Say you'll be there: Associations between observed verbal responses, friendship quality, and perceptions of support in young adult friendships.

Friendships are a primary source of social support during young adulthood; however, little is known about the factors associated with young adults feeling greater support during interactions with friends. We examined how micro-level verbal responses and macro-level judgments of friendship quality were associated with perceptions of support following an interaction between friends. Same-gender friend dyads (N = 132; 66.2% female; 18-24 years, M age = 19.63) took turns speaking about a problem, then participants rated their perceptions of support given and received following the task. We coded each participant's verbal responses while in the listening role. Actor Partner Interdependence Models (APIMs) revealed significant partner effects for negative engagement responses, such that greater negative engagement responses were linked with the partner perceiving poorer support both given and received. Models revealed significant actor effects for supportive responses, such that greater supportive responses predicted the actor perceiving better support both given and received. Additionally, models revealed significant actor effects of friendship quality predicting actors' perceiving better support both given and received. Finally, exploratory models revealed minimal interactions between a few types of verbal responses and positive friendship quality. Taken together, results suggest that (a) negative verbal responding styles may be more meaningfully associated with partners' perceptions of support in the moment than are supportive behaviours, whereas (b) supportive verbal responding styles may be more meaningfully associated with actors' perceptions of support in the moment, and (c) actors' judgments of friendship quality are strongly associated with their overall perceptions of support, and a critical factor to consider in future research.

Clients and Veterinarians as Partners in Problem Solving during Cancer Management: Implications for Veterinary Education.

This research explores client satisfaction with veterinarian interactions and support during cancer management. Ninety-four members of the online Pet Cancer Support group completed the electronic communication and support questionnaire. Results show that 77% of respondents (n=72) are satisfied with their veterinarian; 71% (n=67) are satisfied with the information their veterinarian provides about treatment options; and 70% percent (n=66) are satisfied with the support they receive from their veterinarian. Strong, positive correlations exist between level of satisfaction and information about treatment options (rs=.795, n=91, p<.001) and between level of satisfaction and support received from the veterinarian (rs=.759, n=90, p<.001). Problem-focused informational support and tangible support dominated clients' descriptions of support and affected their support satisfaction. Emotion-focused support was not as important, and in some cases was not expected of the veterinarian. Results suggested that clients' overall satisfaction with their veterinarian is related to their satisfaction with information about treatment options and satisfaction with the support the veterinarian provides. By providing problem-focused support, veterinarians can empower clients and enhance their sense of control, thus positively affecting satisfaction and the likelihood of a long-lasting relationship. Taken together, these findings have implications for our understanding of veterinarian-client communication related to relationship-centered care and client empowerment, as well as implications for veterinary medical education and communication curricula.

Perspectives of Orthoptists Working with Patients with Communication Impairments.

Aims: To survey orthoptists' confidence in communicating with patients with communication impairments and to investigate resources orthoptists are currently using to aid assessment and management and to explore future resources that may be beneficial. Methods and Procedures: Practicing orthoptists (n = 63; median age range: 31-35 years old) completed an online survey with quantitative and qualitative questions which investigated approaches to adult and paediatric patients with communication impairments and any communication tools used. Analysis of quantitative survey responses was conducted using IBM SPSS v27. Content analysis of qualitative responses was done. Outcomes and Results: Simple communication strategies (e.g., eye contact and body language, repeating/rephrasing sentences) were commonly used with both adult and paediatric patients while more complex strategies (e.g., electronic visual aids, writing key words/concepts) were rarely used. Usage of communication strategies was not affected by length of work experience, workplace clinical speciality or training during their clinical degree or after graduation (p < 0.05). Most participants (71.2%) reported being unaware of resources available for orthoptists to assist in the assessment and management of patients with communication impairments. Conclusions and Implications: Orthoptists have adopted some communication strategies to improve their interactions with patients with communication impairments, despite limited resources. With proper resources, such as training in supportive communication techniques, they can provide optimal patient care, making it essential to identify what kind of resources would be most appropriate.

