Evaluating the Research Process Essay

Literature Review The following paper will address the research process using the article Assessing Pregnancy Intention and Associated Risks in Pregnant Adolescents. The research process consists of nine parts that include; selecting a problem, formulating a hypothesis, reviewing the literature, listing the measures, describing the subjects, constructing a design, constructing and identifying measurement devices, analysis of the data, and generating conclusions (Neutens & Rubinson, 2010). The literature review shows that adolescent pregnancy is a multifaceted problem. Adolescent pregnancy has risk factors that must be taken into account. Ethics Some of these risk factors would be the ethical considerations. The Nuremberg Code which was established in 1947 tried to provide regulations. These regulations were to prevent any more atrocities in human research (Neutens & Rubinson, 2010). One of the ethical considerations would be informed consent. Informed consent came about after the Nuremberg Code. Informed consent is about telling the subject about the details of the research, any risks or benefits that could come about (Neutens & Rubinson, 2010) Ethical considerations must be taken into consideration when performing tests on human subjects. If anything is not disclosed in the informed consent, it would leave the researchers vulnerable to a lawsuit as well as invalidating the research study. In the article, Assessing Pregnancy Intention and Associated Risks in Pregnant Adolescents, informed consent was followed. â€Å"Informed consent was obtained from the participant and if the participant was younger than 18 years old, con sent was obtained from her guardian with assent of the minor (participant)† (Phipps & Nunes, 2012). The researchers found the subjects during their first prenatal care appointment to the â€Å"Women and Infants Hospital Women’s Primary Care Center, Providence, RI between March 2002 and February 2005† (Phipps & Nunes,  2012). Steps were taken to ensure that the participants would be considered adolescents even after their babies were born and that they would understand what was expected of them. The research study was conducted by using research assistants that interviewed the participants. They were questioned about their â€Å"demographic characteristics, life plans, social supports, peer and family relationships, financial support, behavioral risks, and medical history† (Phipps & Nunes, 2012). In example, research surveys â€Å"included validated questions where available and where not available content-relevant questions were assessed for face validity. The surveys underwent a process of review and revision that included both clinical experts and age-relevant volunteers† (). In the survey, subjects were asked about pregnancy planning, so that the assistants could assess the subjects’ level of agreement with statements. The statements were coded to assess for risk factors. The stat ements ranged from trying to getting pregnant and best age to get pregnant as well as overall feelings about pregnancy (Phipps & Nunes, 2012). Statistical Analysis All of the information that was gathered by the research assistants from the participants is used in the statistical analysis to determine the significance level. â€Å"The significance level of a statistical hypothesis test is a fixed probability of wrongly rejecting the null hypothesis, if it is in fact true. The significance level is typically set at five percent† (â€Å"The Statistics Glossary†, n.d.). So anything higher than five percent would be considered statistically insignificant. The researchers â€Å"did observe significant associations between our pregnancy intention metrics and known risk factors for poor outcomes† (Phipps & Nunes, 2012). There were two dimensions of pregnancy intention that the researchers assessed. The two significant dimensions were emotional readiness and planning. Emotional readiness was more â€Å"strongly associated with risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes. Pregnant teens identified as not emotionally ready were at increased risk for delayed prenatal care, inadequate prenatal care utilization, delayed use of prenatal vitamins, recent smoking, recent drinking, recent drug use and depression† (Phipps & Nunes, 2012). The findings in the research study article is statistically significant. The study showed that emotional readiness and planning are critical for having a  healthy pregnancy. Before this study came out, researchers thought that being emotionally ready was not nearly as important to pregnancy as proper health care. However, if one is not emotionally ready it can affect getting proper health care. Research Conclusions The conclusion to this study determined that emotional readiness and planning are the main risk factors for adolescent pregnancy that has adverse outcome. This study tests the thought that emotional readiness and planning are the two most important factors against family type as the most important risk factor. If the study was looking into preventing adolescent pregnancy, then family type is the most important risk factor. Emotional readiness and planning are important so that one will have a healthy pregnancy. The results to this study are appropriate. There is enough information to determine that the article was indeed effective. The statistics provided in this study were quantitative in nature. The data was collected in an ethical manner. This can be determined by the appropriate exclusion criteria. The article further indicates that previous research was conducted on the topic adolescent pregnancy. This research enabled the creation of a scoring method to identify adolescents tha t are at risk for pregnancy. The results to this study are very appropriate and there is enough information to determine that the article was indeed effective. The statistics provided in this study were clearly listed and defined. The data was ethically collected and appropriate exclusion criteria were indicated to avoid producing biased results. The article further indicates that previous research was conducted on the topic of adolescent pregnancy. This research enabled the creation of a scoring method to identify those at risk of adolescent pregnancy. The article, Assessing pregnancy intention and associated risks in pregnant adolescents, looks into risk factors for adolescents becoming pregnant and having a health pregnancy. The article uses the research process to come to the conclusions that family type, emotional readiness and planning are all important. Family type is statistically important because it states that an adolescent is more at risk for pregnancy if they come from a less than ideal home. Emotional readiness and planning is statistically important because they can affect pregnancy outcome. These conclusions are the same con clusions that the researchers came to in their article. References Neutens, J. J., & Rubinson, L. (2010). Research techniques for the health sciences (4th Ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pearson Benjamin Cummings. Phipps, M. G., & Nunes, A. P. (2012). Assessing pregnancy intention and associated risks in pregnant adolescents. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 16(9), 1820-7. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10995-011-0928-0 The Statistics Glossary. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.stats.gla.ac.uk/glossary/

Positive psychology Essay

Positive psychology is literally all about the positive energy within a person. It is an organized attempt to make the most out of it. It is believed by the psychologists that it is preventative therapy instead of it being post illness therapy. Most of the psychologists that believe in this system believe in the glass being half full. It is optimism and happiness that can lead a person to live a better and a fuller life. I believe that action must be taken before it is too late. The effort of professionals in trying to make the world a happy place and to attempt to make a go at it is commendable. It is a very effective method of trying to bring out the positive energy. In the fast changing world of today, materialism and consumerism rule the roost. It is that only that which is making a lot of people unhappy unnecessarily. It is the competition and the need to strive for more. Positive psychology teaches one to be satisfied with what one has. Once that person is happy, he will emit happiness. Happiness, laughter and smiles are all contagious. One smile goes a long way. Many a times it takes just a smile to light up a person’s day. Small changes in ones lifestyles on a daily basis can go about a long way in maintaining a healthy outlook on life. It is important to appreciate the small things in life. One needs to take time out to stop and stare. To be able to smell the flower. To be able to see the ants in the garden. On a more personal level, being more organized can save a person from unnecessary frustration and anger while looking for something. Knowing where to find what can add to the confidence and that’s a small step towards having a good day. In the long term, it is important to remind to oneself, the need for patience and tolerance. A cool mind can handle any problem more effectively and let it affect one much lesser. At the end of the day, positive psychology is all about the ripple effect one person can have on the community. It is the chain reaction caused by the positive energy radiating from one person to the other. It is all about happiness, and sharing. It is truly about being human.

Cement Industry

UAE is one of the prospering economies of the world whose per capital income is in par with some of the most developed nations of Europe. This is attributable to the oil revenues and the booming real estate market. This boom created a base for competition in the country market from different sectors like industrial sector especially mentioned the â€Å"Cement Industry†. Cement industry is fast growing due to the growing real estate market in the country and especially in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. At present, there are nine cement factories in United Arab Emirates and they produce 8. 5 million tons of cement every year. The emirate of Ras Al Khamah is the largest cement producer in United Arab Emirates. In our report, we studied the cement industry in UAE and analyzed them financially for the years from 2008 to 2010. Assuming that three main cement producers in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah will represent the whole cement market as they are the biggest cement producers according to the economic publications and their level of productions. The analysis included Union Cement Company (UCC), Gulf Cement Company (GCC) and Ras Al Khaima Cement Company (RAKCC). The choice of the companies based on the similarity of their core business and productions activities beside the fact that they all listed in Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange market (ADX) giving us the opportunity for fair comparison. Financial analysis for the companies based on their published annual financial reports in ADX has been conducted to check their financial performance for the years from 2008 to 2010. The analysis take in consideration the corporate governance mechanism conducted in each company to check the effectiveness of the corporate governance on their financial performance in the market. Assuming the average of the three companies will represent the market, an overall ranking of the best company in the market is conducted based on financial analysis ratios and their corporate governance mechanism implemnted.

