Since the Coronavirus health emergency was declared, many are the fake news that have circulated around this topic, including rumours, conspiracy theories and myths. According to the World Economic Forum, fake news is one of the threats in today's societies, since this type of information circulates fast and is often inaccurate and misleading. Moreover, fake-news are far more shared than evidence-based news among social media users and thus, this can potentially lead to decisions that do not consider the individual’s best interest. Drawing from this evidence, the present study aims at comparing the type of Tweets and Sina Weibo posts regarding COVID-19 that contain either false or scientific veracious information. To that end 1923 messages from each social media were retrieved, classified and compared. Results show that there is more false news published and shared on Twitter than in Sina Weibo, at the same time science-based evidence is more shared on Twitter than in Weibo but less than false news. This stresses the need to find effective practices to limit the circulation of false information.

The science of dialogic teaching and learning has especially flourished over the last four decades across age-groups, cultures, and contexts. A wide array of studies has examined the uniqueness of dialogue as a powerful tool to lead effective instructional practices, transform the socio-cultural context and people's mindsets, among many others. However, despite the efforts to extend the benefits of this approach, certain difficulties exist which have hindered the consolidation of dialogic pedagogies in the classroom. This review discusses the implications for social impact of the scientific developments on dialogic teaching and learning. Particularly, an overview of the state of the art on dialogic education is presented. Social improvements in academic attainment and social cohesion are some of the fundamental issues discussed. Those are especially relevant to address crucial needs in education and solve some of the most pressing social problems. A communicative mix-methods approach emerges as one of the critical aspects of this field of research in educational psychology to achieve social impact. Some limitations, such as teachers sustaining different forms of monologic discourse, and challenges for a broader impact are discussed in this review.

Ageism has a tremendous negative impact on elderly persons and society. Discrimination against the elderly is a driver of health and social inequalities. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed new social and health challenges regarding resource scarcity and shortfalls. Under these difficult circumstances, discourses excluding, and discrimination against, older people have aroused. This article gathers evidence on hospital healthcare experiences of older people infected by COVID-19 during the pandemic outbreak in Spain and it analyzes elements that have positively influenced older patients’ perceived health and well-being. We conducted nine qualitative in-depth interviews in Madrid—one of the regions of Spain most affected by COVID-19—with older people that were hospitalized and recovered from COVID-19, family members of old patients infected with COVID-19, and nurses that attended infected older patients. Findings show the challenging experiences faced by older people who were hospitalized due to COVID-19, on the one hand, and the relevance of transformative aspects related to family relationships, solidarity actions, and humanized care that overcame age discrimination, favoring social and equity healthcare for the elderly on the other hand.

Despite the long dialogical tradition both in Eastern and Western societies, in recent years the social dialogical turn is more and more evident in many domains of life. Citizens increasingly demand to have a saying in the seeking of solutions for their problematics, and advocate for a more democratic approach to science that fosters the inclusion of all voices and enhances the agency of citizens in social transformation. Therefore, global scientific research is progressively more oriented towards co-creation as a means to ensure social impact. In this context, social theory can provide the theoretical foundations to better address the societal challenges of concern, as well as the mechanisms to properly design research oriented to produce social impact, such as communicative methodology, and to monitor and evaluate such impact. Social theory would then serve its ultimate goal: to contribute to the improvement of societies. Sociology was born as part of the democracies to provide citizens with elements of analysis that would make it possible for them to make their decisions with the prior evidence of the consequences of each option. After a process of democratization, we return to the original sense, but now in a more democratic situation.

Background: Men who develop behaviors connected with the model of hegemonic masculinity present several health problems. Previous research has shown the types of problems that men commonly suffer in this regard such as chronic diseases, dietary disorders, and traffic accidents. To combat and overcome this situation, several campaigns, policies and recommendations have been undertaken, and consequently, their influence has been analyzed. However, there have been few investigations into the role of men’s friendship in the reduction of these physical health problems. The findings presented in this article are focused on this issue, illustrating the impact of male friendship on the shaping of healthy behaviors. Methods: Drawing upon a qualitative-based methodology articulated in a case study of the Men in Dialogue association, located in Spain, the study has followed the premises of the communicative approach, a total of 15 structured online open-ended questionnaires have been performed and analyzed. The median age of the participants is 37.5 years. Results: The findings show how men involved in Men in Dialogue are promoting a kind of masculine friendship that is improving men’s emotional well-being and, consequently, their physical health.

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Research has shown that some battered women have incorporated a discourse that victimizes them again as a consequence of the wrong intervention of external agents (friends, social services, legal systems). They, however, can be active subjects of their personal transformation. This study presents how women are empowered through participation in communicative daily life stories (CDLS), where their life experiences are contrasted with the main scientific contributions from violence against women research. It also discusses the way in which the victimizing discourse is made visible and re-elaborated in the dialogue between the researcher and the women being researched. CDLS do not impose a theoretical discourse that women have to accept, but rather provide the space of dialogue with them to discuss the scientific evidences about gender violence.

Bullying among peers in schools is a growing problem affecting children and adolescents from an early age worldwide. The consequences of bullying victimization in the emotional development of children and youth and their academic achievement are adverse for them and the rest of the school community, with its negative impact extending into the mid and long run. The Zero Violence Brave Club is implemented in schools in the framework of the Dialogic Model of Violence Prevention, a successful educational action according to the INCLUD-ED project [Strategies for inclusion and social cohesion in Europe from Education] (6th Framework Program of Research of the European Commission). The Zero Violence Brave Club has decreased peer bullying in schools by establishing and cultivating a culture of zero tolerance to violence in educational centers located in diverse socioeconomic and cultural contexts. This evidence-based intervention is grounded in the principle that only the person who denounces violence suffered by a peer and takes a stand always on the victim's side—and those who support her or him—against the aggressor can be considered brave. This article reports a qualitative study of the Zero Violence Brave Club as a successful intervention in seven schools in Spain. The schools are diverse in terms of public or private ownership, religious or lay background, and population served (different proportions of cultural minorities and students with special needs), challenging the misconception that the impact of educational interventions depends on the context. Interviews were conducted with teachers in the schools implementing the Zero Violence Brave Club in their class, using the communicative methodology of research. The results shed light on specific mechanisms through which the Zero Violence Brave Club prevents and responds to bullying in schools, such as emptying of social attractiveness any aggressive behaviors or attitudes. Benefits on mental health and psychological wellbeing are also reported.