Surrogacy is an increasingly frequent form of family building and allows individuals to become parents despite an infertility diagnosis or a biological impossibility. Positive outcomes for both the surrogacy child and the surrogate mother have been reported, including in cases of same-sex male couples and single persons. There is an on-going debate because remuneration does not necessarily involve undue inducement of the surrogate or transformation of the child into a commodity. The right to regret and the doctors’ autonomy are also (...) addressed in this paper. Nevertheless, literature on surrogacy is scarce, and most of the existing studies have important methodological limitations, so further investigation is much needed. We believe that counselling should be granted for both intended parents and surrogate, in order to prevent the majority of problems. We also agree that parental vetting should be possible, focusing the doctor’s responsibility also in the future child. (shrink)

Bodies of afro descendant women carry not only the historical marks of suffering and dispossession. For they are also told stories of resistance, faith and ancestry, and as social constructions, such bodies are presented as drawings of the cultural diversity that permeates individual and collective identities. Thus, this paper has the approaches around the body beyond the biological and discusses further socio-cultural marks on afro descendant feminist bodies, making allusions and images appear in Brazilian literature and speeches on such bodies.

É que nada é mais imutável, nada é mais firme do que um povo unido pela concórdia e que tudo reporta à sua preservação e à sua liberdade. Em tal Estado é facílimo alcançar a concórdia, na qual a todos con­vém a mesma coisa. Da variedade de interesses, quando a cada um agrada uma coisa diferente, nascem as discórdias. (Cícero, Tratado da República, I. 49) Preâmbulo Cícero, uma das figuras incontornáveis da história de Roma, tem sido admirado pelo seu percurso (...) pessoal e profissional, bem como... (shrink)

Neste artigo, articulo três sentidos distintos da expressão “Fins da Arte” - analítico-filosófico, estético e teleológico – para refletir acerca de um movimento importante no cenário da arte da dança, que transformou radicalmente o modo como nossa cultura ocidental compreende o corpo. Refiro-me à dança pós-moderna americana que se desenvolveu principalmente nas décadas de 60, 70 e 80, e tomo como paradigma o trabalho da coreógrafa, bailarina e cineasta Yvonne Rainer, denominado Trio A. Meu argumento é que, neste trabalho coreográfico, (...) Yvonne Rainer coloca, com seu próprio corpo, a questão do “fim da dança” nos sentidos analítico-filosófico e estético, e como consequência promove uma reflexão sobre o “fim da dança” no sentido teleológico. (shrink)

Background : An enhancement in recall of simple instructions is found when actions are performed in comparison to when they are verbally presented – the subject-performed task effect. This enhancement has also been found with older adults. However, the reason why older adults, known to present a deficit in episodic memory, have a better performance for this type of information remains unclear. In this article, we explored this effect by comparing the performance on the SPT task with the performance on (...) other tasks, in order to understand the underlying mechanisms that may explain this effect. Objective : We hypothesized that both young and older adult groups should show higher recall in SPT compared with the verbal learning condition, and that the differences between age groups should be lower in the SPT condition. We aimed to explore the correlations between these tasks and known neuropsychological tests, and we also measured source memory for the encoding condition. Design : A mixed design was used with 30 healthy older adults, comparing their performance with 30 healthy younger adults. Each participant was asked to perform 16 simple instructions and to only read the other 16 instructions. The test phase included a free recall task. Participants were also tested with a set of neuropsychological measures. Results : The SPT effect was found for both age groups; but even for SPT materials, group differences in recall persisted. Source memory was found to be preserved for the two groups. Simple correlations suggested differences in correlates of SPT performance between the two groups. However, when controlling for age, the SPT and VT tasks correlate with each other, and a measure of episodic memory correlated moderately with both SPT and VT performance. Conclusions : A strong effect of SPT was observed for all but one, which still displayed the expected aging deficit. The correlations and source memory data suggest that the SPT and VT are possibly related in respect to their underlying processes, and SPT, instead of being an isolated process, is in connection with both the episodic memory and executive function processes. Under these circumstances, the SPT seems to contribute to an enhancement of the episodic memory trace, presumably from the multimodality it provides, without involving a separated set of cognitive mechanisms. Future research using more pure measures of other cognitive processes that could be related to SPT is necessary. Keywords : aging; subject performed task; memory for actions; episodic memory Responsible Editor: Mathieu Hainselin, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, France. (shrink)

