scholarly journals Permissible progress: Sexual(ities that) progress in and beyond English primary schools

2020 ◽  
pp. 239965442090247
Author(s):  
Joseph J Hall
Keyword(s):  
Primary Schools ◽  
Gay And Lesbian ◽  
Moral Panics ◽  
Progressive Politics ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
Group Data ◽  
The Family ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Child Friendly ◽  
Familial Context

This paper examines what is permissible sexual progress in English primary schools by exploring the possibilities – but also the limitations – of the introduction of familial sexualities. In recent years, Stonewall (a prominent and politically mainstream Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans charity) have increasingly utilised ‘the family’ as a ‘child-friendly’ topic to encourage primary educators to broach same-sex relationships by incorporating their ‘inclusive’ range of Different Families resources into lessons. This strategic manoeuvre emerges in a socio-political and spatiotemporal context dominated by neoliberal sexual politics and follows ‘moral panics’ surrounding queer progressive politics inspired initiatives, most notably No Outsiders (2006–2009) which previously unsettled institutionalised discourses of ‘childhood (sexual) innocence’ in pursuing radical, but arguably necessary approaches for disrupting and undoing heteronormativity. In spite of this, Stonewall’s Different Families, Same Love initiative is now the dominant approach for introducing lesbian and gay sexualities in English primary schools; yet, little is known about how primary-aged children respond to this intervention. Focusing on a leading exponent of Stonewall’s initiative, I explore 4–9 year olds dis/engagements with gay and lesbian sexualities when introduced in a familial context. Reflecting on mixed ethnographic and focus group data, I question not only which gay and lesbian sexualities ‘progress’ in contemporary English primary schools, but also how well. To this end, recommendations are made for improving families’ curricula without losing sight of the limits of this approach.

scholarly journals Everything in Moderation? A Mixed Methods Study on Perceptions of Parents' Drinking in the Presence of Children

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 551-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janne Scheffels ◽  
Inger Synnøve Moan ◽  
Elisabet Storvoll
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Group Data ◽  
The Family ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Parental Drinking ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Drinking Frequency

Introduction Parents are often warned about the negative consequences of drinking alcohol in the presence of their children, while surveys indicate that children fairly often see their parents drink and also being drunk. We applied a mixed method approach to explore attitudes towards parents' drinking in the presence of their children, using (1) survey and (2) focus group data. In the analysis of the focus group data, we also addressed which consequences of parents' drinking the participants emphasised, and how they reasoned for their opinions. The results were merged in order to compare, contrast and synthesise the findings from both data sets. Methods The data stem from a web survey among 18–69-year-old Norwegians (Study 1, N=2171) and from focus group interviews with 15–16-year-olds and parents of teenagers (Study 2, 8 groups, N=42). Results In both data sets, drinking moderately in the presence of children was mostly accepted, but attitudes became more restrictive with an increased drinking frequency and with visible signs of intoxication. The results from Study 2 showed also that definitions of moderation varied and that the participants used contextual factors such as atmosphere and occasion to define when drinking was acceptable and when it was not. In reflections on the importance of moderation, they emphasised parental responsibility for the family as a unit and parents' immoderate drinking as posing a risk to children's safety. The participants also underlined the importance of parental drinking in the alcohol socialisation process. Conclusion Parents' drinking in the presence of children was generally accepted as long as the drinking was moderate. The focus group data showed that definitions of moderation varied, and that social context also was used to define moderation.

scholarly journals “You Can Do So Much Better Than What They Expect”: An Arts-Based Engagement Ethnography on School Integration With Newcomer Youth

2021 ◽  
pp. 074355842110560
Author(s):  
Emily Matejko ◽  
Jessica F. Sanders ◽  
Anusha Kassan ◽  
Michelle Zak ◽  
Danielle Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Independent Learning ◽  
School Level ◽  
Barriers To Advancement ◽  
Developmental Systems ◽  
Research Guidelines ◽  
Group Data ◽  
The Family ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Individual School

Newcomer adolescents make up a large minority of Canada’s population and their positive integration experiences with education systems across the country are critical for both their development and the country’s long-term success. The current study examined newcomer adolescents’ ( n = 4, between 16 and 18 years old) integration experiences using an arts-based engagement ethnography to understand what influences their positive integration into the school system. Artifacts, interview, and focus group data were analyzed systematically using ethnographic research guidelines. Five structures were identified: (1) barriers to advancement at individual, school, and macro levels, (2) fluctuating relationship with cultural identity, (3) limited trust in systems, (4) resilience through independent learning, and (5) facilitating factors to positive integration experiences at the family and school level. In keeping with a relational developmental systems theory framework, each structure accounts for multiple inter- and intra-individual factors at multiple environmental levels. These findings outline considerations for systemic issues in academic institutions and offer suggestions for how institutions can better support newcomer adolescents.

