279 research outputs found
From everyday conversation to political action: Talking austerity in online âthird spacesâ
Taking forward a new agenda for online political deliberation â the study of everyday political talk in non-political, online âthird spacesâ â this article examines the dynamics of political talk across three general interest UK-based online forums. The quantitative analysis found that discussions about austerity were just as likely to emerge from non-political discussions as they were ones that began as âpoliticalâ, demonstrating the links people made between everyday experiences and public policy. Our qualitative analysis represents the first real attempt to analyse political actions within third spaces, with some striking outcomes. Over half of all political discussions led to at least one political action (with significant variation between forums). The findings demonstrate that while such third spaces remain concerned with the preoccupations of everyday life, they can and do perform a role of mobilizing agent towards political participation
Entering The Newsroom:The sociocultural value of âsemi-fictionalâ entertainment and popular communication
Process evaluation of a stepped-care program to prevent depression in primary care: patients' and practice nurses' experiences
Background: Depression is common in patients with diabetes type 2 (DM2) and/or coronary heart disease (CHD), with high personal and societal burden and may even be preventable. Recently, a cluster randomized trial of stepped care to prevent depression among patients with DM2 and/or CHD and subthreshold depression in Dutch primary care (Step-Dep) versus usual care showed no effectiveness. This paper presents its process evaluation, exploring in-depth experiences from a patient and practice nurse perspective to further understand the results. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted. Using a purposive sampling strategy, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 24 participants (15 patients and nine practice nurses). All interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Atlas.ti 5.7.1 software was used for coding and structuring of themes. A thematic analysis of the data was performed. Results: The process evaluation showed, even through a negative trial, that Step-Dep was perceived as valuable by both patients and practice nurses; perceived effectiveness on improving depressive symptoms varied greatly, but most felt that it had been beneficial for patients' well-being. Facilitators were: increased awareness of mental health problems in chronic disease management and improved accessibility and decreased experienced stigma of receiving mental health care. The Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9), used to determine depression severity, functioned as a useful starting point for the conversation on mental health and patients gained more insight into their mental health by regularly filling out the PHQ-9. However, patients and practice nurses did not widely support its use for monitoring depressive symptoms or making treatment decisions. Monitoring mental health was deemed important in chronically ill patients by both patients and practice nurses and was suggested to start at the time of diagnosis of a chronic disease. Appointed barriers were that patients were primarily motivated to participate in scientific research rather than their intrinsic need to improve depressive symptoms. Additionally, various practice nurses preferred offering individually based therapy over pre-determined interventions in a protocolled sequence and somatic practice nurses expressed a lack of competence to recognise and treat mental health problems. Conclusion: This study demonstrates both the benefits and unique demands of programs such as Step-Dep. The appointed facilitators and barriers could guide the development of future studies aiming to prevent depression in similar patient groups
Gender and Media
Gender and media have been topics of academic interest for over half a century.Media
production, content, and consumption have each given rise to vibrant fields of scholarly
research on how to understand themin relation to gender. Specif
Close encounters: ritualizing proximity in the Age of Celebrity. An ethnographic analysis of meet-and-greets with Dutch singer Marco Borsato
Abstract
For many celebrities, organizing meet-and-greets with fans and followers has
become a permanent feature of their public appearances. As yet little is known
about the role and importance of such âunmediatedâ encounters within the everyday
constitution of celebrity culture. Why would fans be interested in the possibility of
direct, personal contact with people they already know from the media? To find an
answer to this question, this article presents ethnographic research into meet-andgreets
with the Dutch artist Marco Borsato. Results show that these meet-and-greets
constitute a meaningful experience for those involved: they validate and enhance
emotional involvement, serve as status symbols within the fan hierarchy and, in
some cases, can fulfil a vital role in personal life narratives of healing
Popularizing Party Journalism in China in the Age of Social Media: The Case of Xinhua News Agency
The phenomenon of the âpopularizationâ of journalism has become widespread in the process of media marketization, globalization and digitalization. This phenomenon has been studied mostly in the Anglo-American context. This article instead draws attention to China, where the tendency toward popularizing (party) journalism is also occurring but taking a rather different form. It focuses on the case of Xinhua News Agencyâthe pioneer as well as the most representative case of traditional party journalism in the country. The article considers to what extent Xinhuaâs online media content concerning the ruling party since 1949âthe Communist Party of Chinaâhas been popularized both in terms of content and style. The changes to online media content made by Xinhua are indicative of the extent to which it is possible to combine the status of a state-owned central news organization with a new journalistic orientation that seeks to make the messages from and about the party more appealing to technology-savvy and entertainment-driven audiences in the new media environment in mainland China
Effectiveness of a stepped-care intervention to prevent major depression in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and/or coronary heart disease and subthreshold depression: A pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial
Purpose
Given the public health significance of poorly treatable co-morbid major depressive disorders (MDD) among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) and coronary heart disease (CHD), we need to investigate whether strategies to prevent the development of major depression could reduce its burden of disease. We therefore evaluated the effectiveness of a stepped-care program for subthreshold depression in comparison with usual care in patients with DM2 and/or CHD.
