bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Is the Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill scale valid for use in the investigation of European nurses’ attitudes towards the mentally ill? A confirmatory factor analytic approach
Authors: Morris Roisin , Scott Philomena Anne , Cocoman Angela , Chambers Mary , Guise Veslemøy , Välimäki Maritta , Clinton Gerard
Published: June 2011

morris r., scott p.a., cocoman a., chambers m., guise v., välimäki m. & clinton g. (2012) Is the Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill scale valid for use in the investigation of European nurses’ attitudes towards the mentally ill? A confirmatory factor analytic approach. Journal of Advanced Nursing 68(2), 460–470.

Aim.  This study aimed to assess the construct validity of the Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill scale in the investigation of European nurses’ attitudes towards mental illness and mental health patients.

Background.  The harbouring of negative attitudes by nurses towards any patient can have implications for recovery. To gather robust evidence upon which to base information and education aimed at fostering acceptance, support and general positivity towards people with mental health illness, a valid and reliable system of data collection is required.

Method.  A confirmatory factor analysis of both the original Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill scale and two modified versions of the scale were carried out during May ‐ June 2007 using a data set representing the responses of 858 European nurses to the scale. Data were subjected to three different confirmatory factor analyses using Maximum Likelihood estimation in the software package, Analysis of Moment Structures 7. A number of absolute, relative and incremental fit statistics were used to assess the fit of the original Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill scale and two modified versions to the European nursing data.

Findings.  A modification of the scale was found to be most suitable for use in the investigation of European nurses’ attitudes towards mental illness and people with mental illness.

Conclusion.  Further research is recommended to develop a valid and reliable research tool to specifically measure the attitudes of ‘nurses’ working across different mental healthcare facilities towards this vulnerable patient group.
A structure and process evaluation of an Australian hospital admission avoidance programme for aged care facility residents
Authors: Crilly Julia , Chaboyer Wendy , Wallis Marianne
Published: June 2011

crilly j., chaboyer w. & wallis m. (2012) A structure and process evaluation of an Australian hospital admission avoidance programme for aged care facility residents. Journal of Advanced Nursing 68(2), 322–334.

Aim.  To describe and evaluate the structures and processes involved in a hospital in the Nursing Home programme.

Background.  Older Australians are the largest consumers of healthcare, and as a result of the ageing process are at risk of developing hospital acquired iatrogenic complications. Hospital admission avoidance programmes that aim to provide care for patients in their own environment include Hospital in the Home and, more recently, Hospital in the Nursing Home.

Methods.  In 2006, a qualitative evaluation of a nurse‐led Hospital in the Nursing Home programme using semi‐structured interviews with 19 stakeholders was undertaken. Data analysis involved using start codes and content analysis.

Findings.  Effective referral and communication strategies were important for Hospital in the Nursing Home implementation. Furthermore, the Hospital in the Nursing Home programme manager had acute care and community experience and worked in an advanced practice role. These elements were integral to the programme’s operation.

Conclusion.  As the population ages, reducing hospital admissions for aged‐care facility residents has the potential to improve patient outcomes. A structurally and procedurally sound programme is a key element in achieving this aim.
Assessing the effects of interactive blogging on student attitudes towards peer interaction, learning motivation, and academic achievements
Authors: Yang C. , Chang Y.‐S.
Published: June 2011

Blogs have been increasingly used to supplement traditional classroom lectures in higher education. This paper explores the use of blogs, and how student attitudes towards online peer interaction and peer learning, as well as motivation to learn from peers, may differ when using the blog comments feature, and when students are encouraged to read and comment on each other's work. We contrast two ways blogs affect learning engagement: (1) solitary blogs as personal digital portfolios for writers; or (2) blogs used interactively to facilitate peer interaction by exposing blogging content and comments to peers. A quasi‐experiment was conducted across two semesters, involving 154 graduate and undergraduate students. The result suggests that interactive blogs, compared with isolated blogs, are associated with positive attitudes towards academic achievement in course subjects and in online peer interaction. Students showed positive motivation to learn from peer work, regardless of whether blogs were interactive or solitary.
Do the organizational reforms of general practice care meet users’ concerns? The contribution of the Delphi method
Authors: Krucien Nicolas , Le Vaillant Marc , Pelletier‐Fleury Nathalie
Published: June 2011

Context  The debate over primary care reform in France, as in most OECD countries, centres on questions about efficacy and accessibility. Do these reforms actually respond to the users’ concerns?

Objective  The objective of this study was to identify the importance that users attribute to different aspects of general practice (GP) care.

Design  The method used was a variant of the classical Delphi approach, called Delphi ‘ranking‐type’. Between May and September 2009, 74 experts aged over 18 were recruited by ‘snowballing’ sampling. Three iterative rounds were required to identify the core aspects through a consensus‐building approach.

