Queer Patients and the Health Care Professional—Regulatory Arrangements Matter

This paper discusses a number of critical ethical problems that arise in interactions between queer patients and health care professionals attending them. Using real-world examples, we discuss the very practical problems queer patients often face in the clinic. Health care professionals face conflicts in societies that criminalise same sex relationships. We also analyse the question of what ought to be done to confront health care professionals who propagate falsehoods about homosexuality in the public domain. These health care professionals are more often than not motivated by strong religious convictions that conflict with mainstream medical opinion on homosexuality. We argue that they ought to be held accountable for their conduct by their professional statutory bodies, given that they abuse their professional standing to propagate sectarian views not representative of their profession. Lastly, we propose that medical schools have special responsibilities in training future health care professionals that will enable them to respond professionally to queer patients seeking health care.     

Effects of a Genetic Counseling Model on Mothers of Children with Down Syndrome: A Brazilian Pilot Study

Down syndrome occurs in approximately 1:600 live births. Genetic counseling is indicated for these families and may be beneficial for adaptation to the challenges that accompany by this diagnosis. Although the basic counseling goals are similar, there are many models of genetic counseling practiced around the world. The aim of this article is to report the results of a pilot study that evaluated the level of satisfaction with a model of service delivery of genetic counseling practiced in Brazil, the knowledge assimilated about Down syndrome and whether this process resulted in a feeling of well-being and psychological support. Thirty mothers of under 6-month-old children with Down syndrome were interviewed after having two sessions of genetic counseling in a public healthcare service within a period of 30 days. A semi-structured questionnaire was developed by the researchers to collect identification, socioeconomic and demographic data and to assess the client’s satisfaction with the model of genetic counseling. Data were collected using both open and closed questions. The reported level of satisfaction was high. The knowledge assimilated about Down syndrome after only two sessions was considered technically vague by raters in 44 % of cases. Most mothers (96.7 %) reported that genetic counseling was beneficial and provided psychological support. The model was considered satisfactory, but further research is needed to identify ways to improve knowledge retention by this population. These results highlight the utility of referring families for genetic counseling when there is a suspicion of a diagnosis of Down syndrome.     

Writing as a meaningful activity

Writing processes have been studied extensively from the cognitive point of view, but little attention has been given to the affective aspects of this activity. In fact, writing experience seems to be relevant to a person not only because it is a complex cognitive activity, but also because it often has an affective characterization. The aim of the present study was to investigate writing as a meaningful activity, that is, to analyze the way in which pupils of different grade levels construe this activity. The study was divided into two phases: (a) interviews with pupils in order to select relevant elements (i.e., writing situations and contexts) and (b) subjects' elicitation of constructs and evaluation of elements. From the qualitative and quantitative analyses of the grids, a developmental trend emerged. Whereas the younger subjects frequently elicited constructs related to the affective dimension of writing, as age increased, the cognitive dimension became more evident.     

Affiliative and Instrumental Marital Discord, Mother's Negative Affect, and Children's Negative Interactions with Unfamiliar Peers

Indices of marital discord and mother-child affective processes were used to predict levels of negativity children displayed with unfamiliar peers. Thirty-nine mothers and their 5-year-olds were observed with 5–7 other mother-child dyads during a 30-minute free play session. Mother and child negativity were coded and two types of marital discord were assessed via mother self-report: affiliative discord (e.g., distress due to the lack of affiliative behaviors in the marriage) and instrumental discord (e.g., disagreements about the accomplishment of marital tasks, such as finances, time management, and goal setting). Affiliative discord was found to relate to the child's negativity with unfamiliar peers, but instrumental discord was not. Furthermore, maternal negativity moderated the link between marital discord and child's negativity with peers, such that high levels of affiliative discord combined with heightened maternal negativity was associated with child negativity. Practical implications are discussed.     

Social Competence at the Playground: Preschoolers During Recess

Social interactions at the playground have been represented as a rich learning opportunity to hone and master social skills at preschool years. Specifically, all forms of social play (fantasy, role, exercise or rough‐and‐tumble) have been related to children's social competence. The main goal of this study was to examine whether it is a certain kind of social play which facilitates the development of social competence, or if it is just the opportunity for interacting during recess that provides children with an optimal environment for social learning. A total of 73 preschoolers (4–6 years old) were videotaped at the school's playground. Teachers provided assessments of children's social competence. Children's interactions at the playground were assessed through an innovative measuring method, based on radio‐frequency identification devices. The results showed a positive association between exercise play and children's social competence. In contrast with the literature, both forms of pretend play, fantasy and role play were unrelated to children's social competence. Smaller peer groups and longer interactions also demonstrated a positive association with these preschoolers' social competence. The study shows the importance of outdoor physical play for preschoolers' social success. Moreover, the study suggests that the environment in which children play has an important effect on the adaptive nature of their play. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Temporal and spatial dimensions in the perception of environmental problems: An investigation of the concept of environmental hyperopia

Environmental problems have been perceived as more worrying when they take place at greater distances. This phenomenon has been called “environmental hyperopia” ( 9 Uzzell, 2000; 7 Uzzell, Rice, Ballantyne, & Podlucká, 1994). Some studies have demonstrated that local environmental problems are perceived as being less important than the problems generated in other places, such as global warming or Amazon deforestation, unless the problem leads to an immediate risk. This article is part of a broader research programme, which tries to analyse the most relevant variables in the formation of pro‐environmental attitudes. More precisely, our intention is to explore the difference between attitudes about local and global environments. We present a study of the assessment of several environmental problems, in which 12 scales measured the importance given to these problems by a sample of students. The results were analysed with multidimensional methods, allowing us to establish temporal and space dimensions in the perception of environmental problems. The conclusions allowed us not only to explore the social representation of environmental problems, but also to establish priorities and recommendations for future environmental education programmes.     

The help-seeking orientations of Latino and non-Latino urban high school students: a critical-sociological investigation

This study focuses on the help-seeking orientations of low-status Latino adolescents. Help-seeking orientation is defined as a person's proclivity to resolve personal and academic problems through the seeking of social support (i.e., coping by seeking help). This article presents a selected review of the literature on key social antecedents of people's help-seeking orientation. It also presents an emerging sociological framework for recasting this social psychological phenomenon as an important mediating link between the systematic forces of class, race, and gender and the life chances of low-status youth. The authors report on a cross-sectional study of three measures of adolescent help-seeking orientation, based on a questionnaire survey of one urban high school in the southwestern United States. Measures of social class, gender, age, English-language proficiency, and academic performance were examined for their independent predictive value. The authors also tested for differential effects across three student groups: Spanish-dominant Latinos, English-proficient Latinos, and non-Latinos. Gender and academic performance emerged as the most salient predictors, suggesting that low-achieving males are particularly prone to withdraw from vital sources of support. Latino immigrants with little English proficiency also revealed signs of a negative or conflictive orientation toward help seeking, reporting low degrees of interpersonal openness and a low desire for academic support.