Implementing a new lifelong learning paradigm is hardly possible by only increasing the number of educational resources and using more information and communication technology. It should be based on promoting educational actors’ critical awareness of the educational context and their autonomy. This paper reveals the potential of educational actors’ autonomy as a core value of lifelong learning....

The concept of personal autonomy in contemporary moral and political philosophy is broadly associated with an agent's self-determining or self-governing capacities. However, scholars have long criticized the tendency to idealize overtly atomistic asocial manner, for example by assuming that autonomous individuals are totally independent decision-makers unaffected interpersonal ties. Feminist ph...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS We hypothesized that personal characteristics of residents may affect how well competency is attained in a surgical residency. To this end, we examined two concepts of global trait emotional intelligence and learner autonomy profile and their factor relationship with competency outcomes in a residency program in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. STUDY DESIGN A cohort...

While in most countries suicide is no longer a crime, it is also acknowledged that the state has an interest in the preservation of human life, the prevention of suicide, and the protection of vulnerable persons from harming themselves. In a civil, secular and democratic society, however, the public law principle of state protective powers has to be balanced against the private law principle of...

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic services have generated enormous controversy from their first emergence. A dramatic recent manifestation of this is the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) cease and desist order against 23andMe, the leading provider in the market. Critics have argued for the restrictive regulation of such services, and even their prohibition, on the grounds of the harm they po...

OBJECTIVES Male partners are often involved in induced abortion although they have no legal rights. It is, however, unknown how women's thoughts and feelings regarding the decision for abortion are associated with the decisional experiences of the involved male partners and vice versa. METHODS Flemish women and their involved male partners (IMP) filled out a questionnaire on abortion motives ...