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Adolescents in secure residential care mostly suffer from serious behavioural problems, often accompanied by trauma and adverse family circumstances. This paper presents findings of a comparison of behavioural problems and risk factors of 255 boys and girls (aged 12 to 18 years) in secure residential care in the Netherlands and their association with behavioural problems. A cross‐sectional design and standardized questionnaires were used to measure behavioural problems and individual and familial risk factors. By using independent‐sample t tests, the severity of these factors in boys and girls was compared, and by using structural equation modelling (SEM), associations between these factors and behavioural problems were investigated. The findings of the study show that post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, maladaptive emotion regulation, impaired perceived competence and internalizing behavioural problems were more severe in girls than in boys. Boys experienced more severe externalizing behavioural problems and more family problems than girls. Maladaptive emotion regulation, PTSD symptoms, perceived competence and parenting problems were related to behavioural problems. The results indicate that treatment for girls should address PTSD symptoms, perceived competence and maladaptive emotion regulation and that extra attention for family problems in the treatment of boys is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some children enter elementary school with large vocabulary delays, which negatively influence their later school performance. A rich home language environment can support vocabulary development through frequent high-quality parent-toddler interaction. Elaborated picture home activities can support this rich home language environment. This study compares the effects of a multimedia versus a paper elaborated picture on the parent-toddler interaction and toddlers' vocabulary development. In a within-subjects design, 20 toddlers (age 3-4) discussed a multimedia and a paper elaborated picture with a parent. Results showed that toddlers knew significantly more words (receptively and expressively) after both activities. Moreover, the improvement in receptive vocabulary knowledge was significantly larger with the multimedia elaborated picture compared with the paper-based picture. In addition, both parent and toddler engaged in a significant higher level of decontextualized language in response to multimedia. The present study shows that multimedia elaborated pictures can support parents at home to engage in a parent-toddler interaction that is richer and supports the development of receptive vocabulary more compared with traditional paper-based activities. In the future, multimedia-based home activities for toddlers' vocabulary development, supporting parent-child interaction, can be offered relatively cheap and easily via internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background and Purpose: Physiotherapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) are key professions providing treatment for the arm after stroke; however, knowledge about the content of these treatments is scant. Detailed data are needed to replicate interventions, evaluate their effective components, and evaluate PT and OT practice. This paper describes PT and OT treatment for the severely affected arm in terms of duration, content according to components and categories of the International Classification of Human Functioning, Disability and Health, and to analyze differences between professions. Methods: Design: This is a retrospective analysis of randomized trial data. Participants: 46 patients after stroke with poor arm motor control recruited from inpatient neurological units from three rehabilitation centers in the Netherlands. Procedure: PTs and OTs recorded duration and content of arm treatment interventions for 8 weeks using a bespoke treatment schedule with 15 International Classification of Human Functioning, Disability and Health categories. Results: PTs and OTs spent on average 4–7 min per treatment session (30 min) on arm treatment. OTs spent significantly more time providing arm treatment and treatment at the activities level than PTs. PTs spent 79% of their arm treatment time on body functions, OTs 41%. OTs spent significantly more time on “moving around using transportation,” “self care,” and “household tasks” categories. Conclusions: Patients after stroke with a severely affected arm and an unfavorable prognosis for arm motor recovery receive little arm‐oriented PT and OT. Therapists spent most arm treatment time on body functions. There was a considerable overlap in the content of PT and OT in 12 of the 15 categories. Results can be generalized only to patients with poor arm motor control and may not represent practice in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, almost everyone uses the World Wide Web (WWW) to search for information of any kind. In education, students frequently use the WWW for selecting information to accomplish assignments such as writing an essay or preparing a presentation. The evaluation of sources and information is an important sub-skill in this process. But many students have not yet optimally developed this skill. On the basis of verbal reports, eye-tracking data and navigation logs, this study investigated how novices in the domain of psychology evaluate Internet sources as compared to domain experts. In addition, two different verbal reporting techniques, namely thinking aloud and cued retrospective reporting, were compared in order to examine students' evaluation behaviour. Results revealed that domain expertise has an impact on individuals' evaluation behaviour during Web search, such that domain experts showed a more sophisticated use of evaluation criteria to judge the reliability of sources and information and selected more reliable information than domain novices. Furthermore, the different verbal reporting techniques did not lead to different conclusions on criteria use in relation to domain