adults that uses digital photography and social networking. Objective The main goal of the project was to determine the feasibility of engaging young adults in participating in user-driven, online forums intended to provide peer support and motivate critical reflection about tobacco use and cessation among this high-use, hard-to-reach population. A related aim was to explore the influence of gender-related factors on participation, in order to determine the need for online interventions to be tailored to the specific gender preferences reflecting young men and women’s participation styles. Methods A total of 60 young adults ages 19-24 years who self-identified as current cigarette smokers or who had quit within the last year were recruited from across British Columbia, Canada, and participated in an online photo group on Facebook over a period of 12 consecutive weeks. A variety of data collection methods were used including tracking online activity, a brief online follow-up survey, and qualitative interviews with study participants. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics on recruitment, retention, and participation and qualitative (eg, narrative analysis, synthesis of feedback) feedback about participant engagement. Results Findings from this study suggest good potential for Facebook as an accessible, low-cost platform for engaging young adults to reflect on the reasons for their tobacco use, the benefits of quitting or reducing, and the best strategies for tobacco reduction. Young adults’ frequent use of mobile phones and other mobile devices to access social networking permitted ease of access and facilitated real-time peer-to-peer support across a diverse group of participants. However, our experience of conducting the study suggests that working with young tobacco users can be accompanied by considerable recruitment, participation, and retention challenges. Our findings also pointed to differences in how young women and men engaged the photo-group intervention that should be considered, bearing in mind that in follow-up interviews participants indicated their preference for a mixed gender and “gender neutral” group format. Conclusions Tobacco interventions for youth and young adults should be embedded within the existing social networking platforms they access most frequently, rather than designing a stand-alone online prevention or intervention resource. This subpopulation would likely benefit from tobacco reduction interventions that are gender-sensitive rather than gender-specific. PMID:25624064

Research on Intellectual Property Right Problems of Peer-to-Peer Networks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dong, Ying; Li, Mingshu; Chen, Meizhang; Zheng, Shengli

2002-01-01

Discusses digital intellectual property rights relating to peer-to-peer networks, using Napster as an example. Suggests anti-piracy solutions to prevent litigation and considers how libraries can develop potential service models using peer-to-peer networks, including the development of personal libraries on the Internet, interlibrary loan,…

Two Dimensional Array Based Overlay Network for Balancing Load of Peer-to-Peer Live Video Streaming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faruq Ibn Ibrahimy, Abdullah; Rafiqul, Islam Md; Anwar, Farhat; Ibn Ibrahimy, Muhammad

2013-12-01

The live video data is streaming usually in a tree-based overlay network or in a mesh-based overlay network. In case of departure of a peer with additional upload bandwidth, the overlay network becomes very vulnerable to churn. In this paper, a two dimensional array-based overlay network is proposed for streaming the live video stream data. As there is always a peer or a live video streaming server to upload the live video stream data, so the overlay network is very stable and very robust to churn. Peers are placed according to their upload and download bandwidth, which enhances the balance of load and performance. The overlay network utilizes the additional upload bandwidth of peers to minimize chunk delivery delay and to maximize balance of load. The procedure, which is used for distributing the additional upload bandwidth of the peers, distributes the additional upload bandwidth to the heterogeneous strength peers in a fair treat distribution approach and to the homogeneous strength peers in a uniform distribution approach. The proposed overlay network has been simulated by Qualnet from Scalable Network Technologies and results are presented in this paper.

Applications of Coding in Network Communications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Christopher SungWook

2012-01-01

This thesis uses the tool of network coding to investigate fast peer-to-peer file distribution, anonymous communication, robust network construction under uncertainty, and prioritized transmission. In a peer-to-peer file distribution system, we use a linear optimization approach to show that the network coding framework significantly simplifies…

Characterizing Social Networks and Communication Channels in a Web-Based Peer Support Intervention.

PubMed

Owen, Jason E; Curran, Michaela; Bantum, Erin O'Carroll; Hanneman, Robert

2016-06-01

Web and mobile (mHealth) interventions have promise for improving health outcomes, but engagement and attrition may be reducing effect sizes. Because social networks can improve engagement, which is a key mechanism of action, understanding the structure and potential impact of social networks could be key to improving mHealth effects. This study (a) evaluates social network characteristics of four distinct communication channels (discussion board, chat, e-mail, and blog) in a large social networking intervention, (b) predicts membership in online communities, and (c) evaluates whether community membership impacts engagement. Participants were 299 cancer survivors with significant distress using the 12-week health-space.net intervention. Social networking attributes (e.g., density and clustering) were identified separately for each type of network communication (i.e., discussion board, blog, web mail, and chat). Each channel demonstrated high levels of clustering, and being a community member in one communication channel was associated with being in the same community in each of the other channels (φ = 0.56-0.89, ps < 0.05). Predictors of community membership differed across communication channels, suggesting that each channel reached distinct types of users. Finally, membership in a discussion board, chat, or blog community was strongly associated with time spent engaging with coping skills exercises (Ds = 1.08-1.84, ps < 0.001) and total time of intervention (Ds = 1.13-1.80, ps < 0.001). mHealth interventions that offer multiple channels for communication allow participants to expand the number of individuals with whom they are communicating, create opportunities for communicating with different individuals in distinct channels, and likely enhance overall engagement.

Characterizing Social Networks and Communication Channels in a Web-Based Peer Support Intervention

PubMed Central

Curran, Michaela; Bantum, Erin O'Carroll; Hanneman, Robert

2016-01-01

Abstract Web and mobile (mHealth) interventions have promise for improving health outcomes, but engagement and attrition may be reducing effect sizes. Because social networks can improve engagement, which is a key mechanism of action, understanding the structure and potential impact of social networks could be key to improving mHealth effects. This study (a) evaluates social network characteristics of four distinct communication channels (discussion board, chat, e-mail, and blog) in a large social networking intervention, (b) predicts membership in online communities, and (c) evaluates whether community membership impacts engagement. Participants were 299 cancer survivors with significant distress using the 12-week health-space.net intervention. Social networking attributes (e.g., density and clustering) were identified separately for each type of network communication (i.e., discussion board, blog, web mail, and chat). Each channel demonstrated high levels of clustering, and being a community member in one communication channel was associated with being in the same community in each of the other channels (φ = 0.56–0.89, ps < 0.05). Predictors of community membership differed across communication channels, suggesting that each channel reached distinct types of users. Finally, membership in a discussion board, chat, or blog community was strongly associated with time spent engaging with coping skills exercises (Ds = 1.08–1.84, ps < 0.001) and total time of intervention (Ds = 1.13–1.80, ps < 0.001). mHealth interventions that offer multiple channels for communication allow participants to expand the number of individuals with whom they are communicating, create opportunities for communicating with different individuals in distinct channels, and likely enhance overall engagement. PMID:27327066

Peer, social media, and alcohol marketing influences on college student drinking.

PubMed

Roberson, Angela A; McKinney, Cliff; Walker, Courtney; Coleman, Ashley

2018-07-01

To investigate how alcohol marketing and peers may promote college students' alcohol use through social media. College students (N = 682) aged 18 to 22 years from a large Southern university completed paper surveys in April 2014. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate relationships among variables as well as moderation by gender and race. Drinking behavior was directly related to perceived norms and attitudes toward alcohol that develop, in part, from direct and indirect interactions with their online and offline peers, as well as engagement with alcohol-related content on social media. Gender and ethnicity moderated some effects. College student drinking is influenced by friends' alcohol-related content posted on social networking sites and by greater engagement with traditional and online alcohol marketing. College campus alcohol misuse interventions should include components to counter peer influences and alcohol marketing on social media.

Child Pornography in Peer-to-Peer Networks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steel, Chad M. S.

2009-01-01

Objective: The presence of child pornography in peer-to-peer networks is not disputed, but there has been little effort done to quantify and analyze the distribution and nature of that content to-date. By performing an analysis of queries and query hits on the largest peer-to-peer network, we are able to both quantify and describe the nature of…

Peer Victimization and Depressive Symptoms Among Rural-to-Urban Migrant Children in China: The Protective Role of Resilience

PubMed Central

Ye, Zhi; Chen, Lihua; Harrison, Sayward E.; Guo, Haiying; Li, Xiaoming; Lin, Danhua

2016-01-01

Peer victimization can have a profound effect on children’s wellbeing and is a known risk factor for depression in childhood. Migrant children experience peer victimization at higher rates than non-migrant peers; however, limited research has examined psychological factors that may serve to reduce depression risk for this group. In particular, no studies have yet investigated whether resilience, including personal characteristics, and a strong social support network, may moderate the relationship between peer victimization and depressive symptoms for migrant children. This study utilized a latent interaction model to examine the effect of resilience on the relationship between peer victimization and depressive symptoms among 721 rural-to-urban migrant children in Beijing, China. Results indicated that peer victimization was positively associated with depressive symptoms. Resilience was found to be a protective factor for depressive symptoms and also mitigated the effects of peer victimization on depressive symptoms. Exploratory analyses suggest that enrollment in private migrant schools may be linked with poorer psychosocial outcomes for Chinese migrant children. Strengthening the internal resilience and social supports for all migrant children may be an effective strategy to lower their risk for depression. Implications for intervention are discussed. PMID:27757098

Peer Victimization and Depressive Symptoms Among Rural-to-Urban Migrant Children in China: The Protective Role of Resilience.

PubMed

Ye, Zhi; Chen, Lihua; Harrison, Sayward E; Guo, Haiying; Li, Xiaoming; Lin, Danhua

2016-01-01

Peer victimization can have a profound effect on children's wellbeing and is a known risk factor for depression in childhood. Migrant children experience peer victimization at higher rates than non-migrant peers; however, limited research has examined psychological factors that may serve to reduce depression risk for this group. In particular, no studies have yet investigated whether resilience, including personal characteristics, and a strong social support network, may moderate the relationship between peer victimization and depressive symptoms for migrant children. This study utilized a latent interaction model to examine the effect of resilience on the relationship between peer victimization and depressive symptoms among 721 rural-to-urban migrant children in Beijing, China. Results indicated that peer victimization was positively associated with depressive symptoms. Resilience was found to be a protective factor for depressive symptoms and also mitigated the effects of peer victimization on depressive symptoms. Exploratory analyses suggest that enrollment in private migrant schools may be linked with poorer psychosocial outcomes for Chinese migrant children. Strengthening the internal resilience and social supports for all migrant children may be an effective strategy to lower their risk for depression. Implications for intervention are discussed.

Share2Quit: Web-Based Peer-Driven Referrals for Smoking Cessation

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death in the United States. Effective Web-assisted tobacco interventions are often underutilized and require new and innovative engagement approaches. Web-based peer-driven chain referrals successfully used outside health care have the potential for increasing the reach of Internet interventions. Objective The objective of our study was to describe the protocol for the development and testing of proactive Web-based chain-referral tools for increasing the access to Decide2Quit.org, a Web-assisted tobacco intervention system. Methods We will build and refine proactive chain-referral tools, including email and Facebook referrals. In addition, we will implement respondent-driven sampling (RDS), a controlled chain-referral sampling technique designed to remove inherent biases in chain referrals and obtain a representative sample. We will begin our chain referrals with an initial recruitment of former and current smokers as seeds (initial participants) who will be trained to refer current smokers from their social network using the developed tools. In turn, these newly referred smokers will also be provided the tools to refer other smokers from their social networks. We will model predictors of referral success using sample weights from the RDS to estimate the success of the system in the targeted population. Results This protocol describes the evaluation of proactive Web-based chain-referral tools, which can be used in tobacco interventions to increase the access to hard-to-reach populations, for promoting smoking cessation. Conclusions Share2Quit represents an innovative advancement by capitalizing on naturally occurring technology trends to recruit smokers to Web-assisted tobacco interventions. PMID:24067329

A Local Scalable Distributed Expectation Maximization Algorithm for Large Peer-to-Peer Networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhaduri, Kanishka; Srivastava, Ashok N.

2009-01-01

This paper offers a local distributed algorithm for expectation maximization in large peer-to-peer environments. The algorithm can be used for a variety of well-known data mining tasks in a distributed environment such as clustering, anomaly detection, target tracking to name a few. This technology is crucial for many emerging peer-to-peer applications for bioinformatics, astronomy, social networking, sensor networks and web mining. Centralizing all or some of the data for building global models is impractical in such peer-to-peer environments because of the large number of data sources, the asynchronous nature of the peer-to-peer networks, and dynamic nature of the data/network. The distributed algorithm we have developed in this paper is provably-correct i.e. it converges to the same result compared to a similar centralized algorithm and can automatically adapt to changes to the data and the network. We show that the communication overhead of the algorithm is very low due to its local nature. This monitoring algorithm is then used as a feedback loop to sample data from the network and rebuild the model when it is outdated. We present thorough experimental results to verify our theoretical claims.

The role of social networks in physical and relational aggression among young adolescents.

PubMed

Low, Sabina; Polanin, Joshua R; Espelage, Dorothy L

2013-07-01

Despite the veritable influence of the peer context on the elaboration of adolescent aggression, few studies of relational aggression have directly identified and measured peer groups, limiting our ability to draw formal conclusions about the level and nature of peer influence. The current study used a developmental framework to examine peer group influence on individual levels of physical and relational aggression over a year with 6th and 7th grade students (n = 346, 51 % female). A multilevel network approach was used in which peer groups were identified via social network analysis, and peer group influence was evaluated with hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). HLM analyses indicated that peer group aggression (physical and relational) at time 1 was predictive of individual aggression levels at time 2 after controlling for other peer group characteristics as well as other individual risk and protective factors. Although both forms of aggression were embedded in peer networks, findings suggest that physical aggression is relatively less endemic to peer networks, and is more likely to occur in smaller, predominantly male networks. The current study highlights the importance of understanding the influence of peer group membership on adolescent aggression and points to important implications for prevention.

Adolescent social networks: general and smoking-specific characteristics associated with smoking.

PubMed

Roberts, Megan E; Nargiso, Jessica E; Gaitonde, Linda Brazil; Stanton, Cassandra A; Colby, Suzanne M

2015-03-01

Converging lines of research suggest that adolescents' smoking behaviors are strongly influenced by the characteristics of their social network and the social processes their network facilitates. The primary goal of this study was to conduct a detailed comparison of the social networks of adolescent smokers and nonsmokers to determine what aspects relate the most to smoking status. A secondary goal was to conduct within-group analyses to examine relationships between key measures of behavior-specific social support and (a) smoking susceptibility among nonsmokers, and (b) readiness to quit smoking among smokers. A matched sample of 190 adolescent smokers and nonsmokers (Mage = 16.8 years; 51% female) completed a questionnaire in which they nominated and reported on up to 10 important people in their lives. This measure allowed us to examine adolescents' overall networks (both peers and family) and to investigate numerous aspects, including general network characteristics (e.g., size of network, average contact with network members), social support (e.g., importance of people in the network), and the pervasiveness of smoking in the network (e.g., percentage of smoking peers). The pervasiveness of smoking in adolescents' social network was the strongest distinguisher of smokers versus nonsmokers. In addition, behavior-specific social support was strongly associated with susceptibility to initiate smoking among nonsmokers and readiness to quit among smokers. This research offers insight into potential targets for prevention and early intervention by demonstrating how social networks can both promote and attenuate risk for smoking.

Evaluation of a Peer-Led Hypertension Intervention for Veterans: Impact on Peer Leaders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mosack, Katie E.; Patterson, Leslie; Brouwer, Amanda M.; Wendorf, Angela R.; Ertl, Kristyn; Eastwood, Dan; Morzinski, Jeffrey; Fletcher, Kathlyn; Whittle, Jeff

2013-01-01

Volunteer peer leaders (PLs) benefit from their involvement in health interventions but we know little about how they compare with other non-PL volunteers or with the intervention recipients themselves. We randomized 58 veterans' service organizations' posts (e.g. VFW) to peer- versus professionally led self-management support interventions. Our…

Peer Inclusion in Interventions for Children with ADHD: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PubMed Central

Vilaysack, Brandon; Doma, Kenji; Wilkes-Gillan, Sarah; Speyer, Renée

2018-01-01

Objective To assess the effectiveness of peer inclusion in interventions to improve the social functioning of children with ADHD. Methods We searched four electronic databases for randomized controlled trials and controlled quasi-experimental studies that investigated peer inclusion interventions alone or combined with pharmacological treatment. Data were collected from the included studies and methodologically assessed. Meta-analyses were conducted using a random-effects model. Results Seventeen studies met eligibility criteria. Studies investigated interventions consisting of peer involvement and peer proximity; no study included peer mediation. Most included studies had an unclear or high risk of bias regarding inadequate reporting of randomization, blinding, and control for confounders. Meta-analyses indicated improvements in pre-post measures of social functioning for participants in peer-inclusive treatment groups. Peer inclusion was advantageous compared to treatment as usual. The benefits of peer inclusion over other therapies or medication only could not be determined. Using parents as raters for outcome measurement significantly mediated the intervention effect. Conclusions The evidence to support or contest the efficacy of peer inclusion interventions for children with ADHD is lacking. Future studies need to reduce risks of bias, use appropriate sample sizes, and provide detailed results to investigate the efficacy of peer inclusion interventions for children with ADHD. PMID:29744363

The Place of Peers in Peer-Mediated Interventions for Students with Intellectual Disability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaefer, John M.; Cannella-Malone, Helen I.; Carter, Erik W.

2016-01-01

Although peer-mediated interventions are an evidence-based approach for improving social and learning outcomes for students with intellectual disability (ID), their impact on participating peers has received limited attention. Knowing whether and how peers are affected could influence the extent to which these interventions are more widely adopted…

A review of online social networking profiles by adolescents: implications for future research and intervention.

PubMed

Williams, Amanda L; Merten, Michael J

2008-01-01

This study explored content posted and interactions taking place on adolescent online social networking profiles. Although "blogging" continues to soar in popularity, with over half of teenagers online participating in some form, little research has comprehensively explored blog communication within the context of adolescent development. Content was qualitatively coded from 100 randomly selected profiles authored by adolescents between the ages of 16 and 18. Rich thematic elements were identified including family and social issues, risk behaviors, disclosure of personally identifiable information, and frequent peer interaction. Results indicate adolescent blogs frequently contain appropriate images, positive comments about parents and peers, athletics, a variety of risk behaviors, and sexual and profane language. In addition, school type was examined (public versus private, religious) as a potential factor in understanding the differences in content posted by adolescents; however, no significant differences were found. Implications for parental monitoring and intervention are discussed as well as direction for future research. Adolescents' online profiles contain a wealth of intimate, candid, and publicly available information on a wide range of social issues pertinent to adolescence that contribute to the understanding of adolescent development and well-being.

Teen Alcohol Use and Social Networks: The Contributions of Friend Influence and Friendship Selection

PubMed Central

Cheadle, Jacob E; Walsemann, Katrina M; Goosby, Bridget J

2015-01-01

Background We evaluated the contributions of teen alcohol use to the formation and continuation of new and existing friendships while in turn estimating the influence of friend drinking on individuals’ regular use and heavy drinking. Method Longitudinal network analysis was used to assess the mutual influences between teen drinking and social networks among adolescents in two large Add Health schools where full network data was collected three times. Friendship processes were disaggregated into the formation of new friendships and the continuation of existing friendships in a joint model isolating friendship selection and friend influences. Results Friends have a modest influence on one another when selection is controlled. Selection is more complicated than prior studies suggest, and is only related to new friendships and not their duration in the largest school. Alcohol use predicts decreasing popularity in some cases, and popularity does not predict alcohol consumption. Conclusion Intervention efforts should continue pursuing strategies that mitigate negative peer influences. The development of socializing opportunities that facilitate relationship opportunities to select on healthy behaviors also appears promising. Future work preventing teen substance use should incorporate longitudinal network assessments to determine whether programs promote protective peer relationships in addition to how treatment effects diffuse through social networks. PMID:26692436

The Structure of Male Adolescent Peer Networks and Risk for Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration: Findings from a National Sample

PubMed Central

Casey, Erin A.; Beadnell, Blair

2015-01-01

Although peer networks have been implicated as influential in a range of adolescent behaviors, little is known about relationships between peer network structures and risk for intimate partner violence (IPV) among youth. This study is a descriptive analysis of how peer network “types” may be related to subsequent risk for IPV perpetration among adolescents using data from 3,030 male respondents to the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Sampled youth were a mean of 16 years of age when surveyed about the nature of their peer networks, and 21.9 when asked to report about IPV perpetration in their adolescent and early adulthood relationships. A latent class analysis of the size, structure, gender composition and delinquency level of friendship groups identified four unique profiles of peer network structures. Men in the group type characterized by small, dense, mostly male peer networks with higher levels of delinquent behavior reported higher rates of subsequent IPV perpetration than men whose adolescent network type was characterized by large, loosely connected groups of less delinquent male and female friends. Other factors known to be antecedents and correlates of IPV perpetration varied in their distribution across the peer group types, suggesting that different configurations of risk for relationship aggression can be found across peer networks. Implications for prevention programming and future research are addressed. PMID:20422351

Efficient Hierarchical Quorums in Unstructured Peer-to-Peer Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henry, Kevin; Swanson, Colleen; Xie, Qi; Daudjee, Khuzaima

Managing updates in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network can be a challenging task, especially in the unstructured setting. If one peer reads or updates a data item, then it is desirable to read the most recent version or to have the update visible to all other peers. In practice, this should be accomplished by coordinating and writing to only a small number of peers. We propose two approaches, inspired by hierarchical quorums, to solve this problem in unstructured P2P networks. Our first proposal provides uniform load balancing, while the second sacrifices full load balancing for larger average quorum intersection, and hence greater tolerance to network churn. We demonstrate that applying a random logical tree structure to peers on a per-data item basis allows us to achieve near optimal quorum size, thus minimizing the number of peers that must be coordinated to perform a read or write operation. Unlike previous approaches, our random hierarchical quorums are always guaranteed to overlap at at least one peer when all peers are reachable and, as demonstrated through performance studies, prove to be more resilient to changing network conditions to maximize quorum intersection than previous approaches with a similar quorum size. Furthermore, our two quorum approaches are interchangeable within the same network, providing adaptivity by allowing one to be swapped for the other as network conditions change.

The Structure of Male Adolescent Peer Networks and Risk for Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration: Findings from a National Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Casey, Erin A.; Beadnell, Blair

2010-01-01

Although peer networks have been implicated as influential in a range of adolescent behaviors, little is known about relationships between peer network structures and risk for intimate partner violence (IPV) among youth. This study is a descriptive analysis of how peer network "types" may be related to subsequent risk for IPV…

Information seeking for making evidence-informed decisions: a social network analysis on the staff of a public health department in Canada

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Social network analysis is an approach to study the interactions and exchange of resources among people. It can help understanding the underlying structural and behavioral complexities that influence the process of capacity building towards evidence-informed decision making. A social network analysis was conducted to understand if and how the staff of a public health department in Ontario turn to peers to get help incorporating research evidence into practice. Methods The staff were invited to respond to an online questionnaire inquiring about information seeking behavior, identification of colleague expertise, and friendship status. Three networks were developed based on the 170 participants. Overall shape, key indices, the most central people and brokers, and their characteristics were identified. Results The network analysis showed a low density and localized information-seeking network. Inter-personal connections were mainly clustered by organizational divisions; and people tended to limit information-seeking connections to a handful of peers in their division. However, recognition of expertise and friendship networks showed more cross-divisional connections. Members of the office of the Medical Officer of Health were located at the heart of the department, bridging across divisions. A small group of professional consultants and middle managers were the most-central staff in the network, also connecting their divisions to the center of the information-seeking network. In each division, there were some locally central staff, mainly practitioners, who connected their neighboring peers; but they were not necessarily connected to other experts or managers. Conclusions The methods of social network analysis were useful in providing a systems approach to understand how knowledge might flow in an organization. The findings of this study can be used to identify early adopters of knowledge translation interventions, forming Communities of Practice, and potential internal knowledge brokers. PMID:22591757

Private Peer-to-Peer Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogers, Michael; Bhatti, Saleem

This chapter offers a survey of the emerging field of private peer-to-peer networks, which can be defined as internet overlays in which the resources and infrastructure are provided by the users, and which new users may only join by personal invitation. The last few years have seen rapid developments in this field. We describe deployed systems, classify them architecturally, and identify some technical and social tradeoffs in the design of private peer-to-peer networks.

Emotional Confidants in Ethnic Communities: Social Network Analysis of Korean American Older Adults

PubMed Central

Jang, Yuri; Kim, Kyungmin; Park, Nan Sook; Chiriboga, David A.

2017-01-01

Objective Ethnic communities often serve as the primary source of emotional support for older immigrants. This study aims to identify individuals who are more likely to be nominated as emotional confidants by age peers in the ethnic community and to examine factors contributing to the likelihood of being a more frequently endorsed confidant. Method Data were drawn from a survey with 675 older Korean Americans. Using the name-generator approach in Social Network Analysis (SNA), participants were asked to list the names of three emotional confidants among age peers in the community. Results A higher level of popularity (i.e., in-degree centrality) was predicted by male gender, advanced education, lower functional disability, fewer symptoms of depression, and higher levels of participation in social activities. Discussion: Our findings suggest the value of SNA as a means of identifying the key emotional confidants in the community and utilizing them in community-based interventions. PMID:26082133

Self-* properties through gossiping.

PubMed

Babaoglu, Ozalp; Jelasity, Márk

2008-10-28

As computer systems have become more complex, numerous competing approaches have been proposed for these systems to self-configure, self-manage, self-repair, etc. such that human intervention in their operation can be minimized. In ubiquitous systems, this has always been a central issue as well. In this paper, we overview techniques to implement self-* properties in large-scale, decentralized networks through bio-inspired techniques in general, and gossip-based algorithms in particular. We believe that gossip-based algorithms could be an important inspiration for solving problems in ubiquitous computing as well. As an example, we outline a novel approach to arrange large numbers of mobile agents (e.g. vehicles, rescue teams carrying mobile devices) into different formations in a totally decentralized manner. The approach is inspired by the biological mechanism of cell sorting via differential adhesion, as well as by our earlier work in self-organizing peer-to-peer overlay networks.

A Social Network Family-Focused Intervention to Promote Smoking Cessation in Chinese and Vietnamese American Male Smokers: A Feasibility Study.

PubMed

Tsoh, Janice Y; Burke, Nancy J; Gildengorin, Ginny; Wong, Ching; Le, Khanh; Nguyen, Anthony; Chan, Joanne L; Sun, Angela; McPhee, Stephen J; Nguyen, Tung T

2015-08-01

Smoking prevalence is high among limited English-proficient Chinese and Vietnamese American men, who are frequently unmotivated to quit and who underutilize smoking cessation resources. This study applied lay health worker outreach to leverage peer and family networks to promote smoking cessation among these men. We integrated qualitative formative research findings and Social Network Theory to develop a social-network family-focused intervention. In a pilot single-group trial, 15 lay health workers recruited 96 dyads (N = 192, 75% Vietnamese) of Chinese or Vietnamese male daily smokers and their family members and delivered the intervention consisting of two small group education sessions and two individual telephone calls over 2 months. At baseline, 42% of smokers were at precontemplation. At 3 months following the initiation of the intervention, 7-day and 30-day point prevalence smoking abstinence rates as reported by smokers and independently corroborated by family members were 30% and 24%, respectively. Utilization of smoking cessation resources (medication, quitline, physician's advice) increased from 2% to 60% (P < .001). Findings showed high acceptability of the intervention as it facilitated learning about tobacco-related health risks and cessation resources, and communications between smokers and their families. This novel social network family-focused intervention to promote smoking cessation among Chinese and Vietnamese smokers appears to be acceptable, feasible, and potentially efficacious. Findings warrant evaluation of long-term efficacy of the intervention in a larger scale randomized controlled trial. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Efficient File Sharing by Multicast - P2P Protocol Using Network Coding and Rank Based Peer Selection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stoenescu, Tudor M.; Woo, Simon S.

2009-01-01

In this work, we consider information dissemination and sharing in a distributed peer-to-peer (P2P highly dynamic communication network. In particular, we explore a network coding technique for transmission and a rank based peer selection method for network formation. The combined approach has been shown to improve information sharing and delivery to all users when considering the challenges imposed by the space network environments.

Exploiting social influence to magnify population-level behaviour change in maternal and child health: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of network targeting algorithms in rural Honduras.

PubMed

Shakya, Holly B; Stafford, Derek; Hughes, D Alex; Keegan, Thomas; Negron, Rennie; Broome, Jai; McKnight, Mark; Nicoll, Liza; Nelson, Jennifer; Iriarte, Emma; Ordonez, Maria; Airoldi, Edo; Fowler, James H; Christakis, Nicholas A

2017-03-13

Despite global progress on many measures of child health, rates of neonatal mortality remain high in the developing world. Evidence suggests that substantial improvements can be achieved with simple, low-cost interventions within family and community settings, particularly those designed to change knowledge and behaviour at the community level. Using social network analysis to identify structurally influential community members and then targeting them for intervention shows promise for the implementation of sustainable community-wide behaviour change. We will use a detailed understanding of social network structure and function to identify novel ways of targeting influential individuals to foster cascades of behavioural change at a population level. Our work will involve experimental and observational analyses. We will map face-to-face social networks of 30 000 people in 176 villages in Western Honduras, and then conduct a randomised controlled trial of a friendship-based network-targeting algorithm with a set of well-established care interventions. We will also test whether the proportion of the population targeted affects the degree to which the intervention spreads throughout the network. We will test scalable methods of network targeting that would not, in the future, require the actual mapping of social networks but would still offer the prospect of rapidly identifying influential targets for public health interventions. The Yale IRB and the Honduran Ministry of Health approved all data collection procedures (Protocol number 1506016012) and all participants will provide informed consent before enrolment. We will publish our findings in peer-reviewed journals as well as engage non-governmental organisations and other actors through venues for exchanging practical methods for behavioural health interventions, such as global health conferences. We will also develop a 'toolkit' for practitioners to use in network-based intervention efforts, including public release of our network mapping software. NCT02694679; Pre-results. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

"They accept me, because I was one of them": formative qualitative research supporting the feasibility of peer-led outreach for people who use drugs in Dakar, Senegal.

PubMed

Stengel, Camille May; Mane, Famara; Guise, Andrew; Pouye, Magath; Sigrist, Monika; Rhodes, Tim

2018-02-27

Peer outreach harm reduction initiatives are being developed with and for people who use drugs in Dakar, Senegal. This is in response to growing injecting drug use across the West Africa region and linked emerging epidemics of HIV and hepatitis C. We undertook formative qualitative research to explore the feasibility and potential of peer outreach in this context and in particular how outreach could be linked to fostering community-level processes of change. We undertook a total of 44 semi-structured qualitative interviews. Thirty-four interviews were with people who used drugs (comprised of 25 participants who had injected at least once in their life) and included 11 peer educators who delivered "awareness-raising" harm reduction activities. We also interviewed 10 service providers involved in the planning and monitoring of peer outreach initiatives. We used thematic analysis to identify key characteristics of how peer-led outreach is being delivered, beneficiary need, and the nature of the social networks in which the awareness-raising activities operate. Through interviews with peer educators, people who use drugs, and service providers, four main overlapping themes are identified as follows: peer educators as a bridge to responsibilization through awareness-raising activities, awareness-raising activities as an enactment of recovery, awareness raising through social network diffusion, and the contexts and constraints of peer outreach engagement through awareness-raising activities. The study results suggest that peer education is on a trajectory to develop into a central role for harm reduction interventions in Dakar, Senegal. This research shows how peer education is bound in processes of responsibilization and self-change, which link to varying possibilities for risk reduction or recovery. For peer education to achieve a range of significant goals, broader structural and system changes should be implemented in the region. We caution that without such changes, awareness-raising activities and the role of peer educators may instead become part of state- and agency-sponsored processes of seeking to responsibilize individuals for health and harm reduction.

A systematic review of peer-supported interventions for health promotion and disease prevention.

PubMed

Ramchand, Rajeev; Ahluwalia, Sangeeta C; Xenakis, Lea; Apaydin, Eric; Raaen, Laura; Grimm, Geoffrey

2017-08-01

Prior research has examined peer programs with respect to specific peer roles (e.g.; peer support) or specific health/wellness domains (e.g.; exercise/diet), or have aggregated effects across roles and domains. We sought to conduct a systematic review that categorizes and assesses the effects of peer interventions to promote health and wellness by peer role, intervention type, and outcomes. We use evidence mapping to visually catalog and synthesize the existing research. We searched PubMed and WorldCat databases (2005 to 2015) and New York Academy of Medicine Grey Literature Report (1999 to 2016) for English-language randomized control trials. We extracted study design, study participants, type of intervention(s), peer role(s), outcomes assessed and measures used, and effects from 116 randomized controlled trials. Maps were created to provide a visual display of the evidence by intervention type, peer role, outcome type, and significant vs null or negative effects. There are more null than positive effects across peer interventions, with notable exceptions: group-based interventions that use peers as educators or group facilitators commonly improve knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions; peer educators also commonly improved social health/connectedness and engagement. Dyadic peer support influenced behavior change and peer counseling shows promising effects on physical health outcomes. Programs seeking to use peers in public health campaigns can use evidence maps to identify interventions that have previously demonstrated beneficial effects. Those seeking to produce health outcomes may benefit from identifying the mechanisms by which they expect their program to produce these effects and associated proximal outcomes for future evaluations. Although we attempted to register our protocol with PROSPERO, we did not meet eligibility criteria because we were past the data collection phase. The full PROSPERO-aligned protocol is available from the authors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Developing a change model for peer worker interventions in mental health services: a qualitative research study.

PubMed

Gillard, S; Gibson, S L; Holley, J; Lucock, M

2015-10-01

A range of peer worker roles are being introduced into mental health services internationally. There is some evidence that attests to the benefits of peer workers for the people they support but formal trial evidence in inconclusive, in part because the change model underpinning peer support-based interventions is underdeveloped. Complex intervention evaluation guidance suggests that understandings of how an intervention is associated with change in outcomes should be modelled, theoretically and empirically, before the intervention can be robustly evaluated. This paper aims to model the change mechanisms underlying peer worker interventions. In a qualitative, comparative case study of ten peer worker initiatives in statutory and voluntary sector mental health services in England in-depth interviews were carried out with 71 peer workers, service users, staff and managers, exploring their experiences of peer working. Using a Grounded Theory approach we identified core processes within the peer worker role that were productive of change for service users supported by peer workers. Key change mechanisms were: (i) building trusting relationships based on shared lived experience; (ii) role-modelling individual recovery and living well with mental health problems; (iii) engaging service users with mental health services and the community. Mechanisms could be further explained by theoretical literature on role-modelling and relationship in mental health services. We were able to model process and downstream outcomes potentially associated with peer worker interventions. An empirically and theoretically grounded change model can be articulated that usefully informs the development, evaluation and planning of peer worker interventions.

Peer Learning Network: Implementing and Sustaining Cooperative Learning by Teacher Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miquel, Ester; Duran, David

2017-01-01

This article describes an in-service teachers', staff-development model "Peer Learning Network" and presents results about its efficiency. "Peer Learning Network" promotes three levels of peer learning simultaneously (among pupils, teachers, and schools). It supports pairs of teachers from several schools, who are linked…

Psychopathic traits moderate peer influence on adolescent delinquency.

PubMed

Kerr, Margaret; Van Zalk, Maarten; Stattin, Håkan

2012-08-01

Peer influence on adolescent delinquency is well established, but little is known about moderators of peer influence. In this study, we examined adolescents' (targets) and their peers' psychopathic personality traits as moderators of peer influence on delinquency in peer networks. We used three separate dimensions of the psychopathic personality: grandiose-manipulative traits, callous-unemotional traits, and impulsive-irresponsible traits. We used a peer network approach with five waves of longitudinal data from 847 adolescents in one community. Peer nominations were not limited to the school context, thus allowing us to capture all potentially important peers. In addition, peers reported on their own delinquency, thus allowing us to avoid problems of false consensus or projection that arise when individuals report on their peers' delinquency. We used simulation investigation for empirical network analyses (SIENA), which is the only program currently available that can be used to study peer influence effects in peer networks of multiple relationships while controlling for selection effects. Targets' and peers' callous-unemotional and grandiose-manipulative traits uniquely moderated peer influence on delinquency. Relative to those with low levels, targets who were high on these traits were less influenced by peers' delinquency, and peers who were high on these traits were more influential on targets' delinquency. Selection effects were found for impulsive-irresponsible traits, but these traits did not moderate peer influence on delinquency. As the first study to look at moderating effects of psychopathic traits on peer influence, this study advances knowledge about peer influence on delinquency and about psychopathic traits in adolescents. In addition, the study contributes to the literature by looking at unique effects of the three dimensions of psychopathy and taking a peer network approach, in which network effects, self-selection, and other selection effects are controlled when examining influence and moderators of influence. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry © 2011 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Impact of interventions to improve the quality of peer review of biomedical journals: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Bruce, Rachel; Chauvin, Anthony; Trinquart, Ludovic; Ravaud, Philippe; Boutron, Isabelle

2016-06-10

The peer review process is a cornerstone of biomedical research. We aimed to evaluate the impact of interventions to improve the quality of peer review for biomedical publications. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis. We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE (PubMed), Embase, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and WHO ICTRP databases, for all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the impact of interventions to improve the quality of peer review for biomedical publications. We selected 22 reports of randomized controlled trials, for 25 comparisons evaluating training interventions (n = 5), the addition of a statistical peer reviewer (n = 2), use of a checklist (n = 2), open peer review (i.e., peer reviewers informed that their identity would be revealed; n = 7), blinded peer review (i.e., peer reviewers blinded to author names and affiliation; n = 6) and other interventions to increase the speed of the peer review process (n = 3). Results from only seven RCTs were published since 2004. As compared with the standard peer review process, training did not improve the quality of the peer review report and use of a checklist did not improve the quality of the final manuscript. Adding a statistical peer review improved the quality of the final manuscript (standardized mean difference (SMD), 0.58; 95 % CI, 0.19 to 0.98). Open peer review improved the quality of the peer review report (SMD, 0.14; 95 % CI, 0.05 to 0.24), did not affect the time peer reviewers spent on the peer review (mean difference, 0.18; 95 % CI, -0.06 to 0.43), and decreased the rate of rejection (odds ratio, 0.56; 95 % CI, 0.33 to 0.94). Blinded peer review did not affect the quality of the peer review report or rejection rate. Interventions to increase the speed of the peer review process were too heterogeneous to allow for pooling the results. Despite the essential role of peer review, only a few interventions have been assessed in randomized controlled trials. Evidence-based peer review needs to be developed in biomedical journals.

Impact of peer-led quality improvement networks on quality of inpatient mental health care: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Aimola, Lina; Jasim, Sarah; Tripathi, Neeraj; Tucker, Sarah; Worrall, Adrian; Quirk, Alan; Crawford, Mike J

2016-09-21

Quality improvement networks are peer-led programmes in which members of the network assess the quality of care colleagues provide according to agreed standards of practice. These networks aim to help members identify areas of service provision that could be improved and share good practice. Despite the widespread use of peer-led quality improvement networks, there is very little information about their impact. We are conducting a cluster randomized controlled trial of a quality improvement network for low-secure mental health wards to examine the impact of membership on the process and outcomes of care over a 12 month period. Standalone low secure units in England and Wales that expressed an interest in joining the quality improvement network were recruited for the study from 2012 to 2014. Thirty-eight units were randomly allocated to either the active intervention (participation in the network n = 18) or a control arm (delayed participation in the network n = 20). Using a 5 % significance level and 90 % power, it was calculated that a sample size of 60 wards was required taking into account a 10 % drop out. A total of 75 wards were assessed at baseline and 8 wards dropped out the study before the data collection at follow up. Researchers masked to the allocation status of the units assessed all study outcomes at baseline and follow-up 12 months later. The primary outcome is the quality of the physical environment and facilities on the wards. The secondary outcomes are: safety of the ward, patient-rated satisfaction with care and mental well-being, staff burnout, training and supervision. Relative to control wards, it is hypothesized that the quality of the physical environment and facilities will be higher on wards in the active arm of the trial 12 months after randomization. To our knowledge, this is the first randomized evaluation of a peer-led quality improvement network that has examined the impact of participation on both patient-level and service-level outcomes. The study has the potential to help shape future efforts to improve the quality of inpatient care. Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN79614916 . Retrospectively registered 28 March 2014].

Aversive Peer Experiences on Social Networking Sites: Development of the Social Networking-Peer Experiences Questionnaire (SN-PEQ).

PubMed

Landoll, Ryan R; La Greca, Annette M; Lai, Betty S

2013-12-01

Cyber victimization is an important research area; yet, little is known about aversive peer experiences on social networking sites (SNSs), which are used extensively by youth and host complex social exchanges. Across samples of adolescents ( n =216) and young adults ( n =214), we developed the Social Networking-Peer Experiences Questionnaire ( SN-PEQ ), and examined its psychometric properties, distinctiveness from traditional peer victimization, and associations with internalized distress. The SN-PEQ demonstrated strong factorial invariance and a single factor structure that was distinct from other forms of peer victimization. Negative SNS experiences were associated with youths' symptoms of social anxiety and depression, even when controlling for traditional peer victimization. Findings highlight the importance of examining the effects of aversive peer experiences that occur via social media.

Parental Influence on Substance Use in Adolescent Social Networks

PubMed Central

Shakya, Holly B.; Christakis, Nicholas A.; Fowler, James H.

2012-01-01

Objectives Both peer and parental influences have been associated with the use of addictive substances in adolescence. We evaluated the relationship between the parenting style of an adolescent’s peers’ parents and an adolescent’s substance use. Design Longitudinal survey Setting Adolescents across the United States were interviewed at school and at home Participants Nationally representative sample of adolescents in the United States Main Exposure Authoritative versus neglectful parenting style of adolescent’s parents and adolescent’s friends parents; adolescent substance use Main Outcome Measures Adolescent alcohol abuse, smoking, marijuana use, and binge drinking Results If an adolescent has a friend whose mother is authoritative, that adolescent is 40% (95% CI 12%–58%) less likely to drink to the point of drunkenness, 38% (95% CI 5%–59%) less likely to binge drink, 39% (95% CI 12%–58%) less likely to smoke cigarettes, and 43% (95% CI 1%–67%) less likely to use marijuana than an adolescent whose friend’s mother is neglectful, controlling for the parenting style of the adolescent’s own mother, school level fixed effects, and demographics. These results are only partially mediated by peer substance use. Conclusion Social network influences may extend beyond the homogeneous dimensions of own-peer or own-parent to include extra-dyadic influences of the wider network. The value of parenting interventions should be re-assessed to take into account these spillover effects in the greater network. PMID:23045157

Domain Specificity between Peer Support and Self-Concept

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leung, Kim Chau; Marsh, Herbert W.; Craven, Rhonda G.; Yeung, Alexander S.; Abduljabbar, Adel S.

2013-01-01

Peer support interventions have mostly neglected the domain specificity of intervention effects. In two studies, the present investigation examined the domain specificity of peer support interventions targeting specific domains of self-concept. In Study 1, participants ("n" = 50) who had received an academically oriented peer support…

Using Exponential Random Graph Models to Analyze the Character of Peer Relationship Networks and Their Effects on the Subjective Well-being of Adolescents.

PubMed

Jiao, Can; Wang, Ting; Liu, Jianxin; Wu, Huanjie; Cui, Fang; Peng, Xiaozhe

2017-01-01

The influences of peer relationships on adolescent subjective well-being were investigated within the framework of social network analysis, using exponential random graph models as a methodological tool. The participants in the study were 1,279 students (678 boys and 601 girls) from nine junior middle schools in Shenzhen, China. The initial stage of the research used a peer nomination questionnaire and a subjective well-being scale (used in previous studies) to collect data on the peer relationship networks and the subjective well-being of the students. Exponential random graph models were then used to explore the relationships between students with the aim of clarifying the character of the peer relationship networks and the influence of peer relationships on subjective well being. The results showed that all the adolescent peer relationship networks in our investigation had positive reciprocal effects, positive transitivity effects and negative expansiveness effects. However, none of the relationship networks had obvious receiver effects or leaders. The adolescents in partial peer relationship networks presented similar levels of subjective well-being on three dimensions (satisfaction with life, positive affects and negative affects) though not all network friends presented these similarities. The study shows that peer networks can affect an individual's subjective well-being. However, whether similarities among adolescents are the result of social influences or social choices needs further exploration, including longitudinal studies that investigate the potential processes of subjective well-being similarities among adolescents.

Using Exponential Random Graph Models to Analyze the Character of Peer Relationship Networks and Their Effects on the Subjective Well-being of Adolescents

PubMed Central

Jiao, Can; Wang, Ting; Liu, Jianxin; Wu, Huanjie; Cui, Fang; Peng, Xiaozhe

2017-01-01

The influences of peer relationships on adolescent subjective well-being were investigated within the framework of social network analysis, using exponential random graph models as a methodological tool. The participants in the study were 1,279 students (678 boys and 601 girls) from nine junior middle schools in Shenzhen, China. The initial stage of the research used a peer nomination questionnaire and a subjective well-being scale (used in previous studies) to collect data on the peer relationship networks and the subjective well-being of the students. Exponential random graph models were then used to explore the relationships between students with the aim of clarifying the character of the peer relationship networks and the influence of peer relationships on subjective well being. The results showed that all the adolescent peer relationship networks in our investigation had positive reciprocal effects, positive transitivity effects and negative expansiveness effects. However, none of the relationship networks had obvious receiver effects or leaders. The adolescents in partial peer relationship networks presented similar levels of subjective well-being on three dimensions (satisfaction with life, positive affects and negative affects) though not all network friends presented these similarities. The study shows that peer networks can affect an individual’s subjective well-being. However, whether similarities among adolescents are the result of social influences or social choices needs further exploration, including longitudinal studies that investigate the potential processes of subjective well-being similarities among adolescents. PMID:28450845

Influence of Peer-Based Needle Exchange Programs on Mental Health Status in People Who Inject Drugs: A Nationwide New Zealand Study.

PubMed

Hay, Bianca; Henderson, Charles; Maltby, John; Canales, Juan J

2016-01-01

Alleviating the personal and social burden associated with substance use disorders requires the implementation of a comprehensive strategy, including outreach, education, community interventions, psychiatric treatment, and access to needle exchange programs (NEP), where peer support may be available. Given that substantial research underscores the potential benefits of peer support in psychiatric interventions, we aimed to conduct a national survey to examine key domains of mental health status in people who inject drugs (PWID) in New Zealand. PWID were recruited from 24 pharmacies and 16 dedicated peer-based needle exchanges (PBNEs) across the country. We focused on two mental health outcomes: (1) affective dysregulation, across the three emotional domains of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, due to its role in the maintenance of continued drug use, and (2) positive cognition and effective health- and drug-related information exchange with the provider, using the Satisfaction with Life Scale and an ad hoc questionnaire, respectively, in view of their association with improved mental health outcomes. We hypothesized that access to peer support would be associated with mental health benefits for PWIDs. Remarkably, the results of a multistep regression analysis revealed that irrespective of sex, age, ethnicity, main drug used, length of drug use, and frequency of visits to the NEP, the exclusive or preferential use of PBNEs predicted significantly lower depression and anxiety scores, greater satisfaction with life, and increased health-related information exchange with the service provider. These findings demonstrate for the first time an association between access to peer support at PBNEs and positive indices of mental health, lending strong support to the effective integration of such peer-delivered NEP services into the network of mental health services for PWID worldwide.

Influence of Peer-Based Needle Exchange Programs on Mental Health Status in People Who Inject Drugs: A Nationwide New Zealand Study

PubMed Central

Hay, Bianca; Henderson, Charles; Maltby, John; Canales, Juan J.

2017-01-01

Alleviating the personal and social burden associated with substance use disorders requires the implementation of a comprehensive strategy, including outreach, education, community interventions, psychiatric treatment, and access to needle exchange programs (NEP), where peer support may be available. Given that substantial research underscores the potential benefits of peer support in psychiatric interventions, we aimed to conduct a national survey to examine key domains of mental health status in people who inject drugs (PWID) in New Zealand. PWID were recruited from 24 pharmacies and 16 dedicated peer-based needle exchanges (PBNEs) across the country. We focused on two mental health outcomes: (1) affective dysregulation, across the three emotional domains of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, due to its role in the maintenance of continued drug use, and (2) positive cognition and effective health- and drug-related information exchange with the provider, using the Satisfaction with Life Scale and an ad hoc questionnaire, respectively, in view of their association with improved mental health outcomes. We hypothesized that access to peer support would be associated with mental health benefits for PWIDs. Remarkably, the results of a multistep regression analysis revealed that irrespective of sex, age, ethnicity, main drug used, length of drug use, and frequency of visits to the NEP, the exclusive or preferential use of PBNEs predicted significantly lower depression and anxiety scores, greater satisfaction with life, and increased health-related information exchange with the service provider. These findings demonstrate for the first time an association between access to peer support at PBNEs and positive indices of mental health, lending strong support to the effective integration of such peer-delivered NEP services into the network of mental health services for PWID worldwide. PMID:28149282

Adaptive search in mobile peer-to-peer databases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolfson, Ouri (Inventor); Xu, Bo (Inventor)

2010-01-01

Information is stored in a plurality of mobile peers. The peers communicate in a peer to peer fashion, using a short-range wireless network. Occasionally, a peer initiates a search for information in the peer to peer network by issuing a query. Queries and pieces of information, called reports, are transmitted among peers that are within a transmission range. For each search additional peers are utilized, wherein these additional peers search and relay information on behalf of the originator of the search.

The relationship between risk networks' patterns of crack cocaine and alcohol consumption and HIV-related sexual behaviors among adult injection drug users: a prospective study.

PubMed

Latkin, C A; Mandell, W; Vlahov, D

1996-11-01

Social context may be an important determinant of drug and alcohol consumption and HIV-related behaviors. To assess the influence of peers on drug users' risk behaviors this study examined the association between individual level and group level behaviors. This analysis reports on the prospective association between baseline self-reported drug and alcohol use of the network members of injection drug users, and self-reported sexual behaviors and alcohol use at 5-month follow-up. Participants were a nontreatment sample of inner-city injection drug users who volunteered for a network-oriented HIV preventive intervention. They were predominantly unemployed, African American males. Of the 71 index participants who completed both the baseline and follow-up interviews, 227 of their drug network members were enrolled in the study. At baseline indexes' sexual risk behaviors were significantly associated with their drug network members' level of crack cocaine use. At follow-up higher levels of alcohol and crack use among drug network members were associated with indexes' reports of multiple sex partners and increased alcohol consumption. Higher levels of crack use among the drug network members were associated with the indexes' reporting casual sex partners at follow-up. These results highlight the importance of studying the role of peer group influence and the social context of risk behaviors.

78 FR 78493 - National Rural Transportation Assistance Program: Solicitation for Proposals

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-26

... 5. Task 5: RTAP Rural Resource Center 6. Task 6: Peer-to-Peer Networking 7. Task 7: Research and... for networking with State RTAP managers while establishing communication for information dissemination... Community Edition (DNN) version 05.06.02 (144). 6. Task 6: Peer-to-Peer Networking The recipient will...

Psychometric properties of the Peer Proficiency Assessment (PEPA): a tool for evaluation of undergraduate peer counselors' motivational interviewing fidelity.

