A heartbreaking choice: The integrative dilemmas of ending a wanted pregnancy

The Challenges of Enrollment and Retention: A Systematic Review of Psychosocial Behavioral Interventions for Patients With Cancer and Their Family Caregivers

Drawing on racial battle fatigue as theoretical framing and critical race methodology, we offer the counterstories of 16 Black men doctoral scientists and engineers who relied on same race peer support to successfully persist in their science and engineering (S&E) doctoral programs. Our analysis of narratives and interviews yielded three themes that illustrate the men's engagement with Black peers and how racism influences the types of peer relationships they formed in their S&E doctoral programs. Further, we describe three types of same race peer relationships that support Black men as they pursue S&E doctoral degrees. We underscore the salience of racism and recommend expanding research in S&E by: (1) including the lived experiences of Black men scientists and engineers in the scholarly literature, and (2) highlighting the importance of same race peer networks as academic, emotional, and social structures for Black men persisting in S&E. Within, we offer implications for science education, higher education, and S&E researchers interested in creating supportive S&E environments for Black men.

Modern science receives a diverse response from the religionists. This is motivated by the reading of religious texts which are often contrary to recent science research. Modern science advancement is not connected with spirituality improments. Spirituality becomes another dimension of science. In that situation, the integration theory of Ian G. Barbour tries to unravel the patterns of modern science and religion relation. There are four types of relationships: conflict; independent; dialog; and integration. This approach is rarely implemented in the realm of Islamic studies. This research seeks to implement the approach in Islamic studies by using descriptive-analytical method. The authors found the tendency of Muslim scientists more dominant in the exploration of Islamic studies than scientific aspect. So the dominant relation between science and religion is conflict; dialogue and natural theology. The factors are the educational background of Muslim scientists who are dominant in religious studies; limitations of interdisciplinary study and lack of openness and renewal of views (tajdīd) on religious texts.

The current work synthesizes past social constructionist research on multicultural identity with a general perspective on communication, mind, and meaning: problematic integration (PI) theory (Babrow, 19922007). Sensitizing concepts drawn from past research and PI theory are illustrated, enlivened, and illuminated in a qualitative discourse analysis of depth interviews with young Chinese Americans. The analyses illustrate that identity, particularly the complexity of multicultural identity, is constructed provisionally, and requires ongoing discursive reconfiguration as inconsistencies, uncertainties, and ambivalence are recognized during the interview process. Respondents' identities are dynamic, the dynamics following arcs of problematic integration and tentative, provisional discursive resolutions of these problematics within ongoing conversation and broader social contexts.

Social workers frequently encounter circumstances involving ethical and legal issues. In many instances, relevant ethical and legal standards complement each other; however, in some circumstances, ethical and legal standards conflict. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship between U.S. ethical and legal standards in social work. The author presents a conceptually based typology of 4 types of relationships between legal and ethical standards. Case examples are included. The author concludes with a decision-making framework designed to enhance social workers' constructive management of difficult decisions involving ethical and legal standards.

Problematic integration theory (Babrow, 1992. Communication and problematic integration: Understanding diverging probability and value, ambiguity, ambivalence, and impossibility. Communication Theory, 2(2), 95–130, 2001. Uncertainty, value, communication, and problematic integration. Journal of Communication, 51(3), 553–573) was developed to illuminate communication in relation to distinct but interrelated forms of troublesome meaning (e.g. uncertainty, ambivalence). Since its initial articulation, researchers have applied the theory to investigate communication in a wide range of contexts, including primarily health but also areas such as environmental risk, personal relationships, and organizational communication. This study systematically analyzes 54 applications of the theory, including the contexts to which PI theory has been applied, the key research questions, and methods used in these research applications. Findings of the systematic review are summarized in relation to the theoretical forms of PI and their dynamic relationship with communication. Theoretical implications and suggested directions for future PI research are discussed.

This entry provides an overview of problematic integration (PI) theory, its relationship to communication, application to health communication, and evaluation in contexts where meaning is likely to be troublesome. PI theory posits that problematic meanings arise due to different forms of uncertainty (when we are not sure what to believe), ambivalence (when evaluative meanings are conflictual), divergence (when the desirable is unlikely or the undesirable is likely), and impossibility (when the desirable is simply out of reach or when the undesirable is inescapable or certain). The vast majority of PI applications have been in the domain of health communication where it has helped researchers refine forms of troublesome meanings in domains that involve uncertainty such as sex, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, genetics, hypercholesterolemia, aging, moving to assisted living, experiences with cancer (e.g., prostate, breast), advance care planning, end‐of‐life decision making, and hospice. A notable claim suggested by PI theory is that communication will be most valuable as a coping resource when adapted to specific forms of PI. However, communication may be problematic when uncertainty is “ontological” or when the problematic meanings involve ambivalence or impossibility.

