Search results for: morality and ethics

Authors: Johanna Lundqvist

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Third cycle supervision is a multifaceted and complex task for supervisors in higher education. It progresses over several years and is affected by several proximal and distal factors. It can result in positive learning outcomes for doctoral students and high-quality publications. However, not all doctoral students thrive during their doctoral studies; nor do they all complete their studies. This is problematic for both the individuals themselves as well as society at large: doctoral students are valuable and important in current research, future research and higher education. The aim of this literature review is to elucidate what responsible third cycle supervision can include and be in practice. The question posed is as follows: according to recent literature, what is it that characterises responsible third cycle supervision in which doctoral students can thrive and develop their research knowledge and skills? A literature review was conducted, and the data gathered from the literature regarding responsible third cycle supervision was analysed by means of a thematic analysis. The analysis was inspired by the notion of responsible inclusion outlined by David Mitchell. In this study, the term literature refers to research articles and regulations. The results (preliminary) show that responsible third cycle supervision is associated with a number of interplaying factors (themes). These are as follows: committed supervisors and doctoral students; a clear vision and research problem; an individual study plan; adequate resources; interaction processes and constructive feedback; creativity; cultural awareness; respect and research ethics; systematic quality work and improvement efforts; focus on overall third cycle learning goals; and focus on research presentations and publications. Thus, responsible third cycle supervision can occur if these factors are realized in practice. This literature review is of relevance to evaluators, researchers, and management in higher education, as well as third cycle supervisors.

Keywords: doctoral student, higher education, third cycle supervisors, third cycle programmes

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Authors: Rahul Ranjan

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Using gender as a category to cull out historical analysis, feminist scholars have produced plethora of literature on the sexual symbolics and carnal practices of modern European empires. At a symbolic level, the penetration and conquest of faraway lands was charged with sexual significance and intrigue. The white male’s domination and possession of dark and fertile lands in Africa, Asia and the Americas offered, in Anne McClintock’s words, ‘a fantastic magic lantern of the mind onto which Europe projected its forbidden sexual desires and fears’. The politics of rape were also symbolically a question significant to the politics of empire. To the colonized subject, rape was a fearsome factor, a language that spoke of violent and voracious nature of imperial exploitation. The colonized often looked at rape as an act which colonizers used as tool of oppression. The rape as act of violence got encoded into the legal structure under the helm of Lord Macaulay in the so called ‘Age of Reform’ in 1860 under IPC (Indian penal code). Initially Lord Macaulay formed Indian Law Commission in 1837 in which he drafted a bill and defined the ‘crime of rape as sexual intercourse by a man to a woman against her will and without her consent , except in cases involving girls under nine years of age where consent was immaterial’. The modern English law of rape formulated under the colonial era introduced twofold issues to the forefront. On the one hand it deployed ‘technical experts’ who wrote textbooks of medical jurisprudence that were used as credential citation to make case more ‘objective’, while on the other hand the presumptions about barbaric subjects, the colonized women’s body that was docile which is prone to adultery reflected in cases. The untrustworthiness of native witness also remained an imperative for British jurists to put extra emphasis making ‘objective’ and ‘presumptuous’. This sort of formulation put women down on the pedestrian of justice because it disadvantaged her doubly through British legality and their thinking about the rape. The Imperial morality that acted as vanguards of women’s chastity coincided language of science propagated in the post-enlightenment which not only annulled non-conformist ideas but also made itself a hegemonic language, was often used as a tool and language in encoding of law. The medico-legal understanding of rape in the colonial India has its clear imprints in the post-colonial legality. The onus on the part of rape’s victim was dictated for the longest time and still continues does by widely referred idea that ‘there should signs, marks of resistance on the body of the victim’ otherwise it is likely to be considered consensual. Having said so, this paper looks at the textual continuity that had prolonged the colonial construct of women’s body and the self.

Keywords: body, politics, textual construct, phallocentric

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Authors: Prakash Singh, Thembinkosi Twalo

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The sustainability of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM), in South Africa, is being threatened by the reported cases of poor administration, weak management of resources, inappropriate job performance, and inappropriate job behaviour of some of the workers. Since the structural-functionalists assume that formal education is a solution to societal challenges, it therefore means that the BCMM should not be experiencing this threat since many of its workers have various levels of formal education. Consequently, this study using the mixed method research approach, set out to investigate the paradoxical co-existence of inappropriate job behaviour and performance with formal education at the BCMM. Considering the impact of human factors in the labour process, this study draws attention to the divergent objectives of skill and skill bearer, with the application of knowledge subject to the knowledge bearer’s motives, will, attitudes, ethics and values. Consequently, inappropriate job behaviour and performance practices could be due to numerous factors such as lack of the necessary capabilities or refusal to apply what has been learnt due to racial or other prejudices. The role of the human factor in the labour process is a serious omission in human capital theory, which regards schooling as the only factor contributing to the ability to do a job. For this reason this study’s theoretical framework is an amalgamation of the four theories - human capital, social capital, cultural capital, and reputation capital – in an effort to obtain a broader view of the factors that shape job behaviour and performance. Since it has been established that human nature plays a crucial role in how workers undertake their responsibilities, it is important that this be taken into consideration in the BCMM’s monitoring and evaluation of the workers’ job performance practices. Hence, this exploratory study brings to the fore, the effects of poor job performance practices on the job satisfaction of workers.

Keywords: human capital, poor job performance practices, service delivery, workers’ job satisfaction

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Authors: Aliyu Damri

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In every educational institution, students of mass communication receive training to report events and issues accurately and objectively in accordance with official controls. However, the complex nature of society today made it possible to use WhatsApp platform that revolutionizes the means of sharing information, ideas, and experiences. This paper examined how students in the Department of Mass Communication, Abdu Gusau Polytechnic, Talata Mafara used WhatsApp platform in spreading fake news. It used in depth interview techniques and focus group discussion with students as well as the use of published materials to gather related and relevant data. Also, the paper used procedures involved to analyze long interview content. This procedure includes observation of a useful utterance, development of expanded observation, examination of interconnection of observed comments, collective scrutiny of observation for patterns and themes, and review and analysis of the themes across all interviews for development of thesis. The result indicated that inadequate and absent of official controls guiding the conduct of online information sharing, inaccuracies and poor source verification, lack of gate keeping procedures to ensure ethical and legal provisions, bringing users into the process, sharing all information, availability of misinformation, disinformation and rumor and problem of conversation strongly encouraged the emergence of fake news. Surprisingly, the idea of information as a commodity has increased, and transparency of a source as new ethics emerged.

