An exploration of how gender, political affiliation, or religious identity is associated with comfort and perceptions of controversial topics in bioethics

How does an evolution instructor revealing as Christian or non-religious affect biology undergraduate students and their perceptions of the instructor?

There is emerging evidence that Christian undergraduates can be stigmatized in undergraduate biology classrooms. This stigma seems to stem from the secular culture of biology and may be affected by instructor identity as most biology instructors are non-religious, but no studies have examined the impact of instructors revealing that they are religious. We used social identity theory to guide an investigation of student perceptions of an instructor candidate-for-hire revealing a Christian identity while teaching evolution. Students were randomly assigned to watch one of two lecture videos that differed only in whether the instructor actor revealed as Christian or non-religious. Students were then surveyed about their perceptions of the instructor's decision to reveal. We found that when students' Christian or non-religious identity aligned with the Christian or non-religious identity of the instructor, students perceived that the instructor revealing increased how approachable and inclusive she seemed. Identity alignment increased Christian and non-religious students' sense of belonging in the scientific community, but identity misalignment reduced belonging for some Christian students viewing a non-religious instructor and had no impact for most non-religious students viewing a Christian instructor. Many students, especially those whose identities aligned with the instructor, reported that the instructor revealing her identity normalized their perception of that identity in science. When an instructor revealed as Christian, most students did not feel as though their perceptions of instructor competence were affected, but many students thought the non-religious instructor's decision to reveal made her seem more competent. Our findings add to our understanding of how student-instructor identity alignment can affect the experiences of college students.

Voluntary-assisted dying, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide: global perspectives-systematic review

BACKGROUND

Discussions about euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (EAS) involve various stakeholders, including patients, healthcare professionals and the general public. This review examines perspectives across different population subgroups to contribute to a broader understanding of EAS attitudes.

METHODS

A systematic review of literature published prior to July 2023 with quantitative data about EAS views was undertaken. Details extracted from eligible papers included data year, geography, demographic features of population subgroups and levels of support for EAS under various circumstances. Proportions in support for EAS were calculated based on these factors. Meta-analyses were conducted to estimate changes in the proportion of support for euthanasia dependent on the presence or absence of pain or terminal illness in patients.

RESULTS

The search identified 521 relevant studies. There were 1863 relevant survey questions with 1 945 945 individual responses, spanning years 1936 to 2023.478 studies explored whether EAS should be allowed, 134 examined clinician willingness to practise EAS and 78 investigated which persons might seek EAS. Clinician views were surveyed in 266 studies, public opinion in 139 and patient beliefs in 54.Support for EAS across studies and subpopulations varied widely. Mean support for EAS was lower in doctors than in the general public (25% compared with 55%). Support varied depending on access criteria to EAS with 54% support for patients in pain vs 36% for those without and 53% for terminally ill patients vs 29% for those without a terminal illness. Public support for EAS was lower in religious people, females, older people and African Americans.

CONCLUSIONS

Support for EAS varies widely across studies, with numerous demographic and situational factors associated with differing levels of support. This indicates a complex interplay of elements is involved in the formation of EAS beliefs. Understanding these factors is valuable for facilitating meaningful discussions among clinicians and the community and informing policy debates and decisions.

How to Integrate Neuroethics into a Neuroscience Course - And Drive Student Engagement with Core Concepts

Students are thinking about ethical, moral, and societal implications of science-as individuals and communities- regardless of whether these topics are part of formal curricula. Ethical questions can arise from broad neuroscientific questions (What is consciousness?), emerging topics (e.g., synthetic biological intelligence), neurotechnologies (e.g., human brain organoids), and respective intersections (Could brain organoids be intelligent or conscious?). As a field of scholarship, the ethics of brain science, or 'neuroethics', can help students to situate what they are learning in the classroom within a broader socio-philosophical context that advances critical and ethical reasoning toward future neuroscience research or technologies. I will argue that neuroethics can also enhance student situational interest and cognitive engagement with core neuroscientific concepts that align with core learning objectives. Yet faculty face challenges when incorporating neuroethics topics into courses, which may include, but are not limited to i) lack of disciplinary expertise, ii) time or resource constraints within courses, or iii) the perceived lack of value in formally including ethics instructional content in courses focused on core concepts in neuroscience education. This Opinion article aims to demonstrate how these challenges can be overcome. I describe how the Value Reappraisal Model can be used as a process theory to guide integration of neuroethics into neuroscience curricula. My autoethnographic account of developing and teaching a new course provides a case study for faculty who are interested in creating curricular opportunities for students to engage with ethical issues by fostering deeper learning and appreciation of core concepts in neuroscience.

Perspectives from Undergraduate Life Sciences Faculty: Are We Equipped to Effectively Accommodate Students With Disabilities in Our Classrooms?

Higher education has evolved in ways that may increase the challenges life science faculty face in providing accommodations for students with disabilities. Guided by Expectancy-Value Theory, we interviewed 34 life sciences faculty instructors from institutions nationwide to explore faculty motivation to create disability-inclusive educational experiences. We found that faculty in our sample perceive that providing most standard accommodations is a manageable but often challenging task. Further, faculty in our sample feel that improving accommodations necessitates additional support from their institutions. Most faculty had high attainment value for providing accommodations, in that they strongly believed that supporting students with disabilities is the fair and right thing to do. However, faculty did not perceive much utility value or intrinsic value in their task of providing accommodations, and most reported that providing accommodations can be a substantial burden on faculty. These findings imply that current approaches to providing inclusive educational experiences for students with disabilities rely primarily on the personal belief that providing accommodations is the right thing to do, which likely results in a flawed and inequitable system given that not all faculty equally share this conviction.

Ideological distrust: re-understanding the debate on state ideology, normalization of state-religion relationship, and legal system in Indonesia

This study intends to explain the phenomenon of ideological distrust among Indonesian students, the normalization of state-religion relations, and their evaluation of religious law in the national legal system. This study used primary data obtained from a 6-month online survey. It concludes that ideological distrust among students does not correlate with the political track records and capacity of state actors, instead, it correlates with the evaluation of religious norms that these students adhere to. The improvement in the performance quality of public institutions is not capable to reduce the distrust among students toward the state ideology. Meanwhile, Muslim students deem that the normalization of state-religion relations in Indonesia is necessary since the two are not in a harmonious condition and the current legal system still ignores religious norms.