Positive Appraisal Research Articles

User Intentions to Use ChatGPT for Self-Diagnosis and Health-Related Purposes: Cross-sectional Survey Study.

With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, AI-powered chatbots, such as Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer (ChatGPT), have emerged as potential tools for various applications, including health care. However, ChatGPT is not specifically designed for health care purposes, and its use for self-diagnosis raises concerns regarding its adoption's potential risks and benefits. Users are increasingly inclined to use ChatGPT for self-diagnosis, necessitating a deeper understanding of the factors driving this trend. This study aims to investigate the factors influencing users' perception of decision-making processes and intentions to use ChatGPT for self-diagnosis and to explore the implications of these findings for the safe and effective integration of AI chatbots in health care. A cross-sectional survey design was used, and data were collected from 607 participants. The relationships between performance expectancy, risk-reward appraisal, decision-making, and intention to use ChatGPT for self-diagnosis were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Most respondents were willing to use ChatGPT for self-diagnosis (n=476, 78.4%). The model demonstrated satisfactory explanatory power, accounting for 52.4% of the variance in decision-making and 38.1% in the intent to use ChatGPT for self-diagnosis. The results supported all 3 hypotheses: The higher performance expectancy of ChatGPT (β=.547, 95% CI 0.474-0.620) and positive risk-reward appraisals (β=.245, 95% CI 0.161-0.325) were positively associated with the improved perception of decision-making outcomes among users, and enhanced perception of decision-making processes involving ChatGPT positively impacted users' intentions to use the technology for self-diagnosis (β=.565, 95% CI 0.498-0.628). Our research investigated factors influencing users' intentions to use ChatGPT for self-diagnosis and health-related purposes. Even though the technology is not specifically designed for health care, people are inclined to use ChatGPT in health care contexts. Instead of solely focusing on discouraging its use for health care purposes, we advocate for improving the technology and adapting it for suitable health care applications. Our study highlights the importance of collaboration among AI developers, health care providers, and policy makers in ensuring AI chatbots' safe and responsible use in health care. By understanding users' expectations and decision-making processes, we can develop AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT, that are tailored to human needs, providing reliable and verified health information sources. This approach not only enhances health care accessibility but also improves health literacy and awareness. As the field of AI chatbots in health care continues to evolve, future research should explore the long-term effects of using AI chatbots for self-diagnosis and investigate their potential integration with other digital health interventions to optimize patient care and outcomes. In doing so, we can ensure that AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, are designed and implemented to safeguard users' well-being and support positive health outcomes in health care settings.

Coping strategies of unaccompanied refugee minors shortly after arrival in Belgium.

Unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) are a group in an especially vulnerable situation with heightened psychological suffering due to both stressful life events and current daily stressors. Research has shown that certain coping strategies such as avoidance can be adaptive in the face of ongoing stress. We conceptualize social support as an essential coping resource that these strategies tap into. Since the interrelations between these factors are often not clear in the literature, this study strives to identify and link URMs' coping strategies, the respective coping resources and the various stressors they target, shortly after arrival in a high-income country. Seventy-nine URMs from various backgrounds were recruited in two first-phase reception centers in Belgium. In addition to self-report questionnaires to assess stressful life events and current daily stressors, we conducted semi-structured interviews, with cultural mediators if required. Thematic analysis was applied to the participants' accounts and resulted in the identification of four coping strategies: avoidance and distraction, continuity and coherence, selective reliance, and positive appraisal and acceptance. The relation between these coping strategies, the various coping resources used, and the specific stressors at which they aim are discussed. We conclude that avoidant coping and contact with the ethnic community, particularly the peer group, are fundamental strategies for successful coping. Practitioners need to support URMs in their coping efforts by providing and facilitating appropriate coping resources.

Ethical Jurisprudence in African American History: A Critical Analysis of the 1965 Voting Rights Act from Peter Singer’s Consequentialist Ethical Theory

On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson officially signed the Voting Rights Act (VRA) into law. This special day passed one of the most significant laws in American history and also marked one of the most critical moments in the civil rights movement, which is remembered and celebrated by many Americans. This paper aims to parse the underlying morality of the 1965 VRA based on the nature of the act and its immediate or indirect effects on the American people. Qualitative analysis based on primary and secondary sources is used as the primary research method, with Peter Singer's consequentialist ethics as the theoretical underpinning. No first-hand data is generated or used in this research. The analysis of the 1965 VRA's morality yields a positive moral appraisal. The consequentialist approach elucidates without ambiguity that the VRA is moral because it promoted happiness and fulfilled the moral requirement of lessening pains for minority voters. Although the act's impact gradually faded after the Shelby County ruling, the positive effects are not diminished to zero and thus should be acknowledged.

