Don’t Call Me Ishmael Essay

Throughout Michael Gerard Bauer’s Don’t call me Ishmael, the author frequently displays the contrasts between the two characters Ishmael Leseur and James Scobie. The two characters help each other find themselves throughout the book. They teach many valuable lessons and prove to us that being yourself rules over all. Firstly, both Scobie and Leseur have lessons they can teach to all. However, I have extracted my most meaningful quotes and sayings from the book. Sayings that teach the most valuable lessons and show deeper meaning in the characters. For instance, on page 20-21, Ishmael states â€Å"Essentially, the most important thing I learnt last year was to make myself as small target as possible.† I believe this has a strong message behind it, I interpret it as saying if you don’t do anything noticeable, then life will be easy. This however is not true. Rather than hiding from everything and trying your hardest to be invisible, we should learn to embrace life and the challenges that come with it. This is an extremely important life lesson that many people ignore. Another quote from earlier on in the book (page 69) Ishmael states â€Å"when Barry Bagsley threatened you, you backed down. That’s just the way it was† I interpreted the message in this to be that although it may seem impossible and scary, it’s sometimes better to stand up for yourself. Don’t call me Ishmael Essay: Throughout Michael Gerard Bauer’s Don’t call me Ishmael, the author frequently displays the contrasts between the two characters Ishmael Leseur and James Scobie. The two characters help each other find themselves throughout the book. They teach many valuable lessons and prove to us that being yourself rules over all. Firstly, both Scobie and Leseur have lessons they can teach to all. However, I have extracted my most meaningful quotes and sayings from the book. Sayings that teach the most valuable lessons and show deeper meaning in the characters. For instance, on page 20-21, Ishmael states â€Å"Essentially, the most important thing I learnt last year was to make myself as small target as possible.† I believe this has a strong message behind it, I interpret it as saying if you don’t do anything noticeable, then life will be easy. This however is not true. Rather than hiding from everything and trying your hardest to be invisible, we should learn to embrace life and the challenges that come with it. This is an extremely  important life lesson that many people ignore. Another quote from earlier on in the book (page 69) Ishmael states â€Å"when Barry Bagsley threatened you, you backed down. That’s just the way it was† I interpreted the message in this to be that although it may seem impossible and scary, it’s sometimes better to stand up for yourself. Don’t call me Ishmael Essay: Throughout Michael Gerard Bauer’s Don’t call me Ishmael, the author frequently displays the contrasts between the two characters Ishmael Leseur and James Scobie. The two characters help each other find themselves throughout the book. They teach many valuable lessons and prove to us that being yourself rules over all. Firstly, both Scobie and Leseur have lessons they can teach to all. However, I have extracted my most meaningful quotes and sayings from the book. Sayings that teach the most valuable lessons and show deeper meaning in the characters. For instance, on page 20-21, Ishmael states â€Å"Essentially, the most important thing I learnt last year was to make myself as small target as possible.† I believe this has a strong message behind it, I interpret it as saying if you don’t do anything noticeable, then life will be easy. This however is not true. Rather than hiding from everything and trying your hardest to be invisible, we should learn to embrace life and the challenges that come with it. This is an extremely important life lesson that many people ignore. Another quote from earlier on in the book (page 69) Ishmael states â€Å"when Barry Bagsley threatened you, you backed down. That’s just the way it was† I interpreted the message in this to be that although it may seem impossible and scary, it’s sometimes better to stand up for yourself. Don’t call me Ishmael Essay: Throughout Michael Gerard Bauer’s Don’t call me Ishmael, the author frequently displays the contrasts between the two characters Ishmael Leseur and James Scobie. The two characters help each other find themselves throughout the book. They teach many valuable lessons and prove to us that being yourself rules over all. Firstly, both Scobie and Leseur have lessons they can teach to all. However, I have extracted my most meaningful quotes and sayings from the book. Sayings that teach the most valuable lessons and show deeper meaning in the characters. For instance, on page 20-21, Ishmael states â€Å"Essentially, the most important thing I learnt last year was to make  myself as small target as possible.† I believe this has a strong message behind it, I interpret it as saying if you don’t do anything noticeable, then life will be easy. This however is not true. Rather than hiding from everything and trying your hardest to be invisible, we should learn to embrace life and the challenges that come with it. This is an extremely important life lesson that many people ignore. Another quote from earlier on in the book (page 69) Ishmael states â€Å"when Barry Bagsley threatened you, you backed down. That’s just the way it was† I interpreted the message in this to be that although it may seem impossible and scary, it’s sometimes better to stand up for yourself. Don’t call me Ishmael Essay: Throughout Michael Gerard Bauer’s Don’t call me Ishmael, the author frequently displays the contrasts between the two characters Ishmael Leseur and James Scobie. The two characters help each other find themselves throughout the book. They teach many valuable lessons and prove to us that being yourself rules over all. Firstly, both Scobie and Leseur have lessons they can teach to all. However, I have extracted my most meaningful quotes and sayings from the book. Sayings that teach the most valuable lessons and show deeper meaning in the characters. For instance, on page 20-21, Ishmael states â€Å"Essentially, the most important thing I learnt last year was to make myself as small target as possible.† I believe this has a strong message behind it, I interpret it as saying if you don’t do anything noticeable, then life will be easy. This however is not true. Rather than hiding from everything and trying your hardest to be invisible, we should learn to embrace life and the challenges that come with it. This is an extremely important life lesson that many people ignore. Another quote from earlier on in the book (page 69) Ishmael states â€Å"when Barry Bagsley threatened you, you backed down. That’s just the way it was† I interpreted the message in this to be that although it may seem impossible and scary, it’s sometimes better to stand up for yourself. Don’t call me Ishmael Essay: Throughout Michael Gerard Bauer’s Don’t call me Ishmael, the author frequently displays the contrasts between the two characters Ishmael Leseur and James Scobie. The two characters help each other find themselves throughout the book. They teach many valuable lessons and prove to us that  being yourself rules over all. Firstly, both Scobie and Leseur have lessons they can teach to all. However, I have extracted my most meaningful quotes and sayings from the book. Sayings that teach the most valuable lessons and show deeper meaning in the characters. For instance, on page 20-21, Ishmael states â€Å"Essentially, the most important thing I learnt last year was to make myself as small target as possible.† I believe this has a strong message behind it, I interpret it as saying if you don’t do anything noticeable, then life will be easy. This however is not true. Rather than hiding from everything and trying your hardest to be invisible, we should learn to embrace life and the challenges that come with it. This is an extremely important life lesson that many people ignore. Another quote from earlier on in the book (page 69) Ishmael states â€Å"when Barry Bagsley threatened you, you backed down. That’s just the way it was† I interpreted the message in this to be that although it may seem impossible and scary, it’s sometimes better to stand up for yourself. vDon’t call me Ishmael Essay: Throughout Michael Gerard Bauer’s Don’t call me Ishmael, the author frequently displays the contrasts between the two characters Ishmael Leseur and James Scobie. The two characters help each other find themselves throughout the book. They teach many valuable lessons and prove to us that being yourself rules over all. Firstly, both Scobie and Leseur have lessons they can teach to all. However, I have extracted my most meaningful quotes and sayings from the book. Sayings that teach the most valuable lessons and show deeper meaning in the characters. For instance, on page 20-21, Ishmael states â€Å"Essentially, the most important thing I learnt last year was to make myself as small target as possible.† I believe this has a strong message behind it, I interpret it as saying if you don’t do anything noticeable, then life will be easy. This however is not true. Rather than hiding from everything and trying your hardest to be invisible, we should learn to embrace life and the challenges that come with it. This is an extremely important life lesson that many people ignore. Another quote from earlier on in the book (page 69) Ishmael states â€Å"when Barry Bagsley threatened you, you backed down. That’s just the way it was† I interpreted the message in this to be that although it may seem impossible and scary, it’s sometimes better to stand up for yourself.

Functional Transition Assessment

Functional Transition Assessment attempts to integrate the student into the work force while the student is still in high school. It provides a temporary bridge or support structure for the student making the transition from an educational to a vocational environment. Although all students can benefit from such support, for students with disabilities such a program can prove especially critical. Also by incorporating vocational education early on to the student's high school career, Functional Transitional Assessment can instill a sense of responsibility in the student and confirm the practicality of the student's education. Thus, in can act as motivational tool to succeed in the classroom and in workforce. In your opinion, how important is self-determination for the Exceptional Student Education student in accomplishing his/her educational goals? The Exceptional Student Education student may often feel that he or she has been denied the ability to exercise much autonomy and control over his or her daily life, even when under the guidance of well-meaning parents and educators. It is critical that students, to function effectively in the workforce and in society, achieve a sense of autonomy and independence through reasonable, self-determined actions and choices throughout the educational process. Why do you think occupational guidance has become progressively and increasingly more prominent in high schools? The workplace has grown more competitive, technical and specialized in nature, thus there is more pressure upon students to specialize earlier and earlier in their educational careers. The price of a college education has also escalated, causing many students to turn to specifically vocational and technical schools after high school. Students may also wish to seek internships and part-time jobs to fund their educations that convey relevant skills and knowledge to their future full-time careers. Personal-Social Skills. In your opinion, how important is it for a student's future success in the transition to the work force? Emotional Intelligence, or the ability to work well with others, and to be sensitive to other persons' needs is a critical aspect of vocational success. It is not enough to know how to perform a task. One must know how to perform to one's best ability in an organizational context.

