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The article offers information on the use of mediation and moderation for the analysis and related statistical modeling. Topics discussed include information on the understanding of the psychological methods; discussions on the strategies for testing mediation and moderation in pediatric psychology research studies; and the information on the methods for testing mediated-moderation and moderated-mediation.

Purpose: Various dimensions of healthcare service quality were used and discussed in literature across the globe. This study presents an updated meaningful review of the extensive research that has been conducted on measuring dimensions of healthcare service quality.Data Sources: Systematic review method in current study is based on PRISMA guidelines. We searched for literature using databases such as Google, Google Scholar, PubMed and Social Science, Citation Index.Study Selection: In this study, we screened 1921 identified papers using search terms/phrases. Snowball strategies were adopted to extract published articles from January 1997 till December 2016.Data Extraction: Two-hundred and fourteen papers were identified as relevant for data extraction; completed by two researchers, double checked by the other two to develop agreement in discrepancies. In total, 74 studies fulfilled our pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria for data analysis.Data Synthesis: Service quality is mainly measured as technical and functional, incorporating many sub-dimensions. We synthesized the information about dimensions of healthcare service quality with reference to developed and developing countries. 'Tangibility' is found to be the most common contributing factor whereas 'SERVQUAL' as the most commonly used model to measure healthcare service quality.Conclusion: There are core dimensions of healthcare service quality that are commonly found in all models used in current reviewed studies. We found a little difference in these core dimensions while focusing dimensions in both developed and developing countries, as mostly SERVQUAL is being used as the basic model to either generate a new one or to add further contextual dimensions. The current study ranked the contributing factors based on their frequency in literature. Based on these priorities, if factors are addressed irrespective of any context, may lead to contribute to improve healthcare quality and may provide an important information for evidence-informed decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent study published in The Lancet predicts a remarkable drop in population numbers following a peak that will be reached by 2064. A unique feature of the upcoming population drop is that it will be almost exclusively caused by decreased reproduction, rather than factors that increase rates of mortality. The reasons for decreased reproduction are also unique, as, unlike previous centuries, limited reproduction today is hardly due to a shortage in resources. In other words, the predicted population drop is almost exclusively due to changes in reproductive behavior and reproductive physiology. Today, global changes in reproductive behavior are mostly explained by social sciences in a framework of demographic transition hypotheses, while changes in reproductive physiology are usually attributed to effects of endocrine-disrupting pollutants. This review outlines a complementary/alternative hypothesis, which connects reproductive trends with population densities. Numerous wildlife and experimental studies of a broad range of animal species have demonstrated that reproductive behavior and reproductive physiology are negatively controlled via endocrine and neural signaling in response to increasing population densities. The causal chain of this control system, although not fully understood, includes suppression of every level of hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal cascade by hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, activated in response to increasing stress of social interactions. This paper discusses evidence in support of a hypothesis that current trends in reproductive physiology and behavior may be partly explained by increasing population densities. Better understanding of the causal chain involved in reproduction suppression by population density–related factors may help in developing interventions to treat infertility and other reproductive conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting in the 2010s, researchers in the experimental social sciences rapidly began to adopt increasingly open and reproducible scientific practices. These practices include publicly sharing deidentified data when possible, sharing analytical code, and preregistering study protocols. Empirical evidence from the social sciences suggests such practices are feasible, can improve analytical reproducibility, and can reduce selective reporting. In academic epidemiology, adoption of open-science practices has been slower than in the social sciences (with some notable exceptions, such as registering clinical trials). Epidemiologic studies are often large, complex, conceived after data have already been collected, and difficult to replicate directly by collecting new data. These characteristics make it especially important to ensure their integrity and analytical reproducibility. Open-science practices can also pay immediate dividends to researchers' own work by clarifying scientific reasoning and encouraging well-documented, organized workflows. We consider how established epidemiologists and