Using business/law negotiation techniques in response to a ‘difficult’ family

Effective communication between clinicians, patients, and families at end of life is associated with better clinical outcomes. A large body of literature describes the key skills needed for effective communication. We believe that clinicians could also benefit from communication skills more commonly associated with business or law negotiations. We will demonstrate via analogy (i.e. buying a house) how four key business/law negotiation techniques – 1. Determine your Reservation and Aspiration Value; 2. Separate People from their Positions; 3. Separate Positions from Interests; and 4. Logrolling of Interests – can be applied to a difficult family meeting in a home hospice patient.     

Drug discovery strategies for acute radiation syndrome

Introduction: There are at the minimum two major, quite different approaches to advance drug discovery. The first being the target-based drug discovery (TBDD) approach that is commonly referred to as the molecular approach. The second approach is the phenotype-based drug discovery (PBDD), also known as physiology-based drug discovery or empirical approach.

Area covered: The authors discuss, herein, the need for developing radiation countermeasure agents for various sub-syndromes of acute radiation syndromes (ARS) following TBDD and PBDD approaches. With time and continuous advances in radiation countermeasure drug development research, the expectation is to have multiple radiation countermeasure agents for each sub-syndrome made available to radiation exposed victims.

Expert opinion: The majority of the countermeasures currently being developed for ARS employ the PBDD approach, while the TBDD approach is clearly under-utilized. In the future, an improved drug development strategy might be a ‘hybrid’ strategy that is more reliant on TBDD for the initial drug discovery via large-scale screening of potential candidate agents, while utilizing PBDD for secondary screening of those candidates, followed by tertiary analytics phase in order to pinpoint efficacious candidates that target the specific sub-syndromes of ARS.     

中学生父母养育方式与应对方式的关系研究

目的探讨中学生父母养育方式与应对方式的关系。方法本研究采用父母养育方式评价量表和应对方式问卷对上海市两所中学266名中学生进行调查。结果①中学生父母养育方式和应对方式中的解决问题、求助等因子呈显著相关；②父母养育方式中的父母惩罚严厉、过分干涉等因子以及应对方式中的解决问题呈显著性别差异；父母养育方式中的父母惩罚严厉、过分干涉等因子呈显著年级差异；③父母养育方式与应对方式一些因子的相关受性别差异的影响。结论良好的父母教养方式有利于中学生采用积极的应对方式。     

Cancer support groups – are they effective?

Cancer causes significatlt emotional distress to a considerable majority of patients. Many of these patients typically receive little formal psychological intervention. Support groups, however, have provided one forum from which patients can attempt to gain help and can use to overcome some psychological trauma that accompanies the cancer hagnosis, subsequent treatment and relapse. This article reviews past studies of professionally run cancer support groups as opposed to psychological intervention groups. These studies are considered in light of the proposed benefits and the methodological limitations frequently inherent in such studies.     

高中一年级学生抑郁情绪及相关因素的研究

目的调查高中一年级学生的抑郁情绪及与其个性、心理健康水平、应对能力和家庭环境的关系。方法采用整群抽样方法和问卷式调查,共调查高一学生488名,资料填写完整者449人(92.01%)。结果449名高一学生SDS平均得分(标准分)为(47.27±10.86),抑郁情绪的发生率为37.86%,不同性别和文理科之间差异无统计学意义。抑郁情绪组性格内向、情绪稳定性差和精神质表现较为突出,其SCL-90的9个因子评分均高于对照组,个人积极应对能力和解决问题的能力差,消极应对和自责表现突出,家庭的亲密度、情感表达、娱乐性和组织性均较对照组差,矛盾性较对照组突出。结论抑郁情绪已是高一学生中较为常见而且需要关注的心理卫生问题,严重影响其心身健康发展,抑郁情绪与个性、心理健康评分、个人应对方式和家庭环境均具有显著关系。     

Women's Danger Management Strategies in an Inner‐City Housing Project*

The danger management strategies of low‐income African American women who live in a public housing community characterized by chronic violence are examined. Based on qualitative interviews with 18 single mothers, we explored the violent community dangers with which women contend, the nature of this violence, the strategies used to deal with community violence, and their benefits and costs to family and community life. Findings show that multiple types of violence characterized life in the community and that this violence has specific physical locations, a particular set of actors, and a temporal rhythm. Women's responses to violence were nonconfrontational and family focused in nature. These efforts were effective in keeping women and their children safe, but did not reduce the prevalence of violence.