Dual-process model of courage

Courage is one of the most significant psychological constructs for society, but not one of the most frequently studied. This paper presents a process model of courage consisting of decision-based pathways by which one comes to enact a courageous action. We argue the process of courage begins with a trigger involving an actor(s) and a situation(s). The actor(s) then engage(s) in four key assessments concerning (a) immediacy of the situation, (b) meaningfulness, value, and relevance to the actor, (c) adequacy of efficacy to act, and (d) decision to act with courage. The central component of this process entails an approach-avoidance conflict involving assessments of perceived risks and potential noble outcomes of acting with courage. The decision to act may result in courageous actions assuming it satisfies the four elements: intentionality, objective and substantial risk, a noble purpose, and meaning in time and place. Courageous actions have consequences. Finally, the consequences shape the actors' experience, which feeds into the trigger, closing the loop. Potential moderators of the courage process as well as potential tests of the model have been discussed.

Conceptual Foreknowings: Integrative Review on Having Courage

Having courage is a humanuniverse living experience that is common to all humans. Individuals experience courage in one way or another at different times. Hence, it is imperative to understand having courage from various standpoints. To explore the different perspectives on the phenomenon of courage, the scholar dwelled with printed material across the disciplines of theology, psychology, philosophy, sociology, social work, education, business, and nursing. Two themes were crafted from the literature as (a) courage is steadfastness in the midst of fear and (b) unfaltering commitment to the cherished.

Parenting and Courage: Exploring the Mediating Role of Self-esteem and Emotion Regulation among Adolescents

With adolescence being a period for potential challenges but also positive growth, courage can aid adolescents in rising to some of these challenges. Yet few studies have investigated predictors and mechanisms of courage. The present study examined how three parenting constructs (attachment, autonomy support, and helicopter parenting) predict courage and if self-esteem or emotion regulation serve as mediators. The present study assessed predictors at Time 1 and courage at one-year follow-up. The sample included 203 American adolescents (51.7% girls, 14-15 year olds). Results suggested that relations between several parental variables (anxious attachment to parents, avoidant attachment to fathers, autonomy support of parents) and adolescent courage were mediated by self-esteem. In addition, cognitive reappraisal mediated associations between two mother-related variables (avoidant attachment, helicopter parenting) and courage. Findings contribute to the limited empirical research on adolescents' development of courage.

Psychometric properties of the Sport Courage Scale for Chinese athletes

Objective

To revise Sport Courage Scale (SCS) suitable for Chinese athletes.

Methods

Six hundred and eighty three athletes were selected for verification factor analysis, correlation analysis, reliability analysis, and independent sample t-test using the method of random sampling of the entire group.

Results

Confirmatory factor analysis model showed that model 1 (25 items) failed to fit the data; while model 2 (20 items) was finally accepted with its five-factor model. The factor structure consists of 5 dimensions (χ²/df = 2.262;CFI = 0.969;TLI = 0.963; RMSEA = 0.043; SRMR = 0.044). Cronbach's α of the final version of SCS was 0.845, and the corrected correlation coefficient between the items and the total score of the scale was between 0.352 and 0.788.

Conclusion

Revised SCS has good reliability and validity and can be used as a measurement tool for the sports courage of athletes in China.

Developing conceptually sound items for a clinical courage questionnaire

INTRODUCTION

Clinical courage can be described as a rural doctor's adaptability and willingness to undertake clinical work at the limits of their training and experience to meet the needs of their patients. This article describes the in-house development of survey items to include in a quantitative measure of clinical courage.

METHODS

The questionnaire development involved two key concepts: a second-order latent factor model structure and a nominal group technique, used to develop consensus among the research team members.

RESULTS

The steps taken to develop a sound clinical courage questionnaire are described in detail. The resulting initial questionnaire is presented, ready for testing with rural clinicians and refinement.

CONCLUSION

This article outlines the psychometric process of questionnaire design and presents the resultant clinical courage questionnaire.

