Health and human services for persons who stutter and education of logopedists in East-European countries

The International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP) assessed the therapy status of fluency disorders, service opportunities, and education of logopedists (speech-language pathologists) with a mail survey in Eastern Europe. Information was collected on the following aspects: incidence, prevalence, availability of information, non-therapeutic support for persons who stutter (PWS), providers of diagnostics and therapy, cooperating professionals, therapy approaches, forms, goals, financing, early detection and prevention, training of professionals, specialization in stuttering therapy, needs for improving the situation of PWS, and problems which hinder better care. Stuttering therapy for children is available in many countries and is frequently provided by the educational system. Therapy for adults is provided best by the health services but is not satisfactorily available everywhere. Modern therapeutic approaches coexist with obsolete ones. Lack of resources, awareness, entitlement, and assessment of therapy effectiveness are pervasive problems.

Educational objectives: Readers will be able to describe and evaluate: (1) the therapy status of fluency disorders and service opportunities in various East-European countries; (2) the training of logopedists (speech-language pathologists); (3) specialization in stuttering therapy; and (4) the organizational services for PWS within the health and human service systems.     

Attitudes of Potential Providers Towards Preconceptional Cystic Fibrosis Carrier Screening

To determine the attitudes of potential providers (general practitioners and Community Health Service workers) towards preconceptual cystic fibrosis (CF) carrier screening and to determine which factors are associated with a positive attitude. A survey was conducted among 200 general practitioners (GPs) and 134 Community Health Service (CHS) workers. Fifty-two percent of the eligible GPs participated and 84% of the CHS workers. Fifty-five percent of the GPs and 73% of the CHS workers had a positive attitude towards routinely offering CF carrier screening, and more than 80% were in favor of informing the target population about the possibility of having a CF carrier test. A positive attitude was associated with (a) high perceived severity of CF, (b) religion (nonreligious compared to Reformed), (c) low perceived barriers, and (d) high perceived test reliability. The care providers who are most likely to be involved in a preconceptual CF carrier screening program, i.e. GPs and CHS workers, generally have a positive attitude towards the implementation of such a program.     

The problem of polytheisms: a serious challenge to theism

Theistic and analytic philosophers of religion typically privilege classical theism and monotheism by ignoring or underestimating the great threat of polytheism (We take ‘theism’ to mean ‘classical theism’, which is but one of many possible monotheisms. Avoiding much of the discussion around classical theism, we wish to focus on the challenges in arguing for monotheism over polytheism. We take monotheisms and polytheisms to be versions of supernaturalism, and not of ‘theism’. We consider monotheisms and polytheisms to entail the notion of divine transcendence). We develop an argument from infinitely many alternatives, which decisively demonstrates that if a monotheistic or polytheistic god-model obtains, it will almost certainly be polytheistic. Probabilistic calculations are performed in order to illustrate the difficulties faced by the monotheistic proponent. After considering possible objections, such as whether there should be limits placed on how many possible god-models could obtain, we conclude that our argument from infinitely many alternatives is sound, and highly unlikely to be overcome.     

Self-reported overeating and attributions for food intake

Objective: We examined whether people’s attributions for their eating behaviour differ according to whether they believe they have eaten more, less or about the same as they normally would.

Design: Participants were served a small or large portion of pasta for lunch. Afterwards, they were asked to compare how much they ate in the study to how much they normally eat for lunch, resulting in three intake-evaluation categories: ‘ate less’, ‘ate about the same’ or ‘ate more’.

Main outcome measures: How much participants ate; the extent to which they attributed their food intake to an internal cue (i.e. hunger) and an external cue (i.e. the amount of food served).

Results: Participants served a large portion ate more than those served a small portion, but the magnitude of the portion-size effect did not vary across intake-evaluation categories. Furthermore, although participants in all groups indicated that their hunger influenced how much they ate, only those in the ‘ate more’ group indicated that the amount of food available influenced how much they ate.