Informative Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Informative Research Paper - Essay Example It seems that solar energy is more potential as compared to other renewable energy sources, because it is easily and freely available and causes less harm to the environment. In the words of Daniel Lincot, the chairman of the five-day European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference held in Valencia, solar energy can meet the energy demand of the whole world, for it is a â€Å"renewable, safe, and clean source† of energy (qtd. in Hill). This paper will suggest solar energy as the most potential alternative renewable energy source currently available, for its potential features such as infinitely free energy, no greenhouse gases, saving eco-systems, and off-the-grid energy generation. Solar Energy The most potential feature of solar energy, according to Kamat, is that it is an infinitely free energy; and this would not usually incur any additional expenses other than the initial installation and maintenance costs (2834). As compared to conventional power generation, solar energy p roduction does not require expensive raw materials such as coal, and it requires a significantly lower labor force. Solar energy generation has advantages of direct and indirect costs. To illustrate, since sun and the solar semi-conductors can do the whole work, it would trim down labor costs to a great extent. In addition, no raw materials are to be extracted and refined for the production of solar power, and hence there are no indirect costs involved. Desideri finds solar energy as the most accessible renewable energy as compared to other energy, because it is more available and free, â€Å"and it is considered such as one of the greatest technological potential areas† (298). Sunlight is distributed almost equally all across the globe although there are some seasonal and territorial variations in the availability of sunlight; it also adds to the potentiality of this renewable energy. Another notable feature of solar energy is that there are no greenhouse gases emitted durin g the solar power generation process, and therefore it contributes little to environmental issues such as global warming or climate change. In addition, solar energy does not produce any smoke or chemical byproduct that is toxic to humans. Thomas also points out how a solar thermal or photovoltaic system avoids greenhouse gas emissions (28). It is clear that today nations strive to eliminate greenhouse gases and other toxic emission so as to promote the concept of sustainable development. In this context, this green energy technology would assist governments in cutting down their environmental intervention costs and promoting environmental sustainability significantly. Furthermore, since solar energy is free from environmentally harmful emissions, solar power plants can be established in any region where high intensity sunlight is available. The United States Environmental Protection Agency proposes solar energy as the most substantial choice: Solar energy is considered environmenta lly friendly because the sun is a natural energy source that does not require the burning of fossil fuels and the associated air emissions. In addition, it is considered renewable since the energy produced from the sun does not deplete any natural resources, and will never run out†¦ Certain additional features allow the end user to continue to operate even when the sun is not shining (EPA). Finally, developing more solar energy is a better way for organizations to demonstrate their corporate social responsibility, which is a central aspect of

Research proposal for female and management positions Essay

Research proposal for female and management positions - Essay Example About 30% of women in government positions are in decision making positions. Even though the women’s enrolment in institutions of higher learning is on the increase, the same has not been replicated in their participation in economic matters (McCrohan & Preiss, 2006). Their participation in economic affairs has increased by less than 7% since the year 1985 as compared to their enrolment in tertiary institutions, which has grown by more than 40% since the 1970’s. Worldwide studies have additionally revealed that women participation within the UAE in economic activities is extremely low when compared to their counterparts in other participating countries. This is in reference to businesses that are starting and established business activities. In contrast, the men in the UAE are over twenty times more involved in young businesses that are starting up (Erogul & McCrohan, 2007). Literature Review Previous literature within the country contains limited research on the women leaders found in the UAE just like outside researches, which also do not have much on them. The research previously has done on women focuses on women leaders in the US economy. However, there is little comparison with other women managers around the globe. Therefore, there is  a great need for carrying out research on the distinctive roles that women play in the economy. This will be done so as to enable conceptualization and validation of their unique roles. Some little research can however be found concerning the factors which support the leaders among women in their professions. They include parental supports especially their fathers, socialization within their families along with spousal support (Moore, 2007). Most of the previous research focuses on the support they get from their families. Little information can be found on the conditions at their places of work that facilitate the advancements in their careers. The previous research also dwells on the challenges that women encounter in advancing their leadership in business. The experiences of women leaders in the region have been documented based on their Islamic faiths. In contrast, women in countries such as France and Denmark with children aged go to work. This is enabled by the availability of pre-primary child care that is offered in schools (The Times, 1990). The current research shows there is a need to facilitate the conceptualization and qualitative validation of the differences among women and their separate experiences. The UAE is on record as being the best within the region in terms of treating her women. In addition, present research indicates that 10% of the managerial posts in the world of Arabs are usually held by their women. The changing of the traditional perceptions of a woman’s place is a slow process within the UAE (Erogul & McCrohan, 2007). Research Question †¢ Does insufficient self confidence, family conflicts, long working and stereotyping among women within th e UAE affect the participation in leadership positions in businesses? Theoretical Framework The dependent variable in the research is the participation of women in leadership positions in business within the UAE. It will be explained by the following independent variables: insufficient self confidence, family conflicts, long working hours and stereotyping. Women usually lack confidence because of their place within the society as stipulated by Islam. Their lack of self confidence is also attributable to the family conflicts that occur in their lives. Women within the region are often

Social Media and Mobile Search Marketing in Saudi Arabia Research Proposal

Social Media and Mobile Search Marketing in Saudi Arabia - Research Proposal Example According to reports released recently, there are approximately over three million Saudi Arabian Internet users who spent over three billion dollars in making purchases through ecommerce in the year 2010 (Bartlett, 2001). The biggest selling products were electronics which came second to the sale of software products during the year 2010 (Hillman et al, 2008). This implies that businesses who had invested in the internet during the year made big profits as a result of their investment activities. Hotels and airports also recorded booming online business, as they were the top earners for online businesses in the kingdom (Borysowich, 2010). Currently, reports indicate that there are signs that these values will continue rising within the next few years. This is because more people in their populations are joining the Internet and the service providers have also upgraded their systems (Hillman et al, 2008). For instance, the STC Company within the country has upgraded her broadband leve ls of penetration from 4% to 22% in the remote areas of the nation which were previously not able to access the service (Ader, 2008). This means that there is great support for similar businesses from the providers as they will be able to reach and trade with more citizens along with non-citizens in a more effective manner (Vithal and Jansen, 2009). The marketers participating or rather using the Internet should therefore begin developing their campaigns in the service. This is in view of the infrastructural developments going on and the profitable nature of ecommerce within the country (Hillman et al, 2008). There are predictions made that suggest that Internet spending is going to be on the rise as more of the wealthy people in the nation get faster access to the Internet. This is... As the discussion stresses the marketers participating or rather using the Internet should therefore begin developing their campaigns in the service. This is in view of the infrastructural developments going on and the profitable nature of ecommerce within the country. There are predictions made that suggest that Internet spending is going to be on the rise as more of the wealthy people in the nation get faster access to the Internet. This is in addition to the improvements being made in payment gateways to facilitate safer and faster transfers of funds. It is therefore the ideal moment for investors willing to invest in the sector to start exploring safe avenues and businesses to indulge in. This paper discusses that the use of the Internet within the Saudi Arabian population has led to an increased awareness of their rights and has also helped reduce the oppression against their women. For example, a campaign was started in the country using YouTube videos to sensitize the people on the right of a woman to drive. This was after the site highlighted the plight of a woman who was arrested on two separate occasions for driving and put into custody despite her driving safely. The aired clip raised a great stir within the population and this is a good example of just how influential the Internet is within the country. The Internet has been widely used across many family lines and countries to connect people and businesses, which makes it a suitable tool for marketing products to the population.

Policy Evaluation Findings and Recommendations Paper WK5 BPA 303 Essay

Policy Evaluation Findings and Recommendations Paper WK5 BPA 303 - Essay Example Social service programs are to be devised that could identify the social needs of children and their parents such as food, clothing and housing and ensure that these services are continuously available to families. The company currently has a policy that they comprehensively meet cognitive and academic needs of children; however, the organization must be focused towards providing development of a child across all domains (Chicago Department, 2010). The Federal Government should form a body of stakeholders that could address the matters of the organization and to assemble their workforce. The government should convene a pool of professionals that could be able to provide their suggestions voluntarily to generate more funds for the organization. The Federal Government should also develop a team of researchers that could find out new ways to teach young children and to improve their learning standards. The involvement of the family is the key to early learning of childhood which could help in successful parent engagement (Chicago Department,

W3 Disc Innovation Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

W3 Disc Innovation Strategy - Essay Example 1). Concurrently, the mission and military objectives are also expressly stated. These are openly communicated to all stakeholders, as evident from its being published online. The leadership checklist also indicates that the U.S. Army, through its leaders are committed to continuous thrusts for encouraging the development of innovative strategy. As emphasized, through leadership training courses, particularly the Noncommissioned Officer Education System (NCOES), soldiers are trained â€Å"how to lead at varying levels from Sergeant to Command Sergeant Major. Each course is specifically designed for each level of increased responsibility and accountability† (U.S. Army, n.d., p. 1). Likewise, processes and resources in the U.S. Army support and complement leadership, as well as the mission and vision statements. As noted, the command policy and programs contain all the crucial information that governs effective conduct and behavior of all soldiers (U.S. Army, 2007). In addition, the resources encourage solicitation of new ideas through leaders’ initiative and effective communication strategies. Overall, using the checklist for innovation strat egy, one could deduce that the U.S. Army assumes a proactive stance and is always ready to implement an innovation

A historical and critical analysis of an entrepreneurial venture Essay - 1

A historical and critical analysis of an entrepreneurial venture - Essay Example Starting a business is an exciting venture; however, it involves certain steps and stages in development. Therefore, in my paper, I would like to make a historical and critical analysis of an entrepreneurial venture; I will further construct my case study based on Amazon.com and analyze how the company has started and how it has developed, including the stages of venturing that I have identified, as well as problems it has struggled with and the business model that it has used according to a specific time frame and economic context. The founder of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, had the vision of building a place where people can find and discover anything they want to buy online at the lowest price possible. Now, before going any further into analyzing the way Jeff Bezos materialized this idea, I would like to look at one of Professor William Sahlman2’s lectures at Stanford and single out the fact that he stated that entrepreneurship is â€Å"about a way of managing that is focused on opportunity pursuit, future orientation and relentless execution regardless of the resources one actually possesses† (Academic Earth). ... Even though he did not have very extensive knowledge about the Internet, he decided to take the risk, because, as a true entrepreneur, he managed to grasp profit opportunities. This way, Jeff Bezos entered the universe of e-commerce and started his entrepreneurial venture with no previous trading experience. However, he did understand that the Internet was the one place that had the necessary means to help him accomplish his vision, since on the Internet one is able to develop a business that would be able to compete with other bigger businesses, by reaching customers which prefer the convenience of buying online. Jeff Bezos decided to start the company in Seattle because he believed that here he would find most of the technical professionals he needed. This way, Amazon.com was founded in Seattle, in 1994 and the company went online in 1995. The beginnings of the business were very humble: operating from a garage, Amazon.com benefited from a total investment of 1 million dollars, mon ey which came from Jeff Bezos’s personal funds, as well as loans from family and former co-workers. At that time, Amazon.com was selling only books online and the main strategy was to save money while honoring first orders from the customers: in order to cut operational costs, Bezos â€Å"built desks, bookcases, and other office furniture out of old doors and pieces of used lumber. To help supply electricity, he used power cables to bring electricity from the house to the garage. Once a customer placed an order, the staff would immediately request the title from one of their book suppliers. Everyone took turns packing books for shipment.† ( Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd ed.). The company struggled indeed with costs and expenses and

