In this project, I speculate about a parallel world where a parliament chair for more-than-humans to ‘speak up’ exists within a human fabricated democratic construct. Along the narrative, we are to notice the grammar of other beings and to relearn the ethic of respect and interdependency by ‘deep listening’ to our often ‘quiet’ neighbors on this planet. The intention is to take a closer look at the actant nature of other-than-human beings, at the political of them through exploring the tension between power and empathy. The project adopts voting cards as a probing tool for humans’ involvement in the scenario. It explores the balance between chairs’ power connotation and the materiality of paper as well as the emotional character of sounds. It is an invitation of entering an alternative reality where imagination and affection towards a more inclusive and attentive relation with other-than-humans could be envisioned and questioned.

An adapted version of the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation model was used as a theoretical guide for this study, which proposes that adaptive processes exist and can moderate relationships between enduring vulnerabilities and different outcomes. Relationships of interest include the negative link between depression and marital satisfaction and the positive link between marital satisfaction and physical health. An adaptive process of interest is empathy, due to its well-researched positive impact on mental, relational, and physical health. This study examined whether perceived spousal empathy (i.e., the empathy perceived by one spouse coming from their spouse) had any moderating effects on the previously mentioned links. A clinical sample of 34 relationally distressed heterosexual couples was included in the study. Depression unexpectedly had a positive relationship with marital satisfaction and physical health. Marital satisfaction had no significant relationship with physical health. Perceived spousal empathy had no moderating effects. The clinical implications of the results are discussed.

Healthcare simulation is a teaching strategy rooted in cognitive, constructivist, and social learning theories. Simulation–based learning experiences offer a replacement for traditional clinical learning and are widely used across all levels of nursing education. Most simulation activities are focused on student application of cognitive knowledge to clinical situations or practicing psychomotor skills, with little attention paid to student development of core nursing values such as caring and compassion. In fact, few studies have empirically assessed the usefulness of simulation for helping student nurses develop affective characteristics such as empathy. A quasi–experimental control group study was conducted to evaluate affective learning in student nurses during a simulated clinical activity. Students randomized to the treatment condition watched a lesson on the importance of empathy as a professional nursing value along with a vignette in which an actor playing the simulated patient shared a narrative story that detailed aspects of his social, emotional, and physical well–being. Subjects who received the intervention had a greater and statistically significant increase in empathy score than those in the control condition. Students exposed to the intervention also had higher observed empathy scores, but differences between groups were not statistically significant. Since narratives can be useful for helping health profession students understand patient perspectives on their health and well–being, the concept of narrative transportation (i.e., immersion in narrative accounts or stories) was used to assess student engagement in the simulated learning activity. Students in the treatment condition had higher but non–statistically significant engagement scores in response to the intervention. Last, associations between empathy, emotional intelligence, and nursing competence were assessed. Positive and statistically significant relationships between empathy and emotional intelligence, emotional intelligence and nursing competence, and empathy and nursing competence were observed. Further analysis indicated that emotional intelligence partially mediated the relationship between empathy and nursing competence in this sample. The findings of this study demonstrated that patient narratives were useful for facilitating affective learning during simulated clinical activities. The observed results also provide insight on the relationship between affective characteristics and competency development in student nurses.

Our value of people and craft are linked. With the rise of fast production  industry, and the lack of transparency when it comes to a role of consumption, we have become detached from making processes. This detachment is  detrimental to our understanding and empathy for other people but also to ourselves. It perpetuates disposable ways of living and keeps us reliant on  disposable consumption.  Craft is an undervalued tool which can be utilised in historical learning as well  as anthropological study today. In doing so, we are able to understand more about humanity by inspecting craft through the ‘three facet’ lens. We are then  able to develop empathy for other people and other cultures, through the non- tangible space created during the process of crafting. For those who do craft,  this recognition is empowering and enables cultural ownership. It also empowers us as individuals, when we are able to produce something ourselves  and physically see the learning process.  This means we can recognise who has made our objects, and appreciate the  time, skill and commitment which goes into the undertaking. This encourages us to appreciate objects, to consider our ways of living and move away from  disposable consumption.  Through a comparison of the relationship to craft that is held in Peru, with that  of the relationship we hold in the UK, and broadened by my experience living and teaching in Sweden, I conclude that industrialisation and colonialism has a  role to play, but ultimately, the power and potential of craft, is physically in our own hands.  I propose using the ‘three facets’; Utility, Aesthetics and Connectivity, as a way to break down the information documented through craft, to analyse, at a deep  level, what can be gained from craft appreciation.

In this paper I introduce and explain the construct of ‘Craft Fiction’ as a setting for my own artistic work. Within a fictional framework, I am mediating between the field of craft and the contemporary environment of relocated materialities and digital worlds I find myself in. Using the vehicle of language and analyzing those dialogue that are ongoing in craft processes, I am assessing the intimate relationships between maker and its tools/machines, in order to discuss hierarchies and purpose of crafting.

Home Planet is a collection of travel essays about climate change. Like most works in the personal essay tradition, these essays reveal the mind as it works its way through a problem or question, all while inviting writer and readers to foster empathy as a mode of being. Also, like most works in the travel essay subgenre, these essays blend narrative, setting, and thought, suggesting important parallels between interior reflection and exterior displacement. Finally, since the essays in this collection take on climate change as their theme, they attempt to make meaning of climate-related subjects like extreme heat, mass extinction, and ice patch archaeology. Ultimately, the force that unites these essays is love. By describing, hinting at, and plainly stating love for people, landscapes, and more-than-human beings, the essays invite readers to consider their own relationship to the Earth, especially during a time of environmental crisis.

