Shaping Attitudes Research Articles

Confucian Democracy in East Asia: A Discussion of Sungmoon Kim’s Democracy After Virtue: Toward Pragmatic Confucian Democracy

Confucian Democracy in East Asia: A Discussion of Sungmoon Kim’s <i>Democracy After Virtue: Toward Pragmatic Confucian Democracy</i>

Where Would You Go? Race, Religion, and the Limits of Pastor Mental Health Care in Black and Latino Congregations

A growing body of literature explores how religious congregations shape attitudes toward mental health in racial/ethnic minority communities. Such research has primarily focused on the views of Black clergy and congregants, limiting our ability to understand how the views of Black Christians might differ from Christians in other racial/ethnic minority communities. We drew on focus groups with 14 pastors and interviews with 20 congregants from Black and Latino churches in Houston, Texas, to examine how church members make decisions about where to seek mental health care or direct others for help. We found that both Black and Latino Christians prefer seeking spiritual resources, like their pastor, when dealing with mental health issues, even though pastors feel limited in their ability to help congregants. The preferences of members of each racial/ethnic group, however, were driven by different logics. While Black Christians in this study sought spiritual resources based on perceived norms within the broader Black community, Latino Christians relied on pastoral care due to norms in their individual congregation. The results shed light on how religious beliefs, race/ethnicity, and social class intersect to shape attitudes toward mental health care in ways that have implications for potential partnerships between churches and mental health care providers.

Disclosing Genetic Risk of Alzheimer's Disease to Cognitively Unimpaired Older Adults: Findings from the Study of Knowledge and Reactions to APOE Testing (SOKRATES II).

Current practice guidelines recommend against Apolipoprotein E (APOE) testing. However, advances in Alzheimer's disease (AD) research and care may soon change this. To examine longitudinally the experience of learning an APOE result and, if an ɛ4 carrier, taking a disease-specific treatment to reduce one's risk of AD. Fifty ɛ4 carriers and 20 non-carriers completed semi-structured interviews 3 months and 15 months after APOE disclosure. Individuals generally understand their APOE results. While non-carriers felt relief, ɛ4 carriers often described themselves as disappointed by their result but nevertheless glad to know. Carriers expressed concerns about stigma and discrimination, including in the workplace. Carriers adopted new health behaviors at higher rates than non-carriers and revised their future plans to account for their increased risk of AD. Individuals participating in research were hopeful that their participation would help them or others; individuals who learned they were at increased risk for AD but who could not participate in research were disappointed. Providers disclosing APOE results should be sensitive to how APOE results shape emotions, self-perceptions, and attitudes about memory; raise concerns about stigma and discrimination in personal and professional relationships; influence health behaviors and decision-making; and can have follow-on effects on family members.

Nation-State Contexts and Authoritarian Value Changes of Ethnic Chinese

The recent global populist wave has reignited interest in how authoritarianism gains momentum in different nation-state contexts. A central question remains: under which conditions do individuals abandon or embrace authoritarian values? In the context of ethnic Chinese, this paper argues that Confucianism still plays a pivotal role in shaping attitudes and values. Specifically, it asserts that the Confucian value of meritocracy maintains importance in the ethnic Chinese value system. The study utilized the Chinese social media platform WeChat to deploy a four-question, snowball sample survey of 1,763 ethnic Chinese in seven regions from around the globe to evaluate their levels of authoritarianism. It tested six hypotheses derived from previous theories concerning assimilation, individual/ family resources, group competition, communist influence, and generational gap. The empirical results, however, provide the strongest support for the theory of meritocratic and conditional authoritarianism, which suggests that ethnic Chinese around the world will become more authoritarian when they perceive a threat to their status quo and will become less authoritarian when they perceive threats to their upward mobility. Keywords: ethnic Chinese, authoritarianism, political culture, immigration, meritocracy

Contact vs. information: What shapes attitudes towards immigration? Evidence from an experiment in schools

