Challenges on the Mission Field: A Phenomenological Exploration of the Experience and Impact of Traumatic Events on Christian Missionaries

There is a long and rich, albeit at times complex, history of Australian Christian mission work abroad. Missionaries have been motivated to enter the field by a desire to support the local church and other indigenous communities to attain a range of social, economic, and socio-developmental improvements for individuals and groups alike. However, this work is not without risk for the missionaries, especially when exposed to traumatic events and experiences that may adversely affect their physical, psychological, and or spiritual health and well-being. Understanding the impact of such experiences from the missionaries\u27 perspective is important, particularly in the context of developing targeted and appropriate pre-placement training, on field support, and post-placement debriefing protocols, as well as addressing placement attrition rates. Employing an Interpretive Phenomenological approach, this qualitative study explores trauma-related experiences of Australian Christian missionaries to understand how those experiences influenced the length of field placement and attrition rates and affected their overall functioning during and post-placement. Seven Australian Christian missionaries ranging in age from 28 to 64, each with more than two years of field experience, participated in a 2-3-hour interview, with transcribed data examined using the Interpretative Phenomenology Analysis (IPA) approach. All participants had returned from the field earlier than anticipated as a result of experiencing a significant traumatic event or having undergone multiple traumatic experiences, which could be assessed as cumulative trauma. Themes emerging from the study included; the effects of both single as well as cumulative traumatic events on general functioning, psychological adjustment, and ultimately the discontinuance of field placements; the impact of pre-existing relational styles viewed through an attachment lens; coping and adjustment strategies and resources employed to ameliorate trauma-related responses or events experienced \u27in situ\u27; and the effectiveness of 4 existing pre-placement, trauma-focused training with respect to managing unforeseen events during placements. The study’s findings reveal that current missionaries may be exposed to significant numbers and forms of trauma during their placements, potentially impacting their psychological and spiritual well-being. Despite the influence of a specific call from God to the mission field and the utilisation of an array of protective measures, including their connection to God, the experiences of trauma led these participants to return from the mission field earlier than expected. The findings contribute to a broader understanding of the complexities of serving on the mission field. Specifically, this study contributes to understanding the psychological, physical, spiritual, and relational implications for missionaries experiencing traumatic events and how those experiences contribute to attrition. These findings have implications for organisations involved in both training and sending missionaries to the mission field and their ongoing care practices

Student expectations: what is university really about?

Students spend 12 to 14 years in school learning in a carefully controlled and structured system.  It appears that many students enter university with unrealistic conceptions of what is expected of them in many aspects of teaching and learning, including assessment. Hence, when they reach university they are faced with the challenge of adjusting to radically different styles of teaching, learning and assessment. It follows that this lack of preparedness is key reason why students drop out or take longer to complete their studies.  To compound the issue, university teachers may not fully appreciate students' expectations and are unable to anticipate and address these in curriculum development and delivery.  Therefore, developing a better understanding of students’ perceptions, expectations and experiences is crucial to being able to deliver programmes of study that support students in the transition from school to university and as they move through their university life.  This paper explores the perceptions of Level 5 and Level 6 students on two LJMU programmes in the Faculty of Education, Health and Community with the overarching aim to investigate key aspects of the student experience relating to induction, support and transition.  By exploring students’ ideas around key areas we hope to be able to better understand what the student expectation is and identify strategies to bridge any gap that exists between staff and student beliefs

Evidence for lateral transfer of genes encoding ferredoxins, nitroreductases, NADH oxidase, and alcohol dehydrogenase 3 from anaerobic prokaryotes to Giardia lamblia and Entamoeba histolytica

Author Posting. © American Society for Microbiology, 2002. This article is posted here by permission of American Society for Microbiology for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Eukaryotic Cell 1 (2002): 181-190, doi:10.1128/EC.1.2.181-190.2002.Giardia lamblia and Entamoeba histolytica are amitochondriate, microaerophilic protists which use fermentation enzymes like those of bacteria to survive anaerobic conditions within the intestinal lumen. Genes encoding fermentation enzymes and related electron transport peptides (e.g., ferredoxins) in giardia organisms and amebae are hypothesized to be derived from either an ancient anaerobic eukaryote (amitochondriate fossil hypothesis), a mitochondrial endosymbiont (hydrogen hypothesis), or anaerobic bacteria (lateral transfer hypothesis). The goals here were to complete the molecular characterization of giardial and amebic fermentation enzymes and to determine the origins of the genes encoding them, when possible. A putative giardia [2Fe-2S]ferredoxin which had a hypothetical organelle-targeting sequence at its N terminus showed similarity to mitochondrial ferredoxins and the hydrogenosomal ferredoxin of Trichomonas vaginalis (another luminal protist). However, phylogenetic trees were star shaped, with weak bootstrap support, so we were unable to confirm or rule out the endosymbiotic origin of the giardia [2Fe-2S]ferredoxin gene. Putative giardial and amebic 6-kDa ferredoxins, ferredoxin-nitroreductase fusion proteins, and oxygen-insensitive nitroreductases each tentatively supported the lateral transfer hypothesis. Although there were not enough sequences to perform meaningful phylogenetic analyses, the unique common occurrence of these peptides and enzymes in giardia organisms, amebae, and the few anaerobic prokaryotes suggests the possibility of lateral transfer. In contrast, there was more robust phylogenetic evidence for the lateral transfer of G. lamblia genes encoding an NADH oxidase from a gram-positive coccus and a microbial group 3 alcohol dehydrogenase from thermoanaerobic prokaryotes. In further support of lateral transfer, the G. lamblia NADH oxidase and adh3 genes appeared to have an evolutionary history distinct from those of E. histolytica.This work was supported by NIH grants (AI33492 to J.S., AI43273 to M.L.S., and AI46516 to B.J.L.). Additional support was provided by the G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation and LI-COR Biotechnology

Neurotrophic Factor Signaling in Alcoholism

This article presents the proceedings of a symposium presented at the meeting of the International Society for the Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ISBRA), held in Manheim, Germany, in September 2004. The organizers and chairpersons were Subhash C. Pandey and Toshikazu Saito. The presentations were (1) Ethanol and NMDA receptor coupling to ERK signaling, by L.J. Chandler;(2) Ethanol modulation of CREB: Role in neurogenesis, by Fulton Crews;(3) Serotonin dysfunction and alcohol preference in mice deficient in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), by Julie G. Hensler; (4) BDNF gene and related signaling: role in anxiety and alcohol dependence and preference, by Subhash C. Pandey; (5) BDNF and CREB: role in ethanol induced neuronal damage, Wataru Ukai

Mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic : the affective, behavioural and cognitive responses across the Scottish population

The purpose of the research is to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the mental health and wellbeing of the Scottish population. The aim is to understand the psychological impact of the pandemic on different demographic groups (gender, age, and employment status). The research also focuses on people who may be more vulnerable to the pandemic in multiple ways, namely those with long-term physical and mental health conditions and single-parent families