Disagreement Gets Mistaken for Bad Listening

It is important for people to feel listened to in professional and personal communications, and yet they can feel unheard even when others have listened well. We propose that this feeling may arise because speakers conflate agreement with listening quality. In 11 studies (N = 3,396 adults), we held constant or manipulated a listener's objective listening behaviors, manipulating only after the conversation whether the listener agreed with the speaker. Across various topics, mediums (e.g., video, chat), and cues of objective listening quality, speakers consistently perceived disagreeing listeners as worse listeners. This effect persisted after controlling for other positive impressions of the listener (e.g., likability). This effect seemed to emerge because speakers believe their views are correct, leading them to infer that a disagreeing listener must not have been listening very well. Indeed, it may be prohibitively difficult for someone to simultaneously convey that they disagree and that they were listening.

The Interaction Effect of Pronunciation and Lexicogrammar on Comprehensibility: A Case of Mandarin-Accented English

Scholars have argued that comprehensibility (i.e., ease of understanding), not nativelike performance, should be prioritized in second language learning, which inspired numerous studies to explore factors affecting comprehensibility. However, most of these studies did not consider potential interaction effects of these factors, resulting in a limited understanding of comprehensibility and less precise implications. This study investigates how pronunciation and lexicogrammar influences the comprehensibility of Mandarin-accented English. A total of 687 listeners were randomly allocated into six groups and rated (a) one baseline and (b) one of six experimental recordings for comprehensibility on a 9-point scale. The baseline recording, a 60 s spontaneous speech by an L1 English speaker with an American accent, was the same across groups. The six 75-s experimental recordings were the same in content but differed in (a) speakers' degree of foreign accent (American, moderate Mandarin, and heavy Mandarin) and (b) lexicogrammar (with errors vs. without errors). The study found that pronunciation and lexicogrammar interacted to influence comprehensibility. That is, whether pronunciation affected comprehensibility depended on speakers' lexicogrammar, and vice versa. The results have implications for theory-building to refine comprehensibility, as well as for pedagogy and testing priorities.

Patient Experiences and Insights on Chronic Ocular Pain: Social Media Listening Study

BACKGROUND

Ocular pain has multifactorial etiologies that affect activities of daily life, psychological well-being, and health-related quality of life (QoL). Chronic ocular surface pain (COSP) is a persistent eye pain symptom lasting for a period longer than 3 months.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this social media listening study was to better understand COSP and related symptoms and identify its perceived causes, comorbidities, and impact on QoL from social media posts.

METHODS

A search from February 2020 to February 2021 was performed on social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and forums) for English-language content posted on the web. Social media platforms that did not provide public access to information or posts were excluded. Social media posts from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States were retrieved using the Social Studio platform-a web-based aggregator tool.

RESULTS

Of the 25,590 posts identified initially, 464 posts about COSP were considered relevant; the majority of conversations (98.3%, n=456) were posted by adults (aged >18 years). Work status was mentioned in 52 conversations. Patients' or caregivers' discussions across social media platforms were centered around the symptoms (61.9%, n=287) and causes (58%, n=269) of ocular pain. Patients mentioned having symptoms associated with COSP, including headache or head pressure, dry or gritty eyes, light sensitivity, etc. Patients posted that their COSP impacts day-to-day activities such as reading, driving, sleeping, and their social, mental, and functional well-being.

CONCLUSIONS

Insights from this study reported patients' experiences, concerns, and the adverse impact on overall QoL. COSP imposes a significant burden on patients, which spans multiple aspects of daily life.

Listening with 'Big Ears': Accountability in cross-cultural music education research with Indigenous partners

In this theoretical article, I examine various conceptions of focused listening-including those held by specific First Nations communities-to determine how each conception might offer insights for listening while conducting cross-cultural music education research. First, I discuss the notion of "Big Ears," as it is understood by the jazz community. Then, I turn to scholars from various First Nations in British Columbia to learn about their conceptions of listening. I outline decolonial listening strategies as proposed by Indigenous Arts scholar Dylan Robinson, before learning about the role of listening from a settler-Canadian who formally Witnessed the testimonies of Indigenous residential school survivors over a period of years while working for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. I examine the writings of music education researchers who have proposed listening as an important strategy in cross-cultural/intercultural pedagogy and research, albeit in different circumstances and for different reasons. Finally, I describe/reflect on my process of learning to listen cross-culturally as a settler-Canadian music education researcher engaged in community-based participatory research (CBPR) over the course of three studies, and list some of the ongoing questions I have. I conclude by proposing a revised understanding of Listening with "Big Ears" as one possible way for non-Indigenous researchers using a CBPR approach to enhance their application of Indigenist research methodology, especially in demonstrating their accountability to Indigenous co-researchers, participants, and communities, as they engage collaboratively in music education research.

Protocol for a Scalable StoryListening Intervention for Grief-Related Loneliness During COVID-19

Background

Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic limited how family, friends, and clinicians physically interacted with people who were dying and decreased communal opportunities for processing grief. These barriers can cause or exacerbate suffering due to loneliness while grieving.

Purpose

In this article, we describe the protocol for a brief storytelling intervention designed to reduce loneliness among families, friends, and clinicians grieving the death of a person during the time of COVID-19.

Methods

We trained four StoryListening doulas (SLDs) to hold a welcoming space and listen to stories with curiosity and openness. The intervention included a video StoryListening session and two brief questionnaires, filled out before and two weeks after the encounter, assessing loneliness and quality of life. During sessions, SLDs invited participants to share their story of loss in their own words and in as much detail as preferred. When participants felt a sense of story completion, SLDs shared validating statements and expressed gratitude to the participant for sharing. The video and audio for each participant's StoryListening encounter were recorded and the participant was offered an audio copy of their session.

[Thadeo, a listening service for caregivers]

Caregivers, like all working people, can encounter difficulties in the course of their professional activities. These difficulties, compounded by the particularities of caregiving practice, can lead to situations of isolation, overwork, exhaustion, disagreement and even ethical dilemmas in complex situations. Thadeo's free listening service offers support to caregivers who need it.

