Tuesday, August 6, 2019

War of Talent in Globalization Essay Example for Free

War of Talent in Globalization Essay Today, with a number of changes taking place in the world, one thing has become a clear reality that countries have changed their policies and criterion because of increasing waves of international competition. Talent hunt on the international scale is something almost every single nation, especially the developed world, is conscious of. The competition to hunt talent for the local economy is so remarkable that countries like Germany, famous for its tradition phobia for immigration, have shown inclination to attract foreign people to their country. Moreover, countries like China and Korea have started working in the same direction. Australia and Canada can be placed in the first row of the race, though. This hunt for talent has become very swift in the present times though it is not something new. According to David (2006) around 70% professionals working in science and engineering department of U. S. are natives of non-OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries. Additionally, a great portion of expatriate professionals that come to the OECD are from developing countries. About half of the total students in OECD countries are from the developing world. It is estimated that almost in every 10 tertiary educated grown-ups, who was born in the developing world, was living in U. S. Australia, Canada, or Western Europe in the year 2001. As shown by studies of World Bank and IMF, there is high correlation between talented people with sound education and legal migration. The rate of legal educated migrants is 4% higher now than it was ten years ago (37% and 33% respectively). Moreover, highly-skilled workers’ migration is another portion of the pie that is picked by the developed world. For examples, around 600,000 highly-skilled professionals work outside their native country, at any given moment, on temporary visas. The number of students (both men and women) studying at graduate and under-graduate level abroad has also almost doubled now (1. 6 million) as compared to 20 years ago. This is all because global climate for economic warfare has changed. For example, according to World Bank’s development research group’s director L. Alan Winters, worldwide migration of people to the OECD countries is to life up overall welfare of the world. If these countries increase migration by 3%, the world welfare would grow by 150 billion dollars which would be a much better gain than removing all kinds of restrictions on trade activities; and highly skilled workers come in the most affective category of this increase in migration . According to the author such terms as brain drain, war for talent should be discarded by the entire world because there is a more positive approach that the entire world can take of such programs as high-skilled migration (HSM), because by such programs all the countries can mutually benefit from exchange of knowledge. Although it is right that less developed countries are more at stake of loss by programs like HSM, the world should create an environment where positive-sum can benefit all. What is a point of regression here to the present writer is that either is it the label of HSM or war for talent, one thing is quite clear that developed countries are attracting professionals to their lands for their own good. Then, I must ask, how is it possible to abandon such terms as represent the situation clearly? One more disagreement that I would raise here is that David (2006) has provided the current picture of what is happening in the world regarding talent, how, then, can it be rational to be only imagine that the more powerful countries would initiate efforts by which developing world can benefit? Although this is right to bring ideas about how the world should be but staying away from reality is more dangerous. For example, the writer himself presents the case of Africa and Caribbean where educational system and health care have been hollowed out. Therefore, to me war of talent hold absolutely good in today’s context of globalization and should be referred to wherever necessary.