Response paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 6

Response paper - Essay Example On the other hand, the swing style involved well structured, energetic, and danceable. Whereas swing music appeared to feature coordinated big crew arrangements, bebop music highlighted inventiveness. Characteristically, a topic would be presented collectively at the opening and the end of every piece, with coordinated solos based on the chords of the song. Hence, most parts of a song in bebop style tended to be improvisation, the only connections keeping the work together being the core harmonies played by the rhythm segment. Bebop musicians also used various harmonic devices unlike in sing jazz. The harmonic advancement was experience first during a performance by Charlie Parker, Cherokee. While bebop combo comprised of trumpet, saxophone, piano, drums and double bass, swing used a powerful rhythm section of drums and double bass, brass instruments at times stringed instruments (Erenberg, 2000). During this era, a period involved certain situations of slavery and post-liberation institutionalized racism. The styles depicted a created culture drawn from both the European and the African cultures. The changes were attributed at the fact that the old jazz was an American invention, and therefore, they wanted something that was more African (McDonnel & Cooper, 1998). The two types of music, Bebop and Swing, are much related and in most cases, they are difficult to separate and tell apart. Both styles are part of jazz music that started with an African music and ragtime. Both were started by one person who had strong inspiration and influenced other people to use similar styles in their music. In swing, it was Louis Armstrong whereas in Bebop it was Charlie Parker in conjunction with Dizzy Gillespie. In both swing and Bebop, the instruments making up the bands were same. They consisted of piano, bass, drums, trumpet and saxophone (Ake, 2010). The success of swing era came in 1942 when a recording ban was led by an American Federation of

EconomicsSupply Chain Market conditions in Azerbaijan and how it Research Proposal

EconomicsSupply Chain Market conditions in Azerbaijan and how it affects ability to get and pay labor - Research Proposal Example (Maharramov, 2003). Recently, Azerbaijan has witnessed solid economic growth over the last 5 years. This growth has been driven by domestic demand including non-oil private investments, public investments, government expenditures, consumption expenditures or households and oil exports. Real GDP has also witnessed tremendous growth owing to growth in the non-tradables sectors including transportation, construction, and public utilities. The capacity constraints however did not enable the supply to grow as rapidly as demand leading to inflationary pressures. The objective of this paper is to provide a discussion of the labour cost drivers, labour demand drivers, and labour supply drivers in Azerbaijan. According to macroeconomic theory the wage rate usually depends on the price level. The higher the price level the higher will be the real wage rate demanded by workers. Azerbaijan is currently suffering from high rates of unemployment. As a result the wage rates are very low. According to the Human Development and Central Unit (HDCU) and European and Central Asia Region (ECAR) (2005) a vast majority of people in the city of Mingachevir an Industrial city have become redundant as a result of lack of demand for products, which has culminated in production stoppage, bankruptcy, liquidation and corporate restructurings. This has driven the wage rates to very low levels. Based on this one can say that a major determinant of labour cost on Azerbaijan is the demand. The demand for labour in Azerbaijan is currently very low and as such people are willing to supply labour at very low wage rates. The survey by the ECAR and HDCU (2005) suggests that only 3% of the unemployed left their job vo luntarily. While some workers are not being paid at all, there is also a high degree of wage arrears.s In 2001 exports accounted for 44% of GDP in Azerbaijan with hydrocarbon products being the dominant export activities, contributing to 91.5% of total exports in 2001. The remaining share of exports consists of raw and processed food products, mechanical equipment and chemical product. (Navaretti, 2003). The largest share of imports is made of machinery for the oil industry, food products, other mechanical equipment and luxury consumer goods for the high-income part of the population. Many of the country's traditional products in the domestic market have been replaced by imports because they are unable to withstand the competition of import products. (Navaretti, 2003). Figure 1 below shows that the real wages have taken a downward trend since 2005 to record low levels over the period 2001 to 2006. The figure also indicates that the non-oil sector is lagging behind. Since imports have become higher than exports, it is likely that the country is witnessing slow growth in aggregate demand, which in turn leads to a slow down in the growth in real GDP. This in turn creates a recessionary gap, high unemployment rate and therefore low wage rates. (CFA, 2008). From the foregoing one can therefore rightly say that the wage rate in Azerbaijan depends on the growth in Aggregate demand which has a multiplier effect on the price level, real GDP growth, and therefore wage rates. Figure 1 3. Labour Demand Drivers in Azerbaijan Macroeconomic theory posits that the demand for labour depends on three factors. These include the price of the firm's output, other factors and technology. The higher the price of the

Annotated Bibliography on Finance Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

On Finance - Annotated Bibliography Example Eugene Fama is one of the renowned economists, working as a finance professor in the University of Chicago. His interest in the concepts related to stock market prices have pushed him to walk through several untreated paths and notions about the subject. And in all researches of his, he has succeeded indubitably and his hypothesis on efficient markets has encouraged several other economists to pursue further research on the same subject. In this paper, he has described about the theories about random walks and through which he has raised concerns about the working aspects of a market. The author however has given only an introduction to the random walks theory and has not divulged more about its extrapolations. The stock prices can be evaluated and predicted based on their past performances. However, the authors Craig and Andrew have opposed this analysis and have shown through their experiments that stock market prices do not follow this theory. Robert Higgins, just like the author cited above, is also in the teaching profession taking classes in the field of Finance. He has done several researches in finance including on concepts that deal with the management issues present in dealing foreign exchange and money matters and also on theories that underlie the importance of valuation. In this book, the author has mainly focused on principles and issues that have to be followed and faced up in case of acquiring new resources. He also deals with the idea of managing the resources that are newly bought. The knowledge showcased by the author on the theories and ideas related to understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the financial assets of a company is exemplary. In addition he showcases very useful tools that could be used in the evaluation of financial assets of a company (Higgins, 1992). The important characteristic of the entire book is that most of the technical jargons related to finance and economics which deal with income and balance statements have been explained to the readers in a common language. 4. Firth, Michael. Share Prices and Mergers: A Study of Stock Market Efficiency. UK: Saxon House. 1976 .Print The author, being a Ph.D. holder, has quite an experience in the field of accountancy after working as an accountant for several number of years in several organizations. He is an ardent follower of economics, of its feasibility and efficiency and has published several journals and books in relevance to the mentioned topics. In this book, the author has described about the practices involved in carrying out business activities and given a critical account of the predicting game that take place in share markets - that produces the most controversial and most sensational ideas

Asian Americans V.S. African Americans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Asian Americans V.S. African Americans - Essay Example With time, these conflicts have intensified as their number keeps on increasing. Economic strength has also greatly enhanced intensity of conflict between these two groups. The battle over who is superior to the other economically seems to intensify as each group try to take control over the other (Andersen, et al 239). Limited economic resources are not enough to cater for everyone thus creating division between those who have and those who do not have. To weaken each other economically, these groups destroy properties that belong to the other group like it was witnessed in 1992 during the ‘Black – Asian’ conflict. In addition, many Asians have made money, by venturing into businesses in the areas occupied by the Africans. Because of anti-black racism that discriminates Africans in America, such as getting loan to start business, many Africans are unable to venture into business. Due to this fact, Africans feel that the Asians are siphoning money from them. Media is another cause, which has been fueling racial conflict between Asians and Africans. Africans are depicted in media as arrogant, gangsters, lazy and poor. On the other hand, Asians are depicted as hardworking, eager to please and opportunistic. Such notions portrayed by media every now and then fuel the rivalry between these two groups (Chang 4). Cultural practices and customs is another root cause of conflict between Asians and Africans in America. Each group has its diverse culture, which it follows and respect. Fear of their culture being dominated or absorbed completely makes the two groups to distance from each other (Takaki 7). A conflict arises as each group try to maintain the benefits of their culture and disrespect cultural practices of the other group. The difference in skin color between Asians and Africans is another cause of conflict between them. Asians compares themselves to white

The differences in competencies between nurses prepared at the Essay

The differences in competencies between nurses prepared at the associate degree level versus the baccalaureate degree level in n - Essay Example Mildred Montag, who published The Education of Nursing Technicians in 1951, proposed that there is a need for a â€Å"nurse technician, whose role would be broader than that of a practical nurse but narrower than that of the professional nurse,† (as cited in Zerwekh & Claborn, 2006, p. 144) and his or her duties includes providing supervised care, assisting in plan of care, and assisting evaluation of patient outcomes in the care received. On the other hand, baccalaureate degree nursing programs usually take four years to accomplish, and students receive a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) upon completing the course. The first two years involve minor subjects in arts and sciences while the remaining years inculcate nursing knowledge, which focuses on critical-thinking enhancement, independent nursing judgment abilities, and research conduction.

