Personal Connections Research Articles

The influence of personal political connectivity on fertility intentions across changing family planning policies in China

ABSTRACT In the past years, China’s fertility rate has experienced negative growth. In order to cope with the decline in fertility rate and the ageing of the population, the multi-child policy was implemented in 2015, that is, from the original husband and wife having only one child to having two or more children. Since the promulgation and implementation of China’s policy will have a greater impact on people’s livelihood, so before and after the implementation of the fertility policy, the impact of residents ’ political connectivity on fertility desire needs further study. This study categorizes residents’ political connectivity into political participation behaviour, political background, and political attitudes to explore the impact on residents’ fertility intentions. It conducts an empirical analysis of residents’ fertility intentions using data from the China General Social Survey (CGSS). The study found that before and after the implementation of the multi-child policy, there was a positive correlation between political participation behaviour and fertility intention, and there was no significant change. The influence of residents with party members ‘political background and residents’ political attitude on fertility intention has changed greatly, from negative correlation to positive correlation.

Paternalistic state care and the dynamic of COVID-19 pandemic governance in Jakarta's rented social housing

The COVID-19 pandemic has reignited debates on care, exposing the vital role of social reproduction despite its ongoing devaluation. Recent studies underscore the urban marginal's multidimensional vulnerabilities during the pandemic, coupled with inadequate state support and excessive policing amid their disproportionate engagements in low-paying care work essential to the city.This study extends the literature by exploring the discourse of care amid the pandemic in Jakarta's rented social housing (rusunawa), Indonesia. As a state-owned settlement hosting displaced residents from informal settlements, rusunawa represents a new form of urban marginality. Based on an ethnography of three rusunawa between 2019 and 2021, I argue that paternalism defines the state's vision and operation of rusunawa. By portraying the residents as vulnerable yet ignorant, the state justifies the combination of disciplines and supports in ‘caring’ for them.The continued paternalistic care during the pandemic, with an intensification of disciplines and assistance, ameliorated the residents' antagonism against the state. Yet, access to state relief programs still hinged upon the residents' invocation of vulnerabilities and personal connection with rusunawa management. Lastly, I demonstrate the residents' intractable desire for a state that embodies a powerful yet nurturing parent, shaping their assessment of the quality of state care.

Social App for Connecting Similar Interests People

In today's era, characterized by a profound desire for personal human connection, individuals seek to engage with like-minded people who share their interests, hobbies, passions, and ideological perspectives. Addressing this need, our social media app provides a platform for users to connect with others who resonate with their unique identities and aspirations. Built upon Flutter for frontend design and powered by Python algorithms for profile matching and recommendation systems, the app facilitates meaningful connections in both digital and physical realms. Alongside profile matching and recommendation features, the app offers a recommended system for real-world meetups, suggesting ideal venues such as restaurants, cafes, and hotels. Moreover, the app fosters the formation of communities around specific interests, ranging from classical singing to machine learning enthusiasts. Looking ahead, our vision extends into Web 3.0, where users can forge immersive virtual connections, enhancing the depth and authenticity of their interactions. Through these innovative features and future-oriented perspectives, our app endeavors to redefine social networking by enabling individuals to forge deeper, more meaningful connections aligned with their passions and aspirations.

Creative Visual Arts and Biology Processes: Examining Emergent Bi/Multilingual High Schoolers Meanings

This case study research examines how emergent bilingual and multilingual high school students construct meanings while engaging with objects during a biology lesson that integrates visual arts. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Symbolic Interactionism (SI), the study focuses on "Artistic Reformatting to Represent Interdependence among the Structures and Functions of an Animal Cell." By investigating the connections between the students' interests, beliefs, memories, and objects, as well as their social interactions with peers, friends, family, and others, the research uncovers the ways in which meanings are constructed. While visual arts integration is common in academic content, little attention has been given to its potential to support meaning-making among emergent bilingual and multilingual students. The findings of this study highlight the importance of adopting a holistic approach to visual arts education that emphasizes contemporary strategies, enduring ideas, and social interaction in engaging with content. These insights suggest that educators can enhance their teaching methods and create meaningful learning experiences for bi/multilingual students by incorporating these approaches. The study underscores the significance of visual arts in fostering personal connections and deeper comprehension of academic content among diverse student populations, ultimately promoting a more inclusive and effective educational environment.

