Relating Coalition Capacity to the Adoption of Science-Based Prevention in Communities: Evidence from a Randomized Trial of Communities That Care

Coalition‐based efforts that use a science‐based approach to prevention can improve the wellbeing of community youth. This study measured several coalition capacities that are hypothesized to facilitate the adoption of a science‐based approach to prevention in communities. Using data from 12 coalitions participating in a community‐randomized trial of the prevention strategy Communities That Care (CTC), this paper describes select measurement properties of five salient coalition capacities (member substantive knowledge of prevention, member acquisition of new skills, member attitudes toward CTC, organizational linkages, and influence on organizations), as reported by coalition members, and examines the degree to which these capacities facilitated the community leader reports of the community‐wide adoption of a science‐based approach to prevention. Findings indicated that the five coalition capacities could be reliably measured using coalition member reports. Meta‐regression analyses found that CTC had a greater impact on the adoption of a science‐based prevention approach in 12 matched pairs of control and CTC communities where the CTC coalition had greater member (new skill acquisition) and organizational capacities (organizational linkages).     

The impact of a rural or urban context in eating awareness and self‐regulation strategies in children and adolescents from eight European countries

Complex relationships exist between eating behaviour and personal and environmental factors. Rural and urban geographic contexts seem to play a role in eating behaviour, and therefore deserve a deeper study. A healthy eating behaviour and the conditions that promote it are a major issue in the promotion of adolescent health. The study aims to investigate the associations between the area of residence (urban vs. rural), self‐regulation strategies (TESQ‐E) and eating behaviours among children and adolescents. A total of 11,820 adolescents (50.6% girls) participated in the study, with a mean age of 13.30 years (SD= 2.13). Nine countries (The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Poland, Portugal, Denmark, Romania, Germany, Finland and Belgium) completed a questionnaire in the school context, asking about the use of self‐regulation strategies, eating behaviour awareness/care and sociodemographic questions such as age, gender and residential area. Both areas of residence (urban vs. rural) are associated with eating awareness/care in Romania and Portugal, controlling for age, gender and self‐regulation strategies. In some European countries at least, and most probably around the world, health promotion should focus on an ecological approach that includes the understanding of the effect of both environmental factors and personal skills on eating behaviour/awareness.     

Adult Attachment Dimensions,World View Schemas,and the Psychological Health of Parents of Infants in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

This study reports the results of an exploration of the relationship of adult attachment dimensions (closeness, dependence, and anxiety) and world view assumptions (benevolence, meaningfulness, and worthiness) to psychological distress and psychological well-being in 142 parents (71 couples) of newborns recently hospitalized in a neonatal intensive care unit. The results of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, hierarchical multiple regression, and mediation analyses showed that parents who were more comfortable with attachment-dependence and parents who held more positive beliefs about benevolence and worthiness had less psychological distress and more well-being. In addition, parents with partners who were more comfortable with attachment-dependence had less psychological distress and more well-being. Attachment-dependence partially mediated the relationships of benevolence and worthiness with psychological distress and the relationship of benevolence with psychological well-being, whereas worthiness had a direct relationship with psychological well-being.     

Victims' Stories: A Call to Care

In her book Victims' Stories and the Advancement of Human Rights, Diana Meyers offers a careful analysis of victims' stories as a narrative genre, and she argues that stories in this genre function as a call to care: they both depict a moral void and issue a moral demand, thereby fostering the development of a culture of human rights. This article, while finding Meyers's articulation of this idea compelling, questions Meyers's account of how victims' stories do their moral work. Whereas Meyers argues that victims' stories are complete narratives, characterized by a distinctive form of closure, it suggests that the moral power of victims' stories may lie in part in their open‐endedness or lack of closure. In telling their stories, victims engage their audiences in a new moral relationship and implicitly give them a role to play in bringing about the moral (and narrative) closure they seek.     

欧美生命伦理委员会的机构建设与咨询服务

在当今国际世界,生命伦理学已经发展成一种国际性的“社会运动”,成为学术界和公众关注的热点领域。在欧美国家健全和完善现代医疗保健制度过程中,“生命伦理委员会”起到至关重要的作用,它不仅促使人们从伦理学角度探索“我/我们应当如何决定和行为”的问题,也推动社会从制度建构和文化塑造层面回答“政府应当如何行为”、“如何增进公民的生命伦理意识”等问题,并从哲学领域深入探索如何应对生命伦理学理论与实践中的复杂问题与困境,论证相关伦理选择及其实践的合理性。20世纪60年代以来,欧美社会生命伦理学在机构建设、咨询服务和思维方式等方面的经验可以为中国生命伦理学学科发展及生命伦理委员会建设提供有益的参考。     

对新冠病毒肺炎危重症患者引入缓和医疗的伦理论证

新型冠状病毒肺炎尚无治疗特效药和疫苗。在继续加强防控的同时,把有限的资源优先放在探索对重症和危重症患者的支持性治疗,积极建立和完善对重症、危重症患者及其家属的缓和医疗等方面,有利于患者群体利益最大化,经得起伦理辩护。缓和医疗有助于改善患者预后,降低住院病死率,有效缓解患者濒死痛苦;对医患双方而言,如果死亡已无可避免,帮助临终者走得平安、少些痛苦,是医学对患者最后的人文关怀。     

开放医疗市场 强化政府责任 解决看病难

当前对医疗改革的批评较多,不少人认为是过度市场化的结果。但是,“过度市场化”的问题不能一概而论,可以从两个方面来分析,从医疗服务方面来说,有过度市场化的倾向;但是从医疗资源的配置或投入来说,市场又没有充分放开。所以不能简单的或笼统的把医改的问题归咎于市场化。该开放的医疗市场未开放,政府责任不到位,才是当前中国医疗改革的问题所在。     

Dementia care‐giving in black and Asian populations: reviewing and refining the research agenda

Despite the increased prevalence of dementia little work has been done to explore the extent and nature of care‐giving in black or Asian‐UK populations. Evidence that does exist suggests that the consequences of care‐giving are significant but different from those experienced by white carers and are mediated by a number of culture‐related factors. These include: ethnically specific conceptualisations of dementia; expectations of family duty; religiosity; the adoption of positive re‐appraisal strategies, and beneficial outcomes. Present approaches to research are narrow, do not take account of cultural dimensions and employ terminology and care‐giving frameworks which are of limited relevance. That the evidence base is characterised by small‐scale studies, and weak methodology further undermines its validity. Research deficits are systemic and fundamental and are both conceptual and methodological. A key contribution would be the development of a multi‐dimensional theoretical model that takes account of the role played by culture, ethnicity and structural inequality in shaping care‐giving experiences and profiles. Incorporating the perspectives of black and Asian carers, and the influence of the life course of individuals and communities and employing qualitative methods would also influence the direction of research, improve its quality and generate knowledge in this underdeveloped field. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.