Evaluating The Different Changes To Child Protection Social Work Essay

Evaluating The Different Changes To Child security system Social Work EssayWhen enquirying the changes that have interpreted place in the last decade, it is notable that law, guidance and applications programme to practice are constantly downstairs revision. The aim of this roll is to identify and assess the impacts of the recent changes in electric shaver auspices as tumefy as public opinion and awareness of them.Evaluating changes in child protection is ch wholeenging as defining the rights of children has never been particularly straightforward. Once, in Victorian times, they were considered the place of parents who nates treat them in whatever manner they like. Fortunately, most people today believe that children should be emotionally safeguarded and should receive protection from government agencies from physical and informal abuse. In examining how child protection has evolved during the past ten social variances, this project entomb also be discussing the facts and misconceptions nearly class and sexual abuse. Different types of data were employ to identify those auxiliary question section underlines previous studies, findings, evaluation of government and voluntary agencies actions in order to come to a conclusion, whereas in primary research data was collected by using a questionnaire to summarise public opinion and trends about the conquer. Feasibility study was conducted to identify any affirmable difficulties in completing the project and methods used are evaluated in methodology section.Whilst assessing the changes in policies, the research will give an insight into public attitudes and government legislation regarding child protection which is of interest to students who are hoping to progress onto a Social Work degree course and pursue their future flusher go a focusinging with children. For students who are hoping to work with adults, the research might provide base for understanding the problems of paedophilia and an in sight into recent Acts of Parliament. This was the reason why the research topic was selected.Secondary sources of information, such(prenominal) as journal articles and government publications, will be selected to identify recent changes in the system. Even though these are widely attainable, the terminology used in selected journals is lone(prenominal) directed to professionals who work with children and some additional research will be essential in order to understand the topic and some legal terms. Whilst inessential data will be obtained from books, journals and government publications, the primary data will be obtained from an interview with a child protection professional and questionnaires which will be completed regionally and anonymously by adults. Therefore, time will need to be designated for designing the questionnaire and interview questions. Questions will need to be written so that answers provided will be easy to analyse. However, primary data will not be obtained from children due to the sensitivity of the topic. Basic computer skills, forward planning, determination and sedulousness will be necessary in producing the following.Marina TrifunovicMethodology Study Analysis of the Methods Used to Complete the ProjectThe project is structured according to the requirements of the grade descriptors and it is depict to meet the standardised criteria. In addition, the methods used in assembly primary and secondary data were suggested and encouraged by the college tutor. The research for the project involved gathering primary and secondary data and its cogency relies on validity of those sources. The information is independently generated using the methods which are briefly evaluated in this section.In terms of secondary data, validity was assured by using a variety of sources, such as books, newspaper articles and web pages which demanded patience and persistence. However, it provided a fundamental base for the project and most significantly, it subsequently led to a greater knowledge of the subject. Application of this knowledge allowed the critical evaluation of the issues relating the child protection. This broad approach to secondary research imposes time limitations and requires excellent understanding of the terminology.In addition, primary data was gathitherd using the questionnaire and an interview with a child protection officer, employed by the NSPCC in Manchester. The interview with the social worker provided an excellent insight into the issues related to child abuse and poverty. However, the preparation for this was time consuming and difficult due to the limited availableness of the interviewee and even though she tried and stay objective, some subjectivity as well as a degree of interpretation might have influenced the findings. Measures were taken to enhance the reliability of the findings generated by questionnaire by using a public sample from various age groups, genders and occupations and similar result s enhance validity of the findings. However, the questionnaire was completed regionally and with a relatively small sample (36 people took part) which does not allow generalisation. Unlike interviews, using questionnaires does not require prior arrangements and information can be collected from a large number of people relatively easy.Qualitative data used in the research covers a very broad compass of different aspects to child protection. This is gathered from secondary as well as primary sources. Though information is brief comparable to that gathered by denary approaches, it poses difficulties when measuring it with reliability. Qualitative data found in secondary research such as in numerous books and journals require intensive reading and psychoanalysis in order to determine appropriate sources of information, e.g. finding and recognising the objective data in newspapers articles. Qualitative data is descriptive and this method was used to gather information using an interv iew. Nevertheless, the qualitative data poses risks in terms of written work as it is easy for a researcher who is still learning about the subject to express it in a descriptive rather than analytical manner. In this project, a degree of critical analysis was maintained by constantly inquiring why findings are in a way as they were found.Quantitative data was obtained by counting and coding the information gathered by the questionnaire in primary research. The information was transformed into numerical data and represented by using charts and graphs in the primary research section. This was further used to numerically footfall the public opinion of child protection as well as to erect the qualitative data and evidence found and analysed in secondary research. However, numeric data in this project is not an infallible indicator on how people actually feel about child protection. The questions which were left unanswered in a questionnaire might be interpreted as the information w hich could not be limited to numerical descriptions and due to the sensitivity of the topic, some socially coveted answers are expected.Marina TrifunovicSecondary research Changes in Child Protection During the 2000sLaw and guidance which regulates the child protection is constantly under revision. Nevertheless, the twentieth century have the shift in attitudes when the family moved on from Victorian times where Children were seen and not heard (Morgan,1985, p.89). Fortunately, most people today believe that children are not property of their parents and that they should be emotionally safeguarded and when necessary receive protection from government agencies from physical and emotional abuse. Therefore, when a report is made, the child is usually taken from the parents and put into care. many another(prenominal) sociologists believe that this is primarily associated with the lower socio-economic classes because poverty is believed to be related with increased chances of instabili ty in the family (NSPCC, 2011). Although that is statistically correct, children in more desirable neighbourhoods may be more vulnerable if there is a general belief that childhood abuse could not possibly happen in these areas as poor children place to be the easy choice for the sexual predators of the world. In examining how child protection has evolved during the past ten years, also the secondary research section involves analysis of the facts and misconceptions about class and sexual abuse.Child Protection ReformsEvery society has an interest in protecting its children, not only because they are the stewards of the future, but because one of the merits which grades the train of development of civilisation is how well a particular culture treats its children. In England, there have been some arguments about reinforcing social values of the English way of parenting on people from foreign cultures. However, the tragic story of Victoria Climbie had influenced politicians to discu ss the ways to improve the law in place with regards to child protection in the UK. The Labour government also analysed how the holes in the system could be closed and systematically, the media had played a role in informing the public of what was regarded by the journalists as a blinding incompetence of government agencies (Lonne, 2009). The inquiry into the case discovered that a number of agencies such as the police, NHS, NSPCC and local churches that Victoria attended all noticed the signs of abuse, but had done nothing to assess the situation. As a result of the blinding incompetence in which way this case was assessed, Parliament passed an amendment to the current 1989 Children Act to the updated 2004 Children Act (The National Archives, 2011). These amendments to the Act gave much greater discretion to child protection agencies and power to react when protecting children and the new principle of either child matters led officials to not dismiss certain cases because of the social or cultural background of the child in question.The Home Secretary appointed a review of safeguarding children in June 2007 and measures were put in place to ensure better communication and cooperation between the agencies and the government agencies are exchanging data regarding sex offenders in England and Wales under the guidance of multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA). In a controlled way, information is also made available to various people, such as teachers, employers, landlords and parents. The extent to which information is reviled involves regional variations and is further stimulated by a campaign for sex offenders disclosure arrangement, commonly referred to as Sarahs Law. This scheme was piloted in Hampshire, Cleveland, Cambridgeshire and Warwickshire over a one year period in 2008 and it allowed members of the public to attain information from the police about any sex offending convictions of an one-on-one, for example, a family friend or a neig hbour. However, the scheme does not mean that information is unreservedly made public. During the pilot period a total number of 585 enquiries were initiated, 315 of which were preceded further and resulted in a total of only 21 criminal disclosures universe made. Also, 43 disclosure applications prompted other safeguarding actions such as referral to social services (Almandras, 2010) which indicates the schemes useful application in practice.The Home piece carried out the research which concluded that criminal justice agencies had benefited from Sarahs Law which resulted in increased intelligence as well as in an improvement in a way which public concerns are handled. This led to an announcement in August 2010 that the scheme would expand to twenty more police force areas and rest forces were invited to consider the introduction of the scheme by March 2011. However, even though police seniors feel confident that information