Case study of a Sexually Abused Child

This study is based on a 16 year old girl who was sexually abused by both of her parents with no one to turn to. The purpose of this study is to inform readers on different types of physical and mental distress children and young teens suffer from when they are sexually abused. Many adolescents suffer from sexual abuse and is usually assaulted by a family member. Therefore, it does not get reported. Children are less likely to speak up in this situation because they are either too young to understand what is going on or are afraid to speak up because they are threatened by their perpetrator. This is a very important topic because it often happens in low income families or within African American children who usually don’t have the privilege to tell their truth. Also, children are less likely to be heard when they are going through these types of situations so they suffer in silence. A lot of parents tend to disbelieve their child because another family member is the perpetrator. Her story is also to inform people about why it is important to listen to children when they decide to speak up about their story.

Precious is a 16 year old African American girl from Harlem. She lives with her mother who is unemployed and relies on welfare to survive. While living with her mother, Precious gets physically, verbally, and sexually abused by her. Precious has been sexually abused since she was just a newborn. At just three years old she was raped by her father, by age 12 she became pregnant by her father and had a baby girl that suffered from Down syndrome. Precious’s daughter currently lives with their grandmother and only visits when it is time for their monthly visit from the case worker to receive extra money from the government. The mother believes Precious is the reason her father left. Therefore, she physically abuses her when she is upset and molests her as well. Over time Precious ran away from home, had her baby boy, decided to learn how to read and write to get her GED and eventually started a new family for her and her two children after finding out she is HIV positive.

Child sexual abuse is the sexual exploitation or sexual activities with a child under circumstances that indicate that the child’s health or welfare is harmed or threatened (Wallace & Roberson 2011). In this case Precious was experiencing interfamilial sexual abuse which includes exploitative sexual contact between relatives. Both, her mother and father were sexually abusing her. When Precious was just a new born her father molested her and would masturbate in front of her until she was three years old, by that time she was raped by him. Her father continued to rape her until she was 16 years old and impregnated her twice. She is currently pregnant again by him. Because of the incest her first child was diagnosed with down syndrome. She started to get molested by her mother when her father decided to leave. She would also get physically abused with objects such as plates, pans, plants, and a television when her mother felt disobeyed.

When the act of sexual abuse occurs most victims do not show any visible physical evidence. Child sexual abuse isn’t always easy to notice. The perpetrator could be someone you’ve known for a long time, which makes it harder for people to report. When the sexual abuse started there were no physical signs of abuse because her perpetrator was only fondling with her body or self pleased himself. Her father would use vaseline as lubrication to make it easier for him. Because of this Precious suffered with genital pain, swelling, and eventually pregnancy. When Precious disobeyed her mother demands, she would get into physical fights with her mother. After she fought her mother oftentimes she would suffer from head injuries, bruises on her body, and one time knocked unconscious. Though Precious suffered from many injuries, no one ever noticed unless she confessed and was later informed that she was HIV positive.

Some indicators of abuse were behavioral issues such as fighting, doing poorly in school, stealing, delays with learning, and isolation amongst her peers. Precious was always alone during school and at home and always had her head down when she walked or sat down. Her mother never allowed her to talk when the social worker came around and did not like when she attended school. Often times she would daydream about a life she wanted to live when someone bullied her and if she was getting abused. Precious would also get attached easily to people that made her feel special or was kind to her.

The general systems theory is the cause of the abuse occurring in their household. According to Wallace and Roberson (2011) whenever a family member engages in violence, this may be a positive feedback for them because the violence created the desired result they were looking for. When family members engage in acts of violence, it fulfills their own self-concept of being violent. Precious mother made herself believe Precious is the reason her father left so in return, she would sexually, physically, and verbally abuse her to get the fulfillment she needed. She knew in order to feel in control she had to insult Precious with degrading words to make her feel less of herself. Once her mother got the reaction she was seeking for she would go back to her daily routine which was smoking, watching television, and having a drink.

Child sexual abuse can cause long term effects if children do not receive treatment. This is one of the reasons why some adults are still suffering with childhood trauma. If victims do not receive treatment they can suffer with long term effects such as acute stress, secondary stress, and tertiary stress. This is one of the most common effects on children and adolescents. Also, teen pregnancy, over sexualized behavior, and sexually transmitted diseases are long term effects. Some long term effects Precious suffered from being teen pregnancy and a sexually transmitted disease that has no cure. She experienced both of these traumas by the age of 16. Precious now has to take medication daily for HIV, have frequent visits to the hospital, and is left as a single parent of two children. Precious now has weekly appointments with her social worker and teacher to seek help on how to deal with her situation.

As a mandated reporter it is expected that anyone who works in education, welfare, child services, health care, and law enforcement are to report any suspicious behaviors, bruises, neglect and any form of abuse. Professional judgement should be used when it comes to any child safety and reported to us immediately. It is our duty to protect each child and provide a safe environment for their welfare or well-being. Further decisions will later be dealt with in front of the judge after further investigations.

In closing, child sexual abuse is is very harmful that can affect a child’s life long term. This is a very common form of abuse that is underlooked and is very common with young girls. Prevention can be as simple as making a child feel comfortable speaking up, educating children about boundaries, identifying any form of indications of abuse, and most importantly reporting any suspicious actions.

Clinical Case of Skeletal Disease

Musculoskeletal or skeletal system consists of bones, cartilages, ligaments and joints that accounts approximately 20% of our body mass. Bones made up our body shape, support and protect our organs and systems. There are 206 bones in an adult human body which contain the bones of skull, spines, ribs, arms and legs. Bones compound most of the skeleton in the body. In order to support the mass of our body, bones work together with muscles to manage body position and create controlled, precise movements. Without the skeleton to pull against, contracting muscle fibres could not make us sit, stand, walk or run. This report will discuss about Gillian who presents to GP with chronic bilateral knee pain and lumbar spine which have a major impact on her ability to move around. Besides these two main problems, she has noticed that she gains about 10kg in the past six months which it affects her pain. Furthermore, she also diagnoses with osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. There are many treatment options that available for her. As a nurse, firstly, they should manage the pain by nonmedical interventions, psychological support, and medication. Secondly, they would rather to control her blood glucose level since she suffers from type 2 diabetes and obesity because these factors are contributed to osteoarthritis. Thirdly, physical activities would be one of best option to improve her weight since her BMI is 30.5 which shows that she is overweight. Lastly, if there are no significant physically changes on Gillian, the nurse and doctor must prescribe her some medications.

Patient Outline

In the case study, Gillian presented to GP with chronic bilateral knee pain and lumbar spine pain which decreases her mobility significantly. She is known to have gained a significant amount of 10kg within the last six months which she stated to deteriorate her pain. She has a history of left knee injury, fracture right hip due to recent fall, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and chronic joint pain. Furthermore, Gillian is menopausal since the age of 49. Regarding her family history, her mother and grand-mother had osteoporosis, one sister is diagnosed with osteoarthritis leading on to knee replacement and one is currently receiving the treatment for osteosarcoma. On physical examination, she demonstrated decreased spine flexion and extension, left hip discomfort when flexion and rotation and bilateral knee crepitus as well as enlargement/fluid in the left knee.

Diagnosis

Gillian has been complaint of chronic knee pain and lumbar spine pain, she stated that she desired to have a little bit of movement since she acknowledged how important movement is to aid reducing the pain. However, she found it difficult getting over initial pain. Arthritis refers to inflammation of a joint. There is a wide variety of arthritis diseases including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis when the individual displayed stiffness and fusion of their spine. Consumers with arthritis often presented with restricted motion, articular pain or stiffness, swelling of limbs.

Osteoporosis is common in people aged 65 and above. Signs and symptoms of osteomalacia also include pain when more weight is put on the affected bone due to low intake of calcium or vitamin D leading to softer bone. Meanwhile, osteoporosis is more likely to be a silent disease and people are not aware of the disease until they experienced fall causing fracture.

From the scenario’s information, based on her signs and symptoms as well as background and current medical condition, one conclusion can be drawn that Gillian is experiencing both osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. The diagnosis of osteoporosis is based on family history, clinical assessment and clinical tests. As stated in Gillian’s case, both mother and grandmother had osteoporosis which indicates family history of osteoporosis. Clinical tests of osteoporosis include medical imaging methods and the preferred procedure is dual energy X-Ray absorptiometry (DEXA) which measures bone mass density (BMD), also known as T-score. The diagnosis of osteoporosis is evident by T-score lower or equal to 2.5. Additionally, CT scans, MRI or ultrasound can be adopted to investigate osteoporosis. For diagnostic studies of osteoarthritis, X-Ray, MRI or bone scan are useful for conforming osteoarthritis. X-Ray is used commonly since it displays narrowing of joint space or bony sclerosis (stiffening of bone). Synovial fluid analysis can be applied to differentiate between osteoarthritis and other inflammatory arthritis as fluid in OA appears yellow and slightly or not inflammatory .

Detailed Underlying Pathophysiology

Osteoporosis are 8 times more common in women than men due to hormonal changes in the body, women tend to consume lower calcium than men throughout their lives, women have less bone mass because of their smaller frames and bone resorption begins at an early age and after menopause, more common in people aged 65 and above, poor diet (decreased calcium, vitamin D), family history of osteoporosis.

Estrogen helps to keep the normal density of the skeleton by controlling osteoclast and promoting deposit of new bone. But after menopause the oestrogen level decreases in production and women experienced a greater rate of bone loss.

About 70% of maximum bone tissue is control by heredity. The bone loss from midlife and onwards are inevitable and the rate of loss varies. Heredity not only influences the bone mineral density but also impacts the bone size. Osteoblasts continuously deposit bone and are resorbed by osteoclasts. For the bone to remain at constant both bone resorption and deposition should be equal.

