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To examine the lived experiences of the biological adult daughters of women with breast cancer.

Family systems theory and phenomenology were used to guide this exploratory, qualitative study. Qualitative data were collected via one-time, semi-structured interviews with adult daughters of women with breast cancer.

Predominant themes included: close mother–daughter relationships, untimely disclosure of information, attentive fathers, optimistic outlooks, and influences on participants’ intimate relationships. Perceived strong familial and intimate relationships prior to breast cancer diagnosis helped ensure that mother–daughter relationships would remain strong, or even improve. Fathers’ attentiveness to mothers was pivotal in determining positive and negative attributes in daughters’ own intimate relationships.

Based on the findings from this study, family scientists and healthcare professionals may have a better understanding of the patients’ young adult daughters’ concerns throughout breast cancer treatment and follow up.

Daughters may be at a loss when their mothers are diagnosed with breast cancer. Healthcare professionals can be equipped to recognize these signs when meeting with patients and families, offer suggestions for family members’ coping, and encourage daughters to consider their own breast cancer risk and screening.

This study will provide a new insight into the experiences of daughters of women with breast cancer, and help family and health professionals understand how to support the relatives of breast cancer patients.

This chapter explores the relationships between 12 single mothers with breast cancer and their children, a subtheme of a larger qualitative study.

Qualitative data were collected via interviews. The study used the ecological systems theoretical framework to explain findings.

In speaking with women about how they constructed and altered their social networks post-diagnosis, many talked about their relationships with their children. This chapter explains how these mothers discussed their diagnoses with their children in age-appropriate ways; how they relied on their children during treatment for informational and emotional support; and how relationships with their children changed during treatment and recovery.

Based on findings from this study, family scientists, public health professionals, and oncology care providers may have a better understanding of the specific concerns and experiences related to the children of breast cancer patients without partners.

This study yields new information about the support needs of single breast cancer patients and their children, and offers insight into what researchers and medical teams can do to better support families affected by breast cancer.

Based on data drawn from ten cohorts of students successfully completing a first degree, this paper examines Government higher education (HE) policy and changes in its effects in practice over a period of ten years until 2008. In 1998, Government policy on HE was set to make HE more inclusive of previously under‐represented groups. These groups included students from semi‐skilled or unskilled family backgrounds and from socially deprived localities. By the year 2010, a target was set to have 50 per cent of 18‐30 year‐old individuals experiencing HE. Educational standards were to be maintained. Another identified under‐represented group was students with disabilities. This paper addresses the relationship between HE policy and its effects in practice in relation to both groups. Changes in the numbers and the first degree results of cohorts of successful male and female students with and without disabilities were analysed annually between the years 1998/99 (Cohort 1) and 2007/8 (Cohort 10). The numbers and the first degree results of successful disabled (nine categories of disability) and non‐disabled male and female students were analysed. To date, results from an overall total of 2,588,792 successful students have been examined. A Government announcement in the autumn of 2009 limited access to first degree courses. Has a metaphorical “end of the line” towards greater inclusion in HE been reached?

The paper presents and analyses quantitative data on student perceptions about the employability of the first degree, and their trajectory choices on graduation. The purpose of this paper is to assess the value of the first degree as a positional good in Portugal, further to the degree’s reduced duration after the implementation of the Bologna Process.

In total, 828 students responded to an online survey administered between September 2013 and February 2014. Students came from 17 institutions, public and private, universities and polytechnics, across the country. Differences in student perceptions were analysed by higher education sector, study level and gender through descriptive statistics.

The majority of surveyed students, across sectors, study level and gender, assessed as negative the impact of the implementation of the Bologna reforms on the employability of the first degree. This had implications for students’ intended choices on graduation, as the majority consider enroling in a master degree (except for polytechnic students). Additionally, a large proportion of students felt unprepared to enter the labour market after the first degree.

The size and distribution of the sample pose limitations for the generalisation of results to the student population.

The finding suggest that enrolments in master degrees are likely to keep rising, a valuable piece of information for institutions and policy-makers responsible for regulating higher education in Portugal.

Opinions about the value of the first degree have generally been based on qualitative research or anecdotal evidence. This study brings a quantitative perspective on the first degree’s value for different groups of students.

