Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and the Ethics of Body and Place: Critical Methodological Reflections

This article is a critical methodological reflection on the use of interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) initiated in the context of a qualitative research project on the experience of seclusion in a psychiatric setting. It addresses an explicit gap in the IPA literature to explore the ways that Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology can extend the remit of IPA for noncognitivist qualitative research projects beyond the field of health psychology. In particular, the article develops Merleau-Ponty’s understanding of the lived-body, language, and embodied speech, with specific attention to the ethical implications of body and place. It concludes with a discussion on phenomenological reflexivity and prompts a reconsideration of phenomenological methods across a wide range of qualitative research projects concerned with subjectivity and ethical practice, including critical health studies, critical bioethics, and cultural studies that employ a qualitative empirical research design.     

Model of Occupational Empowerment and Gunnarsson’s Tree Theme: Intervention for Mothers in Recovery

In this study the authors investigated Gunnarsson's Tree Theme Method as an occupational therapy intervention program for mothers in recovery from addiction in accordance with Fisher and Hotchkiss's Model of Occupational Empowerment (2008 Fisher , G. , &; Hotchkiss , A. ( 2008 ). A model of occupational empowerment for marginalized populations in community environments . Occupational Therapy in Health Care , 22 , 55 – 71 . Retrieved from EBSCOhost .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Each session of this mixed design study consisted of relaxation exercises, discussions on self-help readings, and participation in the Tree Theme Method. Two participants out of three improved their personal growth initiative. Participant reflection provided insight into the women's inner feelings. Fisher and Hotchkiss's model (2008 Fisher , G. , &; Hotchkiss , A. ( 2008 ). A model of occupational empowerment for marginalized populations in community environments . Occupational Therapy in Health Care , 22 , 55 – 71 . Retrieved from EBSCOhost .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) was supported as the women achieved personal growth. Further research is needed concerning how this may guide occupational therapy practice with disadvantaged populations.     

Misleading Suggestions can Alter Later Memory Reports even Following a Cognitive Interview

Taking an immediate recall test prior to misinformation exposure can increase eyewitness suggestibility—a finding termed retrieval‐enhanced suggestibility. Here, we examined whether retrieval‐enhanced suggestibility would occur when participants were administered an immediate Cognitive Interview (CI). The CI is an investigative interviewing technique that consistently elicits more correct details in memory reports than standard interviews. In this study, participants watched a video of a crime and then completed a distractor task (control condition), a free recall test, or the CI. They then heard misinformation presented in a narrative. Participants produced more accurate memory details in the CI than in free recall despite spending equal time on both tasks. However, the CI also increased the later report of misinformation relative to the control condition. These results show that initial retrieval can increase subsequent suggestibility even when such retrieval occurs under relatively ideal conditions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Jerome on Sinlessness: a Via Media between Augustine and Pelagius

This article will explore Jerome's understanding of sinlessness and will argue that he saw himself just as opposed to Augustine as to Pelagius. I begin by exposing Jerome's context in the Pelagian Controversy. I then expose his understanding of sinlessness. Next, I turn to his arguments in Ep. 133 and the first two books of his Dialogi contra Pelagianos. In book three of that text, we notice a change in his arguments which indicates that Jerome is no longer arguing only against Pelagius; he now disagrees with Augustine as well. I then examine a variety of issues besides sinlessness in the third book of the Dialogi that reveal that Jerome disagreed with Augustine on multiple topics, showing that his opposition to Augustine's position on sinlessness was not exceptional. Finally I turn to statements by Jerome that seem to indicate a positive appreciation for the Bishop of Hippo, but which on closer inspection are seen to contain latent criticisms.     

Neurostructural and Neurophysiological Correlates of Multiple Sclerosis Physical Fatigue: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cross-Sectional Studies

Neuropsychology Review - Fatigue is one of the most debilitating symptoms for people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). By consolidating a diverse and conflicting evidence-base, this systematic review...     

Adaptive memory: fitness relevant stimuli show a memory advantage in a game of pelmanism

A pelmanism (matched-pairs) game was used in order to test the hypothesis that survival-relevant stimuli that are likely to have been present during human evolution (e.g., a snake in attack position) enjoy a memory advantage over other survival-relevant (but “modern”) stimuli (e.g., a threatening image of a gunman). Survival-relevant stimuli were matched for arousal and presented in one of two 5 x 4 grids, along with filler items. Participants were asked to match the pairs in the grids by clicking on successive squares to reveal stimuli. Participants made significantly fewer errors when matching evolutionarily relevant survival stimuli than when matching the other stimuli. Additionally, on incorrect trials, the attempted matches were significantly closer to the actual locations of evolutionarily relevant targets than to those of other stimuli. The results suggest that objects that likely posed a consistent threat throughout human evolutionary history are better remembered than other, equally arousing and survival-relevant, stimuli. [corrected]     

The relation of maternal emotional and cognitive support during problem solving to pre‐academic skills in preschoolers

Using a sample of 263 mother–child dyads, we examined the extent to which maternal emotional and cognitive support during a joint problem‐solving task when children were 3‐years‐old predicted children's academic skills 1 year later independent of each other, the quality of the home learning environment, and maternal emotional responsiveness. When all parenting measures were examined simultaneously, only maternal emotional support during problem solving and the quality of the home learning environment predicted unique variation in gains in pre‐academic skills from 3 to 4 years of age. The positive effect of emotional support during problem solving was especially apparent for children whose pre‐academic skills were low at the age of 3 years. These findings are discussed in light of the changing demands placed on young children and their parents as they prepare for entry to the formal school system. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘It's not really us discriminating against immigrants,it's more telling people how to fit in’: Constructing the nation in immigration talk in New Zealand

Previous research has demonstrated that talk about immigration can function to produce, reproduce and stabilize racism (Capdevila & Callaghan, 2008 ). In New Zealand (NZ), changes in immigration policy have seen a rapid increase in diverse groups of migrants with varied cultural backgrounds entering the country in the past two decades. Given its unique colonial history and ‘settler nationality in a bicultural nation’ (Bell, 2009 ), we explored how young NZ adults talk about and produce meanings and understandings of immigration, immigrants and cultural diversity. Appealing to notions of NZ as ‘one society’, as English speaking, and as English looking participants constructed NZ, NZ national identity and the NZ economy in particular ways. This constituted a nationalist rhetoric that was taken up in common‐sense ways by participants to legitimize racist talk whilst simultaneously acting to locate participants themselves as reasonable and moral individuals. It is concluded that nationalist discourses function to reinforce patterns of social dominance and perpetuate the notion of New Zealanders as largely white, European‐looking and English‐speaking. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.