2,843 research outputs found
Perceptions of service providers and parents regarding improving outcomes of young children living in circumstances of disadvantage
Many children live in circumstances which make it difficult for them to develop the capacities needed to succeed later in life. Previous research has focused on determining the risk factors for impaired outcomes and on evaluating the impact of specific programs. There has been a lack of research exploring the wisdom of people at the grassroots level and across programs. This research asked service providers and parents to describe the challenges that are faced by families with young children living in circumstances of disadvantage, the barriers preventing participation in programs, and the strategies that would address these challenges and barriers.
Three research approaches were incorporated into the design of this project; qualitative policy research, community-based participatory research, and knowledge transfer methodology. These approaches were applied in order to encourage the participation of community organizations, to produce information that would provide guidance to policy-makers, and to promote implementation of the strategies recommended by research participants.
In Phase One, 28 service providers from 24 Regina programs were interviewed. In Phase Two, the results from the service provider interviews were presented to focus groups of target parents to obtain their feedback. This process served to acknowledge the expertise of the parents as those with firsthand experience of their own reality.
The categories of challenges, barriers and strategies that were identified by participants were psychosocial (related to personal connections and mental well-being) and/or structural (concrete and tangible issues). Four themes emerged from these findings. First, interrelatedness and synergistic interaction among the social conditions faced by these families was evident. Second, instability was present at both familial and program delivery levels. Third, target families faced power imbalances from multiple sources. Finally, a lack of belonging or connectedness was experienced by families as a result of their circumstances of social exclusion.
The results point to the need for policies to address the following areas: adequate household income, childcare, funding of non-government organizations, housing, and mental health and addictions. By presenting the views of people at the grassroots level, it is hoped that these research results will provide direction to policy-makers
The Utility of Mobile Phones for Health Among Women Living with HIV in Urban Malawi
The use of mobile phones are becoming ubiquitous with growing interest by healthcare providers to utilize mobile phone technology for various health-related applications, called mHealth. This is especially true in low-income countries such as those in sub-Saharan Africa. When implementing mHealth applications, it is important to understand the dynamic social, cultural and environmental factors where mHealth will be implemented to ensure that interventions developed are effective. A qualitative study to explore the sociotechnical factors experienced by women participating in an HIV support group in urban Malawi was conducted to enhance our understanding of women’s experience with mobile phone use and its implications on their health. Ten individual interviews and one focus group interview were completed with women, using narrative methods and a sociotechnical view to inform data analysis. Narrative structural and thematic analysis were used to analyze the individual interview data, and thematic analysis was used to analyze the focus group interview data. This study offers valuable insights into the sociotechnical factors impacting mobile phone use and its implications on health within this urban context. Findings are discussed under four main areas: 1. Health-related activities and tasks; 2. Social related activities and tasks; 3. Income generation activities and tasks; and 4. Technical challenges. Implications for policy discussed include the scaling up of programs incorporating mobile phones in sub-Saharan Africa as part of the HIV prevention and treatment plan and partnering with NGO’s and churches to leverage funding and existing community based resources. Implications for future research include an opportunity for further theory development around community health frameworks that are sensitive to the African world view of person and community in addition to further exploring the utility of mobile phone technology in enhancing health outcomes for people living with HIV
ALBUM: a tool for the analysis of slitless spectra and its application to ESO WFI data
ALBUM is a general-purpose tool to visualize and screen large amounts of
slitless spectra. It was developed for a search for emission-line stars in SMC
and LMC clusters. The observations were obtained with ESO's Wide Field Imager
(WFI) and comprise ~8 million low-resolution spectra. The tool as well as the
results of its application to the SMC part of the database are presented. The
inferred frequency of Be stars is compared to the one in the higher-metallicity
environment of the Milky Way.Comment: The 2007 ESO instrument calibration workshop, Garching bei Muenchen :
Allemagne (2007); 4 page
Early-type PMS and MS objects in M16 and the Carina star-forming regions
Thanks to a variety of pertinent wide-angle facilities (WFI-slitless mode,
VLT-FLAMES (Pasquini et al. 2002), SPITZER, 2MASS) it is possible to
comprehensively study the nature of early-type objects in star-forming regions
like the Eagle Nebula and Carina on large spatial scales. In them, the young
open clusters NGC 6611, Trumpler 14, Trumpler 15, Trumpler 16, and their
vicinities are of particular interest. With the WFI in its slitless mode (Baade
et al. 1999), one can reliably and with little extra effort discriminate in
thousands of spectra between intrinsic circumstellar emission as in HBe/Ae
stars and diffuse interstellar line emission. The only bias results from the
need of the equivalent width and absolute strength of the line emission to be
sufficient for detection. VLT-FLAMES spectra combined with infrared data from
SPITZER and 2MASS permit the nature of the objects with and without
emission-lines to be derived. Following this approach, we report on the
discovery and classification of new Herbig Be/Ae stars, pre-main sequence
objects, and main sequence stars in these regions. Based on line-width
measurements in VLT-FLAMES spectra, the evolution of the rotational velocities
between pre-main sequence and main sequence phases is also discussed.Comment: Proceedings corresponding to poster 581 from the Special Session 7
about young stellar objects at the IAU-GA 200
Be stars in open clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud
We report on the study of the population of B and Be stars in SMC young
clusters, performed with the Wide Field Imager in slitless spectroscopic mode
at ESO/T2.2m with a filter centered at Halpha. First, we explain the reduction
methods we used and our selection of different types of objects. Second, we
present results on the proportion of Be stars in SMC clusters, and we compare
this proportion to the one observed in the Milky Way. Finally, we also present
results on a statistical study of variability of Be stars with OGLE.Comment: sf2a 200
On the nature of early-type emission line objects in NGC6611
The number and the nature of emission line stars in the young open cluster
NGC6611 is still the object of debates. Due to the presence of a strong and
variable nebulosity in the cluster, the number of emission line stars is highly
depending on the technique and the resolution used for the observations. Thanks
to observations with the ESO-WFI, in slitless spectroscopic mode, and with the
VLT-GIRAFFE we have been able to disentangle the circumstellar and nebular
emissions. We confirm the small number of true emission line objects and we
precise their nature: mainly Herbig Be stars.Comment: Sf2a 2007 PNP
Guest Artist Series:Duo Terlano
Kemp Recital Hall Friday Evening September 21, 2007 7:30p.m
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