Introduction to The Giard Portfolio: A Man for All Seasons

This essay contextualizes Baraitser's (2009 Baraitser , L. ( 2009 ). Maternal Encounters: The Ethics of Interruption . London , UK : Routledge . [Google Scholar]) Maternal Encounters: The Ethics of Interruption with regard to a persistent neglect of the value of motherhood in Western philosophy. The author argues that Baraitser's approach foregrounds the “maternal encounter” in a way that is distinctive both with regard to mainstream philosophy and with regard to hegemonic versions of feminism. The text is also singular in its style and enactment of a more personalized experience of motherhood, which is nonetheless simultaneously articulated through a subtle and powerful reading of contemporary philosophy, most especially through the work of Alain Badiou and Julia Kristeva. The author argues that Baraitser avoids the more moralistic or naive versions of the contemporary “return to the ethical” and instead plots a powerfully original and iconoclastic philosophy of the maternal, which maintains an idiosyncratic subversive potential, both philosophically and politically.     

A packaged learning process: The consolidated approach

Social work educators do not have the luxury of teaching one concept at a time. With this in mind, the authors present a method of combining different content areas within one teaching exercise. Practice faculty can combine several concepts by using case studies to teach assessment skills and treatment issues of populations-at-risk. By assigning students an assessment of a case study character who is a member of a population at risk, the lecturer teaches a new skill and in the process students acquire additional knowledge about that population. The techniques use: (1) a genogram and an ecomap assessment of a woman in a short story; and (2) a problem-solving schematic assessment of a woman in a case study. The teaching techniques involve four steps: individual assignments, small group analysis, class assignments, and full class discussion. Class discussions revealed that students did gain knowledge of women's issues while acquiring practice skills. These strategies are appropriate for use in foundation or advanced social work curricula.     

The role of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related stigma on HPV vaccine decision-making among college males

ABSTRACT

Objective: The goals of the present study are (1) to identify sociodemographic and psychosocial predictors of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related stigma and (2) to examine the relationship between HPV-related stigma in predicting HPV vaccine decision-making among college males. Participants: Six hundred and eighty college males aged 18–26 from 3 Canadian universities were recruited from September 2013 to April 2014. Methods: Participants completed a self-report survey assessing HPV-related stigma, psychosocial predictors of HPV-related stigma, and HPV vaccine decision-making. The results were analyzed using variance analyses and linear regressions. Results: Ethnicity, province of residence, and perceived severity of HPV were found to significantly influence HPV-related stigma. In addition, HPV-related stigma was higher in those unaware of the availability of the HPV vaccine for males. Conclusions: Promotion efforts should concentrate on Asian minorities and should avoid HPV severity messaging, as these may lead to higher HPV-related stigma, which in turn may act as a barrier to vaccination.     

Mutually Dependent Health Beliefs Associated With Breast Self-examination in British Female University Students

Abstract

Objective: Whereas research suggests young women's beliefs about breast cancer (susceptibility/severity) and its early detection (barriers/benefits) reliably distinguish breast self-examiners from nonexaminers, this study assessed whether these impressions are interreliant, especially in the context of familial risk. Participants: The sample comprised over 200 female undergraduates from a university in England, United Kingdom. Methods: Participants completed a self-administered survey on their attitudes concerning breast cancer and early detection. Data were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. Results: Nonexaminers were distinguished by a combination of greater perceived hindrances to self-examinations and stronger appraisals of breast cancer severity, and also by a permutation of fewer perceived benefits in self-examinations and lower perceived susceptibility to breast cancer. The latter interaction persisted after accounting for family history. Conclusions: Interwoven attitudes may depict sophisticated efforts on the part of nonexaminers to justify inaction. Clinical implications for college health providers are considered.     

Relationalism through Social Robotics

Social robotics is a rapidly developing industry‐oriented area of research, intent on making robots in social roles commonplace in the near future. This has led to rising interest in the dynamics as well as ethics of human‐robot relationships, described here as a nascent relational turn. A contrast is drawn with the 1990s’ paradigm shift associated with relational‐self themes in social psychology. Constructions of the human‐robot relationship reproduce the “I‐You‐Me” dominant model of theorising about the self with biases that (as in social constructionism) consistently accentuate externalist or “interactionist” standpoints as opposed to internalist or “individualistic”. Perspectives classifiable as “ecological relationalism” may compensate for limitations of interactionist‐individualistic dimension. Implications for theorising subjectivity are considered.