It is suggested that a clear prophetic voice of the congregational gathering could change the society to which the congregants belong. The problem is that this prophetic voice seems to have disappeared in many cases. A solution might be found if the point of view is taken that the prophetic voice in the congregational gathering is heard in the liturgical acts or rites. In the science of Liturgy attention must be given to the revitalisation of the gift of prophesy. In (...) this article the prophetic testimony of the Old Testament prophets and of the Prophet, Jesus Christ, were used as sources. Following in the footsteps of Brueggemann, an effort will be made to establish in relevant scripture passages what the attitude and practise of prophetic testimony should be. The possibility of rendering service through prophetic testimony as a liturgical act in the South African society is wide open. Prophetic testimony serves to criticise the dominant perception in order to dismantle it, but is also serves to energise persons and communities by its promise of another time and situation towards which the community of faith could move. (shrink)

Volunteering by higher education students in the UK has a long history which remains largely unexplored despite recent research and policy attention. This article offers a brief overview of the development of student volunteering before the 1960s and then discusses a shift from student social service to Student Community Action in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It argues that this shift was underpinned by a growing student movement in support of volunteering overseas; the perceived failures of the (...) ‘youth volunteer boom' of the 1960s and by the wider questioning of the values of higher education. The article then considers the rapid growth of Student Community Action across universities and colleges in the UK before reflecting upon the success and challenges of the movement. (shrink)

Due to the development of the Chinese economy, the consolidation of national power worldwide, and the increasing frequency of economic and cultural exchanges with foreign countries, the number of people from various countries who travel to China to engage in exchanges has increased significantly. Given the development of economic globalization, the acceleration of the process of educational internationalization represents a general trend in higher education development and a common requirement for universities. In addition to education, international students also experience cross-cultural (...) adaptation, that is, behavioral adaptation or changes that occur in people in response to changes in their home country, whether in the form of external or internal cultural adaptation. For international students, the problem of cross-cultural adaptation not only hinders their learning progress but also affects their psychology and living conditions. This article explains the construction of Habermas’s theory of communication action. According to this theory, the purpose of communication is to coordinate the common actions of actors, and this coordination is achieved through mutual communication, which is mediated by language. The article also discusses the cross-cultural adaptation experienced by international students in Chinese universities and highlights the importance of developing educational services for international students in the context of international education. Studies have shown that female students exhibit slightly worse psychological adaptation than male students and female students have a slightly higher rate of depression rate than male students. An interpersonal study of 120 international students traveling to China found that most of these students were able to adapt in terms of their interpersonal relationships. To solve the problems associated with cross-cultural adaptation of international students in China, some countermeasures have been proposed, mainly including active participation in interpersonal communication, an enhanced understanding of the new culture, and the amplification of cultural identity. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThe massive influx of refugees into Europe in the past few years has given rise to different kinds of challenges among which is the challenge to successfully communicate with newly arrived immigrants. In this article, we will focus on the public service provision sector where quality of service is to a large extent determined by the capability of a service provider and his or her “client” to understand one another. The article centres on a study involving public (...) organisations providing asylum services or healthcare services in the multilingual and multicultural city of Brussels. Several interviews were conducted to gain insight into the communication problems such organisations face, as well as their communication requirements and solutions when providing services to people of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. We will focus on the types of bridging functions commonly deployed by these organisations in multilingual service encounters and on the motivations for using them. In a... (shrink)

This paper is based on the author's presentation at the Church Renewal Consultations of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE) in 2009. It suggests three preliminary hermeneutical steps on the way to a Protestant ecclesiology in touch with the latest renewal processes in the churches. The first step is to focus the Protestant church concept on the Reformers' notion of discovering the hidden nature of the church within its worldly situation. The second step goes beyond the dogmatic (...) fundamentals of the church by exploring different contexts (ethical, ecumenical etc.) in which that hidden church can be discovered. The third step is to consider worship as the heart of the church's life and at the same time as its most obvious contribution to life in public – a good starting-point for church renewal. (shrink)

Jubilee is a revolutionary idea that many generations have struggled to act on. Africa is seeking to overcome centuries of colonialism and its extractive structures. Yet this is the African century where African population growth and youthful energy will profoundly impact the globe – for good or ill. Having courage to enact Jubilee principles through grassroots movements could see the creation of a uniquely African economy good for people and the environment that could bless the nations. We can do this (...) by implementing a combination of different movement principles: 1) prayer and discipleship; 2) developing new organisational wineskins; 3) building peace and deep relationships; 4) communicating a unifying and hopeful narrative; 5) forging new identities; 6) formulating concrete plans and communicating clear demands; and 7) persisting in our action even through difficulties. If African movements can tap into the deep divine well of courage and strength to die in service to God’s jubilee calling then perhaps we will see a continent changed forever. Dying each day to self, we cannot rest until we hand over this vision to the next generation. (shrink)

Background Families whose child has unexplained intellectual or developmental differences often hope that a genetic diagnosis will lower barriers to community-based therapeutic and support services. However, there is little known about efforts to mobilize genetic information outside the clinic or how socioeconomic disadvantage shapes and constrains outcomes.Methods We conducted an ethnographic study with predominantly socioeconomically disadvantaged families enrolled in a multi-year genomics research study, including clinic observations and in-depth interviews in English and Spanish at multiple time points. Coding and (...) thematic development were used to collaboratively interpret fieldnotes and transcripts.Results Thirty-two families participated. Themes included familial expectations that a genetic diagnosis could be translated into information, understanding, and assistance to improve the quality of a child’s day-to-day life. After sequencing, however, genetic information was not readily converted into improved access to services beyond the clinic, with families often struggling to use a genetic diagnosis to advocate for their child.Conclusion Families’ ability to use a genetic diagnosis as an effective advocacy tool beyond the clinic was limited by the knowledge and resources available to them, and by the eligibility criteria used by therapeutic service providers’ – which focused on clinical diagnosis and functional criteria more than etiologic information. All families undertaking genomic testing, particularly those who are disadvantaged, need additional support to understand the limits and potential benefits of genetic information beyond the clinic. (shrink)

