“You're not gay; You're a child of god”: Microaggressions experienced by LGBTQ+ teens and their parents in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Like other teens in conservative religious environments, LGBTQ+ teens raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (CJCLDS) likely experience unique microaggressions. Furthermore, like other conservatively religious parents of LGBTQ+ teens, active Latter-day Saint (LDS) parents who openly support their LGBTQ+ teens likely both witness microaggressions toward their teens and may personally experience microaggressions. The present study sought to understand parents' and teens' experiences of microaggressions in conservative religious contexts by focusing specifically on the microaggressions experienced by (a) LGBTQ+ teens raised in the CJCLDS and (b) their active LDS parents. Thematic analysis of separate interviews with 19 dyads of LGBTQ+ teens and their active LDS parents (38 total interviews) revealed various ways in which they experienced verbal, nonverbal, and environmental microaggressions. We highlight parents' and teens' shared experiences of microaggressions that may be uniquely related to their religious contexts, such as assumptions that LGBTQ+ teens or their parents are not faithful and exclusionary Church policies. Additionally, we identified microaggressions that specifically targeted parents of LGBTQ+ teens, such as comments suggesting parents should limit their support for their teens. Finally, we found that parents had vicarious experiences with microaggressions through witnessing or learning about microaggressions that targeted their teens. Findings highlight the ways that the religious contexts in which microaggressions occur can influence the way that microaggressions are communicated to and experienced by LGBTQ+ teens – and their parents.     

Assessing the Clinical Competence of Psychology Students Through Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs): Student and Staff Views

Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) are a well‐known, reliable, and valid assessment method used across the healthcare sector. In the present study, we applied OSCEs in three units within professional postgraduate psychology courses, with the broad aims of identifying staff and student perceptions of the assessment. At the conclusion of each OSCE, staff and students completed a feedback questionnaire that contained both scaled and open‐ended questions. Results suggest that clinical psychology OSCEs can be stressful for students, but are also well regarded. Both staff and students felt that the OSCEs were realistic, valid, and aligned well with professional practice. Students reported differences in the way in which they prepared for the OSCEs compared with a written exam or other form of assessment, while staff noted that models of OSCE development must be flexible, to adequately assess the objectives of individual units. Further, because they can be a costly exercise, OSCEs need to be applied judiciously within the tertiary sector.     

Children's Earliest Experiences with Death: Circumstances,Conversations, Explanations,and Parental Satisfaction

Parents (n = 140) of children 2 to 7 years responded to an online survey regarding their children's experiences and conversations about death. A total of 75% of parents indicated that they had spoken to their child about death, and the majority of conversations were first initiated when children were between 3 and 3.5 years of age. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to explore factors that could predict conversations about death. Parents (n = 88) provided narratives of the explanations of death that they gave their child and subsequently reported their level of satisfaction with their explanation. The content of the explanations was coded and examined in relation to children's age and parental satisfaction. Results revealed that parents who provided explanations to a continued existence after death reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction than those parents who discussed the absence of a future physical relationship after death. Finally, explanations of a continued existence were not always in reference to an afterlife and could include discussing the memory of the deceased or their continued impact even after death. Thus, when talking to young children about death, parents may feel greater satisfaction in finding ways to discuss the continued legacy of those who have died compared to more biological explanations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Development of a Brief Distress Reduction Intervention for Individuals Recently Diagnosed With HIV in China

In China, where there are few mental health resources, the majority of HIV-related efforts have focused on medical treatment and transmission prevention rather than psychosocial support. Yet people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) report high levels of psychological distress, especially upon first receiving their HIV diagnosis. We conducted mixed methods research of a qualitative study with (N = 31) individual interviews and 3 focus groups (n = 6 in each group) of HIV-affected participants, and a quantitative survey (N = 200) with individuals living with HIV in Shanghai and Beijing, China. Our qualitative data revealed themes of forms of distress experienced and types of psychosocial support that our participants wished they could have accessed upon diagnosis as well as suggestions for intervention structure that would be most feasible and acceptable. Our quantitative surveys provided further evidence of the high degree of psychosocial distress among recently diagnosed PLWHA. Our findings informed the development of the Psychology Toolbox intervention, a brief CBT skills-based intervention comprising cognitive restructuring, behavioral activation, and paced breathing, designed to be integrated into primary care for recently diagnosed PLWHA. This study describes the intervention development process and contents of each session. Future research should evaluate the intervention for efficacy as well as examine best strategies for eventual implementation and dissemination.     

Affect as a foundational psychological process for spirituality and empathy

There is growing interest in understanding the manner by which spiritual experiences, religious beliefs and behaviours, and prosocial traits (e.g., empathy, altruism) are related. Research has recently focused on determining those psychological constructs (e.g., affective, behavioural, cognitive) that are common to these related constructs, although the specific relationships remain unclear. The current study evaluated relationships among spiritual experiences and affective and cognitive dimensions of empathy in 98 participants with heterogeneous health conditions. Results indicate that spirituality is significantly related to affective empathy, but not cognitive empathy. These findings suggest that individuals’ propensity to be both spiritual and empathetic is primarily related to a greater disposition towards emotional connection with others (i.e., whether with the divine or other people). Research and practical implications are discussed.     

Age-Friendly Communities Matter for Older People’s Well-Being

This study aims to identify relationships between age-friendly environments (in terms of social and physical neighborhood attributes) and older people’s overall well-being, as well as the underlying instrumental goals to achieve overall well-being. A sample of 945 community-dwelling older adults living in Rotterdam’s districts Lombardijen, Lage Land/Prinsenland, Oude Westen, and Vreewijk was asked to complete a questionnaire in 2013. A total of 588 (62%) responded. The majority (56%) of respondents was female, 19% had low educational levels, 35% were married, and 85% were born in the Netherlands. Mean age was 77.1 ± 5.3 (range 70–93) years. Levels of age-friendliness and older people’s ability to realize the instrumental goals to achieve overall well-being varied tremendously among neighborhoods, with older people living in less age-friendly communities reporting lower levels of well-being. These differences in well-being resulted especially from differences in affection, behavioral confirmation, and comfort. Higher-educated older persons were more critical regarding the domains civic participation, transportation, and communication and information in their neighborhoods, suggesting a socioeconomic gradient in the perceived lack of neighborhood attributes facilitating aging in place. Currently, physical and social neighborhood attributes enabling aging in place seem to satisfy the needs for affection, behavioral confirmation, and comfort in some, but not all, neighborhoods. Levels of age-friendliness in neighborhoods did not explain differences in opportunities for older people to realize the instrumental goals of status and stimulation.     

The cosmology of economy: West African witchcraft,finance and the futures market

In this article, the relationship between cosmology and financial transactions via the sacred and deeply secret discourses of West African traditional priests in Europe is explored, who believe that they can spiritually manipulate the monetary pricing of stocks and shares. Of particular interest is how West African witchcraft discourses, while still embedded in kinship relationships, become symbolically caught up in the economy and in the volatile movement of industrial commodity indexes. In analysing the financial imaginary and constant reconfiguration of the marketplace by different networks of stakeholders, Ghanaian fetish priests allow for a fiscal elasticity and material distorting of monetary flows such that the incoherence and uncertainty of global financial practices and the fictious pricing and purchase of unstable commodities are shaped and magnified through a thick Akan cosmology.