Race and Healthcare Disparities: Overcoming Vulnerability

The paper summarizes recently published dataand recommendations about healthcaredisparities experienced by African Americanswho have Medicare or other healthcare coverage.Against this background the paper addresses theethics of such disparities and howdisadvantages of vulnerable populations likeAfrican Americans are typically maintained indecision making about how to respond to suchdisparities. Considering how to respond todisparities reveals much that vulnerablepopulations would bring to the policy-makingtable, if they can also be heard when they getthere. The paper argues that vulnerablepopulations like African Americans need fairrepresentation in bodies deciding what to doabout such disparities and that fairnessrequires proportional representation at alllevels of decisions that affect healthcare – aradical change. In this decision setting, howto provide adequate protection of minoritiesneeds much further attention. The mostattractive decision-making model isdeliberative democracy. The paper shows thatin deliberation, fair representation requiresnot only having a voice in decisions, but afair hearing of those voices. Achieving a fairhearing requires changes in norms ofcommunication and training of all to giveimportance to greetings and other measures ofcivility and trust building, and to be open todiverse forms of expression. Decisions abouthow to respond to healthcare disparities wouldinclude what programs to initiate for whom, howto evaluate the programs, and what to do inresponse to such evaluations. Conclusions arethat achieving such goals will take a seachange in how healthcare institutions andproviders do their business, and that socialactivism at every level will be needed toeffect these changes. The discussionhighlights many ethical issues that need muchgreater attention.     

The Emotional Intelligence of Managers: Assessing the Construct Validity of a Nonverbal Measure of “People Skills”

Researchers have long been interested in managerial socio-emotional competency —people skills. One problem has been that many such competencies are properly categorized as nonverbal in nature, yet researchers typically utilize paper and pencil, verbal, measures to assess these. The present research draws upon emerging literature on emotional intelligence, as well as upon psychological research on cross-cultural universals in the display and recognition of facial expressions of emotion, combining these streams of research to develop a nonverbal measure of skill at nonverbal communication—particularly, of the ability to recognize emotional expressions displayed by others. Applications to leadership, human relations skills, and communication in organizations are discussed.     

Affectionate communication,health, and relationships

A robust body of research attests to the mental and physical health correlates and consequences of affectionate communication. Like much research on personal relationships, however, this work may overrepresent certain portions of the population, may underrepresent others, and may not effectively account for intersections of identities. We define intersectionality as comprising the unique effects of two or more social identities interacting with each other. To assess this literature with an eye toward intersectionality and representation, the present article reports a systematic review of 86 individual empirical studies representing 26,013 participants. The review concludes that there is no explicit or implicit attention to intersectionality in the existing research on affectionate communication and health, and that U.S. Americans, women, younger individuals, white individuals, and students are overrepresented in research samples. The review ends with future directions to encourage more inclusive research on this topic.     

“Some days are much holier than others”: Relational uncertainty and partner influence in Christian dating couples' sexual intimacy negotiation

When intrafaith couples' religion strictly prohibits premarital sexual intercourse, negotiating sexual intimacy can become a multilayered process of identity negotiation that compounds the difficulty of sexual communication. Through the lens of relational turbulence theory, this study explored how devout Christian couples negotiate sexual intimacy by reanalyzing qualitative interview data the first author collected in 2017 from 16 self-identified Christians (8 heterosexual couples). Seven themes revealed how relational uncertainty, partner interference, and partner facilitation manifested in the context of sexual intimacy negotiation. Themes of relational uncertainty experience and prevention included assumption of shared values, relationship talk, and sexual behaviors as an uncertainty catalyst. Partner facilitation and interference emerged as themes of sexual escalation and de-escalation including snowball effect, pinpointing underlying motivations for boundary violations, gatekeeping sexual temptation, and drawing from shared values of sacrifice and prayer. These interpretive findings advance the literature on relational turbulence theory and provide Christian dating couples with practical advice for how to negotiate sexual intimacy in committed premarital relationships.     

The use of augmentative alternative communication in psychotherapy

The use of augmentative alternative communication (AAC) in psychotherapy is particularly important for psychotherapists who may have a disability related to speech-language production. The aim of our study was to examine the perceptions of using AAC in psychotherapy. We recruited 186 participants and randomly assigned them to either watch a video of a therapist using AAC or employing traditional talk psychotherapy. Subsequently, we asked participants to complete the Counsellor Rating Form-Short (CRF-S), respond to a question about behavioural intention to seek psychotherapy and complete the Working Alliance Inventory-Observer form (WAI-O). Most participants perceived the use of AAC to be related to the therapist having a disability. The use of AAC had higher ratings on the CRF-S and higher scores on the WAI-O. There were no significant differences in behavioural intention between the therapist using AAC or traditional talk psychotherapy. The use of AAC is a viable option for psychotherapy and is beneficial. Psychotherapists with a disability affecting speech-language production may opt to use AAC as others perceive the therapist positively, the alliance is rated higher and therapists do not need to be concerned with patients not wanting to seek out their services.     

