False Hope Research Articles

Still no bodies: Five years of “no body, no parole” in Queensland, Australia

“No body, no parole” laws have been introduced in and expanded across Australia since 2015. These reforms were politically premised on the notion of providing closure to victims’ families by compelling prisoners convicted of homicide offences to disclose the location of their victims’ remains in order to be considered eligible to apply for parole. These laws are in operation in most states and territories across Australia despite low national numbers of reported no body homicides. Most Australian jurisdictions do not publish parole decisions, and Queensland is one of only two jurisdictions that require no body, no parole decisions to be made public. This article reviews the roll-out of the “no body” laws in Queensland and considers the potential to misuse the victims’ movement for political gain. We examine the ten published decisions made by the Parole Board Queensland under s193A of the Corrective Services Act 2006 (Qld) to date and discuss the extent to which the legislative aims of the reforms have been met. We argue that there is little evidence these reforms have achieved their aims, and there is a risk that the politicization of parole regimes exploits the victims’ rights movement by offering victims’ families false hope.

Book Reviews

Nir Kedar, David Ben-Gurion and the Foundation of Israeli Democracy (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2021), 253 pp. Paperback, $35.00.Naphtaly Shem-Tov, Israeli Theatre: Mizrahi Jews and Self-Representation (London: Routledge, 2021), 202 pp. Hardback, $128.00.Mira Sucharov, Borders and Belonging: A Memoir (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), 183 pp. Paperback, $44.99.Lori Allen, A History of False Hope: Investigative Commissions in Palestine (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2020), 432 pp. Paperback, $30.00.Yael S. Aronoff, Ilan Peleg, and Saliba Sarsar, eds. Continuity and Change in Political Culture: Israel and Beyond. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2020), 257 pp. Hardcover, $105.00.

Expectativas de los profesionales sanitarios sobre el beneficio obtenido por intervenciones habituales en atención primaria

AimExamine the expectations expressed by healthcare professionals about the benefit of several primary prevention interventions that are usually carried out in The Primary Care Consultations with evidence from moderate-high validity studies. DesignDescriptive Cross-sectional Study by Survey. SittingSpanish Primary Healthcare Centers, between February 6 and May 5, 2020. ParticipantsGeneral Practitioner and other practicing Primary Care professionals. Main measurementsa) the number and percentage of participants whose estimate of benefit deviates from the benefit supported by the evidence; b) the magnitudes of OVERestimation, NORMOestimation and UNDERestimation of each participant and each professional subgroup. ResultsOf the 701 respondents (67% women), 694 answered all eight questions and 4 between one and seven. The overestimation of benefit in the 8 interventions ranged from 86% to 90% of all medical participants and between 90% and 96% of all nursing participants. ConclusionsMost of the surveyed (healthcare) professionals overestimate both, prevention activities and preventive treatments, this may lead them to instil false hope in patients, to put patients at risk of serious side effects arising from such interventions and to squander resources.

New Nurses' Perceptions on Transition to Practice: A Thematic Analysis.

New nurses' transition to the workforce is often described as challenging and stressful. Concerns over this transition to practice are well documented, with the hypothesis that transition experiences influence the retention of new nurses in the workforce and profession. In a cross-sectional survey (N = 217) to assess new nurse transition in the province of Ontario, Canada, an open-ended item was included to solicit specific examples of the transition experience. The comments underwent thematic analysis to identify the facilitators and barriers of transition to practice for new nurses. Comments were provided by 196 respondents. Three facilitator themes (supportive teams; feeling accepted, confident, and prepared; new graduate guarantee) and four barrier themes (feeling unprepared; discouraging realities and unsupportive cultures; lacking confidence/feeling unsure; false hope) to new nurse transition emerged. Concerns of nursing shortages are heightened in the current COVID-19 pandemic, reinforcing the priority of retaining new nurses in the workforce. The reported themes offer insight into the contribution of a supportive work environment to new nurses' transition. The recommendations focus on aspects of supportive environments and educational strategies, including final practicums, to assist nursing students' development of self-efficacy and preparation for the workplace.

