Motivational Quotes on Social Media: A Rhetorical Appraisal

The world we live in has become an ocean filled with undulating waves of motivational messages. People ply the earth with vain looks; every unfortunate encounter seems to be welcomed with lots of bitterness. What can be done to remedy this situation? This is where motivational speakers come to the stage. When people face various life challenges, they often resort to a motivational quote for a bit of inspiration. This study sets out to look at the rhetoric in some motivational quotes in a bid to elicit those elements that make them more resonant to the extent that some have become celebrated parts of society's lexicon. Using the rhetorical theory by (Selzer 2003), we discovered from the 100 quotes analyzed from Facebook that a subtle combination of good words mitting, motivational psychology and rhetorical appeals inspire people. Well-structured messages that use figures of speech and appeal to our inspirational nature can be meaningful and powerful in shaping our thoughts hence aiding us to appreciate some valuable things in our lives that have been underestimated.

Psychological Well-being as a Predictor of Resilience Among University Students

The concept of psychological well-being and resilience shares common psychological features involved in positive human functioning. The theoretical dimensions of psychological well-being are deeply rooted in the philosophical approach to humanistic, existential, developmental, and clinical psychology. The present study was aimed to examine the predictable relationship of psychological well-being and resilience among undergraduate university students of Karachi. Secondly, it differentiates the functioning of male and female university students on the construct of psychological Well-being and resilience. The sample was comprised of 300 undergraduate students, purposively selected; with a mean age of 21.89 years belong to different universities of Karachi. The Scales of Psychological Well-being (Ryff, 1989) and The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (Connor & Davidson, 2003) were used as measures of this study. Findings indicated that psychological well-being was positive predictor of resilience. In the Scales of Psychological Well-being, the domain of autonomy and environmental mastery were the significant positive correlates of resilience. In addition, psychological well-being and resilience were found to be greater among female students as compared to male students. The findings of this study provide implications for positive education that enables students to robust their strengths and capabilities to increase their well-being and effective management of university life challenges.

Sociodemographic and Medical Determinants of Quality of Life in Long-Term Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Survivors Enrolled in EORTC CLG Studies

Background: due to increasing survival rates in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the number of survivors has been expanding. A significant proportion of these survivors can experience long-term emotional and psychosocial problems. However, the exact risk factors remain inconclusive. We investigated potential risk factors for decreased daily life quality and life challenges in long-term childhood ALL survivors enrolled between 1971 and 1998 in EORTC studies. Methods: self-report questionnaires were collected from 186 survivors (109 females; mean age at diagnosis 5.62 years, range 0.2–14.7; median time since diagnosis of 20.5 years (12.9–41.6)), including the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12) and Impact of Cancer-Childhood Survivors (IOC-CS). Multivariable linear regression models were used to assess the impact of gender, age at diagnosis, relapse/second neoplasm, National Cancer Institute (NCI) risk group and cranial radiotherapy on 2 subscales of the SF-12 (physical and mental health) and five subscales of the IOC-CS (life challenges, body and health, personal growth, thinking and memory problems and socializing). Results: mental component scores of SF-12 were not significantly associated with any risk factor. Physical component scores were lower in relapsed, irradiated and NCI high-risk patients. Regarding IOC-CS negative impact subscales, life challenges was more negatively impacted by cancer in female, younger (i.e., <6 years) and relapsed patients. Regarding the positive impact scales, personal growth was more positively impacted in relapsed patients, whereas body and health, and socializing, were less positively impacted in these patients, compared to non-relapsed patients. Socializing was more positively impacted in older patients (>6 years). Conclusions: this study demonstrates that long-term outcomes can be both adverse and positive, depending on the patient’s demographic and clinical characteristics. Younger, female, and relapsed patients might encounter more life challenges years after their disease, while physical challenges could occur more often in relapsed and high-risk patients. Finally, the positive effect on socializing in the older patients sheds new light on the importance of peer interactions for this subgroup. Specific individual challenges thus need specialized support for specific subgroups.

Asians in Aotearoa New Zealand: A population of interest for social work

Aotearoa New Zealand is a country where cultural differences are widespread and longstanding. The Treaty of Waitangi laid the foundation for an inclusive society where citizens’ full participation is granted. Nevertheless, a number of Asians seem to have limited access to the benefits of an inclusive society, with great concerns over social isolation and marginalisation. This requires social workers attend to Asians’ life challenges, justified by key principles of human rights and social justice; yet a paucity of training exists in social work education, limiting their ability to work with this population. More training is necessary in the social work curriculum through which social workers enhance cultural competence, with relevant knowledge and skills, in relation to working with Asians in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The Beauty of Mathematics: Learning Mathematics by Questioning

Mathematics problems may seem to have no real use in life, but this could be further from the truth. The use of mathematics is everywhere in our daily lives and, without discovering it; we apply mathematics ideas, as well as the skills we learn from executing mathematical challenges every day. Unfortunately, mathematics feedback at national examinations is deficient. A mean of between 23 to 29 percent for 5 years in a row from 2014 to 2018 is a clear indication that the training of students today for tomorrow’s workplace with concept development in context, problem solving through interactive experiences and understanding through application is missed. Over this period, the evaluation of the outcome has also shown a standard deviation almost equal to the mean or even greater than the mean for instance 2016 for paper 2 (refer to Kenya National Examinations Council Report) is a clear sign that there is a big disparity from the mean and a likelihood of a number of students scoring zeros or below 10 percent. This dismal performance in national examinations particularly in mathematics demonstrates that contextual curricula and instructions that encourage numerous structures of learning like relating, transferring, applying, experiencing and collaborating are not achieved. Therefore, this article looks into different contexts in which students learn and how they broaden their abilities to make connections, enjoy discovery, and apply the knowledge learnt. These are abilities they will need throughout their daily lives and careers. Being able to do arithmetic is of little ultimate use to an individual unless he or she can apply it. Each arithmetic operation is explored in detail for its applications in the real world problems. Real life challenges motivate ideas and provide additional settings for practice.

