Doing Dialogue: Genre and Flexibility in Public Engagement with Science

‘Public engagement with science’ is an increasingly important but contested practice. In this study of London's Dana Centre I look at dialogue events carried out there as a case study of public engagement, performing a detailed analysis in order to examine their nature and practice. The analysis suggests that event framings (as found in the discourse of events) are multiple, varying from lecture to open debate. Furthermore the genre of events is flexible, with participant involvement organised through the use of genres derived from education, talkshows and news interviewing as well as more traditional genres such as lectures. While it seems there is flexibility in the practice of these informal dialogue events, they are, however, not open to reinvention by all participants equally. The fluidity of practice observed may be due to the newness of these kinds of processes in most people's experiences. We are therefore observing, on the ground, the traces of contrasting discourses of the right relationship between science and society.     

Effects of Potential Partners' Costume and Physical Attractiveness on Sexuality and Partner Selection

Male and female college students in the United States (N = 224) viewed models who had been prerated for physical attractiveness and who were dressed in costumes representing one of three levels of socioeconomic status (SES). Subjects reported their willingness to engage with these stimulus persons in six relationships involving various levels of marital potential and sexual involvement. Models' costume status had greater effects on female subjects' willingness than on male subjects' willingness to enter all six relationships. This difference was larger when the physical attractiveness of models was low than when it was high. Costume status also affected female subjects' ratings of male models' attractiveness but did not affect male subjects' ratings of female models' attractiveness. Results supported eight hypotheses derived from evolutionary theory: In choosing partners, men and women weighed potential partners' SES and physical attractiveness differently, and these factors may have different behavioral implications depending on the degree to which sexual relations, or marital potential, or both, are involved.     

Understanding countertransference and object relations in the process of nursing drug-dependent patients

In psychiatric nursing, transference and countertransference dynamics are generally ignored. This paper is an attempt to examine how the transference and countertransference dynamics influenced the nurse-patient relationships on an in-patient drug-dependency unit, and how an understanding of transference was found to be helpful.     

Prevalence of anxiety among patients undergoing colorectal surgery

To assess prevalence of anxiety 36 consecutive patients undergoing colorectal surgery with general anesthesia were interviewed on the day of surgery and completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Postsurgical ratings of pain and anxiety were obtained within 24 hours after surgery. Analysis indicated that 29 scored moderate or higher on the State Anxiety scale prior to surgery. The correlations for scores on presurgical Trait Anxiety with postsurgical pain and Trait Anxiety scores were significant (p<.01) but not that for pre- and postsurgical State Anxiety     

Group interventions for patients with cancer and HIV disease: part IV. Clinical and policy recommendations

Group interventions have assumed a growing role in primary prevention and supportive care for cancer and HIV disease. Earlier sections of this Special Report examined empirical findings for these interventions and provided recommendations for future research. The current section offers brief recommendations for service providers, policymakers, and stakeholders. Group services now occupy an increasingly prominent place in primary prevention programs and medical settings. In previous sections of this Special Report (Sherman, Leszcz et al., 2004; Sherman, Mosier et al., 2004a, 2004b) we examined the efficacy of different group interventions at different phases of cancer or HIV disease, considered characteristics of the intervention and the participants that might influence outcomes, and discussed mechanisms of action. Methodological challenges and priorities for future research were highlighted. In this, the final section, we offer brief recommendations for service providers, policymakers, and other stakeholders. We consider some of the barriers that constrain use of empirically-based group interventions and note how these programs might be implemented more widely and effectively.     

Diverse Phases of Collaboration: Working Together to Improve Community-Based HIV Interventions for Adolescents

Although alliances between community-based organizations (CBOs) and university-based evaluators provide opportunities to enhance community-based interventions, such partnerships may be fraught with challenges and obstacles. This paper focuses on the "story" behind a collaborative partnership between a Latino-focused CBO and a team of university-based evaluators that was formed to evaluate HIV prevention interventions for Mexican American female adolescents and gay/bisexual/questioning (GBQ) Latino male adolescents. A developmental trajectory of the partnership is detailed, with a focus on the creation and enhancement of a reciprocal and mutually beneficial relationship. In tracing this history, the paper explores challenges that were faced and presents ways in which the partnership attempted to overcome obstacles. Recommendations are offered to assist in the formation and maintenance of collaborative partnerships between CBOs and university-based evaluators/researchers.     

Construct validity of the posttraumatic stress disorder checklist in cancer survivors: analyses based on two samples

The measurement of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is critically important for the identification and treatment of this disorder. The PTSD Checklist (PCL; F. W. Weathers and J. Ford, 1996) is a self-report measure that is increasingly used. In this study, the authors investigated the factorial validity of the PCL with data from 236 cancer survivors who received a bone marrow or stem cell transplantation. The authors examined the fit of these data with the clinical model of 3 symptom clusters for PTSD, as proposed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and alternative models tested in prior research. By using confirmatory factor analysis the authors found that a 4-first-order-factor model of PTSD provided the best fit. The relations of PTSD symptoms with sociodemographic and medical variables were also explored.