Humanity and Global Warming Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Humanity and Global Warming - Essay Example Evidence indicates humanity's direct impact on this trend in the latter half of this century, according to the 2001 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who base this claim on meteorological and oceanographic models. When these models - which are projected from geologic evidence of the Earth's natural history of climate change - are compared with the reality of today's climate, the difference bears a direct correlation to human output of carbon dioxide. The fossil fuels humans burn through transportation, household heating, and as a power source in general emit carbon dioxide, which in turn accumulate in the upper atmosphere and serve as a blanket by retaining solar heat. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are currently at their highest peak in the last 650,000 years (Fitzpatrick). This blanketing action is commonly referred to as the "Greenhouse effect" and is a naturally occurring phenomenon. Solar energy creates both the weather and climate, as well as warming the surface. The planet in turn reflects this heat back into outer space. The collection of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases in the atmosphere act like window panes on a green house, allowing the energy to enter, but then retaining a significant portion of the energy which allows the planet to remain at a comfortable average of 60F. The natural emission of greenhouse gases by humans has historically been counterbalanced by plant respiration and organic decomposition at a ratio of 10:1. Since the industrial revolution, however, human output of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide have all grown exponentially. Compounding the problem of rising greenhouse gases, increased farming production, mining, industrial pollution, and landfills have resulted in massive deforestation, thereby sign ificantly decreasing the method by which carbon dioxide is converted back into oxygen ("Climate"). Scientists have suspected a connection between human activity and global warming since the early 1920's, yet little conclusive evidence has been observable until the 1970's, when people grew concerned that the drought in the African Sahel was slowly being encroached by the Sahara. In 1975, Jule Charney (a climate modeler) proposed that the Sahel land, which had been largely cleared of vegetation for various reasons, now contained a large amount of exposed clay, which reflected a greater amount of heat, thereby effecting the wind and rain patterns of the region. By 1988, scientists had gathered enough evidence to confirm that cleared land not only warms more than forested land, but the rise in temperature makes it all the more difficult for vegetation to return. Human activity can therefore effect the climate through small changes to an environment's balance, which sets off a progression of effects that alter the environment completely (Weart, "Biosphere"). Today, there are numerous signs of global warming: warming ocean water is altering wind patterns (which combined with the evidence of cleared land warming results in massive droughts), since the melting polar ice masses shift precipitation further away from traditional regions ("Current Science"). Natural weather disasters have increased in

Normative Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Normative Ethics - Essay Example It is unfortunate if doctors or other concerned individuals would allow the mother to die just because abortion is not morally permissible. The mother can conceive again and luckily enough give birth to a healthy child but if neglected to die, such acts would remain in the guilty conscience of those involved for a longer time. Such cases occur in the event that the mother is not feeling well, the fetus has some terminal illness that might affect the mother, or the fetus is dead. Removing it from the womb would be beneficial to the mother physically. Most people nowadays especially the younger generations abort for the wrong reasons. Probably the individuals practiced unsafe sex resulting into unwanted pregnancies. Rather than keeping the baby and maybe giving it up for adoption after giving birth, the individuals decide to terminate the pregnancies. In other cases, married women decide to abort in the event that an unplanned pregnancy kicks in which they know their husbands would not approve. Others cheat on their husbands and abort when they get pregnant with the other man’s child. Such cases of abortion should not be morally permissible despite the justification such individuals try to make on the acts. I believe that if the health of the mother is not at stake, individuals should just carry the pregnancy to term and give the baby out for adoption if they do not need it. Actually, some couples out there cry themselves to sleep since they can never conceive. Ironically, others carelessly abort even as many as seven times before settling down and getting serious with life. Such individual women may fail to conceive later in their lives since in the process of so many abortions, they could have damaged their womb. From there, guilty conscience starts to eta them up with lots. Therefore, individual women should be careful if they do not wish to get pregnant; they should refrain or use the various birth control methods in the

The Effect of the Internet on the Newspaper Industry Essay Example for Free

The Effect of the Internet on the Newspaper Industry Essay The Effect of the internet on The Newspaper Industry’s Revenue Introduction            The newspaper industry is of late facing financial crisis as a result of the rising competition facilitated by news outlet on the global network, that is, the internet. The internet has changes of how people choose to access information. In 2012 eight major American newspaper were declared bankrupt. Having roughly 1400 newspapers countrywide, approximately half of them will go out of business by the end of the next decade. In between 2002 and 2009, average print circulation went down by 14. 5 percent. Over 85 percent of the newspaper revenues are usually precipitated from their advertisement sales. However, among the newspapers with subsidiary websites, the get a mean less than 10 percent of these revenues from their own web based content (Kirchhoff, pp. 2-4). The prime challenge facing the newsprint media is their incapability to make a profitable transition to their web based platforms.            I will explore on the challenges that the newsprint media face as they struggle to make a profitable transition. I will offer possible strategies that the newspaper industry can utilize in a near future. It is of vital importance that the content should follow in line with what the medium demands in order to succeed in the current growing frontier of the distribution of news. The print media has been dragging by slowly embracing the new internet based technology and they are yet to flourish in stepping the line between ancient print content and interactive multi-media demanded by online readers. So as to stay at par in the future, the print media must adopt a more modern user interface and business model that will be viable in link with online advertising policy standards.            Generally, advertising revenues hold the vast majority of income for newspaper industry. Unfortunately, since print circulation have declined and quite a number of readers are moving onto the internet platform, the advert sales have not travelled the same path. In fact, in the 1st quarter of 2010 revenues declined by over 25 percent, while the Pew Institute gives estimations that half of this was as a result of financial crisis, it is very unlikely that they will heal. There are 2 types of advertisement by which the newspaper based industry earn income. One involve the corporate advertisers trying to market and sell their services and products, and the other is the ads placed in the classified area, car and junk sales, personals and help wanted. The issue with both of this advertisement types is that they have already evolved in the internet platform without a print media, and as many newspapers try to venture into online play, they are limited in capturing majorit y of these advertisers back, since they have already moved into more preferable efficient methods.            Corporate advertisement allow selling of services by advertisers to invest heavily on search engine based promotions, search as Google who offer ways for investors to advertise themselves. Instead of buying ancient banner, businesses can pay for their ads to emerge from search results each time related keywords are entered into the engine. Also if a potential customer types in men’s shoes, not only will a company’s ads will pop up in the search results, but also the ads will emerge in margins of other related sites that he or she will visit, provided the websites that have subscribed to Google advertisement sales platform. This platform is unique as it cannot be compared to any media including print media. Most advertising platforms are operated via software engines like Bing and Google. The predicaments that the newspaper industry face are on the news portal that this web platform sites run. They can post headlines from internet of major news organiz ation companies, followed by a small by-line, which are then associated with advertisement on web pages.            The news print media feels feel that this possesses a short hand for them in attracting potential sponsors. Portal administrators maintain that these links help bring thousands of readers to the news sites on daily basis. Nonetheless, the newspaper industry should understand that advertisement on the internet platform is not as static as the print media. Online ads are not only interactive, but also offer instantaneous results since one can locate an e-book of interest and purchase it right away by just clicking a link. In the web platform everything is temporary and the up upcoming trend in promotion of services and products is not a funny lie, but a reality. Newspapers should adapt trend and meld it into their interface and content, increasing hyperlink and ad-words, including move embedded streamed videos, and selling in return (Kirchhoff, pp. 8-12). The core reason why newspapers’ internet platforms are not viable is because most of the outlets taking me rits do not understand that they can maintain their information bur are required to review their form to translate to the age level of interactive message(Postman, p. 111).            Classifieds play a huge impact on the decreasing profits advertisings on the web pages of print media. Averagely, classified ads sum up to 50 percent of ad revenue in the outdated news print media (Kirchhoff, p. 8). Most of this ads have migrated online to sites built for this types of ads and almost all offer products free of charge. For instance, sites like monsterjobs.com for job offers, Zillow.com for real-estate, and popular of all craiglist.org, a global non-profit site that is broke down into thousands of localized boards, and include advertising for everything from dancing classes, to lost pets, to single ads, to auto sales, and to the help wanted. It is pretty impossible for the newspaper print media to gain back this market online so as to harness it to generate income. People worldwide are too trenched into new cost free medium of classified ads to get back into an antiquated payment for space system. Because this new revenues are all but lost the newspa per with an online presence will have to look for new ways to generate remarkable profits (Curran, 2010).            The web platform media has its original unique culture. A culture that is usually driven by the availability of infinite content that is free to access. The ability to access the internet is seen as a great equalizer, spreading across economic, social and geographical boundaries to connect with people globally like never before. The availability of web free content in websites result into paywalls or subscriptions being met with solid resistance, especially when that content can be accessed from different web pages with no cost. It becomes a hard concept to embrace in an outlet which is entirely based around subscription. While some organizations have been subjected to limited success with this methods, it is a link with a kind of hybrid-setup, which melds both web and print, for instance, the New York Times.            Set-ups on e-readers, smartphones, tablets and phablets, give a very promising concept. Persons who own such devices and read books and novels are used to purchasing in order to download print content. By building up a subscription system that models itself after this, the newspaper industry online has a chance. Of recent Newsweek completely switched all its production and is now exclusively on the internet, with both subscription and free based content. Majority of subscribers are now set up via their e-readers and buy magazines through brokers like Amazon, since their minds are set up to paying for downloads and less resistance to online news subscription.            Newspapers are now an example of traditional media outlets. Every document from the print out, to the fonts, to the arrangements and layouts evokes an old-fashionable visual image with the reader. However, this does not translate well to the web. While transitioning it is not enough to just cut and paste the whole content to a web platform page, the web developers, editors, and designer should adjust to the demands of potential consumers. The ancient method of advertising driven income should be discarded and new ways should be brainstormed in the industry. The only way the news print media can survive in this internet age will be to innovate within the internet culture and guide them to the new trend of stumbling along behind it. References Curran, J. (2010). The future of journalism. Journalism Studies, 11(4), 464-476. Retrieved Nov. 14th, 2014, from the Communication and Mass Media Complete database. Kirchhoff, S. (2010). The US newspaper industry in transition. Journal of Current Issues in Media and Telecommunications, 2(1), 27-51. Retrieved 14th Nov, 2014, from the Communication and Mass Media Complete database. Postman, N. (1985). Amusing ourselves to death: public discourse in the age of show business. New York: Viking. Source document