PubMed

Mastroleo, Nadine R; Mallett, Kimberly A; Turrisi, Rob; Ray, Anne E

2009-09-01

Despite the expanding use of undergraduate student peer counseling interventions aimed at reducing college student drinking, few programs evaluate peer counselors' competency to conduct these interventions. The present research describes the development and psychometric assessments of the Peer Proficiency Assessment (PEPA), a new tool for examining Motivational Interviewing adherence in undergraduate student peer delivered interventions. Twenty peer delivered sessions were evaluated by master and undergraduate student coders using a cross-validation design to examine peer based alcohol intervention sessions. Assessments revealed high inter-rater reliability between student and master coders and good correlations between previously established fidelity tools. Findings lend support for the use of the PEPA to examine peer counselor competency. The PEPA, training for use, inter-rater reliability information, construct and predictive validity, and tool usefulness are described.

Large-scale P2P network based distributed virtual geographic environment (DVGE)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Xicheng; Yu, Liang; Bian, Fuling

2007-06-01

Virtual Geographic Environment has raised full concern as a kind of software information system that helps us understand and analyze the real geographic environment, and it has also expanded to application service system in distributed environment--distributed virtual geographic environment system (DVGE), and gets some achievements. However, limited by the factor of the mass data of VGE, the band width of network, as well as numerous requests and economic, etc. DVGE still faces some challenges and problems which directly cause the current DVGE could not provide the public with high-quality service under current network mode. The Rapid development of peer-to-peer network technology has offered new ideas of solutions to the current challenges and problems of DVGE. Peer-to-peer network technology is able to effectively release and search network resources so as to realize efficient share of information. Accordingly, this paper brings forth a research subject on Large-scale peer-to-peer network extension of DVGE as well as a deep study on network framework, routing mechanism, and DVGE data management on P2P network.

Peer volunteer perspectives following a complex social cognitive intervention: a qualitative investigation.

PubMed

McHugh, J E; Lee, O; Aspell, N; Connolly, L; Lawlor, B A; Brennan, S

2016-09-01

Peer volunteers can be key to delivering effective social cognitive interventions due to increased potential for social modeling. We consulted peer volunteers who had just taken part in an 8-week social and nutritional mealtime intervention with older adults living alone, to seek their evaluation of the intervention. Semi-structured focus groups were used with a total of 21 volunteers (17 female) and two facilitators. Thematic analysis was used to interrogate the data. Six themes (16 sub-themes) are discussed. Peer volunteers described the importance of the socializing aspect of the intervention, of pairing considerations and compatibility in peer interventions, of considering the needs of the participant, of benefits to the volunteers, and of the practical considerations of conducting an intervention. Volunteers also discussed considerations for future research and services for older adults living alone. Volunteers found their involvement in the intervention to be personally beneficial, and revealed some valuable considerations for the researchers to take forward to future research. Results are pertinent to intervention design and could inform future social cognitive and other peer-oriented interventions for older adults living alone.

Peer-based health interventions for people with serious mental illness: A systematic literature review.

PubMed

Cabassa, Leopoldo J; Camacho, David; Vélez-Grau, Carolina M; Stefancic, Ana

2017-01-01

Health interventions delivered by peer specialists or co-facilitated by peer specialists and health professionals can help improve the physical health of people with serious mental illness (SMI). Yet, the quality of the studies examining these health interventions and their impact on health outcomes remains unclear. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review of peer-based health interventions for people with SMI. We rated the methodological quality of studies, summarized intervention strategies and health outcomes, and evaluated the inclusion of racial and ethnic minorities in these studies. We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis guidelines to conduct our systematic literature review. Electronic bibliographic databases and manual searches were used to locate articles that were published in English in peer-reviewed journals between 1990 and 2015, described peer-based health interventions for people with SMI, and evaluated the impact of the interventions on physical health outcomes. Two independent reviewers used a standardized instrument to rate studies' methodological quality, abstracted study characteristics, and evaluated the effects of the interventions on different health outcomes. Eighteen articles were reviewed. Findings indicated that the strength of the evidence generated from these studies is limited due to several methodological limitations. Mixed and limited intervention effects were reported for most health outcomes. The most promising interventions were self-management and peer-navigator interventions. Efforts to strengthen the evidence of peer-based interventions require a research agenda that focuses on establishing the efficacy and effectiveness of these interventions across different populations and settings. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Teachers Seek Specialized Peer Networks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tomassini, Jason

2013-01-01

Within the wide expanse of social networking, educators appear to be gravitating to more protected and exclusive spaces. While teachers often use such popular mainstream social networks as Facebook, they are more likely to seek out and return to less-established networks that offer the privacy, peer-to-peer connections, and resource sharing that…

Application of wireless networks-peer-to-peer information sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

ellappan, Vijayan; chaki, suchismita; kumar, avn

2017-11-01

Peer to Peer communications and its applications have gotten to be ordinary construction modelling in the wired network environment. But then, they have not been successfully adjusted with the wireless environment. Unlike the traditional client-server framework, in a P2P framework, each node can play the role of client as well as server simultaneously and exchange data or information with others. We aim to design an application which can adapt to the wireless ad-hoc networks. Peer to Peer communication can help people to share their files (information, image, audio, video and so on) and communicate with each other without relying on a particular network infrastructure or limited data usage. Here there is a central server with the help of which, the peers will have the capability to get the information about the other peers in the network. Indeed, even without the Internet, devices have the potential to allow users to connect and communicate in a special way through short range remote protocols such Wi-Fi.

Influence of single peer interventions on the recovery attitude of persons with a psychiatric disability.

PubMed

Rabenschlag, Franziska; Schusterschitz, Claudia; Conca, Antoinette; Knuf, Andreas; Needham, Ian; Hoffmann, Holger

2012-12-01

This study examined the influence of single peer to peer interventions on participants' recovery attitudes. Following a 40-hour training, pairs of individuals with a psychiatric disability offered a session (2.5 hour) in outpatient and residential psychiatric institutions. These peer to peer interventions aimed at inspiring and contributing to participants' recovery process, by introducing them to constituent parts of the concept Recovery. Thirteen of the peer interventions were evaluated by measuring participants' recovery attitudes before (N = 145), just after (N = 115) and at 6 months postintervention (N = 53) using the Recovery Attitudes Questionnaire (RAQ7) and the Recovery Process Inventory (RPI). Wilcoxon tests demonstrated that individuals participating in a peer intervention felt significantly more certain that Recovery is possible (factor 'Recovery is possible') just after the intervention (p = 0.004), but not 6 months later; likewise, the perception of the difficulty of recovery in spite of a mental illness (factor 'Recovery is difficult and differs') was significantly lower 6 months later (p = 0.016), but not from pre to just after. The statistically significant effect of a single recovery-oriented peer intervention on participants' attitude that recovery is possible was not sustainable. These results suggest a possible higher sustainability of repeated or longer-lasting peer interventions. © 2012 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences © 2012 Nordic College of Caring Science.

Which Peers Matter: How Social Ties Affect Peer-Group Effects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poldin, Oleg; Valeeva, Diliara; Yudkevich, Maria

2016-01-01

We study how the achievements of university students are influenced by the characteristics and achievements of peers in individuals' social networks. Defining peer group in terms of friendship and study partner ties enables us to apply a network regression model and thereby disentangle the influence of peers' performance from that of peers'…

Aversive Peer Experiences on Social Networking Sites: Development of the Social Networking-Peer Experiences Questionnaire (SN-PEQ)

PubMed Central

Landoll, Ryan R.; La Greca, Annette M.; Lai, Betty S.

2012-01-01

Cyber victimization is an important research area; yet, little is known about aversive peer experiences on social networking sites (SNSs), which are used extensively by youth and host complex social exchanges. Across samples of adolescents (n=216) and young adults (n=214), we developed the Social Networking-Peer Experiences Questionnaire (SN-PEQ), and examined its psychometric properties, distinctiveness from traditional peer victimization, and associations with internalized distress. The SN-PEQ demonstrated strong factorial invariance and a single factor structure that was distinct from other forms of peer victimization. Negative SNS experiences were associated with youths’ symptoms of social anxiety and depression, even when controlling for traditional peer victimization. Findings highlight the importance of examining the effects of aversive peer experiences that occur via social media. PMID:24288449

The Effects of Peer Group Network Properties on Drug Use Among Homeless Youth

PubMed Central

Rice, Eric; Milburn, Norweeta G.; Rotheram-Borus, Mary Jane; Mallett, Shelley; Rosenthal, Doreen

2010-01-01

The authors examine how the properties of peer networks affect amphetamine, cocaine, and injection drug use over 3 months among newly homeless adolescents, aged 12 to 20 in Los Angeles (n = 217; 83% retention at 3 months) and Melbourne (n = 119; 72% retention at 3 months). Several hypotheses regarding the effects of social network properties on the peer influence process are developed. Multivariate logistic regression analyses show that higher concentrations of homeless peers in networks at recruitment were associated with increased likelihood of amphetamine and cocaine use at 3-month follow-up. Higher concentrations of injecting peers were associated with increased risk of injection drug use 3 months later. Change in network structure over time toward increased concentrations of homeless peers was associated with increased risk of cocaine use and injecting. Higher density networks at baseline were positively associated with increased likelihood of cocaine and amphetamine use at 3 months. PMID:20539820

Friends interventions in psychosis: a narrative review and call to action.

PubMed

Harrop, Chris; Ellett, Lyn; Brand, Rachel; Lobban, Fiona

2015-08-01

To highlight the importance of friendships to young people with psychosis, and the need for clinical interventions to help maintain peer relationships during illness. To structure a research agenda for developing evidence-based interventions with friends. An argument is developed through a narrative review of (i) the proven efficacy of family interventions, and (by comparison) a relative absence of friend-based interventions; (ii) the particular primacy of friendships and dating for young people, and typical effects of exclusion; and (iii) reduced friendship networks and dating experiences in psychosis, in pre-, during and post-psychosis phases, also links between exclusion and psychosis. We put forward a model of how poor friendships can potentially be a causal and/or maintenance factor for psychotic symptoms. Given this model, our thesis is that interventions aiming to maintain social networks can be hugely beneficial clinically for young people with psychosis. We give a case study to show how such an intervention can work. We call for 'friends interventions' for young people with psychosis to be developed, where professionals directly work with a young person's authentic social group to support key friendships and maintain social continuity. An agenda for future research is presented that will develop and test theoretically driven interventions. © 2014 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Social Competence in Childhood Brain Tumor Survivors: Feasibility and Preliminary Outcomes of a Peer-Mediated Intervention

PubMed Central

Devine, Katie A.; Bukowski, William M.; Sahler, Olle Jane Z.; Ohman-Strickland, Pamela; Smith, Tristram H.; Lown, E. Anne; Patenaude, Andrea Farkas; Korones, David N.; Noll, Robert B.

2016-01-01

Objective Evaluate the acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary outcomes of a peer-mediated intervention to improve social competence of brain tumor survivors and classmates. Methods Twelve childhood brain tumor survivors and 217 classroom peers in intervention (n = 8) or comparison (n = 4) classrooms completed measures of social acceptance and reputation at two time points in the year. The intervention (5–8 sessions over 4–6 weeks) taught peer leaders skills for engaging classmates. Individual and classroom outcomes were analyzed with ANCOVA. Results Recruitment rates of families of brain tumor survivors (81%) and schools (100%) were adequate. Peer leaders reported satisfaction with the intervention. Preliminary outcome data trended toward some benefit in increasing the number of friend nominations for survivors of brain tumors but no changes in other peer-reported metrics. Preliminary results also suggested some positive effects on classroom levels of victimization and rejection. Conclusions A peer-mediated intervention was acceptable to families of brain tumor survivors and feasible to implement in schools. Findings warrant a larger trial to evaluate improvements for children with brain tumors and their peers. PMID:27355881

Preliminary healthy eating outcomes of SNaX, a pilot community-based intervention for adolescents.

PubMed

Bogart, Laura M; Elliott, Marc N; Uyeda, Kimberly; Hawes-Dawson, Jennifer; Klein, David J; Schuster, Mark A

2011-02-01

We used principles of community-based participatory research to develop and pilot test a 5-week intervention for middle school students, Students for Nutrition and eXercise (SNaX). SNaX aimed to translate school obesity-prevention policies into practice with peer advocacy of healthy eating and school cafeteria changes. A total 425 seventh graders (63% of all seventh graders) in the intervention school were surveyed at baseline regarding cafeteria attitudes and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption; of the 425 students, 399 (94%) were surveyed again at 1-month post-intervention. School cafeteria records were obtained from two schools: the intervention school and a nonrandomized selected comparison school with similar student socio-demographic characteristics. A total of 140 students in the intervention school were trained as peer advocates. In the intervention school, cafeteria attitudes among peer advocates significantly improved over time (approximately one-third of a standard deviation), whereas cafeteria attitudes of non-peer advocates remained stable; the improvement among peer advocates was significantly greater than the pre-post-change for non-peer advocates (b = .71, p < .001). Peer advocates significantly reduced their sugar-sweetened beverage intake (sports and fruit drinks), from 33% before intervention to 21% after intervention (p = .03). Cafeteria records indicated that servings of fruit and healthier entrées (salads, sandwiches, and yogurt parfaits) significantly decreased in the comparison school and significantly increased in the intervention school; the magnitude of changes differed significantly between the schools (p < .001). As compared with the non-peer advocates, peer advocates appeared to benefit more from the intervention. Future research should consider engaging parents, students, and other key community stakeholders to determine acceptable and sustainable cafeteria changes. Copyright © 2011 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Implementation of evidence-informed practice through central network actors; a case study of three public health units in Canada.

PubMed

Yousefi Nooraie, Reza; Marin, Alexandra; Hanneman, Robert; Lohfeld, Lynne; Dobbins, Maureen

2017-03-15

Workforce development is an important aspect of evidence-informed decision making (EIDM) interventions. The social position of individuals in formal and informal social networks, and the relevance of formal roles in relation to EIDM are important factors identifying key EIDM players in public health organizations. We assessed the role of central actors in information sharing networks in promoting the adoption of EIDM by the staff of three public health units in Canada, over a two-year period during which an organization-wide intervention was implemented. A multi-faceted and tailored intervention to train select staff applying research evidence in practice was implemented in three public health units in Canada from 2011 to 2013. Staff (n = 572) were asked to identify those in the health unit whom they turned to get help using research in practice, whom they considered as experts in EIDM, and friends. We developed multi-level linear regression models to predict the change in EIDM behavior scores predicted by being connected to peers who were central in networks and were engaged in the intervention. Only the group of highly engaged central actors who were connected to each other, and the staff who were not engaged in the intervention but were connected to highly engaged central actors significantly improved their EIDM behavior scores. Among the latter group, the staff who were also friends with their information sources showed a larger improvement in EIDM behavior. If engaged, central network actors use their formal and informal connections to promote EIDM. Central actors themselves are more likely to adopt EIDM if they communicate with each other. These social communications should be reinforced and supported through the implementation of training interventions as a means to promoting EIDM.

Taking Control: The Efficacy and Durability of a Peer-Led Uncertainty Management Intervention for People Recently Diagnosed With HIV.

PubMed

Brashers, Dale E; Basinger, Erin D; Rintamaki, Lance S; Caughlin, John P; Para, Michael

2017-01-01

HIV creates substantial uncertainty for people infected with the virus, which subsequently affects a host of psychosocial outcomes critical to successful management of the disease. This study assessed the efficacy and durability of a theoretically driven, one-on-one peer support intervention designed to facilitate uncertainty management and enhance psychosocial functioning for patients newly diagnosed with HIV. Using a pretest-posttest control group design, 98 participants received information and training in specific communication strategies (e.g., disclosing to friends and family, eliciting social support, talking to health care providers, using the Internet to gather information, and building social networks through AIDS service organizations). Participants in the experimental group attended six 1-hour sessions, whereas control participants received standard of care for 12 months (after which they received the intervention). Over time, participants in the intervention fared significantly better regarding (a) illness uncertainty, (b) depression, and (c) satisfaction with social support than did those in the control group. Given the utility and cost-effectiveness of this intervention and the uncertainty of a multitude of medical diagnoses and disease experiences, further work is indicated to determine how this program could be expanded to other illnesses and to address related factors, such as treatment adherence and clinical outcomes.

Peers and adolescent smoking.

PubMed

Kobus, Kimberly

2003-05-01

There is a considerable body of empirical research that has identified adolescent peer relationships as a primary factor involved in adolescent cigarette smoking. Despite this large research base, many questions remain unanswered about the mechanisms by which peers affect youths' smoking behavior. Understanding these processes of influence is key to the development of prevention and intervention programs designed to address adolescent smoking as a significant public health concern. In this paper, theoretical frameworks and empirical findings are reviewed critically which inform the current state of knowledge regarding peer influences on teenage smoking. Specifically, social learning theory, primary socialization theory, social identity theory and social network theory are discussed. Empirical findings regarding peer influence and selection, as well as multiple reference points in adolescent friendships, including best friendships, romantic relationships, peer groups and social crowds, are also reviewed. Review of this work reveals the contribution that peers have in adolescents' use of tobacco, in some cases promoting use, and in other cases deterring it. This review also suggests that peer influences on smoking are more subtle than commonly thought and need to be examined more carefully, including consideration of larger social contexts, e.g. the family, neighborhood, and media. Recommendations for future investigations are made, as well as suggestions for specific methodological approaches that offer promise for advancing our knowledge of the contribution of peers on adolescent tobacco use.

"This Site Is Blocked": K-12 Teachers and the Challenge of Accessing Peer-to-Peer Networks for Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ching, Cynthia Carter; Hursh, Anthony W.

2010-01-01

This article examines a little-discussed phenomenon in the study of both peer-to-peer collaborative networks and teaching with technology: that of teachers caught in the middle between open public networks as teaching resources and highly restrictive school policies regarding internet content and online access. Based on their experiences as…

Assigning the Appropriate Works for Review on Networked Peer Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Chien-I

2017-01-01

Peer assessment can expand the cognitive schemas of students, facilitate knowledge construction, and promote discussion and cooperative learning among students and their peers. In recent years, the application of the internet to conduct peer assessment activities has been widely implemented. The advantages of networked peer assessments over…

Utilizing social networking sites to promote adolescents' health: a pragmatic review of the literature.

PubMed

Francomano, Jesse A; Harpin, Scott B

2015-01-01

Social networking site use has exploded among youth in the last few years and is being adapted as an important tool for healthcare interventions and serving as a platform for adolescents to gain access to health information. The aim of this study was to examine the strengths, weaknesses, and best practices of utilizing Facebook in adolescent health promotion and research via pragmatic literature review. We also examine how sites can facilitate ethically sound healthcare for adolescents, particularly at-risk youth. We conducted a literature review of health and social sciences literature from the past 5 years related to adolescent health and social network site use. Publications were grouped by shared content then categorized by themes. Five themes emerged: access to healthcare information, peer support and networking, risk and benefits of social network site use in care delivery, overcoming technological barriers, and social network site interventions. More research is needed to better understand how such Web sites can be better utilized to provide access to adolescents seeking healthcare. Given the broad reach of social network sites, all health information must be closely monitored for accurate, safe distribution. Finally, consent and privacy issues are omnipresent in social network sites, which calls for standards of ethical use.

Protecting workers in the home care industry: workers' experienced job demands, resource gaps, and benefits following a socially supportive intervention.

PubMed

Mabry, Linda; Parker, Kelsey N; Thompson, Sharon V; Bettencourt, Katrina M; Haque, Afsara; Luther Rhoten, Kristy; Wright, Rob R; Hess, Jennifer A; Olson, Ryan

2018-05-02

The Community of Practice and Safety Support (COMPASS) program is a peer-led group intervention for home care workers. In a randomized controlled trial, COMPASS significantly improved workers' professional support networks and safety and health behaviors. However, quantitative findings failed to capture workers' complex emotional, physical, and social experiences with job demands, resource limitations, and the intervention itself. Therefore, we conducted qualitative follow-up interviews with a sample of participants (n = 28) in the program. Results provided examples of unique physical and psychological demands, revealed stressful resource limitations (e.g., safety equipment access), and elucidated COMPASS's role as a valuable resource.

Human factors for capacity building: lessons learned from the OpenMRS implementers network.

PubMed

Seebregts, C J; Mamlin, B W; Biondich, P G; Fraser, H S F; Wolfe, B A; Jazayeri, D; Miranda, J; Blaya, J; Sinha, C; Bailey, C T; Kanter, A S

2010-01-01

The overall objective of this project was to investigate ways to strengthen the OpenMRS community by (i) developing capacity and implementing a network focusing specifically on the needs of OpenMRS implementers, (ii) strengthening community-driven aspects of OpenMRS and providing a dedicated forum for implementation-specific issues, and; (iii) providing regional support for OpenMRS implementations as well as mentorship and training. The methods used included (i) face-to-face networking using meetings and workshops; (ii) online collaboration tools, peer support and mentorship programmes; (iii) capacity and community development programmes, and; (iv) community outreach programmes. The community-driven approach, combined with a few simple interventions, has been a key factor in the growth and success of the OpenMRS Implementers Network. It has contributed to implementations in at least twenty-three different countries using basic online tools; and provided mentorship and peer support through an annual meeting, workshops and an internship program. The OpenMRS Implementers Network has formed collaborations with several other open source networks and is evolving regional OpenMRS Centres of Excellence to provide localized support for OpenMRS development and implementation. These initiatives are increasing the range of functionality and sustainability of open source software in the health domain, resulting in improved adoption and enterprise-readiness. Social organization and capacity development activities are important in growing a successful community-driven open source software model.

Naming Game on Networks: Let Everyone be Both Speaker and Hearer

PubMed Central

Gao, Yuan; Chen, Guanrong; Chan, Rosa H. M.

2014-01-01

To investigate how consensus is reached on a large self-organized peer-to-peer network, we extended the naming game model commonly used in language and communication to Naming Game in Groups (NGG). Differing from other existing naming game models, in NGG everyone in the population (network) can be both speaker and hearer simultaneously, which resembles in a closer manner to real-life scenarios. Moreover, NGG allows the transmission (communication) of multiple words (opinions) for multiple intra-group consensuses. The communications among indirectly-connected nodes are also enabled in NGG. We simulated and analyzed the consensus process in some typical network topologies, including random-graph networks, small-world networks and scale-free networks, to better understand how global convergence (consensus) could be reached on one common word. The results are interpreted on group negotiation of a peer-to-peer network, which shows that global consensus in the population can be reached more rapidly when more opinions are permitted within each group or when the negotiating groups in the population are larger in size. The novel features and properties introduced by our model have demonstrated its applicability in better investigating general consensus problems on peer-to-peer networks. PMID:25143140

Naming Game on Networks: Let Everyone be Both Speaker and Hearer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Yuan; Chen, Guanrong; Chan, Rosa H. M.

2014-08-01

To investigate how consensus is reached on a large self-organized peer-to-peer network, we extended the naming game model commonly used in language and communication to Naming Game in Groups (NGG). Differing from other existing naming game models, in NGG everyone in the population (network) can be both speaker and hearer simultaneously, which resembles in a closer manner to real-life scenarios. Moreover, NGG allows the transmission (communication) of multiple words (opinions) for multiple intra-group consensuses. The communications among indirectly-connected nodes are also enabled in NGG. We simulated and analyzed the consensus process in some typical network topologies, including random-graph networks, small-world networks and scale-free networks, to better understand how global convergence (consensus) could be reached on one common word. The results are interpreted on group negotiation of a peer-to-peer network, which shows that global consensus in the population can be reached more rapidly when more opinions are permitted within each group or when the negotiating groups in the population are larger in size. The novel features and properties introduced by our model have demonstrated its applicability in better investigating general consensus problems on peer-to-peer networks.

Peer Smoking and Smoking-related Beliefs Among College Students in Bangladesh

PubMed Central

Ahmmad, Zobayer; Pye, Mu

2018-01-01

Objectives Smoking is a significant public health issue in Bangladesh. The purpose of this study was to examine peer smoking and smoking-related beliefs among college students in Bangladesh. Methods College students at two universities in Dhaka, Bangladesh participated in a self-administered survey in May and June 2017. Results First, being a current or former smoker is associated with lower levels of beliefs among respondents that they would not smoke even with smoker friends or nervousness, and lower levels of intentions that they would not smoke, while current smokers and former smokers have different smoking-related beliefs. Second, having smoker friends is associated with lower levels of intentions that they would not smoke. Third, higher levels of normative beliefs that it is important not to smoke are associated with higher levels of beliefs that they would not smoke even with smoker friends or nervousness, higher levels of intentions that they would not smoke, and higher levels of avoidance of smoking. Conclusions Smoking-related beliefs and perceived norms in individuals’ social networks are important components in promoting tobacco cessation in Bangladesh. But it is challenging to prevent or intervene in smoking because of the high rates of smoking in this country and the high prevalence of smokers in individuals’ social networks. Future studies should examine the most effective interventions to combat smoking in high-smoking social networks, such as using mobile apps or social media, and evaluate the effectiveness of such interventions. PMID:29397641

Peer Smoking and Smoking-related Beliefs Among College Students in Bangladesh.

PubMed

Kamimura, Akiko; Ahmmad, Zobayer; Pye, Mu; Gull, Bethany

2018-01-01

Smoking is a significant public health issue in Bangladesh. The purpose of this study was to examine peer smoking and smoking-related beliefs among college students in Bangladesh. College students at two universities in Dhaka, Bangladesh participated in a self-administered survey in May and June 2017. First, being a current or former smoker is associated with lower levels of beliefs among respondents that they would not smoke even with smoker friends or nervousness, and lower levels of intentions that they would not smoke, while current smokers and former smokers have different smoking-related beliefs. Second, having smoker friends is associated with lower levels of intentions that they would not smoke. Third, higher levels of normative beliefs that it is important not to smoke are associated with higher levels of beliefs that they would not smoke even with smoker friends or nervousness, higher levels of intentions that they would not smoke, and higher levels of avoidance of smoking. Smoking-related beliefs and perceived norms in individuals' social networks are important components in promoting tobacco cessation in Bangladesh. But it is challenging to prevent or intervene in smoking because of the high rates of smoking in this country and the high prevalence of smokers in individuals' social networks. Future studies should examine the most effective interventions to combat smoking in high-smoking social networks, such as using mobile apps or social media, and evaluate the effectiveness of such interventions.

Resource Management In Peer-To-Peer Networks: A Nadse Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patel, R. B.; Garg, Vishal

2011-12-01

This article presents a common solution to Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network problems and distributed computing with the help of "Neighbor Assisted Distributed and Scalable Environment" (NADSE). NADSE supports both device and code mobility. In this article mainly we focus on the NADSE based resource management technique. How information dissemination and searching is speedup when using the NADSE service provider node in large network. Results show that performance of the NADSE network is better in comparison to Gnutella, and Freenet.

The Peer Social Networks of Young Children with Down Syndrome in Classroom Programmes

PubMed Central

Guralnick, Michael J.; Connor, Robert T.; Johnson, L. Clark

2010-01-01

Background The nature and characteristics of the peer social networks of young children with Down syndrome in classroom settings were examined within a developmental framework. Method Comparisons were made with younger typically developing children matched on mental age and typically developing children matched on chronological age. Results Similar patterns were found for all three groups for most peer social network measures. However, group differences were obtained for measures of teacher assistance and peer interactions in unstructured situations. Conclusions Positive patterns appeared to be related to the social orientation of children with Down syndrome and the special efforts of teachers to support children’s peer social networks. Findings also suggested that fundamental peer competence problems for children with Down syndrome remain and may best be addressed within the framework of contemporary models of peer-related social competence. PMID:21765644

Informing the implementation of evidence-informed decision making interventions using a social network analysis perspective; a mixed-methods study.

PubMed

Yousefi Nooraie, Reza; Lohfeld, Lynne; Marin, Alexandra; Hanneman, Robert; Dobbins, Maureen

2017-02-08

Workforce development is an important aspect of evidence-informed decision making (EIDM) interventions. The structure of formal and informal social networks can influence, and be influenced, by the implementation of EIDM interventions. In a mixed methods study we assessed the outcomes of a targeted training intervention to promote EIDM among the staff in three public health units in Ontario, Canada. This report focuses on the qualitative phase of the study in which key staff were interviewed about the process of engagement in the intervention, communications during the intervention, and social consequences. Senior managers identified staff to take part in the intervention. Engagement was a top-down process determined by the way organizational leaders promoted EIDM and the relevance of staff's jobs to EIDM. Communication among staff participating in the workshops and ongoing progress meetings was influential in overcoming personal and normative barriers to implementing EIDM, and promoted the formation of long-lasting social connections among staff. Organization-wide presentations and meetings facilitated the recognition of expertise that the trained staff gained, including their reputation as experts according to their peers in different divisions. Selective training and capacity development interventions can result in forming an elite versus ordinary pattern that facilitates the recognition of in-house qualified experts while also strengthening social status inequality. The role of leadership in public health units is pivotal in championing and overseeing the implementation process. Network analysis can guide and inform the design, process, and evaluation of the EIDM training interventions.

Peer 2 Peer: Efficacy of a Course-Based Peer Education Intervention to Increase Physical Activity among College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyle, Jennifer; Mattern, Craig O.; Lassiter, Jill W.; Ritzler, Julia A.

2011-01-01

There are few physical activity (PA) interventions in higher education, and they have been only minimally effective. Objective: To determine if a course-based, peer education intervention was associated with increases in PA and physical fitness. Participants: Participants were 178 students enrolled in a personal health class during the 2007-2008…

Peer-to-Peer Science Data Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Byrnes, J. B.; Holland, M. P.

2004-12-01

The goal of P2PSDE is to provide a convenient and extensible Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network architecture that allows: distributed science-data services-seamlessly incorporating collaborative value-added services with search-oriented access to remote science data. P2PSDE features the real-time discovery of data-serving peers (plus peer-groups and peer-group services), in addition to the searching for and transferring of science data. These features are implemented using "Project JXTA", the first and only standardized set of open, generalized P2P protocols that allow arbitrary network devices to communicate and collaborate as peers. The JXTA protocols standardize the manner in which peers discover each other, self-organize into peer groups, advertise and discover network services, and securely communicate with and monitor each other-even across network firewalls. The key benefits include: Potential for dramatic improvements in science-data dissemination; Real-time-discoverable, potentially redundant (reliable), science-data services; Openness/Extensibility; Decentralized use of small, inexpensive, readily-available desktop machines; and Inherently secure-with ability to create variable levels of security by group.

Mother-to-mother therapy in India and Pakistan: adaptation and feasibility evaluation of the peer-delivered Thinking Healthy Programme.

PubMed

Atif, Najia; Krishna, Revathi N; Sikander, Siham; Lazarus, Anisha; Nisar, Anum; Ahmad, Ikhlaq; Raman, Roopa; Fuhr, Daniela C; Patel, Vikram; Rahman, Atif

2017-02-23

Perinatal depression is highly prevalent in South Asia. Although effective and culturally feasible interventions exist, a key bottleneck for scaled-up delivery is lack of trained human resource. The aim of this study was to adapt an evidence-based intervention so that local women from the community (peers) could be trained to deliver it, and to test the adapted intervention for feasibility in India and Pakistan. The study was conducted in Rawalpindi, Pakistan and Goa, India. To inform the adaptation process, qualitative data was collected through 7 focus groups (four in Pakistan and three in India) and 61 in-depth interviews (India only). Following adaptation, the intervention was delivered to depressed mothers (20 in Pakistan and 24 in India) for six months through 8 peers in Pakistan and nine in India. Post intervention data was collected from depressed mothers and peers through 41 in-depth interviews (29 in Pakistan and 12 in India) and eight focus groups (one in Pakistan and seven in India). Data was analysed using Framework Analysis approach. Most mothers perceived the intervention to be acceptable, useful, and viewed the peers as effective delivery-agents. The simple format using vignettes, pictures and everyday terms to describe distress made the intervention easy to understand and deliver. The peers were able to use techniques for behavioural activation with relative ease. Both the mothers and peers found that shared life-experiences and personal characteristics greatly facilitated the intervention-delivery. A minority of mothers had concerns about confidentiality and stigma related to their condition, and some peers felt the role was emotionally challenging. The study demonstrates the feasibility of using peers to provide interventions for perinatal depression in two South Asian settings. Peers can be a potential resource to deliver evidence-based psychosocial interventions. Pakistan Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02111915 (9 April 2014), India Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02104232 (1 April 2014).

Exploring empowerment in settings: mapping distributions of network power.

PubMed

Neal, Jennifer Watling

2014-06-01

This paper brings together two trends in the empowerment literature-understanding empowerment in settings and understanding empowerment as relational-by examining what makes settings empowering from a social network perspective. Specifically, extending Neal and Neal's (Am J Community Psychol 48(3/4):157-167, 2011) conception of network power, an empowering setting is defined as one in which (1) actors have existing relationships that allow for the exchange of resources and (2) the distribution of network power among actors in the setting is roughly equal. The paper includes a description of how researchers can examine distributions of network power in settings. Next, this process is illustrated in both an abstract example and using empirical data on early adolescents' peer relationships in urban classrooms. Finally, implications for theory, methods, and intervention related to understanding empowering settings are explored.

Sibling cigarette smoking and peer network influences on substance use potential among adolescent: a population based study.

PubMed

Mahboubi, Samira; Salimi, Yahya; Jorjoran Shushtari, Zahra; Rafiey, Hasan; Sajjadi, Homeira

2017-12-15

Background Peer and parental substance use are established predictors for substance use among adolescent, little is known about influence of sibling cigarette smoking and its interaction with peer network on substance use potential that can introduce an important way for substance use prevention programs. Objective The aim of present study was to explore the association of sibling cigarette smoking and peer network with substance use potential among high school students in Tehran. Subjects Data were drawn from the population-based cross-sectional study of among 650 high schools students. Methods Multiple linear regression was used in order to determine the adjusted association between cigarette smoking among family members, peer network, their interaction and substance use potential. Result Having a sister who smokes (B = 3.19; p < 0.01) and peer network quality were associated with substance use potential (B = -0.1; p < 0.05). The increase in mean of substance use potential associated with decreases in peer network quality score is much more than in who have a sister with a cigarette smoking habit. Conclusion Having a sister who smokes interacts with peer network quality; appears to be one of the important mechanisms for adolescents' tendency to substance use. These findings can help in a better understanding of substance use potential mechanisms, screening efforts and the formulation of prevention programs.

Key Exchange Trust Evaluation in Peer-to-Peer Sensor Networks With Unconditionally Secure Key Exchange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gonzalez, Elias; Kish, Laszlo B.

2016-03-01

As the utilization of sensor networks continue to increase, the importance of security becomes more profound. Many industries depend on sensor networks for critical tasks, and a malicious entity can potentially cause catastrophic damage. We propose a new key exchange trust evaluation for peer-to-peer sensor networks, where part of the network has unconditionally secure key exchange. For a given sensor, the higher the portion of channels with unconditionally secure key exchange the higher the trust value. We give a brief introduction to unconditionally secured key exchange concepts and mention current trust measures in sensor networks. We demonstrate the new key exchange trust measure on a hypothetical sensor network using both wired and wireless communication channels.

Trauma-informed Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): A Randomized Controlled Trial with a Two-Generation Impact.

PubMed

Booshehri, Layla G; Dugan, Jerome; Patel, Falguni; Bloom, Sandra; Chilton, Mariana

2018-01-01

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) has limited success in building self-sufficiency, and rarely addresses exposure to trauma as a barrier to employment. The objective of the Building Wealth and Health Network randomized controlled trial was to test effectiveness of financial empowerment combined with trauma-informed peer support against standard TANF programming. Through the method of single-blind randomization we assigned 103 caregivers of children under age six into three groups: control (standard TANF programming), partial (28-weeks financial education), and full (same as partial with simultaneous 28-weeks of trauma-informed peer support). Participants completed baseline and follow-up surveys every 3 months over 15 months. Group response rates were equivalent throughout. With mixed effects analysis we compared post-program outcomes at months 9, 12, and 15 to baseline. We modeled the impact of amount of participation in group classes on participant outcomes. Despite high exposure to trauma and adversity results demonstrate that, compared to the other groups, caregivers in the full intervention reported improved self-efficacy and depressive symptoms, and reduced economic hardship. Unlike the intervention groups, the control group reported increased developmental risk among their children. Although the control group showed higher levels of employment, the full intervention group reported greater earnings. The partial intervention group showed little to no differences compared with the control group. We conclude that financial empowerment education with trauma-informed peer support is more effective than standard TANF programming at improving behavioral health, reducing hardship, and increasing income. Policymakers may consider adapting TANF to include trauma-informed programming.

A qualitative synthesis of the positive and negative impacts related to delivery of peer-based health interventions in prison settings.

PubMed

South, Jane; Woodall, James; Kinsella, Karina; Bagnall, Anne-Marie

2016-09-29

Peer interventions involving prisoners in delivering peer education and peer support in a prison setting can address health need and add capacity for health services operating in this setting. This paper reports on a qualitative synthesis conducted as part of a systematic review of prison-based peer interventions. One of the review questions aimed to investigate the positive and negative impacts of delivering peer interventions within prison settings. This covered organisational and process issues relating to peer interventions, including prisoner and staff views. A qualitative synthesis of qualitative and mixed method studies was undertaken. The overall study design comprised a systematic review involving searching, study selection, data extraction and validity assessment. Studies reporting interventions with prisoners or ex-prisoners delivering education or support to prisoners resident in any type of prison or young offender institution, all ages, male and female, were included. A thematic synthesis was undertaken with a subset of studies reporting qualitative data (n = 33). This involved free coding of text reporting qualitative findings to develop a set of codes, which were then grouped into thematic categories and mapped back to the review question. Themes on process issues and wider impacts were grouped into four thematic categories: peer recruitment training and support; organisational support; prisoner relationships; prison life. There was consistent qualitative evidence on the need for organisational support within the prison to ensure smooth implementation and on managing security risks when prisoners were involved in service delivery. A suite of factors affecting the delivery of peer interventions and the wider organisation of prison life were identified. Alongside reported benefits of peer delivery, some reasons for non-utilisation of services by other prisoners were found. There was weak qualitative evidence on wider impacts on the prison system, including better communication between staff and prisoners. Gaps in evidence were identified. The quality of included studies limited the strength of the conclusions. The main conclusion is that peer interventions cannot be seen as independent of prison life and health services need to work in partnership with prison services to deliver peer interventions. More research is needed on long-term impacts. PROSPERO ref: CRD42012002349 .

Population Health Intervention Research Initiative for Canada: progress and prospects.

PubMed

Hawe, Penelope; Samis, Stephen; Di Ruggiero, Erica; Shoveller, Jean A

2011-04-01

Actions in Canada are being designed to transform the way research evidence is generated and used to improve population health. Capacity is being built in population health intervention research. The primary target is more understanding and examination of policies and programs that could redress inequities in health. The Population Health Intervention Research Initiative for Canada is a loosely-networked collaboration designed to advance the science of the field as well as the quantity, quality and use of population health intervention research to improve the health of Canadians. In the first few years there have been new training investments, new funding programs, new working guidelines for peer review, symposia and new international collaborations. This has been brought about by the strategic alignment of communication, planning and existing investments and the leveraging of new resources.

Online, social media and mobile technologies for psychosis treatment: a systematic review on novel user-led interventions.

PubMed

Alvarez-Jimenez, M; Alcazar-Corcoles, M A; González-Blanch, C; Bendall, S; McGorry, P D; Gleeson, J F

2014-06-01

Internet and mobile-based interventions provide a unique opportunity to deliver cost-effective, accessible, time-unlimited support to people with psychosis. The aims of this study were to systematically compile and analyze the evidence on the acceptability, feasibility, safety and benefits of online and mobile-based interventions for psychosis. Systematic review of peer-reviewed studies examining the usability, acceptability, feasibility, safety or efficacy of user-led, Internet or mobile-based interventions, with at least 80% of participants diagnosed with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Of 38 potentially relevant articles, 12 were eligible for inclusion. Interventions included web-based psycho-education; web-based psycho-education plus moderated forums for patients and supporters; integrated web-based therapy, social networking and peer and expert moderation; web-based CBT; personalized advice based on clinical monitoring; and text messaging interventions. Results showed that 74-86% of patients used the web-based interventions efficiently, 75-92% perceived them as positive and useful, and 70-86% completed or were engaged with the interventions over the follow-up. Preliminary evidence indicated that online and mobile-based interventions show promise in improving positive psychotic symptoms, hospital admissions, socialization, social connectedness, depression and medication adherence. Internet and mobile-based interventions for psychosis seem to be acceptable and feasible and have the potential to improve clinical and social outcomes. The heterogeneity, poor quality and early state of current research precludes any definite conclusions. Future research should investigate the efficacy of online and mobile interventions through controlled, well-powered studies, which investigate intervention and patient factors associated with take-up and intervention effects. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pressure to drink but not to smoke: disentangling selection and socialization in adolescent peer networks and peer groups.

PubMed

Kiuru, Noona; Burk, William J; Laursen, Brett; Salmela-Aro, Katariina; Nurmi, Jari-Erik

2010-12-01

This paper examined the relative influence of selection and socialization on alcohol and tobacco use in adolescent peer networks and peer groups. The sample included 1419 Finnish secondary education students (690 males and 729 females, mean age 16 years at the outset) from nine schools. Participants identified three school friends and described their alcohol and tobacco use on two occasions one year apart. Actor-based models simultaneously examined changes in peer network ties and changes in individual behaviors for all participants within each school. Multi-level analyses examined changes in individual behaviors for adolescents entering new peer groups and adolescents in stable peer groups, both of which were embedded within the school-based peer networks. Similar results emerged from both analytic methods: Selection and socialization contributed to similarity of alcohol use, but only selection was a factor in tobacco use. Copyright © 2010 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Efficacy and causal mechanism of an online social media intervention to increase physical activity: Results of a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Zhang, Jingwen; Brackbill, Devon; Yang, Sijia; Centola, Damon

2015-01-01

To identify what features of social media - promotional messaging or peer networks - can increase physical activity. A 13-week social media-based exercise program was conducted at a large Northeastern university in Philadelphia, PA. In a randomized controlled trial, 217 graduate students from the University were randomized to three conditions: a control condition with a basic online program for enrolling in weekly exercise classes led by instructors of the University for 13 weeks, a media condition that supplemented the basic program with weekly online promotional media messages that encourage physical activity, and a social condition that replaced the media content with an online network of four to six anonymous peers composed of other participants of the program, in which each participant was able to see their peers' progress in enrolling in classes. The primary outcome was the number of enrollments in exercise classes, and the secondary outcomes were self-reported physical activities. Data were collected in 2014. Participants enrolled in 5.5 classes on average. Compared with enrollment in the control condition (mean = 4.5), promotional messages moderately increased enrollment (mean = 5.7, p = 0.08), while anonymous social networks significantly increased enrollment (mean = 6.3, p = 0.02). By the end of the program, participants in the social condition reported exercising moderately for an additional 1.6 days each week compared with the baseline, which was significantly more than an additional 0.8 days in the control condition. Social influence from anonymous online peers was more successful than promotional messages for improving physical activity. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02267369.

Associations between the peer support relationship, service satisfaction and recovery-oriented outcomes: a correlational study.

PubMed

Thomas, Elizabeth C; Salzer, Mark S

2017-12-18

The working alliance between non-peer providers and mental health consumers is associated with positive outcomes. It is hypothesized that this factor, in addition to other active support elements, is also positively related to peer support service outcomes. This study evaluates correlates of the peer-to-peer relationship and its unique association with service satisfaction and recovery-oriented outcomes. Participants were 46 adults with serious mental illnesses taking part in a peer-brokered self-directed care intervention. Pearson correlation analyses examined associations among peer relationship factors, services-related variables and recovery-oriented outcomes (i.e. empowerment, recovery and quality of life). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses evaluated associations between relationship factors and outcomes over time, controlling for other possible intervention effects. The peer relationship was not related to number of contacts. There were robust associations between the peer relationship and service satisfaction and some recovery-oriented outcomes at 24-months, but not at 12-months. These associations were not explained by other possible intervention effects. This study contributes to a better understanding of the positive, unique association between the peer-to-peer relationship and outcomes, similar to what is found in non-peer-delivered interventions. Implications for program administrators and policymakers seeking to integrate peer specialists into mental health service systems are discussed.

Development and Preliminary Pilot Testing of a Peer Support Text Messaging Intervention for HIV-Infected Black Men Who Have Sex with Men

PubMed Central

Senn, Theresa E.; Braksmajer, Amy; Coury-Doniger, Patricia; Urban, Marguerite A.; Rossi, Adam; Carey, Michael P.

2016-01-01

Background Black men who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionately infected with HIV, and are less well retained along the HIV continuum of care. We report on the feasibility of a peer support text messaging intervention designed to increase retention in HIV care and HIV medication adherence among HIV-infected Black MSM. Methods Based on formative research, a cellphone app was developed to support a peer-based text messaging intervention. The app allowed the researchers to view text messages sent between mentors and mentees, but did not allow them to view other text messages sent by these phones. Three HIV-infected Black MSM were recruited to serve as volunteer peer mentors. They were trained in motivational techniques, peer support skills, and skills for improving appointment attendance and medication adherence. Mentees (N = 8) received the intervention for one month. Mentees completed a post-intervention survey and interview. Results The peer mentor text messaging intervention was feasible. Mentors delivered support in a nonjudgmental, motivational way. However, technical and other implementation problems arose. Some mentees desired more frequent contact with mentors, and mentors reported that other commitments made it difficult at times to be fully engaged. Both mentors and mentees desired more personalized contact (i.e., phone calls). Conclusions A text messaging peer mentor intervention was feasible. Additional research with a larger sample is needed to determine optimal ways to improve mentors’ engagement in the intervention, as well as to determine intervention acceptability and efficacy. In future studies, peer support phone calls could be incorporated. PMID:28079722

Social networking technologies as emerging tools for HIV prevention: A Cluster Randomized Trial

PubMed Central

Young, Sean D.; Cumberland, William G.; Lee, Sung-Jae; Jaganath, Devan; Szekeres, Greg; Coates, Thomas

2013-01-01

Background Social networking technologies are an emerging tool for HIV prevention. Objective To determine whether social networking communities can increase HIV testing among African American and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM). Design Randomized; controlled trial with concealed allocation (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01701206). Setting Online. Patients 112 MSM based in Los Angeles, more than 85% of whom were African American or Latino. Intervention Sixteen peer leaders were randomly assigned to deliver information about HIV or general health to participants via Facebook groups over 12 weeks. After participants accepted a request to join the group, participation was voluntary. Group participation and engagement was monitored. Participants could request a free home-based HIV testing kit and completed questionnaires at baseline and 12-week follow-up. Measurements Participant acceptance of and engagement in the intervention and social network participation, rates of home-based HIV testing, and sexual risk behaviors. Results Almost 95% of intervention participants and 73% of control participants voluntarily communicated using the social platform. Twenty-five of the 57 intervention participants (44%) requested home-based HIV testing kits compared with 11 of 55 control participants (20%) (difference, 24 percentage points [95% CI, 8 to 41 percentage points]). Nine of the 25 intervention participants (36%) who requested the test took it and mailed it back compared with 2 of the 11 control participants (18%) who requested the test. Retention at study follow-up was more 93%. Limitations Only 2 Facebook communities were included for each group. Conclusions Social networking communities are acceptable and effective tools to increase home-based HIV testing among at-risk populations. Primary funding source National Institute of Mental Health ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT01701206) PMID:24026317

Dating and substance use in adolescent peer networks: a replication and extension.

PubMed

Kreager, Derek A; Haynie, Dana L; Hopfer, Suellen

2013-03-01

The current report examined associations between romantic partner, peer and individual substance use behaviors in a sample of American adolescents. The report used two waves of data (8th and 9th grades) from the Partnerships to Enhance Resilience (PROSPER) intervention project and focused on dating couples and their friends in 54 sampled school-cohorts. Hierarchical logistic regression models examined the associations between friend, partner and friend-of-partner substance use and daters' future drinking and smoking. Surveys administered in rural Pennsylvania and Iowa secondary schools. A total of 744 dating couples. Student participants completed questionnaires that assessed substance use, background characteristics and dating and friend nominations. Friend, partner and friend-of-partner substance use were assessed at each wave directly from respective reports. Consistent with a bridging hypothesis, friends-of-partner drinking had a strong and independent association with subsequent drunkenness (b = 1.40, P < 0.01) and drinking (b = 0.82, P < 0.01) among daters, and these associations did not vary by gender. A similar association was not observed for smoking, where partner (b = 0.77, P < 0.01) and direct friends (b = 1.19, P < 0.05) smoking showed strong and significant associations with future smoking, but friends-of-partner smoking did not (b = -0.44, P > 0.10). Romantic partner and peer behaviors have substantially different associations with adolescent drinking and smoking. Intervention efforts aimed at reducing teenage smoking should be aimed at proximal peer and romantic relationships, whereas interventions of teenage drinking should also include the wider circle of indirect friends. © 2012 The Authors, Addiction © 2012 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Using Facebook to deliver a social norm intervention to reduce problem drinking at university.

PubMed

Ridout, Brad; Campbell, Andrew

2014-11-01

University students usually overestimate peer alcohol use, resulting in them 'drinking up' to perceived norms. Social norms theory suggests correcting these inflated perceptions can reduce alcohol consumption. Recent findings by the current authors show portraying oneself as 'a drinker' is considered by many students to be a socially desirable component of their Facebook identity, perpetuating an online culture that normalises binge drinking. However, social networking sites have yet to be utilised in social norms interventions. Actual and perceived descriptive and injunctive drinking norms were collected from 244 university students. Ninety-five students screened positive for hazardous drinking and were randomly allocated to a control group or intervention group that received social norms feedback via personalised Facebook private messages over three sessions. At 1 month post-intervention, the quantity and frequency of alcohol consumed by intervention group during the previous month had significantly reduced compared with baseline and controls. Reductions were maintained 3 months post-intervention. Intervention group perceived drinking norms were significantly more accurate post-intervention. This is the first study to test the feasibility of using Facebook to deliver social norms interventions. Correcting misperceptions of peer drinking norms resulted in clinically significant reductions in alcohol use. Facebook has many advantages over traditional social norms delivery, providing an innovative method for tackling problem drinking at university. These results have implications for the use of Facebook to deliver positive messages about safe alcohol use to students, which may counter the negative messages regarding alcohol normally seen on Facebook. © 2014 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Networking CD-ROMs: A Tutorial Introduction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perone, Karen

1996-01-01

Provides an introduction to CD-ROM networking. Highlights include LAN (local area network) architectures for CD-ROM networks, peer-to-peer networks, shared file and dedicated file servers, commercial software/vendor solutions, problems, multiple hardware platforms, and multimedia. Six figures illustrate network architectures and a sidebar contains…

A Peer-Support and Mindfulness Program to Improve the Mental Health of Medical Students.