Building Image Through Food Choice: The Effects of Unfamiliar Companion, Impression Management, and Emotional Eating on Food Portion

The global rise in the obesity epidemic is largely driven by the consumption of foods that contribute to significant health risks. This research study focuses on the social and personal factors that influence food portions, in addition to environmental factors. The study is designed to investigate the effect of unfamiliar companion, impression management, and emotional eating on food portions in Indonesia. The study employed a quasi-experimental research design in a laboratory setting, using a fake food buffet by recruiting 245 undergraduate students. The results indicated that unfamiliar companion, impression management, and emotional eating had a significant main effect and interaction effect on individuals' food portions (p < 0.05). This was demonstrated by the difference in food portion between people eating alone and in the presence of an unfamiliar companion. It might explain that individuals are aware of maintaining a positive image during meals by choosing food portions that are perceived to reflect positive perceptions when dining with a person who lacks familiarity or personal connection. The research findings can be utilised as a reference for fundamental understanding of mitigation strategies for reducing food portions among adults.

Storytelling for personal connection: A pedagogical strategy to localise fashion education

The 2015 student protests, #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall, gave rise to the call to decolonise curricula and end the dominance of Western ideologies in South African higher education (HE). The argument put forward in this paper is the need to shift from a traditional approach to a humanised pedagogical approach, wherein students frame knowledge around individual experiences to construct personal and shared understanding. Although limited scholarship around decolonising South African fashion HE exists, such scholarship does not focus on storytelling and circle learning as pedagogical strategies. To address this research gap, narrative humanism, referred to in this research as storytelling, and circle learning are put forward as pedagogical strategies to integrate student identities for personal connection in South African fashion HE. This paper aims to explore the affordances of storytelling and circle learning to decolonise South African fashion HE. Through qualitative action research, two teaching and learning interventions, termed the pilot and main studies, were designed and applied with fashion students at a South African HE institution. Data collection entailed semi-structured student questionnaires, artefacts, and a reflective research journal. To analyse the data, content analysis was employed. The findings reveal that, irrespective of cultural lived experiences or diverse backgrounds, storytelling afforded a decolonised approach in terms of inclusivity, collaboration, and a safe environment for socially engaged dialogue and peer feedback. Similarly, circle learning seemed to reduce teacher-student power relations and contrasted traditional modes of delivery. Circle learning appeared to encourage meaningful, engaged participation, affording a progressive pedagogical strategy to accommodate student and teacher voices in open dialogue. This paper contributes to the scholarship of teaching and learning in that storytelling and circle learning are suitable pedagogies to decolonise fashion education in the Global South.

Social Capital and Cross-Border Venture Capital Investments in China

In the context of the Chinese market, foreign cross-border venture capitalists have devised specific strategies to mitigate the challenges associated with the liabilities of foreignness, such as risks and information asymmetry. They have strategically leveraged social capital to not only decrease investment risk but also to influence their investment preferences and behaviors. To investigate the influence of different types of social capital on the investment decisions of cross-border venture capitalists, hypotheses are proposed and tested using regression analysis. Our research reveals several key findings in this regard. Firstly, cross-border venture capitalists with a robust structural social capital network exhibit a greater propensity to invest in early-stage companies. This suggests that well-established connections and partnerships within the Chinese entrepreneurial ecosystem provide a level of comfort and confidence when investing in ventures at their infancy. Interestingly, relational and cognitive social capital, though undoubtedly valuable, do not significantly impact the decision to make early-stage investments. Furthermore, we have observed that venture capitalists with higher levels of structural and cognitive social capital are more inclined to form syndications. Collaborative partnerships and shared knowledge networks seem to be crucial factors that drive syndication decisions. Lastly, venture capitalists endowed with substantial structural and relational social capital tend to allocate larger investment amounts, signifying the influence of business or personal relationships and network connections on the scale of their investments.

‘Botha Cake’ and ‘Belgian Onion Soup:’ Gendered Patriotism Through Three South African, First World War, Community Cookbooks

ABSTRACT This article considers three South African community cookbooks – including The Overseas Contingent Fund Recipe Book (Turffontein, 1915) and the Paarl Cookery Book in Aid of War Funds (Paarl, 1918) alongside Wartime Cookery (Cape Town, 1915) – as expressions of gendered patriotism. These community-created cookbooks enabled contributors to participate meaningfully in the First World War by drawing together two established gendered practices: philanthropic fundraising and food and household management. This ‘domesticity in action’ enabled participants to contribute to, and feel connected to, both local and trans-empire causes. These values of philanthropy, economy and patriotism are revealed in the constitutive components of the texts – the titles, aims, prefaces and even the recipes themselves. Apart from supporting specific funds, the call for economy in the cookbooks reflected both experiences and perceptions of wartime material hardship in South Africa. A further consideration of the contributors involved with the books’ compilations highlights the intersection of local and trans-empire networks, and wartime (white) identity politics within urban South Africa. The networks suggest locally-grounded loyalisms, many marked by personal connections to men serving, as well as friend and family networks with overseas reach. Lastly, the article is a reminder of the importance of cookbooks as neglected sources in the writing of history.

