Exploring correlations between positive psychological resources and symptoms of psychological distress among hematological cancer patients: a cross-sectional study

Hematological cancer patients experience high levels of psychological distress during diagnoses and intensive treatments. The aim of the present study is to explore the effects of positive psychological resources on depressive and anxiety symptoms in hematological cancer patients. This survey was conducted in a hospital during the period from July 2013 to April 2014. A total of 300 inpatients were recruited and finally 227 of them completed the questionnaires. Questionnaires included demographic and clinical variables, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, the Life Orientation Scale-Revised, the General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Resilience Scale-14. Results showed that the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms was 66.1 and 45.8%, respectively. Both optimism (β = ?.479, p < .001) and resilience (β = ?.174, p < .05) were negatively associated with depressive symptoms, and optimism (β = ?.393, p < .001) was negatively associated with anxiety symptoms. However, resilience (β = ?.133, p > .05) was not significantly associated with anxiety symptoms, and self-efficacy was not significantly associated with depressive (β = ?.032, p > .05) or anxiety symptoms (β = ?.055, p > .05). The results suggest that hematological cancer patients who possess high levels of positive psychological resources may have fewer symptoms of psychological distress. The findings indicate that enhancing positive psychological resources can be considered in developing intervention strategies for decreasing depressive and anxiety symptoms.     

Are there different moral domains? Evidence from Mongolia

In this paper we report a study conducted in Mongolia on the scope of morality, that is, the extent to which people moralize different social domains. Following Turiel's moral‐conventional task, we characterized moral transgressions (in contrast to conventional transgressions) in terms of two dimensions: authority independence and generality of scope. Different moral domains are then defined by grouping such moral transgressions in terms of their content (following Haidt's classification of morally relevant domains). There are four main results of the study. First, since all five Haidtian domains were moralized by the Mongolian participants, the study provides evidence in favour of pluralism about moral domains. However, the study also suggests that the domain of harm can be reduced to the fairness domain. Furthermore, although the strong claim about reduction of all moral domains to the domain of fairness does not seem to hold a significant number of participants did indicate considerations of fairness across domains. Finally, a significant amount of participants moralized conventional transgressions a la Turiel, but it did not reach a statistical significance.     

Meanings of the Hijab: Views of Canadian Muslim women

This study demonstrates the individualized phenomenological experiences of Muslim‐Canadian women through their relationships with head covering, most commonly known as the hijab. By conducting in‐depth interviews with ten women, five who cover and five who do not, we sought to understand their day‐to‐day experiences with covering, and how their interpretations of these experiences were related to them as individuals, as well as to broader social contexts. Through the use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, we found that the women's experiences can be regarded as an interplay between internal experience, that is, the personal meanings that the women placed on wearing or not wearing a headscarf, and external experience, that is, their interpretations of outside events and treatment by others as related to the headscarf. Their experiences were also embedded in the contexts of their cultural and religious communities, and broader Canadian society. Consistent with previous work, themes such as Muslim identity, religiosity and modesty were highlighted by the women, however, rather than focusing on general experiences across participants, we give primary attention to how these themes unfolded in the individual women's lives. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd, Asian Association of Social Psychology and Beijing Normal University     

Teaching Critical Thinking without (Much) Writing: Multiple‐Choice and Metacognition

In this essay, I explore an exam format that pairs multiple‐choice questions with required rationales. In a space adjacent to each multiple‐choice question, students explain why or how they arrived at the answer they selected. This exercise builds the critical thinking skill known as metacognition, thinking about thinking, into an exam that also engages students in the methods of the academic study of religion by asking them to compare familiar excerpts and images. As a form of assessment, the exam provides a record of students' knowledge and their thought processes, and as a learning strategy, it encourages students to examine the thought processes they use to understand religion(s) and its many manifestations.     

Strengths use and work engagement: a weekly diary study

The present study among 65 civil engineers investigates the impact of organizational support for strengths use on weekly work engagement and proactive behaviour. Positive psychology postulates that strengths use makes people feel authentic and efficacious. We argue that employees use these positive psychological states as resources that fuel work engagement and proactive work behaviour. Participants completed a general questionnaire regarding strengths use support, and a weekly quantitative diary questionnaire regarding their strengths use, self-efficacy, work engagement, and proactive behaviour over a period of five consecutive workweeks. In line with the hypotheses, the results of multilevel structural equation analyses showed that organizational strengths use support was positively related to weekly strengths use. Furthermore, the results indicated that weekly strengths use was positively related to weekly work engagement and proactive behaviour, through weekly self-efficacy (sequential mediation). Although strengths use support contributed indirectly to work engagement (mediated by strengths use and self-efficacy), there was no significant indirect relationship with proactive behaviour. Our study indicates that strengths use is associated with employees’ levels of self-efficacy, work engagement, and proactive behaviour and that organizations can help employees to use their strengths more often by giving them the opportunity to do what they are good at.     

