ENTHEOGENS IN A RELIGIOUS CONTEXT: THE CASE OF THE SANTO DAIME RELIGIOUS TRADITION

This essay first draws upon the work of William James and others to propose a nonphysicalistic understanding of the relationship between the brain and consciousness in order to articulate a philosophical perspective that can understand entheogenic visionary/mystical experiences as something other than hallucinations. It then focuses on the Santo Daime tradition, a religious movement that began in Brazil in the early part of the twentieth century, to provide an example of the personal and social ramifications of taking an entheogen (ayahuasca) within a disciplined religious context. The essay claims that the Santo Daime is one example of a contemporary mystery school; gives a brief history of the development of this religion; discusses the key theological assumptions of this movement; investigates the important role played by visionary/mystical experiences within this religion; underscores the centrality of healing and spiritual transformation for members of this tradition; and ends with an examination of the crucial significance of spiritual discipline within this entheogenically based religion.     

青少年的学校适应问题：家庭亲密度、家庭道德情绪和责任感的作用

随机选取某市三所普通中小学四、六、八、十年级的755名青少年为被试,使用自评和他评问卷探讨家庭亲密度、家庭道德情绪和责任感与青少年学校适应之间的关系。结果显示：（1）青少年家庭亲密度、责任感与学校适应问题存在性别差异,女生家庭亲密度和责任感高于男生,外化和学业问题少于男生;家庭亲密度、道德情绪和责任感随年龄增长呈下降趋势;（2）家庭亲密度正向预测道德情绪和责任感,直接和间接负向预测青少年学校适应问题。（3）责任感负向预测学校适应问题,并在家庭亲密度和学校适应问题之间起部分中介作用;结构方程模型各指标的拟合效果较好。家庭亲密度、责任感是学校适应问题的良好预测指标。     

Improving Interaction Competencies With Children—A Pilot Feasibility Study to Reduce School Corporal Punishment

High prevalence rates of corporal punishment in schools worldwide and the associated negative mental health issues show the need for interventions addressing this problem. Yet, so far there are very few intervention studies aimed at altering corporal punishment administered by teachers, particularly in low- or middle-income countries.

To conduct a feasibility study of the newly developed intervention approach, Interaction Competencies with Children for Teachers (ICC-T)—a training workshop designed to prevent corporal punishment and improve the teacher-student relationship.

The 1-week ICC-T intervention was conducted with 30 teachers in a Tanzanian primary school. Participants filled out a survey before, directly after, and 3 months following the intervention.

The widespread use of corporal punishment indicated strong demand for a preventive intervention. The feasibility of ICC-T was good: Despite challenging conditions, implementation of the training and participants’ acceptance was high. Further, participants reported a good integration of the training’s core elements in their daily working routine, improvements in the teacher-student relationships, and in the students’ behavior.

ICC-T shows a promising feasibility in the Tanzanian teacher sample. These encouraging results highlight the need for further studies testing the efficacy, sustainability, and effects of ICC-T on the students’ well-being.     

Preferences for suicide prevention strategies among university students in Japan: a cross-sectional study using full-profile conjoint analysis

In Japan, implementation of suicide prevention policies is mainly supported by public funds. However, it is unclear what kinds of suicide prevention strategies people prefer. We conducted a survey to clarify people’s preferences regarding suicide prevention strategies adopted in Japan. This was a cross-sectional self-administered questionnaire survey. Participants were recruited through a lecture held by the first author at their university. We distributed questionnaires to 324 people present at the lecture; 249 completed questionnaires were included in the final analysis. We estimated suicide prevention strategy preferences using full profile conjoint analysis. For all six prevention strategies, the inclusion of each strategy in the policy profile was statistically significantly related to the positive evaluation of the overall policy profile. Marginal Willingness to Pay (MWTP) for restriction of access to means showed the highest value of the six suicide prevention strategies. MWTP was the lowest for public awareness activities. Preferred suicide prevention strategies in Japan are restriction of access to means and enhancement of psychiatric services. The results of this study indicate the strategies that are preferred have a high level of evidence of suicide prevention and do not directly intervene in a person’s free will to die by suicide.     

Shifting the Relationship Education Field to Prioritize Youth Relationship Education

The field of couple and relationship education is dominated by a focus on helping committed couples strengthen their relationship. This article reviews several lines of research to argue that the field should give greater priority to youth relationship education—individually oriented relationship literacy education for adolescents and young adults. Serious problems are common in adolescent and young adult romantic relationships and increasing numbers of youth follow paths from adolescence to marriage that make it harder for them to form and sustain a healthy marriage. Early evidence on the effectiveness of individually oriented youth relationship education provides some reason for optimism. The article concludes by exploring implications of this proposed shift in the field for practice and policy.     

Education as hospitality: welcoming foreigners into a common world

ABSTRACT

The present article aims at examining the specific difficulties that the school form – the modern educational institution par excellence – faces in order to attain hospitality as the raison d'être of the educational process. Educational activity is here understood as a form of hospitality which involves caring for the newcomers and for the physical and symbolic place into which they arrive. A cinematographical narrative drawn from Bégaudeau’s Entre les Murs supplements this analysis of some of the challenges we are faced with when dealing with students from different national backgrounds, beliefs and forms of life.     

Validation of the Visual Analogue Scale for Anxiety-Revised and school refusal across anxiety profiles

Background/Objectives

This paper aimed to validate the Spanish version of scores of the Visual Analogue Scale for Anxiety-Revised (VAA-R) in child population, and to verify the existence of anxiety profiles and to relate them to school refusal.