Developing programs for older adults in a faith community

I have worked in all areas of nursing, from staff and head nurse positions to faculty and administrative positions, but my work as a parish nurse, particularly with our community of older adults, is one of the most challenging and rewarding areas of nursing practice I have ever experienced. Recently, one of our independent older adult parishioners, Marge, suddenly had a marked decrease in her ability to function, which was precipitated by two trips to the hospital and surgery. She went from living independently to living in a skilled care unit, no longer able to walk or perform activities of daily living without assistance. I had known Marge for only 2 years. When she became ill, I visited her weekly during the last 4 months of her life, as she had no family in the area. During my visit one evening as I helped Marge get ready for bed, she left me with a very poignant memory. After sharing some hair-raising stories about her care at this facility, she said, "Georgine, you're my best friend. You're the only one I can tell these things to and I know you understand."     

Mapuche education and situated learning in a community school in Chile

The article analyses the Mapuche language and culture teaching practices of a rural school in the Chilean Araucanía region run by Mapuche teachers, aimed at reinforcing the language, culture and identity of children. Based on a comparative study of two school ethnographies, the article shows and discusses the ways children learn to be Mapuche by participating of social and communitarian practices reproduced in school. While teaching of traditional core subjects is conducted in standard ways, Mapuche language and culture are taught through the recreation of modes of living, producing and reproducing indigenous traditional knowledge that normally occur in family and community. The maintenance of this ‘bicultural pedagogy’ is grounded on an epistemological claim on the indivisibility of contents from its forms of transmission.     

Developing interests in child care outcome measurement: a central government perspective

Over the last decade, the research interest of central government in services to children and families has covered various parts of the child care system, though the focus on evaluation of outcomes has remained constant. Major research programmes encompass the outcomes of: child protection interventions, residential care and the implementation of the Children Act 1989.     

Quasi-experimental evaluation of a national primary school HIV intervention in Kenya

This study examined the impact of a primary-school HIV education initiative on the knowledge, self-efficacy and sexual and condom use activities of upper primary-school pupils in Kenya. A quasi-experimental mixed qualitative-quantitative pre- and 18-month post-design using 40 intervention and 40 matched control schools demonstrated significant program impact on targeted objectives of (1) adequate program delivery and, for standard 6 and 7 pupils (ages 11-16 years), (2) increased HIV-related knowledge; (3) increased communication with parents and teachers about HIV and sexuality; (4) increased assistance to fellow pupils to avoid sexual activity; (5) increased self-efficacy related to abstinence and condom use; (6) decreased exposure to HIV through delayed first intercourse, decreased sexual activity and increased condom. Results support the conclusions that the existing infrastructure is adequate for national roll-out of the program; that the program has its most beneficial effect on sexually inexperienced youth and should therefore be implemented with the youngest age groups possible; and that gains are gender specific, with boys reporting increased condom use while girls are more likely to decrease or delay sexual activity. Based on these results, the program began national roll-out to all primary schools in 2005. By June 2006, the program was operating in 11,000 of the country's nearly 19,000 schools.     

Contemporary strategies for rural community development in Australia: a governmentality perspective

Contemporary strategies for rural development in Australia are based upon notions of self-help and bottom-up, community-based initiatives which are said to `empower’ the individual from the imposing structures of government intervention. While such strategies are not entirely new to Australia, they have, it seems, been inadequately theorised to date and are generally regarded, in rather functionalist terms, as indicative of attempts to cut back on public expenditure. Harnessing itself to the `governmentality’ perspective, this paper explores government and `expert’ discourses of rural community development in Queensland and suggests, instead, that these strategies are indicative of an advanced liberal form of rule which seeks to `govern through community'. With this in mind, three basic research questions are identified as worthy of further exploration; how are the notions of self-governing individuals and communities constructed in political discourse; what political rationalities are used to justify current levels of (non) intervention and finally; what are the discourses, forms and outcomes of empowerment at the local level? The paper concludes by arguing that while the empowering effects of self-help are frequently cited as its greatest virtue, it is not so much control as the added burden of responsibility that is being devolved to local people. Given the emphasis of the governmentality perspective on strategies for `governing at a distance', however, these conclusions can hardly be unexpected.     

Gambling among primary school students

This study identifies the gambling behavior of 1,320 primary school students aged 8 to 12 of the 4th, 5th and 6th grades. Eighty-six percent admitted to having, at some time or another, bet money. Lotteries are the most popular form of gambling for this age group. Sixty-one percent of these students gamble with lotteries. In descending order of popularity, other games played by students were: bingo, card-playing for money, bets on sports, wagering on specific events, video gambling (video poker and slot machines), and finally betting on games of skill. Gambling behaviors differed according to gender. More than 40% of respondents reported gambling once a week or more for at least one game. Because of the early development of gambling behavior in children, prevention programs for pathological gambling should be implemented as early as the fourth grade.This research was supported by a grant from the Fonds Richelieu.     

Kind discipline: Developing a conceptual model of a promising school discipline approach

This formative evaluation develops a novel conceptual model for a discipline approach fostering intrinsic motivation and positive relationships in schools. We used concept mapping to elicit and integrate perspectives on kind discipline from teachers, administrators, and other school staff. Three core themes describing kind discipline emerged from 11 identified clusters: (1) proactively developing a positive school climate, (2) responding to conflict with empathy, accountability, and skill, and (3) supporting staff skills in understanding and sharing expectations. We mapped the identified components of kind discipline onto a social ecological model and found that kind discipline encompasses all levels of that model including the individual, relational, environmental/structural, and even community levels. This contrasts with the dominant individual-behavioral discipline approaches that focus on fewer levels and may not lead to sustained student and staff motivation. The findings illustrate the importance of setting and communicating clear expectations and the need for them to be collaboratively developed. Products of the analysis and synthesis reported here are operationalized materials for teachers grounded in a “be kind” culture code for classrooms.     

