Relational Ethics Research Articles

Birthing Educational Pathways: Pacific Feminisms and the Ethics of Kuleana and Kinship

ABSTRACT As a daughter of Oceania residing in Turtle Island, I have birthed pathways within higher education that center Pacific epistemes in curriculum and pedagogy. These spaces have assisted Pacific Islander and Indigenous students, among others, through expansive practices of kinship and mentorship that embody the praxes of Pacific feminisms. Drawing from Oceanic feminist concepts and praxes, I have created spaces that are grounded in relational ethics and expansive kinship models. These spaces challenge the highly meritocratic structures of the academy and instead reproduce scholars and thinkers engaged in building Pacific feminist futures.

Implementierung des Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) im Masterstudiengang Pflegewissenschaft – Pilotprojekt zur Prüfung der ethischen Kompetenz in Pflegepraxis und -forschung

ZusammenfassungDie Vermittlung ethischer Kompetenzen ist wesentlicher Bestandteil in berufsqualifizierenden und postgraduellen Studiengängen. Dabei werden praktisch-ethische Problemlösungskompetenzen, je nach Studiengang aber auch die forschungsethische Betrachtung von Studien thematisiert. Die Überprüfung dieser ethischen Kompetenzen stellt sich als Herausforderung dar. Das schriftliche oder mündliche Abfragen von Lehrinhalten greift zu kurz, da somit lediglich Wissen, jedoch nicht Fertigkeiten oder gar Haltung erfasst werden können.Bei der Reakkreditierung des Masterstudiengangs Pflegewissenschaft an der Universität Witten/Herdecke wurde dieser Herausforderung mit der Umsetzung eines für die postgraduelle Ausbildung innovativen Prüfungsformats begegnet. Für das Modul „Ethik in der Pflegepraxis und -forschung“ wurde ein Format ausgearbeitet, welches sich an den „Objective Structured Clinical Examinations“ orientiert und somit die erworbenen Fertigkeiten und Haltungen der Studierenden mit einbezieht. Der Beitrag zeigt auf, wie das OSCE-Prüfungsformat (kurz: OSCE) konzipiert und eine Adaption erfolgt ist.

Identifying and addressing fundraising's overarching ethical questions through ethical theory

AbstractPurposeThis paper seeks to build on MacQuilllin and Sargeant's (2019) framework for normative fundraising ethics by considering how fundraising professionals might use these theories to support their fundraising practice. In the paper we will seek to identify the higher‐level ethical questions that underpin the majority of ethical decisions fundraisers will need to make: decisions around the acceptance and solicitation of donations and we will then seek to address each of these questions through the lens of MacQuilllin and Sargeant's (2019) normative ethical theories.Approach and methodologyWe will abstract from common ethical dilemmas the higher‐level or overarching questions that can encompass them. We will then consider each question through the lens of the normative theories developed by MacQuillin and Sargeant (2019), drawing on available evidence to support our arguments.FindingsTwo core questions were identified:1. Where are the lines in who we approach for/receive resources from for our organisation?2. Where are the lines in how we approach people for resources for our organisation?OriginalityTo our knowledge, this will be the first academic paper that a) identifies the overarching ethical questions that affect fundraising practice, and b) applies the various normative theories of fundraising ethics directly to them. In practical terms, it may also be particularly useful to fundraising practitioners who want to explore the theories of ethics in relation to the dilemmas they encounter in practice.

