An ethical protocol for complementary and alternative medicine practitioners in an orthodox medicine regime

Concern that has been expressed about the provision of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in an orthodox medicine context with regard to the possibility of a client not being referred to the latter when the condition is readily dealt with by it. There have been some negative outcomes for clients when orthodox medicine has not been used when it was clearly indicated. Complementary and alternative medicine has many strengths for clients but it behoves a CAM practitioner to consider circumstances when it is appropriate to refer a client to orthodox medicine or to work in a complementary manner with orthodox medicine. This article suggests some guidelines that CAM practitioners should consider when assessing the circumstances when referral to orthodox medicine is indicated to support ethical practice for the benefit of the client.     

How is Anxiety Involved in the Longitudinal Relationship between Brooding Rumination and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents?

A growing body of research supports the application of Response Styles Theory to adolescent populations. Although the essential dynamic, namely that rumination increases the incidence of depressive symptoms, has been demonstrated among adolescents, a number of important empirical questions remain, such as: what are the gender differences and developmental trends for brooding and reflective rumination?; does a reciprocal relationship exist between brooding or reflective rumination, on the one hand, and depressive symptoms and anxiety, on the other hand, over time? and how do additional variables (i.e., anxiety) impact upon the rumination-depressive symptoms relationship? In this study, self-reported levels of rumination (both brooding and reflective), and anxious and depressive symptoms were measured longitudinally across 4 months in a sample of 976 community adolescents (46 % females), aged 11–16 years old. Mean group differences showed that female adolescents reported engaging in more brooding rumination than male adolescents beginning at 13 years of age. A reciprocal brooding rumination to depressive symptoms relationship and a reciprocal brooding rumination to anxiety relationship were found over time, and they did not differ for boys and girls. We tested the possibility that anxious symptoms would function as a third variable, but the obtained model showed that brooding rumination and anxiety both contributed unique variance in predicting changes in depressive symptoms over time.     

Missed breast cancer: the legal factors

Any reading of the relevant legal authorities confirms the special difficulties involved in the diagnosis of breast cancer. In many cases a delayed diagnosis of breast cancer is made at a time when a patient's position has become terminal. It is an easy task for lawyers and expert witnesses to determine in hindsight what should have been done at some point in the past. This article describes how the courts have dealt with this issue and comments on appropriate procedures and approaches to both protect the interests of the patient and confine liability for the medical practitioner.     

The 2014 Fiji Elections and the Methodist Church

Abstract

The Methodist Church of Fiji has around one-third of Fiji’s population as members, and is a strong influence on all aspects of Fiji’s life, including its politics. Since 2006 the relationship between the Methodist Church of Fiji and the Bainimarama regime has been variously tense, acrimonious and downright hostile, with Church conferences cancelled by the government in 2009–2011 after the Methodist Church was accused of ‘playing politics’. A further attempt to minimise the influence of the Methodist Church has included government encouragement of the New Methodists (Souls to Jesus) movement in 2008–9. However, these government actions have been premised on the assumption that the Methodist Church is monolithic in its support for conservative Fijian chiefly values, often privileging these over more universalist values espoused by other Christian denominations. While this may have been generally true of the years 1989–2012, it has not always been the case. This paper suggests that more recently the dynamics within the Methodist Church have changed, a shift that is only partly influenced by Bainimarama’s actions.