How End-of-Life Blogs Re-Affirm the “Power to be Oneself”

Powerlessness generally denotes loss of control and may be experienced among those with a terminal diagnosis and, as such, empowerment is a dominant discourse in end-of-life policy in the western Anglo-Saxon world. This paper analyzes thematically blogs authored by three people with a terminal diagnosis to examine the “power to be oneself,” a concept which was identified in the “Ethics of Powerlessness” project conducted in the UK. The analysis demonstrates that the bloggers assert the “power to be themselves” which is expressed in three principal ways. Firstly, through assertion of agency to promote self-affirmation and control. Secondly, through claiming a “moral authority” expressed by providing advice not just on illness and death but also on how life should be lived. Thirdly, through discussing ideas about the future and creating a legacy. The blogs are a mechanism used to express and reinforce self-identity and to carve out a “sacred space” between life and death to nurture personal change and to project this onto a public arena. This analysis demonstrates the key role patient empowerment plays in constructing an identity with a terminal diagnosis, an element that is often overlooked in end-of-life policy.

Psychological consumer behavior and sustainable green food purchase

PurposeThe study aims to examine the role of consumer psychological attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavior control and pro-environmental self-identity on green food purchase intention. Also, it examines the effect of ecological conscious consumers' behavior (ECCB) on green intention and behavior.Design/methodology/approachThe study has focused on the upper-middle-class segment of Karachi. The authors have used area sampling for collecting the data. Six recruited enumerators distributed 450 questionnaires in five areas of Karachi and received 423 filled-in questionnaires. The study has used the Smart PLS version for data analysis.FindingsThe study found that biospheric egoistic and hedonic values affect attitudes toward green products, and altruistic values have no effect on attitude. Also, the authors did not find any association between attitude and green purchase intention, but found that attitude stimulates ECCB. Subjective norms and perceived behavior control strongly affect green purchase intention and ECCB. The results also suggest that pro-environment self-identity and ECCB are significant predictors of green purchase intention. The authors also found that green purchase intention stimulates green food behavior.Originality/valueThe authors have taken a holistic approach by investigating 13relationships. The authors also examined the association between hedonic values and green purchase intentions, which in the past studies have contradictory results.

Post-Traumatic Growth of Nurses Who Faced the COVID-19 Epidemic and Its Correlation With Professional Self-Identity and Social Support

Objective:To investigate post-traumatic growth (PTG) and analyze its correlation with professional self-identity and social support in Chinese nurses who faced the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic.Methods:A cross-sectional descriptive design was used in this study. An online questionnaire was completed by 266 nurses who faced the COVID-19 emergency in Hubei Province, China. The Post-traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), Professional Self-identity Scale, and Perceived Social Support Scale were used to assess the level of PTG, professional self-identity, and social support. Descriptive, univariate analysis and multiple regression analyses were used in exploring related influencing factors.Results:Participants' mean scores were 96.26 (SD = 21.57) for PTG, 115.30 (SD = 20.82) for professional self-identification, and 66.27 (SD = 12.90) for social support. Multiple regression analysis showed that nurses from other provinces moving to support Hubei Province, professional self-identity, and social support were the main factors affecting nurse stress (p = 0.014, < 0.001, and 0.017, respectively). Professional self-identity and social support were positively correlated with PTG (r = 0.720 and 0.620, respectively).Conclusions:There was a phenomenon of PTG when the nurses faced COVID-19 in Hubei Province. Providing an active coping style helps to improve the level of PTG.

The Meaning of Home in Male Migration: Listening to Men’s Experiences

We assessed the sense of psychological home among adult men (n = 17; M age = 29.7 years old) who had experienced migration to Italy, focusing on the relationship between psychological home and the process of integration into the new country. Psychological home is a dynamic process in which people sense a safe and secure environment that ranges beyond the confines of a structured dwelling, a process which is reflective and which communicates one’s self-identity. Participants engaged in a semistructured interview with the aim of establishing a generic concept of psychological home and identifying the issues that arise at the intersection of psychological home and migration. The results highlighted certain themes about the meaning that psychological home assumes in the lives of migrants and about the way in which the migration experience acts to support or hinder the process of building this sense of home. Of special interest is the idea that individuals might develop multiple psychological homes related to the different places and relationships that they experience. In this sense, establishment of a psychological home might be considered the ideal affective state for psychological adaptation to a new country.

