Unhealthy Tendencies Research Articles

Psychoneuroimmunological Perspective of Animal-Assisted Therapy

Animal-assisted therapy is a new and upcoming form of therapy that has shown multifarious benefits to participants. It is a goal-oriented therapeutic process with the incorporation of a qualified therapy animal in the therapeutic activities and conversations. This paper explores these benefits from a psychoneuroimmunological lens, wherein the interplay of and impact on an individual's psychological, neurological and immune systems are discussed. Positive physical interaction with therapy animals reduces undesirable symptoms and ailments such as stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, aggressive tendencies, harmful behaviours, cardiovascular issues and unhealthy tendencies amongst others. It further promotes a healthier lifestyle, promoting quality of life, better heart health, cognitive functioning and overall well-being. The biological basis of these benefits is discussed.

Medical and Social Characteristics of Living Conditions, Lifestyle, and Motivation to Become a Doctor among Students and Residents of Medical University

Background. The Russian national project “Healthcare” is aimed at providing the healthcare system with qualified doctors. Higher education institutions have a leading role in accomplishing such crucial state mission. The training of future doctors by medical universities is complicated by numerous medical and social issues associated with objective living conditions and subjective lifestyle as well as with a low motivation to become a doctor among students and residents.
 Purpose. To conduct a medical and social analysis of living conditions, lifestyle, and motivation to become a doctor among students and residents of medical university.
 Materials and methods. The research was based on the data of a medical and sociological analysis carried out from 2020 to 2023. The authors used sociological, psychological, and statistical techniques that are relevant to the study purpose and enable to assess living conditions, lifestyle, and motivation to become a doctor.
 The study subject was a representative sample (p<0.05) of 1007 students and residents at a medical university.
 Results. The living conditions of students and residents are considered as ambiguous, but generally favorable for achieving specialized learning and career-related outcomes at medical university. The lifestyle of students and residents is characterized by unhealthy tendencies (lack of physical activity, presence of some forms of self-destructive behavior, etc.), which in addition complicate the professional training. The motivation to become a doctor is affected more by the families of students and residents and less by the objective living conditions and subjective perceptions of lifestyle. The motivation has a positive modality, pronounced intensity, and pragmatic orientation.
 Conclusions. The professionalism of future doctors is usually developed depending on their motivation and in the context of their current living conditions at medical university. The shaping processes could be optimized by using suitable approaches to educational work and social support for students and residents.

Из онтологии современной археологической науки (О параллельных дискурсах и пороге взаимопонимания между Востоком и Западом)

The article outlines some aspects of the development of archaeological knowledge in the interaction, or rather in the absence of creative interaction between representatives of eastern, post-Soviet archaeology and their colleagues from Western and Central Europe and North America. In the scientific dialogue, there are clearly unhealthy tendencies that have nothing to do with science, which seriously interfere with the synergy of the cognition process. The author sees two such trends. The first is the involvement of archaeological knowledge in the illumination, or even the solution of the problems of modernity of a political and ideological nature. At the forefront of this quasi-scientific trend, there are representatives of countries experiencing various kinds of historical complexes and trying to overcome them in this way. The second is the reluctance of Western specialists to thoroughly study literature in Russian, and even more so in the national languages of the former Soviet republics. This rejection is based on a deep, ingrained confidence in the absolute superiority of the cognitive and analytical abilities of representatives of the Romano-Germanic civilization. As a result, two research paradigms are formed, which develop in parallel, having no points of contact.

Chronic stress, behavioral tendencies, and determinants of health behaviors in nurses: a mixed-methods approach

BackgroundNurses experience high, and often chronic, levels of occupational stress. As high-quality care requires a healthy workforce, individualized stress-alleviating interventions for nurses are needed. This study explored barriers and resources associated with health behaviors in nurses with different stress levels and work-related behavioral tendencies and identified health behavior determinants based on the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) model.MethodsApplying a mixed methods transformative triangulation design, n = 43 nurses filled out chronic stress (SSCS) and work-related behavior and experience patterns (German acronym AVEM) questionnaires, and participated in semi-structured interviews. With content analysis, categories of health behavior-related barriers and resources emerged. Behavior determinants (self-efficacy, outcome expectancies), health behavior, and barriers and resources were quantified via frequency and magnitude coding and interrelated with SSCS and AVEM scores to link level of health behavior with potential influencing factors. Nonparametric tests explored differences in quantified variables for SSCS and AVEM scores and 4-step-hierarchical regression analysis identified predictors for health behavior.ResultsEighty-four percent of the nurses were chronically stressed while 49% exhibited unhealthy behavioral tendencies at the workplace. 16 personal and organizational themes (six resources, ten barriers) influenced health behaviors. Stress was associated with resource frequency (p = .027) and current health behaviors (p = .07). Self-efficacy significantly explained variance in health behaviors (p = .003).ConclusionHealth promotion related barriers and resources should be considered in designing nurse health promotion campaigns. Practitioners need to individualize and tailor interventions toward stress and behavioral experiences for sustainable effects on adherence and health.

