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Baylors Benjamin Franklin Scholars Bring Light to Complex Figure
Founding Father Benjamin Franklin was a complex man. Among his many roles, he was a businessman, entrepreneur, inventor, journalist, author, printer, editor, politician, postmaster, statesman, ambassador and signer of the Declaration of Independence. And even with a treasure trove of accomplishments, sometimes the Franklin legends are bigger than Franklin the man – and it’s taken an army of historians and scholars throughout the centuries to sort it out. As July 4 Independence Day approaches, Baylor University's two Franklin scholars share different perspectives of Franklin, his faith and his business acumen: Thomas S. Kidd, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of History and associate director of Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion Blaine McCormick, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the management department in Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business Both have penned Franklin books and both have been featured nationally for their research on the Founding Father. Kidd’s 2017 book, “Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father,” has received high marks for its analysis of Franklin’s beliefs. From his Puritan upbringing to deism, skepticism and more, the book explores the influences and evolution of faith throughout Franklin’s life. “In today’s polarized political and religious environment, some pundits seek to remake the Founding Fathers in their own image. Benjamin Franklin’s example reveals that the historical truth is often more complicated,” Kidd wrote in a May 2017 column for The Wall Street Journal. McCormick, who wrote “Ben Franklin: America’s Original Entrepreneur,” discovered a passion to study the Founding Father after listening to an audiobook of Franklin’s autobiography. “Franklin could do things as a statesman, and understand things, and achieve things as a statesman, because he had achieved things in the marketplace first,” he said. “I’ve yet to find a better book for businesspeople to learn about how to run a business in the American Experiment. He wrote the autobiography to help train people in the life of business. Many of the principles are still very robust.” And the way he shared those principles (many of which have been misquoted and made into memes through the decades) is important, McCormick said. “Franklin used sentences no longer than a Tweet to train generations of colonial businesspeople,” he said. “They were short. They were memorable. They were high-impact.” ABOUT THOMAS KIDD, PH.D. Thomas S. Kidd, Ph.D., serves as Distinguished Professor of History and associate director of Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion. His books include “Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Lie of a Founding Father, “American Colonial History: Clashing Cultures and Faiths,” “Baptists in America: A History,” “George Whitefield: America’s Spiritual Founding Father,” “Patrick Henry: First Among Patriots,” “God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution,” “American Christians and Islam” and “The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America.” He has written for outlets including The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. ABOUT BLAINE MCCORMICK, PH.D. Blaine McCormick, Ph.D., serves as chair of the management department in Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business, is a nationally recognized scholar on the business practices of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison. McCormick is interviewed frequently across all forms of media including Forbes, The New York Times, CNN, public radio, and ABC World News Tonight. He often travels to developing countries to teach business lessons to undereducated entrepreneurs using only a bottle of Coca-Cola as a teaching aid. A native Texan, McCormick grew up working in the cotton fields of West Texas. Before joining the Baylor faculty, he worked in Dallas and Plano for ARCO Oil & Gas Company as a human resource management professional. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.
Managers should consider ethics and performance when rewarding employees, Baylor professor says Do you consider yourself more ethical than your coworker? Caution! Your feelings of ethical superiority can cause a chain reaction that is detrimental to you, your coworker and your organization, according to Baylor University management research. A new study published in the Journal of Business Ethics suggests that your feelings of ethical superiority can lead you to have negative emotions toward a “less ethical” coworker. Those negative emotions can be amplified if you also believe you do not perform as well as that coworker. And, furthermore, those negative emotions can lead to your mistreatment and/or ostracism (social exclusion) of that less ethical, higher-performing coworker. “One way to think of this is that it is – and should be – concerning to us to believe that we are more ethical than our coworkers, especially if we do not perform as well as they do,” said lead author Matthew Quade, Ph.D., assistant professor of management in Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business and an expert on workplace ethics and ostracism. The research, Quade said, can help managers create better atmospheres and improve the bottom line. “The managerial implication is that we need to create environments where ethics and performance are both rewarded,” he said. A total of 741 people, among them 310 employees (“focal employees”) and an equal number of their coworkers (“comparison coworkers”), were surveyed for the study. Focal employees compared themselves with their coworkers based on two areas: perceived ethics and performance. Then they rated their levels of negative emotions (i.e., feelings of contempt, tension or disgust) toward those same comparison coworkers. Results show that employees who believe they are more ethical than similar coworkers (i.e., those that hold similar positions, have similar education background and similar tenure in the organization) feel negative emotions (i.e., contempt, disgust, stress, repulsion) when thinking about those coworkers. These negative emotions about the coworker are amplified when the employees also believe they do not perform as well as those same coworkers. In turn, the comparison coworkers rated how