Conclusion: People appear to be willing to explain their food intake in terms of an external cue only when they believe that they have eaten more than they normally would.     

Socialization of Social Anxiety in Adolescent Crowds

In this study, we looked at whether social anxiety is socialized, or influenced by peers’ social anxiety, more in some peer crowds than others. Adolescents in crowds with eye-catching appearances such as Goths and Punks (here termed Radical), were compared with three comparison groups. Using data from 796 adolescents (353 girls and 443 boys; M _age  = 13.36) at three timepoints, the results show that adolescents affiliating with the Radical crowd tended to select peers from the same crowd group. Being a member of a crowd in itself did not predict socialization of social anxiety, but adolescents in the Radical crowd were more influenced by their peers’ social anxiety than adolescents who did not affiliate with the Radical crowd group. The results suggest that through a bidirectional process, adolescents affiliating with Radical crowds may narrow their peer relationship ties in time, and in turn socialize each other’s social anxiety.     

Replies

We are in the curious position of disagreeing with Bach about what exactly we disagree about. As we see it, his characterization of our disagreement introduces largely irrelevant terminological issues; and these in turn cover up the fact that he simply hasn't replied to our central criticism. We start with two failed attempts to characterize the disagreement, and then move on to what is central.     

Living a Good Way of Life: Perspectives from American Indian and First Nation Young Adults

In this study, we respond to calls for strengths‐based Indigenous research by highlighting American Indian and First Nations (Anishinaabe) perspectives on wellness. We engaged with Anishinaabe community members by using an iterative, collaborative Group Concept Mapping methodology to define strengths from a within‐culture lens. Participants (n = 13) shared what it means to live a good way of life/have wellness for Anishinaabe young adults, ranked/sorted their ideas, and shared their understanding of the map. Results were represented by nine clusters of wellness, which addressed aspects of self‐care, self‐determination, actualization, community connectedness, traditional knowledge, responsibility to family, compassionate respect toward others, enculturation, and connectedness with earth/ancestors. The clusters were interrelated, primarily in the relationship between self‐care and focus on others. The results are interpreted by the authors and Anishinaabe community members though the use of the Seven Grandfather Teachings, which provide a framework for understanding Anishinaabe wellness. The Seven Grandfather Teachings include Honesty (Gwayakwaadiziwin), Respect (Manaadendamowin), Humility (Dabaadendiziwin), Love (Zaagi'idiwin), Wisdom (Nibwaakaawin), Bravery/Courage (Aakode'ewin), and Truth (Debwewin).     

India and Beyond: Vedism,Hinduism, and the Continuity of Culture

International Journal of Hindu Studies -     

Employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility: Effects on pride,embeddedness, and turnover

We examined socioemotional microfoundations of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) and posited that employees’ perceived CSR triggers a perception-emotion-attitude-behavior sequence. Drawing from appraisal theory of emotion, we hypothesized that perceived CSR relates to emotions (i.e., organizational pride), which relate to job attitudes (i.e., organizational embeddedness) that in turn relate to job behaviors (i.e., decreased turnover). To test this model, we conducted a multistudy investigation involving different samples, designs, and data-analytic methods. In Study 1, we conducted an experiment and found that participants who envisioned working in a firm that was active regarding CSR activities reported greater pride and organizational embeddedness. We then conducted two field studies using a nonmanagerial sample (Study 2) and a managerial sample (Study 3) and found that participants’ perceived CSR was positively related to their pride, which in turn was related to stronger organizational embeddedness. Stronger organizational embeddedness was related to lower turnover 6 months later in Study 2 but not in Study 3. In Study 4, we conducted a longitudinal four-wave 14-month study to test the proposed relationships from a within-person conceptualization, and the results were also supportive. Thus, the proposed perception-emotion-attitude-behavior framework received broad support and illustrated that stronger microfoundations of CSR research could be constructed through understanding employees’ emotional, attitudinal, and behavioral reactions to their perceptions of their employers’ CSR.