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At least 1,531 records · Page 85Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

Everyday value conflicts and integrative complexity of thought.

This study examined the value pluralism model in everyday value conflicts, and the effect of issue context on complexity of thought. According to the cognitive manager model we hypothesized that respondents would obtain a higher level of integrative complexity on personal issues that on professional and general issues. We also explored the relations of integrative complexity to value priorities, measured by the Schwartz Value Survey, and to emotional empathy. The value pluralism model was not supported by the data collected from 126 university students from social science, business and technology. The cognitive manager model was partially confirmed by data from females but not from males. Concerning value priorities, more complex respondents had higher regard for self-transcendence values, and less complex respondents for self-enhancement values Emotional empathy was also significantly related to complexity score.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

The Health Care Ethics Consultant, edited by Françoise Baylis.

The Health Care Ethics Consultant marks a stage in the development of ethics consultancy. Ethics consultancy is a manifestation of a newly secularized society in which a new discipline has developed to fill a gap created by the combination of the diminishing influence of traditional moral authorities and the growth of new problems associated with the development of new technology and changes in society and culture. The stated primary objective of the book is to focus attention on an immediate practical problem: the role and responsibilities, the education and training, and the certification and accreditation of health ethics consultants. An edited collection of articles, the book originated as a research project financed by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, undertaken by a Strategic Research Network which included faculty members from Dalhousie University, McGill University, the University of Toronto, McMaster University and the University of Calgary.

Canada↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Health promoting effects of friends and family on health outcomes in older adults.

OBJECTIVE: To highlight the significant impact of social relationships on health and illness and suggest implications of these effects for health promotion efforts among older adults. DATA SOURCES: Published studies on social relationships and health (or health behaviors) for the period 1970-1998 were identified through MEDLINE by using the key words social relationships, social support, and health, as well as review of health-related journals such as the American Journal of Epidemiology, Annals of Epidemiology, American Journal of Public Health, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Science and Medicine, and the Journals of Gerontology. STUDY SELECTION: Major published original research was considered. Where published research was too extensive for full discussion of all studies, preference was given to studies focusing on older adults and those using stronger methodology (i.e., representative samples, longitudinal data, or multivariate analyses controlling for potential confounders). DATA EXTRACTION: Reported findings were organized in terms of three major categories: (1) results related to major health outcomes such as mortality, CHD, and depression; (2) findings related to health behaviors; and (3) findings related to potential biological pathways for observed health effects of social relationships. DATA SYNTHESIS: Protective effects of social integration with respect to mortality risk among older adults are the most thoroughly documented, although protective effects have also been documented with respect to risks for mental and physical health outcomes and for better recovery after disease onset. There is also now a growing awareness of the potential for negative health effects from social relationships that are characterized by more negative patterns of critical and/or demanding interactions, including increased risks for depression and angina. Biological pathways are suggested by evidence that more negative social interactions are associated with physiological profiles characterized by elevated stress hormones, increased cardiovascular activity, and depressed immune function, whereas more positive, supportive social interactions are associated with the opposite profile. CONCLUSIONS: Available data clearly indicate that social relationships have the potential for both health promoting and health damaging effects in older adults, and that there are biologically plausible pathways for these effects. Such evidence suggests that aspects of the social environment could play an important role in future health promotion efforts for older adults, although careful consideration of both potentially positive as well as negative social influences is needed.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Children's work: the less-considered childhood occupation.

Children's work has largely been overlooked by researchers of many disciplines due to sociohistorical trends that fostered the notion that childhood should be a time free of work. Likewise, it has received little attention in occupational therapy most likely due to the influence of these historical developments on occupational therapy rhetoric and values. This paper begins by describing the influence of child labor laws and reformation on children's participation in work. Next, using a comprehensive review of the literature gathered from social sciences, a critical examination of the historical and current research on children's work is provided. This synthesis is framed in concepts of occupational science analyzing the evidence that describes the nature, form, function, and meaning of children's work. For occupational therapists working with children with disabilities, this research provides beginning guidelines for occupation-based work interventions and typical expectations for nondisabled children that may be applied using clinical reasoning to populations with disabilities.

