Engendering Response: Professional Gesture and the Assessment of Eyesight in Optometry Consultations

Many of the procedures undertaken within healthcare require specialized forms of participation that may be unfamiliar, even disturbing, to patients or clients. The practitioner has to encourage and enable participation in the investigation in an appropriate fashion while preserving the structure and integrity of the procedure. In this article, we consider optometry and the deployment of a vision test, known as subject refraction, that provides data to help determine the characteristics of any corrective lens that may be required by clients. The procedure's ability to establish robust and reliable data relies upon the optometrist's ability to encourage the client to respond to a series of stimuli without consideration or reflection. That is, the client is required to produce an unwitting response—conduct that might be considered nonsymbolic rather than symbolic. In this article, we also consider the optometrist's talk and bodily comportment during subjective refraction and how it serves to shape and determine the quality of the client's response and participation, and in turn to produce reliable test results.     

Child custody issues and co‐occurrence of intimate partner violence and child maltreatment: controversies and points of agreement amongst practitioners

The situation of families undergoing separation in a context of co‐occurrence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and child maltreatment raises certain issues related to child custody. The results presented in this paper were collected and analysed within the framework of a qualitative study aiming to identify the principal points of agreement and the main controversies amongst practitioners in several different types of organizations. Focus groups were held with a total of 43 practitioners from six different settings concerned with child custody in cases of co‐occurrence of IPV and child maltreatment. Although they agreed on the importance of ensuring the safety of victims of violence, their views diverged on three points: (1) the importance of preserving the father–child relationship; (2) collaboration between voluntary organizations and semi‐voluntary or legal agencies; and (3) consideration of cultural differences.     

Understanding heterosexual Chinese college students' intention to adopt safer sex behaviors

This study aimed to examine Chinese college students' safer sex behaviors and to explore whether or not the Theory of Reasoned Action would be useful in understanding AIDS/HIV‐prevention behaviors of Chinese students. A total of 455 Chinese college students (161 males and 267 females) in Hong Kong participated in the study. Results revealed that 24% of the students were sexually active during the surveyed year, with only 38.2% of them reporting regular condom use. About one third of the students intended to experiment with casual sex in the future, but only 64% would use condoms regularly if they were to have future casual sexual encounters. Results indicated that the Theory of Reasoned Action was most applicable in understanding Chinese college students’ intention to use condoms in future casual sexual encounters, rather than in current and future regular sexual activities. Specifically, students who intended‐to use condoms in future casual sex encounters tended to have accurate AIDS/HIV information, show little prejudice against people with AIDS/HIV, demonstrate greater concern about contracting AIDS/HIV, feel confident in condom use, and have positive attitudes toward safer sex behaviors. Gender disparity was also noted in the pattern of associations between safer sex behaviors and various psychological variables. Limitations of the present study and implications for future research were also discussed.     

Smoker-Nonsmoker Conflict: Using a Social Psychological Framework to Understand aCurrent Social Controversy

Over the past two decades, state and federal restrictions of public smoking have become increasingly common. The resulting controversy has generally focused on the research evidence regarding the physiological effects of second-hand smoke while ignoring relevant psychological aspects of smoker-nonsmoker conflict. In this article I review the literature on the psychological consequences of smoker-nonsmoker interaction, interpreting these results from the framework of social psychological research on inter-group conflict. From this review I conclude that: a) smoker-nonsmoker conflict shares many characteristics of other ingroup-outgroup interactions; b) both groups are served by the legislated separation of these groups; and c) such separation can be successfully accomplished only when close attention is paid to subtle environmental cues. Finally, theoretical benefits of studying smoker-nonsmoker conflict from a social psychological perspective are discussed.     

Conversations with Suwanrang: The Treatment Relationship in Cultural Context

Due to the changing cultural composition of the U.S., social workers are increasingly working with clients from different cultures. As a result of globalization, our schools of social work are training international students who return home to work in their native countries and take with them our theories and models of practice. It is essential that, as a profession, we address questions about the relevance of our models to work with clients from different cultures. This paper will use theoretical concepts from anthropology and data from field research with Suwanrang, a social worker in Northern Thailand to address these issues. The implications of the debate between universalist, relativist, and cultural pluralist perspectives within anthropology for psychodynamic, developmental models and social work treatment will be explored. The paper will focus on the ways the treatment relationship is shaped by and varies with culture