It's a thing:" Mental health counselors' listening exhaustion during COVID-19

Mental health counselors regularly use active listening skills to be present with each client; however, active listening may cause burnout due to high emotional labor, inadequate staffing, excessive workload, and many other issues, each of which contributes to career exits. COVID-19 exacerbated all of these factors, and-adding to already stressful conditions-most mental health professionals were forced to conduct therapy sessions via telehealth. For this study, twenty licensed mental health counselors at various stages of their careers were interviewed during the height of the pandemic to understand their experiences with the technology and other factors related to their workload during that time. Thematic qualitative analysis was used to explore effects of active listening-including requisite adjustments made for virtual therapy sessions-on counselors' emotional exhaustion and burnout levels. Results show how back-to-back, daily therapy sessions increased listening exhaustion levels and that counselors experienced both long-term and short-term listening exhaustion when utilizing telehealth due to lack of nonverbal cues and other related factors pertaining to online delivery. Implications for counselors, social workers, and other mental health professionals are discussed.

[Psychological support for patients in pain]

Whether acute or chronic, pain leads to a reorganization of the subject's psychic functioning, and thus to a different interpretation of his or her own painful experience. To transform the experience, pain must be addressed in all its biopsychosocial components, and through the use of various therapeutic devices, with the hope of overcoming it.

When a bank becomes a bank, and a bank is the bank but not the bank: Multistability of homonyms' meaning

Perceptual multistability is well-known and mostly visually demonstrated: Common examples are Necker's cube or Rubin's face-vase that produce qualitatively different percepts continuously oscillating between the solutions despite physically stable stimuli. We lack knowledge about similar phenomena in other domains, for instance in linguistics, where we are faced with homonyms that create multistability of cognitive semantics, differently assigned meanings of identical words. Our participants listened to repeated presentations of homonyms for which two or even three meanings could be assigned, and they reported the dominant meaning perceived at a certain point in time. Results showed that most participants experienced multistability of meaning for homonyms, with semiperiodic changes in dominant meaning similar to multistabity in perception. These findings suggest that multistability is a general property of the brain's neural architecture that resolves ambiguity irrespective of the level of representation.

Racial and ethnic disparities in the perception of respect from physicians among skin cancer patients in the United States

Background

Racial and ethnic minority groups are at increased risk of poor skin cancer outcomes. Successful patient-physician communication is linked to better health outcomes, but it is unknown whether disparities in perceived care exist among skin cancer patients.

Objective

To investigate whether there are racial and ethnic disparities in the perception of physicians showing respect, listening, and explaining during clinical encounters.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from participants with a self-reported skin cancer history from the 2008 to 2017 and 2019 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Race and ethnicity were self-identified.

Results

Of 5570 participants, 5263 were non-Hispanic White and 307 were racial and ethnic minority individuals. Racial and ethnic minority participants were less likely to report that their doctors show them respect, listen to, and explain to them than non-Hispanic White participants, even when adjusting for age, sex, insurance type, health status, and survey year. Among racial and ethnic minority participants, perceptions of physicians listening and explaining were strongly associated with perceived respect.

Limitations

Lack of disaggregated racial and ethnic subgroup analysis.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest racial and ethnic disparities in perceived care among skin cancer patients. Future research is warranted to determine whether such perceptions contribute to disparities in skin cancer care and/or outcomes.

Patient Religiosity and Desire for Chaplain Services in an Outpatient Primary Care Clinic

Outpatient chaplaincy is a new specialty in healthcare, with a relative paucity of research studies exploring the need for spiritual care interventions in ambulatory settings. Over the past 3 years, our interdisciplinary team at the Duke Outpatient Clinic has piloted the extension of professional spiritual care into this hospital-based resident teaching clinic offering primary care to underserved populations in Durham, NC. In this article, we report the results of a series of surveys that we conducted at the clinic to assess patients' perceptions of chaplain services, understanding of Chaplains' roles, and desire for chaplain services in specific hypothetical scenarios. As part of this survey, we also asked patients about their personal levels of extrinsic and intrinsic religiosity using the well-validated Duke University Religion Index. Our results indicate which chaplain interventions are most desired among this patient population in relation to patients' self-reported religiosity. We hypothesized that only our more religious patients would strongly desire chaplain support for the majority of scenarios presented. We were surprised to find that a majority of our patients-regardless of their own level of religiosity-express desire for support from an outpatient healthcare chaplain when they need a listening ear, are grieving a loss, or are seeking prayer.

Fluctuation in cognitive engagement during listening and reading of erotica and horror stories

The present study examined whether emotional text content influences cognitive engagement and transportation during listening (Experiment 1) and reading (Experiment 2) of neutral, horror and erotic stories. In Experiment 1, fluctuation in arousal and cognitive engagement were measured by continuous arousal judgments and head movement recordings during story listening. Participants rated experienced transportation and emotional valence after each story. The results showed that emotional texts were more arousing and induced more transportation than neutral stories. There was less head motion overall and a steeper decrease in head motion across time for erotic than neutral or horror stories. In Experiment 2, participants' head movements and reading times were recorded during reading, and participants rated experienced transportation, arousal, and valence after each text. The results showed that emotional texts were more arousing and induced higher transportation than neutral stories. There was less head motion during reading of erotic than neutral or horror texts. Horror texts were read slower and recalled better than neutral or erotic texts. The present results show that emotional text content impacts cognitive engagement during listening and reading of literary texts and demonstrates the importance of methodological triangulation when examining cognitive engagement.

Speech processing in voice-hearers: Bridging the gap between empirical research and clinical implications

Individuals who hear voices (i.e. auditory verbal hallucinations) have been reported to exhibit a range of difficulties when listening to and processing the speech of other people. These speech processing challenges are observed even in the absence of hearing voices; however, some appear to be exacerbated during periods of acute symptomology. In this advisory piece, key findings from pertinent empirical research into external speech processing in voice-hearers are presented with the intention of informing healthcare professionals. It is the view that through a better understanding of the speech processing deficits faced by individuals who hear voices, more effective communication with such patients can be had.

