The scientist center stage.

While rehearsing for a performance for London's Science Museum, I ask how scientists and theater artists might collaborate to produce theater that serves the science as much as the art.

Vicarious punishment of moral violations in naturalistic drama narratives predicts cortical synchronization.

Punishment of moral norm violators is instrumental for human cooperation. Yet, social and affective neuroscience research has primarily focused on second- and third-party norm enforcement, neglecting the neural architecture underlying observed (vicarious) punishment of moral wrongdoers. We used naturalistic television drama as a sampling space for observing outcomes of morally-relevant behaviors to assess how individuals cognitively process dynamically evolving moral actions and their consequences. Drawing on Affective Disposition Theory, we derived hypotheses linking character morality with viewers' neural processing of characters' rewards and punishments. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine neural responses of 28 female participants while free-viewing 15 short story summary video clips of episodes from a popular US television soap opera. Each summary included a complete narrative structure, fully crossing main character behaviors (moral/immoral) and the consequences (reward/punishment) characters faced for their actions. Narrative engagement was examined via intersubject correlation and representational similarity analysis. Highest cortical synchronization in 9 specifically selected regions previously implicated in processing moral information was observed when characters who act immorally are punished for their actions with participants' empathy as an important moderator. The results advance our understanding of the moral brain and the role of normative considerations and character outcomes in viewers' engagement with popular narratives.

Verbatim theatre as a creative approach to health professions education research translation.

CONTEXT: Traditionally, the impact and outcomes from health professions education research (HPER) have focused on academic outputs, whereas in the humanities, research translation is conceptualised more broadly and creatively, including research-based performances like verbatim theatre. Translating HPER findings through the emotive and embodied nature of a verbatim theatre performance provides a unique opportunity to translate research data and create alternative learning spaces for rich and valuable insights that aligns with transformative pedagogy. APPROACH: In this paper, we describe the background of verbatim theatre, a form of performance, which draws on a research participants' testimony and lived experience and how we used this creative approach to translate HPER findings. We discuss the experiential process of bringing an interdisciplinary team together, health professions academics and an academic playwright to craft a verbatim theatre script that provided space to honour the breadth, depth and diversity of participant voices from a large (n = 100) qualitative research study exploring professionalism and sociocultural factors in health professions education (HPE). Furthermore, we discuss the powerful potential of drawing on research-based performance to create alternative, safe and non-threatening learning spaces to resonate with and experience HPER in new and transformative ways. Finally, we offer reflexive insights on the key opportunities and challenges we encountered in translating HPER into a verbatim theatre performance. CONCLUSIONS: Verbatim theatre presents an innovative and creative way to communicate and translate HPER. This paper offers research and pedagogical insights in translating research into verbatim theatre to support transformative pedagogy and practice in HPE. In conclusion, we encourage other health professions researchers to consider this dynamic and creative approach to transforming HPE.

"I have learned that nothing is given for free": an exploratory qualitative evaluation of a social norms edutainment intervention broadcast on local radio to prevent age-disparate transactional sex in Kigoma, Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: Promising evidence supports the effectiveness of edutainment interventions in shifting norms to prevent violence against women and girls and other harmful practices, yet further research into mechanisms and pathways of impact is needed to inform intervention development, delivery and scale-up. This exploratory qualitative evaluation examined the feasibility and indications of change in attitudes, beliefs, norms and behaviours following the broadcast of a radio drama aired to prevent age-disparate transactional sex in Kigoma, Tanzania. METHODS: Over seven weeks, six episodes were broadcast on local radio weekly, between November and December 2021 in Kigoma, targeting adolescent girls (aged 13-15 years) and their caregivers. Reflection sessions were conducted twice a week with 70 girls across seven schools, supplemented by after-school Girls' Club listening sessions for a subgroup of 30 girls. We conducted seven before and after focus group discussions, five with girls (n = 50), one with men caregivers (n = 9) and one with women caregivers (n = 9) and analysed them using thematic and framework analysis approaches. RESULTS: Overall, we found that while girls exhibited significant engagement with the drama, caregiver participation, particularly among men, was low. Thus, no clear changes were detected in men. We did not find any differences in impact based on listening sessions' attendance vs. home listening. We detected positive changes among girls and women in four thematic areas after listening to the drama: (1) participant's increasingly challenged perceptions about what kinds of girls and men take part in age-disparate transactional sex, what can be exchanged, and men's motivations for engaging; (2) there was a shift from attributing blame for age-disparate transactional sex relationships from girls to men; (3) girl's reported increased agency and confidence to avoid age-disparate transactional sex relationships; and (4) we found a heightened sense of responsibility and recognition for the role of parents, peers and community members in preventing age-disparate transactional sex. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the need for further implementation research to explore ways to effectively engage men. They also underscore the potential of engaging, evidence-based edutainment interventions in fostering spontaneous critical reflection about complex behaviours such as age-disparate transactional sex, and diffusing key messages among target populations without the use of organised diffusion activities.

