The effect of an online acceptance and commitment intervention on the meaning-making process in cancer patients following hematopoietic cell transplantation: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial enhanced with single-case experimental design.

BACKGROUND: Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is a highly invasive and life-threatening treatment for hematological neoplasms and some types of cancer that can challenge the patient's meaning structures. Restoring meaning (i.e., building more flexible and significant explanations of the disease and treatment burden) can be aided by strengthening psychological flexibility by means of an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intervention. Thus, this trial aims to examine the effect of the ACT intervention on the meaning-making process and the underlying mechanisms of change in patients following HCT compared to a minimally enhanced usual care (mEUC) control group. The trial will be enhanced with a single-case experimental design (SCED), where ACT interventions will be compared between individuals with various pre-intervention intervals. METHODS: In total, 192 patients who qualify for the first autologous or allogeneic HCT will be recruited for a two-armed parallel randomized controlled trial comparing an online self-help 14-day ACT training to education sessions (recommendations following HCT). In both conditions, participants will receive once a day a short survey and intervention proposal (about 5-10 min a day) in the outpatient period. Double-blinded assessment will be conducted at baseline, during the intervention, immediately, 1 month, and 3 months after the intervention. In addition, 6-9 participants will be invited to SCED and randomly assigned to pre-intervention measurement length (1-3 weeks) before completing ACT intervention, followed by 7-day observations at the 2nd and 3rd post-intervention measure. The primary outcome is meaning-related distress. Secondary outcomes include psychological flexibility, meaning-making coping, meanings made, and well-being as well as global and situational meaning. DISCUSSION: This trial represents the first study that integrates the ACT and meaning-making frameworks to reduce meaning-related distress, stimulate the meaning-making process, and enhance the well-being of HCT recipients. Testing of an intervention to address existential concerns unique to patients undergoing HCT will be reinforced by a statistically rigorous idiographic approach to see what works for whom and when. Since access to interventions in the HCT population is limited, the web-based ACT self-help program could potentially fill this gap. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT06266182. Registered on February 20, 2024.

The lived experiences of HIV-positive women in rural Zimbabwe: A qualitative focus group study.

BACKGROUND:  The study explored and described the meaning attached to the lived experiences of women living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the rural context of Zimbabwe. Stigma and discrimination negatively impact one's ability to perform the expected social roles, the quality of life, and the efforts to prevent the spread of HIV and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and reduce HIV-related mortality. Thus, the study aims to understand the meaning attached to the lived experiences of HIV-positive women living in rural areas or villages of Matabeleland South province in Zimbabwe. METHODS:  The study used a qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory design. Four focus group discussions were conducted with 24 HIV-positive rural women living in Matabeleland South province, Zimbabwe. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was adopted to explore and describe the meaning attached to the lived experiences of women living with HIV. RESULTS:  Two interconnected themes were identified in the analysis with their sub-themes. These were: (1) struggle for social belonging, with subthemes - loss of social belonging and reduced access to community-based empowerment opportunities and (2) struggle for maintaining the quality of life with subthemes - lack of need-based community healthcare and food insecurity. CONCLUSION:  Being a woman living with HIV in rural Zimbabwe means a perpetual struggle to maintain one's humanness and quality of life.Contribution: This study's results will support the efforts of the Zimbabwean government to improve the quality of life of HIV-positive women living in rural areas.

Associations Among Family Caregivers' Perceptions of Loneliness, Choice, and Purpose: a Comparative Analysis Between Non-Hispanic Black Caregivers and Non-Hispanic White Caregivers in a Population-Based Sample.