expertise, although in general more utterances concerning evaluation of sources and information were expressed during cued retrospective reporting. Lay Description What is already known about this topic: When searching the Web, students assess the reliability of information and sources in a spontaneous manner., Students tend to use superficial criteria when judging the trustworthiness of web-based information and sources., Little is known about the differences between domain experts and novices in terms of the ways they spontaneously evaluate web-based information and sources., What this paper adds: Domain knowledge influences evaluation behaviour, with greater domain knowledge leading to more reliable selection of sources., A comparison of techniques for measuring evaluation behaviour when searching the Web for information reveals that different techniques, such as thinking aloud and cued retrospective reporting, have different pros and cons whose implications depend on the research questions being addressed., Implications for practice and/or policy: In formal education, more attention should be paid to equipping students with the requisite skills in searching for and evaluating web-based information. Embedded process-oriented instructional designs are needed that foster the appropriate evaluation behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context The handover represents a high-risk event in which errors are common and lead to patient harm. A better understanding of the cognitive mechanisms of handover errors is essential to improving handover education and practice. Objectives This paper reports on an experiment conducted to study the effects of learner knowledge, case complexity (i.e. cases with or without a clear diagnosis) and their interaction on handover accuracy and cognitive load. Methods Participants were 52 Dutch medical students in Years 2 and 6. The experiment employed a repeated-measures design with two explanatory variables: case complexity (simple or complex) as the within-subject variable, and learner knowledge (as indicated by illness script maturity) as the between-subject covariate. The dependent variables were handover accuracy and cognitive load. Each participant performed a total of four simulated handovers involving two simple cases and two complex cases. Results Higher illness script maturity predicted increased handover accuracy (p < 0.001) and lower cognitive load (p = 0.007). Case complexity did not independently affect either outcome. For handover accuracy, there was no interaction between case complexity and illness script maturity. For cognitive load, there was an interaction effect between illness script maturity and case complexity, indicating that more mature illness scripts reduced cognitive load less in complex cases than in simple cases. Conclusions Students with more mature illness scripts performed more accurate handovers and experienced lower cognitive load. For cognitive load, these effects were more pronounced in simple than complex cases. If replicated, these findings suggest that handover curricula and protocols should provide support that varies according to the knowledge of the trainee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gasunie buys and sells gas. This paper is about calculating the failure rate of the gas transport system of Gasunie in the Netherlands. The pipes in the network are connected at certain stations which may operate at degraded levels due to technical problems. The transport system, modelled as an optimization problem, needs to be checked for feasibility for every configuration of the degradation levels at all stations in order to see whether the system fails or not. The discrete probability distributions of the degradation levels at every station in the network are given. The number of possible combinations of degradation levels is huge and the computations for the feasibility of the gas network are computer-intensive. This paper presents a new algorithm for approximating this rate and it is parsimonious in actually checking for feasibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was threefold, namely (1) to differentiate between multiproblem families and control families on characteristics and processes within the family based on a theoretical framework, (2) to identify multiproblem families by establishing cut-off scores on various questionnaires, and (3) to categorize multiproblem families into subtypes by cluster analyses. Various questionnaires were administered to multiproblem families (n = 85) and control families (n = 150). Results showed that what we propose to refer to as multiproblem families present a broad range of problems on seven domains: (1) child factors, (2) parental factors, (3) childrearing problems (inadequate or inconsistent parenting), (4) family functioning problems, (5) contextual problems, (6) social network problems, and (7) mental health care problems. Further, reliable cut-off scores were established for various questionnaires. Finally, three types of families were found: (1) community-problem families, (2) multiproblem families, and (3) child-focused mild-problem families. This paper looks to advance an evidence-based definition and assessment of 'multiproblem families' suggesting the possible value of defining and assessing multiproblem families in relation to these seven dimensions. Moreover, the classification of multiproblem families stresses the importance of providing tailored treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper investigates how people identify with groups depending on the clarity of a group's identity content. According to self-categorization theory, self-stereotyping (i.e., projection of group prototypes onto self) should be the cognitive process underlying social identification. We argue, however, that this is only plausible in clearly defined groups. If a group is unclear in terms of its identity content, we argue that self-anchoring (i.e., projection of personal self onto group) accounts for social identification. In line with these hypotheses, two studies (with minimal