Descriptive Categories Research Articles

Design and Validation of a University Education Peer Observation Tool

Objective: The aim of this study was to design and validate a university education PoT instrument. Theoretical Framework: It has become a priority to implement Peer Observation of Teaching (PoT) in the domain of higher education. There are different PoT approaches, a social credentialism model and a feedback-oriented approach. Method: The Higher Education-PoT (HE-PoT) tool was designed ad hoc following observational methodology principles. The original items were drawn from a systematic review of PoT tools by Otero-Saborido et al. (2024). The procedure consisted of two phases: in the first qualitative phase, items from the tool were selected and circulated within a group of experts; in the second quantitative phase, the items were quantified using the Aiken coefficient Results and Discussion: It was initially based on a systematic review of PoT tools and subsequently subjected to 4 rounds of revisions by Physical Education and Sports Science teaching experts. The final tool consisted of a total of 33 descriptive categories divided into 11 items. The validity of all item contents was calculated using Aiken's coefficient (value equal to 0.75 or above, except for 2 items which scored 0.66) and all categories obtained values above 0.75. A total of 25 of the 33 categories presented values over 0.90. Research Implications: Future works should test the tool reliability so that it can be used to improve teaching following collaborative approaches. Originality/Value: Validated PoT tools are generally lacking in university education. The designed tool includes a number of items that contribute to a sustainable observation for teachers.

Exploring the Power of Artificial Intelligence in Supply Chain Management: A Literature Review on the Artificial Intelligence Applications and Tools Used in Supply Chains and Their Distribution According to the SCOR Method

Since the beginning of the 21st century, supply chains have witnessed rapid and significant changes along with considerable developments due to the convergence between technology and globalization. The present study aims primarily to provide insight into the artificial intelligence (AI) tools used in Supply Chain Management Processes using the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) approach. It also seeks to examine the way AI tools can be applied to the outputs of each process and each application. The study follows a four-step systematic review approach that mainly involves literature collection between the years 2000 and 2022, descriptive analysis, category selection, and material evaluation. The main purpose of this work is to improve the capacity of making the most appropriate decisions through the use of the most suitable AI tools for each function and each process within supply chains in order to ensure the best management of these chains.

Rebranding God: The Jewish Revival Movement between Homeland and Diaspora

Against the gloomy forecast of “The Vanishing Diaspora”, the end of the second millennium saw the global emergence of a dazzling array of Jewish cultural initiatives, institutional modalities, and individual practices. These “Jewish Revival” and “Jewish Renewal” projects are led by Jewish NGOs and philanthropic organizations, the Orthodox Teshuva (return to the fold) movement and its well-known emissary Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidism, and alternative cultural initiatives that promote what can be termed “lifestyle Judaism”. This range between institutionalized revival movements and ephemeral event-driven projects circumscribes a diverse space of creative agency. Indeed, the trope of a “Jewish Renaissance” has become both a descriptive category of an increasingly popular and scholarly discourse across the globe, and a prescriptive model for social action. This article explores the global transformations of contemporary Jewishness, which give renewed meaning to identity, tradition, and politics in our post-secular world in two different sociopolitical contexts. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research, we interrogate the relations between “diaspora” and “homeland” by analyzing two case studies: the Jewish revival movement in Budapest, Hungary, and the Jewish renewal initiatives in Israel. While the first instantiates a diasporic movement anchored in a post-denominational and post-secular attempt to reclaim Jewish tradition for a new generation of Jew-llennials (Millennial Jews), the second group operates against the Orthodox hegemony of the institutional Rabbinate by revisiting religious ritual and textual study. By proposing new cultural repertoires, these movements highlight the dialectic exchange between center and periphery. The ethnography of religious revival decenters the Israeli Orthodoxy as “the homeland” and positions the diaspora at the core of a network of cultural creativity and renewal, while remaining in constant dialog with Israel and other diasporic communities.

A phenomenographic look at accounting students’ learning during the Covid-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT The objective was to understand how the learning of Brazilian accounting students at different stages of their training was experienced throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. A phenomenographic study was conducted with thirteen undergraduate students in Accounting, from public and private universities that adopted emergency remote teaching. Among the results, an explanatory structure was created based on descriptive categories that emerged from the data. The results contribute to the understanding of the learning context experienced, mainly the study environment experienced by the students investigated: online remote teaching accessed from home, marked by an abrupt transition, the unpreparedness of professors and students, distractions, emotional impacts, lack of infrastructure by students, and harm to learning in a country where graduation represents a possibility of social advancement. They also explain how this reconfigured the learning context, which problems in the face-to-face educational process persisted in online remote teaching, and how this learning context translated into negative consequences for the learning of students who experienced online remote teaching throughout the pandemic. At the end, reflections and a research agenda are recommended to address the described problems.

