Communication Episodes Research Articles

Anonymous and Insecure Bullies are Less Depressed than Confident and Identifiable Ones, but Only if Remorseful: Cyberbullying Goals, Identifiability, and Depression.

The connection between bullying others and depression is clear. Less clear are the communicative paths through which being a bully leads to depression. Cyberbullying consists of communicative episodes that transcend modes of communication, contexts, and relationships wherein a social network of communicators pursues a subordinate goal of harming other(s) mentally, emotionally, and/or physically to achieve a hierarchically represented set of superordinate goals. Rooted in this conceptualization, we asked 739 undergraduate students to report on a memorable episode of which 374 met our criteria and reported on sending a series of hurtful messages. We employed close-ended self-report measures, as well as open-ended responses subjected to Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC-22) sentiment analysis, and moderated mediation models. Data suggest four conclusions. First, the extent to which bullies attack for five cyberbullying goals (insecurity, past-harm, highlight-differences, upward-mobility, and revenge) depends on how identifiable a cyberbully feels during the bullying episodes. Second, whereas bivariate associations among the five goals and depression emerged, when considering the full theoretical model, only insecurity goals sustained as an effective predictor of increased levels of depression. Third, anonymous bullies who attack because they are insecure are less depressed than confident and identifiable bullies, but only if they experience negative emotions post-attack. Finally, message severity (assessed via LIWC-22) was (a) an ineffective mediator, (b) not associated with depression or identifiability, and (c) mostly not associated with goals.

Discerning Selfiers: Differences between Taking and Sharing Selfies.

Selfies provide unique opportunities to explore, document, and interact with the self through photography. However, the inherent intrapersonal affordance of self-portraiture becomes a unique manifestation of masspersonal theory when selfies are shared, a step that is often assumed but not unpacked in selfie research. Therefore, it is essential to understand when and for whom these intrapersonal and interpersonal moments evolve into masspersonal moments or communication episodes. This study uses a novel strategy to investigate selfie behavior-the likelihood of taking and sharing selfies-to assess individual differences between selfie-takers, or "selfiers". Discerning selfiers-people more likely to take than share selfies-report greater control and self-esteem compared to non-discerning selfiers, who are equally as likely to take as share selfies. Furthermore, control mediates the effect of selfier type on self-esteem; discerning selfiers report that others are not in control of their life, resulting in greater security regarding others' perceptions of them. The current findings reveal the unique effects of differential deployment of selfies.

Comparing Statistical, Analytical, and Learning-Based Routing Approaches for Delay-Tolerant Networks

In delay-tolerant networks (DTNs) with uncertain contact plans, the communication episodes and their reliabilities are known a priori. To maximise the end-to-end delivery probability, a bounded network-wide number of message copies are allowed. The resulting multi-copy routing optimization problem is naturally modelled as a Markov decision process with distributed information. In this paper, we provide an in-depth comparison of three solution approaches: statistical model checking with scheduler sampling, the analytical RUCoP algorithm based on probabilistic model checking, and an implementation of concurrent Q-learning. We use an extensive benchmark set comprising random networks, scalable binomial topologies, and realistic ring-road low Earth orbit satellite networks. We evaluate the obtained message delivery probabilities as well as the computational effort. Our results show that all three approaches are suitable tools for obtaining reliable routes in DTN, and expose a trade-off between scalability and solution quality.

A Delphi Approach to Define Lucid Episodes in People Living With Dementia.

Lucid episodes (LEs: unexpected episodes of spontaneous, meaningful, and relevant communication or behavior) in Alzheimer disease and related dementias are a new area of scientific inquiry that lacks clinical consensus and require more conceptual attention. We aimed to measure consensus from an expert group on: (1) potential medical or clinical explanations for LEs; (2) necessary medical and clinical context to LEs; and (3) interpretation of LEs. We convened 13 experts from different disciplines (neurology, psychiatry, psychology, pharmacy, palliative care, hospice, nursing, social work, primary care, geriatrics, and professional home caregivers) to identify elements of LEs. Experts provided a range of opinions on medical and clinical explanations and questions to understand LEs. Consensus on LEs when presented with clinical vignettes was not reached. Panelists highlighted key medical and contextual factors needed to make a definitive judgement about LEs. There is variability in how LEs are interpreted by clinical experts, which complicates the identification of LEs in Alzheimer disease and related dementias.