Career Calling, Courage, Flourishing and Satisfaction with Life in Italian University Students

Career calling is defined as a positive resource promoting vocational development and well-being. The present study focuses on the relationships between career calling, courage and two indicators of well-being, i.e., flourishing and satisfaction with life. The sample consisted of 306 Italian university students (118 males and 188 females) ranging from 18 to 30 years of age. A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach with latent variables was adopted. The results showed that courage plays a mediating role between career calling and well-being indicators. In light of these results, suggestions on the practical implications for career interventions to support university students are also addressed.

The Analyst's Courage and Vulnerability in the Countertransference

Courage requires us to persist and persevere despite fear. We make choices everyday-some are courageous, and some are not courageous at all. This dimension of psychoanalytic work is significant, yet relatively neglected in the psychoanalytic literature. Maintaining a courageous stance as an analyst can be challenging and threatening. Often, the therapist faces deeply rooted fears about abandonment, envy, competition, anger, or other forms of intense emotional arousal. This requires us to confront ourselves but also, at times, confront our patient's behaviors. It is crucial to think and act independently, and deal with their disapproval and opposition, despite the risks challenging patients present. Ultimately, we need to manage our vulnerable feelings while remaining authentic, rather than hiding behind an overly clinical stance. The author presents two patients who required and inspired the courage to face her own anxieties, ultimately contributing to the treatments' progress.

The Validity of Virtual Courage for Trainees in High-Risk Occupations

Background

Employees in high-risk occupations are exposed to tremendous work stress that hinders organizational effectiveness and personal mental health. Based on positive psychology, courage can be considered a protective factor that buffers the adverse effect of high-risk surroundings on employees. However, little is known about the way courage is simulated or evaluated in response to safety concerns. Virtual reality (VR) is an accessible tool for courage simulation due to its immersive qualities, presence and interactive features and may provide a promising pathway to achieve a scientific, accurate and ecologically valid evaluation of high-risk employees.

Methods

The sample consisted of 51 high-risk employees who were recruited voluntarily. Before and after experiencing the VR courage scenarios, the participants completed the VR features questionnaire, the Physical Courage at Work Scale (PCWS), the Courage Measure (CM), and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). During the process of watching the VR courage scenarios, the participants’ heart rate and skin conductance at resting-state baseline and during virtual courage scenarios were recorded through HTC VIVE Pro Eye and BioGraph Infiniti 8.

Results

The results support the hypothesis and reveal that the interaction, immersion and presence scores of the scenarios were all significantly higher than the median 4 points. The score for the CM in the posttest was significantly higher than that in the pretest. The scared and afraid scores for the posttest were significantly higher than those for the pretest. The heart rate and skin conductance of each scenario showed an increase compared with the baseline. The Pearson’s correlation between physiological indicators and the score of the PCWS was 0.28~0.54.

Conclusion

This study developed virtual courage for high-risk occupations based on well-established theory and VR technology. Experimental data revealed that the paradigm conformed to the requirements of VR features and was able to activate fear and evoke the quality of courage. Thus, the virtual courage paradigms have good validity in simulating scenarios for high-risk employees, which might accelerate organizational effectiveness while buffering working stress.

Habits of courage: Reconceptualizing risk in social movement organizing

We examine the types of risk that organizers seeking to build people-based political power take and describe how organizers cultivate habits of courage in themselves and others to regularly confront these risks. While prior literature emphasizes the degree of risk (high vs. low), we identify and elaborate two qualitatively different types of risk: internal and external. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 88 movement organizers in six states, we found that organizers operating in different issue domains and geographies all cultivated three practices to confront risk: (a) confronting painful experiences to overcome feelings of powerlessness, (b) mastering their own stories and vulnerabilities as a necessary precondition to recruiting others, and (c) holding themselves and others accountable to public commitments.

