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The impact of homonegativity on both sexual minorities and heterosexuals is profoundly debilitating. Due to the implicit power of their privileged status, heterosexually-identified individuals can serve a crucial role as allies in eliminating sexual minority oppression. Because minimal research exists around heterosexual identity issues, broadly, and sexual minority ally development, specifically, it is difficult to promote such ally work without a clear understanding of the developmental processes and motivational issues that lead heterosexuals to sexual minority social justice action. The current study sought to explore the developmental experiences of heterosexuallyidentified exemplars who work in their communities for sexual minority social justice. The present investigation was conducted through interviews with 12 individuals who demonstrated commitment to sexual minority volunteer work. Through the use of a discovery-oriented interviewing methodology, participants revealed the paths they have taken as they committed to social justice ally work alongside sexual minority activists. The qualitative data collected were subjected to a systematic, collaborative analysis by a team of researchers. The results revealed six general themes that arose from these participants stories, and specified subcategories within each domain: Early Family Modeling (positive modeling and negative modeling), Recognition of Oppression and Privilege (recognition of LGBT individual oppression, recognition of the oppression of others, recognition of oppression directed at oneself, recognition of ones own privilege, and recognition of others privilege), Response to Recognition (emotional reactions, taking responsibility, and behavioral reactions), Impact of Values/Attitudes (equality, attitudes about sexual orientation, personal responsibility, valuing diversity, and religious/spiritual beliefs), Reactions to Ally Work from Others (positive support from family/friends, negative reactions from local community, positive reactions from local community, positive reactions from LGBT community, and negative reactions from LGBT community), and Rewards from Ally Work (making a difference, friendships and connections, and other rewards). These findings highlighted key elements that contribute to the development of sexual minority allies. Interdependence with and empathy for others were vital elements of this growth. These often developed from encounters with otherness and led to greater involvement with social justice action. Finally, homophobia was revealed as a significant barrier to ally identification. Methods for cultivating developmental experiences are outlined.

Patient engagement is one of the 6 quality directives issued by the Institute of Medicine for patient-centered care. Federal meaningful use regulations require health care organizations to offer patients a secure online website, or patient portal, to access their health information. Although the patient portal offers patients the opportunity to be more involved in their care, the portal has not been widely used. However, barriers to utilization are best understood from the perspective of the patient. Any barriers to patients accessing the portal are also barriers to patient engagement. The purpose of this project was to understand from the patient perspective why 99% were not using the portal at a large health system. The goal was to understand the patient preferences and their expectations for the portal as well as the perceived barriers. The Diffusion of Innovation Theory guided this quality improvement project to understand the patient perspective to initiate focused portal revisions and program changes. A focus group method was used to interview patients about their portal knowledge, willingness to use the portal, and general preferences for accessing health information. Four focus groups were conducted with 15 participants. Each session was recorded, transcribed within the program NVivo, and reviewed through content analysis. The main barrier to patient portal use is a general knowledge deficit about the purpose, usefulness, and accessibility. As possible solutions, the participants suggested education and promotion materials are essential. Also, nursing staff will need to offer patients information about how to access and use the portal. Through this project, positive social change can be achieved as patients will have better access to their personal health information with the revised portal.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine how Utah educators and school board members view the future of education in the state. This was done by comparing the ratings for importance and the predictions on the time of occurrence of 53 educational events. An event was an incident or happening which might effect the education of the state . The hypotheses were based on the assumption that the various educational groups would hold differing views concerning the future of Utah education. Procedure The study provided data on the perceptions of 236 individual s representing five groups of educational participants (State Department personnel, superintendents, other administrators, teachers, and school board members) concerning the future of education in the State of Utah within a 20-year period of time. The sample was randomly selected, with the exception of the superintendent group which included all of the superintendents of the state. An instrument consisting of 53 educational events was developed which enabled the respondents to express their perceptions of the importance of the events and predict when each of the events would occur in 60 percent of the schools of the state. Leik's Measure of Ordinal Consensus was used to arrive at a consensus score which indicated the dispersion or lack of dispersion of responses within a group to a particular event. An analysis of variance was used to test for differences among the groups. where a significant F-ratio was found, using the .05 level of significance, Duncan's New Multiple Range Test was also utilized. This test was designed to locate differences between paired groups.