BACKGROUND: Loneliness is a frequent experience among family members engaging in caregiving responsibilities and may vary across racial and ethnic groups. This study aimed to examine (a) the difference in loneliness between non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White caregivers, (b) the associations between loneliness and perceptions of choice and purpose in caregiving, and (c) whether those associations with loneliness differ by caregivers' race. METHOD: Descriptive statistics and ordinal logistic regression were conducted in a population-based sample of 1000 caregivers (Black caregivers, n = 199; White caregivers, n = 801) from the 2020 Caregiving in the U.S. STUDY: The survey design was properly addressed. Key variables included loneliness (level of feeling alone about being a caregiver), choice (whether or not reporting a choice in taking on the caregiver responsibility), sense of purpose (level of purpose/meaning in life from caregiving), and race (Black/White). Models adjusted for caregiving characteristics (e.g., hour of caregiving) and sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., age and education). RESULTS: Black caregivers had lower odds of reporting a higher level vs. a lower level of loneliness than White caregivers (aOR = 0.67, 95%CI = 0.47, 0.96). Reporting having no choice was associated with higher odds of a higher level of loneliness (aOR, 0.77, 95%CI = 0.67, 0.88). Higher sense of purpose scores were associated with lower odds of a higher level of loneliness (aOR = 0.81, 95%CI = 0.71, 0.93). No significant moderation effects of race were found. CONCLUSION: Black caregivers reported lower loneliness scores than White caregivers. Reporting no choice and lower sense of purpose were associated with higher loneliness in both racial groups.

A metaphorical advantage for bilingual children? Understanding figurative meaning by L2 and L3 EFL learners.

This study compared school-aged monolingual and bilingual English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners in terms of understanding metaphors on recall, multiple-choice, and reasoning tasks. It also examined the relationship between cognitive capacity and understanding metaphors on different measures. A hundred and thirty Persian-Turkish early bilinguals and 122 monolingual Persian-speaking EFL learners took three different tests of metaphor comprehension and the Figural Intersections Test, a test of cognitive capacity. Bilinguals outperformed monolinguals in terms of cognitive capacity and understanding metaphors on two of the tasks, though with a small effect size. Furthermore, there was a significant positive relationship between cognitive capacity and the scores on the multiple-choice and reasoning tests, but not the recall test. Results suggest that bilingual L3 learners have an edge in understanding metaphors, reflecting a cognitive advantage.

Assessing lexical ambiguity of simplified Chinese characters: Plurality and relatedness of character meanings.

Lexical ambiguity is pervasive among Chinese characters as many of them are polysemantic, with one orthographic form carrying unrelated meanings, related meanings, or sometimes both unrelated and related meanings. A large-scale database with ambiguity measures for simplified Chinese characters has yet to be developed, which could greatly benefit psycholinguistic research on the Chinese language or cross-language comparisons. This article reports two sets of ratings by native speakers, the perceived number of meanings (pNoM) for 4,363 characters and the perceived relatedness of meanings (pRoM) for a subset of 1,053 characters. These rating-based ambiguity measures capture the representational nuance about a character's meanings stored in average native speakers' mental lexicon, which tends to be obscured by dictionary- and corpus-based ambiguity measures. Consequently, they each account for a reliable portion of variance in the efficiency of character processing, above and beyond the effects of character frequency, age of acquisition, and other types of ambiguity measures. Theoretical and empirical implications with regard to the plurality and the relatedness of character meanings, the two focal aspects of debate on lexical ambiguity, are discussed.

Between Meanings and Senses-Making Spaces: Agency and Ownership Emergence Formalization from Cultural-Historical Activity Theory Position, for an AI-Friendly Model.

Sense of agency and sense of ownership are considered crucial in autonomous systems. However, drawbacks still exist regarding how to represent their causal origin and internal structure, either in formalized psychological models or in artificial systems. This paper considers that these drawbacks are based on the ontological and epistemological duality in mainstream psychology and AI. By shedding light on the cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) and dialectical logic, and by building on and extending related work, this paper attempts to investigate how the noted duality affects investigating the self and "I". And by differentiating between the space of meanings and the sense-making space, the paper introduces CHAT's position of the causal emergence of agency and ownership by stressing the twofold transition theory being central to CHAT. Furthermore, a qualitative formalized model is introduced to represent the emergence of agency and ownership through the emergence of the contradictions-based meaning with potential employment in AI.

Among risks, protection, and lessons learned: Perspectives of Brazilian rural families about work in adolescence.