We analyze whether (correct) information provision on immigration is more effective than contact in shaping attitudes towards immigration. We collect data from a randomized experiment in 18 middle- and high-school classes in the city of Rome. Half of the classes meet a refugee from Mauritania and read a book about his story, whereas the rest of them attend a lecture on figures and numbers on immigration in Italy and the world. On average, students develop better attitudes towards immigration (especially in the case of policy preferences and the perceived number of immigrants in their country) and somewhat improve their feelings associated with immigrants after the information treatment more than they do after the contact treatment. Also, students having received the information treatment strongly adjust their knowledge on immigration. However, students’ individual characteristics (sex and, to a lesser extent, age) affect treatments’ relative effectiveness.

Attitudes and Intentions toward COVID-19 Vaccination among Health Professions Students and Faculty in Qatar.

A population’s desire to take the COVID-19 vaccine is an important predictor of a country’s future pandemic management. This cross-sectional study examines the impact of psychological and sociodemographic factors on attitudes toward and intentions to take the COVID-19 vaccine among students and faculty at four colleges of health professions and sciences at Qatar University. The data were collected through an online survey using Google Forms. The survey was distributed through various online platforms. Data analysis was conducted using Stata 16. Of the 364 participants, 9.89% expressed a high mistrust of vaccine safety, and 21.7% were uncertain about their levels of trust; 28% expressed strong worries about unforeseen side effects, whereas 54.95% expressed moderate worries. Furthermore, 7.69% expressed strong concerns and 39.84% showed moderate concerns about commercial profiteering. Approximately 13% of the participants expressed a strong preference towards natural immunity, whilst 45.33% appeared to believe that natural immunity might be better than a vaccine. Importantly, 68.13% of the participants intended to receive the COVID-19 vaccine once it became available, compared to 17.03% who were uncertain and 14.83% who were unwilling to be vaccinated. Our findings differ from the data on vaccine hesitancy among the general population of Qatar. We argue that this gap is due to scientific knowledge and domain of education. Furthermore, although knowledge and awareness may affect vaccine attitudes, mental health and sociodemographic factors play a role in shaping attitudes towards vaccines.

ATTITUDES TOWARDS SENIORS IN THE CONTEXT OF PREVIOUS FAMILY RELATIONS EXPERIENCE

Observation of reality shows that the attitude of today's society towards the elderly is very heterogenous and ambivalent. Both positive and negative attitudes can be observed. What is more, one can talk about attitudes of indifference and a certain social distance. The main goal of the research is to show how attitudes towards the elderly are shaped in our society and whether demographic variables such as gender, age, marital status, place of residence, or level of education differentiate these attitudes. Can we talk about the formation of certain patterns among the younger generation, which create the image of older people in adults? The sample consisted of 1,025 people. The Scale of Attitudes towards Seniors (SPWS) by Łukasiewicz and Kowalski was administered. The entire tool consisted of 60 items divided into three scales: Respect and Support, Rejection and Misunderstanding, and Social Distance. In order to examine the attitudes of the respondents to their grandparents and their role in family life, seven self-authored statements were attached to the questionnaire. The analysis of the obtained results shows no significant differences between positive and negative attitudes towards seniors. All attitudes are at a moderate level. The factors differentiating the intensity of attitudes were: gender, marital status, place of residence, and education level. The indicator of the development of positive attitudes towards seniors was the time spent with grandparents in the past and positive opinions about grandparents provided by parents. Earlier intergenerational relations are of no significant importance when it came to the intensification of negative attitudes. The research confirmed the existence of heterogeneous attitudes towards seniors. However, there is no clear advantage of positive attitudes over the negative. The conclusions from the research point to the role of broadly understood education in shaping attitudes towards the elderly. In the age of an ageing society, activities that show the significance of older people for society, and what value they are for all of us, become important. The family and multigenerational relationships play a significant role here.