Differentiation and Dedifferentiation: A Latin American Approach to Systems Theory

This paper evaluates the use of the concept of dedifferentiation in Neves’s and Mascareño’s work. These authors assume that Grundrechte’s findings can be integrated into Luhmann’s autopoietic systems theory without any contradictions. However, this is not fully supported by Luhmann’s texts. In Neves’s work, dedifferentiation arises from corrupt practices and the distortion or breakdown of the separation of powers. In Mascareño’s theory, stratificatory and reciprocity networks intervene in the operativity of functional systems, causing the disappointment of expectations. We suggest that theories based on the concept of dedifferentiation ignore the Ebenendifferezierung and wrongly assign all of an organization’s operations to a functional system. This omission leads the authors to conclude that interactional or organizational level phenomena result in functional systems undergoing dedifferentiation. According to Bora, dedifferentiation can be defined as a shift in the systemic reference during individual communication episodes.

Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Validation of the Interview Satisfaction Questionnaire (ISQ) to Assess Unmet Health Communication Needs of Iranian Breast Cancer Patients

ABSTRACT Autonomous and patient-centered health communication (PCHC) between a healthcare provider (HCP) and a client (HCC) is a critical fundament for successful healthcare outcomes. A standard and validated data collection tool for studying the satisfaction of Iranian breast cancer patients (BCPs) with various aspects of their health communication with HCPs does not exist. The current study assessed the application, feasibility, and cultural appropriateness of the Persian-translated version of the interview satisfaction questionnaire (ISQ) in the Iranian context. A standard translation/back-translation procedure was used to prepare a preliminary Persian version of the ISQ (ISQ-P) which was then evaluated for content and face validity by a panel of experts. The study data were collected from 200 breast cancer patients and used to estimate the internal consistency measure of Cronbach’s alpha and intra-class correlation coefficient. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to verify the compatibility of the instrument’s identified dimensions with the original ISQ’s factor structure. The calculated content validity index (CVI = 0.89), content validity ratio (CVR = 0.49), and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.79) indicated the appropriateness of the ISQ-P for its intended purpose. The CFA’s outputs (root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.09, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.954, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) = 0.931, standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.04) affirmed the fitness of the study data to the original 4-factor conceptual model. The study findings supported the suitability of ISQ-P for assessing health communication episodes by Persian-speaking BCPs. However, due to cultural variation, cross-border diversity of health systems, and organizational circumstances, further validity and reliability appraisal of the ISQ-P in distinct sub-samples is recommended.

Caregiver Accounts of Lucid Episodes in Persons With Advanced Dementia.

Paradoxical lucidity is defined as an instance of unexpected lucid behavior in a person who is assumed to be noncommunicative due to a progressive and pathophysiologic dementing process. To inform studies of the prevalence, characteristics, and impact of these behaviors, this interview study examined caregivers' experiences of witnessing paradoxical lucidity. Participants were family caregivers of persons living with advanced dementia caused by a neurodegenerative disease producing significant impairments in communication. Semistructured interviews elicited the caregivers' experiences of plausible lucid episodes. Data analysis used a thematic analysis approach. Most caregivers reported at least 1 episode of lucidity. Episodes were typically brief. Most involved utterances, but nonverbal behaviors were also common. The mental capacities associated with these behaviors included recognition, awareness of surroundings, recognizing others' emotions, and goal-directed behavior. Most caregivers' reactions were positive. Episodes did not lead to changes in major medical decisions but instead to efforts to either modify or reinforce daily caregiving efforts. Episodes of lucidity were common, a finding seen in other studies. If prevalence studies confirm this, the qualifier "paradoxical" should be eliminated. The caregivers' familiarity with the person living with dementia allowed them to attribute meaning to subtle behaviors that might not otherwise be detected or considered lucid. Clinicians who care for persons with advanced-stage dementia should routinely ask caregivers about episodes of lucid communication and their emotional reactions.

