ICTs: empowering Western Australian women?

The idea that women are empowered through their learning and use of ICTs (ICTs are defined as computers, the Internet, and e-mail for the purposes of this thesis) has been adopted by international development agencies and the governments of most nations throughout the world. Hence, many agencies and governments have made courses on computers, the Internet, and e-mail available to women with the aim of empowering them. Empowerment is defined variously and has at its core the social, political, and economic development of women to create equality and challenge patriarchy. Women's empowerment seeks to bring about societal change that will create conditions and structures that foster and maintain gender equality in all facets of life. This thesis examines the notion of women's empowerment through ICTs. The first section of the thesis uses development and empowerment literature to define, explain, and critique women's empowerment and the conditions under which it is supposed to operate. The second section presents, analyses, and discusses the data collected from a questionnaire answered by some Western Australian women on their experiences of ICTs courses offered by the Western Australian government and their subsequent life changes. The questionnaire was designed to establish whether or not women are empowered to create societal change and challenge patriarchy, as suggested in literature. The results from the questionnaire show that the majority of the women in the cohort were empowered to the intrapersonal (or micro-) level only. Hence, there was little evidence for the majority of women of the interpersonal (or meso-) level and no evidence of the societal (macro-) level empowerment of the women through ICTs. Therefore, this study does not support the contention that women are empowered through ICTs

Missing out or singling out? Parents’ views on how health professionals should work with them now to get the best for their child in the future

Aim To investigate parents’ views about how health professionals should identify and work with families who may benefit from additional input to maximise their children’s future health and well-being. Methods A qualitative study was conducted. Eleven focus group interviews were carried out with 54 parents living in the north of England. Comparative analysis was carried out to highlight similarities and differences across key concepts. Results The idea of preventive services was welcomed by all parents. They strongly believed that everyone should have access to services aiming to enhance child well-being. Parents recognised that some families need additional support but were concerned that targeted services could result in missing out on some services. They were also concerned that if certain services were offered because they belonged to a group with an increased likelihood of poor child outcomes this could lead to feelings of being assessed, stereotyped and judged and that their abilities as parents were being questioned. Parents projected a belief in themselves as ‘good parents’ even in adverse circumstances. Targeted services could be acceptable if health professionals introduced them sensitively, for example, encouraging attendance at groups to provide support was considered to be helpful. Conclusions Targeted additional preventive services can be acceptable and welcome if health professionals introduce them sensitively, in the context of an existing relationship, providing parents are active participants

Catching crabs: a case study in local-scale English conservation

Wells-next-the-Sea and Cromer in Norfolk (England) both rely upon their local crab populations, since crabbing (gillying) is a major part of their tourist industry. Compared to a control site with no crabbing, crabs from Wells harbour and Cromer pier were found to have nearly six times the amount of limb damage. Crabs caught by the general public had more injuries than crabs caught in controlled conditions, suggesting the buckets in which the crabs were kept were to blame. Since there is much evidence that such injuries have negative impacts on the survival and reproductive success of the shore crab, this is taken as evidence of non-lethal injury from humans having a population-level effect on these animals. Questionnaire data demonstrated a public lack of awareness and want for information, which was then used to obtain funding to produce a leaflet campaign informing the public of how to crab responsibly. All data collected is available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.979288

A vocabulary list based on word frequency in fifth and sixth grade textbooks

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Make Your Own Bias Tape

Do you know how to make bias tape of the contrasting material with which you expect to trim your summer bungalow aprons and the children\u27s school dresses

A reply to Gallagher, O'Donnell, Minescu, & Muldoon's commentary on 'The effects of identification with a support group on the mental health of people with multiple sclerosis'

We wish to thank Gallagher and his colleagues for their kind words and insightful comments regarding our recent paper on the effects of identification with a support group on the mental health of people with multiple sclerosis. We too agree that this is an important area of research that is worthy of much future study. Below we provide a brief discussion of each of the three comments that Gallagher and colleagues made about our paper