Keywords: disinformation, fake news, group, mass communication, misinformation, WhatsApp

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Authors: Melanie Tang

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According to Nietzsche, the eternal recurrence is his most important idea. However, it is perhaps his most cryptic and difficult to interpret. Early readings considered it as a cosmological hypothesis about the cyclic nature of time. However, following Nehamas’s ‘Life as Literature’ (1985), it has become a widespread interpretation that the eternal recurrence never really had any theoretical dimensions, and is not actually a philosophy of time, but a practical thought experiment intended to measure the extent to which we have mastered and perfected our lives. This paper endeavours to challenge this line of thought becoming scholarly consensus, and to carry out a more complex analysis of the eternal recurrence as it is presented in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. In its wider scope, this research proposes that Thus Spoke Zarathustra — as opposed to The Birth of Tragedy — be taken as the primary source for a study of Nietzsche’s Aesthetics, due to its more intrinsic aesthetic qualities and expressive devices. The eternal recurrence is the central philosophy of a work that communicates its ideas in unprecedentedly experimental and aesthetic terms, and a more in-depth understanding of why Nietzsche chooses to present his conception of time in aesthetic terms is warranted. Through hermeneutical analysis of Thus Spoke Zarathustra and engagement with secondary sources such as those by Nehamas, Karl Löwith, and Jill Marsden, the present analysis challenges the ethics of self-perfection upon which current interpretations of the recurrence are based, as well as their reliance upon a linear conception of time. Instead, it finds the recurrence to be a cyclic interplay between the self and the world, rather than a metric pertaining solely to the self. In this interpretation, time is found to be composed of an intertemporal rather than linear multitude of will to power, which structures itself through tensional cycles into an experience of circular time that can be seen to have aesthetic dimensions. In putting forth this understanding of the eternal recurrence, this research hopes to reopen debate on this key concept in the field of Nietzsche studies.

Keywords: Nietzsche, eternal recurrence, Zarathustra, aesthetics, time

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Authors: Lesibana Rafapa

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Accounts exist of circumcision-anchored cultural initiation in central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, North Africa, and West Africa -straddling states like Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. This attests to the continent-wide spread of this cultural practice. In this paper, the writer relates the cultural aspect of circumcision-subsuming initiation among black African cultural groups across the continent to the notion that African cultures are varied yet subscribe to a common central concept. The premise of the paper is that the common practice of initiation for both male and female children that have to be initiated by adults to the tradition and customs of a people coincides with such a central concept. The practice of traditional initiation is as broad as to encompass aspects of spirituality, morality, and social organisation, in the nature of the central concept of which it is a trans-sectional part. Cultural initiation, sometimes referred to as traditional circumcision, constitutes culture-determined rites of passage for the initiates. The study’s aim, the findings of which are presented in this paper, was to probe gender equality in the development and promotion of the cultural practice of initiation. The researcher intended to demonstrate how in South Africa, female circumcision is treated equally or marginalised in efforts of the democratic government to regulate and strengthen the practice of circumcision as part of its broader liberation programme meant to reverse politico-cultural bondage experienced during apartheid rule that the present black regime helped bring to an end. It is argued that the failure to regard female circumcision as equal to its male counterpart is a travesty of the black government’s legislation and policies espousing equality and the protection and empowerment of vulnerable and previously marginalised population groups that include black women. The writer did a desk-top study of the history and characteristics of female circumcision among the black Northern Sotho, VaTsonga, and VhaVenda cultural groups of the Limpopo Province, stretching north to the border of South Africa with Zimbabwe, as well as literature on how political and other authorities exert efforts to preserve and empower the practice. The findings were that male initiation is foregrounded and totalised to represent the practice of initiation as a whole, at the expense of its female counterpart facing marginalisation and unequal regard. It is outlined in this paper how such impoverishment of an otherwise woman-empowering cultural practice deprives hitherto black cultures that suffered brutal repression during apartheid of a fuller recovery much needed in the democratic era. The writer applies some aspects of postcolonial theory and some tropes of feminism in the discussion of an uneven status of cultural circumcision at the hands of present day powers that be.

Keywords: African cultures, female circumcision, gender equality, women empowerment

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Authors: Carolyn J. Ortega, Stephen E. Berger

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The role of the custody evaluator is perhaps one of the most controversial and risky endeavors in clinical practice. Complaints filed with licensing boards regarding a child-custody evaluation constitute the second most common reason for such an event. Although the evaluator is expected to answer for the family-law court what is in the “best interest of the child,” there is a lack of clarity on how to establish this in any empirically validated manner. Hence, practitioners must contend with a nebulous framework in formulating their methodological procedures that inherently places them at risk in an already litigious context. This study sought to qualitatively investigate patterns of practice among doctoral practitioners conducting child custody evaluations in the area of Southern California. Ten psychologists were interviewed who devoted between 25 and 100% of their California private practice to custody work. All held Ph.D. degrees with a range of eight to 36 years of experience in custody work. Semi-structured interviews were used to investigate assessment practices, ensure adherence to guidelines, risk management, and qualities of evaluators. Forty-three Specific Themes were identified using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Seven Higher Order Themes clustered on salient factors such as use of Ethics, Law, Guidelines; Parent Variables; Child Variables; Psychologist Variables; Testing; Literature; and Trends. Evaluators were aware of the ever-present reality of a licensure complaint and thus presented idiosyncratic descriptions of risk management considerations. Ambiguity about quantifying and validly tapping parenting abilities was also reviewed. Findings from this study suggested a high reliance on unstructured and observational methods in child custody practices.

Keywords: forensic psychology, psychological testing, assessment methodology, child custody

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Authors: Amani Hassan Abu Atieh

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This study aims at examining the patterns of ideology reflected in the written discourse of women writers in the media of Jordan; Lana Mamkgh is taken as an example. This study critically analyzes the discursive, linguistic, and cognitive representations that she employs as an agent in the institutionalized discourse of the media. Grounded in van Dijk’s critical discourse analysis approach to Sociocognitive Discourse Studies, the present study builds a multilayer framework that encompasses van Dijk’s triangle: discourse, society, and cognition. Specifically, the study attempts to analyze, at both micro and macro levels, the underlying cognitive processes and structures, mainly ideology and discursive strategies, which are functional in the production of women’s discourse in terms of meaning, forms, and functions. Cognitive processes that social actors adopt are underlined by experience/context and semantic mental models on the one hand and social cognition on the other. This study is based on qualitative research and adopts purposive sampling, taking as an example a sample of an opinion article written by Lana Mamkgh in the Arabic Jordanian Daily, Al Rai. Taking her role as an agent in the public sphere, she stresses the National and feminist ideologies, demonstrating the use of assertive, evaluative, and expressive linguistic and rhetorical devices that appeal to the logic, ethics, and emotions of the addressee. Highlighting the agency of Jordanian writers in the media, the study sought to achieve the macro goal of dispensing political and social justice to the underprivileged. Further, the study seeks to prove that the voice of Jordanian women, viewed as underrepresented and invisible in the public arena, has come through clearly.

