What is interdisciplinary communication? Reflections on the very idea of disciplinary integration

In this paper I attempt to answer the question: What is interdisciplinary communication? I attempt to answer this question, rather than what some might consider the ontologically prior question—what is interdisciplinarity (ID)?—for two reasons: (1) there is no generally agreed-upon definition of ID; and (2) one’s views regarding interdisciplinary communication have a normative relationship with one’s other views of ID, including one’s views of its very essence. I support these claims with reference to the growing literature on ID, which has a marked tendency to favor the idea that interdisciplinary communication entails some kind of ‘integration’. The literature on ID does not yet include very many philosophers, but we have something valuable to offer in addressing the question of interdisciplinary communication. Playing somewhat fast-and-loose with traditional categories of the subdisciplines of philosophy, I group some philosophers—mostly from the philosophy of science, social–political philosophy, and moral theory—and some non-philosophers together to provide three different, but related, answers to the question of interdisciplinary communication. The groups are as follows: (1) Habermas–Klein, (2) Kuhn–MacIntyre, and (3) Bataille–Lyotard. These groups can also be thought of in terms of the types of answers they give to the question of interdisciplinary communication, especially in terms of the following key words (where the numbers correspond to the groups from the previous sentence): (1) consensus, (2) incommensurability, and (3) invention.     

Associations between abstainer,moderate and heavy drinker prototypes and drinking behaviour in young adults

Objective: Previous research has focused mostly on abstainer and/or general drinker prototypes. The present studies examined an abstainer, moderate drinker and heavy drinker prototype in relation to drinking behaviour.

Design: Two studies among young adults aged 18–25 (paper-and-pencil, cross-sectional, N?=?140; online, prospective, N?=?451) assessed prototype favourability and participants’ perceived similarity to the prototypes. Participants were also categorised into abstainers, moderate, and heavy drinkers.

Results: Similarity and favourability had similar sequences in both studies: the moderate drinker and abstainer prototypes were evaluated most favourable and felt similar to; the heavy drinker prototype was rated the least favourable and felt similar to. Importantly, heavy drinking participants felt most similar to the moderate drinker prototype and rated the heavy drinker least desirable. The results suggest a need for research to include other prototypes, such as the moderate drinker, besides the abstainer and heavy drinker.

Conclusion: The studies provide insights into the contribution of alternative prototypes (i.e. moderate drinker) into the relationship between prototype perceptions and drinking behaviour. The results suggest tailoring prototype-based interventions according to drinking behaviour. Importantly, realistic perceived similarity to the more favourable moderate drinker prototype may therefore need to be encouraged only after appropriate reductions in heavy drinkers’ alcohol consumption.     

Prevalence of auditory hallucinations in Norwegian adolescents: Results from a population‐based study

Knowing the prevalence and characteristics of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in adolescents is important for estimations of need for mental health care and assessment of psychosis risk. In this report we assess the prevalence of AVH in a population‐based sample of 16–19 years old Norwegian adolescents (n = 9,646, 46.4% male) using two items assessing AVH (from the extended Launay‐Slade Hallucination Scale). The prevalence of hearing a voice speaking thoughts aloud was 10.6%. The prevalence of being troubled by voices was 5.3%, showing that negative emotionality about AVH is less frequent than the experience of hearing voices. Female respondents had slightly increased risk for being troubled by voices than males (odds ratio = 1.3), while age did not modulate prevalence. This AVH prevalence is in line with earlier reports in smaller samples of adolescents and indicates that AVH are not uncommon in this period of life. Further longitudinal studies are needed to investigate the value of AVH in predicting psychiatric disorder.     

Psychological and existential vulnerability among clinical young women: a quantitative comparison of depression-related subgroups

The objective was to explore psychological and existential vulnerability among clinical young women in Sweden. Females (n?=?53) with depression as the most common preliminary diagnosis were investigated through an online questionnaire. Included measures were Karolinska Scales of Personality, Self-concept, Strategies to Handle Negative Emotions, Sense of Coherence, and questions pertaining to existential meaning-making, including religious/spiritual belief. The sample was divided into High (n?=?35) and Low/Inter (n?=?18) groups according to scores on the anxiety- and depression-related personality scale Inhibition of aggression. Using independent samples t-test, the High group showed signs of significantly higher psychological and existential vulnerability than the Low/Inter group. Salutogenic factors being (1) coming from socially and societally engaged families and (2) being in a functional existential meaning-making process. The conclusion is that vulnerabilities in the psychological and existential domains are linked, especially in individuals high on depression-like aspects of personality. However, no significant differences for religion/spirituality were found. Treatment implications were addressed.     

