Mentorship from the student perspective

Midwifery Basics: Mentorship 3 When undertaking a programme of pre-registration midwifery education, student midwives are working towards responsible and accountable practice at the point of registration. In order to facilitate this, mentors are required to support learning in a range of clinical settings and contribute to the development of the students ability to practice as a safe and competent midwife (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2008, 2011). Experiences of mentorship can influence how a student midwife's confidence and competence develops and may shape how they will subsequently practice once qualified (Hughes and Fraser, 2011; Licqurish and Seibold, 2008). Consequently, supportive and positive mentorship is essential to enhance student learning experiences in practice and to promote their personal and professional developmen

The concept of shame and how understanding this might enhance support for breastfeeding mothers

The purpose of this paper is to explore the usefulness of the concept of shame and the literature on shame management for understanding the experiences of women who struggle to establish breastfeeding. In particular we consider what this literature might suggest with regard to good practice when supporting breastfeeding mothers, illustrating our discussion with data from two previous empirical studies. There is increasing evidence from qualitative explorations of women’s experiences of breastfeeding that, for some mothers, breastfeeding can be a psychologically uncomfortable or even distressing experience. This seems particularly likely where there are difficulties establishing successful feeding which are counter to a mother’s previous expectations and where she may then feel she is positioned by discourses of ‘good’ or ‘natural’ mothering as failing both as a mother and a woman (e.g. Williamson et al., 2012). Previous discussions of the potential for breastfeeding promotion to cause distress for women who do not breastfeed or who struggle to do so have tended to assume that the problem is guilt. In response to this a frequently made point has been the importance of recognising that apparent ‘failures’ to breastfeed are not best understood as the mother’s omission or ‘choice’ but instead as a consequence of the many barriers to breastfeeding in Western societies. Thus the possibility is created for breastfeeding advocacy to target the many ways in which breastfeeding is made difficult for women, rather than blaming mothers. However, as Taylor and Wallace (2012) point out, women’s emotional responses may be more complex than has sometimes been assumed and for many mothers who struggle with breastfeeding or turn to formula milk, shame may be as much if not more of an issue than guilt. As such the identity work which mothers engage in to make sense of not breastfeeding (e.g. Marshall, Godfrey & Renfrew, 2007) can perhaps be viewed as a form of shame avoidance. There have been several attempts to distinguish shame from guilt, and we draw on Gilbert’s (2003) work as one of the most comprehensive models which usefully highlights the differing experience of relations with others when we feel guilty or ashamed. Guilt suggests a relatively powerful position where we are able to hurt another by our actions or omissions and we may then be motivated to make reparation. However, shame can be a much more destructive emotion and therefore difficult to manage. When we are ashamed we experience ourselves as inferior or flawed before a more powerful critical ‘other’, whether this is an actual person we perceive as devaluing us or a sense of a generalised ‘other’ in front of whom we are inadequate and lesser. With shame the focus is on a sense of a damaged and unable self, rather than on specific actions. Therefore an example of shame would be a mother whose distress about feeding difficulties arises from the possibility to her that these difficulties mean she is fundamentally flawed or inadequate as a mother, and possibly exposed as such before critical others. This is a rather different emotional experience from a sense of guilt towards her baby for providing less than optimal nutrition, though the two are not mutually exclusive. We discuss some of the ways in which shame and the avoidance of shame may challenge a mother’s relationships with others, including her developing attachment with the baby and her interactions with breastfeeding supporters. Drawing on literature on shame management and some of our own research data, we suggest a number of ways in which healthcare practitioners may be able to help women to manage or repair feelings of shame. For example, Brown’s (2006) research on women’s experiences of shame in a range of contexts suggests that establishing relationships with breastfeeding women which validate both their experiences and emerging identities as mothers is important for providing a space in which it is safe to acknowledge, examine and contextualise often unspoken and taboo feelings of shame. In this way, the research on shame management supports recent proposals for breastfeeding support to adopt a more person-centred focus (e.g. Hall Moran et al., 2006). Finally, in reviewing the usefulness of a focus on shame, we reflect briefly on the irony that the most visible examples of breastfeeding in public may paradoxically be viewed as shameful acts. This underscores the difficulties that women may face within contemporary Western societies in resisting shame in relation to breastfeeding

Preparation for Testing a Multi-Bay Box Subjected to Combined Loads

The COmbined Loads Test System (COLTS) facility at NASA Langley Research Center provides a test capability to help develop validated structures technologies. The test machine was design to accommodate a range of fuselage structures and wing sections and subject them to both quasistatic and cyclic loading conditions. The COLTS facility is capable of testing fuselage barrels up to 4.6 m in diameter and 13.7 m long with combined mechanical, internal pressure, and thermal loads. The COLTS facility is currently being prepared to conduct a combined mechanical and pressure loading for a multi-bay pressure box to experimentally verify the structural performance of a composite structure which is 9.1 meters long and representative of a section of a hybrid wing body fuselage section in support of the Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project at NASA. This paper describes development of the multi-bay pressure box test using the COLTS facility. The multi-bay test article will be subjected to mechanical loads and internal pressure loads up to design ultimate load. Mechanical and pressure loads will be applied independently in some tests and simultaneously in others

Understanding process and context in breastfeeding support interventions: The potential of qualitative research