It is still remarkably difficult for public health officials charged with developing and implementing pandemic influenza preparedness plans at the community levelto obtain clear, concrete, and consistent guidance on how to construct plans that are both ethical and actionable. As of mid-2007, most of the federal and state pandemic plans filed with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, describing how public health officials will coordinate public agencies and private entities in the event of an outbreak, failed to include (...) ethical guidance for first responders responsible for providing essential services and making fair decisions during a public health emergency. (shrink)

Commercial genetic testing offered over the internet, known as direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTC GT), currently is under ethical attack. A common critique aims at the limited validation of the tests as well as the risk of psycho-social stress or adaption of incorrect behavior by users triggered by misleading health information. Here, we examine in detail the specific role of advertising communication of DTC GT companies from a medical ethical perspective. Our argumentative analysis departs from the starting point that DTC GT (...) operates at the intersection of two different contexts: medicine on the one hand and the market on the other. Both fields differ strongly with regard to their standards of communication practices and the underlying normative assumptions regarding autonomy and responsibility. Following a short review of the ethical contexts of medical and commercial communication, we provide case examples for persuasive messages of DTC GT websites and briefly analyze their design with a multi-modal approach to illustrate some of their problematic implications. We observe three main aspects in DTC GT advertising communication: (1) the use of material suggesting medical professional legitimacy as a trust-establishing tool, (2) the suggestion of empowerment as a benefit of using DTC GT services and (3) the narrative of responsibility as a persuasive appeal to a moral self-conception. While strengthening and respecting the autonomy of a patient is the focus in medical communication, specifically genetic counselling, persuasive communication is the normal mode in marketing of consumer goods, presuming an autonomous, rational, independent consumer. This creates tension in the context of DTC GT regarding the expectation and normative assessment of communication strategies. Our analysis can even the ground for a better understanding of ethical problems associated with intersections of medical and commercial communication and point to perspectives of analysis of DTC GT advertising. (shrink)

Considering the importance of China’s digital economy, industrial Internet, and high-quality development, this study analyzed China’s urban network from the perspective of the communications technology service industry. Three sub-networks and a comprehensive network were constructed. The density, centrality, and cohesive subgroups of the above network were identified. The results show that: cohesion of urban networks in China is weak and resource sharing is low. From west to east, the urban network forms a multilevel diamond structure in the periphery, a (...) parallelogram structure in the semiperiphery, and a triangle structure in the center. The spatial distribution of cohesive subgroups is scattered, disobeying the first law of geography. By constructing sub-networks and a comprehensive network, the subnetworks that dominate China’s urban networks were identified and their typical characteristics described. This study clarifies the technical support pattern behind China’s digital economy development and industrial internet construction and provides a basis for policy-makers to optimize the country’s high-quality development in the future. (shrink)

The institution of “probation,” a form of judicial probation aimed for adults, was rewied by the recent justice reform law (Cartabia Reform, Dec. 30, 2022), where, even in the rewied version, was confirmed its high civic and reeducational value. Through probation, offenders can realize the paths to change own critical reinterpretation of their behavior. This is an interpretation of punishment that preserves its retributive value, but the challenge that institutions and associations take as welcoming these people into the activities and (...) projects of a (re)educational nature, gives this particular penal measure a restorative purpose too. Probation concerns first and foremost the offender, it also verifies the skills, resilience, and responsibility of those it accommodates. With these premises, in 2023 a collaboration between some professors of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and the Piacenza Volunteer Service Center led to the realization a training course and later a Research involving the Associations that take in the people on probation. (shrink)

Internet usage data from around the globe show that adolescents are the most frequent Internet users, but mostly for leisure activities and maintaining social contacts. In the present study, we focused on Internet use for e-services, which could improve youth efficiency in the financial domain and bridge the online divide in youth. Specifically, we explored how societal constructs influence the use of the Internet for online shopping, e-banking and communication with providers of goods and services online. We used a representative (...) sample of adolescents from 10 countries of Southeast Europe where a great variability in Internet use is present, and where the use of e-services is generally lower than the EU average. This also allowed for meaningful cross-country comparisons. We tested a structural equation model of values predicting the use of the Internet through institutional trust which was grounded in social capital theory, cultural theory and Schwartz human values model. The model exhibited a good fit to the data but the strengths of regressional paths were rather modest. Looking into the cross-country stability of the model, however, revealed some notable differences: while the relationship between trust and use of the Internet for e-services was modest in some countries, the relationship was insignificant in other countries, where Internet usage is lower in general. This suggests that strategies aimed at leveraging e-services and digital technology potential in youth should also account for cultural specificities in the transitional economies and cultural settings with sub-optimal adoption of digital services. (shrink)

The SERVE Program at Ignatius University seeks to foster the ethical development of its participants by combining academic study of philosophy and theology with a year-long community service project. This study considered the impact of the SERVE Program upon Ignatius University students majoring in business in comparison to students pursuing majors in the liberal arts, education, and nursing. Findings from this study offer insight into the response of business students to ethical content in comparison to students pursuing degrees (...) in other disciplines. Such findings hold significant implications for business school faculty and administrators committed to the civic and ethical development of individuals pursuing careers in business and private industry. (shrink)

Production methods for food from U.K. livestock industries (milk, dairy products, meat, eggs, fibre) are undergoing substantial change as a result of the need to respond to environmental and animal welfare awareness of purchasing customers, and to espouse the principles of environmental protection. There appears to be a strong will on the part of livestock farmers to satisfy the environmental imperative, led by the need to maintain market share and by existing and impending legislation. There has been support forthcoming in (...) the form of Government-sponsored scientific research and technological development to provide the necessary framework for new environmentally sensitive practices. The agricultural community has itself made substantial responses to market demand through the inception of Farm Assured Quality Assurance Schemes. These appear to have a more sustainable future than the extremes of organic farming and free-range practices. Pollution of agricultural land with nitrate and phosphate by intensive livestock industries is a greater problem in some parts of continental Europe than it is in the U.K. The distribution of livestock out of intensive units and into mixed farming systems, would require substantial restructuring of the industry. Many of the animal welfare requirements which have been forwarded as a part of the environmental agenda for agriculture have been voluntarily accepted by livestock producers. However, some major aspects, such as alternative housing systems for pigs and poultry, remain unresolved. Analysis of the science and technology support for the environmental imperative, especially from Government sources, would suggest that, although dramatically increased in recent years, environmentally orientated research remains a relatively small proportion of the whole. Whilst a movement away from governmental funding of volume production appears to be justifiable, there has not been an equivalent balancing of effort toward funding for product quality, sustainability, environmental protection and animal welfare. Nevertheless, the university education system is producing a generation of more environmentally aware agricultural science graduates who are opting to pursue Government-sponsored environmentally orientated postgraduate research programs. (shrink)