Shaping social attitudes towards vaccination against COVID-19 and social assistance

Introduction: Vaccination is becoming an increasingly common social dilemma and the reluctance to vaccinate is one of the biggest problems of medicine. This issue is particularly important during the implementation of the National Vaccination Program at the time of the global pandemic caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. The aim of the study is to present the factors determining the process of shaping attitudes of people through the use of knowledge of social psychology in the field of popularizing vaccination, especially in groups requiring support, as well as to present the attitude of Poles towards vaccination against COVID-19. Method: An online survey carried out in January, 2021 on a group of 454 young adults of both sexes on attitudes towards vaccination against COVID-19. Results: The results of the study show that 68.3% of respondents are going to be vaccinated, 60.6% consider the vaccination against COVID-19 to be effective and 62.1% think that it is safe. In addition, this research paper discusses the component of the Poles’ social attitudes towards vaccination. The lowest results (61.40%) were for the emotional phase of positive attitude to COVID-19 vaccination. The highest results (82.05%) were noted in the cognitive phase of positive attitude towards the COVID-19 vaccination. Conclusion: The approaches of Poles differ in their attitudes related to the readiness to be vaccinated, although most of them express the need to be vaccinated. One of the most crucial tasks here is informing people about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine, especially among young people who are undecided (12.1% of the respondents), to achieve the so-called herd immunity. And as it appears, the distrust towards vaccination is not dictated by the subjective lack of knowledge, but the emotional climate associated with it. That is why we need to formulate appropriate and precise health-promoting campaigns.

Effects of a structured online educational program course on nursing students' attitudes toward gender roles and women and children's violence abuse reports: A quasi-experimental evaluation

BackgroundIt is important to know the rights of women and children while shaping attitudes toward gender roles, violence against women, and reporting child abuse. To shape attitudes toward reporting abuse, women's and children's rights courses should be integrated into undergraduate nursing curriculum. It is important to develop positive attitudes of nursing students toward gender roles, violence against women, and reporting child abuse. ObjectivesThe aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of a “women's–children's rights” online-educational program in a nursing curricula. DesignA pretest–posttest follow-up with a control group quasi-experimental trial. SettingsNursing department of the state university in Turkey. ParticipantsFourth-year students (N = 62) of a nursing department at the state university in Turkey constituted the study sample. The students were divided into two groups: education and control groups with each group comprising 31 fourth-year nursing students. MethodsThe education group took the women's–children's rights online-course, whereas the control group did not. In both groups, baseline assessments were performed online using the “Gender Roles Attitude Scale,” “Violence Against Women Attitude Scale,” and “Healthcare Provider Attitudes Toward Child Maltreatment Reporting Scale.” The posttest (T1) was conducted immediately after the 14-week course was completed. Follow-up was performed after 1 month (T2). Numbers, percentages, chi-square test, t-test, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, Pearson's correlation, and Duncan's test were conducted using SPSS 20.00 software. ResultsThe education group's scores of attitudes toward gender roles, violence against women, and reporting child abuse/neglect were significantly higher than those of the control group (p < 0.05). After the online program, a significant difference between the groups and between the measurements was observed in the education group (p < 0.05). ConclusionsThe women's–children's rights online-course is an effective method in educating and enriching nursing students on women's and children's rights.

Top-Down Naturalization: Turkish Government Propensity and Syrian Refugee Attitudes

Naturalization takes place at the intersection between a host government's propensity to give citizenship and refugees' attitudes towards it. However, the naturalization of Syrian refugees, with its top-down approach, shows the possibility of a divergence between a government’s propensity and refugees’ attitudes, and that divergence may spoil the expected benefits. This study questions the factors that determine government propensity and refugees' attitude, besides the convergence and divergence between them. The regressions have been estimated using data collected from a sample of 296 Syrian students at Mardin University, Turkey. The findings of this study revealed a contradiction between attitude and propensity, although they share factors of education and the hosting context. While the indications of social and cultural integration have a positive effect on attitudes, they do not affect propensity. Besides the contextual factors of hosting province shape attitude and propensity. Moreover, the most important factor in deciding attitude is the perception of the costs and benefits of naturalization.

