MSc (Med), Population-Based Field Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand / ABSTRACT Background: World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 1.6 million people die every year because of violence and out of these deaths, homicide accounts for almost one third. Ninety percent (90%) of homicide are thought to occur in low and middle income countries. South Africa has one of the most disturbing rates of homicide in the world. These high homicide rates besides resulting in reduced life expectancy also have serious health, social and economic consequences. Aim: The study aimed at quantifying the burden as well as and identifying factors associated with homicide deaths in rural KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa during the period of 2000 to 2008. Objectives: To estimate a 9 year period (2000-2008) homicide incidence rates as well as identify factors associated with homicide-related deaths. Further, the analysis described spatial distribution of homicide-related deaths in a rural South African population. Design: Analytical longitudinal study. Methods: Using data drawn from the Verbal Autopsies (VAs) conducted on all deaths recorded during annual demographic and health surveillance over a 9-year period (2000-2008), Kaplan-Meier (K-M) survival estimates of incidence rates were used to estimate the cumulative probability of death until the end of the period. Estimates were reported by sex and residency. Weibull regression methods were used to investigate factor associated with homicide deaths. Kulldorff spatial scan statistics was used to describe homicide clustering. Results: With 536 homicide-related deaths, and 814, 715 total Person Years of contribution, the study found an overall incidence rate of 66 (95% CI= (60, 72) per 100, 000 Person Years of v Observation (PYOs) for the period studied. Death due to firearm was reported the leading cause of mortality (65%). Most deaths occurred over the weekends (43%), followed by Friday (16.2%).The highest homicide incidence rates were recorded in 2001 (90; 95% CI= (71, 111) per 100,000 person years at risk and 2004 (86; 95% CI= (68, 108) per 100,000 person years at risk. Males had a rate that was about six times more than females 115 (95% CI=105,127) per 100,000 PYOs. Age-specific homicide rate were highest among males aged 25-29 years (209.90 per 100,000 PYOs) and females aged 50-54 years (78 per 100,000 PYOs). Resident, age, sex, education, socioeconomic status, and employment independently predicted homicide risk. The study identified two geographical clusters with significantly elevated homicide risk. Conclusion: A significant six fold difference in homicide rate existed between males and females. Sex differential increases with age, with males aged 15-54 years the most likely to be killed, and females aged 55 years and above having the highest homicide rate. Increase in wealth status and level of education increases one‘s risk of homicide. Employment per se was protective from homicide risk. Firearm was the leading cause of mortality. Most deaths occur over the weekend. Two geographical areas with elevated homicide risk were observed. These findings underscore the need to have timely information and strategies for effective violence prevention program to subgroups and areas at risk.

For many years, nationwide, approximately one third of American high school students have not been graduating from high school. The dropout rate is one of the reasons cited for the implementation of the No Child Left Behind legislation, which highlighted the severity of the dropout problem and the imposing priorities and standards placed on school districts. Mississippi leads the nation in the rate of students who drop out of high school. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that contribute to the dropout epidemic in secondary schools in the Jackson (Mississippi) Public School District where annually a high percentage of students, particularly African Americans, fail to graduate with their Grade 9 cohorts. This study used a descriptive and causal-comparative research design to identify the contributing factors to secondary school dropouts among 80 students enrolled in the Career Academic Placement (CAP) program in the Jackson Public School District. The Jackson Public Schools Dropout (JPSD) Questionnaire was utilized for the study. Differences in the students’ responses were examined using a Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance (ANOVA). Findings in this study indicated that the number one factor that led students to decide to drop out of school was feeling that they were behind, or failing course work. This affected about 55% of the students, causing them to leave school early. Additional results revealed 15% of the respondents who dropped out were Grade 9 students, and approximately 15% of the respondents who dropped out were Grade 12 students. Approximately 42.5% of the students comprised 10th graders and 27.5% were 11th graders.

Published Article / Under-performance and failure in first year accounting is a problem experienced in many higher education institutions world-wide as well as in South Africa. Literature shows that the problem is relatively well researched. Most of the research has taken place within the quantitative paradigm and in many cases focused on a search for determinants of possible success and / or failure in the subject or the factors contributing to the situation. The findings of all these research projects are varied and often inconclusive. It also becomes clear that the contexts of the studies are diverse, which makes it difficult for institutions and concerned lecturers to apply the findings in their specific situations. In this article the authors provide an overview of some of the most prominent research findings on factors determining or influencing success / failure in the field. They also attempt to organise these findings in a digestible way for the concerned lecturer and interested researcher. This is followed by a report on the first phase of an investigation into possible factors contributing to the low performance levels of students at a South African higher education institution. The unit of analysis is the first year accounting class of the first author (a lecturer at the institution). The research is quantitative in nature and statistical analyses are employed. In addition to factors such as age, gender, matric performance in key subjects, M-scores, class attendance and nationality, the investigation also looked at the levels of learning approach of the students as a possible determinant of success or failure. The findings are compared with the findings from literature and the implications of the research are discussed.