World Health Organization Chief Nursing Officer Elizabeth Iro in interview: the COVID-19 pandemic, and nursing and midwifery challenges and qualities

In an interview, World Health Organization Chief Nursing Officer Elizabeth Iro reflected on nursing during the COVID‐19 pandemic and how nurses have risen to the challenges they have faced. Despite the cancellation of virtually all the activities planned to mark 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, she believes that nurses’ leadership, courage, compassion, commitment and expertise have been revealed to the world like never before. However, it is critical to nurture and support the next generation of nurses so that they can help to bring about the necessary reforms for health systems around the world.

Hunt Trials as a Measure to Assess Level of Training in Boarhounds

Simple Summary

Hunting dogs have been bred for centuries to assist people in their hunting activities. They possess excellent instincts and fitness. Evaluating the skills of hunting dogs is an important source of knowledge on how to use the hunting potential of dogs along with their training. Hunting trials consist of competitions that reflect different hunting situations. The results of the hunt trials of the boarhounds showed that there is a link between factors such as sex, age, breed group and breed and the performance of dogs. Boarhounds learn obedience easily, but they should practice other skills, such as tracking and announcing the game. Among different breed groups of boarhounds, the best performing ones were dachshunds.

Abstract

Boarhounds are hunting dogs bred for hunting wild boar, including terriers, dachshunds, and hounds. Hunt trials evaluate the individual hunting potential and trainability of the boarhounds in ten different competitions. The aim of this study was to determine the factors influencing the hunt trials for boarhounds in a large cohort of hunting dogs. The analysis was conducted based on the results of hunt trials for boarhounds conducted in 2005–2015. The database contained 1867 individuals belonging to 39 breeds. Effects of sex, age, breed group, and breed were estimated by non-parametric analysis of variance. Sex influenced (p < 0.01) the total score, and in almost all competitions dogs performed better than bitches. Age affected (p < 0.01 or p < 0.05) all competitions, indicating that the dogs perform better with age. The results analyzed by the breed group showed that the dachshunds performed better in courage (p < 0.01) and searching (p < 0.05). Breed influenced (p < 0.01) almost all scores except obedience and tracking on the lead. The best performing breed was Alpine Dachsbracke. In conclusion, all analyzed factors influenced the results of the hunt trials. The factors with the largest impact were breed and age, which reflect both the hunting potential and the level of training of the boarhounds.

Courage, Justice, and Practical Wisdom as Key Virtues in the Era of COVID-19

Fowers et al. (2017) recently made a general argument for virtues as the characteristics necessary for individuals to flourish, given inherent human limitations. For example, people can flourish by developing the virtue of friendship as they navigate the inherent (healthy) human dependency on others. This general argument also illuminates a pathway to flourishing during the COVID-19 pandemic, the risks of which have induced powerful fears, exacerbated injustices, and rendered life and death decisions far more common. Contexts of risk and fear call for the virtue of courage. Courage has emerged more powerfully as a central virtue among medical personnel, first responders, and essential workers. Longstanding inequalities have been highlighted during the pandemic, calling for the virtue of justice. When important personal and public health decisions must be made, the central virtue of practical wisdom comes to the fore. Wise decisions and actions incorporate the recognition of relevant moral concerns and aims, as well as responding in fitting and practical ways to the specifics of the situation. Practicing courage, justice, and practical wisdom illuminates a path to flourishing, even in a pandemic.

Courage, Career Adaptability, and Readiness as Resources to Improve Well-Being during the University-to-Work Transition in Italy

College students approaching a university degree can experience a critical period in their career development path that could affect their well-being. The main aim of this study was to examine the role of courage, career adaptability, and professional readiness as protective factors toward life satisfaction and flourishing during the university-to-work transition. These psychosocial resources could be useful to cope with the recent transformations of the labor market. The study involved 352 Italian university students (M = 100; F = 252), aged from 21 to 29 years (M = 23.57; SD = 2.37), attending the last year of their degree course. The results of the mediation analysis showed that courage plays a mediating role between career transition readiness and career adaptability, on one hand, with well-being indicators as outcomes. The results are discussed, providing some suggestions on practical implications for career interventions to support college students during the university-to-work transition.