Black, Low-Income Undergraduates’ Perceptions of Course-Related Factors Associated With Reduced Academic Stress at a Predominantly White Institution

Academic stress is a common struggle for learners of all ages. High levels of academic stress can sometimes relate to lower academic outcomes and higher attrition rates. Black college students at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) face unique stressors such as discrimination and imposter syndrome. Being low-income can carry added stressors associated with a lack of access to resources. Prior literature indicates that support and stronger relationships with faculty are associated with lower stress levels and higher academic success. The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of course-related factors that reduce academic stress among Black, low-income undergraduates at a PWI. Interviews with 19 Black undergraduates recruited from a department that servees low-income, first-generation students revealed a set of interrelated factors that produce greater feelings of support, relatedness, and competence, which aligns with a reduction in stressful experiences. A thematic analysis was used to create descriptive categories and produce a visual representation of these factors. Implications for university staff and faculty are discussed.

‘All for the well-being of the infant’: nurses’ perceptions of preterm infants’ eye examinations: a phenomenographic study

BackgroundPreterm infants are at risk of complications due to their prematurity and Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is one of them. To discover and treat ROP the preterm infants regularly undergo eye examinations. Nurses are responsible for the infants’ care during this painful and stressful procedure.AimThe aim of this study was to explore nurses’ perceptions of preterm infants’ eye examinations.MethodsData were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 nurses experienced in participating in preterm infants’ eye examinations. Data were analysed using a phenomenographic approach.ResultsThe results showed several perceptions of the eye examinations, and the analysis resulted in four descriptive categories: Infants are affected by the eye examination; Nurses have comprehensive overall responsibility for the infants; Parents are important to their infants, but they need support to fulfil their parental role, and Collaboration is important for the examination’s favourable outcome. The category Nurses have comprehensive overall responsibility for the infants was regarded as the most comprehensive, covering all the other categories.ConclusionsNurses felt a great responsibility during a painful and stressful procedure for preterm infants. Infants’ well-being could be better protected by interprofessional collaboration, improved nursing care and involved parents.

Experiences and Fundamental Care Needs in Patients With Small Intestinal Neuroendocrine Tumours-An Interview Study in a Surgical Context.

The study aimed to describe patients' fundamental care needs and their experiences of nursing care, throughout surgical treatment of small intestinal neuroendocrine tumours. A qualitative descriptive study was performed. Patients' interviews (n = 19) were conducted in Sweden from May 2021 to January 2022 and analysed using directed qualitative content analysis guided by the Fundamentals of Care framework. The results are presented in three descriptive categories chronologically throughout the care chain. In the preoperative phase of care, the category was 'Feeling safe but lonely and frightened, and struggling with existential thoughts'; experiences in the postoperative phase of care resulted in the category 'Feeling cared for but suffering from physical symptoms and feelings of loneliness'; and the category in the discharge phase was 'Lacking self-care information and feeling worried about the future'. There were deficiencies in the delivery of fundamental care for patients with a rare tumour diagnosis throughout surgical treatment. Nursing care is mostly task focused and fragmented, and there is a lack of psychosocial and relational care across the care chain. Registered nurses and nursing managers need to take responsibility for their leadership in nursing care to fulfil patients' fundamental care needs. The Fundamentals of Care framework could be used for work improvements to include all aspects of nursing care. High-quality nursing care is needed throughout the care chain, including self-care after discharge, for patients with this rare tumour diagnosis. A higher awareness of patients' experiences and the importance of psychosocial support is warranted. Registered nurses and nursing managers must revise and improve routines to support patients' psychosocial needs. Registered nurses need to take responsibility for their leadership in nursing care to fulfil patients' fundamental care needs. What problem did the study address? This study highlights patients' fundamental care needs and experiences of nursing care throughout surgical treatment of small intestinal neuroendocrine tumours. What were the main findings? There are deficiencies in fulfilling patients' fundamental care needs across the care chain and in all dimensions of the Fundamental of Care framework throughout surgical treatment of small intestinal neuroendocrine tumours. Patients struggled with loneliness and existential thoughts, as well as worries about the future. Patients experienced a lack of information about plans for the day, self-care, and follow-ups. Where and on whom will the research have an impact? For clinicians to develop an understanding of, and improve, fundamental care needs for patients with small intestinal neuroendocrine tumours in a surgical context. For registered nurses to understand the importance of their leadership and nursing responsibility to fulfil fundamental care needs. The consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups. The patients shared their experiences during the interviews, which has contributed to a deeper knowledge and understanding of the phenomena under study.