The ethical implications of preventing hospital delirium in older adults: A scoping review

Introduction Hospital delirium is a frequent, serious, costly, and underrecognized acute disorder of attention and cognition. Therefore, the prevention of hospital delirium is not only desirable for patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and the health system itself, but also a moral duty. Objective To identify and synthetize the main ethical aspects that arise related to the prevention of hospital delirium in patients 65 years and older. Methods A scoping review was carried out in Embase, Medline, and Web of Science (January 2009–January 2022). Articles published in English or Spanish analyzing any pharmacologic, non-pharmacologic, or multicomponent intervention for prevention of delirium in hospitalized patients aged 65 years and over were included. Results Twenty-seven studies were included. Based on the frequency of appearance and the relevance, our findings were organized into three main areas. The first one was related to the principle of nonmaleficence and collected findings about the iatrogenic causes of hospital delirium and the use of restraints systems. The second area analyzed the impact of delirium in patients, families, and healthcare professionals from a relational ethics perspective, and addressed the family presence as a factor to prevent delirium. Finally, the third area is related to the quality of care. Conclusion Prevention of delirium in hospitals is essential to avoid the discomfort and potential clinical complications of patients, as well as the suffering of their relatives, caregivers, and healthcare professionals. Policymakers and healthcare managers are encouraged to make the required efforts to prevent delirium in hospitalized older patients.

The application of the legal principle of proportionality in the practice of social work

ABSTRACT One integral aspect of the ambivalent profession of social work is maintaining the balance between help and control. Especially in situations in which clients or those around them are endangered, control approaches become not only legitimate, but necessary. Within these measures, social workers have to deal with complex decision-making dilemmas within which different rights are often in conflict with each other. Judges who apply the principle of proportionality to resolve conflicts between rights find themselves in similar situations. Using the logical process of analogy, this article presents a proposal regarding how to work with the legal principle of proportionality in the practice of social work. Such a process can help to legitimise the selection of procedures, especially for social workers in countries where codes of ethics in relation to the exercise of control have not been developed. The proposal outlined here can also be used by other social workers in various environments to address the issue of how to deal with conflicts between human rights.

Neuro-oncology clinicians’ perspectives on factors affecting brain cancer patients’ access to medical assistance in dying: A qualitative study

In most jurisdictions where medical assistance in dying (MAiD) is legal, patients must have decision-making capacity. Brain cancer often damages the cognitive networks required to maintain decision-making capacity. Using qualitative methodology guided by a relational ethics conceptual framework, this study explored neuro-oncology clinicians’ perspectives on access to and eligibility for MAiD for patients diagnosed with brain cancer. We interviewed 24 neuro-oncology clinicians from 6 countries. Participants described the unique challenges facing brain cancer patients, potentially resulting in their inequitable access to MAiD. The findings highlight the importance of early end-of-life conversations, advance care planning, and access to end-of-life treatment options.

The Ethics of Organizational Ethics

This Perspectives article reviews research on organizational ethics presented in a select group of articles from Organization Studies, each of which draws inspiration, directly or indirectly, from the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. This work is commended for how it has wrestled the locus of ethicality away from organizational authority and instead examined ethics in relation to the actions and interactions of those subject to that authority. Collectively, these articles articulate organizational ethics as an affective, relational and embodied response to the needs of others. Such ethics motivates political engagement in resistance to oppression and domination meted out by organizational authority. Acknowledging the significance of this contribution, the present article examines how the research reviewed is remiss for its latent humanism and the attendant risk of assuming that the actions of individual ethical subjects are morally superior to organized forms of ethics. The source of this ethical privileging of individual subjects comes from a failure to distinguish between the practice of ethics in organizations and the originary ethics of ethics. Following Levinas, the latter is understood as the passive and pre-subjective call to responsibility for the other with whom one is organized and that precedes any concrete proposal for an organizational ethics. By acknowledging the ethics of ethics, we see that affective, interpersonal ethics and more formally organized ethics can both be translations of the ethics of ethics, each being necessarily imperfect. The tension between authoritative and interpersonal forms of ethics in organizations is not a problem for ethics, but rather a condition of the possibility of organizational ethics itself.

