Removal of Asperger's syndrome from the DSM V: community response to uncertainty.

The May 2013 release of the new version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V) subsumed Asperger's syndrome under the wider diagnostic label of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The revision has created much uncertainty in the community affected by this condition. This study uses problematic integration theory and thematic analysis to investigate how participants in Wrong Planet, a large online community associated with autism and Asperger's syndrome, have constructed these uncertainties. The analysis illuminates uncertainties concerning both the likelihood of diagnosis and value of diagnosis, and it details specific issues within these two general areas of uncertainty. The article concludes with both conceptual and practical implications.

Problematic integration of uncertainty and desire in pregnancy.

Although most women in the United States choose physicians for their prenatal care, a small but growing number are now turning to midwives. The disparity between these two models of care has clear implications for the communication that takes place with each type of provider. In this project, the authors seek to understand the mother-midwife relationship by employing a case study approach with multiple data collection methods to examine one woman's struggles with the uncertainties she faces during her pregnancy. The authors employed problematic integration (PI) theory, which illuminates struggles with uncertainty, profound values, and communication, to examine how one woman and her midwife jointly handle and negotiate the dilemmas posed by her pregnancy. The woman's relationship and interactions with her midwife exemplify the midwifery model of care and illuminate the implications that this model has for the joint confrontation of uncertainty and desire during pregnancy.

The role of empathy in responses to persuasive risk communication: overcoming resistance to HIV prevention messages.

This article offers a theoretical analysis of the role of empathy as a key mediator of the suasive effects of health messages, and it discusses the testing of an empirical tool for studying the state of empathy in responses to persuasive messages. It is argued that felt empathy evokes cognitive and emotional processing conducive to important health-promoting responses. This assertion was tested by operationalizing empathy as a response state via a new measure, the Empathy Response Scale (ERS). Two pilot tests and one major study, all set in the challenging area of HIV/AIDS prevention, provided preliminary data supporting the theoretical analysis and the ERS as a measure of the state of empathy. The article concludes with discussions of directions for future tests of the empathy theory and scale, as well as applications of the current framework for developing persuasive messages.