Social support and victims of crime: Matching event,support, and outcome

Investigated the buffering properties of six types of social support (three perceived, three received) with regard to four psychological consequences (depression, anxiety, fear of crime, hostility) of criminal victimization (violent crime, property crime). These relationships were examined using longitudinal data collected from a sample composed of representative subsamples of victims and nonvictims. Effects of the perceived support measures (perceived appraisal support, perceived tangible support, self-esteem) were more pervasive than those of the received support measures (received informational support, received tangible support, received emotional support). Perceived support consistently exhibited buffering effects, protecting both violent and property crime victims against various symptoms they would have otherwise experienced. The stress-buffering capabilities of received support were limited to informational and tangible help protecting victims of violence from experiencing excessive fear. These findings are discussed in the context of recent theoretical developments concerning the stress-support matching hypothesis.     

“Towards a Global Vision of the Church”

After the publication of The Church: Towards a Common Vision (TCTCV) in 2013, the major task and challenge for the Faith and Order Commission's Study Group II has been the progress of the multilateral ecumenical dialogue on ecclesiology. The two subgroups of Study Group II have been working in close cooperation with each other, focusing on two major ways to achieve this progress. The focus of Subgroup 2 has been to harvest the fruits of the official responses to TCTCV. This is being done by the collection and analysis of the official responses to TCTCV, the identification of some key themes and issues that emerge from them, and the evaluation of how they point to the next steps. So far 74 responses have been received; however, geographically speaking, there has been essentially no response from the global South (there have been no responses from Africa, no responses from Latin America, and one from Asia); and, denominationally speaking, roughly 10 percent of the responses come from churches or streams that have not been part of the “traditional” ecumenical movement. Nevertheless, the latter regions and denominational families are crucial: they represent the largest and fastest‐growing part of global Christianity, and thus it is impossible to have a really “universal” and contemporary‐sensitive approach to ecclesiology without substantial input from them. Many of them have also not always been clearly or strongly part of the ecclesiological conversation before TCTCV, and thus it is even more important to include them from now on, and be enriching the multilateral ecclesiological conversation with their contributions as well. Hence, the focus of Subgroup 1 has been to broaden the table of ecclesiological dialogue, by getting into more and wider conversations with ecclesiological perspectives from regions (especially from Asia, Africa, and Latin America), denominational families (e.g., evangelical, Pentecostal, Independent churches, etc.), and forms of being church (e.g., movements, new monasticism, online churches, etc.) “which have not always been clearly or strongly part of discussions on the way to TCTCV, and whose understandings of ecclesiology we want to discover and to enter into dialogue with” (Caraiman minutes, p. 55; cf. Krakow report p. 1).     

Pilot Testing and Preliminary Psychometric Validation of the Polish Translation of the EORTC INFO25 Questionnaire

The quality of information that oncological patients receive from health care professionals is an underestimated issue in Poland and Eastern European countries. There is lack of sufficient data on this subject. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) supplies a new tool for measuring the quality of information provided to cancer patients. The purpose of the study is the translation into Polish, pilot testing and preliminary validation of the EORTC information module (INFO25). Following the EORTC translation procedures, forward and back translations of the questionnaire were performed (English?→?Polish, Polish?→?English). The intermediate version of the INFO25 was pilot-tested together with the general questionnaire of quality of life (EORTC QLQ-C30). Reliability, validity and known-group comparison tests were performed. A total of 21 patients with different cancer diagnoses were recruited into the study (7 women and 14 men; mean age of 60,2 years, age range 25–73 years). Apart from filling out the INFO25, patients were interviewed about the difficulties with answering every questionnaire item. Patients' comments were analyzed and minor language changes were made to the initial translation. The internal consistency of the INFO25 showed a reliability of 0,78. The final version of the Polish translation of the INFO25 module was obtained and approved by the EORTC Quality of Life Department. It can now be used in clinical setting and for scientific purposes.     

In search of altruistic community: Patterns of social support mobilization following Hurricane Hugo

Twelve months after Hurricane Hugo, 1,000 disaster victims and nonvictims were asked about social support they exchanged following the hurricane. Victims of disaster received and provided very high levels of tangible, informationa, and emotional support. Disaster exposure (loss and harm) was a strong predictor of help received and a modest predictor of help provided. However, postdisaster help was not distributed equally and disaster exposure was more strongly related to social support in some groups than in others. Race, education, and age most consistently moderated the impact of disaster exposure on receipt of postdisaster support. Blacks and less educated victims received less help than similarly affected victims who were white or more educated. Relative disadvantage of being old in receiving support was not the case for those elderly disaster victims who experienced threats to their lives or health. Some subgroups of victims were relied upon disproportionately for providing assistance. Implications for social support research are addressed. This research was supported by Grant MH45069 from the Violence and Traumatic Stress Research Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health to Fran H. Norris, principal investigator.     

Alternative vision: Ethics,Power, and Levin's The Philosopher Gaze

Continental Philosophy Review -     

Polish Research Ethics Committees in the European Union System of Assessing Medical Experiments

The Polish equivalents of Research Ethics Committees are Bioethics Committees (BCs). A questionnaire study has been undertaken to determine their situation. The BC is usually comprised of 13 members. Nine of these are doctors and four are non-doctors. In 2006 BCs assessed an average of 27.3 ± 31.7 (range: 0–131) projects of clinical trials and 71.1 ± 139.8 (range: 0–638) projects of other types of medical research. During one BC meeting an average of 10.3 ± 14.7 (range: 0–71) projects of medical research were assessed (2006). The amendment of Polish laws according with Directive 2001/20/EC caused a percentage increase in BCs which assessed less than 20 projects per year (16% vs. 33% or 42% in 2003 vs. 2005 or 2006 respectively, p < 0,05). The results confirm the usefulness of the current practice of creating BCs by medical universities, medical institutes and regional chambers of physicians and dentists but rationalization of the workload for individual BCs is necessary.