British Muslims: Mental Health Stigma and Counselling

British Muslims: Mental Health Stigma and Counselling Explore mental health stigma and perception of counselling amongst British Muslims. Introduction: Mental health stigma is an ongoing issue that needs to be addressed especially amongst minority groups. Statistics show that one in four people will experience a mental health problem in the course of a year (mental health foundation 2015). The government has initiated to tackle mental health stigma that prevents people from accessing psychological services (Burstow 2011).Over the past decade the Muslim community has been portrayed negatively especially through the media, and this has had a profound affect on Muslims mental health. The purpose of this research is to explore mental health stigma and perception of counselling amongst Muslims in the UK, My interest in this research emerged from my own personal experience of living in a Muslim family where mental health is seen as an alien concept and counselling is seen waste of time. After experiencing a close family member suffering from depression and when given the choice of counselling chose to decline this, as they would rather ta ke medication then be labelled as crazy. A growing population of 2.7 million Muslims in the UK (Census 2011) I feel that it is imperative to explore what types of mental health stigma exists in the Muslim community and their views on counselling in order to address them. Search strategy To search for articles I used SOLAR, selecting databases, which included Academic Search Premier, CINAHL and MEDLINE (Ovid). I did this so that the article that filtered through were relating to counselling, psychology, psychotherapy and mental health. The key terms that I used firstly was counselling, and this was grouped into four subgroups using the OR which contained counseling, OR psychotherapy, OR therapy, OR psychological services. This brought up a result of 874.207, which was a very large result, but I felt this was needed to be done as counselling maybe worded different in research articles. I used key terms such as mental health, stigma, Muslims and perception all with sub groups (see appendix 1) Finally, I joined all the key terms and sub groups together using AND which brought the number of articles generated down to 604. I mixed some of the sub groups together to find variety of results because when I added all 6 categories together my results became very limited so therefore to broadened my research I took out two categories and I felt this gave me access to variety of research articles. Limitations also included all my articles needed to be peer reviewed, this was to ensure standard and quality of the articles were examined by other people in the same field to ensure the publication has a meets certain level of excellence. I also limited the publication dates from 2005 up to 2014 to generate current articles I found that lots of articles that had very close link to my question had to be excluded due to the publication date being before 2005. This process finally reduced the articles to 91 from which four articles were selected (see appendix two). I found some articles th at related directly to my question but were mostly conducted outside the UK so only one article was selected because it felt necessary to look at research done in the UK considering my title involved British Muslims. The article selected from the USA was chosen because there did not seem to be any research conducted in the UK therefore was a gap to explore. In relation to my question I felt my 5th article Rethink (2007), Our voice : The Pakistani communities view on mental health and mental services in Birmingham, was very relevant to utilize in my review as it provided an insight to what I was searching for. However the only down side to finding this articles was that it was not found using the above research strategy, as I read a mention of this study through another article and I could not find it on EBSCO, therefore I used Google to find it. Summery The articles will be judged the on the methodology used to conduct the research and focus on the findings relating to perception of counselling and mental health stigma. A study conducted by Weatherhead and Daiches (2010) looked at Muslims view on mental health and psychotherapy. The aim of the research was to look at the Muslim populations perception of mental health and their understanding of how mental distress experienced by an individual can be addressed. This was a qualitative study where 14 Muslim participants were interviewed using semi structured interviews and data was analysed thematically. Lancaster Institute of Health Research ethics committee ethically approved this study. There were seven women and seven male aged between 28-77 who were recruited through local Muslim organisations and electronic mailing. One of the main benefits of this study was that it provided a good insight to Muslims understanding on mental health by using open questions allowing the participants to express their views on mental health in-depth. The finding that related to my question was that there was a fear of stereotyping, feeling stigmatised, embarrassed and ashamed, they found that mental distress was a punishment from god, cause of witchcraft/jinn and drug taking. Participants there was no need for a therapist as you could talk to your family or friends. Mental illness was seen as a test from Allah and it was managed through praying to god and if you had a strong faith then therapy was not needed. For a question, looking at Muslim populations views the sample was very small even though it provided rich data it was limited as it was not enough to represent Muslim populations view. The sample also included two students and two staff members and a couple who were interviewed together, this makes the sample less representative and biased. Data check would have been useful as both researchers were non- Muslims therefore this may have had an affect on how they interpreted the Reponses and by data checking they could have validated their findings. The researchers recommendation for further research was a very useful, as by exploring the views of Muslims who have accessed mental health services would have gave the study a bigger picture, as the focus on therapeutic help was neglected in the study as only three participants had a view on this. Another similar study conducted by Rethink (2007) Our Voice: the Pakistani communitys view on mental health and mental health services in Birmingham commissioned by UCLAN (University of Central Lancashire) and CSIP (Care Services Improvement Partnership). This aim was to investigate the view of the Pakistani communities on mental health issues and how they would want support in regards to their mental health needs. This study was a qualitative study conducted by 11 community researchers who conducted focus groups and interviews with a very large sample of 152 service users, this study utilized quantitative approach by distributing 30 postal surveys to mental health service providers in Birmingham and receiving seven responses. Rethinks research department and UCLAN ethically approved the study. This study found similar findings to Weatherhead and Daiches (2010) they found that 83% wanted to keep any mental health illnesses a secret, and 76% were ashamed of it, 58% fear of stigma. They also found religious beliefs affected their perception on mental health as they felt it was caused by jinns, voices from god and found that culture and language barriers can get in the way people from accessing mental health services. One of the benefits to this study compared to above is that this study was conduced in different languages so therefore this was accessible to people who could not participate because of language barrier. Another benefit of this study compared to the Weatherhead and Daiches (2010) study was the sample size as they had a larger sample 152 compared to 14 participants in Weatherhead Daiches (2010) study. However, Rethink (2007) even with a big sample it could be argued that it was a limited study which only focused on Pakistani Muslims in Birmingham whereas Weatherhead and Daiches (2010) study had a small sample of participants but from different nationalities . However, both studies failed to consider demographic area such as different ethnicities and different locations that could have provided a more in-depth representation of British Muslims perception. The one of the recommendations from the study that stood out and was missed in the first study was the suggestion of working closely with religious leaders such as imams, it felt in both studies religious influence was a huge factor yet both studies failed to get the perception of imams on mental health. It was also relevant to my research as this project highlighted the mental health stigma issues that are current in the Pakistani Muslim community in Britain however, I felt that no emphasis was given on perception of counselling and I feel this was a gap in the research. Another similar study to Rethink (2007) was a study conducted by Shoaib and Peel (2006) which looks at Kashmiri womens perception of their emotional and psychological needs, and access to counselling. This like Rethink (2007) study used both qualitative and quantitative method to analyse data, the sample was of 45 Kashmiri women aged between 18- 45 living in Oldham, from whom 19 were born in the UK. A questionnaire was administrated and data was collected in an interview by a researcher that was also Kashmiri and spoke the same language as the participants, this was one of the strength of the study as this eliminated language barriers. This study explored six areas in 21 questions: understanding of mental illness, issues that cause distress, coping mechanism, awareness of support, expression and description of feeling (Shoaib and Peel, (2006). The reason this article was selected because the 6th area looked at perceptions and understanding of counselling that was relevant to my quest ion. The findings were very similar to the above studies, the study found that women feared of shame (izzat) affecting their family and being stigmatised. It was found that talking to a specialist was an option but fears of confidentiality breaking, lack of cultural awareness from the professional and that it will not improve the situation was a barrier therefore they referred to their faith for healing. This study like the other two provided a good insight to views of mental health stigma but also provided a glimpse into the perceptions of counselling which the other two studies failed to do. There are few limitations, the potential source of bias would be the use of the snowball method in recruiting 35 participants, who were recommended through previous interviewees, and therefore there is a possibility that subjects shared the same traits and character. Another limitation is the research may be flawed by the inexperience of the researcher who at the time of the research worked as a welfare officer. Changes need to be made to the recruitment process in order to get a more representative sample. Two others studies which explored factors influencing attitudes towards seeking help within the mental health services where reviewed. The first study I looked at was by Soorkia et al (2011) which explored Factors influencing attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help among South Asian students in Britain. This study looked at the link attitudes towards psychological help seeking, following cultural values, salience of ethnic identity and cultural mistrust (Soorkia et al, 2011) .this study was relevant because it looked at attitudes towards seeking help and this relates to my question of perception of counseling and mental health stigma. A quantitative approach utilized where 148 participants completed a survey of which 81 were women and 67 men all participants were British. The sample covered Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi and 30% were other. Participants were recruited though public spaces directly and sign up sheets were posted in campuses in different locations. Qu estionnaires where given out on paper and participants returned the questionnaire in a sealed envelope to researcher (Soorkia et al, 2011). Priory power analysis, SPSS and ANOVAs was used for statistical analysis, as these were the most affective to see the difference between gender, ethnicity and also to compare similarities (Soorkia et al, 2011). It was found that the ethnic minorities had a negative attitude towards seeking psychological health, and factors such as cultural values and mistrust as this was related to stigma and shame associated mental illnesses. it found that people that were mistrustful of whites held a greater negative attitudes to help seeking. Asian values played a significant part in peoples attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help (ATSPPH), (Soorkia et al, 2011). The more significant the values were the more it played a negative part in ATSPPH. The study also found that women were more open to getting help than men and this maybe due masculinity being dominant there negatively affecting the way men see health related issues. It seems that this could be explored in more depth to see what the underlying issues are that prevent men in seeking help compared to women. However the limitation to the comparison between genders was that this could not be representative as there was not an equal number between both genders. Sample size was small therefore, it did not represent south Asian students across the country. It feels that even though participants religion was noted that the study failed to explore if religion played a part in help seeking. It seemed like the study could have looked at what the cultural factors were or the Asian values in order to understand the barriers to combat. It seems like this study was s stepping stone to see what the factors where but a qualitative approach will give this study more