Financial satisfaction and financial stressors in marital satisfaction

Using a sample of 310 married respondents from one U.S. Midwestern state, a test was conducted to examine the association of financial satisfaction and financial stressors in a spouse's decision to stay married to the same person or leave the relationship. The role of demographic and socioeconomic variables, religiosity, psychological constructs, financial satisfaction, and financial stressors as factors influencing marital satisfaction was tested. Financial stressors were measured using a list of financial stressors adapted from the literature. Financial satisfaction was measured with a one-item scale. The Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale was used as a validation tool to assess whether individuals would marry or not marry again. Religiosity and financial satisfaction were positively associated with marital satisfaction. A negative interaction between financial satisfaction and financial stressors was also noted. Findings suggest that respondents who are financially satisfied tend to be more stable in their marriages.     

Spatial probability cuing and right hemisphere damage

In this experiment we studied statistical learning, inter-trial priming, and visual attention. We assessed healthy controls and right brain damaged (RBD) patients with and without neglect, on a simple visual discrimination task designed to measure priming effects and probability learning. All participants showed a preserved priming effect for item color. Contrary to healthy controls and RBD participants without neglect, RBD participants with neglect did not show positional priming and both RBD groups learned the underlying spatial probability distribution of target locations to a lesser degree. To see if the latter deficiency could be improved, we tested a patient with long standing chronic spatial neglect on three separate days and observed improved identification times for left sided, high probability, targets. In summary, we found preservation of priming per se in people with spatial neglect. However, this was only clearly demonstrable for color priming and not for positional priming. Associated with this impairment was a difficulty in learning the overall statistical structure of target locations. In a patient with severe persistent neglect we were able to demonstrate that the deficit in statistical learning was not absolute, as this subject improved his identification times for targets appearing in high probability regions of the test display.     

THE OUTCOME OF SHORT‐TERM PSYCHODYNAMIC ART THERAPY COMPARED TO SHORT‐TERM PSYCHODYNAMIC VERBAL THERAPY FOR DEPRESSED WOMEN

The primary aim of this randomized controlled clinical trial was to compare the outcome from two types of short‐term psychodynamic psychotherapy. The participants were thirty‐nine women with depression. Half of the participants (n = 18) received art psychotherapy and the other half received verbal psychotherapy (n = 21). Data was collected before and after psychotherapy, and at a 3‐month follow‐up using self‐rating scales and interviewer‐based ratings. Results showed that art and verbal psychotherapies were comparable, and at follow‐up, the average participant in both groups had few depressive symptoms and stress‐related symptoms. The conclusion was that short‐term psychodynamic art therapy could be a valuable treatment for depressed women.     

Job Demands and Resources among Healthcare Professionals during Virus Pandemics: A Review and Examination of Fluctuations in Mental Health Strain during COVID-19

The present article examines how job demands and resources are related to indices of strain among healthcare professionals during virus pandemics. The article also presents the results of a study examining the relationships between COVID-19 demands (e.g., lack of personal protective equipment, concerns about infecting family members), resources (meaningful work, social support), and mental health strain within a sample of emergency medicine personnel over six consecutive weeks. COVID-19-related demands and hours worked were hypothesized to be positively related to mental health strain, whereas meaningful work and social support were hypothesized to be negatively related to mental health strain. Hours worked the prior week were hypothesized to exacerbate the positive relationships between COVID-19 demands and mental health strain, whereas the resources of meaningful work and social support were expected to buffer the relationships. Multilevel models controlling for mental health strain the prior week revealed that COVID-19 demands, along with hours worked, were each related to higher mental health strain during the week. Hours worked magnified the within-person relationship between personal COVID-19 demands and mental health strain. In contrast to the hypotheses, social support and meaningful work were not related to mental health strain. Discussion focuses on the implications of the findings for healthcare professionals.