Parizad (et al. 2019) showed the relationship between diabetes mellitus and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Postmenopausal women diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are more vulnerable to bone fractures. Diminished renal function and obesity experienced within patients with osteoporosis are contributed to osteoporosis. Anti-diabetic drugs exert negative impacts on bone and cause bone fractures. High levels of glucose in diabetes develops the generation of AGE crosslinks in bone which induces bone fragility. AGEs – advanced glycation end products are formed when inside body when proteins or lipids (fat) are exposed to glycation (sugar). AGE crosslinks are stated to alter mechanical properties of proteins such as collagen leading to stiffer tissues and decreased viscoelasticity. It is known to increase fracture risks in people diagnosed with DM.

Gillian’s BMI is 30.5 which is within a range from overweight and obese. Roberts (2015) stated that overweight is one of modifiable risk factors of osteoarthritis because the more significant weight gained, the more pressure on weight-bearing joints including knee joints. Kane (n.d) provided that every pound of excess weight produces four pounds of extra pressure on the knees. However, it’s not just about the excessive stresses on joints but the fat itself is an active tissue that synthesises and releases chemicals that develops osteoarthritis. Fat tissue is stated to be the main source of pro-inflammatory factor – cytokines. Moreover, the development of pro-inflammatory factors causes nitric oxide (NO) production which induces the death of chondrocyte – cells in cartilage connective tissue, and, inhibits collagen synthesis. Consequently, cartilage degenerates and is inflamed leading to the breaking off in joint or ‘joint mice’. Roberts (2015) asserted that the common group diagnosed with arthritis aged over 75 is women.

Treatment Options

First and foremost, pain management is really important in this case. Since the patient has long history of chronic arthritis pain, available treatment options includes nonmedical interventions, psychological support, and medication. Chen & Michalsen (2017) show that complementary and integrative (CIM) medicine significantly reduce chronic pain. The common use of CIM modalities consist of traditional medicine (naturopathy, homeopathy, anthroposophical medicine), mind-body system (tai chi, yoga, qigong, relaxation, cognitive-behavioural therapy, meditation, biofeedback, music and art therapy, prayer, dance therapy), body-based methods (osteopathic manipulation, chiropractic manipulation, massage), and biological-based therapies (natural and herbal products, dietary supplements, nutritional intervention). Furthermore, Sydne et al (2017) explain that intra-articular platelet- rich plasma production, or the combination of glucosamine and chondroitin can release pain and support arthritis function. other pain killer options are paracetamol, ibuprofen, and chondroitin sulfate. These activities should be approved by a general practitioners before doing, and can be admin by a nurse, a therapist, and a pharmacist.

Secondly, overweight is also an issue in this case. Lifestyle change is a solution. Muscle-strengthening exercise and weight-bearing can improve strength, balance, posture, and ability of musculoskeletal system, reduce weight as well as fall and fracture risks. A therapist can assess fall risk factors and recommend solutions such as balance training exercises, home safety assessment. The patient should seek advises from a general practitioner in avoidance of focal sensory system depressant drugs, cautious observing of antihypertensive medicine, and visual amendment if required, and correction of vitamin D deficiency.

Thirdly, advising on calcium and vitamin D intake is necessary. A healthy balanced diet is significantly in need. A diet is considered healthy and balanced if it consists fruits, vegetables and rich in low-fat dairy in order to provide calcium as well as other nutrients. A recommended total calcium intake is 1200 mg/day for women age 51 or older. On the other hand, vitamin D is found most in vitamin-D fortified milk such as soy milk, fortified cereals and juices, liver, and salt water fish. NOF recommend a daily intake of 800 -1000 IU of vitamin D for individuals age 71 or above. If diet is insufficient or not enough, incorporating with supplement is required. Most calcium supplement contain vitamin D. However, patient can use independently cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) or ergocalciferol (vitamin D2 – based on plant sources – used for vegetarian diet). This can be advised by a nutritionist, a nurse or a health educator.

Last but not least, the therapy will not complete without medications. As pre-diagnosis with osteoporosis, the most common prescribed medications are bisphosphonates that include alendronate, risedronate, ibandronate, or zoledronic acid. Otherwise, hormone like medications such as raloxifene are accepted for osteoporosis prevention and treatment. Denosumab is recommend for people who cannot take bisphosphonate due to reduction of kidney function. While teriparatide and abaloparatide as recommend for people who had fractures since it rebuilds bone.

Likely Outcome

Osteoporosis is a chronic condition, which requires a long-term treatment. Therefore, there is an importance of understanding the relationship between drug-taking behaviour influences of individuals and health care expenditure, and individuals’ outcomes. According to Lidsay (2015), side effects including physical and psychological effects are biggest issues that against the efficacy of treatment. On the other hand, there is evidence showed that patients tend to not check their medicines stock regularly and only refill them when running out. Furthermore, late in seeking treatment is a phenomenon, which negatively affected the efficiency in osteoporosis therapy. The patient can avoid these conditions by frequently doing health-check, regularly looking for abdominal signs and symptoms, and seeking help if necessary. Using zoledronic acid in a single 5mg infusion, and bisphosphonates are believed to increase bone mineral density, and decrease risk of fracture. Barreto et al (2018) share that long-term exercise, especially multicomponent training, balance exercises and moderate intensity can reduce fractures, falls, and injurious fall in older population. The exercise performance should be assisted by a physiotherapist in order to secure safety and effective.

Conclusion

Gillian suffers from osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, obesity which affects her skeletal system. Within a nursing assessment, the nurse carefully creates an excellent nursing care plan for her including physically and chemically. Exercise performance, nonmedically treatment and medication treatment are available for Gillian. With this ongoing assessment, Gillian will get better if she listens carefully and follow the instruction that given by the nurse and the GP. She will be able to get back onto her exercise per normal, lose some weights as her wishes and it helps her to reduce the risk of osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia.

Education as a Transformative Process

The study demonstrated how discourse-analytic approaches reveal the significance‘ of verbal and non-verbal data in research, In using a qualitative research approach the researchers were able to place themselves within a critical stance of the data using a micro-analytical approach, This allowed the researchers to consider how broader social processes work through language. The study explored ‘Education as a Transformative Process’. The study aligns itself with previous studies and supports the works of Jack Mezirow (1978), ‘Transformative Learning Theory’, and Jack Mezirow’s (1997, 2006) ‘Transformative Experience Theory’. The study further supports Stacks (1992), ‘Turn-Taking Model’. The study demonstrates that education produces a transformative process for learners in the DCU Open Education Unit. Where learners engaged in self-directed learning and had a choice in the subjects, they chose they in turn, replicated their learning and produced a self-directed change in their social views, their world view and behaviours. Evidence within this study demonstrates that that new information learned was then reproduced and embedded in their real world.

Introduction

Jack Mezirow (1978) discussed the notion that the transformative learning theory of adult education uses quandaries to challenge learners’ thinking. Learners should, as a matter of course, be encouraged to use critical rational and questioning, to contemplate if their fundamental norms and beliefs about the world are accurate. Transformative learning Mezirow defined the process as one that leads to a change in one’s set of criteria for defining judgments and is rooted within the social constructivist tradition, the theory encompasses a critical reflective pattern and serves as an essential part of the transformation process as individuals maintain certain beliefs and thoughts on how the world is and how they make sense of it. By engaging in a transformative style of learning, individuals should discover that their beliefs and structures of the world may not be viewed in a single construct.

As a result, they examine the internal thought structure to find new meanings for the world. Three characteristics define the construct (1) motivated use of and application of learning and self‐directed learning, (2) expansion of perception in seeing issues through the lens of the content, and (3) experiential value or valuing learned content for how it improves everyday understanding.

Transformative experience theory, according to Jack Mezirow (2003 p.201), “The child and the curriculum”, states that a teacher’s problem is one of encouraging a vibrant personal experience for the learner. Dewey states that what should concern a teacher is how the subject becomes part of the future experience of the individual. Transformative experience theory concentrates on how in-school learning can enhance the out-of-school understanding by increasing an individual’s insight; this will add meaning and value to the learner’s future experience; it should allow for a transformation in their relationship with the world. The theory combines ideas from John Dewey’s theory of aesthetics and his philosophy of education (Leddy 2006). Later (Daloz, 1990), stated that higher education has the potential to propagate understanding, awareness, and transformation by the cultivation of a learner’s proactive thinking, and this should include multiple viewpoints, the process should encourage dialogue and build an individual’s knowledge.

According to (Perry, 2000) transformative learning produces more significant and far-reaching drastic changes in the learners as individuals. In a study by Pugh (2011) entitled ‘Transformative Experience: An Integrative Construct in the Spirit of Deweyan Pragmatism’ researchers, Girod and Wong (2002) presented case studies of two students learning how to tell rock stories. The study involved them learning about rocks and their history and examining size and patterns of erosion. One young girl developed a deep interest in the area and later in the paper stated that she developed a book about rocks not out of need in school but rather out of interest, she stated that “I think about rocks differently than I did before now when I do not have anything to do, I look at a rock and try to tell its story. “I think about where it came from, where it formed, where it has been, what its name is” – Girod and Wong (2002 p. 211). Distinct evidence of transformative experience emerged, proposing that the construct of transformative experience provides an accurate representation of what it means for learning to enrich and expand the everyday experience.

This study seeks to examine and to identify and describe through a phenomenological approach, which, according to (Creswell 2013), centres on the collective experience within a group. The goal of taking this approach is to arrive at a description of the nature of the phenomenon; its roots lie within Philosophy, Psychology, and Education. The purpose is to examine the lived experience of individuals within a grouping that is third level students attending DCU Open Education Unit.

The study will also explore the levels and combinations of the three characteristics of the transformative experience described by Mezirow (1978) to assess the critical patterns of thought. Through qualitative methods, the study aims to relay the learner’s journeys of transformative engagement in education. Based upon the three characteristics that define the construct of transformative learning and the principals of phenomenology the study seeks to answer if students engaged in DCU Open Education Unit have:

  • Applied a significant degree of choice and control over what, when, and why they chose this field of study?
  • Expanded their perception outside of the learned content?
  • Applied their current learning to their everyday lives?