Effects of continuous and intermittent reinforcement for problem behavior during functional communication training

We evaluated the effectiveness of functional communication training (FCT) in reducing problem behavior and in strengthening alternative behavior when FCT was implemented without extinction. Following the completion of functional analyses in which social-positive reinforcement was identified as the maintaining variable for 5 participants' self-injurious behavior (SIB) and aggression, the participants were first exposed to FCT in which both problem behavior and alternative behavior were reinforced continuously (i.e., on fixed-ratio [FR] 1 schedules). During subsequent FCT conditions, the schedule of reinforcement for problem behavior was made more intermittent (e.g., FR 2, FR 3, FR 5, etc.), whereas alternative behavior was always reinforced according to an FR 1 schedule. Results showed that 1 participant's problem behavior decreased and alternative behavior increased during FCT when both behaviors were reinforced on FR 1 schedules. The remaining 4 participants shifted response allocation from problem to alternative behavior as the schedule of reinforcement for problem behavior became more intermittent. These results suggest that individuals might acquire alternative responses during FCT in spite of inconsistencies in the application of extinction, although even small errors in reinforcement may compromise treatment effects.     

Factors Affecting the Use of Dimensional Prepositions in German and American English: Object Orientation, Social Context, and Prepositional Pattern

Spatial language and the use of spatial prepositions has recently been intensively investigated. We add two novel aspects to the question of which frame of reference, i.e., the deictic or the intrinsic frame, is used when communicating about dimensional relations between objects. We restrict ourselves to the use of prepositions that refer to the first horizontal axis, i.e., in front of and behind in English, and vor and hinter in German, respectively, and report on a series of 16 experiments on the connection between the use of these prepositions and the indication of particular subspaces adjacent to reference objects in a traffic environment. First, we will show that an interaction between the intrinsic orientation of the reference object, the type of social situation in which spatial communication occurs, and the used language's pattern of prepositional word forms for temporal and spatiodimensional relations contributes to the proper prediction of the use of spatial prepositions. Second, we systematically consider production as well as interpretation of prepositions in two different languages in the same experimental setting, which allows for the estimation of communicative success. Here, it turns out that in German as well as in American English there are conditions in which speakers and listeners either agree or disagree on the chosen frame of reference; however, these conditions are different in the two languages investigated.     

“THE GOD WITH CLAY”: THE IDEA OF DEEP INCARNATION AND THE INFORMATIONAL UNIVERSE

This article explores the relations between the idea of deep incarnation and scientific ideas of an informational universe, in which mass, energy, and information belong together. It is argued that the cosmic Christologies developed in the vein of Cappadocian theology (fourth century) and the Franciscan theologian Bonaventure (thirteenth century) can be interpreted as precursors of an informational worldview by consistently blending “formative” and “material” aspects of creativity. Reversely, contemporary sciences of information can enlarge the scope of the contemporary view of deep incarnation. I propose three hypotheses for showing how and why. First, mass, energy, and information have an equal causal importance for explaining reality. Second, just as transformation presupposes communication, so communication presupposes information. Third, contemporary science can elucidate seminal concerns of the idea of deep incarnation, insofar as informational structures pave the way for information capture, communication, and transformation. At the level of organismic life, new features of embodied cognition and emotion come up, important for understanding the organismic depth of the concrete incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth.     

科技侵扰与恋爱关系满意度:有调节的中介效应

采用问卷法对454名处于亲密恋爱关系中的未婚个体进行调查,考察了沟通质量在科技侵扰与亲密关系满意度之间的中介效应,及信任对这一中介过程的调节效应。结果表明：(1)科技侵扰对亲密关系满意度具有显著负向预测作用;(2)沟通质量在科技侵扰与亲密关系满意度之间起中介作用;(3)科技侵扰通过沟通质量对亲密关系满意度的中介受到信任的调节,具体来说,个体对伴侣信任水平较高时,将减弱沟通质量变差对亲密关系满意度的破坏作用。本研究在新的时代背景下探究智能手机使用在亲密互动中的影响及其中的机制和边界条件。研究结果提示,科技侵扰可以通过破坏沟通质量影响恋爱个体的亲密关系满意度,且在此过程中信任可以缓冲沟通质量变差对亲密关系的影响。