Light at the end of the bottle: flourishing in people recovering from alcohol problems

ABSTRACT Background: The field of positive psychology is fast growing and ultimately aims to increase flourishing. As yet, these concepts have had very limited impact in the field of alcohol dependence. The aim of this study is to compare flourishing levels in people recovering from alcohol problems with two comparison groups.Methods:An online survey was conducted with people recovering from alcohol problems (n = 107),a community sample of gym attenders (n = 185) and people with mental health problems (n = 130). Theycompleted the PERMA Scale, as well as answering questions about their drinking.Results: People recovering from alcohol problems scored significantly better than the mentally ill sample on every aspect of the PERMA Scale. In contrast, they scored significantly worse on every subscale in comparison with the community gym attenders’ group. Responses to open-ended questions highlighted the costs of alcohol problems, especially in terms of losses experienced through drinking, along with an unhealthy tendency to focus on the past.Conclusions: The abstinence model may reinforce a sense of hopelessness and powerlessness in those battling alcohol problems and may inhibit flourishing. There is a need to develop positive psychology interventions that may help individuals recovering from alcohol problems to flourish.

Understanding Action and Adventure Sports Participation\u2014An Ecological Dynamics Perspective

Previous research has considered action and adventure sports using a variety of associated terms and definitions which has led to confusing discourse and contradictory research findings. Traditional narratives have typically considered participation exclusively as the pastime of young people with abnormal characteristics or personalities having unhealthy and pathological tendencies to take risks because of the need for thrill, excitement or an adrenaline ‘rush’. Conversely, recent research has linked even the most extreme forms of action and adventure sports to positive physical and psychological health and well-being outcomes. Here, we argue that traditional frameworks have led to definitions, which, as currently used by researchers, ignore key elements constituting the essential merit of these sports. In this paper, we suggest that this lack of conceptual clarity in understanding cognitions, perception and action in action and adventure sports requires a comprehensive explanatory framework, ecological dynamics which considers person-environment interactions from a multidisciplinary perspective. Action and adventure sports can be fundamentally conceptualized as activities which flourish through creative exploration of novel movement experiences, continuously expanding and evolving beyond predetermined environmental, physical, psychological or sociocultural boundaries. The outcome is the emergence of a rich variety of participation styles and philosophical differences within and across activities. The purpose of this paper is twofold: (a) to point out some limitations of existing research on action and adventure sports; (b) based on key ideas from emerging research and an ecological dynamics approach, to propose a holistic multidisciplinary model for defining and understanding action and adventure sports that may better guide future research and practical implications.

A historical review of the control of corruption on economic crime in China

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a historical review of China’s anti-corruption efforts, from the ancient period of Chinese slavery societies to the late 1970s before China launched its profound economic reform, under the current status of the harsh crusade against corruption that the Chinese new leadership initiated. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is mainly based on a great deal of historical literature and empirical findings, with relevant comparative analysis on policies and regulations between various periods of China. Findings – The phenomenon of corruption has existed in Chinese history for thousands of years, throughout Chinese slavery societies, feudal societies, republic period and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Anti-corruption laws formed an important part of ancient Chinese legal system, and each dynasty has made continuous and commendable progress on fighting such misconduct. Innumerable initiatives have also been taken by the ruling party Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since the founding of the PRC. The PRC government created various specially designed government organizations and a series of updated regulations for preventing economic crimes. They have realized that periodic movements against corruption would no longer be helpful, and the paramount issue nowadays is indeed how bold the leaders are in striking out those unhealthy tendencies. Originality/value – This paper fills in the blanks in the Western world with a comprehensive description of, and comments on, the historical efforts on China’s corruption and economic crime prevention. It also, in various ways, provides meaningful information that links to China’s current furious war against corruption.