Health-care providers’ perception and communication about traditional and complementary medicine in childhood cancer in Indonesia

BackgroundTraditional and complementary medicine (T&CM) usage in childhood cancer is common. Effective communication about T&CM is a keystone in successful childhood cancer treatment to prevent abandonment of conventional cancer treatment. This study explored health-care providers’ (HCP) perception and communication about T&CM in childhood cancer care. MethodsA cross-sectional study at an Indonesian academic hospital using semi-structured questionnaires. ResultsAltogether,175 HCP (response rate 83%) participated. Only 2% of HCP describe their view on T&CM as positive. Most HCP (90%) think that their cancer patients use T&CM.Main concerns about T&CM of HCP are: giving false hope to vulnerable patients (88%), lack of evidence that T&CM works (87%), and their own limited T&CM knowledge (80%). Significantly more doctors (88%) than other HCP (69%) are concerned about doctor's inadequate knowledge of T&CM (P = 0.006). Almost all HCP (96%) think that parents should receive guidance by doctors in hospital about potential beneficial and harmful effects of T&CM. HCP (91%) find it important that parents inform them if their child with cancer uses T&CM. Yet, only 5% of HCP always ask parents whether they use T&CM. Most HCP think that parents are afraid to disclose their T&CM use to doctors (78%) and subsequently do not inform their doctors (76%) out of fear to receive less care from doctors (55%). Parents actually do receive less care from doctors if they disclose interest in T&CM according to 31% of HCP. ConclusionHCP should update their knowledge about T&CM. Doctors should openly discuss T&CM with parents, without penalizing them after T&CM disclosure.

PASTRY: A nursing-developed quality improvement initiative to combat moral distress.

High levels of moral distress in nursing professionals, of which oncology nurses are particularly prone, can negatively impact patient care, job satisfaction, and retention. "Positive Attitudes Striving to Rejuvenate You: PASTRY" was developed at a tertiary cancer center to reduce the burden of moral distress among oncology nurses. A Quality Improvement (QI) initiative was conducted using a pre- and post-intervention design, to launch PASTRY and measure its impact on moral distress of the nursing unit, using Hamric's Moral Distress Scale-Revised (MDS-R.) This program consisted of monthly 60-minute sessions allowing nurses to address morally distressing events and themes, such as clinicians giving "false hope" to patients or families. The PASTRY program sessions were led by certified clinicians utilizing strategies of discussion and mind-body practices. Clinical nurses working on an adult leukemia/lymphoma unit. This was a QI initiative, participation was voluntary, MDS-R responses were collected anonymously, and the institution's Ethics Committee oversaw PASTRY's implementation. While improvement in moral distress findings were not statistically significant, the qualitative and quantitative findings demonstrated consistent themes. The PASTRY program received strong support from nurses and institutional leaders, lowered the nursing unit's moral distress, led to enhanced camaraderie, and improved nurses' coping skills. Measurement of moral distress is innately challenging due to its complexity. This study reinforces oncology nurses have measurable moral distress. Interventions should be implemented for a safe and healing environment to explore morally distressing clinical experiences. Poor communication among multidisciplinary team members is associated with moral distress among nurses. Programs like PASTRY may empower nurses to build support networks for change within themselves and institutions. This QI initiative shows further research on moral distress reduction should be conducted to verify findings for statistical significance and so that institutional programs, like PASTRY, can be created.

Central Bank Communication with the General Public: Promise or False Hope?

Central Bank Communication with the General Public: Promise or False Hope?

Central Bank Communication with the General Public: Promise or False Hope?

Central Bank Communication with the General Public: Promise or False Hope?

