Compassionate Attitude Research Articles

Outdoor Learning: Fostering Social Awareness with Community Service

This article was motivated by the importance of experiences to foster social awareness. The aim of the study is to proceed an outdoor learning model in developing character, and nationalism insight of students. The model was held in the form of service to the poor and street children. It was expected to create learning climate that touched the hearts of students and to raise compassionate attitude. Using research and development approach, the method was divided into descriptive, evaluative, and experimental methods. Descriptive method was used to collect existing data. Evaluative method was used to evaluate development model of learning outside the classroom; while experimental method was also to test the effectiveness of the model. Subjects in this study were students registered in Indonesian Economy course of Faculty of Economics and Business, SCU Indonesia. This article consists of three stages of analysis, i.e. analysis of the potential economic and social issues surrounding community, student characteristic analysis, and analysis of curriculum and syllabus of Indonesian Economy course to be fit with the concept of outdoor learning. An outline of results showed that the learning model was effectively proven to foster a sense of social awareness and nationalism insight in the college.

The Co-creation and Feasibility of a Compassion Training as a Follow-up to Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Patients with Recurrent Depression

The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living (MBCL) as a follow-up intervention to Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy in adults with recurrent depression. We conducted an uncontrolled study in 17 patients with recurrent depression, in two successive groups. The first group contained novices to compassion training (N = 14); in the second group, ten of these participated again, in addition to three new participants (N = 13). The overall group contained 15 females and 2 males, aged between 37 and 71. The MBCL program was qualitatively evaluated using post-intervention focus group interviews in both groups. In addition, self-report questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms, worry and both self-compassion and mindfulness skills were administered before and after MBCL. No patients dropped out of the intervention. Average attendance was 7.52 (SD 0.73) out of eight sessions. Helpful elements were theory on the emotion regulation systems, practicing self-compassion explicitly and embodiment of a compassionate attitude by the teachers. Unhelpful elements were the lack of a clear structure, lack of time to practice compassion for self and the occurrence of the so-called back draft effect. We adapted the program in accordance with the feedback of the participants. Preliminary results showed a reduction in depressive symptoms in the second group, but not in the first group, and an increase in self-compassion in both groups. Worry and overall mindfulness did not change. MBCL appears to be feasible and acceptable for patients suffering from recurrent depressive symptoms who previously participated in MBCT. Selection bias may have been a factor as only experienced and motivated participants were used; this, however, suited our intention to co-create MBCL in close collaboration with knowledgeable users. Examination of the effectiveness of MBCL in a sufficiently powered randomised controlled trial is needed.

The role of self-disgust in eating psychopathology in overweight and obesity: Can self-compassion be useful?

This study explores the relationship between self-disgust and eating psychopathology and whether self-compassion plays a mediator role on this relationship. Participants were 203 adults, from both genders, with overweight and obesity (MBMI = 31.17, standard deviation = 5.43). Women reported higher levels of self-disgust and eating psychopathology and lower levels of self-compassion than men. Path analysis results suggested that the effect of self-disgust on eating psychopathology occurred partially through one's inability to be self-compassionate. The results highlight the damaging role of self-disgust on eating psychopathology and the importance of developing a more compassionate attitude towards the self to promote healthy eating behaviors.