Monday, August 5, 2019

Behaviors and Practices of Nursing Students

Behaviors and Practices of Nursing Students Overview and Critical Appraisal of the Studies All of the included studies clearly outlined their research question, purpose, target population, sample and its characteristics. Out of 11 studies, five studies used cross sectional design (1, 9-12), two studies used longitudinal design (13-14), two studies used experimental designs (8, 15), and one study each used qualitative (16) and action research method (17). Out of 11 studies, five studies guided the research through the lens of theoretical framework (9, 11, 12, 14, 17). The sample size ranged from 15-300 and was recruited using convenient sampling. None of the studies used a random sample. Ethical approval and informed consent was obtained in all of the studies and essential measures were taken to ensure confidentiality and privacy of the participants. All of the studies used valid and reliable data collection instruments except some researchers (1, 10, 11, 14). The researchers used appropriate methods for descriptive and inferential analyses. The detail findings and strength s and limitations of the studies are presented in table I. Findings The findings of this review were reported under seven categories namely, physical and physiological self-care behaviors and practices, substance abuse and driving, health screening practices, emotional and psychological healthcare behaviors and practices, factors and interventions influencing healthcare behaviors and practices, comparison of health care practice of nursing and non-nursing students, and comparison of health behaviors and practice across academic years. Physical and Physiological Behaviors and Practices The physical and physiological behaviors and practices of nursing students was the most repetitive theme in most of the studies (1, 9-17). Based on findings of this review, it was defined as the behaviors or practices concerning diet or nutrition, exercise or physical activities, and sleeping habits of students. All of the studies under this theme reported healthy self-care behaviors of students except two studies (1, 10). For example, Horneffer (11) found that out of 300 students, 58% students exercised regularly while only 4% did not exercise. Nevins and Sherman (2016) found that out of 119 students, 77.7% ate a balanced diet while 22.6% rarely ate balanced diet, 62% students reported drinking about 3 to 8 glasses of water daily, 34% exercised regularly and 24.5% exercised rarely, but 70% students did not exercise enough. Consistently, Chow and Kalischuk (12) found that out of 211 students, 83% used to sleep 6 to 8 hours at night; 60% reported that the sleep was adequate while 37% reported inadequate sleep, 65% students reported drinking four to eight glasses of water or juice a day, 77% students ate balanced diet (49% frequently and 28% consistently), and 71% students exercised regularly or occasionally while 4% did not exercise at all. Clà ©ment et al., (13) observed self-care practices of students for three consecutive years: 1992, 1993, and 1994. The authors reported that majority of the students reported having adequate sleep (1992= 73%, 1993= 79%, 1994= 71%), eating balanced diet (1992= 88%, 1993= 81%, 1994= 79%), and carrying out adequate exercise (1992= 81%, 1993= 81%, 1994= 67%). Similar findings were reported by other researchers (8, 14-17). However, Ashcraft and Gatto (1) and Haddad et al., (10) reported that students had low to moderate self-care behaviors. The mean self-care practices on health responsibility, physical activity, and nutrition ranged from 2.07 to 2.58 indicating low self-care practices (10). In general, the evidence suggests that students have good self-scare practices in terms of nutrition, sleep, drinking water, and physical activity. Siappos et al., (16) qualitative findings affirms this because the students realized the importance of balanced diet, active lifestyle, adequate sleep, and body hygiene in maintaining their self-care. Substance Abuse and Driving Practices Several studies reported substance abuse including tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drug use and driving habits of nursing students (11-14, 16). In general, all of the studies reported that nursing students avoided smoking, alcohol consumption, drug abuse, and use safety measures while driving. For example, Siappos et al., (16) reported that students did not want to use tobacco and drugs because they considered them a threat to their health and security. Horneffer (11) reported that 71% students never smoked and 18% never consumed alcohol. However, 5% who smoked were not interested in quitting and 38% who consumed alcohol did not intend to refrain from it. Chow and Kalischuk (12) found that 59% students consumed alcohol occasionally while 35% did not consume at all and 85% students were non-smokers. This was the highest percentage of alcohol consumption in all the reviewed studies. Likewise, Clà ©ment et al., (13) found that over three years, 80 to 93% students did not consume alcohol, 80% to 90% abstained from smoking, and 94% to 90% wear seat belts while driving. Shriver and Scott-Stiles (14) assessed self-care practices of 71 nursing students over two years. The researchers found that there was improvement in the self-care behaviors of nursing students regarding alcohol and illegal drug use; in the first year 9.9% students consumed alcohol and 1.4 % used illegal drugs, while in the second year 8.8% consumed alcohol and 0 % used illegal drugs. Regarding driving habits, an improvement was seen; in the first year 57.7% always wear seat belt as drivers and 39.4% as passengers, while in the second year this percentage increased to 77.2% and 57.9% respectively. On the other hand, the students smoked more in the second year (8.8%) compared to first year (7.0%). However, the results of this study should be generalized with caution due to 9.94% attrition of nursing students in the second year. Health Screening Practices Health screening practices including Pap smear, self-breast examinations, self-testicular examination, and general screening were assessed by only two studies. Clà ©ment et al., (13) assessed self-care behaviors of students concerning self-breast examinations, clinical breast examination, and Pap smear. The researchers found that high percentage of nursing students engaged in clinical breast examination (1992= 75%, 1993= 79%, and 1994= 77%) and Pap smear (1992= 67%, 1993= 69%, and 1994= 81%) compared to self-breast examination (1992= 27%, 1993= 41%, and 1994= 43%). Shriver and Scott-Stiles (14) found that the percentage of students engaged in most of health screening practices increased from first year to second year. For example, self-breast examination (23.3% to 33.3%), self-testicular exam (0% to 33.3%), and blood pressure monitoring (83.1 to 87.7%). However, there was a slight decrease in some areas such as cholesterol monitoring (31.0% to 29.8%) and safe sex practices (63.4% to 50.9%). In general, the results are mixed but indicates that students engage themselves in their health screening and realize its importance in maintaining self-care. Emotional and Psychological Behaviors and Practices Several studies discussed the emotional, psychological and supportive self-care behaviors and practices of students (1, 8-12, 17). For this review, such practices entailed stress management, spiritual growth, interpersonal relations, and use of complementary therapies. Haddad et al., (10) reported low scores on spiritual growth, interpersonal