A two-stage spectral model for sound texture perception: Synthesis and psychophysics

The natural environment is filled with a variety of auditory events such as wind blowing, water flowing, and fire crackling. It has been suggested that the perception of such textural sounds is based on the statistics of the natural auditory events. Inspired by a recent spectral model for visual texture perception, we propose a model that can describe the perceived sound texture only with the linear spectrum and the energy spectrum. We tested the validity of the model by using synthetic noise sounds that preserve the two-stage amplitude spectra of the original sound. Psychophysical experiment showed that our synthetic noises were perceived as like the original sounds for 120 real-world auditory events. The performance was comparable with the synthetic sounds produced by McDermott-Simoncelli's model which considers various classes of auditory statistics. The results support the notion that the perception of natural sound textures is predictable by the two-stage spectral signals.

Sentence comprehension test for Russian: A tool to assess syntactic competence

Although all healthy adults have advanced syntactic processing abilities in their native language, psycholinguistic studies report extensive variation among them. However, very few tests were developed to assess this variation, presumably, because when adult native speakers focus on syntactic processing, not being distracted by other tasks, they usually reach ceiling performance. We developed a Sentence Comprehension Test for the Russian language aimed to fill this gap. The test captures variation among participants and does not show ceiling effects. The Sentence Comprehension Test includes 60 unambiguous grammatically complex sentences and 40 control sentences that are of the same length, but are syntactically simpler. Every sentence is accompanied by a comprehension question targeting potential syntactic processing problems and interpretation errors associated with them. Grammatically complex sentences were selected on the basis of the previous literature and then tested in a pilot study. As a result, six constructions that trigger the largest number of errors were identified. For these constructions, we also analyzed which ones are associated with the longest word-by-word reading times, question answering times and the highest error rates. These differences point to different sources of syntactic processing difficulties and can be relied upon in subsequent studies. We conducted two experiments to validate the final version of the test. Getting similar results in two independent experiments, as well as in two presentation modes (reading and listening modes are compared in Experiment 2) confirms its reliability. In Experiment 1, we also showed that the results of the test correlate with the scores in the verbal working memory span test.

Understanding Audiobook Apps’ Consumption Values and Their Implications for Promoting Audiobooks in Vietnam

Audiobooks have recently become more prevalent in the publishing industry. Vietnam is a potential market for audiobook companies, and audiobook apps are soaring in popularity in this country. This study examines how consumers perceive audiobook apps’ consumption values, including functional value, social value, emotional value, epistemic value, and conditional value. Data were obtained from 1041 Vietnamese consumers using an online survey method. Results show that conditional value had the highest mean score, followed by epistemic value and emotional value. Notably, consumers hold negative perceptions of audiobook apps’ functional value, especially regarding their reliability and consistency. The findings also suggest that consumers will use audiobook apps more if there are more discounts, promotional benefits, and books available in the apps. This study is the first to explain how consumers perceive the different consumption values of audiobook apps, which have important implications for audiobook companies, publishers and app developers to promote audiobooks.

[Listening to the patient living with HIV]

Our experience within a CHRU on a specific consultation time with patients living with HIV allows us here to testify of a practice of the clinical psychologist. What does listening to our patients teach us?

The Sonic Meanings of the Life and Death of My Disabled Brother: Listening as a Method for Qualitative Research

Long neglected listening is an underdeveloped element in western epistemology in general and in qualitative research in particular. However, recent developments in philosophy, sound art, anthropology, and qualitative research open promising pathways for mastering listening as a method and metaphor of inquiry also in health research, where understanding multiple layers of emotionally challenging experiences is crucial, yet often elusive. Through a sonic analysis of autobiographical data about life, death, and my disabled brother, I will try to demonstrate how paying attention to listening and sounds in research can add evolving layers of meaning to the data gathering and analyzing processes. Ultimately, such an analysis provides insights into a sibling's role as a caregiver by revealing mechanisms of nonconscious emotional coping and also into the acts of a disabled sibling as a teacher of subtle ways of listening.

Addressing Patient-Centered Care Through Mindful Listening and Mentalizing in Psychiatry

This 21st-Century Psychiatrist column reflects the authors' perceptions of the importance of addressing patient-centered care through mindful listening and mentalizing in psychiatry. The authors maintain that adopting a mentalizing stance is a promising approach for clinicians with diverse backgrounds to humanize clinical practice, especially in today's dynamic high-speed, high-paced, and high-technology environment. Mindful listening and mentalizing are particularly consequential for the field of psychiatry since the COVID-19 pandemic prompted an abrupt transition from in-person to virtual platforms for education and clinical care.

[The contribution of the psychologist in the spiritual care of patients and their relatives]

Often ignored, reduced or refuted by caregivers, the patient's spiritual dimension should be fully integrated into the support offered to him. In no way reducible to religion, it relates to what is most profound as a singular being, and as such, the intervention of the psychologist can be particularly helpful.

Listening-Based Communication Ability in Adults With Hearing Loss: A Scoping Review of Existing Measures

Introduction

Hearing loss in adults has a pervasive impact on health and well-being. Its effects on everyday listening and communication can directly influence participation across multiple spheres of life. These impacts, however, remain poorly assessed within clinical settings. Whilst various tests and questionnaires that measure listening and communication abilities are available, there is a lack of consensus about which measures assess the factors that are most relevant to optimising auditory rehabilitation. This study aimed to map current measures used in published studies to evaluate listening skills needed for oral communication in adults with hearing loss.

Methods

A scoping review was conducted using systematic searches in Medline, EMBASE, Web of Science and Google Scholar to retrieve peer-reviewed articles that used one or more linguistic-based measure necessary to oral communication in adults with hearing loss. The range of measures identified and their frequency where charted in relation to auditory hierarchies, linguistic domains, health status domains, and associated neuropsychological and cognitive domains.