PubMed

Moir, Fiona; Henning, Marcus; Hassed, Craig; Moyes, Simon A; Elley, C Raina

2016-01-01

There is evidence that peer-support programs can improve mental health indices and help-seeking behavior among students in some secondary school and university settings and that mindfulness can improve mental health in medical students. Peer-led programs have not been formally assessed in a medical student population, where psychological issues exist and where it has been shown that students approach peers for help in preference to staff members or professional services. Medical students elected peer leaders who underwent training and then provided the intervention. The peer leaders provided support to students in the intervention group, as well as offering teaching in mindfulness meditation. An exploratory study was conducted with 2nd- and 3rd-year medical students at 1 medical school in New Zealand randomized into 2 groups. In addition to existing mental health resources, intervention participants received a program including peer support and peer-taught mindfulness practice. Study participants not offered the intervention participants could use existing mental health resources. Primary measures included depression (PHQ-9) and anxiety (GAD-7) scores. Secondary measures were quality of life, resilience (15-item resilience scale), academic self-concept, and motivation to learn, assessed at baseline and 6 months. Of the 402 students eligible, 275 (68%) participated and 232 (58%) completed the study. At baseline, 53% were female and mean age was 21 years (SD = 3)-PHQ-9 score (M = 5.2, SD = 3.7) and GAD-7 score (M = 4.5, SD = 3.4). Twelve peer leaders were elected. There was good participation in the intervention. One fourth of intervention students used the face-to-face peer support and more than 50% attended a peer social event and/or participated in the mindfulness program. Although improvements in mental health were seen in the intervention group, the difference between the intervention and nonintervention groups did not reach statistical significance. Although evidence exists for effectiveness of peer support and mindfulness in other contexts, this exploratory study was not able to show a statistically significant effect. Future studies could consider using a longer training period for the peer leaders, as well as targeting the study population to those most likely to benefit such as those with poorer mental health, or using a more intensive intervention or larger sample size. A cluster randomized study design would also reduce the risk of contamination.

Responding to Children Victimized by Their Peers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nickerson, Amanda B.; Brock, Stephen E.; Chang, Yiping; O'Malley, Meagan D.

2006-01-01

Because victimization results from the dynamic interplay between the victim and his or her parents, peers, and teachers, responding to this problem should involve both direct and indirect interventions. This paper describes and reviews empirically supported direct interventions with victims, as well as indirect interventions with parents, peers,…

Students' Informal Peer Feedback Networks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Headington, Rita

2018-01-01

The nature and significance of students' informal peer feedback networks is an under-explored area. This paper offers the findings of a longitudinal investigation of the informal peer feedback networks of a cohort of student teachers [n = 105] across the three years of a UK primary education degree programme. It tracked the dynamic nature of these…

A distributed incentive compatible pricing mechanism for P2P networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jie; Zhao, Zheng; Xiong, Xiao; Shi, Qingwei

2007-09-01

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems are currently receiving considerable interest. However, as experience with P2P networks shows, the selfish behaviors of peers may lead to serious problems of P2P network, such as free-riding and white-washing. In order to solve these problems, there are increasing considerations on reputation system design in the study of P2P networks. Most of the existing works is concerning probabilistic estimation or social networks to evaluate the trustworthiness for a peer to others. However, these models can not be efficient all the time. In this paper, our aim is to provide a general mechanism that can maximize P2P networks social welfare in a way of Vickrey-Clarke-Groves family, while assuming every peer in P2P networks is rational and selfish, which means they only concern about their own outcome. This mechanism has some desirable properties using an O(n) algorithm: (1) incentive compatibility, every peer truly report its connection type; (2) individually rationality; and (3) fully decentralized, we design a multiple-principal multiple-agent model, concerning about the service provider and service requester individually.

A multi-tiered architecture for content retrieval in mobile peer-to-peer networks.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-01-01

In this paper, we address content retrieval in Mobile Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Networks. We design a multi-tiered architecture for content : retrieval, where at Tier 1, we design a protocol for content similarity governed by a parameter that trades accu...

Social networking technologies as an emerging tool for HIV prevention: a cluster randomized trial.

PubMed

Young, Sean D; Cumberland, William G; Lee, Sung-Jae; Jaganath, Devan; Szekeres, Greg; Coates, Thomas

2013-09-03

Social networking technologies are an emerging tool for HIV prevention. To determine whether social networking communities can increase HIV testing among African American and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM). Randomized, controlled trial with concealed allocation. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01701206). Online. 112 MSM based in Los Angeles, more than 85% of whom were African American or Latino. Sixteen peer leaders were randomly assigned to deliver information about HIV or general health to participants via Facebook groups over 12 weeks. After participants accepted a request to join the group, participation was voluntary. Group participation and engagement were monitored. Participants could request a free, home-based HIV testing kit and completed questionnaires at baseline and 12-week follow-up. Participant acceptance of and engagement in the intervention and social network participation, rates of home-based HIV testing, and sexual risk behaviors. Almost 95% of intervention participants and 73% of control participants voluntarily communicated using the social platform. Twenty-five of 57 intervention participants (44%) requested home-based HIV testing kits compared with 11 of 55 control participants (20%) (difference, 24 percentage points [95% CI, 8 to 41 percentage points]). Nine of the 25 intervention participants (36%) who requested the test took it and mailed it back compared with 2 of the 11 control participants (18%) who requested the test. Retention at study follow-up was more than 93%. Only 2 Facebook communities were included for each group. Social networking communities are acceptable and effective tools to increase home-based HIV testing among at-risk populations. National Institute of Mental Health.

Patterns of victimization between and within peer clusters in a high school social network.

PubMed

Swartz, Kristin; Reyns, Bradford W; Wilcox, Pamela; Dunham, Jessica R

2012-01-01

This study presents a descriptive analysis of patterns of violent victimization between and within the various cohesive clusters of peers comprising a sample of more than 500 9th-12th grade students from one high school. Social network analysis techniques provide a visualization of the overall friendship network structure and allow for the examination of variation in victimization across the various peer clusters within the larger network. Social relationships among clusters with varying levels of victimization are also illustrated so as to provide a sense of possible spatial clustering or diffusion of victimization across proximal peer clusters. Additionally, to provide a sense of the sorts of peer clusters that support (or do not support) victimization, characteristics of clusters at both the high and low ends of the victimization scale are discussed. Finally, several of the peer clusters at both the high and low ends of the victimization continuum are "unpacked", allowing examination of within-network individual-level differences in victimization for these select clusters.

Sex-Related Online Behaviors, Perceived Peer Norms and Adolescents’ Experience with Sexual Behavior: Testing an Integrative Model

PubMed Central

Doornwaard, Suzan M.; ter Bogt, Tom F. M.; Reitz, Ellen; van den Eijnden, Regina J. J. M.

2015-01-01

Research on the role of sex-related Internet use in adolescents’ sexual development has often isolated the Internet and online behaviors from other, offline influencing factors in adolescents’ lives, such as processes in the peer domain. The aim of this study was to test an integrative model explaining how receptive (i.e., use of sexually explicit Internet material [SEIM]) and interactive (i.e., use of social networking sites [SNS]) sex-related online behaviors interrelate with perceived peer norms in predicting adolescents’ experience with sexual behavior. Structural equation modeling on longitudinal data from 1,132 Dutch adolescents (Mage T1 = 13.95; range 11-17; 52.7% boys) demonstrated concurrent, direct, and indirect effects between sex-related online behaviors, perceived peer norms, and experience with sexual behavior. SEIM use (among boys) and SNS use (among boys and girls) predicted increases in adolescents’ perceptions of peer approval of sexual behavior and/or in their estimates of the numbers of sexually active peers. These perceptions, in turn, predicted increases in adolescents’ level of experience with sexual behavior at the end of the study. Boys’ SNS use also directly predicted increased levels of experience with sexual behavior. These findings highlight the need for multisystemic research and intervention development to promote adolescents’ sexual health. PMID:26086606

Sex-Related Online Behaviors, Perceived Peer Norms and Adolescents' Experience with Sexual Behavior: Testing an Integrative Model.

PubMed

Doornwaard, Suzan M; ter Bogt, Tom F M; Reitz, Ellen; van den Eijnden, Regina J J M

2015-01-01

Research on the role of sex-related Internet use in adolescents' sexual development has often isolated the Internet and online behaviors from other, offline influencing factors in adolescents' lives, such as processes in the peer domain. The aim of this study was to test an integrative model explaining how receptive (i.e., use of sexually explicit Internet material [SEIM]) and interactive (i.e., use of social networking sites [SNS]) sex-related online behaviors interrelate with perceived peer norms in predicting adolescents' experience with sexual behavior. Structural equation modeling on longitudinal data from 1,132 Dutch adolescents (M(age) T1 = 13.95; range 11-17; 52.7% boys) demonstrated concurrent, direct, and indirect effects between sex-related online behaviors, perceived peer norms, and experience with sexual behavior. SEIM use (among boys) and SNS use (among boys and girls) predicted increases in adolescents' perceptions of peer approval of sexual behavior and/or in their estimates of the numbers of sexually active peers. These perceptions, in turn, predicted increases in adolescents' level of experience with sexual behavior at the end of the study. Boys' SNS use also directly predicted increased levels of experience with sexual behavior. These findings highlight the need for multisystemic research and intervention development to promote adolescents' sexual health.

Systematic review of social network analysis in adolescent cigarette smoking behavior.

PubMed

Seo, Dong-Chul; Huang, Yan

2012-01-01

Social networks are important in adolescent smoking behavior. Previous research indicates that peer context is a major causal factor of adolescent smoking behavior. To date, however, little is known about the influence of peer group structure on adolescent smoking behavior. Studies that examined adolescent social networks with regard to their cigarette smoking behavior were identified through online and manual literature searches. Ten social network analysis studies involving a total of 28,263 adolescents were included in the final review. Of the 10 reviewed studies, 6 identify clique members, liaisons, and isolates as contributing factors to adolescent cigarette smoking. Significantly higher rates of smoking are noted among isolates than clique members or liaisons in terms of peer network structure. Eight of the reviewed studies indicate that peer selection or influence precedes adolescents' smoking behavior and intent to smoke. Such peer selection or influence accounts for a large portion of similarities among smoking adolescents. Adolescents who are identified as isolates are more likely to smoke and engage in risk-taking behaviors than others in the peer network structure. Given that the vast majority of current adult smokers started their smoking habits during adolescence, adolescent smoking prevention efforts will likely benefit from incorporating social network analytic approaches and focusing the efforts on isolates and other vulnerable adolescents from a peer selection and influence perspective. © 2011, American School Health Association.

Peer Coaching Interventions for Parents of Children with Type 1 Diabetes.

PubMed

Tully, Carrie; Shneider, Caitlin; Monaghan, Maureen; Hilliard, Marisa E; Streisand, Randi

2017-06-01

Peer support is a promising model of providing psychosocial support to parents of children with type 1 diabetes. This review seeks to discuss the findings of the existing literature in peer coaching as it relates to parents and diabetes as well as to identify gaps in knowledge for future intervention development and implementation. Peer support programs vary widely with regard to recruitment, training, and delivery protocols. Across most programs, ongoing support and supervision are provided to peer coaches. Despite inconsistent effects on psychosocial and child health outcomes, parent coaching is consistently a highly acceptable and feasible intervention with parents of children with T1D. Current evidence supports use of parent coaching as part of a multicomponent intervention or program to increase patient satisfaction, but more research is needed to determine if it can stand alone as an active mechanism for behavior change. The use of peer coach interventions for parents of young children with diabetes is feasible to implement and highly acceptable. However, more research is needed to understand the enduring impact for target parents and peer coaches alike, as well as impact on child outcomes.

Development and Preliminary Pilot Testing of a Peer Support Text Messaging Intervention for HIV-Infected Black Men Who Have Sex With Men.

PubMed

Senn, Theresa E; Braksmajer, Amy; Coury-Doniger, Patricia; Urban, Marguerite A; Rossi, Adam; Carey, Michael P

2017-02-01

Black men who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionately infected with HIV and are less well retained along the HIV continuum of care. We report on the feasibility of a peer support text messaging intervention designed to increase retention in HIV care and HIV medication adherence among HIV-infected black men who have sex with men. Based on formative research, a cell phone app was developed to support a peer-based text messaging intervention. The app allowed the researchers to view text messages sent between mentors and mentees, but did not allow them to view other text messages sent by these phones. Three HIV-infected black men who have sex with men were recruited to serve as volunteer peer mentors. They were trained in motivational techniques, peer support skills, and skills for improving appointment attendance and medication adherence. Mentees (N = 8) received the intervention for 1 month. Mentees completed a postintervention survey and interview. The peer mentor text messaging intervention was feasible. Mentors delivered support in a nonjudgmental, motivational way. However, technical and other implementation problems arose. Some mentees desired more frequent contact with mentors, and mentors reported that other commitments made it difficult at times to be fully engaged. Both mentors and mentees desired more personalized contact (ie, phone calls). A text messaging peer mentor intervention was feasible. Additional research with a larger sample is needed to determine optimal ways to improve mentors' engagement in the intervention and to determine intervention acceptability and efficacy. In future studies, peer support phone calls could be incorporated.

Family networks and infant health promotion: a mixed-methods evaluation from a cluster randomised controlled trial in rural Malawi

PubMed Central

Scott, Molly; Phiri, Tambosi; Chapota, Hilda; Kainja, Esther; Banda, Florida; Vera-Hernandez, Marcos

2018-01-01

Objective Parents may rely on information provided by extended family members when making decisions concerning the health of their children. We evaluate whether extended family members affected the success of an information intervention promoting infant health. Methods This is a secondary, sequential mixed-methods study based on a cluster randomised controlled trial of a peer-led home-education intervention conducted in Mchinji District, Malawi. We used linear multivariate regression to test whether the intervention impact on child height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) was influenced by extended family members. 12 of 24 clusters were assigned to the intervention, in which all pregnant women and new mothers were eligible to receive 5 home visits from a trained peer counsellor to discuss infant care and nutrition. We conducted focus group discussions with mothers, grandmothers and peer counsellors, and key-informant interviews with husbands, chiefs and community health workers to better understand the roles of extended family members in infant feeding. Results Exposure to the intervention increased child HAZ scores by 0.296 SD (95% CI 0.116 to 0.484). However, this effect is smaller in the presence of paternal grandmothers. Compared with an effect size of 0.441 to 0.467 SD (95% CI −0.344 to 1.050) if neither grandmother is alive, the effect size was 0.235 (95% CI −0.493 to 0.039) to 0.253 (95% CI −0.529 to 0.029) SD lower if the paternal grandmother was alive. There was no evidence of an effect of parents’ siblings. Maternal grandmothers did not affect intervention impact, but were associated with a lower HAZ score in the control group. Qualitative analysis suggested that grandmothers, who act as secondary caregivers and provide resources for infants, were slower to dismiss traditionally held practices and adopt intervention messages. Conclusion The results indicate that the intervention impacts are diminished by paternal grandmothers. Intervention success could be increased by integrating senior women. PMID:29880562

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Effectiveness of a Peer-Delivered and Technology Supported Self-Management Intervention for Older Adults with Serious Mental Illness.

PubMed

Fortuna, Karen L; DiMilia, Peter R; Lohman, Matthew C; Bruce, Martha L; Zubritsky, Cynthia D; Halaby, Mitch R; Walker, Robert M; Brooks, Jessica M; Bartels, Stephen J

2018-06-01

To assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a peer-delivered and technology supported integrated medical and psychiatric self-management intervention for older adults with serious mental illness. Ten older adults with serious mental illness (i.e., schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, or major depressive disorder) and medical comorbidity (i.e., cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, and/or high cholesterol) aged 60 years and older received the PeerTECH intervention in their homes. Three certified peer specialists were trained to deliver PeerTECH. Data were collected at baseline, one-month, and three-month. The pilot study demonstrated that a three-month, peer-delivered and technology-supported integrated medical and psychiatric self-management intervention ("PeerTECH") was experienced by peer specialists and participants as feasible and acceptable. PeerTECH was associated with statistically significant improvements in psychiatric self-management. In addition, pre/post, non-statistically significant improvements were observed in self-efficacy for managing chronic health conditions, hope, quality of life, medical self-management skills, and empowerment. This pre/post pilot study demonstrated it is possible to train peers to use technology to deliver an integrated psychiatric and medical self-management intervention in a home-based setting to older adults with serious mental illness with fidelity. These findings provide preliminary evidence that a peer-delivered and technology-supported intervention designed to improve medical and psychiatric self-management is feasible, acceptable, and is potentially associated with improvements in psychiatric self-management, self-efficacy for managing chronic health conditions, hope, quality of life, medical self-management skills, and empowerment with older adults with serious mental illness and chronic health conditions.

Incentives as connectors: insights into a breastfeeding incentive intervention in a disadvantaged area of North-West England

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Incentive or reward schemes are becoming increasingly popular to motivate healthy lifestyle behaviours. In this paper, insights from a qualitative and descriptive study to investigate the uptake, impact and meanings of a breastfeeding incentive intervention integrated into an existing peer support programme (Star Buddies) are reported. The Star Buddies service employs breastfeeding peer supporters to support women across the ante-natal, intra-partum and post-partum period. Methods In a disadvantaged area of North West England, women initiating breastfeeding were recruited by peer supporters on the postnatal ward or soon after hospital discharge to participate in an 8 week incentive (gifts and vouchers) and breastfeeding peer supporter intervention. In-depth interviews were conducted with 26 women participants who engaged with the incentive intervention, and a focus group was held with the 4 community peer supporters who delivered the intervention. Descriptive analysis of routinely collected data for peer supporter contacts and breastfeeding outcomes before and after the incentive intervention triangulated and retrospectively provided the context for the qualitative thematic analysis. Results A global theme emerged of 'incentives as connectors', with two sub-themes of 'facilitating connections' and 'facilitating relationships and wellbeing'. The incentives were linked to discussion themes and gift giving facilitated peer supporter access for proactive weekly home visits to support women. Regular face to face contacts enabled meaningful relationships and new connections within and between the women, families, peer supporters and care providers to be formed and sustained. Participants in the incentive scheme received more home visits and total contact time with peer supporters compared to women before the incentive intervention. Full participation levels and breastfeeding rates at 6-8 weeks were similar for women before and after the incentive intervention. Conclusion The findings suggest that whilst the provision of incentives might not influence women's intentions or motivations to breastfeed, the connections forged provided psycho-social benefits for both programme users and peer supporters. PMID:22458841

Integration of Peer Philosophy into a Standardized Self-Management Mobile Health Intervention.

PubMed

Fortuna, Karen L; Storm, Marianne; Aschbrenner, Kelly A; Bartels, Stephen J

2018-04-19

Description of certified peer specialists integration of peer philosophy into the delivery of a self-management intervention enhanced with mobile health. Qualitative examination of peer case notes that were routinely entered on a peer care management electronic dashboard. This study included consumers with serious mental illness (N = 8) with a mean age of 68.8 years (SD = 4.9). Certified peer specialists (N = 3) were all female and aged 55 years or older. Peers entered 146 case notes on the peer care management notes dashboard. Five themes emerged including encouragement of self-determination, bio-psychosocial-spiritual framework guides practice, sharing lived experience to teach self-management skills, personalized text messages to reinforce self-management skill development, and identifying unmet needs and advocating for human rights. Peers unique perspectives and expertise was complemented with the standardized delivery of evidence-based intervention enhanced with mobile health.

Actual versus perceived peer sexual risk behavior in online youth social networks.

PubMed

Black, Sandra R; Schmiege, Sarah; Bull, Sheana

2013-09-01

Perception of peer behaviors is an important predictor of actual risk behaviors among youth. However, we lack understanding of peer influence through social media and of actual and perceived peer behavior concordance. The purpose of this research is to document the relationship between individual perception of and actual peer sexual risk behavior using online social networks. The data are a result of a secondary analysis of baseline self-reported and peer-reported sexual risk behavior from a cluster randomized trial including 1,029 persons from 162 virtual networks. Individuals (seeds) recruited up to three friends who then recruited additional friends, extending three waves from the seed. ANOVA models compared network means of actual participant behavior across categories of perceived behavior. Concordance varied between reported and perceived behavior, with higher concordance between perceived and reported condom use, multiple partners, concurrent partners, sexual pressure, and drug and alcohol use during sex. Individuals significantly over-reported risk and under-reported protective peer behaviors related to sex.

Observations of adolescent peer resistance skills following a classroom-based healthy relationship program: a post-intervention comparison.

PubMed

Wolfe, David A; Crooks, Claire V; Chiodo, Debbie; Hughes, Raymond; Ellis, Wendy

2012-04-01

This study examines peer resistance skills following a 21-lesson classroom-based intervention to build healthy relationships and decrease abusive and health-risk behaviors among adolescents. The Fourth R instructs students in positive relationship skills, such as negotiation and delay, for navigating challenging peer and dating scenarios. Observational data from 196 grade 9 students participating in a larger cluster randomized controlled trial were used to evaluate post-intervention acquisition of peer resistance skills. Pairs of students engaged in a role play paradigm with older student actors, where they were subjected to increasing pressure to comply with peer requests related to drugs and alcohol, bullying, and sexual behavior. Specific and global measures of change in peer resistance responses were obtained from two independent sets of observers, blinded to condition. Specific peer resistance responses (negotiation, delay, yielding to pressure, refusal, and compliance) were coded by research assistants; global peer resistance responses were rated by teachers from other schools (thinking / inquiry, application, communication, and perceived efficacy). Students who received the intervention were more likely to demonstrate negotiation skills and less likely to yield to negative pressure relative to controls. Intervention students were also more likely to use delay than controls; control girls were more likely to use refusal responses; the number of times students complied with peer requests did not differ. Teacher ratings demonstrated significant main effects favoring intervention youth on all measures. Program and research implications are highlighted.

The Use of Peer Networks to Increase Communicative Acts of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kamps, Debra; Mason, Rose; Thiemann-Bourque, Kathy; Feldmiller, Sarah; Turcotte, Amy; Miller, Todd

2014-01-01

Peer networks including social groups using typical peers, scripted instruction, visual text cues, and reinforcement were examined with students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A multiple baseline design across four participants was used to measure students' use of communication acts with peers during free play following instruction. Peer…

Peer Network Drinking Predicts Increased Alcohol Use From Adolescence to Early Adulthood After Controlling for Genetic and Shared Environmental Selection

PubMed Central

Cruz, Jennifer E.; Emery, Robert E.; Turkheimer, Eric

2013-01-01

Research consistently links adolescents' and young adults' drinking with their peers' alcohol intake. In interpreting this correlation, 2 essential questions are often overlooked. First, which peers are more important, best friends or broader social networks? Second, do peers cause increased drinking, or do young people select friends whose drinking habits match their own? The present study combines social network analyses with family (twin and sibling) designs to answer these questions via data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Analysis of peer nomination data from 134 schools (n = 82,629) and 1,846 twin and sibling pairs shows that peer network substance use predicts changes in drinking from adolescence into young adult life even after controlling for genetic and shared environmental selection, as well as best friend substance use. This effect was particularly strong for high-intensity friendships. Although the peer-adolescent drinking correlation is partially explained by selection, the present finding offers powerful evidence that peers also cause increased drinking. PMID:22390657

The Influence of Social Media on Addictive Behaviors in College Students.

PubMed

Steers, Mai-Ly N; Moreno, Megan A; Neighbors, Clayton

2016-12-01

Social media has become a primary way for college students to communicate aspects of their daily lives to those within their social network. Such communications often include substance use displays (e.g., selfies of college students drinking). Furthermore, students' substance use displays have been found to robustly predict not only the posters' substance use-related outcomes (e.g., consumption, problems) but also that of their social networking peers. The current review summarizes findings of recent literature exploring the intersection between social media and substance use. Specifically, we examine how and why such substance use displays might shape college students' internalized norms surrounding substance use and how it impacts their substance use-related behaviors. Additional social media-related interventions are needed in order to target reduction of consumption among this at-risk group. We discuss the technological and methodological challenges inherent to conducting research and devising interventions in this domain.

Managing Network Partitions in Structured P2P Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shafaat, Tallat M.; Ghodsi, Ali; Haridi, Seif

Structured overlay networks form a major class of peer-to-peer systems, which are touted for their abilities to scale, tolerate failures, and self-manage. Any long-lived Internet-scale distributed system is destined to face network partitions. Consequently, the problem of network partitions and mergers is highly related to fault-tolerance and self-management in large-scale systems. This makes it a crucial requirement for building any structured peer-to-peer systems to be resilient to network partitions. Although the problem of network partitions and mergers is highly related to fault-tolerance and self-management in large-scale systems, it has hardly been studied in the context of structured peer-to-peer systems. Structured overlays have mainly been studied under churn (frequent joins/failures), which as a side effect solves the problem of network partitions, as it is similar to massive node failures. Yet, the crucial aspect of network mergers has been ignored. In fact, it has been claimed that ring-based structured overlay networks, which constitute the majority of the structured overlays, are intrinsically ill-suited for merging rings. In this chapter, we motivate the problem of network partitions and mergers in structured overlays. We discuss how a structured overlay can automatically detect a network partition and merger. We present an algorithm for merging multiple similar ring-based overlays when the underlying network merges. We examine the solution in dynamic conditions, showing how our solution is resilient to churn during the merger, something widely believed to be difficult or impossible. We evaluate the algorithm for various scenarios and show that even when falsely detecting a merger, the algorithm quickly terminates and does not clutter the network with many messages. The algorithm is flexible as the tradeoff between message complexity and time complexity can be adjusted by a parameter.

Training Peer Partners to Use a Speech-Generating Device With Classmates With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Exploring Communication Outcomes Across Preschool Contexts.

PubMed

Thiemann-Bourque, Kathy S; McGuff, Sara; Goldstein, Howard

2017-09-18

This study examined effects of a peer-mediated intervention that provided training on the use of a speech-generating device for preschoolers with severe autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and peer partners. Effects were examined using a multiple probe design across 3 children with ASD and limited to no verbal skills. Three peers without disabilities were taught to Stay, Play, and Talk using a GoTalk 4+ (Attainment Company) and were then paired up with a classmate with ASD in classroom social activities. Measures included rates of communication acts, communication mode and function, reciprocity, and engagement with peers. Following peer training, intervention effects were replicated across 3 peers, who all demonstrated an increased level and upward trend in communication acts to their classmates with ASD. Outcomes also revealed moderate intervention effects and increased levels of peer-directed communication for 3 children with ASD in classroom centers. Additional analyses revealed higher rates of communication in the added context of preferred toys and snack. The children with ASD also demonstrated improved communication reciprocity and peer engagement. Results provide preliminary evidence on the benefits of combining peer-mediated and speech-generating device interventions to improve children's communication. Furthermore, it appears that preferred contexts are likely to facilitate greater communication and social engagement with peers.

A systematic review of peer mentoring interventions for people with traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Morris, Richard Pg; Fletcher-Smith, Joanna C; Radford, Kathryn A

2017-08-01

This systematic review sought evidence concerning the effectiveness of peer mentoring for people with traumatic brain injury. Fourteen electronic databases were searched, including PsycINFO, MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library, from inception to September 21 2016. Ten grey literature databases, PROSPERO, two trials registers, reference lists and author citations were also searched. Studies which employed a model of one-to-one peer mentoring between traumatic brain injury survivors were included. Two reviewers independently screened all titles and abstracts before screening full texts of shortlisted studies. A third reviewer resolved disagreements. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed studies for quality and risk of bias. The search returned 753 records, including one identified through hand searching. 495 records remained after removal of duplicates and 459 were excluded after screening. Full texts were assessed for the remaining 36 studies and six met the inclusion criteria. All were conducted in the United States between 1996 and 2012 and employed a variety of designs including two randomised controlled trials. A total of 288 people with traumatic brain injury participated in the studies. No significant improvements in social activity level or social network size were found, but significant improvements were shown in areas including behavioural control, mood, coping and quality of life. There is limited evidence for the effectiveness of peer mentoring after traumatic brain injury. The available evidence comes from small-scale studies, of variable quality, without detailed information on the content of sessions or the 'active ingredient' of the interventions.

Peer associations for substance use and exercise in a college student social network.

PubMed

Barnett, Nancy P; Ott, Miles Q; Rogers, Michelle L; Loxley, Michelle; Linkletter, Crystal; Clark, Melissa A

2014-10-01

Substance use and exercise have opposite trajectories in young adulthood, and research indicates that peers are influential for both of these health behaviors, but simultaneous investigations of peer associations with substance use and exercise have not been conducted. Use a college residence hall peer network to examine associations between peer behaviors and alcohol use, marijuana use, and exercise behavior. 129 undergraduates (51.9% female, 48.1% non-Hispanic White; 84.5% first-year students) in one residence hall completed a Web-based survey of substance use and exercise and identified up to 10 students in the residence hall who were important to them. Two social network analytic methods, community detection cluster analysis and network autocorrelation modeling, were used to identify peer groupings and to examine the associations between peer and participant behaviors, respectively. Participants nominated an average of 4.1 residence hall members, and 53.9% of the ties were reciprocal. 6 clusters were identified that differed significantly on demographics, college activities, substance use, and exercise. Weekly volume of alcohol consumed among nominated peers was significantly associated with that of participants, and all other covariates, including gender and athlete status, were not significant. Peer marijuana use also was associated with participant use after controlling for covariates. Exercise levels of nominated peers were not associated with exercise levels of participants. College student networks may be good targets for health-related prevention programs. Programs that use close-proximity peers to influence the behavior of others might be more effective with substance use as the target behavior than exercise.

Aggression and social withdrawal as viewed by children's peers: conceptual issues in assessment and implications for intervention.

PubMed Central

Younger, A J; Schneider, B H; Daniels, T

1991-01-01

Children's peer assessments of aggressive and withdrawn behavior are fundamentally related to developmental changes in their understanding of others. This article synthesizes research relevant to the thesis that peer assessments are dependent on children's ability both to recall the previous behavior of their peers and to predict their likely future behavior. Social schema theory, borrowed from adult social psychology, is highly relevant to such recall and prediction. Age differences, affective biases, and gender roles may color children's assessments of their peers' social behavior. Such influences should be taken into account when conceptualizing interventions aimed at enhancing children's peer status, and in measuring the success of these interventions. PMID:1958647

PISA: Federated Search in P2P Networks with Uncooperative Peers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Zujie; Shou, Lidan; Chen, Gang; Chen, Chun; Bei, Yijun

Recently, federated search in P2P networks has received much attention. Most of the previous work assumed a cooperative environment where each peer can actively participate in information publishing and distributed document indexing. However, little work has addressed the problem of incorporating uncooperative peers, which do not publish their own corpus statistics, into a network. This paper presents a P2P-based federated search framework called PISA which incorporates uncooperative peers as well as the normal ones. In order to address the indexing needs for uncooperative peers, we propose a novel heuristic query-based sampling approach which can obtain high-quality resource descriptions from uncooperative peers at relatively low communication cost. We also propose an effective method called RISE to merge the results returned by uncooperative peers. Our experimental results indicate that PISA can provide quality search results, while utilizing the uncooperative peers at a low cost.

A Review of Peer-Mediated Social Interaction Interventions for Students with Autism in Inclusive Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watkins, Laci; O'Reilly, Mark; Kuhn, Michelle; Gevarter, Cindy; Lancioni, Giulio E.; Sigafoos, Jeff; Lang, Russell

2015-01-01

This review addresses the use of peer-mediated interventions (PMI) to improve the social interaction skills of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in inclusive settings. The purpose of this review is to (a) identify the characteristics and components of peer-mediated social interaction interventions, (b) evaluate the effectiveness of PMI…

Peer Relations and Access to Capital in the Mathematics Classroom: A Bourdieusian Social Network Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choudry, Sophina; Williams, Julian; Black, Laura

2017-01-01

The aim of this article is to explore the structure of social capital in peer networks and its relation to the unequal access of educational resources within mathematics classrooms. We hypothesise that learners can gain access to mathematics through friendship networks which provide more or less help from peers that might sustain (or curtail)…

Random Visitor: Defense against Identity Attacks in P2P Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Jabeom; Nah, Jaehoon; Kwon, Hyeokchan; Jang, Jonsoo; Park, Sehyun

Various advantages of cooperative peer-to-peer networks are strongly counterbalanced by the open nature of a distributed, serverless network. In such networks, it is relatively easy for an attacker to launch various attacks such as misrouting, corrupting, or dropping messages as a result of a successful identifier forgery. The impact of an identifier forgery is particularly severe because the whole network can be compromised by attacks such as Sybil or Eclipse. In this paper, we present an identifier authentication mechanism called random visitor, which uses one or more randomly selected peers as delegates of identity proof. Our scheme uses identity-based cryptography and identity ownership proof mechanisms collectively to create multiple, cryptographically protected indirect bindings between two peers, instantly when needed, through the delegates. Because of these bindings, an attacker cannot achieve an identifier forgery related attack against interacting peers without breaking the bindings. Therefore, our mechanism limits the possibility of identifier forgery attacks efficiently by disabling an attacker's ability to break the binding. The design rationale and framework details are presented. A security analysis shows that our scheme is strong enough against identifier related attacks and that the strength increases if there are many peers (more than several thousand) in the network.

Social integration in friendship networks: The synergy of network structure and peer influence in relation to cigarette smoking among high risk adolescents

PubMed Central

Lakon, Cynthia M.; Valente, Thomas W.

2013-01-01

Using data from a study of high risk adolescents in Southern California, U.S.A. (N = 851), this study examined synergy between social network measures of social integration and peer influence in relation to past month cigarette smoking. Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling, results indicated that being central in networks was significantly and positively related to past month cigarette smoking, across all study models. In addition, there is modest evidence that the number of reciprocated friendship ties was positively related to past month cigarette smoking. There is also some modest evidence that the relationship between having reciprocated friendships and past month cigarette smoking was moderated by a network peer influence process, smoking with those in youths’ best friend networks. Findings indicate that being integrated within a social network context of peer influences favoring drug use relates to more smoking among these high risk youth. PMID:22436575

"Peer Social Capital" and Networks of Migrants and Minority Ethnic Youth in England and Spain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jørgensen, Clara Helene Rübner

2017-01-01

This article discusses friendships and peer groups of migrant and minority ethnic youth in schools in England and Spain, and critically considers them in relation to existing notions of "peer social capital" and bridging (heterogeneous) and bonding (homogeneous) peer networks. The article argues for an extended understanding of peer…

On the Directionality Test of Peer Effects in Social Networks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

An, Weihua

2016-01-01

One interesting idea in social network analysis is the directionality test that utilizes the directions of social ties to help identify peer effects. The null hypothesis of the test is that if contextual factors are the only force that affects peer outcomes, the estimated peer effects should not differ, if the directions of social ties are…

Sexual Networks and HIV Risk among Black Men Who Have Sex with Men in 6 U.S. Cities.

PubMed

Tieu, Hong-Van; Liu, Ting-Yuan; Hussen, Sophia; Connor, Matthew; Wang, Lei; Buchbinder, Susan; Wilton, Leo; Gorbach, Pamina; Mayer, Kenneth; Griffith, Sam; Kelly, Corey; Elharrar, Vanessa; Phillips, Gregory; Cummings, Vanessa; Koblin, Beryl; Latkin, Carl

2015-01-01

Sexual networks may place U.S. Black men who have sex with men (MSM) at increased HIV risk. Self-reported egocentric sexual network data from the prior six months were collected from 1,349 community-recruited Black MSM in HPTN 061, a multi-component HIV prevention intervention feasibility study. Sexual network composition, size, and density (extent to which members are having sex with one another) were compared by self-reported HIV serostatus and age of the men. GEE models assessed network and other factors associated with having a Black sex partner, having a partner with at least two age category difference (age difference between participant and partner of at least two age group categories), and having serodiscordant/serostatus unknown unprotected anal/vaginal intercourse (SDUI) in the last six months. Over half had exclusively Black partners in the last six months, 46% had a partner of at least two age category difference, 87% had ≤5 partners. Nearly 90% had sex partners who were also part of their social networks. Among HIV-negative men, not having anonymous/exchange/ trade partners and lower density were associated with having a Black partner; larger sexual network size and having non-primary partners were associated with having a partner with at least two age category difference; and having anonymous/exchange/ trade partners was associated with SDUI. Among HIV-positive men, not having non-primary partners was associated with having a Black partner; no sexual network characteristics were associated with having a partner with at least two age category difference and SDUI. Black MSM sexual networks were relatively small and often overlapped with the social networks. Sexual risk was associated with having non-primary partners and larger network size. Network interventions that engage the social networks of Black MSM, such as interventions utilizing peer influence, should be developed to address stable partnerships, number of partners, and serostatus disclosure.

From parent to 'peer facilitator': a qualitative study of a peer-led parenting programme.

PubMed

Thomson, S; Michelson, D; Day, C

2015-01-01

Peer-led interventions are increasingly common in community health settings. Although peer-led approaches have proven benefits for service users, relatively little is known about the process and outcomes of participation for peer leaders. This study investigated experiences of parents who had participated as 'peer facilitators' in Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities (EPEC), a peer-led programme designed to improve access to evidence-based parenting support in socially disadvantaged communities. A qualitative cross-sectional design was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 peer facilitators and scrutinized using thematic analysis. Peer facilitators developed their knowledge and skills through personal experience of receiving parenting support, participation in formal training and supervised practice, access to an intervention manual, and peer modelling. Peer facilitators described positive changes in their own families, confidence and social status. Transformative personal gains reinforced peer facilitators' role commitment and contributed to a cohesive 'family' identity among EPEC staff and service users. Peer facilitators' enthusiasm, openness and mutual identification with families were seen as critical to EPEC's effectiveness and sustainability. Peer facilitators also found the training emotionally and intellectually demanding. There were particular difficulties around logistical issues (e.g. finding convenient supervision times), managing psychosocial complexity and child safeguarding. The successful delivery and sustained implementation of peer-led interventions requires careful attention to the personal qualities and support of peer leaders. Based on the findings of this study, support should include training, access to intervention manuals, regular and responsive supervision, and logistical/administrative assistance. Further research is required to elaborate and extend these findings to other peer-led programmes. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Sex workers in HIV prevention: From Social Change Agents to Peer Educators.

PubMed

George, Annie; Blankenship, Kim M; Biradavolu, Monica R; Dhungana, Nimesh; Tankasala, Nehanda

2015-01-01

We utilised a comparative ethnographic approach to study the implementation of a community mobilisation intervention addressing HIV risk among female sex workers (FSWs) in India, as implemented first by an non-governmental organisation and after oversight of the intervention was transitioned to the government. We demonstrate that the work of peer outreach workers changed from Social Change Agents within a community-led structural intervention (CLSI) to Peer Educators within a targeted intervention (TI). In the CLSI approach, built on the assumption that FSW risk for HIV is rooted in power inequality and structural vulnerability, peer outreach workers mobilised their peers through community-based organisations to address underlying conditions of inequality and vulnerability. In contrast, the TI approach, which views FSW risk as a function of limited knowledge and barriers to services, addressed peers' access to information and health services. Analysis of changes in the function of peer outreach workers reveals critical differences of which we discuss four: assumptions about conditions that produce HIV risk; degree of emphasis placed on collective mobilising and building collective power; extent to which community mobilisation and HIV prevention goals are linked; and the intervention's use of peer input. We discuss the implications of these findings for HIV prevention programming.

The Influence of Social Network Characteristics on Peer Clustering in Smoking: A Two-Wave Panel Study of 19- and 23-Year-Old Swedes.

PubMed

Miething, Alexander; Rostila, Mikael; Edling, Christofer; Rydgren, Jens

2016-01-01

The present study examines how the composition of social networks and perceived relationship content influence peer clustering in smoking, and how the association changes during the transition from late adolescence to early adulthood. The analysis was based on a Swedish two-wave survey sample comprising ego-centric network data. Respondents were 19 years old in the initial wave, and 23 when the follow-up sample was conducted. 17,227 ego-alter dyads were included in the analyses, which corresponds to an average response rate of 48.7 percent. Random effects logistic regression models were performed to calculate gender-specific average marginal effects of social network characteristics on smoking. The association of egos' and alters' smoking behavior was confirmed and found to be stronger when correlated in the female sample. For females, the associations decreased between age 19 and 23. Interactions between network characteristics and peer clustering in smoking showed that intense social interactions with smokers increase egos' smoking probability. The influence of network structures on peer clustering in smoking decreased during the transition from late adolescence to early adulthood. The study confirmed peer clustering in smoking and revealed that females' smoking behavior in particular is determined by social interactions. Female smokers' propensity to interact with other smokers was found to be associated with the quality of peer relationships, frequent social interactions, and network density. The influence of social networks on peer clustering in smoking decreased during the transition from late adolescence to early adulthood.

The Influence of Social Network Characteristics on Peer Clustering in Smoking: A Two-Wave Panel Study of 19- and 23-Year-Old Swedes

PubMed Central

Rostila, Mikael; Edling, Christofer; Rydgren, Jens

2016-01-01

Objectives The present study examines how the composition of social networks and perceived relationship content influence peer clustering in smoking, and how the association changes during the transition from late adolescence to early adulthood. Methods The analysis was based on a Swedish two-wave survey sample comprising ego-centric network data. Respondents were 19 years old in the initial wave, and 23 when the follow-up sample was conducted. 17,227 ego-alter dyads were included in the analyses, which corresponds to an average response rate of 48.7 percent. Random effects logistic regression models were performed to calculate gender-specific average marginal effects of social network characteristics on smoking. Results The association of egos’ and alters’ smoking behavior was confirmed and found to be stronger when correlated in the female sample. For females, the associations decreased between age 19 and 23. Interactions between network characteristics and peer clustering in smoking showed that intense social interactions with smokers increase egos’ smoking probability. The influence of network structures on peer clustering in smoking decreased during the transition from late adolescence to early adulthood. Conclusions The study confirmed peer clustering in smoking and revealed that females’ smoking behavior in particular is determined by social interactions. Female smokers’ propensity to interact with other smokers was found to be associated with the quality of peer relationships, frequent social interactions, and network density. The influence of social networks on peer clustering in smoking decreased during the transition from late adolescence to early adulthood. PMID:27727314

Social networking technology, social network composition, and reductions in substance use among homeless adolescents.

PubMed

Rice, Eric; Milburn, Norweeta G; Monro, William

2011-03-01

Peer-based prevention programs for homeless youth are complicated by the potential for reinforcing high-risk behaviors among participants. The goal of this study is to understand how homeless youth could be linked to positive peers in prevention programming by understanding where in social and physical space positive peers for homeless youth are located, how these ties are associated with substance use, and the role of social networking technologies (e.g., internet and cell phones) in this process. Personal social network data were collected from 136 homeless adolescents in Los Angeles, CA. Respondents reported on composition of their social networks with respect to: home-based peers and parents (accessed via social networking technology; e.g., the internet, cell phone, texting), homeless peers and agency staff (accessed face-to-face) and whether or not network members were substance-using or non-substance-using. Associations between respondent's lifetime cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine use and recent (previous 30 days) alcohol and marijuana use were assessed by the number of non-substance-using versus substance-using ties in multivariate linear regression models. 43% of adolescents reported a non-substance-using home-based tie. More of these ties were associated with less recent alcohol use. 62% of adolescents reported a substance-using homeless tie. More of these ties were associated with more recent marijuana use as well as more lifetime heroin and methamphetamine use. For homeless youth, who are physically disconnected from positive peers, social networking technologies can be used to facilitate the sorts of positive social ties that effective peer-based prevention programs require.

Systematic review of peer education intervention programmes among individuals with type 2 diabetes.

PubMed

Gatlin, Tricia K; Serafica, Reimund; Johnson, Michael

2017-12-01

To systematically review published randomised controlled trials of peer education interventions among adults with type 2 diabetes. Systematic reviews have shown mixed results for peer support interventions to improve diabetes self-management. Given the effectiveness of diabetes education by healthcare professionals, peer education interventions may be a useful alternative approach. This review addressed that gap. Systematic review. A systematic search of published randomised controlled trials between 2006-2016 was conducted using the keywords diabetes, type 2 diabetes, randomised controlled trials, self-management, peer education and peer support. The methodological quality of each study was assessed using the Jadad scale. Seven studies were included in the final review, and the Jadad scores ranged from 8-10 of a possible 13 points. There was no consistent design, setting, or outcome measurement among the studies. There were two types of peer education interventions compared to traditional diabetes education: face-to-face or a combination of face-to-face and telephone/texting. The most common clinical outcome measure was HbA1c. Two of six studies showed statistically significant improvement in HbA1c between intervention and control groups. An increase in diabetes knowledge was also statistically significant in two of five studies. Peer education could be successful in improving clinical outcomes. No evidence was found indicating that healthcare provider education was superior in regard to clinical knowledge or behavioural or psychological outcome measures than peer education. HbA1c was statistically significantly lower in some peer education groups compared to control groups. There is evidence that peer education can be useful in achieving positive clinical outcomes such as decreasing HbA1c levels and increasing diabetes knowledge. A certified diabetes educator or a trained healthcare professional should not be overlooked though when using peer educators. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Process evaluation of school-based peer education for HIV prevention among Yemeni adolescents

PubMed Central

Al-Iryani, Buthaina; Basaleem, Huda; Al-Sakkaf, Khaled; Kok, Gerjo; van den Borne, Bart

2013-01-01

In 2005, a survey was conducted among all the 27 high schools of Aden, which revealed low levels of knowledge on major prevention measures, and a high level of stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV (PLWH). The results served as a baseline for implementing a school-based peer education intervention for HIV prevention in the 27 schools of Aden. In 2008, and after 3 years of implementation, a quasi-experimental evaluation was conducted, which revealed that the peer education intervention has succeeded in improving HIV knowledge and skills; and in decreasing stigmatization of PLWH. This process evaluation aims to give a deeper understanding of the quasi-experimental evaluation which was conducted in the 27 high schools of Aden, and to highlight the factors that facilitated or inhibited school peer education in such a conservative Muslim setting. Qualitative methodologies were pursued, where 12 focus group discussions and 12 in-depth interviews were conducted with peer educators, targeted students, school principals, social workers, and parents of peer educators. Results revealed that school-peer education was well received. There was an apparent positive effect on the life skills of peer educators, but the intervention had a lesser effect on targeted students. Key enabling factors have been the high quality of training for peer educators, supportive school principals, and acceptance of the intervention by parents. These findings are important for improving the life skills and peer education intervention at the school level, and in better planning and implementation of life skills and peer programmes at a national scale. PMID:23777570

Process evaluation of school-based peer education for HIV prevention among Yemeni adolescents.

PubMed

Al-Iryani, Buthaina; Basaleem, Huda; Al-Sakkaf, Khaled; Kok, Gerjo; van den Borne, Bart

2013-03-01

In 2005, a survey was conducted among all the 27 high schools of Aden, which revealed low levels of knowledge on major prevention measures, and a high level of stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV (PLWH). The results served as a baseline for implementing a school-based peer education intervention for HIV prevention in the 27 schools of Aden. In 2008, and after 3 years of implementation, a quasi-experimental evaluation was conducted, which revealed that the peer education intervention has succeeded in improving HIV knowledge and skills; and in decreasing stigmatization of PLWH. This process evaluation aims to give a deeper understanding of the quasi-experimental evaluation which was conducted in the 27 high schools of Aden, and to highlight the factors that facilitated or inhibited school peer education in such a conservative Muslim setting. Qualitative methodologies were pursued, where 12 focus group discussions and 12 in-depth interviews were conducted with peer educators, targeted students, school principals, social workers, and parents of peer educators. Results revealed that school-peer education was well received. There was an apparent positive effect on the life skills of peer educators, but the intervention had a lesser effect on targeted students. Key enabling factors have been the high quality of training for peer educators, supportive school principals, and acceptance of the intervention by parents. These findings are important for improving the life skills and peer education intervention at the school level, and in better planning and implementation of life skills and peer programmes at a national scale.

Resistance to peer influence moderates the relationship between perceived (but not actual) peer norms and binge drinking in a college student social network.

PubMed

DiGuiseppi, Graham T; Meisel, Matthew K; Balestrieri, Sara G; Ott, Miles Q; Cox, Melissa J; Clark, Melissa A; Barnett, Nancy P

2018-05-01

Adolescent and young adult binge drinking is strongly associated with perceived social norms and the drinking behavior that occurs within peer networks. The extent to which an individual is influenced by the behavior of others may depend upon that individual's resistance to peer influence (RPI). Students in their first semester of college (N=1323; 54.7% female, 57% White, 15.1% Hispanic) reported on their own binge drinking, and the perceived binge drinking of up to 10 important peers in the first-year class. Using network autocorrelation models, we investigated cross-sectional relationships between participant's binge drinking frequency and the perceived and actual binge drinking frequency of important peers. We then tested the moderating role of RPI, expecting that greater RPI would weaken the relationship between perceived and actual peer binge drinking on participant binge drinking. Perceived and actual peer binge drinking were statistically significant predictors of participant binge drinking frequency in the past month, after controlling for covariates. RPI significantly moderated the association between perceptions of peer binge drinking and participant's own binge drinking; this association was weaker among participants with higher RPI compared to those with lower RPI. RPI did not interact with the actual binge drinking behavior of network peers. RPI may function to protect individuals from the effect of their perceptions about the binge drinking of peers, but not from the effect of the actual binge drinking of peers. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Preventing Adolescent Social Anxiety and Depression and Reducing Peer Victimization: Intervention Development and Open Trial

PubMed Central

La Greca, Annette M.; Ehrenreich-May, Jill; Mufson, Laura; Chan, Sherilynn

2016-01-01

Background Social anxiety disorder (SAD) and depression are common among adolescents, frequently comorbid, and resistant to change. Prevention programs for adolescent SAD are scant, and depression prevention programs do not fully address peer-risk factors. One critical peer-risk factor for SAD and depression is peer victimization. We describe the development and initial evaluation of a transdiagnostic school-based preventive intervention for adolescents with elevated symptoms of social anxiety and/or depression and elevated peer victimization. We modified Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training for depression, incorporating strategies for dealing with social anxiety and peer victimization. Objective Our open trial assessed the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary benefit of the modified program (called UTalk) for adolescents at risk for SAD or depression and who also reported peer victimization. Method Adolescents (N=14; 13–18 years; 79% girls; 86% Hispanic) were recruited and completed measures of peer victimization, social anxiety, and depression both pre- and post-intervention and provided ratings of treatment satisfaction. Independent evaluators (IEs) rated youths’ clinical severity. The intervention (3 individual and 10 group sessions) was conducted weekly during school. Results Regarding feasibility, 86% of the adolescents completed the intervention (M attendance=11.58 sessions). Satisfaction ratings were uniformly positive. Intention-to-treat analyses revealed significant declines in adolescent- and IE-rated social anxiety and depression and in reports of peer victimization. Additional secondary benefits were observed. Conclusions Although further evaluation is needed, the UTalk intervention appears feasible to administer in schools, with high satisfaction and preliminary benefit. Implications for research on the prevention of adolescent SAD and depression are discussed. PMID:27857509

Development of a novel motivational interviewing (MI) informed peer-support intervention to support mothers to breastfeed for longer.