depth. The second study I looked at was very similar to the first study and it was by Hamid, Furnham (2013) which looked Factors affecting attitude towards seeking professional help for mental illness: a UK Arab perspective. This research like the above was also quantitative where online questionnaires were used; the sample size was 204 participants from which 104 were British Caucasians and 100 Arab. This study looked at various factors affecting attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help (ATSPPH). Some of the hypothesis was that Arabs compared to Caucasians will be less positive to ATSPPH and arabs sample will have higher score in supernatural causes, shame focused attitudes will be significant predictors of ATSPPH , females more positive than males in ATSPPH and Muslims will have less positive than other religion (Hamid, , Furnham 2013). To analyze the data a discriminative analysis was utilized with ethnicity being the dependant variable between British Caucasian and Arabs, using discriminative analysis was a benefit as it reduced mistake rates (Falkenberg, 2005). To examine differences between British Caucasians and Arabs same as the previous study ANOVA was used( Hamid, , Furnham 2013). The study found that Arabs were less positive to ATSPPH than British Caucasian as the study predict ed , it was also found that age, level of education and experience of metal played a positive role to ATSPPH (Hamid, Furnham 2013) . It also found that Arabs had strongest supernatural casual beliefs about mental illness than British Caucasians. Unlike the above study this research found that gender was not a significant predictor, however it was similar to the other study in the sense that there was also not an equal number of males and females as in this study 69% were females. Shame was not seen as a significant predictor to ATSPPH that is opposite to the finding in the above studies. This maybe connected to the fact that Arab participants had migrated to uk and therefore far from family so they did not have to protect their honour or family (Hamid, Furnham 2013). One of the limitations to this study was that the questionnaire was done in English and therefore only targeted an audie nce where participants had some form of education, therefore it does not represent the Arab community who do not speak or understand English making it bias and limiting its response rate. I then looked at a quantitative study by Pilkington et al (2010) which explore factors affecting intention to access psychological services amongst British Muslims of south Asian origin. Second study by Ali et al (2005) looking at the Imams role in meeting the counselling needs of Muslim communities in the United States. Both studies used self-report questionnaires. The study by Pilkington et al (2010) Hypothesised that the level of shame/izzat related with mental health would predict the intention to access psychological services, the barrier was already identified compared to the above studies. This study was relevant because it looked at British Muslims, which relates to my area of proposed research and explored mental health and barriers that related to stigma. The Identified factors that may affect intention to access psychological services were; religious beliefs, biological /social environment beliefs about mental health problems, the causes and shame/izzat. Another large sample of 94 participants recruited through seven Islamic communities centres. A self-report questionnaire was developed using measures that were already tested making this a strength as it was easy to correlate the findings and therefore strong statistic were produced. Psychological openness and help seeking prosperity was measured using Inventory of attitudes towards s eeking mental health services (IASMHS: Mackenzie et al 2004). Shame/izzat on intention influencing the access of psychological services was measured using the Attitudes Toward Mental Health Scale (ATMHP; Gilbert et al 2007). The study found that the higher level of shame/izzat experienced the less likely psychological service was accessed. The study like the other studies above found views were influenced by religious beliefs, mental illness was a punishment from god, shame to the individual and the family and less knowledge about mental illness because of lack of education(Pilkington et al, 2010). The limitation to this study was that there might have been a bias to the recruitment process, as the questionnaires designed was for people of higher education level therefore resulting in a low response (Pilkington et al 2010). Another limitation was that participants were recruited through Islamic communitys centres, therefore they may have been more religiously inclined then others who are Muslims but not as religious, this limits the experiences and results. I feel this was gap to where the level of religious commitment could have been measured to get effective results. I then looked at two studies that focused on the role of imams in regards to mental health. The first study by Ali et al (2005) explores what the role of imams and Islamic clergy is in meeting counselling needs, the reason I chose this was because I found that all the studies that I have reviewed failed to consider the views of Islamic clergy on mental health and counselling and how they support the Muslim community. A questionnaire was mailed to 730 mosques around USA however; the response rate was low as only 8% responses received. Data was analysis measured by Likert scale, demographic areas were considered such as ethinicty, age and region, and consent was gained. This study found that imams played a key role in supporting the Muslim community with mental health issues relating to stress, discrimination, anxiety and financial problems. It also found that imam has had little or none training in counselling to help people who came to them for mental health problems. The limitation to this study like the above study is that the questionnaire was in English and not all participants or imams are literate in English, therefore weakening the study. I found the recommendation from the researchers is valid that a further research is needed to explore the role of imams in assisting with mental health issues. The second study by Abu-Ras et al (2008) explored The Imams Role in Mental Health Promotion: A Study at 22 Mosques in New York Citys Muslim Community. the reason this study was chosen because this provided an insight to not only the imams role but also what the worshippers attitude towards mental health services before 9/11 and after 9/11 (Abu-Ras et al 2008). A survey of 22 imams and 102 worshippers from 22 mosques in New York city was conducted, researchers chose a face-to-face interview method with mostly close ended questions. The questionnaire for the imams explored what type of issues worshippers came with for guidance, and what method were used to assist worshippers resolve their issues. The questionnaires for worshipers looked at the role of the imam perceived by worshippers, types of counselling sought at mosque, if the imam was effectively addressing their issues. It also asked the affects of 9/11 to their personal lives and finally worshippers perception on attitudes towards western psychology, mental health and if they have any experience with the mental care system (Abu-Ras et al, 2008). For analysis, Univariate and bivariate analyses were used for descriptive statistics for both imams and worshippers. The t test and chi-square tests were applied to discover any large differences between gender, age, time in education, income, immigration status, marital status, and language skills (Abu-Ras et al, 2008). The study found that imams are usually the primary and sometimes the only contact for help with mental health issues. It was also found that the imams were foreign born and English was not their first language and they struggled with their English and No training was provided and they had little knowledge on mental health issues, which then prevented them from referring worshippers to mental health services (Abu-Ras et al, 2008). This was very similar to the finding of the above study were the imams had the same issues of language barrier and little or no knowledge on mental health. The study also found that 9/11 had a negative affect on worshippers lives this included their self as well their families. It also found that 84% of worshippers believed that people with mental illness were possessed by the devil and 95% believed that this was test from their faith (Abu-Ras et al, 2008). The limitation to this study was that data was only limited to New York so it did not represent other Muslims in the USA, same as the above study the questionnaire was conducted in English, and imams had difficulty with English so it brings up the issues of reliability . The benefit of this study was that it found that imams do play a vital role within the Muslim community in New York especially when it came to personal and mental health issues and that they were also welcomed support and training in regards to mental health. The researchers recommendation was very prompt that the mental health services need to do more to integrate within the Muslim community especially by providing support and training to imams because this research has shown that imams play a huge role in providing support. Conclusion It was found from the literature review that mental health stigma is very much alive in the Muslim community, in the form of misconceptions around the causes of mental illness, fear of being labelled and stigmatised, religious and cultural views influencing views on mental health e.g. punishment from god for committing a sin. The majority of the Muslim community would rather keep mental illness quite because of the fear shame, some seen mental illness caused by drug abuse or caused by witchcraft. In relation to my proposed question I found that there were number of gaps that were found that I could use in my research firstly their was a common theme of religion being a major factor in influencing views on mental health. However not one paper focused on measuring religiosity and its impacts on individuals perception, they focused more on ethnic backgrounds such as south Asian origins which is not religion. Findings showed Muslim community turned to religious leaders for support, yet no papers in the UK explored the role of Islamic clergy on mental health and their views on counselling. I feel this could provide a clear picture around what support is available and how much experience the imams have in supporting the Muslim community. I found that Papers do not specifically address the issue of counselling, I felt that this could have been explored in more depth also one of the recommendations was to look at participants that have accessed counselling and explore their perception on stigma and therapy which I found useful for my research. I feel that for the question I have proposed qualitative methodology would be more appropriate as it provides rich data and allows participants to expand on their responses. I also found that demographic factors need to be taken into consideration, such as age, gender and location, and to look at factor such as sample size and recruitment process. Word count: 2745 References Ali, O. M., Milstein, G., Marzuk, P. (2005). The Imams role in meeting the counselling needs of Muslim communities in the United States. Psychiatric Services, (2), 202-205. Burstow, P. (2011). Â £20 million to knock down mental health stigma, retrived from https://www.gov.uk/government/news/20-million-to-knock-down-mental-health-stigma Census, (2011) retrieved 19 January, 2015, from: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rpt-religion.html Mental health foundation, (2015), retrieved 19 january, 2015, from http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/mental-health-statistics/ Pilkington, A.,Msetfi,R,.M,.Watson,R. (2012). Factors affecting intention to access psychological services amongst British Muslims of South Asian origin. Mental Health, Religion Culture, (1), 1-22. doi: 10.1080/13674676.2010.545947 Rethink (2007), Our voice: The Pakistani communitys view of mental health and mental health services in Birmingham. London: Islamic Human Rights Commission. ) Retrieved 29 December, 2014 from: http://www.rethink.org/media/853081/our%20voice.pdf Shoaib, K.,Peel, J. (2003). Kashmiri womens perceptions of their emotional and psychological needs, and access to counselling. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, (2), 87-94. DOI: 10.1080/14733140312331384442 Weatherhead, S., Daiches, A. (2010). Muslim views on mental health and psychotherapy. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, (1), 75-89. http://people.eku.edu/falkenbergs/psy862/notes%20on%20discriminant%20analysis.html 2005 Steve Falkenberg Abu-Ras, Wahiba, Gheith, Ali and Cournos, Francine(2008)The Imams Role in Mental Health Promotion: A Study at 22 Mosques in New York Citys Muslim Community,Journal of Muslim Mental Health,3:2,155 176 Appendix 1 The next key term was mental health using two sub group using OR was Mental illness and mental health services, this generated 525,281 results. Another key term was stigma and the sub groups using OR was attitudes, stereotypes, prejudices and shame. The next key term I felt was important to my research was Muslims I tried this on its own but then realised that there can be other terms used in researches referring to Muslims and I used three sub groups which were Islam, ethnic minority, south Asian and this generated 89,716 results. Another key term was perception and I used three key terms view, understanding and intention and this generated 2,456,725 results which was huge but I felt that this was necessary as this bought my question together. my last key term that I used was Britain and I used two sub groups British and UK, this was to focus on the researched done on the British population as I felt it related to my question more. Appendix 2 Examples of articles found