False Hopes: How National Leaders’ Corporate Visits Affect Industry Peers

False Hopes: How National Leaders’ Corporate Visits Affect Industry Peers

Why the impacts of climate change may make us less likely to reduce emissions

Non-technical summary A widely held belief is that once the impacts of warming are experienced more directly and substantially, especially by affluent populations, the necessary support for a politics prioritising ambitious emissions reductions will follow. But consideration of the indirect socioeconomic impacts of warming suggests this could be false hope. Technical summary There is some evidence to support the common intuition that, as the direct impacts of warming intensify – particularly in the affluent Global North – a politics ambitious enough to confront the climate emergency may finally find support. However, it seems at least equally likely that the opposite trend will prevail. This proposition can be understood by considering various indirect impacts of warming, including the widening of socioeconomic inequalities (within and between countries), increases in migration (intra- and inter-nationally) and heightened risk of conflict (from violence and war through to hate speech and crime). Compiling these impacts reveals a considerable and highly inconvenient overlap with key drivers of the authoritarian populism that has proliferated in the 21st century. It highlights the risk of a socio-ecological feedback loop where the consequences of warming create a political environment entirely at odds with that required to reduce emissions. Such a future is, of course, far from inevitable. Nonetheless, the risks highlight the urgent need to find public support for combined solutions to climate change and inequality, which go well beyond the status-quo. This is necessary not only for reasons of economic and climate justice, but in order to mitigate political barriers to carbon mitigation itself. Social media summary As the impacts of warming are experienced more directly and substantially, we may vote for precisely the wrong people.

Alienation and Disillusionment Portrayed Through the Mirror of Diaspora and Globalization in Hary Kunzru’s <i>Transmission</i>

From the beginning of civilization people have shifted from one place to another for better living and for seeking different opportunities. It is true that globalization is changing this world to a small village but people are becoming more and more forlorn and alienated. In most of the third world countries, western world is considered to be a better place to live in; this leads to disillusionment in several of the cases. Hari Kunzru’s <i>Transmission</i> deals with a character named Arjun Mehta, a programmer, who goes to America to pursue his dreams in the corporate world. Soon he learns he is just a contract employee despite all his capabilities. His largest blow comes when he realizes his job life is about to end. He is isolated though he is surrounded by people and co-workers. To prove his worth, he creates a virus which generated a global havoc. The writer very skilfully introduces another character named Guy Swift whose life goes parallel to Arjun. Unlike Arjun, Guy enjoys all the luxuries of the world; the contrast is perplexing. The virus which Arjun created affected Guy’s life too, showing the smallness of this world and how everything more or less affects everyone. Hary Kunzru tactfully put Guy in a situation where he was deported to another country due to a confusion regarding his identity; the writer has turned the table and showed how it can be when one person is not from a powerful country. Our world does not treat everyone equally: in this globalized world, people are alienated and are given false hope. Arjun lost his identity and his sense of home: he did not have any place to belong. This paper has worked with the disenchantment of Arjun and how his life changed by going to America. This paper has discussed about the brutal world of materialism where people are considered just as a working body: with no feelings whatsoever. The borders are said to be vanishing but people are becoming more and more depressed and lonely. Everyone wants to leave a mark, everyone wants to be noticed like Arjun but most of the times they go unnoticed. This paper has tried to discuss the reason behind these crises and hoped to come up with some answers.

Central Bank Communication with the General Public: Promise or False Hope?

Central Bank Communication with the General Public: Promise or False Hope?

Engineering Students’ Affective Response to Climate Change

In an engineering writing course whose theme is climate change and engineering, I foreground climate change as an ethical problem. At the end of the semester, I ask students to compare their attitudes toward climate change from when they began the course to their attitudes at the end. Some report that, as a result of knowing more about the difficulty and scale of the problem, they have become more pessimistic about our ability to solve it. Climate change despair has been studied from several disciplinary perspectives. Here, I approach the issue from an ethical perspective. My question is, how should I address students’ affective responses to climate change? After providing background on the course and the students’ attitudes, I review the literature on the ethics of climate change despair, hope, and false hope. I then argue for a pedagogy that guides students toward a critical hope and engineering praxis.

