Introduction: Few studies have been conducted into how physicians use steering behaviour that may persuade patients to choose for a particular treatment, let alone to participate in a randomised... Show moreIntroduction: Few studies have been conducted into how physicians use steering behaviour that may persuade patients to choose for a particular treatment, let alone to participate in a randomised trial. The aim of this study is to assess if and how surgeons use steering behaviour in their information provision to patients in their choice to participate in a stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial investigating an organ sparing treatment in (curable) oesophageal cancer (SANO trial).Materials and methods: A qualitative study was performed. Thematic content analysis was applied to audiotaped and transcribed consultations of twenty patients with eight different oncological surgeons in three Dutch hospitals. Patients could choose to participate in a clinical trial in which an experimental treatment of 'active surveillance' (AS) was offered. Patients who did not want to participate underwent standard treatment: neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy followed by oesophagectomy.Results: Surgeons used various techniques to steer patients towards one of the two options, mostly to-wards AS. The presentation of pros and cons of treatment options was imbalanced: positive framing of AS was used to steer patients towards the choice for AS, and negative framing of AS to make the choice for surgery more attractive. Further, steering language, i.e. suggestive language, was used, and surgeons seemed to use the timing of the introduction of the different treatment options, to put more focus on one of the treatment options.Conclusion: Awareness of steering behaviour can help to guide physicians in more objectively informing patients on participation in future clinical trials.(c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Show less
When Lucretius invokes Calliope as his dux at the end of the proem to Book VI (92-95), the echo of I 1 in VI 94 reinforces a more general correspondence between Calliope and Venus, whom Lucretius... Show moreWhen Lucretius invokes Calliope as his dux at the end of the proem to Book VI (92-95), the echo of I 1 in VI 94 reinforces a more general correspondence between Calliope and Venus, whom Lucretius had invoked as his socia in the proem to Book I (24). This paper argues that the two goddesses share the same double identity, as they both represent a twofold aspect of the poem, namely the profound interdependence of form and content. This twofold aspect is cunningly embodied in an interlingual pun on Epicurus’ name, which makes him an ἐπίκουρος to his own philosophy. Show less
Producing the local: Javanese performance on Indonesian television explores how television represents Javaneseness, as a factor designed to catch and keep the attention of its putative... Show moreProducing the local: Javanese performance on Indonesian television explores how television represents Javaneseness, as a factor designed to catch and keep the attention of its putative audiences. Central is the question of how people make use of national, regional, local, public and private television in Indonesia – each in their own way and with their own goals – to represent the local and, in particular, how they construct images of Javaneseness through the production and dissemination of performance. Performance in Javanese has been used by the Indonesian television industry to achieve various purposes: to entertain and inform its audiences, to represent the local/the regional, to preserve and nurture the traditional and to build national culture, for persuasive (commercial or propaganda) aims, as a counter-voice of diversification towards global or Jakartan influences, and to express multiculturalism. These issues have been put into the framework of discursive practices about local, national and global cultures in the electronic audiovisual media in Indonesia. Three main themes structure the study: representing tradition, localizing persuasion and mediating the local. Above all, this dissertation is a plea for a more thorough study of the role of proximity in the production, dissemination and reception of local television programmes. Show less