"I don't wanna die, but my brain insists that I should": a big qualitative data approach to the lived experiences of suicidal thoughts.

There remains a dearth of knowledge concerning the phenomenology of suicidal thoughts, with research focusing on reasons for feeling suicidal rather than their mental expression. While clinical interviews remain the standard phenomenological approach, such exploration of lived experiences may prove challenging for this sensitive topic. As a complementary alternative, the use of naturally-occurring online data is opportune for capturing elaborations on tabooed phenomena. In this phenomenological study, we present a thematic analysis on lived experiences of suicidal thoughts as spontaneously reported by non-identified users of a Reddit online board (r/Depression), collecting 668 posts using the search terms "suicidal ideation," "suicidal thoughts," and "suicide." Codes were grouped into descriptive categories summarizing the properties of thoughts, their effects, and their relation to suicide. Then, an interpretative synthesis yielded global themes connecting salient meanings on the experience of suicidal thoughts. With a long-term and recurring nature, thoughts of suicide appear in the form of vivid imagery and daydreaming's, initially bringing relief to adverse feelings but eventually becoming conditioned and all-consuming. Rather than a wonderment, they are experienced as intrusive thoughts by people struggling to make meaning of their occurrence. When conciliating the presence of unwanted thoughts, users express intricate relations to wishing or not to die, as well as varying perceptions of control over actions or fear of suicidal behavior. With an innovative application of big qualitative data into phenomenological analysis, this study contributes to an initial characterization of suicidal thoughts, uncovering findings that are not contemplated into current conceptualizations of suicidality. The analysis is limited by a restricted context of posts and unknown demographics, and further research with clinical interviews is warranted for in-depth exploration of suicidal thoughts.

Social Vulnerabilities Among Hired Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers During COVID-19: The Need for Employment-Based Indicators

ABSTRACT Objectives This study aimed to explore farmworkers’ experiences of social vulnerability during the peak period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Telephone surveys of 63 migrant and seasonal farmworkers across three major agricultural areas in Florida were conducted. The survey, designed and disseminated with critical support from a statewide farmworker membership and advocacy organization, included items related to social and occupational precarity and a suite of demographic conditions, including specific employment-based indicators and categories. Data were analyzed with SPSS using a series of statistical significance tests including Pearson’s Chi-Square, Fisher’s Exact, T-tests, and Mann-Whitney U. An open-ended question regarding employment precarity was also analyzed for frequencies of responses pertaining to a set of descriptive categories. Results Survey findings demonstrated a high degree of social vulnerability among the farmworker sample, with notable variation in the type and severity of vulnerability and risk exposure across employment-based indicators and occupational categories. For example, a cross-industry comparison between vegetable field workers and greenhouse nursery workers revealed a disparity in COVID-exposure risk through commuting characteristics, as 43% of vegetable field workers used shared, employer-provided transport, while 68% of nursery workers used personal vehicles. Conclusion While previous research has broadly established the extreme precarity of migrant and seasonal farmworkers during the peak COVID-19 period, the variability of experience, exposure to risk, and social vulnerability between farmworkers representing distinct employment-based indicators and occupational categories demonstrated in this study contributes to widening awareness of the importance of assessing farmworker experiences at a more granular level. In addition to delineating social vulnerability across key demographic categories, cross-industry comparisons between farmworkers revealed significant discrepancies in risk and vulnerability to COVID-19. Future research that further explores this variability may reveal opportunities to improve disaster-relief planning and mitigate social vulnerability in future disaster scenarios. The importance of surveying the vulnerability of worker populations, aside from geographic communities, is highlighted.

First-line managers´ perceptions of missed nursing care in community health care for older people-A phenomenographic study.