Experiences of Space and Time in the Covid-19 Pandemic: Letter From Bilbao

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a global phenomenon with powerful effects. The deaths and suffering, and the measures taken to mitigate the propagation, are changing the way we relate, work, and enjoy ourselves. The psychological impact on individuals and groups can only be partially known yet, but deserves examination. We focus on the specific place where we live: the city of Bilbao in northern Spain. The response of its people could represent an example of the COVID-19 experience and its effects, and some aspects might be generalized elsewhere. This paper reflects on the influence of the pandemic on some relevant social dimensions: personal and public spaces, affected by estrangement, time, subject to a slower pace, which pushes us into a different contact with our internal world. It also addresses a social vision of the pandemic as a punishment for our errors in the socio-economic and environmental fields, the role of uncertainty that generates strong defensive movements at the group level, and the expressions of personal and group courage throughout the process. The intensity of the pandemic in Bilbao and many parts of the world still prevents reflection on the long-term effects, which will have to be investigated in the future.

Predictors of caring ability and its dimensions among nurses in China: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Caring is an essential component of professional nursing practice, which directly affects the quality of patient care. Nurses' caring ability may not meet patients' demands for high-quality care. There are challenges in designing and implementing interventions to improve nurses' caring ability, especially in China. Understanding Chinese nurses' caring ability and related influential factors serves as the basis for effective interventions to improve their ability to care for patients.

AIM

To describe the caring ability of nurses and its potential predictors in China.

METHODS

From January to February 2018, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 2304 Registered Nurses working at different levels of hospitals across 29 provinces in China. The structured online survey included socio-demographic information, Caring Ability Inventory, Caring Efficacy Scale and Professional Quality of Life. Descriptive statistics, univariate analyses and multivariate analyses were conducted.

RESULTS

Overall caring ability and its three dimensions of the participants were all significantly lower than the Nkongho' norm, an international scoring standard of nurse's caring ability. Age, employment type, workplace, caring efficacy, compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary traumatic stress were predictors of knowing, explaining 41.8% of the variance. Predictors of courage were educational level, bereavement experience, caring efficacy, compassion satisfaction and burnout (31.7% of the variance). Educational level, workplace, exposure to critically ill patients, caring efficacy, compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary traumatic stress were influencing factors of patience, accounting for 19.5% of the variance.

CONCLUSIONS

Chinese nurses' caring ability, with patience, knowing, and courage in descending order. Particular attention needs to be paid to the courage dimension of the nurses' caring ability. Further, the predictors of overall caring ability and each dimension were diverse. These results indicate that nurse educators and administrators need to identify training priorities and design targeted interventions based on the influencing factors.

Relationship Between Passion and Courage among the Experienced Male Soccer Players

Background

The nature of the relationship between passion and courage and its influence on soccer performance has yet to be revealed. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine passion attributes (i.e. harmonious and obsessive inclinations) among male soccer players in relation to the level of courageous characteristics (i.e. mastery, determination, assertiveness, venturesome and sacrificial behaviour), other demographic and player characteristics.

Methods

Data were collected from 278 male soccer players aged 13–38 years (mean [M] = 17.42 ± 4.36) with the number of competitive soccer experiences ranging from 1–28 years (M = 7.51 ± 4.23 years). Participants had at least a year of experience in the sport of soccer completed the validated passion scale, sports courage scale and demographic form.

Results

Analyses revealed that soccer players with higher levels of total courage (P < 0.001), have more experience in soccer (P = 0.011), and their soccer level being professional (P < 0.001) had a significantly higher score in harmonious passion. There was no significant difference in obsessive passion among different level of total courage (P = 0.154). However, soccer players with more experience (P = 0.011) and higher soccer level being professional (P < 0.001) demonstrated a significant higher score in obsessive passion.