Debates about the ethical and social implications of research that aims to extend human longevity by intervening in the ageing process have paid little attention to the attitudes of members of the general public. In the absence of empirical evidence, conflicting assumptions have been made about likely public attitudes towards life-extension. In light of recent calls for greater public involvement in such discussions, this target article presents findings from focus groups and individual interviews which investigated whether members of the general (...) public identify ethical issues surrounding life-extension, and if so, what these ethical issues are? In this study, while some participants were concerned primarily with the likely personal consequences of life-extension, for others the question of whether or not to pursue interventions to extend longevity, and how they should be implemented, clearly raised important ethical issues, many of which have been prominent in debates among bioethicists. (shrink)

This study reports on a longitudinal inquiry into professional identity construction among six novice cross-border English language teachers from mainland China, who completed their pre-service teacher education in Hong Kong (HK) and began their teaching practice in local HK schools. The findings indicate that the participants navigated obstacles in teaching by deploying their own multiple languages as a cultural and linguistic repertoire. The findings also show that the teachers experienced difficulty legitimising their professional identity in the teaching community, (...) where contextual issues and power interplays mediated the process. Furthermore, it is found that the participants? commitment to teaching was negatively influenced by their non-legitimate position in the teaching community and the discordance between their teaching beliefs and the norms and values of their workplace. This study suggests that complex inter-relationships between marginal status in and legitimate membership of the community, between historical and cultural background, present practice, and future expectations, between social discourse and personal location, are involved in the process of identity construction. Measures to legitimate these teachers? position and to transform the linguistic and cultural repertories of these teachers into valuable resources of the local schools are suggested. Implications for future research are outlined. (shrink)

A major part of police work consists in providing services and information to the general public. A stated goal of such police work is to be service-minded and contribute to a positive encounter. This article analyses service requests in calls to the duty desk of a large police station and focuses on how officers deal with requests that have to be rejected. It reveals a general pattern in which officers produce the rejection in a dispreferred format and include (...) displays of empathy, accounts for the rejection and suggestions for alternative solutions. However, in certain types of requests the rejections are not infrequently produced in a direct and unmitigated fashion, without accounts or explanations.This is especially notable in requests that touch upon institutional constraints, such as professional secrecy. And in certain cases the rejections are even delivered in an aggravated form, involving an explicit or implicit challenge to the legitimacy of the request. These rejections cast the caller in an oppositional role, infringing the professional constraints of the police. However, the constraints in question may not be accessible to the callers. The officers will consequently be experienced as hostile and will subvert their own objectives of showing service-mindedness. (shrink)

With contributions from leading experts across disciplinary fields, this book explores best practices from the field's most notable researchers, as well as important historically based and politically focused challenges to a field whose impact has reached an important crossroads. The comprehensive and powerfully critical analysis considers the history of community engagement and service learning, best teaching practices and pedagogies, engagement across disciplines, and current research and policies - and contemplates the future of the field. The book will not (...) only inform faculty, staff, and students on ways to improve their work, but also suggest a bigger social and political focus for programs intended to seriously establish democracy and social justice in their communities and campuses. (shrink)

The study aimed to identify the concept of sustainable development, and to explore the role of digital libraries in achieving SDGs, by shedding light on the reality of the SDL in terms of financial, technical and human capabilities to achieve the Kingdom’s 2030 vision for sustainable development. The study revealed that digital libraries play an active role in achieving SDGs through secure and diverse technical infrastructure, and a variety of digital information sources. Digital libraries enhance the level of information awareness (...) among users. Among digital libraries worldwide, SDL is distinguished in terms of knowledge resources acquired, its platforms, and through the large number of beneficiaries of its services, representing all segments of the academic community in Saudi Arabia's higher education institutions. Based on a solid network, and Saudi Arabia vision 2030, SDL succeeded to link higher education institutions through a huge amount of information sources, and facilitated their access, and provided equal opportunities for all. The study recommended that in order to be the national digital platform and effective development partner, SDL must expand the scope of services to include trade and industrial private and public sectors, and raise the level of research awareness and ethics among Arab scholars and researchers. (shrink)

BackgroundInternationally, clinical ethics support has yet to be implemented systematically in community health and care services. A large-scale Norwegian project attempted to increase ethical competence in community services through facilitating the implementation of ethics support activities in 241 Norwegian municipalities. The article describes the ethics project and the ethics activities that ensued.MethodsThe article first gives an account of the Norwegian ethics project. Then the results of two online questionnaires are reported, characterizing the scope, activities and organization of the (...) ethics activities in the Norwegian municipalities and the ethical topics addressed.ResultsOne hundred and thirty-seven municipal contact persons answered the first survey, whereas 217 ethics facilitators from 48 municipalities responded to the second. The Norwegian ethics project is vast in scope, yet has focused on some institutions and professions whilst seldom reaching others. Patients and next of kin were very seldom involved. Through the ethics project employees discussed many important ethical challenges, in particular related to patient autonomy, competence to consent, and cooperation with next of kin. The “ethics reflection group” was the most common venue for ethics deliberation.ConclusionsThe Norwegian project is the first of its kind and scope, and other countries may learn from the Norwegian experiences. Professionals have discussed central ethical dilemmas, the handling of which arguably makes a difference for patients/users and service quality. The study indicates that large scale implementation of CES structures for the municipal health and care services is complex, yet feasible. (shrink)

Herbert, Dilinie As part of the Inquiry into End of Life Choices, commissioned by the Victorian State Government on 7 May 2015, members of the community were invited to share their attitudes towards assisted dying by written submissions. The Inquiry also hosted a panel discussion with a few selected respondents. The final report prepared by the Inquiry is a comprehensive document that identified common themes relating to the benefits and concerns about a possible assisted dying framework. Some respondents used (...) the opportunity to advocate in favour of palliative care services and advance care planning. There were other respondents that were apprehensive about possible changes to the law and wary that it could incite permissible practices of assisted death in Victoria which are in contradiction to existing ethical beliefs, values and norms. Their anxiety was in relation to a potential slippery slope effect of these laws in the future. In this article I will explore how the slippery slope effect has been used to criticise euthanasia legislation, using data from the Netherlands. Although there are indications that the slippery slope is apparent in the Netherlands, there are also contrary indications that are otherwise open for interpretation. I propose that the Inquiry was a valuable opportunity to reflect on community attitudes towards assisted death and that the recommendations to better resource palliative care services, is a positive outcome. (shrink)