Results

9121 articles were identified and 2579 articles that reported on 6714 discrete measures were included for further analysis. The predominant linguistic-based measure reported was word or sentence identification in quiet (65.9%). In contrast, discourse-based measures were used in 2.7% of the articles included. Of the included studies, 36.6% used a self-reported instrument purporting to measures of listening for communication. Consistent with previous studies, a large number of self-reported measures were identified (n = 139), but 60.4% of these measures were used in only one study and 80.7% were cited five times or fewer.

Discussion

Current measures used in published studies to assess listening abilities relevant to oral communication target a narrow set of domains. Concepts of communicative interaction have limited representation in current measurement. The lack of measurement consensus and heterogeneity amongst the assessments limit comparisons across studies. Furthermore, extracted measures rarely consider the broader linguistic, cognitive and interactive elements of communication. Consequently, existing measures may have limited clinical application if assessing the listening-related skills required for communication in daily life, as experienced by adults with hearing loss.

Solution-Focused Coaching to Support Clinicians' Professional Development: An Analysis of Relational Strategies and Co-constructed Outcomes

PURPOSE

To explore solution-focused coaching (SFC) as a means to enhance pediatric rehabilitation practitioners' development of listening skills.

METHODS

Six clinicians each participated in two SFC sessions with an experienced coach who used a practice model developed for pediatric rehabilitation (SFC-peds). The transcribed interviews were analyzed by inductive content analysis to identify the coach's use of relational strategies and the nature of what was being co-constructed in the sessions.

RESULTS

The coach used six relational strategies (e.g., supporting reflective and critical thinking). Through dialogue and reflection, the coach and clinician co-constructed four important outcomes, including shared meaning, awareness and discovery of strengths and values, discovery of strategies and opportunities, and forward movement.

CONCLUSIONS

The study informs our understanding of the relational processes and benefits of SFC conversations. These conversations appear to provide an optimal learning space to enhance professional development, by facilitating the co-creation of meaning, awareness, and intentionality.

Are You Listening to Me? The Negative Link Between Extraversion and Perceived Listening

Extraverts are often characterized as highly social individuals who are highly invested in their interpersonal interactions. We propose that extraverts' interaction partners hold a different view-that extraverts are highly social, but not highly invested. Across six studies (five preregistered; N = 2,456), we find that interaction partners consistently judge more extraverted individuals to be worse listeners than less extraverted individuals. Furthermore, interaction partners assume that extraversion is positively associated with a greater ability to modify one's self-presentation. This behavioral malleability (i.e., the "acting" component of self-monitoring) may account for the unfavorable lay belief that extraverts are not listening.

[Supporting the role of parents in child care]

Child care has a special dimension because it is aimed at a being in the making, whose parents are the foundation. Without them, it makes no sense to consider any kind of support. Several mechanisms are implemented when the caregiver is confronted with the hospitalization of a baby, a child or an adolescent.

Feeling Listened To: A Parsesciencing Inquiry

Feeling listened to as a universal humanuniverse living experience was investigated with the Parsesciencing mode of inquiry. Historians were 10 English-speaking adults between 18 and 65 years old who had been hospitalized, willing to share their experiences of feeling listened to. The inquiry stance was "What is the discerning extant moment of the universal humanuniverse living experience of feeling listened to?" The major discovery of this investigation revealed the discerning extant moment as: Feeling listened to is uplifting recognition amid disconcerting rebuff, as treasured affiliations surfaces with joyful gratification.

Grade-Related Differential Item Functioning in General English Proficiency Test-Kids Listening

Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analysis is always an indispensable methodology for detecting item and test bias in the arena of language testing. This study investigated grade-related DIF in the General English Proficiency Test-Kids (GEPT-Kids) listening section. Quantitative data were test scores collected from 791 test takers (Grade 5 = 398; Grade 6 = 393) from eight Chinese-speaking cities, and qualitative data were expert judgments collected from two primary school English teachers in Guangdong province. Two R packages “difR” and “difNLR” were used to perform five types of DIF analysis (two-parameter item response theory [2PL IRT] based Lord’s chi-square and Raju’s area tests, Mantel-Haenszel [MH], logistic regression [LR], and nonlinear regression [NLR] DIF methods) on the test scores, which altogether identified 16 DIF items. ShinyItemAnalysis package was employed to draw item characteristic curves (ICCs) for the 16 items in RStudio, which presented four different types of DIF effect. Besides, two experts identified reasons or sources for the DIF effect of four items. The study, therefore, may shed some light on the sustainable development of test fairness in the field of language testing: methodologically, a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was adopted to guide further test fairness research using flexible methods to achieve research purposes; practically, the result indicates that DIF analysis does not necessarily imply bias. Instead, it only serves as an alarm that calls test developers’ attention to further examine the appropriateness of test items.

Sexual harassment of religious Jewish nurses by patients and its relation to the ward's listening climate, care avoidance and quality of nursing care

AIM

This study aimed to examine the associations between religious Jewish nurses' exposure to sexual harassment by patients, the ward's listening climate, the quality of nursing care and nurses' avoidance of therapeutic contact with harassing patients.

BACKGROUND

A few studies have examined nurses' exposure to sexual harassment by patients, but this phenomenon has not been studied among religious Jewish nurses.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study of 85 nurses who study at a religious Jewish nursing school. Respondents completed self-administered structured questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis was performed to reveal antecedents of the quality of nursing care provided to sexually harassing patients.

RESULTS

The more religious the nurses, the more they avoided therapeutic contact with harassing patients. The strongest predictor of reported quality of care for harassing patients was the avoidance of therapeutic contact. Forty-two per cent of the variance in reported quality of nursing care was explained by the employment type and by the avoidance of therapeutic contact, which was related to the nurses' level of religiosity.

CONCLUSIONS

Nurses' level of religiosity is related to the quality of care provided to sexually harassing patients.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Nursing leadership must raise awareness of sexual harassment by patients and develop policy and implementation programmes with sensitivity to religious nurses.

