An Occupational Therapy Practitioner’S Intervention Guide To Increasing Occupational Engagement In The Virtual Setting With Individuals Diagnosed With Serious Mental Illness

Purpose: The purpose of this scholarly project was to ultimately reduce psychiatric readmissions by enhancing tele-health services to those diagnosed with a serious mental illness (SMI). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) brought attention to the barriers regarding public health policies and lack of a national pandemic response approach as care was moved to the virtual context (Robinson et al., 2021). Due to the restrictions set in place, many individuals lost their ability to engage in meaningful occupations (Hoel et al., 2021). Methods: An in-depth literature review was conducted to better understand the supports and barriers that are affecting effective service care delivery. Databases such as Psycinfo, PubMed, CINAHL and google scholar were used to search terms such as “serious mental illness,” “occupational therapy,” “tele-health” and “intensive outpatient programs.” Concepts from the Ecology of Human Performance (EHP) model (Dunn, Brown, & McGuigan, 1994) were used as a theoretical base for the formation of interventions. Results: An intervention guide was created to promote occupational engagement for those diagnosed with SMI. The intention of the guide was to create activities with generalizable skills to support engagement in everyday occupations. This was done by implementing intervention approaches from EHP. Conclusion: The interventions included will provide occupational therapists with a template to lead group sessions. The interventions included have been structured to be used in the virtual setting in no particular order. Lastly, the interventions were created to support the success of the identified population through facilitating occupational well-being

Developing affordable vertical greening systems and its impact on indoor comfort for low income groups in Lagos, Nigeria

This thesis examines the detailed process of developing affordable Vertical Greening System prototypes, through participatory development with low income communities in Lagos, Nigeria. Sequel to the development of the prototypes, an experimental analysis in an uninterrupted setting of the low-income house is undertaken to analyse the impact of the prototypes on indoor comfort. The ability of Vertical Greening Systems to impact internal temperature has been well documented in literature, most importantly in similar climatic conditions of the location of study. However, there is a dearth in attempts to simplify construction methods and financial costings often associated with these forms of prototypes. Pertaining to participatory development with communities, while the Community based participatory research principles seem applicable to this study, experiences and unanticipated challenges encountered during the field work reveals its limitations for application in its entirety. Hence, the original contribution to knowledge of this thesis stems from developing a series of unique methodological approaches in various aspects of the study. These include recruiting low income communities for participatory development of the prototypes and borrowing applicable aspects from CBPR to develop solutions (either solitarily or through input with the community) to unanticipated challenges encountered when physically developing the prototypes. A series of methodological steps specific to overcoming the challenges in the research environment were undertaken to prove the reliability of using two rooms: Experimental room 1 and Control room 10; and to evaluate the performance of the developed prototypes. The results revealed the steps, meetings, challenges and decisions first in identifying a co-operative community within Lagos and then developing the prototypes albeit through predefined physical criteria influencing the performance of VGS from relevant literature. Also, the experimental analysis of the developed prototypes reveals the detailed steps and considerations undertaken to analyse the system in an untainted, unorthodox and live setting of the study context. The impact of the fully-grown HDPE prototype on the measured Average Hourly Internal Air temperature in the month of August was a maximum of 2.6°C within the Experimental room. Further analysis also revealed that the average hourly internal air temperature was consistently within the adaptive thermal comfort range 90%-100% of the time. The perception survey within the community also revealed opinions and attitudes towards the prototypes. Recommendations were also suggested by the community members, that, combined with the principles developed in this study could be applicable in other low-income communities in developing other more affordable prototypes

Assessment of Patronage of Tourist Sites in Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria

Poor patronage has been a subject of concern in hospitality industry and tourist attraction centres. This has impacted negatively on investment in the sector and overall economic development. The study therefore assessed patronage of tourist centres in Badagry Local Government area (LGA) of Lagos State. Nigeria. The study was based on primary data obtained in a cross-sectional survey of 240 respondents using multi-stage sampling technique in selected tourist centres in the LGA. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results revealed that majority of the respondents were between 26-30 years of age with an average of 36.2 years. Majority (62.1%) of the respondents were females, 71.1 percent were single and 41.7 percent had tertiary education. Furthermore, majority (60.8%) of the respondents had between 4-6 individuals as household members. The most visited tourist centre recreation purpose (62.1%), education purpose (87.1%), research purpose (84.2%), information purpose (72.1%) and sightseeing which accounted for 57.9%. Furthermore, inadequate funding of tourist by the government (95.8%), under developed tourism infrastructure (96.3%), low patronage (98.8%), limited understanding of tourism (95.0%) and bad road to tourism destination (98.3%) accounted for poor patronage. The study concluded that age, sex, marital status, education, major occupation, working experience and household size of the respondents were associated with their level of satisfaction in the study area. The study therefore recommended that tourism development should not be left alone for the state government, the Local government should make effort to support the state government to create enabling environment to the tourist centres. Keywords: tourists, tourist centres, patronage, level of satisfaction, Badagry DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/50-05 Publication date:September 30th 202

Assessment of Patronage of Tourist Sites in Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria

Poor patronage has been a subject of concern in hospitality industry and tourist attraction centres. This has impacted negatively on investment in the sector and overall economic development. The study therefore assessed patronage of tourist centres in Badagry Local Government area (LGA) of Lagos State. Nigeria. The study was based on primary data obtained in a cross-sectional survey of 240 respondents using multi-stage sampling technique in selected tourist centres in the LGA. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results revealed that majority of the respondents were between 26-30 years of age with an average of 36.2 years. Majority (62.1%) of the respondents were females, 71.1 percent were single and 41.7 percent had tertiary education. Furthermore, majority (60.8%) of the respondents had between 4-6 individuals as household members. The most visited tourist centre recreation purpose (62.1%), education purpose (87.1%), research purpose (84.2%), information purpose (72.1%) and sightseeing which accounted for 57.9%. Furthermore, inadequate funding of tourist by the government (95.8%), under developed tourism infrastructure (96.3%), low patronage (98.8%), limited understanding of tourism (95.0%) and bad road to tourism destination (98.3%) accounted for poor patronage. The study concluded that age, sex, marital status, education, major occupation, working experience and household size of the respondents were associated with their level of satisfaction in the study area. The study therefore recommended that tourism development should not be left alone for the state government, the Local government should make effort to support the state government to create enabling environment to the tourist centres. Keywords: tourists, tourist centres, patronage, level of satisfaction, Badagry DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/10-12-01 Publication date:June 30th 202

Building community-driven vertical greening systems for people living on less than £1 a day: a case study in Nigeria

This paper reports and evaluates the process involved in designing and building affordable community-driven vertical greening systems (VGS) prototypes in a low-income neighbourhood of Lagos, Nigeria. Prototypes are intended to fulfil the dual function of improving indoor thermal comfort conditions and providing substrate to grow edible and medicinal plants. Besides that, the research aims to identify entrepreneurial competences and relationships in the community to transform the prototypes into commercially viable local products. ‘Qualitative fieldwork’ is used as a methodological approach and a product development roadmap is proposed that reports: design and construction development; performance evaluation of thermal impact and plant growth; costing; and community acceptability of the four different prototypes built in two different phases: rainy season 2014 and dry season 2016. The prototypes reduced internal air temperatures by an average of 2.3°C, moving internal comfort conditions to the comfort zone for around 90% to 100% of the time. Besides that, they provided around 16 crops of edible and medicinal plants per year. For two variants of prototypes (bamboo and prefabricated timber), the study reports a range of revenues from the sales of crops, and the estimated payback period (PBP) and internal rate of return (IRR) of the investment