From a population of 160 children, 59 were sociometrically viii identified into four categories : popular, amiable , isolated, and rejected . Same-sexed pairs of children 1·1ere t hen observed in an experimental play situation in which two experimenters, using a computerized event recorder, obtained the amount of time each identified child spent at various distances (0-305 cm) from the confederate. Frequency of moves was also recorded. A general pattern of proxemic behavior for all children, across category, was found to exist in which subjects spent the majority of time at distances of 30.5 cm to 122 cm and very little time at greater distances. Analyses of the data also produced differences in proxemic behavior between categories: the popular children spent the majority of their session time close to the confederates (0 to 91.5 cm), and very little time at greater distances. The rejected children made attempts to maintain close distances to their peers but were rejected by the other children which led to a large proportion of time being spent further away from the confederates (152 .5 to 305 cm). The amiable children spent the majority of their time at intermediate distances of 31.5 to 244 cm and the isolated children maintained the longest durations of tine at the greatest distances for all four categories. These findings were discussed in relation to Hall's1 theory of adult personal space zones.

Retinal terminal profiles in the goldfish optic tectum were identified electron microscopically after (1) labeling with horseradish peroxidase and (2) in the early stages of degeneration in short‐term eye enucleates. All labeled terminals shared certain common morphological characteristics which were identical to those of a population of terminals in normal tecta. Terminals of this type disappeared 30 days after enucleation of the contralateral eye. Retinal terminal presynaptic profiles were characterized by (1) round and oval synaptic vesicles; (2) mitochondria with irregular, randomly oriented cristae, large intracristal spaces, dilated membrane spaces, and primarily light matrices; (3) a wide range in profile area, 0.06–6.82 μm2; (4) large numbers of synaptic vesicles per profile area 168± 33 synaptic vesicles per μm2; (5) asymmetric synapses; and (6) multiple synaptic contacts (1.46 ± 0.73 per terminal profile). The postsynaptic elements included both dendritic and, less commonly, pleomorphic vesicle‐containing profiles. The majority of postsynaptic dendritic profiles were small (0.01–0.40 μm2). Serial synaptic contacts were occasionally seen. The combination of vesicular and mitochondrial morphology (1 and 2 above) was necessary and sufficient to establish the retinal origin of a terminal, but use of such criteria would underestimate the number of retinotectal terminals by omitting those which did not have a mitochondrion in the plane of section. The number of such terminals was calculated from independent measurements, and the total number of retinal terminal profiles per area of neuropil was estimated.

This study proposes a model for effective teaching based on the development of an affiliative culture for both students and staff. Characteristics such as respect, helpfulness, and approachability are combined with specific teaching skills that are perceived by staff and students to be effective both for displaying these traits and also to enhance teaching. Although the literature shows that qualitative attributes are not new, from the data gathered, it appears that they are not always recognised by staff as significant for students’ learning. The literature also indicates that there is a disjuncture in the perceptions of effective teaching from executive management, staff and students. The context of the research is in a post-1992 university and current trends indicate there has been a shift in higher education towards a more bureaucratic approach to accountability in terms of student numbers and financial aspects that have resulted in larger teaching groups especially for post1992 universities. Additionally, the student funding system has changed so that students are now responsible for paying all their tuition fees, albeit via student loans. The literature proposes that this means that students may consider themselves as customers which indicate a different kind of relationship with a university. The research literature posits that these reforms have led to increased pressures on teaching staff so that they do not have time to develop a climate of affiliation which encompasses openness, trust and a sense of belonging for the students which, in turn, leads to creating a positive learning environment and student success. The literature review considers the perceptions of effective teaching from academic teaching staff, students and executive managers. This research uses a case study approach with the research design set within an interpretivist paradigm whereby the opinions and perceptions of the respondents are explored. Data were gathered through multiple data collection tools, such as internal student surveys, a student focus group interview, and filmed teaching observations, stimulated recall discussions with staff and conversational interviews with executive managers. In addition, secondary data were used from the narrative comments in the National Student Survey, (NSS) (2012) to complement the internal survey. The research questions focus on the perceptions and strategies that are viewed as part of effective teaching from the three groups of participants. 4 From the findings, I have developed a model to promote effective teaching which proposes an alignment of affiliation with specific teaching skills that encourages participation from both staff and students so that learning is jointly constructed. The model presents a way that combines the personal qualities and values gathered from the data, with students’ preferred teaching strategies which are perceived to enable effective teaching to take place. The inter-relationship between specific teaching skills and personal characteristics, identified in the model, is unique because it is the only approach that combines teaching methods with a values base that encourages a culture of affiliation for both staff and students.