PubMed

Phillips, Rhiannon; Copeland, Lauren; Grant, Aimee; Sanders, Julia; Gobat, Nina; Tedstone, Sally; Stanton, Helen; Merrett, Laura; Rollnick, Stephen; Robling, Michael; Brown, Amy; Hunter, Billie; Fitzsimmons, Deborah; Regan, Sian; Trickey, Heather; Paranjothy, Shantini

2018-04-11

Many women in the UK stop breastfeeding before they would like to, and earlier than is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Given the potential health benefits for mother and baby, new ways of supporting women to breastfeed for longer are required. The purpose of this study was to develop and characterise a novel Motivational Interviewing (MI) informed breastfeeding peer-support intervention. Qualitative interviews with health professionals and service providers (n = 14), and focus groups with mothers (n = 14), fathers (n = 3), and breastfeeding peer-supporters (n = 15) were carried out to understand experiences of breastfeeding peer-support and identify intervention options. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed thematically. Consultation took place with a combined professional and lay Stakeholder Group (n = 23). The Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) guided intervention development process used the findings of the qualitative research and stakeholder consultation, alongside evidence from existing literature, to identify: the target behaviour to be changed; sources of this behaviour based on the Capability, Opportunity and Motivation (COM-B) model; intervention functions that could alter this behaviour; and; mode of delivery for the intervention. Behaviour change techniques included in the intervention were categorised using the Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy Version 1 (BCTTv1). Building knowledge, skills, confidence, and providing social support were perceived to be key functions of breastfeeding peer-support interventions that aim to decrease early discontinuation of breastfeeding. These features of breastfeeding peer-support mapped onto the BCW education, training, modelling and environmental restructuring intervention functions. Behaviour change techniques (BCTTv1) included social support, problem solving, and goal setting. The intervention included important inter-personal relational features (e.g. trust, honesty, kindness), and the BCTTv1 needed adaptation to incorporate this. The MI-informed breastfeeding peer-support intervention developed using this systematic and user-informed approach has a clear theoretical basis and well-described behaviour change techniques. The process described could be useful in developing other complex interventions that incorporate peer-support and/or MI.

Peer support for patients with type 2 diabetes: cluster randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Smith, S M; Paul, G; Kelly, A; Whitford, D L; O'Shea, E; O'Dowd, T

2011-02-15

To test the effectiveness of peer support for patients with type 2 diabetes. Cluster randomised controlled. 20 general practices in the east of the Republic of Ireland. 395 patients (192 in intervention group, 203 in control group) and 29 peer supporters with type 2 diabetes. All practices introduced a standardised diabetes care system. The peer support intervention ran over a two year period and contained four elements: the recruitment and training of peer supporters, nine group meetings led by peer supporters in participant's own general practice, and a retention plan for the peer supporters. HbA(1c); cholesterol concentration; systolic blood pressure; and wellbeing score. There was no difference between intervention and control patients at baseline. All practices and 85% (337) of patients were followed up. At two year follow-up, there were no significant differences in HbA(1c) (mean difference -0.08%, 95% confidence interval -0.35% to 0.18%), systolic blood pressure (-3.9 mm Hg, -8.9 to 1.1 mm Hg), total cholesterol concentration (-0.03 mmol/L, -0.28 to 0.22 mmol/L), or wellbeing scores (-0.7, -2.3 to 0.8). While there was a trend towards decreases in the proportion of patients with poorly controlled risk factors at follow-up, particularly for systolic blood pressure (52% (87/166) >130 mm Hg in intervention v 61% (103/169) >130 mm Hg in control), these changes were not significant. The process evaluation indicated that the intervention was generally delivered as intended, though 18% (35) of patients in the intervention group never attended any group meetings. A group based peer support intervention is feasible in general practice settings, but the intervention was not effective when targeted at all patients with type 2 diabetes. While there was a trend towards improvements of clinical outcomes, the results do not support the widespread adoption of peer support. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN42541690.

Role of Social Media in Diabetes Management in the Middle East Region: Systematic Review

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Background Diabetes is a major health care burden in the Middle East region. Social networking tools can contribute to the management of diabetes with improved educational and care outcomes using these popular tools in the region. Objective The objective of this review was to evaluate the impact of social networking interventions on the improvement of diabetes management and health outcomes in patients with diabetes in the Middle East. Methods Peer-reviewed articles from PubMed (1990-2017) and Google Scholar (1990-2017) were identified using various combinations of predefined terms and search criteria. The main inclusion criterion consisted of the use of social networking apps on mobile phones as the primary intervention. Outcomes were grouped according to study design, type of diabetes, category of technological intervention, location, and sample size. Results This review included 5 articles evaluating the use of social media tools in the management of diabetes in the Middle East. In most studies, the acceptance rate for the use of social networking to optimize the management of diabetes was relatively high. Diabetes-specific management tools such as the Saudi Arabia Networking for Aiding Diabetes and Diabetes Intelligent Management System for Iraq systems helped collect patient information and lower hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels, respectively. Conclusions The reviewed studies demonstrated the potential of social networking tools being adopted in regions in the Middle East to improve the management of diabetes. Future studies consisting of larger sample sizes spanning multiple regions would provide further insight into the use of social media for improving patient outcomes. PMID:29439941

Fluid Analysis of Network Content Dissemination and Cloud Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-06

orchestration of multiple transfers , within the constraints of the communication substrate. In unstructured or aggressive environments where wireless ad...previous AFOSR/SOARD project, concerns peer-to-peer dissemination in wireless ad-hoc networks. We focus on the necessary tradeoff between an efficient...use of the network substrate, and the necessary reciprocity between peers, aspects that may be in conflict in the wireless setting. Our results

Using embedded music therapy interventions to support outdoor play of young children with autism in an inclusive community-based child care program.

PubMed

Kern, Petra; Aldridge, David

2006-01-01

For young children with autism enrolled in community-based inclusive child care programs, outdoor play can be a major challenge. The aim of this music therapy intervention was to improve peer interactions and meaningful play on the playground for four boys with autism by adding an outdoor music center and using original songs composed for each participant. A collaborative approach was used to support the implementation of the intervention by the children's teachers, engaging classroom peers as formal and informal helpers. The effects of the interventions were examined using a multiple baseline design with four conditions replicated across the four children. The results indicate that the musical adaptation of the playground itself did not improve social interactions of children with autism significantly, but it facilitated their play and involvement with peers by attraction to the sound and opportunity to use the instruments. The song interventions produced desirable peer interaction outcomes, and the collaborative consultative approach enabled teachers to implement interventions successfully in ongoing playground routines. In addition, peer-mediated strategies increased peer interactions and meaningful play on the playground.

Training Peer Partners to Use a Speech-Generating Device With Classmates With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Exploring Communication Outcomes Across Preschool Contexts

PubMed Central

McGuff, Sara; Goldstein, Howard

2017-01-01

Purpose This study examined effects of a peer-mediated intervention that provided training on the use of a speech-generating device for preschoolers with severe autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and peer partners. Method Effects were examined using a multiple probe design across 3 children with ASD and limited to no verbal skills. Three peers without disabilities were taught to Stay, Play, and Talk using a GoTalk 4+ (Attainment Company) and were then paired up with a classmate with ASD in classroom social activities. Measures included rates of communication acts, communication mode and function, reciprocity, and engagement with peers. Results Following peer training, intervention effects were replicated across 3 peers, who all demonstrated an increased level and upward trend in communication acts to their classmates with ASD. Outcomes also revealed moderate intervention effects and increased levels of peer-directed communication for 3 children with ASD in classroom centers. Additional analyses revealed higher rates of communication in the added context of preferred toys and snack. The children with ASD also demonstrated improved communication reciprocity and peer engagement. Conclusions Results provide preliminary evidence on the benefits of combining peer-mediated and speech-generating device interventions to improve children's communication. Furthermore, it appears that preferred contexts are likely to facilitate greater communication and social engagement with peers. PMID:28854313

Why Peer Crowds Matter: Incorporating Youth Subcultures and Values in Health Education Campaigns.

PubMed

Moran, Meghan B; Walker, Matthew W; Alexander, Tesfa N; Jordan, Jeffrey W; Wagner, Dana E

2017-03-01

Grounded on research showing that peer crowds vary in risk behavior, several recent health behavior interventions, including the US Food and Drug Administration's Fresh Empire campaign, have targeted high-risk peer crowds. We establish the scientific foundations for using this approach. We introduce peer crowd targeting as a strategy for culturally targeting health behavior interventions to youths. We use social identity and social norms theory to explicate the theoretical underpinnings of this approach. We describe Fresh Empire to demonstrate how peer crowd targeting functions in a campaign and critically evaluate the benefits and limitations of this approach. By replacing unhealthy behavioral norms with desirable, healthy lifestyles, peer crowd-targeted interventions can create a lasting impact that resonates in the target audience's culture.

Peer Support Networks in a Large Introductory Psychology Class.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slotnick, Robert S.; And Others

Networks have emerged as a major topic of interest in the behavioral sciences, and network concepts have recently been extended by community psychologists to higher education. To examine the effectiveness of peer networks within an introductory psychology class, networks of four students each met weekly in place of a lecture to review material and…

Up the ANTe: Understanding Entrepreneurial Leadership Learning through Actor-Network Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Sue; Kempster, Steve; Barnes, Stewart

2017-01-01

This article explores the role of educators in supporting the development of entrepreneurial leadership learning by creating peer learning networks of owner-managers of small businesses. Using actor-network theory, the authors think through the process of constructing and maintaining a peer learning network (conceived of as an actor-network) and…

Pressure to Drink but Not to Smoke: Disentangling Selection and Socialization in Adolescent Peer Networks and Peer Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kiuru, Noona; Burk, William J.; Laursen, Brett; Salmela-Aro, Katariina; Nurmi, Jari-Erik

2010-01-01

This paper examined the relative influence of selection and socialization on alcohol and tobacco use in adolescent peer networks and peer groups. The sample included 1419 Finnish secondary education students (690 males and 729 females, mean age 16 years at the outset) from nine schools. Participants identified three school friends and described…

The Experience of Peer Mentors in an Intervention to Promote Smoking Cessation in Persons with Psychiatric Illness.

PubMed

Dickerson, Faith; Savage, Christina L G; Schweinfurth, Lucy A B; Goldberg, Richard W; Bennett, Melanie; Dixon, Lisa; Daumit, Gail; Chinman, Matthew; Lucksted, Alicia

2016-05-01

Peer support is an important component of services for persons with psychiatric illness but the experience of peer mentors is not well understood. This study explored the experiences of peer mentors, all former smokers and persons with psychiatric illness, who provided smoking cessation counseling as part of a 6 month professionally-led intervention. Data was obtained from 383 contact log entries and in-depth interviews with eight peer mentors. Qualitative analysis indicated that mentor roles were unexpectedly varied beyond the focus on smoking cessation. Of the two aspects of "peer-ness," shared smoking history was more prominent, while the shared experience of psychiatric illness was sometimes overlooked. Peer mentors experienced multiple challenges trying to help participants to change their smoking behaviors. Nonetheless, they described their experience as personally rewarding. Future interventions may be improved by anticipating peer mentor role complexity and the inherent tension between providing person-centered support and promoting behavior change.

Peer-led, school-based nutrition education for young adolescents: feasibility and process evaluation of the TEENS study.

PubMed

Story, Mary; Lytle, Leslie A; Birnbaum, Amanda S; Perry, Cheryl L

2002-03-01

Peer education has become a popular strategy for health promotion interventions with adolescents, but it has not been used widely in school-based nutrition education. This paper describes and reports on the feasibility of the peer leader component of a school-based nutrition intervention for young adolescents designed to increase fruit and vegetable intakes and lower fat foods. About 1,000 seventh-grade students in eight schools received the nutrition intervention. Of these, 272 were trained as peer leaders to assist the teacher in implementing the activities. Results from a multicomponent process evaluation based on peer leader and classroom student feedback, direct classroom observation, and teacher ratings and interviews are presented. Results show that peer-led nutrition education approaches in schools are feasible and have high acceptability among peer leaders, classroom students, and teachers.

Association of Internalized and Social Network Level HIV Stigma With High-Risk Condomless Sex Among HIV-Positive African American Men.

PubMed

Wagner, Glenn J; Bogart, Laura M; Klein, David J; Green, Harold D; Mutchler, Matt G; McDavitt, Bryce; Hilliard, Charles

2016-08-01

We examined whether internalized HIV stigma and perceived HIV stigma from social network members (alters), including the most popular and most similar alter, predicted condomless intercourse with negative or unknown HIV status partners among 125 African American HIV-positive men. In a prospective, observational study, participants were administered surveys at baseline and months 6 and 12, with measures including sexual behavior, internalized HIV stigma, and an egocentric social network assessment that included several measures of perceived HIV stigma among alters. In longitudinal multivariable models comparing the relative predictive value of internalized stigma versus various measures of alter stigma, significant predictors of having had condomless intercourse included greater internalized HIV stigma (in all models), the perception that a popular (well-connected) alter or alter most like the participant agrees with an HIV stigma belief, and the interaction of network density with having any alter that agrees with a stigma belief. The interaction indicated that the protective effect of greater density (connectedness between alters) in terms of reduced risk behavior dissipated in the presence of perceived alter stigma. These findings call for interventions that help people living with HIV to cope with their diagnosis and reduce stigma, and inform the targets of social network-based and peer-driven HIV prevention interventions.

Association of Internalized and Social Network Level HIV Stigma With High-Risk Condomless Sex Among HIV-Positive African American Men

PubMed Central

Bogart, Laura M.; Klein, David J.; Green, Harold D.; Mutchler, Matt G.; McDavitt, Bryce; Hilliard, Charles

2016-01-01

We examined whether internalized HIV stigma and perceived HIV stigma from social network members (alters), including the most popular and most similar alter, predicted condomless intercourse with negative or unknown HIV status partners among 125 African American HIV-positive men. In a prospective, observational study, participants were administered surveys at baseline and months 6 and 12, with measures including sexual behavior, internalized HIV stigma, and an egocentric social network assessment that included several measures of perceived HIV stigma among alters. In longitudinal multivariable models comparing the relative predictive value of internalized stigma versus various measures of alter stigma, significant predictors of having had condomless intercourse included greater internalized HIV stigma (in all models), the perception that a popular (well-connected) alter or alter most like the participant agrees with an HIV stigma belief, and the interaction of network density with having any alter that agrees with a stigma belief. The interaction indicated that the protective effect of greater density (connectedness between alters) in terms of reduced risk behavior dissipated in the presence of perceived alter stigma. These findings call for interventions that help people living with HIV to cope with their diagnosis and reduce stigma, and inform the targets of social network-based and peer-driven HIV prevention interventions. PMID:26718361

Effect of peer support interventions on cardiovascular disease risk factors in adults with diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Patil, Sonal J; Ruppar, Todd; Koopman, Richelle J; Lindbloom, Erik J; Elliott, Susan G; Mehr, David R; Conn, Vicki S

2018-03-23

Peer support by persons affected with diabetes improves peer supporter's diabetes self-management skills. Peer support interventions by individuals who have diabetes or are affected by diabetes have been shown to improve glycemic control; however, its effects on other cardiovascular disease risk factors in adults with diabetes are unknown. We aimed to estimate the effect of peer support interventions on cardiovascular disease risk factors other than glycemic control in adults with diabetes. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials comparing peer support interventions to a control condition in adults affected by diabetes that measured any cardiovascular disease risk factors [Body Mass Index, smoking, diet, physical activity, cholesterol level, glucose control and blood pressure]. Quality was assessed by Cochrane's risk of bias tool. We calculated standardized mean difference effect sizes using random effects models. We retrieved 438 citations from multiple databases including OVID MEDLINE, Cochrane database and Scopus, and author searches. Of 233 abstracts reviewed, 16 articles met inclusion criteria. A random effects model in a total of 3243 participants showed a positive effect of peer support interventions on systolic BP with a pooled effect size of 2.07 mmHg (CI 0.35 mmHg to 3.79 mmHg, p = 0.02); baseline pooled systolic blood pressure was 137 mmHg. There was a non-significant effect of peer support interventions on diastolic blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass index, diet and physical activity. Cardiovascular disease risk factors other than glycemic control outcomes were secondary outcomes in most studies and baseline values were normal or mildly elevated. Only one study reported smoking outcomes. We found a small (2 mmHg) positive effect of peer support interventions on systolic blood pressure in adults with diabetes whose baseline blood pressure was on average minimally elevated. Additional studies need to be conducted to further understand the effect of peer support interventions on high-risk cardiovascular disease risk factors in adults with diabetes.

Do weight management interventions delivered by online social networks effectively improve body weight, body composition, and chronic disease risk factors? A systematic review.

PubMed

Willis, Erik A; Szabo-Reed, Amanda N; Ptomey, Lauren T; Steger, Felicia L; Honas, Jeffery J; Washburn, Richard A; Donnelly, Joseph E

2017-02-01

Introduction Currently, no systematic review/meta-analysis has examined studies that used online social networks (OSN) as a primary intervention platform. Therefore, the purpose of this review was to evaluate the effectiveness of weight management interventions delivered through OSN. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched (January 1990-November 2015) for studies with data on the effect of OSNs on weight loss. Only primary source articles that utilized OSN as the main platform for delivery of weight management/healthy lifestyle interventions, were published in English language peer-reviewed journals, and reported outcome data on weight were eligible for inclusion in this systematic review. Five articles were included in this review. Results One-hundred percent of the studies ( n = 5) reported a reduction in baseline weight. Three of the five studies (60%) reported significant decreases in body weight when OSN was paired with health educator support. Only one study reported a clinical significant weight loss of ≥5%. Conclusion Using OSN for weight management is in its early stages of development and, while these few studies show promise, more research is needed to acquire information about optimizing these interventions to increase their efficacy.

Seeing Eye to Eye: Predicting Teacher-Student Agreement on Classroom Social Networks

PubMed Central

Neal, Jennifer Watling; Cappella, Elise; Wagner, Caroline; Atkins, Marc S.

2010-01-01

This study examines the association between classroom characteristics and teacher-student agreement in perceptions of students’ classroom peer networks. Social network, peer nomination, and observational data were collected from a sample of second through fourth grade teachers (N=33) and students (N=669) in 33 classrooms across five high poverty urban schools. Results demonstrate that variation in teacher-student agreement on the structure of students’ peer networks can be explained, in part, by developmental factors and classroom characteristics. Developmental increases in network density partially mediated the positive relationship between grade level and teacher-student agreement. Larger class sizes and higher levels of normative aggressive behavior resulted in lower levels of teacher-student agreement. Teachers’ levels of classroom organization had mixed influences, with behavior management negatively predicting agreement, and productivity positively predicting agreement. These results underscore the importance of the classroom context in shaping teacher and student perceptions of peer networks. PMID:21666768

The Benefits of Peer-to-Peer Mentoring: Lessons from The Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holloway, T.; Steiner, A.; Fiore, A.; Hastings, M.; McKinley, G.; Staudt, A.; Wiedinmyer, C.

2007-12-01

The Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN) is a grassroots organization that began with the meeting of six women graduate students and recent Ph.D.s at the Spring 2002 AGU meeting in Washington, DC. Since then, the group has grown to over 400 members, completely by word of mouth. We provide an informal, peer-to-peer network developed to promote and support careers of women in the Earth sciences. Through the network, women have found jobs, established research collaborations, shared strategies on work/life balance, and built a community stretching around the world. We maintain an email list for members to develop an expanded peer network outside of their own institution, and we have recently launched a co-ed jobs list to benefit the wider geoscience community. We will present a summary of strategies that have been discussed by group members on how to transition to a new faculty position, build a research group, develop new research collaborations, and balance career and family.

Pragmatic Language Outcomes of Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder After Therapist- and Parent-Delivered Play-Based Interventions: Two One-Group Pretest-Posttest Studies With a Longitudinal Component.

PubMed

Wilkes-Gillan, Sarah; Munro, Natalie; Cordier, Reinie; Cantrill, Alycia; Pearce, Wendy

The pragmatic language outcomes of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were explored across two feasibility studies. Five children with ADHD (ages 6-11 yr), their parents, and 5 typically developing peers completed an assessment 18 mo after a therapist-delivered intervention (Study 1). Participants then completed a parent-delivered intervention (Study 2). Blinded ratings of peer-to-peer play interactions documented changes in children's pragmatic language 18 mo after the Study 1 intervention and before, immediately after, and 1 mo after the Study 2 intervention. Nonparametric statistics and Cohen's d were used to measure change. Children's pragmatic language outcomes were maintained 18 mo after the therapist-delivered intervention and significantly improved from before to 1 mo after the parent-delivered intervention. Interventions involving occupational therapist and speech-language pathologist collaboration, play, and parent and peer involvement may facilitate children's pragmatic language skills. Copyright © 2017 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory to Examine How Teachers Seek and Share Knowledge in a Peer-to-Peer Professional Development Network

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trust, Torrey

2017-01-01

Many researchers have found that the main reason teachers participate in peer-to-peer professional development networks (PDNs) is to seek and share professional knowledge. Yet, the majority of studies about PDNs focus on how and why teachers participate in these virtual spaces rather than how teachers find and distribute knowledge. Each PDN has…

Inadvertent Exposure to Pornography on the Internet: Implications of Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing Networks for Child Development and Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenfield, P.M.

2004-01-01

This essay comprises testimony to the Congressional Committee on Government Reform. The Committee's concern was the possibility of exposure to pornography when children and teens participate in peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, which are extremely popular in these age groups. A review of the relevant literature led to three major conclusions:…

Using a Participatory Culture-Specific Intervention Model to Develop a Peer Victimization Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Varjas, Kris; Meyers, Joel; Henrich, Christopher C.; Graybill, Emily C.; Dew, Brian J.; Marshall, Megan L.; Williamson, Zachary; Skoczylas, Rebecca B.; Avant, Marty

2006-01-01

The purpose of the Peer Victimization Intervention (PVI) was to develop and implement a culture-specific pilot intervention to address the effects of bullying on middle school students who are victims utilizing the Participatory Culture-Specific Intervention Model (PCSIM; Nastasi, Moore, & Varjas, 2004). The involvement of participants who serve…

Perception of peer group rank of individuals with early psychosis.

PubMed

Allison, Gemma; Harrop, Chris; Ellett, Lyn

2013-03-01

Social rank theory has been applied to psychosis, in particular the relationship between an individual and their voices. However, perceived peer group rank has not been empirically tested in an early psychosis group. The purpose of the study was to test the prediction that individuals with early psychosis will have lower perceived social status, engage in submissive behaviours more frequently, and will feel more entrapped by external events compared to a healthy control group. The study employed a cross-sectional design, comparing individuals with early psychosis and healthy controls. A total of 24 participants with early psychosis and 24 matched controls completed self-report measures of social rank, including social comparison, submissive behaviours and entrapment, measures of depression, anxiety and psychotic symptoms, and measures of peer network size and peer relationship quality. Individuals with early psychosis viewed themselves as being of lower social rank and inferior in relation to matched controls, and also reported engaging in submissive behaviours more frequently and felt more entrapped by external events. Perception of lower social rank and inferiority amongst individuals with early psychosis may impact on engagement in peer relationships and impact on the social decline in early psychosis, which could have significant implications for interventions and recovery. ©2012 The British Psychological Society.

Why Peer Crowds Matter: Incorporating Youth Subcultures and Values in Health Education Campaigns

PubMed Central

Walker, Matthew W.; Alexander, Tesfa N.; Jordan, Jeffrey W.; Wagner, Dana E.

2017-01-01

Grounded on research showing that peer crowds vary in risk behavior, several recent health behavior interventions, including the US Food and Drug Administration’s Fresh Empire campaign, have targeted high-risk peer crowds. We establish the scientific foundations for using this approach. We introduce peer crowd targeting as a strategy for culturally targeting health behavior interventions to youths. We use social identity and social norms theory to explicate the theoretical underpinnings of this approach. We describe Fresh Empire to demonstrate how peer crowd targeting functions in a campaign and critically evaluate the benefits and limitations of this approach. By replacing unhealthy behavioral norms with desirable, healthy lifestyles, peer crowd–targeted interventions can create a lasting impact that resonates in the target audience’s culture. PMID:28103067

Using Peer-Mediated LEGO® Play Intervention to Improve Social Interactions for Chinese Children with Autism in an Inclusive Setting.

PubMed

Hu, Xiaoyi; Zheng, Qunshan; Lee, Gabrielle T

2018-02-16

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a peer-mediated LEGO® play intervention on improving social skills for children with ASD in an inclusive preschool in China. Three boys with ASD and 13 typically developing children participated in this study. A multiple-probe across participants design was used. The intervention consisted of LEGO® construction activities incorporated with peer-mediated strategies for one child with ASD and two typically developing peers. The intervention sessions were conducted two sessions per week with a total of 28-31 sessions for each participant. Results indicated that all three children with ASD increased their social initiations and responses following the completion of the intervention. Social validity was also obtained.

Cognitive tutoring induces widespread neuroplasticity and remediates brain function in children with mathematical learning disabilities.

PubMed

Iuculano, Teresa; Rosenberg-Lee, Miriam; Richardson, Jennifer; Tenison, Caitlin; Fuchs, Lynn; Supekar, Kaustubh; Menon, Vinod

2015-09-30

Competency with numbers is essential in today's society; yet, up to 20% of children exhibit moderate to severe mathematical learning disabilities (MLD). Behavioural intervention can be effective, but the neurobiological mechanisms underlying successful intervention are unknown. Here we demonstrate that eight weeks of 1:1 cognitive tutoring not only remediates poor performance in children with MLD, but also induces widespread changes in brain activity. Neuroplasticity manifests as normalization of aberrant functional responses in a distributed network of parietal, prefrontal and ventral temporal-occipital areas that support successful numerical problem solving, and is correlated with performance gains. Remarkably, machine learning algorithms show that brain activity patterns in children with MLD are significantly discriminable from neurotypical peers before, but not after, tutoring, suggesting that behavioural gains are not due to compensatory mechanisms. Our study identifies functional brain mechanisms underlying effective intervention in children with MLD and provides novel metrics for assessing response to intervention.

Friendship Network Characteristics Are Associated with Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Early Adolescence.

PubMed

Marks, Jennifer; de la Haye, Kayla; Barnett, Lisa M; Allender, Steven

2015-01-01

There is limited understanding of the association between peer social networks and physical activity (PA), sedentary and screen-related behaviors. This study reports on associations between personal network characteristics and these important health behaviors for early adolescents. Participants were 310 students, aged 11-13 years, from fifteen randomly selected Victorian primary schools (43% response rate). PA and sedentary behaviors were collected via accelerometer and self-report questionnaire, and anthropometric measures via trained researchers. Participants nominated up to fifteen friends, and described the frequency of interaction and perceived activity intensity of these friends. Personal network predictors were examined using regression modelling for PA and sedentary/screen behavior. Perceived activity levels of friends, and friendships with very frequent interaction were associated with outside-of-school PA and/or sedentary/screen time. Differences according to sex were also observed in the association between network characteristics and PA and sedentary time. A higher number of friends and greater proportion of same sex friends were associated with boys engaging in more moderate-to-vigorous PA outside of school hours. PA intensity during school-day breaks was positively associated with having a greater proportion of friends who played sports for girls, and a greater proportion of male friends for boys. Friendship network characteristics are associated with PA and sedentary/screen time in late childhood/early adolescence, and these associations differ by sex. The positive influence of very active peers may be a promising avenue to strengthen traditional interventions for the promotion of PA and reduction in screen time.

Friendship Network Characteristics Are Associated with Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Early Adolescence

PubMed Central

Marks, Jennifer; de la Haye, Kayla; Barnett, Lisa M; Allender, Steven

2015-01-01

Introduction There is limited understanding of the association between peer social networks and physical activity (PA), sedentary and screen-related behaviors. This study reports on associations between personal network characteristics and these important health behaviors for early adolescents. Methods Participants were 310 students, aged 11–13 years, from fifteen randomly selected Victorian primary schools (43% response rate). PA and sedentary behaviors were collected via accelerometer and self-report questionnaire, and anthropometric measures via trained researchers. Participants nominated up to fifteen friends, and described the frequency of interaction and perceived activity intensity of these friends. Personal network predictors were examined using regression modelling for PA and sedentary/screen behavior. Results Perceived activity levels of friends, and friendships with very frequent interaction were associated with outside-of-school PA and/or sedentary/screen time. Differences according to sex were also observed in the association between network characteristics and PA and sedentary time. A higher number of friends and greater proportion of same sex friends were associated with boys engaging in more moderate-to-vigorous PA outside of school hours. PA intensity during school-day breaks was positively associated with having a greater proportion of friends who played sports for girls, and a greater proportion of male friends for boys. Conclusion Friendship network characteristics are associated with PA and sedentary/screen time in late childhood/early adolescence, and these associations differ by sex. The positive influence of very active peers may be a promising avenue to strengthen traditional interventions for the promotion of PA and reduction in screen time. PMID:26709924

Simple Peer-to-Peer SIP Privacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koskela, Joakim; Tarkoma, Sasu

In this paper, we introduce a model for enhancing privacy in peer-to-peer communication systems. The model is based on data obfuscation, preventing intermediate nodes from tracking calls, while still utilizing the shared resources of the peer network. This increases security when moving between untrusted, limited and ad-hoc networks, when the user is forced to rely on peer-to-peer schemes. The model is evaluated using a Host Identity Protocol-based prototype on mobile devices, and is found to provide good privacy, especially when combined with a source address hiding scheme. The contribution of this paper is to present the model and results obtained from its use, including usability considerations.

A Pilot Study of a Peer-Group Lifestyle Intervention Enhanced With mHealth Technology and Social Media for Adults With Serious Mental Illness.

PubMed

Aschbrenner, Kelly A; Naslund, John A; Shevenell, Megan; Kinney, Elizabeth; Bartels, Stephen J

2016-06-01

This pilot study examined the preliminary effectiveness of a peer-group lifestyle intervention enhanced with mobile health technology and social media for obese individuals with serious mental illness. Thirty-two participants with a body mass index of 30 or higher received a 24-week intervention designed to facilitate peer support for lifestyle change through experiential learning and use of wearable activity tracking devices, smartphone applications, and Facebook to reinforce physical activity, healthy eating, and group participation between sessions. The primary outcome was weight loss. Secondary measures included fitness and participants' perceptions of peer-group support. Most participants (72%) lost weight, including 28% achieving clinically significant weight loss, and 17% of participants showed clinically significant improvements in cardiovascular fitness. Weight loss was associated with perceived peer-group support. This evaluation demonstrated the preliminary effectiveness of a potentially scalable peer-group lifestyle intervention delivered in community mental health settings for obese individuals with serious mental illness.

Global phenomena from local rules: Peer-to-peer networks and crystal steps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Finkbiner, Amy

Even simple, deterministic rules can generate interesting behavior in dynamical systems. This dissertation examines some real world systems for which fairly simple, locally defined rules yield useful or interesting properties in the system as a whole. In particular, we study routing in peer-to-peer networks and the motion of crystal steps. Peers can vary by three orders of magnitude in their capacities to process network traffic. This heterogeneity inspires our use of "proportionate load balancing," where each peer provides resources in proportion to its individual capacity. We provide an implementation that employs small, local adjustments to bring the entire network into a global balance. Analytically and through simulations, we demonstrate the effectiveness of proportionate load balancing on two routing methods for de Bruijn graphs, introducing a new "reversed" routing method which performs better than standard forward routing in some cases. The prevalence of peer-to-peer applications prompts companies to locate the hosts participating in these networks. We explore the use of supervised machine learning to identify peer-to-peer hosts, without using application-specific information. We introduce a model for "triples," which exploits information about nearly contemporaneous flows to give a statistical picture of a host's activities. We find that triples, together with measurements of inbound vs. outbound traffic, can capture most of the behavior of peer-to-peer hosts. An understanding of crystal surface evolution is important for the development of modern nanoscale electronic devices. The most commonly studied surface features are steps, which form at low temperatures when the crystal is cut close to a plane of symmetry. Step bunching, when steps arrange into widely separated clusters of tightly packed steps, is one important step phenomenon. We analyze a discrete model for crystal steps, in which the motion of each step depends on the two steps on either side of it. We find an time-dependence term for the motion that does not appear in continuum models, and we determine an explicit dependence on step number.

How does network structure affect partnerships for promoting physical activity? Evidence from Brazil and Colombia.

PubMed

Parra, Diana C; Dauti, Marsela; Harris, Jenine K; Reyes, Lissette; Malta, Deborah C; Brownson, Ross C; Quintero, Mario A; Pratt, Michael

2011-11-01

The objective of this study was to describe the network structure and factors associated with collaboration in two networks that promote physical activity (PA) in Brazil and Colombia. Organizations that focus on studying and promoting PA in Brazil (35) and Colombia (53) were identified using a modified one-step reputational snowball sampling process. Participants completed an on-line survey between December 2008 and March 2009 for the Brazil network, and between April and June 2009 for the Colombia network. Network stochastic modeling was used to investigate the likelihood of reported inter-organizational collaboration. While structural features of networks were significant predictors of collaboration within each network, the coefficients and other network characteristics differed. Brazil's PA network was decentralized with a larger number of shared partnerships. Colombia's PA network was centralized and collaboration was influenced by perceived importance of peer organizations. On average, organizations in the PA network of Colombia reported facing more barriers (1.5 vs. 2.5 barriers) for collaboration. Future studies should focus on how these different network structures affect the implementation and uptake of evidence-based PA interventions. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Peer-led and professional-led group interventions for people with co-occurring disorders: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Pallaveshi, Luljeta; Balachandra, Krishna; Subramanian, Priya; Rudnick, Abraham

2014-05-01

This pilot study evaluated the experience of people with co-occurring disorders (mental illness and addiction) in relation to peer-led and professional-led group interventions. The study used a qualitative (phenomenological) approach to evaluate the experience of a convenience sample of 6 individuals with co-occurring disorders who participated in up to 8 sessions each of both peer-led and professional-led group interventions (with a similar rate of attendance in both groups). The semi-structured interview data were coded and thematically analyzed. We found 5 themes within and across the 2 interventions. In both groups, participants experienced a positive environment and personal growth, and learned, albeit different things. They were more comfortable in the peer-led group and acquired more knowledge and skills in the professional-led group. Offering both peer-led and professional-led group interventions to people with co-occurring disorders may be better than offering either alone.

The Social Networks of Children With and Without Disabilities in Early Childhood Special Education Classrooms.

PubMed

Chen, Jing; Lin, Tzu-Jung; Justice, Laura; Sawyer, Brook

2017-09-01

Interaction with peers is an important contributor to young children's social and cognitive development. Yet, little is known about the nature of social networks within preschool inclusive classrooms. The current study applied a social network analysis to characterize children's peer interactions in inclusive classrooms and their relations with children's disability status. The participants were 485 preschoolers from 64 early childhood special education (ECSE) inclusive classrooms. Results from teachers' report of children's social networks showed that children with disabilities formed smaller play networks compared to their typically developing peers in the classroom, but no evidence indicated that children with disabilities engaged in more conflict networks than their counterparts. Children's play and conflict networks were segregated by children's disability status.

Assessing Higher-Order Thinking Using a Networked Portfolio System with Peer Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Eric Zhi-Feng; Zhuo, Yi-Chin; Yuan, Shyan-Ming

2004-01-01

In the past, the quantitative evidences of portfolio assessment have been explored under online instruction. Liu, Lin, and Yuan provide a long-term measure of peer-self, peer-instructor and self-instructor correlation coefficients under networked innovative assessment procedures. Analytical results indicated that undergraduate students could…

Social networks of HIV-positive women and their association with social support and depression symptoms.

PubMed

Cederbaum, Julie A; Rice, Eric; Craddock, Jaih; Pimentel, Veronica; Beaver, Patty

2017-02-01

Social support is important to the mental health and well-being of HIV-positive women. Limited information exists about the specific structure and composition of HIV-positive women's support networks or associations of these network properties with mental health outcomes. In this pilot study, the authors examine whether support network characteristics were associated with depressive symptoms. Survey and network data were collected from HIV-positive women (N = 46) via a web-based survey and an iPad application in August 2012. Data were analyzed using multivariate linear regression models in SAS. Depressive symptoms were positively associated with a greater number of doctors in a woman's network; having more HIV-positive network members was associated with less symptom reporting. Women who reported more individuals who could care for them had more family support. Those who reported feeling loved were less likely to report disclosure stigma. This work highlighted that detailed social network data can increase our understanding of social support so as to identify interventions to support the mental health of HIV-positive women. Most significant is the ongoing need for support from peers.

Using Mobile Phones to Improve Vaccination Uptake in 21 Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Brown, Elizabeth; Devereux, Sara; Fairhead, Cassandra; Holeman, Isaac

2017-01-01

Background The benefits of vaccination have been comprehensively proven; however, disparities in coverage persist because of poor health system management, limited resources, and parental knowledge and attitudes. Evidence suggests that health interventions that engage local parties in communication strategies improve vaccination uptake. As mobile technology is widely used to improve health communication, mobile health (mHealth) interventions might be used to increase coverage. Objective The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the available literature on the use of mHealth to improve vaccination in low- and middle-income countries with large numbers of unvaccinated children. Methods In February 2017, MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online), Scopus, and Web of Science, as well as three health organization websites—Communication Initiative Network, TechNet-21, and PATH—were searched to identify mHealth intervention studies on vaccination uptake in 21 countries. Results Ten peer-reviewed studies and 11 studies from white or gray literature were included. Nine took place in India, three in Pakistan, two each in Malawi and Nigeria, and one each in Bangladesh, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. Ten peer-reviewed studies and 7 white or gray studies demonstrated improved vaccination uptake after interventions, including appointment reminders, mobile phone apps, and prerecorded messages. Conclusions Although the potential for mHealth interventions to improve vaccination coverage seems clear, the evidence for such interventions is not. The dearth of studies in countries facing the greatest barriers to immunization impedes the prospects for evidence-based policy and practice in these settings. PMID:28978495

Are health behavior change interventions that use online social networks effective? A systematic review.

PubMed

Maher, Carol A; Lewis, Lucy K; Ferrar, Katia; Marshall, Simon; De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse; Vandelanotte, Corneel

2014-02-14

The dramatic growth of Web 2.0 technologies and online social networks offers immense potential for the delivery of health behavior change campaigns. However, it is currently unclear how online social networks may best be harnessed to achieve health behavior change. The intent of the study was to systematically review the current level of evidence regarding the effectiveness of online social network health behavior interventions. Eight databases (Scopus, CINAHL, Medline, ProQuest, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane, Web of Science and Communication & Mass Media Complete) were searched from 2000 to present using a comprehensive search strategy. Study eligibility criteria were based on the PICOS format, where "population" included child or adult populations, including healthy and disease populations; "intervention" involved behavior change interventions targeting key modifiable health behaviors (tobacco and alcohol consumption, dietary intake, physical activity, and sedentary behavior) delivered either wholly or in part using online social networks; "comparator" was either a control group or within subject in the case of pre-post study designs; "outcomes" included health behavior change and closely related variables (such as theorized mediators of health behavior change, eg, self-efficacy); and "study design" included experimental studies reported in full-length peer-reviewed sources. Reports of intervention effectiveness were summarized and effect sizes (Cohen's d and 95% confidence intervals) were calculated wherever possible. Attrition (percentage of people who completed the study), engagement (actual usage), and fidelity (actual usage/intended usage) with the social networking component of the interventions were scrutinized. A total of 2040 studies were identified from the database searches following removal of duplicates, of which 10 met inclusion criteria. The studies involved a total of 113,988 participants (ranging from n=10 to n=107,907). Interventions included commercial online health social network websites (n=2), research health social network websites (n=3), and multi-component interventions delivered in part via pre-existing popular online social network websites (Facebook n=4 and Twitter n=1). Nine of the 10 included studies reported significant improvements in some aspect of health behavior change or outcomes related to behavior change. Effect sizes for behavior change ranged widely from -0.05 (95% CI 0.45-0.35) to 0.84 (95% CI 0.49-1.19), but in general were small in magnitude and statistically non-significant. Participant attrition ranged from 0-84%. Engagement and fidelity were relatively low, with most studies achieving 5-15% fidelity (with one exception, which achieved 105% fidelity). To date there is very modest evidence that interventions incorporating online social networks may be effective; however, this field of research is in its infancy. Further research is needed to determine how to maximize retention and engagement, whether behavior change can be sustained in the longer term, and to determine how to exploit online social networks to achieve mass dissemination. Specific recommendations for future research are provided.

Testing three explanations of the emergence of weapon carrying in peer context: the roles of aggression, victimization, and the social network.

PubMed

Dijkstra, Jan Kornelis; Gest, Scott D; Lindenberg, Siegwart; Veenstra, René; Cillessen, Antonius H N

2012-04-01

To examine the relative contribution of weapon carrying of peers, aggression, and victimization to weapon carrying of male and female adolescents over time. Data were derived from a population-based sample of male (N = 224) and female (N = 244) adolescents followed from grade 10 (M age = 15.5) to grade 11 (M age = 16.5). Peer networks were derived from best friend nominations. Self-reports were used to assess weapon carrying. Aggression and victimization were assessed using both self- and peer-reports. Use of dynamic social network modeling (SIENA) allowed prediction of weapon carrying in grade 11 as a function of weapon carrying of befriended peers, aggression, and victimization in grade 10, while selection processes and structural network effects (reciprocity and transitivity) were controlled for. Peer influence processes accounted for changes in weapon carrying over time. Self-reported victimization decreased weapon carrying 1 year later. Peer-reported victimization increased the likelihood of weapon carrying, particularly for highly aggressive adolescents. Boys were more likely to carry weapons than girls, but the processes associated with weapon carrying did not differ for boys and girls. These findings revealed that, in this population-based sample, weapon carrying of best friends, as well as aggression, contributed to the proliferation of weapons in friendship networks, suggesting processes of peer contagion as well as individual vulnerability to weapon carrying. Copyright © 2012 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Exploring the Importance of Peers as Leaders in the Dream School Program: From the Perspectives of Peer Leaders, Teachers and Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holsen, Ingrid; Larsen, Torill; Tjomsland, Hege Eikeland; Servan, Annette Kathinka

2015-01-01

This study explores the experiences of using peers as leaders in a secondary school intervention in Norway from the perspectives of the principals, the teachers and the peer leaders. The overall aims of the intervention are to improve the psychosocial learning environment and promote positive mental health. Five secondary schools which had used…

Perceived peer and school norm effects on youth antisocial and prosocial behaviours through intergroup contact in Northern Ireland.

PubMed

McKeown, Shelley; Taylor, Laura K

2018-04-16

In adolescence, youth spend a high proportion of their time with their peers and in school; it is hardly surprising therefore that perceptions of peer and school norms have a strong influence on their attitudes and behaviours. These norms, however, do not always influence youth in the same way. Building on past research, the present study examines the role of peer norms and school norms in influencing the quantity and quality of intergroup contact, as well as the impact of such contact on positive and negative intergroup behaviours. Youth (aged 14-16) living in Northern Ireland (N = 466, evenly split by religion and gender) were recruited through their school as part of a two-wave study and completed a series of survey measures including intergroup contact (quality and quantity), norms (peer and school), and participation in sectarian antisocial behaviour and outgroup prosocial behaviour. Mediation analysis was conducted in Mplus. Controlling for wave 1 responses on contact and behavioural outcomes, findings demonstrate that more positive peer norms are associated with less participation in antisocial behaviour and more participation in prosocial outgroup behaviours through increased and better quality intergroup contact. Positive school norms were also associated with increased prosocial behaviour, but only though better quality contact. Findings demonstrate the relative importance of peer norms compared to school norms for this age group. The results have implications for school-based interventions that aim to improve intergroup relations and highlight the importance of peer networks to promote more positive outgroup behaviours in divided societies such as Northern Ireland. © 2018 The British Psychological Society.

The Role of Sex of Peers and Gender-Typed Activities in Young Children's Peer Affiliative Networks: A Longitudinal Analysis of Selection and Influence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Carol Lynn; Kornienko, Olga; Schaefer, David R.; Hanish, Laura D.; Fabes, Richard A.; Goble, Priscilla

2013-01-01

A stochastic actor-based model was used to investigate the origins of sex segregation by examining how similarity in sex of peers and time spent in gender-typed activities affected affiliation network selection and how peers influenced children's ("N" = 292; "M"[subscript age] = 4.3 years) activity involvement. Gender had…

Interventional radiology peer, a newly developed peer-review scoring system designed for interventional radiology practice.

PubMed

d'Othée, Bertrand Janne; Haskal, Ziv J

2013-10-01

Existing diagnostic radiology peer-review systems do not address the specificities of interventional radiology (IR) practice. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of a specifically developed interventional peer review method, IR Peer. Retrospective review of a prospectively encoded pilot database aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of IR Peer in a multiphysician practice was performed. This scoring system used morning peer review of selected IR cases from the previous day in the form of a five-item questionnaire and an ordinal answer scale that grades reviewers' agreement with imaging findings, procedural/technical management, early outcomes, and follow-up plan. Patient lists from IR Peer and morbidity and mortality (M&M) conferences were compared to evaluate the amount of overlap and capability of IR Peer to help detect adverse events (AEs). A total of 417 consecutive reviews of IR attending physician cases by peers were performed in 163 consecutive patients over 18 months, and 94% of cases were reviewed by two or three IR attending physicians. Each question was answered 99%-100% of the time. Answers showed disagreement in 10% of cases (2% by a single reviewer, 8% by several), most related to procedural technique. Overall AE incidence was 1.8%. IR Peer contributed 10.7% of cases to the M&M list. IR Peer is feasible, relevant, and easy to implement in a multiphysician IR practice. When used along with other quality-assurance processes, it might help in the detection of AEs for M&M; the latter will require further confirmatory research. © SIR, 2013.

Our teacher likes you, so I like you: A social network approach to social referencing.

PubMed

Hendrickx, Marloes M H G; Mainhard, Tim; Boor-Klip, Henrike J; Brekelmans, Mieke

2017-08-01

A teacher is a social referent for peer liking and disliking when students adjust their evaluations of a peer based on their perceptions of teacher liking and disliking for this peer. The present study investigated social referencing as an intra-individual process that occurs over time, using stochastic actor-oriented modeling with RSiena. The co-evolution of peer-perceived teacher liking and disliking networks with peer liking and disliking networks was analyzed in 52 fifth-grade classes in the Netherlands, with 1370 students (M age =10.60). Results showed that when a student viewed the teacher to like a peer, this student would also like this peer. Regarding disliking, there was a stronger effect in the opposite direction, indicating that students' disliking a peer increased the likelihood that they would view the peer as disliked by the teacher as well. In sum, partial evidence for social referencing as an intra-individual process was found. For teachers this implies that the cues they provide regarding their liking of a student, and not necessarily their disliking, may affect individual peers' liking of this student. Copyright © 2017 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Participation and diffusion effects of a peer-intervention for HIV prevention among adults in rural Malawi.

PubMed

Crittenden, Kathleen S; Kaponda, Chrissie P N; Jere, Diana L; McCreary, Linda L; Norr, Kathleen F

2015-05-01

This paper examines whether a peer group intervention that reduced self-reported risky behaviors for rural adults in Malawi also had impacts on non-participants in the same communities. We randomly assigned two districts to the intervention and control conditions, and conducted surveys at baseline and 18 months post-intervention using unmatched independent random samples of intervention and control communities in 2003-2006. The six-session peer group intervention was offered to same-gender groups by trained volunteers. In this analysis, we divided the post-intervention sample into three exposure groups: 243 participants and 170 non-participants from the intervention district (total n = 415) and 413 control individuals. Controlling for demographics and participation, there were significant favorable diffusion effects on five partially overlapping behavioral outcomes: partner communication, ever used condoms, unprotected sex, recent HIV test, and a community HIV prevention index. Non-participants in the intervention district had more favorable outcomes on these behaviors than survey respondents in the control district. One behavioral outcome, community HIV prevention, showed both participation and diffusion effects. Participating in the intervention had a significant effect on six psychosocial outcomes: HIV knowledge (two measures), hope, condom attitudes, and self-efficacy for community HIV prevention and for safer sex; there were no diffusion effects. This pattern of results suggests that the behavioral changes promoted in the intervention spread to others in the same community, most likely through direct contact between participants and non-participants. These findings support the idea that diffusion of HIV-related behavior changes can occur for peer group interventions in communities, adding to the body of research supporting diffusion of innovations theory as a robust approach to accelerating change. If diffusion occurs, peer group intervention may be more cost-effective than previously realized. Wider implementation of peer group interventions can help meet the global goal of reducing new HIV infections. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Participation and Diffusion Effects of a Peer-Intervention for HIV Prevention among Adults in Rural Malawi

PubMed Central

Crittenden, Kathleen S.; Kaponda, Chrissie P. N.; Jere, Diana L.; McCreary, Linda L.; Norr, Kathleen F.

2015-01-01

This paper examines whether a peer group intervention that reduced self-reported risky behaviors for rural adults in Malawi also had impacts on non-participants in the same communities. We randomly assigned two districts to the intervention and control conditions, and conducted surveys at baseline and 18 months post-intervention using unmatched independent random samples of intervention and control communities in 2003-2006. The six-session peer group intervention was offered to same-gender groups by trained volunteers. In this analysis, we divided the post-intervention sample into three exposure groups: 243 participants and 170 non-participants from the intervention district (total n=415) and 413 control individuals. Controlling for demographics and participation, there were significant favorable diffusion effects on five partially overlapping behavioral outcomes: partner communication, ever used condoms, unprotected sex, recent HIV test, and a community HIV prevention index. Non-participants in the intervention district had more favorable outcomes on these behaviors than survey respondents in the control district. One behavioral outcome, community HIV prevention, showed both participation and diffusion effects. Participating in the intervention had a significant effect on six psychosocial outcomes: HIV knowledge (two measures), hope, condom attitudes, and self-efficacy for community HIV prevention and for safer sex; there were no diffusion effects. This pattern of results suggests that the behavioral changes promoted in the intervention spread to others in the same community, most likely through direct contact between participants and non-participants. These findings support the idea that diffusion of HIV-related behavior changes can occur for peer group interventions in communities, adding to the body of research supporting diffusion of innovations theory as a robust approach to accelerating change. If diffusion occurs, peer group intervention may be more cost-effective than previously realized. Wider implementation of peer group interventions can help meet the global goal of reducing new HIV infections. PMID:25864150

The CHOICE pilot project: Challenges of implementing a combined peer work and shared decision-making programme in an early intervention service.

PubMed

Simmons, Magenta B; Coates, Dominiek; Batchelor, Samantha; Dimopoulos-Bick, Tara; Howe, Deborah

2017-12-12

Youth participation is central to early intervention policy and quality frameworks. There is good evidence for peer support (individuals with lived experience helping other consumers) and shared decision making (involving consumers in making decisions about their own care) in adult settings. However, youth programs are rarely tested or described in detail. This report aims to fill this gap by describing a consumer focused intervention in an early intervention service. This paper describes the development process, intervention content and implementation challenges of the Choices about Healthcare Options Informed by Client Experiences and Expectations (CHOICE) Pilot Project. This highly novel and innovative project combined both youth peer work and youth shared decision making. Eight peer workers were employed to deliver an online shared decision-making tool at a youth mental health service in New South Wales, Australia. The intervention development involved best practice principles, including international standards and elements of co-design. The implementation of the peer workforce in the service involved a number of targeted strategies designed to support this new service model. However, several implementation challenges were experienced which resulted in critical learning about how best to deliver these types of interventions. Delivering peer work and shared decision making within an early intervention service is feasible, but not without challenges. Providing adequate detail about interventions and implementation strategies fills a critical gap in the literature. Understanding optimal youth involvement strategies assists others to deliver acceptable and effective services to young people who experience mental ill health. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

The Role of Social Network Technologies in Online Health Promotion: A Narrative Review of Theoretical and Empirical Factors Influencing Intervention Effectiveness.