In this analysis, the authors apply Problematic Integration (PI) Theory to the way breast cancer patients engage in and receive support. The theory focuses on the relationship between expectations and desires, and enlightens cognitive and communicative responses to situations that involve tensions between their perceived likelihoods of occurrence and their perceived values. The relationship between PI Theory and its significance in treating and providing support for patients suffering from terminal illnesses is one of great interest to health care providers and those charged with creating supportive messages and support groups for those patients.

This study examines how a sample of African American women understands the uncertainties fundamental to cancer risk communication. Utilizing data from four focus groups, Problematic Integration (PI) theory is applied as an interpretive lens for illustrating their felt difficulties of talking openly about cancer and breast cancer in everyday life. The women describe worry about cancer and its prevalence among African American women; ambivalence and uncertainty; belief that what is not uncertain is certain and awful; fear and avoidance; contradictions in “claiming” and “rebuking” cancer; and hopefulness.

Problematic integration (Babrow, 1992) and appraisal (Lazarus, 1991) theories are utilized to analyze the beneficial coping and social support produced within the discourse of Bosom Buddies, a breast cancer support group. Transcripts of eight weekly group meetings were coded for assessments of the probabilities and evaluations of outcomes, information seeking, and information avoidance, as well as for positive reappraisal, problem-focused coping, sense making (Harber & Pennebaker, 1992), and emotional disclosure (Pennebaker, 1997). Results indicated that all constructs other than information avoidance, especially those drawn from problematic integration theory, were employed regularly. Most constructs were prevalent in these real-time interactive conversations. Practical applications of the constructs are recommended for breast cancer support group members and facilitators.

This essay uses the theory of problematic integration to analyze Milan Kundera's writing, particularly the central segment, entitled “Lost Letters,” in his first novel written as an emigre. The theory is concerned with the role of communication when desires and expectations diverge, or when we face ambiguity, ambivalence, or impossibility (i.e., when it is difficult to integrate evaluative and probabilistic orientations). Communication plays many significant roles in experiences with such difficulties. The essay reviews problematic integration theory and presents a case study of Kundera's writing designed to illuminate both the theory and a work by one of the most significant of modern novelists. The essay concludes by discussing the relevance of problematic integration theory to other approaches to the study of communication and by identifying questions for future communication research.

End-of-life (EOL) decisions made by and for elderly patients often perpetuate unwanted suffering at great expense. Recent efforts to improve the decision-making process have been ineffective. In this article, we argue that Babrow's (1992, 1995) problematic integration (PI) theory can enhance understandings of flaws in EOL decisions. Face-to-face interviews of 142 elderly hernodialysis patients were con- ducted to test predictions derived from the theory. Results supported the prediction that doctors would often fail to disclose the need for dialysis until a decision had to be made.

This paper compares 3 theories examining the role of communication in producing and coping with subjective uncertainty. Uncertainty reduction theory offers axioms and derived theorems that describe communicative and noncommunicative causes and consequences of uncertainty. The narrow scope of the theory and its axiomatic form are both advantageous and disadvantageous. Problematic integration and uncertainty management theories are comparatively broad, and they exhibit an open, web-like structure. The former theory scrutinizes the complex intersection of probability assessments and evaluations of the objects of these assessments, whereas the latter examines the various ways in which people cope with uncertainty, including sometimes attempting to increase it. The paper also compares meanings of “uncertainty” in the 3 theories as well as the roles played by natural language in the communication-uncertainty interface.

This qualitative interpretive study explores emergent themes related to family caregiving issues surrounding Alzheimer's dementia and highlights how caregivers deal with uncertainty. Problematic integration (PI) theory and attribution theory offer useful frameworks for better understanding family caregiving issues. Analysis of the transcribed interviews revealed several emergent themes related to uncertainty and making attributions regarding caregivers' loved ones. These themes included (a) caregiver attributions about pleasure and displeasure, (b) caregiver reactions to attributions, and (c) tools for managing uncertainty. These themes are linked with both PI theory and attribution theory. Limitations and future directions are addressed.

Individuals struggling to conceive or maintain a pregnancy experience considerable stress; however, little is known about its sources. An analysis of 160 infertility narratives, guided by problematic integration (PI) theory, revealed three forms and eight foci of PI or sources of stress specific to the infertility experience. Participant accounts of diverging expectations and desires regarding pregnancy testing and prenatal loss, ambivalence about finances and treatment decisions, and uncertainty about the causes of their infertility and the likelihood of treatment success fit nicely within the PI framework; however, the narrators’ descriptions of relational uncertainty and the various uncertainties involved in adoption did not fit as well, suggesting the need for further theoretical development and refinement.