Insist on the nature of evidence-based medicine for the development of glaucoma clinical trial

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has markedly promoted the development of ophthalmology.Glaucoma clinical trials have been developed rapidly. Clinical trial papers have been tremendously increasing in the decade, but unhealthy tendency deviating from the nature of EBM---"conscientious, explicit and judicious" has come into notice by the medical society. It is the time to develop patient based medicine, combining with experience-based, experiment-based, ethics-based, economy-based medicine. Only face up to the fundamental problems can we avoid misleading clinicians and provide better health care of affordable, accessible, accountable medical service for patients. This is the intrinsic value of evidence-based medicine.

Extreme response style and symptom return after depression treatment: The role of positive extreme responding.

Evidence linking extreme response style (ER) to depressive relapse has been mixed. One reason might be high levels of extreme responses that are positive in nature (ER-Ps) compared with those negative in nature (ER-Ns) at posttreatment. ER-Ps likely consist of both maladaptive "style" responses and adaptive "content" responses (i.e., legitimate denials of dysfunction). The composition of ER-Ps might confound measures of total extreme responding as well as conventional scores on cognitive questionnaires. In the current study, we assessed ER in a new sample by (a) disambiguating ER-Ps that reflect style from those that reflect content and (b) assessing the contribution of ER-Ps to the prediction of relapse/recurrence. Responders (N = 104) to a randomized controlled trial of cognitive therapy versus medications for moderate to severe depression had an average age of 40 years (SD = 12), and they were 58% female, 38% married/cohabitating, and 85% Caucasian. ER variables were calculated using the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale (DAS; Weissman, 1979), with ER-Ps categorized as either content or style responses. ER indices and DAS scores were used to predict symptom return over 2 years. No standard extreme responding variables (e.g., an index of total extreme responding) predicted symptom return, but higher relative levels of style ER-P predicted relapse/recurrence. Total DAS scores also predicted relapse/recurrence but only when high levels of style ER-P responses were controlled. ER-Ps, at least on the DAS, appear to contain indicators of both adaptive and maladaptive positive responses. Future research should attend to the valence of the extreme responses as well as to the content of extreme positive responses, which may reflect either healthy or unhealthy tendencies.

First word: nudging men towards better health

AbstractMost of us aspire to be slim and healthy, but, by regularly succumbing to temptation, we persist in behaving in ways that undermine that goal. In truth, it is much easier to uncork a bottle of wine when you get home instead of putting on running shoes and going out on the common. The instant gratification of a hamburger and chips (which contain around 700 calories) contrasts sharply with the sweat of an hour in the gym, which is necessary to burn that amount of consumed fat and carbohydrate. So what can be done to counteract these unhealthy tendencies? Copyright © 2011 Wiley Interface Ltd

Association Between Health Beliefs and Health Behavior in Early Pregnancy

Folate-supplementation significantly reduces the risk of neural tube defects. The aim of this research was to reveal associations between health beliefs and folate -supplementation as well as other elements of health behavior among Hungarian women early in their pregnancy. Three-hundred and seven women in early pregnancy completed the second part of Health and Illness Scale. Factor structure of health beliefs was established and associations of factors with pregnancy planning, folate-intake, vitamin-intake, smoking-habits and alcohol-consumption were tested. A six factor health model was formulated; the factor named 'mental capacities and abilities' was associated with greater chance on folate-intake, vitamin-intake and prepared pregnancy, as well as a reduced chance of smoking. The factors 'destiny', 'measures aiming at prevention', and 'relatives and acquaintances' related to lower chance on folate-intake. The health belief factor representing Internal Health Locus of Control was associated with more than one component of healthy behavior, while factors of external dimensions (Powerful Others Health Locus of Control and Chance Health Locus of Control) were predictive on unhealthy behavioral tendencies. New approaches aiming to shift one's health beliefs and health locus of control from external causes to internal dimensions are needed in order to reach greater openness towards health-improving interventions.

Regulation Thought of Auto Bidding Advertisement for Search Engine Keywords

The technical nature of search engine in collecting and extracting mass internet information enables auto bidding advertisement based on search engine enjoys a powerful advantage beyond the rules of the game, compared with the advertisement of ordinary web page nature. However, because Internet and search engine is a newly developed matter with many of their behaviors drifting away outside the traditional government supervision and industry self-discipline, it has caused the frequent occurrence of unhealthy tendencies, provoking great dissatisfaction of society. It has become a must to effectively regulate auto bidding advertisement. The three aspects could be considered the starting points in terms of government supervision, industry self-discipline and social supervision. We shall not only insist on and perfect government supervision, but also strengthen the industry self-discipline for realizing organic entity of administrative supervision of government and management of industry self-discipline as well as organic entity of administrative review and self-discipline examination, offering useful references for perfecting the advertisement regulation mode of government leadership system in China. While guaranteeing a healthy and orderly development of search engine, our purpose is to render back an honest and clean searching environment of internet information to the public.