"Don't Get Your Meat Where You Get Your Bread": Beliefs and Advice about Workplace Romance.

This investigation identified contemporary beliefs about workplace romance and compared how those beliefs have changed since 1986. Different kinds of advice about workplace romance, and how that advice was related to extant beliefs, were also evaluated. A nationwide sample (N = 259) of organizational members with a variety of professional experiences responded to an anonymous online survey. Results indicated that there were three fundamental underlying beliefs about workplace romance: workplace romance is valuable, the right to demand privacy about workplace romance, and anti-workplace romance. Different types of advice-encouraging, warning, gender concern, and silence-were related to these existing beliefs. The substantial associations between beliefs and advice provide evidence for an implicit theory of workplace romance. Personal experience with such relationships was strongly related to the belief that workplace romance is valuable and the right to demand privacy about workplace romance. Additionally, personal experience was also associated with providing advice promoting workplace romance and advocating that employees should remain silent about engaging in such relationships. These results are discussed within the theoretical lens of boundary blending between the work sphere and the private sphere of social life.

The impact of mindfulness training on supportive communication, emotional intelligence, and human caring among nursing students.

PURPOSE: This study was aimed to investigate the impact of mindfulness training on supportive communication and human caring ability among nursing students. DESIGN AND METHODS: Sixty nursing students were randomly divided into the mindfulness group who accepted 8-week mindfulness training and the control group who attended two 2-h lectures about mindfulness in 8 weeks. All of them completed the Supporting Communication Scale (SCS), Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS), and Caring Ability Inventory (CAI) before training (T1), after it (T2), and at 3-month follow-up (T3). FINDINGS: The mindfulness group showed higher scores on SCS, EIS, and CAI than the control group at both T2 and T3, and improvements in emotional intelligence partially mediated the training effects on supportive communication. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Mindfulness training could be applied to improve the abilities of communication and human caring during nursing education.

The effect of corporate social responsibility on trustful relationship, supportive communication intention, and brand loyalty of ethnic halal restaurants.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among CSR activities, brand trust, supportive communication intention, and brand loyalty in a halal restaurant franchise. This study attempts to understand the brand loyalty formation among foreigners visiting a halal ethnic restaurant franchise in South Korea. This study can contribute to the body of empirical evidence showing that CSR activities for different stakeholders can increase brand loyalty mediated by trust. Data were collected from an online survey platform, and visitors were recruited in one of the largest halal franchise restaurants in Korea. This study used a convenience sampling technique, and 225 questionnaires were used for final analysis. Structural equation modeling was likewise used in this research. The results reveal that CSR activities include four constructs: for communities, employees, the environment, and customers. These four dimensions reflect voluntary activities for core stakeholders and are positively associated with enhancement of trustful relationships between customers and restaurants. Among four CSR dimensions, CSR activities to employee are the most influential dimension, followed by CSR to community and to environment. However, the insignificant effect of CSR activities to customers on trust is found. Furthermore, trust positively influences supportive communication intention and brand loyalty. The proposed model of this present study can shed light on how to enhance brand loyalty and sustain trustful and emotional value of an ethnic restaurant franchise. The results can provide important implications for planning CSR engagement from a practical and managerial perspective in the restaurant industry.

Post Traumatic Growth for Gestational Diabetic Patients During COVID-19: Role of Partner Supportive Communication and Family Environment.

