Hard Life Research Articles

“THE SERMON ON THE DEC EASED” BY HRYHORII TSAMBLAK: RECENSIONS, POETICS, AND STYLE

The copy of “The Sermon on the Deceased” by Hryhorii Tsamblak, preserved in the library of the Kyiv Cave Monastery, was written in the 16th or early 17th century at the Belarusian Suprasl Monastery. This sermon is a part of the so-called “Hryhorii Tsamblak’s Book,” which may have been compiled by the author himself during his tenure as Kyivan metropolitan. The examined copy of the “The Sermon on the Deceased” and the copy of the same work kept in the scientific library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences in Vilnius are of Belarusian origin and differ significantly from the copies created in the Moscow principality. Therefore, it can be assumed that the Kyiv and Vilnius codices originate from a common protograph that was modified either by the author himself or by a scribe in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In “The Sermon on the Deceased,” Hryhorii Tsamblak shares his thoughts on the Christian custom of commemorating the dead. The preacher optimistically proclaims an eschatological perspective for Christians. The didactic purpose of Tsamblak’s sermon is to illuminate the futility of earthly concerns and efforts. The ontological perspective for the righteous pertains to the hope of the resurrection of the dead and eternal life. Based on numerous examples of human activity, such as the hard lives of warriors, farmers, sailors, and ore miners, the preacher attempts to illustrate the concept of “the vanity of vanities” and “the hurricane of human life that passes quickly.” Tsamlak argues that the Christian’s axiology should oppose the cult of enrichment, power, and vanity. Metaphorically and symbolically, he portrays the work of a farmer hoping for a good harvest, which represents the imperishable — eternal life in Christ. “The Sermon on the Deceased” was influenced by the sermons of John Chrysostom and, probably, by one of the works of Macarius the Great. The style of Tsamblak’s sermon can be defined as emotionally expressive.

Four Self-Replications to Assess the Robustness of Recent Lab Findings: Replications of Studies From Cheek and Ward (2019), Cheek, Schwartz, and Shafir (2023), Cheek and Murray (2023), and Cheek (2023)

This paper reports four preregistered replications (total N = 2,008) of previously published studies from our lab. The first study replicates Cheek and Ward (2019) Study 3, which found that people want more options when adopting a maximizing goal of making the best possible choice compared to a satisficing goal of making a “good enough” choice. The second study replicates Cheek, Schwartz, and Shafir (2023) Study 2, which found that larger choice sets make choices feel more self-expressive even when they do not afford better preference matching. The third study replicates Cheek and Murray (2023) Supplemental Study 5, which found that people’s intuitions about adaptation to psychophysical experiences are associated with their intuitions about adaptation to life hardship. The final study replicates Cheek (2023) Study 4, which found that an informational intervention can reduce the biased belief that individuals in poverty are less vulnerable to harm than higher-income individuals. We successfully replicated all of the original effects, increasing confidence in the earlier findings.

Exploring the Institutional and Personal Determinants of Social Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Cross-Country Analysis

In this dynamic world with complex social, ecological, and economic problems, social entrepreneurship has emerged as a beacon of hope since the beginning of this century. The present study analyzes personal and country-level institutional antecedents of social entrepreneurial intentions (SEI) among business students of universities in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Romania and the USA. Our surveys resulted in a total of 788 valid responses (precisely 148 respondents from the USA, 242 from Romania, 213 from Malaysia, and 185 from Bangladesh). The research findings demonstrate that personal factors such as prior hardship in life and prior entrepreneurial experience are significant predictors of SEI, across the four country samples. From the institutional perspective, perceived social support has a positive influence on SEI in all the country samples except the USA, while entrepreneurial knowledge has a positive influence on SEI in the USA, Malaysia, and Bangladesh samples but not in the Romanian sample. However, the regulatory volatility does not affect SEI in any of the country samples except Bangladesh, where it has a positive impact.

