1,047 research outputs found
When does a major outbreak become a Public Health Emergency of International Concern?
The process of determining whether a Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEIC) exists and should be declared has drawn increasing criticism over the past few years with allegations that it is more political than technical. Delaying declaration, where appropriate, means that the opportunity of garnering international solidarity and necessary resources in the early phases of epidemics, when public health measures may be more effective, is lost. A reform agenda aimed at enhancing WHO/Emergency Committee transparency and objectivity for the PHEIC declaration process is required
Rethinking cognitive style in psychology
Bibliography: leaves 240-257.This thesis proposes to answer a single question: do the stylistic features of cognition operate independently of cognitive contents? The question itself has a history, and the way it has been framed, and the types of answers it has attracted have been related to ideological and political interests. Chapter 1 reviews four social psychological theories of the relationship between cognitive style and ideological beliefs - authoritarianism, extremism theory, context theory, and value pluralism theory. It argues that these (empiricist) accounts have been bedeviled by a tension between theoretical universalism and political critique, and have fostered the view that cognitive traits are stable, general, and pervasive properties of individual psychology. Chapter 2 focuses on the construct of intolerance of ambiguity, and shows how - in the manner of Danziger's (1985) "methodological circle" - universalistic assumptions have become incorporated into measurement instruments; and how all evidence of individual variability in cognitive style has been accommodated by interactionist models of personality, leaving the empiricist view intact. Roy Bhaskar's critical realism is used as an alternative to a empiricist psychology, and Michael Billig's rhetorical psychology is used as an alternative to universalistic theories of cognitive style. A measurement procedure is developed which can assess cross-content variability in ambiguity tolerance. Three studies are performed in order to justify a move towards an anti-universalistic conception of cognitive style. Study l evaluates the hypothesized generality of ambiguity tolerance on a sample of university students. Factor analysis and correlational matrices show that ambiguity tolerance toward different authorities is domain specific, and that different factors are related to each other positively, negatively, and orthogonally. Study 2 employs the same sample, and uses polynomial regression analysis to show that the relationship between ambiguity tolerance and ideological conservatism is highly variable across content domain. Study 3 replicates these central findings with another student sample and with different scale contents. The results of all three studies arc contrary to the predictions of the social psychological accounts of cognitive style. They show that expressions of cognitive style are context- and content-dependent, and suggest that the empiricist "thing-like" ontology be replaced with a praxis- and concept-dependent ontology
Racializing teenage pregnancy : ācultureā and ātraditionā in the South African scientific literature
The signifiers, āraceā, ācultureā or āethnicityā are utilized in the teenage pregnancy literature (1) to highlight ādifferencesā in adolescent sexual and reproductive behaviour and (2) as explanatory tools. When āwhiteā teenagers are the focus of research, psychological explanations are usually invoked, while for āblackā teenagers, explanations are socio-cultural in nature. In this paper, we explore how, through a process of racialization, the psycho-medical literature on teenage pregnancy in South Africa contributes to the entrenchment of āraceā, ācultureā and āethnicityā as fixed, ānaturalā signifiers. We utilize Derridaās notion of diffĆ©rance, together with Phoenix and Woollettās adaptation ā ānormalized absence/pathologized presenceā ā to indicate how āblackā people are cast as the Other, the pathologized presence which relies on the normalized absent trace, āwhitenessā, for definition. We analyse how the notions of ātraditionā and ācultureā are deployed to sanitize or disguise the underlying racializing project. āBlackā is exoticized and rendered strange and thus open to scrutiny, monitoring and intervention. āCultureā and ātraditionā appeal to the myth of origin, thus providing pseudo-historical explanations which essentialize and naturalize racialized collectivities.Rhodes Universit
Foucauldian feminism: the implications of governmentality
Foucauldian discourse has been received with varying degrees of enthusiasm within feminist circles. Some authors (e.g. Balbus, 1988; Di Leonardo, 1991; Hartsock, 1990) see a Foucauldian stance as incompatible with feminist theory, while others (e.g. Grimshaw, 1993; Hoy, 1988; McNay, 1992; Sawicki, 1988) advocate a positive relationship between Foucauldian discourse and feminism. And then there are those theorists (e.g. Burman, 1990) who stand between these two positions, stating that while Foucault offers useful insights and methods to feminists, it can also be dangerous
Handling racism in a radio phone-in programme:Telling it like it is
It is widely acknowledged that broadcast programmes are produced to serve the publicās interest. Presenting the programmes in a neutral and objective fashion, and engaging the audience in forming opinions, are common ways of achieving this. However, studies have suggested that there is a departure from these practices when the object of broadcast becomes societal problems such as racism. This case study examines how a presenter responds to a callerās abuse in two live radio shows, and how she sets out a programme - and a new conversation - using her personal experience of racism/xenophobia. Using conversation analysis and discursive psychology, we studied the situated use of language and the actions being brought about. We found that the presenter assesses the callerās abuse by rudeness on the spot, formulating the call as disruptive to an ongoing conversation. On the following day, the presenter revisits, and topicalises, this call as xenophobia and racism. Our analysis revealed that the presenterās shift in evaluating this call is grounded in, and licensed by, her drawing on and cultivating a sympathetic listenership, characterising the call as race-driven, and formulating her personal experience as of publicās concern. Our findings spotlight the presenterās orientation to her moral accountability in talking about racism, and the potential of broadcast in leading conversations on anti-racism
Psycho-medical discourse in South African research on teenage pregnancy
Catriona Macleod and Kevin Durrheim apply a Foucauldian analysis to the scientific literature on teenage pregnancy
Measles elimination - Is it achievable? Lessons from an immunisation coverage survey
Objectives. To detennine routine measles coverage at district level and to explore reasons for immunisation failure in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.Design. An adaptation of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EFl) cluster sampling method was used to make a random selection of 30 clusters in each of 21 health districts, 630 clusters in total.Ā Seven individuals from the age group 12 - 23 months were randomly selected from each cluster and immunisation status and source were transcribed from their child health records. Where no immunisations were administered, reasons provided by parents or guardians were recorded.Setting. Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.Results. The weighted valid population coverage with measles vaccine for children aged 12 - 23 months in Mpumalanga Province was 71.1% (95% confidence interval 64.9 - 78.5%); this was the lowest of all EPI antigens. There was marked heterogeneity in measles coverage across the province, with a coefficientof variation of 22.2%. Districts with the lowest coverage shared borders with neighbouring provinces. District measles coverage was highly positively correlated with diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT3) coverage (r = 0.960, P = 0.000). There was a strong negative correlation between ranked measles campaign coverage and routine measles immunisation coverage. Obstacles to immunisation accountedĀ· for nearly half (49%) of all reasons for immunisation failure, while lack of information and lack of motivation accounted for 30% and 22%, respectively.Conclusions. Survey results highlight the need for supplementary immunisation, including non-selective campaigns, if Mpumalanga is to achieve the South African goal of measles elimination by 2002. The value of determining district resolution coverage in order to identify areas with low measles coverage requiring supplementary intervention was also demonstrated. A strong negative correlation between routine and campaign coverage deserves further study in other settings
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