which is disclosed under the scheme will remain confide ntial, organisations such as NSPCC have stressed that criminal disclosure might encourage violent attacks.When evaluating this extent of information disclosure, it is important not to forget that it only involves the information about individuals who have been convicted for a sexual offence. This does not eliminate the need for public awareness to safeguard children from yet unknown offenders. different significant methods to tackle the child abuse include a cultural shift of condemning violence within the home to the same extent as violence outside the home, and some researchers argue that Parliament could pass more amendments in safeguarding children, notably a absorbst corporal punishment, such as the case in sixteen European countries, as a part of a revised Children Act in future (Wilson and James, 2007). Nevertheless, designing a strategy to tackle the issues of child protection involved creating a profile of child abuse, for example, assessing which families would be more at risk to abuse children and social workers concluded that a degree of risk is strongly correlated with poverty, social isolation, family breakdown and poor parent-child relationships (Wilson and James, 2007). This has led government and voluntary agencies to focus their work on poorer households where such risks are statistically more possible as the economic factors inevitably create stress that can accumulate and result in parents to take out their frustration on their closest family, most notably on their children.Struggling to survive and financial problems, however, are not the primary reason behind the child abuse among middle and higher class families. Studies have found that abuse in the higher social circles are directly related to factors such as the abuse of drug and alcohol, and there is some hesitation to prosecute perpetrators from middle-class and upper-class backgrounds because they would be unable to provide economic support to their family members if they are prose cuted and put in prison. In addition, such an individual would be able to bring more financial resources to fighting the legal charges and it is argued how it would be easier for such a person to obtain personal references from affluent friends and family as well as have an advantage of the access to greater funds for legal help (Faller, 1993).New Labour reforms and Children Act 2004 aim to prevent children from being on repeated reports on the child protection registers (Powell 2002). In practice, this means that children would be much less likely to be removed from one abusive situation and placed in another. The reforms of the government legislations reinforce increased measures for assessment of the prospective foster parents, and more strict evaluation of the biological parents who are hoping to gain back the custody of their children (Powell 2002).Protecting children onlineGovernment experts argue that parents, influenced by media, are contributing in creating the paranoid cu lture and thus are overprotecting their children. The risk-averse approach to lift children has resulted in an increasing number of children who are exploring the world of the internet and particularly social networking sites as they are disallowed to play outside. London School of Economic had carried the citywide survey which found that ninety eight percent of children have access to internet (UK Children Go Online, 2006) and another study concluded that nearly all questioned parents (95%) do not recognise the slang that their children use to let other people know that their parents are supervising them (Netlingo, 2011). Nevertheless, the generation gap often leaves parents unable to richly understand the complexity of the conduct of cyber bulling nor significance of online safety (Khan, 2009). This influenced the government to react and the agencies such as CEOP, UKCAS and IWF are developed and designed to provide information and support for the victims as well as minimise the availability of images of child sexual abuse and help to prosecute the offenders. The number of intelligence reports from Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) that led to police arrests increased from eighty three in 2006-2007 to four hundred seventeen in 2009-2010. In 2009, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, label the UK approaches to online child protection as one of the most effective in the world (IWF, 2009).puerility Sexual Abuse A Class DistinctionChildhood sexual abuse in reputable families was often undetected because the biggest percentage of the higher classes appears to consist of respectable citizens. From a sociological point of view, taking children into care would be a more difficult decision in these cases as sexual abuse that involves immediate biological relatives is statistically more rare examine to those involving lovers of the parents. Career people, doctors, teachers, and successful men, sometimes women, as well as ministers of church were ther efore able to carry on the sexual abuse of children because of the widespread misconception that such terrible things could not possibly be committed by these model citizens. Another reason why many offenders were successful in hiding their crimes was because they elect the victims who were often vulnerable and lonely children that did not have warm relationships with parents and intended to obey authority. For example, in one case study, a child was abused in front of the neighbours who simply looked the other way because the father of the abused child had created a negative opinion of the child in their minds by repeatedly express them what a naughty and difficult child she was. So when he chased her around while she was undressed and hit her outside, the neighbours thought nothing of it as it was an all white, middle class neighbourhood where such things never happened (Itzin 2009).Their targets are not the conventionally perceived social underclass, though many victims will be pull from that, but are rather from a collection of groups who form the fodder of abusive networks who are subjected over and over again throughout their lives to multiple abuses (Itzin 2000, p. 390).Unfortunately, there is no way to completely eliminate the horror of sexual abuse from society, but there is a way to encourage a shift toward fashioning children less vulnerable. Children Act 2004 recognised children as individuals in their own right who do not deserve to be beaten, raped, or psychologically tortured. Protecting children from impose on _or_ oppress should be a responsibility of all adults as well as implementing a zero-tolerance policy on child abuse and prosecution as well as rehabilitation of all offenders, regardless to the social class.

Behaviors and Practices of Nursing Students

Behaviors and Practices of Nursing educateesOverview and Critical Appraisal of the StudiesAll of the embroild studies clearly outlined their look into question, purpose, target population, exemplification and its characteristics. Out of 11 studies, five studies employ flummox sectional design (1, 9-12), two studies use longitudinal design (13-14), two studies utilize experimental designs (8, 15), and one scan each employ qualitative (16) and action interrogation method (17). Out of 11 studies, five studies guided the investigate finished the lens of supposititious framework (9, 11, 12, 14, 17). The sample size ranged from 15-300 and was recruited victimisation well-off sampling. None of the studies utilize a stochastic sample. Ethical approval and informed take to was obtained in all of the studies and essential measures were taken to ensure confidentiality and privacy of the participants. All of the studies used validated and reliable entropy solicitation instru ments except some researchers (1, 10, 11, 14). The researchers used appropriate methods for descriptive and inferential analyses. The detail findings and strengths and limitations of the studies are presented in table I.FindingsThe findings of this suss out were inform under seven categories namely, physical and physiological self-care behaviors and practices, substance hollo and driving, health covering fire practices, emotional and mental healthcare behaviors and practices, factors and preventatives influencing healthcare behaviors and practices, equation of health care practice of nurse and non-nursing students, and comparison of health behaviors and practice crosswise academic years.Physical and Physiological Behaviors and PracticesThe physical and physiological behaviors and practices of nursing students was the most repetitive theme in most of the studies (1, 9-17). Based on findings of this review, it was defined as the behaviors or practices concerning diet or food , exercise or physical activities, and calming habits of students. All of the studies under this theme describe healthy self-care behaviors of students except two studies (1, 10). For example, Horneffer (11) imbed that out of 300 students, 58% students exercised regularly opus only 4% did not exercise. Nevins and Sherman (2016) found that out of 119 students, 77.7% ate a balance diet maculation 22.6% rarely ate balanced diet, 62% students reported imbibition close to 3 to 8 glasses of water daily, 34% exercised regularly and 24.5% exercised rarely, save 70% students did not exercise enough. Consistently, Chow and Kalischuk (12) found that out of 211 students, 83% used to sleep 6 to 8 hours at night 60% reported that the sleep was adequate while 37% reported inadequate sleep, 65% students reported drinking four to eight glasses of water or juice a day, 77% students ate balanced diet (49% frequently and 28% consistently), and 71% students exercised regularly or now and then wh ile 4% did not exercise at all. Clment et al., (13) observed self-care practices of students for tierce consecutive years 1992, 1993, and 1994. The authors reported that majority of the students reported having adequate sleep (1992= 73%, 1993= 79%, 1994= 71%), eating balanced diet (1992= 88%, 1993= 81%, 1994= 79%), and carrying out adequate exercise (1992= 81%, 1993= 81%, 1994= 67%). Similar findings were reported by other researchers (8, 14-17). However, Ashcraft and Gatto (1) and Haddad et al., (10) reported that students had low to moderate self-care behaviors. The mean self-care practices on health responsibility, physical practise, and nutrition ranged from 2.07 to 2.58 indicating low self-care practices (10). In ordinary, the evidence suggests that students concur good self-scare practices in price of nutrition, sleep, drinking water, and physical activity. Siappos et al., (16) qualitative findings affirms this because the students realized the grandness of balanced diet, active lifestyle, adequate sleep, and body hygiene in maintaining their self-care.Substance Abuse and Driving PracticesSeveral studies reported substance abuse including tobacco, alcohol, and illegal medicate use and driving habits of nursing students (11-14, 16). In general, all of the studies reported that nursing students avoided smoking, alcohol consumption, drug abuse, and use gum elastic measures while driving. For example, Siappos et al., (16) reported that students did not want to use tobacco and drugs because they considered them a threat to their health and security. Horneffer (11) reported that 71% students never smoked and 18% never consumed alcohol. However, 5% who smoked were not interested in quitting and 38% who consumed alcohol did not intend to refrain from it. Chow and Kalischuk (12) found that 59% students consumed alcohol occasionally while 35% did not consume at all and 85% students were non-smokers. This was the spiritedest percentage of alcohol consumptio n in all the reviewed studies. Likewise, Clment et al., (13) found that all oer three years, 80 to 93% students did not consume alcohol, 