Pathways to suicide for children and youth in Guyana: A life charts analysis

Background: Suicide is the third leading cause of death among youth aged 15 to 29 years old globally. Guyana has the highest rate of youth suicide in the world, yet only limited research exists. Aim: The aim of this study is to identify key features of the suicide pathway for Guyanese children and youth and to distinguish meaningful subgroups. Method: The psychological autopsy (PA) method was used to generate life charts for 15 Guyanese children and youth (10–29 years) who died by suicide. Nineteen close contacts of these individuals were interviewed about the life events of the decedent between 6 months and 5 years after their death. Semi-structured interviews lasting 30 to 150 min took place between November 2021 and January 2022. The interview data were converted into life charts and these were reviewed to uncover meaningful subgroups of suicide pathways. Results: Three groups with distinct suicide pathways were identified: hard life (46%), mental illness (20%) and interpersonal stress (20%). There were also two male youths for whom the suicidal antecedents and pathways were unclear. Interpersonal stress, alcohol, exposure to suicide and family history of suicide were common factors identified across groups. Conclusions: The findings emphasise the role of both acute and protracted interpersonal stress for child and youth suicide in Guyana. The structure and dynamics of Indo-Guyanese families are discussed. Interventions recommended include enhancing child and youth community engagement, improving mental health and suicide literacy, alcohol restriction, increasing access to support services, and reducing stigma.

The Gypsy condition in Kiskunhalas: work, consumption, and indebtedness after socialism

ABSTRACT The article outlines the recent history of the Gypsy minority in the town of Kiskunhalas, Bács-Kiskun county, with an emphasis on its changing economic situation. Gypsy households benefited from secure employment until the late 1980s. Some of them were able to profit from the embourgeoisement opportunities available to all citizens in the socialist mixed economy. Under postsocialist conditions, however, most Gypsies face uncertainty and hardship in everyday life. Theoretically, the article engages with the work of Michael Stewart, who has argued that the demise of socialism and the replacement of central planning and compulsory wage-labour by the freedoms of market society brought opportunities for Gypsies to prosper economically, as well as to reassert a cultural identity which had been stymied for decades. I argue that this libertarian perspective overlooks the very real disadvantages that most members of the minority experienced after 1990, and which they have continued to experience in different forms under Fidesz-led governments since 2010. Like the poorest segments of the ethnic Hungarian population, Gypsies are exposed to neoliberal capitalism in its distinctive postsocialist populist form. The article concludes with an exploration of everyday financialization: indebtedness entrenches class differences and has negative consequences for persons, households and communities.

Considerations on the Setting of Cervantes’s Captivity Narratives

This study aims to explore the issues of Islamophobia and Christian ideology prevalent in Spanish society in the 16th and early 17th centuries by examining the slave trade conducted by Barbary corsairs and the hard lives of Christian captives depicted in the literary works of Miguel de Cervantes, and to highlight his efforts to overcome the clash of civilizations between Christianity and Islam. To achieve this goal, first, the study delves into the historical context of the clash between Spain and Islam in the Mediterranean during the 16th century. Cervantes, who took part in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, was captured by Barbary corsairs on his return from military service and spent five years as a captive in the Bagnio of Algiers. The painful experience left indelible marks on his works. This study focuses on the dual meaning of Orientalism in his works. One prevalent form of Orientalism in Spain and Europe during that period portrayed Muslims as barbaric and anti-Christian. However, Cervantes presented an alternative Orientalism to propose a pathway to co-existence, rather than conflict, between civilizations and religions. Therefore, this study explores how Cervantes, even though he himself was a victim of the clash of civilizations, sought to overcome the confrontations and conflicts in his works, rather than perpetuating the prevalent Islamophobia of his time.