Methods
A cluster randomized controlled trial, with 27 primary care centers serving as clusters. A total of 236 DM2 and/or CHD patients with subthreshold depression (nine item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score â„ 6, no current MDD according to DSM-IV criteria) were allocated to the intervention group (N = 96) or usual care group (n = 140). The stepped-care program was delivered by trained practice nurses during one year and consisted of four sequential treatment steps: watchful waiting, guided self-help, problem solving treatment and referral to the general practitioner. The primary outcome was the 12-month cumulative incidence of MDD as measured with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Secondary outcomes included severity of depression (measured by PHQ-9) at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months.
Results
Of 236 patients (mean age, 67,5 (SD 10) years; 54.7% men), 210 (89%) completed the MINI at 12 months. The cumulative incidence of MDD was 9 of 89 (10.1%) participants in the intervention group and 12 of 121 (9.9%) participants in the usual care group. We found no statistically significant overall effect of the intervention (OR = 1.21; 95% confidence interval (0.12 to 12.41)) and there were no statistically significant differences in the course or severity of depressive symptoms between the two groups.
Conclusions
This study suggest that Step-Dep was not more effective in preventing MDD than usual care in a primary care population with DM2 and/or CHD and subthreshold depression
What is Donald Trump?:Forms of 'Celebrity' in Celebrity Politics
It is widely assumed that Donald Trump is a âcelebrity politicianâ, and that he has cashed in his success on the reality show The Apprentice to secure political credibility and attention. In this respect he fits what Matthew Wood et al (2016) have labelled the âsuperstar celebrity politicianâ. This characterisation is the latest in a number of refinements to the definition and understanding of the celebrity politician. While this is a helpful move, I want to suggest that it might overlook one key dimension of the phenomenon. Definitions of the celebrity politician tend to focus on the source of their âcelebrityâ â how they became famous, rather than on how they act out their celebrity role. This latter dimension features in media coverage, where journalists and commentators borrow from showbusiness to describe politics, but is less often analysed in the political science literature. It matters because, I want to suggest, celebrity politicians like Trump act as stars, whether of reality television, rock music or film. They do not just resemble stars; they are them. This is evident in how they are represented, how they perform and how their âfansâ respond to them. It is also symptomatic of wider changes in the conduct and form of the contemporary, mediatised political realm
Just like us: everyday celebrity politicians and the pursuit of popularity in an age of anti-politics
In a supposedly âanti-politicalâ age the scholarly literature on celebrity politicians argues that
politicians gain popularity by adopting strategies from within the world of entertainment. This
article offers the findings of a research project that has detected a marked shift in the interplay
between celebrity culture and the presentational strategies adopted by politicians. At the heart
of this shift is an increased focus on the concept of ânormalityâ as politicians increasingly
attempt to shake-off the negative connotations associated with âprofessional politiciansâ and
instead attempt to appear âjust like usâ. As such, this article offers an original approach by
distinguishing between ÂŽsuperstarâ celebrity politicians and âeverydayâ celebrity politicians
before identifying three aspects of each strategy (i.e. media platform, marketing technique, and
performative role). It offers numerous empirical examples that serve to underpin this distinction
before using the example of Boris Johnson as a case study in the attempted shift from âsuperstarâ
to âeverydayâ celebrity. This focus on normality offers a fresh entry-point into the analysis of
contemporary political statecraft while also posing distinctive questions about the tension
between political popularity and credibility in an anti-political age. As such, the approach also
has significant implications for normative ideas about how celebrity can be âdemocratisedâ to
remedy anti-politics
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