What is in the toolkit (and what are the tools)? How to approach the study of doctor–patient communication

Doctor–patient communication is important, but is challenging to study, in part because it is multifaceted. Communication can be considered in terms of both the aspects of the communication itself, and its measurable effects. These effects are themselves varied: they can be proximal or distal, and can focus on subjective measures (how patients feel about communication), or objective measures (exploring more concrete health outcomes or behaviours). The wide range of methodologies available has resulted in a heterogeneous literature which can be difficult to compare and analyse.Here, we provide a conceptual approach to studying doctor–patient communication, examining both variables which can controlled and different outcomes which can be measured. We present methodologies which can be used (questionnaires, semistructured interviews, vignette studies, simulated patient studies and observations of real interactions), with particular emphasis on their respective logistical advantages/disadvantages and scientific merits/limitations. To study doctor–patient communication more effectively, two or more different study designs could be used in combination.We have provided a concise and practically relevant review of the methodologies available to study doctor–patient communication to give researchers an objective view of the toolkit available to them: both to understand current research, and to conduct robust and relevant studies in the future.

University Students’ Attitudes to Soft Skills in Business Communication Training

Nowadays learning Russian in business communication is a major part of vocational education and training and within this academic subject it is possible for university students to develop soft skills. This research examined the formation, development and application of a universal set of soft skills to help graduates adapt to the modern labor market. The study was conducted with 196 first-year students in the Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service. A subjective scale technique was applied using a survey-questionnaire. The data were processed using systematization and generalization methods. The results showed that subjective attitudes to the application of soft skills were developed in students studying Business Russian. The building of soft skills helps students use knowledge in practice and to increase their motivation for personal professional growth and development. The research revealed that 21 out of 24 declared soft skills are actively formed in students in the course of teaching. In addition, the analysis gave an objective view of the abilities, interests and tendencies of each student. This information is necessary to improve the educational process. The results of the research play an important role in the development of the theory of competence model of successful modern graduates. The research results can be used by universities to develop and improve working curricula in accordance with the requirements of new educational standards.

Furniture design development trends late XX – beginning XXI century

The purpose of the article is to identify general trends in the development of furniture design at the end of the 20th beginning – XXI century, to determine and form an objective complex scientific view, of the development of the design of the subject environment of this period. The methodology consists in the application of theoretical and empirical methods: comparative historical and objective-aspect analysis made it possible to determine the specifics of innovations in order to identify trends in the development of furniture design in the specified period; the problem-target method came in handy in the study and analysis of literary materials. Scientific novelty. In the study, for the first time, a comprehensive definition of the main signs of the formation and identification of the formulated main trends in the development of furniture design and the formation of the internal subject environment of the late XX beginning was applied XXI century. Conclusions. The results obtained allow us to identify the characteristic features of the form of creating furniture for interiors of the specified period, contribute to the establishment of an objective view of the historical development of this process, the growth of its scientific and theoretical significance in the conditions of the current industrial production in Ukraine. The theoretical aspects of the research can be further used in writing scientific papers on this topic, developing lecture courses on the history of furniture and interior design, creating special courses and special seminars for students of higher educational institutions, textbooks, manuals, and other educational and methodological literature. Key words: design, furniture, internal environment, trends in shaping, the end of the XX – beginning of the XXI century.

Masculinity and Men's Mental Health

A dialogue on mental health in males is seldom encountered in the popular discourse. The negligible instances which do find its mention are usually responses to, or supplementary statements to women’s issues or the general feminist discourse. The casually and liberally used ‘toxic masculinity’ is frequently laden with connotations of blame, which imply a sense of absolute agency of the concerned individuals with regard to the expression of their masculine gender identity. This research paper has been undertaken as an attempt to seek an honest, critical and objective view of the various factors influencing the mental health of males, wherein masculinity is assumed to be encompassing all such factors. In order to provide the essential context, the paper begins defining the concept of ‘masculinity’ as it is understood in the psychological discourse, followed by an inspection of the various psychological theories and constructions of ‘masculinity’ along with a brief discussion of its scales. Theoretical perspectives have then been combined with statistics to highlight the need and relevance for any research or dialogue thereof in these fields. This is followed by an investigation of the impact of Traditional Masculinity Ideology (TMI) on the overall well-being of men and on mental health in particular. Thereafter, the relation of TMI and various mental disorders in males has been examined. Furthermore, research has been provided to shed light on the incidence and helplessness of male victims of interpersonal trauma and systemic failures thereof. The newly emerging theoretical framework of Positive Psychology/Positive Masculinity (PPPM) Model has been discussed along with an exploration of its implications and its scope. The primary research undertaken within this paper has been presented which has been divided into 4 sections. Firstly, a rudimentary analysis has been conducted to test the validity and relevance of the Brannon Masculinity Scale (BMS). Thereafter, the relation of masculinity ratings with mental Health and help-seeking behaviours has been explored. The third section involves the introduction of a construct by the author, referred to as the Emotionally Active factor; its relation with mental Health and help-seeking behaviours has been analyzed. The relevance of the Emotionally Active factor has been highlighted, followed by a discussion on its implication and scope.

