Mindfulness as a concept and a process

The use of mindfulness meditation as a therapeutic intervention has been strongly promoted in the last few years. to date there has been limited opportunity for open discussion and sharing of knowledge in relation to theory, practice or outcomes. The purpose of this paper was to provide psychologists with an understanding of the theoretical underpinning and evidence base for incorporating mindfulness practice into their lives and work. Primarily, mindfulness is presented as a cognitive style that facilitates development of a heightened sense of awareness of thought processes and emotions, and utilisation of this awareness to cultivate the ability to engage actively in being rather than reacting or doing. Further, it is noted that the learning of mindfulness meditation is believed to empower the individual to find release from depressive rumination, anxiety and stress in their lives. Current limitations, potential implications and contraindications of utilising mindfulness meditative practice are also discussed.     

Confidentiality: a survey in a research hospital

Despite the many justifications for protecting patient confidentiality, we recognize that confidentiality cannot be absolute. Our world of automated information and easy access and storage poses many threats to confidentiality. This paper has described a survey conducted at the NIH Clinical Center to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of clinical physicians and nurses about confidentiality of patient information. The survey findings demonstrate the need for reminders and increased awareness about confidentiality in our setting. Most of the survey respondents had a good knowledge of what was expected of them, and they believed that confidentiality was important and maintaining it was their responsibility. Of interest was that in several simulated clinical situations, there was a discrepancy between what respondents indicated they should do and what they thought they would do. The biggest discrepancies appeared in situations that involved overhearing a patient conversation on the elevator, approaching an unfamiliar person who is reading a medical record in the nurses' station, and answering a patient's inquiry about the status of another patient. The findings support the speculation that this difference may be attributed to discomfort or decreased awareness, and not necessarily to lack of knowledge. Results indicate that policies and administrative expectations should be frequently communicated and enforced, and that educational programs that address issues of confidentiality should be provided. The results of this survey have been influential in guiding educational strategies and administrative activities at the clinical center. The clinical center initiated a confidentiality awareness campaign, displaying a new poster every three months in strategic locations and distributing other tangible reminders (such as pens, magnets, and buttons) containing the same confidentiality message.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Planning a reader-oriented strategy for a publishing company: a case study

Scientific research in the sector of press readability and specifically magazines is not particularly extensive. This paper suggests a framework for the development of strategic decisions based on reader satisfaction measurements. The methodology is illustrated through a real-world application, i.e. customer-oriented strategy planning for the leading monthly IT magazine in Greece. This study implements the MUSA (Multicriteria Satisfaction Analysis) method to evaluate reader satisfaction, in order to support the editor in making decisions while planning his editorial strategy. Reader satisfaction was analysed based on a tree containing seven main criteria and 32 sub-criteria. Readers proved to be very satisfied and non-demanding, which results in narrower margins for efficient improvement suggestions. However, the evaluation of the MUSA results led to putting forward suggestions that could support the editor in making amendment decisions. Some of these suggestions were successfully implemented within the scope of a new strategy. This revealed the need for two separate editions, an IT magazine for pupils and students as well as an IT magazine focused on women. The decision maker received suggestions on what these new publications' features should be, deriving from the study's quantitative results. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using a self-evaluation system as a group contingency

The efficacy of a group-evaluation system was examined, with a reversal design, in two classes of students with disabilities. The results suggested that a group-evaluation system was effective in decreasing the inappropriate verbalizations of both groups. Student satisfaction data revealed that the students in both groups had positive reactions to the system. Factors contributing to the success of the intervention as well as suggestions for its implementation are discussed.     

Creating proactive interference in immediate recall: Building a DOG from a DART, a mop, and a FIG

Phonemic codes are accorded a privileged role in most current models of immediate serial recall, although their effects are apparent in short-term proactive interference (PI) effects as well. The present research looks at how assumptions concerning distributed representation and distributed storage involving both semantic and phonemic codes might be operationalized to produce PI in a short-term cued recall task. The four experiments reported here attempted to generate the phonemic characteristics of a nonrhyming, interfering foil from unrelated filler items in the same list. PI was observed when a rhyme of the foil was studied or when the three phonemes of the foil were distributed across three studied filler items. The results suggest that items in short-term memory are stored in terms of feature bundles and that all items are simultaneously available at retrieval.     