often they experienced social undermining (i.e., insults, spreading of rumors, belittling of ideas) and ostracism (i.e., ignored, avoided, shut out of conversations) from the focal employee. Results also show that the negative emotions that the “more ethical, lower performing” employees experience may result in them behaving in unethical ways directed at their coworkers. Specifically, they become more likely to socially undermine and ostracize those “less ethical, higher performing” coworkers. All the study’s results exist regardless of gender and any positive emotion the employees may experience as a result of believing they are more ethical. Ultimately, such workplace scenarios pose a conundrum for managers, Quade said. On one hand, there is the ethical worker who doesn’t perform as well. On the other hand, there’s the less ethical worker who hits all the goals. Who gets rewarded? “If high performance is the result of questionable or unethical behavior, that combination should not be celebrated,” the researchers wrote. “Instead, organizations should be cautious when rewarding and promoting performance within organizations, ensuring that they also consider the way the job is done from an ethical standpoint.” The ideal situation, the study reveals, is when high ethics and high performance are the norm – and employees are rewarded. “Enhancing the ethical behavior of all employees should be an emphasis to attempt to remove some of the disparity that tends to exist between employees when it comes to their moral behavior at work,” the researchers wrote. ABOUT THE STUDY “’If Only My Coworker Was More Ethical’: When Ethical and Performance Comparisons Lead to Negative Emotions, Social Undermining, and Ostracism,” published in the Journal of Business Ethics, is authored by Matthew Quade, Ph.D., assistant professor of management, Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University; Rebecca Greenbaum, Ph.D., associate professor of management, Spears School of Business, Oklahoma State University; and Mary Mawritz, Ph.D., associate professor of management, LeBow College of Business, Drexel University. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT HANKAMER SCHOOL OF BUSINESS Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business provides a rigorous academic experience, consisting of classroom and hands-on learning, guided by Christian commitment and a global perspective. Recognized nationally for several programs, including Entrepreneurship and Accounting, the school offers 24 undergraduate and 13 graduate areas of study. Visit www.baylor.edu/businessand follow on Twitter at twitter.com/Baylor_Business.
Baylor research reveals effects of time, age, education and income on birth mothers’ satisfaction following ‘life-altering’ decision research findings from Baylor University’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work could change the adoption landscape for birth mothers struggling with the life-altering decision to place their children. There is consensus among adoption researchers that for many birth mothers the experience of placing their children for adoption brings feelings of grief, loss, shame, guilt, remorse and isolation. Any level of satisfaction (or lack thereof) in such a decision varies. But how is that level of satisfaction – that feeling that the right decision was made – affected by time? “Little is known about the interaction of these two variables,” said Elissa Madden, Ph.D., associate professor of social work at Baylor and lead author of the study, "The Relationship Between Time and Birth Mother Satisfaction with Relinquishment." Much of Madden’s research focuses on the birth mother experience in the adoption process – an area, she said, has historically been underrepresented. “This article seeks to address a clear void in the literature,” she said, “and we hope it has some implications for future practices and adoption policies.” The research, published in the journal Families in Society, centers on data from an online survey of 223 birth mothers who had relinquished an infant for adoption during the last 25 years. This time period was selected because it reflects an increased acceptance and emphasis on open adoption arrangements between birth and adoptive parents, according to the study. Of those surveyed, nearly seven out of 10 reported periodic contact with the adopted child; most parents (94 percent) reported only a single child relinquished; a majority (56 percent) parented other children after the relinquishment; and on a scale of 1 to 5, participants reported a mean satisfaction with relinquishment score of 3.11. Among the study’s findings: 1. Satisfaction is not static. While many birth mothers reported satisfaction with their decision, the findings show that the more time that has passed since the birth mothers placed their child, the less overall satisfaction some birth mothers felt. Some prior research suggests birth mothers’ grief and adjustment attenuates with the passage of time. However, the researchers note “the findings of this analysis highlight the importance of not confusing birth mother’s satisfaction with her decision and the feelings of loss that she may feel about the placement.” A birth mother may feel she made the right decision regarding placement and yet still experience ongoing feelings of loss and grief even years later, Madden said. 2. Age had an inverse relationship with satisfaction. “As with time since the relinquishment, age of the respondents predicted an incremental decrease in satisfaction for every year they have aged,” researchers wrote. “It may be that the distance afforded by time, along with the internal resources and perspective that often comes with age, may have provided an opportunity for birth mothers to look back and reflect on what could have been.” 3. Higher education and higher income led to decreased satisfaction. “It is possible that birth mothers who have achieved educational and/or financial success may now feel dissatisfaction with their decision to place their child as they now believe, in retrospect, that they would have been able to acquire sufficient resources necessary to successfully parent their child,” researchers wrote. Additionally, the researchers noted that some birth mothers may feel that educational and financial success may have been achieved “at the expense of their opportunity to parent their child.” 