Construction Technology 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Construction Technology 2 - Essay Example Because the fire curves are modelled on the basis of design fires, the analysis becomes vulnerable to the difference between design fire parameters and the real fire situations that may occur. Furthermore, varying conditions and the global proliferation of standards for fire tests make it imperative that an approximate approach to different situations/standards, for structures (at sea and on land) be adopted. This work aims to analyse fire curves in terms of their vital components/features, simultaneously considering the critical levels at which these vital variables of the standard curves experience a change, with the associated consequences of such, regarding the effectiveness of fire curves at carrying out their function of fire resistance determination. A further look will be taken at the applicability of these curves at sea, with analysis involving a look at the means and extent to which these applications vary, in the approach associated with them. The level of fire resistance in structures (onshore) is generally assessed or analysed by the use of engineering fire design curves. Different types of fire curves and standards are adopted in various parts of the world. Different assumptions are also associated with these different curves. Technically speaking, fire curves are applied to determine the fire resistance rating of passive fire protection systems. This rating is a measure of the time over which a passive fire protection system can resist or withstand a standard fire protection test. Some of the most commonly used standard fire curves include the ISO-834 (BS 476 or DIN 4102), which are relevant to cellulosic structures. There are also the ASTM E119 and UL 1709(or Eurocode 1), applicable to hydrocarbon situations. Engineering design practice generally uses these curves in the context of design fire temperatures, which attempt to

Chapter 6- selection employee Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chapter 6- selection employee - Assignment Example Issuing application forms, this helps one to know the qualifications of the applicant using documentation, the put in information about their past and present job experiences, their personal information like age, addresses, likes, and marital status. The application forms can also be used as evidence incase documentation is needed. Most employers use application forms during interviews as basis questions such as the former employees and working experience. I would also recommend that the dean employ the use of interviews in the process of finding a good candidate for the post of Human Resource professor, this would be very effective if he followed the right procedure in the interview. Using the candidate’s application form during the interview would be very effective in clarification on some pieces of information that one may not get right. Interview is also effective in getting information about the applicant; this is the information that was not contained in the application form. There is also the possibility of using ability tests on the applicants, these kind of tests are use to determine the applicants abilities and skills in certain fields, this is very effective since it helps to know some added information about the applicant. This might some co-curricular skill that they may possess, these tests can be issued inform of pencil and paper tests or job tests, those that may include more of physical input. However, this depends on certain factors, for example, in the case of a human resource officer, and one applicant is elderly and obviously not as strong as their young and energetic counterpart, I would not advice the dean to employ the use of job tests that require so much physical input since it may favor one of the applicants. The pass mark in this type of job application can be lowered or heightened depending on the number of applicants and their scores. One should be very careful when giving out this kind of job application method; it is advis able that they have very clear skills of judgment, in the case of a HR professor; the applicant should have exemplary socialization skills, speech, listening, conflict resolution, and mediation. These would be an added advantage in the job. In this case, I would advise the dean to employ the use of pencil and paper test, or in the case of job tests, I would ask them to solve different types of disputes among the students and judge who is the most effective in it. For the post, I would recommend an applicant who is joyful and does not drug their personal problems to work since it may alter with their work, especially because it involves constant interaction with people. Temperamental people would not be recommended for this job. As much as the use of interview is recommended in job applications so that the employer should have good personal exchange with the candidate, it has its shortcomings, these shortcoming s mainly come with the interviewer. The interviews in most cases lack sub jects and structure, such shortcomings may bring about mistakes such as difference in the questions asked to the applicants which may then cause rate error, whereby it is hard to weigh the amount of marks one should offer on certain questions, and since the questions were different to every employer, it may cause biasness. It may also be different to come up with the most appropriate person for the job since most of the interviewers have different opinions about the performance of the candidate. Some people tend to like certain

Boston Beer Essay Example for Free

Boston Beer Essay The biggest strength of the company is the brand image it has among the consumers . Boston Beer , specifically the Samuel Adams ,well known from the superior quality and expensive ingredients used along with the traditional brewing techniques which give it an excellent flavor , which cannot be easily copied by the other competitors . In addition the use of less water in its products also has given it a positive advantage in terms of product quality . Weaknesses: Opportunities: The idea to continue to grow in the already overcrowded market of specialty brewers is critical to the success of this company. There are currently over thirteen hundred micro-brewers in the United States with The Boston Beer Company ranked number one in overall sales and sixth in the overall domestic market. Currently the Heineken and Corona brands rank ahead of Samuel Adams in this category in the world market. In the near future the company is leaning towards owning more breweries and cutting back on the contract brewers. Currently the different cost associated with contract brewing involves raw materials, excise taxes and deposits for pallets and kegs and specialized equipment required for beer production. Brewery ownership would involve significant capital investment which could easily exceed $50 million for the combination of purchase, expansion and improvement, or for original construction. Threats: In recent years, all brewers have had to contend with a stagnant beer market and per-capita consumption that is on the decline. The reasoning behind this ongoing trend are attributed to underlying factors such as the low carbohydrate diet rave that has taken off in recent years, the unstable economy, and an increase in market share of wines and spirits. BBC should attack the light beer market. Light beer is the largest selling type of beer on the market, and accounting for five of top ten best-selling beers. As light beer becomes more popular, BBC should listen to customers and follow the trend not to be behind, while others all producing light line of beers to catch more potential customers. BBC already has their own light beer, so they can save time and money to develop the whole new product. From the taste testing, Lightship receives the highest mark, implying that it has a strong potential to success when they approach in right way. It is more about how they introduce the product to the market, rather than inventing a new product. To survive in the strong competition and grab customers’ attention, BBC clearly need to differentiate the image of Lightship from other light beers. Research shows that most of current customers of light beers want different aspects from what Lightship is designed to be. Instead of targeting the same customers with other light beers, Lightship needs to focus on other, untouched customer segment, who seek for full flavor and body with lower calories. As the market tends to trade up to high-end brands, BBC’s brand image will help launch Lightship, emphasizing its high quality and authenticity. To attract first-try customers’, the label should be changed to be more vibrant and energetic, stressing the major images that people think of light beers. There is lot more to gain by having light beer segment than to lose by giving up. Each form of research performed gives the specific contribution depending on its characteristics. A taste test is exploratory research to gain ideas and customer insights. It is designed to explore customer’s perspectives, especially how customers sees Lightship among other competitors in this case. The result shows how much drinking beer counts for part of their lives and who the potential customers of Lightship are, and the valuable comments about major characteristics of beer that they find in each competing brand. This test tells what value customers seek for the most in light beer segment, giving ideas about how BBC should approach to market. Despite of strong brand recognition of Amstel Light, Lightship is ranked in first place, implying BBC should adopt a new way of advertising to increase the brand awareness. This test would be better with questions asking what aspects participants think Lightship should have. ZMET provides hidden knowledge with more depth by eliciting customers’ deepest feelings and emotions about the product. ZMET is a projective method that uncovers the thoughts and feelings associated with the experience of light beers. Even though there are some down sides of drinking beers, people find a lot more positive sides as they see drinking light beer as some kind of rewards, refreshing and energetic activity. This implies there is enough potential for light beer segment to grow much further. ZMET result also gives direction and guideline to BBC. Conducting ZMET certainly contribute to project underlying attitudes and feelings to help BBC to understand their target customers more deeply. However, because of small sample size, there could be limitation of getting broader perspectives. I would divide the sample by age and beer consumption level to get more clear ideas to attract more focused target intensely and effectively. Another qualitative research HBS students conduct is retail research, done through interviews, which generates general ideas of current market situation and how competitors are doing. This also gives brief hints of the price points Lightship should target. I would recommend HBS student to divide the sample groups by visiting habits of customers for each type of retailers. If BBC can find out the place where most potential customers of Lightship frequently goes, it would help reduce waste and backlog of the products produced in distribution process. For example, if customers of sport bar seem to prefer light beer than customers of chic French restaurant do, BBC can save their time and money by focusing on developing improved distribution line with sport bar. The summary collage of ZMET gives valuable ideas that consumers have about their experience with light beers. The most important image associated with light beer is energy and energy giving by offering refreshment. Another image the light beers have is being simple yet great in appearance and in taste. There is duality of the experience, while they see it as rewards but effects of alcohol makes them self-conscious. Sailing represents both calmness and thirst quenching flavor which is refreshing and cold with structure. There are several images representing group activity. People see drinking light beer as the activity that they do with others, which give them group awareness. They want to be in group but to be different from others by having control. People think that the types of beer they drink tell their social status, providing them with group identity. The dilemma of light beer is shown through the hula-hoops representing the balance and control. There are tensions between control and need of releasing inhibition, blandness and simplicity, need for self and group identity, being active and being passive. Since light beers seem to be more attractive to energetic young generation and people who do not drink beers regularly and do not enjoy the heavy taste of beer, having more knowledge of their potential customer group helps BBC to target their customers more effectively without wasting effort of targeting wrong customers. BBC also could have done research about what feature of Lightship people like and dislike. The feature that customers like about Lightship should be kept, and the feature with lower mark given should be altered or discontinued. What BBC can do now is to consider the appropriate way of advertising for Lightship. Research results prove that light beer market is still growing and there is nothing wrong with the quality of Lightship. It turns out to be the awareness of Lightship is low, implying their advertising methods are not eye-catching. By altering their way of advertising, BBC can gain more trial customers, who can be turned into loyal customers. Lightship also needs to target different customer segment, which looks for full body and flavor beer with lower calories. Rather than fighting directly with strong rivals, BBC should target other customer segments by stressing its unique quality and flavor. It is worth trying launching light beer segment.