First-line managers in Swedish communities have responsibility for that care to older people is provided, staffing is sufficient and the budget is balanced in their unit. It is a struggle with limited resources due to a growing population in need of care. This can lead to missed nursing care. The aim was to describe first-line managers´ perceptions of missed nursing care in community health care for older people. A qualitative design with a phenomenographic approach, interviewing 24 first-line managers. Ethics approval for the study was received from the Research Ethics Committee at Karlstad University (Dnr HNT 2020/566). The results are shown in six descriptive categories containing 15 perceptions. The descriptive categories are 'occurrence of missed nursing care', 'becoming aware of missed nursing care', 'reasons for missed nursing care', 'missed nursing care has consequences for the older persons', 'missed nursing care has consequences for the staff' and 'taking action to decrease missed nursing care'. It is important for first-line managers to become aware of the existence and reasons for missed nursing, as it has consequences for older people and staff. Managers need to take missed nursing care seriously in order to work with improvements for maintaining good quality of care and patient safety.

"It's a Thing": What Nurse Elders Believe Novice Nurses Need to Know About Managing Emotional Labour.

Emotional labour (EL) can take a significant toll on nurses' mental health and well-being and has serious implications for the retention of nurses in the workforce. Nurse educators have struggled to prepare novices to manage EL or find serviceable resources with which to do so within the body of nursing literature, which is dominated by essentially unhelpful narratives and is absent of the practical, real-world wisdom of elder nurses. This exploratory research study illuminated elder nurses' experiential knowledge and beliefs of what is important for novices to learn about EL. Conventional Content Analysis (CCA) of qualitative survey data from 688 nurses with 20+ years of experience. CCA generated descriptive categories and sub-categories: What the elders themselves learned as student nurses, and their advice to novices in the individual realm, ("It's a Thing," healthy disengagement, supporting mental and physical well-being, reframing self-reproach), team realm (peer support, mentors), and institutional realm (structural barriers to mentors' support of novices, building novices' capacities for self-advocacy, resources to support health and well-being). The elders' data confronted and reframed legacy individuated narratives in the literature by supporting and contextualizing nurses' emotional work. Elders advised novices that EL is a reality requiring concrete strategies to manage it throughout their practices. Elders extended their focus for management of EL beyond the individual to include peer support, mentorship, and the structural conditions in which nurses perform their EL, highlighting the need to empower nurses by building their capacity for self-advocacy of their workers' rights.

Engaging seventh-grade students in prediction-observation-explanation of plant absorbance/transport phenomena: impact on relational conceptual changes and scientific inquiry abilities

ABSTRACT This study examined the impact of a Prediction-Observation-Explanation (POE) intervention on 15 seventh-grade students’ relational conceptual changes and scientific inquiry abilities as they investigated the plant absorbance/transport phenomena in a photosynthesis learning sequence. The variation theory of learning that promotes intellectual empathy underpinned the study’s pedagogy. A granular phenomenography analysis of students’ pre-post inter-intra-explanations through writing and drawing resulted in seven theoretical descriptive categories. A relational conceptual change perspective involved in the interventional investigations resulted in 1) adding and deleting categories of ideas from pre-to-post teaching, 2) change in the number of students within the categories of ideas, 3) the replacement of everyday language with scientific knowledge, and 4) the complexity of students’ responses from pre-to post-teaching. In assessing students’ scientific inquiry ability levels with a POE analytic rubric of writing and drawing worksheets, 18% and 82% were developing and proficient, respectively.

Recognising a kaleidoscopic archive: working with London Missionary Society records in the geekosphere’

This article is an ultra-reflective account of an encounter with London Missionary Society (LMS) records through the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) collections at the State Library of Victoria (SLV) and the home office as socially and materially informed research spaces. The genealogies of surrogate archives are little analysed, yet they have complex pasts worth investigating. As Jasmine Burns (JALSNA 33: 150–167, 2024), the librarian and metadata specialist explained, information about an archive’s ancestry is valuable as it illuminates the history and a pattern of use beyond the original author’s intent. The subsequent discussion shows how I inspect descriptive categories associated with the AJCP LMS microfilmed and digitised records in the custody of SLV, the London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and the National Library of Australia, (NLA) showing how meaning was layered onto these records. Extending on the social historian Arlette Farge’s analogy of the archive as a kaleidoscope, I demonstrate the introductory process by which a historian determines absences and presences in the archive and to what extent the initial imperial categories used by archivists and librarians informed my research practices. By analysing the history of the LMS AJCP collection, I demonstrate how these Australian-Pacific artefacts contain layers of knowledge about historical cultures and relationships. The different agendas and experiences of librarians, archivists, and historians—all curators of historical records –have revealed or obscured encounter narratives concerning European and indigenous men and women.

