Ethical and Methodological Considerations Interviewing Dementia Caregivers

Greater inclusion of people living with dementia (PLWD) and their caregivers in research is a global research priority and an expressed priority of dementia advocacy organizations. Absent inclusion of PLWD and caregivers, our understanding of dementia-related experiences and optimization of care and caregiving interventions is stymied. Qualitative interviewing techniques constitutes a primary method for obtaining PLWD and caregivers’ perspectives. Yet, there is little guidance on use of qualitative interviewing techniques among PLWD and caregivers or discussion of potential challenges encountered, despite unique vulnerabilities faced throughout the research process, which may be further heightened among historically excluded groups. Meaningful progress toward inclusion of PLWD and their caregivers in dementia research necessitates broader examination of associated methodological and ethical considerations that arise in the conduct of interviews. Drawing from a large multi-site qualitative study of dementia caregivers with exposure to high levels of social disadvantage, we used a multiple-triangulation qualitative approach across interview transcripts, memos, and interviewer discussions to identify methodological and ethical challenges that arose during the interviewing process. Challenges were identified across all phases of research, and included relational concerns with PLWD and family members due to disclosure of sensitive information, risk of re-traumatization in discussing past experiences, multiple roles of caregivers with conflicting perspectives, variable recall capacity, limited prior appraisal of caregiving, and request of interviewers for medical advice or selecting services . We outline events evidencing these challenges and proposed strategies (i.e. use of research consults, interview debriefing) to strengthen research capacity to anticipate and respond to them.

Legitimacy, relational norms and reciprocity

This chapter, for consideration at the Research Handbook in Law & Psychology edited by Rebecca Hollander-Blumoff, has three interlinked themes. First, key to legitimation are relational norms that carry identity-related messages about status, equality and respect. Second, relational concerns extend beyond status, value and standing, to include agency, protection and the absence of diminishment and domination (Tyler & Trinkner, 2017; Trinkner et al., 2018; Huq et al., 2017). Third, norm reciprocity operates between police and citizens because legitimacy is a relational, group-based construct. People give up freedoms in exchange for social order, and if the law is enforced and authority is imposed in ways that signal disrespect, arbitrariness and exclusion to those being policed, then they start to question the quid pro quo —they start to query whether power is being exercised not on their behalf, but on them and to them, so they comply and cooperate less readily.

Sustainable Development of Students’ Learning Capabilities: The Case of University Students’ Attitudes towards Teachers, Peers, and Themselves as Oral Feedback Sources in Learning English

In order to promote the sustainable development of students’ learning capabilities, students are expected to take an active role in the feedback process. Ideally, students should not only actively interpret and act on the feedback received from their teachers, but they should also serve as feedback generators for their peers and themselves. Our study aimed to explore Chinese university English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) students’ perceptions of the feedback practices in their classrooms and their feelings about teacher feedback, peer review and self-review as credible feedback sources. Adopting a qualitative research design, we recruited three teachers together with seven to eight of their students (in total 23 students) from two universities in Northwest China. Data were collected by using focus group interviews and classroom observations. Findings indicated that students relied on teachers to provide informative feedback to help them progress. They also attached limited value to either peer or self-review. Our interview data revealed three possible reasons for students’ devaluation of peers and themselves as feedback sources: insufficient understanding of students’ roles and responsibilities in the feedback process, perceived limited capability and capacity to generate quality feedback; and affective and relational concerns if engaging in the feedback process. These findings highlight the need for teachers to foster student feedback literacy, and hence help them utilize different feedback sources to enhance their learning and sustainable development.

Treating Mental Illness and Relational Concerns in Incarcerated Settings

Rates of incarceration in the United States have grown dramatically over the past 50 years. These high rates of incarceration call for mental health and relational therapy to incarcerated individuals and their families. In conducting a literature review on incarceration, several topics emerged: mental illness, racial and ethnic disparity, and recidivism. When studying incarceration, mental illness is a necessary topic of inclusion due to high prevalence of mentally ill incarcerated individuals. When exploring issues related to incarceration, it is important to discuss diverse disparities to be able to put the individuals into context of their social location as well as address how contextual factors impact incarceration. The purpose of this article is to highlight the systemic, relational issues within incarcerated settings and then to display how treating mental illness and relational concerns allows for a healthier integration back into the family system. Clinical implications and future directions are also provided.

