The Language of Coping: Understanding Filipino Geriatric Patients' Hemodialysis Lived Experiences

The majority of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are undergoing maintenance hemodialyisis. Hemodialysis is a process of removing metabolic waste, other poisons, and excess fluids from the blood and replacing essential blood constituents through a dialysis machine. With hemodialysis causing stress not only to physical status but also to psychological functioning and well-being, the individual will have to strive to cope with it. Coping involves cognitive and/or behavioral efforts exerted by the individual to be able to master, reduce, or tolerate the demands of a situation. Different coping strategies are being utilized by individuals such as thinking positively, having a positive outlook, and positively comparing self to others in similar situations. These techniques are what is referred to as optimistic coping. The study aims to capture the essences or languages of coping according to a select group of Filipino elderly patients with lived hemodialysis experiences. A total of 13 respondents, selected through purposive sampling, were provided with a two-part questionnaire. The first part is the robotfoto, which provides the cartographic sketch of the subjects. The second part is the semistructured interview, with an aide memoir. This is intended to surface the subjects' lived experience relative to hemodialysis experience coping mechanisms and the meaning of coping to them. Data gathered were transcribed and analyzed via cool and warm analyses. A repertory grid was constructed where significant statements were categorized and thematised revealing the languages of coping according to elderly patients with lived hemodialysis experience. Through interviews, the study yielded three themes that reveal the language of coping for Filipino geriatric patients undergoing hemodialyis. These themes consist of (a) coping as scaffolding: or the power to hold on, (b) coping as sailing: or the power to let go, and (c) coping as sanguinity: or the power to see the difference. Coping was defined as an ability (will power, acceptance, positive thinking) that people possess to keep up with certain stressful events, thereby making life more tolerable.     

Barriers and assets to external funding for African American faculty

Abstract

External funding is required for promotion and tenure in many disciplines, especially at research intensive universities. The purpose of this study was to identify barriers and assets to external funding for African American faculty at a research intensive university. A phenomenological approach was used to capture the voice of 16 African American faculty through focus groups and interviews. Data were interpreted through the lens of Critical Race Theory. The three primary themes were: (1) barriers, (2) influence of race, and (3) assets. Barriers included lack of mentors and collaborators; teaching load and lack of protective time; scarcity of funding; and lack of administrative support and infrastructure for getting grants out. Faculty reported several assets for securing funding. These included both personal (e.g. good training, innovation) and external (e.g. collaborations with community members) assets. Recommendations for addressing barriers are provided.     

Are schools meeting their clients' expectations? Parents voice their perceptions about children learning to read in schools today

This research, as part of a larger project examining effective reading instruction for 10–12 year old students, explores the perceptions of thirteen parents in six schools. The study identified: parents recognise their engagement in reading with their children impacts on children's motivation to read; parents have concerns about the degree to which schools meet children's reading needs; and some parents seek external assessment and support. The study as a whole indicates the importance of effective home school relationships.     

Why Some Youths Do Not Realise Their Post-Secondary Education Aspirations

Tertiary Education and Management - This paper explores the ability of students to achieve their optimistic educational scenario (aspirations) and to provide contextual information on the factors...     

Web tutorials: bibliographic instruction in a new medium

Libraries are adding electronic resources of all kinds at an increasing pace to provide service to users outside the library and around the world. To meet this new demand, libraries are turning more and more to the use of online tutorials as a valuable means of providing instruction on how to access and use important resources. This article describes the Health Sciences Library and Biocommunications Center's work and experiences while creating tutorials, the ideas used, and ways the work was evaluated.     

A Systemic Approach to Sustainable Environmental Education

Efforts to introduce environmental education can be viewed as a process of educational change. This paper questions whether efforts to introduce environmental education in the last 10‐20 years have given lasting and widespread results (are sustainable) and suggests that this work could be made more sustainable by following a systemic approach to changing the institutional framework for environmental education. Such an approach would focus on placing responsibility for environmental education with the educational authorities; curriculum revision; competence; building and development of networks of intersectoral cooperation with institutions outside the school. The environmental education strategy developed by the Norwegian Education Ministry is presented and discussed as an example of a systemic approach.     

Ecological influences on teachers’ well-being and “fitness”

The complex and ever-changing nature of teachers’ work challenges their well-being. Teacher well-being and “fitness” includes versatility, mental strength, and commitment to promote effective teaching and learning. In framing this notion, we seek to understand the ecological influences impacting on teacher well-being and “fitness” in the twenty-first century. Drawing on the ecological theory of Bronfenbrenner, this interpretive qualitative study explored the perceptions of pre-service teachers in relation to their teacher well-being and “fitness.” Data were collected from a teacher well-being survey completed by 120 final-year undergraduate pre-service teachers. The survey shed light on themes at four levels: the microsystem (individual and collective capacities); mesosystem (interrelationships between contexts); exosystem (organisational); and macrosystem (societal and legislative influences), compounded by the influence of time at the chronosystem level. These ecological influences were perceived to impact on teacher well-being and ability to be “fit” for sustained performance.