Keywords: critical discourse analysis, sociocognitive theory, ideology, women discourse, media

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Authors: Umme Habiba Jasmine, Mzikazi Nduna

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Due to the dearth of exploratory research in Bangladesh on parenting practices and transmission thereof, there is a lack of information on culture-sensitive methodology in studying this topic. This paper aims to share some methodological reflections from the research field, which will address this knowledge gap. Eleven dyads of biological mothers and maternal grandmothers of school-going children constituted the sample, and a female fieldworker conducted one-to-one, semi-structured, in-depth interviews with them. The participants were recruited through purposive sampling through a representative of a cooperative society in Mirpur area in Bangladesh. Four dyads of the sample outside that eleven dyads were discarded because of the unavailability of the other participant of the dyads or unsuitability for an in-depth interview. The sample recruitment strategy of approaching mothers without their known reference body had to be discarded because of existing social insecurity in Dhaka city. To meet the cultural demand of the research field the researcher had to change in the research plan and comply with the cultural tradition of mutual entertainment with food while conducting interviews which helped in engaging in positive interaction. Also, the researcher had to compromise the strict confidentiality to a collectivistic sense of confidentiality of the in-depth interview sessions. This study suggests future researchers to investigate Bangladeshi traditional practices and accommodate the applicable ones in their research plan for qualitative studies, especially the Bengali tradition of hospitality and shared confidentiality for building rapport and for proper access to the targeted information and research participants. Sample recruitment should always accompany a well-accepted reference person in the targeted research field.

Keywords: confidentiality, culture-sensitive, ethics, parenting practices, sampling

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Authors: Humphrey Atwijukiire, Gladys Nakidde, Anne Tweheyo Otwine, Jane Kabami

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Experiences of HIV Positive Serostatus Disclosure to Sexual Partner Among Individuals in Discordant Couples in Mbarara City, Southwestern Uganda Introduction: Disclosure of HIV status is key in HIV management. Despite many studies on serostatus disclosure, there is a gap in experiences regarding HIV status disclosure among discordant couples. This study explored the lived experiences of serostatus disclosure among discordant couples in Mbarara City, South Western Uganda. Methods: We conducted 12 in-depth interviews using translated interview guide, and audio recorders. Participants were purposively enrolled in the study. The study was conducted at three public health facilities in Mbarara City. Data was analyzed using thematic content analysis. Approval for this research was obtained from Mbarara University Research Ethics Committee and administrative clearance from city clerk of Mbarara City. Results: The mean age of participants was 38 years. An equal number of males (six) and females participated. Most of them had at least secondary level education, only three had primary education. Experienced benefits of HIV serostatus disclosure included: social support and care; decisions regarding health, fertility, and child bearing; sharing information on HIV prevention and protection; positive living; and, ease of HIV disclosure. The challenges included: misunderstandings in the families. Conclusion: Socially, psychologically and financially PLWHIV have benefited from their negative partners. Health wise, they have been supported, and cared for, but some have faced challenges, such as family misunderstandings. Couple HIV counseling and testing by a trained health worker is beneficial in HIV care and could mitigate the challenges related HIV serostatus disclosure.

Keywords: discordant couples, disclosure, experiences, HIV

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Authors: Debarati Bhaumik, Diptish Dey

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Multilevel models, increasingly deployed in industries such as insurance, food production, and entertainment within functions such as marketing and supply chain management, need to be transparent and ethical. Applications usually result in binary classification within groups or hierarchies based on a set of input features. Using open-source datasets, we demonstrate that popular explainability methods, such as SHAP and LIME, consistently underperform inaccuracy when interpreting these models. They fail to predict the order of feature importance, the magnitudes, and occasionally even the nature of the feature contribution (negative versus positive contribution to the outcome). Besides accuracy, the computational intractability of SHAP for binomial classification is a cause of concern. For transparent and ethical applications of these hierarchical statistical models, sound audit frameworks need to be developed. In this paper, we propose an audit framework for technical assessment of multilevel regression models focusing on three aspects: (i) model assumptions & statistical properties, (ii) model transparency using different explainability methods, and (iii) discrimination assessment. To this end, we undertake a quantitative approach and compare intrinsic model methods with SHAP and LIME. The framework comprises a shortlist of KPIs, such as PoCE (Percentage of Correct Explanations) and MDG (Mean Discriminatory Gap) per feature, for each of these three aspects. A traffic light risk assessment method is furthermore coupled to these KPIs. The audit framework will assist regulatory bodies in performing conformity assessments of AI systems using multilevel binomial classification models at businesses. It will also benefit businesses deploying multilevel models to be future-proof and aligned with the European Commission’s proposed Regulation on Artificial Intelligence.

Keywords: audit, multilevel model, model transparency, model explainability, discrimination, ethics

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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