Keeping the Ledger Balanced during Pregnancy

ABSTRACT Couples experiencing pregnancy and the transition to parenthood face many challenges. One of the most difficult challenges is attempting to remain balanced in their relationship. In order to discover how couples maintain balance, researchers conducted a secondary analysis of qualitative data using a contextual family therapy lens to investigate how couples keep their relationship ledger balanced during pregnancy. Results indicate that four key components help couples maintain balance in the relationship, namely: 1) Give and take, 2) Relational ethics, 3) Destructive and Constructive Entitlement, and 4) Exoneration. Couples who give attention to these four aspects were more balanced in their relationship and reported navigating the transition to parenthood and pregnancy more effectively. Results from this study provide a framework for therapists to guide couples in discussing important topics that should be discussed throughout the transition to parenthood.

Ethical issues experienced by persons with rheumatoid arthritis in a wearable-enabled physical activity intervention study.

IntroductionUsing wearables to self‐monitor physical activity is a promising approach to support arthritis self‐management. Little is known, however, about the context in which ethical issues may be experienced when using a wearable in self‐management. We used a relational ethics lens to better understand how persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) experience their use of a wearable as part of a physical activity counselling intervention study involving a physiotherapist (PT).MethodsConstructivist grounded theory and a relational ethics lens guided the study design. This conceptual framework drew attention to benefits, downsides and tensions experienced in a context of relational settings (micro and macro) in which participants live. Fourteen initial and eleven follow‐up interviews took place with persons with RA in British Columbia, Canada, following participation in a wearable‐enabled intervention study.ResultsWe created three main categories, exploring how experiences of benefits, downsides and tensions when using the intervention intertwined with shared moral values placed on self‐control, trustworthiness, independence and productivity: (1) For some, using a wearable helped to ‘do something right’ by taking more control over reaching physical activity goals. Some, however, felt ambivalent, believing both there was nothing more they could do and that they had not done enough to reach their goal; (2) Some participants described how sharing wearable data supported and challenged mutual trustworthiness in their relationship with the PT; (3) For some, using a wearable affirmed or challenged their sense of self‐respect as an independent and productive person.ConclusionParticipants in this study reported that using a wearable could support and challenge their arthritis self‐management. Constructing moral identity, with qualities of self‐control, trustworthiness, independence and productivity, within the relational settings in which participants live, was integral to ethical issues encountered. This study is a key step to advance understanding of ethical issues of using a wearable as an adjunct for engaging in physical activity from a patient's perspective.Patient or Public ContributionPerspectives of persons with arthritis (mostly members of Arthritis Research Canada's Arthritis Patient Advisory Board) were sought to shape the research question and interpretations throughout data analysis.

Carrying stories: digital storytelling and the complexities of intimacy, relationality, and home spaces

ABSTRACT Over the past decade, we have worked alongside storytellers to bring their stories into the world. These encounters have been challenging, exciting, and intimate. In this paper, we reflect on a digital/multimedia storytelling project in which we engaged with people who have experienced weight stigma in fertility, pregnancy, and motherhood care. We use the metaphors of story midwifery and surrogacy to describe the methodological-substantive interplay between what we do, how we do it, and what emerges in this (un)doing. In this reflexive and methodological paper, we engage with the affect and relationality of doing storywork. We reflect on and theorize around embeddedness, othering, belonging, power, shame, and joy in research encounters. Pragmatically, we consider how relational ethics combine with exhaustion and logistical challenges. Finally, we explore the tensions inherent to (co)producing stories at the boundaries of neoliberal academic temporalities and structures.

African Ethics, Respect for Persons, and Moral Dissent

AbstractThis paper examines the ethic of respect for dignity within African relational ethics. Following an introduction to African relational ethics (in Section 1), Section 2 introduces two ways of respecting dignity associated with two strands of African communitarianism: strong and moderate. Section 3 tests each version by considering a challenge case involving an oppressive social structure, the Osu caste system in Igboland (Southeastern Nigeria). It argues that both strong and moderate communitarianism are compatible with respecting the dignity of moral dissenters who oppose the Osu caste system. The result is somewhat surprising: while it is generally held that moderate communitarianism is compatible with respecting dignity, it is often thought that strong communitarianism is not. The final section (Section 4) considers and replies to objections. It concludes that an African relational framework lends strong support to respecting dignity in the case of moral dissent.