relations and stress management of both Canadian and Jordanian nursing students with mean scores: spiritual growth (2.97 vs 2.98), interpersonal relations (3.12 vs 2.78), and stress management (2.46 vs 2.58). In general, the scores indicated that students did not engage in healthy emotional and psychological self-care practices. Contrary to these findings, Stark (15) reported generally good mean scores on these two domains; spiritual growth (3.27), interpersonal relations (3.43) and low scores on stress management (2.53). With regard to emotional self-care, Padykula (17) assessed emotional well-being of students and reported a high mean score of 4.12. With regard to the use of complementary therapies by students, Nevins and Sherman (9) found that out of 119 students, 45% actively used complementary therapies such as yoga, music, and meditation and while 54% denied using such therapies. This high percentage of students not using complementary therapies could be due to their lack of knowledge. The researchers reported that students rated their knowledge about such therapies 5.5 on the scale of 10. Chow and Kalischuk (12) also found that out of 211 students, 76% students used complementary therapies for maintaining their emotional and psychological well-being. The students mainly used complementary therapies: massage (54%), vitamins (49%), chiropractic (25%), herbal medicine (24%), yoga (21%), aromatherapy (18%), and acupuncture (9%). Based on mixed findings under this theme, it could be implied that the data is insufficient to reach a conclusion as to what extent students engage in self-care practices that promote their emotional an d psychological well-being. Factors/Interventions influencing Self-Care Behaviors and Practices Several factors and interventions were reported to influence self-care practices and behaviors of students (1, 8-13, 15-17). The common factors were cultural beliefs, perceptions about health, watching awareness programs about self-care on TV (10), academic and clinical stress and workload (13, 16), and increased knowledge of diseases, poor life style habits and their consequences, and importance of becoming a role model for patients (14). With regard to interventions, several researchers tested the effect of interventions on self-care practices of students. For example, Stark et al., (8) and (15) tested the effect of health promotion intervention, while Padykula (17) studied the influence on self-care practices in response to a holistic nursing course and reflective journaling. Stark et al., (8) tested an intervention consisting of teaching session about importance of self-care, development of self-care plan, and evaluation of self-care plan over a semester in 82 nursing students, 72 occupational therapy, and 47 speech language pathology students. The speech pathology students were part of comparison group and received no intervention. With regard to intervention, significant differences were noted in the health practices concerning overall HPLP (p=0.014), physical activity (p=0.001), and nutrition (p=0.025). Stark et al., (15) encouraged 67 students to develop a lifestyle self-care plan and engage in 2 hours/week sel f-care practice. The researchers found that this intervention resulted in an improvement of self-care practices in five domains; health responsibility (p=0.001), physical activity (p=0.001), nutrition (p=0.002), spiritual growth (p=0.002), and stress management (p=0.004). However, no significant differences were noted in the interpersonal relations domain (p=0.257). Likewise, Padykula (17) found significant pre-post mean differences in the domains: environment (4.27 vs 4.35), health responsibility (4.17 vs 4.32), and emotional well-being (4.12 vs 4.23). Overall, based on these findings, it could be implied that students may find it difficult to engage in self-care due to the above listed factors but the use of educational and health promotion interventions help in improving their self-care behaviors and practices. Comparison of Self-Care Practices of Nursing and Non-Nursing Students The self-care practices of nursing and non-nursing students were compared in three studies (8, 13-14). Stark et al., (8) compared 82 nursing students with 72 occupational therapy and 47 speech language pathology students. As previously discussed, speech pathology students were part of comparison group and received no intervention. The researchers compared the intervention and comparison groups, but no comparison was made between three groups of students. Clà ©ment et al., (13) compared practices of nursing students with education students and then made an overall comparison of both nursing students with a baseline study of Quebec population (which is beyond the discussion of this paper). With regard to nursing students and education students, the researchers noted no significant difference in the health behaviors of nursing students over three years (pà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤0.05) and between nursing and education students (pà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤0.05). Shriver Scott-Stiles, (14) compared self-car e practices of 71 nursing students and 83 non-nursing students in a two years longitudinal study. The number of students decreased in the second year resulting in 57 nursing students and 20 non-nursing students, therefore results should be generalized with caution. Some interesting findings of this study were: non-nursing students (45.8%) exercised more regularly than nursing students (22.5%), but also smoked more than nursing students (non-nursing= 14.5% and nursing = 7.0%). Overall, significant improvements were seen in the self-care behaviors and practice of nursing students compared to non-nursing students in the domains: eating habits (p=0.05) and self-breast examination (p=0.009). Overall, with one positive and one negative finding it was difficult to conclude whether nursing students self-care practices were better than non-nursing students. Comparison of Self-Care Behaviors and Practices across Academic Years Direct comparison of students practices across different academic years was not made, but several studies compared the self-care practices across semesters and over a period of two or three years (1, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17). For example, Ashcraft and Gatto (1) reported that no significant difference was noted among the nursing students as they progressed through different years (p=0.72), but the mean scores of decreased across years. Stark et al., (8) collected data at two points in time; semester I (T1) and semester II (T2) and noted significant differences between TI and T2 scores in the domains: health responsibility (p=0.027), physical activity (p=0.017), and nutrition (p=0.047). Contrary to these findings, Clà ©ment et al., (13) and Nevins and Sherman (9) did not note any statistically significant difference across self-care practices of students across academic years. Padykula (17) also assessed differences in students understanding of self-care practices at three times, that i s, at the beginning of the holistic nursing course, at the mid, and at the end. The researchers reported significant differences at three points in time, but these findings cannot be substituted for self-care practices of students. Overall, these findings indicated that none of the studies directly compared the differences in self-care practices across years, therefore no conclusion can be drawn. Discussion and Areas for Future Research This literature review explored self-care behaviors and