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that events such as the Christmas Eve Carol Services at Liverpool Cathedral that include some regular churchgoers (people who attend services most weeks) and much larger numbers of occasional visitors (who may attend church only once or twice a year) make a significant impact on the psychological health and well-being of the participants. Using a repeat-measure design, participants were invited to complete a copy of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire while they were waiting (...) for the service to begin and then to complete a second copy during a five-minute organ improvisation just before the close of the service. Data provided by 802 participants who completed both copies of the instrument demonstrated a significantly higher score on the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire at time two than at time one, suggesting that attendance at the service had exerted a positive impact on psychological health and well-being. Contribution: Situated within the science of cathedral studies, this article demonstrates by means of a repeated-measure study that cathedrals can make a significant impact on the psychological health and well-being of the wider community served by them. The same well-being measure was completed by 802 participants at the Christmas Eve Carol Services before and after the event, with a significant increase in scores at time two. (shrink)

The activities of religious organizations are aimed primarily at augmenting spiritual values, but are also relevant to the needs of a person's social life. For many centuries, social issues have been important, and they remain relevant today. Right now, they are receiving special attention, because the level of social life in Ukraine is not the best. In this case, the role of the Church as a social institution is ancillary to the healing of society.

Objectives: To assess whether according to healthcare providers, the creation of an ethics service responds to a need; assess the importance of an ethics service for healthcare providers; determine what ethics services should be offered and the preferred formats of delivery; and identify key issues to be initially dealt with by the ethics service.Design: A survey of healthcare providers in Québec’s Centre Local de Services Communautaires , healthcare institutions dedicated to community health and social services.Findings: 96 (...) respondents agreed that an ethics service was needed, and on average the ethics service project was judged to be very important. Preferred formats for ethics consultation and education were identified, as well as key concerns such as the need of respect for the patient as a person, elder abuse and ethical issues in home care.Conclusion: This survey is helping in the implementation of an ethics service and can guide others in similar healthcare institutions. (shrink)

Background: Demographic trends indicate growth of population aged 65 and older in Western countries. One of the greatest challenges is to provide high-quality care for all. Technological solutions designed for older people, gerontechnology, can somewhat balance the gap between resources and the increasing demand of healthcare services. However, there are also ethical issues in the use of gerontechnology that need to be pointed out. Purpose: To describe what ethical issues are related to the use of gerontechnology in the care of (...) community-dwelling older people. Methods: A scoping review was performed to identify and analyse studies concerning ethical issues when using gerontechnology in the home care of older people. The literature search was limited to studies published after 1990 and addressed to the electronic databases CINAHL, PubMed, Cochrane, Medic, IEEE Explore and Web of Science. The search was performed in July−August 2018. Data from empirical studies were analysed using thematic analysis. Ethical considerations: This scoping review was conducted in accordance with good scientific practice. The work of other researchers was respected and cited appropriately. Results: A total of 17 studies were identified. Two main themes were found. ‘Balancing between the benefits of using gerontechnology and the basic rights of older people’, consisted of the subthemes safety, privacy and autonomy. The other main theme, ‘Gerontechnology as a risk of insecurity for older people’, included the subthemes fear of losing human contact and concern and fear. Surveillance and monitoring technologies were mainly studied. Conclusion: These results suggest that there may be ethical issues related to the use of gerontechnology and they must therefore be taken into consideration when implementing technology in the care of community-dwelling older people. (shrink)

In highly routinised service encounter interactions, communication is often guided by service scripts that are the material embodiment of institutional expectations of how the service interaction is to be conducted. However, counter to common belief that scripted communication is well-controlled and homogeneous in its execution, observation of actual talk reveals interesting patterns and variations that reflect the ways in which participants make meaning of and perform their respective roles within the interaction towards achieving the overall goal of (...) the service communication. Applying the analysis of speech functions and sequential order of talk in audio-recorded verbal exchanges between servers and customers at the service counter of a fast-food restaurant, acts in the fast-food service interaction are interpreted and explained in relation to management-prescribed service script, servers’ script-in-use and customers’ script within an institutional discourse framework. Findings from the study have important implications for service management and training as it addresses the tension between the practices on the ground and those sanctioned by the organisation. (shrink)

BackgroundHIV prevention research in resource-limited countries is associated with a variety of ethical dilemmas. Key amongst these is the question of what constitutes an appropriate standard of health care (SoC) for participants in HIV prevention trials. This paper describes a community-focused approach to develop a locally-appropriate SoC in the context of a phase III vaginal microbicide trial in Mwanza City, northwest Tanzania.MethodsA mobile community-based sexual and reproductive health service for women working as informal food vendors or in (...) traditional and modern bars, restaurants, hotels and guesthouses has been established in 10 city wards. Wards were divided into geographical clusters and community representatives elected at cluster and ward level. A city-level Community Advisory Committee (CAC) with representatives from each ward has been established. Workshops and community meetings at ward and city-level have explored project-related concerns using tools adapted from participatory learning and action techniques e.g. chapati diagrams, pair-wise ranking. Secondary stakeholders representing local public-sector and non-governmental health and social care providers have formed a trial Stakeholders' Advisory Group (SAG), which includes two CAC representatives.ResultsKey recommendations from participatory community workshops, CAC and SAG meetings conducted in the first year of the trial relate to the quality and range of clinic services provided at study clinics as well as broader standard of care issues. Recommendations have included streamlining clinic services to reduce waiting times, expanding services to include the children and spouses of participants and providing care for common local conditions such as malaria. Participants, community representatives and stakeholders felt there was an ethical obligation to ensure effective access to antiretroviral drugs and to provide supportive community-based care for women identified as HIV positive during the trial. This obligation includes ensuring sustainable, post-trial access to these services. Post-trial access to an effective vaginal microbicide was also felt to be a moral imperative.ConclusionParticipatory methodologies enabled effective partnerships between researchers, participant representatives and community stakeholders to be developed and facilitated local dialogue and consensus on what constitutes a locally-appropriate standard of care in the context of a vaginal microbicide trial in this setting.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN64716212. (shrink)

