An exploration of the needs and goals of the health professional and patient in a medical consultation

This Study is the first phase of a three-phase study continuing over three years. Twent)' health professionals from different disciplinary backgrounds (medical doctors, nurses, allied health professionals) and 20 patients across a range of medical condidons, education, gender, and socio-economic backgrounds, pardcipated in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. Participants described their experiences and percepdons of both effecdve and sadsfying medical consultations and dissadsf)'ing and ineffecdve ones. They also discussed their individual goals and needs in the consultation process. Results indicated that while there were some similarides in consultation goals and needs between health professionals, there were also clear differences across the different discipUnes. In addition, there were clear differences in goals and needs across the twenty padents. These findings are discussed within the framework of communicadon accommodadon theor}' (CAT) and the linguisdc model of padent pardcipadon (LMOPP) and focus on understanding the different dynamics that underpin varying health professional and padent interacdons.

The Bioeroding Sponge Aka paratypica, a Modern Tracemaking Analogue for the Paleozoic Ichnogenus Entobia devonica

Many attempts have been made by ichnologists to match bioerosion traces to their respective tracemakers. This task has been considered difficult, especially for fossil samples. The present study demonstrates that the Australian bioeroding sponge Aka paratypica can generate a cavity similar to the ichnospecies Entobia devonica. The modern sponge and its cavity are redescribed and compared to the fossil boring. A. paratypica has white fistules and soft, mucoid endosomal tissue. Spicules are stout oxeas with often telescoped or mucronate tips. Observed borings of A. paratypica are rounded and cavernous, with canals and apertures radiating from the chambers in all directions. It was noted that the internal openings of such canals are covered with porous nodules, which may act as sieves against larger particles or intruding endofauna. No obvious microsculpturing was observed in the erosion scars. A. paratypica borings are analogous to ancient E. devonica borings, which to date were only known from the fossil record.

Contemporary sexism - The relationships among hostility, benevolence, and neosexism

Previous research has examined the relationship between the Modern Sexism Scale (Swim, Aikin, Hall & Hunter, 1995) and the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI; Glick & Fiske, 1996) or the relationship between the Modern Sexism Scale and the Neosexism Scale (Campbell, Schellenberg, & Senn, 1997; Tougas, Brown, Beaten, & Joly, 1995). The present study examined the relationship between the ASI and the Neosexism Scale. Across three samples (N = 907), neosexism was found to be associated primarily with the hostile rather than the benevolent component of ambivalent sexism. Hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, and neosexism were all significantly associated with attitudes toward lesbians' and gay men's rights, and both hostile sexism and neosexism were significantly associated with attitudes toward women's rights. Neosexism and hostile sexism were negatively associated with a humanitarian-egalitarian orientation, whereas benevolent sexism was positively associated with a Protestant-ethic orientation. It is concluded that, although both the Neosexism Scale and ASI measure contemporary sexism, only the Benevolent Sexism subscale of the ASI taps the subjectively positive side of contemporary sexism.

The City as Territory: Aerial Photography and the Everyday

For most of us, the modern city is somewhat unintelligible, both in terms of its structure and its significance. As an urbanised population, the city should be our natural territory, but the pace and scope of its change leads to an illegibility of its form and character. There is infinite, seemingly significant, activity - demolition, building and makeover - but there is little sense of the city as a site of meaning.

The draft genome of Ciona intestinalis: Insights into chordate and vertebrate origins

The first chordates appear in the fossil record at the time of the Cambrian explosion, nearly 550 million years ago. The modern ascidian tadpole represents a plausible approximation to these ancestral chordates. To illuminate the origins of chordate and vertebrates, we generated a draft of the protein-coding portion of the genome of the most studied ascidian, Ciona intestinalis. The Ciona genome contains similar to16,000 protein-coding genes, similar to the number in other invertebrates, but only half that found in vertebrates. Vertebrate gene families are typically found in simplified form in Ciona, suggesting that ascidians contain the basic ancestral complement of genes involved in cell signaling and development. The ascidian genome has also acquired a number of lineage-specific innovations, including a group of genes engaged in cellulose metabolism that are related to those in bacteria and fungi.

The competence of mental health occupational therapists

This research sought to investigate the self-perceived competence of mental health occupational therapists in Queensland. The research is a post-hoc analysis of survey results that formed part of the 1995 Professional Development Strategy for Adult Mental Health Services for the Queensland Health Mental Health Unit. A sample of 55 occupational therapists was compared with other professionals in relation to both general self-efficacy and efficacy in specific competencies. The devised scale for measuring self-efficacy was found to have a high level of internal reliability. The results indicated that the general self-perceived competence of occupational therapists for the whole sample was comparable to that of other professional groups, but that in the community-based sample it was significantly higher than that of social workers or nurses. In addition, occupational therapists in community settings had significantly higher general self-perceived competence than occupational therapists in hospital locations. Greater length of experience in mental health was strongly predictive of higher levels of competence for occupational therapists than for other professionals. The results suggest that occupational therapists have adapted well to the demands of multidisciplinary community practice. The possible reasons for these results, and the implications for competency-based recruitment and training, are presented.

Archetype change in professional organizations: Survey evidence from large law firms

This paper examines the proposition that the traditional archetype of the professional partnership is said to have changed into a more 'business-like' entity, the managed professional business. It broadens the restricted case sample base on which much of the evidence has been adduced, by developing a survey questionnaire through which 197 large British law firms were sampled. Change, consistent with the notion of a more commercially oriented and consciously managed organization, is concentrated in the market-facing area of the firm but coexists with areas of continuity in the governance of the firm and its strategic management. The findings reveal a more managerial form of organization in which the core elements of the traditional form of professional organization have not been transformed. These results contest the assertion of either transformational or sedimented change found in other, case-based research and suggest that archetype change needs theoretically to be distinguished from the general phenomenon of greater managerialism within the professional service firm.