Shaping Attitudes toward Church in a Time of Coronavirus: Exploring the Effects of Personal, Psychological, Social, and Theological Factors among Church of England Clergy and Laity

Abstract This paper reports on the effect of personal, psychological, social, and theological factors in shaping attitudes toward church buildings, the lockup of churches, and the trajectory into virtual church among 4,374 clergy and lay people from the Church of England during the first UK COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Data from an online survey were used to create three scales, Pro Church Buildings, Anti Church Lockup, and Pro Virtual Church, which were shown to have adequate internal consistency reliability. Five sets of predictor variables were tested using hierarchical multiple regression: personal factors (sex and age), psychological factors (psychological type scores), social location (ordination status, education, geographic location), theological stance (modern versus traditional worship, liberal versus conservative doctrinal belief, liberal versus conservative views on morality), and Church tradition (Anglo-Catholic, Broad Church, Evangelical, and Charismaticism). The three scales were predicted by slightly different sets of variables, but in each case personal factors and psychological factors retained some predictive power after controlling for other sorts of factors. The results suggest that those most likely to embrace a future with a significant role for church life online are women (rather than men), the middle-aged (rather than younger or older people), intuitive (rather than sensing) and feeling (rather than thinking) psychological types, clergy (rather than laity), those living outside the inner cities, those who prefer modern (rather than traditional) forms of worship, those with more liberal (rather than conservative) views on doctrine and morality, and those who embrace Evangelical and Charismatic (rather than Anglo-Catholic) church traditions.

Understanding the public attitude towards sharks for improving their conservation

Sharks are among the oldest residents of the planet, they possess a unique value as top predators and constitute irreplaceable elements of marine ecosystems. Unfortunately, contemporary narratives widely presented in popular mainstream media have attached an utterly negative connotation to sharks, propagating an unsubstantiated and fabricated image of them as implacable and voracious predators. Recently a lot of attention is devoted to understanding the public perception towards sharks in order to promote their conservation given that a quarter of all shark species are facing extinction. This work assessed the current attitude of the public towards sharks on a global scale, utilizing modern technology through a single protocol that explored the importance of factors like culture, history, or educational level in shaping attitudes. We collected 13,800 questionnaires from 137 countries, with 25 countries presenting more than 100 answers each, representing in total 92% of the filled questionnaires. A generally positive attitude towards sharks emerged from our study, influenced significantly by several factors including knowledge and participation in marine conservation projects. Interestingly, shark attacks emerged as an important factor, with countries having high numbers of shark attacks exhibiting a highly positive attitude towards sharks, potentially because their citizens are more aware of the issue and the importance of sharks for the marine ecosystems. Guidelines for shifting public attitude towards sharks and consequently advancing shark conservation were also drawn.

Knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of university students regarding COVID-19, Cyprus

BackgroundUniversity students represent an active group with important implications in the novel coronavirus transmission. Elucidating their knowledge, attitudes and perceptions was important for customizing communication material and other information activities.MethodsThe cross-sectional online INTERACT survey targeted students in conventional programs in the five main Universities in the Cyprus Republic between 17-31 March 2020, a week either side of the first national lockdown (24 March).ResultsA total of 3641 students completed the survey (19% response rate): 65.5% female, 80.9% Bachelor, 41% Health/Life sciences. Amongst participants, 68.8% and 20.6% responded correctly to at least six and eight of 10 knowledge-related questions. Objective knowledge did not vary substantially according to self-evaluation of knowledge. Misconceptions were identified in 25-30%. Only 29.1% expressed positive attitude towards a hypothetical person with COVID-19 without also projecting judgement or blame. Odds of expressing positive attitude increased by 18% (95%CI 13-24%) per unit increase in knowledge. Studying at postgraduate level was predictive of better knowledge (OR of ≥score8 1.81; 95%CI 1.34-2.46) and positive attitude (OR 1.35; 95%CI 1.01-1.80). With average knowledge score 6.4 (SD 1.6) vs 6.1 (SD 1.6), Health/Life Sciences students performed marginally better, but were not any more likely to express positive attitude.ConclusionsAlthough Cypriot University students appeared relatively knowledgeable, there were specific gaps and misconceptions, some of which may be attributed to changes in information provided to the public. Attitudes should also be interpreted in the local context where reporting, though seemingly neutral, was not characterised by empathy towards people affected. Findings highlight the importance of continuous and good communication, especially as guidance changes, both in terms of content as well as effect.Key messages Misconceptions and negative attitudes related to COVID19 were identified among Cypriot University students, including those in Health Sciences.Good quality communication is important both in terms of content as well as its effect on shaping attitudes.