Anaesthesia praCtice for Caesarean dElivery Snapshot Study (ACCESS): Protocol and baseline characteristics of registered centres.

Specific guidelines to manage caesarean delivery anaesthesia are lacking. A European multicentre study, ACCESS investigates caesarean delivery anaesthesia management in European centres. In order to identify ACCESS participating centres, a registration survey was created. The aim of the current report is to describe the characteristics of ACCESS study participating centres, the rationale for the ACCESS study and the study methodology. The ACCESS study is a European multicentre cross-sectional study to describe anaesthesia management for caesarean delivery (CD) using a snapshot (2-week) design. The ACCESS registration survey gathered: contact details for National Coordinators (NC); Lead Investigators (LI) per centre; centre annual CD volume; expected no. of CD during 2-week snapshot window; centre practice information; data collection language. The ACCESS registration survey was launched July 2022 (Google Forms, Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA) and distributed through personal connections, national and international societies, social media networks, during Euroanaesthesia 2023, through the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care newsletter. The ACCESS registration survey identified Lead Investigators for 418 centres, in 32 countries, representing an anticipated number of 15,073 CD cases over the planned 12-month study period. A median (range) of 20 (2 to 400) CD cases are anticipated per centre during the 2-week snapshot window. Most 366/418 (87.6%) centres are small, ≤2000 annual CD cases, 42 are medium 2000-5000 cases and 10 are large, ≥5000 annual CD cases. Registered centres reported in 134 (32.0%) centres that anaesthesia for caesarean delivery is performed mostly by a specialist obstetric anaesthesiologist. The ACCESS registration survey revealed variability in volume and CD practice as well as training-levels and staffing among European countries. The ACCESS study (https://www.access-study.org/) aims to generate practice data to guide CD anaesthetic management strategies.

Exploring the Impact of Music Arts Education on Cognitive Development in College Students: A Qualitative Study at HD College in Inner Mongolia, China

This qualitative study explores the impact of music arts education on cognitive development among college students at HD College in Inner Mongolia, China. Drawing upon phenomenological inquiry, the research aims to investigate students' perceptions of the effects of music arts education on cognitive processes and to understand their experiences and perspectives within this context. The study involves 60 participants from the art department, who engage in semi-structured interviews to provide rich insights into their lived experiences with music education. The findings reveal that music arts education enhances cognitive abilities such as memory retention, critical thinking, and emotional regulation. Additionally, students report experiencing personal growth, social connection, and emotional well-being through their engagement with music education. While the study contributes to our understanding of the multifaceted benefits of music arts education, it also highlights the need for further research to explore the long-term effects, comparative analyses across different contexts, and interventions aimed at optimizing music education for cognitive development.

Plant Medicine, Psychedelics and the Inner-Sciences of Mental Wellness: Implications for Healthy Longevity and Rejuvenation

Plant Medicine, Psychedelics and the Inner-Sciences of Mental Wellness: Implications for Healthy Longevity and Rejuvenation

Digital health-based exposure therapies for patients with posttraumatic stress disorder: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

Although exposure therapies have established effects in treating posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), these therapies might be hindered by issues of cost, distance, time, and human resources, which are potentially alleviated by digital health. Despite the potential of digital health, there is currently no systematic review specifically evaluating digital health-based exposure therapies. We aimed to conduct a systematic literature review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the impact of digital health-based exposure therapies in treating patients with PTSD. A literature search was conducted from December 31, 2023, to February 22, 2024, using the PubMed, Web of Science, and PsycINFO databases. A total of 12 RCTs with 1,361 participants were included in the systematic review. These RCTs were conducted mainly in the United States and primarily enrolled military samples. Overall, the utility of digital health-based exposure therapies appeared plausible and comparable to that of in-person therapies. The dropout rate was counterintuitively high, potentially due to technological issues and the absence of personal connections. The findings suggest that digital health-based exposure therapies may potentially resolve the issues of cost, distance, time, and human resources in the treatment of patients with PTSD. Future RCTs should employ larger sample sizes. Addressing technological challenges and the absence of personal connection may be important in resolving the high dropout rate.

