Moral Distress Within the Supervisory Relationship: Implications for Practice and Research

Moral distress is the experience that follows when one feels constrained from acting according to what one believes to be ethically correct. A body of literature from counseling and other health‐related professions indicating the significant impact of morally distressing dynamics on individual and relational well‐being is presented, followed by implications for practice and future research.     

‘There are other people out there!’ Successful postgraduate peer groups and research communities at a New Zealand university

Recent research has highlighted the various benefits of postgraduate peer support, including timely degree completion. This article describes and considers an initiative that sought to manufacture postgraduate peer-support groups and communities at a New Zealand university. It intends to further understanding of this area and, in particular, to discuss positive characteristics of postgraduate peer groups and the role of the institution in supporting them. Drawing on interviews with 12 postgraduate peer leaders, key findings include: the possibility of manufacturing peer-support groups, with a legitimising function coming from overt institutional support; that peer groups can be made up of students from across a wide range of postgraduate courses and disciplines; that, given an open mandate from the institution, peer leaders can contribute to the challenge of creating a positive research community; and that a collaborative institution-wide approach to postgraduate support provision is achievable.     

Enacting inclusion: a framework for interrogating inclusive practice

The intervention of Intensive Interaction is gaining attention for its demonstrated effectiveness in promoting social engagement in individuals with severe communicative impairments. The present study sought to extend the evidence base for this intervention by investigating the rapidity with which an increase in engagement becomes apparent. Videotapes of the first Intensive Interaction session for 10 adults with profound learning disabilities were microanalytically coded for four measures of engagement: eye gaze, bodily orientation to partner, proximity to partner, and emotional valence. Results showed an increase for all participants on at least two measures, while 70% of the sample showed increases on all four measures. Such shifts occurred within only a few minutes of the onset of the session (ranging from three to 14 minutes). Non‐parametric analyses confirmed that this robust pattern of increases would not have been predicted to occur by chance. These findings indicate that Intensive Interaction is effective in rapidly promoting social engagement, even for individuals with a long history of apparent social avoidance. Suggestions for future lines of enquiry, at both the empirical and conceptual levels, are discussed.     

A Sport for All Project in Eastern Europe: 1990-2001

The question of providing the citizens of London, Ontario, Canada with public bathing facilities emerged in the late 1860s and persisted through the early 1920s. Initially concerns over the financial costs of such a venture trumped the need to protect public morals and ensure the physical safety of bathers. Not until the first decade of the 1900s did serious interest arise within local government to provide public facilities, prompted primarily by concerns over the moral and physical safety of the city's children. Whereas concerns related to the provision of public bathing facilities are relatively well documented for larger Canadian cities including Montreal and Toronto, attempts to secure public space to bathe in smaller centres such as London provide clear evidence of how broader social forces, including the critical influence of the playgrounds movement, served to promote swimming and bathing in Canadian towns and cities after the turn of the twentieth century.     

PART III: HUMAN PERFORMANCE

There is limited information on the anthropometry, strength, endurance and flexibility of female rock climbers. The aim of this study was to compare these characteristics in three groups of females: Group 1 comprised 10 elite climbers aged 31.3 ± 5.0 years (mean ± s ) who had led to a standard of ‘hard very severe’; Group 2 consisted of 10 recreational climbers aged 24.1 ± 4.0 years who had led to a standard of ‘;severe’; and Group 3 comprised 10 physically active individuals aged 28.5 ± 5.0 years who had not previously rock-climbed. The tests included finger strength (grip strength, finger strength measured on climbing-specific apparatus), flexibility, bent arm hang and pull-ups. Regression procedures (analysis of covariance) were used to examine the influence of body mass, leg length, height and age. For finger strength, the elite climbers recorded significantly higher values ( P < 0.05) than the recreational climbers and non-climbers (four fingers, right hand: elite 321 ± 18 N, recreational 251 ± 14 N, non-climbers 256 ± 15 N; four fingers, left hand: elite 307 ± 14 N, recreational 248 ± 12 N, non-climbers 243 ± 11 N). For grip strength of the right hand, the elite climbers recorded significantly higher values than the recreational climbers only (elite 338 ± 12 N, recreational 289 ± 10 N, non-climbers 307 ± 11 N). The results suggest that elite climbers have greater finger strength than recreational climbers and non-climbers.     

Research design and statistics in biomechanics and motor control

Biomechanics and motor control researchers measure how the body moves and interacts with its environment. The aim of this review paper is to consider some key issues in research methods in biomechanics and motor control. The review is organized into four sections: proposing, conducting, analysing and reporting research. In the first of these, we emphasize the importance of defining a worthy research question and of planning the study before its implementation to prevent later difficulties in the analysis and interpretation of data. In the second section, we cover selection of trial sizes and suggest that using three trials or more may be beneficial to provide more ‘representative’ and valid data. The third section on analysis of data concentrates on effect size statistics, qualitative and numerical trend analysis and cross-correlations. As sample sizes are often small, the use of effect size is recommended to support the results of statistical significance testing. In using cross-correlations, we recommend that scatterplots of one variable against the other, with the identified time lag included, be inspected to confirm that the linear relationship assumption underpinning this statistic is met and, if appropriate, that a linearity transformation be applied. Finally, we consider important information related to the issues above that should be included when reporting research. We recommend reporting checks or corrections for violations of underpinning assumptions, and the effect of these checks or corrections, to assist in advancing knowledge in biomechanics and motor control.     

‘They shall grow not old’: An analysis of trends in memorialisation based on information held by the UK national inventory of war memorials

This chapter of Cultural Trends discusses ways in which war memorials demonstrate changing cultural or societal trends in the UK through their various forms and functions, and through the evolution of memorialisation itself.

It introduces the UK National Inventory of War Memorials, an archive which was established in 1989 and which records details of memorials throughout the UK. The chapter is based on data and detailed examples taken from the 47,000 records currently input on the archive's database and it explores those records to examine memorials commemorating the Boer Wars, First and Second World Wars and the Korean War, in particular.

The first section considers general issues regarding war memorials in the UK ‐ the ways in which memorial styles have changed, and how these reflect changing attitudes towards those who served in the armed forces in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

The second section is about the pragmatics of memorialisation, and focuses on the significance of where memorials are positioned, whether inside or out and within public or private spaces; the increase in secularisation; the geographical spread of memorials; and issues related to urban and rural memorialisation.

The third section considers the evolution of memorials from being a focus for grief for those whose friends and relations’ bodies were not returned, to manifesting veterans groups’ assertions of their identity many years after a conflict. The physical movement of memorials is also covered, ranging from memorials which have been lost or neglected, through to memorials being moved in order to preserve them so that remembrance services can continue. Peaks and troughs of memorialisation through the 20th century are also considered.

To conclude, the fourth section pulls together various threads drawn throughout the chapter, analysing memorials chronologically, geographically, stylistically and in terms of their relative ‘popularity’.