Fellow Traveller Versus Moral Stranger: How Overall Views of Offenders Impact on Punishment and Rehabilitation Decisions

<p>Theoretical discussions have proposed that opinions relating to offenders can be viewed along a continuum, with the moral stranger at one end and the fellow traveller at the other (Connolly & Ward, 2008). At the very basic level the moral stranger is the offender who is a bad person, while the fellow traveller is the offender who has done a bad thing. It is proposed that where an individual’s view of offenders sits on the continuum will help determine punishment and rehabilitation decisions that they make about offenders. It is further proposed that these views are influenced by outside factors such as the way that the media portrays offenders. The media is an important source of information on crime and offenders (Gilliam & Iyengar, 2000; Klite, Bardwell, & Salzman, 1997), and so the way that the media write about offenders can influence the public’s opinions about offenders. The moral stranger and the fellow traveller are theoretical concepts at present, so the aim of the current research was to investigate these concepts in an empirical context. Firstly, Studies 1 and 2 presented crime vignettes written from either the moral stranger perspective or the fellow traveller perspective and then investigated what punishment and rehabilitation differences there were. Study 3 then developed a measure to evaluate individuals’ opinions about offenders, to create an empirical basis for the existing theory. The Opinions about Criminal Offenders (OCO) Scale was developed in Study 3. Study 4 then tested the psychometric properties of this Scale, and through further factor analysis the scale was pared down to 12-items made up of four subscales. Study 5 then brought together the empirical work from Studies 1 and 2 and the developed measure from Studies 3 and 4. Participants were presented with two vignettes, one written from a subjective view and the other from an objective view. They were also given the 12-item OCO Scale. Structural Equation Modelling was then used to extend the work of Studies 1 and 2, and to further develop the decision making process individuals go through. Results indicated that each subscale of the OCO predicted different judgements made about the offender, in terms of his characteristics and likelihood of reoffending, and that these judgements then predicted different judgements about the outcome of the offence, including punishment motive. These studies, together, show that the moral stranger and fellow traveller concepts do exist, as a continuum, and the development of the OCO Scale showed that there is utility in the scale in terms of the type of judgements made about an offender and an offence. The current study was conducted with a sex offence in the vignettes and so further research needs to extend this by using different offence types and different offender characteristics, to investigate how generalisable these findings are.</p>

Fellow Traveller Versus Moral Stranger: How Overall Views of Offenders Impact on Punishment and Rehabilitation Decisions

<p>Theoretical discussions have proposed that opinions relating to offenders can be viewed along a continuum, with the moral stranger at one end and the fellow traveller at the other (Connolly & Ward, 2008). At the very basic level the moral stranger is the offender who is a bad person, while the fellow traveller is the offender who has done a bad thing. It is proposed that where an individual’s view of offenders sits on the continuum will help determine punishment and rehabilitation decisions that they make about offenders. It is further proposed that these views are influenced by outside factors such as the way that the media portrays offenders. The media is an important source of information on crime and offenders (Gilliam & Iyengar, 2000; Klite, Bardwell, & Salzman, 1997), and so the way that the media write about offenders can influence the public’s opinions about offenders. The moral stranger and the fellow traveller are theoretical concepts at present, so the aim of the current research was to investigate these concepts in an empirical context. Firstly, Studies 1 and 2 presented crime vignettes written from either the moral stranger perspective or the fellow traveller perspective and then investigated what punishment and rehabilitation differences there were. Study 3 then developed a measure to evaluate individuals’ opinions about offenders, to create an empirical basis for the existing theory. The Opinions about Criminal Offenders (OCO) Scale was developed in Study 3. Study 4 then tested the psychometric properties of this Scale, and through further factor analysis the scale was pared down to 12-items made up of four subscales. Study 5 then brought together the empirical work from Studies 1 and 2 and the developed measure from Studies 3 and 4. Participants were presented with two vignettes, one written from a subjective view and the other from an objective view. They were also given the 12-item OCO Scale. Structural Equation Modelling was then used to extend the work of Studies 1 and 2, and to further develop the decision making process individuals go through. Results indicated that each subscale of the OCO predicted different judgements made about the offender, in terms of his characteristics and likelihood of reoffending, and that these judgements then predicted different judgements about the outcome of the offence, including punishment motive. These studies, together, show that the moral stranger and fellow traveller concepts do exist, as a continuum, and the development of the OCO Scale showed that there is utility in the scale in terms of the type of judgements made about an offender and an offence. The current study was conducted with a sex offence in the vignettes and so further research needs to extend this by using different offence types and different offender characteristics, to investigate how generalisable these findings are.</p>