Grammatical gender processing during language production has classically been studied using the so-called picture-word interference (PWI) task. In this procedure, participants are presented with pictures they must name using target nouns while ignoring superimposed written distractor nouns. Variations in response times are expected depending on the congruency between the gender values of targets and distractors. However, there have been disparate results in terms of the mandatory character of an agreement context to observe competitive gender effects and the interpretation of the (...) direction of these effects in Romance languages, this probably due to uncontrolled variables such as animacy. In the present study, we conducted two PWI experiments with European Portuguese speakers who were asked to produce bare nouns. The percentage of animate targets within the list was manipulated: 0, 25, 50, and 100%. A gender congruency effect was found restricted to the 0% list (all targets were inanimate). Results support the selection of gender in transparent languages in the absence of an agreement context, as predicted by the Gender Acquisition and Processing (GAP) hypothesis (Sá-Leite et al.,2019), and are interpreted through the attentional mechanisms involved in the PWI paradigm, in which the processing of animate targets would be favored to the detriment of distractors due to biological relevance and semantic prioritization. (shrink)

Programa Aventurémonos en Familia, busca generar un espacio para el reconocimiento, la regulación y la recuperación emocional de los niños, niñas, jóvenes y sus familias en medio de la crisis presentada por la Covid-19, y que se encuentran inmersos en contextos de violencia. Es un Programa de educación emocional, orientado a promover la salud mental y la funcionalidad familiar. En el marco de su implementación se desarrolló una investigación mixta con 159 cuidadores y 139 niñas y niñas de los departamentos (...) de Córdoba, Atlántico y Sucre. Los resultados muestran mejoras en la funcionalidad familiar y habilidades emocionales de sus integrantes. (shrink)

Nossa pesquisa procurou mapear a produção científica de mestres e doutores que atuam nos cursos de Educação Física do Maranhão, coletando e analisando informações sobre suas características epistemológicas, segundo as referências utilizadas na produção das teses e dissertações encontradas. Constatou-se que essa produção aborda temáticas distintas, incorrendo num ecletismo teórico ou numa indefinição epistemológica.

This paper analyses the role of foreign and local companies in shaping Brazilian positions on global sustainability. It deals with an empirical investigation of CSR practices of firms from the electronics, food, and personal care sectors in response to pressures of 'market' and 'non-market' stakeholders. The results demonstrate that CSR decisions by foreign and local firms are triggered by organisational considerations and anticipated economic gains. The degree of implementation of CSR activities by foreign firms is more advanced than that of (...) local firms. The survey also confirms the hypothesis that market stakeholders exert pressure on companies and positively influence CSR. Non-market stakeholders seem to have a minor effect on corporate social responsibility decisions. We conclude that the institutional environment is a critical determinant of the extent to which the dialogue between stakeholders and companies leads to the attainment of sustainable development. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This article aims to defend the dialogical nature of the landscape. Working in between the borders of the Bakhtinian philosophy of language and cultural studies on landscape, we defend that landscape study should not be studied without considering the cultural forms of communication in the different domains of social organization– the speech genres; that landscape is a semiotic encounter with a concrete otherness; that the interpreter who emerges when an area enters a relationship of representation is necessarily characterized as (...) a chronotope; that every landscape is a chronotopic representation; that cultural geography recognizes that the semiotic aspects of the landscape are as material as its morphology. We start from the hypothesis that landscape is a chronotopic representation that is always made possible by means of some speech genre, because it is always a communicative process, and an encounter with another in a situation of socially organized interrelation – it is concrete dialogue. To find the deeper meaning of a landscape, one must recognize and understand its material, historical, geographical, and dialogic nature. RESUMO O artigo objetiva defender a índole dialógica da paisagem. Trabalhando na fronteira entre a filosofia bakhtiniana da linguagem e os estudos culturais da paisagem, defendemos que a paisagem não seja estudada sem considerar as formas culturais de comunicação nos diferentes domínios da organização social – os gêneros discursivos; que toda paisagem é encontro semiótico com uma alteridade concreta; que o intérprete que emerge quando uma área entra em relação de representação é necessariamente caracterizado por um cronotopo; que toda paisagem é representação cronotópica; que a geografia cultural reconheça que os aspectos semióticos da paisagem são tão materiais quanto sua morfologia. Partimos da hipótese de que a paisagem é uma representação cronotópica que sempre se realiza através de algum gênero discursivo, pois sempre é um processo comunicativo e de encontro com o outro em uma situação de inter-relação socialmente organizada – é diálogo concreto. Para adentrar à profundeza de seus sentidos, precisa-se reconhecer e compreender sua índole material, histórica, geográfica e dialógica. (shrink)