Exploring Effective Teacher-Student Interpersonal Interaction Strategies in English as a Foreign Language Listening and Speaking Class

The main purpose of English learning is to communicate and interact in global contexts. However, in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts as in China, most of the students have limited interactional competence in contrast to their grammatical and structural competence. The reason is that Chinese classrooms mostly lack an interactional climate. This calls for an urgent need to develop interpersonal interaction skills by EFL teachers via appropriate strategies. To this end, this article presents an overview of nine interpersonal communication skills/strategies which are pivotal in L2 education. It also describes their definitions and related theories. Moreover, the outcomes of such strategies in aural skills are also explained. Finally, implications, research gaps, and future avenues for research are provided.

Notes on Free-Associative Listening: "I Am Also a Stranger Here"

The unique conditions and characteristics of listening in psychoanalysis are introduced in relation to an effort to define how psychoanalysis proceeds "beyond psychotherapy." Using an example from Freud's self-analysis, the author explores the tenet that every psychoanalytic session is to be treated like a dream. Freud's prescriptions for the method of listening psychoanalytically are critically discussed and the idea of "listening-to-listen" is introduced, as contrasted with listening in order to hear, listening-to-understand or in order to interpret. It is argued that free-associative listening is distinctive as a processive momentum that deconstructively interrogates the practitioner's own mechanisms of suppression and repression. This process fosters an awareness of that which is otherwise than representation, that which cannot be captured within the purview of reflective consciousness. In this sense, healing is not only transformative, but also transmutative, and the psychoanalyst is one for whom nothing is alien and everything is strange.

Feeling Heard: Experiences of Listening (or Not) at Work

Listening has been identified as a key workplace skill, important for ensuring high-quality communication, building relationships, and motivating employees. However, recent research has increasingly suggested that speaker perceptions of good listening do not necessarily align with researcher or listener conceptions of good listening. While many of the benefits of workplace listening rely on employees feeling heard, little is known about what constitutes this subjective perception. To better understand what leaves employees feeling heard or unheard, we conducted 41 interviews with bank employees, who collectively provided 81 stories about listening interactions they had experienced at work. Whereas, prior research has typically characterized listening as something that is perceived through responsive behaviors within conversation, our findings suggest conversational behaviors alone are often insufficient to distinguish between stories of feeling heard vs. feeling unheard. Instead, our interviewees felt heard or unheard only when listeners met their subjective needs and expectations. Sometimes their needs and expectations could be fulfilled through conversation alone, and other times action was required. Notably, what would be categorized objectively as good listening during an initial conversation could be later counteracted by a failure to follow-through in ways expected by the speaker. In concert, these findings contribute to both theory and practice by clarifying how listening behaviors take on meaning from the speakers' perspective and the circumstances under which action is integral to feeling heard. Moreover, they point toward the various ways listeners can engage to help speakers feel heard in critical conversations.

The TIS Methodology: An Approach for Purposeful, Relational Communication

Patients frequently identify communication with nurses as the most important aspect that influences their health-care experience. Nursing education curricula tend to emphasize the preparation of nurses to excel in scientific knowledge, technological expertise, and practical skills. Instruction in communication is often inadequate. While these educational programs may inform learners of what they should do to communicate effectively, they do not tell or show learners how to do it. Failure to develop theoretical instruction in fundamental interactive communication can impair nurses' ability to engage patients in meaningful relationships, and can impact the delivery of patient-centered quality care. The TIS Methodology (Theme, Invitation, Simplicity) is an innovative, systematic approach to purposeful, relational communication. TIS offers an effective way to listen attentively and engage effectively in interpersonal relationships. The primary focus of TIS is the learned ability to listen to what another is saying or meaning, and to respond appropriately. A case study approach is used to illustrate the effective application of the TIS Methodology and to enhance an understanding of TIS principles and standards.

[From Nidcap in neonatology to home support by the PMI nursery nurse]

Prematurity puts children born too early at risk of developmental problems. New care strategies, of which the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care Assessment Program is a part, make it possible to reduce this risk and to accompany the baby in its development by optimising its skills. This specific work, which is based on verified scientific data, can be continued at home by the mother and child protection nurse in a long-term project.

The role of spatial separation of two talkers' auditory stimuli in the listener's memory of running speech: listening effort in a non-noisy conversational setting

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the role of the spatial position of conversing talkers, that is, spatially separated or co-located, in the listener's short-term memory of running speech and listening effort.

DESIGN

In two experiments (between-subject), participants underwent a dual-task paradigm, including a listening (primary) task wherein male and female talkers spoke coherent texts. Talkers were either spatially separated or co-located (within-subject). As a secondary task, visually presented tasks were used. Experiment I involved a number-judgement task, and Experiment II entailed switching between number and letter-judgement task.

STUDY SAMPLE

Twenty-four young adults who reported normal hearing and normal or corrected to normal vision participated in each experiment. They were all students from the RWTH Aachen University.

RESULTS

In both experiments, similar short-term memory performance of running speech was found independently of talkers being spatially separated or co-located. Performance in the secondary tasks, however, differed between these two talkers' auditory stimuli conditions, indicating that spatially separated talkers imposed reduced listening effort compared to their co-location.

CONCLUSION

The findings indicated that auditory-perceptive information, such as the spatial position of talkers, plays a role in higher-level auditory cognition, that is, short-term memory of running speech, even when listening in quiet.

Expressed Symptoms and Attitudes Toward Using Twitter for Health Care Engagement Among Patients With Lupus on Social Media: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study

BACKGROUND

Lupus is a complex autoimmune disease that is difficult to diagnose and treat. It is estimated that at least 5 million Americans have lupus, with more than 16,000 new cases of lupus being reported annually in the United States. Social media provides a platform for patients to find rheumatologists and peers and build awareness of the condition. Researchers have suggested that the social network Twitter may serve as a rich avenue for exploring how patients communicate about their health issues. However, there is a lack of research about the characteristics of lupus patients on Twitter and their attitudes toward using Twitter for engaging them with their health care.

OBJECTIVE

This study has two objectives: (1) to conduct a content analysis of Twitter data published by users (in English) in the United States between September 1, 2017 and October 31, 2018 to identify patients who publicly discuss their lupus condition and to assess their expressed health themes and (2) to conduct a cross-sectional survey among these lupus patients on Twitter to study their attitudes toward using Twitter for engaging them with their health care.