80% to 90% abstained from smoking, and 94% to 90% wear seat belts while driving. Shriver and Scott-Stiles (14) assessed self-care practices of 71 nursing students over two years. The researchers found that there was value in the self-care behaviors of nursing students regarding alcohol and illegal drug use in the first year 9.9% students consumed alcohol and 1.4 % used illegal drugs, while in the randomness year 8.8% consumed alcohol and 0 % used illegal drugs. Regarding driving habits, an improvement was seen in the first year 57.7% ever much wear seat belt as drivers and 39.4% as passengers, while in the second year this percentage increased to 77.2% and 57.9% respectively. On the other hand, the students smoked more in the second year (8.8%) equald to first year (7.0%). However, the results of this study should be generalized with caution due to 9.94% attrition of nursing students in the second year. health Screening Practiceswellness screening practices including Pap smear, self-breast examinations, self-testicular examination, and general screening were assessed by only two studies. Clment et al., (13) assessed self-care behaviors of students concerning self-breast examinations, clinical breast examination, and Pap smear. The researchers found that high percentage of nursing students engaged in clinical breast examination (1992= 75%, 1993= 79%, and 1994= 77%) and Pap smear (1992= 67%, 1993= 69%, and 1994= 81%) compared to self-breast examination (1992= 27%, 1993= 41%, and 1994= 43%). Shriver and Scott-Stiles (14) found that the percentage of students engaged in most of health screening practices increased from first year to second year. For example, self-breast examination (23.3% to 33.3%), self-testicular exam (0% to 33.3%), and blood pressure monitor (83.1 to 87.7%). However, there was a slight decrease in some areas such as cholesterol monitoring (31.0% to 29.8%) and safe sex practices (63.4% to 50.9%). In general, the results are mixed but indicates that students engage themselves in their health screening and realize its splendour in maintaining self-care.Emotional and psychological Behaviors and PracticesSeveral studies discussed the emotional, psychological and supportive self-care behaviors and practices of students (1, 8-12, 17). For this review, such practices entailed try on management, spiritual growth, interpersonal relations, and use of complementary color therapies. Haddad et al., (10) reported low gain on spiritual growth, interpersonal relations and stress management of both Canadian and Jordanian nursing students with mean scores spiritual growth (2.97 vs 2.98), interpersonal relations (3.12 vs 2.78), and stress management (2.46 vs 2.58). In general, the scores indicated that students did not engage in healthy emotional and psychological self-care practices. inverse t o these findings, marginal (15) reported generally good mean scores on these two domains spiritual growth (3.27), interpersonal relations (3.43) and low scores on stress management (2.53). With regard to emotional self-care, Padykula (17) assessed emotional benefit of students and reported a high mean score of 4.12.With regard to the use of complementary therapies by students, Nevins and Sherman (9) found that out of 119 students, 45% actively used complementary therapies such as yoga, music, and meditation and while 54% denied victimization such therapies. This high percentage of students not using complementary therapies could be due to their wishing of knowledge. The researchers reported that students rated their knowledge about such therapies 5.5 on the scale of 10. Chow and Kalischuk (12) also found that out of 211 students, 76% students used complementary therapies for maintaining their emotional and psychological well-being. The students mainly used complementary therapie s massage (54%), vitamins (49%), chiropractic (25%), herbal medicine (24%), yoga (21%), aromatherapy (18%), and acupuncture (9%). Based on mixed findings under this theme, it could be implied that the entropy is insufficient to wee a conclusion as to what extent students engage in self-care practices that promote their emotional and psychological well-being.Factors/Interventions influencing Self-Care Behaviors and PracticesSeveral factors and interventions were reported to influence self-care practices and behaviors of students (1, 8-13, 15-17). The common factors were cultural beliefs, perceptions about health, watching awareness programs about self-care on TV (10), academic and clinical stress and workload (13, 16), and increased knowledge of diseases, poor life style habits and their consequences, and importance of becoming a role model for patients (14).With regard to interventions, several researchers tested the effect of interventions on self-care practices of students. For example, Stark et al., (8) and (15) tested the effect of health promotion intervention, while Padykula (17) studied the influence on self-care practices in response to a holistic nursing course and reflective journaling. Stark et al., (8) tested an intervention consisting of teaching posing about importance of self-care, development of self-care protrude, and evaluation of self-care plan over a semester in 82 nursing students, 72 occupational therapy, and 47 dustup expression pathology students. The speech pathology students were part of comparison group and received no intervention. With regard to intervention, significant differences were noted in the health practices concerning boilers suit HPLP (p=0.014), physical activity (p=0.001), and nutrition (p=0.025). Stark et al., (15) encouraged 67 students to develop a lifestyle self-care plan and engage in 2 hours/week self-care practice. The researchers found that this intervention resulted in an improvement of self-care practic es in five domains health responsibility (p=0.001), physical activity (p=0.001), nutrition (p=0.002), spiritual growth (p=0.002), and stress management (p=0.004). However, no significant differences were noted in the interpersonal relations domain (p=0.257). Likewise, Padykula (17) found significant pre-post mean differences in the domains environment (4.27 vs 4.35), health responsibility (4.17 vs 4.32), and emotional well-being (4.12 vs 4.23). Overall, based on these findings, it could be implied that students may find it touchy to engage in self-care due to the above listed factors but the use of reproductional and health promotion interventions help in improve their self-care behaviors and practices.Comparison of Self-Care Practices of Nursing and Non-Nursing StudentsThe self-care practices of nursing and non-nursing students were compared in three studies (8, 13-14). Stark et al., (8) compared 82 nursing students with 72 occupational therapy and 47 speech language pathology s tudents. As antecedently discussed, speech pathology students were part of comparison group and received no intervention. The researchers compared the intervention and comparison groups, but no comparison was made between three groups of students. Clment et al., (13) compared practices of nursing students with education students and then made an overall comparison of both nursing students with a baseline study of Quebec population (which is beyond the discussion of this paper). With regard to nursing students and education students, the researchers noted no significant difference in the health behaviors of nursing students over three years (p0.05) and between nursing and education students (p0.05). Shriver Scott-Stiles, (14) compared self-care practices of 71 nursing students and 83 non-nursing students in a two years longitudinal study. The tour of students decreased in the second year resulting in 57 nursing students and 20 non-nursing students, therefore results should be gener alized with caution. Some interesting findings of this study were non-nursing students (45.8%) exercised more regularly than nursing students (22.5%), but also smoked more than nursing students (non-nursing= 14.5% and nursing = 7.0%). Overall, significant improvements were seen in the self-care behaviors and practice of nursing students compared to non-nursing students in the domains eating habits (p=0.05) and self-breast examination (p=0.009). Overall, with one positive and one negative finding it was difficult to conclude whether nursing students self-care practices were better than non-nursing students.Comparison of Self-Care Behaviors and Practices across Academic YearsDirect comparison of students practices across different academic years was not made, but several studies compared the self-care practices across semesters and over a period of two or three years (1, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17). For example, Ashcraft and Gatto (1) reported that no significant difference was noted among the nursing students as they progressed through different years (p=0.72), but the mean scores of decreased across years. Stark et al., (8) collected data at two points in time semester I (T1) and semester II (T2) and noted significant differences between TI and T2 scores in the domains health responsibility (p=0.027), physical activity (p=0.017), and nutrition (p=0.047). Contrary to these findings, Clment et al., (13) and Nevins and Sherman (9) did not note any statistically significant difference across self-care practices of students across academic years. Padykula (17) also assessed differences in students thought of self-care practices at three times, that is, at the beginning of the holistic nursing course, at the mid, and at the end. The researchers reported significant differences at three points in time, but these findings cannot be substituted for self-care practices of students. Overall, these findings indicated that none of the studies presently compared the difference s in self-care practices across years, therefore no conclusion can be drawn.Discussion and Areas for Future ResearchThis literature review lookd self-care behaviors and practices of nursing students in general as well as across the academic years of study and identified areas for incoming research. The review of literature indicted that there are limited follow of studies conducted to explore self-care practices and behaviors of nursing students. An interesting pattern in the reviewed studies was the inclusion of more female nursing students compared to male nursing students. This could limit the findings of the studies to female population only. Therefore, coming(prenominal) studies should recruit an equal number of male and female students or should only focus on male nursing students. Also, future studies should use large, random, and representative samples. The future studies could also employ mixed-method approaches because the use of quantitative studies and self-administe red instruments for data collection could have provided an incomplete understanding of students self-care practices.The general conclusion drawn from the reviewed studies is that nursing students understand the importance of self-care for personal well-being and realized the importance of maintaining their diet, sleep, and activity level in order to improve physical and physiological health. They tend to refrain from tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drug use and pay attention to their personal safety. Nursing students also engage in self-screening practices. However, further research is needed to explore general health screening practices of students because reviewed studies provided limited evidence in this area. These studies focused on exploring screening practices related to Pap smear, self-breast and self-testicular examination and did not explore general screening practicing such as regular dental checkups, stress and depression testing, diabetic testing, blood pressure monitorin g, blood work and so forth. Also, the findings concerning self-testicular examination are not