4. Birth mothers who have current contact with their child were more likely to express satisfaction with their decision. “Prior research suggests that for some birth mothers, having contact with the child helps reduce feelings of anxiety about the child’s life and well-being, worries they may be having about the child feeling abandoned, and/or guilt about their decision,” the researchers wrote. 5. Birth mothers who work full-time were more likely to express increased satisfaction. “While the rationale for this finding is not immediately clear,” the researchers wrote, “it is possible that birth mothers who are employed full-time have achieved personal fulfillment or otherwise found success through their employment. It is also possible that for some birth mothers, there is recognition that they have less time or perhaps fewer resources for parenting and thus are more satisfied with their decision to place their child.” What are the implications of this research? Madden said there are long-term consequences for all members of the adoption triad – birth mothers, those seeking to adopt, and adoptees. She said, specifically, that adoption professionals need to be well-versed in the positive and negative repercussions for birth mothers. “Adoption professionals must be especially attuned to the needs and concerns of expectant mothers who seek their counsel, as many lack a full understanding of their options,” Madden said, reflecting on her earlier research. Madden and her fellow researchers believe this study and others like it could lead to changes in the adoption process. They suggest: Annual “grief and loss” training for adoption professionals State and federal policies ensuring birth mothers have access to ongoing post-relinquishment support services Free grief support groups for all birth mothers Adoption of national standards to ensure that expectant mothers and prospective adoptive parents receive standardized information detailing the benefits of ongoing post-adoption contact Stipends for expectant mothers to hire independent legal counsel to represent the mothers at the relinquishment and during sensitive discussion regarding post-adoption contact ABOUT THE STUDY "The Relationship Between Time and Birth Mother Satisfaction with Relinquishment" is published in the journal Families in Society. Authors are Elissa Madden, Ph.D., associate professor, Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, Baylor University; Scott Ryan, Ph.D., professor and dean, School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington; Donna M. Aguiniga, Ph.D., associate professor, School of Social Work, University of Alaska – Anchorage; Michael Killian, Ph.D., assistant professor, School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington; and Brenda Romanchik, L.C.S.W., independent practitioner. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT DIANA R. GARLAND SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK Baylor University’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work is home to one of the leading graduate social work programs in the nation with a research agenda focused on the integration of faith and practice. Upholding its mission of preparing social workers in a Christian context for worldwide service and leadership, the School offers a baccalaureate degree (B.S.W.), a Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) degree and three joint-degree options, M.S.W./M.B.A., M.S.W./M.Div. and M.S.W./M.T.S., through a partnership with Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business and George W. Truett Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. program. Visit www.baylor.edu/social_work to learn more.
Multiracial Congregations Have Nearly Doubled, But They Still Lag Behind the Makeup of Neighborhoods
About one in five American congregants attends a racially mixed place of worship, Baylor University study find The percentage of multiracial congregations in the United States nearly doubled from 1998 to 2012, with about one in five American congregants attending a place of worship that is racially mixed, according to a Baylor University study. While Catholic churches remain more likely to be multiracial — about one in four — a growing number of Protestant churches are multiracial, the study found. The percentage of Protestant churches that are multiracial tripled, from 4 percent in 1998 to 12 percent in 2012, the most recent year for which data are available. In addition, more African-Americans are in the pulpits and pews of U.S. multiracial churches than in the past, according to the study. Multiracial congregations are places of worship in which less than 80 percent of participants are of the same race or ethnicity. “Congregations are looking more like their neighborhoods racially and ethnically, but they still lag behind,” said lead author Kevin D. Dougherty, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences. “The average congregation was eight times less diverse racially than its neighborhood in 1998 and four times less diverse in 2012.” “More congregations seem to be growing more attentive to the changing demographics outside their doors, and as U.S. society continues to diversify by race and ethnicity, congregations’ ability to adapt to those changes will grow in importance,” said co-author Michael O. Emerson, Ph.D., provost of North Park University in Chicago. For the study, Dougherty and Emerson analyzed data from the National Congregations Study, a nationally representative survey conducted in 1998, 2006-2007 and 2012, with a cumulative sample of 4,071 congregations. The study by Dougherty and Emerson — “The Changing Complexion of American Congregations” — is published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. The study found that: One-third of U.S. congregations were composed entirely of one race in 2012, down from nearly half of U.S. congregations in 1998. Multiracial congregations constituted 12 percent of all U.S. congregations in 2012, up from 6 percent in 1998. The percentage of Americans worshipping in multiracial congregations climbed to 18 percent in 2012, up from 13 percent in 1998. Mainline Protestant and Evangelical Protestant churches have become more common in the count of multiracial congregations, but Catholic churches continue to show higher percentages of multiracial congregations. One in four Catholic churches was multiracial in 2012. While whites are the head ministers in more than two-thirds (70 percent) of multiracial congregations, the percentage