Cross-cultural validity of the physical self-description questionnaire: comparison of factor structures in Australia, Spain, and Turkey.

We evaluated the cross-cultural generalizability of the factor structure for the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ) using confirmatory factor analysis. The factor structure was reasonably invariant over large samples of responses by Australian, Spanish, and Turkish students. Consistent with a priori predictions, the factor structures based on Australian and Spanish high school students were somewhat more similar to each other than to those based on Turkish university students, but these differences were small.

Soap Box.

Like all professionals, nurses live with the inevitability of change. The extent to which change is experienced as a crisis rather than as an opportunity is determined by the degree of control that nurses have over the change process. This paper outlines the determinants of change, examines the impact of change on nursing practice, explores professional ways of knowing and proposes critical thinking as a means by which nurses can interpret and manipulate change and illustrates a curriculum approach that facilitates the acquisition of the capacity to think critically.

Should victim impact influence sentences? Understanding the community's justice reasoning.

Victim impact statements have been introduced in response to growing community concern about apparent neglect of victims in the criminal justice system. Their use in sentencing is a contentious issue, because victim characteristics such as resilience or fragility can contribute to impacts. Is it appropriate for sentences to be influenced by consequences arising from chance victim circumstances unforeseeable by the offender? In the interest of achieving an optimal fit between the justice system and community expectations, this research examined a neglected question: how does the public reason about the issue? Using offense vignettes presented to 260 people in Western Australia, sentencing decisions were found to vary according to consequences arising from victim characteristics.