Sense Of Confidence Research Articles

The Tensions of Unity: Challenges of Community-Centered Research

Historically, there are numerous examples of how medical and other types of research have not adequately protected the interests of the community (of patients or others) that is studied. The most infamous example is the Tuskegee Project, which examined the progression of syphilis in a group of African-American men. Although improved treatment became available before the end of the project, the researchers chose to continue observing the progress of the disease rather than inform their study participants that effective treatment was now available. This sad story offers perhaps the most salient and now well-known example of how a community was mistreated in the name of science and research, but there are many other examples in the annuals of bioethics. As a result of such incidents, as well as many other factors, communities often view health research as "outsider-centered" rather than focusing on addressing their own needs. Further, "outsider-centered research" often is seen as taking something (e.g., data) away from the community to achieve "outsider" goals, rather than sharing findings with the community and contributing to community well-being. Given this historical context of human research, often conducted with a colonial sense of authority and indisputable importance, we can understand the mistrust of research that we regularly encounter in the communities we study. This mistrust is also present among frontline social service and health support providers, individuals who commonly come from and define them-selves as members of the communities they serve.

Talk Around Text: Literacy Practices, Cultural Identity and Authority in a Corsican Bilingual Classroom

This paper examines literacy practices in a Corsican bilingual classroom, focusing on the way that pedagogical practices attribute authentic and powerful identities to both the minority language and to learners. This involves meeting two sometimes conflicting goals: (1) fostering an intimate and authentic sense of cultural ownership of the Corsican language among children who are largely French-dominant; and (2) creating symbolic and functional parity between Corsican and French in the broader context of the Corsican language revitalisation agenda. The analysis of Corsican literacy instruction in a Corsican bilingual school shows that these dual goals are addressed through practices that involve the collective, collaborative production of texts (intimacy function) which are treated as authoritative in the class (power/parity function). These micro-level practices are replicated in the overall patterning of literacy work in the two languages of the classroom, where there is virtual parity in the amount of literacy work done in the two languages, but in which Corsican is the subject of less individual work and rigorous evaluation.

Making sense of invulnerability at work—a qualitative study of police drivers

This paper reports a qualitative study of 54 police drivers who were interviewed about their views on police driver training, driving strategies and their accident involvement. Study of the transcribed interviews indicated that officers constructed narratives of themselves as being highly aware of hazards presented by other road users and they used a variety of discursive devices to minimise their own culpability and attribute risk elsewhere. Rather than maintaining a straightforward ‘illusion of invulnerability’ they were formulating a ‘topography of risk’ in which they were responding to hazards presented by suspects or other road users. Their meticulously detailed accounts of the circumstances surrounding accidents serve to place them as knowledgeable and impartial participants and create a sense of expertise and authority. Training initiatives could profitably seek to challenge this ‘topography of risk’ and sense of authority so that drivers more fully appreciate the hazard they may present to themselves and the public.

The Power of Unsilencing: Between Silence and Negotiation in Heterosexual Relationships

Orly Benjamin, The Power of Unsilencing: Between Silence and Negotiation in Heterosexual Relationships, pp. 1–19. This article proposes an analysis of the social process of unsilencing in the specific context of heterosexual relationships. Unsilencing is the process in which an individual woman becomes empowered to the extent of voicing what is silenced by structural hierarchies that shape her experiences of the heterosexual relationships she is involved in. I connect the process of unsilencing to the sociological notion of “negotiated order” and a feminist notion of the self as fragmented and continually changing. Unsilencing is conceived as a response to power operating on three levels: emotional connection that empowers a contesting meaning structure; a process of distancing that empowers the individual in overcoming positioning processes; and an increased sense of authenticity in relation to the set of emotional management, language and beliefs embedded in the contesting meaning structure.