Adolescents working in the Brazilian rural contexts were investigated through participant observation and interviews, aiming at understanding the role played by work in the nurturing of adolescent in these contexts. The qualitative and longitudinal survey involved six participants who were members of two different families, as follows: four female adolescents, one adult woman, and one adult man. It was found that adolescents and their families understood work as a context for nurturing moral values, learning skills, and meeting needs. Observation, however, found that work also involved exposure to risks. The study reviews the role of work in adolescence as a cultural component in some rural contexts and how this should be taken into account to avoid an ethnocentric and universalistic interpretation that divides adolescence between "normal" and "abnormal."

La voz de las mujeres: el tránsito de víctimas a la legitimidad como constructoras de paces / The voice of women: the transition from victims to legitimacy as peace builders

Resumen El objetivo fue analizar las formas de afrontamiento de las violencias sexuales en mujeres víctimas sobrevivientes y su participación en los procesos de construcción de paz. Fue una investigación cualitativa a través de la Teoría Fundamentada, con el Interaccionismo Simbólico para originar la teoría, desde los significados que surgen en la interacción entre las personas y su entorno. Se recolectó la información con entrevistas a profundidad. La teoría construida resalta la experiencia de las violencias sexuales, la cual simboliza desazón, exilio, destrucción de sus metas y proyectos, la dificultad para perdonar por la magnitud del daño e incumplimiento de las leyes. Aunado a esto, las condiciones del territorio y su historia influyeron en los significados que las personas participantes asignaron a su experiencia inolvidable por las huellas del dolor; una de las formas de afrontamiento fue poder alzar su voz como un instrumento fundamental para el tránsito de víctimas a la legitimidad como constructoras de paces. Se concluye que, en la unión y en la mutualidad, encontraron la manera de legitimar sus voces y hacerlas oír por sus comunidades. El significado de la paz en las mujeres está representado en el estar en armonía, disfrutar de su cotidianidad, sentirse libres, sentirse importantes y únicas cuando hablan de la historia de dolor.

Abstract The objective was to analyze the ways of coping with sexual violence in surviving female victims and their participation in peacebuilding processes. It was a qualitative investigation through Grounded Theory, with Symbolic Interactionism to originate the theory, from the meanings that arise in the interaction between people and their environment. Information was collected through in-Depth interviews. The constructed theory highlights the experience of sexual violence, which symbolizes embodies the despair, exile, destruction of their goals and projects, the difficulty to forgive for the magnitude of the damage, and non compliance with the laws. In addition to this, the conditions of the territory and its history influenced the meanings that they assigned to their experience, duly unforgettable due to the traces of pain. One of the ways of coping was to be able to raise their voice as a fundamental instrument, for the transit of victims to legitimacy, as peace builders. We conclude that, in union and mutuality, they found the way to legitimize their voices and make them heard by their communities. The meaning of peace in women is represented by being in harmony, enjoying their daily lives, feeling free, feeling important and unique when they talk about their history of pain.

Roles for Wildlife in the Development of Place Meanings Ascribed to a Protected Area.

Wildlife play prominent roles in popular images of America's outdoor landscapes, yet our understanding of their contribution to place meanings is not fully developed. Although environmental management agencies have a long history of stewarding wildlife for hunting and fishing, they have been less inclined to prioritize non-consumptive uses such as the contribution of wildlife to sense of place. Given that agencies are increasingly challenged to implement policies that align with citizen priorities, connecting wildlife to sense of place could lead to more effective decisions. Our research explored the plurality of connections that residents made with wildlife in multiple protected areas across the USA region of Interior Alaska. Residents of nine communities were engaged over a five-year period, followed by a thematic analysis of interview data, which resulted in the identification of seven place meaning themes. These themes reflected qualities of the local environment that were appreciated by residents, including: 1) desirable travel destination, 2) distinct sense of community, 3) landscape of subsistence and tradition, 4) landscape of wildlife habitat, 5) natural resources in need of harvesting, 6) rural Alaskan lifestyle, and 7) wildland areas tied to recreation. Native wildlife species-from traditionally charismatic species like moose (Alces alces) to less iconic species such as snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) - were discussed in the context of all seven place meaning themes. Wildlife provided a basis for study participants to interpret landscapes and ascribe meanings to places, thus supporting our argument that shared influences of wildlife and place meanings should be prioritized in environmental planning and management.

