What Do You Want Us to Know?: Learning From Life Stories to Improve Veterans’ Healthcare Experiences

My Life My Story (MLMS) is a national Veterans Health Administration (VA) life story interview program that aims to provide more humanistic care for veterans by focusing on the patient as a person. Our project took place at the Pittsburgh VA Healthcare System and had 3 main goals: (1) describe themes that emerge in MLMS interviews from the prompting question, what do you want your healthcare provider to know about you?; (2) identify topics of importance to veterans and suggest ways for healthcare providers to explore them; and (3) foster a culture at the Pittsburgh VA that places not only the health but also the personal triumphs, hardships, and aspirations of veterans at the center. Veterans provided verbal consent to have their previously recorded stories used in this study. Stories were coded and then analyzed for patterns and themes. A total of 17 veterans participated in our study. Themes that emerged from the stories include (1) Early Hardships; (2) Economic Disadvantage; (3) Polaroid Snapshots; (4) Around the World; (5) Haunted by Combat; (6) Life-altering Moments; (7) Homecoming; (8) Romantic Beginnings & Obstacles; (9) Inequity across Gender & Race; and (10) Facing Mortality. This study's findings underscore the need to address the traumas associated with military service, as well as the challenges faced with re-integration into civilian life, when working with veterans. The MLMS interviews explored in this study can help clinicians identify topics of importance to veterans, strengthen their relationships with their patients, and improve the care that veterans receive.

Economic Strain and Adolescent Violence. Are extracurricular activities a conditioning effect?

This article examines the extent to which participation in sports acts as a conditioning effect to the relationship between economic disadvantage and adolescent violent delinquency. Deriving hypotheses from general strain and social control theories, we use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to test if type of extracurricular activity participation diminishes the risk of economic disadvantage on violent delinquency. In support of social control theory, the direct effect of academic clubs and performing arts is negatively associated with adolescent violence. Additionally, analyses indicate that participation in contact sports decreases the relationship economic disadvantage and violent delinquency when other strain controls are added including race/ethnicity, family structure, lack of parental supervision, etc. Overall findings are expected of the social control conditioning effect of general strain theory.

Respect, Relationships and “Just Spending Time with Them”: Critical Elements for Engaging Aboriginal Students in Primary School Education

While disparities in educational outcomes for Aboriginal children have narrowed in early childhood education and for Year 12 completions, these positive trends are not replicated in the intervening years where attendance, reading, writing, and numeracy targets have been missed. Erratic attendance in the primary years has the greatest impact on achievement; literacy and numeracy scores decline as absences increase. Family functioning and health, caregiver expectations, past encounters with the education system and socio-economic disadvantage are all implicated in poorer rates of attendance. In response to community concerns, an Aboriginal/mainstream partnership was forged in 2011 and began work in 2016 to address patterns of attendance and achievement among Aboriginal primary students in a regional city in Western Australia. This paper describes the innovative, community-led “More Than Talk” program and presents findings from teaching and support staff interviews two years after implementation. Qualitative methods were employed to analyse the data, develop themes, and ensure rigour. Findings highlighted the cascading impact of erratic attendance and the role of strong relationships, respect, and investment of time with children as critical elements in student engagement and wellbeing. Community-led, collaborative educational programs have the potential to positively impact Aboriginal students’ engagement and contribute to culturally responsive environments. If sustained, such efforts can enable learning to flourish.