Commentating the Disorders That Influence the University Students’ Psychological Value Realization

A psychological archive of a university student is the basis for the psychological, ideological and moral education of a university, and the foundation for a student to develop his or her self-consciousness. In reality, there exist some unhealthy tendencies and practices that only attach importance to the serious psychological problems reflected in the psychological files and the simple corresponding analyses and applications. These obstacles must be overcome to smoothly realize the value of psychological files.

清代東南書院與文士之風氣

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.
 書院山長講席，無論就脩金，還是聲譽而言，對於有文才學識的士人而言，無疑是理想的職業；書院對於肄業生徒而言，可提供膏火和課獎，近似養士機構。書院因其自身特性網羅集結了大批文士，有利於學術和文學的交流，并形成文士在省内或省際之間的流動。從文士的流動而言，東南三省可視爲内在關聯緊密的文化區域。因爲山長和生徒的集結或多或少與經濟利益相關，也造成了書院講習中的逐利之風。清代書院大多爲舉業型書院，一些有識之士，在此大格局下，對講習内容有程度不同的調整，有充分肯定舉業、并試圖開引向上一路者，亦有舉業與古學兼課、或專課古學者。到道光朝，隨著國勢與思潮之變，書院中舉業與正學（或實學）的關係愈顯緊張，故多有效仿胡安定（胡瑗）分齋課士的書院，實學（有用之學）的地位漸漸提升，而舉業一統天下的局面遂有瓦解之迹象。If annual salary and reputation were used as the standards of assessment, teaching in an academy during Qing dynasty was an ideal profession for the literary and knowledgeable man. And for students in a academy, they gained subsidies and scholarships through exams, so an academy was like an educational institute without paying tuition. Because of this characteristic, many literary men and scholars gathered in the academies, and it promoted the academic and literary exchange. They were floating resources in one province and between two provinces. From the view of literati mobility, the three provinces in the southeast region formed a cultural region, which were closely linked. Affected by the financial factor, there existed an unhealthy tendency for profit. Most academies were for imperial civil examination, but some literati with insight tried to adjust the contents of the courses. One way was to pay more attention on the classics studies under the condition of affirmation the imperial civil examination; the other way was to teach the courses of imperial civil examination and orthodox scholarship, and even to teach orthodox scholarship with concentrated attention. During Daoguang period, along with the changes of national power and trend of thought, there occurred obvious tension between the imperial civil examination and orthodox scholarship (or practical learning), and some academies imitated Hu Anding's class schedule with an emphasis on special field of study. The importance of practical learning increased gradually, and the decisive role of the imperial civil examination began to shake and to decrease.

Owen & Mzee: The Language of Friendship (review)

Reviewed by: Owen & Mzee: The Language of Friendship Deborah Stevenson Hatkoff, Isabella Owen & Mzee: The Language of Friendship; by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, and Dr. Paula Kahumbu; illus. with photographs by Peter Greste et al.Scholastic, 2007 [40p] ISBN 0-439-89959-1$16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 2-4 Many audiences are now familiar with the story of Owen, the hippopotamus orphaned by the 2004 tsunami and now dwelling in a Kenyan wildlife park, and his surprising friendship with the Aldabran tortoise Mzee. Though this labels itself a sequel to Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship (BCCB 5/06), it's more a revisitation with a slightly different focus. The text briefly recapitulates the story of Owen's sea rescue, travel to Haller Park, and meeting with Mzee, and [End Page 253] it then goes on to look in more detail at the relationship between the two, their behaviors, and the possible pitfalls of this friendship. This title pushes the boundaries of the story's implications a little harder than its predecessor (the optimistic morals seem particularly implausible in light of the multitudes who weren't spared in the tsunami), but it also offers intriguing and closely observed descriptions of the two animals' interactions, noting, for instance, that they've developed an oral communication that is neither tortoise nor hippo in its nature; the book is also straightforward and realistic about issues that the park keepers face, such as Owen's unhealthy tendency to eat a tortoise diet rather than a hippo diet and the risk that he might pose to the delicate-shelled Mzee as he continues to increase in size. This book is chock full of color photos, a few clearly constrained by circumstances but many of them striking and vivid portraits that convey the beauty of the location as well as the comradeship of the two animals. Browsers will find much to nibble on just in the images, while animal lovers in particular will find the enhanced details of this pair's friendship well worth perusal. A concluding section offers a bit more information on subjects ranging from Kenya to hippos to the tsunami. Copyright © 2007 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