Computational Optimisation of Urban Design Models: A Systematic Literature Review

The densification of urban spaces globally has contributed to a need for design tools supporting the planning of more sustainable, efficient, and liveable cities. Urban Design Optimisation (UDO) responds to this challenge by providing a means to explore many design solutions for a district, evaluate multiple objectives, and make informed selections from many Pareto-efficient solutions. UDO distinguishes itself from other forms of design optimisation by addressing the challenges of incorporating a wide range of planning goals, managing the complex interactions among various urban datasets, and considering the social–technical aspects of urban planning involving multiple stakeholders. Previous reviews focusing on specific topics within UDO do not sufficiently address these challenges. This PRISMA systematic literature review provides an overview of research on topics related to UDO from 2012 to 2022, with articles analysed across seven descriptive categories. This paper presents a discussion on the state-of-the-art and identified gaps present in each of the seven categories. Finally, this paper argues that additional research to improve the socio-technical understanding and usability of UDO would require: (i) methods of optimisation across multiple models, (ii) interfaces that address a multiplicity of stakeholders, (iii) exploration of frameworks for scenario building and backcasting, and (iv) advancing AI applications for UDO, including generalizable surrogates and user preference learning.

Revolutions and Law

Two broad thematic perspectives can be distinguished in the literature that broaches the revolutions–law nexus. One considers how actors’ relations to, and usages of, legal statutes and constitutional provisions affect the dynamics of revolutionary conjunctures (law in revolutions). The other examines how the dynamics and modalities of revolutionary processes affect the content of law and the configuration of the legal order (revolutions in law). Subsumed to the law in revolutions perspective are five main topics: the use of constitutional provisions as instruments of revolutionary subversion, legally framed defensive strategies, constitutional devolutions, legitimation problems, and the courts’ stances. The revolutions in law perspective encompasses reflections on the status of law in revolutionary paradigms, the impacts of revolutionary events as acts of foundation, shifting conceptions of constituent power, and the issue of continuities coexisting with ruptures. Cutting across these two perspectives are challenges and pitfalls that studies of revolutions and law can hardly ignore: the reification of analytical and descriptive categories, the confusion of normative and positive standpoints, and the reliance on unconditional claims. Studies overcome these challenges when they document and analyze the processes whereby actors engage law as they make decisions and pursue courses of action.

The Caborca Rock Art Style and the Archaeology of La Proveedora, Sonora

La Proveedora is an impressive archaeological site in the Sonoran Desert. The site has evidence of long-term human occupation and is represented by varied and extensive cultural remains, including: structures; lithics; ceramics; and shell artifacts. These date from between circa 2100 BC and up to the sixteenth century. However, the most prominent features at the site consist of thousands of petroglyphs on its hillsides. Three descriptive categories of rock art analysis will be discussed and the existence of a particular style in the creation of petroglyphs will be suggested. As will be discussed below, the combination of rock art designs and techniques allows us to propose what I call the “Caborca Style.” This proposal makes sense within the framework of the regional cultural history of the Sonoran Desert, in which petroglyphs are only one cultural component involved in the development of these societies.

Dawn of diverse shelled and carbonaceous animal microfossils at ~ 571 Ma

The Ediacaran-Cambrian transition documents a critical stage in the diversification of animals. The global fossil record documents the appearance of cloudinomorphs and other shelled tubular organisms followed by non-biomineralized small carbonaceous fossils and by the highly diversified small shelly fossils between ~ 550 and 530 Ma. Here, we report diverse microfossils in thin sections and hand samples from the Ediacaran Bocaina Formation, Brazil, separated into five descriptive categories: elongate solid structures (ES); elongate filled structures (EF); two types of equidimensional structures (EQ 1 and 2) and elongate hollow structures with coiled ends (CE). These specimens, interpreted as diversified candidate metazoans, predate the latest Ediacaran biomineralized index macrofossils of the Cloudina-Corumbella-Namacalathus biozone in the overlying Tamengo Formation. Our new carbonate U–Pb ages for the Bocaina Formation, position this novel fossil record at 571 ± 9 Ma (weighted mean age). Thus, our data point to diversification of metazoans, including biomineralized specimens reminiscent of sections of cloudinids, protoconodonts, anabaritids, and hyolithids, in addition to organo-phosphatic surficial coverings of animals, demonstrably earlier than the record of the earliest known skeletonized metazoan fossils.

