Theorizing Gerontology: The Case of Old Age, Professional Power, and Social Policy in the United Kingdom

This article examines the interrelationship between old age, professional power, and social policy. In particular, dominant theoretical models in social gerontology are reviewed and an alternative framework for understanding social gerontological issues—Foucauldian gerontology—is advanced. Foucauldian narratives are employed to delineate the historical relationship between professional social work and recent social policy for older people in the United Kingdom. In addition, a Foucauldian framework employed to examine identity formation, professional practices, and policy narratives enriches and widens the disciplinary subject matter of theorizing aging studies. The structure of this article is in three parts: review of theories of aging with an introduction of Foucault's potential contribution to gerontological analysis, the historical overview of the instigation of professional intervention in modernity and the changing roles and responsibilities in relation to older people utilizing Foucault's (1977) genealogical method, and the exploration and application of Foucault's key notion of governmentality (1977; Rose & Miller, 1992) in the analysis of social policy for older people.     

医患关系由“双输”到“双赢”

我国医患关系日趋紧张已是一个不争的事实,日趋恶化的医患关系使患者无奈、天使流泪、医院苦恼、政府尴尬,可谓"全盘皆输"。实现和谐医患关系达到"全赢",必须解决影响医疗服务水平的这一关键障碍,需要政府、医院、医务人员和患者多方的共同努力。     

The Church and the World: Are There Theological Resources for a Common Conversation?

Abortion is an especially salient issue for considering thegeneral problematic of religiously based conversation in thepublic square. It remains deeply divisive, fully thirty-fouryears after Roe v. Wade. Such divisiveness cannot be interpretedas merely an expression of profound differences between "secular"and "religious" voices, because differences also emerge amongChristian denominations, reflecting different sources of moralauthority, different accounts of moral discernment, and differentjudgments about the appropriate relations between law and moralityin the context of pluralism. As this paper explores, however,despite those differences, a generally identifiable "Christian"position concerning the moral status of abortion can be distinguishedfrom secular philosophical judgments on the issue, which isimportant for Christian engagement with public policy debate.     

Are Newborns Morally Different from Older Children?

Policies and position statements regarding decision-making for extremely premature babies exist in many countries and are often directive, focusing on parental choice and expected outcomes. These recommendations often state survival and handicap as reasons for optional intervention. The fact that such outcome statistics would not justify such approaches in other populations suggests that some other powerful factors are at work. The value of neonatal intensive care has been scrutinized far more than intensive care for older patients and suggests that neonatal care is held to a higher standard of justification. The relative value placed on the life of newborns, in particular the preterm, is less than expected by any objective medical data or any prevailing moral frameworks about the value of individual lives. Why do we feel less obligated to treat the premature baby? Do we put newborns in a special and lesser moral category? We explore this question from a legal and ethical perspective and offer several hypotheses pertaining to personhood, reproductive choices, “precious children,” and probable evolutionary and anthropological factors.     

认知评价与心理控制感在中年人对社会政策变化感受与心理健康之间的作用

采用自编问卷以714名城镇中年人为被试,考察了认知评价与心理控制感在中年人对社会政策变化感受与心理健康之间的作用。结果发现:(1)总体上,社会政策变化对中年人造成的心理感受以及对心理健康的影响都是积极的。(2)认知评价、心理控制感在中年人对社会政策变化感受与心理健康之间起中介作用。     

Multi-criteria evaluation of climate policy interactions

The effectiveness of a national climate policy instrument is affected by the presence of policy interactions with other instruments that were not forecasted before its implementation. The problem can be confronted during the design of the instrument by determining forms, types and size of emerging interactions. This paper presents a systematic approach for evaluating the aggregate effect of interactions using a combination of three multi-criteria methods, the analytical hierarchy process, the multi-attribute utility theory and the Simple Multi-Attribute Ranking Technique. The first is used for determining the weight coefficients for interaction forms and sub-criteria. The other two are used for grading policy interactions under a set of three criteria and their sub-criteria. The method is tested for two pairs of interactive instruments, IPPC and EU-ETS, EU-ETS and policies for the promotion of RES, within the Hellenic climate policy framework. Consistency and robustness tests are performed. Results are commented. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Chinese Version of the Revised Creativity Domain Questionnaire (CDQ‐R): First Evidence for its Factorial Validity and Systematic Association with the Big Five

The present study examines the factor structure of a Chinese version of the Revised Creativity Domain Questionnaire (CDQ‐R; Kaufman, Waterstreet, Ailaouni, Whitcomb, Roe, & Riggs, 2009) as well as its relation to Big Five personality traits within a Chinese sample (N = 787). Analyses indicate the appropriateness of the Chinese version of the CDQ‐R in terms of internal consistency, factorial validity as well as convergent and divergent validity concerning the Big Five personality factors. Revealing some culture‐specific variation, confirmatory factor analysis indicated a slight superiority of a five‐factor model for this Chinese sample over the existing four‐factor model established with American samples. This higher level of differentiation in terms of one factor of the creativity domain could be explained on the basis of the specific characteristics of the Chinese culture.     

Motivos de los ciudadanos para realizar ejercicio físico: un estudio desde la teoría de la autodeterminación

Based on self-determination theory, the objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between the reasons for exercise and its reported weekly frequency in a representative sample of an adult urban population. A total of 918 inhabitants, aged between 16 and 89, participated in this study answering the Spanish version of the Exercise Motivations Inventory-2 (EMI-2) and reporting on their exercise frequency. Controlling for the influence of age and gender, multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) showed that participants who reported the highest exercise frequency had the highest score on both self-determined and controlling exercise motives, except the ill-health avoidance motive. The results support propositions of self-determination theory, and suggest that citizens may internalize exercise behaviour as they become more physically active. However, the results also suggest that some controlling motives are pertinent to exercise. Decision makers of the local sport policy should look into suitable ways of combining both controlling motives and more internalized motives in order to produce long lasting exercise adherence in citizens.     

患者异常心理致阴茎尿道异物伤诊治体会

分析各种类型阴茎尿道异物伤的治疗原则及治疗方法,并结合病例就非正常酊慰相关心理因素问题进行探讨。回顾性分析11例不同类型阴茎尿道异物伤患者临床资料,其中阴茎异物嵌顿伤7例,尿道异物伤3例,阴茎内异物植入1例。11例均成功取出异物,随访无明显异常。不同类型阴茎尿道异物伤通过选择适当的治疗方法,大多可获得满意的结果。此类阴茎尿道异物伤属非正常自慰行为,患者大多伴有心理障碍,术后需要进行必要的心理疏导。     

儿童支气管异物32例误诊分析

支气管异物系儿科常见病,误诊原因很多,如病史陈述不详细、辅助检查的干扰等,更重要的一个原因就是异物的不典型位置。传统观念中,右下肺异物高发,实际上,受气流及异物体积的影响,轻而小的塑料可被回吸进入左上肺,而较大的异物受自身重力影响多进入右下肺。异物进入体内,引起的·临床表现多种多样,咳嗽、咯血、喘息甚至呼吸困难等,诸类症状在呼吸系统疾病中较为常见,因此这些症状的鉴别就显得尤为重要。在治疗方面,突破传统的支气管镜技术,提倡可以首先采取保守治疗,给予拍背、体位引流等手段,部分患儿可自行咳出异物,这样就避免了手术的风险,在保守治疗无效的情况下可转入外科通过纤维支气管镜取出。