External quality assurance policy enactment in Samoa: a study in relational tension

ABSTRACT External quality assurance of higher education is possibly the most significant emergent policy within the higher education sector in recent times. This paper examines policy enactment in Samoa, highlighted in the relational tension between the national university and the national external quality assurance body. Research findings indicate that EQA policy enactment was characterised by tensions attributed to mutual distrust, uneven and unnegotiated power relationships, personality clashes at the decision-making level, and disagreement on policy ideas. I suggest that the reason for the drawn-out tension was due predominantly to inattention to the ethics of relationality which underpins Samoan social relations and the need to negotiate the vā in the policy enactment space. Moreover, the disconnect between quality assurance policy expectations and the contextual realities of a developing university was not addressed, further heightening policy tensions. Suggestions for reframing of EQA policy are put forward to support sustainable development of quality higher education in Samoa.

Dark Water: Rustum Kozain’s This Carting Life (2005)

Critical responses to Rustum Kozain’s This Carting Life (2005) foreground the poet’s archaeologies, geographies and landscapes to rehearse familiar land-based narratives regarding South Africa’s history of dispossession and disavowal. In this way, they render proverbially “dark” the ways in which the collection’s water and water-related conceptual grid animates affective and conceptual potentialities set resistantly adjacent to terrestrially mediated genealogies of exploitation and suffering. By contrast, this essay undertakes a three-part analysis of This Carting Life’s poetic hydrography. It first investigates the way water mediates Kozain’s apprehension of the interplay between local and global economies of extraction, displacement and dispossession. It then examines how his presentation of pluvial and nival temporalities challenges time scales conventionally desired by the nation-state. Finally, it considers the ways in which Kozain’s deployment of an aquatic bestiary for metaphoric, allegorical and material use animates more-than-human alternatives to human-centred economic, historical, ontological, and political assumptions. By reading This Carting Life “for water,” the essay reframes a collection of poetry located within the arguably hydrophasic context of the postcolonial South as an important literary precedent to a globally emergent hydrocommons and its concerns with relational ethics both within and beyond the limits of the human.

The Pedagogy of Reciprocity in Digital Applied Theatre Practice: The antithesis to unjust responses to the COVID-19 pandemic that have devalued and ignored the rights and lives of older adults living with dementia

In this article, I will offer case study insights into the value of digital applied theatre practice that has evolved to remain person-centred, valuing what Gail Mitchell et al. (2020) termed a ‘relational ethic of care' that seeks to enable active citizenship at the heart of hospital-based practice for patients living with dementia. ‘Innovating Knowledge Exchange: Student Involvement in Delivering Better Patient Experience in the NHS (National Health Service)', is a digital applied theatre project jointly funded by Research England and the Office for Students, in partnership with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust's Dementia Care Team. The project offers six interventions that happen via zoom to support patients living with dementia who have had little social interaction and thereby cognitive stimulation in COVID-19 and medicine for the elderly wards. The emphasis of each project is to create bespoke workshops that embody a term I have coined, a ‘pedagogy of reciprocity', which is an approach that has evolved over the course of the translation and implementation of the project practice in a digital form. The relationship between arts and health has a long, rich history, but recently known models of practice have either stopped or had to adapt to happen online through digital practice. Moving to online interventions can be exclusionary for artist practitioners who are less familiar with platforms such as Teams, Zoom, Google Meet and Skype, and for those who are familiar, the challenge of ensuring meaningful participation has been complicated. However, the need to continue to be responsive practitioners is vital, and the urgency for arts intervention to support positive wellbeing in the midst of the pandemic has only grown. Arts and healthcare hold a long-standing relationship that should not be compromised because of the necessity to traverse new terrain by entering the domain of the digital, I will argue that in fact this process is vital, and one that I will unpack and interrogate from my own experience working in a hospital during our third national UK lockdown and continuing digital arts and health projects. The reality of the pandemic and the severity of its impact on the mental health and wellbeing of older adults is profound. The International Psychogeriatric Association have discussed the ongoing impact on the mental health and wellbeing of older adults forced to socially isolate. This circumstance is unavoidable for the prevention of the spread of COVID-19, but the fear of contracting COVID-19, or not receiving hospital treatment for particular age brackets, and the impact of not being able to socialise with family and friends is causing a rise in suicide, anxiety, agitation and loneliness. Myrra Vernooij-Dassen (2020) argues that social, mental and cognitive health are not considered by policy makers, and the impact of a lack of social health for people living with dementia is particularly detrimental causing conditions to rapidly deteriorate without social interactions. In this article, I will set out the conceptual framework for the pedagogy of reciprocity as a methodology for responsive digital applied theatre practice that has emerged directly from my experience running projects in the pandemic in acute hospital settings.

