Development and validation of a self-report measure of perceived dehumanization from officers.

Purpose: Emerging evidence indicates that incarcerated populations' perceptions of dehumanization by officers are prevalent, yet measures of it are few, and to our knowledge, no self-report measure of dehumanization from officers exists. To fill this gap, we have developed the Perceived Dehumanization from Officers Scale (PDOS), which is designed as a brief measure to assess perception of officer treatment as dehumanizing.

Methods: In this article, we provide preliminary evidence from two studies examining the reliability and validity of the PDOS.

Practise till you drop: Trialing an online intervention for late-career medical practitioners to promote planning for retirement.

Many medical practitioners in Australia work beyond the traditional retirement age. Transitioning to retirement is important, however, because the likelihood of poorer clinical outcomes increases with practitioner age. The objective of the present study was to develop and trial an online educational intervention to promote planning for a smoother transition to retirement using a non-randomized control group pre- and post-test design.

Prison Visitation and Concerns about Reentry: Variations in Frequency and Quality of Visits are Associated with Reentry Concerns among People Incarcerated in Prison.

Prior studies suggest that visitation may have an impact on successful reentry. At the same time, the impact of visitation on incarcerated people's concerns about reentry has received little empirical attention. Understanding how factors such as visitation affect concerns about reentry can provide correctional officials with policy directions on how to reduce strains and enhance successful reintegration.

Incarcerated for a Sex Offense: In-Prison Experiences and Concerns about Reentry.

Using a sample of 3,041 incarcerated men and women, this study examines the impact of being incarcerated for a sex offense and individuals' in-prison experiences on their concerns about reentry into society. Bivariate analyses suggest that being incarcerated for a sex offense is related to greater concerns about housing and fewer concerns about recidivism compared with individuals incarcerated for nonsex offenses. A sex offense conviction is also associated with weaker social bonds, greater relational difficulties, and greater fear of victimization while incarcerated.

Futurelessness, Risk Perceptions, and Commitment to Institutional Rules Among a Sample of Incarcerated Men and Women.

Using self-reported surveys of a sample of 2,927 incarcerated men and women from correctional facilities of varying security levels in the United States, this study explores the interrelationship of futurelessness, perceived certainty and celerity of punishment, and commitment to institutional rules. Incarcerated individuals' commitment to rules with an adult sample has not been explored with consideration to emotionality. Findings suggest that futurelessness and risk perceptions are directly and significantly associated with commitment to institutional rules after controlling for several importation and deprivation factors associated with institutional misconduct.

The Influence of Rehabilitative and Punishment Ideology on Correctional Officers' Perceptions of Informal Bases of Power.

Maintaining order is a key goal for prison managers. Much of the research on order maintenance focuses, however, on disruptions of order, even when order is more common. Examining factors related to perceptions on how officers get inmates to comply is, therefore, an important consideration.

A is for aphorism - 'Wherever the art of medicine is loved there is also a love of humanity'.

He was an amazing diagnostician. He could listen to the history and then with this long, pointy, bony finger he'd say, "So, what do you think was significant in that bit of the history? What did you feel there as you examined the abdomen? Did you look at this here? Have you seen these?" But he was a very warm person too - just so caring.

Doctors on status and respect: a qualitative study.

While doctors generally enjoy considerable status, some believe that this is increasingly threatened by consumerism, managerialism, and competition from other health professions. Research into doctors' perceptions of the changes occurring in medicine has provided some insights into how they perceive and respond to these changes but has generally failed to distinguish clearly between concerns about "status," related to the entitlements associated with one's position in a social hierarchy, and concerns about "respect," related to being held in high regard for one's moral qualities. In this article we explore doctors' perceptions of the degree to which they are respected and their explanations for, and responses to, instances of perceived lack of respect.

Meaning and value in medical school curricula.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: Bioethics and professionalism are standard subjects in medical training programmes, and these curricula reflect particular representations of meaning and practice. It is important that these curricula cohere with the actual concerns of practicing clinicians so that students are prepared for real-world practice. We aimed to identify ethical and professional concerns that do not appear to be adequately addressed in standard curricula by comparing ethics curricula with themes that emerged from a qualitative study of medical practitioners.

Values-based medicine and modest foundationalism.

Philosophically, values refer to the basic commitments that justify judgements, beliefs and practices, both at the community and personal levels. The study of these kinds of values is axiology. We suggest that all people subscribe to three foundational values - survival, security and flourishing - and that these foundational values are expressed by way of concepts, systems, principles and practices that may differ substantially from culture to culture.

The dual nature of medical enculturation in postgraduate medical training and practice.

Objectives: Enculturation is a normal and continuing part of human development. This study examined how medical graduates perceive the process of enculturation after graduation.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative study of the values of medical graduates associated with Sydney Medical School to identify processes that contribute to the ongoing process of enculturation.

Virtuous acts as practical medical ethics: an empirical study.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: To examine the nature, scope and significance of virtues in the biographies of medical practitioners and to determine what kind of virtues are at play in their ethical behaviour and reflection.

Methods: A case study involving 19 medical practitioners associated with the Sydney Medical School, using semi-structured narrative interviews. Narrative data were analysed using dialectical empiricism, constant comparison and iterative reformulation of research questions.

Something to hang my life on: the health benefits of writing poetry for people with serious illnesses.

Objective: We aimed to explore the effect of a poetry writing program for people who had experienced a serious illness.

Method: For this study we randomly assigned 28 volunteer participants with a history of serious illness, usually cancer, to one of two poetry writing workshops. Each group met weekly for 2 hours for 8 weeks.

Reflection and reflective practice in health professions education: a systematic review.

The importance of reflection and reflective practice are frequently noted in the literature; indeed, reflective capacity is regarded by many as an essential characteristic for professional competence. Educators assert that the emergence of reflective practice is part of a change that acknowledges the need for students to act and to think professionally as an integral part of learning throughout their courses of study, integrating theory and practice from the outset. Activities to promote reflection are now being incorporated into undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education, and across a variety of health professions.

Entry tests for graduate medical programs: is it time to re-think?

Objective: To examine the relationship between medical school applicants' performances in the Graduate Australian Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT) and structured interviews and their subsequent performance in medical school.

Design: Students in Years 2-4 of two graduate-entry medical programs were invited to complete two previously validated tests of clinical reasoning. These results and their Year 2 examination results were compared with their previous performance in GAMSAT and at interview.