A current issue in psycholinguistic research is whether the language difficulties exhibited by children with developmental language disorder [DLD, previously labeled specific language impairment ] are due to deficits in their abilities to pick up patterns in the sensory environment, an ability known as statistical learning, and the extent to which explicit learning mechanisms can be used to compensate for those deficits. Studies designed to test the compensatory role of explicit learning mechanisms in children with DLD are, however, scarce, and (...) the few conducted so far have led to inconsistent results. This work aimed to provide new insights into the role that explicit learning mechanisms might play on implicit learning deficits in children with DLD by resorting to a new approach. This approach involved not only the collection of event-related potentials, while preschool children with DLD [relative to typical language developmental controls] were exposed to a continuous auditory stream made of the repetition of three-syllable nonsense words but, importantly, the collection of ERPs when the same children performed analogous versions of the same auditory SL task first under incidental and afterward under intentional conditions. In each of these tasks, the level of predictability of the three-syllable nonsense words embedded in the speech streams was also manipulated to mimic natural languages closely. At the end of both tasks’ exposure phase, children performed a two-alternative forced-choice task from which behavioral evidence of SL was obtained. Results from the 2-AFC tasks failed to show reliable signs of SL in both groups of children. The ERPs data showed, however, significant modulations in the N100 and N400 components, taken as neural signatures of word segmentation in the brain, even though a detailed analysis of the neural responses revealed that only children from the TLD group seem to have taken advantage of the previous knowledge to enhance SL functioning. These results suggest that children with DLD showed deficits both in implicit and explicit learning mechanisms, casting doubts on the efficiency of the interventions relying on explicit instructions to help children with DLD to overcome their language difficulties. (shrink)

Despite the general agreement that the interdisciplinary model of physical education (PE), based on the incorporation of core academic subjects into the PE curriculum, stimulates the holistic development of students, there is still a lack of methods for its implementation. Therefore, Eduball was created, i.e., a method that uses educational balls with printed letters, numbers, and other signs. Numerous studies have shown that children participating in activities with Eduballs can develop their physical fitness while simultaneously improving their academic performance, particularly (...) in math and language, including some writing skills. However, little is known about the effects of Eduball on children’s graphomotor skills, which are key for the academic performance of students throughout the entire schooling process. Here, we investigate whether 6-month participation in PE with Eduball stimulates graphomotor skills in primary school students, such as drawing prehandwriting letter patterns on unlined or lined paper and rewriting text on unlined or lined paper. Our results show that the Eduball class (N= 28) significantly improved these skills compared to the control class (N= 26) participating in traditional PE. For example, students from the experimental group wrote with a lower pen pressure and better stability of the line, in contrast to those from the control group. Therefore, this study demonstrates that the Eduball method successfully supports teachers in developing graphomotor skills in children. More broadly, our findings make clear once again that there is the need to integrate physical and cognitive development in education, which can be achieved by using an interdisciplinary model of PE. (shrink)

ObjectiveLoss of control eating has been directly related to the core aspects of the psychopathology of eating disorders and to different dimensions of emotion and behavior regulation and self-criticism. This study investigates a model representing the interplay between these dimensions to understand LOC eating among a nonclinical sample.MethodsA total of 341 participants, recruited in a college campus, completed a set of self-report measures assessing LOC eating, weight suppression, psychopathology of eating disorders, depression, negative urgency, emotion regulation difficulties, and self-criticism. Path (...) analysis modeling tested a hypothesized model with 3 paths for LOC eating as follows: psychopathology of eating disorders; emotion and behavior regulation; and interplay between these paths.ResultsWe found goodness-of-fit indexes to our data: χ2 = 17.11, df = 10, Comparative Fit Index = 0.99, Tucker-Lewis index = 0.98, Root Mean Square Error Approximation = 0.045, Standardized Root Mean Square Residual = 0.041, suggesting that: participants with higher weight suppression showed higher degrees of the psychopathology of eating disorders, which was linked to higher levels of LOC eating; self-criticism was a mediator between emotion regulation and depression/negative urgency; self-criticism was a mediator between emotion regulation and disorder eating, which was significantly associated with LOC eating via increased negative urgency.ConclusionOur model shows that LOC eating occurs for individuals with the psychopathology of higher eating disorders who experience depressive symptoms and act rashly under distress for their inability to cope adequately with negative feelings of self-devaluation. These findings point to the importance of negative self-evaluations and feelings of inadequacy or worthlessness to understand LOC eating among college students. (shrink)