Mashi – this language was in my ears

AbstractIn order to understand the process of learning new languages as adults, we need to take into account learners’ past experiences with all of their language(s), as such experiences shape attitudes and conceptualizations. In this paper, we present an analysis of metaphorical expressions in the narrated linguistic biographies of (former) refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Norway. The participants speak a multitude of languages, e.g., different local Congolese languages, Congolese national languages (Lingala or Swahili), French (the official language of the DRC), in addition to Norwegian (the language of the host society). Attention is paid to how the participants’ expressions align with conceptual metaphors emerged from work in Cognitive Linguistics, such aslanguage is an object,language is a personandlanguage is an identity marker, as well as specificationslike language is a toolandlanguage is a possession. We argue that awareness of conceptualizations of ‘language’ can contribute to the development of language training pedagogies that better reflect learners’ past experiences.

Social Media, Vaccines, and Partisan Division of Health Information

AbstractVaccine confidence and uptake is essential to achieving herd immunity levels sufficient to end the COVID‐19 pandemic; however, polarized and partisan discussion on vaccines have increased the difficulty of achieving sufficient vaccine coverage in the population. As individual's health information seeking behaviors diversify, studies suggest that social media is a major “battle ground” for shaping attitudes toward vaccines. Interdisciplinary experts on vaccine discourse will discuss the information context of the vaccine debate, political influence, and attitudes towards science and vaccines against the backdrop of social media. This panel is expected to contribute to the field of information science by invoking a conversation on social media, an important information communication technology, as a field of study that inter‐connects the most current vaccine conversation with theories of partisan behavior of health information and affordance of technology. This panel is sponsored by SIG SM.

How University Graduation Shapes Attitudes Toward Employment in Different Generations Operating at Job Market?

The article deals with the evaluation of university graduates’ attitudes towards job characteristics based on their generation. Research shows that the attitudes of individuals in the labor market are currently changing. However, the question is to what extent this change is related to the entry of a new generation or to what extent generational affiliation plays a role in the different attitudes of individuals in the labor market. Therefore, the aim is to test the proposition whether the age of a graduate, respectively his / her affiliation to the generation X, Y or Z affects attitudes towards job characteristics. The partial goal of the article is to identify the main attitudes of searched generations to employment, the second partial goal is to identify attitudes to the evaluation of the benefits of university study in relation to employment. This paper evaluates data from the case study of a selected business university. The return rate of primary survey was representative for the graduates of the case university. The results obtained were statistically tested. Analysis of differences between age and selected factors was used. The analysis showed statistically significant differences between members of generation X, Y and Z in all investigated factors.