Significados psicológicos sobre sexualidad, deseo y placer sexual en la adultez mayor / Psychological meanings on sexuality, desire, and sexual pleasure in seniorhood

Resumen Los significados sobre la sexualidad en la adultez mayor se encuentran sobre la base de una compleja interrelación entre factores sociales, culturales y personales. La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo explorar los significados psicológicos que personas adultas mayores de la Ciudad de México le confieren a la sexualidad, al placer sexual y al deseo sexual, mediante el empleo de las redes semánticas naturales (modificadas). La muestra estuvo constituida por 204 personas: 162 mujeres y 40 hombres, entre los 60 y 100 años, asistentes a centros de educación continua para personas adultas mayores en la Ciudad de México. El estudio fue mixto, descriptivo, no experimental, con muestreo no probabilístico y por conveniencia. Los resultados muestran que los significados psicológicos que las personas adultas mayores estudiadas refieren sobre la sexualidad, el deseo y el placer sexual son predominantemente positivos, y abarcan sentimientos, comportamientos y sensaciones. Se identifican diferencias por género tal como se planteó en la hipótesis de investigación, pero también se encontraron similitudes dentro de dichos significados. En las adultas mayores predomina la interrelación entre significados afectivos y contacto físico, mientras que en los hombres predominan las sensaciones. En general la muestra describe la sexualidad, el deseo y el placer sexual de manera muy similar, lo cual lleva a comprender que las fronteras entre los términos son sensibles, de tal manera que los significados y referentes de las propias personas llegan a permearse.

Abstract The meanings of sexuality in seniorhood are found at the base of a complex interrelation between social, cultural and personal factors. The present research aimed to explore the psychological meanings that senior adults in Mexico City confer on sexuality, sexual pleasure and sexual desire; through the use of modified natural semantic networks. The sample consisted of 204 people: 162 senior women and 40 senior men, between 60 and 100 years old, attending a continuing education centers for senior adults in Mexico City. The study was mixed, descriptive, non-experimental, with non-probability and convenience sampling. The results show how the psychological meanings that the studied senior adults have related to sexuality, desire and sexual pleasure are predominantly positive, encompassing feelings, behaviors and sensations. Differences by gender are identified as proposed in the research hypothesis, but similarities within these meanings were also found. The senior women studied define sexuality from the interrelation between affective meanings and physical contact; the word "love" was the most referenced. In addition, they mentioned "pleasure", "desire", "caresses", "satisfaction", "kisses", "joy", "hugs", "health", "attraction", and "knowledge". Senior men, for their part, consider sexuality mainly as an attraction and include others such as: "satisfaction", "pleasure", "respect", "life", "fidelity", "complete", "unique", "woman", "touch", "important", "love", "knowledge", "passion", "desire", "need", and "affection". Women and men in the sample describe sexual desire and pleasure in a very similar way to their sexuality referents, which leads us to understand that the boundaries between the two terms are sensitive. Regarding sexual desire, senior women cite defining words such as: "caresses", "kisses", "love", "hugs", "pleasure", "desire", "necessary", "satisfaction", "natural", "attraction", "partner", "happiness", and "respect". In relation to sexual pleasure, they include the words: "enjoyment", "tenderness", "affection", "friendship", "joy", "it is the maximum", and "relaxing". For their part, senior men defined sexual desire as: "attraction", "love", "caresses", "satisfaction", "looks", "necessary", "natural", "woman", "kisses", "being alive", "respect", "passion", "libido", "important", "moving", "pleasure", "hug", "energy", "games", "excitement", "communication", "masturbation", "eroticism", and "taste". Sexual pleasure includes: "important", "fullness", "enjoyment", "respect", "pleasure", "joy", and "naturalness". The results show that the stage of sexuality in seniorhood is diverse and it is influenced by gender and social beliefs, which evidences the psychological complexity of this sphere of life.

