A market concept for media problems: A few theses
The author explores the concept of markets and marketplaces and how they apply to media and research on media activities. He argues that media markets cannot be considered to be self‐defining, self‐regulatory systems because of their interdependent relations with other subsystems in society, and that traditional regulatory policies are inadequate for dealing with contemporary media because of changing temporal and social factors.
Adaptation of the QoL-AGHDA scale for adults with growth hormone deficiency in four Slavic languages
PurposeThe Quality of Life in Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency Assessment (QoL-AGHDA) is a disease-specific quality of life measure specific to individuals who are growth hormone deficient. The present study describes the adaptation of the QoL-AGHDA for use in the following four Slavic languages; Czech, Polish, Serbian and Slovakian.MethodsThe study involved three stages in each language; translation, cognitive debriefing and validation. The validation stage assessed internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), reproducibility (test-retest reliability using Spearman's rank correlations), convergent and divergent validity (Correlations with the NHP) and known group validity.ResultsThe QoL-AGHDA was successfully translated into the target languages with minimal problems. Cognitive debriefing interviewees (n = 15-18) found the measures easy to complete and identified few problems with the content. Internal consistency (Czech Republic = 0.91, Poland = 0.91, Serbia = 0.91 and Slovakia = 0.89) and reproducibility (Czech Republic = 0.91, Poland = 0.91, Serbia = 0.88 and Slovakia = 0.93) were good in all adaptations. Convergent and divergent validity and known group validity data were not available for Slovakia. The QoL-AGHDA correlated as expected with the NHP scales most relevant to GHD. The QoL-AGHDA was able to distinguish between participants based on a range of variables.ConclusionsThe QoL-AGHDA was successfully adapted for use in the Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia and Slovakia. Further validation of the Slovakian version would be beneficial. The addition of these new lanaguage versions will prove valuable to multinational clinical trials and to clinical practice in the respective countries.
The new shape of American religion
This book includes an analysis of the new shape of American religion against the background of the past. Its second portion is devoted to resources and strategy for reshaping Protestantism in a new cultural situation.