Self-compassion and Posttraumatic Growth: Cognitive Processes as Mediators

Developing research shows self-compassion (i.e., a self-caring and compassionate attitude in the face of suffering) is adaptive when coping with crises, but the association between self-compassion and posttraumatic growth (i.e., positive changes after experiencing negative life events) has not yet been examined. This study aimed to examine the association between self-compassion (positive and negative components) and posttraumatic growth, as well as the mediating roles of cognitive processes in this association. Specifically, we hypothesized that higher positive self-compassion and lower negative self-compassion were associated with higher posttraumatic growth. Those associations were also hypothesized to be mediated through more adaptive cognitive processes (i.e., acceptance, positive reframing, presence of and search for meaning). A sample of 601 ethnically diverse college students (consisting of 30.4% Latinos, 17.0% Caucasians, 15.0% Asians/Pacific Islanders, 8.6% African-Americans, and 29% other/multi-ethnics) who had been exposed to at least one prior negative life event were invited to complete a cross-sectional survey. Correlational results showed negative self-compassion was not significantly associated with posttraumatic growth, search of meaning was not significantly associated with positive self-compassion, negative self-compassion and search of meaning were thus dropped from the proposed model. Consequentially, the mediation model was revised and examined with structural equation modeling (SEM), and it was found to fit well to the data. SEM results showed significant indirect effects of the positive self-compassion component on posttraumatic growth through positive reframing (B = 0.34, β = 0.19, p < 0.001, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.28) and presence of meaning (B = 0.15, β = 0.08, p < 0.001, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.14). Our findings suggested that positive self-compassion may be associated with more adaptive cognitive processes, which in turn is associated with higher levels of posttraumatic growth. Theoretical and practical implications of the proposed mediation model will be discussed.

Nursing Issues in Leading and Managing Change

Change occurs over time, often fluctuating between intervals of change then a time of settling and stability. Change management entails thoughtful planning and sensitive implementation, and above all, consultation with, and involvement of, the people affected by the changes. If you force change on people normally problems arise. Change must be realistic, achievable and measurable. These aspects are especially relevant to managing personal change. Leading and managing are two essential expectations of all professional nurses. Today's rapidly changing healthcare system to lead and manage successfully, nurses must possess not only knowledge and skills but also a caring and compassionate attitude.1

Compassionate care for student nurses

Nurses are practising in a work environment which is sometimes difficult and which can affect their capacity to supervise students. They may sometimes find themselves taking out their frustration on these students. By being better trained in the specificities of adult learning, frontline professionals and tutors could find it easier to adopt a compassionate care attitude towards nursing students, an essential condition for the development of their skills.

Cuidados al fin de la vida en Geriatría

With aging, there are various geriatric syndromes that along with the most prevalent chronic diseases make harder the clinical management of the senior citizen patient. It is known that cancer as a disease is included in many palliative programs in the world, not so, another kind of chronic and degenerative diseases that gradually advance to cause the death of many patients. The intention of this document is to review the recommendations in order to give a better care at the end of the life of the geriatric patient. Always taking into account that people have the right to receive an adequate medical care with quality and that nowadays it is not possible that a sick person presents suffering by their uncontrolled symptoms. It is a work of the society and professionals to improve knowledge of palliative medicine and have a humane and compassionate attitude towards the terminal patient.

A Queer Dialogue on The Gay Rub

The issue of homosexuality has been one of the most debated topics in recent years, especially within Catholic circles. In addition, the Catholic Church’s stance on gay rights continues to be a source of confusion, as official acceptance of LGBTQ people emerges on a seemingly intermittent basis. Despite the confusion, Pope Francis continues to try to persuade Church leaders to support his more compassionate attitude towards the LGBTQ community. In his interview with the Argentine daily newspaper, La Nacion, in October 2014, Pope Francis stated, “We come across this reality all the time in the confessional: a father and a mother whose son or daughter is in that situation. We have to find a way to help that father or that mother to stand by their son or daughter.” Inspired by its unique Jesuit Catholic mission, Loyola Marymount University (LMU) recognizes and cherishes the dignity of each individual, regardless of age, culture, faith, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, language, disability, or social class. It is through this mission that LMU chooses to accompany students on their journey of self-exploration as they become humans fully alive. As a Catholic Jesuit institution, we are committed to finding God in all things and in each other. Each member of the LMU community is called to treat each other with care and respect, and to value and treasure differences in the spirit of the Jesuit principle of cura personalis, by treating people with respect for their unique qualities, gifts, and challenges as individuals. Through the work of the Office of LGBT Student Services, we are committed to the holistic development of all students as they discover how their talents can be used to create a more just world. In partnership with our faculty colleagues, the office strives to create a learning