Women's association raises a community from a slum

The impact of post-British colonialism in Jinja, Uganda, is examined, with particular emphasis being given to the involvement of the Masese Women's Association in revival efforts in Jinja, Uganda has gone through periods of political upheaval resulting from civil strife during Idi Amin's rule in 1971-78. Refugees had started to squat in the "Masese" slum area and were experiencing destitute poverty and unemployment. In response to such conditions, citizens, governments, and nongovernmental organizations, in association with the Masese Women's Association, engaged in an effort called the Masese Women's Self Help Projects with the aim of bringing about a change in the way of life for the people in Jinja, Uganda. A Housing and Human Settlement Upgrading Program was created to establish a settlement and credit plan that would enable women to acquire secure land tenure and production materials for housing. The project also developed a community infrastructure for employment, health, and education services. The women's organization encountered many obstacles in the realization of these housing and settlement projects, among them illiteracy and traditional thinking and practices of the kind that have confined Ugandan women to the private sphere.     

Caveats on a process-tracing measure and a remedy

In process-tracing studies, a frequently used index describes whether information selection behavior is attribute — or alternativewise. The performance of this index is investigated under the assumption that subjects select information in a random fashion. The results show that the index may lead to inaccurate conclusions regarding the information-acquisition strategy of a subject. In addition, a Monte Carlo study is conducted that examines the sensitivity of the index to strategy changes. An alternative index is derived and a latent-class model is proposed for a parsimonious representation of individual differences in information acquisition.     

Toward a Psychological Science for a Cultural Species

ABSTRACT— Humans are a cultural species, and the study of human psychology benefits from attention to cultural influences. Cultural psychology's contributions to psychological science can largely be divided according to the two different stages of scientific inquiry. Stage 1 research seeks cultural differences and establishes the boundaries of psychological phenomena. Stage 2 research seeks underlying mechanisms of those cultural differences. The literatures regarding these two distinct stages are reviewed, and various methods for conducting Stage 2 research are discussed. The implications of culture-blind and multicultural psychologies for society and intergroup relations are also discussed.     

The Autobiography of an Activist with a Small a

This article explores the dynamic sequence that typifies the attempts of activists. The premise followed is that the dynamics of activism on a large scale and a small scale are similar. The examples used are the author’s history of activism with a small a.     

The impact of a stillbirth on a marriage

The crippling consequences on family life of the failure to mourn a stillbirth adequately are demonstrated in a vulnerable couple. They were helped by brief, planned, focal, conjoint marital psychotherapy which is described.     

Becoming a client, becoming a practitioner: student narratives of a dance movement therapy group

This paper documents one of several themes arising from a larger research study which invited trainees' views on their experience in a weekly, 2 year, dance movement therapy (DMT) personal development group. This group formed part of their post-graduate training. The study used a phenomenological, grounded theory and collaborative methodology followed by an interpretive framework. The research sought to discover participants' views on the experience of this personal development group in relation to their clinical practice with DMT groups during and following their training (the latter is not the subject of this paper). The study identifies a gap in the literature on trainee experience, particularly in relation to group process. Following a brief introduction and overview of methodology employed, the theme entitled 'becoming a client, becoming a practitioner' is presented, as it manifested for the students in the DMT group over time. The personal development component of therapists' training is directly relevant to most counselling/psychotherapy and arts therapies practitioners; consequently, the study has broader implications.     

Wear behaviour of a gradient surface produced by a punching process in a Cu-30 Ni alloy

The grain size variation in a gradient surface produced by a punching and recovery process on a Cu-30Ni alloy has been observed by atomic force microscopy. The friction characteristics of the gradient surface in a 3.5 wt% NaCl solution were investigated using a micro-indenter probe, a pin-on-disc type tribometer, a strain sensor and an optical microscope. The results showed that the hardness and grain size can be well represented by the Hall–Petch relationship when the gain size is more than 30?nm. The wear rate, friction coefficient and adhesive force all increase depth below the surface. These variations are attributed to a gradual increasing grain size with depth. The morphologies of the worn track were also studied to understand further the corrosive wear behaviour of gradient surfaces.     

