Studies have shown social support can promote weight loss, specifically when support is received online through forums on weight loss websites. The goal of this study was to explore the experiences of individuals using support forums on weight loss websites. We conducted a content analysis on web-administered survey responses from members of two weight loss websites ( N = 340). The findings revealed three major themes: (1) receiving advice, strategies, and mantras are helpful with weight loss; (2) support forums provide a nonjudgmental environment for losing weight; and (3) receiving social support and inspiration from someone similar is helpful with weight loss. These findings suggest online support forums can benefit individuals attempting to lose weight by offering a place to receive nonjudgmental social support from other similar users.

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Little research has examined the effect of education on promotional opportunities for nurses. This article adds to the literature by addressing this question. This study uses data from the confidential master files from the 2001 Canadian Census on Individuals. The results of this study show that there is an increased probability of promotion to supervisory positions for registered nurses with a bachelor's degree. For both the male and female samples it was found that having a bachelor of nursing certification yields a 4% higher probability of promotion to a supervisory position compared with other educational credentials. Existing studies found that increases in education yield higher earnings, and this study also shows that increases in education can result in higher probabilities of promotion to supervisory positions. This can be viewed as another benefit of increased educational credentials for individuals in the nursing profession.

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