Methodology

The study will present findings of research conducted to explore education as a transformative process. The study will relay accounts of the educational experiences from a learner’s perspective and determine if the learner has engaged in education as a transformative process. The research was conducted in conjunction with third level students attending the Open Education Unit at DCU University. Interview plans were developed using the theoretical bases drawn from the ‘Transformative Experience Theory’ and ‘the Transformative Learning Theory’. Participation in the study was voluntary. The researcher secured consent to partake. Using a qualitative approach and through critical discourse analysis, the researcher was able to examine not only codes and themes that emerged but identified linguistic features that were associated with the process allowing a critical analysis of the experience.

Online semi-structured interview methods were employed. One online interview was conducted; this was further supplemented by two other interviews carried out by other researchers within the same programme. Semi-structured questions were asked of the interviewees, and responses were recorded and later transcribed. Using Nvivo software (QDA 2018), transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. On analysis of each interview, a coding framework was devised.

This report is structured within the central themes observed through the interview process. Sub-themes were then developed to examine in more detail the context of responses. Discourse analysis allowed the researcher to study the text within a language and allowed the researcher to view the phenomenon from a different stance. Researchers used a highly inductive approach meaning that data may generate new theories from within. Themes emerging from the data were gathered and not imposed or predetermined by the researcher. This study will examine the link between the data and underlying theory relating to the issues.

Analysis

This study seeks to establish if students in a third level college engaged in a transformative learning process. This report is structured around the central themes and linguistics observed through the interview process. Part one will examine the thematic findings, and part two will examine the linguistic features of the interview data.

Part 1. Thematic Codes

According to Mezirow (1997, 2006), one of the fundamental underlying principles in transformative learning is that the experience leads to a change in one’s set of criteria for defining judgments. Throughout this research interview participants referred to their ability to have learned not to make a judgment as one participant stated that, “I suppose in and within our sociology and psychology modules, where we’re learning a lot more about the world, and I’m not as quick to judge people but to go well, and you know there’s something, there’s a reason behind this behaviour and there’s a reason for it. I just saw reasons for behaviours and thought there’s something behind this, and yeah. And not just be quick to judge”.

In examining interview transcripts’ previous education, although negatively impacted some participants, they found they engaged self-directed learning. This was a direct result in some cases of previous education negatives like that of previous schooling and university learning.

“Previously in education, I would sit in a lecture hall with a thousand people, I had to be there I had to sign-in on sheets, and it just felt like a waste of time, because lecturers were reading out notes that I had in front of me”.

One participant stated when asked the question, think back on your primary and secondary school days, and you’re learning there, and the way education was delivered there did that encourage you to take up further education, or did it prevent you?: “ It prevented me it was very much, do it our way or don’t do it at all, yep very different to open education”.

When asked if they have applied their new knowledge in the real-world context. Interviewees were clear in how they had, with some respondents highlighting that: “I’d say the cognitive psychology and counselling module like ya know, whatever you are worrying about is not necessarily what you’re worrying about, and it’s probably something else that’s associated with it. It’s putting all these connections together to kind of I suppose to get the leg up on your own thinking, and it has made me a more focused person. It definitely made me a clearer thinker”.

The previous approaches used in education for the participants allowed students to determine how future education would proceed for them, as all interviewees cited this as the catalyst to pursuing an education that was flexible, part-time, and held previous student reviews of the support they received while attending the institute of choice.

Interviewees all agreed that their experience as an adult learner had enhanced their lives and changed their thinking, allowing students to put into practice in the real world the knowledge and experience they had gained from a supportive, flexible institute where self-direction and self-commitment were to the fore. All learners made personal sacrifices but relayed that those sacrifices were worth it. All interviewees relayed that the decision they made to return to education was as stated by one interviewee.

“I think there’s one thing that I’d like to say and that it’s the best thing that I ever did was going back to this course”.

This study part one covering thematic analysis supports the theory laid out by Mezirow, which stated that by engaging in a transformative style of learning, individuals should discover that their beliefs and structures of the world may not be viewed in a single construct. It is evident within the responses of interviewees in this study.

Part 2. Linguistics

Linguistics is the systematic study of language; it examines the rules, systems, and principals of language. There are two main scopes to linguistics one Micro linguistics and two macro linguistics. The major contributor in linguistic research is Noam Chomsky (1965), who wrote that the aim of Linguistics should be about understanding underlying linguistic competence or the rules that govern the manufacture of grammatical sentences. Wooffitt (2005) maintained that whenever we yield an account of something or refer to a place, a thing, event or current affairs in the world, we chose from a variety of possible words and phrases. Sacks (1992) pioneered the approach when his study explored telephone calls to a Suicide Prevention Centre. He noticed that staff were required to gather names, but callers would use a range of tactics to avoid revealing it. Sacks recalled that in the conversation, you could predict that people would not give their name (Sacks, 1992 Vol. I: 3). Sacks began investigating utterances as social actions that people reverted to on a bid to get things done or to avoid getting things done in the course of a conversation with others, Sacks (1992 Vol. I: 3 ). for this study, linguistic features were examined to determine if the linguistic style bore importance or held vital information pertinent to the study. Conversational analysis is a micro-analytic approach, which is one of four approaches to discourse analysis, CA. However, this takes a sharp exit from Chomsky‘s view that linguistic performance has close to no relevance to the linguist. However, proponents of CA would state that this is the reverse and believe that talk-in-interaction provides extraordinarily rich evidence of the fundamental rules of how language works.

During this study, when the respondent was asked: “just to go back on something you said earlier you spoke about having gone to do previous degrees, what is different about this course that those two courses could not offer you?” The participant respondent saying: “Mmmmm, flexibility”. “Mmmmm open education in DCU”. “Mmmmm previously in education I would sit in a lecture hall with a thousand people”.

In reviewing the transcript, the use of ‘Mmmmmm’ indicated that the participant was engaged in a thought process of recall of decision-making processes. This allowed time for the participant to determine what words or speech would follow. The words can be referred to as fillers, according to Clark & Fox Tree (2002). The oldest proposal is that fillers are used for holding the floor according to (MacClay & Osgood, 1959, p. 41) demonstrating that the respondent wanted to hold the space to continue this was borne out by the fact that these were elicited at the beginning middle and end of the response this indicates to the interviewer that their response was not completed.

Within the transcripts, pauses were also observed. This indicated a turn change potential in the conversation, and the participant might have waited for the interviewer to permit to continue. This is a model called the turn-taking model suggested by Sacks et al. (1974). “I think for me I was…. [pause]”. The participant then continued with the answer.

Discussion

This study set out to examine the concept that education is a transformative process. The study remained aligned with the theory outlined throughout this paper. The study was also able to articulate that transformation happens in verbal and nonverbal ways. This study chose a qualitative method using thematic analysis and critical discourse analysis to develop an insight into the data collected through interviews. The method enabled the researcher to develop a deeper appreciation for the group or situation they were researching. The study used interview transcripts and divided them into two chapters – thematic analysis and linguistics. By using thematic and discourse analysis to distil data, the researcher identified patterns of codes and linguistic features that allowed them to conduct more granular research and analysis. The study supports the theory by Mezirow, which states that one of the fundamental underlying principles in transformative learning is that the experience leads to a change in one’s set of criteria for defining judgments, and this was demonstrated by the responses gathered throughout the study. The study also supports (Perry, 2000) transformative learning produces more significant and far-reaching drastic changes in the learners as individuals as recorded from respondents who felt that their experiences had changed their perception and ability to self-direct. Through linguistics, the pattern of non-verbal communication delivered further enhancement of the study. Clarkes & Fox Tree (2002) demonstrated that fillers were used by participants when they engaged in non-verbal communication to demonstrate that they were engaging in filling when they intended to proceed and increasing the verbal responses this concurs with Sacks (1992) study where he demonstrated that people could use these utterances to avoid s social actions in the course of a conversation with others. The utterance allows the participant time to process recall and hold the space for further conversation.

The use of pauses within the interviews was observed as indications that a turn change potential was happening in the conversation. This allowed the participants to wait for the interviewer to permit them to continue. This study supported the turn-taking model, as suggested by Sacks (1974). Identified limitations within the study are that analysis done on smaller sample sizes increase error margin; this should be taken into account when examining the analysis within the study. Further areas of research identified further research could examine the pause taking in the turn-taking model as the differences between pause times may or could happen as a result of emotional attachment to the question and the required response. The responses that may be elicited may impact the length of time within the pause determining an emotional connection.

The Importance of Communication and Health Promotion Strategies for Patients with Serious Illnesses

This case study is based on Mr Khan a 78 years old patient who is suffering from a serious heart condition and now admitted to hospital for treatment. The essay will focus on the different aspects that are relevant to this case study. It is identified that Mr Khan has myocardial infarction (MI) and is faced with serious health complications. The biopsychosocial aspect, along with the ethical, legal and professional issue of healthcare are the key elements of discussion and how to aid improve Mr Khan’s condition and demonstrate the importance of communication strategies and health promotion will be evaluated.

According to Waugh and Grant (2014), a myocardial infarction is a life threatening medical condition that can occur when there is a complete blockage of the flow of oxygen in the blood to the heart, the heart cells and cardiac muscles dies or become infarcted, thereby failing its major function to pump oxygen in the blood to the tissues and organs of the body. The coronary artery blockage is caused by plague of fatty substances or atheroma that prevents the flow of blood to the heart. WebMD (2019) reveals that difficulty in breathing, sweating confusion, dizziness and pain in the sternum that radiates through the left lower arm, cheek and jaw are signs of myocardial infractions. With regards to this case scenario, Waugh and Grant (2014) asserted that myocardial infarction is common among men of more than 60 years old. Prominently, when an individual is obese and has some family history of heart disease, Mr Khan’s age, body size, nutritional status and most probably family history constituted to the biological factors that triggered the ailment.