Una aproximación a la satisfacción con la alimentación en familias monoparentales con jefatura femenina / An approach to satisfaction with food-related life in female-headed single parent households

Resumen 1Los hogares monoparentales se ven enfrentados a compatibilizar la generación de ingresos con las tareas de cuidado en el hogar, como la alimentación familiar, la cual se configura como un dominio clave en el bienestar. Es por ello, que el objetivo de este estudio buscó explorar los significados acerca de la satisfacción con la alimentación que tienen madres e hijos de familias monoparentales con jefatura femenina. A partir de un estudio de caso de método mixto, mediante la participación de 47 familias monoparentales de jefatura femenina, tanto madres como hijos adolescentes, cuyas edades fluctuaban entre 10 y 17 años de edad, completaron individualmente una tarea de asociación de palabras con "estar satisfecho con mi alimentación" y una tarea de finalización de palabras con "estaría más satisfecho con mi alimentación si...". Los resultados evidenciaron que los significados de la satisfacción con la alimentación son atribuibles a la conceptualización formal del constructo y que no existiría diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre las respuestas dadas por madres e hijos, en base a los determinantes de comportamiento en la alimentación. Así se concluyó que las similitudes en los significados, en torno a los determinantes que se identifican con la satisfacción con la alimentación y con los aspectos que podrían aumentarla, permiten constatar la influencia de la familia en las construcciones y significados que forman parte de la identidad individual y cultural de los adolescentes, lo cual se convierte en un insumo necesario para el diseño de prácticas y estrategias que propicien una mayor satisfacción con la alimentación.

Abstract Numerous female-headed single parent households face increased pressure when attempting to balance income generation with household responsibilities, such as family nutrition, which is critical given its greater influence on children's nutrition and diet quality (Hebestreit et al., 2017). This situation is critical in light of the fact that food is positioned as a critical domain of human well-being (Schnettler et al., 2014, 2017; Denegri et al., 2014, 2016). Satisfaction with food-related life is conceptualized as an individual's global cognitive evaluation of his or her diet (Grunert, Dean, Raats, Nielsen, y Lumbers, 2007); its formal definition is connected to other facets of life such as health, family, and social relationships (Grunert et al., 2007). According to the literature, satisfaction with food-related life is defined in terms of three primary determinants of eating behavior: the food consumed, the individual, and the diet's context (Köster, 2009). The purpose of this study is to contribute to our understanding of female-headed single-parent families and their meanings by examining the importance placed on the family as the first social space in which people construct and shape their social representations in various spheres of daily life (Moscovici, 1984). The overall objective is to investigate the meanings of satisfaction with food-related life for mothers and adolescent children in female-headed single-parent families. The specific objectives are to i) define the semantic entities of food satisfaction in relation to mothers and adolescent children, ii) identify factors that contribute to mothers' and adolescent children's food satisfaction, and iii) compare how mothers and adolescent children perceive their food satisfaction and the factors that contribute to it increasing. To accomplish these goals, a mixed case study research design was used. This entails combining quantitative and qualitative research methods in order to gain a better understanding of the research issues (Cresswell y Plano Clark, 2011). A total of 47 Chilean single-parent families with a female head of household participated in this study. It consists of a fee-paying mother that has at least one adolescent child between the ages of 10 and 17. The data collection method was an interview developed and tested in the Chilean population by Schnettler et al. (2020), based on a projective technique (Mesas y Escribano, 2018), in which mothers and adolescent children individually responded to the first words, terms, or phrases associated with the expression "being satisfied with my food-related life" with the goal of determining the meaning of satisfaction with food-related life. They were then asked to complete the sentence "I would be more satisfied with my food-related life if...". In order to identify factors that could improve their satisfaction with food-related life. The data was textually analyzed by segmenting and coding it. Subsequently, by establishing conceptual relationships, categories and supracategories were generated deductively (Krippendorff, 2004). Following that, the information expressed in the results and plotted in frequency tables is synthesized and interpreted. The Chi-square test was used to compare mothers' and adolescent children's responses (Agresti, 1990). In conclusion, the findings indicate that the meanings of satisfaction with food-related life can be ascribed to the construct's formal conceptualization. Thus, this study provides evidence that the construct is valid. There were also similarities in the meanings of mothers and adolescent children when it came to the determinants associated with food satisfaction, as well as the factors that could increase their satisfaction with food-related life. This finding is critical for establishing the family's influence on the constructs and meanings associated with adolescents' cultural identities.