early-career researchers alike can help midwife a culture of open science in epidemiology through their research practices, mentorship, and editorial activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues that Vergangenheit und Zukunft der Sozialwissenschaften (The Past and Future of the Social Sciences), a contribution not always well understood in the literature, is important to an understanding of Schumpeter's concept of development as applied to the field of the social sciences. To this end, it addresses three key questions. First, can the book be taken as a starting point to reconstruct a Schumpeterian theory of scientific development? Second, is Vergangenheit und Zukunft merely 'a brief outline of what first became the Epochen [ der Dogmen- und Methodengeschichte ] and finally the History of Economic Analysis ', as Elizabeth Boody Schumpeter wrote in her Editor's Introduction (July 1952) to the latter work (p. XXXII), or should it be read as a complement to Epochen and perhaps the History ? Third, is the eminent Japanese scholar Shionoya right to claim that Schumpeter's work pursued the ambitious goal of developing a 'comprehensive sociology'? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of evidence and expertise in policy-making has been of interest to public health professionals and political scientists alike. The public health community often sees its efforts as part of a linear knowledge transfer process and tends to blame itself for inadequate communication or translation of its arguments to policy-makers' language when its efforts fail. Political science, especially theories of the policy process, offer alternative perspectives to explain the success or failure of experts' preferred policy goals. This paper focuses on the concept of epistemic communities (groups of experts with a common policy goal derived from their shared knowledge) in policy-making, drawing on examples from the field of health technology assessment in Europe. By combining the parsimony and the central focus on experts of the linear knowledge transfer model with the recognition of complexity of political science, the epistemic communities concept provides a useful structure for the public health community to analyze its efforts to influence policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The randomized controlled trial is commonly used by both epidemiologists and economists to test the effectiveness of public health interventions. Yet we have noticed differences in practice between the two disciplines. In this article, we propose that there are some underlying differences between the disciplines in the way trials are used, how they are conducted and how results from trials are reported and disseminated. We hypothesize that evidence-based public health could be strengthened by understanding these differences, harvesting best-practice across the disciplines and breaking down communication barriers between economists and epidemiologists who conduct trials of public health interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is considerable discussion on so-called 'mainstream pluralism', that is, on the co-presence of a variety of research programmes in today's mainstream economics that: 1. significantly deviate from the neoclassical core; 2. are pursued by different, often separate communities of researchers; and 3. have their origins outside economics. The literature tends to regard mainstream pluralism as a transitory state towards a new, post-neoclassical, mainstream. This paper advances a new interpretation: it suggests that the changing and fragmented state of mainstream economics is likely to persist over time under the impact of specialization (as a self-reinforcing mechanism) and the creation of new specialties and approaches, also through collaboration with researchers from other disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than half a century after the first experiment on the finitely repeated prisoner's dilemma, evidence on whether cooperation decreases with experience—as suggested by backward induction—remains inconclusive. This article provides a meta-analysis of prior experimental research and reports the results of a new experiment to elucidate how cooperation varies with the environment in this canonical game. We describe forces that affect initial play (formation of cooperation) and unraveling (breakdown of cooperation). First, contrary to the backward induction prediction, the parameters of the repeated game have a significant effect on initial cooperation. We identify how these parameters impact the value of cooperation—as captured by the size of the basin of attraction of always defect—to account for an important part of this effect. Second, despite these initial differences, the evolution of behavior is consistent with the unraveling logic of backward induction for all parameter combinations. Importantly, despite the seemingly contradictory results across studies, this article establishes a systematic pattern of behavior: subjects converge to use threshold strategies that conditionally cooperate until a threshold round; conditional on establishing cooperation, the first defection round moves earlier with experience. Simulation results generated from a learning model estimated at the subject level provide insights into the long-term dynamics and the forces that slow down the unraveling of cooperation. JEL Codes: C72, C73, C92. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: There is a global tendency for parents to conceive children later in life. The maternal dimension of the postponement transition has been thoroughly studied, but interest in the paternal side is more recent. For the moment, most literature reviews on the topic have focused on the consequences of advanced paternal age (APA) on fertility, pregnancy and the health of the child.Objective and Rationale: The present review seeks to move the focus away from the biological and medical dimensions of APA and synthesise the knowledge of the other face of APA.Search Methods: We used the scoping review methodology. Searches of interdisciplinary articles databases were performed with keywords pertaining to APA and its dimensions outside of biology and medicine. We included scientific articles, original research, essays, commentaries and editorials in the sample. The final sample of 177 documents was analysed with qualitative thematic analysis.Outcomes: We identified six themes highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of APA research. The 'terminological aspects' highlight the lack of consensus on the definition of APA and the strategies developed to offer alternatives. The 'social aspects' focus on the postponement transition towards reproducing later in life and its cultural dimensions. The 'public health aspects' refer to attempts to analyse APA as a problem with wider health and economic implications. The 'psychological aspects' focus on the consequences of APA and older fatherhood on psychological characteristics of the child. The 'ethical aspects' reflect on issues of APA emerging at the intersection of parental autonomy, children's welfare and social responsibility. The 'regulatory aspects' group different suggestions to collectively approach the implications of APA. Our results show that the field of APA is still in the making and that evidence is lacking to fully address the issues of APA. The review suggests promising avenues of research such as introducing the voice of fathers of advanced age into the research agenda.Wider Implications: The results of this review will be useful for developing policies and preconception health interventions that consider and include prospective fathers of advanced age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Although women in the field of biomedical informatics (BMI) are part of a golden era, little is known about their lived experiences as informaticians. Guided by feminist standpoint theory, this study aims to understand the impact of social change in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia- in the form of new policies supporting women and health technological advancements-in the field of BMI and its women informaticians.Materials and Methods: We conducted semistructured telephone interviews with 7 women managers in the field of BMI, identified through LinkedIn. We analyzed interview transcripts to generate themes about their lived experiences, how they perceived health information technology tools, identified challenges that may hinder the advancement of the field, and explored the future of BMI from their perspectives. During our analysis, we utilized a feminist theoretical approach.Results: Women managers in the field of BMI shared similar experiences and perspectives. Our analysis generated 10 themes: (1) career beginning, (2) opportunities given, (3) career achievements, (4) gender-based experiences, (5) meaning of BMI, (6) meaning of health information technology tools, (7) challenges, (8) overcoming challenges, (9) future and hopes, and (10) meaning of "2030 Saudi vision." Early in their careers, participants experienced limited opportunities and misperceptions in understanding what the field of informatics represents. Participants did not feel that gender was an issue, despite what feminist theory would have predicted.Conclusions: Recognizing the lived experiences of women in the field of BMI contributes to our collective understanding of how these experiences may enhance our knowledge of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Document analysis is one of the most commonly used and powerful methods in health policy research. While existing qualitative research manuals offer direction for conducting document analysis, there has been little specific discussion about how to use this method to understand and analyse health policy. Drawing on guidance from other disciplines and our own research experience, we present a systematic approach for document analysis in health policy research called the READ approach: (1) ready your materials, (2) extract data, (3) analyse data and (4) distil your findings. We provide practical advice on each step, with consideration of epistemological and theoretical issues such as the socially constructed nature of documents and their role in modern bureaucracies. We provide examples of document analysis from two case studies from our work in Pakistan and Niger in which documents provided critical insight and advanced empirical and theoretical understanding of a health policy issue. Coding tools for each case study are included as Supplementary Files to inspire and guide future research. These case studies illustrate the value of rigorous document analysis to understand policy content and processes and discourse around policy, in ways that are either not possible using other methods, or greatly enrich other methods such as in-depth interviews and observation. Given the central nature of documents to health policy research and importance of reading them critically, the READ approach provides practical guidance on gaining the most out of documents and ensuring rigour in document analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Longitudinal