Child↗
PubMed2005

One of these things is not like the others: the idea of precedence in health technology assessment and coverage decisions.

Health plans often deliberate covering technologies with challenging purposes, effects, or costs. They must integrate quantitative evidence (e.g., how well a technology works) with qualitative, normative assessments (e.g., whether it works well enough for a worthwhile purpose). Arguments from analogy and precedent help integrate these criteria and establish standards for their policy application. Examples of arguments are described for three technologies (ICSI, genetic tests, and Viagra). Drawing lessons from law, ethics, philosophy, and the social sciences, a framework is developed for case-based evaluation of new technologies. The decision-making cycle includes (1) taking stock of past decisions and formulating precedents, (2) deciding new cases, and (3) assimilating decisions into the case history and evaluation framework. Each stage requires distinctive decision maker roles, information, and methods.

Canada↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Health planning as social evolution.

Failure to actively plan the health care system has permitted many problems to develop and go uncorrected. However, the notion of a planned health system is out of fashion. In this essay, a rationale is offered that defends a return to development of a planned system. A view of an evolving health system is presented that might be characterized as organic or sociobiological. Drawing from the work of theorists who have applied evolution theory to social science, the author discusses the main elements of a more organized health system and the policy changes required to achieve it. This extension of the theory of evolution suggests that a planned system is more likely to survive environmental disruption. Finally, changes in the roles of planners are suggested.

Biological Evolution↗
PubMed2005

Women, men and coronary heart disease: a review of the qualitative literature.

AIM: This paper presents a review of the qualitative literature which examines the experiences of patients with coronary heart disease. The paper also assesses whether the experiences of both female and male patients are reflected in the literature and summarizes key themes. BACKGROUND: Understanding patients' experiences of their illness is important for coronary heart disease prevention and education. Qualitative methods are particularly suited to eliciting patients' detailed understandings and perceptions of illness. As much previous research has been 'gender neutral', this review pays particular attention to gender. METHODS: Published papers from 60 qualitative studies were identified for the review through searches in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PREMEDLINE, PsychINFO, Social Sciences Citation Index and Web of Science using keywords related to coronary heart disease. FINDINGS: Early qualitative studies of patients with coronary heart disease were conducted almost exclusively with men, and tended to generalize from 'male' experience to 'human' experience. By the late 1990s this pattern had changed, with the majority of studies including women and many being conducted with solely female samples. However, many studies that include both male and female coronary heart disease patients still do not have a specific gender focus. Key themes in the literature include interpreting symptoms and seeking help, belief about coronary 'candidates' and relationships with health professionals. The influence of social roles is important: many female patients have difficulties reconciling family responsibilities and medical advice, while male patients worry about being absent from work. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need for studies that compare the experiences of men and women. There is also an urgent need for work that takes masculinity and gender roles into account when exploring the experiences of men with coronary heart disease.

Coronary Disease↗
PubMed2000

Historical and cultural roots of drinking problems among American Indians.

Roots of the epidemic of alcohol-related problems among many Native North Americans are sought in cultural responses to European arrival, the role of alcohol in frontier society, and colonial and postcolonial policies. Evidence from the historical record is considered within the framework of current social science. Initially, Native American's responses to alcohol were heavily influenced by the example of White frontiersmen, who drank immoderately and engaged in otherwise unacceptable behavior while drunk. Whites also deliberately pressed alcohol upon the natives because it was an immensely profitable trade good; in addition, alcohol was used as a tool of "diplomacy" in official dealings between authorities and natives. The authors argue that further research into the origins of modern indigenous people's problems with alcohol would benefit from an interdisciplinary "determinants of health" approach in which biological influences on alcohol problems are investigated in the context of the cultural, social, and economic forces that have shaped individual and group drinking patterns.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed2005

Reminiscence therapy for dementia.