Work-life balance policy and practice in Nigeria

It believes that giving people the freedom to manage their own work and make decisions improves their performance. Quality of work life aims to instill a culture of work commitment within organizations and society at large in order to improve job satisfaction and employee performance. The fulfillment of seven needs health and safety needs, economic and family needs, social needs, esteem needs, actualization needs, knowledge needs, and aesthetic needs ensures the quality of work-life. Organisations in Nigeria have a reputation for ignoring decent work practices and embracing precarious working conditions to the detriment of the populace. The country's organisations appear to be primarily concerned with increasing profits at the expense of employee welfare. The purpose of this study is to investigate work-life balance policy and practice in Nigeria. To gather data, relevant information was extracted from conference papers, public records, textbooks, journals, and other sources. According to this study, a work-life balance requires planning, and the most prosperous people have found happiness in both the short- and long-term by developing a barometer to help them manage their lives. This study recommends among other things that availability and use of work-life balance practices, when provided in the context of supervisor and organisational support can reduce work-life conflict and increase positive appraisals of one’s organisation. These effects are often associated with employee attitudes such as increased job satisfaction and enhanced control over their work schedule.

Physicotheology in Kant’s Transition from Nature to Freedom

AbstractThis article examines Kant’s treatment of the design argument for the existence of God, or physicotheology. It criticizes the interpretation that, for Kant, the assumption of intelligent design satisfies an internal demand of inquiry. It argues that Kant’s positive appraisal of physicotheology is instead better understood in terms of its polemical utility for rebutting objections to practical belief in God upon which Kant’s ethicotheological argument rests, and thus as an instrument in the transition from theoretical to practical philosophy. Kantian physicotheology plays this role (a) by criticizing alternative speculative accounts of the ground of nature, and (b) by analogizing from the structure of finite rational agency in order to represent more clearly the action of an ideal agent.

Happily Ever After or Not? Marital Quality among Culturally Diverse Older-Aged Canadian Parents

The quality of partnered relationships is integral to individual and family health and well-being over the life span. Significant shifts in ethno-cultural diversity, parental roles, and family life contribute to more complex partnership experiences in North American society. Drawing from a socio-cultural life course lens, we examine parental marital satisfaction/quality in later life in terms of ethnicity, socio-demographic variables (e.g., ethnic identity, gender, age, health status) and family context (e.g., presence of children at home, intergenerational relations, retirement status). Data are drawn from a sample of 454 married/partnered adults aged 50+ with a least one child aged 19–35 who reside in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, from four cultural groups: British, Chinese, Persian/Iranian, and South Asian. Using Ordinary Linear Regression, we model predictors of three dependent variables: global marital satisfaction and two sub-scales, including positive and negative emotional/cognitive appraisals of relationship quality. Several ethnic group contrasts were supported, with Chinese reporting lower global marital satisfaction than the South Asians and Persian/Iranians reporting lower levels of positive marital appraisals than the South Asians. In addition, these associations were nuanced by interactions between ethnicity and gender, revealing distinct relationships with the dependent variables. Results also support associations for several covariates. In particular, greater income satisfaction and those reporting lower conflict with their children had higher marital quality; and males and those reporting better health only had positive associations with the global marital satisfaction scale. Implications for theorizing relationship quality in later life and recommendations for those who work with culturally diverse older adults (e.g., mental health care professionals, community service providers) are discussed.

In the eyes of the beholders: Subjective experiences of positive symptoms among patients with symptoms of psychosis seeking psychotherapy.

Reduction of positive symptoms is often the focus of psychiatric treatment for patients with psychosis; however, it is becoming increasingly clear that some patients experience ambivalence towards positive symptoms or may even experience them as pleasant. The present study extends upon work from online studies of patients without verified diagnoses. The first aim was to examine the frequency with which patients report negative, neutral or even positive appraisals of positive symptoms. A second aim was to identify whether these appraisals were associated with medication adherence. One-hundred twelve treatment-seeking patients with current symptoms of psychosis completed the Subjective Perception of Positive Symptoms-Revised (SUPPOSY-R), a scale assessing appraisals of positive symptoms (e.g., gain from illness, impact on daily life), as well as questions regarding medication adherence. Although most patients reported experiencing positive symptoms as predominantly unpleasant, appraisals differed between symptom clusters and up to 54.4 % reported that they would miss at least some aspects of positive symptoms should they disappear. Patients particularly welcomed the disappearance of auditory hallucinations (71.2%). Symptom appraisal was not significantly associated with medication compliance (p>.17); however, more patients with low medication adherence reported they would feel at least some regret if their symptoms were to completely disappear (48.9%, n=23) versus patients with high adherence (41.7%, n=20). Ambivalent or positive appraisals of positive symptoms are lower among treatment-seeking patients compared to patients recruited for online studies, who may not be actively seeking treatment. Auditory hallucinations may cause most distress among treatment-seeking patients. A collaborative approach including assessment of possible positive appraisals of symptoms is important when identifying treatment goals.

