Search results for: social harmony
6158 A Systematic Review on Factors/Predictors and Outcomes of Parental Distress in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Authors: Ana Ferraz, Martim Santos, M. Graça Pereira
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Distress among parents of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is common during treatment and can persist several years post-diagnosis, impacting the adjustment of children and parents themselves. Current evidence is needed to examine the scope and nature of parental distress in childhood ALL. This review focused on associated variables, predictors, and outcomes of parental distress following their ALL diagnosis of their child. PubMed, Web of Science, and PsycINFO databases were searched for English and Spanish papers published from 1983 to 2021. PRISMA statement was followed, and papers were evaluated through a standardized methodological quality assessment tool (NHLBI). Of the 28 papers included, 16 were evaluated as fair, eight as good, and four as poor. Regarding results, 11 papers reported subgroup differences, and 15 found potential predictors of parental distress, including sociodemographic, psychosocial, psychological, family, health, and ALL-specific variables. Significant correlations were found between parental distress, social support, illness cognitions, and resilience, as well as contradictory results regarding the impact of sociodemographic variables on parental distress. Family cohesion and caregiver burden were associated with distress, and the use of healthy coping strategies was associated with less anxiety. Caregiver strain contributed to distress, and the overall impact of illness positively predicted anxiety in mothers and somatization in fathers. Differences in parental distress were found regarding group risk, time since diagnosis, and treatment phases. Thirteen papers explored the outcomes of parental distress on psychological, family, health, and social/education outcomes. Parental distress was the most important predictor of family strain. Significant correlations were found between parental distress at diagnosis and further psychological adjustment of parents themselves and their children. Most papers reported correlations between parental distress on children’s adjustment and quality of life, although few studies reported no association. Correlations between maternal depression and child participation in education and social life were also found. Longitudinal studies are needed to better understand parental distress and its consequences on health outcomes, in particular. Future interventions should focus mainly on parents on distress reduction and psychological adjustment, both in parents and children over time.Keywords: childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, family, parental distress, psychological adjustment, quality of life
Procedia PDF Downloads 1116157 Theatre, Tea-Time and Harpsichords: Women’s Entertainment and Sensibility in Eighteenth-Century England
Authors: Ayako Otomo
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This paper will examines the rise of a feminine orientation regarding arts and culture associated with the notion of Sensibility during the early part of the English long eighteenth century. As is widely known, the prosperous modernisation that occurred in this period was a significant factor in the nation taking a leading role in the emergent Enlightenment via the social, political and scientific advancement of Britain. As a result, this prompted the relaxing of the strictures of class and gender hierarchies in line with the new consumerism and cosmopolitanism of the nation. Accordingly, there was a significant increase of female involvement in artistic and cultural consumption. This can be understood in terms of the notion of Sensibility, associating it further with the fields of physiology, psychology and aesthetics, indebted in their turn to British Empiricism. This paper first traces the background of how women were recognisably involved in artistic and cultural circulation within an historical perspective that is articulated by the notion of Sensibility. Then, the discussion turns to the confluence of the issues of female association, creativity and the feminisation of the aesthetic of the arts and culture employing an interdisciplinary perspective. Arts and culture can also classified by public and private social spheres and gender according to Jürgen Habermas. The relationship between women and the theatre became a public issue. Music-making such as playing the harpsichord, reading, and conversation within the ritualistic teatime space dominated many of the artistic and cultural activities within the domestic private sphere.Keywords: theatre, arts, sensibility, 18th century England
Procedia PDF Downloads 3656156 Predicting Entrepreneurial Intentions among Undergraduates Using Theory of Planned Behaviour
Authors: Mohammed Abubakar Mawoli
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Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is a useful tool for predicting entrepreneurial intentions among individuals or groups of people. In view of the Nigerian government’s renewed educational policies and programs to prepare Nigerian undergraduates towards self-reliance and employers of labor after graduation, it becomes pertinent to empirically examine and predict the undergraduate’s entrepreneurial intentions at graduation. Thus, this study primarily examines the undergraduates entrepreneurial intentions using TPB, which includes perceived desirability, perceived social norm, and perceived feasibility factors. In so doing, a questionnaire research method was adopted in which 219 copies of a questionnaire distributed to final year undergraduates were belonging to five departments with a total population of 487 students. A combination of relative frequency, mean standard deviation and multiple regression statistical tools were employed for data analysis. The study found that TPB components exert a significant composite effect on undergraduate’s entrepreneurial intentions. Based on individual contribution of the independent variables, Perceived Desirability is the strongest predictor of the undergraduate’s entrepreneurial intentions, while Perceived Social Norm is a strong predictor of the undergraduate’s entrepreneurial intentions. However, Perceived Feasibility is not a strong predictor of student’s entrepreneurial intentions. The study therefore, recommends that the Perceived desirability, which is formed and shaped by ones level of education and skills acquisition, be improved upon to create the expected positive impact on graduates entrepreneurial intentions and possible venture creation.Keywords: entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial intentions, planned behaviour, prediction, Nigeria
Procedia PDF Downloads 3026155 Gender Specific Nature of the Fiction Conflict in Modern Feminine Prose
Authors: Baglan Bazylova
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The purpose of our article is to consider the social and psychological conflicts in Lyudmila Petrushevskaya’s stories as an artistic presentation of gender structure of modern society; to reveal originality of the characters’ inner world, the models of their behavior expressing the gender specific nature of modern feminine prose. Gender conflicts have taken the leading place in the modern prose. L. Petrushevskaya represents different types of conflicts including those which are shown in the images of real contradictions in the stories "Narratrix", "Thanks to Life”, "Virgin's Case", "Father and Mother". In the prose of Petrushevskaya the gender conflicts come out in two dimensions: The first one is love relations between a man and a woman. Because of the financial indigence, neediness a woman can’t afford herself even to fall in love and arrange her family happiness. The second dimension is the family conflict because of the male adultery. Petrushevskaya fixed on the unmanifistated conflict in detail. In the real life such gender conflict can appear in different forms but for the writer is important to show it as a life basis, hidden behind the externally safe facade of “the family happiness”. In the stories of L. Petrushevskaya the conflicts reflect the common character of the social and historical situations in which her heroines find themselves, in situations where a woman feels her opposition to the customary mode of life. The types of gender conflicts of these stories differ in character of verbal images. They are presented by the verbal and event ranks creating the conflicts just in operation.Keywords: gender behavior of heroes, gender conflict, gender picture of the world, gender structure
Procedia PDF Downloads 5116154 From Victim to Ethical Agent: Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol as Post-Traumatic Writing
Authors: Mona Salah El-Din Hassanein