Emotion Work in Caregiving: The Role of Technology to Support Informal Caregivers of Persons Living With Dementia

The CSCW and HCI community has increasingly examined ways to support informal caregivers through technology, given the increasing burden and its consequences on caregivers' emotional and physical health. In this paper, we interviewed 12 informal caregivers of Persons Living With Dementia (PLWD) to understand their needs and current coping strategies for overcoming caregiving burden, specifically around emotion work. The caregivers associated different personal meanings with caregiving. Participants wanted technology to take over some of the utilitarian, mundane caregiving tasks. At the same time, they did not want technology to take over the tasks that fostered personal connections with PLWD. As the disease progressed, caregivers started to lose their perceived bond with PLWD, making it more challenging to juggle between rewarding, positive emotions with negative experiences. We discuss such complexity of emotion work using the notion of Invisible Work to understand when technology should or should not support the emotion work engaged in informal caregiving.

Experiences of support received by carers of people who are involuntarily admitted to hospital under the Mental Health Act: qualitative study of carers' perspectives.

Carers of people who are involuntarily admitted to hospital report feeling isolated and unsupported by services. The Independent Review of the Mental Health Act (MHA) recommended that carers be supported. However, no research has directly explored what type of support carers would find most helpful when a relative/friend is involuntary admitted. To explore carers' experiences and views around the support they want to receive when their relative/friend is involuntarily admitted under the MHA. A total of 22 one-to-one interviews with carers were conducted online at three sites across England. Audio recordings of the interviews were transcribed, and data were analysed with thematic analysis. Four main themes were identified: (a) heterogeneity in the current support for carers, (b) information about mental health and mental health services, (c) continuous support, and (d) peer support and guidance. Carers reported receiving support from professionals, peers and relatives, but this was unstructured, and the extent of support varied across carers. Carers reported wanting more information about mental health services, and for this information to be consistent. Carers also reported wanting emotional support from a single, continuous person, helping them establish a more personal and sincere connection. Peers were also identified as important in the provision of carer support, allowing carers to feel reassured and understood in their experience. The support received by carers is currently unstructured. To meet the MHA review recommendations, carers of patients who are involuntarily admitted should be allocated a named contact person, ideally with lived experience, to offer information and personal continuity of support.

The Paradox of Choice in Palliative Care Decision-Making in Managed Long-Term Care: A Qualitative Study

Palliative care offers undeniable advantages to elderly patients with multiple chronic illnesses in managed long-term care. However, only approximately 14% of those who require palliative care actually receive it. To investigate factors influencing decision-making regarding palliative care acceptance, and healthcare providers’ communication strategies, which patients or family caregivers perceive during managed long-term care. Qualitative thematic content analysis study. Two data sources from home and community-based health care organization in a metropolitical city in the Northeastern United States were used: (a) retrospectively collected 79 phone call audio recordings between patients and/or family caregivers with healthcare providers when initiate palliative care option, and (b) prospectively collected 10 exploratory qualitative interviews with patients and/or family caregivers for this study purpose. From a total of 89 conversations, 7 themes emerged during palliative care decision-making: (a) capability for self-management; (b) symptom severity; (c) perceptions of chronic disease; (d) satisfaction with current health services; (e) code status; (f) caregiver burden and (g) other reasons, including financial considerations and service affiliations. In addition, from 10 qualitative interviews, 4 key themes in healthcare providers’ communication that optimize palliative care conversations were indicated: (i) trust and relationship dynamics; (ii) positive reinforcement and personal connection; (iii) conversation setting and initiator; and (iv) collaborative approach to care coordination. Enhancing decision-making around palliative care and improving acceptance of palliative care services may be improved through the integration of personalized care plans, empathetic communication, use of symptom-inclusive assessments for timely care, and proactively addressing caregiver burden.

Evaluating Mentorship in the Aquatic Sciences in the Context of a Global Pandemic (COVID‐19)

AbstractThe COVID‐19 pandemic drastically altered human social systems. To better understand ramifications of the pandemic for aquatic scientists, we assessed perceptions of mentorship within the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, focusing on impacts felt during the pandemic. We also evaluated current preferences and practices (e.g., valued traits, network composition, communication tools) related to mentoring, as a way of gauging change within the community and informing ongoing or future resilience and recovery efforts. In surveying this group, we found the largest pandemic related professional development gaps to be lost opportunities for mentoring, the absence of in‐person meetings, and missed collegial/collaborative interactions. We also assessed which mentorship characteristics were highly valued and found that, “communicative” was the most consistently valued characteristic. Finally, we assessed mentor network composition and code of conduct use. Findings show a limited range of disciplines within most mentees' networks, suggesting lack of access to mentors in outside fields or disciplines, and widespread valuation of codes of conduct but limited implementation. We advocate for mentoring practices that foster personal connections, expand networks, and develop clear plans for mentoring relationships, as a path toward general improvement and resilience within mentoring networks in the face of disruption.