The hard life of an octopus embryo is seen through gene expression, energy metabolism, and its ability to neutralize radical oxygen species

The reproductive process in Octopus maya was analyzed to establish the amount of reactive oxygen species that the embryos inherit from females, during yolk synthesis. At the same time, respiratory metabolism, ROS production, and the expression of some genes of the antioxidant system were monitored to understand the ability of embryos to neutralize maternal ROS and those produced during development. The results indicate that carbonylated proteins and peroxidized lipids (LPO) were transferred from females to the embryos, presumably derived from the metabolic processes carried out during yolk synthesis in the ovary. Along with ROS, females also transferred to embryos glutathione (GSH), a key element of the antioxidant defense system, thus facilitating the neutralization of inherited ROS and those produced during development. Embryos are capable of neutralizing ROS thanks to the early expression of genes such as catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), which give rise to the synthesis of enzymes when the circulatory system is activated. Also, it was observed that the levels of the routine metabolic rate of embryos are almost as high as those of the maximum activity metabolism, which leads, on the one hand, to the elevated production of ROS and suggests that, at this stage of the life cycle in octopuses, energy production is maximum and is physically limited by the biological properties inherent to the structure of embryonic life (oxygen transfer through the chorion, gill surface, pumping capacity, etc.). Due to its role in regulating vascularization, a high expression of HIf-1A during organogenesis suggests that circulatory system development has begun in this phase of embryo development. The results indicate that the routine metabolic rate and the ability of O. maya embryos to neutralize the ROS are probably the maximum possible. Under such circumstances, embryos cannot generate more energy to combat the free radicals produced by their metabolism, even when environmental factors such as high temperatures or contaminants could demand excess energy.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OUTBOUND MANAGEMENT TRAINING WITH GAME TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ SELF-ADJUSTMENT

Students need to adjust because, as adult individuals, they must deal with the expectations and hardships of college life. One of the initiatives to promote personal mental health is self-adjustment. The inability to adapt to daily life in various social environments can cause unhappiness for someone, especially students. One effort to improve student adjustment is through outbound management training using game techniques. The aim of this research is to determine the effectiveness of outbound management training using game techniques to improve student adjustment. This research is quantitative research with a one-group pretest posttest research design. The research subjects were 12 students from the Guidance and Counseling Study Program at PGRI Madiun University. The sampling technique uses the purposive sampling technique. The data collection technique uses a self-adjustment scale consisting of 15 items referring to the Psychology of Adjustment theory, including four components, namely accurate perception of reality, ability to overcome stress and anxiety, positive self-image, ability to express feelings, and good interpersonal relationships. The data analysis technique uses the Wilcoxon signed rank test. The research results show that outbound management training is effective in improving students' adjustment to everyday life.

The struggle that is phenylketonuria: What do the patients and caregivers suffer from.

To assess stress levels and life hardships of patients with phenylketonuria and their parents. Between January 2020 and June 2020, 156 patients with PKU and their parents who arrived for regular examinations were included. Parents were asked to complete the parenting stress index, Zarit Burden Scale, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and children over the age of 11 were asked to fill the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the SDQ. We found a significant negative correlation between the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and age at diagnosis (r = -0.27, P = .035), mother's age (r = -0.33, P = .009), and father's age (r = -0.38, P = .004). There was a significant positive correlation between the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and patient's age (r = 0.36, P = .006), mother's age (r = 0.29, P = .031) and father's age (r = 0.38, P = .024). In the child form of the SDQ, emotional problems were significantly positively correlated with serum phenylalanine (Phe) levels at diagnosis (r = 0.35, P = .036), total points were significantly positively correlated with serum Phe levels at clinical examination (r = -0.34, P = .004), and social problems were significantly negatively correlated with the father's age (r = -0.34, P = .047). We found a significant positive correlation between the Zarit Burden Scale and number of siblings (r = 0.195, P = .023). In the parent form of the SDQ, emotional problems were significantly positively correlated with patient age (r = 0.217, P = .032), peer problems were significantly positively correlated with age at diagnosis (r = 0.211, P = .037), behavioral problems (r = 0.203, P = .045), and attention deficit and hyperactivity (r = 0.203, P = .045) were significantly positively correlated with serum Phe levels at diagnosis. Phenylketonuria is difficult to cope with both for the patients and their parents because of diet obligation, high expenditures for the formulas required for the diet, requirement of regular clinical examinations, and possible development of mental disability and psychiatric disorders. Patients and their families should be psychologically evaluated and support should be provided if needed.

