What matters for keeping or losing support in televised debates

What leads citizens to change their candidate preferences during televised debates? The present paper addresses this question with real-time response and panel survey data from respondents recruited in the run-up to the 2017 German national election. Probing the importance of party identity and performance perceptions formed during the debate, the analysis more closely examines several core determinants than has previously been done with real-time response data. The findings suggest, first, that only a strong or very strong party identity is an effective barrier to candidate preference change. Second, beyond party identity, ratings of candidates’ issue-specific statements on policy issues show a very strong effect, albeit regardless of personal issue importance. Third, this influence of candidate ratings does not seem to be mediated through changes in valence perceptions. Rather, viewers seem to form a general impression of the candidates which cannot be reduced to performance perceptions regarding policy issues.

Can the crowd judge truthfulness? A longitudinal study on recent misinformation about COVID-19

Recently, the misinformation problem has been addressed with a crowdsourcing-based approach: to assess the truthfulness of a statement, instead of relying on a few experts, a crowd of non-expert is exploited. We study whether crowdsourcing is an effective and reliable method to assess truthfulness during a pandemic, targeting statements related to COVID-19, thus addressing (mis)information that is both related to a sensitive and personal issue and very recent as compared to when the judgment is done. In our experiments, crowd workers are asked to assess the truthfulness of statements, and to provide evidence for the assessments. Besides showing that the crowd is able to accurately judge the truthfulness of the statements, we report results on workers’ behavior, agreement among workers, effect of aggregation functions, of scales transformations, and of workers background and bias. We perform a longitudinal study by re-launching the task multiple times with both novice and experienced workers, deriving important insights on how the behavior and quality change over time. Our results show that workers are able to detect and objectively categorize online (mis)information related to COVID-19; both crowdsourced and expert judgments can be transformed and aggregated to improve quality; worker background and other signals (e.g., source of information, behavior) impact the quality of the data. The longitudinal study demonstrates that the time-span has a major effect on the quality of the judgments, for both novice and experienced workers. Finally, we provide an extensive failure analysis of the statements misjudged by the crowd-workers.

Issues that mobilize Europe. The role of key policy issues for voter turnout in the 2019 European Parliament election

In light of the unexpectedly high turnout in the 2019 European Parliament election, we explore how major transnational policy issues mobilize voters in European electoral contests. Based on the analysis of two data sets, the Eurobarometer post-election survey and the RECONNECT panel survey, we make three important observations. First, European citizens show a higher tendency to participate in European Parliament elections when they attribute greater importance to the issues ‘climate change and environment’, ‘economy and growth’, and ‘immigration’. Second, having a more extreme opinion on the issue of ‘European integration’ increases people's likelihood to vote in European elections. Third, the mobilizing effect of personal issue importance is enhanced by the systemic salience that the respective policy issue has during the election campaign. These findings show the relevance of issue mobilization in European Parliament elections as well as its context-dependent nature.

Word and Digit

The author analyzes the negative processes in modern Russian culture including the degradation of the Russian language use in literature, society and mass media; general substitution of Russian terms for borrowed foreign analogues; low artistic level of local television serials; openly pro-Western character of entertainment TV shows. Still these processes have a deeper layer: actual denial of the art educational and instructive role in Russia, including literature, theatre and cinema; the loss of the tradition that envisaged artistic research of social and moral state of the society. Against this background the author studies the dual-community factor of modern Russian literature: “pochvenicheskiy” and “intertextual”. The first interprets literature as part of the national life, when the last defines it as strictly personal issue. The isolation of two communities from each other, the state self-barring from the support of the most important from the point of view of self-identity issues, senses and directions in modern Russian literature, in particular, and in culture and art, in general, lead Russian literature (philology) in the direction of Russophobia commercial exploitation. An important part here is played by the degradation of the institutes of the literary community inner expertise, and in particular – the lowering of the level and quality of literary critic.

POPULATION LITERACY ABOUT REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AS MEASURED BY THE CARDIFF FERTILITY KNOWLEDGE SCALE (CFKS)

The health and reproductive potential of a nation depend on the literacy of the population. Sexual and reproductive health is a deeply personal issue, so people may find it difficult to find accurate information on this topic. This article identifies and study the factors that influence knowledge about fertility, which will provide an important basis for effective public education. The article analyzes the questionnaires of 738 respondents, including 652 women and 86 men. The literacy rate was low compared to Western countries. Men showed a higher awareness of reproductive health. It was also noted, that the respondents who received knowledge from journals, compared to other sources, showed a significant notable difference compared to other sources (television, Internet).

