A Critical Examination of the Social Organizations within Canadian NGOs in the Provision of HIV/AIDS Health Work in Tanzania

The purpose of this study was to critically examine the social organizations within Canadian non-government organizations (NGOs) in the provision of HIV/AIDS health work in Tanzania. Using a post-Marxist theoretical framework, I employed the tools of institutional ethnography to understand how distinct forms of coordinated work are reproduced and embedded within the institution of Canadian NGOs at the local site of lived experiences. Multiple, concurrent methods, including text analysis, participant observation and in-depth interviews, were utilized. Data collection occurred over approximately a 19-month period of time in Tanzania and Canada. Interviews were conducted with health work volunteers, NGO administrators and staff and bilateral agency employees. Participant observation was used to record insights from the interviews as well as observations of the participants’ everyday work experiences. Further, since text-based forms of knowledge are essential in understanding ideologies, working activities, and power relations of an institution, text-analysis was used as a data collection technique. The findings, implications and recommendations of this study were theoretically derived. Neoliberalism and neo-colonialism ruled the coordination of international volunteer health work. In this study, three social relational levels were exposed: interpersonal social relations, organizational social relations, institutional social relation. Gender, race and class were the interpersonal social relations that advantaged the international volunteer health workers as ‘experts’ over the local community. \u27Volunteer as client\u27, ‘experience as commodity\u27 and ‘free market evaluation\u27 were the organizational social relations pervasive in talk and text. Neoliberal ideology and the third sector were interwoven and worked together to inform values and activities of international health work volunteers. Finally, the three institutional social relations, ‘favoring private sector interests’, ‘hegemonic accountability’ and ‘reality disconnected from rhetoric’ exposed the conflation between aid and trade bilaterally. This study has extended our understanding of the ways in which health work volunteers, NGO administrators, and bilateral agency employees come together to produce health work in Tanzania. The findings illuminate the need to generate additional awareness and response related to social inequities embedded in international volunteer \u27health work\u27 beyond who constitutes ‘the expert’. Health promotion strategies include challenging the role of neoliberalism, including foreign trade, in the delivery of international aid

SIBLING/SIBLING-IN-LAW RELATIONSHIPS IN THE PROVISION OF PARENTAL CARE TO PERSONS LIVING WITH DEMENTIA: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The current homecare structure cannot sustain adequate care for seniors living at home even with the support of family caregivers (Forbes & Neufeld , 2008). Indeed, two thirds of community-dwelling seniors receive some form of care from their adult children/children-in-law. However, seniors living with dementia can have additional care needs. Siblings/siblings-in-law are often involved in the negotiation of homecare with their parents/parents-in-law living with dementia. Based on a larger critical ethnographie study of client-caregiver-provider relationships in home-based dementia care (WardGriffin, McWilliam, Forbes, Klosek, Mowatt, & Bol, 2008), the purpose of this qualitative secondary analysis was to examine the relationships of siblings/siblings-in- law in the negotiation of home-based dementia care. The findings revealed two overarching themes, the social determinants of care and the negotiation of care. There were three social determinants of care: gender, birth order and proximity. The negotiation of care was the continuous enactment of performance measurement and positional power, premised on a set of expectations and quantifiable benchmarks. The social determinants of care coupled with the negotiation of care shaped the health experiences of the siblings/siblings-in-law of this study. The health enhancing experiences were epitomized by family cohesion, while the health threatening experiences embodied conflict and inequities in the distribution of care. These findings have direct implications for homecare nursing practice, policy and future research, which could further recognize the complexity of sibling/sibling-in-law relationships in terms of care planning

Designing open access, educational resources / Développer des ressources éducatives en libre accès

The recent bourgeoning of open educational resources has meant greater access to materials with open licenses in the public domain than ever before. Open educational resources are learning tools, such as textbooks, that are freely available and typically accessed online. Despite the expansion of open educational resources, many educators are still unacquainted with the nature and process of producing such resources. The purpose of this discussion paper is to share our experience in developing an open educational e-textbook for students in post-secondary programs for nursing and other health professions while highlighting practical tips for educators. The exemplar referenced in this paper focuses on vital signs’ measurement, a familiar concept for nurse educators, and a topic ubiquitous in healthcare. This paper is suited for any user curious about designing open educational resources with consideration of key elements to produce quality and educational resources that support excellence in nursing pedagogy. We begin by providing a background to our specific project followed by a discussion of the planning phase, the design phase, and other considerations. The e-textbook falls under a Creative Commons license and can be accessed for free by educators and learners. Résumé Le développement récent de ressources éducatives en libre accès a permis une accessibilité beaucoup plus grande, comme jamais auparavant, au matériel avec licences ouvertes dans le domaine public. Les ressources éducatives en libre accès sont des outils d’apprentissage, comme les manuels scolaires, qui sont offerts gratuitement et qui sont généralement accessibles en ligne. En dépit de la prolifération des ressources éducatives libres, bon nombre de professeurs sont toujours peu familiers avec la nature et le processus de production de telles ressources. L’objectif de ce texte de discussion est de partager notre expérience du développement d’un e-manuel de formation en libre accès, pour les étudiants inscrits dans les programmes postsecondaires pour la profession infirmière et les autres professions de la santé, tout en soulignant des conseils pratiques pour les professeurs. L’exemple, cité en référence dans ce texte, est axé sur la prise des signes vitaux, un concept familier aux infirmières enseignantes et un sujet omniprésent dans le domaine de la santé. Cet article convient à toute personne curieuse d’en apprendre davantage sur la conception des ressources éducatives en libre accès en tenant compte d’éléments clés afin de produire des ressources éducatives de qualité qui appuient l’excellence de la pédagogie en soins infirmiers. Nous établissons d’abord le contexte du projet particulier suivi d’une discussion sur la phase de planification, la phase de conception et sur d’autres éléments à considérer. Le e-manuel relève d’une licence Creative Commons et est accessible gratuitement pour les professeurs et les étudiants