Today, the earth is an interconnected globe humming with electronic transmissions-a chattering planet nestled in the provident silence of space. The ethical question is whether this is contributing to authentic human development and helping individuals and peoples to be true to their transcendent destiny. The new media are powerful tools for education, cultural enrichment, commercial activity, political participation, intercultural dialogue and understanding. They also can serve the cause of religion. Yet the new information technology needs to be informed and guided (...) by solidarity in the service of the common good bridging the digital divide within and among nations. The value-laden message of Western secular culture to people and traditional societies in many cases ill-prepared to evaluate it leads to widespread crisis, for example, in regard to marriage and family life. This technology can be a means for solving human problems, promoting the integral development of persons, creating a world governed by justice, peace, and love. It also can help men and women in their age-old search for self-understanding. Like today's world itself, the world of media, including the Internet, has been brought by Christ, inchoately yet truly, within the boundaries of the kingdom of God and placed in service to the word of salvation. (shrink)

A romance with the concept of community has long characterized activist healthcare movements and has more recently been taken up by academic medical centers as a sign of virtuous civic engagement. During the late 1960s, the word community, as deployed by administrators at prestigious AMCs, became increasingly politicized, commodified and racialized. Here, we analyze how the concept of community was initially framed in the 1963 Community Mental Health Centers Act, the first legislation to establish community (...) mental health centers in America. We then examine the Health Policy Advisory Center’s analysis of the proposed Washington Heights Community Mental Health Center to be run by Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, an institution that had historically neglected residents’ health needs. Community pushback against Columbia’s plan to build a multi-block center, amplified by medical students and residents critical of the professionalized community mental health movement, escalated in the late 1960s, leading the city’s planning board to reject Columbia and approve a community council’s plan for preventive and rehabilitative local services. These conflicting overtones of “community” still inform understandings of the word in medicine today; thus, a critical historical analysis of “community” is warranted. (shrink)

Episodic memory has been analyzed in a number of different ways in both philosophy and psychology, and most controversy has centered on its self-referential, autonoetic character. Here, we offer a comprehensive characterization of episodic memory in representational terms and propose a novel functional account on this basis. We argue that episodic memory should be understood as a distinctive epistemic attitude taken toward an event simulation. In this view, episodic memory has a metarepresentational format and should not be equated with beliefs (...) about the past. Instead, empirical findings suggest that the contents of human episodic memory are often constructed in the service of the explicit justification of such beliefs. Existing accounts of episodic memory function that have focused on explaining its constructive character through its role in future-oriented mental time travel do justice neither to its capacity to ground veridical beliefs about the past nor to its representational format. We provide an account of the metarepresentational structure of episodic memory in terms of its role in communicative interaction. The generative nature of recollection allows us to represent and communicate the reasons why we hold certain beliefs about the past. In this process, autonoesis corresponds to the capacity to determine when and how to assert epistemic authority in making claims about the past. A domain where such claims are indispensable are human social engagements. Such engagements commonly require the justification of entitlements and obligations, which is often possible only by explicit reference to specific past events. (shrink)

In enhancement ethics, evolutionary theory has been largely perceived as supporting liberal views on enhancement, where decisions to enhance are predominantly regulated by the principle of individual autonomy. In this paper I critique this perception in light of recent scientific developments. Cultural evolutionary theory suggests a picture where individual interests are entangled with community interests, and this undermines the applicability of the principle of autonomy. This is particularly relevant for enhancement ethics, given how – I argue – decisions to (...) enhance are often influenced by desires to increase social status. The “service view on enhancement”, based on principles of service and trust, is proposed as offering better guidance for the challenges of social living. (shrink)

The environmental consequences of the overconsumption of natural resources are increasingly recognized. This article introduces the theme of this special issue of Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society: commoditization as a mechanism driving societies to overdevelop the economy of market goods and services and the relations of economic exchange; and underdevelop the economy of care and connection and the relations of community and ecosystems. The origins of the author’s development of a theory commoditization are described and traced to questions (...) arising from experience at the 1992 Earth Summit. The traits associated with commodities are contrasted with those nonmarket goods that are inherently difficult to commoditize. The presence or absence of these traits defines “commodity potential.” A Darwinian-like selection pressure is described that privileges those things with high commodity potential. In the competition for the resources of development—energy and material resources and, human attention, ingenuity, and labor—those things with high commodity potential will always outcompete those with low commodity potential. The effects of this commoditization mechanism are explored in the articles in this special issue. (shrink)

Objectives: To explore mental health service users’ views of existing and proposed compulsory powers.Design: A qualitative study employing in-depth interviews. Participants were asked to respond to hypothetical questions regarding the application of compulsory powers under the Mental Health Act 1983 for people other than themselves.Setting: Community setting in Southeast England.Participants: Mental health service users subject to Supervised Discharge/Guardianship.Results: Participants considered that the use of compulsory powers was justified if there were some ultimate benefit, and if there was (...) evidence of mental health problems, dangerousness, or a lack of insight. However, participants rejected intrusions into their autonomy and privacy.Conclusions: This paper’s participants indicated that the proposed CTO may be unacceptable because it would threaten service users’ autonomy. Service users’ acceptance of proposed changes is conditional and they emphasised the importance of consent; there is no suggestion that consent will be required for the CTO. The findings also have implications for the exploration of mental health service users’ views and how they might contribute to policy, service planning, and research. (shrink)

The proposed changes to the Common Rule, described in the recent Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, come more than 20 years after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services adopted the Rule in 1991. Since that time, human subjects research has changed in significant ways. Not only has the volume of clinical research grown dramatically, this research is now regularly conducted at multiple collaborative sites that are often outside of the United States. Research takes place not only in academic (...) medical centers, but also at outpatient clinics, community hospitals, and other nontraditional venues. In addition, technological advances, such as sophisticated computer software programs, the Internet, social media, new research methods, and mobile applications have exponentially increased the volume of data available and the possibilities for accessing, analyzing, and sharing that data. (shrink)