METHODS

This is a mixed methods study that analyzes retrospective Twitter data and conducts a cross-sectional survey among lupus patients on Twitter. We used Symplur Signals, a health care social media analytics platform, to access the Twitter data and analyze user-generated posts that include keywords related to lupus. We will use descriptive statistics to analyze the data and identify the most prevalent topics in the Twitter content among lupus patients. We will further conduct self-report surveys via Twitter by inviting all identified lupus patients who discuss their lupus condition on Twitter. The goal of the survey is to collect data about the characteristics of lupus patients (eg, gender, race/ethnicity, educational level) and their attitudes toward using Twitter for engaging them with their health care.

RESULTS

This study has been funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Science through a Clinical and Translational Science Award. The institutional review board at the University of Southern California (HS-19-00048) approved the study. Data extraction and cleaning are complete. We obtained 47,715 Twitter posts containing terms related to "lupus" from users in the United States published in English between September 1, 2017 and October 31, 2018. We included 40,885 posts in the analysis. Data analysis was completed in Fall 2020.

CONCLUSIONS

The data obtained in this pilot study will shed light on whether Twitter provides a promising data source for garnering health-related attitudes among lupus patients. The data will also help to determine whether Twitter might serve as a potential outreach platform for raising awareness of lupus among patients and implementing related health education interventions.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)

DERR1-10.2196/15716.

Assessment of inference-making in children using comprehension questions and story retelling: Effect of text modality and a story presentation format

BACKGROUND

Reading and listening comprehension are essential for accessing the school curriculum. Inference-making is integral to successful comprehension and involves integrating information between clauses (local coherence) and integrating information with background knowledge (global coherence). We require appropriate methods to assess comprehension and inference-making in order to identify areas of difficulty and provide appropriate support.

AIMS

Typically developing children's ability to generate local and global coherence inferences was assessed. The effect of text modality (reading and listening comprehension) and presentation format (stories presented in segmented and whole story format) was explored using two comprehension measures (question answering and story retell). The main aims were to determine whether there were advantages for reading or listening comprehension and for segmented or whole text presentation.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

Typically developing children in Year 3 (n = 33) and Year 5 (n = 40) either read or listened to short stories. Their ability to generate global and local coherence inferences was assessed in two ways: answers to inference-tapping questions and story retelling (scored for inclusion of necessary inferences). Stories were presented in either a whole format (all questions after the story) or a segmented format (questions asked at specific points during story presentation); the retelling was always after the complete story and questions had been presented.

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

For both comprehension measures, there was developmental progression between age groups and a benefit for the reading modality. Scores were higher for global coherence than local coherence inferences, but the effect was significant only for the question-answering responses, not retells. For retells there was a benefit in presenting the text as a whole compared with the segmented format, but this effect was not present for the comprehension questions. There was a significant interaction between inference type and modality for both comprehension measures (question answering and story retell): for the local coherence inferences scores were significantly greater in the reading compared with the listening modality, but performance on the global coherence inferences did not differ significantly between modalities.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

Clinicians, teachers and other professionals should consider the modality and presentation format for comprehension tasks to utilize areas of strength and support areas of difficulty. Oral presentation may result in poorer comprehension relative to written presentation in general, and may particularly affect local integrative processing. These findings have important implications for the development of appropriate assessments as well as for supporting children with comprehension difficulties. What this paper adds What is already known on the subject Reading and listening comprehension are critical for accessing the school curriculum and educational success. Inference-making is integral to successful comprehension and involves integrating information between clauses (local coherence) as well as integrating information with background knowledge (global coherence). Children have an awareness of the need to generate coherence inferences, but not all children will generate sufficient coherence inferences for adequate comprehension during text presentation. Existing assessment tools measure comprehension by asking questions after story presentation. This provides an overall indication of comprehension or inference-making ability and can identify children with comprehension or language and communication difficulties. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The study compared coherence inference-making in two presentation conditions: whole format (all questions after the story) or segmented format (questions asked at specific points during story presentation). Children (aged 7-10 years) were assessed in the reading or listening modality. Two comprehension measures were used (inference-tapping questions and story retell). There was developmental progression and a benefit for the reading modality for both comprehension measures. Scores were higher for global coherence than local coherence inferences for the comprehension questions. There was a benefit in presenting the text as a whole compared with the segmented format for story retells. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? The results are important for clinicians and other professionals assessing and supporting comprehension skills. The results suggest that the modality and presentation format of comprehension tasks should be considered to utilize areas of strength and support areas of difficulty. The optimum form of input and structure may depend on a child's individual profile and the skill being assessed or supported. Targeted questions may identify a child's potential to generate an inference. This may assist identification of children who may require more targeted or specialist intervention. The reading modality may provide a means of support for development of verbal comprehension.

Boys-Specific Text-Comprehension Enhancement With Dual Visual-Auditory Text Presentation Among 12-14 Years-Old Students

Quality of language comprehension determines performance in all kinds of activities including academics. Processing of words initially develops as auditory, and gradually extends to visual as children learn to read. School failure is highly related to listening and reading comprehension problems. In this study we analyzed sex-differences in comprehension of texts in Spanish (standardized reading test PROLEC-R) in three modalities (visual, auditory, and both simultaneously: dual-modality) presented to 12-14-years old students, native in Spanish. We controlled relevant cognitive variables such as attention (d2), phonological and semantic fluency (FAS) and speed of processing (WISC subtest Coding). Girls' comprehension was similar in the three modalities of presentation, however boys were importantly benefited by dual-modality as compared to boys exposed only to visual or auditory text presentation. With respect to the relation of text comprehension and school performance, students with low grades in Spanish showed low auditory comprehension. Interestingly, visual and dual modalities preserved comprehension levels in these low skilled students. Our results suggest that the use of visual-text support during auditory language presentation could be beneficial for low school performance students, especially boys, and encourage future research to evaluate the implementation in classes of the rapidly developing technology of simultaneous speech transcription, that could be, in addition, beneficial to non-native students, especially those recently incorporated into school or newly arrived in a country from abroad.