The Loyalists and Their Arrival Essay Example for Free

The Loyalists and Their Arrival Essay Who were the Loyalists and what is significant about their arrival? British North America’s demographics changed when the Loyalists arrived. The English-speaking claimed for agricultural land and population increased. They strongly asked for a sufficient extent of democratic rights. A Loyalist is a person who remained faithful and supported British during the American Revolution. They migrated to Britain North America to live under their British regulations. Some found life painful and unbearable in the United States because rebels persecute anyone who had not sustained the rebel cause. Many of these Loyalists’ families travelled with them because there were no limits and they were free to make family decisions at that time. The following paragraphs are more detailed information about the arrival of the Loyalists and who they are. When Loyalists arrived, British North America’s demographics had changed. The English-speaking loyalists increased and grew about a percent of the population in Quebec. Most significantly, they hoped and claimed democratic rights where many people viewed fundamental. English and French were the two dominant groups in a colony that the Constitutional Act acknowledged. Upper Canada and Lower Canada were created by Carleton to give back the reality that they had different religious, political, legal outlooks and had different economic and land owning traditions. Each colony would have its own capital city and a Governor General appointed by Britain who would manage its governance of colonies. Most Canadians lived in agreement with the more traditional and tending to preserve the status quo of the Roman Catholic Church. Loyalists are the people who remained loyal to British. They live in a North American society where there are mixed of rich and poor people, young and old, male and female, and European, African and First Nations. Resulting the American Revolution of 1776, individuals who had supported Britain were persecuted, lost their properties and generally their lives. The Loyalists who has survived fled to areas of British protection and those who had fought with the British joined the exodus. The first legal British settlement in Canada took place in Western Quebec, which is now the eastern Ontario. A few loyalists were playing safe such as Mennonites who would not want to fight. Rebels impartiality had been as good as a declaration of Loyalty to Britain. Whoever attempted to fight them was persecuted. Free lands were being offered to the loyalists. The loyalists who were rich brought their possessions with them but most of them only brought the things they can carry. A land has been promised to them but they mostly have to wait years to claim it because the promise had drawbacks. Furthermore, most loyalists did not find their homes even roads or services when they arrived at their grant. Some of them had to be farmers and pioneers but some found it way to hard so they had to go back to United States or Britain. Many of the loyalists remained alive on their first years by the help of their neighbors. Some shared their stores of corn in winter, 1794. They think others first and help one recover with their sicknesses or childbirths. United Empire Loyalists were the people who remained faithful to Britain. Not everyone in the colonies assisted the move when Americas original Thirteen Colonies went to war with Britain over arguments to unwanted taxes. Those who were against the revolution became known as Loyalists since they remained loyal to the British but they were persecuted, did not want to vote, sold land, and bring legal charges against debtors. Britain recognized the independence of the United States as they signed the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Almost one-third of the 250,000 colonists who had remained loyal to Britain fled to other British Possessions. About 35,000 traveled north to what was then British North America with the most settling originally in the Maritimes. An estimated 10,000 Loyalists settled in Quebec. In June 1784, many of these loyalists’ families were provided, put aboard boat and sent up the St. Lawrence River to what became known as the Royal Townships. Here they cleared land and established themselves on farms. More lasting significance to Loyalists and their descendants was the governments recognition of the stand that they had taken. Realizing the importance, on November 9, 1789, Lord Dorchester, Quebec’s governor, declared that it was his wish to put the mark of Honour upon the Families who had obeyed to the Unity of the Empire. First Nations people came from the Haudenosaunee or Iroquois. Many people from Tuscarora and Oneida joined the rebels and many people from Kanienkehaka, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca fought next to the British. First Nations were fighting for their neighbors’ survival and their arena were their homelands. The confederacy’s associates stayed cool at the beginning of the war. By the encouragement of the two brothers, Konwatsi’tsiaieeni and Thayendanega they decided to enter the war in 1777. These two leaders were find guilty that helping Britain was their people’s only desire to keep the territory in the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes. Unfortunately, the British before had tricked the First Nation at the transacting table. Even though they were loyal and helped provide the things needed in the war, they were ignored in the Treaty of Paris of 1783. Black Loyalists were the larges group of people of African Birth and descent to arrive to Nova Scotia between 1783 and 1785. They started finding a neighboring town in early May 1783. They were slaves who ran away to find protection under the British and who served the loyalist cause. Slaves were not allowed to vote many congregate or move freely By their dignity and independence in a word of equal citizenship under the British monarchy they arrived on the shores of Shelburne Harbor. Throughout the American War of Independence, the Britain supported the slaves to escape their owners to join the British army and destroy the American Economy. Thousands of slaves accepted the freedom and the land the British governor had promised to them by engaging with them. After the war, many of these black loyalists went to Nova Scotia from New York but some came to British North America to continue serving their loyalists’ owners. The British were harassed with major difficulties in fighting the war. They had no major allies compared to the Americans. They only had troops provided by small German states to assist the force of the British Army in North America. The British Army started the war with only less than 48,000 strong worldwide and experience hardships building up or recruiting soldier. By 1778, the army forgave the criminals for military service and had extended the age limit for service from 16 to 50. Although its officer and non-commissioned officer corps were somewhat professional and experienced, this professionalism was weakened because rich officers who have lack of military experience could purchase commissions and promotions. As a consequence, unskilled officers sometimes found their way into positions of high responsibility. To sum it all up, A Loyalist is a person who remained faithful and supported British during the American Revolution. They live in a North American society. Their arrival changed the British North America’s demographics by growing its population and requests for agricultural land. These loyalists came from different races and descents. They are the United Empire Loyalists, First Nations Loyalists and African American or Black Loyalists. They remained faithful even though in the end Britain had betrayed them.

