Television talk shows frequently address psychological difficulties, but their formats and purposes differ from those of recorded psychotherapy sessions. This observational study compared expressed empathy in selected segments of four Dr. Phil episodes and four recorded psychotherapy sessions featuring two practitioners. Using an adapted empathic communication coding scheme, the study coded client-created empathic opportunities and practitioners’ verbal and nonverbal responses. The dataset contained 476 verbal and 324 nonverbal response ratings. Higher mean expressed-empathy scores were observed in the selected psychotherapy recordings than in the Dr. Phil excerpts for both verbal responses (3.90 versus 2.89) and nonverbal responses (1.29 versus 0.58). In a subset of 96 opportunity-response sequences, verbal scores showed a setting-by-phase interaction in the reported analysis, whereas nonverbal scores did not show a comparable phase effect. Positive opportunities were absent from the sampled Dr. Phil segments, preventing a full comparison by emotional valence. Sequence duration was positively associated with verbal scores within both sets of recordings. The contribution is an opportunity-centered, two-channel description of expressed empathy that separates observable responses from underlying empathic capacity and client-perceived empathy. Because the recordings differ in purpose, editing, participants, and interactional context, the results describe these selected materials and cannot establish treatment effectiveness or differences in the practitioners’ underlying empathic capacities.
This article examines board disengagement as a significant governance challenge within the non-governmental organization (NGO) sector. Although NGOs may maintain formally constituted governing bodies, legal registration, reporting requirements, and organizational policies, these structures do not necessarily ensure active, informed, and accountable oversight. The article uses a comparative analysis of India and the United States to examine the relationship between formal governance requirements and substantive board practice. It first defines NGO governance and considers principles associated with good governance and effective boards. It then examines characteristics of weak and disengaged boards, individual director responsibilities, and selected legal and regulatory expectations in India and the United States. The comparison demonstrates that the two countries employ substantially different organizational and regulatory frameworks, yet both illustrate a common governance challenge: formal compliance does not by itself create an engaged governing body. Board composition, access to information, financial oversight, independence, executive accountability, and meaningful participation remain important to substantive governance. The article argues that strengthening NGO governance therefore requires attention not only to legal compliance but also to organizational practices that support informed participation, board development, accountability, and effective relationships between governing bodies and management.
A systematic, qualitative literature review was performed to determine the extent and scope of scientific, peer reviewed literature on gender differences and digital media use among adolescents. The research design consisted on four steps: (1) searching and identifying relevant literature; (2) reading of abstracts; (3) analyzing and categorising of full papers; and (4) synthesizing the findings. This review was conducted according to the articles preferred for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) (Page et al., 2021). The data were retrieved in April 2026 with the boolean search „and”. In this review, I included primary empirical studies investigating gender differences on digital media use. I used the following keywords (or a combination of keywords) in searching articles published between 2015 and 2025: digital media use, gender differences, adolescents. My eligibility criteria for inclusion were: a) primary empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals in English with full texts available; b) publication period between 2015 and 2025; c) focused on gender differences on media digital use among adolescents. Therefore, the following records were excluded from our review a) conference abstracts, book chapters, commentaries, editorials, academic letters, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and literature reviews. According to the results, there are gender differences in digital media use meaning that more male adolescents than female adolescents are using the digital media technology. Conclusions: To date, more male than female adolescents use digital media in different contexts so that a computer literacy among females should be studied more carefully.
This study explores the complexity of teachers’ perceptions regarding factors that could potentially affect their understanding of the mental health concept, and their overall role in promoting their pupils’ mental health in the context of Kuwaiti middle schools. The study sheds light on teachers’ perceptions of the contextual factors shaping their perceptions and the barriers they identify could hinder the implementation of the promotion process, and the changes required to put such a promotion process into practice in the Kuwaiti educational context. A mixed-methodological research approach has been adopted and comprises two stages. A total of 497 Kuwaiti middle-school teachers completed a systematic survey, whilst another twelve teachers were chosen purposely to take part in semi-structured interviews. Findings from the study showed that teachers’ perceptions were markedly embedded within the socio-cultural and religious context of the study. A variety of personal, interpersonal, socio-cultural and structural-organizational barriers were perceived by teachers, which could undermine and impact in terms of moving towards the implementation of promoting pupils’ mental health.
This paper critically examines the historiographical challenges in representing marginalized African communities within historical and cultural narratives. Drawing on postcolonial and intersectional frameworks, it synthesizes recent scholarship on systemic barriers such as colonial legacies, epistemic injustice, and socio-political exclusion. The review incorporates emerging literature on digital archiving and participatory methodologies, highlighting their potential to democratize historical representation. Findings suggest that inclusive historiography requires methodological pluralism, ethical engagement, and integration of indigenous knowledge systems. The paper concludes by proposing a research agenda that foregrounds cultural sensitivity and technological innovation in reconstructing Africa’s shared histories.