practices of nursing students in general as well as across the academic years of study and identified areas for future research. The review of literature indicted that there are limited number of studies conducted to explore self-care practices and behaviors of nursing students. An interesting pattern in the reviewed studies was the inclusion of more female nursing students compared to male nursing students. This could limit the findings of the studies to female population only. Therefore, future studies should recruit an equal number of male and female students or should only focus on male nursing students. Also, future studies should use large, random, and representative samples. The future studies could also employ mixed-method approaches because the use of quantitative studies and self-administered instruments for data collection could have provided an incomplete understanding of students self-care practices. The general conclusion drawn from the reviewed studies is that nursing students understand the importance of self-care for personal well-being and realized the importance of maintaining their diet, sleep, and activity level in order to improve physical and physiological health. They tend to refrain from tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drug use and pay attention to their personal safety. Nursing students also engage in self-screening practices. However, further research is needed to explore general health screening practices of students because reviewed studies provided limited evidence in this area. These studies focused on exploring screening practices related to Pap smear, self-breast and self-testicular examination and did not explore general screening practicing such as regular dental checkups, stress and depression testing, diabetic testing, blood pressure monitoring, blood work and so forth. Also, the findings concerning self-testicular examination are not generalizable because o f the limited number of male studies in the sample. Although studies reported factors and interventions that may influence self-care practices of nursing students, further correlational research is needed to explore the strength of relationship of these factors. Further research is also needed to study the effect previously discussed interventions through more robust experimental studies such as Randomized Control Trials (RCT). Future RCTs should include nursing students as control or comparison group rather than non-nursing students which may help in reducing any possible biases due to matching of characteristics of comparison and control groups. Since none of the studies directly compared the self-care practices and behaviors of students across different academic years, further research is need to fill this research gap too. Further research is also needed to explore the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of students regarding complementary therapies. Limitations This review is subject to several limitations: i) literature search within four databases only and inclusion of limited studies could have resulted in excluding other relevant studies thereby providing an incomplete understanding of students self-care practices, ii) the exclusion of dissertations and theses could have also limited an in-depth understanding, and iii) the thematic analysis of self-care practices and behaviors could have been guided by any pertinent theoretical and conceptual framework. Conclusion In conclusion, nursing students understood the importance of self-care for personal physical, psychological, and emotional well-being and realized the importance of maintaining their diet, sleep, and activity level to improve physical and physiological health. They tend to refrain from tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drug use, pay attention to their personal safety, and focus on several health screening practices including Pap smear, self-breast and self-testicular examination. However, students tend to neglect self-care practices which could improve their emotional and psychological health because of several factors such as academic stress, workload and inadequate knowledge about the strategies to improve self-care in this domain. There seems to be limited evidence for drawing any conclusions regarding students use of complementary therapies for self-care, the difference between self-care practices of nursing and non-nursing students, the usefulness of different interventions for impr oving students self-care practices, and difference is self-care practices and behaviors of students across academic years. Therefore, future research is needed in these areas. References Ashcraft PF, Gatto SL. Careà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ofà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ self in undergraduate nursing students: A pilot study. Nurs Educ Perspect. 2015;36(4):255-6. Younas A. A foundational analysis of Dorothea Orems self-care theory and evaluation of its significance for nursing practice and research. Creat Nurs. 2017;23(1):13-23. Austen M. Self-care in nursing: A call to action. 2015.[cited 2017 Feb 27]. Retrieved From https://www.arnbc.ca/blog/self-care-in-nursing-a-call-to-action-by-maren-austen-bsn-student/ Mills J, Wand T, Fraser JA. On self-compassion and self-care in nursing: Selfish or essential for compassionate care? Int J Nurs Stud. 2015;52(4):791-3. Pulidoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Martos M, Augustoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Landa JM, Lopezà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Zafra E. Sources of stress in nursing students: A systematic review of quantitative studies. Int Nurs Rev. 2012;59(1):15-25. Younas A. Levels of stress and coping strategies used by nursing students in Asian countries: An integrated literature review. The Journal of Middle East and North Africa Sciences,2016; 2(4), 50-57. Clark CS. Stress, psychoneuroimmunology and self-care: What every nurse needs to know. J Nurs Care. 2014;3(2):146. Stark MA, Hoekstra T, Hazel DL, Barton B. Caring for self and others: Increasing health care students healthy behaviors. Work. 2012;42(3):393-401. Nevins CM, Sherman J. Self-care practices of baccalaureate nursing students. J Holist Nurs. 2016;34(2):185-92. Haddad L, Kane D, Rajacich D, Cameron S, Alà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Maaitah R. A comparison of health practices of Canadian and Jordanian nursing students. Public Health Nurs.2004;21(1):85-90. Horneffer KJ. Students self-concepts: Implications for promoting self-care within the nursing curriculum. J Nurs Educ.2006;45(8). Chow J, Kalischuk RG. Self-care for caring practice: Student nurses perspectives. International Journal for Human Caring. 