Religious Movements in Some Southeast Asian Countries at The Beginning of the 20th Century

Southeast Asia is an economic and culturally rich hub, one of the cradles of human history where diverse and vibrant cultures converge. Particularly, the religious landscape in Southeast Asian countries at the beginning of the 20th century vividly manifested in the movements against colonialism and imperialistic invasions by various nations. Class conflicts within society, coupled with unresolved contradictions, and the hardships of life in a tumultuous social context, led people to turn to religion. The study analyzes the characteristics of religious movements in some Southeast Asian countries in the early 20th century, thereby drawing some conclusions about religious movements in Southeast Asian countries in the early 20th century. In the process of approaching the problem, the author uses research methods such as text analysis, logic-history, unity between synchronic and diachronic perspectives, and analysis-synthesis... These research methods are applied by the author in a consistent dialectical manner to provide a comprehensive and specific research approach suitable to the current task. Developing humanistic values in religion will play an important role in preventing all personality corruption and helping people adjust their behavior and social relationships, contributing to stabilizing social order and safety. Religious movements in Southeast Asian countries in the early twentieth century contributed to spreading noble humanistic values in religion.

Racial-Ethnic Gaps in Pandemic-Related Economic Hardship: Age Differences Among Older Adults.

Racial-ethnic disparities in experiences of economic hardship during the pandemic are well documented in the population overall and among older adults. Existing research shows that this economic hardship was much less common at older than younger ages. Little is known about the intersection of racial-ethnic and age disparities in pandemic-related hardship in later life. This research report investigated racial-ethnic gaps in economic hardship by age group among older adults. Data were from the 2018 and 2020 U.S. Health and Retirement Study (HRS) including the 2020 coronavirus disease 2019 module. We estimated Heckman-corrected linear probability models to examine differences in experiences of pandemic-related economic hardship in the 2020 HRS by race-ethnicity (non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, U.S.-born Hispanic, foreign-born Hispanic) across age groups (55-64, 65-74, 75+). In the multivariable analysis, we controlled for sociodemographic characteristics, participation in social programs, pre-existing health conditions and behaviors, and economic resources from the 2018 HRS. Experiences of economic hardship declined with age within each racial-ethnic group. Racial-ethnic gaps in hardship remained at older ages without any controls. However, when all controls were added, racial-ethnic gaps in economic hardship were eliminated for those ages 75+. Individual characteristics prior to the pandemic explained racial-ethnic differences in hardship for the oldest adults (75+) but did not explain gaps for those ages 55-74. Results point to structural factors generating new racial-ethnic gaps in pandemic-related economic hardship among those approaching retirement (ages 55-74) that did not affect the oldest adults (ages 75+).

Introducing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in K12 Education to Foster 21st Century Skills: From Theory to Practice

This paper focuses on the interdisciplinary and collaborative approach underpinning the European funded project Edu4AI “Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to Foster 21st Century Skills in Secondary Education”. The methodology has been conceived to enhance the practice of teaching from course design to content delivery, drawing inspiration from social constructivist theories, and inquiry project based learning instructional methods, combining elements from the maker movement and the educational robotics platforms. The final output of this process has been a particle handbook that comprises ready to use project toolkits, suitable to guide the seamless integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in K12 school curricula, including non-scientific ones. The paper introduces the theoretical frameworks inspiring the toolkits that have been created cooperatively with the teachers’ community and piloted in the school real contexts for validation. One of the toolkit projects is also presented in the article, outlining the corresponding learning goals in terms of both hard and transversal life skills acquired, in order to ensure correspondence with students' learning outcomes evaluation. Following the presentation of the results from questionnaires collected during the project, the article concludes with some key recommendations for practitioners willing to replicate the initiative.