generalizable because of the limited number of male studies in the sample.Although studies reported factors and interventions that may influence self-care practices of nursing students, further correlational research is needed to explore the strength of relationship of these factors. Further research is also needed to study the effect previously discussed interventions through more robust experimental studies such as Randomized Control Trials (RCT). Future RCTs should include nursing students as control or comparison group rather than non-nursing students which may help in reducing any possible biases due to interconnected of characteristics of comparison and control groups. Since none of the studies directly compared the self-care practices and behaviors of students across different academic years, further research is need to fill this research gap too. Further research is also needed to explore the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of students regarding complementary therapies.LimitationsThis review is subject to several limitations i) literature search within four databases only and inclusion of limited studies could have resulted in excluding other relevant studies thereby providing an incomplete understanding of students self-care practices, ii) the exclusion of dissertations and theses could have also limited an in-depth understanding, and iii) the thematic analysis of self-care practices and behaviors could have been guided by any pertinent theoretical and conceptual framework.ConclusionIn conclusion, nursing students understood the importance of self-care for personal physical, psychological, and emotional well-being and realized the importance of maintaining their diet, sleep, and activity level to improve physical and physiological health. They tend to refrain from tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drug use, pay attention to their personal safety, and focus o n several health screening practices including Pap smear, self-breast and self-testicular examination. However, students tend to neglect self-care practices which could improve their emotional and psychological health because of several factors such as academic stress, workload and inadequate knowledge about the strategies to improve self-care in this domain. There seems to be limited evidence for drawing any conclusions regarding students use of complementary therapies for self-care, the difference between self-care practices of nursing and non-nursing students, the emolument of different interventions for improving students self-care practices, and difference is self-care practices and behaviors of students across academic years. Therefore, future research is needed in these areas.ReferencesAshcraft PF, Gatto SL. Careofself in undergraduate nursing students A pilot study. Nurs Educ Perspect. 201536(4)255-6.Younas A. A foundational analysis of Dorothea Orems self-care theory and e valuation of its significance for nursing practice and research. Creat Nurs. 201723(1)13-23.Austen M. Self-care in nursing A call to action. 2015.cited 2017 Feb 27. Retrieved From https//www.arnbc.ca/blog/self-care-in-nursing-a-call-to-action-by-maren-austen-bsn-student/Mills J, billystick T, Fraser JA. On self-compassion and self-care in nursing Selfish or essential for compassionate care? Int J Nurs Stud. 201552(4)791-3.PulidoMartos M, AugustoLanda JM, LopezZafra E. Sources of stress in nursing students A systematic review of quantitative studies. Int Nurs Rev. 201259(1)15-25.Younas A. Levels of stress and coping strategies used by nursing students in Asian countries An integrated literature review. The Journal of Middle East and North Africa Sciences,2016 2(4), 50-57.Clark CS. Stress, psychoneuroimmunology and self-care What all nurse needs to know. J Nurs Care. 20143(2)146.Stark MA, Hoekstra T, Hazel DL, Barton B. Caring for self and others Increasing health care students heal thy behaviors. Work. 201242(3)393-401.Nevins CM, Sherman J. Self-care practices of baccalaureate nursing students. J Holist Nurs. 201634(2)185-92.Haddad L, Kane D, Rajacich D, Cameron S, AlMaaitah R. A comparison of health practices of Canadian and Jordanian nursing students. Public Health Nurs.200421(1)85-90.Horneffer KJ. Students self-concepts Implications for promoting self-care within the nursing curriculum. J Nurs Educ.200645(8).Chow J, Kalischuk RG. Self-care for caring practice Student nurses perspectives. International Journal for Human Caring. 200812(3)31-7.Clment M, Jankowski LW, Bouchard L, Perreault M, Lepage Y. Health behaviors of nursing students A longitudinal study. J Nurs Educ. 200241(6)257-65.Shriver CB, Scott-Stiles A. Health habits of nursing versus non-nursing students a longitudinal study. J Nurs Educ. 200039(7)308-14.Stark MA, Manning-Walsh J, Vliem S. Caring for self while learning to care for others a challenge for nursing students. J Nurs Educ. 200544(6)266 -70.Siappo CL, Nez YR, Cabral IE. Nursing students experiences in selfcare during training process in a private university in Chimbote, Peru. Escola Anna Nery. 201620(1)17-24.Padykula BM. RN-BS students reports of their self-care and health-promotion practices in a holistic nursing course. J Holist Nurs.20160898010116657226.Table I Summary of the Reviewed StudiesAuthors/ Study PurposeMethods/SampleFindingsStrengths and LimitationsShriver Scott-Stiles (2000)To fixate if nursing students practice healthy lifeStyles that would help prepare them to be effective advocates for health promotion and disease prevention.A longitudinal comparative study with a sample of 71 nursing students and 83 non-nursing students. Seven health care behaviors sleep, diet, activity, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, sexual habits, self-screening were assessed. The Health Habit Inventory was used for data collection.The health behaviors of nursing were significantly higher than non-nursing students in both pre-and post-comparison.StrengthsUse of theoretical framework, comparative analysis of two different populations, duplicate of groups in terms demographic variables, and appropriate statistical analysis.LimitationsConvenient sample, more female students compare to male, mismatching in the age and gender of the groups, and use of non-valid and reliable instrument.Clment et al., (2002)To compare health care behaviors of nursing and education students over three year and to compare their results with general population.A longitudinal comparative study with a sample of 52 nursing students and 93 education students. Seven health care behaviors sleep, diet, physical activity, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, self-breast examinations, pap tests, and clinical test examination were assessed. The Health Behavior Questionnaire was used for data collection.There were no significant differences in the health behaviors intervention and control group.StrengthsComparative analysis of two differen t populations, matching of groups in terms demographic variables, and appropriate statistical analysis.LimitationsThe participants were mainly female nursing students, high attrition rates (73.1% for nursing students and 58.9% for education students), and no random sample.Haddad et al., (2004)To compare healthcare practices of Canadian and Jordanian nursing studentsA descriptive cross sectional survey with a sample of 49 Canadian and 44 Jordanian nursing students. selective information was collected using Health Promoting Life Style Profile-II (HPLP-II) which collects information regarding health responsibility, physical activity, nutrition, spiritual growth, interpersonal relations and stress management.Both Canadian and Jordanian students scored low to m moderate on all domains. The Canadian scored more on health care practices in terms of health responsibility, physical activity, and interpersonal relations.StrengthsComparative analysis of two different cultures.LimitationsThe pa rticipants were mainly female nursing students, use of non-valid and non-reliable Arabic version of HPLSP-II, small and convenient sample.Stark et al., (2005)To study the effect of health promotion intervention on self-care of nursing students.A pre-post intervention study with a sample of 67 students. The intervention consisted of development of lifestyle self-care plan and 2 hours/week self-care practice. The HPLP-II was used for data collection.A significant increase in self-care of nursing students was noted on sextet domains of HPLSP-II except for interpersonal relations.StrengthsUse of a valid and reliable data collection tool, appropriate statistical analysis,LimitationsSmall and non-random convenient sample, no blinding, and no comparison or control group.Horneffer (2006)To assess nursing students degree of alignment with their self-concepts beliefs and explore the relationship of self-concepts with health behaviors and attitude towards health promotion messages.A descripti ve cross sectional survey with a sample of 300 students. Data was collected using a scale to measure dimensions of self-concept (anonymous scale), Health Risk Assessment Form, and heath Promotion messages regarding diet, exercise, and sleeping habits.Most of the students perceived that health is closely related to taking care of oneself and dimensions of self-concept associated with health behaviors and responses to health promotion messages.StrengthsUse of a theoretical framework to conceptualize self-concept and use of large sample.LimitationsData collection from one institution and little information provided about the validity and reliability testing of the used instruments.Chow Kalischuk (2008)To examine undergraduate nursing students self-care behaviors.A descriptive cross sectional survey with a sample of 211 out of 330 students. Data was collected using the Self-Care Complementary Therapies Survey.The nursing students practiced a positive level of self-care. Most of the s tudents reported that they drink enough fluids, have adequate sleep, eat balanced diet, personally used complementary therapies.StrengthsUse of a theoretical model as a framework and the use of a valid and reliable data collection tool.LimitationsSmall and convenient sample, cross-sectional design, and data collection from one institution, and more female participants than male.Stark et al., (2012)To increase health care behaviors of healthcare students by using a health promotion intervention.A pre-post intervention study with a comparison group. The sample consisted of 201 students 82 nursing students, 72 occupational therapy, and 47 speech language pathology students. The HPLP-II was used for data collection. Speech language pathology students received no intervention. The intervention consisted of teaching session about importance of self-care, development of self-care plan, and evaluation of self-care plan over a semester.The intervention group improved their self-care practic es compared to comparison group. There were also significance differences in pre-and post-comparison.StrengthsUse of a valid and reliable data collection tool, use of comparison group, appropriate statistical analysis, and matching of comparison and intervention group in terms of age, race, gender and marital status.LimitationsSmall and non-random sample, no blinding, and discipline specific differences among the participants were not considered, and more female students than male.Ashcraft Gatto (2015)To explore self-care practices among nursing students.A pilot cross-sectional study with a sample of 199 students. Live thoroughly Lifestyle Assessment Scale was used for data collection.Students tend to neglect their self-care and focus more on the care of patients.LimitationsSmall and convenient sample, pilot design, and data collection from one institution, missing data as 81 (41%) questionnaires were invalid, and more female students compare to male.Nevins Sherman (2016)To inves tigate baccalaureate nursing student perspectives of self-care practices to gain understanding of their value in health promotion.A descriptive cross sectional survey with a sample of 119 students. Data was collected using the Self-Care Complementary Therapies Survey.The overall health status was rated as 7.8 on 10. Students diet, sleep, and exercise practices were satisfactory.StrengthsUse of a theoretical model as a framework and the use of a valid and reliable data collection tool.LimitationsLow response rate (44.5%), small and convenient sample, cross-sectional design, data collection from one institution, chances of social desirability bias.Padykula (2016)To explore RN-BS students self-care and health promotion practices (SCHP) in a holistic nursing course.A qualitative study action research with a sample of 15 students. Data was collected using reflective journal writing and the Integrative Health and Wellness Assessment (IHW