I diritti dell’uomo, la bioetica e l’embrione umano

L’articolo muove dalla constatazione – documentata dal riferimento a numerosi documenti di carattere giuridico - dell’intenso legame esistente tra la riflessione sui diritti umani e quella sulla bioetica; legame che affonda le sue radici nella metà del secolo scorso e che è a tutt’oggi fecondo tanto da costituire una delle caratteristiche della modernità.
 La forza espansiva delle due riflessioni trova uno sbocco ed una prospettiva comune nel biodiritto che sta imponendosi non solo come un settore degli ordinamenti interni, definibile in base a criteri pratici, didattici o sistematici, ma anche come riflessione planetaria sui diritti umani il cui nucleo più profondo è costituito dalla meditazione sulla dignità umana, sul suo contenuto, sulla sua ragione. Il biodiritto, infatti, manifesta l’urgenza di un supplemento di riflessione, uno sforzo speculativo che sappia guardare a fondo per cogliere senso più autentico del diritto e dei diritti umani. Questo supplemento di riflessione viene posto nella prospettiva dell’esistenza umana appena sbocciata e minacciata in molti modi: dall’aborto chirurgico a quello chimico, dalla fecondazione in vitro, all’uso dell’embrione a fini sperimentali o di ricerca.
 Sullo sfondo di una panoramica generale dei principali testi giuridici che più o meno direttamente si occupano, con diversi esiti, dell’embrione umano, lo scritto si sofferma sulle ragioni che depongono a favore del riconoscimento del concepito come soggetto. Tali ragioni- squisitamente giuridiche - sono date dalla meditazione sulla dignità umana e sul collegato principio di uguaglianza alla luce delle Costituzioni e delle dichiarazioni di diritti; dal concetto tecnico-giuridico di persona; dalla rilevanza giuridica del dubbio.

“You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake”

“You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake”

Computer-mediated history learning: spanning three centuries project

This article demonstrates how learners used a project-based approach to engage in authentic historical inquiry. The Spanning Three Centuries Project (STC) was predicated upon the premise that education should encourage students' disposition toward thoughtfulness and reflection. The project encouraged learners' writing with technology as a way of learning one's own culture, through investigation of societal issues, in history, politics, and sociology, with the aim of inspiring creative historical inquiry, and self-reflection. A number of themes were drawn from this data. The STC project promotes disciplined inquiry and enhances learners' historical thinking. It nurtures learners' sense of authorship and enhances their information literacy. The study showed that learners found the experience generally positive. Students, in general, have taken to the project enthusiastically and report that they benefited from this contact and exposure with centenarians. Connecting history to personal experience made them feel the past was real. They particularly enjoyed the use of multimedia technology in supporting projects in the study of history. From this study, it could be concluded that the project-based STC project has the potential to empower students to use multimedia technology in support of social studies projects. The STC project provided an opportunity to develop learners' historical knowledge and thinking skills, as well as their interest in studying history.

A Road Through Mali-Kuli: A Novel

Review: A Road Through Mali-Kuli: A Novel By Agi Kiss Reviewed by Tracy Dobson Michigan State University, USA Agi Kiss. A Road Through Mali-Kuli: A Novel. Washington, DC: 1stBooks Library, 2001. 411 pp. ISBN 0-7596-4992-8 (paper). US$14.00. Acid-free paper. A well-written and highly engaging mystery, A Road Through Mali-Kuli stimulates thought about deeper questions of international development and environmental conservation. Along with her strong grasp of the international development arena, Kiss knows sub-Saharan Africa well. Her rich descriptions of the local scene give the reader a strong sense its sights, sounds, and smells. From the Delamere Terrace in a Nairobi hotel (a real place) to the raunchy Cock and Bull bar in Mwatumi, Rumura (a fictional African country), scenes will be familiar to those who frequent such places, and they will engage the imagination of readers who haven't. Including characters like the grubby and clueless Australian tourists and the old British couple sitting in a faded hotel lounge, sipping gin and muttering about the good old days gives the story a greater sense of authenticity. Kiss entertains the reader with a fast-paced mystery containing numerous unexpected twists and turns. She also foregrounds important questions about validity, efficacy, and morality of externally directed attempts to bring about sustainable development in developing nations. Speaking metaphorically of the difficulties involved, she describes the Mali Kuli forest: if you look at the forest from far away, it looks like a blanket of solid green. When you get a little closer, you see there are actually lots of different shades of green. And if you get right inside it ... you see it's also black, white and brown and yellow and red ... you can see every color in the world in the forest ... and so, the closer you look at something, the more complicated it becomes (p. 246). Who is Mr. Singh? Traveling back and forth between Nairobi and the Rumura, everyone seeks to meet this elusive man. The plot revolves around various expatriate efforts to save people and environment-typical northern development themes. Corruption is rife, from village yokels to top-level government officials and European expats who run illegal and/or immoral moneymaking schemes. The goods at issue are rare animal species and valuable hardwoods from the Mali Kuli Reserve. The bad guys try to plunder whatever they can from Rumura's rich but diminishing natural resource base. Thuggish police Captain Kamanga, his boss, and their French partner,