The Role Of An Occupational Therapist

The Role Of An Occupational Therapist Health care like health itself is a dynamic process which can be subject to change over time. There are an increasing amount of tensions within medicine between various groups of health care practitioners, and between the evaluation of treatment and responding to patients views. This reflects the different strains and demands bearing down on medicine from numerous quarters. I am interested in exploring from the counsellors perspective, in this case the occupational therapist, what exactly they do in an effort to socialize people back into society. For example looking at the role of occupational therapist and the patients environment: physical access to buildings; availability of family and monetary support for living at home. To answer the above question I examined areas such as what is the doctor-patient relationship or in this case the occupational therapist-patient relationship, drawing on Goffmans (1969) work, who states we all play roles throughout our lives, we present ourselves to society, and we are socialized to these roles throughout our lives, especially in childhood. Society has given us our roles- doctor, patient, sick role, etc. and we as actors can perform the role. I also looked at Occupational therapies link to Functionalism, concentrating on Durkheim and Parsons and also drawing on the work of Marx and Weber and how Marx led to the acknowledgment in occupational therapy that labour is the collective creative activity of the people. Description of the research strategy For my research into how occupational therapy contributes to the promotion of health in society, I chose to use qualitative research and in this case qualitative Interviewing. Several researchers have argued that structured interviews are unnatural and restrictive. Informal interviews get deeper. Therefore I used semi-structures face to face interviews. I feel that using semi-structured in depth interviews allowed me use a more open framework, allowing a focus on the conversation and the topics that the interviewee brings up. I started with more general questions and topics to allow the conversation to build up a relationship so the participates felt comfortable and at ease so that they could talk about some sensitive issues if they arose. Semi structure interviews are less intrusive then other methods of research. They allow us to not only gather answers but also reason for the answers, therefore giving a more comprehensive analysis into this area. Therefore I found the major benefi ts of this type of interviewing where that: It is less intrusive to those being interviewed. This is because the semi-structured interview encourages two-way communication. Those being interviewed can also ask questions of the interviewer and feel as though they have their own input. Using this type of interviewing confirms what is already known but also allows the opportunity for learning other information outside of whats being asked. Conducting semi-structured interviews often will provide not just answers, but the reasons for the answers. When individuals are interviewed they tend to open up more and feel more at ease to talk about sensitive issues. (Silverman: 2001) Access I found access to interviewees a little difficult. Getting contacts was the first step, which was done through another occupational therapist I know who passed on a number of email address of willing participants. Once contacted it was difficult to arrange meeting points, days, and times that suited all, but all these issues where overcome and two interviews were successfully scheduled. Ethical considerations Mason (1996) puts forward ways to deal with ethical issues in qualitative which I tried to follow throughout this pilot. This included, deciding what is the purpose(s) of my research, e.g. self-advancement, examining which individuals or groups might be interested or affected by your research topic- in this case it would not be ethically sound to interview the patients themselves as there seen as a vulnerable group, and considering what are the implications for these parties of framing your research topic in the way you have done (1996:26-30). The main ethical considerations I took when interviewing the Occupational therapist, was that before the individual became a subject of research, he/she was notified of: à ¢-  My aims, my methods, my expected benefits and possible hazards of the research I was conducting. à ¢-  I made it clear to the interviewee of his/her right to abstain from participation in the research and his/her right to end at any time that they feel necessary to do so. à ¢-  The confidential nature of his/her answers. I also made it clear during my researching, that no individual would become a subject of research unless they have been given notice and that they freely consent that they would like to participate. No pressure of any kind was used to persuade an individual to become a subject of my research. I will make sure that the confidentiality of individuals from whom I gather my information, shall be kept strictly private. I also stated that at the end of my research any information that would reveal any person involved in the interviewing, will be destroyed, unless already consented that this precise information will be used. http://www.idrc.ca/eepsea/ev-65406-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html Evaluation of Research Process One important use that pilot studies have in qualitative research is to develop an understanding of the concepts and theories held by the people you are studying- what is often called interpretation. This is not simply a source of additional concepts for your own theory, ones that are drawn from language of participants; this is a type of concept that Strauss (1987, pp. 33-34) called in-vivo codes.2 More important, it provides you with an understanding of the meaning that these phenomena and events have for the people who are involved in them, and the perspectives that inform their actions. These meanings and perspectives are not theoretical abstractions; they are real, as real as peoples behaviour, though not as directly visible. Peoples ideas, meanings and values are essential parts of the situations and activities you study, and if you dont understand these, your theories about thats going on will often be incomplete or mistaken (Maxwell, 2004a: Menzel, 1978). Looking at my research questions, through my pilot study I found I had problems in developing the questions as I often got confused between intellectual issues- what I wanted to understand by doing the study- and practical issue- what I wanted to accomplish. According to LeCompte and Preissle, distinguishing between the purpose and the research question is the first problem in coming up with workable research questions (1993, p. 37) I decided to focus on three kinds of questions that are suited to process theory, rather then variance theory. For example I tried to base my research questions around (a) questions about the meaning for events and activities to the people involved in these, (b) questions about the influence of the physical and social context on these events and activities and (c) questions about the process by which these events and activities and their outcomes occurred. For example What does your typical working day involve? Because all of these types of questions involve situation-specific phenomena, they do not lend themselves to the kinds of comparison and control that variance theory requires. Instead, they generally involve an open-ended, inductive approach in order to discover what these meaning and influences are and how they are involved in these events and activities. Decisions about where to conduct my research and whom to include were an essential part of my research methods. I found sampling to be problematic for the qualitative research pilot, because it implies the purpose of representing the population sampled. It ignores the fact that, in qualitative research, the typical way of selecting settings and individuals is neither probability sampling nor convenience sampling. Instead it falls into a third category, known as purposeful sampling (Patton, 1990, p.169). This is a strategy in which particular settings, persons, or activities are selected deliberately in order to provide information that cant be gotten as well from other choices. For example, Weiss argued that any qualitative interview studies do not use samples at all, put panels people who are uniquely able to be informative because they are expert in an area or were privileged witnesses to an event (1994, p.17); I used this form of purposeful selection by choosing full trained Occup ational Therapists to interview. I think selecting those times, settings and individuals that can provide you with the information that you need in order to answer your research question is the most important consideration in qualitative selection decisions. On the negative side, I feel as though one of my interviews suffered slightly due to it been chosen because of its convenience of where and when the interview could take place. Although convenience and cost are real considerations, they should be the last factors to be taken into account after strategically deliberating on how to get the most information of the greatest utility from the limited number of cases to be sampled. Convenience sampling is neither purposeful nor strategic and I feel as though a different individual could have brought more information to light had I chosen more wisely (Patton, 1990, p. 181) If conducting this study again I think I would test out the use of participation observation. In this case it would be of that in an open setting, usually public and in this case a hospital. Gold (1958) states that, when using this technique the participant observer enters the setting without intending to limit the observation to particular process or people and adopts an unstructured approach. Occasionally certain foci crystallise early in the study, but usually observation progresses from the unstructured to the more focused until eventually specific actions and events become the main interest of the researcher. It is important to differentiate between significant and relatively unimportant data in the setting. I also feel several other valuable things were brought to my attention on conducting this pilot study. I found that I need to revise my interview guide, adding questions about issues I hadnt realised were important, such as asking respondent to go through a typical day. I also discovered additional useful questions, such as asking participants to describe specific medical terminology that would illustrate what they had been saying. For example, probing more around phrases such as sensory function, neuromusculoskeletal function, body structure, and client centred. I found that taking a step back and listening to participants experiences in new ways was very important to the collection of the data and feel as though in the future it will help me if I put everything know about Occupational Therapy to one side and do the interview as if I know nothing about this area. Codes Equipment Environment Medical language Patient Life Intervention Medical OT/Patient Academic Skills OT/Patient Social- Work Physical- Work Role of Occupational Therapy In qualitative research, the goal of coding is not to count things, but to fracture (Strauss, 1987, p. 29) the data and rearrange them into categories that facilitate comparison between things in the same category and that aid in the development of theoretical concepts. Above is a diagram of the codes produced after my interviews once the data had been worked through in a systematic manner. Through doing this, many connections were highlighted. For example, looking at the codes Medical Language and Medical OT/Patient. Basically, all patient information, evaluations, and interventions must be documented.(Interview 1, p.3) ..Help them overcome the effects of disability caused by physical or psychological illness, ageing, or accidents (Interview 2, p.2) Therefore this process of coding is the process of combing the data for themes, ideas and categories and then marking similar passages of text with a code label so that they can easily be retrieved at a later stage for further comparison and analysis. Coding the data makes it easier to search the data, to make comparisons and to identify any patterns that require further investigation. http://onlineqda.hud.ac.uk Main Findings After conducting this pilot study and fieldwork, I found that Occupational therapy and Sociology are two completely different sciences. While this is true they encompass a strong underlying relationship. According to Alice J. Punwar and Suzanne M. Peloguin, Occupational therapy is a diverse profession and is hard to define because it has undergone many changes since its beginnings. Early definitions emphasize the use of occupation as a remedial activity to help restore the individual to an improved state of physical and mental health. Now occupational therapy is defined as the use of purposeful activity or interventions designed to achieve functional outcomes which promote health, prevent injury or disability and which develop, improve, sustain, or restore the highest possible level of independence of any individual who has an injury, illness, cognitive impairment, psychosocial dysfunction, mental illness, developmental or learning disability, or other disorder or condition. It inclu des assessment by means of skilled observation or evaluation through the administration of interpretation of standardised or nonstandardised tests and measurements. On the other hand Sociology is understood as the study of human social life, groups and societies (Giddens: 2001) coalescing both of these definitions. Durkheim and Parsons are two of the main theorists whom contributed to the elements of functionalism. Each society has particular social needs or functional prerequisites that must be met in order for the society to strive and survive. Included in these prerequisites, is the need to reproduce new generations, meaning the need for food, clothing, control conflict and the maintenance of social order and of social solidarity. Societies achieve these social needs by developing structures and institutions that have valuable functions. The purpose of any activity or structure is the roll it has in the maintenance of society itself. Society can be viewed as one main structure wit many interrelated and inter-pendent parts. For example, the family, economy and education all work together in an effort to help society survive. Institutions can be seen as being beneficial to societies as the institutions exist for survival of societies. Most literature suggests that they shouldnt come under criticism and instead should be supported. Relating this back to occupational therapists, they should be seen as having a positive role in society. Within a functionalist perspective, roles and social roles are important. The belief is that individuals are socialised through these social roles into society, parent, student, occupational therapist. These social roles largely determine an individuals behaviour. Looking at Kavanagh Faves (1995), two occupational therapists working with homeless people, they stated that Roles are a source of identity and are the frame work of everyday life. Sociologists and Occupational therapists have put this view under criticism. They have argued against the determinism inherent in this view. Mocellin (1995) is an occupational therapist who believes the focus on roles to be stereotyping and that carrying out occupational roles, for example that of a housewife, may not always be therapeutic. Looking at Talcott Parsons model of roles and his theory of the Doctor-Patient relationship, in Bury, M. (2005), he began with the idea that being sick/ill was a type of dysfunctional deviance and that this required reintegration with the social organism. Being ill allows individuals to be excused from their occupation and other responsibilities such as looking after the family, cooking and cleaning. This was seen as potentially detrimental to social order if it wasnt controlled. The development of Parsons sick role was seen as being essential to controlling this deviance to make being ill a transitional state back to the individuals usual role. For Talcott Parsons, Physicians demonstrate Parsons the shift to affect-neutral relationships in contemporary society, with physician and patient being protected by emotional distance. Medical