of those led by black clergy has risen to 17 percent, up from fewer than 5 percent in 1998. Blacks have replaced Latinos as the most likely group to worship with whites. In the typical multiracial congregation, the percentage of black members rose to nearly a quarter in 2012, up from 16 percent in 1998. Meanwhile, Latinos in multiracial congregations dropped from 22 percent in 1998 to 13 percent in 2012. The percentage of immigrants in multiracial congregations decreased from over 5 percent in 1998 to under 3 percent in 2012. Previous research shows that congregations have adopted varying ways to encourage racial diversity, among them integrating music genres, using more participatory worship, hosting small groups to foster interracial networks and creating programs to address racial or ethnic issues. Churches with shorter histories are more likely to have diversity, and change is harder to bring about in long-established congregations. The new study by Dougherty and Emerson concluded that the complexion of American congregations is indeed changing — and the authors see benefits for American society. “During a several-year period of heightened racial tensions, the growth of multiracial congregations is a dramatic development,” Emerson said. “Such congregations are places of significantly increased cross-racial friendships and cross-racial common experiences.” ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT BAYLOR COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES The College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University’s oldest and largest academic division, consisting of 25 academic departments and seven academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. Faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines.
Bad Behavior Toward Significant Other in Tough Times Has More Impact than Positive Gestures
Refraining from criticism or abandonment is better than simply being encouraging, Baylor University study finds Refraining from bad behavior toward a significant other during stressful life events is more important than showing positive behavior, according to a Baylor University study. Compared with positive gestures, negative ones tend to trigger more intense and immediate responses, according to the study. And how a couple works together during stressful times is associated with individual well-being as well as satisfaction with the relationship. “When people face stressful life events, they are especially sensitive to negative behavior in their relationships, such as when a partner seems to be argumentative, overly emotional, withdrawn or fails to do something that was expected,” said researcher Keith Sanford, Ph.D., professor of psychology and neuroscience in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences. “In contrast, they’re less sensitive to positive behavior — such as giving each other comfort,” he said. The study also found that low doses of a behavior are most important, and over time, more extreme levels have less impact. “Because people are especially sensitive to negative relationship behavior, a moderate dose may be sufficient to produce a nearly maximum effect on increasing life stress,” Sanford said. “After negative behavior reaches a certain saturation point, it appears that stress is only minimally affected by further increases in the dose of relationship problems.” The study — “Negative Relationship Behavior Is More Important Than Positive: Correlates of Outcomes During Stressful Life Events” — is published in the Journal of Family Psychology. Sanford and co-researcher Alannah Shelby Rivers, doctoral candidate in psychology and neuroscience, surveyed couples experiencing stressful life events to measure their behavior, relationship satisfaction, personal well-being and quality of life. The research consisted of two studies done using data from Internet samples. In the first study, 325 couples who were married or living with a partner all reported experiences of at least one of six possible stressful events within the past month, including: losing a job, becoming a primary caregiver of an older relative, experiencing a parent’s death, experiencing a child’s death, not having enough resources to afford basic necessities, and experiencing bankruptcy, foreclosure or repossession of a house or car. The second study included 154 people who were either married or living with a partner and experiencing a serious medical issue meeting one or more of these criteria: a condition requiring hospitalization or a trip to the emergency room, a serious chronic condition and a life-threatening condition. All participants reported that they had visited a medical practitioner within the past year for treatment of their conditions. Researchers used a scale that included 18 items — nine for negative and nine for positive behavior. Participants were asked to remember the past month, then write a few words describing different memories of interactions occurring in their relationships and indicate how often specific types of interactions occurred in their relationships. All participants also were asked questions about how rewarding their relationships were, their general well-being (such as being active and vigorous) and their quality of life (such as health). Those in the first study also were asked about stress, their coping strategies in general and their coping style in the relationship. The second study, examining couple’s behavior during stressful medical events, showed lower levels of negative behavior than the first study dealing with other types of stressful issues. “It is possible that couples facing stressful medical situations are less likely to blame each other,” researchers wrote. “When people face stressful life events, it’s common to experience both positive and negative behavior in their relationships,” Sanford said. “When the goal is to increase feelings of well-being and lessen stress, it may be more important to decrease negative behavior than to increase positive actions.” ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT BAYLOR COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES The College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University’s oldest and largest academic division, consisting of 25 academic departments and seven academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. Faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines. Visit www.baylor.edu/artsandsciences.