<div>Space mission-related projects are demanding and risky undertakings because of their complexity and cost. Many missions have failed over the years due to anomalies in either the launch vehicle or the spacecraft. Projects of such magnitude with undetected flaws due to ineffective process controls run into unwarranted cost, schedule overruns and account for huge losses. Such failures continue to occur despite the studies on systems engineering process deficiencies and the best systems engineering practices in place. To understand the reasons behind such failures, this work analyses some of the major contributing factors behind majority of space mission technical failures. To achieve this objective, we analyzed the failure data of space missions that happened over the last decade. Based on that information, we analyzed the launch-related failure events from a design decision-making perspective by employing failure event chain-based framework. By analyzing the failure events with this framework, we identify some dominant cognitive biases that might have impacted the overall system performance leading to unintended catastrophes. </div><div><br></div><div>The ability of any design team to achieve optimal performance is limited by communication and knowledge deficiencies between highly dissimilar subsystems. These inefficiencies work to bias each subsystem engineer to prioritize the utility provided by the subsystem they are responsible for. In order to understand how engineering design decisions are influenced by the presence of cognitive biases, the second part of this study establishes a mathematical framework for utility-based selection based on Cumulative Prospect Theory. This framework captures the effect of cognitive biases on selection of alternatives by a rational decision-maker.</div><div><br></div><div>From the first study, overconfidence and anchoring biases are identified as the two dominant contributing factors that influenced the decisions behind majority of the failures. The theoretical models developed in the second study are employed to depict the influence of biased decision-making on utility-based selection of alternatives for an earth-orbiting satellite's power subsystem. Predictions from these models show a direct correlation between the decision-maker's biased preference structure and local change in utility curve depicting the (negative) influence of cognitive biases on decision-maker's choice(s).</div>

Parenting Stress (PS) has been shown to negatively impact on various areas of child development. Additionally, clinically significant levels of PS have been shown to be fairly stable over time and thus unlikely to decrease without intervention. Understanding factors that contribute to PS is therefore important for developing preventative interventions. Despite this, PS has largely been understudied, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The present study aimed to explore PS among 1535 caregivers of primary school-aged children in rural KwaZulu-Natal. The data were collected by experienced fieldworkers, in interviewer style, over three visits, and underwent checks for completeness and quality assurance, prior to data entry. The analysis for the present study included using logistic regression techniques to examine contributing caregiver, child and family factors, as well as content analysis to examine caregivers’ most prominent concerns about their children. Around 16% of this sample were experiencing clinically significant PS. The following factors were found to increase risk of PS: the mother becoming HIV infected post-pregnancy, the family experiencing recent food insecurity, the child exhibiting internalizing or externalizing behaviours and the child having academic or other problems at school. Two factors were linked to a reduced likelihood of PS, namely the child being helped to learn shapes and sizes at home and maternal participation in a breastfeeding study. The content analysis revealed that caregivers most frequently reported having psychosocial concerns about their children, including specific personality traits such as low levels of conscientiousness and poor self-regulation. These findings illustrate the need for early intervention and support for mothers and children in LMICs. Furthermore, this research showed the impact of parental HIV and the need for comprehensive life-course approaches to curb future adversities for HIV infected women and families.

This research was designed to identify primary contributing factors to homelessness as identified by homeless individuals in Riverside County. This research might assist future researchers as well as help to implement treatment services to decrease homelessness. Qualitative data was analyzed to determine contributing factors leading to homelessness as well as the impact of treatment on overcoming barriers essential to obtaining housing. Demographic data was also analyzed based on the sample of individuals interviewed. The results of this study showed that mental health and substance abuse are two main factors which deter stable placement and lead to prolonged homelessness. This study concludes with a discussion of findings and recommendations for further research.

