Self-disclosure in public and private groups of people with mental illnesses in Facebook

PurposeThe Internet enables various voices and opinions that previously did not participate in the community discourse to express themselves. People with mental illnesses make use of social networks to advance their special needs in varied ways. The study aims to examine the nature of the discourse that takes place in public and private groups of people with mental illnesses.Design/methodology/approachThe research corpus consisted of the content of 615 messages taken from public and private groups of people with mental illnesses in Facebook. Linguistic parameters (the total number of words, the number of words in the first person) were examined for each message. Two skilled judges classified the messages on a self-disclosure scale to determine the degree of disclosure of personal information, thoughts and emotions.FindingsThe results of the study indicate that the messages published in public groups are longer than the messages in private groups; however, the level of personal disclosure in messages written in private groups is deeper than in messages written in public groups. In addition, the level of self-disclosure in opening posts was found to be greater than the level of self-disclosure in comments.Practical implicationsIn the study, the authors focus on the ways people in excluded populations make use of virtual tools to advance both their personal and social needs.Originality/valueThe study is innovative, as it explores the discourse of people with mental illnesses in public and private groups on Facebook.

Using a Personal-Disclosure Mutual-Sharing Approach to Deliver a Team-Based Mindfulness Meditation Program to Enhance Cohesion

In an effort to increase perceptions of cohesion among intercollegiate soccer players, a team-based mindfulness meditation program was undertaken. This team-building program was delivered by using a personal-disclosure mutual-sharing approach. A total of 31 female intercollegiate soccer players from two teams participated. Assigned to the intervention condition was a Canadian intercollegiate team (U Sports), while the control condition was an American intercollegiate team (NCAA, Division II). The participants completed a measure of cohesion (Group Environment Questionnaire) pre- and postintervention. Controlling for the preintervention scores, the 8-week team-based mindfulness meditation program resulted in significantly higher perceptions of social cohesion for the intervention group compared with the control group at postintervention. However, there were no significant differences in task cohesion between the intervention and control groups at postintervention. Using personal disclosure, mutual sharing seems a viable approach by which to deliver a team-based mindfulness meditation program to enhance a team’s social cohesion.

How CEO Social Media Disclosure and Gender Affect Perceived CEO Attributes, Relationship Investment, and Engagement Intention

How does a chief executive officer (CEO)’s social media content disclosure on Twitter affect perceived CEO attributes, relationship investment, and public engagement, and to what extent does the CEO’s gender (male vs. female) moderate how publics evaluate content disclosures? A 2 (CEO gender: male vs. female) × 4 (level of disclosure: 100% corporate vs. 70% corporate and 30% personal vs. 30% corporate and 70% personal vs. 100% personal disclosure) between-subject experimental design was used to address these questions with a random sample of 465 adult Twitter users in the United States. Results showed that posts that featured high personal disclosure did not increase the perceived likability or competence of the CEO. Nor did CEO gender impact these outcomes. However, CEO professional disclosure proved to be an effective means to gain high levels of perceived relationship investment from publics. Finally, publics may hold implicit gender bias in cognitive (i.e., perceived relationship investment) and behavioral evaluation (i.e., engagement intention) of a female CEO.

Tell Me Your Story: How Recruitment Practices Implementing Affirmative Action Laws May Undermine the Laws’ Goals

Scholars pointed out that antidiscrimination laws do not fully undermine workplace discrimination and that affirmative action policies mostly benefit overqualified or advantaged individuals within minorities. To elucidate this paradox, this case study analyzes how some companies adopted specific selection and assessment processes for job seekers after the reinforcement of a quota for workers with disabilities in France. I observed the creation of alternative recruitment channels, the hiring of disability experts for recruitment, the refusal of resume sorting as a prescreening tool, and an emphasis on face-to-face interviews. While these changes circumvented practices that could have excluded people with disabilities (resume screening as a preselection tool, inaccessible venues for recruitment), they changed these practices only in limited spaces within the organizations. Additionally, while they did help more people get hired, they also compelled more personal disclosure that led to a more emotional assessment of job seekers and enabled “refined statistical discrimination” within pools of job seekers with disabilities. This research therefore reveals recruitment practices that may increase the number of individuals with disabilities hired but that, at the same time, may facilitate overselectivity and trigger significant risks associated with emotional recruitment of individuals with disabilities.

Doctors online – when the personal and professional collide: a proposed model to cope with the status quo (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED The online environment has created a need to define online medical professionalism. Its current definition is complicated by advice in tension with public expectations. This paper surveys the advice and offers a model that postulates the online space as having a personal-professional duality. The model accommodates the concept of phases: totally ‘private’, totally ‘professional’ or ‘private-professional’ shifted by societal pressures. I argue that the model works along two dimensions – that of Information to Advice (I-A) and personal disclosure (PD) – and that a doctor should consider whether her post is likely to be seen as ‘general’ or ‘expert’ to better predict public acceptability.

Is Preventive Treatment for Individuals With Sexual Interest in Children Viable in a Discretionary Reporting Context?

This study explored the viability of preventive treatment services for individuals with sexual interest in children, in jurisdictions without mandatory reporting but where risk-related disclosures to authorities are permitted at therapists’ discretion. Health professionals ( N = 112) were surveyed regarding their comfort, confidence, knowledge of relevant legal provisions, and personal disclosure thresholds, in relation to a hypothetical scenario of a client confiding pedophilic interest to seek help. Findings were mixed regarding implications for prevention service viability. Despite the complexities of the legal and ethical context of the study setting (New Zealand), predictions regarding professionals’ uncertainty in relation to their legal and ethical duties, and displaying a bias toward disclosing information to authorities when permitted, were not fully borne out, although pervasive knowledge inaccuracies and associated training needs were revealed. Instead, general tendencies among respondents were toward comfort, confidence, and the inclination toward maintaining client confidentiality. Yet, widespread variance within the sample, and individuals’ thresholds appearing rather unpredictable on the basis of demographic or professional variables, highlights likely barriers for potential clients in feeling safe enough to come forward. Given that preventive treatment viability in this context relies on self-referral, it is suggested that a purpose-designed preventive treatment service, with clear accessible confidentiality and reporting policies that are well within the law, could be the best way forward for viable preventive treatment in discretionary reporting contexts.

Disclosing HIV

Shilts makes the decision to publicly disclose for the first time that he is HIV positive. Shilts’s growing health struggles come quickly as he is then diagnosed as having AIDS. Shilts views as problematic the focus on his HIV status rather than the release of his new book, “Conduct Unbecoming.” Shilts has to limit his book tour to media interviews due to his declining health. The veracity with which Shilts answered earlier questions about his HIV status is explored; along with the ethics of what level of personal disclosure, gay men (or reporters) owe others. “Conduct Unbecoming” becomes a central part of the gay military ban discussion as movie rights to “And the Band Played On” are sold to HBO.