education and social role expectations teach normative socialization to Occupational therapist to act in the interests of the patient instead of their own material interests, and they are lead by an egalitarian universalism instead of a personalized particularism. Physicians have mastered a body of technical knowledge, it is seen as functional for social order to permit physicians professional autonomy and authority, controlled by their socialization and role expectations. Weber and Marx, look at how people exist within the world and are concerned with how that existence is shaped. Marx believes that the problems in society come from different social organisations instead of being a natural phenomenon. This is what is meant by people being constrained by circumstances, but it is important to remember the other element that stresses peoples ability to act. Drawing on earlier work of the philosopher Hegel, Marx identified that we create ourselves in a historical process, of which the motive force is human labour or the practical activity of men living in society (Bottomore Rubel 1963, p.18). Marx noted how the division on labour traps us into particular lifestyles or activities and the influence of Marx led to the acknowledgment in occupational therapy that labour is the collective creative activity of the people (Wilcox 1993) Conclusion After conducting this pilot study it is clear that my research question is still unanswered but it has provided me with ideas, approaches and clues I may not have foreseen before conducting this study. I feel this may increase the chances of getting clearer findings in my main study and has permitted a thorough check of my planned statistical and analytical procedures, giving me a chance to evaluate their usefulness for the data. I also feel it has greatly reduced the number of unanticipated problems as I now have an opportunity to redesign parts of my study to overcome these difficulties again. Overall, carrying out this smaller scaled study will hopefully lead to a rich and in-dept qualitative research project, and the end result being my research question being answered in great detail. The role of an Occupational Therapist The role of an Occupational Therapist The following essay will give a critical evaluation of the role of an Occupational Therapist (O.T) within vocational rehabilitation in the private mental health setting. Firstly the essay will describe a critical analysis of vocational rehabilitation and the added value of an O.T within this setting. Secondly it will analyse the trends within vocational rehabilitation and how these relate to O.T philosophy and core tenets, thirdly an examination of concepts of management that relate to vocational rehabilitation and finally a justification of the identification of a model relevant to vocational rehabilitation. Work can be seen as being an important part of health and wellbeing and also social inclusion. Waddell Burton (2006) suggest that work is therapeutic, helps promote recovery and rehabilitation. Leads to better health outcomes, minimises physical mental and social effects of long term sickness absence and worklessness, decrease the chances of chronic disability, long term incapacity from work and social exclusion. Also promotes full participation in society, independence and human rights, reduces poverty and improves quality of life and wellbeing. Work can be divided into four different areas: paid (contract, material reward), unpaid (housework, caring, volunteering), hidden (illegal, morally questionable) and substitute (sheltered workshop, work projects, day centres) (Ross 2007). The demand for work is extremely high due to the amount of people that are living. Compared to other countries, the United Kingdom employment figures are high with people being employed with a health related condition increasing (Department of Health 2008). It has been estimated that 175 million days were lost in 2008 due to illness with 600,00 people turning to incapacity benefit. (Department of Health 2008) It has been shown that 40% of medical certificates issued have been related to mental ill health with the average time off working being 15 weeks. (Department of Health 2008) Work has been shown to be good for your health and employers who adopt a good approach to health, by protecting and promoting it, are important in stopping illness from occurring. This is an area in which O.Ts can provide a key role in supporting and maintaining people back into work or who are already in work to stay there. Vocational rehabilitation is important. This has been shown in the governments new mental health strategy No Health Without Mental Health (Department of Health 2011). One of the aims is working to help people with mental health problems to enter, return to employment and stay in it. The application of O.T within this area is important as our core philosophy is to enable individuals to engage in meaningful occupations, therefore there is a key role for O.Ts to play within vocational rehabilitation. The following quote demonstrates that meaningful engagement in occupation can be important, which reflects O.Ts core ethics and philosophies. Not everyone wants to be employed but almost all want to work, that is to be engaged in some kind of valued activity that uses their skills and facilitates social inclusion (College of Occupational Therapist 2007 p9). Currently within vocational rehabilitation, employment specialists are trained in advice and guidance and REC level 3 advanced certificate in recruitment practice. Employment specialities tend not to be mental health professional but have skills in vocational rehabilitation or industry experience (Waghorn 2009). O.Ts already have these skills and also can add a holistic client centred approach from an occupational perspective. O.Ts can also add an educative approach, combine medical and occupational models and use activity analysis. They can assess occupational function/performance, build therapeutic relationships, carry out psychosocial assessments and interventions, cognitive evaluation and training, help with work life balance for the client and work with clients strengths. (Waghorn et al 2009, Devline et al 2006 Joss 2001, cited in College of Occupational Therapist 2007 p15) An O.T can bring seven core skills to vocational rehabilitation: collaboration with the client e.g. building therapeutic relationships, assessment e.g. Model of Human Occupation Screening Tool, enablement, problem solving, using activity as a therapeutic tool, group work and environmental adaptations e.g. graded return to work (Duncan 2006 p45) Current themes and drivers within mental health are social inclusion, return to work agenda, recovery. Social exclusion happens when people are unemployed have poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime, bad health and family breakdown (social inclusion and co-production 2011) A report called Mental Health and Social Exclusion was published in June 2004 by the Office of the deputy Prime Minister. It aimed to improve the lives of people with mental health problems by getting rid of obstacles to employment and social participation. There are five main reasons why social exclusion occurs for people with mental health problems. Firstly stigma and discrimination, in which an O.T can help by activity speaking to employers about mental health and how reasonable adjustments, could be made. An O.T can help by increasing low expectations, help promote vocational and social outcomes, help provide ongoing support whilst in employment by regular outreach appointments and help access basic services e.g. dry runs on transport, membership to sports centres (Office of the deputy Prime Minister 2004). Overall an O.T can help people remain in their jobs longer and return to employment faster and manage the work environment better by grading work, breaking down activities and rebuilding them step by step and making adaptations to the work environment for example. Another trend is recovery. Recovery is building a meaningful and satisfying life, as defined by the person themselves, whether or not there are ongoing or recurring symptoms or problems (Slade et al 2008). Recovery encourages people to develop relationships which give their life meaning. There are five stages of recovery: moratorium (withdrawal, loss, hopelessness), awareness (realisation), preparation (strengths and weakness regarding recovery), rebuilding (positive identity, goal and taking control), growth (living a meaningful life, self management of illness, resilience, positive sense of self) (Andresen, Caputi Oades, cited in Slade et al 2008). Satisfying work supports recovery and as such O.Ts can have a great impact here by ensuring clients are in jobs they really enjoy and able to cope with the work demands. By working in a client centred way, listening, help identify and prioritise personal goals for recovery; identify examples of own lived experience. Also pay attention t o goals which will enable the service user to get back into work, suggest non-mental health resources (friends, contacts, organisations), encourage self management of problems, discuss what the service user needs in terms of psychological treatment, convey an attitude of respect and continue to support, an O.T can help a service user to achieve their ideal job. The return to work agenda is about helping people in and/or return to work. O.Ts can aid this by grading work activities e.g. working hours to start with 16 hours per week and gradually increase by 5 hours per week until full time hours are achieved for example. Also by providing support whilst in job by light touch support, setting up group work activities and training the service user. A practice called place then train helps increase motivation and confidence by placing someone in work and then training them instead of the other way around. It improves employment outcomes and peoples mental and physical health over a long period of time (Centre for Mental Health 2011). Its philosophy emphases rapid job searching, individualised job placement in work followed by on-the-job training and ongoing support (Twamley et al 2008). Currently the concepts of management in vocational rehabilitation within the private mental health sector follows the following structure: Area manager Service lead Employment specialists Volunteers With the introduction of an O.T manager the following structure will be placed: O.T Manager Band 5/6 O.T Employment specialist/ Volunteers O.T.A Referrals will either come from people themselves or via the community e.g. mental health teams, doctor surgerys, job centres. With new referrals the degree of risk, impact of O.T on service user, consequences of service user not receiving treatment, length of waiting time and the appropriateness of skills and abilities will be considered. To get people on board for the change in management, people will be listened to for their points of views, concern will be shown, the manager must be approachable e.g. leaving door open and using positive body language, change will be promoting in a positive manner e.g. it will benefit the patients and questions will be encouraged, integrity and charisma will be shown, also have a good ability to communicate, set direction and unify and manage change. The Lewins stages of change (Mullins 2007) will be adopted where first unfreezing will take place followed by moving and then refreezing. Unfreezing is about getting ready to change by understanding that change is necessary and moving out of comfort zones. Its about weighing up benefits and negatives of the change. Moving or change is when people are unfrozen and decide to move toward a new way of working. This is often the hardest for people and support is needed. Refreezing is stability once the changes have been completed. These changes have been accepted and become the norm. People create new relationships and become comfortable with the new routines. The O.T manager will provide supervision to the band 5/6 O.T and have supervision from a paid outside O.T at that equivalent level. The Band 5/6 O.T will have supervision from the O.T manager and the Occupational therapy assistant (OTA) / employment specialist and volunteers will be supervised by the band 5/6 O.T. Volunteers will be looked after by the OTA. Management will be in a democratic style by listen to people opinions and having staff work with the manager, not against. Make sure that management set examples by dressing correctly, not being late for work; develop an image, project self confidence, influence others and establish personal authority (Martin et al 2010). Also address self management by managing time, self and case load e.g. size up task, knowing themselves (need for breaks, strengths and weakness), prioritising and planning control(keeping a dairy, decreasing interruptions). Bad management will be discouraged such as not resolving problems, criticising staff, poor decision making, disorganisation, failing to deal with staff issues, done give recognition, inflexibility, and have an uncaring attitude and poor communication skills (Moore et al 2006) Management will consider professional duties and responsibilities such as the code of ethics, continues professional development (competence), health and safety (risk assessments) and deal with the present. A number of factors may influence management style: confidence in staff e.g. their abilities, need for certainty (risks of handing over control), personal contribution and stress (overload, worry, pressure) (Martin et al 2010). The justification of a model relevant to vocational rehabilitation is the Model of Human Occupation (M.O.H.O). M.O.H.O looks at peoples motivation (volition), routine planning (Habituation) and the influence of environment on occupation (performance capacity). Some of these areas will be affected by the service user. Volition is the thought and feelings we adopt whilst doing things. This involved three areas: personal causation, value and interest. To change motivation these areas will need to be addressed. By looking at the service users present and potential abilities relating to work and how able they are to bring about work (what is good, right and important) e.g. security, accomplishment and interests, having positive feelings associated with working. Habituation looks at reoccurring patterns of behaviour that make up our daily routines. A service user can change their habits by learning new ways of doing occupations and by changing their perceived role to one of a worker/bread winner. Performance capacity is how the musculoskeletal, neurological, cardiopulmonary and other body systems are used during performance. If there is a problem in performance capacity, the environment must be addressed. Work is an increasing important aspect in our lifes. Some of us live and breath work spending the majority of our waking hours working. Work gives us a sense of identity, an occupation, money to spend. It also provides us with a role in the community helping others with our knowledge in a particular area. Work provides us with a purpose, includes us within society preventing social exclusion, increases self esteem and gives us a role/meaning within society. Definition Work can be seen as the idea of doing, either mental or physical, giving an economic reward, social interaction, the structuring and organisation of time, opportunity for social interaction, contribution to society and self identity (Baker Jacobs 2003) What can Occupational Therapy offer that is different? Occupational Therapy can offer an approach which looks at the whole of a person by putting the client at the centre of their treatment from an occupational perspective. Occupational therapists can also educate people, focusing on independence and ensuring participation in meaningful activities. Occupational Therapists are able to combine medical and occupations models. This means they can look at the impact that physical, social and cultural environments have on everyday activities. Patch Three The following patch will give a critical evaluation and analysis of social policy, legislation and ethical issues impacting on vocational rehabilitation in a report style. Legislation No Health without Mental Health (Department of Health 2011) The government is helping people with mental health problems to enter, stay in, and return to employment. This can by achieved by using light touch support, increase confidence in returning to and remaining in work, help manage conditions and help the interaction between appropriate work and well