Cognitive aspects of childhood asthma

Research was undertaken to improve our knowledge about children’s awareness of respiratory sensations, beliefs about asthma of children with asthma and their parents, the nature and extent of childhood asthma sufferers’ psychological difficulties, and parents’ and children’s reasons for achieving good control of asthma. Recognition and accurate reporting of respiratory sensations have implications for asthma management. Illness beliefs explain differences in adaptation to chronic disease. Childhood asthma is situated within a family context. Asthma severity and the source of information may explain differences in reports of children’s psychological well-being. Low adherence with treatment recommendations has been reported, and chronic disease can influence quality of life. Participants were recruited from a hospital asthma database, primary care patient lists, and through state primary schools. The interviews involved physically healthy children, children with asthma, and the parents of children with asthma. Qualitative and quantitative methods involved the use of storyboards, semi- structured interviews, and questionnaires. The main arguments are that, (i) social interaction, in the context of childhood asthma, is a determinant of children’s sophisticated descriptions of respiratory sensations, (ii) children’s understanding of the different aspects of asthma is determined by their personal salience, and the necessity of acquiring strategies to resolve asthma-related difficulties, (iii) concordance in the beliefs of parents and their child about the child’s asthma is associated with less conflict about the child’s disease and disease-related situations, and the quality of family life mediates the relationship between belief concordance and the child’s psychological well-being, and (iv) participants’ reasons for achieving good control of asthma reflect the aspects of their lives that are most affected by asthma. It was concluded that the personal salience of different aspects of childhood asthma may encourage an awareness of symptoms, prompt discussion of internal states, foster concordance in beliefs, and motivate adherence with treatment recommendations

The need for an industry by industry approach to the study of African Trade Unionism: with particular reference to the Witwatersrand in the 1930's and 1940's

Paper presented at the Wits History Workshop: The Witwatersrand; Labour, Townships and Patterns of Protest, 197

Nussbaum: A Utilitarian Critique

This Essay offers a utilitarian perspective on Martha Nussbaum\u27s theory of justice. Nussbaum believes that society should guarantee to every individual a threshold level of central human capabilities. Although Nussbaum\u27s approach has considerable appeal, it is implausible and unappealing when it diverges greatly from utilitarianism. Nussbaum\u27s theory sequires that enormous sums of money be devoted to people who receive very little benefit from efforts to raise them toward a capability threshold. Moreover, Nussbaum refitses to take a principled position on how conflicts among below-threshold interests should be resolved, even when one alternative would produce enormously more good than another alternative. Nussbaum mitigates these problems through an implicit incorporation of utilitarianism to address conflicts among below-threshold interests, but this partial adoption of utilitarianism cannot completely cure her theory. In addition to critiquing Nussbaum\u27s theory, this Essay responds to some of Nussbaum\u27s criticisms of utilitarianism. It rejects Nussbaum\u27s claim that utilitarianism is wrong to give weight to adaptive preferences. It also demonstrates that Nussbaum misstates the relationship between her theory and the doctrine of incommensurability: features of her theory that she attributes to a denial of commensurability actually reflect a commitment to commensurability across the capability threshold

The Domestic Violence Clause in New Originalist Theory

In this brief essay, I address the way in which new originalists Jack Balkin and Lawrence Solum use the Domestic Violence Clause in Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution to support their theories. Balkin uses the Domestic Violence Clause to provide an example of an impermissible departure from original meaning: Surely, he claims, it would be wrong to interpret the constitutional term domestic violence as referring to spousal abuse. Solum uses the same example to support his thesis that the semantic meaning of the Constitution is fixed at the time of origin. In fact, the constitutional term domestic violence could evolve so that an application of the Domestic Violence Clause to spousal abuse no longer seems absurd. Reflection on this possibility yields some insights about originalism and original expected applications