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Faced with a sudden, unexpected, and overwhelming event, the individual's normal cognitive processing may cease to function, trapping the psyche in "speechless terror", while images, feelings and sensations are experienced with emotional intensity. Unable to master such situation, the individual becomes a trauma victim who will be susceptible to traumatic recollections like intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, and repetitive re-living of the primal event in a way that blurs the distinction between past and present, and forecloses the future. Trauma is timeless, repetitious, and contagious; a trauma observer could fall prey to "secondary victimhood". Central to the process of healing the psychic wounds in the aftermath of trauma is verbalizing the traumatic experience (i.e., putting it into words) – an act which provides a chance for assimilation, testimony, and reevaluation. In light of this paradigm, this paper proposes a reading of Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol, written shortly after his release from prison, as a post-traumatic text which traces the disruptive effects of the traumatic experience of Wilde's imprisonment for homosexual offences and the ensuing reversal of fortune he endured. Post-traumatic writing demonstrates the process of "working through" a trauma which may lead to the possibility of ethical agency in the form of a "survivor mission". This paper draws on fundamental concepts and key insights in literary trauma theory which is characterized by interdisciplinarity, combining the perspectives of different fields like critical theory, psychology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, history, and social studies. Of particular relevance to this paper are the concepts of "vicarious traumatization" and "survivor mission", as The Ballad of Reading Gaol was written in response to Wilde's own prison trauma and the indirect traumatization he experienced as a result of witnessing the execution of a fellow prisoner whose story forms the narrative base of the poem. The Ballad displays Wilde's sense of mission which leads him to recognize the social as well as ethical implications of personal tragedy. Through a close textual analysis of The Ballad of Reading Gaol within the framework of literary trauma theory, the paper aims to: (a) demonstrate how the poem's thematic concerns, structure and rhetorical figures reflect the structure of trauma; (b) highlight Wilde's attempts to come to terms with the effects of the cataclysmic experience which transformed him into a social outcast; and (c) show how Wilde manages to transcend the victim status and assumes the role of ethical agent to voice a critique of the Victorian penal system and the standards of morality underlying the cruelties practiced against wrong doers and to solicit social action.Keywords: ballad of reading of reading, post-traumatic writing, trauma theory, Wilde
Procedia PDF Downloads 1876153 A Systematic Map of the Research Trends in Wildfire Management in Mediterranean-Climate Regions
Authors: Renata Martins Pacheco, João Claro
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Wildfires are becoming an increasing concern worldwide, causing substantial social, economic, and environmental disruptions. This situation is especially relevant in Mediterranean-climate regions, present in all the five continents of the world, in which fire is not only a natural component of the environment but also perhaps one of the most important evolutionary forces. The rise in wildfire occurrences and their associated impacts suggests the need for identifying knowledge gaps and enhancing the basis of scientific evidence on how managers and policymakers may act effectively to address them. Considering that the main goal of a systematic map is to collate and catalog a body of evidence to describe the state of knowledge for a specific topic, it is a suitable approach to be used for this purpose. In this context, the aim of this study is to systematically map the research trends in wildfire management practices in Mediterranean-climate regions. A total of 201 wildfire management studies were analyzed and systematically mapped in terms of their: Year of publication; Place of study; Scientific outlet; Research area (Web of Science) or Research field (Scopus); Wildfire phase; Central research topic; Main objective of the study; Research methods; and Main conclusions or contributions. The results indicate that there is an increasing number of studies being developed on the topic (most from the last 10 years), but more than half of them are conducted in few Mediterranean countries (60% of the analyzed studies were conducted in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy or France), and more than 50% are focused on pre-fire issues, such as prevention and fuel management. In contrast, only 12% of the studies focused on “Economic modeling” or “Human factors and issues,” which suggests that the triple bottom line of the sustainability argument (social, environmental, and economic) is not being fully addressed by fire management research. More than one-fourth of the studies had their objective related to testing new approaches in fire or forest management, suggesting that new knowledge is being produced on the field. Nevertheless, the results indicate that most studies (about 84%) employed quantitative research methods, and only 3% of the studies used research methods that tackled social issues or addressed expert and practitioner’s knowledge. Perhaps this lack of multidisciplinary studies is one of the factors hindering more progress from being made in terms of reducing wildfire occurrences and their impacts.Keywords: wildfire, Mediterranean-climate regions, management, policy
Procedia PDF Downloads 1256152 Victims and Violators: Open Source Information, Admissibility Standards, and War Crimes Investigations in Iraq and Syria
Authors: Genevieve Zingg
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Modern technology and social media platforms have fundamentally altered the nature of war crimes investigations by providing new forms of data, evidence, and documentation, and pose a unique opportunity to expand the efficacy of international law. However, much of the open source information available is deemed inadmissible in subsequent legal proceedings and fails to function as evidence largely due to issues of reliability and verifiability. Focusing on current judicial investigations related to ongoing conflicts in Syria and Iraq, this paper will examine key challenges and opportunities for the effective use of open source information in securing justice. This paper will consider strategies and approaches that can be used to ensure that information collected by affected populations meets basic admissibility standards. This paper argues that the critical failure to equip civilian populations in conflict zones with knowledge and information regarding established admissibility standards and guidelines both jeopardizes the potential of open source information and compromises the ability of victims to participate effectively in justice and accountability processes. The ultimate purpose of this paper is, therefore, to examine how to maximize the value of open source information based on the rules of evidence in international, regional, and national courts, and how to maximize the participation of affected populations in holding their abusers to account.Keywords: human rights, international criminal law, international justice, international law, Iraq, open source information, social media, Syria, transitional justice, war crimes
Procedia PDF Downloads 3386151 The Concerns and Recommendations of Informal and Professional Caregivers for COVID-19 Policy for Homecare and Long-Term Care For People with Dementia: A Qualitative Study
Authors: Hanneke J. A. Smaling, Mandy Visser
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One way to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection is by preventing close interpersonal contact with distancing measures. These social distancing measures presented challenges to the health and wellbeing of people with dementia and their informal and professional caregivers. This study describes the concerns and recommendations of informal and professional caregivers for COVID-19 policy for home care and long-term care for people with dementia during the first and second COVID-19 wave in the Netherlands. In this qualitative interview study, 20 informal caregivers and 20 professional caregivers from home care services and long-term care participated. Interviews were analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis approach. Both informal and professional caregivers worried about getting infected or infecting others with COVID-19, the consequences of the distancing measures, and quality of care. There was a general agreement that policy in the second wave was better informed compared to the first wave. At an organizational level, the policy was remarkably flexible. Recommendations were given for dementia care (need to offer meaningful activities, improve the organization of care, more support for informal caregivers), policy (national vs. locally organization, social isolation measures, visitor policy), and communication. Our study contributes to the foundation of future care decisions by (inter)national policymakers, politicians, and healthcare organizations during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, underlining the need for balance between safety and autonomy for people with dementia.Keywords: covid-19, dementia, home care, long-term care, policy
Procedia PDF Downloads 1426150 An Exploratory Study on the Difference between Online and Offline Conformity Behavior among Chinese College Students
Authors: Xinyue Ma, Dishen Zhang, Yijun Liu, Yutian Jiang, Huiyan Yu, Chufeng Gu
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Conformity is defined as one in a social group changing his or her behavior to match the others’ behavior in the group. It is used to find that people show a higher level of online conformity behavior than offline. However, as anonymity can decrease the level of online conformity behavior, the difference between online and offline conformity behavior among Chinese college students still needs to be tested. In this study, college students (N = 60) have been randomly assigned into three groups: control group, offline experimental group, and online experimental group. Through comparing the results of offline experimental group and online experimental group with the Mann-Whitney U test, this study verified the results of Asch’s experiment, and found out that people show a lower level of online conformity behavior than offline, which contradicted the previous finding found in China. These results can be used to explain why some people make a lot of vicious remarks and radical ideas on the Internet but perform normally in their real life: the anonymity of the network makes the online group pressure less than offline, so people are less likely to conform to social norms and public opinions on the Internet. What is more, these results support the importance and relevance of online voting, because fewer online group pressures make it easier for people to expose their true ideas, thus gathering more comprehensive and truthful views and opinions.Keywords: anonymity, Asch’s group conformity, Chinese college students, online conformity
Procedia PDF Downloads 1566149 Participatory Action Research for Sustainability with Special Focus on Student Initiatives
Authors: Soni T. L.
