Nonhuman treatment reduces helping others: self-dehumanization as a mechanism

Objectification is a daily experience with various negative consequences. In four studies (N = 877), we tested whether and how objectification experience contributes to decreased prosociality. Using correlational designs (Studies 1 and 2), we found that participants' objectification experience negatively predicted their prosocial intention and that self-dehumanization could account for the negative association between objectification and prosocial intention. Next, by manipulating participants' objectification experience, we found the negative effect of objectification on prosocial intention, as well as the mediating role of self-dehumanization (Studies 3 and 4). Additionally, we tested the mediating role of self-dehumanization in comparison with relative deprivation (another potential mediator), and consistently found that self-dehumanization was a stronger mediator in accounting for the effect of objectification on prosocial intention (Studies 1, 2, and 4). Together, our findings support the process of self-dehumanization following objectification and offer new insights into the relationship between objectification and prosociality. The implications and limitations of the research were discussed.

Objectification decreases prosociality: the mediating role of relative deprivation

Objectification denies individuals' personhood and renders them as tools for facilitating others' goal achievement. With two studies (N = 446), the present investigation aimed to contribute to the literature by testing whether and how objectification impacts prosociality, including prosocial intention and prosocial behavior. Study 1, with a correlational design, aimed to test whether participants with greater experience of objectification would report lower levels of prosociality, and to test whether participants' relative deprivation could account for the proposed association between objectification and prosociality. To further test these associations and provide causal evidence, in Study 2, we manipulated objectification by asking participants to imagine future objectification experiences. These studies converged in support of the negative relationship between objectification and prosocial intention, as well as the mediating role of relative deprivation. Regarding prosocial behavior, our findings support a mediating mechanism between objectification and prosocial behavior, although the evidence for the effect of objectification on prosocial behavior is not sufficient. These findings enrich our understanding of the consequences of objectification, while highlighting interpersonal processes' contribution to prosocial intention and behavior. The limitations and potential future directions were discussed.

Defining and characterising the nurse-patient relationship: A concept analysis

The nurse-patient relationship involves complex attitudes and behaviours with ethical and deontological implications. It has been linked to improvements in patient health outcomes, although there is still no consensus in the scientific literature as to the definition and characterisation of the concept. This article aim to define the concept of the nurse-patient relationship. A concept analysis was conducted using the Walker and Avant method to identify the attributes defining the nurse-patient relationship. An integrative review of the literature was conducted using the PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature databases. A review of the grey literature and other minor non-indexed publications on the topic was also conducted. A total of 36 articles were included in the review. A model case, a contrary case, a related case, and empirical references were produced to clarify the concept and identify its essential attributes. The concept is defined as a helping relationship involving interaction between different players. It is the basis of nursing care and is intended to meet the healthcare needs of the individual receiving this care. It is also viewed as an intervention in itself, requiring a specific training process just like any other nursing skill. The essential attributes of the relationship are empathy, presence, contact, authenticity, trust, and reciprocity. In conclusion, the nurse-patient relationship is a helping relationship established with the patient and/or their family based on interaction, communication, respect for ethical values, acceptance, and empathy in order to encourage introspection and behavioural change. Key components include communication, active listening, and respect. Bioethical values and confidentiality must also be present to ensure that the relationship is built on equality and intimacy.

The Effectiveness of Intervening on Social Isolation to Reduce Mortality during Heat Waves in Aged Population: A Retrospective Ecological Study

BACKGROUND

Heat waves are correlated with increased mortality in the aged population. Social isolation is known as a vulnerability factor. This study aims at evaluating the correlation between an intervention to reduce social isolation and the increase in mortality in the population over 80 during heat waves.

METHODS

This study adopted a retrospective ecologic design. We compared the excess mortality rate (EMR) in the over-80 population during heat waves in urban areas of Rome (Italy) where a program to reduce social isolation was implemented, to others where it was not implemented. We measured the mortality of the summer periods from 2015 to 2019 compared with 2014 (a year without heat waves). Winter mortality, cadastral income, and the proportion of people over 90 were included in the multivariate Poisson regression.

RESULTS

The EMR in the intervention and controls was 2.70% and 3.81%, respectively. The rate ratio was 0.70 (c.i. 0.54-0.92, p-value 0.01). The incidence rate ratio (IRR) of the interventions, with respect to the controls, was 0.76 (c.i. 0.59-0.98). After adjusting for other variables, the IRR was 0.44 (c.i. 0.32-0.60).

CONCLUSIONS

Reducing social isolation could limit the impact of heat waves on the mortality of the elderly population.

A new conceptualization of the nurse-patient relationship construct as caring interaction

The journey through the history of nursing, and its philosophical and political influences of the moment, contextualizes the interest that arose about the nurse-patient relationship after World War II. The concept has always been defined as a relationship but, from a phenomenological approach based on a historical, philosophical, psychological and sociological cosmology, it is possible to re-conceptualize it as 'caring interaction'. Under the vision of aesthetics and sociopoetics, the object of nursing care is the most delicate, vulnerable and unrepeatable raw material: the person, whose feelings and reciprocity, which must be considered. In addition, it involves the adoption of the socio-critical paradigm, as it considers the importance of actively involving the person, not just patient anymore, or their family in the nursing cares, optimizing the reciprocity inherent to this interactivity. In short, our philosophical and epistemological approach to the concept of nurse-patient relationship proposes a new conceptualization of it as a caring interaction.

Dynamic association between interpersonal functioning and positive symptom dimensions of psychosis over time: a longitudinal study of healthy adolescents

BACKGROUND

Cross-sectional studies have indicated that alterations in social functioning, particularly interpersonal functioning, are associated with the occurrence of psychotic symptoms and experiences at different levels of the extended psychosis phenotype (ranging from population psychometric expression of liability to overt psychotic disorder). However, more research is needed on the development of this association over time.

METHODS

Cross-lagged path modeling was used to analyze bidirectional, longitudinal associations between 4 dimensions of subclinical psychotic experiences (persecutory ideation, bizarre experiences, perceptual abnormalities, and magical thinking) and interpersonal functioning in an adolescent general population sample (N = 881 at T1, N = 652 at T2, and N = 512 at T3) assessed 3 times in 3 years.

RESULTS

All symptom dimensions showed some association with interpersonal functioning over time, but only bizarre experiences and persecutory ideation were consistently and longitudinally associated with interpersonal functioning. Poorer interpersonal functioning predicted higher levels of bizarre experiences and persecutory ideation at later measurement points (both T1 to T2 and T2 to T3).

CONCLUSIONS

Poor interpersonal functioning in adolescence may reflect the earliest expression of neurodevelopmental alterations preceding expression of psychotic experiences in a symptom-specific fashion.