Teaching Social Justice Using a Pedagogy of Engagement

Teaching an undergraduate level diversity course with a health focus requires specific teaching methods. A pedagogy of engagement provides an effective strategy for exploring issues of race, class, gender, and structural inequalities that underlie health disparities. Engagement learning enhances understanding of theories of oppression and liberation presented in the course and highlights social justice issues

A study of the functions of the educational administrator in selected hospital schools of nursing in Massachusetts

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Listening Sessions With Latinas: Documenting Life Contexts and Creating Connections

Objective: To use listening sessions with groups of Latinas to develop a contextual understanding of the lives of immigrant women to inform program development and ultimately better serve the community\u27s needs for domestic violence services. Design and Sample: This study was exploratory and descriptive, mixing qualitative listening sessions with quantitative methods. Seven listening group sessions were facilitated with 63 women participating. Measures: Data included information from a short demographic questionnaire, texts of narrative from the sessions, and tallies of thematic comments made during the listening sessions. Results: Themes derived from aggregated data from the listening sessions included women\u27s Unmet Needs, Responsibilities, Goals, Achievements, Help-seeking, and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Findings indicated that Latinas\u27 comments were often family-focused and they have many unmet needs. Familiarity with community resources to meet needs was not consistent across groups, for example, women who had not utilized domestic violence services were unlikely to know where to obtain help for IPV problems. Conclusions: The ease with which women shared knowledge of resources and offered emotional support to each other during listening sessions supports their use by bilingual public health nurses in communities for needs assessment, education, and networking among Latinas

\u3cem\u3eTe Contaria Mi Vida\u3c/em\u3e: I Would Tell You My Life, if Only You Would Ask

Universal screening for domestic violence is recommended in many health care settings. This qualitative study was undertaken to explore the thoughts and feelings of Mexican American women regarding being asked questions about domestic violence by a health care provider. We wanted to further explore what characteristics about a nurse, or other health care provider, would give a woman confianza, the trust necessary to discuss this issue. Seven women, who self identified as abused or formerly abused, were recruited from a pool of Spanish-speaking women receiving services from a rural domestic violence agency in the midwestern United States. The researchers found that, given certain characteristics and actions of the health care provider, women welcome the opportunity to discuss this issue. The implications for practice are these: be sincerely present for the client, ask about her life, listen to her response, and when necessary assist her to connect with appropriate domestic violence community services

Reflective Journaling: Fostering Dispositional Development in Preservice Teachers

This study investigated the self-identified dispositions of 183 preservice teachers enrolled in a required philosophy of education course. The researchers coded their reflective journaling for the two essential NCATE (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education) dispositions of fairness and the belief that all students can learn, as well as for other recurring, self-identified dispositions. These preservice teachers self-identified fairness much more frequently than the belief that all students can learn. The results point to additional recurring dispositional themes for consideration: critical thinking, caring, openness, moral education, and individual freedom. Further examination of the data revealed great variation in the preservice teachers’ interpretation of fairness, categorized as fairness through (1) inclusion of all socioeconomic classes and abilities; (2) culturally responsive teaching; (3) differentiation of instruction; and (4) fostering a safe learning environment

When I Was in My Home I Suffered a Lot: Mexican Women’s Descriptions of Abuse in Family of Origin

In this descriptive study we employ episodic narrative interviews and narrative analysis to explore experiences of abuse and violence within the families of origin of Mexican women entering adulthood. Twenty-four Mexican women, 18 years of age and about to graduate from a residential school in central Mexico, were interviewed about life in their families of origin. Participants were from several Mexican states and of low socioeconomic status. Nineteen of the participants described either witnessing or experiencing violence or abuse within their families. We present an analysis of the interviews in which violence or abuse was disclosed. Women who witnessed violence against their mothers did not see this as prescriptive of their own future relationships and articulated strategies for avoiding entering an abusive relationship. Women who experienced nonsexual physical violence described physical violence as punishment. Women who experienced sexual abuse did not provide explanations for the abuse and described being silent in response to the abuse

A Rationale for Requiring Philosophy of Education in Preservice Teacher Programs

To develop a rationale for requiring a free-standing philosophy of education course in preservice teacher programs, the researchers reviewed prior literature to construct a framework to establish such a requirement. A review of required course content in non-Catholic (private and public) colleges and universities with preservice teacher programs in five Midwestern states in the United States revealed that most do not require such a course, hence the need for programs to reconsider how licensure candidates develop their teaching philosophies and review program articulation and course content. This study proposes a fourfold theoretical rationale for requiring philosophy of education of preservice teachers

Short of Transformation: American ADN Students\u27 Thoughts, Feelings, and Experiences of Studying Abroad in a Low-Income Country

ADN students are a large yet distinct subgroup of nursing students who require research and understanding. The purpose of this study was to describe the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of American associate degree nursing (ADN) students who participated in a short study abroad course in a low-income country. A qualitative, narrative method was used. Three categories emerged from the analysis. Participants revealed thoughts of “constant comparisons”, feelings of an “emotional journey”, and they experienced “learning”. Participants did not demonstrate perspective transformation as defined by Mezirow as participants signified no intent for social action. Several potential blocks to perspective transformation were identified: egocentrism/emotional disconnect, perceived powerlessness/being overwhelmed, and a vacation mindset. The findings provide insight into the student experience of studying abroad. Transformative learning is not a guaranteed result. Nurse educators must consider strategies to foster transformation including discussing global systemic oppressors, international relations, coping, connecting, and social action

A steam inerting system for hydrogen disposal for the Vandenberg Shuttle

A two-year feasibility and test program to solve the problem of unburned confined hydrogen at the Vandenberg Space Launch Complex Six (SLC-6) during Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) firings is discussed. A novel steam inerting design was selected for development. Available sound suppression water is superheated to flash to steam at the duct entrance. Testing, analysis, and design during 1987 showed that the steam inerting system (SIS) solves the problem and meets other flight-critical system requirements. The SIS design is complete and available for installation at SLC-6 to support shuttle or derivative vehicles