Surveying Patients about Health Care Providers Is Likely of Little Use
But a newly developed questionnaire delves more deeply and may provide valuable information, Baylor University study finds For anyone who has ever taken a survey after a medical appointment and wondered whether the effort was worthwhile, the answer is probably “No,” says a Baylor University psychologist and researcher. Health care providers are pushing to assess patient satisfaction, and many companies charge millions of dollars to assess patients for the providers. But while the intentions are great, “when I started looking at the instruments currently being used to assess doctor-patient relationships, it became apparent they were highly problematic and not providing useful information,” said Keith Sanford, Ph.D. professor of psychology and neuroscience in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences. After conducting a series of studies to clarify problems with existing scales, Sanford — a scholar of psychometrics who develops assessment instruments — has created a new tool to measure patient experience during consultations, and research findings suggest it works better than others. The research — “Medical Consultation Experience Questionnaire: Assessing Perceived Alliance and Experienced Confusion During Medical Consultations” — was published in Psychological Assessment, a journal of the American Psychological Association, and funded in part by a grant from Baylor College of Medicine. Working with Baylor University psychologists were physicians with Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine. The new instrument — the Medical Consultation Experience Questionnaire (MCEQ) — measures two aspects of patient experience — “alliance” and “confusion.” Researchers stressed that it addresses the consultation, not treatment results. Practitioners strive for a good alliance, in which the patient sees the practitioner as committed, competent and dedicated to understanding patient desires and views. Another goal is good exchange of information to avoid confusion. But in attempting to measure how well those goals are being met, some questionnaires have limited options that may result in skewed results, Sanford said. For example, one survey offers respondents a 4-point scale in which the answers range from “always” to "never” to such questions as “How often did doctors listen carefully to you?” Another existing assessment instrument asks respondents to use a 5-point scale — from “poor” to “excellent” — to rate practitioner communication in such areas as whether they were treated with respect. The problem is that most respondents choose the top response for each item, with fewer than 5 percent choosing the bottom option, previous research has shown. While such a scale can identify “highly disgruntled” patients, “it cannot make reliable distinctions between patients having experiences ranging from marginally acceptable to extremely positive,” researchers wrote. “The key question is whether a ‘good doctor’ is a single thing or whether there is a range of goodness,” Sanford said. “If you ask the right questions, you’re able to get results that show that range.” To evaluate the new questionnaire, researchers conducted three studies with a total of 576 participants. They compared responses to the new survey with those participants’ responses to other questionnaires. Respondents ranged from adults with diabetes and/or hypertension to parents of children requiring plastic surgery (for such conditions as a cleft palate or facial injury) to parents of children with medical conditions meeting one or more of such criteria as having to go to an emergency room, spend time in a hospital, cope with a chronic condition or deal with a life-threatening condition. The study results support the validity of the new questionnaire in several important ways. It allows for measuring a wider range of patient experiences with more extensive and specific responses, making for better assessment of “alliance” and “confusion” — rather than merely identifying only the most dissatisfied or angry patients, Sanford said. “One of the reasons this is so important is if you don’t form an alliance with your practitioner, they may give you all the wonderful advice in the world, but you might not follow it, or you might be skeptical,” Sanford said. “And if you don’t quite understand what you are supposed to do, that will interfere with your doing the recommended actions.” Sanford noted that because the study relied on self-reported data and sampled only three groups with varying medical conditions, future research on patients with other health issues could be valuable. Tracking such outcomes as physiological measurements or frequency of attending rehabilitation sessions also could be of value, he said. “My hope is that people who use these surveys might realize that just as there is a science behind medical treatment, there is a science behind getting good survey reports,” Sanford said. “We want to make this available freely to anyone who wants to administer it.” *Co-researchers were Alannah Shelby Rivers, doctoral candidate in psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University; Dr. Tara L. Braun and Kelly P. Schultz, Division of Plastic Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine; and Dr. Edward P. Buchanan, Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston and Division of Plastic Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT BAYLOR COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES The College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University’s oldest and largest academic division, consisting of 25 academic departments and seven academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. Faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines. Visit www.baylor.edu/artsandsciences.