2008;12(3):31-7. Clà ©ment M, Jankowski LW, Bouchard L, Perreault M, Lepage Y. Health behaviors of nursing students: A longitudinal study. J Nurs Educ. 2002;41(6):257-65. Shriver CB, Scott-Stiles A. Health habits of nursing versus non-nursing students: a longitudinal study. J Nurs Educ. 2000;39(7):308-14. Stark MA, Manning-Walsh J, Vliem S. Caring for self while learning to care for others: a challenge for nursing students. J Nurs Educ. 2005;44(6):266-70. Siappo CL, Nà ºÃƒ ±ez YR, Cabral IE. Nursing students experiences in selfcare during training process in a private university in Chimbote, Peru. Escola Anna Nery. 2016;20(1):17-24. Padykula BM. RN-BS students reports of their self-care and health-promotion practices in a holistic nursing course. J Holist Nurs.2016:0898010116657226. Table I Summary of the Reviewed Studies Authors/ Study Purpose Methods/Sample Findings Strengths and Limitations Shriver Scott-Stiles (2000) To determine if nursing students practice healthy life Styles that would help prepare them to be effective advocates for health promotion and disease prevention. A longitudinal comparative study with a sample of 71 nursing students and 83 non-nursing students. Seven health care behaviors: sleep, diet, activity, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, sexual habits, self-screening were assessed. The Health Habit Inventory was used for data collection. The health behaviors of nursing were significantly higher than non-nursing students in both pre-and post-comparison. Strengths Use of theoretical framework, comparative analysis of two different populations, matching of groups in terms demographic variables, and appropriate statistical analysis. Limitations Convenient sample, more female students compare to male, mismatching in the age and gender of the groups, and use of non-valid and reliable instrument. Clà ©ment et al., (2002) To compare health care behaviors of nursing and education students over three year and to compare their results with general population. A longitudinal comparative study with a sample of 52 nursing students and 93 education students. Seven health care behaviors: sleep, diet, physical activity, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, self-breast examinations, pap tests, and clinical test examination were assessed. The Health Behavior Questionnaire was used for data collection. There were no significant differences in the health behaviors intervention and control group. Strengths Comparative analysis of two different populations, matching of groups in terms demographic variables, and appropriate statistical analysis. Limitations The participants were mainly female nursing students, high attrition rates (73.1% for nursing students and 58.9% for education students), and no random sample. Haddad et al., (2004) To compare healthcare practices of Canadian and Jordanian nursing students A descriptive cross sectional survey with a sample of 49 Canadian and 44 Jordanian nursing students. Data was collected using Health Promoting Life Style Profile-II (HPLP-II) which collects information regarding health responsibility, physical activity, nutrition, spiritual growth, interpersonal relations and stress management. Both Canadian and Jordanian students scored low to m moderate on all domains. The Canadian scored more on health care practices in terms of health responsibility, physical activity, and interpersonal relations. Strengths Comparative analysis of two different cultures. Limitations The participants were mainly female nursing students, use of non-valid and non-reliable Arabic version of HPLSP-II, small and convenient sample. Stark et al., (2005) To study the effect of health promotion intervention on self-care of nursing students. A pre-post intervention study with a sample of 67 students. The intervention consisted of development of lifestyle self-care plan and 2 hours/week self-care practice. The HPLP-II was used for data collection. A significant increase in self-care of nursing students was noted on six domains of HPLSP-II except for interpersonal relations. Strengths Use of a valid and reliable data collection tool, appropriate statistical analysis, Limitations Small and non-random convenient sample, no blinding, and no comparison or control group. Horneffer (2006) To assess nursing students degree of alignment with their self-concepts beliefs and explore the relationship of self-concepts with health behaviors and attitude towards health promotion messages. A descriptive cross sectional survey with a sample of 300 students. Data was collected using a scale to measure dimensions of self-concept (anonymous scale), Health Risk Assessment Form, and Heath Promotion messages regarding diet, exercise, and sleeping habits. Most of the students perceived that health is closely related to taking care of oneself and dimensions of self-concept associated with health behaviors and responses to health promotion messages. Strengths Use of a theoretical framework to conceptualize self-concept and use of large sample. Limitations Data collection from one institution and little information provided about the validity and reliability testing of the used instruments. Chow Kalischuk (2008) To examine undergraduate nursing students self-care behaviors. A descriptive cross sectional survey with a sample of 211 out of 330 students. Data was collected using the Self-Care Complementary Therapies Survey. The nursing students practiced a positive level of self-care. Most of the students reported that they drink enough fluids, have adequate sleep, eat balanced diet, personally used complementary therapies. Strengths Use of a theoretical model as a framework and the use of a valid and reliable data collection tool. Limitations Small and convenient sample, cross-sectional design, and data collection from one institution, and more female participants than male. Stark et al., (2012) To increase health care behaviors of healthcare students by using a health promotion intervention. A pre-post intervention study with a comparison group. The sample consisted of 201 students; 82 nursing students, 72 occupational therapy, and 47 speech language pathology students. The HPLP-II was used for data collection. Speech language pathology students received no intervention. The intervention consisted of teaching session about importance of self-care, development of self-care plan, and evaluation of self-care plan over a semester. The intervention group improved their self-care practices compared to comparison group. There were also significance differences in pre-and post-comparison. Strengths Use of a valid and reliable data collection tool, use of comparison group, appropriate statistical analysis, and matching of comparison and intervention group in terms of age, race, gender and marital status. Limitations Small and non-random sample, no blinding, and discipline specific differences among the participants were not considered, and more female students than male. Ashcraft Gatto (2015) To explore self-care practices among nursing students. A pilot cross-sectional study with a sample of 199 students. Live Well Lifestyle Assessment Scale was used for data collection. Students tend to neglect their self-care and focus more on the care of patients. Limitations Small and convenient sample, pilot design, and data collection from one institution, missing data as 81 (41%) questionnaires were invalid, and more female students compare to male. Nevins Sherman (2016) To investigate baccalaureate nursing student perspectives of self-care practices to gain understanding of their value in health promotion. A descriptive cross sectional survey with a sample of 119 students. Data was collected using the Self-Care Complementary Therapies Survey. The overall health status was rated as 7.8 on 10. Students diet, sleep, and exercise practices were satisfactory. Strengths Use of a theoretical model as a framework and the use of a valid and reliable data collection tool. Limitations Low response rate (44.5%), small and convenient sample, cross-sectional design, data collection from one institution, chances of social desirability bias. Padykula (2016) To explore RN-BS students self-care and health promotion practices (SCHP) in a holistic nursing course. A qualitative study action research with a sample of 15 students. Data was collected using reflective journal writing and the Integrative Health and Wellness Assessment (IHW