research cohorts are uniquely suited to answer research questions about morbidity and mortality. Cohorts may be comprised of individuals identified by specific conditions or other shared traits. We argue that research cohorts are more than simply aggregations of individuals and their associated data to meet research objectives. They are social communities comprised of members, investigators and organizations whose own interests, identities and cultures interact and evolve over time. The literature describes a range of scientific and ethical challenges and opportunities associated with cohorts. To advance these deliberations, we report examples from the literature and our own research on the Thai SEARCH010/RV254 cohort, comprising individuals diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during acute infection. We reflect on the impact of cohort experiences and identity, and specifically how people incorporate cohort participation into meaning making associated with their diagnosis, the influence of cohort participation on decision making for early-phase clinical trials recruited from within the cohort, and the impact of the relationships that exist between researchers and participants. These data support the concept of cohorts as communities of persons, where identity is shaped, in part, through cohort experiences. The social meanings associated with cohorts have implications for the ethics of cohort-based research, as social contexts inevitably affect the ways that ethical concerns manifest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the mechanisms that economists design are typically static, one-shot games, in the real world, mechanisms are used repeatedly by generations of agents who engage in them for a short period of time and then pass on advice to their successors. Hence, behaviour evolves via social learning and may diverge dramatically from that envisioned by the designer. We demonstrate that this is true of school matching mechanisms—even those for which truth-telling is a dominant strategy. Our results indicate that experience with an incentive-compatible mechanism may not foster truthful revelation if that experience is achieved via social learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the adoption of holistic approaches in frailty research, particularly in examining the health and illness of older people. Other topics include the possible adoption of social sciences and humanities toolkits in identifying the social and biological factors in frailty and in designing effective interventions, as well as the emerging concept of intrinsic capacity in geriatric medicine.

The article discusses the development of new methods for diagnosis, therapy, and prevention of diseases in pediatric psychology. It highlights the basic behavioral and social science studies of the intervention components. It also cites the components of prospective memory in pediatric psychology including self-monitoring, visualizing and cue salience.

Epidemiology is the study of epidemics. It is a biological science that includes expertise in many disciplines in social and behavioral sciences. Epidemiology is also a key component of preventive medicine and public health. Unfortunately, over recent years, academic epidemiology has lost its relationship with preventive medicine, as well as much of its focus on epidemics. The new "-omics" technologies to measure risk factors and phenotypes, and advances in genomics (e.g. host susceptibility) consistent with good epidemiology methods will likely enhance epidemiology research. There is a need based on these new technologies to modify training, especially for the first-level doctorate epidemiologist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Epigenetics is a burgeoning field of contemporary biosciences, which has attracted a lot of interest both in biomedical and in social sciences. Sources of data Unsystematic literature analysis and retrospective mapping of highly cited work (source: Web of Science core collection) in the social sciences and humanities engaging with epigenetics. Areas of agreement Epigenetics poses no new ethical issue over and above those discussed in relation to genetics. Areas of controversy However, it encourages a different framing and reflexivity on some of the commonly held categories in the moral uptake of scientific discoveries. Growing points Epigenetics presents us with normative questions that touch upon privacy, responsibility for individual health and for the well-being of future generations, as well as matters of health justice and equality of opportunities. Areas timely for developing research Epigenetic thinking could help us adjust and refine the problem frames and categories that inform our ethical and political questions with a complex biosocial description of situations, of persons or actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of recent outbreaks of diseases such as measles in Europe, policymakers and public health practitioners are seeking strategies to address anti-vaccination attitudes and to increase immunization rates. Identifying effective strategies that will not further alienate vaccination sceptics raises challenges that go to the heart of relations between the state and society. Drawing on accounts of state–society relations, this article discusses how the problem of vaccination hesitancy might be explained from a political science perspective. Discourse-analytical approaches emphasize the importance of storylines, politics and social context in explaining a range of phenomena. Given