Addressing complex hospital discharge by cultivating the virtues of acknowledged dependence

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - Every day around the country, patients are discharged from hospitals without difficulty, as the interests of the hospital and the patient tend to align: both...     

Quality of Life in Women Following Various Surgeries of Body Manipulation: Organ Transplantation, Mastectomy, and Breast Reconstruction

This study aimed to determine biopsychosocial differences (anxious-depressive symptomatology and quality of life) among three groups of patients who underwent surgical interventions related to body manipulation, as well as to assess the clinical significance of these results versus reference values. Four groups were compared: women who underwent organ transplant (n = 26), mastectomy for breast cancer (n = 36), breast reconstruction (n = 36), and general population (n = 608). The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the EORTC QLQ-C30 were used. Women who underwent mastectomy showed the highest anxious-depressive symptomatology and quality-of-life impairment in comparison to the remaining groups, and they also displayed the most clinically significant deterioration in the majority of dimensions (large effect sizes). In contrast, the group with implantation of a healthy organ (transplantation) only showed higher biopsychosocial impairment than the group with reconstruction of an organ (breast reconstruction) in gastrointestinal dysfunctions and in the global self-perception of health.     

Mental health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and heterosexual siblings: effects of gender, sexual orientation, and family

Self-identified lesbian, gay male, and bisexual (LGB) individuals were recruited via convenience sampling, and they in turn recruited their siblings (79% heterosexual, 19% LGB). The resulting sample of 533 heterosexual, 558 lesbian or gay male, and 163 bisexual participants was compared on mental health variables and their use of mental health services. Multilevel modeling analyses revealed that sexual orientation predicted suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, self-injurious behavior, use of psychotherapy, and use of psychiatric medications over and above the effects of family adjustment. Sexual orientation was unrelated to current psychological distress, psychiatric hospitalizations, and self-esteem. This is the 1st study to model family effects on the mental health of LGB participants and their siblings.     

Taken with Surprise: Critical Incidents in Teaching

Abstract. This collection of essays tackles thorny questions related to critical incidents in teaching. By using different pedagogical methods and techniques, each author provokes creative thinking about how to address specific concerns common to teaching. The authors demonstrate that the teaching and learning process must make room for – if not celebrate – the surprises that happen not only to the students, but to the teachers as well. The discussion of critical incidents helps to promote reflection on teaching practice and prompt insights into the intricate dynamics shaping the increasingly diverse learning community. Each individual essay is accompanied by reflection questions that can be used to spark conversation among colleagues and/or prompt further personal reflection on teaching and learning.     

Considerations for an Inclusive Global Theological Education

This article considers the role of theological education in developing the ministry of the church and the need for it to be relevant to the realities and needs of the people it is to serve. The article considers three factors – racism, imperialism, and tribalism – that influence theological education in different ways. It then turns to a consideration of African‐American womanist theology and African women's theology – as reflected in the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians – and the similarities between these two approaches as expressions of liberation theology and their relevance for inclusive global theological education.     

Apes' use of iconic cues in the object-choice task

In previous studies great apes have shown little ability to locate hidden food using a physical marker placed by a human directly on the target location. In this study, we hypothesized that the perceptual similarity between an iconic cue and the hidden reward (baited container) would help apes to infer the location of the food. In the first two experiments, we found that if an iconic cue is given in addition to a spatial/indexical cue - e.g., picture or replica of a banana placed on the target location - apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, gorillas) as a group performed above chance. However, we also found in two further experiments that when iconic cues were given on their own without spatial/indexical information (iconic cue held up by human with no diagnostic spatial/indexical information), the apes were back to chance performance. Our overall conclusion is that although iconic information helps apes in the process of searching hidden food, the poor performance found in the last two experiments is due to apes' lack of understanding of the informative (cooperative) communicative intention of the experimenter.     

Developmental changes in units of processing in reading

A visual search task was used to investigate the development of word processing skills used in reading meaningful prose. Children from the second and fourth grades and college students were asked to locate a prespecified letter, syllable, word, or category exemplar as they read through sentences. Target detection time, sentence reading time, and sentence comprehension were measured. The results provide converging evidence that whole words were the preferred units of processing during reading for all three grade levels. Reading rates for sentences in the word search condition were comparable to normal reading rates. The search for smaller units required additional processing time, but word and category search times differed only for the youngest subjects.     

Social information processing and sociometric status: Sex,age, and situational effects

Theoretically based measures of social information-processing patterns in specific situations were developed and administered to popular, average, socially rejected, and socially neglected girls and boys in the first, third, and fifth grades (total n=95). Measures included interpretations of peers' intentions, quantity and quality of responses generated to problematic stimuli, evaluations of responses, and enactments of particular responses. Three kinds of situations were generated empirically as stimuli: being teased, being provoked ambiguously, and initiating entry into a peer group. Deviant children (rejected and neglected) were found to respond deficiently compared to average and popular children, but only in the situation in which they were teased. Older children performed more competently than younger children in all three situations. Interactions among gender, sociometric status, and age also were found. Findings were interpreted as evidence of the elusiveness and complexity of social information-processing defects among low sociometric status children.The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the staff of the Monroe County Community School Corporation in the conduct of this research. This research was supported by an Indiana University doctoral dissertation grant and an Indiana University Women's Studies Grant awarded to the first author, and by NIMH Grant 37062 awarded to the second author. The authors wish to thank Steven R. Asher and Kenneth H. Rubin for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

A counterexample to two-dimensional varimax-rotation

Usually, an iterative procedure based on two-dimensional rotations is employed to find the varimax solution in factor analysis. A matrix is given where this procedure does not yield the maximum value of the varimax criterion. However, random orthogonal transformations of some matrices and subsequent varimax-rotation using the iterative procedure seem to indicate that usually no local maxima exist.