Standards for the Reporting of Genetic Counseling Interventions in Research and Other Studies (GCIRS): an NSGC Task Force Report

As the demand for evidence to support the value of genetic counseling increases, it is critical that reporting of genetic counseling interventions in research and other types of studies (e.g. process improvement or service evaluation studies) adopt greater rigor. As in other areas of healthcare, the appraisal, synthesis, and translation of research findings into genetic counseling practice are likely to be improved if clear specifications of genetic counseling interventions are reported when studies involving genetic counseling are published. To help improve reporting practices, the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) convened a task force in 2015 to develop consensus standards for the reporting of genetic counseling interventions. Following review by the NSGC Board of Directors, the NSGC Practice Guidelines Committee and the editorial board of the Journal of Genetic Counseling, 23 items across 8 domains were proposed as standards for the reporting of genetic counseling interventions in the published literature (GCIRS: Genetic Counseling Intervention Reporting Standards). The authors recommend adoption of these standards by authors and journals when reporting studies involving genetic counseling interventions.     

Rule-Consequentialism and Obligations Toward the Needy

Most of us believe morality requires us to help the desperately needy. But most of us also believe morality doesn't require us to make enormous sacrifices in order to help people who have no special connection with us. Such self-sacrifice is of course praiseworthy, but it isn't morally mandatory. Rule-consequentialism might seem to offer a plausible grounding for such beliefs. Tim Mulgan has recently argued in Analysis and Pacific Philosophical Quarterly that rule-consequentialism cannot do so. This paper replies to Mulgan's arguments.     

The MBTI and social information processing: an incremental validity study

The ability of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI; Myers & McCaulley, 1985) to predict performance on social cognitive tasks tapping information processing effort was assessed. Judgment and intuition interacted to predict amount of attributional adjustment on a dispositional attribution task. The MBTI scales predicted processing above and beyond measures of the five factors, rational-experiential preferences, and causal uncertainty. The relevance of these results for interpretation of the MBTI indexes is discussed.     

Parent–infant co‐sleeping: fathers' roles and perspectives

Dyadic co‐sleeping (mother–baby) is a common strategy for night‐time infant care in the majority of world cultures. Triadic co‐sleeping (mother–father–baby) is less common, although still widely practised cross‐culturally. This paper examines triadic co‐sleeping in an opportunistic sample of parents from the North Tees region of England, and explores fathers' expectations and experiences of sleeping with their babies. Using a prospective study design, 36 sets of parents, pre‐ and post‐natally, were interviewed about infant care strategies, particularly at night. Although they did not anticipate sleeping with their infants at the pre‐natal interview, the majority of fathers (81%) had done so by the time of the second interview. First‐time fathers were afraid that they would squash or suffocate the baby in their sleep, and some were concerned that the infant's presence would adversely affect their own sleep. Fathers used a variety of strategies to help overcome their initial fears of co‐sleeping. Among those for whom triadic co‐sleeping became a regular night‐time infant care strategy, the pleasures of prolonged intimate contact with their infant were clearly apparent. It is suggested that the experience of sleeping with their infant ameliorates some of the distancing effects felt by fathers outside the breast‐feeding relationship, and helps encourage paternal involvement in night‐time infant care‐giving. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Book reviews

Unfolding Islam. P. J. Stewart. xiii + 252 pp. hb., £24.00, London, Ithaca Press, 1994, ISBN 0 86372 194 X; pb. London, Garnet Publishing, 1995, ISBN 1 85964 046 X.

The Basics 2: Islam. Roland Machatschke, 1995. London, SCM Press, 89 pp., pb. £5.95, ISBN 0 334 02603 2.

Voices of Islam. John Bowker 1995. Oxford, Oneworld, 188 pp., pb. £8.95, ISBN 1 85168 095 0.

Abraham, A Symbol of Hope for Jews, Christians and Muslims. Kakl‐Josef Kuschel, 1995. London, SCM, xxix + 286 pp., pb. £14.95, ISBN 0 334 02567 2.

Petrus Alfonsi and his Medieval Readers. J Tolan, 1993. Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 288 pp., pb. £15.00, ISBN 0 8130 1239 2; hb, £31.00, ISBN 0 8130 1238 4.