Sunday, August 4, 2019

The Emotion of Fear Essay -- essays research papers

Fear Do all living things fear something? Those with minds surely have many and various fears, but even the simplest organisms must have fear, for fear is such a powerful feeling. Fear is all around us and is felt in every corner of the earth. Fear is the emotion or feeling that a living creature gets when its physical or mental life is interrupted by a change that causes the creature concern.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We humans especially, fear many different things: death, disease, old age, commitment, noises in the night, pain, responsibility, work, being too fat or too thin, or any number of other things. Some of our fears are reasonable and rationale, like the fear for our safety so we lock our doors at night, never walk alone on dark streets, and turn on lots of lights to keep the boogie man away. We fear for our health so we diet, exercise, and eat only healthy foods. Our fears can also help us make wise decisions: where to live, what to do with our money, how to raise our children, even what kind of car to drive and whether or not to drive it. Our fears may be sudden like when your kid brother jumps out behind you and yells ‘boo’. People’s fears can be built up over a long period of time, for example, during the cold war millions of people thought that at any moment they would be attacked by the Russians, so they built bomb shelters because of that fear. Some of our fears come straight from our imagination. They may appear irrational or silly to others but fear, real or imagined, i...

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Understanding Themewriting and Someones Pain :: Communication Language Essays

Understanding Themewriting and Someone's Pain Trying to break free from the hold that themewriting has on me is getting to be hard. I never knew that it had such a grip. What is especially difficult is that I need to break free from its grip for this class but yet it is pretty much demanded for the psychology research articles that I am writing. I find that it's difficult to juggle both trying to break free and trying to hold on because of another class. Where does a person incorporate both themewriting and non-themewriting or can a person even think of such a thing? But then to say that I cannot, or possibly have to, incorporate both gives me a rule that I have to follow and wouldn't that constitute themewriting once again? And aren't we supposed to be breaking free of the rules that we have to follow for writing? Themewriting has become so complex to me that I have yet to come up with a definition of what themewriting is. It seems to me that for a person to say "we need to break free of themewriting" or "we need to learn to not write like that" would give me rules to follow in my writing which would constitute themewriting. It's almost like the professor who, on the first day of class, wrote "the is no absolute truth" on the blackboard. The statement itself becomes an absolute truth. I understand how it feels to not be able to write down the feelings that I have. To not be able to express the feeling that I have in words. That may be a result of themewriting, I don't know. When I was in high school I used to write poems, not very good ones I must admit, but none the less, I was able to put my feelings down on paper. But after high school, I lost it or it got replaced by what has come to be called themewriting. All I know is that writing the poems that I once did is difficult to do and I seldom do it. Can I blame that on my high school teachers? When they told me how to write and what to write? Or must the blame fall on me? Or is there no one to blame? I've been reading much about voice. I've read that we shouldn't stereotype, or look for the gender of, the author. Understanding Themewriting and Someone's Pain :: Communication Language Essays Understanding Themewriting and Someone's Pain Trying to break free from the hold that themewriting has on me is getting to be hard. I never knew that it had such a grip. What is especially difficult is that I need to break free from its grip for this class but yet it is pretty much demanded for the psychology research articles that I am writing. I find that it's difficult to juggle both trying to break free and trying to hold on because of another class. Where does a person incorporate both themewriting and non-themewriting or can a person even think of such a thing? But then to say that I cannot, or possibly have to, incorporate both gives me a rule that I have to follow and wouldn't that constitute themewriting once again? And aren't we supposed to be breaking free of the rules that we have to follow for writing? Themewriting has become so complex to me that I have yet to come up with a definition of what themewriting is. It seems to me that for a person to say "we need to break free of themewriting" or "we need to learn to not write like that" would give me rules to follow in my writing which would constitute themewriting. It's almost like the professor who, on the first day of class, wrote "the is no absolute truth" on the blackboard. The statement itself becomes an absolute truth. I understand how it feels to not be able to write down the feelings that I have. To not be able to express the feeling that I have in words. That may be a result of themewriting, I don't know. When I was in high school I used to write poems, not very good ones I must admit, but none the less, I was able to put my feelings down on paper. But after high school, I lost it or it got replaced by what has come to be called themewriting. All I know is that writing the poems that I once did is difficult to do and I seldom do it. Can I blame that on my high school teachers? When they told me how to write and what to write? Or must the blame fall on me? Or is there no one to blame? I've been reading much about voice. I've read that we shouldn't stereotype, or look for the gender of, the author.

Ma Joad as Leader in The Grapes of Wrath :: Grapes Wrath essays

In a crisis, a person's true colors emerge. The weak are separated from the strong and the leaders are separated from the followers. In John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family, forced from their home in Oklahoma, head to California in search of work and prosperity only to find poverty and despair. As a result of a crisis, Ma Joad emerges as a controlled, forceful, and selfless authority figure for the family. Ma Joad exhibits exelent self-control during the sufferings and frustrations of the Joad's journey. Ma knows that she is the backbone of the family, and that they will survive only if she remains calm. Ma keeps her self-control when Ruthie tells some children about Tom's secret. The family becomes nervous and enraged over the situation, but Ma restores order by handling the situation in a calm and collected manner. If Ma were to ever show fear, the family would most likely collapse. For, "Old Tom and the children could not know hurt or fear unless she acknowledged hurt or fear." Thus, if Ma acts as if everything is all right, then the family will assume everything is all right. Most members of the family openly express their doubts or fears. Ma may be just as frightened as the rest of the family, but she always maintains a front for the rest of the family. When Ma had fears, "She had practiced denying them in herself." This extraordinary self-control helps to keep the Joad unit together and alive. Ma, like all leaders, must be forceful for things to work in her favor. Numerous situations occur in which Ma must be forceful or relinquish her role as the head of the family. Her forceful leadership occurs once when the family, without Ma's consent, agrees to leave Tom and Casey behind to fix the Wilson's car. Ma feels this will break up the family and uses a jack handle to prove her point. It is at this point Ma replaces Pa as the official head of the family. Ma's forceful leadership also surfaces when she threatens a police officer with a frying pan and when she decides for the family to leave the government camp. In both situations Ma must use force to achieve her objectives; in both situations, she emerges victorious. Eventually, Pa becomes angered because of his loss of power to a woman and says in frustration, "Seems like times is changed.