In Celebration of Unsung Heroes

There is an unhealthy tendency in our media-saturated society to value only those things that receive the most hype. Our interests and opinions about the popular world are shaped by the tabloids that we all secretly read in supermarket checkout lines, which only enlighten us about Oscar winners,

Information technology and new organizational forms: choosing chaos over panaceas

This paper examines five aspects of the critical relationship between information technology (IT) and new emergent forms of organizations. First, there appears to be an unhealthy tendency among IT professionals to elevate any single, highly successful practical experience instantly into an overarching paradigm for managerial success. Second, there is a corresponding tendency for IT researchers to focus their efforts on the search for the single universal formula that will transform any type of organization in any situation from mediocrity to excellence. Third, IT researchers assign a pre-eminence to IT in organizational transformation that neglects many other important social and environmental factors. Fourth, management theorists seem unable to cope with the unpredictability, the multivariate nature and the ‘messiness’ of human organizations in cultural contexts. Even studies that make qualitative allowances will still imply a surreal causal analysis that is mostly speculation. Fifth, several critical factors influence the interaction of changes in IT and emergent organizational forms: these include organizational learning, structural premise and power.

Whence Come the Unhealthy Tendencies in the Chemical Fertilizer Business

Recently many peasants have written complaining of the unhealthy trends in the supply and marketing of chemical fertilizers. They ask why they cannot get the chemical fertilizers supplied to the peasants according to the state plan, why the state policy of selling chemical fertilizers to peasants as encouragement and reward for grain sales cannot be implemented, and yet chemical fertilizers sold at high prices on the market are abundant They strongly demand that the departments concerned take measures to check the unhealthy tendencies in the distribution and sale of chemical fertilizers and restore order in the market to ease the high prices and their difficulty in getting chemical fertilizers. To understand the problem, we interviewed the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Chemical Engineering, and some prefectural, county, and grass-roots units in Sichuan, Guangdong, and other provinces and investigated the production, supply, and sale of the product.

China: Modernization and "Unhealthy Tendencies"

Beginning in the summer of 1984, and continuing down to the recent sixth plenum of the Communist Party of China's (CPC) twelfth central committee, the Chinese press has revealed a persistent concern on the part of the leadership of the CPC with the appearance of arising in the wake of recent economic reforms. Throughout 1985, serious concern was evident as the problem was addressed at various times by the CPC central committee (CC), the CPC CC discipline inspection commission, the CPC central commission for guiding party rectification, the state council, Deng Xiaoping, Hu Yaobang, and Zhao Ziyang, among many others. The year 1986 likewise witnessed scores of reports of economic corruption and other behavior, as well as a number of highly publicized cases of corruption involving officials, party cadre, and the relatives of high-ranking Communist Party officials. While bearing certain similarities to the earlier campaign against spiritual pollution, the campaign against tendencies has had a fundamentally different target. The spiritual pollution campaign attacked a wide range of behavior associated with moral and spiritual decay. The campaign against tendencies has been aimed at undesirable behavior on the part of party and government cadres and officials and thus bears similarity to the earlier problems of corruption in the PRC studied by Alan P. L. Liu.3 Because the are said to involve an erosion of party spirit and discipline within the ruling elite itself, concern with arresting and reversing the unhealthy occasionally assumes a tone of urgency. The dangers inherent in the continuation of the present trend are apparently perceived as real and substantial. Indeed, it is frequently suggested that, if the problem can not be effectively dealt with, economic reform and the four modernizations (of industry, agriculture, science and technology, and the military) may be difficult or impossible to achieve. In the following pages I propose to examine these new tendencies as they are reported and discussed in the Chinese press. I will suggest that the leaders of the CPC appear to have little real understanding of the underlying causes--as contrasted with the

Theory-Testing in Psychology and Physics: A Methodological Paradox

Because physical theories typically predict numerical values, an improvement in experimental precision reduces the tolerance range and hence increases corroborability. In most psychological research, improved power of a statistical design leads to a prior probability approaching ½ of finding a significant difference in the theoretically predicted direction. Hence the corroboration yielded by “success” is very weak, and becomes weaker with increased precision. “Statistical significance” plays a logical role in psychology precisely the reverse of its role in physics. This problem is worsened by certain unhealthy tendencies prevalent among psychologists, such as a premium placed on experimental “cuteness” and a free reliance upon ad hoc explanations to avoid refutation.