Social work assessments for people with advanced dementia in “the new normal”

Purpose Social work involves working directly with people who are experiencing a crisis. An assessment is carried out to establish the best way forward and then reviewed after a period of time to measure success or recalibrate the service. The current pandemic restrictions have all but ruled out meeting with people face-to-face. Now, professionals are usually required to don some form of personal protective equipment (PPE) when meeting with people and their families. Talking to an unknown professional who is behind a mask or on the telephone, about a personal issue is hard for everyone, but it is particularly difficult for people who may be further on in their dementia journey. Design/methodology/approach Critique Findings These impediments impact the social work assessment and review, meaning people may not have the quality of service they need and may end up paying for unnecessary provision. If admission to a care home is deemed necessary, the stakes rise considerably. A care home admission means contributing towards fees with pensions, savings and assets, including housing. Now, it comes with an additional health risk. Originality/value COVID-19 infection has impacted on the older population but residents in care homes with frailer physical health, cognitive impairment and delirium are at particularly high risk of dying.

PARE0011 AFLAR’S (FRENCH LEAGUE AGAINST RHEUMATISM) NEW ACTIONS TO HELP PEOPLE WITH RHEUMATIC DISEASES TO GET AND STAY EMPLOYED.

Background:Accessing jobs and being able to stay in a paid work position are a personal issue for people with rheumatic diseases, as well as for society. AFLAR, French league against rheumatism, has been acting towards patients and employers since 2014 in this field.Objectives:After a preparatory work with a panel of all types of professionals and institutions working on the subject, key messages on means to improve the professional situation of people with rheumatic diseases have been published. These messages were used as a basis for an awareness training designed for human resources training and employers’ managers, and in a guidance booklet designed for patients and published in 2016: «At work, even if affected by chronic rheumatic diseases ». This booklet, rather than gathering administrative and social resources in favour of patients, was based on patients’ and experts’ expression, written with them and proposed gradual guidance along their path from their professional choices to the disabled worker certification when needed.Two new actions have been seen as necessary in 2019 in order to go on with our actions: updating our booklet after 2 new laws had been issued in the field of labour law, and additions seemed necessary because of new work methods are developing (distant work from home, independent work); and the need of a new widely spreadable tool to accompany patients from the diagnosis stage, especially on the diagnosis disclosure to the work group issue.The specific characteristics of rheumatic diseases: diversity, growing invisibility of diseases’ effects and aftereffects to new treatments such as biologics and early rehabilitation, variation in time and personal impact, make them hard to understand by employers and even untrained social workers. This is what we noted from our experience in patient education workshops. Patients have a tendency to hide their pathology, and thus cannot benefit from social advantages as disabled workers, with motivation based on keeping personal image and an idea of normality, and fear of negative reactions from the work group, such as depreciation, pity, idea of negative impact on team’s productivity).Patients have to build a real strategy, taking into account these criteria and their personal choices, while preparing their job’s adaptation or social requests when needed. AFLAR chose to create a new patient information tool: free short widely spreadable videos, available on line. These will also invite patients to get in touch with expert patients on the specialized hotline, participate to chats of patient education workshops.Methods:Videos will show witness patients and experts, who will be asked about their experience and advice based on four questions:- Should we speak about our disease (and when, how?), or not speak about our disease at work?- What means « disablement », « being disabled » for you as a person affected by a rheumatic disease?- What have you been able to do to get a paid position, or keep your job, that you could quote as an advice for other people in the same situation?- If you had been given, or were given now a magic wand to make it easier to get or keep a job, or get/keep the job you dreamed of, what would you change?At the end, videos will deliver further advice, tools and resources taken from the booklet, such as a model of decisional scale, or reference institutional website addresses.Results:AFLAR wishes to contribute actively to rheumatic patients’, and especially young people’s information on the topic thanks to these more innovative and interactive tools.Conclusion:Furthermore, wishes, solutions and ideas of witness patients and users will be gathered for advocacy towards employers, institutions and decision makers.Disclosure of Interests:None declared

Faith-Based Organisations as Welfare Providers in Brazil: The Conflict over Gender in Cases of Domestic Violence