Psychological factors, such as work, stress and anxiety are some of the contributors for the cause of severe heart disease (Spielberger, 2019). Increased levels of anxiety and working stress, could have contributed to Mr Khans inability to follow a healthy lifestyle thus result in high cholesterol and triglycerides increase in his blood. Mr Khan’s wife is now anxious and worried thinking that her children and grandchildren will carry on his burden due to the health complexities of his condition and the effects this may have on them. It is important for every individual to have a good socio-economic status in order to live a healthy lifestyle. Due to the lack of these factors, Mr Khan is unable to live a healthy life (Piepoli, 2016). Stress, and poor lifestyle choices are some of the factors that can contribute to causation of severe heart conditions. The nurse should care for Mr Khans effectively, understanding the different factors that are relevant to his care and to focus on important guidelines and evidence regarding the practices for the management of this cardiac disease. Coronary intervention, drugs therapy and treatment procedures are highly recommended. (Song et al,2019). The nurse should demonstrate the principle of non-maleficence which requires health care professionals to do good and avoid or minimise harm to their patients in need of care (Beauchamp and Childress 2013).The increasing number of health-related incidents of cardiac arrest and acute cardiac disease are the most common diseases among patients (Fors, 2015).The nurse should demonstrate compassion and consider the welfare of the family. The nurse’s duty of care would escalate concerns about Mr Khan and ensure they are acting in the most appropriate way by prioritising the needs of Mr Khan, such as ensuring that his medication are given at the right time. Ruston et al. (2010) states that a patient’s welfare, informed consent and the involvement of the patient in decision making is paramount. It is the duty of nurses to maintain the data safety and security on behalf of Mr Khan. Revelation of any kind of Mr Khan’s information is completely unethical and illegal. In the health care sector, it is the responsibility of care professionals and other health care workers to be accountable for their patients.

The legal aspect indicates that it is the responsibility of nurses to maintain confidentiality, as sharing patient’s information without consent is against Human Right Act 1998 everyone has the right to respect their private and family life, NMC (2018). Mr Khans information should always be kept confidential. The initial step of health care professionals and staff is to arrange proper management systems after diagnosing the patient’s condition. CABG (Coronary Artery Bypass graft) PCT (percutaneous coronary intervention) is effective medical treatment procedure (Low, 2017).

The nurse’s role is to provide effective care by involving Mr Khan’s family in the treatment process which will ensure family-centred care. Royal College of Nursing (RCN, 2018) states that nurses should be accountable for the treatment of a patient in their care and to deliver safe, effective, compassionate care in a patient centred way with respect, dignity and confidentiality. The nurse should reassure Mrs Khan and family if recognising any changes in his condition and offer the family any necessary support that are relevant to them. The Nurse can make a referral for mental health support for Mrs Khan including medication review and follow up arrangements and treat them with empathy, identify their needs, communicate clearly and sensitively. Nurses and health care professionals can promote professionalism and trust ensuring patient autonomy (NMC, 2018). In Mr Khan’s case, he has the right to make choice or agree on resuscitation and do not resuscitate if there was a DNR in place in order to respect his directive.

The nurse should support Mrs Khan on how to access services and educate her on resources available such as medical leaflets on MI about low saturated foods that can aid her to reduce her potential risk. Regular blood tests are also advisable in order to check for troponin a substance found in the blood. (Zeymer, 2017). The nurse can also recommend an electrocardiogram (ECG) that could be done on Mrs Khan to see the heart rhythm which is the conductivity of the heart, due to following improper diet pattern and the presence of obesity. Mr Khan is affected by a number of health complexities, which can be measured in different ways such as performing an ECG and MRI scan to check his heart rhythm and the flow of the electrical charge of the neurons in his brain. The nurse can discuss with a dietician to plan out diet plans to aid and improve their health. As stated by World health organisation (WHO,n.d.), every year about 32.4 million people have experienced and potentially have died from strokes and heart attacks. However, with time the number of survivors has increased due to health promotion which consists of diet plans, weight loss plans and many more and as result reduce heart disease.

Communication plays an important role in the patient-nurse interaction, in order to enable Mr Khan and his family understand their medical terminology and the treatment process that are being offered and to decide whether they feel it is appropriate for them. Effective communication and collaboration in the working environment will provide effective patient-centred care. However, in some cases health care professionals are unable to provide such care and effective treatment due to lack of communication and information that is received both by the health care professional and the patient in this case (Carvalho, et al, 2017). Different strategies are used in terms of communication such as verbal and non-verbal communication which involves the conveyance of information and ideas. Also, good listening skills are important as your patient needs to know that you are actually paying attention to what they are telling you about their current condition (Benbow, Jordan, Knight, White, 2019) and also the used of basic language will aid Mr Khan and family in the decision making process. However, excellent nursing care should be provided, and the ability to alleviate the loss will be plan. The appropriate measured should be in place in other to support the Khan’s family emotional, physical, cultural and spiritual comfort. Effective skilled communication is needed to reduce worry in order to create a conduessive atmosphere during the family intense and mixed emotions. The family-centre care is needed for his wife to provide mental support after the death of Mr Khan. Nurses play an important role during the bereavement, Nurse improves family outcomes by influencing the level of family satisfaction.

Conclusively, it is evident that health care professionals and famies play an important role in developing and delivering care and treatments in order to improve the living standard of patients with severe health conditions. In the case study of Mr Khan, it is demonstrated through the analysis of MI and the factors that can aid this condition such as, biopsychosocial as well the legal, professional and ethical aspects that are involved, therefore enabling a greater understanding of patients with such conditions as well as good communication to educate patients on this aliment can potentially reduce such conditions.

People Who Have Developed Schizophrenia Essay

This essay will summarise a case study of a client who is suffering from severe schizophrenia, including three factors that have contributed towards their ill mental health, followed by the importance of a positive outlook on mental health and also including risk factors in developing mental ill health. Additionally, a definition of mental health, mental well-being, and mental ill health concerns the individual.

Schizophrenia has been known for the past one hundred years and is stated to be an extreme mental health illness (Csernansky, 2001). Schizophrenia is based on the theory of communication, which is named the theory of Logical Types (Buss, 1969). This theory states that there is a lack of relevant information linking social class and the individual as there are different levels of schizophrenia. There are three levels of risk: low, medium, and high risk (Jobe, 2005). Statistics show that individuals suffering from schizophrenia have their lives shortened by twenty years more than those suffering from minor mental illness and signs are showing the gap is widening (Gov, 2019).

Furthermore, over twenty-one million individuals are affected by schizophrenia. The characteristics of schizophrenia are unusual brain activity, disorderly thinking logic, and hallucinations (Rojo, 2019). In recent studies, more and better treatments have been targeted towards this illness that could assist in reducing the stigma that has been labeled towards this illness and ensure patients have the mental strength and help to live a quality life (Demjaha, 2011). Psychologists across the world have highlighted that treatments such as family interventions, cognitive remediation, and behavioral therapy are extremely important (Mamani, 2018).

An individual needs to have positive mental health when diagnosed with a serious mental illness to gain the best out of life and a better quality of life (Council, 2014). Furthermore, positivity should allow the individual the ability to deal with the emotional, stresses that come with illness (healthy, 2008), as well as the ability to find ways of finding techniques and strategies to control the mind. Techniques such as yoga, regular sleeping patterns, finding a spot for self-reflection, and trying the laughing and smiling therapy are effective.

Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental illness that affects one percent of individuals. Schizophrenia does not only disturb the individual’s life but also the people surrounding them. To ensure that individual needs are being met, families or next of kin have to make changes to fit around the individual. Individuals with this illness alongside their families feel they have lost control over the individual’s life. Furthermore, statistics show that ten percent of individuals diagnosed with symptoms attempt suicide but fail their attempt, but around thirteen percent would succeed in this act.

Additionally, Mueser and Gingerich (1994) researched that individuals who were hospitalized due to schizophrenia eventually returned home, which would have a huge impact on the families. Schizophrenic genetic component, past research has incorrectly stated that mothers were to blame for a gene in their children. Recent and more up-to-date research which is still ongoing are still unaware of the dominant variable linked to this gene.

The client lived with his mother who was thirty-five years old and stepfather who was forty-eight years old and the client was eighteen (Carter, 2011). The mother had asked for support as she had reported that her son was becoming aggressive and throwing things across the room whilst shouting without reason. The client was the only child who lived in a rural area as a middle-class citizen. At the age of thirteen, the client started hearing voices in his head which would result in him shouting and screaming at his class teacher (Carter, 2011).

He became anxious because the voices in his head would state the teacher was after him. As time went by the client stopped carrying out his routine such as brushing his teeth, taking showers, and maintaining his overall image (Carter, 2011). The client started acting without realizing the consequences of his actions. The parents had sent the client voluntarily to a psychiatric hospital for six weeks where he was regularly monitored and was prescribed Risperdal seventy-five mg (Carter, 2011). After six weeks he returned home, his attitude slowly declined, and he became more secluded and distant (Carter, 2011).

The Client is an eighteen-year-old, who is diagnosed with schizophrenia (Carter, 2011). The Client had lost interest in day-to-day activities and found it extremely difficult to show empathy towards other emotions. This client also had periods of withdrawal and isolated himself from others by staying in his room for long periods (Carter, 2011). The Client also reported a sense of paranoia. These symptoms were consistent and regular, which had a huge impact on his daily routine for several years. Such as oversleeping during school days and consistently running late, consistently anxious and stressed which would then result in him hearing voices asking him to hurt himself (Carter, 2011).

Furthermore, he had also self-reported suffering from delusions, which has affected him in relationship building. Additionally, the medication he was on had a huge impact on his relationships with the opposite sex (Carter, 2011).