Canadian Health Personnel Attitudes Toward Refugee Claimants’ Entitlement to Health Care

Health care personnel attitudes toward refugee claimant entitlement to health care are influenced by multilevel factors including institutional and societal culture. Although individual attitudes may be modified through training, macro- and meso-issues require system-level interventions. This paper analyzes the role of individual-, institutional-, and city-level factors in shaping attitudes toward refugee claimants’ access to health care among Canadian health care personnel. A total of 4207 health care personnel in 16 institutions located in Montreal and Toronto completed an online survey on attitudes regarding health care access for refugee claimants. We used multilevel logistic regression analysis to identify individual-, institutional-, and city-level predictors of endorsing access to care. Participants who had prior contact with refugee claimants had greater odds of endorsing access to care than those who did not (OR 1.13; 95% CI 1.05, 1.21). Attitudes varied with occupation: social workers had the highest probability of endorsing equal access to health care (.83; 95% CI .77, .89) followed by physicians (.77; 95% CI .71, .82). An estimated 7.97% of the individual variation in endorsement of equal access to health care was attributable to differences between institutions, but this association was no longer statistically significant after adjusting for city residence. Results indicate that the contexts in which health care professionals live and work are important when understanding opinions on access to health care for vulnerable populations. They suggest that institutional interventions promoting a collective mission to care for vulnerable populations may improve access to health care for precarious status migrants.

The stigma of dementia and the media: An analysis of reality shows about older people with dementia running a pop-up restaurant

It has been argued that older people living with dementia often experience stigma. Several media interventions have been designed to raise public awareness about dementia, as well as to de-stigmatise the condition and people living with it; however, few studies have investigated how media interventions may serve to reduce stigma. The present study focused on a Chinese reality show, Forget Me Not Café, which brought together five older people (aged 65 and older) living with dementia to run a pop-up restaurant and intended to reduce the stigma of dementia. The study aimed to explore how the reality show cast talk (or write) about dementia in older people. This study performed a thematic analysis on the written and spoken content about how the show presented dementia in older people. Four discursive themes were identified, including: age as a risk factor for dementia; early signs and symptoms of dementia in older people; the pressure on the family of people with dementia; and expectations of people living with dementia. The findings of this study show that the views of the reality show cast highlight the capability of older people with dementia to communicate effectively and live with the condition, their personal goals of sustaining a happy, meaningful, and sociable life, and the actions they took to positively influence personal circumstances. The findings also indicate that this reality show might help reduce the stigma of dementia and empower older people living with dementia, while it also tends to stress the responsibility for care on family carers and shift the responsibility of managing the dementia-related challenges to older people living with dementia. These suggest a neoliberal tenet of personal responsibility for health in China. Given the media's role in reflecting and shaping perceptions and attitudes towards dementia and people living with it, this study contributes to a greater understanding of the ways in which reality shows can be used to promote awareness and challenge the stigma of dementia and arguably other conditions.

Barriers and Facilitators to Informed Decision-Making About Prostate Cancer Screening Among Black Men.

Black men are disproportionately impacted by prostate cancer (PrCa). Current guidelines recommend that all men make informed decisions about whether to be screened for PrCa. Little is known about the barriers and facilitators of informed decision-making (IDM) about PrCa screening in Black men. We conducted focus groups with a convenience sample of Black men aged 55 to 69 years from a primary care practice (n = 21). Template analysis was used to evaluate themes related to barriers and facilitators of IDM about PrCa screening. IDM was impacted by external factors, intrinsic factors, and personal beliefs about PrCa screening. Family, friends, and clinicians played a paramount role in shaping attitudes about PrCa screening. Distrust of the medical community impaired IDM, and lack of clinician communication about PrCa screening further engendered mistrust. Participants felt they lacked adequate knowledge to make an informed decision about PrCa screening. Identified areas to promote IDM included education on racial disparities, education that screening is a personal choice, and differentiating PrCa screening from colon cancer screening. Our results indicate that Black men may lack the prerequisite information to make informed decisions about PrCa screening, which is notable in light of known PrCa racial disparities. Clinicians can play an important role in facilitating IDM through fostering discussions about the benefits and risks of PrCa screening and educating Black men about racial disparities.

Inaugural Issue ofEJPOResponds to the Covid-19 Crisis

Inaugural Issue of<i>EJPO</i>Responds to the Covid-19 Crisis