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Authors: Luci V. Hyett

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The criminal law of England and Wales currently deems that a person cannot consent to the infliction of injury upon their own body, where the level of harm is considered to be Actual or Grevious. This renders the defence of consent of the victim as being unavailable to those persons carrying out an Alternative Body Modification procedure. However, the criminalization of consensual injury is more appropriately deemed as being categorized as an offense against public morality and not one against the person, which renders the State’s involvement in the autonomous choices of a consenting adult, when determining what can be done to one’s own body, an arbitrary one. Furthermore, to recognise in law that a person is capable of giving a valid consent to socially acceptable cosmetic interventions that largely consist of procedures designed to aesthetically please men and, not those of people who want to modify their bodies for other reasons means that patriarchal attitudes are continuing to underpin public repulsion and inhibit social acceptance of such practices. Theoretical analysis will begin with a juridical examination of R v M(B) [2019] QB 1 where the High Court determined that Alternative Body Modification was not a special category exempting a person so performing from liability for Grevious Bodily Harm using the defence of consent. It will draw from its reasoning which considered that ‘the removal of body parts were medical procedures being carried out for no medical reason by someone not qualified to carry them out’ which will form the basis of this enquiry. It will consider the philosophical work of Georgio Agamben when analysing whether the biopolitical climate in the UK, which places the optimization of the perfect, healthy body at the centre of political concern can explain why those persons who wish to engage in Alternative Body Modification are treated as the ‘Exception’ to that which is normal using the ‘no medical reason’ canon to justify criminalisation, rather than legitimising the industry through regulation. It will consider, through a feminist lens, the current conflict in law between traditional cosmetic interventions which alter one’s physical appearance for socially accepted aesthetic purposes such as those to the breast, lip and buttock and, modifications described as more outlandish such as earlobe stretching, tooth filing and transdermal implants to create horns and spikes under the skin. It will assert that ethical principles relating to the psychological impact of body modification described as ‘alternative’ is used as a means to exclude person’s seeking such a procedure from receiving safe and competent treatment via a registered cosmetic surgeon which leads to these increasingly popular surgery’s being performed in Tattoo parlours throughout the UK as an extension to other socially acceptable forms of self-modification such as piercings. It will contend that only by ‘inclusive exclusion’ will those ‘othered’ through ostracisation be welcomed into the fold of normality and this can only be achieved through recognition of alternative body modification as a legitimate cosmetic intervention, subject to the same regulatory framework as existing practice. This would assist in refocusing the political landscape by erring on the side of liberty rather than that of biology.

Keywords: biopolitics, body modification, consent, criminal law

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Authors: Hanlei Yang

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As a kind of popular culture in modern China, advice book on intimate relationship is turning into an important and controversial site with conflicts among neoliberalism, authoritative socialism, market-oriented principles, the science of successful sex and relationship, cosmopolitan notions of nuclear families, and the revitalization of Confucian conservatism and patriarchy. Accelerated modernization and marketization has contributed to great changes in China’s culture and social relations, which accordingly reconceptualizes and reconstructs family structures and moral ethics, particularly urban middle-class nuclear families. To comprehend the meaning of advice book fad in moral and social order, this research proposes to (i) understand the implication of Ayawawa through discourse analysis and how she mobilizes rhetorical devices and cultural resources to present a persuasive and scientific method of managing intimate relationship, (ii) examine the critical role of neoliberalism, post-feminism, and Confucian patriarchy assumed by Ayawawa in her books, (iii) explore how Ayawawa and her fans engage in establishing a model of intimate relationship and sexual subjectivity ordered by neoliberalism, class identity and authoritative socialism. Finally, this research argues that such new fad of a cultural phenomenon is gradually completed in the process of cooperation and negotiation of the state, commercial institutions, and intellectual elite agents. It helps to further learn about (i) the routine life under the influence of neoliberalism and modern hegemony, (ii) the perplexing relationship between China's indigenous cultural forms, global socio-economic and cultural influences in the late modern era.

Keywords: cultural study, intimate relationship, culture sociology, gender study

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Authors: Mercy D. Chirwa, Juliet Nyasulu, Lebisti Modiba, Makombo Ganga-Limando

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Maternal death review is an initiative that provides a deeper understanding of the causes and circumstances sorounding of maternal deaths in Malawi and globally. Midwives are frontline members of the healthcare team and have stories about what pregnant women go through as such they are better placed to contribute to these reviews. Despite midwives’ participation as members of the facility-based maternal death review team, maternal deaths continues to occur. A lot has been documented around processes involved in maternal review, however, not much has been written around challenges experienced by midwives in maternal death review. This study explored the challenges faced by midwives in the implementation of maternal death reviews in the context of the healthcare system in Malawi. Methodology: This was a qualitative exploratory study design. Focus group discussions and individual face-to-face interviews were used to collect data in the study. A total of 40 midwives, who met the inclusion criteria, participated in the study. Data was analysed manually using a thematic content procedure. Findings: The four major challenges identified were: knowledge and skill gaps; lack of leadership and accountability; lack of institutional political will and inconsistency in conducting FBMDR, impeding midwives’ effective contribution to the implementation of maternal death review. The practical solutions and recommendations that emerged were: need-based knowledge and skills updates, supportive leadership, effective and efficient interdisciplinary work ethics, and sustained availability of material and human resources. Conclusion: Midwives have the highest potential to contribute to the reduction of maternal deaths. Practice development strategies are required to improve their practice in all the areas they are challenged with.

Keywords: facility-based maternal death review, maternal deaths, midwife, midwife challenges

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Authors: Jennifer Zelmer

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The debate regarding the morality, and therefore legality, of abortion has many social, political, and medical ramifications worldwide. In a developing country like Bolivia, carrying a pregnancy to delivery is incredibly risky. Given the very high maternal mortality rate in Bolivia, greater consideration has been given to the (de)criminalization of abortion – a contributing cause of maternal death. In the spring of 2017, the Bolivian government proposed to loosen restrictions on women’s access to receiving a safe abortion, which was met with harsh criticism from 'pro-vida' (pro-life) factions. Although the current Bolivian government Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement Toward Socialism) portrays an agenda of decolonization, or to seek a 'traditionally-modern' society, nevertheless, Bolivia still has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the Americas, because of centuries of colonial and patriarchal order. Applying a feminist critique and using the abortion debate as the central point, this paper argues that the 'traditionally-modern' society Bolivia strives towards is a paradox, and in fact only contributes to the reciprocal process of the death of 'mother tongues' and the unnecessary death of women. This claim is supported by a critical analysis of historical texts about Spanish Colonialism in Bolivia; the linguistic reality of reproductive educational strategies, and the philosophical framework which the Bolivian government and its citizens implement. This analysis is demonstrated in the current state of women’s access to reproductive healthcare in Cochabamba, Bolivia based on recent fieldwork which included audits of clinics and hospitals, interviews, and participant observation. This paper has two major findings: 1) the language used by opponents of abortion in Bolivia is not consistent with the claim of being 'pro-life' but more accurately with being 'pro-potential'; 2) when the topic of reproductive health appears in Cochabamba, Bolivia, it is often found written in the Spanish language, and does not cater to the many indigenous communities that inhabit or visit this city. Finally, this paper considers the crucial role of public health documentation to better inform the abortion debate, as well as the necessity of expanding reproductive health information to more than text-based materials in Cochabamba. This may include more culturally appropriate messages and mediums that cater to the oral tradition of the indigenous communities, who historically and currently have some of the highest fertility rates. If the objective of one who opposes abortion is to save human lives, then preventing the death of women should equally be of paramount importance. But rather, the 'pro-life' movement in Bolivia is willing to risk the lives of to-be mothers, by judicial punishment or death, for the chance of a potential baby. Until abortion is fully legal, safe, and accessible, there will always be the vestiges of colonial and patriarchal order in Bolivia which only perpetuates the needless death of women.