Music-Evoked Nostalgia and Wellbeing During the United Kingdom COVID-19 Pandemic: Content, Subjective Effects, and Function

Nostalgic music is defined as that which evokes feelings of nostalgia through reminders of certain periods of life, places or people. Feelings of nostalgia are said to occur during times of hardship and difficult transitionary periods, such as the first COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom in 2020. Here, the reassurance of the past might have held certainty that could sustain a sense of meaning and purpose in life and influence wellbeing. The aims of the presented study were to explore the nature of music-induced nostalgia during the lockdown, by analysing participants' narratives conjured by the music and their emotional responses to them, and to determinethe extent that using nostalgic music listening as an emotion regulation strategy had an impact on wellbeing. Data was collected by means of an online questionnaire, which retrospectively investigated nostalgic music during the lockdown. Participants listened to a self-selected piece of music that they had listened to 3 months prior whichinduced feelings of nostalgia, reported their resulting emotion and the content of memories associated with their nostalgia, and completed a questionnaire rating their experienced effect of nostalgia in relation to their piece of music. Following this, we investigated the functions that nostalgic music tends to have in regulating emotions through means of a pre-validated scale. 570 participants (34% identified as male) were recruited (age years M = 44, SD = 16). Concurrent with existing research, the findings suggest that there are significant differences in the affective and narrative content of nostalgicmusic listening in relation to which emotion regulation strategy was used, and that employing nostalgic music listening as a form of approaching difficult emotions can have a positive impact on wellbeing.

Mechanics of the Peripheral Auditory System: Foundations for Embodied Listening Using Dynamic Systems Theory and the Coupling Devices as a Metaphor

Current approaches to listening are built on standard cognitive science, which considers the brain as the locus of all cognitive activity. This work aims to investigate listening as phenomena occurring within a brain, a body (embodiment), and an environment (situatedness). Drawing on insights from physiology, acoustics, and audiology, this essay presents listening as an interdependent brain-body-environment construct grounded in dynamic systems theory.

Coupling, self-organization, and attractors are the central characteristics of dynamic systems. This article reviews the first of these aspects in order to develop a fuller understanding of how embodied auditory perception occurs. It introduces the mind-body problem before reviewing dynamic systems theory and exploring the notion of coupling in human hearing by way of current and original analogies drawn from engineering. It posits that the current use of the Watt governor device as an analogy for coupling is too simplistic to account for the coupling phenomena in the human ear.

In light of this review of the physiological characteristics of the peripheral auditory system, coupling in hearing appears more variegated than originally thought and accounts for the diversity of perception among individuals, a cause for individual variance in how the mind emerges, which in turn affects academic performance. Understanding the constraints and affordances of the physical ear with regard to incoming sound supports the embodied listening paradigm.

The role of government’s ‘Owned Media’ in fostering cultural inclusion: a case study of the NSW Department of Education’s online and social media during COVID-19

This article examines government approaches to public communications at the time of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, with a focus on how one state government body, namely, the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education in Australia, has engaged with key stakeholders at a time when home–school communications has been heavily impacted by COVID-19. Through analysis of the Department’s ‘owned’ online communications platforms, such as websites, podcasts and social media, the article specifically focuses on how the Department has represented and invited engagement among its culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) stakeholders with a view to understanding the extent to which it has been able to create a sense of connection and belonging for parents and caregivers. It shares examples of positive practice by the Department as well as suggestions for further research that may help uncover best practices for multicultural and multilingual government–stakeholder engagement.

Storytelling as a Teaching Approach for Breastfeeding Education

Providing education on breastfeeding to women and their families can be nuanced as a nurse navigates through identifying their questions, ideas, and knowledge gaps. Storytelling as a teaching method may offer a valuable means of communication between a nurse and the person for whom she is providing care. In this article, we reflect on the concept of storytelling for breastfeeding education via an author-generated approach. Three components are identified for the practice of teaching by storytelling: (a) asking for the person's story, (b) genuinely listening to the story, and (c) responding by storytelling. These three components can be operationalized through a seven-step process that includes welcoming, creating the opening, listening, considering, developing the story, telling the story, and being brave. Storytelling as a teaching modality may facilitate a learner's absorption of information.

Insights From Twitter Conversations on Lupus and Reproductive Health: Protocol for a Content Analysis

Background

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the most common form of lupus. It is a chronic autoimmune disease that predominantly affects women of reproductive age, impacting contraception, fertility, and pregnancy. Although clinic-based studies have contributed to an increased understanding of reproductive health care needs of patients with SLE, misinformation abounds and perspectives on reproductive health issues among patients with lupus remain poorly understood. Social networks such as Twitter may serve as a data source for exploring how lupus patients communicate about their health issues, thus adding a dimension to enrich our understanding of communication regarding reproductive health in this unique patient population.

Objective

The objective of this study is to conduct a content analysis of Twitter data published by users in English in the United States from September 1, 2017, to October 31, 2018, in order to examine people’s perspectives on reproductive health among patients with lupus.

Methods

This study will analyze user-generated posts that include keywords related to lupus and reproductive health from Twitter. To access public Twitter user data, we will use Symplur Signals, a health care social media analytics platform. Text classifiers will be used to identify topics in posts. Posts will be classified manually into the a priori and emergent categories. Based on the information available in a user’s Twitter profile (ie, username, description, and profile image), we will further attempt to characterize the user who generated the post. We will use descriptive statistics to analyze the data and identify the most prevalent topics in the Twitter content among patients with lupus.

Results

This study has been funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) through their Clinical and Translational Science Awards program. The Institutional Review Board at the University of Southern California approved the study (HS-18-00912). Data extraction and cleaning are complete. We obtained 47,715 Twitter posts containing terms related to “lupus” from users in the United States, published in English between September 1, 2017, and October 31, 2018. We will include 40,885 posts in the analysis, which will be completed in fall 2020. This study was supported by funds from the has been funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) through their Clinical and Translational Science Awards program.