청소년 어머니의 정서지능 기반 부모교육 참여경험 내러티브 탐구

Objectives This study was conducted to explore in-depth the actual participation experience of a mother with adolescents participating in emotional intelligence-based parent education and the meaning of the experiences. Methods To this end, emotional intelligence-based parent education was conducted from September to November 2023, and data were collected through face-to-face interviews three times by selecting one parent participant with adolescents. It was analyzed in the three-dimensional narrative inquiry’s space proposed by Clandinin & Connelly(2000) to interpret vivid experiences and their meanings in the context of the participant's life stories naturally and spontaneously. Results There were 3 experience domains and 1 semantic domains and 15 lower categories. The first domain were ‘desperate desire to become an expert and be comfortable from a empty heart’ as the motivation. The sec-ond domain were ‘I'm afraid I'm going to be hurt’, ‘I'm desperate to fill my childhood parent position’, ‘the moment when a spark bursts while doing my best to play the role of a parent’, ‘mother constantly cracking down on me for fear of being told that I raised my child wrong’, ‘I'm living a hard life without a break and collapsing because of my emotions,’ and ‘I pretend to be okay outside and I'm acting like a comedian.’ The third domain were ‘the joy of warm support and care toward me’, ‘the courage to experience deep inner fears’, and ‘the person who grows into true self-understanding’. Conclusions In the process of recognizing and understanding oneself, who unilaterally controlled and demanded change in relationships with children, it led to inner growth. The meaning of the participation experience in emo-tional intelligence parental education became an inflection point not only for the relationship with the children but also for the change in one's own growth through true meeting with oneself.

(Un)known dimensions of remote education. Childhood in the shadow of the pandemic

The academic discourse concerning the child and childhood has evolved over the years from treating children as “little adults” to approaching the child as a being who needs to be cared for and protected from the hardships of life—to a perception of the child as a “person at the stage of formation”: one requiring care and favourable conditions for proper development. The pandemic and the need to move pupils' school functioning to the online mode turned out to be a truly special and (so far) unknown situation. Protecting childhood during the pandemic has not only become a necessity of the moment but still remains an important challenge for teachers/parents—mainly in terms of its effects on the emotional and social functioning of children and adolescents. Drawing on my teaching experience and selected research findings, I would like to examine the problems of remote education more closely. The long-term social and even economic effects of school closings will surely be felt for years to come. Therefore, the question is legitimate: How do we face the reality of new challenges and threats? Above all, how can we protect childhood in such difficult circumstances?How can we minimise these actual and anticipated adverse effects – first and foremost concerning children – but also their parents and teachers? The conclusions – constituting the analyses' results – shed light on the complex problems associated with remote education.However, the primary task is to protect the child from the negative challenges of the modern world and treat childhood as an important biographical experience—a foundation on which they can safely grow their own lives.

Fictional faces of female suicide: Qualitative analysis of selected Russian-language texts of the school reader

IntroductionIsaiah Berlin’s (1948) exploration of the self-searching of Russian thinkers includes studies of the writers – Tolstoy and others (now – Russian-language texts of the school reader). These studies refute a widespread misconception about the relations between Russian writers and thinkers: namely, that in Russia literature and radical thought form two distinct traditions related only by mutual hostility. The works of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Karamzin, Leskov, Ostrovsky, and of minor novelists too, are penetrated with a sense of their own time, of this or that particular social and historical milieu and its ideological content, to an even higher degree than the ‘social’ novels of the west. The personal characteristics of suicide victims, heroines of Russian literature, along with the gender aspects, deserve attention in suicidal behavior (SP) focus.ObjectivesTo study personal characteristics of suicide victims, heroines of fiction.MethodsQualitative analysis of selected Russian-language texts of the school reader.ResultsAt the dawn of literature, we have seen fiery heroines and tremulous victims in the arms of death. Аs psychology approach was developed, and we get acquainted with the tragiс backstory. Psychotypes of suicides are exaggerated and overlapped. «Hysterical»: manipulative, frigid nymphomaniac (e.g., Anna Karenina). «Freedom-loving rebel» (i.e., Katerina reincarnations from A. Ostrovsky) in conditions of excessive regulation. «She-Devil, or Rebel Without a Cause». The obsession with death turns into a criminal and a victim (e.g., «Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk» by N. Leskov, Turgenev’s Susanna or Klara Milich). The image of a vindictively furious («velvet and tiger claws») woman descends to the Victorian view of female self-will. «Mimosa» is a sensitive, dreamy person, unable to resist the hardships of life, dependent (dies with her beloved, objection). In suicide, the strength of weakness is the outcome of a humiliating life (e.g., Karamzin’s «Poor Liza», «A Gentle Creature» by F. Dostoevsky. The meaning of suicides is the following: a call (to compassion, salvation), a «cry for help», atonement for one’s (imaginary) – someone else’s (by proxy) guilt, and release from encumbrance.ConclusionsFiction and life are united by emotionally unstable characters and/or depression as markers of unsatisfactory resilience. The cultural diversity of gender patterns and interpretations of SP challenges the essentialist view that «femininity» and marriage are protective factors. SP patterns illustrate and complement the explanatory concepts of SP. The inner world of suicidal people is fascinating and contributes to the evidence-based optimism in the «patient-centric» crisis care model.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Unmasking Aadhar Authentication Issues: A Case Study of Biometric and PDS Access in Mundoti, Rajasthan