Orphan Diseases in the Focus of Knowledge of Non-рrofessionals: To the Problem of the Influence of Patient Experience on the Development of Medicine

The problem of self-organization of patient communities and parental self-help groups created to combat orphan diseases is considered, and in this context, the process of forming alternative research practices to academic science and obtaining the necessary knowledge about orphan diseases is studied. On the example of a number of incidents, it was shown that the formation of special epistemological regimes, where non-professionals play an active role in the formation of a body of knowledge about rare diseases, is realized in the following trends: 1) the scientific community by creating new forms of science management; 2) the demand to speed up the conduct of experimental scientific research, regardless of the established medical ethos (the phenomenon of false hope) and normative practices that control the development of science; 3) an effort, without conflicting with medical science, to create alternative sources of knowledge. The development of special epistemological regimes, in which both scientists and non-professionals are involved in the process of obtaining knowledge, is built on the principles of solidarity and convergence of efforts, and is associated with the democratization of the process of obtaining knowledge.

Trapped in the Wrong Body? Transgender Identity Claims, Body-Self Dualism, and the False Promise of Gender Reassignment Therapy.

In this article, I explore difficult and sensitive questions regarding the nature of transgender identity claims and the appropriate medical treatment for those suffering from gender dysphoria. I first analyze conceptions of transgender identity, highlighting the prominence of the wrong-body narrative and its dualist presuppositions. I then briefly argue that dualism is false because our bodily identity (including our body's biological organization for sexual reproduction as male or female) is essential and intrinsic to our overall personal identity and explain why a sound, nondualist anthropology implies that gender identity cannot be entirely divorced from sexual identity. Finally, I make the case that arguments in favor of hormonal and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria rest on this mistaken dualist anthropology, and that these treatments therefore give false hope to those suffering from gender dysphoria, while causing irreversible bodily harm and diverting attention from underlying psychological problems that often need to be addressed. I also briefly discuss how these philosophical claims relate to empirical studies on the outcomes of hormonal and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria and to testimonies of transgender individuals who regret having undergone these treatments.

Nexus between tithing and prosperity in United Missionary Church of Africa, Nigeria

Tithing, which refers to the practice of giving one-tenth of one‟s income or produce for religious purposes, is a prominent Judaeo-Christian pactice. Extant studies have focused more on the controversy surrounding the applicability of the Old Testament tithing law to Christians than its connection to the lived experience of tithers. Therefore, this study juxtaposes the practice of tithing with lived experiences of tithers in United Missionary Church of Africa (UMCA), Northcentral Nigeria with a view to ascertaining the extent to which compliance to the tithing injunction elicits God‟s blessing. This enquiry becomes germane due to the emphasis of pro-tithing churches on the inevitable nexus between prosperity and tithing. In-depth interviews were conducted on 32 purposively selected pastors and deacons: eight from each of the four language-groups districts — English-speaking district (ESD), Nupe-speaking district (NSD), Yoruba-speaking district (YSD) and Hausa-speaking district (HSD) — of UMCA. Copies of a questionnaire were administered on 757 randomly selected church members across the four language-group districts. Qualitative data were subjected to content analysis, while quantitative data were subjected to percentages. UMCA mmbers think of blessing attached to tithing largely as economic emancipation, health and security. However, the survey shows that occasional tithers experienced sickness: ESD (44.4%), NSD (54.3%), YSD (32.2%) and HSD (42.0%); financial difficulty: ESD (45.1%), NSD (78.3%), YSD (49.3%) and HSD (58.6%); and robbery: ESD (23.8%), NSD (16.0%), YSD (16.4%) and HSD (14.0%). Also, regular tithers avowed experiencing sickness: ESD (42.4%), NSD (77.9%), YSD (41.7%) and HSD (53.2%); financial difficulty: ESD (53.8%), NSD (95.4%), YSD (66.3%) and HSD (61.6%); and robbery: ESD (32.0%), NSD (27.7%), YSD (30.2%) and HSD (18.9%). Conversely, a good percentage of non-tithers claimed that they do not have such experiences in connection to defaulting in tithing; ESD (55.6%), NSD (66.7%), YSD (70.0%) and HSD (78.6%). The paper argues that a balanced teaching on material prosperity that does not give false hope and expectations to people should be re-emphasised among Christians generally and in UMCA specifically.