Belonging, happiness, freedom and empowerment—a qualitative study of patients’ understanding of health in early rheumatoid arthritis

BackgroundRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic, inflammatory joint disease, that influences patients’ health in different ways, including physical, social, emotional, and psychological aspects. The goal of rheumatology care is to achieve optimal health and personalised care and therefore, it is essential to understand what health means for patients in the early course of RA. The aim of this study was to describe the understanding of health among patients with early RA.MethodsThe study had a descriptive qualitative design with a phenomenographic approach. Phenomenography is used to analyse, describe, and understand various ways people understand or experience a phenomenon, in this study, patients’ understandings of health. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 patients (22 women and nine men, aged (38–80) with early RA, defined as a disease duration of < 1 year, and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) for 3–7 months. The phenomenographic analysis was conducted in 7 steps, and the outcome space presents the variation in understanding and the interrelation among categories. In accordance with the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology’s (EULAR) recommendations, a patient research partner participated in all phases of the study.ResultsThe analysis revealed four main descriptive categories: ‘Health as belonging’ was described as experiencing a sense of coherence. ‘Health as happiness’ was understood as feeling joy in everyday life. ‘Health as freedom’ was understood as feeling independent. ‘Health as empowerment’ was understood as feeling capable. Essential health aspects in early RA are comprised of a sense of coherence, joy, independence, and the capability to manage everyday life.ConclusionsThis study revealed that patients’ perception of health in early RA encompasses various facets, including a sense of belonging, happiness, freedom, and empowerment. It highlighted that health is multifaceted and personal, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging this diversity in providing person-centred care. The findings can guide healthcare professionals to deepen patients’ participation in treatment goals, which may lead to better treatment adherence and health outcomes.

“Hyper-grammaticality” of Norwid’s syntax (though not only)

The article discusses major characteristics of Norwid’s language and style in light of the concept of “hyper-grammaticality” [po-nad-gramatyczność] developed by the poet himself. Considered as a descriptive category, it organizes and foregrounds certain properties of his syntax as well as other elements. The adjective “hyper-grammatical” can be understood in three ways: 1. failing to comply with rules; 2. departing from linguistic convention; hence unconventional; 3. derived from a different level of language than grammar.Norwid’s works can be shown to display hyper-grammaticality in all of the above senses. Discussion of constructions that violate linguistic norms accounts for the following: anacoluthon,homonymic structures, obscurities related to functions of anaphoric elements, and disruptions of coherence. Unconventional elements departing from the epoch’s standards include, among other things, innovations in collocability, complications of syntax, numerous parenthetical remarks, and the usage of archaic constructions. In Norwid’s texts an important place is held not only by mechanisms proper to syntactical or grammatical level of enunciation, but also by phenomena present on other levels:meta-textualityandthematic-rhematic structure.

Do Juveniles Who Have Committed Sexual Offenses Have Higher Callous-Unemotional Traits Compared to Juveniles Who Have Committed General Offenses? A Systematic Review.

The importance of assessing psychopathic traits in juveniles who have committed sexual offenses has been established in individuals who demonstrate a particularly severe and violent pattern of behavior. Additionally, the assessment of these traits in other juveniles might be relevant considering that higher levels of these traits represent an increased probability of the juvenile committing offenses. This study is a systematic review of the literature about the presence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits in juveniles who have committed sexual and non-sexual offenses, in order to ascertain eventual differences between these groups regarding the presence of CU traits. Studies were obtained from multiple databases, with predefined exclusion and inclusion criteria, according to PRISMA-P guidelines. A total of 18 studies were reviewed and included in the final analysis. The 18 studies used measures of CU traits and reported descriptive categories of CU traits in juveniles who have committed general offenses or juveniles who have committed sexual offenses. Meta-analytic procedures such as pooled means, pooled variances, and pooled standard deviations are presented in this study. The main conclusion obtained is that juveniles who have committed general offenses present higher levels of CU traits compared to juveniles who have committed sexual offenses. Although the review highlights limitations in the literature, the identification of these characteristics in different types of juveniles who have committed offenses is important to shed light on the phenomenon and develop interventions better suited to their characteristics. Recommendations for future research are also presented.