Empowering students to create their dramatizations increases understanding of physiology.

Complex subjects such as physiology can be challenging for students to learn. These challenges are not uncommon in implementing the learning process in physiology and affect learning outcomes. Dramatization is an interactive and effective method to improve learning outcomes. In a project designed by senior medical students, junior medical students were guided in creating dramatizations related to three topics. Senior students were trained and assisted to prepare scenarios and make videos. The dramatizations were then carried out with junior medical students to help them better understand physiology and pathophysiology topics. A group of junior students receiving the same topics in a lecture format served as a control group. Pretest and posttest questionnaires were used to measure the improvement of learning outcomes. Assessment results showed an increase in performance in both groups. This study shows that dramatizations provide an effective alternative to lectures for instructing junior medical students.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The preparation of dramatizations involved students. The ideas, analogies, and dramatizations were originally from students. Dramatization is an alternative form of understanding learning objectives of medical physiology in an interesting way to increase motivation.

The effect of drama on psychosocial problems and emotional states of hospitalized children with cancer.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Hospitalization is a traumatic experience for children. Especially in the case of childhood cancers that require long-term hospitalization, children need psychosocial support. The study aimed to examine the effectiveness of drama in reducing psychosocial problems in hospitalized paediatric children diagnosed with cancer. METHODS: The study used a mixed method approach, combining both qualitative and quantitative methods with a single group. Drama sessions prepared according to the Tasks and Skills Model were used to support their psychosocial conditions. The Facial Expression Form, The Assessment Scale for Psychosocial Symptoms in Hospitalized Children, and the Drawing and Writing Technique were used before and after the drama sessions. RESULTS: This study differs from others in its use of drama intervention to reduce psychosocial problems in children undergoing cancer treatment. As a result of the study, it was found that there was a decrease in anxiety, hopelessness, anger-aggression and communication difficulties among psychosocial problems and a change in mood towards feeling happy. The study suggests that drama sessions were effective in relieving emotional distress in paediatric cancer patients. CONCLUSION: The study suggests that drama sessions were effective in relieving emotional distress in paediatric cancer patients. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Applying drama to children undergoing long-term hospital treatment can help alleviate psychosocial problems by reducing stress, emotional suppression, and compensating for trauma.

I'm Great! I'm no good .: A case illustration of drama therapeutic work with a male offender of domestic violence in a forensic outpatient setting.

Treating perpetrators of aggressive behavior, like verbal aggression, intimidation, and bullying behavior resulting in aggressive incidents with others, is difficult. This group is often diagnosed with personality disorders and when legal measures applied, they are more often treated in a forensic setting for their problems. This article presents the case of a 54-year-old man, diagnosed with Borderline personality disorder, narcissistic and antisocial traits, mild depressive symptoms, and loss and grief, who has voluntarily had treatment in a forensic outpatient center to reduce aggression and change destructive patterns in relationships. Hating, judging, and self-defeating were the main reasons why the patient found himself ending up in the same situation repeatedly. The client received individual drama therapy sessions. The drama therapeutic approach included schema therapeutic elements, such as schema mode work with cards, as well as roleplay, imagery (with rescripting), improvisation, and psycho drama elements. As a result of drama therapy, the client reported less (active) aggression, less aggression in his relationships (partners/children/friends), but also an increased level of loneliness, and mild depressive symptoms. The client was more in touch with his vulnerability and was able to behave in a more adequate healthy way in relationships. Although self-esteem was still building up, there was a decrease of aggression and less conflict-seeking behavior as a result. Risk assessment tools (FARE-2 & HONOS) and Schema therapy scales (YSQ and SMI) were used pre- and posttreatment confirming the improvements. This case promotes the use of dramatherapy in forensic outpatient care to be valuable in lowering risk recidivism and changing deeply rooted behavioral patterns.