Looking forward into the past: Partido Nacionalista Vasco and the immigrant question in the Basque Country

ABSTRACTThis article examines the discursive and political response to immigrant-generated diversity by Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV) in the Basque Country of Spain. A much-ballyhooed fact about PNV is that its founder, Sabino Arana, articulated a racist nationalist doctrine in the late nineteenth century. Alarm bells were raised in the early 2000s when the Basque Country became a destination for foreign immigrants arriving in Spain from Latin America and North Africa: do foreign immigrants pose a threat to Basque national identity? The PNV's answer to this question has been a clear ‘no’. Rather than distance itself from its past, however, party elites legitimate the inclusive and compassionate attitude towards foreign immigrants through selective discovery of the Basque national narrative. While sceptics of ideational variables are quick to suggest that nationalist elites manipulate the past to serve current purposes, this article suggests that such an interpretation does not do justice to the subtle ways in which symbols, myths, and images of the past have shaped the worldviews of PNV elites in the realm of immigration.

Self-compassion and social functioning of people – research review

Abstract Self-compassion is considered to be a healthy and adaptive attitude towards oneself, occurring both as a feature, as well as a state. Self-compassionate attitude towards oneself is composed of: a) kindness and understanding given to oneself b) mindfulness of one’s own experiences and c) a sense of community of experiences with humanity. Compassion towards oneself is structurally and functionally distinct from the self-commiseration and self-pity that lead to worse adaptation. Research shows that self-compassion is associated with better regulation of negative emotions. Neff (2003 a) in her theoretical assumption states that due to more effective emotion regulation , people with a higher level of selfcompassion can generally cope better with reality. Therefore a question arises as to what the relationship is between a compassionate attitude towards oneself and social functioning of people. This article is a review of research that has been conducted so far regarding relations between self-compassion and the various dimensions of social functioning.

Nurturing compassion through care-giving and care-receiving: the changing moral economy of AIDs in China

Based on the case study of an Aids clinic operated in Nanning by MSF, this paper looks at how one international NGO, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders), deals with the HIV-carrier patients in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi province in China. It explores the process of care-giving to the HIV patients by MSF employees (both foreign and local) and how the patients react to the ‘care-receiving’ provided by this foreign NGO. This is especially pertinent in China today as HIV-patients are the victims of discriminating policies and are still very much discriminated by the general population. MSF, viewed by the victims as a foreign NGO, is regarded as an organization seen as promoting a changing and compassionate attitude toward AIDs patients through their anonymous and non-discriminating practices. Through the practices and the discourse of MSF workers and the testimonies of the patients, this paper looks at how the moral economy of AIDs is evolving from a repressive and discriminative attitude towards the compassionate attention to individual suffering. As such, MSF, through its actions, is seen as one of the agents promoting attitudinal changes toward disadvantaged groups and is facilitating the emergence of an emotional and compassionate subject.

A Rewarding Medical Internship – Documenting the Case of a Colorectal Cancer Patient with Hematochezia and Melena

During the summer of 2011, I was a medical intern at 463rd People’s Liberal Army (PLA) Hospital in China. The experience did not only challenge me academically, but it also helped me mature as a person. My beginning of this learning journey was filled with setbacks and criticism that disheartened me tremendously, to the point of fighting back tears on the bus ride home. But, as I learned to find motivation from criticism, prepare research information thoroughly to answer the doctors’ questions, and brighten the patients’ day with a genuine smile and a compassionate attitude, I began to earn the encouragement I previously had not deserved. I was also able to follow the case of an anemic colorectal patient who had both hematochezia and melena. My role was to confirm melena without relying on a fecal blood occult test that was compromised due to a procedural mistake. The task required me to integrate my research information to realize how medication could be confounded with disease symptom. Specifically, I was required to discern the black tarry stool of melena from the dark greenish black stool caused by iron supplement treatment. Looking back two years, those seemingly impossible obstacles were just small hurdles compared with what I need to prepare myself for in the future. Obstacles test my ability to understand, apply, analyse, evaluate, and most importantly—create. Obstacles make my life eventful, for I certainly do not intend for it to be as smooth as a straight line on an electrocardiogram.