Keywords: abortion, feminist theory, Quechua, reproductive health education

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Authors: Tashwill Esterhuizen

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Throughout Africa, several countries continue to have laws which criminalise same-sex sexual activities, which increases the vulnerability of the LGBT community to stigma, discrimination, and persecution. These criminal provisions often form the basis upon which states deny LGBT activists the right to freely associate with other like-minded individuals and form organizations that protect their interests and advocate for the rights and aspirations of the LGBT community. Over the past year, however, there has been significant progress in the advancement of universal, fundamental rights of LGBT persons throughout Africa. In many instances, these advancements came about through the bravery of activists who have publically insisted (in environments where same-sex sexual practices are criminalised) that their rights should be respected. Where meaningful engagement with the State was fruitless, activists took their plight to the judiciary and have successfully sought to uphold the fundamental rights of LGBT persons, paving the way for a more inclusive and tolerant society. Litigation Progress: Botswana is a prime example. For several years, the State denied a group of LGBT activists their right to freely associate and form their organisation Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO), which aimed to promote the interests of the LGBT community in Botswana. In March 2016, the Botswana Court of Appeal found that the government’s refusal to register LEGABIBO violated the activists’ right to associate freely. The Court held that the right freedom of association applies to all persons regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. It does not matter that the views of the organisation are unpopular or unacceptable amongst the majority. In particular, the Court rejected the government of Botswana’s contention that registering LEGABIBO would disturb public peace and is contrary to public morality. Quite remarkably, the Court of Appeal recognised that while LGBT individuals are a minority group within the country, they are nonetheless persons entitled to constitutional protections of their dignity, regardless of whether they are unacceptable to others on religious or any other grounds. Furthermore, the Court held that human rights and fundamental freedoms are granted to all, including criminals or social outcasts because the denial of an individual’s humanity is the denial of their human dignity. This is crucial observation by the Court of Appeal, as once it is accepted that human rights apply to all human beings, then it becomes much easier for vulnerable groups to assert their own rights. Conclusion: The Botswana Court of Appeal decision, therefore, represents significant progress in the promotion of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons. The judgment has broader implications for many other countries which do not provide recognition of sexual minorities. It highlights the State’s duty to uphold basic rights and to ensure dignity, tolerance, and acceptance for marginalised persons.

Keywords: acceptance, freedom of association, freedom of expression, fundamental rights and freedoms, gender identity, human rights are universal, inclusive, inherent human dignity, progress, sexual orientation, tolerance

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Authors: Xiaohui Pan

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As the most influential media for the dissemination of Chinese culture, films and television dramas have played cognitive orientation in guiding young audience to understand its cultural value. Taking a retrospective overview of the Chinese domestic film and television dramas in the last decade, it is tangible to notice that Westernization has become irresistible force in the presentation of Chinese youth culture, such as the rise of sensibility, publicity of subjectivity, and the resistance to mainstream discourse. However, the process of deconstruction and transition of these film and television works on Western youth culture brought about more comprehensive conflicts and integration rather than providing a panoramic interpretation to young Chinese. Issues of tradition and modernization, oriental and Western, and serious thinking and the spirit of entertainment overwhelmed those Chinese works. This study attempts to examine the mechanism of young Chinese’s resistance, compromise and re-construction in their marriages during the dynamic cultural intergration between traditional Chinese culture and Western culture. To investigate such a mechanism, this study analyzed four Chinese television dramas themed on family ethics to reveal the conflictions between two generations, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, aiming to identify their strategies of their struggles. Incorporating the theory of Scott's weapons of the weak, this study examines the dynamic model of the struggles content analysis on their hidden language and the power. The finding shows that young Chinese identified their self-awakening during the resistance. The study also finds out that the external factors might have the functions of switching the power from the strong end to the weak end. The finding of this study can provide useful insights for researchers in this area and for those in the process of exploring cultural integration issues.

Keywords: intergration, integration, resistance, youth culture

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Authors: Qurratulain Faheem

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The human body often serves as a reference point to analyse the notions of self and society. Situating on Merleau-Ponty and Bourdieu theories of embodiments, this research explores the notions around the human body and its influence on the ethical considerations in regards to organ transplantation among the Muslim communities in Pakistan. The context of Pakistan makes an intriguing case study as cadaveric organ transplantation is not in practise. Whereas living organ transplantation is commonly is practised between family membersonly. These contradictory practices apparently rests on the ideologies around the human body and religious beliefs as well the personal judgements and authority of healthcare professionals. This research is a year-long ethnographic study carried out as part of doctoral studies. An anthropological approach towards organ transplantation in Pakistan brought forward various socio-cultural notions around the human body and selfhood that serve as a framework around biomedical ethical issues in various societies. Further, it surface the contradictions and issues associated with organ transplantation that makes it a dilemma situated in a nexus of various socio-cultural and political factors rather seeing it as an isolated health concern. This research is a novel study on the subject of organ transplantation in the context of Pakistan but also put forward ethnographic data that could serve as a reference in other religious societies. Further, the ethnographic data bring forward experiences and stories of organ receivers, organ donors, religious leaders, healthcare professionals, and the general public, which aspire to encourage biomedical ethicists and social-scientists to consider ethnography as a research methodology and rely upon people’s lived experiences while establishing policies and practices around biomedical ethical issues.

Keywords: organ transplantation, ethics, pakistan, gender, islam, muslims, living organ donation

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Authors: Ganiyu Rasaq Omokeji

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The growing recognition of the pivotal role of universities in promoting socio-economic development has led to a focus upon the expansion of the sector around the world. As the economy and society become more ‘knowledge intensive’, the role of universities in development is more onerous than just teaching, research, and service. It is to help create the open society upon which the progress of ideas depends on. Driven to fulfill this role, universities are likely to become even more important in building regional networks of their host communities. Currently, there are about 129 universities in Nigeria, with a total number of 37 federal, 36 state, and 56 privately owned universities. Fountain University is among the private universities in Nigeria located in Osogbo, Osun State. The university is committed to the total development of men and women in an enabling environment, through appropriate teaching, research, and service to humanity, influenced by Islamic ethics and culture. The university focuses on educational development and growth that are relevant to the nation’s manpower needs and global competitiveness through a gradual but steady process. This paper examines the role of Private University in the socio-economic development of host community using Fountain University as a case study. The research methodology design for this paper has a total of 200 respondents. The research instrument of data collection was a questionnaire and in-depth interview (IDI). The finding reveals that Fountain University plays an important role in socio-economic and cultural development through their Islamic culture. The paper recommend that universities must bridge the gaps between creative individual with innovative ideas and the application of technology for economic progress and social betterment of their host communities. University also must serve as a bridge that carries the traffic of social and economic development.