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Sustainable environmental stress is a major concern which needs immediate attention. This paper is an attempt to present participatory action research for sustainable agriculture. Being first and best culture, agriculture protects and improves the natural environment, the social and economic conditions of people, and safeguards the health and welfare of all groups. During course of time agriculture turned to agribusiness, then the values are not safeguarded. Moreover, in today’s busy life many are not taking efforts to take part in agriculture production. Then children are not getting the opportunity to understand agriculture and farming practices. So student initiatives are vital to make them aware. Here the programmes structured by the researcher come under the auspicious of National Service Scheme, a student-centered educational programme, organized by Ministry of Youth Affairs, Government of India. The twin objectives of the study are to examine the role of student initiatives for sustainable agriculture and the role of participatory action research in student initiatives. SWOT analysis is made to study strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. The Methodology adopted is Participatory Action Research. The method is participatory in a sense there is collaboration through participation. The method is action, there is lab land experiences which is real. The method is research that there is documented lessons and creation of new knowledge. Plan of action cover measures adopted and strategies taken i.e., bhavana – kalpana – yojana – sadhana. Through the team effort, the team was successful in converting more than 10 hectares of barren land into cultivable land within and outside the campus. Team efforts of students saved a huge amount of labour cost and produced a huge quantity of organic output and the team was also successful in creating 1000 rain pits in the premises of College for rainwater harvesting. The findings include conveyance of the Message: Food Production is superior to Food donation. Moreover, the study fostered good work ethic and social responsibility among students. Students undertake innovative programmes underlying social and environmental issues and participants got increased opportunities to interact with local and less privileged and acquired increased awareness about real-life experiences which make them confident to interact with people and it resulted in the strengthening of social capital- cooperation, team spirit, social commitment among students. Participants promoted sustainable domestic efforts and ultimately environmental protection is ensured. Finally, there is recognition to the team, institution and the researcher at the university level, state level and at the national level. The learned lessons are, if the approach is good, the response is good and success generates success. Participatory action research is empowering experience for practitioners, focusing the combined time, energy and creativity of a committed group we should lead so many programmes which makes the institution centre of excellence. Authorities should take necessary steps for the Inclusion of community development activities in the curriculum. Action research is problem, client and action centered. So, we must adapt and adopt, coordinates and correlates measures which preserve and conserve the environment.Keywords: participatory action research, student initiatives, sustainable development, sustainability
Procedia PDF Downloads 1596148 Factors Associated with Risky Sexual Behaviour in Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Cambodia: A Systematic Review
Authors: Farwa Rizvi, Joanne Williams, Humaira Maheen, Elizabeth Hoban
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There is an increase in risky sexual behavior and unsafe sex in adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 24 years in Cambodia, which negatively affects their reproductive health by increasing the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies. Risky sexual behavior includes ‘having sex at an early age, having multiple sexual partners, having sex while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and unprotected sexual behaviors’. A systematic review of quantitative research conducted in Cambodia was undertaken, using the theoretical framework of the Social Ecological Model to identify the personal, social and cultural factors associated with risky sexual behavior and unsafe sex in young Cambodian women. PRISMA guidelines were used to search databases including Medline Complete, PsycINFO, CINAHL Complete, Academic Search Complete, Global Health, and Social Work Abstracts. Additional searches were conducted in Science Direct, Google Scholar and in the grey literature sources. A risk-of-bias tool developed explicitly for the systematic review of cross-sectional studies was used. Summary item on the overall risk of study bias after the inter-rater response showed that the risk-of-bias was high in two studies, moderate in one study and low in one study. The search strategy included a combination of subject terms and free text terms. The medical subject headings (MeSH) terms included were; contracept* or ‘birth control’ or ‘family planning’ or pregnan* or ‘safe sex’ or ‘protected intercourse’ or ‘unprotected intercourse’ or ‘protected sex’ or ‘unprotected sex’ or ‘risky sexual behaviour*’ or ‘abort*’ or ‘planned parenthood’ or ‘unplanned pregnancy’ AND ( barrier* or obstacle* or challenge* or knowledge or attitude* or factor* or determinant* or choic* or uptake or discontinu* or acceptance or satisfaction or ‘needs assessment’ or ‘non-use’ or ‘unmet need’ or ‘decision making’ ) AND Cambodia*. Initially, 300 studies were identified by using key words and finally, four quantitative studies were selected based on the inclusion criteria. The four studies were published between 2010 and 2016. The study participants ranged in age from 10-24 years, single or married, with 3 to 10 completed years of education. The mean age at sexual debut was reported to be 18 years. Using the perspective of the Social Ecological Model, risky sexual behavior was associated with individual-level factors including young age at sexual debut, low education, unsafe sex under the influence of alcohol and substance abuse, multiple sexual partners or transactional sex. Family level factors included living away from parents, orphan status and low levels of family support. Peer and partner level factors included peer delinquency and lack of condom use. Low socioeconomic status at the society level was also associated with risky sexual behaviour. There is scant research on sexual and reproductive health of adolescent girls and young women in Cambodia. Individual, family and social factors were significantly associated with risky sexual behaviour. More research is required to inform potential preventive strategies and policies that address young women’s sexual and reproductive health.Keywords: adolescents, high-risk sex, sexual activity, unplanned pregnancies
Procedia PDF Downloads 2486147 Investigating the Status of Black Women in Brazil: Beyond Housekeepers and Samba Dancers
Authors: Sandra Maria Cerqueira Da Silva
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The construction of the material world involves a series of social power relations. These relations, in a way, can dictate, shape, judge and drive the profiles of so-called ‘ideal’ individuals. Gender relations, as power relations, are defined based on hierarchies, obediences and inequalities, and male domination seems, with few exceptions, to be rooted in every society around the world. The profile of the Brazilian woman, beyond patriarchal and market determinations, is strongly subjected to media products. Women are, numerically, the majority in Brazilian society. The social indicators point to slight advances in terms of years of study and professional qualification, as well as access to the job market; yet, differences in opportunity and conditions — often explained though the ‘unquestionable’ cultural rancidness argument — still hinder women’s ability to reach and keep job positions. These unequalities are also visible in everyday interactions and in gender relations, and they become greater once race is added to the analysis. For a black woman, her racial origins may play a part in determining the construction of her gender roles. In these terms, there is need to investigate the racial character of the sexual differences within a larger social proccess of naturalization and justification of cultural hierarchies. Thus, the goal of this study is to identify and discuss the media-built image of black women in Brazil. Furthermore, it is necessary to seek views different than those of the ruling classes. The study uses a qualitative approach based on the feminist standpoint, which intends to hold women’s experiences as central. The body of the research — images taken from the Internet — was treated through critical content analysis. The results show that in Brazil the profile of black women, beyond the machist and sexist generalizations, objectifies them or sees them as servants, always at the disposal of non-blacks. It is necessary to overcome the history of this nation, always considering the contribution of these women to the growth and development of places and societies. This can be done through the acknowledgement and highlighting of the few black women who were able to overcome the many barriers in their path and reach leadership position in the country. There are still many important challenges in the way of finding affirmative policies and reaching a more equal society in terms of gender and race; a serious and firm political commitment seems sine qua non.Keywords: black woman, feminist standpoint, markings, objectification