PURPOSE: Leading a normal life and managing daily psychological or physical stress is hard for everybody but when a person is diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) during a widespread pandemic, the battle is inescapable. This research aimed to explore some positive dimensions that can lessen the adversities of these women. DESIGN AND METHODS: We assessed all 200 cases of GDM who were registered in the maternity wards of the government and private hospitals of South Punjab, Pakistan. Respondents were diagnosed with GDM during the first wave of COVID-19. Post-traumatic growth (PTG) inventory, Family environment scale, and Partner supportive communication (PSC) scale were used. SEM and moderation analysis was conducted to test the hypothesized relationship among the variables. RESULTS: Result showed that elicitation of thoughts and feelings (ß = 0.109, t-value = 3.501, p = 0.001), effective listening (ß = -0.144, t-value = 1.928, p = 0.054), and communication towards partner (ß = -0.209, t-value = 4.850, p = 0.005) significantly moderated the relationship between family environment and post traumatic growth. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This research is beneficial for health practitioners because the trauma of being diagnosed with such a disease can be alleviated by the role of family environment and PSC.

Emotional communication in home care: A comparison between Norway and Sweden.

OBJECTIVE: Given the free movement of workers across countries, knowledge regarding communication differences between countries is imperative. In this study, we explored and compared the supportive responses of nursing staff to older persons' emotions in home care in Norway and Sweden. METHODS: The study had an observational, cross-sectional, comparative design, which included 383 audio-recorded home-care visits. Communication was coded using Verona Coding Definitions of Emotional Sequences. Worries and responses were categorised with regard to reference, communicative function and level of person-centredness. Standard statistical tests were used to analyse the data. RESULTS: The Swedish nursing staff provided space for further disclosure of worry more frequently than the Norwegian nursing staff (75.0 % versus 60.2 %, χ2 = 20.758, p < 0.01). In all, 65 % of the responses were supportive. Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that highly person-centred responses were independently associated with worries phrasing an emotion, OR (95 % CI) 3.282 (1.524-7.067). CONCLUSION: The level of person-centredness was associated with the way in which older persons expressed their distress. The Swedish nursing staff provided opportunities for further disclosure of worries more frequently than the Norwegian nursing staff. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Findings of intercultural differences should be incorporated into the training of nursing staff.

Cardiovascular assessment of supportive doctor-patient communication using multi-scale and multi-lag analysis of heartbeat dynamics.

Emphatic doctor-patient communication has been associated with improved psycho-physiological well-being involving cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses. Nevertheless, a comprehensive assessment of heartbeat linear and nonlinear dynamics throughout the communication of a life-threatening disease has not been performed yet. To this extent, we studied linear heartbeat dynamics through the extraction of time-frequency domain measurements, as well as heartbeat nonlinear and complex dynamics through novel approaches to compute multi-scale and multi-lag series analyses: namely, the multi-scale distribution entropy and lagged Poincaré plot symbolic analysis. Heart rate variability series were recorded from 54 healthy female subjects who were blind to the aim of the experiment. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups: 27 subjects watched a video where an oncologist discloses the diagnosis of a cancer metastasis to a patient, whereas the remaining 27 watched the same video including four additional supportive comments by the clinician. Considering differences between the beginning and the end of each communication video, results from non-parametric Wilcoxon tests demonstrated that, at a group level, significant differences occurred in heartbeat linear and nonlinear dynamics, with lower complexity during nonsupportive communication. Furthermore, a support vector machine algorithm, validated using a leave-one-subject-out procedure, was able to discern the supportive experience at a single-subject level with an accuracy of 83.33% when nonlinear features were considered, dropping to 51.85% when using standard HRV features only. In conclusion, heartbeat nonlinear and complex dynamics can be a viable tool for the psycho-physiological evaluation of supportive doctor-patient communication. Graphical Abstract Scheme of the three main stages of the study: signal acquisition during doctor-patient communication, ECG signal processing and pattern recognition results.

Telenursing and Nurse-Patient Communication Within Fertility, Inc.

