Discovering Perceptions of Adequacy For Domestic Violence Ministry Among Seminary Educated Evangelical Pastors In Southwestern Pennsylvania

The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions of adequacy experienced when ministering to domestic violence impacted congregants for evangelical pastors in southwestern Pennsylvania. Perceptions of adequacy when ministering to congregants experiencing domestic violence have been generally defined as a perception of adequate preparedness through education for ministering to the intricate needs of the family crisis of domestic violence. The theory that guided this study was van Manen’s (1997, 2014) interpretive phenomenological method of qualitative study as it was the method used by Zuet et al (2017) in a study of the feelings of adequacy for domestic violence ministry experienced by seminary educated evangelical pastors in the midwestern United States. This method was used because it has been used in similar studies, Zust et al (2017) and Spencer-Sandolph (2020), and because it allowed the researcher to explore the perceptions of pastors while analyzing data for underlying themes that also contributed to these perceptions. Qualitative study was chosen because it was words that were collected, meanings that were discovered, and thoughts and feelings that were underlying that were expressed and analyzed. Answering the questions of pastoral experience in seminary education, its impact on pastoral preparedness for ministering to domestic violence survivors, policies and procedures implemented, and what belief systems emerged as underpinning pastoral views on family violence were best done through open-ended, lengthy interviews that gave the pastors time to answer. The conversational method of the interview process allowed the interviewer to follow trails of thought and feelings as they emerged and yielded various themes and subthemes. Underlying meanings and beliefs systems were also identified

Submission on the draft National Health Bill

Written submission to the Portfolio Committee on Health, February 2002

COVID-19 and the mass incarceration of Indigenous peoples

Similar to experiences of Indigenous peoples globally, Māori in the nation-state known as New Zealand (NZ) have been subjected to mass incarceration by the colonial state. Places of detention are dangerous environments for the spread of COVID-19. We are deeply concerned about the potential for disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on Māori and other Indigenous peoples within these environments as many have health conditions and/or multiple comorbidities compounding the risks of severe illness and death from COVID-19. We call for the NZ government to honour te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations and uphold Indigenous rights contained within the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international rights instruments. A whole-of-government commitment to an equitable public health approach is required to: 1) rapidly reduce the numbers of Māori in sites of detention; 2) implement effective, timely, evidenced informed measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19, in line with World Health Organization recommendations; 3) prevent the torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of detained Māori during COVID-19; and, 4) eliminate double-celling. Although focused on NZ, the themes we highlight are likely of relevance for Indigenous peoples across the globe in our collective resistance to the COVID-19 pandemic

Valuing EQ-5D health states: A review and analysis, CHERE Working Paper 2007/9

Objective: To identify the key methodological issues in the construction of population-level EQ-5D / Time Trade-Off (TTO) preference elicitation studies. Study Design: This study involves three components. The first was to identify existing population-level EQ-5D TTO studies. The second was to illustrate and discuss the key areas of divergence between studies, including the international comparison of tariffs. The third was to portray the relative merits of each of the approaches, and to compare the results of studies across countries. Results: While most papers report use of the protocol developed in the original UK study, we identified three key areas of divergence in the construction and analysis of surveys. These are the number of health states valued in order to determine the algorithm for estimating all health states, the approach to valuing states worse than immediate death, and the choice of algorithm. Finally, the evidence on international comparisons suggests differences between countries, although it is difficult to disentangle differences in cultural attitudes with random error and differences due to methodological divergence. Conclusion: Differences in methods are likely to obscure true differences in values between countries. However, population-specific valuation sets for countries engaging in economic evaluation would better represent societal attitudes.health state valuation, EQ5-D

The Official Information Act: Maori with Lived Experience of Disability, and New Zealand Disability Data: a case study

This article presents a case study of the use of the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA), for research commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal in 2018 into disability-related issues for Mäori. The responses of Crown organisations to OIA requests examined in this research highlight both issues with inconsistent application of the OIA, and limited access to information held and made available by Crown agencies for Mäori with lived experience of disability.1 The statutory time frame for responses to OIA requests was rarely met. Organisations also resisted providing information, while crucial information for ensuring equity for Mäori with lived experience of disability was often not able to be released because it was not collected at all. The impact of these limitations is discussed, particularly pertaining to core government roles of performance monitoring and ensuring accountability. In addition to querying who benefits from, and is privileged by, the OIA and its application, questions are raised around the necessary components of a legislation rewrite in order to deliver on a modern approach to official information that ensures equitable, high-performing and truly democratic public administration

Stress inhomogeneity effect on fluid-induced fracture behavior into weakly consolidated granular systems.

We study the effect of stress inhomogeneity on the behavior of fluid-driven fracture development in weakly consolidated granular systems. Using numerical models we investigate the change in fracture growth rate and fracture pattern structure in unconsolidated granular packs (also referred to as soft-sands) as a function of the change in the confining stresses applied to the system. Soft-sands do not usually behave like brittle, linear elastic materials, and as a consequence, poroelastic models are often not applicable to describe their behavior. By making a distinction between "cohesive" and "compressive" grain-grain contact forces depending on their magnitude, we propose an expression that describes the fluid opening pressure as a function of the mean value and the standard deviation of the "compressive stress" distribution. We also show that the standard deviation of this distribution can be related with the extent to which fracture "branches" reach into the material.BP International Centre for Advanced Materials (BP-ICAM

Sombreros and Motorcycles: Place Studies on Tourism and Identity in Modern South Carolina

This dissertation examines the rise of tourism as an important social and economic force in the U.S. South through place studies of tourist sites in South Carolina. The roadside attraction South of the Border and the historically black town of Atlantic Beach are analyzed as touriscapes that provide historical narratives foregrounding the connections between place and southern identity in the modern era. Touriscapes are defined as places where perspectives overlap and identities intersect to produce spaces of serious cultural and historical significance as well as recreation and fun. Both of these touriscapes were enacted as tourism developed and Jim Crow segregation began to crumble, and they have survived into the twenty-first century. They are sites of commercial development, resistance, and political strife that should be studied, engaged, and preserved for future generations to better understand the complexity of southern history, culture, and identity