{"title":"Examining spirituality and intrinsic religious orientation as a means of coping with exam anxiety","authors":"B. McMahon, Herbert C. Biggs","doi":"10.3402/vgi.v3i0.14918","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3402/vgi.v3i0.14918","url":null,"abstract":"Spirituality and religiosity have traditionally had a troubled relationship with psychology. However, a new field of study has emerged that is examining the health benefits of spirituality and religion. The current study examined the relationship between spirituality, religiosity and coping among a group of university students facing exams. Participants completed the Spiritual Well-Being Scale, Age Universal Religious Orientation Scale, Spiritual Transcendence Scale, Brief COPE, Test Anxiety Inventory, and State Trait Anxiety Inventory. Regression analyses found that existential well-being as measured by the Spiritual Well Being Scale was the best predictor of reduced anxiety. Maladaptive coping, however, was found to be inversely related to spirituality and religiosity, but highly predictive of elevated anxiety in this sample. Strengths and limitations of this study along with recommendations for further research are made.","PeriodicalId":356239,"journal":{"name":"Vulnerable Groups & Inclusion","volume":"75 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134101979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
E. Mpofu, Carol J. Stevens, H. Biggs, Eboneé T. Johnson
{"title":"Socio-structural influences on the work participation of refugees: an exploratory systematic mixed studies review","authors":"E. Mpofu, Carol J. Stevens, H. Biggs, Eboneé T. Johnson","doi":"10.3402/vgi.v3i0.16066","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3402/vgi.v3i0.16066","url":null,"abstract":"This systematic mixed studies review aimed at synthesizing evidence from studies related to the influences on the work participation of people with refugee status (PWRS). The review focused on the role of proximal socio-structural barriers on work participation by PWRS while foregrounding related distal, intermediate, proximal, and meta-systemic influences. For the systematic search of the literature, we focused on databases that addressed work, well-being, and social policy in refugee populations, including, Medline, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Web of Science, Scopus, and Sociological Abstracts. Of the studies reviewed, 16 of 39 met the inclusion criteria and were retained for the final analysis. We performed a narrative synthesis of the evidence on barriers to work participation by PWRS, interlinking clusters of barriers potent to their effects on work participation. Findings from the narrative synthesis suggest that proximal factors, those at point of entry to the labor market, influence work participation more directly than distal or intermediate factors. Distal and intermediate factors achieve their effects on work participation by PWRS primarily through meta-systemic interlinkages, including host–country documentation and refugee administration provisions.","PeriodicalId":356239,"journal":{"name":"Vulnerable Groups & Inclusion","volume":"47 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114979023","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Holmström, N. Olofsson, L. Kristiansen, K. Asplund
{"title":"Health among 6-year-old children in a Swedish county: based on the Health Dialogue","authors":"M. Holmström, N. Olofsson, L. Kristiansen, K. Asplund","doi":"10.3402/vgi.v3i0.8416","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3402/vgi.v3i0.8416","url":null,"abstract":"Aim To explore the experiences of self-reported health (SRH) of 6-year-old boys and girls. Background The goals for the Swedish School Health Services (SHS) are to identify health problems, take measures to prevent illness, and promote health. One approach used to achieve this is the use of the Health Dialogue (HD) questionnaire. The HD is offered at three occasions during compulsory school and once in high school; it follows the child's development and growth from 6 to 16 years old. Methods The HD is a structured questionnaire consisting of 15 questions related to health, each phrased in a positive manner. The HD represents a cross-sectional image of the child's SRH according to the child and parents. The SRH in this study is based on the results from the 5259 HD questionnaires conducted during 2006–2009 with 6-year-old children and parents. OR were analyzed for the HD. Results Experiencing comfortableness in preschool, good sleep, absence of severe headaches, being physical active/play every day, and not being a victim for bullying shows to be important preschool indicators for boys and girls. Discussion The most important health variable tagging in the preschool children's positive SRH was comfortableness in preschool. Both boys and girls need to feel comfortable in preschool to report a positive SRH in school. The girls seem to be more dependent on comfortableness, being physical active, and not being bullied while the boys need to have lunch in school every day and not to show symptoms like severe headaches. Conclusion The most important health variable tagging the preschool children's SRH is comfortableness in school. The HD can increase the knowledge of 6-year-old children's SRH and also be a tool to gain further insight into children's health by highlighting patterns in children's SRH.","PeriodicalId":356239,"journal":{"name":"Vulnerable Groups & Inclusion","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133678589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aleksandra Bartoszko, Per Koren Solvang, H. Hanisch