Procedia PDF Downloads 2766146 Examining Audiology Students: Clinical Reasoning Skills When Using Virtual Audiology Cases Aided With no Collaboration, Live Collaboration, and Virtual Collaboration
Authors: Ramy Shaaban
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The purpose of this study was to examine the difference in clinical reasoning skills of students when using virtual audiology cases with and without collaborative assistance from major learning approaches important to clinical reasoning skills and computer-based learning models: Situated Learning Theory, Social Development Theory, Scaffolding, and Collaborative Learning. A quasi-experimental design was conducted at two United States universities to examine whether there is a significant difference in clinical reasoning skills between three treatment groups using IUP Audiosim software. Two computer-based audiology case simulations were developed, and participants were randomly placed into the three groups: no collaboration, virtual collaboration, and live collaboration. The clinical reasoning data were analyzed using One-Way ANOVA and Tukey posthoc analyses. The results show that there was a significant difference in clinical reasoning skills between the three treatment groups. The score obtained by the no collaboration group was significantly less than the scores obtained by the virtual and live collaboration groups. Collaboration, whether virtual or in person, has a positive effect on students’ clinical reasoning. These results with audiology students indicate that combining collaboration models with scaffolding and embedding situated learning and social development theories into the design of future virtual patients has the potential to improve students’ clinical reasoning skills.Keywords: clinical reasoning, virtual patients, collaborative learning, scaffolding
Procedia PDF Downloads 2156145 Tommy: Communication in Education about Disability
Authors: Karen V. Lee
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The background and significance of this study involve communication in education by a faculty advisor exploring story and music that informs others about a disabled teacher. Social issues draw deep reflection about the emotional turmoil. As a musician becoming a teacher is a passionate yet complex endeavor, the faculty advisor shares a poetic but painful story about a disabled teacher being inducted into the teaching profession. The qualitative research method as theoretical framework draws on autoethnography of music and story where the faculty advisor approaches a professor for advice. His musicianship shifts her forward, backward, and sideways through feelings that evoke and provoke curriculum to remove communication barriers in education. They discover they do not transfer knowledge from educational method classes. Instead, the autoethnography embeds musical language as a metaphorical conduit for removing communication barriers in teacher education. Sub-themes involve communication barriers and educational technologies to ensure teachers receive social, emotional, physical, spiritual, and intervention disability resources that evoke visceral, emotional responses from the audience. Major findings of the study discover how autoethnography of music and story bring the authors to understand wider political issues of the practicum internship for teachers with disabilities. An epiphany reveals the irony of living in a culture of both uniformity and diversity. They explore the constructs of secrecy, ideology, abnormality, and marginalization by evoking visceral and emotional responses from the audience. As the voices harmonize plot, climax, characterization, and denouement, they dramatize meaning that is episodic yet incomplete to highlight the circumstances surrounding the disabled protagonist’s life. In conclusion, the qualitative research method argues for embracing storied experiences that depict communication in education. Scholarly significance embraces personal thoughts and feelings as a way of understanding social phenomena while highlighting the importance of removing communication barriers in education. The circumstance about a teacher with a disability is not uncommon in society. Thus, the authors resolve to removing barriers in education by using stories to transform the personal and cultural influences that provoke new ways of thinking about the curriculum for a disabled teacher.Keywords: communication in education, communication barriers, autoethnography, teaching
Procedia PDF Downloads 2416144 An Exploratory Approach of the Latin American Migrants’ Urban Space Transformation of Antofagasta City, Chile
Authors: Carolina Arriagada, Yasna Contreras
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Since mid-2000, the migratory flows of Latin American migrants to Chile have been increasing constantly. There are two reasons that would explain why Chile is presented as an attractive country for the migrants. On the one hand, traditional centres of migrants’ attraction such as the United States and Europe have begun to close their borders. On the other hand, Chile exhibits relative economic and political stability, which offers greater job opportunities and better standard of living when compared to the migrants’ origin country. At the same time, the neoliberal economic model of Chile, developed under an extractive production of the natural resources, has privatized the urban space. The market regulates the growth of the fragmented and segregated cities. Then, the vulnerable population, most of the time, is located in the periphery and in the marginal areas of the urban space. In this aspect, the migrants have begun to occupy those degraded and depressed areas of the city. The problem raised is that the increase of the social spatial segregation could be also attributed to the migrants´ occupation of the marginal urban places of the city. The aim of this investigation is to carry out an analysis of the migrants’ housing strategies, which are transforming the marginal areas of the city. The methodology focused on the urban experience of the migrants, through the observation of spatial practices, ways of living and networks configuration in order to transform the marginal territory. The techniques applied in this study are semi–structured interviews in-depth interviews. The study reveals that the migrants housing strategies for living in the marginal areas of the city are built on a paradox way. On the one hand, the migrants choose proximity to their place of origin, maintaining their identity and customs. On the other hand, the migrants choose proximity to their social and familiar places, generating sense of belonging. In conclusion, the migration as international displacements under a globalized economic model increasing socio spatial segregation in cities is evidenced, but the transformation of the marginal areas is a fundamental resource of their integration migratory process. The importance of this research is that it is everybody´s responsibility not only the right to live in a city without any discrimination but also to integrate the citizens within the social urban space of a city.Keywords: migrations, marginal space, resignification, visibility
Procedia PDF Downloads 1446143 Artificial Intelligence Assisted Sentiment Analysis of Hotel Reviews Using Topic Modeling
Authors: Sushma Ghogale