Considerable effort has been made in recent years to gain a better understanding of the effectiveness of different interventions for supporting breastfeeding. However, research has tended to focus primarily on measuring outcomes and has paid comparatively little attention to the relational, organisational and wider contextual processes that may impact delivery of an intervention. Supporting a woman with breastfeeding is an interpersonal encounter that may play out differently in different contexts, despite the apparently consistent aims and structure of an intervention. We consider the limitations of randomised controlled trials for building understanding of the ways in which different components of an intervention may impact breastfeeding women and how the messages conveyed through interactions with breastfeeding supporters might be received. We argue that qualitative methods are ideally suited to understanding psychosocial processes within breastfeeding interventions and have been under-used. After briefly reviewing qualitative research to date into experiences of receiving and delivering breastfeeding support, we discuss the potential of theoretically-informed qualitative methodologies to provide fuller understanding of intervention processes by focusing on three examples: phenomenology, ethnography and discourse analysis. The paper concludes by noting some of the epistemological differences between qualitative methodologies and the broadly positivist approach of trials, and we suggest there is a need for 1 Understanding Process in Breastfeeding Support 2 further dialogue as to how researchers might bridge these differences in order to develop a fuller and more holistic understanding of how best to support breastfeeding women

The Role of System Training and Exposure on Crash Warning Evaluation

This research paper explores the role that familiarity with crash warning systems has on the evaluation of those systems. Prior research has not been consistent in it treatment of providing system training and exposure to participants. The potential impact of these differences in methodology on key measures of response and outcome is unknown. Ninety-six participants completed this study that crossed system training with prior exposure to the warning to systematically evaluate these effects for both forward crash warning (FCW) and lane departure warning (LDW) systems evaluations. Prior exposure to the alerts led to changes in engagement with the distraction task for both FCW and LDW events. Training on the system influenced outcomes of the FCW events with less severe outcomes for participants who were aware they had the system. There is also evidence that driver who were aware of the system’s presence but did not have prior exposure to it were less likely to complete the experiment successfully. The results of this study point to an advantage in not provide prior system awareness training in terms of longer commitment times to allow the crash warning events to materialize when prior exposure to the alerts is provided

Replicating Test Track Protocols in a Simulator; What Needs to be Matched?

Many different experimental methods are used to evaluate driving performance as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of various vehicle safety systems but the results often do not match between different experimental approaches. This study aimed to determine the extent to which results can be matched between a driving simulator and a test track when carefully designed studies are used to replicate findings. This study collected simulator data on the National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS) at the University of Iowa to replicate findings concerning Forward-Crash-Warning interface effectiveness at the Vehicle Research and Test Center (VRTC), East Liberty Ohio. The simulator used a virtual replica of the test track as well as a road course. Event choreography and scanning behavior were compared. Results indicate that results from the simulator were similar to those obtained on the test track. This indicates simulators can replicate findings for the test track and are a valuable tool. Careful experimental design is required to match the event choreography to insure an appropriate comparison. An exact match of the driving environment was not needed for this interface evaluation to obtain comparable results. The extent to which matching motion cues was not evaluated and may prove challenging in simulators without motion systems

Motorcycle conspicuity: what factors have the greatest impact

The objective of this project was to determine the effect of headlight configuration (daytime running lights, high beam, modulating) and rider color (bright yellow, blue denim, and black torso and helmet) on the conspicuity of a motorcycle to a driver of a passenger vehicle in a simulated environment. To achieve this, 36 participants completed three drives on a National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS)-2 driving simulator. During two of the drives, participants were presented with six oncoming motorcycles and three leading parked motorcycles, each with a different combination of rider color and headlight configuration. Each of the nine motorcycles was present in either the urban or rural driving environment. Participants indicated when each motorcycle was first visible to them by pressing a button on the steering wheel of the driving simulator. The detection distances from the motorcycles to the participant vehicles were then recorded. Participants were within one of two groups: younger drivers (25 to 55) or older drivers (65 and older). This research applied repeated measures analysis of variance to investigate the impact of headlight configurations and rider color on motorcycle conspicuity in urban and rural environments. The researchers found that oncoming motorcycles with modulating headlights were detected at the greatest distance compared to motorcycles with high beam or daytime running lights. Participant ability to detect an oncoming motorcycle was also significantly influenced by the combination of headlight configurations with black or bright yellow rider colors. Leading motorcycles in urban environments were detected at a greater distance compared to those in rural environments. Leading motorcycles with riders having bright yellow clothing and helmet were detected at the greatest distance, followed by motorcycles with riders having blue denim and black rider colors. A significant interaction effect among the driving environment, rider color, and age group was also found for the detection distance of leading motorcycles

Ethnopalynological appplications in land and water based archaeology

Ethnopalynology is a specialty within palynology that centers specifically on past and present palynological data related to humans. Palynological data may be a significant tool to archaeologists if the applications and limitations are clearly understood. The following is a compilation of historical references, information on the processing procedures used in pollen research, the types of samples that are appropriate for palynological analysis within the discipline of archaeology, and examples of how palynological data can answer some questions regarding diet, the environment, building materials and chronological data. An extensive literature review was performed and revealed incongruities and areas that could be improved upon. This dissertation is a result of that research. Experimentation with palynological processing procedures indicate that commonly used methodologies may be flawed and should be reviewed regularly. New methodologies in the dissolution of resins, or plant exudates, is a relatively new application for pollen research and an area where there is a potential for future growth. Palynological applications to archaeology are beginning to expand in previously unknown directions. The extrication of pollen from plant exudates or resin is only one new area of research. This and other avenues are still waiting to be explored

Effectiveness of an Intersection Violation Warning System

People age 65 years and older are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population and the fastest growing sector of the driving population. When compared to other age groups, older drivers are overrepresented in intersection crashes (Subramanian & Lombardo, 2007; Braitman et al., 2006), and approximately half of the charges in fatal intersection crashes are for failure to obey the traffic control device. This project explored an in-vehicle warning system for failure-to-obey (running a stop sign or stop light) violations. Participants who were not using the system made nearly three times as many didnot-stop errors (27%) than participants who were using the system (10%). This effect was most pronounced in older drivers with more risk factors associated with crashes; however, the effect of age group was not statistically significant