The purpose of this study is to examine patient perceptions of practitioner-patient communication in reproductive endocrinology and infertility (REI) practices. During this study, we uncovered the importance of telenursing for nurse-patient communication during REI treatment. Telenursing, which is defined as the use of wireless technology for out-of-office communication, is the basis for out-of-office communication. We examined participants' conceptualization of supportive and unsupportive communication, through the lens of biomedicalization theory. After conducting 23 interviews, we conclude that telenursing is integral to providing holistic nursing care during treatment at REI practices. We discuss efficient and effective uses of telenursing and patients' positive perceptions telenursing and assess telenursing as both an embrace of and form of resistance to biomedicalization within Fertility, Inc. Theoretical and practical implications are offered, including suggestions for increasing patient access to telenursing while protecting REI nurses from burnout.

Constructing the Elements of the "Recovery in" Model through Positive Assessments during Mental Health Home Visits.

The study provides a categorization of the different elements of the “recovery in” model (RIM). The objective is to analyze elements of RIM in positive assessments during home visit interactions. RIM approaches mental illness as a long-term condition that people live with in their daily lives in their communities. The model emphasizes the rights of all citizens to be full members of their communities regardless of their mental health problems or other difficulties. Positive assessments are professionals’ encouraging evaluations of the activities, situations, or inner conditions expressed by the clients. They are essential in creating supportive professional-client communication. The data analyzed in this study consists of 17 audio-recorded home visits of 10 different clients. Home visits were provided by a mental health floating support service in 2012. The data was analyzed using coding and ethnomethodological interaction research (EIR). As a result RIM is divided into two upper-categories: “Encouraging Doing the Right Thing” and “Encouraging the Right Kind of Personal Growth”. These categories include a wide spectrum of elements that are relevant for the client’s agency in the community. The elements embed the client’s performance in everyday routines and the client’s progress in becoming a skillful, knowledgeable, and involved agent in the community. The categorization of the elements of RIM could be used in educating practitioners to identify and operationalize RIM in mental health home visits.

Improving medical students' knowledge and skill in communicating with people with acquired communication disorders.

PURPOSE: To explore the effects of an interactive workshop on medical students' knowledge and skill in communicating with people with acquired communication disorders. METHOD: Sixty-nine medical students received a lecture on acquired communication disorders. Thirty-six of these students also participated in a workshop where they practised using supportive strategies in interaction with a simulated patient with aphasia. All students completed a questionnaire exploring attitudes, confidence in knowledge and ability to suggest suitable supportive strategies pre- and post-lecture/workshop and 15 students were video recorded when interacting with a simulated patient pre- and post-workshop. RESULT: The results show no change in attitude in either student group, but both groups rated their confidence in knowledge as higher post-lecture/workshop. The students' ability to suggest supportive strategies post training was significantly higher only in the workshop group. Comparing post training results regarding knowledge and ability to suggest supportive strategies between the groups, higher ratings were found for the workshop group. The analysis of video recordings indicated that the students also used new supportive strategies and used strategies more frequently after the workshop. CONCLUSION: An interactive workshop can improve medical students' knowledge and skills in communicating with people with acquired communication disorders.

Understanding text-based persuasion and support tactics of concerned significant others.

The behavior of concerned significant others (CSOs) can have a measurable impact on the health and wellness of individuals attempting to meet behavioral and health goals, and research is needed to better understand the attributes of text-based CSO language when encouraging target significant others (TSOs) to achieve those goals. In an effort to inform the development of interventions for CSOs, this study examined the language content of brief text-based messages generated by CSOs to motivate TSOs to achieve a behavioral goal. CSOs generated brief text-based messages for TSOs for three scenarios: (1) to help TSOs achieve the goal, (2) in the event that the TSO is struggling to meet the goal, and (3) in the event that the TSO has given up on meeting the goal. Results indicate that there was a significant relationship between the tone and compassion of messages generated by CSOs, the CSOs' perceptions of TSO motivation, and their expectation of a grateful or annoyed reaction by the TSO to their feedback or support. Results underscore the importance of attending to patterns in language when CSOs communicate with TSOs about goal achievement or failure, and how certain variables in the CSOs' perceptions of their TSOs affect these characteristics.