Student Number : 0411802R - MSc (Med) research report - Faculty of Health Sciences / Unintended pregnancy among the youth is a serious public health problem for it exposes the young women and the foetuses to higher risk of morbidity and mortality. Although recognised as a major public health problem, studies on it have been limited and localised in South Africa. Using the 1998 South African Demographic and Health Survey (SADHS) data set, this study examines the distribution of and factors associated with unintended pregnancy among South African youth. The 1998 SADHS was a nationally representative cross-sectional survey with a probability sample of twelve thousand (12 000) women between the ages of 15 and 49. The survey used a structured questionnaire to collect information on fertility issues in general from the respondents. Analysis was based on 1 395 observations which was arrived at after sub setting observations of women aged 15-24 that had pregnancy at the time of and/or three years preceding the survey. Logistic regression model was employed to estimate the effects of identified predictors on unintended pregnancy. The results show a high level of unintended pregnancy with only 29% of the pregnancies wanted. The level of unintended pregnancy varies by region and some socio-economic variables. Respondents from KwaZulu Natal had the highest percentage (81%) of unintended pregnancy while North West had the lowest at 56%. It was also found that the higher the educational level of the respondents, the higher the incidence of unwanted pregnancy. Among the respondents using modern method of contraception, 74% reported having unintended pregnancy while the probability of unintended pregnancy was found to decrease with increase in age at first intercourse. Overall, about 69% of respondents who reported unintended pregnancy had last sexual relation with their regular partners, 21% with marital partners and 10% with casual partners. Using stepwise logistic regression, five critical predictors of unintended pregnancy among South African youth were identified. These are: age group, region, marital status, education and relationship to the last sexual partner. The findings of this study have implications for reproductive health policies and programs in designing appropriate national programs for reducing the incidence of unintended pregnancy among South African youth. The need for further research into this area using triangulated methodology is recommended.

This qualitative study was designed to review the history of women in leadership and to evaluate the identified facilitators of success for women in leadership positions. Participants were asked to identify the facilitators that they considered important to their success. The facilitators were then compared to determine the most commonly occurring and the most influential among those cited by the participants. The results reflected those facilitators such as mentoring programs, training programs, as well as informal opportunities. Emotional intelligence was also examined in the context of this research. The findings of this qualitative study yielded the facilitators of success as identified by successful women leaders. Facilitators identified included familial or parental support, intrinsic motivation, educational opportunities, professional growth opportunities, emotional intelligence and mentors.

This study had three purposes: first, explore any common phenomenon of secondary mathematics teachers’ experience in secondary mathematics professional development (MPD); second, determine if there were positive changes in teacher attitudes after completing secondary MPD; and finally, if a positive change in teacher attitude was identified, describe the shared experiences in secondary MPD to in a way that cannot be revealed through ordinary observations. It was the intent of this study to identify positive changes in teacher attitudes not to measure their magnitude. This study implemented a mixed methods design using descriptive statistics and categorical analysis on data from pre- and post-surveys to search for any positive change in teacher attitudes and data analysis from in-depth interviews of participants of a MPD experience. The study had two research questions. The first research question was, “Can teachers with initially poor attitudes about MPD gain positive attitudes in one or more of the four areas of MPD through mandated participation in MPD?” The second was, “If a change in teacher attitude is identified, can phenomena associated with that change be categorized within one or more of the four areas of MPD?” Three instruments were used: electronic versions of the Local Systematic Change Through Teacher Enhancement Mathematics 6-12 Survey referred to as Survey 1 and a self-report survey referred to as Survey 2, as well as multiple in-depth interviews of select participants of a common MPD. Analysis of data from Survey 1 identified eight participants as possible candidates to participate in the interview process of which six were supported by data from Survey 2. Four of the six candidates accepted an invitation to participate in two in-depth interviews each. There was evidence that teachers with initially poor attitudes about MPD can gain positive attitudes in one or more of the four domains of MPD after participating in mandated MPD. However, the answer to the second research question remained unanswered because results from data analysis were inconclusive. Three recurring themes surfaced from the interviews: (a) the need for explicit learning targets, (b) need for professional treatment of participants, and (c) obstacles to the four domains of MPD.