Personal and professional practices of breast self-examination in nurses

Breast cancer is the most frequently occurring cancer in females in Western Australia (W.A.). Despite technological advances the death rate from breast cancer is not decreasing. With the hope of reducing the mortality rates, preventative measures are being encouraged for the early detection of breast cancer. The Cancer Foundation of W.A. promote the performance of Breast Self Examination (BSE) on a monthly basis. The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of BSE practice amongst nurses and the incidence of nurses teaching BSE to patients. The Health Belief Model (HBM) is used as a theoretical framework. This model attempts to explain preventative health behaviour in terms of the combination and interaction of differing attitudes. The basis for this research is in relation to two concepts of the HBM; perceived susceptibility to breast cancer and perceived benefits of BSE. The following hypotheses were formulated for investigation in this study: I) Nurses who practice BSE will perceive themselves to be more susceptible to breast cancer, and will perceive greater benefits of BSE than nurses who do not practice BSE; 2) nurses who practice BSE will teach this preventative measure to patients more frequently; and 3) oncology nurses will demonstrate a greater frequency in personal practice of BSE than maternity or surgical nurses

An evaluation of comparative strategies for teaching breast self-examination

This study addresses the issue of breast self-examination (BSE) in female nurses, as nurses who perform BSE are more likely to promote BSE to their clients. The purpose of the study is twofold: first, to assess the effects of three alternative methods of BSE instruction on nurses’ BSE practice; and second, to determine the influence of nurses’ health beliefs on their practice of BSE. Previous studies have indicated that various teaching strategies have improved BSE practice. However, the three methods of BSE instruction to be assessed on this study which includes booklet with written instruction, film and group discussion, and to one-to-one discussion, modelling and rehearsal have not been previously researched collectively in a single day. The study is guided by the Health Belief Model (HBM) which attempts to explain preventative health behaviour in terms of attitudes, values and beliefs. The following hypotheses have been formulated for investigation: (a) there will be a significant difference in the effectiveness of BSE practice in the experimental groups at follow-up twelve weeks post intervention; and (b) the health belief scores of nurses who do practise BSE will be higher than the health belief scores of nurses who do not practise BSE

Impressing for Success: A Gendered Analysis of a Key Social Capital Accumulation Strategy

Social capital theory assesses the career benefits that accrue to individuals from the stock of relationships they have. Such benefits can be in the form of guidance and advice, access to key projects and assignments and help with setting up business deals. However, when assessing whether such career-enhancing resources are available equally to men and women, we find that gender impacts on the access to and accumulation of social capital. The article seeks to address two key research questions. The first is whether women are aware of the need to accumulate social capital to advance their careers and the second is whether they use impression management techniques in order to assist them in doing this. Findings are reported from a study in an international consulting firm with 19 female consultants. In respect of research question one the findings indicate that women in the sample are aware of the need to accumulate social capital to advance their careers; with particular emphasis being placed on the importance of gaining access to influential sponsors. In respect of research question two, the findings confirm that women in the sample do perceive the necessity to utilise impression management techniques to help them to accumulate social capital. This is done in a defensive way and is linked to ensuring that one is seen as ambitious, likable and available. It is argued that these are key organizational norms, and it is perceived that in order to accumulate social capital, women need to actively work to dispel the negative stereotypes that attach to them because of their gender. The article calls for greater recognition of the impact that masculine organizational cultures have on the career development of women, who not only have to perform at a high level but are also required to expend additional energy conforming to masculine organizational cultures they have had little say in creating

Are You What You Read? Predicting Implicit Attitudes to Immigration Based on Linguistic Distributional Cues From Newspaper Readership; A Pre-registered Study

The implicit association test (IAT) measures bias towards often controversial topics (e.g., race, religion), while newspapers typically take strong positive/negative stances on such issues. In a pre-registered study, we developed and administered an immigration IAT to readers of the Daily Mail (a typically anti-immigration publication) and the Guardian (a typically pro-immigration publication) newspapers. IAT materials were constructed based on co-occurrence frequencies from each newspapers' website for immigration-related terms (migrant/immigrant) and positive/negative attributes (skilled/unskilled). Target stimuli showed stronger negative associations with immigration concepts in the Daily Mail compared to the Guardian, and stronger positive associations in the Guardian corpus compared to the Daily Mail corpus. Consistent with these linguistic distributional differences, Daily Mail readers exhibited a larger IAT bias, revealing stronger negative associations to immigration concepts compared to Guardian readers. This difference in overall bias was not fully explained by other variables, and raises the possibility that exposure to biased language contributes to biased implicit attitudes

John Agars interview

John Agars taught in the art department at Central Washington University, 1964-2000.https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/cwura_interviews/1000/thumbnail.jp

Assessment of the potential environmental effects of soluble hydraulic oil on natural waters

A series of physical and chemical analyses were conducted over a fifteen month period to establish the ecological risk, if any, of discharging minewater into aquatic ecosystems. Organic and inorganic analyses were used to determine the extent of contamination of minewater with soluble hydraulic fluids and other contaminant species. Throughout the sampling period the pithead discharge water exhibited a neutral pH and low levels of iron, manganese, zinc and potassium were found. Parallel toxicological and chemical studies identified elevated zinc levels above published toxicity levels for the test species Ceriodaphnia Dubia, but were not confirmed by subsequent study. The presence of organic species in the pit head discharge water was also identified, but the levels were found to be quite variable. Treatment processes involving the detention of the surface minewater and subsequent passage through wetlands exhibited a beneficial effect in reducing pollutant levels prior to disposal. Comparisons of the chemical composition of the minewater discharge with those of local waters were carried out and found to be similar in nature

Art and meaning in life

The two questions : "What is the point of life?" and "What is the point of art?" are complex. There is some confusion about what is meant by the first question and what sort of answer or answers we can reasonably expect. There is also considerable disagreement on what is the function of art. The Formalists claim that the work of art is autonomous and the aesthetic experience disinterested. Other writers on art suggest that art enables us to reflect upon the meanings of existence. Although there are many facets to works of art, is the search for significance, the attempt to find meaning in life one of their functions? My main concern will be with this question.Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 1976.PhilosophyMAUnrestricte