Contribution of personalization to mail questionnaire response as an element of a previously tested method.

Reported 2 experiments on the effects of varying degrees of personalization on response rates to mail questionnaires. In Exp I, half of an alumni sample (N = 891) received 3 personalized cover letters with a university questionnaire, while the other half received 3 unpersonalized letters. The return rate was higher in the personalized condition, although the later introduction of a highly personalized method in both personal and not personal conditions did not increase response. In Exp II, nearly a methodological replication, half of a sample of the general public (N = 696) received a different questionnaire without prior contact, while the other half received the questionnaire after contact by telephone. The call did not increase response rates but did stimulate earlier return of questionnaires. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

University clinics as field placements in school psychology training: A national survey.

Of 208 school psychology programs in the US, 193 responded to an initial letter requesting program directors to return a postcard questionnaire indicating if the program used a university-based clinic as a field placement for school psychology students. Of the 92 programs reporting use of such a clinic, 71 completed a lengthy follow-up questionnaire. 60 of these questionnaires were completed in a telephone interview, and 11 were completed by mail. The questionnaire addressed administrative/organizational (e.g., administration) and training (e.g., supervisory practices) issues. Results are reported in terms of the percentage of programs reporting different practices. Specific clinic-based field experiences and common issues in this model of field experience are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical activity and sedentary behavior: A population-based study of barriers, enjoyment, and preference.

The associations of physical activity and sedentary behavior with barriers, enjoyment, and preferences were examined in a population-based mail survey of 1,332 adults. Respondents reporting high enjoyment and preference for physical activity were more likely to report high levels of activity. Those reporting cost, the weather, and personal barriers to physical activity were less likely to be physically active. Preference for sedentary behavior was associated with the decreased likelihood of being physically active, and the weather as a barrier to physical activity was associated with the increased likelihood of sedentary behavior. These constructs can be used to examine individual and environmental influences on physical activity and sedentary behavior in specific populations and could inform the development of targeted interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of personal signature on the initial rate of return of a mailed questionnaire.

Tested the assumption that a personal signature on the cover letter is a sine qua non for yielding higher rates of return of mailed questionnaires. 3,091 university faculty members were sent questionnaires concerning their uses of and attitudes toward audiovisual instructional materials. 1,546 were sent a cover letter bearing the researcher's personal signature, and 1,545 were sent a cover letter indentical to the 1st group's except that the researcher's signature was a mimeographed facsimile. No difference was found between the initial return rates for the 2 groups even when the rank of the faculty member was identified. It is concluded that, for the sample studied, a personal signature was no greater an inducement to respond than a mimeographed facsimile. (37 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

News & notes.

This News & Notes section of the History of Psychology Journal includes a notice of death, a letter from the Division President, a report from the representative to the Council of the American Psychological Association for February 2001, information on a conference held in honor of Robert V. Guthrie, information about the centenary of the British Psychological Society, an announcement for a silent auction for rare books, and finally personal news. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Location coding with letters versus unfamiliar, familiar, and labeled letter-like forms.

Errors in reporting a post cued target in a string of several letters more often involve a letter appearing elsewhere in the string (mislocation error) than one not appearing in the string (intrusion error). However, this difference is not found with strings of relatively unfamiliar symbols or forms. Two experiments, with a total of 70 Ss, explored the reason for this difference. Exp 1 showed that the difference was not an artifact of different overall accuracy levels or exposure durations for the 2 character types. In Exp 2, relative to no experience, initial experience with the forms through familiarization or learning labels for them produced mislocation and intrusion frequencies that were more similar to those for letters. This change was related to the development of stored representations for forms that are similar to those for letters. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Successful treatment of transient acantholytic dermatosis with systemic steroids

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of different types of computer-generated, mailed reminders on the rate of influenza immunization and to analyze the relative cost-effectiveness of the reminders. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Multispecialty group practice. PATIENTS: We studied 24,743 high-risk adult patients aligned with a primary care physician. INTERVENTION: Patients were randomized to one of four interventions: (1) no reminder, which served as control; (2) a generic postcard; (3) a personalized postcard from their physician; and (4) a personalized letter from their physician, tailored to their health risk. MEASUREMENTS: The immunization rate was measured using billing data. A telephone survey was conducted in a subgroup of patients to measure reactions to the mailed reminders. To evaluate the cost-effectiveness, a model was constructed that integrated the observed effect of the interventions with published data on the effect of immunization on future inpatient health care costs. MAIN RESULTS: All three of the reminders studied increased the influenza vaccination rate when compared with the control group. The vaccination rate was 40.6% in the control group, 43.5% in the generic postcard group, 44.7% in the personalized postcard group, and 45.2% in the tailored letter group. The rates of immunization increased as the intensity of the intervention increased (p < .0001). Seventy-eight percent of patients in the letter group deemed the intervention useful, and 86% reported that they would like to get reminders in the future. The cost-effectiveness analysis estimated that in a nonepidemic year, the net savings per 100 reminders sent would be $659 for the personalized postcard intervention and $735 for the tailored letter intervention. When these net cost-savings rates were each applied to the entire high-risk cohort of 24,743 patients, the estimated total net savings was $162,940 for the postcard and $181,858 for the tailored letter. CONCLUSIONS: Although the absolute increase in immunization rates with the use of reminders appeared small, the increases translated into substantial cost savings when applied to a large high-risk population. Personalized reminders were somewhat more effective in increasing immunization, and personalized letters tailored to the patients' condition were deemed useful and important by the individuals who received them and had a beneficial indirect effect on patient satisfaction.     