Environmental scientists have identified 22 key research questions surrounding the risks associated with chemicals in the environment in Europe. Chemicals released into the environment by human activity are resulting in biodiversity loss; increased natural hazards; threats to food, water and energy security; negative impacts on human health and degradation of environmental quality. Now an international study, coordinated by scientists from the University of York, Wageningen University and Baylor University, has identified the most important research questions that need to be answered to fill the most pressing knowledge gaps over the next decade. They include questions about which chemicals we should be most concerned about and where the hotspots of key contaminants are around the globe, as well as how we can develop methods to protect biodiversity and ecosystems. The research, which resulted from a recent "big questions" exercise involving researchers from across Europe, aims to serve as a roadmap for policymakers, regulators, industry and funders and result in a more coordinated approach from the European environmental science community to chemicals in the environment. “Our research has highlighted international scientists' research priorities and our key knowledge gaps when it comes to the risks and impacts of chemicals,” said one of the lead authors of the study Alistair Boxall, Ph.D., with the University of York’s environment department. “The study aims to help focus scientific effort on the questions that really matter and inform decisions about the type of research needed to update policies and regulations.” Bryan W. Brooks, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Environmental Science and Biomedical Studies at Baylor University, who also coordinates a much larger global horizon scanning exercise, said the project is “intentionally transparent, inclusive of multiple sectors and multidisciplinary.” “Though this paper focuses on critical research needs for Europe, we partnered with the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry to perform similar studies in North America, Africa, Asia, Australia and Latin America,” Brooks said. “In fact, output from the Latin American study was recently published. This unprecedented exercise, which also includes a key partnership with the American Chemical Society in North America, is for the first time identifying global research priorities from academic, government and industry scientists and engineers to understand, avoid and manage adverse outcomes of chemicals in the environment.” A key suggestion in the report is that the basic and translational research is needed to advance robust assessments of chemical risks to the environment and human health. “These big research questions aim to reduce uncertainty during scientific evaluations of environmental contaminants and to advance innovation and sustainability through development of less hazardous chemicals to public health and the environment. Such research recommendations from our European colleagues are thus timely, necessary and internationally important if we are to achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals,” Brooks said. Towards Sustainable Environmental Quality: Priority Research Questions for Europe is published in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. It is one of six papers in a global horizon scanning study. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT BAYLOR COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES The College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University’s oldest and largest academic division, consisting of 25 academic departments and seven academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. Faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines.
Study: Discuss Religion, Spirituality When Treating Young Adults with Severe Mental Illness
Baylor researcher and expert says it’s “critical” that mental health providers be equipped to assess clients’ religion/spirituality A majority of young adults with severe mental illness – bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or major depression – consider religion and spirituality relevant to their mental health, according to a new study from Baylor University’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work. Holly Oxhandler, Ph.D., associate dean for research and faculty development in the Garland School of Social Work, served as lead author on the study, which was published in the journal Spirituality in Clinical Practice. Researchers examined data from 55 young adults (ages 18-25) with serious mental illness who had used crisis emergency services. Of the 55 young adults interviewed, 34 “mentioned religion or spirituality in the context of talking about their mental health symptoms and service use with little-to-no prompting,” researchers wrote. The sample for the study was racially diverse and gender-balanced. Not all of those interviewed considered themselves religious, as 41 percent answered “other,” “I don’t know” or “none” when asked their religious preference. However, researchers found that religion and spirituality emerged as a unique way in which this sample was able to make sense of their difficult life situations and mental health struggles. “Not only did these young adults struggle with serious mental illness, but they had also experienced extreme adversity – including abuse, poverty, homelessness, addiction, near-death experiences, loss and an overwhelming lack of access to medical and mental health services,” researchers wrote. “Yet, many attempted to explain, make sense of or organize their circumstances through their religious/spiritual perspective and talked about God as a source of comfort and support.” The young adults expressed both positive and negative views of God, prayer and support from religious and spiritual communities. Regardless of their views, the important thing to note, Oxhandler explained, is that they’re talking about these topics – something social workers and counselors traditionally are not often equipped or trained to assess or discuss. “It’s the elephant in the room,” Oxhandler said of discussions of religion and spirituality. “If we continue to ignore it, we’re ignoring a huge component of peoples’ lives that may be tied to the clinical issue.” Oxhandler, who has researched this area extensively, said such discussions can help drive subsequent treatment options. “As mental health care providers discern what mental health services to provide or coping strategies to recommend, it’s especially important they understand the role of religion/spirituality in the lives of the vulnerable young adults they serve,” she said. Researchers also found that those surveyed described using positive religious coping, negative religious coping or experiences, discussed their relationship with God/Higher Power and unpacked the role of their support systems and faith. Positive religious coping included prayer, reading religious texts, support from their religious and spiritual communities and identifying religious and spiritual meaning in difficult situations. Negative religious coping or experiences included having a negative experience with a religious organization not being supportive or receiving hurtful messages from the religious community. “Those who discussed their relationship with God or a higher power discussed God providing a sense of comfort or protection, accepting them for who they are or positively intervening in their lives,” Oxhandler said. “Among those who unpacked the role of their support systems and faith, they often described family and friends referencing religion or God for support, and some even offered recommendations for others struggling with mental illness that involve religion and spirituality.” Some of those interviewed shared that they found the mention of God or religion by family and friends less than helpful. For example, a 22-year-old white female with no religious identification mentioned in her interview that a family member “tries to tell me that going to church will be better for me because it