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With a surge in user-generated content or feedback or reviews on the internet, it has become possible and important to know consumers' opinions about products and services. This data is important for both potential customers and businesses providing the services. Data from social media is attracting significant attention and has become the most prominent channel of expressing an unregulated opinion. Prospective customers look for reviews from experienced customers before deciding to buy a product or service. Several websites provide a platform for users to post their feedback for the provider and potential customers. However, the biggest challenge in analyzing such data is in extracting latent features and providing term-level analysis of the data. This paper proposes an approach to use topic modeling to classify the reviews into topics and conduct sentiment analysis to mine the opinions. This approach can analyse and classify latent topics mentioned by reviewers on business sites or review sites, or social media using topic modeling to identify the importance of each topic. It is followed by sentiment analysis to assess the satisfaction level of each topic. This approach provides a classification of hotel reviews using multiple machine learning techniques and comparing different classifiers to mine the opinions of user reviews through sentiment analysis. This experiment concludes that Multinomial Naïve Bayes classifier produces higher accuracy than other classifiers.Keywords: latent Dirichlet allocation, topic modeling, text classification, sentiment analysis
Procedia PDF Downloads 986142 Identifying Physical and Psycho-Social Issues Facing Breast Cancer Survivors after Definitive Treatment for Early Breast Cancer: A Nurse-Led Clinic Model
Authors: A. Dean, M. Pitcher, L. Storer, K. Shanahan, I. Rio, B. Mann
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Purpose: Breast cancer survivors are at risk of specific physical and psycho-social issues, such as arm swelling, fatigue, and depression. Firstly, we investigate symptoms reported by Australia breast cancer survivors upon completion of definitive treatment. Secondly, we evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of a multi-centre pilot program nurse-led clinic to identify these issues and make timely referrals to available services. Methods: Patients post-definitive treatment (excluding ongoing hormonal therapy) for early breast cancer or ductal carcinoma in situ were invited to participate. An hour long appointment with a breast care nurse (BCN) was scheduled. In preparation, patients completed validated quality-of-life surveys (FACT-B, Menopause Rating Scale, Distress Thermometer). During the appointment, issues identified in the surveys were addressed and referrals to appropriate services arranged. Results: 183 of 274 (67%) eligible patients attended a nurse-led clinic. Mean age 56.8 years (range 29-87 years), 181/183 women, 105/183 post-menopausal. 96 (55%) participants reported significant level of distress; 31 (18%) participants reported extreme distress or depression. Distress stemmed from a lack of energy (56/175); poor quality of sleep (50/176); inability to work or participate in household activities (35/172) and problems with sex life (28/89). 166 referrals were offered; 94% of patients accepted the referrals. 65% responded to a follow-up survey: the majority of women either strongly agreed or agreed that the BCN was overwhelmingly supportive, helpful in making referrals, and compassionate towards them. 39% reported making lifestyle changes as a result of the BCN. Conclusion: Breast cancer survivors experience a unique set of challenges, including low mood, difficulty sleeping, problems with sex life and fear of disease recurrence. The nurse-led clinic model is an appropriate and effective method to ensure physical and psycho-social issues are identified and managed in a timely manner. This model empowers breast cancer survivors with information about their diagnosis and available services.Keywords: early breast cancer, survivorship, breast care nursing, oncology nursing and cancer care
Procedia PDF Downloads 4026141 Development of a Journal over 20 Years: Citation Analysis
Authors: Byung Lee, Charles Perschau
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This study analyzes the development of a communication journal, the Journal of Advertising Education (JAE) over the past 20 years by examining citations of all research articles there. The purpose of a journal is to offer a stable and transparent forum for the presentation, scrutiny, and discussion of research in a targeted domain. This study asks whether JAE has fulfilled this purpose. The authors and readers who are involved in a journal need to have common research topics of their interest. In the case of the discipline of communication, scholars have a variety of backgrounds beyond communication itself since the social scientific study of communication is a relatively recent development, one that emerged after World War II, and the discipline has been heavily indebted to other social sciences, such as psychology, sociology, social psychology, and political science. When authors impart their findings and knowledge to others, their work is not done in isolation. They have to stand on previous studies, which are listed as sources in the bibliography. Since communication has heavily piggybacked on other disciplines, cited sources should be as diverse as the resources it taps into. This paper analyzes 4,244 articles that were cited by JAE articles in the past 36 issues. Since journal article authors reveal their intellectual linkage by using bibliographic citations, the analysis of citations in journal articles will reveal various networks of relationships among authors, journal types, and fields in an objective and quantitative manner. The study found that an easier access to information sources because of the development of electronic databases and the growing competition among scholars for publication seemed to influence authors to increase the number of articles cited even though some variations existed during the examined period. The types of articles cited have also changed. Authors have more often cited journal articles, periodicals (most of them available online), and web site sources, while decreased their dependence on books, conference papers, and reports. To provide a forum for discussion, a journal needs a common topic or theme. This can be realized when an author writes an article about a topic, and that article is cited and discussed in another article. Thus, the citation of articles in the same journal is vital for a journal to form a forum for discussion. JAE has gradually increased the citations of in-house articles with a few fluctuations over the years. The study also examines not only specific articles that are often cited, but also specific authors often cited. The analysis of citations in journal articles shows how JAE has developed into a full academic journal while offering a communal forum even though the speed of its formation is not as fast as desired probably because of its interdisciplinary nature.Keywords: citation, co-citation, the Journal of Advertising Education, development of a journal
Procedia PDF Downloads 1576140 Implication of Taliban’s Recent Relationship with Neighboring Countries and Its Impact on the Current Peace Process
Authors: Lutfurrahman Aftab
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The Taliban’s relationships with the neighboring countries are a complex political issue that local people interpret one way, and politicians have different perceptions; therefore, it is a current issue that needs to be analyzed broadly and impartially. In this article, the writer investigates the Taliban’s current relationships with the neighboring countries, as well as looking at the effects these relationships have on the current peace negotiations in Doha, which began on September 12, 2020. The issue of Taliban and the current peace process has turned to be the center-of-attention for most of the neighboring countries, and every country has opened new pages in their foreign policies because after the Taliban-US peace agreement, the neighboring countries are meticulously and closely observing the situation and they believe that the Taliban are on the verge to tighten their grips on the future political power of Afghanistan. Every neighboring country of Afghanistan has political, economic, and social interests in this land-locked country. The Taliban’s current role within the peace talks and anticipated future position within the Afghan government will have great political, economic, and social implications on countries in the region as they assess their foreign policies. As these countries move to form closer ties with the Taliban, the government of Afghanistan is worried that this may hinder the peace process. Afghanistan has long blamed Pakistan for sheltering the Taliban and providing safe havens for the terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda, and the recent visits of Taliban’s delegations to Islamabad, Pakistan, have raised concern among government officials in Afghanistan who believe that the Taliban are not independent in their decisions, and for every step they take, are consulting with Pakistan’s political leadership.Keywords: peace process, USA, Afghanistan, Taliban
Procedia PDF Downloads 1176139 Case Study on Gender Equality in the United Arab Emirates through the Lens of Sport