BACKGROUND: Reminiscence Therapy (RT) involves the discussion of past activities, events and experiences with another person or group of people, usually with the aid of tangible prompts such as photographs, household and other familiar items from the past, music and archive sound recordings. Reminiscence groups typically involve group meetings in which participants are encouraged to talk about past events at least once a week. Life review typically involves individual sessions, in which the person is guided chronologically through life experiences, encouraged to evaluate them, and may produce a life story book. Family care-givers are increasingly involved in reminiscence therapy. Reminiscence therapy is one of the most popular psychosocial interventions in dementia care, and is highly rated by staff and participants. There is some evidence to suggest it is effective in improving mood in older people without dementia. Its effects on mood, cognition and well-being in dementia are less well understood. OBJECTIVES: The objective of the review is to assess the effects of reminiscence therapy for older people with dementia and their care-givers. SEARCH STRATEGY: The trials were identified from a search of the Specialised Register of the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group on 4 May 2004 using the term "reminiscence". The CDCIG Specialized Register contains records from all major health care databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycLIT, CINAHL) and many ongoing trials databases and is regularly updated. We contacted specialists in the field and also searched relevant Internet sites. We hand-searched Aging and Mental Health, the Gerontologist, Journal of Gerontology, Current Opinion in Psychiatry, Current Research in Britain: Social Sciences, British Psychological Society conference proceedings and Reminiscence database. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials and quasi-randomized trials of reminiscence therapy for dementia. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed trial quality. MAIN RESULTS: Five trials are included in the review, but only four trials with a total of 144 participants had extractable data. The results were statistically significant for cognition (at follow-up), mood (at follow-up) and on a measure of general behavioural function (at the end of the intervention period). The improvement on cognition was evident in comparison with both no treatment and social contact control conditions. Care-giver strain showed a significant decrease for care-givers participating in groups with their relative with dementia, and staff knowledge of group members' backgrounds improved significantly. No harmful effects were identified on the outcome measures reported. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Whilst four suitable randomized controlled trials looking at reminiscence therapy for dementia were found, several were very small studies, or were of relatively low quality, and each examined different types of reminiscence work. Although there are a number of promising indications, in view of the limited number and quality of studies, the variation in types of reminiscence work reported and the variation in results between studies, the review highlights the urgent need for more and better designed trials so that more robust conclusions may be drawn.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Ideas as art. Interview by Dane Cutu.

Three years ago, consultants Laurence Prusak and Thomas H. Davenport asked prominent management thinkers to name their gurus and reported the results in HBR. James G. March appeared on more lists than any other person except Peter Drucker. A professor emeritus in management, sociology, political science, and education at Stanford University, March has taught courses in subjects as diverse as organizational psychology, behavioral economics, leadership, rules for killing people, friendship, computer simulation, and statistics. He is perhaps best known for his pioneering contributions to organization and management theory. March's accomplishments in that field, and in many others, have conferred on him an almost unprecedented reputation as a rigorous scholar and a deep source of wisdom. As University of Chicago professor John Padgett wrote in the journal Contemporary Sociology, "March's influence, unlike that of any of his peers, is not limited to any possible subset of the social science disciplines; it is pervasive." March approaches thought aesthetically; he cares that ideas have "some form of elegance or grace or surprise." His poetic sensibility can be felt in the metaphors he has created over the years--the "garbage can theory" of organizational choice, for instance, and the "hot-stove effect" in learning. In this edited interview with HBR senior editor Diane Coutu, March shares his thinking on aesthetics, leadership, the role of folly, and the irrelevance of relevance when it comes to the pursuit of ideas. He also comments on the fundamental differences between academic and experiential knowledge, underscoring the need for both.

Commerce↗
PubMed1998

Marilyn Schlitz, PhD. On consciousness, causation, and evolution. Interview by Bonnie Horrigan.