Unpacking Psychological Ownership: How Transactional and Transformational Leaders Motivate Ownership

Psychological ownership represents feelings of responsibility for and possession over a target, which can be both tangible in terms of physical resources, or intangible regarding one's relationships. Here we examine how two well-established leadership styles can trigger six different facets of psychological ownership and their corresponding ownership behaviors, by using regulatory focus and identity theory to explain how psychological ownership emerges and influences an individual's work behavior. We provide specific propositions that link two leadership styles to an individual's activated regulatory focus and self-identity, which results in six different facets of ownership. We use these different facets of ownership to examine how each contributes to explaining how leaders motivate their followers to engage in and take on different work challenges and opportunities, thus advancing both the leadership and psychological ownership literatures. We combine leadership style and psychological ownership to determine the type of ownership behavior and work performance that results based on which ownership facets are triggered.

Upheaval and reinvention in celebrity interviews: Emotional reflexivity and the therapeutic self in late modernity

The disruptions of life in late modernity render self-identity fragile. Consequently, individuals must reflexively manage their emotions and periodically reinvent themselves to maintain a coherent narrative of the self. The rise of psychology as a discursive regime across the 20th century, and its intersections with a plethora of wellness industries, has furnished a new language of selfhood and greater public attention to emotions and personal narratives of suffering. Celebrities, who engage in public identity work to ensure their continued relatability, increasingly provide models for navigating emotional trials. In this article we explore representations of selfhood and identity work in celebrity interviews. We focus on media veterans Nigella Lawson and Ruby Wax, both of whom are skilled in re-storying the self after personal crises. We argue that interpretive capital as a peculiarly late modern resource confers emotional advantages and life chances on individuals as they navigate upheavals, uncertainties, and intimate dilemmas.

The Construction of Self-Identity in the Chronically Mentally Ill: A Focus on Autobiographic Narratives of Mentally Ill Patients in South Korea

A systematic policy for treatment and management of chronic psychiatric patients in South Korea was begun with the passage of the Mental Health Act in 1995. The mentally ill patients who were previously separated from the society now have opportunities to live in local communities under medication with the help of rehabilitation facilities. This study aims to understand how mentally ill patients deal with their new medical environment. An autobiographic narrative analysis is methodically applied in order to link the social and the individual levels. Autobiographic narratives of illness show how the patient’s self-identity is formed and further developed according to the chronic conditions of his illness and the continual learning from experiences. In regard to the construction of selfidentity, two aspects should be taken into consideration: First, medication is absolutely necessary before patients can leave the hospital and participate in rehabilitation programs. Secondly, social integration is usually evaluated by the return of the patient into a normal biographical stage. It turns out that medication deprives the patients of control over their emotions, their bodies. Furthermore, their social environments – including family, friends and the labor market – work against them. Under these circumstances, mentally ill patients are liable to adhere to their own interpretation of mental illness, and what they experience is far different from the expectations of experts in the field. The new mental health environment also contributes to the formation of patient communities. As a result, chronic psychiatric patients are able to build their own subculture and to see themselves through their own eyes. Further studies are needed to explore whether and to what extent the ongoing improvement of social conditions for mentally ill patients has an impact on autobiographic narratives and self-identity construction.

Digital Academic Environment and Professional Identity Development

Self-identity is a structural and dynamic system that develops as one’s living environment expands. During vocational training, professional identity acquires an integrating role in this system. Professional identity develops in the academic environment, which is expanding due to digitalization. The research objective was to identify the features of professional identity development in students in the conditions of academic digitalization and to determine the ways of psychological and pedagogical optimization of this process. The theoretical analysis is based on the general provisions of cultural and historical psychology, as well as on the methodology of the environmental approach in education. The contemporary academic environment demonstrated a lack of interpersonal interaction, which makes it difficult to enter the professional community and identify with it. However, the interactive character of the digital academic environment makes it possible to optimize the process of professional identity development. It comprises various information and communication platforms into a single media environment. Psychological and pedagogical technologies develop awareness and acceptance of professional values in the process of indirect interaction between students, teaching staff, and professionals.