Does contact at work extend its influence beyond prejudice? Evidence from healthcare settings

This article reports on two studies investigating the role of intergroup contact on the reduction of prejudice against migrants and on organizational and health outcomes. Study 1 enrolled 624 native healthcare professionals and showed that frequent and positive contact with non-native co-workers was associated with a decrease in the professionals’ prejudice and an increase in the professionals’ perception of team functioning. These effects were mediated by reduced in-group threat perception. Study 2 enrolled 201 native patients and showed that frequent and positive contact with non-native healthcare providers was associated with a decrease in patients’ prejudice and an increase in patients’ satisfaction for the care received. These effects were mediated by reduced in-group threat perception. These novel findings showed that frequent and positive contact with non-native individuals can improve health and organizational outcomes along with facilitating positive intergroup relations.     

Efficacy of a cognitive-behavioural therapy administered by videoconference for generalized anxiety disorder

IntroductionDelivering psychotherapy by videoconference could considerably extend the accessibility of empirically validated treatments.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), administered via videoconference.MethodFive participants with a primary diagnosis of GAD took part in an experimental multiple baseline case study protocol. The efficacy of the treatment was evaluated using a semi-structured interview, self-report questionnaires, and daily self-monitoring diaries.ResultsThe results demonstrate that overall, participants’ conditions were improved following treatment and they no longer met the diagnostic criteria for GAD in the short-term. Participants’ conditions improved clinically and statistically at each follow-up point, achieving a greater global level of functioning at post-test, as well as at 3-month and 12-month follow-up.ConclusionClinical implications of this new treatment modality and directions for future research are discussed.     

How to improve the appropriation of space and the morale of residents in nursing homes

This study proposes a simple methodology to improve the quality of life of residents in nursing homes. In the experimental condition, an intervention based on the feeling of control, the technique of touching and “you are free to…” was implemented. Assessment of the residents’ appropriation of their personal space and their morale was made one month later. Data showed a significant improvement in both parameters in the experimental condition, whereas values remained stable in the control group, which did not receive the intervention.     

Spirituality and spiritual care – missing concepts from core undergraduate children’s nursing textbooks

Background: Spiritual care is espoused to be fundamental in children’s nursing; however, the extent to which current fundamental children’s nursing textbooks support and advocate spiritual care delivery by children’s nurses and nursing students is unknown. Aim and objectives: To examine whether or not fundamental undergraduate children’s nursing textbooks include spiritual care content. Methods: Five hundred and nineteen books were sampled from the Nursing and Midwifery Core Collection list (UK) using a survey, the Spirituality Textbook Analysis Tool (STAT) to collect data. Analysis and Results: 519 books were included in the study using the STAT and 13 books included content on children’s spirituality. There were a variety of textbooks in the audit of those that made reference to the search terms in the STAT, it was found that content mainly addressed only two areas; religious faiths and the dying child. Recommendations: Children’s nurses require education about children’s spiritual developmental stage and age appropriate spiritual assessment. A lack of detailed information in core children’s nursing textbooks means that this area of nursing practice may be taught as an adjunct to care and not as an element of holistic care which is the gold standard that children’s nurses should strive for.     

Children’s prayers from a Hospital Chapel

Children’s prayers, from prayer books left in the Chapel of a Children’s Hospital between 1998 and 2002, were studied for what the children’s God-talk would reveal about their perceptions of God. Of the 3893 prayers written during this period, 346 were confidently identified as being authored by children. The sample of 346 prayers, which gave rise to 558 expressions of prayer, was explored through a content analysis, used quantitatively to summarise and describe the data, and a thematic analysis, informed by methods from Grounded Theory. The psychological and spiritual significance of the prayers is drawn out, demonstrating the richness and relationality of children’s spirituality. The predominance of prayers written by female writers, suggests that the extent to which relationality is present is related to gender. Questions concerning possible gender-related differences in girls’ and boys’ spirituality are raised and implications for practice are considered.     

Memories defining the self in Alzheimer’s disease

ABSTRACT

There is a debate over the extent to which personal identity or the self is preserved in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Autobiographical memory deficits at early stages of AD could contribute to altering patients’ self. However, the nature of the relationship between autobiographical memory deficits and the self in AD has not been much investigated experimentally. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the integrative meaning of self-defining memories (SDMs) in early stages of AD and to analyse its relationship with the self-concept. The results showed that, when compared to the control group, AD patients less frequently extracted meaning from their SDMs and the meaning was less frequently tied to the self. Patients exhibited some altered aspects of the self-concept (i.e., complexity and strength), though some other components still persisted (i.e., valence and certainty). Correlation analyses showed that the impaired integrative meaning in the AD group was correlated with some changes in self-concept. We suggest that integrative meaning may act as a bridge between autobiographical memories and the self-concept, with reduced integration abilities appearing as a potential mechanism for the deterioration of the self-concept in AD.     

Subjective states associated with retrieval failures in Parkinson’s disease

Instances in which we cannot retrieve information immediately but know that the information might be retrieved later are subjective states that accompany retrieval failure. These are expressed in feeling-of-knowing (FOK) and Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) experiences. In Experiment 1, participants with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and older adult controls were given general questions and asked to report when they experienced a TOT state and to give related information about the missing word. The PD group experienced similar levels of TOTs but provided less correct peripheral information related to the target when in a TOT state. In Experiment 2, participants were given a Semantic (general knowledge questions) and an Episodic (word pairs) FOK task. PD patients failed to accurately predict their future memory performance (FOK) in response to both episodic and semantic cues. Results are interpreted in the context of recent frameworks of memory and metacognition.     

Sense of identity in advanced Alzheimer’s dementia: A cognitive dissociation between sameness and selfhood?

We looked at whether sense of identity persists in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and if its profile remains the same between two examinations. A specifically designed protocol was administered to 16 AD patients in the mild to severe stages of dementia and to 16 matched healthy controls, both living in the same institution. We showed that sense of identity was broadly preserved in AD patients. The patterns of their responses were similar to those of controls, and remained consistent over a two-week period. However, some qualitative characteristics of sense of identity in AD patients differed significantly from those of controls, suggesting that AD patients may not be able to update their self-knowledge, probably because of their episodic memory deficit. These results are discussed in the light of both current models of the self and philosophical concepts such as sameness and selfhood.     

Bimanual and Unimanual Convergent Goal-Directed Movement Times

Three experiments are reported, investigating the effects of using 1 or 2 hands when making convergent low index of difficulty (ID) and visually controlled movements (2 hands meeting together). The experiments involved movements in four different cases—a probe held in the right hand and moved to a target held in the stationary left hand, vice versa of this arrangement, both hands moving with the probe in the right hand and target in the left hand, and vice-versa of this arrangement. Experiments were the standard Fitts’ paradigm, moving a pin into a hole and a low-ID task. In Fitts’ task, 2-hand movements were faster than 1 hand only at higher IDs; this was also the case in the pin-to-hole transfer task and the movement times were lower when the pin was held in the preferred hand. Movements made with low ID showed a small effect of 1- or 2-handed movements, with the effective amplitude of the movement being reduced by about 20% when 2 hands were used.