Knowledge and Attitude Towards HIV Among Academic Campus for Girls Students, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia

This cross-sectional study among 250 Academic campus for Girls students, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia, examined their level of knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about HIV/AIDS. Th study revealed that the majority of the students have a very good knowledge of HIV/AIDS; in general students have a considerate and compassionate attitude towards those infected with HIV/AIDS; and the students have positive and healthy attitudes and beliefs regarding HIV/AIDS. Although, in general the students have a very good knowledge, they indicate the need for more sex education and awareness pro-grams about HIV/AIDS that could be given in high schools.

Thinness in the Pursuit for Social Safeness: An Integrative Model of Social Rank Mentality to Explain Eating Psychopathology

The current study tests a model based on social rank mentality investigating whether women who feel inferior and believe others see them negatively, and feel under pressure to compete to avoid social inferiority, present increased body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness and whether these associations are mediated by distinct emotional regulation processes. The predictions from the model proposed were examined through path analyses, in a sample of 125 women from the general population and 102 patients with eating disorders. Results showed that the path model explained 51% of body dissatisfaction variance and 61% of drive for thinness and allowed us to confirm that social ranking variables increased drive for thinness through higher levels of self-criticism and lower levels of self-compassion. The findings suggest that the nuclear eating disorders' features arise as a result of a more self-critical and less compassionate attitude with the self, in the context of a mentality focused on social ranking and competition. The current study explores an innovative comprehensive model based on social rank theory to understand eating disorders' symptoms in women. A mentality focused on ranking, shame and competition predicts body image dissatisfaction. This ranking-focused mentality, along with body image dissatisfaction, leads to drive for thinness through increased self-criticism and decreased self-compassion. These findings support the emergent psychotherapeutic approaches for eating disorders that target self-criticism and self-compassion.

Knowledge, Attitudes and Beliefs on HIV/AIDS Among Tertiary Students in Papua New Guinea

This cross-sectional study among 1597 tertiary level students, 757 (48%) males and 832 (52%) females (9 respondents no mention of gender), from 12 institutions, across Papua New Guinea, examined their level of knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about HIV/AIDS. The study revealed that the majority of the students have a very good knowledge of HIV/AIDS; in general students have a considerate and compassionate attitude towards those infected with HIV/AIDS; and the students have positive and healthy attitudes and beliefs regarding HIV/AIDS. Among the demographic variables of gender, province and the institution of their study a significant difference showed in their levels of knowledge and also a statistically significant association was found between beliefs and knowledge. Interestingly, about 58% of the students think that HIV/AIDS is a punishment from God. Almost half (46.5%) of the respondents think that learning about sex and the use of condoms could also encourage young people to engage in more frequent sex. Although, in general the students have a very good knowledge, they indicate the need for more sex education and awareness pro-grams about HIV/AIDS that could be given in high schools.

The State of the Spirit, 2011

The State of the Spirit, 2011

The animals of the arena: how and why could their destruction and death be endured and enjoyed?

Ludi (games) (spectacula) were important in Roman visual culture. Those involving animals (venationes) developed from moderately sized ritualized killing and hunt into carnage. Their popularity and development in scale and frequency contrasted sharply with the Romans' love of pets, good veterinary medicine, and fascination with animals. I explore factors that contribute to explaining the spectators' endurance and enjoyment of the venationes. Contextual factors were hunting traditions and a political system where power and popularity was gained through donations (euergetism). I suggest that the explanatory psychological factors are: hunter-insensitivity, psychological and neurological processes connected to enjoyment of cruelty (killing, aggression, horror), desensitization, neurological feedback loops, curiosity, envy, competition, mass psychology, diffusion of responsibility (bystander effect), and changed states of mind through identifications and emotional turmoil. Finally, I scrutinize psychologically one exceptional case of divergent mass behaviour at Pompey's games in 55 bc. I deconstruct what has been described as a compassionate attitude by the spectators, and by Cicero, who commented on the incident.