O sofrimento psíquico em relatos de usuários de saúde mental / Psychic suffering in reports of mental health users / El sufrimiento psíquico en relatos de usuarios de salud mental

Na história da humanidade, a loucura foi concebida de diversas formas. Atualmente a Reforma Psiquiátrica propõe a construção de um novo lugar social para a loucura, concebendo-a como sofrimento psíquico. Para compreender como os usuários de saúde mental a concebem, fizemos uma pesquisa com o objetivo de analisar como essas pessoas produzem sentidos sobre o sofrimento psíquico em vídeos de domínio público. Para desenvolver esta pesquisa, adotamos a perspectiva teórico-metodológica da proposta de estudo da produção de sentidos a partir da análise das práticas discursivas. Trata-se de uma investigação de natureza qualitativa, com caráter exploratório, para cujo desenvolvimento foi feito uma pesquisa documental. Foram utilizados os videodocumentários 'A loucura entre nós' e 'Estamira' e a Conferência 'I am not a monster: schizophrenia'. Nos relatos analisados, os usuários referenciaram o sofrimento psíquico recorrendo ao discurso da Psiquiatria e à utilização de medicamentos, no entanto, alguns se posicionaram contrariamente a esse saber.

In the history of humanity, madness has been conceived in different ways. Currently, the Psychiatric Reform proposes the construction of a new social place for madness, conceiving it as psychic suffering. In order to understand how mental health users conceive it, we carried out a research with the aim of analyzing how these people produce meanings about psychic suffering in videos in the public domain. In order to carry out this researchwe dopted the theoretical-methodological perspective of the study proposal of the production of meanings from the analysis of discursive practices. This is a qualitative investigation with an exploratory approach for which a research of documents was carried out. The video documentaries "Madness among us", "Estamira" and the Conference "I am a monster: schizophrenia" were used, however, some of the subjects referred to psychic suffering using the internment Psychiatry jargon, mentioning the use of medicines. However, some of them took a position against this practice. (AU)

En la historia de la humanidad, la locura se ha concebido de diferentes maneras. Actualmente, la Reforma Psiquiátrica propone la construcción de un nuevo lugar social para la locura, concibiéndola como sufrimiento psíquico. Realizamos una investigación con el objetivo de analizar cómo los usuarios de salud mental producen sentidos sobre el sufrimiento psíquico en videos de dominio público. Para ello, adoptamos laperspectiva teórico-metodológica de la propuesta deestudio dela producción de sentidos a partir del análisis de las prácticas discursivas. Se trata de una investigación cualitativo, con carácter exploratorio, para cuyo desarrollo se realizó una pesquisa documental. Se utilizaron los video documentales: "A loucura entre nós", "Estamira"y la Conferencia "I am not a monster: schizophrenia". En los relatos analizados, los usuarios se refirieron al sufrimiento psíquico recurriendo al discurso de la Psiquiatría y a la utilización de medicamentos. No obstante, algunos tomaron posición contraria a ese conocimiento. (AU)

Armed robbery and the meanings of money.

In this study, we investigate the meanings active armed robbers give to money before, during, and after their crimes and how these meanings shape their offending. We do so by examining interviews undertaken from 1994 to 1995 with robbers in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Prior to their robberies, the interviewees' desperation leads them to define money as essential to survival. Immediately following robberies and in looking back on them, they come to view this essential money in other ways as well-as too time-consuming to get, as "easy," or as guilt-free. These meanings facilitate the contradictory way robbers see money as "fast" after offences. We discuss how these shifting meanings of money shape and are shaped by robbers' structural positions, cultural outlooks, and social relations. In doing so, we also help to explain how the shifting meanings of money play into criminogenic cycles of predatory offending.

"Wherever There's Men, it can Happen": Constructions of Violence Against Women by Young Adults in Ireland.

Given the growing concern about perpetration of violence against women (VAW) amongst young adults, this article examines how a sample (n = 27) of Irish young adults (18-24 years) construct the term VAW. Participants drew on personal experiences to describe the term and were cognisant of the gendered perpetration of domestic, psychological, and sexual violence. A group of participants, however, constructed narrow understandings of VAW that did not align with their routinized experiences of unwanted touching and sexual microaggressions. We call for initiatives to enable young adults to name and link together different forms of VAW.