Results  It is shown that users attribute a very high importance to the ‘doctor–patient relationship’ dimension. The following aspects ‘GP patient information about his/her illness’, ‘Clarity of communication and explanation’, and ‘Whether the GP seemed listen to the patient’ were evaluated by 96% of the experts as being of high importance. The coordination of GP was also considered as a very important aspect for 85% of the experts. In contrast, the aspects that belong to the organizational dimension appeared to be of relatively low importance for users.

Conclusions  Our results support a comprehensive approach of care and argue in favour of care reorganization following the patient‐centred model. To promote organizational care reforms through the prism of the doctor–patient relationship could thus be a fruitful way to insure a better quality of care and the social acceptability of the reforms.
ABA treatment of germinating maize seeds induces VP1 gene expression and selective promoter‐associated histone acetylation
Authors: Zhang Lu , Qiu Zhengming , Hu Yong , Yang Fei , Yan Shihan , Zhao Lin , Li Bo , He Shibin , Huang Min , Li Jun , Li Lijia
Published: June 2011

Seed germination commences from a low metabolic state to a bioactive state and is associated with changes in the pattern of gene expression. Recent studies have revealed that epigenetic processes are involved in abscisic acid (ABA)‐regulated seed germination processes. In this study, we showed that the expression of both histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs) was increased gradually during seed germination accompanying an increase in overall acetylation level of histone H3. Application of exogenous ABA repressed the expression of HATs as well as HDACs and delayed histone acetylation. Suppressing HDAC by treatment with an HDAC inhibitor, trichostatin A (TSA), led to an increase in global histone acetylation and inhibited seed germination and growth. However, ABA and TSA both delayed the downregulation of the embryogenesis‐related gene viviparous1 (VP1) during seed germination. The further chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments showed that the promoter region of the VP1 gene was deacetylated during seed germination, and this deacetylation event was inhibited by both ABA and TSA. These results suggested that a balance of the two enzymes HATs and HDACs affected the acetylation status of the VP1 gene and ABA selectively activated its transcription by an accumulation of acetylated histone H3 associated with the promoter region during seed germination.
Association of the aldosterone synthase gene −344T>C polymorphism with essential hypertension and glucose homeostasis: A case–control study in a Han Chinese population
Authors: Li Xiao‐Mu , Ling Yan , Lu Da‐Ru , Lu Zhi‐Qiang , Yi Qian‐Lu , Liu Ying , Chen Hong‐Yan , Gao Xin
Published: June 2011

1. Aldosterone is a hormone that affects both blood pressure and glucose homeostasis. We studied the association of the aldosterone synthase gene (CYP11B2) polymorphism −344T>C with essential hypertension (EH) and glucose homeostasis in people in China.

2. We investigated the polymorphism −344T>C in CYP11B2 using a case–control study design (1059 cases and 1120 controls). Genotyping was carried out by matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectroscopy using a MassARRAY platform.

3. The aldosterone synthase gene −344T>C polymorphism was found to be associated with EH (odds ratio 1.252; 95% confidence interval 1.067–1.468; Padd = 0.006). The −344C variant was found to be significantly associated with increased systolic blood pressure (Padd = 0.003) and diastolic blood pressure (Padd = 0.024) in controls and increased plasma aldosterone levels (Padd = 0.0001) in EH cases. The −344C variant was also found to be significantly associated with increased fasting glucose (Prec = 0.003) in controls. In the subgroup containing 893 EH cases without a history of diabetes or hypoglycaemia medications, the −344C variant was found to be associated with increased fasting and postprandial plasma glucose levels (Padd = 0.0001, Padd = 0.001, respectively) and decreased pancreatic β‐cell function and insulin sensitivity (Padd = 0.030, Pdom = 0.019, respectively) by homeostasis model assessments.

4. In this Han Chinese population, the −344T/C polymorphism of the CYP11B2 gene was found to be associated with EH and glucose homeostasis, both of which might be mediated by plasma aldosterone levels, insulin sensitivity and β‐cell function.
Infant deaths due to heparin overdose: Time for a concerted action on prevention
Authors: Monagle Paul , Studdert David M , Newall Fiona
Published: June 2011

Heparin is one of the most commonly used drugs in tertiary paediatric centres. Across the last decade, targeted research has been directed towards improving the level of evidence supporting paediatric‐specific recommendations for the use and management of heparin in infants and children. In contrast, little effort has been directed towards improving the safe use of heparin despite a plethora of fatal and non‐fatal heparin‐related errors being reported in the lay press. This short report highlights the need for united and concerted action to develop strategies aimed at minimising avoidable infant deaths related to heparin errors.
A partnership for sustainable lake environment: collaborative monitoring and research on Laguna de Bay, Philippines, for management of resource use and ecosystem conservation
Authors: Herrera E. C. , Nadaoka K. , Blanco A. C. , Hernandez E. C.
Published: June 2011