PubMed

Balatsoukas, Panos; Kennedy, Catriona M; Buchan, Iain; Powell, John; Ainsworth, John

2015-06-11

Social network technologies have become part of health education and wider health promotion—either by design or happenstance. Social support, peer pressure, and information sharing in online communities may affect health behaviors. If there are positive and sustained effects, then social network technologies could increase the effectiveness and efficiency of many public health campaigns. Social media alone, however, may be insufficient to promote health. Furthermore, there may be unintended and potentially harmful consequences of inaccurate or misleading health information. Given these uncertainties, there is a need to understand and synthesize the evidence base for the use of online social networking as part of health promoting interventions to inform future research and practice. Our aim was to review the research on the integration of expert-led health promotion interventions with online social networking in order to determine the extent to which the complementary benefits of each are understood and used. We asked, in particular, (1) How is effectiveness being measured and what are the specific problems in effecting health behavior change?, and (2) To what extent is the designated role of social networking grounded in theory? The narrative synthesis approach to literature review was used to analyze the existing evidence. We searched the indexed scientific literature using keywords associated with health promotion and social networking. The papers included were only those making substantial study of both social networking and health promotion—either reporting the results of the intervention or detailing evidence-based plans. General papers about social networking and health were not included. The search identified 162 potentially relevant documents after review of titles and abstracts. Of these, 42 satisfied the inclusion criteria after full-text review. Six studies described randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the effectiveness of online social networking within health promotion interventions. Most of the trials investigated the value of a "social networking condition" in general and did not identify specific features that might play a role in effectiveness. Issues about the usability and level of uptake of interventions were more common among pilot studies, while observational studies showed positive evidence about the role of social support. A total of 20 papers showed the use of theory in the design of interventions, but authors evaluated effectiveness in only 10 papers. More research is needed in this area to understand the actual effect of social network technologies on health promotion. More RCTs of greater length need to be conducted taking into account contextual factors such as patient characteristics and types of a social network technology. Also, more evidence is needed regarding the actual usability of online social networking and how different interface design elements may help or hinder behavior change and engagement. Moreover, it is crucial to investigate further the effect of theory on the effectiveness of this type of technology for health promotion. Research is needed linking theoretical grounding with observation and analysis of health promotion in online networks.

CD-ROM Network Configurations: Good, Better, Best!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McClanahan, Gloria

1996-01-01

Rates three methods of arranging CD-ROM school networks: (1) peer-to-peer; (2) daisy chain configurations; and (3) dedicated CD-ROM file server. Describes the following network components: the file server, network adapters and wiring, the CD-ROM file server, and CD-ROM drives. Discusses issues involved in assembling these components into a working…

Evaluation of a peer-led hypertension intervention for veterans: impact on peer leaders.

PubMed

Mosack, Katie E; Patterson, Leslie; Brouwer, Amanda M; Wendorf, Angela R; Ertl, Kristyn; Eastwood, Dan; Morzinski, Jeffrey; Fletcher, Kathlyn; Whittle, Jeff

2013-06-01

Volunteer peer leaders (PLs) benefit from their involvement in health interventions but we know little about how they compare with other non-PL volunteers or with the intervention recipients themselves. We randomized 58 veterans' service organizations' posts (e.g. VFW) to peer- versus professionally led self-management support interventions. Our primary research questions were whether hypertensive PLs changed over the course of the project, whether they changed more than hypertensive volunteers who were not randomized to such a role [i.e. post representatives (PRs)] and whether they changed more than the intervention recipients with respect to health knowledge, health beliefs and health outcomes from baseline to 12 months. After the intervention, PLs provided open-ended feedback and participated in focus groups designed to explore intervention impact. Hypertensive PLs improved their systolic blood pressure and hypertension knowledge and increased their fruit/vegetable intake and pedometer use. We found no differences between PLs and PRs. PLs improved knowledge and increased fruit/vegetable intake more than intervention recipients did; they provided specific examples of personal health behavior change and knowledge acquisition. Individuals who volunteer to be peer health leaders are likely to receive important benefits even if they do not actually take on such a role.

Evaluation of a peer-led hypertension intervention for veterans: impact on peer leaders

PubMed Central

Mosack, Katie E.; Patterson, Leslie; Brouwer, Amanda M.; Wendorf, Angela R.; Ertl, Kristyn; Eastwood, Dan; Morzinski, Jeffrey; Fletcher, Kathlyn; Whittle, Jeff

2013-01-01

Volunteer peer leaders (PLs) benefit from their involvement in health interventions but we know little about how they compare with other non-PL volunteers or with the intervention recipients themselves. We randomized 58 veterans’ service organizations’ posts (e.g. VFW) to peer- versus professionally led self-management support interventions. Our primary research questions were whether hypertensive PLs changed over the course of the project, whether they changed more than hypertensive volunteers who were not randomized to such a role [i.e. post representatives (PRs)] and whether they changed more than the intervention recipients with respect to health knowledge, health beliefs and health outcomes from baseline to 12 months. After the intervention, PLs provided open-ended feedback and participated in focus groups designed to explore intervention impact. Hypertensive PLs improved their systolic blood pressure and hypertension knowledge and increased their fruit/vegetable intake and pedometer use. We found no differences between PLs and PRs. PLs improved knowledge and increased fruit/vegetable intake more than intervention recipients did; they provided specific examples of personal health behavior change and knowledge acquisition. Individuals who volunteer to be peer health leaders are likely to receive important benefits even if they do not actually take on such a role. PMID:23406721

Evaluating a culturally tailored peer-mentoring and education pilot intervention among Chinese breast cancer survivors using a mixed-methods approach.

PubMed

Lu, Qian; You, Jin; Man, Jenny; Loh, Alice; Young, Lucy

2014-11-01

To evaluate a social support intervention that was culturally tailored for Chinese Americans who face many challenges because of cultural and linguistic barriers. Intervention with a one-group pre- or post-test design, mixed methods, and a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach. Southern California. 14 Chinese American breast cancer survivors post-treatment and eight breast cancer peer mentors. The intervention was a 10-week program to provide emotional and informational support through peer mentoring and education. Health outcomes were assessed before and after the intervention. Eight weekly process evaluations and two focus group interviews also were conducted. Depressive and anxiety symptoms. The program was associated with a decrease in depressive symptoms. Participants valued the program highly. Inductive analysis suggested possible mechanisms for effectiveness, such as reducing stigma, empowerment, and increased sense of belonging. The peer-mentoring and education program has the potential to serve as a model intervention for ethnic minorities. Mixed methods and CBPR are valuable in evaluating pilot interventions with minorities. Focusing on relationships may be fruitful for designing novel interventions for cancer survivors from collectivistic cultures. Peer-mentoring and education programs can be integrated into communities and clinics to improve care for underserved minority cancer survivors and to reduce health disparities.

Origin of Peer Influence in Social Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinheiro, Flávio L.; Santos, Marta D.; Santos, Francisco C.; Pacheco, Jorge M.

2014-03-01

Social networks pervade our everyday lives: we interact, influence, and are influenced by our friends and acquaintances. With the advent of the World Wide Web, large amounts of data on social networks have become available, allowing the quantitative analysis of the distribution of information on them, including behavioral traits and fads. Recent studies of correlations among members of a social network, who exhibit the same trait, have shown that individuals influence not only their direct contacts but also friends' friends, up to a network distance extending beyond their closest peers. Here, we show how such patterns of correlations between peers emerge in networked populations. We use standard models (yet reflecting intrinsically different mechanisms) of information spreading to argue that empirically observed patterns of correlation among peers emerge naturally from a wide range of dynamics, being essentially independent of the type of information, on how it spreads, and even on the class of underlying network that interconnects individuals. Finally, we show that the sparser and clustered the network, the more far reaching the influence of each individual will be.

Peer Influences on Sexual Activity among Adolescents in Ghana.

PubMed

Bingenheimer, Jeffrey B; Asante, Elizabeth; Ahiadeke, Clement

2015-03-01

Little is known about the influences of peers on the sexual activity of adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. Better understanding of these issues could lead to more effective sexual and reproductive health interventions. Using two waves of survey data from 1,275 adolescents in two southeastern Ghanaian towns, we examine age, sex, and community differences in peer group characteristics. We also examine prospective associations between peer group characteristics and self-reported sexual initiation and multiple partnerships during a 20-month follow-up period. Sex differences in peer-context variables were small. Affiliation with antisocial peers and perceived peer norms favoring sex increased the odds of transition to first sex. Having more friends increased the odds among younger respondents of acquiring multiple new sexual partners. Among males, perceived peer norms favoring sex increased the odds of acquiring multiple partners. We discuss the implications of these findings for adolescent sexual and reproductive health intervention strategies in sub-Saharan Africa, and conclude that peer-based interventions may be best suited to the needs of at-risk adolescent boys. © 2015 The Population Council, Inc.

The influence of parent's body mass index on peer selection: an experimental approach using virtual reality.

PubMed

Martarelli, Corinna S; Borter, Natalie; Bryjova, Jana; Mast, Fred W; Munsch, Simone

2015-11-30

Relatively little is known about the influence of psychosocial factors, such as familial role modeling and social network on the development and maintenance of childhood obesity. We investigated peer selection using an immersive virtual reality environment. In a virtual schoolyard, children were confronted with normal weight and overweight avatars either eating or playing. Fifty-seven children aged 7-13 participated. Interpersonal distance to the avatars, child's BMI, self-perception, eating behavior and parental BMI were assessed. Parental BMI was the strongest predictor for the children's minimal distance to the avatars. Specifically, a higher mothers' BMI was associated with greater interpersonal distance and children approached closer to overweight eating avatars. A higher father's BMI was associated with a lower interpersonal distance to the avatars. These children approached normal weight playing and overweight eating avatar peers closest. The importance of parental BMI for the child's social approach/avoidance behavior can be explained through social modeling mechanisms. Differential effects of paternal and maternal BMI might be due to gender specific beauty ideals. Interventions to promote social interaction with peer groups could foster weight stabilization or weight loss in children. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measuring a year of child pornography trafficking by U.S. computers on a peer-to-peer network.

PubMed

Wolak, Janis; Liberatore, Marc; Levine, Brian Neil

2014-02-01

We used data gathered via investigative "RoundUp" software to measure a year of online child pornography (CP) trafficking activity by U.S. computers on the Gnutella peer-to-peer network. The data include millions of observations of Internet Protocol addresses sharing known CP files, identified as such in previous law enforcement investigations. We found that 244,920 U.S. computers shared 120,418 unique known CP files on Gnutella during the study year. More than 80% of these computers shared fewer than 10 such files during the study year or shared files for fewer than 10 days. However, less than 1% of computers (n=915) made high annual contributions to the number of known CP files available on the network (100 or more files). If law enforcement arrested the operators of these high-contribution computers and took their files offline, the number of distinct known CP files available in the P2P network could be reduced by as much as 30%. Our findings indicate widespread low level CP trafficking by U.S. computers in one peer-to-peer network, while a small percentage of computers made high contributions to the problem. However, our measures were not comprehensive and should be considered lower bounds estimates. Nonetheless, our findings show that data can be systematically gathered and analyzed to develop an empirical grasp of the scope and characteristics of CP trafficking on peer-to-peer networks. Such measurements can be used to combat the problem. Further, investigative software tools can be used strategically to help law enforcement prioritize investigations. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of a peer-supported, self-management intervention for people following mental health crisis.

PubMed

Milton, Alyssa; Lloyd-Evans, Brynmor; Fullarton, Kate; Morant, Nicola; Paterson, Bethan; Hindle, David; Kelly, Kathleen; Mason, Oliver; Lambert, Marissa; Johnson, Sonia

2017-11-09

A documented gap in support exists for service users following discharge from acute mental health services, and structured interventions to reduce relapse are rarely provided. Peer-facilitated self-management interventions have potential to meet this need, but evidence for their effectiveness is limited. This paper describes the development of a peer-provided self-management intervention for mental health service users following discharge from crisis resolution teams (CRTs). A five-stage iterative mixed-methods approach of sequential data collection and intervention development was adopted, following the development and piloting stages of the MRC framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions. Evidence review (stage 1) included systematic reviews of both peer support and self-management literature. Interviews with CRT service users (n = 41) regarding needs and priorities for support following CRT discharge were conducted (stage 2). Focus group consultations (n = 12) were held with CRT service-users, staff and carers to assess the acceptability and feasibility of a proposed intervention, and to refine intervention organisation and content (stage 3). Qualitative evaluation of a refined, peer-provided, self-management intervention involved qualitative interviews with CRT service user participants (n = 9; n = 18) in feasibility testing (stage 4) and a pilot trial (stage 5), and a focus group at each stage with the peer worker providers (n = 4). Existing evidence suggests self-management interventions can reduce relapse and improve recovery. Initial interviews and focus groups indicated support for the overall purpose and planned content of a recovery-focused self-management intervention for people leaving CRT care adapted from an existing resource: The personal recovery plan (developed by Repper and Perkins), and for peer support workers (PSWs) as providers. Participant feedback after feasibility testing was positive regarding facilitation of the intervention by PSWs; however, the structured self-management booklet was underutilised. Modifications to the self-management intervention manual and PSWs' training were made before piloting, which confirmed the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention for testing in a future, definitive trial. A manualised intervention and operating procedures, focusing on the needs and priorities of the target client group, have been developed through iterative stages of intervention development and feedback for testing in a trial context. Trial Registration ISRCTN01027104 date of registration: 11/10/2012.

The development of peer educator-based harm reduction programmes in Northern Vietnam.

PubMed

Walsh, Nick; Gibbie, Tania M; Higgs, Peter

2008-03-01

Injecting drug use remains an important risk factor for transmission in Vietnam, with an estimated 50% of the 290 000 people living with HIV/AIDS reporting injecting drug use as a risk factor. Despite this, effective harm reduction interventions are generally lacking. This paper describes the implementation of peer-based harm reduction programmes in two rural provinces of Vietnam. Peer educators were trained in basic HIV prevention, including harm reduction. After significant preparation work with the Provincial AIDS Committees of Bac Giang and Thanh Hoa and other relevant national, provincial and local authorities, the interventions were commenced. Harm reduction interventions were delivered through outreach as well as on-site. This included needle and syringe distribution and collection. Community advocacy occurred throughout the life of the project. Local authorities and peers believed that while there was a general reduction in stigma and discrimination, legal barriers associated particularly with the carrying of injecting equipment remained. This impacted upon the ability of peer educators to work with their clients. Peer-based delivery of harm reduction intervention is acceptable. Harm reduction interventions, including needle and syringe programmes, are feasible and acceptable in these two rural Vietnamese provinces. Community acceptance and uptake of these interventions is key to successful expansion across the region. Active participation by families of drug users seems crucial. This initiative demonstrates that despite a difficult policy environment, peer-delivered needle and syringe programmes are feasible within a rural Asian environment as long as there is adequate local political and community support.

Countervailing social network influences on problem behaviors among homeless youth.

PubMed

Rice, Eric; Stein, Judith A; Milburn, Norweeta

2008-10-01

The impact of countervailing social network influences (i.e., pro-social, anti-social or HIV risk peers) on problem behaviors (i.e., HIV drug risk, HIV sex risk or anti-social behaviors) among 696 homeless youth was assessed using structural equation modeling. Results revealed that older youth were less likely to report having pro-social peers and were more likely to have HIV risk and anti-social peers. A longer time homeless predicted fewer pro-social peers, more anti-social peers, and more HIV risk peers. Heterosexual youth reported fewer HIV risk peers and more pro-social peers. Youth recruited at agencies were more likely to report pro-social peers. Having pro-social peers predicted less HIV sex risk behavior and less anti-social behavior. Having HIV risk peers predicted all problem behavior outcomes. Anti-social peers predicted more anti-social behavior. Once the association between anti-social and HIV risk peers was accounted for independently, having anti-social peers did not independently predict sex or drug risk behaviors.

Introduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Ben; Garbacki, Paweł; Gkantsidis, Christos; Iamnitchi, Adriana; Voulgaris, Spyros

After a decade of intensive investigation, peer-to-peer computing has established itself as an accepted research eld in the general area of distributed systems. Peer-to- peer computing can be seen as the democratization of computing over throwing traditional hierarchical designs favored in client-server systems largely brought about by last-mile network improvements which have made individual PCs rst-class citizens in the network community. Much of the early focus in peer-to-peer systems was on best-effort le sharing applications. In recent years, however, research has focused on peer-to-peer systems that provide operational properties and functionality similar to those shown by more traditional distributed systems. These properties include stronger consistency, reliability, and security guarantees suitable to supporting traditional applications such as databases.

Use of Peer-Mediated Intervention in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grauvogel-MacAleese, Alicia N.; Wallace, Michele D.

2010-01-01

The present experiment extended and replicated the use of functional analysis and a peer-mediated intervention to decrease disruptive behavior displayed by children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in an afterschool program. After determining that the participants displayed off-task behavior maintained by peer attention via…

Reliable file sharing in distributed operating system using web RTC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dukiya, Rajesh

2017-12-01

Since, the evolution of distributed operating system, distributed file system is come out to be important part in operating system. P2P is a reliable way in Distributed Operating System for file sharing. It was introduced in 1999, later it became a high research interest topic. Peer to Peer network is a type of network, where peers share network workload and other load related tasks. A P2P network can be a period of time connection, where a bunch of computers connected by a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port to transfer or enable disk sharing i.e. file sharing. Currently P2P requires special network that should be designed in P2P way. Nowadays, there is a big influence of browsers in our life. In this project we are going to study of file sharing mechanism in distributed operating system in web browsers, where we will try to find performance bottlenecks which our research will going to be an improvement in file sharing by performance and scalability in distributed file systems. Additionally, we will discuss the scope of Web Torrent file sharing and free-riding in peer to peer networks.

Ontology-Based Peer Exchange Network (OPEN)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dong, Hui

2010-01-01

In current Peer-to-Peer networks, distributed and semantic free indexing is widely used by systems adopting "Distributed Hash Table" ("DHT") mechanisms. Although such systems typically solve a. user query rather fast in a deterministic way, they only support a very narrow search scheme, namely the exact hash key match. Furthermore, DHT systems put…

Adolescents' Educational Outcomes: Racial and Ethnic Variations in Peer Network Importance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goza, Franklin; Ryabov, Igor

2009-01-01

Little attention has been paid to the role of peer social capital in the school context, especially as a predictor of adolescents' academic outcomes. This study uses a nationally representative (N = 13,738, female = 51%), longitudinal sample and multilevel models to examine how peer networks impact educational achievement and attainment. Results…

Peer Network Overlap in Twin, Sibling, and Friend Dyads

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGuire, Shirley; Segal, Nancy L.

2013-01-01

Research suggests that sibling–peer connections are important for understanding adolescent problem behaviors. Using a novel behavioral genetic design, the current study investigated peer network overlap in 300 child–child pairs (aged 7-13 years) in 5 dyad types: monozygotic (MZ), dizygotic twins, full siblings (FSs), friend pairs, and virtual…

Childhood Physical and Sexual Abuse and Social Network Patterns on Social Media: Associations With Alcohol Use and Problems Among Young Adult Women

PubMed Central

Oshri, Assaf; Himelboim, Itai; Kwon, Josephine A.; Sutton, Tara E.; Mackillop, James

2015-01-01

Objective: The aim of the present study was to examine the links between severities of child abuse (physical vs. sexual), and alcohol use versus problems via social media (Facebook) peer connection structures. Method: A total of 318 undergraduate female students at a public university in the United States reported severity of child abuse experiences and current alcohol use and problems. Social network data were obtained directly from the individuals’ Facebook network. Results: Severity of childhood physical abuse was positively linked to alcohol use and problems via eigenvector centrality, whereas severity of childhood sexual abuse was negatively linked to alcohol use and problems via clustering coefficient. Conclusions: Childhood physical and sexual abuse were linked positively and negatively, respectively, to online social network patterns associated with alcohol use and problems. The study suggests the potential utility of these online network patterns as risk indices and ultimately using social media as a platform for targeted preventive interventions. PMID:26562592

Childhood Physical and Sexual Abuse and Social Network Patterns on Social Media: Associations With Alcohol Use and Problems Among Young Adult Women.

PubMed

Oshri, Assaf; Himelboim, Itai; Kwon, Josephine A; Sutton, Tara E; Mackillop, James

2015-11-01

The aim of the present study was to examine the links between severities of child abuse (physical vs. sexual), and alcohol use versus problems via social media (Facebook) peer connection structures. A total of 318 undergraduate female students at a public university in the United States reported severity of child abuse experiences and current alcohol use and problems. Social network data were obtained directly from the individuals' Facebook network. Severity of childhood physical abuse was positively linked to alcohol use and problems via eigenvector centrality, whereas severity of childhood sexual abuse was negatively linked to alcohol use and problems via clustering coefficient. Childhood physical and sexual abuse were linked positively and negatively, respectively, to online social network patterns associated with alcohol use and problems. The study suggests the potential utility of these online network patterns as risk indices and ultimately using social media as a platform for targeted preventive interventions.

On Adding Structure to Unstructured Overlay Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leitão, João; Carvalho, Nuno A.; Pereira, José; Oliveira, Rui; Rodrigues, Luís

Unstructured peer-to-peer overlay networks are very resilient to churn and topology changes, while requiring little maintenance cost. Therefore, they are an infrastructure to build highly scalable large-scale services in dynamic networks. Typically, the overlay topology is defined by a peer sampling service that aims at maintaining, in each process, a random partial view of peers in the system. The resulting random unstructured topology is suboptimal when a specific performance metric is considered. On the other hand, structured approaches (for instance, a spanning tree) may optimize a given target performance metric but are highly fragile. In fact, the cost for maintaining structures with strong constraints may easily become prohibitive in highly dynamic networks. This chapter discusses different techniques that aim at combining the advantages of unstructured and structured networks. Namely we focus on two distinct approaches, one based on optimizing the overlay and another based on optimizing the gossip mechanism itself.

Qualitative analysis of social network influences on quitting smoking among individuals with serious mental illness.

PubMed

Aschbrenner, Kelly A; Naslund, John A; Gill, Lydia; Hughes, Terence; O'Malley, Alistair J; Bartels, Stephen J; Brunette, Mary F

2017-07-04

The prevalence of cigarette smoking among adults with serious mental illness (SMI) remains high in the United States despite the availability of effective smoking cessation treatment. Identifying social influences on smoking and smoking cessation may help enhance intervention strategies to help smokers with SMI quit. The objective of this qualitative study was to explore social network influences on efforts to quit smoking among adults with SMI enrolled in a cessation treatment program. Participants were 41 individuals with SMI enrolled in a Medicaid Demonstration Project of smoking cessation at community mental health centers. A convenience sampling strategy was used to recruit participants for social network interviews exploring the influence of family, friends, peers, and significant others on quitting smoking. A team-based analysis of qualitative data involved descriptive coding, grouping coded data into categories, and identifying themes across the data. Social barriers to quitting smoking included pro-smoking social norms, attitudes, and behaviors of social network members, and negative interactions with network members, either specific to smoking or that triggered smoking. Social facilitators to quitting included quitting with network members, having cessation role models, and social support for quitting from network members. Similar to the general population, social factors appear to influence efforts to quit smoking among individuals with SMI enrolled in cessation treatment. Interventions that leverage positive social influences on smoking cessation have the potential to enhance strategies to help individuals with SMI quit smoking.

Targeted Victimization: Exploring Linear and Curvilinear Associations Between Social Network Prestige and Victimization.

PubMed

Andrews, Naomi C Z; Hanish, Laura D; Updegraff, Kimberly A; Martin, Carol Lynn; Santos, Carlos E

2016-09-01

Are early adolescent victims of peer-directed aggression youth who hold prominent positions in the social hierarchy or those who are socially marginalized? The present study tackles this question by testing for linear and curvilinear relationships between social network prestige and physical and relational forms of peer victimization for boys and girls. Participants were 952 middle schoolers (age range = 10-14 years; 49.9 % girls; 44 % Latino). Participants nominated victims and friends; friendship nominations were used to calculate social network prestige. Both hypotheses received support, with variation by gender. Girls high in social network prestige were highly victimized. For boys, those both high and low in social network prestige were highly victimized, whereas those at mid-levels of social network prestige were low in victimization. The findings are discussed in relation to a social dominance model of peer-directed aggression, and the practical implications are discussed in relation to protecting youth who are frequent targets of peer victimization.

Beyond Music Sharing: An Evaluation of Peer-to-Peer Data Dissemination Techniques in Large Scientific Collaborations

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

Ripeanu, Matei; Al-Kiswany, Samer; Iamnitchi, Adriana

2009-03-01

The avalanche of data from scientific instruments and the ensuing interest from geographically distributed users to analyze and interpret it accentuates the need for efficient data dissemination. A suitable data distribution scheme will find the delicate balance between conflicting requirements of minimizing transfer times, minimizing the impact on the network, and uniformly distributing load among participants. We identify several data distribution techniques, some successfully employed by today's peer-to-peer networks: staging, data partitioning, orthogonal bandwidth exploitation, and combinations of the above. We use simulations to explore the performance of these techniques in contexts similar to those used by today's data-centric scientificmore » collaborations and derive several recommendations for efficient data dissemination. Our experimental results show that the peer-to-peer solutions that offer load balancing and good fault tolerance properties and have embedded participation incentives lead to unjustified costs in today's scientific data collaborations deployed on over-provisioned network cores. However, as user communities grow and these deployments scale, peer-to-peer data delivery mechanisms will likely outperform other techniques.« less

Gossip-Based Broadcast

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leitão, João; Pereira, José; Rodrigues, Luís

Gossip, or epidemic, protocols have emerged as a powerful strategy to implement highly scalable and resilient reliable broadcast primitives on large scale peer-to-peer networks. Epidemic protocols are scalable because they distribute the load among all nodes in the system and resilient because they have an intrinsic level of redundancy that masks node and network failures. This chapter provides an introduction to gossip-based broadcast on large-scale unstructured peer-to-peer overlay networks: it surveys the main results in the field, discusses techniques to build and maintain the overlays that support efficient dissemination strategies, and provides an in-depth discussion and experimental evaluation of two concrete protocols, named HyParView and Plumtree.

Role of Social Media in Diabetes Management in the Middle East Region: Systematic Review.

PubMed

Alanzi, Turki

2018-02-13

Diabetes is a major health care burden in the Middle East region. Social networking tools can contribute to the management of diabetes with improved educational and care outcomes using these popular tools in the region. The objective of this review was to evaluate the impact of social networking interventions on the improvement of diabetes management and health outcomes in patients with diabetes in the Middle East. Peer-reviewed articles from PubMed (1990-2017) and Google Scholar (1990-2017) were identified using various combinations of predefined terms and search criteria. The main inclusion criterion consisted of the use of social networking apps on mobile phones as the primary intervention. Outcomes were grouped according to study design, type of diabetes, category of technological intervention, location, and sample size. This review included 5 articles evaluating the use of social media tools in the management of diabetes in the Middle East. In most studies, the acceptance rate for the use of social networking to optimize the management of diabetes was relatively high. Diabetes-specific management tools such as the Saudi Arabia Networking for Aiding Diabetes and Diabetes Intelligent Management System for Iraq systems helped collect patient information and lower hemoglobin A 1c (HbA 1c ) levels, respectively. The reviewed studies demonstrated the potential of social networking tools being adopted in regions in the Middle East to improve the management of diabetes. Future studies consisting of larger sample sizes spanning multiple regions would provide further insight into the use of social media for improving patient outcomes. ©Turki Alanzi. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 13.02.2018.

Tailoring an Alcohol Intervention for American Indian Alaska Native Women of Childbearing Age: Listening to the Community.

PubMed

Montag, Annika C; Dusek, Marlené L; Ortega, Marina L; Camp-Mazzetti, Alexandrea; Calac, Dan J; Chambers, Christina D

2017-11-01

Reduction of risky drinking in women of childbearing age is 1 strategy that may be employed to prevent fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, a sequela of prenatal alcohol exposure. Communities differ in risk and protective factors, necessitating culturally informed interventions for maximal efficacy. This article describes the modification of an existing web-based screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment intervention to reduce risky drinking among American Indian Alaska Native (AIAN) women of childbearing age in Southern California into a peer-to-peer-based intervention using motivational interviewing (MI). The modification process was iterative and included various community focus groups, interviews, and a final review. Intervention modification was required for cultural congruence. Components of the peer-to-peer intervention designed by this project included a flip chart used to guide the motivational interviewing, charts of the financial and physical costs of alcohol consumption, revised baseline and follow-up questionnaires, and guidance regarding the application of MI techniques. This study may inform the modification of future interventions among AIAN communities. Copyright © 2017 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

A systematic review of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of peer education and peer support in prisons.

PubMed

Bagnall, Anne-Marie; South, Jane; Hulme, Claire; Woodall, James; Vinall-Collier, Karen; Raine, Gary; Kinsella, Karina; Dixey, Rachael; Harris, Linda; Wright, Nat M J

2015-03-25

Prisoners experience significantly worse health than the general population. This review examines the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of peer interventions in prison settings. A mixed methods systematic review of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness studies, including qualitative and quantitative synthesis was conducted. In addition to grey literature identified and searches of websites, nineteen electronic databases were searched from 1985 to 2012. Study selection criteria were: Prisoners resident in adult prisons and children resident in Young Offender Institutions (YOIs). Peer-based interventions. Review questions 3 and 4 compared peer and professionally led approaches. Prisoner health or determinants of health; organisational/process outcomes; views of prison populations. Quantitative, qualitative and mixed method evaluations. Fifty-seven studies were included in the effectiveness review and one study in the cost-effectiveness review; most were of poor methodological quality. Evidence suggested that peer education interventions are effective at reducing risky behaviours, and that peer support services are acceptable within the prison environment and have a positive effect on recipients, practically or emotionally. Consistent evidence from many, predominantly qualitative, studies, suggested that being a peer deliverer was associated with positive effects. There was little evidence on cost-effectiveness of peer-based interventions. There is consistent evidence from a large number of studies that being a peer worker is associated with positive health; peer support services are also an acceptable source of help within the prison environment and can have a positive effect on recipients. Research into cost-effectiveness is sparse. PROSPERO ref: CRD42012002349.

Peer outreach work as economic activity: implications for HIV prevention interventions among female sex workers.

PubMed

George, Annie; Blankenship, Kim M

2015-01-01

Female sex workers (FSWs) who work as peer outreach workers in HIV prevention programs are drawn from poor socio-economic groups and consider outreach work, among other things, as an economic activity. Yet, while successful HIV prevention outcomes by such programs are attributed in part to the work of peers who have dense relations with FSW communities, there is scant discussion of the economic implications for FSWs of their work as peers. Using observational data obtained from an HIV prevention intervention for FSWs in south India, we examined the economic benefits and costs to peers of doing outreach work and their implications for sex workers' economic security. We found that peers considered their payment incommensurate with their workload, experienced long delays receiving compensation, and at times had to advance money from their pockets to do their assigned peer outreach work. For the intervention these conditions resulted in peer attrition and difficulties in recruitment of new peer workers. We discuss the implications of these findings for uptake of services, and the possibility of reaching desired HIV outcomes. Inadequate and irregular compensation to peers and inadequate budgetary outlays to perform their community-based outreach work could weaken peers' relationships with FSW community members, undermine the effectiveness of peer-mediated HIV prevention programs and invalidate arguments for the use of peers.

The effect of peer tutoring on interaction behaviors in inclusive physical education.

PubMed

Klavina, Aija; Block, Martin E

2008-04-01

This study assessed the effect of peer tutoring on physical, instructional, and social interaction behaviors between elementary school age students with severe and multiple disabilities (SMD) and peers without disabilities. Additional measures addressed the activity time of students with SMD. The study was conducted in inclusive general physical education settings under three instructional support conditions for students with SMD: (a) teacher-directed, (b) peer-mediated, and (c) voluntary peer support. During peer-mediated and voluntary peer support conditions, the instructional and physical interaction behaviors between students with SMD and their peers increased, while social interactions remained low. The activity engagement time data increased for all target students throughout intervention sessions. Interactions between students with SMD and teachers decreased toward the end of intervention.

The Influence of Social Media on Addictive Behaviors in College Students

PubMed Central

Steers, Mai-Ly N.; Moreno, Megan A.; Neighbors, Clayton

2016-01-01

Social media has become a primary way for college students to communicate aspects of their daily lives to those within their social network. Such communications often include substance use displays (e.g., selfies of college students drinking). Furthermore, students’ substance use displays have been found to robustly predict not only the posters’ substance use-related outcomes (e.g., consumption, problems) but also that of their social networking peers. Purpose of review The current review summarizes findings of recent literature exploring the intersection between social media and substance use. Recent findings Specifically, we examine how and why such substance use displays might shape college students’ internalized norms surrounding substance use and how it impacts their substance use-related behaviors. Summary Additional social media-related interventions are needed in order to target reduction of consumption among this at-risk group. We discuss the technological and methodological challenges inherent to conducting research and devising interventions in this domain. PMID:28458990

DANGEROUS LIAISONS? DATING AND DRINKING DIFFUSION IN ADOLESCENT PEER NETWORKS*

PubMed Central

Kreager, Derek A.; Haynie, Dana L.

2014-01-01

The onset and escalation of alcohol consumption and romantic relationships are hallmarks of adolescence, yet only recently have these domains jointly been the focus of sociological inquiry. We extend this literature by connecting alcohol use, dating and peers to understand the diffusion of drinking behavior in school-based friendship networks. Drawing on Granovetter’s classic concept of weak ties, we argue that adolescent romantic partners are likely to be network bridges, or liaisons, connecting daters to new peer contexts which, in turn, promote changes in individual drinking behaviors and allow these behaviors to spread across peer networks. Using longitudinal data of 459 couples from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we estimate Actor-Partner Interdependence Models and identify the unique contributions of partners’ drinking, friends’ drinking, and friends-of-partners’ drinking to daters’ own future binge drinking and drinking frequency. Findings support the liaison hypothesis and suggest that friends-of-partners’ drinking have net associations with adolescent drinking patterns. Moreover, the coefficient for friends-of-partners drinking is larger than the coefficient for one’s own peers and generally immune to prior selection. Our findings suggest that romantic relationships are important mechanisms for understanding the diffusion of emergent problem behaviors in adolescent peer networks. PMID:25328162

The Influence of Social Networking Photos on Social Norms and Sexual Health Behaviors

PubMed Central

Jordan, Alexander H.

2013-01-01

Abstract Two studies tested whether online social networking technologies influence health behavioral social norms, and in turn, personal health behavioral intentions. In Study 1, experimental participants browsed peers' Facebook photos on a college network with a low prevalence of sexually suggestive content. Participants estimated the percentage of their peers who have sex without condoms, and rated their own future intentions to use condoms. Experimental participants, compared to controls who did not view photos, estimated that a larger percentage of their peers use condoms, and indicated a greater intention to use condoms themselves in the future. In Study 2, participants were randomly assigned to view sexually suggestive or nonsexually suggestive Facebook photos, and responded to sexual risk behavioral questions. Compared to participants viewing nonsuggestive photos, those who viewed sexually suggestive Facebook photos estimated that a larger percentage of their peers have unprotected sexual intercourse and sex with strangers and were more likely to report that they themselves would engage in these behaviors. Thus, online social networks can influence perceptions of the peer prevalence of sexual risk behaviors, and can influence users' own intentions with regard to such behaviors. These studies suggest the potential power of social networks to affect health behaviors by altering perceptions of peer norms. PMID:23438268

The evolution of social networks through the implementation of evidence-informed decision-making interventions: a longitudinal analysis of three public health units in Canada.

PubMed

Yousefi-Nooraie, Reza; Dobbins, Maureen; Marin, Alexandra; Hanneman, Robert; Lohfeld, Lynne

2015-12-03

We studied the evolution of information-seeking networks over a 2-year period during which an organization-wide intervention was implemented to promote evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) in three public health units in Ontario, Canada. We tested whether engagement of staff in the intervention and their EIDM behavior were associated with being chosen as information source and how the trend of inter-divisional communications and the dominance of experts evolved over time. Local managers at each health unit selected a group of staff to get engage in Knowledge Broker-led workshops and development of evidence summaries to address local public health problems. The staff were invited to answer three online surveys (at baseline and two annual follow-ups) including name generator questions eliciting the list of the staff they would turn to for help integrating research evidence into practice. We used stochastic actor-oriented modeling to study the evolution of networks. We tested the effect of engagement in the intervention, EIDM behavior scores, organizational divisions, and structural dynamics of social networks on the tendency of staff to select information sources, and the change in its trend between year 1 and year 2 of follow-up. In all the three health units, and especially in the two units with higher levels of engagement in the intervention, the network evolved towards a more centralized structure, with an increasing significance of already central staff. The staff showed greater tendencies to seek information from peers with higher EIDM behavior scores. In the public health unit that had highest engagement and stronger leadership support, the engaged staff became more central. In all public health units, the engaged staff showed an increasing tendency towards forming clusters. The staff in the three public health units showed a tendency towards limiting their connections within their divisions. The longitudinal analysis provided us with a means to study the microstructural changes in public health units, clues to the sustainability of the implementation. The hierarchical transformation of networks towards experts and formation of clusters among staff who were engaged in the intervention show how implementing organizational interventions to promote EIDM may affect the knowledge flow and distribution in health care communities, which may lead to unanticipated consequences.

Community-based peer support significantly improves metabolic control in people with Type 2 diabetes in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

PubMed

Assah, F K; Atanga, E N; Enoru, S; Sobngwi, E; Mbanya, J C

2015-07-01

To examine the effectiveness of a community-based multilevel peer support intervention in addition to usual diabetes care on improving glycaemic levels, blood pressure and lipids in patients with Type 2 diabetes in Yaoundé, Cameroon. A total of 96 subjects with poorly controlled Type 2 diabetes (intervention group) and 96 age- and sex-matched controls were recruited and followed up over 6 months. The intervention subjects underwent a peer support intervention through peer-led group meetings, personal encounters and telephone calls. Both intervention subjects and controls continued their usual clinical care. HbA1c , blood pressure, blood lipids and self-care behaviours were measured at 0 and 6 months. There was significant reduction in HbA1c in the intervention group [-33 mmol/mol (-3.0%)] compared with controls [-14 mmol/mol (-1.3%)]; P < 0.001. Peer support also led to significant reductions in fasting blood sugar (-0.83 g/l P < 0.001), cholesterol (-0.54 g/l P < 0.001), HDL (-0.09 g/l, P < 0.001), BMI (-2.71 kg/m² P < 0.001) and diastolic pressure (-6.77 mmHg, P < 0.001) over the 6-month period. Also, diabetes self-care behaviours in the intervention group improved significantly over the 6 months of peer support. Community-based peer support, in addition to usual care, significantly improved metabolic control in patients with uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes in Yaoundé, Cameroon. This could provide a model for optimizing diabetes care and control in other settings with limited healthcare and financial resources. © 2015 The Authors. Diabetic Medicine © 2015 Diabetes UK.

Clinician-led, peer-led, and internet-delivered dissonance-based eating disorder prevention programs: Acute effectiveness of these delivery modalities.

PubMed

Stice, Eric; Rohde, Paul; Shaw, Heather; Gau, Jeff M

2017-09-01

Because independent trials have provided evidence for the efficacy and effectiveness of the dissonance-based Body Project eating disorder prevention program, the present trial tested whether clinicians produce the largest intervention effects, or whether delivery can be task-shifted to less expensive undergraduate peer educators or to Internet delivery without effect size attenuation, focusing on acute effects. In this study, 680 young women (M age = 22.2 years, SD = 7.1) recruited at colleges in 2 states were randomized to clinician-led Body Project groups, peer-led Body Project groups, the Internet-based eBody Project, or an educational video control condition. Participants in all 3 variants of the Body Project intervention showed significantly greater reductions in eating disorder risk factors and symptoms than did educational video controls. Participants in clinician-led and peer-led Body Project groups showed significantly greater reductions in risk factors than did eBody Project participants, but effects for the 2 types of groups were similar. Eating disorder onset over 7-month follow-up was significantly lower for peer-led Body Project group participants versus eBody Project participants (2.2% vs. 8.4%) but did not differ significantly between other conditions. The evidence that all 3 dissonance-based prevention programs outperformed an educational video condition, that both group-based interventions outperformed the Internet-based intervention in risk factor reductions, and that the peer-led groups showed lower eating disorder onset over follow-up than did the Internet-based intervention is novel. These acute-effects data suggest that both group-based interventions produce superior eating disorder prevention effects than does the Internet-based intervention and that delivery can be task-shifted to peer leaders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

MATIN: a random network coding based framework for high quality peer-to-peer live video streaming.

PubMed

Barekatain, Behrang; Khezrimotlagh, Dariush; Aizaini Maarof, Mohd; Ghaeini, Hamid Reza; Salleh, Shaharuddin; Quintana, Alfonso Ariza; Akbari, Behzad; Cabrera, Alicia Triviño

2013-01-01

In recent years, Random Network Coding (RNC) has emerged as a promising solution for efficient Peer-to-Peer (P2P) video multicasting over the Internet. This probably refers to this fact that RNC noticeably increases the error resiliency and throughput of the network. However, high transmission overhead arising from sending large coefficients vector as header has been the most important challenge of the RNC. Moreover, due to employing the Gauss-Jordan elimination method, considerable computational complexity can be imposed on peers in decoding the encoded blocks and checking linear dependency among the coefficients vectors. In order to address these challenges, this study introduces MATIN which is a random network coding based framework for efficient P2P video streaming. The MATIN includes a novel coefficients matrix generation method so that there is no linear dependency in the generated coefficients matrix. Using the proposed framework, each peer encapsulates one instead of n coefficients entries into the generated encoded packet which results in very low transmission overhead. It is also possible to obtain the inverted coefficients matrix using a bit number of simple arithmetic operations. In this regard, peers sustain very low computational complexities. As a result, the MATIN permits random network coding to be more efficient in P2P video streaming systems. The results obtained from simulation using OMNET++ show that it substantially outperforms the RNC which uses the Gauss-Jordan elimination method by providing better video quality on peers in terms of the four important performance metrics including video distortion, dependency distortion, End-to-End delay and Initial Startup delay.

Protocol for a feasibility cluster randomised controlled trial of a peer-led school-based intervention to increase the physical activity of adolescent girls (PLAN-A).

PubMed

Sebire, Simon J; Edwards, Mark J; Campbell, Rona; Jago, Russell; Kipping, Ruth; Banfield, Kathryn; Tomkinson, Keeley; Garfield, Kirsty; Lyons, Ronan A; Simon, Joanne; Blair, Peter S; Hollingworth, William

2016-01-01

Physical activity levels are low amongst adolescent girls, and this population faces specific barriers to being active. Peer influences on health behaviours are important in adolescence and peer-led interventions might hold promise to change behaviour. This paper describes the protocol for a feasibility cluster randomised controlled trial of Peer-Led physical Activity iNtervention for Adolescent girls (PLAN-A), a peer-led intervention aimed at increasing adolescent girls' physical activity levels. A two-arm cluster randomised feasibility trial will be conducted in six secondary schools (intervention n  = 4; control n  = 2) with year 8 (12-13 years old) girls. The intervention will operate at a year group level and consist of year 8 girls nominating influential peers within their year group to become peer-supporters. Approximately 15 % of the cohort will receive 3 days of training about physical activity and interpersonal communication skills. Peer-supporters will then informally diffuse messages about physical activity amongst their friends for 10 weeks. Data will be collected at baseline (time 0 (T0)), immediately after the intervention (time 1 (T1)) and 12 months after baseline measures (time 2 (T2)). In this feasibility trial, the primary interest is in the recruitment of schools and participants (both year 8 girls and peer-supporters), delivery and receipt of the intervention, data provision rates and identifying the cost categories for future economic analysis. Physical activity will be assessed using 7-day accelerometry, with the likely primary outcome in a fully-powered trial being daily minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Participants will also complete psychosocial questionnaires at each time point: assessing motivation, self-esteem and peer physical activity norms. Data analysis will be largely descriptive and focus on recruitment, attendance and data provision rates. The findings will inform the sample size required for a definitive trial. A detailed process evaluation using qualitative and quantitative methods will be conducted with a variety of stakeholders (i.e. pupils, parents, teachers and peer-supporter trainers) to identify areas of success and necessary improvements prior to proceeding to a definitive trial. This paper describes the protocol for the PLAN-A feasibility cluster randomised controlled trial which will provide the information necessary to design a fully-powered trial should PLAN-A demonstrate evidence of promise. ISRCTN12543546.

A Collaborative Learning Network Approach to Improvement: The CUSP Learning Network.

PubMed

Weaver, Sallie J; Lofthus, Jennifer; Sawyer, Melinda; Greer, Lee; Opett, Kristin; Reynolds, Catherine; Wyskiel, Rhonda; Peditto, Stephanie; Pronovost, Peter J

2015-04-01

Collaborative improvement networks draw on the science of collaborative organizational learning and communities of practice to facilitate peer-to-peer learning, coaching, and local adaption. Although significant improvements in patient safety and quality have been achieved through collaborative methods, insight regarding how collaborative networks are used by members is needed. Improvement Strategy: The Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) Learning Network is a multi-institutional collaborative network that is designed to facilitate peer-to-peer learning and coaching specifically related to CUSP. Member organizations implement all or part of the CUSP methodology to improve organizational safety culture, patient safety, and care quality. Qualitative case studies developed by participating members examine the impact of network participation across three levels of analysis (unit, hospital, health system). In addition, results of a satisfaction survey designed to evaluate member experiences were collected to inform network development. Common themes across case studies suggest that members found value in collaborative learning and sharing strategies across organizational boundaries related to a specific improvement strategy. The CUSP Learning Network is an example of network-based collaborative learning in action. Although this learning network focuses on a particular improvement methodology-CUSP-there is clear potential for member-driven learning networks to grow around other methods or topic areas. Such collaborative learning networks may offer a way to develop an infrastructure for longer-term support of improvement efforts and to more quickly diffuse creative sustainment strategies.

Effects of a Peer-Mediated Intervention on Social Interactions of Students with Low-Functioning Autism and Perceptions of Typical Peers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simpson, Lisa A.; Bui, Yvonne

2016-01-01

Students with autism display challenges acquiring friendships and participating in relationships with typical peers. Social interaction is further impacted in students with low-functioning autism, necessitating consideration of their unique characteristics when designing and implementing interventions. This single-subject study examined the…

Reexamining the Literature: The Impact of Peer Tutoring on Higher Order Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morano, Stephanie; Riccomini, Paul J.

2017-01-01

The body of peer-tutoring intervention research targeting higher order learning (HOL) objectives for middle and high school students with disabilities is reviewed. Peer-tutoring outcomes are synthesized and studies are analyzed to examine the influence of tutoring procedures and study design features on intervention efficacy. Findings show that…

Efficacy of Peer Support Interventions in General Education Classrooms for High School Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, Erik W.; Gustafson, Jenny R.; Sreckovic, Melissa A.; Dykstra Steinbrenner, Jessica R.; Pierce, Nigel P.; Bord, Aimee; Stabel, Aaron; Rogers, Sally; Czerw, Alicia; Mullins, Teagan

2017-01-01

Even with inclusive general education classrooms, high school students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have few social interactions with classmates. Peer support arrangements hold promise for increasing peer interactions and shared learning within general education classrooms. However, previous evaluations of this intervention have…

Circles of Care: Development and Initial Evaluation of a Peer Support Model for African Americans with Advanced Cancer

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanson, Laura C.; Armstrong, Tonya D.; Green, Melissa A.; Hayes, Michelle; Peacock, Stacie; Elliot-Bynum, Sharon; Goldmon, Moses V.; Corbie-Smith, Giselle; Earp, Jo Anne

2013-01-01

Peer support interventions extend care and health information to underserved populations yet rarely address serious illness. Investigators from a well-defined academic-community partnership developed and evaluated a peer support intervention for African Americans facing advanced cancer. Evaluation methods used the Reach, Efficacy, Adoption,…

Contextual determinants of mothers' interventions in young children's peer interactions.

PubMed

Colwell, Malinda J; Mize, Jacquelyn; Pettit, Gregory S; Laird, Robert D

2002-07-01

In this study, the role of context in mothers' interventions in their preschool children's peer relationship problems was investigated. Event theme (aggression, peer rebuff, or initiating play), the child's role in the event (actor or target), the child's age and sex, and the mother's emotional reaction were examined as predictors of the extent to which mothers (N = 71) said they would discuss peer relationships, encourage peer interaction, and use power assertion in response to a series of videotaped vignettes depicting common peer relationship problems. Mothers suggested using more discussion in aggressive situations and more encouragement in initiating play situations. Mothers said they would use more power assertion when the child was the actor (i.e., provocateur), rather than the target, in an aggressive situation. Findings are discussed in terms of (a) the importance of considering context in understanding how mothers intervene in their children's peer relationships and (b) the need to examine moderators of cross-contextual consistency in mothers' interventions.

Feasibility of Recruiting Peer Educators to Promote HIV Testing Using Facebook Among Men Who have Sex with Men in Peru.

PubMed

Menacho, Luis A; Galea, Jerome T; Young, Sean D

2015-06-01

A peer leader-based intervention using social media can be an effective means to encourage Peruvian gay men to test for HIV. The objective was to explore the feasibility of recruiting and training leaders to deliver a peer intervention via Facebook to promote HIV testing. Training consisted of three sessions focused on HIV epidemiology, consequences of stigma associated with HIV, and ways to use Facebook. We performed pre- and post-training evaluations to assess HIV knowledge and comfort using Facebook. We trained 34 peer leaders. At baseline, the majority of peer leaders were already qualified and knowledgeable about HIV prevention and use of social media. We found a significant increase in proportion of peer leaders who were comfortable using social media to discuss about sexual partners and about STIs. It is feasible to recruit peer leaders who are qualified to conduct a social media based HIV prevention intervention in Peru.

Peer-Led Culinary Skills Intervention for Adolescents: Pilot Study of the Impact on Knowledge, Attitude, and Self-efficacy.