Marilyn Schlitz is an anthropologist and director of research for the Institute of Noetic Sciences, where she develops and oversees research in three areas: emerging worldviews, inner mechanisms of the healing response, and extended human abilities. Before working for the Institute of Noetic Sciences, she was director of the Esalen Center for the Theory and Research Working Group on Direct Mental and Healing Interactions on Living Systems; a research associate in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Trinity University in Texas; an assistant research scientist at the Agricultural Research Station and Department of Rural Sociology at Texas A & M University; and a research associate and project director for the Mind Science Foundation. Dr Schlitz also has worked as a research consultant for the Stanford Research Institute and as a research fellow for the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man at the Institute for Parapsychology. She has taught at many universities and colleges, including work as a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Stanford, and as an instructor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Trinity University. In 1994 she received the Thomas Welton Stanford Psychical Research Fellowship. She received her doctoral degree in anthropology from the University of Texas in 1992 and her master's degree in behavioral and social sciences in 1986, also from the University of Texas. Dr Schlitz has published numerous papers and book chapters on the topic of parapsychology. She speaks nationally and is involved with many research projects exploring the relationship between consciousness and the outer world.

Biological Evolution↗
PubMed2003

Socio-cultural deterrents to family planning practices among Swazi women.

To investigate deterrents to family planning practices among Swazi women, 205 structured interviews were conducted with conveniently selected women in the four geographical regions of Swaziland. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse data. These results revealed that cultural practices, religious beliefs, gender issues and health care practices were the main barriers to the use of contraceptives among Swazi women. Recommendations were suggested regarding the education of men, women, adolescents and the entire society about contraceptive practices.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMedDate not supplied

An investigation of potential time effects in retrospective reports of cocaine relapses.

Retrospective reports are widely used in social science research, such as studies of the relapse process. There is evidence, however, that such reports can be affected by a number of factors, including the passage of time. The goal of this study was to determine whether retrospective reports of cocaine relapses were influenced by the amount of time that had elapsed between the onset of the relapse and when the relapse interview was administered. A structured cocaine relapse interview was used to gather information on experiences prior to relapse and attributions for relapse. Evidence of linear and/or nonlinear time effects was found in two of the six subscales assessing experiences prior to relapse (Social Pressure to Use Drugs and Sensation Seeking), and there was evidence of logarithmic time effects in four of the six subscales that assessed attributions for relapses. These findings indicate that the amount of time between the onset of a relapse and when the subject is interviewed can influence reports of experiences prior to relapse and attributions for relapse. However, the magnitude of the time effects was generally small.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

The influence of economic business cycles on United States suicide rates.

A number of social science investigators have shown that a downturn in the economy leads to an increase in the suicide rate. However, the previous works on the subject are flawed by the fact that they employ years as their temporal unit of analysis. This time period is so large that it makes it difficult for investigators to precisely determine the length of the lag effect, while at the same time removing the autocorrelation effects. Also, although most works on suicide and the business cycle employ unemployment as a measure of a downturn in the business cycle, the average duration of unemployment represents a better measure for determining the social impact of an economic downturn. From 1947 to 1977 the average monthly duration of unemployment is statistically related to the suicide rate using multivariate time-series analysis. From 1910 to 1939 the Ayres business index, a surrogate measure for movement in the business cycle, is statistically related to the monthly suicide rate. An examination of the findings confirms that in most cases a downturn in the economy causes an increase in the suicide rate.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2003

All gifts large and small: toward an understanding of the ethics of pharmaceutical industry gift-giving.

Much attention has been focused in recent years on the ethical acceptability of physicians receiving gifts from drug companies. Professional guidelines recognize industry gifts as a conflict of interest and establish thresholds prohibiting the exchange of large gifts while expressly allowing for the exchange of small gifts such as pens, note pads, and coffee. Considerable evidence from the social sciences suggests that gifts of negligible value can influence the behavior of the recipient in ways the recipient does not always realize. Policies and guidelines that rely on arbitrary value limits for gift-giving or receipt should be reevaluated.