Laguna de Bay is the second largest inland waterbody in South‐east Asia. Considering its large size, its competing and conflicting water resource users, and increasing threats to its ecological integrity, coherent and participative relationship between and among its stakeholders is crucial for its sustainable management. This study discusses the foundation and framework, and the research results, of an ongoing joint monitoring and research collaboration between an academic institution and a government agency directed to the Laguna de Bay environment. Spatial and temporal monitoring of climatic, hydrodynamic and water quality lake variables were carried out collaboratively through field surveys and laboratory analyses. The lake’s temporal and spatial dynamics under changing atmospheric conditions were investigated through field monitoring efforts, coupled with three‐dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality modelling. Contrary to common perception, these study results indicated significant vertical and diurnal variations in lake variables, in spite of a shallow average water depth of 2.5 m. Intense atmospheric heating (≈800 W m−2), accentuated by the lake’s high turbidity (16–32 FTU), generated density differences along the vertical axis and caused stratification. Higher biological activity, with significantly correlated pH, dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll‐a variations during the dry season, is strongly related to the stable solar irradiance, reduced lake water volume and inflow of nutrient‐rich seawater from Manila Bay and Metro Manila sewage. The observed bottom hypoxic conditions (2–4 mg L−1), concurrent with the absence of thermal overturn, are suggestive of the importance of diel wind‐induced mixing and attest to the eutrophic condition of the lake. Numerical modelling analysis indicated that lake water quality was significantly affected by aquaculture operations and polluted seawater intrusions. Scenario simulations on bathymetric evolution demonstrated morphological changes that contributed to the eutrophic vulnerability of Laguna de Bay, in addition to anthropogenic‐based stressors. Given the natural inclination of tropical lakes to eutrophic conditions, actions across boundary, resource and responsibility sharing, and expansion of intellectual horizon through partnership, are vital for the rational and systematic resolution of lake water resource allocations and ecological preservation.
Integrated basin management in the Lake Biwa and Yodo River Basin
Authors: Bamba Y.
Published: June 2011

The Lake Biwa and Yodo River Basin contains Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake, which is located in the most upstream area of the Shiga Prefecture. The lake supplies a major part of the water used in the basin and also stabilizes the water flow of the Yodo River. It is also significant in that the water of the Yodo River is used repeatedly as it flows from Lake Biwa to Osaka Bay. Historically, the basin has been home to national capitals and possesses abundant history and cultural assets related to water. However, the basin also has experienced a long history of conflict related to flood and drought between upstream and downstream areas. Although the Lake Biwa Comprehensive Development Plan (1972) and Mother Lake 21 Plan (2000) worked well in solving the conflicts and basin issues, several remaining problems are still identified. The ‘Renaissance of Lake Biwa and Yodo River Basin Area Project’ (2005) urges establishment of an integrated basin management system, and the Shiga Prefecture is involved in continuing discussion with related organizations. Several viewpoints are highlighted, including: (i) Conservation and enhancement of a harmonious relationship between humans and water; (ii) Cooperation of upstream and downstream areas, and integration of measures of basin management and (iii) A sustainable system for basin management.
Effect of temperaments on quality of life and social adaptation in depressive patients with mood disorder
Authors: Takai Yoshifumi , Terao Takeshi , Goto Shinjiro , Hoaki Nobuhiko , Wang Yumei , Araki Yasuo
Published: June 2011

Aims:  The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of temperament on quality of life and social adaptation in depressive patients with mood disorder.

Methods:  Forty‐six consecutive depressive outpatients were investigated by using the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego‐Autoquestionnaire version, the Munich Personality Test, the World Health Organization Quality of Life 26 (WHO QOL 26), and the Social Adaptation Self‐evaluation Scale (SASS). The unpaired t‐test, Pearson's r and multiple regression analysis were used to assess three variables (age, the number of temperaments and/or personality types, and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores) as independent variables with the scores of WHO QOL 26 and SASS as the dependent variables.

Results:  The number of temperaments and/or personalities and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores were significantly and negatively associated with WHO QOL 26 scores while only the number of temperaments and/or personalities was significantly and negatively associated with SASS scores.

Conclusions:  The findings suggest that the combination of temperaments and/or personality types assessed with the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego‐Autoquestionnaire version and the Munich Personality Test may worsen both quality of life and social adaptation and that some temperaments and/or personality types in combination may be subclinical manifestations of mood disorders.
The effect of clearing on plant composition in mulga (Acacia aneura) dry forest, Australia
Authors: FENSHAM R. J. , DWYER J. M. , EYRE T. J. , FAIRFAX R. J. , WANG J.
Published: June 2011