Players of an open-world video game are more than merely audience members watching a narrative play out--they actively participate and perform in the world. Drawing from scholars like Edmund Husserl, Konstantin Stanislavski, Ossy Wulansari, and PJ Manney, this paper explores principles of performance, phenomenology, and empathy to examine how open-world role-playing games, specifically Red Dead Redemption II, help players experience empathy. Constructing this experience through character attachment, length of play, and identification in a safe experimental space, these games become a bridge leading to greater empathy for people who are different from the player. The immersive nature of these games provides a suitable area for studying the effects of this media on a player's development of empathy for the character they play, others in the game world, and beyond. This paper focuses on this phenomenon through the player's performance of the main character, Arthur Morgan, and attempts to connect how this experience applies to the real-world building of player empathy.

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Bakgrund   Långvarig smärta är ett folkhälsoproblem med en skadlig påverkan på människors hälsa, funktion och livskvalitet. Behandling av smärta innebär farmakologiska och icke-farmakologiska metoder. Dessa metoder används med fördel i kombination men detta görs inte i tillräckligt stor utsträckning. Den biopsykosociala synen på behandling flyttar fokus från den fysiska smärtlindringen till strategier som ökar individens funktionsförmåga och välbefinnande. Enligt Erikssons omvårdnadsteori är kunskap om lidande, det holistiska synsättet och den hela människan är av stor vikt för patientens upplevelse av gott bemötande i vården.   Syfte   Syftet var att belysa bemötandets betydelse för patienters smärtupplevelser vid långvarig smärta.  Metod  En icke-systematisk litteraturöversikt med 19 valda artiklar har utförts där en integrerad analysmetod använts. Artiklarnas kvalitet har bedömts med hjälp av Sophiahemmet högskolas matris.  Resultat  Resultatet i litteraturöversikten tydde på att patienter upplevde både positivt och negativt bemötande. Patienterna belyste vikten av ett empatiskt bemötande från hälso- och sjukvårdspersonalen, vikten av att bli sedda som hel människa, vikten av att få ta del av information och betydelsen av kompetent hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal. Resultatet kom även fram till vikten av att inte misstro patienternas smärtupplevelser. Ett negativt bemötande resulterade i känslor som frustration, ilska, besvikelse, rädsla och hopplöshet. Ett positivt bemötande korrelerade indirekt med ökad patientnöjdhet.   Slutsats  Resultatet i denna litteraturstudie tyder på att patienter har både negativa och positiva upplevelser av bemötandet i hälso-och sjukvården. Utifrån studiens resultat kan slutsats dras att det fanns en önskan om patientdelaktighet, mer kunnig personal. Patienterna önskade även att bli trodd i sin smärta och önskade en empatisk attityd från hälso- och sjukvårdspersonalen. Resultatet tyder även på att det fanns en korrelation mellan gott bemötande och ökad patientnöjdhet. / Background  Chronic pain is a public health issue with harmful effects on the health of people, their function and quality of life. Pain treatment involves pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical methods. These methods are most preferably used in combination but are not used enough. The bio-psychological view on treatment takes away focus from physical pain management to strategies that increase the individuals’ function and wellbeing. According to Eriksson's nursing theory, knowledge of suffering and the holistic approach to the whole being is of importance for the patient's experience of good treatment in care.  Aim  The aim was to enlighten the meaning of the encounter with the health-care professionals for patients with chronic pain and their pain experience.   Method  A non-systematic literature review with 19 selected articles has been performed where an integrated analysis method has been used. The quality of the articles has been assessed with the help of Sophiahemmet University's matrix.  Results  The result of this literature review indicated that patients experienced both positive and negative encounters. The patients highlighted the importance of an empathic encounter from the health-care staff, the importance of being seen as a whole being and the importance of receiving information and having competent health-care professionals. The result also showed the importance of not being distrusted in their pain experience. A negative encounter resulted in feelings such as frustration, anger, fear, hopelessness and disappointment. A positive encounter correlates indirectly with increased patient satisfaction.   Conclusions  The results of this literature study indicate that patients have both negative and positive experiences of the treatment in health care. Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that there was a desire for patient participation and more knowledgeable staff. Patients described their desire to be believed in their pain and wished for an empathic attitude from health care staff of the patients. The results also implied that there was a correlation between a positive encounter with health professionals and patient satisfaction.

Robert Kennedy once said, “The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better.” This statement inspired the author to question how prosocial behavior and the acceptance of diversity can be encouraged and is the driving force behind the following undergraduate thesis. Research tells us that Theory of Mind (ToM) and Affective Perspective Taking (APT) are essential components in a stepwise progression to learning empathy and can be taught to children ages five to seven. These elements are essential to developing an empathetic foundation that leads to healthier relationships, reduces bullying, and encourages the acceptance of diversity. Teaching children about emotions helps expand their vocabulary and put a name on what they or someone else is feeling. This facilitation of language and literacy is another building block in the development of compassionate understanding and empathy. Research shows that works of fiction can help children increase their ability to recognize emotions and encourages empathetic development through examination of a story character’s feelings. The culmination of this undergraduate thesis project is a children’s book called The Day Dot Ran Away. The research-informed book is designed to teach perspective taking by encouraging the reader to pay special attention to the emotions on the faces of the characters. The author’s hope is that this book will sow the seeds of empathy in all who read it, and as a result, they will become empathetic adults who are more accepting of diversity.