Introducing the Astley–Francis Theology of Religions Index: construct validity among 13- to 15-year-old students

The ‘theology of religions’ is concerned with the interpretation and evaluation of the divergent truth-claims and views of salvation that are asserted or implied by different religious traditions. This study proposes a new multi-choice index that distinguishes between six current positions within the theology of religions, characterised as Atheism, Agnosticism, Exclusionism, Inclusivism, Pluralism, and Interreligious perspective, with a further subdivision between two expressions of the pluralism perspective. The construct validity of this new measure is supported by the performance of the instrument in respect of a network of theories (regarding how these different positions may relate to the factors of sex, age, personal religiosity and attitude toward religious diversity) among a sample of 10,754 13- to 15-year-old students from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.     

Learners’ perceptions and experiences of respect in educator-learner relationships

The aim of the study was to explore and describe secondary school learners’ perceptions and experiences of respect in educator-learner relationships within a high-risk South African neighbourhood context. A qualitative research design was used in this study. The 15 participants were high school learners (females = 33%, age range 17 to 21 years). Data on how learners perceive and experience respect in educator-learner relationships were gathered utilising written assignments, and through the application of the World Café technique. Thematic analysis was used to identify relevant relationship themes for learners: mutuality, various behavioural practices and emotional attitudes. All school communities should promote relational well-being practices amongst educators and learners.     

Mapping dispositions for social justice: towards a cartography of reflection

As non-White students now outnumber their White counterparts in America’s public schools, it is important for teacher education programs, which graduate a predominantly White cadre of teachers, to focus on the development of dispositions for social justice. When teachers view cultural diversity as a problem, they risk developing erroneous expectations for their students, which can support the surreptitious insertion of prejudices into the latent curriculum. In order to help preservice teachers reflect on their understanding of diverse perspectives, especially those related to cognitive complexity, this study uses social cartography and discourse analysis to map their dispositions. Discussion and self-reflection lead to understanding and self-monitoring, and mapping can help teacher candidates identify those areas in which they may harbour apathetic worldviews or unifocal perspectives.     

Embodying the sacred and profane: how temporal empires,narratives of salvation,and the prison regime value bodies in the United States

Although analyses of the ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’ tend to remain within the discipline of religious studies, categories of sacrality and profane-ness actively shape and label all bodies in the United States. Combining theories of the sacred and profane with formulations of race, gender and sexuality, I investigate the social de/valuation of specific bodies at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. During each period, three structural factors influence these categorisations: empires of hegemonic social time, dominant Christian narratives of salvation and the role of prison. A comparative analysis demonstrates both continuity and specificity in producing sacred and profane bodies.     

Imagery and self-efficacy in the injury context

ObjectivesTo develop and test the factorial validity of an adapted version of the Athletic Injury Imagery Questionnaire (AIIQ-2: Sordoni, Hall, & Forwell, 2002). To explore the effect of an imagery intervention on self-efficacy in the sport injury context.DesignStudy 1, cross-sectional; Study 2, multiple-base line.MethodIn Study 1 the AIIQ-2 was adapted to include a pain management subscale. This adapted imagery questionnaire (AIIQ-3) was then administered to 291 injured athletes (M age = 28.64 years, SD = 14.30). In Study 2 using a multiple-baseline single subject design, the effects of an imagery intervention on self-efficacy prior to physiotherapy treatment of five athletes with a Type B malleolar fracture (M age = 49.50 years, SD = 16.56) was examined. A follow-up post-experimental interview explored participants' perceptions of the intervention.ResultsStudy 1, confirmatory factor analysis revealed evidence for the factorial validity of the AIIQ-3. Study 2, results from the multiple-base line design demonstrated that for two out of the five participants there were observable and statistically meaningful increases in task efficacy, with the same result in three out of five participants for coping efficacy. The post-interview results revealed that all intervention participants perceived the intervention to be beneficial and effective beyond the general information provided.ConclusionsThe results are discussed in terms of overcoming an inherent weakness in previous injury-related imagery research and the applied implications for the time-course of rehabilitation.