Effects of Oestrogen Changes

Effects of Oestrogen Changes Executive function is influenced by oestrogen- in the brain the area associated to executive functions, memory and attention is the prefrontal cortex (Pettit, 2013). As during the female lifespan the levels of oestrogen changes, and the executive functions experiences some issues when these levels are low, for example after childbirth and around menopause (Craig et al., 2008). Although the low levels of oestrogen after childbirth and lactation are temporary, after the menopause these levels do not increase naturally. As the world population experience longer life span, some diseases are estimated to increase with age. One of the most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, which mostly occur in later life (Lephart Hedges, 2003). Alzheimer’s disease affects the working memory, attention planning and other executive functions; it is a progressive disease and it is considered by deteriorating cognitive deficits, affective disturbances, delusion, and on the later stages, it also start motor and sensory problems (Lephart Hedges, 2003). Most of the patients with Alzheimer’s disease showed episodic memory loss, semantic memory loss and depressed mood (Ka Birkha, 2000). In the brain of an Alzheimer’s patient, the episodic memory loss is related to severe pathological changes within hippocampal and parahippocampal structures of the medial temporal lobes (Hyman et al., 1984 as cited in Ka Birkha, 2000) and to a deficiency in the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (Coyle et al., 1983 as cited in Ka Birkha, 2000). In 1975, a pioneer study in rats found that oestrogen upregulates the activity of choline acetyltransferase in the rats brain (Luine, Khylchevskaya, McEwen, 1975). After ten years, another study confirmed that the activity of choline acetyltransferase in the medial aspect of the horizontal diagonal band nucleus, the frontal cortex, and cornu ammonis 1 (CA1) of the dorsal hippocampus were increased after the administration of oestrogens (Luine, 1985). Furthermore, the human nucleus basalis of meynert (a telencephalic structure that provides most of the acetylcholine to the cerebral cortex) in Alzheimer’s disease has been noticed the upregulation of oestrogen receptors (Behl, 2002). Thus, many studies suggest the use of oestrogens as a treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, as in fact, oestrogens increases the activity of acetylcholine, promotes the growth of neurons and their connections, enhances blood flow in the brain and seems to constrain the toxic effect of ÃŽ ²-amyloid (â€Å"Alzheimer’s disease: recent progress and prospectsPart II.,† 2001). However, the prominent reason in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease with oestrogens is the low rate of Alzheimer’s disease in women who after menopause had used the hormone replacement therapy (â€Å"Alzheimer’s disease: recent progress and prospectsPart II.,† 2001). Despite of this fact, some studies showed that the use of oestrogen replacement therapy (ORT) had no improvement of the cognition and no halts the degeneration of women with Alzheimer’s disease (Larkin, 2000). Because of the changes of oestrogens during the women lifespan, some studies suggest that there is a critical time related to start the hormonal replacement therapy to have an effect in Alzheimer’s disease (Brinton, 2004; Ka Birkha, 2000; Pettit, 2013). Thus, oestrogen changes is not only affects women with Alzheimer’s disease, b ut also the executive functions in all women during their lifespan. Oestrogen is commonly known as female sex hormone, and there are three types of oestrogen, the 17ÃŽ ²-oestradiol, oestrone and oestriol (Darlington, 2002). There are two other types of sex hormones, the male sex hormone – testosterone, and the pregnancy hormone – progesterone. The release of these hormones are controlled by the hypothalamus through the secretion of gonadotropin-releasing hormone which acts on the anterior pituitary gland to stimulate the release of the follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinising hormone (Darlington, 2002). During the female lifespan the levels of oestrogens change, such as menstrual cycle, pregnancy and menopause (Pettit, 2013). The menstrual cycle occurs during puberty and last until menopause, except during pregnancy. The ovulation occurs when there is a peak in the release of luteinising hormone, this hormone regulates the secretion of oestrogen, which in conjunction with the follicle-stimulating hormone control the development of t he follicle (Darlington, 2002). The oestrogen levels reaches the peak during ovulation phase (mid cycle) and the bottom during the menstrual phase (bleeding), during menstrual cycle (Pettit, 2013). In the pregnancy the levels of oestrogens also gradually change, they reach a peak by the third trimester of the pregnancy, and this peak will be the highest level of oestrogen in the female lifespan. On the other hand, the lowest level of oestrogen in a female lifespan will be the menopause, when the levels of oestrogens decline both in the brain and in the body (Melton, 2000 as cited in Pettit, 2013). The differentiation of the female physiology is this cyclic rise and fall of hormones levels (Darlington, 2002). Furthermore, oestrogen is not only responsible for reproductive functions, it has a role on the peripheral and central nervous systems, and it also affects the development, growth, differentiation, maturation and function of several tissues in the body (Behl, 2002). Some studies had investigated the differences between men and women and concluded that most of the differences in the brain mechanism and structure is related to oestrogens; the structural, cellular, and molecular differences in the brain is called true dimorphisms (Gillies McArthur, 2010). The main areas of the brain that are affect by these differences are the hippocampus, amygdala and cortex, which are responsible for the memory and cognition (Kelly et al., 1999; Baron-Cohen et al., 2005 as cited in Gillies McArthur, 2010). Additionally, oestrogen receptors are also found in astrocytes and other types of glial cell; in the hypothalamus, the amygdala, the preoptic area, and the forebrain are the highest levels of oestrogen receptors expression; and the oestrogen receptors density is greater in the hypothalamus than in extra hypothalamic regions, for instance the hippocampus and the cerebral cortex (Behl, 2002). To investigate how the fluctuations of oestrogen affect both the neuropsychological and neurophysiological parameters, and to visualise changes during the menstrual cycle, a study has use a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to image cortical activation patterns associated with cognitive and motor activation. The results showed that in both neuropsychological tasks blood oestrogen level had a profound effect on the size but not on the lateralisation or the localisation of cortical activation patterns; moreover a noticeable increase in perfusion in cortical areas involved in both cognitive tasks was noticed during the oestrogen peak in the female brain (Dietrich et al., 2001). Another study also investigate the oestrogen fluctuations during the menstrual phase, the results suggested that when the oestrogen are in their peak, some regions show enhanced activation; one of these regions was the cortical region, which is has a connection with auditory and linguistic functions, w hich mean that additional functional networks are recruited (Schà ¶ning et al., 2007). Craig and collegues (2008) stated that women in specific times of their lives, (for instance childbirth, and around menopause), commonly complain of memory problems, which are related with oestrogen changes; their results showed that a biological justification for previous reports might be the higher oestrogen levels, which is associated with improvement of verbal memory performance during the normal menstrual cycle. Therefore, the main problem of the oestrogen changes is the menopause, where the oestrogens levels drastically fall. Evidence from a study showed an executive dysfunction in a women at menopause without hormonal replacement therapy, the results also suggested that the interruption of cognitive processes is promoted by the frontal lobes rather than the hippocampus; additionally, oestrogen improves the execution of working memory tasks and the prefrontal cortex is essential for intact working memory (Keenan, Ezzat, Ginsburg, Moore, 2001). A longitudinal study showed significant differences in regional cerebral blood flow during the memory tasks between women on ORT and women without, also women on ORT had better performance on neuropsychological tests of figural and verbal memory (Resnick, Maki, Golski, Kraut, Zonderman, 1998). Hence many studies had showed the improvement of executive functions, memory and attention on the ORT for women in menopause, however there is a crucial timin g to start the ORT, the critical period hypothesis. The oestrogen need to be taken when neurological health is still intact to have positive effects, before or at the time of menopause, otherwise if the replacement start after menopause, it can have harmful effects (Rettberg, Yao, Brinton, 2014). In conclusion, oestrogen is very important to the best functioning of the female brain. Executive functions, memory and attention are especially related to the levels of oestrogen. During the female lifespan the levels of oestrogens naturally change, reaching the peak on the third trimester of pregnancy and the lowest levels at menopause. Many studies showed the importance of the oestrogen replacement therapy, not only to alleviate the menopause symptoms but especially on the improvement of cognition. However there is the critical period hypothesis, which suggest that the time to start the ORT is before or at the time of the menopause to have the beneficial effect of it. Although there is a relation between low oestrogen levels and Alzheimer’s disease, evidences showed that the use of OTR in Alzheimer’s patients had no improvement. Finally, oestrogens and time are together, and the crucial timing to start the OTR can modify a life, the importance of future researches in this area is to provide a better future for women and maybe decrease the numbers of Alzheimer’s patients.

Magic Johnson Essay -- essays research papers fc

The L.A. Lakers in the 1980’s were a basketball powerhouse with household names such as James Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kurt Rambis who would doubt it. They had class and displayed it on the court. Kareem could pull up for his patented sky hook, they could dish to Worthy for the dunk and Rambis could pull down a rebound, but without a certain Magic there would be no showtime in L.A. A certain young player who had it all, a flashy smile and a great no look pass. That certain player was a true point guard, Earvin Johnson Jr. There are five magic parts to Earvin Johnson Jr.’s life. On August 14, 1959 in Lansing, Michigan, Christine and Earvin Johnson gave birth to their third child, a beautiful baby boy named Earvin Jr. Earvin Jr. was born into the middle of a family of seven children. Quincy, Larry and Pearl were older and Kim and the twins, Evelyn and Yvonne were younger. This whole family squeezed into three small bedrooms and one bathroom. "The place turned into a real madhouse before school every morning, when we all lined up to use the bathroom. You learned to be quick." said Earvin once. (Johnson, p.4) Both of Earvin’s parents played high school basketball. Earvin played basketball a bunch with his older brother Larry. (Brenner, p.44) Earvin would wake up early and play basketball before school started. "People thought I was crazy," Earvin remembered. "It would be seven-thirty and they’d be going to work and say, ‘There’s that crazy June Bug, hoopin’." (Lovitt, p.5) June bug was what man y people called him, but his parents called him Junior and his friends called him E.J. (Johnson, p.4) When it snowed Earvin would go out and shovel the court. Earvin meet Jay Vincent, a child the same age of Earvin, who displayed the same love for basketball. The two became best friends. (Brenner, p.44) Earvin was suppose to go to Sexton High, but since of busing Earvin was forced to go to Everett a mostly white school. The Lansing School Board had to bus some kids to Everett to mix the races and to stop the growth at Sexton. Earvin lived a half of a mile away from Sexton and a mile and a half away from Everett. Pearl and Larry hated Everett and Larry was always in fights. The only Johnson who didn’t have to go to Everett was Quincy who was already in high school when the board made it... ...discusses safe sex. Earvin Johnson Jr. has had five magic parts in his life. Earvin is and always be a great role model. He is so classy on and off the court. His fun loving attitude is a great example of what we all should be. His courage to speak out and help others deal with AIDS and HIV is amazing. From June Bug to Magic, Earvin Johnson Jr. will always be a great man. Bibliography Brenner, Richard J. Jordan*Johnson. New York: East End Publishing, 1989 Haskins, James. Sports Great Magic Johnson Revised and Expanded. Springfield:Enslow Publishers, Inc., 1992 Lovitt, Chip. Magic Johnson. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1991 Johnson, Earvin "Magic." My Life. New York: Random House, Inc., 1992 The Fifty Greatest Players in NBA History: Magic Johnson. www.nba.com/. NBA Properties, Inc., 1996 *Reader these next two documents were not used in the product, but are good resources of information. "Johnson, Magic." World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia Standard Edition. Chicago: World Book, Inc., 1997 "Magic Johnson." www.caphis.usc.edu/~yungkail/magic.html

Fear In the Damp and Dark Gap Essays -- In the Damp and Dark Gap

Fear In the Damp and Dark Gap The usual signification of the French feminist's "gap" transformed by Jack Bushnell from silent entrapment to a meaning that signifies the "gap" as that which frees the other and allows for the generation of a voice of the other's own Circus of the Wolves. The famous masculine--self and feminine--other opposition will be freely utilized with the man and the circus representing the former and Kael and nature the latter. Gaps appear literally and figuratively throughout the text and with each appearance its meaning slowly, slowly, alters in the previously stated manner. Jack Bushnell says in a "Note from the Author" that the of the wolf (other) is "a natural world as distinct and separate from the human (self) world as possible." The place of the Other, in other words, is separated, banished, and excluded from the sphere of self. The circus and the man be self insofar as they confine, harness, and attempt to stand the beauty and wonder of the ot her by conforming the other into the mold and way of self. Before going further, it should be noted that any appearance of anthropomorphizing the wolf is only that –appearance. It is the place of the Other that receives the essences of human and not Kael in and of himself. Since Kael occupies the place of the Other the anthropomorphic transgression will seem to apply to the wolf when no actual transgression has occurred. Still, however, Kael must come to sense his occupation of the place of the Other. Kael falls into the gap constructed by his oppressors "...the damp and dark at the bottom of the hole frightened Kael." Kael's fear is of confinement and the discovery of himself as other... ...e frees himself through the gap left by his oppressors. The man allows for Kael's escape. He has come to know the beauty and power of the other and can no longer confine it. By obtaining the knowledge that reveals the nature of the gap, Kael has discovered the means of utilizing the "gap" to the ends of freeing the other from the oppression of self. He has found the power of his own language, and its ability to take the self away from its world and into the place of the Other, Jack Bushnell has found in Kael a character that can infuse the gap with the emotive gynergy of other, thus disallowing its existence as a simple lacunary absence without voice. The place of the Other radiates its own incandescent brilliance, seething with the growing volume of the new choral power......O... Â  Circus of the Wolves, Lothrop, Lee, and Shepherd 1993

