Community Support Gallagher, Louise P.; Truglio-Londrigan, Marie
Clinical nursing research,
02/2004, Volume:
13, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The purpose of this inquiry was to determine older adults’ perceptions of facilitators and barriers in their use of community support. A descriptive, exploratory design was used incorporating focus ...group methodology. Fifteen participants were recruited in two separate senior citizen housing complexes, 10 in one building and 5 in the second. All participants were 65 years of age and older, alert, oriented, and English speaking. Systematic content analysis of the focus groups revealed two general categories: knowledge and systems. Under each category, facilitators and barriers were identified. Knowledge facilitators included life experiences and learning from one another. A major knowledge barrier was lack of awareness. A system facilitator was caring connections. System barriers included complex connections, pseudoconnections, superficial connections, and cookie cutter connections. The data suggest the need for additional research to further clarify these facilitators and barriers. The information obtained from this research will be a beginning step in the development of supportive intervention strategies for assisting older adults as they live in their home communities.
Abstract
Numerous empirical studies have been conducted to examine first-generation college students, those individuals whose parents have not attended college. Their personality characteristics, ...cognitive development, academic preparation, and first-year performance have all been topics of research; yet there appears to be little in the literature exploring the motivation of these individuals to seek higher education. There are even fewer studies targeting academic motivation in Hispanic students. The purpose of this study is to conduct a phenomenological examination of the desire to attend college among first generation Hispanic students participating in an academic support program. One-hour taped interviews were conducted with three volunteer participants enrolled in the Student Support Services program at Sul Ross State University. Meaning units and constituents were extracted, and general structures were developed using the Descriptive Phenomenological Method (Giorgi, 1985). The phenomenological analysis resulted in two structures that address the effectiveness of academic outreach programming and identify the roles of self-efficacy, successful experiences in high school, a desire for improved socioeconomic status, a need to contribute to the well-being of others, a break with tradition, and the influence of respected role models in facilitating a desire for higher education in first-generation Hispanic college students.
This study addressed the following questions: Did adolescent mother who were randomly assigned to receive more intensive family support services have lower rates of early subsequent pregnancies and ...second births than adolescent mothers who received less intensive services? What factors assessed early in the program were predictive of which adolescents (N = 99) had subsequent pregnancies or second births by the time the firstborn child was 24 months old? Potential predictors of these outcomes were assessed at enrollment and when the firstborn children were 6 months old. No differences were found between the two treatment groups on rates of second pregnancies or second births. A number of factors were associated with having an early subsequent pregnancy or second birth. The best predictor of both outcomes was the family advocates' rating of the teens' personal resources at the 6-month assessment.
The unanticipated spike in international food prices in 2007-08 hit many developing countries hard. International prices for food and other agricultural products increased by more than 100 percent ...between early 2007 and mid-2008. Prices for food cereals more than doubled; and those for rice doubled in the space of just a few months. The food price increases were particularly hard on the poor and near-poor in developing countries, many of whom spend a large share of their income on food and have limited means to cope with price shocks. An estimated 1.29 billion people in 2008 lived on less than 1.25 a day, equivalent to 22.4 percent of the developing world population. In addition, the Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that 923 million people were undernourished in 2007. Simulation models suggested that poverty rose by 100-200 million people and the undernourished increased by 63 million in 2008.The World Bank organized rapidly for short-term support in the crisis, launching a fast-track program of loans and grants, the Global Food Crisis Response Program (GFRP). The GFRP mainly targeted low-income countries, and provided detailed policy advice to governments and its own staff on how to respond to the crisis. The Bank also scaled up lending for agriculture and social protection to support the building of medium-term resilience to future food price shocks. The International Finance Corporation responded by sharply increasing access to liquidity for agribusinesses and agricultural traders in the short and medium term, as well as new programs to improve incentives for agricultural market participants. This evaluation assesses the effectiveness of the World Bank Group response in addressing the short-term impacts of the food price crisis and in enhancing the resilience of countries to future shocks.