The doctors had recommended the client alongside his mother and stepfather attend family therapy once a week for fifteen weeks to achieve a calm therapeutic circle (Carter, 2011). These meetings would last around one hour. These meetings were designed to ensure a haven for the client and allow him to regain his control. Alongside the family therapy sessions, the client was recommended to take medication consistently to gain some independence (Carter, 2011). There were also follow-ups scheduled, which the client had adhered to to find himself a less stressful employment after his graduation. It was recommended that the professionals and the family work as a team to ensure the best results for the client (Carter, 2011). Recommendations such as educational sources on schizophrenia for the families to ensure background knowledge.

Also, available for the individual were crisis intervention techniques for the family and training in problem-solving (Carter, 2011), monitored closely by his psychiatrist. Also allowing family members involvement, peers, and the outer social circle to gain quality of life, and successful employment would reduce the episodes of relapse (Carter, 2011).

The meaning of mental well-being is defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and can contribute to his or her community (Galderisi, 2015). Furthermore, the definition of mental ill health has changed over the past fifty years, recently mental illness relates to disorders that affect one’s intellectual thought processes, and how the emotional side of the individual affects one’s behavior (Manderscheid, 2009).

Also, mental illness could be diagnosed as very minor for example small phobias to severe illnesses that the individual may need to be taken to hospital (Parekh, 2018) for example severe depression, suicidal thoughts, bipolar disorders, and schizophrenia.

Therefore, individuals with such conditions are labeled and placed in a system for monitoring purposes. Also, those who have been diagnosed with mental health illness are assumed to be in a worse position than those with good health (Holborn, 2013). For example, people with mental health issues will be poorer as some individuals are unable to work and provide for themselves and are at a higher risk because they are most vulnerable. No Health without Mental Health’ (Strathdee, 2015), Mental health is defined as our thoughts of mind, how we feel, and how we handle certain stressful events in life (CDC, 2018).

Intellectual Property Rights Violation in the UAE and Laws to Protect Against It

Intellectual Property violation is an out breaking criminal offense in the UAE. Many traders sold unlocked set-top-boxes which given access to several free exclusive channels. The circumstances fall under the Federal Copyright Law No. 7 and Federal Trademark Law No. 37 of protection laws of IP which considered acting against the trades for such criminal activities. Formal charges under Federal Law No. 3 of 2003 must be made if any guilty is found and caught stated by Harfan and Doudar (2017). It was declared a fine of 50,000 AED as compensation (For victim) including a 6 months sentence by Court of Law; furthermore, ordered to deport the person from the country.

The UAE court considers IP violations as an extremely serious issue along with treats with required steps to make punishment. A fine of 20,000 AED with compensation for abusing against the sufferer including deportation from UAE to any other country is entitled as a punishment of breaking copyright law.

Case Study of UKTV

A few days back OSN TV filed a complaint against a channel distributor which came as a case under breaching copyright law. The distributor was found to broadcast exclusive UK channels to its customers totally free of cost. The suspect was charged for selling IP888 illegally to customers without having any authorization and license of IPTV (Internal Protocol Television) provider (tradearabia.com, 2019). The person was a British National and supplied unauthorized content to the public and seen unlawfully selling set-top-boxes.

This issue led Dubai Misdemeanors Court to charge the suspect with 50,000 AED as a fine, a sentence for 6 months and deported from UAE after completing the sentence. Ten days had been given to the person to appeal to the court; and, all the set-to-boxes and digital instruments those found from the place of distributor were ordered to destroy. The Dubai Police got all necessary proofs from the spot regarding the complaint of OSN TV (tradearabia.com, 2019). The punishment was given under Federal Act No. 7 of the UAE and made an example to warn all the people involved with relevant criminal activities.

Brief Analysis of the Case Study

The case study shows that the British National distributed unlicensed and unauthorized IPTV (Internal Protocol Television) to clients which made them be able to connect and watch exclusive channels of UKTV with a free price of cost. This study confirms the enforcing an incredibly severe punishment for disobeying Intellectual Property (IP) Law and this scenario was an act of breach of the copyright law under Federal Law No. 7 of 2002. A rapid surprise charge was made by the police to verify the complaint made by OSN TV. It was observed by the OSN TV that; they were losing the client and they made a study on finding the reason of this issue and brought out with the result that their potential and existing customers having a free of access to exclusive channels whereas they render the same service with fees on them. However, they identified that the British distributor is not authorized as well as has no license as a UKTV channels provider; in contrast, OSN TV follows the rules and regulations and has proper license and authorization. This issue made them a loss of customers for the illegal selling of IPTV by the distributor, which made them file a complaint.

It is additionally stated that Federal Law No. 3, bans any illegal trade of copyrighted channel and restricts any person involved in it. OSN TV fought for themselves as well as to protect from illegal and piracy distribution to secure the national benefit. This is believed by the Head of Telecommunication that, the economy as a whole becomes a victim at a time when the distributor becomes a victim of these violations of laws. This situation makes a loss on the legitimate investment of authorized distributor, which is not expected. To make the result of this kind issues an example, and to aware and warn the future suspects, The UAE Court made a strong action on this. The illegal distributor got a punishment of a fine of 50,000 AED with 6 months sentence along with an order of deporting the country after completing the sentence. Similar nature of a harsh lawsuit will be applicable to any person or organization who will be involved in the further breaking of copyright laws.

Impact on Consumers and OSN TV

It is also a foremost duty of a customer to be aware of the issue to know that if the service provider from whom they are receiving any kind of services is legally formed and authorized or not. If not, then the customer shall not pursue any service from that service provider or producer just to sake the benefit of price. The case discussed earlier shows that with the supplier the users also become a sufferer. As the equipment (set-top-boxes) they have purchased becomes useless which means the loss of investment. However, they had to get back or pursue the service with fees and to invest in making procurement of a new setup.

In contrast, for approaching in securing of legal issue OSN TV got a reward against the loss they made. They have got a huge compensation counted 50,000 AED; by which they would be able to extend their service and operation (gulfnews.com, 2019). All the steps of OSN TV made a brand image; a raise of client base including increases in revenue – occurred mostly for following the legal aspects and being authorized and a licensed distributor.

Recommendations

This situation could be avoided if the distributor would take legally authorization and license or following the proper registration processes for distributing IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) to the customer. Simply, go after with these steps would take to the path of complying with the existing copyright laws in UAE. And, this would help the person to be safe from a huge loss of investment and at a time punishment and social respect.

Necessary campaigns and awareness programs can be arranged more by the government to make customers more responsible for these issues to act properly. Also, to save the country’s economy the approaches like OSN TV shall be motivated more so that probable risks can be reduced.

Conclusion

United Arab Emirates (UAE) proved its proper attitude to secure the Intellectual Property Laws and controlling all necessary violations against them. IP Laws in UAE are unique in the manner and different from existing laws in other countries as they state no automatic transfer of rights and no waiving of the moral rights of the authors; also includes no future assignment of copyrights without any written instruments. Moreover, people get restrictions on trade counterfeited items in UAE; to deal with this; UAE introduced and established anti-commercial law. These laws restrict and reduce the violations in UAE. However, we have seen from the case study that, how strongly and mercilessly the illegal distributor got punished by the UAE Court. Hence, following all the orders and laws in UAE is important. These strict controls bring over a suitable business environment in UAE; where UAE Copyright Law is considered an essential part of it.

Drosophila Melanogaster Laboratory Report: Essay

Two of the key driving factors of evolution are natural selection and sexual selection. These make up two of the five mechanisms of evolution. Natural selection can be defined as the growth of a species of organism over time by the fittest surviving and the least fit dying off, and when discovered in 1835 by Charles Darwin, it marked a turning point in evolutionary thought. Before Darwin, there were only two theories behind evolution, neither of which were certain. Their basis rested mainly on assumption, and there had been little examination of their truth. False beliefs based on assumptions remained popular thought until Darwin studied finches and their beak size in the Galapagos Islands. Darwin discovered that on the island there were many of the same types of birds with different beak sizes. He later went on to discover that this was due to evolution and natural selection. The birds would develop different beak sizes due to their unique location on the islands and would adapt to their surroundings. For example, the large ground finch has the largest beak size of Darwin’s finches due to it needing to crack seeds and nuts for food. Thanks to Darwin, there is now a better understanding of evolution and natural selection today.

When selecting a mate, there are certain features or traits that make a female select a certain male over others. This is called sexual selection. Some examples of sexual selection could be colorful fins on fish. Another common example is that of Drosophila melanogaster (commonly referred to as Drosophila). Drosophila can be born as wild-type flies with wings or born as vestigial flies without wings. Drosophila males born with wings (wild type) can do a mating dance toward females that increases their chances of mating. Vestigial Drosophila, born without wings, are unable to do this mating dance, which drastically reduces their odds of mating.

Evolution is vital because it is what allows organisms to adapt to their surroundings and become more fit to survive in their particular environment. Evolution is also important in understanding how organisms change and adapt to their environment. Knowing previous patterns in an organism’s evolution can allow scientists to predict the future and know how to respond to certain situations.

The purpose of this experiment is to determine if evolution will occur among wild-type and vestigial Drosophila melanogaster under natural and sexual selection. The goal is to see how these two mechanisms affect the allele frequency over a 10-week time period. Over this 10-week time period, it is expected that wild-type Drosophila with wings will be sexually selected over vestigial Drosophila without wings because males will able to do the mating dance and attract a female mate. We can test this by having two crates with 100 Drosophila each. 20 will be wild type (.2 frequency) and 80 will be vestigial (.8 frequency). One cage will contain a simulated predator to catch the wild-type flies, making it so that there are greater odds a female will mate with a vestigial Drosophila. For the cage without a simulated predator, I hypothesize that if Drosophila melanogaster is kept in a cage with no simulated predator, then wild-type flies with the dominant trait for wings will have a better chance to mate. This could be due to the evolutionary mechanism of sexual selection because, with wings, wild-type flies can perform a mating dance that will allow them to find a mate more easily than vestigial flies. For the cage with a simulated predator, I hypothesized that if Drosophila melanogaster is kept in a cage with a simulated predator, then wild-type flies with the dominant trait for wings will be captured (killed) and will no longer be able to mate, thus giving vestigial flies without wings a better chance to mate. This could be due to the evolutionary mechanism of natural selection. With wild-type flies being captured, vestigial flies will become the fittest and thus more likely to find a mate.