Despite high deforestation rates in dry forests there are few assessments of the impacts of this transformation on biodiversity. This study addresses the impact of clearing on plant species composition and diversity in mulga (Acacia aneura) forests of Queensland, Australia using data collected from either side of 58 clearing boundaries, incorporating data on site and management conditions. The physical and climatic conditions of the study sites were narrowly constrained but had greater influence on plant composition and richness than clearing per se. In general, the abundance of perennial forbs and shrubs was higher in cleared forest compared with adjacent intact forest and there was no significant difference in abundance of other plant life forms. Perennial forb richness diminished with the age of clearings, particularly where acid sub‐soils had been exposed and shrubs proliferated. Where deforestation in the mulga dry forests is not accompanied by the establishment of exotic pasture it has a relatively benign effect on plant diversity, mulga itself remains in high density as small trees and the integrity of the forest could be maintained with restoration.
Resistance mechanism of Leptochloa chinensis Nees to propanil
Authors: SAHID ISMAIL B. , KARSO JULIANA , CHUAH TSE‐SENG
Published: June 2011

The resistance mechanism of Leptochloa chinensis Nees to propanil was investigated, based on propanil metabolism, aryl acylamidase activity, and chlorophyll fluorescence at the 8 week growth stage of L. chinensis. The concentration of propanil in the leaf and culm extracts of the resistant (R) and susceptible (S) biotypes, as measured by gas chromatography (GC), was found to increase after propanil treatment. The concentration of propanil in the leaf and culm extracts of the S biotype at 72 h was 1.55 and 0.49 µg mL−1, respectively. However, a lower concentration of propanil was observed in the R biotype, as compared to that in the S biotype. The residue of 3,4‐dichloroaniline, as measured by GC, was detected only in the leaf extracts of the R biotype. In contrast, no residue of 3,4‐dichloroaniline was observed in the S biotype. The level of aryl acylamidase in the leaf tissue extracts of the R biotype was ∼140% higher than that in the S biotype. The fluorescence studies showed that propanil inhibited the quantum efficiency of the photosystem II in both the R and S biotypes after 2 h of incubation time. However, when the leaf disks were transferred and incubated in deionized water for 48 h, the quantum efficiency increased in the R biotype but decreased in the S biotype. These results suggest that propanil metabolism, enhanced by aryl acylamidase activity, is the most likely factor contributing towards the mechanism of propanil resistance in L. chinensis plants at the 8 week growth stage.
Serum lipids level assessed in early pregnancy and risk of pre‐eclampsia
Authors: Demirci Oya , Tuğrul Ahmet Semih , Dolgun Nihal , Sözen Hamdullah , Eren Sadiye
Published: June 2011

Aim:  The purpose of this study investigated the relationship between early pregnancy plasma lipid concentrations and risk of pre‐eclampsia.

Material and Methods:  In a prospective cohort study, maternal blood samples were collected between 10–20 weeks of gestation. From the cohort, we selected 30 women who developed pre‐eclampsia and 320 who remained normotensive and served as control subjects. Linear logistic regression test was used for confounding factors identification.

Results:  Women who subsequently developed pre‐eclampsia had higher concentrations of fasting plasma, total cholesterol and triglycerides than in those remaining normotensive group. After using linear logistic regression analyses for the potential confounding factors, triglyceride concentrations were significantly higher in pre‐eclamptic cases as compared with control.

Conclusion:  Early pregnancy dyslipidemia, particularly hypertriglyceridemia appears associated with increased risk of pre‐eclampsia.
History of pediatric regional anesthesia
Authors: Brown T.C.K.
Published: June 2011

The history of local and regional anesthesia began with the discovery of the local anesthetic properties of cocaine in 1884. Shortly afterwards nerve blocks were being attempted for surgical anesthesia. Bier introduced spinal anesthesia in 1898, two of his first six patients being children. Spinal anesthesia became more widely used with the advent of better local anesthetics, stovaine and procaine in 1904–1905. Caudals and epidurals came into use in children much later. In the early years these blocks were performed by surgeons but as other doctors began to give anaesthetics the specialty of anesthesia evolved and these practitioners gradually took over this role. Specific reports of their use in children have increased as pediatric anesthesia has developed. Spinals and other local techniques had periods of greater and lesser use and have not been universally employed. Initial loss of popularity seemed to relate to improvements in general anaesthesia. The advent of lignocaine (1943) and longer acting bupivacaine (1963) and increasing concern about postoperative analgesia in the 1970–1980s, contributed to the increased use of blocks.
Metformin for gestational diabetes in routine clinical practice
Authors: Goh J. E. L. , Sadler L. , Rowan J.
Published: June 2011

Diabet. Med. 28, 1082–1087 (2011)

Aims  To compare maternal and neonatal outcomes in women with gestational diabetes treated with diet, metformin and/or insulin in routine clinical practice in a single centre.

Methods  We analysed prospectively collected data from the National Women’s Health database for all women with gestational diabetes who delivered between January 2007 and December 2009. Since June 2007, women requiring medication have been given a choice of either metformin or insulin treatment, except women with a fetal abdominal circumference less than the 10th percentile, who were not offered metformin.

