Trait emotional intelligence and ecological outcomes: the role of connectedness to nature.

BACKGROUND: Global climate change is recognized as a major and irreversible challenge for humanity, requiring people's responsible and sustainable behaviors toward the environment. So far, the literature has widely investigated the role of cognitive determinants of ecological outcomes (e.g., pro-environmental behaviors and climate change perception), while less attention has been devoted to emotional processes, such as trait emotional intelligence (TEI). The current double study investigates whether TEI is directly and indirectly associated with climate change perception (CCP, Study 1) and pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs, Study 2) among young adults. Furthermore, the mediating role of connectedness to nature (CN), both as cognitive and emotional factors, was also analyzed. We hypothesized that CN (i.e., cognitive mediator) would positively mediate the relationship between TEI and CCP (H1), and Love and Care for Nature (LCN, i.e., emotional mediator) would positively mediate the relationship between TEI and PEBs (H2). METHODS: The study involved 342 young adults (F = 60.7%; age 19-40; Mage=22.99; SD = 2.66) in Study 1 and 365 young adults (F = 71.2%; age 17-35; Mage=22.2; SD = 3.98) in Study 2. Data were collected through an online tool shared by the snowball method. We administered the following self-reports: Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire- Short Form (TEIQue- SF), Global Climate Change (GCC), and Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) (Study 1); Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire- Short Form (TEIQue-SF), General Environmental Behaviors Scale (GEB), and Love and Care for Nature (LCN) (Study 2). RESULTS: Findings from Study 1 showed that higher TEI levels enhance CN (i.e., cognitive mediator), positively influencing CCP (estimate = 0.14; 95% CI = 0.07 to 0.23). Findings from Study 2 showed that higher TEI levels are associated with higher LCN levels (i.e., emotional mediator), influencing people's engagement in PEBs (estimate = 0.7; 95% CI = 0.03 to 0.11). CONCLUSION: It is crucial to design environmental education programs that promote greater emotional intelligence ability and encourage individuals' involvement in ecological outcomes.

Vocation as tragedy: Love and knowledge in the lives of the Mills, the Webers, and the Russells.

Can love affect knowledge and knowledge affect love? John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor-Mill, Max and Marianne Weber, and Bertrand and Dora Russell had a definite vocation: they wanted to change the world. They questioned traditional gender arrangements through publications on equality, marriage, and education. They were liberal thinkers, advocating individual freedom and autonomy, vis à vis the constraints of state and society. Their partnership inspired their work, a living experiment conducted through their own unconventional relationship. Over time, their increasingly radical, avant-garde ideas on marriage complicated the ongoing negotiation over power and intimacy which typified their marriages. Building on the historiography of social science couples, and by means of an analysis of the micro-social dynamics of marriage as documented in the life writings of the Mills, the Webers, and the Russells, I analyse the connections between gender, intimacy, and creativity. These couples' experiences highlight the non-rational dimension of a most rational endeavour.

Love (and) ageing well: A qualitative study of sexual health in the context of ageing well among women aged 50 and over.

BACKGROUND: The United Nations has declared 2021-2030 the 'Decade of Healthy Ageing' and identified the need to strengthen the evidence base on interpretations and determinants of healthy ageing to inform policy. OBJECTIVES: This study sought to interrogate a 'policy blind spot' and examine interpretations and experiences of sexuality and sexual health within the context of ageing well among women aged 50+. DESIGN: The qualitative study design was underpinned by an interpretivist epistemology. Research was guided by principles of feminist scholarship and located in an affirmative ageing framework. METHODS: Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted between April-June 2019 with 21 English-speaking women aged 52-76. Women were recruited through community organizations in North West England. Transcripts were analysed using a framework approach to thematic analysis, applying an inductive approach to theme generation. RESULTS: Narratives encompassed six broad themes: reflections on 'ageing well'; age alone does not define sexuality and sexual health; interpretations of sexual health and sexuality; vulnerability and resistance in later-life sexual health; narratives of (in)visibility; and reimagining services to promote sexual health in later life. There was a dominant belief that sexual health represents a component of ageing well, despite a broad spectrum of sexual expression and health challenges. Sexual expression was diversely shaped by conflicting societal expectations within an evolving digitized environment. In clinical settings, however, sexual health discussions were often muted or framed from a disease-focussed lens. Women expressed a preference for holistic, person-centred sexual health provision from an orientation of wellness to support varied sexual expression, sensitive to wider health, life and relationship realities. CONCLUSION: This work strengthens calls to disentangle sexual health from disease-centred narratives and legitimize sexual health as part of the healthy ageing agenda.

A Psychoneuroimmunological Reading of Jane Austen's Persuasion in the Context of Bodily Aging.