Individuals' attitudes toward organizational drug testing policies and practices.

Using 2?×?2 experimental design and data from 73 blue-collar employees of a manufacturing firm, we assessed the effects of two hypothetical drug testing policies: (a) advance notice of drug testing (not provided vs provided) and (b) the consequences of detected drug use (termination vs rehabilitation) on attitudes toward drug testing. A multiple regression analysis for which R?=?.419, F (2, 70)?=?7.456, p?=?.001, showed that attitudes toward drug testing were influenced by both advance notice of drug testing (β?=?.227, p?p?     

The Integration of Object Levels and Their Content: A Theory of Global/Local Processing and Related Hemispheric Differences.

This article presents and tests the authors' integration hypothesis of global/local processing, which proposes that at early stages of processing, the identities of global and local units of a hierarchical stimulus are represented separately from information about their respective levels and that, therefore, identity and level information have to be integrated at later stages. It further states that the cerebral hemispheres differ in their capacities for these binding processes. Three experiments are reported in which the integration hypothesis was tested. Participants had to identify a letter at a prespecified level with the viewing duration restricted by a mask. False reporting of the letter at the nontarget level was predicted to occur more often when the integration of identity and level could fail. This was the case. Moreover, visual-field effects occurred, as expected. Finally, a multinomial model was constructed and fitted to the data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the joint effects of stimulus quality, regularity, and lexicality when reading aloud: New challenges.

A number of computational models have been developed over the last 2 decades that are remarkably successful at explaining the process of translating print into sound. Nevertheless, 2 of the most successful computational accounts on the table fail to simulate the results from factorial experiments reported in this article in which university students read aloud letter strings that varied in terms of spelling–sound regularity and lexicality (regular words vs. exception words vs. nonwords) and stimulus quality (bright vs. dim). Skilled readers yielded additive effects of regularity and stimulus quality and additive effects of lexicality and stimulus quality on both RT and errors when nonwords were mixed with words. When only words appeared in the list, there was an interaction in which exception words were less affected by low stimulus quality than regular words were; no existing account anticipates or explains these results. We advance a hypothesis that assumes a novel module that accommodates these data and provide an existence proof in the form of a simulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internet-based personalized feedback to reduce 21st-birthday drinking: A randomized controlled trial of an event-specific prevention intervention.

This article presents an initial randomized controlled trial of an event-specific prevention intervention. Participants included 295 college students (41.69% male, 58.31% female) who intended to consume 2 or more drinks on their 21st birthday. Participants completed a screening/baseline assessment approximately 1 week before they turned 21 and were randomly assigned to receive Web-based personalized feedback or assessment only. Feedback included normative information, protective behaviors, and personalized blood alcohol concentration information. A follow-up assessment was completed approximately 1 week after a student's birthday. Results indicated a significant intervention effect in reducing estimated blood alcohol concentration (d = 0.33). The intervention effect was moderated by 21st-birthday drinking intentions, and the intervention was primarily effective among those who intended to reach higher levels of intoxication. Results provide some support for normative information as a mediator of intervention efficacy. Overall results provide support for Web-based personalized feedback as an intervention approach for specific events associated with extreme drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Home literacy activities and their influence on early literacy skills.

The relationship between the home environments of 66 children (aged 5.4–6.7 yrs) and their language and literacy development was examined. Parents (aged 28–46 yrs) of the children were interviewed regarding demographic information and home visits were conducted in which parents were observed reading with their children and interviewed about specific literacy practices. Children were assessed at approximately 9 mo intervals. After accounting for child age, parent education, and child ability as indexed by scores on a rapid automatized naming task and Block Design of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence—Revised, shared book reading at home made no contribution to the prediction of the literacy skills of letter name and letter sound knowledge in kindergarten. In contrast, home activities involving letters predicted modest and significant amounts of variance. For the areas of receptive vocabulary and phonological sensitivity, neither shared book reading nor letter activities were predictive. Follow-up to mid-Grade 2 underscored the importance of letter name/sound knowledge and phonological sensitivity in kindergarten in accounting for individual differences in later achievement in reading comprehension, phonological spelling and conventional spelling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coordinate frame for symmetry detection and object recognition.