Cognitive appraisal of health and its influencing factors among pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus: A cross‐sectional study

To investigate the status quo of cognitive appraisal of health and its influencing factors among pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from June 2020 to November 2020. Participants were recruited from a tertiary hospital by a convenient sample method. A total of 300 pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus completed the survey, including self-compiled individual information questionnaire, Cognitive Appraisal of Health Scale, Pregnancy Stress Rating Scale and General Self-Efficacy Scale. For cognitive appraisal of health, the median score of challenge dimension was 3.75 (3.50, 4.00), benign/irrelevant was 2.75 (2.00, 3.50), harm/loss was 2.38 (2.00, 3.00) and threat was 2.40 (2.00, 2.80), respectively. Regression analyses showed that gestational age, mode of conception, history of abortion, insulin usage, pregnancy stress and self-efficacy were the predictors of cognitive appraisal of health. This study revealed that pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus tended to make positive cognitive appraisal of health. And healthcare providers need to make full use of their predictors of cognitive appraisal of health to improve cognitive appraisal to manage stress and ameliorate pregnancy outcomes.

Connotative-Evaluative Transformations of Adjective ‘Patriotic’: Linguistic Embodiment of Concept PATRIOTISM in Russian

The value components of the concept PATRIOTISM are studied. The immediate focus of the proposed research is the connotativeevaluative transformations of the adjective ‘patriotic’ in representative contexts. The technique of discursive corpus analysis was used. The material for the study is the lexicographic interpretations of the word ‘patriotic’, presented in a number of Russian explanatory dictionaries, as well as the language data of the Russian National Corpus. It is shown that the implicit positive appraisal for the word ‘patriotic’ is naturally generated by its general language semantics ʽimbued with patriotism, filled with patriotismʼ, ʽexpressing a feeling of patriotismʼ, etc., as a result of which positive-evaluative connotations ʽhaving value significance for the speakerʼ are implied; ʽcorresponding to national ideals and valuesʼ; ʽtrue, correct, the one that should beʼ. The analyzed material confirmed the relevance for the speech implementation of the word ‘patriotic’ models of negative evaluation in the usage of overly affected patriotism; external, ostentatious patriotism; false, imaginary, false patriotism; insufficient patriotism. The conclusion is made about the complexity of the ethnos “language of values” structure, about the ambiguity of certain phenomena linguistic evaluation of reality mechanisms in the speech practices of native speakers.

The impact of ICT characteristics on students’ learning outcomes during COVID-19 lockdown period: The crucial role of techno eustress perception

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 crisis led to an unprecedented acceleration of digital learning. It pushed many institutions to abruptly switch to fully online learning modes from face-to-face learning. Prior studies show that higher IT demands can cause challenge or hindrance stressors, depending on how the digital technology characteristics are perceived by the end-user. However, there is a gap in our knowledge regarding how ICT characteristics can lead to positive stress appraisals in a remote learning environment. OBJECTIVE: This paper leverages the person-environment fit and technostress literature to examine how usefulness and reliability as demand-ability stressors of ICT tools can positively impact learning outcomes among remote learning students. Techno eustress perceptions are evaluated as a crucial mechanism for theorizing the positive impact. METHODS: We used the survey method, sampling students (N = 82) during the lockdown period to test this model. RESULTS: Our findings highlight the ICT characteristic of usefulness as salient in contributing to student learning outcomes as it promotes techno eustress. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to demonstrate a positive impact of ICT characteristics on student learning outcomes via techno eustress perceptions.

Psychological Capital and Job Search: A Systematic Literature Review and Agenda for Future Research