Este estudo tem como objetivo conhecer as concepções de homem presentes na bibliografia utilizada pelas disciplinas de Psicologia Clínica das universidades gaúchas. Com esse intuito procedeu-se, inicialmente, a uma revisão bibliográfica sobre as formas de concepção de homem ao longo da história da humanidade, chegando-se à Idade Moderna e ao advento da Psicologia como ciência. Através da análise qualitativa dos planos de ensino de 11 universidades gaúchas, pode-se inferir que a concepção de homem predominante na Psicologia Clínica, como disciplina acadêmica, (...) é a concepção própria da Psicanálise.This article aims to know the concepts of man that can be found in the bibliography used in courses of clinical psychology in universities of Rio Grande do Sul. As a first step, we went through a bibliographical survey about the ways man has been comprehended along history up to Modern Age and the advent of Psychology as science. From the qualitative analysis of the teaching plans of eleven universities of Rio Grande do Sul, it is possible to infer that the psychoanalytical concept of man is the predominant conception found in clinical psychology as an academic discipline. (shrink)

Neste texto analisamos blogs da Internet como espaços educativos nos quais se produzem/constroem as identidades juvenis de indivíduos que buscam se inserir no grupo cultural conhecido como nerd/geek. Inseridos nos Estudos Culturais, na sua vertente pós-moderna e pós-estruturalista, valemo-nos da noção de Representação Cultural para analisar como as identidades são constituídas com a escrita/leitura de blogs disponibilizados na web. Destacamos que a forma como se dá o agrupamento dos jovens que escrevem/leem os blogs é efêmera e espontânea, baseada no prazer (...) de estar junto, no consumo de alguns itens e no estabelecimento de alguns laços afetivos momentâneos. Tal compartilhamento tem semelhança com outras “tribos” urbanas deste início de século XXI. Destacamos, também, que não estamos associando a juventude a uma faixa etária particular, mas, isto sim, a um estilo de vida fortemente ligado ao lazer e ao consumo. Os blogs analisados, ao colocarem em circulação representações de identidades nerd/geek, contribuem para a produção discursiva dessas mesmas identidades em função dos modos como os/as integrantes desse grupo partilham formas de apropriar-se de saberes diversos, de utilizar equipamentos tecnológicos, de consumir produtos comerciais e textos midiáticos. (shrink)

Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is one of the most widely used tools to assess economic decision-making. However, the research tradition on aging and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has been mainly focused on the overall performance of older adults in relation to younger or clinical groups, remaining unclear whether older adults are capable of learning along the task. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine older adults’ decision-making on the IGT, to test the effects of aging on reversal learning (45 studies) (...) and to provide normative data on total and block net scores (55 studies). From the accumulated empirical evidence, we found an average total net score of 7.55 (± 25.9). We also observed a significant reversal learning effect along the blocks of the IGT, indicating that older adults inhibit the prepotent response towards immediately attractive options associated with high losses, in favor of initially less attractive options associated with long-run profit. During block 1, decisions of older adults led to a negative gambling net score, reflecting the expected initial pattern of risk-taking. However, the shift towards more safe options occurred between block 2 (small-to-medium effect size) and blocks 3, 4, 5 (medium-to-large effect size). These main findings highlight that older adults are able to move from the initial uncertainty, when the possible outcomes are unknown, to decisions based on risk, when the outcomes are learned and may be used to guide future adaptive decision-making. (shrink)