Catholic Relief Services , the international humanitarian agency of the U.S. Catholic community, has worked in Rwanda since 1963. The 1994 Rwandan genocide killed five of its staff, countless co-workers, friends and relatives; its offices were looted and operations destroyed. The genocide marked a turning point in the agency’s history. Since then CRS has made justice, peacebuilding, and solidarity agency priorities, and has committed itself to fully integrate them into all of its partnerships and programming. The focus of this (...) study is an innovative microfinance methodology, Savings and Internal Lending Communities , which CRS recently introduced in Rwanda. While the purpose of CRS’ SILC programming in Rwanda is to promote greater economic security, particularly for Orphans and other Vulnerable Children , and women’s empowerment, this essay explores its peacebuilding potential in the country. It raises the question of whether it is possible to conceive of Rwanda’s SILC groups as social spaces for peace where a culture of peace and peacebuilding skills may already be being generated. It suggests that if identified as such and developed more intentionally, CRS’ SILC programming in Rwanda could play a more significant and integral role in securing the peace Rwandans long for.In July 2008 five Villanova University faculty members and I traveled to Rwanda, spending a total of eight days in country.1 The purpose of the trip was to learn more about the 1994 genocide, the effort to rebuild the country, and in particular, the U.S. Catholic community’s contribution to that effort through Catholic Relief Services . In addition to visiting memorials to the victims of the genocide and meeting with representatives from the Rwandan Catholic Church, the University of Rwanda, and the Rwandan government, we had the opportunity to observe some of CRS’ programming and meet with CRS’ small U.S. staff and its much larger Rwandan staff working with its Rwandan partner agencies. We visited a field hospital where patients were being treated for HIV/AIDS; agricultural projects aimed at containing cassava blight and improving yield; projects to teach orphans and other vulnerable children and the blind trades to enable them to earn income to support themselves and their families; elementary school classrooms; a retreat center where diocesan justice and peace animators were being trained in grassroots peacebuilding skills; and a Savings and Internal Lending Community group. In this article, I would like to focus on CRS’ SILC programming, and in particular, what I believe to be its potential to contribute to peacebuilding in Rwanda. (shrink)

Corporate and commercial values are inducing some healthcare organizations to prescribe a customer service model that reframes the provision of nursing care. In this paper it is argued that such a model is incommensurable with nursing conceived as a moral practice and ultimately places nurses at risk. Based upon understanding from ongoing research on compassion fatigue, it is proposed that compassion fatigue as currently experienced by nurses may not arise predominantly from too great a demand for compassion, but rather (...) from barriers to enacting compassionate care. These barriers are often systemic. The paradigm shift in which healthcare environments are viewed as marketplaces rather than moral communities has the potential to radically affect the evolution of nursing as a discipline. (shrink)

Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. Many of these services are provided outside the borders of the land where they are produced. This article investigates who is entitled to these non-excludable ecosystem services from a libertarian perspective. Taking a right-libertarian perspective, it is concluded that the beneficiaries generally hold the right to use non-excludable ecosystem services and the right to landowners not converting ecosystems. Landowners are only at liberty to convert ecosystems if they appropriated their land before (...) any beneficiary used the services and converted the ecosystems before or shortly after the beneficiaries started using the services. This means that the beneficiaries generally hold the right to compensation payments by the landowners in the event of service losses, instead of the landowners holding the right to payments for ecosystem services by the beneficiaries. Taking a left-libertarian perspective, it is concluded that landowners ought to pay for the non-excludable ecosystem services lost as a result of their activities as well as beneficiaries paying for the non-excludable ecosystem services they use. These payments are not made mutually, however, but to a central authority that distributes the returns to the community on an equal per capita basis. (shrink)

Sophocles’s Oedipus Tyrannus shows that humans' problems do not appear when they listen to the gods, but when they listen to themselves imagining that they follow the gods. Instead of placing themselves in the service of the god, as Socrates does in Plato’s Apology, they only think that they follow the divinity, while they actually act according to their own understanding. If Sophocles’s play is a synopsis of this danger, Plato’s dialogue proposes a different attitude before divinity: instead of (...) interpreting the gods and acting on this interpretation, you would need to enter into their service by studying the meaning of their communication. (shrink)

Webber, Ruth; Jones, Kate This paper is about how three Catholic agencies carved out and adapted over time a role for themselves in assisting in the recovery after the Victorian bushfires of 2009. It tracks the process from the time the Archbishop of Melbourne commissioned Catholic Social Services Victoria to survey the bushfire affected areas and work out where there were gaps in services that the Catholic agencies could fill. A significant amount of funding was allocated to the provision of (...) services by Catholic agencies for a period of up to three years in the bushfire affected regions. This was seen as a Catholic response to an extraordinary natural disaster. This was organisationally difficult because there are in excess of sixty Catholic welfare services in Victoria and it was necessary to determine who would be best able to meet the gaps and deliver appropriate services.1 It was clear that the aim was not to replicate or compete with existing services, it was to meet real needs and to do this in a cooperative and collegial way with existing players. (shrink)

Community Engagement (CE) has been presented by bio-ethicists and scientists as a straightforward and unequivocal good which can minimize the risks of exploitation and ensure a fair distribution of research benefits in developing countries. By means of ethnographic fieldwork undertaken in Kenya between 2007 and 2009 we explored how CE is understood and enacted in paediatric vaccine trials conducted by the Kenyan Medical Research Institute and the US Centers for Disease Control (KEMRI/CDC). In this paper we focus on the (...) role of paid volunteers who act as an interface between villagers KEMRI/CDC. Village Reporters’ (VRs) position of being both with the community and with KEMRI/CDC is advantageous for the conduct of trials. However it is also problematic in terms of exercising trust, balancing allegiances and representing community views. VRs role is shaped by ambiguities related to their employment status and their dual accountability to researchers and their villages. VRs are understandably careful to stress their commitment to self-less community service since it augments their respectability at community level and opens up opportunities for financial gain and self-development. Simultaneously VRs association with KEMRI/CDC and proximity to trial participants requires them to negotiate implicit and explicit expectations for material and medical assistance in a cultural setting in which much importance is placed on sharing and mutuality. To ensure continuity of productive interactions between VRs, and similar community intermediaries, and researchers, open discussion is needed about the problematic aspects of relational ethics, issues concerning undue influence, power relations and negotiating expectations. (shrink)

