Pub and community: The views of Birmingham untreated heavy drinkers

This paper reports the results of a qualitative analysis of semi‐structured interviews with 79 members of the Birmingham Untreated Heavy Drinkers Cohort. The cohort was recruited in 1997 when all participants were drinking 50 or more standard units of alcohol (men) or 35 or more units (women) most weeks. Present interviews were carried out as part of the fourth wave of interviews, held in 2003. The topic was the participants' places of drinking in the community and the functions those places served. The present analysis focused on the relationship between pubs and community. The strongest theme to emerge was that the pub provided for many participants a real sense of community in itself. It did so by enabling participants to meet with like‐minded others, in a setting distinct from home or work, where conversing and confiding could take place in a relaxed atmosphere, with a range of other activities and forms of social support available to many. At the same time, participants were discriminating about which pubs they used, and when, and with whom they chose to interact. There was less consensus about whether the pub served a wider function by contributing to a positive sense of community in the local neighbourhood. It is suggested that English pubs, at least in a large conurbation such as the West Midlands, are very varied, sometimes continuing to serve as ‘the local’ for a community, sometimes being part of a variety of drinking places which between them provide people with a diversity of social niches to meet their increasingly diverse choices and preferences, and sometimes reflecting and even contributing to local community disorganisation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Teachers’ Beliefs of Creative Children

Teachers’ beliefs about characteristics of creative children do not always align with how creative children actually behave. Understanding these misaligned beliefs—defined as misconceptions—is important because teachers’ misconceptions can undermine efforts to foster children's creative development. This study aimed to identify teachers’ beliefs about the characteristics of creative children with an emphasis on their misconceptions about characteristics as either indicative or contraindicative of creative children. We analyzed responses of 136 teachers to 29 characteristics, indicating or contraindicating creative children, on Gough's (1979). Creative Personality Scale using the Rating Scale Model. Results revealed that teachers tended to have more misconceptions about characteristics contraindicative of creative children than characteristics indicative of creative children while teachers were able to accurately recognize certain characteristics when compared with explicit theories of creativity. In both the indicative and contraindicative characteristics, misconceptions appeared to increase if characteristics were desirable in the classroom. Teachers’ misconceptions may conceal creative potential in children who do not manage their undesirable characteristics in constructive ways. Findings provide practical implications to aid teachers and teacher educators in correcting misconceptions about the characteristics of creative children.     

Understanding Gender and Culture Within the Context of Spirituality: Implications for Counselors

This article examines roles that gender, culture, and spirituality play in elements of therapeutic process. It presents an initial literature review of gender, culture, and spirituality as these factors relate to shaping identities and defining one's behavior. Discussions on how these 3 dimensions influence the level of understanding and effective responsiveness that competent counseling professionals should consider in a culturally and spiritually diverse society are presented. Three case studies provide a framework to illuminate the complexity that professionals face when counseling issues are viewed through unique gender, cultural, and spiritual worldviews. Implications for counselors and the counseling profession are provided.     

Changes in the relationship between movement velocity and movement distance in primary focal hand dystonia

The authors examined the relationship between movement velocity and distance and the associated muscle activation patterns in 18 individuals with focal hand dystonia (FHD) compared with a control group of 18 individuals with no known neuromuscular condition. Participants performed targeted voluntary wrist and elbow flexion movements as fast as possible across 5 movement distances. Individuals with FHD were slower than controls across all distances, and this difference was accentuated for longer movements. Muscle activation patterns were triphasic in the majority of individuals with FHD, and muscle activation scaled with distance in a similar manner to controls. Cocontraction did not explain movement slowing in individuals with dystonia, but there was a trend toward underactivation of the 1st agonist burst in the dystonic group. The authors concluded that slowness is a consistent feature of voluntary movement in FHD and is present even in the absence of dystonic posturing. Underactivation of the 1st agonist burst appears to be the most likely reason to explain slowing.     