RESUMO O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar implicações subjetivas decorrentes do processo de patologização da educação. Para tanto, foram realizadas entrevistas com duas crianças com diagnóstico de Transtorno de Déficit de Atenção/Hiperatividade, seus pais e professores, observação em sala de aula, avaliação fonoaudiológica individual e pesquisa documental. Os resultados do estudo apontam que os discursos que se instauram em torno do aluno considerado resistente ao que a escola propõe terminam por comprometer a formação da sua subjetividade, uma vez que ele (...) passa a assimilar parte das percepções de seu grupo de convivência. Assumindo os postulados de Bakhtin, de que a autoimagem se constrói em meio ao olhar do outro, conclui-se que a criança pode apresentar sinais de desatenção e hiperatividade a depender da qualidade das interações sociais em que está inserida. ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to analyze subjective implications arising from the process of pathologization of education. Therefore, interviews were conducted with two children diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, their parents and teachers, in addition to in-classroom observation, individual speech-language pathology assessment and documentary research. The results of the study indicate that the discourses, established around students considered resistant to what the school proposes, eventually compromise the shaping of his or her subjectivity, since they start to assimilate part of the perceptions of their interactional group. Based on Bakhtin’s postulates that self-image is built in the midst of the other’s gaze, it is concluded that the child may present signs of inattention and hyperactivity depending on the quality of the social interactions in which he/she is engaged. (shrink)

We define a notion of realizability, based on a new assignment of formulas, which does not care for precise witnesses of existential statements, but only for bounds for them. The novel form of realizability supports a very general form of the FAN theorem, refutes Markov's principle but meshes well with some classical principles, including the lesser limited principle of omniscience and weak König's lemma. We discuss some applications, as well as some previous results in the literature.

A latência é o período do desenvolvimento menos abordado pela literatura psicanalítica e menos compreendido, apesar de corresponder à idade na qual ocorre a maior procura por atendimento psicológico. Além disso, questiona-se um possível encurtamento do período da latência em nossa cultura. Partindo ..

Objective: Illness perceptions are important predictors of emotional and behavioral responses in many diseases. The current study aims to investigate the COVID-19-related IP throughout Europe. The specific goals are to understand the temporal development, identify predictors and examine the impacts of IP on perceived stress and preventive behaviors.Methods: This was a time-series-cross-section study of 7,032 participants from 16 European countries using multilevel modeling from April to June 2020. IP were measured with the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire. Temporal patterns were observed (...) considering the date of participation and the date recoded to account the epidemiological evolution of each country. The outcomes considered were perceived stress and COVID-19 preventive behaviors.Results: There were significant trends, over time, for several IP, suggesting a small decrease in negativity in the perception of COVID-19 in the community. Age, gender, and education level related to some, but not all, IP. Considering the self-regulation model, perceptions consistently predicted general stress and were less consistently related to preventive behaviors. Country showed no effect in the predictive model, suggesting that national differences may have little relevance for IP, in this context.Conclusion: The present study provides a comprehensive picture of COVID-19 IP in Europe in an early stage of the pandemic. The results shed light on the process of IP formation with implications for health-related outcomes and their evolution. (shrink)

O presente estudo pretende dialogar sobre o conceito contemporâneo da informação como veículo democrático. A informação na contemporaneidade tem sido banalizada, haja vista que ela é um instrumento de poder já que tem a capacidade de se comunicar com o seu meio e, ao mesmo tempo, é usada como estratégia de dominação. A democracia, governo de muitos, busca integrar interesse de todos na tentativa de criar um ambiente equânime de tomada de decisões. De um lado temos a informação e todas (...) as suas nuanças e, do outro, a manipulação dela fundamentada no discurso de que corrobora para o movimento democrático. O tema é fronteiriço, arenoso e recorrente direcionado a seguinte pergunta de investigação: quais são as teorias produzidas no campo da informação que corroboram com o desenvolvimento de habilidades e competências na tomada de decisão democrática? Cabe refletir sobre os fundamentos da democracia deliberativa a partir de Jürgen Habermas dentro do contexto da teoria crítica, trazendo à tona, desse modo, a ideia da competência crítica em informação. Na tentativa de operar e sustentar este estudo, utilizaremos, como inspiração, o autor supracitado, para (re)pensar pressupostos teóricos da Ciência da Informação, e, por conseguinte, buscar responder à questão de investigação que orienta esse processo de investigação dialógico, porém, não se encerrando nela para procurar pensar a competência em informação na sociedade contemporânea. (shrink)