The aim of the study was to identify the organizational structure and its relation to the prevailing pattern of communication in the Palestinian universities. The researchers used the analytical descriptive method through a questionnaire randomly distributed among Palestinian university workers in the Gaza Strip. The study was conducted on a sample of (274) administrative staff from the three universities, and the response rate was (81.87%). The study found that there is a high satisfaction with the nature of the organizational structure (...) in the Palestinian universities from the point of view of the administrative staff, which reached 68.05%. And that there is a high level of communication pattern prevailing from the point of view of administrative staff, where the percentage (71.32%), there is a direct correlation between the nature of the organizational structure and the prevailing pattern of communication, the absence of differences between the sample according to the gender variable in their perception of the nature of the organizational structure and the prevailing pattern of communication, the absence of differences in the perception of employees of the nature of the organizational structure and the pattern of communication prevailing according to the variable age. There are differences of statistical significance in the perception of the nature of the organizational structure and the pattern of communication depending on the variable of scientific qualification in the organizational structure, and the pattern of communication. Differences were in favor of diploma holders compared to other practical qualifications. There is an absence of differences in the perception of employees of the nature of the organizational structure and the pattern of communication depending on the variable years of service. There is absence of differences in the perception of employees of the nature of the organizational structure and the pattern of communication depending on the variable level of career (Director, Head of Department, and Administrative Officer). There is absence of differences in the perception of employees of the nature of the organizational structure and the pattern of communication depending on the variable of the workplace. And the existence of differences in the perception of the employees of the nature of the organizational structure and pattern of communication depending on the university in which they work. And that there are statistically significant differences between the Islamic University and Al-Azhar University, the nature of the organizational structure and the pattern of communication in favor of the Islamic University. And that there are statistically significant differences between Al-Azhar University and Al-Aqsa University in the prevailing pattern of communication in favor of Al-Azhar University. The study reached a number of recommendations, the most important of which is that the departments of the Palestinian universities in the Gaza Strip in general, Al-Aqsa University and Al-Azhar Universities should be given greater attention to the prevailing organizational structure and the staff, the need to improve the pattern of communication prevalent in universities. Solving workers' problems and giving them the opportunity to contribute to solving their own problems. Strengthening the democratic leadership style and empowering university staff. (shrink)

This essay argues that service-learning pedagogy is an important tool in pre-health humanities education that provides benefits to the community and produces more compassionate, culturally competent, and community-responsive future healthcare professionals. Further, beginning this approach at the baccalaureate level instills democratic and collaborative values at an earlier, crucial time in the career socialization process. The discussion focuses on learning outcomes and reciprocity between the university and community in a Medical Humanities course for junior and senior premedical (...) students, an elective in the premedical curriculum. The course includes an experiential learning element in which students shadow physicians and a service-learning component in which students complete medically-relevant service work, working with partners such as the veteran’s hospital, a hospice home, and organizations that serve individuals with disabilities. We cover topics such as narrative medicine, ethics, cross-cultural medicine, patient/practitioner relationships, the human life cycle, and the illness experience, and the writing, discussion, and reflection we engage in is enriched by the real-world experiences from which the students are able to draw. The shadowing and service experiences and the classroom texts and topics combine to form a symbiosis that leads to especially meaningful teaching and learning outcomes. (shrink)

This paper examines the recent events following the bhikkhuni revival in Sri Lanka, and looks at the position of the Burmese Sangha, which has traditionally seen itself as the custodian of an ‘authentic’ Buddhist legacy, thrown into a debate by the action of a Burmese bhikkhuni who was recently ordained in Sri Lanka. It introduces the early initiatives of revivalist monks in Burma as well as the viewpoints of Burmese Sangha and the nuns in regard to the bhikkhuni issue. Since (...) most debate on the position of nuns take place without much reference to the local political contexts in which they stand, the state monastic organization in Burma is introduced to aid understanding of the framework in which the nuns operate today. At another level, the paper draws attention to the tension created between the international bhikkhunis who promote liberal ideologies of gender equality, individual rights and universalism into a faith based community, and local nuns who adhere to the traditional norms of religious duty, moral discipline and service to the community, and questions the ultimate aim in endorsing such secular ideals. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology 10.4 (2003) 373-378 [Access article in PDF] The Forgotten Self:Training Mental Health and Social Care Workers to Work With Service Users Kim Woodbridge Keywords self, workers perspective, them and us, win-win situation The three main papers and the case studies presented in this issue of Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology all focus on the service user perspective in relation to the self as illustrated (...) by different aspects of philosophy. This is also in the context of the service user looking for help during a time when they are experiencing levels of distress and difficulty.Important as this is, evident by the substantial clinical and philosophical literature in this area, what has been overlooked is the perspective of the mental health and social care worker responsible for the care of individuals whose sense of self is disturbed. The significance of this omission has been brought home to me through my experiences in running training workshops for workers working with service users with a diagnosis of personality disorder. (From here on, in this paper, the terms worker and trainee are used interchangeably to refer to the mental health and social care worker).During these workshops challenges to the worker's sense of self have been revealed emotionally ("this doesn't feel like me"), ideologically ("I am not a bad person"), and/or practically ("I don't usually behave like this") when discussing their work with service users. This paper draws from the workshop experiences to explore and consider the workers perspective in relation to the self in more detail.There follows a descriptive account of three workshop sessions which include the trainees responses. With each activity the responses are considered within the context of the self, particularly from the worker's perspective. In the conclusion the argument is made, as evidenced by these illustrations, for the importance of including the workers' perspective when attempting to understand the self. The Trainees and Service Users Workers from various professional and nonprofessional backgrounds attend the workshops. They include psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, support workers, and occupational therapists who work in both in-patient and community settings. They usually have several years of clinical experience working with people with a [End Page 373] diagnosis of personality disorder, but rarely have they had any formal education or training in the area. Discussing their experiences of working with this service user group generates strong and highly emotionally charged personal responses during training.It is their experiences of the relationships with service users whose sense of self is absent, inconsistent, or unstable, that make a substantial contribution to the content of the workshops.Often service users are struggling with fragmented, distorted, or threatening perceptions of the world, themselves, and others. The worker, while embedded within their own sense of self, is engaged in a relationship with the service user. The issues that arise as a part of this relationship can be challenging and distressing for the workers. There are two main areas:The impact the service user's chaotic, fragmented, and unstable sense of self has on the worker's own sense of self.The response of the workers when their sense of self is challenged, and the impact that response has on the service user. These can be seen in more detail in the examples taken from the training sessions presented later in this paper. The Training Sessions The training sessions are either run alone or form part of a 1- or 2-day workshop. As mentioned, the groups are composed of a variety of professionally and nonprofessionally qualified staff. The experiences they share mainly relate to people with a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder, although other subcategories are mentioned occasionally. Information regarding these and other related sessions can be found in two recent publications: Making positive connections (Duff, Meredith, & Woodbridge,2003) and "Whose good practice?" (Woodbridge & Fulford, 2003). The First Activity: Revealing Internal Models Given the lack of available evidence, even the best-informed trainees are likely to have to fill in the knowledge gaps with their own interpretations of... (shrink)