Authors: Nioofar Margarite Rouhani
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Using a case study methodology, this study explores the lived experiences of elite women footballers (soccer) team in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the challenges and enablers women in this country encountered in their journey to competing at an international level. Through a series of face-to-face interviews with members of the first all-Emirati (people with UAE passport) women’s football team, members of the team’s coaching staff and key policymakers, the study sought to explore the social and cultural conditions that enabled the emergence of this team. A key aim of the study was to analyze the cultural shifts that have seemingly facilitated changes to gender relations in the UAE and to highlight possibilities for future gender equality work. The study explores the significance of sport in UAE society and its role in disrupting traditional gender boundaries. To do this, the study identifies and analyses contemporary social (religion, class, and culture) conditions that facilitate, and/or restrict, women’s sports participation in the public sphere of sport. Drawing on a feminist poststructural framework the study sought to analyse the discursive enactment of (disruptive) gender identity positions, using lenses such as ‘discourse’ and ‘power’. With a particular focus on elite women’s sport, the study sought to build knowledge around the advance of female participation in what has long been considered as a masculine domain. Here, the study sought to explore the lived experience of social change through a series of face-to-face interviews with members of the first all-Emirati- women’s football team and key support personnel. To maintain representational integrity, the principles of narrative methodology were employed for their ability to privilege the voices of participants while integrating contextual forces that comprised the stories they told about their experiences and the key people who participated in them. This approach supported a key aim of the study, being to analyse the cultural shifts that have supported changes in gender performance in the UAE and to highlight possibilities for future gender disruption. While the results of the study convey a growing sense of opportunity for aspiring sportswomen in the UAE, they also reveal that the participant pathways were full of contestation and restriction. What we learn from the stories of the first Emirate women’s football team is that where the will is strong enough, there can be a way. While it is reasonable to assume that such pathways will become easier in the future, as the participation of women in such sporting arenas becomes less exceptional, there are factors that are likely to enable and disable such journeys. Prominent here is the presence of a ‘powerful’ guardian and mentor who can offer sustained support, and influence. In a society where males continue to have disproportionate access to social and domestic power, such support can be extremely influential. Guardians and mentors can play a crucial role in garnering the support of dominant male figures, or helping to find ways to work around it.Keywords: gender equality, women, sport, Middle East
Procedia PDF Downloads 1106138 Sustainability Assessment Tool for the Selection of Optimal Site Remediation Technologies for Contaminated Gasoline Sites
Authors: Connor Dunlop, Bassim Abbassi, Richard G. Zytner
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Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a powerful tool established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that can be used to assess the environmental impacts of a product or process from cradle to grave. Many studies utilize the LCA methodology within the site remediation field to compare various decontamination methods, including bioremediation, soil vapor extraction or excavation, and off-site disposal. However, with the authors' best knowledge, limited information is available in the literature on a sustainability tool that could be used to help with the selection of the optimal remediation technology. This tool, based on the LCA methodology, would consider site conditions like environmental, economic, and social impacts. Accordingly, this project was undertaken to develop a tool to assist with the selection of optimal sustainable technology. Developing a proper tool requires a large amount of data. As such, data was collected from previous LCA studies looking at site remediation technologies. This step identified knowledge gaps or limitations within project data. Next, utilizing the data obtained from the literature review and other organizations, an extensive LCA study is being completed following the ISO 14040 requirements. Initial technologies being compared include bioremediation, excavation with off-site disposal, and a no-remediation option for a generic gasoline-contaminated site. To complete the LCA study, the modelling software SimaPro is being utilized. A sensitivity analysis of the LCA results will also be incorporated to evaluate the impact on the overall results. Finally, the economic and social impacts associated with each option will then be reviewed to understand how they fluctuate at different sites. All the results will then be summarized, and an interactive tool using Excel will be developed to help select the best sustainable site remediation technology. Preliminary LCA results show improved sustainability for the decontamination of a gasoline-contaminated site for each technology compared to the no-remediation option. Sensitivity analyses are now being completed on on-site parameters to determine how the environmental impacts fluctuate at other contaminated gasoline locations as the parameters vary, including soil type and transportation distances. Additionally, the social improvements and overall economic costs associated with each technology are being reviewed. Utilizing these results, the sustainability tool created to assist in the selection of the overall best option will be refined.Keywords: life cycle assessment, site remediation, sustainability tool, contaminated sites
Procedia PDF Downloads 606137 The Politics of Identity: A Longitudinal Study of the Sociopolitical Development of Education Leaders
Authors: Shelley Zion
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This study examines the longitudinal impact (10 years) of a course for education leaders designed to encourage the development of critical consciousness surrounding issues of equity, oppression, power, and privilege. The ability to resist and challenge oppression across social and cultural contexts can be acquired through the use of transformative pedagogies that create spaces that use the practice of exploration to make connections between pervasive structural and institutional practices and race and ethnicity. This study seeks to extend this understanding by exploring the longitudinal influence of participating in a course that utilizes transformative pedagogies, course materials, exercises, and activities to encourage the practice of exploration of student experiences with racial and ethnic discrimination with the end goal of providing them with the necessary knowledge and skills that foster their ability to resist and challenge oppression and discrimination -critical action- in their lives. To this end, we use the explanatory power of the theories of critical consciousness development, sociopolitical development, and social identity construction that view exploration as a crucial practice in understanding the role ethnic and racial differences play in creating opportunities or barriers in the lives of individuals. When educators use transformative pedagogies, they create a space where students collectively explore their experiences with racial and ethnic discrimination through course readings, in-class activities, and discussions. The end goal of this exploration is twofold: first, to encourage the student’s ability to understand how differences are identified, given meaning to, and used to position them in specific places and spaces in their world; second, to scaffold students’ ability to make connections between their individual and collective differences and particular institutional and structural practices that create opportunities or barriers in their lives. Studies have found the formal exploration of students’ individual and collective differences in relation to their experiences with racial and ethnic discrimination results in developing an understanding of the roles race and ethnicity play in their lives. To trace the role played by exploration in identity construction, we utilize an integrative approach to identity construction informed by multiple theoretical frameworks grounded in cultural studies, social psychology, and sociology that understand social-cultural, racial, and ethnic -identities as dynamic and ever-changing based on context-specific environments. Stuart Hall refers to this practice as taking “symbolic detours through the past” while reflecting on the different ways individuals have been positioned based on their roots (group membership) and also how they, in turn, chose to position themselves through collective sense-making of the various meanings their differences carried through the routes they have taken. The practice of exploration in the construction of ethnic-racial identities has been found to be beneficial to sociopolitical development.Keywords: political polarization, civic participation, democracy, education