Islamic Science and Engineering. Donald R. Hill, 1993. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 250 pp., pb. £16.95, ISBN 0 7486 0455 3.

Islam: the view from the edge. Richard W. Bulliet, 1994. New York, Columbia University Press, 236 pp., pb. $16.95, £11.95, ISBN 0 231 08219 3.

Pioneers of Islamic Revival. Ali Rahnema (Ed.), 1994. London, Zed Books, 279 pp., hb. £36.95, ISBN 1 85649 253 2; pb. £14.95, ISBN 1 85649 254 0.

Freiheit der Religion: Christentum und Islam unter dem Anspruch der Men‐schenrechte [Freedom of Religion; Christianity and Islam tinder the claims of human rights]. Johannes Schwartländer (Ed.), 1993. Mainz, Matthias Grünewald Verlag, 474 pp., DM 48.

Religion, Law and Society: A Christian‐Muslim Discussion. Tarek Mitri (Ed.), 1995. Geneva, WCC Publications and Kampen, Kok Pharos, 154pp, pb. £9.95, ISBN 2 8254 1148 5 (WCC) and 90 390 0514 1.

Muslims in Western Europe. J?rgen Nielsen, 1995 (2nd Edition). Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 190 pp., £14.95, ISBN 0 7486 0617 3.

From Ta'izz to Tyneside: an Arab community in the north‐east of England during the early twentieth century. Richard I. Lawless, 1995. Exeter, University of Exeter Press, 292 pp., pb. n.p., ISBN 0 85989 460 6.

The New Middle East. Shimon Peres with Arye Naor, 1993. Shaftesbury, Element Books, 224 pp., hb. £16.99, ISBN 1 85230 519 3.

The Palestinians: the road to nationhood. David McDowall, 1994. London, Minority Rights Group, 215 pp., hb. £15.95, ISBN 1 873194 70 6.

Mahdism in West Africa: the Ijebu Mahdiyya movement. P.B. Clarke, 1995. London, Luzac Oriental, 224 pp., hb. £30.00, ISBN 1 898942 06 4.

Assaulting with Words: popular discourse and the bridle of Shari^cah. A. A. Ibrahim, 1994. Evanston, IL, Northwestern University Press, 208 pp., hb. 859.95, ISBN 0 8101 1081 4.

The Vanguard of the Islamic Revolution: the Jama't‐i Islami of Pakistan. Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr, 1994. London, I. B. Tauris, 301 pp., hb. n.p., ISBN 1 85043 862 3; pb. £14.95, ISBN 1 85043 864 1.     

Idealisation,naturalism, and rationality: Some lessons from Minimal Rationality

In his bookMinimal Rationality (1986), Christopher Cherniak draws deep and widespread conclusions from our finitude, and not only for philosophy but also for a wide range of science as well. Cherniak's basic idea is that traditional philosophical theories of rationality represent idealisations that are inaccessible to finite rational agents. It is the purpose of this paper to apply a theory of idealisation in science to Cherniak's arguments. The heart of the theory is a distinction between idealisations that represent reversible, solely quantitative simplifications and those that represent irreversible, degenerate idealisations which collapse out essential theoretical structure. I argue that Cherniak's position is best understood as assigning the latter status to traditional rationality theories and that, so understood, his arguments may be illuminated, expanded, and certain common criticisms of them rebutted. The result, however, is a departure from traditional, formalist theories of rationality of a more radical kind than Cherniak contemplates, with widespread ramifications for philosophical theory, especially philosophy of science itself.I would like to thank Professor R. E. Butts and the Department of Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, for generous support and stimulating discussion during the research leave at which time this paper was prepared, and the University of Newcastle and its vice-chancellor, Professor K. Morgan, for support. I am greatly indebted to extended discussion with Professor H. I. Brown, to thoughtful comments from two anonymousSynthese referees, and to discussion with Professor W. Harper; between them they have sharpened and corrected the presentation at several places, especially Sections 3 (referees), 4passim (Brown), 4.1 (referee), 4.3 (Harper). More specific acknowledgement is given as appropriate.