Conclusion

In conclusion, soccer players with higher harmonious and obsessive passionate attributes had higher courage (except for mastery). In addition, the courageous and passionate traits of the soccer players played meaningful roles in indicating individual and performance variables.

Concepts of courage and resilience in nursing: A proposed conceptual model

Background: To overcome the challenges of delivering patient care in the twenty-first century, it is essential to foster the professional and personal qualities of courage and resilience in the nursing workforce. The logical place to do so is in nursing education and training.Objectives/Hypotheses: This paper discusses the constructs of courage and resilience in nursing and the application of the constructs in nursing education.Design: This is a discussion article drawing on the relevant literature and the professional experiences of the authors to develop a conceptual model for teaching courage and resilience.Results: To promote nursing students' coping strategies and their general well-being, nurse educators should foster resilience and courage through various educational interventions.Conclusion: The proposed conceptual model shows that nurse educators should train nurses to be more resilient and courageous in order to promote patient safety, handle the demands of the profession, and function as advocates for the discipline.

Entrepreneurs' Courage, Psychological Capital, and Life Satisfaction

Entrepreneurship involves numerous risks and uncertainties. Positive psychological resources such as courage, as well as confidence, hope, optimism, and resilience (collectively referred to as psychological capital), can be valuable for entrepreneurs. This study examines that relationship between entrepreneurs' courage, psychological capital, and life satisfaction. Results show that entrepreneurs' courage is related to their life satisfaction, even after accounting for various characteristics of the entrepreneur (demographics and human capital) and the venture (venture size and survival). Moreover, psychological capital fully mediates the relationship between courage and life satisfaction. This is the first study to investigate courage empirically in the context of entrepreneurship, and one of a few studies to apply PsyCap in the entrepreneurial context. It is also the first study to jointly examine courage, PsyCap, and life satisfaction. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Within the heart's darkness: The role of emotions in Arendt's political thought

Interest in the political relevance of the emotions is growing rapidly. In light of this, Hannah Arendt's claim that the emotions are apolitical has come under renewed fire. But many critics have misunderstood her views on the relationship between individuals, emotions and the political. This paper addresses this issue by reconstructing the conceptual framework through which Arendt understands the emotions. Arendt often describes the heart - where the emotions reside - as a place of darkness. I begin by tracing this metaphor through her work to demonstrate that it is meant to convey the inherently uncertain nature of emotions rather than a devaluation of them. I proceed to challenge the notion that Arendt adopts the Enlightenment dichotomy between reason and emotion. In fact, she rejects both as a basis for politics. However, she does identify some constructive roles for the emotions. I argue that fear is intrinsically connected to courage - the principal political virtue - in Arendt's philosophy. In light of my discussion, I then reinterpret the role of compassion and pity in On Revolution, concluding that Arendt's insights can help us avoid the potential pitfalls of the contemporary project to recuperate the emotions in politics.

Regional variation in courage and entrepreneurship: The contrasting role of courage for the emergence and survival of start-ups in the United States

OBJECTIVE

There is growing evidence that certain regional personality differences function as important drivers of regional economic development (e.g., via effects on entrepreneurship and innovation activity). The present investigation examines the impact that regional variation in the trait courage has on entrepreneurship.

METHOD

Using data from a new large-scale internet-based study, we provide the first psychological map of courage across the United States (N = 390,341 respondents from 283 U.S. metropolitan regions). We apply regression analyses to relate regional courage scores to archival data on the emergence and survival of start-ups across American regions.

RESULTS

Our mapping approach reveals comparatively high levels of regional courage in the Eastern and Southern regions of the United States. Regional courage scores were positively related to entrepreneurial activity, but negatively related to start-up survival-even when controlling for a wide variety of standard economic predictors. Several robustness checks corroborated these results. Finally, regional differences in economic risk-taking accounted for significant proportions of variance in the relationship between regional courage and entrepreneurship.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that regional courage may contribute to a pattern of enterprising and also risky economic behavior, which can lead to high levels of entrepreneurial activity but also shorter start-up survival.