Friday, August 2, 2019

Metabical: Case Analysis

Barbara Print, senior director of marketing for SSP, needs to analyze the market radically in order to decide the pricing and packaging strategy and forecast the demand for the product before it is launched. The demand forecast and the pricing and packaging strategies all plays a significant role in determining the long-term success of Metabolic because the drug market Is Intensely competitive and only those products which are marketed with Innovative strategies can survive In the market. Packaging decision is the first thing that needs to be taken care of.Since FDA trials showed that most of the people were able to achieve their weight loss goals by week helve, the drug would be approved as a twelve- week treatment plan. The major issue that Print needs to consider is the number of pills that would be included in each pack. Packing the entire twelve- week supply In one package does sound Like a good plan but SSP should not forget that packaging plan directly ties In with the pricing plan and can have a huge effect on the number of potential customers.Even though the twelve- week supply package will enable the customers to complete the twelve- week cycle without dropping out, it does limit the potential customers to only hose who can afford the entire medication program with one-time pay. Exhibit 1 shows that the highest percentage of obese people is in the lower income bracket. 32. 5% of the obese people earn less than $25000. This shows that most of Meatball's targeted customers earn less than $25000. Considering this fact, It would make sense to conclude that majority of Meatball's customers will not be able to afford the entire twelve-week package.It would be better to divide the package into three parts with each package consisting of 30 pills enough for a month. Customers loud have to buy the pills package three times because Metabolic is a three- month treatment plan and each package would have pills enough for one month. This type of packaging has one m ajor advantage. It would be able to attract more customers. Although Metabolic Is a prescribed drug, It Is still a new drug and consumers would not want to take the risk of paying a large amount and buying the entire twelve-day package when they are not even sure if the drug would actually work for them or not.They would be more interested in buying the product if it is packaged for one month cause they would not be spending a whole lot of money at once and they would not be wasting it if they happen to be allergic to the pills. The only issue with the one-Mont package would De Tanat tenure would a De no guarantee Tanat ten consumers will complete the entire treatment. However, this would not be much of an issue because Meatball's customers are people who desperately want to lose their weight and it is less than likely that they would forget to refill their pills.The next issue that Barbara Print needs to consider is the pricing of Metabolic. The pricing strategy also directly ties in with the demand forecast. Printer's first pricing strategy model was based on Allis's pricing model. This seems to be a reasonable approach considering the fact that All is the closest comparable drug that exists in the market. Print makes an assumption while determining the price of Metabolic using the first pricing model. She assumes that consumers will be ready to pay more for a prescription drugs compared to non-prescription drug.Would the consumers really be willing to pay more Just because it is a prescription drug and even if they do, how much more would they be willing to pay? Generally people trust prescribed drugs rather than non-prescribed ones. So, a higher price for a prescribed drug would be acceptable for them. However, setting the price too high would not be a good idea because exhibit 1 tells us that the buyers of this drug would most likely have lesser income. The price of $75 for a one-month supply of Metabolic seems pretty reasonable compared to Allis's $120 f or 50- day supply. 120 for 50 days means $2. 4 per day and $72 per month. Pricing Metabolic at $75 is absolutely reasonable in that it is Just $3 more than Allele and it has a comparative advantage of being a prescribed drug. Printer's second approach was based on a comparison of other SSP drug margins. Based on this model, Print came up with a price of $125 for a four-week supply. Her last approach focused on how much more over-weight individuals were ready to spend each year on health care. This approach resulted on a price of $1 50 for a four-week supply.A price of $1 50 would only be acceptable for the niche but if SSP wants to market Metabolic to a larger group it would not set its price as high as $150. A price of $75 is too low and a price of $150 is too high. $125 would be the right price for a four-week supply of Metabolic. Barbara Print should then forecast the demand for Metabolic in order to help the company set the sales targets. Demand forecast helps in planning the fi nancial requirements, inventory requirements and man power requirements. In her analysis, Print came up with three different approaches to forecast the demand.In her first approach, demand was forecasted based on the number of overweight individual in he US who were trying to lose weight and who were comfortable using weight-loss drugs. This approach enabled Print to conclude that Metabolic would be able to capture 10% of the consumers in the first year and 30% by the end of year five. Based on this approach, the number of potential users of Metabolic can be estimated. Exhibit 1 shows that 34% of the 209 million people were over-weight in the year 2000 which means 71. 06 million (34% of 209 million) out of the 209 million were over- weight.According to SSP study, only 35% of the 71. 06 million were actively trying to SSE weight and out of the 35% only 15% were comfortable using weight- loss drugs. This means that the 71. 06 million people can be narrowed down to 24. 871 million (35% of 71. 06 million) and eventually to 3. 731 million (15% of 24. 871 million). Print estimated that Metabolic will only be able to reach 0. 373 million consumers which is 10% of 3. 731 million, in its first year of operation. In her second approach, Print use ten result room SSP survey Ana concluded t weight individuals would be Meatball's immediate customers.Again, she made an assumption that Metabolic will only reach 10% of those individuals who were ready to use the product immediately. This gives an estimated number of 0. 853 million potential customers during the first year. Her third approach Just focused on the educated overweight females between the age of 25 and 30. This ideal target market comprised on 4. 3 million people and Print estimated that 30% of the 4. 3 million would be captured by Metabolic. This approach shows that the estimated potential users would be 1. 29 million in the first year.The three approaches show that the umber of Meatball's potential users ranges from 0. 373 million to 1. 29 million. Considering the fact that each individual would be buying 3 packs of Metabolic, the sales estimate for the first year would range from 1. 119 million to 3. 87 million. With a price of $125 for each pack, SSP would be able to earn between $139. 87 million to $483. 75 million in its first year of operation. It is important to come up with a suitable packaging and pricing strategy and the closest estimate of future demand in order to compare the product with the competing products and ensure that it survives in the