Results  There were 1269 women with gestational diabetes; treatment was diet in 371, insulin in 399 and metformin in 465 (249 metformin alone, 216 metformin and insulin). Women treated with metformin and/or insulin had significantly higher BMIs compared with those in the diet group (P < 0.001) and had a higher fasting glucose at diagnosis (p < 0.001). Women treated with insulin had higher rates of Caesarean delivery (45.6% insulin, 37% metformin, 34% diet, P = 0.02) than women treated with metformin or diet. They also had higher rates of preterm births (19.2% insulin, 12.5% metformin, 12.1% diet, P = 0.005), customized large‐for‐gestational‐age infants (18.5% insulin, 12.5% metformin, 12.4% diet, P = 0.02), neonatal admissions (18.7% insulin, 12.7% metformin, 14.0% diet, P = 0.04) and neonatal intravenous dextrose use (11.1% insulin, 5.1% metformin, 7.4% diet, P = 0.004). Neonatal outcomes were similar between diet‐ and metformin‐treated women.

Conclusions  In routine practice, use of metformin in gestational diabetes was associated with fewer adverse outcomes compared with insulin, but baseline differences between treatment groups may have contributed to this.
A systematic review of the validity and reliability of sedentary behaviour measures used with children and adolescents
Authors: Lubans D. R. , Hesketh K. , Cliff D. P. , Barnett L. M. , Salmon J. , Dollman J. , Morgan P. J. , Hills A. P. , Hardy L. L.
Published: June 2011

The aim of this review was to evaluate the reliability and validity of methods used to assess the multiple components of sedentary behaviour (i.e. screen time, sitting, not moving and existing at low energy expenditure) in children and adolescents. Twenty‐six studies met our inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Thirteen studies reported the reliability of self‐ and proxy‐report measures of sedentary behaviour and seven of these were found to have acceptable test–retest reliability. Evidence for the criterion validity of self‐ and proxy‐report measures was examined in three studies with mixed results. Seven studies examined the reliability and/or validity of direct observation and the findings were generally positive. Five studies demonstrated the utility of accelerometers to accurately classify sedentary behaviour. Self‐report measures provide reliable estimates of screen time, yet their validity remains largely untested. While accelerometers can accurately classify participants' behaviour as sedentary, they do not provide information about type of sedentary behaviour or context. Studies utilizing measures of sedentary behaviour need to more adequately report on the validity and reliability of the measures used. We recommend the use of objective measures of sedentary behaviour such as accelerometers, in conjunction with subjective measures (e.g. self‐report), to assess type and context of behaviour.
Falling Back on Old Habits? A Comparison of the Social and Unemployment Crisis Reactive Policy Strategies in Germany, the UK and Sweden
Authors: Chung Heejung , Thewissen Stefan
Published: June 2011

Although long‐term processes of welfare state development have been investigated frequently, there is a surprising gap in knowledge on short‐term reactions of states to sudden events. This article aims to fill this gap by examining the reactive policies, i.e. immediate policy responses to urgent social matters, of governments to the current economic crisis. We focus on social and unemployment policies of the three welfare regime ideal types of Esping‐Andersen's typology, namely Germany, the UK and Sweden. We apply long‐term policy development theories, most notably the convergence and path dependence theories, to understand the choices made in the different reactive policy strategies of these countries. In addition, we scrutinize whether we find similarities between the reactive policies and the converging structural welfare state developments. We use comparable data from various European and national data sources for the two years directly following the recent crisis, namely 2008 and 2009. Our analysis shows that, at least for the three countries under investigation, countries seem to have fallen back on ‘old habits’ by adopting social and unemployment reactive policies that can be identified based on their institutional legacies. This suggests that reactive policy strategies can be explained by different dynamics than the more structural long‐term policy developments, and in our case we find evidence in support for the path dependence theory.
The Impact of the Crisis on Australian Social Security Policy in Historical Perspective
Authors: Saunders Peter , Deeming Chris
Published: June 2011

The Labor government was elected in November 2007 with a commitment to reject the labour market deregulation and other neo‐liberal policies of its predecessor, promote equality of opportunity and tackle entrenched social and economic disadvantage by implementing a new social inclusion agenda. In response to the financial crisis which had begun at the end of 2007 and had turned into a full global recession by the middle of 2008, the government introduced two substantial stimulus packages funded from the large budget surplus it had inherited from its predecessor. The fiscal stimulus has helped Australia to become the only advanced economy to avoid a technical recession (to date), although there is concern that the downturn has created a situation where social policy is being driven by political expediency rather than by the principles and commitments set out in the government's pre‐election social policy manifesto. Against this background, this article examines how the latest crisis has shaped social security policy in Australia and compares the recent policy response with the policy response to earlier crises. Analysis focuses not just on what was actually done, but also on the constraining role of prevailing economic and political circumstances and on the processes that were used to drive reform in a wage earners' welfare state.
Economic Crisis and Welfare Retrenchment: Comparing Irish Policy Responses in the 1970s and 1980s with the Present
Authors: Dukelow Fiona
Published: June 2011