Jane Austen normally avoids discussing appearance throughout her works. Persuasion constitutes the exception to the rule, as the story focuses on the premature aging experienced by her protagonist, Anne Elliot, seemingly due to disappointed love. Much has been written about Anne's "loss of bloom," but never from the perspective of psychoneuroimmunology, the field that researches the interrelation between psychological processes and the nervous and immune systems. In this paper, we adopt a perspective of psychoneuroimmunology to argue that Austen established a connection between psychological distress, specifically lovesickness, and the development of early senescence signs, and vice versa, since the recovery of love is associated with happiness and physical glow. From a gender perspective, we discuss how Austen brightly reflected these interrelationships through the story of Anne, when the latest psychoneuroimmunological research has actually shown that women age earlier than men as a consequence of psychological turmoil.

A Lesbian's Miscarriage: Disengaging Bias and Caring Through Presence and Prayer.

ABSTRACT: In my experience of caring for a lesbian couple suffering a miscarriage, I disengaged my bias about their sexual orientation and compassionately cared for their needs. After praying with the couple, I felt a deep connection with them and a palpable peace. Joy shone on their faces and they verbally expressed gratitude. God used me as a caring presence. Christian nurses are vessels for God's love to bring peace and healing.

The Price of Love: Understanding the Financial and Psychosocial Costs of Caring for Children with Medical Complexities.

Parents of children with medical complexities (CMCs) report significant challenges affecting their financial, emotional and social well-being in relation to caring for their child's medical needs. The Complex Care Navigator Program was designed to provide social, emotional and economic support to parents of CMCs. This paper describes the results and outcomes of the program and the challenges experienced during the evaluation process. Overall, results suggest that the program had a positive impact on the parents' psychosocial functioning and social connections. The results demonstrate the importance of providing early screening, psychosocial intervention and peer support.

The acceptability of Songs of Love for youth living with chronic pain.

OBJECTIVES: Music is helpful to young people in healthcare contexts, but less is known about the acceptability of music-based interventions for youth living at home with chronic pain who may be struggling to attend school and participate in social activities. The Songs of Love (SOL) foundation is a national nonprofit organization that creates free, personalized, original songs for youth facing health challenges. The aims of this study were (1) to assess acceptability of SOL from the perspective of youth with chronic pain receiving a song and singer-songwriters who created the songs, and (2) to explore the role of music more generally in the lives of young people living with pain. METHODS: Twenty-three people participated. Fifteen youth (mean age 16.8) were interviewed and received a song, and six singer-songwriters were interviewed about creating the songs. (Two additional people participated in pilot interviews.) Acceptability was assessed by (1) proportion of youth who participated in a second interview about their song and (2) results of reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) to determine acceptability. Themes addressing the role of music in the lives of youth with pain were also explored using RTA. RESULTS: The program was acceptable as 12 of 15 youth (80 %) participated in second interviews and themes met the definition of acceptability. Three themes addressing the role of music in the lives of youth living with pain were identified. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of the acceptability and experience of SOL and contributes to research on the benefits of music for pain management.

Meditation, Compassionate Love, and Mental Health in Later Life.

PURPOSE: Understanding of the mechanisms by which meditation imparts beneficial effects on later-life mental health is limited. The current study assessed the role of compassionate love in mediating the relationship between meditation and mental health in later life. METHOD: Using data from a nationwide web-based survey (N = 1,861), we examined the indirect effects of meditation on depressive symptoms and anxiety via compassionate love. RESULTS: Participants who practiced meditation (compared to those who did not) had significantly higher feelings of being loved (b = 0.11, p < 0.05); those who experienced more love had lower depressive symptoms (b = -2.10, p < 0.001) and anxiety (b = -0.99, p < 0.001). Meditation also had significant indirect effects (via compassionate love) on depressive symptoms (b = -0.23, p < 0.05) and anxiety (b = -0.11, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study underscores the need for contemplative interventions that foster compassionate love to improve mental health in later life. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 50(3), 40-50.].

Mindfulness-induced self-transcendence promotes universal love with consequent effects on opioid misuse.

In addition to its health benefits, mindfulness has been theorized in classical contemplative frameworks to elicit self-transcendent experiences as a means of promoting universal love and compassion. Increasing feelings of love may be especially clinically relevant for the treatment of opioid misuse, in that addictive use of opioids dysregulates neurobiological processes implicated in the experience of love. Here we tested these hypotheses in a secondary analysis (n = 187) of data from a randomized clinical trial of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) versus supportive psychotherapy for comorbid opioid misuse and chronic pain. At pre- and post-treatment, participants completed a measure of state self-transcendence immediately following a laboratory-based mindfulness task. Through 9-month follow-up, we assessed changes in universal love and opioid misuse. Participants also completed ecological momentary assessments of opioid craving during the 8-week study interventions and for the following month. Compared to supportive psychotherapy, participants in MORE reported significantly greater increases in mindfulness-induced self-transcendence, which mediated the effect of MORE on increased feelings of universal love. In turn, increases in universal love significantly predicted decreased opioid craving and lower odds opioid misuse through 1- and 9-month follow-ups, respectively. Findings suggest mindfulness-induced self-transcendence may promote feelings of universal love, with possible downstream benefits on reducing addictive behavior.

Host-microbial crosstalk relies on "tuft" love.