will help me find peace, and it really does quite the opposite.” Interestingly, researchers noted that nearly all participants who reported negative experiences with religion and spirituality also reported utilizing positive religious and spiritual coping or having a positive relationship with God. Oxhandler said such complexity highlights the importance of including religion and spirituality during the initial assessment with a client. “It’s critical that mental health care providers be well equipped and trained to assess for the complex role of religion and spirituality in the lives of young adults with serious mental illness, recognizing that it could appear to be a tremendous source of support and resilience and/or a source of pain and discomfort, if even a part of their lives at all,” she said. ABOUT THE STUDY “Religion and Spirituality Among Young Adults With Severe Mental Illness,” published in the journal Spirituality in Clinical Practice, is authored by Holly K. Oxhandler, Ph.D., L.M.S.W., assistant professor and associate dean for research and faculty development, Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, Baylor University; Sarah C. Narendorf, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., assistant professor, Graduate College of Social Work, University of Houston; and Kelsey M. Moffatt, M.S.W., Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, Baylor University. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT DIANA R. GARLAND SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK Baylor University’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work is home to one of the leading graduate social work programs in the nation with a research agenda focused on the integration of faith and practice. Upholding its mission of preparing social workers in a Christian context for worldwide service and leadership, the School offers a baccalaureate degree (B.S.W.), a Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) degree and three joint-degree options, M.S.W./M.B.A., M.S.W./M.Div. and M.S.W./M.T.S., through a partnership with Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business and George W. Truett Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. program. Visit www.baylor.edu/social_work to learn more.
Grip Strength of Children Gives Clues about Their Future Health, Study Finds
Measuring hand grip can help identify youths who could benefit from lifestyle changes to improve health, Baylor researcher says Adolescents with a strong hand grip — an indicator of overall muscle strength — have better odds of being healthy over time, according to a two-year study of 368 elementary school children. While other studies have shown that muscle weakness as measured by grip strength is a predictor of unhealthy outcomes — including cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, disability and even early mortality — this is the first to do so for adolescent health over time, a Baylor University researcher said. “What we know about today’s kids is that because of the prevalence of obesity, they are more at risk for developing pre-diabetes and cardiovascular disease than previous generations,” said senior author Paul M. Gordon, Ph.D., professor and chair of health, human performance and recreation in Baylor’s Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences. “This study gives multiple snapshots over time that provide more insight about grip strength and future risks for developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” he said. “Low grip strength could be used to predict cardiometabolic risk and to identify adolescents who would benefit from lifestyle changes to improve muscular fitness.” The study — "Grip Strength is Associated with Longitudinal Health Maintenance and Improvement in Adolescents" — is published in The Journal of Pediatrics. It was conducted by researchers at Baylor University, the University of Michigan and the University of New England. Students tracked in the study were assessed in the fall of their fourth-grade year and at the end of the fifth grade. Using the norms for grip strengths in boys and girls, researchers measured the students’ grips in their dominant and non-dominant hands with an instrument called a handgrip dynamometer. Researchers found that initially, 27.9 percent of the boys and 20.1 percent of the girls were classified as weak. Over the course of the study, boys and girls with weak grips were more than three times as likely to decline in health or maintain poor health as those who were strong. Researchers also screened for and analyzed other metabolic risk factor indicators, including physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition (the proportion of fat and fat-free mass), blood pressure, family history, fasting blood lipids and glucose levels. “Even after taking into account other factors like cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity and lean body mass, we continue to see an independent association between grip strength and both cardiometabolic health maintenance and health improvements,” Gordon said. While much emphasis has been placed on the benefits of a nutritious diet and aerobic activity, this study suggests that greater emphasis needs to be placed on improving and maintaining muscular strength during adolescence. If someone with a strong grip develops an even stronger grip, “we don’t necessarily see a drastic improvement in that individual’s health,” Gordon noted. “It’s the low strength that puts you at risk. “Given that grip strength is a simple indicator for all-cause death, cardiovascular death and cardiovascular disease in adults, future research is certainly warranted to better understand how weakness during childhood tracks into and throughout adulthood,” he said. “Testing grip strength is simple, non-invasive and can easily be done in a health care professional’s office. It has value for adults and children.” *An estimated 17.2 percent of U.S. children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 years are obese and another 16.2 percent are overweight, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Excess weight carries a greater lifetime risk of diabetes and premature heart disease. While the World Health Organization and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommend that youths perform at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily — including vigorous activity at least three days a week — fewer than a quarter of U.S. children do so, according to a report by the nonprofit National Physical Activity Plan Alliance. ABOUT THE STUDY The data source was the Cardiovascular Health Intervention Program (CHIP), supported by a subcontract from the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., which was funded from The Clark Charitable Foundation. Co-researchers were lead author Mark D. Peterson, Ph.D., assistant professor, University of Michigan Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Baylor graduate Sonja Smeding, B.S. (Biology), ’18; and Paul Visich, Ph.D., professor and chair, University of New England’s Department of Exercise and Sport Performance in Biddeford, Maine. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT THE ROBBINS COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES The Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences at Baylor University was established in 2014, a result of identified priorities for strengthening the health sciences through Baylor’s strategic vision, Pro Futuris, which serves as a compass for the University’s future. The anchor academic units that form the new College – Communication Sciences and Disorders, Family and Consumer Sciences and Health, Human Performance and Recreation – share a common purpose: improving health and the quality of life. The College is working to create curricula that promote a team-based approach to patient care and establish interdisciplinary research collaborations to advance solutions for improving the quality of life for individuals, families, and communities. For more information visit Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences.