Ethics in Community Mental Health Care: Commonplace Concerns

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book Forum: Law and EthicsFull AccessEthics in Community Mental Health Care: Commonplace ConcernsTEDDY D. WARNER, PH.D., and LAURA WEISS ROBERTS, M.D., TEDDY D. WARNERSearch for more papers by this author, PH.D., and LAURA WEISS ROBERTSSearch for more papers by this author, M.D., Albuquerque, N.Mex.Published Online:1 Oct 2002https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.159.10.1803-aAboutSectionsView EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail Any conception of the ethical will include in some form concern for people directly affected by one’s actions, especially those to whom one owes special care.Bernard Williams (1) (as quoted in Ethics in Community Mental Health Care)This edited book takes on the task of clarifying ethical concerns that arise in community mental health care. Bioethicist Patricia Backlar and psychiatrist David Cutler start from the premise that ethics “is not a hifalutin subject” but, rather, an endeavor in which we reflect on the question of how best to live and what best to do in our professional work. The editors’ aim is to present thoughtful analyses and to stimulate reflection on what they characterize as commonplace concerns. They have succeeded in developing a very useful and substantive text that promises to be of considerable interest to mental health practitioners, trainees, and clinical ethicists.The book is organized around themes that are salient in community mental health care, ranging from traditional psychiatric ethics topics such as professional boundaries and involuntary treatment to newly emerging areas such as anticipatory planning in psychiatric treatment and conflicts of interest. The authors draw from extensive clinical experience, and they share their hard-earned practical wisdom and understanding of relevant conceptual literature in a manner that is very attuned to the realities of community mental health care.Although the text has some biases and is not grounded in the evidence-based clinical ethics scholarship that has been developed over the past two decades, it is nevertheless a valuable resource that will help many caregivers to think more systematically about complex ethical issues confronted on a daily basis. These ethical issues pertain to therapeutic relationships with mentally ill patients; despair and fear experienced by families and informal caregivers; challenges in developing supportive housing and rehabilitation services; the personal safety of clinicians; how, when, and why to approach involuntary interventions; factors contributing to imprisonment of mentally ill people; use of psychiatric advance directives and health care proxies; and consumer advocacy in the conduct of scientific research.While they emphasize the ordinary, Backlar and Cutler have developed a not-so-ordinary collection of papers that fills a vacancy in the psychiatric ethics literature, offers sound clinical insights, and conveys an unusual sense of authenticity and compassion.Edited by Patricia Backlar and David L. Cutler. New York, Kluwer Academic/Plenum, 2002, 243 pp., $55.00.Reference1. Williams B: Moral luck: a postscript, in Making Sense of Humanity and Other Philosophical Papers. New York, Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp 241-247Google Scholar FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByNone Volume 159Issue 10 October 2002Pages 1803-a-1804 Metrics History Published online 1 October 2002 Published in print 1 October 2002

Origin and Transformation: Salomon Maimon and German-Jewish Enlightenment Culture