the number and strength of prevailing discourses in groups with anti-vaccination sentiments, the literature on discourse coalitions can offer perspectives on the challenges that arise in designing strategies to address vaccine hesitancy. Paying closer attention to individual reasons why parents are vaccine hesitant might allow for designing strategies that are more suited to address concerns. However, given the pervasiveness of the discourses of anti-vaccination movements, challenges in reaching citizens who are sceptical of vaccines will remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the influence of Robbins’s thought on the subsequent development of economics imperialism. First, the analysis of some passages that have been overlooked up to the present, in which the author explicitly expresses his disbelief in the omnipotence of the economic method, makes it possible to argue that Robbins did not share the confidence exhibited by the advocates of economics imperialism in the capacity of economics to explain non-economic phenomena. Second, this article shows that Robbins describes the influence of real scarcity on human behaviour in terms of a (static) constrained maximization problem, thereby confusing issues of method and scope in his writings. This confusion facilitated the view that economics is a method without a proper subject matter and its later expansion into other fields. In conclusion, although Robbins cannot be counted as an earlier promoter of economics imperialism, the misunderstandings implicit in his writings paved the way for the emergence of this intellectual movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power is a critical concept to understand and transform health policy and systems. Power manifests implicitly or explicitly at multiple levels-local, national and global-and is present at each actor interface, therefore shaping all actions, processes and outcomes. Analysing and engaging with power has important potential for improving our understanding of the underlying causes of inequity, and our ability to promote transparency, accountability and fairness. However, the study and analysis of the role of power in health policy and systems, particularly in the context of low- and middle-income countries, has been lacking. In order to facilitate greater engagement with the concept of power among researchers and practitioners in the health systems and policy realm, we share a broad overview of the concept of power, and list 10 excellent resources on power in health policy and systems in low- and middle-income countries, covering exemplary frameworks, commentaries and empirical work. We undertook a two-stage process to identify these resources. First, we conducted a collaborative exercise involving crowdsourcing and participatory validation, resulting in 24 proposed articles. Second, we conducted a structured literature review in four phases, resulting in 38 articles reviewed. We present the 10 selected resources in the following categories to bring out key facets of the literature on power and health policy and systems-(1) Resources that provide an overarching conceptual exploration into how power shapes health policy and systems, and how to investigate it; and (2) examples of strong empirical work on power and health policy and systems research representing various levels of analyses, geographic regions and conceptual understandings of power. We conclude with a brief discussion of key gaps in the literature, and suggestions for additional methodological approaches to study power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Guidance on how different disciplines from the natural, behavioural and social sciences can collaborate to resolve complex public health problems is lacking. This article presents a checklist to support researchers and principle investigators to develop and implement interdisciplinary collaborations. Methods Fourteen individuals, representing 10 disciplines, participated in in-depth interviews to explore the strengths and challenges of working together on an interdisciplinary project to identify the determinants of substance use and gambling disorders, and to make recommendations for future interdisciplinary teams. Data were analysed thematically and a checklist was derived from insights offered by participants during interview and discussion among the authors on the implications of findings. Results Participants identified 18 scientific, interactional and structural strengths and challenges of interdisciplinary research. These findings were used to develop an 18-item BASICS checklist to support future interdisciplinary collaborations. The five domains of the checklist are: (i) Blueprint, (ii) Attitudes, (iii) Staffing, (iv) Interactions and (v) Core Science. Conclusion Interdisciplinary work has the potential to advance public health science but the numerous challenges should not be underestimated. Use of a checklist, such as BASICS, when planning and managing projects may help future collaborations to avoid some of the common pitfalls of interdisciplinary research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Research across the formal, natural and social sciences has greatly expanded our knowledge about complex systems in recent decades, informing a broadly inclusive, cross-disciplinary conceptual framework referred to as Systems Thinking (ST). Its use in public health is rapidly increasing, although there remains a poor understanding of how these ideas have been imported, adapted and elaborated by public health research networks worldwide.Method: This