Petmanship: Understanding Elderly Filipinos' Self-Perceived Health and Self-Esteem Captured from their Lived Experiences with Pet Companions

Understanding of the lived experiences of geriatric clients with pets, particularly in the Western cultures, has been the subject of many studies. However, little is known about how Asian cultures, particularly the Filipino elderly, view their experiences with their pets in regard to their self-esteem and self-perceived health. This phenomenological study purports to capture the essence of the lived experiences of a select group of Filipino elderly with their pet companions in relation to their self-perceived health and self-esteem. A total of five Filipino elderly recruited from the Luzon area were involved in this study and were chosen through the snowballing technique. A three-part instrument was made by the researchers to gather data, namely robotfoto, semistructured interviews, and doodling activities. Field texts were analyzed via structural analysis through the aid of dendogram. Results of both cool and warm analysis have eidetically and interestingly described how the new coinage of petmanship, as introduced in the study, surfaced the functional and the instrumental views of pets relative to the elderly's self-esteem, vis-a-vis their Self-Efficacy Booster and Social Proactivity Builder roles in regard to self-perceived health. The metaphorical images drawn by the Filipino elderly surfaced the Roles Syndrome of Petmanship and the Rules Syndrome of Petmanship.     

Reflecting Socially on Social Issues in a Social Studies Methods Course

The purpose of this study was to investigate how student teaching experiences impact the sense of teaching efficacy and feelings of preparedness of pre-service teachers in a nearly and elementary teacher education program (EC-6). The study used an action research, mixed-methods design. Seventy-one pre-service teachers at a large public university in the southwest completed surveys about their preparedness to teach and teaching efficacy pre and post the student teaching semester. Findings indicate that pre-service teachers’ perceptions of preparedness and sense of teaching efficacy both increased significantly (p < .5) from pre-student teaching to post-student teaching. In addition, three themes emerged from the answers to open-ended questions on learning components of student teaching experiences: opportunity for hands-on teaching, the opportunity to observe experienced teachers, and the relationship with their cooperating teacher.     

Cooperative Work Experience Education Program

Community colleges face a laundry list of challenges. In the forefront is the lack of bachelor's degree attainment of community college transfer students. Community colleges are taking a variety of steps to aid transfer. One of the newer trends focuses on the benefits of collaborative partnerships between a community college and four-year institutions. The impact of collaborative partnerships is especially significant to students in rural areas where access to higher education has been limited for several reasons. Nine years ago, Hazard Community and Technical College (HCTC) partnered with several public and private four-year institutions to provide students with increased access to bachelor degree programs. The resulting concurrent use partnership model, the University Center of the Mountains (UCM; http://www.ucmky.net), may be viewed as an example of the advantages offered by this particular step. UCM is a response to critics of the community college baccalaureate who point to a variety of potential problems when the community college mission is extended in this fashion.     

Achieving inclusion? Effective resourcing of students with special educational needs

In line with the increasing policy emphasis on inclusive education, there is now a greater focus on how best to provide for students special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools. However, there is little consensus internationally as to the most equitable way in which to support these students. Despite ongoing evaluations of the existing funding structures, there has been little discussion to inform future changes and ensure an equitable distribution of resources. This paper examines the system of SEN funding in Ireland during a period of policy change. Using data from a National Survey of Schools, we examine the profile and distribution of students across different school contexts to assess the extent to which the existing funding model targets those most in need. Findings show that the current through-put funding system broadly targets students with SEN but in any new model, there is room for greater differentiation in the allocation of funding, particularly within disadvantaged school contexts. The paper highlights the need for further discussion around how we conceptualise special education in mainstream education. We argue for greater emphasis on student outcomes and school accountability where SEN funding is received to support students.     

Relational power,marital schema,and decisions to withhold complaints: An investigation of the chilling effect on confrontation in marriage

Previous research on dating relationships suggests that perceptions of a partner's power exert a chilling effect on the expression of relational grievances. This paper extends the chilling effect perspective by examining two issues: (a) whether a partner's power corresponds with decisions to withhold complaints within marriage, and (b) whether the manifestation of the chilling effect varies as a Junction of individual differences in marital schema. Married individuals (N = 215) completed questionnaire measures of a partner's power, marital schema, and decisions to withhold complaints from spouses. Findings underscore the importance of both power and marital schema within spouses’ decisions to express complaints.     

The Lived Experiences of Clinical Mental Health Counseling Internship Students Providing Home-Based Therapy

Home-based therapy has become an ongoing trend within the mental health field. This transcendental phenomenologically designed study explored the lived experiences of clinical mental health counseling internship students (N=8) who provided home-based therapy as their primary method of gaining required clinical experience for the completion of their master’s degree. The overall personal and professional development of the students providing therapy in this setting was explored. Insights of the internship students regarding their experiences and challenges in providing home-based therapy were revealed. Recommendations based on the experiences of the students providing home-based therapy were offered. Implications to students, counselor educators, and supervisors have also been provided.

     

From clothing to skin: Identity work of student teachers in culminatingfield experiences

What constitutes a good teacher is construed as one who knows content, pedagogy, and student cognitive and emotional development sufficiently. Such role discourse pervades talk about effective teaching among policymakers, the lay public, and to some degree, institutions of teacher education that abide by NCATE-like formulations of program and candidate evaluation. Student teaching is a critical period for identity development of beginning teachers, yet it often lacks the space to work through this process with their peers. We engaged a semester length phenomenological narrative study of ten student teachers in an onsite student teaching seminar. Participants’ stories revealed that a more complete sense of self arose through conflicts encountered and the disjuncture of perceptions and realities of beginning to teach. Based on our analysis of the data, we argue that field-based, reflexive, and situational discourse space has merit as part of the larger teacher education curriculum.     

Examining Factors Related to Academic Success of Military-Connected Students at Community Colleges

The number of military-connected students enrolling in community colleges has increased dramatically in the past decade, and this trend is expected to continue. This research focused on examining factors that contribute to the academic success of community college students. Specifically, the purpose of this quantitative study was to identify the demographic characteristics; campus relationships; and financial, academic and personal experiences that are associated with grade point average (GPA) and intent to return for military-connected students at seven community colleges. Identifying as a Student of Color (any race or ethnicity other than White) and experience meeting professors’ academic expectations were negatively associated with cumulative GPA, and feeling academically prepared to enter the institution was significantly and positively associated with intent to return. The results provide further evidence of the relationships among demographic and academic experiences and academic success. The authors offer recommendations for serving military-connected students at community colleges.