The effect of creative drama education given to nursing students on mental health literacy levels: A randomized controlled study.

AIM: The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of education provided to nursing students on MHL levels. METHODS: The study had a randomized pre-test post-test parallel control group design. Fifty-six (n = 56) first-year nursing students. In this study, CONSORT flow diagram was applied. The data collection forms consist of a personal information form and Mental Health Literacy Scale. In the statistical analysis Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and Mann-Whitney U test were used. RESULTS: Creative drama education was found to be significantly more effective than classroom education in increasing scores on the mental health literacy scale, including sub-dimensions for awareness of mental disorders, ability to access information, and stigma in nursing students (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Classroom education and creative drama are effective in changing mental health literacy scales. It is recommended to spread the use of creative drama, which is one of the artistic and interactive educational techniques in nursing education.

Eugenics and genetic screening in television medical dramas.

Medical dramas offer unique insights into the way popular media makes sense of genetic technology and the ethics of its applications. In this paper we evaluate the contrasting depictions in television medical dramas of reproductive genetic screening and eugenics-two medical themes that some commentators see as closely related. By conducting a content analysis of 32 episodes of doctor shows featuring eugenic and/or genetic screening themes, we put the medical drama landscape in conversation with bioethics scholarship and mark a significant divergence between the two. While the academic literature has been parsing the possible relationship between genetic screening and eugenics for over 50 years, doctor shows tend to champion genetic screening as a powerful tool for promoting individual reproductive choice and criticise eugenics as a socially unjust infringement of reproductive freedom. In doing so, medical dramas mark a subtle but important moral distinction between the population-level implications of eugenics and the highly personal, emotional impact of genetic screening.

The big heroine genre: motherhood and the maternal body in postsocialist Chinese television.

This article explores the feminist social critique in the 'big heroine' drama, a newly emerged genre of television that focuses on empowering yet dramatic stories of urban women in contemporary China. The article theorises the genre as a site of ongoing contestations to inform and critique women's maternal reality in neoliberal, pronatalist China. The big heroine genre is situated in the postsocialist structure of feeling defined by alienation and precarity, responding to China's need to stabilise the emerging population crisis and labour shortage. Using a popular instance within the genre, Left Right (2022), as a case study, the article argues that the show validates the legitimacy of women's anxieties and challenges in maternity and then invites viewers to engage in a multifaceted analysis of the intricate web of structural injustices women experience in pregnancy, childbirth, the postpartum and having a second child. By doing so, it not only resonates with viewers' yearning for recognition and empathy but also stimulates a broader discourse on new and persisting maternal challenges in pronatalist China. I conclude that the genre's contradictory and contingent nature mirrors the complexities of the Chinese party-state's attempt to navigate the ideological instability surrounding maternity and motherhood. The genre is progressive in its alternative imagination of kinship and care networks for women navigating the moral, medical, and cultural dilemmas of the maternal body and motherhood in the moment of the state's transitioning into a more aggressive form of pronatalism.

Marcel Réja and theatre therapy.

We report on the play entitled Le Pain quotidien (The daily bread) by Marcel Réja (1873-1957), a French alienist and historian of art in asylums. He also wrote short plays, although he is less well known as a playwright. The plays were printed just in time for the performance, which often took place on the day of the asylum fair. Here, we discuss a one-act play consisting of four scenes in which the actors are his patients.