American Medical Association↗
PubMed1999

Cigarette smoking among native and foreign-born African Americans.

PURPOSE: To examine differences in current smoking status and the number of cigarettes consumed daily between foreign and native-born African Americans, and the impact of demographic and socioeconomic status (SES) factors on smoking behavior. METHODS: Data were obtained from combining the 1990-1994 National Health Interview Surveys and consisted of 16,738 U.S. born and foreign-born African Americans between 18 and 64 years of age. The statistical analysis included cross-tabulations and weighted multiple logistic regression (MLR) using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and the Survey Data Analysis (SUDAAN) computer programs. RESULTS: Adjusted MLR analysis revealed that native-born African Americans were more likely (odds ratio (OR) = 2.7, p < 0.001) to be current smokers than foreign-born blacks. Within the native-born group, smoking prevalence decreased with increasing education and income, but these associations were not found for foreign-born blacks. Women in both groups were less likely than men to be current smokers. Statistically significant differences were not found between the two groups in the number of cigarettes smoked per day. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis of nativity and smoking behavior further demonstrates the social diversity among African Americans and suggests the differential impact of social and cultural factors on smoking behavior within racially classified social groups. In areas where there are substantial numbers of foreign-born blacks, researchers should consider differentiating smoking status by nativity. Though differences in smoking prevalence were apparent for native and foreign-born American Americans, prevention and cessation programs are needed for both groups.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Getting critical with children: empowering approaches with a disempowered group.

The study of children and childhood has historically been accorded a marginal place in the health, human, and social sciences. In part, this is due to prevailing Western ideology that constructs children as passive, presocial, innocent, and vulnerable. The dominant discourse is further characterized by the treatment of children as a homogeneous group, devoid of race, class, or gender. While many investigators have described strategies for the conduct of research that is situated in the interpretive paradigm, there has been no comparable articulation of ideas regarding the conduct of critically grounded research when our participants are children. The purpose of this article is to put forth a historical and contextual analysis of childhood, including a discussion of evolving perspectives about childhood. The manner by which changing social, political, and environmental landscapes have contributed to the marginalization and disenfranchisement of children is examined. Finally, strategies for conducting nursing research that is grounded in the critical paradigmatic perspective, with the simultaneous aims of action, change, and empowerment, are proposed.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1992

Rationale for an integrated approach to genetic epidemiology.

CONCLUSION: Genetic knowledge is now in the public domain and its interpretation by the media and the citizens brings the issues into the public forum of discussion for the necessary ethical, legal and socio-cultural evaluation of its application. Science is being perceived by some as dangerous and as requiring international regulation. Others feel that genetic knowledge will be the breakthrough that will permit medical progress and individual autonomy with regards to personal health and lifestyle choices. The mapping of the human genome has already yielded valuable information on an increasing number of diseases and their variants. Prevailing popular and journalistic archetypes ("imaginaires") used in the media are perceived by the producers as slowing down the possible application of genetic knowledge. The answers to these dilemmas are not readily apparent nor are they prescribed by classical philosophy of medicine. Since genetic knowledge eventually resides with the individual who carries the genes of disease and/or susceptibility, a logical approach to integration of this knowledge at a societal level would seem to reside with individual education and decision-making. The politics of the ensuing social debate could transform the current social contract since an individual's interests need to be balanced against those of his or her immediate family in the sharing of information. The ethical foundations of such a contract requires the genetic education of "Everyone" as a matter of urgent priority. Genetic education should not serve ideological power struggles between the medical establishment and the ethical-legal alliance. Instead, it should ensure the transfer of knowledge to physicians, to patients, to users, to planners, to social science and humanities researchers and to politicians, so that they may make "informed" and free decisions....

Base Sequence↗