{"title":"“It did not come with Hitler and did not die with Hitler.” The uses of the Holocaust by disability activists in Norway","authors":"Aleksandra Bartoszko, Per Koren Solvang, H. Hanisch","doi":"10.3402/vgi.v3i0.17177","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3402/vgi.v3i0.17177","url":null,"abstract":"When discussing present issues, vulnerable groups often compare such issues to historical atrocities, thereby injecting histories of vulnerability and oppression into contemporary debate. In 2006, the Norwegian health authorities introduced a program for registration of information about the level of functioning and the care needs of care receivers in the municipal service system, where mostly disabled people and elderly people were registered. The project triggered strong protests. The central charges were that such registration was humiliating, violated the subject's integrity, and reduced human beings to their biological (dys)functions. At one point, the protesters related the registration program to the story of the Holocaust, evoking the historical fact that registration of deviation was fundamental to the “euthanasia” killings in Nazi Germany. Numerous scholarly works discuss the legitimacy of such comparisons, but none discusses how the agents in debates think about their own use of such comparisons. In this article, we describe how the disability activists and health professionals who participated in the controversy understood, framed, and legitimated the rhetorical use of the Holocaust. Referring to Bauman's normality perspective, we try to understand the logic behind the evoking of the Holocaust in debates on the situation of vulnerable groups in general. This case serves for discussion on the communication strategies (and possibilities) of minority movements within their historical and cultural legacy.","PeriodicalId":356239,"journal":{"name":"Vulnerable Groups & Inclusion","volume":"132 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115057815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jalal Safipour, D. Schopflocher, Gina M. A. Higginbottom, A. Emami
{"title":"The mediating role of alienation in self-reported health among Swedish adolescents","authors":"Jalal Safipour, D. Schopflocher, Gina M. A. Higginbottom, A. Emami","doi":"10.3402/vgi.v2i0.5805","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3402/vgi.v2i0.5805","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between a sense of alienation and self reported health. A sample consisting of a total of 446 high school students aged 15–19 (Mean age = 16.95, SD = 1.01, Female = 59%), with a participation rate of 91%. The Jessor and Jessor alienation scale and the Nottingham Health Profile for self reported health were used to gather data. To analyze the relationship between sense of alienation and self reported health, a path model was created and tested using structural equation modeling. The results suggest that sense of alienation is importantly related to the domain of self-reported health. The alienation variable mediates between mental health (energy level, sleep and emotional reaction) and physical health (pain pain and physical mobility).","PeriodicalId":356239,"journal":{"name":"Vulnerable Groups & Inclusion","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123958189","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Review of Claes G. Olsson: Omsorg och kontroll – en handikapphistorisk studie 1750–1930 [Care and control – an analysis of the history of disability] Umeå 2010","authors":"Stig Larsson","doi":"10.3402/VGI.V2I0.7321","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3402/VGI.V2I0.7321","url":null,"abstract":"It is relatively seldom that historical research studies on disability are presented in a PhD thesis. As such, it can be interesting for a wider readership to be aware that some studies can be found in languages other than English. At the Department for Culture and Media Studies at Umea° University, Claes G. Olsson defended his thesis on an historical analysis of disability, beginning with the 1700s and ending with the first decades of the 20th century. Using broader historical strokes, one could say that the thesis takes as its point of departure the period of enlightenment and ends just before the powers of darkness, in the form of Nazism, left their mark on the 20th century. (Published: 14 June 2011) Citation: Vulnerable Groups & Inclusion. DOI: 10.3402/vgi.v2i0.7321","PeriodicalId":356239,"journal":{"name":"Vulnerable Groups & Inclusion","volume":"469 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123727877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Pushing forward the research agenda through shifting our scientific gaze","authors":"B. Landstad, M. Hedlund","doi":"10.3402/VGI.V1I0.5773","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3402/VGI.V1I0.5773","url":null,"abstract":"Vulnerable Groups & Inclusion is a new international, peer-reviewed Open Access journal that we have started on our own initiative together with Co-Action Publishing. The journal received seed money from the North Trondelag University College (HINT), Norway and the Mid Sweden University (Mittuniversitetet), Sweden, both of which encourage and financially support national and bilateral cooperation programs. (Published: 1 December 2010) Citation: Vulnerable Groups & Inclusion, Vol. 1 , 2010: 5773 - DOI: 10.3402/vgi.v1i0.5773","PeriodicalId":356239,"journal":{"name":"Vulnerable Groups & Inclusion","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129534521","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}