The Mind of St. John

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Reflective ability, empathy, and emotional intelligence in undergraduate social work students: a cross-sectional study from India

The extant literature indicates that social work is a high stress profession owing to multifarious and complex demands of practice. There is also evidence of stress experienced by student trainees who aspire for a career in social work. Working with service users and the distressing life scenarios encountered on placement often involves negotiating complex emotions and requires reflective skills. Effective practice requires rapport building skills and the ability to demonstrate empathy is a core skill for effective practice. While there is a plethora of Western literature on these issues, the Indian literature has not adequately explored them. Framed against this background, this quantitative study collected data from students of all three years of their undergraduate social work course from a ‘women only’ college in India. Standardised instruments to assess empathy, reflective ability and emotional intelligence were administered. Statistical tests revealed a higher manifestation of these dimensions in final-year students than those in the first year. Further it was seen that the total emotional intelligence and empathy scores were positively correlated. Implications of these findings for the education and training of social work students has also been discussed in this article

Stress, anxiety, resilience and coping in social work students (a study from India)

Social work is a stressful occupation but continues to attract large numbers of students every year. This study was conducted by undergraduate students of all three cohorts at a women’s-only college in Tiruchirapalli in South India (N = 73). Standardised instruments to assess stress, anxiety, resilience and coping were administered. It was seen that anxiety and stress levels were relatively higher in the first- and third-year students while compared to those in the second year of their course, while resilience and coping was relatively low in the first-year group. Correlations were significantly positive for the stress and anxiety scores as well as the coping and resilience scores. However, it was seen that only the anxiety scores significantly predicted the manifestation of stress in the students. Implications of the findings and the limitations of the study have also been discussed

Predictors of empathy in women social workers

Summary This study explored the manifestation of reflective ability, emotional intelligence and empathy in 120 women social workers in Tiruchirappalli, India. A cross-sectional quantitative design was used and the Emotional Intelligence Scale, Groningen Reflective Ability Scale and the Empathy Assessment Index were administered to assess the manifestation of these dimensions. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify predictors of empathy. Findings Based on mean scores, the majority of respondents were classified as being ‘high’ in terms of emotional intelligence and reflective ability. Respondents of different age groups showed a significant difference in terms of the manifestation of empathy. Age, self-reflection and appraisal and expression of emotions were extracted as significant predictors of empathy. Application The article discusses the importance of these professional attributes for effective practice and the role of academic institutions and social work organisations in fostering the development of these dimensions in social work practitioners

Large coronary arteries in humans are responsive to changing blood flow: An endothelium-dependent mechanism that fails in patients with atherosclerosis

AbstractChanges in blood flow can alter vasomotion of conduit arteries. This study examined vasomotor responses to incremental blood flow induced by papaverine in the epicardial arteries of 10 patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries (group 1) and in 14 patients with arterial irregularities (group 2) using quantitative angiography and Doppler ultrasound flow velocity measurements. An increase in coronary blood flow of 384.3 ± 32.8% (p < 0.001) in group 1 patients was associated with dilation of the proximal coronary artery segment and a 23.2 ± 4.6% increase in cross-sectional area (p < 0.001). In contrast, in group 2 patients a similar increase in coronary blood flow of 339.3 ± 18.7% (p < 0.001) was associated with mixed responses and a Modest net constriction in cross-sectional area of -7.4 ± 2.8% (p < 0.05). The dilation response to nitroglycerin was intact in group 1 (31.7 ± 4.2%, p < 0.001) and in group 2 (26.4 ± 3.2%, p < 0.001).In five patients from group 1 acetylcholine, an endothelium-dependent dilator, produced an increase in cross-sectional area of 20.7 ± 4.6% (p < 0.05) that paralleled the response to an increase in flow in the same segment (a 24.3 ± 6.1% increase in cross-sectional area, p < 0.05). Five group 21 patients demonstrated a vasoconstrictor response to acetylcholine (a − 22.8 ± 3.4% decrease in cross-sectional area, p < 0.05) together with an impaired dilation response to incremental flow (a − 6.4 ± 3.2% decrease in cross-sectional area). Thus, the normal flow-mediated dilation of coronary arteries is lost in atherosclerosis and this impairment may be due to endothelial cell vasodilator dysfunction

The Impact of Information Technology Outsourcing on Firm Profitability Measures

Some researchers have concluded that outsourcing of information technology (IT) provides benefits to firms including cost advantages, economies of scale and allowing more of a focus on core competencies. This paper attempts to determine if these benefits actually exist by comparing three financial measures, return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA) and profit margin, affirms that have varying levels of outsourcing. To empirically test for the existence of a difference between firms that outsource differing amounts of IT spending, data from 104 companies was gathered. Analysis of variance was selected as the primary statistical tool to test the relationship between the level of outsourcing and the profitability measures. The results of this study lead to the conclusion that there is not a significant difference between the amounts of IT outsourcing companies perform and any of the profitability measures used during the sample period. Further discussion continues related to the implications of the results

Global value chains and human development: a class-relational framework

Global Value Chain proponents argue that regional and human development can be achieved through ‘strategic coupling’ with transnational corporations. This argument is misleading for two reasons. First, GVC abstracts firm-firm and firm-state relations from their class-relational basis, obscuring fundamental developmental processes. Second, much GVC analysis promotes linear conceptions of development. This article provides a class-relational framework for GVC analysis. The formation and functioning of GVCs and the developmental effects associated with them are products of histories of evolving and often conflictive, class relations. A study of export horticulture in North East Brazil provides empirical support for these arguments

Diagnostic enhancements for plasma processing

This is the final report of a one-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Funds obtained under this project were used to enhance the diagnostic capabilities of the plasma-processing program in the Physics Division at LANL and include successful development and implementation of in-situ Raman spectroscopy and infrared emission spectroscopy. These methods were used to detect the presence and nature of ground-state and electronically excited molecular oxygen formed in an atmospheric-pressure, nonthermal plasma source used for environmental, industrial and decontamination applications