This paper goes into great depth about how hard India's Aadhaar-based identification system is to understand, especially when it comes to how important it is for people to be able to access simple services. Most of the study is about Mundoti, a village in Kishangarh, Rajasthan, where people's farming and hard work-based lives have made it hard to use Aadhaar. The paper looks at how common negative fingerprinting is and how it affects people's ability to use the Public Distribution System (PDS). It does this through a case study and direct and indirect research methods. Through conversations, it looks into the connection between having to wear fingerprints at work, demographics, and any possible effects on PDS. The study says that the people of Mundoti have trouble with Fingerprint authentication because of work in agriculture. This means that they are facing problems in getting important food aid. The study makes it clear that these problems need to be fixed. The people who live in Mundoti have trouble verifying their Aadhaar cards because their fingerprints are worn down from working hard in agriculture. The study also shows that age, gender, and job have a big effect on how likely it is that you will have identification problems. The paper argues that these fingerprint-related problems should be fixed so that important social aid programs can be carried out successfully in rural India. It suggests creating different ways to prove your identities, like eye scans or private biometric-based solutions so that vulnerable people aren't kept from important services like PDS as much as possible. This paper adds to the larger conversation about local ecosystems that includes everyone. It stresses how important it is to change rules and procedures to fit the needs of people living in rural areas.

“Everything Is Old”: National Socialism and the Weathering of the Jews of Łódź

Using the social scientific theory of “weathering”, the case study presented here reveals the broader explanatory power of the theory. Arline Geronimus developed the concept to describe the impact of racist systems on marginalized populations. Based on more than four decades of empirical research, Geronimus posits that the cumulative impact of navigating the structural racism embedded in US institutions results in accelerated declines in health and premature aging. The historical case study of the Łódź ghetto demonstrates that Nazi persecution of the Jews during the Holocaust resulted in a similar process of weathering among Jews. From 1939 to 1945, German authorities systematically dispossessed and uprooted, purposely starved, and exploited for labor the tens of thousands of Jews held captive in the Łódź ghetto. Despite valiant Jewish efforts to ameliorate the hardships of life in the ghetto, the persistent onslaught of racist policies and degradation ultimately resulted in widespread weathering of the population on an individual and communal level. I propose that the concept of “weathering” developed by social scientists has broad interpretative power for understanding the personal and communal impact of white supremacist societies in a historical context. The case of the Łódź ghetto is instructive beyond what it reveals about the particular persecution of the Jews during the Third Reich. The abrupt imposition of a racist system of government, the steady escalation of antisemitic policies from oppression and exploitation to genocide, and the relatively short duration of the ghetto’s existence lays bare the cumulative effects of widespread individual weathering on the vitality of the community itself. In the Łódź ghetto, prolonged exposure to an environment governed by white supremacy also resulted in communal weathering.

Racial bias in perceptions of children's pain.

