Fragmentary coverage of Roma traditions in Romanian interwar periodicals

This study identifies 25 Roma traditions, fragmentarily represented in 10 texts, which were discovered by the author in Romanian interwar periodicals. Traditions are an integral part of the Roma identity (in addition to the Romani language and the Romani crafts); they are used by the Roma only in the Romani environment, in a specific historical, socio-economic and territorial context. The author conventionally divides the Roma traditions into 5 functional compartments: 1) traditions that regulate the way that Romani crafts are fulfilled; 2) traditions that regulate everyday social relations within the Romani community; 3) traditions that regulate the relations between Roma and government authorities; 4) traditions that reveal the way the Roma express themselves towards the variety of external natural and social phenomena; 5) traditions that regulate the development of the marriage ceremony among the nomadic Roma community. The main objective of this study is focused on the partial disclosure and variable description of Roma traditions, applied in a specific historical, socio-economic and territorial context, to facilitate the process of building the cultural mosaic of the Roma, which is part of the European cultural mosaic.

On Market Concentration and Disclosure

Verrecchia (1983,1990) introduced the proprietary cost hypothesis in which exogenous disclosure costs are a reduced-form interpretation of lost competitive advantage in product markets. We develop a micro-foundation for this disclosure cost in a Cournot game and explicitly derive the cost as a function of market structure. When the market is sufficiently competitive, this model has a reduced-form representation similar to a standard voluntary disclosure game with a partial disclosure equilibrium. Proprietary costs are increasing in the number of competitors, the degree of product substitution, overall uncertainty and production costs. The analysis also offers new empirical predictions on the interaction between disclosure choice, managerial horizon and entry.

Navigating Depression at Work: Identity Management Strategies Along the Disclosure Continuum

For employees with stigmatized concealable identities, the decision to disclose or not disclose represents a critical workplace experience. Moreover, employees enact their disclosure decisions by engaging in identity management (IM) strategies. Although multiple conceptual frameworks exist related to disclosure decisions and IM strategies, none of these frameworks consider the relationship between these two phenomena. In addition, empirical work surrounding disclosure decisions often positions disclosure as a dichotomous decision, rather than considering disclosure as occurring along a continuum. In this study, we use in-depth interviews to investigate the nuances of concealable IM using a sample of stigmatized employees, namely, those with depression. Through inductive thematic analysis, a continuum of disclosure decisions emerged (non-disclosure, partial disclosure, and full disclosure) as well as eight distinct IM strategies that participants used to enact their disclosure decisions. Our results extend the knowledge of concealable IM in multiple ways. First, we map specific IM strategies onto the disclosure continuum to provide a more robust understanding of the IM process for employees with depression. Second, we identify specific IM strategies related to partial disclosure and full disclosure, thereby extending existing conceptual frameworks. Additionally, we expand the definitions of the concealing and signaling IM strategies. Lastly, our study exposes the lived experiences of a group of employees that have traditionally been underrepresented in applied organizational research, those with depression.

Health workers’ perspectives on informed consent for caesarean section in Southern Malawi

Objective Informed consent is a prerequisite for caesarean section, the commonest surgical procedure in low- and middle-income settings, but not always acquired to an appropriate extent. Exploring perceptions of health care workers may aid in improving clinical practice around informed consent. We aim to explore health workers’ beliefs and experiences related to principles and practice of informed consent. Methods Qualitative study conducted between January and June 2018 in a rural 150-bed mission hospital in Southern Malawi. Clinical observations, semi-structured interviews and a focus group discussion were used to collect data. Participants were 22 clinical officers, nurse-midwives and midwifery students involved in maternity care. Data were analysed to identify themes and construct an analytical framework. Results Definition and purpose of informed consent revolved around providing information, respecting women’s autonomy and achieving legal protection. Due to fear of blame and litigation, health workers preferred written consent. Written consent requires active participation by the consenting individual and was perceived to transfer liability to that person. A woman’s refusal to provide written informed consent may pose a dilemma for the health worker between doing good and respecting autonomy. To prevent such refusal, health workers said to only partially disclose surgical risks in order to minimize women's anxiety. Commonly perceived barriers to obtain a fully informed consent were labour pains, language barriers, women’s lack of education and their dependency on others to make decisions. Conclusions Health workers are familiar with the principles around informed consent and aware of its advantages, but fear of blame and litigation, partial disclosure of risks and barriers to communication hamper the process of obtaining informed consent. Findings can be used to develop interventions to improve the informed consent process.

An Ethnographic Study of Palliative and End-of-Life Care in a Nigerian Hospital: Impact of Education on Care Provision and Utilization

Most clinicians receive little or no palliative care (PC) education. Similarly, patients and their families receive little or no information on PC. Our study explored education in PC, while examining for its impacts on service delivery and utilization from the perspective of health care professionals (HCPs), patients, and their families. An ethnographic approach was utilized to gather data from 41 participants. Spradley’s ethnographic analytical framework guided data analysis. Two themes identified were inadequate HCPs’ knowledge base and impact of service-users’ inadequate health education. The findings show that most HCPs had no formal education in PC, attributed to the lack of PC residency programs and the absence of educational institutions that provide such education. Patients and families also conveyed poor understandings of their illness and palliation, rooted in the HCP culture of partial disclosure of information about their diagnosis, care, and prognosis. Findings suggest a cultural shift that supports PC education for professionals is required to promote realist medical approach in the care for patients with life-limiting illnesses.

Corporate monitoring and voting disclosure choices: A study of UK asset managers

This paper investigates the link between voting transparency and voting behaviour in asset managers, and its implications for corporate monitoring. Our results show that the more effort asset managers put into disclosure, the higher their dissention rate, suggesting that the duty asset managers have to represent their clients’ interests is not taken equally seriously across the board. When factoring in voting rationales, we find that 1) the more accepted a rationale for dissent by full-disclosure managers, the greater the overall opposition to management, and that 2) the partial-disclosure and the non-disclosure investors are significantly more complacent than the full disclosure ones. Collectively, our results suggest that when non-disclosure and partial-disclosure asset managers constitute a significant majority of investors, the core accountability mechanism between shareholders and corporate management – namely, stewardship through voting – is malfunctioning.