‘On some precipice in a dream’: Representations of Guilt in Contemporary Young Adult Gay and Lesbian Fiction

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-194
Author(s):  
Kate Norbury
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Gay And Lesbian ◽  
Early Age ◽  
Survivor Guilt ◽  
Sexual Identities ◽  
Best Friend ◽  
Positive Identity ◽  
The Family ◽  
Depressive Episodes

This article explores the representation of guilt in six recent young adult novels, in which it is suggested that teen protagonists still experience guilt in relation to their emerging non-normative sexual identities. The experience of guilt may take several different forms, but all dealt with here are characterised by guilt without agency – that is, the protagonist has not deliberately said or done anything to cause harm to another. In a first pair of novels, guilt is depicted as a consequence of internalised homophobia, with which protagonists must at least partly identify. In a second group, protagonists seem to experience a form of separation guilt from an early age because they fail to conform to the norms of the family. Certain events external to the teen protagonist, and for which they cannot be held responsible, then trigger serious depressive episodes, which jeopardise the protagonist's positive identity development. Finally, characters are depicted as experiencing a form of survivor guilt. A gay protagonist survives the events of 9/11 but endures a breakdown, and, in a second novel, a lesbian protagonist narrates her coming to terms with the death of her best friend.

scholarly journals Quantified Nostalgia: Social Media, Metrics, and Memory

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630512110088
Author(s):  
Benjamin N. Jacobsen ◽  
David Beer
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
The Past ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Memory Practices ◽  
The Relationship

As social media platforms have developed over the past decade, they are no longer simply sites for interactions and networked sociality; they also now facilitate backwards glances to previous times, moments, and events. Users’ past content is turned into definable objects that can be scored, rated, and resurfaced as “memories.” There is, then, a need to understand how metrics have come to shape digital and social media memory practices, and how the relationship between memory, data, and metrics can be further understood. This article seeks to outline some of the relations between social media, metrics, and memory. It examines how metrics shape remembrance of the past within social media. Drawing on qualitative interviews as well as focus group data, the article examines the ways in which metrics are implicated in memory making and memory practices. This article explores the effect of social media “likes” on people’s memory attachments and emotional associations with the past. The article then examines how memory features incentivize users to keep remembering through accumulation. It also examines how numerating engagements leads to a sense of competition in how the digital past is approached and experienced. Finally, the article explores the tensions that arise in quantifying people’s engagements with their memories. This article proposes the notion of quantified nostalgia in order to examine how metrics are variously performative in memory making, and how regimes of ordinary measures can figure in the engagement and reconstruction of the digital past in multiple ways.

scholarly journals When the Kids Are Not Alright: School Counseling in the Time of COVID-19

AERA Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 233285842110336
Author(s):  
Mandy Savitz-Romer ◽  
Heather T. Rowan-Kenyon ◽  
Tara P. Nicola ◽  
Emily Alexander ◽  
Stephanie Carroll
Keyword(s):  
Postsecondary Education ◽  
School Counselors ◽  
Role Expectations ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Concerted Effort ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
School Based ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
American Children

The unprecedented arrival of COVID-19 upended the lives of American children with rapid shifts to remote and hybrid schooling and reduced access to school-based support. Growing concerns about threats to students’ mental health and decreased numbers of students transitioning to postsecondary education suggest access to school counselors is needed more than ever. Although previous research on school counselors finds they promote positive postsecondary, social emotional, and academic outcomes for students, further studies highlight the organizational constraints, such as an overemphasis on administrative duties and unclear role expectations, that hinder their work. Drawing on survey and focus group data, our mixed methods study documents school counselors’ experiences during the COVID-19 crisis, including the opportunities and constraints facing their practice. Findings suggest there should be a concerted effort to reduce the role ambiguity and conflict in counselors’ roles so they are better able to meet students’ increased needs.