Procedia PDF Downloads 576136 Food Insecurity and Quality of Life among the Poor Elderly in South Korea
Authors: Jayoung Cho
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Poverty has become a social problem in South Korea, given that seven out of ten elderly experience multidimensional poverty. As quality of life is a major social welfare measure of a society, verifying the major factors affecting the quality of life among the elderly in poverty can be used as baseline data for the promotion of welfare. This study aims to investigate the longitudinal relationships between food insecurity and quality of life among the elderly in poverty. In this study, panel regression analysis using 5-year longitudinal panel data were derived from Korea Welfare Panel Study (KWPS, 2011-2015) were used to identify the research question. A total of 1,327 elderly people aged 65 or older with less than 60% of median income was analyzed. The main results of the study are as follows; first, the level of quality of life of the poor elderly was on average of 5, and repeated the increase and decrease over time. Second, food insecurity and quality of life of the elderly in poverty had a longitudinal causal relationship. Furthermore, the statistical significance of food insecurity was the highest despite controlling for major variables affecting the quality of life among the poor elderly. Therefore, political and practical approaches are strongly suggested and considered regarding the food insecurity for the quality of life among the elderly in poverty. In practical intervention, it is necessary to pay attention to food insecurity when assessing the poor elderly. Also, there is a need to build a new delivery system that incorporates segmented health and nutrition-related services. This study has an academic significance in that it brought out the issue of food insecurity of the poor elderly and confirmed the longitudinal relationship between food insecurity and quality of life.Keywords: food insecurity, longitudinal panel analysis, poor elderly, quality of life
Procedia PDF Downloads 2456135 Community Observatory for Territorial Information Control and Management
Authors: A. Olivi, P. Reyes Cabrera
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Ageing and urbanization are two of the main trends that characterize the twenty-first century. Its trending is especially accelerated in the emerging countries of Asia and Latin America. Chile is one of the countries in the Latin American region, where the demographic transition to ageing is becoming increasingly visible. The challenges that the new demographic scenario poses to urban administrators call for searching innovative solutions to maximize the functional and psycho-social benefits derived from the relationship between older people and the environment in which they live. Although mobility is central to people's everyday practices and social relationships, it is not distributed equitably. On the contrary, it can be considered another factor of inequality in our cities. Older people are a particularly sensitive and vulnerable group to mobility. In this context, based on the ageing in place strategy and following the social innovation approach within a spatial context, the "Community Observatory of Territorial Information Control and Management" project aims at the collective search and validation of solutions for the satisfaction of mobility and accessibility specific needs of urban aged people. Specifically, the Observatory intends to: i) promote the direct participation of the aged population in order to generate relevant information on the territorial situation and the satisfaction of the mobility needs of this group; ii) co-create dynamic and efficient mechanisms for the reporting and updating of territorial information; iii) increase the capacity of the local administration to plan and manage solutions to environmental problems at the neighborhood scale. Based on a participatory mapping methodology and on the application of digital technology, the Observatory designed and developed, together with aged people, a crowdsourcing platform for smartphones, called DIMEapp, for reporting environmental problems affecting mobility and accessibility. DIMEapp has been tested at a prototype level in two neighborhoods of the city of Valparaiso. The results achieved in the testing phase have shown high potential in order to i) contribute to establishing coordination mechanisms with the local government and the local community; ii) improve a local governance system that guides and regulates the allocation of goods and services destined to solve those problems.Keywords: accessibility, ageing, city, digital technology, local governance
Procedia PDF Downloads 1336134 New Forms of Living and Compatibility with the Three Ages of Life - Definition of Fundamental Design Characteristics for Intergenerational Mansions
Authors: Alessandra Marino
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This paper thoroughly investigates the design characteristics necessary for intergenerational living and evaluates their applicability within the Italian social panorama in order to identify a model that can serve as a reference for subsequent regulatory adjustments of a new building typology. The applied methodology involves the collaboration of people with various background and architects, all representing the three main ages of life - childhood or youth, adulthood, seniority - through questionnaires aimed at researching the peculiar characteristics that contemporary intergenerational housing should include; the questionnaires are then compared with each other in order to identify any recurring patterns by age group and/or influenced by the specialist knowledge on the subject of the architects compared to the rest of the user sample. The results indicate that among specialist users in the field of architecture, young students identify home automation as the key to the inclusion of the weakest groups within the building, adult architects believe that the identification of intergenerational/community services within the building is the cornerstone, and senior architects focus on widespread spatial accessibility. At the same time, the results among non-specialist users do not identify a significantly diversified model by age group but are generally in agreement in the importance of separation between private environments and collective spaces. The interpretation of the results obtained leads to a compositional study of a new building typology with the future objective of channeling the subsequent outcomes within the regulatory adjustments of the sector.Keywords: intergenerational living, social sustainability, health, lifestyle, well-being
Procedia PDF Downloads 726133 Helping Others and Mental Health: A Qualitative Study Exploring Perspectives of Youth Engaging in Prosocial Activities
Authors: Saima Hirani, Emmanuela Ojukwu, Nilanga Aki Bandara
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Background: Mental health challenges that begin during the youth age period may continue across the entire life course. One way to support youth mental health is to encourage youth engagement in prosocial activities. This study aimed to explore youth’s perceptions about helping others and mental well-being, barriers, and enablers for youth to initiate and continue prosocial activities, and strategies for developing the attribute of helping others in youth. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured, virtual interviews with 18 young individuals (aged 16-24 years) living in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Results: Youth perceived helping others as a source of feeling peace and calm, finding meaning in life, experiencing social connection and promoting self-care, and relieving stress. Participants reported opportunities to learn new skills, the role of religion, social connections, previous positive experiences, and role modeling as enablers for their prosocial behaviour. Heavy time commitment, negative behaviour from others, self-doubt, and late exposure to such activities were considered barriers by youth when participating in prosocial activities. Youth also brought forward key recommendations for engaging youth in helping others. Conclusions: The findings of this study support the notion that youth have positive experiences when engaging in helping others and that involving young people in prosocial activities could be used as a protective intervention for promoting youth mental health and overall well-being.Keywords: helping others, prosocial behaviour, youth, mental well-being