The Trickle-Down Effect of Leaders' Pro-social Rule Breaking: Joint Moderating Role of Empowering Leadership and Courage

Based on social learning theory and humanistic cognitive behaviorism theory, this study examined the trickle-down effect of leader PSRB and its boundary conditions. We proposed a three-way interaction of leader PSRB, empowering leadership, and follower courage to predict follower PSRB. Data were collected from 174 leader-follower dyads. Multiple moderated regressions (MMR) revealed that leader PSRB was positively related to follower PSRB, and that the effect was stronger under conditions of high empowering leadership or high courage. A three-way interaction effect suggested that the positive relationship between leader PSRB and follower PSRB was strongest when both empowering leadership and courage were high. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Role of nursing leadership in providing compassionate care

This article encourages nurses to explore the concept of leadership in the constantly changing field of health and social care. All nurses have an important role in leadership, and they should consider what type of leader they want to be and what leadership skills they might wish to develop. This article examines what leadership might involve, exploring various leadership styles and characteristics and how these could be applied in nurses' practice. A core component of nursing and nursing leadership is the ability to provide compassionate care. This could correspond with the idea of servant leadership, an approach that moves the leader from a position of power to serving the team and supporting individuals to develop their potential.

6Cs and ten commitments: nurses' understanding and use of courage

Aim This article reports the initial findings of a study that explored nurses' understanding of courage, in the context of the 6Cs and the Leading Change, Adding Value framework. The aim was to explore how nurses' understanding of courage can inform future practice, thus enabling preparation and support for nurses' use of courage in practice settings, and to enhance understanding of their use of it in everyday professional practice. Method The study used unstructured interviews in a grounded-theory approach, in which a theory is constructed by analysing data, underpinned with epistemology of social constructionism, a theory that examines shared assumptions about reality. Twelve qualified nurses were interviewed in depth about their understanding of courage in professional practice. A literature review was also undertaken. Results Nurses discussed their understanding of courage in terms of being in a situation they do not want to be in, speaking up and taking risks. Conclusion Understanding nurses' view of courage and its influence on practice can inform future recruitment and retention policies and practice, thus preparing and supporting nurses in the use of courage in practice settings.

Wisdom in professional knowledge: Why it can be valuable to listen to the voices of senior psychotherapists

OBJECTIVE

To explore the nature of professional wisdom, through learning from the experiences of a group of highly experienced senior therapists.

METHOD

Twelve senior psychotherapists took part in qualitative in-depth interviews about their professional role and their views around a range of aspects of therapy theory and practice. Interview transcripts were subjected to thematic analysis.

RESULTS

The analysis yielded nine wisdom themes, clustered within three domains. Each domain represented efforts to resolve dilemmas arising from the experience of being a therapist, around the use of theory in psychotherapy practice, the type of therapeutic relationship that is most helpful for clients, and the experience of therapeutic failure.

CONCLUSIONS

Therapist wisdom can be viewed as a form of contextualized knowledge, which functions as a source of emergent insights that arise as responses to the limitations of prevailing ways of thinking. Research into the nature of therapist wisdom draws attention to sources of knowledge within philosophy and the humanities that have the potential to enhance therapy practice and contribute to our understanding of therapist expertise.

Power's Presence in Nurse Education

The notion of power has long been discussed in literature. There continues to exist a vast number of ideas as to what power really is and means. The author here discusses some early notions of power from the philosophical literature where there is debate as to whether power is innate or earned and bestowed upon persons. The potential for power as well as powers need for support from others is then examined in light of the nursing educational arena. Parse's humanbecoming school of thought also enlightens beliefs on power through the teaching-learning model as well as within the third principle of humanbecoming. These humanbecoming aspects are discussed regarding their presence or role in nursing academia. The column concludes with the notion that possibly the most important power possessed by all is the power to choose.