The specifics of the functioning of a structural metaphor in a public dialogue

The purpose of this study is to identify and describe the specifics of the functioning of metaphorical transference and its role in public dialogue. The material for the analysis was transcribed video recordings of an interview with Daria Zlatopolskaya in the framework of the program "White Studio" of the television channel Culture. The object of the study is a structural metaphor, "that is, those cases when one concept is structurally metaphorically ordered in terms of another" [11, p. 35]. The subject of the study is the process of origin and the nature of the deployment of metaphorical transference in public dialogue. The authors pay special attention to the description of the mechanism (model) of the functioning of metaphor, as well as the integrating function of metaphorical transfer in public dialogue. In addition, the paper presents linguistic tools demonstrating the transfer of signs of the source sphere to the target sphere in metaphorical projection. The method of scientific observation, the descriptive method (including methods of observation, generalization, interpretation), the method of semantic analysis, the method of contextual analysis, the method of pragmatic analysis. The scientific novelty of the study lies in considering the role of structural metaphor in building a public dialogue, in looking at metaphorical transfer not as an unusual use of a word, but as a transfer of one situation to another, unfolding throughout the whole communicative episode or part of it. As a result of the study, it was concluded that metaphorical transference is the result of the co–creation of speakers, the stimulus of which in most cases is set by the presenter. Metaphorical transference connects the communicative episodes of a TV interview as a communicative event, performing an integrating function. During the conversation, the presenter and the interlocutor actualize certain aspects of the source sphere or the target sphere, as a result of which the metaphor narrows or expands. The constant return to a given metaphor determines the nonlinear structure of public dialogue.

Metarepresenting in communication

The standard cognitive explanation for the emergence of human communication is that it rests largely on the expression and attribution of communicative intentions which are, in turn, enabled by complex metarepresentations of mental states. This complexity is at odds with the limited metapsychological abilities of infants. But mentalistic metarepresentations are neither necessary nor sufficient in explaining communication. Coded ostensive signals (e.g., eye contact) and established channels (e.g., speech) allow that communicative episodes be identified through decoding rather than metarepresentational inferences. Thus, some metarepresentations may be unnecessary. However, metapsychology is also insufficient for explaining communication: the logic of instrumental actions permits interpreting their effect as following from intentions, yet the effect of communicative actions is often unavailable for inferring meaning. Moreover, current evidence for the developmental trajectory of communication and mental state attribution does not support the emergence of the former from the latter. My proposal is that our primitive concept of communication targets, instead, representational action. When we communicate, we typically convey a propositional content that is detached from our acts—a property absent in ordinary goal-directed actions. This view additionally raises the possibility that metarepresentational capacities evolved for representing external, communicative representations and were only later exapted for other purposes.

Improving Perioperative Preparation for Patients Undergoing Surgical Treatment for Distal Radius Fractures.

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 100 consecutive patients who underwent surgical repair of DRF at a level I trauma center. Patient-initiated communication notes were reviewed with thematic analysis to identify the common reasons patients required additional information. We used the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool to score the available educational resources for DRF patients for the understandability and actionability of the educational materials provided to the patients. Of 165 patient communication episodes, 88.5% occurred postoperatively. The most common concerns were pain (30, 15.4%) and surgical site changes (24, 12.3%). Most communications (171, 83.4%) were resolved with patient education through instruction or reassurance. The reviewed materials did not address pain or surgical site changes. No reviewed materials provided actionable steps patients could take to facilitate recovery. Pain management and normal wound healing were the most common surgical concerns of DRF patients. We identify opportunities to improve expectation-setting in online materials and during face-to-face education to create a more patient-centered perioperative experience.

Integration of the Verbatim Exercise into a Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship.

One of the more challenging aspects of specialty level training in any medical fellowship is learning to communicate mindfully and effectively with patients and families in the face of serious illness. For the past five years, our accredited Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM) fellowship program has been integrating the "verbatim"-an exercise with a long and integral history in the training of health care chaplains. Verbatims are word-for-word accounts of a clinician's encounter with a patient and/or the patient's family. The verbatim serves as a formative educational exercise offering a method to hone one's clinical skills and competencies, while providing a unique space to practice self-awareness and self-reflection. Although sometimes difficult and intense for the fellow, we have found this to be a helpful exercise in improving the fellow's ability to make meaningful connections with patients and leading to improved outcomes of communication episodes. This potential growth in self-awareness supports both resiliency and mindfulness, which are essential skills for longevity and reduction of burnout risk in the field of HPM. The verbatim invites all participants to reflect on their own participation in facilitating whole person care to patients and families. Out of the six HPM milestone metrics for fellowship training, the verbatim exercise supports achievement in at least three of the milestones. We present survey data over the past five years of our fellowship in support of the utility of this exercise and for consideration to include this exercise in a palliative medicine fellowship. We offer additional suggestions for further study of this formative tool. This article delineates the verbatim technique and its specific integration into our accredited ACGME Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship training program.