PubMed

Oakley, Amanda R; Nelson, Sarah A; Nickols-Richardson, Sharon M

To assess the impact and feasibility of a culinary skills intervention for adolescents led by peer educators compared with adult educators. Adolescents (aged 11-14 years) were randomized to peer educator (n = 22) or adult educator (n = 20) groups and attended 2 2.5-hour culinary skills lessons addressing knife skills, cooking methods, and recipes. Knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy measurements were completed before and immediately after the intervention and at 3 and 6 months after the intervention. Fidelity checklists assessed the feasibility of program delivery. Differences within and between groups over time were assessed using ANOVA. Adolescents (n = 42) increased knowledge (3.7 ± 2.6 points [mean ± SD]; P < .001), attitude (0.8 ± 4.5; P < .05), and self-efficacy of cooking (2.6 ± 5.3; P < .001) and cooking method (1.7 ± 4.6; P < .01) after intervention. Peer and adult educators were equally able to deliver the intervention. Peers and adults can feasibly lead a culinary skills program for adolescents that increases knowledge. To affect attitude and self-efficacy, additional training of peer educators may be needed. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Are Health Behavior Change Interventions That Use Online Social Networks Effective? A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Lewis, Lucy K; Ferrar, Katia; Marshall, Simon; De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse; Vandelanotte, Corneel

2014-01-01

Background The dramatic growth of Web 2.0 technologies and online social networks offers immense potential for the delivery of health behavior change campaigns. However, it is currently unclear how online social networks may best be harnessed to achieve health behavior change. Objective The intent of the study was to systematically review the current level of evidence regarding the effectiveness of online social network health behavior interventions. Methods Eight databases (Scopus, CINAHL, Medline, ProQuest, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane, Web of Science and Communication & Mass Media Complete) were searched from 2000 to present using a comprehensive search strategy. Study eligibility criteria were based on the PICOS format, where “population” included child or adult populations, including healthy and disease populations; “intervention” involved behavior change interventions targeting key modifiable health behaviors (tobacco and alcohol consumption, dietary intake, physical activity, and sedentary behavior) delivered either wholly or in part using online social networks; “comparator” was either a control group or within subject in the case of pre-post study designs; “outcomes” included health behavior change and closely related variables (such as theorized mediators of health behavior change, eg, self-efficacy); and “study design” included experimental studies reported in full-length peer-reviewed sources. Reports of intervention effectiveness were summarized and effect sizes (Cohen’s d and 95% confidence intervals) were calculated wherever possible. Attrition (percentage of people who completed the study), engagement (actual usage), and fidelity (actual usage/intended usage) with the social networking component of the interventions were scrutinized. Results A total of 2040 studies were identified from the database searches following removal of duplicates, of which 10 met inclusion criteria. The studies involved a total of 113,988 participants (ranging from n=10 to n=107,907). Interventions included commercial online health social network websites (n=2), research health social network websites (n=3), and multi-component interventions delivered in part via pre-existing popular online social network websites (Facebook n=4 and Twitter n=1). Nine of the 10 included studies reported significant improvements in some aspect of health behavior change or outcomes related to behavior change. Effect sizes for behavior change ranged widely from −0.05 (95% CI 0.45-0.35) to 0.84 (95% CI 0.49-1.19), but in general were small in magnitude and statistically non-significant. Participant attrition ranged from 0-84%. Engagement and fidelity were relatively low, with most studies achieving 5-15% fidelity (with one exception, which achieved 105% fidelity). Conclusions To date there is very modest evidence that interventions incorporating online social networks may be effective; however, this field of research is in its infancy. Further research is needed to determine how to maximize retention and engagement, whether behavior change can be sustained in the longer term, and to determine how to exploit online social networks to achieve mass dissemination. Specific recommendations for future research are provided. PMID:24550083

Effects of a videotape feedback package on the peer interactions of children with serious behavioral and emotional challenges.

PubMed Central

Kern-Dunlap, L; Dunlap, G; Clarke, S; Childs, K E; White, R L; Stewart, M P

1992-01-01

Peer interactions are among the greatest challenges experienced by children who have severe emotional and behavioral problems. This study evaluated an intervention package designed to increase the ratio of these children's desirable to undesirable interactions. The package included three principal components: (a) observation of videotapes following regularly scheduled peer activity sessions; (b) self-evaluation of the children's peer interactions observed on the videotapes; and (c) delayed feedback and reinforcement for desirable peer interactions. Five students from two elementary schools participated. Multiple baseline designs and one reversal were used to evaluate the effects of the intervention package. The results showed that the intervention produced lower levels of undesirable peer interactions and higher ratios of desirable to undesirable interactions for all participants. The results are discussed in regard to their conceptual and applied implications and in terms of specific directions for future research. PMID:1634428

Peer-Mediated Theatrical Engagement for Improving Reciprocal Social Interaction in Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Corbett, Blythe A.; Qualls, Lydia R.; Valencia, Blythe; Fecteau, Stéphanie-M.; Swain, Deanna M.

2014-01-01

The hallmark characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is poor reciprocal social communication. Interventions designed to improve this core deficit are critically needed. Social skills interventions such as direct training, peer mediation, and video modeling have contributed to improvements in various social skills in children with ASD. This paper reviews existing social competence interventions available for children with ASD while highlighting hypothesized critical components for advancing, maintaining, and generalizing skills, which include (1) peer mediation, (2) active learning, and (3) implementation in supportive, natural contexts. As a framework for these approaches, this conceptual paper describes SENSE Theatre, a novel intervention that combines trained peers that facilitate the performance-based theatrical treatment delivered in a supportive, community-based environment. A review of previous research shows early feasibility, setting the stage for more rigorous studies to aid in developing a standardized intervention package. PMID:25346926

Large-Scale Cooperative Task Distribution on Peer-to-Peer Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

SUBTITLE Large-scale cooperative task distribution on peer-to-peer networks 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6...of agents, and each agent attempts to form a coalition with its most profitable partner. The second algorithm builds upon the Shapley for- mula [37...ters at the second layer. These Category Layer clusters each represent a single resource, and agents join one or more clusters based on their

Why are health care interventions delivered over the internet? A systematic review of the published literature.

PubMed

Griffiths, Frances; Lindenmeyer, Antje; Powell, John; Lowe, Pam; Thorogood, Margaret

2006-06-23

As Internet use grows, health interventions are increasingly being delivered online. Pioneering researchers are using the networking potential of the Internet, and several of them have evaluated these interventions. The objective was to review the reasons why health interventions have been delivered on the Internet and to reflect on the work of the pioneers in this field in order to inform future research. We conducted a qualitative systematic review of peer-reviewed evaluations of health interventions delivered to a known client/patient group using networked features of the Internet. Papers were reviewed for the reasons given for using the Internet, and these reasons were categorized. We included studies evaluating 28 interventions plus 9 interventions that were evaluated in pilot studies. The interventions were aimed at a range of health conditions. Reasons for Internet delivery included low cost and resource implications due to the nature of the technology; reducing cost and increasing convenience for users; reduction of health service costs; overcoming isolation of users; the need for timely information; stigma reduction; and increased user and supplier control of the intervention. A small number of studies gave the existence of Internet interventions as the only reason for undertaking an evaluation of this mode of delivery. One must remain alert for the unintended effects of Internet delivery of health interventions due to the potential for reinforcing the problems that the intervention was designed to help. Internet delivery overcomes isolation of time, mobility, and geography, but it may not be a substitute for face-to-face contact. Future evaluations need to incorporate the evaluation of cost, not only to the health service but also to users and their social networks. When researchers report the outcomes of Internet-delivered health care interventions, it is important that they clearly state why they chose to use the Internet, preferably backing up their decision with theoretical models and exploratory work. Evaluation of the effectiveness of a health care intervention delivered by the Internet needs to include comparison with more traditional modes of delivery to answer the following question: What are the added benefits or disadvantages of Internet use that are particular to this mode of delivery?

Peer Feedback on Facebook: The Use of Social Networking Websites to Develop Writing Ability of Undergraduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wichadee, Saovapa

2013-01-01

The current study explores how integrating a social networking website called Facebook with peer feedback in groups supports student learning, investigates the nature of feedback students received on their writing, and examines their attitudes towards the use of Facebook for peer feedback. The study involves 30 undergraduate students who…

Efficacy of Peer Networks to Increase Social Connections among High School Students with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hochman, Julia M.; Carter, Erik W.; Bottema-Beutel, Kristen; Harvey, Michelle N.; Gustafson, Jenny R.

2015-01-01

Although peer interaction takes on increased salience during adolescence, such social connections remain elusive for many high school students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This social isolation can be particularly prevalent within unstructured school contexts.In this study, we examined the effects of a lunchtime peer network intervention…

Efficacy of Peer Networks to Increase Social Connections among High School Students with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hochman, Julia M.; Carter, Erik W.; Bottema-Beutel, Kristen; Harvey, Michelle N.; Gustafson, Jenny R.

2015-01-01

Although peer interaction takes on increased salience during adolescence, such social connections remain elusive for many high school students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This social isolation can be particularly prevalent within unstructured school contexts. In this study, we examined the effects of a lunchtime peer network intervention…

Cross-section and panel estimates of peer effects in early adolescent cannabis use: With a little help from my 'friends once removed'.

PubMed

Moriarty, John; McVicar, Duncan; Higgins, Kathryn

2016-08-01

Peer effects in adolescent cannabis are difficult to estimate, due in part to the lack of appropriate data on behaviour and social ties. This paper exploits survey data that have many desirable properties and have not previously been used for this purpose. The data set, collected from teenagers in three annual waves from 2002 to 2004 contains longitudinal information about friendship networks within schools (N = 5020). We exploit these data on network structure to estimate peer effects on adolescents from their nominated friends within school using two alternative approaches to identification. First, we present a cross-sectional instrumental variable (IV) estimate of peer effects that exploits network structure at the second degree, i.e. using information on friends of friends who are not themselves ego's friends to instrument for the cannabis use of friends. Second, we present an individual fixed effects estimate of peer effects using the full longitudinal structure of the data. Both innovations allow a greater degree of control for correlated effects than is commonly the case in the substance-use peer effects literature, improving our chances of obtaining estimates of peer effects than can be plausibly interpreted as causal. Both estimates suggest positive peer effects of non-trivial magnitude, although the IV estimate is imprecise. Furthermore, when we specify identical models with behaviour and characteristics of randomly selected school peers in place of friends', we find effectively zero effect from these 'placebo' peers, lending credence to our main estimates. We conclude that cross-sectional data can be used to estimate plausible positive peer effects on cannabis use where network structure information is available and appropriately exploited. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exchanging Peers to Establish P2P Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akon, Mursalin; Islam, Mohammad Towhidul; Shen, Xuemin(Sherman); Singh, Ajit

Structure-wise, P2P networks can be divided into two major categories: (1) structured and (2) unstructured. In this chapter, we survey a group of unstructured P2P networks. This group of networks employs a gossip or epidemic protocol to maintain the members of the network and during a gossip, peers exchange a subset of their neighbors with each other. It is reported that this kind of networks are scalable, robust and resilient to severe network failure, at the same time very inexpensive to operate.

Youth's social network structures and peer influences: study protocol MyMovez project - Phase I.

PubMed

Bevelander, Kirsten E; Smit, Crystal R; van Woudenberg, Thabo J; Buijs, Laura; Burk, William J; Buijzen, Moniek

2018-04-16

Youth are an important target group for social network interventions, because they are particularly susceptible to the adaptation of healthy and unhealthy habits and behaviors of others. They are surrounded by 'social influence agents' (i.e., role models such as family, friends and peers) that co-determine their dietary intake and physical activity. However, there is a lack of systematic and comprehensive research on the implementation of a social network approach in health campaigns. The MyMovez research project aims to fill this gap by developing a method for effective social network campaign implementation. This protocol paper describes the design and methods of Phase I of the MyMovez project, aiming to unravel youth's social network structures in combination with individual, psychosocial, and environmental factors related to energy intake and expenditure. In addition, the Wearable Lab is developed to enable an attractive and state-of-the-art way of collecting data and online campaign implementation via social networks. Phase I of the MyMovez project consists of a large-scale cross-sequential cohort study (N = 953; 8-12 and 12-15 y/o). In five waves during a 3-year period (2016-2018), data are collected about youth's social network exposure, media consumption, socialization experiences, psychological determinants of behavior, physical environment, dietary intake (snacking and drinking behavior) and physical activity using the Wearable Lab. The Wearable Lab exists of a smartphone-based research application (app) connected to an activity tracking bracelet, that is developed throughout the duration of the project. It generates peer- and self-reported (e.g., sociometric data and surveys) and experience sampling data, social network beacon data, real-time physical activity data (i.e., steps and cycling), location information, photos and chat conversation data from the app's social media platform Social Buzz. The MyMovez project - Phase I is an innovative cross-sequential research project that investigates how social influences co-determine youth's energy intake and expenditure. This project utilizes advanced research technologies (Wearable Lab) that provide unique opportunities to better understand the underlying processes that impact youths' health-related behaviors. The project is theoretically and methodologically pioneering and produces a unique and useful method for successfully implementing and improving health campaigns.

Avoiding the "brick wall of awkward": Perspectives of youth with autism spectrum disorder on social-focused intervention practices.

PubMed

Bottema-Beutel, Kristen; Mullins, Teagan S; Harvey, Michelle N; Gustafson, Jenny R; Carter, Erik W

2016-02-01

Many youth with autism spectrum disorder participate in school-based, peer-mediated intervention programs designed to improve their social experiences. However, there is little research discerning how these youth view intervention practices currently represented in the literature, information which could improve the social validity of intervention programming. In this mixed-methods study, we interviewed 33 youth with autism spectrum disorder about seven social-focused, peer-mediated intervention components. We asked participants to rate the favorability of each component to determine their degree of liking. Subsequently, we asked participants to give a rationale for their rating, in order to explore influencing factors. Chi-square tests indicated that high ratings were most prevalent for recruiting peers and family involvement and medium ratings were most prevalent for meeting with peers. Analyses of variance also indicated that preferences in the specific format intervention components were delivered. Several themes emerged from our qualitative analysis of open-ended responses, including the ramifications of adults in adolescent social life, the advantages of learning through shared activities with peers, and the effects of disclosing disability status. Our findings will offer guidance for researchers and practitioners interested in individualizing interventions to reflect student preferences. Furthermore, we document areas of concern for youth with autism spectrum disorder as they access school-based interventions. © The Author(s) 2015.

The Use of Peer Mentors to Enhance a Smoking Cessation Intervention for Persons with Serious Mental Illnesses

PubMed Central

Dickerson, Faith B.; Savage, Christina L.G.; Schweinfurth, Lucy A.B.; Medoff, Deborah R.; Goldberg, Richard W.; Bennett, Melanie; Lucksted, Alicia; Chinman, Matthew; Daumit, Gail; Dixon, Lisa; DiClemente, Carlo

2015-01-01

Objective We evaluated a well-specified peer mentor program that enhanced a professionally-led smoking cessation group for persons with serious mental illnesses. Methods Participants were 8 peer mentors, persons with serious mental illnesses who had successfully quit smoking, and 30 program participants, persons with serious mental illnesses enrolled in a 6 month intervention. Peer mentors were trained and then helped to deliver a smoking cessation group and met with program participants individually. We assessed the mentors’ skills after training, their fidelity to the model, and the program’s feasibility and acceptability. We also measured the smoking outcomes of the program participants including change in exhaled carbon monoxide, a measure of recent smoking, and aspects of the peer mentor-program participant relationship. Results Peer mentors attained a mean score of 13.6/14 on role play assessments after training and delivered the intervention with fidelity as assessed by adherence and competence ratings (mean scores of 97% and 93%, respectively). The feasibility and acceptability of the intervention was demonstrated in that 28/30 participants met with their peer mentors regularly and only 1 participant and no peer mentor discontinued in the study. Both parties rated the interpersonal alliance highly, mean of 5.9/7. The program participants had a decline in carbon monoxide levels and number of cigarettes smoked per day (repeated measures ANOVA F=6.04, p=.008; F=15.87, p<.001, respectively). A total of 22/30 (73%) made a quit attempt but only 3 (10%) achieved sustained abstinence. Conclusions and Implications for Practice Our study adds to the growing literature about peer-delivered interventions. PMID:26461436

The use of peer mentors to enhance a smoking cessation intervention for persons with serious mental illnesses.

PubMed

Dickerson, Faith B; Savage, Christina L G; Schweinfurth, Lucy A B; Medoff, Deborah R; Goldberg, Richard W; Bennett, Melanie; Lucksted, Alicia; Chinman, Matthew; Daumit, Gail; Dixon, Lisa; DiClemente, Carlo

2016-03-01

We evaluated a well-specified peer mentor program that enhanced a professionally led smoking cessation group for persons with serious mental illnesses. Participants were 8 peer mentors, persons with serious mental illnesses who had successfully quit smoking, and 30 program participants, persons with serious mental illnesses enrolled in a 6-month intervention. Peer mentors were trained and then helped to deliver a smoking cessation group and met with program participants individually. We assessed the mentors' skills after training, their fidelity to the model, and the program's feasibility and acceptability. We also measured the smoking outcomes of the program participants including change in exhaled carbon monoxide, a measure of recent smoking, and aspects of the peer mentor-program participant relationship. Peer mentors attained a mean score of 13.6/14 on role play assessments after training and delivered the intervention with fidelity as assessed by adherence and competence ratings (mean scores of 97% and 93%, respectively). The feasibility and acceptability of the intervention was demonstrated in that 28/30 participants met with their peer mentors regularly and only 1 participant and no peer mentor discontinued in the study. Both parties rated the interpersonal alliance highly, mean of 5.9/7. The program participants had a decline in carbon monoxide levels and number of cigarettes smoked per day (repeated measures ANOVA F = 6.04, p = .008; F = 15.87, p < .001, respectively). A total of 22/30 (73%) made a quit attempt but only 3 (10%) achieved sustained abstinence. Our study adds to the growing literature about peer-delivered interventions. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

A Randomized Trial of Peer-Delivered Self-Management Support for Hypertension

PubMed Central

Schapira, Marilyn M.; Fletcher, Kathlyn E.; Hayes, Avery; Morzinski, Jeffrey; Laud, Purushottam; Eastwood, Dan; Ertl, Kristyn; Patterson, Leslie; Mosack, Katie E.

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND Peer-led interventions to improve chronic disease self-management can improve health outcomes but are not widely used. Therefore, we tested a peer-led hypertension self-management intervention delivered at regular meetings of community veterans’ organizations. METHODS We randomized 58 organizational units (“posts”) of veterans’ organizations in southeast Wisconsin to peer-led vs. professionally delivered self-management education. Volunteer peer leaders at peer-led posts delivered monthly presentations regarding hypertension self-management during regular post meetings. Volunteer post representatives at seminar posts encouraged post members to attend 3 didactic seminars delivered by health professionals at a time separate from the post meeting. Volunteers in both groups encouraged members to self-monitor using blood pressure cuffs, weight scales, and pedometers. Our primary outcome was change in systolic blood pressure (SBP) at 12 months. RESULTS We measured SBP in 404 participants at baseline and in 379 participants at 12 months. SBP decreased significantly (4.4mm Hg; P < 0.0001) overall; the decrease was similar in peer-led and seminar posts (3.5mm Hg vs. 5.4mm Hg; P = 0.24). Among participants with uncontrolled BP at baseline, SBP decreased by 10.1mm Hg from baseline to 12 months but was again similar in the 2 groups. This pattern was also seen at 6 months and with diastolic blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS Our peer-led educational intervention was not more effective than didactic seminars for SBP control. Although peer-led educational programs have had important impacts in a number of studies, we did not find our intervention superior to a similar intervention delivered by healthcare professionals. Clinical trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00571038. PMID:24755206

Peer 2 peer: efficacy of a course-based peer education intervention to increase physical activity among college students.

PubMed

Boyle, Jennifer; Mattern, Craig O; Lassiter, Jill W; Ritzler, Julia A

2011-01-01

There are few physical activity (PA) interventions in higher education, and they have been only minimally effective. To determine if a course-based, peer education intervention was associated with increases in PA and physical fitness. Participants were 178 students enrolled in a personal health class during the 2007-2008 academic year. A quasi-experimental design was used to assess the effect of the intervention. Repeated measures analysis of covariance was employed to test the impact of the intervention on students' PA, body composition, waist-to-hip ratio, cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, and muscular strength. Women in the treatment group classified as "Inactive" at baseline increased PA, whereas "Inactive" control women had reductions in PA. Women in the treatment group who were "Active" at baseline reduced their waist-to-hip ratio and increased flexibility. There were no differences by treatment group among men. The intervention was effective in improving PA and physical fitness among college women.

Efficacy of Peer-Led Interventions to Reduce Unprotected Anal Intercourse among Men Who Have Sex with Men: A Meta-Analysis

PubMed Central

Ye, Shaodong; Yin, Lu; Amico, Rivet; Simoni, Jane; Vermund, Sten; Ruan, Yuhua; Shao, Yiming; Qian, Han-Zhu

2014-01-01

Objective To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of peer-led interventions in reducing unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) among men who have sex with men (MSM). Methods Randomized clinical trials (RCTs), quasi-experimental studies, pre- and post-intervention studies without control groups, and serial cross-sectional assessments involving peers delivering interventions among MSM and published as of February 2012 were identified by systematically searching 13 electronic databases and cross-referencing. Effect sizes (ES) were calculated as the changes of standardized mean difference (SMD) in UAI between groups or pre-post intervention. Results A total of 22 studies met the eligibility criteria, including five RCTs, six quasi-experimental studies, six pre-and-post intervention studies, and five serial cross-sectional intervention studies. We used 15 individual studies including 17 interventions for overall ES calculation; peer-led interventions reduced UAI with any sexual partners in meta-analysis (mean ES: -0.27; 95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.41, −0.13; P<0.01). Subgroup analyses demonstrated a statistically significant reduction on UAI in quasi-experimental studies (mean ES: −0.30; 95% CI: −0.50, −0.09; P = 0.01) and serial cross-sectional intervention studies (mean ES: −0.33; 95% CI: −0.57, −0.09; P = 0.01), but non-significant reduction in RCTs (mean ES: −0.15; 95% CI: −0.36, 0.07; P = 0.18) or pre- and post-intervention studies (mean ES: −0.29; 95% CI: −0.69, 0.11; P = 0.15). Heterogeneity was large across these 15 studies (I 2 = 77.5%; P<0.01), largely due to pre-and-post intervention studies and serial cross-sectional intervention studies. Conclusions Peer-led HIV prevention interventions reduced the overall UAI among MSM, but the efficacy varied by study design. More RCTs are needed to evaluate the effect of peer-led interventions while minimizing potential bias. PMID:24614809

Effects of Peer-Facilitated, Video-Based and Combined Peer-and-Video Education on Anxiety Among Patients Undergoing Coronary Angiography: Randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Habibzadeh, Hosein; Milan, Zahra D; Radfar, Moloud; Alilu, Leyla; Cund, Audrey

2018-02-01

Coronary angiography can be stressful for patients and anxiety-caused physiological responses during the procedure increase the risk of dysrhythmia, coronary artery spasms and rupture. This study therefore aimed to investigate the effects of peer, video and combined peer-and-video training on anxiety among patients undergoing coronary angiography. This single-blinded randomised controlled clinical trial was conducted at two large educational hospitals in Iran between April and July 2016. A total of 120 adult patients undergoing coronary angiography were recruited. Using a block randomisation method, participants were assigned to one of four groups, with those in the control group receiving no training and those in the three intervention groups receiving either peer-facilitated training, video-based training or a combination of both. A Persian-language validated version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to measure pre- and post-intervention anxiety. There were no statistically significant differences in mean pre-intervention anxiety scores between the four groups (F = 0.31; P = 0.81). In contrast, there was a significant reduction in post-intervention anxiety among all three intervention groups compared to the control group (F = 27.71; P <0.01); however, there was no significant difference in anxiety level in terms of the type of intervention used. Peer, video and combined peer-and-video education were equally effective in reducing angiography-related patient anxiety. Such techniques are recommended to reduce anxiety amongst patients undergoing coronary angiography in hospitals in Iran.

Promoting Water Consumption on a Caribbean Island: An Intervention Using Children's Social Networks at Schools.

PubMed

Franken, Saskia C M; Smit, Crystal R; Buijzen, Moniek

2018-04-10

Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption and the associated childhood obesity are major concerns in the Caribbean, creating a need for interventions promoting water consumption as a healthy alternative. A social network-based intervention (SNI) was tested among Aruban children to increase their water consumption and behavioral intention to do so and, consequently, to decrease SSB consumption and the associated behavioral intention. In this study, the moderating effects of descriptive and injunctive norms were tested. A cluster randomized controlled trial was completed in schools (mean age = 11 years ± SD = 0.98; 54% girls). Children were assigned to the intervention group (IG; n = 192) or control group (CG; n = 185). IG children were exposed to peer influencers promoting water consumption and CG children were not. Regression analyses showed that water consumption increased for IG children with a high injunctive norm score ( p = 0.05); however, their intention to consume more water remained unchanged ( p = 0.42). Moreover, IG children showed a decrease in SSB consumption ( p = 0.04) and an increase in their intention to consume less SSB ( p = 0.00). These findings indicate that SNIs are a promising instrument for health behavioral changes for Aruba and other islands in the Caribbean region.

Promoting Water Consumption on a Caribbean Island: An Intervention Using Children’s Social Networks at Schools

PubMed Central

Smit, Crystal R.

2018-01-01

Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption and the associated childhood obesity are major concerns in the Caribbean, creating a need for interventions promoting water consumption as a healthy alternative. A social network-based intervention (SNI) was tested among Aruban children to increase their water consumption and behavioral intention to do so and, consequently, to decrease SSB consumption and the associated behavioral intention. In this study, the moderating effects of descriptive and injunctive norms were tested. A cluster randomized controlled trial was completed in schools (mean age = 11 years ± SD = 0.98; 54% girls). Children were assigned to the intervention group (IG; n = 192) or control group (CG; n = 185). IG children were exposed to peer influencers promoting water consumption and CG children were not. Regression analyses showed that water consumption increased for IG children with a high injunctive norm score (p = 0.05); however, their intention to consume more water remained unchanged (p = 0.42). Moreover, IG children showed a decrease in SSB consumption (p = 0.04) and an increase in their intention to consume less SSB (p = 0.00). These findings indicate that SNIs are a promising instrument for health behavioral changes for Aruba and other islands in the Caribbean region. PMID:29642628

Peer Outreach Work as Economic Activity: Implications for HIV Prevention Interventions among Female Sex Workers

PubMed Central

George, Annie; Blankenship, Kim M.

2015-01-01

Female sex workers (FSWs) who work as peer outreach workers in HIV prevention programs are drawn from poor socio-economic groups and consider outreach work, among other things, as an economic activity. Yet, while successful HIV prevention outcomes by such programs are attributed in part to the work of peers who have dense relations with FSW communities, there is scant discussion of the economic implications for FSWs of their work as peers. Using observational data obtained from an HIV prevention intervention for FSWs in south India, we examined the economic benefits and costs to peers of doing outreach work and their implications for sex workers’ economic security. We found that peers considered their payment incommensurate with their workload, experienced long delays receiving compensation, and at times had to advance money from their pockets to do their assigned peer outreach work. For the intervention these conditions resulted in peer attrition and difficulties in recruitment of new peer workers. We discuss the implications of these findings for uptake of services, and the possibility of reaching desired HIV outcomes. Inadequate and irregular compensation to peers and inadequate budgetary outlays to perform their community-based outreach work could weaken peers’ relationships with FSW community members, undermine the effectiveness of peer-mediated HIV prevention programs and invalidate arguments for the use of peers. PMID:25775122

Peer-Mediated Intervention: Concept and Implications for Research and Pedagogical Practice of Teachers of Students with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramos, Fabiane dos Santos; de Bittencourt, Daniele F. C. Denardin; Carmargo, Síglia Pimentel Höher; Schmidt, Carlo

2018-01-01

Inclusion of students with autism has been a challenge for educators who indicate gaps in professional training, especially regarding interventions in the school context. The international literature shows evidence of the effectiveness of a type of intervention not found in the national literature, called peer-mediated intervention (PMI). This…

Social networking for adolescents with severe haemophilia.

PubMed

Khair, K; Holland, M; Carrington, S

2012-05-01

Access to modern treatments allows adolescents with haemophilia to manage their haemophilia at home, with improved treatment outcomes and quality of life, but has reduced peer support and the potential for experiential learning from older peers. Social networking, aided by modern communication technologies, may offer health benefits through peer support. We sought to assess whether or not disease-specific social networking could benefit adolescents with severe haemophilia. A total of 150 adolescents (aged 10-18) with severe haemophilia A or B from 11 UK treatment centres or those who had attended focus groups to explore the potential for a social network designed specifically for their use were surveyed. Teenage boys with severe haemophilia in the UK who responded to an online and paper questionnaire (n = 47; 31% response rate) rarely knew of or socialized with others with haemophilia outside their families. Two-thirds of respondents said they would like to meet others. For 70% of boys, parents were the major source of information about haemophilia, yet more than half said they often had trouble finding answers to their questions. These boys frequently used online social networks to chat with friends. Adolescents with severe haemophilia frequently have limited contact with others and many wish to have greater contact. They may benefit from peer support and experiential learning gained through online social networking. The SixVibe restricted access social network is to be launched in 2011. It includes features designed to promote and facilitate the development of peer-to peer disease management skills for adolescents with severe haemophilia. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The Impacts of Network Centrality and Self-Regulation on an E-Learning Environment with the Support of Social Network Awareness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Jian-Wei; Huang, Hsieh-Hong; Chuang, Yuh-Shy

2015-01-01

An e-learning environment that supports social network awareness (SNA) is a highly effective means of increasing peer interaction and assisting student learning by raising awareness of social and learning contexts of peers. Network centrality profoundly impacts student learning in an SNA-related e-learning environment. Additionally,…

Testing the Effects of Peer Socialization versus Selection on Alcohol and Marijuana Use among Treated Adolescents

PubMed Central

Becker, Sara J.; Curry, John F.

2014-01-01

This study examined the relative influence of peer socialization and selection on alcohol and marijuana use among 106 adolescents who received a brief intervention. Adolescents were recruited between 2003 and 2007 and followed for 12 months as part of a SAMHSA-funded study. Cross-lagged panel models using four assessment points examined the longitudinal relationship between adolescent substance use and peer substance involvement separately for alcohol and marijuana. Consistent with community studies, there was evidence of both peer socialization and peer selection for alcohol use, and only evidence of peer selection for marijuana use. Implications for research and intervention are discussed. PMID:23965039

Measuring Changes in Social Behavior during a Social Skills Intervention for Higher-Functioning Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

McMahon, Camilla M.; Vismara, Laurie A.; Solomon, Marjorie

2013-01-01

The social behavior of children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder was evaluated weekly over 19 weeks of a social skills training program. Participants’ vocalizations were coded as initiating, responding, or other (e.g., self-talk). Participants’ interactions were coded as dyadic peer interactions, dyadic leader interactions, interactions with a group of peers, interactions with a group of peer(s) and leader(s), or time spent by self. Over the course of the intervention, participants made fewer initiating and other vocalizations, more responding vocalizations, spent more time interacting with a group of peers, and spent marginally less time interacting with a leader. Gender, age, and intervention attendance effects on social behavior are also noted. PMID:23239098

Reducing HIV risk among Hispanic/Latino men who have sex with men: Qualitative analysis of behavior change intentions by participants in a small-group intervention.

PubMed

Alonzo, Jorge; Mann, Lilli; Tanner, Amanda E; Sun, Christina J; Painter, Thomas M; Freeman, Arin; Reboussin, Beth A; Song, Eunyoung; Rhodes, Scott D

2016-05-01

The southeastern United States has the fastest-growing Hispanic/Latino population in the country and carries a disproportionate HIV burden. Among Hispanics/Latinos, men, and men who have sex with men (MSM) in particular, are at elevated risk of HIV infection; however, very few efficacious behavioral HIV prevention interventions are available for use with this vulnerable population. To address this shortage of prevention resources, our community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnership developed and is currently evaluating the efficacy of the HOLA en Grupos intervention to increase condom use and HIV testing among Hispanic/Latino MSM. We recruited 304 Hispanic/Latino MSM who were randomized to receive the small group HOLA en Grupo s intervention that was implemented during four 4-hour long sessions over four consecutive Sundays, or a 4-session small group general health education comparison intervention. At the end of the fourth session of the HOLA en Grupo s intervention, the intervention facilitators asked participants to write down the sexual health-related behaviors they intended to change as a result of their participation. Qualitative analysis of the participants' responses identified six types of intended behavior changes: increasing and maintaining condom use; identifying strategies to support correct and consistent condom use; increasing communication and negotiation with sexual partners about condom use; getting tested for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections; applying other sexual health promotion strategies; and sharing newly learned sexual health information with their peers. Most risk-reduction intentions aligned with the intervention's key messages of using condoms consistently and getting tested for HIV. However, participants' stated intentions may have also depended on which behavior changes they perceived as most salient after participating in the intervention. Participants' intentions to share information with their peers may result in elements of the intervention content reaching others within their social networks, and potentially contributing to a broader community-level impact.

A systematic review of social support interventions for caregivers of people with dementia: Are they doing what they promise?

PubMed

Dam, Alieske E H; de Vugt, Marjolein E; Klinkenberg, Inge P M; Verhey, Frans R J; van Boxtel, Martin P J

2016-03-01

Social support interventions for caregivers of persons with dementia (PwD) are important because informal carers often rely on their social networks for support. This systematic review synthesises findings from research on social support interventions, and examines their methodological quality and effectiveness on caregiver social support and well-being variables. A systematic literature search utilised five databases. Papers were selected when the primary aim of the intervention was to improve social support. Quality of papers was assessed by the Level of Evidence grade and the criteria list from the Cochrane Back Review Group. 39 papers were identified and classified into 4 social support intervention categories: befriending and peer support, family support and social network interventions, support groups, and remote interventions using the internet or telephone. Content, intensity, uptake, effectiveness and quality of interventions varied widely. In general, the level of evidence was low. Most studies measured effect on well-being variables, while few examined social support outcomes. Multi-component social support interventions were most effective. Evidence suggested, also a caregiver benefit from remote interventions. Generally, results were inconsistent; some papers demonstrated beneficial results, while others demonstrated no improvement on social support and well-being variables. Social support outcomes were more positively evaluated when qualitative outcome measures rather than quantitative measures were used. Although multi-component social support interventions may improve caregiver well-being, there is insufficient evidence to conclude whether a change in social support is the underlying mediating factor. The inclusion, validation and operationalization of caregiver social support measures deserve more attention. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Coping with Aging and Amputation

MedlinePlus

... Find Support Certified Peer Visitor (CPV) Program Support Group Network Support Group Meeting Calendar Hospital/Rehab Facility Partners ... Find Support Certified Peer Visitor (CPV) Program Support Group Network Support Group Meeting Calendar Hospital/Rehab Facility Partners ...

Mobilizing homeless youth for HIV prevention: a social network analysis of the acceptability of a face-to-face and online social networking intervention.

PubMed

Rice, Eric; Tulbert, Eve; Cederbaum, Julie; Barman Adhikari, Anamika; Milburn, Norweeta G

2012-04-01

The objective of the study is to use social network analysis to examine the acceptability of a youth-led, hybrid face-to-face and online social networking HIV prevention program for homeless youth.Seven peer leaders (PLs) engaged face-to-face homeless youth (F2F) in the creation of digital media projects (e.g. You Tube videos). PL and F2F recruited online youth (OY) to participate in MySpace and Facebook communities where digital media was disseminated and discussed. The resulting social networks were assessed with respect to size, growth, density, relative centrality of positions and homophily of ties. Seven PL, 53 F2F and 103 OY created two large networks. After the first 50 F2F youth participated, online networks entered a rapid growth phase. OY were among the most central youth in these networks. Younger aged persons and females were disproportionately connected to like youth. The program appears highly acceptable to homeless youth. Social network analysis revealed which PL were the most critical to the program and which types of participants (younger youth and females) may require additional outreach efforts in the future.

Mobilizing homeless youth for HIV prevention: a social network analysis of the acceptability of a face-to-face and online social networking intervention

PubMed Central

Rice, Eric; Tulbert, Eve; Cederbaum, Julie; Barman Adhikari, Anamika; Milburn, Norweeta G.

2012-01-01

The objective of the study is to use social network analysis to examine the acceptability of a youth-led, hybrid face-to-face and online social networking HIV prevention program for homeless youth.Seven peer leaders (PLs) engaged face-to-face homeless youth (F2F) in the creation of digital media projects (e.g. You Tube videos). PL and F2F recruited online youth (OY) to participate in MySpace and Facebook communities where digital media was disseminated and discussed. The resulting social networks were assessed with respect to size, growth, density, relative centrality of positions and homophily of ties. Seven PL, 53 F2F and 103 OY created two large networks. After the first 50 F2F youth participated, online networks entered a rapid growth phase. OY were among the most central youth in these networks. Younger aged persons and females were disproportionately connected to like youth. The program appears highly acceptable to homeless youth. Social network analysis revealed which PL were the most critical to the program and which types of participants (younger youth and females) may require additional outreach efforts in the future. PMID:22247453

Social network and individual correlates of sexual risk behavior among homeless young men who have sex with men.

PubMed

Tucker, Joan S; Hu, Jianhui; Golinelli, Daniela; Kennedy, David P; Green, Harold D; Wenzel, Suzanne L

2012-10-01

There is growing interest in network-based interventions to reduce HIV sexual risk behavior among both homeless youth and men who have sex with men. The goal of this study was to better understand the social network and individual correlates of sexual risk behavior among homeless young men who have sex with men (YMSM) to inform these HIV prevention efforts. A multistage sampling design was used to recruit a probability sample of 121 homeless YMSM (ages: 16-24 years) from shelters, drop-in centers, and street venues in Los Angeles County. Face-to-face interviews were conducted. Because of the different distributions of the three outcome variables, three distinct regression models were needed: ordinal logistic regression for unprotected sex, zero-truncated Poisson regression for number of sex partners, and logistic regression for any sex trade. Homeless YMSM were less likely to engage in unprotected sex and had fewer sex partners if their networks included platonic ties to peers who regularly attended school, and had fewer sex partners if most of their network members were not heavy drinkers. Most other aspects of network composition were unrelated to sexual risk behavior. Individual predictors of sexual risk behavior included older age, Hispanic ethnicity, lower education, depressive symptoms, less positive condom attitudes, and sleeping outdoors because of nowhere else to stay. HIV prevention programs for homeless YMSM may warrant a multipronged approach that helps these youth strengthen their ties to prosocial peers, develop more positive condom attitudes, and access needed mental health and housing services. Copyright © 2012 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Brief Peer Support Intervention for Veterans with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Pilot Study of Feasibility and Effectiveness

PubMed Central

Matthias, Marianne S.; McGuire, Alan B.; Kukla, Marina; Daggy, Joanne; Myers, Laura J.; Bair, Matthew J.

2016-01-01

Objective To pilot test a peer support intervention, involving peer delivery of pain self-management strategies, for veterans with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Design Pre-test/post-test with 4-month intervention period. Methods Ten peer coaches were each assigned 2 patients (n=20 patients). All had chronic musculoskeletal pain. Guided by a study manual, peer coach-patient pairs were instructed to talk bi-weekly for 4 months. Pain was the primary outcome and was assessed with the PEG, a 3-item version of the Brief Pain Inventory, and the PROMIS Pain Interference Questionnaire. Several secondary outcomes were also assessed. To assess change in outcomes, a linear mixed model with a random effect for peer coaches was applied. Results Nine peer coaches and 17 patients completed the study. All were male veterans. Patients’ pain improved at 4 months compared to baseline but did not reach statistical significance (PEG: p = .33, ICC [intra-class correlation] = .28, Cohen's d = −.25; PROMIS: p = .17, d = −.35). Of secondary outcomes, self-efficacy (p = .16, ICC = .56, d = .60) and pain centrality (p = .06, ICC = .32, d = −.62) showed greatest improvement, with moderate effect sizes. Conclusions This study suggests that peers can effectively deliver pain self-management strategies to other veterans with pain. Although this was a pilot study with a relatively short intervention period, patients improved on several outcomes. PMID:25312858

Is the sexual behaviour of young people in sub-Saharan Africa influenced by their peers? A systematic review.

PubMed

Fearon, Elizabeth; Wiggins, Richard D; Pettifor, Audrey E; Hargreaves, James R

2015-12-01

Adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa are highly vulnerable to HIV, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancies. Evidence for the effectiveness of individual behaviour change interventions in reducing incidence of HIV and other biological outcomes is limited, and the need to address the social conditions in which young people become sexually active is clear. Adolescents' peers are a key aspect of this social environment and could have important influences on sexual behaviour. There has not yet been a systematic review on the topic in sub-Saharan Africa. We searched 4 databases to find studies set in sub-Saharan Africa that included an adjusted analysis of the association between at least one peer exposure and a sexual behaviour outcome among a sample where at least 50% of the study participants were aged between 13 and 20 years. We classified peer exposures using a framework to distinguish different mechanisms by which influence might occur. We found 30 studies and retained 11 that met quality criteria. There were 3 cohort studies, 1 time to event and 7 cross-sectional. The 11 studies investigated 37 different peer exposure-outcome associations. No studies used a biological outcome and all asked about peers in general rather than about specific relationships. Studies were heterogeneous in their use of theoretical frameworks and means of operationalizing peer influence concepts. All studies found evidence for an association between peers and sexual behaviour for at least one peer exposure/outcome/sub-group association. Of all 37 outcome/exposure/sub-group associations tested, there was evidence for 19 (51%). There were no clear patterns by type of peer exposure, outcome or adolescent sub-group. There is a lack conclusive evidence about the role of peers in adolescent sexual behaviour in Sub-Saharan. We argue that longitudinal designs, use of biological outcomes and approaches from social network analysis are priorities for future studies. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Feasibility and Effectiveness of a Peer Referral Incentive Intervention to Promote Male Circumcision Uptake in Zambia

PubMed Central

Bolton, Carolyn; Lyabola, Lane-Lee; Phiri, Gabriel; Samona, Alick; Kaonga, Albert; Thirumurthy, Harsha

2016-01-01

Background: Medical male circumcision is a promising HIV prevention tool in countries with generalized HIV epidemics, but demand creation interventions are needed to support scale-up. We piloted a peer referral intervention in which circumcision clients were offered incentives for referring their peers for circumcision. Methods: The intervention was implemented between June 2014 and February 2015 in 6 randomly selected health facilities in Southern Province, Zambia. For the first 5 months, circumcision clients ≥18 years of age were given referral vouchers that allowed them to refer up to 5 peers for circumcision within a 3-month period. An incentive of US$2 was offered for each referral. The primary outcome was the number of circumcisions performed per month in each facility. To assess the effect of the intervention, a difference-in-difference analysis was performed using longitudinal data from the intervention facilities and 22 nonintervention facilities. A questionnaire was also implemented to understand men's perceptions of the intervention. Results: During the 8-month intervention period, 1222 men over 18 years of age were circumcised in intervention facilities. In the first 5 months, 699 circumcision clients were enrolled and 385 clients brought a referral voucher given to them by an enrolled client. Difference-in-difference analyses did not show a significant increase in circumcisions performed in intervention facilities. However, circumcision clients reported that the referral incentive motivated them to encourage their friends to seek male circumcision. Peer referrals were also reported to be an important factor in men's decisions because 78% of clients who were referred reported that talking with a circumcised friend was important for their decision to get circumcised. Conclusions: The peer referral incentive intervention for male circumcision was feasible and acceptable. However, the intervention did not have a significant effect on demand for male circumcision. Barriers to circumcision and features of the intervention may have limited the effect of the intervention. Further efforts regarding encouraging male-to-male communication and evaluations with larger sample sizes are needed. PMID:27404006

Academic Effects of Peer-Mediated Interventions with English Language Learners: A Research Synthesis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pyle, Daniel; Pyle, Nicole; Lignugaris/Kraft, Benjamin; Duran, Lillian; Akers, Jessica

2017-01-01

The purpose of this article is to synthesize the extant research on peer-mediated interventions (PMIs) with English language learners (ELLs) in kindergarten through Grade 12. Fourteen studies that were published in peer-reviewed journals from 1983 to 2013 were examined in terms of study characteristics, the effects on academic outcomes, study…

A Randomized Trial of a Classroom Intervention to Increase Peers' Social Inclusion of Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mikami, Amori Yee; Griggs, Marissa Swaim; Lerner, Matthew D.; Emeh, Christina C.; Reuland, Meg M.; Jack, Allison; Anthony, Maria R.

2013-01-01

Objective: Interventions for peer problems among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) typically focus on improving these children's behaviors. This study tested the proposition that an adjunctive component encouraging the peer group to be socially inclusive of children with ADHD would augment the efficacy of traditional…

Peer-Mediated Intervention for Preschoolers with ASD Implemented in Early Childhood Education Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katz, Esther; Girolametto, Luigi

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of peer intervention on the social interactions of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this model, a speech-language pathologist and three early childhood educators trained typically developing peers to engage children with ASD in play. Three preschool children with ASD and six…

The Effectiveness of a Peer-Helping Programme That Increases Subjective Well-Being

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eryilmaz, Ali

2017-01-01

The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a peer-helping programme in increasing the subjective well-being of a group of university students compared with a control group with the same characteristics who did not receive the intervention. The intervention recipients consisted of 13 male and 17 female participants. The peer helpers…

Broadening the Scope of Peer-Mediated Intervention for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Platos, Mateusz; Wojaczek, Kinga

2018-01-01

Peer-mediated intervention (PMI) is most commonly defined as a treatment approach that engages typically developing peers to teach children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) social skills and increase their social interactions, mainly in a school setting. In this letter, we address the limitations of such understanding of PMI and review the…

Online peer support interventions for chronic conditions: a scoping review protocol.

PubMed

Munce, Sarah Elizabeth Patricia; Shepherd, John; Perrier, Laure; Allin, Sonya; Sweet, Shane N; Tomasone, Jennifer R; Nelson, Michelle L A; Guilcher, Sara J T; Hossain, Saima; Jaglal, Susan

2017-09-24

Peer support is receiving increasing attention as both an effective and cost-effective intervention method to support the self-management of chronic health conditions. Given that an increasing proportion of Canadians have internet access and the increasing implementation of web-based interventions, online peer support interventions are a promising option to address the burden of chronic diseases. Thus, the specific research question of this scoping review is the following: What is known from the existing literature about the key characteristics of online peer support interventions for adults with chronic conditions? METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will use the methodological frameworks used by Arksey and O'Malley as well as Levac and colleagues for the current scoping review. To be eligible for inclusion, studies must report on adults (≥18 years of age) with one of the Public Health Agency of Canada chronic conditions or HIV/AIDS. We will limit our review to peer support interventions delivered through online formats. All study designs will be included. Only studies published from 2012 onwards will be included to ensure relevance to the current healthcare context and feasibility. Furthermore, only English language studies will be included. Studies will be identified by searching a variety of databases. Two reviewers will independently screen the titles and abstracts identified by the literature search for inclusion (ie, level 1 screening), the full text articles (ie, level 2 screening) and then perform data abstraction. Abstracted data will include study characteristics, participant population, key characteristics of the intervention and outcomes collected. This review will identify the key features of online peer support interventions and could assist in the future development of other online peer support programmes so that effective and sustainable programmes can be developed. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

A school-based, peer leadership physical activity intervention for 6th graders: feasibility and results of a pilot study.

PubMed

Barr-Anderson, Daheia J; Laska, Melissa N; Veblen-Mortenson, Sara; Farbakhsh, Kian; Dudovitz, Bonnie; Story, Mary

2012-05-01

The aim of this study was to promote physical activity in 6th graders by developing and testing the feasibility of an enhanced Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA) program comprised of a peer leadership component and innovative exercise resource toolkit including DVDs. A racially/ethnically diverse sample of students received the standard PALA program (2 control schools, n = 61) or enhanced PALA+Peers program (2 intervention schools, n = 87) during 2006-2007 academic year. Compared with the control condition, the intervention was successful in increasing moderate physical activity in all students (P = .02) and moderate and hard physical activity among girls (P = .03 and P = .04, respectively). Teachers and students reported a high level of satisfaction and receptivity with the intervention. All teachers thought the DVDs were well-received, and 87% of students reported that they would recommend the enhanced program to peers. Coupling peer leadership and DVDs that promote physical activity may be an effective way to increase youth physical activity.

Using Peer-Mediated Literacy-Based Behavioral Interventions to Increase First Aid Safety Skills in Students With Developmental Disabilities.

PubMed

Kearney, Kelly B; Brady, Michael P; Hall, Kalynn; Honsberger, Toby

2017-08-01

Many adolescents with developmental disabilities do not learn the safety skills needed to maintain physical well-being in domestic and community environments. Literacy-based behavioral interventions (LBBIs) that combine print, pictures, and behavioral rehearsal are effective for promoting acquisition and maintenance of self-care skills, but have not been investigated as safety skill intervention. Also, LBBIs have primarily been implemented by teachers and other professionals. In this study, a peer partner was taught to deliver an LBBI story to students so they would learn to perform a basic first aid routine: cleaning and dressing a wound. Results showed that students' accuracy with the first aid routine increased after a peer delivered the LBBI instructional package, and maintained after the peer stopped delivering it. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the LBBI instructional package for teaching first aid safety skills, and extends previous research showing the efficacy of peers in delivering this intervention.

Microeconomics-based resource allocation in overlay networks by using non-strategic behavior modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Analoui, Morteza; Rezvani, Mohammad Hossein

2011-01-01

Behavior modeling has recently been investigated for designing self-organizing mechanisms in the context of communication networks in order to exploit the natural selfishness of the users with the goal of maximizing the overall utility. In strategic behavior modeling, the users of the network are assumed to be game players who seek to maximize their utility with taking into account the decisions that the other players might make. The essential difference between the aforementioned researches and this work is that it incorporates the non-strategic decisions in order to design the mechanism for the overlay network. In this solution concept, the decisions that a peer might make does not affect the actions of the other peers at all. The theory of consumer-firm developed in microeconomics is a model of the non-strategic behavior that we have adopted in our research. Based on it, we have presented distributed algorithms for peers' "joining" and "leaving" operations. We have modeled the overlay network as a competitive economy in which the content provided by an origin server can be viewed as commodity and the origin server and the peers who multicast the content to their downside are considered as the firms. On the other hand, due to the dual role of the peers in the overlay network, they can be considered as the consumers as well. On joining to the overlay economy, each peer is provided with an income and tries to get hold of the service regardless to the behavior of the other peers. We have designed the scalable algorithms in such a way that the existence of equilibrium price (known as Walrasian equilibrium price) is guaranteed.

Psychopathic Traits Moderate Peer Influence on Adolescent Delinquency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerr, Margaret; Van Zalk, Maarten; Stattin, Hakan

2012-01-01

Background: Peer influence on adolescent delinquency is well established, but little is known about moderators of peer influence. In this study, we examined adolescents' (targets) and their peers' psychopathic personality traits as moderators of peer influence on delinquency in peer networks. We used three separate dimensions of the psychopathic…

WindTalker: A P2P-Based Low-Latency Anonymous Communication Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jia; Duan, Haixin; Liu, Wu; Wu, Jianping

Compared with traditional static anonymous communication networks, the P2P architecture can provide higher anonymity in communication. However, the P2P architecture also leads to more challenges, such as route, stability, trust and so on. In this paper, we present WindTalker, a P2P-based low-latency anonymous communication network. It is a pure decentralized mix network and can provide low-latency services which help users hide their real identity in communication. In order to ensure stability and reliability, WindTalker imports “seed nodes” to help a peer join in the P2P network and the peer nodes can use gossip-based protocol to exchange active information. Moreover, WindTalker uses layer encryption to ensure the information of relayed messages cannot be leaked. In addition, malicious nodes in the network are the major threat to anonymity of P2P anonymous communication, so WindTalker imports a trust mechanism which can help the P2P network exclude malicious nodes and optimize the strategy of peer discovery, tunnel construction, and relaying etc. in anonymous communications. We deploy peer nodes of WindTalker in our campus network to test reliability and analyze anonymity in theory. The network measurement and simulation analysis shows that WindTalker can provide low-latency and reliable anonymous communication services.

Using Mobile Phones to Improve Vaccination Uptake in 21 Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Systematic Review.