How commensals influence intestinal immunity is incompletely understood. In this issue of Immunity, Eshleman et al. demonstrate that microbiota-derived butyrate restrains tuft cell development via HDAC3 modulation in intestinal epithelial cells, showing how microbial metabolites impact intestinal type 2 immunity.

Romantic Love is Not Only "Romantic": A Grounded Theory Study on Love in Romantic Relationships.

With romantic love having long been studied with a focus on the romantic component and how it is expressed, little is known about what love is as a feeling in romantic relationships from the recipient's perspective. This study aimed to understand love as a feeling in romantic relationships by analyzing open-ended responses about what makes people feel loved by their romantic partner in a college sample of 462 undergraduates (age: M = 18.93, SD = 2.86; 77.92% female) and a community sample of 75 adults (age: M = 32.36, SD = 16.53; 93.18% female) using grounded theory methodology. Findings indicated that Positive responsiveness (to needs), Authentic connection, and A sense of stability were three core elements of love in romantic relationships. By comparing these three core categories (and their underlying categories and concepts) across both samples and demographic characteristics (i.e., gender, race, and household income), this study also provided preliminary evidence on the generalizability of this three-component framework: (1) all (core) categories were overlapping across two samples, and all concepts generated in the small community sample were a subset of those generated in the large college sample; (2) all categories and core categories were overlapping across gender, race, and household income, with "positive responsiveness" being the most common component across demographics consistently. This three-component framework of romantic love is consistent with love's multifaceted nature, serves as an initial step toward integrating existing theoretical frameworks about love, and, if replicated, would inform relationship-focused interventions.

Cultivating Critical Love to Improve Black Maternal Health Outcomes.

Racism is responsible for the maldistribution of power in society and manifests as persistent disparities in maternal health among Black women in the United States. Testimonial injustice is an expression of prejudice that uses identity to undermine individuals' credibility as authoritative "knowers" of their own bodies, selves, and experiences. Among Black women, experiences of testimonial injustice in health care encounters are common and likely contribute to disparities in Black maternal health. To promote more equitable power distribution and prioritize testimonial justice in clinical encounters, this article proposes a conceptual framework for fostering critical-racial consciousness among health professions students and trainees. The goal is for critical-racial consciousness development and refinement to stimulate antiracist actions in medical decision making and, ultimately, lead to a more equitable health care system in which Black women can thrive.

"He Loves Me Hard and Then He Abuses Me Hard": How Service Providers Define and Explain Trauma Bonds Among Sex Trafficking Survivors.

There is a dearth of research on trauma bonding among victims of sex trafficking. This study aims to fill this gap by seeking to understand how service providers working with survivors of sex trafficking conceptualize and observe trauma bonding in their clients. This qualitative study involved interviews with 10 participants. Purposeful sampling was employed among licensed social workers or counselors. Two themes emerged: defining trauma bonding (with four subthemes: embracing intensity, power imbalance, distortion of love, and inescapability) and the development of trauma bonds (with three subthemes: universality, gendered, and grooming). These findings provide much-needed insight into the complexities of trauma bonding.

"God Loves All Equally and Infinitely": A Mixed Methods Analysis of LGBTQ+ Ally Development Within Religious/Spiritual Contexts.

Within the United States, conservative theological perspectives have exerted influential sociocultural influences toward LGBTQ+ communities, with profound implications toward ally development. Ally development can present its challenges, especially for those in non-affirming religious and/or spiritual (R/S) contexts. We employed a mixed methods approach, utilizing both Enhanced Critical Incident Technique and chi-square tests of independence, focusing on the self-identified incidents that influenced the internal negotiation process of 315 LGBTQ+ allies within R/S contexts. Participants described critical R/S incidents that impacted their ally development, and these incidents fell into four main categories: (1) the influence of religious organizations, leaderships, and congregants, (2) the impact of meaningful relationships, (3) the experience of spiritual or divine shifting events, and (4) meaning making. Additionally, participants identified wish list items represented by four main themes: (1) fostering ally development, (2) taking action, (3) nothing should have changed, and (4) wishing for support broadly. Chi-square tests of independence revealed that R/S incidences were related to specific wish list items.

Treatment of Alec: "History does not have to repeat itself".

Treatment of patients with pathological narcissism presents several challenges and there is paucity of published case reports that document meaningful and durable change in patients suffering from this condition. Using descriptive and atheoretical language, this paper presents a treatment of a young man in his transition from young adulthood to middle adulthood while he was negotiating complex residues of his experiences of growing up along with developmental challenges related to work and love. Against the backdrop of these transitions, the patient was working through various aspects of functioning related to pathological narcissism. Initially, given academic pressures and past romantic disappointments, he was confronting issues related to perfectionism, self-criticism, and avoidance. While he was able to move past some of these dynamics and function academically, later challenges related to becoming an independent adult led to a retreat into an avoidant state of futility and pessimism. Working through painful family dynamics related to not being seen and controlled, along with a deepening attachment in therapy as well as confrontation with realities of his life, led him to take steps toward greater independence. Thereafter, his treatment focused on learning from life experiences such as a newly developed career and romantic life, accepting the complexity of self and others, and tolerating disillusionments.