Three studies were conducted to explore the psychological determinants of COVID-deterrent behaviors. In Study 1, using data collected and analyzed both before and after the release of COVID-19 vaccines, mask-wearing, other preventative behaviors like social distancing, and vaccination intentions were positively related to assessments of the Coronavirus Behavioral Health Mindset ; belief in the credibility of science; progressive political orientation; less use of repressive and more use of sensitization coping; and the attribution of COVID-19 safety to effort rather than ability, (...) powerful forces, fate, or luck. In Study 2, favorable COVID-19 vaccination intentions were related to greater willingness to work, lower emotional distress, and greater customer experience mindset. Study 3 examined the personality and motives of individuals who volunteered to help deliver COVID-19 inoculations to the local community. The vaccine-giving volunteers, especially those with prosocial motives, had high CVBHM scores, belief in the credibility of science, low use of repressive coping, greater attribution of COVID-19 protection to effort, low likelihood of voting conservative, were older, and had more education than others. The majority of public health volunteers expressed prosocial motives to help people or join a cause, but many expressed the personal motives of getting the COVID-19 vaccination for themselves, conveying a public image of compassion, or structuring time. Based on the three research studies, a COVID-19 Mindset Hierarchy model is proposed to integrate the results. (shrink)

Words can mean different things to different people. This can be problematic, mainly for those working together in a bureaucratic institution, such as the secret service. Shared, certified, explicit and codified definitions offer a counter to subjective, solitary and/or culturally dominant definitions. It’s true that codified secrecy terms for secret services can be seen to involve a number of political, cultural, subcultural “languages”, but if words come from unclassified or declassified files, memorandums and/or records, one needs a deep understanding (...) of the secret services. A remarkable feature of this bureaucratic language is the evolving nature of, certain “keywords” as important signifiers of historical transformation. Thus, the changes in the language of the secret services depends at least as much on the internal changes of the secret services as on the transformation in the external political-social environment. In spite of the confusion of Hungarian secret services in the revolutions of 1918–1919 and the disintegration of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy, in the early 1920’s became a stable system. Between the two World Wars, the Hungarian State Police directed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Military Intelligence and Counter-Espionage directed by the Ministry of Defence, and the Hungarian Royal Gendarmerie directed by both of the Ministries had their own operational service. This structure existed unchanged until 1945. Simultaneously with the forward advance of the soviet troops, government began to re-establish the former system of the secret services in the eastern part of the country. After WWII, in 1946, the “State-protection Department” as political police became independent from the police. However, from the beginning, they remained under the control of the Communist Party. After 1950, the State Security Authority provided special services for the MIA and the Military Political Directorate of the MoD. After quashing the revolution in 1956, in the spring of 1957, the MIA Political Investigation Department was established which—with slight modifications—kept the structure created during the “state protection era”. The MIA III. The State-Protection General Directorate was established in 1962. The reorganization was finalized in the middle of the 1960’s, which resulted in the new system, which—with the structure of Directorates—became the ultimate structure of the state secret police until the abolishment of the MIA General Directorate III in January 1990. These organizational transformations were largely the result of exogenous historical-political changes. Moreover, each new period had a major impact on the organizational communication, language use and vocabulary of the secret services. This study seeks to interpret these historical transformations. (shrink)

Onboard international flights, you may have witnessed the pre-takeoff information/in-flight safety speech by the cabin crew. It is not out of place that they tend to be European in their mode of speaking. However, when on a local flight, the Europeanness of speech still comes out loud. We want to understand why such Europeanised intonation should be and the audience it is meant to serve. Our research leads us to the conclusion that this insensitivity of local airline operators stems from (...) the desire to enjoy some patronage even if their actions inferiorise the community who are the major patronisers of their services. We will also explain why the Europeanisation of speech could lead to safety hazards. This work is inspired by the personal experiences of the researchers and of a few others. (shrink)

The study aimed to know the relationship between the nature of the work and the type of communication among the Employees in the Palestinian universities. A comparative study between Al-Azhar University and Al-Aqsa University. The researchers used the analytical descriptive method through a questionnaire that is randomly distributed among the employees of Al-Azhar and Al-Aqsa universities in Gaza Strip. The study was conducted on a sample of (176) administrative employees from the surveyed universities. The response rate was (85.79%). The study (...) reached a number of results, the most important of which is that there is a high degree of satisfaction with the nature of work prevailing in the Palestinian universities in Gaza Strip from the point of view of the administrative staff, where the percentage was (68.15%). There is an Mean level of communication from the point of view of administrative staff, with a percentage of (67.50%). There is a direct correlation between the nature of the work and the prevailing pattern of communication. There is an absence of differences between the sample according to the gender variable in their perception of the nature of work and the prevailing pattern of communication. There is an absence of differences in the perception of Employees nature of work and the pattern of communication prevailing depending on the variables (age, years of service, job level, and university). There are statistically significant differences between Al-Azhar University and Al-Aqsa University in favor of Al-Azhar University. The study reached a number of recommendations, the most important of which is that the interest of the management of the Palestinian universities in Gaza Strip in general, and Al-Aqsa and Al-Azhar Universities in particular should be provided with a good nature of work and communication. There is a need for continuing the management of universities to pay attention and continuous improvement of the performance of employees. There is an importance of solving the problems of Employees and giving them the opportunity to contribute to solving their own problems. Staff rotation should be used periodically and the need to strengthen the democratic leadership style and empower university Employees. (shrink)