How Cultural Meanings of Occupations in the U.S. Changed During the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Social research highlights the stability of cultural beliefs, broadly arguing that population-level changes are uncommon and mostly explained by cohort replacement rather than individual-level change. We find evidence suggesting that cultural change may also occur rapidly in response to an economically and socially transformative period. Using data collected just before and after the outbreak of Covid-19 in the U.S., we explore whether cultural beliefs about essential and non-essential occupations are dynamic in the face of an exogenous social and economic shock. Using a sample of respondents whose characteristics match the U.S. Census on sex, age, and race/ethnicity, we fielded surveys measuring cultural beliefs about 85 essential and non-essential occupations using the evaluation, potency, and activity (EPA) dimensions from the Affect Control Theory paradigm. We expected that EPA ratings of essential work identities would increase due to positive media coverage of essential occupations as indispensable and often selfless roles in the pandemic, while EPA ratings of non-essential identities would decline. Our findings show patterns that are both clear and inconsistent with our predictions. For both essential and non-essential occupations, almost all statistically significant changes in mean evaluation and potency were negative; activity showed relatively little change. Changes in evaluation scores were more negative for non-essential occupations than essential occupations. Results suggest that pervasive and persistent exogenous events are worth investigating as potential sources of episodic cultural belief change.

The Movement Between Agreement and Disagreement in Self Positions Through a Musico-Logical Metaphor.

In this article, I use a metaphorical concept in order to propose an interpretation for the dialogical relationship that occurs between I-positions in the human self. Metaphor is a useful tool for scientific production and its heuristic value has been demonstrated in several fields of knowledge. I claim a musico-logical metaphor to explain dynamic dialogic processes that occur when I-positions are in agreement or disagreement relationship. These dialogic processes are based on tension and release and, in a complementary way, can result in contradictory, tautological, or contingency relations between I-positions. These relations were categorized using concepts from Music and Logic, thus creating a theoretical model composed of metaphorical concepts. To provide evidence of how a musico-logical metaphor might contribute to the interpretation of relations between I-positions in the system of self, I discuss a case study of a rural worker and analyze how child labor marked his life trajectory throughout different moments. The musico-logical metaphor might contribute to dialogical processes understanding that occur at the border of the agreement-disagreement dyad in the system of the self, since this metaphor proposes to identify, from a cogenetic understanding, dialogic interactions between I-positions located in this border, thus transforming the agreement-disagreement dyad into a triadic agreement-border-non-agreement set.

The correlated influence of semantic types, L1 translation equivalents and language proficiency on EFL learners' production of polysemous words.

The current research investigated the influencing factors of the full mastery of L2 (English) polysemous words with a Chinese-English translation test. The concepts of "meaning" and "L2 equivalent" were strictly distinguished when designing the test. The manipulation of variables came to a mixed design of 2 (semantic types: core meaning, periphery meaning) × 2 (types of L1 translation equivalents: dominant L1 translation equivalent, non-dominant L1 translation equivalent) × 2 (language proficiency: low proficiency, high proficiency). The results showed that: (1) The semantic types and L1 translation equivalents had significant influence on the production of polysemous words in that the core meanings and the dominant L1 translation equivalent helped the learners access the words quickly and produce them more efficiently; The dominant L1 translation equivalents could facilitate the production of the words presented with their periphery meanings; (2) On the whole, there was no significant difference of the productive competence between the two groups of participants. Comparatively, the high proficiency learners performed better in the production of words presented in their periphery meanings corresponding to non-dominant L1 translation equivalents. And they showed a less degree of dependence on L1 translation equivalents in the process of language production.