This article juxtaposes the impact of the current economic crisis on the Irish welfare state with the impact of the international economic crisis of the 1970s which had a sustained effect in Ireland during much of the 1980s. The analysis focuses on the consequences for social security programmes during both crisis periods, each of which was marked by intractable socio‐economic and budgetary pressures. However, while elements of welfare retrenchment can be observed during the economic crisis of the 1980s, these appeared more difficult to instigate and sustain in comparison to the present period. As an inter‐temporal qualitative case study, this article aims to identify key drivers influencing why welfare retrenchment has more readily occurred and, it would appear so far, at a potentially deeper level than during the 1980s. As of yet the economic crisis is unabated, and as welfare state changes typically occur in relatively slow motion (Castles 2010), outcomes of the process remain uncertain. However, it seems that if Ireland continues on the path it has instigated, the liberal disposition of the Irish welfare state will intensify.
Explaining Welfare Reforms in Italy between Economy and Politics: External Constraints and Endogenous Dynamics*
Authors: Maino Franca , Neri Stefano
Published: June 2011

Since the end of the ‘golden age’ of the welfare state, in Italy as in most European countries the reform of social protection has progressively emerged as one of the key issues in political debate. In this article we describe the evolution of the Italian welfare state over the past three decades, highlighting the distinctiveness of each decade. The analysis is mainly focused on three policy sectors: pension, health care and social assistance. After a policy stalemate, which lasted throughout the 1980s, far‐reaching reforms took place in the 1990s and in the early 2000s. We will argue that the sequence of reforms was the result of a change that had both endogenous and exogenous sources. In particular, relevant changes in the political system emerged after 1992 and international constraints on public expenditure and debt combined to stimulate co‐operation between the government and its social partners in the case of pension reforms and joint policy‐making between central government and the regions in health care and social assistance reforms. During the 2000s, actors continued to carry out agreed reforms to adjust the pension system, even though co‐operation was made difficult by the conflicts on the labour market front. In health and social care, which are matters devolved to the regions after the 1990s and the 2001 constitutional reform, central government and the regions sought to implement and stabilize new mechanisms for the governance of both sectors. Although conflict alternated with co‐operation, nevertheless both external and internal constraints induced actors, often reluctantly, to develop and institutionalize joint policy‐making.
Health Care Policy for Better or for Worse? Examining NHS Reforms During Times of Economic Crisis versus Relative Stability
Authors: Frisina Doetter Lorraine , Götze Ralf
Published: June 2011

Economic crises are said to challenge welfare states by forcing them to cut expenditure by pursuing reforms aimed at cost containment and efficiency enhancing strategies. The oil crises of the 1970s and early 1980s, the global financial crisis of the early 1990s, and those of the 2000s marked acute economic phases rooted within a larger period of austerity politics in which welfare states have been observed to undergo major changes. However, the question has yet to be posed as to whether decisions affecting health care policy during acute economic crises are indeed fundamentally different than what can normally be observed over the longer period of cost containment policy. Moreover, where policy differences do exist between economic periods, are these differences consistent over time and across health care systems? To answer these questions we examine changes in regulation over the past four decades for two cases of National Health Services (NHS): England and Italy. More specifically, we examine the underlying causes for reforms in order to identify whether economic crises versus ‘system‐specific deficits’ (i.e. those deficits or sources for inefficiency lodged within the health care system itself) are the true causes for motivating change in and across NHS systems. Our findings establish that while acute economic crises create windows of opportunity for change, it is the interaction of system‐specific deficits and the role of ideas and political factors that largely condition the content and timing of reforms. Regarding the nature of reforms passed, our findings reveal consistency over time and across health care systems in the types of regulatory measures adopted and advanced.
Landscape, Imagination and Experience: Processes of Emplacement among the British in Rural France
Authors: Benson Michaela
Published: June 2011

This paper traces the process by which the British residents of the Lot, a department in rural France, develop a deeper understanding of their new surroundings. While their initial perceptions of the landscape as providing a beautiful view and a backdrop to their everyday lives prompted their migration, once they are living in the French countryside these perceptions subtly change in response to their experiences of life there. As I argue, it is not simply the case that their initial impressions are replaced with the knowledge gained from their embodied experiences. Indeed, it becomes clear that their idealizations of rural living continue to frame, partially, their understandings of how really to live in rural France; through valorization and imitation of the lives and practices of their French neighbours my respondents lay claim to local belonging. The paper thus demonstrates the ways that imaginings and experience coalesce in the production of a continually renewed understanding of their new location.
Sociological Analysis and Socio-Political Change: Juxtaposing Elements of the Work of Bourdieu, Passeron and Lyotard
Authors: Robbins Derek
Published: June 2011