Encouraging the Disuse of Illicit Drugs Among At-Risk Youth

Youth at risk of illicit drug abuse and other delinquent acts are the target of social work services. Preventing or discouraging the use of illicit drugs among at-risk youth is a long-standing practical and research concern. For this reason, the preventive function of courage is a research gap the present study seeks to fill. The study collected data from 169 at-risk youths and their social workers with two-wave panel surveys. Results show that courage in Wave 1 presented a strong negative effect on illicit drug use in Wave 2 in the youth, controlling for illicit drug use in Wave 1 and background characteristics. Moreover, the negative effect was stronger when Wave 1 drug use was more likely. These results imply the helpfulness of encouraging at-risk youth to gather courage to resist the temptation to use illicit drugs.

Concept analysis of moral courage in nursing: A hybrid model

BACKGROUND

Moral courage is one of the most fundamental virtues in the nursing profession, however, little attention has been paid to it. As a result, no exact and clear definition of moral courage has ever been accessible.

OBJECTIVE

This study is carried out for the purposes of defining and clarifying its concept in the nursing profession.

METHODS

This study used a hybrid model of concept analysis comprising three phases, namely, a theoretical phase, field work phase, and a final analysis phase. To find relevant literature, electronic search of valid databases was utilized using keywords related to the concept of courage. Field work data were collected over an 11 months' time period from 2013 to 2014. In the field work phase, in-depth interviews were performed with 10 nurses. The conventional content analysis was used in two theoretical and field work phases using Graneheim and Lundman stages, and the results were combined in the final analysis phase. Ethical consideration: Permission for this study was obtained from the ethics committee of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Oral and written informed consent was received from the participants.

RESULTS

From the sum of 750 gained titles in theoretical phase, 26 texts were analyzed. The analysis resulted in 494 codes in text analysis and 226 codes in interview analysis. The literature review in the theoretical phase revealed two features of inherent-transcendental characteristics, two of which possessed a difficult nature. Working in the field phase added moral self-actualization characteristic, rationalism, spiritual beliefs, and scientific-professional qualifications to the feature of the concept.

CONCLUSION

Moral courage is a pure and prominent characteristic of human beings. The antecedents of moral courage include model orientation, model acceptance, rationalism, individual excellence, acquiring academic and professional qualification, spiritual beliefs, organizational support, organizational repression, and internal and external personal barriers. Professional excellence resulting from moral courage can be crystallized in the form of provision of professional care, creating peace of mind, and the nurse's decision making and proper functioning.

Integrating the 6Cs of nursing into mentorship practice

Nurses and midwives are asked to demonstrate the 6Cs (care, compassion, competence, communication, courage and commitment) of nursing in 'everything we do'. Mentors have a crucial role in the provision of health care and in educating nurses and midwives. This article aims to provide guidance to mentors on how to integrate the 6Cs into their mentorship practice, when mentoring pre-registration nursing and midwifery students. It emphasises the importance for mentors of role modelling in relation to the 6Cs. Addressing each of the 6Cs in turn, the article outlines strategies that may be used in mentorship practice to endorse the 6Cs with pre-registration students. The article concludes by considering the mentor's role in robust assessment of the 6Cs.

Not all effort is equal: the role of the anterior cingulate cortex in different forms of effort-reward decisions