Drawn to the Rhythm

<p>Rowing is one of New Zealand’s premier international sports, and our New Zealand rowers have won significant acclaim in Olympic and World Championship competitions. Most recently at the 2012 London Olympics, three of the six New Zealand gold medals and both of the silver medals were for rowing. The spirit, camaraderie, emotion, and atmosphere of a great sporting occasion are enhanced by a great venue; the sports stadium is not a passive backdrop but a theatre set that can only enhance the experience through its design and management. Yet unlike other premier sports in the country, such as cricket, netball and rugby, New Zealand has no permanent stadium wherein spectators can witness and celebrate rowing competitions and the training of these athletes. Typically the sport of rowing has always relied on boatshed architecture as its only relationship to the built environment. This thesis argues that the use of ‘boatshed’ architecture for rowing teams actively disconnects the sport from the public; but stadium architecture has its own distinct economic disadvantage, in that stadiums are empty more often than they are full. The thesis therefore proposes a new approach to a rowing stadium – integrating boatshed, stadium, gymnasium, and hospitality elements – to provide a new typology for rowing that remains activated throughout the year. Linda Pollak and Anita Berrizebeitia believe that our relationship to the built environment has increasingly isolated us from experiencing the landscape upon which it is sited. This thesis argues that a rowing facility provides an ideal opportunity to explore how critical boundaries separating waterfront architecture and the sea can be re-examined in order to re-enforce our experience of the waterfront built environment and its unique site, offering new ways to re-connect our experience of inside and outside. The site of this research investigation is Athfield Architects’ $100 million redevelopment of the Overseas Passenger Terminal into 76 high-end private waterfront apartments in Wellington. The Wellington waterfront is in particular need of public activation, yet this new development effectively privatises an important segment; the goals of developers and cities are often at odds with one another. The thesis argues that, when set within the context of a larger waterfront program, rowing can actually help activate that larger program and enhance its economic value in the same way that a gym adds value to a residential apartment complex and sea views add economic value to a restaurant. Our harbour cities depend on public activities along the waterfront that encourage visual as well as physical participation throughout the day. This thesis investigates how a permanent rowing facility can become a viable urban activator for both a city and a private development, while also enhancing the public’s relationship with this premier New Zealand sport. Creating the opportunity for the sport and its athletes to be celebrated in the eyes of the public is important to ensure the sport continues to thrive and receives the recognition that it deserves.</p>

Drawn to the Rhythm

<p>Rowing is one of New Zealand’s premier international sports, and our New Zealand rowers have won significant acclaim in Olympic and World Championship competitions. Most recently at the 2012 London Olympics, three of the six New Zealand gold medals and both of the silver medals were for rowing. The spirit, camaraderie, emotion, and atmosphere of a great sporting occasion are enhanced by a great venue; the sports stadium is not a passive backdrop but a theatre set that can only enhance the experience through its design and management. Yet unlike other premier sports in the country, such as cricket, netball and rugby, New Zealand has no permanent stadium wherein spectators can witness and celebrate rowing competitions and the training of these athletes. Typically the sport of rowing has always relied on boatshed architecture as its only relationship to the built environment. This thesis argues that the use of ‘boatshed’ architecture for rowing teams actively disconnects the sport from the public; but stadium architecture has its own distinct economic disadvantage, in that stadiums are empty more often than they are full. The thesis therefore proposes a new approach to a rowing stadium – integrating boatshed, stadium, gymnasium, and hospitality elements – to provide a new typology for rowing that remains activated throughout the year. Linda Pollak and Anita Berrizebeitia believe that our relationship to the built environment has increasingly isolated us from experiencing the landscape upon which it is sited. This thesis argues that a rowing facility provides an ideal opportunity to explore how critical boundaries separating waterfront architecture and the sea can be re-examined in order to re-enforce our experience of the waterfront built environment and its unique site, offering new ways to re-connect our experience of inside and outside. The site of this research investigation is Athfield Architects’ $100 million redevelopment of the Overseas Passenger Terminal into 76 high-end private waterfront apartments in Wellington. The Wellington waterfront is in particular need of public activation, yet this new development effectively privatises an important segment; the goals of developers and cities are often at odds with one another. The thesis argues that, when set within the context of a larger waterfront program, rowing can actually help activate that larger program and enhance its economic value in the same way that a gym adds value to a residential apartment complex and sea views add economic value to a restaurant. Our harbour cities depend on public activities along the waterfront that encourage visual as well as physical participation throughout the day. This thesis investigates how a permanent rowing facility can become a viable urban activator for both a city and a private development, while also enhancing the public’s relationship with this premier New Zealand sport. Creating the opportunity for the sport and its athletes to be celebrated in the eyes of the public is important to ensure the sport continues to thrive and receives the recognition that it deserves.</p>