Developing sociological arguments through community studies

This paper argues that community studies remain an effective medium for the development of sociological arguments, despite well-known criticisms of the genre. Several features of community studies help to explain the continuing popularity of the approach among researchers and audiences, even though they are at odds with the discipline's supposed 'McDonaldization'. First, community studies have the capability of 'placing' sociological arguments. Secondly, community studies have the capacity to illustrate the meaning of macro-level trends for people's everyday lives. Thirdly, community studies facilitate holistic treatments of the social relations under investigation through their emphasis on context. Fourthly, the community studies format is prized for its accessibility, achieved through a narrative style which plays down conventional researcher/ reader hierarchies without losing analytical sharpness. Recent research monographs and other studies are drawn upon to illustrate these points. They show that while the community studies tradition has necessarily evolved conceptually and methodologically, it has continuing relevance to the sociological enterprise.     

Urging inclusion for interculturalism: fostering excellence in a Cypriot primary school

The development and implementation of inclusive practices can potentially enhance intercultural education. Through the case study of a primary school in Cyprus, we investigated the practices that were developed and applied by the school itself, which aimed to reduce the marginalisation of students who came from abroad. The practices relate to the promotion and growth of friendly relations between local and immigrant students, the inclusion of all students in their self-governing bodies, the differentiation of teaching according to the needs of each student, the participation of the family and community in school decision-making and the development of school collaborative cultures.     

Sense of community: Issues and considerations from a cross-cultural perspective

Behaviour settings such as work, family, church and community are primary settings in which we participate, they provide us with meaningful roles, relationships, and social identities. In fact, these are settings that provide us with a sense of community (SOC). SOC has been heralded as the guiding value for community research and action. It reflects the integration of people into networks and structures that provide feelings of belonging, identification and meaning. The concept has received much attention since the introduction of McMillan and Chavis' initial formulation. It is argued that research into SOC has been hampered by relying on the Sense of Community Index at the expense of the SOC model. Insights are drawn from cross-cultural psychology and research to highlight conceptual issues and to encourage exploration and the utilisation of alternative modes of investigation. Contex-tualist approaches including substantive theorising and narrative psychology, which have their roots in pragmatism, are promoted as frameworks for bringing community and SOC into focus as central to social and community development.     

Cultural diversity and school equality: Intercultural education in Spain from a European perspective

Formerly a country of emigrants, Spain has now become a receptor of immigrants from other countries. In spite of the great diversity that existed in our country's past, reflection, legislation and educational concern pertaining to cultural pluralism developed only after this phenomenon. In this paper we examine the adoption of the intercultural perspective in education in Spain, and the relationship between policy and practice. We first discuss the theoretical framework that we use. Second, we look at European policies in this area and finally we describe how cultural diversity is dealt with in Spain, both from a legislative and a practical point of view.     

A multilingual approach to analysing standardized test results: immigrant primary school children and the role of languages spoken in a bi-/multilingual community

The present study adopts a multilingual approach to analysing the standardized test results of primary school immigrant children living in the bi-/multilingual context of South Tyrol, Italy. The standardized test results are from the Invalsi test administered across Italy in 2009/2010. In South Tyrol, several languages are spoken on a daily basis and the long-established ethnic groups are speakers of German (69%), Italian (26%) and Ladin (4%). While the language of instruction for immigrant children attending Italian language schools is Italian, these children live in Italian- or German-speaking environments. I argue that standardized testing data should be analysed in conjunction with local language information to better serve the educational needs of bi-/multilingual children. The Italian test results of I and II Generation immigrant children (n?=?225) are re-examined in light of the languages spoken in their living environment. Results show that the approach used is useful in identifying information that would have otherwise remained undetected. The additional data provide valuable input for school administrators, educators and policy-makers and can be used to devise suitable remedial measures for immigrant children attending school in bi-/multilingual environments.     

Gender homophily from spatial behavior in a primary school: A sociometric study

We investigate gender homophily in the spatial proximity of children (6–12 years old) in a French primary school, using time-resolved data on face-to-face proximity recorded by means of wearable sensors. For strong ties, i.e., for pairs of children who interact more than a defined threshold, we find statistical evidence of gender preference that increases with grade. For weak ties, conversely, gender homophily is negatively correlated with grade for girls, and positively correlated with grade for boys. This different evolution with grade of weak and strong ties exposes a contrasted picture of gender homophily.     

Pathological gambling in Montreal's Chinese community: an anthropological perspective

Pathological gambling has been identified as a major issue in Montreals Chinese community. A variety of sources attest to the fact that, though we live in an increasingly heterogeneous society, the services provided to minority communities for preventing and treating pathological gambling are inadequate. An anthropological approach that takes into account cultural characteristics of ones community could lead to better strategies for acknowledgement, definition, diagnosis and treatment of pathological gambling among culturally different communities. Research paths that could help to provide effective treatment and services to specific populations are suggested. An overview of the way the Chinese view gambling, pathological gambling and treatment is presented. The concepts of fate, destiny and luck in Chinese thought, as well as Montreals Chinese community social norms related to gambling are then described. The incorporation of those cultural understandings in future studies and treatment attempts is suggested.