Background: The nursing process is a widely accepted method and has been suggested as a scientific method to guide procedures and qualify nursing care. More recently, the process has been defined as a systematic and dynamic way to deliver nursing care. This process is performed through five interrelated steps, namely: assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation, with subsequent modifications used as feedback mechanisms that promote the resolution of the nursing diagnoses. The Lesotho Nursing Council (LNC) adopted the nursing process over a decade ago and the LNC mandated nurse training institutions and clinical settings to utilise this methodology. However, there is a reluctance to implement the nursing process despite its importance in nursing care (LNC, 2009:7). Purpose: The primary purpose of this research was to explore and describe the perceptions and experiences of nurses in implementing the nursing process in a district public hospital in Lesotho. On the grounds of these findings, the researcher ultimately makes recommendations for nursing education, nursing practice and nursing research. Methodology: To explore and describe the perceptions and experiences of nurses implementing the nursing process in a district public hospital in Lesotho, the researcher chose a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design. The researcher used voluntary purposive sampling to identify participants who complied with the set selection criteria. The sample comprised of professional nurses with varying years of working experience and qualifications. The data was collected by means of narratives and two focus group interviews; n=10 and n=6. The data was captured on a digital audio recorder and was transcribed verbatim. The researcher took field notes during each focus group. Both the researcher and independent co-coder analysed the narratives and transcribed data together, using narrative analysis and open coding (Creswell, 2009:185). Three main themes and nine subthemes emerged from the data collected from the narratives and focus groups. The researcher illustrated these themes through direct quotes by the participants. Each of these themes was discussed accompanied by relevant data obtained from literature, and reduced to conclusive statements, which serve as a basis for the derived recommendations to nursing education, nursing practice and nursing research. Trustworthiness was ensured in accordance with the principles of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. Conclusions: The researcher reached a number of conclusions. The participants perceived several factors and experienced them as interfering with the efficient implementation of the nursing process. Operational difficulties experienced in the systematisation of nursing care in practice, are amongst others a lack of knowledge of the steps involved in the process, an excessive number of tasks assigned to the nursing team, the poor quality of professional education, insufficient reports on the physical examination related to the disease and difficulty to formulate the nursing diagnosis. The research report concluded with the researcher’s evaluation of the research and recommendations for nursing practice, nursing education and nursing research with the purpose of improving the implementation of the nursing process. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Background: The nursing process is a widely accepted method and has been suggested as a scientific method to guide procedures and qualify nursing care. More recently, the process has been defined as a systematic and dynamic way to deliver nursing care. This process is performed through five interrelated steps, namely: assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation, with subsequent modifications used as feedback mechanisms that promote the resolution of the nursing diagnoses. The Lesotho Nursing Council (LNC) adopted the nursing process over a decade ago and the LNC mandated nurse training institutions and clinical settings to utilise this methodology. However, there is a reluctance to implement the nursing process despite its importance in nursing care (LNC, 2009:7). Purpose: The primary purpose of this research was to explore and describe the perceptions and experiences of nurses in implementing the nursing process in a district public hospital in Lesotho. On the grounds of these findings, the researcher ultimately makes recommendations for nursing education, nursing practice and nursing research. Methodology: To explore and describe the perceptions and experiences of nurses implementing the nursing process in a district public hospital in Lesotho, the researcher chose a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design. The researcher used voluntary purposive sampling to identify participants who complied with the set selection criteria. The sample comprised of professional nurses with varying years of working experience and qualifications. The data was collected by means of narratives and two focus group interviews; n=10 and n=6. The data was captured on a digital audio recorder and was transcribed verbatim. The researcher took field notes during each focus group. Both the researcher and independent co-coder analysed the narratives and transcribed data together, using narrative analysis and open coding (Creswell, 2009:185). Three main themes and nine subthemes emerged from the data collected from the narratives and focus groups. The researcher illustrated these themes through direct quotes by the participants. Each of these themes was discussed accompanied by relevant data obtained from literature, and reduced to conclusive statements, which serve as a basis for the derived recommendations to nursing education, nursing practice and nursing research. Trustworthiness was ensured in accordance with the principles of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. Conclusions: The researcher reached a number of conclusions. The participants perceived several factors and experienced them as interfering with the efficient implementation of the nursing process. Operational difficulties experienced in the systematisation of nursing care in practice, are amongst others a lack of knowledge of the steps involved in the process, an excessive number of tasks assigned to the nursing team, the poor quality of professional education, insufficient reports on the physical examination related to the disease and difficulty to formulate the nursing diagnosis. The research report concluded with the researcher’s evaluation of the research and recommendations for nursing practice, nursing education and nursing research with the purpose of improving the implementation of the nursing process. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Published Article / The aim of this paper is to explore educators' perceptions on the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) for curriculum delivery. Perceptions impact on the reality construction of the adoption and utilisation of the technology in disadvantaged schools. Understanding the perceptions of educators is vital when introducing innovation into curriculum delivery, because the way educators perceive the innovation impacts on the intended use of the technology in schools. Using the Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach, the study conducted and analysed fifteen one-on-one interviews with purposively sampled educators on their perceptions of, and experience with, ICT in disadvantaged high schools. The results of the study show that some educators perceive themselves as not competent enough to use the technology. Others with relatively high computer self-efficacy reported to have experienced the use of the ICTs in classrooms as an add-on. Meta interpretation shows that besides the lack of motivation to integrate the technology into the classroom, the root cause of some educators' negative perceptions is the IT training they had, which was inadequate to equip them with pedagogical understanding and skills on how to effectively incorporate this technology into their curriculum delivery. Therefore, there is a need to realign ICT innovation and implementation with educators' perceptions, in order to ensure success.