The purpose of the present study was to gain a better understanding of the subjective experiences of homebound older individuals living in the community using the interpretive phenomenology approach. ...The following research questions were examined: (1) What are the daily experiences of this group? (2) How do they manage to remain living in the community; what supports do they access & what needs are not currently being met? Interviews were conducted with nine homebound seniors. Interview transcript content was analysed for themes including: Outlook on Life, Daily Activities, Need for Assistance, Assistive Devices, Transportation, Limitations to Occupational Performance, & Barriers to Participation. Suggestions for future program development within the community are identified. 24 References.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a family support program for staff supporting family members of persons with dementia receiving day service. Methods: Subjects ...included staff and families who were randomly assigned to an experimental group or a control group (experimental group; staff n=41, families n=48, control group; staff n=22, families n=45). The program was composed of a 45-minute lecture and 45 minutes of exercises regarding dementia approaches and how to support families. The data were collected at baseline and after three months for both groups, and the experimental group's data was also collected immediately after the program. Conclusion: In the experimental group, the staff's dementia knowledge increased immediately after the program, but these effects diminished over time, suggesting a need for adding periodic “boosters” to the program design. The Staff Empathy Scale asked families the degree to which they perceive staff as being understanding. This item increased after participation in the program, demonstrating the effectiveness of the program in increasing the empathy of the staff.
Small, low-income board-and-care homes play a critical role in the long-term care system, serving a variety of at-risk groups, including chronically mentally ill individuals, frail elders, and ...developmentally disabled adults. Unfortunately, the supply of homes available to serve these populations is decreasing. The purpose of this study, based on an in-depth ethnographic case study of one small (13-bed) African American-owned and -operated home in metropolitan Atlanta, was to understand how and why some homes continue to operate despite significant challenges. Grounded theory analysis showed that the survival of this home and residents’ ability to remain in it involved a basic social process conceptualized as Negotiating Risks. This survival process often put participants at risk of losing their means of subsistence. Community support emerged as an important protective factor. Findings have implications for community interventions to increase these homes’ survival and improve resident care.
Objective: To design a valid and reliable questionnaire to assess community support for controlling tobacco. Methods: Four samples were obtained to test the psychometric properties of the Social Will ...for Tobacco Control Instrument. Results: Principal components
analysis found 2 factors accounted for 42.8% (personal support) and 9.7% (agency support) of the variance, respectively. Sensitivity was 93.7%, specificity was 90.6%, and validity was 92.3%. The instrument predicted, within 1%, the actual vote regarding a local clean indoor air ordinance.
Stability reliability was .84 and .77 respectively for the 2 factors. Conclusion: The SWTCI can help policy makers predict whether communities are supportive of clean indoor air ordinances.
A food education support program to improve masticatory ability was developed, and its efficacy was examined in this study. The food education support program consisted of instruction in oral health ...by a dental hygienist at the start, and then eating and consciously chewing a special doughnut with a chewy texture (trade name: "Chewin' Donuts!" (Kekkou Kamigotae-aru Donatsu®), manufactured by Shiraho Tanpaku Co., Ltd.), which is made of soymilk, soy pulp, and liquid konjak, once daily for 7 days. Subjects were 81 high-school students enrolled in the general course of a public high school. Consent was obtained from both the school principal and individual students. At the start and end of the program, direct masticatory ability was measured as the amount of eluted sugar using chewing gum, and indirect masticatory ability was also measured as the occlusal area, average and maximum occlusal pressures, and occlusal force using Dental Prescale® 50H Type R. Furthermore, awareness of mastication, eating behavior, and lifestyle were studied with a self-completed questionnaire and changes before and after the program were examined. The results showed that the amount of eluted sugar in male and female students was 63.0±6.3 and 56.5±7.3% before the program and 65.7±8.6 and 59.2±9.0% at the end of the program, respectively; the amount had significantly improved in both male and female students at the end of the program. For indirect masticatory ability, the average and maximum occlusal pressures and occlusal force in male students and the occlusal force in female students had significantly improved at the end of the program. In addition, masticatory behavior and awareness had both significantly improved after the program. Therefore, it was suggested that the food education support program implemented in this study was an effective method for supporting the improvement of the masticatory ability of high-school students.
Geography and Shelter Hartnett, Helen P.; Harding, Scott
Journal of progressive human services,
01/2005, Volume:
16, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Intended as an emergency response to the problem of "homelessness," shelters have become a common service, outliving the "temporary" label. Typically, the provision of refuge has placed shelters in ...the position of intermediary between "homeless" people, local communities, and local governments. Investigating how shelters may restrict and regulate people within communities and shelter facilities can clarify the influence of the "commonsense" intervention of shelter on the lives of the people served. A survey of Ohio sheltering programs examines the extent to which shelter location, structure and operations restrict and/or influence the connections homeless people have to their communities and support networks. Implications for social work practice with people experiencing homelessness are discussed.
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