SOCIAL WORK WITH DIFFERENT TYPES OF FAMILY REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT CHILDRENS’ DISABILITY

The article is dedicated to the research of family representations about childrens’ disabilities. Nowadays, special attention is paid to the targeted social services development and implementation that will correspond to the needs and demands of a certain client group. The relevance of the research is identifying different types of family representations will help to classify families with children with disabilities according to their attitudes towards social change and, accordingly, improve the quality of provided social services. The purpose of the article is to study the characteristics of family representations about childrens’ disabilities and determine their impact on the process of providing social services to families. The method or semantic differential was used to study the content of different types of family representations, which included the study of the attitudes towards childhood illness, disability status, and family. The observation was used to study the characteristics of family behavior in the process of providing social services. The result of the research there were found four types of family representations: «sacrificial», «compensatory», «perspective» and «adaptive». The first type considers himself as a victim of circumstances and tries to attract specialists to his problems, however does not want to take responsibility for it. The second type tries to compensate for all the restrictions, which were caused by disability, and joined all the activities. The third type of representations percepts disability as a normal characteristic of personality, trying to cope with life challenges. The fourth type of representation is highly adapted, though all the restrictions are perceived as a normal thing, which does not cause any problems. Families with each type of representation have different types of interaction with the social worker and act differently during social events.

Life Challenges and Barriers to Help Seeking: Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Voices of Mental Health

Listening to the voices of adolescents and young adults regarding their lived experiences could be a way to identify important skills and abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that will enable youth to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. Hence, the aim with the current study is to explore the experiences and understandings of the life situation among adolescents and young adults of today, by making their voices heard in regards to mental health and help-seeking behaviour. A total of 6 group interviews were conducted with 22 adolescents and young adults (13 girls and 9 boys) ages 17–25 (M = 18.6 years). Data analysis was conducted using qualitative content analysis and resulted in two categories and five subcategories. The first category, Life challenges, included views on the sources of mental health, how to manage different types of relationships, and thoughts on accepted ways to express mental health problems. The second category, The need of present adults, highlighted important aspects for seeking help, such as an expressed need to be seen and heard by adults including parents, school staff, and other professionals as well as a need for adults’ increased availability. The challenges to students’ well-being and mental health are many, and there are no simple solutions. Based on the results in this study, life skills training should include elements to enhance the development of individual coping strategies, to be applied when life feels tough and when the body is experiencing stress reactions. Further, to minimize the risk of self-stigma and the internalization of negative stereotypes and self-blame, life skills training should include elements to increase knowledge of structural factors that have effects on the life situation as well as parents, school personnel, and other important adults.

Teachers’ Perspective on Scientific Literacy in Science Learning: Descriptive Survey

Survey of questionnaire-based research was conducted to assess the perspective of junior high school (JHS) science teachers on scientific literacy in science learning. Four perspectives for teachers in JHS on scientific literacy were obtained from the research results of the experiments, namely the reading of scientific texts, scientific knowledge, the use of science in everyday life and the use of science-based learning tools. The majority of participants chose the response choice to train all students to apply science learning results in decision-making on daily life challenges. Thus, JHS Science Teachers in Purwakata Regency have a variety of scientific literacy perspectives, but there is no perspective that is considered outside the context of scientific literacy

The Role of Religion, Spirituality and Faith in the Processes of Significant Trauma and Recovery

<p>For some people, religion, spirituality and faith (RSF) serves an important function, helping them deal with difficult everyday life challenges. This qualitative ethnographic study examines how and in what ways a group of Cantabrians engaged with RSF in dealing with diverse forms of significant trauma – from moments of crisis through to more extended processes of recovery. The research is located within the context of post-earthquake Christchurch, and is based on fieldwork undertaken in 2012–2013. It explores the experiences of respondents representing traditional Christian and non-orthodox, non-Christian faith paths. The thesis draws on data from participant stories to emphasise the subjective experience of RSF and trauma. It argues that in times of crisis, some people draw on RSF to help them address difficult life challenges. The study demonstrates the breadth, diversity and significance of such resourcing, as well as the sometimes surprising, unanticipated forms that this engagement with RSF may take. Contrary to theories that emphasise the marginalisation of religion during times of intense distress, the thesis shows that in varying moments of crisis, people for whom RSF is important, may draw on diverse forms of RSF as a matter of priority to help them.</p>

The Role of Religion, Spirituality and Faith in the Processes of Significant Trauma and Recovery

<p>For some people, religion, spirituality and faith (RSF) serves an important function, helping them deal with difficult everyday life challenges. This qualitative ethnographic study examines how and in what ways a group of Cantabrians engaged with RSF in dealing with diverse forms of significant trauma – from moments of crisis through to more extended processes of recovery. The research is located within the context of post-earthquake Christchurch, and is based on fieldwork undertaken in 2012–2013. It explores the experiences of respondents representing traditional Christian and non-orthodox, non-Christian faith paths. The thesis draws on data from participant stories to emphasise the subjective experience of RSF and trauma. It argues that in times of crisis, some people draw on RSF to help them address difficult life challenges. The study demonstrates the breadth, diversity and significance of such resourcing, as well as the sometimes surprising, unanticipated forms that this engagement with RSF may take. Contrary to theories that emphasise the marginalisation of religion during times of intense distress, the thesis shows that in varying moments of crisis, people for whom RSF is important, may draw on diverse forms of RSF as a matter of priority to help them.</p>