User-centered Requirements for Patient Fluid Intake Monitoring Support

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 736-740
Author(s):  
Ellen J. Bass ◽  
Andrew J. Abbate ◽  
Yaman Noaiseh ◽  
Rose Ann DiMaria-Ghalili
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Fluid Intake ◽  
Fluid Consumption ◽  
Registered Dietitians ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data

There is a need to support patients with monitoring liquid intake. This work addresses development of requirements for real-time and historical displays and reports with respect to fluid consumption as well as alerts based on critical clinical thresholds. We conducted focus groups with registered nurses and registered dietitians in order to identify the information needs and alerting criteria to support fluid consumption measurement. This paper presents results of the focus group data analysis and the related requirements resulting from the analysis.

scholarly journals Determinants of Long Immunization Clinic Wait Times in a Sub-Saharan African Country

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 2333794X2110282
Author(s):  
Osayame Austine Ekhaguere ◽  
Rosena Olubanke Oluwafemi ◽  
Angela Oyo-Ita ◽  
Burke Mamlin ◽  
Paul Bondich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Wait Time ◽  
Wait Times ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Sub Saharan

The wait time clients spend during immunization clinic visits in low- and middle-income countries is a not well-understood reported barrier to vaccine completion. We used a prospective, observational design to document the total time from client arrival-to-discharge and all sequential provider-client activities in 1 urban, semi-urban, and rural immunization clinic in Nigeria. We also conducted caregiver and provider focus group discussions to identify perceived determinants of long clinic wait times. Our findings show that the time from arrival-to-discharge varied significantly by the clinic and ranged between 57 and 235 minutes, as did arrival-to-all providers-client activities. Focus group data attributed workflow delays to clinic staff waiting for a critical mass of clients to arrive for their immunization appointment before starting the essential health education talk or opening specific vaccine vials. Additionally, respondents indicated that complex documentation processes caused system delays. Research on clinic workflow transformation and simplification of immunization documentation is needed.

scholarly journals Development of a theory-based HPV vaccine promotion comic book for East African adolescents in the US

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Celentano ◽  
Rachel L. Winer ◽  
Sou Hyun Jang ◽  
Anisa Ibrahim ◽  
Farah Bille Mohamed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Hpv Vaccine ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Comic Book ◽  
East African ◽  
Step Process ◽  
Group Data ◽  
The Us ◽  
Focus Group Data

Abstract Background Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake is low among East African adolescents in the US. Adolescents’ preferences influence HPV vaccine decisions, yet few interventions exist that address East African adolescents’ beliefs about HPV vaccines. We describe a multi-step process on how to create a theory-based comic book by integrating empirical findings, theory and focus group data from East African parents in the US. Methods Our multi-methods process included conducting focus groups with Somali, Ethiopian, and Eritrean mothers (n = 30) to understand mothers and adolescents socio-cultural beliefs and information needs about the HPV vaccine, creating comic book messages integrating the focus group findings, and assessing the acceptability of the finalized comic book among Somali, Ethiopian, and Eritrean adolescents (n = 134). Results We identified categories around socio-cultural beliefs (such ethnic representation and concerns about pork gelatin in vaccines), HPV vaccine information needs, and diffusion of information. We then mapped the categories to theoretical constructs and operationalized them into the comic book. Finally, we describe the overall acceptability of the comic book and specifics on comic book structure, appeal of characters, and message relevance. Conclusions A rigorous multi-step process that integrates theory and focus group data can help create culturally appropriate health messages that can educate and appeal to the community.

scholarly journals If You Don’t Eat Meat… You’ll Die. A Mixed-Method Survey of Health-Professionals’ Beliefs

Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3028
Author(s):  
Patrick McHugh ◽  
Morgen Smith ◽  
Nicholas Wright ◽  
Sarah Bush ◽  
Sue Pullon
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Nutrition Education ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Common Chronic Disease ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Overwhelming Evidence ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Good Nutrition ◽  
Spreadsheet Software

Despite an ever-increasing burden of non-communicable diseases and overwhelming evidence that good nutrition improves outcomes it is difficult to know whether this evidence is reaching the general population. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether health professionals in Tairāwhiti have sufficient nutrition education for their roles in health education and promotion and whether nutrition beliefs held by health professionals were consistent with current literature. A particular interest was to enlist views on the harms, benefits, and possible barriers to following plant-based diets. A mixed-methods study involving health professionals completing a questionnaire and a subsequent focus group to collect data was used. Survey data were analysed using spreadsheet software, and thematic content analysis of focus group data was undertaken. Participants provided nutrition advice 2.4 times per day. Almost half of practitioners considered their nutrition knowledge to be inadequate, and most made poor use of references for provision of information. Plant-based diets were generally viewed as beneficial to health, improve quality of life, be filling, but were perceived as not as easy to follow. This study is in keeping with previous research that the health workforce would benefit from more formalised nutrition education and competencies to address common chronic disease.

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