Assessing Poverty in South Asia

Assessing need in South AsiaIntroductionUNDP has taken an initiative to publish SOUTH ASIA POVERTY MONITOR periodically to judge the distress situation at national grassroots level with the existing national expertise in South Asia. As come apart of this initiative a country report result be prep ard for Bangladesh as well. The Bangladesh country report allow for be prep bed through both(pre token(a)) quantitative and qualitative go about. Unnayan Shamannay is proposing to conduct the qualitative part of the discipline.Rationale for Qualitative ApproachStatistical data do help very little in infrastanding what the variation means. Qualitative data, on the other hand, illustrate the apprise of detailed, descriptive data in deepening our understanding of individual variation.They give startle synergistically to insights and solutions that would not come about without them (Palton 199015-17)Qualitative approach can provide a depth of understanding of the places associated with scantiness that the more formal and statistically reasoned approaches may not. This class of studies includes the increasingly popular techniques of rapid and participatory cracker-barrel appraisal and beneficiary sagaciousness (WB 1992 8-4).ObjectivesThe objectives of this claim are as followsAssess leanness through qualitative methodologyComplement the quantitative approach with qualitative one.Add qualitative dimension to the Bangladesh Country Report.ScopeThe scope of this qualitative study will be toIdentify indicators of indigence through a participatory approachIdentify and monitor changes in the p all overty situationAssess the invasion of any(prenominal) of the poverty alleviation measuresAnalyse the findingsTopics/Issues to be AddressedPoverty profile and poverty indicators are almost of the important components of poverty assessment. Poverty assessment will be carried out in participatory manner. Broad topics on the extent of poverty, identification of sub- groups, nature of poverty, characteristics of the measly and risk management make be guileve been include in the proposed research agenda. Moreover, poverty monitoring will also be conducted periodically and it will act as a barometer to measure the changes in mingled socio-economic and welfare indicators relating to the lives of the poorest mobs.Methods to be UsedAll major qualitative research methods will be used in the study. Interview will be extensively used in the study including its key variants, that is to say participatory group discussion, focus group discussion, standardised open-ended interview and case study (Figure 1). In addition to interview, other methods of qualitative inquiry, namely observation and document analysis will also be made use of in the study.Selection of smack AreasQualitative exercises will be conducted in both urban and cracker-barrel settings of the country. To cover the greater diversity in socio-economic environments, cardinal different r egional configurations of northern, exchange and southern parts of the country would be accommodated in the study. A total of six villages including two from each part would be covered under the study. In urban line of business, at least three slum areas would be covered to facilitate the comparison and triangulation of data and education.However, for monitoring of poverty in the selected six villages and three urban slums, certain number of the poorest households will be selected from each of the study sites. Out of six villages, three will be selected in such a manner w here(predicate) at least anti-poverty intervention by brass is in operation. These three villages will serve as broadcast villages and they will be drawn from the three parts of the country including one from each. Besides, other three villages will also be selected nearby where there is no poverty focused government intervention. These three will serve as control villages in the three parts of the country.Sam ple SizeMost of the topics would be address at the fellowship level and no specific number of participants are needed to be ascertained beforehand. For poverty monitoring, a total of 120 poorest households will be selected 90 from six villages and 30 from three urban slums. The poorest households will be selected through consultation with the respective community members.Tools to be UsedIn selecting tools desirable characteristics namely easy, simple, visual, non-verbal and so forth, must be taken into accounts. As PRA tools are recognized to call for all these desirable characteristics, most(prenominal) of the tools will be drawn from its repertoire. Important PRA tools that will be extensively used in the poverty assessment include scoring and ranking, matrix ranking, wealth/well-being ranking, time line, social mapping, pie chart and so forth (Figure 1).Validity and ReliabilityAlthough the qualitative data are essentially based on the perception, opinion and judgement of the participants, the quality of data would be, nevertheless, refined through of the triangulation principle underlying the research design of this study. A combination of multiple sources, researchers/facilitators and on-the-spot cross-checking of data through discussion, debate and deliberation among the community participants would minimise the decimal point of error and bias of data to the minimum. Besides, the field observation by the researchers would in addition , act as a guard against any major contrast and biasness of data.Activities to be UndertakenFor conducting the study a number of activities will be undertaken.The activities includeIdentifying and reviewing available literatureNow-a-days wide ranging literature on poverty is available. Different facets of poverty have been discussed in those literature. The indicators, measurement process, sampling frame etc. also differ. For a qualitative study for monitoring poverty, the volume of the problem further increases. The ap proach is not plainly different only when gives a deeper insight. To make it complement the qualitative approach the literature on poverty needs a review. For this aspiration all available literature on poverty will be reviewed.Analyse presently used indicatorsBefore finalising the indicators for assessment of poverty there is a need for analysing the presently used indicators. This will provide a rational basis for the use of the indicators in the qualitative study.Pre-testingThe indicators and tools to be used in the study will be pre-tested in the field. This will help understand the effectiveness of tools.Primary field visitBefore starting field work a primary field visit is needed to get acquainted with the actual field condition.Training of field/research officersThe field/research officers who will be busy in this study are competent and experienced. steady then the field/research officers need training/orientation for doing such work. With this purpose they will be impa rted in-house and field training.Processing of data/informationThe data/information processing in qualitative study is not similar to that of quantitative one. The information generated through qualitative approach is processed in a different manner. Different factors and aspects of existingity are considered while classifying these information.Field activitiesThe field activities to be undertaken in this study will require two types of work a. in folksy area and b. in urban area.Rural area The activities in agrestic area will require identifying the group/sub-group, building up rapport with them and conducting the sessions. These activities have to be co-ordinated with the day-to-day activities e.g., ploughing or rowing time etc., of the participants.Rrban area In urban area conducting participatory session is a difficult task. Urban life makes it difficult for the participants to spare time for such research. Besides building up a better rapport, tools need to be designed and a djusted accordingly.Document analysisSignificant insights can be put up through document analysis. Even discrepancies between legitimateity and pronounced goals can be identify.CHAPTER X PROBLEMS IDENTIFICATION AND NEEDS ASSESSMENT BY THE POORProblems and Needs Assessment By the lowProblems facing the poor were identified by the poor themselves, and a list of felt needs were the outcome of the participatory discussion, debates and consensus among themselves. Two sets of problems and needs were assessed in a participatory manner each for the urban and coarse areas.Urban SettingTo the urban slum poor, homelessness and eviction from slums are the topmost problems. Other serious problems identified by the poor include lack of good health and water facilities, employment opportunities, security, education, latrine, gas, etc. (Exhibit 38).Regarding the needs assessment, the urban poor listed and prioritized their felt needs. Some of the most important are, latrine, shelter, drinking w ater, electricity, gas, security, rationing, employment and so on (Exhibit 39).Rural SettingAgricultural inputs, irrigation and culverts are considered to be the topmost problems by the rural poor. Apart from these, some other most serious problems mentioned by them are related to health, electricity, unemployment, flood, drinking water, industrialisation, veterinary facilities, silting up of rivers etc. (Exhibit 40).According to the needs assessment and prioritization by the rural poor, some of the most important needs as articulated by themselves are industries for employment, agricultural inputs at a fair price, rural roads, irrigation, electricity, school and madrasa, aesculapian facilities etc. (Exhibit 41).Chapter IX Monitoring THE Impact of Public Expenditure on PovertyObjectiveThe primary objective of monitoring of electrical shock of public cost on poverty in this chapter is to understand the living condition of the poor. This is more of an illustrative exercise rather than a whole sector monitoring of poverty. The issue of representativeness has to be, therefore, viewed in this context. One of the stated objectives of the development strategy of both present and previous governments is to reduce poverty. A growing share of public use is claimed to have been allocated to the development activities ostensibly aiming at poverty reduction in the recent past, and this is likely to be continued in the future.Against this background of increasing the public expenditure allocation to poverty alleviating projects, it is needed to know the effects and impacts of these expenditure on poverty alleviation. In this section a number of key psyches have been addressed Does the benefit of the public expenditure reach those lying at the bottom of the income get over ? Is there any sign of improvement in the condition of the poorest of the poor ? How do the selected poverty indicators behave ? Do they improve, deteriorate or oscillate ? In case of improvement, a t what pace do they improve ? Based on the findings from