A Relational Ethics of Pregnancy

A relational, feminist ethics of pregnancy sees the fetus as valuable both relationally and biologically, rather than minimized or ignored. Women are always at the center of ethical concern. To avoid gender-based discrimination, women’s bodily integrity, consent (to pregnancy), and physical “nestedness” (containment of the fetus within a person’s body) must be considered primary ethical concerns. This relational approach accounts for the significance of pregnancy and the grief of pregnancy loss while concurrently providing an ethical justification for abortion. This refined framework has significant benefits because it can address a spectrum of ethical issues that arise around pregnancy.

Strategi Hubungan Masyarakat dalam Meningkatkan Partisipasi Aktif Wali Murid di MTs Ihyaul Ulum Bluri Solokuro Lamongan

The public relations strategy in increasing the active participation of parents is one way to foster and develop a harmonious relationship between the school and the parents. MTs. Ihyaul Ulum Bluri Solokuro Lamongan is one of the educational institutions built through public relations activities, where the use of public relations activities advances the quality of the educational institution. Thus, schools realize the importance of parental support in order to advance and develop their education. This was done by the school so that more parents were interested in sending their children to the school and so that the participation of parents with the school could increase, so this research was carried out. This study aims to determine: first, how is the public relations strategy in increasing the active participation of parents?; second, about the factors supporting and inhibiting the public relations strategy in increasing the active participation of parents? This type of research includes qualitative research, by searching for data and then analyzing it using descriptive methods. The data sought using interview, observation and documentation techniques. The results of this study indicate that the public relations strategy in MTs. Ihyaul Ulum Bluri Solokuro Lamongan is an effort to realize the role of schools in providing quality education. In meeting these needs, the public relations strategy is carried out systematically. Starting from planning activities, public relations in increasing the active participation of parents who are carried out based on work meetings at the beginning of each semester, this refers to an analysis of the needs and desires of the internal and external community. Then the implementation of public relations is carried out according to a predetermined schedule, as for the types of active parental participation that have been carried out, namely: 1) Energy or physical participation, 2) Ideas or thoughts participation and 3) Fund participation. Then, program evaluation. In implementing the evaluation, MTs. Ihyaul Ulum Bluri holds a meeting every six months, namely before the odd semester, before the even semester and before the increase. The supporting factors in the field of public relations to carry out the program are: enthusiastic parents of students in supporting school activities and also school residents who have a high sense of belonging and enthusiasm for the progress of the school and strong brotherly bonds. Meanwhile, the inhibiting factor is that the parents do not understand the digital world, which is the biggest opportunity for the public relations field to run its program and the lack of funding as well as the lack of professionalism of public relations practitioners. As for the results of this study, it is recommended that in the future public relations practitioners are more optimal in applying the competence and code of ethics of public relations properly to make it easier for educational institutions to coordinate, plan, negotiate and build good relations between educational institutions and guardians of students.