Salomon Maimon's Lebensgeschichte (1792) presents a strange and troubled man, a solitary wanderer between the darkness of Polish-Jewish superstition and the light of German-Jewish reason. When he arrived in Berlin in 1777, the 25 year-old Maimon had left behind his life in the shtetl with its great material and intellectual poverty and premature responsiblities. A rabbi and husband at age eleven, he had experienced the near total lack of interest in a larger world, of teachers and books that taught anything, the unquestioning authority of texts that were impenetrable to reason, the absence of thoughtful social—not to mention political—organization and conduct. In Berlin, he was to develop into an intellectual with remarkably broad interests, insights and erudition. But his early struggle to gain access to such learning had impressed on him a sense of authenticity, a "true" self that, given his difficult temperament and the social and political conditions of German- Jewish Enlightenment culture, inexorably separated him from what he most desired: an intellectual community that would accept him as he was. Maimon the intellectual had attracted the interest and support of a number of distinguished Berlin Enlightenment figures, Moses Mendelssohn, Ephraim Veitel, Samuel Levy, David Friedlaender among them. Marcus Herz had sent Maimon's Versuch über die Transzendentalphilosophie (1790) to Kant, who thought it one of the best critiques of his work. Yet by the time his Lebensgeschichte was published, Maimon had managed to alienate all of them because of his lack of "civility." He could not adapt to their grossbürgerlich sociability and they, the posterchildren of the Enlightenment ideology of tolerance, were too insecure in their minority status to tolerate Maimon's chaotic person and subversive, "heretical" ideas. This conflict points to larger issues of tolerance which are discussed in the context of a general German-Jewish tension around 1800 between assimilation to German society and culture and an enduring Jewish identity.

"Beautiful dripping fragments": A Whitmanesque Reading of Hopkins' "Epithalamion"

A celibate whose Ruskinian interest natural beauty focussed upon innocent child or youth, Hopkins has not often been written of sexual language or been critically analyzed for sexual themes attitudes. Perhaps should be glad. (Johnson, Sexuality Inscape) (1) IN CONSIDERATIONS PR[OR TO--BUT LEFT UNCHANGED IN--HIS LITERARY biography of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Norman White dismisses poet's elusive Epithalamion as second-hand impressions pasted together, as landscape descriptions [which] have no force of plot behind them. (2) I wish to argue pages to follow that such assessment overlooks Epithalamion as display of Hopkins' mastery of painterly, priestly, prurient--overlooks masterpiece which John Ferns has argued not only reveals Hopkins freest happiest poetical vein, but also shows his genius. Even as recently as 1990, scholars such as James Earl have suggested indelicately that proper lesson learned from Hopkins' Epithalamion is that we would do well to destroy poems write while administering exams, merely labeling poem a beautifully embarrassing sexual fantasy. (4) Traditionally, most scholars have dismissed Hopkins' poem as spurious improvisation, ignoring existence of earlier drafts, drafts indicative of thoughtful process of revision. Scholars seem to request fair copy to legitimize Epithalamion, even though its writer admitted only year after its composition, that fatal year which saw both his death purging of his uncollected manuscripts: We greatly differ feeling about copying one's verses out: I find it repulsive, let them lie months years rough copy untransferred to my book (Last letter to Bridges, April 29, 1889). (5) Hopkins himself contributed to this dismissal of poem as fragment, certainly for good reasons. As if to thwart societal disapproval, Hopkins attached nuptial title two extraneous fragments, obvious fragments which Norman H. MacKenzie describes as perhaps weakest lines GMH ever wrote (Facsimile II, p. 383, note). Always keen on exploiting poetic opportunity, Hopkins seems to have converted occasion of his brother Everard's wedding into an audible fig leaf intended to cover sentiments expressed earlier [in poem], (6) sentiments both suggestive erotic. If look behind fig leaf--the nuptial title appended fragments--we discover poet inflamed with pederastic desire, poet who guides us into woodland abounding with bathing boys; then directs our gaze towards advancing stranger who, inspired by sight of these naked striplings, undresses bathes alone, caressed by vacillating stream. Not typical, Catholic wedding-scene, to be certain--or, words of Simon Humphries, looks not like nuptial. (7) Regarding spiritual psychological nakedness of Hopkins' Terrible Sonnets, most would agree with Robert Bernard Martin that in this great series of poems Hopkins seems stripped before us, so that no conventions of nationality, period or religion come between poet reader to obscure sense of profound emotion they share. (8) But, White's classification of later Epithalamion as pitiable fragment Earl's suggestion that it should have seen flames together reveal deliberate avoidance, critical sphere, of homoerotic pederastic qualities which infuse it, avoidance of sexual psychological nakedness that it presents represents, avoidance of what Michael Lynch has labeled the gayness of [Hopkins'] whole aesthetic. (9) Take away 'title,' suggests Humphries, and those forty-two lines might begin to look like kind of poem that is uncongenial to some critics (p. 344). This scholarly preference for congenial is partly decorous cautious attempt not to marginalize Hopkins' deeply felt religious convictions, his devotion to celibacy, his authentic sense of vocation. …

Informed consent and the capacity for voluntarism.