Should I ‘check my emotions at the door?’ or express how I feel? Role of emotional regulation versus expression by leaders speaking out against prejudice in the workplace

In response to prejudiced behaviors, the emotional experience of leaders influences whether and how they confront prejudice, but more importantly, their emotional expression serves a crucial communicative function to signal to observers the motivations and characteristics of the leaders and the organization. A qualitative study of exceptional allies revealed that even those committed to confronting prejudice are afraid to do so because of impression management and relational concerns. When they do act, their emotional experiences of empathic sadness on behalf of the stigmatized target or anger toward the transgressor spur action whereas not intervening leads to feelings of guilt. However, they struggle with regulating these emotions due to the belief that non-emotional confrontations are better received by others. On the contrary, two experimental studies showed that the same verbal confrontation accompanied by anger (versus not) is viewed as more sincere and in fact, improves the impressions of the leader and the organization.

When travellers’ expectations are not met

In recent years, travellers have increasingly opted for sharing economy businesses, such as Airbnb. In contrast to other platforms for travellers, the Airbnb review system is characterised by its positivity bias, which implies that most of the users post enthusiastically positive reviews. Posting a negative review is the exception, which makes it a highly sensitive task in relational terms. In light of the above, this study aims to examine 60 reviews with negative valence in order to understand: first, which aspects of the experience make airbnbers feel dissatisfied; second, the extent to which relational concerns and authenticity make an impact on both dissatisfaction and rapport orientation; and third, how rapport concerns (i.e., face and rights and obligations) are managed in reviews with negative valence. The results show that a large number of users tried to repair rapport, while others neglected or challenged rapport. The difference in tone and intention was motivated by the presence/absence of the relational component (i.e., association rights), which had an impact on the varying importance given to other faults. The present study intends to bring to the fore the importance of rapport management when posting sensitive information in an online system in which the management of communicative skills lies at its core.

Expectations for ‘natural’ ways of talking: A context-dependent perspective on fixedness in conversation

This article aims to expand the concept of fixedness in language from stable autonomous structures to socially shared patterns of communication. The study examined conversational utterances that sounded strange or ‘unnatural’ to members of a speech community and explored the reasons behind such intuitive perceptions. Some of these utterances contradicted the community members’ expectations based on sedimented patterns of linguistic resources of various sizes and associated conventional meanings beyond dictionary definitions (i.e. cognitive frame). Others challenged their expectations concerning positional fitness and socio-relational concerns (i.e. interactional frame). The observed expectations for sedimented patterns of communication likely result from a lifetime of experience talking and hearing about the world around them in ways that are accepted by other members of the speech community. The dynamic perspective on fixedness is particularly meaningful for context-dependent languages like Japanese that rely heavily on unexpressed shared knowledge in co-constructing meanings and actions.

Reconciling Conversational Handles With Scientific and Administrative Classifications? A Response to Jon Raskin

Appreciative of Jon Raskin’s invitation to develop alternatives to the DSM-5 diagnostic system, I share my concerns about systematization and reification that can come with any diagnostic system, through its subsequent research and administrative use. Focusing specifically on nonsevere and relational concerns (aspects of Arendt’s “human condition”), I share three alternative approaches to diagnosis. I also draw on my background as family therapist and social constructionist practitioner to focus on resourceful language use in the conversational work of therapy.

Autonomy and prenuptial agreements in Ireland: a relational analysis

Unlike England and Wales, Ireland has not yet moved from the traditional common law rejection of prenuptial agreements. Nevertheless, similar policy concerns continue to be debated in both jurisdictions, particularly regarding the balance between autonomy and fairness concerns, and gender equity. In 2007, an Irish ministerial Study Group recommended limited recognition of prenuptial agreements, foreshadowing similar proposals by the Law Commission for England and Wales in 2014. However, the Irish recommendations were never implemented, despite sustained lobbying. This paper draws on relational theory to scrutinise the Study Group's proposals, identifying its core assumptions and their implications. The paper contends that Irish courts dealing with spousal agreements have tacitly accepted liberal conceptualisations of autonomy, which may lead to injustice. Furthermore, the Study Group's recommendations have been overtaken by events. Recent decisions on spousal agreements emphasise respect for party autonomy, without interrogating what this means. This could be problematic if applied to prenuptial agreements. Accordingly, the paper suggests modifications to the Study Group's proposals, to address relational concerns. In this regard, the paper speaks to the broader debate on family autonomy, and draws on comparative perspectives, including the recommendations of the Law Commission for England and Wales, and the Canadian experience.