A phenomenological investigation into the lived experience of courage for clients in psychological therapy

This research study is a phenomenological exploration into clients’ experiences of courage in psychological therapy. The research aims to develop an in-depth understanding of how clients in psychological therapy experience their courage to understand how courage may be considered in counselling psychology, to then develop therapeutic interventions that support clinical practice. Clients’ perspectives were centralised to highlight the importance of hearing from clients to support therapeutic practice. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and object elicitation, five participants were interviewed twice using semi-structured interviews. The analysis resulted in three superordinate themes. The first, “Falling Apart and Coming Back Together”, explores the issues which brought the participants to therapy which they linked to their experiences of courage. The second theme, “Learning Courage Within Therapy”, demonstrates how the participants discovered and strengthened their courage in therapy, and the significance of the therapeutic relationship on their courage development. Finally, the theme, “Translating Courage from Therapy into Life”, illustrates the ordinary moments when courage from therapy was brought into participants’ everyday lives. The findings suggest that courage is a an implicit, intrapersonal, and interpersonal phenomenon which is subjective to the person experiencing it. This study found that clients can learn and develop their courage in psychological therapy. Thus, clients may benefit from having conversations about their courage to understand how they consider it both inside and outside of therapy. Understanding clients’ courage has applied implications for counselling psychology which supports clinical practice and clients’ wellbeing such as: developing courage to confront and deal with distress; and exploring courage to develop strength-based attributes and to understand personal competences

Aging in Place: Perceptions of Older Adults on Low Income Housing Waitlists

Many American older adults with low incomes wait years for affordable housing or housing assistance. Insight is needed on the concerns of older adults who need to move but cannot. In addition, within the study of aging in place, there is a paucity of research regarding older adults with low incomes. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of aging in place from the perspective of older adults with low incomes, and to understand the process in making the decision to move to agesegregated housing. The purpose incorporated an examination of potential oppressive factors that may have impacted the ability of older adults to live where they choose as they grow older. The frameworks of critical gerontology and the ecological model of aging informed and guided the work of this study. The methodology of this mixed methods study followed an explanatory sequential design. The sample included 45 older adults between the ages of 62 and 89 who are on waitlists for low-income housing communities or housing assistance programs. Sixteen participants completed individual, in-depth interviews, nine of whom also participated in a photo journaling experience. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used. Results reveal that the majority (71%) of the participants decided to move without the assistance of another. Some of the reasons participants needed to move included finding a safer place to live and to be in closer proximity to family or health care providers. The results suggested that this group of older adults considered aging in place a concept that can evolve and that does not necessarily mean staying within the same place. This group of older adults shared that the ideal place to grow older provides access to outside space and is a place that offers a sense of belonging. Participants discussed the need for family and service providers to understand the difficulty of being in a situation of liminality for an extended period of time and of experiencing multiple types of losses. Although half of the participants expressed that oppressive factors did not affect their ability to reside where they choose as older adults, most of this group shared stories of how oppression and discrimination affected their lives. This study sheds light on concerns and challenges older adults with low incomes face when needing to move but are unable to. The findings from this study can inform social workers in developing spaces and policies that support the housing needs of older adults with low incomes. An implication for social work educators includes the incorporation of the multiple types of losses experienced by this group preceding and while awaiting stable housing into curricula. For social work practitioners in low-income housing communities, there is a need to be trained in mediation skills. In regard to policy, social workers can assist in developing task forces and initiatives to address temporary and transitional housing needs for those who must wait for years for available housing. Social workers can also play a role in the research of the use of interventions to address bullying or hostile living environments within public housing

Androgen Receptor Signalling in Prostate Cancer: The Functional Consequences of Acetylation

The androgen receptor (AR) is a ligand activated transcription factor and member of the steroid hormone receptor (SHR) subfamily of nuclear receptors. In the early stages of prostate carcinogenesis, tumour growth is dependent on androgens, and AR directly mediates these effects by modulating gene expression. During transcriptional regulation, the AR recruits numerous cofactors with acetylation-modifying enzymatic activity, the best studied include p300/CBP and the p160/SRC family of coactivators. It is known that recruitment of histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs) is key in fine-tuning responses to androgens and is thus likely to play a role in prostate cancer progression. Further, these proteins can also modify the AR itself. The functional consequences of AR acetylation, the role of modifying enzymes in relation to AR transcriptional response, and prostate cancer will be discussed

The political economy of Brexit and the future of British capitalism first symposium

The political economy of Brexit generates new challenges for the UK’s national business model and for European capitalism more broadly. Two symposia examine the implications of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU in key economic policy areas. These symposia contribute to two main bodies of academic literature: the political economy literature on varieties of capitalism, with a specific focus on the UK, and the political economy literature on key economic policy areas of the EU. This short introduction to the first symposium first outlines the key features of the British variety of capitalism and highlight the main questions raised by Brexit in that respect. It then summarises the main findings of the papers of the first symposium and tease out some common themes

Nosepiece respiration monitor

Comfortable, inexpensive nosepiece respiration monitor produces rapid response signals to most conventional high impedance medical signal conditioners. The monitor measures respiration in a manner that produces a large signal with minimum delay

Wideband (15–260 kHz) acoustic volume backscattering spectra of Northern krill (Meganyctiphanes norvegica) and butterfish (Peprilus triacanthus)

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in ICES Journal of Marine Science 74 (2017): 2249–2261, doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsx050.Measurements of acoustic backscatter made over a wide frequency band have the potential for improved classification relative to traditional narrowband methods, by characterizing more fully the frequency response of scatterers. In January 2014, five wideband transceivers [Simrad EK80 Wideband Transceivers (WBTs)] and split-beam transducers with nominal centre frequencies of 18, 38, 70, 120, and 200 kHz were used to collect acoustic data spanning a nearly continuous 15–260 kHz bandwidth. The acoustic samples were from ca. 2 m below the surface to the seabed in an area along the US continental shelf break. Bottom trawls and zooplankton nets were also used to sample scatterers contributing to selected features of the acoustic backscatter. Measurements of frequency-dependent volume backscattering strength (i.e. volume backscattering spectra) from aggregations of euphausiids (mostly Northern krill, Meganyctiphanes norvegica) clearly resolved the transition from Rayleigh to geometric scattering, consistent with modelled backscatter from the type and length of animals sampled with bongo nets. Volume backscattering spectra from aggregations dominated by butterfish (Peprilus triacanthus) revealed a frequency response that was suggestive of superimposed scattering by soft tissue and bone. Backscatter predicted by Kirchhoff ray mode models of butterfish corresponded to trends in the measured spectra, supporting the assumption that acoustic scattering by butterfish is dominated by soft tissue and vertebrae.NOAA Advanced Sampling Technology Working Group (ASTWG) provided support for this project. GLL was partially supported by NOAA Cooperative Agreements NA09OAR4320129 and NA14OAR4320158 through the NOAA Fisheries Quantitative Ecology and Socioeconomics Training (QUEST) programme