Browsing by Subject "Preferences"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    God save this honorable court : religion as a source of judicial policy preferences
    (2012-05) Blake, William Dawes; Perry, H. W.; Brinks, Dan
    If Supreme Court behavior is structured largely by the policy preferences of the justices, political scientists ought to consider the source of those preferences. Religion is one force that can strongly shape a judge’s worldview and therefore her votes. In this paper, I examine the effect of religion on U.S. Supreme Court votes in 11 issue areas plausibly connected to religious values. Catholic justices vote in ways that more closely adhere to the teachings of the Catholic Church than non-Catholic justices even after controlling for ideology. These results may indicate that Catholic theology is different from Protestant or Jewish theology. It is also possible that on some issues there is not much of a theological difference, but religious values play a more prominent role in public life for Catholic justices.
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    Shared decision-making about breast reconstruction : a decision analysis approach
    (2013-12) Sun, Clement Sung-Jay; Markey, Mia Kathleen; Reece, Gregory
    An ongoing objective in healthcare is the development of tools to improve patient decision-making and surgical outcomes for patients with breast cancer that have undergone or plan to undergo breast reconstruction. In keeping with the bioethical concept of autonomy, these decision models are patient-oriented and expansive, covering a range of different patient decision-makers. In pursuit of these goals, this dissertation contributes to the development of a prototype shared decision support system that will guide patients with breast cancer and their physicians in making decisions about breast reconstruction. This dissertation applies principles in decision analysis to breast reconstruction decision-making. In this dissertation, we examine three important areas of decision-making: (1) the options available to decision-makers, (2) the validity of probabilistic information assessed from reconstructive surgeons, and (3) the feasibility of applying multiattribute utility theory. In addition, it discusses the influences of breast aesthetics and proposes a measure for quantifying such influences. The dissertation concludes with a fictional case study that demonstrates the integration of the findings and application of decision analysis in patient-oriented shared breast reconstruction decision-making. Through the implementation of decision analysis principles, cognitive biases and emotion may be attenuated, clearing the decision-maker’s judgment, and ostensibly leading to good decisions. While good decisions cannot guarantee good outcomes at the individual level, they can be expected to improve outcomes for patients with breast cancer as a whole. And regardless of the outcome, good decisions yield clarity of action and grant the decision-maker a measure of peace in an otherwise uncertain world.
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    The expectations and preferences for counseling in groups underutilizing mental health services
    (Texas A&M University, 2004-09-30) Jacobs, Robert Raymond
    The present study examined the expectations and preferences about counseling for 211 undergraduate students representing four racial or ethnic categories as well as socioeconomic and gender categories. Participants were drawn from class sections and from student organizations at Texas A&M University. The study utilized a version of The Expectations About Counseling - Brief Form to assess both expectations and preferences for counseling. Analysis was conducted using ANOVA to examine differences between expectations and preferences for counseling for each of the racial or ethnic groups, as well as for comparisons between gender categories. A Pearson correlation procedure was used to examine differences between each of the five socioeconomic levels represented by the sample. Results indicate that differences exist between expectations and preferences for counseling in specific areas within each of the racial or ethnic groups examined. No differences were discovered between male and female expectations for counseling. Additionally, some differences were noted regarding expectations for counseling and participants' socioeconomic level. Results are interpreted in terms of literature demonstrating the patterns of utilization of mental health services of each of the groups represented in the study.