Viewer Reactions to EVALI Storylines on Popular Medical Dramas: A Thematic Analysis of Twitter Messages.

Previous research has found an association between awareness of e-cigarette, or vaping, product-use associated lung injury (EVALI) and lower intention to use e-cigarettes among young people. This study utilized Twitter data to evaluate if the January 2020 depiction of EVALI on New Amsterdam, Chicago Med, and Grey's Anatomy-three popular primetime medical dramas-could be a potential innovative avenue to raise awareness of EVALI. We obtained tweets containing e-cigarette-related search strings from 1/21/2020 to 02/18/2020 and filtered these with storyline-specific keywords, resulting in 1,493 tweets for qualitative coding by two trained human coders. Content codes were informed by prior research, theories of narrative influence, and e-cigarette related outcomes. Of 641 (42.9%) relevant tweets, the most frequent content codes were perceived realism (n = 292, 45.6%) and negative response (n = 264, 41.2%). A common theme among these tweets was that storylines were unrealistic because none of the characters with EVALI used THC-containing products. Approximately 12% of tweets (n = 78) mentioned e-cigarette knowledge and 28 (4.4%) mentioned behavior, including quitting e-cigarettes because of viewing the storylines. Implications for health communication research utilizing social media data and maximizing the achievement of positive health-related outcomes for storylines depicting current health topics are discussed.

"Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise"-Incorporating uncertainty in risk analysis from Shakespeare to today.

"Modest doubt is call'd the beacon of the wise."-William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida. Although the character Hector warns his fellow Trojans with this line not to engage in war against the Greeks, Shakespeare's works are replete with characters who do not incorporate modest doubt, or any consideration of uncertainty, in their risk decisions. Perhaps Shakespeare was simply a keen observer of human nature. Although risk science has developed tremendously over the last five decades (and scientific inquiry over five centuries), the human mind still frequently defaults to conviction about certain beliefs, absent sufficient scientific evidence-which has effects not just on individual lives, but on policy decisions that affect many. This perspective provides background on the Shakespearean quote in its literary and historical context. Then, as this quote is the theme of the 2023 Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting, we describe how "modest doubt"-incorporating the notion of uncertainty into risk analysis for individual and policy decisions-is still the "beacon of the wise" today.

This Is Us: An Analysis of Mediated Family Communication at End-of-Life.

Death is a ubiquitous theme in television dramas and we argued that mediated depictions of end-of-life experiences have the potential to provide glimpses into the ways in which characters experience real-life issues and can serve as conversation starters within family viewers. The study aimed to identify how a popular television drama, This is Us, depicted end-of-life communication. Analysis of season one revealed 54 conversations about end-of-life, two explicit death scenes, and three implied death scenes. Results also illustrate how the storyline within the show clearly depicts the impact end-of-life has on the family system, emphasizing the ongoing interdependence, hierarchy, and boundary (re)negotiation as a result of death. Findings advance understanding of how mediated narratives can illustrate end-of-life scenarios and conversations within the family system and can provide observational opportunities for modeling end-of-life communication behaviors within their families.

Drama, Intrigue, and Discussion: The Role of Telenovelas in Facilitating Conversations about Reproductive Health in Mexican Households.

This study examines the role of an entertainment-education intervention in informing Mexican adolescents and parents about sexual and reproductive health-related discussion and information-seeking. A survey of young adult (N = 491) and parent (N = 223) viewers of the Spanish-language program Vencer el Miedo assessed the influence of exposure to the telenovela's storylines regarding these issues. Heavy viewing of the program predicted adolescent information-seeking about contraceptives via three distinct channels. Additionally, some effects were recorded for parent viewers, and parent-child co-viewing emerged as a significant moderator of communication about one reproductive health topic. Overall, these findings suggest that entertainment-education programs tailored to Mexican culture and the experiences of Mexican families can bring about attitudinal and behavioral changes across the age spectrum, an outcome that is particularly important given the relatively low rates of contraceptive knowledge and use among adolescents across the country.