The rat anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) mediates effort-based decision making when the task requires the physical effort of climbing a ramp. Normal rats will readily climb a barrier leading to high reward whereas rats with ACC lesions will opt instead for an easily obtained small reward. The present study explored whether the role of ACC in cost-benefit decisions extends beyond climbing by testing its role in ramp climbing as well as two novel cost-benefit decision tasks, one involving the physical effort of lifting weights and the other the emotional cost of overcoming fear (i.e., “courage”). As expected, rats with extensive ACC lesions tested on a ramp-climbing task were less likely to choose a high-reward/high-effort arm than sham controls. However, during the first few trials, lesioned rats were as likely as controls to initially turn into the high-reward arm (HRA) but far less likely to actually climb the barrier, suggesting that the role of the ACC is not in deciding which course of action to pursue, but rather in maintaining a course of action in the face of countervailing forces. In the effort-reward decision task involving weight lifting, some lesion animals behaved like controls while others avoided the HRA. However, the results were not statistically significant and a follow-up study using incremental increasing effort failed to show any difference between lesion and control groups. The results suggest that the ACC is not needed for effort-reward decisions involving weight lifting but may affect motor abilities. Finally, a courage task explored the willingness of rats to overcome the fear of crossing an open, exposed arm to obtain a high reward. Both sham and ACC-lesioned animals exhibited equal tendencies to enter the open arm. However, whereas sham animals gradually improved on the task, ACC-lesioned rats did not. Taken together, the results suggest that the role of the ACC in effort-reward decisions may be limited to certain tasks.

Development of sport courage scale

While theory and practice of sport have much to say about fear, stress and anxiety, they have little to say about courage. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop a Sport Courage Scale. Data were collected from two groups of male and female athletes aged from 13 to 22 in different individual and team sports. The first set of data (N = 380) was analyzed by exploratory factor analysis, and the second set of data (N = 388) was analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis. Analyses revealed a 5-factor structure of Sport Courage Scale that supported factorial validity and reliability of scale scores. These factors were labelled: "Determination", "Mastery", "Assertiveness", "Venturesome", and "Self-Sacrifice Behaviour". Finally, evidence of test-retest reliability of scale scores was supported based on responses from 75 athletes. However, more research is needed to further improve the Sport Courage Scale.

Continuing education module the courage to birth

Childbirth educator Kathryn McGrath reflects on fear and courage and comes to see some levels of fear as a normal part of the process of pregnancy and birth and not something to be brushed aside. In this article, originally presented as a keynote address in 2005 at the Lamaze International Annual Conference, McGrath discusses fear during pregnancy and birth and presents ways in which the childbirth educator can acknowledge and accept women's fears, and help find the courage they need to give birth.

"You might belong in Gryffindor": children's courage and its relationships to anxiety symptoms, big five personality traits, and sex roles

This study describes a first exploration of the construct of courage in youths. Children aged 8-13 years were invited to report on the most courageous action that they had ever performed during their life. In addition, the Courage Measure for Children (CM-C) was construed as an index of children's level of personal courage, and this scale was administered in two samples of school children (Ns being 168 and 159) along with a number of other questionnaires. Results indicated that children were familiar with the concept of courage as more than 70% reported to have carried out a courageous action during their life. In addition, self-reported courage as indexed by the CM-C was positively correlated with scores on a vignette measure of courage, parent ratings of children's courage, extraversion, openness/intellect, and a masculine sex role, whereas a negative correlation was observed with anxiety symptoms. The implications of these findings and potential directions for future research are briefly discussed.

Fear and Courage in Children: Two Sides of the Same Coin?

This study further investigated the construct of courage in children. Children aged 8-13 years (n = 51) were interviewed about the most courageous action that they had ever performed during their life, and to retrospectively rate their level of fear and courage experienced during that event. On a separate occasion, children also completed the Courage Measure for Children (CM-C) as an index of children's general level of personal courage, as well as scales for assessing anxiety symptoms and sensation seeking. Results indicated that almost all children (i.e., 94%) indicated that they had carried out a courageous action at some point during their life, although the levels of fear and courage associated with these acts varied considerably. Further, there was no relation between fear and courage reported for the courageous action, but these variables were significantly correlated with respectively anxiety symptoms and personal courage as indexed by the CM-C. Finally, a significant positive correlation was observed between sensation seeking and personal courage, indicating that children who are more thrill and adventure seeking are generally also more courageous. It is concluded that fear and courage in children are largely unrelated and not just two sides of the same coin. The implications of these results for the etiology and treatment of childhood anxiety problems are discussed.