Ss were required to determine whether dot patterns were symmetric. Cuing the Ss in advance about the orientation of the axis of symmetry produced a substantial speedup in performance (Exps 1 and 3) and an increase in accuracy with brief displays (Exp 2). The effects appeared roughly additive, with an overall advantage for vertical symmetry; thus, the vertical axis effect is not due to a tendency to prepare for the vertical axis. The cuing advantage was found to depend upon the S's knowing in advance the spatial location as well as orientation of the frame of reference (Exp 4). Exp 5 provided evidence that the frame of reference responsible for these effects is the same as the one that determines shape perception: Ss viewed displays containing a letter (at an unpredictable orientation) and a dot pattern, rapidly naming the letter and then determining whether the dots were symmetric about a prespecific axis. When the top–bottom axis of the letter was oriented the same way as the axis of symmetry for the dots, symmetry judgments were significantly more accurate. Results suggest a single frame of reference for both types of judgment. A theory of visual symmetry is proposed to account for the phenomena and characterize their relation to "mental rotation" effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of alternative follow-up procedures on mail survey response rates.

Compared the effects on response rate by 700 consumers included in a large-scale mail survey of (a) not sending a follow-up letter, (b) sending a follow-up letter with a duplicate questionnaire and return envelope, and (c) sending a follow-up letter without duplicates. Results suggest that the best method is a follow-up without duplicates. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypothalamo-pituitary-thyroid system in patients with rheumatoid arthritis]

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect on the uptake of breast screening of a personalized letter from the general practitioner recommending mammography, sent to coincide with an invitation from the NHS breast screening programme. DESIGN: Randomised control trial with stratification of prognostic variables. SETTING: A group practice in Hackney, east London. SUBJECTS: 473 women invited for breast screening by the City and East London Breast Screening Service. OUTCOME MEASURE: Attendance for mammography. RESULTS: All women in the randomised trial were followed up; 134 of 236 (57%) randomly allocated to receive the prompting letter attended for mammography compared with 120 of 234 (51%) controls This difference was not significant (chi 2 = 1.43, p = 0.23) CONCLUSION: Personal recommendation by a letter prompting attendance for mammography from the general practitioner known best to women due to be screened did not improve uptake of breast screening in this east London practice. Other strategies are needed to increase uptake of mammography in inner cities.     

Anxiety, information, interpersonal impacts, and adjustment to a stressful health care situation.

40 adult patients scheduled for dental extraction surgery were given either specific or general preparatory information, and this information was presented in either a personalized or relatively impersonal fashion using nonverbal cues. Changes in state anxiety over the course of the experiment were accounted for by individual differences in the Dental Anxiety Scale. The most important determinant of adjustment during surgery was the congruence between specificity of information received and individual differences in preference for information. The finding that high levels of presurgery anxiety are associated with poor adjustment is discussed in terms of I. L. Janis's (1958) model of stress. Ss' perceptions of information-giver hostility and dominance were also significantly (inversely) related to adjustment; the differential impact of informational and interpersonal variables is discussed in terms of moderating characteristics of health care settings. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Probability effects on stimulus evaluation and response processes.

Investigated the effects of probability information on response preparation and stimulus evaluation. Eight Ss responded with 1 hand to the target letter H and with the other to the target letter S. The target letter was surrounded by noise letters that were either the same as or different from the target letter. In 2 conditions, the targets were preceded by a warning stimulus unrelated to the target letter. In 2 other conditions, a warning letter predicted that the same letter or the opposite letter would appear as the imperative stimulus with .80 probability. Correct reactions times (RTs) were faster and error rates were lower when imperative stimuli confirmed the predictions of the warning stimulus. Probability information affected (1) the preparation of motor responses during the foreperiod, (2) the development of expectancies for a particular target letter, and (3) a process sensitive to the identities of letter stimuli but not to their locations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Syllable coding in printed-word recognition by children and adults.

Studied phonological coding in printed-word recognition in English by examining the use made of syllable information by skilled and less skilled readers in 2 experiments using 32 2nd graders and 81 undergraduates. Stimuli were bisyllabic frequent nouns. Syllable coding was used by the less-skilled 2nd graders but not by either the better 2nd graders or adults in lexical decision tasks. However, adults did make use of syllable information when the direct use of letter information was slowed by presenting items in alternating upper- and lowercase letters. Differences between children and adults in their use of the syllable information in pseudowords are interpreted as indicating that for skilled adult readers, the major focus of activity in word recognition is at the letter level. For immature readers, the process of word recognition is less analytic and involves a more extensive lexical search based on a reduced amount of letter information. The results are discussed in terms of an interactive model of reading. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)