Reader response to original column article by Eric Jennings in Vol 23 Issue 1, re librarian stereotypes and image. / This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in College & Undergraduate Libraries on July 6, 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/10691316.2016.1188609

Obesity affects Mexican American adolescents at a much higher rate compared to other ethnic groups, yet little information exists regarding Mexican American adolescents' perceptions of obesity. Culture influences many aspects of one's health, and when better understood, can aid in predicting health behaviors. Several major Mexican cultural values may contribute to Mexican American adolescents' perceptions of obesity and overall health. Healthcare providers must have a deeper understanding of how culture influences adolescents' perceptions of obesity to reduce the obesity trend that currently exists among these adolescents. Qualitative descriptive methodology was used to identify cultural values that likely influence Mexican American adolescents' perceptions of obesity. Five participants were recruited from a local Mexican American church organization in southern Arizona. The researcher conducted a focus group interview at a local library. The interview was conducted in English and audio-recorded for accuracy. A demographic questionnaire was also used to aid in data collection. The overarching theme that emerged from the data analysis was, "Food, Family, and Fidelidad." Major themes that support this overarching theme include: (a) knowledge about obesity, (b) perceptions of obesity, and (c) parental respect. These findings were interpreted using the concepts of the Health Belief Model. Cultural values (e.g., respeto, familismo, machismo, marianismo) and non-cultural factors (e.g., the media, youth organizations, and personal nutritional knowledge) highly influenced participants' perceptions of obesity. With a greater knowledge of how Mexican cultural values as well as non-cultural factors influence Mexican American adolescents' perceptions of obesity, healthcare providers will be better equipped and better prepared to give this population quality, patient-centered care, and can use this knowledge to create dynamic treatment options that reflect Mexican American adolescents' needs, values, concerns, and beliefs. These actions will greatly contribute to closing the healthcare gap that currently exists between healthcare providers and this vulnerable group of individuals.