Materials and Methods

Two cages were set up during the first lab to hold flies (Drosophila melanogaster). The first cage was set up with fly paper inside of it to capture flies with wings that could fly. This acted as a simulated predator, and when a fly was captured, it could no longer reproduce so it was considered dead. The second cage did not have a simulated predator. Each cage was marked as a cage with/without a simulated predator to tell the difference when collecting data. Drosophila food was set up for each cage. In each cage, 20 wild-type flies with large wings and 80 vestigial flies with small/no wings were released. Taking turns every other lab on Wednesdays, one of the four lab groups would count flies after class, recording their data on a random sample of flies gathered. CO2 was used to anesthetize the flies and make them easier to count. A feather was used when sorting the flies while doing counts to ensure no harm was done to the flies. Each group recorded how many wild-type flies and vestigial flies were in the sample collected from each cage when it was their turn. This experiment lasted 10 weeks, but no counts were made during the fifth week when students were on spring break. Using a PopGen simulator, a graph was created in Microsoft Excel of what different expected population sizes would look like. Ten weeks later, after the completion of the experiment, more graphs and tables were made using Excel to analyze the data. A chi-square statistical analysis test was performed to find the p-values for each cage. Wild-type flies were given a .2 frequency and vestigial flies were given a .8 frequency (20 wild-type, 80 vestigial). The p-values were determined to accept/refute the two hypotheses. “If flies have the dominant allele for wings, then they will have a better chance to mate” – is the hypothesis being tested for the cage with no simulated predator. “If flies with the dominant allele for wings are caught in the fly trap, then they will no longer be able to mate, and the vestigial flies with the recessive allele will have a better chance to mate” – is the hypothesis being tested for the cage with a simulated predator.

Results

Average allele frequencies between both cages throughout the ten-week period were compared. Both cages started with the same frequencies, but as time passed, the cage without a simulated predator began to show higher dominant allele frequencies, and these allele frequencies would continue to rise until the end of the ten-week experiment. In the cage with a simulated predator, dominant allele frequencies rose from their original frequencies, but began to settle near the fourth week at around a .4 value. T-tests were performed to find p-values representing how close our actual results came to our expected results. If a p-value gives a value of < .05, then there is a significant difference. If a p-value gives a value of > .05, then there is no significant difference.

Discussion

The expected model to compare with the cage with no simulated predator was model 1, and the expected model to compare with the cage with a simulated predator was model 3. The cage without a simulated predator had a p-value of 3.58351E-06. This p-value is less than .05, indicating a significant difference and implying that in the cage with no simulated predator, there was indeed evolution. The cage with a simulated predator had a p-value of .0564, which is greater than .05. This implies that there was no significant difference and evolution did not occur. As stated earlier, the predicted model for the cage with a simulated predator was model 3. Model 3 suggests that there is no change in the allele frequencies from start to finish. Perhaps a better model to use to represent this cage could have been model 2. Model 2 suggests that the final WAA is 1 and Waa is .8. This is more accurate to our results as the final dominant allele frequency for a simulated predator population was about .37. The p-value to determine if the cages differed was .000847, which is less than .05, suggesting that there was a significant difference. This was expected because with one cage having a predator and one not, it would not be expected for the two populations to evolve in the same way. The p-value found between the non-predator cage and the predicted model (model 1) was .6718, which is well above .05. This suggests that there was no significant difference between our actual results and expected results, meaning that model 1 was a good representative of what would actually happen in the experiment. The p-value found between the predator cage and the predicted model (model 3) was .345, which is greater than .05, suggesting that model 3 was also a good representative of what the actual results would look like in this experiment.

The hypothesis for the non-predator cage was accepted. The hypothesis for the simulated predator cage was also accepted. The two hypotheses were accepted because both p-values were greater than .05, meaning that, according to the data, the chosen model for each cage was an accurate representation of what happened. This makes sense for the non-predator cage because if flies have the dominant allele for the wing trait, then they will have wings and be able to perform the mating dance which helps them attract a mate. This also makes sense for the simulated predator cage because the simulated predator was placed in the air so that it would only catch wild-type Drosophila that could fly. If a significant portion of wild-type Drosophila had been captured, then female Drosophila would have less of a choice in their mating partner. In this case, the ‘more fit’ flies are those without wings or vestigial. They cannot be captured by predators and survive by natural selection.

Final Thoughts

In the future, more experiments could be conducted that test more mechanisms of evolution, such as gene flow, genetic drift, etc. The cages testing natural selection and sexual selection could be kept, and more cages could be added to test these other mechanisms. Also, a way to possibly make results more accurate is to do counts every week instead of every other week. This way there would be more data to make a more definitive conclusion. The purpose of this experiment was to examine the relative fitness of Drosophila melanogaster and to understand how its fitness can impact its evolution. The research is globally important because it tests the evolutionary mechanisms in species with a fast reproduction rate so that extensive amounts of data can be compiled in quick periods of time. The information found can then be compared to other species to make predictions regarding other species and factors that may affect their evolution. The big picture is in understanding the different evolutionary mechanisms, specifically natural selection and sexual selection, and being able to predict future outcomes based on these criteria. In this experiment, it was important to use a model organism such as Drosophila melanogaster because of its quick generation time, thus allowing us to compile data for an entire generation in just a short amount of time.

Charter School Essay

Introduction:

Imagine it’s a normal day after school and your daughter walks in. She drops her things and enters the kitchen. You asked the typical parenting question. “ How was your day at school?”. She replies, tomorrow the teacher will be showing us a presentation of “The Festival of the Steel Phallus”. Which is a Japanese penis festival? You brush it off and the next day she texts you and says the teacher showed two objectionable videos. How would you feel? You proceed to contact the school’s Vice-principal and there is no response. How would you feel at that moment? Enraged? Disgusted? Lied to?… It is fair to say that every parent would feel this way. Unfortunately, this situation is not an imaginary scenario in 2015 this event happened to a thirteen-year-old high school student who attended New Point High School. This particular event ended in the student being transferred to another class but nothing more. The school, however, is still no doubt problematic. New Point High School of Escambia County, Florida was known as a high-performing charter school that was first opened in August 2011. The institution found itself in a scandal with great fault the school’s endorsement from others.

The scandal at hand was an accusation that school administrators allegedly forced the teachers to alter attendance, and grades provoked the deletion of assignments, provide answers to tests, and change grades to ensure that students graduated. This would not be all that the school would be accused of. After Escambia County Superintendent of Schools revealed that some teachers’ reactions to the allegations were either livid or emotionally distraught. Maybe, because they feared the consequences that may lie ahead.

There were calls received from a whistleblower back in May of 2014, he was not present, but the assistant took down all the accounted details. Some that would include the details of how complaints to the principal would be ignored, not just from only her peers; but students and parents as well. Similar stories followed, corroborating the allegations of grade editing, and unkept recordkeeping. Teachers also brought up health and safety concerns as well. Some went on to mention how certain safety incidents such as physical assaults by students, and unseemly behavior amongst other things. Even after several messages that had been generated by phone and email about the situation, no actions from his office followed. Later, communication from Assistant Mrs. Erwin and Vickie Mathis the Director of Alternative Education. Directed by Superintendent Thomas to do so.

Once informed of the allegation Mathis sought advice from the Department of Transportation, Florida. Upon further communication, Irvin and Thomas discovered that two specific students were identified with low GPAs. After additional information grew more specific. The allegations with proof of documentation of responses from the school district personnel. There were no emails to follow-ups. At the end of the school year no report by the Escambia County School Board of any problems… There were allegations that Thomas put a hold on New Point High’s 2014 to provide time to investigate the allegations. The mole was not pleased to hear about Thomas’s lack of immediate response. Because she believed that generally intervene and investigate.

As winter began the school district started to receive complaints once again. The county school added new charges on a different set of allegations including harassment (Sexual Inappropriately), tampering, and serious breaches in safety. Teachers were not allowed to be questioned. During an absence of publicity, Governor Rick Scot awarded New Point High School, and New Port Academy, with checks totaling $27,253. Later, Thoma’s consequences from not reporting the problems earlier are now scandals receiving awards for student performance for financial benefit.

The whistleblower then chose to contact the school’s superintendent Bergosh regarding the grade-altering scandal, but it would later become public news on March 25, 2015. They expressed their concerns about the conditions of the school, and how they have since declined because there was no response from either party. Mr. Bergosh Would later state on his blog that the communication and lack of knowledge show dysfunction with the volatile allegations. The Whistleblower would then send Mr. Bergosh a 22-page report including the tampering of grades, the dates of the alleged incidents, also the name of the students and parents. Most importantly it included the names of the teachers who administrators directed to do so. These changes could significantly impact the school grade of an A. But it would have to be ongoing before the current school year to receive the bonus for the grade. More related incidents of allegations would soon arise detailing information on who stole school funds. More dirty and inappropriate who watched adult films in the classroom, and who inappropriately touched and interacted whit the high school and middle school students.

Upon receiving this document Mr. Bergosh then passed it along to Donna Waters the Escambia County School District attorney and Superintendent Thomas. Please be aware that Superintendent Thomas was already aware of the allegations made against New Point High School, and Academy. In addition to posting an ambiguous note on March 26, 2015. Where he made known that it is his opinion that cheating is one of the worse examples a public charter school can set. He went on to say that cheating to boost graduation rates helps raise schools’ letter grades and does help in the end with funding for academic accolades. He also expressed how he was used in this scheme and how it also affected the governor and himself.