these questions, an attempt will be made to assess the quality of public expenditure in terms of a set of selected indicators. To understand the trend of the impact of public expenditure on poverty, we started monitoring the behaviour of some selected indicators of poverty in both the urban and rural areas since 1993 as the base year. The qualitative and quantitative data generated through the participatory tools have been used for this poverty monitoring. This is the first round of the periodic monitoring of poverty in a participatory manner.Poverty Assessment and Monitoring Peoples ViewsThe poverty assessment carried out under this study has two components. The community members actively participated in the assessment of their well-being by itemization and categorizing of all the households by themselves in several groups based on their own criteria. This is, in fact, a subjective assessment. Secondly, after categorization, all households were arranged in go order on the basis of well-being scores of each of the households resulting in the identification of the poorest of the poor in the respective communities lying at the bottom of the scale with quantitative precision which was again vetted by the community members/participants. The poverty of some of the poorest households in the community has been monitored on the selected indicators. As this monitoring is based on problematical data, it, therefore, gives us an objective assessment of the living standard of the poorest. (Figure 9.1) The poverty sitution in the urban and rural areas has been assessed in a participatory manner. Instead of applying any pre-conceived ideas, standards, measures or categories by the researchers to measure poverty as is done conventionally, the criteria used in this study has been developed by the peck at the community level. The basic question relating to poverty measurement or assessment is who is poor and how to id entify him/her.Based mainly on qualitative data information Based mainly on quantitative data informationCriteriaUnlike a single standard or formula as applied in the conventional methodology, the community-members consider it steal to use a set of socio-economic criteria to assess the economic and social status of a household. For this purpose, the researchers and facilitators involved in the study initiated a series of group-level discussions and community-level validations. The community peck developed their own criteria (Box 9.1) to assess the status of their own members and also to categorize them into a set of social classes.The more important criteria developed by the rural people in the selected villages are, among others, the amount of land owned and cultivated, the number of earning members, cash in hand, the housing condition, the amount of fixed assets, the family coat, other sources of income, whether a household is egg-producing(prenominal) or male headed, etc.Prev alence of povertyBased on the above criteria, the community people identified the poor (moderate poor) and the poorest (extreme or hardcore poor) households in their own community. As poverty was assessed at the household level, the status of all the households in the community was assessed and categorized into four classes, namely well-off, medium, poor and poorest.In the urban slums, 72 portion of the households were be poor (moderate 51, hardcore 21) and 28 portion non-poor (middle 19, well-off9) (Tables 9.1 and 9.2). The incidence of poverty was, however, found to be widely different in different slums. In one sample slum there were no well-off households in 1996 although there were many in another sample.In the rural area, 75 percent of the households were classified as poor (moderate 20 and hardcore 55) whereas 25 percent were classified as non-poor (middle14 and well-off 11) (Table 9.3). Regionally, the incidence of poverty was more acute (moderate 17, hardcore 60) in the central part compared to that (moderate 25, hardcore47) in the northern part.The findings generated by the PRA exercise were further validated by the people in the respective community. So the scope of subjective bias, if any, was greatly reduced.Poverty Monitoring Using Panel Data Set (Quantitative)Being a value loaded term, poverty as such cannot be measured quantitatively/objectively. The debate on the issue abounds in the literature. But the symptoms and aspects of poverty can be measured and monitored by means of a series of socio-economic indicators that proxy the level of well-being of people. That is why, an attempt has been made in this section to measure and monitor poverty through a number of indicators/variables in two different years i.e., 1993 and 1996. Most of the indicators used for monitoring were suggested by the community members (Box 9.1.). The number of indicators used here are meant to have satisfied the desirable criteria, namely, unambiguity, consistency, spe cificity, sensitivity and ease of collection (Carvalho and White, 1994).Change in Demographic and Socio-economic Profiles of the Poorest Households During 1993-96Demographic and Social CharactersticsFamily size and compositionThe universe of the poorest households and their average family size grew by 5 percent over the monitoring period 1993-96 (Table 9.4). However, the populatioin evolution rate is found to have been high(prenominal) at 7.2 percent for the urban poor compared to 4.4 percent in the rural area over the equal period. The family size of the poorest households in the rural area is, however, found to be high(prenominal) at 4.2 in 1993 and increased further to 4.4 in 1996. The family size of the urban poor was lower at 3.5 in 1993, and it grew to 3.7 in 1996.In the rural area, the family size of the FFE-households is found to be much higher at 6.0 on an average in both the central and northern parts compared to those for the non-FFE households in both platform and c ontrol villages in 1996 (Table 9.5).Another important demographic characteristic of the poorest households is their family composition. In 1996, the FFE households are found to have a male mass 61 percent compared to 49 percent and 41 percent for the non-FFE households in the programme and control villages respectively. The family composition is, however, found reverse for the poorest families in the urban slums. The poorest households had a female majority at 62 percent in 1996 (Table 9.6).The above findings pose some questions challenging the appropriateness of the main thrust of the development strategy being pursued by the government in the country. The much-publicized motto two children are enough seems to have been irrelevant so far as the poorest people are come to in both the urban and rural areas. The increasing growth rates in populatioin and family size suggest that under the existing socio-economic conditions, their economic and social securities lie not in venialer family but in larger one.Earning members and incidence of child labourThe poorest households and their different groups are found to have peculiar characterstics in the composition of their earning members. Overall, close to half of the earning members are men, and one-fourth are women and boys each in 1996 (Table 7.17).Against this general distribution of the earning members, the poorest families in the urban and rural areas are found to have different compositions of earning members by age and gender. In the urban slums, female earning members accounted for 43 percent (women 36% and girls 7%) among all the earners compared to 24 percent (women23% girls1%) in the rural area (Table 7.17 and 9.7). Female children are not found to have been as active in income earning activities previously as they are found to be in 1996. The preponderance of male income earners is found to be more prominent among the poorest households in the rural area. At the disaggregate level, the difference i s more disclosure in the rural areas. The participation of girls in income earning activities is found to be very minimal throughout the rural areas (Table 9.8). Among the FFE-households, womens participation in income earning activities is very small (3%), but it is widely detect (33%-36%) among the non-FFE households.Among the FFE households, the preponderance of male child labour is observed, and this remained unchanged throughout the monitoring period despite the programme intervention in the rural areas. The incidence of child labour among the earning members of the FFE households is found to be 40 and 41 percent in the central and northern parts respectively of the country, and this remained unchanged in both the areas during the period 1993-1996. The poor impact of the FFE programme on the incidence of child labour at large in the rural areas is also revealed sharp if we focus on the trend in the incidence of child labour. Overall, 25 percent of the boys of all ages were in volved in income earning activities in 1993, and this remained almost at the same level (24%) in 1996. As the boys, the incidence of female child labour among the earning members is found to be at a much lower level (1.2%) in 1993 and this remained at that level 1996 as well.The above findings raise an important question to the fore why is the FFE programme found to be ineffective in cut the incidence of child labour ? The answer to this question should be searched not in the programme itself but in the economics. For the poorest households, the opportunity cost of sparing a boy from education is around Tk. 14 a day ( net rate) in 1996 (Table 9.9). The financial benefit gained from the FFE programme by a rural poor household is found not so significant at Tk. 4.85 (Tk. 0.81 per capita per day) a day for a boy (Table 9.10). The participatioin of a poor family in the FFE programme causes a self-colored income loss to that family. As the benefit under the programme cannot offset the income loss that an extremely poor family has to incur, the appeal of the programme to a precariously income-poor family is found to be weak. This finding is found consistent with that of other studies (Ahmed and Billah,1995).Female-headed householdsOne of the important demographic features of the poorest households is that close to one-third of them were female-headed during the reference period (Table 9.11). More than half of the sample households (55%) are found to be female-headed in the urban slums compared to 23% in the rural households during the same period.Another important demographic feature of the three groups of the poorest households is that only 5 percent of the FFE households have been female headed compared to 25 percent and 40 percent for the non-FFE households respectively in the programme and control villages in 1993 (Table 9.12A). This composition remained unchanged horizontal in 1996.The above findings suggest that the FFE households are found to be relatively stable not only in respect of assets (details later) but also demographically. The preponderance of female-headed households among the non-FFE household groups imply that these households are not only income-poor but also subject to a higher degree of vulnerability and defencelessness both economically and socially.In the urban slums, a significant portion of the poorest households happened to be female-headed during the monitoring period (Table 9.12B) The gender focus of poverty is found more pronounced among the poorest constituent of the slum-dwellers compared to those in the rural area. Table 9.11 shows that more than half (55%) of the sample households have been female-headed compared to that (23%) among the rural counterparts during the same period.Begging householdsAltogether, 6% of the poorest households are found engaged in begging. In the urban slums, none of the poorest households is found in this category (Table 9.13) and all begging households under our sample belong to the rural area. Besides, all these households are found among