The dynamic of changes in the rules in team games materialize from research and debate between experts and coaches before being implemented by the International Federations. In Handball, the last changes occurred in 2016, and one of them was to substitute the goalkeeper with an additional field player allowing teams to play “empty goal” while using the additional field player.This study aimed to analyze and characterize the use of the 7 vs. 6 strategical-tactical option for the attack in the 2020 (...) Men’s European Championship. We also analyzed whether the game time and partial score influenced the use of 7 vs. 6 and its efficiency. Observational methodology and a mixed ad hoc instrument combining field format and category systems validated by experts were used. Data were taken from 28 matches involving teams in the first 12 positions in the 2020 Men’s European Championship. The total number of offensive sequences in an organized attack method in 7 vs. 6 with an empty goal were analyzed. Sequential analysis techniques with lags, prospective and retrospective, and polar coordinate analysis were used. The results showed that these solutions had poor efficiency, except for the Portuguese National Team; teams using the 7 vs. 6 tactic option had no negative consequences or increased risk with the opponent response; partial score influenced the decision to use 7 vs. 6 strategic option, and game time was associated with 7 vs. 6 play options and detected patterns. (shrink)

The coronavirus disease pandemic fundamentally disrupted humans’ social life and behavior. Public health measures may have inadvertently impacted how people care for each other. This study investigated prosocial behavior, its association well-being, and predictors of prosocial behavior during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and sought to understand whether region-specific differences exist. Participants from eight regions clustering multiple countries around the world responded to a cross-sectional online-survey investigating the psychological consequences of the first upsurge of lockdowns in spring 2020. Prosocial behavior (...) was reported to occur frequently. Multiple regression analyses showed that prosocial behavior was associated with better well-being consistently across regions. With regard to predictors of prosocial behavior, high levels of perceived social support were most strongly associated with prosocial behavior, followed by high levels of perceived stress, positive affect and psychological flexibility. Sociodemographic and psychosocial predictors of prosocial behavior were similar across regions. (shrink)

The world of work has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the high instability observed in the labor market, bringing several new challenges for leaders and employees. The present study aims to analyze the role of organizational and job resources in predicting employees’ job insecurity during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, through the mediating role of work engagement. A sample of 207 Portuguese employees participated, of which 64.7% were women. Data was collected using an online (...) survey, including self-report measures of organizational resources, job resources, job insecurity, and work engagement. Data showed that job and organizational resources negatively influenced job insecurity. Moreover, work engagement was a significant mediator of the relation between performance feedback and job insecurity. Findings suggest that investing in job and organizational resources can act as protective factors to minimize feelings of job insecurity. Likewise, leaders should foster work engagement among employees to help them balance the relation between these resources and job insecurity, especially in crisis situations. Overall, this study takes a new, underexplored perspective, theoretically bridging organizational and job resources with job insecurity and work engagement during a time of great uncertainty, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. (shrink)

Documento recente do Ministério da Educação aponta para a construção da identidade desse curso como sendo etapa final que compõe a educação básica e sinalizando a busca constante pela superação da dualidade considerada histórica entre formação geral e profissionalização. Entretanto, o mesmo documento reconhece que essa contradição ainda se faz presente na realidade educacional brasileira e, em alguns momentos, afirma a necessidade de uma educação integrada e em outros reforça a profissionalização aos mais pobres que não podem esperar o Ensino (...) Superior para ingressar no mercado de trabalho. O texto a seguir busca analisar a fragmentação na identidade do atual Ensino Médio remontando a suas bases históricas, a do partir dos textos de Nunes e Souza que acabam por reforçar a conclusão de que os dilemas em torno da questão “formação geral e formação profissional” ainda não foram totalmente superados, apesar dos apontamentos dos documentos legais. (shrink)

If our sense of the past is inevitably shaped by the explanatory logic of narrative, then the stories that we create in turn reveal the inescapable presence and ...

The doctor patient relationship starts with a story. Doctors' notes, a patient's chart, the recommendations of ethics committees and insurance justifications all hinge on written and verbal narrative interaction. The "practice" of narrative profoundly affects decision making, patient health and treatment and the everyday practice of medicine. In this edited collection, the contributors provide conceptual foundations, practical guidelines and theoretical considerations central to the practice of narrative ethics.