A Pilot Remote Drama Therapy Program Using the Co-active Therapeutic Theater Model in People with Serious Mental Illness.

The impact of drama therapy on mental health recovery remains poorly understood. We examined the effects of a pilot remote drama therapy program for community members living with serious mental illness. The entire intervention was delivered remotely. Participants with serious mental illness completed a 12-week drama therapy program which included an online performance open to the public. Four quantitative scales were administered pre- and post-program. A focus group was conducted 1 week after the performance. Six participants completed the program and crafted a public performance themed around hope. No significant differences were identified in the quantitative measures. Five themes were identified in the post-performance focus group. Drama therapy presents an opportunity for individuals with serious mental illness to process and share their journeys with their diagnoses and re-create a healthy sense of self with increased community awareness.

Characterization of Bipolar Disorder in Anton Chekhov's The Black Monk.

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a famous Russian author and physician known for his dramas and short stories. Many of his works also address mental health problems. Here, the present paper is investigating his novella The Black Monk that was published in 1894. Its main protagonist, Kovrin, likely suffered from bipolar disorder as he exhibited elevated mood, grandiosity, lack of sleep, and delusions. His symptoms are analyzed based on current DSM-5 criteria, and he appears to meet diagnostic criteria for bipolar I disorder. Chekhov himself suffered from a mood disorder, but we speculate that he himself exhibited some bipolar symptoms. Those were likely an inspiration for when he wrote The Black Monk.

Relationship of Musculoskeletal Symptoms and Musical Practice Intensity among Musicians During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Descriptive Questionnaire Study.

INTRODUCTION: As soon as COVID-19 spread around the world, prevention and control measures were taken, such as masking and physical distancing, which changed people's routines, including musical practice among professional and amateur musicians. OBJECTIVE: This descriptive questionnaire study was designed to: 1) investigate how the pandemic affected musical practice among musicians; 2) determine how musicians remained motivated in their new routine; 3) identify the presence of pre-COVID musculoskeletal symptoms; and 4) analyze whether musculoskeletal symptoms decreased, maintained, or increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A total of 89 musicians from Brazil participated in an online survey, from August 2020 to January 2021. The survey form included questions about motivation, musical practice frequency, and the presence and characterization of musculoskeletal symptoms (adapted from the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, NMQ). Musicians were asked to consider the periods before and during the pandemic to answer the questions. RESULTS: During the pandemic, the frequency of musical practice decreased (p<0.01), and it could be associated with the individual's perceptions of motivation. Musculoskeletal symptoms in the previous 12 months were reported by 58%. When comparing the period before the pandemic to the present, 35.3% of musicians reported their musculoskeletal symptoms had not changed, while 33.3% reported that they had increased. Wrists and hands, lower and upper back, shoulders, and neck were the body sites with most frequent complaints. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the frequency of musical practice of the musicians assessed in this study, with a significant decrease in practice time. Musculoskeletal symptoms were present in this population prior to the pandemic, and these symptoms were mostly maintained or worsened.

From text to screen: Gentleman Jack then and now.

As part of the growing genre of post-heritage quality drama for television, Sally Wainwright's BBC-HBO production of Gentleman Jack stands out in terms of its close adherence to the original Lister diaries. While in many ways season one of Gentleman Jack follows the conventional narrative of courtship and marriage that defines much historical costume drama-as in, for example, the adaptations of Jane Austen novels-it also continually subverts the form through its unique queer content, closely based on the Lister diaries. While Gentleman Jack is not the BBC's first queer lesbian historical series, the uniqueness of the source text, which includes explicit descriptions of Lister's sexual practices in code, positions the series as ground-breaking in terms of prime-time television. This essay considers the ways in which the series adapts, mediates and reconfigures the original diaries for a contemporary audience. It will analyze how these transcriptions are supplemented through the performative and the visual and how to read the ideological coding of episodes that move away from the diaries into the realm of the fictional, such as the Lister-Walker marriage proposal at the end of the series. It also asks what the responsibility of the series is to the historical archive on the one hand, and to its contemporary audience on the other.