Agricultural activities and threat to fauna in Brazil: an analysis of the Red Book of Endangered Brazilian Fauna

The recent edition of the Red Book of Endangered Brazilian Fauna brings 1,173 threatened species, 86% of them in terrestrial or freshwater environments. For these species, the main threat vector is agricultural activities that affect 519 species (51%). This information brought by the Red Book is examined in-depth and its consistency is discussed in search of an objective view on the impacts of agriculture, its importance, how they affect the different groups of animals, the different biomes of the country, and the different types of habitats continental. Birds, fish, and invertebrates are the groups with the highest number of species threatened by agricultural activity, accounting for more than 70% of the species. Habitat loss is by far the biggest impact caused by the activity, affecting almost 90% of the species. However, there is a difference between the impact of agriculture and livestock. The work seeks to understand why livestock threatens a smaller number of species, although pastures occupy more than twice the area occupied by crops and forestry. The work brings an objective debate on the relationship between agricultural activities and the conservation of wild fauna in Brazil, without falling into the trap of the useless demonization of human activities, highlighting, instead, the need to define and implement strategies for the conservation of biodiversity in the midst the land use matrix itself, complementary to the conservation units, based on the best available information on the vulnerability of fauna to the impacts of this vector.

Anthropocene: Does the New Geological Age push towards a Metamorphosis of the World

The Anthropocene has created a new cartography. Various disciplines and discourses overlap each other. Two fields of knowledge: geology and anthropology are unified in one single concept. The Axial Age separated everyday practices from an unbiased and objective view of the world. Romanticism, in the nineteenth century, challenged the separation between the natural sciences and the sciences of the spirit. Paul J. Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer had two distinct parts; a first establishes "a period of time" the second an "epistemic tool". This paper is intended to illustrate the epistemological dimension of the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene defines the present geological epoch as dominated by humans. Eduard Suess, Antonio Stopani, Teilhard de Chardin, Vladimir Vernadsky etc., a century ago, anticipated the concept of Anthropocene. "No&ouml;sphere" is a term from the "world of thought". The hypothesis of an earth as a living organism, which is inspired by J.W. Goethe's "Naturwissenschaft", allows two disciplines to be inte-grated into one term: geology and anthropology. We have atmospheric phenomena that are in-compressible without presupposing life. The Anthropocene modifies the foundations of our vi-sion of the world. In the Gaia Hypothesis we find the same roots as in the Anthropocene concept: Goethe, Vernadky, etc. The concepts of symbiogenesis, homeostasis, etc., allow us to formulate new questions. This paper analyzes the reconfiguration of relations between the earth and all its inhabitants. It is, for the social sciences, a challenge: a metamorphosis of our vision of the world is taking place.

The evolution of sustainable innovation: from the past to the future

PurposeOver the last few decades, more emphasis has been placed on those innovations that can reconcile economic, social and environmental goals in order to achieve a “win-win-win” situation. This paper aims to systematise the scientific literature on Sustainable Innovation as a broad field in order to identify the most relevant scholars and their significant contributions as well as existing lines of research. Finally, future research directions are suggested.Design/methodology/approachA novel methodology, the Systematic Literature Network Analysis, has been applied. By using a dynamic approach to the traditional Systematic Literature Review, the present review investigates the creation, transfer, and development of knowledge throughout the epistemic community of Sustainable Innovation.FindingsStarting from a sample of 1,108 articles, the critical assessment of the results detected five main themes: (1) “the role of Regulation, Market and Technology”; (2) “Eco-Innovation determinants and firm specific factors and the debate between corporate environmental performance and corporate financial performance”; (3) “Green innovation and internal and external drivers”; (4) “The strategic determinants of green (non-green) innovation”; (5) “The interplay between policy, regulations and the green innovation”.Practical implicationsFrom a practitioner's perspective, this study provides an objective view on the current internal, external drivers and strategic determinants of sustainability-oriented innovations and relevant studies that can guide managers in their decision-making processes and enhance sustainable innovation performance.Originality/valueThis study is a first attempt to unveil the evolution of knowledge in the field of sustainable innovation by utilizing bibliometric tools.

True lies and Moorean redundancy

According to the subjective view of lying, speakers can lie by asserting a true proposition, as long as they believe this proposition to be false. This view contrasts with the objective view, according to which lying requires the actual falsity of the proposition asserted. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to pairs of assertions that differ only in intuitively redundant content and to show that such pairs of assertions are a reason to favour the subjective view of lying over the objective one.