Community Perceptions of Valparaiso University

Community relations is vital to an organization. Valparaiso University relies on the relationships within the community. For example, the university has a Town and Gown Committee representing the community and the university. This study surveys members of the Valparaiso community to assess the relationships and involvement of community members with the university. A survey was developed to measure attendance at various sporting events, art presentations, the chapel, the library, the union, and special presentations on campus. The questionnaire looked at how well the community was informed about events and asked to rate on a Likert Scale the image of Valparaiso University from a community perspective. The last question focused on the importance of Valparaiso University to the city of Valparaiso. This research indicated that reputation management is critical to public relations functions. Other research focused on community relations theory and the importance of relationship building. The results indicated the need for better communication between the community and the university. The respondents did not have a strong feeling of a relationship with the university. However, the respondents indicated a positive response toward the image of the university in terms of quality education and reputation

Gauging Portuguese community pharmacy users' perceptions

Objective: To assess perceptions related to facets of community pharmacy usage within the Portuguese general population. Methods: An ONSA (The Governmental Public Health Observatory) instrument was used, the ECOS (Em Casa Observamos Saúde) sample. This consisted of a national representative sample of household units with telephone. General demographics and pharmacy users’ perceptions related to five facets of community pharmacy usage were collected by telephone interviews. Main Results: Almost one-third (31.9%) of the participants were probable chronic drug users, hence in regular contact with the community pharmacy. Thirty-four percent preferred not to talk with the person who dispenses their prescribed drugs. Most users (47.6%) expressed opinions of pharmacists as being health care rather than business oriented, although one quarter of the sample was not sure. A large majority (73.7%) would like pharmacists to participate in their treatment decisions, but 55.1% did not seem able to distinguish between pharmacists and non-pharmacist technical staff, working at the pharmacy counter. Most significant predictors of users’ dichotomous perceptions related to the usage facets surveyed were age, education and occupation. Being older, less literate and economically inactive increased the odds of inappropriate users’ perceptions of the pharmacists. Conclusions: Results showed that erroneous concepts and behaviours exist within the Portuguese population in relation to the community pharmacists’ role. This is a matter for pharmacy professional and educational bodies to take into account when developing intervention strategies, in particular when communicating with the general public

Public perceptions and community issues

This paper is the seventh in a series of 8 that make up the evidence base for SDC report 'The role of nuclear power in a low carbon economy'.Publisher PD

An Investigation of the Perceptions of Community Residents and Volunteer Researchers for the Community Health of the Clarke Square Neighborhood

The study explored the similarities and differences in community residents’ perceptions and volunteer researchers’ perceptions of community health indicators in the Clarke Square Neighborhood. The study sought to identify noteworthy differences between community residents’ perceptions and volunteer researchers’ perceptions, indicating the importance of including community members in community health research. In the study, community residents in the Clarke Square Neighborhood conducted a survey that had previously been done by volunteer researchers from the Urban Ecology Center and the Medical College of Wisconsin regarding community health indicators in the Clarke Square Neighborhood. The study also included a focus group, which discussed the perceptions of community residents and volunteer researchers regarding community health in the Clarke Square Neighborhood and the role that communities play in research. The study found several noteworthy differences in the perceptions of community residents and volunteer researchers regarding community health in the Clarke Square Neighborhood

Nonprofit Organizations Improving Public Relations through an Analysis of Public Perceptions

Hilltop Neighborhood Child Care Center is a critical support system for low-income families. The internal perceptions and the external perceptions need to be identified to better serve the organization and the community (its publics). This organization-public relations (OPR) emphasis through interviews, surveys, and focus groups will be the basis of an organizational strategic plan and a public relations campaign

American Sign Language Interpreters and their Influence on the Hearing World

This honors thesis is going to discuss the hearing community’s perception of American Sign Language and by association the hearing community’s perception of the Deaf community. For most of the hearing community their only interaction with American Sign Language is through watching an interpreter perform at their job. They personally have no physical interactions with the language. Even though they have never personally used the language or attempted to interact with the Deaf community they will draw their own conclusions about sign language and the Deaf community. The conclusions that are assumed tend to be incorrect. Early on in the field of interpreting these misunderstandings are encountered. The small nature of the Deaf community makes it hard for these false perceptions to be dismantled because the Deaf community and the hearing population with the misconceptions rarely intersect. This thesis will delve into the extent of these misconceptions and just how much of the hearing world’s perspective they influence. To first understand the potential hazard of the interpreter language model it is important to understand a brief history of American Sign Language and Deaf culture. The paper when then apply these principles to the Deaf community, the interpreter, and the hearing community. The end of the paper will then dispel many of the false perceptions that the hearing community has of Deaf culture. This section is included to show that the misconceptions exist

The Correlation Between Perceptions of Safety and Perceived Stress Among Residents of the Somerset Neighborhood of Kensington, Philadelphia

Background: The Somerset neighborhood of Kensington, Philadelphia is affected by economic, environmental, and social issues that come with disinvestment. The average median income for Somerset is $26,015 per year which is much lower than Philadelphia’s city-wide income of$36, 957. This study evaluated the connection between perceptions of safety and perceived stress among residents of the Somerset neighborhood. Methods: This study was a secondary data analysis from a cross-sectional study in the Somerset neighborhood. The data included self-reported surveys from Somerset residents that were completed at their homes. The surveys were completed using an electronic (tablet) format which took approximately 20 to 30 minutes to complete. Trained members of the neighborhood collected the data from July to December 2017. We used SPSS to quantify relationships between perceptions of safety and perceived stress using Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation for each of our 12 perceptions of safety variables and stress. Our final model was created using a multivariable linear regression model. Results: We had 328 adults with an average age of 48 years old in our study sample. We found that most of the residents were female, 35.3% were Latino, predominantly single, and mainly employed full-time. Additionally, over half of the residents owned their home and 16 years was the average amount of time lived in the neighborhood. We found that the average score on the stress scale was a 5.18 (range 0-16). In our final model, we found 4 variables to be statistically significant (α= .10) age, years lived in the community, police should spend more time working with community members and groups to solve problems, and members of my community are interested in crime prevention activities. Discussion: Overall, the mean stress levels were lower than we expected. We found associations between demographics and perceptions of safety variables specifically, as age increased, stress decreased and as the years lived in the community increased, stress increased. Our results also indicated as police spent more time working with community members and as crime prevention activities increased in the community, stress decreased. The strongest predictor of stress was the variable: “police should spend more time working with community members and groups to solve problems.” Collaborations between police officers and community members have the potential to improve health and may also help residents feel safer and less stressed in the neighborhood

Combatting Opioid-Related Deaths in Rural Vermont Through Community Partnership

Substance abuse continues to be a public health crisis. With legislative changes and creation of MAT programming in Vermont, access to behavioral health services for substance abuse treatment has shifted community response and perceptions. As Little Rivers Health Care houses both a MAT program and is a naloxone distribution site, a community event was organized to help train community leaders on how to administer naloxone and provide an avenue to form community partnerships.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1398/thumbnail.jp

How the Public Perceives Community Information Systems

Based on surveys in three cities, analyzes links between perceptions of the local government's transparency and residents' satisfaction with its performance, the community, and local information ecosystem, as well as sense of civic empowerment