Conclusions

The findings from this study will provide pilot data on the use of Twitter among patients with lupus. Our findings will shed light on whether Twitter is a promising data source for learning about reproductive health issues expressed among patients with lupus. The data will also help to determine whether Twitter can serve as a potential outreach platform for raising awareness of lupus and reproductive health and for implementing relevant health interventions.

International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)

DERR1-10.2196/15623

Strengthening risk communication systems for public health emergencies in the WHO South-East Asia Region

Risk communication and community engagement are critical aspects of public health emergency preparedness and response and therefore one of the eight original core capacities of the International Health Regulations (2005). Joint external evaluations in eight out of eleven countries of the World Health Organization South-East Asia Region reveal that there is considerable variation in risk communication capacities among countries. Of the five areas evaluated - risk communication systems, internal and partner coordination, public communication, community engagement and listening, and risky behaviour and misinformation - the strongest areas, across the region, are partner coordination and community engagement, while risk communication systems is the weakest area and needs further strengthening. For strong and sustainable risk communication for public health emergencies in the WHO South East Asia Region, institutionalized capacity-building supported by increased budgetary allocations to this area is needed. There is a strong need for advocacy to and sensitization of key policy-makers and decision-makers at country level regarding the importance and advantages of being prepared on risk communication plans and systems.

[Religious faith in patients in psychiatric care]

The place of the chaplain in psychiatric units is still frequently challenged. Caregivers' mistrust of this person of faith is based on the impact religious words and discourse may have on the patient'sdelirium However, when the chaplainand caregivers cometogether and clarify their approaches, relations improve.The cleric,inhis practicewith patients, lends ahuman ear while taking into accountthe suffering. He is also areceptacle for themetaphysical and religious questions expressed by patients.

["The principle of continuity underlies our action, is the essence of it, in order to drastically limit ruptures, breaks"]

Continuity of care remains a key element in supporting a sick child and his or her family and to achieve a quality work. It can be difficult to maintain, but each member of the team contributes to its implementation. Interview with Marie-Laure Monod Malezieux, paediatric health executive.

The Principle of Inverse Effectiveness in Audiovisual Speech Perception

We assessed how synchronous speech listening and lipreading affects speech recognition in acoustic noise. In simple audiovisual perceptual tasks, inverse effectiveness is often observed, which holds that the weaker the unimodal stimuli, or the poorer their signal-to-noise ratio, the stronger the audiovisual benefit. So far, however, inverse effectiveness has not been demonstrated for complex audiovisual speech stimuli. Here we assess whether this multisensory integration effect can also be observed for the recognizability of spoken words. To that end, we presented audiovisual sentences to 18 native-Dutch normal-hearing participants, who had to identify the spoken words from a finite list. Speech-recognition performance was determined for auditory-only, visual-only (lipreading), and auditory-visual conditions. To modulate acoustic task difficulty, we systematically varied the auditory signal-to-noise ratio. In line with a commonly observed multisensory enhancement on speech recognition, audiovisual words were more easily recognized than auditory-only words (recognition thresholds of -15 and -12 dB, respectively). We here show that the difficulty of recognizing a particular word, either acoustically or visually, determines the occurrence of inverse effectiveness in audiovisual word integration. Thus, words that are better heard or recognized through lipreading, benefit less from bimodal presentation. Audiovisual performance at the lowest acoustic signal-to-noise ratios (45%) fell below the visual recognition rates (60%), reflecting an actual deterioration of lipreading in the presence of excessive acoustic noise. This suggests that the brain may adopt a strategy in which attention has to be divided between listening and lipreading.

The Representation of Semantic Information Across Human Cerebral Cortex During Listening Versus Reading Is Invariant to Stimulus Modality

An integral part of human language is the capacity to extract meaning from spoken and written words, but the precise relationship between brain representations of information perceived by listening versus reading is unclear. Prior neuroimaging studies have shown that semantic information in spoken language is represented in multiple regions in the human cerebral cortex, while amodal semantic information appears to be represented in a few broad brain regions. However, previous studies were too insensitive to determine whether semantic representations were shared at a fine level of detail rather than merely at a coarse scale. We used fMRI to record brain activity in two separate experiments while participants listened to or read several hours of the same narrative stories, and then created voxelwise encoding models to characterize semantic selectivity in each voxel and in each individual participant. We find that semantic tuning during listening and reading are highly correlated in most semantically selective regions of cortex, and models estimated using one modality accurately predict voxel responses in the other modality. These results suggest that the representation of language semantics is independent of the sensory modality through which the semantic information is received.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Humans can comprehend the meaning of words from both spoken and written language. It is therefore important to understand the relationship between the brain representations of spoken or written text. Here, we show that although the representation of semantic information in the human brain is quite complex, the semantic representations evoked by listening versus reading are almost identical. These results suggest that the representation of language semantics is independent of the sensory modality through which the semantic information is received.

Mindfulness and Leadership: Communication as a Behavioral Correlate of Leader Mindfulness and Its Effect on Follower Satisfaction

In recent years, the construct of mindfulness has gained growing attention in psychological research. However, little is known about the effects of mindfulness on interpersonal interactions and social relationships at work. Addressing this gap, the purpose of this study was to investigate the role of mindfulness in leader–follower relationships. Building on prior research, we hypothesize that leaders’ mindfulness is reflected in a specific communication style (“mindfulness in communication”), which is positively related to followers’ satisfaction with their leaders. We used nested survey data from 34 leaders and 98 followers from various organizations and tested mediation hypotheses using hierarchical linear modeling. Our hypotheses were confirmed by our data in that leaders’ self-reported mindfulness showed a positive relationship with several aspects of followers’ satisfaction. This relationship was fully mediated by leaders’ mindfulness in communication as perceived by their followers. Our findings emphasize the potential value of mindfulness in workplace settings. They provide empirical evidence for a positive link between leaders’ dispositional mindfulness and the wellbeing of their followers, indicating that mindfulness is not solely an individual resource but also fosters interpersonal skills. By examining leaders’ mindfulness in communication as an explanatory process, we created additional clarification about how leaders’ mindfulness relates to followers’ perceptions, offering a promising starting point for measuring behavioral correlates of leader mindfulness.