Procedia PDF Downloads 706132 Prevalence and Determinants of Depression among Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Child Care Homes in Nepal
Authors: Kumari Bandana Bhatt, Navin Bhatt
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Background: Orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) are high risk of physical, mental, sexual and emotional abuse and face social stigma and discrimination which significantly increase the risk of mental and behavioral disorders such as anxiety, depression or emotional problems even they stay in well run child care homes. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of depression and determine the determinants among OVC in child care homes in Nepal. Methods: An institutional-based analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in twenty orphanages of five districts of Nepal. Six hundred two children were recruited into the study. After the informed consent form obtaining, the guardian and assent were interviewed by a semi-structured questionnaire and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Logistic regression was used for detecting the association between variables at the significant level of =0.05. Results: The study revealed that 33.20% of OVC had depression. Among them 66.80% of children experienced minimal depression, 17.40% had mild depression, 11.30% had moderate depression 4.50% had severe depression. Sex, alcohol drinking, congenital problem, social support and bully were the main variables associated with depression among OVC of the child care homes in Nepal. Conclusion: Prevalence of depression was high among the orphans and vulnerable children living in child care homes especially among the female children in Nepal. Therefore, early identification and instituting of preventive measures of depression are essential to reduce this problem in this special group of children living in child care homes.Keywords: Mental health, Depression, Orphans and vulnerable children, child care homes
Procedia PDF Downloads 1516131 Investigating Suicide Cases in Attica, Greece: Insight from an Autopsy-Based Study
Authors: Ioannis N. Sergentanis, Stavroula Papadodima, Maria Tsellou, Dimitrios Vlachodimitropoulos, Sotirios Athanaselis, Chara Spiliopoulou
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Introduction: The aim of this study is the investigation of characteristics of suicide, as documented in autopsies during a five-year interval in the greater area of Attica, including the city of Athens. This could reveal possible protective or aggravating factors for suicide risk during a period strongly associated with the Greek debt crisis. Materials and Methods: Data was obtained following registration of suicide cases among autopsies performed in the Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, during the time interval from January 2011 to December 2015. Anonymity and medical secret were respected. A series of demographic and social factors in addition to special characteristics of suicide were entered into a specially established pre-coded database. These factors include social data as well as psychiatric background and certain autopsy characteristics. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and Fisher’s exact test. The software used was STATA/SE 13 (Stata Corp., College Station, TX, USA). Results: A total of 162 cases were studied, 128 men and 34 women. Age ranged from 14 to 97 years old with an average of 53 years, presenting two peaks around 40 and 60 years. A 56% of cases were single/ divorced/ widowed. 25% of cases occurred during the weekend, and 66% of cases occurred in the house. A predominance of hanging as the leading method of suicide (41.4%) followed by jumping from a height (22.8%) and firearms (19.1%) was noted. Statistical analysis showed an association was found between suicide method and gender (P < 0.001, Fisher’s exact test); specifically, no woman used a firearm while only one man used medication overdose (against four women). Discussion: Greece has historically been one of the countries with the lowest suicide rates in Europe. Given a possible change in suicide trends during the financial crisis, further research seems necessary in order to establish risk factors. According to our study, suicide is more frequent in men who are not married, inside their house. Gender seems to be a factor affecting the method of suicide. These results seem in accordance with the international literature. Stronger than expected predominance in male suicide can be associated with failure to live up to social and family expectations for financial reasons.Keywords: autopsy, Greece, risk factors, suicide
Procedia PDF Downloads 2226130 Jopara: Conversational Code Switching Between Spanish and Guarani a Sociolinguistic Study
Authors: Maria Alejandra Mareco
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The purpose of this paper is to explore a communicative strategy used by Guaraní-Spanish bilingual speakers. It will be presented in English or Spanish. This strategy is conversational code-switching, which is used by people from rural as well as urban areas in Formosa, Argentina and Paraguay. Guarani is an Aboriginal Language that is the official language in Paraguay. Code-switching is a language-processing phenomenon that creates communicative and social meaning in a given community. This paper poses a broad question at the onset of this study: Spanish-Guaraní speakers tend to use four different conversational code-switching patterns in their oral alternations, these four categories being: quotation, addressee specification, reiteration, and interjections. Later, spoken data were prioritized in terms of their importance and potential impact on the hypothesis outlined. Different groups of people were observed in real-world settings. They consisted of fourteen proficient Spanish Guaraní bilingual speakers from different social groups and ages. Afterward, a group of informants was chosen to obtain a wide range of natural encounters. Informants were observed with special attention to their natural communication, particularly oral interactions. Furthermore, the relationship between interlocutors during code-switching, as based on a negotiation between them, was considered of most relevance. Results were evaluated according to the interpretative method by testing the co-occurrence of the four conversational categories described above. The testing instruments identified that the four aspects of Spanish Guaraní code-switching introduced above were applied.Keywords: bilingualism, code switching, aboriginal language, language contact
Procedia PDF Downloads 176129 Exploring Public Trust in Democracy
Authors: Yaron Katz
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The investigation of immigrants' electoral choices has remained relatively uncharted territory despite the fact that numerous nations extend political rights to their expatriates. This paper centers its attention on the matter of public trust in democracy, with a focus on the intricacies of Israeli politics as a divided system. It delves into the potential implications of political and social transformations stemming from the involvement of expatriate voters in elections taking place in their country of origin. In doing so, the article endeavors to explore a pathway for resolving a persistent challenge facing the stability of the Israeli political landscape over the past decade: the difficulty in forming a resilient government that genuinely represents the majority of voters. An examination is conducted into the role played by a demographic with the capacity to exert significant influence on election outcomes, namely, individuals residing outside of Israel. The objective of this research is to delve into this subject, dissecting social developments and political prospects that may shape the country's trajectory in the coming decades. This inquiry is especially pertinent given the extensive engagement of migrants in Israeli politics and the link between Israelis living abroad and their home country. Nevertheless, the study's findings reveal that while former citizens exhibit extensive involvement in Israeli politics and are cognizant of the potential consequences of permitting them to participate in elections, they maintain steadfastly unfavorable views regarding the inclusion of Israelis living overseas in their home country's electoral processes.Keywords: trust, globalization, policy, democracy
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