Purpose: There is consistent evidence that a positive mindset could foster the job search process. Psychological capital, defined as a tendency to hold cognitions and positive appraisals of one's ability, could highlight the importance of individual cognitive appraisal in the job search process. Nevertheless, psychological capital's impact on job seekers is still unclear. Methods: The purpose of the present study was to explore the role of psychological capital in the job search process. The author conducted a systematic review following the PRISMA-P guidelines. This systematic review sought answers to three questions: 1) What theories are applied to explain the relationship between psychological capital and the job search process? 2) How is the association between psychological capital and the job search process? 3) Did the psychological capital interventions positively influence the job search process? The review focused on quantitative studies carried out between 2007 and 2021 on job seekers. Finally, 11 studies fit the inclusion criteria. Results: Overall, the literature review supports the significant association between psychological capital and the job search process. On the one hand, the studies analyzed have shown the resonance of psychological capital on the job search outcomes and job seekers' well-being. On the other hand, the results showed insufficient evidence to make any firm conclusions concerning psychological capital interventions' effects on the job search process improvement. Conclusion: It is concluded that psychological capital may be a valuable advantage for helping job seekers engage in their job search process. The results presented in this study could have important implications for job seekers and public and private employment agencies. Even so, it is necessary to continue contributing to its development. Particularly, there is still considerable scope for improvement in the study of psychological capital and the job search process in terms of the study design we apply, the variables we study and their measure, and the theoretical background we use to explain the previous relationship.

‘Terrific Black Holes’: Experiences with Social Services in Elder Family Financial Exploitation

Abstract The role of social services in responding to elder family financial exploitation (EFFE) is increasingly recognised. This qualitative thematic study draws on the perspectives of fifteen non-victim, non-perpetrator family members who described seeking help from social service entities for older adults who were financially exploited in their families. Four themes illustrated entry point failures, gaps in social services and multidisciplinary collaborations, family-related barriers to help-seeking and positive appraisals of social services professionals. Social response to EFFE is inherently multidisciplinary and extends across a range of private and public service sectors. We discuss boundary work to empower social work’s professional authority in formal service systems as well as its boundary work with the healthcare system, specifically the importance of training in evaluations of older victims’ cognitive status. Implications pertain to areas such as tailored independent social work practice, community practice, social isolation of older victims and attitudinal response.

Understanding unusual sensory experiences: a randomised experimental study of a school-based intervention for adolescents.

One in ten young people experience unusual sensory experiences (USE), such as hallucinations. From a cognitive perspective, the appraisal of USE determines the impact of these experiences. Negative appraisal, as well as other psychological processes (e.g. thinking flexibility, maladaptive schemas, anxiety/depression), is associated with more distress. Our aim was to (a) develop a universal single-session school-based intervention on USE for adolescents and (b) evaluate the effect of the intervention on appraisals of and help seeking intentions for USE. A randomised controlled experimental design with a one-month follow-up was used to test the effectiveness of the intervention in one school. Students (n=223) aged 12-13 were randomised by class to a single-session intervention on USE or a control intervention (generic mental wellbeing). Participants completed measures of appraisals of and help-seeking intentions for USE at pre- and postintervention and at one-month follow-up. They also completed measures of schemas, thinking flexibility and anxiety/depression at preintervention. Overall, 190 adolescents completed the main outcome measures at all three points. The intervention on USE led to a significant (p < .05) increase of positive appraisals of USE compared with the control, with effects sustained at one-month follow-up. The intervention on USE did not lead to significantly greater help-seeking intentions for USE (p=.26). Adolescents' schemas were associated with appraisals and slow thinking and anxiety/depressive symptoms with help-seeking behaviour for USE. A single-session universal school-based intervention shows promise by improving appraisals of USE. Further research is required across different school populations.

The goods (and bads) of self‐employment

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Emotional Focus Coping on Early Childhood Marriage Actors in Selayar

This study aims to reveal emotional focus coping performed by early marriage couples in Selayar. This research is a qualitative research with a phenomenological approach. The data were obtained by means of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with 12 informants consisting of teenagers who married at an early age, parents, health workers and family planning instructors. Domain analysis is used to identify semantic relationships in the data found. The results showed that in addition to emotional focus coping, the informants also used problem focus coping in undergoing early marriage. The forms of coping with emotional focus found were self-controlling, escape-avoidance, and positive appraisal. Therefore, counseling is needed for adolescents who marry at an early age.

Coping in parenting adolescents with autism spectrum disorder

Coping is defined as the way one thinks and reacts to stressful situations, and the various ways a person may choose to deal with those situations is known as their coping strategies or style (Baqutayan, 2015). While coping is generally regarded as a desirable technique for ensuring one's well‐being, coping styles can be both healthy and unhealthy. When examining the various forms of coping strategies, researchers and clinicians typically use the two basic categories of problem‐focused and emotion‐focused coping. The term problem‐focused coping refers to strategies for resolving an issue that is generating pain by focusing on altering the source(s) of the stress. In contrast, emotion‐focused coping refers to strategies for reducing the negative emotions linked with an issue or stressor. Baqutayan (2015) describes the subcategories of problem‐focused coping as confrontative responding, social support, and planning and the subcategories of emotion‐focused coping as self‐control, seeking social support, distance, positive appraisal, accepting responsibility, and escape/avoidance.