Psychoanalysis of a patient who received a kidney transplant

A young man who had glomorulonephritis at age five was treated psychotherapeutically for an anxiety neurosis with phobic and obsessional features. He was referred for psychoanalysis at a time when he was approaching kidney failure, but was referred back for more psychotherapy with the possibility of future psychoanalysis. He underwent renal dialysis and then received a kidney transplant from a brother. The psychoneurosis became worse, and a psychoanalysis was begun about one year after the transplant operation. The clinical report illustrates the developmental effects of the childhood illness, as well as the patient's response to the adult treatment and the renal transplant. Nonanalytic observations by others on renal dialysis and transplant patients are reviewed and compared with the findings in this analysis. The psychoanalysis of a renal transplant patient is feasible if other indications for analysis are present. A previously unreported finding is the problem of changing a lifetime adaptation from illness to relative health. This involved the analysis of the narcissistic conflicts of the oedipal stage of development as well as the preoedipal maternal transference.     

Healthcare access as a right, not a privilege: a construct of Western thought

Over 45 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured. Those living in poverty exhibit the worst health status. Employment, education, income, and race are important factors in a person's ability to acquire healthcare access. Having established that there are people lacking healthcare access due to multi-factorial etiologies, the question arises as to whether the intervention necessary to assist them in obtaining such access should be considered a privilege, or a right. The right to healthcare access is examined from the perspective of Western thought. Specifically through the works of Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Paine, Hannah Arendt, James Rawls, and Norman Daniels, which are accompanied by a contemporary example of intervention on behalf of the medically needy by the The Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute.     

The adolescent with a learning disability: a developmental perspective

The psychosocial difficulties that usually accompany learning disabilities are examined from a framework of developmental theory, particularly that of Erik Erikson. The implications of this perspective for treatment of adolescents with learning problems is discussed, and a specific program described.     

Dynamic equilibrium on a cyclic-interval schedule with a ramp

Five human subjects pressed a panel for money on a cyclic-interval schedule that arranged recurring periods of linearly increasing reinforcement rates (ramps). Response rate versus time functions for all subjects showed recurring periods of linearly increasing response rates. The responding of four of the five subjects was in phase with the reinforcement input. The remaining subject showed a two-minute phase shift. These results suggest that organisms may act like simple amplifiers on cyclic-interval schedules, that is, the form of the input signal is not changed by the organism, but is returned with amplification. By analogy with the variable-interval case, the controlling variable on cyclic-interval schedules with rate ramps may be the constant reinforcement acceleration that is arranged by the schedule.     

Launching a Dream to Foster a New Consciousness

I had an unexpected encounter on a far island off the coast of Australia with a group of young people. These young people wanted to escape from the modern world and they inspired my conviction: that we must do our best to reshape our world and make it a place acceptable for the younger generation. I realized that it is the dominant consciousness of an epoch that creates the structures and the practices of an epoch. We must now address the task of evolving or co-evolving our world's dominant consciousness. The fear and insecurity produced by this current dominant consciousness has created humanity's current sad condition. The Giordano Bruno GlobalShift University declares its mission to be a “state of the art” global institution. It has the clear-cut objective of fostering a new consciousness, defeating ignorance, and providing an affordable world-class education that permits economically less privileged people to take an active part in the construction of a better world. Our first tenet is the bio-epistemological “non- subordinate” horizontal model of education. This tenet is joined with our commitment to a cross-cultural social, interdisciplinary, and stereo-cognitive interaction-based academic platform. It is a platform that can empower young people to attain an innovative holistic view of the world and of themselves.     