The communicative constitution of atomization: online prepper communities and the crisis of collective action

AbstractAs environmental and societal crises increase in numbers, severity, and urgency, online forums for so-called “doomsday preppers” have seen a concomitant surge in membership. Beginning from the perspective of communicative constitution of organization, we explore the sociotechnical communities that emerge on such forums. Methodologically, we use netnographic observations to show that online prepper communities are organizational, in the sense of being networks of communicative episodes that use common narratives to build identities around material objects and physical practices. However, the online prepper communities do not move from the enactment of organization to acting as organizations. This observation leads us to conceptualize online prepper communities as atomizations whose communicative constitution does not entail a capacity for collective action, but only manifests the similarity of disparate individuals. The communicative constitution of atomization, we argue, is symptomatic of an underlying social logic, which promotes individualized responses to collective problems.

Social Bandwidth: When and Why Are Social Interactions Energy Intensive?

This manuscript identifies the characteristics of a social interaction or social event that make it energy intensive and explores the experience of recovering from an energy-intensive interaction. Study One ( N = 309) used an inductive approach to identify social interactions or events that were energy intensive. Study Two ( N = 120) used an experience sampling method to explore overall energy expense in everyday conversations ( N = 3,092). Communication episode, more choice to interact, less familiarity of partners, and greater feelings of connection and disconnection predicted energy intensiveness. Results suggest that people seek solitude after an energy-intensive interaction, and the disconnection felt in the interaction influences desire for company when alone. Overall, social exclusion and communication content are important components in explaining the multi-faceted nature of energy-intensive interactions.

Quality Conversation Can Increase Daily Well-Being

The associations among the frequency and quality of social interactions and in-the-moment and global well-being have been well-documented. Fewer studies explore whether the content of social interactions is associated with well-being using experimental methods. Drawing from the communicate bond belong theory, seven candidate communication episodes and behaviors were identified. In three studies, participants ( NStudy 1 = 347, NStudy 2 = 310, NStudy 3 = 250) were randomly assigned to engage in one of these communication episodes or behaviors and then completed end-of-day measures of well-being. Compared to participants in the control groups, participants engaging in candidate behaviors experienced increased well-being. MANCOVA results from all studies suggest the frequency of engaging in candidate behaviors was associated with increased well-being. A mini-meta-analysis found a weighted average effect size of d = 0.255. Results suggest that engaging in as little as one communication behavior with one friend in a day can improve daily well-being.

Translinguality as an Explication of Appellative Character of Urban Names

Modern urban names are characterized by properties that allow them to be simultaneously attributed to a special type of mass communication, to episodes of external communication of an organization and acts of self-presentation. A necessary condition for promoting an organization is the formation of trust among the target audience, and strategies for building trust are verbalized through the name to great extend. Within the framework of a single cognitive space, the name of the organization serves as a kind of trigger that includes interest in the organization as a kind of manifestation of feedback: intellectual / mental (I need it), emotional (pleasant place), behavioral (contacting the organization), verbal (discussion).One of the ways to form the attractiveness of names that appeal to the target audience and create a positive image of the organization is to embody the principles of translinguism in urban names. The essence of using the principles of translingualism is the appeal to the entire communicative repertoire of the speaker, as a result of which languages and cultures smoothly flow into each other. When creating the names of urban objects, translatinguality is manifested in the successful use of various language codes. In some cases, the choice of the nominating subject in favor of a particular language in the name of the company is determined by the specifics of the organization’s activities. One of the purposes of using words of foreign origin in the names of organizations is to mimic an imported brand as the level of trust of the target audience in the goods of domestic producers is often lower than in foreign ones. Modern names show more and more varied types of translingual combinations. A common manifestation of translingualism in ergonymy is the contamination of codes, that is, the combination in the name of the organization of units of different languages. Since in a number of cases the intended perception of the meaning of names of this kind is based not only on an adequate understanding of its foreign language component, but also on acquaintance with the realities of another culture that underlie such discursive elements, it is possible to postulate the transcultural nature of a significant part of modern urban names.