The paper considers the relationship between sociological analysis and political action by subjecting the work of Bourdieu to scrutiny, especially in relation to the work of some of his contemporaries – Raymond Aron, Jean-Claude Passeron, and Jean-François Lyotard. The first part of the discussion focuses on educational research carried out collaboratively by Bourdieu and Passeron in the 1960s and considers the shared assumptions that underpin their projects. The paper discusses their philosophical divergence after the beginning of the 1970s, suggesting that Bourdieu's development was essentially in the Durkheimian tradition whereas Passeron's was more sympathetic to the legacy of Weber. Bourdieu's inclination to regard objective science as the product of subjective disposition meant his social science became inseparable from his socio-political mission, whereas Passeron distanced himself from Bourdieu's phenomenological or ontological reflexivity.

The second part of the paper suggests Bourdieu is trying to practise phenomenological sociology within a historical social situation that, after 1979, was rapidly transforming into the postmodern condition, the diagnosis of which Lyotard had provided as an extension of his own reading of Husserl. The paper goes on to argue that, while La distinction sought to reconcile modernist sociology with postmodernism, Bourdieu could not relinquish what Aron regarded as the totalizing orientation of ‘sociologism’. Although Lyotard, in contrast, pursued the implications of his own insights in a philosophical exegesis of Kant, the paper explores how there may yet be scope for some more fruitful view of the contemporary relationship between sociology and politics in mass democracy, particularly if we advocate socio-analytic reflexivity in association with a recognition of the ‘différend’.
Cultivating Disconcertment
Authors: Law John , Lin Wen-yuan
Published: June 2011

In this paper we explore a moment of intersection between ‘Western’ and Taiwanese social science knowledge that took place in a Taiwanese seminar in 2009. Our interest is post-colonial: we treat this as an encounter between dominant and subordinate knowledge systems, and follow Helen Verran by conceiving of the bodily disconcertment experienced by the participants as an expression of metaphysical difference. We then provide three contexts for that disconcertment: one, the post-1949 story of Taiwanese economic development; two, the syncretism of Taiwanese street Daoism; and three, the history of philosophy where we draw on contrasts between Western and Chinese traditions. We suggest that each of these contexts is embedded in and informs the disconcertment experienced in the exchange. We then argue that rendering the origins of this disconcertment discursively accountable is performative. Our conclusion is that the cultivation and articulation of disconcertment is a crucial tool for interrogating and moving beyond the metaphysics, the subjectivities, and the institutional organisational forms that together help to reproduce hegemonic Western knowledge traditions.
Populist Elements in Contemporary American Political Discourse
Authors: Savage Ritchie
Published: June 2011

Granted that it would be absurd to characterize Obama as a populist president, this paper proceeds from Ernesto Laclau's conception of populism as consisting of ‘the formation of an internal antagonistic frontier separating the “people” from power’ and ‘an equivalential articulation of demands making the emergence of the “people” possible’ (2005:74). In the 2008 election, Obama was able to articulate a series of empty signifiers, found in such slogans as ‘Yes We Can,’ which came to represent a new collective identity of the ‘people’, thus constituting an instance of populism par excellence. As support for this theory of populism and its implications for contemporary American political discourse, this paper deconstructs the previously held functionalist assumptions and modernization theories – especially those propagated within Latin American case studies – that consign populism to a developmental stage in the capitalist mode of production or a historical outcome of underdeveloped democratic institutions in order to imagine a new science of rhetoric capable of analysing the synecdochical, metaphorical, and metonymical components ( Laclau, 2005 ) in the discursive construction of ‘the American people’.
Embracing Dependency: Rethinking (in)Dependence in the Discourse of Care
Authors: Weicht Bernhard
Published: June 2011

This article analyses and challenges the categories of dependency and independence as they feature in discourses on care for older people in two countries, Austria and the UK. Using critical discourse analysis of newspaper extracts and transcripts of focus group discussions, I demonstrate how independence and self-sufficiency are constructed as ideals for human existence. Being dependent, on the other hand, is seen as the expression of an inferior state of life. Three possible challenges to the ideal of independence in the literature on care are then discussed. The paper shows how, through their focus on empowerment, mutuality and reciprocity, they each reproduce aspects of dependency as anathema to contemporary ideas of personhood, to fall short of a fruitful critical intervention into orthodox discourses on older people and care. In contrast, this article argues for embracing a notion of dependency built upon new conceptualizations of the body, of relating and of the conditions of a good life.
Introduction
Authors: Gaillard Christian , Gibeault Alain
Published: June 2011

