Building Solidarity with Subjects and Audience in Sociology and Documentary Photography

This article is part of a panel discussion addressing the sociological relevance of Sebastião Salgado’s work as well as documentary photography in general. ²     

Barriers to accessing HIV and sexual health services among gay men in Tasmania,Australia

We examined barriers to accessing HIV and sexual health services among gay and bisexual men (GBM) in Tasmania, Australia, using in-depth interviews. Most participants were satisfied with the care they had received at public sexual health services. Barriers included the limited number of services, concerns about anonymity and privacy in small communities, difficulties accessing services via a general practitioner, and perceived stigma and discrimination. Improving the accessibility and availability of HIV and sexual health services in Tasmania is crucial to promote the engagement of GBM, which could be achieved via combined efforts of government services and community organizations.     

Venting to Unify the Front: Parents’ Negative Relational Disclosures about Their Children as Mediators of Coparental Communication and Relational Quality

In families with children, presenting a unified front is important for healthy couple and family functioning, yet the behavioral mechanisms that explain how coparental communication strengthens the interparental relationship remain unclear. In this study, we examined how parents’ negative relational disclosures about their children to each other serve as mediators of coparental communication and relational quality in divorced (n = 65 dyads) and married couples (n = 173 dyads). Coparents’ reports of closeness and satisfaction in both couple types were predicted primarily by their reports of supportive and antagonistic coparental communication. The results also revealed significant indirect effects of supportive coparental communication on closeness through negative relational disclosures about young adult children for married mothers and divorced fathers. Antagonistic coparental communication positively predicted married coparents’ disclosures about their children, but not divorced coparents’ disclosures. The results extend theoretical models of coparenting and provide implications for coparenting education programs.     

The power of difference in inclusive research

Inclusive research involves people with intellectual disabilities actively and strives for empowerment and normalisation. Less is written about the power dynamics in a research team consisting of researchers and people with intellectual disabilities and the possible value of such collaboration. In this auto-ethnography we reflect on these aspects and the challenges along the way. We conclude that striving for normalisation can be paralysing; ‘doing the same’ is not always possible and can be disempowering for all members of the research team. Acknowledging differences and uniqueness enriches research outcomes and makes us reflect on our own, sometimes rigid, academic frameworks.     

Declaring Conflict of Interest – Current State of Affairs in the Ophthalmic Literature

The importance of transparency with financial ties in biomedical research is widely recognized, and most peer-reviewed journals require declarations of Conflicts of Interest (COI). Nonetheless, variability in the consistency of declarations of COI has been sparsely assessed. To assess consistency and rates of COI declarations in the ophthalmic literature and the effectiveness of journal COI policies. We analyzed consistency and completeness of declaration of COI in the ophthalmic literature and compared the levels of completeness to specific journal requirements. Six-hundred forty-two peer reviewed articles satisfied the inclusion criteria. In 64%, COIs were unreported, in 25% declaration of COI was incomplete, and 11% of the articles reviewed had complete declaration of COI. Of the 33 journals in which the most frequently published authors’ articles appeared, 10 required the authors to complete the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) form or an equivalent form, but this did not affect the rates of COI declaration. In a random sampling of the most frequently published authors in the field of ophthalmology, declaration of COI was low and highly inconsistent. Requiring a standardized COI form has no significant effect on the rate of accurate COI reporting. Our findings lend support to the growing body of literature that shows that journals and editors may need to take a more active role in ensuring accurate and consistent COI reporting.     

The psychology and behavioural economics of poverty

The paper provides an overview and assessment of an emerging literature on the psychology and behavioural economics of poverty. We particularly highlight poverty experiences, role of neighbourhoods, poverty dynamics and transmission, child poverty and disability and personal finance. In addition we consider psychology and policy responses by looking and autonomy and empowerment, and poverty reduction programs. Our central thesis is that the detailed knowledge of individual experiences, cognitions and social factors in psychology and related social science complements the traditional economic emphasis on structural factors and policy instruments in a way that is exemplified by emerging work in behavioural economics. We conclude it is increasingly recognised that poverty reduction policies which are informed by behavioural insights may, as a result, be more effective.     

The Missing Baby Bust: The Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Contraceptive Use,Pregnancy, and Childbirth Among Low-Income Women

Population Research and Policy Review - Multiple episodes in US history demonstrate that birth rates fall in response to recessions. However, the 2020 COVID-19 recession differed from earlier...     

Differences between the public and private communication of rumors. A pilot survey in Belgium

Liu et al. (2010) and Gelders et al. (2007) called for evidence-based research on differences between public and private sector communication. This article offers such data by focusing on an increasingly important domain of public relations (i.e., corporate communication about rumors vis-à-vis internal and external stakeholders).Our results show government communicators are more frequently confronted with harmful rumors than business communicators but a similar number of respondents from each group have experienced the listed effects and these respondents rate the effects as equally severe. However, fewer public sector communicators have applied most of the proposed strategies, and those who did found them to be in most cases less effective than private sector respondents. In other words, government communicators hear more rumors, experience equally often the negative effects and find them equally severe as business communicators, but they often do not react to them and if they do, they do not find the strategies to be very effective.This study suggests that typical features of public sector organizations, such as the capricious political climate and the influence of party politics, might offer an explanation for these findings.     

Sleep Behaviors in Older African American Females Reporting Nonmalignant Chronic Pain: Understanding the Psychosocial Implications of General Sleep Disturbance

This study examined factors that influence sleep quality in older African American women (N = 181) reporting chronic pain. Participants completed a series of questions assessing demographic and behavioral characteristics, health status, pain intensity, and sleep disturbance. Findings indicated that younger participants and those experiencing poorer physical functioning reported more difficulty sleeping due to pain. Similarly, participants who reported being awakened from sleep due to pain were younger and experienced greater pain intensity. Understanding the relationship between sleep and pain in this group of women may be useful in promoting effective disease management and sleep awareness among patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals.     

Some Observations on the Process of Dying

The paper discusses the process of dying as observed in a sample of 30 patients in a cancer ward at a Massachusetts hospital. This process is found to involve changes in self-identity and role-definition; various modes of re-adjustment of the patient to his new role; certain patterns of patient-personnel and patient-family communication and interaction; and typical reactions of patients' children to the situation. The last section of the paper discusses briefly the implications of societal attitudes toward death for medical institutions.