A Preliminary Investigation of Depression in People with Pathological Dissociation

16 pagesDepression is a common and challenging comorbid condition in people with pathological dissociation. To our knowledge, this preliminary study is the first study that has looked at the clinical correlates of depression in a sample of people with pathological dissociation (N = 72). We found that severe depression is common in this sample and that depression is associated with dissociative symptoms, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, borderline personality disorder symptoms and clinical recovery; the level of depression is also associated with both childhood and adulthood betrayal trauma but not with childhood and adulthood trauma with less betrayal. PTSD symptoms are the most significant correlates of the level of depression in this sample. Some clinical implications are discussed. Our initial findings imply that it may be important to manage depression by preventing adulthood betrayal trauma and stabilizing PTSD and dissociative symptoms when working with service users with pathological dissociation. Further studies are needed

The performance of youth voice on the airwaves

This paper uses the case study of a youth-led community radio station, KCC Live, to argue that community radio is not a cure-all solution for disenfranchised and silenced young people. Drawing on 18 months of participant observation at KCC Live and data from in-depth interviews with volunteers, I argue that, owing to institutional constraints by station management; college management; and the regulatory body Ofcom, young people consider the airwaves to be a supervised, as opposed to emancipatory, arena. However, in attempting to combat the restricting nature of the airwaves, young people find new, performative ways to communicate. This paper provides empirical evidence which goes beyond previous simplistic conceptualisations of voice in youth media production and argues that romanticised notions of youth voice preclude performance and creativity. This paper offers an important contribution to children’s geographies in finding that pretend play, characterised by performance, can be considered a ‘life-span activity’

Transcript of a Conversation Between a Customized AI and Human Users

The dataset contains transcripts of conversations between a customized AI and human users, with each utterance represented as an entry. Each entry includes a sequential identifier (Seq), the session interval (Interval), a timestamp (TimeCode), the speaker (Speaker), the conversation text (Contents), an initial progression score (Progression Score), the AI's response (ChatGPT4), any noted discrepancies (discrepancy), and a finalized progression score (Progression_Score_finalized). This dataset is valuable for analyzing human-AI interactions, evaluating the AI's performance, and identifying discrepancies in responses

Young Activists and the Anti-Patriotic Education Movement in Post-Colonial Hong Kong: Some Insights from Twitter

An extraordinary large-scale student movement in Hong Kong successfully forced the government to withdraw a patriotic education proposal in 2012. The student group has attracted serious scrutiny from the pro-government camp because of the students' unusually young age and remarkable mobilising power. This study aims to explore the community structures and identify significant members in the student network, and to shed light on understanding of the formation of young activists' sense of civic identity in the Internet age. Techniques of social network analysis were employed. It is argued that the role of adult activists and the role of social media are inadequately researched in civic education studies. Moreover, it is further argued that the post-colonial city presents a kind of phobia of talking about the adult–student relationship in civic action, which may risk hindering rigorous discussion of youth civic engagement. </jats:p

Teaching about Marginalized Groups Using a Digital Human Library: Lessons Learned

This paper presents lessons learned from a project inspired by digital storytelling and the human library to reduce prejudices against marginalized groups. By comparing the outcomes of similar participants in different settings over the same period, the study explored which types of activities might be pivotal when influencing the perspective-taking attitudes of participants. The study used a case study approach, with data from the digital human library project, and selected participants from three different engagement contexts: participants in group A were involved in reading story abstracts online, having short face-to-face meetings regarding human books, and engaging in editorial activities; participants in group B were involved in extended face-to-face sharing provided by human books, followed by question-and-answer interaction; and participants in group C were involved in the reading of stories online without interaction. Convenience sampling was used and included 250 registered participants who completed pre-test and post-test questionnaires. The study found that merely reading stories online (group C) did not significantly reduce prejudice, and face-to-face contact on its own (group B) was also not the most effective in changing attitudes. Group A participants who combined short face-to-face meetings and story-retelling activities showed the most significant changes in perspective-taking attitudes. These findings imply that dialogic cognitive processes in narrative activities, rather than the mode of contact, may be pivotal in enhancing perspective-taking attitudes. This paper calls for further research into the scalability of digital human library hybrids and more rigorous experimental research designs. It underscores the potential of these interventions to foster more inclusive societies, mitigate social biases, and support equity

ICT-supported social work interventions with youth: A critical review

Summary In youth social work, the trend of using various forms of information and communication technology (ICT) is increasing. However, evidence showing in what ways ICT has enhanced intervention effectiveness is loosely organized. This study conducted a systematic review of ICT-supported social work interventions with youth, targeting peer-reviewed articles in 64 social work journals published between 2000 and 2014. The included studies ( N = 13) were analysed with particular reference to their level of evidence, internal validity and approach to evaluating the role of ICT. Findings All the included studies presented positive outcomes: 54% of them provided level-I evidence (RCTs), 15% provided level-II evidence (case–control trials without randomization) and 31% provided level-III evidence (case reports). All of them were of ‘good’ or ‘fair’ quality in terms of their internal validity. However, there were only three studies which could provide direct evidence indicating that interventions using ICT were more effective than interventions without using ICT. Most of the remainder provided indirect evidence suggesting that the use of ICT might be associated with positive intervention outcomes. Applications These studies provide useful insights that help advance social work knowledge. Yet there is room for improvement in the conceptualization of ICT, and in research designs for evaluating the role of ICT. </jats:sec

Youth Identities and Media Production In The Digital Age : An Eduacational Case Study In Hong Kong

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