Inviting the patient to talk about a conversation they had with another healthcare practitioner: A way of promoting discussion about disease progression and end of life in palliative care interactions

Discussing disease progression is a core task in palliative care. This is especially important when there are indications that a patient considers their death as less imminent than the clinical team does. This article examines a communicative action that palliative medicine doctors use to address such discrepancies in knowledge and understanding of the patient’s prognosis: inviting the patient to talk about the contents of a conversation they had with another healthcare practitioner. The study used conversation analysis to examine five consultations in which this action was identified. These were part of a larger data set of 37 consultations recorded in a large UK hospice and involving patients with palliative care needs, sometimes accompanied by family or friends, and palliative medicine doctors. Findings are that the action of inviting the patient to talk about a previous conversation creates an opportunity for patients to articulate what they know and understand about their disease progression—but without requiring them to do so. Discussing such sensitive matters is thus made a matter of ‘opting in’ (rather than ‘opting out’). Doctors thereby avoid being interactionally accountable for directly initiating a potentially distressing topic. The article shows how the task of discussing disease progression and end of life is intertwined with the delicate management of patients’ displayed states of awareness regarding their disease progression. The study thus has practical implications by documenting ways in which clinicians can help patients realign their expectations about such delicate matters

Non-clinical autistic traits, perceived social support and perceived stress: a preliminary study in the general population

Previous research suggests individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) report higher levels of perceived stress compared to individuals without a diagnosis of ASD.  However, there is little research on the relationship between autistic traits and perceived stress, particularly within the general population/non-clinical samples. Research also suggests perceived social support may act as a buffer against perceived stress. However, the relationship between non-clinical/subthreshold autistic traits, perceived social support, and perceived stress has never been investigated. The current study aimed to assess if sub-threshold autistic traits and perceived social support predict perceived stress in the general population additionally if social support is potentially protective against perceived stress in a model alongside non-clinical autistic traits.  A total of 322 participants from 32 different countries completed an online survey of three questionnaires: Perceived Stress Scale; Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire; and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Data were analysed using multiple regression. Results indicated non-clinical autistic traits did predict perceived stress in the general population. However, not all traits acted as predictors, with only rigidity and pragmatic language difficulties predicting perceived stress. Additionally, alongside non-clinical autistic traits, only perceived social support from family negatively predicted perceived stress, indicating this may be the most important source of perceived social support alongside increasing non-clinical autistic traits to protect against perceived stress.</p

A reflection of using an online polling and Q&A platform as a method of engagement in undergraduate psychology lectures

Engaging a large cohort of students with teaching content is a difficult task for any educator working in higher education. When students are not receiving feedback about their participation efforts, this can lead to decreased engagement. Polling activities, such as hands up responses, can be used to address this, but often requires extensive input from the lecturer to set-up by thinking of questions and considering alternatives if students are not comfortable putting their hands up. However, there is now a plethora of online polling platforms (e.g., Vevox, Mentimeter) that can be used anonymously on mobile devices, to overcome these issues. Drawing upon the experiences of two educators within psychology, this paper specifically reflects upon how one of these platforms, Vevox, was implemented within first- and second-year psychology undergraduate modules. Reflections demonstrated that students found the use of Vevox to be a very positive experience; students appreciated the use of different Vevox activities and found that the anonymity afforded by the platform was beneficial in increasing engagement with the activities during teaching sessions. From these reflections, we offer guidance regarding the implementation of online and offline polling platforms.</p

Helping, sharing, and comforting behaviours in primary school children: the effects of year group and well-being on prosocial behaviour

Prosocial behaviours have been shown to be influenced by both age and well-being in the developmental literature, both in terms of home and school environments. The current study aimed to investigate the influences of age and well-being upon prosocial behaviours and whether they are displayed by primary school children in years 1–6, aged 5–11 years. The current research measured sharing, helping, and comforting behaviours as three separate prosocial constructs as previous research identified these as three key types of behaviours. A total of 185 parents were asked to complete two online questionnaires about their child. The Child Prosocial Behaviour Questionnaire was completed to measure the child's prosocial behaviour, and the Personal Wellbeing Index – School Children was completed to evaluate the child's level of well-being. Results showed that both year group and well-being affected the constructs of prosocial behaviour. Children with a higher (more positive) well-being displayed more prosocial behaviours. The older age groups, aged 9–11 years in year groups 5 and 7, displayed more helping, sharing, and comforting behaviours than that of the middle age group consisting of children aged 7–9 in year groups 3 and 4. This was consistent with previous research. Results are discussed in relation to the prosocial behaviour literature and the consideration of parental influences and individual differences relating to the different age groups.</p