PubMed

Oliver-Williams, Clare; Brown, Elizabeth; Devereux, Sara; Fairhead, Cassandra; Holeman, Isaac

2017-10-04

The benefits of vaccination have been comprehensively proven; however, disparities in coverage persist because of poor health system management, limited resources, and parental knowledge and attitudes. Evidence suggests that health interventions that engage local parties in communication strategies improve vaccination uptake. As mobile technology is widely used to improve health communication, mobile health (mHealth) interventions might be used to increase coverage. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the available literature on the use of mHealth to improve vaccination in low- and middle-income countries with large numbers of unvaccinated children. In February 2017, MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online), Scopus, and Web of Science, as well as three health organization websites-Communication Initiative Network, TechNet-21, and PATH-were searched to identify mHealth intervention studies on vaccination uptake in 21 countries. Ten peer-reviewed studies and 11 studies from white or gray literature were included. Nine took place in India, three in Pakistan, two each in Malawi and Nigeria, and one each in Bangladesh, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. Ten peer-reviewed studies and 7 white or gray studies demonstrated improved vaccination uptake after interventions, including appointment reminders, mobile phone apps, and prerecorded messages. Although the potential for mHealth interventions to improve vaccination coverage seems clear, the evidence for such interventions is not. The dearth of studies in countries facing the greatest barriers to immunization impedes the prospects for evidence-based policy and practice in these settings. ©Clare Oliver-Williams, Elizabeth Brown, Sara Devereux, Cassandra Fairhead, Isaac Holeman. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 04.10.2017.

Audience effects on the neural correlates of relational reasoning in adolescence.

PubMed

Dumontheil, Iroise; Wolf, Laura K; Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne

2016-07-01

Adolescents are particularly sensitive to peer influence. This may partly be due to an increased salience of peers during adolescence. We investigated the effect of being observed by a peer on a cognitively challenging task, relational reasoning, which requires the evaluation and integration of multiple mental representations. Relational reasoning tasks engage a fronto-parietal network including the inferior parietal cortex, pre-supplementary motor area, dorsolateral and rostrolateral prefrontal cortices. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), peer audience effects on activation in this fronto-parietal network were compared in a group of 19 female mid-adolescents (aged 14-16 years) and 14 female adults (aged 23-28 years). Adolescent and adult relational reasoning accuracy was influenced by a peer audience as a function of task difficulty: the presence of a peer audience led to decreased accuracy in the complex, relational integration condition in both groups of participants. The fMRI results demonstrated that a peer audience differentially modulated activation in regions of the fronto-parietal network in adolescents and adults. Activation was increased in adolescents in the presence of a peer audience, while this was not the case in adults. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Can Parental Monitoring and Peer Management Reduce the Selection or Influence of Delinquent Peers? Testing the Question Using a Dynamic Social Network Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tilton-Weaver, Lauree C.; Burk, William J.; Kerr, Margaret; Stattin, Håkan

2013-01-01

We tested whether parents can reduce affiliation with delinquent peers through 3 forms of peer management: soliciting information, monitoring rules, and communicating disapproval of peers. We examined whether peer management interrupted 2 peer processes: selection and influence of delinquent peers. Adolescents' feelings of being overcontrolled by…

Academic Interventions for Students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Review of the Literature.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DuPaul, George J.; Eckert, Tanya L.

1998-01-01

Reviews empirical studies that have reported the effects of academic interventions with students with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Reviews intervention in the general categories of peer tutoring, computer-assisted instruction, task and instructional modifications, and strategy training. Finds peer tutoring and task…

MATIN: A Random Network Coding Based Framework for High Quality Peer-to-Peer Live Video Streaming

PubMed Central

Barekatain, Behrang; Khezrimotlagh, Dariush; Aizaini Maarof, Mohd; Ghaeini, Hamid Reza; Salleh, Shaharuddin; Quintana, Alfonso Ariza; Akbari, Behzad; Cabrera, Alicia Triviño

2013-01-01

In recent years, Random Network Coding (RNC) has emerged as a promising solution for efficient Peer-to-Peer (P2P) video multicasting over the Internet. This probably refers to this fact that RNC noticeably increases the error resiliency and throughput of the network. However, high transmission overhead arising from sending large coefficients vector as header has been the most important challenge of the RNC. Moreover, due to employing the Gauss-Jordan elimination method, considerable computational complexity can be imposed on peers in decoding the encoded blocks and checking linear dependency among the coefficients vectors. In order to address these challenges, this study introduces MATIN which is a random network coding based framework for efficient P2P video streaming. The MATIN includes a novel coefficients matrix generation method so that there is no linear dependency in the generated coefficients matrix. Using the proposed framework, each peer encapsulates one instead of n coefficients entries into the generated encoded packet which results in very low transmission overhead. It is also possible to obtain the inverted coefficients matrix using a bit number of simple arithmetic operations. In this regard, peers sustain very low computational complexities. As a result, the MATIN permits random network coding to be more efficient in P2P video streaming systems. The results obtained from simulation using OMNET++ show that it substantially outperforms the RNC which uses the Gauss-Jordan elimination method by providing better video quality on peers in terms of the four important performance metrics including video distortion, dependency distortion, End-to-End delay and Initial Startup delay. PMID:23940530

The role of peer physical activity champions in the workplace: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Edmunds, Sarah; Clow, Angela

2016-05-01

Peer health champions have been suggested as an important component of multilevel workplace interventions to promote healthy behaviours such as physical activity (PA). There is accumulating quantitative evidence of their effectiveness but as yet little exploration of why and how champions influence peer behaviour. The current study explores the role of peer physical activity champions (PPACs) in influencing colleagues' PA behaviour from the perspectives of both champions and colleagues. Seven months after the introduction of a workplace PA programme in 17 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), two focus groups were held with PPACs and four with programme participants. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Three overarching themes were developed: how PPACs encourage PA, valuable PPAC characteristics and sustaining motivation for the PPAC role. Both direct encouragement from PPACs and facilitation of wider PA supportive social networks within the workplace encouraged behaviour change. PA behaviour change is a delicate subject and it was important that PPACs provided enthusiastic and persistent encouragement without seeming judgemental. Being a PA role model was also a valuable characteristic. The PPACs found it satisfying to see positive changes in their colleagues who had become more active. However, colleagues often did not engage in suggested activities and PPACs required resilience to maintain personal motivation for the role despite this. Incorporating PPACs into SME-based PA interventions is acceptable to employees. It is recommended that PPAC training includes suggestions for facilitating social connections between colleagues. Sensitivity is required when initiating and engaging in conversations with colleagues about increasing their PA. Programmes should ensure PPACs themselves are provided with social support, especially from others in the same role, to help sustain motivation for their role. These findings will be useful to health-promotion professionals developing workplace health programmes. © Royal Society for Public Health 2015.

Impact of peer teaching on nursing students: perceptions of learning environment, self-efficacy, and knowledge.

PubMed

Brannagan, Kim B; Dellinger, Amy; Thomas, Jan; Mitchell, Denise; Lewis-Trabeaux, Shirleen; Dupre, Susan

2013-11-01

Peer teaching has been shown to enhance student learning and levels of self efficacy. The purpose of the current study was to examine the impact of peer-teaching learning experiences on nursing students in roles of tutee and tutor in a clinical lab environment. This study was conducted over a three-semester period at a South Central University that provides baccalaureate nursing education. Over three semesters, 179 first year nursing students and 51 third year nursing students participated in the study. This mixed methods study, through concurrent use of a quantitative intervention design and qualitative survey data, examined differences during three semesters in perceptions of a clinical lab experience, self-efficacy beliefs, and clinical knowledge for two groups: those who received peer teaching-learning in addition to faculty instruction (intervention group) and those who received faculty instruction only (control group). Additionally, peer teachers' perceptions of the peer teaching learning experience were examined. Results indicated positive response from the peer tutors with no statistically significant differences for knowledge acquisition and self-efficacy beliefs between the tutee intervention and control groups. In contrast to previous research, students receiving peer tutoring in conjunction with faculty instruction were statistically more anxious about performing lab skills with their peer tutor than with their instructors. Additionally, some students found instructors' feedback moderately more helpful than their peers and increased gains in knowledge and responsibility for preparation and practice with instructors than with peer tutors. The findings in this study differ from previous research in that the use of peer tutors did not decrease anxiety in first year students, and no differences were found between the intervention and control groups related to self efficacy or cognitive improvement. These findings may indicate the need to better prepare peer tutors, and research should be conducted using more complex skills. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Role of Social Network Technologies in Online Health Promotion: A Narrative Review of Theoretical and Empirical Factors Influencing Intervention Effectiveness

PubMed Central

Kennedy, Catriona M; Buchan, Iain; Powell, John; Ainsworth, John

2015-01-01

Background Social network technologies have become part of health education and wider health promotion—either by design or happenstance. Social support, peer pressure, and information sharing in online communities may affect health behaviors. If there are positive and sustained effects, then social network technologies could increase the effectiveness and efficiency of many public health campaigns. Social media alone, however, may be insufficient to promote health. Furthermore, there may be unintended and potentially harmful consequences of inaccurate or misleading health information. Given these uncertainties, there is a need to understand and synthesize the evidence base for the use of online social networking as part of health promoting interventions to inform future research and practice. Objective Our aim was to review the research on the integration of expert-led health promotion interventions with online social networking in order to determine the extent to which the complementary benefits of each are understood and used. We asked, in particular, (1) How is effectiveness being measured and what are the specific problems in effecting health behavior change?, and (2) To what extent is the designated role of social networking grounded in theory? Methods The narrative synthesis approach to literature review was used to analyze the existing evidence. We searched the indexed scientific literature using keywords associated with health promotion and social networking. The papers included were only those making substantial study of both social networking and health promotion—either reporting the results of the intervention or detailing evidence-based plans. General papers about social networking and health were not included. Results The search identified 162 potentially relevant documents after review of titles and abstracts. Of these, 42 satisfied the inclusion criteria after full-text review. Six studies described randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the effectiveness of online social networking within health promotion interventions. Most of the trials investigated the value of a “social networking condition” in general and did not identify specific features that might play a role in effectiveness. Issues about the usability and level of uptake of interventions were more common among pilot studies, while observational studies showed positive evidence about the role of social support. A total of 20 papers showed the use of theory in the design of interventions, but authors evaluated effectiveness in only 10 papers. Conclusions More research is needed in this area to understand the actual effect of social network technologies on health promotion. More RCTs of greater length need to be conducted taking into account contextual factors such as patient characteristics and types of a social network technology. Also, more evidence is needed regarding the actual usability of online social networking and how different interface design elements may help or hinder behavior change and engagement. Moreover, it is crucial to investigate further the effect of theory on the effectiveness of this type of technology for health promotion. Research is needed linking theoretical grounding with observation and analysis of health promotion in online networks. PMID:26068087

Adolescents' Social Network Site Use, Peer Appearance-Related Feedback, and Body Dissatisfaction: Testing a Mediation Model.

PubMed

de Vries, Dian A; Peter, Jochen; de Graaf, Hanneke; Nikken, Peter

2016-01-01

Previous correlational research indicates that adolescent girls who use social network sites more frequently are more dissatisfied with their bodies. However, we know little about the causal direction of this relationship, the mechanisms underlying this relationship, and whether this relationship also occurs among boys to the same extent. The present two-wave panel study (18 month time lag) among 604 Dutch adolescents (aged 11-18; 50.7% female; 97.7% native Dutch) aimed to fill these gaps in knowledge. Structural equation modeling showed that social network site use predicted increased body dissatisfaction and increased peer influence on body image in the form of receiving peer appearance-related feedback. Peer appearance-related feedback did not predict body dissatisfaction and thus did not mediate the effect of social network site use on body dissatisfaction. Gender did not moderate the findings. Hence, social network sites can play an adverse role in the body image of both adolescent boys and girls.

Performance Evaluation of Peer-to-Peer Progressive Download in Broadband Access Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shibuya, Megumi; Ogishi, Tomohiko; Yamamoto, Shu

P2P (Peer-to-Peer) file sharing architectures have scalable and cost-effective features. Hence, the application of P2P architectures to media streaming is attractive and expected to be an alternative to the current video streaming using IP multicast or content delivery systems because the current systems require expensive network infrastructures and large scale centralized cache storage systems. In this paper, we investigate the P2P progressive download enabling Internet video streaming services. We demonstrated the capability of the P2P progressive download in both laboratory test network as well as in the Internet. Through the experiments, we clarified the contribution of the FTTH links to the P2P progressive download in the heterogeneous access networks consisting of FTTH and ADSL links. We analyzed the cause of some download performance degradation occurred in the experiment and discussed about the effective methods to provide the video streaming service using P2P progressive download in the current heterogeneous networks.

Peer-Learning Networks in Social Work Doctoral Education: An Interdisciplinary Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, J. Jay; Duron, Jacquelynn F.; Bosk, Emily Adlin; Finno-Velasquez, Megan; Abner, Kristin S.

2016-01-01

Peer-learning networks (PLN) can be valuable tools for doctoral students. Participation in these networks can aid in the completion of the dissertation, lead to increased scholarship productivity, and assist in student retention. Yet, despite the promise of PLNs, few studies have documented their effect on social work doctoral education. This…

Seeing Eye to Eye: Predicting Teacher-Student Agreement on Classroom Social Networks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neal, Jennifer Watling; Cappella, Elise; Wagner, Caroline; Atkins, Marc S.

2011-01-01

This study examines the association between classroom characteristics and teacher-student agreement in perceptions of students' classroom peer networks. Social network, peer nomination, and observational data were collected from a sample of second through fourth grade teachers (N = 33) and students (N = 669) in 33 classrooms across five…

Diverse Friendship Networks and Heterogeneous Peer Effects on Adolescent Misbehaviors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xu, Yilan; Fan, Linlin

2018-01-01

This study estimates peer effects in diverse friendship networks by friend types. Evidence from friendship networks for 57,351 U.S. high school adolescents demonstrates that adolescents are more likely to make friends with someone of the same immigrant status or ethnicity ('similar friends') than those with different backgrounds ('dissimilar…

Learning in Linguistically Diverse Middle School Classrooms: The Role of the Classroom Peer Network

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elreda, Lauren Molloy; Kibler, Amanda; Futch Ehrlich, Valerie A.; Johnson, Haley

2016-01-01

The literature suggests there is much to be gained from exploring the role of the peer network in linguistically diverse "mainstream" middle school classrooms (i.e., classrooms that include English language learners alongside fluent English-speakers). The present study uses social network analysis to examine whether between-classroom and…

Systematic Review of Social Network Analysis in Adolescent Cigarette Smoking Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seo, Dong-Chul; Huang, Yan

2012-01-01

Background: Social networks are important in adolescent smoking behavior. Previous research indicates that peer context is a major causal factor of adolescent smoking behavior. To date, however, little is known about the influence of peer group structure on adolescent smoking behavior. Methods: Studies that examined adolescent social networks with…

Indigenous Youth Peer-Led Health Promotion in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the United States: A Systematic Review of the Approaches, Study Designs, and Effectiveness.

PubMed

Vujcich, Daniel; Thomas, Jessica; Crawford, Katy; Ward, James

2018-01-01

Youth peer-led interventions have become a popular way of sharing health information with young people and appear well suited to Indigenous community contexts. However, no systematic reviews focusing on Indigenous youth have been published. We conducted a systematic review to understand the range and characteristics of Indigenous youth-led health promotion projects implemented and their effectiveness. A systematic search of Medline, Embase, and ProQuest Social Sciences databases was conducted, supplemented by gray literature searches. Included studies focused on interventions where young Indigenous people delivered health information to age-matched peers. Twenty-four studies were identified for inclusion, based on 20 interventions (9 Australian, 4 Canadian, and 7 from the United States of America). Only one intervention was evaluated using a randomized controlled study design. The majority of evaluations took the form of pre-post studies. Methodological limitations were identified in a majority of studies. Study outcomes included improved knowledge, attitude, and behaviors. Currently, there is limited high quality evidence for the effectiveness of peer-led health interventions with Indigenous young people, and the literature is dominated by Australian-based sexual health interventions. More systematic research investigating the effectiveness of peer-led inventions is required, specifically with Indigenous populations. To improve health outcomes for Indigenous youth, greater knowledge of the mechanisms and context under which peer-delivered health promotion is effective in comparison to other methods of health promotion is needed.

Online Peer-to-Peer Support for Young People With Mental Health Problems: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Ali, Kathina; Farrer, Louise; Gulliver, Amelia; Griffiths, Kathleen M

2015-01-01

Adolescence and early adulthood are critical periods for the development of mental disorders. Online peer-to-peer communication is popular among young people and may improve mental health by providing social support. Previous systematic reviews have targeted Internet support groups for adults with mental health problems, including depression. However, there have been no systematic reviews examining the effectiveness of online peer-to-peer support in improving the mental health of adolescents and young adults. The aim of this review was to systematically identify available evidence for the effectiveness of online peer-to peer support for young people with mental health problems. The PubMed, PsycInfo, and Cochrane databases were searched using keywords and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms. Retrieved abstracts (n=3934) were double screened and coded. Studies were included if they (1) investigated an online peer-to-peer interaction, (2) the interaction discussed topics related to mental health, (3) the age range of the sample was between 12 to 25 years, and (4) the study evaluated the effectiveness of the peer-to-peer interaction. Six studies satisfied the inclusion criteria for the current review. The studies targeted a range of mental health problems including depression and anxiety (n=2), general psychological problems (n=1), eating disorders (n=1), and substance use (tobacco) (n=2). The majority of studies investigated Internet support groups (n=4), and the remaining studies focused on virtual reality chat sessions (n=2). In almost all studies (n=5), the peer support intervention was moderated by health professionals, researchers or consumers. Studies employed a range of study designs including randomized controlled trials (n=3), pre-post studies (n=2) and one randomized trial. Overall, two of the randomized controlled trials were associated with a significant positive outcome in comparison to the control group at post-intervention. In the remaining four studies, peer-to-peer support was not found to be effective. This systematic review identified an overall lack of high-quality studies examining online peer-to-peer support for young people. Given that peer support is frequently used as an adjunct to Internet interventions for a variety of mental health conditions, there is an urgent need to determine the effectiveness of peer support alone as an active intervention.

Exploring peer-mentoring for community dwelling older adults with chronic low back pain: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Cooper, Kay; Schofield, Patricia; Klein, Susan; Smith, Blair H; Jehu, Llinos M

2017-06-01

To explore the perceptions of patients, physiotherapists, and potential peer mentors on the topic of peer-mentoring for self-management of chronic low back pain following discharge from physiotherapy. Exploratory, qualitative study. Twelve patients, 11 potential peer mentors and 13 physiotherapists recruited from physiotherapy departments and community locations in one health board area of the UK. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Participants' perceptions of the usefulness and appropriateness of peer-mentoring following discharge from physiotherapy. Data were processed and analysed using the framework method. Four key themes were identified: (i) self-management strategies, (ii) barriers to self-management and peer-mentoring, (iii) vision of peer-mentoring, and (iv) the voice of experience. Peer-mentoring may be beneficial for some older adults with chronic low back pain. Barriers to peer-mentoring were identified, and many solutions for overcoming them. No single format was identified as superior; participants emphasised the need for any intervention to be flexible and individualised. Important aspects to consider in developing a peer-mentoring intervention are recruitment and training of peer mentors and monitoring the mentor-mentee relationship. This study has generated important knowledge that is being used to design and test a peer-mentoring intervention on a group of older people with chronic low back pain and volunteer peer mentors. If successful, peer-mentoring could provide a cost effective method of facilitating longer-term self-management of a significant health condition in older people. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Improving Social Engagement and Initiations between Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Their Peers in Inclusive Settings

PubMed Central

Koegel, Lynn Kern; Vernon, Ty; Koegel, Robert L.; Koegel, Brittany L.; Paullin, Anne W.

2013-01-01

Children with Asperger’s Disorder often have difficulty with peer relationships and socialization. The current study assessed whether peer social interactions would improve in school settings if an intervention was designed that incorporated the children with Asperger’s interests. Three children who were fully-included in regular education classes but did not interact with peers prior to intervention participated in this research. Social lunch clubs, open to both the study participants and their typical peers, were implemented twice weekly during regular lunchtime periods. Results showed that all three children increased their time engaged with peers as a result of the clubs. While their initiations greatly improved over baseline levels and approximated their peers, they were often initiating below the level of most of their peers. Implications for improving peer social interactions for children with Asperger’s Disorder are discussed. PMID:25328380

Reducing HIV risk among Hispanic/Latino men who have sex with men: Qualitative analysis of behavior change intentions by participants in a small-group intervention

PubMed Central

Alonzo, Jorge; Mann, Lilli; Tanner, Amanda E.; Sun, Christina J.; Painter, Thomas M.; Freeman, Arin; Reboussin, Beth A.; Song, Eunyoung; Rhodes, Scott D.

2016-01-01

Objective The southeastern United States has the fastest-growing Hispanic/Latino population in the country and carries a disproportionate HIV burden. Among Hispanics/Latinos, men, and men who have sex with men (MSM) in particular, are at elevated risk of HIV infection; however, very few efficacious behavioral HIV prevention interventions are available for use with this vulnerable population. To address this shortage of prevention resources, our community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnership developed and is currently evaluating the efficacy of the HOLA en Grupos intervention to increase condom use and HIV testing among Hispanic/Latino MSM. Methods We recruited 304 Hispanic/Latino MSM who were randomized to receive the small group HOLA en Grupos intervention that was implemented during four 4-hour long sessions over four consecutive Sundays, or a 4-session small group general health education comparison intervention. At the end of the fourth session of the HOLA en Grupos intervention, the intervention facilitators asked participants to write down the sexual health-related behaviors they intended to change as a result of their participation. Results Qualitative analysis of the participants’ responses identified six types of intended behavior changes: increasing and maintaining condom use; identifying strategies to support correct and consistent condom use; increasing communication and negotiation with sexual partners about condom use; getting tested for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections; applying other sexual health promotion strategies; and sharing newly learned sexual health information with their peers. Conclusion Most risk-reduction intentions aligned with the intervention’s key messages of using condoms consistently and getting tested for HIV. However, participants’ stated intentions may have also depended on which behavior changes they perceived as most salient after participating in the intervention. Participants’ intentions to share information with their peers may result in elements of the intervention content reaching others within their social networks, and potentially contributing to a broader community-level impact. PMID:27468361

Evaluation of Cognitive and Behavioral Effects of Peer Education Model-Based Intervention to Sun Safe in Children

PubMed Central

HU, Ping; HAN, Lingli; SHARMA, Manoj; ZENG, Huan; ZHANG, Yong; LI, Hui; ZHAO, Yong

2014-01-01

Abstract Background There have been many studies that evidence the health hazards of sunlight exposure, but less study on sun safe intervention model, especially in China. Our aim was to evaluate the cognitive and behavioral effects of a peer education model-based intervention to sun safe in children. Methods Cluster random control intervention was conducted in one district in Chongqing, China. Two primary schools, selected through stratified clustered sampling approach (two grades in each school, three classes in each grade) were designated as intervention (n=304) and control schools (n=305) randomly. 36 students, selected as peer educators in intervention group, were trained for one month. Educational activities such as discussions were organized by peer educator for one month. There was no sun safe education to participants in control school during the project period. The evaluation of changes of sun safe knowledge (the primary outcome), attitude and behavior (the secondary outcome measures) were conducted before intervention and at months of 0, 1 and 6 of the intervention to two groups using quantitative and qualitative methods. Results After the intervention, sun safe knowledge score which gained by the students from intervention group has been remarkably improved, compared to baseline survey (24.48±6.17 vs. 29.51±6.75) (P<0.001), and it kept this high level (29.02±7.96 and. 28.65±8.96), while control group students' scores have made no difference (P=0.410). Most of students have changed their sun safe behavior after the intervention. Conclusion Peer education program is somewhat effective in some dimensions for improving children's understanding of sun safe knowledge and behavior. PMID:25988089

Can parental monitoring and peer management reduce the selection or influence of delinquent peers? Testing the question using a dynamic social network approach.

PubMed

Tilton-Weaver, Lauree C; Burk, William J; Kerr, Margaret; Stattin, Håkan

2013-11-01

We tested whether parents can reduce affiliation with delinquent peers through 3 forms of peer management: soliciting information, monitoring rules, and communicating disapproval of peers. We examined whether peer management interrupted 2 peer processes: selection and influence of delinquent peers. Adolescents' feelings of being overcontrolled by parents were examined as an additional moderator of delinquent selection and influence. Using network data from a community sample (N = 1,730), we tested whether selection and influence processes varied across early, middle, and late adolescent cohorts. Selection and influence of delinquent peers were evident in all 3 cohorts and did not differ in strength. Parental monitoring rules reduced the selection of delinquent peers in the oldest cohort. A similar effect was found in the early adolescent cohort, but only for adolescents who did not feel overcontrolled by parents. Monitoring rules increased the likelihood of selecting a delinquent friend among those who felt overcontrolled. The effectiveness of communicating disapproval was also mixed: in the middle adolescent network, communicating disapproval increased the likelihood of an adolescent selecting a delinquent friend. Among late adolescents, high levels of communicating disapproval were effective, reducing the influence of delinquent peers for adolescents reporting higher rates of delinquency. For those who reported lower levels of delinquency, high levels of communicating disapproval increased the influence of delinquent peers. The results of this study suggest that the effectiveness of monitoring and peer management depend on the type of behavior, the timing of its use, and whether adolescents feel overcontrolled by parents.

Are Adolescents Engaged in the Problematic Use of Social Networking Sites More Involved in Peer Aggression and Victimization?

PubMed

Martínez-Ferrer, Belén; Moreno, David; Musitu, Gonzalo

2018-01-01

The problematic use of social networking sites is becoming a major public health concern. Previous research has found that adolescents who engage in a problematic use of social networking sites are likely to show maladjustment problems. However, little is known about its links with peer aggression and victimization. The main goal of this study was to analyze the relationship between problematic use of online social networking sites, peer aggression -overt vs. relational and reactive vs. instrumental-, and peer victimization -overt physical and verbal, and relational-, taking into account gender and age (in early and mid-adolescence). Participants were selected using randomized cluster sampling considering school and class as clusters. A battery of instruments was applied to 1,952 adolescents' secondary students from Spain (Andalusia) (50.4% boys), aged 11 to 16 ( M = 14.07, SD = 1.39). Results showed that girls and 14-16 adolescents were more involved in a problematic use of online social networking sites. Furthermore, adolescents with high problematic use of online social networking sites were more involved in overt-reactive and instrumental-and relational-reactive and instrumental-aggressive behaviors, and self-reported higher levels of overt-physical and verbal-and relational victimization. Even though boys indicated higher levels of all types of victimization, girls with high problematic use of online social networking sites scored the highest on relational victimization. Relating to age, early adolescents (aged 11-14) with higher problematic use of online social networking sites reported the highest levels of overt verbal and relational victimization. Overall, results suggested the co-occurrence of problematic use of online social networking sites, peer aggression and victimization. In addition, results showed the influence that gender and age had on peer victimization. This study highlights the continuity between offline and online domains with regard to maladjustment problems in adolescence.

Are Adolescents Engaged in the Problematic Use of Social Networking Sites More Involved in Peer Aggression and Victimization?

PubMed Central

Martínez-Ferrer, Belén; Moreno, David; Musitu, Gonzalo

2018-01-01

The problematic use of social networking sites is becoming a major public health concern. Previous research has found that adolescents who engage in a problematic use of social networking sites are likely to show maladjustment problems. However, little is known about its links with peer aggression and victimization. The main goal of this study was to analyze the relationship between problematic use of online social networking sites, peer aggression –overt vs. relational and reactive vs. instrumental–, and peer victimization –overt physical and verbal, and relational–, taking into account gender and age (in early and mid-adolescence). Participants were selected using randomized cluster sampling considering school and class as clusters. A battery of instruments was applied to 1,952 adolescents' secondary students from Spain (Andalusia) (50.4% boys), aged 11 to 16 (M = 14.07, SD = 1.39). Results showed that girls and 14–16 adolescents were more involved in a problematic use of online social networking sites. Furthermore, adolescents with high problematic use of online social networking sites were more involved in overt—reactive and instrumental—and relational—reactive and instrumental—aggressive behaviors, and self-reported higher levels of overt—physical and verbal—and relational victimization. Even though boys indicated higher levels of all types of victimization, girls with high problematic use of online social networking sites scored the highest on relational victimization. Relating to age, early adolescents (aged 11–14) with higher problematic use of online social networking sites reported the highest levels of overt verbal and relational victimization. Overall, results suggested the co-occurrence of problematic use of online social networking sites, peer aggression and victimization. In addition, results showed the influence that gender and age had on peer victimization. This study highlights the continuity between offline and online domains with regard to maladjustment problems in adolescence. PMID:29896139

A Youth-Led, Social Marketing Intervention Run by Adolescents to Encourage Healthy Lifestyles among Younger School Peers (EYTO-Kids Project): A Protocol for Pilot Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (Spain)

PubMed Central

Aceves-Martins, Magaly; Papell-Garcia, Ignasi; Arola, Lluís; Giralt, Montse; Solà, Rosa

2017-01-01

Introduction: The EYTO-kids (European Youth Tackling Obesity in Adolescents and Children) study aims to increase fruit and/or vegetable consumption and physical activity, decrease sedentary lifestyles, and reduce the intake of sugary drinks and fast food using an innovative methodology based on social marketing and youth involvement. Methods: This study is a pilot school-based cluster randomized controlled 10-month intervention spanning two academic years (2015–2016 and 2016–2017), with eight primary schools and three high schools randomized into and designated the control group and eight primary schools and four high schools designated the intervention group in Reus, Spain. At least 301 younger school peers per group should be included. At the intervention high schools, the adolescent creators (ACs) receive an initial 16-h training session. In total, 26–32 high school ACs (12–14 years) from the four high schools will design and implement four health-promotion activities (1 h/each) for their younger (8–10 years), primary school peers. The control group will not receive any intervention. The outcomes (fruit, vegetable, fast food and sugary drink consumption; physical activity; and sedentary behaviors) of the control and intervention groups will be measured pre- and post-intervention. Conclusion: This study describes a protocol for pilot, peer-led, social marketing and youth-involved intervention, where adolescents design and implement activities for their younger peers to promote healthy lifestyles.

Picture Exchange Communication System and Pals: A Peer-Mediated Augmentative and Alternative Communication Intervention for Minimally Verbal Preschoolers with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thiemann-Bourque, Kathy; Brady, Nancy; McGuff, Sara; Strump, Keenan; Naylor, Amy

2016-01-01

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of a social intervention that integrates peer-mediated approaches and the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). Method: Effects were evaluated using a series of A-B designs replicated across 4 children with severe autism and limited verbal skills. Seven peers without…

Update to a protocol for a feasibility cluster randomised controlled trial of a peer-led school-based intervention to increase the physical activity of adolescent girls (PLAN-A).

PubMed

Sebire, Simon J; Edwards, Mark J; Campbell, Rona; Jago, Russell; Kipping, Ruth; Banfield, Kathryn; Kadir, Bryar; Garfield, Kirsty; Lyons, Ronan A; Blair, Peter S; Hollingworth, William

2016-01-01

Physical activity levels are low amongst adolescent girls, and this population faces specific barriers to being active. Peer influences on health behaviours are important in adolescence, and peer-led interventions might hold promise to change behaviour. This paper describes the protocol for a feasibility cluster randomised controlled trial of Peer-Led physical Activity iNtervention for Adolescent girls (PLAN-A), a peer-led intervention aimed at increasing adolescent girls' physical activity levels. In addition, this paper describes an update that has been made to the protocol for the PLAN-A feasibility cluster randomised controlled trial. A two-arm cluster randomised feasibility trial will be conducted in six secondary schools (intervention n  = 4; control n  = 2) with year 8 (12-13 years old) girls. The intervention will operate at a year group level and consist of year 8 girls nominating influential peers within their year group to become peer supporters. Approximately 15% of the cohort will receive 3 days of training about physical activity and interpersonal communication skills. Peer supporters will then informally diffuse messages about physical activity amongst their friends for 10 weeks. Data will be collected at baseline (time 0 (T0)), immediately after the intervention (time 1 (T1)) and 12 months after baseline measures (time 2 (T2)). In this feasibility trial, the primary interest is in the recruitment of schools and participants (both year 8 girls and peer supporters), delivery and receipt of the intervention, data provision rates and identifying the cost categories for future economic analysis. Physical activity will be assessed using 7-day accelerometry, with the likely primary outcome in a fully powered trial being daily minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Participants will also complete psychosocial questionnaires at each time point: assessing motivation, self-esteem and peer physical activity norms. Data analysis will be largely descriptive and focus on recruitment, attendance and data provision rates. The findings will inform the sample size required for a definitive trial. A detailed process evaluation using qualitative and quantitative methods will be conducted with a variety of stakeholders (i.e. pupils, parents, teachers and peer-supporter trainers) to identify areas of success and necessary improvements prior to proceeding to a definitive trial. The study will provide the information necessary to design a fully powered trial should PLAN-A demonstrate evidence of promise. This paper describes an update to the protocol for the PLAN-A feasibility cluster randomised controlled trial related to the data-linkage component. ISRCTN12543546.

How Urban Youth Perceive Relationships Among School Environments, Social Networks, Self-Concept, and Substance Use.

PubMed

Dudovitz, Rebecca N; Perez-Aguilar, Giselle; Kim, Grace; Wong, Mitchell D; Chung, Paul J

2017-03-01

Studies suggest adolescent substance use aligns with academic and behavioral self-concept (whether teens think of themselves as good or bad students and as rule followers or rule breakers) as well as peer and adult social networks. Schools are an important context in which self-concept and social networks develop, but it remains unclear how school environments might be leveraged to promote healthy development and prevent substance use. We sought to describe how youth perceive the relationships among school environments, adolescent self-concept, social networks, and substance use. Semistructured interviews with 32 low-income minority youth (aged 17-22 years) who participated in a prior study, explored self-concept development, school environments, social networks, and substance use decisions. Recruitment was stratified by whether, during high school, they had healthy or unhealthy self-concept profiles and had engaged in or abstained from substance use. Youth described feeling labeled by peers and teachers and how these labels became incorporated into their self-concept. Teachers who made students feel noticed (eg, by learning students' names) and had high academic expectations reinforced healthy self-concepts. Academic tracking, extracurricular activities, and school norms determined potential friendship networks, grouping students either with well-behaving or misbehaving peers. Youth described peer groups, combined with their self-concept, shaping their substance use decisions. Affirming healthy aspects of their self-concept at key risk behavior decision points helped youth avoid substance use in the face of peer pressure. Youth narratives suggest school environments shape adolescent self-concept and adult and peer social networks, all of which impact substance use. Copyright © 2016 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How Urban Youth Perceive Relationships among School Environments, Social Networks, Self-Concept, and Substance Use

PubMed Central

Dudovitz, Rebecca N.; Perez-Aguilar, Giselle; Kim, Grace; Wong, Mitchell D.; Chung, Paul J.

2016-01-01

Objective Studies suggest adolescent substance use aligns with academic and behavioral self-concept (whether teens think of themselves as good or bad students and as rule followers or rule breakers) as well as peer and adult social networks. Schools are an important context in which self-concept and social networks develop, but it remains unclear how school environments might be leveraged to promote healthy development and prevent substance use. We sought to describe how youth perceive the relationships among school environments, adolescent self-concept, social networks, and substance use. Methods Semi-structured interviews with 32 low-income minority youth (ages 17-22) who participated in a prior study, explored self-concept development, school environments, social networks, and substance use decisions. Recruitment was stratified by whether, during high school, they had healthy or unhealthy self-concept profiles and had engaged in or abstained from substance use. Results Youth described feeling labeled by peers and teachers and how these labels became incorporated into their self-concept. Teachers who made students feel noticed (e.g., by learning students' names) and had high academic expectations reinforced healthy self-concepts. Academic tracking, extra-curricular activities, and school norms determined potential friendship networks, grouping students either with well-behaving or misbehaving peers. Youth described peer groups, combined with their self-concept, shaping their substance use decisions. Affirming healthy aspects of their self-concept at key risk behavior decision points helped youth avoid substance use in the face of peer pressure. Conclusions Youth narratives suggest school environments shape adolescent self-concept and adult and peer social networks, all of which impact substance use. PMID:28259338

Use of Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in Young Men Who Have Sex with Men is Associated with Race, Sexual Risk Behavior and Peer Network Size.

PubMed

Kuhns, Lisa M; Hotton, Anna L; Schneider, John; Garofalo, Robert; Fujimoto, Kayo

2017-05-01

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is efficacious to prevent HIV infection, however, uptake among young men who have sex with men (YMSM) is relatively low. The purpose of this study was to describe PrEP use and related factors in a representative sample of YMSM in two cities, Chicago and Houston. YMSM, ages 16-29, were recruited via respondent-driven sampling (RDS) from 2014 to 2016. Correlates of PrEP uptake were assessed in weighted multivariable logistic regression models. A total of 12.2% of participants (of 394) reported ever taking PrEP; Black YMSM had the lowest rates of uptake (4.7%) and Whites the highest (29.5%). In a multivariable regression model, having an HIV positive sex partner, reporting recent group sex, peer network size, and city (Chicago) were significantly and positively associated with use of PrEP, while Black race was negatively associated with it. Given evidence of racial/ethnic disparities in PrEP uptake in this study, further research is needed to identify potential mechanisms of action and points of intervention.

Well-being in 15-year-old adolescents: a matter of relationship with school

PubMed Central

Lemma, Patrizia; Borraccino, Alberto; Berchialla, Paola; Dalmasso, Paola; Charrier, Lorena; Vieno, Alessio; Lazzeri, Giacomo; Cavallo, Franco

2015-01-01

Background Psychosomatic health complaints are significant indicators of adolescent well-being. The aim of this study is to describe the full set of interactions between health complaints and the presence of subjective resources, represented by the quality of relationships with parents and peers and by a positive school perception, in a population of 15-year-old adolescents. Smoking and alcohol consumption were also included in the analyses. Methods Bayesian networks were built for males and females separately, in order to understand the interactions among all considered variables in a representative sample of 16 018 Italian adolescents participating in the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children survey 2009–10. Results The resulting networks show that school is the crucial node linking adolescents’ well-being with parents and peer relationships, as well as with smoking and alcohol consumption. Conclusions Adolescents' well-being, as well as the prevalence of typical risk behaviours, such as smoking and alcohol consumption, is mediated by the adolescents' academic stress. Therefore, public health interventions, to be effective, should consider addressing the school environment by making it a more inclusive environment promoting critical thinking and sense of belonging rather than just focusing on personal behaviours. PMID:25525193

Peer support for postpartum depression: volunteers' perceptions, recruitment strategies and training from a randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

Dennis, Cindy-Lee

2013-01-01

A randomized controlled trial evaluated the effect of telephone-based peer support (mother-to-mother) on preventing postpartum depression among high-risk mothers. This paper reports volunteers' perceptions, which showed that peer support is an effective preventative intervention. Two-hundred and five (205) volunteers were recruited and trained to provide peer support to 349 mothers randomized to the intervention group. Volunteers' perceptions were measured at 12 weeks using the Peer Volunteer Experience Questionnaire, completed by 69% (121) of the 175 volunteers who provided support to at least one mother. Large majorities felt that the training session had prepared them for their role (94.2%), that volunteering did not interfere with their lives (81.8%) and that providing support helped them grow as individuals (87.8%). Over 90% stated that they would become a peer volunteer again, given the opportunity. Recruitment and retention of effective volunteers is essential to the success of any peer-support intervention. Results from this study can assist clinicians and program planners to provide effective training, sufficient on-going support and evaluation and appropriate matching of volunteers to mothers who desire peer support and are at high risk of postpartum depression. PMID:22388589

The Influence of Peers on Diet and Exercise Among Adolescents: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Chung, Sophia Jihey; Ersig, Anne L; McCarthy, Ann Marie

Adolescents' diet and exercise are modifiable factors contributing to high rates of adolescent obesity. Diverse contextual factors, including family, social environment, and peers, affect adolescents' diet and exercise behaviors. Because peer influence increases during adolescence, peers' contributions to adolescents' diet and exercise behaviors should be examined as potential targets for intervention to reduce the prevalence of adolescent obesity. The purpose of this systematic review is to identify research examining the contribution of peers to diet and exercise of adolescents. The electronic databases PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, and SCOPUS were searched. A total of 24 unique articles were included: seven examined diet only, fourteen studied exercise only, and three explored diet and exercise. This review provided evidence that diet and exercise of adolescents were significantly associated with those of their peers. However, these associations differed depending on gender, the type of diet and exercise, and closeness of friends. Findings from this review suggest that peers could be possible targets for interventions to promote healthier diet and exercise among adolescents; however, more studies are needed to identify specific peer influences and develop tailored interventions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Feasibility and efficacy of the Great Leaders Active StudentS (GLASS) program on children's physical activity and object control skill competency: A non-randomised trial.

PubMed

Nathan, Nicole; Sutherland, Rachel; Beauchamp, Mark R; Cohen, Kristen; Hulteen, Ryan M; Babic, Mark; Wolfenden, Luke; Lubans, David R

2017-12-01

This study aimed to assess the feasibility and efficacy of the Great Leaders Active StudentS (GLASS) program, a school-based peer-led physical activity and object control skill intervention. The study employed a quasi-experimental design. The study was conducted in two elementary schools, one intervention and one comparison, in Newcastle, New South Wales (NSW), Australia from April to June 2015 (N=224 students). Peer leaders (n=20) in the intervention school received training to deliver two 30-min object control skill sessions per week to students in Kindergarten, Grades 1 and 2 (5-8 years, n=83) over one school term (10 weeks). The primary outcome was pedometer assessed physical activity during school hours. Secondary outcomes included students' object control skill competency and peers' leadership self-efficacy and teacher ratings of peers' leadership skills. Almost all (19/20) GLASS sessions were delivered by peer leaders who reported high acceptability of the program. The treatment-by-time interaction for students' physical activity during school hours was not significant (p=0.313). The intervention effect on students' overall object control skills was statistically significant (mean difference 5.8 (95% CI 4.1, 7.4; p<0.001)). Teacher-rated peer leadership significantly improved (0.70; 95% CI 0.38-1.01); p<.001)). The GLASS program was found to be both feasible and acceptable. The intervention also resulted in improvements in students' overall object control skills as well as teacher-rated peers' leadership behaviours. Future fully powered trials using peer leaders to deliver fundamental movement skill (FMS) programs are warranted. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A pilot trial of text-delivered peer network counseling to treat young adults with cannabis use disorder.

PubMed

Mason, Michael J; Zaharakis, Nikola M; Russell, Michael; Childress, Victoria

2018-06-01

Approximately 1.8 million young adults aged 18 to 25 had a Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) in the past year. Unfortunately, engaging young adults in treatment is very challenging. Creative approaches to treat cannabis disorders such as integrating mobile technology with evidence-based treatments are warranted. In light of these challenges, we developed a text message-delivered version of Peer Network Counseling (PNC-txt), which is a substance use intervention that focuses on peer relations. PNC-txt engages participants in 16 automated, personalized text interactions over 4weeks. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of PNC-txt against a waitlist control group with 30 treatment seeking young adults (ages 18-25) who met DSM-5 criteria for CUD. Self-report and urine analyses were used to test outcomes at the three-month follow-up. The PNC-txt group significantly reduced their cannabis use related problems as well as cannabis cravings, compared to the control group. PNC-txt participants also had a significantly greater percentage with urines negative for cannabis metabolites compared to controls. Moderation analysis showed that CUD severity level moderated treatment, suggesting that PNC-txt is more effective for participants with medium and high levels of CUD severity. All effect sizes ranged from medium to large. Results from this pilot trial are promising and warrant further research on PNC-txt for addressing cannabis use disorder. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Picture Exchange Communication System and Pals: A Peer-Mediated Augmentative and Alternative Communication Intervention for Minimally Verbal Preschoolers With Autism.

PubMed

Thiemann-Bourque, Kathy; Brady, Nancy; McGuff, Sara; Stump, Keenan; Naylor, Amy

2016-10-01

This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of a social intervention that integrates peer-mediated approaches and the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). Effects were evaluated using a series of A-B designs replicated across 4 children with severe autism and limited verbal skills. Seven peers without disabilities were trained to use PECS and facilitative social skills. Measures of changes included rates of communication behaviors, modes, functions, and engagement. Outcomes revealed an intervention effect for 1 child with autism, and this effect was replicated across 3 other children. All children improved in peer-directed communication, with greater increases for 2 children during snack time. For each child with autism, the primary communication behavior was to initiate with picture symbols to request; the peer's primary communication was to respond. Two children increased communicative functions to comment and to share, and all 4 children showed improved social engagement. All peers increased their communication with the children with autism. These findings add to the limited research on the benefits of teaching typically developing peers to be responsive listeners to preschoolers with autism by learning to use PECS. These results invite further investigation of teaching peers other augmentative and alternative communication approaches and how to increase children's communication with peers for different purposes.

Peer-led versus teacher-led AIDS education for female high-school students in Yazd, Islamic Republic of Iran.

PubMed

Baghianimoghadam, M H; Forghani, H; Zolghadr, R; Rahaei, Z; Khani, P

2012-04-01

Peer-led programmes on AIDS prevention have shown a good level of effectiveness when tested among high-risk populations. This study compared peer-led and teacher-led methods of education about HIV/AIDS among female high-school students in Yazd city, Islamic Republic of Iran. In 2009 students in 3 high schools were trained by their classmates (peer-led), by the research team (teacher-led) or had no education (controls); 180 students completed a specially designed questionnaire based on the health belief model, before and after the intervention. Post-intervention mean knowledge scores increased 2-fold in the peer-led group, and this was significantly higher than the increase in the teacher-led group scores (1.5-fold). Control group scores were unchanged. In the peer-led programme all of the components of the model were significantly improved whereas in the teacher-led programme, only perceived severity and perceived barriers scored significantly higher after the intervention.

The Impact of Family and Peer Protective Factors on Girls’ Violence Perpetration and Victimization

PubMed Central

Shlafer, Rebecca J.; McMorris, Barbara J.; Sieving, Renee E.; Gower, Amy L.

2012-01-01

Purpose This study investigates whether family and peer connections and prosocial norms buffer adolescent girls’ violence involvement, and whether a youth development intervention augments the power of these protective factors in reducing girls’ risk for violence. Methods Data were obtained from 253 13–17 year-olds enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of Prime Time, a youth development intervention offered through urban clinic settings to girls at high risk for pregnancy. Participants completed an A-CASI survey at baseline, 6, 12, and 18 months following enrollment. Protective factors included scales assessing family and peer connections and prosocial norms. Outcome variables were violence victimization and perpetration scales measured at 18 months. Results Family connections and prosocial norms independently protected girls against violence involvement. Peer prosocial norms also served as a protective buffer against violence perpetration and victimization; however, girls with strong peer connections had higher levels of violence perpetration. Participation in Prime Time augmented the protective effects of family and peer connections on girls’ violence victimization but not perpetration. Prime Time participants who had high levels of family connections reported the lowest levels of violence victimization at 18 months. Prime Time participants with strong peer connections trended toward lower levels of violence victimization than other girls. Conclusions Results suggest that effects of the Prime Time intervention on violence victimization were optimized among high-risk adolescent girls with strong connections to family and peers. The intervention was most potent in preventing violence victimization among girls with strong prosocial connections to family and peers. PMID:23299002

An examination of network position and childhood relational aggression: integrating resource control and social exchange theories.

PubMed

Neal, Jennifer Watling; Cappella, Elise

2012-01-01

Applying resource control theory and social exchange theory, we examined the social network conditions under which elementary age children were likely to engage in relational aggression. Data on classroom peer networks and peer-nominated behaviors were collected on 671 second- through fourth-grade children in 34 urban, low-income classrooms. Nested regression models with robust cluster standard errors demonstrated that the association between children's number of relationships and their levels of relational aggression was moderated by the number of relationships that their affiliates had. Children with more peer relationships (i.e., higher network centrality) exhibited higher levels of relational aggression, but only when these relationships were with peers who had fewer connections themselves (i.e., poorly connected peers). This finding remained significant even when controlling for common predictors of relational aggression including gender, overt aggression, prosocial behavior, victimization, social preference, and perceived popularity. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for advancing the literature on childhood relational aggression and their practical applications for identifying children at risk for these behaviors. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

How to Analyze Interpersonal and Individual Effects in Peer-Tutored Reading Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Müller, Bettina; Richter, Tobias; Križan, Ana; Hecht, Teresa; Ennemoser, Marco

2016-01-01

Reading strategy interventions relying upon peer tutoring are a common way to foster poor readers' comprehension skills. Those interventions are based on the assumption that tutees benefit from the (higher) reading skills of their tutors. However, this interpersonal effect has not yet been tested explicitly because the effectiveness of peer…

Cognitive tutoring induces widespread neuroplasticity and remediates brain function in children with mathematical learning disabilities

PubMed Central

Iuculano, Teresa; Rosenberg-Lee, Miriam; Richardson, Jennifer; Tenison, Caitlin; Fuchs, Lynn; Supekar, Kaustubh; Menon, Vinod

2015-01-01

Competency with numbers is essential in today's society; yet, up to 20% of children exhibit moderate to severe mathematical learning disabilities (MLD). Behavioural intervention can be effective, but the neurobiological mechanisms underlying successful intervention are unknown. Here we demonstrate that eight weeks of 1:1 cognitive tutoring not only remediates poor performance in children with MLD, but also induces widespread changes in brain activity. Neuroplasticity manifests as normalization of aberrant functional responses in a distributed network of parietal, prefrontal and ventral temporal–occipital areas that support successful numerical problem solving, and is correlated with performance gains. Remarkably, machine learning algorithms show that brain activity patterns in children with MLD are significantly discriminable from neurotypical peers before, but not after, tutoring, suggesting that behavioural gains are not due to compensatory mechanisms. Our study identifies functional brain mechanisms underlying effective intervention in children with MLD and provides novel metrics for assessing response to intervention. PMID:26419418

Social networks and substance use among at-risk emerging adults living in disadvantaged urban areas in the southern United States: a cross-sectional naturalistic study.

PubMed

Tucker, Jalie A; Cheong, JeeWon; Chandler, Susan D; Crawford, Scott M; Simpson, Cathy A

2015-09-01

Substance use and risk-taking are common during emerging adulthood, a transitional period when peer influences often increase and family influences decrease. Investigating relationships between social network features and substance use can inform community-based prevention programs. This study investigated whether substance use among emerging adults living in disadvantaged urban areas was influenced by peer and family social network messages that variously encouraged and discouraged substance use. Cross-sectional, naturalistic field study. Lower-income neighborhoods in Birmingham, Alabama, USA with 344 participants (110 males, 234 females, ages 15-25 years; mean = 18.86 years), recruited via respondent-driven sampling. During structured interviews conducted in community locations, the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test assessed substance use and related problems. Predictor variables were network characteristics, including presence of substance-using peers, messages from friends and family members about substance use and network sources for health information. Higher substance involvement was associated with friend and family encouragement of use and having close peer network members who used substances (Ps < 0.001). Peer discouragement of substance use was associated with reduced risk (b = - 1.46, P < 0.05), whereas family discouragement had no protective association. Social networks appear to be important in both promoting and preventing substance use in disadvantaged young adults in the United States. © 2015 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Outreach in natural settings: the use of peer leaders for HIV prevention among injecting drug users' networks.