Analysing hybrid pension plans : an illustration

Mestrado em Ciências ActuariaisNesta dissertação apresentamos uma ilustração dos alguns planos de pensões híbridos, em cinco países, que em nossa opinião podem ser tomados como referência no que respeita à evolução desse tipo de fundos. O objetivo foi tirar ilações sobre as razões do aumento do recurso aos planos de pensões híbridos, em alternativa aos planos de benefício definido ou de contribuição definida. Se bem que os planos híbridos não sejam comuns, nos últimos tempos, devido ao esforço para atenuar os riscos nos planos tradicionais, têm por vezes vindo a ser considerados uma opção menos arriscada, devido às suas características. Na ilustração considerada nesta dissertação, temos um participante tipo que acabou de ser admitido no fundo de pensões e analisamos três modelos de planos híbridos, que comparamos com os planos de benefício definido e contribuição definida. O propósito é determinar, do ponto de vista do empregador e do ponto de vista do participante, quais os impactes de futuros choques nas taxas de juros, nas atualizações salariais anuais e na idade de reforma. As ilustrações permitiram observar que os planos de pensões híbridos, de facto, oferecem melhores perspetivas, embora com alguns compromissos. Conclui-se que pode haver vantagem para os associados e para os participantes em considerar a possibilidade de implementar um plano híbrido, em alternativa aos planos de contribuição definida, atualmente mais populares, procurando oferecer melhor proteção e mantendo os custos dentro de limites aceitáveis.In this dissertation we present an illustration of the most common Hybrid pension plans designs in five countries, which in our opinion can be taken as representatives of the Hybrid pension funds. The aim is to explore why Hybrid pension plans are being considered as an alternative to traditional pension plans. Presently, Hybrid pension plans are not as widely used as Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution plans. In the recent times however, due to an effort to minimize the risks in these traditional plans, the Hybrid pension plan is considered as a less risky option due to its characteristic. In the illustration considered one participant that has just been admitted to a pension plan, and analyse three different types of Hybrid plans and compare them with the traditional designs of DB and DC pension plans, in order to determine from the perspective of the sponsor (employer) of pension plan and from the perspective of the participant (employee), what are the cost/benefits of future shocks on the interest rates, salary increases rate and early retirement. It was observed following the illustrations, that Hybrid pension plans do indeed offer better share of risks for both plan participants and sponsors although with some compromises. We conclude that to improve on retirement plans, sponsors need to consider a Hybrid pension plan design as a replacement for the currently popular Defined Contribution plans. Participants on the other hand will welcome this replacement option because of the possibility of a higher risk protection

Perception on Acceptability of Nigerian Females on Beaded Jewellery Empowerment for Entrepreneurial Development: Perception on Acceptability of Nigerian Females on Beaded Jewellery Empowerment for Entrepreneurial Development

The study investigates the perception of acceptability of Nigerian females on beaded jewellery empowerment for entrepreneurial development. Four research questions with two null hypotheses were formulated and tested. Descriptive research of a survey type was adopted. 70 female students from fine and applied arts and 70 female adults from Ilorin metropolis, Nigeria were used. Proportional sampling technique was used to select the 140 participants. A self-structured questionnaire with six sections was used to seek information from them. Data collected were analyzed using frequency and percentage while the hypotheses were tested using chi-square at 0.05 level of significance. Based on the findings, the participants perceived that: beads are the major materials used, the skill might occupy a female’s time and generate income. Profits realized can be substantial for the producers and sellers. The six self -samples were accepted based on colour, design, texture and shape. It can be concluded that the skill might be acquired, used to curb female idleness and unemployment. Among the recommendations stated are: bead crafts should be included in the curriculum at all levels of study, and more aware of its acceptance on mass media and fashion shows for love of beads concerning culture, value and significance

Building community-driven vertical greening systems for people living on less than £1 a day: A case study in Nigeria

This paper reports and evaluates the process involved in designing and building affordable community-driven vertical greening systems (VGS) prototypes in a low-income neighbourhood of Lagos, Nigeria. Prototypes are intended to fulfil the dual function of improving indoor thermal comfort conditions and providing substrate to grow edible and medicinal plants. Besides that, the research aims to identify entrepreneurial competences and relationships in the community to transform the prototypes into commercially viable local products. ‘Qualitative fieldwork’ is used as a methodological approach and a product development roadmap is proposed that reports: design and construction development; performance evaluation of thermal impact and plant growth; costing; and community acceptability of the four different prototypes built in two different phases: rainy season 2014 and dry season 2016. The prototypes reduced internal air temperatures by an average of 2.3°C, moving internal comfort conditions to the comfort zone for around 90% to 100% of the time. Besides that, they provided around 16 crops of edible and medicinal plants per year. For two variants of prototypes (bamboo and prefabricated timber), the study reports a range of revenues from the sales of crops, and the estimated payback period (PBP) and internal rate of return (IRR) of the investment