Two questions were investigated: whether cancer patients (n = 32) and staff (n = 30) have different cognitive representations of the concepts 'caring' (Swedish: 'omvårdnad') and 'clinical care' (Swedish: 'vård'), and whether results differ between forced vs. free choice response formats. Two Swedish versions of the CARE-Q instrument were used: (i) a CARE-Q sorting (forced format) and (ii) a CARE-Questionnaire (free format). Four groups of patients and 4 groups of staff completed (i) the forced format/caring, (ii) the forced format/clinical care, (iii) the free format/caring and (iv) the free format/clinical care versions, respectively. Participants were asked to rank the importance of 50 CARE-Q behaviours for the specific method/concept combination. Results demonstrated that neither patients nor staff, to any great extent, valued CARE-Q subscales differently when regarded as examples of 'caring' vs. 'clinical care'. Further, the free vs. forced choice format did not influence patient and staff perceptions of the importance of CARE-Q subscales, except that both groups gave higher values to all subscales in the free choice response format. The assumptions that different cognitive representations of the concepts or the response formats had affected previous CARE-Q results were not substantiated.

Two questions were investigated: whether cancer patients (n = 32) and staff (n = 30) have different cognitive representations of the concepts 'caring' (Swedish: 'omvårdnad') and 'clinical care' (Swedish: 'vård'), and whether results differ between forced vs. free choice response formats. Two Swedish versions of the CARE-Q instrument were used: (i) a CARE-Q sorting (forced format) and (ii) a CARE-Questionnaire (free format). Four groups of patients and 4 groups of staff completed (i) the forced format/caring, (ii) the forced format/clinical care, (iii) the free format/caring and (iv) the free format/clinical care versions, respectively. Participants were asked to rank the importance of 50 CARE-Q behaviours for the specific method/concept combination. Results demonstrated that neither patients nor staff, to any great extent, valued CARE-Q subscales differently when regarded as examples of 'caring' vs. 'clinical care'. Further, the free vs. forced choice format did not influence patient and staff perceptions of the importance of CARE-Q subscales, except that both groups gave higher values to all subscales in the free choice response format. The assumptions that different cognitive representations of the concepts or the response formats had affected previous CARE-Q results were not substantiated.

Two questions were investigated: (1) whether cancer patients (n = 72) and staff (n = 63) have different cognitive representations of the concepts 'caring' (in Swedish: omvårdnad) and 'clinical care' (in Swedish: vård), and (2) whether two different wordings of the response categories used by patients and staff to rank the perceived importance of 50 specific caring behaviors ('Old' response format: 'of importance'--of no importance vs 'New' format: more or less important') in relation to these concepts would produce different results. A Swedish questionnaire version of the CARE-Q instrument was used. Participants were randomized to one of four research conditions: (1) Caring/Old, (2) Caring/New, (3) Clinical care/Old, and (4) Clinical care/New, and asked to rank the importance of the 50 CARE-Q behaviors for that specific concept/response format combination. Results demonstrated that response formats did not affect patient or staff answers. Neither group did to any great extent value CARE-Q behaviors differently when regarded as examples of 'caring' vs 'clinical care'. The assumption that different cognitive representations of the concepts or that a specific wording of response categories had affected previous CARE-Q results was not substantiated.

An understanding of cross-sex friendship patterns can highlight male-female interactions in ways not revealed through investigations of same-sex friendships. Therefore, children's cross-sex friendship choices in two cultures were studied to explore cultureand gender-related biases in the socialization of sex roles. Fifth graders in America and Sweden responded to two sociometric questions about help with schoolwork and secret-sharing. Differences across gender and culture lines provided support for the existence of biases in gender-role training that may differ among cultures. Questions were raised regarding the role of social agents in the development of social cognitions, the amenability to change of traditional sex-typed behaviors, and the differences among cultures that might influence social-cognitive development. The fact that some children make cross-sex choices suggests that socialization practices do not influence all children uniformly. These differences bear further study.

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