Privacy as a value and as a right

Conclusions Knowledge of others, then, has value; so does immunity from being known. The ability to extend one's knowledge has value; so does the ability to limit other's knowledge of oneself. I have claimed that no interest can count as a right unless it clearly outweighs opposing interests whose presence is logically entailed. I see no way to establish that my interest in not being known, simply as such, outweighs your desire to know about me. I acknowledge the intuitive attractiveness of such a position; but my earlier discussion concluded that the value of privacy is ease, and the value of knowledge is understanding - and it's not obvious that either outweighs the other. Nor is it obvious that the freedom and autonomy which result from the power to limit what others know is more significant than the freedom and autonomy which result from the power to extend one's knowledge. I believe the intuitive attractiveness of the belief that privacy values outweigh knowledge values lies in the entirely correct belief that a society without any privacy would be unpleasant. But a society without mutual knowledge would be impossible.I conclude therefore that there is no right to privacy nor to control over it. Nevertheless, each of these things is a good, and a good made possible (given the presence of other people) by social structures. A desirable society will provide both privacy and control over privacy to some extent. Nothing in my analysis helps determine what the proper extent is, nor what areas of life particularly deserve protection. Those who would argue that privacy and control over it are entailed by respect for persons should, I think, choose instead some particular areas central to being a person, to counting as a person, and then show how one is less likely to exercise one's capacities there fully without privacy or without control over it. Although Gerstein's attempt fails because he inaccurately defines intimacy as a kind of absorption and incorrectly opposes absorption with publicity, I think it is the kind of attempt which must be made. Furthermore, he has probably chosen the right area of life - if anything has a special claim to privacy it is probably the union between people who care for one another. The value of being together alone may be more significant than the value of being alone, if only because words and actions are public while thoughts are not. But I will not try to develop that argument here.In any case both privacy and control over it are social goods; on egalitarian grounds they should, ceteris paribus, be equally available to everyone. This helps explain the dehumanizing effect of institutions which provide no privacy at all- prisons and some mental institutions. It is not so much that the inmates are totally known; it is rather that those who know them are not so fully known by them; further, that the staff has a great deal of control over what they disclose of themselves, and the inmates very little. The asymmetry of knowledge in those institutions is one aspect of the asymmetry of power; the completely powerless are likely to feel dehumanized.My analysis also helps account for the wrongness of covert observation. It is not simply that the observer violates the wishes of the observed, for the question is whose wishes trump. The observer is violating the justified expectations of the observed: expectations supported by weighty social conventions. These have more moral weight than simple desires do. The peeping torn is violating a convention which structures the distribution of knowledge, a convention from which he benefits. Without it his own activities might well be impossible. He might be more easily caught; or his victim, less trusting, might choose houses without windows. More deeply, the thrill of what he is doing depends on the existence of the convention. Even morally permissible excitement - the suggestiveness of some clothing- would disappear without conventions about nudity. Presumably, too, there are elements of his own personal life for which he values his privacy. He is on grounds of justice obligated to observe the rule which makes his benefits possible.(Some claims to privacy result from personal predilections, rather than from convention. Parent describes a person who is extremely sensitive about being short, for instance, and does not want his exact height to be common knowledge. The grounds for these claims are obviously different from those I've been discussing. The grounds are the moral obligation not to cause needless pain, or, if the information was given in confidence, to keep one's promises.)Although there is no right to privacy or to control over it as such, there is a right to equality of consideration and to a just distribution of benefits and burdens. To put it another way: there is no natural human right to privacy or to control over it; but a good society will provide some of each, and justice requires that the rules of a good society be observed.

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Constructing a past in infancy: a neuro-developmental account

The ability to recall the past is fundamental yet until relatively recently, infants were assumed to lack the capacity. Contrary to this perspective, non-verbal tests indicate that developments in recall are well underway by late in the first year of life; by the end of the second year, long-term recall is reliable and robust. New research combining electrophysiological and behavioral measures is identifying the loci of age-related changes: they are attributed to more effective and efficient encoding, consolidation and storage processes associated with developments in the temporal-cortical network that subserves recall. The emerging framework, which applies to episodic and autobiographical memory, highlights the essential developmental continuities in memory from infancy onwards and sheds new light on the phenomenon of childhood amnesia.     

Standardization of a Spirituality Scale with a South African Sample

The study reports on the psychometric properties of a Spirituality Scale developed in the USA in a South African setting. Respondents were 218 women and 84 men with a mean age of 25.54 years and an age range from 17 to 85 years. The majority (70%) were isiZulu speakers. Factor analyses suggested a multidimensional structure, consisting of three factors, labelled perennial spirituality, respect and purpose. The scores from the scale were moderately reliable in their internal consistency. A shortened 12-item Spirituality Scale (SS-12) has potential for research use in South Africa.