Talking about real life events: an investigation of the ability of people with intellectual disabilities to make links between their beliefs and emotions within dialogue

Background This study explores whether people with intellectual disabilities make links between events, beliefs and emotions in dialogues about real life, emotive events. Methods A cognitive-emotive interview was used to assist nineteen adults with intellectual disabilities and nineteen adults without disabilities in generating an account of an emotive, interpersonal event. Participants also completed a cognitive mediation task and an assessment of intellectual and verbal ability. Results Participants with intellectual disabilities generated fewer beliefs within their dialogues than those without disabilities and were less likely to provide alternative perspectives on events. The ability to make links between events, beliefs and emotions within a dialogue was not associated with performance on a cognitive mediation task, or with general or verbal IQ. Conclusions Participants with intellectual disabilities had more difficulty than those without disabilities in making links between events, beliefs and emotions. Within a therapeutic context, they are likely to require assistance to reflect on events and consider alternative interpretations, which take into account individual and environmental factors

A study of the forms of the Massachusetts Division of Child Guardianship

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University, 1949. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

The philosophy of Ramanuja with special reference to his theory of the self

This item was digitized by the Internet Archive. Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universityhttps://archive.org/details/thephilosophyofr00heb

An Exploration of the Experiences of Community Integration for Older Adults with Mental Health Issues

Community integration is vital for older adults with mental health issues, both as a process and as an outcome. The process of deinstitutionalization has made community integration a primary concern for these individuals. Many researchers recognize the significant lack of community resources that have been established in order to accommodate individuals with mental health issues in the community (Davidson, Hoge, Godleski, Rakfeldt, & Griffith, 1996; Pedlar, 1992). Researchers and practitioners alike, however, lack a thorough understanding of the factors that contribute to the successful and lasting community reintegration of older adults with mental health issues. The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth analysis of the experience of community integration for older adults with mental health issues. The study was guided by the conceptual framework of phenomenology, focusing on the lived experiences of these individuals (Patton, 2002). Utilizing qualitative methods, data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews, oral member checks and the maintenance of a reflexive journal. Participants in the study were five older adults who had been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, had received treatment on an inpatient geriatric psychiatry unit, and had returned to their homes in the community upon discharge from the hospital. The findings suggest that being healthy and concomitantly maintaining independence played a key role in the process of community integration for these older adults. Independence, from the perspective of these individuals was quite different from the definitions of independence commonly used in North American society. The older adults in this study did not adhere to the principles of autonomy and individualism in relation to independence. Instead, they accepted a certain degree of dependence in order to prevent or avoid future disability, relapse, and readmission to hospital. A number of factors contributed to their independence, both positively and negatively, including: being healthy; social support; a smooth transition from hospital to community; maintaining feelings of self-worth; solitude; the power of knowledge; feelings of burden; and managing stress. These findings point to an emerging model of community integration that incorporates the concepts of empowerment, recovery, inclusion, and independence. The experience of independence, as described by these individuals, evoked feelings of empowerment and was strongly associated with the concept of recovery. For these older adults, being healthy, and thus, independent, meant being integrated. The findings, as well as the process of conducting this research, have lead to a number of recommendations for future research and suggestions for practitioners and policy makers involved with these older adults

Understanding the short-term impact of product discontinuations on consumer response behaviour

Retailers as well as manufacturers can suffer substantial revenue losses as a result of product discontinuations. The magnitude of this sales loss is dependent on how the consumer responds, which in turn is affected by various product and consumer factors. To date empirical research on consumer responses to product unavailability has focussed on out-of-stocks and to a lesser extent permanent assortment reductions implemented by the retailer. A critical area that has not been explored to date is that of examining consumer responses to manufacturer product discontinuations and how those responses will affect product category sales. Drawing on insights from past empirical research on product unavailability, this original research investigates the short-term impact of three different types of product discontinuation on the shoppers’ switching behaviour and on sales within the product category. The research also examines whether varying purchase levels of the preferred discontinued product moderates the switching behaviour. Several propositions are developed and tested using scanner data collected from Flybuys’ customers across three product categories and 48 New World stores within the Auckland region. Results from the study indicate that although the dominant switching behaviour to a preferred-product discontinuation is to substitute within the product category, both the retailer and the manufacturer experience short-term sales losses. Findings suggest that prior purchasers of the discontinued product do not spend as much in the product category in the three month period following the discontinuation. Furthermore; shoppers are more likely to substitute with products that have similar attributes in terms of flavour, form or benefit and this switching behaviour is moderated by varying purchase levels of the discontinued product. The findings suggest that retailers should be cautious in assuming that shoppers will continue to spend the same amount on a substitute item after the discontinuation and should ensure there are a number of acceptable alternatives available on shelf. The results further suggest that the retailer may wish to explicitly signal the products with similar attributes to heavy purchasers of the discontinued product to help mitigate sales losses. By empirically investigating consumers’ responses to preferred-product discontinuations this study adds to the body of knowledge in the area of consumer responses to product unavailability. Finally, a number of limitations are discussed and suggestions made for future research