PubMed Central

Latkin, C A

1998-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Guided by a social influence and empowerment framework, peer leaders in the injecting drug user (IDU) community were trained to promote human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention among their contacts within and beyond their sex and drug networks. METHODS: From 1994 to 1995 in Baltimore, Maryland, 36 peer leaders who participated in the 10-session training program were administered pretest and posttest surveys. Evaluation included leaders' self-reported HIV-related behaviors and outreach activities. Survey data also were collected from 78 of the leaders' risk network members. RESULTS: Peer leaders reported a significant increase in condom use and in cleaning used needles with bleach. The leaders' risk network members, compared with controls, were significantly more likely to report greater needle hygiene. In an assessment of diffusion of information, the majority of risk network members who were current injectors reported receiving needle-cleaning materials from the leaders, and the majority of risk network members were able to correctly identify the HIV prevention slogans that had been taught to the leaders. The leaders documented 2165 HIV prevention interactions, of which 84% were with active drug users. CONCLUSIONS: The results from this study suggest that, in the IDU community, training peer leaders as HIV educators may promote HIV prevention among the leaders' risk network members and others at risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV. This training also may provide the leaders with effective prosocial roles. PMID:9722820

A randomized trial of a classroom intervention to increase peers' social inclusion of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Mikami, Amori Yee; Griggs, Marissa Swaim; Lerner, Matthew D; Emeh, Christina C; Reuland, Meg M; Jack, Allison; Anthony, Maria R

2013-02-01

Interventions for peer problems among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) typically focus on improving these children's behaviors. This study tested the proposition that an adjunctive component encouraging the peer group to be socially inclusive of children with ADHD would augment the efficacy of traditional interventions. Two interventions were compared: contingency management training (COMET), a traditional behavioral management treatment to improve socially competent behavior in children with ADHD, and Making Socially Accepting Inclusive Classrooms (MOSAIC), a novel treatment that supplemented behavioral management for children with ADHD with procedures training peers to be socially inclusive. Children ages 6.8-9.8 (24 with ADHD; 113 typically developing [TD]) attended a summer day program grouped into same-age, same-sex classrooms with previously unacquainted peers. Children with ADHD received both COMET and MOSAIC with a repeated measures crossover design. TD children provided sociometric information about the children with ADHD. Whereas the level of behavior problems displayed by children with ADHD did not differ across treatment conditions, children with ADHD displayed improved sociometric preference and more reciprocated friendships, and received more positive messages from peers, when they were in MOSAIC relative to COMET. However, the beneficial effects of MOSAIC over COMET predominantly occurred for boys relative to girls. Data support the concept that adjunctive procedures to increase the inclusiveness of the peer group may ameliorate peer problems among children with ADHD, and suggest the potential utility of modifying MOSAIC to be delivered in regular classroom settings.

Discouraged by Peer Excellence: Exposure to Exemplary Peer Performance Causes Quitting.

PubMed

Rogers, Todd; Feller, Avi

2016-03-01

People are exposed to exemplary peer performances often (and sometimes by design in interventions). In two studies, we showed that exposure to exemplary peer performances can undermine motivation and success by causing people to perceive that they cannot attain their peers' high levels of performance. It also causes de-identification with the relevant domain. We examined such discouragement by peer excellence by exploiting the incidental exposure to peers' abilities that occurs when students are asked to assess each other's work. Study 1 was a natural experiment in a massive open online course that employed peer assessment (N = 5,740). Exposure to exemplary peer performances caused a large proportion of students to quit the course. Study 2 explored underlying psychological mechanisms in an online replication (N = 361). Discouragement by peer excellence has theoretical implications for work on social judgment, social comparison, and reference bias and has practical implications for interventions that induce social comparisons. © The Author(s) 2016.

Implementation-effectiveness trial of an ecological intervention for physical activity in ethnically diverse low income senior centers.

PubMed

Rich, Porchia; Aarons, Gregory A; Takemoto, Michelle; Cardenas, Veronica; Crist, Katie; Bolling, Khalisa; Lewars, Brittany; Sweet, Cynthia Castro; Natarajan, Loki; Shi, Yuyan; Full, Kelsie M; Johnson, Eileen; Rosenberg, Dori E; Whitt-Glover, Melicia; Marcus, Bess; Kerr, Jacqueline

2017-07-18

As the US population ages, there is an increasing need for evidence based, peer-led physical activity programs, particularly in ethnically diverse, low income senior centers where access is limited. The Peer Empowerment Program 4 Physical Activity' (PEP4PA) is a hybrid Type II implementation-effectiveness trial that is a peer-led physical activity (PA) intervention based on the ecological model of behavior change. The initial phase is a cluster randomized control trial randomized to either a peer-led PA intervention or usual center programming. After 18 months, the intervention sites are further randomized to continued support or no support for another 6 months. This study will be conducted at twelve senior centers in San Diego County in low income, diverse communities. In the intervention sites, 24 peer health coaches and 408 adults, aged 50 years and older, are invited to participate. Peer health coaches receive training and support and utilize a tablet computer for delivery and tracking. There are several levels of intervention. Individual components include pedometers, step goals, counseling, and feedback charts. Interpersonal components include group walks, group sharing and health tips, and monthly celebrations. Community components include review of PA resources, walkability audit, sustainability plan, and streetscape improvements. The primary outcome of interest is intensity and location of PA minutes per day, measured every 6 months by wrist and hip accelerometers and GPS devices. Secondary outcomes include blood pressure, physical, cognitive, and emotional functioning. Implementation measures include appropriateness & acceptability (perceived and actual fit), adoption & penetration (reach), fidelity (quantity & quality of intervention delivered), acceptability (satisfaction), costs, and sustainability. Using a peer led implementation strategy to deliver a multi-level community based PA program can enhance program adoption, implementation, and sustainment. ClinicalTrials.gov, USA ( NCT02405325 ). Date of registration, March 20, 2015. This website also contains all items from the World Health Organization Trial Registration Data Set.

Performance Evaluation of a Field Programmable Gate Array-Based System for Detecting and Tracking Peer-to-Peer Protocols on a Gigabit Ethernet Network

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

Ron’s Code 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 2.3.3 Virtual Private Network and Secure Shell Tunnels 19 2.3.4 Darknets ...created using Iodine. 2.2 Analyzing and Classifying Network Traffic Before the advent of Darknets and anonymizers like Tor (see Section 2.3), ana... darknets , and the Tor network. 2.3.1 Byte Padding. Byte padding is the most primitive obfuscation method used to hide payloads in network traffic. When byte

The Influence of Peer Groups on Academic Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sallee, Margaret W.; Tierney, William G.

2007-01-01

The authors examine how peer relationships influence students' academic success. After defining peer groups, the article considers the ways in which students' peer networks facilitate or inhibit access to academic resources. The authors argue that the composition and purpose of a peer group influences academic achievement and students' likelihood…

Corelli: a peer-to-peer dynamic replication service for supporting latency-dependent content in community networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tyson, Gareth; Mauthe, Andreas U.; Kaune, Sebastian; Mu, Mu; Plagemann, Thomas

2009-01-01

The quality of service for latency dependent content, such as video streaming, largely depends on the distance and available bandwidth between the consumer and the content. Poor provision of these qualities results in reduced user experience and increased overhead. To alleviate this, many systems operate caching and replication, utilising dedicated resources to move the content closer to the consumer. Latency-dependent content creates particular issues for community networks, which often display the property of strong internal connectivity yet poor external connectivity. However, unlike traditional networks, communities often cannot deploy dedicated infrastructure for both monetary and practical reasons. To address these issues, this paper proposes Corelli, a peer-to-peer replication infrastructure designed for use in community networks. In Corelli, high capacity peers in communities autonomously build a distributed cache to dynamically pre-fetch content early on in its popularity lifecycle. By exploiting the natural proximity of peers in the community, users can gain extremely low latency access to content whilst reducing egress utilisation. Through simulation, it is shown that Corelli considerably increases accessibility and improves performance for latency dependent content. Further, Corelli is shown to offer adaptive and resilient mechanisms that ensure that it can respond to variations in churn, demand and popularity.

A randomized trial of peer-delivered self-management support for hypertension.

PubMed

Whittle, Jeff; Schapira, Marilyn M; Fletcher, Kathlyn E; Hayes, Avery; Morzinski, Jeffrey; Laud, Purushottam; Eastwood, Dan; Ertl, Kristyn; Patterson, Leslie; Mosack, Katie E

2014-11-01

Peer-led interventions to improve chronic disease self-management can improve health outcomes but are not widely used. Therefore, we tested a peer-led hypertension self-management intervention delivered at regular meetings of community veterans' organizations. We randomized 58 organizational units ("posts") of veterans' organizations in southeast Wisconsin to peer-led vs. professionally delivered self-management education. Volunteer peer leaders at peer-led posts delivered monthly presentations regarding hypertension self-management during regular post meetings. Volunteer post representatives at seminar posts encouraged post members to attend 3 didactic seminars delivered by health professionals at a time separate from the post meeting. Volunteers in both groups encouraged members to self-monitor using blood pressure cuffs, weight scales, and pedometers. Our primary outcome was change in systolic blood pressure (SBP) at 12 months. We measured SBP in 404 participants at baseline and in 379 participants at 12 months. SBP decreased significantly (4.4mm Hg; P < 0.0001) overall; the decrease was similar in peer-led and seminar posts (3.5mm Hg vs. 5.4mm Hg; P = 0.24). Among participants with uncontrolled BP at baseline, SBP decreased by 10.1mm Hg from baseline to 12 months but was again similar in the 2 groups. This pattern was also seen at 6 months and with diastolic blood pressure. Our peer-led educational intervention was not more effective than didactic seminars for SBP control. Although peer-led educational programs have had important impacts in a number of studies, we did not find our intervention superior to a similar intervention delivered by healthcare professionals. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00571038. © Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of American Journal of Hypertension Ltd 2014. This work is written by (a) US Government employees(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

Do Risky Friends Change the Efficacy of a Primary Care Brief Intervention for Adolescent Alcohol Use?

PubMed Central

Louis-Jacques, Jennifer; Knight, John R; Sherritt, Lon; Van Hook, Shari; Harris, Sion K

2013-01-01

Purpose To determine if peer risk (having friends who drink or approve of drinking) modifies the effects of a computer-facilitated Screening and provider Brief Advice (cSBA) intervention on adolescent alcohol use. Methods We assessed intervention effect using logistic regression modeling with generalized estimating equations on a sample of 2092 adolescents. Effect modification by peer risk was analyzed separately for alcohol initiation (drinking at follow-up in baseline non-drinkers) and cessation (no drinking at follow-up in baseline drinkers) by testing an interaction term (treatment condition by peer risk). Interpretation of the interaction effect was further clarified by subsequent stratification by peer risk. Results The intervention effect on alcohol cessation was significantly greater among those with peer risk (aRRR: Risk 1.44, 1.18–1.76 vs. No Risk 0.98, 0.41–2.36) at 3 months follow-up. There was no such finding for alcohol initiation. Conclusions Alcohol screening and brief provider counseling may differentially benefit adolescent drinkers with drinking friends. PMID:24216313

A school-based, peer leadership physical activity intervention for 6th graders

PubMed Central

Barr-Anderson, Daheia J.; Laska, Melissa N.; Veblen-Mortenson, Sara; Dudovitz, Bonnie; Farbarksh, Kian; Story, Mary

2012-01-01

Background The aim of this study was to promote physical activity in 6th graders by developing and testing the feasibility of an enhanced Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA) program comprised of a peer leadership component and innovative exercise resource toolkit including DVDs. Method A racially/ethnically diverse sample of students received the standard PALA program (2 control schools, n=61) or enhanced PALA+Peers program (2 intervention schools, n=87) during 2006–2007 academic year. Results Compared to the control condition, the intervention was successful in increasing moderate physical activity in all students (p=0.02) and moderate and hard physical activity among girls (p=0.03 and p=0.04, respectively). Teachers and students reported a high level of satisfaction and receptivity with the intervention. All teachers thought the DVDs were well-received, and 87% of students reported that they would recommend the enhanced program to peers. Conclusion Coupling peer leadership and DVDs that promote physical activity may be an effective way to increase youth physical activity. PMID:21945980

"We get by with a little help from our friends": Small-scale informal and large-scale formal peer distribution networks of sterile injecting equipment in Australia.

PubMed

Newland, Jamee; Newman, Christy; Treloar, Carla

2016-08-01

In Australia, sterile needles and syringes are distributed to people who inject drugs (PWID) through formal services for the purposes of preventing blood borne viruses (BBV). Peer distribution involves people acquiring needles from formal services and redistributing them to others. This paper investigates the dynamics of the distribution of sterile injecting equipment among networks of people who inject drugs in four sites in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Qualitative data exploring the practice of peer distribution were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and participatory social network mapping. These interviews explored injecting equipment demand, access to services, relationship pathways through which peer distribution occurred, an estimate of the size of the different peer distribution roles and participants' understanding of the illegality of peer distribution in NSW. Data were collected from 32 participants, and 31 (98%) reported participating in peer distribution in the months prior to interview. Of those 31 participants, five reported large-scale formal distribution, with an estimated volume of 34,970 needles and syringes annually. Twenty-two participated in reciprocal exchange, where equipment was distributed and received on an informal basis that appeared dependent on context and circumstance and four participants reported recipient peer distribution as their only access to sterile injecting equipment. Most (n=27) were unaware that it was illegal to distribute injecting equipment to their peers. Peer distribution was almost ubiquitous amongst the PWID participating in the study, and although five participants reported taking part in the highly organised, large-scale distribution of injecting equipment for altruistic reasons, peer distribution was more commonly reported to take place in small networks of friends and/or partners for reasons of convenience. The law regarding the illegality of peer distribution needs to change so that NSPs can capitalise on peer distribution to increase the options available to PWID and to acknowledge PWID as essential harm reduction agents in the prevention of BBVs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effectiveness of a Peer Support Programme versus Usual Care in Disease Management of Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 regarding Improvement of Metabolic Control: A Cluster-Randomised Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Johansson, Tim; Keller, Sophie; Winkler, Henrike; Ostermann, Thomas; Weitgasser, Raimund; Sönnichsen, Andreas C

2016-01-01

Testing the effectiveness of peer support additionally to a disease management programme (DMP) for type 2 diabetes patients. Unblinded cluster-randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving 49 general practices, province of Salzburg, Austria. All patients enrolled in the DMP were eligible, n = 337 participated (intervention: 148 in 19 clusters; control: 189 in 20 clusters). The peer support intervention ran over 24 months and consisted of peer supporter recruitment and training, and group meetings weekly for physical exercise and monthly for discussion of diabetes related topics. At two-year follow-up, adjusted analysis revealed a nonsignificant difference in HbA1c change of 0.14% (21.97 mmol/mol) in favour of the intervention (95% CI -0.08 to 0.36%, p = 0.22). Baseline values were 7.02 ± 1.25% in the intervention and 7.08 ± 1.25 in the control group. None of the secondary outcome measures showed significant differences except for improved quality of life (EQ-5D-VAS) in controls (4.3 points on a scale of 100; 95% CI 0.08 to 8.53, p = 0.046) compared to the intervention group. Our peer support intervention as an additional DMP component showed no significant effect on HbA1c and secondary outcome measures. Further RTCs with a longer follow-up are needed to reveal whether peer support will have clinically relevant effects. This trial has been registered with Current Controlled Trials Ltd. (ISRCTN10291077).

An Agent-Based Model of Private Woodland Owner Management Behavior Using Social Interactions, Information Flow, and Peer-To-Peer Networks

PubMed Central

Huff, Emily Silver; Leahy, Jessica E.; Hiebeler, David; Weiskittel, Aaron R.; Noblet, Caroline L.

2015-01-01

Privately owned woodlands are an important source of timber and ecosystem services in North America and worldwide. Impacts of management on these ecosystems and timber supply from these woodlands are difficult to estimate because complex behavioral theory informs the owner’s management decisions. The decision-making environment consists of exogenous market factors, internal cognitive processes, and social interactions with fellow landowners, foresters, and other rural community members. This study seeks to understand how social interactions, information flow, and peer-to-peer networks influence timber harvesting behavior using an agent-based model. This theoretical model includes forested polygons in various states of ‘harvest readiness’ and three types of agents: forest landowners, foresters, and peer leaders (individuals trained in conservation who use peer-to-peer networking). Agent rules, interactions, and characteristics were parameterized with values from existing literature and an empirical survey of forest landowner attitudes, intentions, and demographics. The model demonstrates that as trust in foresters and peer leaders increases, the percentage of the forest that is harvested sustainably increases. Furthermore, peer leaders can serve to increase landowner trust in foresters. Model output and equations will inform forest policy and extension/outreach efforts. The model also serves as an important testing ground for new theories of landowner decision making and behavior. PMID:26562429

Reducing the volume of antibiotic prescriptions: a peer group intervention among physicians serving a community with special ethnic characteristics.

PubMed

Wilf-Miron, Rachel; Ron, Naama; Ishai, Shlomit; Chory, Hana; Abboud, Louis; Peled, Ronit

2012-05-01

Antibiotics are a front-line weapon against many infectious diseases. However, antibiotic overuse is the key driver of drug resistance. Previously published studies have suggested benefits of using peer-to-peer education, working with group leaders to build trust and maintain confidentiality within a quality initiative. We hypothesized that working with physicians as a peer group might be beneficial in influencing antibiotic prescribing patterns. To describe and evaluate a peer group model for an intervention to reduce the volume of antibiotic prescriptions among physicians with above average prescribing rates serving an Arab community in northern Israel. Primary care physicians in a defined geographic area who served Arab communities and had high antibiotic prescribing rates--defined as above average number of antibiotic prescriptions per office visit compared with regional and organizational averages--were recruited for the intervention. All other physicians from the same region served as a comparison group. The intervention was administered during 2007 and was completed in early 2008. Four structured meetings scheduled 2 months apart, in which the group explored the issues related to antibiotic overuse, included the following topics: adherence to clinical guidelines; the special position physicians serving Arab communities hold and the influence it has on their practices; pressure due to consumer demands; and suggestions for possible strategies to face ethnic sensitivity, mainly because of the special ties the physicians have with their communities. T-tests for independent samples were used to perform between-group comparisons for each quarter and year of observation from 2006 through 2010, and t-tests for paired samples were used to compare pre-intervention with post-intervention antibiotic prescribing rates. In the 2006 pre-intervention period, the antibiotic prescribing rates were 0.17 for the peer group (n = 11 physicians) and 0.15 for the comparison group (n = 72 physicians, P = 0.279). In 2008 following the intervention, rates were 0.12 and 0.14, respectively (P = 0.396). In the paired t-test analysis, rates declined significantly from 2006 to 2008 in the intervention group (P < 0.001) but not in the comparison group (P = 0.138). Antibiotic prescribing rates remained similar in 2009 and 2010. In the context of a community with special ethnic and cultural characteristics, an intervention relying on peer group techniques was associated with a modest reduction in the volume of antibiotic prescriptions.

Development and Initial Testing of a Tailored Telephone Intervention Delivered by Peers to Prevent Recurring Opioid-Overdoses (TTIP-PRO)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winhusen, T.; Theobald, J.; Lewis, D.; Wilder, C. M.; Lyons, M. S.

2016-01-01

Individuals with opioid use disorder experiencing a non-fatal opioid-overdose (OOD) are at heightened risk for future OODs; there are no interventions to facilitate treatment enrollment for these patients. Our goal was to develop and initially test the "tailored telephone intervention delivered by peers to prevent recurring…

Outcomes of an HIV Prevention Peer Group Intervention for Rural Adults in Malawi

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaponda, Chrissie P. N.; Norr, Kathleen F.; Crittenden, Kathleen S.; Norr, James L.; McCreary, Linda L.; Kachingwe, Sitingawawo I.; Mbeba, Mary M.; Jere, Diana L. N.; Dancy, Barbara L.

2011-01-01

This study used a quasi-experimental design to evaluate a six-session peer group intervention for HIV prevention among rural adults in Malawi. Two rural districts were randomly assigned to intervention and control conditions. Independent random samples of community adults compared the districts at baseline and at 6 and 18 months postintervention.…

An Added Layer of Support: Introducing a Heterarchical Peer Mentoring Intervention to a Preservice Science Teacher Education Cohort

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neesemann, Lisa Ann

2017-01-01

In an effort to support preservice science teachers during their concurrent student teaching experiences and masters coursework, I created and implemented a Peer Mentoring Intervention to add an additional layer of support to those most traditionally curated. In this intervention, preservice secondary science teachers were paired into…

A Network Method of Measuring Affiliation-Based Peer Influence: Assessing the Influences of Teammates' Smoking on Adolescent Smoking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fujimoto, Kayo; Unger, Jennifer B.; Valente, Thomas W.

2012-01-01

Using a network analytic framework, this study introduces a new method to measure peer influence based on adolescents' affiliations or 2-mode social network data. Exposure based on affiliations is referred to as the "affiliation exposure model." This study demonstrates the methodology using data on young adolescent smoking being influenced by…

A network architecture supporting consistent rich behavior in collaborative interactive applications.

PubMed

Marsh, James; Glencross, Mashhuda; Pettifer, Steve; Hubbold, Roger

2006-01-01

Network architectures for collaborative virtual reality have traditionally been dominated by client-server and peer-to-peer approaches, with peer-to-peer strategies typically being favored where minimizing latency is a priority, and client-server where consistency is key. With increasingly sophisticated behavior models and the demand for better support for haptics, we argue that neither approach provides sufficient support for these scenarios and, thus, a hybrid architecture is required. We discuss the relative performance of different distribution strategies in the face of real network conditions and illustrate the problems they face. Finally, we present an architecture that successfully meets many of these challenges and demonstrate its use in a distributed virtual prototyping application which supports simultaneous collaboration for assembly, maintenance, and training applications utilizing haptics.

Peer Programs: An In-Depth Look at Peer Helping: Planning, Implementation, and Administration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tindall, Judith A.

The goal of this book is to provide a program designed to teach peer helping professionals a method and rationale for training peer helpers. Peer helping programs are a major delivery system of affective education or deliberate psychological education. Peer helping programs can provide prevention, intervention, and support systems for people.…

The process of developing and implementing a telephone-based peer support program for postpartum depression: evidence from two randomized controlled trials

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background A randomized controlled trial evaluated the effect of telephone-based peer support on preventing postpartum depression (PPD) among high-risk mothers. The results indicated that support provided by peer volunteers may be an effective preventative strategy. The purpose of this paper is to outline the process of developing, implementing, maintaining, and evaluating the peer support program that we used in this PPD prevention trial. Methods The peer support program had been used successfully in a pilot trial and a previous breastfeeding peer support trial. Based on our experience and lessons learned, we developed a 4-phase, 12-step approach so that the peer support model could be copied and used by different health providers in various settings. We will use the PPD prevention trial to demonstrate the suggested steps. Results The trial aim to prevent the onset of PPD was established. Peer volunteers who previously experienced and recovered from self-reported PPD were recruited and attended a four-hour training session. Volunteers were screened and those identified as appropriate to provide support to postpartum mothers were selected. Women who scored more than 9 on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale within the first two weeks after childbirth were recruited to participate in the trial and proactive, individualized, telephone-based peer support (mother-to-mother) was provided to those randomized to the intervention group. Peer volunteers maintained the intervention, supported other volunteers, and evaluated the telephone-based support program. Possible negative effects of the intervention were assessed. An in-depth assessment of maternal perspectives of the program at 12 weeks postpartum was performed. Conclusions The 4-phase, 12-step approach delineated in this paper provides clear and concise guidelines for health professionals to follow in creating and implementing community-based, peer-support interventions with the potential to prevent PPD. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN68337727. PMID:24742217

School-Based Peer-Related Social Competence Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-Analysis and Descriptive Review of Single Case Research Design Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whalon, Kelly J.; Conroy, Maureen A.; Martinez, Jose R.; Werch, Brittany L.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this review was to critically examine and summarize the impact of school-based interventions designed to facilitate the peer-related social competence of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Reviewed studies employed a single-case experimental design, targeted peer-related social competence, included children 3-12 years old…

Effectiveness of Peer Education Interventions for HIV Prevention, Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention and Sexual Health Promotion for Young People: A Systematic Review of European Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tolli, M. V.

2012-01-01

Peer education remains a popular strategy for health promotion and prevention, but evidence of its effectiveness is still limited. This article presents a systematic review of peer education interventions in the European Union that were published between January 1999 and May 2010. The objective of the review is to determine the effectiveness of…

The impact of family and peer protective factors on girls' violence perpetration and victimization.

PubMed

Shlafer, Rebecca J; McMorris, Barbara J; Sieving, Renee E; Gower, Amy L

2013-03-01

This study investigates whether family and peer connections and prosocial norms buffer adolescent girls' violence involvement and whether a youth development intervention augments the power of these protective factors in reducing girls' risk for violence. Data were obtained from 253 13-17-year-olds enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of Prime Time, a youth development intervention offered through urban clinic settings to girls at high risk for pregnancy. Participants completed an audio computer-assisted self-interview survey at baseline and 6, 12, and 18 months after enrollment. Protective factors included scales assessing family and peer connections and prosocial norms. Outcome variables were violence victimization and perpetration scales measured at 18 months. Family connections and prosocial norms independently protected girls against violence involvement. Peer prosocial norms also served as a protective buffer against violence perpetration and victimization; however, girls with strong peer connections had higher levels of violence perpetration. Participation in Prime Time augmented the protective effects of family and peer connections on girls' violence victimization but not perpetration. Prime Time participants who had high levels of family connections reported the lowest levels of violence victimization at 18 months. Prime Time participants with strong peer connections trended toward lower levels of violence victimization than other girls. Results suggest that effects of the Prime Time intervention on violence victimization were optimized among high-risk adolescent girls with strong connections to family and peers. The intervention was most potent in preventing violence victimization among girls with strong prosocial connections to family and peers. Copyright © 2013 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Efficient and Effective Use of Peer Teaching for Medical Student Simulation.

PubMed

House, Joseph B; Choe, Carol H; Wourman, Heather L; Berg, Kristin M; Fischer, Jonathan P; Santen, Sally A

2017-01-01

Simulation is increasingly used in medical education, promoting active learning and retention; however, increasing use also requires considerable instructor resources. Simulation may provide a safe environment for students to teach each other, which many will need to do when they enter residency. Along with reinforcing learning and increasing retention, peer teaching could decrease instructor demands. Our objective was to determine the effectiveness of peer-taught simulation compared to physician-led simulation. We hypothesized that peer-taught simulation would lead to equivalent knowledge acquisition when compared to physician-taught sessions and would be viewed positively by participants. This was a quasi-experimental study in an emergency medicine clerkship. The control group was faculty taught. In the peer-taught intervention group, students were assigned to teach one of the three simulation-based medical emergency cases. Each student was instructed to master their topic and teach it to their peers using the provided objectives and resource materials. The students were assigned to groups of three, with all three cases represented; students took turns leading their case. Three groups ran simultaneously. During the intervention sessions, one physician was present to monitor the accuracy of learning and to answer questions, while three physicians were required for the control groups. Outcomes compared pre-test and post-test knowledge and student reaction between control and intervention groups. Both methods led to equally improved knowledge; mean score for the post-test was 75% for both groups (p=0.6) and were viewed positively. Students in the intervention group agreed that peer-directed learning was an effective way to learn. However, students in the control group scored their simulation experience more favorably. In general, students' response to peer teaching was positive, students learned equally well, and found peer-taught sessions to be interactive and beneficial.

The impact of peer support in the context of perinatal mental illness: a meta-ethnography.

PubMed

Jones, Catriona C G; Jomeen, Julie; Hayter, Mark

2014-05-01

this paper is a report of a systematic review and meta-ethnography to explore the impact of peer support in the context of perinatal mental illness (PMI). systematic review methods identified five qualitative studies about women's experiences of PMI, and the impact peer support has on their journey towards emotional well-being. Findings from the identified studies were synthesised into themes, using meta-ethnography. the meta-ethnography produced four themes; 'Isolation: the role of peer support', 'Seeking validation through peer support', 'The importance of social norms of motherhood', and 'Finding affirmation/a way forward; the impact of peer support'. These themes represent women's experiences of PMI, their encounters with peer support groups within that context, and the impact of such encounters on their mental health status. recognising the risk of isolation and having pathways of referral to peer support networks is important, as are practitioners roles in nurturing peer support networks in perinatal care. More research is required to establish the most successful formats/structures of peer support. Practitioners should also recognise their individual and collective professional duty to challenge stereotypical depictions of motherhood wherever they arise, as this 'gold standard' benchmark of good mothering engenders guilt about not being good enough, often leaving women feeling inadequate. isolation is a key factor in PMI. Practitioners should be instrumental in their acceptance and development of peer support for PMI, ensuring these networks are valued, nurtured and encouraged. This study illustrates the powerful effect of professional and social forces on how new mothers feel about themselves. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Effects of Resident Peer- and Self-Chart Review on Outpatient Laboratory Result Follow-up.

PubMed

Hale, Andrew J; Nall, Ryan W; Mukamal, Kenneth J; Libman, Howard; Smith, C Christopher; Sternberg, Scot B; Kim, Hans S; Kriegel, Gila

2016-05-01

Performing and teaching appropriate follow-up of outpatient laboratory results (LRs) is a challenge. The authors tested peer-review among residents as a potentially valuable intervention. Investigators assigned residents to perform self-review (n = 27), peer-review (n = 21), or self- + peer-review (n = 30) of outpatient charts. They also compared residence performance with that of historical controls (n = 20). In September 2012, residents examined 10 LRs from April 2012 onward. A second review in November 2012 ascertained whether performing chart review improved residents' practice behaviors. Initially, the least-square (LS) mean number of LRs without documentation of follow-up per resident in the self-, peer-, and self- + peer-review group was, respectively, 0.5 (SD 1.0), 1.0 (SD 1.7), and 0.9 (SD 1.3), and post intervention, this was 1.0 (SD 0.2), 0.3 (SD 0.2), and 0.6 (SD 0.2) (self- versus peer-review P = .03). Initially the LS mean follow-up time per resident in the self-, peer-, and self- + peer-review group was, respectively, 4.2 (SD 1.2), 6.9 (SD 1.4), and 5.9 (SD 1.2) days, and after the intervention, LS mean time was 5.0 (SD 0.5), 2.5 (SD 0.6), and 3.9 (SD 0.5) days (self- versus peer-review P < .01). Self-review was not associated with significant improvements in practice. In this comparison of self- and peer-review, only residents who performed peer-review demonstrated significant improvements in their documentation practices. These findings support the use of resident peer-review in improving LR follow-up, and potentially, in other, broader resident quality improvement initiatives.

Peer Influence on Ethnic-Racial Identity Development: A Multi-Site Investigation.

PubMed

Santos, Carlos E; Kornienko, Olga; Rivas-Drake, Deborah

2017-05-01

The peer context features prominently in theory, and increasingly in empirical research, about ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development, but no studies have assessed peer influence on ERI using methods designed to properly assess peer influence. We examined peer influence on ERI centrality, private, and public regard using longitudinal social network analysis. Data were drawn from two sites: a predominantly Latina/o Southwestern (SW) school (N = 1034; Mage = 12.10) and a diverse Midwestern (MW) school (N = 513; Mage = 11.99). Findings showed that peers influenced each other's public regard over time at both sites. However, peer influence on centrality was evident in the SW site, whereas peer influence on private regard was evident in the MW site. Importantly, peer influence was evident after controlling for selection effects. Our integration of developmental, contextual, and social network perspectives offers a fruitful approach to explicate how ERI content may shift in early adolescence as a function of peer influence. © 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Building Partnership to Improve Migrants' Access to Healthcare in Mumbai.

PubMed

Gawde, Nilesh Chandrakant; Sivakami, Muthusamy; Babu, Bontha V

2015-01-01

An intervention to improve migrants' access to healthcare was piloted in Mumbai with purpose of informing health policy and planning. This paper aims to describe the process of building partnership for improving migrants' access to healthcare of the pilot intervention, including the role played by different stakeholders and the contextual factors affecting the intervention. The process evaluation was based on Baranowski and Stables' framework. Observations in community and conversations with stakeholders as recorded in daily diaries, minutes of pre-intervention workshops, and stakeholder meetings served as data sources. Data were coded using the framework and descriptive summaries of evaluation components were prepared. Recruitment of stakeholders was easier than sustaining their interest. Community representatives led the intervention assisted by government officials. They planned community-level interventions to improve access to healthcare that involved predominantly information, education, and communication activities for which pre-existing formal and informal social networks and community events were used. Although the intervention reached migrants living with families, single male migrants neither participated nor did the intervention reach them consistently. Contextual factors such as culture differences between migrants and native population and illegality in the nature of the settlement, resulting in the exclusion from services, were the barriers. Inclusive multi-stakeholder partnership, including migrants themselves and using both formal and informal networks in community is a feasible strategy for health education and has potential to improve the migrants' access to healthcare. However, there are challenges to the partnership process and new strategies to overcome these challenges need to be tested such as peer-led models for involvement of single male migrants. For sustaining such efforts and mainstreaming migrants, addressing contextual factors and having formal mechanisms for their inclusion are equally important.

Folksonomical P2P File Sharing Networks Using Vectorized KANSEI Information as Search Tags

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohnishi, Kei; Yoshida, Kaori; Oie, Yuji

We present the concept of folksonomical peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks that allow participants (peers) to freely assign structured search tags to files. These networks are similar to folksonomies in the present Web from the point of view that users assign search tags to information distributed over a network. As a concrete example, we consider an unstructured P2P network using vectorized Kansei (human sensitivity) information as structured search tags for file search. Vectorized Kansei information as search tags indicates what participants feel about their files and is assigned by the participant to each of their files. A search query also has the same form of search tags and indicates what participants want to feel about files that they will eventually obtain. A method that enables file search using vectorized Kansei information is the Kansei query-forwarding method, which probabilistically propagates a search query to peers that are likely to hold more files having search tags that are similar to the query. The similarity between the search query and the search tags is measured in terms of their dot product. The simulation experiments examine if the Kansei query-forwarding method can provide equal search performance for all peers in a network in which only the Kansei information and the tendency with respect to file collection are different among all of the peers. The simulation results show that the Kansei query forwarding method and a random-walk-based query forwarding method, for comparison, work effectively in different situations and are complementary. Furthermore, the Kansei query forwarding method is shown, through simulations, to be superior to or equal to the random-walk based one in terms of search speed.

Characterization of contact offenders and child exploitation material trafficking on five peer-to-peer networks.

PubMed

Bissias, George; Levine, Brian; Liberatore, Marc; Lynn, Brian; Moore, Juston; Wallach, Hanna; Wolak, Janis

2016-02-01

We provide detailed measurement of the illegal trade in child exploitation material (CEM, also known as child pornography) from mid-2011 through 2014 on five popular peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks. We characterize several observations: counts of peers trafficking in CEM; the proportion of arrested traffickers that were identified during the investigation as committing contact sexual offenses against children; trends in the trafficking of sexual images of sadistic acts and infants or toddlers; the relationship between such content and contact offenders; and survival rates of CEM. In the 5 P2P networks we examined, we estimate there were recently about 840,000 unique installations per month of P2P programs sharing CEM worldwide. We estimate that about 3 in 10,000 Internet users worldwide were sharing CEM in a given month; rates vary per country. We found an overall month-to-month decline in trafficking of CEM during our study. By surveying law enforcement we determined that 9.5% of persons arrested for P2P-based CEM trafficking on the studied networks were identified during the investigation as having sexually offended against children offline. Rates per network varied, ranging from 8% of arrests for CEM trafficking on Gnutella to 21% on BitTorrent. Within BitTorrent, where law enforcement applied their own measure of content severity, the rate of contact offenses among peers sharing the most-severe CEM (29%) was higher than those sharing the least-severe CEM (15%). Although the persistence of CEM on the networks varied, it generally survived for long periods of time; e.g., BitTorrent CEM had a survival rate near 100%. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Systematic review of interventions to promote social-emotional development in young children with or at risk for disability.

PubMed

Case-Smith, Jane

2013-01-01

This systematic review synthesized the research on interventions used by occupational therapy practitioners to promote social-emotional development in young children (birth-5 yr) with or at risk for disabilities. After a comprehensive search of the research literature, 23 studies were reviewed and then synthesized into five themes: (1) touch-based interventions to enhance calming and parent-infant bonding, (2) relationship-based interventions to promote positive caregiver-child interactions, (3) joint attention interventions, (4) naturalistic preschool interventions to promote peer-to-peer engagement, and (5) instruction-based interventions to teach children appropriate social behaviors. The interventions for infants primarily involved coaching parents in specific strategies to promote positive interactions; interventions for preschool-age children typically involved encouraging peer support, instructing children, and applying naturalistic behavioral techniques to develop higher-level social competence. The studies demonstrated low to moderate positive effects for interventions used by occupational therapy practitioners to improve social-emotional development across ages, diagnoses, and settings. Copyright © 2013 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

A Randomized Trial of a Classroom Intervention to Increase Peers' Social Inclusion of Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

PubMed Central

Mikami, Amori Yee; Griggs, Marissa Swaim; Lerner, Matthew D.; Emeh, Christina C.; Reuland, Meg M.; Jack, Allison; Anthony, Maria R.

2012-01-01

Objective Interventions for peer problems among children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) typically focus on improving these children's behaviors. This study tested the proposition that an adjunctive component encouraging the peer group to be socially inclusive of children with ADHD would augment the efficacy of traditional interventions. Method Two interventions were compared: Contingency Management Training (COMET), a traditional behavioral management treatment to improve socially competent behavior in children with ADHD, and Making Socially Accepting Inclusive Classrooms (MOSAIC), a novel treatment that supplemented behavioral management for children with ADHD with procedures training peers to be socially inclusive. Children ages 6.8 – 9.8 (24 with ADHD; 113 typically developing [TD]) attended a summer day program grouped into same-age, same-sex classrooms with previously unacquainted peers. Children with ADHD received both COMET and MOSAIC using a repeated measures crossover design. TD children provided sociometric information about the children with ADHD. Results Whereas the level of behavior problems displayed by children with ADHD did not differ across treatment conditions, children with ADHD displayed improved sociometric preference and more reciprocated friendships, and received more positive messages from peers, when they were in MOSAIC relative to in COMET. However, the beneficial effects of MOSAIC over COMET predominantly occurred for boys relative to girls. Conclusions Data support the concept that adjunctive procedures to increase the inclusiveness of the peer group may ameliorate peer problems among children with ADHD, and suggest the potential utility of modifying MOSAIC to be delivered in regular classroom settings. PMID:22866680

Empowering peer group leaders for HIV prevention in Malawi.

PubMed

McCreary, Linda L; Kaponda, Chrissie P N; Davis, Kristina; Kalengamaliro, Mary; Norr, Kathleen F

2013-09-01

Behavioral change interventions using peer group leaders are effective and widely used, but few studies have examined how being a peer group leader affects the leaders. This study describes how participants felt being a peer group leader affected their lives. This descriptive qualitative study interviewed 18 experienced peer group leaders who had conducted a multisession human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention peer group intervention in rural Malawi. We used inductive content analysis and comparisons within and between cases. Three major themes were identified. All leaders said they experienced personal changes in their knowledge, attitudes, or HIV prevention behaviors. They described interacting with family, neighbors, and friends, and speaking at church or community meetings, to discuss HIV prevention issues. They increased their self-efficacy to engage others in sensitive HIV prevention issues, developed a self-identity as a change agent, and came to be recognized in their community as trustworthy advisors about HIV and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. These three themes, taken together, form the meta-theme of psychological empowerment. Being a peer group leader empowered the leaders as change agents for HIV prevention and had impacts in the community after the intervention ended, potentially increasing the long-term effectiveness and cost effectiveness of peer group interventions. Healthcare workers and community volunteers who led HIV prevention sessions continued HIV prevention activities in the community and workplace after the program ended. Training health workers as volunteer HIV prevention leaders offers a strategy to bring HIV prevention to limited-resource settings, despite health worker shortages. © 2013 Sigma Theta Tau International.

The Transmission of Gun and Other Weapon-Involved Violence Within Social Networks

PubMed Central

Tracy, Melissa; Braga, Anthony A.; Papachristos, Andrew V.

2016-01-01

Fatal and nonfatal injuries resulting from gun violence remain a persistent problem in the United States. The available research suggests that gun violence diffuses among people and across places through social relationships. Understanding the relationship between gun violence within social networks and individual gun violence risk is critical in preventing the spread of gun violence within populations. This systematic review examines the existing scientific evidence on the transmission of gun and other weapon-related violence in household, intimate partner, peer, and co-offending networks. Our review identified 16 studies published between 1996 and 2015 that suggest that exposure to a victim or perpetrator of violence in one's interpersonal relationships and social networks increases the risk of individual victimization and perpetration. Formal network analyses find high concentrations of gun violence in small networks and that exposure to gun violence in one's networks is highly correlated with one's own probability of being a gunshot victim. Physical violence by parents and weapon use by intimate partners also increase risk for victimization and perpetration. Additional work is needed to better characterize the mechanisms through which network exposures increase individual risk for violence and to evaluate interventions aimed at disrupting the spread of gun and other weapon violence in high-risk social networks. PMID:26733492

Short message service (SMS) applications for disease prevention in developing countries.

PubMed

Déglise, Carole; Suggs, L Suzanne; Odermatt, Peter

2012-01-12

The last decade has witnessed unprecedented growth in the number of mobile phones in the developing world, thus linking millions of previously unconnected people. The ubiquity of mobile phones, which allow for short message service (SMS), provides new and innovative opportunities for disease prevention efforts. The aim of this review was to describe the characteristics and outcomes of SMS interventions for disease prevention in developing countries and provide recommendations for future work. A systematic search of peer-reviewed and gray literature was performed for papers published in English, French, and German before May 2011 that describe SMS applications for disease prevention in developing countries. A total of 34 SMS applications were described, among which 5 had findings of an evaluation reported. The majority of SMS applications were pilot projects in various levels of sophistication; nearly all came from gray literature sources. Many applications were initiated by the project with modes of intervention varying between one-way or two-way communication, with or without incentives, and with educative games. Evaluated interventions were well accepted by the beneficiaries. The primary barriers identified were language, timing of messages, mobile network fluctuations, lack of financial incentives, data privacy, and mobile phone turnover. This review illustrates that while many SMS applications for disease prevention exist, few have been evaluated. The dearth of peer-reviewed studies and the limited evidence found in this systematic review highlight the need for high-quality efficacy studies examining behavioral, social, and economic outcomes of SMS applications and mobile phone interventions aimed to promote health in developing country contexts.

Short Message Service (SMS) Applications for Disease Prevention in Developing Countries

PubMed Central

Suggs, L. Suzanne; Odermatt, Peter

2012-01-01

Background The last decade has witnessed unprecedented growth in the number of mobile phones in the developing world, thus linking millions of previously unconnected people. The ubiquity of mobile phones, which allow for short message service (SMS), provides new and innovative opportunities for disease prevention efforts. Objective The aim of this review was to describe the characteristics and outcomes of SMS interventions for disease prevention in developing countries and provide recommendations for future work. Methods A systematic search of peer-reviewed and gray literature was performed for papers published in English, French, and German before May 2011 that describe SMS applications for disease prevention in developing countries. Results A total of 34 SMS applications were described, among which 5 had findings of an evaluation reported. The majority of SMS applications were pilot projects in various levels of sophistication; nearly all came from gray literature sources. Many applications were initiated by the project with modes of intervention varying between one-way or two-way communication, with or without incentives, and with educative games. Evaluated interventions were well accepted by the beneficiaries. The primary barriers identified were language, timing of messages, mobile network fluctuations, lack of financial incentives, data privacy, and mobile phone turnover. Conclusion This review illustrates that while many SMS applications for disease prevention exist, few have been evaluated. The dearth of peer-reviewed studies and the limited evidence found in this systematic review highlight the need for high-quality efficacy studies examining behavioral, social, and economic outcomes of SMS applications and mobile phone interventions aimed to promote health in developing country contexts. PMID:22262730

An evaluation of a school-based suicide awareness intervention.

PubMed

Kalafat, J; Elias, M

1994-01-01

This study employed a self-report questionnaire in a Solomon four-groups design to assess the efficacy of suicide intervention classes in achieving their instructional objectives. Because adolescents are often the first to know of a peer's suicidal thoughts or plans, the goal of the classes was to increase the likelihood that students who come into contact with potentially suicidal peers can more readily identify them and will be consistently inclined to take responsible action on their behalf. Students who participated in the classes as compared to controls showed significant gains in relevant knowledge about suicidal peers and significantly more positive attitudes toward help seeking and intervening with troubled peers. Results of this study will be used to strengthen components of the lessons aimed at enhancing the likelihood of performance of responsible interventions.

Child pornography in peer-to-peer networks.

PubMed

Steel, Chad M S

2009-08-01

The presence of child pornography in peer-to-peer networks is not disputed, but there has been little effort done to quantify and analyze the distribution and nature of that content to-date. By performing an analysis of queries and query hits on the largest peer-to-peer network, we are able to both quantify and describe the nature of querying by child pornographers as well as the content they are sharing. Child pornography related content was identified and analyzed in 235,513 user queries and 194,444 query hits. The research confirmed a large amount of peer-to-peer traffic is dedicated to child pornography, but supply and demand must be separated for a better understanding. The most prevalent query and the top two most prevalent filenames returned as query hits were child pornography related. However, it would be inaccurate to state child pornography dominates peer-to-peer as 1% of all queries were related to child pornography and 1.45% of all query hits (unique filenames) were related to child pornography, consistent with a smaller study (Hughes et al., 2008). In addition to the above, research indicates that the median age searched for was 13 years old, and the majority of queries were gender-neutral, but of those with gender-related terms, 79% were female-oriented. Distribution-wise, the vast majority of content-specific searches are for movies at 99%, though images are still the most prevalent in availability. There is no shortage of child pornography supply and demand on peer-to-peer networks and by analyzing how consumers seek and distributors advertise content we can better understand their motivations. Understanding the behavior of child pornographers and how they search for content when contrasted with those sharing content provides a basis for finding and combating that behavior. For law enforcement, knowing the specific terms used allows more timely and accurate forensics and better identification of those seeking and distributing child pornography. For Internet researchers, better filtering and monitoring is possible. For mental health professionals, understanding the preferences and behaviors of those searching supports more effective treatment.

The inadvertent disclosure of personal health information through peer-to-peer file sharing programs

PubMed Central

Neri, Emilio; Jonker, Elizabeth; Sokolova, Marina; Peyton, Liam; Neisa, Angelica; Scassa, Teresa

2010-01-01

Objective There has been a consistent concern about the inadvertent disclosure of personal information through peer-to-peer file sharing applications, such as Limewire and Morpheus. Examples of personal health and financial information being exposed have been published. We wanted to estimate the extent to which personal health information (PHI) is being disclosed in this way, and compare that to the extent of disclosure of personal financial information (PFI). Design After careful review and approval of our protocol by our institutional research ethics board, files were downloaded from peer-to-peer file sharing networks and manually analyzed for the presence of PHI and PFI. The geographic region of the IP addresses was determined, and classified as either USA or Canada. Measurement We estimated the proportion of files that contain personal health and financial information for each region. We also estimated the proportion of search terms that return files with personal health and financial information. We ascertained and discuss the ethical issues related to this study. Results Approximately 0.4% of Canadian IP addresses had PHI, as did 0.5% of US IP addresses. There was more disclosure of financial information, at 1.7% of Canadian IP addresses and 4.7% of US IP addresses. An analysis of search terms used in these file sharing networks showed that a small percentage of the terms would return PHI and PFI files (ie, there are people successfully searching for PFI and PHI on the peer-to-peer file sharing networks). Conclusion There is a real risk of inadvertent disclosure of PHI through peer-to-peer file sharing networks, although the risk is not as large as for PFI. Anyone keeping PHI on their computers should avoid installing file sharing applications on their computers, or if they have to use such tools, actively manage the risks of inadvertent disclosure of their, their family's, their clients', or patients' PHI. PMID:20190057

Directing Traffic: Managing Internet Bandwidth Fairly

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paine, Thomas A.; Griggs, Tyler J.

2008-01-01

Educational institutions today face budgetary restraints and scarce resources, complicating the decision of how to allot bandwidth for campus network users. Additionally, campus concerns over peer-to-peer networking (specifically outbound Internet traffic) have increased because of bandwidth and copyright issues. In this article, the authors…

Lessons learned from training peer-leaders to conduct Body Project workshops.

PubMed

Vanderkruik, Rachel; Strife, Samantha; Dimidjian, Sona

2017-01-01

The Body Project is a cognitive-dissonance intervention that is effective in improving body satisfaction for high school and college aged women. The Body Project can be implemented by trained peers, thus increasing its potential for broad and cost-effective dissemination. Little is known, however, about peer-leaders' perceptions of their training needs and preferences to deliver prevention programs. This qualitative study explored the perceptions of training strengths and areas of improvement among 14 Body Project peer-leaders at a college campus through a series of focus groups. Recommendations are made to inform training for the Body Project as well as peer-led prevention and treatment interventions more broadly.

Design of a patient-centered, multi-institutional healthcare information network using peer-to-peer communication in a highly distributed architecture.

PubMed

Geissbuhler, Antoine; Spahni, Stéphane; Assimacopoulos, André; Raetzo, Marc-André; Gobet, Gérard

2004-01-01

to design a community healthcare information network for all 450,000 citizen in the State of Geneva, Switzerland, connecting public and private healthcare professionals. Requirements include the decentralized storage of information at the source of its production, the creation of a virtual patient record at the time of the consultation, the control by the patient of the access rights to the information, and the interoperability with other similar networks at the national and european level. a participative approach and real-world pilot projects are used to design, test and validate key components of the network, including its technical architecture and the strategy for the management of access rights by the patients. a distributed architecture using peer-to-peer communication of information mediators can implement the various requirements while limiting to an absolute minimum the amount of centralized information. Access control can be managed by the patient with the help of a medical information mediator, the physician of trust.

The Effect of a Peer-Based Personal Stories Intervention on Focus of Anxiety and Social Distance towards People with Mental Illness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiu, Iris; Graham, James A.

2017-01-01

The authors examined the impact of a peer-based personal stories intervention on intergroup anxiety (i.e., self-focused and other-focused anxiety) and social distance. They hypothesized that the college students who attend the personal stories program (intervention group) will have significantly reduced anxiety overall and reduced social distance…

Active defending and passive bystanding behavior in bullying: the role of personal characteristics and perceived peer pressure.

PubMed

Pozzoli, Tiziana; Gini, Gianluca

2010-08-01

This study examined the role of pro-victim attitudes, personal responsibility, coping responses to observations of bullying, and perceived peer normative pressure in explaining defending the victim and passive bystanding behavior in bullying. A total of 462 Italian early adolescents (mean age = 13.4 years, SD = 9 months) participated in the study. The behaviors were measured through two informants: each individual student and the teachers. The findings of a series of hierarchical regressions showed that, regardless of the informant, problem solving coping strategies and perceived peer normative pressure for intervention were positively associated with active help towards a bullied peer and negatively related to passivity. In contrast, distancing strategies were positively associated with passive bystanding, whereas they were negatively associated with teacher-reported defending behavior. Moreover, self-reported defending behavior was positively associated with personal responsibility for intervention, but only under conditions of low perceived peer pressure. Finally, the perception of peer pressure for intervention buffered the negative influence of distancing on passive bystanding tendencies. Future directions are discussed.