One hundred and thirty‐one patients came to the Institute of Biological Psychiatry at Bangor, accompanied by 161 healthy blood relatives, spouses and friends. A history was taken and a diagnosis of schizophrenia was made using DSM IIIR criteria. The patients were examined to see if they had any concurrent physical disease. Venous blood samples were taken for measurements of chemical constituents believed to be involved in schizophrenia. The population of patients is described, and the views of the patients and their relatives were noted. Recommendations are made about how provision for patients might be improved.

Women’s understanding of familial aspects of breast cancer was examined using both focus groups and interviews. The studies covered issues related to perceptions of breast cancer risk factors, perceived breast cancer risk, understanding of risk information, and family history of breast cancer as a risk factor. Study 1 consisted of four focus group discussions with women from the general community. Study 2 comprised ten face‐to‐face interviews with women who had a family history of breast cancer. The results in combination indicate a fairly high level of awareness of family history as a risk factor for breast cancer. However, the definition of a familial history of breast cancer differed between the groups, with those without a family history being more inclusive than those with such a history. The paper concludes with suggestions for use by those developing resources materials for those with a familial history of breast cancer.

The most highly qualified occupational group, comprising individuals who work primarily in activities involving high levels of technical and organisational skills, is focused on. It is a group which, overall, has shown remarkable growth in recent years. Certain specialisms, such as IT skills, experienced relatively buoyant labour markets which even transcended the effects of the last major recession. In the main, such skills were associated with unusual demand conditions, caused, for example, by the diffusion of microelectronics and by the changes in company organisation and management. Since the recession, specific skill shortages have been transformed into more general shortfalls. Demand for individuals with high levels of formal education and training is expected to continue growing. Supply is not expected to keep pace, a situation which will be aggravated by the downturn in the youth cohort. There are other significant events on the horizon which make the market outcome more uncertain, such as the movement to the Single European Market in 1992, although none of these factors seems likely to reverse the conclusion of persistent shortages.

The purpose of this paper is to study gender differentials in scientific productivity while looking at academic discipline and advisor practices. The natural sciences and the liberal arts are shown to constitute two organisational cultures which affect the ability of women to attain excellence on a par with men.

The empirical study is based on a sample of 660 doctoral students in two universities in Israel. Regression procedures were employed to predict productivity.

There is a slight gender gap in scientific productivity, but only in single‐authored papers. This suggests that publishing together with an advisor – which is the common practice in the natural sciences – is more conducive to gender parity. Students' reports suggest that their advisors evince little differential treatment of men versus women, thereby ruling out the possibility of overt advisor bias against women. Overall, the natural sciences appear to be more supportive of students' success while the liberal arts seem to challenge students to struggle on their own, putting women in greater jeopardy of suffering family‐work tensions.

Universities need to appreciate the disciplinary differences within them and help students to get greater support in the “natural selection” mechanisms that are often unconsciously employed in higher education.

This paper adds an important angle in appreciating currently dominant approaches to work‐family balances while focusing on unintended exclusionary mechanisms embedded in the standards and culture of different scientific disciplines.

This paper is motivated by the absence of rules that govern the practice of corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the corporate governance factors that impact the quality of CSRD. This study further examines the moderating role of family ownership and educational qualifications of female directors on the relation between board gender diversity and CSRD quality.

This study adopts a sample of 94 non-financial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange to collect data on CSRD based on a checklist of 41 items for seven years from 2010–2016. The quality of CSRD is measured using a four-dimensional method that encompasses relative quantity, disclosure intensity, degree of accuracy and management outlook.

This study finds that CSRD quality is far from satisfactory in Jordan. The results also suggest that board size, auditor type, company size and profitability are positively associated with CSRD quality. On the other hand, factors such as chief executive officer duality, board diversity, ownership concentration and financial leverage are negatively associated with CSRD quality. In addition, the results of the empirical analysis suggest that the negative relationship between the quality of CSRD and the presence of female board members is stronger for family-owned companies. By contrast, the negative relationship between the quality of CSRD and the presence of female board members is weakened when the company has more educated, skilled and qualified female directors.

The originality of this study is manifested in the development of a quantitative measurement of CSRD quality.