When You Care Enough to Do Your Very Best: Genetic Counselor Experiences of Compassion Fatigue

Compassion fatigue is a phenomenon that occurs when a caregiver feels overwhelmed by repeated empathic engagement with distressed clients (Figley, 2002). Research demonstrates its existence among nurses, physicians, and mental health professionals, but to date no published study has specifically investigated the nature and prevalence of compassion fatigue among genetic counselors. The present study was an initial attempt to identify and describe the phenomena in genetic counseling by conducting focus group interviews with 12 genetic counselors. Data analysis yielded several themes: a) compassion fatigue occurs and may compromise professional and personal functioning; b) prevalent triggers include delivering bad news and difficult patient issues (e.g., terminal illness, anger, psychopathology); c) effective coping strategies include consulting with colleagues, setting boundaries, and humor; and d) risk factors include personality characteristics and traumatic memories. Training, practice, and research recommendations are provided.     

Answer comparison in automated question answering

In the context of Question Answering (QA) on free text, we assess the value of answer comparison and information fusion in handling multiple answers. We report improvements in answer re-ranking using fusion on a set of location questions and show the advantages of considering candidates as allies rather than competitors. We conclude with some observations about answer modeling and evaluation methodology, arising from a more recent experiment with a larger set of questions and a greater diversity of question types and candidates.     

Dispositional motivations and message framing: a test of the congruency hypothesis in college students.

The authors examined the congruency hypothesis that health messages framed to be concordant with dispositional motivations will be most effective in promoting health behaviors. Undergraduate students (N=63) completed a measure of approach/avoidance orientation (behavioral activation/inhibition system) and read a gain- or loss-framed message promoting flossing. Results support the congruency hypothesis: When given a loss-framed message, avoidance-oriented people reported flossing more than approach-oriented people, and when given a gain-framed message, approach-oriented people reported flossing more than avoidance-oriented people. Discussion centers on implications for health interventions and the route by which dispositional motivations affect health behaviors through message framing.     

Cross-examination of the expert witness: Do hostile tactics affect impressions of a simulated jury?

Ninety-one introductory psychology students viewed a videotape of a simulated personal damage trial in which a psychologist expert witness testified about a plaintiff's psychological problems resulting from trauma. The defense attorney's cross-examination tactics, employed against the expert witness, were varied in the videotape. A 2 × 2 factorial design was used, with leading versus nonleading questions and a hostile versus nonhostile attorney. An interaction effect was obtained, in which a hostile attorney using leading questions and a nonhostile attorney using nonleading questions were perceived as least effective.     

Characteristics of male partners of adult female incest survivors

The interpersonal style of male partners of adult female incest survivors was investigated. Two groups of men (partners of incest survivors, n=30; and a control group, n=30) completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire. A multivariate analysis of variance failed to support clinically-based hypotheses (a) that partners of incest survivors would exhibit a greater sense of entitlement in interpersonal relationships and (b) that a larger number of men abused in childhood would be in relationship with incest survivors than those not abused. Results point to a need for further controlled quantitative studies of the characteristics of male partners of female incest survivors. This article is based on the Master's Thesis of the first author submitted to the Graduate School of Texas Woman's University.     

Porn Revisited

In this paper I will revisit the debate over pornography by doing three things: (a) I will suggest a more sophisticated, two-dimensional set of distinctions between positons in the debate; (b) I will then go on to attack both libertarians and the group I call "repressive feminists"; and (c) I will conclude by suggesting that by means of Hume's theory of sympathy we could support a limited form of censorship to bring women more fully into our moral and political community. I turn first to the labors of definition.