Standard language ideology in an English-medium Irish secondary school

The current paper aims to address how one English-medium school functions from the different perspectives within the school: the principal, student/teacher classroom interaction and the students. This approach allows us to see the power differential of the different stakeholders in a school and how iconisation, fractal recursivity, and erasure affect teenagers in Dublin. This paper presents interview data with a principal and the students in a secondary school. Taking a qualitative approach to these data, I show that standard language ideology is linked with economic disadvantage. The school principal’s approach to identifying, problematising and seeking to eliminate certain types of nonstandard language in the school reflects a standard language ideology and is consistent with a raciolinguistic approach to linguistic discrimination. The data suggest that the students themselves take a more nuanced approach.

The Problems with Troubled Families: Rethinking the Analysis Behind the 120,000 Troubled Families Statistic

In the aftermath of the 2011 England riots, the then Prime Minister David Cameron referred to a ‘small number of families as the source of a large number of problems in society’ (Cameron, 2011). Soon after, the Troubled Families Programme was set up by the government to ‘turn around’ 120,000 troubled families. Despite government rhetoric focusing on ‘neighbours from hell’ (ibid.) the initial estimate of the number of troubled families did not include any indicators of problematic behaviours, such as crime or anti-social behaviour. Instead, a measure previously used by government to classify families with multiple social and economic disadvantages was used (Social Exclusion Task Force, 2007a). This article revisits the research behind the initial identification of the 120,000 troubled families and explores more widely the overlap between families with multiple social and economic disadvantage and their engagement in problematic behaviours. Our reanalysis of the original research data reveals that although families experiencing multiple social and economic disadvantage were at an increased risk of displaying problematic behaviour, only a small minority did so.

Evaluation of the Fertilizing and Nematicidal Effects of Lixiviate from Banana Rachis and Purpureocillium lilacinum for a Reduction of Fallow Frequency in Dessert Banana Monoculture

The practice of fallowing for one year represents a viable alternative to chemical control of Radopholus similis and Pratylenchus coffeae in dessert banana monoculture. Although necessary, fallowing has an economic disadvantage for farmers. The objective of this work is to evaluate the nematicidal and fertilizing effects of lixiviate from banana rachis and Purpureocillium lilacinum in order to reduce the frequency of fallowing. In this study, we performed a chemical analysis of the lixiviate and then compared the two types (plantain lixiviate and dessert lixiviate) at 25% concentration, Bioact (Purpureocillium lilacinum) at 106 spores/ml) and two mixed treatments (plantain lixiviate + Bioact and dessert lixiviate + Bioact) to an untreated control and a reference nematicide, fluopyram at 10% (Verango) during three cycles of cultivation of the dessert banana seedling Grande naine. At the end of each crop cycle, the evolution of the nematode population and the yield of banana plants were evaluated. Chemical analysis revealed a high potassium content in both products and a more remarkable amount of nitrogen in the plantain lixiviate. The results showed that Bioact did not show antagonistic effect against nematodes and impact on production. On the other hand, despite less nematicidal activity, the lixiviate significantly increased the yield compared to the chemical nematicide treatment. Therefore, only in the plots treated with lixiviate, it was possible to carry out several successive crop cycles. This result was more marked with the plantain lixiviate. The results presented in this work are encouraging for the development of biological control methods of banana nematodes by lixiviate.

Migrant residential concentrations and socio-economic disadvantage in two Australian gateway cities

This article explores the relationship of residential concentrations of non-Anglophone migrants with socio-economic disadvantage at the suburb (SA2) level. We look at two main Australian gateway cities, Sydney and Melbourne. We use the ‘person-counts’ of the latest available (2016) Australian Census data, matching them with the socio-economic data provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics ‘socio-economic indexes for areas’ (SEIFA). Our analysis shows that despite decades of careful filtering of migrants for skills and language, socio-economic disadvantage in migrant concentrations persists in the main gateway cities, being more pronounced in Melbourne than in Sydney. The article employs an original quantitative analysis in order to advance the understanding of relationship between ethnicity, socio-economic position and residential location. We seek to contribute to the ongoing scholarly and policy debate about migrant concentration areas in large immigrant-receiving cities.