But in the end, Superintendent Thomas still did not take appropriate action after receiving substantial evidence. Public records that were provided by Mr. Bergosh showed that there were numerous reasons why the investigation grew stagnant. Gary March the district Investigator had reported that there would be numerous stories but no one would come forward and match their story with their initial interview.

All in all, things that the school failed to were as follows

  • Failed to maintain accurate enrollment data
  • Maintain student records by following federal law standards
  • Always maintain a safe learning environment
  • Follow guidelines and procedures regarding recommendations for expulsion
  • To pursue and make progress toward the achievements, goals, and objectives previously set in the School improvement plan
  • Failed to provide services for students with disabilities
  • Failed to hire persons who had qualified background checks
  • Ensure that employees underwent a level two background check.
  • Deliver instructional programs that were identified in the charter school proposal
  • Obtain all necessary permits, zoning, etc.
  • Provide exceptional state and local laws and policy
  • Secure the health, and safety of all students.

Assessment:

From my perspective, I believe that the root cause of all the dysfunction falls on the School board, had not the correct amount of supervision been in place a lot of things would not have been able to happen. Also, some additional root causes could be setting clear expectations on how the supervision would take place, as well as the internal accountability, and the disciplinary consequence of corruption. All these would have helped exhaust malicious allegations such as these.

When assuming or discerning of taking on a charter a significant amount of research should have been done on the parent organization as well as the previous projects it has completed. Things an organization could research would be previous charter schools’ data with that parent company. For example, New Port Education Partners owner Marcus may be charged by the state of Florida with fraud and racketeering amongst other things. He allegedly used shell companies to sell his overpriced goods and services to the schools, all the while pocketing taxpayers’ dollars. His actions did not just stop with Escambia County but followed in five other counties in the state of Florida. This shows where he is taking funds right from students’ education, which can be seen as ill intent, and lack of oversight. (Pensacola, 2017)

Also, analyzing whether were there any malicious articles in the media or even the school’s grades, and compliances with the law. Correspondingly looking into the parent companies’ leadership. Gathering details that would enclose their background and professional relationships. Looking into the teachers that taught at their other institutions and analyzing whether they were certified and met all state and federal criteria. Information of that nature is highly important when it comes to the Health, Education, and Safety of those students. Seeing that you are giving an organization the right to educate your future. Following you should set clear expectations and events of supervision to ensure that all expectations are met that both the School Board and the Organization agreed upon. For example, corroborating different interviews with both students and staff to make sure that there is a positive report from the organization. Sitting in on classes to ensure that it is in line with the lesson plans and the educational approach agreed upon, as well as evaluating all teachers’ methods during the first quarter of the teaching. Also, checking all employees’ backgrounds that are taught within the school systems to ensure all student safety.

One would think that this may be a lot of responsibility for a School Board to enforce. But in hindsight, it is not. ‘If there is no one looking over a thief’s shoulder might they always be drawn to steal?” when it comes to ethics you should always question one’s intentions, there must be no assumptions, and you must expect and prepare for the worst.

An example would be how students perform due to unqualified teachers who work with the organization. Studies have shown that based on the premise that teachers who are effective at teaching can impact students’ achievement levels. (Berson, E, 2012) The study also examined factors such as teachers’ education and retention. So, there is very much a possibility that failing grades are due to the credibility of the teachers. Organizations are expected to be honest about the qualification of their educators and their past performance efforts.

Setting Guidelines there is separate from the school improvement plan. That clearly states what would be expected or inspected by unknown dates in a school semester. An alternative perspective would be that with the Improvement plan, there should be no additional need for guidelines of oversight. Because the Improvement plan is a placeholder and not a binding statement it just states what the organization will try to achieve. There is no expected accountability in that effort. No one person was responsible for assuring that the school is striving towards ethical success towards and seemingly attainable goal. As a result, there is no organization or consequence for not attaining these goals presented in the School Improvement Plan. A report provided by the Annenberg Institute from Brown University provided seven policies that would be more effective. They included:

Traditional districts and charter schools should work together to ensure a coordinated approach that serves all children.

  • School governance should be representative and transparent. Only 10 states – California is not among them – require a parent to be on the governing board.
  • Charter schools should ensure equal access to interested students and prohibit practices that discourage enrollment or disproportionately push enrolled students out of school.
  • Charter school discipline policy should be fair and transparent.
  • Districts and charter schools should work together to ensure that facilities arrangements do not disadvantage students in either sector.
  • Online (Apex Learning system used for students in NPH, and NPA) charter schools should be better regulated for quality, transparency, and the protection of student data.
  • Monitoring and oversight of charter schools should be strong and fully funded by the state. (Frey, S 2014)

Perspectives such as these should be taken into full consideration. Because they identify exactly where charter school organizations can stand to improve. The proposed policies are not difficult to achieve and are very attainable. Setting goals that fit within these policy parameters could help organizations achieve identified objectives. There is structured oversight to make sure the students are being well benefited in the end.

Analysis:

Educational accountability produces good schools and allows you to weed out and repair the state of schools that have areas of improvement. Schools now depend on the rules and compliances put especially into place for a situation such as these. Organizations should follow regulations and should be micromanaged with bureaucratic controls to keep unethical behavior in the past. It is understood that charter accountability is result-driven, however, we can no longer do so. There must be regulations in place to not heavily rely on just plain academic results. (Manno, B.V 2000)

According to the Network for Public Education, there were over forty cases in March 2019. There is not a lot of existing research that responds to the lack of oversight in charter schools exactly. But numerous articles suggest allegations of such being done in charter schools around the country. However, articles are suggesting that 6% of schoolchildren in America attend charter schools. Most who support charter education feel that it is a sustainable feature for our educational landscape. (Strauss, V 2019)

Lessons Learned:

Based on the assessment the key lesson would be to create oversight. The reason being when there is no rule of regulatory behavior things often get sidetracked, to benefit the unintended. Becoming immoral in honesty and integrity. Especially in an industry such as Charter Schools. Only the students are meant to benefit in life-changing ways. Not those in hopes of economic gain through taxpayers’ dollars. As we saw in May.

Actions that should be taken from my assessment would be taken in effect in line with the core problems. The lesson that I have learned is when you are in a governing board make sure that you do your diligence in holding up all consequential deliverables. Such as setting and managing clear expectations on how clear the objectives should be. As well as to what to expect from the board in terms of oversight, and the consequences if there was a failure on immorality in obtaining these objectives.

The theory that is relevant in this case would be the bureaucratic theory. Because it helps to develop clear rules for decision-making. It has been referred to as rational-legal decision-making. So rules and procedures are specifically designed to benefit the organization’s structure. However, they should be consistent with rules and laws that mesh with society. But they would first have to ensure that there is a hierarchical structure consistent with expectations. For, example making sure the board of education is respectively ethical and leaves the room for oversight. Next to ensuring that division of power and authority. This helps to make sure that there is no one person held responsible for a particular organization. While proceeding with Formal Rules that would be lawfully consequential.

However, this theory has certain problems like limitations. Rules and norms are always put in place to help improve efficiency and ethical conduct. However, previous rules set in place can be very slow in adaption to new situations. For example, a charter school wouldn’t be able to conveniently switch curriculums and resources used for the school. There can sometimes be an executive structure as well it is hard and can lead to frustration because of how slow it may take to get certain authorization. Looking back there should always be an oversight. When looking into parent organization you have to enforce a certain code of ethics. It is very important for external control for administrative boards. Superiors should accept their responsibility for their formal obligation. Not to be mistaken for sole power and authority over an organization. This is how corruption starts and scandals begin. By setting a bureaucratic standard. It would give organizations a chance to develop organizational structure. By being able to handle oversight and formed expectations.

Reference:

  1. http://wp.studeri.org/2015/04/no-school-is-immune-to-grade-tampering/
  2. http://jeffbergoshblog.blogspot.com/2015/04/
  3. https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2017/06/24/punish-newpoint-scandal-probe-let-happen/103099502/
  4. http://www.northescambia.com/2015/06/more-teacher-arrested-for-helping-students-during-eoc-test
  5. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED455563.pdf
  6. Berson, E. J. (2012). Teachers’ Perspectives of Teacher Supervision Policies & Practices in Charter Schools in Pennsylvania. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, PO Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106.
  7. Berends, M., Watral, C., Teasley, B., & Nicotera, A. (2006). Charter school effects on achievement: Where we are and where we’re going. Nashville, TN: National Center on School Choice.
  8. Carpenter, B. L. (2007). The five dysfunctions of charter school boards. The National Charter.
  9. Manno, B. V., Finn Jr, C. E., & Vanourek, G. (2000). Charter school accountability: Problems and prospects. Educational Policy, 14(4), 473-493.

Intersectionality of Race, Gender, Age, and Class in a Case Study: Critical Essay

This assignment will highlight and discuss the case study of Victor a 22-year-old black African male from the Nottingham area. I will discuss and provide detailed evidence on Victor’s case through investigations and theories. This will help explain how Victor’s race, gender and class could have had a big impact on his life and potentially discriminated against him when he has been a part of the criminal justice system and seeking mental health support.

Sewell in ‘Mad or Bad? A Critical Approach to Counselling and Forensic Psychology’ discusses the topic and intersectionality of race. It introduces Victor, a black male of African origin whose parents were originally from Nigeria but moved to. Victor has had multiple issues with criminality, the justice system (after being convicted of grievous bodily harm and robbery) and experienced mental health issues.