Nicotinic modulation of tone-evoked responses in auditory cortex reflects the strength of prior auditory learning

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) contribute to sensory-cognitive function, as demonstrated by evidence that nAChR activation enhances, and nAChR blockade impairs, neural processing of sensory stimuli and sensory-cognitive behavior. To better understand the relationship between nAChR function and behavior, here we compare the strength of nAChR-mediated physiology in individual animals to their prior auditory behavioral performance. Adult rats were trained on an auditory-cued, active avoidance task over 4 days and classified as “good,” “intermediate” or “poor” performers based on their initial rate of learning and eventual level of performance. Animals were then anesthetized, and tone-evoked local field potentials (LFPs) recorded in layer 4 of auditory cortex (ACx) before and after a test dose of nicotine (0.7 mg/kg, s.c.) or saline. In “good” performers, nicotine enhanced LFP amplitude and decreased response threshold to characteristic frequency (CF) stimuli, yet had opposite effects (decreased amplitude, increased threshold) on responses to spectrally distant stimuli; i.e., cortical receptive fields became more selective for CF stimuli. In contrast, nicotine had little effect on LFP amplitude in “intermediate” or “poor” performing animals. Nicotine did, however, reduce LFP onset latency in all three groups, indicating that all received an effective dose of the drug. Our findings suggest that nicotinic regulation of cortical receptive fields may be a distinguishing feature of the best-performing animals, and may facilitate sensory-related learning by enhancing receptive field selectivity.     

Memory for emotionally neutral information in posttraumatic stress disorder: A meta-analytic investigation

Studies have come to conflicting conclusions about whether posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with poorer memory for emotionally neutral information. The authors report a meta-analysis of 27 studies that investigated verbal and/or visual memory in samples with PTSD and healthy controls. The results indicated that the association between PTSD and memory impairment appears to be robust, small to moderate in size, and stronger for verbal than for visual memory. Effect sizes did not vary according to whether recall was immediate or delayed. The association is found in both civilian and military samples and cannot be readily explained as being due to the use of nontraumatized healthy control groups or concurrent head injury. The findings are placed in the context of recent neurobiological and experimental cognitive research.     

Parental Narratives About Genetic Testing for Hearing Loss: A One Year Follow Up Study

Few studies examine whether and how parental attitudes towards genetic testing change over time. In this study we interviewed parents of 14 children with newly identified hearing loss at two time points: after referral to genetics and 1 year later. Qualitative analyses of parental narratives indicate that parental attitudes did not change significantly over this time. Parents who perceived genetic testing to be useful continued to value it after testing, while parents who did not perceive it as being useful for their child’s future held the same view a year later. The only parents who changed their views regarding the usefulness of genetic testing for hearing loss were those who reported that their children underwent significant changes in their hearing loss or were faced with other life threatening conditions. Parents were also often unaware of the role of the genetic counselor and how genetic counseling could help address many of their lingering questions and concerns. These emergent themes indicate the need for geneticists and genetic counselors to be aware of and sensitized to the questions and attitudes that bring parents to a genetic evaluation, as well as the reasons why parents may not follow up with genetic testing for hearing loss when recommended.     

How do women experience myocardial infarction? A qualitative exploration of illness perceptions, adjustment and coping

While UK Department of Health policy recognizes the importance of secondary prevention and rehabilitation following a cardiac event, there still appears a dearth of research addressing women's needs. This study aimed to explore adjustment in terms of women's perception of their cardiac event, impact on relationships and coping strategies employed. Five women suffering first time MI were interviewed, using a semi-structured format and were telephoned 2 months later. Data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Perceptions included: Making Sense of the Event, Cognitive and Emotional Responses and Self-beliefs. Relationships issues were: Others' Reactions and Change in Relationships and Roles. Cognitive and Behavioural strategies and Support from others (including cardiac rehabilitation) formed coping strategies. For most participants, the event was unexpected evoking uncertainty and later, emotions extending beyond the more widely accepted depression and anxiety. Women tended to minimize severity of symptoms and impact of event (perhaps as a way of coping and protecting others), displaying a strong sense of optimism and hope that life would soon return to "normal". However, it appeared this was difficult to maintain and the experience seemed to challenge relationships and roles. The findings suggest recommendations for further research with possible implications for clinical practice.