Os sentidos do aposentar-se na visão de sujeitos aposentados / The senses of retirement in the perspective of retired subjects

O artigo tem o objetivo de investigar como se dá o processo de interrupção do trabalhar no momento da aposentadoria e como os sujeitos passam por essa experiência em um cenário em que o trabalho é considerado fundamental na vida das pessoas. Foi utilizada metodologia qualitativa, composta por análise de narrativa de entrevistas realizadas com 20 sujeitos aposentados. Os resultados da pesquisa evidenciam que o fator financeiro é bastante relevante, no entanto existem aspectos subjetivos que não são ponderados no momento de parar de trabalhar. De maneira complementar, percebeu-se que ficar sem trabalho em uma sociedade produtivista faz com que os sujeitos se sintam desconfortáveis, mesmo tendo o direito legitimado para o descanso. Eles dizem se sentir julgados como inúteis e improdutivos pela sociedade, o que torna o ócio penoso em muitos momentos. Por fim, as narrativas demonstraram que se aposentar é percebido como ficar velho e sem perspectiva de futuro

The article aims to investigate how retirement occurs and is perceived by subjects in a society in which work is seen as fundamental in people's lives. A qualitative approach was used and data were collected and analysed through interviews with 20 subjects and narrative analysis. Results show that finances is quite a relevant factor when choosing to retire, while subjective aspects to this process are disregarded. Complementarily, not working in a productivity-bound society makes subjects uncomfortable, despite their legitimized right to rest. The participants reported feeling judged as useless and unproductive by society, which makes idleness painful in many moments. Finally, the narrative analysis showed that retiring is perceived as getting old and having no perspective for the future

Percepções de mulheres trabalhadoras sobre gestação e os sentidos do trabalho / Working women's perceptions on pregnancy and the meanings of work

Trabalhar é essencial para a vida dos indivíduos e seu sentido é construído a partir das percepções subjetivas e do contexto socio-histórico de cada um. No entanto, para muitas mulheres, alguns marcos da vida, como a gestação, exigem grande reorganização da sua própria identidade e de suas prioridades. Nesse sentido, esta pesquisa tentou compreender os sentidos do trabalho para mulheres em período gestacional. Oito gestantes trabalhadoras foram entrevistadas e os dados submetidos à análise de conteúdo. Logo, pôde-se verificar que, para as entrevistadas, um trabalho que tenha sentido é o que proporciona prazer, satisfação e realização. Sobre o trabalho e a gestação, apesar de notarem mudanças no modo de realização das atividades laborais, as mulheres não consideraram a gravidez um impeditivo, reforçando a ideia de trabalho como fonte de segurança financeira e de subsistência. Dessa forma, identifica-se um deslocamento dos sentidos do trabalho que antes eram predominantemente positivos, e, durante a gestação, um fortalecimento da perspectiva instrumental. Percepções sobre trabalho e gestação corroboram com a compreensão de centralidade dos fenômenos e com a reflexão sobre as mudanças que a gestação pode trazer à vida das trabalhadoras e ao seu vínculo com o trabalho

Working is central to the individuals' lives and its meaning is constructed from subjective perceptions and by the social-historical context of each person. However, for many women, life milestones such as pregnancy, require a great reorganization of their own identity and of their priorities. In this sense, this research tried to understand the meanings of work for pregnant women. Eight pregnant workers were interviewed, and the data were submitted to content analysis. Thus, we could observe that, for the interviewees, a meaningful job is what provides pleasure, satisfaction, and fulfillment. Regarding work and pregnancy, despite noticing changes in the way of carrying out work activities, women do not consider pregnancy to be an impediment, reinforcing the idea of work as a source of financial security and subsistence. In this way, we identified a shift in the meanings of work that were previously predominantly positive, and, during pregnancy, the strengthening of the instrumental perspective. Perceptions about work and pregnancy corroborate the understanding of the centrality of the phenomena and the reflection on the changes that pregnancy can bring to the worker's life and to the bond with work

Phenomenological considerations on empathy and emotions in psychotherapy.

In this article we will present a phenomenological approach to empathy and its relationship with emotions in the context of psychotherapy, highlighting the importance of empathy as a key element of the therapist-client relationship and therapeutic process, regardless of the therapist's approach. We will use a consensus definition of empathy taken from phenomenologically oriented philosophy to analyze therapist's empathy, as well as client's self-empathy and client's empathic communication with others. We will discuss emotions as they usually manifest in the context of psychotherapy, specifically describing how certain emotions can disturb empathic communication in close personal relationships and how it is possible to reestablish empathic communication in psychotherapy. This article it is not only based on evidence from scientific literature but also incorporates the authors' practical knowledge of psychotherapy.