Informed consent is built upon the elements of information, decisional capacity, and volunteerism. Of these elements, voluntarism in clinical and research consent is the least well understood. This has interfered with the ability to resolve key ethical problems faced by the field of psychiatry. The author suggests that voluntarism encompasses an individual's ability to act in accordance with one's authentic sense of what is good, right, and best in light of one's situation, values, and prior history. Voluntarism further entails the capacity to make this choice freely and in the absence of coercion. Deliberateness, purposefulness of intent, clarity, genuineness, and coherence with prior life decisions are implicitly emphasized in this construction. The author offers and illustrates a framework for voluntarism in clinical and research consent decisions, focusing on four domains of potential influence: 1) developmental factors, 2) illness-related considerations, 3) psychological issues and cultural and religious values, and 4) external features and pressures. It is hoped that improved understanding of voluntarism will help in our efforts to fulfill the principle of respect for persons in clinical care and research.

"I'm a Second-Language English Speaker": Negotiating Writer Identity and Authority in Sociology One

Student writing needs to be viewed in its insertion into a context defined by the existence of sociohistorically shaped, asymmetrical power relations. How novice student writers negotiate these complex political relationships and develop a sense of authority and identity in their academic essay writing has been underexplored in academic literacy research. In this article I examine the discursive production of success and failure through a discussion of 2 first-year sociology essays at a South African university. The successful student's ability to construct a powerful, authoritative textual and discoursal identity for himself, and his highly developed "textual" capital, are seen as factors in his success. Systemic functional grammar is used to demonstrate how he has recourse to the linguistic features of authority as he discursively negotiates success with his marker. The student who fails struggles to negotiate an authoritative self as author and, relying heavily on the words of recognized authorities in the discipline, becomes a "plagiarizer." Ethnographic data, including interviews with the students and the marker, provide a thick description of the processes of identity negotiation.

The social–psychological bases of anticonsumption attitudes

AbstractThis article proposes that the increasing number of individuals voluntarily reducing their levels of consumption may be motivated by underlying social–psychological stress related to living in a consumer society. Of the three primary motivational bases of the self (esteem, efficacy, and authenticity), it is argued that only self‐esteem and self‐efficacy can be acquired through consumption. The current growth of the voluntary simplicity movement, it is argued, is among those individuals who have met the need for esteem and efficacy through consumption, but have failed to achieve a sense of authenticity. Evidence from interviews with participants in the voluntary simplicity movement is presented in support of this proposition. Anticonsumption attitudes, it is concluded, result from a process of self‐inquiry triggered by the failure to feel authentic through one's consumption activities. Implications of anticonsumption attitudes in reaction to consumer culture are discussed. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

D.J. Vaughan and R. Wogelius (Eds.) Environmental Mineralogy. EMU Notes in Mineralogy. Vol. 2. Eötvös University Press, Budapest, 2000, xii + 434 pp. Price $18.00. ISBN 963 463 1333.

This book arises from a Short Course on Environmental Mineralogy held by the European Mineralogical Union at Budapest in May 2000. Sponsored by the Socrates/Erasmus Programme of the European Union, the course aimed to develop “advanced teaching that redefines the boundaries of mineralogy” and a “coordinated European curriculum in mineralogy” (see Foreword). To this end, the content of the Short Course is presented in the chapters of this book. The result is wide ranging and authoritative. At the proposed cost of only eighteen dollars, it is a stimulating text at a bargain price. How you regard such a book depends perhaps on what you expect. It is best seen as an introductory text that should lead the student to more extensive reading in their chosen field. It is not in itself a comprehensive treatment of the broad subject of environmental mineralogy, nor does it set out to be. Each chapter is based on the particular experience of its authors, and the editors have avoided trying to artificially stitch the chapters together to give an appearance of continuity, opting instead to allow each to speak for itself. The resulting sense of authority and focus is tempered by inevitable jumps in style and gaps in coverage, but don’t let this put you off. No single book could treat all the disparate subjects covered here in depth. What is “environmental mineralogy”? I am not aware of any strictly defined avenue of research, so much as a wide area of increasing interest and concern to mineralogists. Environmental sciences are of course well established, and the ‘Environment’ is near the top of the agenda for a host of scientists, regulators, …