Лингвокультурная специфика пословицы как косвенного речевого акта в коммуникативном эпизоде художественного текста

The paper focuses on the actual problems of the functioning of proverbs in communicative episodes based on a literary text and their role in the semantic micro- and macrostructure. The analysis was performed using a cognitive-communicative model of describing the meaning of a proverb in discourse.
 Aim. Consideration of the possibilities of modeling the realization of the meaning of proverbs about learning in communicative episodes based on the material of English and Russian literary texts and identification of the features of their functioning in this type of discourse, taking into account their linguistic and cultural affiliation.
 Methodology and research methods. The following methods were used to analyze proverbs in a literary text: linguistic and philological analysis of communicative episodes (based on a literary text), dictionary definitions analysis, linguo-cultural method, the method of cognitive-discursive modeling.
 Results. The functioning of proverbs in artistic discourse, as well as certain cultural differences in the attitude of representatives of two comparable linguistic cultures (Russian and English) to learning, taking into account the age of the trainees, are revealed.
 Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty of the study is that trends in the functioning of proverbs about learning have been identified, taking into account their linguistic and cultural affiliation, and the results obtained can be used in further study of their role in the communicative act.
 Practical significance. The practical significance of the research is that the results obtained can be used for deeper integration into intercultural communication and linguistic and cultural aspects of translation.

Virtual Engagement of Families in the Intensive Care Unit During COVID-19: A Descriptive Survey of Family Members of Patients and Health Care Workers.

Introduction: Traditional face-to-face family member visits in the intensive care unit (ICU) are challenged during the coronavirus disease pandemic with time-critical visiting of the ICU patient being impossible. Objective: This study aimed to explore reported experiences and satisfaction surrounding the use of technology for virtual visits and virtual family meetings in the ICU setting. Two groups were surveyed: (1) family members of critically ill patients in the ICU and (2) health care workers caring for these patients. Design: The study, conducted in the 36-bed ICU of a speciality metropolitan acute care facility in Australia, used a pragmatic post-test survey design. Data were analyzed descriptively. Results: Of health care worker subjects, 106 completed the survey and the majority of communication episodes favored virtual visits (79.2%, n = 84). Of family member subjects, 69 completed the survey, with the majority participating in virtual family meetings (40.6%, n = 28). Both groups indicated satisfaction with virtual communication. Conclusions: We found virtual communication was positively received.

Interventions for interpersonal communication about end of life care between health practitioners and affected people.

Interventions for interpersonal communication about end of life care between health practitioners and affected people.

A Communication-Ecological Account of Groups.

This article presents a novel conception of groups and social processes within and among groups from a communication-ecological perspective that integrates approaches as different as Garfinkel’s ethnomethodology, Heideggerian praxeology, and Luhmann’s systems theory into an innovative social-theoretical framework. A group is understood as a social entity capable of collective action that is an object to itself and insofar possesses an identity. The elementary operations of groups consist in social processes with communicative, pre-communicative, and non-communicative episodes. Groups operate in a number of environments that are conceived of as both correlates of their own processes and providing groups with the raw materials for the fabrication of their constituents. These environments include but are not limited to spatial, discursive, emotional, institutional, semiotic-medial, psychic-personal, technical, and groupal environments. The article paves the way to combine studies on intergroup and intragroup communication in one comprehensive theoretical framework situated on such an abstract level that it can be concretized in view of utterly different cultural contexts and the emic perspectives of actors therein. Accordingly, the framework provides researchers with the conceptual devices to balance the comparability of different lifeworlds with the faithfulness to actors’ inside views. The methodological implications laid out in this article prioritize qualitative, especially ethnographic methods as a starting point for research on group communication.

Can I Get Back Later or Turn It Off? Day-Level Effect of Remote Communication Autonomy on Sustainable Proactivity

Overwhelming remote communication episodes have become critical daily work demands for employees. On the basis of affective event theory, this study explores the effect of daily remote communication autonomy on positive affect and proactive work behaviors. We conducted a multilevel path analysis using a general survey, followed by experience sampling methodology, with a sample of 80 employees in China who completed surveys thrice daily over a two-week period. The results showed that daily remote communication autonomy increased positive affective reactions, which, in turn, enhanced proactive work behaviors on the same workday. Furthermore, positive day-level relationships leading to employee proactivity were only significant when the employees’ person-level general techno-workload was not high. The findings provide a new perspective for managing employees working under continuous techno-workload and demands for remote interactions.