Care Ethics and Confucianism: Caring through Li

The role of li, or ritual, in Confucianism is a perceived impediment to interpreting Confucianism to share a similar ethical framework with care ethics because care ethics is a form of moral particularism. I argue that this perception is false. The form of moral particularism promoted by care ethicists does not entail the abandonment of social conventions such as li. On the contrary, providing good care often requires employing systems of readily recognizable norms in order to ensure that care is successfully communicated and completed through one's care‐giving practices. I argue that li performs this communicative function well and that the early Confucians recommend breaching li precisely when its efficacy in performing this function is compromised.     

Teachers' and coaches' role perceptions for supporting young people's mental health: Multiple group path analyses

Teachers and youth sports coaches are in prominent positions to support young people and their mental health. However, the way these professionals perceive their roles is likely to be a powerful influence on such behaviour. This article investigates and compares the effect of four types of role perceptions—role breadth, instrumentality, efficacy, and discretion—on teachers' and coaches' engagement in helping behaviour that supports young people's mental health through promotion, prevention, and early intervention. An online survey was completed by 117 teachers and 131 coaches. Results from three multiple group path analyses revealed role breadth, instrumentality, and efficacy significantly influenced teachers' and coaches' helping behaviour. The extent to which role perceptions predicted helping behaviour did not differ between teachers and coaches. Assisting teachers and coaches to carry out promotion, prevention, and early intervention behaviour increases young people's access to mental health support and may help to reduce the burden of mental health problems among Australian young people.     

Effects of Presession Pairing on the Challenging Behavior and Academic Responding of Children with Autism

Presession pairing is an antecedent‐based procedure in which an instructor engages with preferred items with a child for a few minutes before an instructional session. Although this procedure has been described in manualized treatment guidelines for working with children with autism, there are currently no direct investigations of whether this manipulation has a beneficial impact on target responding or the child's social interactions. Functional analyses with three children with autism showed escape or attention and escape as reinforcers for their challenging behavior. Preference assessments identified highly and moderately preferred stimuli. In the context of a multiple baseline across participants design, the participants exhibited fewer challenging behaviors when instructional sessions were preceded by presession pairing than when they were not. Academic responding showed modest increases. Subsequently, in the presence of presession pairing with a novel task, the participants emitted no challenging behavior and similar or higher levels of accurate academic responding. One participant was available for a maintenance session without presession pairing 5 months later and showed near‐zero levels of challenging behavior and comparable levels of accurate academic responding. The implications of the findings and future directions are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trampolinists’ Self-controlled Use of a Feedforward Self-modeling Video in Competition

Our aim was to explore the use of a feedforward self-modeling (FF-SM) video in a competition setting: examining why it was viewed, its perceived benefits, and the frequency and timing of the viewings. At 3 competitions, 9 trampolinists (M = 12.7, SD = 1.6) were provided FF-SM videos of their trampoline routine. Logbooks revealed that 8 of 9 trampolinists viewed their video at each competition; approximately 5 times per competition. Interviews revealed that the video was predominantly viewed to assist with motor execution. Self-reported outcomes included improved performance and changes to self-regulatory processes (e.g., self-efficacy and task strategies).     

Counseling Customers: Emerging Roles for Genetic Counselors in the Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Market

Individuals now have access to an increasing number of internet resources offering personal genomics services. As the direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTC GT) industry expands, critics have called for pre- and post-test genetic counseling to be included with the product. Several genetic testing companies offer genetic counseling. There has been no examination to date of this service provision, whether it meets critics’ concerns and implications it may have for the genetic counseling profession. Considering the increasing relevance of genetics in healthcare, the complexity of genetic information provided by DTC GT, the mediating role of the internet in counseling, and potential conflicts of interest, this is a topic which deserves further attention. In this paper we offer a discourse analysis of ways in which genetic counseling is represented on DTC GT websites, blogs and other online material. This analysis identified four types of genetic counseling represented on the websites: the integrated counseling product; discretionary counseling; independent counseling; and product advice. Genetic counselors are represented as having the following roles: genetics educator; mediator; lifestyle advisor; risk interpreter; and entrepreneur. We conclude that genetic counseling as represented on DTC GT websites demonstrates shifting professional roles and forms of expertise in genetic counseling. Genetic counselors are also playing an important part in how the genetic testing market is taking shape. Our analysis offers important and timely insights into recent developments in the genetic counseling profession, which have relevance for practitioners, researchers and policy makers concerned with the evolving field of personal genomics.