TB STIGMA – MEASUREMENT GUIDANCE

TB is the most deadly infectious disease in the world, and stigma continues to play a significant role in worsening the epidemic. Stigma and discrimination not only stop people from seeking care but also make it more difficult for those on treatment to continue, both of which make the disease more difficult to treat in the long-term and mean those infected are more likely to transmit the disease to those around them. TB Stigma – Measurement Guidance is a manual to help generate enough information about stigma issues to design and monitor and evaluate efforts to reduce TB stigma. It can help in planning TB stigma baseline measurements and monitoring trends to capture the outcomes of TB stigma reduction efforts. This manual is designed for health workers, professional or management staff, people who advocate for those with TB, and all who need to understand and respond to TB stigma

Perceptions of recent wits physiotherapy graduates regarding the Orthopaedic Manipulative Therapy (OMT) undergraduate curriculum content

Faculty of Health Sciences School of Physiotherapy 9303432y [email protected] manipulative therapy (OMT) like other areas of physiotherapy, is a rapidly advancing field. To keep abreast of changes, curricula need regular evaluation and updating. The curriculum consists of many components that may vary from content to timetabling. The aim of this study was to determine how past graduates from the University of the Witwatersrand perceived the OMT curriculum with regards to content, teaching methods and clinical learning. This information will contribute to an overall evaluation of the present OMT curriculum. The sample consisted of graduates from 1997-1999. Questionnaires and interviews were used to gather the information. Some interviews were carried out following analysis of answers to the questionnaire to clarify issues or gain additional information. Results indicated that eighty one percent of the sample found the content relevant to clinical practice, but forty two percent found certain aspects of the content inadequate. The following areas of content were deficient: sixty percent found information on patient education, advice and counseling related to OMT inadequate. Fifty five percent would have liked to be more exposed to research in this area. Sixty seven percent felt that teaching of clinical reasoning skills was lacking. Ninety four percent would have liked information on other joint mobilization concepts. It was perceived that active learning methods were more effective than passive learning methods. Fifty eight percent found tutorials, sixty eight percent found practical sessions, and fifty eight percent found workshops very effective. With regards to clinical learning, seventy seven percent found supervision very helpful in clinical placements. Eighty one percent found patient presentations helpful, and seventy one percent found discussion of patients with lecturers very helpful. Most responses indicated that the OMT curriculum was relevant to current practice in South Africa but inadequate in certain specific areas

Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality

Washington Pension System Review

The purpose of this study is to analyze the incidence of Total Permanent Disability (TPD)pensions in Washington State's workers' compensation program. Concerns exist at both thelegislature and in the Department of Labor and Industries as there appears to have been a sharp upturn in the number of pensions awarded since late in the 1990s. This report examines the factors that may be causally related to any upsurge in such awards. Our task is to evaluate pension incidence for both the state fund and the self-insured populations, with a view towards identifying causes of the trend in both sectors, although we concentrate more on the state fund Cclaims due to data limitations

Managing emergent stigmatised social identities at work: a study of the antecedents, consequences, and evolution of individual coping and identity management strategies

This thesis asks what happens when individuals targeted with prejudiced behaviours push back on discrimination at work? It investigates when and how individuals resist, and what outcomes ensue for them personally and the organisation. Deploying a triangulation strategy, the multi-method approach of this thesis allowed for the investigation of the phenomenon from different and complementary perspectives. Study 1 is a qualitative, exploratory study that introduces the concept of emergent stigma, which I define as a stigmatised social identity that comes into being by acquisition and/or disclosure, and stress and coping as analytical lens for this thesis. Exploring the experience of individuals with an emergent stigma, this study gathers evidence of resistance to discrimination at work, and identifies key items in the process of stigma management in the workplace and clues to cause-and-effect relationships. Study 2 is a longitudinal, repeated cross-sectional survey that tests these relationships directly, particularly the explanatory role that coping and identity management strategies have in the process of stigma emergence. Additionally, it explores how these strategies change over time. Finally, study 3 is a laboratory experiment that examines in detail the causal links between different identity management strategies and individual and interpersonal outcomes, and the processes underlying these cause-and-effect relationships. In conclusion this thesis argues that being open about one’s stigma, intended as challenging stereotypes, assumptions, and discriminatory treatment, ultimately yields positive outcomes for individuals and organisations alike. However, openness is not just disclosure; it is an evolving, iterative learning process influenced by individual attributes and context characteristics, and constantly adapted on the basis of the feedback from the social environment

The contribution of person/role congruence as a moderator of the occupational stress/strain relationship

The present study was designed to investigate the influence of vocational congruence on occupational stress/strain relationships. Additionally, the study sought to provide further research evidence to support the validity of a stress/strain model of occupational stress;Two hundred and forty-nine working women and men participated in the study. Subjects covered a wide range of occupations, age, and educational levels. Measures of occupational stress, strain, job satisfaction, and vocational congruence were obtained from this sample;Results of the study confirmed a stress/strain model of occupational stress. No strong support was found for an overall moderating effect for congruence. Congruence did, however, exert a slight moderating effect for both interpersonal and physical strain;A strong relationship was shown between the trait of negative affectivity and various measures of stress and strain, suggesting that both may tap an underlying mood disposition toward negative emotional states