Suicides in Foxconn

FOXCONN Abstract: Principles of  Organizational Behavior  from the point of view, combined with Foxconn employees work attitude,  job satisfaction  and work pressure, etc. , on a world-renowned company Foxconn consecutive suicides occurred in a comparative analysis to explain the business In the era of the  development  process need to strengthen the management measures. Keywords: Foxconn, suicide, cognitive dissonance, job satisfaction,  work pressure From January 2010 to November 2010, just 11 months time, the industry's leading OEM companies Foxconn employees took place more than a dozen suicides.Shocked the whole community, Foxconn is also pushed to the cusp of public opinion, resulting in the suicide for many reasons, this paper will follow the principles of organizational behavior, from the attitude of staff,  job satisfaction  and  work pressure  angle analyze, and to make business in the context of the times need to be strengthened management measures. F irst, the background events Foxconn managementJanuary 23, 2010, 19-year-old horse to move in staff training at the southern quarters Foxconn death in 2010, the evening of March 11, 0930, Fuji Kang Longhua base, surnamed Li, a 20-year-old male C2 in the living quarters, 5th Floor, fall dead †¦ †¦ November 5, 2010, a 23-year-old park in Shenzhen Foxconn male workers committed suicide, which occurred since the beginning of the fourteenth consecutive suicides. Second, the Foxconn management event analysis Foxconn management event, the staff of suicide can be divided into two separate aspects of the occurrence and collective place. A separate suicide When a suicide occurs, Foxconn, Foxconn recruitment at the entrance is still full of people, when asked whether the candidates know that Foxconn suicide, the answer is known. When asked why to candidates, the answer is to open here on time wages, never in arrears. Foxconn released from the treatment of employees to see their three meals a day can guarantee accommodation hardware, transportation, laundry and other basic living conditions can be guaranteed, which is also a number of job seekers in the know Foxconn suicide after the incident still choose to work Foxconn reasons.Why these basic conditions are met, the staff, the staff or the successive suicides happen? The reasons are manifold. Data show the continuous Foxconn suicides have occurred in the younger generation of employees. Therefore, these new generation of employees to its own characteristics and has a lot of suicide, such as the current business environment caused by excessive pressure on the employees, and these pressure generation, from the perspective of  Organizational Behavior  is the cognitive dissonance caused by the employees.Cognitive dissonance refers to any form of attitudes and behavior are inconsistent will people feel uncomfortable, so the individual will try to reduce this mismatch, uncomfortable, if not improve cognitive diss onance, then the pressure will increase staff, accumulated to a certain extent when the pressure can not resolve, there may lead to suicide.Cognitive dissonance caused by Foxconn employees is mainly due to low  job satisfaction  a long time, Foxconn did not lower employee  job satisfaction  to improve this problem and take effective measures, low  job satisfaction  is the work of various factors caused, mainly due to the following four points:   1. Interest in  working  with low input pressure is huge. Foxconn, front-line staff here is equivalent to a large machine parts, every day repeating the same work, and is refined into a product of a step, spend months and years do the accumulated pressure is very great, because such work is not only monotonous, but also hard to put into it.Relative to the new generation of employees, their fathers on the job satisfaction can  make money  mainly depends on the simple duplication of work brought about by the pressure and can deliver the economic income compared to income is dominant, even if than the current pressures facing the new generation of larger,  make money  to achieve this goal will significantly reduce the cognitive dissonance caused by pressure, while the new generation of employees no onger earn money as migrant workers for the sole purpose, more more to lifestyle changes and seek better opportunities, when they face such a person is equivalent to the production machine as pArt  of boring work, it can not compensate for low wages brought about by the work of cognitive dissonance. 2. Respect for the low social groups, lack the necessary communication. Foxconn, work to calculate the precision to use seconds, no time to stop  working  together, not to mention the exchange between each other. orking  time, work at Foxconn The staff are aware, no overtime is not making money, so their normal  working  time is 12 hours to two shifts, that in addition to work, the remaining tim e is extremely limited. to work together tired after work activities of employees is best returned to the bedroom to rest, and live in a bedroom with its employees do not work nearly the same time, it will appear in the management of the incident, Foxconn to be able to call all their own bedroom of names of staff reward thing. pace, Foxconn Although a large number of employees, but basically no staff their own organization, the villagers will be, students will be able to enhance employee communications and other organizations is essential not. this environment also makes the job satisfaction greatly reduced. Links to free download http://eng. hi138. com   3. Difficult to achieve self-worth, aspirations and reality together far.Foxconn, even if it is determined in accordance with the system 12 hours of overtime to work two shifts, the hand is 1000 yuan. And these new generation of employees  working  at Foxconn Although subjected to a certain degree of education, but its still somewhat lacking in life skills. and some small and medium enterprises are often overdue wages compared to wages is at work here on time, and the living conditions of the hardware is relatively good, so in Fuji  health  work is an inevitable choice. nowingly choose to pay the difficulties is difficult to achieve their ideals, it is difficult to change the status quo. and now a new generation of employees is far less than the income of the purchasing power of their parents, hard work hard to get self- realization, leading to low job satisfaction. 4. The pressure did not retreat. In addition to this little way, and staff ompared to the older generation, a new generation of people growing up is different this generation growing up with their fathers to be superior compared to many, their lives frame of reference is age of the city, their requirements of life is urbanization, the rural peace of mind so that they can go back to farming is unrealistic, while due to its own conditions, you want to really integrate into urban society, there is a certain distance, But a new generation of employees or to strive with, Foxconn is  working  towards his dream of an important step forward, but as conditions, skills and other limitations, further  developmentis difficult, even if left Foxconn, a company may be next Another â€Å"Foxconn†, or difficult to achieve genuine integration into the city this goal. Home go back, work hard in the city into which a new generation of employees to enhance dilemma pressure. (Two consecutive suicide 1. Continuous coverage of suicide affect employee attitudes, suicide is contagious in the study of suicide, suicide is a certain contagious. Many studies have described for television, radio and other media reported that a number of detailed suicide, and the community of suicide or attempted suicide on the increase in incidents. 2.Suicide after the incident, the measures taken by Foxconn is not effective in the Foxconn suicides occurred during a continuous, its management of the event there is no effective intervention and management of change. Spate of jumping incident, Foxconn's management brought in Wutai Mountain is one of the most famous monk, to pray for the dead zone. This will not only ease the suicide is not contagious, but also increased the mysterious suicide of employees psychological spirits causing mischief that is psychological implications, so that employees feel that they commit suicide are from God. This is not fundamentally solve the suicide contagious impact on staff. Third, the  enterprise management  measures to reduce employee suicide   1 play to the functions of trade unions.Foxconn great personal strength in the face of a small capital, and only effectively play the role of trade unions, employees and businesses in order to make equal dialogue becomes possible, in order to be binding on the company, the employees protection of the rights of the working pressure to get some re lief. (2) relying on the country to encourage policies that seek to achieve business transformation as a foundry, low labor costs in order to build and expand in the market. This has resulted in low staff salaries,  development  of small issues. Want to change this a situation, only to high value-added industries, so companies do not rely on cheap labor to profit, so that employees have the opportunity to realize their value to the enterprise, reduce work pressure. focus on enhancing employee job satisfaction and make the appropriate adjustment (1 to improve the work, increase employee interest can learn the advanced management concept, in the same or different production lines adjacent to implement regular exchange of staff for a long time do not let the same work, to reduce pressure on staff to reduce long repeated mechanical action of fatigue, increase employee interest (2 to enhance communication between employees can be set up work space communication among workers, who exc hanges the same bedroom ways to improve the communication environment (3 vocational training to increase staff can be set up some useful talent  developmenttraining programs, making the lack of employment skills and relatively low quality of the staff have the opportunity to learn, have the opportunity to move into management, but also to more good localdevelopment  of the capital. 4 when a crisis occurs, urgent and effective response when an enterprise such extreme issues early, companies should try to coordinate with the media and other relevant departments, to seek the opinion of the continuous occurrence to minimize the impact of suicide. Fourth, the prospectOEM companies such as Foxconn, China's economic prosperity and has a huge role in the development of its glorious past, but today the face of new situation, they face not only the extreme behavior of employees, but also There are a range of issues such as labor shortage. how in the rapid development of social background, to manage a new generation of employees, how to increase their job satisfaction, how to make them run better with the business, how to make them realize their ideals , healthy life, etc. These efforts not only businesses, but also the whole community should think about problems and believe in the company, society, joint efforts of a new generation of employees, the problem can be resolved and hope that Fuji extreme events such as  health  management problems do not happen again. Links to free download http://eng. hi138. com

