Evaluation of a peer support program for women with breast cancer—lessons for practitioners

The present study aimed to describe how a volunteer peer support service assists women with breast cancer, and provides guidelines for practitioners in the development and implementation of such programmes. A two‐phase evaluation of a breast cancer peer support program was undertaken to describe important attributes of the peer support intervention, the impact of the volunteer visit on women's self‐reports of anxiety, and key indicators of a successful volunteer visit. Phase 1 included focus groups with 57 women previously treated for breast cancer. Phase 2 included a survey of 245 women also treated previously for breast cancer and visited by a Breast Cancer Support Volunteer. The key aspect of the peer support process was the bond of common experience leading to a decrease in social isolation, an increase in optimism about the future and reassurance about personal reactions and femininity. It is recommended that peer support programmes should aim to time support visits to coincide with the time when patient support needs are highest, that volunteers need to be recruited from a range of backgrounds and matched to patients most similar to them in way of life, and that peer support services should be embedded in a broad network of community support services. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ethical recommendations for workers on aggression and predation in animals

The recommendations of a recent workshop (Leiden, Netherlands, November 17–18, 1990) concerning the use of animals in research on aggression and predation are listed. Major considerations included the grade of organisation/level of development of the organism, the duration and intensity of the interaction, post-treatment factors, the number of animals and reuse of animals. It is hoped that the recommendations will help scientists working in these areas to consider the increasingly important ethical dimension.     

The Objection from Cognitive Agreement

Philosophical Studies -     

Bilingualism Is Associated with a Delayed Onset of Dementia but Not with a Lower Risk of Developing it: a Systematic Review with Meta-Analyses

Neuropsychology Review - Some studies have linked bilingualism with a later onset of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Not all studies have observed...     

Preference for the sites of fighting in two teleost species

Males of two species of freshwater fish (convict cichlids and Italian freshwater gobies) fought with conspecifics and subsequently remained near the visual and spatial cues that had been paired with those social encounters. These data show that postfight preference for combat sites is a phenomenon of some generality among teleosts. The likely role of learning in establishing postfight preferences for the locales of aggression is discussed.     

Sense of community and life satisfaction: investigation in three different territorial contexts

The aim of this study was to investigate relations between sense of community, life satisfaction, self-esteem, perceived social support and satisfaction with community services in three territorial communities of different sizes. Further, the relations between sense of community and socio-demographic variables (gender, age, marital status, education, children, working in one's own community, owning one's home and group participation) were also studied. The Italian version of the Sense of Community Scale, Rosenberg's Self-esteem Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, a scale on Satisfaction with Community Services and a questionnaire were administered to 336 subjects; selection was made in the three communities from 20–60 year-old individuals. Results confirm that sense of community and life satisfaction are higher in the town than in the larger communities; also, sense of community relates to life satisfaction only in the town and the small city. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The statistical analysis of data from small groups

The authors elaborate the complications and the opportunities inherent in the statistical analysis of small-group data. They begin by discussing nonindependence of group members' scores and then consider standard methods for the analysis of small-group data and determine that these methods do not take into account this nonindependence. A new method is proposed that uses multilevel modeling and allows for negative nonindependence and mutual influence. Finally, the complications of interactions, different group sizes, and differential effects are considered. The authors strongly urge that the analysis model of data from small-group studies should mirror the psychological processes that generate those data.     

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Successes and Failures: Eight Personal Perspectives

Eight experts in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) provided personal examples of their own successes and failures in applying REBT to themselves. The experts actively talked to themselves both rationally and irrationally. Understandably, there were far more shoulds, oughts, musts, and have to's in the narratives in which the experts described when they failed to use REBT than when they succeeded in using REBT. Rational self‐talk was more prevalent in the examples of how REBT was successfully used by the experts.