The literature suggests that self-disclosure of stuttering may positively impact the listener’s perception of persons who stutter. This phenomenon, although investigated with adults, has not been studied with regards to children who stutter. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of self-disclosure on listener perceptions of children who stutter. Specifically, this study examined whether listener perceptions of a child speaker who stutters are contingent upon the presence or absence of a self-disclosure statement prior to the speaker initiating his or her monologue, and whether listener perceptions are susceptible to gender bias. Child participants (n = 71) between the ages of 6 years, 0 months and 12 years, 11 months were randomly assigned to view two of the four possible videos (male self-disclosure, male no self-disclosure, female self-disclosure, and female no self-disclosure). Directly following the viewing of both videos, participants completed a survey analyzing their perceptions of the speaker for various traits related to personality and intelligence. Results for effects of self-disclosure achieved significance for all ten questions. With regard to gender, there was a significant difference for all questions except ‘more unintelligent’ and ‘less distracted’; however, when the gender viewing possibilities were compared across the three distinct groups (distinguished by whether the video pairing included the male speaker only, the female speaker only, or both a male and female speaker), there was no significant difference found. This suggests that the difference across responses are only present when all three gender groups are collapsed, which further indicates that gender did not have a distinct impact on the responses to the questions. Additionally, there was no significant interaction between self-disclosure and gender, suggesting that these two factors have independent, un-related influence on listener perception. In summary, the present findings indicate that the use of self-disclosure may positively impact children’s perceptions of other children who stutter, and that these perceptions are not uniquely impacted by gender. / text

<p>Mobbning kan leda till långvariga psykosociala, psykiatriska och psykosomatiska problem och sker vanligtvis under skoltid. Tidigare studier har visat att elever och lärare kan bedöma mobbning olika beroende på mobbningsform. Hur individen bedömer situationer är beroende av en mängd kognitiva processer och synen på vad som är mobbning bidrar till om man ingriper eller inte. En surveyundersökning genomfördes på 268 högstadieelever och 70 lärare. En enkät beskrivande olika mobbningssituationer utformades i syftet att se om det fanns skillnader i dessa gruppers bedömning av olika former av mobbning. Resultatet visade att lärare, särskilt äldre lärare, bedömde samtliga mobbningsformer mer som mobbning än eleverna. Eleverna bedömde fysisk mobbning mer som mobbning än övriga mobbningsformer. Mobbningssituationer innehållande flera aktiva angripare sågs mer som mobbning än situationer med en aktiv angripare. Kognitiva processer vilar på individens kunskap, föreställningar, förväntningar och mål, något som kan bidra till elevers och lärares olika bedömning av mobbning.</p>

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The current set of studies adds to the growing body of literature of self-perceptions in atypical populations. Previous research has demonstrated that, despite significant functional problems in multiple domains, children with ADHD unexpectedly provide overly-positive reports of their own competence in comparison to actual performance on objective measures. Study 1 empirically examined the self-perceptions of adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) using performance on individual, specific, concrete tasks as the basis for participants’ ratings of competence. Participants completed a verbal and mathematic task and were asked how well they thought they did prior to completing the tasks (pre-prediction rating). After they completed each task they were asked how well they thought they did (current post-performance) and how well they thought they would do in the future (future post-performance). For the purpose of the study, self-perceptions can be described as the difference between perceived performance and actual performance. These difference scores were used in analyses. Results suggested that adolescents with ADHD tend to have more positively-biased self-perceptions than typically developing (TD) adolescents. The current study also examined the role that IQ and executive functioning have on self-perceptions; however, no significant relationships were found. Using the same methodology, Study 2 examined the self-perceptions of adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). By examining a population with similar cognitive deficits as individuals with ADHD, the current study aimed to determine whether these positively-biased self-perceptions are specific to ADHD or if it is a phenomenon related to more general difficulties or dysfunction. Results suggested that adolescents with ASD also tended to have more positively-biased self-perceptions than TD adolescents. In adolescents with ASD, lower IQ and greater executive functioning deficits tended to be related to more positively-biased self-perceptions. Limitations of this research are discussed. Future investigation is needed to systematically examine other possible mechanisms that may be contributing to these biased self-perceptions. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-30 15:24:30.91

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