En Afrique de l’Ouest, les conduites suicidaires, estimées autrefois rares, sont de plus en plus fréquentes. Dans le Sud Bénin, les études effectuées au centre national hospitalier soulignent non seulement l’augmentation de la fréquence des tentatives de suicide et l’absence de prise en charge psychologique des suicidants, mais aussi la nécessité de prendre en compte des interprétations culturelles. La question du sens et de la prise en charge des actes suicidaires s’y pose donc avec une grande acuité.En conséquence, l’objectif de la présente recherche est d’approcher le sens psychique des tentatives de suicide des jeunes adultes dans le Sud Bénin et d’y évaluer le rôle et la place du psychologue clinicien d’orientation psychanalytique.Il s’agit d’une étude qualitative. La mise en tension des références psychanalytiques avec des éléments d’anthropologie sociale ou des caractéristiques du contexte constitue un des axes principaux de ce travail. La méthodologie adoptée est une recherche-action comprenant l’instauration d’un protocole d’accueil des suicidants et la réalisation de « rencontres anthropologiques » afin de mieux cerner les questions suicidaires dans le contexte béninois.Il ressort de l’analyse que les suicidants sont en proie à une crise identitaire où l’acte, réactionnel, prend la valeur d’une recherche de refondation psychique et répond à un double mouvement de désintrication et réintrication pulsionnelle. Tandis qu’une situation-écran engendre un vécu traumatique qui conduit à l’autodestructivité, l’acte suicidaire s’inscrit dans un processus de réintrication pulsionnelle et de remaniement identitaire. Ce processus, que j’ai nommé ici refondation, est rendu possible par l’accueil fait au suicidant à l’issue de sa tentative de suicide. De cette compréhension découlent un cadre conceptuel pour le clinicien et des dispositifs cliniques pertinents pour la prise en charge des suicidants dans le Sud Bénin. / In West Africa, suicidal behaviors, estimated once rare, are increasingly becoming frequent. Yet, in Southern Benin, previous studies at the National University Hospital have noted an increase in young adults’ suicide attempts and the lack of psychological assessment and support to the attempters, but also the need to take cultural interpretations into account. So, the question of the meaning and the care of suicidal acts arises with acuity.It is in this framework that our research is being carried out. The aim is to achieve a better psychodynamic understanding of young adults’ suicide attempts in Southern Benin, and to assess, in this particular context, the role of a psychoanalytically oriented psychologist. This is a qualitative study. The confrontation of psychoanalytic references with social anthropology elements or characteristics of the context is one of the main focuses of this work. The methodological procedure used for data collection includes a clinical intake protocol, which is adapted to the context and implemented to suicide attempters, and «anthropological encounters» as a way to open up local concepts of suicide in order to better identify suicidal issues. It appears from the clinical understanding that attempters are experiencing an identity crisis wherein the suicidal act represents a research of psychic overhaul. One can thus argue that some young adult suicide attempts in Southern Benin meet two movements of drive defusion and fusion. While screen-circumstances produce a traumatic experience which leads to self-destructiveness, the suicidal act is part of a drive fusion process and specific rearrangements in identity processes. This process, which I named here “psychic refondation” or “psychic rebirth”, is made possible by the clinical reception given to attempters after their suicide attempts. From this understanding arises a conceptual framework for clinical psychologists and relevant clinical settings to take care of suicide attempters in Southern Benin.

Rapid forces for change in the post-modern society have left their mark on the labour market, creating a metamorphosis in the nature of work and the way in which careers should be approached. This has resulted in the need for individuals to possess a combination of attributes that will enable them to take an adaptive, proactive approach to their careers, which involves managing their employability. Employability is especially relevant to graduates, who are expected to acquire more than academic capabilities to ‘hit the ground running’ in their transition from higher education to the workplace. Despite the significance of the topic, it remains conceptually ambiguous with few empirical studies that explain its foundation, and fewer still that have constructed a measure explicitly gauging employability, particularly in South Africa. The main purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a measure of graduate employability in the context of the new world of work. A theoretical model of graduate employability was developed based on an extensive review of the literature and the Graduate Employability Measure (GEM) was subsequently constructed. A cross-sectional survey was utilised to collect data from a random sample of final-year undergraduates and postgraduates from the College of Economic and Management Sciences at a higher distance learning institution in South Africa. The 272 useable questionnaires returned were subjected to exploratory factor analysis, which revealed a reliable three-factor model consisting of the dimensions of career self-management drive, career resilience and cultural competence, and explaining 36.42%, 3.5% and 2.97% of the variance respectively. Analysis of variance was used to determine whether there were any significant differences between the biographical variables of the sample and the GEM factors. It was found that females and final-year undergraduates obtained significantly higher means on all the GEM dimensions than males and postgraduates respectively. The findings inform the conceptualisation of the employability construct, the elements it consists of, and how it can be measured in a valid and reliable manner. The GEM has the potential to be useful to students in a career guidance context, to employers that desire to select and develop highly adaptable employees, and to higher education, which can incorporate these important employability attributes in the curriculum to deliver highly employable graduates. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