Trusting groups

ABSTRACT Katherine Hawley was skeptical about group trust. Her main reason for this skepticism was that the distinction between trust and reliance, central to many theories of interpersonal trust, does not apply to trust in groups. Hawley’s skeptical arguments successfully shift the burden of proof to those who wish to continue with a concept of group trust. Nonetheless, I argue that a commitments account of the trust/reliance distinction can shoulder that burden. According to that commitments account, trust is a distinctive kind of reliance grounded in a positive appraisal of features of the trustee’s practical rationality, foremost their commitments and their capacity to act on those commitments. This is one way we can make sense of the difference between trusting and relying on individual people. I argue it is also a way we can make sense of the difference between trusting and relying on groups.

Role, race, and place: Prostate cancer disparities in Patients' and Partners' health outcomes and psychosocial factors.

This study aimed to examine the effects of participant role (patient vs. partner), race (white vs. non-white), and place (less vs. more neighborhood deprivation) on health outcomes (quality of life [QOL] and symptoms) and stress-coping-related psychosocial factors (appraisals of illness and coping resources). This descriptive study included 273 patients and their partners (dyads) who transitioned from PCa treatment to self-management. We used established, psychometrically sound measures to assess health outcomes and psychosocial factors and conducted multilevel modeling analyses. Compared to partners, patients reported worse physical QOL; less frequent anxiety; less pain and fatigue; less bothersome hormonal problems; more bothersome urinary and sexual problems; greater self-efficacy; and more instrumental support. Compared to their white counterparts, non-white dyads reported better overall, emotional, and functional QOL; less depression; more positive appraisals, and greater self-efficacy. Compared to dyads in low ADI neighborhoods, dyads in high ADI (more deprived) neighborhoods reported worse social QOL; more bothersome urinary, sexual, and hormonal symptoms; and less interpersonal support. White patients reported the highest emotional support among all groups, while white partners reported the lowest emotional support. Our findings underscore the need to consider social determinants of health at multiple levels when investigating PCa disparities. Considering neighborhood-level socioeconomic factors, in addition to race and role, improves our understanding of the PCa disparities in QOL, symptoms, and psychosocial factors among patients and partners. Targeted multilevel supportive care interventions should tailor to the needs of racially diverse PCa patients and partners residing in deprived neighborhoods are needed.

Perceptions and experiences of prostate cancer patients in a public tertiary hospital in urban South Africa

ABSTRACT Prostate cancer is among the most prevalent forms of cancer worldwide and is reported to have the highest incidence, mortality, and 5-year prevalence rate of all cancers among men living in Africa. Despite this widespread burden in the African continent, little is known about the perspectives and experience of prostate cancer among African men. To further understand experiences among patients living in urban South Africa, we conducted in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews to examine the perceptions and experiences of 28 Black African prostate cancer patients receiving treatment at a major tertiary hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa. Our data explored four major areas of patients’ experiences with prostate cancer: detection, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care. Our results showed that the experience of living with prostate cancer among low-income, Black South African men is a stressful and emotionally painful experience due in part to men feeling that they had insufficient knowledge about their own condition and feeling disempowered or ill-equipped to manage their cancer. These feelings were strongly associated with distrust or dissatisfaction with physicians and the health care system. Resilience factors include social support from family, friends, and religious communities, acceptance of their diagnosis, religion, and positive appraisals of their medical care.

Building good knowledge or blaming bad parents? Examining the construction of parents and parenting in a corpus of parent focussed cochlear implant research articles

AbstractParents of deaf children with a cochlear implant (CI) report feeling pressure to adhere to a very prescribed conceptualisation of ‘good parenting’, and in some cases report feeling judged or blamed, for example, if the child's progress post‐CI is slower than expected. Previous investigations of the discourses of parenting science suggest that, while parent blame is rarely expressed explicitly, that normative, moral assumptions about how ‘good parents of a disabled child’ should feel, think and act are embedded within prevalent concepts and terminology. A disproportionate focus on evaluating individual parents' personal characteristics at the expense of more external, socially located issues has also been noted. Existing critiques, together with the author's lived experience provide the impetus for this study; in which corpus linguistics methods have been used to document the types of parents and parenting attributes constructed in a 420,982 corpus of research articles. The results indicate the prevalence of many highly evaluative parenting noun‐collocates within the field; successful adaptation, a positive appraisal of the situation, realistic expectations, rational decisions, high involvement and full‐time use of the CI are conflated with good parenting, whilst parents who present in alternate ways are construed as problematic. Implications for future research are discussed.