ESOL teachers' identities in flux : identity transformations throughout a career : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education, Massey University, Manawatu, Aotearoa New Zealand

This study investigates how experiences of ESOL (English for Speakers of other Languages) teachers informed and transformed their professional identities over the course of their careers. This is important because to improve education we need to understand how teachers experience their work. The study uses narrative inquiry to enable an understanding of participants’ perspectives on their lived experience and construction of identities. Research participants were four ESOL teachers who have worked in various cultural and institutional contexts. In interviews teachers were asked simply to talk about their TESOL career, revealing what the important issues were for them. Short narrative excerpts were identified from individual interviews for analysis. Findings revealed that the teachers drew on various sources, from both individual and social realms, to construct their professional identities. Professional learning was found to emerge from everyday practice on the job and from dealing with the challenges of being involved in diverse contexts. The need for autonomy was another important factor shaping how teachers felt about their work. Teachers also held particular beliefs about good practice, which could lead to positive or negative outcomes depending on whether they were able to operationalize these beliefs. Social sources identified in the data were teachers’ connections with their students and with other teachers, cross-cultural dimensions in TESOL settings, and issues to do with the low status of TESOL. The teachers’ professional identities were found to change according to varying influences over the course of their career trajectories. The study concludes with implications and recommendations for teachers and institutions to increase the level of professionalism and to raise the status of the field of TESOL

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Time to Cure of Incontinence Present at Nursing Home Admission

Abstract As many as half of older people that are admitted to nursing homes (NHs) are incontinent of urine and/or feces. Not much is known about the rate of cure of incontinence present at NH admission, but available reports suggest the rate is low. There have been racial and ethnic disparities in incontinence treatment, but the role of disparities in the cure of incontinence is understudied. Using the Peters-Belson method and multilevel predictors, our findings showed that there were disparities in the time to cure of incontinence for Hispanic NH admissions. A significantly smaller proportion of older Hispanic admissions were observed to have their incontinence cured and cured later than expected had they been White non-Hispanic. Reducing disparities in incontinence cure will improve health outcomes of Hispanic NH admissions. Significant predictors in our model suggest strategies to reduce the disparity including attention to managing fecal incontinence and incontinence in those with cognitive impairment, improving residents’ functional status, and increasing resources to NHs admitting older Hispanics with incontinence to develop innovative and cost effective ways to provide equitable quality care

Helping Undergraduates Discover The Value Of A Dollar Through Self-Monitoring

Many college undergraduates lack basic financial management knowledge and skills while bearing ever increasing debt burdens upon graduation. In order to encourage students to become aware of their spending patterns and weigh those patterns against personal values, a self-monitoring project was implemented as a class activity. The resulting effect on financial behavior was examined. Analysis of participants’ self-reflection papers revealed that awareness of spending behaviors increased universally among participants, and a significant proportion of students spontaneously modified spending behaviors to more closely conform to personal values. Participants consistently reported the importance of a spending management tool in modifying spending behavior

Goals of Fecal Incontinence Management Identified by Community-Living Incontinent Adults

The purpose of this study was to identify goals of fecal incontinence (FI) management and their importance to community-living adults if complete continence would not be possible. Participants expressed their goals of FI management in a semi structured interview, selected others from 12 investigator-identified goals, and rated their importance. Five thematic categories emerged from the 114 participant-identified goal statements: Fecal Incontinence/Bowel Pattern, Lifestyle, Emotional Responses, Adverse Effects of Fecal Incontinence, and Self-Care Practices. Participants selected a median of seven investigator-identified goals (range = 2 to 12). Goals selected by the most participants were decreased number of leaks of stool and greater confidence in controlling fecal incontinence. These goals also had the highest importance along with decreased leakage of loose or liquid stool. The type and number of management goals identified by participants offer a toolbox of options from which to focus therapy when cure is not possible and promote patient satisfaction

Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

Effect of a gum arabic supplement on the nitrogen excretion and serum urea nitrogen concentration of chronic renal failure patients on a low-protein diet

In chronic renal failure (CRF), urinary excretion of the products of protein metabolism, mainly urea, is markedly reduced due to a decrease in the glomerular filtration rate. Retention of these nitrogen metabolites has been associated with adverse clinical symptoms and may hasten the progression of CRF. Consequently, CRF patients are treated with a low protein diet (LPD). An alternate route of urea nitrogen excretion is via fecal bacteria which utilize nitrogen for growth. Fermentation of dietary fiber by colonic bacteria promotes their growth and nitrogen incorporation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether supplementing a LPD with a highly fermentable fiber, gum arabic, would increase fecal bacterial mass and fecal nitrogen excretion and thus lower serum urea nitrogen (BUN) levels in CRF patients. Sixteen CRF patients supplemented their LPD with 50g of gum arabic/day and 1g of pectin/day, used as a placebo fiber, for 28 days each in a randomized, single-blind, cross-over design. Fecal bacterial mass, fecal and urinary nitrogen content, BUN and dietary protein intake (for nitrogen balance) were measured using methods of stool fractionation, Kjeldahl analysis, colorimetric spectrophotometry, and computerized dietary record analysis, respectively. Results showed that, during the gum arabic supplement, fecal bacterial mass and the nitrogen content of the stool bacterial fraction were significantly greater than during the baseline LPD or pectin supplement. BUN levels were significantly lower during the gum arabic supplement than during the baseline LPD or pectin supplement. The weights of wet stool, total dry stool solids and the stool fractions containing water-soluble substances and undigested dietary fiber were significantly greater during the gum arabic supplement than during the baseline LPD or pectin supplement. The nitrogen contents of total dry stool solids and the water-soluble fraction were significantly greater during the gum arabic supplement than during the baseline LPD or pectin supplement. There was no significant difference in urinary nitrogen or nitrogen balance among the study periods. The results suggest that supplementing a LPD with gum arabic may benefit CRF patients by increasing fecal nitrogen excretion and lowering BUN levels

Managing incontinence using technology, devices and products: directions for research

Background: Millions of Americans with incontinence use some type of device or product to manage or collect urine or feces. However, research on their clinical uses, problems requiring nursing care, and patient satisfaction is lacking.Objectives: To review the various products and devices used for incontinence, identify directions for research and development on technology, and outline the ways nurses can influence and participate in those investigations.Methods: Existing literature on incontinence technology, devices, and products was analyzed to generate a plan for future research.Results: Gaps in knowledge exist about the uses, best practices, quality of life factors, and problems associated with catheters, absorbent products, other internal and external devices, and skin care products.Conclusions: Collaboration among public and private sectors would result in greater likelihood of high quality clinical research that has sufficient power and integrity, more efficient use of resources special to each setting, and expedited application of technologies for patient use