Death, Tragedy and Community at Wartime Essay

Dying in War: Implications for the family, the community and the social worker Death is a phenomenon that evokes mixed reactions and views from a community. For some, it a blessed release from the trials and problems of life. To others, it may very well be the end of the world when they lose a loved one. What remains constant however is the grief, bereavement and loneliness experienced by those left behind. Even more so when death was sudden and unexpected as like what happens in times of war, disaster, and terrorist attacks. Grief goes through many stages, each stage more difficult that the last. While most people generally manage to cope with time, some experience more difficulties and tend to develop psychological and emotional problems. During the First and Second World Wars, the knock of the postman was a thing of dread. They either brought telegrams summoning the sons and fathers of families for the draft or telegrams announcing the death or loss of loved one. An estimated 8 million military personnel in 14 European countries were killed in World War I, and 14. 4 million military personnel in 17 European countries were killed in World War II (Aiken, 2001, p. 111). Parents who suddenly lose their children such as what happened to most wartime mothers with adult sons usually have a harder time coming to terms with the death of their child (Gilbert, 2005, p. 6). The loss and feelings of helplessness and anger can be intense. There is a common belief that something is wrong when a parent buries his/her child. Most parents who have experienced this report that they feel dissociation with life and everything just felt so unreal (p. 6). That it is not right that parents should survive their children is often the thought that haunts bereaved parents. What role do social workers play in times of war and terror? Social problems are defined as the challenges that face and exist in communities (Hardcastle, Powers & Wenocur, 2004, p. 62). It is the social worker’s job to help the community and its members formulate and implement solutions to these problems. Social workers usually work with problems related to economic disadvantages, illness and disability, crime and delinquency, abuse and maltreatment, service provision to special parts of the population and mental illness. All these problems call for leadership attention and trained intervention (p. 62). No situation can put all these things together more than times of war. What may be the biggest challenge to a social worker though is the task of helping a family and community deal with the sudden losses of loved ones in combat. In addition to this, they should also be prepared to cope with the rehabilitation of those who have been able to come back home but exist with scars that are not only physical but also mental and emotional. The events of September 11, 2001, though technically not a part of any formal war except the one on terror, had an impact that was not dissimilar to armed conflicts. There was confusion, anger, anxiety and above all, people who in an instant lost their loved ones. As with wartime, sudden death can only be viewed as unfair and untimely (Clements, Deranieri, Vigil & Benasutti, 2004) For example, the September 11, 2001 terror attacks left behind families and children who have lost moms and dads in that instant. Even adults and children who were indirectly affected by the attacks have grown to suffer feelings of anxiety and shattered security in their personal and familial safety (Smith & Reynolds, 2002). Besides the inevitable feelings of grief, children especially were left behind and often had to contend with nightmares and morbid pictures of the traumatic deaths their loved ones experienced as well as the stress and difficulty of trying to picture lives without mom or dad. It is also important to remember that the effects of trauma are not limited to those who suffer it directly (Sims, Hayden, Palmer & Hutchins, 2000, p. 41) The ubiquity of television also afforded children at home not only news of the attacks but also vivid pictures and descriptions of the tragedy and all its violence. This made it even more problematic for children and people who have lost loved ones in the Twin Towers and the plane crashes as coverage of each horrific scene gave them fodder for the imagination and subsequent nightmares. The case of a 7-year old boy named Johnny is cited in the study (2002) by Smith and Reynolds. : Following the 9/11 attacks, Johnny developed a constant fear of his parents leaving home and getting killed by â€Å"bad men. † He also developed a phobia of elevators and would throw tantrums whenever his parents tried to make him use one. Johnny admitted to his therapist that his fear of elevator stemmed from a story he heard of how â€Å"people in the Twin Towers were trapped and killed while riding in the elevators. † (Smith & Reynolds, 2002) Neither Johnny nor his family were directly involved or affected in the terror attack. The mental and emotional strain suffered by survivors and those affected by this very high profile event led to the American Psychiatric Association’s setting up of counseling services â€Å"focusing on grief, acute stress and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Smith & Reynolds, 2002). The difficulty that most surviving relatives meet is in the un-timeliness of death. While conventional wisdom holds that sons and fathers who go to war may not come back again, more often than not, there is a strong hope that they will be able to come home. Despite the knowledge of all the possibilities, the sudden and traumatic nature of death often creates problems among surviving relatives. They become victims in their own right. Muller and Thompson believe that the manner of death plays a vital role in determining the reaction of the survivors (Muller & Thompson, 2003). If its bad enough for people to suddenly lose their loved ones, how much more would it be for children to live and go through an environment of war and death? In his article in the Journal of Multi-cultural Counseling and Development in 2004, Clinical psychologist and Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) Gargi Roysircar relates the case of 20-year old Yugoslavian emigre Stephen, who at the age of 10 witnessed the height of the civil war between Christians and Muslims in Kosovo in 1990. In interviews with his counselor, Stephen recalls witnessing about 80% of his classmates get killed by bombs, sniper shots and gunfire as they walked to and from school. At age 14, Stephen was taken by his father to the frontlines for training in combat to fight with the Serbian army. The next two years wold take Stephen all over the Balkans and would expose him to all kinds of death, privation and war atrocities. Eventually migrating as political refugees in the United States, in 1999, Stephen demonstrated difficulty in acculturation and adjustment. The constant displacement he experienced in war along with the mistrust bred by his past and cultural paranoia fostered by the Croatian community they lived with made it difficult for Stephen to acclimatize to peacetime setting. Roysircar describes Stephen as having â€Å"recurrent thoughts and images of his violent experience in the Balkans. He experienced nightmares, hostility and a profound sense of a lack of belonging. Stephen also often recounted the difficulties he experienced including â€Å"hiding in a basement and eating rats† especially when angry. He also displays a deep-seated hatred for the Muslims and believes â€Å"the Middle East should be wiped off the face of the Earth† (Roysircar, 2004). While there may be models detailing stages of grief and recovery, social workers must be prepared for instances that do not adhere to such models. In Stephen’s case while he did not directly lose any of his close family members, he was exposed at an early age to violence and death. He has also experienced being the cause of another human being’s death as he and his father fought on the Serbian army. This is no different from the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder exhibited by American soldiers returning from Vietnam or any other area where they fought in combat. A person does not have to lose anyone in order to feel grief, bereavement and suffer any disorder that may result from it as evidenced by the little boy Johnnie and Stephen. Death in wartime is not limited to just the loss of a loved one. In a community where all able bodied men are called to arms, anybody can lose husbands, brothers, fathers and sons at any day. Families left behind are left to their own devices and imaginings of what horrors their loved ones are facing. Those who do lose family members are haunted by the manner by which their loved one died. There is also the unfortunate circumstance in war where death is an ambiguous issue. In the Vietnam War, many people were reported missing in action. The families of such people were left at an awkward and horrible position of not knowing whether they should be mourning or holding out hope for their loved one’s return (Worden, 2003, p. 40). In some cases, some families do accept the reality that their loved one may be dead and go through the entire process of mourning and recovery only to be told later that their husbands and sons were simply prisoners of war and has since been released. While ordinarily this may sound like a fairy tale ending, there may come unbridgeable gaps and tension that can only ruin relationships and lives (p. 85). On the other hand, some families may keep clinging to the hope that their loved ones are alive and therefore refuse to give way to grief and acceptance. Stacy Bannerman (2007) is one of the many army wives whose marriage was broken up by war. In her article that appeared in â€Å"The Progressive,† she relates how her once happy marriage with one of the military’s mortar platoon commanders started heading downhill with every death he caused and witnessed during his stint in Iraq. She decries the insensitivity and lack of support for military families from the National Guard. She further cites how there was an absolute lack of prompt attention to the mental and emotional needs of returning military men who more often than not suffered from PTSD like her husband, Lorin did. Because of this, there have been military men who have survived their tour of duty only to succumb to mental and emotional anguish and end up committing suicide on American soil (Bannerman, 2007). It is the soldiers, their families, and the people of Iraq that pay the human costs. The tab so far: more than 3,000 dead U. S. troops, tens of thousands of wounded, over half a million Iraqi casualties, roughly 250,000 American servicemen and women struggling with PTSD, and almost 60,000 military marriages that have been broken by this war (Bannerman, 2007). The problem here is that most of those left behind are left to cope with their own fears without the support of anybody else except family and members who are also wrapped up in their own concerns. In this case, social workers must be able to take the lead in establishing outreach and community groups so people do not have to cope and suffer in isolation. Carpenter (2002) states that the psychological well-being of the members of a community is one of the jobs of a social worker. While it is true that the trauma brought on by exposure to violence and death may be an individual process, healing and recovery needs societal support and strong relationships (Carpenter, 2002). This may become a challenge to families and communities who are dealing with their anxiety and grief. However, Carpenter reminds social workers that one of the primary goals of social work is to help empower the oppressed. Oppression in itself can take on many definitions and forms. In this particular case, it is the trauma and grief that is debilitating and oppressing the individual and the community. Social workers must also be prepared to look for signs of repressed grief. Some individuals choose to withhold and fail to express grief and therefore develop problems later in life often developing manias, paranoia and demonstrate abuse towards other people. At times, the feelings of grief or multiple losses of loved ones may lead to a â€Å"grief overload† that would cause an individual to delay grief (Worden, 2003, p. 91) The community as a social system can provide a network of support. Given the right leadership, empathy and sensitivity, it can also become a â€Å"safe† place where people can come to terms with their grief and slowly move on toward recovery. In the cases of Johnnie and Stephen, it took time before they were able to face and admit their anger, anxiety and grief at the bad things that they experienced and fear. Sometimes, self-reflection and a ready ear is all that’s necessary. As clinically trained counselors and diagnosticians, social workers are tasked with the duty of helping people recognize and understand what problems they may have. Community-wise, social workers should have enough knowledge of the community’s demographics in order to unify and create a solid network of safety and interaction that may assist troubled and grieving individuals particularly in conflict filled times such as war. Death at wartime comes in many forms. It could be the actual death of a loved one, anxiety at the possible death, loss at whether somebody is dead or not, or even those who continue to physically live but have broken spirits and permanent disabilities as a result of war wounds. Much as death is a big thing that affects not only the family but also the community as a whole, war brings with it so much more problems and issues that will undoubtedly challenge most social workers. Undertaking social work means one must be in sync with the community. By in sync, it covers everything from issues, key people, and resources that may be mobilized in times of need. War is a time of immense crisis and tragedy that the social worker must be prepared to face head on and ably lead and facilitate the processes by which the community may be transformed into a supportive societal system that each member may be able to depend on. This does not mean however that social workers cannot be affected or lose their sense of self in dealing with all these tragedies. Tsui and Cheung (2003) recommend a self-reflection on the part of the social worker in order to understand and come to terms with their own reactions and feelings to tragedies they both witness and hear about from their clients before attempting to deal further with the grief of others. They also stress that once social workers attend to their duties, they should do so intellectually yet with empathy and focus on assessing and addressing the needs of the community rather than one’s own (Tsui & Cheung, 2003) References Aiken, L. R. (2001). Dying, Death, and Bereavement (4th ed. ). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Retrieved November 28, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=22091057 Bannerman, S. (2007, March). Broken by This War. The Progressive, 71, 26+. Retrieved November 28, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=5021139792 Carpenter, J. (2002). Mental Health Recovery Paradigm: Implications for Social Work. Health and Social Work, 27(2), 86+. Retrieved November 28, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=5000778618 Gilbert, K. R. (2005). 1 When a Couple Loses a Child. In Family Stressors: Interventions for Stress and Trauma, Catherall, D. R. (Ed. ) (pp. 5-30). New York: Brunner Routledge. Retrieved November 28, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=109184971 Catherall, D. R. (Ed. ). (2005). Family Stressors: Interventions for Stress and Trauma. New York: Brunner Routledge. 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