being. It consists of six main objectives: more people will have good mental health, more people with mental health problems will recover, more people with mental health problems will have good physical health, more people will have a positive experience of care and support, fewer people will suffer avoidable harm and fewer people will experience stigma and discrimination (Department of Health 2011 p6). Its outcome strategies is to focus on how people can be best empowered to lead the life they want to lead, to keep themselves and their families healthy, to learn and be able to work in safe and resilient communities and how practitioners can be supported to deliver what matters to service user. Occupational Therapists can provide high quality employment support which will include building confidence in returning to and retaining work, changing employers and service users beliefs, that they can perform the job and their condition is manageable. Support Interaction between appropriate work and wellbeing and help employees to make appropriate recruitment decisions and manage workplace health. New Horizons (Department of Health 2009) This mentions that work can be good for mental health and wellbeing and support recovery. Those who are unemployed are at an increased risk of developing mental illness and benefit from early support. Employment should be seen as an important outcome to the treatment of mental illness in health care settings. O.Ts can help change attitudes to mental health, can improve health and wellbeing in work, provide swift intervention when things go wrong, coordinate help tailored to individuals needs and build resilience from the early years and thought working lives. Health, Work and Wellbeing Caring for Our Future (Department of Health 2005) Suggests that work is recognised by all as important and barriers to starting, returning to or remaining in work are removed. For people to remain in and return to work, that healthcare services meet the needs of people of working age. That health is not affected by work and good quality advice and support is available. Ensure work offers opportunities to promote health and wellbeing and access to the retention of work promotes and improves population, people with health conditions and disabilities are able to optimise work opportunities and people make the right lifestyle choices from an early age. O.Ts already recognise the importance of work for their patients wellbeing and can provide the assistance necessary to fulfil their key roles in helping patients to remain in and return to work. O.Ts can help people return to work following and absence by employment advice and helping to find a suitable job by adapting the work place environment e.g. time flexibilities. National Skills Framework 5 years on (Department of Health 2004) Help to prevent social exclusion in people with mental health problems, improving their employment prospects and opposing stigma and discrimination. O.Ts can help prevent social exclusion by building confidence, motivation and skills, speak to employers about mental health and how reasonable adjustments could be made, help provide ongoing support whilst in employment and help reduce stigma and discrimination by educating people. Working for a healthier tomorrow (Department of Health 2008) Is concerned with the health of people of working age (females 16 to 59 and males 16 to 64). Identifies factors that prevent good health and changes in attitudes, behaviours and practices. Three main principal objectives: prevention of illness and promotion of health and wellbeing early intervention improvement in health of those out of work O.Ts can prevent illness and promote health and wellbeing by using activity as a therapeutic tool, ensuring early intervention and help those out of work by doing group work to build confidence, motivation and reduce anxieties. Ethics There are at least five potential ethical issues which may be encountered within vocational rehabilitation in a private mental health charity organisation. These are confidentiality, consent, autonomy and welfare, human rights, issues of power and control (College of Occupational Therapists 2005): Confidentiality Safeguarding of confidential information relating to clients, only disclose information when client has given consent, there is a legal justification or it is in public interest to prevent harm. Only disclose to third parties if there is a valid consent or legal justification to do so. Keep all records locked away securely and only make available to those who have a legitimate right or need to see them. Clients can see their records and prior to producing material, issues of confidentiality will be addressed. Use the confidentiality model: Protect (look after information), inform (ensure service user is aware), provide choice (allow service user to decide if information will be disclosed and improve (look for better ways to protect, inform and provide choice) (Department of health 2003) Consent Making sure the client has the capacity to consent. The 2005 Mental Capacity Act makes provision for people who are thought to lack capacity to make their own decisions. It has five key areas: a presumption of capacity every adult has the right to make choices and must be assumed to have capacity to do so unless it is proved otherwise; the right for individuals to be supported to make their own decisions appropriate help must be provided before anyone suggests that they cannot make their own decisions; that individuals must retain the right to make what might be seen as eccentric or unwise decisions; Best interests anything done must be in the best interest for the service user and Least restrictive intervention anything done should be the least restrictive of service users basic rights and freedoms. (Department of health 2007) Autonomy and welfare Respect clients autonomy and promote dignity, privacy and safety of client. Give patients the right to make choices and decisions about their own healthcare and independence. Provide sufficient information to enable them to give informed consent and in a language that can be understood. Make sure client understands the nature, purpose and likely effect of intervention and acknowledge refusal. Human rights A right not to be discriminated against regardless of persons religion, sex, race, colour or mental health A right to respect for private and family life e.g. medical record keeping, parental involvement, collection of data A right not to impact on the individuals freedom of thought, expression or conscience e.g. spoken language and access to interpreters Issues of power and control Respect individuals, enable client to take power and promote partnership Management of Quality Issues Quality assurance The service provided will ensure that it meets the needs and expectations of clients and communities, that there is an understanding of service delivery systems and its key services, that data is analysed, problems are identified, performance is measured and that a team approach to problem solving and quality improvement is used. Clinical Governance Involvement Make sure service users, carers and public are involved within the service by holding focus groups, open days, suggestion boxes, questionnaires, panels e.g. to find out opinions on waiting times, attitudes of staff and the physical environment Risk management Establish what could go wrong and rank this. Think how probable it is likely to occur, what can be done about it and what action should be taken if incident happens again (Health Safety executive 2006). E.g. service users deliberately harming herself in occupational therapy session or a spillage on the floor. The Healthy and Safety at Work Act (1974) states that it is the duty of the employer to ensure so far as is reasonable practical, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees (section 2 (1) Health and safety at work act 1974). Although it is the duty of the employee to take reasonable care for the health and safety of him/her and others who may be affected by his/her acts of omission and to co-operate with their employer in regard to any duty or requirements imposed (section7 Health and Safety at Work Act 1974) Clinical audit Identify topics relevant to vocational rehabilitation e.g. referral response times, set standard (3 days), collect data (computer package), analyse data (if standard not met then why) and implement change. Other examples may be how the service compares with standards set by other clinical governance activity. Clinical effectiveness Ensure that all treatment is up to date and based on evidence based practice, National Institute of Clinical Excellence and National Service Framework guidelines. Staffing and staff management All staff recruited have the skills and qualifications needed to do the job e.g. that they are Health Professional Council (HPC) registered, induct them, give supervision and appraisal and deal with poor performance. Also supervision on a regular basis and appraisal once a year. Use an indirect approach which is more centred around the person, talk less and listen more, provide a supportive relationship, ask questions, accept and use ideas, reflect and summaries ideas (Enthwistle 2000) Education, training and Continues Professional Development (CPD) Ensure mandatory training is given e.g. fire training, child protection, health and safety. Complete CPD portfolios and HPC audits; provide training and opportunities to enhance CPD such as visits to another vocational rehabilitation service. The HPC (2011) states five standards for the CPD. A registrant must maintain: an up-to-date and accurate record of their CPD activities demonstrate that their CPD activities are a mixture of learning activities relevant to current or future practice make sure that their CPD has contributed to the quality of their practice and service delivery ensure that their CPD benefits the service user present a written profile containing evidence of their CPD on request Use of information systems Use information systems to record treatment sessions that service users attend, time spent preparing treatment sessions, time spent on phone calls to service user and time spent in case discussions. Also handling patient identifiable information by applying the data protection act and locking information away. The data protection act implies that anyone collecting personal information must fairly and lawfully process it, process it for limited, specifically stated purposes, use the information in an adequate relevant and not excessive way, use information accurately, keep information on file no logger than necessary, process information in accordance with legal rights, keep information secure and never transfer information outside U.K without adequate protection (Direct Gov 2009) Patch Four The following patch will provide a reflective narrative of the learning experienced throughout the module utilising the Gibbs reflective cycle. This has been developed from Kolbs ideas and develops the features of the experience-reflection-action cycle (Jasper 2003): Description Action plan Feelings Reflective cycle Conclusion Evaluation Description The Gibbs cycle consists of six stages and asks a series of questions about the experience. Description stage is what happened, feelings stage is what where you thinking and feeling, evaluation stage summarises what is good and bad about the experience, description stage involves making sense of the situation, conclusion stage is what else could have been done and the action plan stage asks if the situation arose again, what would you do. To begin with the whole assignment seemed extremely daunting as I had never participated within a role emerging placement/role before. I had also never completed a patch work text and knew very little of both. As part of the assignment we were asked to discuss ideas with peers. I felt it was a good idea to share information with others and thought that this would be an ideal opportunity to reflect on things I was not sure about and where to go for more information. Whilst discussing ideas with my peers I was thinking how what we had discussed would fit into my assignment and in what patch. It made me feel a little more comfortable sharing with other as we could bounce ideas and thoughts off each other. I feel other peers also felt that group discussions were useful and helpful. From start to finish I felt good about discussing information and still feel that this was of great benefit to all of us. Exchanging views helped put things in some kind of order and others could help in areas where I had difficulties. I do not feel there was anything negative about this experience in general. Sharing ideas with others went well as we all had views to share. To contribute, I helped others to see what went in each patch and gave ideas about the assignment. Overall there is not much I would have done differently with this peer review work. The aim was to share and discuss information and this was done successfully. If I were to do peer review work again I would do the same by sharing ideas and information with others. During my visit to a vocational rehabilitation setting I got to see how the service was run, where referrals come from, meet staff and service users and view leaflets. Upon arrival I felt overwhelmed by information and was intrigued about the service. I was thinking how I could relate this to my assignment and what role an occupational therapist would play within such a service. The service manager, who showed me around, knew about occupational therapy as previously they had worked as an assistant in such a role. This made me feel happier as I could share some ideas with them. I felt the visit went extremely well and it was a positive learning experience. From the start I felt comfortable about visiting the service and knew I would collect lots of relevant information from it. Access to information and ideas was the most significant factor for me. Actually seeing a vocational rehabilitation service running was a great inspiration and thought provoking for me, as I could see where parts of my assignment would fit in. I feel the whole visit went well and managed to collect a lot of relevant information. To complete patch work two we were asked to produce a leaflet aimed at our intended service users. I found this patch difficult because selecting relevant information was not easy e.g. font, colours, headings, content, pictures. When I first started the leaflet I had previous knowledge from another module, so had an idea how to construct the framework. I was thinking what type of content would go into the framework of the leaflet and how. Others mentioned that the leaflet should be easy to read and with bullet points, pictures and a calming background. I felt this would be a good idea, by aiming the leaflet at my service user group in particular. I thought that the leaflet was starting to take shape and it was aimed at who it was intended for. To start with I felt a little lost as to what to so but with help from my peer review group I eventual found a way. The most significant thing to me was being able to reflect ideas with other people about the leaflet. I feel that putting the leaflet together was a good experience as it has taught me how to present information to a targeted audience by using easy to understand phrases rather than jargon. Also working in peer review groups was a good experience as we were able to share ideas with each other and share information. The only thing that didnt go so well was working out how to transfer the leaflet from publisher to a word document, also slimming down the content without vital information being lost. I feel the leaflet went well and managed to collect and produce the correct information. Others did help by offering encouragement and ideas which aided me in producing the leaflet. I realise now that I should have consulted my peer group earlier to starting the leaflet as their ideas helped and guided me. To complete patch three we were asked to critically evaluate and analyse social policy, legislation and ethical issues impacting vocational rehabilitation. I found writing this patch extremely difficult as I had no idea of legislation, ethical issues and quality issues relating to this subject. When I started this patch I felt very nervous and worried as to how I would find such information. I was wondering how I would go about doing this patch and what was involved. When I was looking for information I found a vast array. I had to sieve through relevant legislation and apply it to