Keywords: private university, socio-economic development, host communities, role of universities and community development

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Authors: Samantha Clarke

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The term social justice is central to social work; however, the meaning behind this term is not as simple as defining the term itself. This is because the meaning of social justice is relative since its origin and development is based on evolving political perspectives. Political perspectives provide numerous lenses to view social justice in social work; however, the realities of changing society have meant that social justice has assumed different values, definitions, and understandings over time and in different geopolitical and cultural contexts. There are many competing and convincing theories of social justice that are relevant to social work practice. Exploring the term is not an idle preoccupation because the meaning of the term is not as crucial as the meaning of the worldview, as it is the worldview that positions social justice as crucial in the emancipation of people marginalized from oppression. The many political assumptions that underlie the term social justice are explored and connected to the contemporary discussions about social justice in social work. These connections are then interrogated in the Canadian Social Works Code of Ethics, and in micro, mezzo, and macro approaches. To be remiss in interrogating the underlying political assumptions of the worldview of social justice is to entrench oppression and to preserve oppressive structures in contemporary Canadian social work. The concept of social justice is unable to withstand closer scrutiny about its emancipatory qualities in Canadian social work when we interrogate the many political assumptions that frame its understanding. In order to authenticate social justice as an emancipatory central organizing principle, Canadian social workers must engage in deeper discussions about the political implications of social justice in their everyday practices based on diverse worldviews and geopolitical contexts. Social workers are well positioned to develop an understanding of social justice that is emancipatory based on their everyday practices because as social and political actors they are positioned to work for and with individuals and toward the greater good of those who are marginalized from oppression.

Keywords: Canadian social work, political analysis, social justice, social work practice

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Authors: Amira Yousef Mahrous Yousef

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This paper includes fast fashion verses sustainable fashion or slow fashion Indian based consumers. The expression ‘Fast fashion’ is generally referred to low-cost clothing collections that considered first hand copy of luxury brands, sometime interchangeably used with ‘mass fashion’. Whereas slow fashion or limited fashion which are consider to be more organic or eco-friendly. "Sustainable fashion is ethical fashion and here the consumer is just not design conscious but also social-environment conscious". Paper will deal with desire of young Indian consumer towards such luxury brands present in India, and their understanding of sustainable fashion, how to maintain the equilibrium between never newer fashion, style, and fashion sustainability. The green fashion market is growing rapidly as eco-friendly consumers are willing to expand their organic lifestyle to include clothing. With an increasing share of fashion consumers globally, Indian consumers are observed to consider the social and environmental ethics while making purchasing decisions. While some research clearly identifies the efforts of responsible consumers towards green fashion, some argue that fashion-orientated consumers who are sensitive towards environment do not actively participate towards supporting green fashion. This study aims to analyze the current perception of green fashion among Indian consumers. A small-scale exploratory study is conducted where consumers’ perception of green fashion is examined followed by an analysis of translation of this perception into purchase decision making. This research paper gives insight into consumer awareness on green fashion and provides scope towards the expansion of ethical fashion consumption .

Keywords: inclusions, temperature gradient, HPHT synthetic fibers, polyamide fibers, fiber volume, compressive strength. gold nano clusters, copper ions, wool keratin, fluorescence

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Authors: Felib Ayman Shawky Salem

Abstract:

This paper includes fast fashion verses sustainable fashion or slow fashion Indian based consumers. The expression ‘Fast fashion’ is generally referred to low-cost clothing collections that considered first hand copy of luxury brands, sometime interchangeably used with ‘mass fashion’. Whereas slow fashion or limited fashion which are consider to be more organic or eco-friendly. "Sustainable fashion is ethical fashion and here the consumer is just not design conscious but also social-environment conscious". Paper will deal with desire of young Indian consumer towards such luxury brands present in India, and their understanding of sustainable fashion, how to maintain the equilibrium between never newer fashion, style, and fashion sustainability. The green fashion market is growing rapidly as eco-friendly consumers are willing to expand their organic lifestyle to include clothing. With an increasing share of fashion consumers globally, Indian consumers are observed to consider the social and environmental ethics while making purchasing decisions. While some research clearly identifies the efforts of responsible consumers towards green fashion, some argue that fashion-orientated consumers who are sensitive towards environment do not actively participate towards supporting green fashion. This study aims to analyze the current perception of green fashion among Indian consumers. A small-scale exploratory study is conducted where consumers’ perception of green fashion is examined followed by an analysis of translation of this perception into purchase decision making. This research paper gives insight into consumer awareness on green fashion and provides scope towards the expansion of ethical fashion consumption

Keywords: diamond, inclusions, temperature gradient, HPHT synthetic fibers, polyamide fibers, fiber volume, compressive strength. gold nano clusters, copper ions, wool keratin, fluorescence

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Authors: Eric Yi-Hsiu Huang, Meng-Chun Kao, Wen-Chuan Kuo

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For every laparoscopic surgery, a safe pneumoperitoneumcreation (gaining access to the peritoneal cavity) is the first and essential step. However, closed pneumoperitoneum is usually obtained by blind insertion of a Veress needle into the peritoneal cavity, which may carry potential risks suchas bowel and vascular injury.Until now, there remains no definite measure to visually confirm the position of the needle tip inside the peritoneal cavity. Therefore, this study established an image-guided Veress needle method by combining a fiber probe with optical coherence tomography (OCT). An algorithm was also proposed for determining the exact location of the needle tip through the acquisition of OCT images. Our method not only generates a series of “live” two-dimensional (2D) images during the needle puncture toward the peritoneal cavity but also can eliminate operator variation in image judgment, thus improving peritoneal access safety. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Taipei Veterans General Hospital (Taipei VGH IACUC 2020-144). A total of 2400 in vivo OCT images, independent of each other, were acquired from experiments of forty peritoneal punctures on two piglets. Characteristic OCT image patterns could be observed during the puncturing process. The ROC curve demonstrates the discrimination capability of these quantitative image features of the classifier, showing the accuracy of the classifier for determining the inside vs. outside of the peritoneal was 98% (AUC=0.98). In summary, the present study demonstrates the ability of the combination of our proposed automatic identification method and OCT imaging for automatically and objectively identifying the location of the needle tip. OCT images translate the blind closed technique of peritoneal access into a visualized procedure, thus improving peritoneal access safety.