review employed a mixed methods approach to narrate the development of ST in public health. Tabulated results from a literature search of the Web of Science Core Collection database were used to perform a bibliometric analysis and literature review. Annual publication counts and citation scores were used to analyse trends and identify popular and potential 'landmark' publications. Citation network and co-authorship network diagrams were analysed to identify groups of articles and researchers in various network roles.Results: Our search string related to 763 publications. Filtering excluded 208 publications while citation tracing identified 2 texts. The final 557 publications were analysed, revealing a near-exponential growth in literature over recent years. Half of all articles were published after 2010 with almost a fifth (17.8%) published in 2014. Bibliographic analysis identified five distinct citation and co-authorship groups homophilous by common geography, research focus, inspiration or institutional affiliation.As a loosely related set of sciences, many public health researchers have developed different aspects of ST based on their underlying perspective. Early studies were inspired by Management-related literature, while later groups adopted a broadly inclusive understanding which incorporated related Systems sciences and approaches.Conclusion: ST is an increasingly popular subject of discussion within public health although its understanding and approaches remain unclear. Briefly tracing the introduction and development of these ideas and author groups in public health literature may provide clarity and opportunities for further learning, research and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work analyzes and models the nature and dynamics of organizational memory, as such an essential ingredient of organizational capabilities that determine strategic choices in different competitive environments. There are two sides to it, namely a cognitive side, involving the beliefs and interpretative frameworks by which the organization categorizes the states of the world and its own internal states, and an operational one, including routines and procedures that store the knowledge of how to do things. We formalize both types of memory by means of evolving systems of condition-action rules and investigate their performance in different environments characterized by varying degrees of complexity and non-stationarity. Broadly speaking, in simple and stable environments memory does not matter, provided it satisfies some minimal requirements. In more complex and gradually changing ones, having more memory provides an advantage. However, there is some critical level of environmental instability above which forgetfulness is evolutionary superior from the point of view of long-term performance. Moreover, above some (modest) complexity threshold, stable and robust cognitive categorizations and routinized behaviour emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informational cascades can occur when rationally acting individuals decide independently of their private information and follow the decisions of preceding decision-makers. In the process of updating beliefs, differences in the weighting of private and publicly available social information may modulate the probability that a cascade starts in a decisive way. By using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined neural activity while participants updated their beliefs based on the decisions of two fictitious stock market traders and their own private information, which led to a final decision of buying one of two stocks. Computational modeling of the behavioral data showed that a majority of participants overweighted private information. Overweighting was negatively correlated with the probability of starting an informational cascade in trials especially prone to conformity. Belief updating by private information was related to activity in the inferior frontal gyrus/anterior insula, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the parietal cortex; the more a participant overweighted private information, the higher the activity in the inferior frontal gyrus/anterior insula and the lower in the parietal-temporal cortex. This study explores the neural correlates of overweighting of private information, which underlies the tendency to start an informational cascade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the ongoing transformation of international organizations law. It first provides an overview (an anatomy) of the paradigmatic theory concerning the law of international organizations: the theory of functionalism. Subsequently, it investigates how functionalism came about and how, from the 1960s onwards, its flaws increasingly became visible. The argument, in a nutshell, is that functionalism, as a theory concerned with relations between international organizations and their member states, has little or nothing to say about the effects of international organizations on third parties -- non-member states, individuals and others. Moreover, it is often applied to entities that can hardly be deemed 'functional' in accordance with the theory. All of this is increasingly viewed as problematic and forces functionalism to adapt. Whether it can do so is questionable, though, since some of its problems are structural rather than contingent. Things are illustrated by the invocation of the United Nations's possible responsibility for causing (or failing to prevent) the outbreak of cholera in Haiti. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]