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Analysis: Jb Hi-Fi Essay

JB Hi-Fi limited is a company that is based in Australia. It usually engages in the selling of the home consumer electronic products which include the televisions, video cameras, mobile phones, home theatres, digital still and other electrical accessories like the kitchen equipment, computing equipment, the air conditioners, small electrical appliances like the car sound systems; both visual and audio and other things like the movies and games. It continues to stock exclusive specialist range of Hi-Fi products. JB Hi-Fi has its subsidiaries that include JB Hi-Fi (A) Pty Ltd, JB Hi-Fi Group Pty Ltd, Rocket Replacements Pty Ltd and JB Hi-Fi NZ Limited. JB Hi-Fi was established in 1974 by a simple philosopher Mr. John Barbuto (JB) who was trading from single store in Victoria a place called East Keilor. He was delivering variety of Hi-Fi equipments as well as recorded music at lowest prices in Australia. In 1983, the business was sold and later in 1999, nine stores were opened. With the aim of taking the business to be a successful model all over the nation, private equity bankers and senior management purchased the business in July 2000. JB Hi-Fi was floated in October 2003 on the Australian stock Exchange. JB Hi-Fi is the largest retailer as well as fastest growing home entertainment Retailer Company in Australia. The Queensland Clive Anthony’s stores were bought by JB in July 2004. The Queensland Clive Anthony was selling the consumer goods like the cooking appliances, consumer electronics and air conditioning equipments before it was bought. It has been revealed that the executive or the CEO of a Melbourne based JB who led to the company’s success in year 2009 Richard Uechtritz will retire from the position in August after being in that position for 10 years. He will be succeeded by Terry Smart who joined the company in year 2000 together with Uechtritz. Uechtritz led the company towards making a half year net profit of $76 million in Australian currency which is approximately $66 million from $59 million Australian equivalent of $51 million in corresponding period. He also scaled up the group sales from $1. 09 billion one year before to $1.35 billion by end of 2009. The 124 JB’s stores in Australia registered 10. 2percent comparative growth across the Australia while in its 10 stores in New Zealand a 5. 8 percent growth was achieved. JB Company was resilient throughout the economic crisis; this led to gained consumer confidence by the company. This is a clear indication of a strong retail model and how str ong the management team is strong. JB is also well known for being a leader in CD album sales. It is said that for every 10 albums sold, 4 of them are rung up in JB. This is widely seen as a major factor that is behind the Australia’s largest popularity in the CD albums market (JB Hi-Fi, 2010). The JB Hi-Fi Company has a charter that provides the summary of board of directors’ roles in the structure of the business and the company’s operations. To ensure that the company thrives and overcomes the crisis that may come on the way, the company has various strategies and ways to overcome that and to keep the company on the track which includes constitution and board of directors which has various roles and responsibilities. The company has got a constitution and also corporations’ act. The companies’ values are the trust, integrity and honesty. The board carries out the duties in regard to the interest of the companies’ shareholders, staff, customers and the community in which it operates. The board has responsibility for the company’s corporate governance which includes establishment and empowerment of board to assist in its work. The board is also responsible for overseeing the affairs and the business of the company by establishing the financial objectives and strategies for management to implement; reviewing and approving the financial objectives of the company and corporate plans as well as actions; approval of the capital expenditure in excess of limits that have been delegated to the management; approval of the capital management initiatives; another vital role is to ensure that they are adequate procedures are put in place so as to identify the principal risks in the business as well as implementing systems that are appropriate in managing the risks. The board is also responsible for communicating with the shareholders of the company as well as community at the right times towards getting right results and developing the business operations of the company. The board is also responsible for appointing or selecting and evaluating regularly the chief executive officer’s performance and also determining the remuneration and succession of the chief executive officer. The board is also responsible of approving the major human resource major policies as well as overseeing the strategy development for high performing and senior executives. The board should also ensure that the appropriate procedures are put in place so as to make sure that business is conducted in honest, ethical and in an open manner. The board is also supposed to institute the internal procedures for performance evaluation of the board, the individual directors and the board committees.