Substance abuse, once primarily visible in the U.S. adolescent male population, is an increasing concern for the adolescent girls' population. Mental health challenges, behavioral problems, and academic failure are issues adolescent girls may encounter when they engage in substance abuse. The incidence and impact of drug use on female students' academic and social development at a large suburban school district was unknown. Vygotsky's social development theory and Bandura's social learning theory provided the framework for this cross-sectional survey study that addressed the relationships between adolescent girls' drug use and their academic performance and social development. Descriptive statistics and analysis of variance were used to examine data from the Dane County Youth Assessment Survey. The sample included the study district's adolescent girls' population consisting of 9,061 students. Results indicated significant relationships between girls' adolescent drug use and social development and academic performance. Increased drug use was related to lower social development and lower academic achievement. Results were used to develop an adolescent girls' drug prevention program that addressed the effects drugs have on adolescent girls' academic and social development. Implications for positive social change include providing a prevention program to the local district that may help inform adolescent girls so they can make healthier decisions in social settings.

<p>Background: During the last decades patient satisfaction has become an important measurement of quality in psychiatric care. However the patients are seldom asked to evaluate the treatments.</p><p>Objectives: The aim is to determine which factors the outpatients regard as beneficial in their psychiatric treatment. The purpose is explorative. During the study another purpose developed; to present research on the importance of the relationship between the caretaker and the caregiver for the outcome.</p><p>Method: 30 persons were interviewed about what they found helpful in psychiatric treatment. The interviews were open using Grounded Theory as methodological input.</p><p>Result: The most prominent topic was the quality of the relationship between the caregiver and the caretaker. The characteristics of a helping relationship seem to be when the patient:</p><p>- is being listened to and understood by a caregiver who is interested and concerned.</p><p>- is not only seen as a caretaker with problems but also as a complete person, someone more than an equation of symptoms, diagnoses and shortcomings</p><p>- is seen as a person worth listening to with unique knowledge which matters to the caregiver</p><p>- is seen as a unique person not possible to minimize to just another case</p>

Background: During the last decades patient satisfaction has become an important measurement of quality in psychiatric care. However the patients are seldom asked to evaluate the treatments. Objectives: The aim is to determine which factors the outpatients regard as beneficial in their psychiatric treatment. The purpose is explorative. During the study another purpose developed; to present research on the importance of the relationship between the caretaker and the caregiver for the outcome. Method: 30 persons were interviewed about what they found helpful in psychiatric treatment. The interviews were open using Grounded Theory as methodological input. Result: The most prominent topic was the quality of the relationship between the caregiver and the caretaker. The characteristics of a helping relationship seem to be when the patient: - is being listened to and understood by a caregiver who is interested and concerned. - is not only seen as a caretaker with problems but also as a complete person, someone more than an equation of symptoms, diagnoses and shortcomings - is seen as a person worth listening to with unique knowledge which matters to the caregiver - is seen as a unique person not possible to minimize to just another case

This qualitative study was designed to explore the perceptions of Aboriginal professionals in various work sectors as they reflect on their educational experiences in high school and the nature of success. Questions guiding this research were: What is Aboriginal student success? What factors affect success? To what or whom do professionals attribute their successfulness? What can make others successful?<p> Prompting this study was the latest statistics about Aboriginal people released on September 24, 2003. The Aboriginal Peoples Survey was compiled by Statistics Canada in 2001. The survey stated that the number of off reserve Canadian Aboriginal students who are dropping out of school is 52%. In comparison to the Non-Aboriginal population, the overall high school dropout rate is 26%. What is alarming is that the drop out rate has not changed since the previous study in 1996.<p> Some of the research conducted has focused on finding barriers to Aboriginal students dropping out of school. Although this research assumed that if barriers can be identified, and removed they have only insignificantly decreased the dropout rate. This study gives voice to aboriginal professionals' success experiences by having them share their stories through in-depth interviews. Rather than focus on barriers, this study emphasizes positive high school experiences of Aboriginal professionals and factors that led to their success.<p> In-depth interviews were conducted initially with professionals in various work sectors that include human service sectors. A second interview was held with these professionals to clarify and further develop ideas emerging from the initial sets of interviews. Descriptive memos and reflective notes were kept throughout the process with the analysis of data following traditions of qualitative methods. The results of the study showed that the nature of success was complex, intricate, and idiosyncratic. Each participant had their own unique definition of success based upon distinct factors including a mindset, cultural orientation, spiritual connections, marginalization, and colonization. The definitions of success varied with changing variables of the participants.<p> Not surprisingly, the study related student success to the biological, social, physical and spiritual factors including Aboriginal spirituality; to external factors including culture, curriculum, instructional approaches, role models, relevant education, and relationships; and to the internal factors attitude, goal setting, motivation and inquiry.<p> In their suggestions of how others can be successful, each participant shared words of wisdom about education, stability, balance and a work ethic. The study offers teachers, parents, and students practical suggestions for increased student success and provides a list of implications produced by the study.