‘The surprise, and the up side, is that episodic memories from before the children’s treatment were spared,’ Baylor researcher says Children with certain types of brain tumors who undergo radiation treatment are less likely to recall the specifics of events they experienced after radiation than to remember pre-treatment happenings, according to a Baylor University study comparing them to children with healthy brains. The finding is significant because children after treatment had less volume in the hippocampus — a part of the brain that plays an important role in memory. But while such a decrease usually is associated Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, brain injury, epileptic amnesia, encephalitis and aging, with those conditions both remote and recent memories are impaired, said lead author Melanie Sekeres, Ph.D., director of Sekeres Memory Laboratory at Baylor University. “The surprise, and the up side, is that episodic memories from before the children’s treatment were spared,” Sekeres said. For the study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers focused on “autobiographical memory,” which is linked to unique personal events and involves the recollection of emotional and perceptual details that allow a person to mentally re-experience the event, said Sekeres, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are used to treat the most common malignant brain tumor in children — a medulloblastoma. The reduced volume of the hippocampus is likely associated with radiation’s impact on the development of new cells in the nervous system, including the growth of new neurons in the hippocampus, or neurogenesis. “We know that these new cells play crucial roles in regulating memory and spatial learning, which is required to navigate. These treatments limit the brain’s ability to produce these new cells, which, in turn, limits the ability to form new memories,” Sekeres said. Research participants were 13 child survivors of brain tumors who had previously received radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment at least one year before the study. Twenty-eight healthy youths of similar ages (ranging from 7 to 18) also were recruited for the study, conducted with The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. All the youths completed the Children’s Autobiographical Interview — a standardized memory test — and underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. In individual interviews, children in both groups also were asked to recall memories from personal events that occurred at a specific time and place. Children were asked to recall a very old memory from an event before their radiation treatment (or an equally old memory for the healthy children) and a recent memory from within the past month. They were offered a list of events such as a birthday party, family trip, graduation and getting a pet but were told that they could choose another happening. The interview allowed children to freely recall without prompting before being asked general and specific questions about the event. “They have a hard time forming new, detailed memories,” Sekeres said. For example, when talking about a recent birthday party for a friend, they might tell how they met the friend and what that individual likes to do, but few specifics such as what they wore, the type of cake, what friends were there and what activities they did at the party, she said. “Such specific details might seem trivial, but these are precisely the kinds of details that allow us to vividly replay important events in our lives,” Sekeres said. “For most events, though, even healthy people forget a lot of specific details over time because we typically don’t need to retain all that incidental information. Some forgetting is normal and adaptive, and what we remember is the gist of an older event.” The patients were just as capable as healthy children of recalling these older memories, she said. But for children with brain tumors who have undergone radiation, the study suggested “deficits in their ability to either encode and/or retrieve highly detailed memories for personal events,” Sekeres said. “And those are the kind of memories that allow us to understand who we are and give us rich personal lives. “The study identifies an area of cognition that is inadvertently impacted by standard treatment, which has real consequences for the quality of life of the survivors. The physicians’ ultimate goal is to allow their patients to survive and to live as well as possible,” Sekeres said. “Although these treatments are often crucial in the effective management of the cancer, if the physicians and the family know there are these unintended side effects, that may be an additional factor to consider when exploring the treatment options.” ABOUT THE STUDY The study — “Impaired recent, but preserved remote, autobiographical memory in pediatric brain tumor patients” — was conducted with the Brain Tumor Program and the Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Funding was provided through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT BAYLOR COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES The College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University’s oldest and largest academic division, consisting of 25 academic departments and seven academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. Faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines. Visit College of Arts & Sciences.