Why Bilingual Education Policy Is Needed: A Philosophical Response to the Critics

What role does bilingual education policy have in the educational opportunity structure for heritage language (HL) students? In what ways might bilingual education enhance students' self-determination? In this article, I shall argue that the various criticisms against bilingual education policy are myopic and focused on nostalgic notions of Americanization and assimilation, which often cost heritage language students a secure sense of cultural identity, an expansive social context of choice, and consequently, their self-determination. When students have a secure sense of authenticity in their cultural identity, and a favorable social context within which to make important life choices, they then have the best chance of become self-determining. Thus, I examine how bilingual education policy should be justified based on the principle of self-determination.

Hong Kong Student Teachers' Personal Construction Of Teaching Efficacy

This study employed the repertory grid technique to investigate how a sample of 27 student teachers in Hong Kong developed a personal sense of teaching efficacy. The analysis indicated that the third year students' perceptions were more homogenous than were those of the first year students. The results also indicated that teaching efficacy was viewed in terms of the dimensions of concern for instructional participation and learning needs of pupils, communication and relationships with pupils, academic knowledge and teaching skills, lesson preparation, management of class discipline, teaching success, teaching commitment, and a sense of self-confidence. Experiences of teaching practice, electives, pupils, and teaching practice supervisors (Electives) were the major sources for the development of a sense of teaching efficacy. Implications of how those aspects of teacher training can be more effective in engendering a sense of efficacy in the student teachers are discussed.

Authors Possessed: The Demonic Novel in Russia

This is an investigation of the Russian demonic novel through the works of Gogol, Dostoevsky, Bely, Bulgakov, and Nabokov. This study of Russian literature examines the development of the demonic in key Russian novels from the last two centuries. Defining the demonic novel as one that takes as its theme an evil presence incarnated in the protagonists and attributed to the Devil (as understood in Judeo-Christian terms), Weiner investigates the way the content of such a book can compromise the moral integrity of its narration and its sense of authorship. Weiner contends that the theme of demonism increasingly infects the narrative point of view from Gogol's Dead Souls to Dostoevsky's The Devils, and Bely's Petersburg, until Nabokov exorcised the demonic novel through his fiction and his criticism.

Travel Experience in the Formation of Leadership: John Quincy Adams, Frederick Douglass and Jane Addams

Scholarship on leadership has tended to emphasize its nature and its behavioral features. This article focuses on the formation of leadership by paying particular attention to the role of travel experience in a young (11-29) person's life. The study examines the travel experiences of three nineteenth-century American leaders: John Quincy Adams, Frederick Douglass and Jane Addams. The author's findings establish the importance of travel in the formation of a person's sense of self-confidence, perspective, skills, and sense of purpose, all of which contribute to the formation of their leadership abilities.

The passionate scholar: A mid-life, woman doctoral student's quest for voice

The feminist, esthetic, cooperative inquiry described in this article is the first longitudinal study to trace the development of scholarly identity in a group of mid-life women participants during their doctoral years. This 18-month project involved an experiential workshop and four reunions shaped around the metaphor of the hero's journey grounded in feminist pedagogy and expressive methods. Entering doctoral programs with voices made tenuous by life events characteristic of mid-life, participants' scholarly development was intimately linked with their recovery of personal voice and the development of an authentic sense of self. Expressive methods as well as group support were integral to participants developing a scholarly identity that manifested itself in passionate dissertation scholarship. This suggests that participants' scholarly identity development transcended the intellectual and involved psychological, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. Based on these findings, doctoral educators are encouraged to create experiences that offer mid-life women opportunities to reflect on their doctoral journeys within a community of scholarly caring through the creative mediums of metaphor; esthetic, expressive representation; and dialogue.