Keywords: pneumoperitoneum, optical coherence tomography, automatic identification, veress needle

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Authors: Supabhorn Yimthiang, Wiyada Khanwian

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Cadmium is a heavy metal that is important in the environment because it is highly toxic. The incidence and severity of type 2 diabetes mellitus are known to be associated with cadmium. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cadmium levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus at diabetes mellitus clinic, Thasala hospital, Nakhon Si Thummarat, Thailand. The study population was composed of forty five subjects. Among them, twenty two were diabetic patients and twenty three were apparently healthy non-diabetic individual subjects. After an overnight fasting, blood and morning urine samples were collected from each subject to determine fasting blood sugar and cadmium levels in urine, respectively. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure values were measured by aneroid sphygmomanometer. Study approval was taken from the human subject ethics committee of Walailak University. Verbal and written informed consent was taken from all participants. In the study samples, there were 31.8% males and 68.2% females with mean age of 47+10.53 years. The geometric mean of urine cadmium was significantly higher in diabetic patients (1.015 + 0.79 µg/g creatinine) when compared with the healthy subjects (0.395 + 0.53 µg/g creatinine) (P<0.05). This result also showed that urine cadmium excretion in diabetic patients was higher than in healthy subjects by 2.6 times. Moreover, fasting blood sugar (153+47.86 μg/dl) and systolic blood pressure (183.26+17.15 mmHg) of diabetic patients was significantly different when compared with healthy subjects (79+5.38 μg/dl and 112.78+11.32 mmHg, respectively) (P<0.05). Meanwhile, the concentration of cadmium in urine showed positive correlation with fasting plasma glucose (r=0.616) and systolic blood pressure (r=0.487). This preliminary study showed that cadmium might play an important role in the development and pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus in general population. However, these findings require confirmation through additional epidemiological and biological research.

Keywords: blood pressure, cadmium, fasting blood sugar, type 2 diabetes mellitus

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Authors: Anna Stoutenburg

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With the rise of the so-called 'new left' within the United States, marked by social democratic figures such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, significant questions have been raised in response to those who would identify with the term 'socialist'. These queries typically revolve around the negatively perceived legacy of past and present countries that share the term in question, with the stark conclusion that not only is socialism a structure that does not work economically, but that it also tends to inflict more harm on those living under it that would be endured in a country functioning under capitalism. In order to examine these claims, the goal of this paper is to examine the legacy of anti-communist historiography in a western context, with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China, and modern Venezuela used as case studies for how this phenomenon operates. Not only will key portions of each nation’s history be re-examined, but there will also be a critical analysis of source cultivation and usage among western historians. The intent of this paper is not merely to deride previous attempts at historicizing and reporting on the events of the nations, but rather to attempt to glean a clearer picture that is free from anti-communist sentiments. Theoretical works that will be consulted in order to define this project are 'The Historiography of Communism' by Michael Brown, as well as 'Beyond Philosophy: Ethics, History, Marxism, and Liberation Theology' by Enrique Dussel. The latter will provide insights concerning why these questions are relevant in a larger context, namely by articulating how the means of liberation understood through an analectic method can be achieved structurally. For a majority of leftists, this question is integral, and by using history as a tool, the ways that political organizing can be used can be better understood, bridging the gap between the common assumption that the communist legacy is a dire one and the idea that it is something which needs to be completely lauded.

Keywords: anti-communism, history, ideology, Marxism

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Authors: Ruepert Jiel Cao

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This study explores the renegotiation of bakla culture in Philippine media in the context of Kalye Serye segment of the popular Filipino noontime variety show Eat Bulaga. Although the term “bakla” is usually translated to “gay” or “homosexual male” in English, they do not mean the same. The western notion of a gay refers to a male person attracted to another male person but still retains the masculine physical attributes. However, the bakla embodies loudness, femininity, and transvestitism. Hence, a bakla is a gay man aspiring to be a woman by assuming feminine actions and appearance, a definition much closer to a transgender. The Philippine media usually employs the bakla culture in comedy programs. The bakla nowadays is usually associated with the people of lower economic strata and carries a pathological connotation. The Filipino television program Eat Bulaga, which has been airing for more than 36 years, is fond of using bakla in comedy. However, the recently launched segment entitled Kalye Serye (literally “Street [Television] Series”), while still employing drag performance to incorporate bakla culture in comedy, renegotiates the bakla culture by deviating from the stereotypical notion of bakla. In this study, this researcher asks: (1) How does Kalye Serye renegotiate the Filipino concept of bakla in terms of economic aspirations and social norms? (2) How does Kalye Serye reappropriate the bakla culture to fit non-comedic performances? The study examines 15 purposively selected Kalye Serye episodes. Seven were selected from the Thursday episodes, seven from Saturday episodes, and the Lenten special episode. These were selected to cover as many characters and different character roles as possible. Data was constructed by identifying and coding the roles, physical appearance and gestures, and key dialogs of the characters. A total of six female characters played by three different male actors were examined. Semiotic analysis using semiotics of Roland Barthes was performed to produce a reading of the characters. Findings show that through physical appearance, the characters associate bakla with the economic affluence through the use of expensive-looking clothes, jewelries, cars, and elaborate gestures. This represents a new economic but old western aspiration of the bakla. In terms of social norms, the characters try to revive the traditional concepts of femininity, courtship, and respect, values which are touted to be lost in the current generation of Filipinos. This is quite ironic because while there is a seemingly tolerant attitude towards all forms of queerness, the bakla is considered immoral and yet, the bakla is used to teach about morality and values. Finally, the characters break the traditional association of the bakla with slapstick comedy and their roles are reappropriated to suit dramatic roles. By refraining from portraying the bakla in ridiculous manner (physically and in terms of roles), the bakla lends itself well in the performance of dramatic roles and their ridiculous and pathological associations removed. Future research may include other Filipino or Asian portrayals of queerness to get a better understanding of how queerness is incorporated in contemporary popular culture.