The impact of the COVID pandemic on prematurity rates: Conflicting results, publication ethics and academic frustration

The impact of the COVID pandemic on prematurity rates: Conflicting results, publication ethics and academic frustration

The answerability of false hope: Examining the unexpected outcomes of the Finnexia® public art intervention

This article examines the unexpected ethical issues that emerged from Finnexia ® , a performance art intervention. Finnexia consisted of an advertisement campaign for a fictitious medication that helps people learn the Finnish language. Presented in the Helsinki Central Railway Station, the Finnexia performance aimed to generate a space for public dialogue about the experience of immigrants in Finland and the process of learning the Finnish language. On a secondary level, Finnexia presented a satirical critique towards the excess of medicalization in society. Through a detailed description of the Finnexia performance and its outcomes, the author examines the complexity of ethical issues that emerged from the Finnexia performance. The responsibility of the artist is discussed in the context of public performance in art practice and in artistic research. The author proposes that artists approach ethical considerations during the creative process through self-reflection, dialogue with fellow performers and in consultation with experts in the field.

Adolescent Fertility Preservation: Where Do We Stand Now.

Adolescence is a period of flux for many body systems. While fertility potential typically increases after menarche, there are diseases where the opposite occurs and fertility preservation options need to be considered early. In cases of cancer, options vary by pubertal status and can include ovarian tissue cryopreservation, oocyte cryopreservation, sperm cryopreservation, and testicular tissue cryopreservation. Much remains to be learned about fertility and preservation options in those with differences in sexual development (DSDs); however, depending on the form of DSD, fertility preservation may not be necessary. Similarly, traditional fertility counseling in children with galactosemia may need to be changed, as data suggest that fertility rates attributed to other causes of premature ovarian insufficiency may not be as applicable to this disease. Adolescents with Turner's syndrome are at high risk for premature ovarian failure; therefore, it is important to consider options as early as possible since ovarian reserves are depleted quickly. On the other hand, transgender and gender diverse adolescents may even be able to undergo fertility preservation after starting hormone therapy. In all cases, there are additional ethical components including technical/surgical risks in childhood, offering experimental therapies without creating false hope and evaluating children's consent and assent capabilities that must be considered.

832 Groin Hernia Should Remain A Clinical Diagnosis -- An Evidence-Based Study

Abstract Introduction British Hernia Society (BHS) 2013 guidelines1 suggest that groin hernia diagnostic investigation should not be done at the primary care level. Nevertheless, General Practitioners refer patients with a positive ultrasound finding of groin hernia to secondary care. As a result, patients have false hopes that their symptoms would resolve if the ultrasound finding is addressed. The study aims to find the positive predictive value (PPV) for groin ultrasound for hernia and should the primary care physicians request the scan before referral to secondary care. Method A retrospective audit of outcome of patients referred to a general surgical department for groin hernia treatment. The study looked at elective groin hernia referrals for the period between June and August 2019. Results 127 patients were electively treated for groin hernia in secondary care. 40% of the patients had ultrasounds before treatment. The GP requested 78% of the ultrasounds. A positive finding was the reason for the referral. Two patients (5%) in this group had negative operative findings. 24 herniograms over 57 months for patients referred with positive ultrasound and negative clinical findings showed only 2 had positive findings (8%). None of the negative patients returned to the same hospital for groin hernia treatment until date. Conclusions It is recommended that the diagnostic tests for groin hernia be requested by the operating surgeon as per the BHS guidelines. Patients should not be subjected to hernia operations based on ultrasound findings as the PPV for this investigation is very low for patients who have negative clinical findings.2