and real groups) reveal that self-anchoring positively predicts the level of social identification and entitativity in unclearly, but not clearly defined groups. Conversely, self-stereotyping positively predicts the level of social identification in clearly, but not unclearly defined groups. Together, these findings are the first to demonstrate the differential impact of cognitive projection processes on social identification depending on group clarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper considers therapeutic approaches to residential care with specific attention to the question of family involvement. It builds on a body of literature indicating the potential of residential care as a positive intervention for young people, and examines the contention that - even when family problems contribute to a young person's accommodation in residential care - family involvement could improve long-term outcomes. The literature reviewed indicates that family involvement is indeed important. Mixed research findings reflect the diversity of approaches to family-centred practice, but there is evidence of benefits in relation to a range of child outcomes. However, the literature also shows that family-centred residential care is not easy to achieve. More than parent-child contact, it entails genuine involvement of parents, in decision-making and in children's daily lives. Professionals - including social workers and residential care workers - must not only be concerned with the care and development of the child, but also with the role of the parent in their child's development, understood within an ecological perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliably predicting vegetation distribution requires habitat distribution models (HDMs) that are ecologically sound. Current correlative HDMs are increasingly criticized because they lack sufficient functional basis. To include functional information into these models, we integrated two concepts from community ecology into a new type of HDM. We incorporated: 1) species selection by their traits in which only those species that pass the environmental filter can be part of the community (assembly theory); 2) that the occurrence probability of a community is determined by the extent to which the community mean traits fit the required traits as set by the environment. In this paper, our trait-based HDM is presented and its predictive capacity explored. Our approach consists of two steps. In step 1, four plant traits (stem-specific density and indicator values for nutrients, moisture and acidity) are predicted from four dominant environmental drivers (disturbance, nutrient supply, moisture supply and acidity) using regression. In step 2, these traits are used to predict the occurrence probability of 13 vegetation types, covering the majority of vegetation types across the Netherlands. The model was validated by comparison to the observed vegetation type for 263 plots in the Netherlands. Model performance was within the range of conventional HDMs and decreased with increasing uncertainty in the environment-trait relationships and with an increasing number of vegetation types. This study shows that including functionality into HDMs is not necessarily at the cost of model performance, while it has several conceptual advantages among including an increased insight in the functional characteristics of the vegetation and sources of unpredictability in community assembly. As such it is a promising first step towards more functional HDMs. Further development of a trait-based HDM hinges on replacing indicator values by truly functional traits and the translation of these relationships into mechanistic relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scand J Caring Sci; 2012; 26; 133-143 The professional nursing practice environment and nurse-reported job outcomes in two European countries: a survey of nurses in Finland and the Netherlands The working environment of nurses is receiving international interest, because there is a growing consensus that identifying opportunities for improving working conditions in hospitals is essential to maintain adequate staffing, high-quality care, nurses' job satisfaction and hence their retention. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between nurse work environment characteristics and nurse-reported job outcomes in hospital settings in Finland and the Netherlands and to compare these results. A comparative cross-sectional nurse survey was conducted. Data were collected from the two countries randomly sampling the countries' National Nurses Association' membership databases. In this paper, the results from Registered Nurses working in hospital settings are used. In total, 869 hospital nurses participated: 535 from Finland and 334 from the Netherlands with the response rate of 44.9 and 33.4%, respectively. Fifty-five items from the Nursing Work Index-Revised were used as a main tool for the practice environment. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify a set of internally consistent subscales. Further, logistic regression analysis and T-tests were used. Three practice environment characteristics were identified: adequacy of resources, supportiveness of management and assurance of care quality via collaborative relationships. Favourable evaluations of the adequacy of resources and supportiveness of management were positively correlated with nurse-assessed quality of care and job-related positive feelings and negatively correlated with intentions to leave a unit, organization or the entire profession. In neither of the participating countries were adverse incidents affecting nurses related to nurses' evaluations of their current professional practice environment. Compared with Finland, in the Netherlands, RN appears to evaluate the majority of work environment characteristics more positively; nevertheless, to some extent, the results were uniform as adequacy of resources and supportiveness of management were main predictors for nurse-reported job outcomes considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]