Keywords: bakla, drag performance, popular culture, queer representation

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Authors: Olga Kruzhkova, Irina Vorobyeva, Roman Porozov

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Vandalism is a common phenomenon, but its definition is still not clearly defined. In the public sense, vandalism is the blatant cases of pogroms in cemeteries, destruction of public places (regardless of whether these actions are authorized), damage to significant objects of culture and history (monuments, religious buildings). From a legal point of view, only such an act can be called vandalism, which is aimed at 'desecrating buildings or other structures, damaging property on public transport or in other public places'. The key here is the notion of public property that is being damaged. In addition, the principal is the semantics of messages, expressed in a kind of sign system (drawing, inscription, symbol), which initially threatens public order, the calmness of citizens, public morality. Because of this, the legal qualification of vandalism doesn’t include a sufficiently wide layer of environmental destructions that are common in modern urban space (graffiti and other damage to private property, broken shop windows, damage to entrances and elevator cabins), which in ordinary consciousness are seen as obvious facts of vandalism. At the same time, the understanding of vandalism from the position of psychology implies an appeal to the question of the limits of the activity of the subject of vandalism and his motivational basis. Also recently, the discourse on the positive meaning of some forms of vandalism (graffiti, street-art, etc.) has been activated. But there is no discussion of the role and significance of vandalism in public and individual life, although, like any socio-cultural and socio-psychological phenomenon, vandalism is not groundless and meaningless. Our aim of the study was to identify and describe the functions of vandalism as a socio-cultural and socio-psychological phenomenon of the life of the urban community, as well as personal determinants of its manifestations. The study was conducted in the spatial environment of the Russian megalopolis (Ekaterinburg) by photographing visual results of vandal acts (6217 photos) with subsequent trace-assessment and image content analysis, as well as diagnostics of personal characteristics and motivational basis of vandal activity of possible subjects of vandalism among youth. The results of the study allowed to identify the functions of vandalism at the socio-environmental and individual-subjective levels. The socio-environmental functions of vandalism include the signaling function, the function of preparing of social changes, the constructing function, and the function of managing public moods. The demonstrative-protest function, the response function, the refund function, and the self-expression function are assigned to the individual-subjective functions of vandalism. A two-dimensional model of vandal functions has been formed, where functions are distributed in the spaces 'construction reconstruction', 'emotional regulation/moral regulation'. It is noted that any function of vandal activity at the individual level becomes a kind of marker of 'points of tension' at the social and environmental level. Acknowledgment: The research was supported financially by Russian Science Foundation, (Project No. 17-18-01278).

Keywords: destruction, urban environment, vandal behavior, vandalism, vandalism functions

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Authors: Sharmila Parmanand

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This paper examines dominant media representations of prostitution in the Philippines and interrogates sex workers’ interactions with the media establishment. This analysis of how sex workers are constituted in media, often as both innocent victims and immoral actors, contributes to an understanding of public discourse on sex work in the Philippines, where decriminalisation has recently been proposed and sex workers are currently classified as potential victims under anti-trafficking laws but also as criminals under the penal code. The first part is an analysis of media coverage of two prominent themes on prostitution: first, raid and rescue operations conducted by law enforcement; and second, prostitution on military bases and tourism hotspots. As a result of pressure from activists and international donors, these two themes often define the policy conversations on sex work in the Philippines. The discourses in written and televised news reports and documentaries from established local and international media sources that address these themes are explored through content analysis. Conclusions are drawn based on specific terms commonly used to refer to sex workers, how sex workers are seen as performing their cultural roles as mothers and wives, how sex work is depicted, associations made between sex work and public health, representations of clients and managers and ‘rescuers’ such as the police, anti-trafficking organisations, and faith-based groups, and which actors are presumed to be issue experts. Images of how prostitution is used as a metaphor for relations between the Philippines and foreign nations are also deconstructed, along with common tropes about developing world female subjects. In general, sex workers are simultaneously portrayed as bad mothers who endanger their family’s morality but also as long-suffering victims who endure exploitation for the sake of their children. They are also depicted as unclean, drug-addicted threats to public health. Their managers and clients are portrayed as cold, abusive, and sometimes violent, and their rescuers as moral and altruistic agents who are essential for sex workers’ rehabilitation and restoration as virtuous citizens. The second part explores sex workers’ own perceptions of their interactions with media, through interviews with members of the Philippine Sex Workers Collective, a loose organisation of sex workers around the Philippines. They reveal that they are often excluded by media practitioners and that they do not feel that they have space for meaningful self-revelation about their work when they do engage with journalists, who seem to have an overt agenda of depicting them as either victims or women of loose morals. In their assessment, media narratives do not necessarily reflect their lived experiences, and in some cases, coverage of rescues and raid operations endangers their privacy and instrumentalises their suffering. Media representations of sex workers may produce subject positions such as ‘victims’ or ‘criminals’ and legitimize specific interventions while foreclosing other ways of thinking. Further, in light of media’s power to reflect and shape public consciousness, it is a valuable academic and political project to examine whether sex workers are able to assert agency in determining how they are represented.

Keywords: discourse analysis, news media, sex work, trafficking

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Authors: Hannah Patricia S., Louise Margarrette R., Josking Oliver L., Denisse Katrina C., Justine Kali O.

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Aims: In the Philippines, there has been an astronomical increase in the population of elderly sent to nursing home facilities which has been studied to induce despair and loss of self-worth. Nurses in institutionalized facilities generally care for the elderly. Although supportive group therapy has been explored to mend this psychological disparity, nursing research has limited published studies about this in the institutionalized setting. Hence, the study determined the effectiveness of supportive group therapy in depression, self-esteem and quality of life among institutionalized elderly. Methodology: A one-group pre-test-post-test design was conducted among 20-purposively selected institutionalized elderly after the Ethics Research Board approval. All eligible participants underwent the supportive group therapy after being subdivided into session groups. The Geriatric Depression Scale, which has a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.90; the Rosenberg Self-Esteem, which has a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient = 0.84; and the Older People Quality of Life, which has a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient =0.88, were utilized to measure depression, self-esteem, and quality of life, respectively. Descriptive statistics and Repeated Measures-Multivariate Analysis of Variance (RM-MANOVA) analyzed gathered data. Results: Results showed that the supportive group therapy significantly decreased post-test depression scores (F(1,19)=78.69,p=0.0001,partial η2=0.805), significantly improved post-test self-esteem score (F(1,19)=28.07,p=0.0001,partial η2=0.596), and significantly increased the post-test quality of life (F(1,19)=79.73,p=0.0001,partial η2=0.808) after the intervention has been rendered. Conclusion: Supportive group therapy is effective in alleviating depression and in improving self-esteem and quality of life among institutionalized elderly and can be utilized by nursing homes as an intervention to improve the over-all psychosocial status of elderly patients.

Keywords: supportive group therapy, institutionalized elderly, depression, self-esteem, quality of life

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