Tele-Oncology Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Patient Experiences and Communication Behaviors with Clinicians.

Background: Tele-oncology became a widely used tool during the COVID-19 pandemic, but there was limited understanding of how patient-clinician communication occurred using the technology. Our goal was to identify how communication transpired during tele-oncology consultations compared with in-person appointments. Methods: A convergent parallel mixed-method design was utilized for the web-based survey, and follow-up interviews were conducted with cancer patients from March to December 2020. Participants were recruited from the University of Florida Health Cancer Center and two national cancer organizations. During the survey, participants rated their clinician's patient-centered communication behaviors. Open-ended survey responses and interview data were combined and analyzed thematically using the constant comparative method. Results: A total of 158 participants completed the survey, and 33 completed an interview. Ages ranged from 19 to 88 years (mean = 64.2; standard deviation = 13.0); 53.2% identified as female and 44.9% as male. The majority of respondents (76%) considered communication in tele-oncology equal to in-person visits. Preferences for tele-oncology included the ability to get information from the clinician, with 13.5% rating tele-oncology as better than in-person appointments. Tele-oncology was considered worse than in-person appointments for eye contact (n = 21, 12.4%) and virtual waiting room times (n = 50, 29.4%). The following qualitative themes corresponded with several quantitative variables: (1) commensurate to in-person appointments, (2) uncertainty with the digital platform, (3) lack of a personal connection, and (4) enhanced patient experience. Conclusion: Patient-centered communication behaviors were mostly viewed as equally prevalent during tele-oncology and in-person appointments. Addressing the challenges of tele-oncology is necessary to improve the patient experience.

A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words: A Reflection on Art-Based Assignments for the Study of Traditional Jewish Texts

ABSTRACT As instructors of Jewish Studies struggle to find ways for their students to be more engaged in their learning, it is worthwhile for educators to consider whether art-based assignments are effective at reaching this goal. This article examines what students gain when their study of a biblical chapter is paired with the generation of an art product on that chapter. The study evaluates a pictorial summary assignment to retell the narrative and a dramatic production assignment to analyze the messages of a biblical chapter. The findings suggest that art-based assignments help students read Jewish texts more closely and make more personal connections to them more so than when no pictorial component is included with verbal-based assignments.

Exploring the characteristics of non-urban coworking spaces in Germany and their perceived benefits for corporate users: novel means for supporting corporate real estate management strategies

PurposeThis study aims to enrich our understanding of the characteristics of non-urban coworking spaces (CSs) that focus on corporate users, as well as the benefits that companies expect to gain from incorporating those CSs into their corporate real estate (CRE) portfolios.Design/methodology/approachThis study leverages a series of in-depth interviews with owners and managers of CSs in non-urban locales that focus on serving corporate clients.FindingsThe research reveals various CS characteristics and forms within non-urban areas, focusing on corporate clients. It suggests that implementing a CS in corporate premises is perceived to enhance CRE use-value strategies with a focus on the employee's well-being, innovation and the attraction of talents. Moreover, exchange-value strategies with a focus on portfolio flexibility may benefit from the implementation of a CS. However, strategies related to life-cycle cost optimization or gains are not perceived to be supported. Social events for the surrounding neighborhood and the choice of location emerge as critical success factors for non-urban CSs. Besides infrastructure and connectivity, non-urban corporate-centric CSs built their location decisions rather on a personal connection to the location and place of residence of potential users than on lower rental prices.Originality/valueThis research pioneers in providing a comprehensive understanding of non-urban CSs, particularly in the context of their perceived implications for corporate real estate management. The nuanced perspectives it offers are invaluable for stakeholders looking to leverage CSs as part of their corporate strategies.

[Black] plastic feelings; feeling [Black]

ABSTRACT One way to ensure a future for the disciplines housed in the pages of CC/CS is to embrace the realization that researchers do not have to disinvite ourselves from the work we do. Through an exploration of my personal connection to Meghan Markle and Stacey Abrams, I illustrate how when Black audiences attempt to quench their desire for sensory connection through on-screen visually matching bodies, it simplifies the actual power of representation we experience when we demand cultural specificity.