Compassionate attitude towards others’ suffering activates the mesolimbic neural system

Compassion is one of the essential components which enable individuals to enter into and maintain relationships of caring. Compassion tends to motivate us to help people who are emotionally suffering. It is also known that a feeling of intrinsic reward may occur as a result of experiencing compassion for others. We conducted this study to understand the neural nature of compassion for other people's emotional state. Twenty-one healthy normal volunteers participated in this study. We used a 2 × 2 factorial design in which each subject was asked to assume a compassionate attitude or passive attitude while viewing the sad or neutral facial affective pictures during functional magnetic imaging. The main effect of a compassionate attitude was observed in the medial frontal cortex, the subgenual frontal cortex, the inferior frontal cortex and the midbrain regions. A test of the interaction between a compassionate attitude and sad facial affect revealed significant activations in the midbrain–ventral striatum/septal network region. The results of this study suggest that taking a compassionate attitude towards other people's sad expressions modulate the activities of the midbrain–ventral striatum/septal region network, which is known to play a role in the prosocial/social approach motivation and its accompanied rewarding feeling.

The Role of the Christian Church in the fight against HIV and AIDS: Beyond Self-righteousness and Empty Words of Prayer.

More than twenty years after AIDS was medically discovered, it has become clear that it is more than just a medical issue. It has pervaded all spheres of human life. With its spread gaining momentum each day and its immense impact growing unmanageable in Southern Africa, AIDS has become a real threat to the lives of the people of this region. Informed by Christ's attitude towards those who suffered and the marginalized as recorded in the Christian Scriptures, this paper argues that the Christian churches in Africa, which holds the largest numbers of people living with HIV and AIDS, must abandon their “holier than thou” attitude and try to adopt a more forthright and compassionate attitude in their engagement with HIV and AIDS if, they are to remain true to their call as messengers of the Good News to the troubled world. The paper further identifies several critical areas in which the Christian churches may make a difference if they can all mobilize their resources. International Journal of Emotional Psychology and Sport Ethics Vol. 10 2008: pp. 123-131

Does compassion mediate the intrinsic religion-health relationship?

Religiosity has been related to positive health outcomes. Although this relationship is primarily based on studies of church attendance and health, more recent work has focused on the potential mechanisms that may mediate the religion-health findings. One principle that is taught by all of the world's major religions is compassion. It was hypothesized that one pathway through which religiosity may exert its positive influence on health is through encouraging compassionate attitudes and behaviors toward others. Two separate studies were conducted examining the relationships among intrinsic religiosity (IR), compassionate attitudes and behaviors, and measures of psychosocial health. Measures of psychosocial health included depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and social support. IR was related to positive psychosocial outcomes in both studies, and compassionate attitudes and behaviors mediated these relationships. Compassionate attitudes showed significant relationships with psychosocial outcome measures (depressive symptoms, r = -.46, p < .0001; perceived stress, r = -.45, p < .0001; satisfaction with social support, r = .54, p < .0001; marital adjustment, r = .44) and accounted for most of the mediating effect. Although social support was also related to the variables of interest, its effect was smaller than that of compassionate attitude, and controlling for social support did not significantly add to the mediating effect of compassionate attitude. This study found compassionate attitude to be an important factor in the religion-health relationship and related to positive psychosocial outcomes, including reduced depressive symptoms and reduced perceived stress. Future research on religiosity and health may benefit from exploring the concept of a "compassionate personality" (i.e., a way of being in the world where others are treated with love and respect).