Problem solving in the rat: Stay vs. shift solutions on the three-table task

Two experiments were conducted to determine the conditions under which a shift problem vs. a stay problem would be easier for animals tested on Maier’s three-table task. When animals were given a prior exploratory experience and a partial feeding during the feeding experience, the stay problem was easier. With a prior exploratory experience and a complete feeding experience, the shift solution was easier. In the absence of prior exploration, rats cannot solve either the stay or shift problem, regardless of the amount of feeding during the feeding experience.     

Systemic theory in counselling people with HIV disease

Since HIV disease became a pressing medical and social problem over a decade ago, there have been significant advances in the care and treatment of those who have been infected with the virus. Psychological counselling is a cornerstone of some programmes designed to provide support and care. The emphasis has been on preventing the spread of HIV infection, obtaining informed consent for an HIV test and psychological support in counselling. This paper addresses the provision of psychological support for people with HIV disease in the context of a systemic theoretical framework.     

Islamic parents’ attitudes and beliefs towards school-based sexual and reproductive health education programmes in Oman

School-based comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) programmes play an important role in reducing young people’s sexual risk behaviour and promoting health and well-being. There is limited evidence regarding the attitudes and beliefs of parents towards the implementation of school-based CSE programmes in Islamic cultural settings, including Oman, which this mixed-method study set out to explore. A convenience sample of 250 parents, with equal numbers of mothers and fathers of children aged 12–14 years (grades 7–9) at two urban public pre-secondary schools in Saham, completed a paper-based self-administered questionnaire in Arabic. We found most parents (72.8%) supported school-based CSE programmes that conformed to Islamic requirements of pre-marital sexual abstinence, but there was some opposition. Almost all parents supported comprehensive age-appropriate CSE being taught to students aged 10–15 years, including topics perceived as controversial in Omani culture, except for birth control and safer sex. Most parents considered themselves, school teachers and school nurses to be important sources of CSE. The study findings which suggest strong parental support for CSE programmes can facilitate education policy, CSE curriculum decision-makers and school healthcare-providers in Oman, other Middle Eastern countries, and countries with Muslim immigrant populations.     

Communication practices of the Karen in Sheffield: seeking to navigate their three zones of displacement

This study investigates communication practices of a newly arrived Karen refugee community in the UK who, as well as establishing themselves in a strange country, seek to keep in touch, campaign politically and maintain identity collectively through communication and contact with their global diaspora. We look at the technologies, motivations and inhibiting factors applying to the communication by adult members of this community and construct the idea of three zones of displacement which help to model the particular contexts, challenges and methods of their communication. We find that, overall, they are using a wide range of internet-based technologies, with the aim to ‘keep-in-touch’ (personal contacts) and to ‘spread the word’ (political communication). This also includes archaic, traditional and hybrid methods to achieve extended communication with contacts in other ‘zones’. We also identify the importance of the notion of ‘village’ as metaphor and entity in their conceptualisation of diasporic and local community cohesion. We identify the key inhibitors to their communication as cost, education, literacy and age. Finally, we speculate on the uncertain outcomes of their approach to digital media in achieving their political aims.     

WITH COURAGE AND COMMON SENSE: MEMOIRS FROM THE OLDER WOMEN'S LEGACY CIRCLES Edited by Susan Wittig Albert and Dayna Finet

In this article the authors share their experience in developing teaching and learning content on aging and sexuality. It includes suggestions for a course outline and experiential learning for students and a summary of findings, which has implications for educators in gerontology.     

Children's Understanding of the Stream of Consciousness

Children and adults were tested for their understanding that there is a virtually continuous flow of mental content in a waking person, a "stream of consciousness" that continues to run even when the person is not examining stimuli perceptually or trying to solve a problem. There was a marked increase with age from preschool to adulthood in subjects' tendency to say that a person who was just waiting quietly was having "some thoughts and ideas" rather than "a mind empty of thoughts and ideas." 4-year-olds also tended to say that the mind of a waiting person was "not doing anything," whether that person was another individual or themselves, and that a person who wanted to could keep his or her "mind completely empty of all thoughts and ideas" for 3 min. These results suggest that preschoolers' conceptions of people's mental lives may be quite different from those of older children and adults.