Are higher education institutions delivering customer satisfaction?

Higher education institutions are realising the importance of a customer centred approach to survival in the face of increased domestic competition and the globalisation of higher education. The objective of the study is to determine the impact of different variables on customer satisfaction in the higher education sector. More explicitly, this study aims to identify the effects of: support facilities and infrastructure; location and access; and image and marketing on customer satisfaction. A random sample of 390 students was chosen. A review of the structural model indicates that only the causal link between ‘support facilities and infrastructure’ and customer satisfaction can be supported statistically

Mental health, quality of life, wellbeing, loneliness and use of social media in a time of social distancing during the COVID-19 outbreak. A cross-country comparative study

Background The COVID-19 outbreak raised questions about how people experience their mental health, quality of life (QoL), wellbeing and loneliness in the context of social distancing, and the use of social media during this time Aims To examine the experience of mental health, QoL, wellbeing and loneliness and use of social media among people living in Norway, USA, UK and Australia. Methods A cross-country comparative survey of people living in Norway, USA, UK and Australia. Relevant statistical analyses were used to examine differences between the countries and to explore associations between demographic, mental health and psychosocial variables and use of social media. Results There were 3810 respondents from four countries, of which 50 − 74% showed a high level of emotional distress. The Norwegian population reported significantly better mental health, QoL and wellbeing and lower levels of loneliness compared to the other countries. High-frequent use of social media after the COVID-19 outbreak was associated with poorer mental- and psychosocial health. Conclusions The results suggest that the COVID-19 outbreak took a toll on people’s experience of mental health, QoL, wellbeing and experienced loneliness, and high-frequent use of social media was associated with these factors

Negotiating sacred roles:a sociological exploration of priests who are mothers

In 1992, in a historic move, the Church of England voted to allow women's ordination to priesthood and in 1994 the first women priests started to be ordained. Despite much research interest, the experiences of priests who are mothers to dependent children have been minimally investigated. Based on in-depth interviews with seventeen mothers ordained in the Church, this paper will focus on how the sacred-profane boundary is managed. Priests who are mothers have a particular insight into the Church hierarchy as they symbolically straddle the competing discourses of sacred and profane. However, instead of reifying these binaries, the experiences of these women show how such dualisms are challenged and managed in everyday life. Indeed, in terms of experience, ritual, ministry and preaching, priests who are mothers are resisting, recasting and renegotiating sacred terrain in subtle and nuanced ways. Mothers thus not only negotiate the practical and sacramental demands placed on priests, but also illuminate how the sacred domain is regulated and constructed

Missing domesticated plant forms: can artificial selection fill the gap?

In the course of their evolution, the angiosperms have radiated into most known plant forms and life histories. Their adaptation to a recently created habitat, the crop field, produced a novel form: the plant that allocates an unprecedented 30–60% of its net productivity to sexual structures. Long-lived trees, shrubs and vines of this form evolved, as did annual herbs. Perennial herb forms with increased allocation to asexual reproduction evolved, but there are no examples of perennial herbs with high sexual effort. We suggest that sowing seed into annually tilled fields favored shorter-lived herbs because of trade-offs between first-year seed production and relative growth rate and/or persistence. By propagating cuttings, people quickly domesticated tuber crops and large woody plants. Perennial herbs were too small to be efficiently propagated by cuttings, and the association between longevity, allogamy and genetic load made rapid domestication by sexual cycles unlikely. Perennial grain crops do not exist because they could not have evolved under the original set of conditions; however, they can be deliberately developed today through artificial phenotypic and genotypic selection