The presented thesis focuses on the analysis of selected Czech for foreigners textbooks in terms of socio-cultural competence. In the first three chapters the term of socio-cultural competence is explained and its definition in the Common European Framework of Reference and in the descriptions of reference levels A1, A2, B1 and B2 for Czech is examined. Chapter four deals with a chosen research method - criteria catalogue. In chapter five selected textbooks (Česky, prosím I, Čeština pro cizince: Úroveň B1, Čeština pro cizince: Úroveň B2, Čeština pro středně a více pokročilé, Čeština pro život, Čeština pro život 2, Mluvme česky) are analyzed separately and in chapter six individual results of previous examinations are compared with regard to how the publications contribute to the development of socio-cultural competence of students. 1

Significant growth in the number of English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools is anticipated to continue, demanding that educators and evaluators have the skills necessary to distinguishing language difference from disability and provide appropriate services to these students. However, little research exists examining the role of evaluator's cultural competence in evaluating ELLs for special education; furthermore, what does exist shows that many evaluators report low levels of self-efficacy as it relates to assessing ELLs. The first chapter of the dissertation reports on a review of 21 articles conducted to address best practices for evaluating culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners, evaluator self-efficacy, and recommendations for conducting culturally competent assessments and evaluations. The majority of the articles identified in this review focused on recommendations for best practices for conducting evaluations rather than reporting empirical findings related to the topic. Only one study was identified that focused on appropriate training needed by evaluation staff to effectively discriminate between language difference and a disability. Based on the findings of this review, additional research, using a rigorous methodology is needed. Addressing that need, the second chapter reports the results of a study conducted to examine the effectiveness of Project PEAC3E (Preparing Evaluators to Accurately Conduct Culturally Competent Evaluations), a reform-oriented professional development model, using case-based activities designed to increase evaluators' sense of self-efficacy, cultural competence, and the accuracy of evaluator eligibility decisions for English language learners (ELLs). The study found that Project PEAC3E was effective in increasing evaluator self-efficacy.

As the U.S. population continues to diversify, hospitals need to understand and care for patients of diverse backgrounds and provide quality service for positive patient satisfaction scores. The purpose of this nonexperimental quantitative retrospective survey design was to determine what relationship exists between cultural competence initiatives (CCI) and patient satisfaction scores as reported by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey in U.S. hospitals. The theoretical framework for this study was based upon CCI and patient satisfaction through the lens of service quality. The research questions were created to understand the relationship between CCI and patient satisfaction scores and weigh the cultural competence components relative to each other and their effect on patient satisfaction. The study's data was gathered from secondary sources: the HCAHPS and Diversity and Disparities: A Benchmark Study of U.S. Hospitals in 2013 (DDBS). Through a multiple linear regression analysis, the findings were CCI does have a significant but weak relationship with patient satisfaction. Leadership, a component of CCI, also resulted in a significant but weak relationship with patient satisfaction. The social change implications of this study are that by understanding the diverse cultural needs of its customers, health care organizations will be able to improve patient satisfaction scores. Understanding the relationship between CCI and patient satisfaction scores will aid health care organizations in determining if these initiatives are worth an investment of resources. A broader look at the significance to practice with improved patient satisfaction scores is an increased bottom line, marketing ability, and consumer attraction for hospitals.

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The 'flattening of the world', using Thomas Friedman's phraseology, is driving corporations to increasingly use collaborative engineering processes and global teams to operate on a global scale. Globalization of the traditional university engineering curriculum is necessary to help students prepare to work in a global environment. More scalable and economically sustainable program types are needed to enable the majority of students to obtain a globalized education. The purpose of this research was to determine how effectively a global team- and project-based computer aided engineering course provided learning opportunities that enabled students to develop elements of global competence in comparison to existing engineering study abroad programs. To accomplish this, research was necessary to identify, aggregate, and validate a comprehensive set of global competencies for engineering students. From a review of the literature and subsequent analysis, a set of twenty-three global competencies with an associated conceptual model was developed to group the competencies by contextual topics. Two surveys were then developed and distributed separately to academic and industry professionals, each of which groups largely confirmed that it was important for engineering students to develop these global competencies. Next, the traditional ME 471 class was restructured into a Global ME 471 course. A pilot program was conducted from which lessons learned were incorporated into the global course. Selected global competencies were included as new learning outcomes. Course learning materials, labs, and lectures were also updated to reflect the new course emphasis. A survey was developed to be sent to BYU engineering study abroad students and the Global ME 471 course during 2010. A statistical analysis of responses was used to identify significant differences between the response groups. In addition to the global competencies which were identified and validated, global collaborative project-based courses such as Global ME 471 were shown to be effective in enabling students to learn and develop selected global competencies. Study abroad programs and the Global ME 471 course were seen both to be complementary in their emphasis and supportive of global engineering. In addition, global collaborative project-based courses were shown to play an important part of a globalized engineering curriculum.

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