Managing diversity: academic’s perspective on culture and teaching

As UK Higher Education institutions continue to accept students from ethnically diverse backgrounds, there is now an onus and an expectation for academics to provide learning environments and experiences that are inclusive, validating and affirming. The aim of this paper is to explore, through the lens of the academic tutor, the pedagogical methods employed towards the implementation of ‘cultural branching’, which we define as helping ethnically diverse students to build bridges between their pre-existing knowledge and what they are expected to learn. To investigate this in more detail, the researchers interviewed 22 academic tutors across three UK Higher Education Institutions in the North of England. The findings suggest that current curriculum structures and pedagogical approaches favour the dominant non-ethnically diverse learner. Our research proposes that additional emphasis needs to be placed on developing a practical and functional approach which embeds cultural branching via technological platforms.     

Episiotomy practice in the Middle East: A Lebanese teaching tertiary care centre experience

Problem

There is lack of data on the rate of episiotomy in Lebanon and the study’s hospital.

Social work,poverty, and child welfare interventions

The relationship between children's material circumstances and child abuse and neglect raises a series of questions for policy, practice, and practitioners. Children and families in poverty are significantly more likely to be the subject of state intervention. This article, based on a unique mixed‐methods study of social work interventions and the influence of poverty, highlights a narrative from practitioners that argues that, as many poor families do not harm their children, it is stigmatizing to discuss a link between poverty and child abuse and neglect. The data reveal that poverty has become invisible in practice, in part justified by avoiding stigma but also because of a lack of up‐to‐date research knowledge and investment by some social workers in an “underclass” discourse. We argue, in light of the evidence that poverty is a contributory factor in the risk of harm, that it is vital that social work engages with the evidence and in critical reflection about intervening in the context of poverty. We identify the need for fresh approaches to the harms children and families face in order to support practices that engage confidently with the consequences of poverty and deprivation.     

Barriers to green innovation initiatives among manufacturers: the Malaysian case

This study investigated the internal and external barriers to green innovation initiatives among Malaysian manufacturers. Data was gathered through a survey of 153 manufacturing companies in Malaysia. Data was analyzed using the partial least squares technique. Results indicated that the barriers to green products, processes, and systems innovations are different. Issues of environmental resources, attitude and perception, business practices, government support, and customer demand were found to be the barriers to green product innovations, whereas attitude and perception, business practices, poor external partnerships, insufficient information, lack of customer demand, and environmental commercial benefits were determined to be the factors that negatively affect green process innovations. As regards green system innovation, environmental resources, attitude and perception, business practices, technical barriers, government support, and environmental and commercial benefits presented themselves as the internal and external barriers that need to be addressed. The results have important implications for managers of manufacturers that have plans of promoting green products, processes, and system innovations.     

Community reintegration for people with psychiatric disabilities: challenging systemic barriers to service provision and public policy through participatory action research

People with psychiatric disabilities represent a growing group within the population of nursing home residents in the USA. Despite a preference for living in community‐based settings, the availability of supportive services for community living is hindered by barriers at both the service provision and public policy levels. Therefore, understanding and responding to the community living and participation needs of people with psychiatric disabilities is a highly relevant area for action research. This paper discusses a participatory action research endeavor carried out in collaboration with key personnel at Centers for Independent Living who work to provide community reintegration services for individuals with psychiatric disabilities. The events of this 15 month partnership are extensively described, analyzed and discussed. Findings reflect the critical need for communication, dialogue and action to support people with psychiatric disabilities in the community.     

Enhancing victim empathy for sex offenders

Victim empathy is a widely used component of sex offender treatment throughout North America and Great Britain. Yet, it has been controversial over the past few years. One of the complications involves giving empathy a solid definition. Empathy was defined as the capacity to express compassion for victims. A multi-level system was developed to help specify the definition. The second issue concerns which methods to use in enhancing victim empathy. A variety of techniques are provided as specific ways in which clinicians can help enhance an offender's empathy level.     

Spirituality in Latino families of children with autism spectrum disorder

Research on Latino parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) suggests that these parents often use spirituality to conceptualize and to cope with their child’s diagnosis. However, there are no studies that examine religion among Latino parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The current study explores how Latino parents of children with ASD incorporate spirituality into their conceptualizations of their child’s disability. In the current study, 34 Latina mothers of children with ASD were interviewed about autism-related services, family characteristics, and cultural beliefs including spiritual beliefs. Thematic analysis of the transcribed interview data relating to spiritual beliefs was conducted for the present study. Most mothers endorsed beliefs that their child with a disability was a message from God. Within this theme, mothers reported beliefs that their child was a blessing from God, a test from God, a sign from God or that the parent was special. Other parents believed that having a child with a disability was not an act of God, but related to biomedical factors, and another group of parents was unsure about the spiritual meaning of their child with a disability. Lastly, some mothers reported that their larger cultural group believed that having a child with a disability was a punishment or a negative sign from God but they markedly rejected that conception. These findings suggest that providers working with Latino families of children with ASD should acknowledge the importance of spirituality for these families.     

Fertility trends in Pakistan--the decline that wasn't

The own-child method of fertility estimation was applied to data from 4 successive household surveys in Pakistan--the 1973 Housing, Economic, and Demographic Survey; the 1975 Pakistan Fertility Survey; the 1979 Population, Labor Force, and Migration Survey; and the 1981 Census. Results suggest large fertility oscillations 8-15 years before each survey, a sharp decline during the next 6 years, and a slight upturn in the year preceding the survey. However, when the 4 data sources are analyzed together, it becomes clear that the reported fertility declines are spurious. In fact, the results indicate that Pakistan's total fertility rate actually increased in the 2 decades preceding the 1981 Census, from slightly under to slightly above 7 children/women. This pattern is apparent when fertility data are aggregated over calendar years, allowing the tendency for errors from age misreporting to cancel one another out. Whatever fertility decline may have occurred has been confined to the very small group of Pakistan women with more than a primary education. It appears that births were misplaced away from the survey date, because of a pattern of exaggerations of children's ages that increases with age, thereby underestimating fertility in the 5-year period just before the survey. This analysis points to the value of juxtaposition of trends from multiple data sources. It further suggests a need for serious attention to family planning program performance in Pakistan if the Government's goal of achieving a birth rate of 36/1000 by 1988 is to be achieved.