the non-FFE groups. (Table 9.14). These households are more vulnerable and extremely poverty-ridden mainly due to some unfavourable demographic factors. The households engaged in begging are relatively small (3.8) in family size compared to the sample average (4.2) in 1996. Moreover, the dependancy ratio for the begging households is lower (2.7) compared to that for the sample households (3.0) in 1996.The predominance of women among the earning members points to the poor income level of these households. As the colony ratio is very low, it implies that most of the family members are forced to go for earning activities due to their poverty.IncomeSource of incomeThe poorest households have limited sources of income. The urban poor are usually engaged in unskilled manual labour. Similar is the case with the rural poor (Table 9.15) as well. Sale of labour has been the main source of the rural poor accountancy for 82% of their total income in 1993. This has marginally increased to 84 in 1996. Agriculture is the second most important source of income making up only 12% of the total income of the rural poor in 1993 and 10% in 1996. Only 1% of the income of the rural poor has been derived from livestock, a new source of income, in 1996.Nominal incomeIn the rural area, the income of the poorest households has been found to be miserably low during the monitoring period. The per capita daily income of these households was Tk. 6.9 in 1993. This increased to Tk. 7.4 in 1996 showing an 7% growth (Table 9.16). Their per household daily income grew by 12% from Tk. 29 in 1993 to Tk 33 in 1996. The higher growth rate of nominal income is mainly due to a positive growth of the nominal wage rate (12%) alongwith a growth of the number of earning members (5%) of the poorest households. The low per capita income is partly due to the large family size and its growth over the monitoring period. The low income of the po orest households is the result of a number of socio-economic factors, e.g., low wage rate (Table 9.9), poor asset base, poor human capability due to illiteracy (Tables 7.31 and 7.32), low access to economic opportunities, etc.The impact of the FFE programme does not seem to have been appreciable on the level of income of the programme households. Although the programme has had some positive impact on the growth of income (15% in per capita and 18% in per households terms during 1993-1996), its contribution to the growth is difficult to ascertain. However, other findings indicate that the contribution of the programme to the income of the programme households is insignificant (Tk. 0.81 per capita/daily, Tk. 4.85 per household/daily, 15% of the average household income) (Tables 9.10 and 9.16).The per capita nominal income of the poorest households in the urban slums was Tk. 12 a day in 1993 and increased to Tk. 19 a day in 1996 representing a 31 percent growth (Table 9.17). The per h ousehold daily income of the urban poor increased by a higher rate of 40 percent from Tk. 41 a day to Tk. 58 during the same period.The income of the urban poor increased by a much higher rate than that of the rural poor in both per capita and per household terms because of the higher growth rates of wage (29%) (Table 9.9) and of earners per household (17%) (Table 9.7), lower family size (3.7), etc. Moreover, gainful economic opportunities are greater in the urban area relative to the rural area.Real incomeThe income of the poorest households in real terms (in kilogram of unmannerly rice) is found to have declined across the carte du jour during the monitoring period. In the rural area, the per capita real income of the poorest households declined by 22% on an average from 0.9 in 1993 to 0.7 kilograms of coarse rice in 1996 (Table 9.18). Barring the FFE households, the per household real income has registered a sharp decline during the same period irrespective of differences in re gional diversity. Due to the income support under the FFE programme, the FFE households could avoid the sharp glisten of income. The per capita real income for the FFE households has declined by 13% against a 20 to 25 percent decline for the non-FFE households over the same peiod. Overall, despite an 7% increase in per capita income in nominal terms on an average during 1993-96 (Table 9.16), the corresponding real income took an appreciably higher downward trend (22%) (Table 9.18) caused by a 24 to 43 percent price hike of coarse rice in the rural areas during the same peirod (Table 9.19).The per capita real income of the urban poor remained unchanged, whereas, the per household real income marked an upward trend (5%) during the monitoring period (Table 9.20). The per capita real income of the urban poor is almost double at 1.4 kg a day of that of the rural poor in 1993 which remained almost unchanged during the same period. The per household real income of the poorest households s tood in urban slums at 4.7 kg and 5.0 kg a day in 1993 and 1996 respectively recording a 5% growth. The poorest households in the urban slums are relatively better off than their rural counterparts in respect of per household real income which declined by 16% for the latter during the same period (Table 9.18).Wage rateThe unskilled wage rate is considered to be an important indicator for monitoring poverty. The wage rate of all categories of unskilled wage labourers is found to have increased in both the rural and urban areas (Table 9.9). In the rural area, the daily nominal wage rate increased by 11.7% from Tk. 17.2 in 1993 to Tk. 19.2 in 1996 (Tables 9.7, 9.16, 9.24 and 9.25). The wage rate is found to be much higher for the urban slum-dwellers, and it grew by 29% from the level of Tk. 35.8 in 1993 to Tk. 46.1 in 1996 (Tables 9.9, 9.21, 9.22 and 9.23).Although the wage rate for unskilled labourers increased during the monitoring period, the purchasing power of the poor labourers d id not rise due to a higher rate of price increase in the case of coarse rice. The average wage rate for unskilled wage labourers, in fact, declined across the board in real terms during the monitoring period. However, the poor in the northern part had to sustain a much higher rate of fall (22%) in real wage rate compared to 14% for those in the central part during this period (Table 9.24).ConsumptionConsumption of intellectual nourishmentThe consumption of rice and wheat the secure food items of the poorest households is found to have recorded opposite trends among these households in the urban and rural areas. In the urban slums, the per capita daily consumption of food (rice and wheat) was 442 grams in 1993 and it pink wine to 514 grams in 1996 representing a 16 per cent growth (Table 9.25). The increase in the consumption level of food in terms of both per adult equivalent unit and per household units has also been substantial, 18 and 25 percent respectively during the mon itoring period. These findings, however, conceal the substantially low level of food intake observed in one of the slums where poverty is found to be more acute (Table 9.26).In the rural area, the trend in food consumption is, however, found to have consistantly sunk during the monitoring period in per capita and per adult equivalent and per household terms (Table 9.27). The per capita daily consumption of rice and wheat declined from the level of 585 grams in 1993 to 566 in 1996 showing a 3 percent decrease. The food consumption per adult equivalent unit is found to have been at a much higher level 797 grams in 1993 and 786 grams a day in 1996 recording a relatively small fall during the period. Per household consumption, likewise declined during the same period. The declining trend in food intake is true of both the programme and non-programme households during the same period. The consistent fall in the level of consumption of food is largely due to the fall in real income and expansion of the average family size of the poorest households during the monitoring period.Box 9.2 Food Security A Quantitative AssessmentIn order to assess the poverty status of sample households, the heads of the households were asked to make self-assessments in respect of poverty. Their self-assessed status may be categorized as followsChronic deficit households reporting food shortage throughout the yearOccasional deficit households reporting food shortage occasionally in a year

Social prejudice in schools Essay -- essays papers

Social prejudice in naturalises Children from materialistic families generally are more happy in public schools than children from low-income families. Is the school system responsible for this problem, or is lower performance among low-income children a result of their home milieu? The home environment has a big role in a childs education and if it is not supportive of the school environment, the student will not be as successful in school as the child whose home environment is supportive of the schools learning environment will.The typical public school teacher is a middle- correct white female. The typical curricula, tests, and learning tools used in public schools were created by middle-class educators and are geared toward the needs of middle-class children. The middle-class teacher may not be able to communicate as well with the lower-class student as she could with a middle class student. A poor minority student may have trouble understanding side if English is not his/her first language or if English is not spoken in his/her home, and the teacher may have trouble understanding his/her broken English. Different social classes also use different razz and voice inflections, and have ways of speaking that contain hidden meanings. So the language a lower-class student uses at home may driving force him to have trouble communicating with his middle-class teacher and classmates. In his book, Aint No Makin It, Jay MacLeod tells how a group of poor students in a picky school were able to relate to a teacher (Jimmy Sullivan) who spoke their language. It was cool, cuz like you walk in thereyou talk to Jimmy, and you know Jimmys genuinely cool, said one of his students.Related to this language barrier that exists between low and middle social classes are behavior differences which affect teachers perceptions and expectations of students. Poor and minority students are more likely to be placed in low tracks (Oakes, 64) than middle-class childre n, probably because teachers misinterpret certain students abilities. J. Oakes suggests that one of the reasons this happens is because of the existence of a hidden program, one in which teachers expectations and judgments are based on subtle behavior traits that are a part of each students home career and are brought to the classroom. Many students in lower tracks are plac... ...ols cannot change is the fact the every family has a unique set of values, beliefs, traditions, and ways of rearing children. Ultimately, the home environment has a greater impact on children than any other social institution, and if the culture being taught in schools is different than the culture that is being taught in the home, childrens education will suffer. BibliographyResourcesElvin. H.L. Education In Contemporary Society. London C.A. Watts and Co. 1968.Fischer, Louis and Donald R. Thomas. Social Foundations of Educational Decisions. Belmont, CA Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1965.Goldman, She lley V. and Ray McDermott. The Culture of Competition in American Schools. Education and Cultural Progress. Prospect Heights, Ill. Waveland Press, 1987.Kottak, Conrad. Mirror for Humanity. New York McGraw-Hill Inc., 1996.MacLeod, Jay. Aint No Makin It. Boulder, CO Westview Press, 1995.Oakes, J. The Distribution of Knowledge. Keeping Track How Schools Structure Inequality. Yale University Press, 1985.Orenstein, Peggy. Schoolgirls. NY Doubleday, 1994.Spring, Joel. American Education. NY McGraw-Hill Co., 1994.