What does the growth of faith-based organisations (FBOs) in social welfare mean for women’s rights and gender equality, especially within advocacy services for women experiencing domestic violence? Through empirical research within a Catholic-based organisation providing welfare services to abused women in São Paulo, Brazil, this article argues that FBOs can negatively impact the provision of women’s rights when conservative and patriarchal views towards gender and women’s roles in society are maintained. A heavily matrifocal perspective, where women’s identity and subjectivity are mediated through their normative roles as wives, mothers and carers of the family, appears to offer little possibility of change for abused women, who are encouraged to forgive violent husbands and question their own behaviour. Mediation between couples is promoted, undermining women’s rights upheld through Brazil’s domestic violence law (Lei Maria da Penha no 11.340). Furthermore, the focus of family preservation, supported by a patriarchal state, means that violence against women (VAW) appears to be subordinated to a focus on family violence and violence against children. In this case, faith-based involvement in social welfare rejects the feminist analysis of VAW as a gender-based problem, viewing it as a personal issue rather than a collective or political issue, making women responsible for the violence in their lives.

She Persisted Around the World by C. Clinton

Clinton, Chelsea. She Persisted Around the World. Illustrated by Alexandra Boiger, Philomel Books, 2018. Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger give us a walk through historic and present day women showing us each woman’s great submission to the world we live in. Whether it be through overcoming their own disability, overcoming others’ views on placement of women, or overcoming another’s thoughts on what women are allowed to do, the main focus is on the fact that they persisted. Using these circumstances that could have gobbled them up, they chose to take the road less travelled and fight for what they believed in—these are stories of women who did not give up but persisted through whatever was trying to hold them back. This book gives us short stories about strong women from the past, like Marie Curie, all the way to amazing women that we are lucky enough to have with us today, like Malala Yousafzai and J.K. Rowling. This shows us that we can look to the past for heroes, but sometimes there are heroes who can be found in our own generation. Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger did a beautiful job displaying beautiful, imagination igniting pictures and thought-inducing stories that describe the women, what they persisted through, and what they accomplished. Some women even received the Nobel Peace Prize for their contributions. The beautiful drawings showcase each woman’s struggle to persist through her personal issue. Some are simple drawings and others are intricate interpretations that bring their story to life. The illustrations show people from different areas of the world and it even includes a Canadian connection. As Canadians, we can see our faces in this book as a mirror and can see it does not matter what colour our skin is, what area of the world we come from, or what our family circumstances are, we just need to be true to our beliefs and true to our voice in our world. This book empowers young girls to become powerful women. As the author, Chelsea Clinton, says eloquently at the end of the book for our girls to “speak up, rise up, dream big. These women did that and more. They persisted and so should you.” Recommended: 3 out of 4 starsReviewer: Leone Socha Leone Socha is a University of Alberta undergraduate student who has loved reading her whole life. When she is not busy studying she is running after her husband and three children!

Rates and profile of victimization in a sample of Egyptian patients with major mental illness

Background: Patients with major mental illness have an increased risk of victimization. Nevertheless, this topic was not thoroughly studied in Egyptian patients with major mental illness. Objectives: The objectives of this study are to investigate the rates of victimization and understand its profile, psycho-demographic and clinical correlates among a sample of Egyptian patients with major mental illness. Participants and Methods: A total of 300 patients (100 patients with schizophrenia, 100 with bipolar and 100 with major depression) were recruited from the inpatient wards and outpatient clinics at Ain Shams University. They were subjected to a demographic questionnaire, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), Clinical Global Impression (CGI) and a Victimization Questionnaire (VQ). Results: In our study population, 130 (43.3%) of patients were victimized, of them 52 (40%) were diagnosed with major depressive disorder, 48 (36.9%) with bipolar disorder and 30 (23.1%) with schizophrenia. Victimization was more in female, married, unemployed individuals and those living in rural areas. Patients exposed to domestic violence or abuse during childhood had higher rates of victimization. All victimized patients were subjected to emotional victimization, 64.6% were physically victimized and 53.8% were subjected to miscellaneous types of victimization. Patients were victimized mainly by acquaintance followed by family members. The majority of patients did not report their victimization and considered it as a personal issue or not important enough to be reported. Conclusion: Patients with major mental illness are susceptible to significant victimization. Clinicians should explore possible history of abuse or victimization in their patients, empower and support the victimized ones.