Data from reliable analysis tools such as the census that regularly records population changes, plus the gathering of feedback reports from service users in the mental health system help to support Sewell’s argument that a person’s ethnicity negatively impacts the mental health care services they receive. On pages 70-73, Sewell highlights and partitions the inequalities that occur in mental health into five sections. In the first of these sections, Sewell describes how individuals from black and minority ethnic groups (BAME) will experience a high level of social inequalities, such as racism abuse trauma, poor housing and unemployment. In addition, he adds that migration and the impact of moving to another country can also negatively impact a person’s mental health. In the second section, Sewell describes how members of the BAME group, in particular black African individuals, are more likely to be what he calls ‘overrepresented’ in mental health care. He adds that BAME members will have statistically higher than average detention rates in hospitals, have more referrals by other agencies such as the courts, and will more likely receive a diagnosis of psychosis and receive more formal community treatment orders from the mental health team. In his third section, Sewell argues that research conducted by Glover and Evison (2009) identified that men and women from BAME backgrounds (Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian and Pakistani origins) were less likely to utilise psychological therapy services and therapies such as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). The fourth section describes how data gathered suggests that BAME members who accessed mental health care services were more likely to ultimately receive poorer outcomes such as repeated admittance and longer on the hospital ward than their white counterparts and were more likely to drop out when accessing talking therapies such as CBT. In the fifth and final section, Sewell describes how several researchers have identified significant issues between BAME communities and their satisfaction with their therapists and mental health care services. One study was the ‘Breaking the Circles of Fear’ research in 2002. It found that African Caribbean communities reported very unsatisfactory levels of mental health services. Another study conducted by the Mental Health Commission in 2006 also reported that black and mixed-race groups reported high rates of dissatisfaction in mental health inpatient stays.

Several research studies have been undertaken to identify if there are any issues with race in the criminal justice system as in the case study Victor had experienced. Section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 compels the Justice Secretary to publish data on ethnicity in the criminal justice system for Wales. The findings for 2013-2014 highlighted that BAME members were more likely to be a victim of crime than white people. Due to disproportionate stop searches made by the police on BAME community members, black people were more likely to be arrested, convicted, and given custodial sentences than their white counterparts. On page 75 of ‘Mad or Bad? A Critical Approach to Counselling and Forensic Psychology’, Sewell explains that mental health and the criminal justice system have similar trends when it comes to black people being overrepresented. This could be heavy due to racism in the system and the individuals involved within it. Another reason Sewell offers for this overrepresentation is social inequality. Due to higher proportions of BAME members experiencing social inequality, which is a direct link to crime, it is reasonable to conclude that BAME members will more likely be a part of the criminal justice system.

Callaghan and Alexander in ‘Mad or Bad? A Critical Approach to Counselling and Forensic Psychology’ discusses the topic and intersectionality of gender on mental health and crime. In the case study, Victor is male. On page 83, Callaghan and Alexander explain that men are reported to commit more crimes than women. Men account for 85% of arrests, 75% of criminal sentences, and 95% of the prison population from Ministry of Justice data in 2014. Callaghan and Alexander further explain that it is reasonable to establish a link between gender and crime due to the statistics gathered. They believe that one reason for this link was the biological makeup of men compared to women. As men have higher testosterone levels and high testosterone levels, according to Batrinos (2012), it can make men more aggressive and lead to men committing more violent crimes. Men are also seen in society as more threatening than women due to their size and stature. Callaghan and Alexander conclude that within the general media, women who commit violent crimes are presented as evil or mentally unwell, whereas men are labelled as aggressive.

Also, Callaghan and Alexander discuss the link that gender has to mental health. According to Gale (2007) and Hinshaw (2006), mental health is highly stigmatized throughout society, with certain conditions such as personality disorders being more stigmatised than others. Just like the research on crime, there are links between gender and mental health. For example, according to the Mental Health Foundation 2015, women are more likely to receive a diagnosis of depression than men. Research studies such as one conducted by Altemus, Sarvaiya and Neill Epperson (2014) have concluded that women have a biological vulnerability to depression due to having different hormones to men. However, there are other factors that can impact women’s mental health, such as childcare, domestic work and paid employment.

Another example of gender-based mental health is the condition of personality disorder. There are various types of personality disorders, such as narcissistic and borderline. While both conditions are similar in nature. The diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder will be mainly given to men. In contrast, women are more likely to receive a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, according to the American Psychiatric Association (2013). The diagnosis of psychosis is given more to men than women, according to Aleman, Kahn and Selton (2003). These differences in gender-based mental health condition diagnoses are due mainly to men’s and women’s behaviour. Men are seen as angry and confrontational, whereas women will internalise their issues and not act out. This behaviour difference, in my view, has an influence rightly or wrongly on a medical practitioner’s decision on a diagnosis for patients.

Holman in ‘Mad or Bad? A Critical Approach to Counselling and Forensic Psychology’ discusses the link that social class has on mental health and criminality. The case study (Victor) grew up in a Nottingham housing estate with his family and then moved to a twelve-floor tower block with his friend. There have been a lot of studies conducted to establish the link that class has with mental health. One study by Faris and Dunham in 1939 examined hospital admissions data in Chicago (USA). It found that the poorest and most deprived areas had the highest rates of conditions such as schizophrenia and substance abuse. Another study conducted in the United States by Hollingshead and Redlich (1958) analysed data from courts and hospitals and identified that individuals who come from a lower-class position were overrepresented in therapies and treatments and were more likely to enter those treatments through the court system rather than voluntarily. Furthermore, their treatments were found to be more like shock therapy rather than talking-focused counselling therapies. In addition, evidence published in 2007 from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity showed that those living in high-income households were less likely to have mental health issues than those individuals who lived in lower-income households.

Holman also explains that there are three reasons for social class linked to mental health. The first explanation is that lower social class circumstances lead to poor mental health. The Faris and Dunham study in Chicago in 1939 also concluded that the city’s poorest areas had experienced high levels of mental health issues due to isolation and loneliness. Other factors linked to poor mental health are work, family life, childhood experiences, poor-quality housing and poverty. The second explanation is that mental health problems create to poor social class. A study undertaken by Researcher Eaton (1980) concluded that individuals who develop mental health issues fall down the social class tier system. The third explanation is the labelling theory. This is where individuals’ behaviour who are from social class environments are labelled as having mental health issues.

To conclude, Victor’s case study explains that he developed mental health issues and has been part of the criminal justice system throughout his life. Intersectionality between a person’s race, gender, age, and social class can cause prejudice and discrimination when individuals seek treatment for mental health disorders or become a part of the criminal justice system.

Inside World of Fast Food

For my project I observed the people at my job. I work at Taco Bell, so this group of people consisted of people from the ages of 16-40. The observations I made took place during three different days I worked, observing for a total of 24 hours plus. Stress is a major factor that I discovered taking place during the shifts. Mind set and emotion also play a big role in a work environment because you have to learn to adapt to different situations. One more thing that my observation focuses on is groupthink. Groupthink is super important because it is all about being a team and you have to work with people you may not like, but you have to deal with it. The last thing that I believe goes well into the work environment would be Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. This covers a lot of topics that are important overall in a business.

Stress

To begin, stress is a mental or emotional state resulting from various circumstances (Rathus, 473). Stress is a very common thing in most people’s lives. In a workplace, stress can play a big factor. At Taco Bell, stress can rise as the day goes on, some days more than others. Stress can be a very damaging factor because when the crowd picks up and there are a bunch of orders on the screen, people begin to panic. It was kind of easy see in people because of the behaviors that they were displaying such as being easily frustrated, agitated, and moody. As stress increases in one person, it tends to promote a domino effect in the other coworkers. This creates a stressful environment which can affect the productivity for the day.

Mindset

Next, observations over mindset were made. Mindset is the way that we operate and make decisions (Psychology Today Mindsets). Mindset is important because it sets the mood of the environment. Mindset can affect the way situations are handled through a shift at Taco Bell. If you maintain a positive mindset, getting through a shift will be easier and make things run smoother. If you have a negative mindset, it could affect those around you. During observations, some people who went into work quiet and closed off, acting like they did not care to be there, struggled to make it through their shift. On the other hand, people who came into work bubbly, happy and were friendly to coworkers and customers overcame the struggles and helped to create a more positive environment for the other coworkers and the customers.

Emotion

In addition, emotion was observed throughout the workplace. Emotions describe feelings within that influence your internal and external behaviors (Psychology Today Emotions). During observations, there were many different emotions displayed. The most noticeable emotion showed when people brought their outside personal lives into work. We all go through things in life, but some people are more private about things than others. Many people at Taco Bell openly discuss outside events, distracting them from the job. Many times people have showed up to work crying or upset. By coming into work crying, they automatically bring emotion into the job. Emotions really should stay out of a job like Taco Bell because when someone runs high on emotions they can act negatively or poorly toward a customer.

Groupthink

Furthermore, groupthink describes people coming together as one to help make decisions (Psychology Today Groupthink). In a work environment like Taco Bell, groupthink can make or break the day. During observations, the coworkers came together at the beginning of a shift to discuss what everyoneś role was for the day. This was a very effective method so that it was clear to everyone where they were supposed to be and what they should be doing. Also, if there was a problem or a customer complaint, the managers came together to decide how best to handle the situation. It was also observed that groupthink allows the coworkers to come together as a team to make things run smoother and keep out conflict and drama.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Finally, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs fits well and puts a lot of observations into one category. “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid” (Simply Psych). People have a lot of different needs in the work environment, covering almost every level of his needs pyramid. Safety was observed when doors were locked at night and people using the buddy system. The belonging and esteem factors go together by people having friends at work and forming relationships. Also, people built self-esteem as they completed something successfully or did something that made them feel good. Lastly, self-fulfillment showed during shifts because having people notice all the hard work you do seemed to make people happier overall.

In conclusion, the team members observed at Taco Bell showed stress, mindset, emotion, groupthink and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs throughout their shifts. While some of these were shown negatively and other positively, they all play a role throughout the work day. Whether that’s stress getting the best of an employee or a bad mindset affecting the work effort throughout the day. In another sense, too much emotion in a job like Taco Bell can be damaging. On a positive note, when employees come together through the use of group think the day can run more smoothly. The Hierarchy of Needs plays a pivotal role in the success of the work day. While a lot of my observations showed the negative behaviors throughout the work day, there were also a lot of positives.