Badrs A Balcony over the Fakihani, Pillars of Salt, by Fadia Faqir, and Al-Atrashs A Woman of Five Seasons :: Badr Fakihani Faqir Pillars Five Seasons Essays

Badrs A Balcony over the Fakihani, Pillars of Salt, by Fadia fakir, and Al-Atrashs A Woman of Five SeasonsStruggles for independence from foreign conquerors, civil tyrants, and the hands of the oppressive have long been the backdrop for life in the Arab World. This struggle is compounded for Arab women, who have the added worries of societal and cultural constraints. The 20th century was a notably gory angiotensin converting enzyme, particularly in the Middle East. There have been numerous, almost continuous aggressive confrontations in the region since the dawn of the 20th century, beginning with Ibn Saud?s campaign against the Ottoman conglomerate (Diller 384) and concluding with the suicide bombings of contemporary daily news. Typically, the actors of this violence have been predominantly men, yet such far reaching, and pervading circumstances of violence have inevitably had an bear upon on the daily lives and consciousness of countless generations of Arab women. This impact has also saturated the minds of many Arab women writers, and the depth of this effect comes across very well in the whole shebang of Liyana Badr, Leila Al-Atrash, and Fadia Faqir. The political and historical contexts of each myth are extremely telling. This ever-present aggressive backdrop influences settings and personal storylines of characters in Badr?s A Balcony over the Fakihani, Faqir?s Pillars of Salt, and Al-Atrash?s A Woman of Five Seasons overwhelmingly.Pillars of Salt, which is set in the early 20s in Jordan, has the earliest setting of all three novels and happens to be one of the more violent. In 1920, Transjordan was p laced under British mandate. The British left in May of 1923, and then Emir Abdullah attempted to appease and flux various Bedouin groups and form a unit of men able to protect the land from invaders (Diller 261). It is with this historical context that we happen upon the story of Maha and her struggle for survival and independence. The novel begins with the teller?s muddy mixture of fact and fable. The storyteller recounts his first encounter with the English, and describes the way ?their cars exhaled black smoke into the clear blue sky? (Faqir 3). The storyteller is somewhat removed from the political context because he is ?half-Arab? (Faqir 3), yet it is still evident that there is some ill feeling towards the English. Later on, we are presented with some other political opinion of the storyteller. He describes the story of the Balfour Declaration, and portrays it in a very negative manner, calling i t the result of Lord Balfour?

Brief Biography of John Steinbeck Essay -- John Steinbeck Writers Amer

Brief Biography of John SteinbeckJohn Steinbeck lead a life filled with words, from his purity winning novels to the hundreds letters he wrote to friends during his career. He was born in Salinas, California on February 27, 1902, and lived there for the showtime sixteen years of his life until he calibrated from Salinas High School in 1918. He took classes at Stanford, but washed-out more of his college years working to pay tuition than then he spent in the classroom. 1924 brought his first publication, two short stories in the Standford Spectator, but in 1925 he left his schooling and went to new(a) York for a time. By 1926, he was acantha in California and his first book, Cup of Gold, was produce the year the of great stock market crash, but had little success. In 1930, he married carol Henning, and the two lived in Pacific Grove, CA for the next several years. These years were lean Steinbeck was having trouble selling his work, even with the help of his literary agents, McI ntosh and Otis. Often, selling a short story for 50$ or so was the difference between eating or not. In 1937, though, Steinbeck got his first taste of real success. Now animation in Los Gatos, California, he had four novels and a play published in just three years. He burst onto the literary scene with Of Mice and Men, and published the first three parts of The Red Pony the same year. The play of Of Mice and Men went on stage and won the Drama Critics Circle Award. The next year, he published The Long Valley and the last part of The Red Pony. His big project for the year, however, was working and researching a great novel, to be published in 1939 under the entitle The Grapes of Wrath. With this book, Steinbeck insured his future in the literary world. The book was so controversial that Steinbeck had to worry about attempts on his life or reputation even now, it (along with Of Mice and Men) frequently are found on lists of commonly banned books. It was so well thought of that it e arned him a Pulitzer Prize. It was so influential that President Franklin D. Roosevlet met with Steinbeck personally subsequently a letter to the President from Steinbeck about the German influence in Mexico. Steinbeck had been in Mexico working on a film, and throughout the rest of his life, motion pictures were a second medium for him. The film of Of Mice and Men was released in 1939, and the film of The Grapes of Wrath came out ... ... n7 p4(6).Kelly, Dusty. The Kurt Vonnegut Artificial Family Utopia. World Wide Web Page http//www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/5885/Mack, Arien ed. bag A Place in the World. New York New York University Press, 1993.Morrow, Jeff. Personal Interview. April 23, 1998.Noble, Donald R. ed. The Steinbeck Question New Essays in Criticism. Troy, New York, 1993.Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia. New York Ballantine Books, 1994.Reed, Peter J. and Marc Leeds eds. The Vonnegut Chronicles Interviews and Essays. Westport, CT Greenwood Press, 1996.Steinbeck, John. A Life in Letters. New York Penguin Books, 1969.Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York Penguin Books, 1930.Swerdlow, Amy, et al. Families in Flux. New York The Feminist Press,1989.Timmerman, John H. John Steinbecks Fiction The Aesthetics of the Road Taken. Norman University of Oklahoma Press, 1986.Vonnegut, Kurt. Slapstick. New York Dell Publishing, 1976.Weiten, Wayne. Psychology Themes and Variations, Third Edition. Pacific Grove Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1997.Wyatt, David ed. New Essays on The Grapes of Wrath. Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Choosing A Car Essay example -- essays research papers

Choosing the Right VehicleChoosing a car these days can be a hassle. in that respect ar so m each advertisements in the automobile industry trying to get you to but their vehicle. You end up choosing a vehicle with a guileful advertising jingle or phrase. Then later come to realize you are not satisfied with your decision, because of your lack of patience and lack to do any type of research on the vehicles of interest. Many times you end up limiting yourself to only a few selections. Then make your decision establish on a familiar vehicle name rather than what type of vehicle suits you best. You should never make a decision based on a familiar name. There is too much information to be concerned with, for you to take aim a vehicle based on a name you are familiar with. Purchasing a vehicle is a major expense. It is something that should be carefully though about. Your vehicle is your shield to protect you from other bad drivers. You should choose a vehicle that is safe. Thanks to technology automobiles are becoming more and more safe each year, with the emergence of air bags. Safety is just iodin of the many aspects you should look into when choosing a vehicle. Avilez 2Perhaps the most important aspect you should look into when choosing a vehicle is the cost. You want a vehicle that testament fit your budget, as well as something that is economical. When you do research on an automobile you can get an idea of what amount the vehicle you want ordinarily sells for, making it easier to negotiate a pric...