The Study of Content Validity, Construct Validity, Reliability of the Relational Ethics Scale (RES) in the Thai Version

Objective: To assess content validity, construct validity, and reliability of Relational Ethics Scale (RES) in Thai version. Materials and Methods: The researcher translated RES into Thai and then translated back into English. Then, RES in Thai version was given to 120 patients aged between 18 to 60 years in Department of Psychiatry, HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Medical Center. Content validity was measured by item-objective congruence index (IOC). Construct validity was measured by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), referred from the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) and loading factor. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used for reliability measurement. Results: IOC of RES in Thai version was 0.86, RMSEA was 0.06, the loading factor of all questions >0.30, and overall internal consistency of RES was 0.96. Conclusion: RES in Thai version contained content validity and construct validity. If it is developed further to determine predictive, concurrent validity and determine sensitivity and specificity, it can be used for evaluation and treatment planning accurately in psychological intervention. Keywords: Relational ethics scale; Thai version; Vertical relationship; Horizontal relationship

Enactive Principles for the Ethics of User Interactions on Social Media: How to Overcome Systematic Misunderstandings Through Shared Meaning-Making

This paper proposes three principles for the ethical design of online social environments aiming to minimise the unintended harms caused by users while interacting online, specifically by enhancing the users’ awareness of the moral load of their interactions. Such principles would need to account for the strong mediation of the digital environment and the particular nature of user interactions: disembodied, asynchronous, and ambiguous intent about the target audience. I argue that, by contrast to face to face interactions, additional factors make it more difficult for users to exercise moral sensitivity in an online environment. An ethics for social media user interactions is ultimately an ethics of human relations mediated by a particular environment; hence I look towards an enactive inspired ethics in formulating principles for human interactions online to enhance or at least do not hinder a user’s moral sensitivity. This enactive take on social media ethics supplements classical moral frameworks by asking us to focus on the relations established through the interactions and the environment created by those interactions.

Relational research ethics and disengagement from collaborative research projects in higher education: A conceptual analysis

Research collaboration is a common practice in higher education, and so is the discourse of research ethics. However, the colonial orientation of some research as well as the managerial models of higher education practices undermine the connectedness and relationality of collaborative research. In this article, I argue this point with a focus on disengagement or withdrawal of collaborators from research projects before they are completed. I argue that this practice has ethical implications at various levels, especially the level of the researched or colonised communities. Drawing from multi-disciplinary literature, I follow a conceptual analysis method, focusing on research collaboration, research ethics and disengagement. The article identifies the types and benefits of collaborative research, as well as common reasons and ethical implications of disengagement from such projects. It concludes by recommending an extension of research ethics regulations to incorporate disengagement, in consideration of the relationality of collaborative research projects. Keywords: collaborative research, disengagement, relational ethics, managerialism, higher education

СТАНОВЛЕНИЕ ЭТИЧЕСКИХ ПРЕДСТАВЛЕНИЙ ПО ВОПРОСУ НАЗНАЧЕНИЯ ПОЖИЗНЕННОГО ЛИШЕНИЯ СВОБОДЫ В СОВРЕМЕННЫЙ ПЕРИОД

The purpose of the article is to analyze the emer-gence of ethical concepts on the imposition of life imprisonment in Russia. The author makes a histori-cal and legal review. Much attention is given to the legal ethics in rela-tion to imposition of life imprisonment. The authors emphasized that they faces with the internal and external side of this punishment. First, the authors prove that the imposition of such severe punishment changes not only the personality of the prisoner, but also his psychophysical state. Second, the public attitude to this measure of punishment is also ambig-uous. The author point out that the imposition of life imprisonment has a long history; the imposition of life imprisonment is now the most severe punishment due to the refusal of the death penalty. As a result, the authors draw a conclusion that the analysis shows the subordination of law to morality, which leads to the destruction of general concepts on the imposition of life imprisonment.