Abstract:  These papers were presented at the 7th meeting between Freudian and Jungian analysts held at the Montreal Congress of the International Association of Analytical Psychology (IAAP) in August 2010. The introduction describes the history and themes of previous meetings and discusses the choice of theme for the Montreal meeting. Both primal phantasies and archetypes imply a structural approach to psychological function but in different theoretical terms. These theoretical differences may also be emblematic of clinical differences between a focus on the sexual aspects of infancy in the Freudian tradition and a focus on ongoing emergence and transformation towards a goal of self‐becoming in the Jungian tradition. The discussion aimed to test these hypotheses through the presentation of a single case history by Joseph Cambray (IAAP, USA), followed by commentaries from Eduardo Gastelumendi (IPA, Peru) and Verena Kast (IAAP, Switzerland).
Moments of complexity and enigmatic action: a Jungian view of the therapeutic field
Authors: Cambray Joseph
Published: June 2011

Abstract:  In presenting clinical case material for a panel on archetypes and/or primal phantasies an initial discussion of archetypes as emergent phenomena organizing ‘moments of complexity’ is given1. The relationship of such moments to ‘moments of meeting’ as developed by the Boston Change Process Study Group is commented on and explored within the context of the case. A condensed report of a multi‐year analytic treatment of a bipolar patient having a severe trauma history is offered for discussion. Several unusual, enigmatic events are detailed to illustrate the occurrence of moments of complexity. Dreams highlighting psychological transformation stemming from a changing relationship to emerging archetypal material related to a psychotic process in the patient are offered to further detailed moments of complexity.
Comment on ‘the case of Melanie’ by Joseph Cambray
Authors: Gastelumendi Eduardo
Published: June 2011

Abstract:  The discussion comments firstly on the role of synchronicity which seems so natural and significant for Jungians but which Freudians would think no more than interesting coincidences. This gives an idea of how different the two schools’ approach to the psyche can be. Some theoretical elaboration is made regarding archetypes and primal phantasies: primal phantasies are much related to sexuality, but sexuality understood as intimately linked to the great mysteries of life. The discussion of the clinical work shows more similarities than differences. This suggests that for both perspectives the clinical is sovereign. As we know, respect and care for the patient's evolution, true concern for the patient and skilful use of technique remain the most important indicators of successful therapeutic work in the different psychotherapeutic approaches.
Comments on ‘the case of Melanie’ and the reaction of Eduardo Gastelumendi
Authors: Kast Verena
Published: June 2011

Abstract:  Following an attempt to connect the theory of archetypes with the theory of primal phantasies, the commentary refers to how moments of complexity may be differentiated in terms of ‘now moments’ and concludes with an amplification of the ‘black woman’ in Melanie's dream related to a black woman in an important Austrian fairy tale.
A Jungian contribution to a dynamic systems understanding of disorganized attachment
Authors: Carter Linda
Published: June 2011

Abstract:  This panel emerged from shared clinical concerns when working with adult patients whose presentation style was reminiscent of a disorganized (Type D) infant attachment pattern. Psychotherapeutic work with such patients poses complicated transference and countertransference dilemmas which are addressed by all four panellists via theory and clinical vignettes. In common is an interest in contemporary attachment, neuroscience and trauma theories and their relationship to analytical psychology. Intergenerational trauma seems to be a salient factor in the evolution of fragmented and fragmenting interactions that lead to failures in self‐coherence and healthy interpersonal relationships. Such early relational trauma is compounded by further episodes of abuse and neglect leading to failure in a core sense of self. These clinicians share how they have integrated theory and practice in order to help dissociated and disorganized patients to transform their dark and extraordinary suffering through implicit and explicit experiences with the analyst into new, life giving patterns of relationship with self and others. The alchemy of transformation, both positive and negative, is evident in the case material presented.
Introduction: Fragmentation of the Unus Mundus
Authors: Hinton III Ladson
Published: June 2011

Abstract:  This panel is a series of presentations by a father and his three sons. The first is a critique of the concept of the Unus Mundus, an idea that goes back at least as far as Plato's Cave in western intellectual history. A longing for unchanging foundational ideas lies at the core of much of our culture, psychology, and theology. The subsequent presentations describe various unforeseen, destructive results stemming from the perspective of the Unus Mundus. The first example is of persons with Alzheimer's disease, whose singular subjectivity is often ignored because they are seen as a category. They are ‘Alzheimer‐ed’, subtly enabling those around them to avoid an anxiety‐producing encounter with their enigmatic otherness. Another important perspective is the modernist re‐construction of city spaces that has resulted in the loss of an organic sense of containment. The lengthy horizon of the grand boulevards seemed like openings upon infinity, often provoking panic and agoraphobia, as seen in the work of Edvard Munch. Lastly, the genocidal tendencies of modern times epitomize the dangers of totalizing, Utopian ideas. Violent elimination may be visited upon groups or peoples who are deemed ‘impure’, as besmirching idealized social visions. Such examples illustrate some of the ethical dangers of conceptualizations related to the Unus Mundus.