Across eight experiments, we investigated whether adult perceivers (both lay perceivers and elementary school teachers) evaluate children's pain differently depending on the child's race. We found evidence that adults varying in racial and ethnic identities (but primarily White) believed 4- to 6-year-old Black children felt less pain than 4- to 6-year-old White children (Experiments 1-7), and this effect was not moderated by child sex (Experiments 6-7). We also examined perceptions of life hardship as a mediator of this race-to-pain effect, finding that adults evaluated Black children as having lived harder lives and thus as feeling less pain than White children (Experiments 1-3). Finally, we examined downstream consequences for hypothetical treatment recommendations among samples of both lay perceivers and elementary school teachers. We found that adults' perceptions of pain sensitivity were linked with hypothetical pain treatment decisions (Experiments 5a-7). Thus, we consistently observed that adults' race-based pain stereotypes biased evaluations of 4- to 6-year-old children's pain and may influence pain care. This racial bias in evaluations of young children's pain has implications for psychological theory and equitable treatment of children's pain. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

A proactive financial navigation intervention in patients with newly diagnosed gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma

PurposeMany cancer patients and caregivers experience financial hardship, leading to poor outcomes. Gastric and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer patients are particularly at risk for financial hardship given the intensity of treatment. This pilot randomized study among gastric/GEJ cancer patients and caregivers tested a proactive financial navigation (FN) intervention to obtain a signal of efficacy to inform a larger, more rigorous randomized study.MethodsWe tested a 3-month proactive FN intervention among gastric/GEJ cancer patients and caregivers compared to usual care. Caregiver participation was optional. The primary endpoint was incidence of financial hardship, defined as follows: accrual of debt, income decline of ≥ 20%, or taking loans to pay for treatment. Data from participant surveys and documentation by partner organizations delivering the FN intervention was analyzed and outcomes were compared between study arms.ResultsNineteen patients and 12 caregivers consented. Primary FN resources provided included insurance navigation, budget planning, and help with out-of-pocket medical expenses. Usual care patients were more likely to experience financial hardship (50% vs 40%) and declines in quality of life (37.5% vs 0%) compared to intervention patients. Caregivers in both arms reported increased financial stress and poorer quality of life over the study period.ConclusionsProactive financial navigation has potentially positive impacts on financial hardship and quality of life for cancer patients and more large-scale randomized interventions should be conducted to rigorously explore the impact of similar interventions. Interventions that have the potential to lessen caregiver financial stress and burden need further exploration.Trial registrationTRN: NCT03986502, June 14, 2019.

Marginalization of Women in Marriage: A Study of Shashi Deshpande’s The Dark Holds No Terrors and That Long Silence

Marginalization in society is not confined to limitations of opportunities to grow independently and lack means of endurance. It refers to the creation of an environment in which the individual is made to feel pride even in slavery. Marginalization in the case of women is more pronounced as it is not limited to any caste, creed or religion. It is a universal phenomenon and marriage as an institution is one of the basic foundations on which the marginalization of women is culturally strengthened. Marriages are a pivotal part of every society. By conforming to the institution of marriage, two distinct minds take oaths to stick by each other’s side lifelong. But in reality, the institution of marriage replicates the other side of patriarchal domination which contributes to the peripheral status of women. They are subjected to inevitable suppression, subjugation, and oppression in the environs of the marital frame regardless of the renunciation and forsaking of individuality by the woman for the sake of family. They are the victim of sheer oppression and violence due to their vulnerable status from time immemorial. In this paper, an attempt has been made to bring forth the hardships of marital life and how it assists in the marginalization of women with reference to the works of Shashi Deshpande. Her works of fiction, The Dark Holds No Terrors (1980) and That Long Silence (1988) aptly elucidate the issues of marital discord and disharmonious conjugal relationships which career-oriented women experience in their day-to-day existence. Women helplessly oscillate between traditional codes and modern aspirations, bearing the pangs of dead desires and unexpressed thoughts in public as well as domestic spheres. Characterization of women like Sarita and Jaya delineate the marginalization of women in a poignant and powerful manner.