Water Pollution Reduces Drinking Water Quality :: Drinking Water Quality

Issue Statement The contamination of public water wells in Monmouth and Ocean County can lead to negative long terms effects and put a major impact on the cost for water filtration. The accumulation of polluted water being produced in the area requires additional treatments making our county limited to our expenses. Discussion Many water wells in the state of New Jersey in addition to those in Monmouth and Ocean County have been susceptible to pollution. Some experts say, including the DEP commissioner, that the problem is not whether water coming out of your tap is safe. The real issue is the cost to put in addition treatments into the water therefore making it safe for every element where water is required and utilized. Though, updates have shown that drinking water itself is becoming unsafe and insecure for residents to consume as well. Several conditions play a part in the pollution of water through the state. Whether it’s storm runoffs, leaky storage tanks, or harmful waste dump sites, these all have an effect on the high bacteria levels in the water. Keeping the pollution to a minimal is not the easiest thing in the world to do. Pesticides, petroleum products, corrosive or ignitable toxins are some examples of hazardous materials that are found in water today. The major water pollutants are chemical, biological, or physical materials that degrade water quality. Residents in Brick Township, Lakewood, Jackson Millstone, Freehold Township, Howell and Wall are some of the many local areas that are affected. Those organizations that are responsible for replenishing the water such as the New Jersey American Water Co., Monmouth and Lakewood systems, United Water Toms River, Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority and New Jersey American's Mount Holly system will probably be required to face these challenges and obstacles with a different strategy compared to the previous procedures. Life threatening circumstances have occurred in the past that reminds us what could happen to our water supply if we do not maintain it. Situations like the Cuyahoga River on fire, or the Potomac River too dirty for swimming, or Lake Erie dying. Since these incidents have happened environmentalists have taken extreme measures to reduce the amount of pollution that is coming out of the power plants that are on the river and on Lake Erie. Public awareness and concern for controlling water pollution led to enactment of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972.

The Use of Narratives to Express the Religious Beliefs of People in Wes

The Use of Narratives to Express the Religious Beliefs of People in Western Religions For the layman, familiarity with the major religions stems from the stories that are associated with them. Using the narratives that are derived from the sacred texts is the most prominent way in which our society identifies the Western religions. The Jewish tradition is best correlated to stories like the Exodus and the parting of the Red Seas, for example, as are the many tales of the miracles of Jesus connected to Christianity. This essay will present narratives as an easy method of providing the basic groundwork for the Western religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam because of their simplicity and easily transmittable nature. Furthermore, narratives impart many of the rules, laws, and moral fundamentals for these faiths, and are used by religious writers as a novel method of initiating discussion or providing a parallel for other narratives. From the beginning of the book of Genesis in the Holy Bible, it is evident that the identity of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the West hails from Biblical narratives. Genesis and its two accounts of creation are an essential starting point for Jewish, Christian, and Islamic beliefs. It provides a foundation for devotees of these religions to worship their God as the ultimate creator of the heavens and earth, day and night, sun and moon, all the animals and vegetation that inhabits the world, and human beings. For Jews and Christians, God created the world in six days, taking rest on the seventh day. However in the Islamic tradition of creation, Allah's actions on the seventh day are quite different from the Judeo-Christian beliefs. In the Koran, it states, "In six days He c... ...the preferred method of transmitting the religious beliefs of peoples. Furthermore, our modern Western society easily portrays the identity of Christians, Jews, and Muslims through narratives in media, such as the news, movies, comic books, and television. Because of the way in which stories help people easily grasp the lessons and morals taught by religions, narratives are at the core of the teachings of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, presenting fundamentals as well as being a resource for writing upon subject matter dealing with the those theologies. Works Cited Buber, Martin. Hasidism and Modern Man. New York: Horizon Press, year? The Holy Bible. New International Version. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1995. The Koran. Trans. N. J. Dawood. New York: Penguin Books, 1997 Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Bantam Books, 1960.